Broadband seems to work…

I got the internal broadband from Dell this week for christmas. I haven’t put the sim card in as I left it in the car. But it seems detect it properly and shows up properly in the netwrok manager. I love how network manager takes all times of internet connections and shows them in one screen. Very nice. I just wish I had a little more feedback when I was connecting to things.

My new computer finally arrived…

I finally got my computer about 2 weeks ago. I was waiting on it for so long that as soon as I got it I had to get right to work. Here it is 6 am and I don’t have a lot of work so I thought I might post a little review about it.

For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts, I have mentioned it’s a Dell m4400.

I will try to NOT include all the other comments from other reviews. You can google them.

When I got the computer I was instantly convinced of it’s durable design. It felt very good in my hands and it has a nice finish to the “paint” that made it feel very nice.

The system was shipped directly to my bosses door and we were able to track the entire trip.

I was supprised to notice that the battery was fully charged when I got it. I liked that. I also noticed you can see the battery status on the battery itself without the computer even being on. Spiffadillio!

There is a nice hardware based wireless/bluetooth switch on the side that I particularly like. I just flip that and my wireless is off. Next to it, is a button of some sort, I pressed it while the computer was off, and it turned blue after a moment. What the heck is this! I think it may be checking for wireless connections even when the computer is off. Very interesting. I will have to look into that some more.

I got the computer without an OS, and I double checked. Sure enough, it simply booted telling me I don’t have an OS. Thank you dell.

What works.

• I installed Ubuntu on it that evening and EVERYTHING seemed to work on the computer. Some of the obscure things that I checked that you may be interested in are:
• The Backlit keybaord.
• The automatic backlit screen adjustment
• The Downclocking of the processor
• Suspend with the Nvidia graphics card drivers installed.
• Dual monitor support

And some of the things I have not checked are:

• The Express card and PCMCIA card slots.
• The Wireless RFID tag reader and the Smart Card Reader
• The SD card slot. (I have never had one not work, actually.)
• ‘External SATA plug

And some Nifty things to note…

• It has 4 usb ports.  2 are normal, one is powered even the comptuer is off (For chanrging things) and the other is a SATA plug at the same time, you can plug USB or sata, even though they are a different shape!  Niftadillio!
• When the laptop is suspended it glows all pretty with a slow pulse.
• The WIFI blinks when data is being sent or recieved. I like it, but some people may not.
• You don’t have to adjust the volume with a key combo. I LOVE that.  Think of many other computers, they have you press the Fn (function) key and then the volume key.  This is dumb as you would have to use two hands!  If I had only one hand free I could use the mouse and it would be quicker.  Dell got it right by just making a button for volume up and down.
• It has three mouse buttons. While not very useful in windows, it’s VERY handy in linux.  Yahoo!
• Markku Sutela really was able to build me something nice.  I like that dell worked WITH ME.  Instead of making choices FOR ME.
• The screen is incredible!  I got the WLED 1920×1200 model and it is truely amazing.  I used the computer in the car and could use it with no problem when the sun glared right into the screen.  The auto adjustment of the screen was quick to turn up the brightness and let me see everything with no problem.
• The screen had 3 dead picels in the corner.  I didn’t mind, but when I just passed that information to dell, they went nuts and had someone come over to my work place the next day and fix it on the spot.  They didn’t take the computer with them, just to point out.  They actually fixed it while I watched, in-absolutely-flipping-credable.  I love this next businessday thing.  And only 3 dead pixels and they fixed it! Very nice indeed.  Most companies don’t fix the screen unless you have more that 6 or 7.
• Call them, Markku Sutela is the guy I worked with, and there are a variety of things that you don’t see on the website that he can get for you with the computer.
• The control key is on the lower left of the keybaord.  Sounds dumb to say it, I know, but my last computer has switched the fn and ctrl key, permenently fixing my pink under my ring finger. (Ok, it was just a cramp.)
• Some people complained about finger prints.  I don’t see how that is possible on this unless your a fat eating tub of lard.  Which I am, and it still didn’t show up!
• Docking station works pretty good.  Everything but…

Things that didn’t work:

• One thing that should be noted is that the audio driver for linux doesn’t switch to the docking station for sound.  And you can turn up one of the inputs (huh?) to get the sound to work at full value.  But it’s not very clear and I don’t know why.  Prolly the driver sucks, but I just plug it into the headset jack on the laptop itself and it works great.
• The Mute button doesn’t seem to work. I mean, it works, I even get a key press in the xev program.  So dell has it working there, but in my current version of ubuntu 9.04 it doesn’t mute even when I set the key in the gnome prefferences.  Meh, That is ok for me.
• I told it to make breakfast, and it said “No, your on a diet.”

Things I don’t like about it.

• I like the keys Home, PageUp, PageDown, and End on the right side of the keyboard near the enter and shift keys.  But they are in a normal keyboard orientation on the top right.  Just a preference, and I am already getting used to it.
• The stickers were on wrong.  They were put on at a slight angle.  I am taking them off anyway, but it made the professional look somehow feel a little off.
• The volume keys are not backlit.  Though easy to find when not backlit, it would have been a cleaner look.
• The top is bumpy.  You will notice with this model that the screen has a “wave pattern” to it.  Though unique, I didn’t like it, I have put a skin over it and it seems to be working over even with the bumps.  We will see in the long run.
• Tincy bit warm at times.  I really don’t mind it, but if it gets a little warm now, could it get worse when dust begins to collect?
• The screen was glossy.  Sad but true. Still, it’s so freaking bright you don’t need to worry about it outside. I checked.
• It came late.  That sucked, but Markku Sutela, the guy I worked with on getting this beauty has given me a deal.  I recommend him to anyone looking for a new computer.

All in all it was very nice to finally get the computer.  I am using it with a dual monitor config so two screens at 1920×1200 and I can now get alot of work done at the same time. 😛