Quick product review

I got a new laptop recently, an M1330 from Dell. I'd thought I throw out a few quick comments on the process.

Up to the minute technology says that the Penryn family of processors are excellent for laptops, with The Register suggesting that, alone, they can increase battery life significantly. In terms of graphics, the world of little laptops revolves around Intel's X3100 or nVidia's 8400M. The M1330 can have either - I went for the nVidia option as I like playing games now and again.

That left a choice of screen. I plumped for the more expensive OLED option after The Register's review. I noted that Dell seems to have responded to the review by raising the price of this option. RAM - 4GB (I could have saved £50 and blown my warranty by adding this myself, but out of £1000, why?). Hard disk - 250GB (it's enough for me).

The laptop runs nicely. Vista's a dog, but it's Vista. The graphics performance is better than I expected (TF2 runs well, except for the water effects). And the number crunching power is all I'd hoped for.

I tried Ubuntu 7.10 for a bit, and it ran well, but I hit issues with wireless networking and my home network, so restored Vista. I may try again once the new release settles back down. I have no love for Vista.

In a nutshell:
Dell M1330 8/10 - Solid.
Microsoft Vista 3/10 - Soft.