Vista: Good For Something After All

I picked up a new notebook on Thursday to replace my involuntary HTPC.  It's a Compaq Presario 6100, and it's dirt cheap and gorgeous.  It fixes the problems with my (not very) old notebook: It has FireWire and a card reader and Bluetooth and infrared; the keyboard is perfectly laid-out (perhaps a little bit too firm, but that will correct itself over time), and it has a "brite" screen, or whatever they're calling the cheap models without anti-glare coating these days.  I've found that on the whole I actually prefer the "brite" screens; you can usually adjust your position to avoid glare and reflections, and the lack of diffusion from the absent anti-glare coating really makes the screen brighter and more vibrant.  The Turion X2 is about the same performance as the Core (not 2) Duo, and the Nvidia 6150 chipset is a definite improvement on Intel's aging 950.  (It also has at least 14 LEDs scattered about the place, which seems just a tad excessive.)

There's just one fly in this ointment: The battery life is crap. The Acer Expire lasted forever; this Presario only manages about two hours.  There may be an extended battery available, but if so, no-one in Australia has it.

Oh, and the good thing about Vista? If you buy a notebook without it right now, you can get some really good deals.

Update: 16 LEDs.  Remember when blue LEDs were new and cool - and expensive?  This thing has 14 of them, and at least two of those are bicolour blue/orange.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:44 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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