Rory Franklin

Due to recent circumstances, I am now traveling a lot between Canterbury (where I go to University) and south east London (where my parents live, and where I live when on holiday from University). I’m going back most weekends, Friday through till Sunday evening (or sometimes Monday morning) and this takes out a large chunk of my week.

I tend to have a reasonable amount of work to do over the weekends and this presented a problem for me as the computer we have back in London isn’t particularly good (slow) and I find it difficult to use (cluttered and full of software that probably doesn’t need to be on there!), so getting work done is usually rather unlikely. So I decided it was about time for me to get a laptop. Why a laptop and not just a new computer for home? Well, although there is a price premium when buying a laptop (I wouldn’t have needed to buy a new screen for the home PC) the convenience of being able to use a laptop on the train back home or up on campus made me think it was worth paying that bit extra. This led me on a search for a good laptop…

Now, because I’m going to be traveling with the laptop, and normally when traveling I take back enough clothes for the weekend as well as a few other assorted items (books etc.), I really wanted to minimize the weight and size of a laptop that I’d be lugging around with me. So, although a larger screen size actually resulted in a cheaper price, a smaller, lighter laptop was preferable. So I decided I’d try and get one with a 13.3″ screen.

Having never bought (or really used) a laptop before, I was a bit overwhelmed by what I should be looking for. I did a few Google searches for recommended 13.3″ laptops and read some forums etc. My housemate has a Macbook so I toyed with the idea of one and looked a bit more into OSX etc. I looked at the Dell website and they only produce one 13.3″ laptop, but it looked pretty good and had really good reviews.

Still, I looked around at some prices but everything was coming up rather expensive for not that great a spec. It boiled down to the Macbook or the Dell XPS M1330.

I configured the Dell to 2.0Ghz C2D, 2Gb RAM, 160Gb HDD, Vista Home Premium (Vista was the only option on offer, although it may have been available running Ubuntu), NVidia 128Mb 8400M GS and a few other things.

The comparable Macbook was £180 more expensive, including the Education Discount! So I thought it was no contest and ordered the Dell! I ordered it on Saturday and it came this morning (would have been yesterday but when they called to organize delivery my dad said he wouldn’t be in, not realising that they were delivering it to my University address!).

I’ve spent the day (when not at lectures etc.) setting it up and getting things installed etc. So far, my impressions are that it is great! It’s a really smart looking laptop and not too heavy. Vista has been treating me OK, it is just going to take a little getting used to. I’ve got the internet connected via a wireless ad-hoc network from my main PC (can only have one computer connected to the Uni network via Ethernet at one time, so I’m using internet sharing to get two on!)

Of course, that is not my only new toy… I’ve my my Sony Ericsson K750i for about 18 months now and was due a free upgrade from my provider, O2. I only really use my phone to call, text and take photographs (I don’t have a standalone camera as my phone has always treated me well - the K750i was 3.2MP) and so decided to upgrade to the K850i which is essentially the same phone but with a 5.0MP camera. It also has three touch screen buttons that are taking a little getting used to! Lovely phone though!

Anyway, enough rambling from me for now…

Tags: Dell, K850i, laptop, Macbook, Sony Ericsson