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Computer and Other Updates

Fri, 03/13/2009 - 8:45pm — Nick

It's been a while since I last posted here. Just a short little update on a few things. First of all, I've changed employers; I'm currently developing in Flex, which has been an interesting and fun learning experience. I use Flex Builder 3 as my development Environment, but since the Linux Beta of it is somewhat limited at the moment, I've end up running the Windows version on Windows XP Pro in a virtualbox on my work laptop.

Now, my previous employer gave a Dell Latitude D8101 to me when I was let go. I wanted this particular laptop from the different laptops I could have picked as all of the components on it (wireless network, bluetooth, video card2) worked well with Linux and featured a 15.4" 1920x1200 resolution screen. I've found that screen real-estate is a real boon for development work, and I can more easily adapt a Linux environment to my work flow, even if I have to run Windows apps in a virtual environment.

The problem with this particular laptop was the processor was underpowered as a single core 1.8 GHz Intel processor, which I think was a Mobile Pentium 4. The laptop was also maxed out at 2 GB of RAM. Between running apache, postgres, and mysql for my various projects, plus Zend Studio for PHP work3 or Flex Builder in a virtualbox, I find the processor is overworked on a regular basis.

So it when it came down to it, getting another work laptop became a pretty high priority. My requirements for the laptop were as follows:

  • At least a dual core processor
  • At least 4 GB of RAM
  • A 15" to 16" 1920x1200 resolution monitor
  • Linux Compatible

There were other "nice to haves" I had in mind, like being able to put in 8 GB or more, but the above was where I was restricted to.

After looking around for some time, it ended up being only4 one main choice for me: The Dell XPS M1530 laptop with Ubuntu 8.04

It hit all of my requirements (hell, it comes with Ubuntu 8.04; I'll wipe and install the latest Ubuntu release when it comes in), the XPS line of Dell laptops seem to be pretty well liked by my friends and peers, and Dell is having some discounts and interest-free credit offers running right now. So I went and ordered the following configuration:

  • XPS M1530, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800MHzFSB, 3M L2 Cache)
  • Midnight Blue Casing With Microsatin Finish XPS M1530
  • 4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm, for XPS M1530
  • 15.4 inch Full Hi Definition Wide Screen WUXGA TrueLife LCDwith Camera for XPS M1530
  • 320-6082 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
  • 341-7083 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor, Seagate Casey,M1530
  • Ubuntu 8.04 with DVD Playback
  • 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPSM1530
  • Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
  • Intel 3945 WLAN (802.11a/g) Mini Card, for XPS M1530
  • 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for XPS M1530
  • Auto/Air Combination Power Adapter, for XPS 1330

Hopefully, this one will last for a long time, like my previous laptop. And I should be able to run Compiz Fusion on it too.

Ok, that came out a little longer than "short"...

UPDATE March 24, 2009: I've decided to cancel this order and order a Serval Professional laptop from System76 for various reasons that I will enumerate later.

  1. 1. And my iPhone!
  2. 2. With the open source ATI drivers; though it didn't give me the full capabilities of the video card, it works well enough to run Compiz on it if I wanted to. I rarely did due to performance issues
  3. 3. And I use the same Eclipse install for mucking around with Ruby
  4. 4. I'm sure that I could actually have found something better elsewhere, but I was impatient