Dell XPS Order Nightmare

[dsio]

Here's the exhaustive method I used to choose this router:

"Sell me the most expensive router you have that isn't a D-Link."

The cost (all $300 of it) was absorbed by someone that isn't me, and isn't liked. Unfortunately its a very dumbed down router, and lacks many of the more technical features that come in handy on more elaborate designs. It does however work well.

I only wish my laptop did the same... Sadly no progress seams to be made thus far, and none will until August 10th at the earliest. In a few days I intend to start getting somewhat antsy on the phone, and explain how much money and loot it will take to make me a happy camper again. Honestly a laptop bag for my misery sounds adequate, but if they fight me on it, I'll fight back.

So sick of Dell.

I'd consider the Macbook range by the way, but there are a few major drawbacks. Firstly being the one button touchpad, which was a stupid idea from day one, and still is. Secondly, although owning a mac doesn't stand out among IT professionals, and god forbid, /multimedia/ students, sitting around the engineering common room with an Apple logo on your computer is a good way to get laughed at and insulted. Its like the Prius, you buy one and become a victim.

[Áedán]

Originally Posted by dsio

My router, which is a DG834N supports draft N 270Mbit, and the little men at Netgear are willing to swear on a stack of bibles that I'll have no trouble getting that with this intel card.

You'll get to find out how well 11n D1 devices interoperate with 11n D2 devices. At least 11n D1/2 devices can handle 11g worst case.

[dsio]

Áedán, your positivity and hopefulness is overwhelming :P

To quote Gul Dukat: "Have you ever been diagnosed as anhedonic?"

I've said this before, but for a 20 year old geek, getting a new high end laptop is somewhere in emotional significance between moving house, and getting married. Its a long term commitment and friendship. For it to have gotten off on such a bad foot due to all these delays saddens me no end...

[Daniel ~]

I know! It's like in that movie Animal House, where the guys beautiful 15 year old date throws up for three Min's then immediately without a pause French kisses him! You don't know weather to envy him or... throw up too!

Who knew you were such a Romantic!

[Áedán]

dsio, I was hoping you'd be able to inform our readership of the joys of 11n networking

[aghastpumpkin]

What does n do over g? I have g in my house and its always been perfect. It doesn't slow down the internet at all. I can surf anywhere in my house or garden.
What would n do for me?

[Gizmo]

11g is 54 mbit, 11n is 248 mbit. 11g has a better outdoor range, but 11n has a better indoor range. 11g operates at 2.4 GHz, and 11n can run on 2.4 and 5 GHz.

[dsio]

There are times when it helps to have more than 54Mbit. eg. When you have a 20GB web application server database that you need a local copy of.

Reports of compatability between my router, the DG834N, and the intel 4965AGN card have been somewhat bleak, so I'm assuming that Netgear actually meant to tell me that 11g would work, though draft n speeds would not be possible as of yet.

[dsio]

Rumour is that the problem with the LCD display may not be a matter of supply as much as production.

Its been said that the actual data cable for the panel passes far too close to the heatsinks/heatpipes due to the unique hinge configuration, and as such these laptops are failing quality control tests.

Heres a nice picture of the guts btw.

[Daniel ~]

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've had a look inside one! Thanks! ":O}

[keithwalton]

Is that a flash hard drive i spy in there or somthing else what ever it is that thing sure has alot of ram chips!

The most interesting bit though to me is the shared heatpipe for what must be gpu, north bridge and cpu in that order. why is the cpu last seems abit odd to me!

[dsio]

Originally Posted by keithwalton

Is that a flash hard drive i spy in there or somthing else what ever it is that thing sure has alot of ram chips!

The most interesting bit though to me is the shared heatpipe for what must be gpu, north bridge and cpu in that order. why is the cpu last seems abit odd to me!

No flash hard disks, just general memory.

In the third picture, you're looking at 7GB of memory in that picture.

There is 2GB in the machine 1GBX2, there are a pair of 2GB ram sticks sitting on the laptop to the left (4GB total for the pair), and the third little card you see below the ram sticks is a "Robson Cache" card.

A Robson cache, is just a block of flash memory, generally of a very high speed variety, and about 1GB in size. It costs about $70. It supports Vista Readyboost, and Readydrive. Essentially in a laptop it allows you to use half of the flash memory in combination with your standard platter hard disk to create a hybrid disk. Unlike the USB solutions, this one is actually a card that is internal to the laptop, is manufactured by Intel, is designed specifically to work with the chipset, and thus works at a lower level that your average USB solution.

Could be helpful if it can be used to speed up Fedora boot... as I read somewhere on the RedHat website:

"Although developers quite enjoy the fact that they can turn their machines on, and have time to make a cup of coffee and read the paper before Fedora is ready... sometimes developers have already had their coffee, and the paper has been pinched by a co-worker, leading to early morning frustration"

[Got EpOx]

Hopefully it'll turn up soon, my god though with the amount of RAM and features it has your machine will most certainly last you for several years. I for one would choose it over a MacBook Pro due to the way you can customise it in a much more specific way to a Mac. You don't really see Robson Caches on them.

[dsio]

For the relatively small amount of money it costs, I couldn't help myself, especially given the standard specs.

To put it in terms Gizmo/SM/Staz could appreciate, it would be like buying a new Dodge Ram SRT-10, and not having a gunrack capable of mounting a different type of rifle suited for every possible animal you could encounter in your travels.

That's what its like, having a beefy CPU and not enough RAM. Its for that one day when there's a Wegu near the side of the road, you quickly check behind you, see the Elephant gun, the Buffalo cannon, the Yak revolver, the Deer rifle, the squirrel shotgun, and the Canadian machette, but you've gone and left you're dang'ol Wegu rifle in your other truck. Its a nightmare every American dreads, and its the same nightmare you face when you get stingy on 1GB in your laptop and you here the sound of swapping.

That's what it amounts to really. 4GB lets me bring the Wegu rifle.

[Daniel ~]

Seems Dell shot you in the foot...sorry...irresistible target time.":O}

[Áedán]

Originally Posted by dsio

A Robson cache, is just a block of flash memory, generally of a very high speed variety, and about 1GB in size.

If, by high speed, you mean compared to the access time of a hard disk, then yes. If, by high speed, you mean compared to RAM, then NAND flash is orders of magnatude slower - 25 microseconds vs sub 35 ns.

[dsio]

While I was out, Dell made another call to my home, this time informing me that it will not be possible for any Dell XPS M1330 laptops to be shipped to Australia before September at the earliest.

August 17th --> September++

Does anyone here have a Dell contact?

[dsio]

Originally Posted by Áedán

If, by high speed, you mean compared to the access time of a hard disk, then yes. If, by high speed, you mean compared to RAM, then NAND flash is orders of magnatude slower - 25 microseconds vs sub 35 ns.

I mean high speed compared to other NAND flash memory found in the common USB memory stick, as intel said.