Deal of the Year!

There is no better way to start the year with a nice deal! :)

So.. you know being a nerd also means getting very horny for any new piece of hardware :) ...and of course you always want the latest stuff available because it makes u really cool and awesome! :) As my laptop was getting old... in January I realised that my 4 years old Thinkpad laptop needed a refresh! So I start to make some research, and I found the laptop that fit all my needs: Dell Latitude E6400!

So, I guess at this point your question would be... as my old laptop is a Thinkpad... why should I go for a Dell? So, the choice was between Thinkpad T400 and Dell Latitude E6400. Both are professional laptop with 3 years warranty (on-site)... top-specs... thinkpad use DDR3... the Dell DDR2 (that's a plus for the Thinkpad of course) but the Dell system wins in terms of multimedia connections as far as it has a DisplayPort output, eSATA and Fireware.

Let's say the 2 systems are comparable... but when it comes to the price, of course Dell is more cheap. And I get more lucky because I bought my Dell as a refurbished unit on eBay... that means for half the price you get a very cool system.

So, to make it short, for about 1100 € I got the following:

• Intel Core Duo T9600 (2.8 Ghz, 6 MB cache)
• 4 GB RAM DDR2
• 250 GB Hart Disk (7200 RPM) Free Fall Sensor
• NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M
• DISPLAY 1440x900 LED + webcam
• Intel Wifi Link 5300 + Bluetooth
  
• DVD R/W
• 9 Cells Battery
• 3 YEARS On-Site warranty

Consider that the same system, new costs around 2100 € today! :)

The only problem of the laptop was the colour... BLUE... I was not crazy about that... but considering the price... and what inside... I purchased it!


When the laptop arrived... it was perfect! Everything worked flawlessly... fast... cool.. like a dream, I was going to write how happy I was on my blog when a problem raised! :(

Actually a very strange and annoying problem that maybe most of the people would not notice; the laptop simply drained the battery when turned off. I called the Dell support and they firstly replace my battery (to see if the problem comes from the battery)... secondly (because the battery replacement didn't solve my problem) sent a technician to me to change my mother board! Unfortunately, also the new motherboard did not solve the problem and the support picked up my laptop to test and solve the issue in the laboratory.

So far so good, when the system came back from the laboratory was completely messed up, this people detect that the problem was caused by the Hard Drive... so they replace the drive and install Windows Vista 32-bit in German (of course the original system had Windows 64-bits in English). This made me pissed off... and the day after I called again the Dell support complaining of the kind of support they were giving to me. Of course the hard drive replacement didn't solve the problem... the laptop was still draining the battery when turned off. Anyway after the discussion they told me that since my laptop seems to be really not working it will be replaced with a new one! Actually they really built a new system from the scratch with all the stuff I wanted! I get rid of the BLUE color of course... and I switch the keyboard layout from UK to US. Unfortunately during this process I lost some stuff like the finger-print reader and the black-lit keyboard :( (which are nice features if you are a pussy... but really not useful for a nerd).
Anyway... after few weeks (and actually after one and half month) from the purchase date... my new Dell Latitude E6400 (paid half of the price) arrives.


The laptop is amazing! The LED display is gorgeous... the eSATA port connected to my external 1.5 TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive gives me a amazing read/write speed.
Yes... it's good to be nerd! :)

Anyway.. now the question is what to do with my old and loyal Thinkpad T43?! It has been a brave laptop, now it is spending his life as file server... I should give it for adoption... anyone wants it? :)