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2004-09-25 #1

Created by dave. Last edited by dave, 19 years and 179 days ago. Viewed 3,867 times. #1
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New Dell D600

So the new computer is a Dell D600. It is about 30% heavier than the L400 it replaces, and about 50% bigger. The net result is that the computer, the display shell especially, feels flimsy. And it was nice that the entire thing was shipped in a cardboard box only slightly smaller than our end tables in the livingroom.

I'm not sure how I want to proceed with this thing. Windows is almost criminally vunerable to viruses etc --

(I spent two days fighting with one of the other tennents in the building this week because nine of his "brand new from Dell" computers had a virus on it. He insisted six ways from sunday that there were no viruses. I eventually had to drag him into the wiring closet, show him the switches, show him the network capture, and beat it over his head that yes, it was a virus, and until he fixed it we were unplugging his wire. Now part of the problem is that our 3Com Superstack-III Firewall appliance can only handle 32,000-odd connections to the internet, and a virus can quickly exhaust that -- but the fact is that his virus-ridden computers were the problem here.

Now I can't tell the rest of the story for obvious confidentiality reasons, but he finally got it that yes, it was a virus, and he spent the next two days cleaning his computers.)

-- and I'm reluctant to risk vunerability myself and inflict that kind of punishment on others. However, Windows is more suited to being run on a laptop than is Linux (for more details than absolutely necessary, read why I can't run windows) so I think we'll end up doing the evil dual boot thing again.

All that said, I should say something positive about the computer. It is fast, it has a nice display, impressive built-in sound, and the keyboard is already less irritating than was the L400's not-quite-big-enough keyboard. The initial battery life projection claimed more than five hours of run time. (Wow.)

Overall, though, I should have asked to see an X300 to see if it was suitable before picking the D600, because already I think I don't like the extra size and weight. I'm stuck with it for three years, so we'll adjust.

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