My new office PC is finally setup. I received a Dell Latitude E6420 with Windows 7 installed.
After a long bout of XP, this new OS is really refreshing. I have been subjected to the pain of several Vista machines at home so I was expecting the worst from this version of Windows.
The Dell machine itself is designed better than the bulky designs of the previous Latitudes that lacked finesse or taste. The new PC had curvy lines that softened the rectangles and made it easier to look at. I liked the soft impact feel of the keyboard. The machine is much lighter than the previous ones and the battery lasts longer. I wished the screen would have been larger. It is not heating up as the previous Dell and it is very quiet. It comes with Bluetooth so at some point in the future, I will switch over to Bluetooth accessories.
Windows 7 has the feel of Windows 95 in terms of the maturity of the product. My machine had adequate RAM and a fast HD so the experience is pleasant. Thunderbird, Chrome and even IE are easier to use in this machine. I stopped using Firefox altogether.
I got started up fairly quickly after dropping my files from the backup into the Documents folder. The new OS even has backup feature built into it. Wireless networking works much better in this OS. But the most important feature is the quick startup and shutdown. It took less than 2 minutes to restart the machine. XP would have taken more than 7 mins. This make the machine a much greener alternative as this will save a lot of power.
I used the following note to import the itunes library into the new installation: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
The bottom line for me is this. I was seriously considering a switch over to Macintosh after the bad experience with XP and with Vista. But with the new Dell Latitude E6420 and Windows 7, I am dropping that project.
After a long bout of XP, this new OS is really refreshing. I have been subjected to the pain of several Vista machines at home so I was expecting the worst from this version of Windows.
The Dell machine itself is designed better than the bulky designs of the previous Latitudes that lacked finesse or taste. The new PC had curvy lines that softened the rectangles and made it easier to look at. I liked the soft impact feel of the keyboard. The machine is much lighter than the previous ones and the battery lasts longer. I wished the screen would have been larger. It is not heating up as the previous Dell and it is very quiet. It comes with Bluetooth so at some point in the future, I will switch over to Bluetooth accessories.
Windows 7 has the feel of Windows 95 in terms of the maturity of the product. My machine had adequate RAM and a fast HD so the experience is pleasant. Thunderbird, Chrome and even IE are easier to use in this machine. I stopped using Firefox altogether.
I got started up fairly quickly after dropping my files from the backup into the Documents folder. The new OS even has backup feature built into it. Wireless networking works much better in this OS. But the most important feature is the quick startup and shutdown. It took less than 2 minutes to restart the machine. XP would have taken more than 7 mins. This make the machine a much greener alternative as this will save a lot of power.
I used the following note to import the itunes library into the new installation: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
The bottom line for me is this. I was seriously considering a switch over to Macintosh after the bad experience with XP and with Vista. But with the new Dell Latitude E6420 and Windows 7, I am dropping that project.
