Configuring Laptop

(Tickets are booked. Date is confirmed. Understood so far??? Read these first...)

(a.k.a) Quinn's Quest For Laptop - III

This actually can be read a stand alone but would be better if you want to get into the groove of things if you read the series.Looks like 7th is when I would have the chance to put my hands on my most awaited priceless possession ( beating HP7) and my delay would only jeopardize the series. Actually this idea of writing what I am going to do once I have system is because of a blog on "What will I do after I format my desktop? " by some guy. It was an fascinating read and quite a fun too because I can actually feel myself telling : " Man...That's exactly what I do...".Well this ain't a desktop I know but still I guess one can relate to it. Okay..here goes my: Operation Laptop...

Operation Laptop


Phase I : Security

1. Run MCPR.exe - a uninstaller tool by McAfee to clean uninstall the mcafee product. (As I am getting one with a trial period of 30 days and no way in hell am I going to renew it...).
2. Install AVG Anti-virus latest version.
3. Use Norton Partition Magic 8.05 to partition my disk. (Desktopers can skip this step).
4. Install Commodo Firewall Pro - the best one there is in my honest opinion.
5. Spybot Search & Destroy - a must have to remove the spyware...

Phase II : Tools & Utitlities

1. Microsoft Office 2003
2. TuneUp Utilities 2007
3. Nero 7.1 Professional
4. WinRar 3.71 Final
5. Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0
6. Mozilla Firefox 2.0
7. Opera 9.1
8. Picasa Web
9. Typing Master...Always wanted this to learn numbers...let's see if I can...
10. TweakUIPowerToy for Windows XP Only...
11. LimeWirePro 4.31
12. Azureus - Far far better compared to BitTorrent, UTorrent, eDonkey

Phase III: Audio & Video

1. Real Player 10.0 - darn thing needed for once in a blue moon rm files...nevertheless have to have it.
2. VLC MediaPlayer
3. DivX 7.0 Bundle

Phase IV : .Net

1. Visual Studio 2005 Professional
2. SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition- Evaluation for developers
3. SilverLight Extension

Of the list I have missed out WindowBlinds , a stardock product which will be phased out shortly depending upon the impact on the laptop. Chitti, were he to see this list, would almost cut half the softwares and he feels they are just waste of OS space and RAM space but I guess I have to convince him to see the beauty of these apps. After all this what would be left is the actual files I need to keep.

The following movies have to be on my HDD:

• My Neighbour Totoro
• Grave of the Fireflies
• Princess Mononoke
• Spirited Away
• Laputa - Castle in the Sky (basically all Miyazaki's collection)
• Akira
• Requiem For a Dream
• Fight Club
• Dil Chahta Hai
• Sarfarosh
• Athadu

And some more along with all the photos and all the books and all the video tutorials...ooph..one heck of a job left to be done....And what I am eagerly awaiting is to see the performance of my laptop after doing all this....

Well that ends it....

(Stay tuned to see the actual THING ...)

Quinn's Quest For Laptop - II

Now that I got back to my senses the first thing I did was go to the Dell US site as I see that third world countries are uniformly snubbed out of "chat live" feature, an exceptional feature. I mean of course the toll free helpline numbers exist but any given time I would love to chat than talk.

One of my frustrations with Dell was XP option was completely wiped out with many models and I desperately wanted one. For this the dell fella proved to be hellava help. Not only that he also informed me about becoming "dell care customer", a one step sign in process, with which one can avail further 3% discount. Most importantly I learnt I can partition the disk with no issues at all. Prior to this talking Joy had told me some laptops especially dell ones can't be partitioned at all and with all my 6 year download-install-format experience I knew how important partitions are. Without any exception I make it a point to store all my files anywhere except C:.

There was something else running on my mind. Few months before when Hrithik was configuring his laptop Ranjit had strongly suggested him to go for 9 cell and a matter of 2 grand is worth every rupee. I called up Joy again and had a series of talks with him starting with the time of delivery, the warranty period, and also about the batteries. Somehow I feel he has the air of authenticity in what he talks and he talks no crap I tell you. I must have called him up like 5 to 6 times to talk about the same topic again and again i.e. the batteries, will it be worth it? Can I not wait? Will it not be heavy? Can I compromise? . Thanks buddy, I really admire patient people and you are the best. The twist of the story is : I had to compromise on 6-Cell (money problem :( )

Ok..here goes my final config list and I am freaking happy about it and the cost could have been much much lesser if not for Core 2 Duo instead of Dual Core...

• Midnight Blue
• Processor – Intel Core 2 Duo T5250
• Operating System- Genuine Windows XP Professional
• Memory – 2GB
• Hard Drive – 160 GB
• Internal Optical Drive- CD/DVD Writer

What follows next in the series is highly technical, stuff about what softwares I am going to install..Watch out!!!!!!!

Quinn's Quest For Laptop - I

(Note: Please Read this for continuity)

Now that I knew I needed to have one, the next question was which one to take with so many competetors- Dell, Lenovo, Compaq, Acer,VAIO. Programming is what I need and top of that after reading SO MANY bad reviews about Vista , it's hardware bankruptancy I decided on XP.

A Deadly Danger Averted:
....begin...
It was Sunday and was my first working "weekend" after I have come to the new project. Only the day before Teja had told me about his friend who would be coming to India and also that there are some real good discounts of 250$. From a week prior to this my search for the right configuration had begun with DELL being the ultimate winner. The reason being with the kind of configuration I need DELL turns out to be the lowest and in some cases I couldn't configure to what I want with others. The only glitch was this would take at least 3 weeks to come from the time it is ordered. Finally I had everything charted out and my initial configuration looked quite attractive and I still wasn't in i-hate-everything-about-vista mould.

• Windows Vista Home Premium
• 2 GB RAM
• Integrated Web Cam
• 250 GB HDD
• Intel Core 2 Duo
• Blue cover with Wireless Logitech Mouse.

and everything else that comes by default totalling aroudn $1380 with discount of $350. That morning his friend was online and hurried me on to confirm my details as the supposed "discount" period was going to expire. We both were hooked with gtalk and the talks went on. Time was ticking by and the cab fella wasn't the usual either. I went over the list thrice with him and gave my assent assuring that within few days the money would be transferred and left for the office.

!!!!!Could have almost ruined my life..that's Teja for you !!!!!

It was not until the cab reached Infy building did it strike me WHAT the hell am I going to tell my dad? Oh, god he would make a minced meat of me with his plus/minus point comparisions. Though I had mailed my friends, cousins and all I know in US for any "prospects" I haven't received any response. I mean I just struck out my first deal. That as far as dad is concerned i am dead. On top of that anti-Vista feelings have started to sink in. So I called up Chitti for his thoughts and I found out that everything was not that bad as the supposed discounts I might get around Christmas would be give or take 30$. I calmed a little.

Trrrrrrrrrrrrr... goes my phone and I was glad it was Mr.Ranganayakulu on the phone. Before I could really pour my heart out and ask him to hold the deal back I learnt that discount was pfff and that the next time it would come he would let me know. This my friends is what they call blessing in disguise or better still "Luck favors the brave " ( very very inappropriate .. i know..).

...ends here...

Holy Crap!!! What the hell was I thinking? Vista??? I mean....Vista?? Was I nuts or what after seeing how bad the perfomance is with Hari bearing the witness and a 20 GB of disk wastage for that chunky , non-impressive software?? Damn, how close I was in committing yet another grave mistake and man I don't know how much further I could have tolerated...

To be continued...

Prelude to Quinn's Quest For Laptop

Remember remember the month of September ??

Ok it was March, but it won't rhyme you see.. The Day Bofore the Big C series? . It's the turn of my laptop now and this time because I don't exactly know when it's gonna come but it IS gonna come in December. First of all I want to thank sincerely from bottom of my hear to my roommate, ex-classmate, friend and well wisher Hari Krishan a.k.a. harikris . The time he changed the password and refused to share it with me I knew I needed to do something about it and vowed myself I would not touch his laptop again and had sticked to it till yesterday ( when I had to use...) .

!!!!!HariKris...the Laptop Dude....!!!!!

In his place I would have felt the same. I mean wouldn't it be too uncomfortable for you to see someone else installing softwares that you would never use, reading and practising on your machine instead of giving it rest, watching movies at will whenever time permits? If your answers to the above questions is yes, well he has taken the next logical step. This wouldn't normally happen at homes but at room when you are forced to share systems these things matter. I saw no point in exlaining that all those things that he sees in Add/Remove components are bundled softwares and that I can't really chose what I won't use and what I would use. The softwares in question: SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, Visual Studio Web Express 2005.( Geeks your comments please?...Can I?). That's about him. And again ain't no finger pointing here. No sir, no..

!!!!!Eswar...obviously...the Desktop Dude....!!!!!

Now the other alternative: the desktop. I have a stiff competetion with what Eswar also practising real hard I had to have it. I am very much thankful to Eswar too for his dedication to work and working for hours in pursuit of glory!!! Frankly without these two guys displaying and doing what they did the thought of Laptop would have never materialized. And well like any software developer out there I wanted one.

What follows next is how I went about chosing for one....