James Whitt's Mind Notes

Decided to get a new laptop.  I’m going to give my old one, Inspiron 6000, to my wife to use since it is a lot better and nicer than her old laptop.  One of the main reasons for the upgrade is because my laptop is the laptop that I use at work, and I really could use a larger screen with a higher resolution.  The purpose of that is so that I can see more things at once: development screen, debugger, testing screen, etc.  Really helps out.

The new laptop I’m going with is another Dell.  I know I said I would not do another Dell, but after looking everywhere for the exact laptop I wanted, Dell was the only one that offerred the screen / resolution that I wanted.  Really came close to getting an HP, but even though they had the size screen I wanted, they didn’t offer the resolution.  The new laptop is an Inspiron E1705, which I think is basically the home edition of the Inspiron 9400.  I have no idea why two different Dell departments named the same exact laptop the same.

Once I get the laptop, I will be installing Gentoo Linux on it.  This time around I plan to write the documentation on how to install it correct WHILE I’m installing.  On the Inspiron 6000, I would do it then try to remember what I did which didn’t work out well at all.  Look for that in April, since the laptop is not supposed to be delivered until then.

Here’s the specs:

Processor: Intel Core Duo T2300 (1.66 GHz / 667 MHz FSB)
Memory: 1GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm
Monitory: 17 inch Ultra Sharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 HyperMemory 256MB
Hard Drive: 60GB 5400 RPM SATA
Optical Drive: 8X DVD+/- RW Drive
Wireless: Intel PRO / WIreless 3945 a/g Mini Card