I recently purchased a new computer after four long years of using my Toshiba notebook as my primary system. I felt it better to go with a desktop this time around, since Avanade provides me with a notebook. After some research I went with a Dell XPS 410 because it gave me the most bang for my buck. Dell and Alienware are the only pre-built systems I trust and quite frankly I've grown tired of building my own machines. Of course, that doesn't mean I have to deal with the smack software they load on the things by default.
Step one, blast the OS with a nice fresh copy of Windows Vista RC2. So a couple of days ago I download the x64 version of RC2 (I hadn't needed it in the past, since all my other machines are x86). I spent last night installing the OS and some basic applications, including the recent RTM of Office 2007. Today, I walk in to the office and everyone is raving that the Vista RTM was released last night. LAST NIGHT! This is the second time this has happened to me with Vista. Someone at Microsoft will have to answer for this!
Now I'm downloading the RTM version at sub par speeds thanks to the countless MSDN junkies all trying to get their grubby little paws on it at once. Avanade had it available through our internal torrent utility about 4 hours before it was posted on MSDN, but alas I was too late. I at least have the luxury of the weekend to play around with it assuming it finishes downloading in the next century.
On the plus side, the new system is working fine on RC2. I was able to find x64 drivers (beta) for all the hardware in it. I did, however, have to ditch my old USB TV tuner, since it there are no x64 drivers for it. The new system already has a TV tuner that works, but I was hoping to add the secondary tuner. No big deal. I doubt I would've used it much anyway. I only have one unknown device left and it's tied to ACPI (who cares about power management?). Maybe the RTM will recognize it, but I'm not counting my chickens before they come home to roost.
Technorati tags:
Windows Vista,
Dell,
XPS