Today I received a completely new Dell XPS M1210 at work, which is one of the few Dells I actually quite like, being small, "road-ready" and powerful. I’ve already set up one of these before, and when I told our sales guy at Dell how impressed I was he could tell me that most of the guys over there had got one for themselves. I would even consider buying one privately if I knew it was well-supported by a linux distro to my taste.
But back to the one I got today. When I had got it up and running, signed the EULA (I’ve prolly "signed" 100s of these, and I’ve not read them once), set up the regional settings and computer name and I got to the point of actually loading the system it gave me the BSOD. It’s true. A completely new, out-of-the-factory computer with a pre-installed XP OEM version went down in blue shame, clinging to my feet, just begging for a linux distro! And when I said no, because its new owner would never approve of 1337 sleekness under GNU licences, it killed itself.
Update! Software to uninstall before using it:
Paint Shop Pro IX
Corel Snapfire plus
McAfee 30-day subscription
Google Desktop
Dell Network Assistant
SearchAssist
URL Assistant
Don’t worry, the BSOD happens even to the best of us. A 12″ is a small cutie, but if you’re going to write alot and shit, I’d suggest a 14.1″ at least. I’ve been living and breathing with my 15″ and I do get tired of it after some hours.
You only need an extra monitor. The keyboard is "natural size" which isn’t a common thing on so-called ultra-portables, although it draws the line between a usable and a useless computer to me.