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Dell Finally Releases Vostro A860 Laptop in America – Costs $379

Nerd Grind — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:59:39 +0000

Dell has finally released their Vostro A860 laptop in the United States. It had previously been available in other parts of the world since August. The unit starts at just $379 when you factor in Dell’s instant savings. The Vostro A860 features a 15.6-inch screen and weighs 5.4 pounds. It comes with either a Celeron or Pentium Dual Core processor. The Vostro also features a GMA X3100+ integrated graphics card, 2GB of memory, up to 160GB of storage, WiFi and optional Bluetooth. Vista is the pre-loaded OS of choice for the unit..

Microsoft Accidentally Reveals 2009 Launch Window for Windows 7

Nerd Grind — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:00:52 +0000

According to it’s corporate bigwigs, Microsoft will releases Windows 7 in early 2010. That’s not the whole story, however. Ina Fried at CNET has heard from Microsoft Director Doug Howe that Windows 7 should be ready for general consumption by the 2009 holidays. Answering a question from Fried, Doug Howe said "Definitely the holiday focus is going to be on 7."

Using the Vista launch as a template, this would put the Windows 7 OS in the hands of OEMs and big business IT staffers by the middle of the year, just three months shy of consumers. Now we play the waiting game.

Windows 7 Pre-Beta is Already Better than Vista

Nerd Grind — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:55:49 +0000

According to tests conducted over at Lifehacker, Windows 7 is already booting 20% faster than Windows Vista. In tests on identical systems, Vista Ultimate took 37 seconds to fully boot while Windows 7 came in 10 seconds faster at 27 seconds.

I’m already impressed. I run Vista Ultimate on my main machine and don’t really mind it much, for the first time in a while, I think I can actually say that I am looking forward to this new release of Windows.

The idea that Microsoft has achieved boot times of just 15 seconds is mind blowing as well as being able to run the OS on an Eee PC. It looks like Microsoft is "back to basics" and hopefully this time they’ll deliver.

If you don’t know much about Windows 7, check out the walk through at Gizmodo.

Microsoft Finally Discontinues Windows 3.x

Nerd Grind — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:09:20 +0000

Microsoft has finally discontinued licensing for their seminal Windows 3.x platform. Believe it or not, consumers have still been snapping up licenses for the system. It’s used primarily in cash registers and with airline entertainment companies. Still, after 18 years, Microsoft decided to call it quits.

Requirements for the, now dead, OS included a 8086/8088 processor with a clock speed of 10MHz, 7MB of storage and 640KB of RAM. To put that in perspective, Vista requires a minimum of a 1GHz processor and 20GB of storage.

Microsoft Announces Host of Improvements in Windows Vista SP2

Nerd Grind — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:58:47 +0000

It’s only been six months since Vista’s SP1 hit the Internet, but Microsoft execs have already begun to tout SP2. They’ve unveiled some of the improvements the second service pack will bring to the table. Vista SP2 will add Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy. It will also come packed in with the Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack. Finally, they’ve announced SP2 will also have the ability to natively record data on Blu-Ray media and Windows Connect Now (WCN.) This would allow users to simplify their WiFi configurations.

The press release did not divulge a release date for the service pack nor did it offer up any details on the company’s forthcoming Windows 7.

Microsoft sends out Vista SP2 beta invites

Nerd Grind — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:56:44 +0000

The house that Bill Gates built has begun sending out Vista SP2 beta invites. It doesn’t appear to add any major new features though it does improve upon some old ones. The internal search engine has been vastly improved. It also adds some bluetooth patches, support for Via’s 64 bit processor and a handful of other app compatibility updates. The invites will continue to be sent out for the next four weeks. No word on the release date of the final.

As usual, I didn’t get an invite. You don’t call. You don’t write. I’m beginning to think we aren’t friends anymore Microsoft.

Dell releases the Precision M6400 Covet mobile workstation

Nerd Grind — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:39:09 +0000

The name says it all. "Precision" because of the clean lines and the ease in which you can finish your work. "Covet" because, well, other people will want it. "Mobile workstation" because it is one, and "M6400" because it just about costs $6,400.

Not quite. The unit will actually set you back $3,859. Sound pricey? It is, but check out what’s under the hood:

This nifty doodad comes packing a 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo T940 CPU, Vista Business, a dual-layer DVD writer, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 160GB 7,200 RPM hard drive, NVIDIA’s 1GB Quadro FX 3700M GPU, a 2-megapixel webcam, WiFi, 9-cell battery and a 17-inch WUXGA LED-backlit display. Yowza. Optional features include SSD, WWAN, a Core 2 Quad CPU and 16GB of RAM.

Read more specs by clicking here. This is shaping up to be the Cadillac of mobile workstations.

Vista SP1 Kills Kill-Switch

Nerd Grind — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:38:58 +0000

We anxiously await Vista’s SP1 due out in January to rid us of the pain-in-the-neck Kill Switch that some diabolical MS engineer came up with.

While Vista will still haunt you with messages, it will no longer disable your OS. Microsoft plans to roll back WGA to where it might nag you, but will not block access to any installed programs or Windows features.

WGA senior product manger, Alex Kochis, who said, "Based on customer feedback, we will not reduce user functionality on systems determined to be non-genuine."

All Hail Microsoft! Well, maybe…

Vista SP1

Nerd Grind — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:23:33 +0000

The first service pack for Windows Vista was reviewed by APCMag and it contains the usual bug fixes and performance tweaks. What’s new is the ability to create a recovery disk, plus a whole bunch of new install packages for Vista’s components. And that’s The Word.

Vista Service Pack for July 16

Nerd Grind — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:28:00 +0000

Rumor has it that Microsoft is planning Vista’s very first service pack beta release in mid-July, with a final version of Vista SP1, codenamed "Fiji", hopefully for November.

Meanwhile, work continues on Windows Vienna.

NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News » Vista

Dell Finally Releases Vostro A860 Laptop in America – Costs $379

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