The laptop
So, the laptop did arrive one day after it was shipped. As with all computers in the household, it has been named (a tradition I inherited from my father), and it is not Mark Anthony. Besides the confusion such a name can cause, my father brought up a good point - Mark Anthony died a rather ignominious death, and that's not the kind of legacy I want to promise my computer. Instead, it is now Titus Pullo, which should make him a much better friend to Octavian, the other laptop.
As far as the quality of the upgrade? Phwoar. The thing destroys the limits that I had on my desktop PC. To give you an idea, in WoW I'm getting 30-40 FPS in Shattrath City on a full server.
At 1920x1200.
With everything cranked up as far as the AI will allow (although I understand that you can go beyond those settings with some macro magic).
Besides that, the thing is completely lit up (or as tim_almasy calls it, "nerd bling"). Backlit keyboard. Backlit touchpad. Backlit lid. Speaker lights that can be selected from 16 different colors (currently, I'm running ruby red to match the rest of the case). An LCD screen that shows the time, performance stats, media stats (for example, what I'm playing in iTunes or Windows Media Player), and the coolest bit - my WoW character's stats while I'm playing. It's got a full-sized keyboard, so I've got a real number pad. The downside is that at 16" wide by 12" deep, it's a bit too large for most laptop bags. I'll need a new one, but for the meantime it just barely fits into my current bag, along with the power brick (which is roughly the size of the 360's power adapter).
The most striking thing about this laptop, strangely enough, is what it isn't. It's not loud. I knew my old computer was a bit noisy thanks to all the fans, but I really didn't realize to what extent until I switched to using Pullo. My office is almost eerily silent now, since the laptop makes almost no noise. There's the faintest hint of fan/HD noise, and a bit of sound when I put in a DVD, but that's about it.
Is it perfect? No. It gets rather warm, so it's best for a table rather than a lap. It's got a whopping 1 1/2 hours of battery life. Those two things aren't major problems, though - I've got plenty of places in the house to plug in, as well as tables to put it on (and honestly, it's not that bad to have on the lap). I can live with the limitations, because what I get in exchange is so superior to what I had before.
So yeah, I'm happy.
As far as the quality of the upgrade? Phwoar. The thing destroys the limits that I had on my desktop PC. To give you an idea, in WoW I'm getting 30-40 FPS in Shattrath City on a full server.
At 1920x1200.
With everything cranked up as far as the AI will allow (although I understand that you can go beyond those settings with some macro magic).
Besides that, the thing is completely lit up (or as tim_almasy calls it, "nerd bling"). Backlit keyboard. Backlit touchpad. Backlit lid. Speaker lights that can be selected from 16 different colors (currently, I'm running ruby red to match the rest of the case). An LCD screen that shows the time, performance stats, media stats (for example, what I'm playing in iTunes or Windows Media Player), and the coolest bit - my WoW character's stats while I'm playing. It's got a full-sized keyboard, so I've got a real number pad. The downside is that at 16" wide by 12" deep, it's a bit too large for most laptop bags. I'll need a new one, but for the meantime it just barely fits into my current bag, along with the power brick (which is roughly the size of the 360's power adapter).
The most striking thing about this laptop, strangely enough, is what it isn't. It's not loud. I knew my old computer was a bit noisy thanks to all the fans, but I really didn't realize to what extent until I switched to using Pullo. My office is almost eerily silent now, since the laptop makes almost no noise. There's the faintest hint of fan/HD noise, and a bit of sound when I put in a DVD, but that's about it.
Is it perfect? No. It gets rather warm, so it's best for a table rather than a lap. It's got a whopping 1 1/2 hours of battery life. Those two things aren't major problems, though - I've got plenty of places in the house to plug in, as well as tables to put it on (and honestly, it's not that bad to have on the lap). I can live with the limitations, because what I get in exchange is so superior to what I had before.
So yeah, I'm happy.