stoutfellow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stoutfellow) wrote2011-01-22 07:26 pm
stoutfellow) wrote2011-01-22 07:26 pm
Entry tags:
One Week In
I've had the new computer for just over a week now, and overall I'm pretty pleased with it. There are a few drawbacks, but some at least are fixable, and there are a number of capabilities I haven't tested yet; but things look pretty good so far. Details under the cut.
Of course, a good deal of what I'll have to say isn't just the computer per se, but things like the DSL hookup and the particular software that's loaded; let's just take it for granted that by "the new computer" I mean "the new collection of hardware, software, and connections".
Good
1. Obviously, the increased speed of the DSL, the processor, and the video card is a major plus. I haven't gone whole hog into looking at online video, but I've gotten a taste of it, and so far things are working well. Just for an example: from long ago, I remembered a song which included a spoken prologue about Atlantis. I tracked it down - "Atlantis", by Donovan (who else?) - found a YouTube of it, and listened to the whole thing. (It's five minutes long, three minutes of which is the prologue, but then the song is far less interesting.) It's satisfying to scratch that particular itch (and to know that I really have no need to buy the song).
2. I've heard bad things about the post-XP versions of Windows, but so far W7 seems to work pretty well. I particularly like the arrangement of the Start menu. The sidebar ("Documents/Music/Games/Pictures") is very convenient. Also, where - on my old computer - I had shortcuts to each of the major databases I use (finances, music, movies, library), now the Start menu has Access prominently displayed, and mouseover produces a list of the databases: convenient, and less obtrusive.
3. I've decided to shift over to Thunderbird entirely. In the past, with a given piece of mail, I've had to decide whether it'd be more useful on my home computer or at the office, and I'd have to make the decision based purely on the header (which, with Pegasus, was sometimes misleading). With Thunderbird (and DSL) I can read the mail first and make the decision on that basis. There are other features that please me as well, but... well, it was always a pain to download a message, read it, realize I'd need it at the office, and have to forward it to myself - or else come to that conclusion based only on the header.
4. I used Jukebox for my music needs on the old computer. I'm quite pleased with Windows Media Player, though; it's more flexible and provides more useful detail (again, partly thanks to DSL). Now, I haven't saved any new music yet, nor have I done anything about establishing playlists, so I don't know how those will work, but what I've seen pleases me.
5. The suite of preloaded games is better. I've been dusting off my chess skills (and discovering that I still have some of the same weaknesses as always), for instance. I haven't tried the Mah Jongg yet, mainly because I've never actually played Mah Jongg, but I look forward to it.
6. Also as a side effect of DSL, DropBox works beautifully.
7. I have a large set of desktop backgrounds, from a variety of sources (APoD, various webcomics, TV shows, random stuff); on the old machine, I manually changed from one to another on a daily basis. Windows 7 allows me to tell it where my preferred backgrounds are and to set the frequency of (random) shifting between them. A small thing, but it pleases me.
Bad
1. The dialog that pops up when you finish a Solitaire game is annoying. Part of the problem is that I use Vegas scoring, one card at a time, and play until I end a hand with more than $0 or less than -$260; those are my standards for winning or losing. The Solitaire game does not accept these standards....
2. Sometimes the buffering on videos is inadequate, causing stuttering after every ten or fifteen seconds of material. I'm not sure what's causing that, or what to do about it.
3. Wiggling the mouse won't wake up the computer; it takes a keytap. I find this unreasonably irritating.
4. At one point today, without (AFAIK) any input from me, Windows Media Player spontaneously produced an eight-hour-long playlist, randomly chosen from my music library. I will probably want it to do that at some point in the future, but not without my knowledge and consent!
... Well, the Bad seems to be penny-ante stuff, pretty much. To be fair, so is some of the Good, but the Bad is small even compared to that. So far, the verdict has to be solidly positive. (At some point, we'll see how it does with Civ IV - and, later, with Civ V. That'll be a real test.)
Of course, a good deal of what I'll have to say isn't just the computer per se, but things like the DSL hookup and the particular software that's loaded; let's just take it for granted that by "the new computer" I mean "the new collection of hardware, software, and connections".
Good
1. Obviously, the increased speed of the DSL, the processor, and the video card is a major plus. I haven't gone whole hog into looking at online video, but I've gotten a taste of it, and so far things are working well. Just for an example: from long ago, I remembered a song which included a spoken prologue about Atlantis. I tracked it down - "Atlantis", by Donovan (who else?) - found a YouTube of it, and listened to the whole thing. (It's five minutes long, three minutes of which is the prologue, but then the song is far less interesting.) It's satisfying to scratch that particular itch (and to know that I really have no need to buy the song).
2. I've heard bad things about the post-XP versions of Windows, but so far W7 seems to work pretty well. I particularly like the arrangement of the Start menu. The sidebar ("Documents/Music/Games/Pictures") is very convenient. Also, where - on my old computer - I had shortcuts to each of the major databases I use (finances, music, movies, library), now the Start menu has Access prominently displayed, and mouseover produces a list of the databases: convenient, and less obtrusive.
3. I've decided to shift over to Thunderbird entirely. In the past, with a given piece of mail, I've had to decide whether it'd be more useful on my home computer or at the office, and I'd have to make the decision based purely on the header (which, with Pegasus, was sometimes misleading). With Thunderbird (and DSL) I can read the mail first and make the decision on that basis. There are other features that please me as well, but... well, it was always a pain to download a message, read it, realize I'd need it at the office, and have to forward it to myself - or else come to that conclusion based only on the header.
4. I used Jukebox for my music needs on the old computer. I'm quite pleased with Windows Media Player, though; it's more flexible and provides more useful detail (again, partly thanks to DSL). Now, I haven't saved any new music yet, nor have I done anything about establishing playlists, so I don't know how those will work, but what I've seen pleases me.
5. The suite of preloaded games is better. I've been dusting off my chess skills (and discovering that I still have some of the same weaknesses as always), for instance. I haven't tried the Mah Jongg yet, mainly because I've never actually played Mah Jongg, but I look forward to it.
6. Also as a side effect of DSL, DropBox works beautifully.
7. I have a large set of desktop backgrounds, from a variety of sources (APoD, various webcomics, TV shows, random stuff); on the old machine, I manually changed from one to another on a daily basis. Windows 7 allows me to tell it where my preferred backgrounds are and to set the frequency of (random) shifting between them. A small thing, but it pleases me.
Bad
1. The dialog that pops up when you finish a Solitaire game is annoying. Part of the problem is that I use Vegas scoring, one card at a time, and play until I end a hand with more than $0 or less than -$260; those are my standards for winning or losing. The Solitaire game does not accept these standards....
2. Sometimes the buffering on videos is inadequate, causing stuttering after every ten or fifteen seconds of material. I'm not sure what's causing that, or what to do about it.
3. Wiggling the mouse won't wake up the computer; it takes a keytap. I find this unreasonably irritating.
4. At one point today, without (AFAIK) any input from me, Windows Media Player spontaneously produced an eight-hour-long playlist, randomly chosen from my music library. I will probably want it to do that at some point in the future, but not without my knowledge and consent!
... Well, the Bad seems to be penny-ante stuff, pretty much. To be fair, so is some of the Good, but the Bad is small even compared to that. So far, the verdict has to be solidly positive. (At some point, we'll see how it does with Civ IV - and, later, with Civ V. That'll be a real test.)