Recently I purchased a Dell laptop that comes with Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit. As you know, Windows Vista Home Premium edition comes with a media center software installed, called Windows Media Center. As great as Windows Media Center is, just like Windows Media Player, it is not able to play AVI and MKV (Matroska) files straight out of the box. You need to install some AV Codecs in order to play those files in Windows Media Center. The problem is that there are gazillions AV codecs out there, which one works? Here are the breakdown of all the codecs I’ve tried:

• DivX Codecs: This one works, but only for Windows Media Player. It does not work for Windows Media Center.
• FFDShow Tryouts: This one apparently does not work. Maybe I had to configure it to work in Windows Media Center, but straight out of the box it does not work for me.
• Media Control Plugin: This one uses FFDShow Tryouts. Doesn’t work.
• Shark007 Codec Solution: This is THE ONE, this one WORKS. It seems to use FFDShow Tryouts to do the job, but it works straight out of the box. NOTE: if you’re using 64 bit Windows Media Center, you need to install the 64 bit component as well.

RWendi

I got my XPS laptop on Tuesday this week. My first impression on the laptop thus far has been good. There are 2 words that can sum up my first impression, beauty and quality. I will write more about it once I’ve played around with it more. Stay Tune.

One of the greatest thing with buying from Dell is that you are given the opportunity to customize your system configuration before buying. You can upgrade any components you like, add more components to your system, or on some cases downgrade your component. These upgrades do not come free, they will add up to your final price that you have to pay for your laptop.

If you’re like me, you probably have the “I want a future proof system” mindset, when configuring your Dell laptop. The only way to have a future proof system is to have a powerful system configuration that can withstand the trial of time. This does mean that you might be required to upgrade the base configuration offered by Dell.

When I was configuring my XPS 16 laptop, the biggest question that comes to my mind was “Is it worth it to upgrade these components now?”. Now that I have bought my laptop, I wandered if I made the right decision by not upgrading some components early. These are the component upgrades that I decided to leave out:

• Upgrading the 500GB 7200RPM hard drive to a 128GB SSD.
• Upgrading the DVD drive with a Blu-Ray Drive.
• Adding an integrated TV tuner.
• Upgrading the battery to 9 cells.

Lets take the first case, upgrading the 500Gb 7200RPM hard-drive to a 128Gb SSD. The reason for me not upgrading early is because the upgrade is too expensive. It would cost me $267 (AUD) to upgrade, and I would lose 372GB. Now how much does it cost for me to upgrade this on my own? If I take the price of a 7200RPM hard drive ($168) plus the upgrade, this means you actually paid $435 for the SSD upgrade by Dell. According to StaticIce (computer hardware price comparison search engine), you can get a 128Gb SSD as low as $322. That’s a $100 different, which is not bad.

The second case is to upgrade the DVD drive to a Blu-Ray Drive, which costs $266.60. This is quite a tricky one, because it is not easy to find a slot loaded internal Blu-Ray Drive. In fact I was not able to find any on the market, except for second hand ones which cost around $80 on Ebay. Another option is to get an external Blu-Ray drive, which costs around $170. Again another $100 different, and it’s external too! This means you can add blu-ray capability to every PCs that you’ve got. I think that is a BIG plus.

The third case is to add an integrated TV tuner. The TV tuner that Dell provides is an integrated DVB-T digital TV Tuner, which costs $79.20 to upgrade. Another tricky one to compare, because all the internal tv tuner that I could find will take up an express card expansion slot. The cheapest that I could find is AVerMedia Hybrid + FM Express TV tunner, and it costs $95. Yes it is more expensive, but it’s also an analog TV Tuner, Digital Radio tuner, and it comes with a remote control. With all those additional functionalities I think its worth the $15 difference. Another option is to get an external USB Digital TV Tuner. I’m able to find AVerTV Volar X USB Digital TV Tuner for $50. Very good price, and it comes with a remote control too.

The last case is probably where it makes sense to upgrade early. A 9 cell Dell battery is definitely something that you will not be able to find retail. Even if you can find retail, are you really going to trust those aftermarket batteries? Battery is a very crucial component of a laptop. I may be a little bit paranoid here, but I think there might be a chance in a case of mismatch, you might end up burning your system internal circuit. That is definitely something you want to avoid at all cost.

When it comes to upgrading your component early, whether it’s worth upgrading, it all depends on the nature of the component. Is it something that can be bought on retail market? If It is not, by all means upgrade it. If it is, then you better off upgrading later and save yourself some money.

RWendi

2 days ago I ordered through a New Dell XPS Studio 16 Laptop from Dell Australia website. Here is the basic spec:

• Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53 GHz/1066 FSB/3MB). Very tempted to upgrade to T9550 (2.66GHz/1066 FSB/6MB), but I don’t think it’s worth it. T9550 consumes more power (35W compared to 25W) and yet overall performance gain, in theory, shouldn’t be that much (unless in gaming of course). Comparison of Intel Centrino 2 CPUs.
• 4 GB dual-channel 1066MH DDR3. Sweet, DDR3.
• 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive. At the moment I don’t think it’s worth it to get a solid state drive. I need to add $267 just to add a 128GB SSD. Surely it’s faster, but I have to trade off 372GB of space. No Thanks.
• Windows Vista Home Premium (64Bit) with Windows 7 upgrade eligibility.
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670. This worries me a bit, not sure how much power hungry this thing is.
• 6 Cells Battery. Wanted to upgrade to 9 cells, but it cost me $190 more. Hopefully the 6 cells battery will do just fine.
• Slot Load 8X DVD + /-RW Drive with double layer write capability. Again tempted to upgrade to blu-ray. Then I thought, I prefer to watch HD Movies on a 46” HD TV.
• 15.6" 1080p WUXGA (1920x1080) WLED display. Full HD, Sweet.

This system costs me about $1570. I think its a pretty good deal, considering the specs is not bad at all. The estimated delivery time is about 9-12 working days.  If you wander why it takes that long, it’s because most Dell computers are manufactured in and shipped from Malaysia. I hope I can get the laptop by the end of next week, can’t wait to get my hands on it. :)

RWendi

Last week I mentioned that I would start honing up my business skills by reading more business books/blogs. I haven’t started on blogs yet, but I have picked up a book that’s called “The One Minute Manager ” written by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson. This book is light weight and only contains 106 pages. It’s a fairly easy reading book, which is good for me. Having very low business skills, I think it’s a bad idea for me to start reading books that is very in depth and hard to follow.

The writers deliver their ideas in a form of a story of a young man who was looking for the most effective manager, so that he can work for him and learn from him. His search led him to many kind of managers, and they can be sum up to two categories: managers who were primarily interested in results (autocratic, bottom-line, hard-nosed, realistic, and profit-minded), and managers who were primarily interested in people (democratic, participative, supportive, considerate, and humanistic). He learnt that those two type of managers are just partially effective, because they can only benefit/profit either the organization or the people, not both. The young man search finally led him to the “One Minute Manager” where he finally learnt the most effective way to be a manager.

The book promotes three management techniques, which are: 1 Minute Goal Setting, 1 Minute Praising, and 1 Minute Reprimand. If you wander if 1 minute actually means 1 minute, it’s not. It’s just an idiom to remind us that they are not as complicated as they seem. They should be clear and simple.

Management “lifecycle” has to always start from 1 Minute Goal Setting. Before starting any work/project, it’s important that all the goals/objectives and the desired output clearly defined and agreed on. The purpose of this is so that the people you’re managing are able to see what good performance behaviors look like. They’re encouraged to constantly review their performance to see if the current behaviors/situations match with the goals. The goals should be written on a piece of paper, and should not be more than 250 words. The idea is to keep them easy to read and simple to understand, so that re-reading them will re-clear your objectives.

After all the goals have been set, it is important to give constant and ongoing feedback of how your team is doing. This is where the 1 Minute Praising and 1 Minute reprimand come into play. Praising and reprimand should be given out immediately whenever you see good and bad behaviors. Constant feedbacks motivate people, because they become completely aware of how well they’re doing and progressing in achieving the goals set by the 1 minute goal setting. Here are some tips given by the writer on how to give praising and reprimand effectively:

• Let them know that you’re going to observe how they’re doing and constantly give feedback of their performance from the very start.
• Praise/Reprimand immediately.
• Tell them specifically what they did right/wrong.
• Tell them how you feel about what they did right/wrong.
• Additional steps for reprimands:
• Remind them how much you value them.
• Reaffirm that you think well of them  but not of their performance in this situation.
• Additional steps for praising:
• Encourage them to do more of the same

I think that the book gives a simplistic approach to management. It is more like the macro or brief general overview of what managers should do to give benefit to both the organization and the people their managing. His approach is pretty basic, and it sounds like it can be practical in real life. I think this book has met my expectations. I expected to gain basic knowledge in management and I believe that’s what I have got. I think I’m going to look something more of a heavy read next time.

RWendi