Comments on: The Vaio Returneth http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/ My opinions about convergence, consumer technology, gadgets, Web, and more. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:51:18 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: » Open Letter to Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, and Sony Corp: I Am Not A PC - By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad! http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-389582 » Open Letter to Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, and Sony Corp: I Am Not A PC - By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad! Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:28:37 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-389582 [...] person who has a Mac told me the same thing, they love the ease of the Mac. Unfortunately for us PC users, we cannot do the [...] [...] person who has a Mac told me the same thing, they love the ease of the Mac. Unfortunately for us PC users, we cannot do the [...]

]]> By: Saucy http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-354311 Saucy Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:10:40 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-354311 'Same here, only with an Acer laptop. They come *loaded* with crapware. So I downloaded the necessary drivers from the website and burned them to disc. Then I used a *generic* Vista disc. Generic Vista caught almost all the devices save a couple or so, so most of the driver downloading wasn't necessary. I installed them and it all works. Afterwards, I realized I should install a more up-to-date ATI video driver as there was a minor glitch in the one that comes with Vista. No big deal. But overall it was so easy .. and the difference! Wow. From slow slow slow to decent. And then I decided to install more RAM ['went from 1 to 2 GB] and the thing now pretty much rocks. ‘Same here, only with an Acer laptop. They come *loaded* with crapware. So I downloaded the necessary drivers from the website and burned them to disc. Then I used a *generic* Vista disc. Generic Vista caught almost all the devices save a couple or so, so most of the driver downloading wasn’t necessary. I installed them and it all works.

Afterwards, I realized I should install a more up-to-date ATI video driver as there was a minor glitch in the one that comes with Vista. No big deal.

But overall it was so easy .. and the difference! Wow. From slow slow slow to decent. And then I decided to install more RAM ['went from 1 to 2 GB] and the thing now pretty much rocks.

]]> By: Jeff Dickey http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-312054 Jeff Dickey Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:32:02 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-312054 Jeremy, Completely agree about the Innovator's Dilemma. I've been an omnivorous Windows/Linux guy for a *very* long time; had Macs (first a 128K Thin Mac, then a PowerTower Pro 225 and then...that was it for over a decade, until I got tired of all the mental masturbation required to make *either* Windows or Linux happy and working the way I wanted on my Acer and Lenovo laptops. We've known for years that to use Windows heavily on a daily basis essentially requires corporate-level technical support, plus a big hit out of the work week for maintenance. Linux has always had the advantage that the pain was all on the front end; once you got everything set, it (mostly) just kept working. That is, until the next time you do a major software upgrade. I run Ubuntu Gutsy on both laptops; when Hardy came out, I downloaded and burned the DVD, started updating my migration plan (I always do clean installs, not in-place upgrades), and then something funny happened. I got sick, then I got busy on a project that needed 110% attention for a couple of weeks, and then I noticed something. I wasn't really excited about the possibility of taking myself offline for a day or two to install, restore, tweak and test both systems. I also was tired of small screens; staring into a monitor 16/7/365 for 25+ years is why I have -8.0-dioptre correction in the first place. So I bought a 24" iMac. I haven't been this jazzed about a computer since... somewhere between the PowerTower and Windows 95; either way, a long, LONG time ago. Count me as part of your "rounding error". The Rule of Tens strikes with a vengeance! Jeremy,

Completely agree about the Innovator’s Dilemma. I’ve been an omnivorous Windows/Linux guy for a *very* long time; had Macs (first a 128K Thin Mac, then a PowerTower Pro 225 and then…that was it for over a decade, until I got tired of all the mental masturbation required to make *either* Windows or Linux happy and working the way I wanted on my Acer and Lenovo laptops. We’ve known for years that to use Windows heavily on a daily basis essentially requires corporate-level technical support, plus a big hit out of the work week for maintenance. Linux has always had the advantage that the pain was all on the front end; once you got everything set, it (mostly) just kept working. That is, until the next time you do a major software upgrade. I run Ubuntu Gutsy on both laptops; when Hardy came out, I downloaded and burned the DVD, started updating my migration plan (I always do clean installs, not in-place upgrades), and then something funny happened. I got sick, then I got busy on a project that needed 110% attention for a couple of weeks, and then I noticed something. I wasn’t really excited about the possibility of taking myself offline for a day or two to install, restore, tweak and test both systems. I also was tired of small screens; staring into a monitor 16/7/365 for 25+ years is why I have -8.0-dioptre correction in the first place. So I bought a 24″ iMac. I haven’t been this jazzed about a computer since… somewhere between the PowerTower and Windows 95; either way, a long, LONG time ago.

Count me as part of your “rounding error”. The Rule of Tens strikes with a vengeance!

]]> By: Ed Bott http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-308390 Ed Bott Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:15:50 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-308390 Gennady, with Vista, you can install from any retail media using no product key. Borrow a copy, download from Technet or MSDN, or use a copy from another machine. Then, after installation, us the activation option and enter the key from the sticker on your PC. You will not be able to activate automatically over the internet but you will be able to do so when you use the phone option. Takes six minutes, and that's exactly what I did with Jeremy's notebook in this case. Gennady, with Vista, you can install from any retail media using no product key. Borrow a copy, download from Technet or MSDN, or use a copy from another machine. Then, after installation, us the activation option and enter the key from the sticker on your PC. You will not be able to activate automatically over the internet but you will be able to do so when you use the phone option. Takes six minutes, and that’s exactly what I did with Jeremy’s notebook in this case.

]]> By: Jeremy Toeman http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-297449 Jeremy Toeman Tue, 20 May 2008 18:57:29 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-297449 cucu - sorry, but you're just off the mark here (and calling bullshit or telling me I'm dumb just deflect from your argument, by the way). The needs of the notebook user have changed - the average person no longer needs 48,000 combinations of options on a notebook. We're so far past speeds & feeds. This is exactly that "innovator's dilemma" moment that PC manufacturers *must* recognize to continue sustaining market share. In a few years, those signs will become obvious, even to people who write denigrating messages like yours. cucu – sorry, but you’re just off the mark here (and calling bullshit or telling me I’m dumb just deflect from your argument, by the way). The needs of the notebook user have changed – the average person no longer needs 48,000 combinations of options on a notebook. We’re so far past speeds & feeds.

This is exactly that “innovator’s dilemma” moment that PC manufacturers *must* recognize to continue sustaining market share. In a few years, those signs will become obvious, even to people who write denigrating messages like yours.

]]> By: cucu http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-297153 cucu Tue, 20 May 2008 09:49:42 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-297153 1. "PC manufacturers should massively separate the “home/consumer” group from the business groups." They do - Dell Latitude, IBM Thinkpad ... 2. "Making a great laptop requires a minimal quantity of options." Total bullshit - a great laptop needs real choice = options that you can control (which is NOT what you get from Apple, but you are too fresh on that camp to see it, in a few years you will read pages like http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks and ask yourself how could you possibly be so dumb as to not see the signs ... 1. “PC manufacturers should massively separate the “home/consumer” group from the business groups.”

They do – Dell Latitude, IBM Thinkpad …

2. “Making a great laptop requires a minimal quantity of options.”

Total bullshit – a great laptop needs real choice = options that you can control (which is NOT what you get from Apple, but you are too fresh on that camp to see it, in a few years you will read pages like http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks and ask yourself how could you possibly be so dumb as to not see the signs …

]]> By: Nik TJ http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-297074 Nik TJ Tue, 20 May 2008 06:04:27 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-297074 I was interested in Meh's comment about wiping and clean-installing Dell/Sony/HP etc notebooks. I have been doing this regularly for some years, but felt myself to be quite unusual for doing so. Out of interest, about one third of those machines got linux while the the other two-thirds got Windows 2000 or (more recently) XP. However, in the past two years that ratio has shifted to about 50-50. Cheers! Nik I was interested in Meh’s comment about wiping and clean-installing Dell/Sony/HP etc notebooks.

I have been doing this regularly for some years, but felt myself to be quite unusual for doing so. Out of interest, about one third of those machines got linux while the the other two-thirds got Windows 2000 or (more recently) XP. However, in the past two years that ratio has shifted to about 50-50.

Cheers!
Nik

]]> By: Jeremy Toeman’s LIVEdigitally » Blog Archive » MacBooks will take 50% of notebook market share within a year http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/comment-page-1/#comment-293239 Jeremy Toeman’s LIVEdigitally » Blog Archive » MacBooks will take 50% of notebook market share within a year Tue, 13 May 2008 23:58:05 +0000 http://www.livedigitally.com/2008/04/22/the-vaio-returneth/#comment-293239 [...] time.  A year ago I’d have recommended a Vaio hands-down.  Today I cannot (despite mine working quite well now - thanks again Ed!), because I simply don’t believe that all configurations are [...] [...] time.  A year ago I’d have recommended a Vaio hands-down.  Today I cannot (despite mine working quite well now – thanks again Ed!), because I simply don’t believe that all configurations are [...]

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