Technology Ramblings

Today - there are four choices for a Desktop OS - Windows, MacOS, Linux and ChromeOS - so which one is best and is there a clear advantage of one over the other ? I have used all four and each has it's good, bad and ugly.  Over the next few paragraphs I'll give my opinion of each of my experiences and may help you make a decision. Windows... So regardless of all the press/hype what have you regarding Apple and Google vs MS, Windows is still the 900lb gorilla in the Desktop OS space.   With an over 90% market share and over 1B desktops in play, Windows is available on more platforms from more manufacturers than anyone.   It is the defacto Desktop OS.  In fact is has to be said that Windows XP was so good that some 24% of all desktops out there are still running this 13 year old OS.   53% are on Windows 7 - a 5 year OS..   About 13% are on Windows 8 or 8.1.    The big advantage I see to Windows is that due to its extreme breadth of exposur...

I am a big believer in mobile broadband.  And sure smartphones are for great for quick email readings or notes, gps, etc, etc - there are times when you need to haul out your laptop to get some real work done. Depending where you are that also often means searching around for WiFi.  And while Starbucks for many of us road warriors used to be the defacto portable office it's just gotten way too crowded - the internet service is often poor and someone is always there trying to stream a movie. There are all kinds of other use cases as well.  For example being at a customer site that doesn't have guest wireless or in a parking lot somewhere after a meeting try to get a slide deck out or some other piece of business.   This is where mobile broadband in a laptop/ultrabook really pays in my opinion. To that end I recently purchased a Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7354 LTE Card.  This 7 Band LTE card is a mini-PCIe device that plugged in to my Dell Latitude 7240 ult...

So I took the opportunity to go back and review some of my previous posts and in particular my Windows 8.1 post - the most recent was back in March just prior to the Update 1 release. In the post I asked two questions... 1. Can I use this day-to-day 2. Would I recommend this to others So the answer to #1 is yes.  All of my home and work computers now run Windows 8.1 and I have to say that Update 1 did a lot to improve the overall usability of Windows on a non-Surface device.   Simple things like having a Window Close capability on a Modern app were very much appreciated. Some other improvements like the updated "Start" menu were okay.   The challenge I still have is that in my opinion MS made it harder for enthusiast folks to get to key tools we use, that we don't necessarily want on the desktop or in the task bar. And if you have a more modern computer running Intel Core processors and SSD, then Win 8.1 is a no brainer.  The one thing MS got very correct ...

While I own a couple of Ipads and like them I wanted to try a Windows tablet.  One of the design goals for Windows 8 was support for touch based tablets and while I run Windows 8.1 on every PC in my house it's loaded on a combination of traditional desktop, Touchscreen All-in-One or laptop/ultrabook devices. I work for Dell, and I really didn't want to spend the money on Microsoft's Surface device - so I opted for the Dell Venue 8 Pro.  This 8" tablet is actually a nice little W8 device and only cost $299 when I bought it.   My unit is the 64Gb Model with Intel Atom Z3740D dual core processor, 2Gb RAM.  I added another 64Gb via the SD Card slot for movie and music storage and run Office 2013 along with many other main line laptop apps including iTunes.   It has a 1280 x 800 (720p screen) with 10 point touch and a stylus.  It has a Dell 1538 802.11 a/g/n WiFi card.  It also has a TPM chip so can support full drive encryption.   You can also...

Looking for a great Windows laptop ?  Look no further than the Dell Latitude 7240 Ultrabook. So first off, just to be transparent, I work for Dell.  With that said, I have to say this is probably the best overall laptop I have ever had. Its light, fast and full of capabilities and all day battery life.  For example mine has a Intel Core I-5 4300U series dual-core 1.9Ghz proc with 16Gb of Ram, 256Gb PCIe SSD Drive and both a Mini PCie Wifi Card and WWAN Slot.    It has a real high quality metal casing inspired by the MacBook Air, but like most Dell computers you can open it up to replace the battery, hard drive, PCie Cards, etc.  It has USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, and pretty decent sound via Realtek HD Audio.  It also support up to 256Gb SD cards - I installed a 128Gb model to augment my SSD, but it's really to store large movies and music that I don't really need on the SSD.   My 7240 has a 12.5" WLED 720p display  (...

So recently purchased 2 new Nokia 635 phones from the Microsoft Store and so far I am impressed.  There were a fair price at $129 - a $40 discount from what TMO is selling them for and the color shells where $15.   Previously I owned a Nokia 521, and when the specs came out on the 635, to be honest I was a little underwhelmed.   Sure the 635 had LTE capability where the 521 was UMTS+ only and a larger screen 4.5 vs 4.0, but otherwise many of the specs seemed the same.   512MB RAM, 8GB ROM, 5Mp Camera, No Flash, etc etc..  In fact while it had a larger screen it had the same resolution - so the PPI was actually slightly less. With that said though, I have been impressed.  I was able to pop in my existing TMO SIM and SD Card from the 521 and was off to races.   Apps like Cortana, Mail, etc are snappier due to the new processor and while I didn't originally think that LTE would make that much difference for apps like Mail, etc - it did.   ...