Before diving in, here is the disclosure note : I bought the laptop and the SSD that I added to it. I'll also be buying the Bluetooth adaptor that I'll mention later. I also bought the Canon camera I'll mention. But ... the Acronis software came free !
I have some early impressions, plus ... I need to buy even more stuff !
I kinda knew this was coming from what we get from the machines at work but ... do not buy a Windows PC/laptop without a Solid State Device disc drive in it (SSD).
What are they and why do you need them ?
They're a bundle of memory chips that act as very fast storage. Not so fast in terms of Mbytes/s transfer rates but extremely fast to find the information that's on them. So when Windows goes nuts swapping back and forward around its various storage places, an SSD makes an unbelievable difference in how smooth the experience is.
It's a pleasant laptop to operate now after a little surgery yesterday instead of a disappointing pain on Monday before the SSD arrived. The other type of hard disc involves magnetic chemicals spinning on glass platters, with an arm going back and forward across the disc. They're much faster than they used to be but that archaic technology takes its toll in the time needed to find the information that Windows is looking for.
I've spoken about this before a few times ... It makes a massive difference though. The laptop struggled to transfer half the iTunes library over on Monday, it transferred the lot yesterday over the course of about 6 hours. That's 16,000 tracks ... (I was being selective)
Oh - before I move on, it is a complicated affair
How about the rest ?
I haven't tried out the graphics part yet but it looks ok. Gotta be careful about your viewing angle though. That was the point of rushing into this laptop instead of holding off more, the 504 model has a TN screen instead of an IPS Panel. IPS is a display screen technology which is far superior to the older TN technology. It's that old chestnut again. If you're in the market for technology and two bits are the same price, buy the better one ! It seems obvious but ... how many people do you know who settle for second best ?
That 504 thing ... The laptop is an Asus 503VD modified to have an SSD complementing the normal hard disc. The key differences are the display and also that the 504 does not include an SD card reader slot. I kinda need that ...
I was expecting this one as well but while the desktop and laptop can see my camera over wifi, neither of them can connect to it. I believe there is a key bit of software missing from the Canon drivers. But I was happily using SD card transfer with the Macbook before.
Network is a bit tricky though. Could be that the laptop doesn't have the April update installed yet but it doesn't want to see the other computers. It can see their iTunes libraries ... but not their network shares. The other two can see it however. (Means it won't actually be an issue).
Bluetooth is nice. Bluetooth is shiny. I'm hoping it will solve an issue I'll get into in a sec but I was able to send a file from phone to laptop ok. Technology is progress ...
My Little White Box (Apple Airport Express running Airplay) seems to have died ! Or it's having an argument with Windows iTunes. It was pretty solid with MacOS iTunes. The interweb searching suggests that there is an issue with Windows iTunes 10.7 that isn't present on the MacOS version. My fix will be to acquire a Bluetooth adaptor to send music from laptop to hifi again.
A disappointing issue but not insurmountable.
Other stuff :
It's a big unit. A lot bigger than my Macbook Air. Heavier too ... but more capable. It should be properly capable of showing streamed video and sport. The Macbook Air had issues with its wifi and sport streaming would be too much for its cpu (a Haswell indeed) and it would get occasional blockiness. The problem there was that to aid cooling and battery life, the cpu was underclocked to about half its normal speed.
I'm sure there's more but it's struggling to escape my brain at the moment !
Oh and there's also Warcraft .... which I totally didn't play today as I thought "I'll open Stellaris up for an hour or two and then Warcraft". Oops. Stellaris tends to turn into 10 hour sessions. I think only 6 today.
Perhaps more Gromits tomorrow. I still have 20 to tick off.
Or Warcraft later. The new expansion has hit and while I've only gone through half a zone so far, it is very impressive. Nice stories, fantastic music. Great atmosphere. They're getting better at this stuff.
And sometimes unusual old friends appear.
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