Category: Technology

Alienware M11x vs. Thinkpad x220t for college

On Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Day 85 of 1000

Christian is half way through his sophomore year in college. He has survived so far with a cheesy little 10″ HP netbook that he dual boots to Windows 7 and ArchLinux. We know he will need something better when he moves on from the community college to North Carolina State, University of Idaho, or whichever other place he decides to go. He saved up a bunch of money from his Engineering Internship last summer and now has almost all the money he needs for his next computer. He likes the small form factor because he can carry it in his backpack, but he wants as much power as he can get. He plans to dual boot to Windows 7 and some fairly lightweight version of Linux (probably Slackware or Arch).

So he has it narrowed down to two choices:

Alienware M11x

Alienware M11x
Processor     Intel® Core i7 2617M 1.5GHz
              (2.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache)
Memory        8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Display Panel 11.6″ High Def (720p/1366×768)
              with WLED backlight
Battery       6 Cell
Video Card    NVIDIA® GeForce® GT540M graphics
              with 2.0GB Video Memory and Optimus
Sound Card    Soundblaster® X-Fi Hi Def Audio
Hard Drive    500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Wireless      Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 2×2 MIMO

ThinkPad x220t

ThinkPad X220t
Processor    Intel Core i7-2640M Processor
               (2.8GHz, 4MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
Memory         8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM
   1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Display Panel 12.5″ Outdoor HD (1366×768)
   LED Backlit Display
Mobile         Broadband Ready, 2×2 Antenna
Battery        ThinkPad Battery 52+ (6 cell)
Hard Drive     320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Video Card     Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Wireless       ThinkPad b/g/n

He is VERY conflicted. He loves the idea of the dual tablet/laptop of the ThinkPad because he needs to do a lot of sketches and drawing. He also loves the graphics capability of the AlienWare because he does a lot of image and video processing. It is a hard choice. So what do we do when we run into these kinds of very tough problems. We ask our buddy Andrew who ALWAYS comes through with an amazing and thoughtul answer. I wrote Andrew the following email:

Andrew,

Christian had a very important question. He wants to know your opinion about what the “cool kids” would buy if they had the following choice. Well, he wants to know what you think in terms of utility, too.

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Ken

Here is Andrew’s great response (Thanks again, Andrew!):

Well, “cool kids” would probably pick the Alienware. It’s styled to appeal to a younger crowd, and it is tuned for gaming. Meanwhile, the Thinkpad is about as corporate as it gets.

The Thinkpad only has integrated graphics. That’s not a big deal if you’re just writing code, but for games or graphics programming, it wouldn’t be a good choice.

The slower hard drive in the Thinkpad is a downer. If possible, I’d *definitely* upgrade it to a 7200rpm drive, a small SSD drive (if you don’t need much hard disk at all), or an aftermarket Momentus XT, which is a 7200rpm/SSD hybrid hard drive that isn’t too expensive. I would be willing to trade a slightly slower processor speed for one of these faster drives, if possible (but hard drive prices will be higher for the next few months due a factory that flooded causing a supply shortage, so upgrading may not be as easy as I’d think).

I’m not a big fan of Windows tablets, and I think the “t” in x220t stands for “tablet”. Personally, I’d probably get the x220 (non-tablet) version — for the same dollar amount, I could probably get an x220 with more features than the x220t. But I haven’t used a Windows tablet in 5 years, and Christian may specifically be interested tablet features… if so, ignore me here.

You know I liked my Thinkpad a lot. I thought it was very well built and reliable, and it has a terrific keyboard.

Summary: if I were choosing between these two, I’d get the Thinkpad, because I’ve had one before and it proved itself to me, and I would personally favor faster processor speed over faster graphics, because I never take advantage of graphics these days.

But when I was Christian’s age, I almost certainly would have chosen the Alienware for its styling and graphics capability. And its lower processor speed won’t be a big deal in daily use.

Alienware has always had a good reputation and both of these models are well reviewed, so I don’t think you can go too far wrong 🙂

–Andrew

Christian is now leaning toward Alienware. We will keep you posted.

More on C++, other languages, and my career as an old foggy programmer

By Dad

On Monday, November 14, 2011

In Technology

Day 84 of 1000

I wrote a post a few days back about C++ programming. I have been trying to figure out whether the language has enough legs for me to make a living with it for the next 10-20 years. I have reflected on that post quite a bit since the day I wrote it and think the answer is most certainly, yes. That was solidified even more after a recent visit to Charlotte. I went up there to see some new friends who need some help with machine vision. They have other devices beside machine vision. Every one of those devices has some kind of GUI, spreadsheet, or scripting language to handle the bulk of their applications. Many of them also have a software development kit (SDK) so all the functionality of the devices is accessible programmatically via libraries.

That is the thing that reinvigorated my enthusiasm for C++. All the easy functionality is available via the easy programming methods (GUI’s, spreadsheets, scripting languages, etc.). The problem is that many of the devices generate a ton of data. That opens up two opportunities: 1) Development of new functionality inside the device and 2) Analysis of the data generated by the device on an external computer. Number 1) is exciting because the computational capability (processor speed, memory, etc.) is so small that a very efficient, machine-centric language (C++) is the best option. Number 2) is exciting because the devices in question are shoveling lots and lots of data around and need real-time calculation results. That also calls for lots of efficiency of memory management and speed. It is possible to use Java, C#, Python, and even BASIC, but C++ works great and will always have an edge when it comes to those topics.

So, on Saturday at the NCSU D.H. Hill Library, I updated QT Creator on my laptop and will update the OpenCV libraries to the latest version. When I am all set up, I will download the IPP and prepare for my next project. In C++!!!

Cables at RadioShack

By Dad

On Saturday, November 12, 2011

In Money, Technology

Day 82 0f 1000

I just bought three USB cables to charge our telephones at Amazon for $5.37 total including shipping. That was after Lorena bought one cable at RadioShack for $24, then turned around and took it back. We never buy anything at RadioShack anymore. It is kind of sad. Why don’t they at least TRY to compete?

Stuck in a “project” rut

By Dad

On Monday, November 7, 2011

In Education, Technology

Day 77 of 1000

Our 1000 day plan has given everyone in our family lots of energy to get on track with a lot of stuff. Now that we are in the last third of the semester, Lorena and the kids hit the books hard most nights and most of the time on weekends. We miss workouts more often than we would like, but that is because of all the school work. I like to fill up the time when the kids do their school work with learning projects. I am all fired up to do something cool, but now that Troy has moved on to more important research and we have hit most of our big milestones for the GaugeCam project, I am struggling with finding something that really excites me. It would be very cool to work on a project like this Flying Machine, but do not have the mechanical skills.

I have what seem like very good options, but every one of them have some caveats. BleAx is great, but Kelly will not have time to really jump back into her Betty Blonde comic strip until after spring semester. I could move on with GaugeCam, but we have not really defined what we want to do next. The Android programming is fun, but I have not identified anything that is not already done that I want to do. I work want to work on SQL, but that suffers from the same problem as Android. Maybe I will talk to my buddy Jeff to figure out something to make that requires a control system and vision.

Update: And another thing. I am WAY to fat. When I get in this mode and do not have a project to distract me, I eat way too much. I have to find a project.

GaugeCam press release

By Dad

On Monday, October 31, 2011

In Technology

Day 70 of 1000

North Carolina State University has made a press release on our work at GaugeCam. That is the volunteer project I am doing and my buddies, Troy and Andrew with Dr. François Birgand and my buddies, Troy and Andrew, to measure water levels in the wild and post the results, with images, on the internet. Dr. Birgand has already been called for an interview by a national radio program. We will keep you posted.

More on Feisty Fawn (Ubuntu 7.04)

By Dad

On Wednesday, April 4, 2007

In General, Technology

I found a link on Linux Online this morning to a blog post titled 11 Things You Haven’t Seen Yet in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. I have been running the Beta version of Feisty for a little over a week now on both a laptop (Dell Inspiron 1300) and an older Dell desktop. I knew I liked it a lot. The wireless stuff all seems to work a lot better, there is continued improvement in the appearance and usability of the desktop, etc., etc. What I did not know is there are a bunch of tools under the hood that make things easier to set up that used to be the biggest impediment to using Linux. This is a HUGE step for people like me. When I set Linux up for myself, I really do not mind spending the time to figure out how to get the sound, wireless, video playback, webcam, networking, and all that other stuff going.

The problem is that I really would like to get other people up and going, too, but I just did not have the time to get everything configured and running for so many different sets of hardware. I have been helping people for years with their Windows systems. I am the main computer “guru” for quite a few assorted grandmas, liberal arts majors, and computer challenged relatives. The worst of these is my father and mother-in-law in Mexico. They have three sons with engineering degrees who work as computer technical resources for Oracle, Symantec, and a large manufacturing firm with hundreds, if not thousands, of PC’s. All three of them live in a Windows world, but cannot seem to find the time to keep their Mother’s computer going. She lives within a mile of one of them and within ten miles of the other two. This is a problem because my wife uses Skype to talk to her mother. We live in the States, so when the computer is not working, the phone bills go way up.

Several things are happening that make Linux a more viable option now. First and foremost, like I described in the first paragraph, it is getting easier to set up and use. Second, I am learning more about using VNC to handle many of the administration tasks required to keep a remote system running. Third, my brothers-in-law, are getting pressure from their work to come up to speed on Linux. I do not know whether that is going to help much. They seem to be able to get to their mother’s house for carne asada after church on Sunday, but they are next to useless at spending the five minutes to keep their mother’s Windows computer running while they are there. On the other hand, nothing from Microsoft has been very interesting or fun to work on for years. I have installed Linux down there a few times before. I tried Mandrake (now Mandriva), Red Hat and then one of the Fedoras, and then one of the earlier Ubuntu’s, but they were pretty impossible to keep going from afar.

We are going down for a visit again in June. I think Feisty has improved to the point where I am willing to try one more time. The applications that have to work for them are Skype, Firefox, Thunderbird, and a photo downloading and viewing program for my Father-in-law’s digital camera. You would think this would be a no-brainer, but I have lowered my expectations dramatically over the years. In the past, the longest any computer has stayed running in their household after I left was a Windows XP computer that lasted for about three weeks. If I am able to set the computer up and keep it running for them for a month after we leave, I will consider this effort a huge success. I will also know that Vista is in really big trouble.

Returning to technology posts

By Dad

On Monday, November 28, 2005

In Technology

My new hope is that I can get back to making some technology posts. God willing, the family will be together again after a month of separation. The plan is to buy our new homeschool computer for Christmas this year and kick the previously described plan into gear of creating a great homeschool computer using free (as in beer), open source software. With our move, there will be a little bit of a change in emphasis. The goal will be to create a “distributed homeschool environment”. I will restate the goals and then start putting the system together.

Distributed Homeschool Environment

We are currently in the process of moving to the Dallas, Texas. My parents and all my siblings live in the Portland, Oregon (Linux centeral!) and my wife’s parents and siblings all live in the Monterrey, Mexico. Kelly has a homeschool penpal in Vermont, we have good friends in San Diego, one of my old friends is homeschooling his family of four kids in Arkansas, etc., etc. We want them all to be able to participate as fully as possible in the homeschool. I have not really thought about all the things I will need to do to move this forward, but I will start doing that and try to document it as I go.

Linux for the Totally Clueless: Computing for a Mexican Grandma

By Dad

On Wednesday, June 8, 2005

In Technology

Click here to go to the chapmankids.net Technology and Homeschool Linux index page.

Their computer works, but they don’t know how to use it

The modern corollary to the cobbler’s children who go barefoot is the system adiminstrator’s mother who does not have a computer she knows how to operate. Three of my wife’s four brothers are systems administrators for large, mulitnational corporations in Mexico. They have engineering degrees from fine universities. On average, I’ll bet they visit their parents for a meal at least once per week. Their parents have a computer at home we bought for them a couple of years ago. Their sons have improved the computer by adding memory and up-to-date hardware and software. Neither of my wife’s parents have any clue about how to use the thing.

The reason we got them the computer is because we live in the United States while they live in Mexico. The idea was that we could trade emails with them and they could view pictures of their grandchildren on our web page. It would be nice to be able to take pictures of their grandchildren who live in Mexico to display on the computer and to send to us up here in the United States. They would like to be able to print out a picture every now and then, too. They have all the equipment and programs they need, but for two years, no one has taken the time to show them how to do all this. I have been pretty depressed about the whole state of affairs, but we are planning a trip to Mexico later this month and I have a plan. I am going to install Ubuntu Linux on their computer and teach them how to use it for email, web browsing, and snapshot processing.

Homeschool Computing: Things to do with a Computer in Homeschool

By Dad

On Wednesday, May 25, 2005

In Technology

Click here to go to the chapmankids.net Technology and Homeschool Linux index page.

Why am I writing about homeschool instead of technology?: The purpose of this post is to provide a context for describing the computers and technology we use in operating our homeschool. We do not believe there is one best way to homeschool so this post is not an endorsement of a particular method. Rather, it is just a description of what works for us. Having spoken to lots of homeschoolers, we know there are as many different ways to homeschool as there are homeschoolers. There are also many commonalities. We believe that whether one uses a Classical Education approach, one of the large commercial curricula like Sonlight, Calvert, or Abeka, or even Unschooling, good use of technology can enhance the experience.

Homeschool Computing: Introduction

By Dad

On Wednesday, May 18, 2005

In Technology

Click here to go to the chapmankids.net Technology and Homeschool Linux home page.

The Goal: The goal of this little project is to write step-by-step procedures about how to set up and use an inexpensive, but great homeschool computer using Linux and other open source software. This includes specific recommendations on computer hardware, software, internet communication, PDA’s, etc., etc. Explanations will be targeted at computer illiterate and technophobic homeschool parents.

The bias will be toward specific, generally available solutions that anyone can install and use. To that end, will will buy a new low-end computer from a major computer vendor. We will install, from scratch, the latest and greatest version of the Linux distribution that best meets our needs. We will connect to the internet, hook up the peripherals, network the computer to our Windows computer, install additional software packages, and do whatever else is required to turn our system into a primo homeschool administration, education, and communication workstation. Most importantly, we will attempt to describe it all right here in great detail.

The purpose of this first post is to provide a little context for what we are trying to do. Our family is on the verge of finishing our second (non-consecutive) year of homeschooling. Over the past school year, our use of the computer evolved to the point where we now have some opinions about what works for us. It will not work for everyone, but it will probably help some. We have a broad set of criteria for selecting technology. Questions we ask when selecting technology include:

Is it cheap? Lots of homeschoolers live in single income households. Resources are finite. Cheap is good.

Is it interesting in a way that will help our homeschool? The point of homeschool is to teach stuff. Stuff is a lot easier to teach if it is interesting.

Does it do something we need to have done? There are lots of cool things out there. Coolness by itself is not enough when resources are finite.

Does its administration require more effort than the benefit derived from its use? Time with the wife and kids is more important than time with technology.