Another cool item on my new Dell XPS is the HDMI slot. My son all of the sudden wanted to watch invincible. Wasn't available on netflix so i downloaded it from amazon and plugged the laptop into the TV with an HDMI cable and started streaming Invincible. It wasn't the greatest quality and even a little jumpy. Not sure if that was the internet connection or the laptop or what. But I thought it was pretty cool that I could hook up to the TV via HDMI. If a better video card would help it stream better I wish I would have got a better card. I didn't upgrade the video card because I don't game and didn't think I would need to. Still comes with a 1gb card and I don't know enough about it to know if that would make a difference or not.
Dell XPS - The semaphore timeout period has expired
Oct 1
posted by David Mineer in
Dell
| 0 Comments
E:\DCMIN is not accessible The semaphore timeout period has expired
I removed the card and fliped the little "lock" switch on the side of the card and it worked. Thing is, it was now the F:\ drive. I removed the card and flipped the "lock" switch back to the off position and reinserted it into the slot on the front of my laptop and it worked this time. Looks like it had something to do with being assigned the E drive. Once it was the F drive it seemed to work.
I am not very picky about aesthetic stuff. So take these comments for what they are worth. I got my new Dell XPS laptop today. It took about 3 weeks for it to arrive, maybe 4, it seemed like forever. But the machine is awesome.
It is surprisingly heavy. I am probably comparing to my macbook. It is about the same as my E6500 but heaver than the macbook.
The screen is absolutely beautiful. So much brighter and crisper than what I am use to with the macbook and E6500. The machine makes 0 noise and it is hard to even tell it is on when I rest my hand on it feeling for vibration or some sign of life.
It is fast. I did get the SSD (solid state drive) and that may be why but everything is blazing. It is quicker than the mac (but the mac is 3 years old) but it seems to bee as quick as the mac ever was. The mac has had a huge advantage especially on sleeping and waking. But this XPS is exactly what I was hoping for.
Another thing I wasn't sure about was the touchpad. The biggest problem with my lattitude E6500 was how uncomfortable the touchpad was. I NEVER used it unless I could use an external mouse. This new XPS though has a great touchpad. And the multi touch stuff works. The big one is using two fingers to scroll web pages. It does that. A little chopier than the mac but it works so I don't have to find the side of the touchpad or click a an arrow or anyting, just slide two fingers the direction I want to go. Sensitivity is awesome. It's going to work!
They keboard is back-lit. Important cause I always sit down when it is dark cause I don't want to disturb my wife or something. Haven't used it in the dark yet but I can tell the keyboard will be lit up.
The monitor is set a bit in from the back of the machine which is different but doesn't bother me. The keys on the keyboard protrude and are easy to use.
It's been 5 years since I bought a new laptop. I have been using a Dell Latitude E6500. I actually had a slightly different one that went bad and they sent me the E6500 as a replacement (that was awesome of dell). About the time I started having problems before they replaced the old machine I bought a macbook pro 15". So for almost exactly 3 years I have been going back and forth from the Dell E6500 to the macbook. I used the macbook when away from the office and the Dell when in the office which is the vast majority of the time. I do love the macbook and it was built just so much better, especially considering using it remotely, having it on your lap or just being in a situation where you didn't have an external mouse. The mac was great for this. But I was and always be more productive on a pc.
One reason I Have put off the purchase of a new laptop for so long was that I had purchased an SSD hard drive to replace the one that went out in the E6500. This made a world of difference and even today as I retire the old Dell E6500 to the kids it still runs fairly fast and is still a use-able machine.
I having been looking at buying a new laptop for years and I always go to dell's web site and start throwing together a machine. By the time I am done Im up to about $4k which is way more than I can spend. I wasted enough time configuring computers to buy I could have paid for a new one many times over with that wasted time if they were instead billable hours. Computers that I seriously considered were a new macbook pro, a Dell Alienware, Dell E series and the Dell XPS. I just can't switch completely over to a mac and want this machine to be with me 100% of the time, so no mac.
The E series were a serious contender but the reviews (and lot's fewer of them) weren't as stellar as with the XPS.
The Alienware has got to be the coolest laptop out there and my brother-in-law just got one so it was tempting to be as cool as him, but in the end I didn't want to sacrifice battery life for mondo graphics that I would never use (I never game on my machines). Plus they are a little more pricey than the XPS.
I settled on the XPS. Great reviews (Probably rigged, who knows?) and an SSD and other options that were important to me. I mainly program on my machines but I am definitely a power user and always have many apps open at once. Nothing worse than waiting for a computer. I work fast enough that I need something that will keep up with me.
I splurged and got the MLB Colorado Rockies Die Hard Fan artwork on the lid. That's fun, a little different and makes the machine unique.
I have been impressed with everything so far. I am going to create another post with my first impression but it is a great machine so far. (Just got it about 3 hours ago).