I have a new laptop; my first all-new-to-me computer! Well, that I didn’t get through work. My PCs have always been Frankenputers. (And actually, it’s a refurb. Like I said: new-to-me.)
First, today’s interesting tip. I have a different definition of “gentle” than the recommendation there – I had to push pretty dang hard, but it did work.
I demoed HP’s 2510p at LinuxfestNW and it was pretty much love at first sight. I confess, it was the touchpad. Touchpads usually give me the creeps – using one is like nails on a chalkboard. The touchpad on the 2510 is smooth, and molded as part of the wrist rest, so it won’t get any goo caught in the edges.
Next super-sweet feature: the keyboard. I have small hands, long fingers. Laptop keyboards are usually a pretty good size for me, until we get down into the “ultralight” category; then they start feeling a bit cramped. While I certainly wouldn’t want to, say, write my dissertation on this keyboard, the size of the individual keys gives it the feel of a bigger keyboard. It’s got a nice clicky feel, too – you’ll probably annoy the people you’re sitting next to.
According to the instructions in the users’ manual, the keyboard should be pretty easy to replace. Good news for those of us who have a history of inadvertently* destroying our keyboards. Perhaps I will order a spare right now.
It also doesn’t hurt that the laptop weighs in at 3.2 pounds with the 6-cell battery. It’s important that I not be weighed down by my computing equipment.
Speaking of battery – I ran this battery test (mainly because it was the easiest one that popped up in google.) Max sound, max brightness, Conan the Barbarian + Star Trek:Insurrection brought it to just under 50% power remaining. I’ll do more tests later with actual work, but for now, I’m not going to worry about battery life too much.
It came with a bluetooth PC card mouse. Wouldn’t want to use it full-time, but it’s pretty nifty.
The fingerprint scanner is cool, but with the small overall size of the laptop, I find that my hand sets it off & I get random popups (when I’m in Windows) telling me to swipe my finger slower. (More about Windows vs Linux on this laptop in later posts.)
The sound is actually quite excellent for a laptop.
Oddities:
The (GigE!) NIC seemed flaky at first; it randomly dropped several times over the first few days. The cable tested fine, and I haven’t had the problem since, so haven’t been able to troubleshoot that further.
The delete & end keys are reversed from every other keyboard I’ve ever used. This is annoying, but can be fixed with keymapping.
Check out the temperature photo in this excellent review. This baby gets warm – unpleasantly so using it directly in my lap. You definitely want it supported on a hard surface.
*That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.
