My Computer's Hard Drive

What options do you have? List the amount/GB, type, speed and price of each option.
On the Studio 16 XPS, I have four hard drive choices:

• 500GB, 7200RPM SATA hard drive, included in price
• 640GB, 5400RPM SATA hard drive [Add $35]
• 128GB, solid state drive [add $154]
• 256GB, solid state drive [add $445]

What are the difference between the two options? 
There's two primary differences between the two hard drives.  The upgrade is 140GB larger, but at the same time, it's slower to access data as well.  The two solid state drives are better for mobile use; they're more durable because they don't have moving parts inside.  Of course, there's a premium for that durability.  Personally, when I travel with a laptop, I'm not that rough on it, and the computer will not be running with the hard drive spinning while it's moving, for the most part.  I really don't need the solid state drive.



Go back and look at the system requirements for the software you need to be able to run? What's the highest recommended processor speed?
Looking at the software I need, either of the two standard options will serve my needs; however, I do use and produce a lot of media: digital video, photographs, movies, screencasts etc.  So the larger the hard drive the better.  Of course, I could always use an external hard drive for extra storage if needed.


Which option are you going to select? Why do you only need the included processor option and not need one of the upgrade options? or vice versa, why do you need to upgrade? 
As I mentioned with the processor and motherboard, I consider price breaks quite closely - if I have several upgrade options, how much does the price increase each time?  If there's four options, and they increase in the amount added to my purchase by +$50, +$100, +$300, +$350 - I'm really only deciding between two options.  If I'm going to spend any money to upgrade, it makes since to go ahead and spend the $100 rather than the $50, that's a small difference.  And, if I can afford $300, I might as well add another $50 to get that last option.  Of course, that all depends on the difference.

In this instance, I'm going with one of the standard hard drives - not steady state.  For the standard drives, there's only a $35 difference for the upgrade listed on Dell.com.  Given that it offers an additional 140gigs of storage space, there's really not much of a decision to be made, for me.  I upgrade to the 640GB.

My RAM

What options do you have? List the amount/GB, type, speed and price of each option.
On the Studio 16 XPS, I have two RAM choice:

• 6GB shared dual channel DDR3 at 1333MHz, included in price
• 8GB shared dual channel DDR3 at 1333MHz, [Add $150]

What are the difference between the two options? 
The only apparent difference between the two options is the quantity or GB.  6GB vs 8GB.

Go back and look at the system requirements for the software you need to be able to run? What's the highest recommended processor speed?
Starting with the system requirements for my OS - Windows 7 - the minimum is 1GB of RAM with an additional 1GB RAM needed if I'm going to run Windows XP mode within Windows 7.  That doesn't suggest that I need to upgrade from 6GB to 8GB.  However, that's the minimum requirements for Windows 7.  I need to consider how much beyond those minimum requirements I want my machine to be.

Which option are you going to select? Why do you only need the included processor option and not need one of the upgrade options? or vice versa, why do you need to upgrade? 
As I mentioned with the processor and motherboard, I consider price breaks quite closely - if I have several upgrade options, how much does the price increase each time?  If there's four options, and they increase in the amount added to my purchase by +$50, +$100, +$300, +$350 - I'm really only deciding between two options.  If I'm going to spend any money to upgrade, it makes since to go ahead and spend the $100 rather than the $50, that's a small difference.  And, if I can afford $300, I might as well add another $50 to get that last option.  Of course, that all depends on the difference.

In this instance, there's a $150 difference for the upgrade listed on Dell.com.  I did a quick search - at http://shopping.google.com - for 2GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, the difference between the two options I'm considering.  That quantity of RAM appears to be about $80.  However, typically, a computer will have a certain number of slots for adding RAM; I believe this laptop has 2 slots for RAM.  That means that the base price includes a 3GB RAM module in each of the two slots, so I just can't add another 2GB - there's not a slot available.  And, often it's necessary to have the same size RAM module in each slot (it's been that way in the past, I need to research if that's still true).  What all that means is that if I want to upgrade to 8GB from 6GB, I'll really be looking at purchasing (2) 4GB RAM modules to replace the 3GB RAM modules included in the price.  So, doing a quick search for "6GB dual channel DDR3 1333MHz" and "8GB dual channel DDR3 1333MHz" I find that the 6GB option costs about $190 "on the street" (from another retailer) and the 8GB option runs about $250.  IF I want to upgrade in the future, it'll cost me $250.  So, the $150 upgrade now may be worth it. 

I'm going to select the 8GB option and pay the $150.  It seems like it's worth the price compared to the open market.  Also, having it installed in the base configuration means that it will be covered by warranty; typically, if I open the case of a machine to do any work on it, it voids the warranty.  Further, upgrading RAM is almost always beneficial in the long run and can make a huge difference in the performance of the machine.  (I've taken a computer my mother-in-law considered dysfunctional and old, cleaned the viruses, added RAM to it and had a perfectly working machine).      

My Motherboard, Processor & Bus

What options do you have? List the core, clock speed, cache, front side bus and price of each option.

On the Studio 16 XPS, I have two processor choices:

• Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache) [included in price]
• Intel Core i7-820QM Quad Core Processor 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) [Add 350]

I had a hard time finding the Front Side Bus on the Dell.com website, so I googled "Front Side Bus Studio 16 XPS Quad Core" and found this page which indicates the FSB on this machine is 1333MHz.

What are the difference between the two options?
The upgrade processor is a little faster 1.73GHz versus 1.6Ghz.
It's also faster on the Turbo Mode that Dell.com promotes. 
The upgrade has 8MB cache on the processor instead of 6MB.
Both apparently have the same front side bus.

Go back and look at the system requirements for the software you need to be able to run? What's the highest recommended processor speed?
The greatest requirements among the software I typically use and need is that of the Adobe eLearning Suite which indicates: 2GHz or faster Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor.  Both machines exceed that by a considerable amount, so either option will be fine for the software I use.

Which option are you going to select? Why do you only need the included processor option and not need one of the upgrade options? or vice versa, why do you need to upgrade? 
One of the main things I watch for is the FSB to Processor.  Some machines will have an impressive processor in appearance - to help sell it - but it's paired with a motherboard with a limited FSB.  That ends up being like hooking a garden hose to a fire hydrant : the processor is powerful and can run software quickly, but it feeds the output to the motherboard back out through a tiny pipe.  The processor's both seem appropriate and the FSB is high enough to support both.

The other thing I consider is a "price break" - if I have several upgrade options, how much does the price increase each time?  If there's four options, and they increase in the amount added to my purchase by +$50, +$100, +$300, +$350 - I'm really only deciding between two options.  If I'm going to spend any money to upgrade, it makes since to go ahead and spend the $100 rather than the $50, that's a small difference.  And, if I can afford $300, I might as well add another $50 to get that last option.  Of course, that all depends on the difference in the two options.  Price is an issue of course.

In this instance, I have two options.  The upgrade option is $350 more and the only difference is 0.13GHz on the clockspeed and 2MB of L2 cache.  I don't believe that difference in speed is significant enough for me to justify the $350 upgrade price tag.  So I'm going with the first option.

My Form Factor & Base Configuration

This is a sample answer.  But, it assumes a different situation than yours; first of all, you need to be making decisions based on your computing needs.  My computing needs are likely unique within the class; I doubt there's too many students that will use a computer the way I use a computer - primarily because of my career and experience.  Second, I'm not going to include price as much of a deciding factor as you should.  I will mention it in some cases, where relevant, but if I were truly buying a computer, I'd have to make a different selection than what I'm describing here simply based on price.  

What general solution or form factor do you need?  What size and shape of a computer do you need?  Which best meets your computing needs and why?  

This is a difficult decision, sort of.  I absolutely require mobility; a desktop is of zero interest to me or my family.  It's not even so much as being able to go out of the house with the computer; often, I just want to be able to sit wherever I want at home and get work done: my chair, the driveway while the kids play, the back porch or laying in the hammock.  So, I'll either choose a laptop or a netbook; I'm a bit concerned about selecting an ultramobile machine because I will give it frequent to extremely heavy use, and I need it to have more power than likely what can be crammed into an ultra mobile form factor.

Between a laptop and a netbook may be a bit more difficult for me.  The problem is that I either need rather robust computing power to support the applications I often run (audio/video/graphic editing, video rendering) and quantity of graphics/audio I need to store.  Or, I need a more mobile machine because I do like to have the computer with me when I can - and the smaller the better.  Basically, I either need a mobile replacement for a desktop (a laptop) or a truly mobile machine (netbook).  I think I'd rather have the power available and have to simply carry around a larger machine than to have a smaller, more mobile machine that can do less.  Plus, some of the advanced features I may want, media-wise, likely may require a laptop. At least for me.  My wife or kids?  Netbook definitely because they don't do the heavier duty computing that I do.  

Once you've decided on the form factor, the question focuses on what class of machine.  What sort of laptop? Dell has Inspiron, Studio, Studio XPS, Alienware, Adamo.  HP has Everyday Computing, High Performance and Envy.  Similarly, the netbooks and desktops have different classes of machines as well.  Explore into each and get a feel for which class meets your needs.  Once you have an idea, explain why you selected the class of machine that meets your needs?  How and why does it do so? 

For the class of laptop offered by Dell, I noticed the tabs across the top of the page and focused on "speed and design" - thinking that they're more capable and robust than the tabs to the left (the tabs seem to move from mobility and lower price toward power and capabilities).  The Gamers type machine (Alienware) is going to have things I don't need (advanced video card, higher quality sound); I'm not a gamer for the most part, and the games I do play, I play on a game console.  Gaming on a laptop "aint my thing."  I looked at the media enthusiast machines but they seem to focus more on the ability to play back media, not necessarily create it.  So, I most likely need something in between that and the Gamer type machine which will have greater computing power.  So I have two classes to choose from: Studio XPS 16 or the Adamo.  Looking briefly at the two; the Studio XPS 16 group has more options and choices and seems to focus on speed rather than design ;-)  The Adamo looks to be a powerful machine sandwiched into a more mobile form; though that might seem to fit my needs, the Adamo doesn't allow me as much choices for power later on, so I'm going with Studio XPS 16.   

Looking within the class of machine, you'll find several base models from which you can choose.  For example, on Dell.com, within the Studio and Studio XPS class of laptops, Dell offers the Studio 14, Studio 15, Studio 17, and Studio XPS 16.  Which of the base models in the class you chose best meets your computing needs?  Why?

Looking at the options within the Studio XPS 16; there's four choices.  But, the primary difference between them is the price, and I cant' specify which I'm going to choose or why without delving into motherboards, processors and other specs.  At the moment, we do know that I'm choosing Studio XPS 16, and I'm going to choose the $1549 model at the moment (because I'm not considering price as much of a factor as you might); the reasons for that will become clear as we move through the different options.

 

Searching the Internet Effectively

I decided to search for information on how to search the internet effectively.  I used each of the four search strategies and had the results below.  After I did the each search, I copied the URL from the search and made each search link to the results.  The number I posted were the results at the time I did the search.

First Search - Simple Search
search internet
300,000,000 results in .25 seconds

Second Search - Use Additional Keywords
search internet effectively
13,100,000 results in .19 seconds. 


Third Search - Use Phrases
"searching the internet effectively"
17,100 results in .27 seconds

Fourth Search - Boolean Operators
"searching the internet effectively" AND Boolean
9,740 results in .34 seconds

Personal Computer Use Profile

Where to begin....   This may be a little all over the place, but I'm going to try to get most of the ideas down for now.

I use computers for work, school/learning and play, and so does my family: wife, 9yo daughter, 5yo daughter and, eventually, 1yo daughter.  Our home network has 3 devices wired to the router and 6 devices that connect wirelessly.  We use computers and other technology regularly for just about everything.

Focusing more on my computer use, I use the internet extensively but also have a high demand for desktop applications.  I use most of the MS Office suite applications on a daily basis - Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint - and use Access on a semi-regular basis.  I also use for work, school and personal entertainment and learning a variety of learning technologies and multimedia development tools: Adobe eLearning Suite, Camtasia, digital whiteboard software, smaller media development utilities.  I make a point to be aware of and try to use open source or freely available software and like to use a number of graphically rich tools and : Google Earth, GIMP, VLAN player, multiple browsers (Fireworks, IE, Opera, Chrome), Skype, Second Life, video editing and digital storytelling applications (i.e. Windows Moviemaker, Photostory 3) and others.   

My computer use, at the moment, is more dictated by work and school (I'm currently writing my dissertation for a PhD in Educational Psychology at Texas A&M).  Once I'm done with school, I hope to get into digital photography and videography to a much greater extent and start using home computers to record and produce family histories, and I want to involve my kids in that process: interviewing grandparents, uncles, great uncles, etc. 


At home... My wife does a lot of color printing, and we like to have a decent scanner we use to scan family pictures.  We also both use iPhones and like to have extremely mobile computing options.  We even prefer to have mobility even within the four walls of our house - being able to use our computer(s) in any location within the house (we'll *never* buy another desktop machine).  We use a number of devices connected to the network including our home phone (Vonage) and a game console with a NetFlix player.  We do enough with technology that our cable modem/router sites on top of the entertainment center in the living room.  On the home machines, my wife and I also have to monitor, control and support our daughters' computer use.  Their computer skills are as important to us as the rest of their academic skills.  Personally, I intend on sending my kids to middle school with a netbook; the question is, "Will the schools be ready?"


I know computers fairly well and can maintain the hardware and software on a machine and have a number of peripherals that we use at home on a regular basis.  That impacts which computers we buy and our long term needs and plans. 

Viruses, Worms & Passwords - I'm Safe from those Flying Monkeys

Virus Protection.  Are you absolutely certain your personal computer has virus protection software running?  If yes, what virus protection software do you use?
Yes.  At home, I typically make sure we have AVG Free running on our machines.
 
Password Strength.  Go to Microsoft Password Check tool, enter your password to see how strong it is. How strong is your password? 

I tried several of the passwords I use, particularly for more important sites (I don't use the same password for more than one site).  All of them were strong, but only one of them was Best, according to the MS password check tool.

Firewall.  Does your computer have a firewall active?  If your machine is running a firewall, what kind is it?  What's the name of it?
No. We do not run a firewall on our computers.  But we do have a firewall.  What could that be?

Ad/Mal-ware.  Are you absolutely certain your personal computer at home has ad/malware protection software running?  If yes, what software are you using?
I don't have an ad/mal-ware shield running beyond what AVG offers.  However, from time to time, I do run malware bytes and another one (whose name escapes me at the moment). 


Spam.  Do you forward to friends and families strange photos, stories, please for help or security warnings?  If yes, how often do you check to see if the messages you forward are true or valid?I rarely ever forward anything to friends and family that I received as a forward.  It's just simply a waste of bandwidth, but that's just me.  In fact, if I receive forwards from friends/family, I'll often check snopes.com to see if it's true - and it's usually not.  Sometimes I'll forward *that* information back out to everyone that received the forward.   

Phishing.  Do you know what phishing or social engineering is?
Yes.  People fall victim to this every day AT WORK, and their work email accounts get abused by spammers who log into their work email accounts and send spam from it.  Each and every time that happens, our email servers send out roughly 150-200 THOUSAND spam emails, and our entire work domain gets blocked by other email servers (gmail, comcast, att.net etc).  That means anyone with emails at those addresses cannot receive email from our users.

Image.  Do you monitor your online image?  Are you absolutely certain your social network profiles are private?  Do you ever do vanity searches on the internet?
Yes. Yes. Yes.  As my career has advanced, I have a single username I use on most sites; that has become sort of a personal web-based identity that's important to me and what I do.

Data Backup.  Do you have a backup of your data?  If so, where do you keep that backup?
ABSOLUTELY.  There is data on our home machines which I consider 100% irreplaceable - primarily pictures of the family.  We have approximately 50,000 pictures of our kids dating back to 2000 when the oldest daughter was born, and we also have the largest collection of older scanned pictures in the family - some of those pictures data back to 1920's. I typically keep the backup drive locked in a filing cabinet at my office; far away from our home.