There have been rumors about this thing for a while now. I’m not big on rumors, but somehow the ones on the Dell XPS One excited me quite a bit. I purchased a Dell XPS M1710 laptop in September for my studies in Computer Science at college (and also for my own little old pleasure) and I haven’t had a hitch since. I’m happily running Vista and Ubuntu 7.10 on it, too.

The XPS One is an all-in-one machine à la Apple’s iMac. At first glance, the ‘One’ looks classy, but in retrospect maybe a bit over-styled. A bit over priced, too. The low-end model starts at 1499 USD, whilst the high-end rig retails at a whopping 2399 USD (!). We’re all pretty accustomed to Dell’s (too expensive) pricing scheme, I guess, so it won’t surprise too many folks. It’s one sexy device that’s meant for den-usage; that is (not TOO heavy gaming and) media center applications. It comes as a 20″ widescreen and includes a built-in TV-tuner.

Full specs can be found at Dell’s US-based website.

If I’m completely honest, thought, I’d have to admit to the fact that the the iMac is just much more elegant. Expensive as well, it seems to be more justified. Maybe I just like the idea of a cute white’n’silver integrated machine sitting on the desk in the living room. Black is a bit obtrusive for my liking, but hey, tastes differ.

(Apple iMac running Leopard)

From the Official Vista blog:

The non-security updates planned for release through Windows Update this week include:

• An update on system compatibility, reliability and stability: extends the battery life for mobile devices, improves stability of wireless network services, and shortens recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity, among other fixes.
• An update to USB core components: mainly affects systems returning from sleep or hibernation, fixing problems causing 1-2% of all crashes reported.
• An update to Windows Media Center: among other things, affects interaction issues occurring between Media Center PC and Microsoft Xbox 360 when Xbox 360 is used as a Media Center Extender.

The only (slightly) interesting one is the one that’ll improve reliability, especially on mobile devices. If only they come up with something that could kill start-up time a little. There’s nothing more enervating than taking seat in front of your PC and having to wait for a lifetime to get all services running. Many of us, of course, get up and prepare a cup of tea in the meantime, but nonetheless, this is one of the points that still improvement.

A hilarious rant of Chris Pirillo’s.
Be sure the check out his screen toward the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYIfyDENTIY