My Devices

Dell Inspiron 17R (7720)

This laptop is my primary laptop.  I use it pretty much on a daily basis for just about everything.

Pros: Lots of RAM (8GB + video memory).  Nice screen 1920 x 1080; 17″.  10-key on the keyboard  Intel i7 processor which includes the Virtualization features (makes a big difference)

Cons: Nvidia discrete graphics card (bumblebee gets it to work but with much pain).

Current OS: Ubuntu 12.04

Details (installations, etc)

Dell Inspiron 1721

I have retired this laptop.  The screen seems to have quit working, but I think it might be a driver issue.  It is now performing light duty as my wife’s computer for checking email and such.

Pros: Lots of RAM (4GB, which at the time that I bought it was about the most you could get in a laptop).  Nice screen 1440 x 900; 17″.  10-key keypad.

Cons: Broadcom wireless (actually has worked quite well in recent versions of Ubuntu), Intel Core 2 Duo chip doesn’t have Virtualization features (won’t let me do multiple processors in VBox or 64-bit guests in VMWare).

Current OS: Ubuntu 12.04

Details (installations, etc)

My Server

I don’t exactly know what to call this computer.  I assembled it from parts at Comp USA, so it doesn’t really have a brand name.  It doubles as a desktop in our den and a server that supports a few small household tasks.

Pros: Cheap, has been running for a while now.

Cons: It’s maxed out at 2GB RAM, something’s wrong with the hard drive and it doesn’t boot on the first attempt.

Current OS: Ubuntu 12.04

Details (installations, etc)

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