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In this issue
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Oct. 31, 2008 / 2 Mar-Cheshvan 5769

Dell Vostro A Good Business Laptop

By Mark Kellner

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | For around $1,000 — before the $50 discount offered online — Dell Computer will send you a Vostro 1310 notebook. It runs Microsoft Windows Vista, has a 160 Gigabyte hard drive that's supposed to resist damage in a fall, a DVD-burning optical drive and 2 Gigabytes of memory, though it's now shipping with 3 GB, I believe. It's nice looking, but some would call it mundane or pedestrian. It's not a super-flashy machine whose screen pivots, or is equipped with flashing lights around the edge, nor does it sport reverse osmosis water cooling for the processor.


There's something to be said for mundane or pedestrian, however. Especially among people who work in business, or in school, perhaps. You don't want something that's too flashy. You want something that will stay operational.


The Vostro shows every sign of doing just that. It's a solidly built portable computer. It doesn't way too much — I could easily carry it around an office setting — and the 13.3-inch screen is large enough to open while seated in coach on an airline flight. The keyboard is very solid, reminiscent of the ones IBM used to put on their laptops, back when IBM made laptops. All around, it's a good looking machine.


That's important, because Dell remains one of the dominant brands in business computing. Companies everywhere have contracts with the firm, and legions of road warriors (and even desk jockeys) use Dell notebooks every day. If I had a dollar for every Dell notebook I saw daily ...


I was also impressed with the number and kinds of options Dell offered for the Vostro at its Web site, www.dell,com. You can up the processor speed, hard disk type, upgrade the operating system, go to 4 GB of RAM (something I'd recommend) and get more battery options. All these cost money, of course, but the customization aspect of online ordering from Dell is something that'll appeal to many people. This isn't a Model T, after all, even if, as with that car, black is the "basic" color (others are just $25 extra).


My demo unit came with Wi-Fi built in, although Bluetooth wasn't; it's a $20 option. I'm guessing there's some "business" reason for this, that the bean counters in corporate offices, or the minions in IT don't like seeing Bluetooth on all their machines for some odd reason. Unless there's a security concern — say you're the Pentagon or the NSA — I'd guess that not having Bluetooth will be more and more of a liability than an asset. Spend the $20, Jenkins, and keep your users happy. Trust me.


Other than the MIA situation for Bluetooth, however, the Vostro 1310 is a solid system, as I've said. While there doesn't seem to be a "downgrade" option to Microsoft's Windows XP, a far less vexatious OS than Vista, I imagine that many users can either make their peace with the newer system or grab a copy of XP somewhere and restore greater sanity to their lives.


In testing the computer, I relied on OpenOffice.org's 3.0 release of its productivity suite, and everything ran well. Ditto for Google Chrome, my new-favorite Web browser for Windows machines. The computer didn't balk, it performed its tasks well, and I could see myself traveling with and working with this computer if the need arose.


And other than the Bluetooth conundrum, I found little to dislike here. The sound is not stereo, but that's why there's headphones sold everywhere, I guess.


Nope, this isn't a flashy computer. It won't have people running up to you as you walk down the street. But it'll help you get your work done, and at a reasonable price. That's not bad at all, you know.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.

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