About eleven months ago, I bitched about how much I hated Steam’s region-locking that prevented me from playing The Orange Box. Well, some things have changed since then.
For one, I’ve come to appreciate Steam as a good distribution medium. Buying games from Steam is pain-free, and they are ready to be played the day the games are released – I had Left 4 Dead ready-to-go the morning it came out. While I like having a hard copy in case I need to reinstall, grabbing a game via Steam means less clutter in terms of game packaging (PC games tend to come in larger boxes than their console counterparts). You can often find discounts on slightly older games, too. One more score for Steam is the ability to download and play a game through your profile on any PC, once you’ve completed initial activation. Let’s not forget all the indie games that Steam promotes and makes available readily.
However, my original issues still remain. The games still come with DRM (albeit not as nasty as SecuROM) and I believe region-locking still exists, although I was finally able to play The Orange Box, since I’m currently in India. I might share a love-hate relationship with Steam, but I absolutely love Valve and their games. Half-Life 2 is still one of my all-time favorites, and I revisited the thrill of playing the original as I plowed through Episodes One and Two. New enemies are introduced, the story and characters show significant progression, new questions are raised, epic battles are fought, and, Episode Two ends on a cliffhanger. Okay, so maybe I hate Valve just a little for making us wait for Episode Three to drop, but I’m sure it will manage to blow my mind once it arrives. Also, Portal is a great game. It’s a puzzler in the first-person perspective with a great sense of humor, and a fair bit of challenge towards the end. The cake is most definitely a lie.
To conclude, I still haven’t decidedly swung one way or another when it comes to Steam, but my opinion is now a lot more positive than it was eleven months ago.
Tags: Half Life 2, Portal, Region Locking, Steam, Valve
It has been so long since my last blog entry that I don’t even know where to begin. The period in between has been nothing short of eventful, but now that the semester is done for, I can finally attempt to regain my sanity (and catch up on sleep) over the next few days.
Let’s get the boring details out of the way first. I finished all my graduate school applications last week, and it’s now up to my recommenders to submit their recommendations on time. Then, it’s a painful waiting game until the decisions start rolling in early March. Also, since I very nearly killed myself with a heavy workload this semester, my schedule for next semester allows me to take classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays only, leaving every other day wide open. Yeah.
So, I ended up buying the ASUS G50V-A2. Yes, it’s slightly bigger than the average 15.4″, but I think the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. The orange color is actually not bad, and the laptop color scheme reminds me of Half Life 2, one of my favorite FPSes ever. The display is gorgeous, and I’m loving all the expansion ports and 400GB of hard drive space. Gaming so far has been a delight, with the laptop running UT3 and Left 4 Dead at 1680×1050 without hassle. And yes, it can play Crysis – I tried out the demo. Over the winter break, I plan to finally play Half Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2 and Portal, along with Bioshock. Lest I forget, this was the G50V model with a Blu-ray drive, and ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that The Dark Knight on Blu-ray is an orgasmic experience, even if I don’t have a 1080p-capable display.
I’m flying back on the 20th, and should arrive in Delhi on the 21st at night, barring any delays. For a change, I am not going to promise a flurry of articles over the break. I need some goddamn sleep.
Tags: Flight, G50V, Grad School
If you whisper loud enough, it will echo in this place. At the start of the semester, I had a crazy plan to take six classes, and simultaneously work on graduate school applications. The reason was simple – if I had fewer classes, I would simply waste more time, and the time spent on apps would work out to be roughly the same. But with the knowledge that I was constantly running out of time to finish the applications, I would work hard on them.
It has been semi-successful so far. But what it has also done, is turned me completely anti-social, and on the verge of breaking something. On a Friday night, when the rest of NYC was out partying like it was 1999, I was sitting in my room and writing grad school essays. To make matters worse, the laptop gods obviously don’t want me to get a new laptop. Every day, I go through phases when I’m close to buying a certain laptop, only for that to change a few hours later. As of this writing, the HP Elitebook 8530w has its nose ahead for the durable construction, good battery life, and non-glossy looks. I was almost certain to go with the ASUS G50V, when along came a new version with a more conservative silver/grey color scheme and a better GPU. The stripped-down Best Buy version is not ideal, and the size is still bothersome. Battery life will probably take a hit with the new GPU – not good news when it was a paltry 2 hours to begin with. But with the rupee being pretty weak against the dollar, the Elitebook is an expensive proposition compared to the ASUS. But, but, but, maybe the durable construction and battery life make up for that?
Run along now, I only posted this entry to remind everyone that I haven’t suffered a nervous breakdown yet, and that I was really, really bored while writing these essays. I hope that makes you feel better.
Tags: Grad School, Laptop
The Precision M4400 was my third Dell computer. The first, a Dimension 8200 desktop, has been working fine for the last 6.5 years with the only problem being a failed hard drive early in its life. The second, an Inspiron 9100, has been my workhorse for the last 4 years. It too had a hard drive failure (taken care of immediately by Dell), and of course, the backlight went out earlier this year, but on the whole, nothing else went wrong. The thing is built like a tank (weighs as much too) but it’s showing its age. The Precision M4400 was purchased as a replacement – workstation quality laptop with a fast processor, decent graphics card, and support for both XP and Vista.
It showed up yesterday, about 12 days after I ordered it. Obviously, I was excited and I opened it up and turned it on as soon as I got back to my room. I guess that was where the excitement ended.
I got one of the Philips-LG displays that was known to be grainy. On top of that, the keyboard had too much flex and I could both see and feel the center of the keyboard depressing downward during typing. Sure, the laptop was well-built and looked very nice, but after paying extra for a business laptop, I expected top-notch hardware. I knew from NotebookReview.com that the Samsung panel was a lot better but Dell couldn’t guarantee that a replacement screen would be the Samsung, and so, I returned the laptop today. It was in my possession for all of 26 hours – it’s a shame because I really liked the laptop too. I’m back to square one and am considering the ASUS G50V and HP Elitebook 8530w again. For a full gallery of unboxing shots, visit my Flickr photostream at:
http://flickr.com/photos/electrictool/tags/m4400/
Tags: Laptop, M4400
So this is it, folks. This is the final phase of waiting and also the appropriate time for me to reveal what this waiting game is all about. You see, a little over a week ago, I ordered a new laptop from Dell, thus ending a long and frustrating wait. Since it was looking like Montevina-based Dell consumer laptops were a few months away (!), I went with a business laptop from them. So, this is what I got:
Dell Precision M4400
Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz/6MB L2/1066MHz FSB on Intel Montevina chipset
2GB DDR2-800 RAM (will upgrade in the near future)
250GB 7200rpm SATA HDD w/ Free Fall Sensor
15.4″ WXGA+ 1440×900 LED-backlit display
Nvidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB graphics (workstation equivalent of 9600M GT)
Intel WiFi Link 5300 a/g/n card + Gigabit Ethernet
Windows XP Pro SP3 Installed with Vista Business Install Disc
Other things:
Backlit keyboard, 6-cell battery, DVD burner, 3-year warranty, Bluetooth, Usual assortment of ports and things
I left out the fingerprint reader and webcam to save money and also because I already have a nice/compact webcam and didn’t think I would need a fingerprint reader. I could be proven wrong! 
It shipped out today and has an estimated delivery date of September 29, 2008. My original shipping date was September 30, so they’re actually 5 days ahead of schedule. I’ll do some unboxing shots and maybe a video next week. A more detailed review will follow. Oh, and before I forget, this is what the laptop looks like (arrows not part of laptop 
):
This one uses the 9-cell battery that sticks out - the 6-cell is flush with the casing.
Front view of the laptop.
Tags: Laptop, M4400, Waiting