Notebook Docking Station

Just received my notebook's docking station today. It is in simple words Amazing! I can't imagine anyone working on a notebook without a docking station. It really makes the whole experience of developing on a notebook so much more enjoyable.

My first configuration without the docking station worked OK as can been seen from this picture. I was able to work on my notebook monitor and keep all the other debug information etc. on the secondary monitor.

On the CRT / secondary monitor my latest desktop enhancement is visible ... Yahoo! Widgets, very nice and very useful.

After I received my docking station I had to change my configuration a bit. My CRT monitor was not high enough to have it above my LCD monitor so I had to move the CRT monitor to the left side of my notebook.

Still works good, the CRT just had to move back a bit so that I do not need to twist my neck too much to work on the CRT monitor.

Visible is my Yahoo! Widgets and my other desktop enhancement tool Meebo.

A view of my notebook with docking station from the side.

Notebook Update

It's been a week since I took delivery of my notebook and it works like a dream. Must be one of the best 'investments' of this year, that and my Seinfeld DVD collection. The notebook was a bit on the expensive side but I feel it was well worth it. I will post a small picture of my current work environment shortly.

I must admit the 7200 rpm hard disk makes a huge difference in my compile time, but it was expected. I am very impressed with my notebook. I am still waiting for the delivery of my docking station and my sports bag but until then my notebook rules!

Pending file operations irritation

I recently had the unpleasant pleasure of encountering a pending file operations irritation while trying to install SQL Server. Luckily there is a solution.

The short of it is as follows:

• Run the Windows Registry Editor
• Go to
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager
• Delete the pendingfilerenameoperations key

And that should get rid if the irritation.

C# Quick Equivalents

I discovered a nice website containing some common C++ functionality and the C# equivalents to those funtions. Really helpful when converted legacy C++ code to C# like I am doing now. The website is available here.

Another 48 hours

Jip sounds like the 48hours movie and its follow up. Everything was setup and ready for me to take delivery of my new HP notebook on Thursday, but alas they will only get new stock on Monday so my ETA shifted out to Tuesday, so in reality it will be another 96 hours before a take delivery of my new HP notebook.

At least next Monday might not be that blue then.

48 Hours to go

After a lengthy purchase exercise my new notebook will be delivered Thursday morning. I am buying my notebook through the company I work at so it wasn't as easy as just walking into a store and taking delivery of a notebook.

Two years ago I bought a top of the range HP notebook for the same price than my new top of the range HP notebook but the new HP has 1Gb more memory and it includes a docking station which my previous notebook did not have. Nice to see notebooks becoming cheaper, though slower than the desktop computers, but I assume the more people start buying notebooks the cheaper they will be become eventually.

Another friend of mine bought himself a notebook at a 1/4 of the price I paid for mine and it is actually a decent notebook.

Now I just have to wait 48 hours and maybe finish setting up my desktop computer at home.

Notebook, notebook, notebook ...

Well I knew that my notebook will only be delivered within 7 working days and today is only the 2nd working day, but after working on my friend's NW8240 over the weekend I can barely wait for my notebook anymore.

The 1920x1200 resolution is not a problem at all, I think it is one of the best things about this notebook. The screen real estate on the notebook is amazing!

Now it is just a matter of time ...

My New Laptop

After two years of using my trusty HP Nx7000 I decided to upgrade. My Nx7000 was not an average midrange laptop for its time but it was showing its age lately.

My Nx7000 was one of the few laptops with a 60Gb 5400 rpm hard disk coupled with 1Gb RAM and it sported a 15.4" WSXGA+ (1650x1050) LCD screen. This set me back a bit of money when I bought it but it was well worth it. Two years after I bought the laptop it was still good enough to do my everyday work on.


Naturally when it was time to upgrade I looked at HP again. Not having any problems with my Nx7000 I decided to buy HP again. My new laptop will be the NW8240. More details are available on the HP website but in essence my new laptop will have a 80Gb 7200 rpm hard disk, 2 Gb RAM and a 15.4" WUXGA+ (1920x1200) LCD screen.

I was a bit reluctant to buy the WUXGA+ LCD at first, I was concerned that the resolution will be too small for development but after a quick call to a friend already owning a NW8240 I decided to give the WUXGA+ LCD a chance. I will only know for sure when I get the laptop whether it is a good development screen on not.

My new laptop should be delivered within the next 7 working days.