Barb's Connected World

As a registered geek, I never thought I’d see the day when I didn’t want to build myself an impossible screaming desktop for personal use. My real world personal desktop was getting long in the tooth (i.e., it was Circa Windows XP hardware wise and to beef it up would require a new proc, more RAM, better video, and more HD space).

Somewhere between the list of components for a new box (not to mention a high end monitor), I gave in to temptation and started playing with an IQ504 in a local store last summer. The sleek design actually was (to me) the best of that genre and really appealed to me. And it was just, well, a lot of FUN to use.

The IQ816 was “to die for” but at least $500 more. For my purposes, the IQ506 had enough awesomeness. (And I already have two Media Center OCUR/DCT boxes connected to high res widescreen displays for HDTV goodness). At the time, I didn't have any Blu-Ray DVDs so I was pretty happy with the specs of the IQ506. 

So I ordered myself an IQ506 in early October. Before the stock market and the economy took an atomic nose dive. And I knew someone that could put the old desktop to good use, so I gifted it. I’m not sorry I spent the money even though it is going to now put a cramp in my holiday plans.

Click the image above to watch a VERY entertaining demo.

And after 5 weeks, I’m still as much in love with this computer as day one. This is a FUN machine. It’s possibly the best family oriented machine I’ve seen and unless you are a hard core pc gamer, it is a machine to seriously consider as a general purpose machine.

The touch screen interface doesn’t take long to become accustomed to (and you always have Windows Vista’s default interface available when you want it.

It’s kind of neat to drag my fingers along the bottom to bring up the various applications. And yes, you can add RSS feeds and view web sites within the interface.

Above shows how my blog appears inside the TouchSmart interface. I think it is cool that I can drag my finger up and down over the website to scroll. It’s like having the best of a tablet pc interface with all this neat HP touch functionality at the same time. Did I say it was fun?

There isn’t much not to like about the IQ506. My biggest beef was that these come with Vista x64 Home Premium and some trialware and Symantec crapware with 60 days of Live Update pain. But, I easily formatted the hard drive, installed Vista x64 Ultimate SP1 and then the apps (including TouchSmart) that I wanted from HP, plus all the drivers are on the HP support site. Sure I could have done a Windows Anytime Upgrade, but it’s much better to have Ultimate and do a complete image backup after you get your apps installed and everything running perfectly than it is to use an OEM “recovery” which puts you back to crapified whatever. Shame on Microsoft for not including this in Home Premium. Maybe with Windows 7 this will change.

Anyway, I’m having lots of fun with my IQ506. My advice is – go get yourself one of these. If you are impatient, some of the Best Buy stores have started carrying these. And start having FUN.

Full specs as supplied by HP:

	Operating system		Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition with Service Pack 1
	Processor		Intel Core2 Duo Processor T5850
	Memory		4096MB
	Memory speed		PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM
	Total memory slots		2 SoDIMMs
	Maximum memory		N/A
	Graphics card		Integrated Nvidia GeForce 9300 M GS HD graphics module with 256MB dedicated video memory and support for Microsoft DirectX 10
	TV and entertainment experience		TV Tuner: Dual-format NTSC or over-the-air ATSC high-definition TV tuner, HP Media Center remote control with IR (infrared) receiver
	PCI expansion		N/A
	Hard drive		500GB 7200RPM [gigabyte is defined as 1,000,000,000 bytes, accessible capacity may vary]
	Primary CD/DVD drive		Slot-load SuperMulti DVD Burner
	Secondary CD/DVD drive		N/A
	Networking		10/100/1000 BaseT network interface; Integrated Bluetooth and 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN with built-in WLAN antenna
	Sound card		Integrated High Definition Audio with 2.0 sound capabilities
	Speakers		High-performance 2.0 Speakers
	Front-side bus (processor dependent)		667MHz Front Side Bus
	Power supply		N/A
	I/O ports		5-in-1 memory card reader supports Secure Digital (SD, SDHC), MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 1 FireWire (IEEE 1394) port (front); Headphone (front); Line-in (back); 5 USB 2.0 ports(2 front, 3 rear)(5 available); Line-out (back); Digital Audio Out (back)
	Software, full versions		HP TouchSmart Music - Create playlists with your favorite music; HP TouchSmart Video - Watch, record and upload your personal videos using touch; HP TouchSmart Photo - Share your fun and memorable moments in life with family and friends; HP TouchSmart RSS Feeds - Get the latest news right at your fingertips; HP TouchSmart Browser - Browse the web in a whole new way; HP TouchSmart Calendar - Manage your busy schedule and stay in touch with family; HP TouchSmart Notes - Quick and easy text and voice notes right at your fingertips; muvee autoProducer Basic: Automatically create professional looking home videos and burn to DVD; Cyberlink DVD Suite Deluxe: Automatically fix and edit videos and create CDs and DVDs. Edit, burn and archive data to discs; Microsoft Works 9: Includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database and calendar; Adobe Reader 8.0: Read and print PDF files; HP Total Care Advisor: Customizable desktop tool provides support, system health and shopping information
	Software, introductory versions		Norton Internet Security 2008: Protect your PC out of the box (60 days of complimentary live updates)
	Trial Internet service		Easy sign-up to major dial-up and broadband Internet Service Providers High Speed Internet Services Comparison Shopping
	Dimensions		21"(L) x 2.6"(W) x 17.4" (H/D)
	Basic warranty		One year of hardware parts and labor coverage, 90 day software toll-free phone assistance

I was looking for a machine to use to process my digital photos that had more working space (pixels), more hard drive space and good color rendition and spent a couple of hours playing with this amazing laptop in (of all places) a Best Buy store.

And I took it home. I like the machine alot, but it isn’t perfect because as shipped, with Home Premium, it doesn’t include two things I need, RDP Host and full image based backup. (It’s stupid that MS does not include full image backup in the Home SKU. Probably the single most helpful software when disaster strikes. Ultimate Extras are a joke and don’t matter to me at all.  You can read about the specs at http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/sony-vaio-aw125j-h/4505-3121_7-33309981.html but this post is more about my continuing adventure in transforming the machine into an x64 Ultimate (instead of Home Premium).

This is the first VAIO I have owned. I’ll write about it when it is running the OS I prefer.

Windows Anytime Upgrade from inside the GUI displayed a browser string and would not lead me to the correct web page. I contacted MS support who told me I needed to get this upgrade from Sony. I know how to get to the anytime upgrade site, but I was concerned.

Well, I’ve been having adventures now for a couple of weeks. Bottom line is that using a regular x64 Ultimate DVD and performing and in place upgrade installs a new copy of Vista. And many of the Sony supplied utilities don’t work and definitely the WinDVD Blue Ray software does not work. A format and clean install of x64 Ultimate, and then an attempt to reinstall Sony drivers is only partially successful. And forget trying to reinstall the apps I really wanted. No can do.

I made some noise and got hooked up with a very senior support VP office. Exchanged email. Had a phone call.  Some MS folks were conferenced in as well. This happened on 11/12 and afterwards I responded by email:

Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me. I’m thrilled that you are going to provide me with an x64 Ultimate install DVD and all Applications for this machine.

While I didn’t get the DVD and drivers to fix me up overnight as initially promised, a week later (11/20) I got another phone call. This time Sony asked to conference some more Microsoft folks in and I agreed. So a bunch of people were looking at my issue. Sony acknowledged the problem scenarios and said that the WAU should work, but I’d need to uninstall and reinstall some apps and they were working with MS on the issue with WinDVD. I thought I was promised that a WAU upgrade would be sent on that first con call (11/12) but maybe I misunderstood.

So last night I was told it would take 7-10 days to ship me a WAU DVD x64 SP1 Ultimate WAU disk. (And I don’t know how they would ship it.) That threw me, as I don’t quite understand why the MS folks that promised to send me the DVD can’t grab one and stick it in a FEDEX envelope. So I expressed some displeasure and they said they would expedite and ship it “express” (whatever that means). Update: that meant express mail and it just arrived 11/22. And Sony was supposed to email me instructions and a KB fix link as they had successfully performed the upgrade and other than these “work arounds”, I should now be able to perform the upgrade.

I suspect I will see the DVD WAU media around XMAS and I’m not sure when Sony will be emailing me the instructions and KB fix info.

I asked what they were doing for the user community, and they said that they would get the information up on their esupport site.

All in all, I am happy that the Sony and MSFT folks are going to fix me up with what I need to get the OS I want on this machine. But the waiting is horrendously painful. Sony should ship these with x64 Ultimate to begin with.

Stay tuned..