Main Desktop

My main desktop machine, where I do most of my gaming and just general personal computing, was the first machine that I migrated to the Windows 7 Beta.  I had some issues with video card drivers at first, but that was quickly resolved.  Other than occasional video weirdness, which I think may actually be hardware related, it performs wonderfully.  I haven’t had any problems with games that would’t play or performance or anything.

Media Center

The second machine I upgraded to the Windows 7 Beta (and recently upgraded to the Release Candidate) is  my media center PC.  This machine is a Dell XPS 420 with dual ATI digital cable tuners that serves as the hub for all the media in my house.  It serves streaming HDTV, movies and more to Xbox 360s located in other parts of the house.  It was a bit risky moving this machine to Windows 7, but I left my Vista install there in a dual boot setup just in case.  I haven’t booted back to Vista on that machine once.

The upgrades made to Windows Media Center are incredible.  The new guide features are great, with the ability to set up favorites lists, color code the guide entries and more. The interface is a much improved, generally tighter and nicer looking version of the one included in Windows Vista.  In general, I’m loving all the media functionality of Windows 7.

Netbook

I have an HP Mini 1030NR that I immediately installed Windows 7 on.  It came with Windows XP and I just cannot imagine myself ever going back to that operating system again unless forced to.  Windows 7 performs really well in 1GB of memory on an Atom processor.  It’s nice and quick for those times when I just want to get online real quick to check a few things or when I’m out and about and need to get online.

Work Laptop

I recently upgraded my Thinkpad work laptop to Windows 7 because I was having some performance issues with Windows Vista on it (and because I was so used to it on my other machines I really wanted it on the machine I spend 8-10 hours a day on).  It’s been great and the performance is much improved.

Kid’s computer

I just put together a low-end AMD X2 machine for the kids this weekend and immediately put Windows 7 RC on it.  They seem to be able to navigate it pretty easily, and they love the new Aero Themes with the nice color options, sound themes and cool wallpapers.

All in all I must say that I’ve been extremely pleased with Windows 7 and I really look forward to it coming out in a final release.  Anyone else using Windows 7?  If so, what do you think?

Since I had already written a post regarding why I love my Zune, I figured it was time for me to extoll the virtues of one of the other gadgets that I love, namely my Amazon Kindle.

When I first heard about the Kindle, I was definately intrigued.  I’ve always been interested in the idea of e-book readers, since I read an enormous amount of books.  I can easily go through 15-20 novels a month when I can find the time to go out and buy them.  My appetite for science fiction and fantasy has lead to a, shall we say, large collection of physical books (at last count, somewhere in the 1500-2000 range).

While I’ve always loved the feel of a book in my hand, I wasn’t wedded to the concept.  It’s the content, not the form factor, that I enjoy.  So anything that can reduce the amount of physical books I have to store as well as the amount of natural resources used up to print those books was a good thing in my book (pun intended).

So, the reduction of paper books was my number one reason for buying the Kindle.  There are a few more, however, that I feel are pretty close to the same level of importance.

I love the convenience of being able to purchase a book whenever I want.  The Kindle includes high speed wireless access to the Amazon store.  Amazon calls this Amazon Whispernet.  It’s essentially 3G EVDO access running on the Sprint network.  There’s no monthly fees for access to this network, however, so it’s a great deal.  You simply access the storefront from your Kindle or from another internet connected device, make your purchase, and the new content is downloaded to your Kindle wirelessly in a matter of seconds.

To go along with that, you can subscribe to newspapers, magazines, even blogs on your Kindle.  New content from these subscriptions are downloaded automatically to your Kindle when the content is made available.  These subscriptions are usually less than their physical media counterparts, as well.

As far as cost goes, even though the Kindle is not cheap as an up front investment, if you read as much as I do, you’ll easily make back the money you spent on it through the savings on the content.  Most books are priced significantly lower than their physical counterparts.

The last thing I’ll say is that I love the fact that with my Kindle with me, I have access to all the books I’ve ordered through it.  As I build up my library, I’ll be able to take all my books with me wherever I go.  It’s really nice to be able to keep all that information in one place.

My first portable media player (PMP) was an Apple iPod Mini.  I think it was a 4GB Blue model.  It was fine, I guess, but I ran out of space on it and needed to upgrade to get more.  I upgraded to the Apple iPod Video (5th Generation iPod, I think), which was a 30GB model.  It was fine as far as space goes, but I REALLY hated iTunes and the DRMed to all hell music that I supposedly owned when I bought it from the iTunes Music Store.  I was also disappointed in the way iTunes and the iPod handled podcasts.

When Microsoft launched the second generation Zune, I was ready to make a switch.  I bought my 80GB black Zune 2 the day they came out and I’ve never looked back.  There are so many things to love about this device and the software and services associated with it.  Sure, there’s a few annoyances as well, but not too many in my book.

I’m sure I may miss a few, but here are the major reasons I love my Zune:

1. The hardware itself is really nice.  Sure, it’s not as sleek as an iPod.  But the navigation pad (the squircle) is awesome.  You flick your finger in the direction you want to scroll and the items scroll really quickly.  Press the squircle in the direction and it moves one item at a time.  Just really convenient, easy to use navigation mechanisms.  The screen is nice, though a larger, higher resolution screen would be on my wish list.
2. The device software is awesome.  I always hated the navigation on the iPods.  It always felt like I was hitting back, back, back a lot to navigate to a new section.  The Zune software has a crossbar navigation mechanism that allows you to scroll up and down and left and right.  For instance, when you go into Music, you can scroll left and right to get to the different filters (Artist, Album, Genre, Playlist, etc.) and up and down for the results of that filter.  If you, for instance, go to Artist and select an artist, you’re then presented with a left/right scroll list of all of your artists and an up/down scroll list of the albums for the artist you’re on.
3. The Zune PC software is very clean and easy to use.  It’s taken a few versions of the new software, but I think it’s finally there.  There’s some really cool features like Mixview, which allows you to view related artists, other listeners and various other related information about a song you’re playing.  It’s a great way to explore similar or related music and other people with similar tastes to yours to see what they’re listening to.
4. The Zune Pass.  This, to me, is the best part of being a Zune user.  For $14.95 a month, you get unlimited, all you can eat, access to most of the Zune Marketplace’s music content.  Download 5, 10, 15 albums a month, it doesn’t matter.  Sure, you’re “renting” the music and if you stop paying your subscription, your content expires.  But if you typically buy an average of an album a month, the Zune Pass is worth it, especially considering that you get 10 free tracks per month to keep.  Those are completely free, non-expiring tracks.

I’m sure there’s more things that I love about the Zune that I’ll think of after I finish writing this post, such as the fact that you can sync your Zune over wi-fi, can access the Zune Marketplace and stream music over wi-fi, and can stream music to your PC from the Zune Marketplace even on computers that you don’t download your music collection to.

All in all, if you’re looking for a new portable media player, consider the Zune.  It’s a great device!