What’s in my bag for the Microsoft MVP Global Summit 2013

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Thomas Maurer

Only a few days left until I catch my flight with Marcel Zehner (MVP System Center Datacenter & Cloud Management) to Redmond for the Microsoft MVP Global Summit 2013. Microsoft invites all MVPs worldwide (approx 4000) for a great week of learning, sharing and networking on the Microsoft Campus. For this week I had to pack some stuff for the flight and the days we will spend and work there.

Nokia Lumia 920 – We sure I need my smartphone and I definitely can use the Pureview camera to create some great shots from Seattle and Redmond.
Microsoft Surface RT – I loaded the Surface with a lot of movies for the long flight. The Surface RT should have definitely enough battery life for watching some videos and get some writing done.
Zune HD – I already mentioned that I am a huge fan of Microsoft Hardware and I like to have a different music player to save the battery of my Lumia 920.
Zune Headphones – I am still impressed by the quality of the Zune Headphones
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 - This is my work machine, a great powerful and light device.
WD USB Hard drive – Adding a little more storage to my bag
Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse – perfect travel mouse
USB Stick with Windows To Go
SD Cards – Additional Storage
And of course much more…

Btw. I really can’t wait to pick up a Microsoft Surface Pro in one of the Microsoft Stores in Seattle or Bellevue.

Vizio is doing it right

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Thomas Maurer

Some years ago I moved from Apple products to PC products from mayor vendors like HP, Lenovo or Dell. I really love Windows and the way it works, don’t get me wrong OS X is a good operating system and some years ago (between Windows XP and Windows Vista/7) it had some advantages, but as I think in the last years the company who did the most and major innovation was Microsoft. Now what I always missed was really cool hardware. I know there are some machines out there which are okay but it does just not feel as good as Apple hardware.

Some months ago I saw some articles on the web about a small American company which was know for his TVs is starting to build PCs… Crazy? Sure I would think you have to be a little crazy to enter the PC market at all but when you see the products they make, you realize this could work. They make really clean and beautiful Apple like designs and they focus and building good hardware and not just selling some plastic.

Today I found a great article (Vizio reboots the PC: a quiet American success story takes on sleeping giants) about this company called Vizio on theverge.com.

I really love their products and would love to get them here in Switzerland together with Windows 8. Checkout http://www.vizio.com/

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 now shipping in Switzerland

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is now shipping in Switzerland. A lot of online shops have it allready in stock.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is a ultra light and thin business class notebook. It’s the thinest ThinkPad ever made. And it looks pretty impressive.

“To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.”

Continue reading →

HP Elitebook comparison

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

HP-EliteBook-8460w-8560w-and-8760w-header

I thinking about buying a new notebook and since HP, Dell and other vendors released new notebooks based on Intel Sandy Bridge this would be the perfect time to replace my current MacBook Pro with a new Windows Laptop.

So basically I made this HP Elitebook comparison for all Important things for me based on the Swiss data. (In Switzerland not every model is available.) I also took always the best available option for me.

	Probook 6460b	Probook 6560b	Elitebook 8460p	Elitebook 8560p	Elitebook 8460w	Elitebook 8560w
CPU	i5-2520M	i5-2520M	i7-2620M	i7-2620M	i7-2630QM	i7-2630QM
RAM	16GB	16GB	16GB	16GB	16GB	32GB
Graphics	AMD HD 6470M 512MB	AMD HD 6470M 512MB	AMD HD 6470M 1GB	AMD HD 6470M 1GB	AMD FirePro M3900 1GB	AMD FirePro M5950 1GB
Display	14.0 1600×900	15.6 1600×900	14.0 1600×900	15.6 1920×1080	14.0 1600×900	15.6 1920×1080
3G	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Glass Trackpad	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
USB 3.0	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
Weight	2.02kg	2.46kg	2.07kg	2.73kg	2.22kg	3kg
Thickness	3.4cm	3.4cm	3.4cm	3.4cm	3.2cm	3.45cm
Design	good	good	okay	okay	awesome	good
Battery life	okay	okay	very good	good	good	bad
Battery life+	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
Docking station	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
incl. warranty	1 year	1 year	3 years	3 years	3 years	3 years
Price	good	good	okay	okay	okay	okay

Maybe there are some mistakes in this chart but the most things should be right. And I don’t say one is better than the other one, clearly they are made for different tasks and workloads.

Other things:

I will add a Intel SSD
I will use 8GB RAM
I will not use an optical drive

What’s important for me:

I need long battery life up 6-8h (more would be better)
I need fast disk speed. Since I used a SSD I will never use a HDD again.
I don’t need a lot of graphic power
Resolution should be 1600×900 or higher
the notebook should be light and not to think
CPU power, should be enough to run Hyper-V for demos (boot from VHD)

Gallery:

New Awesome HP Notebooks (Elitebooks and ProBooks)

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

After some years with my Apple MacBook Pro its time for a new notebook. Now since my work now is really in the Microsoft field, it does not really make sence to buy a MacBook Pro again. So first I check out the new Dell Latitude E-Series, and now HP released the new Elitebook Workstations.

Now I don’t really like the new HP Elitebook p-series, but I really like the black desgin of the ProBook or the new gunmetal black of the Elitebook w-series.

What is important for me:

Screen resolution – 1600 x 900 or even 1920 x 1200
battery – life 6 hours or more
Size 14 inch or 15 inch
cool desgin
docking station
multiple monitor support

If you need more information you can get them here.

New Dell Latitude E-Serie – Here we go

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

Dell Latitude E6520 Laptop

Here we go. Now the new Dell Latitude E-Series is now in the Dell Online Store. I think the new Latitude E-Series are one of the best deals you can get at the moment. And I really like the option for the 15.6in UltraSharp FHD(1920×1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit display.

Dell Latitude E6520, E6420 & XT3

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

I am thinking about buying a new notebook with Intels new processor generation Sandy Bridge. As I work more and more with Windows systems and also do presentations about our Microsoft Solutions, a MacBook Pro isn’t really a option. I also had a look at the new HP EliteBooks but I don’t really like the new desgin.

So I checked what Dell has to offer and voila. I really like the desgin of the new Dell Latitude E-Series.