There is this plugin for Windows Media Center (Vista) that allows the playing of Netflix movies on the 360. Have to follow the setup directions pretty closely for it to work. But when it does, woot!

Netflix on 360

My needs have changed over the years. While I needed fast 3D graphics to do university research, I now need portability to stay connected in the business world. Moving from a 9lb Dell Inspiron 9100 to a 5lb Inspiron 1420 feels like having the weight of a baby removed from your belly. Well, it might feel that way.

I've seen them, but I never really got a chance to use this 'glossy' screen before and I am disappointed by the glare it produces around a light source. I wish I was able to test them side by side but I shipped my old laptop the same day I got my new one. Not sure why it is labled as superior, must make pictures look all nice and shiny. Along with the weight I dropped an inch and went with the 14" screen, losing a lot of real estate going from resolution 1680x1050 to 1440x900.

Speed wise P4 3Ghz HT (Win XP) to Core 2 Duo 2Ghz (Vista) feels similar, I wonder where 5 years in processor advances went. Doing some multithreaded enabled encoding would probably reveal the inner beast of this machine. The nVidia 8400M GS might be a downgrade from the mobile ATI 9700, both with 128Mb. Main memory is now at a large 3Gb, up from 1Gb. And hard drive 250Gb up from 60Gb.

Noticeably missing is the pencil-head mouse controller, although I opted for an internal bluetooth connector and wireless mouse, which is great. Overall the build quality feels good, battery life is around 3-4 hours with a long-life battery. Dell still sticks a couple 3rd party programs I could have lived without, I did uninstall them without any problems.

With a 30% off coupon code found using a Google search, I was able to get all a pretty good laptop for only $1140. If you are buying something online and see a coupon code box, always do a google search, I've been getting free Papa John's toppings by just doing a google search. More money saved = earlier retirement.

Hmm. My PS3 stopped reading discs. Looks like the drive is dead, damn Bluray. Less than 4 months with light use (mostly movies). I had just got Gran Turismo 5 from Gamerang and was just starting to get into it. I also had 2 Netflix rentals sitting there for almost a week because of all the NBA playoff games. Can't play them in my 360 either because they are BR discs. I did a search and saw that there are other people with this problem, some with only a few hours of play. Let's see how quickly they get me back up and running. Maybe I should go back to PC gaming. The system gets to be a little more expensive, but at least I choose quality (not cheapest) parts.

1/13/08: Purchased
5/3/08: Stopped reading discs
5/3/08: Called for box
5/9/08: Got box, shipped. They actually paid for overnight, unlike MS' ground.
5/20/08: Got PS3 back.