Author: jarek91

Comcast Episode Two: Attack of the Fuzz

There I was, minding my own business. It had been a long day at work but the week was now over. I had made it to Friday night. Supper was eaten and the dishes put away. All I had to do was relax on the couch with Doctor Who. The episode teaser was intriguing. The Doctor has a daughter?

The show started and I was instantly mesmerized by the images on the 50″ plasma. Say what you will, but I like the way Doctor Who stories are presented. I like the writing. I like the acting. It’s probably my favorite show next to Good Eats (and nobody can top that one). But there was a problem. Max Headroom syndrome was starting again. It was a little spastic, but it was there…probably nothing to worry about.

Then it grew more pronounced. By ten minutes into the show I was having full blown half-second scene repeats. But it’s fine, I just want to see the show so I switch to the SD channel since HD was obviously on the fritz. The signal is so bad it’s like watching TV on rabbit ears attached to a 10″ tube set made in the 50’s. It’s during a commercial so I switch to another station to make sure it isn’t just a SciFi problem. Nope. Every channel is covered in more fuzz than a lint catcher.

But it’s fine. I just want to see Doctor Who. I can make out the picture and I can hear the voices. It’s good enough. So I switch back to SciFi. Instead of the show I get a box that declares I must subscribe to SciFi if I want to watch it. Now I know my bill is paid and everything is in good standing. So I switch to a local station…same message. Something is horribly wrong. I reboot the box.

Joy! The signal is still bad but I can watch SciFi again. I’ve missed about 6 minutes of the show, but that’s alright. I just want to watch the rest of it. Unfortunately it blinks a minute or two in and brings me back to the subscribe message. By this time I’m on the phone with Comcast. The first call was pointless. I described the problem and the lady put me on hold. After waiting on hold for over 10 minutes I hang up and call back. Imagine that, I get someone on the phone right away. She isn’t overly helpful. She said there’s no problems in my area and I should just wait it out and see if it clears up. During all this I get it semi-working again and agree while trying to figure out what’s going on in Doctor Who.

But like a bad poker hand that you just keep getting dealt, it went right back to the subscribe screen. Now if you’ve been following my Comcast posts, you know this is a new DVR. You know that I’ve had new cabling run all over the place during the last year. And you know that Comcast techs should just about rent a house across the street because they are out here that much. So now I’ve missed almost all of Doctor Who. I make a third call. I get a guy this time on the phone. I actually feel sorry for him because I begin venting.

Now I’m not the kind of guy to just completely…ok…yes I am, but I am not so mad that I just burn his ears off. He does understand exactly how irritated I am, though. I get an appointment for Saturday so I won’t have to take a day off work. This guy is being very patient and offering some real help. It’s the first I’ve gotten tonight. So I thank him and hang up. Why? Because I’m busy buffering the episode I just missed on SurfTheChannel. Yep, I’ve found yet another site to replace the questionable service of Comcast Cable.

The tech that came out on Saturday has been to my house before. He remembers the work he’s done in the past and can’t believe they still don’t have it fixed. He tested far more stuff than any other tech and said he’d pass it on to thier senior guy who has been doing this for over 20 years. Actually, today is now Tuesday and I should have an answer as to what the problem is. (There’s a small chance it’s the cable in the walls.) And would you believe the guy told me that part of my problem the previous night was because of an outage? He laughed and shook his head when I told him the lady on the phone put me on hold to check with her supervisor to see if there was an outage and she assured me there was not one. Get it together Comcast.

Oh, after all this complaining, why am I still using their service? My daughter. She’s 11 and is thoroughly attached to Nick and Cartoon Network. While I can shift my viewing habits, I can’t yet bring myself to render her TV into a DVD player attachment just yet. It’s getting there really fast, though.

Comcast Episode One: The Signal Menace

Yep, it’s another Comcast post. The saga continues. I had a tech out Wednesday to diagnose my Max Headroom Syndrome and random HD DVR reboots. Of course, he had to call for some help back at the office because the box reported my cable service had been disconnected. Funny…I recall having paid my bill in full well before the due date and by that point I had not yet received the next bill. Turns out something freaked out but it was a quick fix.

Next was the actual signal problems. As of the time I am writing this, it is roughly the same as when the tech was here. The FDC is at -16 and the RDC is at 57. For those that don’t know, the RDC is high. This is the signal the box sends back to the office. According to the tech that was here this would be the source of my Max Headroom syndrome. He told me all sorts of odd things will happen when the RDC is out of whack. This tells me we don’t have it fixed yet because here it is Saturday and I still have a screwed up signal. And yes, Max Headroom TV is alive and well on my Samsung 50″ plasma.

But it wasn’t like this earlier today. I turned on the television and tried to turn on the cable box. It was unresponsive. After several minutes of playing with buttons I finally got it to respond somewhat. Guess what, it said my service was disconnected again. So I called in and was instructed to reboot the box which would be followed by a signal being sent to it….yet again. It worked but that’s twice in three days. This box is worse than my last one.

I know it seems that I’m constantly ragging on Comcast. And they do deserve it. Nobody should have this many problems for this many months. However I am obliged to say that customer service has been absolutely great. I know that they have shown up pretty high on lists of worst customer service ever but that has not been my experience. Frank and Melissa and Sid and the ladies that answer the phones locally have been kind and attentive to all of my calls. If Comcast could get their engineers to be as reliable as these people then their service would be tops. Unfortunately, their cable service around here sucks and is vastly overpriced for the intermittant and flaky reception.

This week is Comcast’s last chance. I’ve been patient but I will not continue to pay for this junk I’m receiving. They don’t offer an HD DVR that works. It’s all the same schizo model with the same shoddy firmware. They still charge too much for cable service when there are free options available on the internet. Customer service is not a reason to pay for crap. So thanks Frank and Melissa and Sid, you’ve been great and I can’t say thanks enough for the time and effort you’ve devoted to one single customer but your company just isn’t making things right. You did right by me but the techs and engineers have dropped the ball enough that I’m down to giving them this last chance.

Mozilla aims for Guinness World Record

Looks like Spread Firefox wants to go for a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. To tackle this task, they have opted to record unique downloads on what they have dubbed “Download Day”. This date has not yet been set but if you head over to Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008 you can pledge to get your copy of Firefox 3 on that day (which will include signing you up to be emailed the date when it is set. You can also check out their map to see how many pledges have been made in each country so far. I’ve been using Firefox 3 since Beta 3 (I’m on RC1 now) and other than a little WordPress Stats bug (can’t log in…so I use IE Tab as a workaround) I have seen nothing but great things out of it. I’ve pledged my support to download it on “Download Day”. Will you?

Right here on Hippie TV!

I normally reserve my eco/green posts (read “hippie ideas”) for The Energy Farm site. The only problem is that I have to put more of a journalist-like feel to the article. Now I don’t consider myself a journalist. I’m more of a hobby blogger because I like to share my ideas with anyone that will listen. Yes, sometimes I talk a lot. Anyway, the point is I ran across a neat little article about a new cable channel launching next month and I wanted to share some thoughts. I just didn’t feel I could really express myself well in the more sanitized environment of the other site.

Let’s get to it. Apparently Discovery is launching Planet Green next month. It will be focused on eco-friendly lifestyle programming. The resurgence of the “hippie movement” seems to be in full swing. I’m okay with that. I’ve always thought people were, in general, far too wasteful. In the 80’s it seemed like the “in” thing to get as much as you could and do as little with it as possible. Heck, I remember a truck customizing magazine I used to read that had a special on a souped up Chevrolet 4×4 that got….1 mile to the gallon. You read that right…it had a 1:1 ratio of gas to distance. This was the centerfold truck of that issue. For years now that memory has stood out in my mind as the true representation of our wastefulness.

How does this relate back to Planet Green? General Motors is the only automotive sponsor of the channel. They will be airing several two-minute ad spots on the station. According to the article, two will be corporate spots, four will be Chevrolet spots, and the final two will be Saturn related. I’d imagine that the vast majority of these will be used to try and change the perception that GM only works with large, gas-hungry designs like the Hummer and Suburban. And while a vast amount of its products would fall into the large, heavy, and thirsty category…they do have quite a few more eco-minded lines.

If you consider how GM is fairing financially right now – poorly – you might wonder why they are dropping serious dollars on a fledgling cable station. Personally I think it’s a brilliant move. A lot of my opinion comes from how much I think the company is counting on the Chevy Volt to save them. I’ve been following the electric and extended electric car movement for a while. I hope that my next car is one of them. And I can say that if GM delivers on the promises of the Volt, they could take this new market by storm. And they’ll have to if they want to stay relevant for a few more generations. Oil prices won’t come back down unless the global economy magically resets. Put away those pipe dreams. It’s time to wake up and smell the exhaust.

Alternative energy is more than a fad at this point. It was a nice little sideline to funnel a bit of R&D money into as a write-off a few years ago. With energy prices soaring the way they are now, it’s far more serious. People want ways to do what they always do without having to take out a second mortgage (and don’t get me started on the housing market). GM is poised with the Volt to offer the first mass production extended range electric vehicle for under $40,000 around $30,000 (so says GM-Volt.com). Now I know that some people like to slip on the sandals and grab their hemp necklaces before heading out to the rally supporting the $10,000 PHEV. Get over it. You can’t buy any new car for that and you most certainly won’t get a car using a new technology for that. I think GM’s idea of a car with style and function for the price point they suggest is great.

If you want less range but a slightly higher top speed and no gas tank at all, feel free to get in line for the $108,000 Tesla Roadster. You could have the $600/month lease for the Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell car if you live in the right place in SoCal, just don’t expect to make long trips with it. I believe those hit empty near 200 miles. Speaking of SoCal, you can also jump in line for an Aptera. They should be under $30k according to their website. I imagine it has less storage space than the Volt will. And it’s only a two-seater where I the Volt should be four. Did I mention the Aptera Typ-1 looks like it belongs to Darkwing Duck? That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but this isn’t something you want to buy if you are shy. People will stare and they will take pictures.

It seems like I’ve strayed from Planet Green again, doesn’t it? I haven’t. This is exactly the kind of thing they will be talking about…tech to free us…tech that’s eco-friendly. The other point I was making is that GM is far from the only player in the market for new car lines that are more efficient and “green”. However, they are the only automotive sponsor for the channel. It’s a brilliant move by the beleaguered company that could go a long way to saving them from extinction. So keep your eyes open for Planet Green by Discovery launching on June 4. We could all use a little more Green…

I Think We Should See Other Providers

It already appears that my new HD-DVR is a much more stable than Tom Cruise, unlike my last one. But I am still dealing with HD channels suffering from what I call “Max Headroom Syndrome”. This is where…oh if you don’t know who Max Headroom is, hit Google and Youtube for a little much needed education. Between that and the screen and sound just blanking out every minute or so during Poker After Dark, I’m less and less pleased with my new Comcast deal.

Now that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what they’ve done so far. But with my latest online discovery I don’t know that I have any real need to pursue these issues much longer. To be honest, Sid’s offer on my service rate adjustments only make up about 40% of the reason I didn’t cancel. The real reason is I cannot live without Good Eats. I’m an Alton Brown fan until the end and when I wrote my previous posts about internet television and about Comcast I mentioned that it was the one show I was unable to find online. I’m weak and just couldn’t part with that one show to save money.

That’s different now. Enter TidalTV. They offer channels like DIY, HGTV, and Food Network. They also offer a couple of news channels like AP and some sports channels as well. And yes, they have Good Eats. So take heed Comcast, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me thus far. I think that Frank‘s team (Melissa M. in particular) are one of the best things you’ve done in years. I can’t thank Sid enough for the help he is still giving me on my issues. But if things don’t change between us soon, I’m gonna start seeing other providers. I hear that Hulu and TidalTV and Netflix will give me everything I want. Three at once might be more work, but they also don’t give me all the crap I can live without. They also don’t spend as much of my money as you do. And with the new Netflix Player on the market, I can get more of that goodness on my plasma should I choose not to snatch up an AppleTV for my house.

This is Nunzio from Comcast…

So I got my call from “the local leadership” this afternoon. His name was Sid and we had a nice long talk about things. Apparently Melissa and Sid went over all of my emails and my previous Comcast blurb (Guido part 1) before he got in contact with me. They get points for being thorough. The wonderful thing about that is that he already knew what my issues were and had time to review my service and some options so we didn’t waste all that tedious time rehashing everything I’ve already talked about.

I didn’t know this right up front, of course. So I asked him to summarize what he knew about the situation already. He was surprisingly accurate. I mean accurate to the point that I was wondering if maybe I should check all of my systems for signs of tampering or monitoring. Okay, not really but I was highly impressed. He even took the initiative to take the stations I listed and compared them to the current packaging plans. Guess what…with all of the changes they’ve made in my area, I did not know that the stations I watched were all available in a lower priced plan now.

Of course that isn’t anything to be shocked over. They have eleventy billion customers and there’s no way they could make sure everyone single one of them was aware of how every plan shift affects their needs. I’m not really upset about that; I’m happy that he spotted it. So we talked about the ways we could change what I have to lower my bill but still let me have all the service I want. I didn’t get all my HD and DVR goodness for $30 a month, but we did manage to cut my overall bill for cable and internet by about $50. That’s nothing to sneeze at. So I agreed to keep my Comcast cable television service just a bit longer to see how that works out.

One thing I did enjoy was that he seemed very interested in my idea of a-la-carte packaging. We actually developed it a bit further into an idea that would have fewer hurdles to overcome than a 100% a-la-carte service. Try this idea: Have a small basic package (local channels and whatnot) with add-on options of semi-premium channels. This isn’t quite like the HBO or Cinemax add-on, though I suppose it could be done that way. But the idea is you get the basic package for say $10 a month. Then you add Sci-Fi for $1.45 a month and maybe even a group like HGTV, DIY, and Food Network for $2.30 a month. This way you don’t pay for the unholy legion of channels you never use and have no interest in, your bill is smaller, and the networks you dislike aren’t making money off your service. Win-Win-Win…oh…and Win because such a move would position Comcast at the forefront of the next iteration of cable service. They would be offering the iPod of cable television.

(Begin idea to rant transition…but before I do…I just want to say thanks again to Sid and Melissa ^_^ )

Of course if they aren’t careful, FIOS or U-verse may snatch up the idea and steal what could be a revolutionary move in the old industry. Time moves on and things have to evolve. Digital instead of analog isn’t really the leap forward I mean, either. That’s just a style of delivery. The entire service is due for an overhaul because the times have been changed enough by the internet and daring start-ups…so much so that people now expect to have granular choices. Look at iTunes. I no longer have to buy an entire crap CD for one song that is good. I can just get that song and leave the crap out of my library. I can get one disc of a TV series from Netflix if there is only one or two episodes I want to see. I don’t have to go out and buy the entire thing.

Everyone else seems to get it Mr. Cable Industry. When are you?

Welcome to Comcast, this is Guido. (Part 2)

So if you read the previous post, then you know that roughly four hours after I hit the “Publish” button…I got a response from someone at Comcast in the form of a comment on the post. The comment solicited and email on my part going further in depth on the sources of my frustration with cable television. I have decided since the experience was as nice as it was…I would share most of the email conversation I had with “Melissa M”.

Now, before I get to the emails, let me just say that finding out Comcast has a digital ninja squad that found my blog post four hours after it hit the intarweebs is a little disturbing. As much as I would like to see SBR ranked up there with WWdN, TechCrunch, Scoble, and others…my poor efforts only net me about 50 or so hits a day (and most of those are the AT&T Tilt posts). See how that might make one a little nervous? Anyway, after the initial shock at getting a response, I fired off an email that was kindly worded and lightly seasoned with humor.

Melissa M.,

Thank you for your offer of assistance, though I doubt you will be able to help me realize my suggestions. I was serious about what I was willing to pay. Anything more than $30 a month is just too much for HDTV with DVR. Cable prices have been inflated to the point of feeling like a mafia shakedown as I mentioned in my post. For the privilege of watching a bare handful of channels, I get to hand Comcast well over $1000 a year. That is insane.

From a marketing perspective, I can understand the emphasis on “over 300 channels” or “over 600 channels” or even “over eleventy-hundred channels”. However, the reality is of all these channels you provide me, I watch less than 10. You are making me pay for content I am not interested in and will never use. Now, being in the IT industry I understand the technical complications of changing to a format where one could buy a package of X channels and would then get to choose which channels those are. Not to mention that I am quite certain the stations would have major problems with allowing you to do so. This would, however be the most wonderful and innovative offer any cable company could provide the consumer.

For example, in my case I would opt for somewhere around 10 channels or the closest package to that number that I could get. My choices would be Sci-Fi, USA, Cartoon Network, Food Network, NBC, The CW, Discovery, and then a few random channels to fill out the remaining slots. See, these are the only stations I watch regularly. And I actually only watch a few select shows on these stations. As long as I have access to Chuck (NBC), Heroes (NBC), Dr. Who (Sci-Fi), Eureka (Sci-fi), Reaper (CW), Good Eats (Food Network), Naruto (Cartoon Network), and Ben10 (Cartoon Network) then I am fine and need nothing more. I threw in Discovery because I like to pick up the random special from time to time.

As for the service itself, well I have many opinions and most of them are bad. We can start with my DVR locking up on a regular basis. The software is obviously highly unstable, unreliable, and unresponsive. The channels change with all the speed of my grandmother strolling through the room with her walker. I quite frequently turn on the TV to find a large black box in the middle of the picture until I bring up the guide. The SD channels look as fuzzy as they did back in the early 80’s on rabbit ears. The HD channels make me feel like I’m watching Max Headroom again. If you are unaware of that reference, it was an early 80’s show of a guy that was supposedly computer generated. He stuttered a lot and frequently froze for a second only to jump forward like a skipping CD or DVD. This is my normal Comcast experience.

I have had technicians out here many times to fix either my internet service (which is about as stable as Tom Cruise) or my HD television (which stutters more than a record player in a dump truck on a gravel road). And in all of these trips, I’ve been graced by mere days (in single digits) of reliable service.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that running a company with a myriad of offerings and locations is a complex task and because of the complexity of the system is prone to hiccups. But unless you can find a way to offer me better HD and a better DVR experience for no more than $30 a month (permanently, not a short lived special price), then I am afraid that internet television (since most stations offer streams new shows) and NetFlix will be the source of my entertainment fulfillment.

Jarek91
http://SoapBoxRants.net

I half anticipated a form letter type response or something that felt cold and impersonal…much like one gets from the Rabid Ninja Customer Retention Squad when one tries to cancel a service. My anticipation chose poorly. Melissa responded thoughtfully and even referenced my Max Headroom joke.

Hello, Michael.

First, kudos for your reference to Max Headroom. I got a kick out of that! 🙂 Second, thank you for taking the time to discuss your concerns regarding the price you pay, the channels you receive and the intermittent digital cable service.

I would like to discuss your matter with leadership from your area. Please reply to this email including your street address, the name on the account, and the best number to reach you. I apologize for inconveniences we have caused. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to make things right.

Best Regards,

So I sent the information feeling a bit more confident about this whole exchange. No, I didn’t think my service a-la-carte would fly, but I wasn’t imagining waking up with a horse head in my bed either.

<no, you=”” can’t=”” have=”” my=”” personal=”” contact=”” information…snipped=””></no,>

Thank you for taking the time to answer my concerns. I would not have thought that Comcast would pay any attention to such a small time blogger as myself. I do have to admit (as I did in Twitter) that it was a little disconcerting to get a reply so quickly after I likened Comcast to the Mafia. I wasn’t aware there was a digital ninja assault squad in Comcast. Seems like it might be a fun job. Your scare tactics, they scare me ^_^

And oddly, of all the problems I experience, I actually get a bit of entertainment from the Max Headroom audio from time to time. I think it has to do with my 80’s youth and my geek/tech background.

Now that I have both ninjas and the Mafia in this conversation, she addressed my curiosity about this elusive division of the cable giant.

Thank you for the information, Michael. And, for the record, whether or not you tied us to the mafia, we would have reached out to you. What my team does, as indicated by my signature, is try to reach the customers who reach out via digital means (high profile blogs such as the Consumerist, Tech Cruch, etc, personal blogs such as yours, internal and external forums, website dedicated to our demise, Twitter, virtually any way a person can choose to vent via today’s digital world). It’s our goal to reach the customers that have been missed or over looked by their local channels and change their Comcast experience. I some times joke with my family that I’m changing the world, one blog/one tweet at a time. But there is truth to that.

I digress. You should expect contact before the EOB today regarding you matter. Please keep me informed and feel free to contact me at any time with this or other matters.

I just want to mention that it’s always great when you get someone that actually shows personality in an exchange with a customer. There is nothing more disheartening than finding yourself dealing with YACD (Yet Another Corporate Drone). This is what customer service should be. Do you hear that Vonage? Yes, I’m talking to you. Fix it and maybe you won’t lose so many customers. Did I mention that I hate Vonage customer service? Anyway, back to the point…

Ahh, with great power comes great responsibility. If one believes only what they read on Consumerist, then one would be inclined to believe that all corporations are evil entities that ultimately want to crush all of humanity into mindless slaves to corporate will. And while I think most companies do need to sit back and evaluate their business practices and corporate focus, it is encouraging to see that some groups within these behemoth organizations do have the right ideals. We just need to get them more power to make the sweeping changes needed in Corporate America.

The exchange continued for a couple of further emails, but I chose not to add them. I want to thank Melissa M. for taking the time to talk with me and I will drop another blurb on SBRÂ once I get my phone call from “the local leadership”. I don’t know where it’s going, but I do know where it’s been…

Welcome to Comcast, this is Guido.

I recently started reviewing my monthly expenses in order to slow the large black hole of doom that was eating my cash faster than I could make it. While looking over the bills, I stopped at the Comcast bill. I’m giving them about $150 a month…and that’s just way too much. I have expanded basic or whatever they call it, the HD tier, a DVR, and internet service. Now as far as watching TV, I only have a couple of shows that really hold my interest. So I set out to think about alternatives.

I wrote about Hulu before here at SBR and that immediately sprang to mind. I ran over to the site to check on what they’ve got these days. Among a great number of old shows (Invisible Man FTW!), they also have Chuck and Heroes and Eureka. That pretty much covers what I watch with the exception of Dr. Who and Good Eats. I have no doubts that I can watch Dr. Who online. I may have to give up on Good Eats, though since it appears Food Network doesn’t have any known intention to offer streaming of their programs. So it came down to watching 5 shows on my HDTV for $150 a month or watching them on my laptop or iMac for $50 a month. Why in the world would anyone give an extra $100 a month just to get a bigger picture. $1200 a year will buy you a really large monitor if it’s that important to you.

So I ask, with the advent of sites such as Hulu and with most of the major networks streaming recent episodes of their shows…why does anyone need to pay the horribly overpriced cable fees? Why do we need to feed that mafia extortion ring any longer? With minimal work you can easily ditch the racket fees and enjoy actually having a little money in your pocket. If you really want to get fancy with it, you can connect your PC/Mac to the TV and watch it there. Heck, you can build your own DVR with almost no work at all these days. What we need to do is send a message to the cable companies. We need to let them know that they charge too much for what really is crappy service and even worse programming. I’ll give them $30 a month for those services…but not a penny more. So if they don’t like it, I’ll be happily streaming my programming without the need to invest in mafia protection rackets.

Macbook Pro 15″ vs Dell XPS M1530

Things have been a bit busy lately which is why the laptop pricing comparison has taken so long. But I’m here with the results of building up two similar laptops. If you’ve been following my comparisons, you would probably think that I’m an Apple Fanboy (fanboi?). One would be wrong. Why? Well I still have my Dell Inspiron laptop and it’s still a better deal than a Macbook. Let’s look at the breakdown:

Macbook Pro 15″ – $2049

  • Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4GHz)
  • 2GB RAM (667MHz)
  • 250GB SATA HDD (5400RPM)
  • 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256MB)
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Ethernet 10/100/1000
  • 60 WHr Lithium-Polymer Battery
  • Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
  • Multi-touch Mouse Pad
  • iLife ’08
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • iSight Camera

Dell XPS M1530 – $1512

  • Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4GHz)
  • 2GB RAM (667MHz)
  • 250GB SATA HDD (5400RPM)
  • Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256MB)
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Ethernet 10/100/1000
  • 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
  • Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
  • Fingerprint Reader
  • Adobe Photoshop Elements + Adobe Premiere Elements
  • Webcam

So with the exception of GarageBand, multi-touch mouse, and a backlit keyboard, you get everything a Macbook has to offer in a $500 cheaper package from Dell. If any of those particular things are important to you, it might be worth the extra cash…but personally I’d rather have that money to spend on anime and sushi.

By the way, it is worth noting that this may become an obsolete comparison fairly soon. Dell announced ending their XPS line of computers to let the AlienWare division handle the design/manufacture/selling of gaming systems. I have not yet seen if this applies only to desktops or if it is the entire XPS line. I’ll drop an update in when I get some more information. But hey, either way the Dell is cheaper than the Apple when it comes to the portable systems. Go figure.

Horseless Carriage 2 – Electric Boogaloo

With gas prices skyrocketing and the economy riding the rollercoaster to oblivion, it’s no surprise that auto makers are looking at their products and redesigning their offerings. The public by and large doesn’t want the large, noisy, gas-hogs that have been the pride and joy of Detroit for the last half century or so. Everyone it thinking green because it’s the latest fad and people are trying to stretch their dollars like bungee cords. The result of all this is that we as consumers are about to be inundated with a multitude of options that promise to give us more mileage for the buck.

Take for instance General Motors. With the entire Hummer brand, large sedans, and Suburbans in their line-up, they have been one of the biggest offenders of green tech and oil conservation in the entire automotive industry. The company has been struggling to deal with huge losses now that nobody wants oversize plush versions of military vehicles that get single digits to the gallon and it looks like they’ve finally gotten the message. GM is working on a car called the Volt. Going on the information available thus far, it is probably their best chance to jump into a fledgling market and take control much like Apple did with the iPod. The Volt is touted to have roughly a 40 mile range on pure battery power which is backed up by a “range extender” gasoline/ethanol engine running an onboard generator. The 6-7 gallon gas tank in conjunction with the battery should provide an estimated 400 mile driving range before the need to refuel. Of course, for many of us 40 miles is more than enough to get us through our daily commute so we wouldn’t be burning any gasoline/ethanol. An enthusiast site, GM-Volt.com has a great deal more information.

Most every manufacturer has something planned. Toyota has been selling the Prius hybrid for years. Since it is probably the most popular new tech car on the market, I’m not going into detail on it. Honda will begin leasing in select SoCal areas their new FCX Clarity, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The select areas are locations that have fuel cell refueling centers. Honda claims that the FCX can run about 270 miles before refueling and then it is only a matter of a couple of minutes at a refueling station to fill back up. I’m pretty sure they’re working on getting more refueling stations in the wild. Of course, they’re also working on a home refueling station that will double as an electricity generator for the home.

These are some exciting times for the alternative fuel market but at the same time, the different technologies being employed have a chance at starting a standards war akin to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray or VHS/Beta. Why do I think this? Infrastructure. None of these technologies are going to get much use out of the run of the mill gas station you see every 2.5 meters when driving down the road. Hydrogen fuel cells, ethanol, and electrics all require different means of replenishing their energy supply and none of those use what we have in place today. However, I seriously doubt that any company is going to retool these stations with all of these technologies. The expense would be far too great. But to have widespread adoption, you have to have the infrastructure to support it. The classic chicken and the egg scenario. This is why I think if any electric car has a chance, it’s the Volt. With the ability to burn either gasoline or ethanol, the infrastructure is there. Add to that the range it should be capable of and I think you’ve got a winner. Oh, did I mention they think it should only run about $30k? Compare that to your dreams of the $106k Tesla.