szehau's weblog » gadget

Dell On-Site Service

szehau — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:23:56 +0000

My Dell laptop was unable to display anything on screen on last Friday. Too bad I haven't had change to do any backup! I called the Dell support, after an on-phone diagnostic, they decided to send a technician on the next business day. It was on Friday, so I would expect the technician will try to contact me on Friday.

On Monday, an technician called me and told me that he will come to my house before 1pm. At around 12pm, he reached my house and said he want to replace my motherboard and the whole process might take half an hour. What a good service. I didn't he will do that on site and may need to take my laptop back to office.

After half an hour, the faulty motherboard (actually was the graphic card overheat problem) had been replaced. Everything seems run smoothly after that. Thanks to Dell. After the service, my laptop hang a few times. I believe it is the driver problem. Then I quickly did a full backup of my hard disk before anything happens again and reinstall the windows. Now everything runs smoothly.

Luckily my laptop is still under warranty. I did not need to pay anything for the service and hardware replacement. You can also check your laptop's warranty status at dell website. Simply key in your dell laptop's Service Tag code (located at the bottom of your laptop) and the website will show everything including parts' warranty status and your hardware configuration.

The moral of the story are, always backup your data and extend your laptop's warranty (at least 3 years) when you buy a new laptop because you never know what will happen then :)

My New Camera – Panasonic Lumix TZ5

szehau — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:04:50 +0000

Just bought a new Camera at Ashburton, New Zealand. It is the Panasonic Lumiz TZ5 or the official model number DMC-TZ15GN-K. Wanted to buy this camera long time ago before I buy my Canon 400D.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ15GN-K

I have tried it out to take some photos at Lake Tekapo, not too bad but not as good as my Canon 400D. The photos taken have too much noise when the ISO of the camera is set to high. The "Intellegent Auto" features is greate and I like it very much. It can accurately switch the scene mode according to the scene your are going to take.

Here are the key features of the camera:

9.1 Megapixel image sensor with 10x Optical Zoom
Intelligent Auto Mode - Incorporating Mega O.I.S., Intelligent ISO, Face Detection & Intelligent Scene Selector
28mm Wide Angle LEICA DC VARIO ELMARIT lens
Venus Engine IV - High Speed, High Quality Image Processing LSI
3.0" High Resolution LCD Screen - For easy viewing and playback of images

Canon EOS 400D vs Nikon D40X

szehau — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:43:01 +0000

I was thinking to buy a entry level DSLR (Digital single-lens reflex) camera a years ago. Now is the time to get one. After I had reviewed several DSLR cameras at several websites and forums, I have shortlisted two good and affordable one. They are the Canon EOS 400D and Nikon D40X.

The one on the left is Canon EOS 400D and another one is Nikon D40X.

Below are the pros and cons for both cameras (from dpreview.com)

Canon EOS 400D

PROS

Excellent resolution, lots of detail, not a leap from eight megapixels, but certainly from six
Good color with selectable PictureStyles for different subject types
Good dynamic range (more than peers) with soft roll-off of highlights
'Integrated Cleaning System' designed to keep dust at bay
Widest range of image parameter adjustments among its peers
Low noise throughout the sensitivity range, noise reduction maintains detail well
Good in-camera image processing, resolution advantage shooting RAW is slight
Larger, brighter and more detailed LCD monitor
Re-designed user interface a great improvement over the EOS 350D
On-screen setting adjustment (ISO, WB, etc.) surprisingly quick and easy to use
Updated nine point AF system, proved fast, accurate and still good in low light
Very fast off to shot time (virtually instant), slightly slower if you want to read screen
Numerous small bug fixes improve usability
Magnification available in record review (although requires two button press)
Small and light but hand grip is still too small, can be uncomfortable for large hands
Excellent supplied software bundle, two RAW conversion options
Remote capture software included for computer controlled shooting
Unique JUMP mode in playback (by date, 10 or 100 images)
Value for money

CONS

Kit lens disappointing, better to buy body only and spend more on a good lens
Sporadic continuous shooting once buffer is full
Occasional under-exposure issue with Evaluative metering
Average automatic white balance performance, still very poor under incandescent light
ISO, WB, Metering mode etc. not displayed on viewfinder status bar during change
Flash must be raised for AF assist
No Kelvin white balance selection in-camera
No spot metering
No mass storage device USB driver, poor WIA transfer rates (and awkward to use)
Opening the CF compartment door shuts camera down, loses any buffered images
Small viewfinder view

Nikon D40X

PROS

Resolution and sharpness on par with the best of the current ten megapixel bunch
A demonstrable resolution gain at lower sensitivities, less obvious at ISO 800 and 1600
Surprisingly good build quality, tight shut lines
Very compact and lightweight (especially with kit lens) yet still comfortable to use
Kit lens is better quality than many others
Great in-use performance, very responsive, short black-out time, very fast media write
Good fast auto focus system (only 3 areas but that's not a big issue for this camera)
Auto-focus assist lamp rather than requiring flash to be raised
Reliable, sophisticated, if sometimes a little conservative matrix metering system
For a Pentamirror the viewfinder delivers a surprisingly bright image
Extremely useful, customizable automatic sensitivity (ISO)
Easy to use playback / delete combination
All playback functions available in record review
Very attractive and intuitive menu system
Unlimited 3 fps continuous shooting in JPEG mode (with a reasonably fast card)
Good SD card throughput and USB 2.0 transfer speed
In-camera retouching features including D-Lighting and Red-eye reduction
Support for SD and SDHC cards
Good large LCD monitor with wide viewing angles
Dedicated help button provides both shooting and in-menu assistance
Programmable Fn hard button
Value for money

CONS

No lens motor in body means non-AF-S/AF-I lenses are manual focus only
Disappointingly RAW+JPEG setting only records Basic quality JPEG's
No status LCD panel on top of camera (we hate to see these go)
No exposure or white balance bracketing
No hard buttons (without customizing) for ISO or White Balance
No depth-of-field preview
Occasional visibility of moire artifacts (although seldom)
Fixed exposure steps (1/3 EV)
Disappointing automatic white balance performance in incandescent light
No RAW adjustment with supplied PictureProject, only simple conversion
Limited image parameter adjustment (especially for color saturation)

Finally, Canon EOS 400D is my final choice. The reasons I chose Canon EOS 400D is

Nikon D40X does not have built-in motor in body. Therefore only lens with motor can be used for auto-focus. And also "in my opinion" lens with built-in motor will be much more expensive than lens without motor.
Wide variety of available lens .
Auto dust-cleaning system in Canon EOS 400D.
Canon 400D's design looks better to me.
Although kit lens for Nikon D40x is much better than Canon EOS 400D's but I think Canon EOS 400D kit lens is not too bad for a beginner who start learning to operate DSLR camera. Thus I can accept that.

"Selangor Photographers", a camera shop at Wisma Pertama, quoted me the Canon EOS 400D for RM2450, which I think is quite cheap. And I'm going to get it very soon :)

Also, thanks to yuanhui's bf for his generous comments on the cameras.

Christmas Gift For My Notebook

szehau — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 11:22:31 +0000

Bought another christmas gift for my notebook. It is a notebook harddisk and a houssing for the harddisk. For me, the housing is sexy and solid.

Notebook Harddisk Spec:
Western Digital
60G with 8M buffer
2.5 inch
1 year warranty
RM340.00

Notebook Harddisk Case Spec:
Emerald - Smart.drive
Support up to 100G
USB 2.0
Aluminium hosuing (That's why I buy this)
Power Access and speed status indicator.
6 months warranty
RM60.00

Bougth these two things at Compuzone (0r C-zone for now)
Address: Lot 2-56,57 2nd Floor Low Yat Plaza
Website: http://www.compu-zone.com
Tel: 03-21458841

Christmas Gift For My Old Computer

szehau — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 11:09:10 +0000

Just bought this back from LowYat's allIT - Microsoft Wired Desktop 500.

The package contains a spill-resistant keyboard and a optical mouse.

What I like about the keyboard is the hotkeys for calculator and my computer. It's very convenience for me as I always use it.

The Price for the Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 is RM59.00.

allIT is located at 3rd Floor Low Yat Plaza
Email: info@allit.com.my
Phone: (603) 21453020
Website: http://www.allit.com.my

szehau's weblog » gadget

Dell On-Site Service

Most Commented Posts

My New Camera – Panasonic Lumix TZ5

Most Commented Posts

Canon EOS 400D vs Nikon D40X

Most Commented Posts

Christmas Gift For My Notebook

Most Commented Posts

Christmas Gift For My Old Computer

Most Commented Posts