NP9262 Ordered. Anything I need to do?

.. on arrival of the lappie?

This is the first time I've purchased a full system from a company, generally went off of hand-me-down systems that were pre-setup, so I'm a little new at this.

I ordered a NP9262 from Xotic Pc (Justin rocks there btw), specs are:

- Processor: ~Intel Core 2 QUAD Q6700 2.66GHz w/ 8MB L2 Cache - 1066MHz FSB
- Video Card: 512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 8800GTX
- Ram: 4,096MB DDR2 800 (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory

With Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit.

Upon getting it, what should be the first things I should do? Installing Virus protection and updating drivers comes to mind, but I'm probably missing some things.

 

Be careful what tv card you order. Other than the tv card, mine worked great outta' the box, configure your internet connection, get your security updates and etc, set your preferences, get game and have fun! Might want to get a cooler, these beasts run a little warm.

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

That spec'ed rig is sweet... you will make most desktop owners jealous.

 

Thanks much

It's an upgrade beyond belief from my current setup:

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ ~2.2GHz
1.5 GB RAM
and a GeForce 6600 GT 128MB

Regarding the tv card, I left it at default which I believe isn't one, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Now comes the hard part.. Waiting.

 

Don't we all know it, lol... and welcome to the NBR forums

-Coors916

 

I am with you brother.... I am upgrading from:

Dell Inspiron 9100
3.2Ghz P4
1GB ram
80GB drive
Mobility Radeon 9800 256mb video card

Was going to jump when the 8700's came out in SLI, but I am SOOOO glad I waited the extra couple months.

 

i feel ur pain. probably a bit more so xD grats on the most uber rig

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=208167

 

If you know a lot about computers. You wouldn't need a virus scan. It just makes your startup slower, and maybe take up resources? Just don't download and run any EXE files from unknown sites like while searching for a illegal crap on the internet like keygens or cracks. The only thing you might need is some kind of spyware cleaner since they can jump you from all directions.

A good way to avoid a lot of spyware is to get the NoScript extension from firefox, only if you can deal with it since you need to allow sites since it blocks every site when you first get it.

If you know quit a bit about computers, you should tweak your vista, since it can be extremely slow. You can try Vista Manager and Advanced Vista Optimizer 2008 (You should grab this before they stop beta and start charging $). You can disable a lot of functions like that lame User Account Control easily.

These tweaking programs also come with registry cleaners and registry defraggers so you should run those once in a while. Just to back up when you are deleting (it should ask you to) if you don't know what you're doing.

You should also disable some services that you won't need, I've done a lot of research on this and actually made my vista pretty fast.
Disable some startup programs also with msconfig. My only startup program is my Realtek Sound (I have the NP5792) so I can change my equalizer.

My computer literally takes 2 seconds to start up with vista 64bit. It's just that gay network crap. The computer starts up and does nothing (no lights blinking, folders take like .2 seconds to open), then 10 seconds later, it finally turns on the network so I can get connect with my wireless.

If you don't use system restore like me, turn it off because it hogs a lot of space.

Theres many only things you can do to your computer but I don't want to flood this thread.

 

So true so ture.

I have not used a Anti Virus in my systems for years.... I have them installed, but disabled them from ever starting up with Windows.

They are just there if ever I suspect of any Virus/Trojan gets through my Firewall.... which is not very likely. Or I use it to scan someone else's HDD that I connect with an enclosure.

You mainly need:
- a good Firewall: I recommend Comodo Firewall (free and powerful), I used to recommend Zone Alarm... but their new free version is gimp.
- Firefox browser: (any alternative to IE is good and will not get prone to security holes and malicious code... as much).
- good free Spyware/Malware programs:
---- Ad-Aware, Spybot (use the immunization tool in it), HiJackThis (easy way to find things running in the background and starting up in th ebackground)

 

Eh, I don't even use firewalls. I disabled every windows firewall I have and I still haven't gotten a virus in years.

 

wow, you are playing with fire w/o a firewall.... especially if you are direct connection to your WAN (w/o a router)

 

That is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I know some of this stuff but others I couldn't really think of.

If you have any other suggestions or websites you could send me to that would assist in speeding Vista up, by all means, either post or PM them to me if you don't mind

My comp doesn't run scans on startup, just once weekly (which I rarely let it do anyways since it has a tendency to pop up in the middle of a gaming session), I keep a program like Spybot on standby for the occasional search, and I visit msconfig every now and again to give my PC a spanking for turning some things to start on start-up.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, it's much appreciated. Just waiting for my order to go through.. payment is pending. T_T

 

Use HIJACKTHIS.... instead of MSCONFIG.

Its so much better and is one stand-alone EXE... no install needed.

 

woops double post

 

Well I'm behind a router so I guess I'm good.

Well I guess I'll list some for things then.

-Customize your start menu
-Right click My Computer-->Properties-->Advanced-->Performance
==I Removed everything here but...
===Show thumbnail instead of icons
===Show window contents while dragging
===Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
===Use visual styles on windows and buttons
-Open any folder -> tools -> folder options
==I Removed everything here but
===Display the full path in the title bar
===Hide protected operating system files
===Show drive letters
-Control panel -> uninstall a program -> turn windows features on or off (this is on the left column)
==Take off whatever you dont need

 

Make sure you get the right processor. Intel did a lot of marketing to convince everybody that Quads are THE processors for games. For now this is not the case: the E6850 is still faster in most cases.

 

I dont think thats true about the E6850 a couple of my friends have a 9262 and the quad core Q6700 made the Duo core look like a bag of hot wet dog sh*t.

 

I read up saying how Quad Cores were basically ahead of their time and most games didn't utilize it, and the Dual Cores, being cheaper, were generally the better choice.. but.. They said speed was the main seller, and the fastest they offered on Xotic was a 3.0GHz dual, which I am considering clocking the Quad up to.

 

That is somewhat true, but the new games (Crysis, UT3, Bioshock, etc..) are all being multi-core support... since they are very CPU intensive.

I would get a quad-core for overall performance is great and future proofing.

 

Yeah, I with you on that one, Im getting a 2.6 Core 2 Quad Q6700 Im just trying to decide on the wether I should get the Blu Ray Drive or should I just upgrade later or get an external one later.

 

Future-proofing was overall the main reason for the Quad and this laptop inparticular. More HD bays, SLI compatible, Quad-core support. ::drool::

But apparently it takes them about 20 days to get it to you.. I could've swore I read 3-6 to ship it out, and the time it takes to get to you depends on what you pay for. Maybe I misread.. It's not that I'm impatient, I just disliked thinking it would be 6-9 and finding out it would be about 20.

 

Burn in testing and building and shipping all calculate into that.

 

Upon further inspection.. MOST shipments go out in 3-6 days. Good stuff

 

^ yeah, plus you have to figure in holidays and post office screw ups and weather, it may be sunny where you are and a tornado where your package is.

 

I don't know of ANYONE that has got the 9262 within 14 days of ordering. Do you?

 

I don't know anyone who has the 9262 at all.

The last person I know to buy a laptop was my brother, who bought one 2 weeks ago.. a $2700 laptop from Dell. I dropped 500 more, got a bigger screen (2 inches), better motherboard, RAID capabilities, SLI capabilities, double the video memory (8800 xD), a faster processor that is also Quad-core as opposed to Dual, and lacking in extra useless software. I consider it a win.

It's probably going to be the most powerful setup of anyone I know, laptop or not.

 

Update:

Thanks to Justin's quick replies, I know that, assuming all goes well in UPS' world, I'll be receiving my laptop on Wednesday of this week :O