Dell Studio 15 (1555) Review
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
So I got the Dell Studio 15, 15.4" screen multimedia laptop offered in multiple colors and configurations. I went for black with MS Office & Publisher. The Studio 15 can be equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo and dedicated ATI graphics. It comes with a slot-loading DVD drive, backlit keyboard, sleek drop-hinge design, widescreen glossy display and touch sensitive buttons. Quick Specs = DDR2 SDRAM 6MB, 320GB. See the share I posted for the details. I'm having fun with it :)
Three days to go
We'll I'm definitely on the downhill now. Only three more days of formal employment for me. I'm filled with nervous energy & just want to get there already :)
Plans are proceeding well in terms of converting the existing guest room to a home office. The two rooms (existing home office & guest room) are quite deceptive. The existing guest room looks bigger, but it is actually the same size as the home office - just a different shape. The problem in the home office is that on the wall where the external door should go, there is a space heater & a power plug, so we are sticking to our original plan to swap the two rooms around.
We have had two builders in to quote on putting in an outside door, which will aid my coming & going without having to go through the main part of the house. The first chap was very helpful, made suggestions & came back promptly with an estimate.
The room we have earmarked has cupboards on one wall & windows on two. In the interests of allowing for more wall space, we have decided to go for a single door & double windows, that way I can still put a credenza under the window & my desk against the remaining wall (where the power is).
We'll have to put a security gate on the door, but the windows come prefitted with burgular proofing. I'd like to be able to sit with the door open & allow air to circulate, so a gate is a must.
Work starts on Thursday, with our gardiner Bizier relocating a yucca, rose bushes & aggies who currently live in the bed outside the window. Then on Friday, the builder will put in the door & we'll have to match the external paint. We have some leftover pavers we used elsewhere in the garden, which we will use in the bed, so no need to extend the brickwork to the door.
The weekend will probably see us swapping the furniture around, then Monday will be a general cleaning day, ready for Day 1 on Tuesday.
My fully configured, Dell laptop arrives today with all the software loaded so I'm hoping to be able to advise all my clients of my new e-mail address tomorrow. I'll write more in the next blog about the machine & its features.
I'm in the process of setting up a LinkedIn profile for the business, which I'll link to Twitter & Facebook. Watch this space :) My intention is not to have a company website, but to use my LinkedIn profile for that purpose & use the address on all my stationery.
Oh & I bought the kettle & cups, so if anyone is in the neighbourhood next week, pop in & have a look.
'Til then...
Plans are proceeding well in terms of converting the existing guest room to a home office. The two rooms (existing home office & guest room) are quite deceptive. The existing guest room looks bigger, but it is actually the same size as the home office - just a different shape. The problem in the home office is that on the wall where the external door should go, there is a space heater & a power plug, so we are sticking to our original plan to swap the two rooms around.
We have had two builders in to quote on putting in an outside door, which will aid my coming & going without having to go through the main part of the house. The first chap was very helpful, made suggestions & came back promptly with an estimate.
The room we have earmarked has cupboards on one wall & windows on two. In the interests of allowing for more wall space, we have decided to go for a single door & double windows, that way I can still put a credenza under the window & my desk against the remaining wall (where the power is).
We'll have to put a security gate on the door, but the windows come prefitted with burgular proofing. I'd like to be able to sit with the door open & allow air to circulate, so a gate is a must.
Work starts on Thursday, with our gardiner Bizier relocating a yucca, rose bushes & aggies who currently live in the bed outside the window. Then on Friday, the builder will put in the door & we'll have to match the external paint. We have some leftover pavers we used elsewhere in the garden, which we will use in the bed, so no need to extend the brickwork to the door.
The weekend will probably see us swapping the furniture around, then Monday will be a general cleaning day, ready for Day 1 on Tuesday.
My fully configured, Dell laptop arrives today with all the software loaded so I'm hoping to be able to advise all my clients of my new e-mail address tomorrow. I'll write more in the next blog about the machine & its features.
I'm in the process of setting up a LinkedIn profile for the business, which I'll link to Twitter & Facebook. Watch this space :) My intention is not to have a company website, but to use my LinkedIn profile for that purpose & use the address on all my stationery.
Oh & I bought the kettle & cups, so if anyone is in the neighbourhood next week, pop in & have a look.
'Til then...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Seven days to go
I have seven working days to go before I will be working from home. Today I changed my network password to FREEDOM :) I have been in a large corporate for ten years. From September 1, I'll be working from home, alone. Quite daunting.
One of the first things you have to consider, after "how am I going to make money", is "where will I work?" I reviewed all the options, ie working from home, working from a coffee shop with WiFi, taking prefurnished & serviced offices, & setting up my own lease, furnishing, etc. The cheapest option, of course, is working from home.
I dismissed it initially because I have a nineteen month old who is at home in the mornings (with a caregiver) which is when I need to work. I've tried working from home before, in our family room where our WiFi is, & I've had to wait until she is in the bedroom before I make myself a cup of coffee & when she's in the kitchen, I run to the loo. Not very conducive.
She also knows that I am there, so she bangs on the door, climbs on the couch, onto my desk & makes unprofessional background noises when I am on the phone.
The nature of my work involves a degree of concentration & I am easily distracted. I also use the Intranet substantially, so found a fabulous list of WiFi hot spots in Sandton from the Michaelangelo to cheaper coffee shop options (priced by the cost of a cup-of-chino), which I considered using. Ruled that one out pretty quickly. I just couldn't see myself loitering in coffee shops all day, trying to make a decaf cup-of-chino last two hours & I'm sure you can't turn up at the same coffee shop everyday & gobble up their bandwidth while you nurse one beverage. Again, what do you do when you need the loo? Pack everything up? Don't think so.
So, I went off to investigate the office space option, there is A, B & C class office space, with various pricing structures. Mostly around R110, per square metre in the Rivonia/Morningside/Woodmead area. You work on around 6 square metres per person if you are generous. There is lots on the Internet about ergonomics. If you need a boardroom, you'll have to increase your square meterage to around 9 m2 per person.
I looked at spaces from 20 to 60m2 at various prices & grades. What put me off was the additional cost of a telephone, I'm told that a business line is more expensive than a home phone, furniture (upward of R1,500 for a nice desk & R900 + for a chair), then you'll need Internet access, cabling for your network, computer equipment, server, photocopier/scanner/fax, etc.
If you have your own space, you may have to consider a receptionist depending on your nature of work & if you have your clients coming to see you, you'll need A grade office space (very expensive) & they want to tie you in to a three year lease, with no guarantee that you can upgrade if you grow or exit if you find yourself financially strapped.
It just wasn't flexible enough for me, too much investment up front & little flexibility. (I'm very into flexiblity - it's one of the reasons I'm leaving corporate).
I placed a call to Regus (there are other furnished & serviced options available), & went for a tour, presentation & quotation. I loved the space, it is super flexible & can meet all your needs, but I was still looking at R3,100+ excluding VAT. That got me a virtual office & businessworld membership. This means that you don't get a dedicated space, but can pop in to any Regus in the world & ask for unlimited office space for the day. I'm sure in the busier centres you would have to book. I thought it was great.
My work environment is important to me. Look & feel = productivity. I just couldn't validate the cost for a start up business. It would be good for an existing business looking to expand into new regions, but a tad expensive for my needs.
There I was back to a home office. I discussed all the options, pros & cons with my husband & he suggested creating a space in an unused wing of our house. It's a strange extension, which houses two additional rooms & a bathroom. It is away from the main hub of the house & currently functions as my husband's home office & a guest bedroom. To accommodate me, we decided to swap the two rooms round. Currently the smaller room is the office, the bigger the guest room. With more space, I'll feel less claustrophobic :) I'll be able to go to the loo as required, set up a tray with a kettle & my decaf & extend the WiFi to that end of the house.
It will be separate enough for me to "go to work". I believe, the trick is to get up, get ready, pick up your bag & go to work. Then you have to stay there until the end of your business day. We'll see how that goes.
In my next post, I'll talk about adapting the accommodation to my needs & hope to start reviewing other products & services aimed at the home office overtime. If you would like me to review a specific product, please feel free to contact me. That's all for now. We'll catch up soon.
One of the first things you have to consider, after "how am I going to make money", is "where will I work?" I reviewed all the options, ie working from home, working from a coffee shop with WiFi, taking prefurnished & serviced offices, & setting up my own lease, furnishing, etc. The cheapest option, of course, is working from home.
I dismissed it initially because I have a nineteen month old who is at home in the mornings (with a caregiver) which is when I need to work. I've tried working from home before, in our family room where our WiFi is, & I've had to wait until she is in the bedroom before I make myself a cup of coffee & when she's in the kitchen, I run to the loo. Not very conducive.
She also knows that I am there, so she bangs on the door, climbs on the couch, onto my desk & makes unprofessional background noises when I am on the phone.
The nature of my work involves a degree of concentration & I am easily distracted. I also use the Intranet substantially, so found a fabulous list of WiFi hot spots in Sandton from the Michaelangelo to cheaper coffee shop options (priced by the cost of a cup-of-chino), which I considered using. Ruled that one out pretty quickly. I just couldn't see myself loitering in coffee shops all day, trying to make a decaf cup-of-chino last two hours & I'm sure you can't turn up at the same coffee shop everyday & gobble up their bandwidth while you nurse one beverage. Again, what do you do when you need the loo? Pack everything up? Don't think so.
So, I went off to investigate the office space option, there is A, B & C class office space, with various pricing structures. Mostly around R110, per square metre in the Rivonia/Morningside/Woodmead area. You work on around 6 square metres per person if you are generous. There is lots on the Internet about ergonomics. If you need a boardroom, you'll have to increase your square meterage to around 9 m2 per person.
I looked at spaces from 20 to 60m2 at various prices & grades. What put me off was the additional cost of a telephone, I'm told that a business line is more expensive than a home phone, furniture (upward of R1,500 for a nice desk & R900 + for a chair), then you'll need Internet access, cabling for your network, computer equipment, server, photocopier/scanner/fax, etc.
If you have your own space, you may have to consider a receptionist depending on your nature of work & if you have your clients coming to see you, you'll need A grade office space (very expensive) & they want to tie you in to a three year lease, with no guarantee that you can upgrade if you grow or exit if you find yourself financially strapped.
It just wasn't flexible enough for me, too much investment up front & little flexibility. (I'm very into flexiblity - it's one of the reasons I'm leaving corporate).
I placed a call to Regus (there are other furnished & serviced options available), & went for a tour, presentation & quotation. I loved the space, it is super flexible & can meet all your needs, but I was still looking at R3,100+ excluding VAT. That got me a virtual office & businessworld membership. This means that you don't get a dedicated space, but can pop in to any Regus in the world & ask for unlimited office space for the day. I'm sure in the busier centres you would have to book. I thought it was great.
My work environment is important to me. Look & feel = productivity. I just couldn't validate the cost for a start up business. It would be good for an existing business looking to expand into new regions, but a tad expensive for my needs.
There I was back to a home office. I discussed all the options, pros & cons with my husband & he suggested creating a space in an unused wing of our house. It's a strange extension, which houses two additional rooms & a bathroom. It is away from the main hub of the house & currently functions as my husband's home office & a guest bedroom. To accommodate me, we decided to swap the two rooms round. Currently the smaller room is the office, the bigger the guest room. With more space, I'll feel less claustrophobic :) I'll be able to go to the loo as required, set up a tray with a kettle & my decaf & extend the WiFi to that end of the house.
It will be separate enough for me to "go to work". I believe, the trick is to get up, get ready, pick up your bag & go to work. Then you have to stay there until the end of your business day. We'll see how that goes.
In my next post, I'll talk about adapting the accommodation to my needs & hope to start reviewing other products & services aimed at the home office overtime. If you would like me to review a specific product, please feel free to contact me. That's all for now. We'll catch up soon.
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