Last month I received a promotion at work. After 2 attempts and 15 months, I was promoted to a band 6 Team Lead. As a Team Lead, one of the “perks” I receive is a laptop computer that I can take home with me every night. This allows me to check emails, catch up on listenings, or to just pull some reports away from the office.
The laptop that is given to the Team Leads is the Dell Latitude D610. It’s a very sturdy business class notebook. It has a decent 14.1″ LCD screen, but when put in a docking station, you can view it on any monitor. I’ve never really used a laptop before, so I’m still trying to get used to the mouse pad. It just seems so much harder to navigate on that pad.
The biggest frustration I have with the computer is getting it connected to my home network. Obviously the bank has to take take security very serious, so it takes quite a while to connect it to the mobile access server. The main problem I’m having is getting it set up for Wi-Fi. The computer recognizes the broadband connection when I plug in an ethernet cable, but it won’t pick up the wireless network I run through my home. I must be doing something wrong or not have the wireless modem turned on.
I’m going to try and trick it out a little bit and put my own mark on it. I went to skinit.com and bought a designer skin. They have over 500 different skins for the D610. These are basically big vinyl stickers that you put over the plain grey cover. They are easily removable if I want to change it.
I picked out the green biohazard skin. It was between this and a desert camouflage skin. I thought the biohazard looked mysterious and more gamer-like. No one else at work has put a skin on their laptop, so mine should be unique. I like being a little different and unique. It’s the little things that keep us from being boring and help you stand out.
Now if I could only add Linux or OSX and get rid of XP, this laptop could be pretty cool. Unfortunately bank security keeps us from making any changes or adding/deleting any software that on the laptop. Why couldn’t they just give us Macs?
