I spotted this too... definitely going to go! Looks very interesting. Who knew that someting so cultural was happening in Derby? (Used to have to go all the way to Nottingham for that sort of thing lol)...

The contract ended months ago... the laptop is yours to keep, similar to a phone contract.

Thanks for the suggestions re cleaning the laptop - physically and 'virtually'! I doubt this is the cause of the problems (which have resisted a complete factory restore and are evident before the machine warms up) but it can't hurt to keep on top of these things.

A couple of shots which hopefully show the bokeh and transition to OOF of the lens, shot wide open.

Algi

My old XP laptop was 512MB and eclipsed this one in terms of speed - I even ran PS on it which I wouldn't contemplate on this heap of s***! Even just going into 'Control Panel' to change the performance settings is an excruciatingly slow experience! Would you leave Vista in situ - in case I inadvertently cause problems with drivers etc - and create a dual OS system, or should I just start from scratch with a full XP install?

Greynolds

It's running Avast (had no problems with this on previous laptop) and I did defrag it a few weeks ago. I also reinstalled the OS a couple of months ago with the built in recovery tool.

Heh my old Olympus c5060 had multiple customisable user modes... funny how some really good ideas seem to have passed DSLR manufacturers by.

Ideally don't want to open up the computer, but will look into it... Please bear in mind this laptop is only used for the most basic of functions I was thinking 1GB of RAM would be enough for XP, and all it would take would be buying a disc for 15.00 or so....

It's brilliant isn't it... all those 2GB laptops sold with Vista performed worse than 512MB ones sold with XP a few years earlier. A 1GB laptop ain't got a chance

My laptop was only 512 RAM - it worked 'acceptably' even editing video for youtube. That's why I was thinking changing the OS on my partner's Vista laptop might help.

I'll have a look at that site, but even if I knew how much extra RAM it needs, I don't have a clue how to get it into the laptop... Do I just 'ram' it in?

The laptop is generally only used for internet (facebook) and playing music videos etc...

Been tearing my hair out with my partner's laptop - it's so damn slow! It's a bog standard affair, Vista, 1GB RAM, freebie laptop on a 3 contract. It should be better than my old (XP) laptop was, but it isn't - even opening a new window in windows explorer seems to make it struggle.

It's running Vista - would changing it to XP speed it up a bit? Was thinking I could get a cheap OEM disc. Should I install XP alongside Vista, as the laptop wasn't supplied with a Vista disc?

We have tried a factory restore on the laptop by the way, and turning off unnecessary animations and graphics etc...

It's quite good, isn't it? Holds up well against the K5 IQ wise, and noticeably outresolves the Kr. Based on this test, this camera would seriously sway me from the Kr, if I was looking for an entry level camera. I like the swivel screen.

I hope swivel screens come to Pentax DSLRs at some stage.