Home Lab Needs Replacing…

So this evening I decided to hook up my second monitor to my Dell Dimension E520 that has a Q6600 processor and 8 GB of DDR2 RAM and 1 TB of hard drive space spread out across two drives.  Things seemed to be working nicely with Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 edition running as the core operating system.  I decided, “Why not change over to Windows XP Professional x64?”  That’s when the problems began.

Not only is the PC not rebooting properly, but I’ve hit a BSOD after running the Windows updates.  I’m uncertain as to if this is the OS not understanding how to start up in S3 or if it’s something else.

So the Desktop is having some issues – not good for any of the virtualization work that I need to do…

Onward to my Dell Latitude D820 with T7600 processor with 4 GB of RAM that I’ve had for about 1.75 years now.  The battery unfortunately lasts all of about 8 minutes before it dies.  Unfortunately CompleteCare from Dell doesn’t support the degredation of battery, only the core PC and its components that were procured in the original purchase.  Something seems not so complete about the care Dell, what’s up with that?

Lastly, I’m curious as to whether or not to buy the 2408 Dell Ultrasharp monitor – Full HD…

So where does this lead me?  I ponder, Vostro, yes, no?  I also ponder replacing this D820 with a Latitude E6400.

With the economics of the current time that we live within of course I’m wondering if I should just sit and wait on the upgrades for my home lab… perhaps Windows Vista Ultimate x64 will fix some of the problems with the E520.  Unfortunately the battery in the D820 looks like it will be a constant battle of finding a power outlet.