[Bernardakins]

Hi!!! Joseph is such a good son. We have not had an easy life as have many others too, but
it just seems like every adversity has made Joseph more compassionate. He is so kind to others
and has had to work very hard for everything. He is so smart. He managed to be in the gifted
program at school even though we have had to move 21x, even thought we are not military.
Joey is so talented at tech things and would make very good use of this computer not only
for himself but for many others. We could never hope to afford anything even similar to this.
I hope very much that you will consider him. Also, thank you to your company for offering such
a contest.

- Joseph's Mom

P.S. Sorry if this is gushy, but I just can't help it

[Sheerdal]

Well there are some great expierences here. I guess I feel that I deserve it because my Wife and I are both in college. We share a computer as it stands now. She gets the early shift and I watch our two kids and then I get to do my work on the computer later on into the evening/Early morning. There are alot of times that we need to work on assignments at the same time or take a test. Then there are the Blue Screens ugh what a pain in the rear to lose an essay or something else that you have been working for a few hours. The HDX would be a boon to me because I would deffinitely support the newer programming languages that are coming out and that I will be learning as I pursue my MIS Degree. Between working full time and trying to support my family and trying to pay for classes, and books for two people there isn't alot left over, frequently we use what little extra we get from our FA and Loans to pay off some bill. So saving up for something as nice as this laptop would be near impossible. It would also be great because it would be portable and I could take it to school and use it class or I could entertain the kids with a movie or work on things while I watch the kids. Another reason is that as the kids grow up they will also be learning how to use the computer; while they may be using the desktop this will also eventually receive some use as well from them.

[OldTimer97]

Need... What is need? My roommate last year was a business major, and he was taught that there are no needs; only wants. The more I thought about this, the more I realized this overlooked much sound logic. If I did not have food, clothing and shelter from the elements I would have been dead a long time ago. I think that qualifies food, clothing and shelter as needs. If I had failed to graduate High School, the prospects of getting a job that allows for a decent standard of living are very slim. Perhaps in our culture, education is another bonafide need.

My laptop has certainly made me question, what is need? Do I need to upgrade? My craptop has been a great starter machine, but isn’t there more to computing than text editors and limited web browsing? I feel as though I have finally begun to learn the ins and outs of my operating system. I surprise people with keyboard shortcuts that reduce the time it takes get any given task done. I have worked hard, and I have wrung out far more than my friends tell me this computer should be able to do, but it is feeling the effects of my varied interests and exploits, and it won’t be long before it crawls off to die.

For a couple of years now, I have been experimenting with three dimensional modeling and animation (Never Understood by ~Draconis-de-Christus on deviantART). I was even able to obtain a learner’s edition of Maya 7. Over time, as the models I used got more detailed, and new versions of the software came out, I noticed just how slow the machine had become between even the smallest changes to any given scene. I began to realize how impractical my rendering ventures were becoming when I had to wait over twenty-four hours for one six-second animated clip to render (YouTube - A Dragoness Awakens). That was when the thought of upgrading crossed my mind for the first time. Nowadays I usually stay away from the rendering software altogether for fear of a system crash.

Since three dimensional rendering was on the fritz, perhaps I could try two dimensions (Dragoness Lavender by ~Draconis-de-Christus on deviantART (It was while making this image that this machine went completely haywire, and I thought I had lost many important documents)). My budget never allowed me to purchase Photoshop, but I was able to squeeze out some decent images despite that fact. This was also abominably slow, but I made due.

That was before I learned about virtual memory. It turns out that during some of my graphical design, I was getting over a gigabyte of Page File usage. It turned out it was the same or worse when I tried to run any rendering software. Even when I close out all programs, I end up still running just the OS on almost as much virtual memory as I have RAM. As for gaming, I don’t even bother any more. Most games complain that my processor is too small, and the rest forget their politeness and just refuse to install.

So it looks like I need to upgrade - tell me about it. It just so happens I’m one of six children ranging ages twenty-one to four. As I’m writing this, we have dial-up, rabbit ears only on our television, and no one under our roof owns an iPod (It wasn’t that long ago we finally figured out what that whole iPod thing was). I’m a full time student with no means of paying for all of this upgrading that must be done. I barely have enough to put gas in my tank.

Getting a top of the line HP HDX “Dragon” would mean that I am able to do the things I enjoy for a change. It would also convince some people we know that we are not Amish, and that people knowledgeable in the field of computers can come from Tennessee, too. It would mean that the utmost heights of my creativity could finally be released. I would continue to work on my first book. It would mean that I could finally render my images and animations without long waits for the little monkey inside this old machine to sweat out each pixel by hand.

I might dare to install a few games after such a long period of gaming drought. I might even dare to jump in on LAN parties that I knew before were out of the question. It would mean that those under this roof learn what other people mean when they talk about BluRay DVD’s; I think I’m currently the only one here who knows what that means. It also would mean that someone in my family could get the laptop I currently use. You can hardly read the screen on the old machine the family has now (Can you say Windows 3.1?).

In short, the HP HDX “Dragon” system would meet my needs. Without it, I would have to show the resilience that I have always had to show, but with such a machine, I am enabled to go beyond the menial daily tasks of the day and ascend to new heights of creativity. That is my ultimate need.

[czam]

Originally Posted by JackalsNose

I want the HDX dragon for a couple of reasons. The massive 500 gigabyte hard drive would allow me to mirror (via apache server) my high school's movie server for the college I will be attending. I could also host any of the programs I've written for my math classes (text-based, C++: newton's method, secant method, finding machine epsilon for different precision numbers, etc). The large drive would keep me from having to keep my 40 gigs of music on my external hard drive and the 4 Altec Lansing speakers with HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer would be a huge upgrade over my current T60 speakers. Even if I don't use the speakers, the sound capabilities of the laptop will still sound excellent with my Sennheiser HD580 Circumaural headphones.

Since I will be a college student next year, it would be nice to have a desktop-capable computer that I can carry with me every 3 months when I move from school to co-op sponsor.

No one could make better use of this superior laptop than Jackalsnose for as many applications. From music to math, this geek needs this laptop!

[blue]

Originally Posted by Joker

I read about the HP's "Dragon" Giveaway in last days of April. I marked all the contest websites and their dates on the Calendar with me. Hoping as everyone else who read about the giveaway that I have to participate and may be, just may be I get lucky and win the Dragon. This is like most others, a dream machine for me.

I don't know where to start. More and better is what I like to own in technology. I mean just go through the Dragon's specifications, its good enough to blow your mind away and the specs are enough alone for you wishing you win this beast. Always wanted the best and latest in technology, mostly its just wish of course but sometimes I do get lucky and get the thing I look forward to & thanks God for that!

I was recently thinking of getting an HDTV, paired with good speakers for playing Games & watching my favorite movies in the best quality. Funds for that was a problem! Dragon will surely serve that purpose without getting too much attention from folks around here. The 20.1 inch HD Widescreen, the Extreme edition processor, 4 Gbs of RAM, the awesome NVidia GeForce 8800M GTS graphics card and 500GB of hard disk space will be good enough for a complete and mindblowing entertainment experience. How can I forget about the Blu-Ray ROM in it and the triplet movies coming with it. Have been a fan of Microsoft Flight Simulator too but the graphics card in our home PC is just not enough to play it in full glory. Then comes Gears of War, I have experienced its game play in Xbox 360 with brother but I did miss the mouse for aiming! It would be awesome playing Gears of War with a mouse this time ;-). LOL and it will be something I can place away from the little ones in the house. Who if see you playing a Game on PC, would like to play it themselves. Same goes for viewing pictures. They'll just come and attack you, with little ones winning each time of course. They can force everyone to retreat with their cute anger, shouts and crying!

As for the softwares bundled with it, excited the most about "Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus" in all those listed. Will be able to prepare magnificent home movies, work related vidoes for father who wants the effects like those on News channels, lol, and help out a cousin too, who has went in journalism and needs help from time to time. Have been thinking of editing & translating a locally produced video too (legally ofcourse) but just don't have the appropriate software and hardware power
to do so.

Would like to thanks HP & BuzzCorps for putting up such a contest allowing everyone around the world to participate in it.

Good luck everyone! :-)

i think Joker deserves to win because he has a lot of knowledge about these things, plus he is not only going to use this for his own benefit but to help others as well. In my opinion he should win the dragon

[Zelsius]

Originally Posted by Bernardakins

Oh wow... how a laptop like this would change my life. Let's start with a bit of backstory.

I'm number two out of four siblings living in our home here in Topeka, Kansas with my single mother and eleven pets. (We adopted one cat, found another outside of a bank, a cat dashed into our house on thanksgiving, adopted three from an elderly couple who couldn't afford them, three we got from a pet store, one we got when she was just a kitten when someone was giving her away, and our dog wandered into our back yard on new years. Yay pet rescue! Booo giant vet bills.) She's going for disability pay because she's been developing some pretty severe health problems lately. I'll be starting college this fall, Majoring in Asian Languages and Minoring in some form of Comp Sci. The dragon would be very useful for that second one! This is the first generation of my family to go to college. My sister is already attending.

Anyway, with a single, unemployed parent, money is pretty tight. I've loved computers since I was very little but we couldn't afford to get one until a just a few years ago. (P1/64MB/1.18GBHDD) We've upgraded here and there since then, but the few systems we have around the house are all getting on in years and are very, very, frustrating sometimes.

I have *never* owned a new computer or television. The desktop that I'm typing this on was a budget model from a local computer store. My TV is from 1977. (I can't play games on it because the picture bounces when the signal is coming through A/V cables, and it only gets 21 channels! That DVD player you see in the picture that I'm putting in with my post belongs to my little brother. The VCR/DVD combo is completely broken.) I'm trying to get a new laptop for college, but at this point it looks like I'll have to use student loans or something along those lines to pay for it. (Planning to study abroad at some point. This is going to be so expensive. ><)

Also it's *very* hard to get a job here. At least, one that pays more than minimum wage with any sort of benefits! (Since I can't afford health insurance.) I've been looking forever![/backstory]

I would love a new computer like this so much, you don't even know. It would be so nice to be able to watch HD video on it or play games. All of our current systems have integrated video only, so that's pretty much impossible. I would never in a million years be able to afford this. XD;

Various ways this thing is really, really spiffy:

The Screen + Blu-Ray drive + speakers-- Wow that's a humongous screen, which is nice. I have something like 20/1400 (Pretty sure that's considered legally blind, folks.) vision without my glasses and even with them I still have poor vision. All that room is a definite plus. The Blu-Ray player looks so awesome! We don't have one, and I can just picture my TV playing HD stuff. The speakers look really nice, too! I might just have to recycle my TV if I get this and use it as my primary TV. XDD
I also like to doodle a lot and that screen + my wacom tablet (4x5 graphire I think?) = <3

Games – I've never really been able to play computer games outside of solitaire, and there are more than just a few that my brothers and I would love to try. (This can play Crysis! That looks so shiny...) I've had the chance to fiddle around with a computer with a video card somewhat similar (If a bit slower than) the one on this when I spent the summer of 05' volunteering at a computer store to get some experience there. The owner of the store let me try out a few games and things on it. That was so spiffy. D=

The processor – Holy cow that looks fast. *_*; ::drools all over himself::

The hard drive – 500GB! That's more than all of the working ones in the house put together and doubled! Having space like that would be nice. =D

All of that software + the movies – Whoo pirates! I went to see the third one right after I got my hard contacts and had them switched by accident. I missed a lot of the movie because of that. XDD
It would be nice to see it again~ Also, that software looks nice~

Sorry that I was so long winded. Here are some pictures! Sorry if they're blurry.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...yAncientTV.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Comparison.jpg <-- My current laptop and my old one that died. Current = IBM ThinkPad A22M, 1GHz PIII, 512 Ram, 30GB HDD, Video card of dooooooom. (No full screen youtube videos D=)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...mputerarea.png <-- My desktop

Thanks for considering me, and sorry again that my entry was so long. I would really love to win this!

--Joseph

Joey most definitely deserves this machine. His family's situation is not the best, which has made him into a hard-working, reliable, and honest young man pretty early. He has a lot of potential in many areas, and one of his biggest interests lies in technology, which is sadly as expensive as interesting a field.

For both his studies and personal explorations, he needs a notebook as capable as this one. I dearly hope he will win this contest.

[-Moonlight-]

Originally Posted by Joker

I read about the HP's "Dragon" Giveaway in last days of April. I marked all the contest websites and their dates on the Calendar with me. Hoping as everyone else who read about the giveaway that I have to participate and may be, just may be I get lucky and win the Dragon. This is like most others, a dream machine for me.

I don't know where to start. More and better is what I like to own in technology. I mean just go through the Dragon's specifications, its good enough to blow your mind away and the specs are enough alone for you wishing you win this beast. Always wanted the best and latest in technology, mostly its just wish of course but sometimes I do get lucky and get the thing I look forward to & thanks God for that!

I was recently thinking of getting an HDTV, paired with good speakers for playing Games & watching my favorite movies in the best quality. Funds for that was a problem! Dragon will surely serve that purpose without getting too much attention from folks around here. The 20.1 inch HD Widescreen, the Extreme edition processor, 4 Gbs of RAM, the awesome NVidia GeForce 8800M GTS graphics card and 500GB of hard disk space will be good enough for a complete and mindblowing entertainment experience. How can I forget about the Blu-Ray ROM in it and the triplet movies coming with it. Have been a fan of Microsoft Flight Simulator too but the graphics card in our home PC is just not enough to play it in full glory. Then comes Gears of War, I have experienced its game play in Xbox 360 with brother but I did miss the mouse for aiming! It would be awesome playing Gears of War with a mouse this time ;-). LOL and it will be something I can place away from the little ones in the house. Who if see you playing a Game on PC, would like to play it themselves. Same goes for viewing pictures. They'll just come and attack you, with little ones winning each time of course. They can force everyone to retreat with their cute anger, shouts and crying!

As for the softwares bundled with it, excited the most about "Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus" in all those listed. Will be able to prepare magnificent home movies, work related vidoes for father who wants the effects like those on News channels, lol, and help out a cousin too, who has went in journalism and needs help from time to time. Have been thinking of editing & translating a locally produced video too (legally ofcourse) but just don't have the appropriate software and hardware power
to do so.

Would like to thanks HP & BuzzCorps for putting up such a contest allowing everyone around the world to participate in it.

Good luck everyone! :-)

Joker’s life revolves around the world of tech. It is truly his passion of life and he keeps broad interest in the latest technology. I strongly believe that he definitely deserves the notebook as he will make full use of it.

It is essential for him as he will use it for projects, games, movies and for his creativity. This will be ideal for the people around him as he is a helpful guy.

[JrGillies]

I've owned a Inspiron 530 for nearly a year now which runs a Pentium processor and a gig of RAM. This HDX will replace this old desktop which is valued at $1100. working and playing on this slow computer is bad because Vista already takes about 1 GB of RAM, and yes, I am a gamer with no money and I cannot afford a good decent computer with at least 4 GB of RAM, Intel Core 2 Extreme processor...oh wait, the HDX has this, WOW, this would really help me with gaming and do my homework faster. The Inspiron 530 was mine and my brothers wanted it downstairs in the first week I had it, which they fill up the hard drive by downloading unwanted software whcih didn't suite me. This Dragon PC would change my experience with computing by more online gaming with no lag time, watching HD movies with 1080p res on the road and also school work on the go. I have had no personal computer before using the old desktop. Not only will I be the Envy of my school peers and family but the whole city of Timmins, Ontario, Canada. Let me explain abit more of what I do with this beast. I would, or it would allow me to multitask with its big 20.1" screen, for games, blueray movies, and other computer essentials. This would also take my wireless experience further with its built-in bluetooth technology, and wireless networking. And finally, just like what HP syas, The Computer is Personal again.

[Vande]

Bernardakins has always helped me out major time when i needed help with scanlations as i somewhat sucked so he desrves this with all the hard work he puts into other stuff!

[Bernardakins]

Originally Posted by Vande

Bernardakins has always helped me out major time when i needed help with scanlations as i somewhat sucked so he desrves this with all the hard work he puts into other stuff!

Thanks Vande!
I may not be involved in scanlations really anymore, but that was always fun.