My SCEPTRE 22" Widescreen LCD Monitors have arrived and man, do they look awesome side-by-side. I now have a total desktop space of 3360x1050. There is absolutely no noticeable video delay when playing games or moving windows. Even though the screen size is much bigger than my former 19" CRT's, I find I have so much more space on my desk now. HD movies run in full-screen without the black bars, too! Yep, definitely worth the money.

On another note, I installed Windows Vista Ultimate. Thus far, I'm surprised to say, I don't have any complaints. The OS has a much bigger footprint than XP, coming in at about 500mb with the Aero desktop running. When running World of Warcraft, it tops up at 1gb usage. My system has 2gb of RAM. So, there's no trouble there.

I've had some trouble running games in Windows Vista, but I've been able to remedy all of the problems. By default, applications are run in "protected mode" which denies write access to system directories, such as Program Files and its subdirectories. Vista wants all applications to save their data to your Profile directory (C:\Users\Username) instead. The simple fix for legacy applications is to run them with Administrator rights by clicking a checkbox on the applications' shortcut. This essentially emulates XP's behavior.

The addition of Windows Media Center embedded within Windows Vista Ultimate is very cool. We also own an XBox 360, which has the capability of being a Windows Media Center Extender. Basically, the 360 "logs in" to the Media Center PC and provides the same functionality as if you were sitting at the computer. Movies, MP3s, and pictures can be accessed through the 360 on your TV. Also, Internet videos from places like Google, Yahoo, and YouTube can be played through Media Center. I haven't played too much with it, but my 360+Vista may end up replacing my Linksys MediaLounge Player.

I'll post more of my adventures as they happen...