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 Platform Trends: DDR-3 Heads for the Mainstream
By Vince Freeman -
Published May 9, 2008
Long ago, Intel decided that desktop PCs should use RDRAM, and riots in the marketplace forced a reversal. Now the processor giant is spurring the move from today's DDR-2 to higher-bandwidth, more energy-efficient DDR-3 memory for desktops -- and, with the forthcoming Centrino 2 spec, notebooks as well. Vince Freeman looks at the pros, cons, price points, and performance issues surrounding the transition. [more Chips & Upgrades]
Samsung SCX-4500 Multifunction Printer Review
By Eric Grevstad -
Published May 6, 2008
It's one fancy desk accessory: Samsung's 6.5-inch-high black box looks more like a jet-black piece of home theater equipment or modern sculpture than the monochrome laser printer/scanner/copier it is. The $300 all-in-one's speed, quiet operation, and output quality are impressive, too -- but small-office operators will have to decide whether to make a few sacrifices for style. [more Peripherals]
Platform Trends: AMD Hits a Triple with the Phenom X3
By Vince Freeman -
Published April 28, 2008
Market-wise, the gap between dual- and quad-core PC processors may not be big enough to drive a truck through. Or a subcompact. Or a shopping cart. But AMD is betting it's got room for a new family of triple-core CPUs. Will the Phenom X3's sales pitch of better multitasking for the price of a dual-core attract buyers? And what happens if tri-core demand exceeds AMD's supply of didn't-quite-pass-inspection quad-cores? [more Chips & Upgrades]
Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 2.0 Review
By Eric Grevstad -
Published April 18, 2008
You won't get more legroom in coach, but you'll get a handful of point-and-click productivity with Microsoft's newest mouse: Like laptop mice, it has a snap-in USB receiver that won't get lost in the bottom of your briefcase, but it's a full-grown, fully comfortable desktop mouse instead of one of the child's-hand-sized miniature models usually offered to notebook users. Is it the one mouse to use with both of your PCs? [more Peripherals]
Platform Trends: The Wild World of Graphics Cards
By Vince Freeman -
Published April 11, 2008
At the rate they're releasing products, Nvidia and AMD/ATI may soon run out of model numbers. Desktop PC graphics cards have never had shorter life spans or quicker price cuts, as last year's performance champions are suddenly mid-market or even destined to be entry-level cards. Will GDDR-5 keep the mad momentum going? Is Asus serious about showing off not a dual- but a triple-GPU one-card solution? [more Chips & Upgrades]
HP 2133 Mini-Note Review
By Eric Grevstad -
Published April 8, 2008
Will kids in your school district get this year's coolest subnotebook before you do? HP says its three-pound, 8.9-inch-screened, adult-sized-keyboarded little laptop is headed for classrooms. But that doesn't mean business travelers -- or shoppers who've been eyeing Asus's hot-selling Eee PC -- can't check out HP models ranging from $499 Linux to $749 Vista Business configurations. [more Computers]
Platform Trends: X4 Marks the Spot
By Vince Freeman -
Published March 31, 2008
Okay, AMD Phenom, take two, quiet on the set! (Really quiet, in the case of the 65-watt quad-core for home-theater PCs.) Yes, four months after its bumpy introduction, AMD's top processor is getting a do-over -- raising clock speeds; squashing the TLB bug that cast a shadow over the first Phenoms; and adopting easy-to-understand X4 labels for quad- and X3 for tri-core CPUs. Radically undercutting Intel's Core 2 prices shouldn't hurt, either. [more Chips & Upgrades]
Gateway FX7020 and FHD2400 Review
By Eric Grevstad -
Published March 25, 2008
The low-priced desktops on superstore shelves are fine word processing and Web-surfing machines, but will disappoint consumers planning to visit the game software section in the adjacent aisle. Gateway tempts retail shoppers who can't afford exotic gaming rigs with an $1,100 powerhouse that packs AMD's quad-core Phenom 9600 and Nvidia's sensational GeForce 8800 GT. [more Computers]
Platform Trends: Intel Deploys Its Troops
By Vince Freeman -
Published March 17, 2008
What's the only thing that can hurt sales of Intel's dominant Core 2 Duo and Quad processors? It's not AMD's Phenom -- it's buyers deciding to wait for the products the chipmaker has in the pipeline. CPU guru Vince Freeman explains why the release of Intel's 45-nanometer-process quad-core "Yorkfield," higher availability of the dual-core "Wolfdale," and a new desktop chipset and quad-core laptop processor should give Intel a Q2 for the record books. [more Chips & Upgrades]
Zonbu Zonbook Review
By Joseph Moran -
Published March 7, 2008
It's easy to find a $600 laptop these days, but a $279 notebook is something else -- definitely something else, in the case of Zonbu's 15.4-inch-screened, VIA C7-powered portable. Using Linux instead of Windows, the self-updating, self-backing-up laptop frees you from PC maintenance for a cell-phone-style subscription fee of $15 a month. [more Computers]
Platform Trends: Shifts in the Multicore Landscape
By Vince Freeman -
Published February 29, 2008
The state of the art's not just top of the line: After unveiling its 45-nanometer-process engineering with quad-core Xeon and Core 2 Extreme CPUs, Intel has finally added affordable dual-core versions to its Core 2 Duo line. But while these "Wolfdale" processors win raves, AMD is making moves elsewhere -- giving China first dibs on a dual-core Sempron and preparing to add tri-core models to its flagship Phenom series. [more Chips & Upgrades]
PCs for Five C's
By Eric Grevstad -
Published February 26, 2008
Grand Openings is back! Well, half back, anyway, as HardwareCentral's once-quarterly quest for the best notebook and desktop PCs priced under $1,000 returns -- with a rock-bottom new budget of $500. We're not talking about humble family PCs, either: Join our online hunt for dual-core CPUs, hefty hard disks, and a sufficient-for-Vista 2GB of RAM, hitting system vendors' own Web sites, retail chains, and discount warehouses. [more Computers]
Platform Trends: Nvidia's Chess Moves
By Vince Freeman -
Published February 17, 2008
Competing with Intel in desktop chipsets and with AMD in both chipsets and graphics processors, Nvidia Corp. is no stranger to strategic planning. So why has the company neglected its chipset business, seemed caught by surprise when AMD tried Nvidia's own dual-GPU-graphics-card gambit, and gambled its acquisition of gaming physics specialist Aegia on third-party software support? [more Chips & Upgrades]
Logitech MX Air Review
By Eric Grevstad -
Published February 13, 2008
Three, two, one -- we have liftoff! Er, wait a second, liftoff of what? A mouse? Yes, Logitech's latest wireless mouse works fine on your desk, but with a bit of practice does the same in midair -- tracking smoothly through MP3 tracks or Web pages while you make waves from across the room. Add a few nifty stunt-flying maneuvers or gesture commands, and you might almost forget the pointer's high-flying price. [more Peripherals]
Platform Trends: AMD Sees Double With the Radeon HD 3870 X2
Published February 2, 2008
Some people are always spoiling for a fight. When AMD introduced the ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics processor, fanboys were disappointed that the GPU aimed for the affordable mid-market instead of challenging Nvidia's GeForce 8800 Ultra for the unlimited-price gaming-performance crown. What they didn't know is that the gang at AMD were busy fitting two HD 3870s onto one card ... [more Chips & Upgrades]
Xerox Phaser 6130 Review
By Eric Grevstad -
Published January 25, 2008
Tempted to put a color laser printer on your desk? Xerox just increased the temptation with an easy-to-use, 12-ppm PostScript 3 model that's a few inches trimmer -- and at $374, a few dollars cheaper -- than anything you've seen before. We think its price/performance mix is bad news for color inkjets, but it may not quite knock other color lasers -- including other Xeroxes -- out of competition. [more Peripherals]
Platform Trends: The Celeron Comes Back
By Vince Freeman -
Published January 19, 2008
Two cores in every cubicle? The Celeron has always been the entry-level, economy model -- less politely, the runt of the litter -- among Intel's desktop processors. That's still true, but the newest model stands a little taller: According to CPU guru Vince Freeman, the Celeron E1200's specifications may not be stellar, but it brings dual-core multitasking even to IT managers' lowest-budget office-worker buys. [more Chips & Upgrades]
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