So you may have heard that Apple announced the iPad. If you haven’t seen what this new fangled gadget is, I suggest you go watch Apple’s hype video.
It’s a beautiful gadget and Apple does a hell of a job selling it. But is it right for me? Will it replace my current Dell Mini 9 netbook? My gut reaction was: “Yes. Netbooks are doomed.” However, after some time to digest and get away from Apple’s marketing talk, I don’t think I’d get one. Even if it is just $499.99 USD.
Having purchased Torchlight and looking ahead towards Mass Effect 2, I began contemplating building my PC once again.
The last time I thought this over, I was looking for a Micro ATX PC for the sake of downsizing, but now I want this PC to be small enough for the home theater set up. I want to turn this PC into a console if it needs to be; playing PC games with the Xbox 360 controller if I can. The Antec Mini P180 can still achieve this sitting beside the HDTV; that’s not a problem. The problem, as always, is the amount I wish to spend on a video card.
The Radeon HD 5850 costs approximately $320. That’s more than a console and while the video card can mop the floor with this generation’s console, from a purely entertainment standpoint, I cannot justify that price. I do have a solution to this problem though. I either wait for price drops or I settle for a AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5770 which I can get for about $175.
Decisions. Decisions.
What is it that I wish to play though? Mass Effect 2? It’s coming to the Xbox 360 as well and by the time I’m finished with that there’s a whole lot of other games coming out to consoles. Was this all for nothing then? Nah. If I keep going through this exercise enough times, I’ll eventually find enough reasons to pull the trigger. But for now, I will go play Torchlight. If only more games ran on older hardware like this game.
The video card I was waiting for last week was finally reviewed and it turns out that it is the video card to get. Both AnandTech and The Tech Report have their reviews up for your viewing pleasure. So if you’re building a PC today you cannot go wrong with the second fastest single GPU video card in the world.
Well, unless you live in Canada.
These video cards are priced between $300 – $350 CAD. That’s out of my price range by a fair margin. The MSRP is $269.99 USD so I don’t know where that crazy premium comes from. I guess I’ll just have to sit on these PC plans until prices come down.
Still, it’s still nice to see a well rounded video card out there.
The Radeon HD 5870 is now the world’s fastest single GPU video card. It also happens to be the world’s first DirectX 11 video card. Congrats to AMD/ATI for upping the ante once again. According reviews from AnandTech and The Tech Report, the Radeon HD 5870 is essentially “doubled” the performance of a Radeon HD 4870 without doubling the power consumption. Not bad for a $379.99 USD video card.
But this video card isn’t for me. The $379.99 USD price tag and its obscene length are reasons enough to look forward to the Radeon HD 5850 which will debut at $259.99 USD. I’m looking forward to the reviews — especially after reading this quote from AnandTech’s article.
AMD expects the 5850 to perform at approximately 80% the performance level of the 5870, and is pricing it at $259.
I believe they’ll be posting their review within the next week or so.
By the time I get around to actually building and purchasing a new computer, these video cards could have some price cuts. Who knows? If the Radeon HD 5850 performs, it could cause all sorts of price changes for NVIDIA’s lineup which may cause AMD/ATI to react as well.
Good old competition!
Apple had an event today. An iPod event full of updates and announcements including:
The iPod Touch will now start at $199.99 USD for the 8 GB with $299.99 USD (32 GB) & $399.99 USD (64 GB) variants following. Finally! A sub $200 iPod Touch. And to top it off, they’re including Open GL|ES 2.0 which means expanded graphical capabilities for games.
They finally started to compare the iPhone to the DS & PSP which is valid on one hand, but complete nonsense on the other. There is a definite market for iPhone’s bite sized gaming, but it doesn’t offer the same kind of gaming that the NDS or PSP offers at all. Sure there is a Halo-esque game called Nova coming, but that’s nothing like a Phoenix Wright or a God of War. Good for Apple for taking its gaming initiative seriously though.
The “new” iPod Nano with the built in cameras make a lot of sense considering the form factor and how it fits when held horizontally. Apple also decided to add a FM radio antennae and pedometer in it. And at $149 USD for an 8 GB and $179 for 16 GB, it’s hard to resist. I would pick one up if I was looking for a new MP3 player today.
Head over to Apple’s website to check out the new hotness. If it’s not there yet, it should be there some time today.
This is Apple, after all.
AnandTech and TechReport reviews for the new Intel Core i5 and Core i7 are out now!
I was kinda bummed by the lack of HyperThreading for Core i5, but after reading these reviews, it’s not enough of a deterrent to warrant the price difference. What would I do with 8 threads?
Take a look at this:
| Processor | Clock Speed | Cores / Threads | Single Core Max Turbo Boost | Socket | TDP | Associated Chipset | Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i7-860 | 2.80 GHz | 4 / 8 | 3.46 GHz | LGA-1156 | 95W | Intel P55 | $284 |
| Core i5-750 | 2.66 GHz | 4 / 4 | 3.2 GHz | LGA-1156 | 95W | Intel P55 | $196 |
That $88 price difference enables 4 virtual threads, additional overclocking headroom and higher stock clockspeed. Do I want it? I wouldn’t mind it, but I like the idea of on-die PCI-E controller on the Core i5 and the attractive price tag of just under $200 USD.
These new processors are making my wait for a new computer a little tougher. However, I think I can hold out until the new video cards are unveiled in the coming months. That way it could be a completely new PC from top to bottom.
There’s a new Google Chrome beta out! No, Extensions aren’t included yet, but there are a whole host of improvements for version 3.0 beta!
I’m loving all these tiny improvements which Google have been making to Chrome — especially when you consider the fact that its still sleek and simple to use. Much kudos to them.
