Intel core i3

Intel will release the core i3 (with 2 cores and hyperthreading) along with another dual-core (without hyperthreading) in January. The core i3 is said to cost $113 and I wonder how the "4-core hyperthreading" will perform compared to Athlon II x4's real four cores.

If the performance is good, Intel may, along with the socket 1156 dual core and the socket 775 Q7000's take the lower end of the market as well, and drive AMD towards bankruptcy. Till that time, the lower end segment belongs solely to AMD...

AMD Athlon II X3 425 and 435

Confusing terminology aside, this is another landmark in budget computing. 3 cores at speedy 2.7 and 2.9 Ghz at meager prices of $76 and 87 respectively. No Intel dual core can compete with these CPUs...3 for the price of 2..How can you lose?

Of course, one could argue that it may make more sense to pay $12 more and get the quad core Athlon II X4 620, but if you are absolutely on a budget, this could be the CPU for you...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q7000

When is Intel going to release the Q7000s? The cheapest quad core they have is the Q8200 and it costs $150, about $50 more than AMD Athlon II X4 620. I want to see how they price Q7000s.

But knowing Intel, I don't think that they will price it less than $125-130, otherwise all their dual cores will have to undergo a price cut..

Still waiting for Intel quad core to reach the $100 mark...Looks like it will be a while.....

nVidia gt 220

I have been on the lookout for a graphics card with low power consumption, reasonable gaming ability, not requiring a power connector and costing less than $100. nVidia gt 220 caught my eye as it fulfills the criteria.

Unfortunately, it seems like a glorified 9500gt which really wasn't good in the first place. The only redeeming features are that it has CUDA and low power consumption.

Nothing has surpassed my ATI 4670 / nVidia 9600gt Low Power. I think I will wait for the gt 240 and the low to midrange ATI 5000s....

HP Mini 311

The HP Mini 311 is a netbook, but made more usable by a larger 1366 x 768 screen resolution and nVidia's Ion (i.e. 9400M) for graphics. The design looks good, the keyboard looks great and the color scheme brings back memories of Macbook Pros (Which HP has been trying to imitate in their last few netbooks and notebooks).

But why oh why, is it crippled with the single core Atom n270? If it was dual core Atom 330, I can see this thing selling really well. Even I would go run out and buy one!

ATI Radeon 5770 and 5750

Just saw some benchmarks of these two cards, ATI 5570 and 5750. They seem to be priced over $150 and have performance of mid-high range of last generation cards. Still too expensive for me. Waiting for the next gen cards up to $100 in price and not requiring any power connector so I can just put it in and start gaming away...

Flashback: Apple II gs

Well, a few months after I bought the Apple IIc, there came the IIgs.  It was more expensive at that time but how I wished I had waited for it.

It had 16 colors out of 4096 (my IIc had only 4 basic colors), a faster CPU, nice keyboard (well, the IIc had and excellent keyboard as well) and synthesizer for sounds (much better compared to my crappy IIc sound which considered of beeps and blops).  It had the visual and audio flair which I wish my IIc had.  But it was too late for upgrades, and too costly.

Can't complain though - my  IIc served me pretty well over a period of 7 years (then I sold it to a friend who used it for 4 or 5 more years).  It got me through assignments, reports and college applications.  Twelve years without a single problem.  Boy then, Apple was like Mercedez Benz...Now, I don't think they have that quality any more...

ATI Radeon 5850 and 5870

After reading the specifications, I expected the new Radeons to have almost double the performance of the last generation. But in reviews, I found that it is about 1.5 times more powerful on the average; not bad but then, not as dramatic as I expected. I am waiting for the mid-range to low range cards now. Let's see what nVidia has up its sleeve.