"Levels" of Computers the Future?

RabidMoose writes "Gamespot has an article up talking about a recent interview with Microsofts's Dean Lester about the future of PC gaming (as well as Xbox 2 tidbits). Basically, they're in contact with the big hardare producers about transitioning to a system of tagging pre-made computers with "levels". He provided a hypothetical example that a PC with a "level 5" designation might have a medium processor speed, amount of RAM, and mid-range video card, while a "level 7" PC might have a faster processor, more RAM, and a higher-end video card."

Comments

Remember MPC?

[Fez]

They already tried this before... There was the "Multimedia PC" (MPC) spec that had level 1, 2, 3, etc based on whether or not your PC had a CD-ROM, sound card, graphics capable of 800x600 and so on.

This was back in the days of Windows 3.1, even.

Re:Remember MPC?

[jandrese]

Yeah, I was going to mention this. It died pretty quickly. The problem was that applications often require certain components to be faster/better (your application may be MMC1, except you needed 8MB of RAM so you were stuck with the MMC3 designation). People who had computers that would run your software (and otherwise generate a sale) were scared away because they only had a 2xCD-ROM (leaving them at the MMC2 level). I think the hardware also changed too fast for the MMC guys to keep up (especially when 3D video cards/games started appearing on the market).

Warp level Five, Ensign

[Mulletproof]

"He provided a hypothetical example that a PC with a "level 5" designation might have a medium processor speed, amount of RAM, and mid-range video card, while a "level 7" PC might have a faster processor, more RAM, and a higher-end video card."

I know! Since this is the future, we can call these names these levels "warp", Warp 10 being the fastest computer known to man. So fast, it may be potentially unachievable! of course, once we've achieved that speed in 5 years, we'll have to overhaul the Warp system of measurment and conjure up the excuse that Warp 10 computing back then really wasn't really the warp 10 computing we know today...

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[BagOBones]

You haven't been tracking computers for very long have you.

They have been saying its slowing down for the past X years, then BAM a new breakthrough and everything gets faster.

After years of systems going up by 10 or 20 Mhz I purchased my 1.1Ghz system feeling it would last a very long time. Well now there are 4 Ghz systems.

Re:Cars ...

[syrinx]

BMWs are numbered based on their body style and engine size (then they add letters for various features); these "level" numbers are, as far as I can tell, arbitrary. Different ideas. BMW's number is closer to how we used to name CPUs... based on a number (engine size or clock speed) that isn't exactly a measure of performance, but close enough to give an approximation.

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[theguru]

Quit spreading FUD. MS has not said they won't patch IE for non XP users. Don't beleive everything you read on the frontpage of Slashdot. What they have said is, they will not be releasing the enhancements that XP SP2 added to IE for non XP OS's. Security patches and hotfixes for IE will continue to be produced for non XP systems.

Now, I have to get back to work on my level -3 laptop...

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[Carnildo]

I thought you meant "detailed watching". I've been keeping a casual eye on computer development since the 486 came out.

I don't see multi-core having a major impact, as many tasks don't parallelize well. The same objection applies to multi-threaded cores.

Faster clock speeds may not materialize: in the past year, Intel, IBM, and AMD all had trouble with the switch to the 90nm process -- they can't get the resulting chips to run much faster than their 130nm equivalents -- and they all have serious heat problems.

Wider busses are nice, but they aren't everything. Neither are faster bus speeds. As a rule of thumb, doubling the bus bandwidth yields an overall performance increase of 5%.

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[jlaxson]

Have to relearn _Everything_?

Let's take a look at that:
Keyboard, mouse. A keyboard is a keyboard. If you want to use a one-button mouse, fine. If you want to use a two button mouse, that will work natively as well. Even a scroll-wheel will work out of the box, with no drivers.

Menu bars. Nope, Macs have menus, too. In fact, as I write this on IE (at work) 50% of the menus are the same ones that are there on my PowerBook at home (File, Edit, Help). Outlook has the same similarity. And Microsoft Office, I'm sure, has even bigger similarities.

Windows. Macs have these too. ('nuff said)

Quick launch and task bar. In the same spot on a Mac.

System tray. Also on a Mac, but in the menu bar instead.

Folders, files, extensions, icons. Yep, also there.

So... I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "re-learn everything about the GUI metaphor."

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[Anonymous Coward]

Where, where?

You mean "Hear, hear".

Hope that helps. Have a nice day.

That's only a problem for mid-level users

[SuperKendall]

What happens to your text? That's right, the copy command basically ends up deleting your text (actually replaced with an unintended symbol) with no copy being made. Your work is gone with no backup.

If you are smart enough to use the keys, you are also able to figure out that it's "Apple-C" instead fairly quickly.

For users that are really simple, it will be very easy - because they'll just use the menu options which are under edit like they always are.

The "just works" part I would say refers more to things like the OS not surprizing you unpleasantly, or devices working without hassle (like bluetooth or wireless networking). Not so much about training for an app.

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[packeteer]

It gets worse than that. When comparing cards of exactly the same clock frequency card perform differently and it drives me CRAZY. Compare the latest offerings by ATI and NVIDIA. You find two cards with the same clock speed, but one has 8 "pixel pipelines" another 12 and other 16. Ok so in that situation more is better as a card with more pixel pipelines performs better. What about cards that support the new Shader Model 3.0. You would think obviously thats better than a card that support shader model 2.0 but it doesn;t necicarily perform that way. How can ram at 1000 mhz be WAY faster than ram at 700 mhz even when they are on cards with the same chipset. Well you gotta make sure you get the GDDR3 ram.

Its a very confusing market. Honestly the best way to find a good card is to find the one with the longest name and highest specs. But different manufacters get different speeds out of the same specs. Basically the only way to find out whats good is to read a review site. But who has time to compare EVERY compent of a system. When your building a system from scratch you probably only have time to look at the main things. If your building a gamin system concentrate on the video card, things like that. But what if you buy the best video card out there and then dont buy an good enough power supply or motherboard. Your card will run slower if the power supply cant give it enough juice or the motherboard doesn't support your AGP or PCIE mode.

Re:Alex, I'll take Level 6 for $200

[skeletonliar]

Sorry buddy, but if you actually follow the procedure you describe the only thing that will happen is the computer will beep at you for trying to enter a command that does nothing.