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Intel Viiv vs. AMD LIVE!

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the boxing-match dept.

Searching4Sasquatch writes "Hot Hardware has tested two nearly identical HP systems in an effort to determine the best solution between Intel's Viiv and AMD's LIVE! campaigns. Priced around $999, these general purpose systems are tested straight out of the box with no tweaking or refinement to illustrate how "Joe Consumer" would fare in using one of these platforms."

6 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. pre-load software crap by networkBoy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's all about the pre-loaded crap. I've wiped and re-installed systems without the pre-installed crap and they are at least 10% faster than factory builds.
    -nB

    --
    whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    1. Re:pre-load software crap by Tsu+Dho+Nimh · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And that's the WHOLE POINT, Network Boy. Joe Consumer doesn't have your l33t hax0r skilz, so he brings it home and turns it on and expects things to work.

    2. Re:pre-load software crap by dal20402 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not true anymore. Now, you get trial versions of all of Pages, Keynote, and MS Office, and no AppleWorks (which never made the transition to Intel). I suppose trial versions are OK, in that Joe Consumer can follow easy instructions to pay more to unlock them, but I agree a consumer machine ought to have word processing -- probably the #2 consumer application for PCs after the series of tubes -- out of the box.

      On a Mac, TextEdit is a surprisingly fast and capable little word processor for stuff like letters, grade-school papers, etc. that might be written in Joe Consumer's household. I'm a power user, and, honestly, the only time I exceed the capabilities of TextEdit in word processing is when I'm doing academic writing or some kind of page-layout-ish stuff. The interface is rather reminiscent, in a good way, of MacWrite in 1984. TextEdit is way more capable as a basic word processor than it is as a text editor.

      Of course, we could always suggest that non-Mac consumer machines really ought to come with the default install of Ubuntu, which has OO.o installed... /ducks

  2. Re:FTFA by Seumas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Exactly. Only the total opposite of what you just said.

    Seriously, building your own system to your precise spec and under your complete control with OEM parts will get you a far superior system to anything you can waste your money on from some douchebag pre-built company. I keep checking them out in case things change, but in almost twenty years, I have still never found any cause to buy a pre-built system unless it was a laptop.

  3. Re:FTFA by Seumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You mean one at a time? You can get single OEM parts everywhere. If you have a non-chain computer store in your town (like Enu, in Portland) you can usually get them there. Or via newegg. Or through outlets on pricewatch.

    Not every part is going to be available as an OEM, but it's certainly possible to get drives, RAM, CPUs, video cards and audio cards. Not to mention, you simply don't get exactly what you want from a pre-built. I put my latest system into a rather awesome Cooler Master 832 chassis. Granted, it was pretty expensive, but at least I had the option instead of going with whatever plastic piece of crap Dell decided was good for me.

    Now, if you are just looking for a simple home office PC for your mom to use for the web, MP3s, solitaire and spreadsheets, then going with a pre-built is potentially a good solution since that takes the trouble of having to provide support out of your hands. But for anything specific like server hardware or gaming rigs, I would be hard pressed to buy something prebuilt.

    I have often considered a good Falcon Northwest rig, but as great as they are I just can't justify spending $5,000 for something I can build myself for around $3,000 or less.

  4. Hardware firewall on the a1630n by mlts · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The HP a1630n has one interesting feature that wasn't documented -- it has a hardware firewall due to the nVidia chipset on the built in Ethernet port, and it works pretty well, as I've not had any issues with it so far with gaming (MMOs, some RTS games) and other general use. I have read some people have had trouble with it, but so far, its been a great addition.

    One side note. The AMD Live! device works with Windows XP MCE and Vista, but Windows XP Pro doesn't support it.