Intel Viiv vs. AMD LIVE!

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."

Comments

pre-load software crap

[networkBoy]

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

Re:pre-load software crap

[dal20402]

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

Quick summary

[Chainsaw]

Intel Viiv: A multimedia solution.
AMD LIVE!: A MULTIMEDIA SOLUTION WITH A BROKEN CAPS LOCK ROFL LOL!!!!1!!one!

And to get around the lameness filter (please ignore) - I fear hedgehogs. The little bastards are everywhere, just waiting to kill med as soon as I set foot outside of the basement that my mother locks me in every evening.

Summary

[bogie]

The AMD system was cheaper, performed better overall and had a more complex set of qualifications in order to receive the "AMD Live" certification. Yawn, this really was not a very interesting comparison. Anyway CableCards, DRM, and cheap cable company DVR's that have room to grow are going to be the death of HTPC's so I wouldn't go spending a bucket load of cash on one right now.

AMD/Microsoft Marketing Comparison

[Prien715]

Is it just me or do AMD/MS get together and do marketing?

Windows XP / Athlon XP
Athlon 64 / Windows XP 64 (to be fair, Alpha/Itanium were 64 bit chips but Windows never sported the name....)

The newest thing now? Live mail and Live search from Microsoft. So what's AMD gonna call their stuff? AMD Live! That's right kids.

Re:FTFA

[Seumas]

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.

Intel Obviously Better

[R3d M3rcury]

They tested an HP Pavilion 1630n (AMD) versus an HP Pavilion 1640n (Intel). It's obvious to me that the Intel, therefore, is TEN better than the AMD.

Re:AMD already has the marketing in their pocket

[Pollardito]

Nintendo's Wii (great console but what was smoking the guy who named it) dunno, but it sounds like you suspect it was from Soviet Russia?