the full paper gives the system specs (both systems at 3.0GHz) Unfortunately, the white paper doesn't say if the Xeon 5160s they benchmarked are from the relatively new G stepping. The new G stepping cuts idle power consumption by at least 30W for two Xeon 5160s. The Tech Report reported this a few weeks ago: New Xeons bring dramatically lower idle power.
30 watts is a very significant difference, but I'm not sure if it would make up for those power-sucking FB-DIMMs.
Considering how Intel is raping AMD in the mobile and desktop market, I'm not sure if I can believe these 'tests.' AMD really has nothing to compete with Intel's conroe CPUs.
Athlon x2's really suck when compared to Core 2 Duos. The same goes for Opteron vs. conroe Xeon I expect. It's all about the FB-DIMMs. Woodcrest (dual-core) and Clovertown (quad-core) Xeons are probably better and more power-efficient than Opterons in most "real world" dual-processor server/workstation benchmarks. However, a computer is much more than just a CPU. The only widely available chipsets for these Xeons use FB-DIMMs, which suck way more power than the standard DDR2 used in the Opteron chipsets. Ars Technica had a good article about this last month: AMD vs. Intel: power efficiency in the server room rests on RAM
IOW: Don't hold your breath for XP SP3 Actually, along with yesterday's Vista Service Pack announcement, Microsoft also announced that Windows XP Service Pack 3 was being released "in preliminary form in the next few weeks and in final form in the first half of next year." (Source: seattlepi.com - Vista service pack coming)
Notice no mention of Vista SP1 on that page
Therefore, this page is probably being ignored by MS. Also, that page says "Last Updated: March 28, 2007." It obviously hasn't been updated with the latest news from the last few days.
DirectX 9, pixel shader model 2.0, vertex shader model 3.0
no hardware vertex shaders (done in software)
MPEG-2 hardware acceleration: motion compensation only
no VC-1 hardware acceleration
You also failed to mention the Dell's 800MHz front side bus (vs Macbook's 667MHz bus), ExpressCard slot, 8-in-1 memory card reader, 4GB memory support (Macbook: 2GB max), 4 lb weight (Macbook: 5 lbs), 1 year of free telephone support (Macbook: 90 days), internal WLAN/WWAN support, optional LED-backlid display, optional GeForce 8400M graphics, optional solid-state hard drive, and optional biometric fingerprint reader.
The Dell XPS M1330 is in a different class than the Macbook. It offers built-in features and optional features found in "pro-sumer" notebooks like Thinkpads and Macbook Pros. Comparing an XPS M1330 to a Macbook is almost as bad as comparing a Macbook to a cheap Dell Inspiron.
I should mention that I'm talking weekly and monthly sales here, not overall. Overall, the Microsoft has sold (worldwide) 10.51 million Xbox 360s and Sony has sold 4.32 million PS3s according to VGAchartz.com sales info as of August 23. That's a lot more Xbox 360 consoles for developers to target (for now).
where there's no home-turf advantage
The PS3, in it's home-turf, was outselling the 360 about 5 to 1, but since the price drop that has been closer to 10 to 1. On the other hand, the 360, in its home-turf, rarely sells double what the PS3 has. For the rest of the world, the PS3 has consistently outsold the 360 weekly. In North America, when Sony dropped the PS3's price, it rose above the 360, then the 360 price was dropped and it barely got ahead again. In other words, considering only the PS3 and the 360, the PS3 is killing on its home-turf, the 360 is ahead but not by much on its home-turf, and on neither's home-turf, the PS3 is doing better. Microsoft's home-turf must be pretty friggin' big and important because in Q2 console sales (ending June 30), it was a dead heat: an Ars Technica article on Sony's Q2 financial results shows that Sony sold approximately 710,000 PS3 consoles worldwide last quarter while Microsoft sold 700,000 Xbox 360s. Of course, that doesn't count the PS3's sales surge after their (temporary) price cut.
I think Pages has been and is misrepresented as a word processor. It's really a page-design and layout tool. Rather than "Apple's word processor" I think of it as "Indesign lite".
I've read this (that Pages is not a word processor) in articles and on Slashdot. However, Apple still categorizes (misrepresents?) Pages as a "word processor":
"Writing comes naturally when you're using Pages '08, the streamlined word processor for the Mac." --iWork Overview
While I agree with you in principle, to be fair, Microsoft dropped "PlaysForSure" after the deal with MTV to create URGE had already happened.
Isn't that the point? They made a partnership and persuaded MTV to use PlaysForSure, then after making the deal, they decided to effectively sideline PlaysForSure and switch to the Zune instead. Did Microsoft really drop or sideline PlaysForSure after creating the Zune store? AFAIK, there are still several big-name online music/video stores that continue to use PlaysForSure. Adding Zune (which doesn't make sense to me) does not necessarily mean they abandoned PlaysForSure.
To me, it looks like Microsoft continued its support for PlaysForSure after creating Zune. MTV is the one who dropped Microsoft/PlaysForSure. MTV may have gotten a better deal from Real Networks and saw a larger market from the #1 subscription service (Rhapsody), all those Verizon phones, and all those Rhapsody-compatible devices from companies like iRiver and Sandisk.
The Core 2 Duos that weren't crippled and had a proper amount of L2 cache started at $240. The AMD X2 systems with built-in memory controller and decent amounts of L2 cache started at $75. If the "crippled" Core 2 Duos performa as well or better than "non-crippled" AMD X2 CPUs, then why would it matter if they had less L2 cache? Every performance review I've seen shows that Core 2 Duos with 2MB of shared L2 cache or even 1MB of L2 cache (Pentium Dual-Core E2xxx series) perform very well.
Right now on any web site, you can order a X2 CPU with full dedicated L2 cache per core for around $70. The cheapest Core 2 Duo is the E4300 at $150. That has a bottlenecked 800Mhz FSB, not a fancy 2.0Ghz hypertransport bus like the X2. To get a 1066Mhz FSB C2D requires you go up to $190 or so. For $75, you can buy a Pentium Dual-Core E2140 which performs very well against the Athlon X2 3800+ according to X-bit Labs (they go back-and-forth). Sure, today you can get an X2 4200+ for around $75, but AMD slashed prices in response to the Pentium Dual-Core E2xxx series.
Intel motherboards seem to require a premium as well. nVidia can make AM2 chipsets with firewire, dual ethernet, onboard 7.1 audio, multiple SATA and eSATA connectors, etc, for roughly $100 less than then equivalent Intel chipset board...
...those SLI motherboards for AM2 are around $150 vs. the $220 + for Intel ones.
AMD still has hyper transport and build in ram controller and in mulit cpu setups it is better intel haveing 1FSB per cpu is better then the past for them but is still not as good. In most dual-CPU benchmarks, Intel's superior cores more than make up for their inferior interconnect and memory controller. Intel also offers 8 cores in 2 sockets, which spanks AMD's 4 cores in 2 sockets in most benchmarks (but not idle power consumption). In setups with 4 or more CPUs, AMD is usually better since the interconnect and memory architecture becomes more important with this many CPUs (and Intel still uses Netburst for quad-CPU systems). Intel is supposed to be releasing a 4-CPU chipset (with four FSBs) for Core-based processors "real soon." I'm looking forward to those benchmarks (against Barcelona).
Also AMD has more and better chipsets for there mulit cpu system with more pci-e lanes and DDR2 or DDR2 ECC ram. I agree with you there. FB-DIMM has some theoretical technical advantages, but Intel should have at least offered an altervative chipset with standard ECC DDR2 RAM. Those FB-DIMMs suck power like mad.
And on the desktop side you can get a High end Nforce 590 board for the same price as a lower end intel board that does not even have TCP/IP Acceleration like the 590 and few other lower end nforce chips do have. You can buy nForce boards for Intel processors. Example: the ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP ($124 at Newegg) uses the nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition chipset and has TCP/IP Acceleration.
A friend of mine and myself both upgraded our desktop PCs. They chose an Intel Core 2 Duo because "Intel wins in all the benchmarks." I bought AMD instead.
I knew right away, from your tone and your friend's quote, that you would buy for price/performance and your friend would buy for performance only. An unfair, biased comparison would follow. Did your friend know he or she was competing in a price/performance contest?
Their system is based around a E6600 ($270 at the time), mine is based around an X2 3600+ 65nm ($75 at the time).
"At the time" is not the "current lineup," which the GP was referring to. Way to go there, comparing a mid-range (at the time) Intel CPU to a low-end (at the time) AMD CPU. Don't mention that $270 currently gets you Intel's E6850 (3GHz, 1333MHz, 4MB) and almost gets you Intel's Quad Q6600 ($280). $75 currently gets you Intel's (Core 2 based) Pentium Dual-Core E2140.
Their system has 2gb of RAM, mine has 4gb of RAM.
RAM costs the same for both platforms.
My motherboard (with nVidia chipset) was $80 cheaper than their P5B Deluxe.
I'm sure "they" could have bought a significantly cheaper motherboard. Currently, an ASUS P5NSLI motherboard (with nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition chipset) is $45 cheaper (at Newegg) than your ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (with nForce 570 SLI AMD Edition chipset).
Overall my system was $400 cheaper -- with double the RAM.
You bought a low-end CPU and a mid-range motherboard. Your friend bought a mid-range CPU and a high-end motherboard. You also bought at a time when AMD drastically slashed prices in response to Intel kicking their arse in the mid-range and high-end. At the time, AMD was only competitive in the low-end (where Intel still only offered Netburst CPUs).
I go into my Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe BIOS and change the clock rate of my CPU from 1.9Ghz to 2.4Ghz with no ill effects and get the same # of 3D Marks as them because I have the same kind of video card (8600 GTS PCI-E).
Yeah, that's a fair comparison. Overclock your low-end AMD CPU and compare it to a mid-range Intel CPU at stock speeds.
They're happy because they bought "performance" (as sold to them via Intel marketing), and I'm happy because I bought the same performance (as proved by benchmarks) for a lot less.
If they're happy, then they probably didn't know they were competing in a price/performance contest with you.
For my workstation use in Linux compiling and rendering and working with large images, 4gb of RAM that run at the same speed as L2 cache (thanks to AMD's integrated memory controller) beats the piss out of that Intel setup (which has much lower memory bw and also half the RAM). For gaming use, I get the same # of 3D Marks and similar performance because an Intel 2.4Ghz CPU and an AMD 2.4Ghz CPU happen to be within a few % of each other on the same video card (which is the true bottleneck; don't lie to yourself and say it's that CPU that's 14-18x faster than RAM).
Today, a $280 Quad Q6600 on a $130 ASUS P5N-E (nForce 650i SLI) beats the piss out of an equivalently priced AMD workstation in compiling, rendering, and large images. If you're willing to risk stability and reliability by overclocking (like you did), then a $90 Pentium Dual-Core E2160 can be overclocked to 3.4GHz (according to X-bit Labs) and beat the piss out of any Athlon 64 X2 system with the same RAM, GPU, and class of motherboard.
I got the same performance for $400, but with more RAM. My CPU was $190 cheaper. My motherboard was also cheaper.
Your friend did not need to spend so much on his/her motherboard. Your friend did not overclock. Today, a cheaper system built around an overclocked Pentium Dual-Core E2160 and an nForce 570 SLI moth
Fine, she likes Vista. But why Vista Ultimate? According to Microsoft's own comparison chart, ultimate just gives additional backup, encryption, remote desktop, and fax & scan capabilities... none of which are apparently needed from her list of needs. Note that the OEM version (for system builders like her) of Vista Ultimate is "only" $78 more than Vista Home Premium ($190 vs $112) at Newegg.
Also from TFA: "I work at a webcasting solutions company and use my computer for schoolwork and programming classes as well as for general internet access and leisure."
She didn't get very specific, but many programmers want access to every optional feature of the platform they're targetting. Many working geeks want to use at home the same Vista features they use at work (Business or Enterprise editions). Maybe having these features available, even if she isn't using them now, is worth $78 to her (just in case).
On the other hand, if she doesn't use the "Ultimate" features now, she could just use "Anytime Upgrade" if she needed it, right?
Why have people marked this Insightful? It's pretty obvious this person hasn't use an official Red Hat product in some time. They have NOT dumped their desktop product. In fact, they have a fully-supported Server and Workstation product already... I'm guessing it's because people don't consider Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to be a "desktop" product. I don't blame them, because RHEL calls itself an "enterprise" product and uses the word "subscription" in all of its pricing options. Also, more importantly, Red Hat used to offer a product called "Red Hat Linux" (RHL). Version 9 of RHL was released on March 31, 2003. On November 3, 2003, Red Hat announced that they were EOLing RHL 9 on April 30, 2004 and were "not planning to release to release another product in the Red Hat Linux line." In other words, Red Hat "dumped their desktop product." This was covered on Slashdot.
I think it's obvious that the "Insightful" comment was referring to RHL, not RHEL. I'm pretty darned sure the moderators know about both RHL and RHEL, but are only calling RHL the "desktop" product for the purposes of this thread. I don't think this is a good time to argue about the difference between "desktops" and "workstations." Or "enterprise products," "small business products," and "home products."
What's confounding to me is that, by default, Word cannot open a Works word processing document unless the Works Converter is also installed (according to the KB article above). The Works Converter is installed when Works is installed (Who installs Works and Office on the same PC?) or must be downloaded seperately. I'd expect an advanced word processor like Word to include "open/read" support of simple Works documents by default, but for some reason Word requires an additional add-on or download.
I've never even seen a 1xPCI-e expansion card. ...
Perhaps very small format motherboards and laptops will eventually drive demand for 1xPCI-e cards? I'll add my recent "sighting" (an online review) of an interesting low-profile PCIe x1 card: AVerMedia's AVerTV Combo PCIe M780 card, a combo HDTV/QAM/analog tv tuner card. Reviewed at Gear Digest.
I think this card and AOpen's i945GMt-FSA Mini-ITX motherboard could make a decent HTPC if I could just find a decent-looking Mini-ITX HTPC case.
I spent hours looking to buy a new laptop yesterday and Dell only offers one model with Windows XP. All of the other XP models have been discontinued or the XP option has been killed. ...
So far I have resisted buying a new PC laptop. For an extra grand I can get a Mac Book Pro and dump Windows. If you're considering a MacBook Pro, then you should be looking at Dell's pro/business class notebooks in Dell's "business" sections, not their "home" sections. All of Dell's Latitude business-class notebooks and Precision mobile workstations offer Windows XP as an option. If you're considering an uber-cheap notebook, then two of the four Dell Vostro models offer Windows XP.
Maybe so for a desktop... Also, they are reducing the number of desktops they sell with XP. Again, see the desktops in Dell's business section for uber-cheap Vostro desktops, business-class Optiplex, and Precision workstations. All of them offer XP. Their business sections also offer Dimension and XPS desktops, but most (not all) offer XP.
I think Dell's Windows XP computers are easy to find, but I've noticed several Slashdot comments from people who cannot find them. They're obviously looking in the "home" section instead of the "business" section. I guess Dell should make them easier to find.
"But it has the same resolution as the video iPod's screen."
But it has a larger screen than the iPod.
My point: screen size is important for viewing images and videos on these devices. They both have a 320x240 resolution, but the Zune's 3-inch screen is 44% larger (in area) than the iPod's 2.5" screen. View the same image/video on both devices and you'll see a big frickin' difference. Ars's review has some nice photos that show just how much bigger the Zune's screen is (as well as the device itself): http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/zune.ars/2
I'm not claiming the Zune is better than the iPod (I think they both suck). I'm just claiming that screen size does matter when viewing images and videos.
Tom's Hardware shows the Pentium Dual-Core 2160 outperforming an Athlon 64 X2 4000+ in open-source audio/video encoders and Photoshop. I'd like to find better performance comparisons between these two CPUs, but most of the good sites seem to ignore the Pentium E21xx series in favor of the Core 2 Duo E4xxx series (Allendale, 2MB L2 cache).
I don't really want to actually burn it, though, I'd rather it stay as a file that my Media Player hooked up to my TV can play. This is why I was trying to get it into.AVI or.MPEG format, or at least one giant.VOB so I didn't have to hit "play next" in between each.VOB file. I think you could have been a little more clear in your original comment in this thread. In that comment, it seemed like you wanted to rip a DVD, then burn it to a blank DVD that you could play in a DVD player. Creating DVD-compatible files uses different tools than creating highly-compressed.AVI/.MPEG files.
I'll have to try Shrink again, I guess, but when I last played with it, the quality of the resulting output was not good. Don't use DVDShrink for this. DVDShrink was recommended by several repliers to your original comment because it is very good for creating intermediate files (.VOB files, index files, chapter files, menu files, etc) for burning onto a DVD. It is not good for simply creating a single movie file that you intend to play off the hard drive.
But the size of the AVI and MPEG are appealing, too. Note that the.VOB files (that the ripping program and DVDShrink create) use relatively old compression techniques (MPEG2/MPEG1) to keep them backward-compatible with the DVD-Video spec created in the mid-1990s. More modern compression codecs like XviD and MP3 (contained in.AVI files) can create much smaller files while maintaining high audio/video quality.
To create a high-quality.AVI file from a DVD (the easy way), all you need are two tools:
A ripping program to rip (not compress) the.VOB files and other files (index, chapters, subtitles, etc) from the DVD and to remove the copy protection. DVD Decrypter was the best, but it was discontinued about two years ago after the author received a cease-and-desist order from someone in Hollywood (covered in a Slashdot story). Since DVD Decrypter hasn't been updated in 2 years, newer copy protections will prevent DVD Decrypter from working. RipIt4Me (which you mentioned trying) is great (it basically updated DVD Decrypter to beat newer copy protections), but it got a cease-and-desist notice on March 31, 2007 (shit). The next ripper I'm going to try is DVDFab HD Decrypter, which is highly rated on VideoHelp.com and looks very easy to use.
AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot). This tool will create a simple.AVI file (using XviD compression by default) from all those files you ripped from the DVD. It simplifies the process and its tutorial is very easy for a newbie to follow (it assumes you already ripped the DVD and removed copy protections). You basically just choose an input file from the DVD rip (I prefer a.IFO file, which is like an index), select the desired size of the finished.AVI file, and let AutoGK do the rest with its default settings (which are good enough).
Another good (but outdated) tutorial is available at Doom9.net: http://www.doom9.org/autogk.htm/. This tutorial was last updated in 2005, but it's a nice short guide that shows how easy AutoGK is to use.
Where would you find a Core 2 Duo BTX motherboard? BTX was stillborn. From stores that have a good selection of Intel motherboards, of course, since Intel created the BTX spec. See this page for a list of Intel motherboards by form factor:
In those few hours of your free time that you enjoyed writing your program (and learning), you could have been reading more blogs about little shareware utilities and posting self-important comments that brag about your salary/wage (which have nothing to do with the value of your non-working hours).
Shit. I just wasted a few minutes writing this asshole comment. I could have been doing push-ups or abdominal crunches.
The Ubuntu system seems to qualify for a $100 discount for some reason DOH! I missed that. That ($100 off limited time offer) is definitely the reason why it's $150 cheaper instead of $50 cheaper. I feel like a dope.
That's a nice little computer for $329. I agree (even if the price is temporary). The "Pentium dual-core E2140" is based on the Core 2 Duo architecture (with less L2 cache and slower FSB). The non-integrated GeForce 7300LE video card and four DIMM slots are rare in a desktop that's this cheap. I think I'd have a difficult time building a comparable desktop this cheap using parts from Newegg or Mwave.
TFA refers to $50 savings for an Ubuntu Inspiron notebook over a Vista Home Basic notebook.
However, I just did a quick comparison of Ubuntu vs Vista Home Basic on Dell's new Inspiron desktops (Ubuntu 530N vs Vista 530), configuring them as closely as possible, and the Ubuntu desktop was $150 cheaper. Did I miss something in the configuration? Here's what I configured (copied/pasted from the last page before adding to the shopping cart):
Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Basic ($479)
Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
No Monitor
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu ($329)
Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
No Monitor
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
No Modem Option
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
No Productivity software pre-installed
Notes: Integrated Intel GMA 3100 and free 56K modem were available options for Windows but not Ubuntu (I'm assuming it's a driver issue for Ubuntu). For some strange reason, the Ubuntu system is configured with an optional $170 LCD (I removed it for the comparison). The warranty/support for the Ubuntu system covers hardware only and software support can be purchased from Canonical (or you can use their forums for free). The Vista system's warranty includes some software support, of course.
...if I'm spending thousands on a new laptop, I'll still take the OS if it's optional. I can pick up Ubuntu for nothing later on. Vista would cost me hundreds.
Perhaps, but I don't think it's "hundreds." According to the story's scoop, that $50 only gets you Vista Home Basic. Also, it's an OEM version, which means you cannot transfer the license to another computer (like you can with retail versions). An OEM version of Vista Home basic costs $90 to $95 at everybody's favorite egg store.
Also, I think there's significant value in a preinstalled Linux distro that's been tested and confirmed to work with all of the hardware (especially notebooks). Even for supposedly user-friendly distros like Ubuntu, I've read many anecdotes about minor driver problems and manually editing config files. Sure, you can have the same problems with Windows. However, every PC hardware vendor writes Windows drivers first. Linux drivers are almost always secondary if they are written at all. We can at least be somewhat assured that Dell chose Linux-friendly hardware and tested the drivers on these Ubuntu PCs.
If Microsoft doesn't support Zune on Windows 64 bit, then why in the heck should Apple bother to write drivers for iPhone? 64 bit Windows is *not* mainstream and never has been. 64-bit versions of Vista were not mainstream when the Zune was launched (November 14) because Vista was still in beta. Since Vista was released to the public on January 30, Zune has been supported (with a software update) on 64-bit versions of Vista. Zune is not supported on XP Professional x64 Edition (which is not a general retail product anyway). Somewhat current info is available at Zune's System Requirements page.
Not sure if Apple added this after the fact or whether this little tidbit of information was there all along...
Well, the bottom of the page says:
Article ID: 305703 Date Created: June 19, 2007 Date Modified: June 27, 2007
I'm not sure if you didn't notice this or if you're suggesting Apple falsified the dates.
Also, while your link is informative, it's an article from Apple's product support pages. I wouldn't expect the vast majority of iPhone or iPod buyers to check the support pages until after buying the product. Shouldn't Apple be this specific (a little footnote would do) on their iPhone product info pages?
Windows system requirements
PC with USB 2.0 port
Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
iTunes 7.3 or later
Not one mention of 64-bit versions of Vista on that page, even in the 553 words of footnotes.
BTW, while I think Apple should be more clear about 64-bit versions of Vista being incompatible, I think it's reasonable for Apple not to specifically mention Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, which was not a normal retail product. AFAIK, XP Pro x64 was only available OEM, volume license, and other methods for "advanced" users.
Slashdot Mirror
30 watts is a very significant difference, but I'm not sure if it would make up for those power-sucking FB-DIMMs.
# 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# intel gma 3100
black macbook (std build): $1649
# 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# intel gma 950
So for slightly less money, you get a machine with a slightly inferior graphics card, but arguably better software
The Macbook's graphics (mobile version of GMA 950) is more than just "slightly inferior." The Dell has GMA X3100 (not GMA 3100).GMA X3100: Dell XPS 1330
- 500MHz clock speed
- 384MB max video memory
- OpenGL 1.5
- DirectX 10, vertex shader model 4.0, pixel shader model 4.0
- hardware vertex shaders
- MPEG-2 hardware acceleration: inverse discrete cosine transorm, variable-length decoding, and motion compensation
- VC-1 hardware acceleration
Mobile GMA 950: Macbook- 250MHz clock speed
- 64MB max video memory
- OpenGL 1.4
- DirectX 9, pixel shader model 2.0, vertex shader model 3.0
- no hardware vertex shaders (done in software)
- MPEG-2 hardware acceleration: motion compensation only
- no VC-1 hardware acceleration
You also failed to mention the Dell's 800MHz front side bus (vs Macbook's 667MHz bus), ExpressCard slot, 8-in-1 memory card reader, 4GB memory support (Macbook: 2GB max), 4 lb weight (Macbook: 5 lbs), 1 year of free telephone support (Macbook: 90 days), internal WLAN/WWAN support, optional LED-backlid display, optional GeForce 8400M graphics, optional solid-state hard drive, and optional biometric fingerprint reader.The Dell XPS M1330 is in a different class than the Macbook. It offers built-in features and optional features found in "pro-sumer" notebooks like Thinkpads and Macbook Pros. Comparing an XPS M1330 to a Macbook is almost as bad as comparing a Macbook to a cheap Dell Inspiron.
Dell XPS M1330 Specsspecs.htm#wp1102222
Macbook specs
Table of Intel GMA graphics cores and chipsets
I've read this (that Pages is not a word processor) in articles and on Slashdot. However, Apple still categorizes (misrepresents?) Pages as a "word processor":
To me, it looks like Microsoft continued its support for PlaysForSure after creating Zune. MTV is the one who dropped Microsoft/PlaysForSure. MTV may have gotten a better deal from Real Networks and saw a larger market from the #1 subscription service (Rhapsody), all those Verizon phones, and all those Rhapsody-compatible devices from companies like iRiver and Sandisk.
...those SLI motherboards for AM2 are around $150 vs. the $220 + for Intel ones.
The ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP uses the nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition chipset. It's $125 at Newegg.A friend of mine and myself both upgraded our desktop PCs. They chose an Intel Core 2 Duo because "Intel wins in all the benchmarks." I bought AMD instead.
I knew right away, from your tone and your friend's quote, that you would buy for price/performance and your friend would buy for performance only. An unfair, biased comparison would follow. Did your friend know he or she was competing in a price/performance contest?
Their system is based around a E6600 ($270 at the time), mine is based around an X2 3600+ 65nm ($75 at the time).
"At the time" is not the "current lineup," which the GP was referring to. Way to go there, comparing a mid-range (at the time) Intel CPU to a low-end (at the time) AMD CPU. Don't mention that $270 currently gets you Intel's E6850 (3GHz, 1333MHz, 4MB) and almost gets you Intel's Quad Q6600 ($280). $75 currently gets you Intel's (Core 2 based) Pentium Dual-Core E2140.
Their system has 2gb of RAM, mine has 4gb of RAM.
RAM costs the same for both platforms.
My motherboard (with nVidia chipset) was $80 cheaper than their P5B Deluxe.
I'm sure "they" could have bought a significantly cheaper motherboard. Currently, an ASUS P5NSLI motherboard (with nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition chipset) is $45 cheaper (at Newegg) than your ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (with nForce 570 SLI AMD Edition chipset).
Overall my system was $400 cheaper -- with double the RAM.
You bought a low-end CPU and a mid-range motherboard. Your friend bought a mid-range CPU and a high-end motherboard. You also bought at a time when AMD drastically slashed prices in response to Intel kicking their arse in the mid-range and high-end. At the time, AMD was only competitive in the low-end (where Intel still only offered Netburst CPUs).
I go into my Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe BIOS and change the clock rate of my CPU from 1.9Ghz to 2.4Ghz with no ill effects and get the same # of 3D Marks as them because I have the same kind of video card (8600 GTS PCI-E).
Yeah, that's a fair comparison. Overclock your low-end AMD CPU and compare it to a mid-range Intel CPU at stock speeds.
They're happy because they bought "performance" (as sold to them via Intel marketing), and I'm happy because I bought the same performance (as proved by benchmarks) for a lot less.
If they're happy, then they probably didn't know they were competing in a price/performance contest with you.
For my workstation use in Linux compiling and rendering and working with large images, 4gb of RAM that run at the same speed as L2 cache (thanks to AMD's integrated memory controller) beats the piss out of that Intel setup (which has much lower memory bw and also half the RAM). For gaming use, I get the same # of 3D Marks and similar performance because an Intel 2.4Ghz CPU and an AMD 2.4Ghz CPU happen to be within a few % of each other on the same video card (which is the true bottleneck; don't lie to yourself and say it's that CPU that's 14-18x faster than RAM).
Today, a $280 Quad Q6600 on a $130 ASUS P5N-E (nForce 650i SLI) beats the piss out of an equivalently priced AMD workstation in compiling, rendering, and large images. If you're willing to risk stability and reliability by overclocking (like you did), then a $90 Pentium Dual-Core E2160 can be overclocked to 3.4GHz (according to X-bit Labs) and beat the piss out of any Athlon 64 X2 system with the same RAM, GPU, and class of motherboard.
I got the same performance for $400, but with more RAM. My CPU was $190 cheaper. My motherboard was also cheaper.
Your friend did not need to spend so much on his/her motherboard. Your friend did not overclock. Today, a cheaper system built around an overclocked Pentium Dual-Core E2160 and an nForce 570 SLI moth
Also from TFA: "I work at a webcasting solutions company and use my computer for schoolwork and programming classes as well as for general internet access and leisure."
She didn't get very specific, but many programmers want access to every optional feature of the platform they're targetting. Many working geeks want to use at home the same Vista features they use at work (Business or Enterprise editions). Maybe having these features available, even if she isn't using them now, is worth $78 to her (just in case).
On the other hand, if she doesn't use the "Ultimate" features now, she could just use "Anytime Upgrade" if she needed it, right?
I think it's obvious that the "Insightful" comment was referring to RHL, not RHEL. I'm pretty darned sure the moderators know about both RHL and RHEL, but are only calling RHL the "desktop" product for the purposes of this thread. I don't think this is a good time to argue about the difference between "desktops" and "workstations." Or "enterprise products," "small business products," and "home products."
What's confounding to me is that, by default, Word cannot open a Works word processing document unless the Works Converter is also installed (according to the KB article above). The Works Converter is installed when Works is installed (Who installs Works and Office on the same PC?) or must be downloaded seperately. I'd expect an advanced word processor like Word to include "open/read" support of simple Works documents by default, but for some reason Word requires an additional add-on or download.
Perhaps very small format motherboards and laptops will eventually drive demand for 1xPCI-e cards? I'll add my recent "sighting" (an online review) of an interesting low-profile PCIe x1 card: AVerMedia's AVerTV Combo PCIe M780 card, a combo HDTV/QAM/analog tv tuner card. Reviewed at Gear Digest.
I think this card and AOpen's i945GMt-FSA Mini-ITX motherboard could make a decent HTPC if I could just find a decent-looking Mini-ITX HTPC case.
So far I have resisted buying a new PC laptop. For an extra grand I can get a Mac Book Pro and dump Windows. If you're considering a MacBook Pro, then you should be looking at Dell's pro/business class notebooks in Dell's "business" sections, not their "home" sections. All of Dell's Latitude business-class notebooks and Precision mobile workstations offer Windows XP as an option. If you're considering an uber-cheap notebook, then two of the four Dell Vostro models offer Windows XP. Maybe so for a desktop... Also, they are reducing the number of desktops they sell with XP. Again, see the desktops in Dell's business section for uber-cheap Vostro desktops, business-class Optiplex, and Precision workstations. All of them offer XP. Their business sections also offer Dimension and XPS desktops, but most (not all) offer XP.
I think Dell's Windows XP computers are easy to find, but I've noticed several Slashdot comments from people who cannot find them. They're obviously looking in the "home" section instead of the "business" section. I guess Dell should make them easier to find.
But it has a larger screen than the iPod.
My point: screen size is important for viewing images and videos on these devices. They both have a 320x240 resolution, but the Zune's 3-inch screen is 44% larger (in area) than the iPod's 2.5" screen. View the same image/video on both devices and you'll see a big frickin' difference. Ars's review has some nice photos that show just how much bigger the Zune's screen is (as well as the device itself): http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/zune.ars/2
I'm not claiming the Zune is better than the iPod (I think they both suck). I'm just claiming that screen size does matter when viewing images and videos.
Yes, this low-end dual-core is half the price, but not half the performance. Therefor a real bargain.
After next week's price cuts, Intel's low-end Pentium Dual-Core E2160 (Allendale, 1.8GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache) will also be a real bargain. It's $96 today at Newegg, but next week it'll be $84 (Intel list price, not street price).Note that 9 days ago, the Athlon 64 X2 4000+ was about $100 before AMD's July 9 price cut to $73 (AMD list price).
Tom's Hardware shows the Pentium Dual-Core 2160 outperforming an Athlon 64 X2 4000+ in open-source audio/video encoders and Photoshop. I'd like to find better performance comparisons between these two CPUs, but most of the good sites seem to ignore the Pentium E21xx series in favor of the Core 2 Duo E4xxx series (Allendale, 2MB L2 cache).
To create a high-quality .AVI file from a DVD (the easy way), all you need are two tools:
- A ripping program to rip (not compress) the
.VOB files and other files (index, chapters, subtitles, etc) from the DVD and to remove the copy protection. DVD Decrypter was the best, but it was discontinued about two years ago after the author received a cease-and-desist order from someone in Hollywood (covered in a Slashdot story). Since DVD Decrypter hasn't been updated in 2 years, newer copy protections will prevent DVD Decrypter from working. RipIt4Me (which you mentioned trying) is great (it basically updated DVD Decrypter to beat newer copy protections), but it got a cease-and-desist notice on March 31, 2007 (shit). The next ripper I'm going to try is DVDFab HD Decrypter, which is highly rated on VideoHelp.com and looks very easy to use.
- AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) . This tool will create a simple
.AVI file (using XviD compression by default) from all those files you ripped from the DVD. It simplifies the process and its tutorial is very easy for a newbie to follow (it assumes you already ripped the DVD and removed copy protections). You basically just choose an input file from the DVD rip (I prefer a .IFO file, which is like an index), select the desired size of the finished .AVI file, and let AutoGK do the rest with its default settings (which are good enough).
Another good (but outdated) tutorial is available at Doom9.net: http://www.doom9.org/autogk.htm/. This tutorial was last updated in 2005, but it's a nice short guide that shows how easy AutoGK is to use.- Desktop Boards - Browse By Form Factor
At least four of the microBTX boards and two of the picoBTX boards support Core 2 Duo. ZipZoomFly sells some of these BTX boards.Shit. I just wasted a few minutes writing this asshole comment. I could have been doing push-ups or abdominal crunches.
However, I just did a quick comparison of Ubuntu vs Vista Home Basic on Dell's new Inspiron desktops (Ubuntu 530N vs Vista 530), configuring them as closely as possible, and the Ubuntu desktop was $150 cheaper. Did I miss something in the configuration? Here's what I configured (copied/pasted from the last page before adding to the shopping cart):
- Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Basic ($479)
- Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu ($329)
Notes: Integrated Intel GMA 3100 and free 56K modem were available options for Windows but not Ubuntu (I'm assuming it's a driver issue for Ubuntu). For some strange reason, the Ubuntu system is configured with an optional $170 LCD (I removed it for the comparison). The warranty/support for the Ubuntu system covers hardware only and software support can be purchased from Canonical (or you can use their forums for free). The Vista system's warranty includes some software support, of course.Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
No Monitor
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
No Monitor
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
No Modem Option
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
No Productivity software pre-installed
...if I'm spending thousands on a new laptop, I'll still take the OS if it's optional. I can pick up Ubuntu for nothing later on. Vista would cost me hundreds.
Perhaps, but I don't think it's "hundreds." According to the story's scoop, that $50 only gets you Vista Home Basic. Also, it's an OEM version, which means you cannot transfer the license to another computer (like you can with retail versions). An OEM version of Vista Home basic costs $90 to $95 at everybody's favorite egg store.Also, I think there's significant value in a preinstalled Linux distro that's been tested and confirmed to work with all of the hardware (especially notebooks). Even for supposedly user-friendly distros like Ubuntu, I've read many anecdotes about minor driver problems and manually editing config files. Sure, you can have the same problems with Windows. However, every PC hardware vendor writes Windows drivers first. Linux drivers are almost always secondary if they are written at all. We can at least be somewhat assured that Dell chose Linux-friendly hardware and tested the drivers on these Ubuntu PCs.
1. 64-bit editions of Windows are not supported
Not sure if Apple added this after the fact or whether this little tidbit of information was there all along...
Well, the bottom of the page says:Article ID: 305703
Date Created: June 19, 2007
Date Modified: June 27, 2007
I'm not sure if you didn't notice this or if you're suggesting Apple falsified the dates.
Also, while your link is informative, it's an article from Apple's product support pages. I wouldn't expect the vast majority of iPhone or iPod buyers to check the support pages until after buying the product. Shouldn't Apple be this specific (a little footnote would do) on their iPhone product info pages?
Windows system requirements
- PC with USB 2.0 port
- Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
- iTunes 7.3 or later
Not one mention of 64-bit versions of Vista on that page, even in the 553 words of footnotes.BTW, while I think Apple should be more clear about 64-bit versions of Vista being incompatible, I think it's reasonable for Apple not to specifically mention Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, which was not a normal retail product. AFAIK, XP Pro x64 was only available OEM, volume license, and other methods for "advanced" users.