You pay $0.19/kwh? Holy crap that's a lot. My peak rate last summer $0.074/kwh here in Austin, TX (on Austin Energy).
Here in Seattle we pay about 4 cents a KWH. I pay about twice that, because I have both the Green Power (wind-only, pays for construction of wind turbines) and Green Up (pays for schools and bus stops to have solar power) programs.
But it's still cheaper than yours. Even if we suffer under the clouds (except my Seattle neighborhood of Fremont, which frequently has rips in the clouds due to the nearby hills of Queen Anne and Phinney Ridge).
The major power usage of the average old PC is the CRT monitor. Using an old monitor can drastically increase power consumption, but moving to a flat screen LCD energy star monitor will cut power consumption about 40 percent from the old PC plus CRT.
I run a laptop, which uses batteries (man the fan kicks out heat! wish I had a lap board since I use it on the couch), but I connect to AC from a converter off of my UPS. My son uses a Mac Mini (fall 2006 Intel version) which gens close to zilch heat and has a giant flat LCD monitor (Sony, better power consumption than the Apple one). All my other PCs are not being used. But my office at work gens so much heat from our dual core and quad core CPUs - even though most have flat panel LCDs - that we have to open the window once spring rolls around or we bake. Since we run Linux, and sometimes have genetics statistical correlations running under Perl for weeks at a time (not a joke), we can't power them down, even if we can turn off the monitors.
bullshit, the PS3 is sitting on store shelves, anyone who wants one can get one at MSRP
Actually, even though the Wii is hard to find, I saw two Wii consoles on sale at a small GameStop store just one block from Northgate Mall in Seattle, as well as the usual stack of PS3 consoles. So you can buy them, at least as of Sunday afternoon. Both consoles.
The article itself says that "this high percentage is likely helped by the bundled Talladega Nights Blu-ray disc with the first 500,000 units of PlayStation 3."
Exactly. Think about this - if every PS3 shipped included a Blu-Ray DVD movie, then their numbers would automatically be higher than the HD-DVD, since neither the 360 nor the Wii ship with HD-DVD, nor do they ship with any movies at all.
But, as a corallory, don't believe the numbers about Wii Sports being such a big seller in the US, since it was bundled with the Wii here, even though it's a separate game in Japan. Even if it is a very fun game.
Analysis at the Wall Street Journal (expensive subscription required) shows that HD-DVD units are selling faster worldwide than Blu-Ray units, even with the bundled Blu-Ray player in the PS3. So don't believe the numbers until you think them thru.
I for one welcome our Wii-enabled Wiimote-wielding Nunchuk-shaking Nintendo overlords and can't wait to see Spore on the Wii as well as the Nintendo DS.
Now, when do I get my Wiimote-enabled light saber game from the Star Wars franchise, so that I can make a YouTube video of my 1337 skilz?
Good point, but as a Wii owner (and, like you, gaming for over 25 years, in my case more than 30 years, love them punch cards!), I'm not exactly worried about a paucity of FPS games.
Besides, we already have one Wii game that competes with CoH - Call of Duty - and that's on the Wii, so it's not like we're hurting for military combat sims.
Not only is it amusing, but in reality, The Sims 2 comprises half of the top twenty PC games if you look at game rankings, so FPS only wins by ignoring the fact that The Sims 2: Night Life and The Sims 2: Open For Business are lumped together as if they were just one title.
You could lump all the FPS games together under the I Have A Gun category... to make it fair.
The Amazing Wii Combat Blade! - Why be a 100 pound weakling when you can get the Amazing Wii Combat Blade - yes, it's a Wiimote with a blade edge that weighs five pounds, building your upper body strength and realistically training you in martial arts with blade weapons.
Coming Soon: The Bushido Sword for the Wii!.... yeah, those sound safe.
In other words, demand is constant and the supplier can sell every single unit shipped at maximum efficiency. In fact, even with more factories every day, demand is still high.
Hmmm. Sure sounds like winning to me - especially if you track the game units sold - most Wii console buyers are buying a lot of games for their consoles, and continuing to do so, whereas the demand for PS3 games is... um... not good.
So I guess school districts will cancel their P.E. programs to pay for the new Nintendo Wii fitness program?
Many don't have mandatory P.E. here in the USA. My son's in high school and they only require you take two classes over four years. Pretty slack - good thing he walks a lot.
Actually, I have the original straps, and it's just a matter of: a. properly securing them; b. wiping your palms off when you get too sweaty (usually in boxing); c. not overdoing it.
Besides, since we all have to buy HDTVs in 2009, so what if your TV breaks?
I agree, Wii Sims is a really cool version, allowing one to import your Mii characters from your Wii, visit your real friends villages/towns, and trade clothing and such stuff.
Plus a rocking soundtrack and cool Anime-feel make it really fun.
It's a very hot topic in Fremont, Center of the Universe.
Most of my house is very efficient - I have a modern fridge, stove, microwave - all 1999 or later - my TV is flatscreen digital and uses very little energy - my heat is gas heat - so my lights are most of my energy use - only time I use the stove is holidays, and I'm usually at someone else's place.
Also, the price for electricity here has three bands - a low band that's cheap, a mid band that's expensive, and a high band that's really expensive.
My kitchen has about 10 lightbulbs - 60W to 100W - now replaced by 8W to 17W CFLs.
Your mileage may vary - I'm just telling you what happened in my place.
Now that you can play WoW on the Mac and soon on the Wii, PS3, and 360 - will they have StarCraft's successor on the same platforms?
I've given up on WinVista and am only staying with WinXP, so it's a serious question - if it won't run on the MacOS, Linux, BSD, or one of the new game consoles, I won't be buying it.
Using 1/20th the energy of an incandescent, and now able to provide true white light, an LED is the next wave in energy savings for the home. So be nice to your neighbor who left up their Xmas lights, because they're trying to lead by example.
When I moved into my new house, it had tons of incandescent lightbulbs and a few halogens - I replaced about 80 percent of the incandescents with compact flourescents and my electric bill was about one-quarter what it was before - and now in the summer my kitchen isn't a sauna from all the lights.
But I've noticed if you buy the cheap ones - like at WalMart - instead of good 4-pack or 6-pack ones at Home Depot or Costco (which are frequently 4 for $6) - they burn out more quickly.
Also, don't put them in the fixtures right next to your washing machine - the vibrations from that kill them a lot more quickly.
I'm all for idealism, but since those who profess Democracy seem to hate our Freedoms, how could this concept ever get not only passed into law, made into treaties, but enforced?
only ones that mattered to me were Diablo II, Sims, Sims 2, Warcraft, and Starcraft.
They all work on a Mac.
And many now work on consoles.
Can't say I care any longer. Not "upgrading" to WinVista - it would cost too much and give me less than just buying a Mac or getting a Linux or BSD laptop.
there's a keyboard on the Wii - heck, last night I was setting up my WinXP laptop to be the Nintendo WiFi server and I used it to type in web pages in Opera on the Wii.
huh?
You do know Opera runs on the Wii, right? And it sure uses a keyboard - just it's one you point and click - which is what most people do on their PCs frankly.
So, let me get this straight, you're running Vista Ultimate, have a few docs open on the desktop, the virus scan kicked in, and you're playing a game maximized in the foreground that was designed for Win Vista?
Ok, I'll inform the media at the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times, the Seattle Times (hint, where MSFT is), and the LA Times that they're wrong about it really needing at least 4GB of RAM to run well while playing games.
I doubt they'll listen, since they're just reporting reality.
But will the $790 PC you mentioned run WinVista Premium? According to all the insider reviews I've read we're looking at 4GB RAM min, and a much higher end video card. Those who've run it with 2GB RAM say it crawls like a swapping bear even when you kill all the graphics effects in the display.
Closest I've seen is $2000 so far. I don't homebrew - haven't since my old Apple II+ and S100 bus days.
Slashdot Mirror
You pay $0.19/kwh? Holy crap that's a lot. My peak rate last summer $0.074/kwh here in Austin, TX (on Austin Energy).
Here in Seattle we pay about 4 cents a KWH. I pay about twice that, because I have both the Green Power (wind-only, pays for construction of wind turbines) and Green Up (pays for schools and bus stops to have solar power) programs.
But it's still cheaper than yours. Even if we suffer under the clouds (except my Seattle neighborhood of Fremont, which frequently has rips in the clouds due to the nearby hills of Queen Anne and Phinney Ridge).
The major power usage of the average old PC is the CRT monitor. Using an old monitor can drastically increase power consumption, but moving to a flat screen LCD energy star monitor will cut power consumption about 40 percent from the old PC plus CRT.
I run a laptop, which uses batteries (man the fan kicks out heat! wish I had a lap board since I use it on the couch), but I connect to AC from a converter off of my UPS. My son uses a Mac Mini (fall 2006 Intel version) which gens close to zilch heat and has a giant flat LCD monitor (Sony, better power consumption than the Apple one). All my other PCs are not being used. But my office at work gens so much heat from our dual core and quad core CPUs - even though most have flat panel LCDs - that we have to open the window once spring rolls around or we bake. Since we run Linux, and sometimes have genetics statistical correlations running under Perl for weeks at a time (not a joke), we can't power them down, even if we can turn off the monitors.
bullshit, the PS3 is sitting on store shelves, anyone who wants one can get one at MSRP
Actually, even though the Wii is hard to find, I saw two Wii consoles on sale at a small GameStop store just one block from Northgate Mall in Seattle, as well as the usual stack of PS3 consoles. So you can buy them, at least as of Sunday afternoon. Both consoles.
The article itself says that "this high percentage is likely helped by the bundled Talladega Nights Blu-ray disc with the first 500,000 units of PlayStation 3."
Exactly. Think about this - if every PS3 shipped included a Blu-Ray DVD movie, then their numbers would automatically be higher than the HD-DVD, since neither the 360 nor the Wii ship with HD-DVD, nor do they ship with any movies at all.
But, as a corallory, don't believe the numbers about Wii Sports being such a big seller in the US, since it was bundled with the Wii here, even though it's a separate game in Japan. Even if it is a very fun game.
Analysis at the Wall Street Journal (expensive subscription required) shows that HD-DVD units are selling faster worldwide than Blu-Ray units, even with the bundled Blu-Ray player in the PS3. So don't believe the numbers until you think them thru.
I for one welcome our Wii-enabled Wiimote-wielding Nunchuk-shaking Nintendo overlords and can't wait to see Spore on the Wii as well as the Nintendo DS.
Now, when do I get my Wiimote-enabled light saber game from the Star Wars franchise, so that I can make a YouTube video of my 1337 skilz?
Good point, but as a Wii owner (and, like you, gaming for over 25 years, in my case more than 30 years, love them punch cards!), I'm not exactly worried about a paucity of FPS games.
Besides, we already have one Wii game that competes with CoH - Call of Duty - and that's on the Wii, so it's not like we're hurting for military combat sims.
Not only is it amusing, but in reality, The Sims 2 comprises half of the top twenty PC games if you look at game rankings, so FPS only wins by ignoring the fact that The Sims 2: Night Life and The Sims 2: Open For Business are lumped together as if they were just one title.
... to make it fair.
You could lump all the FPS games together under the I Have A Gun category
hmmm. maybe if it had sharp edges ...
.... yeah, those sound safe.
The Amazing Wii Combat Blade! - Why be a 100 pound weakling when you can get the Amazing Wii Combat Blade - yes, it's a Wiimote with a blade edge that weighs five pounds, building your upper body strength and realistically training you in martial arts with blade weapons.
Coming Soon: The Bushido Sword for the Wii!
In other words, demand is constant and the supplier can sell every single unit shipped at maximum efficiency. In fact, even with more factories every day, demand is still high.
... um ... not good.
Hmmm. Sure sounds like winning to me - especially if you track the game units sold - most Wii console buyers are buying a lot of games for their consoles, and continuing to do so, whereas the demand for PS3 games is
So I guess school districts will cancel their P.E. programs to pay for the new Nintendo Wii fitness program?
Many don't have mandatory P.E. here in the USA. My son's in high school and they only require you take two classes over four years. Pretty slack - good thing he walks a lot.
Actually, I have the original straps, and it's just a matter of: a. properly securing them; b. wiping your palms off when you get too sweaty (usually in boxing); c. not overdoing it.
Besides, since we all have to buy HDTVs in 2009, so what if your TV breaks?
I agree, Wii Sims is a really cool version, allowing one to import your Mii characters from your Wii, visit your real friends villages/towns, and trade clothing and such stuff.
Plus a rocking soundtrack and cool Anime-feel make it really fun.
It's a very hot topic in Fremont, Center of the Universe.
Most of my house is very efficient - I have a modern fridge, stove, microwave - all 1999 or later - my TV is flatscreen digital and uses very little energy - my heat is gas heat - so my lights are most of my energy use - only time I use the stove is holidays, and I'm usually at someone else's place.
Also, the price for electricity here has three bands - a low band that's cheap, a mid band that's expensive, and a high band that's really expensive.
My kitchen has about 10 lightbulbs - 60W to 100W - now replaced by 8W to 17W CFLs.
Your mileage may vary - I'm just telling you what happened in my place.
yes, I know, my son used to play StarCraft on his old iMac, but I was wondering about the new StarCraft successor on the Intel Mac Mini for example.
Now that you can play WoW on the Mac and soon on the Wii, PS3, and 360 - will they have StarCraft's successor on the same platforms?
I've given up on WinVista and am only staying with WinXP, so it's a serious question - if it won't run on the MacOS, Linux, BSD, or one of the new game consoles, I won't be buying it.
Using 1/20th the energy of an incandescent, and now able to provide true white light, an LED is the next wave in energy savings for the home. So be nice to your neighbor who left up their Xmas lights, because they're trying to lead by example.
When I moved into my new house, it had tons of incandescent lightbulbs and a few halogens - I replaced about 80 percent of the incandescents with compact flourescents and my electric bill was about one-quarter what it was before - and now in the summer my kitchen isn't a sauna from all the lights.
But I've noticed if you buy the cheap ones - like at WalMart - instead of good 4-pack or 6-pack ones at Home Depot or Costco (which are frequently 4 for $6) - they burn out more quickly.
Also, don't put them in the fixtures right next to your washing machine - the vibrations from that kill them a lot more quickly.
actually, I think Cheney has led the nation towards a mixture of fascism and libertarianism.
Too many isms are bad for you.
Or at least it appears that way nowadays.
I'm all for idealism, but since those who profess Democracy seem to hate our Freedoms, how could this concept ever get not only passed into law, made into treaties, but enforced?
only ones that mattered to me were Diablo II, Sims, Sims 2, Warcraft, and Starcraft.
They all work on a Mac.
And many now work on consoles.
Can't say I care any longer. Not "upgrading" to WinVista - it would cost too much and give me less than just buying a Mac or getting a Linux or BSD laptop.
WinVista games? Sorry, I don't believe you. The specs on the ones I've seen assume a lot more.
But maybe you have a nice machine. I'm not buying a new one.
there's a keyboard on the Mac.
there's a keyboard on the Wii - heck, last night I was setting up my WinXP laptop to be the Nintendo WiFi server and I used it to type in web pages in Opera on the Wii.
huh?
You do know Opera runs on the Wii, right? And it sure uses a keyboard - just it's one you point and click - which is what most people do on their PCs frankly.
So, let me get this straight, you're running Vista Ultimate, have a few docs open on the desktop, the virus scan kicked in, and you're playing a game maximized in the foreground that was designed for Win Vista?
Sorry, I don't believe you.
Assuming you don't have other stuff still open.
Which, frequently, is in fact the case.
The people mentioning this are talking to the average consumer, not the hard-core gamer who actually shuts down all the other stuff.
You'd be surprised what most people actually do. It's kind of interesting.
Ok, I'll inform the media at the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times, the Seattle Times (hint, where MSFT is), and the LA Times that they're wrong about it really needing at least 4GB of RAM to run well while playing games.
I doubt they'll listen, since they're just reporting reality.
But will the $790 PC you mentioned run WinVista Premium? According to all the insider reviews I've read we're looking at 4GB RAM min, and a much higher end video card. Those who've run it with 2GB RAM say it crawls like a swapping bear even when you kill all the graphics effects in the display.
Closest I've seen is $2000 so far. I don't homebrew - haven't since my old Apple II+ and S100 bus days.
Actually my NAND has 2.0 Gig of RAM. But I can't help it if you want to load up stuff with cutscenes nobody needs ...