As usual my approach to PC buying is not to go for the latest and greatest products because they attract a pricing premium. Start with a CPU price list. Scan the numbers until you see the first big jump in price. This typically happens for the second or third to top CPU. The one before the price jump is the sweet spot. At the moment this is the 2600 series for Intel. There are two versions of this chip, one that can be overclocked and the other, slightly cheaper that can’t, easily.
Next look at the motherboards that support the CPU you have chosen. AMD boards are different from the Intel ones but the series will normally have a version for each. I like to spend a little extra for the motherboard and these days either ASUS or Gigabyte is the best. You will want something with USB 3, SATA 6 support and depending on your needs HDMI out and perhaps decent sound. Most boards these days have the latter.
If you play games then a separate graphics card is the next step, if not get a motherboard with on-board graphics. Something like the GX 550 or 560 is a good mid-range card with 1GB of RAM. Once you have the bits and pieces identified then get a power supply that can handle the load add 20% or more above the requirements just in case you want to add something else to the PC later.
At this point you have a number of options. If you want to play with putting a computer together you can do it yourself. Option 2 is to go to the local computer store pick out the bits and have them put it together for you. In Thailand this costs next to nothing in other countries it will cost a bit more. Another option is to check on say eBay for units that are similar in configuration but with enough options to enable you to match you specifications. Depending on where you live and who you order from delivery may even be free. Option 2 above will also allow you to pick the case you like. I am going to get one that allows for a plug in drive.
Finally there is the operating system. If you get a lot of RAM e.g. 4GB or more then you will want Windows 7 64 bit. If you want a 32-bit OS you will need to spend some time getting the right options to support the extra RAM. This is often BIOS and motherboard support settings so make sure your selected board can do this for you.
The big news of the week is of course the departure of Steve Jobs as CEO. Of course he will never really be gone. Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs is Apple. It is directed by Jobs, and ruled by Jobs so just because he doesn’t have the letters CEO behind his name is really quite meaningless. If you think I’m joking then you don’t know Jobs.
Look at the history of Apple. Right from the start it was a Jobs enterprise and anyone who got in the way was gone (remember Steve Wozniak anyone?). This wasn’t just hardware but software and standards as well if he didn’t like or want them, bye-bye e.g. OpenDoc. The current team over at Apple be they the inventors, the makers, the fans and so on are all followers of Jobsian Way. They are also all believers to the extent that nothing Apple does could ever be wrong.
Jobs rewards those who keep the organisation afloat and when you are right he respects those who point out problems which is why someone like Gray Powell is still working there. You do not want to be wrong however. There are also plenty of people who want to work at Apple. You also cannot argue that the company has been a success and has a very strong core of supporters who will buy just about anything released whether they need it or not. In general people buy Apple devices because they like them, They look nice and shiny. These people don’t care how locked down the iTunes store might be, or that the device cannot play Flash media; it is an Apple.
You also have to admit that Jobs has really built Apple back up from the doldrums of the 1997’s. When he came back he really shook the organisation up from top to bottom. He got rid of most of the rubbish projects, simplified production and is ‘leaving’ something that will keep on the path for some time to come. Will it last forever without him? Short answer “no.” It will fade because those left behind are not Steve Jobs and over time all things fade when the primary driving force is no longer there. Apple is right now at the top if the heap.
Industry News
Apple versus Samsung. They seem to have won in Europe, at least for the moment, but the battleground has now shifted to Australia. A new case is starting there and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not being sold at the moment while the case proceeds. Like an increasing number of these cases it has devolved to the level of idiocy with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey being cited as prior art for tablet computers.
It looks like the price of RAM is about drop significantly. The reason strangely enough is the current love affair with tablet devices. This has caused a drop in PC purchases and a growing glut in the memory market. It is estimated that DDr3 will be available for around $1.60 per 2GB in the next quarter. It may even drop down close to the $1.25 mark being the approximate cash cost per unit for the suppliers. A year ago the price was $4.70. This will also drive a push for more NAND memory production, the kind you find in flash drives.
The NHS in the UK is tendering for a contract to supply digital pen technology. The aim is to capture hand written notes and form information. While such technology has been around for a while now this will be the first comprehensive push to get it out to a wide range of users including government departments, police, emergency services and other agencies. The tender includes the pens, smartphones, printers, software and other support elements. So if I was to guess the underlying reason for the adoption of this technology in the health sector? Yes you guessed it, handwriting recognition for a doctor’s scrawl
Finally for this week are torrent sites on the way out? Short answer “no” longer answer is that alternatives are starting to pop up. Enter a Rapidshare knock-off called BayFiles from the people who bring you Pirate Bay Posted. It works like this: anyone can upload stuff without creating an account. If you don’t have an account you can download one thing per hour, if you pay about $8 / month you can download as much as you like.
At the time of writing the site does not scan for infringement of copyright and the site claims it will follow take down notices from copyright holders. In reality this means that a handful of a huge number of files will be affected and even those can reappear in different forms. Bayfiles.com itself is registered with a Panamanian contact address. One member of Pirate Bay calls it the alternative to Bittorrent for file sharing. There is of course the program JDownloader that bypasses many of the restrictions after all how much can you trust pirates.
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