Vista Update –Vista Pricing & Vista RC1 Coming Soon

Microsoft has accidentally listed the pricing of the high-end consumer versions of Windows Vista on its Canadian website, reported by Neowin.net blog. Microsoft posted a price list for Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium, but the page was taken off soon after the news of pricing leaked out.

According to Neowin.net, the Windows Vista Ultimate will cost $499 Canadian (NZ$697), and the Windows Vista Home Premium will cost $299 Canadian (NZ$418). An upgrade version of Vista Ultimate will be $299 Canadian (NZ$418), while an update to Vista Home Premium will cost $199 Canadian (NZ$278).

Amazon.com also lists Vista prices on its website for pre-orders. According to Amazon.com, the consumer versions of Vista will be available from 30 January 2007 and the prices are as follows:

• Windows Vista Home Basic – US$199 (NZ$307)
• Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade – US$100 (NZ$154)
• Windows Vista Home Premium – US$239 (NZ$369)
• Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade – US$159 (NZ$245)
• Windows Vista Ultimate – US$399 (NZ$616)
• Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade – US$259 (NZ$400)
• Windows Vista Business – US$299 (NZ$461)
• Windows Vista Business Upgrade – US$199 (NZ$307)

None of the above prices have been confirmed or denied by Microsoft yet but I think Microsoft may announce the final price of Vista after the release of Vista RC1.

Microsoft will release the Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) at the end of September. If everything goes well with the Vista RC1, Microsoft will be able to make its target deadline of releasing Vista to business customers in November 2006, and consumers in January 2007. If Microsoft is not quite successful on the Vista RC1, a third release candidate may be required; then there may be “no way” to hit the deadlines.

OEMs typically need about six weeks to get the operating system installed and tested on PCs before putting those machines in the market, so if Windows Vista makes its deadline to manufacturers by the end of November, it could make its January release date for consumers.

Windows Vista Ultimate will include all the multimedia capabilities currently available in Windows XP Media Centre Edition, as well as a new 3D graphical user interface called Aero. According to Microsoft, there will be new security features that make it a good fit for small businesses as well.

Windows Vista Home Ultimate also will include Windows XP Media Centre Edition’s multimedia functionality, as well as the Aero interface. Microsoft has said that they plan to urge customers to purchase these premium versions of Vista rather than the entry-level Windows Vista Home Basic.

Click the link for the current Microsoft operating system.

Microsoft Zune will be built by Toshiba

It may be hard to say what the best MP3 player is in the market, but Apple’s iPod is definitely the hottest and most popular! If there is something that’s really hot that is the only one of its kind in the market, will Microsoft just sit there and watch? No, it won’t. Sony’s PlayStation was very hot, so Microsoft launched Xbox to compete with it. The iPod is very hot so Microsoft is bringing out Microsoft Zune to try to take some market share – see the prototype image above.

Microsoft will launch its new music player Zune around Christmas time and a music service called “Argo” which is similar to Apple’s iTunes. Microsoft has confirmed that Toshiba will build the Zune and it will include 30GB of storage, wireless capabilities and an FM radio tuner. The wireless capabilities will allow users to search for other Zune devices in range and share music, photos, playlists and other media contents.

Toshiba already has its own music player range, Gigabeat, in the market. Click the following links for more information and pricing of Toshiba Gigabeat music players.

• Toshiba Gigabeat Flash P05 (White) – 512MB
• Toshiba Gigabeat Flash P10 (Black) – 1GB
• Toshiba Gigabeat X60 (Black) – 60GB
• Toshiba Gigabeat S Series (White) – 30GB
• Toshiba Gigabeat S Series (Black) – 60GB
  

All New Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR Camera

Last week Canon announced the latest affordable EOS 400D digital SLR. This model replaces New Zealand’s best-selling D-SLR, the Canon EOS 350D, which was introduced in January 2005.

The new EOS 400D uses a 10.1 megapixel CMOS censor and the DiG!C II processor. It’s capable of capturing three frames per second for a burst of 27 consecutive frames. It also has a Self Cleansing Sensor Unit and a 2.5” LCD screen. It is also compatible with the full range Canon EF lenses - from ultra wide-angle to Super Telephoto and everything in between, including Fisheye and Macro lenses.

The Canon EOS 400D will be available in both black and silver in various kit configurations from 10 September 2006 with a RRP NZD$1,799. The available kits will be:

• Canon EOS 400D Kit with 18-55mm lens
• Canon EOS 400D Enthusiast Kit with 17-85mm lens
• Canon EOS 400D Twin Lens Kit with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses

Canon has also introduced two new lenses. The EF 50mm f/1.2L USM and the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, which will be available late September and late November respectively.

If you don’t know too much about Canon, here are some quick stats:

• Canon is the only D-SLR brand to own and manufacture the sensor, processor and lenses in-house.
  
• Canon’s EF lens range is the world’s largest with over 50 lenses.
• Canon had global revenues of around US$33.3 billion (NZ$52.2 billion) in 2004.

Click the following links for more information and the latest pricing:

• Canon EOS 400D w/18-55 II Kit - Silver Body
• Canon EOS 400D w/18-55 II Kit - Black Body

Ready for Logitech’s Mice Revolution?

Logitech has announced the launch of two new mouse products that it claims will make it easy for web searches and navigation of content on a PC.

The new cordless laser Logitech MX Revolution and Logitech VX Revolution include an automatic web search button, and a wheel that can navigate down hundreds of web pages, spreadsheet or word documents in 7 seconds. Think that’s too fast? No worries - the wheel can easily switch between the free-spin and the conventional scroll mode.

There is a One-Touch Search button under the scroll wheel, which brings up web search results for a highlighted word or phrase with just a single click. After highlighting a term in the spreadsheet or document, simply clicking the search button opens a web browser with Google or Yahoo! search results.

The MX Revolution is targeted at desktop users and has an RRP of NZD$219.90. The smaller VX Revolution is targeted at notebook users and has an RRP of NZD$149.90. Both come with a USB micro-receiver that wirelessly connects the mouse to a PC. The mice work on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X PCs.

Click the following links for more information and the latest pricing:

• Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Mice
• Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Mice
  

Sony Micro Vault USB Flash Drives

What makes you decide to buy what you buy when you’re thinking of purchasing a USB flash drive? The size? I agree. You first need to know how large a drive you want, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB. After that? I think the look of them makes me decide. Nowadays, USB flash drives are not bulky storage devices anymore. They’re becoming fashion products. It’s like a watch - knowing the time is only one function of a watch. Sony’s flash drives are definitely on the top of my list. The USB flash drive from Sony is called Micro Vault. Let’s review some of its product range.

Micro Vault Tiny

This range is ultra-compact, colourful and stylish. You can see them on the last row of the above image. They come with their own carry cases equipped with clip and strap for safe transport. In addition, they come preloaded with Virtual Expander, allowing the USB drive to hold up to 3 times its native capacity. They’re compatible with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

This range is available in 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and 2GB.

• Sony USM256H Micro Vault, TINY, 256MB
• Sony USM512H Micro Vault, TINY, 512MB
• Sony USM1GH Micro Vault, TINY, 1GB
• Sony USM2GH Micro Vault, TINY, 2GB

Micro Vault Classic

This range has a retractable USB connector that slides out from the piano black designed body. You can see them on the first and second row of the above image. They also come preloaded with Virtual Expander for up to 3 times more storage than their native capacity.

This range is available in 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB and 4GB.

Click following links for more information and pricing.

• Sony USM256J Micro Vault, 256MB
• Sony USM512J Micro Vault, 512MB
• Sony USM1GJ Micro Vault, 1GB
• Sony USM2GJ Micro Vault, 2GB
• Sony USM4GJ Micro Vault, 4GB

Micro Vault with Fingerprint Access

This Sony Micro Vault is equipped with a fingerprint sensor that verifies the user’s identity before allowing access to protected data on the Micro Vault. You can see it on the right end of the second row in the above image. Click the link for more information and pricing - Sony Micro Vault with Fingerprint Access

Top Power Notebook – Acer Aspire 9504 Portable PC

Looking for a fast, well-appointed media notebook that handles both entertainment and office tasks? The Acer Aspire 9504 laptop with Windows XP Media Centre Edition will be a very good option.

Here is a quick summary of its pros and cons, according to PC World:

Pros

• Includes a DVI port

Cons

• Keyboard can be frustrating

It has a 17” widescreen with WXGA resolution of 1400 x 900 pixels. It uses 2.0GHz Pentium M 760 processor, 100GB 5400-rpm hard drive, 1GB memory and slot-loading DVD+/-RW Dual Layer drive. This notebook also includes a built-in TV tuner and a remote control for watching TV, DVD movies and listening to music. Acer’s stand-alone Arcade software, with its dedicated control button on the front of the notebook, also allows you to play movies, music and photos without starting the Windows. The 3 hours battery life is good for this big machine.

It does have two drawbacks. One is the keyboard that you may feel is a little hard to use. The second drawback is the stereo speaker, which lacks a subwoofer and distorts a bit at high volume.

Overall, it’s a very attractive entertainment and desktop replacement notebook PC.

For more information and pricing, click the link - Acer Aspire 9504WSMi 17" Portable PC.

Faster 802.11n Wireless LAN, Are You Ready?

After 802.11a/b/g, the 802.11n will be the next industry standard for wireless LAN. Although it is still in draft version, the 802.11n wireless LAN gear is popular in the consumer market despite higher prices. According to PC World, in the second quarter of 2006, vendors worldwide sold about USD$25 million (NZD$39 million) worth of routers and interface cards based on the first draft of the IEEE 802.11n. This product made up about 8% of the router market by revenue and interface cards about 6%.

The 802.11n is intended to boost the speed and range of wireless LAN through technologies such as multiple antennas, but it is not expected to become final until some time next year. As an early adopter, the 802.11n gear can help you extend the range of a wireless LAN and the speed could also be increased for transferring video or other large files around the house.

Cisco Systems’ Linksys division is the biggest seller of home wireless LAN products overall. So let’s review some 802.11n gear from Linksys as shown in the above image.

Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router

• Start a Wireless Network With Up To 4X the Range and 12X the Speed!
• Internet-sharing Router and 4-port Switch, with a built in speed and range enhanced Wireless Access Point
• MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels up to 4 times farther and reduces dead spots
• Up to 12 times faster than Wireless-G, but also works great with Wireless-G and -B devices
• Wireless signals protected by WPA2 encryption, and your network protected from Internet attacks by a powerful SPI firewall
  

Click the above link for more information and pricing.

Linksys WPC300N Wireless-N Notebook Adapter

• High-speed Wireless-N networking for your notebook computer
• High-speed Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) networking for your notebook computer
• MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels up to 4 times farther and reduces dead spots
• Up to 12 times faster than Wireless-G, but can also connect to Wireless-G and -B networks
• Advanced wireless security with up to 256-bit encryption
  

Click the above link for more information and pricing.

Linksys WMP300N Wireless-N PCI Adapter

• High-speed Wireless-N networking for your desktop computer
• High-speed Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) networking for your desktop computer
• MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels up to 4 times farther and reduces dead spots
• Up to 12 times faster than Wireless-G, but can also connect to Wireless-G and -B networks
• Advanced wireless security with up to 256-bit encryption
  

Click the above link for more information and pricing.

Ultraportable Laptop – Lenovo ThinkPad X60s

After a few days of reminiscing over old computers, let’s move on to some of the latest models available. This ThinkPad X60s is an outstanding ultraportable notebook for business users and anyone else wanting a very well-designed machine. It replaces the old ThinkPad X41 series and is part of the Lenovo Top Seller Programme.
Here is a quick summary of its pros and cons.

Pros

• Very fast
• Well designed
  

Cons

• Expensive
• No touchpad
  

The model I’ll introduce to you here, the 17024EM model, uses an Intel Core Duo processor L2400 1.66GHz with 512MB of RAM and 60GB hard drive. I strongly recommend increasing the memory to 1GB. The 1.66GHz L2400 has excellent performance which exceeds the 1.73GHz Pentium M 740 chips and generally matches up with 1.86GHz Pentium M 750 CPUs. The X60s also provides outstanding battery life of up to 7.9 hours from its 8 Cell Lithium-Ion battery.

In addition to its superb performance, this ThinkPad is very well designed - the layout and keystrokes of the keyboard are fabulous. You’ll also find dedicated keys for volume, Lenovo’s productivity centre and other useful utilities. The 1.60 Kgs X60s includes three USB ports, one FireWire port, and slots for SD and PC Cards.

The X60s would be a very impressive notebook except for two things it is missing. One is the build-in optical drive - you have to use the dock or an external drive in order to read or burn CDs/DVDs. The second is the lack of a touchpad - it only has an eraserhead pointing device. Some people like me, may still prefer to have a touchpad.

For more information and pricing of this great notebook, click the link - Lenovo ThinkPad X60s Notebook - TopSeller

Today's Pick – Canon PIXMA MP830 All-in-One Printer

The Canon PIXMA MP830 is a very good multifunction printer. It probably has most of the functions you could want and may be even be beyond your expectations. According to PC World, it has the following pros and cons:

Pros:

• Top-notch performance across the board
• Fax and duplex ADF capabilities included

Cons:

• No Wi-Fi or ethernet networking options

Here is the summary of its features:

• Conveniently copy and scan multiple double-sided documents automatically with the 35 page loadable ADF
• Increase productivity with fast document printing at up to 30 ppm black and 24 ppm colour
• High-speed, borderless 6" x 4" photo prints in approx. 36 seconds
• Save precious time with fast document copying at up to 29 cpm black and 24 cpm colour
• 1 picolitre FINE print-head technology & 9600 x 2400 dpi print resolution for outstanding photos and documents
• Super G3 high-speed fax allows storage of up to 250 incoming pages
• Auto Duplex Unit reduces paper wastage by automatically printing or copying onto both sides of the page
• 2-Way Paper Feed for convenient switching between different paper types and sizes - allowing 300 sheet capacity
• Easy-to-use operation panel and 2.5 inch colour LCD for even more convenience
• Features 5 individual ink tanks, saving you money as you only need to replace the colour that runs out
• ChromaLife 100 ink for beautiful, long-lasting photos
  

For more information and pricing of this product, click the link - Canon PIXMA MP830 All-in-One Printer

The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time – 5

Here it is - No 1. (Data Source: PC World)

Apple II (1977)

Very interesting! We’re celebrating the 25th birthday of IBM’s first PC. But the winner is a “fruit” – Apple. This was Apple’s second PC (which is fairly self-explanatory given the name of the PC) and came out 4 years before IBM’s first PC.

Why was it selected as the winner? It’s the most advanced, best-selling model of its age and meets all the criteria – Innovation, Impact, Industrial Design and Intangibles.

It’s an 8-bit system with 4KB of memory, expandable to 48KB. It used a cassette rather than a disk for storage and the cost was USD$1,200. The only failing it had, was that it couldn’t display lowercase letters. The PC did, however, hold several first places, including the first colour PC (you could even use it with a TV), the first to be easily expandable by users, and the first to run the VisiCalc spreadsheet. Maybe the best thing of all about this PC was its innovative design. Steve Jobs is always good at coming up with something different, isn’t he?

This Apple II also had a very long life time – for a PC. It was in production from 1977 until December 1993. During that period, more than 2 million units were manufactured.

So what’s the hottest product of Apple now? The iPod of course! Click the link for the latest iPod MP3 & Video Players.

The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time – 4

Here’s No 7 - No 2. (Data Source: PC World)

No. 7 – Commodore Amiga 1000 (1985)

The Amiga was the world’s first multimedia and multitasking PC. At a cost of USD$1,500, it came with Motorola 68000 CPU and three co-processors. Those co-processors helped provide the graphics and sound for the Amiga. Its main video processor allowed 3D animation processing, full-motion video and TV processing, and its four-voice sound chip provided speech synthesis. By the way, Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994.

No. 6 – IBM Personal Computer, Model 5150 (1981)

And who are we celebrating for? This guy!! It was born on 12 August 1981 and that day was a great milestone in the history of the computer industry. It used Intel’s 8088 16-bit CPU in an era where most popular models still used basic 8-bit processors. IBM offered this system with several operating systems, including the P-System and PC-DOS.

No. 5 – IBM ThinkPad 700C (1992)

You may know better than me how popular the ThinkPad is. The 700C was one of the first models in the ThinkPad range. Some of its features still exist in today’s models - such as the distinctive black case and its red TrackPoint pointing device. The USD$4,350 ThinkPad 700C came with a 256-colour, 10.4” TFT VGA screen (very large at that time), a removable 120MB hard disk and a 25-MHz 486SLC processor. Want to see what today’s ThinkPads look like? Visit www.mylenovo.co.nz for all current models. Just a point to note in case you didn’t know – the IBM ThinkPad’s are now manufactured by Lenovo.

No. 4 – Apple Macintosh Plus (1986)

This is the longest-selling Mac model ever – it stayed on the market until 1990. The USD$2,599 Mac Plus had the Motorola 68000 CPU and came with MB of RAM and was upgradeable to 4MB. It supported the brand-new 800KB double-sided floppy-disk and was the first Mac with a SCSI port. Its cute beige all-in-one case housed a mono display and a 3.5-inch floppy drive. Today, you can buy a working Mac Plus on eBay for about USD$25 – but then it would cost you quite a bit more to ship it to New Zealand.

No.3 – Xerox 8010 Information System (1981)

This Xerox 8010 was announced in 1981 and shipped in 1982. It used a mouse which was an unfamiliar piece of equipment at that time. It also had built-in Ethernet networking, and could work with 12-ppm laser printers, which was ¾ the size of a washing machine. Yet another evolution in computer history. How much did it cost? Only USD$16,500.

No.2 Compaq Deskpro 386 (1986)

I can remember my first computer was a 286 with B&W monitor with no hard drive. The thought of having a 386 was my dream at that time. The Compaq Deskpro 386 was the first computer using Intel’s 32-bit powerful 80386 CPU (before IBM). Its starting price was USD$6,499.

Do you want to know who No 1 is? Come back tomorrow and all will be revealed!!

Tired of old PCs? Click the link for the latest modern computers.

The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time – 3

Here’s No 13 - No 8. (Data Source: PC World)

No. 13 – IBM Personal Computer/AT Model 5170 (1984)

This machine was released three years after IBM’s first PC shipped. It’s marked as both a revolution and an evolution in PC history – as a revolution because its powerful specs, and as an evolution because of the system’s design refinements. It was the first computer to use Intel’s 80286 CPU (6-MHz) and featured a 20MB hard disk. It used IBM PC-DOS 3.0 which supported 1.2MB (5.25-inch) floppy disks. Another highlight is its keyboard. The basic layout of its keyboard which is still used by us today, included a number pad (with cursor keys and a key lock) and dedicated function keys. It cost USD$5,295 at that time, and in case you’re wondering - the AT stands for Advanced Technology.

No. 12 – MITS Altair 8800 (1975)
Could this be the first true personal computer? Computer historians are still arguing about it. Whatever is decided, the Altair started its life in 1975 as a USD$397 build-it-yourself kit, including a board, an Intel 8080 CPU and 256 bytes of RAM. You needed to program it by flipping switches.

No. 11 – Sony VAIO 505GX (1998)

This model still looks good even now. It was introduced in Japan at the end of 1997, and at just 0.94 inch thick, it weighed 3 pounds (the chassis was made of magnesium alloy). It cost USD$2,699 with Pentium MMX-266 CPU and a 56-kbps modem. It’s not cheap, but spurred an ultraportable revolution. Sony’s new TX line still retains some of the 505’s design style. Click the link for the latest Sony VAIO TX Series Notebooks.

No. 10 – Apple PowerBook 100 (1991)

This was a very successful model from Apple. The USD$2,500 PowerBook 100 has two great features. First, it pushed the keyboard back toward the screen which freed up space for a wrist-rest area that made typing more comfortable. Second, it provided a nice, large trackball, the best mobile pointing device of its era. These two features pushed Apple from last place to first in notebook sales. By the way, it was manufactured by Sony and was discontinued in 1992.

No. 9 – Columbia Data Products MPC 1600-1 (1982)
IBM’s first PC used an Intel 8088 CPU, off-the-shelf parts and Microsoft’s DOS. Wonder why others couldn’t make one? Well, Columbia Data Systems did. The USD$2,995 MPC (Multi Personal Computer) had double the typical IBM PC’s RAM, more expansion slots and ports, and two floppy drives rather than one.

No.8 – Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)

Although it’s not the first laptop (Epson’s HX-20 was), Tandy’s Model 100 was the first that caught on. It had a 2-by-7.5-inch screen that displayed 40 characters across eight lines of text, a full-size keyboard that’s still impressive today, built-in software such as a word processor and spreadsheet, and a 300-bps modem.

Tired of old PCs? Click the link for the latest modern computers.

The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time - 2

Here’s the No 19 - No 14. (Data Source: PC World)

No. 19 - Apple iMac, Second Generation (2002)

Do you recognize this “lamp”? I think it’s one of the best computers Apple has ever made. It remains a high point in PC design history. But it’s only in the market for two years.

No. 18 – HP OmniBook 300 (1993)

It’s one of the first sub-notebooks. The system stored Windows 3.1, Excel 4.0, Word 2.0, and MS-DOS 5.0 in ROM memory rather than on a hard drive. It also had a unique integrated mouse that popped out of the notebook’s right side on a thin piece of plastics. The design eliminated the need for an annoying mouse cable, but the mouse was very small. It came with basic 386SXLV CPU, mono 9” VGA screen, 10MB flash drive and up to 9 hours of power. The price started at USD$1,950.

No. 17 – Toshiba T1000 (1987)

This notebook made Toshiba to the fore of mobile computing. It brought DOS in a truly portable size. It accommodated a full-size 82-key keyboard, a 720KB 3.5-inch floppy drive, 512KB of RAM (yes, it’s 512KB, not 512MB) and an internal modem. The unit also had MS-DOS 2.00 in ROM, which eliminated the need to have two floppy drives, as some notebooks of that era had.

No. 16 – Tandy TRS-80 Model I (1977)

This is the first computer to be truly marketed to masses: over 200,000 units were sold. It cost $600 for a 4KB of RAM and a version of the BASIC language, and it stored programs on tapes.

No. 15 – Shuttle SV24 Barebone System (2001)

For so many years, the PC was all about the big beige box (IBM did have black boxes), but Shuttle came up with a toaster-size design for do-it-yourself. The box was only half or 1/3 size of normal desktop PC cases, but come with a compact ATX motherboard with integrated audio and graphics and a 150-watt power supply. You only needed to supply the processor, memory and storage. It was the dream computer of some girls around me.

No. 14 – Atari 800 (1979)

Atari shipped its first computer – Atari 800 – after unleashed its first video game console. Part game machine, part productivity enhancer, the USD$999 Atari 800 was the first home computer to feature a custom video co-processor in addition to its CPU.

Tired of old PCs? Click the link for the latest modern PCs.

The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time - 1

This month is IBM PC's 25th birthday. IBM announced the launch of its first PC on August 12, 1981. In order to celebrate IBM's PC birthday, PC World has selected the 25 greatest PCs of all time with the criteria being Innovation, Impact, Industrial design and Intangibles.

No.25 – Non-Liner Systems Kaypro II (1982)

This one appeared towards the end of 1982, cost USD$1,795 and was encased in grey and blue metal.

No.24 – Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650 (2006)

This model was announced early this year. The Toshiba Qosmio (pronounced "kozmio") series notebooks have becoming sophisticated entertainment devices, with 17" LCD, Windows XP Media Centre, Harman/Kardon speakers, integrated TV tuner and remote control. The series had been introduced two years ago, but this model is the first notebook to integrate a blue-laser-based optical drive - HD-DVD. It sold for USD$2,999. Check out www.mytoshiba.co.nz for other Toshiba notebook models.

No.23 – Apple eMate 300 (1997)

In the last 30 years, Apple has released a lot of great PCs that have made a big impact on the marketplace. This USD$799 education PC was targeting school kids with a green and curvy case. Unfortunately, it had a short lifetime.

No.22 – HP 100LX (1993)

This wasn't the first pocket PC, but it's the first pocket PC with real PC functionality. The USD$749 100LX had a QWERTY keyboard, a mono display and it ran DOS 5.0, which meant that it was compatible with thousands of programs.

No.21 – Alienware Area-51 (1998)

This Alienware was a very powerful gaming machine - like other Alienware computers. It's an Intel machine including three video cards (one 2D card, plus two 3D add-on cards with 2Dfx's Voodoo chip) and two sound cards. It was USD$3,799 at that time.

No. 20 – Gateway 2000 Destination (1996)

This was the first real multimedia PC. It come with a 31" CRT monitor, two VCRs, a wireless keyboard and remote control, a TV tuner and surround-sound speakers. I think it's amazing for that time! It was priced from USD$3,499 to USD$4,699 but at this price, I guess there is no surprise that it failed to make its way into many living rooms.
Watch this space for the first 20 places.

Tired of old PCs? Click the link for the latest modern PCs.

Power Graphics Card

In the last few weeks, I have introduced you to some great-value and mainstream graphics cards. If you’re a serious gamer or have advanced requirements on video editing, you may want to consider one of the power video cards. They’re not cheap, but they will give you enough power for your games and video editing. Today I’ll introduce you to the NVIDIA 7900 GTX PCI-Express Graphics Card by Gigabyte. It has 512MB video RAM and features dual DVI port. It also supports SLI technology, which means two graphics cards can run in parallel (but you must have a motherboard that supports two PCI Express graphics cards).

Here’s a summary of its features:

• Powered by NVIDIA GeForce 7900GTX GPU
• Supports SLI multi-GPU Technology
• Supports PCI Express and 24 pipelines
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0C and OpenGL 2.0 support
• Integrated with the industry's best 512MB GDDR3 memory and 256-bit memory interface
• Features dual DVI-I / D-sub (by adapter) / TV-OUT
• Supports HDTV function and HDTV cable enclosed
• Hot Game: Serious Sam2 bundled

For more information and pricing of this product, click the link - Gigabyte NVIDIA 7900 GTX PCI-Express Graphics Card

Google Browser Sync

Have you ever dreamed about these successful situations when using your web browser?

• Synchronize your bookmark between your home computer and office computer. No matter what you bookmarked in the office, you’ll be able to see it in your bookmark at home, or vice versa.
• Still have a few webpage left open to read when leaving the office. When you open your computer at home, those pages show automatically for you to finish.
• Manage to remember a lot of passwords on your home computer, but don’t want to enter those passwords again in your office computer.
• Want a safe and convenient place to store your bookmark. No matter what happens to your computer or wherever you are, you’re able to retrieve it anytime and anywhere.
• Access your browser history by using any computer.

If you’ve ever dreamt of having any of these, now there’s a chance to realize your dream - and it’s free! Google Labs offers a free Firefox extension called Google Browser Sync that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords - across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions. Click here to download it for free.

However, before you start to enjoy it, you’ll need two things (both free).

1. You need to have Firefox 1.5 or higher version installed and be able to use it. The Google Browser Sync doesn’t work on IE (obviously, Google doesn’t like Microsoft and vice versa). You don’t know what Firefox is? Firefox is the competing web browser to Microsoft IE (now you know why Google and Firefox work together - because neither of them likes Microsoft). Firefox is the second largest web browser in terms of the number of users. Around 6% of web users in the world are using it, and the number is increasing. It’s also PC World’s # 1 IT Product of 2005. I personally use it as my preferred web browser. Click here to download the latest version for free.
2. You also need a Google Account which is pretty much like an MSN Passport - it lets you access lots of Google services, such as Gmail, personalized Google search page and Google Analytics. Click here to create one for free.

OK, after you’ve done the two tasks above, your dream will become true. (If you’re not an existing Firefox user, you may need a few days to get used to it). The installation is easy! You just need to download and install the extension on all computers for which you’d like your browser settings automatically kept in sync. Even if you only install Browser Sync on a single computer, you can use it to backup your browser settings and to restore your open tabs and windows across browser sessions. By the way – even better news - it works on both PC and Mac.

Click the link for other great software applications.

Create Your Own Xbox 360 Games

According to PC World, a new game development platform from Microsoft allows anyone to create games for its Xbox 360 gaming console.

Usually, console games are designed by large game studios that must pay high prices to buy development kits in order to write games for consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express is a new development kit that will be released in beta version this month. It will be available for free to anyone running Windows XP. The development kit is well-designed for novice game developers as well as those developers working in studios.

The XNA Game Studio Express development environment is based on Visual Studio Express and .NET, and allows developers to create games simultaneously for Xbox 360 console and Windows XP. Well, maybe it’s not really for everyone - you do need to have a sound programming knowledge before you try to create your own games.

Microsoft expects the final non-beta version of the development platform to become available by the end of the year – just in time for Christmas – and I hear that another version of XNA Game Studio Express (designed for professional game developers) will become available in early 2007.

Click the link for other programming software.

Intel Core 2 Duo Has Arrived

Intel has launched the new Core 2 Duo desktop processors on 27 July 2006. According to Intel, the new processor is up to 40% faster and over 40% more energy efficient. Intel also claim that it’s the best CPU it has ever made - of course, the new CPU should be always better than the old one. But they haven’t fully landed in New Zealand yet. Until now, only the E6300 is in stock, but all the other models are arriving soon. So it’s time for us to talk about them.

The Core 2 Duo processor line ranges from 1.86GHz E6300 chip with 2MB of cache to the 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 chip with 4MB of cache, all have a 1066MHz system bus. Here is a quick summary of each processor and my comments:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - 1.86GHz, 2MB Cache – Best value, best option for a budget PC
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 – 2.13GHz, 2MB Cache – Faster than E6300, acceptable price
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 – 2.4GHz, 4MB Cache – Best buy, I would buy this one if I want to build a PC soon
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 – 2.67GHz, 4MB Cache – A little bit faster, but more expensive, just right for people who have enough spare money
• Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 – 2.93GHz, 4MB Cache – Fastest CPU in the market, like the fastest car in the image above - pricey but nothing more than “fast”

Click the above links for the latest pricing. Here’s the in-stock date for each model:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 – In Stock Now
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 – 23 August 2006
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 – 28 August 2006
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 – TBA
• Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 – 31 August 2006

Although Core 2 Duo chips use the same Socket 775 interface as current Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors, they require new chip sets, so you’ll have to get a new motherboard. You cannot just add a Core 2 Duo processor into your existing Intel-based PC and reap the tremendous performance gains. I’ll introduce Core 2 Duo motherboards in the future. Watch this space!

Sony introduces the new exquisite BRAVIA S-Series LCD TV

Sony’s new 2006 BRAVIA S-Series LCD television was launched in New Zealand on Friday 11 August 2006. It features Sony’s next generation S-PVA LCD panel technology and every model incorporates a 1 million pixel panel (1366 x 768). Here are some great features of the new S-Series:

• HD - The new S-Series is fully compatible with 720p and 1080i HD (High Definition) signals. The HD will be around three times more detail and clarity than current signals - but we don’t have many HD sources around us yet.
• HDMI - The new S-Series is equipped with a HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) input. HDMI will be useful for other HD sources, such as Blu-ray players, next-generation game consoles and HD Handycam cameras.
• 178 degree Ultra-Wide Viewing Angle
• BRAVIA Engine: Intense Colour
• SRS TruSurround XT: Astounding Sound – The new S-Series comes with TruSurround XT technology delivering a virtual surround-sound experience from the front - with no additional speakers required. However, I still recommend you buy a 5.1 home theatre system to go with it.
• Distinguished Style – It looks good even before you switch it on! I believe Sony has great designs all the time.
• 8-millisecond Response Time – Faster response time means that fast-moving images such as sports or action sequences remain clear, without any motion blur.
• 1300:1 High Contrast - Although this contrast ratio is better than the old S-Series and most LCD TVs in the market, it’s not very “incredible” as Sony has stated. As far as I know, Samsung has a LCD TV with contrast ratio of 4000:1.

You may want to know what the price of the new S-Series is - actually it’s not too bad and cheaper than the old S-Series. Here are the prices:

• 46-inch - NZ$5999.95
• 40-inch - NZ$3999.95
• 32-inch – NZ$2699.95
• 26-inch – NZ$2199.95

Now - you may want to know what the differences are between the S-Series and the V-Series. I’ve been to the Sony showroom and have asked this question for you. Let’s share the conversation between the Sony staff and me.

• Question – what are the differences between the new S-Series and the old V-Series?
• Answer – They have the same contrast ratio, same resolution, same viewing angle and same sound but the V-Series still has the better colour re-production. The V-Series does look better but of course, it’s more expensive. Plus the V-Series has the USB High Speed input facility. It enables the image playback from digital cameras. (Do you need it? I don’t.)
• Question – will there be a new V-Series?
• Answer – Nothing confirmed yet from the company.

In my option, the new S-Series is worth the money. For example, for a 32” LCD TV, the new S-Series is $800 cheaper than the V-Series - unless you want better colours. We may not be able to notice the difference if we don’t compare them one on one.

Sony products are always a little bit more expensive than other brands, but over to you to decide if they’re worth the little bit extra cost.

Click the link for other LCD TVs.

Free Audio Editor – Audacity

Looking for a good, FREE all-purpose audio editor?

Audacity is an open-source, free editor that lets you record, play, convert and edit audio files. The programme lets you convert files from one format to another, easily edit sounds, mix tracks, and apply effects to your recordings.

Audacity works with most versions of Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS X and you can download the free software from Audacity homepage - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

If you want to do more advanced audio editing, you may want to consider Adobe Audition 2.0.

Apple Leopard vs. Windows Vista

“Leopard” and “Vista” – how do these two words make you feel? I feel “Leopard” is more aggressive, but “Vista” is a very peaceful word. Maybe it shows the current status of Apple and Microsoft. Apple wants to eat more of the market share, but Microsoft is pretty relaxed sitting on the top of the mountain.

You may or may not know, but Vista is the next version of the Windows operating system! Unfortunately it’s been delayed until January 2007 - refer to my earlier articles for more information on Vista. Leopard is the next generation of Mac OS X, but is not going to be available for shipping until Q2, 2007. Interesting to note Apple’s own admission that the software will contain some “secret” features that the company doesn’t wish to reveal to its competitors yet. Watch this space!!

Click the link for current version of Windows operating systems.

AOL are offering free personalised email domains

According to Computerworld, starting in September, AOL will offer personalised email domains FREE to all web users – for example, emailme@anyfreedomain.com. This service is only available through AOL.com and they are the first company to offer this service free.

This service will be called My eAddress and will include customised .com or .net email addresses, with up to 100 personalised email addresses with each domain. The service will also include spam and antivirus protection, and 2GB of email storage. Although it’s not as big as Gmail (2.75GB and growing every second), it’s large enough for almost everything! XtraMail…hurry up! Although, Xtra - only 100MB is not good enough! You’ll have to do better than that!!

Click the link if you’re on the hunt for some email/communication software.

Faster 4G network expected by the end of 2006 in U.S.

Not satisfied with just 3G (third-generation) mobile data? Or you haven’t started to use it yet? I think most of us haven’t yet experienced it to its full potential. Later this year, Sprint Nextel in the U.S. will roll out a faster 4G network using WiMax. (Sprint Nextel is the 3rd largest mobile operator in the U.S.)

The 4G network will offer downstream speeds of 2 megabits per second to 4 mbps (4096 kbps). Combined with fast uplinks, WiMax will offer enough bandwidth for mobile videoconferencing, transfers of large enterprise files and other applications. WiMax, an acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a certification mark for products that pass conformity and inter-operability tests for the IEEE 802.16 standards. IEEE 802.16 is working group number 16 of IEEE 802, specialising in point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access.

How much will the 4G service cost? 1GB of data will cost less than US$20 (NZ$24). However, the 4G network is still too far away for us to use. Currently, the fastest Vodafone 3G network in New Zealand can only deliver a user experience of between 300 and 500 kbps.

Click the link for Vodafone 3G phones and mobile connect cards.

Apple announces Mac Pro Quad Xeon 64-bit workstation

Apple introduces the Mac Pro, a new professional desktop computer that replaces its line of Power Mac machines. The Mac Pro completes Apple’s transition to Intel chips across its line of desktop and notebook machines. The standard Mac Pro is priced at US$2,499 (NZ$4,000), and ‘build to order’ will be available as well.

The Mac Pro will use Intel’s Dual-Core 64-bit Xeon 1500 series processor and support up to 16GB memory. It will support up to four 500GB SATA hard drives and comes standard with the NIVDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The ATI Radeon X1900XT and NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, both with 512MB of video memory, will be options. On Mac Pro, you can have up to four PCI Express graphics cards to drive up to eight displays at once, for advanced visualisation and large display walls. Just imagine how good it would be if you had 8 of the Apple 30-inch Cinema HD displays in front of you - a display wall of 20 feet!!

And if you’re not an Apple person - click the link for the latest in the Windows desktops and workstations.

Today’s Pick – Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT Graphics Card

Last week, I introduced two value graphics cards for normal everyday use. If you want to play some serious games or have more advanced multimedia requirements (video editing etc.), you may want to consider one of the mainstream graphics boards. Today, I’ll introduce you to the nVidia GeForce 7600GT graphics card made by Gigabyte.

Here’s the summary of its features:

• Powered by NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT GPU
• Supports NVIDIA SLI Technology
• Supports PCI Express and 12 pipelines
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0C and OpenGL 2.0 support
• Integrated with the industry's best 256MB GDDR3 memory and 128-bit memory interface
• Features dual DVI-I / D-sub (by adapter) / TV-OUT
• Supports HDTV function and HDTV cable is enclosed
• Hot Game: Serious Sam 2 bundled

Click here for pricing and more information.

Today's Pick - LASER DigPAD - A4 Size Digital Notepad/tablet

Today, I'll introduce the Laser digital notepad. It's a very powerful "business toy" with reasonable price. Here is the summary of its features. Click here for pricing.

TAKE YOUR NOTES - VIEW, EDIT, ORGANISE - EMAIL YOUR NOTES

SPECIFICATIONS:

• Active Area: 8.5" x 11"
• Works with any type of paper including regular letter size & A4 size
• Dimensions: 13" x 9.9" x 0.5" (LxWxH)
• Weight: 1.5 lbs.
• Writing Height: Around 135 Sheets of paper
• Built-In Memory: 32 MB (Over 150 Digital Sheets)
• Expandable Memory: SD Slot
• Power Saving Mode: 5 Seconds Auto Standby
• Connection: USB 1.1
• Resolution: 1024 LPI (Lines Per Inch)
• Reports Rate: 160 Reports Per Second
• Digital Ink Pen: 15 Months battery life with LED low battery indicator
  

APPLICATIONS:

View, Edit and E-mail your hand writing Notes:
With DigiPAD's bundle such as riteMail, you can easily view, edit and organize your handwriting digital pages in Windows. Save any digital pages as an image file and share your notes with others via e-Mail, send notes even to your PDA!

Recognize your handwriting:
riteMail 2.5 is able to read DigiPAD document files for intelligently transferring handwriting to text, supports 4 languages recognition - English, French, German, and Russian. With Unique riteShape and riteScript technology, it makes shapes and complete charts with automatic adjustment and alignment of concentric shapes, connected lines, and adjacent shapes!

Organize your Notes:
Place any ordinary paper or notepad on the digital pad. Write on the paper with the digital inking pen. The digital pad digitally records anything you write in it, one page you write is stored as one digital page. Plus, right from the DigiPAD you can organize your notes by creating folders for specific notes. The LCD screen shown on your left will tell you which page and folder your writing in.

Works as a Graphics Tablet:
By connecting the DigiPAD to your PC or notebook by USB port, it allows you to capture, organize, and share your handwritten notes, drawings, and sketches. Also, using the DigiPAD in Landscape format, you can use it as a drawing tablet to write or draw, right on your computer screen! The DigiPAD handwriting recognition enables all of this, simply amazing!

Form-Filling:
Digitally capture & store everything you write with ink on ordinary Letter size or A4 (8.5" x 11") size paper in real time. Immediately get both a digital record and a hardcopy duplicate of your handwritten notes even when you are on the move. No computer and special paper is required.
An excellent solution for form-filling application which needs a form hardcopy and digital filling data.

INCLUDED SOFTWARES:

• EverNote 1.0
• riteMail 2.5
• PhotoImpact XL SE
• Free Notes
• Power Presenter RE
• Office Ink
  

Google Tops Search Stats

According to Computerworld, Google retained its commanding lead of the search engine market in June. Here is the market share of the top 5 search engines:

• Google - 49.4%
• Yahoo - 23%
• MSN - 10.3%
• AOL - 6.9%
• Ask.com - 2.3%
  

Creative's Impressive ZEN V Plus Is Coming Soon

Creative's latest effort - the ZEN V line flash-based player is aimed right at Apple's popular iPod nano line. The ZEN V and ZEN V Plus come in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities.

In both lines, each model includes a voice recorder (iPod nano doesn't have), a line-in jack, and a 1.5-inch OLED screen (iPod nano uses 1.5" LCD screen) that displays photos with great clarity indoors but doesn't offer the best outdoor visibility. The V Plus also plays video and has an FM tuner (iPod nano doesn't have both functions). Both the ZEN V and ZEN V Plus work with Plays For Sure subscription content and handle the standard complement of MP3, WMA, and Audible files.

While the ZEN V models are about twice as thick as the iPod nano, they are also shorter, just as light, and very comfortable to use. They should be coming soon to New Zealand, but no date confirmed yet. Below are summarized features of Creative ZEN V Plus for your information. For other available models of MP3 players, click here.

• Scratch resistant OLED screen - Small and trendy, ZEN V Plus features a brilliant full color 1.5" OLED display. Your photos are clearer and more vibrant than ever, thanks to its 128 x 128 resolution.
• Line-in encoding - No computers necessary. Record music directly from your CD player or other playback source with the supplied Line-In cable instantly, in few simple steps.
• Your lifestyle tool - ZEN V Plus does much more than play music or display photos. Use it to display the time, as a handy alarm clock, or even to view your calendar, task and contacts. Maximize it as an external storage device that stores your important files and document.
• One touch navigation joystick - Its ergonomically designed 5-way joystick enables easy access to all menus. You can even start voice recording with just a click of a button.
• Set your tone - ZEN V Plus comes with 8 presets and custom EQ settings to bring out the best in your music.
• Easy transfer - Simple drag and drop your data files between ZEN V Plus and your computer. No complicated or messy driver installations necessary.
• Full access to online music stores - Select from more than a million songs from a myriad of online music stores - Napster To Go, Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Rhapsody To Go, and so much more. With PlaysForSure support, you will always be able to play any digital music purchased or subscribed to.
• Views from all angles - Rotate your screen and orientates to your preferred viewing point.
  

What is RAID 6?

Do you know what is RAID 6? Here is the answer according to HP:

RAID 6 (ADG) is an extension of RAID 5 for implementation on arrays of four or more drives. The data and two sets of parity information are striped across all drives in the array. The additional set of parity improves the fault tolerance of the array but results in lower write performance. The two sets of parity information are stored in different locations across the drives in the array and occupy the equivalent capacity of two physical drives. RAID 6 protects against the simultaneous failure of two drives in the array.

I have also summarized the differences between different RAID levels.

RAID 0

• Function: Data is distributed across separate disk drives.
• Applications: Image Editing • Video Production • Pre-Press Applications
• Limitations: Highly vulnerable to failure. The entire array will fail if one drive fails.

RAID 1

• Function: Mirroring - Identical data stored on two drives, high fault tolerance, very good performance (higher read performance than RAID 0).
• Applications: Accounting • Payroll • Financial
• Limitations: 50% of capacity dedicated to fault protection. Doubles the number of drives required.

RAID 1+0

• Function: Implemented as striped, mirrored disks.
• Applications: Database applications requiring high performance and fault tolerance; sacrifices storage efficiency.

RAID 5

• Function: One set of parity data is distributed across all drives. Protects against the failure of any one drive in an array.
• Applications: Transaction processing • File and application servers • ERP • Internet and Intranet servers
• Limitations: Potentially risky for large arrays. Can only withstand the loss of one drive without total array failure. Low write performance (improved with battery-backed cache).

RAID 6

• Function: Two sets of parity data are distributed across all drives. Protects against the failure of two drives in an array. Provides higher fault tolerance than RAID 5.
• Applications: For 24x7 applications that require a higher level of fault tolerance than RAID 5.
• Limitations: Lower write performance than other RAID levels. Sequential and burst-write performance can be much improved with battery-backed cache.

Value Graphics Cards

On our PC building roadmap, we already got computer case, motherboard, CPU, memory and hard drive (refer to my previous articles if you haven't seen them yet). What's the next? I think its graphics card. The price of graphics card varies from hundred dollars to thousand dollars. If you're a heavy gamer, you may need to consider some high-performance graphics cards. If you're just a normal office user, a normal graphics card may be good enough.

There are two major graphics card vendors in the world - nVidia and ATI. No matter who makes the card, the core technology will be from these two vendors. By the way, ATI will be bought by AMD soon. Today, I'll introduce two value graphics cards made by Gigabyte (one of the best video card makers, I believe).

Gigabyte GV-NX66256DP Graphics Accelerator

• Powered by NVIDIA GeForce 6600 VPU
• Supports NVIDIA SLI Technology
• Supports PCI Express and 8 pipelines
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0C and OpenGL 1.5 support
• Integrated with 256MB DDR memory and 128-bit memory interface
• Features DVI-I / D-sub / TV-OUT
• Supports HDTV function and HDTV cable enclosed
• Unique Silent-Pipe design
• GIGABYTE's Turbo Force Edition guarantee

Click here for more information and pricing.

Gigabyte GV-RX16T256V-RH Graphics Accelerator

• Powered by ATI Radeon X1600 XT VPU
• Supports PCI Express and 12 pipelines
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0C and OpenGL 2.0 support
• Integrated with the industry's best 256MB GDDR3 memory and 128-bit memory interface
• Features Dual DVI-I / D-sub(by adapter) / TV-OUT
• Supports HDTV function and HDTV cable enclosed
• Supports VIVO function for video editing
• Unique Silent-Pipe II design

Click here for more information and pricing.

Top Five Global PC Vendors

Who is the top 5 PC manufacturers in the world? Here is the answer based on the data of Q2, 2006.

• 1. Dell (Market Share: 19.2%; Q2 2006 shipments: 9.99 million units)
• 2. HP (Market Share: 15.9%; Q2 2006 shipments: 8.27 million units)
• 3. Lenovo (Market Share: 7.7%; Q2 2006 shipments: 3.56 million units)
• 4. Acer (Market Share: 5.4%; Q2 2006 shipments: 2.06 million units)
• 5. Fujitsu/Siemens (Market Share: 3.4%; Q2 2006 shipments: 1.77 million units)
• Others (Market Share: 48.5%; Q2 2006 shipments: 23.77 million units)
• All vendors (Q2 2006 shipment: 52.08 million units)

PCs include Desktop, Notebook, Ultra Portable and x86 Servers.