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August 29, 1998
News
- Lots of great prizes to give away today, including copies of Windows 98 Plus, Office 97
and more.
- Intel debuted both the 450 MHz version of their Pentium II processor and, more
importantly, their second-generation Celeron processors. As I reported last week, the new
Celeron A processors incorporate 128K of built-in L2 cache which, as I suspected, make a
huge difference in their performance. In fact, I looked through numerous benchmark results
generated by several different magazines and it appears that the Celeron 300A and 333A
processors run almost identically to much more expensive 300 and 333 MHz Pentium II
processors in real-world tests. Intel claimed the difference would be about 10% with all
other things being equal, but it appears to be even less than that in regular
applications. So, what does this mean? I’d look for a Celeron-based PC as a great
value-priced machine in the $1,200 to $1,500 price range, but make sure it uses the
Celeron A processor. This is particularly confusing if you get a 300 MHz machine because
there are regular and A versions available at that speed. The 266 MHz versions are the
old, slow, cache-less Celerons and the 333 is only available in the new cache-enhanced A
version. Relying on a single letter to differentiate between the two models is incredibly
bad marketing, if you ask me, but it’s a great deal nonetheless and should give
Intel’s competitors in the low-end PC business a real run for their money.
- Speaking of which, one of those competitors, AMD, this week officially announced a 350
MHz version of their K6-2 processor. The new version works with Super 7-based motherboard
and systems, which offer a 100 MHz system bus with Socket 7-based processors. All other
100 MHz system bus-based PCs use Intel’s Pentium II processor, which only fits into
the company’s proprietary Slot One connector. Look for this faster K6-2 to be in
computers in the higher end of the value range, probably around the $1,200 to $1,300
range.
- In fact, one of the first computers to feature the chip is one of two new Aptiva
computers announced this week by IBM. The $1,299 E4N features the 350 MHz K6 2, 64 MB of
RAM, 8 GB hard drive, 32x CD-ROM , 56K modem and an ATI Rage Pro Turbo hardware 3D
accelerator. Th really exciting new IBM Aptiva, however, is the slick new $2,399 SE7,
which features a 450 MHz PII, 128 MB of RAM, 16.8 GB hard drive, 2x DVD, 56K modem and 4
MB version of the ATI 2x AGP video card. In addition, you can bundle it with IBM’s
matching $1,099 T55A 15" digital flat-panel display, which is one of the only
15" flat panels available near $1,000. The T55 offers a native resolution of 1,024 x
768 but can also work at lower resolutions. IBM will be offering a digital version of the
display called the T55 for $949 or $1,099 bundled with a Matrox AGP-based digital video
card that supports the VESA Plug & Display digital connector standard. The benefit of
the Plug and Display, or P&D digital connection, which is slowly but surely becoming a
standard, is that it both reduces the cost and improves the quality of the image. The one
downside is that only a few video cards support the digital connection, but more are
expected to offer it soon.
- Many of the companies and/or websites offering free e-mail services were hit with
security concerns this week from several different problems. A few services, such as
Hotmail, apparently had holes that potentially allowed hackers to discover users’
passwords. In addition, several more of them have security holes that stem from allowing
e-mail with attached Javascripts, ActiveX controls and other potentially malicious code to
pass through their systems unfiltered. Most of the companies who offer these services were
quick to provide fixes, but if you use any of them, you should visit the site and look for
any updates you may need to download. Many of the fixes were server-based issues and could
only be addressed by the companies themselves, but it’s still worthwhile to check in.
- The CIH, or BIOS Virus, I warned you about last month apparently struck several hundred
computers this week. The virus, which in certain variations is scheduled to run on the 26th
of every month, can overwrite the critical first portion of your hard drive as well as
attempt to scramble your BIOS if you have system with a flash BIOS. All major anti-virus
software vendors can now detect and eradicate CIH, but this is yet one more wake-up call
to make sure you have and are updating an anti-virus program on your computer. These days,
no PC or Mac is safe without one. If you’re a PC user and you want a free tool to
deal with CIH only, you can check out the link I have to Symantec’s free Kill CIH
tool from my This Week’s Links page.
- Netcom is apparently planning to roll out DSL service in the Bay Area in the next few
weeks, although the company hasn’t announced prices for the high-speed Internet
access service yet. According to the company’s press materials it will offers several
speed variations, including 256 Kbps, 384 K, 768 K and 1.1 Mbps in both asymmetric and
symmetric varieties. An asymmetric connection means that your upload rates are slower than
your download rates, which is no big deal for most consumers, but businesses hosting their
own web sites may want to opt for the more expensive symmetric connection which lets
incoming data reach you as quickly as outgoing data.
- The notion of combining a TV and PC has yet to really catch on in the marketplace, but
the one company whose apparently had moderate success with the idea has a new model. The
latest Gateway Destination PC-TV system is the first to break the $2,000 mark, including
the cost of the 27" TV/monitor. The Destination D6-333c features a 333 MHz Celeron A
processor, 32 RAM, 2 GB hard drive, a 2x DVD-ROM drive and a 56K modem. The DVD drive can
be used to both read CD and DVD-ROM disks for the PC side of the system and play back DVD
movies for the TV side.
- Microsoft acknowledged a bug in their Access database product that apparently affects
all versions of the program, including 2.0, 95 and 97. While somewhat difficult to come
across the bug could be potentially devastating to applications built around Access
because it can result in inadvertently deleting records from a database without even
knowing about it. The company has apparently posted instructions on how to avoid the
problem on their web site and plans to fix the patch in the Office Service Pack 2
that’s supposedly due in a few weeks.
- Looking for a recordable CD drive that still offers reasonable CD-ROM performance? You
might want to check out HP’s new 8100 line of recordable CDs, which work with both
CD-R and CD-RW disks, and can read CD-ROMs at 24x speeds. The $399 HP CD-Writer Plus 8100
can write to recordable CD disks at 4x rates and to the rewritable CD-RW disks at 8x
rates. In addition, the drive offers a new fast formatting feature that can cut the
standard hour-plus format time of CD-R and CD-RW disks down to five minute or less.
- Finally, this week Symantec unveiled version 9.0 of their popular WinFax Pro faxing
application for Windows-based PCs. The $99 program includes a new Send screen that lets
you preview a complete fax before you send it, lets a workgroup share a single fax modem
for sending faxes, offers tighter integration with MS’ Outlook 98 and more. Existing
users can get a $50 rebate to reduce their upgrade price to $49.
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