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May 2, 1998
News
- This week Microsoft announced that they’ll be introducing Microsoft Plus 98 on June
25, the same day as their Windows 98 operating system. The $45 utility add-on pack
includes McAfee’s VirusScan anti-virus program, Cybermedia’s File Cleaner and
Microsoft’s own Picture It! image editing program. In addition, like the Plus! pack
for Windows 95, Microsoft Plus 98 includes additional wallpapers, system sounds, cursors
and other silly stuff.
- Not content to let Intel take all the glory, microprocessor manufacturer AMD is getting
ready to launch a new, enhanced version of their K6 processor. Originally to be called
K6-3D, the company has decided to officially name the new chip, which is scheduled to be
available May 28, the K6-2. The highlights of the K6-2 are a new set of 21 instructions
called 3D Now that will improve the chip’s floating point performance, which is
commonly used for things like 3-D rendering (hence the name). Like the 57 MMX
instructions, which these additions are conceptually similar to, the 3D Now instructions
will only help if software developers decide to support them and take advantage of them in
their software. To help encourage that move, both Cyrix and IDT have also announced that
their future chips will also support the 3D Now instructions. Without the weight of Intel
behind them, however, it’s not clear how much of an impact they’re going to
make. Another major feature of the K6-2 is that the chip is capable of supporting 100 MHz
system buses, like Intel’s new 350 and 400 MHz Pentium IIs. Unfortunately, chipsets
that support the new faster bus and the K6-2 will apparently be very limited until the
third quarter of this year, which means we may not see K6-2 systems with 100 MHz system
buses until then. This is particularly disappointing because K6-based systems will benefit
much more from the faster bus than Pentium IIs. The reason for this is because the L2
cache on a K6 sits on the system bus whereas on a Pentium II the L2 cache already has a
high-speed link to the processor via the Slot One cartridge. As a result, a faster system
bus can have a dramatically positive impact on K6 performance, whereas it didn’t have
particularly dramatic impact on Pentium IIs. Anyway, look for systems that use the new
K6-2 sometime around the end of this month.
- If you’re interested in voice recognition software for your word processor, where
you can simply speak the words you want to have appear on your screen instead of type
them, then you’ll want to check out two new Windows 95 products from Lernout and
Hauspie. Voice Xpress is a $49 application that lets you dictate directly into your PC at
a rate of nearly 140 words per minute. Voice Xpress Plus is a $99 package that lets you
dictate directly into Microsoft Word. Like other continuous speech recognition products,
both Voice Xpress and Voice Xpress Plus have hefty system requirements. You’ll need
at least a 166 MHz Pentium MMX, at least 40 MB of RAM for Voice Xpress and 48 for Voice
Xpress Plus, and 130 MB of free disk space.
- Lots of interesting Apple news items this week—some good, some not so good. First,
on the good side, industry research firm IDC reported that Apple’s market share
actually increased over the last quarter, which stops a slide downward that had been
occurring for several years. The company also announced a $30 rebate for purchasers of
both the new Microsoft Office 98 for the Mac and MacOS 8.1 as well as a new licensing deal
with HP for making Mac-compatible inkjet printers. On the downside, however, Intuit
announced that they were discontinuing development on the Mac version of their immensely
popular Quicken program. Recent reports suggest that Apple is working to change that
decision, but nothing definitive has been announced.
- In other Apple news, the company will be introducing a new line of six Powerbooks this
coming week. Codenamed WallStreet, the new portables, which range in price from about
$2,350 to $5,600, will all be based around G3 processors. At the low end, the computers
will include a 233 MHz G3, 32 MB of RAM, 2.1 GB drive, 12.1" dual scan screen,
built-in Ethernet and a 20x CD-ROM. At the high, the computers feature a 292 MHz G3, 1 MB
of L2 cache, 64 MB of RAM, 8 GB hard drive, 14.1" active matrix display, built-in
Ethernet and 56K modem and a 20x CD-ROM. Look for more information next week.
- There was also a lot of activity in PC notebooks this past week. Intel announced some
price cuts on their mobile processors, even on the brand new mobile Pentium IIs that were
just introduced less than a month ago. Cuts of over 40% were made to the 200 and 233 MHz
Mobile Pentium MMX processors, which should translate into some great savings on
notebooks. Not surprisingly then, several companies announced price cuts, including
WinBook and Acer.
- Both HP and IBM also announced new lines of Pentium II-based notebooks. HP’s new
4100 series, which start at $3,499, feature the new 233 and 266 MHz Pentium II processors
in a thin, 4.1 pound package. The machines include 13.3 or 14" screens, a 4GB or
6.4GB hard drive, 24x CD-ROM drive, and an optional LS-120 drive. HP also announced new
2100 and 3100 line OmniBooks, which use the 200, 233 and 266 MHz Pentium MMX processors.
Starting at just $1,525 for the 2100 and $3,249 for the 3100, the machines will include
12.1 and 13.3" displays, 3.2GB or 4GB hard drives, and 24x CD-ROM drives. IBM’s
new 600 line of ThinkPads also come in the increasingly popular thin format. They range in
price from $4,599 for a system with a 13.3" display and 266-MHz Pentium II processor
to $2,799 for a system with a 233-MHz Pentium MMX and 12.1" active-matrix display.
IBM also added Pentium IIs to its ThinkPad 770 line and their ThinkPad 380XD line.
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