|
May 22, 1999
News
- As expected, Intel this past week officially unveiled the 550 MHz version of their
Pentium III processor and many system vendors debuted systems with the new chip. Not
surprisingly, the chip itself isn’t much faster than the previous top-of-the-line
model—the 500 MHz—but in some instances the new systems do outperform other
recent PCs. The primary reason for this is that the new machines always have improvements
in other areas, such as faster video cards, bigger, faster hard drives, more memory as
standard and so on. In fact, it’s worth making the point once again on this subject:
the speed of the processor does not necessarily determine the speed of the computer. A
PC’s overall speed is determined by a wide variety of different factors and cannot be
simply reduced to a MHz race. In fact, in this instance, the 10% theoretical improvement
one would expect to see in a 550 MHz vs. a 500 MHz doesn’t pan out. One test I saw
said the improvement was only a matter of 3% when the processor was changed in a system
but all the other components remained the same. So, if you really want a fast machine,
yes, look at several of the fastest processors currently available, but also look for
large, fast hard drives that spin at high-rotations, 3D accelerated video cards with lots
of onboard memory and the most recent graphics accelerator chips, and finally, a lot of
regular PC memory.
- According to data released by industry analyst firm PC Data, the high-end machines with
these types of processors may not be making the type of impact that Intel wants.
Apparently the average selling price for new PCs in the month of April slipped from $987
to $928. At the price, the most popular machines are probably using Celerons, older
Pentium IIs or AMD’s K6.
- In addition to the fast new Pentium IIIs, Intel also introduced a speed bumped version
of its mobile Celeron processor. The new mobile Celeron is now available at 366 MHz
version and a 400 MHz version is expected sometime next month. Interestingly, this brings
the most recent Celerons up to the same performance speed as a top-of-the-line mobile
Pentium II PE processors, which also top out at 366. In fact, the only real difference
between the new Celeron and the Pentium II is the amount of L2 cache on the chip. The
Pentium II PE line have 256K of onboard L2 cache that runs at the same speed as the
processor and the Celeron has 128K of a similar type of memory. Other than that—and
the large price differential between the two—they’re virtually identical. What
that means, of course, is that the new Celerons are a better value.
- Speaking of notebooks and value, Sony announced a slew of new Vaio notebooks this past
week. Topping off the list is a more professional—read more powerful, but also more
expensive—version of their popular 505 series. The 505 was one of the first low-cost,
light, thin notebooks and various iterations of the product continue to be top sellers.
The new Z505 SuperSlim Pro series keeps the size to less than one inch thick and the
weight to under 3.5 pounds but increases the screen size from 10.4" to 12.1",
jumps the processors up to the fastest mobile Pentium IIs now available and incorporates
more RAM (128 MB is standard on the Z505SX). The Z505 series all still include an IEEE
1394 port, which Sony calls i.Link, as well as two USB ports and a single Type II PC Card
slot. In addition, the Z505 adds a built-in 10/100Mbit Ethernet connection, which can be
handy for attaching to office networks or using with high-speed Internet connections, such
as cable modems and DSL. The Z505SX, which includes a 366 MHz Pentium II, will retail for
$2,999 when it’s introduced in June and the Z505S, which uses a 333 MHz Celeron and
64 MB of RAM, will be $2,499. On the high end of the line, Sony also introduced the
PCG-F290, which won’t be available until mid-July and will probably be priced around
$3,000 to $3,200. What you’ll get for that price is a 400 MHz processor—which
hasn’t even been announced yet, but is probably either a Pentium II or maybe the
first mobile Pentium III—a 15" screen, built-in 4x DVD-ROM drive, 128 MB of RAM,
and a 6.4 GB hard drive.
- Well, we can’t get it here yet, but if you plan to be on the East Coast on a
regular basis, you might want to check out the new Palm VII, which is expected to go on
sale in the NY metropolitan area on Monday. The $599 device is the latest version of the
popular Palm Pilot. What’s unique to the Palm VII is that it incorporates a built-in
antenna and wireless data connection that allows the device to send and receive e-mails
and receive certain types of data via the Internet. The Palm VII, which is shaped like the
Palm IIIx but is a bit longer, includes all the basic features of the other Palm Pilots as
well. The wireless data service is the interesting part, however. The company plans to
roll out the device nationwide by the end of the year, but they have an arrangement with
an East Coast telecommunications firm to provide the monthly service—which costs
either $9.95/month for a limited plan or $24.95/month for a more complete, though not
unlimited service. E-mail messages are limited to text-only and are not received
automatically, you have to specifically request the device to download your e-mail. In
addition, the data part of the Palm VII is not true web browsing—it basically can
fill in predefined forms from certain information providers, such as news, sports, weather
and financial sources, that are stored inside the Palm VII’s memory. But, if
you’re a Pilot fan and an information junkie, this sounds like the gadget for you.
- Netscape this week unveiled the most recent version of their browser. Communicator 4.6
is a minor upgrade that incorporates numerous bug fixes and some enhancements to its smart
browsing features and setup routines. You can either download the entire thing—which
is about a 15 MB proposition—or use the Smart Update feature if you already have a
previous version of Communicator installed on your machine.
- If you’re interested in more information about the up-and-coming Linux operating
system, you’ll be happy to know there’s a new information source for you. The
redesigned Linux.com portal site made its debut this past week, offering a variety of
original information for Linux users as well as lots of links to the most popular Linux
resources on the web, including Slashdot, Linux Today and FreshMeat. If you’ve been
thinking about trying out Linux and want to find out more, it looks to be a good
information resource.
- If you’re looking for a really large-format photo printer for small posters and
banners, you may want to check out Epson’s new Stylus Photo 1200. The $499, 6-color
printer offers 1,440 x 720 dpi resolution and prints on paper up to 13" wide by
44" long. In addition, you can print directly to it from Epson’s PhotoPC 750Z
digital camera. The printer comes bundled with several software applications, including
Photoshop 5.0 LE, and has Mac serial, PC parallel and cross-platform USB connections.
- Speaking of cross-platform USB connections, Diamond Multimedia this week unveiled the
SupraExpress USB Modem, which the company claims is the first USB modem to work on either
a Mac or a PC. The $99 external device supports the V.90 56K modem standard and on PCs
also includes support for Caller ID.
|
|
