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Hardware Archive

Apple, ASUS, Acer Rank High in Customer Satisfaction

We may have reported earlier that Apple might finally face the headwind from the economic downturn, but that's not everything there's to this story. Recent data suggests - once again - that Apple customers are very, very satisfied with their Apple purchases. In other words, most current Apple customers are very likely to buy Apple again. Interestingly, ASUS and Acer did very well in the survey as well.

Microsoft Gives nVidia the OK for Ion Computers

It's not as if nVidia really needs Microsoft's stamp of approval to go ahead and sell their upcoming Ion-based PCs as people would certainly buy them anyway, but it certainly helps for us to know that they are tested to be certified for Windows Vista. Of course, we can't exactly trust just because a computer is "certified" for Windows Vista that it'll be a pleasant experience after previous events involving the system's specifications. However, the small form factor Ion-based machines showcased in the videos on Hot Hardware are rather impressive (if you're willing to wait through an annoying 'online scuba lessons' ad), playing 1080p HD video fullscreen without any dropframes, running Vista without hiccups, and even playing 3D games with equivalence to a mid-tower, mid-range quality. These little buggers are expected to roll out Summer of 2009, the cheapest of the lot reaching a delicious low of $299.

HP Ditches Linux Netbook Models in Europe

Netbooks have been heralded as the foot in the door for Linux. With the launch of the earliest Eee PC models, Asus made a bold move by only offering them with Linux pre-installed; Microsoft soon responded by working with Asus to bring Windows XP to the next generation Eee PCs. Since then, Windows XP gained market share in the netbook segment rapidly, casting doubts over whether or not netbooks would really turn out to be that foot in the door. HP has today announced that its new HP Mini 1000 netbook will not be available with Linux pre-installed in Europe.

Exploding Core Counts: Heading for the Buffers

In a classic case of kicking in open doors, research firm Gartner has concluded that software will not be able to keep up with the ever-increasing number of cores in modern processors. "By Gartner's reckoning, the doubling of core or thread counts every two years or so - and for some architectures, the thread growth is even larger with each jump - will affect all layers of the software stack. Operating systems, middleware, virtualization hypervisors, and applications riding atop this code all have their own limitations when it comes to exploiting threads and cores, and Gartner is warning IT shops to look carefully at their software before knee-jerking a purchase order to get the latest server as a means of boosting performance for their applications."

Acer Confirms Linux/SSD Model 10″ Aspire One

Late last week we informed you on the official revealing of the 10" Acer Aspire One, the successor the immensely successful 8.9" Aspire One. We couldn't yet confirm or deny any possible Linux model or SSD option, but we can now: Acer has stated that while during the initial launch there will only be a HDD/Windows version, it will soon be followed by an SSD/Linux model. The SSD will be 16GB in size, and the Linux distribution will - again - be Linpus. The Windows version will launch mid-February.

Phenom II Breaks Records at 6.5 GHz, Don’t Try This at Home

In a recent video, several hard core overclockers had a heyday just after CES lugging in the liquid nitrogen and liquid helium to provide themselves with enough coolant to perform such a feat-- and all for the public eye to see, no less. At nearly absolute zero temperatures of -232 degrees Celsius, these speed demons pushed their Phenom II X4s right into the record books, achieving a staggering clock of 6.5 GHz, not to mention shattering the hopes and dreams of thousands by stealing the 3DMark05 crown with 45,474 points. As a side note, liquid nitrogen is a bit tough to come by in most societies, so you may want to stifle that overclocking beast that has risen within you and keep your chips nice and un-fried as they were designed to be.

New 60 GHz Wireless Chip Created, Capable of Super High Speeds

The Georgia Electronic Design Center recently produced a working wireless chip that transmits data at 60 GHz signals. Scientists at the center achieved speeds of 15Gbps at a distance of one meter, 10 Gbps at two meters, and 5 Gbps at five meters-- and if those aren't blazing speeds even for a relatively small area, then I'm Mickey Mouse. The applications for the 60 GHz chip are endless for both consumer and IT markets, to add to our already vastly wireless lives. The ISO standard will be published later this year, and this new technology is predicted to be on the market in just a few years afterwards.

Corsair Enters Solid State Disk Race

On September 30, 2008 Fudzilla reported that memory manufacturer Corsair did not think the time was right to enter the SSD market, but they were watching the market closely. A little under four months later, Corsair feels the time is right to enter the SSD market. Hexus.net reports the 128GB drive will be named the S128, and it will feature Samsung flash memory and a Samsung controller. Corsair decided to use the Samsung controller over a JMicron controller due to problems with the latter. Even though the drive has not been announced by Corsair, Scan.co.uk has it listed as well as NCIX.

Should You Move to 64Bit?

We've been able to drop the world of 32bit for a while now, with 64bit processors and support for them being prevalent in all popular, modern operating systems. However, where Mac OS X and Linux seem to make the move to 64bit rather effortlessly, Windows has more problems. Even though 32bit applications should run fine on 64bit Windows, some don't; and to make matters worse, drivers need to be 64bit, as there's no support for 32bit drivers in 64bit versions of Windows. Still, Gizmodo claims that with Windows 7, the time is right to take the plunge. But really, is it so? And why do Linux and Mac OS X seem to handle the transition so much easier?

Drives Fail at High Rates, Seagate Offers Solutions

A recent unusual rise in Seagate Barracuda 1 TB hard drive fatalities got the company's attention as many customers were angry at the loss of their new drives. The Seagate forum was overrun with users asking for help and complaining of this "plague" that seemed to grip the drives made in Thailand and distributed to most major consumer countries throughout the world, but no one seemed to be able to find the answer-- directly from Seagate or elsewhere. In response to the epidemic, the company has isolated the "potential firmware issue" responsible and has provided a firmware upgrade to those who purchased the drive. Though the data remains intact on the affected drives (the hard drives simply locked up and became unusable), Seagate is also offering free data recovery to anyone who bought the drive and lost data afterwards.

EFI-X Dumps US Partner

We've already covered EFI-X a few times on OSNews. It's a boot processing unit that implements a working version of EFI, allowing you to boot all sorts of operating systems - including Mac OS X, without having to hack Apple's OS, meaning all updates will work flawlessly. And this is exactly where the problem lies: the company that makes the EFI-X, Arts Studio Entertainment Media, doesn't want to be associated in any way with people using the device to install Mac OS X. In fact, ASEM has stated that it will sue anyone who sells the EFI-X pre-installed in a machine that violates another company's terms of use, for instance by including a pre-installed copy of Mac OS X. EFI-X USA LLC (unrelated to ASEM), has done exactly this, and that's why ASEM severed its connections with the US company.

The Last of the Laser Disc Players

Remember those lovely laser discs that education systems seemed to so lovingly embrace back in the 80s and 90s? The discs resembled what today's children would probably call a giant DVD, and these would be placed upon a massive tray to be sucked into a player twice the size of your VCR (VCR? What's that?). All of the memories associated with these players may bring tears to the surface, but you're going to have to face the truth sooner or later: Pioneer just ended production of its last three laser disc players, meaning that replacements for the said players, assuming you own one, will now be gone... forever. Stock up and buy a couple, and you'll be able to enjoy those massive discs for years to come instead of using them as frisbees. Honestly, though-- how did the laser disc player last this long?

Nonexistent Laser Drive Boasts 100Tbits/s

Though this drive is pretty much in the average consumers' dreams (albeit a very tech-savvy average consumer) for at least the next decade or so, having one of these buggers would certainly make even those of us who have "seen it all" drool. It's estimated that in a mere five years, laser-drive hybrids could be commercially available (for a hefty price, I wager), but only reaching the sluggish access time of 1Tbits/s. It is also estimated, however, that in the future beyond, we may be seeing more modern drives with a happy 100Tbits/s. Amazing what shedding a bit of laser light on a subject can do.