Latest trend: No significant changes but much faster<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi
\nContributor
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
In the last few years, there have not been too many
\nfundamental changes in the ways PCs are built. The processors may
\nbe running much faster -- the latest speed record from Intel is
\n2.2 GHz, but the architecture remains basically the same.<\/p>\n
You can still assemble your own PC from components you buy in
\nRatu Plaza, Gajah Mada Plaza, Mal Mangga Dua or Dusit Mangga Dua,
\nand get a machine that is comparable in performance with branded
\nPCs.<\/p>\n
Talking about processor speeds, PCWorld reported that a small
\nquantity of Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.4 GHz were available in
\nJapan recently, although chipmaker Intel Corp. has not officially
\nannounced the product. Usually, when Intel announces a new
\nproduct, PC vendors have already received a limited volume so
\nthat they can also announce their products at the same time. It
\nis, however, unusual for them to sell new processors ahead of
\nIntel's announcement.<\/p>\n
While Intel is working very hard to leave its competitors
\nbehind in terms of speed, it turns out that that is a very
\ndifficult task to accomplish. Reports also have it that the
\nAthlon XP processors from rival AMD outperform Intel Pentium 4
\nprocessors running at higher speeds. To tip the balance further
\ntoward the Athlon processors, their prices are lower, too, than
\nthe Pentium 4. However, as reported by ZDNet, Intel claimed that
\nAMD used a naming standard that misled customers into thinking
\nthat its processors, which ran at lower clock speeds,
\noutperformed the Pentium 4s with higher clock speeds. There is no
\ndull moment in the processor race field.<\/p>\n
Wearable PCs, i.e., small PCs in your pockets with monitors
\nthat you may wear on your head, are still a thing of the distant
\nfuture, although they are already available for specialized
\napplications such as in field combats. Personal Data Assistants
\n(PDAs), particularly those running Microsoft PocketPC operating
\nsystems, are now used by a lot of people, but they still cannot
\nreplace a desktop or a notebook computer.<\/p>\n
As for breakthroughs, Apple has perhaps been more progressive
\nthan the guys in the PC industry. Incidentally, if you are a Mac
\nfan, there will be an event on Wednesday, April 3 at Kempinski
\nHotel, Jakarta, where you can see the latest technology on the
\nMac side of personal computing.<\/p>\n
There has been some progress here and there in the PCs, of
\ncourse. The monitors now no longer have to be a CRT. Both Samsung
\nElectronics and LG-Phillips LCD from Korea have been working
\naround the clock churning out LCD screens to meet the growing
\ndemand. Although the price may not be much lower this year due to
\nthe strong demand, the trend is clear. More and more people
\nchoose LCD over CRT monitors for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n
One thing that you may need to note here is that the latest
\nPCs, such as the ones from Acer, are abandoning the plain old
\nSynchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) standard and
\nmoving fast to adopt the Double Data Rate SDRAM. The move may
\nlead to a lot of confusion, as one new standard is being
\nintroduced when the preceding one has barely got the chance to
\nestablish a market share. At 266 MHz and a peak bandwidth of 2.1
\nGbps per second, the current DDR266 memory module has a speed
\ntwice the 133 MHz top speed of the old SDRAM. However, faster DDR
\nSDRAM at speeds of 333 MHz and 400 MHz are also available in
\nselect PCs.<\/p>\n
Then the industry is already talking about DDR II, which
\nallows for speed beyond DDR400. In the meantime, Rambus is still
\nkeeping a good fight with its RDRAM standard. So, be prepared for
\na lot of chaos in the memory arena.<\/p>\n
What about the production of sound? The PCs, especially those
\nin the multimedia home PC category, are gradually replacing the
\nhome theater system in your living room. Today, more and more
\nmotherboards come complete with Dolby-certified audio subsystem
\nwith 5.1 channels, enabling you to watch DVD movies in your
\nstudy.<\/p>\n
Another trend is the DVD and CD-RW combo. Unlike in the past,
\nyou no longer need two separate drives for watching a DVD movie
\nand burning a CD-ROM. The DVD-CD-RW combo is even available for
\nthe notebook computers. DVD-writers are not yet commonplace, but
\nthey are already available.<\/p>\n
Hard disks have also become larger, much larger than you need-
\nunless you are into video editing. New PCs today come with a hard
\ndisk that boasts a capacity of up to 160 GB. Imagine how much
\nnon-pirated software you should buy to fill it up, and how many
\nDVD-RAM discs you would need to back it up. The mainstream PCs,
\nhowever, now come with a 40 GB hard disk that spins 7200 times in
\na minute.<\/p>\n
For those who use expensive machines to play games for self-
\nactualization, the choice of graphics subsystem should include an
\nNvidia GeForce 4 processor. For the rest of us who use the PCs to
\nget our jobs done, however, a PC is still a PC. Any processor
\nspeed above 500 MHz will do. And, when it comes to price, the US$
\n777 of an Acer Power SD is perhaps the most that we need to
\nspend.<\/p>",
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