Latest trend: Only real change in PCs is speed

Latest trend: Only real change in PCs is speed

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta

In the last few years, there have not been too many
fundamental changes in the ways PCs are built. The processors may
be running much faster -- the latest speed record from Intel is
2.2 GHz, but the architecture remains basically the same.

You can still assemble your own PC from components you buy in
Ratu Plaza, Gajah Mada Plaza, Mal Mangga Dua or Dusit Mangga Dua,
and get a machine that is comparable in performance with branded
PCs.

Talking about processor speeds, PCWorld reported that a small
quantity of Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.4 GHz were available in
Japan recently, although chipmaker Intel Corp. has not officially
announced the product. Usually, when Intel announces a new
product, PC vendors have already received a limited volume so
that they can also announce their products at the same time. It
is, however, unusual for them to sell new processors ahead of
Intel's announcement.

While Intel is working very hard to leave its competitors
behind in terms of speed, it turns out that that is a very
difficult task to accomplish. Reports also have it that the
Athlon XP processors from rival AMD outperform Intel Pentium 4
processors running at higher speeds. To tip the balance further
toward the Athlon processors, their prices are lower, too, than
the Pentium 4. However, as reported by ZDNet, Intel claimed that
AMD used a naming standard that misled customers into thinking
that its processors, which ran at lower clock speeds,
outperformed the Pentium 4s with higher clock speeds. There is no
dull moment in the processor race field.

Wearable PCs, i.e., small PCs in your pockets with monitors
that you may wear on your head, are still a thing of the distant
future, although they are already available for specialized
applications such as in field combats. Personal Data Assistants
(PDAs), particularly those running Microsoft PocketPC operating
systems, are now used by a lot of people, but they still cannot
replace a desktop or a notebook computer.

As for breakthroughs, Apple has perhaps been more progressive
than the guys in the PC industry. Incidentally, if you are a Mac
fan, there will be an event on Wednesday, April 3 at Kempinski
Hotel, Jakarta, where you can see the latest technology on the
Mac side of personal computing.

There has been some progress here and there in the PCs, of
course. The monitors now no longer have to be a CRT. Both Samsung
Electronics and LG-Phillips LCD from Korea have been working
around the clock churning out LCD screens to meet the growing
demand. Although the price may not be much lower this year due to
the strong demand, the trend is clear. More and more people
choose LCD over CRT monitors for obvious reasons.

One thing that you may need to note here is that the latest
PCs, such as the ones from Acer, are abandoning the plain old
Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) standard and
moving fast to adopt the Double Data Rate SDRAM. The move may
lead to a lot of confusion, as one new standard is being
introduced when the preceding one has barely got the chance to
establish a market share. At 266 MHz and a peak bandwidth of 2.1
Gbps per second, the current DDR266 memory module has a speed
twice the 133 MHz top speed of the old SDRAM. However, faster DDR
SDRAM at speeds of 333 MHz and 400 MHz are also available in
select PCs.

Then the industry is already talking about DDR II, which
allows for speed beyond DDR400. In the meantime, Rambus is still
keeping a good fight with its RDRAM standard. So, be prepared for
a lot of chaos in the memory arena.

What about the production of sound? The PCs, especially those
in the multimedia home PC category, are gradually replacing the
home theater system in your living room. Today, more and more
motherboards come complete with Dolby-certified audio subsystem
with 5.1 channels, enabling you to watch DVD movies in your
study.

Another trend is the DVD and CD-RW combo. Unlike in the past,
you no longer need two separate drives for watching a DVD movie
and burning a CD-ROM. The DVD-CD-RW combo is even available for
the notebook computers. DVD-writers are not yet commonplace, but
they are already available.

Hard disks have also become larger, much larger than you need-
unless you are into video editing. New PCs today come with a hard
disk that boasts a capacity of up to 160 GB. Imagine how much
non-pirated software you should buy to fill it up, and how many
DVD-RAM discs you would need to back it up. The mainstream PCs,
however, now come with a 40 GB hard disk that spins 7200 times in
a minute.

For those who use expensive machines to play games for self-
actualization, the choice of graphics subsystem should include an
Nvidia GeForce 4 processor. For the rest of us who use the PCs to
get our jobs done, however, a PC is still a PC. Any processor
speed above 500 MHz will do. And, when it comes to price, the US$
777 of an Acer Power SD is perhaps the most that we need to
spend.