New hard disks, multimedia

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

It has been quite a long time since we last explored the IT world to see what was new, so let us do it again. At least we know what to look for if we suddenly have to replace our hard disk, CD-RW drive or our desktop PC.

Huge hard disks: For many years I have been a fanatic user of IBM hard disks. They are always my first choice when buying new hard disks. My experience so far has been largely positive. Unfortunately, you will have to ask around if you want to buy an IBM hard disk. The stores do not stock a lot of them because they are more expensive than the rest.

What is the latest hard disk capacity available for desktop computers today?

IBM has introduced its 120 GB hard disk Deskstar 120 GXP. This hard disk rotates at the speed of 7200 rotations per minute (RPM) has an ATA 100 EIDE interface and an average seek time of 8.5 ms. The store price in the U.S. is currently about US$220, although some online stores offer prices as low as $151.

What is its competitor? Western Digital has its Caviar WD1200JB with the same capacity and interface standard. ZDNet actually rated this hard disk slightly higher than IBM's Deskstar, especially if you work with large audio and video files that require a sustainable high transfer rate. My choice, though, would perhaps be the Special Edition Caviars from Western Digital, which come with 8 MB cache memory. These are available in 80, 100 and 120 GB capacity.

One thing to keep in mind is that you need to really know which hard disk model you want to buy. Although it has 120 in the middle of its name, for example, Deskstar 120GXP hard disks come in different capacities; 40, 80 and 120 GB. IBM has confusing naming conventions for their hard disks. On the other hand, Western Digital clearly categorizes its hard disks into High Performance, Special Edition, Mainstream and Value drives.

Is 120 GB the biggest capacity available today? Maxtor has one that can store 160 GB of data. It probably has the largest data storage capacity today, but, unfortunately, it still spins at 5400 RPM.

Sound Production: A soundcard has been a must inside our PC since the early 1990s, with SoundBlaster from Creative Labs (creative.com) as the de facto standard. Most of us are content with Creative Lab's SoundBlaster Live! Value Pack, which already produces very good sound and has two output channels to drive a four-speaker configuration.

Probably the most interesting idea you can have from Creative Lab today is SoundBlaster Extigy. It is designed as an external addition to a PC or notebook that has a USB port. More importantly, with MIDI, digital audio and SPDF standards supported, the Extigy is designed to accommodate all audio devices you can think of, including a DAT player, a DVD player, a CD player, a Mini Disc player, an MP3 player, a MIDI keyboard, a set top box, a game console and a microphone. All in all, it has seven input ports and five output ports, and there is a remote control to adjust the output volume, too. The price is around $150.

Meanwhile, Creative has updated its range of internal sound cards, which now includes the Audigy series. Like the hard disks offered by IBM and Western Digital, Creative has an Audigy card for different purposes. There is an Audigy sound card for gamers, another for MP3 lovers, etc. In addition to a very clear, 24-bit digital sound and its EAX audio enhancement technology, the strengths of Creative Lab's products include all the software utilities that come with each of them. One of these is the utility to record music on Mini Discs, others are the Audio Mixer and WaveStudio for editing the audio file.

Home Entertainment or PC?

If you want to combine the two, the range of choice is wider than ever. However, if you want a package that promises the best features, perhaps the ones to choose are Sony's PCV-RX780G and PCV-RX790G. These two high end VAIO PCs from this global electronics king exemplify what the next home entertainment brings.

Sony's top-of-the-range multimedia PCs have RX in their model numbers. The $2,400 (approximate price) RX790G comes with a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz processor, 512 MB of memory and a 120 GB hard disk. The $2,100 PCV-RX780G is equipped with a Pentium 4 2.2 GHz, 512 MB of memory. Both come with separate DVD-RW and CD-RW drives, so you can burn your own DVD.

To enable you to quickly download a video from your DV cameras, the two PCs have IEEE 1394 port in front. Incidentally, this connection is also called i-Link. According to a report, these models are available this summer.

And, with so much computing power, you will surely have no problem creating your business presentation in Powerpoint or completing that midterm paper.