What else is new from the PC world?
What else is new from the PC world?
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): How fast should your computer be? Well, it seems
that the sky is the limit. PC power users crave more speed, and
chip manufacturers respond with faster and faster processors.
Last year, IBM came up with their 33/100 MHz Blue Lightning
chips, the clock-tripled 486 CPUs that worked internally at the
speed of 99 MHz but externally at 33 MHz.
Intel, in its continued efforts to create market confusion to
drive away its competitors, has just released its own version of
clock-tripled 486 CPUs. There are three of them, running at 100,
83 and 75 MHz each.
And if you think that the name of the new generation of
computer brain cells is 486DX3 -- based on the fact that the
clock-doubled CPU is called 486DX2, you're wrong. It's called
486DX4. Why? Perhaps only the gods and the people at Intel know.
There are several speculations surrounding the inconsistent
naming. Some say that Intel has deliberately chosen the DX4 as
the successor of DX2 for legal purposes. On the other hand, Intel
says that the name 486 has been dropped and replaced by the
figure 4 after DX, making the official name IntelDX4 rather than
i486DX4. Can you figure out the real logic behind it all? I
can't.
Controversies aside, a new generation of CPU usually means
good news. The new processor chips, although not all of them run
three times faster internally, are more suitable now for portable
PCs because of lower power consumption, 3.3 Volt, and better
built-in power-management features. The performance level of the
fastest DX4 reportedly falls somewhere between 486DX/2 66 MHz and
Pentium 60 MHz processors.
Another good news from Intel is that it has, as of the
beginning of this month, lowered the price of 66 MHz Pentium
chips from US$871 to $750 in quantities of 1,000.
That will certainly bring a faster processor closer to
replacing my old but faithful 386DX EPS. Or, should I wait for
PowerPC systems and their applications to become more widely
available instead? You see, the future is becoming more and more
uncertain.
TrackPoint
Yes, that's true. And the TrackPoint alternative to
conventional rodents, which debuted in IBM ThinkPad series
notebooks, has become a very popular one. My dream subnotebook,
the Toshiba Portege T3400CT, for instance, also features a
similarly designed pointing device. Lexmark International, a
subsidiary of IBM that brings us keyboards and laser printers,
has just released the keyboard. In fact, if you had attended the
OS/2 seminar in Jakarta last week you would have seen it attached
to one of the newer ValuePoint model.
IBM's keyboards have always been my best favorite ever since I
bought my PS/2 Model 30 in 1987. I like the firm tactile response
and the click-clack sound that they produce. Unfortunately, they
used to be very costly.
When I was putting together my current PC, the price of an IBM
keyboard was much too expensive for my budget. At that time IBM
told me I would have to pay $300 for a PS/2 keyboard. So I
settled with Northgate Omnikey 101, which was in fact another
award winning keyboard. But now that IBM has lowered its prices
across the board, the new Lexmark keyboards list only for $129 to
$149. That sounds more affordable.
Space Travel by CD
You know why I'm so depressed by the educational system of
this country? Just imagine, the teacher of my eight-year-old
daughter recently had her memorize all the earth, moon and sun
stuff word by word. She had to memorize -- not visualize -- that
the moon circled around the earth, and that both of them circled
around the sun.
Here's a CD ROM that I wish I had when my daughter had to
prepare for her test: Space Missions, by IMSI, San Rafael, CA.
The CD ROM contains all sorts of information about all worldwide
space programs. You can watch videos, look at photos, listen to
original audio clippings, and read reference materials.
It's truly shameful to force our youngsters to reproduce
lesson materials verbatim, while an interactive CD such as this
one can be had for only $49.95. But, I guess, that's what
development of underdevelopment is all about.