I've loved Creative ever since I was in my early teens and I handled R.M.A. for an exporting company. I don't know how they are now, but the few times I've had to return anything from them they made it a breeze. I hold the products of any company with such care for their consumers with at least some regard. #ziilabszms08
@Digo: I bought an MP3 player from them like 10 years ago. They made the power jack and the headphone jack the same size, and put them right next to each other.
Of course, one day I put the power cord in the wrong one, and the sound never worked again. I hesistate at Creative's decisions since then.
That along with terribly slow support on their sound cards with new OS releases. Vista took what, 2 years to support decently? Assuming they even do now. #ziilabszms08
@Digo: This happened like 6 months after I had it, I couldn't return it. I called up Creative and wanted a refund. They would only do a replacement. As far as the replacement went, I can't remember what happened to it...
I think I may have done the same thing again later and just threw it away. #ziilabszms08
Are we really going to have to endure lines of products with the "ii" tag after them now thanks to the Wii? We were finally getting over the iPhase. #ziilabszms08
@Rosa Golijan: Yeah, I "borrowed" your keyboard for some "data entry" but I was just about to return it. It's not like I have CTRL issues or anything... put the cleaning bill on my TAB. #ziilabszms08
With all of these newer chips being pumped out, it keeps holding back my trigger finger to finally pick up a netbook, though the S12 with the ION is mighty enticing. #ziilabszms08
@J2M3: Neutral. Nehalem was already used in the Pros, so the support was there. I'm not big on hackintoshing, but there may be some particulars to the P55 motherboards that it helps because of the new i5/i7's being used. #newimacs
One should also note that the high end 27" has the 2.8 Ghz core i7 option. What you gain from this is a virtual 8 cores, due to hyper-threading being enabled. The core i5 does not feature hyper-threading, but is still a quad-core processor. #newimacs
@Lite: hates Illinois Nazis: If it takes advantage of multiple cores, it takes advantage of hyper-threading. People were coding programs with independent threads even before we had dual cores. The advantage of having hyper-threading is the Turbo Boost. If you use 2 threads in one core as opposed to 1 thread in 2 cores, that 1st core can be OC'ed more than those two, yielding higher performance. #newimacs
@Lite: hates Illinois Nazis: All you need to take advantage of it is more threads running concurrently. Even if NONE of your apps take advantage of HyperThreading directly, you will benefit from it.
Hyperthreading wasn't absent from Intel's newer chips because it was inherently bad -- it was absent because it was first baked into the Pentium 4 architecture, which as you may recall, was a steaming pile. They have in recent years ported HT to the Atom and i7 architectures.
HT was a MUST-HAVE for the P4 because it's obscenely-long pipeline made cache misses too expensive. In a CPU with an architecture as short as a Core2Duo it's not nearly as beneficial.
So help me understand, because obviously 7 is moar better then 5, but it's not clear from your prior article what I'm missing out on:
The new Core i7 chips, launched last month, are for desktop and mobile. The desktop variant is codenamed Lynnfield, and it more closely resembles its mobile equivalent, codenamed Clarksfield, than it does the Bloomfield monster—dual-channel memory, not triple, for instance.
...
Core i5 is going to be Intel's more mainstream Nehalem-microarchitecture chip brand, and as a broader brand, the chip differentiation gets a little more confusing. Core i5 actually includes some, but not all, of the desktop Lynnfield processors. For now, the only Core i5 chip is quad-core, but you're going to start seeing dual-core Core i5 chips, and soon enough they will make up the bulk of Intel's mainstream processors. In English: Unless you're looking for a crazyfast new computer, your next machine will probably run an Intel Core i5 CPU.
Is i5 not as "crazyfast" as i7? Am I being crazy to hold out? I run an i7 on my desktop and the system screams - but I crave the design sensibility/form factor/software suite of the MB Pro. Help me understand more clearly the i5/i7 tradeoffs, wise one. #newimacs
@Unsolicited Advice: The core i7 features hyper-threading (allow a second thread to be run on each core for a total of 8), and Intel has also hamstringed the motherboards for i5 by limiting the number of PCI express channels (as well as three down to two memory channels). Turns out, game benchmarks don't give a shit. So, gamers are starting to migrate to the i5 cores now. #newimacs
So there's a requirement for software support that's likely to be some time coming. Hyperthreading has been in and out of Intel's product lines IIRC because utilization has been low. An i5 will still scream, but processing-intensive tasks like encoding and the like have untapped potential in an i7 that might be incorporated by developers into apps like ProTools, etc. - processors where you're encoding or crunching a lot of data. Sounds safe enough to me.
So then, Steve, my business proposition is clear - shove an i5 or better into the MacBook Pro and you will receive $2K-$3K. But I'm not buying a C2D in late 2009. #newimacs
@Unsolicited Advice: Yeah, you got it right, now. I am sure that dual-core i5s will show up in MacBook Pros soon. And thanks Anexanhume—you must be related to Matt Buchanan! #newimacs
@Unsolicited Advice: Expect MBP updates in Early 2010 (perhaps February to April) with core i5 branded parts. They will be 32 nm dual core parts with IGP and hyper-threading. #newimacs
@Bizdady: BILLY MAYES HERE WITH PROCESSOR PUTTY. ITS SO STRONG, IT CAN HOLD NOT TWO ATHLON64x2s , BUT 4 ATHLON64 CPUs TOGETHER FOR FASTER PROCESSING POWER ACT NOW AND I'LL THROW IN NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT EVEN FOUR STICKS OF DDR3 RAM, I'LL THROW IN 8 STICKS OF DDR3 RAM! THAT VINCE GUY PEDDLING INTELS HAS NOTHING ON THIS! ACT NOW!
@Stndsh0: Like myself, you are a unapproved commenter. Don't worry, people will see the comments that are deemed worthy of approval by those with stars.
If they don't approve it, thank them, it's probably better no one saw it anyway...
@SigmundTheSeaMonster: Yeah, I actually work twice a week in South Jersey, about 3 miles from the TJ on 73. However, I am about 3 miles from one here in PA and when the BYOB dinner invite comes, I am often visiting the Spirits Shoppe. I should just have some on hand, but it seems odd to store $3-a-bottle wine, you know?
When I was 20, and my friend was 21, he drove over the Tacony Palmyra bridge, pulled a U turn at one Roger Wilco and hit the other, crappier one on the westbound side of 73. He purchased a few bottles of booze and hopped in the car and headed back to the bridge. We got pulled over in between the toll booths and the bridge, the cop asked him to see the alcohol he purchased and informed him it was illegal to take it accross the bridge. At this point my buddy looks at the cop and says 'I thought this was the UNITED States'. Fun night, true story.
11/09/09
11/09/09
Of course, one day I put the power cord in the wrong one, and the sound never worked again. I hesistate at Creative's decisions since then.
That along with terribly slow support on their sound cards with new OS releases. Vista took what, 2 years to support decently? Assuming they even do now. #ziilabszms08
11/09/09
11/11/09
I think I may have done the same thing again later and just threw it away. #ziilabszms08
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/09/09
10/20/09
i7 sounds good. Anyone have any idea of the difficulty level to transfer an Adobe CS3 license to a new computer?
Thanks #newimacs
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
I mean, Intel hasn't had a ht capable CPU for over 4 years between it's Core Duo and Core 2 Duo cpus... #newimacs
10/20/09
10/20/09
Hyperthreading wasn't absent from Intel's newer chips because it was inherently bad -- it was absent because it was first baked into the Pentium 4 architecture, which as you may recall, was a steaming pile. They have in recent years ported HT to the Atom and i7 architectures.
HT was a MUST-HAVE for the P4 because it's obscenely-long pipeline made cache misses too expensive. In a CPU with an architecture as short as a Core2Duo it's not nearly as beneficial.
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
So help me understand, because obviously 7 is moar better then 5, but it's not clear from your prior article what I'm missing out on:
The new Core i7 chips, launched last month, are for desktop and mobile. The desktop variant is codenamed Lynnfield, and it more closely resembles its mobile equivalent, codenamed Clarksfield, than it does the Bloomfield monster—dual-channel memory, not triple, for instance.
...
Core i5 is going to be Intel's more mainstream Nehalem-microarchitecture chip brand, and as a broader brand, the chip differentiation gets a little more confusing. Core i5 actually includes some, but not all, of the desktop Lynnfield processors. For now, the only Core i5 chip is quad-core, but you're going to start seeing dual-core Core i5 chips, and soon enough they will make up the bulk of Intel's mainstream processors. In English: Unless you're looking for a crazyfast new computer, your next machine will probably run an Intel Core i5 CPU.
Is i5 not as "crazyfast" as i7? Am I being crazy to hold out? I run an i7 on my desktop and the system screams - but I crave the design sensibility/form factor/software suite of the MB Pro. Help me understand more clearly the i5/i7 tradeoffs, wise one. #newimacs
10/20/09
10/20/09
So there's a requirement for software support that's likely to be some time coming. Hyperthreading has been in and out of Intel's product lines IIRC because utilization has been low. An i5 will still scream, but processing-intensive tasks like encoding and the like have untapped potential in an i7 that might be incorporated by developers into apps like ProTools, etc. - processors where you're encoding or crunching a lot of data. Sounds safe enough to me.
So then, Steve, my business proposition is clear - shove an i5 or better into the MacBook Pro and you will receive $2K-$3K. But I'm not buying a C2D in late 2009. #newimacs
10/20/09
10/20/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
If they don't approve it, thank them, it's probably better no one saw it anyway...
09/16/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
When I was 20, and my friend was 21, he drove over the Tacony Palmyra bridge, pulled a U turn at one Roger Wilco and hit the other, crappier one on the westbound side of 73. He purchased a few bottles of booze and hopped in the car and headed back to the bridge. We got pulled over in between the toll booths and the bridge, the cop asked him to see the alcohol he purchased and informed him it was illegal to take it accross the bridge. At this point my buddy looks at the cop and says 'I thought this was the UNITED States'. Fun night, true story.