Intel and AMD, Price War Anew?

Sunday's announcement by Intel came as a surprise to me. I first read about it in a Twitter update to my mobile phone. I immediately went online to check the details. The highest cuts were on the higher-end CPU's and some of the prices were brought down by as much as 50%. The lower-end chips, the segment I have particular interest in, were brought down by about 10%. This is really aggressive pricing by Intel. With prices like these, it's now actually possible to build a budget quad-core machine. The most notable price drops were in specific models, probably to target similarly spec'd CPU's from AMD's line-up. Some of them were: Xeon 3230, from $530 to $266 (50% drop); Core 2 Quad Q6700, from $530 to $266 (51% drop); Core 2 Duo E6850, from $266 to $183 (31% drop); Pentium Dual-Core E2200 from $84 to $74 (12% drop); and the Pentium Dual-Core E2180 from $74 to $64 (14% drop). You can go to this link to view the whole list: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/10/101302/April_20_08_pricelist.pdf

Today's announcement by AMD pales in comparison. They announced a refreshed line-up for their triple-core Phenom chips. You can view the press announcement here: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543_15434~125200,00.html. The price cuts by Intel in a way threaten the brilliant marketing move by AMD to segment the multi-core market. Initially, it seemed like a great idea. Create a sub-segment for people moving from dual-core but can't afford a quad-core processor, or otherwise think x4 is priced too high. It's rather unfortunate that something so brilliant could be usurped by something as simple as a price cut.

Did you hear about the hunger crisis?

Hi,

The world hunger crisis is all over the news this week. In just three years, the price of staple foods like wheat, corn and rice has almost doubled. If we don't do something soon, hundreds of thousands of people face starvation and a hundred million more could fall into extreme poverty.

I just took action with the ONE Campaign and you can too, here:

http://www.one.org/hungercrisis?rc=hctaf

Thinking of Overclocking?

Here are three helpful videos from ExtremeTech.com to aid you in your quest:

1. Overclocking101, Part 1 (Choosing the Right Components) -
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2280739,00.asp

2. Overclocking101, Part 2 (Cooling Solutions) -
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2282532,00.asp

3. Overclocking101, Part 3 (Overclocking via BIOS) -
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2285306,00.asp

$300-ish Budget PC

Hot on the heels of my post on building a relatively cheap dual-core system that can double as a multimedia machine, I've decided to post what I'm recommending to a friend looking to build a budget system. Considerations for this build were the common tasks this machine was going to be used for. He would use it to play DVD's, internet browsing and office work. His wife would use it for her Adobe Photoshop projects and printing.

I recommend this set-up because of the low-power draw from this AMD AM2 ATHLON 64 LE-1620. Another side benefit of choosing this particular processor is its ability to overclock, should the need arise that is. These processors actually overclock quite a bit, as proved by this post in XtremeSystems.org. The memory requirement for this is build is kept to a single 1GB DDR2 module from Geil because he'll be using Windows XP . Together with the software he will be using, a Gig is comfortable enough. Storage is relative conservative as well, owing to the fact that he won't be storing multimedia content. He'll be playing DVD's and storing family pictures. That's it. Before he uses up the space on that 160GB Seagate drive, prices for the 500 GB SATA drive would have dropped and an upgrade would be relatively cheap. The LG GSA-H55N will allow him to back-up his data and movie downloads. Playback on a living room DVD set-top unit is also a consideration so DVD±RW burner would be ideal.

These specs may seem sparse, but the main consideration is to keep the budget around the Php 10,000 mark. That's sub-$300 to you folks in the US. The following hits it right at the sweet-spot:

• AMD AM2 ATHLON 64 LE-1620 2.4 GHz - PhP 2,100
• EMAXX NF7050HD-PRO VGA/ LAN / PCI-E - PhP 2,350
• 1 GB GEIL DDR2 PC800 - PhP 1,100
• 160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM SATA- PhP 2,100
• 20x LG GSA-H55N DL DVD±RW IDE Drive - PhP 1,250
• Generic ATX Steel Case - PhP 1,500
• TOTAL - Php 10,450

The prices are in Philippine pesos and quoted from Enigma Technologies, a local store in Angeles City, Pampanga. If you click on the links above, you'll see the prices for US online retailers. Couldn't find the EMAXX NF7050HD-PRO listed on any US online retailer. The ABIT AN-M2HD (Nvidia NF7050) board would be comparable, albeit pricier option. Also, Geil RAM isn't so popular in the US either. Kingston ValueRAM would be of a comparable quality and more widely available. Going by US prices, this build would cost around $340.00 and a few cups of coffee.

So there you go.

Ubuntu 8.04 Release Candidate is Out

I've eagerly anticipating the release of Hardy Heron, counting down the days these past two weeks. I've accumulated so much gunk in my hard-drive that I've needed to reinstall for some time now. I keep putting it off because I want to reinstall with Hardy Heron's final release on the 24th. I'm fighting off the temptation to go on and download the RC. I know it's just a simple "sudo apt-get-update" to get the final release in 5 days, but I prefer installing from the final release. I still can get over a bad install a few years back. I did an upgrade after installing the RC a few days before the release. I somehow broke the system during the upgrade. Besides, I want to see what's new in the install for myself. I've turned into someone who does enjoy the install process :-)

Via Isaiah, Intel Atom Benchmarked

Engadget linked to a translated German site showing that the Via Isaiah edged out Intel's Atom in benchmarks they performed. Now, these results may seem slanted towards making Isaiah look good, but bear in mind that these tests performed were limited to ALU and FPU benchmarks. One CPU is bound to get an edge over the other depending on how the internal instructions of the chips handle math and so forth. I guess every geek out there who has staked an interest in these low-power processors is waiting for a more conclusive set of benchmarking, but that'll come in time. These chips aren't as widely available as we'd like, after all. Most of the samples (for both) have been sent to manufacturers, OEM's and ODM's. As the market churns out UMPCs, mobile phones and sub-notebooks using these 2 processors, more extensive benchmarks can be performed. I eagerly await for that to come.

Here's a screenshot of the result from the benchmarking they performed:

Palm Centro Give-away Contest

I received an email from Palm announcing the Palm Centro. I was intrigued, needless to say. So I checked the Palm Philippines site and sure enough it was already there! the email even contained an invite for a contest, and up for grabs is a Palm Centro. Anyone can join. Catch is, you'll need to be sent an email invite by someone who was previously sent an invite. This must be a campaign by Palm to see if word-by-mouth marketing still produces the buzz they need when launching a new product. So post a comment here (with your email) and I'll send you an invite. Don't worry, my comments are moderated, so if you do not wish to have your comment published just say so.

Building an Energy-Efficient Dual-Core Box, Relatively Cheap

I've been remiss with my goal last year to post my recommended "monthly" build. So to tie it all up, I decided to make a wish list of sorts. This is how I would spec a compromise between an energy-efficient set-up and a comparably powerful machine. The considerations were an energy-efficient processor from AMD, a single hard-drive that had room for growth and a small enough footprint that would make it ideal for a regular-sized office desk.

The AMD Athlon BE line of processors have a TDP of 45 Watts, one of the lowest in today's bunch of mainstream processors. Adding a single large hard drive saves a few watts, compared to adding more hard drives later on. Using a SATA-300 drive will also make the set-up run faster. A small case is largely aesthetic, but it does make for a better office desk at home. Another consideration was a fairly recent motherboard (from a reputable manufacturer) that would make your set-up upgradeable for the foreseeable future. The board I chose also has onboard graphics (based on the latest AMD 780G chipset) that's powerful enough for casual gaming and hi-definition movie playback, so you save on having to buy a graphics card.

Now, on to my list:

• Athlon X2 BE-2400 (2.3GHZ, 1MB, 65NM, 45W) - $111.31
• Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI Motherboard -$99.99
  
• Kingston ValueRam 2GB (800MHz, DDR2, Kit of 2) - $46.98
  
• Seagate Barracuda 500 GB SATA (16 MB cache, 7200 RPM) - $ 111.99
• LG 20x DVD±RW SuperMulti Write (SATA, Black) - $46.79
  
• Antec NSK1300 MicroATX Cube PC Case - $89.99
  

That comes to a grand total of $507.05. The set-up is fairly powerful that you can live with it for at least the next 3 years. It will be capable enough that you can run virtualized environments and run different operating systems all at once. Cost was another consideration and I tried as much as possible to balance cost with fairly recent technology to make it as upgradeable as possible. So, tell me what you think?

Linux is "Sexy, Smart and Cheap"

Shawn Powers just posted a funny article on Linux Journal about his love affair with Linux. You can read him outline the reasons why he thinks Linux is sexy, smart and cheap from this article. Granted that he's a bit biased, but for the most part he's actually right. The whole affair of playing around with Linux is like falling in love with something. You can never get enough of it and the experience enriches you to no end, frustrations and triumphs included. One can never really describe it and can only understand it once one experiences it for real. Aye, love indeed! Give it a read. :-)

165 Linux Apps Running Simultaneously

First there was the video about 100 apps running on Vista:


Then a screenshot of 150 apps running on a Mac.

Now we have 165 apps running on Linux (180, if you count the doubled-up windows):



Linux "pwns" them, hands down :-)

A Few More Days to Go...

NVIDIA-Via Join Forces to Fend Off Intel and AMD

NVIDIA has released more details about the much-touted tie-up with Via in this article from CNET.com. The deal would pit a combo of NVIDIA's soon to be released IGP and Via's Isaiah with the existing discreet graphics products of AMD and Intel. This comes at a crucial time for NVIDIA. Analysts are starting to question the long-term viability of their products in the face of increasing consolidation on the part of AMD and Intel to include graphics into their individual product offerings.

To stress the cost benefits of this future platform, NVIDIA is drawing direct cost comparisons with Intel's existing IGP solutions for multimedia-enabled machines. They say their solution would perform better compared to a similarly-priced option from Intel. Here's a copy of the comparison they presented to analysts at a recent event:


This development is an interesting historical point in the evolution of the role IGP solutions will play in the ever-heightening green consciousness of consumers. It also emphasizes the need for cheaper but better hardware to deal with the demand of current household computing needs. To be more specific, today's computer must be able to play multimedia content and be cheap enough to be adopted in the home. NVIDIA and Via are in effect creating a product platform that will appeal to both green computing advocates and cost-conscious consumers. This post in Ubergizmo also opines that this increases NVIDIA's chances of fending off moves by Intel and AMD to consolidate graphics into their own platforms, thus ensuring they will still be relevant to the PC for the foreseeable future.

I think I'll put off upgrading until this is released. This is even better than I had hoped for. The low-power features of Via's Isaiah combined with NVIDIA chipset. Having both in a single board will surely perform well on the graphics end and still save on power consumption. This will turn out as the perfect solution for my needs. I'm thinking a Zonbu based off this platform would be even better.

Windows Games on Your Linux Box

Here's a video feature from Linux Journal about playing Windows-only games on your Linux box. Enjoy!

D201GLY2A or Athlon LE-1620? Upgrade or Downgrade

I've been mulling over getting a modest upgrade for weeks now. Upgrade is a misnomer though, as I have been thinking about getting an Intel D201GLY2A. All this thinking about getting a low-power processor has got me wanting a processor that can cut my energy consumption to a lower rate. Certainly, at this point any other fairly modern processor would outperform my current Sempron 3000+ in terms of performance-per-watt. I have come across information online that may influence my decision to stick to the AMD platform. Undervolting seems to be a viable option for cutting power consumption. As far as I can tell, Powernow and Cool'n'Quiet aren't supported by my current processor, so undervolting my current rig might not be all that feasible.

The dilemma for me is picking a processor that will give me better performance-per-watt while keeping my PC relatively flexible. The Intel D201GLY2A saves on power, no doubt. But it does so at the cost of hobbling how flexible your system is when it comes to adding components. Memory is limited to 1 slot capable of taking only 1 Gig of RAM. There is only one PCI slot. No provisions for adding a video card, should I want to in the future. I'd still like to maintain a certain level of flexibility when building systems, so going for the D201GLY2A feels like a downgrade. I also doubt it would work with virtualization effectively. I've taken an interest on virtualization only recently and would like to experiment with it some more.

So right now, I am thinking of upgrading to an Athlon LE-1620. That processor gives me a lot of headroom, with a GHz performance jump from 1.6 to 2.4. Switching processors will also lower the TDP from 62 watts to 45 watts. Adding Cool'n'Quiet and the tickless kernel will increase the efficiency as well. The AMD Sempron LE-1150 is my second choice. It's TDP is also 45 watts, so I'm looking at the same kind of power savings coupled with a less dramatic jump in processing power. The downside of the AMD Sempron LE-1150 is that it does not support virtualization on-chip. I'd be stuck with VMWare Server. I'd been wanting to try KVM for a while now because it is much more efficient in handling system resources. Anyway, 20 watts is a lot when considering the long-term. Both AMD processors offer that benefit at least, while maintaining a comfortable level of felxibility. Overall, upgrading would be worth the extra money.

Care to share your view on the subject?

Blu-Ray, Is It The Time To Buy?

Saw a couple of Blu-Ray drive ads on PC Buyer's Guide. And I've been wondering if it's the perfect time to buy one now. With the recent demise of the HD-DVD format, one would think that people would begin diving in. Many geeks are adopting the wait-&-see attitude, save for the few who already own large LCDs or plasma sets in their homes. See, if you don't own a flat-screen display that's bigger than 32", most experts agree that you won't see an appreciable difference in the quality of the picture. An upscaling DVD player would do just fine, they add. The Yamaha DVD-S2700BL and the TOSHIBA Upconverting DVD/CD player would be good alternatives if you're willing to go that route.

Another reason to wait a few more months is the cost of Blu-Ray media. Both movies and recordable media still cost higher than ordinary DVDs. If, however, you must have a Blu-Ray drive now then you have a few options. On buying optical drives, I've stuck to two brands when building machines -- Liteon and LG. Both have a solid reputation about them in the circle of geeks I mingle with. Both have a proven track record in the manufacture of optical drives. I bet you didn't know that Liteon makes optical drives for Sony. LG on the other hand has been making optical drives since way back. Anecdotal information lays credence to LG drives' general reliability.

For Liteon, they've had the DH-401S out for some time now. This drive reads most of the formats in the fastest rated speeds for each one. If your into the nitty-gritty, here they are: BD-ROM (4X), BD-RE (4X),BD-R DL (4X),BD-RE DL (4X), DVD+R/-R (12x),DVD+R/-R DL (8x),DVD+RW/-RW (8x),CD (40X). LG on the other hand has the GGC-H20L. The spec sheet for this unit reveals the following details: BD-ROM/R (6x),BD-ROM/R DL (4.8x), BD-RE SL/DL (2x), HD DVD-ROM SL (3x), HD DVD-ROM DL (3x), DVD-ROM (16x), DVD-RAM (5x), CD-ROM (40x). You'll notice though that the latter can read HD-DVD discs as well, very important if you happened to have bought HD-DVD discs before the major studios and Walmart said they turned exclusive to Blu-Ray. If you want to up it up a notch, you can buy the LG GGW-H20L to have the ability to write to Blu-Ray recordable media.

LG drives are distributed locally by AxisGlobal, while Liteon drives are distributed by Network Essentials. Both costs around Php 8,000, hardly a bargain. But then again, if you must have it then there is no way around it. I'll wait it out for a few more months before I dive in.

Cloudbook Max Announced

Ars Technica broke the news that Everex announced the 2nd-generation to follow the Cloudbook. The 10-incher they're calling the Cloudbook MAX is a bit larger than its older brethren. It does up the ante as well when it comes to connectivity. It will have an embedded mobile WiMAX chip which will allow access to Sprint's XOHM broadband service. Other hardware highlights would be the 1.6GHz VIA C7-M Processor ULV, 1GB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM (up to 2GB), 80GB Hard Disk Drive, 8.9"WVGA TFT Display (1024 x 600 supported). The unit will ship with Windows Vista Home Basic.

Ars Technica does caution that Everex may have jumped the gun when they announced this, as the Cloudbook MAX is set to launch sometime early 2009. I'm thinking along the same lines. I'm also wondering about their choice of operating systems for this unit. Vista would run slow on a machine this spartan. Wouldn't it make for a better user experience if they just ship it with an updated version (hence, snappier) of gOS Linux? We are talking of a 2009 launch date, so that may change with time.

UMPC's Hit the Philippines

On my way home I bought a copy of the latest PC Buyer's Guide. It's a month old, but as things go this magazine's always late to arrive on store shelves. Anyway, I was gladly surprised that local brands have been eagerly tailgaiting the success of the Asus Eee PC. They've come out with their own UMPCs.

I have been writing a lot about UMPCs lately because of my personal interest in low-power devices. I've always envied geeks in the US, specifically because new products frequently grace their shores earlier than Asian countries. The Asus Eee PC started a different trend, launching first in Taiwan, where Asus is considered as superstar computer company. And so it's success in the Philippines has opened the doors wide for other brands to get in on the UMPC bandwagon.

Two of these brands are Redfox and Astone. I've known Redfox for years. I started seeing motherboards under that brand as early as my freshman year in college. It was only after I built my first PC some 5 years ago that I realized that Redfox was actually a brand that went to ODMs and OEMs for the actual manufacture of their products. I've since used 2 Redfox motherboards and 1 Redfox ATX case to build machines. My current machine uses what's called the Biostar NF61S Micro in other countries. Astone is another brand that has successfully made a good break in the local PC and gadget market. I currently have an ATX case that's sold under their brand.

Now back to UMPCs. Redfox has 2 entries to the Philippine UMPC segment. The Wizbook 800 and the Wizbook. The specs are as follows:

WizBook 800

• Processor: AMD Geode LX700 L1 & L2 cache 128kb, 400Mhz
• Memory: 256 MB
• Hard Drive: 20GB Nandflash
• Display: 8" WXGA TFT Screen
• Lan: RJ-45
• Modem: 802.11b/g wireless PCMCIA slot
• Battery: 2200mAh
• Weight: Under 1.2 Kg
• Other : SD/MMC/MS CARD reader, DC in 12V, 2xUSB slot, microphone input

WizBook

• Processor: AMD Geode LX800 L1 & L2 cache 128kb, 500Mhz
• Memory: 512 MB
• Hard Drive: 60GB Nandflash
• Display: 10.2" WXGA TFT Screen
• Lan: RJ-45
• Modem: 802.11b/g wireless PCMCIA slot
• Battery: 2200mAh
• Weight: Under 1.2 Kg
• Other : SD/MMC/MS CARD reader, DC in 12V, 2xUSB slot, microphone input

Astone's entry is interestingly an ODM version of the Everex Cloudbook. They've chosen to call it the using a rather boring misnomer "Astone UMPC". Feature for feature, it's relatively the same as the Cloudbook except for one minor detail -- Astone's UMPC has a touchscreen. That feature was omitted from the Cloudbook even if that was a feature in the reference design that Via had from the ODM (more about the differences in a previous post).

• Processor: VIA C7-M ULV 1.2Ghz (FSB400) on-board
• Chipset: VX700
• Graphics: integrated VX700
• Audio: VT1708A, with 2 internal 1.5W built-in speaker
• Memory: 1GB DDR 667
• HDD: 30GB (1.8" HDD)
• Monitor: 7" LCD Touch Screen with Handwriting capability, WVGA 800x400
• LAN: 10 Base-T/100 Base TX LAN
• Bluetooth: Yes, USB interface
• Modem: none
• Wireless LAN: Yes, IEEE 802.11b/g, USB 2.0 mini card
• Battery: 4-cell 2200mAh
• I/O: DVi-I, USB 2x, mic-in/Array Mic 1x, Headphone out/Line-out 1x, RJ45 1x
• Webcam: Yes, built-in 0.3MP Camera
• Card Reader: Yes, 4-in-1 (for SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro)
• Dimension: 9.1" x 6.7" x 1.16" (230x171x29.4mm)
• Weight: 0.97kg

The Wizbook 800 is priced at Php 17,000 on the street. The 10.2" Wizbook foes for about Php 3,000 more. Now the Astone UMPC is priced a bit more heftier at Php 24,000. All do not ship with an OS, which in the Philippines translates to something like, "humiram ka ng CD sa kaibigan mo". Now some may interpret that as illegal, unless what you're talking about is getting an Ubuntu CD. Go get Ubuntu if your planning on getting one of these babies. And do me a favor and hint me in on how they run on Linux! :-)

More on the HP 2133

Found 2 other articles on PCWorld about the HP 2133 Mini-Note.

Sumner Lemon spoke with Philip Devlin of HP about rife speculation that a future version of the HP 2133 would be fitted with the Via Isaiah processor. That would be relatively easy since the Via Isaiah is compatible with existing boards that support the C7-M.

Another article by Glenn Fleishman reviews the cost-vs-specs aspect of the unit. He compares it to other laptops straddling the UMPC demarcation line, pointing out that these are relatively under-powered when compared to ordinary laptops. But he conceeds that as trends go these days, buyers are willing to trade off processing heft for added portability.

Fleishman also links to a video review by Darren Gladstone that compares the HP 2133 head-to-head with the Asus Eee PC. Darren loves the keyboard, but hates how slow it is at running Vista Business. Well, good thing Suse Enterprise Desktop 10 is offered as an option to Vista Business ^_^ SLED 10 would run a lot better on the HP 2133. A whole lot better.

Mandriva 2008 Spring

I just read the announcement that Mandriva released 2008 Spring (ver. 2008.1?). I was surprised to find a few interesting items in the list of things they've improved in this release. Notably they have now have parental controls, media server capabilities and better synchronization support with mobile devices built-in. Sadly Palm is not included in the list of devices that 2008 Spring provides "Easy support for synchronizing" for. Another noteworthy item is the out-of-the-box support for the Asus Eee PC. Mandriva touts that 2008 Spring "works perfectly on the Eee PC with no modifications" needed. I think I'll be busy during my offs trying out Mandriva and DreamLinux ^_^

By the way, you can check for screenshots of the beautifully designed desktops here: KDE, Gnome, Xfce. If your interested in trying out Mandriva 2008 Spring, you can download your free copy from here.

HP Mini-Note (HP 2133) Released

PC World had posted a product review of the HP 2133. The rest of blogosphere was quiet though. I barely managed to find a press release. I've been watching out for the release of this product because it belongs to a new class of computing hardware. These devices (UMPC's and net-connected devices) optimize power consumption, portability and cost. I was surprised that there wasn't much press about the launch. Oh, well. It's the Engadget effect. They break news about upcoming products that by the time the thing actually launches the hype is almost over.

It's listed on Amazon.com now, by the way: Mini-Note PC C7-M 1.2GHz 120GB

Classmate PC Whitebook

Last Friday, I posted on Twitter that I saw a Philippines whitebook version of the popular Intel Classmate PC. I had promised to post a picture online, but forgot to because of the accident we were involved in (I blogged briefly about it here and here).

Well, here it is. The Neo Explore X1:


It was rather fortunate though that I posted about it a few days later. I now know that the unit I saw was from the 2nd generation of the Classmate PC. I confirmed that when I checked the specs here. The specs are as follows:

• Processor: Intel Celeron M ULV 353
• Processor Speed: 900 Mhz clock speed, 400 Mhz FSB
• Chipset: Intel GMS915 + ICH6-M
• Memory: 512 MB DDR2
• Display: 7" 800 x 480 LCD
• Hard Disk Drive: 30 GB
• Networking: 10/100 Mbps LAN
• Wireless: 802.11 b/g WiFi
• Card Reader: SD/MMC Card Reader
• Battery: 6-cell battery, 3-4 hours
• Weight: ~ 1.45 kg

Neo is selling the laptops for Php 16,800 with Windows XP Starter pre-installed. Though I doubt that would be as useful as something like Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS, Both would be better suited for the X1 as far as maximizing the available hardware.

You'll also notice (in the pic above) that the X1 is sitting right beside an Asus Eee PC. Rather tongue-in-cheek if you asked me. While they share the same roots, starting off as laptops for students who don't necessarily need that much processing power for classroom computing, the Asus Eee PC has been adopted by both geeks and ordinary people alike because of its low price and conservative styling. Even with it's diminutive dimensions, the Asus Eee still looks and feels like a traditional laptop (sans the full-sized keyboard, that is).The Classmate exudes a toy-ish feel. Kinda looks like a VTech toy laptop for toddlers.

For the general laptop-using internet-surfing public, the only edge Classmate PC has over the Asus Eee would be its 30 GB of storage. That's huge compared to the paltry 4GB of the Asus Eee PC. It makes it more flexible when it comes to saving your work or files. Both laptops have their own selling points. It'll come down to what's important to you.

Comments? Which would you consider buying? What everyday computing tasks would you use it for?

Palm Launches Centro

Palm announced that it will make the Palm Centro smartphone available to StarHub mobile customers in Singapore. This follows an announcement last week of the Centro's availability in Mexico through the mobile services of TelCel and Movistar. So far, the Centro has sold a million units in 6 months.

I'm eagerly awaiting the Centro's launch in the Philippines. The Centro isn't cutting-edge technology anymore, owing to the fact that it's connectivity is limited to EDGE networks and it still uses the now aging Palm OS 5.4 (Garnet). However, I think it still provides excellent value to first-time smartphone buyers and fans of Palm products. I just hope that when they do introduce it in the Philippines, they'll maintain the low price. A low price point will spur wide adoption in the now crowded smartphone market segment.

DreamLinux 3.1 Released

I received news that Dreamlinux released version 3.1 already. I'll be making time in the coming week to download and test this. The look of it is quite appealing, as evidenced by the screenshots in Distrowatch.com (here and here) and Dreamlinux' mainpage (here).

I really need to set-up VMWare server on my machine. That'll make it easier to test out new things without adding to the landfills unnecessarily (re: burning CD's). I'll see if I can make time this week, this personal mess hanging over me and all.