Friday, September 10, 2010

Software EULA's; Private Resale and the law

An important court ruling in the United States has much wider implications for users then they know; if you think buying that old copy of software such as an older version of Adobe Photoshop from an auction or because a company is going out of business think again.  The US court as passed a ruling which could change everything.  The case is Vernor v. Autodesk is what set the president.  Autodesk was trying to keep Vernor from reselling software he got from a an architects office sale.  So for those of you selling software you purchased on Kijiji, EBay and Craigslist read this carefully!  In the Software EULA's such as in Autodesk and Electronic Arts's you can not transfer the software license, even if you physically own the disk and have a ligament serial number.

This ruling will probably have the following effect in the future:

  1. specifies that the user is granted a license or life time subscription
  2. significantly restricts the user’s ability to transfer the software or digital media
  3. imposes notable use restrictions


With this ruling I think you will start seeing a lot more EULA's and more notably digital media EULA's more emphasizing the purchaser as the licensee.  In essence this will end any ownership of digital media and software unless your the one holding the copyright to said item.  What does this mean for reselling computers?  Do you have to format that old windows 2000 machine or iMac and install linux if you want to sell it? (Ok that's not such a bad thing - I am referring to the installing LINUX folks!)  So what we have to do now is lobby our governments to allow for the transfer of these digital licensed.  For example if you father has a huge iTunes library and dies, you would not be allowed to take those songs any of them you wanted you would have to re-buy them; where if they were a physical disk they would be yours to do with as you wished.  What if someone bought a private company do you have to re-buy all the software because the software is technically licensed under the former owner?

I would like to think our governments can be trusted to handle these kind of issues, but based on their track records with copyright laws such as the DMCA in the US and Bill C-32 here in Canada and the ACTA Treaty I don't have much faith.  Write your elected representative, and let's make sure that our consumer writes are being protected because right now there not.

Read Arstechnica article

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Friday, August 27, 2010

Google Voice Comes To Canada

Google Voice vs Skype vs


Yesterday in Canada for those of us who didn't have a Grande Central account got at small taste of Google Voice.  I love it.  Unlimited calling to anyone in Canada, and the US for free.  Now this is just the tip of the iceberg, the full featured Google Voice allows you to consolidate all your numbers into one number.  In the US you register for a number and you can forward any phone number you have to your Google voice number.  We don't have this in Canada yet but I am eagerly awaiting. 

I will be one of the first Canadians to get a Google Voice number when it becomes available, giving a much need competitive boost to the VOIP phone service here in Canada which is a RIP OFF in my opinion.  For instance if you order say Shaw phone service which is just VOIP phone service you pay 30.95 as a standalone service and you get everything Google voice is giving you for free minus the phone number right now but I believe that to be a regulatory problem (you know government it takes them forever to do anything).  Not only that Shaw is charging you 4 cents a minute for long distance when other VOIP services such as the one with Skype is about half the price, so yes we are being hosed because we can be. 

I made a call to the US last night and 3 calls to Calgary and it didn't cost me a penny and the voice quality was fantastic!  When I get a Google voice number I'll be getting a VOIP Phone adapter so my wife can use it as a phone with my Google Voice account.  I can't wait this is really exciting, this will change the whole game of telecommunications here in Canada if Google can hurry up and get here.  It will bring much need competition to the Canadian market that we have been missing since well ever!

There is no Android or iPhone app for Google Voice that I am aware of but if someone wants to send me one they can via twitter @trevortye or email me trevortye@optionkey.ca

VOIP Phone Adapter

http://www.voipgizmos.com/shopexd.asp?id=448&bc=no

Dlink USB Phone Adapter

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=466

Skype Phone Adapter

http://www.von-phone.com/usb_skype_phone_adapter.php

Skype Out Rate

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/prices/?currency=HKD

Shaw Phone Details

http://www.shaw.ca/cmsShawCA/Templates/LandingLocalized.aspx?NRMODE=Published...{3D11A5AF-C6EB-4FBF-B79D-3C30DF651A9C}&NRORIGINALURL=%2fen-ca%2fProductsServices%2fDigitalPhone%2fComparePlans%2f&NRCACHEHINT=Guest

To read the review of the US version of Google voice

http://news.cnet.com/google-voice-flawed-but-still-awesome/

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Thursday, August 26, 2010

My take on the future on Edmonton City Centre Airport

I'm a tech geek, taxpayer, husband. I'm not a politician, aviation expert, or a person with any interest in the City Centre Airport.  I am however going to put in my 2 cents.  I read a very interesting post from Councilor Bryan Anderson on the fate of the City Centre Airport; I have also listed to several interviews on 630 Ched, and on CBC.  Needless to say there are vested interest on both sides of the debate.  I must give credit to the side that wants to close the airport.  Their information is easier to find and is less cryptic in my opinion.  Taking on twitter about the issue can be quite toxic, even though I did meet a few good tweeters I am glad I met, who give a very civilized debate about the Airport.  However the side that wants to keep the airport open some of the members seem to take offense if you say something they don't like which really doesn't help their argument.

My opinion of the City Centre Airport is, enough of the mickey mouse operations.  Either use it as an airport using it to it's fullest potential or get rid of it.  It is on prime real estate in Edmonton, and can easily be developed for the good of the city.  That being said having the airport can be handy but not how it is being used now with limited flight service.  Either maximize it's performance or get rid of it.  From what I've read and listened to it is an asset.  Like all assets either it performs or it doesn't.  If an asset doesn't perform you usually get rid of it.  It is about doing what's best for Edmonton now and in the future.

 

That's just my 2 cents.

 

Some interesting and informative links.

http://bryananderson.ca/cms/HotCivicIssues/CityCentreAirportBytheNumbers.aspx

http://flyeia.com/news/general/edmonton_city_centre_airport_information_avail...

http://blog.mastermaq.ca/2010/07/31/photo-tour-of-the-edmonton-city-centre-ai...

http://adhdcanuck.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/edmonton-airport-debate-closed-now...

http://www.jetpro.ca/faq.html

 

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Infant Mortality Of USB3

The Infant Mortality of USB3


Light PeakUSB 3 introduced earlier this year has been hailed as the latest greatest thing to come to peripherals since USB 2. Unlike USB 2 it is not suppose to stuffer from the bandwidth and burst issues USB 2 has had where you can't get a consistent through put. That being said USB 3 is great to bad I don't think it will be around for long. Let me introduce you to Light Peak. Light Peak is intended as a single universal replacement for current buses such as SCSI, SATA, USB, FireWire, PCI Express and HDMI. Intended to remove some of the problems in the computer industry that are now apparent such as the limited transfer speeds and the maximum length of electrical cables (5 meters for a standard USB 2.0 cable).

Light Peak is due out in the 4th quarter of 2010 which is coming up right away, Light Peak has been demonstrated at 10 Gbps (with a theoretical 100 Gbps) where USB 3 maxes out at 5 Gbps. Intel claims that Light Peak is considered complimentary to USB 3, but it is very easy to see how this new standard would make USB 3 obsolete. There are also rumors of electrical to optical connectors, so you should be able to run your old peripherals using Light Peak.

Being an Intel Technology it is yet to be determined if this will become a universal standard, to promote the adoption of Light Peak Intel should forgo any licensing fees from competitors such as AMD.

I am very excited for light peak and am looking forward to seeing it on many different systems and hopefully universal adoption by all vendors.

Light Peak should be shipping on vendors machines sometime in 2011.

 

Trevor

 

Additional Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Peak

http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Friday, August 20, 2010

Production Computer for $1500 Budget

A graphic designer I worked with was looking for a laptop on a $500 - $600 budget, that he could use for graphic design. Now that is not a huge budget but this the event that got the ball rolling. I posted how the designer should not buy the cheap Dell for what he wanted and was asked via twitter for a good desktop or laptop for $1500.00. So Here is my custom build machine that I feel would be great for doing photoshop, video and graphic design production. For the Budget I am going to with the AMD Phenom 1090T. A six core processor running at 3.2GHz. A great budget processor and you get 6 cores! Much cheaper and a little bit faster then the entry i7 on the 1366 socket and much faster then the i7 on the 1156 socket. The prices are from http://www.b-com.ca

CPU - AMD PHENOM II X6 1090T 3.2GHZ AM3 9MB $319.00
Motherboard
- ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 SK AM3 AMD 880G+SB850 $110.00
RAM
- KINGSTON DDR3 NON-ECC KVR1333D3N9K2/4G 4096MB $102.00
Hard Drive
- SEAGATE SATA 1TB ST31000528AS 7200RPM 32MB Cache $57.88
Video Card
- ASUS EAH5750/2DIS/1GD5 RADEON HD5750 1GB-DDR5 $149.00
Case
- ANTEC SONATA III FRONT MOUNTED USB ESATA 500W $125.00
DVD-RW - SATA DVD-RW-OEM LG GH24NS50 - $28.00
OS - MS-OEM DSP WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64-BIT $115.00
Cost before Taxes and Assembly - $1005.88

Below is a chart of highend CPU's showing in blue where the Phenom X6 1090T is. Please note that it is higher then the i7 930 the entry level i7.

Now for the price the i7 is $20 cheaper but the RAM and the Motherboard are also significantly more expensive. The i7 1156 is also a little cheaper but not for the savings in my opinion. Especially when you start comparing motherboards. The M4A88TD-M is loaded with goodies and comes with USB3 and Sata 6! If you ever wanted to upgrade the system's motherboard you can buy a low powered Athlon and use it as a media centre since it has an integrated ATI 4250 with VGA, DVI and HDMI output.

Motherboard Details:

Asus M4A88TD-M

Specifications

 

CPU AMD Socket AM3 ;Phenom™II /Athlon™II /Sempron™ 100 Series Processors
Supports 45nm CPU
AMD® 140W CPU Support
AMD Cool 'n' Quiet™ Technology
Chipset AMD 880G/SB850
System Bus Up to 5200 MT/s ; HyperTransport™ 3.0
Memory 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
*Due to CPU spec., AMD 100 and 200 series CPUs support up to DDR3 1066Mhz. With ASUS design, this motherboard can support up to DDR3 1333MHz.
**Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Install a 64-bit WindowsWindows® OS when you want to install 4GB or more memory on the motherboard.
***Refer to www.asus.com for the memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists)
Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16
2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
1 x PCI
VGA Integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 4250 GPU
- Supports HDMI™ Technology with max. resolution up to 1920 x 1080
- Supports Dual-link DVI with max. resolution up to 2560x1600 @60Hz
- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution 2048x1536 @85Hz
- Hybrid CrossFireX™ Support
- Dual independent displays support with HDMI / DVI and D-Sub
- Supports Microsoft® DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.0, Shader Model 4.1
- Hardware Decode Acceleration for H.264,VC-1, and MPEG-2
- Maximum shared memory of 1GB
Storage SB850 Chipset
6 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,5,10
VIA VT6415 PATA controller
1 xUltraDMA 133/100 for up to 2 PATA devices
LAN Realtek® RTL8111E Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET 2
Audio ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Supports 192kHz/ 24bit BD Lossless Sound
- Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-Streaming, and Front Panel Jack-Retasking (HD mode only)
- Optical S/PDIF Out ports at back I/O
USB - 2 x USB 3.0 ports (blue, at the back panel)
- 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 ports at mid-board, 4 ports at back panel)
ASUS Unique Features ASUS Xtreme Design
ASUS Hybrid Processor -- TurboV EVO
- Turbo Unlocker, Auto Tuning, TurboV, CPU Level UP and GPU Boost
ASUS Hybrid Switch
- Core Unlocker
ASUS Hybrid OS -- Express Gate
ASUS Power Solutions
- 4+1 Phase Power Design
- ASUS Anti-Surge Protection
- ASUS EPU
ASUS Exclusive Features
- MemOK!
- Anti-surge protect
ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution
- ASUS Fanless Design: Heat sink solution
- ASUS Fan-Xpert
- ASUS Stack Cool 3
ASUS EZ DIY
- ASUS O.C. Profile
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
- ASUS MyLogo 2
Overclocking Features Precision Tweaker 2
- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.003125V increment
- vChipset (VDDNB): Adjustable chipset voltage at 0.003125V increment
- vDIMM: Adjustable DRAM voltage at 0.015V increment
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
- FSB tuning from 100MHz up to 550MHz at 1MHz increment
- PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features 100% All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
Back Panel I/O Ports 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Combo port
1 x DVI
1 x D-Sub
1 x HDMI
1 x S/PDIF Out
1 x LAN(RJ45) port
8 -Channel Audio I/O
2 x USB 3.0 ports (blue)
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
Internal I/O Connectors 4 x USB 2.0 connectors (8 ports)
1 x COM connector
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU Fan connector
1 x Chassis Fan connectors
1 x Front panel audio connector
1 x S/PDIF Out Header
1 x Core Unlocker Switch
1 x MemOK! Button
1x LPT connector
24-pin ATX Power connector
4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
1 x System panel connector
BIOS 16 Mb Flash ROM , AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
Manageability WOL by PME,WOR by PME,WOR by Ring,PXE
Accessories 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66 cable
2 x Serial ATA 3 Gb/s cables
2 x Serial ATA 6 Gb/s cables
1 x Q-Connector (retail version only)
1 x Q-Shield
1 x User's manual
Support Disc Drivers
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
ASUS Update
ASUS Utilities
Form Factor uATX Form Factor
9.6 inch x 9.6 inch ( 24.4 cm x 24.4 cm )

As for the video card I have selected the ATI 5750. You can hook up 3 displays to this video card. It is very slick and powerful. Now the 5770 isn't currently available there and the one they have doesn't do eyefinity. If your going to buy and ATI card make sure it does eyefinity! In my opinion, It's the best card you can buy for under $150.00

AnandTech 5750 Review | Hardware Canucks Review | Neowin 5770 Review (has benchmarks of 5750)

So overall for the money for parts I really feel your getting your best bang for your buck. As for a laptop I have selected 3 different ones for under $1500.

17" Laptop
Asus N71JQ-A1 w/ Core i7-720QM, 4GB, 640GB, Blu-ray Combo, 17.3in LED HD+, Radeon HD 5730, Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit - $1,499.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX27439%28ME%29.aspx

16" Laptop **** BEST BUY ****
Asus N61JQ-A1 w/ Core i7-720QM, 4GB, 500GB, DVD+/-RW, Radeon HD 5730, 16in HD, Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit $1,169.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX27213%28ME%29.aspx

15" Laptop
Asus G51JX-X5 w/ Core i7-720QM, 6GB, 500GB, DVD+/-RW, 15.6in Full HD, GeForce GTS 360M, Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit - $1,399.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX29831%28ME%29.aspx

Laptop CPU Rating

Mobile CPU Chart

BTW: We did find a nice HP 3 Core Athlon for the designer with a ATI 4250, a bit better then the Intel Integrated Graphics for $599 at futureshop.

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Intel's iSeries Mobile Processors i3, i5, i7 What's the difference?

Aren't the processors in the laptops the same as the desktops?

No. The processors in the laptops have been designed to be more power efficient and give off less heat making it more portable. This means you don't have the as much power as you have in the desktop. In this blog post I hope to explain the differences between the Mobile i3, i5, i7 and their desktop counterparts. In most current laptops the current processors are the mobile chips from AMD, The dual Pentium, The Core2 Duo, i3, i5 and i7. As stated before the laptop chips are meant to be mobile so if you were to take a desktop i7 using the Socket 1156 or the 1366 socket you would have a 8" high laptop. So we give up clock speed, and for the most part the number of cores on the processor. *To be fair I am putting a disclaimer. This is my best educated guess as to the processors that Apple has selected and may actually differ from the actual processor being used in the laptop. Apple doesn't release the chip spec it has selected for it's laptops. Based on the information available this is my best guess for the actual processors inside the Macbook / Macbook Pro. If apple or anyone would like to provide the actual Macbook for disassembling, I would be happy to confirm my guess.

Below you will find a lot of technical information about the mobile CPU's and GPU's but for those of you who aren't as technically interested I'll just sum up everything here. Your best Value for a high end laptop processors would be something with the i5 540, the i7 720QM or a desktop Phenom X4. The i7 720QM is a 4 core processor and has hyper-threading. It is pretty much as good as your going to get for an i7 without completely draining the bank. If you can manage to get a Phenom X4 it's a desktop processor so your getting desktop power just remember to watch the temperature of the CPU and battery life. The i5 540 is a dual core with hyper threading and the i7 620M doesn't offer much more performance over the i5. So if I were to buy a Mac Laptop I would go with the i5 540. It's $200 cheaper, granted the GT 330M that comes with the 15" i5 only has 256MB dedicated video but for most of the Mac and windows laptop games available it should be good enough. It will play starcraft 2 really good.

As for overall value I would say if you can find a laptop with any of the following mobile processors and one of the dedicated mobile video cards, you will probably get a good deal.

Mobile Processors:

i7 720QM, i5 540, i5 450, Core2 P8600, P8700, P8800, T9000 Series. AMD Phenom Quad Core.

Mobile Graphics Cards:

ATI Cards: 5430, 5450, 5470, 5650, 5730, 5750

NVIDIA Cards: GeForce 310M, 320M, 330M, 220M, 230M, 240M, 260M

 

Apple Intel Processors

High End MacBook Pros

Apple has selected the i7 620M and the i5 540. Both are dual core processors and both have the Intel HD Integrated Graphics Chips in the processor. The i7 has the faster clock speed and more smart cache.

Intel® Core™ i7-620M Processor (4M Cache, 2.66 GHz)

Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor (3M Cache, 2.53 GHz)

Mid-Range

For the midrange Apple more the likely slected the i5 520M because it doesn't support ECC memory. With that exception the two processors are virtually identical.

Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor (3M Cache, 2.40 GHz) or Intel® Core™ i5-520E Processor (3M Cache, 2.40 GHz)

Entry Level / Low End

The entry level MacBook and MacBook Pro are 2.4 GHz Core2 processors and more then likely is the P8600 due to the front side bus being 1066 MHz and the Intel Trusted Execution Technology.

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8300

or

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8600

 

Other more common laptop processors.

Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor

Intel® Core™ i7-620M Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-430M Processor

Intel® Core™ i3-350M Processor

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P9600

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9550

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8800

Intel® Core™2 Processor P8700

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9000

Below you will find a comparison of the listed CPUs.

Comparison of Mobile Processors (CPU Benchmarks)

This table is sorted by the approximate speed of the (laptop) CPU.

Note, that there are also some desktop processors in the list (because some laptops are equiped with desktop CPUs and for comparison).


Pos Manufacturer Series Model Codename FSB L2+L3 Cache MHz TDP (Watt) Manufacture Process Cores/Threads 64 Bit SuperPI 1M* SuperPI 2M* SuperPI 32M* 3DMark06 CPU Cinebench R10 Rendering Single Cinebench R10 Rendering Multi wPrime 32 wPrime 1024
1 Core i7 920XM Clarksfield 2500 1MB + 8MB 2000-3200 55 45 4/8 Yes 13 31 719 3816 4322 11916 24 791
2* Core i7 620M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 4MB 2660-3333 35 32 2/4 Yes 13 33 781 3052 3432 7521 23 786
3 Core i7 720QM Clarksfield 2500 1MB + 6MB 1600-2800 45 45 4/8 Yes 16 35 808 3086 3157 8870 28 937
4 Core i5 540M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2530-3066 35 32 2/4 Yes 15 36 850 2835 3132 6983 26 834
5* Phenom II X2 X620 BE   3600 2MB 3100 45 45 2 Yes                
6 Core 2 Duo T9600 Penryn 1066 6MB 2800 35 45 2 Yes 16 39 1051 2524 3204 5936 28 900
7 Core i5 520M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2400-2933 35 32 2/4 Yes 17 38 901 2727 3024 6645 27 830
8 Core i5 450M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2400-2933 35 32 2/4 Yes 17 41   2796 2930 6800 19 596
9 Core 2 Duo T9550 Penryn 1066 6MB 2660 35 45 2 Yes 17 41 1104 2384 2958 5530 29 922
10* Core i3 370M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2400 35 32 2/4 Yes                
11 Core i5 430M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2260-2533 35 32 2/4 Yes 17 41 969 2566 2734 6300 23 735
12* Phenom II X2 N620 Champlain 3600 2MB 2800 35 45 2 Yes 27     2282 2524 4907 26  
13 Core 2 Duo T9400 Penryn 1066 6MB 2530 35 45 2 Yes 18 43 1150 2262 2848 5341 38 1641
14 Core 2 Duo P8800 Penryn 1066 3MB 2660 25 45 2 Yes 19 46 1048 2355 2890 5357 31 993
15 Core 2 Duo P8700 Penryn 1066 3MB 2530 25 45 2 Yes 22 54 1227 2231 2826 5273 31 1020
16* Core i3 350M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2260 35 32 2/4 Yes 19 45 1048 2357 2384 5781 31 977
17 Core 2 Duo P8600 Penryn 1066 3MB 2400 25 45 2 Yes 20 50 1160 2135 2588 4857 33 1099
18* Core i3 330M Arrandale 2500 512KB + 3MB 2130 35 32 2/4 Yes 21 49 1117 2206 2301 5518 27 868
19* Phenom II X4 X920 BE Chaplain 3600 2MB 2300 45 45 4 Yes                
20 Core 2 Quad Q9000 Penryn 1066 6MB 2000 45 45 4 Yes 23 55 1342 2841 2405 8059 36 1147
21 Core 2 Duo T7600 Merom 667 4MB 2330 34 65 2 Yes 22 55 1455 1997        
22* Core 2 Duo T6770 Penryn 800 2MB 2300 35 45 2 Yes                
23 Core 2 Duo T7500 Merom 800 4MB 2200 35 65 2 Yes 23 55 1344 1879 2304 4284 37  
24* Turion II Ultra M660 Caspian 3600 2MB 2700 35 45 2 Yes         2278 4403    
25* Turion II N530 Champlain 3600 2MB 2500 35 45 2 Yes                
26* Turion II Ultra M640 Caspian 3600 2MB 2600 35 45 2 Yes                
27 Core 2 Duo T7400 Merom 667 4MB 2160 34 65 2 Yes 24 59 1531 1817        
28* Core 2 Duo T6600 Penryn 800 2MB 2200 35 45 2 Yes 23 59 1334 1942 2391 4525 63 2014
29* Turion II Ultra M620 Caspian 3600 2MB 2500 35 45 2 Yes                
30* Turion II Ultra M600 Caspian 3600 2MB 2400 35 45 2 No 32 75   1905
2120 4100    

The table below is a list of all currently common video graphic cards in laptops / notebooks including benchmarks and specs. The list is ranked by the aproximate speed of the GPU (may differ with some 3DMark values).

Pos Manufacturer Model Codename Pixel Shaders Vertex Shaders Core Speed Shader Speed Memory Speed Memory Bus Direct X Process (nm) 3DMark05 3DMark06 3DMark Vantage P 3DM Vant. P GPU Cinebench R10 OpenGL Crysis XGA low Crysis XGA high
1 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Broadway-XT 800 700 700 1000 128 11 40 17932 12711 7860 7584 5836   48
2* NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M GF106 192 675 1350 1250   11 40              
3 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 M98-XT 800 550 550 888 256 10.1 55 16349 10655 6631 6139 5190   43
4 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M N10E-GTX 128 585 1463 950 256 10 55 18414 12569 6328 5243 5846 105 45
5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M N10E-GT 112 550 1375 950 256 10 55 14773 10167 4953 4316 3966 120 35
6* NVIDIA GeForce GTS 260M N10E-GS 96 550 1375 1800 128 10.1 40              
7* ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5750 Madison-XT 400 550 550 1600 128 11 40              
8* ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 Madison 400 650 650 800 128 11 40 14020 7258 3812 3

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Monday, August 09, 2010

Security and Privacy where do you draw the line?

There has been lot's of pressure is being put on RIM the manufacture of the popular BlackBerry platform about making their system less secure and giving governments access to the data on RIM's Servers. This will be a huge loss to consumers rights and privacy if RIM allows this. Is doing business in oppressive counties worth the hit to RIM's reputation as a secure way to transmit important communications in the name of "National Security"? Governments use this excuse to justify anything that will violate and/or take way a persons rights that are granted to citizen by their respective nations constitutions, in Canada the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Governments say they have to do this to stop terrorists; well I would argue wouldn't it be easier to track or restrict the purchasing of products that can be used to create harmful weapons or discourage these kind of plans be easier (i.e. banning and prohibiting the sale of large knives, guns and materials that can be made into explosives). Granted materials such as fertilizer can be used to make explosives, but you can uses security checks when people who what large and/or highly pure quantities of the material. In a age of hyper paranoia by our governments; a "Big Brother" approach from George Orwell's 1984 seems to be the approach our so called "elected officials" like to take all in the name of protecting our national security. What I find interesting that even according to RIM's own website RIM it's self can't access the messages on their own servers due to their security policy "The operators of the BlackBerry Infrastructure don’t have access to the customer keys and therefore can’t see the content of any of the messages." There was a time like during the "cold war era" where technology like this was banned from being in so called unfriendly countries. So if security is such a concern why do we give these unfriendly countries this kind of technology? Wouldn't be easier to ban it? Where is the corporate responsibility to our own private security? Where is our "elected" governments responsibility to our "privacy". Why do they allow this kind of allow the trade of this kind of technology with people who want to supposedly destroy us? Are we as a people willing to allow the loss of our Freedoms for short term financial gain? Are we so blinded and uninterested in our own political process that those who are elected get a free pass to do what they want with little or no question? At what point are will people say enough is enough. In Canada there are plans to scrap the long form census, the government feels it's a violation of your privacy, but they'll go to facebook and demand your personal information if they think they need it. Is it hypocritical or is it just the way things are? Over the last 20 years the world has changed dramatically, where we go from here is up to us. These issues with RIM and The United Arab Emirates, Google and China are just the beginning. I don't know about you but I'm going to be watching our Federal and Provincial governments very closely for changes like this. Here in Canada your innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent. Unless we favor kangaroo courts like the ones being played out in Guantanamo Bay and in William Shakepeare's The Winters Tale. Then they will want to "kill all the lawyers". - (Shakespeare's King Henry VI; Act IV, Scene II) where the laws will be made by the few elite in a mocked up "democracy" that will not have any benefit for anyone but the rich. There are two ways we can go, one where laws are made fair for everyone or not at all. If we lose what we have then we become no better then those who would want to destroy us.

Posted via email from The OptionKey Blog

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Intel's iSeries Processors i3, i5, i7 What's the difference and where are we going?

Intel's iSeries Processors i3, i5, i7 What's the difference and where are we going?



Where have we been?


To understand where we are and why we need to know where we came from so a quick summary of Intel processor history. Back in about 2006, Intel produced the Intel Pentium M processor, which's designed was based on the Pentium III. The Pentium M was a low power consuming, fast and efficient processor designed for laptops. The new chip designed also shortened the stages (instruction length)to 12-14 from 31 in the Pentium D there by out performing the Pentium D in most applications dispite the MHz Myth.


Where we are.


The i3, i5 and i7 LGA1156 is NOT Nehalem, it's Westmere a different architecture. i7 LGA1366 is Nehalem and has the memory controller on the processor is a nice neat package. The LGA 1156 boots the memory controller off the die. The memory controller works very similar to the P45/X48 Chipsets only the i series hasn't been optimized for channeling the memory that way. This affects how much though put the memory bandwidth uses (or how fast it is). The memory bandwidth is has increased it just hasn't increased as much as we would like considering what we seen on performance with the i7 LGA1366.











i3 Processors


i3 5xx


Dual Core Processors. They have hypertreading and an integrated GPU, but no integrated memory controller, and no automatic overclocking feature.


Popular i35xx


i3 550 (Believed to be in iMac)


i3 540 (Believed to be in iMac)


i3 530



i5 Processors


i5 56xx


Dual Core Processors. They have hypertreading and an integrated GPU, but no integrated memory controller, and no automatic overclocking feature.


Popular i56xx


i5 650


i5 57x


Quad Core Processors. They have an automatic overclocking feature and a direct 16x PCI Express lane into the CPU. No hyperthreading and no integrated memory controller and no integrated graphics.


Popular i5 57x


i5 750 (Believed to be in iMac)


i5 760 (Believed to be in iMac)



i7 Processors


i7 8xx


Quad Core processors. They have hyperthreading, and a direct 16x PCI Express lane into the CPU, and a automatic overclocking feature. No integrated memory controller.


Popular i7 8xx


i7 870 (Believed to be used in high end iMac)


i7 9xx


Quad Core processors. Has all features.


Popular i7 9xx


i7 920


i7 930


i7 960




Sysmark 2007 Overall



Sysmark 2007 Video Creation



Sysmark 2007 productivity



Sysmark 2007 3D



CS4 Benchmark



DivX with Xmpeg



x264 Encode 720p



Cinebench R10 Single Thread



Cinebench R10 Multi Threaded



7zip



Sonar8 Multitrack audio export




Sources:


http://www.anandtech.com


http://www.intel.com



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