Working in the 21st Century.

Life is full of wonders, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid; and the same will be said for people working in the 21st century. Unless you are planning on having some sort of Military, Policing, or health care profession, you should expect to change jobs at least three or four times in your career. I know a guy that was just laid off after 26 years a company. He had just finished with a huge event (which ended up being a big success), and when the event was done he was told that the company was changing and he was not to be apart of the changes. Which had me thinking of how long I've been at jobs for (Being in website development my situation is a little different then his but overall it amounts to the same). The longest I've been at a company has been 5 years and that was a part-time position I took after school. I have never been at a company for longer then 3 years at a time (I have had freelance clients for more then 10 years); and I know this to be true for most people I've talked to where the average range is three to seven years. The time of staying at a job for over ten or more years are gone (there are some rare exceptions); for several reasons, they can range from the need for restructuring to the need for "new ideas" (By that I mean bring in someone younger and cheaper). There is also the thinking by personnel there are greener pastures going somewhere else; or they are feeling under utilized or appreciated. Lots of companies these days are disregarding their most valuable resources the people they hire to do the work. With increasing pressure to improve "the bottom line" and performance, they are neglecting the companies long term viability. Don't get me wrong sometimes these changes need to be made but I find that in most situations; the reasons it is done is purely a financial one. With these points in mind it makes keeping and finding new "opportunities" more important and essential.

There are at least three social networks you should be a member of if your not.

1. - LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com

LinkedIn is not as popular as twitter or facebook but services a completely different purpose which is extremely useful. Think of it as facebook pro. It is a way of connecting with co-workers, contractors, people you have worked with; without allowing them to see those embarrassing "Facebook Pictures" from the weekend.

2. - Twitter http://www.twitter.com

Twitter is extremely powerful. It's openness is what allows you connect with people in your community and those with similar interest. This can lead to huge networking or employment opportunities. Many companies are tieing their twitter accoutns to linkedIn and are actively promoting open positions. This is also a great tool for finding out what people really think and if they will fit into your companies culture and if the company is a good fit for you.

3. - Facebook http://www.facebook.com

More of a closed personalized social networking application this is still a tool that should not be ignored. You never know when a close friend or family member know of an opportunity but are unaware of your current employment status. You never know who knows of an opportunity and you should not limit yourself in any way.

Keeping and managing a good online reputation is difficult. The best advice I can give is the following. Having an online reputation is very important in today's world especially for web developers and it is easy to put your foot in your mouth. That being said I find this is the best way I've found managing my online reputation.

1) Let people know where you stand, if your open, transparent, honest and true to your beliefs you don't have anything to worry about. You are who you are, some will criticize you; some will agree with you.

2) Put yourself out there but be mindful and respectful of others, everyone is entitled to an opinion.

3) Know the line between your opinion and the companies. Most companies don't let or like employees going on twitter, facebook or linked in because they are worried about their image and for good reason. If your representing a company on social networks be clear when your representing the company and when your representing yourself. I find it's best to have your own personal social networking account and the companies social networking account. Keep them separate; it creates a clear division between you and the company.

If the average person will be going through at least four different "career" jobs before retiring, having a good network, is going to be extremely helpful. What does that say for how the future of employment will be in the future?

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Windows Phone 7 and SD Cards What You NEED to Know

Windows Phone 7 and SD Cards

For those of you interested in upgrading any kind of SD card you get with your Windows Phone 7, you better do it when you purchase the phone. Documentation obtained from 3rd party manufactures such as Samsung which indicates that Windows Phone 7 uses the SD card for memory, and makes the card unusable by other devices such as your computer even if you attempt to format it.

Hey if you don't believe me check the original documentation.

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Product :Total:Phones & Fax Machines:US Mobile Phones:AT&T 12-11-2010

How to guides

AT&T : Does Windows Phone support microSD card for Memory Expansion?

Windows Phone 7 and microSD Cards

Users are strongly encouraged to review this section carefully before inserting the right type of microSD card into Focus, a Windows Phone 7 device.

Windows Phone 7 does not support freely swapping microSD Cards in and out.

Many commercially available retail microSD cards are not approved for use in Windows Phone 7. Use of unapproved cards may cause performance degradation or device instability including unexpected reset and loss of user data. A microSD card class is not an indication of meeting Windows Phone 7 requirements. Approved cards can be obtained from the manufacturer or Mobile Operator.

Once inserted and properly formatted, the memory card becomes an inseparable part of the phone.

A microSD card inserted into a Windows Phone 7 device and integrated into the device's file system is intended to be a permanent modification to the device. Once a microSD card has been integrated into a Windows Phone 7 device's file system, it will no longer be readable or writable on any other devices such as computers, cameras, printers, and so on. This includes an inability to format the microSD card for use in these devices. Improper use (including inserting or removing) of microSD cards on Windows Phone 7 devices may result in one or more of the following:

• System error while powering on the device that prevents the Windows Phone 7 operating system from loading. Note that emergency dialing will function properly.
• Inaccurate reporting of available storage.
• Loss of access to or removal of installed applications.
• Loss of access to or removal of user data/media stored on the microSD card.
• Loss of access to or removal of user data or media stored internally within the Windows Phone 7 device.
• Overall file system performance degradation.
• Device lockup or reset.

Inserting or Removing the Memory Card

To insert or remove a microSD card, you have to reset your phone by using a procedure called a hard reset.

Warning!: A hard reset resets your phone to its factory default settings and wipes all data (pictures, video, contacts, music, and so on) from your phone. Make sure your data is saved to your PC. For more information, refer to “Sync with PC”.

Inserting a microSD Card into a Windows Phone 7

Simply inserting a microSD card into a Windows Phone 7 device and restarting the device will result in the card being ignored by the phone. To insert a microSD card into your phone, follow these instructions carefully.

1. If the microSD card contains any data, make sure you back up the contents before inserting it into your Windows Phone 7. The microSD card will be reformatted to be part of the Windows Phone 7 file system and all data will be lost.
2. Press and hold the Power key to power off the phone, if necessary, and open the battery cover.
3. Insert the microSD card into the SD slot located on device. For more information, refer to “Installing the Memory Card”.
4. Power up the device by pressing the Camera key , Volume down key , and Power key .

1. 

   Note: If the download mode screen displays, go back to step 1 and try again.

When the device vibrates, release the Power key, but continue pressing the Camera and Volume down keys. Once the device displays the Are you sure you want to format? screen, release the Camera and Volume down keys.

Press the Window key to Format the device.

Note: Formatting erases all erases all user data stored on the device and on the microSD card.

Press the Window key again to confirm that you want to format the device.

Warning!: Do not remove the battery while formatting your phone. Wait until the device switches on and displays the Home screen.

1. After formatting is complete, the Start-up Wizard screen is displayed.

2. After start-up is complete, from the Home screen, tap > Settings > system > about to verify that available memory has been updated.

 

Permanently Remove a microSD Card from a Windows Phone 7

To permanently remove a microSD card from a Windows Phone 7 device, follow these instructions:

1. Press and hold the Power key to power off the phone, if necessary, and open the battery cover.
2. Remove the microSD card from the SD slot located on device.

Note: Once removed, this microSD card is not readable or writable on other devices such as computers, cameras, printers, and so on.

3. Power up the device by pressing the Camera key, Volume down key, and Power key. When the device vibrates, release the Power key, but continue pressing the Camera and Volume down keys. Once the device displays the Are you sure you want to format? screen, release the Camera and Volume down keys (see Step 4 above).
4. Press the Window key to Format the device.

Note: Formatting erases all user data stored on the device.

5. Press the Window key again to confirm that you want to format the device.
6. After formatting is complete, the Start-up Wizard screen is displayed.
7. After start-up is complete, from the Home screen, tap > Settings > system > about to verify that available memory has been updated.

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For more information on the SGH-i917 Focus, please click the banner below.

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Canada - The Big Brother Country.

Privacy in Canada, you may as well forget it.  This month the government has tabled three new bills C-50, C-51 and C-52 which have huge implications on your privacy rights in Canada.  This is being brought to you by the guys who don't like the gun registry; instead they will tell you that you can have your gun so long as we can snoop on every part of your digital life.  What the hell am I talking about?  Here is what's going on.

These bills are so called "Law and Order Bills or Spy on Canadians Bills" more or less.  Here is the jist of the bills. The bills contain a 3 way approach when it comes to information disclosure, surveillance technology/methods and police powers.

Part 1 mandates the disclosure of Internet provider customer information without court over site.  So no warrant required, if you look intimidating and have a fake badge you could potentially get a hold of personal information such as customer name, address, phone number, email address, Internet protocol address, and a series of device identification numbers (MAC Addresses). 

While some of that information may seem harmless, it gives authorities the ability to link it with other data.  This is bad.  It could give authorities the power to create a detailed profile about an identifiable person.  The decision to require disclosure without any oversight (like a court order where you have to have a reasonable amount of cause or suspicion to get one) should raise a huge florescent RED Flag.

Part 2 requires that ISP (Internet Service Providers like shaw, telus, rogers, bell) provide real time surveillance (spying).  I hope you don't like doing online banking, because they will get the keys to anything you do.  This is called a Man In The Middle Attack.  The worst part of this is RCMP Background checks are required if they take part in any kind of Data capture.  Which is good but IF THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THE EQUIPMENT THEY CAN DO IT ANYWAY!!! Until after the fact.  Love the idea of someone being able to get a hold of my personal information and passwords at my ISP building because the staff have access to the hardware that is required to be their by law.  How about then ALL ISPs have to do background checks on all staff that are hired!!!  This part here will also kill a lot of smaller ISP because the law requires a lot more commercialized hardware then what is typically required for being a ISP.

Part 3 gives the police new powers such as the ability to get something called "transmission data warrants" that would grant real-time access to all the information generated during the creation, transmission or reception of a communication including the type, direction, time, duration, origin, destination or termination of the communication.

Police could then obtain a "preservation order" to require ISPs to preserve subscriber information, including specific communication information, for 90 days.  Then having obtained and preserved the data, production orders can be used to require the disclosure of specified communications or transmission data. 

This puts ISP's in a weird situation.  While they should actively work with law enforcement in collecting and disclosing the subscriber information, (only after due process with reasonable suspicion or cause) they could also be prohibited from disclosing the disclosures. Courts could restrict them from informing subscribers that they have been subject to surveillance and/or information disclosures.

A few would argue that it is important to ensure that law enforcement has the necessary tools to address online crime issues.  Yet these changes would come at a huge financial and privacy cost. The excuse for this is that police can only gather limited evidence and that the current legal framework has impeded important police work.

I would argue not all this is necessary.  I feel people should be required to get a warrant for the Data Transmissions first.  As for ISP's keeping track of "My Information" I don't think I'll be doing any kind of online banking in the future if this is what's going to happen.  It is going to be to easy for a person to get my information from the ISP's.  Not to mention all the security requirements I would want to prevent "unauthorized" use of the computer hardware that can do the Man In the Middle attacks. I know if I were a tech savvy crook, after this law were passed I would try get a job at an ISP.  You could access hundreds of thousands of people's personal information with no trouble.  Work a night shift, get a persons facebook username and password, online baking information.  If I were a crook, this is everything I would be hoping for and more.  The best part about this from the crooks point of view is I could write a program or virus compromise the ISP's systems and have all the traffic route though 50 billion servers. It's the perfect crime.

<sarcasm>I'm so glad our politicians are here to protect us. They have indeed thought this through</sarcasm>

So here are changes that should be made to the following 3 laws.  Part 1 needs to change where you need to get a court order to track data.  Data gathering should be limited to that account and should only be stored for the person who the court order is for.  NOT TRACKED FOR EVERYBODY AND KEPT FOR MONTHS!!!  Part 2 needs to be changed so Police have to provide a special server for doing the Man in the middle attack.  Police have their own IT personnel who are required to have background checks done, etc.  They should be providing a server to the ISP's but only when a warrant has been issued to track an account.  I feel better about police only having access to the server then the ISP staff who have what kind of background????  Part 3 is a no brainier.  Yes we need these warrants we have been saying that for years but the way this is setup is all screwed up and backwards.  WARRANT FIRST!!!! then you can do the rest of the stuff not the other way around.  Remember innocent before guilty?

Trevor

Sources:

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5451/135/

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4740653&Language=e&Mode=1

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4745885&Language=e&Mode=1

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4753163&Language=e&Mode=1

http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/technology/lawbytes/article/889359--geist-lawful-access-legislation-would-reshape-canada-s-internet

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My letter about metered internet

Dear Mr. Rathgeber and Mr. Clement,

I am writing this to express my extreme displeasure about the current ruling by the CRTC to allow basically metered internet in Canada.  First off the CRTC is a regulator for television and radio, it has vested interest in seeing those formats continue and therefore is not in a position to make a ruling like this.  Also the costs for bandwidth from companies such as Telus, Rogers, Shaw and Bell is almost next to nothing, and are already gorging the consumer when it comes to "Internet Costs". 

In many forward thinking countries Internet Access has been made a human rights (In case your out of touch you can read about it on Wikipedia).  Essentially if you want to kill all 21st century innovation you will allow this ruling to stand. If you need an expaination of why allowing this ruling to stand it will kill all Innovation in Canada here it is.  First off you will never see any kind of "Facebook" be created in Canada, the cost to host such a website on a home or small business server will be to expensive if it ever caught on and took off.  Small Print shops would no longer be able to afford to host FTP servers for clients to send them files.  A proper 10' x 5' popup display that you see at tradeshows usually are around 1 - 2 gigabytes in size.  So say you do 6 a week on top of other print files that are say on average of 300 - 500mb you will quickly use up your quota and get a huge bill from one of the four large ISPs. 

Now that you can get services like Netflix, online gaming with games such as WOW, Starcraft II, etc, you are talking about homes that use huge amounts of bandwidth.  Not to mention people that use offsite backup companies such as carbonite. Here is what the current Bell Bandwidth Cap the Telus Caps and Shaw Caps are.  I implore you to over turn this ruling because it is the wrong ruling for Canada.  It is easy to see how someone can over their bandwidth cap, and what's waiting for us consumers who are unaware we are approaching or have surpassed our bandwidth limit?   A Huge Bill which has been billed per gigabyte as compared to being moved to the next tier of service.

I urge you, stand up for Canadians, Innovation in the long run is more important then short term monetary gain.

Trevor Tye
http://www.optionkey.ca

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Credit card security and why it's a joke

Can you breath and walk? Guess what you can get a credit card. That right even with the "Economic Collapse" you can still get a credit card pretty easily. Also guess what you can use a credit card for (besides buying stuff)... That right ID. With no identifiable features it is accepted as a form of personal identification. As Air Canada learned that's not such a good idea.

It's time we started demanding better. Credit cards should be if not more secure then our Driver's license in my opinion. They should have all of if not more security features. One of the major things that are missing from credit cards is Photo ID on the card with your signature. I'm not stopping their, there should be the holographic and UV security features as well to help stop fraud otherwise anyone with an inkjet printer and a laminator could make driver's license. Most credit cards are issued by your local bank; where they can securely take your picture so it's not that big of an issue for the banks to implement this.

Considering the cost of fraud I am really surprised this is not already implemented. It is a pain in the butt for the customer to start however I think they will appreciate the security. Especially considering the "Chip" method in most debit and credit cards is mostly a joke. The Chip Encryption was hacked in 2008. So like a debit card if someone is watching you they get your pin, then takes your wallet, can then have a free shopping spree since photo ID is not required to use your credit card. FYI if you haven't signed the back of your credit card; you are voiding your terms of service with your credit card company.

In a time where you can find out anything about anyone from social networks such as Facebook, blippy, and foursquare; if we don't demand better security we won't get it. It is a small inconvience for a big piece of mind. These security features should go along way to help prevent fraud and they should also be used on debit cards. I don't know about you but if we had a secure ID process for credit cards especially for verifing who is using them, I would feel better about using them.

For more blog posts and podcasts please visit http://www.optionkey.ca

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Windows Phone 7 Series And What to Expect

Microsoft needs a home run with Windows 7 Mobile, and from what I've seen, I'm not impressed. When the original iPhone was released it didn't do multi-tasking and was quite limited in what it was allowed to do. You can read Paul Thurrott's review of the iPhone here http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/iphone.asp

Now Paul is giving the Windows 7 Mobile phone glowing reviews.  On several Windows Weekly Podcasts Paul has mentioned time and time again how great this windows 7 mobile is.  I know Paul is a Microsoft "Fan Boy" and I will reserve judgment until I see a device for myself.  To be fair I am not expecting much out of Microsoft, with the amount of "Success" (Yes I use that term loosely) they have had with the Zune, I don't see Microsoft having much success in the mobile phone space.  I do feel however if you critized a phone from a different manufacture for not having something when it was launched then you turn around and say it's great that this phone is great even without this feature your being a bit hypocritical (or just being a fanboy).  As far as I'm concerned Microsoft is 2 - 3 years behind on the mobile platform.

Here is the short of what I am expecting from The Windows 7 Phone.

It will loosely integrate with xBox live.  It won't do anything great and I don't expect it to play any major games, you will probably be able to modify characters for RPGs, send messages, pictures, music to your xBox but that's about the extent of it.  There may be a future for games in games where you can play games on your phone and it will integrate with an xBox game you play.  Since most of those games are first person shooters that is unlikely.  It will also loosely integrate with windows live essentials and Messenger, that will cover the consumer part of the business (which is where they should be targeting).  Now where are they targeting the 1% corporate consumer where they will get it because they are Microsoft.  It will have tight integration with exchange and office.  Expect complete iMap syncing, calendar syncing (the usual).   The major difference with Windows Phone 7 and everyone else. Office.  There is no really good integration with Microsoft Office on the iPhone, Android or BlackBerry.  This is probably the only reason why someone will buy a Windows Phone 7.

From what I've seen Microsoft needs a home run and it looks like they hit a single.  I'm not expecting much, I'm expecting to see some kind of mash up and copying of Android, and iOS.  Needless to say it is going to be wired. The best example of the Microsoft's Windows 7 Release would have been the ill-fated Kin which Microsoft kill very shortly after launch; probably creating some sort of record for the shortest product life span.

If Microsoft wants a successful product they are going to need all these features.

Video Playback - .mp4, .mkv, and .wmv
Audio Playback - .mp3, .aac, and .wma
A Really Great photo editor and management system
A really slick mobile browser (Were going to see how ie 9 does on mobile)
IT MUST have office or a light version of it.
It must have an cheap or free way for developers to make apps for the platform (If you charge they will not come)

Even with all that it's going to be hard to convince handset manufactures to go with Windows mobile when you can get Android (for Free).  Android also has a 2 year head start on Windows Mobile.

I have a feeling that like the Zune in the portable music industry, Microsoft with end up with a low percentage of the market share, and they will probably be just fine with that.

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I want a laptop what do I need?

I get asked this question a lot. As I tell everyone it depends on what you want to do. Do you want something for word processing and checking email or a desktop replacement? Do you want to do some photo editing, or something for gaming. Those are some of the things I need to know to get an idea of what to recommend to you. There are a few things that you need to know about a laptop before we get to the details

Hard Drive Size Doesn't Matter - Hard Drives are typically replaceable. There are only a few laptops such as the Apple Macbooks and Macbook Pros are great examples where you have to literally take apart the computer to replace the hard drive. In most Windows and Linux based laptops it is two screws to remove the cover to replace the hard drive.

RAM - Ram can be upgraded; however you do need to check what the maximum ram is that your system can take. Some manufactures cheap out and what you get in the laptop is what you get forever. To check what your laptop's maximum ram check the manufacture's website or check kingston memory configuration.

How fast and the amount of battery life the Laptop is depends on all the components of the computer. For instance a 7200 RPM hard drive will be faster then a 5400 RPM hard drive but use more power. However the a 5400 RPM hard drive will more likely give better battery life. Something to keep in mind.

 

What to Expect For The Budget.

Basic Computing Needs

If the basic computers for web surfing and word processing I would say budget for $300 - $600. This will be a basic low end word processing and web surfing computer. It won't be great for much more then that. These computers have been designed not to do very much, and you will probably get very frustrated with it after about a year. The processors are the low end slow processors, and are typically processors Like the Intel P6000 to the Intel Atom N270 and everything in between those processors in the table below. These computers are typically very low power and have a longer battery life depending on what your power settings are set to.

Moderate Performance / Desktop Replacement

For the regular desktop replacement or for something that can do a little bit more then word processing and web surfing; I would recommend a $600 - $1500 budget. These laptops would be good for everyday desktop use, be able to do some gaming (you will get better performance if you have a dedicated graphics card). The main difference from shared and dedicated graphics cards is the memory on the computer isn't shared therefore you should always have better performance from a dedicated graphics card. Processors I would recommend for this price point would be The AMD P820, N830, P920, N930 and the Intel i3 330, i3 350, i5 430, i5 450. The GPU's I would look for to come with these processors would be the Nvidia 310m, Nvidia 330m, Nvidia GTS 250m, ATI 5470, ATI 5650 and ATI 5730.

High End Gaming/Performance

For the High End Gaming/Performance Laptop I would budget between $1500 - $2500. The ONLY AMD processor I would recommend would be AMD Phenom II N930. It is a quad core processor and the only one I've seen in stores in a laptop that can even come close to the performance of the i7. On the Intel side I would recommend the Intel Core i7 720QM and Intel Core i7 740QM. These are both Quad core i7's unlike the i7 620M which is only a dual core processor. (Sorry to break it to you Apple People). For the Graphics processor I would select ATI Mobility HD 5730, Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M, Nvidia GeForce GTS 360M, GeForce GTX 280M, Mobility Radeon HD 5850, and the Mobility Radeon HD 5870. Obviously the battery life on this laptop will not be very long; but lets face it your not buying this kind of laptop for the battery life.

 

When I buy and select the hardware I try go for best performance for your dollar. These are some good deals I've found online; if you look for similar hardware from your local store they should be around the same price.

Asus EEE PC 1001P - Approx $359.99

Acer Aspire 5553-2847 - Approx $569.99

Acer 5741 - Approx $699.95

ASUS K52JR-X2 - Approx $870.00

Sony VAIO VPCEB27FX/L - Approx $1000.00

Sony VAIO VPCF126FM/B - Approx $1349.99

ASUS G73JH-A1 - Approx $1698.88

ASUS G73JH-B1 - Approx $1849.95

Here is a list of common mobile CPU's and GPU's listed from slowest to fastest. I composed this list from the commonly used processors and graphic processors that are for sale in most notebooks. For the ratings I've referenced passmark.net to compose the list.

Processors (CPU's)	Score (Higher is Better)	Graphics (GPU's)	Score (Higher is Better)
Intel Atom N270	305	Intel Media Accelerator 500	24
Intel Atom N280	309	ATI Mobility HD 4200	103
Intel Atom N450	322	Nvidia Ion LE	104
AMD V120	667	Nvidia Ion	108
AMD Athlon X2 L310	673	ATI Mobility HD 4250	184
AMD Athlon Neo L325	794	ATI Mobility HD 4330	232
Intel SU7300	977	Nvidia GeForce 310M	285
AMD Turion RM-75	1091	ATI Mobility HD 5145	308
AMD Athlon II M300	1183	ATI Mobility HD 5470	312
Intel Core i3 330UM	1205	Nvidia GeForce 320M	317
AMD Athlon II P320	1292	Intel HD	319
Intel Core2 Duo T6570	1344	Intel Media Accelerator HD	329
Intel T4300	1420	Nvidia GeForce GT 330M	480
Intel P6000	1451	ATI Mobility HD 5650	611
Intel T4400	1515	Nvidia GeForce GT 335M	625
Intel Core2 Duo T6600	1566	Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M	658
Intel T4500	1581	ATI Mobility HD 5730	675
AMD Phenom II P820	1655	Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M	701
AMD Phenom II N620	1824	Nvidia GeForce GT 240	779
Intel Core i3 370M	1858	Nvidia GeForce GTS 360M	859
AMD Phenom II N830	1954	GeForce GTX 280M	912
Intel Core i3 330M	1975	Mobility Radeon HD 5850	927
Intel Core i3 350M	2071	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870	1245
Intel Core i5 430M	2360	For more detailed information about the Intel Processors such as how much power it uses and other features visit http://ark.intel.com/ For more detailed information about the AMD Processors such as how much power it uses and other features visit AMD Processor Page
Intel Core i5 450M	2504
Intel Core i5 520M	2344
Intel Core i5 540M	2440
AMD Phenom II N930	2477
Intel Core i7 620M	2753
Intel Core i7 720QM	3250
Intel Core i7 740QM	3618

 

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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

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Google Voice Comes To Canada

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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

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

The Infant Mortality Of USB3

The Infant Mortality of USB3

USB 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

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:

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

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

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 Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Fix a windows network printer that is offline How to fix a network printer that get's installed and shows offline. By default SNMP is set to public, so when you are installing a netw... How to get the SQL Express Offline Installer When working in a test environment you don't exactly want something to have internet access; so you need to be able to download files in... How to setup a Rustdesk server To see a video of the Rustdesk installation visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7UobpjDsRY  and if you like the content please like and s... Windows 11 auto login - Updated for 2024   Quick guide: Automatic login in Windows 10 Open the Registry Editor using  [Windows] + [R]  and  “regedit” . Enter  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOF... Search This Blog Home About Me Trevor Tye View my complete profile Blog Archive ▼  2026 (14) ▼  September (1) Fix a windows network printer that is offline ►  August (1) ►  July (1) ►  May (1) ►  April (6) ►  March (3) ►  January (1) ►  2025 (13) ►  October (1) ►  September (2) ►  July (1) ►  June (2) ►  May (1) ►  April (1) ►  March (4) ►  February (1) ►  2024 (7) ►  April (1) ►  March (2) ►  February (2) ►  January (2) ►  2023 (15) ►  October (2) ►  September (1) ►  August (2) ►  July (3) ►  June (2) ►  April (2) ►  March (1) ►  February (1) ►  January (1) ►  2022 (21) ►  November (1) ►  September (3) ►  August (2) ►  July (1) ►  June (2) ►  May (3) ►  April (2) ►  March (3) ►  January (4) ►  2021 (33) ►  November (2) ►  October (3) ►  September (4) ►  August (4) ►  July (4) ►  June (3) ►  May (2) ►  April (2) ►  March (1) ►  February (2) ►  January (6) ►  2020 (27) ►  December (1) ►  November (2) ►  October (1) ►  September (4) ►  August (3) ►  July (1) ►  May (4) ►  April (1) ►  March (4) ►  February (3) ►  January (3) ►  2019 (12) ►  December (2) ►  November (1) ►  July (4) ►  June (1) ►  May (1) ►  March (1) ►  February (1) ►  January (1) ►  2018 (37) ►  December (3) ►  November (1) ►  October (4) ►  September (3) ►  August (1) ►  July (7) ►  June (1) ►  May (5) ►  April (4) ►  March (3) ►  February (3) ►  January (2) ►  2017 (39) ►  December (1) ►  November (5) ►  October (4) ►  September (4) ►  August (6) ►  July (4) ►  June (5) ►  May (4) ►  April (3) ►  March (3) ►  2016 (7) ►  August (1) ►  July (1) ►  June (2) ►  April (1) ►  March (1) ►  February (1) ►  2015 (6) ►  August (1) ►  June (1) ►  May (3) ►  April (1) ►  2014 (4) ►  December (1) ►  November (3) ►  2013 (7) ►  December (2) ►  November (3) ►  February (2) ►  2012 (4) ►  February (2) ►  January (2) ►  2011 (8) ►  February (3) ►  January (5) ►  2010 (41) ►  December (5) ►  November (5) ►  October (1) ►  September (2) ►  August (6) ►  July (4) ►  June (5) ►  May (3) ►  April (1) ►  March (2) ►  February (4) ►  January (3) ►  2009 (22) ►  December (3) ►  November (2) ►  October (1) ►  September (5) ►  August (9) ►  March (1) ►  January (1) ►  2008 (1) ►  September (1) Report Abuse OptionKey Facebook Fan Page Join our Facebook Fan Page. I'll be posting updates and answering Tech Questions! OptionKey Facebook Fan Page Facebook Badge Trevor Tye | Create Your Badge Links Theory PC The OptionKey Website Theme images by enot-poloskun. Powered by Blogger.