PCs
”Email Reveals Nvidia and ATI May Have Colluded to Inflate Prices
A graphics card can cost you almost as much as a bona fide Batman gadget, especially when you get up to ridiculous amounts of power and performance, but that ludicrous price is actually less ludicrous than it could be, because of the cutthroat competition between ATI and Nvidia, right? Not so fast. An email Nvidia sent by Nvidia senior VP of marketing, Dan Vivoli, to ATI's president and COO, Dave Orton made public by the judge in an ongoing anti-trust suit against the two companies reveals that they both see eye-to-eye on prices. Namely, that they should be higher:
More »
Dell Linux Systems Now Shipping With Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron has been out since April, but Dell wanted to do a whole bunch of testing and add support for stuff like fingerprint readers, Bluetooth, HDMI and MP3/WMA/WMV out of the box before rolling it out on their Linux systems. It's shipping on 'em as of this second. [Dell via Direct2Dell]Apple Now #3 U.S. Computer Maker, Behind Only Dell and HP
Last Friday might've been the most important day of the year for Apple, but today's looking pretty shiny too: Gartner estimates that sales of 1.4 million Macs last quarter effectively make it the number three computer maker in the US, trailing only Dell and HP, thanks to a swoopy 38 percent growth in Mac sales. More »Wal-Mart Getting Its Own Geek Squad, Courtesy of Dell
If I ran Wal-Mart and was brainstorming ideas to pump up customer satisfaction, offering Dell tech services would be near the bottom of my list. Free Snickers would probably be near the top. Anyways, you can guess which one Wal-Mart is actually going with. More »ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Previewed: ATI's Fastest Single Graphics Card Ever
ATI fanboys, your time may have come with the R700-based Radeon HD 4870 X2. It's a $500 multi-GPU card that basically straps together a pair of Radeon HD 4870s with 2GB of onboard memory to create ATI's fastest single card ever. (It's not your imagination, they're really stepping with the Nvidia-killing, which is sweet.) Benchwise, it actually beats Nvidia's monster GeForce GTX 280 running in SLI in a couple of games, like Age of Conan. More »PlayStation Network Finally Gets Single Sign On for All Platforms
A small, but happy change in the PlayStation Network: Starting this fall all PlayStation users will have a single sign on that works across PS3, PC and PSP. One. That works across all three platforms. Simplicity and logic, meet Sony.Famous Batmobile Tumbler Case Mod on eBay
About a year ago, the Batmobile case mod lit up the internets with a design crafted from a Wal-Mart R/C Tumbler. The mod still kicks ass, but the specs were lame a year ago and are now...one year lamer. Still, it would make for a unique web surfing device and a great way to celebrate the opening of the new movie. Plus, its pretty cheap at the moment (although there is still a week left). [eBay via Geekalerts]Packard Bell (!?) Launches Gaming Desktop Line
Packard Bell—previously referred to as Packard Hell and Packard Smell—is diving head-first into the gaming PC market with the ipower X2.0, a gaming rig that features full customization at a decent price. It's aimed squarely at offerings from Acer and Ares. The Intel-based machines give customers their choice of ATI or Nvidia graphics, disk drives, audio options, TV tuners and other add-ons. In addition, the PC features advanced cooling, including a silent water cooling system. The boxes are expected for this holiday season at about $2000, and we're hoping they're nothing like the PBs of the past. [Trusted Reviews]
New Drobo Arrives, And It's Packing FireWire
The original Drobo was a highly regarded, easily expandable storage "robot" that could be stuffed with a new SATA drive whenever you required more space. But it was slow, even for a USB drive. Today a new Drobo has been announced that's equipped with two FireWire 800 ports and an upgraded processor. What's that mean? They claim it's now fast enough for video editing. The hollow version starts at $499. And if you're willing to settle for an older Drobo, that's on clearance for $349. [Drobo]Acer Aspire X1200 Series Mini-PCs Stuff HDMI Jack, 9 USB Ports and More in a Tiny Space
If you gotta go the desktop route, Acer's got three mini-PCs packed heavy with ports that don't take up a ton of space. Measuring 10.6" x 4" x 14.4", about the same as a hardcover book, the X1200s have an HDMI port—like Dell's leaked mini, aka the green PC, but unlike the smaller Asus Eee Box, which only has DVI—plus two PCIes, nine(!!) USBs, FireWire, front and back audio jacks, a DVD SuperMulti drive and a 14-in-1 card reader. Under the hood, it comes standard with 4GB RAM, the better to power the AMD dual-core processor with Nvidia GeForce 8200 integrated graphics to run Vista (now with SP1!). The PCs are out now for $450 to $700, a config which includes a 500GB drive and 22" LCD monitor. Check out the press release after the jump. [Acer] More »Averatec Makes iMac-Like All-In-One PC For $1249
Averatec's joining the XPS One and HP Touchsmart IQ506—among others—in the all-in-one PC game. What's notable about Averatec's beside its super generic "All-In-One PC" name? It's cheap. At just $1249, you get a 2.4GHz Intel E4600 Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, nVidia GeForce 8400, a 22-inch screen and a copy of Vista Home Premium. It's not a performance monster, but it is a fairly affordable all-in-one for the space conscious. On the other hand, [PRNewswire via Digital Trends]Acer G24 World's Highest Contrast Gaming Monitor (50,000:1)
Acer's G24 gaming monitor is apparently the only one badass enough for its Predator gaming PC. Besides being slathered in the same hue of rusty orange, according to Acer, this 24-incher is the world's highest contrast monitor, with a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Stuff should pop big, in other words.
More »








