Maximum PC's 2008 Dream Machine- 5 months later

I was taking a look at some of Maximum Pc's yearly Dream Machine builds, and got to thinking; if someone actually bought one of these, would they be happy half a year later? Would someone be able to build a computer that outperforms it for far cheaper in only 6 months?

I started looking up the prices for all of the 2008 Dream Machine components. How much of a premium will you pay if you bought all new technologies vs. waiting a few months and using mainstream parts?

The total build price for Dream Machine when it was conceived was $17,285, or $11,285 if you discount the silly things like nickel plating and an extravagant case. I just focused on the main components of the system. In order for someone to obtain the 2008 Dream Machine today, they would pay about $2,000 less than 5 months ago, about $8,918- 27% more expensive.

Here is the breakdown on the parts cost today vs 2008.




The most amazing price drops here are the hard drives. Storage is really becoming dirt cheap. Maximum PC paid over triple today's cost for their terabyte hard drives in August of 2008 than they cost today.

But is any of this even relevant? Would these parts be a smart buy today just because they are cheaper? The answer in short is a resounding NO. Purchasing the Dream Machine months, or even weeks after the article was written would leave you with expensive parts that could be bested by cheaper mainstream parts.

For example, at only $499, a single GTX 295 from Nvidia would give you better video performance than the 5 month old double 4870x2 Crossfire configuration that is $1,000 today.

In conclusion, Maximum PC's Dream Machine's is probably not your Dream Machine. My Dream Machine is not a gimmick computer like what Maximum PC puts together, where they try to waste as much money as possible just to eke out a few points on the benchmarks. If you are looking for a price:performance ratio that gives you a nice beefy rig at a decent price, then use the immense amount of money you will be saving by purchasing mainstream parts to upgrade a few months down the road.

Google's Gdrive

We’ve seen Google’s search engine, g-mail, and Google Earth and loved them since they first came out. But now, a product is coming out that will shadow all of them, something people have been anticipating for years; the Gdrive. That’s right, the Gdrive is finally coming and people could not be more thrilled. Upon its release the Gdrive could cause a major shift in the way we use computers and could possibly overtake Windows on your desktop.

Rumors have been circulating for years and now they can all be laid to rest. The Gdrive is online storage in which servers from Google will have the capacity to hold the entire contents of your hard drive. It may even have the power for some nifty tricks like booting your computer from an online drive to load the Google operating system. The Gdrive is a cloud-based storage with two faces:first you'll have a desktop client who will keep online files and folders and local files and folders in two directional sync through a web interface allowing you to access your desktop files anytime and anyplace you wish. It will also come integrated with other Google services that will allow editing of supported document types like spreadsheets.

With this, endless possibilities arise. For example: you could start working on something at home and, through the Gdrive, edit it from your laptop from somwhere with wifi and when you go home it has already been changed on your desktop. This will open all new doors for everybody and is certainly something to look forward to.

2008 Up's and Down's

Gartner and IDC released preliminary 2008 PC shipment numbers. They might be down now but that doesn’t mean people should write off Microsoft future earnings because of them. There were six years of growth following the decline during the late 2000 to early 2002 recession. The fourth quarter is usually the strongest for PC shipments because of holiday sales.

In October Microsoft forecast second-quarter revenue between $17.3 billion and $17.8 billion operating income between $6.1 billion to $6.4 billion and 51 cents to 53 cents earnings per share. The last time Microsoft had a big miss was during the last recession. Microsoft is going to try to avoid the layoffs.

Microsoft will be making more investments this year and is focusing on R&D investing more than $8 billion last year alone. Starting the new IT marketing campaign focusing on value will help for the new investments. Microsoft will still have trouble getting customers to continue investing in new technology when pulling back investments.

During this recession and the last there have been some mart similarities. In 2000 PC shipments were strong during the first half of the year then went really bad during the fourth quarter when holiday sales were generally off for all manufacturers. Compaq, Gateway and other OEM’s also had a steep computer sales decline and most PC makers selling through retail saw their inventories pile up.

When changing sales it will reshape which PC manufacturers and categories will dominate. Acer is becoming very popular name everywhere. Acer, Asus got first-to-market advantage which paid off in a growing category. Over the year Acer PC shipments grew more than 53 percent worldwide. It was almost double Apple’s year-over-year gains.

Portables have still been selling well despite the contracted growth. After three quarters of 40 percent or more growth the notebook shipment dropped. Even though the fourth quarter brought down sales for 2008 the worldwide PC growth was 10.5 percent.

Alienware M-17 Notebook

Anyone who wants a laptop or any computer for gaming knows exactly where to find one; Alienware. Alienware is the leading producer of top-of-the-line, kick ass gaming computers and the new M-17 notebook is no different.

The M-17 is powered by the world's first ever mobile quad-core CPU's. The intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor delivers ridiculous power allowing for you to enjoy more multitasking and faster speeds to allow you to take on next-gen video games that require alot of resource-intensive tasks. Another first for the M-17 is ATI CrossFireX dual graphics. ATI CrossfireX multi-GPU technology brings enhanced performance as well as DirectX 10.1 support. ATI PowerPlay allowe\s the notebook to monitor its GPU usages, automatically conserving energy for less-intensive programs and blowing the roof when necessary boost is needed.

The M-17 comes equipped with a Clearview 17-inch LCD screen which supports extreme high-def 1200p for the highest quality. For some, storing all your files can be a bit of a problem. But with the M-17 all that is water under the bridge. This notebook holds dual 500GB drives in a RAID 0 configuration. And with its wopping 1TB of memory you can hold an astounding 250,000 songs, 250 full-length movies, or 150 games! And, on top of all that, all Alienware 7200RPM drives feature Free Fall Sensor technology for added protection for your important files. The M-17 uses the latest in todays technology to harness up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, this is also Alienwares first notebook to harness DDR 3 memory.

Ever see those ridiculously cool computers in like the James Bond movies? You know, the ones that get your fingerprint or scan your face for access? Haven't you always wanted one of those? Well now you can because the M-17 comes secure with multiple biometric features including a fingerprint scanner and the AlienSense facial recognition software relying on unique double biometric measurments locking out all unauthorized users from accessing your notebook. Now whats cooler than that!?

Even though $1,399 maybe a bit of cash for some, it is worth it! With all the power and features I doubt anyone would be disappointed with this sitting on their lap!

Google launches Google Apps reseller program. Cloud computing going mainstream?

Today Google announced in a press release that they will be making cloud based Google Apps available for resale by IT resellers.

The Authorized Reseller program benefits include:

* owning the customer relationship and billing structure
* providing consulting, service management and end-user support
* receiving a recurring discount on the annual Google Apps licensing fee
* receiving marketing, sales and technical training from Google

IT resellers will be able to sell Google Apps such as the Google Apps Premier Edition suite of communication and collaboration tools including Gmail™, Google Calendar™, Google Docs™, Google Sites™, Google Talk™, and Google Video™ for business. Because all of the Google Apps are available on the cloud, working from home is easy for employees.

See Google's official Google Apps reseller program page for details on how to become a Google Apps reseller.

AMD Launches Phenom II CPU

AMD's first Quad Core 45nm CPU chip is finally out the doors and its being called the Phenom II. AMD has positioned the Phenom II CPU in between Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core i7 and is being sold in two versions, the 2.8GHz X4 920 ($235) and the 3.0GHz X4 940 Black Edition ($275). Each Phenom CPU has an L3 cache size of 8MB but still trails in performance when compared to the 12MB L3 cache of the Intel Core i7's. However, what truly makes this chip stand out is that the Black Editions overclocking capabilities. Overclocking enthusiasts using liquid nitrogen have managed to bring the Phenom clock speeds over 6GHz surpassing the world record for Intel Core i7 processors, which stands at 5.5 GHz.

Microsoft Surface

Microsoft has high hopes for their new product Microsoft Surface. Microsoft Surface is a giant 30 inch table pc that is completely touch sensitive. It was initially released on April 17 2008, but I have yet to see one anywhere or even see it advertised. Microsoft has reported that Surface will only be available for commercial purchase for around $10,000, but expect it to be available to the average consumer in 2010.

With a price tag like that you will often wonder what in the world could be in this product to make it cost so much. Well Microsoft’s new product seems to have endless possibilities. It’s main feature being touch sensitive is the real selling point. Surface has been optimized to respond to over 52 touches at a time. It also has a device that will let it sync to almost anything that you set down onto the table. In the numerous videos for Surface you can see it automatically sync to everything from cell phones to cameras to even credit cards. Some of the main uses they tried to push for the new product is using it at a restaurant to display a virtual menu and let people order stuff off of it that way. It also was shown to be used for people to share photos and music with each others cameras and mp3 players.

As of lately, Surface has pretty much disappeared from the web. This could be due to several factors including: the current economic crisis, Vista not selling well, or their current layoff of 17% of their staff. With such a high price tag I do not expect this to become a giant success like the iphone, but the overall concept is very unique and I could see it one day becoming a mainstream product.

Update: More news of Microsoft Surface At CES 2009