I recently purchased a one terabyte internal hard drive along with 2 gigs of RAM to add to my machine. Once I had the RAM I began to think about upgrading my OS to 64 bit. Today I completed that upgrade and haven't looked back once. All of my games now run incredibly smoothly with the support for the extra RAM. So far all the applications I downloaded are compatible and some are even optimized to run 64 bit which considerably boosts their performance. I can't find any disadvantages as of yet. For those of you wavering on the verge of an OS upgrade I would reccomend windows 7 64 bit. If you have any older applications or games you can check out whether they will work at microsoft's windows 7 compatability centre. Even if you don't have applications that are optimized for 64 bit I would reccommend an upgrade now as most future programs seem to be headed that way.
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Luke
The "Mac Vs. PC" debate has raged on since the late 1970's. I was discussing the matter with Luke the other day, and we think that when it comes down to it, it's all about preference. Both the Macintosh and the PC have pros and cons. I've no problem with people listing these pros and cons then making comparisons, any intelligent person pondering which they should purchase would. However, what irks me to some extent is the comments on, for example, YouTube posted by fanboys of the Mac/PC, declaring that the Mac or PC is useless, while the other is completely superior. The simple fact is, neither is a superior operating system. At the same time, there is of course things that Mac does better and vice versa. If you're a graphic designer/video editor or work with lots of multimedia projects then Mac might be for you. At the same time, if you're a gamer then the PC has an advantage over the Mac, as there's more games available for the PC. There is many popular games that are available on the Mac, however there's a wider range to choose from with the PC. Mac is generally more expensive than PC. I've heard/read a lot about PC being best for "business", but this isn't really true at all; both machines have Excel, Word processing software etc, and the files are compatible too, so if your work computer is a PC you can still create an excel file on your Mac that you can use on your work computer. Both machines support Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, and all other Adobe products. Both machines can run Chrome, Firefox, Safari and other internet browsers. As you can see, it wont make a huge difference which you buy, it's down to what you're more comfortable with. I prefer PC because I'm used to it, I've always used it. On the other hand, Luke is very comfortable using a Mac and a PC because he's spent most of his life using both. My advice to you is to ignore the comments of elitist fanboys making mostly false claims, go out to a local computer store and try out both. Then buy whichever you prefer.
Til' Next Time,
-Andy
Friday, 29 January 2010
I purchased a new system back in early December that is currently running Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit). I say currently because I plan on upgrading to 64-bit in the near future. So far I'm very impressed with Windows 7. I can't say I've had extensive experience with many other operating systems other than XP - I used Linux for a few days and I've played around with OS X/Vista - but Windows 7 is definitely up there.
One of the many things I like about Windows 7 is the Aero feature - a mixture of cool graphics and efficient ways to manage your desktop. For example, you can snap windows to the side of your monitor, or drag them to the top of the screen to maximize them. The only problem I've had with this is that I'm using two monitors, so I can't snap windows to the right hand side of the left monitor or the left hand side of the right monitor. Since most people just use one monitor, I wouldn't call this a flaw in the OS.
If you're like me and you have to manage lots of windows at once then the the taskbar will most definitely please you. You can now move applications about on the taskbar, ordering them as you like. Additionally, tasks are sorted into jump lists or groups, reducing clutter. When you hover over one of the items, you see a preview of all the windows within the group. For example, all Google Chrome windows will go into one group on your task bar, but it's very easy to manage in comparison to Windows XP.
That's the end of Part One, I'll do part two at a later date, so be sure to come back soon!
Til Next Time,
-Andy
That's the end of Part One, I'll do part two at a later date, so be sure to come back soon!
Til Next Time,
-Andy
Earlier this week Apple brought speculations to a close and unveiled their latest product, the iPad. It looks like an over-sized iPhone/iTouch, but according to Apple it can do more. Steve Jobs boldly claimed that it's the "best (web) browsing experience you've ever had. It's way better than a laptop or a smartphone." Personally, I wont be purchasing one of these devices, as I already have an iPod Touch and a Netbook. Additionally, watching movies on it would be somewhat irritating, as I don't plan on taking the dock out with me, so unless I'm at home I'll have to hold it in front of me for 2 hours plus.The iPad will have a 9.7 inch screen and will be only half an inch thick. I'll have inside Apple's 'A4' 1GHz processor. The first model will come with Wifi and the second will be released a little later with 3G. The storage sizes are 16gb, 32gb or 64gb. It'll have bluetooth, a speaker and a mic. Additionally, you'll be able to hook up a keyboard if you dislike the nearly full size touch screen typing. Of course, it also includes the accelerometer native to the
iPhone/iTouch. It'll be very much app-orientated and appears promising.
An interesting new addition to the iTunes store is an app called iBook, which will come with the iPad. It looks like Apple is going to be contending (and probably crushing) Amazon's Kindle ebook device. Steve has already confirmed that Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin, and Macmillan have all signed up to provide the iTunes new Bookstore with publications, and more publishers are likely to follow.
I'm interested in Apple's A4 CPU, a SOC (system-on-chip) created with a custom semi-conductor. It looks like they could be implementing it into their products in the future - I'll read up on that an perhaps post an article about it in the future.
It seems that the iPad will be a "gold rush" for developers, as they'll no doubt be creating apps specifically for the device. While I think it's a good idea, everyone I've spoken to so far has no plans on buying one.
The Wi-Fi models will be shipping in late March, pricing at $499 (16gb), $599 (32gb) and $799 (64GB), while the 3G model will be shipping in April, priced at $629, $729 and $829.
Check out an official video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tjtrZl7sdQ&feature=popular
Til' Next Time,
-Andy
Just to let you know that I will be continuing with my previously short lived article series App of the Week. Since I am blogging from my iPod touch right now I'd better start with the app I am using now: BlogPress. In all honesty I have only had this for a few minutes so by no means will this be an in-depth review.
BlogPress is an app costing £1.79. It let's you interface with pretty much all good blog hosters and writers from blogger to typepad. It let's you add pictures to the article from whatever is on your iPhone and although I haven't yet determined it's use it let's you interface with your YouTube account.
One downside I have found is that if you write too much and include too many photos the app will crash and take your article with it. This is extremely annoying so be sure to save long articles as drafts every now and again. One reason that I chose this over others is the landscape keyboard which greatly increases productivity. It works with little flaws and helps me type much faster. All and all this is a fairly well made little app and is well worth the money you pay for it. If you want to try it for free then download the lite version. I would recommend it to any bloggers out there. It is definately the best cheap blogging app in the app store.
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Luke
Sunday, 17 January 2010
We recently posted a review of the Acer Aspire One netbook at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Czh0LKxwzg. I promised to write a review to follow up the video in more detail.
The Acer Aspire One is a fairly mid range netbook with medium performance, price and portability. At £260 it may seem like you don't get much for your money but most netbooks are still highly priced as they haven't yet reached the mass market. Unless they increase in power dramatically my opinion is they never will.
Performance: The netbook has an Intel Atom 1.66 GHz processer and comes with a full gigabyte of DDR2 RAM installed. The RAM, while more than adaquete for everything you will do on the netbook is let down by the tiny amount of processing power. The processer isn't capable of anything more than multiple tabs in firefox and a word processer at the same time. Anything else is met with a signifacant drop in performance.
Portabillity: The netbook has a 10.1 inch screen which makes it extremely easy to carry around. Although the solid state drive makes it slightly less robust than the flash drives in some other models of the Aspire One the extra storage space is well worth the trade off. Another trade off is the 6 cell battery which protrudes from the back but is well worth the 8 hours of internet browsing. This is still a fairly small machine and while it won't fit in your pocket it can be carried around very easily weighing only 2.9lbs.
User Interface: The keyboard too small for what it could have been but XP runs more or less smoothly on a machine that it was never designed for. Worst of all about the interface is the trackpad which is difficult to use, doesn't match the screen and shows precisely how XP was designed before the age of hand gestures on it. Worst of all the gestures were not designed well and you will find yourself trying to move the mouse one way and the screen will be magnified by 50%. A lack of an optical drive also lets it down.
Altogether I give this product a 6.5/10.
It is an extremely portable machine and is powerful enough for what is required of it but the way that you must interface with the machine could easily have been avoided and improved upon. If all you want to do is browse the internet and occasionally take notes down then buy an ipod touch. It is a much better user experience. Be sure to note that this is not a replacement for a pc.
Hi Everyone!
Good to be back. We've got some great ideas about how to make this blog even better than the awesome experience it was last time. You know the reviews we mentioned on our new channel's video? I am going to be posting a text review in addition to the video we'll make and post to youtube. Stay tuned to this blog for all the latest things Dreamwarez and whatever technological developments we find along the way.
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Luke
Friday, 15 January 2010
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