Intel Core i3-530

I was impressed by the performance of the new DELL Inspiron 580 desktop with Intel's Core i3-530 2.93GHz CPU and DDR3 memory. It seems to be a quantum step up from the Pentium-based version.

It benchmarks better too; PCmark Vantage 6178 versus 4224 for the older processor. It is just a pity that the price premium is too high. However, I can't wait to try the Intel Core i5-650 which has a faster clock speed with Turbo Boost as well taking it from 3.2GHz to 3.46GHz. So the writing is on the wall for me to upgrade my gaming PC with a new motherboard, CPU and DDR3 memory. Might as well get a new DX11 graphics card too!

Microsoft Office 2010 Starter

I just been delivered my first DELL PC with the new Microsoft Office 2010 Starter instead of Microsoft Works. I was a bit doubtful about a crippled, advertisement displaying version of Microsoft's premier application being any good at all but I was pleasantly surprised. It only has Word and Excel, so no Powerpoint or Outlook but this is hardly a restriction to most users as they typically only need the Powerpoint Viewer and Windows Live Mail can be downloaded and used as a simple email program.

The advertisement strip on the right-hand side is fairly unobtrusive, especially with a wide-screen monitor. And there are few restrictions in Word Starter and Excel Starter for most users. Reviewing changes of Word documents and pivot tables in Excel spreadsheets are the biggest omissions. It also has a neat Office-To-Go feature that allows you to load these applications onto a USB memory stick (about 400Mb) and then use them on another computer to create and edit documents without having to install them. Really neat.

It is a pity that Microsoft is not offering a free down load of Office 2010 Starter and that you can't even buy it in the shops. Also if you purchase the licence upgrade to the full Home and Student or Home and Business versions you only have a single license for that PC and it cannot be transferred. Buying the retail versions is a much better deal.

Old hard disks

A customer complained of a slow DELL Dimension 8400 which intermittently crashed. Performing the usual diagnostics, I determined that the WD 250Gb SATA hard disk drive appeared to be the problem, so I quickly cloned it to a modern Seagate 7200.12 SATA II 320Gb model.

What a difference in the overall system performance! The original disk drive benchmarked at 45Mb/s bandwidth with a 16ms access time whilst the new one gave over 100Mb/s and 6ms respectively. Admittedly the old one was failing and giving the occasional error but I was amazed at the overall performance improvement for just £35 cost. It just shows how much hard disk design, capacity and speed has improved in the last few years.

Dragon Age: Origins

I'm enjoying playing Dragon Age: Origins. I was bought it for Christmas by my son Nick and though at times I've found it frustrating and difficult to progress through, I still keep going back to it for another try. In fact I stopped playing it completely for a while until I completed Bioshock 2, but I've returned to Ferelden to battle the darkspawn.

I've learnt the importance of leveling up, balancing specialisations within your party, equipping the best armour and weapons and just recently to use injury kits to heal your characters. My tactics are still not the best, as some of the attacks are too fast for me to manage and control.

The character dialogues and cut scenes help to vary the battles and the ranges of people and places makes for a refreshing series of quests. I might not be able to finish it, but it is fun so far.

Socket to Intel

What is Intel playing at with all these processor socket formats? For years we just had LGA775 in which a number of CPU ranges, models and revisions fitted into. Upgrading was relatively easy. Just download the latest motherboard BIOS, check power requirements and drop in the new CPU. Job done!

Then we had LGA1156 for top end Intel Core i7 CPUs, and now the LGA1136 for mid range Core i3 and i5 processors. Already limiting the upgrade capabilities. And now I hear that later this year Intel will release the LGA1155 which is slightly different, but completely incompatible with the previous designs. And then later next year LGA2011 (sic!) will be with us. These changes are being made to apparently support even more multi-CPU cores for the future 8, 10, 12 probably.

So in order to upgrade to perform a CPU upgrade we will have to replace the motherboard as well. A lot more expense and hassle. Probably not worth it for most people. And we still have limited software applications that will be able to take advantage of these multi-CPU cores.

One of the advantages of a desktop system is to use its modular architecture to easily upgrade individual components as and when necessary. By limiting the upgrade-ability of their CPUs, Intel has put another nail into the desktop coffin.

Cleaning out Windows Vista

I'm getting more and more problems with Windows Vista. Even though I've converted all my PCs to Windows 7 except one, it seems that my customers are having problems. Windows Vista-based systems sold a couple of years ago (some by me) with only 1Gb of RAM memory are slowing down and even grinding to a halt. The pressures and demands of modern software and broadband technologies have become too much for these limited systems.

Also any virus or spyware scans are taking longer and longer. Normal file cleansing methods have limited success. One major culprit is Vista's Side-by-side Winsxs directory which grows to over 10Gb with tens of thousands of small files. Scanning all these files often takes longer than the rest of the hard disk drive.

Thousands of these files can be removed by either using Vista Service Pack 1's Vsp1cln command or Service Pack 2's Compcln command. These should be run from an Administrator's command line window. It helps a bit. Adding at least another gigabyte of RAM sure helps as well.

Desktop replacements

A lot has been made in the press recently of the decline of the traditional desktop PC and the sales rise of laptops which now outsell desktops. When they mention desktop replacement laptops they generally refer to expensive (£1,000 to £1,500+), large screen, powerful laptops with fast processors and good mobile 3D graphics capabilities. I reckon that there is another desktop replacement market for large screen, value laptops.

This is typified by the DELL Inspiron 17 which even with a dual core mobile CPU, 3Gb of memory, 250Gb hard disk drive and a high resolution 17" screen still comes in at under £500 including VAT and delivery. I am selling these to people who are restricted in space for a full desk-based PC, who are looking for a larger display so that they can see it better and just want to email, web surf and word process, etc. The full-size keyboard also helps these typically older people use their computer.

So we have a new value desktop replacement market.