TIME TO UPGRADE TO PENTIUM 4?
QUESTION:
I currently own a Pentium III based system and my friend owns a
Pentium II. We know that the Pentium 4 is a faster chip. Is speed the only
thing we should consider before deciding whether to upgrade to the Pentium
4 or are there other considerations? Can I upgrade my system or do I have
to buy a whole new computer?
ANSWER:
Basically faster speeds, larger capacities and added abilities are the
three main reasons that drive most of us to eventually upgrade to a newer
computer. And Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor embraces all of them.
Although the Pentium 4 represents Intel's latest and fastest consumer
microprocessor chip, Intel's intent was not just to come out with
something faster but to come out with something better. For example, the
Pentium 4 with the proper software will be able to multitask which means
it can to do more than one thing at the same time.
As for determining whether it's time to move to a
Pentium 4 based system, it all depends on what you plan to do with a
computer. Intel still plans to make the Pentium III for a long time so
your system is far from obsolete. If you use the PC for word processing,
email and other similar tasks, then stick with your current model.
However, if your interest is with anything having to do with multimedia
such as games, full motion video, image processing and audio, then you're
going to see a marked improvement with a Pentium 4 system. And as newer
software is developed to take advantage of the chip's 144 new
instructions, the pace will be quicker still.
You cannot upgrade your current Pentium to a Pentium
4 by simply plugging in the new chip. The Pentium 4 requires a faster 400
MHz system bus, faster memory and other enhancements that can only be
obtained on a new motherboard designed specifically for the Pentium 4. You
can, however retain most of your other peripherals such as the hard and
CD-ROM drives, graphics cards, monitor and the like.
www.intel.com/home/pentium4
Remotely interested mouse
 |
Universal remote controls are great for
controlling our audio and video products but now there's a remote
that does all that and controls your computer as well. The
MouseREMOTE will remotely control your computer's mouse pointer
from up to 100 feet away. Just plug the receiver unit into the
serial or PS-2 mouse port. By moving the remote's large circular
mouse button with your thumb, you can maneuver the cursor to any
point on the screen and select with a left or right click. The
included software allows you to further customize the remote. For
example, you can configure a button to jump directly to any web
site, another to check email. If all this weren't enough, the
MouseREMOTE will also control lights and appliances connected to
the popular X10 home controller devices. $49.99 |
www.x10.com
Camera records to CD
| Digital cameras herald the end of film in the
not to distant future. Currently, most store their images on some
form of removable memory card. Breaking that tradition was the
wildly popular Mavica cameras that stored images on what was then
the most popular recording medium, the ordinary floppy disk. So it
seems a natural migration for the next generation to store images
on today's most popular medium, the recordable CD. The MVC-CD300
is a 3.3 megapixel resolution camera that captures still photos as
well as record MPEG videos. It records images on a reduced-in-size
3-inch CD that costs around $5 and contains 156MB of storage
space. This means you can store around 1,000 images at a web 72
dpi quality and about 100 images at it¹s highest quality setting.
This CD storage method is currently the lowest cost per megabyte
of storage available today. And it can be used over and over or
can be locked to store your images for archival purposes. The CD
can be played on any computer with a CD-ROM drive. $1000. |
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www.sony.com
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