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64bits to die for?
At last! 64bit computing has arrived. AMD and Intel have given us the processors, and now we have the operating systems, most notably Windows XP 64bit. Yes, Auntie, tell Gran, 64bit computing is now with us.
What does it mean? Mean? Well, most notably, it means that that 4GB memory limit you've been struggling to get by with is no more. With 64bit computing, you can pretty much have as much RAM as you want. 20GB anyone? You'll need at least 6GB for Microsoft's new Office Suite that does all manner of weird and wonderful things you never thought you'd need to do - and have no idea how to do. And don't settle for a hard disk any smaller than 500GB. Anything less just won't be enough these days. And if you're planning on any serious gaming, I wouldn't settle for anything less than a 1000GB hard disk with 64GB RAM and the latest Spitfire Turbo III Lightning 5 graphics card, which is the only choice at the moment for the serious gamer, particularly if you want to play top titles like Bleak Dawn or Massacre at Midnight.
Isn't it all just to die for? Or, put another way, who cares?
Will it all come out in the wash?
Although the prospect of of walking around wearing your PC/phone/media player rather than having to find pockets to shove the above equipment in is appealing, one subject I rarely see mentioned when this comes up is how well these things are going to wash!
Mixing your socks with your shirts now just leaves you with a strangely coloured shirt collection, but if mixing your washes wipes out your music collection I can just imagine the backup problems!
John Fairhurst
Plextor problems Scanned for a silver lining
I bought a Plextor Px TV402u based on your review from Scan.
On arrival I was very impressed with the build quality. However after installing the latest driver the software crashed with an error messsage "Windvr Mfc has encoutered a problem". I replaced the hard drive with another and installed XP, the sound driver and video driver only. I installed the software and driver again and the unit still didn't work. After tuning the unit it would only run for two minutes.
I downloaded Sage TV and the unit would now record for several minutes and the quality was excellent. However the Plextor had the habit of uninstalling itself on a random basis! I emailed Plextor but had no reply (at the time of writing). Scan replaced the unit, but it was just as bad, and has now been returned. Both units were built in Dec 2004 and had very similar serial numbers, so may be it was a bad batch.
I am now going to use a Win PVR350. It's a shame about the Plextor, but if I hadn't had the problems I'd never have found out about Scan's first-rate aftersales service. Finding a silver lining can be time consuming!
David Kanefsky
How are we hooked by phishing?
My internet service provider Supanet tells me that emails which attempt to get my bank details and other personal information are not genuine and should be ignored - but I already knew that. What they can't or won't tell me is how I receive, via their service, phishing emails that are not addressed to me.
I have received several such emails in which the first six letters of the address are the same as my own email address, and which conclude with the words: @supanet.com, but in which the middle letters are nothing like those in the middle of my own.
Do you have any idea how this happens?
GD Thompson
Dell delivery costs are hidden and high
Having looked at the prices of laptops from a number of suppliers recently, I was amazed at how much some charge for delivery. For example, delivery of a laptop from Dell costs £57.58 inc VAT. If I order a laptop of similar price, size and weight from Dabs.com it costs just £7. If I wanted Dabs.com to deliver it before 9am the next working day it still only costs £18.75, roughly £40 less than Dell would charge me.
You'd think a company the size of Dell would have a good deal with their delivery couriers, and pay
approximately the same as Dabs.com. I can only assume that Dell must pocket the extra £40 as additional profit, or conversely make their laptops appear £40 cheaper by hiding some cost in the delivery charge.
I couldn't find any reference to this charge online unless I added a laptop to the shopping basket and went through the process of pretending to order it, so the charge is pretty well hidden!
I've singled out Dell as the highest delivery charge I could find, but there are a number of suppliers charging £35-£50 for laptop delivery. Perhaps you should ask them why their delivery charges are so
high?
Chris McMahon
Why do people think Macs are good?
I am used to PCs and have years of experience of Windows, but have just landed a job where my principal "PC" will be an Apple Mac.
Having used it I have no idea why everyone thinks it is so great.
It is difficult to navigate around and any time anything goes wrong, it does little to help you fix the problem. It comes across as an early version of Windows, all "lookee, no touchee". Personally, for all its faults, I like my XP. I can get downloads and updates and so much software to make it run smoothly that, for the life of me, I see no reason at all, why Apple exists.
Anybody who thinks it is the better OS is a delusional idiot.
Peter Black
Apptel Macs good for the future
As a long time Apple and PC user [Apple's decision to use Intel CPUs] can only be a good thing for the Mac user, especially as Apple has had problems getting a steady supply of Power PC chips from IBM.
As long as the operating system is tied to Apple hardware, then quality and stability issues will be the same as present, both excellent in comparison to Windows-based PCs. Also, being able to run Windows on my Mac at full native speed in a dual boot configuration will negate the need for me to have a separate PC.
Being a design student in multimedia. I use my Apple for the day to day tasks such as Photoshop, Illustrator and web design, only turning to the PC for 3D design work, as the extra grunt in speed terms is useful for cutting down rendering times.
If any future Apple I purchase can have the same processing power as my PC, then I will be a very happy Apple customer.
Billy Stewart
Ethical broadband
I picked up your magazine with interest but I was very disappointed to see that you hadn't included any ethical broadband providers in your review. There are some of us who look at other considerations other than speed. Surefish is run by Christian Aid and all the profits go to their campaigns and projects throughout the world.
Windows ME problems?
Some months ago, I upgraded my PC in order to run some of the newer games. I had a new motherboard (Gigabyte K7 Triton), graphics card (Leadtek FX5700 256MB), HDD (160GB 7200rpm) and Mitsubishi 19in Diamond Plus Monitor.
I kept my previous Athlon XP2100 processor, case and Windows ME system. I straight away hit trouble when trying to run Grand Prix 4 which was very hesitant and jerky - virtually unplayable. I had similar problems with Colin McRae Rally 2 which is hardly a demanding game. This would run OK for about 20 minutes and then start the hesitation, which I can best describe as a missing motorcycle engine.
