Recent content by Textfield

What we really need is a spec that allows GPUs in laptops to be easily replaced and upgraded; that's the real issue. No matter how good your laptop is when you buy it, it quickly goes out of date because of how fast GPU tech progresses.

It's disappointing to see how low the per-clock performance is on the Atom.

I'd be interested to see how the integrated graphics sector performs against discrete when DirectX 12 / Vulkan arrive and allow developers to heavily optimize for the shared memory architectures.

It depends on what kind of CPU-intensive it is. If it properly uses all CPU threads then yes, bumping up to an extreme edition i7 with 6 or 8 cores will help. If it's CPU-intensive on largely one or two threads, though, I would stick with the 4790k. You'll get higher clock speeds on a quad core...

3.9 GHz is the maximum speed the CPU will ever run at, but if all cores are being utilized it will be lower.

Memory bandwidth is shared between the cores, but the computational resources are sectioned off. Depending on the algorithm the program is using it's possible its running into some memory bottlenecking, or possibly it's just the overhead of thread management. If a single instance of the program...

Triple-channel hasn't been used for a while. It's now all dual-channel on the consumer platforms and quad-channel on the extreme series / workstation platforms. Also the number of channels is not specific to the RAM sticks as I understand. It just means that the CPU can pull data from two RAM...

I honestly think Windows and Ubuntu are both the wrong OS for this; a Chrome OS version is what's needed. With Windows you get a bloated operating system for what you're actually doing: browsing the web, streaming video, a perhaps a few light office activities. Ubuntu might run a bit better than...

I really don't see the point of going for a desktop quad-core. The laptop and desktop quad-core i7s are virtually identical, minus a slightly reduced clock speed on the laptop variants that shouldn't even be noticeable. On the other hand, the laptop variants are built on a chipset designed for...

No offense, but you actually don't know much about how computers work. I mean no offense because I was of course at one point at the same level of knowledge. So for your own knowledge, I'll clarify. Apple is not in any way bad at designing chips; in fact, they're taking the smarter route by...

This is a mistake on Microsoft's part. It doesn't matter if you're innovative if you can't execute. Hell, I innovate in my head all the time. That doesn't mean any of those things become reality. If Microsoft were smart, they'd wait until the tech was there, and build a great product to capture...

Next Raspberry Pi?

I have to say I'm not incredibly optimistic about this one. The prototype is relatively thick. In this form factor you can get a quad-core i7 and, if you pay enough, a discrete GPU as well. I can't see any APU matching the performance of either, so the only way I see this going anywhere is if...

The problem with these high-DPI screens is that support for these displays is lacking in many modern OS's. Yes, support is getting better, as with Windows 8.1 and its better UI scaling, but even with good support in the OS's UI, you're still at the mercy of the apps you use, and many are...

I understand what they're going for here, trying to create a sort of super-console, with a console-style interface but PC hardware underneath. My only worry about this is the software itself. Personally I'd much rather just buy (or build) a computer with regular windows on it, than an...