2009 har come to an end. Time to round things off and see what 2010 has to offer. The good, the bad, the sad.
The year 2009 didn’t start well for enthusiasts. After many rumors, motherboard maker Universal abit closed its doors and the brand was no more. The company that had been a favorite to many overclockers had reached a point where it could no longer continue serving us with the high-quality boards we had grown accustomed to. R.I.P. Abit will always have a special place in my heart, especially the legendary IC7-MAX3.
We cater to, as you most likely know, the enthusiasts foremost. No matter if you’re just starting to learn how to build your own computer, or want to know more about the overclocking potential of the next generation Intel Extreme Edition series. During 2009 we have witnessed how practically all component makers working in the retail sector have not only embraced overclocking, but also endorsed it, supported it and made it easier than ever to overclock. It’s about time Webster added overclocking to the dictionary.
In 2009, AMD sponsored overclockers with liquid helium, boils at −268.93 °C and costs around $5 per liter, to break overclocking records with its latest processors. It was an awesome show alright, but most importantly AMD won back faith among overclockers. People had been utterly, utterly, utterly disappointed with the first generation of Phenom, not only by the bugs, but performance and non-existent overclocking rendered it more or less useless in the hands of an experienced user. Today AMD is back in the hearts of the overclockers after being locked out for what seemed like an eternity.
Liquid nitrogen – the cooling of the damned
ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI are doing their best to overshine each other with one overclocking competition after another and features and guides and etcetera etcera. So far ASUS has impressed us the most with its live tournament at DreamHack Winter 2009, but we’re sure the others will get back at them. MSI even went as far as implementing features for unlocking cores and caches of AMDs Phenom II X3 processors, something that was completely unthinkable a few years back.
In 2008 Biostar came out of left field and blew us away. Biostar TPower P45 came along and took FSB overclocking to a whole new level. It broke 700MHz FSB almost immediately and … we lost words. From out of nowhere, literally, it came and walked into our hearts. Sadly it and other smaller companies haven’t been able to get the lime light they deserve during 2009. DFI for once has said it will revise its strategies for 2010. Hopefully, in 2010 they will get the media attention they deserve.
On January 5th we posted news that Internet Explorer was losing ground and that Firefox kept gaining ground. On December 21st Firefox 3.5 became the most commonly used browser in the world. It is safe to say that Firefox is here to stay, and in some weird way Firefox actually managed to achieve this thanks to Microsoft starting to update Internet Explorer. Microsoft has failed when it comes to usability and speed, and when it comes to security IE is still more commonly used for exploits than Firefox.
Don’t dismiss Microsoft though; we all saw how it turned Windows Vista into Windows 7. If it can turn something like Vista, a brontosaurus among operating systems with system requirements that alienated so many computers, into Windows 7, which is just pure pleasure to work with. Then maybe, just maybe, it can turn Internet Explorer into something quite useful. Windows 7 … is Windows. It is an operating system worth paying for, and no I’m not being paid for saying so, but when comparing it to Vista the former feels like a huge rip-off.
Windows 7 – The Windows that actually works
Vista was, in my humble opinion, a failure. It was never even close to succeeding Windows XP, and that was bad in so many ways for computer users everywhere. Vista was a very secure operating system, I will give Microsoft that, but when so many decided to stay with the not-so-secure Windows XP due to lackluster performance and initial driver problems, it made little to no difference. It’s a shame Vista didn’t succeed, but Microsoft only has itself to blame for this.
Canonical rolled out two new versions of Ubuntu in 2009. The first release, 9.04 also known as Jaunty Jackalope, received praise for its consistency, many small improvements, better driver detection and better performance, but it was an overall humble release. The second, 9.10 code-named Karmic Koala, was bolder. Updated looks with edgier icons and overall more “square” impression (the geometric kind of square, not the other), but also better software integration, automatic backups and synchronization, new default applications and overall a very mature impression.
Ubuntu 9.10 even ships with a special netbook interface
Ubuntu and other mature Linux distributions are without a doubt one of the reasons Microsoft has gone back to basics with Windows 7. Why else would it borrow so much from KDE with workflows, looks and appearance? Not to mention OS X, which hasn’t perhaps been taking as big leaps forward as the Linux distributions, but then again it is more mature to begin with. We may want to thank Microsoft for making Windows 7 what it is today, but then we should also thank the Linux world and Apple for having forced Microsoft to do this.
In 2008 already Intel released the Atom processor. A tiny and energy efficient processor designed for small and portable computers. It wasn’t very fast, but fast enough to do the most basic things, like browse the web, read and send e-mail and (barely) [Writer’s personal opinion, Ed.] run Office suits. It was also cheap; the whole platform was cheap, which lead to the onslaught of really small notebooks, from 8 to 11”, dubbed netbooks. But it was first in 2009 that they became truly mature.
We have to give credit to ASUS for launching this segment. Tiny notebooks have been around for long. Yours truly was drooling over the ultraportable 12” Sony Vaios about five years ago, but paying $2,500-3,000 for a notebook that would only be used while traveling was simply too much. Today you can get a worthy travel companion for a tenth of the price. It was a bit of a gamble, but I sincerely hope whoever came up with the initial design and idea at ASUS got a big bonus.
In December Intel announced the second generation Atom processors with marginally better performance, much lower energy usage and lower manufacturing costs. The new netbooks will actually be cheaper at launch then the first generation was. With some reasonably powerful discrete graphics circuits the oncoming wave of netbooks looks to become a market that will spur innovation, give birth to new companies and hopefully bring us a collection of portable computers with both performance and battery times we deserve.
ASUS Eee PC S101 – the fashionable netbook
If netbooks matured and became accepted by the masses in 2009, in 2010 they will mature further and perhaps even wash away the tardiness some feel from the word netbook. In 2010 we may also see the birth of another segment among portable computers. Smartbooks have made some minor appearances in 2009, but none significant and with the probable launch of a dual-core ARM processor in 2010 there is every chance that Smartbooks will follow in the footsteps of netbooks and fill another segment among computers we did not even know we wanted.
VIA has little success in getting its Nano processor out on the market for small and cheap computers to compete with Atom. It’s a decent processor, but going up against Intel is never easy. Hopefully AMD will have greater success when it decides to go up against Intel for real. In 2010 things should finally unravel. They have the technology, can they build it?
At the same time the market for smartphones have grown and almost become more computer than phone. Apple started something with the iPhone, but it was crippled with outdated hardware and software limitations. Many followed but it is first now with Android and version 2.0, even 2.1, that we’re starting to see some really good smartphones. The Google Nexus one, a.k.a. HTC Passion, is rumored to launch first week of 2010 and after that we hope to see the market truly bloom, and it looks like HTC will be a winner (My spellchecking program wants to change HTC into THC… not sure what to make of that). Much thanks to its close cooperation with Google, while Microsoft looks like a sore loser with sub-par touch optimizations for its Windows Mobile operating system.
HTC HD2 – One the coolest smartphones … using the uncoolest operating system
If Microsoft can’t get its act together with Windows Mobile 7, Google, HTC and Apple will just eat up any market shares it may still have in 2010. To be fair Microsoft has had more than its fair share of time to bring out a touch phone operating system, but has failed to meet the market demands. This was made quite clear with the launch of the HTC HD2. It got good reviews, but the question everyone was asking was … Can I get it with Android instead?
Solid State technology covers a lot of different areas. The term solid state is used to describe capacitors used by high-end motherboards for perfect currents. But most frequently it is used to describe the segment of drives using NAND flash memory circuits for storing data. Solid State Drives have been used by the military for years. The technology provides access times way beyond that of what is capable with mechanical drives. In the right configuration the transfer rates are many times higher and the number of IOPS contains so many zeros it’s almost ridiculous.
The problem is the price. You can get around 80-120GB SSD storage for $200. For the same kind of money you can buy a 2TB harddrive and have money to spare. We’re not quite used to seeing Intel in the position of driving prices down, but with SSDs it’s really happening. Intel and Micron is working together to develop better and more efficient manufacturing technologies for NAND flash circuits. It is currently in the lead with its 34nm technology and drives out on the market, with a lot more to come in 2010.
Corsair P128 – Solid State Drive
Intel is not the only company that has made the SSD shine. Samsung and Toshiba have provided many companies drives to rebrand, and smaller companies have made the news many times by supplying critical components. Names like Indilinx, SandForce, and JMicron have appeared over and over in the news, for better or for worse, and we’re certain more will break through in 2010.
In all fairness, mechanical harddrives have been the bottleneck of the modern computer for many, many years and the fact that we are still not in the era of solid state storage is actually kind of sad. But with both Seagate and Western Digital carefully watching the market, studying every little movement, I feel confident as we are about to enter 2010. I don’t believe that this will be the year SSDs will replace mechanical drives, but it looks like it will be the year I buy one for my laptop.
Right now we’re in the middle of the Swedish Computer Performance Championship 2009, the most successful and prize-watering event we have ever had. More participants than ever have registered for the event and our live broadcasts have been seen by thousands over thousands. Our new Category “Classic” have proven to be very popular and even awoken some of the older gentlemen who quit long ago. We’re glad to see so many return and of course also witness new talents show the retired that if they want to win they will have to do their best.
NordicHardware Forums (Swedish, but you get the idea)
The competition ends in January 2010 and after we have completed the verifications, with some help from CPUID and FutureMark, the prizes worth over $21,000 will be shipped out, and after that we hope to bring you more reasons to stick around. More than usual.
2010 looks to become a great year for us here at NordicHardware. See you then!
