Chris Pirillo » intel

Do Your Research – on Every Topic

Chris — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:07:44 +0000

Do Your Research – on Every Topic is a post from Chris Pirillo

Earlier tonight, I put up a blog post discussing the possible trouble you can run into by using generic ink cartridges. Just a few days ago, I talked in another post about what a great deal they can be – for some people. This is why I always caution you to do your research. Not every deal is going to be a good one for every person. Not every brand will work for you. What is “awesome” for one person, may very well be a disaster for you.

It doesn’t matter if you’re buying print cartridges, a new television or computer, or even whether you’re in the market for a new house. Do your research. Find out what others are saying. Know what the strengths and weaknesses are of whatever it is you’re looking at purchasing or investing in. Don’t buy something only because so-and-so told you that you should, even if that so-and-so was me. Buy whatever is going to fit your needs – and your budget – the best.

One great way to find out what is good, and what is not so good, is to read what people are saying on Lockergnome and Geeks.

If you’re in the market for new software of any type – mobile platforms included – be sure to keep an eye on the deals and discounts we pass on to you every day!

Future of the Data Center

Chris — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:39:48 +0000

Future of the Data Center is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The Microsoft Data Center Futures team built a prototype containing 100 dual-core Atom processors. They believe that data centers in the future will include many more low-power processors. This prototype is the first step in demonstrating their potential cost savings.

This little board is tiny, inexpensive, and powerful. This is definitely server-level stuff. Microsoft is running Server 2008 on these, along with other Microsoft applications. The devs have taken 50 of these boards, put them in a rack, and turned it into a server. The server is actually efficient and quiet, and can be plugged right into a regular power outlet!

This was done as an experiment, and it’s one that is working! There isn’t yet enough data to make a general statement, but none of the boards have failed yet. That is a good sign for the future, and shows the way things are going to go. Everyone wants parts to cost less, and everyone wants to save energy.

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Top 5 Intel Processors

coupons — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:48:00 +0000

Top 5 Intel Processors is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is Aidan Allen’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Intel Core i7 Extreme – A good choice if you are a hardcore gamer and want the best graphics and performance processor. The clear graphics will leave you wondering which reality is and which is not. This all comes at an incredible speed, of 3.46GHz, for each of the 4 cores, which all comes at £899.99 or $1,495.99.
Intel Core i7 – The next choice down for serious gamers. It provides you with HD Graphics and great responsiveness which is perfect for Gaming, Video editing, and Web browsing – all with the performance you need. All at around 2.93GHz and again the adding feature of 4 cores giving you the edge for all your needs, but it does come at a price of £259.36 or $565.99.
Intel Core 2 Quad – With 4 cores again to offer high end graphics and speeds of up to 2.93GHz, this is perfect for HD encoding photo editing and even HD gaming; it has 50% faster graphics than the old Intel Core 2 Quad HD Processor. All of this adds up to bring you the best overall performance for your PC, all at around £184.00 or $317.50.
Intel Core 2 Duo – This is the processor for an average home computer. This is a good choice if you are not into gaming and just want the basic all around processor. With only 2 cores it is the most energy efficient processor made by Intel. It does support HD video and has some good solid performance. This runs around £159.99 or $210.99, but amazingly for that price you have 2 Cores both running at an incredible 3.16GHz helping you make the most of your PC.
Intel Centrino 2 – This is a notebook processor but you are able to be the most productive you ever be. With integrated wireless technology with a speed of 2.8GHz in both two Core. This processor is designed to have longer battery life when you are away from your power supply. The integrated Wi-Fi manages two times better range and five times more internet performance. This processor can’t just be bought off of the internet – you have to buy a laptop that has the processor included. No fuss and bother in installing it.

That is my top 5 list of the best processors that you can buy. I hope this will help you and kept you up to date with all the processors that have just come out from Intel including the “i7 Extreme” and the “i7” itself, along with the other processors mentioned in this article. I hoped this helps you if you are building a PC, and gives you the advice and choices about processors you may be looking for.

What is Intel’s Core i7?

Chris — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:55:48 +0000

What is Intel’s Core i7? is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is Kyle Allen’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Core i7 brings us Intel’s first true quad core processors, all four cores are now on a single die. Previously Intel’s Quad Core’s were essentially two dual core processors in one package. The current Core i7 line includes three Quad Core Processors, the 920 (2.66GHz), 940 (2.93GHz), and 965 Extreme Edition (3.2GHz). Currently priced at $294.99, $569.99, and $1029.99 respectively (Prices from Newegg).

The only Chipset that currently supports the Core i7 architecture is Intel’s own X58 express, offered by many manufacturers such as Intel, Asus, Gigabyte, Foxconn, EVGA, MSI, and Biostar. The X58 chipset supports ATI CrossFireX technology, Nvidia has even opened up SLI support for the X58 express chipset, although motherboard manufacturers must submit their motherboards to Nvidia for review. Core i7 brings many new technologies and even brings back some old. Intel has brought back Hyper Threading technology which allows each core to process two threads of information simultaneously, so each of the Core i7 processors have 8 threads and are seen as 8 Virtual Cores by the systems OS.

Core i7 isn’t just Intel’s new line of Processors it’s an entirely new, much improved architecture. Intel has replaced the Front Side Bus (FSB) with its new Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) which can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec. Intel says QPI performance is 6.4 Gigatransfers/second on the 965 Extreme Edition and 4.8 Gigatransfers/second on the 940 or 920 CPUs, the resulting bandwidth is either 16 or 12GB/s respectively. Intel’s Core i7 bring us an integrated memory controller which offers improved performance due to increased bandwidth and lower latency. Core i7 processors now feature L1, L2, and Shared L3 Cache, 64K per core, 256K per core, and 8MB shared respectively. Core i7 only supports DDR3 and bring us fast triple channel memory, it is also recommended that memory is operated below 1.65V.

Core i7 also features advanced Power Management features, Power Gate allows individual cores to enter a sleep state while other cores are under load, the processors include integrated power controllers and a power control unit that actively monitor each cores power consumption, and voltages. Having integrated power controllers and a power control unit is important to the Core i7 architecture because it allows the CPU to transfer power from cores in sleep mode to cores under load in what Intel calls “Turbo Mode.” If one of the cores is being used heavily, it can use some of the power that would ordinarily be used for one of the other cores if it is not currently in use to essentially overclock individual cores. Lastly Core i7 introduces a new CPU socket the LGA 1366, a 1366 pin socket that functions similarly to the current LGA 775, but is slightly larger and the CPU cooler mounting holes are further apart.

Intel Leaves OLPC Hanging

Chris — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 03:00:02 +0000

Intel Leaves OLPC Hanging is a post from Chris Pirillo

Intel seems to be power-tripping lately, as they recently pulled out of the OLPC program for reasons described as philosophical disagreements with the founders. C’mon Intel, don’t you have a heart? This seems somewhat predictable, as Intel has been working on their Classmate laptop for some time now, a direct competitor to OLPC in many ways.

I can see how Intel would want to take over the cheap laptop market, but I must question why they left OLPC (seemingly) high and dry? They can’t say that there aren’t enough chips to go around. The good news is that OLPC will continue on using AMD as its main chip supplier for their gear.

It should be interesting to see how things turn out, but given the last revision of the ‘Classmate’ laptop, I don’t see how Intel could take over the market. In the end, Asus is the real winner with their Eee Laptops (that seem to be selling like hot cakes). As prices drop (as they always do with tech stuff), the Eee could possibly be the next OLPC at home and abroad.

Ponzi wants an Eee with XP. Whee!

Processor Speeds

Chris — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 05:19:26 +0000

Processor Speeds is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ -Eric left a voice mail for me, wondering why his processor speeds sometimes have a large variance. The good news is, this doesn’t mean the processor is failing.

Eric’s processor speed is 1.99GHz at times, and others it will be ‘down’ to 1.14GHz. This is actually normal, and nothing to worry about. If you’re using an Intel processor, then SpeedStep Technology is the result. Likewise, if you are using an AMD processor, then Cool’n'Quiet is the ‘culprit’.

Years ago, if you bought a computer with a let’s say 1GHz processor, that processor always worked at 1GHz. Now when you buy a processor, these third party applications I mentioned will automatically adjust the processor speed to match the state of your computer or laptop. This saves power and battery life. If you are running something with intense graphics, for instance, your processor will need to be running faster. When the computer is not doing much, or nothing at all, these applications will slow the processor down to save on power and/or battery.

If you do not have one of these apps and need them to help regulate your processor speeds, you can visit the Intel or AMD sites to obtain the proper one. Also, you can probably visit your pc manufacturer’s website to get them, as well.

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What is Dual Core?

Chris — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:15:39 +0000

What is Dual Core? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – BigJohnMidland wants to know exactly what dual core means.

Dual core refers to the number of processing cores in the processor package. So, in essence, with a dual core processor you actually have two processors. The advantage is that you can get up to twice the processing power. If you do a lot of video editing, photo editing, or run many programs at one time you’ll notice a significant increase in the responsiveness of your system.

Intel introduced their Dual-Core processors (marketed as Core 2) back in 2005:

An Intel dual-core processor-based PC will enable new computing experiences as it delivers value by providing additional computing resources that expand the PC’s capabilities in the form of higher throughput and simultaneous computing. Imagine that a dual-core processor is like a four-lane highway: it can handle up to twice as many cars as its two-lane predecessor without making each car drive twice as fast. Similarly, with an Intel dual-core processor-based PC, people can perform multiple tasks such as downloading music and gaming simultaneously.

AMD followed up with their 64-bit X2 Dual-Core systems:

The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor puts the power of dual-core technology on the desktop. Dual-core processors contain two processing cores, residing on one chip, that perform calculations on two streams of data, thereby increasing efficiency and speed while running multiple programs and the new generation of multi-threaded software.
For the end-user this means a significant increase in response and performance when running multiple applications simultaneously. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor outperforms the highest-performing AMD Athlon 64 4000+ single-core processor on multi-tasking benchmarks by up to 30..

Should you upgrade to a dual core processor? Well, they’re quickly becoming the standard desktop processors of choice so you may not have a choice. In the future we’ll even see quad and octo core processors become standard in many home machines.

What do you think?

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Intel Has an (un)Official Blogger

Chris — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:07:56 +0000

Intel Has an (un)Official Blogger is a post from Chris Pirillo

Josh from TinyScreenfuls just posted TinyScreenfuls.com“>a mouthful:

I want to start some conversation. Iâ€™m not officially authorized to speak for Intel on any matter (see my â€œCaveat Lectorâ€�? disclaimer over there in the sidebar), but there are a ton of things that I can talk about. Iâ€™m just a guy, a blogger, who works at a very large company that makes the most complex things ever made by humans. Itâ€™s a fascinating place, and I know there are lots of you that would like to know more about Intel. Or maybe you have something youâ€™d like to vent. Or perhaps you just want to say how much you love something Intel has done (wouldnâ€™t that be nice?).

Wow. That’s pretty bold. I’ve known Josh for a while now (after first meeting him at a geek dinner in Portland). He’s about as “geek” as they come. I guess the ball’s in Intel’s court now? It’s happening anyway.

Hacking Netflix, Intel and Melodeo at Gnomedex 6

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 07:42:44 +0000

Hacking Netflix, Intel and Melodeo at Gnomedex 6 is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you’re a movie junkie, you probably can’t live without your Netflix account. There’s one guy who knows Netflix better than anyone – Mike Kaltschnee of Hacking Netflix talks with Alex Williams at Gnomedex 6. Alex follows with a conversation about Intel. And this Gnomedex segment closes with Bill Valenti of Melodeo talking about the changing face of entertainment distribution.

AMD Cares About Bloggers

Chris — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 19:43:08 +0000

AMD Cares About Bloggers is a post from Chris Pirillo

So, it’s official – AMD is a Gnomedex sponsor. Didn’t take much to convince them, either – in fact, when we told them that we were bringing together some of the world’s most prolific and influential bloggers, they jumped at the opportunity. For you see, though AMD’s corporate policy currently does not allow for blogging – they understand that being at Gnomedex and establishing real relationships with bloggers is key to their ongoing communications strategy. “Tell them that we’re here for them, whatever they need.” And you’ll be able to talk with the right AMD folks at Gnomedex – where the relationship goes from there is completely between you and them. [NOTE: we asked Intel early on if they wanted to be involved with Gnomedex, and they passed - draw your own conclusions.]

AMD AM2 FX-62 Processor

Chris — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:00:06 +0000

AMD AM2 FX-62 Processor is a post from Chris Pirillo

Here’s the AMD AM2 FX-62 Processor – not available in stores or PCs quite yet. I had an opportunity to play with it at WinHEC yesterday. Feels like a processor, man. Looks like a processor, too. The AMD representatives were quite kind to me, answering all the questions without all the ego that other companies seem to exude. AMD isn’t blogging yet, but some of their employees certainly have blogger-type personalities. Can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeve. A great amount of technology and hardware enthusiasts are totally in AMD’s camp. Intel has to play catch-up. One thing’s for sure – there’s an impending processor war coming, and the consumers will win. If you’d like a larger view, just click on the picture. We’ll be interviewing AMD for the show soon enough (as we’ve already given Intel a chance to share their spin).

An Interview with Jim Allchin

Chris — Wed, 24 May 2006 07:58:45 +0000

An Interview with Jim Allchin is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you didn’t already catch it, we had a short interview with Jim Allchin posted this afternoon. This, of course, was before dinner with Jim Allchin. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not like we spent all day with the guy or anything. I also think I’m ready to switch from Intel to AMD…

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.