Friday, April 13, 2012

Zotac ZBOX Nano XS AD11 Plus mini PC launches with E-450 APU, gets reviewed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/13/zotac-zbox-nano-xs-ad11-plus-mini-pc-launches-with-e-450-apu-ge/

Zotac ZBOX Nano XS AD11 Plus mini PC
Zotac and its XBOXes -- just when you think your next dorm room PC couldn't get any smaller... it does. The latest in the stable is the long-winded Nano XS AD11 Plus, a hysterically titled small form factor PC equipped with a dual-core 1.6GHz AMD E-450 APU, Radeon HD 6320 GPU, 2GB of DDR3 memory and an HDMI output. There's also a 64GB mSATA SSD, a pair of USB 3.0 sockets (as well as a couple of the USB 2.0 variety), a gigabit Ethernet jack and a bundled MCE-compatible remote. In a smattering of reviews that also cropped up alongside the box's launch, we've learned that the E-450 moderately bests the prior E-350 rigs and soars past similarly equipped Atom-based machines; the mSATA SSD is perhaps the biggest upgrade, however, easily helping the system as a whole feel far faster than those with mechanical hard drives. Hot Hardware was pleased with the overall showing, though they did note that the include USB WiFi adapter gave 'em headaches when trying to stream high-bitrate content from a NAS / home server. Worth the $359? Hit those More Coverage links to help you decide.

Zotac ZBOX Nano XS AD11 Plus mini PC launches with E-450 APU, gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Fusion-io announces ioFX, a super-SSD that's already garnered an Oscar

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/12/fusion-io-iofx/

Image
You've heard of Fusion-io, right? It produces super-SSDs with the teeth-whitening ioMemory that's so fast it can manage a billion input and output operations every second. Now it's bundling that gear into a workstation PCIe card for FX professionals and speed-conscious multi millionaires. Capable of delivering 1.5GB/s (we checked, GB/s) of bandwidth, it's capable of previewing 3D movie effects on the fly. The gear's even managed to cover itself in Academy awards after it was used by studio Pixomondo on the special effects for Martin Scorsese's "Hugo." A 420GB model will arrive in late Spring, setting you (or more likely, your departmental budget) back $2,495 with an inclusive one-year support contract.

Continue reading Fusion-io announces ioFX, a super-SSD that's already garnered an Oscar

Fusion-io announces ioFX, a super-SSD that's already garnered an Oscar originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Should I Run a Second Operating System in a Virtual Machine or Dual Boot? [Ask Lifehacker]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5901055/should-i-run-a-second-operating-system-in-a-virtual-machine-or-dual-boot

Should I Run a Second Operating System in a Virtual Machine or Dual Boot?Dear Lifehacker,
I've seen you talk about running Windows on a Mac by dual booting, as well as dual booting Windows 8 alongside Windows 7. But you've also talked about how to run Windows 8 in a virtual machine. If I want to run a second operating system, which is better? Dual booting or virtualizing?

Sincerely,
Double Trouble

Dear Double,

It's not quite a matter of which is "best", but—as is often the case—which is better for your particular needs. Both have pros and cons, but are better suited to specific situations. Here's a quick primer on what each does well, and when you'd be better off using it.

Dual Booting Is Great for Games and Other Long Stints in an Operating System

Should I Run a Second Operating System in a Virtual Machine or Dual Boot?Dual booting, which involves separating your drive into two sections called partitions, essentially lets you run two operating systems on one computer completely separate from one another. When you turn on your computer, you select which OS to boot into, and you boot into it as if it was the only operating system on the machine. Often you can see your files and data from the other OS, but that OS won't be running—you're running the current OS completely natively on whatever hardware you have.

As such, you're getting the most out of your hardware by dual booting, since neither OS will slow down the other in any way. This is great if you're playing games, since you need all the power you can get, as well as extended work in a given program or OS. If you're editing video, for example, and have to do so on Windows, you're better off dual booting. You'll get the best performance, and you won't miss much since you'll be pretty focused on your work.

The only big downside of dual booting is that you have to restart your computer completely each time you want to switch operating systems, and you can't run them both at once if you want programs from each running together. It also becomes a bit harder to share files between each OS, though you can fix that problem with a few simple drivers.

Virtualization Is Great for Running That One Program, or Testing Out a New OS

Should I Run a Second Operating System in a Virtual Machine or Dual Boot?Virtualization involves running a program like Virtualbox or Parallels to create an installation of your second OS on a virtual drive. There's no partitioning or drive formatting involved; instead, that installation is stored in a file on your current hard drive, and you can boot up that OS in its own window atop your normal desktop. This way, you can use both operating systems at the same time without rebooting, and do things like share your clipboard contents between each OS.

Virtualization is perfect for those times you need to run one or two resource-light Windows programs in tandem with all your Mac programs, or want to test out a new OS (like the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or a new distribution of Linux). You don't have to go through the complicated process of partitioning your drive, or deal with rebooting your computer. Lots of virtualization programs, including the ones mentioned above, have "seamless modes" that let you run your virtualized programs on top of your current desktop, without having to deal with a second desktop window taking up space.

The big downside of virtualization is that it's quite a bit slower than dual booting. Because you're sharing your computer's resources between two operating systems at once, neither can take full advantage of your computer's hardware—making this a bad choice for gaming or other resource-intensive tasks. In addition, if your computer isn't blessed with awesome hardware, you might find that even playing around with a second OS can feel pretty sluggish. If you have a nice desktop with lots of RAM, though (I'm talking like 8-12 GB), the experience will probably be more than adequate, if not great.


Many people will tell you that dual booting is better than virtualization, or vice versa, but a lot of it comes down to personal preference. Before I got a powerful enough computer, I rarely if ever virtualized—just because I couldn't stand the slowness. A lot of people hate rebooting more than anything though, so they're willing to put up with a little lag rather than wait a few minutes to boot everything up from scratch. In the end, it comes down to what you're doing, what kind of computer you have, and your own pet peeves with each.

Sincerely,
Lifehacker

P.S. If you have a particularly sweet dual-OS setup that you use—or additional pros and cons that we didn't mention for either method—share them with us in the comments below.

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Intel says 75 Ultrabooks in the pipeline with 3rd-gen HD 2500 and 4000 GPUs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/11/intel-says-75-ultrabooks-in-the-pipeline-with-3rd-gen-hd-2500-an/

Intel says 75 new Ultrabooks in the pipeline
Intel's new laptop chips should start hitting shelves soon, packing those new 2500 and 4000 HD graphics chips in a package manufactured using Chipzilla's new 22nm process. And we're not talking about just one or two either. The CPU giant reiterated that 75 Ultrabook-branded machines are planned by various manufacturers for 2012, including "many touch-enabled systems." Which we take to mean some of those convertible tablets we saw at CES may actually see the light of day. If you're in the mood for a bit of corporate fluff check out the PR after the break.

[Image credit: Anandtech]

Continue reading Intel says 75 Ultrabooks in the pipeline with 3rd-gen HD 2500 and 4000 GPUs

Intel says 75 Ultrabooks in the pipeline with 3rd-gen HD 2500 and 4000 GPUs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung prices Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 at $400, rings up a fresh pair of Galaxy Players for $150, $200

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/11/samsung-prices-galaxy-tab-2-10-1-at-400-galaxy-players-at-150-and-200/

Samsung prices Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 at $400, rings up a fresh pair of Galaxy Players for $150, $200
Sammy's gone ahead and priced the latest in its Galaxy Tab and Player series, affixing monetary stickers to not only the 7-inch slate we just took for a spin, but to its 10-inch brother and a pair of handheld cousins. $250 nabs you the aforementioned Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, but an extra $150 will afford you the Tab 2 10.1's three-inch advantage. Of course, if you'd rather keep that 7-inch beauty and pocket a spare device, that same $150 will buy a Galaxy Player 3.6. If that's too small, Sammy will let you pick up a 4.2 variant for $200 square. Care to read that straight? Mosey on past the break for Samsung's official press release.

Continue reading Samsung prices Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 at $400, rings up a fresh pair of Galaxy Players for $150, $200

Samsung prices Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 at $400, rings up a fresh pair of Galaxy Players for $150, $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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