[BUGS] hardware changing time .. moving forward

[HarryWoodward-Clarke]

my 2.2c on processors and such...

for the gear "most of us" are likely to slap down our hard-earned on,  
it really boils down to the "x86" architecture. In this, it is  
"mostly" a 2 horse race, Intel and AMD. VIA still make some nifty low  
power (both processor grunt and electrons killed) systems, but they  
are not a 'big player'.

So, back to Holden and Ford, uh, I mean, Intel and AMD. And that just  
about sums it up for the majority of us. This month Intel release a  
yoo-beaut-triple-overhead-twin-foxtails processor, next month AMD do  
the same, and add chromed-rocker-covers and go-faster-pin-stripes.

Both have 64-bit, and appear to be well supported by BSD. Both support  
virtualisation (in the newer chips), quad-core is here (or here 'real  
soon now').

I think it all comes down to 'which model gives you the most bang for  
the buck'? And for the majority of us, it probably doesn't matter all  
that much.

What would be "more important" is the motherboard chipset and its  
features - how well are they supported?

I have a mix of Intel and AMD systems (oh, and my Alpha :') and they  
all have their own little quirks. Even when they are running MS-Windows.

Which do I prefer? In the past AMD because I got more bang for my  
buck. But recently, that is not as clear cut. The last machine I  
bought has an Intel Pentium-M @900MHz (7" screen, less than 2kg,  
XandrOS4, 4GB SSD eeePC 701). My next machine will "probably" be a  
MacMini (Intel Core2Duo). "Number 2 son" is looking at an AMD64 system  
(upgrading from an AMD Athlon 3200+).

Regarding laptops - something I read recently is that more and more  
BIOS providers (Phoenix being the main culprit, I think?) are putting  
more and more 'hooks' in for MS-Win, and thus 'breaking' other OSs. Or  
at least making it much harder for then to work "well". The  
'Conspiracy Theorist' in me thinks this is all an M$ plot, but it may  
just well be economics coming in to play.

I've rambled enough.

Oh, an earlier comment about "Alpha Engineer in our midst" - nah, not  
me. I just had the great fortune to have a Sister working for them.

take care all ya'all,

.h

-- 
harry [at] woodward-clarke [dot] com
imago Dei in quolibet hominé inveniartur