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Windows 7 edges out Vista in thorough gaming benchmarks
Looking to find out what's the better gaming experience out there right now -- Windows 7 beta or Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 -- the folks at PC Perspective put both operating systems through the ringer with help from seven graphics cards running the gamut of price ranges. Overall, three ATI Radeon HD and four NVIDIA GeForce cards were pitted with six games and applications in one of the lengthiest benchmarking features we've ever read. AMD / ATI gets credit for being the first to release combined drivers that work on both OSs, and with one lone exception, performance on the Windows 7 machine was equal to or better than Vista. That said, the recomendations for each system is the same: ATI gets an advantage here for cards in the $120 to $130 range, but the competition is much closer as you start looking at more expensive models. Hit up the read link for technical details that you can shake an anti-aliased stick at.
Vista sidebar widget available for WoW players
If you're a Vista user, that odd sidebar has suddenly become relevant to your WoW lifestyle. Available for free from the Wndows Live site, WoW Explorer has a host of neat little plugins. The simplest of these features include the ability to put your realm on the Explorer skin -- you'll instantly be able to see if your realm is up or down, or what its population is like right now. You can also select your Explorer's theme, size, and toggle its docking behavior.The Explorer's neatest feature, however, is the search functionality. The plugin lives on your Vista sidebar, which gives you instant search from your desktop. You can choose which popular site is the Explorer's default (such as your intrepid WoW Insider or maybe Wowhead), and the results instantly return in a flyout window. I ran several different searches, such as looking for Dual Specs or some different fat loot, and found the widget to be incredibly fast and responsive.You can't beat the price at "free." Since I'm one of the masses who had previously stared at the sidebar wondering if the dang thing would have any use, it's nice to see something WoW-related live over my local weather widget.
Never wonder about Lord of the Rings server status again
Play Lord of the Rings Online? Yes? Good. Now, are you running Windows Vista? If you said yes again, then do we have a gadget for you.Galdorad over at the LotRO forums has found a pretty nice gadget for the Vista sidebar that checks in on the status of LotRO servers. He's made a few tweaks to the gadget to add some more functionality, but it's still a handy little gadget that can keep you apprised of the game's state.With it, you don't have to log into the patcher or leave it running, if you want to keep your system resources down. If you're interested, you can jump on the gadget download over at the forum post, which also shows you how to add the LotRO patcher news feed into your Vista RSS reader.And yes, we know you're going to complain about Vista in the comments. We're psychic, you know.[Via 2 High Road]
Stormrise only supports DirectX 10, is Vista-exclusive
It's now confirmed that The Creative Assembly's upcoming RTS title, Stormrise, will only support DirectX 10 on the PC, thus making it exclusive to Windows Vista by default.In an interview with PC Games Hardware, Stormrise lead designer Artem Kulakov confirms the title's DX10 support, making it the first (and possibly only) Vista-exclusive game (Update: Uh, except for all those other ones). According to Kulakov, the reason for only supporting DX10 is to make it easier to port to console platforms and to give the developer an "opportunity to increase performance and improve visual quality."While we aren't experts in the field of how to launch a new franchise, we suspect that limiting the potential user base to only those with Vista (and without some hacking skillz) seems counterproductive to the goal of making a profit. [Via Big Download]
Vista SP2, Server 2008 R2 start making the rounds as Release Candidates
It looks like the long-awaited Release Candidate build of Vista SP2 is hitting the streets today, alongside Server 2008 R2. According to Ars Technica, these guys will soon be available for testers via Windows Update, as a standalone installer, or as a slipstreamed version for select languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, and Japanese. Rumor has it that Microsoft is gearing up for a final release date sometime in April.
"Vista Capable" lawsuit loses class action status, relevance
We've gotten some rough chuckles over the internal Microsoft documents produced in the "Vista Capable" lawsuit -- remember when we learned the MS lowered the system requirements for Intel, resulting in management infighting? Such good times! -- but it looks like it's all over: Judge Marsha Pechman stripped the case of its class-action status yesterday, which basically takes the teeth out of it. Microsoft managed to convince the judge that people's confusion over the meaning of the Vista Capable stickers didn't "predominate over individual considerations," which is pretty remarkable, considering that even a VP of Windows product development was "personally burnt" by a bad purchase influenced by the program. Consumers who feel similarly duped can still sue individually and the case goes on, but we're guessing this means a quick settlement is coming and we're never to hear about this again. Everyone involved learned a valuable lesson, though, right?[Via CNET]
Corel brings InstantON technology to Sony's VAIO P
Man, that first edition VAIO P was not the one to buy. Just a month after we saw the thing unveiled at CES, we've already learned that a Gobi-equipped version is on the way. Furthermore, Corel has just proclaimed that all future VAIO Ps will ship with its own InstantON technology to alleviate slow boot times associated with running Windows Vista on an Atom CPU. As with most alternatives, Corel's version of the software enables users to surf the web, check email, chat online and play back photos, videos and music in seconds after turning on their machine, and it sounds like Corel has crafted a customized interface specifically for this pocket-friendly(ish) PC. If this just made your decision to run out and snag a VAIO P, you can find the Corel-equipped version now in Japan and elsewhere later this month.[Via GadgetMix] Update: In order to address some understandable confusion with this release, Sony has provided the following response: "All of the P Series shipped to date come equipped with Gobi mobile broadband technology and the instant-mode option, but certain feature deployment varies region by region. As such, the mobile broadband feature is exclusively supported by the Verizon Wireless network for all US customers."
High schoolers grill Microsoft's Robbie Bach on Zune, Windows
As we've learned over the past 72 hours, Microsoft is clearly changing its approach to the Zune. And connected TV. And just about every other entertainment-related aspect of its business. As it seeks to better connect people via its software and devices (and make "The Social" something worth showing up to), Robbie Bach has explained that the company's new retail focus actually has a lot to do with it. The bigwig recently sat down in front of 150 students in order to take questions and relive some childhood memories, and given that kids always say the darnedest things, it's not shocking to hear that some of the conversation was awkward, if not comical. Point blank, Bach was asked if Windows 7 would be better than Vista, and he expectedly shot back with "Windows 7 is a huge step forward." There's far too much dialogue to cover in this space, but if you're looking for a little insight from the top, feel free to wade through the read links below.[Via CNET]Read - High school questionsRead - Retail thoughtsRead - More retail thoughts
Ballmer to businesses: deploy WinXP now and face concerns from employees
There's no two ways about it -- Microsoft has moved a truckload of Windows Vista licenses. That said, just 10 percent of all PCs within enterprises in North America and Europe use Vista, with the vast majority sticking to what has worked for years: Windows XP. Company CEO Steve Ballmer had quite the zinger on this topic during a recent interview at an NYC interview to mark the extension of Microsoft's collaboration with EMC, and we're certain you'll love it. Here goes: "If you deploy a four or five-year old operating system today [Windows XP], most people will ask their boss why the heck they don't have the stuff [Vista / Windows 7] they have at home." Of course, a one-off remark from some chap that's not at all pertinent to the day-to-day operations of a company isn't apt to make a business owner rethink their approach to running their own show, but we're sure it's fun for Steve to think that only a handful of consumers out there are still relying on WinXP.[Via PCWorld]
Windows Vista SP2 RC may be in the hands of testers as we speak
Sure, the big hubbub's been Windows 7 (give us some time and we'll figure out how to install it on a toaster!) but Microsoft is betting that quite a few folks will be stranded in Vistaland (Vista Town? Vista Village? The dreaded Vista Flats?) for some time to come, and they'll need provisions -- like blankets, candles, water, and service packs. According to Tech Arp, Windows Vista SP2 RC is meeting testers sometime this week as an escrow build, which means that the public could see this thing as soon as early Q2 this year. You've been warned...[Via Computerworld]
WoW Rookie: Will my computer run WoW?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.Playing WoW is no fun at all if your system doesn't cut the mustard. If you've just started playing on hardware of questionable power, you may believe you're clicking along just fine -- only to watch your frame rate come to a grinding halt the first time you're faced with a raid or Battleground full of players moving, casting and otherwise wreaking havoc (to both the game environment and your system). Lots of players start out playing WoW on hand-me-down computer systems. In fact, the spouse who starts playing on an old hunk o' junk, only to become hooked and then upgrade to a hotter rig than that of the established player, has become something of a gaming cliché. The thing to remember here is that a system that will run WoW will not provide the same enjoyment as a system that runs it well.
Windows 7 put up against Vista and XP in hardcore multicore benchmarks, XP wins
Now that the Windows 7 beta is out, the benchmarks are coming fast and furious, and while 7's been previously found to best XP and Vista during "real-world" tasks, it looks like XP is still the outright speed champ on current hardware. That's at least the word according to InfoWorld, which pitted all three systems against each other in a suite of tests designed to suss out how each performed on modern multicore systems, and while we won't pretend to grok all the data, there's nothing complicated about the final results, which showed that "any illusions about Windows 7 somehow being leaner or more efficient than Vista can now be thrown out the window." Sure, there was some speedup -- 7 was 60 percent faster than Vista during the dual-core workflow tests -- but overall, 7's just slower on dual- and quad-core hardware than XP. However, there's a silver lining here: InfoWorld says the slowdown is in large part due to the extra code Vista and 7 use to manage multicore processors, and as the number of cores increase, the corresponding performance gains are much bigger than with XP since they can be used more efficiently. Of course, by the time we're all sitting pretty with 48-core Larrabee machines this all might be just a distant memory, so for right now we're just going to get back to installing the Windows 7 beta on anything we can find and reveling in the glory of perceived speedups. Read - Analysis I (against Vista alone) Read - Analysis II (against Vista and XP) Update: The author of one of our sources here has seen been released from InfoWorld due to breach of trust. InfoWorld maintains that Randall C. Kennedy's "insight and analysis [is believed] to be accurate and reliable."
Windows 7 Beta takes another crown, besting Vista in SSD performance
It's no huge surprise, since Microsoft was planning on improving performance on this front, but now we've got some of our first solid numbers on Windows 7 Beta SSD performance. Nothing crazy spectacular, but Windows 7 looks to have a slight edge over Vista pretty much across the board, with better speed, access time and lower CPU usage -- not bad for a beta, let's hope things continue to improve as we approach "Microsoft would like your money for this" status.
Engadget Podcast 129 - 01.16.2009
Yes! Engadget is back from CES and ready for action. We thought this week might be a little quiet, but it's been quite the opposite. Listen in to Josh, Paul, and Nilay discussing the hot button items of our time: Steve Jobs, Windows 7, and Crapgadgets. Seriously, this is pressing stuff, people.Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay PatelProducer: Trent WolbeSong: Popcorn01:56 - Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence from Apple due to health reasons27:45 - Microsoft temporarily removes Windows 7 Beta download limit57:00 - Crapgadget Crapdown, CES: the best of the worstSubscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)LISTEN (OGG)Contact the podcast1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.
DISH Network's Draco project brings programming to Windows Media Center
Aw, snap! Just over a month after DirecTV went and killed its totally promising HDPC-20 tuner, in flies this. DISH Network is apparently gearing up to unveil some sort of HD-capable DISH-to-Windows Media Center liaison, with current test setups involving a modified ViP 211K receiver attached via Ethernet to a PC. The initiative is being coined Draco, and we're even told that dual tuner setups (most likely using dual boxes for now) are in action and working beautifully. It's tough to tell if this is the same project that was rumored way back in April of last year, but it's safe to say DISH is hoping to pick up the pieces that DirecTV inexplicably dropped. Windows Media Center, you've just regained our attention.%Gallery-42371%
WoW's EULA and Blizzard's OS support
Cory Doctorow posted on Boing Boing the other day about WoW's EULA being unreadable when installing the game on Linux. And obviously he's right -- Linux doesn't always have the font that Blizzard's installer uses, and so when you try to run it on Linux, you get gibberish, at least during installation. But there's more to this story here -- running WoW on Linux is actually unsupported by Blizzard: you can do it, and it's not against the EULA or ToS (in fact, Blizzard actually worked with the WINE guys to make sure the game ran correctly), but obviously any issues you have are an "at your own risk" kind of situation. So Doctorow's pretty much out of luck (or in luck as the case may be -- it's unlikely a EULA could be enforced on an unsupported system).And Linux isn't the only unsupported major OS out there -- Microsoft will release the beta of Windows 7, the new version of Windows, into the wild on January 10th, and Blizzard has made it clear that they won't support that, either, at least until it gets out of beta and into a release state. Of course, Microsoft has an interest in making sure old versions of Windows software work with the new OS, but if you only have one computer and absolutely need to play WoW on it, you should stay away from Windows 7 until the bugs are ironed out.Then again, there are worse OSes to deal with.
Windows 7 build 7000 already outperforming Vista and XP in "real-world" tasks
You might've heard that crazy rumor making the rounds that Microsoft leaked the Windows 7 beta on purpose to build some positive buzz, and while there's no real evidence (or likelihood) of that of any sort, the seemingly-magical build 7000 is certainly doing well for itself. Following up on wide praise for the fledgling OS, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes pitted the beta up against XP and Vista in some informal "real-word" tasks like boot up, shut down, file maneuvers, installations and other common tasks. On both test systems, an AMD Phenom 9700 setup and an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 number (with ATI and NVIDIA graphics, respectively), the Windows 7 install soundly bested XP and Vista task by task, with few exceptions. Performance testing is never an exact science, but it's clear that Microsoft is taking performance very seriously this time around -- we can't wait for the next conveniently-leaked beta to bolster this rep even further. Next on the benchmarking agenda? Real World: Brooklyn tasks.[Via Ars Technica]
ASUS R50A UMPC reviewed -- same internals as the VAIO P, runs Vista poorly
ASUS's R50A UMPC has been sort of lost in the company's flood of Eee PCs, and maybe for good reason -- the crew at UMPC Portal just reviewed the $2,000 handheld and came away unimpressed. Although the software package overall was described as "atrocious" and the lack of a keyboard was annoying, the biggest problems were all essentially related to running Vista on the 1.33GHz Atom Z520 CPU with 1GB RAM -- you can delete bloatware and use a bigger stylus, but you can't fix "pretty bad" performance on the lowest possible graphics settings. Ruh roh: Sony's upcoming VAIO P supposedly has a similar 1.33GHz Intel chip in it and runs Vista. Here's hoping Sony's got something a little more impressive up its sleeve for us than what ASUS managed to put together here -- otherwise the full R50A review at the read link might be discouragingly prophetic.
Dell's OptiPlex 160 'Tiny Desktop Computer' is appropriately named
Dell just dropped the new tiny-tower OptiPlex 160 for businesses and educational markets looking to save space and "go green." This 1.85-inch thick machine packs the usual assortment of ports, and an integrated power supply (no brick!), but unfortunately forgoes the integrated disc drive. The $563 base model incorporates a single-core Intel Atom processor, 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM, integrated video, and Vista Home Basic SP1 -- most of which reminds us of the Eee Box, other than the extra two Benjamins Dell's asking for. You can also spring for a 64GB SSD and an external DVD-ROM drive, and there will be a dual-core Atom option in 2009. While folks over in Round Rock envision these in the workplace, we certainly wouldn't mind taking one home for a romantic weekend with Ubuntu.[Thanks, Ivana]
Microsoft Vista Ultimate gets the (PRODUCT) RED treatment
It's not like (PRODUCT) RED versions of Windows Vista haven't been shipping on associated systems for months now, but for those who'd prefer to keep the rig they have and just get a colorful / charitable upgrade to Microsoft's latest OS, this is for you. Listed on the official (PRODUCT) RED website and up for pre-order now at Amazon, the special edition of Windows Vista Ultimate is slated to ship on December 15th. There's not too many extras here to make you splurge for a second copy (a few new wallpapers and a big warm, fuzzy feeling are definitely nice, though), but those looking to get a new OS and support the push to end AIDS in Africa can buy in now for $219.95 ($64.95 for students).[Via iStartedSomething, thanks Long Z.]Read - (PRODUCT) RED websiteRead - Pre-order at AmazonRead - Pre-order for students