RHFtech Help Desk

One of the holy grails of technology is to make things go faster. This impulse pervades all technology from cars to computers. There are three new and improved technologies for data transfer within a computer, tablet device or smartphone that have recently come to market that will speed up our computing. These are solid state drives (SSD), Serial ATA Revision 3.0 and Universal Serial Bus 3.0.

Solid state devices replace rotational storage devices like hard drives. They are much faster than hard drives and more durable. They are also expensive. SSDs use non-volatile memory to read, write and store information. The most recent Intel/Micron joint venture fabrication facility builds SSDs using 25-nanometer NAND technology. The factory cost billions of dollars to construct and outfit. 25-nanometers is very small. At this size a few atoms misbehaving can ruin a device. SSDs are desirable as computer drives but I am waiting for SSD prices to drop significantly before deploying them as replacement drives in my existing computers.

As an aside, I recently had a conversation with a friend who consults to a large German optical company that makes the lens for these plants. He said he was working on the 11-nanometer next generation NAND lens. Unbelievable! What an incredible human accomplishment to work at this microscopic level.

SATA is the typical way internal drives connect to a computer. The first version of SATA allowed for theoretical speeds of data transfers up to 1.5Gb/s. Revision 2 doubled that theoretical speed to 3.0Gb/s. Most modern computers have drives and controllers that communicate using SATA 2.x. SATA Revision 3.0 is also known as SATA 6Gb/s because it has doubled the maximum transfer rate once again. Real world data speeds never come close to these maximums but each major revision has significantly sped up our computers.

I tested an ASUS U3S6 controller card in my custom-built Windows 7 main computer. The computer has an ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 motherboard, 12GB of DDR3 RAM and an Intel i7-920 (2.66GHz) CPU.  The U3S6 adapter card has two USB 3.0 connectors on the back plane and two SATA 6Gb/s connectors on the inside. These are used to connect to a computer’s internal drives. The adapter card connects to the motherboard via a PCI Express x4 interface

I needed 6Gb/s drives to test so I bought two Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX hard drives. There are not a lot choices today. This is likely to change in the near future. I also acquired a BYTECC T-200U3 external docking station, that incorporates a USB 3.0 connector, to test USB 3.0 data transfer rates.  These four pieces of equipment cost me about $300.

I wanted to get SSDs but they cost much more and the SSDs’ capacities are too small so I went with this setup: A $30 add-on card and two new SATA 6.0Gb/s capable 1TB hard drives. A single Crucial Real SSD 256GB SATA 6Gb/s costs $759 at Newegg today. My configuration is slower than the SSD but I have 8x the storage for less than half the price.

I first benchmarked my existing drives using the motherboard’s built-in SATA 3Gb/s controllers and the external USB 2.0 ports. I used PC Wizard 2010 to run the hard drive benchmarks. I then installed the board and benchmarked the SATA 6Gb/s controller and drives, and the USB 3.0 docking station with both the new and old drives.

In my testing SATA 6Gb/s is about 50% faster than SATA 3Gb/s controllers+drives not the 100% I hoped for. However, my computer is much more responsive. Applications and files open much faster than before I installed the board and new drives.

USB 3.0 may be a big improvement but I didn’t see it in my initial testing. It is supposed to work at speeds up to 10x USB 2.0. This board’s USB 3.0 ports connected to a USB 3.0 external hard drive are only about 40%-50% faster than USB 2.0 equipment. This is good but nowhere near the 10x range I hoped for. The ASUS-supplied software drivers are the probable culprit. I am hopeful that ASUS will release new ones in the near future.

The bottom line is that I recommend this board and new hard drives to anyone who has the money and the motherboard expansion slot. The 50% improvement with USB 3.0 is nice but less than hoped for. However, I do not believe you will be disappointed if you upgrade your rig. I am not looking backwards.

The Lifehacker survey results, as of now:

The total cost of a usable version will likely exceed $1,000

The Apple iPad is more sizzle than steak, based upon what I read and see on the Internet.

Do I want one? Yes, to play with for a few hours.

Do I want to own one? Probably not.

Should you buy one? Not yet. Not this year. Wait for the 3rd generation before buying one of these. It will likely have big improvements and hardware additions, like a camera, over the announced first generation models.

The cost of ownership is much higher than it seems. The total cost of a usable version will likely exceed $1,000, and probably $2,000 with the cost of a data plan. The $499 model has only 16GB of memory, which is insufficient in today’s media file and data intensive world. The 64GB model is $699 but you want the Wi-Fi + 3G model, which costs $829. A data plan from AT&T Wireless is extra. AppleCare prices were not announced. I expect the extended warranty to run at least $200. You need to buy a case. You need extra charging cables and perhaps an external battery, which cost $80-$100 for the iPhone. You may want one of the iPad Keyboard Docks (price unknown).

The apps we will want are not yet written and app pricing is unknown.

The bezel, the black area around the screen, is huge and makes the device look clunky to my eye.

The lack of a built-in stand or a camera makes this thing seem half-baked.

Based upon my experience with other battery-powered devices, the touted 10 hour battery life is probably over-stated. The question is, "By how much?" Book readers like the Kindle can go 2 weeks or more on a single charge. The battery life at 10 hours max, means we will be charging iPads all the time. Also, battery life for all devices declines over time. Since the iPad battery is hard to replace, Apple intends these devices to be disposable.

Why do we want this? What does it add to our technological life that is not as well or better served by other devices?

Caution is advised. Let someone else be the beta tester for Apple.

Many people I know believe Apple makes the best computers and related hardware. They are surprised when I challenge their opinion. I think they formed these opinions based upon three sets of Apple products—iMacs, MacBook Pros, and iPhone/iPod Touch/iPod models. My opinion is based upon the complete Apple product line that incorporates products such as the Mac Pro, Xserve, Mac Mini, Apple TV, MacBook Air, AirPort hardware, storage products, and keyboard and mouse offerings.

I am agnostic when it comes to technology. I try to assess what I see and use on its face value. I am rarely swayed by flashy or shiny things. I try to judge on ease-of-use, how well the technology does what it purports to do, and the cost/value ratio.

Below are some quick thoughts that I hope amplify my position:

The iMac is the best all-in-one computer. There are Windows alternatives. None are as compelling.

MacBook Pros are very nice notebook computers. There are few comparable offerings in the Windows world. But there are many good Windows notebooks, often providing a better cost/value ratio than a MacBook Pro. This impression is due to Windows 7. Windows 7 changes the balance for the client operating system user interface/user experience (UI/UX), away from Apple’s OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard, to Microsoft. This happened once before when Microsoft released Windows 95 and leapfrogged the Apple UI/UX of the day.

The iPod Touch is in a category by itself. I have seen no other device that does as much as the Touch, does what it does as well as the Touch, or is priced as favorably.

The iPhone was in a category by itself but that is rapidly changing. The Motorola Droid offers many features that the iPhone does not and is quickly adding apps and functionality that leapfrog the iPhone/iTunes App store ecosystem. Peter Ha of Time Magazine recently named the Droid the best gadget for 2009. There are other new or soon-to-be-released smartphones that challenge the iPhone’s hegemony.

The Mac Pro is a beautiful tower computer. It is extravagantly over-priced. There are many Windows alternatives that provide comparable hardware at a fraction of the cost. The primary reason I see to buy the Mac Pro over a comparable Windows tower is because you want to use Final Cut Studio, Apple’s $1,000 video editing program, to edit lots of video recordings.

Xserve is an expensive, not-so-special, pizza-box-shaped server. Linux, Unix, and Windows servers generally provide better functionality and features at much lower cost.

The Mac Mini is useful but monitor, keyboard and mouse are extra. It is not always the best-in-breed for media center devices and it makes a mediocre desktop computer. (I suggest buying an iMac if you need a Mac desktop computer.)  Window nettop boxes are coming to market soon that challenge the Mac Mini. We need to wait until January 2010 to assess what is best-in-breed in this form factor.

The Mac Mini has a younger, smaller sibling, the Apple TV. TiVo is far superior as an easy-to-use media device. Xbox and the SONY PlayStation PS3 provide media center functionality and add game playing and an optical drive (Blu-ray for the PS3), both of which are missing from Apple TV. Roku, Vudu and Popcorn provide lower-cost media center functionality. The Roku box, which I will be reviewing next week, costs much less, provides a simpler interface and is easier to use than an Apple TV.

I often recommend Apple computers and other Apple hardware to my clients because the device(s) best meet the clients’ needs. I often recommend non-Apple products because they better meet that client’s needs. As I said above, I’m agnostic.

I could go on surveying Apple’s remaining hardware, such as Airport networking devices, keyboards and mice but I won’t. My point is that Apple makes some good hardware, in some instances such as the iPod Touch or the iMac the best, but not always the best and often not very good, like the MacBook Air or Apple TV.

Many people I know believe Apple makes the best computers and related hardware. They are surprised when I challenge their opinion. I think they formed these opinions based upon three sets of Apple products—iMacs, MacBook Pros, and iPhone/iPod Touch/iPod models. My opinion is based upon the complete Apple product line that incorporates products such as the Mac Pro, Xserve, Mac Mini, Apple TV, MacBook Air, AirPort hardware, storage products, and keyboard and mouse offerings.

I am agnostic when it comes to technology. I try to assess what I see and use on its face value. I am rarely swayed by flashy or shiny things. I try to judge on ease-of-use, how well the technology does what it purports to do, and the cost/value ratio.

Below are some quick thoughts that I hope amplify my position:

The iMac is the best all-in-one computer. There are Windows alternatives. None are as compelling.

MacBook Pros are very nice notebook computers. There are few comparable offerings in the Windows world. But there are many good Windows notebooks, often providing a better cost/value ratio than a MacBook Pro. This impression is due to Windows 7. Windows 7 changes the balance for the client operating system user interface/user experience (UI/UX), away from Apple’s OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard, to Microsoft. This happened once before when Microsoft released Windows 95 and leapfrogged the Apple UI/UX of the day.

The iPod Touch is in a category by itself. I have seen no other device that does as much as the Touch, does what it does as well as the Touch, or is priced as favorably.

The iPhone was in a category by itself but that is rapidly changing. The Motorola Droid offers many features that the iPhone does not and is quickly adding apps and functionality that leapfrog the iPhone/iTunes App store ecosystem. Peter Ha of Time Magazine recently named the Droid the best gadget for 2009. There are other new or soon-to-be-released smartphones that challenge the iPhone’s hegemony.

The Mac Pro is a beautiful tower computer. It is extravagantly over-priced. There are many Windows alternatives that provide comparable hardware at a fraction of the cost. The primary reason I see to buy the Mac Pro over a comparable Windows tower is because you want to use Final Cut Studio, Apple’s $1,000 video editing program, to edit lots of video recordings.

Xserve is an expensive, not-so-special, pizza-box-shaped server. Linux, Unix, and Windows servers generally provide better functionality and features at much lower cost.

The Mac Mini is useful but keyboard and mouse are extra. Window nettop boxes are coming to market soon that challenge the Mac Mini. We need to wait until January 2010 to assess what is best-in-breed in this form factor.

The Mac Mini has a younger, smaller sibling, the Apple TV. It is not always the best-in-breed for media center devices and it makes a mediocre desktop computer. (I suggest buying an iMac if you need a Mac desktop computer.) TiVo is far superior as an easy-to-use media device. Xbox and the SONY PlayStation PS3 provide media center functionality and add game playing and an optical drive (Blu-ray for the PS3), both of which are missing from Apple TV. Roku, Vudu and Popcorn provide lower-cost media center functionality. The Roku box, which I will be reviewing next week, costs much less, provides a simpler interface and is easier to use than an Apple TV.

I often recommend Apple computers and other Apple hardware to my clients because the device(s) best meet the clients’ needs. I often recommend non-Apple products because they better meet that client’s needs. As I said above, I’m agnostic.

I could go on surveying Apple’s remaining hardware, such as Airport networking devices, keyboards and mice but I won’t. My point is that Apple makes some good hardware, in some instances such as the iPod Touch or the iMac the best, but not always the best and often not very good, like the MacBook Air or Apple TV.

I have a client, a radiologist, who needs a new home computer. Since he uses this computer when he is on-call it must meet minimum requirements for the medical imaging software and display the images in high resolution on a large monitor so that he can properly read the images.

He sent me his specifications and asked for my thoughts. Here they are:

The nicest reasonably priced, large monitor is bundled with the new 27" iMac. One of these with a 2.8GHz i7 CPU and 8GB of memory (which I believe is more than adequate) costs $2,399 plus tax at Apple. Adding a second Apple display, a 24" Cinema Display costs $899 + tax. Not certain you need the 2nd monitor as a 27" primary monitor is quite large. Also the second monitor does not have to be an Apple.

Firefox is available for all major operating systems, Windows, Mac and Linux. So if Safari doesn’t cut the mustard, I would expect that Firefox will work. As always, better to test this on a existing Mac, before buying, rather than assume.

We can run XP, Vista, Windows 7 (32-or 64-bit) on a Mac either under the built-in Boot Camp utility (which I do not like because it means rebooting the machine to switch operating system) or in a virtual machine (VM) using VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop, or VirtualBox. I prefer VMware Fusion over Parallels or VirtualBox. This would entail buying the VM software and a Windows OS and license, and installing the VM manager and then the operating system.

This might be the best of all worlds, great display, good hardware, and your choice of OS depending upon what you want to do. Please note that you will have to maintain two computers, the physical Mac and the virtual Windows, so updates, patches, and backups are times two.

Let me know if you have other questions or would like to discuss this. If you want to go with a desktop computer, and not an all-in-one like the iMac, we could consider the Mac Pro (which gets pricey very fast) or a higher-end Windows 7 64-bit machine with XP Mode. The Windows machine would probably cost $1,000 to $2,000 less than the Mac Pro (depending upon configuration). The advantage of a desktop is that is more serviceable and upgradeable. An iMac is more like a notebook in its construction and consequently harder to service and limited in upgrades, i.e. the video and sound cards/chips are fixed with whatever comes with the computer. Memory and hard drives can be upgraded.

This article’s title is turnabout on the French proverb, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That is not the case in technology. I know many examples where technological enhancements cause the need for further improvement or refinement. Technology often changes our behavior causing a need to adjust to the new behavior. At times this feels like an infinite recursion, which it may well be. (As an aside, Googling “recursion” will display Google’s attempt at logical humor.)

An example of this occurred in the mid-1970s. I worked at Citicorp and had been a member of the team that invented the modern ATM, which we called CATs (Customer Activated Terminals). We saw these machines as a way of substituting capital for labor, replacing the need for branch tellers and shifting the work load from the bank to the customer. I was in line at the headquarter branch waiting to use one of the ATMs. It was Friday afternoon and the line was long since we all wanted cash for the weekend. There were no lines in the teller area and four available tellers. I couldn’t use a teller because I didn’t have a check with me. I could use the ATM because I had my Citicard. The tellers could not give a customer cash from his Citicard. We had succeeded in changing customer behavior thereby unbalancing demand in favor of the machines. Citibank eventually fixed this and today tellers can work with a customer’s card.

Recently, People’s United Bank changed their ATMs to add a question when one first interacts with the machine inquiring what language would we want. This is a good change, except that I don’t feel I need to answer this question more than once. People’s should program their systems to remember my response since it is highly unlikely I will ever answer that question differently. Perhaps someday someone at People’s will wake up and implement the change. This is a small thing but an annoyance brought about by a change that should be changed again.

It is great that our computers can multitask. In the early days of personal computers this was not possible. You either worked on a word processing document or spreadsheet but not both simultaneously. Have you ever worked on something, perhaps a document, and the computer pops up a message from another application, stealing the system focus, breaking your concentration and frustrating you. There should be a way for us to tell our computers to not do that. Perhaps someday we will be able to mute these responses just as we can turn a cellphone to vibrate rather than ring.

I can think of many innovations that lead to annoyances that I would love to fix. I use many Google services, Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Google Voice, Google Wave, Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Maps… It would be nice if Google spent less time creating new services and integrated what they have so that I don’t have to have so many Google tabs opened in my browser. (iGoogle is not the answer.)  Update 2009/10/15 7:01a: A Firefox add-on Integrated Gmail addresses much of this issue. It does not seem to work with Google for Your Domain, e.g. rhftech.com.

Another example is that my Kindle can play audiobooks from Audible. Both Kindle and Audible are parts of Amazon. The Kindle reverts to a standby screen after a certain period of inactivity. Unfortunately, it does this while I am listening to an audiobook because it does not recognize the audio playback as “activity”.  I then need to move the “power” button to the right to wake up the Kindle. The power button is not easily moved. This is like having the standby screen popup while I am reading a page. This should be reprogrammed.

I can think of many more instances of a need for change brought about by change. I’ll bet you can too. Add a comment to the blog post and tell me what you want to change. Perhaps we can get some of them made.

I just got an NVIDIA update for a Windows 7 64-bit computer’s video card, via Windows Update. My computer’s video card performance went from a rating of 1.0 to 6.9. And the computer’s Base score, its overall rating, went from 1.0 to 5.9.  

A system’s Base score is the lowest rating for any of the tested hardware devices.

The highest possible rating in Windows 7 Experience Index is 7.9. The highest possible rating in Vista is 5.9.

The Base score of 5.9 is limited by the primary hard drive, a 1TB Seagate 7200 RPM with a 32MB cache. I suspect if I replace that drive with a solid state drive (SSD) the computer’s , current 5.9 Base score would rise to 6.9, the video card’s current ratings.

I received the following questions in an email this morning:

I need to buy two new computers – a desktop and a portable.  I’m considering a netbook for the portable.

Do you recommend waiting until new computers ship with Windows 7?  Does it make sense to buy a netbook with Windows XP?  The Asus machines with XP claim up to 10 hours battery life which is certainly appealing.  What are your thoughts on the new Mac OS?

Here is my response:

• Do you recommend waiting until new computers ship with Windows 7?

Yes. October 22 is close. Waiting is advised.

• Does it make sense to buy a netbook with Windows XP?

No. October 22 is close. Waiting is advised.

• I’m considering a netbook for the portable…

Good choice. They are lightweight, conveniently small but relatively full-featured. Please note that they do not have optical drives (DVD/CD). This is not a problem for me but can be a handicap for others.

One key feature to check out is the processor.  I recommend getting one using an Intel Atom CPU N280 (or better) running at 1.66GHz. Many netbooks use the N270 (1.6GHz) or the Z520 (1.33GHz) to save money. These are slower chips that degrade the computing experience at the savings of a few dollars.

Note that netbook screens are typically 1024×600 resolution, which is a bit short on the vertical. I recommend running these with the Taskbar set to Auto-hide when not needed, to compensate.

I have three ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbooks sitting next to me here in the office. Two are running Windows 7, the other is running the version of XP Home it came with. One is mine, the others are a client’s. Real battery life is between 6-8 hours of use, depending upon what you are doing. Watching video will run them down faster. Surfing the web or typing a Word document will not.

I tested the newest one two days ago by playing streaming audio until the battery quit. I got about 6.5 hours of constant audio. The battery hasn’t been fully conditioned yet so I expect slightly better times in actual use. If you close the netbook when not actually in use, thereby putting them into standby, they will last a whole day and then some since standby uses very little juice.

Most netbooks can be upgraded from the 1GB of RAM to 2GB. I recommend doing this.
Before committing I suggest you go to a local retailer—Best Buy, Staples, Walmart, etc.—and try typing on the netbook keyboards. Netbook keyboards are not full-sized and some people have issues with the smaller keys.

• What are your thoughts on the new Mac OS?

I suggest you read my blog post from last Thursday, Snow Leopard, snow job or honest upgrade, for an extended answer but…

I wrote to a Mac-oriented colleague yesterday, "IMO, Windows 7 leapfrogs Leopard/Snow Leopard in easy-of-use and usability. I think that Apple is now playing catch-up in the desktop/laptop OS world."

He wrote back, "…on this missive I can’t disagree with a single thing you’ve written. Which, of course, leaves me sorely disappointed!."

If you go Mac you will have a transitional period, a week or two, until you familiarize yourself with the differences. You will also need to invest in new software since Macs do not natively run PC applications.

My Flip Mino HD is supposed to record up to 60 minutes of video. However, whenever I turned the camera on it showed 23:54 (min:sec) of available recording time even though there were no videos stored on the camera.

I searched PureDigitial’s support and did several Google searches to find a solution, to no avail.

I tried resetting the device using the two methods described on the support site: holding down the power button for 10 seconds or pushing a paper clip into the hole in the tripod attachment base and holding it depressed for 5 seconds. Neither reset fixed the problem.

So I decided to reformat the Mino HD’s USB flash drive. I first backed-up  the files on the drive. Then I used Windows to do a quick reformat of the drive (FAT32).

I disconnected the camera and turned it on. It now showed 60:00 minutes of recording time available.

Then I reconnected the camera to the computer to copy the files back to the camera. But this turned out to be unnecessary. The FlipShare software that comes with the camera and was installed on the computer automatically restored all the software for me.

Problem solved.