Word: pentium
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...product that offers the most flexibility is the Matrox Marvel G400-TV, a $300 kit consisting of an advanced graphics card that slides inside your PC (you need a Windows machine with a Pentium II 233-MHz or faster processor) and an external hub that takes analog video from myriad sources (VCR, cable TV, camcorder) and puts it on your computer screen. The accompanying software, called Avid Cinema, provides the easy-step editing tools. The quality of the new video you create is only as good as the original source, however, so you won't be able to touch...
Most people think choice is a good thing. Take French roast vs. Kona, or Skippy vs. Jif. But when it comes to notebook computers, the options can be downright dizzying. This year, with the introduction of superfast Intel Pentium III processors in laptops and the rapid proliferation of ultralight PCs, your choices got even broader...
...only problem I encountered was when I installed Wham-O's Frisbee Golf: an error message informed me that my machine didn't have the required horsepower--a Pentium running at 90 MHz or better. (Duh. That's because it's not a Pentium.) Luckily, the error message wasn't fatal, and I was able to get the game running on the Compaq anyway...
...difference in playing DVD movies or running any of the rich programs in the vast, dark Quittner Collection, although the Athlon is supposed to handle multimedia much better, thanks to its 200-MHz bus, vs. the Pentium's 100-MHz bus. (Think of the bus as the highway between the microprocessor and the rest of the computer.) A spokesman for Intel pooh-poohed the importance of bus speed, saying the real bottleneck is elsewhere in the computer. As for all the other benchmarks that show AMD's chip being faster, Intel had no comment, though it has cut Pentium prices...
...Athlon or Intel's Pentium III: that is the question. All things being equal--components, software and peripherals in the package deal--if you feel you must have the latest, fastest, I'd shop this one strictly by price. Don't worry about brand names. If you can get a better deal on an Athlon, do it. One thing to keep in mind, though, is this: 99% of you who read this column won't see much difference. Chips have become so fast, they outpace most software's requirements. Then again, if speed really matters to you, maybe you need...