quick start THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALL
i.867.quick start THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALL
Dell Goes
Wild
at CES
Shock and awe: A quad-
GPU, overclocked Presler
rig with dual Raptors,
from Dell?W
hile Dell’s XPS gaming rigs
have always been respect-
able machines with decent perfor-
mance, they’ve lacked a certain
“badass” fl air and insane hardware
chops. But, hey, Dell was never
trying to compete with boutique shops such as Falcon Northwest and Voodoo
PC—until now.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Dell threw
down the gauntlet with an unbelievably confi gured Limited Edition XPS
gaming rig named the XPS Renegade (not
to be confused with Dell’s small-formfactor
gaming rig, the Juvenile Delinquent).
The Renegade’s specs are awesome. The
CPU is an Intel P4 Presler core, factory over-
clocked from 3.4GHz to 4.26GHz, and storage
duties are handled by two 150GB WD Raptors
in a striped RAID array. But the Renegade’s
four GPUs are the coupe de grace —no other
system boasts that kind of muscle. And we’re
not simply talking about two dual-GPU cards,
but two individual 512MB GeForce 7800 GTX
boards, each attached to a GeForce 7800
GTX daughterboard. nVidia reps say this
particular confi guration of quad-SLI will be
exclusive to Dell, but they would not discuss
other possible quad-SLI confi gurations.G
ive Apple some credit: rushing out the first
Intel-based Macs six months ahead of schedule
was nearly miraculous. What’s especially impres-
sive is that the first two models are the MacBook
Pro and iMac. Inch-thin notebooks like the
MacBook Pro require much more custom engineer-
ing than roomy desktop systems. And although the
iMac is a desktop, its slim all-in-one case makes it
nearly as difficult to design as a notebook.
As I predicted last year, the x86 Macs aren’t
cheaper than PowerPC Macs. On average, Intel
processors cost more than PowerPC processors.
But the new Macs are much faster and a better
value. Four other things about them should inter-
est any computer enthusiast, even those who will
never buy a Mac.
First, like all Macs, the new machines have the
same curb appeal as the iPod. By comparison, the
typical Windows PC looks as fashionable as a car
battery. Beauty is only skin deep, but supermodels
get paid a lot more for flashing their skin than
the rest of us do. Other PC vendors should get off
their butts and hire some case-modders.
Inside, the initial Intel-based Macs use the
Core Duo (Yonah), the first dual-core descendant
of the Pentium M. Despite Apple’s minuscule mar-
ket share, Macs are getting the very latest Intel
chips, not bottom-shelf silicon. That means the
new Macs will compete strongly with the perfor-
mance of Windows PCs.
In addition, the new Macs have a next-gen-
eration BIOS that supports Intel’s Extensible
Firmware Interface (EFI). Eventually, all PCs will
implement this standard, which was conceived
to replace the ancient PC BIOS. It’s ironic that
Macs will be the vehicles for popularizing this PC
technology. But then, the first blue-bellied iMacs
of 1998 were largely responsible for popularizing
another industry standard, USB.
More important, the new Macs are the first
ones theoretically capable of natively running
a Microsoft OS. The potential to support three
platforms (including Linux) in one box is compel-
ling—especially if the x86 transition starves Mac
users for native software. Unfortunately, Apple
isn’t using Intel’s virtualization technology to
make multiboot systems more robust, but that
could come later.
Although I still think the switch to x86 is a big
gamble, so far Apple is taking the right steps.Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine
and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.Two Cores
in Every Apple
TO-
HALFHILLFAST FORWARD
MARCH 2006 MA XIMUMPC 9
The Renegade’s quad-GPU action is
handled via four individual boards,
each with 512MB of GDDR3 memory.A New Mobile Concept
Though the Renegade grabbed
the headlines at CES, Dell’s new
mobile concept PC is also inter-
esting. It’s essentially a portable
media center powered by Intel’s
new Yonah-based Core Duo pro-
cessor; it sports a 20.1-inch LCD
that fl ips up from its base (simi-
lar to a notebook). The wireless
Bluetooth keyboard separates
from the unit and a remote control is
included as well, to interface with unit’s
Windows Media Center OS. When not in use,
you can reattach the keyboard to the base,
close the display, and carry the whole she-
bang via a built-in handle. Dell was showing
it only as a concept, and whether the rig will
ever hit market is anybody’s guess.Dell’s XPS Renegade 600
features a custom paint-job
and is only available in lim-
ited quantities.Dell’s mobile con-
cept PC features a
detachable keyboard,
a 20.1-inch LCD, and a
remote control.