MaximumPC 2007 H

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28 MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC HOLIDAY 2007

I

n last year’s tech preview, we

could see that the format war

between Blu-ray and HD DVD

was only just beginning, and sure

enough, 2007 has been all about the

two sides trading taunts and boast-

ing of their respective successes.

This will undoubtedly continue

throughout the next year, and it’s still

anyone’s guess who’s going to win.

We had also predicted last year

that a stalemate such as this would

result in dual-format drives. That’s

been true to some extent, as the

LG GGW-H10NI we reviewed in

September 2007 is able to read

both formats, but it writes to only

Blu-ray media. In fact, there hasn’t

been much HD DVD writing on any

front—save for the HD DVD drives

built into some Toshiba notebooks

and a very limited number of OEM-

only offerings from Panasonic. We

fi gure there has to be greater HD

DVD burner availability in the coming

year. None of the optical drive ven-

dors we spoke with would commit

to such plans, but an optical-media

insider told us to expect four or fi ve

manufacturers to have models next

year. Thus, dual-format burners will

likely also appear by late 2008.

And expect the cost of both HD

DVD and Blu-ray drives to be sig-

nifi cantly lower in 2008. For instance,

LG’s GGW-H2OLI, the follow-up to

the aforementioned dual-format drive,

will cost just $500—a far cry from the

$1,200 MSRP of the original. That drive

also gets a write-speed boost to 6x,

from 4x, which is sure to be a trend.

But don’t expect to see any dra-

matic price or speed-rating changes in

high-def media. We’re told the prices

of single- and double-layer media will

remain at $12 to $15 and $25 to $

apiece, respectively. And while a motor

upgrade might make for a relatively

simple speed boost on a burner, get-

ting reliable performance from the

media at greater speeds is much more

challenging. So perhaps we’ll see 4x

single-layer and 2x double-layer media

by the second half of 2008.

optical driveS

Speeds and prices of high-def drives will become more palatable, but will the masses bite?

w

e don’t always get it right with

our tech preview, but you could

call us Techradamus for last year’s

predictions regarding RAM: We said

DDR3 would touch down in 2007—

and no one would want it.

DDR3 is so unappealing right

now that AMD doesn’t have plans

to adopt it until late 2008 or 2009

when it releases its new AM3 socket

and CPUs that use DDR3 and DDR

memory controllers.

The new RAM brings a lower

voltage (1.5 volts versus DDR2’s 1.

volts), better termination, and the

ability to prefetch eight bits of data

instead of the four bits that DDR2 is

capable of. The DIMMs are 240-pin

but are keyed differ-

ently than DDR2.

Our tests have

shown that the new

RAM features more

theoretical band-

width at the cost of

greater latencies.

Did we mention that

it costs almost twice as much as

DDR2? That’s caused the expected

dog pile, as reviewers have all

pounded the new RAM standard

as being pretty damned pointless.

DDR3 does show promise, though.

The new memory is being pushed

to higher clock speeds sooner than

anyone expected.

It’s clear to us that DDR3 (which

ranges in data rates from 800MHz to

1,600MHz) isn’t a today technology

or even a three-months-from-now

technology. But give it six or eight

months—think next summer or fall—

and its clock speeds should fi nally

make it appealing to enthusiasts.

memory

DDR3 is on deck—but at twice the price of DDR2 and

with nary a performance benefit, at least for now

TECH

PRE-

VIEW