46 | MAXIMUMPC | FEB 09 | http://www.maximumpc.com
(^) THE
MAXIMUM PC
10 0
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GATEWAY STUNS
WITH AFFORDABLE
HIGH-END GAMING NOTEBOOK
Geeks get their game on with
Gateway’s P-7811FX notebook, a
sub-$1,500 powerhouse that pum-
mels the competition.
27
NVIDIA RELEASES
GT 200 SERIES For raw
single-GPU performance, you just
can’t beat Nvidia’s GT200 GPU,
which powers the GeForce GTX
260 and 280 cards.
26
LEFT 4 DEAD
REDEFINES CO-OP
Valve’s vision of the zombie apoc-
alypse redefi nes the cooperative
multiplayer experience.
25
GAMING COMMUNITY
DECRIES SPORE’S DRM
Electronic Arts saddles Will
Wright’s Spore with a modifi ed
version of SecuROM, sparking a
backlash from angry gamers.
24
GOOGLE’S OPEN-
SOURCE ANDROID
OS DEBUTS T-Mobile and handset-
maker HTC partner up to release
the fi rst mobile phone built around
Google’s Android platform.
23
INTEL MOTHERBOARDS
FINALLY SHIP WITH SLI
SUPPORT
22
NVIDIA SUED OVER
BAD NOTEBOOK GPUS
A shareholder hits Nvidia with a
class-action lawsuit over faulty
notebook GPUs that the graphics-
chip maker admits suff er from an
“abnormal failure rate.”
21
SEAGATE LAUNCHES
WORLD’S FIRST 1.5TB
DESKTOP DRIVE Seagate’s 1.5TB
hard drive not only off ers the most
storage space of any desktop drive
on the planet but also qualifi es as
the largest capacity increase ever.
20
AMD SPLITS INTO SEPA-
RATE DESIGN AND MAN-
UFACTURING COMPANIES Tough
times call for drastic measures,
and for AMD, that means splitting
into two companies so that one
can focus entirely on chip design
while the other takes on the more
expensive role of manufacturing.
19
FANTASY BUFFS MOURN
THE PASSING OF D&D
CO-CREATOR GARY GYGAX
18
MICROSOFT NAMES,
DATES, AND DEMOS
WINDOWS 7 Details regarding
Microsoft ’s next OS, Windows 7,
pour out of Redmond, revealing
everything from what changes
Vista owners should expect to
how MS came up with the name.
17
EVERYONE GETS RICK-
ROLLED, EVEN THE
NEW YORK METS New York Mets
fans are forced to listen to “Never
Gonna Give You Up” aft er various
web communities vote to have
the 1987 hit single played at Shea
Stadium. Also hit: the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day parade
16
MICROSOFT POINTS
FINGER AT NVIDIA FOR
POOR PERCEPTION OF VISTA
Despite Microsoft ’s public
ballyhooing over Vista’s sales
numbers, consumers view the OS
as crash prone, a perception the
soft ware giant blames on buggy
Nvidia drivers.
15
RIAA WINS $222,000
JUDGMENT—THEN
LOSES IT A jury finds Jammie
Thomas guilty of copyright
infringement and orders her
to pay $222,000 in associated
penalties before the case is later
declared a mistrial.
14
RADIOHEAD ASKS FANS
TO PAY WHAT THEY
WANT FOR ALBUM
13
VERIZON WIRELESS
WINS LION’S SHARE
OF 700MHZ SPECTRUM Verizon
Wireless posts the winning bid for
the coveted 22MHz band of spec-
trum known as the C-block in the
FCC’s 700MHz auction.
12
HULU’S LAUNCH A
HUGE SUCCESS
Met with skepticism before its
public launch, Hulu—an NBC
Universal and News Corp joint
enterprise—gets the last laugh as
the online video service becomes
an instant hit.
11
BILL GATES RETIRES.
WELL, SORT OF At just
52 years old, Bill Gates com-
pletes his transition into semi-
retirement, trading in his daily
responsibilities for a cozy position
as company chairman and the
early-bird buff et.
10
COMCAST AND AT&T
CAP BANDWIDTH
Comcast makes Internet waves by
imposing a 250GB bandwidth cap
on its broadband customers, fol-
lowed by AT&T’s experiments with
limits based on the service level.
9
BLU-RAY BEATS HD DVD,
NOBODY CARES No one
anticipated that the high-defi nition
format war would end as
abruptly as it did, but as more
and more studios jump aboard
the Blu-ray bandwagon, Toshiba
is left with no choice but to
abandon the HD DVD format.
8
MOZILLA RELEASES
FIREFOX 3 AND GRABS
MORE MARKET SHARE
Mere months before celebrat-
ing Firefox’s fourth birthday,
Mozilla launches version 3.0
of its open-source browser and
also celebrates a record number
of downloads.
7
EEE PC’S SMALL
FOOTPRINT A BIG STEP
FOR PORTABLE COMPUTING
Technically, Asus didn’t create the
term netbook, but it might as well
have, as the company’s Eee PC
becomes the face of the fad.
6
STORAGE BECOMES
STUPID-CHEAP At roughly a
dime per gigabyte, the Tera Era en-
ters full swing, making the recycle
bin nearly obsolete.
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Photo thanks to batmoowww.tinyurl/5smskw