Temptation

Apple have a habit of making everyday things very desirable. I have a been a fan for a long time and was equally impressed with the release of the Macbook Air. If there was ever a desirable ultra portable laptop it is the embodiment of one. I have to admit it is a very tempting proposition – just on good looks alone.

Steve Jobs announced it would be available within two weeks of launch, that makes it at the end of this month. Luck would have it that I will be in San Francisco next week – and I would at least like to see one in the metal. Will I be able to resist temptation? Hard to say. Expect me to report back with my findings.

I got a good gadget fix last week when I popped into Computer Plaza and got Golden Systems to build me a very capable gaming PC. I had always wanted to get a “No Holds” bar platform and this was it. The guys at Golden Systems were great, the service was excellent and the build by Joey was outstanding. Here is the system during the build:

Notice that the Fan on the CPU is not even turning while windows is idling. I was a little worried but sure enough under-load it spins up and the overall system runs quietly considering the power. For the techies that read this blog here is the spec:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX9650 “LGA775 Yorkfield” 3.00GHz (1333FSB)
Mobo : Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Graphics: Leadtek GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI
Memory: Samsung 4 x 1Gb DDR 2 1066Mhz
Hard Drives: 2 x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache, 1 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S182D/RSMM 18x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter
Case: Gigabyte 3D Aurora Black No PSU with Window
PSU: FPS 1010 Watt PSU
Internal Media Card Reader
Windows XP Professional

I was in two minds over Nvidia or a pair of ATI 3870’s. In the end I went for the Nvidia card as the graphics drivers are at the moment more stable than the crossfire ones. Needless to say I am very happy with the rig and it is about three times faster than my previous one. Which is just as well as games suggest as Bioshock, Crysis and Unreal Tournament III need big power to run them at full detail and high resolution.

The only other thing I have my eye on is a 160GB Archos 605WiFi for viewing movies on the long plane flights I have to do. I have had a look around Dubai and the dealers I have been to only have the previous 604 model. I am sure this will not be an issue in San Francisco.

So many gadgets. So much temptation. My name is Aaron and I am a gadget-a-holic.