I've been 'dieing' to tell you

by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/17/2005 11:03 AM EST
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  • TheWarden - Monday, November 28, 2005 - link

    You asked a bunch of hardware engineers for advice on grammar? While you're at it, are you going to ask a bunch of English professors for advice on clockspeeds? Not saying engineers should have no input on the "dies" vs. "dice" debate, but they should hardly be the sole authority.
  • WT - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link

    As far as console gamers and PC gamers not getting along, I would think this has to do with how the money is spent. First of all, this is AnandTech where nobody pays retail !! I may have spent $1,200 building my rig and along comes a console 6 months later that anyone can own for $300. The direct comparison to the PC is made; The video is equivalent to a high end PC card costing X amount of dollars. So it appears that the PC gamer was a total fool for spending on his extravagent hobby, while the console guy spent wisely and has a system that does not need the care and feeding like the PC does (updates, patches, virii concerns). I was very active playing Q1 CTF and pointed to that as why a PC will always sway me in its direction. The console is just not moddable enough to do this, and some of the best mods/games were free to play !! Its almost three years after Enemy Territory was released and I STILL play that and enjoy it far more than BF2 an its ink. Ohh, and it was free. Would that EVER happen on the console side ?? Does a console even offer moddable content ?? (I'll guess yes, after seeing so much made of the Hot Coffee mod for GTA). Adding a HD to the XBox2 should take care of that, but I just like the controls of a kboard/ mouse over a gamepad as well. Some dogs prefer to learn no new tricks.
  • BladeVenom - Saturday, November 19, 2005 - link

    And all this time I thought Dells 12" 700m was a popular notebook, same with HP's 14" models.
  • yknott - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link

    Anand,

    Any stats on yesterday's hits on that articles? Maybe hits, bandwidth, largest referer, CPU usage etc. I'm interested to find out where the bottle neck was for the site.


    -yknott
  • DCstewieG - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link

    I can guarantee you the largest referrer was Slashdot. In my experience the worst part of it was the images loading, which leads me to believe bandwidth was at least one of the bottlenecks.
  • yknott - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link

    I'm guessing it could possibly be bandwidth, but I believe anandtech has a 100mbit pipe to the internet. I think the firewall could have been at fault. It can only handle so many sessions at once. I wonder if we hit that limit.
  • Eug - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    I suspect that if they release an Intel iBook, it will be single-core, and the dual-core PowerBooks would come either at the same time or soon after. Why? Cuz a 1.66 Yonah single-core iBook would outperform a 17" G4 PowerBook in most stuff. The main issue is the availability of x86 native binaries.

    P.S. I MUCH prefer laptops under 15". I might be tempted to get a 15" though, if Aperture is as nice as I think it will be. The bigger screen, inevitable faster GPU, and dual-cores all would greatly help Aperture.

    P.P.S. I'm not sure if "dice" is wrong or not, but it definitely sounds odd.
  • rainbow001 - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    They exist in the market here in the US. Panasonic sells them and they are by far the least popular laptop in our lineup. The majority of people don't want them, they want bigger. Go figure that?
  • Redbudian - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    Regarding Lal Shimpi's comment:
    The $600 notebook roundup I mentioned a few weeks ago is basically done; time permitting I'm going to try to finish the writing today and see if I can get the review out before I leave for NC for the holidays on Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised by most of these notebooks, $600 will actually get you a decent machine and not something that feels like it's from a street vendor.
    I'm trying to find a notebook to give my 16yrold daughter, who loves to play The Sims, but also needs basic homework capability functions; AND would like CD/CDR/DVD functions.
    With the specs required for Sims (XP,256MB,Graphics w/TL,800MHzP3or=,800x600mR), is it possible, in your opinion, for me to find a notebook for under $700??
  • johnsonx - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    I can't say I've tested it personally, but I think any of the newer notebooks with the Intel GMA900 (ie 910 and 915 mobile chipsets) graphics will play the Sims just fine. My Dell Inspiron 6000 plays most games that aren't graphically intense at more than acceptable speeds. There are several such notebooks available at the $700-and-under price point (a couple of Dells, Acers, a Toshiba, etc.).

    I'm guessing you'll know A LOT more once Anand puts up his review.
  • johnsonx - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    Sorry, doesn't matter what the chip guys want. DICE are the cubes you use to play craps in vegas (or Atlantic City for you east coasters), DIES are computer chips (and other sorts of engineering widgets). Period.
  • gamigin - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    Wikipedia says "dies": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_%28manufacturing%...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_%28manufacturing%...
    Try Googling "sheet metal dies"; lots of results.
    Try Googling "sheet metal dice"; 2 results for indian casinos.

    I don't care what some Microsoft engineer told you; "dice" is wrong.
  • 3sgte - Friday, December 9, 2005 - link

    You make 2 good points.

    One is that engineers alone should not be relied on for naming. Often engineers are very narrowly focused, and may not be conscious of the misinterpretability. Often, engineers are also not strong linguistically.

    How many engineers consider translators and people who read material in their second language?

    Also, you make a good point about the use of Google. Google can be an excellent tool to determine regional usage, also which of two usages is most common, and in what circumstances. Care needs to be taken when forming the queries, or the results may be deceptive. (read your results, don't just count)

    I also tend to agree that "dice" is not suitable in this case...
    By far, the most common usage of dice is gaming cube thingies.

    I am familiar with "dies" as a plural in other manufacturing industries.
  • DCstewieG - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link

    Dictionary.com agrees with you. I believe in this case 'die' falls under (1)

    die
    n. pl. dies or dice (ds)

    1. pl. dies - A device used for cutting out, forming, or stamping material, especially:
    a. An engraved metal piece used for impressing a design onto a softer metal, as in coining money.
    b. One of several component pieces that are fitted into a diestock to cut threads on screws or bolts.
    c. A part on a machine that punches shaped holes in, cuts, or forms sheet metal, cardboard, or other stock.
    d. A metal block containing small conical holes through which plastic, metal, or other ductile material is extruded or drawn.
    2. pl. dies Architecture. The dado of a pedestal, especially when cube-shaped.
    3. pl. dice
    a. A small cube marked on each side with from one to six dots, usually used in pairs in gambling and in various other games.
    b. dice (used with a sing. verb) A game of chance using dice.

    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=die">http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=die
  • creathir - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    The notebook manufactures are TERRIBLE about this. I remember the ultra thins were a big thing about... 5 years ago, then they disappeared. It is impossible to find a quality ultra thin notebook these days. I'll tell you, the Tablet PC has got to be one of the greatest ideas I have seen in a long, long time, yet so many manufactures SCREW IT UP. Such as, Gateway with their "first ever 14" tablet"... I do not want a 14" tablet; I want a 12" tablet that weighs less. Every other tablet manufacture creates these GASTLY machines that really have little to no style behind them. There is Toshiba, but it does not have a built in DVD-ROM. What use is that to anyone? If I am plopping $2200 down on a tablet, I want it to be able to at least entertain me slightly while riding on the airplane. Notebook manufactures are focused on the "portable desktop" market more than they are on the notebook market totally, and this I think, is going to bite them in the rear at some point. To me, I see the market working itself into a corner with little room to move. All it will take will be a solid notebook with speed and style that is lightweight, and everyone else will be at a complete disadvantage in the market.
    - Creathir
  • mlittl3 - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    And that "solid notebook with speed and style that is lightweight" might just be the notebooks that come out of Apple with Pentium M processors. There is a huge possibility that the marketing behind the portability and style of the iPod might translate directly into the type of notebook people want. Apple might have a boom in notebook sales similar to the iPod sales boom and just like the portable digital music player market, "everyone else will be at a complete disadvantage in the market." Apple sort of did this kind of marketing with the iMac by saying things like "From the makers of the iPod, the all new iMac." I guess they are going to do something similar with their Pentium M notebooks.

    By the way, great post Creathir!
  • creathir - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    That is very possible... though so far they are not much better...
    If I remember correctly, they were the first ones with a 17" screen....
    - Creathir
  • michael2k - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link

    They released the 17" at the same time as the 12", were they not?

    And when they did release the 17", didn't they still keep that thing under 7lbs?

    And prior to the release of the 17" Powerbook, did they not have the 12" iBook that later became the model for the 12" PowerBook?

    Apple has a pretty good record of making 'portable', if not ultraportable, laptops. We'll see what they can do with a Yonah :)
  • creathir - Thursday, November 17, 2005 - link

    But they certainly could hit it from the style point.
    - Creathir

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