MaximumPC 2012 11

MaximumPC 2012 11, MaximumPC

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//-->IS IT TIME TOLEARN LINUX?How to getstarted with the“other” OSPG. 36GTX 660 TiBATTLEThree cards gohead-to-head-to-headPG. 78STEALTH MACHINESESPIONAGEWhat’s this PC’stactical advantage?PG. 76MINIMUM BS • NOVEMBER 2012 •www.maximumpc.comWINDOWSreview reveals thegood, the bad, andthe bafflingits advantagesover Windows 7around) the newPC OPTIMIZERS TESTEDDo tune-up utilities really boostperformance?PG. 50IS HERE8SShould youupgrade orupleave wellleeenoughennaloalone?where we put stuffIS IT TIME TOLEARN LINUX?How to getstarted with the“other” OSPG. 36GTX 660 TiBATTLEThree cards gohead-to-head-to-headPG. 78STEALTH MACHINESESPIONAGEWhat’s this PC’stactical advantage?PG. 76MINIMUM BS • NOVEMBER 2012 •www.maximumpc.comWINDOWSreview reveals thegood, the bad, andthe bafflingits advantagesover Windows 7around) the newPC OPTIMIZERS TESTEDDo tune-up utilities really boostperformance?PG. 50IS HERE8SShould youupupgrade orleeleave wellennenoughaloalone?NOVEMBER 2012inside8table of contentsQUICKSTARTNEWSGame developers take Win 8 totask; Android and iOS dominatesmartphone market; Chromeupdate runs Flash inside sandbox.FEATURES2214THE LISTSix of the best sites formeasuring your fitness.16HEAD TO HEADGoogle Nexus 7 vs. Apple iPad.R&D58AUTOPSYMapMyRideDeconstructing the AsusZenbook UX32VD is a highlymeditative experience.61HOW TOCreate stunning animationsfrom video clips; clean up yourhard drive with DrivePurge.68BUILD ITUse the old hardware you havelying around to construct ahighly moddable FreeNAS box.22WINDOWS 8: THEFULL REVIEWYes, Win 8 is finally upon us, inall its tiled glory. But there arealso worthwhile improve-ments. Should you upgrade?36DISCOVERLINUXReady to graduate to poweruser status? We'll explain thealternative OS and show youhow to try it for yourself.50OPTIMIZERS PUTTO THE TESTWe test six of the most popularPC-tuning utilities to find outwhich, if any, really enhanceperformance.LETTERS1892DOCTORCOMMENTSIN THE LAB76STEALTH MACHINESESPIONAGE78MSI GTX 660 TIPOWER EDITION84GIGABYTEZ77X-UP4 TH86OWC MERCURYACCELSIOR 480GBmaximumpc.comNOV 2012MAXIMUMPC5MORE+a thing or two about a thing or twoeditorialMAXIMUMPCARTArt Director:Richard KoscherContributing Photographer:Mark MadeoEDITORIALEditor-in-Chief:Katherine StevensonDeputy Editor:Gordon Mah UngSenior Editor:Nathan EdwardsEditor:Josh NoremContributing Editor:Alex CastleContributing Writers:Michael Brown, Gavin Farrington, Tom Halfhill,Paul Lilly, Thomas McDonald, Graham Morrison, David Murphy, QuinnNorton, Jonathan Roberts, Mark Wilson, Henry WinchesterCopy Editor:Catherine HunterPodcast Producer:Andy BaumanEditor Emeritus:Andrew SanchezGordonMah UngBUSINESSVice President, Consumer Media:Kelley Corten, kcorten@futureus.comVice President, Sales & Business Development:Nate Hunt,nhunt@futureus.comNational Sales Director:Anthony Danzi, adanzi@futureus.comAssociate National Sales Director:Isaac Ugay, iugay@futureus.comRegional Sales Manager:Christina Grushkin, cgrushkin@futureus.comAccount Executive:Austin Park, apark@futureus.comAdvertising Coordinator:Heidi Hapin, hhapin@futureus.comMarketing & Sales Development Director:Rhoda BuenoeCommerce & Fulfillment Director:Lisa RadlerConsumer Marketing Manager:Jong LeeNewsstand Director:Bill SheweyPRODUCTIONProduction Director:Michael HollisterProduction Manager:Larry BrisenoProduction Coordinator:Jose UrrutiaSenior Print Order Coordinator:Jennifer LimFUTURE US, INC.4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080Tel: 650-872-1642, www.futureus.comChief Operating Officer:Rachelle ConsidineVice President & Chief Financial Officer:John SuttonVice President, Internet & Mobile Products:Mark KramerGeneral Counsel:Anne OrtelSUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICEMaximum PC Customer Care,P.O. Box 5159, Harlan, IA 51593-0659Website: www.maximumpc.com/customerserviceTel: 800-274-3421Email: MAXcustserv@cdsfulfillment.comBACK ISSUESWebsite: www.maximumpc.com/shopTel: 800-865-7240REPRINTSFuture US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400,South San Francisco, CA 94080Website: www.futureus.comTel: 650-872-1642, Fax 650-872-2207THE OS WEDESERVE, NOT THEOS WE NEEDI’VE LIVEDFuture produces carefully targeted maga-zines, websites and events for people with apassion. We publish more than 180 maga-zines, websites and events and we exportor license our publications to 90 countriesacross the world.Future plc is a publiccompany quoted on theLondon Stock Exchange.www.futureplc.comNon-executive Chairman:Peter AllenChief Executive:Mark WoodGroup Finance Director:Graham HardingTel +44 (0)20 7042 4000 (London)Tel +44 (0)1225 442244 (Bath)©2012 Future US, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this magazinemay be used or reproduced without the written permission of FutureUS, Inc. (owner). All information provided is, as far as Future (owner)is aware, based on information correct at the time of press. Readersare advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with re-gard to products/services referred to in this magazine. We welcomereader submissions, but cannot promise that they will be publishedor returned to you. By submitting materials to us you agree to giveFuture the royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive right to publish andreuse your submission in any form in any and all media and to useyour name and other information in connection with the submission.through Windows MillenniumEdition and Windows Vista—two of themost despised Microsoft operating sys-tems in history.ME was infamous for its instabil-ity, crashing, and suckage, while Vistastunk up the joint like a pot of old broc-coli water left on the stove overnight.As much as people didn’t like ME andVista, the bile over Windows 8 hasreached a pitch unlike any I recall fromthose earlier lemons.People don’t just dislike Windows 8,they truly seem to despise it, and it’snot even out. We did an informal, unsci-entific poll asking Maximum PC Face-bookians if they planned to upgrade toWindows 8. The result was an over-whelming NO!People are so amped up to bash onMicrosoft that even the company’s newlogo to sync with the new Windows 8“Metro” look was batted around likea whiffl e ball by just about everyone.While it’s always fashionable in tech tobash Microsoft, the vitriol was way overthe top with some suggesting that theearlier logos had attitude and swag-ger and suggested something akin to“world domination,” while the new oneis nothing but a bland, boring fail. Re-ally? A logo? Aren’t we reading a littletoo much into a typeface?The truth is, Windows 8 is not thatbad. It’s not Vista 2.0 by a long shot andit’s certainly not Windows MillenniumEdition. The performance is good, it’sstable, and there are some legitimatelynice fl ourishes to the OS such as thenifty file-copy interface. As I said lastmonth, even Metro (I refuse to callit “Windows 8 style”) can be a joy touse—if you have a touchscreen and runmulti-monitors.Would I upgrade to it? On one ma-chine, which I plan to run with a touch-screen, yes. On all? Probably not. I sim-ply don’t see enough merit at this pointto upgrade all of my laptops and PCs toWindows 8, what with Windows 7 beingsuch a solidly good OS. Would I put it onmy wife’s machine? Perhaps. The abili-ty to restore Windows 8 to day-one per-formance without doing a complete re-install could be pretty handy and thosefast boot times are attractive, too.My point in all this is that I wouldadvise you not to jump on the Windows8-bashing bandwagon. Dislike the op-erating system for things that trulydon’t work for you, such as the jarringtransition between Metro and desk-top—hell, I even miss the transpar-encies of Windows 7—but don’t startbashing just because you want bash it.Gordon Mah Ung is Maximum PC’sdeputy editor, senior hardware expert,and all-around muckraker.↘submit your questions to:comments@maximumpc.commaximumpc.comNOV 2012MAXIMUMPC7quickstartthe beginning of the magazine, where the articles are smallGame Developers Up inArms over Windows 8Microsoft finds itself under fire from software developers who fearWindows 8’s walled-garden approach to contentBY THE TIMEyou read this,Windows 8 may have alreadyshipped to the general public,and if not, it will soon (Octo-ber 26, 2012 is the big day).Either way, Microsoft’s next-generation operating systemrepresents the biggest changeto the Windows platform inmore than two decades, so itshouldn’t come as a shock tothe system that the OS sparkedcontroversy months before itsrelease. At the heart of thiscontroversy is Windows 8’stile-based style and WindowsStore integration.Gabe Newell, co-founder ofValve and a former Microsoftemployee of 13 years, struckan apparent chord with gamedevelopers when he calledWindows 8 “a catastrophe foreveryone in the PC space.”Newell’s fear is based on theperception that Microsoft ap-pears to be taking a so-called“walled garden” approach toWindows 8, whereby it willeventually shift to a closed eco-system where games and appswould have to be approved anddistributed by Microsoft. If andwhen that happens, Newellpredicts a mass exodus fromthe Windows universe.“I think that we’re going tolose some of the top-tier PCOEMs,” Newell stated in an in-terview with Ed Fries, formerVP of publishing at MicrosoftGame Studios. “They’ll exit theEnd users have been critical of Windows 8’s funky new interface,but for some game developers, the real concern is the temptationfor Microsoft to close down the platform.market. I think margins are go-ing to be destroyed for a bunchof people.”Newell followed up his com-ments in an episode of SpikeTV’sGTTVshow by saying theWindows 8 interface will proveso frustrating, users “will basi-cally rage quit computing afterthey use it.” Whether concernedabout the UI or ecosystem, heisn’t the only game developerwary of Windows 8. Rob Pardo,executive VP of Game Designat Blizzard, backed Newell’snegative assessment in a Twit-ter post, adding that the poten-tial situation is “not awesome”for his company, either, whileStardock CEO Brad Wardelltold website GamesIndustryInternational that Microsoftis employing a “wrongheadedstrategy” with Windows 8.Those aren’t exactly glowingendorsements from a segment(PC gaming) that’s walkedhand-in-hand with computerssince the beginning of time.Not all developers shareNewell’s concern, even ifmost are now afraid to weighin. We reached out to a num-ber of key players in the gam-ing community—the majorityof which were unwilling to goon record—and Scott Miller,founder of Apogee Software(3D Realms), told us he doesn’tsee the big deal if Microsofttakes an Apple-like approachto Windows 8.“I can’t see Microsoft beingso stupid as to prevent Steam-like software on their system,”Miller toldMaximum PC.“Seri-ously, that would truly be crazystupid if Microsoft blockedSteam, or tried to charge Valvefor having Steam on Windows8 PCs. And the customer out-rage would be overwhelmingagainst Microsoft. So I reallysee this as a lot of worry overnothing.”That’s not to say Newell isfearmongering. Brian Blau,research director of ConsumerTechnology and Markets forGartner, agrees that Newell“has a right to be upset, as hisbusiness is fundamentally onthe PC and anything that willrestrict Valve’s ability on thatplatform can’t be good for Valveor gamers.” At the same time,Blau tells us Newell’s argu-ment “is a bit hollow,” notingthere are plenty of opportuni-ties even in a walled-gardenecosystem. “Apple controlsthe App Store and does haverules in place… but with morethan 175,000 developers and650,000 apps, it’s hard to seehow innovation is being stifledon iOS.”Microsoft refused to broachthe subject with us, choosinginstead to let Windows 8 speakfor itself. Let’s hope we likewhat it tells us.–Paul Lilly8MAXIMUMPCNOV 2012maximumpc.comA Keyboard for Clean FreaksIt has long been known that your keyboard has more germs than a toilet—by a factor of60. So what do you do about it? If you had Logitech’s new K310, you’d just dunk your plankin a sink full of suds and wash away all potential contaminants.The new K310, the latest in Logitech’s washable series, will withstand submersion inup to 11 inches of water. If you have really stubborn, caked-on hot chocolate stains, youcan leave it in the water for up to 24 hours without harming the K310’s functionality.The K310 is so ready for clean-ing duty that Logitech even at-tached a small brush so you canwhisk away Doritos and Sabor deSoledad crumbs.What about the old trick ofputting a keyboard in the dish-washer? Interestingly, Logitechdoesn’t recommend running theK310 through the wash cycle.It’s likely the heat that’s at is-sue—the K310 is only rated forwater at up to 77 degrees Fahr-enheit.–GUTomHalfhillFastForwardAMD’S JAGUARLEAPS BOBCATCAUGHT FLAT-FOOTEDAndroid, iOS Conquer SmartphoneMarketIf you have a smartphone running an operating system other than Android orIOS, you are in an ever-shrinking minority. According to intelligence firm IDC,Google and Apple now control over 85 percent of the smartphone OS market,with Android taking the greatest share of that pie with over 68 percent, thankslargely to Apple’s favorite courtroom punching bag, Samsung. The Korean com-pany is responsible for a staggering 44 percent of all Android phones sold, whichis more than its next seven competitors combined. Windows mobile phones ac-count for a paltry 3.5 percent market share as of Q2 2012.–JNMicrosoft Bans Nudes from SkyDriveIn an attempt to keep its SkyDrive cloud storage service as lily white as the vaporouspuffs it’s named after, Microsoft is trying to keep users from uploading nude contentby outlawing the practice in its Terms of Service. Not only are nude pictures a no-no,but drawings and partially-nude photos are also frowned upon, making SkyDrive thestrictest cloud service in existence. We’re no experts, but if you do need to uploadporn, try one of its competitors: Box, Dropbox, and SugarSync let you upload anythingyou want, as long as you’re not breaking the law.–JNin the race for lower-power processors, AMD is running hardto catch up. Although desktop and serverprocessors remain important, the worldis clearly moving toward lightweight note-books, tablets, and smartphones. The Bob-cat core was AMD’s first step, and the newJaguar core is a big improvement.Jaguar enables quad-core chip designs,whereas Bobcat was limited to dual cores.Doubling the number of CPU cores mayseem contrary to the goal of reducing powerconsumption, but AMD faces the same di-lemma as all chip vendors—users wantmore performance in addition to longer bat-tery life. The top smartphone processorsalready have four cores.All Jaguar cores will now share a unified L2cache of 2MB. In contrast, each Bobcat corehad its own L2 cache (512KB). When a Jaguarcore slumbers to save power, the remainingcores have more cache to share, partly com-pensating for the lost performance.New instruction-set extensions catch upwith Intel’s: SSE 4.1 and 4.2, first-generationAdvanced Vector eXtensions (AVX1), AEScrypto instructions, and other goodies. In-tel will introduce AVX2 next year, so morechanges are coming, but AMD isn’t far be-hind. Jaguar also improves virtualizationand expands memory addressing from Bob-cat’s 36 bits (64GB) to 40 bits (1TB), suggest-ing a play for low-power servers.To boost performance, the FPU widthdoubles to 128 bits and the ALU pipelineadds one stage (for 17 total). Fabricationmoves to 28nm technology, a leap ahead ofBobcat’s 40nm. Consequently, Jaguar is 36percent smaller than Bobcat, despite its ad-ditions. Also, Jaguar is even more synthe-sizable, giving AMD more freedom to shiftproduction to different fabs and fabricationprocesses.Intel’s Atom still consumes less powerand offers multithreading. Plus, a new Atomcore is coming next year. Nevertheless, Jag-uar keeps AMD in the race for lower power.Tom Halfhill was formerly a senioreditor forBytemagazine and is nowan analyst forMicroprocessor Report.maximumpc.comNOV 2012MAXIMUMPC9 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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