The TR Podcast 55: Phantom Menace II, the Christmas '09 system guide, and a pair of pairs
Plus GPU availability, Microsoft vs. Steam, and giving computer buying advice
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Date: December 6, 2009 Time: 1:10:45 Hosted by Jordan Drake Co-Hosts: Scott Wasson, Cyril Kowaliski, Geoff Gasior Download: MP3 (48.7MB) | M4A (66.5MB) Subscribe: RSS | iTunes |
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Listen now: |
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Sponsored by MSI. Be sure to check out our review of the MSI P55-GD65 motherboard, which earned TR's Recommended award. |
Show notes
The fall movie season is well under way, and Scott starts this episode by asking the panel whether $500-million megafilm Avatar will be worth the cost of a ticket and popcorn. Jordan and Cyril suggest James Cameron will score another hit, while Scott and Geoff are dubious and draw parallels with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1998—a lot of hype and a big letdown. Scott goes on to relate the woes of giving tech buying advice to friends and family.
Moving on, it's time for another TR system guide, and our Christmas '09 edition is rife with compromises to combat the RAM price hikes and GPU shortages. We talk about the possibility of GPU scarcity continuing well into 2010, as well. Also in this episode: Microsoft is trying to combat Steam, we pit two 2TB hard drives against each other, and choosing between Dell and Asus for a 14" notebook turns out to be somewhat complicated.
Send in listener mail, and we'll answer on the podcast. - jdrake@techreport.com
Tech discussion:
Will James Cameron's Avatar be any good? (0:02:06)- Trailer
The joys of giving computer buying advice (0:08:16)- Read more
TR's Christmas 2009 system guide (0:14:30)- Read more
40-nm yield problems could drag into next year (0:39:28)- Read more
Microsoft's Games on Demand comes to the PC on December 15 (0:45:04)- Read more
Two 2TB hard drives go head to head (0:47:45)- Barracuda XT - WD Caviar Black
14" notebook showdown (0:58:03)- Dell Studio 14z - Asus UL80Vt
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49 comments — Last by ieya at 6:19 AM on 12/21/09
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