Thursday, May 8, 2008

Mac OS X Tiger vs. Windows Vista

Before Vista's January launch, eagle-eyed computer geeks who pored over every press release, statement, and image released by Microsoft in regards to the new operating system noticed a not-too-subtle resemblance between the new Vista OS and Apple's Mac OS X Tiger. Some said Microsoft shamelessly lifted key aspects of OS X Tiger; the more level-headed saw the similarities as a natural progression in the evolution of Windows. Regardless of where you stand on Vista's "originality," its changes and upgrades make it more intuitive and user-friendly than XP.

With the postponement of Mac OS X Leopard until October (Apple says the delay is due to putting the finishing touches on the iPhone), OS X Tiger will get a few more months of action out of it before Apple's new OS hoopla hits. So as we await Leopard's release, it must be asked: How does Vista compare to the venerable OS X Tiger? To find out, we pitted the Apple MacBook Black running OS X Tiger against the HP Pavilion dv6000 running Vista Home Premium.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

DreamWorks Animation and HP team up to create the DreamColor LCD, built around the latest LED backlights and offering 30-bit color.

The collaboration between computer-giant HP and movie juggernaut DreamWorks Animation highlights yet again how high-def is set to change the way we all work and play. At the NAB Show in Las Vegas on Monday, the two companies demonstrated a new technology called DreamColor, which HP plans to bring to select high-def LCD displays this summer.

DreamWorks Animation, best known for its Shrek series of films, expects that DreamColor-capable monitors will help improve the workflow of its animators in a big way. Built around the latest LED backlights and offering 30-bit color, these HD displays should not only look nice, but provide consistent and accurate color through the entire production process, ensuring that ogres stay the right shade of green and penguins the right shade of black and white.

"DreamColor displays, coupled with HP workstations, will provide accurate and predictable, easy color at one quarter of the cost," said Jim Zafarana, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for HP Workstations.

However, the average home theater may not appreciate this level of precision. Still, for consumers who desire a high-degree of color fidelity, HP plans to also sell DreamColor LCD displays directly to the end user.

There's no word yet on pricing and availability of these advanced sets.