Posted 10/01/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Benson Hong

Since our last Budget Badass update back in July, the hardware industry has made some dramatic turns as far as new technology goes. With the release of the energy-efficient Penryn core from Intel, we took a side step away from the Kentsfield core and took a swing at the Q9300. While the Q9300 sports a slightly smaller cache than the Q6600, we found the Penryn to perform better in our tests. With the extra leeway we had in the budget from the previous configuration, we also swapped out the Radeon 4870 for a beefier GTX 280 while keeping the final price tag under $1500. Now this, my friends, is what we would like to call a Budget Badass!

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32

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budget, hardware, build a pc, lean machine, budget badass, buyer's guide, price guide, parts guide

Posted 07/30/08 at 04:05:51 PM by Benson Hong

We thought maybe Jointech's $99 mini laptop would be the first sub $100 notebook to make it big in the market, but Gartner analysts say that the prices of mini-notebooks are unlikely to drop to that magical price range for at least another three years.  Analysts warn, though, that the focus of breaking the $100 barrier should be shifted to other issues related to mini-notebooks such as determining relevant hardware specifications and power requirements.

Annette Jump, research director at Gartner, believes that the declining prices of hardware along with the increased demand for the devices could potentially reduce prices by 10 to 15 percent in the next two to three years. Will this decline in prices be enough to break the $100 barrier? Jump believes that in order for mini-notebooks to be successful in the consumer and business realm, they should not be considered a computing device but rather a device to explore the Internet and a way for people to work, play, and communicate.

“We expect to see increased product innovation in the PC market during the next few years,” said Ms. Jump. “Mini-notebooks will create opportunities to reach many buyers across all regions, both in mature markets as additional devices, and in emerging markets as PCs.”

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notebook, laptop, budget, hardware, build a pc, mini-laptop, mini-notebook

Posted 07/28/08 at 07:02:40 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

In the PDF archive of the July 2008 issue, you can find:

• 12 DIY Hardware Hacks
• Budget Case Roundup
• Midrange GPU Deathmatch
• How To: Organize and Tag Your Videos
• Awesome Product Reviews, including the excellent Thermaltake Duorb
• Ask the Doctor
• Rig of the Month
• The Watchdog
• And a whole lot more!

Click the big giant cover image to the right to download the PDF archive today!

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5

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pc, soundproof, budget, hardware hacks, $100 cases, supercharge, media reader, thermaltake duorb

Posted 07/07/08 at 07:48:35 PM by Norman Chan

Back in our April 2008 issue, we showed you how to configure and build a $1,500 no-compromises PC. Our budget badass wasn’t just an affordable “lean machine,” it performed admirably in our system benchmarks, earning respectable scores in comparison to our desktop testbed. Now that it’s several months later, and we wanted to give you an update to our component recommendations. Not only have hardware prices dropped since we wrote the story, but new technologies and products have also emerged that give you more for your money. In fact, our no-compromises $1,500 PC now only costs $1,320, that’s including upgraded parts. By Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings!

Read on to find out how we configured our new Budget Badass.

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55

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budget, hardware, build a pc, lean machine, budget badass, buyer's guide, price guide, parts guide

Posted 07/03/08 at 04:58:33 PM by David Murphy

Selecting the perfect computer case is like scouting the grocery store for a bottle of wine. And as oenophiles of all knowledge levels and palates know, you can’t judge a bottle by its price. In that sense, we’re scooping from the bargain bin in this month’s mega-roundup of computer cases: Only chassis priced at $100 or less are eligible.

Just because a case is cheap doesn’t mean it’s poor. So before you plunk down a pile of cash on your next case, see how these sub-$100 boxes stack up against their pricier brethren.

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budget, hardware, cases, features, $100 cases

Posted 07/02/08 at 03:36:00 PM by David Murphy

We find ourselves wondering how a company like NZXT can do a better job of creating a budget version of Antec’s gamer line than Antec itself. That’s not to say the Three Hundred is a bad case; it just has little that’s special.

Hit the jump to discover what, if anything, the Three Hundred has to offer.

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6

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antec, budget, hardware, cases, reviews, build a pc, $100 cases, three hundred

Posted 07/02/08 at 02:30:39 PM by David Murphy

Does something about this case look familiar? That’s the first thing we said when pulling NZXT’s Tempest out of the box. Save for a few minor modifications to the chassis, this case is a carbon copy of Antec’s Nine Hundred chassis. It’s built like the Nine Hundred, performs like the Nine Hundred, and even glows like the Nine Hundred, thanks to its front- and side-panel blue LED fans.

And yeah, that's a good thing. Hit the jump for deets.

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budget, hardware, cases, nzxt, kick ass, reviews, build a pc, tempest, $100 cases

Posted 07/01/08 at 08:34:05 PM by David Murphy

Rosewill tackles the low, low end of the cheap case spectrum with its $65 R5604-TBK chassis. But save for a few minor oopsies, the case makes for a breezy installation of all your computer parts. There’s nothing fancy about the R5604-TBK, no lights or other arcane mechanical trappings. It’s just a no-frills, screwless enclosure—you get an interesting industrial-style locking mechanism for the side panel, but that’s its most daring attribute.

Hit the jump for the low-down on this small, simple, so-so case.

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budget, hardware, cases, reviews, build a pc, $100 cases, rosewill, r5604-tbk