The Legit Reviews Best of 2009 Hardware Awards

Legit Editorial Reviews

Manufacturer:	Various
Product:	Best PC Hardware of 2009
Date:	Wed, Dec 23, 2009 - 08:00 AM
Written By:	Nathan Kirsch -
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Netbook, Disappointment and Final Thoughts

Best Netbook of 2009:

Winner: ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Seashell - $349.81
Runner Up: Dell Inspiron Mini 10v - $299.00

When the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA came out this summer it quickly de-throned the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE as the most sold netbook and for good reason. The stylish 1005HA came with a very long battery life (10.5 hours at idle), a 92% scaled keyboard, a 10.1-inch LED display and launched for under $400! These features meant that it was hard to say no to this netbook and when we reviewed the 1005HA, we also found it to be a solid performer thanks to the Intel Atom N280 processor inside.

In almost all tests, the 1005HA performed slightly faster than its 1000HE predecessor. Both feature an Intel N280 Atom processor that runs 60MHz faster than the other netbooks with the N270 processor. In the end you got a solid cost efficient netbook in your hands that lasted over 10 hours on a single charge! That is what netbooks are all about.

Best Disappointment of 2009:

Winner: Intel Cancels Delays Larrabbee Consumer Graphics Card
Runner Up: NVIDIA Shows off Fake Fermi and Delayed Launch till 2010

Intel has been working on the Larrabee graphics chip for some time and has been talking about it publicly since 2006. They used a Larrabee graphics card for a public demonstration in September 2009 at the Intel Developer Forum and it appeared that the card was still on track for being launched at some point down the road. Then on December 4th the PR team at Intel said that Larrabee has been delayed for the time being. This might have come as a shock to many PC enthusiasts, but for insiders it was a long time coming. NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang poked fun of Larrabee back in May of 2008 and called it nothing more than a "PowerPoint slide" and claimed that Intel would "love to slip it another four years and leave a cloud over me". It looks like Jen-Hsun Huang's worst nightmare came true as Intel didn't cancel the program.

The official reason for the strategic reset was attributed to delays in hardware and software development. Intel stated that it will announce further updates to the Larrabee project in 2010.

Looking Ahead to 2010:

What does the coming year hold for us all? The year 2010 will be the year for 3D. With the Blu-Ray 3D standard being finalized it finally looks like 3D technology will make a push to become mainstream. NVIDIA will finally get their Fermi based GF100 video card series launched, which means they will finally have some DirectX 11 graphics cards in the market. Enthusiasts with large budgets will enjoy the first six-core desktop processors. Intel's upcoming 32nm 'Gulftown' six-core processors will bring a drop in performance boost for those that already own Intel X58 Express powered motherboards. AMD will also be bringing six-core processors to market with the upcoming release of 'Thuban' based parts, but you'll need a new platform since the socket has changed. With memory densities and yields getting better you can expect to see 12GB and 24GB memory kits become more popular with 12GB becoming standard on high-end performance systems. The same goes for storage as SSDs will see prices continue to decrease while their capacities increase. We've heard rumors that Intel will have some 320GB SSD's coming out soon, which will finally silence those that say 80GB or 160GB just isn't enough storage space. When it comes to mobile internet devices (MIDs) you'll see a ton of advancements as we will be seeing the introduction of Intel Atom 'Pine Trail' platforms, NVIDIA Tegra 2 and NVIDIA Ion 2 platforms. This means that the mobile market is about to get a whole lot more interesting. Sure, we know the details on some other goodies coming out of the wood work for 2010, but what fun would it be to spoil all the surprises?

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