In the last years, every time somebody asked my advice regarding a DVD writer, I leaned towards recommending Samsung or LG drives. Why? Unfortunately, Yamaha doesn't manufacture optical drives anymore, Plextors are usually too expensive, and they use parts that can be found in much cheaper drives, in most cases, Teac also seems to have disappeared from the market, while some other producers don't really live up to the expectation(I won't give any names). To help you in your quest for the best DVD writer you can get for a decent price, today we'll talk about the Samsung SH-S182D , Samsung's first 18X DVD writer, released almost 2 years ago.

Why such an old model? Well, the answer is simple - because it has been tested already by thousands of users, and the later models inherit most of its strong points. Now, since everyone seems to be looking at the features these days, although less than half are really useful to you during the daily use, here's what Samsung SH-S182D was gifted with, as described by its producer:

- Speed Adjustment Technology
Intelligent detection of media type. Error-free reading of all media types, increases life of drive.

- Double O.P.C. Technology
Provides reliable, zero-error recording.

- Tilt Actuator Compensation Technology
Improves recording capability on deformed media.

- Magic Speed
Enables flexibility of drive operation, low noise mode, high-speed mode.

- Buffer Under Run Free Technology
Prevents Buffer Under Run error, enabling high-speed writing of media.

- Weight Balance System Technology
Mechanically designed for minimal vibration and noise.

- Eco-Product
Minimal Usage of drive operation, low noise mode, high-speed mode.

- Firmware Live Update
Automatically upgrades the latest firmware version through Internet by continued support of newer media.

Maximum write speed for DVD+R and DVD-R media is 18X, but that depends on the discs you are using, of course. The (long!) list of supported disc types is this: DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, CD-Audio, Video-CD, Photo CD, CD-I(FMV), CD-Extra, CD-TEXT . Nothing out of ordinary, I guess, but it's good to know...

A little problem for those with new computers could be the fact that the Samsung SH-S182D is a IDE drive, so you will have to use those wide cables...or grab a special (and more expensive) rounded IDE cable, of course!

At last, another drawback for some users could be the lack of Lightscribe support. If you ask me, I labeled about 4-5 discs using Lightscribe in the last 2-3 years so, if you don't really need this feature, the Samsung SH-S182D could be a very good choice, especially since the prices are now extremely low, and if your older computer still misses a DVD writer...you know what to do!

We all know the "hardware wars" currently happening all over the world, and all over the Internet, because I am sure you have seen at least once a topic like "Intel versus AMD" or "ATI versus NVIDIA" on some forum that ended up being closed by moderators because people went all the way over the line. Why? Well, for a lot of computer users, hardware parts are more than tools. After using one, two, three, four products from the same manufacturer, and then having a wrong turn with another, most people end up worshipping the first one as the best there is. I won't get into details, because there's something you have to know today, regarding the evolution of the ATI versus NVIDIA war - NVIDIA has just been hit, and has been hit really hard!

Here's what happened in the last days - first, ATI announced the revival of the glorious All-in-Wonder series , and just like the release of the Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870 wasn't enough to give NVIDIA nightmares, some details regarding the upcoming HD 4870X2 also became public, and now NVIDIA has just been forced to drop prices once again. For the green monster, things are not pink at all these days. In fact, something that I couldn't even imagine some time ago also happened, when producers like Gainward announced their first video cards based on ATI GPUs, after years and years spent manufacturing only NVIDIA-based ones.

To top all the above, NVIDIA has just admitted that some of its notebook chips are failing at "higher than normal rates." The direct consequences of this fact are the fact that a lot of expenses will be required to cover replacing the laptops containing bad GPUs and chipsets, but the big problem is that today, NVIDIA's shares have fallen almost 22 percent, going as low as $14.08 a share. Ouch!

Having some money you don't know what to do with? My advice is to buy AMD stock, and as soon as possible. NVIDIA won't go to the bottom, I am sure of that, there are still too many fans that won't switch to ATI, but the stock market is nobody's fan. Now, it's the right time for AMD/ATI. Tomorrow...you never know!

The Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870 cards are changing history as we speak. Stocks are depleted as soon as the merchants are refreshing them, and producers that were only using NVIDIA GPUs for their cars are considering the ATI solutions now, too. In this new situation, NVIDIA overclocked the 9800 GTX and called it 9800 GTX+, to face the Radeon HD 4850, but what do you say if I mention a factory overclocked Radeon HD 4870?

"Sweeeeeeet," that's all I can say for now, but here's what Diamond has to say about its upcoming product, the overclocked ATI Radeon HD 4870, expected to be exclusively available, at least in its early days, from Smooth Creations :"The Diamond Radeon HD 4870 XOC Black Edition was clocked to kick some ass. We didn’t just want a fast card out in the market, we wanted the fastest card that could kick the living daylights and bust some performance records. We wanted a card that kicked the competitions teeth into the curb, and that’s exactly what our engineers accomplished."

Yes, I know the card in the image is a Diamond HD 3870, but since we don't have any pictures with this new 4870, that should be fine, for now. The new card is going to have a pretty long name, so be sure to remember to add the "Diamond “Unlocked” Radeon HD 4870 XOC Black Edition" to your shopping list. Why? Well, 800MHz core and 512MB GDDR5 memory operating at 4400MHz, up from 750MHz/3600MHz on reference design ATI Radeon HD 4870, how's that? Even more, you can push this card higher, as sources from Diamond Multimedia claim.


Mario Gastelum, director of product development and engineering at Diamond, said "The firmware was custom designed to enable end users to go beyond the normal over clocked speeds and allow them to push their cards for higher performance via the Catalyst Control Center. The GPU’s custom firmware has been unlocked to push cards to GPU settings of up to 950MHz and Memory of up 1200MHz."

Awesome! No pricing is available yet, but since this card may beat the 280 GTX, and come for a lower price tag than that, I am sure Diamond's "Black Beauty" will become the best HD 4870. Anyway, I have one demand for the PCB of the card - any color you want, guys, as long as it's black! Thank you! ;)

We all know that Intel Atom , the last CPU for ULCPCs from the Centrino series is a hit, and there were even concerns that Intel won't be able to keep up with the demand, soon after its release. Obviously, AMD couldn't simply sit back and watch Intel get all the cake, so another round in the AMD vs Intel Centrino match started. For a while, only Intel played the ball, but now it seems AMD has a surprise ready...

Before moving to the AMD vs Intel Centrino part, let me give you a hint - Gainward, notorious manufacturer of NVIDIA-based video cards, has just started to release ATI graphics cards. Is this cool, or what?

OK, now...it seems that some AMD partners are already testing a low power & low cost CPU targeting the same market as Intel Atom - the ultra low-cost personal computers one. The pictures available at this time are showing a 3.5-inch mainboard, and the rumor goes like this - the new K8 BGA processors will have a TDP of only 8W, and the chipset for it, the AMD M690E + SB600, about 10W-11W, so it should go head to head with Intel's Atom N-series CPU and Intel 945GC chipset, both having up to 26W.

For now, AMD didn't say anything, so it's pointless to get into additional details. We'll surely do that when the moment of truth comes, and the product is officially revealed.

AMD Fusion is not something new, but it has been around only in theory, so far. Fortunately, this doesn't seem to be one of those technologies that remains stuck in the rumor stage, but I can't bet on that until I see it. Anyway, the good part is that, according to the latest official reports, coming straight from AMD, its next generation notebook platform, codenamed "Shrike," will be the first Fusion product to be released, and the performance improvements expected may turn the tide...but I wouldn't bet on that, either, since there's plenty of time left until we'll see Shrike in action, and Intel won't sleep in this period, that's one sure thing!

The Shrike will be the first platform to have hybrid processors, combining a general purpose x86 dual-core processor with a new GPU featuring DirectX 10.1 support and UVD 2.0. To go with the flow, the Shrike platform will also have a built-in memory controller with support for dual channel DDR3 memory. The most interesting part is that PCI-Express for discrete graphics is also expected to be part of the platform, and I wonder how small will they manage to make those notebooks, considering the space needed for an additional video card, but since there's enough time to come up with slim cards, I have no worries regarding this.

AMD expects the new platform to boost CPU performance with 20%, and GPU performance with 35%, when compared to the existing Puma platform . Since notebooks have a higher market share in many areas than desktop computers, if AMD Fusion starts well with the Shrike, that would be a great breakthrough for the chipmaker, since currently almost all ultra-portables are powered by Intel platforms, exceptions being a few Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook models, and various small mobile computers sold only in Japan, using AMD Turion processors.

Since ATI HD4870 is killing the GeForce 280GTX already, I think AMD can have a comeback in the notebook platforms market, too. The Shrike looks great on paper, but there's a long road from theory to practice, and this wait is killing me...