Snow Leopard review

http://www.engadget.com

by Joshua Topolsky

Snow Leopard. Even the name seems to underpromise -- it's the first "big cat" OS X codename to reference the previous version of the OS, and the list of big-ticket new features is seemingly pretty short for a version-number jump. Maybe that's why Apple's priced the 10.6 upgrade disc at just $29 -- appearances and expectations matter, and there's simply not enough glitz on this kitty to warrant the usual $129.

But underneath the customary OS X fit and finish there's a lot of new plumbing at work here. The entire OS is now 64-bit, meaning apps can address massive amounts of RAM and other tasks go much faster. The Finder has been entirely re-written in Cocoa, which Mac fans have been clamoring for since 10.0. There's a new version of QuickTime, which affects media playback on almost every level of the system. And on top of all that, there's now Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and Address Book, making OS X finally play nice with corporate networks out of the box.

So you won't notice much new when you first restart into 10.6 -- apart from some minor visual tweaks here and there there's just not that much that stands out. But in a way that means the pressure's on even more: Apple took the unusual and somewhat daring step of slowing feature creep in a major OS to focus on speed, reliability, and stability, and if Snow Leopard doesn't deliver on those fronts, it's not worth $30... it's not worth anything. So did Apple pull it off? Read on to find out!

Installation

Interestingly enough, installation is one of the few parts of Snow Leopard that's dramatically different than previous versions of OS X. Unlike Microsoft's subtle nudges towards clean reinstallation of Windows 7, Apple's quite proud of the new 10.6 installer, which upgrades in place, quarantines incompatible apps and plugins in an "Incompatible Software" folder, and boots you right back up with little to no user effort. Seriously, you just stick in the disc, open the installer, enter your password and go -- that's it. You don't even have to reboot off the DVD. Of course, that made us a little uneasy, since we've always chosen Archive and Install to get a fresh OS, but you can't have cold feet here -- that option's been removed. We've been told it's now the default action behind the scenes, but the bottom line is that you have to trust the installer more than ever before -- and while we didn't have any major problems, it would be nice if we could force a new install of the OS without having to wipe a disk.

Installation itself took about 45 minutes on most of the machines we tried, although we did run into some snags once things were complete. We didn't have any problems with the more pristine MacBook Pros in our fleet, but one of our production machines is a cranky older iMac that's been in constant use for over two years without a system rebuild, and when it restarted the desktop pictures were all set to the defaults, the System Preferences app wouldn't launch from the Apple Menu, our MobileMe sync states were a little confused and Spotlight began reindexing all the external drives. Fixing these problems didn't take much, but if your machine is already acting up don't expect everything to go perfectly.

Other installation notes: We were promised 6GB of storage savings with 10.6, and Apple more than delivered -- we got anywhere from 10GB to a whopping 20GB back after installation. Rosetta is no longer installed by default, so if you're still rocking some legacy non-Universal apps you'll want to make sure and install it. Printer driver installation is much smarter, installing drivers only for those printers you've used in the past and printers that appear on your local network. We have no idea why Apple continues to insist on installing language translations by default, but they're much smaller now at 250MB.

Overall, installing Snow Leopard is just like installing any other major OS update: it works great, except when it doesn't. The process itself is fine (in fact, Apple has even built in some safeguards to let you pick up an install if your computer dies or is shut off half way through), but it's the little kinks you have to work out afterwards that can be tricky. If you haven't loaded up your system with hacks and tweaks chances are you'll be fine -- and if you're living on the edge, well, you're probably used to doing some extra work around upgrade time.

UI enhancements

Dock Expose

Previous OS X releases have brought major UI features like Expose and Dashboard with them, but there's nothing that major in Snow Leopard, although the various tweaks to the system are certainly appreciated. The biggest new feature is Dock Expose, which, as you'd expect, simply links Expose to the Dock. Holding down on an app's icon triggers Expose for that application's windows, and if you drag a file onto an app, you can then select which window you want to drop it into. It's definitely nice, but it's not earth-shattering. Here's a little video of it in action:

Stacks

We've never been huge users of the Stacks feature, but it's been tweaked and is much more usable in 10.6 -- as long as you're using grid view, which is now scrollable and offers the ability to drill down into folders just like a Finder window. All the other views are essentially the same -- and for whatever reason, dragging a file onto a stack icon doesn't open the stack, but instead opens a Finder window. While we're on the subject of folders in the dock, explain this nonsensical operation to us: command-clicking a stack icon doesn't open the folder (as you might expect), but instead pops open the enclosing folder. This counter-intuitive (and frankly frustrating) glitch has been around since Tiger -- and we have no idea why. Here's some video:

Finder file previews

We'll get to the big Finder changes shortly -- the Cocoa rewrite definitely improved things -- but the big UI tweak here is live file previews. That means you can watch a video, flip through a document, and generally peek at things without having to open an app or even hit the space bar for Quick Look. It's quite handy -- but again, not earth-shattering.

And... that's really it, as far as UI changes go. There's some other minor stuff, like better PDF text selection in Preview, new glass-look menus for the Dock, and alphabetical / per-app window organization choices in regular Expose when you press command-1 or command-2, but overall it's all extremely iterative and incremental -- welcome, to be sure, but not major. The new Finder, on the other hand, is both major and more than welcome.

Notable app changes

Finder

It's hard to explain how dramatically improved the Finder is now, because there's nothing externally different beyond those file previews and an icon-size slider in icon view. Suffice to say that the Cocoa rewrite has simply made things better: opening folders with thousands of items is instantaneous and scrolling is just as fast; network connections are snappier; and everything hums about with essentially zero lag. Sure, all the old Finder quibbles like inconsistent windows states and those damned .DS_Store files are still there, but trust us -- speed cures all ills. At least until we dump another couple thousand files into the system and slow things down again.

QuickTime X

Like the Finder -- and, really, all things with Snow Leopard -- QuickTime X is a set of major changes wrapped in seemingly-minor interface tweaks. Although the big change for users is the "dark" interface with a title bar and controller strip that disappear during playback, underneath QuickTime has been entirely rewritten with hooks into modern OS X components like Core Video, Core Animation, and Core Audio. That doesn't mean much if you're just playing back an MP3 or a single video, but remember that QuickTime is more than an app -- it's the entire media layer for OS X, so the Snow Leopard rebuild will have big consequences down the line.

That said, there are some notable changes with QuickTime Player: there's a new screen recording tool (we made all the videos in this post with it), you can record right off your built-in iSight, and there's a new iPhone 3GS-like "Trim" tool to cut your videos fast.

That glossy title might come at a steep price for some of us -- at least at first glance. QuickTime Player X has certainly added some welcome new options for most, but for QuickTime 7 Pro users, things get a little confusing. If you've already got Pro on your system and do a straight install, you'll end up with the standard new QuickTime -- which means a lot of what you're used to will be missing. Hell, there isn't even a preferences dialog -- so say goodbye to presenting movies on a different monitor, or choosing a default full screen setting. The changes also means that you can't do quick'n'dirty edits by copy-and-pasting anymore (a favorite of Engadget editors), and export options have been reduced to presets for iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, MobileMe, and YouTube.

On top of that, some QuickTime-dependent apps seem like they need a rewrite to work correctly -- we couldn't get our Turbo.264 HD stick to function, and other QuickTime programs we tried seemed similarly stressed. Oh, and those screen recordings? They're encoded with some combination of H.264 and AAC audio that didn't play nice with Viddler out of the box -- and YouTube's uploader refused to load under Snow Leopard (we had a number of server errors), so we ended up uploading all these screencasts from a Windows machine. That may not be the case for all, but it was for us.

This won't be too much of an issue for users who are sticking with the basic QuickTime functionality, but for those of us who've become accustomed to Pro, it may be a little shock. Interestingly, Apple let us know that you can actually re-install QuickTime 7 Pro from the Snow Leopard disc (and from your Utilities folder, oddly), but if you hop right into a standard upgrade, it's amazingly easy to miss (we did on multiple systems).

Safari 4

If you're thinking of upgrading to Snow Leopard on day one, chances are you're already running Safari 4, since it's been available since June. The big changes in 10.6 are (obviously) 64-bit support, which here translates into much faster Javascript performance, and a new browser plugin architecture that runs individual plugins as separate instances. That means if a plugin like Flash crashes it won't take the whole app down with it, but sadly, we weren't able to test it -- for maybe the first time ever, we couldn't crash a browser. Hopefully our good luck rubs off on you.

Exchange

By any measure, the most important new networking feature of Snow Leopard is built-in support for Microsoft Exchange in Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Since we're not heavy Exchange users, we won't go in-depth here -- our man Micheal Gartenberg has got you covered there -- but in our quick tests we found setup to be simple and the integration to be flawless. It's hard not to look at how well Snow Leopard integrates with Exchange and see exactly why Microsoft decided to kill Entourage and bring a proper version of Outlook to the Mac, but that's not happening for a long while -- until then, we think OS X users who need Exchange will be pretty happy.

Compatibility

Here's where it gets a little rough. Although Snow Leopard is ostensibly just a polish and repair job on Leopard, there've been enough changes under the hood so that plenty of things are likely to break -- or at least not play nice. As with the installation, if you're running a stock or close-to-stock system, you probably won't run into any problems, but if you've got a setup as tweaked as most of those in the Engadget labs, you're going to run into some issues.

The biggest compatibility-breaker is the demise of InputManager plugins in 64-bit apps, which means things like Unsanity's Application Enhancer framework and Safari plugins like 1Password and Glims are now broken (or at least not really playing nice). InputManager plugins have had a long and sordid history, with many claiming that they're unstable hacks built on what's essentially a security hole, but now that they're gone the only thing to worry about is how to replace all the utilities and applications that depend on them -- 1Password's developers are already beta-testing a 10.6-compatible update, but we have no idea how something like Chax will soldier on. If you've got a critical workflow that depends on an InputManager plugin -- and although that's always been a bad idea, we're sure some of you do -- then we'd advise holding off on the 10.6 upgrade until you work something out, since we saw some random freak-outs (like the one pictured) when we forced Safari into 32-bit mode to run 1Password.

We also noticed problems with old standbys like Growl, GrabUp and Skitch -- really clutch go-to applications that seemed to buckle under the 64-bit noise. Although we could start them in 32-bit mode, nothing seemed to work exactly right, and we're pretty sure we spotted Growl making off with a ton of free memory when we weren't looking. We also had trouble getting our Sprint Novatel U727 3G stick working, although our Verizon card was fine. Again, we're sure all of this is going to be updated, but if you're like us, the bugginess will prove maddening at times -- enough to make us consider waiting out the upgrade on some of our other machines.

There were some other head scratchers we saw on various systems, too. On a 17-inch unibody we were putting through the paces, the WiFi inexplicably has gone out and we have yet to get it working again. On a 15-inch, older generation MacBook Pro (3,1), Spotlight will only fetch search results in the dropdown -- results in a Finder window come up empty. More annoyingly, on two other, newer models we were testing with, Safari crashes out when booting into 32-bit mode -- meaning even Apple's workaround doesn't seem to... er, work.

That's the bad news, though. The good news is that almost all of our regular, non-plugin, non-third-party-framework, non-hack apps worked just fine. Office, Photoshop CS3 and CS4, Tweetie, Firefox 3.5, Ableton, Fluid -- you name it, it ran without a problem. Like we said, if you're running things close to stock you're going to be fine, but we tend to kit out our rigs with a ton of little hacks to really speed up our workflow, and that's the stuff that's broken in Snow Leopard. It's up to you to decide where on that line you fall before you commit to the upgrade.

Overall speed and stability

Compatibility with our various hackeriffic plugins aside, we found Snow Leopard to be just as stable and free from major hang-ups as Leopard. That cranky iMac we installed it on seemed to perk up a little, and while we don't think anything will ever make Firefox feel perfectly stable, we certainly didn't experience as many beachballs or other hangups while running 10.6. So yes, subjectively things seem fast and reliable, and the new Finder makes day-to-day usage seem positively zippy -- and the objective benchmarks tend to back that up.

As measured by XBench, Snow Leopard affects every Mac a little differently, but the basic outcome is the same: raw CPU performance goes up slightly, while the graphics numbers go down -- OpenGl performance in particular takes a big hit. We're not sure if this is due to our version of XBench not playing nicely with Snow Leopard or something else entirely, but we didn't notice any slowdowns while we actually worked -- or played a little casual CoD4. We're not deep into the benchmark scene, so we'd wait for some hardcore marks to hit before you race into fanboy battle with these numbers -- for now, just know that Snow Leopard certainly "feels" a little snappier than Leopard.

Wrap-up

Here's the thing about Snow Leopard, the single inescapable fact that hung over our heads as we ran our tests and took our screenshots and made our graphs: it's $30. $30! If you're a Leopard user you have virtually no reason to skip over 10.6, unless you've somehow built a mission-critical production workflow around an InputManager hack (in which case, well, have fun with 10.5 for the rest of your life). Sure, maybe wait a few weeks for things like Growl and MenuMeters to be updated, and if your livelihood depends on QuickTime you might want to hold off, but for everyone else the sheer amount of little tweaks and added functionality in 10.6 more than justifies skipping that last round of drinks at the bar -- hell, we're guessing Exchange support alone has made the sale for a lot of people. If you're still on Tiger, well, you'll have to decide whether or not you want to drop $130 on what's essentially a spit-shined Leopard, but if you do decide to spend the cash you'll find that the experience of using a Mac has changed dramatically for the better since you last upgraded.

Update: In the original version of the review we noted that QuickTime 7 Pro wasn't available for Snow Leopard. In fact, the software is available as a separate install on the disc itself and via the QuickTime 7 app in the Utilities folder.

Five Best Netbooks

By Jason Fitzpatrick

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If you're thinking about picking up an ultra-portable laptop, this week's Hive Five is a great spot to start your comparison shopping. These are the netbooks are those most loved by Lifehacker readers. Photo by nDevilTV.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite netbook with us. We've tallied the votes and we're back to share the top five netbooks. While every Hive Five covers things that are closely related, netbooks are known for being particularly close in description. If you're using this list as a spring board for a potential netbook purchase, we'd urge you to focus on the usability details when comparing different netbooks. Something as simple as a particular netbook having a 93% sized keyboard instead of an 80% sized keyboard can be the thing that makes up your entire relationship with your new netbook. The difference between 1.33 GHz and 1.6GHz processors, on the other hand, won't be as noticeable or aggravating as a weirdly placed shift key or a too-small trackpad. Without further ado, the top five netbooks:

Samsung NC10 ($399)

The Samsung NC10 is a stylish little netbook, with obvious thought put into little things like the layout of the LED indicators and power button. The keyboard is 93% the size of a standard laptop keyboard and has silver particles embedded into the keys to make them anti-bacterial. The touch pad has a dedicated section for scrolling, handy for a machine that will likely see a lot of web surfing. Hardware-wise, the NC10 sports a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, WiFi b/g, bluetooth, a 1.3MP webcam and weighs in at 2.8 pounds.

Dell Mini 10 ($349)

The Mini 10, thanks to the clout of being marketed and distributed by Dell, has proven to be a popular netbook. The base models sport 1.33GHz Intel Atom processors, 1 GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Wi-Fi b/g, a 1.3MP webcam, a 10.1" display, and weighs in at 2.6 pounds. If you'd like to boost the specs up to the level of some of the other netbooks on today's list, you'll pay a chain of premiums to up the processor, add a six-cell battery, and add in Wi-Fi Draft-N and Bluetooth. One thing to consider when choosing between 1GB or 2GB of RAM is that the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, making a future upgrade impossible. The Mini 10 has an HDMI port, but no VGA port, and can be upgraded to access to Verizon's EVDO network. Despite the drawback of having to pay a little extra to get features common on similar priced netbooks, if you're interested in making a hackintosh netbook, many people prefer the Dell Mini as an easy to use platform for installing OSX.

ASUS EEEPC 1000HE ($385)

When netbooks first appeared onto most peoples' radars, it was because of the earlier EEEPC models gaining surprising popularity several years ago. ASUS has continued to crank out rock-solid netbooks, building their reputation in large part to some of the longest battery lifes. While they claim 9.5 hours under ideal conditions, under real world conditions it's more like 6—still radically better than the 3 hours you can squeeze out of most netbooks. The 1000HE sports a 92% size keyboard and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 1.3MP webcam, 10.1" display, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth for connectivity, and weighs in at 3.2 pounds. Every ASUS netbook comes with 10GB of online storage, free for 24 months after purchase.

Acer Aspire One ($349)

The recently revamped Aspire One now sports a bigger screen and a six cell battery for around 5 hours of run time. If you're planning on using your netbook for video conferencing or any webcam-dependent task, consider that the Aspire only sports a 0.3 MP webcam, with no option to upgrade. Other specs are more standard: 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 10.1" display, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, WiFi b/g, SD/MMC card reader, and a weight of 2.95 pounds. The Aspire can be upgraded to access WiMAX and 3G networks.

MSI Wind ($329)

The MSI Wind is another heavyweight in the battery department. It comes standard with a six cell battery and lays claim to the same lengthy battery life the Asus 1000 series touts. The Wind has an edge-to-edge keyboard with well-spaced keys. While many people complain about how tightly packed the keys are on netbook keyboards, the Wind keyboard has keys that travel a little deeper and are just slightly further spaced than most netbook keyboards, which really helps alleviate the feeling that you're typing on a keyboard made for elves. The included Face Locker software allows you to program your face into the computer, so whenever you're not sitting in front of the computer, it will automatically lock itself and go into power saver mode. The MSI Wind sports a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 10.1" display, 1 GB RAM, 160 HHD, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth, 4-in-1 card reader, 1.3 MP webcam and weighs in at 3.2 pounds.

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As we emphasized above, if you're fired up to go netbook shopping after perusing the Hive Five (or reading the 127th article about them in the tech press), make sure to pay attention to the details. In a world of fairly standardized 1.6GHz processors and 1.3MP webcams, it's the little details—the spacing of the keys, layout of the USB ports—that really make the difference in how comfortable your mini-mini-computer will be in actual use. If you can't get to a brick and mortar store to actually play around with the machines, try searching Google for comparison reviews and images of your top few choices. Many gadget and laptop review sites have pictures of comparable laptops stack on top of each other, side by side, and so forth so you can see if that extra .5" really matter to you.

$8 DIY Aluminum Laptop Stand

By Adam Pash

We've always been keen on DIY laptop stands, but reader Aaron Kravitz—inspired by an attractive $50 stand—went above and beyond, creating one of the most attractive DIY laptop stand we've featured to date.

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To his credit, it's also a very inexpensive stand, especially considering its good looks. Aaron writes in:

Cardboard's great and all, but with $8 worth of metal, a hacksaw, and a few strips of leather, I built this thing. I got the idea from the $50mStand; seemed to me that making something that sexy shouldn't be all that hard. For the bend I used my hands and a sawhorse.

As far as specs go... nothing exacting, but here's what I found worked best.

Supports: 4 x 5.5", 1/8" by 1"
Bent Bar: 1 x 24", 3/32" by 3/4"

I chose aluminum because it looks nice, plus it's soft and easy to work with. I couldn't find any at home depot, but my local mom and pop hardware store had plenty; I got just what I needed for about $8. A quick look online and it looks like you can get it even cheaper.

The top supports are on 6.5" centers, the bottoms 6". This worked best stability-wise for a 15" MBP, but it works fine for anything bigger than a netbook. The supports only have one bolt apiece for looks, so I added a little bit of epoxy to each joint so things don't slide around. As for bending the bar, I really just eyeballed it. Unloaded the top is about parallel with the bottom, so it sags nicely with a laptop on top.

I added leather pads (found at a local craft store) attached with double-sided tape so my laptop won't get scratched; those who care about their desks might want 'em on the bottom too.

Naturally, this thing is pretty durable. I've been using it for over a year now and the only wear is on the leather pads.

The only DIY laptop stand we've seen up until now whose looks come close to Aaron's is the paper towel holder laptop stand, but Aaron's sweet DIY creation is another inexpensive and attractive alternative to the more expensive commercial options.

D-roll: Roll your laptop to be a backpack

Naresh Chauhan

Modern gadgets apart from being stylish are getting smaller day-by-day. And the latest creation to catch our eye is the ‘next gen laptop design’ by Hao Hua. Dubbed “D-roll” or “digital roll,” the new device works like a regular laptop, but rolls up to be a side bag or even a backpack for easy transportation. Designed like an artist’s tube, the D-roll Laptop features a roll up OLED screen and a slide out keyboard, together with a mouse and a detachable webcam that can be worn on your wrist when not attach to the system. The mouse and web camera can also be used as the end caps for the laptop case, while the straps double as ports to plug in your USB devices.

The Eee PC Gets a DVD Drive

By Mark Wilson

Last week it was a rumor. Today it's a fact. The Eee PC (model 1004DN) will be the first Eee with a Super-Multi optical disc drive.

The 10-inch netbook is ordinary in every other way, loaded with the typical N280 Atom chipset (that's the newer one), 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. And while it may look like a bit like a Mac, from what we can tell, the body is aluminum only around the keyboard, meaning that the underside is still plastic.

The 1004DN is 3.2 pounds (when loaded with a 6-hour, 6-cell battery) and 1.3 inches thick at its chunkiest point. It should begin shipping overseas in April, but there's no word on pricing at this time. [Asus via Electricpig]

Giz Explains: Everything You Need to Know About Hard Drives

By matt buchanan,

Some say that the end of the trusty hard drive is near, killed by SSD. But let's not be so quick to give up on a technology that stores a whole terabyte for $100.

It'll be years before solid-state flash-memory disks (in this case usually referred to as SSDs) let us cheaply bank the same amounts of data as trusty old hard disk drives for a reasonable price. So, you might as well know how they work, 'cause honestly, they'll have a place on or next to your desk holding all the crap that won't fit on daintier solid state drives—HD movies, huge pictures, music and who knows what else if you're Jason Chen.

What Goes on Inside
The reason hard drive is abbreviated as HDD is that it's really a hard disk drive. Inside you've got what's called a "platter," which is a magnetized recording surface that spins around really really fast, with a head that zooms across the disk to read and write data, think kinda like a record player, except that the head never actually touches the disk except, as you will see below, when bad things happen. [Image via Wikipedia]

Hard drives also come in a few different sizes, with 1.8", 2.5" and 3.5" being the most common, but they've been bigger (and smaller). 3.5" is for desktops, 2.5" is for notebooks (or obsessively quiet desktops), and 1.8" is what goes in classic iPods, MacBook Airs and other small portable devices.

The more platters a drive has, the more data it can hold, but most advances in storage have focused on increasing storage density. A really high-capacity drive can have four platters, while many 3.5" desktop models and some elite laptop 2.5" drives have three platters. Most laptop drives and all the 1.8" portable-device drives that we know of are limited to two platters.

The real catalyst for those 1TB and 1.5TB monster drives pooped out by Hitachi and Seagate wasn't platter stacking, though. It was perpendicular magnetic recording, which allows for triple storage density by storing data vertically (or perpendicularly) along the platter's recording layer, rather than spreading it out across it horizontally (parallel-ly?). However, data is more fragile and susceptible to erasure when stored vertically, hence the slow creep in precision allowing for greater storage densities and capacities.

What All Those Numbers and Letters Mean
You might've noticed hard drives are often labeled as IDE or SATA or PATA or PITA (kidding), with specs like 5400RPM or 7200RPM, plus they come in various sizes, like 1.8, 2.5 or 3.5-inches. Confusing, no? So here's all that crap means.

RPM means the same thing it does in cars, rotations revolutions per minute. In hard drives it's important because the faster the disk spins, the faster it can read and write data. 7200RPM is the standard for desktop drives, but performance models run at 10,000RPM or 15,000RPM. Notebook drives typically run at 5400RPM, because they're smaller, but recently, you can order them with 7200RPM to get more performance at the cost of battery life.

A higher RPM is the single greatest performance variable, since the faster it spins, the more data it can read or write within whatever time frame—it also makes access faster, since the head doesn't have to wait as long to pass over the right data once it's moved to the right spot. And a faster (lower) seek time, basically, refers to how long it takes for the drive to move its head where it needs to go to read or write data. High end drives have a seek time of just 2ms, while typical consumer drives are close to 9ms. Also, the higher the buffer—most typically 8, 16 or 32MB—the more data it can pre-cache, though Tom's Hardware found that you getdiminishing returns there.

How They Connect
The various kinds of drives essentially refers to how it interfaces or connects with your computer's motherboard. There are a bunch, but only a few worth knowing. Up until the last few years, the dominant standard was ATA, or Advanced Technology Attachment. Once SATA, or serial ATA, came onto the map (more on that in a sec), regular ATA picked up the alternative name parallel ATA.

Further revisions to the ATA spec allowed for hard drives with greater storage and faster transfer speeds, and you might see drives using the later spec revisions called "Ultra ATA" or something similar, and they can transfer data at 133MBps (which is slooooow). ATA drives are commonly called IDE (integrated drive electronics), but ATA is more precise. If you've ever messed around inside a computer, you'd recognize them because they connected to fatass ribbon cables that take up a lot of room. The third major interface, which you should know of, but not necessarily about, is SCSI (pronounced "scuzzy"), which was primarily used in the enterprise or high-end space when ATA was still king. The ATA/IDE interface also confused some with its master/slave assignations, which, as you'll see, is no longer a problem.

Okay, so the current hard drive standard in consumer PCs as of a few years ago is SATA, which is worlds better than ATA. For one, it's faster—first-gen devices ran at 1.5Gbps, but now they're up to 3Gbps, and are on the road to hitting 6Gbps. Also, their cables are way thinner, for better air flow and less tangly crap inside your case. And because they're smarter and don't depend on a lot of configuration, they're easy to work with, and are even hot-swappable. Newer external drives use a variant of SATA, eSATA (e for external) that essentially just moves the port to the outside of the computer case, delivering SATA speed for peripherals. Soon, eSATA will come in a bus-powered format, much like the smaller portable USB drives you see today.

Fast seek times are different than fast transfer times from a good interface—one pertains to how quickly the data can be located on the disk, and the other is how fast it can be sent over. To describe it in somewhat oversimplified terms, you can see how a slow interface on a fast seek drive would be better for a system that's constantly shifting tiny bits of data, where a fast interface on a relatively slower drive is good for moving really large files around.

Why They Die
Remember how I said the head usually never touches the drive's platter surface? When the head actually does touch the drive platter, it's what's called a head crash (check out the video above), and it means you're skee-rewed. Normally the head flies on a tiny pocket of air, but a single particle can make the head bounce on the disk, totally hosing the magnetic layer, especially at higher RPMs. And it just gets worse from there, because stuff scraped away by a head crash making it more likely that more head crashes will happen. More mundanely, the delicate mechanical parts eventually just wear out over time, which is typically measured by the the drive's rated mean time between failures. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do to predict when your drive is gonna go down in flames, unless you bought a drive from a series suffering manufacturing defects.

So what is really the single most important thing you should know about hard drives? Back your crap up, they may be awesome, but that doesn't mean they're without weakness.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about drives, personal storage or other hard things to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

Why You Should Stop Buying Your Computers Fully Loaded

By Sean Fallon,

Hard economic times require that we think more closely about how our money is spent. When it comes to computers, Prof. Dealzmodo has a philosophy: build it and values will come.

In other words, it makes more financial sense to buy the most basic model at a bargain-basement price and turn it into the top-notch computer of your dreams. It can save you hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars overall.

Laptops: I visited Dell.com and selected a mid-range laptop—in this case, the Studio 17. A model with 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive will run you $799— but what happens when you want to beef it up with some extra RAM and an even bigger hard drive? Just like that, the price shoots up to $1049 for the following configuration (if you stick with Dell hardware upgrades):

Dell Studio 17

• 2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 640GB (2x320) SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
• Integrated graphics

However, a quick trip to Newegg to pick up RAM and an additional 320GB drive brings the total down to $918 for the same computer. Basically, I just shaved $131 off the price by doing these simple upgrades myself.

Note: On any system, to make use of all 4GB of RAM, you need 64-bit Windows. You should get it at no extra charge when configuring a system, so be sure to ask up front. Buying an extra copy separately for will cost you a punitive $100.

Before you settle on a laptop, make sure that you check to see what can be upgraded and whether or not you can find easily exchangeable parts at a discount. And keep in mind that savings could be increased even further if you start with a refurbished model or a model that is not loaded with an OS.

Desktops: We all know that desktops, much less custom-built desktops, are not highly sought after these days. Still, the tremendous values here are hard to ignore. PC Gamers are well acquainted with the practice, but I see no reason (outside of the need for portability) why budget shoppers can't take advantage of the savings as well. Once again, I chose a mid-range product from Dell as the control—the Studio desktop.

Example #1 (A Studio configuration straight from the Dell website):

•2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7300
• 24" Widescreen HD LCD
• 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 1TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
• ATI Radeon HD 3650 256MB GPU
• 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
• Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
• Vista Home Premium

Total Cost: $1464

Example #2 (A Studio configuration with custom-installed parts):

Base model
• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7300
• No monitor
• 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
• Integrated graphics
• 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
• Integrated Audio
• Windows Vista Premium

Add custom parts:
• 4GB DDR2 SDRAM for $40
• 24" Asus Widescreen HD LCD for $300
• 1TB Seagate Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) for $110
• Radeon HD 3650 256MB GPU for $55
• Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio for $50

Total Cost of Base Model: $749
Upgrades: $555
Total Cost Overall: $1304

As with the laptop, by simply upgrading components myself I managed to save cash—in this case, $160—and I have an extra 500GB drive to boot.

Example #3 (Total custom build):

• Cooler Master Case with 460W Power Supply for $90
• 24" Asus Widescreen HD LCD for $300
• 1TB Seagate Serial ATA Hard Drive for $110
• Lite-On 20x DVD+/-RW Drive for $21
• Radeon HD 3650 256MB GPU for $55
• Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio for $50
• Basic keyboard for $5
• Basic mouse for $5
• 4GB DDR2 SDRAM for $42
• Motherboard for $45
• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 for $120
• Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit for $100

Total Cost of Build: $943

By building from scratch, I was able put together the same computer (in terms of performance) as the Dell Studio in the first example for $521 less—and the majority of the components are better. I also saved an extra $361 over the upgrade to the base Studio model in example #2.

It is also important to note that making upgrades on laptops and factory desktops can void your warranty. This may be something you want to check on before proceeding. You may also want to investigate local businesses that specialize in custom builds if you lack the skills necessary to make the upgrades yourself. Even though these services are an added expense, you are still likely to come out on top.

Conclusion: The bottom line is that saving money on a computer is more than just finding the best deal online. In this case, it's kind of like buying a fixer-upper. When you walk into the property the realtor tries to help you focus on what the home could be as opposed to what it currently is. Again, before you buy, make sure to check and see if doing some of the upgrades yourself can help you save some extra money. In order to maintain continuity and keep things simple, I stuck with Dell and Newegg here—but, obviously, branching out could lead to greater savings. You could also save a lot more if you are willing to make a sacrifice or two here and there—like going with AMD over Intel (although I doubt many Intel fans would be willing to make that jump no matter what the cost).

Prof. Dealzmodo is a regular section dedicated to helping budget-minded consumers learn how to shop smarter and get the best deals on their favorite gadgets. If you have any topics you would like to see covered, send your idea to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Professor Dealzmodo" in the subject line.