 | By Michael Lasky Upgrading to the latest hot, new technology has always included an element of risk. But combining a trio of cutting-edge gadgets — Blu-ray, a USB 3.0 hard drive, and a streaming-media box — can transform your PC into the ultimate Windows Media Center machine, painlessly. |
When it’s worthwhile to be an early adopter
As we glide into 2011, some 20 years after Windows 3.1 changed the way we used the PC, personal-computing technology seems to be evolving at its usual frenetic pace. Moore’s Law is as alive as ever.
Oddly, PC users seem to be adopting new technology at an increasingly slower pace. That a huge number of Windows users remain content with Windows XP, despite two major OS introductions, is the quintessential example of this inertia.
While the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality is often prudent, it does prevent us from enjoying the perks of those next-gen products. Take DVD storage, for example. After a rough start, it’s now standard on nearly every modern PC with an optical drive. There’s almost no advantage to burning a 650MB CD when DVD offers 4.5GB to 9GB of storage.
Now Blu-ray discs, with a whopping 25-to-50GB capacity, are on the cusp of being mainstream. And unlike the original DVD debacle, the transition to Blu-ray looks pain-free. 2011 will see Blu-ray (along with SuperSpeed USB 3.0) become a standard component in new desktops and notebooks.
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