Dirty Mac brigade kimonos opened

OVER AT X-BIT LABS there's a thorough discussion of what exactly constitutes an Apple Mac these days. What's the difference between a Mac and a PC? It's just a software thang really, if you ask me. Still the X-Bitters offer a far wider-ranging perspective over here.

Meanwhile, the Hexers think the sub £1000 PC market is a psychological one. What psychobabble is this, one wonders? They go on to review a PC that actually costs £1175. Or do they reckon Evesham's Axis 64 3000 PC, which, they say, "has multi-talented abilities as a games machine, simple video capture and editing box and multimedia TV hub," is an ideal business purchase? There's more such bunkum here.

Over at Tweakfactor there's a summary of the Half-Life 2 situation which, as you know, has some ATi board makers supplying vouchers for the non-existent game and others leaving them out. "There are few things worse than being misled as a consumer and it leaves a bad taste in every" sucker's "mouth," they reckon, over here.

Dontcha just love the way hardware sites make you skip through pages and pages of gumpf in order to see if there's actually any useful information on offer. Take this "review" of the stupidly huge Aerocool DP-102 Heatsink from some Grunting Texans. There's a page on how they opened the box, a picture a dog and, eventually, some conclusions. You may be surprised to learn that this heatsink is quiet. It's also "difficult to determine fit". Hmm. The fool reviewer said he mainly wanted it for its looks. Can you imagine living in Texas?

Dan lives in Oz. Another big place with nothing in it. Though I guess they did at least export their Kylie. Anyhow, he's just got round to reviewing "one of those Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Games joystick gadgets", which he seems to have enjoyed. There's also a pic of the man himself, which is as good a reason to stay away as I can think of.

This week I met a man who'd bought a Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. He doesn't play games, but his supplier told him it'd be future proof: "Good for 3-4 years". He bought it, hook line and sinker. Of course some people have more money than sense. If you've some money Sharky's may provide some sense. Their Gaming PC Buyer's Guide for January starts here. At least they have the good sense to avoid the Expensive Edition.

There's a German Blick at Shuttle 's XPC SN85G4 over here. Today, I can even be bothered to Babelfish it for you. Not that it's much better than the original, but at least it's here.

Found a use for Bluetooth yet? Here's Hardware Pacers look at the Logitech Cordless Desktop MX for Bluetooth. Allows you to type from over 30 foot away. Coo!

Oh. And here's Booble. Nuff said, I reckon.

Links, hints, tips, suggestions and pix of Kyle Bennett naked to the usual addresses, please. µ