With the hubbub about the Consumer Electronics Show, everyone is looking forward to the announcement of something. Apple fans have already gotten their list of items to put on the list, or lust after, depending upon price and budget, but others have to wait a little longer. This is one of the great things about being a Mac fan, and a point of discussion for all others. MacWorld is first, so the rest wait.

The Windows fanatics are no doubt happy that Mr. Ballmer has spoken about the nearness of the actual release date of Windows 7. Others, like me, wonder if the time frame will slide, as it has for almost every other Microsoft presentation.  Still, the public availability of the Windows 7 beta is cause to celebrate, and I imagine that many will be burning up the wires to the servers starting at 12;01 AM Friday. If the beta looks good, with no major problems, the code will no doubt go gold quickly, as Microsoft needs those dollars to fill the coffers.

I am not that excited about Windows 7. Not that I won’t try it, as the early reports of faster processing than Windows XP made me immediately sit up and take notice.  On the contrary, it will be nice to have it, most likely in 64 bit form, but other things are more important right now.

I am one of the die hard fans of AMD. I root for them, and buy their products. It is usually because they are a greater value, but also because it pushes Intel to do better, and so a healthy, productive AMD is good for everyone.

With that in mind, you probably know how happy I am to see not one, but many reports on the internet about the latest items from the company from Sunnyvale. The dual core Phenoms were available from NewEgg just before Christmas, and all the reports are that the Black Edition is a monster! Now, the Phenom II is showing up on all the tech sites, and not only are speeds up, the word is that tweakers have taken the chips to far north of 4 GHz, with air cooling. A less known site (to me, anyway) was talking about 5.4 GHz with water cooling, and so this chip looks like a winner. Now I’ll probably wait for at least a few months, because, for one thing, my motherboard manufacturer doesn’t yet have a BIOS update for my motherboard. Also, with a bit of waiting is the possibility of higher speeds without overclocking – it is almost a given. So it becomes a waiting game, but one that the patient win. Perhaps in 6 months, we’ll be seeing 3.6 GHz parts, which would be a really nice gain over the 9950BE that I have in the motherboard. Also, perhaps by that time, DDR3 memory will have come down enough in price that I’ll consider getting the AM3 part, which won’t be released right away, and by that time, there just might be a killer motherboard – like when I bought the 3  Asus A7N8X-E motherboards I own, and the Athlon XP (Bartons) were the toast of the town. Good days! I’d love to see Asus come up with those features for a Phenom II board, with perhaps an even better Southbridge chip than the SB750.

I’m also looking forward to a very affordable color laser printer – not that they are that expensive now, but a printer where the consumables are, perhaps, 33% cheaper. That will be very nice. And the early reports are that it just might happen.

So what are you looking for? Will you jump on it right away or wait for it to shake out, and make sure there are absolutely no problems?

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There is an alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmuted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness.Pearl S. Buck