Novel Technology Part 2

        It's been almost three years since I did a piece about hardware that novel writers should focus on (Click HERE to read original post). However, in the past year the entire industry has changed to the point it's exciting instead of the lull we had for the last six years. I'm mostly updating the two areas where things have changed the most: CPU's and storage drives. Far as printers, keyboards, and monitors, everything is the same as that old post.

The first major change to CPU's is AMD is now competing again with Intel. AMD and Intel in very,very basic terms are like Ford and Chevy in the processing world. The world's computers in the last 15 years will be either running an AMD or Intel chip. Even Macs are running Intels now.

       Without going into very boring details, AMD was not offering the same or close performance as Intel for almost 6 years. So, for six years, Intel would launch the equivalent of a new car with ONE extra horsepower every year during this period. In other words, every new launch was as exciting as decaf coffee.

However, March of this year, AMD took a sledgehammer to Intel, and woke up the entire industry. The reason this is great is when AMD and Intel fight, we get newer hardware worth the wait. Now, they're launching systems with, sticking to the car analogy here, 50 to 100 more horsepower versus 1 horsepower. It's at the point where waiting is worth it.

       The other unique thing is multi-core / thread CPU's are becoming the normal these days. You will see cores and threads. Here's a quick summary of what core and thread mean:

- Core – the physical processing part. A quad-core for example means there’s four physical processors i.e. it’s like a system having four Pentium 4’s inside it.

- Thread – The splitting of a CPU’s power virtually. Not all tasks need the core’s full power, so it will divide itself in light loads such as what I’m doing now: playing music and running Word.

       The reason for this information is because more core / more thread CPU's are becoming very affordable. There are 6-core / 12 thread CPU's are under $200. About a year ago, they would cost $400 or more. The more cores / threads in a system, the more programs you can run at once without lag. I don't know about everyone else,but when I'm writing I will have music playing, an Excel file, a Word file, few Notepad files, and a web browser open all at the same time. If I tried to do this on a single core system (think a 2006 Pentium 4), I wouldn't be able to run them all at once without the system freezing. I'm currently one a quad-core, so there's no noticeable lag. Again, more CPU's / threads, the more stuff you could run at once.

       There is where I explain why all this matters when it comes to writing. For the first time in years, we have two major choices again, and with the new stuff coming out, it's almost at the point we're were back to "wait till this comes out" mode. Again, last five years, the market was nothing more than a new model number, and no juge difference in performance. There is so much new technology hitting the shelves within the next few months in both desktops and laptops, I'm al,pst afraid to suggest a system unless it's needed now.

       The biggest two things that are coming out for desktops are motherboards for Intel's new line CPU's that are finally an improvement versus last years models, plus AMD is going to launch another series of processors. As a writer, I'm waiting to even look at a new system to replace my 3 year old system till they both launch. The Intel motherboards will make their new $120 quad-core CPU more affordable and attractive, and the AMD's won't require additional hardware to run your monitor. Again, when these do come out, a new writing system will be more affordable and actually be faster, and will show up on store shelves some time after 2018. On the laptop side of things, AMD is slowly launching their products, but nothing out through the computer manufactures as of yet. Also, Intel's new line isn't out fully as well. Again, more cores /threads in a newer laptop = better multitasking.

       With all this being said, here's what I would consider on both AMD and Intel as of today for a desktop writing system. I wouldn't go higher than a $200 CPU because after that, you will only benefit if running heavy, heavy 3D games, Photoshop, or 4K video editing.

- Intel -

Lowest: Core i3 8100 - As mentioned above, this is the new $120 quad-core from Intel.

Highest: Core i5-8400 - 6-cores for $200

- AMD

Lowest: Ryzen 3 1300 - $110 quad-core

Highest: Ryzen 5 1500 - $190 for 4-core / 8 threads

       Whatever CPU you do get, always at least get 8GB of RAM. With Windows 10, 8GB is the ideal amount of RAM for office work. The absolute lowest I would is 4GB, but even with 4GB, the system can lag. Anything higher won't make a big difference to justify the cost. The absolute highest I would go is 16GB, but I'm quite happy with 8GB of RAM. After that, it becomes more about bragging rights about how money you can spend. Even the newest PC games don't even suggest 16GB of RAM.

       The second focus is storage. I know everyone has seen or heard about SSD. An SSD in very basic terms is imagine an internal thumb drive big enough to hold Windows and your programs. Yes, they do make the system very snappy, and you can have the system completely off to ready to go in under 15 seconds. I've been on the fence about getting one,but from what I've been told, they won't make you write any faster since you are the biggest bottleneck about how fast the words appear on the screen. One day, I'll get one since they do help in other aspects, but if I had to go with a SSD or a traditional hard drive for a desktop, I rather have a traditional hard drive due to the bigger storage capacity for the money. Now, on a laptop, SSD because they’re not prone to fail as easily say if it happens to drop because there are no moving parts inside, and they do help with battery life.

       My final thought is this: don’t spend more money than needed. I bought my system for $500 three years ago, and it’s still going strong. A $2,000 system won’t make you a better writer. The limit all of us writers face is imagination, not technology. If you do go overboard with technology, spend the money in something that can save you and your work the most heartache, and that’s backup devices (See HERE for more information). Until then, happy writing.