Introduction

The Sounds of Silence

Weflew out intending to have 3 reports from Comdex, but as it turned out, this year's attendance, by consumers and manufacturers alike, left quite a bit to be desired. We haven't been to too many ghost towns, but after day 3 here in Sin City, the convention center surely qualified; the frantic pace and sardine-crammed hallways of yesteryear might as well have been on a different planet. Between the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the economic downturn, it's not difficult to fault people for wanting to stay at home.

Still, there was plenty to see, especially as the CPU wars continue to heat up. Today's trip took us through motherboard row, where the all the usual suspects lined up to present their 2002 wares - incredibly inexpensive Athlon boards, DDR for Pentium IV, the nForce explosion, and of course, the ever-growing Taiwanese push into mainstream computing components.

And now, on to what we can only hope is the most unsuccessful COMDEX event ever held…

Hello....	Not much different on the inside	That's a bit better
Poor Lian-Li	The mainland is empty	Even IBM gets no respect