So, we are 2 weeks into the new year (give or take a few hours as of writing this) and i am already starting to think about upgrades… some are more likely than others… but here are my thoughts for the new year and upgrades…

  • Phones: So, i have had my G1 for a while now (Got it on in the first 2 weeks of July, meaning i have had it nearly 6 months!) and i think it is time to upgrade soon. There are a few phones on the market that are interesting me. here is my current short list in no particular order:
  • Apple iPhone 3GS (or newer). O2 Ireland loose the Exclusive contract on this soon, and Vodafone are to also get their hands on it. Since i am a Vodafone Customer, and have a contract with them, i only have to resign some paper and pick one up… Rumours are that the next Gen (which will be the 4 Gen iPhone, but not necessarily 4G network support) will be out in April, but my money is on next gen coming around June or July, around the WWDC…
  • Nokia N900. Very cool looking device. Vodafone Ireland are to get their hands on this soon (maybe this month). looks very cool, fast and well, that keyboard is handy.
  • HTC HD2. Windows Mobile 6.5, 1Gz Processor, 800×480 display. What more can i say? Very nice device. O2 Ireland might get their hands on this, and if not, Expansys have it…
  • Google Nexus one. Not sure if this should be on the list, since Android has kind of annoyed me on the G1, but it does look nice. I got to play with out of these over the Christmas, and it was very nice and responsive. 1Gz processor makes it nearly 2x the speed of the G1. Using a phone for a quick demo is all well and good, but the real test is using it as your main phone. Lower Priority than the rest…

  • Likeliness of happening: Highly. Last year i changed phones 4 or 5 times… This is practically inevitable…

  • Hardware: After the build of the V.Next Workstation, and the MacPro becoming a HyperV server, there are very few things needed… but improvement can still happen…
  • The Proliant: This still only has 5Gb of ram and a Dual Core Processor. Not sure if i should go an upgrade this to a Quad core and 8Gb ram, or just build a new box with that kind of spec. Either way, the machine will get upgraded to Windows Server 2008 R2. Likelihood: 60% chance.
  • Mac Pro: No changes needed for this. 12Gb ram, Dual Dual core processors, 10k RPM hdds… Very nice. might just tweek its network connections… Likelihood: 100% chance.
  • God Box (AKA the V.Next): Thinking of adding a second graphics card. Maybe some more internal storage. and depending on how things go, maybe more memory. 12Gb is quite a lot at the moment, but we see how things go. If the Graphics card gets upgraded, more monitors might be on the cards also… Likelihood: 70% chance.
  • Opteron and Power Edge: these machines are now pretty much maxed out and out of upgrade options (Think i have a 2Gb or 4Gb upgrade for the Power Edge which never got installed… Might do that if i can find the memory). This year, i think these machines will loose their server status and might be officially deprecated… Likelihood: 65% chance
  • Media Centre: Over the last few years, i have had a few machines that i have called Media Centres… Now i think it is time to build a new one. Probably be a Quad Core box, few gigs of RAM, PCI-Express DVB-S2 tuners and a nice graphics card… We see how things go over the year. Likelihood: 55% chance

  • SAN: I have been wanting to build a SAN for a while now, mainly to store photos, videos, Ripped DVDs, Recorded TV shows, Software and VMs. With the move to Hyper-V i think getting this build sooner rather than later would come in handy. this way i can use the Failover support in Hyper-V. I am also now running at about 110Gb of photos stored on my machine, and have a lot of Music, Video, etc. If the Media Centre gets built, It will consume 2Gb per hour of SD video recorded and more for HD stuff… You can never have enough storage! Likelihood: 75% chance in one for or another…

  • House: Big purchase in Life. the rest are nice to haves, this would be epic! As the lads in work have started to call it “The Gadget Platform