[H]ardNews 7th Edition

ASRock 939DUAL-SATA2:

If you need an inexpensive board with both AGP and PCI-E slots, Motherboards.org says that the ASRock 939DUAL-SATA2 is a decent choice. While not the fastest board around it does come with enough features to warrant consideration.

Further, with both an AGP and a PCI Express slot present on the board, you can use your old AGP card until you have a PCI Express card to drive the graphics. Feature-wise, the extra features make up for the shortcomings on the board.

Best Buy Selling Used Games?

According to this report by Chris Morris at CNN Money, Best Buy is testing the sale of used games. We posted a story last week about game developers hating the practice of selling used games, will this make things worse?

The retailer confirmed it has quietly started testing the sale of used video games in select markets, but declined to give details. An analyst note said four stores in Illinois and California are currently involved in the test.

My advice to publishers? To combat this, try selling your games for $29.99 - $39.99 instead of the whopping $49.99 - $59.99 they are now. I have picked up 15 games in the last 45 days and only one was under $40 (Indigo Prophecy). I can't help but think that dropping the price would increase the volume of sales significantly. Please leave your thoughts here.

AOpen’s Pandora Mini PC:

Legit Reviews has some information on the AOpen Pandora Mini PC, a Mac Mini “look-a-like” powered by a Celeron 1.3GHz and features 256MB DDR II, 40GB hard drive, Slot-in Slim Combo Drive, HDTV Cable, Windows XP or Linux.

They will be sold as complete systems only. Estimated prices are: Linux based ($399/unit) or Windows based ($499/unit). That is a very low price point considering that the Mac Mini starts around $499 and comes without a monitor and keyboard.