You Say It’s Your Birthday

Yeah, that’s right, today is my birthday, and how does BKP rock out?

Gift card at the electronics store, baby! That’s how I roll…

I realize that for “normal” people, geeking out is something that should be avoided, particularly on a day of celebration. But, being an unabashed geek in a new city (read: lack of nearby pub mates), this is pretty much how it’s going to happen tonight: after dinner with the family, Daddy’s hitting the shelves for some tech gear.

At the top of my list is a new phone. My cell plan is allowing me to upgrade to a new device, and I’m scoping out a Razr, so I can finally say I have a consumer Linux device in my arsenal of tech toys. I’d love one of those new Nokia N810s that came out today, but my gift card isn’t that big.

If the Razr doesn’t work out because of pricing, my fall back is a high-end graphics card. None of my boxes have anything but integrated graphics, because I am notoriously cheap about such things. My question is, what’s the best off-the-shelf card to get?

I’m mostly looking for a card that will deliver high screen rez and boosted processing. I’d take 3D acceleration… I’m curious about Compiz, though I don’t think it will have a practical application for my day-to-day work.

Having checked around, I am leaning towards the Radeon series. The documentation for my distro (Kubuntu/Gutsy) seems a little more complete than the nVidia cards, and I’m grooving on ATI’s open source driver mojo.

But, at this point I am willing to hear suggestions, pros and cons, etc.