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Computers and Accessories
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Monday, 02 August 2010 14:12 |
 The Samsung S2 is a super sleek 2.5 inch that weighs just 0.34 pounds. We tested the 5400 RPM, 250GB version that sells for under $50.
The S2 comes with a short USB cable just long enough to connect the device and place it next to a compact desktop machine. It gets power from the USB port so no additional power supply is required. The S2 worked fine with both legacy and USB 2.0 systems. It's extremely quiet and emits very little heat.
We also used it as a local drive as part of a Mozy backup scheme. The S2 worked great and would be a good solution for someone without massive storage needs. By the way, the new version of Mozy works good too.
The Samsung S2 comes with a little carrying case but we don't recommend using it because you may end up dropping the drive when sliding it out of the case. Just use it for the warranty period of 3 years and change it out when the time comes.
These little drives come in handy for all kinds of things. With this super slim form factor this drive can go just about anywhere a USB flash drive can go and you’ll get a lot more storage for the money.
Visit Samsung for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Friday, 14 May 2010 23:35 |
 The HP P6310Y is a great choice for an everyday computer. The P6310Y comes loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium, Norton Antivirus, Microsoft Works 9.0 and a 90 day trial version of Microsoft Office. So it’s ready for the home office right out of the box. We we’re up and running with multiple applications and Pandora streaming music in the background in no time.
The motherboard leaves very little room for expansion but the good news is the P6310Y is loaded plenty of features to handle just about any application. There’s a 15-in-1 media for various types of flash memory, a dual layer DVD burner with LightScribe so you can etch labels into the discs your burn, 6GB or PC3-10600 memory, an Athlon II 630 quad-core processor, 1TB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9100 graphics.
If you’re a hard core gamer or in need of 3D rendering power obviously this isn’t going to cut it but for casual gaming the P6310Y can hold its own. There’s plenty of power for editing home movies and making DVDs.
The HP P6310Y is a good choice for anyone that needs a new PC for all around computing tasks in the $600 price range. You may be able to find other systems with slightly better specifications for the money but HPs online support and frequently updated drivers make their systems worth considering.
Visit HP for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Tuesday, 04 May 2010 21:32 |
 The Motorola SB6120 cable modem is the next generation DOCSIS 3.0 compatible modem which provides a 4x speed improvement over DOCSIS 2.0 cable modems such as the original Surfboard series from Motorola.
We replaced a Motorola Surfboard SB5101 for this test. On the SB6120 Motorola moved the status lights to the side of the modem so when it’s placed in a wiring closet of a house it’s easy to check if it’s online or not without removing it. The older SB5101 requires you to remove it to check the status and the reset button could easiy be accidentally pressed. The SB6120 is a boxier design but only takes up slightly more space than the SB5101. It’s pretty much a straight swap although the SB5101 was easier to slide into tight spaces because of its wedge like shape.
The Initial setup took a bit longer than anticipated. The Motorola Extreme SB6120 takes longer to restart and get online but once it’s up and running is rock solid. The control panel and status indicators are very similar to previous designs. Basically, get it up and running and forget it.
At lower service speeds the improvement over the SB5101 is marginal. Of course, the real reason to upgrade the modem is to take advantage of the upper tiered Internet service offered by Comcast and others. After we had Comcast turn up the speed the SB6120 came to life.
If you frequently move large files via FTP, like to stream HD video, or have lots of data on your systems you’re backing up via an online service such as Mozy than the SB6120 combined with a faster level of access is certainly worth considering. For general web use, email and sending the occasional photo…etc., you won’t see that much benefit.
Visit Motorola for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Monday, 15 March 2010 07:31 |
 The Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender works well to eliminate wireless dead zones in a home. Let’s say you have a wireless access point located centrally in your home but the signal strength is weak to some corners of the building such as the garage.
We tested the HWREN1 in an average size home and were impressed with the results. Systems that previously showed low quality connections before installing the HWREN1 reported good to excellent connectivity. FTP, audio/video streaming and sharing files on the network approached the performance and throughput of wired systems on the network. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Setup requires the included CD and is easy enough but there should have been more information about wireless channel selection and strategy when extending a wireless network. Having a quality wireless card in each PC accessing the network makes a big difference as well. We found dramatically different results with several cards so like anything else your wireless network is only as good as your weakest link.
The WHREN1 looks and feels very cheap but once it’s installed and out of sight you’ll quickly forget about that. It’s a good option for improving the wireless access in your home without a lot of cost.
Visit Hawking Technologies for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 07:25 |
 The Corsair P256 SSD is a SATA-II compatible 2.5 inch drive. Like other SSDs it offers faster performance and potentially better endurance. However, unlike high performance hard drives that include a 5 year warranty the P256 only includes a 2 year warranty which we found odd considering “toughness” is one of the selling points of SSDs in general.
Unwrapping the P256 is a bit like unwrapping air. SSDs are deceiving in that they don’t feel like much, just a little brick of silicon with some connectors. But in this case the featherweight is actually the heavyweight. The Corsair P256 SSD has all of the performance minus the bulk, noise, power consumption and heat of a traditional high performance drive. Of course, it’s a lot more expensive and offers only a fraction of the capacity but its responsive and stable performance will be attractive to many.
When we received the Corsair Performance Series P256 SSD we decided to test it a couple of ways. First as a dedicated drive for HD video editing and second as a system drive with OS and apps. What would have a bigger impact? What would we notice more? What would we simply enjoy more?
First we swamped out a Hitachi 7200 RPM 1TB drive we were using for video storage. We copied over 1 hour of HD footage and resumed editing a project to see if the response would be any different with the P256. We also repeated the process with a Western Digital VelociRaptor 10K RPM drive. These are real world tests where we use the product versus running arbitrary benchmarks. The P256 was noticeable improvement over the 7200 RPM hard drive but not so much with the 10K RPM VelociRaptor. However, the P256 did reduce the noise in the editing room with one less hard drive spinning.
Next we cloned the VelociRaptor system drive and replaced it with the P256. Our boot up and shut down times weren’t noticeably different. However, opening and closing applications was snappier. Lean apps like Saw Studio were truly instant on while chubbier apps such as Sony Vegas still take some time. Firefox and Fireworks were instant on. So it depends on the app but in general we noticed the improvement even compared to a very fast 2.5 inch version of Western Digital’s 10k RPM VelociRaptor. Some changes were dramatic in unexpected ways. For example, we often experienced a several second delay opening Winamp. With the P256 it was instant.
The Corsair P256 is an excellent way to add performance and stability to a system that’s a couple of years old or to use as the foundation for a new high performance system. The most noticeable improvement for us was when we installed it as the main system drive. It made the system feel more like hardware and less like software. Is it worth the premium over the 2.5 inch VelciRaptor? It absolutely is for a work system where uptime is critical. For a home system with an online backup system such as Mozy in place, it’s hard to justify.
In the last several years we’ve seen hard drives fail in our systems after only 1 year of use and usually at the worst possible moment. Yes, SSDs are very expensive but we’re getting very close to the price point where that extra performance and piece of mind will be worth the premium. It’s very early in this game but it’s easy to imagine a near silent PC with almost no moving parts besides a few fans whirring inside. 2010 is shaping up to be the year where the silent SSD starts making some serious noise.
Visit Corsair for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Sunday, 21 February 2010 18:15 |
 The BDR-205 from Pioneer is an internal Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD burner with write speeds up to 12x on BD-R (25GB) and BD-RL (50GB) media. So to put that in perspective 1 dual layer disc is the equivalent of 10 separate DVDs.
Pioneer has been at the forefront of DVD and Blu-ray technology and the BDR-205 is a good example of this tradition to produce quality, leading edge products. The BDR-205 is made in Japan which is usually a sign of quality when it comes to electronics. (opportunity here to make joke about drive by wire systems in Toyota cars but we'll pass).
We installed the BDR-205 in an HP workstation that already had several hard drives and optical drives installed. Since we were out of SATA ports we used an open SAS port instead without any problems. Pioneer bundles a bloated software package called BD Solutions from Cyberlink that takes forever to install. It’s okay for watching Blu-ray movies but we found it slow, cumbersome and marginally useful for mostly everything else. We preferred our own authoring tools that we’ve grown accustomed to. Newbies may appreciate the Cyberlink package but boy is it a hog.
We recently completed a high def product for a client that wanted both DVDs and Blu-ray discs duplicated. We have a disc duplicator for CDs/DVDs but have had very little demand for Blu-rays. So in this case we manually loaded the discs in and out of the BDR-205. The small run of 25 discs went smoothly without any coasters. The drive is smooth, quiet and works as advertised.
Prices have really come down on Blu-ray burners with the BDR-205 currently hovering around $200. The price of blank media is still pricey compared to DVDs but much more reasonable than just a year ago and the quality and consistency of discs has gotten better as well. Premium, printable media however is still hovering close to $5 a disc.
If you’ve finally decided to take the Blu-ray plunge our current recommendation is the BD-R 205 and we expect Pioneer to remain at the head of the pack based on its pedigree in the optical drive business.
Visit Pioneer Electronics for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Thursday, 19 November 2009 18:39 |
 KIDO’Z is a new website for kids that aggregates safe content and presents it in a very friendly way using Adobe Air. It’s great for parents who want to give their kids access to the best content on the web without worrying about them stumbling on inappropriate material. The software installs quickly and is spyware and adware free. Really nicely done.
The site automatically customizes the material based on your child’s age. If it’s kid friendly you’ll find it at KIDO’Z. The main categories of content include websites, videos and games. And you can sort by what’s new, popular or parent favorites. The site is free but they do offer additional services for $50/year.
If you got kids or nieces and nephews you’ll love KIDO’Z, especially with the holidays and wet and rainy weather on the way.
Visit Kido’z for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Tuesday, 17 November 2009 23:40 |
 There are no shortages of reviews about Windows 7 so we’ll keep it nice and short. If you’re a “PC” and your system can handle it you should be running Windows 7. We recommend the OEM version of Windows 7 Professional. You should be able to find it for $129 or so.
The only reason not to run Windows 7 is if your system is simply too old or you currently have a business app that generates money for you that runs better on XP. For example, some audio and video applications have not been fully vetted on Windows 7. So the funkyfresh studio is still running XP. The rest of our systems will be upgraded to Windows 7.
When in doubt go fresh. A new install on a new hard drive is well worth it. We did not even consider the upgrade/migrate patch. Just back up all your important files and start fresh. Windows 7 installed faster and with less mouse clicks compared to previous installations of Windows XP. We did a fresh installation on 3 systems; an aging Dell P4, a dual core ASUS based AMD system, and a modern HP workstation. Windows 7 automatically installed all the drives except for the high end sound card and video card drivers. All in all, we have to say it was very smooth. We're very happy with the latest Samsung 7200RPM Spinpoint drives by the way.
Once the Windows 7 is up and running your next stop is a web site that can automate all the applications any decent should not be without. Ninite.com in extremely handy for installing a bunch of free and essential apps such as Picassa, Filezilla, Adobe Reader, Firefox, Winamp, Spotify, Hulu, Flash , Microsoft Security Essentials and more. What a treat it is to select all these great apps and install them with 1 click. This alone will save you hours when outfitting a new PC with all these great apps
Windows 7 starts faster, sleeps faster and generally feels better. We have not run into an application we regularly use on XP that doesn’t run well on Windows 7. We like simple things like be able to “pin” apps to the taskbar and “snip” and crop whatever’s currently displayed on the screen, no more need to “control print screen”. Connecting and removing USB devices is faster and takes less clicks. Search is much better. Certain utilities and tools that you had to hunt for are easier to find such as restore. In general, it’s the upgrade XP users have been waiting for. If you’re a “PC” Windows 7 is a good place to be.
Visit Microsoft for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Monday, 14 September 2009 03:37 |
 This Linksys WMP600N wireless network card is a Dual-Band Wireless-N (Draft 802.11n) card that comes with regular and low profile brackets for installation on just about any PC. Set up could not have been faster and the spartan wireless utility offered a very simple and effortless configuration.
The WMP600N shines best of course with a nice strong signal. We were expecting better signal given are relatively short distance to the D-Link 655 router. However, in spite of 5 sheets of drywall and an elevation change, throughput was actually pretty good considering the inconvenience of running Cat-6 to this remote location.
When we inserted a range extender performance was much better of course. Our test workstation has seen some flaky cards that hog resources and frequently drop signals. The Linksys WMP600N was very stable and played nice with the rest of the hardware and software in the system. Certainly worth considering if you're looking to expand or improve your wireless network.
Visit Linksys for more information. |
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Computers and Accessories
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Wednesday, 02 September 2009 14:37 |
 The Dell UltraSharpTM 3007WFP-HC 30 inch monitor offers an incredible amount of desktop real estate and very good quality for most applications. Right now Dell is closing this monitor out while a new version with improved contrast ratio starts to ship.
At one time having two Samsung 19 inchers side by side was considered extravagant. The3007WFP-HC will quickly spoil anyone used to working with two smaller monitors side by side. The 2560X1600 resolution is simply awesome for those applications that require every bit of the 30 inch display. One of our clients purchased several of these monitors to use with a new application built on Microsoft’s Silverlight. Having the larger monitors reduces mouse clicks and has made the team much more efficient. Although, we were left wondering why Silverlight is so inflexible but that’s for another discussion.
The 30 incher is a must have for CAD, graphic design and video production. However, for the latter we’d opt for a monitor with a higher contrast ratio and blacker blacks. Of course, you’ll pay a premium for these features.
To drive the 007WFP-HC monitor at the highest resolution, you’ll need a dual-link DVI-D graphics card that supports 2560x1600. Dual-link doesn’t look any different than regular DVI connector. However, dual link contain twice as many wires and the cable is thicker. So both the card and cable are required to make this work. Quadro cards from nVidia are a good place to start but make sure you check the specs.
There are a variety of video cards that will drive this monitor, some better than others. The high performance cards often require a better power supply to drive them and a large PC case to accommodate them. If you have a mini tower or smaller PC of any kind this may be a problem for you. For the record, we really like the design of the current lineup of HP workstations. Ironically, the Dell Optiplex system we used to test this monitor could only fit two of myriad dual link cards on the market. To top it off, the folks at Dell sent us the wrong card installed in the system and then sent us a replacement that also didn’t work. Nice to know they’re so knowledgeable about their own products.
In spite of some extra steps necessary to get this monitor up and running it’s worth considering, especially at the close out price.
Visit Dell for more information. |
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The SanDisk Blade is an ultra portable USB Flash memory drive that comes in capacities up to 16GB. The Blade has a curvy indentation that makes it easy to grab and insert or remove from PCs and other electronics. It’s perfect for students or anyone else that wants a solid portable flash drive and doesn’t require the highest capacity or speed available.