 | Annihilate your enemies and reign supreme in the gaming world with the Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard. With an awesome host of features, the Razer Lycosa is on an unstoppable mission to destroy and dominate. Execute complex combat maneuvers with swift dexterity. Launch your assaults timed to perfection. You now have the tactical advantage on every terrain, and your enemies' fates are in your hands. Gaming cluster with anti-ghosting capability Slim keycap structure with Hyperesponse technology TouchPanel easy access media keys Gaming mode option for deactivation of the Windows key 10 customizable software profiles with on-the-fly switching 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time Earphone-out and microphone-in jacks Detachable wrist rest One integrated USB extension port Approximate size without wrist rest (L x W x H) - 18.5 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches (469 x 168 x 15 mm) Approximate size with wrist rest (L x W x H) - 18.5 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches (469mm x 221mm x 15mm)Minimum System Requirements Windows XP / x64 / Vista / Vista64 PC with built-in USB ports CD-ROM Drive (for drivers) At least 35MB of hard disk space (for drivers) |
Monday, November 29, 2010
Razer Lycosa Programmable Backlit Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (Black)
 | Good intel and the proper gear are the keys to victory, even in gaming. The Logitech G15 keyboard keeps you informed and outfitted to win. With the Logitech-exclusive GamePanel LCD, you can easily find out what server your friends are using to play Battlefield 2142, or receive notification when your World of Warcraft battleground becomes available. You can even identify who s speaking in Ventrilo. Create useful macros on the fly and play them back with a single press of a G-key. Illuminated characters allow you to play late into the night. |
REVIEWS: Apple Mac mini 2.4GHz
A perfect companion for your TV?
Apple has refreshed its Mac mini and made more substantial changes than we saw at the last evolution of this tiny desktop computer. But does the Mac mini deliver, or is the new asking price of "649 just too much to bear"
Apple have been masters of design for some time and the new Mac mini is certainly the best looking iteration of this computer. Gone is the plastic, offering up an aluminium body, aping the design of the MacBook Pro. It is beautifully crafted, with minimalist lines and free from fuss. Compared to some of the other small format nettops out there it looks far superior.
Designed like this, the Mac mini is the sort of desktop PC you will be happy to have on display, and Apple also has its sights on the home cinema market. On several occasions when we were introduced to the Mac mini by Apple, they pointed out that people liked to connect the Mac mini to their TV, hence the inclusion of an HDMI connector, a first for Apple.
The Mac mini won't just look the part set alongside your high-end home cinema rig, but it offers up more power than your average nettop, such as the Acer Aspire Revo, which offers an Intel Atom processor, rather than the 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo on offer here.
It measures 197mm square, with a height of just 36mm and effectively offers up the same internals as the MacBook (except the hard drive is a little bigger at 320GB in the Mac mini), which adds a screen and keyboard in its plastic enclosure for an additional ?200. Fans of Apple Mac computers can't help but notice the creep in price, especially as when we reviewed the Mac mini in March 2009 it was under ?500.
Internally you get that Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.4GHz, with a 2.66GHz version available for an additional ?123. This is supported by 2GB of RAM, upgradeable to a maximum of 8GB, although that would set you back an extra ?400. There is a 320GB hard drive, with a 500GB version costing you an extra ?80. So there are configuration options available to you, but they do come at a cost.
Fortunately, one of the changes made to the Mac mini is the new removable bottom. This simply rotates and comes away, revealing the innards, so you can easily upgrade the RAM yourself, giving you the freedom to shop around, or wait until you find you need to upgrade it.
The connections are precisely arranged on the rear, offering up Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, 4x USB 2.0, an SD card slot and headphone and mic 3.5mm jacks. Arranged as they are we didn't have a problem, until it came to the SD card slot.
Putting it on the rear makes the design look tidy, but if you regularly want to use it to access files from your digital camera for example, you'll be scrabbling around the back to do so. Its less convenient for those who might have the Mac mini as part of an installation, but for those who have it sitting on a desk it isn't a significant issue. The same could be said of the USB ports, if you want to regularly move files to a USB drive, you'll need to make sure you have easy access.
With the aim of making the Mac mini a tidy little device, Apple have done away with the power brick. This is now internal, so all you have to do is plug in the cable. This again makes it much tidier, both above and below your desk. Internally you also get Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, so you'll be able to hook-up wirelessly to peripherals and your network.
On the back beneath all the connections is the exhaust outlet. With the design offering no ventilation, we found that the Mac mini runs with a purr that is barely noticeable and nothing like the volume you'd get from the fan-cooling on games consoles, some Blu-ray players and PVRs. However, the Mac mini will get warm once you set it to various tasks and you'll hear the fan changing speeds, throttling up and down. We didn't find that the slot-loading SuperDrive made much noise once running.
The Mac mini isn't a power house like some of the iMac models. Ask it to do various tasks at the same time and you'll see it slow down and struggle, just as the MacBook will. It will handle regular daily computing tasks with easy however and also being capable enough to work with our images and transcode your video. If you are planning to hook it up to your TV to play HD content from your network, then it copes well enough. Rarely will you be running a number of applications as well as your HD content, but if you are in the business of editing large amounts of HD video, you might find it won't quite be up to the challenge.
We tried some HD movies and video camcorder content and encountered no problem with playback of this type of material, thanks to the Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics chip, which Apple say offers 2x the performance of previous Mac minis. This will also handle your 3D gaming, although Windows fans will point out that you can buy a respectable gaming rig for this sort of money on their rival platform.
The inclusion of Mini DisplayPort means you'll be able to hook up to Apple's Cinema Display, or an existing monitor using one of a wide variety of adapters which will cost you around ?20 each, although you get an HDMI-DVI adapter in the box. Those with newer monitors or taking the TV route will be able to use the HDMI (no cable supplied).
A variety of resolutions are included to get the best option for your TV and we found we had to tweak the HDMI monitor settings too on the 1080p setting to get the screen to fit properly. The same will most likely apply to your TV, so you'll have to dig in the picture settings of your TV to get the best result. The HDMI will carry the audio stream, so you can easily get your audio content to your TV or AV receiver with the option of having system "Sound Effects" use the internal speaker, so they don't boom out.
Verdict:
Overall the Mac mini wins a lot of points for the design. You'd be hard pressed to find any desktop computer that looks as elegant as this. But at the same time you are paying for that design statement. You can get a more powerful Windows PC unit for a fraction of the price, but that's not the point. You buy the Mac mini because you want Mac OSX.
The addition of the HDMI is appreciated as it makes it really simple to connect it to your TV so you get all the benefits of having a proper computer connected to the big screen, for whatever reason, be it for staying connected, using IPTV services or connecting up to your network - or all of the above. We also hope that this is a precursor to HDMI coming to the next iteration of MacBooks, although this is purely speculation on our part.?
We were originally concerned that the Mac mini would run overly hot, but this didn't appear to be a massive problem in our tests. It runs quietly enough to slot into your lounge without being offensive, so is a convenient and powerful alternative to some of the devices out there.
The only issue is price. The entry-level model is expensive and upgrading makes it more expensive than is reasonable. It looks great, but if bang for your buck is important, you'll find better value elsewhere.
Tags:HardwareDesktop PCsNettopsAppleApple Mac miniMac mini
Apple Mac mini 2.4GHz originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:07:24 +0100
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Hit Undo in Firefox's Address Bar to Browse Your Recent History [Timesavers]
#timesavers
Hit the undo shortcut (Ctrl+z/Cmd+z) in Firefox's address bar to move through your recent history via keyboard and find tabs you've closed—sort of like a lightweight version of the Undo Closed Tab feature.More??
Hit the undo shortcut (Ctrl+z/Cmd+z) in Firefox's address bar to move through your recent history via keyboard and find tabs you've closed—sort of like a lightweight version of the Undo Closed Tab feature.More??Logitech Introduce Gaming Peripherals: Keyboard, Headset and Mouse
Logitech latest gaming device, keyboard, mouse and headset. These three products to provide good support to the game play so as to produce a good performance when you play your favorite games. Logitech Gaming Keyboard G510 Has a feature that allows you to control and gives you for real-time game statistics also PC performance. This ...
Logitech Introduce Gaming Peripherals: Keyboard, Headset and Mouse is a post from: www.ComputerRiver.com
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Thursday, November 18, 2010
REVIEWS: MSI Wind Top AE2400
Want a multimedia AIO?
The MSI Wind Top AE2400 is a touchscreen, Windows 7-based, all-in-one PC, which is promoted as "the ultimate multimedia package".
The specs are quite impressive for a machine that retails at a penny less than ?950. You've got Windows 7 Home Premium running via an Intel Pentium Dual Core E5400 processor (clocked at 2.7GHz) backed up by an ATI Radeon HD 5730 3D GPU with 1GB DDR3 VRAM, as well as the machine's 4GB of DDR3 RAM. There's also a 1TB HDD to store all of your media and game data.
So how does all this hardware perform? Well, for starters, the machine has a pretty swift boot up time which is handy if you're planning on using the AE2400 as a family centred PC - maybe even replacing your dining room TV setup. From the time you click the power button everything is loaded and ready to go in just over a minute and a half.
Basic tasks like word processing and surfing the web are almost instantaneous and more strenuous activity like photo editing is dealt with efficiently and without much trouble at all. HD video on the AE2400 is excellent via the 23.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 screen. It handled 30fps, 1080p, downloaded content without any stuttering using VLC and Media Player Classic.
With streaming HD content there was a tiny amount of stutter with World Cup footage on the iPlayer (and CPU usage seemed a little high at around 70-80 per cent), but an episode of Dr Who looked very sharp and played back nicely. Downloaded HD content from the iPlayer played back using Adobe Air was also stutter-free.
YouTube 1080p content was seamless and CPU usage was down to around 30 per cent indicating that YouTube is more efficient at offsetting HD video processing to the GPU -which probably says more about the BBC's encoding than the AE2400's ability to stream HD.
Blu-ray playback looked absolutely stunning (as Blu-rays should do) and the remote control was very responsive when using the built-in Blu-ray player software. The remote also worked completely with Windows Media Player and Centre, and basic commands also worked with VLC and Media Player Classic.
Sound on the AE2400 is very good, much better than a TV of similar size. It has two 5-Watt speakers backed up by a 10-Watt subwoofer and it played films and music loudly with little vibration or distortion.
We also tested the AE2400 on a couple of games from the Steam network - Iron Grip Warlord and Mass Effect 2 (both demos) - and gameplay was fluid and the graphics looked great. There was no lag and no instances of slow-down.
When it comes to connectivity with the AE2400 you've got VGA out, six USB sockets, an eSATA port, HDMI and SPDIF. It's got a 6-in-1 card reader located on the bottom left-hand side and you've also got a 1.3-megapixel webcam and built-in mic. There's also a TV tuner built-in (although we couldn't fully test this as there was no roof-top aerial at the test - the included mini-aerial didn't pick up any signal as is often the case).
So we've covered the pros, but what of the cons? Well, firstly it isn't the best looking all-in-one that we've seen. It looks a bit plasticy and square and isn't really as aesthetically pleasing as some of its rivals - most notably the Acer Aspire Z5610, the Sony Vaio VPCL12MIE or the HP TouchSmart 600. The remote control is very ugly - it works well as described above, but it has the square look and feel of a TV from the 1990s.
The multi-touch features are also pretty poor. After using an iPhone and and iPad regularly, the screen seemed pretty sluggish and it was impossible to accurately click on a link or a small button. The included stylus improves accuracy, but who wants to use a stylus? The MSI MultiTouch Gadget software is a nice inclusion, which makes the touchscreen experience a little bit easier, but it almost feels as if you're using it just for the sake of it to get your touchscreen money's worth.
The wireless mouse and keyboard might make things a little more efficient, although the review sample we received had no mouse and no USB sensor to get these working, unfortunately, so we can't really comment on how well they performed. We did plug in and use our own wireless mouse and keyboard setup though - and found the machine to work fine with these. We can't see there being any issue with the MSI supplied mouse or keyboard.
As stated the AE2400 has a bit of a plasticy feel to it, and it looks a bit, well, cheap - but that's only really when you're up close to the machine. From a distance it looks quite shiny and sleek and it wouldn't be out of place as a replacement for the TV in a dining room for example.
Obviously noise is a factor when using any PC as a media player but the AE2400 uses a low-power TDP 65W CPU, so fan noise is kept to a minimum. The optical drive didn't make any more noise than a traditional Blu-ray player would either. Although it has to be said that the machine does make a heck of a din when you first turn it on and it boots into life - but this only lasts about a second so it's not the end of the world.
Verdict:
Deciding what score to give the AE2400 was difficult. If the machine didn't bother with the touchscreen features, which we found to be unresponsive, and instead was marketed as a simple sub-?1000 multimedia all-in-one PC, then it would have probably scored an eight. But, as the multi-touch features are a key part of this machine's make-up, it has to lose a mark.
It is still, however, a decent, solid, multimedia machine, even if it doesn't look quite as slick as some of its rivals. If you're looking at performance and the specs alone, then you're definitely onto a winner.
Tags:HardwareAll-in-one PCsMSImsi wind top ae2400
MSI Wind Top AE2400 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:07:01 +0100
REVIEWS: iRiver Story with Wi-Fi
Can this challenge the Kindle?
We looked at the iRiver Story back in December 2009 and we liked it. Good construction, wide file support and a QWERTY keyboard round out a spec sheet that challenges most of its rivals. But does adding Wi-Fi bring anything to the mixture?
It certainly does, especially as this edition is sold in the UK in cahoots with WHSmith. The high street retailer might not be your first port of call when you are after the most recent bargains, but its online ebook store does pack in a few offers and we've used the store to buy ebooks in the past when reviewing ebook readers.
We'll look at the hook-up with WHSmith first and the addition of Wi-Fi, so if you've already read our review of the iRiver Story, you'll get straight to the juicy bits.
The Wi-Fi controls hide in the settings menu of the Story and offer you the chance to connect to your network. As the Story features a QWERTY keyboard across the bottom this is a straightforward procedure, but the nature of the E-Ink display means that typing is generally a slow process. Once we had plugged in our password, we were off to the WHSmith website in very little time.
There was some confusion because we already have a WHSmith account, but it wasn't the same website, so we had to register again. WHSmith have missed a trick here, as it would have been nice to log straight into an existing account and be able to download those books we'd already purchased: that would provide a great rivalling service to that offered by the Amazon Kindle with its multi-device support and we'd urge WHSmith to make this an option.
When purchasing ebooks in the EPUB format you have to deal with DRM. We accept it as a necessary step in the process, protecting publisher and author rights. Fortunately you can plug in your Adobe Digital Editions account details and authorise your Story all on the device itself. This lets you not only access DRM content that you download on the device, but also lets you access existing DRM content you have accessed using your Digital Editions account in the past.
If ebook consumption is new to you, or if you've only looked at DRM-free content, then you will have to skip through a few extra steps to get your Adobe account. It's a worthwhile step to take, as Adobe Digital Editions is essentially the key to protected content online and is simple enough once you jump through the necessary hoops. You also get the added benefit of then being able to read the content you purchase on the iRiver Story on your PC if you copy the files across. What you don't get, in comparison to Amazon's system, is bookmark syncing if you are planning to read on separate devices at the same time.
But the iRiver Story comes with an advantage that the Amazon Kindle doesn't want to offer you: it doesn't care where you get your content from. You can buy your ebooks from any store online in EPUB format and move them over (or use the SD card slot in the bottom), so to a certain extent, the Story gives you access to a wider selection of content.
What you don't get is a browser, so you can't use the device to access other online bookstores to download titles directly - WHSmith is protecting its interests to a certain extent, but browsing websites not formatted for this type of device can leave you a little lost, so it isn't a huge negative.
Format support is good (EPUB, PDF, TXT, RTF, FB2, DJVU, CBZ, XLS, PPT, DOC, MP3, WMA, OGG), although we're strictly in the "reading" camp when it comes to ebook readers. We like reading books on ebook readers, and although you get support for a wide range of other functions, like music playback, picture viewing and support for MS Office files, we think that the primary purpose of this type of device is to read text.
In that, it excels. The screen is a fairly typical 6-inch 800 x 600 resolution, but it supports 16 shades of grey, not that it makes much difference to straight text reading. We're impressed with how dynamic the screen is too, offering fast refresh rates for faster page turns and of course you get the great contrast and the ability to read in bright conditions without issue. Those faster refreshes enable typing too, but as we said, it isn't ever going to compete with text entry on a phone or tablet.
The screen is an E-Ink display meaning it has a very low consumption of power, so you'll get 9000 page turns from the battery. The Wi-Fi will consume battery much faster, but it only connects when you need it too, so isn't a constant drain. We've used ebook readers of this type for trips of 3 weeks on a single charge, and when you do want to charge it, you can plug into the Mini-USB on the bottom.
Ebook readers face a new enemy in the amassing tablet market, with Apple's iPad finding itself as a reader device for some, and others using their mobile phone. That's fine, but this reviewer thinks that phones are too small for comfortable reading, and the iPad, whilst a wonderful multimedia device, isn't as good for straight text reading. Yes, your E-Ink reader won't play video or give you a dynamic internet experience, but it is a better display for ploughing through the latest thriller.
Ebook readers have been expensive in the past, but WHSmith has the iRiver Story listed for ?199 (the non-Wi-Fi version is ?149, but it is a slightly low spec too). At that price, it makes the Wi-Fi equipped BeBook Neo look hugely over-priced and even looks good value against some lesser-equipped rivals, like the Sony Readers. But with Amazon's new Kindle gunning for ?109 with Wi-Fi (with Amazon getting the benefit of the books you have to buy through them) the extra ?90 for the Story might leave many scratching their heads.
But with all these things simplicity is key. Buying books on the Kindle is easy, just as buying books through the WHSmith link on the Story is easy enough, once you have an account, however navigation of the store isn't the most intuitive. Searching for "Simon Scarrow" returned 208 results, of which the author didn't appear on the first page, for example. Navigating lists can be frustrating too, cycling through the various selectable elements on each page, with the page turn keys and arrows both offering to move you on. Unfortunately it isn't always as straightforward as it should be, so some refinement is needed here.
In terms of the reading experience, we like the fact that the display gives very little glare, unlike its glossy LCD rivals, or those E-Ink devices with a touch layer incorporated. You can also change the aspect of the display and easily change the text size if you want, to make things more comfortable to read.
Some of the Story's default fonts are very small, but we never found this to actually hamper the reading experience. As we said during this review, we're fans of reading first and foremost and the iRiver Story is a comfortable book to read from and a pleasure to hold in the hand.
The solid construction brings the Kindle to mind, with the iRiver Story being very close in its design. Internally you'll find an adequate 2GB of storage (unless you really want to fill it with music or images), but an SD card slot does allow for expansion or the easy addition of files. The version we reviewed came with 100 classics pre-installed which is a nice ploy, but seeing as these books are out of copyright and freely available online, you might find you want to remove the majority - they do make it more difficult to find your own titles.
Verdict:
The experience of the Story is a little fiddly when it comes to that actual interface offered by the WHSmith ebook store, but we did find the books we were looking for. If you are serious about buying an ebook reader (with WHSmith pushing the Story to access its store, Waterstones plugging the Sony Readers and Amazon with its Kindle) the question you have to ask is whether the store the device is connected to offers the books you want.
Remember that not all book editions are available as ebooks, and this is neither the fault of the retailer or device manufacturer, this is the decision of the publisher. The shortcoming of the Kindle is that you don't get the freedom to shop around, but you do get simplicity. The iRiver Story offers you freedom, the link with a mainstream retailer but more of a fiddle.
Both offer an experience that gives you one advantage over the disconnected rivals in that you won't have to use your PC to download and transfer the content.
Overall the iRiver Story isn't a big step forward for ebook readers, but it is a nice complete package and comes out as one of our favourites. If you have existing DRM EPUB content, but want to sever the necessity of always using your PC to purchase, the Story with Wi-Fi does give you that option, without resigning your existing titles to the archive.
We like the iRiver Story, we like the WHSmith link (if not the interface), but we don't like the price any more. With this device linked to WHSmith, it is likely to be in its hands to drop the price to make it more competitive, but we can't help feeling that Amazon's cheaper Kindle will draw more attention, closed system or not.?
Tags:GadgetseBook readersiRiveriRiver StoryiRiver Story WiFiWH Smith
iRiver Story with Wi-Fi originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:54:39 +0100
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