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20
COOL GADGETS FOR
TRAVEL & SPORTS
5 EASY WAYS TO
STOP SPYWARE
TV ON YOUR PDA
COMPUTERSHOPPER.COM
D
º
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY
SPECI
HOW-TAL
ISSUE!O
BUILD
GREAT PC
for $500
*
+
a
PLUS
BACK UP YOUR
DATA BEFORE
IT’S TOO LATE
BUY THE RIGHT
WI-FI ROUTER
WE PICK
THE BEST
PARTS &
SHOW
YOU
HOW!
HOW TECH
WORKS:
7 CORE
PRODUCTS
EXPLAINED
JUNE 2006 | DISPLAY UNTIL JUNE 12, 2006
0 6>
0
70992 06900
2
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✱
CONTENTS
118 Building a PC? See our guides to
motherboards, hard drives, RAM,
graphics cards, and DVD burners.
JUNE 2006 VOLUME 26 NUMBER 6 ISSUE 315
DESKTOPS
74
24
26
26
30
30
ABS Ultimate M6 Sniper
Polywell Poly MiniBox 900Ax-MCE
Velocity Micro Raptor 64 DualX
Mirus Koobox Multimedia
Biohazard Media Center Xpress
NOTEBOOKS
33
33
34
34
Apple MacBook Pro
HP Pavilion DV5000z Turion 64
Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV600
Acer Aspire 3000
30
COMPONENTS
36
36
Features
36
THE UNDER-$500 CUSTOM PC
64
The Physics of Today’s Tech
You burn DVDs by the dozen, print
your own photos, and just upgraded to a 20-inch LCD monitor—but
have you ever wondered how
these everyday components work?
We put seven popular technologies under the microscope.
40
40
40
Casio Exilim EX-S600
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M2
44
DIGITAL AUDIO
81
50
50
50
Apple iPod Hi-Fi
MPIO One (FG200)
Ultimate Ears Super.fi
3 Studio
DIGITAL LIVING
52
52
52
D-Link MediaLounge
DSM-120
JVC HD-61FH96
Panasonic TH-42PHD8UK
SOFTWARE
54
54
56
56
56
56
56
58
58
60
60
60
Page 92
Page 64
Page 94
Page 74
Asus MyPal A636
Cingular 8125 Pocket PC
DIGITAL CAMERAS
46
46
46
Page 56
Page 144
Maxtor Shared Storage Plus Drive
Linksys Wireless-G Router With SRX200
Belkin Wireless G Travel Router
MOBILE PRODUCTS
44
44
Hot Tech for the Summertime
Don’t leave your favorite electronics behind when you venture out
this summer. These 20 tech products will make any trip to the pool,
park, or campground even more
enjoyable.
Page 81
Dell UltraSharp 1707FP
Samsung SyncMaster 970P
ViewSonic VX922
HOME NETWORKING
25
42
42
GREAT-OUTDOORS GADGETS
81
42
DISPLAYS
Build a Bargain
Assembling your own budget
desktop from scratch can be
cheaper than buying one from a
major vendor—and it requires
only a modicum of skill. Follow us
as we buy the parts and assemble
an under-$500 PC that leaves plenty of room for future upgrades.
WHAT MAKES TECH TICK?
74
Canon Pixma MP500
Photo All-in-One
Honest My IC-TV Media
Center Deluxe
LG GSA-5169D
33 It’s got style outside
and Intel inside. So what
is Apple’s MacBook Pro
missing?
Object Desktop
Winstep Full Pak
Ad-Aware SE 1.06
SpyCatcher 2006
Spy Sweeper 4.5
Spyware Doctor 3.5
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6
CeledyDraw 2
Pinnacle Studio Plus 10
FlipAlbum 6 Suite
Launch-n-Go 2
PC Doc Pro 3.5
46
TOP 25
62
The best desktops, notebooks,
5-megapixel digital cameras,
17-inch LCDs, and combat games.
52
computershopper.com June 2006
7
Help & How-To
COMPUTER CURES
89
Locating missing Outlook contacts,
troubleshooting a Wi-Fi network, and
repairing scratched CDs: It’s all in a day’s
work for our resident PC doc.
92
WEEKEND PROJECT
92
94
Tube to Go
You pay for cable or satellite-TV service
even when you’re not home to enjoy it.
Why not watch it wherever and whenever
you want? Sling Media’s Slingbox makes it
possible. Take your TV programming on
the road in five easy steps.
Disaster-Proof Your Documents
Preparing digitally for Mother Nature’s
wrath is almost as important as stockpiling food and boarding up the windows.
Our primer will help you digitize important personal documents and catalog your
valuables, so you’ll have this essential info
on hand in case of an emergency.
TechMarket
COMPLETE PRODUCT MARKETPLACE GUIDE
113
118
122
124
126
129
Thin-and-Light Notebooks
Motherboards
Internal Hard Drives
Memory
3D-Graphics Cards
Internal DVD Burners
Web Buyer
THE BEST SITES FOR ONLINE SHOPPING
131
131
132
134
134
136
BUYING BASICS
144 How to Buy the Right Wi-Fi Router
Tech Products
Hard Drives and Flash Memory
Budget PCs
Direct PC Vendors
Software
Games
124
Also in This Issue
22
TRENDS
19
Gateway goes upscale with its new line of PCs.
Plus, high-definition DVD hits some snags, and
new wired-networking technologies will compete
against 802.11n wireless devices.
GEAR
22
• Canon PowerShot S3 IS
• NaviPlay Bluetooth Stereo Headset Kit for iPod
• Samsung External Blu-ray Burner
• SanDisk Sansa e270
• SMC Barricade g Wireless Travel Voice Gateway
• Thermaltake Eclipse DV
DEPARTMENTS
23
12
12
138
143
Editor’s Note
Letters
Spotlight
Ad Index
JUNE 2006 VOLUME 26 NUMBER 6 ISSUE 315 Computer Shopper (ISSN 0886-0556) is published monthly, for $24.97 per year in the U.S. and $54.97 per year outside the U.S., by SX2 Media Labs, LLC, 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 100167942. Periodicals Mail postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40009221. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Computer Shopper, P.O. Box 52565, Boulder, CO 80322-2565. Return undeliverable
Canadian addresses to PO Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6. Portions of Computer Shopper are published under license from CNET Networks, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA. Editorial items appearing in Computer Shopper that were
originally published on www.cnet.com, www.download.com, or www.news.com are the copyright property of CNET Networks, Inc. or its suppliers. Copyright © 2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ‘CNET’ is a trademark of CNET Networks, Inc. All
other content Copyright©2006 SX2 Media Labs, LLC. All rights reserved. Permission to use Computer Shopper content is granted on a case-by-case basis. SX2 Media Labs welcomes requests. Please direct inquiries to [email protected].
You may also make phone requests by contacting Reprint Management Services at 717-399-1900. “Computer Shopper” is a trademarks of SX2 Media Labs, LLC.
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
9
EDITOR’S NOTE JANICE CHEN
HERE’S A LITTLE SECRET that the big computer companies
don’t want you to know: Building your own PC is
easier—and cheaper—than you think. All you need
is a modicum of skill and a bit of good advice. That’s
where we come in.
In “Build a Bargain” (p. 64), we recommend all the right parts
and provide a step-by-step guide to assembling a low-cost,
yet capable, PC. We set a price goal of $500 for the whole project, and our total expenditure came in just south of that.
Cheap is good, but we also wanted to construct a PC that
could be upgraded in the future. (One of our
chief complaints with ready-made low-cost
PCs is that they’re often not very upgradable.)
Accordingly, our budget box is configured to
enable you to later boost the RAM, add a performance graphics card, or install a bigger
hard drive.
Whether you’re building today or upgrading tomorrow, this month’s TechMarket guide
provides a budget-spanning overview of current components. Starting on p. 118, you’ll
find comprehensive listings of motherboards,
RAM modules, hard drives, DVD burners, and
LETTERS
LOVE FOR THE LITTLE GUYS
After reading your April 2006 issue,
I had to express my excitement over
your reviews of “lesser brand” laptops
(“Smaller Brands, Bigger Deals,” p. 75).
Finally, a computer magazine that understands that not everyone wants a
Dell! Please, please, please give us more
reviews and information about secondtier PC vendors.
Rick Blunt
HACKERS DON’T DESERVE
THE BAD RAP
In “Detect & Protect” (March, p. 83), you
listed “hackers” right under “crackers”
in your threat list. This is a great misrepresentation of the term “hacker.” Individuals who use their computer knowledge
to abuse, exploit, and damage the system
are “crackers.” The word “hacker” describes someone who finds system exploits and assists in repairing them, often
graphics cards. It’s a great starting point for
determining what you need (and what you
can afford) to customize your build.
Assembling a PC is the ultimate “how-to”
for many of us, but those fascinated by the pure “how” of technology should turn to “The Physics of Today’s Tech” (p. 74). This
feature examines seven core technologies and explains their
complex mechanics in simple terms. If you’ve ever wondered
exactly how optical drives burn discs or how flat panels render
images, this piece is for you.
Finally, it’s almost summer, and I’m gearing up for warm weather and outdoor activities like biking, running, and hiking. If you’re
like me, you probably like to take a little tech
with you when you head outside. In “Hot
Tech for the Summertime” (p. 81), we’ve
rounded up new gadgets that are ideal companions for swimming, working out, hiking,
and even golfing. They’re all optimized for
summer outings, so get up from your PC and
get the most out of the great outdoors.
[email protected]
D
WIN!
A $500 NewEgg.com
Shopping Spree
Go to computershopper.com/survey.
improving
See sweepstakes rules on p. 142.
systems and
software. Unfortunately, hackers continue to be misrepreMORE HELP, PLEASE!
sented as dangers to society when,
I’ve been a Computer Shopper subscriber
in actuality, the best of them are behind
for several years and enjoy the magathe scenes helping to improve the quality
zine very much. You have a knowledgeof our wired world.
Ben Lishman
able staff, and their experience and advice is what draws me to continue to
subscribe. I would like, however, to see
MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
the Help & How-To section increase in
As an avid BitTorrent user, I was surprised
size and scope. Presenting everyday
you did not mention two popular video
questions from everyday people, folplayers in your May issue (“BitTorrent for
lowed by good, understandable advice,
Beginners,” p. 106). VLC Media Player
should be your top priority. Nick Forte
(www.videolan.org) not only handles lots
of file types, but it also lets you add subtitles. Plus, it can also play video files that
We want to hear from you.
W R I T E : Letters, Computer Shopper
are only partially downloaded. You also
missed Media Player Classic [available
from CNET Download.com and other
sources], an easy-to-use app that’s a musthave for video iPod users. Brandon Jacobs
28 E. 28th St., 10th Fl.
New York, NY 10016-7922
E - M A I L : [email protected]
Letters may be edited for length and clarity,
and may be published in any medium.
For subscription service questions, address changes, or to order: Please contact us at www.service.cshopper.com (customer service) or www.subscribe.cshopper.com (to order); Phone: US and Canada (800) 274-6384, elsewhere (902) 563-4752; Mail: Computer Shopper, P.O. Box 52565, Boulder, CO 80322-2565 (please include mailing label, as it contains information that will expedite processing); Fax: (303) 604-0518; E-mail (please include
your full name and the address at which you subscribe; do not send attachments): [email protected]. Subscriptions: The one-year (12-issue) rate is $24.97. Outside the US add $30 per year for surface mail, US funds
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Make checks payable to Computer Shopper. Mail requests to: Back Issues, Computer Shopper, P.O. Box 52565, Boulder, CO 80322-2565. Mailing list: We sometimes make our customer lists available to third parties that may
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12
June 2006 computershopper.com
Coming
Next Month
º
EDITOR IN CHIEF
EDITOR
MANAGING EDITOR
ART DIRECTOR
SENIOR EDITOR
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
NOTEBOOK DURABILITY TEST
Will an accidental drop or an
extended stint in a hot car be
the death of your laptop?
We’ll put five thin-and-light
notebooks through a battery
of torture tests to find out
which makes the hardiest
travel companion.
EDITORS’ TOP TIPS
Whether explaining which products to buy or troubleshooting
hardware and software problems, our editors dole out plenty
of valuable advice every day.
Check in for expert tips and
solutions to your most pressing
tech questions.
STAFF EDITOR
ASSISTANT EDITOR
COPY CHIEF/ASST. MANAGING EDITOR
COPY EDITOR
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Rik Fairlie
Wendy Sheehan
Chris Phillips
Sean Portnoy
Joshua Goldman
Louis Ramirez
Erin Kandel
John A. Burek
Jasmin Malik Chua
Todd Betterley
Chris Gould
CNET REVIEWS
EDITORS
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Jody L. Gianni
Neal Okin
Dino Salee
Colleen Daly
A DV E RT I S I N G S A L E S
EAST COAST SALES MANAGER
DIGITAL-CAMERA
SUPERGUIDE
Summer brings many a photo
op, so we present our annual
digicam extravaganza. Whether
you’re buying your first camera
or upgrading from an older
model, our panoramic guide
to the latest snapshooters will
help you find the best deal.
Janice J. Chen
Steven Goodman
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IL, IN, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, OH, NH, RI, VT, WI,
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EAST COAST NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
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R E G I O N A L S A L E S M A N A G E R Eric Farmer (949) 399-8711
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CA ZIP
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MARKETING
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CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
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V P, B U S I N E S S O P E R AT I O N S
Elizabeth Hill
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Martha Sybert
PRODUCTION
SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER
LAYOUT ADMINISTRATOR
ELECTRONIC PREPRESS SPECIALIST
Jane M. Hazel
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CHAIRMAN
David Sills
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On Newsstands June 13
16 June 2006
computershopper.com
Computer Shopper, 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-7922
Sales Info: 800-999-7467, Editorial: 646-472-3900, Fax: 646-472-3995
Customer Service: 877-214-7390
TRENDS
20 Will Anyone Really Buy
High-Definition DVD Players?
20 Fuel Cells Promise 14-Hour Laptop
Battery Life
20 TV on Cell Phones Is Not Taking Off
22 Gear
UPCOMING TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS
Gateway Goes Platinum
With New Line of Premium PCs
TAKING a cue from rival
Dell’s XPS line, Gateway has
rolled out a premium PC
brand and is considering
expanding the line to cover
more products.
Gateway is selling the
MX6455 notebook for $1,229
under the Platinum Edition
brand at Best Buy. It’s the only
Platinum Edition PC the computer manufacturer currently
has on the market, but Gateway is working to include both
desktops and notebooks, according to
William Diehl, the
company’s vice president of
marketing.
“Platinum is the beginning
of an upscale product line for
Gateway,” Diehl says.
The Platinum Edition
brand was introduced exclusively at Best Buy in late
2005. It’s focused on entertainment, as opposed to
Dell’s focus on raw performance, Diehl says. Purchasing
Restricted Viewing
Have you purchased a
video download?
Yes
9.8%
No
90.2%
a Platinum Edition system
gives buyers access to services offered in partnership
with Best Buy, such as
in-store checkups
Gateway MX6455
and quick responses to
phone support calls.
The MX6455 runs Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and comes with an
AMD Turion ML-37 64-bit
processor, 1GB of memory,
• TRENDSPOTTING
and a DVD burner. It features
an eight-cell battery, rather
than a standard six-cell one,
for improved battery life.
As growth in
the PC market
slows during the
next few years, PC
companies are looking for new ways to
keep their flagship
products hot. Vendors now want to
make more money
on each PC sale,
which means they
have to convince buyers to purchase configurations with more-profitable components.
“Everybody’s going to be
looking at...a way to take
their Toyotas and turn them
into Lexuses,” says Stephen
Baker, an analyst at NPD
Techworld.
News.com
—Tom Krazit
Organic light-emitting
diode (OLED) technology was first
developed to compete with flat-screen
display tech, but
now Epson has created an OLED printhead that can provide an alternative
to laser printers.
The company
claims the new
printhead can currently produce output comparable to
that of laser printers—and, because of
the printhead’s tiny
size, an OLED printer
could be smaller
than today’s lasers.
Epson has not
released any details
on when OLED printers could reach the
market. —Sean Portnoy
Next-Generation Video Streaming Gets Wired
While wireless-networking companies are
readying equipment that supports the fast
speeds of the forthcoming 802.11n Wi-Fi
standard, other companies are pushing wired
home solutions for streaming multimedia.
The Multimedia over Coax Alliance
(MoCA), an industry group promoting
the use of existing wiring for cable-TV
service to deliver high-speed broadband
throughout the home, recently finalized
a specification that determines how the
technology should be implemented. The
organization says its technology supports
speeds up to 270Mbps.
Several companies are already manufacturing products that use MoCA technology,
and Verizon Communications has announced
plans to use MoCA technology to help lower
the cost of its FiOS fiber-optic network
deployments to deliver TV, phone, and Internet service to homes.
Although it’s never made many consumer
inroads in the past, HomePlug Powerline
technology has become another high-speed
wired option. HomePlug products use
electrical wiring to carry Ethernet signals,
turning every electrical outlet into a network jack. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance recently announced the first products
that will support its HomePlug AudioVideo
200Mbps spec, which was designed to
provide enough bandwidth to stream
high-definition video.
—Marguerite Reardon, with S.P.
News.com
Source: Computer Shopper reader survey
19
TRENDS TECH NEWS
High-Def DVD Players: Ready for Prime Time?
movie studios, in an effort to
THE NEXT generation of
combat digital piracy, plan to
DVD players is about to aprelease discs that play their
pear on the market, but one
HD content only if a Highbig question still looms: Will
Definition Multimedia Interanyone actually buy one?
face (HDMI) cable is used to
Factors that may hold
connect the player to an HD
high-definition (HD) DVDs
television (HDTV). But beback include two competing
formats, copyprotection issues, and high
prices. Technology giants
and movie studios are dividSony’s forthcause HDMI ports
ed over whether
coming BDP-S1
have only recently bethe Blu-ray or HD
Blu-ray player
come standard feaDVD format will
tures on most HDTVs, ownemerge as the eventual staners of older high-def sets will
dard. Both technologies offer
have to view content at a
several times the amount of
much lower resolution. Comper-disc storage of current
puter users without support
DVDs—enough to store sevfor High-Bandwidth Digital
eral hours of HD content—
Content Protection (HDCP)
but they’re incompatible.
encryption on their systems
If that isn’t confusing
will also get degraded image
enough for consumers,
quality from new Blu-ray or
HD DVD drives.
Initial high-def DVD devices won’t be cheap, but
that’s not without precedent—first-generation DVD
players weren’t, either. Toshiba’s lower-price HD DVD
player, the HDA1, is priced at
$499, while
Sony’s BDP-S1
Blu-ray player
will cost
$999.95 when
it’s released in July.
The latest gaming consoles ultimately may have
the biggest impact on the
new DVD formats. Sony’s
PlayStation 3, set to debut
later this year, will come
with an internal Blu-ray player, and Microsoft plans to
offer its Xbox 360 console
with an optional external HD
DVD player. —Sean Portnoy
Fuel-Cell Battery Promises 14-Hour Life
STARTUP COMPANY UltraCell has announced a 2.2pound fuel-cell prototype it
claims can power a laptop
for 14 hours. Production
models will be available
in 2007 and cost less
than $500, according to
William Hill, UltraCell’s
vice president of
marketing.
Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into
water and electricity, but
the prohibitive cost of
the technology has kept
them out of most markets. Many researchers,
however, are working to
adapt the technology for
cars, cell phones, and numerous other products.
UltraCell’s systems are
fueled by methanol, which an
element called a “reformer”
converts into hydrogen for the
20
fuel cell to use, Hill says. Customers won’t be able to just
buy a few liters of methanol
and fill up their fuel cells
whenever they run low, however. Instead, UltraCell
will sell fuel
cartridges for less than
$4 apiece, Hill says. The
cartridges can be recycled.
Other companies, such
as Intel, are being more
cautious about rushing
fuel cells to market. The chip
maker and its partners in the
Mobile PC Extended Battery
Life Working Group don’t
expect to see fuel cells in
notebooks anytime soon,
says Kamal Shah, Intel’s representative for the group.
Numerous challenges, such
as distribution and regulatory hurdles, will need to be
cleared before fuel cells
become a reality for most
mainstream notebook users,
and Intel isn’t expecting that
to happen within the decade,
according to Shah. —Stephen
Shankland, with Tom Krazit
UltraCell
UC25
News.com
Cell-Phone
Multimedia
Slow to
Catch On
Americans may not be
as enamored of the
idea of watching television and listening
to music on their cell
phones as mobile
carriers had hoped.
According to a recent survey by RBC
Capital Markets, of
an estimated 1,000
people polled, 75
percent said they
weren’t interested in
watching television on
their cell phones.
Also, 70 percent said
they didn’t see themselves using their cell
phones for musical
entertainment.
The news could
come as a blow to
mobile operators who
have already spent
billions of dollars upgrading their networks
to accommodate new
data services, such as
video and music
downloads.
“I think it’s really
hard for most people
to imagine what the
experience of mobile
TV would even be,”
says Linda Barrabee, a
senior analyst at The
Yankee Group. “Right
now, most people are
using phones that
aren’t even 3G [third
generation] compatible. I think they’ll
have to see how it
can really work and
fit into their lives before they can judge
whether they want it.”
—Marguerite Reardon
News.com
GEAR NEW PRODUCTS
BY ERIN KANDEL
VoIP to go
The perfect companion for business travelers, SMC’s
$129.99 Barricade g Wireless Travel Voice Gateway
provides wireless Internet access so you can make
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls on the road.
Connect this portable device to an existing broadband connection to create a secure 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
hotspot, or use its phone jack to convert an analog
phone into a VoIP handset. SMC Networks,
www.smc.com
Bye, bye blur
Wireless ’phones
Cut those pesky headphone cords with the
$200 NaviPlay Bluetooth Stereo Headset Kit
for iPod from Ten Technology. Listen to your
tunes with these comfy wireless headphones
via the included NaviPlay Bluetooth Adapter,
which plugs right into your iPod. A built-in
microphone also turns the earphones into a
headset for your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone
or PC. Ten Technology, www.tentechnology.com
22
Designed to please casual
point-and-shooters and
veteran shutterbugs alike, the
$499.99 Canon PowerShot S3 IS
features sharp 6-megapixel resolution, a whopping 12x optical
zoom lens, and a lens-shift image-stabilization system to prevent image blurring. Powered
by Canon’s DIGIC II imaging
processor, this capable digicam
can also capture high-quality
VGA movies at 30 frames per
second. Canon U.S.A.,
usa.canon.com
A case of envy
The $249.99 Thermaltake Eclipse DV is a slick aluminum
chassis that can be configured with a transparent side
window to show off your PC’s inner workings. This headturning box also features two silent fans and an LEDilluminated sound-level indicator. Most striking, however,
is its built-in slim DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, which
Thermaltake claims is a first in any bare-bones chassis.
Thermaltake Technology, www.thermaltakeusa.com
Flash phenom
Memory-maker SanDisk takes aim at Apple’s
iPod Nano with its thin, feature-loaded Sansa
e270. This $279.99 digital audio player includes
a record-breaking 6GB of flash memory, a photo- and video-friendly 1.8-inch color screen, and
a durable, scratch-resistant body. Besides an FM
tuner, you also get support for MP3 and protected-WMA files, including tracks from online
subscription services. SanDisk, www.sandisk.com
Blu-ray burns
Samsung embraces next-generation DVD technology with its sleek External Blu-ray Burner.
This living-room-friendly drive can record more
than two hours of high-definition television
(HDTV) programming on a 25GB single-layer
Blu-ray disc, and twice that on a double-layer
disc. Plus, it can handle non-HD burns at 12x and
CD burning at 40x. (Pricing was not set at press
time.) Samsung Electronics, www.samsung.com
23
REVIEWS
THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
ABS Ultimate M6 Sniper
Solid, stable performance—plain and simple
THE ABS ULTIMATE M6 Sniper combines a top-of-the-line
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU with two speedy 256MB GeForce
7800 GTX graphics cards. Although our $4,799 configuration
was no match for PCs
EDITORS’ RATING 7.5
with dual 512MB
GeForce 7800 GTX
0 BETTER >>
10
cards, this unit didn’t
PROS Excellent overall performance;
exhibit any of the stano instability issues; good value for
bility issues we enhigh-end PC
countered with
CONS Noisy fans; no front-, topthose highmounted USB, FireWire ports; 550-watt
er-end PCs.
power supply limits high-end expansion
Plus, though
SPECS 2.6GHz Athlon 64 FX-60; 2GB
it’s still costly, the
DDR; two 74GB hard drives; 500GB hard
Sniper is at least
drive; double-layer DVD±RW; DVD-ROM;
$1,000 cheaper than
19-inch Samsung LCD; two nVidia GeForce
7800 GTX graphics cards (256MB);
other systems in its
Windows XP Professional
class, making it a
ABS Computer Technologies
pretty good deal.
800-876-8088
An imposing black
www.abs.com
tower, the PC has a
Direct Price $4,799
monolithic look that
What’s the Deal?
The ABS Ultimate M6 Sniper may not have the
absolute highest-end components available, but it’s
certainly no performance slouch.
What it’s for: Hard-core 3D gaming or CPU-intensive tasks.
Who it’s for: Gamers and power users who want solid
performance. Average business users will find the
Sniper’s power to be overkill, but those who need severe
number-crunching strength or muscle for developing
digital content (especially audio work) will want one.
What’s included: Standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty, with toll-free phone support and onsite service;
Logitech Wireless Internet Pro keyboard-and-mouse set;
19-inch Samsung SyncMaster 915n LCD; and a software
bundle that includes Microsoft Works Suite 2005, Quicken 2003, McAfee VirusScan 2004, and Ulead PhotoImpact 8.
Extra essentials: 7.1-channel speakers; games.
The bottom line: Its Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU isn’t overclocked, and its pair of graphics cards can be trumped,
but the Sniper is still plenty fast for gamers, featuring
excellent build quality, stable performance, and a healthy
mix of high-performance components.
24
should please gamers. Its heavy, hinged metal door opens to reveal a grille-covered bezel, with a subtly blue-lit cooling fan at
the bottom and plenty of drive bays above. Our unit came with a
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro sound card, which includes
a large external breakout box with easy-access microphone,
headphone, line-in, digital in/out, and MIDI connectors. Plus,
the Sniper’s top-mounted power and reset buttons are easy to
reach if you place the tower on the floor. ABS made an accessibility oversight, however, when it substituted an additional
cooling fan for the pop-up
top panel that normally
hides USB 2.0, FireWire, and
audio ports on other ABS
models that use this case.
In terms of expandability,
you don’t get much room
on the motherboard—only
a single x4 PCI Express slot
is accessible, which is just
as well since the 550-watt
power supply probably
can’t handle many more
components. As is, though,
the config is impressive.
Even though the CPU was
running at the stock
2.6GHz, the Sniper turned
in a scorching 292 on
BAPCo SYSmark 2004. The
PC’s score of 98.4 frames
per second in Doom 3 at
1,600x1,200 resolution was
also striking. —Denny Atkin
CNET.com
The ABS Ultimate M6 Sniper
has no shortage of ports or I/O
connections around back.
in this section
Maxtor Shared Storage Plus Drive
26 DESKTOPS
Polywell Poly MiniBox
Network-attached storage doesn’t get any simpler
900Ax-MCE
MAXTOR’S SHARED Storage Plus, a network-attached-storage (NAS) drive, nearly has it all: handsome packaging, good
performance, easy setup, loads of features, and useful software. The drive
is pricey, however—it’s available in
200GB ($279.95), 300GB ($399.95), and
EDITORS’ RATING
0
7.3
BETTER >>
10
PROS Effortless setup; good performance;
supports UPnP, DLNA media serving; two USB
ports for expansion
CONS Expensive; doesn’t support Gigabit
Ethernet
Maxtor, 877-692-3562
www.maxtor.com
Direct Price $279.95 (200GB); $399.95
(300GB); $499.95 (500GB)
500GB ($499.95) capacities—and it lacks
the Gigabit Ethernet port that would
future-proof it.
Setting up the Shared Storage Plus is
easy. Plug in the power, attach the drive
to your router, browse to the MSHome
workgroup under My Network Places
where it appears, and you’re ready to
go. (Right-click on the drive name
and assign it a drive letter using Map Network Drive if
you want to use it
from Windows
Explorer.)
If you have plans for a home multimedia network, the Shared Storage Plus
can be used as a media server, as well. It
supports Universal Plug ’n’ Play (UPnP)
and complies with Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) specifications, and
can stream audio, video, or photos to any
PC, or to a UPnP- or DLNA-compatible
device.
You can expand the Shared Storage
Drive’s capacity or share additional
drives via its two USB ports. It also
comes bundled with Maxtor Backup
software for backing up data. If the
drive supported Gigabit Ethernet,
we’d judge it almost feature-perfect.
Streaming high-definition video stresses
the capabilities of 10/100Mbps Ethernet,
and because Maxtor has taken the first
step with serving multimedia, we’re
wondering why the company didn’t take
the next, too.
In our tests, the Shared Storage Plus
delivered excellent performance. The
drive bested the competing Iomega
StorCenter 250 by a wide margin and
finished in a virtual dead heat
with another competing drive,
Western Digital’s NetCenter,
a nice but less-feature-laden
NAS drive. The 300GB Shared
Storage Plus drive we tested
(with 16MB of cache) wrote
5GB of data—a mix of file
types—in 23 minutes and 34
seconds, and read the same
files in 21 minutes and 19
seconds.
Maxtor covers the drive
with a one-year warranty.
Toll-free phone support is
available weekdays from
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (ET). You can
also get help at the company’s
Web site in the form of FAQs,
a knowledge base, and software downloads.
—Jon L. Jacobi
CNET.com
33 NOTEBOOKS
Apple MacBook Pro
Acer Aspire 3000
36 COMPONENTS
Canon Pixma MP500 Photo
All-in-One
Honest My IC-TV Media Center
Deluxe
LG GSA-5169D
40 DISPLAYS
ViewSonic VX922
42 HOME NETWORKING
Linksys Wireless-G Router
With SRX200
44 MOBILE PRODUCTS
Asus MyPal A636
46 DIGITAL CAMERAS
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M2
50 DIGITAL AUDIO
Apple iPod Hi-Fi
MPIO One (FG200)
Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio
52 DIGITAL LIVING
D-Link MediaLounge DSM-120
JVC HD-61FH96
54 SOFTWARE
Object Desktop
Winstep Full Pak
Ad-Aware SE 1.06
SpyCatcher 2006
Spy Sweeper 4.5
Spyware Doctor 3.5
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6
CeledyDraw 2
The Maxtor Shared
Storage Plus Drive is a
solid network-storage solution
for data backup or
multimedia streaming.
FlipAlbum 6 Suite
Launch-n-Go 2
PC Doc Pro 3.5
For details on how we test the hardware
we review, visit computershopper.com/
HowWeTest.
25
computershopper.com/reviews
REVIEWS DESKTOPS
Polywell Poly MiniBox 900Ax-MCE
Quiet, small Media Center hindered by CPU, GPU
WE FOUND PLENTY to like about Polywell’s compact, nearsilent Poly MiniBox 900Ax-MCE Media Center—especially that
our $1,299 review unit included a 19-inch LCD (with an 8-millisecond response time) and a set of Creative 5.1-channel surround-sound speakers. Don’t expect it to break any performance
records, however, with its AMD mobile CPU and integrated GPU.
The MiniBox’s unassumEDITORS’ RATING 6.8
ing, small-form-factor
case makes sense in
0 BETTER >>
10
light of Polywell’s suggesPROS Small, attractive; quiettion that you use it as a bedrunning; good package price
room PC. (The case has a front
CONS Weak AMD mobile CPU;
handle so you can easily
integrated graphics
move it to another room.)
SPECS 1.6GHz Turion 64 MoConnections include a full asbile MT-30; 512MB DDR; 300GB
sortment of ports and jacks in
hard drive; double-layer
front and around back, along
DVD±RW; 19-inch Hyundai LCD;
with a media-card reader.
ATI integrated graphics; TV tuner;
Windows XP Media Center EdiExpandability is trickier, howtion 2005
ever. While the MiniBox is
nicely cabled inside, only two
Polywell Computers
800-900-5836
PCI slots, a RAM slot, and a
www.polywell.com
hard drive bay remain unocDirect Price $1,299
cupied. You also get an x16
PCI Express slot for adding a graphics
card, but we’d be wary of overtaxing the 300-watt power supply.
The single-core 1.6GHz Turion 64 Mobile MT-30 processor and
512MB of RAM turned in a low 128 on BAPCo SYSmark 2004.
Although the MiniBox will be competent at its intended media
functions, we’d still prefer a dual-core processor in a Media Center PC. Likewise, gaming performance with the integrated graphics chipset on our 1,024x768 Doom 3 test was only a meek 1.9
frames per second. Video playback looked fine, but it could be
improved by even a low-end dedicated graphics card.
The biggest benefit of the integrated graphics and mobile
chip, however, is cooler operating temperatures, which
enables Polywell to use just one quiet, slow-spinning 120mm
case fan. —Joshua Goldman
EDITORS’ RATING
Power problems dampen top gaming performance
0
7.6
BETTER >>
10
PROS Speedy performance;
VELOCITY MICRO’S Raptor PCs are proven performers, and its
latest DualX is no exception. Driven by AMD’s Athlon 64 FX-60
processor and a pair of powerful GeForce graphics cards, this
pricey ($5,635), overclocked system is built for speed. It couldn’t
quite match the numbers of Falcon Northwest’s Mach V (see the
May issue, p. 24), however, and the DualX crashed when we
played Doom 3 at the highest detail settings. While the crashing problem
isn’t unique to this system (the Mach V
conked out in the same spot), the power-supply issues at its source speak to a
wider problem with high-end systems
that might only get worse.
Velocity Micro offers a variety of cases
for the DualX; ours came in a silver Signature LXe-W packed with choice components such as twin double-layer DVD
burners and a combination media-card
reader/floppy drive. Two USB 2.0 ports,
a FireWire port, and two audio jacks
dot the lower front bezel,
while a healthy
variety of
ports are on
back, including those supwater-cooling system; dual-core
CPU
plied by a Creative Sound
Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
CONS Expensive; power disruption during highest-detail Doom 3
audio card. The interior
gameplay
is well-organized, and
the processor’s liquid-coolSPECS 2.6GHz Athlon 64
FX-60; 2GB DDR; two 500GB
ing assembly helps keep
hard drives; two double-layer
system noise to
DVD±RWs; no monitor; two
a minimum.
nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX graphThe DualX’s
ics cards (512MB); Windows XP
Professional
high-end configuration turned in
Velocity Micro, 800-303-7866
some impressive
www.velocitymicro.com
numbers on our
Direct Price $5,635
performance
tests. It hit a remarkable 289 on BAPCo SYSmark
2004; on our Doom 3 test at 1,024x768, it reached
an incredibly smooth 188 frames per second. Playing Doom 3 at 1,600x1,200 caused the PC to crash,
however. Our investigations unveiled the two
graphics cards as the culprit—they were drawing
too much power from the 600-watt power supply. A
power-supply upgrade for this config
CNET.com
would be in order. —John R. Delaney
SECTION CONTINUES ON PAGE 30
26
REVIEWS DESKTOPS
Budget Linux box is a viable Windows alternative
AT $399.99, THE MIRUS Koobox Multimedia comes very close
to beating our bargain desktop build on p. 64. While anyone entrenched in Windows should probably give this little Linux box a
miss, others will find it a stable, practical choice for basic tasks.
We expected to discover a bunch of no-name parts inside because of the low price. Once we opened up the Koobox’s case,
however, we
uncovered
tidy con0 BETTER >>
10
struction
PROS Good looks; lots of free
and components from Asus,
software; quality name-brand
Kingston, and Seagate. The
components
attractive PC is well-populatCONS Poor multitasking
ed with ports, both in front
performance; lengthy boot time;
and around back, for attach90-day warranty
ing peripherals. Expansion
SPECS 1.8GHz Sempron
space is equally generous,
3000+; 512MB DDR; 160GB hard
with room for more RAM and
drive; double-layer DVD±RW; no
an AGP graphics card.
monitor; S3 integrated graphics;
Because our benchmark
Linspire 5.0
tests are for Windows PCs,
Mirus Innovations
we focused on hands-on
www.koobox.com
testing in lieu of our usual
Direct Price $399.99
battery of tests. The
Koobox’s
performance
was acceptable
for single
tasks, but its
processor and
RAM were, unsurprisingly,
inadequate for
multitasking.
Also, we were
highly disappointed by its interminable boot time, which
averaged 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
In terms of software, the pinnacle of this setup is the highly
configurable (and fun-to-use) Linspire OS. Using its Click-andRun (CNR) feature, you can choose among thousands of free
Linux software titles that install with a single click. If you
change your mind, uninstalling apps is also a one-click job.
Our Koobox came preloaded with a number of titles, along
with free one-year subscriptions to antivirus and spywarekilling programs. You also get a full office-productivity suite.
The Koobox comes with a paltry 90-day parts-and-labor warranty that includes toll-free tech support. An extra $29 bumps
coverage up to a year; three years costs $89. —Joshua Goldman
EDITORS’ RATING
Killer looks outside, bare bones inside
0
OUTSIDE, THE BIOHAZARD Media Center Xpress may look
more like a high-end power amplifier than a computer,
but we expected better-quality components inside considering our review unit’s price of $2,303 (without a monitor or
speakers).
The massive home theater PC case has a set of DVD- and
CD-player controls on the left side
of the front panel.
A vacuum fluorescent display panel
features an equalizer bar and items
such as system
status and
weather.
You’ll
find four USB
2.0 ports, a FireWire
port, and two audio jacks
molded into the left bezel, and
four more USB 2.0 ports and another
FireWire around back. The integrated audio controller provides 7.1-channel sound, which should be more than adequate for most users. Noticeably absent, however, is a media-
30
BETTER >>
6.2
10
PROS Heavy-duty case; lots of
card reader.
storage; quiet operation; multiple
The price doesn’t sync
TV tuners, including HD
with the PC’s older, singleCONS Pricey; lacks high-end
core AMD Athlon 64 3000+
components; weak 3D performance; no media-card reader
CPU and integrated graphics. (Biohazard recently upSPECS 1.8GHz Athlon 64
dated the processor to a
3000+; 1GB DDR; two 250GB
hard drives; double-layer
more reDVD±RW; no monitor; integrated
spectable
nVidia graphics; three TV tuners;
3500+.) The
Windows XP Media Center Edition
company
2005
makes up for
Biohazard Computer Systems
the lackluster
866-424-6727
processing powwww.biohazard-computers.com
er with an ample
Direct Price $2,303
500GB of storage, a dualTV-tuner PCI card, and a high-definition (HD) TV tuner for
receiving over-the-air HD broadcasts.
On our BAPCo SYSmark 2004 tests, the CPU showed its age,
scoring a mediocre 152. And while the desktop was able to
run our Half-Life 2 gaming test at 1,024x768 resolution, its
score of 10.3 frames per second means the game is unplayable
with the onboard graphics. It can, however,
CNET.com
manage its Media Center tasks. —John R. Delaney
REVIEWS NOTEBOOKS
Apple MacBook Pro
Svelte notebook offers style but not battery life
APPLE’S FIRST notebook based on an Intel CPU, the MacBook
Pro resembles the PowerBook G4, and, like its predecessor, is
bound to attract envious stares.
Weighing 5.5 pounds, the sleek MacBook Pro includes welcome additions such as a small remote
for controlling the included Front Row media playEDITORS’ RATING 6.9
er from up to 30 feet away.
0 BETTER >>
10
You also get a built-in iSight
PROS Beautiful, sleek design;
video camera that sits above
illuminated keyboard; big touch
the notebook’s bright, 15.4pad; built-in Webcam; remote
inch, 1,440x900 display. The
control
laptop ships with OS X Tiger,
CONS Non-native software
which includes the cool Spotruns slowly; subpar battery life;
light search utility and Dashmediocre connectivity; only 90
board, a suite of handy deskdays of toll-free tech support
top tools. Our $1,999 base
SPECS 1.83GHz Core Duo;
configuration came equipped
512MB DDR2; 80GB hard drive;
with the 1.83GHz Intel Core
DVD±RW; 15.4-inch TFT; Mac OS
Duo processor, 512MB of
X Tiger
DDR2 RAM, ATI Mobility
Apple Computer, 800-692-7753
Radeon X1600 graphics with
www.apple.com
128MB of dedicated memory,
Direct Price $1,999
a multiformat DVD±RW Su-
perDrive, and an
80GB hard drive
spinning at
5,400rpm.
Although Apple
retooled its software
for compatibility with the
new Intel processor, it also developed a translation program,
Rosetta, that enables older PowerPC-based applications to run on
Intel Macs. The Core Duo processor’s horsepower was only evident when running Apple’s native apps, however—some non-native applications (or apps not yet patched for Intel-based Macs)
ran much slower. Battery life was also disappointing, with the
system powering down after a mere 2.9 hours.
The MacBook Pro falls short on connections, with no mediacard reader, or ports for S-Video or composite video. You do,
however, get an ExpressCard slot, support for the new Bluetooth
2.0+EDR standard, and built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi networking.
We also like the wide touch pad and illuminated keyboard.
Apple backs the MacBook Pro with a one-year warranty,
but toll-free tech support is limited to only 90 days. An
AppleCare Protection Plan can be purchased
CNET.com
to extend the warranty. —Justin Jaffe
Versatile AMD-based laptop tackles media with ease
EDITORS’ RATING
0
IT MAY LOOK like a typical Pavilion notebook, but HewlettPackard’s DV5000z has had some brain surgery—notably, the
replacement of the usual Intel processor with an AMD one.
Running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, our $1,508
test unit came with a 2.2GHz Turion 64 ML-40 processor, 1GB of
DDR SDRAM, 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress graphics, and a 120GB
hard drive spinning
at a sluggish
4,200rpm. The laptop
also featured a 15.4inch wide-screen display, a double-layer
DVD burner that supports LightScribe disc
labeling, integrated
802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth radios, and an extended-life 12-cell battery.
Chock-full of entertainment features, the 6.5-pound
DV5000z handles most media
tasks with ease. (The extended-life
battery adds only $40 to the price, but it
7.6
BETTER >>
10
also raises the PC’s total
PROS Abundant multimedia
weight to 7.4 pounds, makfeatures; LightScribe DVD burner;
plays media files, discs without
ing it less than totable.) You
booting OS
can configure the DV5000z
with one of several ATI
CONS A bit heavy for regular
travel; no TV tuner
graphics chipsets for decent,
if unexceptional, gaming
SPECS 2.2GHz Turion 64
power. The notebook doesn’t
ML-40; 1GB DDR; 120GB hard
have a built-in TV tuner, but
drive; double-layer DVD±RW;
15.4-inch TFT; Windows XP Media
beyond that, you won’t find
Center Edition 2005
much this laptop can’t hanHewlett-Packard, 888-999-4747
dle. We particularly liked
www.hp.com
the ability to play discs
and media files without
Direct Price $1,508
having to boot the OS.
The notebook notched a 203-point score on our
BAPCo MobileMark 2005 benchmark test—almost
the same score its Pentium predecessor
obtained. As for running time, the
DV5000z endured for 5.5 hours
with the extended battery.
HP backs the system with a
one-year warranty, including
CNET.com
24/7 toll-free phone support. —J. J.
33
REVIEWS NOTEBOOKS
Media-ready laptop is fully loaded, but stumbles on gaming
TOSHIBA’S QOSMIO line has always been at the forefront of
laptop technology, and its latest entry, the Qosmio G35-AV600,
proves the company is still a trendsetter.
With virtually every feature you could conceive of in a
portable, this Qosmio offers a 17-inch wide-screen display,
a double-layer DVD±RW drive, an integrated TV tuner, a full
complement of ports and
connections, a rocking pair
of stereo speakers, and an
0 BETTER >>
10
unparalleled set of multiPROS Built-in TV tuner; outmedia controls. Our $2,399
standing speakers; excellent multest model, which included
timedia controls; Core Duo CPU
a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
CONS Subpar gaming perforprocessor, 1GB of DDR2
mance; bulky, heavy; display resRAM, and two 80GB Serial
olution could be higher
ATA hard drives, also
SPECS 1.83GHz Core Duo; 1GB
delivered superb perforDDR2; two 80GB hard drives;
mance in most of our
double-layer DVD±RW; 17-inch
benchmark tests.
TFT; Windows XP Media Center
The only thing lacking
Edition 2005
was strong gaming perforToshiba America, 800-316-0920
mance. Unlike past Qosmios,
www.toshibadirect.com
this one has rather low-end
Direct Price $2,399
nVidia GeForce Go 7300
graphics. As a result, the laptop
fell flat in our gaming tests,
managing only a meager 7.5
frames per second (fps) in
our Doom 3 test.
We also noted a few design downsides. Weighing
a hefty 10.2 pounds,
the Qosmio is
no lightweight,
and while
the keyboard has
large, firm keys, you don’t get a
separate number pad or a touch-pad on/off
button. Also, despite the wide-aspect 17-inch display, its
1,440x900 native resolution isn’t as fine as we would have
liked; competing Dell and HP models offer a superfine
1,920x1,200.
In terms of connectivity, however, the notebook has a comprehensive array that includes an ExpressCard slot, and built-in
802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios. Toshiba also includes a
one-year warranty with at-home repairs and
CNET.com
24/7 toll-free phone support. —Justin Jaffe
Acer Aspire 3000
A low-cost notebook undercut by its battery, specs
EDITORS’ RATING
0
PRICED AT $619, Acer’s Aspire 3000 is one of the least-expensive laptops on the market. It features a 15-inch display and
weighs around six pounds—too heavy for regular travel, but fairly lightweight for a notebook of this size and price. The system
is hamstrung, however, by terrible battery life and measly specs.
Our test unit, the Aspire 3003LCi, featured decidedly bargain-bin components, including a 1.8GHz AMD Sempron 3000+
processor, a meager 256MB of slow (333MHz)
RAM, a small 40GB hard
drive running at a sluggish 4,200rpm, and a
low-end SiS M760GX
graphics chip.
Although it features a
comfortably wide touch pad
and a convenient rocker button for scrolling through documents, the laptop incorporates no multimedia controls
whatsoever. Connections are
limited to one VGA port, one
Type II PC Card slot, a 56Kbps
modem jack, an Ethernet jack,
three USB 2.0 ports, and three audio
34
4.7
BETTER >>
10
PROS Low price; moderately
jacks. Absent are common
lightweight case; big touch pad
connections such as
CONS Dreadful battery life;
FireWire or S-Video ports, or
low-end components; lacks
a flash-memory reader.
FireWire port, media-card reader,
We couldn’t measure the
multimedia controls; support
laptop’s performance unhours not 24/7
plugged because its battery
SPECS 1.8GHz Mobile Sempron
couldn’t last the 90 min3000+; 256MB DDR; 40GB hard
utes it takes to complete
drive; DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo;
our mobile-specific
15-inch TFT; Windows XP Home
Edition
benchmark tests. It consistently died after 70
Acer, 800-571-2237
www.acer.com/us
minutes, which is nearly
two hours less than avMfr. Est. Price $619
erage. It did exhibit
enough muscle in our BAPCo SYSmark 2004 applicationperformance tests, however, to handle basic productivity
tasks such as e-mail and word processing.
Acer backs the system with a one-year warranty, though tech-support hours are
limited to weekdays from 8 a.m.
to 10 p.m. and weekends from
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET).
—Stephanie Bruzzese
CNET.com
REVIEWS COMPONENTS
Honest My IC-TV Media Center Deluxe
TV tuner lacks elegance but gets the job done
IT’S NOT THE MOST polished TV
tuner available for your PC, but if you
need an all-in-one media solution that’s
0 BETTER >>
10
easy to set up, Honest Technology’s
PROS All-in-one media front
$129.99 My IC-TV Media Center Deluxe
end for your PC; easy setup, use
is worth a look.
CONS Clunky proprietary softThe USB 2.0 tuner/video-capture box
ware; recorded video looks soft
comes with a remote control, along
Honest Technology
with a dongle with S-Video and com877-484-6246
posite-video connections. The hardware
www.honestech.com
locks you into using the company’s proMfr. Est. Price $129.99
prietary software, which at times is
clunky, hiding necessary functions in menu trees. Once you get the hang
of the program, though, you can easily move among the various modes.
In addition to letting you record TV programs, the
software organizes your photo, music, and video
files. It also provides easy access to content on
other computers on your home network.
Recorded video looked slightly softer than
the live feed from our cable source, but
the quality was acceptable. And
although you get a choice of two
quality settings for recordings, we
couldn’t discern any difference
between them.
EDITORS’ RATING
Canon Pixma MP500
Photo All-in-One
Loaded MFP delivers on performance
CANON COVERS all its bases with the $199.99
Pixma MP500 Photo All-in-One. This piano-black
multifunction inkjet printer delivers solid printing,
scanning, and copying, plus extras unexpected for
the price, such as a built-in memory-card reader, a
PictBridge port, and duplex printing.
Designed for families and photo hobbyists, the
MP500 has a bright 2.5-inch LCD. The unit connects to
your PC or Mac with a
USB 2.0 cable (not included); wireless print0 BETTER >>
10
ing is also an option,
PROS Excellent photo, text
using Canon’s $79.99
printing; built-in card reader;
BU-20 Bluetooth
PictBridge port; individual ink
adapter.
tanks, including black for text
The printer uses
CONS Mediocre gray-scale
four dye-based inks—
graphics; USB cable not includblack, cyan, magenta,
ed; average scanning speeds
and yellow—as well as
Canon U.S.A., 800-652-2666
a larger pigment-based
usa.canon.com
black-ink tank for
printing text. (The larger black-ink cartridge retails at $16.25, while color
inks are $14.25 each.) Based on Canon’s cartridgeyield numbers, we estimate that a page of black text
will run an affordable 2 cents.
The MP500 printed text at an impressive 7.1 pages
per minute, while a full-page color photo clocked in
at roughly two minutes. Scanning speeds were average, although the unit photocopied our gray-scale
text documents faster than its rivals.
On our graphics test print, curves were smooth and
sharply rendered. We saw banding in gradients, however, especially in gray-scale portions. Our test photo,
which we printed using the driver’s photo settings, delivered excellent color fidelity and detail, with only
slightly cyan-biased skin tones. A downside: The photos from our graphics test rendered skin tones with
too much magenta, and gray tones
CNET.com
with too much cyan. —Jeffrey Fuchs
—Dan Ackerman
5.5
CNET.com
LG GSA-5169D
FIRST
LG’s latest disc burner is a versatile beast, working with every
TAKE DVD format imaginable, including DVD-RAM and both varieties
of double-layer (DL) DVDs. This drive’s true standout feature, however, is
its set of rear A/V ports.
Upside: The $179 GSA-5169D excludes no DVD format from the mix, with
respectable rated write speeds of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 5x
DVD-RAM, 8x DVD+R DL, and 4x DVD-R DL.
On the back of the drive, you’ll find a USB 2.0 interface, plus S-Video,
composite, and stereo inputs. The addition of a One Touch recording button,
located up front, further simplifies the recording process. After connecting
the drive to your PC, plugging in your external video source, and pressing the
One Touch button, the GSA-5169D records to your PC and then to your DVD
format of choice. LG includes CyberLink PowerProducer 2 for playback and
Nero Express for recording.
Downside: Although we like the rear connections and One Touch burning
capability, the GSA-5169D must be connected to your PC to work. We would
have been just as intrigued by a PC-independent drive with similar capabilities.
Outlook: The GSA-5169D looks to be as good as external drives get. Its rear inputs and seamless recording
abilities should make it a no-brainer for anyone
looking to upgrade. —Louis Ramirez
p LG Electronics, 201-816-2000,
us.lge.com
Mfr. Est. Price $179
36
REVIEWS DISPLAYS
ViewSonic VX922
Games shine on fast-response 19-incher, but DVDs don’t
VIEWSONIC’S $495 VX922 has lofty ambitions. Billed as the
fastest LCD on the market, this 19-inch display has a 2-millisecond pixel-response time. In plain English, this specification suggests the display should deliver clear, smooth playback of movies and video games. We agree that games look
stellar on this screen, but frequent movie watchers may be
disappointed.
We tested the VX922 at its native resolution of 1,280x1,024.
With games, colors looked vivid, showing a high level of detail, and we saw smooth movement and no ghosting. DVD
playback, however, failed to
impress. A lot of digital
noise was apparent in back0 BETTER >>
10
grounds, and we also detectPROS Good gaming perfored some streaking and
mance; includes analog, digital
ghosting.
cables
When displaying multiple
CONS Unimpressive DVD,
levels of gray in our Displaygray-scale performance; minimal
Mate-based tests, the VX922
adjustability
showed erratic shifts in inViewSonic, 888-881-8781
tensity from one level to the
www.viewsonic.com
next. In some test screens,
Mfr. Est. Price $495
pure white had a distinctly
yellow tint, and the
picture shifted dramatically in intensity and hue depending on the
viewing angle. We
also noticed
slight irregularities in color
performance, including blue tints in
reds and red tints in
blues, as well as
beat patterns
(visible flutter) at
the dark ends of the
spectrum.
Another small gripe: The VX922 isn’t very adjustable.
You can tilt the panel backward and forward, but it lacks a portrait/landscape mode, height adjustability, and a swivel function. We did appreciate, though, that ViewSonic includes both
analog and digital cables—a nice touch, considerCNET.com
ing many manufacturers don’t. —Kristina Blachere
Budget LCD overflows with features
A flexible screen with slick design
FOR A COMPETITIVELY low $279, the
Dell UltraSharp 1707FP delivers great
image quality, an eye-pleasing design,
and all the adjustability you could wish
for, including a screen that pivots. This
17-inch do-it-all LCD also features four
USB ports, analog and digital connections, and an audio input.
Tested at its 1,280x1,024 native resolution, the 1707FP was
an excellent performer. DVD playback looked better than
average, partly due to the panel’s quick 8-millisecond pixelresponse time. We noted flaws only in the display’s grayscale rendering, which showed traces of pink, green, blue,
and brown tints.
Because the monitor is slightly top-heavy, the panel wobbles
0 BETTER >>
10
when you make small adjustPROS
Great
image
quality;
ments. (It never felt in danger of
highly adjustable; analog, digital
tipping over, however.) Four
connections; four USB ports
small buttons on the front bezel
CONS Subtle color-tracking
control the onscreen menu sys-
THE DESIGNERS at Samsung
must have been channeling
Apple when they created the
0 BETTER >>
10
SyncMaster 970P. Stylish
PROS High-quality image;
and highly desirable, this
attractive design; flexible base,
$459.99 LCD offers the right
neck
combination of looks and
CONS No control buttons;
performance.
mediocre video performance;
Tested at its native
neck hinge not rigid enough
1,280x1,024 resolution, the 19Samsung, 800-726-7864
inch display delivered sharp,
www.samsung.com
easy-to-read text. Colors were
Mfr. Est. Price $459.99
also bright and changed hues
uniformly. Gamers will appreciate the 970P’s crisp backgrounds, but not its video-playback performance, which is
marred by overexposure.
The amazingly acrobatic monitor swivels 180 degrees from left
to right and offers nearly six inches of height adjustment. You
can also rotate the panel from landscape to portrait mode. The
panel is too heavy for its hinge, however,
and kept slipping downward in our tests.
The 970P features digital and analog
inputs. Although setup was a breeze, you’ll
need to install Samsung’s included MagicTune software to make any visual adjustments—the display lacks
CNET.com
control buttons. —J.F.
tem, which is simple and
straightforward. We wish the
screen had dedicated buttons
for adjusting brightness and
contrast, howevCNET.com
er. —Jeffrey Fuchs
40
errors in gray scales; slightly
wobbly; no brightness, contrast
buttons
Dell, 800-999-3355
www.dell.com
Direct Price $279
REVIEWS HOME NETWORKING
Linksys Wireless-G Router
With SRX200
Value-price MIMO router can’t go the distance
IF YOU REQUIRE more throughput and range
than what standard 802.11b/g routers provide, but don’t need to cover the entire
neighborhood with a signal, the $99
Linksys Wireless-G Router With
SRX200 can save you some cash
while still offering decent multiple
input, multiple output (MIMO) performance. The router uses only two antennae, however, so it can’t compete with
pricier three-antenna MIMO speed demons.
The router’s setup wizard is nicely rendered and
thorough. If you’ve used
a router before, you can
jump straight to the intu0 BETTER >>
10
itive HTML-based configuraPROS Better performance than
tion program to change set802.11g routers; extensive security
tings such as your workoptions; generous warranty
group, password, and secuCONS Disappointing long-range
rity levels. The device offers
performance; not covered in
all
the standard security opLinksys knowledge base
tions we’ve come to expect
Cisco Systems, 800-546-5797
from routers: Wi-Fi Protectwww.linksys.com
ed Access 2 (WPA2) encrypMfr. Est. Price $99
tion, a stateful packet
inspection
(SPI) firewall,
a Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
server, and
virtual private
network (VPN)
pass-through.
The router scored
on the low end of MIMO
devices in our performance
tests, but it held its own on
our maximum-throughput and
mixed-mode tests. Its long-range throughput of 13.8Mbps,
however, was especially disappointing, and the Linksys
router trailed Belkin’s competing two-antenna Wireless-G
Plus MIMO router in each of our tests.
Linksys covers the router with a generous three-year warranty, including 24/7 toll-free support by phone. The company’s
Web site offers support via live chat and useful background information on networking in general, but a quick search in the
site’s knowledge base failed to turn up any
CNET.com
mentions of this particular router. —Jon L. Jacobi
A tiny, secure companion for your trips
A MIX OF great design, performance, support,
and affordability, Belkin’s $69.99 Wireless G Travel Router is an obvious choice for business travelers who need Wi-Fi connectivity on the road.
The lightweight router, about the size of a
large pad of Post-its, also works as a wireless
access point or adapter. It draws power from
a wall plug or a USB power adapter (both are
included) and resembles a full-size router
that’s been zapped by a shrinking ray. Its 2inch-long, side-mounted antenna feels flimsy enough to be snapped off if you’re not
careful, however.
The device includes most of the
security features of a full-size
router, including a network address translation (NAT) firewall, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi
Protected Access (WPA)
encryption, and virtual
private network (VPN) pass-
42
EDITORS’ RATING
7.1
0 BETTER >>
10
through. It lacks Media
Access Control (MAC) adPROS Tiny; full range of security
options; lifetime warranty
dress filtering, however.
The Travel Router’s
CONS Fragile antenna; runs a
throughput of 17.8Mbps at
bit warm; slower than some
competitors
a 10-foot range in our
tests is adequate for its
Belkin, 800-223-5546
www.belkin.com
intended use in hotel
suites and boardDirect Price $69.99
rooms. It
clocked 14.3Mbps in a mixed 802.11b/g environment and 5.8Mbps
at 200 feet, placing it behind two
more expensive mobile routers,
3Com’s Travel Router and
Apple’s AirPort Express. The
only grouse we have regarding
the router’s operation is that it
runs a bit warm.
Belkin offers a lifetime warranty
and toll-free 24-hour
CNET.com
telephone support. —J.L.J.
REVIEWS MOBILE PRODUCTS
Asus MyPal A636
PDA/GPS combo is a mediocre performer
A LONG-LIVED PDA with a built-in GPS receiver, Asus’
$599 MyPal A636 delivers precise directions but performs
rather sluggishly.
Measuring 4.8x2.8x0.7 inches and weighing 6.5 ounces, the
A636 fits well in your hand, although it’s a little chunkier and
heavier than competing products. The PDA has a SDIO/MultiMediaCard expansion slot, plus a swiveling 1.75-inch antenna
sticking out its side. Its 3.5EDITORS’ RATING 5.8
inch, 240x320 color screen
was too small to read while
0 BETTER >>
10
driving, but spoken direcPROS Excellent integration of
tions were accurate, and the
GPS into a PDA; good-sounding
device’s speaker was surspeaker; excellent battery life;
prisingly
loud and clear.
includes Bluetooth, Wi-Fi; runs
Powered by Intel’s 416MHz
Windows Mobile 5
XScale processor and 64MB
CONS Thicker, heavier than
of
RAM, the A636 also has
competitors; screen is too small for
viewing driving directions; included
built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi and
256MB SD card holds few maps;
Bluetooth radios.
no map updates at press time
The A636 runs Microsoft’s
Asustek Computer
Windows Mobile 5 OS and
502-995-0883
comes bundled with basic
usa.asus.com
organization software, along
Direct Price $TKTK
with Destinator Technolo-
gies’ route-planning
app and nine regional
maps. The maps were
spot-on, offering directional tools, plenty of
detail, and preprogrammed points of interest. Maps must be
installed on an SD card,
however, and you won’t
be able to load many on
the included 256MB
card. At press time, neither Asus nor Destinator provided map updates for new roads or
construction.
Performance was spotty in places. In terms of navigation,
we were impressed by how quickly the A636 was able to lock
onto satellites and plot our position. As a PDA, the device is a
midrange performer that delivered reliable service over a
week of daily use but scored mediocre marks in our lab tests.
Battery life was excellent, however, lasting
CNET.com
nearly nine hours on a charge. —Brian Nadel
Capable smartphone stumbles on call quality, form factor
EDITORS’ RATING
0
DESPITE ITS BULK and inconsistent call quality, the Cingular
8125 Pocket PC provides powerful tools for the mobile professional. It costs $349.99 (before rebate) with a two-year service
contract.
Measuring 4.3x2.3x1 inches and weighing 5.2 ounces, the
smartphone is thick and heavy, making it less travel-friendly
than most of its competition. And
although its 2.8-inch TFT screen
displays bright, vibrant colors, it’s
also prone to smudges and fingerprints. For navigation, the
phone is equipped with five
shortcut keys and two soft keys
right by the screen. You also get
a spacious QWERTY keyboard
that slides out from beneath
the display.
The 8125 features a 200MHz
Texas Instruments OMAP 850
processor, 128MB of SDRAM,
and a MiniSD-card slot. An integrated 1.3-megapixel camera produces above-average
pictures and offers video-
44
BETTER >>
6.7
10
recording capabilities. BePROS Slide-out QWERTY
sides a speakerphone, the
keyboard; four forms of wireless
connectivity; speakerphone
quad-band world phone
function; excellent battery life;
also has four forms of
runs Windows Mobile 5
wireless connectivity:
CONS Clunky, heavy; uneven call
Bluetooth, 802.11b Wi-Fi,
quality; screen smudges easily
EDGE, and infrared. It supCingular Wireless, 888-333-6651
ports synchronization with
www.cingular.com
Outlook and Microsoft ExDirect Price $349.99 (with
change Server, and can actwo-year service contract, before
cess POP3 or IMAP e-mail
rebate)
accounts.
Because the 8125 runs Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5, you
can open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents without
trouble. Plus, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile enables it to
play AAC, AMR, MP3, WAV, and WMA music files, along with
MPEG-4 video.
Call quality was mixed in our tests. While calls sounded loud
and clear on our end, callers often had difficulty hearing us. The
speakerphone, which you can activate only once you’re on a call,
was also mediocre—conversations were a bit garbled, and we had
to jack up the volume to hear. The 8125 does have outstanding
talk-time battery life, however, lasting 10 hours
CNET.com
and 40 minutes in our drain test. —Bonnie Cha
REVIEWS DIGITAL CAMERAS
Cute camera, but less-charming photos
CASIO’S $349.99 Exilim EX-S600, a versatile 6-megapixel ultracompact, may
entice those looking for a friendly, stylish
0 BETTER >>
10
camera, but its image quality is strictly
PROS Ultracompact, colorful
mediocre.
design; lots of scene modes
Available in blue, orange, and silver, the
CONS Mediocre photo quality;
camera is scarcely larger than a stack of
no true burst mode; poor LCD
credit cards. You get a whopping 35 scene
visibility in bright light
modes
to handle a wide range of shootCasio, 800-836-8580
ing situations. The camera also offers sevwww.casio.com
eral different movie-shooting modes.
Performance and image quality were
middle-of-the-road. Notably, the camera lacks a burst mode, and the
LCD’s viewability proved less than satisfactory under bright sunlight.
Colors popped in our test images, and the red-eye-prevention preflash
worked well, but overall the camera’s
picture quality is fair to poor. Shots taken under typical conditions didn’t look
very sharp, and a combination of poor
focus and compression artifacts made
our test photos look more
CNET.com
like paintings. —D.D.B.
EDITORS’ RATING
Sony
Cyber-shot
DSC-M2
Decent snaps, video in
a compact hybrid cam
WITH GENERALLY good image quality and a big,
bright LCD fit for outdoor use, the Sony Cybershot DSC-M2, a hybrid still camera/camcorder, is
a surprisingly good point-and-click snapshooter.
That assumes, however, that you’re willing to
pay $499.95 for a 5-megapixel camera with few
manual controls, just a 3x zoom, and no bundled
memory card.
This 8-ounce camera features a 2.5-inch flip-out
LCD that rotates 270 degrees, so you can use it for
self-portraits, waist-level shots, and overhead
viewing. Only the most basic controls are readily
accessible with one
hand, however. All
the other controls
0 BETTER >>
10
reside on the LCD side
PROS Camera, camcorder
of the camera, thus
functions in compact package;
requiring two hands
bright, 2.5-inch rotating LCD;
to operate.
fast burst mode
The DSC-M2’s
CONS Awkward to use; few
performance as a
manual controls; significant
still camera was
image noise
mixed. It fired up and
Sony Electronics, 877-865-7669
captured its first shot
www.sonystyle.com
in just 1.6 seconds,
but it slowed to 2.8
seconds between shots (3.6 seconds with flash).
The lightning-fast burst mode captured four fullresolution pictures in only 1.2 seconds. Shutter lag
under high-contrast lighting was an outstanding
0.2 second, slowing to 0.9 second in low-contrast
conditions.
The device produced attractive photos and
movies. (The movie mode delivers the basics: video
clips at up to 640x480 resolution and 30 frames per
second with stereo sound, plus the ability to use the
optical zoom while shooting.) Colors looked neutral
and pleasing, especially in the flesh tones. We did
note, however, that exposures showed lots of blown
highlights and compression artifacts, as well as excessive noise, visible even at lower
CNET.com
ISO speeds. —David D. Busch
6.4
Poky shooter craves daylight
THE 6-MEGAPIXEL Panasonic Lumix
0 BETTER >>
10
DMC-LZ5 includes optical stabilization
for its large 6x zoom lens, features nuPROS 6x zoom lens with optical
image stabilization; pleasing shots
merous ways to control image capture,
under good lighting
and fares moderately well in bright
CONS Mediocre performance;
environments. But the $279.95 camera
poor low-light image quality
offers no manual-exposure modes and
is plagued by poor performance and
Panasonic, 800-405-0652
www.panasonic.com
average photo quality.
The DMC-LZ5 takes a long 3 seconds
to wake up and has a lengthy shutter
lag of about a second. Shooting feels even more sluggish at telephoto
distances—the autofocus takes a long time to lock onto simple targets.
The camera’s mediocre 2.6-second shot-to-shot time doubles to an even
worse 5.2 seconds when using the built-in flash. Continuous-shooting
performance fares better, however.
Image quality in good light is the DMC-LZ5’s strength. Well-lit shots
have a pleasing look, with
natural, accurate color rendition and few JPEG-compression artifacts. The image sensor is extremely noisy at high
sensitivities, however, making low-light shots all but
impossible. —Shams Tarek
CNET.com
46
REVIEWS DIGITAL AUDIO
Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio
Earbuds lack big bass but sound great
ULTIMATE EARS’ no-frills Super.fi 3
Studio in-ear headphones deliver sharp,
balanced audio for a reasonable $99.99.
0 BETTER >>
10
Available in white, black, or clear,
PROS Noise-isolating earbuds;
the
earphones come with a soft leather
accurate sound for a reasonable
price; comfortable, secure fit
case, a cleaning pick, and six interchangeable silicon-and-foam ear tips
CONS Cable too short for tall
that conform to the shape of your ear
users; bass lacks impact
canal, effectively blocking out ambient
Ultimate Ears, 866-837-7734
noise. After stuffing
www.ultimateears.com
the tips into your
Direct Price $99.99
ears, you loop a flexible
wire over each ear to keep the earbuds from falling off.
Although the ear loops worked well, we found the
main 46-inch cable too short for taller users.
Never too bass-heavy, the headphones’ relatively flat response beautifully balanced crisp
high and midrange frequencies with subtle low-end notes. You may find rap or
electronic music lacking in thump, but
rock, jazz, classical, and folk
CNET.com
sounded sweet. —Tim Gideon
EDITORS’ RATING
Apple iPod Hi-Fi
Speaker system has its highs and lows
THE $349 APPLE iPod Hi-Fi portable stereo speaker
system is well-built and produces great sound, but
its cost and a few design gotchas keep it from being
a ground-breaking product.
Measuring 6.6x17x6.9 inches (HWD), the minimalist Hi-Fi has a white plastic body and a sleek, boxy
design. Although the body has two built-in handles
and can operate on six
D-cell batteries (not inEDITORS’ RATING 7.3
cluded), it’s better suit0 BETTER >>
10
ed for stationary use
PROS Sleek design with builtbecause it weighs 14.5
in power brick; responsive conpounds (16.7 pounds
trols; includes dock adapters,
with batteries inremote; good overall sound
stalled). A power brick
quality
is built in, so you only
CONS Expensive; too bulky
need to plug in the infor travel; remote has limited
cluded 9.5-foot cable.
functionality; no jacks for
subwoofer, video line out
Any iPod can dock
with the Hi-Fi, using
Apple Computer, 800-692-7753
www.apple.com
one of 10 included
adapters, via the builtDirect Price $349
in dock atop the system. (Docking also powers and recharges the iPod.)
Highly responsive touch-sensitive volume buttons
lie directly in front of the dock.
The Hi-Fi has a dual analog/digital audio input
on the back panel, but it lacks some key ports, including a subwoofer output, a dock-connector output, and a video line-out jack. You do get a tactile
remote that’s easy to operate, but it doesn’t allow
for full control of the iPod.
In our tests, audio quality was clean, though
some material sounded tinny and distorted at low
volume levels. When played outdoors at its highest
volume, the Hi-Fi sounded sharp and lasted for 6
hours on battery power.
Overall, the Hi-Fi is an excellent one-piece
system, but it’s only marginally better than
its less expensive iPod-speaker
CNET.com
competition. —James Kim
50
7.7
MPIO One (FG200)
Video-friendly player is simply too small
THE MPIO ONE (FG200) may be an atEDITORS’ RATING 6.0
tractively designed flash-memory media
player, but it’s too tiny for our tastes.
0 BETTER >>
10
The FG200 is available in 256MB, 512MB,
PROS
Audio/video
playback
in
a
and 1GB capacities, at $139, $159, and $199,
featherweight package; FM tuner;
respectively. All versions are extremely
records FM radio, line-in signal,
light and small, weighing only 1.2 ounces
voice
and measuring 1.2x2.2x0.5 inches. The
CONS Tiny screen; balky videocompactness comes at a price, however.
conversion software; inelegant
While the player’s 1-inch OLED screen is
controls
sharp and bright, it’s just not big enough
MPIO North America
for comfortable viewing. Also, we found
866-367-6746
the controls frustrating to use at times.
www.mpioamerica.com
The device is packed with features,
Direct Price $139 (256MB);
including an
$159 (512MB); $199 (1GB)
FM radio and
recorder, a line-in recorder, and a voice recorder.
It supports playback of MP3, OGG, WMA, and
protected-WMA music files, along with JPEG
images and MPEG-4 video. You have to convert
other video formats using the included transcoding software; in our tests, it didn’t always work
properly.
Sound quality was decent in our tests. So was the
battery life—we squeezed out about 13 hours per
charge with music playback, and 6
CNET.com
hours with video playback. —Troy Dreier
REVIEWS DIGITAL LIVING
Picture-perfect plasma set comes with few extras
PANASONIC’S TH-42PHD8UK may lack speakers, a stand, or
many inputs, but this $2,995 42-inch plasma television’s excellent black-level performance, clean video processing, and
customizable inputs with individual memory are a boon to
those willing to overlook its sparse feature set.
While the display’s native resolution of 1,024x768 technically isn’t enough to fully resolve 720p high-definition television (HDTV), it’s as high as you’ll find on most 42-inch HDTV
plasmas. Because it’s meant for business and professional
use, the plasma doesn’t come with a built-in tuner. (You can
hook it up to an external
tuner, such as a cable or
satellite box, though.)
0 BETTER >>
10
The TH-42PHD8UK’s limitPROS Reproduces deep blacks;
ed connectivity doesn’t inaccurate color temperature;
clude a component-video or
independent memory per input
High-Definition Multimedia
CONS Doesn’t include stand,
Interface (HDMI) port. With
speakers, tuner; no HDMI,
the exception of the fixed
component-video inputs
VGA input, however, all the
Panasonic, 800-211-7262
set’s inputs are built into rewww.panasonic.com
movable boards that fit into
List Price $2,995
three slots behind the
screen, enabling you to add or remove inputs at will.
Convenience features include a versatile picture-in-picture
mode, along with independent input memories for ease of calibration with various sources. We were able to nudge the gray
scale even closer to the standard via a menu-based control for
fine-tuning color temperature.
The TH-42PHD8UK is among the best-performing plasmas
we’ve seen. Deep, convincing blacks, tons of detail in dark
portions of the picture, and extremely accurate color temperature (especially post-calibration) contribute
CNET.com
to a highly satisfying picture. —Philip Ryan
D-Link MediaLounge DSM-120 JVC HD-61FH96
Audio streamer is storage-savvy
Huge LCoS set excels at HDTV
THE VERSATILITY of the $179.99 D-Link MediaLounge Wireless Music Player (DSM-120) makes
this digital media receiver worth considering for
streaming digital audio, video, and images from
networked PCs and the Internet.
The player can stream tunes wirelessly from
your PC to a stereo system via built-in 802.11g, or
you can connect an MP3 player via its USB 2.0 port.
The MediaLounge is also one of the first players to
allow you to install a 2.5-inch hard drive to store tracks locally.
In addition to MP3s, the MediaLounge supports WAV and
WMA files, including rights-protected WMAs available from online music stores. It can’t play AAC files, such as those purchased
from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, however. Internet-radio support
is limited to Live365.com’s serEDITORS’ RATING 6.8
vice, and the device doesn’t
support the Rhapsody sub0 BETTER >>
10
scription service.
PROS Streams audio from netWireless performance was
worked PCs; room for optional
a mixed bag—we encounhard drive; plays rights-protected
tered frequent dropouts in
WMAs
one of our three test locaCONS Can’t play AAC files; no
tions. Performance was rockRhapsody support
solid at the other two sites,
D-Link, 800-326-1688
however. —Nathaniel Wilkins
A 61-INCH 1080p rear-projection set using Liquid Crystal
on Silicon (LCoS) technology,
0 BETTER >>
10
the $4,500 JVC HD-61FH96
PROS 1080p resolution;
handles high-definition televidisplays relatively deep blacks;
sion (HDTV) with aplomb. Its
two HDMI ports
performance with standardCONS Mediocre standarddef sources, however, leaves
definition performance
something to be desired.
JVC Company of America
The display has a native
800-526-5308
resolution of 1,920x1,080,
www.jvc.com
which means it can resolve
Mfr. Est. Price $4,500
every pixel of 1080i HD
sources. Plus, it offers an ATSC digital tuner and CableCard along
with a plethora of connections, including two High-Definition
Multimedia Interface (HDMI) digital inputs.
The HD-61FH96’s overall image quality was very good. Although its black levels were not the deepest we’ve seen, they
were dark enough for us to view content comfortably with the
lights out. The screen presented detailed and clean HD images, but standard-definition sources were marred
by slow film-cadence sensing (making fine detail occasionally twitter or
shimmer), along with jaggies when it
displayed diagonals.
www.dlink.com
52
CNET.com
EDITORS’ RATING
—Gary Merson
7.7
CNET.com
REVIEWS SOFTWARE
Custom-Designed Windows
Personalize your Windows desktop with these two apps
NO TWO USERS organize their Windows desktops in exactly
the same way. Why should you be forced to use a desktop that
looks and feels exactly like everyone else’s? Desktop-enhancement software can change all of that, letting you tailor your
Windows environment to suit your personal and work needs.
We checked out two such customization packages: Stardock’s Object Desktop and Winstep Software Technologies’
Winstep Full Pak. Neither is perfect, but both offer a host of options for customizing the Windows interface, giving you a fine
degree of control over your desktop’s organization and display.
stall, and remove desktop items and other features can intimidate new users. Stardock doesn’t provide a unified manual
for the suite, but you can print out the utilities’ individual
help files. Some of these include full-color images and elaborate descriptions; others employ brief descriptions in outline
form with no images. Some don’t supply any help at all.
WINSTEP FULL PAK
Organizing your Windows desktop comes down to this:
Whether ’tis nobler to have a cluttered workspace, taskbar,
and system tray, or to hide everything away and hope you
can find it all when needed. Winstep Full Pak provides inOBJECT DESKTOP
triguing alternatives via its two main applications, NextStart
Stardock’s Object Desktop (OD) is a suite of 18 desktopand WorkShelf. NextStart combines elements of the Winenhancement tools, not a single overarching program. You
dows task list, Start menu, and system tray, while WorkShelf
won’t find one unified download that includes all the utilicreates a shelf-based toolbar and adds a variety of useful
ties; instead, Stardock grants download access to the latest
single-function modules, such as a CPU-activity meter and a
versions of
talking POP3 e-mail checker. Both are easy to learn and inteits various
grate themselves well into your PC upon installation, so you
tools
don’t have to do things like reestablish links on your new
(roughly
taskbar.
200MB for
Creating new menus and shelves, or reconfiguring old
the full
ones, is relatively easy. The Preferences screen lists main
suite).
configuration categories. Though a lot of information is
OD decrammed
livers lots
onto the
of power
Preferfor changences
ing Winscreens,
dows’ look.
all screen
IconPackObject Desktop lets you download thousands of
replacements for your Windows desktop.
elements
ager apare clearly
plies bundles of icons you create with the IconDeveloper
identified
component, while IconX enhances their appearance.
and disRightClick enables you to replace the standard Windows
cussed in
right-click menus with ones you design, and WindowBlinds
the excellets you change many standard Windows objects: push and
lent user
radio buttons, the title bar, the Start bar, and borders. Theme
guides.
Manager displays all the downloaded or created elements
WorkShelf’s taskbar shelves give you access to more You’ll
from the other tools; the tool lets you pick and choose
information, organized rationally.
also find
among them. For those who don’t want to create from
some first-rate design tutorials that are thorough and literscratch, Stardock’s thousands of ready-made downloads will
ate, but note that the apps lack standard help files with
get you started.
indexed subjects.
The tool interfaces are a mixed bag. Those intended for
Unlike OD’s emphasis on visual effects, Winstep Full Pak
design, such as SkinStudio, aren’t novice-friendly, but they
concentrates on improving the way Windows displays and
provide clear tutorials or link to some online. In contrast,
organizes information. Still, both of its main apps come with
OD’s download-and-run
Product Summary
a set of 13 display themes that
tools, such as WindowObject Desktop
Winstep Full Pak
enable you to change fonts,
Blinds and IconPackager,
EDITORS’ RATING
7.0
7.5
colors, angles, and the like.
are virtually self-explanaPROS
Well-made online tutorials;
Integrates easily into Windows;
You can create further themes
tory. Overall, though, the
huge variety of desktoplow learning curve; excellent
or add third-party ones, as
tools lack a unified interface
element downloads
user guides, design tutorials
well. A third app, FontBrowser,
style, and tool tips are nearCONS
No unified interface; help
Cluttered Preferences screens;
manages your PC’s fonts and
ly nonexistent.
systems are inconsistent
no indexed help files
The mix of components
not much else. It’s nonetheless
COMPANY
Stardock
Winstep Software Technologies
www.stardock.com
www.winstep.net
and the multiple ways to crea useful, if small, addition.
DIRECT PRICE
$49.95
$39.90
ate, browse, download, in—Barry Brenesal
54
REVIEWS SOFTWARE
Destroying Digital Assailants
These five handy apps will send spyware packing
WWW
Want a comprehensive look
SPYWARE MAY HAVE surpassed viruses to become the most
serious threat to your online identity, not to mention your PC’s
health. Luckily, plenty of apps are on the market today to keep
pace with the problem. Here are our top five recommendations.
AD-AWARE SE 1.06
Ad-Aware SE 1.06, the latest version of Lavasoft’s popular and
venerable spyware blocker, continues to meet the high standards Ad-Aware is known for. Of the spyware-fighting software
we tested, Ad-Aware SE came out tops in overall performance
and eliminated virtually everything we threw at it. While this
is impressive in itself, the app also surpasses previous versions
in terms of usability, speed, and features.
Ad-Aware SE Personal will quarantine and remove spyware
on your PC at no cost. Ad-Aware SE Plus ($31.95 boxed version;
$26.95 download) adds real-time protection, automatic updates, and a pop-up blocker. Support is a sore point,
though: You don’t get e-mail tech support with the
free version, and Lavasoft’s online support area is
underwhelming, to say the least.
SPYCATCHER 2006
Tenebril’s SpyCatcher 2006 tested very well,
achieving top honors for spyware and adware removal, and ranking third for overall performance. A
scaled-back free version, SpyCatcher Express, has the
same spyware-blocking technology as the $29.95-per-year SpyCatcher 2006, but it lacks the paid version’s Hosts File Analyzer
and its ability to police phishing activity. If you can live without
these features and don’t mind checking for updates manually,
however, the free SpyCatcher Express is an excellent choice.
The app distinguished itself by identifying almost every variety of spyware we used in our tests, including one most of the
others consistently missed. At the end of its scan-and-removal
process, it left behind only one app, BargainBuddy, along with a
trace element of Search Exe. The program offered scant information about the specific apps it removed, however.
our tests, but it placed fourth in
at Internet security suites?
See “Detect & Protect” at
overall performance alongside
computershopper.com/
PC Tools’ Spyware Doctor.
detectandprotect.
A 30-day trial is available, but
the free version will not remove
any spyware it detects. Unlike the other free apps, however, almost all of Spy Sweeper’s functions can be automated—a big plus.
Spy Sweeper’s built-in, context-sensitive help system is very
complete. If you still have questions, Webroot offers useful online help, including e-mail tech support and an extensive FAQ.
SPYWARE DOCTOR 3.5
The $29.95-per-year Spyware Doctor 3.5 from PC Tools features a
sleek, easy-to-use interface backed by one of the most aggressive
spyware-identification engines in the business. It was near the
top of the group at removing known
spyware and tied for fourth place
with Webroot’s Spy Sweeper for
overall performance. Like Spy
Sweeper, however, the trial
version identifies but doesn’t
eliminate spyware.
A suite of system tools,
OnGuard, manages cookies
while guarding against changes to
browser, startup, and network configurations. It also defends against illicit dialer and key-logger
programs, and immunizes your PC against rootkits. We found
category and tool descriptions poorly written, however, and the
help system lacked directions for the OnGuard tools.
ZONEALARM ANTI-SPYWARE 6
Zone Labs, long respected for its excellent free firewall software, now turns its attention to fending off spyware.
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 ($29.95 for one year of updates)
uses its firewall technology to fortify your PC with a deep level
of protection. Until the app familiarizes itself with your computer, however, it requires a significant amount of intervention
by you. On the other hand, new users will find the interface
easy to master. System scans are also very fast.
ZoneAlarm did very well in our tests, removing most
known spyware. While it was second only to Lavasoft in
overall performance, its tech support, like Ad-Aware’s, was a
letdown. The integrated help sysREVIEWS BY
CNET.com
tem is fairly thorough, however.
SPY SWEEPER 4.5
Spy Sweeper is well-known as one of the better spyware-detection and -removal programs. The latest version of Webroot’s subscription-based spy fighter costs $29.95 per year and offers improved speed during system scans, along with an impressive list
of advanced features and options. It matched SpyCatcher’s results in removing known spyware in
Spyware Doctor 3.5
ZoneAlarm
Anti-Spyware 6
7.1
7.1
7.4
Automated scheduling features;
comprehensive support
Fast, thorough scans;
large number of tools
Deletes most spyware; intuitive
interface; very fast system scans
Provides minimal info on
specific threats
Trial doesn’t remove spyware
Superficial help system;
trial doesn’t remove spyware
Requires lots of user intervention;
limited support options
Lavasoft
www.lavasoft.com
Tenebril
www.tenebril.com
Webroot Software
www.webroot.com
PC Tools
www.pctools.com
Zone Labs
www.zonelabs.com
SE Personal: Free;
SE Plus: $31.95 (boxed
version); $26.95 (download)
$29.95 per year
$29.95 per year
$29.95 per year
$29.95 per year
Ad-Aware SE 1.06
SpyCatcher 2006
Spy Sweeper 4.5
EDITORS’ RATING
7.6
7.2
PROS
Faster, easier to use, more
robust than predecessor
Thwarts phishing; effectively
combats spyware, adware
CONS
No e-mail support in free
version; weak online support
COMPANY
DIRECT PRICE
56
Illustration by David Flaherty
Product Summary
Superior
Power & Gaming Technology
Sager brings you unparalleled gaming performance. Through AMD64*
Technology Leadership, these processors offer Enhanced Virus Protection
as well as energy saving features like Cool’n’Quiet™ Technology.
Contact Sager today to begin your Superior experience.
NP
NP 9750V
5950V
FEATURES
FEATURES
– nVIDIA SLI GPUs deliver heart-pounding
– Empowerment! The AMD Athlon™ 64 X2
®
™
graphics performance and mind-blowing
gaming experiences. Combining two nVIDIA®
GeForce™ Go 7800 GTX graphics modules in
a single notebook allows you to essentially
double your graphics performance.
NP 5950V
Dual-Core Processor enables you to do
more in less time by delivering exceptional
multi-tasking capabilities and increased
performance on digital media.
– nVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7800 GTX PCI-Express™
– nVIDIA® nForce4 SLI™ Core Logic features
intelligent hardware and software solutions
to deliver earth-shattering PC performance
in a multi nVIDIA® GPU solution.
– The 19" widescreen display redefines the
Dealer/VAR, Government and
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– Dual Optical Device bays and Dual Hard
Disk Capability allow this system to be
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visual experience of mobile computing,
maximizing the viewing range for the
highest visual satisfaction.
NP 9750V
Graphics Module with 256MB DDR3 Memory
delivering the power and technology you
need to tear through the hottest games.
OPTIONS
OPTIONS
– Bluetooth Module
– TV Tuner Module with Remote
– 802.11g and Bluetooth Combo Module
– TV Tuner Module with Remote
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECIFICATIONS
– 19.0" Wide Viewing Angles WSXGA+ Active Matrix
Display with Super Clear Glare Type Screen
– AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology ML-40
– Dual 256MB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7800 GTX
PCI-Express™ Graphics with SLI™ Technology enabled
– 1GB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
– 80.0GB 5400RPM Serial ATA 150 Hard Drive
– 8X DVD±R/RW 1/4X +DL Multi Drive
– Full Sized Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
– Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g
– Built-In 1.3M High-Resolution Video Camera
– SRS WOW™ 3D Sound Technology
– Built-In 4-in-1 Card Reader
– Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
– 17.0" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA Active Matrix
Display with Super Clear Glare Type Screen
– AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4200+
– 256MB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7800 GTX
PCI-Express™ Graphics
– 1GB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
– 80.0GB 5400RPM Serial ATA 150 Hard Drive
– 8X DVD±R/RW 1/4X +DL Multi Drive
– Full Size Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
– Hardware Raid 0,1 Function
– Dual Optical Device bays and Dual Hard Disk
capability allow this system to be customized with
2 CD-ROM devices and 2 Hard Drives coexisting
– Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g
– Built-In 1.3M High-Resolution Video Camera
– Built-In 7-in-1 Card Reader
– Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
$ 3199
$ 2849
Sager One Year Limited Warranty Policy: 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. If the equipment does not work as promised, or if you are not fully satisfied, we will issue a full refund upon the return of all original equipment. 72-Hour Repair Promise. For the rest of the 1-year warranty
period, if it takes more than 72-hours to repair your computer, we’ll pay 2nd day air return shipping charge. 1-Year Parts and Labor Limited Warranty. Lifetime Toll-Free Technical Support. Sager One Year Limited Warranty Policy Applies to End Users in the United States of America only
and 72-Hour repair policies apply to hardware only. Software problems may take longer. Extended Warranty Available: Check out this comprehensive package of service/support. Business Leasing Available: Get your dream notebook with low monthly payments! Sager Corporate
Offices 18005 Cortney Court, City of Industry, California 91748 Tel: 626.964.8682, Fax: 626.964.2381 Hours: Monday-Friday 7:30a.m. - 6p.m.(PST) American Express, VISA, MasterCard & Discover Credit Cards Accepted - No Surcharge. Cashiers Checks Welcomed. ©2006 by Midern
Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Athlon and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All company and/or product names mentioned herein are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
The DVD upgrade-kit for Sager Notebooks is licensed through the CLEVO Company. All color LCD Display screens are simulated for artistic purposes. Prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Opened software and shipping charges are non-refundable. 30-Day
money back guarantee does not include freight or shipping and handling charge. Notes: 1,2,3: DVD±R/RW, DVD-ROM, and CD-RW drives list a variable read rate. DVD-R/RW and CD-RW write and re-write speeds vary and list only the maximum possible speed. Actual DVD-R/RW,
DVD-ROM, CD-RW speeds will vary and are often less than the maximum possible speed. 4: Maximum Transmission speed of up to 53Kps when downloading and 33.6Kps when uploading data. Actual speeds may vary depending on line conditions and current FCC restrictions. 5: The
Module Video Card feature is designed to work with current technology. Future video card designs may be incompatible or require manufacturer modification of the unit for compatibility. This model number indicates relative software performance amoung this AMD processor family.
*
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Call us toll free at:
sagernotebook.com
800.669.1624
REVIEWS SOFTWARE
CeledyDraw 2
Desktop publishing and vector drawing at a popular price
CELEDYDRAW 2 is an easy-to-learn introductory app
for vector drawing, partnered with some good desktoppublishing capabilities. While you won’t find advanced
features like those in CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator,
the app is quite capable of producing intricate illustrations, as well as multipage printed pieces. And, at just
$64.99, it won’t derail your budget.
If you’ve used a drawing package before, you’ll
find CeledyDraw quick to learn. Most of the features
are accessible from the desktop without the interface
commanding much
screen space, resultEDITORS’ RATING 6.7
ing in a rich and un0 BETTER >>
10
cluttered user landPROS Elegant, intuitive interscape. CeledyDraw is
face; good mix of vector-drawbutton-centric, with five sets
ing, desktop-publishing tools
distributed around the cenCONS Limited import options;
tral work area. Two toolbars
tech support not listed on
on the top provide access to
company site
text and document funcCeledy Software, 800-901-3088
tions. Like the interface, the
www.celedy.com
tools are straightforward
Direct Price $64.99 (boxed
and simple to use.
or download)
It’s fairly painless to
remodel multiple objects
or to assemble complex
objects with the drawing
tools. Type handling is
quite competent as well,
perfectly adequate for
most publishing tasks.
The program only imports
plain-text files, however, so
if you’ve composed a document in, for example, Microsoft Word, you’ll have to
sacrifice any formatting already applied. Likewise,
the app can import files
saved in common bitmap formats, but not other drawing
formats such as Adobe Illustrator’s.
Those who would rather compose than draw can take advantage of the Symbol Gallery (a collection of 3,000 symbols)
and the Template Gallery, which includes a variety of handsome cards, flyers, newsletters, brochures, and signage.
Celedy offers free tech support via e-mail or phone, the latter at 416-496-8989—worth noting, because you won’t find this
information in the help files or on the Web site. —Susan Glinert
Video editor straddles line between simple and complex
EDITORS’ RATING
0
WITH THE $99.99 Pinnacle Studio Plus 10, Pinnacle Systems
tries to erase the distinctions between consumer and lightprofessional (“prosumer”) video-editing programs by delivering
flexible tools for both. Studio spreads itself too thin, however,
making it the also-ran choice for both markets. Ulead Video
Studio 9 is a smarter option for video newbies, while Adobe’s
Premiere Elements 2 offers
more-precise
control and professional-level
features.
The program
is a three-DVD
set, and loading
all three took
more than an
hour. At times, the install process moved so slowly that we
thought the installer had frozen. Our 2GHz-CPU system met
the program’s minimum requirements, but performance was
often slow and jerky. We’d recommend a more powerful PC
to effectively run this app. Also, in our tests, stability was an
issue. Just prior to us going to press, the company released a
patch (version 10.5) that will hopefully correct these problems.
58
BETTER >>
7.1
10
PROS Simple interface; useful
The main Studio Plus intransitions/effects assortment;
terface is arranged well, prosupports HDV
viding access to a lot of feaCONS Relatively slow, unstatures and effects while still
ble; limited to three tracks of
keeping the screen clean.
video, four audio; DivX, MPEG-4
Three tabs along the top take
support costs extra
you to the
Pinnacle Systems
three main ar800-293-2948
eas: Capture,
www.pinnaclesys.com
Edit, and Make
Direct Price $99.99 (boxed
Movie. The
or download, before $30 rebate)
timeline view
used for editing, however, can hold only three
video tracks and four audio tracks, dwarfed by
Premiere Elements’ 99 of each.
Studio Plus offers useful filters, such as Color Correction and Image Stabilization, as well
as fun ones, such as Old Film and Stained Glass. This version
introduces pan-and-zoom effects, as well as offering some
advanced tools, such as picture-in-picture and chroma key
(green screening).
Several file formats are supported, including high-definition video (HDV), but support for DivX and
CNET.com
MPEG-4 requires a $3.33 add-on. —Troy Dreier
REVIEWS DOWNLOADS
Launch-n-Go 2
Windows automation at its finest
WITH LAUNCH-N-GO 2, you can streamline repetitive typing
tasks, stop frequent trips to the Start menu, and quit launching
a browser to do your Web searches. This svelte application
launcher installs a convenient text box directly into the Windows Taskbar. To open a file, application, or Web page, you
need only type several letters (an alias) into the box or press a
key combination (a hotkey, which must begin with the Ctrl+Alt
combination). It’s much faster and more efficient than navigating Windows Explorer.
While the ever-present search bar is what you’ll use most, a
companion utility, Launch-nDOWNLOAD.COM EDITORS’ RATING
Go List, sets up your launch
commands. The clearly laidout interface lets you easily
PROS Extremely useful; perpick what you’d like to conformed flawlessly; small memory
figure as a hotkey or alias
footprint
from one of four categories:
CONS Hotkeys must start with
Documents/Programs/FoldCtrl+Alt
ers, Websites, Commands,
Tethys Solutions
and Insert. You can also conwww.tethyssolutions.com
figure a hotkey or an alias by
right-clicking the file, folder,
Price Free to try; $24.95
(full version)
or program you want the
shortcut to open. A dialog box opens for setting up a launch
command. A handful of commands are already set up, such as
instant weather reports. An import/export option allows you to
share your keyboard shortcuts with friends or colleagues.
In our tests, the program didn’t slow down our PC and took
up only 3MB of memory. With its low profile and easy-to-use
features, Launch-n-Go is certain to save
Download.com
time for any active PC user.
PC Doc Pro 3.5
FlipAlbum 6 Suite
A decent toolset for PC maintenance
Realistic digital photo albums in a snap
FOR BASIC system fixes,
PC Doc Pro is both easy
on the eyes and a breeze
to use. The application’s
most prominent utility
scans your PC for Registry errors such as broken shortcuts, invalid
program paths, and unnecessary DLL files.
The app has a few limitations. While it ranks problem entries
according to their severity, it doesn’t tell you whether they’re 100
percent safe to remove. Also, the trial version lets you delete only
10 invalid keys, but because PC Doc Pro shows you the Registry
path, you can always erase them manually. And, while the interface is well-designed overall, the main window can’t be resized,
making it inconvenient for
DOWNLOAD.COM EDITORS’ RATING
viewing long lists of detected
computer problems.
PC Doc Pro also offers a tool
PROS Handy toolset; effective
for controlling startup apps,
at finding Registry errors
as well as a scheduler, a RegCONS Highly limited trial veristry-backup utility, and a
sion; no explanations of errors
junk-file remover. (The last
item is disabled in the demo
Neurosoft
www.neurosoftcorp.com
version, however.)
IN THREE steps, FlipAlbum 6
DOWNLOAD.COM EDITORS’ RATING
Suite lets you create attractive
photo albums that look and
behave like real ones, comPROS Realistic 3D page turnplete with 3D page flipping.
ing; support for export to DVD;
uncomplicated album creation
The program automatically
generates a thumbnail page, a
CONS Expensive; only one
table of contents, and an intheme in trial; memory hog
dex page to keep viewers oriE-Book Systems
ented, even within a large alwww.flipalbum.com
bum. Adding audio is easy,
and the songs play and loop
(full version)
smoothly. You can share your
completed album by sending it through e-mail, posting it to a
Web page, making a video, or burning it onto a disc. (The program even has MPEG-2 support for exporting albums to DVDs.)
In exchange for ease of use, however, you give up control over
page design—the trial
version comes with
only one theme. Also,
you’d better have lots
of RAM—the program
consumed between
32MB and 94MB in
our tests.
★★★★★
★★★★★
(full version)
Download.com
★★★★★
Download.com
Download these applications and more at www.computershopper.com/download.
60
Top25
BUDGET DESKTOPS
This month’s best desktops, notebooks, 5-megapixel
digital cameras, 17-inch LCDs, and combat games.
>> $999-and-under PCs that are well-configured and easy on your budget.
PRODUCT
PRICE
SPECS/REQUIREMENTS
EDITOR’S TAKE
iBuypower Value-Pro
www.ibuypower.com
$989
2.2GHz Athlon 64 3500+; 1GB DDR; 160GB
HDD; GeForce 6200; 17-inch LCD
Proving a $999 PC doesn’t have to demand huge compromises, the Value-Pro serves up
a well-balanced component mix—plus an LCD monitor—at a pocketbook-friendly price.
7.7
Apple SuperDrive Mac
Mini www.apple.com
$699
1.42GHz PowerPC G4; 512MB DDR; 80GB
HDD; Radeon 9200; no monitor
Apple’s SuperDrive-equipped Mac Mini addresses some of the shortcomings of its
$499 predecessor, making it a well-rounded home PC even in its base configuration.
7.1
ZT Pro A7055
www.ztgroup.com
$999
2.4GHz Athlon 64 3400+; 512MB DDR;
Dual optical drives, generous storage, and several PCI slots make this a good choice
200GB HDD; GeForce MX 4000; 17-inch LCD for upgraders and digital pack rats. Plus, ZT Group PCs carry three-year warranties.
7.0
Cyberpower Gamer Ultra
8500 SE cyberpowerpc.com
$999
2GHz Athlon 64 X2 3800+; 1GB DDR;
200GB HDD; GeForce 6600; 17-inch LCD
Cyberpower’s dual-core, SLI-capable PC makes a great starter system for gaming
newbies. Veteran gamers will want to upgrade the graphics card, however.
6.9
2.2GHz Athlon 64 3500+; 1GB DDR; 200GB
HDD; GeForce 6100; no monitor
The T6420 delivers major value for your $600. The highlights of this fixed-configuration retail box include a roomy hard drive and above-average upgradability.
6.5
eMachines T6420
www.emachines.com
$599.99
ULTRAPORTABLE NOTEBOOKS
RATING
>> Superlight laptops for users on the move.
Sony VAIO VGN-TX670P
www.sonystyle.com
$2,499
1.2GHz Pentium M ULV 753; 1GB DDR;
60GB HDD; DVD±RW; 11.1-inch TFT
This VAIO delivers a great combination of business and entertainment features, long
battery life, and unparalleled connectivity in a highly portable package.
8.1
Fujitsu LifeBook P7120
www.fujitsu.com/us
$2,149
1.2GHz Pentium M ULV 753; 512MB DDR;
60GB HDD; DVD±RW; 10.6-inch TFT
Slightly more affordable than the VAIO VGN-TX670P, the LifeBook P7120 packs a
ton of features into a lightweight case without sacrificing performance or battery life.
7.9
Lenovo ThinkPad X41
Tablet www.lenovo.com
$1,799
1.5GHz Pentium M 758; 512MB DDR;
40GB HDD; no optical drive; 12.1-inch TFT
You can find tablets with faster hardware, but the ThinkPad X41 Tablet’s balance of
portability, performance, and security make it one of the best on the market.
7.4
Toshiba Porte’ge’ R200
www.toshiba.com
$1,999
60GB HDD; no optical drive; 12.1-inch TFT
Razor-thin and feather-light, the R200 is well-designed, offering speed, great battery
life, and security features that will satisfy business travelers’ needs.
6.7
Averatec 1000 Series
www.averatec.com
$1,149
80GB HDD; DVD/CD-RW; 10.6-inch TFT
The 1000 is one of the least-expensive ultraportables we’ve seen, yet its performance
approaches that of much costlier models. Battery life could be better, though.
6.2
5-MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERAS
Canon PowerShot S2 IS
usa.canon.com
HP PhotoSmart R817
www.hp.com
$499
$299.99
>> High-quality cameras that give snapshooters room to grow.
1.8-inch LCD; 12x optical zoom; AA
batteries; SD/MMC memory card
With its excellent feature set and improved performance over the S1 IS, the S2 IS will
find its way into the hands of photo enthusiasts who want to shoot long and print big.
7.7
2-inch LCD; 5x optical zoom; proprietary
battery; SD/MMC memory card
The compact R817 combines some unusual photo-enhancement technologies with a
nice mix of features to please both novices and experienced shooters.
7.6
Canon PowerShot A610
usa.canon.com
$299
2-inch LCD; 4x optical zoom; AA
batteries; SD/MMC memory card
The A610 is an affordable camera that has great features and produces above-average
images, making it an excellent option for a wide variety of photographers.
7.4
Canon PowerShot
SD450 usa.canon.com
$349
2.5-inch LCD; 3x optical zoom; proprietary
battery; SD/MMC memory card
Decent image quality and well-rounded snapshot controls make this high-performance
ultracompact one of the better choices in Canon’s Digital Elph lineup.
7.4
Fujifilm FinePix S5200
www.fujifilm.com
$399
1.8-inch LCD; 10x optical zoom; AA
batteries; xD-Picture Card
The S5200 is a well-designed, well-built model with great performance. It’s a bit large,
however, and artifacts in its photos may not please discriminating eyes.
7.4
17-INCH LCDs
>> Space-saving flat panels that improve your view.
www.dell.com
$299
1,280x1,024 native resolution; 8-millisecond
pixel-response rate; DVI, VGA inputs
Attractive design, ample adjustability options, great image quality, and a remarkably
low price make the 1707FP one of the best 17-inch LCDs we’ve seen. (See p. 40.)
7.9
Sony MFM-HT75W
www.sonystyle.com
$599.99
1,280x768 native resolution; 16-millisecond
The MFM-HT75W is a snazzy, well-designed monitor/television combo that will please
anyone seeking an LCD that can show spreadsheets and The Sopranos equally well.
7.3
Envision EN7220
www.envisiondisplay.com
$249
1,280x1,024 native resolution; 16-millisecond Overlook the inelegant pencil cups and photo clips on its bezel—the EN7220 is a highly
pixel-response rate; VGA input
adjustable basic LCD that performs well and costs less than many 17-inch models.
6.7
Sony SDM-HS75P/B
www.sonystyle.com
$399.99
1,280x1,024 native resolution; 8-millisecond
If you like a glossy screen (and don’t mind a little glare), you’ll appreciate this sleek
LCD. It produces rich, brilliant colors with good accuracy.
6.5
Envision EN7600
www.envisiondisplay.com
$279.99
1,280x1,024 native resolution; 12-millisecond The EN7600 isn’t a superstar LCD, but it performs reasonably well considering its
pixel-response rate; VGA input
budget price, delivering decent DVD playback and solid video performance.
6.2
COMBAT GAMES
>> Take command and annihilate the enemy in these challenging titles.
F.E.A.R.
www.vugames.com
$49.99
1.7GHz or faster CPU; 512MB RAM; 5GB
hard drive space; DirectX 9 graphics
This outstanding first-person shooter combines creepy horror with kinetic, visceral
action, elevating the genre to a whole new level of intensity.
9.1
Call of Duty 2
www.activision.com
$49.95
1.4GHz or faster CPU; 256MB RAM; 4GB
Call of Duty 2 stays true to the strengths of its predecessor, employing a welldesigned campaign, enjoyable multiplayer gameplay, and outstanding sound effects.
8.8
Brothers in Arms: Earned
in Blood www.ubi.com
$49.99
1GHz or faster CPU; 512MB RAM; 3.5GB
Earned in Blood offers a similar experience to its excellent predecessor, with improved
enemy artificial intelligence and additional multiplayer options.
8.7
Day of Defeat: Source
www.valvesoftware.com
$19.95
1.2GHz or faster CPU; 256MB RAM;
DirectX 7 graphics
A lack of maps cuts into the game’s value, but Day of Defeat: Source still offers a
satisfying, exciting experience for gamers who can’t get enough virtual World War II.
8.1
Quake 4
www.activision.com
$39.99
2GHz or faster CPU; 512MB RAM; 2.8GB
Quake 4 is a fantastic-looking game with a fun single-player campaign and some of
the best graphics around. Its multiplayer mode, however, leaves a lot to be desired.
8.0
RATINGS FROM
62
CNET.com
Build a
Bargain
This capable desktop will cost you
less than $500 to build today, and
it includes an expandable foundation
for upgrades tomorrow.
BY BILL O’BRIEN
THERE’S REALLY NO SECRET to finding and buying a low-price desktop. A
quick scan of the ads in this magazine or on PC vendors’ Web sites will turn up plenty of
good models. But we’re rarely satisfied with the configuration options available, especially when it comes to leaving open opportunities for future upgrades. That’s why we
decided to assemble a budget box that will meet our needs for today—and tomorrow.
Our sweet-and-simple PC, priced just south of $500, packs good components and
features that will enable it to whip through everyday tasks with ease. To build your own,
we’ve recommended the best parts to use, and describe how to put them all together.
We did all our shopping at Newegg.com (www.newegg.com), which offers
comprehensive one-stop, low-cost buying. If you feel like hunting for the absolute lowest prices, or need an esoteric component, flip to our Web Buyer section (p. 131) for other shopping-site options. Those who have a little more than
$500 to spend should turn to the sidebar “What Two Franklins Can Do” (p. 68)
for some additional smart component considerations.
We didn’t include a keyboard, mouse, or monitor on the shopping list, but,
with very little effort, we found a mouse, a keyboard, and a 17-inch CRT with
built-in speakers, all for just $106 extra.
COMPONENTS
CASE
Coolmax’s CV-570 is an ATX midtower
(measuring 18.5x7.5x17 inches, HWD)
with four 5.25-inch and two 3.5-inch external bays, five internal 3.5-inch bays,
and room for a motherboard with seven
card slots. It offers the usual provisions for
front USB, microphone, and headphone
connections, and comes with a 400-watt
power supply.
The CV-570 won’t win any beauty
contests, and you probably don’t want
to push the power supply anywhere
close to its 400-watt maximum. Considering its peewee $32.99 price, however,
we’re not complaining.
THE PARTS BIN
Coolmax CV-570 ATX case
(with 400-watt power supply)
Asus A8N-VM MicroATX
motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
processor
1GB Corsair Value Select
DDR400 SDRAM
(two 512MB DIMMs)
$32.99
$64.99
$146.00
$69.00
* = All components were priced at Newegg.com.
64
MOTHERBOARD
As we were assembling our budget PC,
AMD dropped the price on much of its
The motherboard is the component
Athlon lineup, and we took advantage by
whose selection will have the greatest
selecting the 1.8GHz Athlon 64 3000+, a
long-term repercussions, because it deterbargain at $146. The 2GHz Athlon 64
mines what your system can handle now
3200+ was another option, for an extra
and in the future. We went with an Asus
$13, but we decided that a basic system,
A8N-VM MicroATX mainone we plan to exboard for several reasons.
WWW
pand, wouldn’t sufBecause it’s a Socket 939
Need hands-on help finding
fer much from havboard, it will handle any AMD
the right motherboard for your
ing 200MHz less on
939-pin processor, up to and
custom-built PC?
tap initially. Both
including the dual-core
Check out our buying guide at
CPUs have a 1GHz
Athlon 64 X2 and top-of-theboardreview.
HyperTransport bus
line FX series. It also offers
speed, 64K data and
onboard Ethernet, graphics
instruction caches, and 512K of L2 cache.
(courtesy of a respectable nVidia GeForce
A bonus: The boxed, retail version of the
6100 chipset), and 5.1-channel digital
chip is bundled with a heat sink and fan,
audio—all for $64.99.
eliminating the need to buy these items
The A8N-VM has an x16 PCI Express
separately.
slot for upgrading to a discrete graphics
card. Its two IDE connectors will allow you
to add up to four IDE drives, and onboard
MEMORY
Serial ATA (SATA) ports can accommodate
Ample RAM can perk up the perfora pair of SATA drives in a RAID 0 or 1 conmance of a modest CPU. Because gamfiguration. You can even stuff the mothering would not be a priority with this PC,
board with up to 4GB of memory.
512MB of memory should be adequate.
For slightly better features, the Asus
(You could get away with reasonable
A8N-VM CSM ($79) adds somewhat imgaming at 800x600, but any of the high
proved integrated graphics, FireWire
resolutions preferred by advanced PC
ports, two more SATA connections, Gigagamers are out of the question.) But bebit Ethernet, and more RAID options. But
cause we could just fit 1GB into our
because none of these improvements was
budget, we did so.
crucial to the longevity of this build, we
We selected two 512MB sticks of Corpocketed the savings.
sair Value Select DDR400 memory; they
came as a kit for $69. We selected two
sticks instead of one 1GB module bePROCESSOR
cause the motherboard supports dualOur motherboard put us on the AMD
channel memory, meaning a pair of
Socket 939 train, so we looked at the low
matched modules will be slightly faster
end of AMD’s Socket 939 CPU range—
than a single stick.
which leads us to why we went AMD for
this project in the first place. Outfitting a
motherboard with an equivalent-perHARD DRIVE
forming 64-bit Intel processor—the best
In planning for storage, we figured we
match would be one from the 600 series—
could find low-cost selections in the 40GB
would exceed our budget.
hard drive bin. And we did: a 40GB West-
80GB Western Digital
Caviar WD800BB
hard drive
$48.50
BenQ DQ60
DVD±RW drive
ern Digital Caviar 7,200rpm IDE drive was
only $42. Out of curiosity, we checked
prices on an equivalent 80GB Caviar model. Surprise! For twice the storage, the
80GB drive was only $6.50 more.
Though the Asus motherboard has
SATA connections, we opted for an IDE
drive not only because it was slightly less
expensive, but also because starting out
with a single SATA drive would have
made upgrading later more complex.
Either the next (second) SATA drive
would need to be added as an individual
drive—and not take advantage of the
speed benefits of RAID—or else we’d end
up reformatting the first (erasing all our
stored data) so we could build a RAID array. Our current approach gives us a reasonably sized C: drive and the potential
for a bigger, faster, two-drive array later,
without all the potential hassle.
OPTICAL DRIVE
We spent only $34.99 on a BenQ DQ60
double-layer DVD±RW drive. It’s not
one of those sexy trayless models that
sip in discs through a slot. It does,
however, solve all of our optical-drive
needs: It plays and burns CDs and
DVDs, it’s relatively quiet, it’s inexpensive, and, most important, it works.
OPERATING SYSTEM
When you get to this point in a low-cost
PC build, you’ll be tempted to contemplate the word “Linux.” Among the
many flavors of the Linux operating system, several are actually free. There’s
absolutely nothing wrong with Linux if
you’re familiar with it, or if you have a
friend or two who can help you through
the unfamiliar spots. Better still, you’ll
save the $95.95 we spent on Windows
XP Home Edition. Despite versions of
Linux that are more consumer-friendly
than ever, however, such as the
$59.95 Linspire
(www.linspire.
com), we believe
that Linux is
still not a startfrom-scratch
operating system for the
average user.
Windows XP Home Edition
(with Service Pack 2)
$34.99
$95.95
TOTAL
$492.42*
65
computershopper.com/howto
PUTTING IT ALL
TOGETHER
YOU DON’T NEED ESOTERIC TOOLS to build
a PC. In fact, your primary tool will be a
Phillips screwdriver for the small screws
that attach the drives to the bays and
the motherboard to the case. We added a
small pair of channel pliers (they’re the
ones with the curved head) and a
straight file to our list of tools because
our budget chassis is a stamped metal
box (steel perhaps, but we’ve seen thicker lasagna noodles). Eye protection is
also advisable when working on the
case, and a flashlight is always a good
thing to have handy. Tie wraps, too, are
useful for restraining errant cabling.
Don’t fear the actual assembly, even if
you’ve never built a computer before.
Skill is a very small part of the equation.
Technique is the big thing, and that’s
easy to learn.
PREPPING THE CASE
Because the Coolmax CV-570 has no removable drive trays, both side panels
must be removed for full access to the
drive bays. You’ll also need to remove
the I/O trim panel on back. (That’s the
faceplate through which the keyboard,
mouse, USB, and other ports protrude
through the back panel.)
Normally, that panel is pressed into
the case and can be removed by pushing
on it from the outside with the handle of
a screwdriver. In our case, the I/O panel
was a stamped part of the back panel.
The panel is die-cut, but it’s held in
place by adjoining bits of metal around
Once you’ve aligned the holes in your motherboard
with the case’s mounting holes, remove the motherboard and simply hand-screw the mounts (included
with the case) into the appropriate holes.
the edges. Just put on your protective
goggles, get out the small channel pliers,
find a convenient hole at one end (the
keyboard and mouse cut-outs worked
best for us), and start peeling the I/O
panel back, away from the case. Once it’s
free, file down any metal bits remaining
on the case.
Included with the motherboard is a
model-specific I/O plate. Install this
plate from inside the case (with the keyboard and mouse cutouts at the top).
Brace the back panel with one hand
while you press around the edges of the
plate. It should snap into place.
INSTALL THE
MOTHERBOARD MOUNTS
A motherboard doesn’t install flat in a
case. It uses mounts, or standoffs, to position it slightly above the case’s metal
surface so it won’t short out. After you
PREPPING THE
MOTHERBOARD
We recommend installing the CPU, heatsink/fan assembly, and memory prior to
mounting the motherboard in the case,
especially if you’re using a vertical tower
such as ours. Place the motherboard on
a flat surface, on top of the protective
plastic wrapper it was shipped in. The
motherboard’s manual lays out the full
procedure for the CPU installation. It’s
easy: Simply pull back the locking pin
next to the socket to open the holes, line
up the pins on the CPU according to the
markings on the processor and socket,
put the chip in place, and push down the
locking pin to secure it.
The instructions for installing the heat
sink and fan are packaged with the CPU,
along with heat-sink compound, which
It’s much easier to install the CPU, heat-sink/
fan assembly, and memory before you mount
the motherboard inside the case.
66
screw the standoffs into the motherboard-mounting area, they should align
with a series of holes in the motherboard.
To do this, visually line up the keyboard, mouse, and other ports on the
motherboard with the I/O plate you just
installed in the case. Match the mounting holes in the motherboard with their
corresponding screw holes in the case.
(Marking the proper holes in the case
with a Sharpie works—no one will see
the marks under the motherboard.) The
standoffs are included with the case;
install them in those screw holes.
When you’re done, temporarily slide
the motherboard in place and look
through its mounting holes, making sure
you can see a standoff on the other side
of each one. Adjust if needed.
What Two Franklins Can Do
While we certainly didn’t scrape the
bottom of the barrel for our bargain
PC, it’s possible that, after searching under the couch cushions and
between the cracks of your car
seats, you’ve managed to
scrape up a bit more cash
than $500. If you’re
lucky enough to have
unearthed a couple hundred dollars more, here
are a handful of key component
changes that will get your PC going
much further and much faster.
One of the big changes is the
motherboard. Instead of the Asus
A8N-VM, we’d use Gigabyte’s GAK8N-SLI. Also a Socket 939 board,
its name gives away that it supports
Scalable Link Interface (SLI), which
will let you run two nVidia-based
graphics cards at the same time.
While the GA-K8N-SLI adds only
$20 to the tab, it doesn’t provide
onboard graphics; you’ll need to
add a discrete graphics card,
such as AOpen’s $93
GeForce 6600 128MB
card, the Aeolus
PCX6600-DV128. If
you decide you
need even more
graphics
pep, you
can always
add a second
card later.
The really great
Gigabyte
GA-K8N-SLI
you must apply to the chip before installing the heat sink. Wear gloves when
handling the compound—it’s toxic.
Memory’s next, and the manual covers that as well. The important thing to
remember: Install the modules in the
blue sockets to take advantage of the
dual-channel support.
INSTALLING THE
MOTHERBOARD
Slide the motherboard gently into place
on the standoffs. You’ll notice a small
grounding plate where the keyboard and
mouse connectors slide through the I/O
68
Aopen Aeolus
PCX6600-DV128
thing about this motherboard-and-graphics swap is that
you automatically get more usable
system memory without physically
adding any, because the Gigabyte
motherboard doesn’t
have integrated graphics
that will sidetrack some
of your RAM. Although
we’d still generally suggest
1GB of memory for any PC
with Windows XP these
days, by dumping the onboard video you get back
whatever system
memory it would
otherwise use.
The graphics
upgrade
alone will
make your
computer seem
to fly, but we’re going to recommend a
processor upgrade as
well. Instead of the AMD
Athlon 64 3000+ we installed
in the base PC, we’ll move on up
panel; you may need to bend it up
slightly. Just push it back in contact with
the connector shield when you’re done.
Pick a center mounting hole in the
motherboard, and install your first
screw there. Torque it down, but just
finger-tight. (Use the tips of your fingers, in a very loose grip, to turn the
screwdriver. When your fingers slip
around the screwdriver, it’s tight
enough.) Finish up with the rest of the
motherboard screws in a left-to-right,
top-to-bottom direction. When you’re
done, make sure all the screws are still
finger-tight.
to an Athlon 64 3500+. The
extra cost is about $50, and for
that amount you jump from
1.8GHz to 2.2GHz—a noticeable
performance difference.
Where we’re really going to
open things up a bit is at the hard
drive. Our basic system had a reasonable 80GB drive. Replacing that
with a 320GB SATA hard drive is a
breeze, and while this comes at a
much higher price ($125), you get
four times the storage at less than
three times the price. The capacity
should be more than enough to keep
you viable for quite a while.
All told, we’ve added about $210
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
to the price of our basic PC, making
this upscale alternative still relatively inexpensive at barely over
$700. Come to think of it, with the
price cuts AMD has recently made
across the board on its CPUs, you
could bump this system up to a
dual-core Athlon 64 X2 3800+
CPU, backed by a full 1GB of memory, and toss in that second graphics
card—while still not breaking
$1,000. Life is good.
WIRING THE CASE
This process is more tedious than difficult. Again, look to your motherboard
manual for the pin assignments. Start
with the small connectors that feed the
front-panel lights and switches. Although the connectors themselves are
all black, they’re labeled. Start with the
reset connector, followed by the power
connector, the speaker connector, and
finally, the hard drive activity light.
In our case, the front-mounted USB
ports are a bit odd because Coolmax opted to use nonstandard connectors. If you
read the labels on the connectors and
wires to the outside. When you’re done,
whip out the tie wraps again and make
things pretty. Put the side panels back
on, and hook up a monitor, keyboard,
and mouse. Then, plug in your Internet
connection if you have one, and get
ready to boot up.
INSTALLING SOFTWARE
You need to connect several wires
from your case to the motherboard.
Refer to your motherboard’s manual
for the proper placement.
reference the pin assignments described
in the motherboard manual, however,
the wiring should be simple.
The case’s front audio ports are fed
by standard mini stereo jacks, not pin
connectors that plug directly into the
motherboard. If you want to use the
ports, you’ll have to connect the jacks
to the motherboard’s external audio
ports on the system’s back. Route the
cords through the case and out the
back, through a PCI-slot opening, to
their respective audio ports. The connector with the two stripes on the plug
is for the speaker port; the other goes
into the mic port.
Last up are the motherboard power
connectors. The 24-pin plug from your
power supply attaches to a connector off
to the right side of the CPU, and adjacent
to the floppy-drive connector (which
we’re not using). You’ll also need to plug
in the square four-pin ATX power-supply
connector; its socket is immediately to
the left of and just above the CPU.
With the initial wiring done, get out
your tie wraps and group the wires
you’ve attached so far so everything
looks neat. (You don’t want tension on
the cables you’re tying off; just get them
out of the way.)
CABLING THE DRIVES
We chose the top 5.25-inch external bay
for the BenQ DVD drive and the bottom
3.5-inch internal bay for the hard drive.
The upstairs choice was arbitrary. The
arrangement of the 3.5-inch bays in this
case is a bit odd, however, leaving any
3.5-inch drives you install significantly
recessed from the front panel. This posi-
70
tioning actually makes the rear of the
drive hang over the motherboard. As a
result, only three of the five bays allow
you to install a hard drive in a way that
doesn’t interfere with the case wiring.
Your drive data cables are keyed so
they can’t be installed incorrectly unless
you really, really try. Pin 1 (the side of the
cable with either a red or gray stripe, depending on whether you’re using the
hard drive’s or the motherboard’s data
Your operating system, in this case Windows XP, is installed first. Put the Windows CD in the optical drive, and boot
up. The Windows install routine should
start. Follow the prompts through the
process. It should take about 30 to 45
minutes to complete. You can’t register
Windows XP over the Internet until
you’ve also installed the motherboard
drivers, so ignore its reminders until you
do. (You could always phone in the registration, but that’s much more time-consuming.) The motherboard drivers are on
a disc bundled with the board. It most
likely fell out of the manual when you
opened it.
After you’ve installed the motherboard drivers and dutifully registered
your copy of Windows, check the Asus
Web site for updated drivers. Download
and install them if you find newer ones.
When connecting the IDE cable to the optical and hard
drives, orient the cable according to the missing pin on
the drive and the blocked hole on the data cable.
cable) faces the same side of the drive as
the four-pin power connector. On the
motherboard, simply look at the connectors (blue for the hard drive, black for the
optical drive) and orient the cable according to the missing pin in the motherboard connector and the plugged-up
hole on the data cable.
Each drive also requires a power lead
from the power supply. Again, the connectors are keyed—just keep the yellow
If you happen to encounter a new version of your BIOS, do not attempt to upgrade it at this time. BIOS upgrades are
meant to solve problems; unless you’re
actually encountering one, you’re more
likely to cause one by updating it.
Now give yourself a pat on the back.
You’ve just built a custom PC that will
meet most of today’s basic computing
needs while giving you headroom to
upgrade in the future.
THE
PHYSICS
OF
TODAY’S
TECH
HARD DRIVE
SILVER-PLATTER SERVICE
1
9
4
2
5
A look inside
seven core PC
technologies you
can’t live without.
3
6
7
10
BY JOHN A. BUREK
8
IMAGINE YOURSELF BEING cryogenically
frozen in the 1980s, when green-screen monitors and hulking, tractor-feed dot-matrix
printers ruled the earth. You’d wake up today
with a case of tech culture shock of an Austin
Powers magnitude. Drives that hold 10,000 albums’ worth of music? Data transfers through
thin air? Movies on a drink coaster? Yeah, baby!
Still, even if you haven’t slept through the
last quarter-century, advances like these are
mind-bending, if you stop to think about
them. To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke’s famous
aphorism: To the uninitiated, any sufficiently
advanced technology looks like magic. We’re
tech-jaded today in ways Clarke never could
have imagined—your photo printer or LCD
monitor, for instance, are tools you take for
granted. But they’re also the state of the art of
some amazing tech that confers pixie-dust
powers to your PC for just a few Franklins.
Here, we investigate how seven of today’s
indispensable technologies work. Of course,
trade secrets and proprietary design mean not
all products of these types work in exactly this
fashion—and we’ve certainly simplified some
very cutting-edge engineering. But one thing’s
clear: If we’re amazed by the physics of these
devices today, the next quarter-century’s may
make pixie dust seem positively, well, ’80s.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRYON THOMPSON
74
OPTICAL DRIVE
TURNING & BURNING
A FAR CRY FROM THAT PUDGY LATE-’80S CD
PLAYER YOU BLASTED YOUR HAIR-METAL
DISCS ON, TODAY’S OPTICAL DRIVES WRITE &
READ ALL SORTS OF DISC MEDIA.
A modern DVD burner
employs two lasers at different times: one for
DVDs, one for CDs. A
laser sled e, on sliding
rails r, is driven by a
motor t that moves it
radially relative to the disc
hub u. (Another, variable-speed spindle motor,
under the hub, spins the
disc proper.) A diode inside the laser assembly
emits the laser beam,
which is focused through
a lens i. Scaling the
laser’s power to different
levels allows the drive to
read or write discs.
As for the discs themselves, a commercial
pressed CD-ROM disc
starts as a molded disc
of polycarbonate o, a
tough plastic. Its surface
is laced with microscopic
pits p that represent
data, arranged in a tight
spiral like an LP record’s
groove. (DVDs’ tighter spiral partly explains their
greater capacity.) Atop the
polycarbonate is spun a
microthin layer of reflec-
tive material a, often an
alloy containing aluminum,
silver, or gold, topped by a
lacquer or other protective
coating s and a label
surface d.
A reading laser beam
partly scatters when it
strikes pits in the spiral.
When it hits lands f, the
flat spots between the
pits, it bounces cleanly
back into an optical pickup
in the laser assembly. The
drive electronics translate
this pit-versus-land data
stream into binary code,
TODAY’S TITANIC-CAPACITY HARD
DRIVES ARE HALF OLD-SCHOOL LP
PLAYER, HALF VIRTUAL SCI-FI.
A stack of mirror-smooth
aluminum or glass platters e
spins at a constant rate on a
spindle r with an oil-filled
bearing, driven by a highspeed motor. (Glass, used
most often in notebook
drives, is more rigid than aluminum at a given thickness,
and therefore makes possible
thinner platters.)
Interleaved with the platters, lightweight actuator
arms t , one for each platter
side, swivel in unison, controlled by a coil in the pivot
mechanism u . Each arm is
tipped by a drive head i on
a tiny suspension mechanism
designed to fly, thanks to a
law known as Bernoulli’s
principle, a minuscule dis-
tance above the platters on
the air cushion created by
their spinning.
The platter surfaces are
coated with a thin film that
stabilizes magnetically reactive
particles. These particles represent data as vast series of
positive and negative charges.
To “write” data, the drive
heads change the particles’
magnetic orientation via current passing through a coil, in
essence “flipping” them as
needed. In recent drives, a
separate giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head performs
reads, detecting particles’
magnetic resistance at the
quantum level. This signal is
amplified and fed to the drive
electronics, which perform
error correction and convert
data into a PC-usable format.
Formatted platters are
divided into tracks o (concentric circles) and sectors p
(track segments). When formatting, the OS will also,
under Windows, define
groupings of sectors called
clusters a . The cluster size,
consistent drive-wide, denotes the minimum space a
written file must occupy.
(The smaller the cluster size,
the less wastage.) Another
platter region, the landing
area s , often situated near
the hub, serves as a parking
space for the heads.
The actuator arms look like
record-player tone arms, but
they take orders from your
system through the drive’s
firmware and interface d .
When the drive receives a
write or read order, the arms
swing over the appropriate
track, pausing until the data
(or unoccupied space) rotates
under the head. For a write
command, the drive might
write the file in one chunk, or,
if enough contiguous clusters
aren’t handy, in scattered
parts. A directory table on
the disk catalogs files and
fragments for later retrieval.
When a read command occurs, the drive checks the
table, then sends the actuator arms to fetch the pieces.
Sometimes bottlenecks occur, so a chunk of on-drive
memory, the buffer (not
shown), acts as a way station
for inbound or outbound data
delayed in transit. It can also
predictively stash oft-requested data to spare the
drive from mechanically
fetching it. When a buffer
“hit” occurs, data transfer
soars—solid-state memory is
far faster than the hardworking platters and arms.
7
then actionable
bytes of
data.
Ready to
write? Insert a
writable or
rewritable disc into the
drive, and the drive’s
firmware detects the disc type,
determines the media’s parameters in a lookup table, and
deploys an appropriately powered writing laser. It writes
data from the hub outward in
a spiral, but writable discs
can’t be physically “pitted” like
pressed commercial ones. Instead, “R”-type write-once
CDs and DVDs have an organic
dye layer, backed by a reflective layer and protective/label
surfaces. When the writing
laser hits the dye, it “burns”
nonreflective spots, later readable as light-scattering pits.
Rewritable discs (CDRWs, DVD±RWs) work sim-
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ilarly,
but substitute a
mutable
“phase
change” chemical layer for the
dye. The chemical is
clear in one state, opaque
in another; a properly calibrated laser melts a pattern
of pit-like nonreflective
spots. A laser set to a different strength, however,
can eradicate the pattern,
allowing re-use of the disc.
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75
CRT MONITOR
GREAT GUNS!
INVISIBLE BEAMS? ELECTRON GUNS?
OLD-SCHOOL CRT DISPLAYS USE
SOME PRETTY WEIRD TECH.
That said, standard glass-tube
televisions and your CRT monitor work quite similarly. A glass
cathode-ray tube e, which contains a vacuum, has three electron guns r at its narrow end,
each containing an anode and
cathode assembly. The cathodes emit electrons; the anodes
draw the electrons away from
the cathodes, focusing and accelerating them into electron
beams t. The deflection
yoke u, around the tube
base, precisely ma-
nipulates the three beams via
electromagnetic force, working
with the CRT’s circuitry to
sweep them across the screen in
horizontal lines. Where a beam
hits the screen, it causes a red,
green, or blue (RGB) phosphor
dot i to glow; the screen’s inner surface is coated with these
colored phosphors. (The beams,
though colorized in the illustration, are actually invisible.)
CRTs come in two main vari-
8
eties: shadow mask and aperture grill. In the former, the RGB
phosphors on the inside of the
screen are arranged as a staggered pattern of dots (see the
inset); in the latter, they’re not
dots but repeating vertical RGB
stripes. In a shadow-mask CRT,
when the monitor receives commands from your PC’s graphics
adapter, the electron guns fire
their three beams, in concert,
through tiny holes in the shadow mask o, a metal screen just
behind the phosphor-coated
display glass. (Aperture-grill
monitors, popularly known as
Trinitrons or Diamondtrons,
work similarly, but vertical
wires, not a mask, funnel the
beams.) Their channeled beams
illuminate a trio of phosphor
dots (a triad p) lining the inside of the glass. A pixel
a—the smallest image element you can
see—comprises one or more triads; how many depends on the
resolution you specify.
The electron guns blaze
across the screen, row by row,
illuminating phosphors in their
wake. Varying the beams’ intensity strengthens or weakens the glow from a given
phosphor dot; by careful manipulation of every one, the triads and pixels, seen by the eye
as single units, create the illusion of different-color dots.
Phosphors don’t glow for
long, though. Once the guns
have scanned the whole screen,
they repeat the process—typically, 60 to 80 times a second
(the refresh rate). To comprehend the staggering scale of
the task: A CRT running at
1,280x1,024 at a 75Hz refresh
rate illuminates and re-illuminates nearly 100 million pixels
per second.
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LCD MONITOR
TRULY TWISTED TECH
YOUR TYPICAL THIN-FILM TRANSISTOR (TFT) LCD MONITOR OR
NOTEBOOK SCREEN IS, AT HEART,
A HIGH-TECH SANDWICH. LIQUID
CRYSTALS ARE THE PASTRAMI.
A fluorescent or electroluminescent light source (or backlight) e, occupies the panel’s
rear. In front of it are two glassmounted polarizing filters
r and i, scored with superfine parallel grooves and oriented with their grooves facing
and rotated 90 degrees to each
other. A polarizing filter allows
light waves to pass or not pass,
depending on the waves’ orientation; those waves that do
pass are thus oriented in a
known plane. The filters lie a
tiny distance apart, and a layer
of liquid-crystal molecules t is
suspended between them.
Liquid crystals, by definition, arrange themselves in
predictable structures. Here,
the molecules’ natural tendency is to lie parallel with the
grooves, with intervening molecules suspending themselves
between the filters in a helical
arrangement. When polarized
light from the backlight hits a
given helix, it follows the molecules and is “twisted” in the
proper direction to pass
through the front polarizing filter and on to your eye. (Were
the light not twisted, the front
filter would partly or wholly
block it.)
Now, introduce a transparent, thin transistor grid u that
can apply current at any given
intersection, with each intersection representing a “subpixel.” Each color-LCD pixel
employs three addressable
subpixels (red, green, and
blue) fronted by a matching
color filter. Charge a given
transistor, and there the crystal
arrangement “untwists,” redirecting the local orientation of
light before it reaches the color
filters and the front polarizing
filter. Depending on its orientation, the light in each subpixel
may pass, pass partially, or be
blocked; by precisely regulating the transistor charges, the
display controls how much
light can reach a pixel’s three
individual color filters and exit
the front polarizing filter as
visible light o.
Because the eye perceives a
given set of three subpixels as
a single color dot, you simply
see a dot of blended color;
therefore, varying the pixels’
ratios of red, green, and blue
creates the illusion of individually colored pixels. Now, multiply this operation by hundreds
of thousands—possibly more
than a million—pixels, performed many times per second, and respect your “humble” desktop LCD.
77
LASER PRINTER
DRUM, ROLL, PLEASE
LASER PRINTERS ARE SECOND
COUSINS TO PHOTOCOPIERS.
In most cases, your PC talks
with controller circuitry e to
queue/ translate printing data; a
raster image processor (RIP)
converts images and text into a
virtual matrix of tiny dots.
The main actor, however, is
the photoconducting drum r, a
specially coated cylinder that
receives a positive or negative
charge from a charging roller t
(or, in some printers, a corona
wire). A laser u, switching rapidly on and off and deflected off
a rotating mirror i, scans the
charged drum horizontally in
precise lines. When the beam
flashes on, it reverses the
charge of tiny spots on the
drum, corresponding to dots to
be printed black. After the laser
scans a line, a stepper motor advances the drum, and the laser
repeats the process—all, of
course, blindingly fast.
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WI-FI
WOWED BY WIRELESS
IT SEEMS SUPERNATURAL
to pull Net access out of the air
to your laptop, but Wi-Fi tech is
actually fairly down-to-earth.
A Wi-Fi hotspot—a wireless
onramp to the Net and/or your
network—is provided by an access point (AP) or a router with
an AP built-in e. You might
have one in your home as part of
your LAN, or share one with other sippers at your local priceyjava mart. The AP has a radio
transmitter/receiver inside, simi-
78
1
lar to that in a Walkie-Talkie.
Data is converted first into a radio signal r, then beamed out at
one of two frequencies: 2.4GHz
for devices using the 802.11b/g
Wi-Fi standard, or 5GHz for
802.11a hardware. Both are unlicensed portions of the radio
spectrum in the United States.
The AP transmits, many
times a second, tiny beacon
signals t containing networkidentification and other info (notably, the Service Set Identifier,
or SSID, though this can be disabled for security). Your Wi-Fienabled laptop or desktop u
contains a Wi-Fi card or chipset
that also has a transmitter/receiver; picking up the signal, it
determines whether to connect
to the AP. The card also gauges
signal strength and access characteristics of competing APs.
When authentication occurs,
data transmission begins, but if
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
or the stronger Wi-Fi Protected
Access (WPA) encryption is in
use, both client and AP must
agree on a pre-entered alphanumeric “key” to decrypt the
transmissions. Access might also
be limited by a Media Access
Control (MAC) address; all devices on a network have a MAC
Next, the drum’s laserkissed portion encounters the
developer roller o, coated in
charged toner particles from
the toner hopper p, part of
the toner cartridge. Charged
toner clings to the discharged
areas of the drum, reproducing, in reverse, your images
and text.
Meanwhile, a belt or roller
assembly a draws paper inside from the paper tray s,
past a transfer roller or charging wire d that applies a
charge opposite the toner’s to
the paper. As sheet meets
drum, the drum-borne toner
transfers to paper. A cleaning
blade f cleans the drum, and
the process continues in a
smooth, circular flow. (Color
lasers work similarly, but the paper may require four passes by
the drum for four toner colors.
Alternately, the printer may
transfer each color layer to an
intermediate belt before applying it to the paper, or employ
four drum/toner assemblies.)
Last, your page, with its imprint of tenuously anchored
toner, reaches the fuser g—a
heat roller and a pressure
roller. It melts the toner, which
contains resins and sometimes
wax, onto the page. Voila,
pages in your out tray.
address, and most wireless
routers can filter access according to these addresses.
If you move your PC away
from your AP, transfer rates
gradually decline, and vice versa.
802.11b is designed to run at a
maximum data rate of 11Mbps,
and its 802.11g and 802.11a variants at up to 54Mbps. The rate
steps down, however, when it
encounters interference or physical signal obstruction. Newer
hardware supporting multiple
input, multiple output (MIMO)
technology employs several
receivers and transmitters for
accelerated throughput.
1
INKJET PRINTER
HERE COME THE (VERY) WARM JETS
THAT DEMURE INKJET ON
YOUR DESK ACTUALLY
CONCEALS SOME
RED-HOT PHYSICS.
A typical inkjet receives control info from your printer driver/PC, or may process the printout in its onboard electronics.
Either way, rollers advance a
page from your paper tray e
under a sliding printhead/cartridge assembly r. Then, the
printhead stepper motor t
kicks in, drawing the assembly
on a sliding rod u to its starting
position, usually via a belt i.
The printhead o proper is an
incredible piece of miniaturization, in some cases fabricated
via an etching process similar to
semiconductor manufacture. On
some printers, the head and ink
cartridge p are one unit. The
head’s microscopic nozzles a—
anywhere from dozens to literally thousands—are outlets for incredibly tiny ink chambers s
fed by the cartridge’s reservoirs.
Microscopic droplets d, measured in millionths of a millionth
of a liter (that’s no typo), fire
through the nozzles.
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4
3
But
how?
Pumps
simply don’t
come that small.
Instead, most inkjets
(Epsons excepted) use “thermal” technology in which a tiny
resistor f in an ink chamber is
pulsed, as needed, with intense
current, superheating the ink
and vaporizing part of the
droplet. The result: Terrific pressure blasts it out the nozzle and
onto your page. (Epson employs
a piezoelectric process in which
applying current to a crystal in
an ink chamber causes it to oscillate, ejecting the ink.) Capillary
2
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action then draws
new ink into the chamber.
Your text and images are
built up, line by line, as the
printhead assembly tracks
across the page.
A given chamber can repeat the heating/firing/cooling
cycle thousands of times per
second. Consider that, and all
of a sudden $40 for that ink
cartridge doesn’t seem so bad.
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79
HOT TECH FOR THE SUMMERTIME
WET&WILD
The perfect
gear to take
with you to
the beach,
the park, or
anywhere in
the great
outdoors
BY SEAN PORTNOY
With warm
weather approaching, it’s
time to get up
from behind the
computer and out
of the house. But
there’s no need to
deprive yourself of
technology: We’ve
gathered some of
the best gadgets
to take out and
play, whether
you’re getting wet,
some rays, in
shape, or back to
nature. Here are
the tech toys of
summer.
▼
*
H2O Audio Series
Can’t bear to part with your iPod, even when
you take a swim? With H2O Audio’s waterproof cases ($79.95 for the Nano, $89.95 for
the video-enabled iPod), you can take your
tunes and videos up to 10 feet below the surface. (An armband is included.) You can control your player with the case’s scroll wheel.
H2O Audio • www.h2oaudio.com
81
computershopper.com/roundups
WET&WILD
▼
Nikon Coolpix S5, FJ-CP1 Field Jacket
If you’re looking for some perfect companions on your next swimming or snorkeling excursion, take along the $349.95
Nikon Coolpix S5 and its $149.95 FJ-CP1
Field Jacket. The 6-megapixel digital
camera has a sleek, wave-shaped design,
a 2.5-inch LCD, and a 3x optical zoom.
The FJ-CP1 casing is waterproof to 10
feet, enabling you to snap pics of tropical
fish or other divers.
Nikon • www.nikonusa.com
▼
▼
Oregon Scientific MP121
Those looking for a waterproof MP3
player and headphones in one convenient package should check out Oregon
Scientific’s MP121 ($139.95 for 512MB,
$189.95 for 1GB). In addition to playing
MP3 and WMA files, the MP121 features an FM radio, a stopwatch, and a
pedometer. An included armband keeps
the player from plunging to the bottom
of the pool while you’re working on
your backstroke.
Oregon Scientific
www.oregonscientific.com
▼
82
*
H2O Audio Headphones
It doesn’t make sense to
have a waterproof case for
your MP3 player without
grabbing some waterproof
headphones, as well. H2O
Audio’s $39.95 headset,
clad in iPod white, will work
with any digital audio player up to 10 feet underwater.
H2O Audio
www.h2oaudio.com
Harman Infinity Outrigger Jr.
What’s a pool party without tunes? If you
don’t want to risk soaking your boombox, set up a pair of Infinity Outrigger Jr.
speakers on the patio. These $229 waterproof speakers can pump out up to 60
watts of audio power and come with wall
brackets for easy mounting on your deck.
Harman International Industries
www.infinitysystems.com
*
GOOD DAYSUNSHINE
Voltaic Backpack
If you want a solar charger built directly
into your bag, Voltaic’s $239 Backpack
offers three panels that charge a built-in
lithium-ion battery pack. (The panels are
available in silver, orange, or green.) Voltaic
includes 11 different adapters that allow you
to plug in most handheld portable
devices for recharging. It also comes with
two pouches designed to stow a cell phone
or portable MP3 player.
Voltaic Systems • www.voltaicsystems.com
▼
▼
Oakley Thump 2
The only thing better than a pair
of cool shades on a hot day is a
set with an MP3 player built right
into the frames. Oakley’s Thump
2 ($299 for a 256MB model,
$349 for 512MB, $449 for 1GB)
has a pair of earbuds connected
to the glasses, so no cord gets in
your way. A built-in USB 2.0 port
enables you to transfer your
MP3, WAV, WMA, and nonsecure
AAC files to the player.
Oakley • www.oakley.com
▼
Better Energy Systems Solio
Use the power of the sun’s rays
to help re-juice your cell phone,
MP3 player, or PDA. The $79.95
Solio (available in silver or black)
collects solar power on its three
panels to store in its built-in battery, allowing you to plug a depleted device into it when no other power source is available.
Better Energy Systems
www.solio.com
Tee2Green Sureshotgps
Something you might want to stash in
your golf bag is this $399 GPS system
devised for navigating golf courses.
Want to know how far it is to the green,
or what hazards await at the next hole?
This handheld device can tell you. It
comes with 10 courses preloaded, and
you can download additional courses
from Tee2Green’s Web site.
Tee2Green Technologies
www.sureshotgps.com
▼
Soldius Solar Golf Bags (not pictured)
Do you take a lot of cell-phone calls on the green? Then you
might be in the market for an environmentally friendly solar
charger. Soldius offers a range of golf bags, priced from
$200 to $800, with integrated panels to keep your devices
juiced while you’re on the fairway. The company offers carry,
cart, and tour bags, with the tour bag also available in leather.
Soldius • www.mysoldius.com
83
WWW
For more must-have gear
and peripherals, click to
thisyearsgear.
ACTIVEWARE
▼
XtremeMac SportWrap for iPods
You’ll find plenty of armbands for
iPods on the market, but
XtremeMac’s $29.95 SportWrap is a
particularly great workout accessory. Its case is made from moistureresistant neoprene to repel exercise
sweat, and it’s designed to give you
full access to your player’s controls.
The version for the iPod Nano can
be worn around your wrist.
Xtreme Accessories
www.xtrememac.com
▼
84
▼
▼
Suunto t6 Training Watch
Suunto’s cutting-edge t6 watch puts the
power of a personal trainer onto your
wrist. Water-resistant up to 100 feet, the
$450 device can function as a stopwatch
and measure your heart rate. Strap an
optional sensor to your running shoe or
bike, and the t6 can also track your speed
and distance traveled. (It tells time, too.)
Suunto • www.suunto.com
Samsung SC-X210L
Sports Camcorder
An extreme videocam for
your extreme-sports adventures, Samsung’s
$599 SC-X210L features a
water-resistant external
lens you can mount on a
helmet or wear with the
included armband. The
lens has a 10x optical
zoom and electronic image stabilization to keep
footage smooth. The 3pound compact camcorder
offers 1GB of built-in
memory and an SD/MultiMediaCard slot for additional storage.
Samsung
www.samsung.com
Hammacher Schlemmer
Inline Skate Speedometer
If inline skating is your exercise of
choice, Hammacher Schlemmer’s
$139.95 device is an ingenious way
to track your regimen. You replace
one skate wheel with a speedometer
wheel that transmits speed and distance data wirelessly to a supplied
digital watch. Also, a stopwatch feature measures the length of your
workout.Hammacher Schlemmer
www.hammacherschlemmer.com
computershopper.com/roundups
▼
*
HANGINGTOUGH
Olympus Stylus 720 SW
On your next hiking expedition, have
no fear of drops or drips. More than
just a stylish 7.1-megapixel camera,
the $399.99 Stylus 720 SW is waterproof down to 10 feet and can withstand drops of up to 5 feet. At less
than an inch thick, it won’t take up
much room in your backpack, and it
squeezes in a 3x optical zoom and a
2.5-inch LCD, to boot.
Olympus Imaging America
www.olympusamerica.com
Olixir Mobile DataVault 3DX Portable Hard Drive
Data security takes on a new meaning with Olixir’s Mobile DataVault 3DX Portable Hard Drive. Thanks to its
shock-protection capability, this 160GB external drive
(also available in 250GB and 400GB capacities) can
handle the bumps and drops that damage other, lessrugged portable drives. It’s available with a Serial ATA
($339.99), USB 2.0 ($354.99), or FireWire ($359.99)
interface; all spin at a swift 7,200rpm. To keep your
files safe in a virtual sense, the drive also comes with
Dantz Retrospect Express backup software.
Olixir Technologies • www.olixir.com
▼
▼
Juniper Archer Field PC
This Windows Mobile 5.0-based
PDA can hold its own in rough
terrain, thanks to the molded case
around its magnesium body and a
sealed touch-sensitive screen. It’s
also waterproof and dustproof. In
addition to running mobile versions of Microsoft Office and Outlook, the $1,495 Archer offers
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, as
well as both CompactFlash and
SD card slots for expansion.
Juniper Systems
www.junipersys.com
▼
▼
Garmin GPSMap 60CSx
Never get lost on a trek again with
the $535.70 GPSMap 60CSx, a
handheld GPS device sheathed in a
tough, waterproof case. In addition
to displaying maps of inland lakes
and other topography, the 60CSx
can store points on a trail, so you
can easily find your way back on a
route. It also comes with a built-in
compass, plus an altimeter to
measure elevation.
Garmin • www.garmin.com
Panasonic Toughbook-74
If you need more than just a
PDA to take on the great outdoors, the $4,352 Toughbook-74, part of Panasonic’s
line of semirugged notebooks,
can handle the job. The Centrino-based laptop features a
spill-resistant keyboard and
touch pad, along with a magnesium-alloy body that has a
built-in handle. Panasonic offers an option to add a CDMA
or EDGE card for wireless connectivity to the Internet via
your cellular service.
Panasonic
www.panasonic.com
OtterBox Laptop Case (not pictured)
As its name suggests, Otter Products specializes in sturdy, waterproof products, such as its new $129.95 laptop case. How
tough is it? The company claims you can stand on the case without damaging the notebook inside, thanks in part to its shockabsorbing interior bumpers. Its lifetime guarantee is equally hardy.
Otter Products • www.otterbox.com
86
HELP &HOW-TO
TIPS AND TRICKS TO MAKE TECH EASIER
92
Weekend Project:
Take TV Anywhere
94 Weekend Project:
Digitize Your
Personal Documents
COMPUTER CURES ALFRED POOR
TRIED-AND-TRUE
TROUBLESHOOTING
I have a laptop with a wireless card that
communicates with a wireless router, which
is in turn connected to my cable modem. If I
walk away, even for a minute, the notebook
loses the Internet connection. I’m constantly
having to turn off the wireless card, power
down the router, and turn off the cable modem, then turn them all back on in reverse order to restore my connection. I’ve tried two
different routers, but the problem persists.
H o wa r d E p s t e i n
Trying different routers is a good first step,
but you’re still left with three elements:
the notebook, the router, and the modem.
You need to eliminate one of these components to isolate the trouble spot.
First, remove the wireless card from
your laptop, and plug the computer directly into the cable modem. If you continue to lose the connection, you’ll know
the problem is with the cable-modem
configuration. If the connection stays
steady, add your router back into the
mix, and connect the notebook to the
router directly using the Ethernet port. If
the problem continues, you can safely
assume the culprit is your router configuration. If not, then the wireless connection is responsible.
An alternate approach would be to
connect another PC to the router, using
either a wired or wireless connection, to
see if the two computers can still communicate after the Internet connection
fails. If they can, you’ll know the router
is working correctly, and it’s the connection between the router and the cable
modem that’s likely the problem.
PULLING TEXT FROM PDFs
Can you recommend any software program
that will enable me to convert PDF documents into Word and Excel?
Barbara Ruether
The latest versions of Acrobat Reader let
you copy text that you can then paste
into Word or Excel. In the unlikely case
that the PDF is image-only, however, you’ll
have to use an OCR program to convert
the image to text. I don’t know of any
freeware or shareware utilities that can,
but PaperPort 10 from Nuance (www.
nuance.com) is a versatile $99.99 program
that will do OCR (and a lot more).
LOST CONTACTS
The Contacts button has disappeared from the
left pane of Outlook. How can I get it back?
We n d e l l M o r r i s o n
Right-click on the buttons in the lefthand pane of Outlook. Choose Navigation Pane Options. This will show the
You’re left with three elements:
The notebook, the router, and
the modem. You need to eliminate
one of these components to isolate
the trouble spot.
available buttons and the order in which
they will appear. Make sure that there’s a
check in the Contacts box. If you’re using
Outlook Express, choose View > Layout,
and look for a check in the Contacts box.
It sounds like something has gone awry
with your file associations. To check this,
open Windows Explorer, and choose
Tools > Folder Options. Select the File
Types tab, and scroll down through the
list of file types until you get to the line
for DOC files. Choosing the Advanced
button opens the Edit File Type dialog
box. Highlight the entry called “Open,”
then click the Set Default button; the entry should now appear in bold text. Finally, choose OK to close the window. Double-click on any DOC file in Windows
Explorer—your problem should be solved.
DECODING THE BLUE SCREEN
My Windows PC won’t start up except in
Safe mode. When XP starts to load in normal
mode, the following error message appears
on a blue screen: “A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. . . Technical
information: *** STOP: 0x0000007E
(0xC0000005, 0xF06CB4D0, 0xF96FCFC8,
0xF96FCCC4)”. What does this mean?
Should I reinstall Windows?
Ti m S wa r t z
This error means that some process
failed to start properly, but it could be
due to any number of causes.
First, in Safe mode, recover any data
WHAT’S UP WITH DOC?
files you want to save. While you’re still in
Safe mode, access the Internet and run an
I can’t open files with the DOC extension
online virus scan. I frequently use Trend
without having to right-click
Micro’s HouseCall service (housecall.
on them and choose
trendmicro.com).
“Open” when they’re
WWW
If your system
inside a folder. When the
For more tips and buying
comes up clean, it’s
DOC files aren’t in a folder,
advice, sign up for the
probable that some
I’m able to click and open
Computer Shopper Extra
newsletter at
program is corrupted
them normally. How do I
or in conflict with ancorrect this?
newsletter.
other app. Move the
J oy c e H y m a n
89
HELP & HOW-TO COMPUTER CURES
KEEP THOSE ADDRESSES PRIVATE
I just changed to a new Internet service
provider. As a result, I have a new e-mail address. Is there any way in Outlook to send my
new address to everyone in my address book
without a long list of recipients in the To field?
Nancy Greene
You need to use the Bcc field for the addresses you want to hide. Create a new
message, address it to yourself in the To
field, and click on the Cc icon in the
message’s address block. This will open
a new window. If your address book isn’t showing there, click on the “Show
Names from the” drop-down list in the
upper right corner and choose your list.
The first name in the list should be
highlighted. Hold down the Shift key,
then press the End key, which should
highlight all the addresses in the list.
Click on the Bcc button at the bottom
of the window to copy all the addresses
TIP OF THE MONTH:
SMILE, YOUR CD IS SAVED
CDs are no longer the high-value items
they once were. It’s no surprise that
we’ve become pretty casual in our handling of these discs, which can lead to
scratches that can render them useless.
This month’s tipster, who wrote from
Thailand, has an interesting solution.
My family seems to believe CDs are indestructible—they handle them very roughly
despite my appeals to use care. One irreplaceable disc stopped playing due to numerous deep scratches. I tried using toothpaste to repair the scratches, and I was able
to reduce them to a point where the CD
played with no problems. My wife was
thrilled that I was able to recover her
favorite CD.
Joe Zinskie
90
into the Bcc box. Choose OK to close
the window, and send your message
when ready.
Note that to reduce spam transmissions, some ISPs limit the number of
addresses you can include in a single
message. If yours does, you’ll have to
make copies of the message before you
send it and delete groups of addresses
to get the count under the limit for
each message.
denominator color setting and is using
a generic VGA driver.
On the Settings tab, choose the
Advanced button, then the Adapter tab.
Choose Properties > Driver > Update
Driver. You’ll need the driver for your
graphics adapter; it should be included on
your PC’s system CD, or on a separate
disc. If you don’t have the CD, check your
PC manufacturer’s Web site (or the site of
the card maker, if the PC has a dedicated
card) for the current driver.
CRAVING MORE COLOR
My PC never had a problem showing images before, but now they look like pop
art. Instead of a broad spectrum of colors,
the PC seems to have only 16. A technician recently reinstalled Windows 2000.
The reinstall fixed other problems I was
having but created this trouble with the
display. What can I do to fix it?
N i a m at t
ENOUGH WI-FI TO GO AROUND?
I have a wireless router, a desktop with a
wireless card, and a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop.
Both PCs are running Windows XP, and the
network works fine. I recently bought another XP system with a Wi-Fi card. I can
see the workgroup on the new PC, but I
can’t connect to the network. Any ideas?
R o x A n n D av i s
Apparently the display driver for your
hardware wasn’t installed with the
Windows reinstall, probably because it
wasn’t one of the drivers included on
the Windows 2000 CD.
Right-click on an empty part of your
desktop, and select Properties. Choose
the Settings tab, and check the “Color
quality” drop-down list. I expect you’ll
find it set to 16 colors. This is because
Windows has chosen a lowest-common-
From Windows XP’s Control Panel (in
Category view), choose Network and Internet Connections > Wireless Network
Setup Wizard. This will let you create
configuration settings for your wireless
network so all the devices work together.
You can print out these settings, or, better yet, save them on a USB thumb drive.
Then just plug the flash drive into your
PCs, and run the configuration program
to automatically configure them.
The toothpaste trick is one of my favorites. For it to work, the paste must
have some abrasive in it—I suspect
some of the new gel
formulas may not be
as effective. I’ve also
used cleaning products that have a
“scrub” component
for polishing surfaces.
Just put a small
amount of paste on
a soft cloth, and rub
firmly on the scratch.
(You may need to add a few drops of water.) This should remove the scratch
marks, though it may make the surface
of the CD look a bit dull. Repeat using a
much lighter touch to restore the shiny
surface, then end by buffing with a
clean, dry, soft cotton cloth. For
really severe scratches, a rubber
pencil eraser can speed the
process of smoothing the
scratch before you advance to
the polishing step.
You can recover CDs
even if substantial damage has
been done to the bottom surface. This is because the data
layer is actually at the top of the
disc—you merely need to get the bottom
clear enough for the laser and detector
to “read” through the plastic layer.
Send us your favorite tip, and you could receive a tipster’s prize package.
“Alfred Poor’s Computer Cures,” Computer Shopper, 28 E. 28th St., 10th Fl., New York, NY 10016-7942
[email protected]
Please include your name. Due to the number of letters we receive, we cannot provide personal replies,
nor return any enclosures.
contents of the folder C:\Documents
and Settings\[username]\Start Menu\
Programs\Startup (where [username] is
the name of the user account on your
system) to a temporary folder. This will
remove some of the programs that load
automatically when Windows starts. If
Windows loads successfully, you can add
each app back, one at a time, to determine
which is causing the trouble.
HELP & HOW-TO
WEEKEND PROJECT
1
Watch your local TV
programming anywhere using
a PC, PDA, or smartphone.
The first step is to connect the Slingbox to your
video source. You can attach it directly to an antenna or to a non-TV video source like a DVD player,
but most users will want to connect it to a cable or
satellite box, or to a digital video recorder (DVR)
such as a TiVo. (You can find a list of compatible
devices at www.slingmedia.com/support; plug the number
“154887” into the search box to find the article.) We recommend hooking it to an S-Video jack on your source for
S-Video’s superior video quality, though lower-quality A/V
jacks will work, too. If the outputs on your source are already
in use, don’t worry—just remove the original cables for now.
Plug the included S-Video cable into the output on your
video source and into the input on the Slingbox. Next, connect the red and white plugs (for stereo audio) on the included three-way A/V cable to the source’s matching outputs. The
other end goes into the Slingbox’s A/V input jack. If you had
to disconnect an S-Video cable from your video source, you
can reconnect it to the S-Video output on the Slingbox now.
If you have disconnected red, white, or yellow A/V connections, you’ll have to replace them with the second included
three-way cable, and connect the single small jack to the
Slingbox’s A/V output.
If your source doesn’t have an S-Video output, connect the
yellow plug from the three-way A/V cable to your source’s
matching yellow video output instead. (If you’re using
S-Video, you won’t need the yellow plug at all.) If your source
has neither an S-Video nor a yellow composite-video output,
you’ll have to use the lower-quality RF-type connection.
Now plug the included infrared (IR) cable into the IR jack
on the Slingbox. Place one of the cable’s IR emitters—an
L-shaped termination with a little glass “eye”—on the top or
bottom of the source, with the eye aimed toward the source’s
IR receptor. Once you locate the receptor, tape the emitter
into place.
Tip: If you can’t find the IR receptor on your video source, try
shining a flashlight onto the front display, and look for a
small, sometimes reddish, window. You can also place the
video source’s remote control directly against the source’s face
and move it across, pressing keys until you get a response.
Tube to Go
EDITED BY JOSHUA GOLDMAN
From anywhere in the
world, using a PC, PDA, or smartphone, you could watch TV programs from the cable box or digital
video recorder (DVR) you have sitting at home. You can stop dreaming
now: Sling Media’s Slingbox (www.
slingmedia.com) has turned that
into a reality. It lets you watch TV
programming originating in your
home from anywhere—even if
you’re stuck in a hotel room, at
Grandma’s house, or at an airport
Starbucks. All you need is access to
a broadband Internet connection or
a data-enabled cellular network.
Here’s how to hook it up.
IMAGINE THIS:
92
Connect your TV source
The Slingbox’s input/output ports can be confusing. Follow
the directions above, and you’ll be fine.
2
Connect Slingbox
to your network
3
Power up the Slingbox
The Slingbox comes equipped for linking to a
home network via Ethernet. You’ll need a wireless
bridge like the WET54G Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge
from Linksys (www.linksys.com) to connect it to a
Wi-Fi network, or Sling Media’s SlingLink powerline adapter, which uses existing AC power lines as the conduit.
We won’t cover those kinds of installations here, but both are relatively simple and explained in detail on Sling Media’s Web site.
Connect the included Ethernet cable to the Slingbox’s Network
port and to one of the open LAN ports on your router. You may
have to purchase another Cat-5 cable if the included one isn’t
long enough.
Tip: The Slingbox works best with a Universal Plug ’n’ Play (UPnP)
router, but it will also work with older routers.
choosing a destination folder, you’ll get a shortcut on your
desktop and be taken automatically into the final stages
of setup.
5
Customize the software
After you click Finish to exit the installation
process, you’ll be shown a screen asking
whether you’ve set up the software before. Indicate that this is a first-time installation, then
proceed past the next page. If everything is
connected properly, the next screen’s video
window will display the live TV feed from your source.
The next series of screens allows you to set up the Slingbox to control your gear. You’ll choose the video input
Now it’s time to connect the included power
adapter. The Slingbox doesn’t have a power
switch; much like a router or cable modem, it’s
designed to be left powered up all the time. After
you plug in the power, the two green lights on
the front of the unit will illuminate. After the
Network light stops flashing—indicating that it has received
an IP address from the router—you’re almost ready to install
the software.
First, however, make sure that your PC is connected to the
same router as the Slingbox for the initial installation—you
can install the software on other desktops, laptops, or Windows Mobile devices later. Also, be sure that your TV source
is turned on and displaying live programming.
If you’ve connected everything properly, your PC should
display the live TV signal from the Slingbox.
An installation wizard walks you through setting up the
Slingbox. It begins by making sure your connections are
complete.
4
Install the software
Use the CD that came with your Slingbox
for the initial installation. We then recommend getting the latest version of the
software from the Sling Media Web
site (www.slingmedia.com/support/
downloads.php) to maximize the device’s
performance. After inserting the CD into your PC’s drive
and going through the standard installation process,
which involves confirming the license agreement and
(S-Video, in our case), adjust picture settings, and specify
the exact device you’re controlling. Another screen tests
whether the IR hookup is working correctly by sending a
power-off command. If it’s unsuccessful, you may have to
relocate the IR emitter.
Next, you’ll fine-tune changing channels. We recommend
you first try the single-digit option (that is, “5” as opposed to
“05”), check the Enter box, leave the speed set to Fast, and
run the test. Then, you’ll choose a name for your Slingbox,
and set up standard (for sharing with friends) and administrator passwords.
The final series of screens guides you through setting up remote viewing, for times when you’ll use a device outside your
network to watch your programming. We recommend you try the
automatic UPnP setup option and follow the instructions. After
you complete this process, you’ll receive a screen that says “Congratulations. Your Slingbox is now configured and ready to
WWW
use.” You can now install the software on other PCs and devices to
If you prefer to watch TV on
view TV programming anywhere
your local PC, check out our
roundup of new Viiv Media
via the Slingbox. All you need is
Center PCs at
to be connected to the Internet—
launch the app, and you’ll be
multimediamerger.
ready to watch.
93
HELP & HOW-TO
WEEKEND PROJECT
1
Plan ahead for an emergency
by digitizing your essential
personal info.
Gather your originals
If you had to evacuate due to a storm, a fire, or
some other emergency, what documents and
information would you want with you? Your first
task: Think this over, then gather all of your
important files. Depending on how organized you
are, this could be the most time-consuming part
of the project.
You’ll likely need to track down your insurance information, bank-account numbers, and other financial records. The
best way to digitize these items, however, depends on the
kind of info in question. For instance, you can store a list of
your credit-card and bank-account numbers, along with the
banks’ phone numbers, in a text file. For medical records,
birth certificates, insurance policies, and Social Security
cards, however, scanning in these items is your best bet.
DisasterProof Your
Documents
BY KEVIN SAVETZ
2
Scan your paper records
Now that you’ve gathered your originals, you’ll
need a PC and a scanner to digitize them. Scanning the documents in gray scale should suffice. (Preserving color isn’t important, and grayscale scanning is usually faster.) Remember to
scan both sides of the documents, if necessary,
and use a reasonably high resolution. We recommend at
least 300 dots per inch (dpi)—that way, you’ll be able to print
clear copies should the need arise. Be sure to save the images as JPEG files or in another common format viewable on
any computer without special software.
As you scan and save the documents, organize the files into
directories that best describe the contents. For instance, label
them “life insurance policy” or “Kevin’s medical records.”
you get
a knock on your door—you need to
evacuate your home immediately.
You grab the kids and the pets, and
get out safely. But what have you
left behind?
If the unthinkable occurs, you
most likely won’t have the presence
of mind—or the time—to gather
your important documents. Now is
the best time to collect your vital
records, digitize them, and store
backups—before disaster strikes.
A few hours of preparation today
can make your life much easier if
a crisis besets you tomorrow.
94
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT,
Microtek’s $99 ScanMaker i320 can make digital copies of your
sensitive documents at resolutions as high as 3,200dpi.
WWW
Tip: If you don’t want to invest in a scanner, drop by
your local FedEx Kinko’s to scan your documents. Selfservice scanning costs 35 cents per minute.
3
Take inventory of your
possessions
Avoid daily data disasters
by adding a RAID 1 array.
Read “Double Up Your Data”
to find out how.
doubleupyourdata
Many insurance companies advise customers to
create an inventory list of everything they own,
where they purchased the items, and how
much they paid. Being able to prove that you
own an expensive piece of art or a high-end PC
could mean a hefty difference in the size of your insurance
claim, but creating a detailed inventory usually seems like
an insurmountable chore.
It doesn’t have to be, however. Simply walk around your
home with a digital camera or video camera to capture your
possessions. This should include artwork, jewelry, expensive
electronics, and other costly items. If you have the receipts
handy, scan them, or take clear, close-up photographs. Save
the digital images with your other important files.
three copies of each disc, using different brands of media.
Better yet, store the data on a
USB flash drive. You can easily dedicate a 128MB thumb drive to this
purpose for as little as $10. Plus, it’s
easy to grab and tote in an emergency.
Now’s also a great time to burn a few more important discs:
one with your digital photo library—you know, the family-vacation photos you’d hate to lose if your hard drive crashed—and
one with the other important files on your PC, such as your business and tax records, e-mail address book, and important correspondence. Again, backing up these items onto a USB flash drive
will make them easy to grab when needed. The goal isn’t to create a complete system backup, but to make an archive of your
most-important files.
Of course, you should store your data somewhere that’s secure, such as a safe-deposit box or fireproof safe, and let your
loved ones know how to access it in the event that you can’t. You
could make the argument for encrypting these important, sensitive files, but encryption could cause problems if you or another
family member must retrieve the data but don’t have access to
the password. As long as your media is stored in a secure location, encryption shouldn’t be necessary.
If you insist on encryption, however, several free or inexpensive tools are available. TrueCrypt (www.truecrypt.org) is a
free, open-source program for Windows and Linux that can encrypt an entire folder or drive (such as a USB key) so that it’s
password-protected. Just be sure to save an unencrypted copy
of TrueCrypt with your data so you can decrypt your files later.
An alternative is Steganos Safe 8 ($29.95, www.steganos.com),
which bundles the decryption routines into the encrypted files,
eliminating the need for extra software at decryption time.
Create a digital inventory of your valuables with your digital
camera. Most 5-megapixel cameras cost around $300 and can
also record video with sound.
4
Store it and back it up
Now that you’ve collected and digitized your
vital information, you’ll need to store it where
you’ll be able to find it quickly and easily. That
means archiving the information somewhere
other than on your PC.
Because you want the data to be readily accessible when you need it, don’t use any type of media that
isn’t universal to all computers. One option is burning the
files to CD or DVD. The long-term viability of disc media—especially less-expensive, lower-quality brands—has been the
subject of much debate, so it’s a good idea to make two or
TrueCrypt is a free, open-source program that lets you encrypt
your sensitive data on any PC running Windows or Linux.
5
Keep your records up-to-date
An archive of out-of-date documents won’t do
you or your family any good in an emergency.
Make a point of updating your archive annually—more often, if it’s feasible. This chore will
probably rank alongside doing your taxes or
cleaning the fish tank on the excitement meter,
but spending an hour or two now can be a lifesaver should
a disaster strike.
95
TECHMARKET
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SMART TECHNOLOGY SHOPPING
113
118
122
124
126
129
Thin-and-Light Notebooks
Motherboards
Internal Hard Drives
Memory
3D-Graphics Cards
Internal DVD Burners
NEED TO KNOW
THIN-AND-LIGHT NOTEBOOKS (4 TO 7 POUNDS)
PROCESSOR Look for a model powered by Intel’s Pentium
M processor, which provides long battery life, strong performance, and cool running temperatures. Save a little by
opting for lower clock speeds, such as 1.6GHz. Higher-end
thin-and-lights now come equipped with Intel’s Core Duo
dual-core processors.
MEMORY Adequate RAM is crucial for fast performance,
especially when running multiple apps. Opt for at least
512MB of high-speed DDR SDRAM. Upgrade: Each additional 256MB of DDR memory will cost roughly $50.
GRAPHICS When choosing a thin-and-light, portability
should be a priority. Though many Pentium M-based laptops have robust 3D-graphics chips, save some cash and
heft by opting for less-expensive integrated graphics.
HARD DRIVE 60GB is a sufficient capacity for most users.
If you require speed, select a 5,400rpm drive. Upgrade:
Each additional 20GB of storage will cost about $50.
OPTICAL DRIVES Most thin-and-light laptops ship standard with versatile DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drives, which
Model
Base
Price* Processor RAM Graphics
Hard Optical
Drive Drive
Next
should satisfy the needs of most users. If burnmonth:
Ultraing DVDs on the road is a must, choose a multiportable
Notebooks
format DVD±RW drive. Upgrade: Expect to pay
about $55 to upgrade to DVD±RW from a DVDROM/CD-RW combo drive.
CASE A laptop chassis more than 1.5 inches thick or heavier
than 7 pounds (without AC adapter) exceeds the bounds of
the thin-and-light class.
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Integrated 802.11 wireless networking (Wi-Fi) is an essential feature. Most notebooks
ship with 802.11b/g internal radios, while some even have
802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi chips. 802.11b technology, however, with
its rated data throughput of 11Mbps, is fine for ordinary use.
SCREEN Panoramic wide-screen displays, previously only in
larger desktop replacements, are now available in lighter
systems. To watch DVDs in letterbox style or view multiple
documents at once, go with a high-res 15.4-inch wideformat TFT. Upgrade: A UXGA screen costs about $100
more than an XGA TFT.
—Louis Ramirez, Staff Editor
Wireless Display Weight Editor’s Take
Find Out More
ABS COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES
Mayhem G4
Revolution
$1,599
1.6GHz
Pentium M
730
512MB nVidia GeForce 40GB DVD±RW
802.11a/b/g 15.4 inches 6.6 lbs. Not a budget model, but offers a good mix www.abspc.com
Go 6600
(double layer)
of speedy components. InstantOn tech lets 800-876-8088
you play CDs and DVDs without booting.
ACER AMERICA
TravelMate
TM4062WLMi
$999.99 1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
Ferrari 4500WLMi $1,949 2GHz
Turion 64
ML-37
512MB Integrated
1GB
100GB DVD±RW
802.11b/g
ATI Radeon
100GB DVD±RW
802.11b/g
Mobility X700
(double layer)
15.4 inches 6.4 lbs. Affordable machine with a sweet CPU and us.acer.com
big hard drive. Discrete graphics would
800-816-2237
be a welcome addition, though.
15.4 inches 6.3 lbs. Stocked with an excellent array of
formidable components, but the high
price is hard to swallow.
APPLE COMPUTER
iBook G4
$999
1.33GHz
512MB ATI Mobility
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11b/g
PowerPC G4
Radeon 9550
combo
PowerBook G4
$1,499
1.5GHz
512MB nVidia GeForce 80GB DVD±RW
PowerPC G4
FX Go 5200
802.11b/g
MacBook Pro
$1,999
1.83GHz
Core Duo
512MB ATI Mobility
80GB DVD±RW
Radeon X1600
802.11b/g
Xplorer U3-1000
$949
256MB Integrated
Xplorer S4-5500
$1,405
Xplorer S4-6500
$1,449
1.73GHz
Pentium M
735
1.86GHz
Pentium M
750
1.86GHz
Pentium M
750
1.5GHz
Celeron M
360
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
1.66GHz
Core Duo
T2300
256MB Integrated
40GB CD-ROM
512MB Integrated
combo
512MB Integrated
combo
12 inches 4.9 lbs. An affordable and well-designed notebook www.apple.com
that can handle the basics well, but not
800-692-7753
much more with this base configuration.
12 inches 4.6 lbs. For $500 more than the iBook, this model
is thinner, more elegant, and packed
with better components.
15.4 inches 5.6 lbs. Apple’s first laptop with an Intel CPU is
powerful, but has some transitional
issues and poor battery life. (See p. 33)
CYBERPOWER
combo
512MB nVidia GeForce 60GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11b/g
Go 6600
combo
1GB
nVidia GeForce 80GB DVD±RW
Go 6600
802.11b/g
12.1 inches 4.1 lbs.
Lightweight and affordable, this notebook www.cyberpowerpc.com
has a zippy processor, but could still use
800-707-0393
extra memory and storage.
15.4 inches 6.6 lbs. A decent deal, considering its powerful
parts, including discrete and capable 3D
graphics.
15.4 inches 6.6 lbs. For less than $50 extra, you get all the
S4-5500 offers, plus a DVD burner and
a full gigabyte of RAM. A better bargain.
DELL
Latitude D510
$769
XPS M140
$849
Inspiron E1505
$949
802.11b/g
14.1 inches 5.2 lbs. Sedate chassis and weak graphics confirm www.dell.com
that this model isn’t meant for fun and
800-999-3355
games. Price is tough to beat, though.
14.1 inches 5.4 lbs. Compact for a Media Center laptop.
Well-configured, with a vivid display, but
has weak graphics.
15.4 inches 6.2 lbs. Wide-screen machine offers a raft of
entertainment features at a competitive
price, but integrated graphics are a downer.
* = Base price reflects vendor’s default configuration. Most models are configurable. Prices are subject to change.
See computershopper.com for full reviews of products in boldface.
113
TECHMARKET THIN-AND-LIGHT NOTEBOOKS (4 TO 7 POUNDS)
Base
Price* Processor RAM Graphics
Hard Optical
Drive Drive
Wireless Display Weight Editor’s Take
Find Out More
Latitude D610
$1,269
512MB Integrated
40GB CD-ROM
802.11b/g
www.dell.com
800-999-3355
Inspiron 710m
$1,399
1GB
combo
Model
DELL
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
1.7GHz
Pentium M
735
Integrated
14.1 inches 4.7 lbs. Targeting business users, it now comes
with a swift Pentium M processor; still
missing a DVD burner, however.
12.1 inches 4.1 lbs. Small, thin, and perfect for working on
the go. Packs the essentials, along
with 1GB of RAM.
FUJITSU COMPUTER SYSTEMS
LifeBook S2000
Series
$1,199
LifeBook S6000
Series
$1,449
LifeBook S7000
Series
$1,449
1.6GHz
Turion 64
MT-30
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
512MB Integrated
512MB Integrated
256MB Integrated
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11a/b/g 13.3 inches 4 lbs.
combo
Easy on your back and your wallet, but
www.fujitsupc.com
an underpowered configuration. Upgrades 800-385-4878
are in order.
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11a/b/g 13.3 inches 4.1 lbs. Highly totable, but the small display and
combo
integrated graphics are unimpressive for
the price.
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11a/b/g 14.1 inches 4.3 lbs. Lightweight, with a nice-size screen.
combo
Integrated graphics and lack of RAM
mar an otherwise solid configuration.
GATEWAY
NX200 Series
NX500X
NX560 Series
$749.99 1.5GHz
Celeron M
370
$999.99 1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
$1,099 1.66GHz
Core Duo
T2300
512MB Integrated
512MB Integrated
512MB Integrated
40GB DVD/CD-RW None
combo
14 inches 5.3 lbs. A trim and easy-to-carry budget model
www.gateway.com
equipped with just enough to handle
800-369-1409
ordinary productivity tasks.
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11b/g 15.4 inches 6 lbs.
A nice wide-screen machine, with a typical
combo
array of features and solid performance,
but battery life is only so-so.
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11a/b/g 15.4 inches 5.9 lbs. Packed with a Core Duo CPU and a decent
combo
selection of parts at a low price. Dedicated graphics would be nice, though.
HEWLETT-PACKARD
Compaq V2000Z
Compaq V4000T
Pavilion DV5000z
Pavilion DV1000
$699.99 1.8GHz
Sempron
3000+
$729
1.5GHz
Celeron M
370
$729.99 1.8GHz
Sempron
3000+
$749.99 1.5GHz
Celeron M
370
256MB ATI Radeon
40GB DVD-ROM
Xpress 200M
256MB Integrated
40GB DVD-ROM
$599.99 1.5GHz
Celeron M
370
$749
1.4GHz
Celeron M
360
$1,299 1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
$1,299 1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
256MB Integrated
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11a/b/g 15 inches 6.3 lbs. A compelling combination of ThinkPadwww.lenovo.com
combo
quality features and low- to midrange888-746-7426
quality components for an entry-level price.
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11b/g 15 inches 5.8 lbs. Well-designed but bulky. Price is pleasing,
combo
but parts are anemic.
256MB Integrated
802.11b/g
40GB DVD/CD-RW None
combo
256MB ATI Radeon
40GB DVD/CD-RW None
Xpress 200M
combo
None
14 inches 5.2 lbs. The low price may be appealing, but still
an underpowered laptop suited only for
low-level tasks.
15.4 inches 6.3 lbs. Attractively styled; has a nice widescreen display. Very inexpensive, but
shows in its slow parts and lack of Wi-Fi.
15.4 inches 6.6 lbs. Well-designed, versatile multimedia
laptop that starts at an affordable price
point. A weak base config, however.
14 inches 5.3 lbs. A slick, home-theater-like design; plays
movies well, and is affordable, but
specs are unimpressive.
www.hp.com
888-999-4747
LENOVO
3000 C100
ThinkPad
R Series
ThinkPad
T Series
ThinkPad
Z60t
256MB Integrated
512MB Integrated
256MB Integrated
combo
14.1 inches 4.7 lbs. Strong biometric security is the highlight
of this moderately powered ThinkPad;
integrated graphics is the downside.
40GB DVD/CD-RW 802.11a/b/g 14 inches 4.2 lbs. A versatile laptop with an exceptional
combo
design, solid performance, and good
battery life. Base config is weak, though.
POLYWELL COMPUTERS
PolyNote 915C
$999
PolyNote M412iC
$1,299
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
1.83GHz
Core Duo
T2400
512MB Integrated
40GB DVD-RW
802.11b/g
15 inches 6.3 lbs. Fast CPU for a sub-$1,000 laptop, but
other parts, such as its small hard drive
and integrated graphics, are lackluster.
14 inches 6.6 lbs. Heavy, considering it lacks a wide-screen
display. Packs a Core Duo CPU and lots of
RAM. Again, no 3D-graphics chip.
www.polywell.com
800-999-1278
1GB
Integrated
combo
1.5GHz
Celeron M
370
1.86GHz
Pentium M
750
256MB Integrated
combo
15.4 inches 6.3 lbs. Elegant and affordable, but outfitted with www.sonystyle.com
a sluggish CPU.
877-865-7669
1GB
100GB DVD±RW
802.11b/g
(double layer)
14.1 inches 5.3 lbs. Extremely well-equipped laptop has great
components, such as a big hard drive and
lots of memory, but with a price to match.
1.6GHz
Celeron M
380
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
1.86GHz
Pentium M
750
256MB ATI Radeon
Xpress 200M
combo
15.4 inches 6 lbs.
512MB Integrated
80GB DVD±RW
802.11b/g
(double layer)
15.4 inches 6.1 lbs.
512MB Integrated
100GB DVD±RW
802.11b/g
(double layer)
14 inches 5 lbs.
1.6GHz
Celeron M
380
1.73GHz
Pentium M
740
512MB Integrated
combo
15.4 inches 6.4 lbs. Although you get a wide-screen display
and Wi-Fi, other components are subpar
considering the price.
15.4 inches 6.4 lbs. Replacing the veteran B50 Ultra, this
pricey machine features a faster CPU, a
wide-screen display, and better graphics.
SONY ELECTRONICS
VAIO
FS Series
$870
VAIO
FJ Series
$1,599
Integrated
TOSHIBA AMERICA
Satellite
A100-S2211TD
$699
Tecra A4-S313
$1,199
Satellite
M55-S3291
$1,329
An affordable mainstream laptop that’s
mostly unremarkable, save for its widescreen display and sub-$700 price.
A little on the heavy side, but lots to like
here, including a speedy Centrino CPU
and a double-layer DVD burner.
Despite being chock-full of high-end
parts, it manages to stay relatively
light. Not a bad price, either.
www.toshiba.com
800-316-0920
VELOCITY MICRO
NoteMagix D71
$1,215
NoteMagix D70
Ultra
$1,595
512MB ATI Mobility
Radeon X600
combo
* = Base price reflects vendor’s default configuration. Most models are configurable. Prices are subject to change.
114
www.velocitymicro.com
800-303-7866
NEED TO KNOW
MOTHERBOARDS
FORM FACTOR The form factor sets the standard for a
motherboard’s dimensions, as well as the positioning of
mounting holes and expansion slots; your case must support
the form factor of the board you choose. Most of today’s
motherboards are laid out in the ATX form factor. Home
theater buffs looking to build a living-room-friendly PC
should consider a smaller MicroATX board. These boards
use the general ATX design but include fewer I/O slots,
allowing for a shorter board that can fit in a smaller case.
RAM SLOTS Most motherboards feature two to four
memory slots. (Because of their size, MicroATX boards
tend to offer fewer slots than their ATX counterparts.) Regardless of the board you choose, make sure it has enough
slots to accommodate your needs. For optimum performance, look for boards that support faster DDR2 memory.
CPU SOCKET Your most important decision when buying a motherboard is the processor family you want your
board to support. AMD’s desktop processor, the Athlon
64, is compatible with socket numbers 754 and 939.
The socket number simply corresponds to the number
Model
Price
Form
Factor
of pins found on the bottom of the processor. Sockets
478 and LGA775 support Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron
processors, the only difference being that the LGA775
has the pins located on the motherboard CPU socket,
as opposed to on the CPU.
STORAGE With Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives becoming
increasingly popular, most new motherboards offer both IDE
and SATA connectors. If you want to future-proof your system, make sure your board supports SATA drives.
PCI SLOTS Most ATX motherboards provide at least four
PCI slots for expansion. While standard PCI remains the
norm, faster PCI Express (PCIe) slots are now common on
mainstream boards. PCIe slots differ according to the number of links, or lanes, they support. For instance, an x16 slot
is wider than an x1 slot due to the x16 slot’s higher bandwidth. (A single lane can transmit 2.5Gbps in each direction.) As a result, PCIe graphics cards employ x16, whereas
an Ethernet card would be fine with x1. Any expansion cards
you plan to use must be compatible with the specific slot
types, of course.
Onboard
CPU
Core System
Drive
Graphics/
Socket Chipset
RAM Support Connectors Audio
Expansion Slots
Editor’s Take
Find Out More
www.abit-usa.com
510-623-0500
ABIT COMPUTER
KV-85
$62.99
MicroATX Socket
754
Via K8M800/
VT8237R
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
Via UniChrome AGP 8x, three PCI
Pro/5.1
No PCIe slots; hard-core gamers
need not apply.
NF8-V2
$69.99 ATX
Socket
754
nVidia
nForce3 250
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, five PCI
Supports 5.1 audio, as well
as Athlon 64 and Sempron CPUs.
GD8 Pro
$82.99 ATX
LGA775 Intel 915P/
ICH6 Express
Four DDR2 slots One IDE,
(4GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, three
PCIe x1, two PCI
Accommodates faster DDR2 RAM
and 7.1-channel HD audio.
KN8 Ultra
$99.99 ATX
Socket
939
nVidia
nForce4 Ultra
Four DDR slots
(8GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, three
PCIe x1, three PCI
Offers a healthy number of
expansion slots for the price.
KN8 SLi
$120.99 ATX
Socket
939
nVidia
nForce4 SLI
Four DDR slots
(8GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16 (SLI),
three PCIe x1, two PCI
Gamers can take advantage of this
board’s dual-video-card capabilities.
AW8-Max
3rd Eye II
$225.99 ATX
LGA775 Intel 955X/
ICH7R Express (8GB max.)
six SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, two
PCIe x1, two PCI
Features built-in cooling technology;
supports HD audio.
ASUSTEK COMPUTER
P4V8X-MX
$50
MicroATX Socket
478
Via P4M800/
8237R Plus
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
Pro/5.1
Lacks PCIe support; has four
USB 2.0 ports on the back panel.
K8V-MX
$58
MicroATX Socket
754
Via K8M800/
VT8237R
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
Pro/5.1
Eight bucks more than the above
board buys you AMD-CPU support.
A8R32-MVP
Deluxe
$195
ATX
Socket
939
ATI CrossFire
Xpress 3200/
ULI M1575
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
six SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16 (CrossFire), one PCIe x1,
three PCI
CrossFire-ready board should satisfy
builders who are also gamers.
P5N32-SLI
Deluxe
$205
ATX
LGA775 nVidia
nForce4 SLI
Four DDR2 slots Two IDE,
(16GB max.)
six SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16 (SLI),
one PCIe x4, two
PCIe x1, two PCI
This board offers the most memory
capacity of all the ATX boards we saw.
P4TGE
$45.99
ATX
Socket
478
PT880
Pro-A7C
$60.99 ATX
LGA775 Via PT880 Pro/ Two DDR/DDR2 Two IDE,
VT8237R Plus slots (2GB max.) two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, one PCIPCI-Extreme slot offers better audio
Extreme (x16), four PCI and video quality.
K8T890-A9
$64.99 ATX
Socket
939
One PCIe x16, two
PCIe x1, three PCI,
proprietary AGP
GeForce
6100-M7
$65.99
N4SLI-A9
$83.99
usa.asus.com
502-995-0883
BIOSTAR USA
118
Intel 82845GE/ Two DDR slots
ICH4
(2GB max.)
Two IDE
Intel Extreme/ AGP 4x, five PCI, one
5.1
CNR
No PCIe or Serial ATA support; six
total USB 2.0 ports.
Via K8T890/
VT8237R
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
MicroATX Socket
754
nVidia GeForce
6100/nForce
410
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
nVidia GeForce One PCIe x16, one
6100/5.1
PCIe x1, two PCI
Healthy number of PCI slots, but
2GB maximum RAM capacity isn’t
overwhelming.
ATX
nVidia
nForce4 SLI
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
Install two video cards to get great
graphics performance from this mobo.
Socket
939
Two PCIe x16 (SLI),
two PCIe x1, three PCI
AMD-based mobo should provide a
healthy core for most home PCs.
www.biostar-usa.com
626-581-1055
TECHMARKET MOTHERBOARDS
Model
Price
Form
Factor
Onboard
CPU
Core System
Drive
Graphics/
Socket Chipset
RAM Support Connectors Audio
Expansion Slots
Editor’s Take
Find Out More
Socket
939
us.dfi.com.tw
510-274-8000
DFI
NF4 Ultra
Infinity
$90.99 ATX
nVidia
nForce4 Ultra
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/5.1
One PCIe x16, two
PCIe x1, three PCI
Comfortable number of expansion
slots; also offers AMD support.
RS482 Infinity
$93.99
MicroATX Socket
939
ATI Radeon
Xpress 200
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
ATI Radeon
X300/7.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, two PCI
Well-equipped AMD-based board
offers 7.1 high-definition audio.
915G-TMGF
$99
MicroATX LGA775 Intel 915G/
ICH6
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
One IDE,
four SATA
Intel GMA
900/5.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, two PCI
Decent specs should satisfy most
Intel system builders.
LANparty
875P-T
$152.99 ATX
LGA775 Intel 875P/
ICH5R
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, four PCI
No PCIe support; limited drive
connectors.
LANparty UT
NF4 SLI-DR
Expert
$179.99 ATX
Socket
939
nVidia
nForce4 SLI
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
eight SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16 (SLI),
one PCIe x4, one PCIe
x1, three PCI
SLI-ready board accommodates a
whopping eight SATA connections.
ELITEGROUP COMPUTER SYSTEMS
648FX-A2
$55.99
ATX
Socket
478
SiS 648FX/
964
Three DDR slots Two IDE,
(3GB max.)
two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, five PCI, one
CNR
Avid gamers should look elsewhere— www.ecsusa.com
better choices abound.
510-226-7333
755-A
$59.99
ATX
Socket
754
SiS 755/964
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, five PCI,
one CNR
Not the most future-proof mobo you
can buy; lacks high-speed slots.
RS482-M754
$85.99
MicroATX Socket
754
ATI RS482/
SB400
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/5.1
One PCIe x16, three
PCI
Generous drive connectors, but
limited PCIe support.
PF88
$89.99 ATX
LGA775 SiS 656/965
(4GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, three PCI,
one EliteBus
EliteBus lets you switch from Intelto AMD-based mobo via PCI slot.
KV2 Lite
$99.99 ATX
Socket
939
Via K8T800
Pro/VT8237
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, five PCI
More than enough memory slots, but
lacks PCIe support.
KN1 SLI
Extreme
$115.99 ATX
Socket
939
nVidia
nForce4 SLI
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16 (SLI),
one PCIe x1, three PCI
A good SLI-ready foundation for
serious gamers.
nVidia
nForce4
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
GA-K8NE
$69
ATX
Socket
754
Three DDR slots Two IDE,
(3GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, two
PCIe x1, three PCI
Features 7.1 audio and comes with
Norton Internet Security.
GA-G1975X
$239
ATX
LGA775 Intel 975X
Four DDR2 slots Two IDE,
Express/ICH7R (8GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
Two PCIe x16, two
PCIe x4, two PCI
“Turbojet” technology helps dissipate
heat from CPU, RAM, and chipsets.
Desktop Board
D865PESO
$51.99
MicroATX Socket
478
Desktop Board
D915PDT
$70.99
MicroATX LGA775 Intel 915P
www.gigabyte-usa.com
626-854-9338
INTEL
Intel 865PE
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
Three PCI
Lets you install a good amount of
RAM, but has only three PCI slots.
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
One IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, two PCI
Offers a generous mix of high-speed
connections, considering its size.
Desktop Board $149.99 ATX
D925XHY
LGA775 Intel 925X
Express
(4GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, two
PCIe x1, four PCI
Nice overall specs complemented by
Intel 7.1 high-definition audio support.
Desktop Board
D955XBK
$199.99 ATX
LGA775 Intel 955X
Express
(8GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCI x16/x4, one
PCIe x1, three PCI
Only one IDE connector, but healthy
SATA, RAM, and PCI connectivity.
Desktop Board
D975XBX
$235.99 ATX
LGA775 Intel 975X
Express
(8GB max.)
four SATA
None/7.1
Three PCIe x16, two
PCI
Gaming enthusiasts will be impressed
by these specs.
nVidia C51G/
MCP51
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, two PCI
Compact design skimps somewhat
on SATA ports.
Intel 865PE/
ICH5
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/5.1
AGP 8x, five PCI
Entry-level mobo should meet modest
performance needs.
nVidia C51PV/
MCP51
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, two PCI
Generous memory slots and drive
connectors; also has PCIe slots.
ATI RS482/
SB450
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, two PCI
Similar to above board, but uses an
ATI instead of nVidia chipset.
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
One IDE,
four SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, one
PCIe x1, four PCI
Supports 7.1 audio; you can
find better deals for the money.
www.intel.com
800-538-3373
MSI COMPUTER
K8NGM-V
$65.99
865PE Neo2PFS Platinum
Edition
$84.99 ATX
K8NGM2-NBP $93.99
MicroATX Socket
754
Socket
478
MicroATX Socket
939
RS482M4-ILD $99.99 MicroATX Socket
939
945P Neo2-F
$113.99 ATX
LGA775 Intel 945P/
ICH7
www.msicomputer.com
626-913-0828
SOLTEK
SL-P4M800I-R/ $69.99 MicroATX Socket
SL-P4M800I-RL
478
Via P4M800/
VT8237R
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
Pro/5.1
The price is right, but lacks PCIe
and has limited memory capacity.
SL-K8T-939FL $85.99
ATX
Socket
939
Via K8T800
Pro/VT8237R
Four DDR slots
(4GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/7.1
AGP 8x, five PCI
Like the model above, this board
lacks high-speed ports.
SL-K890-754G $99.99 ATX
Socket
754
Via K8T890/
VT8237R
Two DDR slots
(2GB max.)
Two IDE,
two SATA
None/7.1
One PCIe x16, three
PCIe x1, two PCI
If you plan to upgrade much, choose
a board with support for more RAM.
www.soltek.com.tw
119
NEED TO KNOW
INTERNAL HARD DRIVES
INSTALLATION Internal hard drives are fairly easy to install. If
you’re adding a second drive, make sure you set the jumper to
Slave. If you’re replacing an old drive, create a boot disk first.
Position the drive in an available 3.5-inch bay, and connect the
ribbon (or SATA) cable to the motherboard and the power connector to the power supply. If you bought a kit rather than a
bare drive, use the screws and cables that came with the drive.
SIZE If you’re upgrading an older PC, a 120GB drive should
provide plenty of storage for the future. Budding digital photographers, videographers, and gamers should go for at least
250GB.
ATA OR SATA Drives using the ATA interface, also known as
IDE, are the most affordable. But the newer Serial ATA
(SATA) interface, which transfers data via a serial instead of a
parallel connection, will eventually eclipse this technology. Capable of transferring data at 150MB per second, SATA uses
thinner cables than ATA, allowing for better airflow within
Model
Price
Kit/
Bare Drive Capacity
Buffer
Memory Spin Rate
your PC. ATA is adequate for the average user looking for inexpensive storage, but gamers who want maximum performance (and whose PCs support the interface) should consider
a pricier SATA drive. With the introduction of SATA/300,
compliant drives and PCs can now support data transfers of
up to 300MB per second. For even faster data transfers, the
Ultra320 SCSI interface reaches rates of up to 320MB per
second.
SPEED The speed at which a disk spins, measured in revolutions per minute (rpm), is directly related to how fast it
can retrieve data. Your best bet is a drive spinning at
7,200rpm. At the consumer-drive high end, speeds reach
10,000rpm, but these costly drives max out at 147GB.
BUFFER Hard drives store frequently accessed data in their
own RAM, or buffer, because this solid-state memory is faster
than the drive head at transferring data. The larger the buffer,
the better.
Interface
Editor’s Take
Find Out More
us.fujitsu.com
800-626-4686
FUJITSU COMPUTER SYSTEMS
MAT3073NC
$299
Bare drive
73.5GB
8MB
10,000rpm
Ultra320
SCSI
Not much storage capacity, but this SCSI drive
offers the fastest consumer spin rate available.
MAT3147NP
$701
Bare drive
147GB
8MB
10,000rpm
Ultra320
SCSI
Double the capacity, but at a whopping $400
over the MAT3073NC’s price.
MAU3147NP
$1,020
Bare drive
147GB
8MB
15,000rpm
Ultra320
SCSI
A lightning-fast, high-performance SCSI drive for
professional data streaming.
HITACHI GLOBAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES
Deskstar 7K80
$59.95
Bare drive
80GB
2MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/133
Limited storage space and a small buffer make
for a lackluster—though inexpensive—drive.
Deskstar T7K250
$120.99
Bare drive
250GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
A good drive to build a new system around;
more than doubles the capacity of the 7K80.
Ultrastar 10K300
$199.99
Bare drive
74GB
8MB
10,000rpm
Ultra320
SCSI
A more affordable alternative on the SCSI side
to Fujitsu’s same-capacity 10,000rpm drive.
Deskstar 7K400
$255.99
Bare drive
400GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/150
Massive storage at a slightly higher-thanaverage price.
Deskstar 7K500
$399.99
Bare drive
500GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/150
Overkill for most PCs, but ideal for image pros
and graphic designers.
100GB SATA/150
$89.95
Kit
100GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/150
Should satisfy modest storage needs; not a
great choice for those with lots of media files.
100GB Ultra Series
$89.95
Kit
100GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/133
Same drive as above, but with an Ultra ATA/133
interface.
250GB SATA
Ultra16
$129.95
Kit
250GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/150
A nice option if you’re on a tight budget—plus,
this drive comes with an upgrade kit.
250GB Ultra16
$129.95
Kit
250GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/133
Same price as the SATA drive above, but slower.
If it’s viable, opt for the SATA interface.
300GB SATA
Ultra16
$149.95
Kit
300GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/150
A decent bargain for a SATA drive with plenty of
capacity.
Maxline III Series
$200
Bare drive
300GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/133
Features Native Command Queuing (NCQ) for
faster read/write requests.
DiamondMax 11
Series
$229.95
Bare drive
400GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
King-size drive should benefit most professionals
in need of massive storage space.
SpinPoint P Series
SP0812N
$49.99
Bare drive
80GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/133
Not worth the price, considering its limited
capacity.
SpinPoint P Series
SP1604N
$79.99
Bare drive
160GB
2MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/133
You can get the faster SATA-based SP2504C
for $16 more.
SpinPoint P Series
SP2504C
$95.99
Bare drive
250GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
An excellent deal if you’re comfortable installing
a drive without an upgrade manual or kit.
SpinPoint T Series
HD300LD
$110.99
Bare drive
300GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Another good deal—also available with a SATA
interface if your motherboard supports it.
www.hitachigst.com
800-448-2244
MAXTOR
www.maxtor.com
800-262-9867
SAMSUNG
122
www.samsungusa.com
800-726-7864
TECHMARKET INTERNAL HARD DRIVES
Model
Price
Kit/
Bare Drive Capacity
Buffer
Memory Spin Rate
Interface
Editor’s Take
Find Out More
www.seagate.com
877-271-3285
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY
Barracuda 7200.9
120GB
$89.99
Bare drive
120GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Seagate offers better alternatives. If you can
swing it, go for a higher-capacity drive.
Barracuda 7200.9
SATA 160GB
$125.99
Kit
160GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
Drive could use more storage space, but the
price is right.
Barracuda 7200.9
250GB
$134
Bare drive
250GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Excellent price-per-gigabyte ratio if your PC
doesn’t support a SATA interface.
Barracuda 7200.7
Plus 200GB
$139.99
Kit
200GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Unless you need the upgrade kit, you’ll get
better value with the above drive.
Barracuda 7200.8
SATA NCQ 300GB
$179.99
Bare drive
300GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/150
A great choice if you’re looking to build a
high-end PC.
Barracuda 7200.9
500GB
$339.99
Bare drive
500GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Offers a lot of storage space, but relies on a
slower interface than WD’s 500GB option.
Caviar SE WD800JD
$64.99
Bare drive
80GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
Less than $1 per gig for a drive with the
latest Serial ATA interface isn’t a bad deal.
Caviar WD2000JB
$94.99
Bare drive
200GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Another great bargain, here for an Ultra ATAbased system.
Caviar WD2500BB
$104.99
Bare drive
250GB
2MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Generous storage space for the price; belowaverage buffer size, however.
Caviar SE16
WD2500KS
$115.99
Bare drive
250GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
A few dollars more buys you a quicker interface
and greatly increased buffer size.
Caviar
WD2500JBRTL
$124.99
Kit
250GB
8MB
7,200rpm
Ultra ATA/100
Similar to the WD2500BB, but with an install
kit and more buffer memory.
Raptor WD740GD
$169.99
Bare drive
74GB
8MB
10,000rpm
Serial ATA/150
Western Digital’s fastest-spinning drive to date
is also its smallest-capacity.
Caviar SE16
WD5000KS
$339.99
Bare drive
500GB
16MB
7,200rpm
Serial ATA/300
Massive storage space for those with equally
massive budgets.
WESTERN DIGITAL
www.wdc.com
949-672-7000
123
NEED TO KNOW
MEMORY
RAM AMOUNT The more memory you have, the better
your PC will handle running several applications at once.
For Windows XP and general office tasks, get a minimum
of 512MB. Multitaskers and gamers should opt for at least
1GB. If your motherboard supports dual-channel RAM,
buy modules in pairs to optimize performance.
RAM TYPE AND SPEED The maximum speed of memory
your PC can handle is determined by your motherboard’s
chipset. Vendors such as Corsair, Crucial, and Kingston offer system-scan features on their Web sites that automatically determine which RAM is best for your PC. The most
common memory type today is DDR SDRAM, with speeds
measured in megahertz (the higher the better). DDR is
backward-compatible—you can buy faster RAM than you
need—but doing so will result in improved performance
only if your components support the higher speed. DDR2,
the second-generation DDR standard, enables higher clock
speeds and data rates. DDR2 won’t work in systems that
Price
Capacity
Pin
Count
Type
Speed
ValueSelect
VS256MB400
$23
256MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
XMS Series
CMX256A-3200C2
$29
256MB
184-pin
ValueSelect
VS512MB266
$38
512MB
184-pin
ValueSelect
VS1GBKIT533D2
$75
1GB
240-pin
(two 512MB)
ValueSelect
VS1GB667D2
$75
1GB
XMS Series
CMX512-2700C2
$94
512MB
XMS2 Series
TWIN2X10245400C4PRO
$169
1GB
240-pin
(two 512MB)
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675
(PC2-5400)
XMS2 Series
TWIN2X20486400PRO
$306
2GB
(two 1GB)
Model
support only original DDR, however.
LATENCY RAM stores data in rows and columns. Column
address strobe (CAS) latency (sometimes listed as “CL”)
is the number of clock cycles it takes before a column can
be addressed on a RAM chip. In most cases, a lower number indicates better performance.
ERROR CORRECTION CODE (ECC) Some RAM uses ECC
to detect and correct single-bit errors. This is only necessary, however, where data integrity is of the utmost importance, such as in workstation PCs and servers. If you’re
shopping for a home or small-business PC, it likely supports non-ECC modules. Buy only the type that your
motherboard supports. (Some support both.)
VALUE VERSUS PERFORMANCE Memory vendors often
offer both lower-cost “value” modules and pricier “performance” options. Only those who need speed (gamers,
digital video editors) should opt for performance RAM.
—Joshua Goldman, Associate Editor
Error
Checking
CAS
Heat
Manufacturer’s
Latency Spreader Warranty
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
2.5
No
Lifetime
DDR SDRAM
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
2
Yes
Lifetime
DDR SDRAM
DDR 266
(PC2100)
No
2.5
No
Lifetime
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533
No
(PC2-4200)
4
No
Lifetime
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
(PC2-5300)
No
5
No
Lifetime
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
No
2
Yes
Lifetime
No
4
Yes
Lifetime
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
No
(PC2-6400)
5
Yes
Lifetime
Find Out More
CORSAIR
DDR 333
(PC2700)
www.corsairmemory.com
888-222-4346
CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY
CT3264Z335
$30.99
256MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 333
(PC2700)
No
2.5
No
Lifetime
CT2KIT3264Z335
$58.99
512MB
184-pin
(two 256MB)
DDR SDRAM
DDR 333
(PC2700)
No
2.5
No
Lifetime
CT6472AB40E
$99.99
512MB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400
(PC2-3200)
Yes
3
No
Lifetime
CT12872Y335
$200.99
1GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
Yes
2.5
No
Lifetime
CT2KIT12864AA40E
$284.99
2GB
(two 1GB)
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400
(PC2-3200)
No
3
No
Lifetime
CT25672AB40ES
$999.99
2GB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400
(PC2-3200)
Yes
3
No
Lifetime
GR1DD8T-512/400
$32.99
512MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
No
3
No
Lifetime
GR2DR8B-1GB/400
$77.99
1GB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400
(PC2-3200)
No
3
No
Lifetime
GR2DR4B-E1GB/400
$129.99
1GB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400
(PC2-3200)
Yes
3
No
Lifetime
GR1DR4B-E2GB/266
$305
2GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
Yes
2.5
No
Lifetime
DDR 333
(PC2700)
www.crucial.com
800-336-8915
GIGARAM
124
DDR 400
(PC3200)
DDR 266
(PC2100)
www.gigaram.com
949-461-9999
TECHMARKET MEMORY
Price
Capacity
Pin
Count
Type
Speed
$320
2GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
F1-3200PHU1512NT
$31
512MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
F2-6400PHU1512HZ
$63
512MB
240-pin
F1-4000BIU11GBHV
$135
1GB
F2-4200PHU22GBNT
$139
2GB
(two 1GB)
F1-4400DSU21GBFC
$169.99
F2-5400PHU22GBZX
$239
Model
Error
Checking
CAS
Heat
Manufacturer’s
Latency Spreader Warranty
DDR 333
(PC2700)
Yes
2.5
No
Lifetime
www.gigaram.com
949-461-9999
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
2.5
No
Three years
www.gskill.com
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
No
(PC2-6400)
4
Yes
Lifetime
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
No
3
Yes
Lifetime
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533
No
(PC2-4200)
4
No
Lifetime
1GB
184-pin
(two 512MB)
DDR SDRAM
No
2.5
Yes
Lifetime
2GB
(two 1GB)
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
(PC2-5400)
No
4
Yes
Lifetime
Find Out More
GIGARAM
GR1DR4B-E2GB/333
G. SKILL
DDR 500
(PC4000)
DDR 550
(PC4400)
KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY
ValueRAM
KVR533D2N4/512
$51.99
512MB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533
No
(PC2-4200)
4
No
Lifetime
HyperX
KHX7200D2/512
$104
512MB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 900
(PC2-7200)
No
5
Yes
Lifetime
HyperX
KHX3200/1G
$133
1GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
No
2.5
Yes
Lifetime
ValueRAM
KVR400D2S4R3/1G
$163
1GB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400
(PC2-3200)
Yes
3
No
Lifetime
ValueRAM
KVR266X72RC25/
1024
$165.95
1GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 266
(PC2100)
Yes
2.5
No
Lifetime
HyperX
KRX3200AK2/1G
$244
1GB
184-pin
(two 512MB)
DDR SDRAM
DDR 400
(PC3200)
Yes
2.5
Yes
Lifetime
HyperX
KHX5400D2K2/2G
$327
2GB
(two 1GB)
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675
(PC2-5400)
No
4
Yes
Lifetime
991452
$26
256MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 333
(PC2700)
No
2.5
Yes
Lifetime
990991
$32.50
256MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
2
Yes
Lifetime
991378a
$48.50
512MB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
(PC2-5300)
No
5
Yes
Lifetime
991509
$91
512MB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
(PC2-5300)
No
3
Yes
Lifetime
991456
$94
1GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
3
Yes
Lifetime
991492
$152
1GB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 500
(PC4000)
No
3
Yes
Lifetime
Value Series
OCZ400256V3
$21.25
256MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
3
No
Lifetime
Performance Series
Enhanced Latency
OCZ400512EL
$57.50
512MB
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
DDR 400
(PC3200)
No
2
Yes
Lifetime
Value Pro Series
OCZ25331024VP
$78.95
1GB
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533
No
(PC2-4200)
4
Yes
Lifetime
Gold Series
OCZ26671024
ELDCGE-K
$109.99
1GB
240-pin
(two 512MB)
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
(PC2-5400)
No
4
Yes
Lifetime
Gold Series
OCZ28002048
ELDCGE-K
$269.99
2GB
(two 1GB)
240-pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
No
(PC2-6400)
5
Yes
Lifetime
Platinum Edition
OCZ5002048EBPE-K
$274.99
2GB
(two 1GB)
184-pin
DDR SDRAM
3
Yes
Lifetime
DDR 400
(PC3200)
www.kingston.com
877-546-4786
MUSHKIN
www.mushkin.com
800-569-1868
OCZ TECHNOLOGY
DDR 500
(PC4000)
No
www.ocztechnology.com
408-733-8400
125
NEED TO KNOW
3D-GRAPHICS CARDS
MEMORY When it comes to graphics memory, you can never have too much, especially if you’re a hard-core gamer.
More RAM means better performance, improved 3D texturing, and higher display resolutions. If you’re an avid gamer
itching to frag opponents in Half-Life 2 or Doom 3, make the
move up to 256MB. More memory allows for smoother
gameplay, though anything above 256MB won’t make much
of a difference.
SLOT TYPE The AGP bus was developed specifically for
graphics cards, but it has been replaced by a faster technology called PCI Express (PCIe). Both nVidia and ATI, makers of
today’s top consumer graphics-processing units—the engines that drive the cards—are supporting this new technology, which doubles the bandwidth of AGP 8x. PCIe cards are
more expensive but worth the investment. Make sure you
Model
Price
Graphics
Engine
buy the right type (AGP or PCIe) for your motherboard.
DIRECTX 9 The latest version of Microsoft’s multimedia instruction set enhances DirectX 9-compatible graphics cards’
ability to render more realistic visuals. Look for DirectX 9
support if you’re planning to play the latest 3D games.
DVI VERSUS ANALOG Many of today’s LCD monitors have
Digital Visual Interface (DVI) connections, which provide image quality superior to the standard analog VGA interface
(which is also typically present). Make sure your card has a
DVI connection so you can take advantage of this improvement.
TV TUNER Can’t afford a digital video recorder (DVR)?
Some graphics cards with built-in TV tuners let you watch
your favorite channels on your PC and use your computer as a
TiVo-style DVR, enabling you to save shows to your hard drive
and watch at your convenience. —Louis Ramirez, Staff Editor
Rated Max.
Video
DirectX
OpenGL
RAM Interface Version
Version DVI-Out Editor’s Take
Find Out More
ASUSTEK COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL
Extreme
AX800XL/2DTV
$349
Radeon X800 XL 256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
PCI Express card packs HD and S-Video outputs so
you can project your games onto your television.
EN7900GT Top
$399
GeForce 7900 GT 256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
High-end, Vista-ready card has a ton of new Asus-only
features, such as the ability to record gameplay.
Extreme
$469
EN7800GTX/2DHTV
GeForce 7800
GTX
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Packs nVidia’s 7800 GTX GPU and the ability to record
your gaming sessions as MPEG-4s for later viewing.
Extreme AX850XT
PE/2DHTV
$559
Radeon X850 XT 256MB PCI
Platinum Edition
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
A top-of-the-line board more expensive than a budget
PC, but sure to satisfy even the most finicky gamer.
Radeon 9200
$99
Radeon 9200
128MB AGP 8x
8.1
2
No
A cheap way to get a little more life out of an older
PC; just a step above current integrated graphics.
Radeon X1300 Pro
$169
Radeon X1300
Pro
256MB AGP 8x
9
2
Yes
AGP card featuring ATI’s latest Avivo video and display
technology for sharp images, crisp text, and vivid color.
All-In-Wonder
2006 Edition
$199
Radeon X1300
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
X1300 GPU is appropriate for low-end gaming; provides
DVR, video-capture, and TV- and FM-tuner functionality.
Radeon X800 XL
$279
Radeon X800 XL 256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
Former high-end 3D card at a midrange price. Strikes
the perfect balance between power and value.
Radeon X1600 Pro
$299
Radeon X1600
Pro
512MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Upper-midrange card with good overall speed, plus
lots of memory to boost general system performance.
All-In-Wonder
X800 XT
$329
Radeon X800 XT 256MB AGP 8x
9
2
Yes
Slightly less powerful than the X850 XT, but adds a
plethora of video features, including a built-in TV tuner.
Radeon X850
CrossFire Edition
$399
Radeon X850
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
You can get a second X850-based card and put both
on a CrossFire-enabled mobo for two-GPU power.
Radeon X1900 XT
$549
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Frame rates don’t mean much if the image isn’t great.
The X1900’s visual-detail abilities are incredible.
Radeon X1800 XT
$599
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
ATI’s top card is no match for nVidia’s top brass, but
it’s saved by Avivo, which decodes all types of video.
usa.asus.com
502-995-0883
ATI TECHNOLOGIES
www.ati.com
905-882-2626
BFG TECHNOLOGIES
Asylum GeForce
FX 5200
$29.99
GeForce FX 5200 128MB AGP 8x
9
1.4
No
If you’re looking for a modest step up from integrated
graphics, this ultra-affordable card will do the trick.
GeForce 6800 GT OC
$189.99 GeForce 6800 GT 256MB PCI
Express
9
1.5
Yes
(two)
Overclocked card is a good performer with reasonable
power requirements, but no bundled games.
GeForce 7600 GT OC
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Plan to use in an SLI configuration? Check the specs
to make sure your PC’s power supply can handle it.
GeForce 7800 GT OC
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Overclocked and SLI-ready—you might well need a fire
extinguisher to tame this blazing card.
9
2
Yes
(two)
In addition to making great nVidia-based cards, BFG
covers all its cards with a limited lifetime warranty.
GeForce 7800 GTX OC $399.99 GeForce 7800
GTX
256MB PCI
Express
126
www.bfgtech.com
847-281-3110
TECHMARKET 3D-GRAPHICS CARDS
Model
Price
Graphics
Engine
Rated Max.
Video
DirectX
OpenGL
RAM Interface Version
Version DVI-Out Editor’s Take
Find Out More
512MB PCI
Express
www.bfgtech.com
847-281-3110
BFG TECHNOLOGIES
GeForce 7900 GTX
OC
$499.99 GeForce 7900
GTX
9
2
Yes
(two)
BFG separates itself from the GPU pack with factoryoverclocked core and memory at no extra cost.
EVGA
e-GeForce MX 4000
$49.99
GeForce MX 4000 64MB
AGP 8x
7
1.3
No
Add this half-height card to a component-type Media
www.evga.com
Center PC for inexpensive S-Video output to a television. 888-881-3842
e-GeForce 6200 TC
$99.99
GeForce 6200 TC 128MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
TurboCache cards use the additional bandwidth of the
PCIe slot to leverage system memory for a power boost.
e-GeForce 7600 GT
CO Superclocked
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
A couple steps down from the top, but still the latest
graphics processing at a decent price.
e-GeForce 6800
$299.99 GeForce 6800
128MB AGP 8x
9
2
Yes
A good card, but too expensive. Go for the PNY Verto
6800 GS below instead.
e-GeForce 7800
GTX
$499.99 GeForce 7800
GTX
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
Hold on tight—nVidia’s 7800 GTX chip delivers a
breakneck 3D-gaming experience.
e-GeForce 7900
GTX Superclocked
$579.99 GeForce 7900
GTX
512MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
BFG and PNY have better prices on similar cards. Like
those, this board is overclocked out of the box.
LEADTEK RESEARCH
WinFast PX7300 GS
TDH
$79.99
GeForce 7300 GS 256MB PCI
TDH
Express
9
2
Yes
This TurboCache board supports up to 512MB of VRAM, www.leadtek.com
but borrows 256MB of it from system memory.
510-490-8076
WinFast A6200
TDH
$81.99
GeForce 6200
128MB AGP 8x
9
2
Yes
Like the EVGA MX 4000, an inexpensive way to step
up to discrete graphics for half-height cases.
WinFast A6600 TD
$149.99 GeForce 6600
128MB AGP 8x
9
1.5
Yes
Substantial software bundle includes video-editing apps,
plus games (Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell)
WinFast PX7600 GT
TDH
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
nVidia’s DVD-decoder software and PureVideo technology help turn your PC into a high-end home theater.
WinFast PX7800
GTX TDH MyVIVO
$529.99 GeForce 7800
GTX TDH
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Ships as a 430MHz/1,200MHz card, but overclockable
to 450MHz/1,250MHz using company’s instructions.
WinFast PX7900
GTX TDH
$599.99 GeForce 7900
GTX
512MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Just one of these cards is enough power for current
games, but two will be unstoppable far into the future.
8.1
1.3
Yes
(two)
Matrox’s Multi-Display Zoom lets you view a portion
of one display full-screen on the other display.
MATROX GRAPHICS
Millennium P650
$249
Parhelia
64MB
AGP 8x
Parhelia 128MB
$349
Parhelia
128MB AGP 8x
8
1.3
Yes
(two)
Plug-ins for Adobe apps are included for true WYSIWYG
video output; advanced multimonitor features.
Parhelia APVe
$349
Parhelia-LX
128MB PCI
Express
8.1
1.3
Yes
(two)
Not intended for gamers; offers HDTV component-video
out, multidisplay expertise.
PCI
Express
9
1.5
Yes
On-chip video-encoding and motion-estimation engine
provides fast, high-quality encoding from TV tuner.
256MB PCI
Express
9
1.5
Yes
MSI’s CoreCell 3D software allows you to customize
cards for different kinds of applications.
NX7600GT-T2D256E $179.99 GeForce 7600 GT 256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Bundled with the card is MSI’s Vivid software for
tweaking your graphics.
NX7800GTXVT2D256E
www.matrox.com
514-822-6300
MSI COMPUTER
NX6200TC-TD64ESLF $89.99
NX6600 Ares
GeForce 6200 TC 64MB
$129.99 GeForce 6600
$529
GeForce 7800
GTX
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
No longer the top GPU, it’s still remarkably powerful,
with many of nVidia’s latest features.
NX7900GTX-T2D512E $549.99 GeForce 7900
GTX
512MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Gamers take note: This is the fastest GPU your money
can buy. Plus, it offers dual-monitor support.
www.msicomputer.com
626-913-0828
PNY TECHNOLOGIES
Verto GeForce
FX 5500
$59.99
GeForce FX 5500 128MB AGP 8x
9
1.4
No
Older system in need of a graphics pick-me-up? This
AGP card has decent features despite its low cost.
Verto GeForce
6600 GT
$179.99 GeForce 6600 GT 128MB AGP 8x
9
1.5
Yes
(two)
If you’ve got some cash to burn on a respectable card,
this older GPU still has plenty of kick for gaming.
Verto GeForce
7600 GT
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Also available in an AGP version, though the specs
aren’t as good as they are with this PCI Express board.
Verto GeForce
6800 GS
$229.99 GeForce 6800 GS 256MB AGP 8x
9
2
Yes
PNY bundles very little with its cards. MSI and Leadtek
include more extras.
Verto GeForce
7800 GTX PCIe
$449.99 GeForce 7800
GTX
256MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
SLI-ready card with nVidia’s second-fastest GPU, plus
dual digital connections.
Verto GeForce
7900 GTX OC
$524.99 GeForce 7900
GTX
512MB PCI
Express
9
2
Yes
(two)
Factory-overclocked like EVGA’s and BFG’s 7900 cards,
but doesn’t include a similar lifetime warranty.
128
www.pny.com
973-515-9700
NEED TO KNOW
INTERNAL DVD BURNERS
FORMAT When DVD burners first emerged, buyers had to
make an often-confusing choice between two incompatible
formats: DVD-R/DVD-RW and DVD+R/DVD+RW. Thankfully, drive manufacturers now offer multiformat drives that
can write and rewrite to both formats. Some drives also
record to DVD-RAM discs, although these drives are much
less common and tend to cost a little more.
SPEED How fast a drive can read, write, and rewrite a disc
is measured in terms of “x.” If you’re on a limited budget,
look for a drive that can write (or burn) DVDs at 8x—
that’s approximately 8.5 minutes for a full disc. Currently,
most drives write at 16x.
DOUBLE-LAYER SUPPORT “Double layer” refers to
the technology that allows two recording layers to fit on
the single side of a DVD, effectively doubling a disc’s
storage capacity from 4.7GB to 8.5GB. Though perfect
Model
Price
Format
CD/DVD
Read
Rewrite
Speeds Write Speeds* Speeds**
for those who need to archive huge amounts of data,
double-layer burning currently maxes out at 8x speed,
and the discs may not play in some DVD players. Also,
you’ll run across two types of double-layer recording.
Most double-layer drives support DVD+R double layer
(DL), but some newer ones also support DVD-R DL. To
get the most bang for your buck, look for drives that
support both.
INTERFACE Most optical drives rely on an IDE interface to
connect to your PC, but some newer drives offer a faster
Serial ATA (SATA) connection. One of the main advantages of SATA is that it uses thinner cables to facilitate
airflow inside your PC’s case. The thin cables are also beneficial for small-form-factor cases because they eliminate
the need for IDE’s space-hogging ribbon cables.
Buffer
Size Interface Editor’s Take
Find Out More
ASUSTEK COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL
DRW-1608P2
$40.99
DRW-1608P2-S
$49.99
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
40x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/2x
2MB
IDE
Poky DVD-RAM rewrite speed, but otherwise
good overall writing and rewriting speeds.
40x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
Similar to DRW-1608P2, but with a boosted
DVD-RAM rewrite speed of 5x.
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
40x/16x/16x/8x
24x/4x/4x/5x
2MB
IDE
Supports drag-and-drop recording with
DVD-RAM discs.
40x/16x/16x/2.4x 24x/4x/4x/NA
2MB
IDE
Double-layer speed could be faster; uses LightScribe technology to label surface of discs.
usa.asus.com
502-995-0883
BENQ AMERICA
DQ60
$45.99
DW1625
$58.99
www.benq.us
866-700-2367
HEWLETT-PACKARD
DVD Writer
740i
$99.99
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
40x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
Healthy software package includes Nero software www.hp.com
suite and CyberLink PowerDVD.
888-999-4747
IDVDRW8D
$69.99
DVD±RW
40x/8x/4x/NA
24x/4x/2x/NA
2MB
IDE
www.iomagic.com
949-707-4800
IDVDR16L
$79.99
48x/16x/16x/4x
24x/8x/4x/NA
2MB
IDE
IDVD16DLS
$89.99
40x/16x/16x/2.4x 24x/8x/4x/NA
2MB
IDE
IDVD16DD
$119.99
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
40x/16x/16x/2.4x 24x/4x/4x/NA
2MB
IDE
Doesn’t offer much for the price; you’re better off
with a slightly costlier alternative.
Slightly faster than BenQ’s DW1625, but doesn’t
support labeling of discs with LightScribe.
A slower double-layer write speed than the above
drive, but includes LightScribe technology.
Offers a slow double-layer write speed; better
options are available.
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
Can write to double-layer DVD+R and DVD-R
discs; also supports LightScribe disc labeling.
www.lacie.com
503-844-4502
$94.99
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
48x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
Great drive if you value speed and compatibility
with all DVD formats.
us.lge.com
800-243-0000
SHW-165P6S
$45.99
48x/16x
48x/16x/16x/8x
24x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
Doubles the double-layer write speed of the
SOHW-1693S and adds support for DVD-RAM.
www.liteonamericas.com
510-687-1800
SHW-160P6S
$49.99
48x/16x
48x/16x/16x/4x
24x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
SOHW-1693S
$59.99
48x/16x
48x/16x/16x/4x
24x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
SHW-165H6S
$69.99
DVD±RW
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
DVD±RW
(double layer)
DVD±RW
(double layer)
DVD±RW
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
48x/16x
48x/16x/16x/8x
24x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
Features Smart-Burn technology, which boosts
burning speeds and prevents buffer underruns.
The nice price and decent double-layer and
rewrite speeds make this model a bargain.
The most feature-packed drive in Lite-On’s SHW
series adds LightScribe technology to the mix.
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/4x
24x/4x/4x/NA
2MB
IDE
I/OMAGIC
40x/12x
LACIE
16x DVD±RW
Internal Drive
With LightScribe
$79
LG ELECTRONICS
GSA-4166B
LITE-ON IT
MEMOREX PRODUCTS
16x16 Dual
Format DVD
Recorder
$119.99
An acceptable upgrade choice, but rewrite speeds
are too slow for the price.
www.memorex.com
562-653-2800
* = Speeds expressed as CD-R/DVD+R/DVD-R/double-layer DVD; not all double-layer drives support both plus and minus DL media.
** = Speeds expressed as CD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM
NA = Not applicable
129
TECHMARKET INTERNAL DVD BURNERS
Model
Price
Format
CD/DVD
Read
Rewrite
Speeds Write Speeds* Speeds**
Buffer
Size Interface Editor’s Take
Find Out More
NEC SOLUTIONS AMERICA
ND-3550A
$49.99
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/6x
32x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
Unbeatable price; excellent choice for upgraders
on a shoestring budget.
www.necsam.com
916-463-7000
www.pioneerelectronics.com
800-444-6784
PIONEER ELECTRONICS
DVR-610
$66.99
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
40x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
Built-in technology prevents users from
burning a coaster and wasting media.
DVR-R100
$88.99
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
40x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
Similar to the DVR-610, but offers a bigger
software bundle; includes Ulead VideoStudio.
PX-740A
$99
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer)
40x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/4x/NA
2MB
IDE
Most PC users will find this drive adequate for
archiving and backups.
PX-716A
$139
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/6x
24x/8x/4x/NA
8MB
IDE
Delivers slightly slower speeds than the
PX-740A, but offers an 8MB buffer.
PX-716SA
$143
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/4x
24x/8x/4x/NA
8MB
Serial
ATA
Serial ATA interface, good speeds, and a great
software bundle.
PX-716AL
$179
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/6x
24x/8x/4x/NA
8MB
IDE
Supports double-layer burning of plus and minus
discs at 6x; we think it’s overpriced.
SH-162A
$49
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
48x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
This drive’s Magic Speed mode lets you choose
between a fast read speed or a low-noise mode.
SH-162L
$59
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
48x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
Built-in disc-labeling technology lets you print
directly onto DVDs.
PLEXTOR
www.plextor.com
800-886-3935
SAMSUNG
www.samsung.com
800-726-7864
SONY ELECTRONICS
DRU-810A
$89.99
DVD±RW
40x/16x
(double layer)
48x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/NA
2MB
IDE
Faster on rewrites and more affordable than
Plextor’s PX-716AL, but with a smaller buffer.
DRU-820A
$99.99
DVD±RW
48x/16x
(double layer),
DVD-RAM
48x/16x/16x/8x
32x/8x/6x/5x
2MB
IDE
Similar to the DRU-810A, but adds DVD-RAM
support for an extra $10.
www.sonystyle.com
800-222-7669
* = Speeds expressed as CD-R/DVD+R/DVD-R/double-layer DVD; not all double-layer drives support both plus and minus DL media.
** = Speeds expressed as CD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM
NA = Not applicable
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130
WEB BUYER
THE BEST SITES FOR ONLINE SHOPPING • BY KEVIN SAVETZ
>>TECH PRODUCTS
amazon.com
Amazon.com is an unparalleled superstore with a
massive inventory equaled only by its special features, such as personalized product recommendations and mobile access. The Early Adopter
Products pages show what’s fresh in electronics,
video games, and DVDs.
bestbuy.com
Our readers voted Best Buy their favorite place to buy
consumer electronics. The selection in each department is comprehensive and impressive. The best part?
You can have your gadget delivered or readied for
pickup at a nearby store.
ccrane.com
In business for nearly 30 years, the C. Crane
Company specializes in radios, light, and scientific
gadgets. The catalog includes shortwave and scanning radios, home weather stations, and a variety of
LED flashlights—educational, techie fun.
circuitcity.com
The well-organized CompUSA rounds out the usual
selection of PC hardware, peripherals, and accessories
with areas devoted to home electronics and wireless
gadgets. Set your own price on PCs at CompUSA’s
auction site.
computers.ebay.com
eBay is an unparalleled auction site and a unique
shopping experience. Shoppers can set their
own prices on components, including new and
used PCs, software, tech books, and vintage
computers.
Buy.com’s vast million-product inventory includes
computer hardware, software, electronics, video
games, books, music, and DVDs. Sister site
BuyMusic.com delivers music downloads starting at
79 cents a song.
buydig.com
At BuyDig.com, you’ll find a multitude of tech
toys, such as MP3 players, digital cameras,
scanners, PDAs, DVD players, and video-capture
devices. Accessory orders of more than $50
ship free.
www.cablemax.com
In addition to a substantial variety of computer and
networking cables, which the company manufactures itself, CableMax sells surge-protection
devices, add-on PC cards, electronics tools, and test
equipment.
Illustrations by Bill Rieser
cablestogo.com
The mammoth selection at Cables To Go
includes esoteric system-specific cables, as well
as PDA, cell-phone, and audio/video connectors.
Check out the rounded cables for improved
internal PC cooling.
HARD DRIVES
AND FLASH MEMORY
In addition to a wide selection of hardware and
peripherals, CDW offers an Outlet section
where you’ll find deals on clearance merchandise
and customer returns. Click the Mac Warehouse
tab to reveal a medley of Apple hardware and
peripherals.
compusa.com
buy.com
132
134
134
136
Tech Products
Hard Drives and
Flash Memory
Budget PCs
Direct PC Vendors
Software
Games
cdw.com
Plug in to Circuit City, where you can choose from a
quarter million movies, video games, and CDs. The
inventory also includes digital cameras, televisions,
and PDAs. Have your products delivered, or pick them
up in a Circuit City store.
Kodak
EasyShare One
from Best Buy
131
131
computersecurity.com
Make sure your computer and data stay right
where they belong. Computer Security
Products’ PC-protection gear includes steel
cables, stealth tracking/recovery software, and
disk-drive locks.
computers4sure.com
Computers4Sure comprises 21 departments
well-stocked with a broad spectrum of products,
including networking gear, LCD monitors, and
storage. Free ground shipping is available for
many products.
c-source.com
The catalog at 15-year-old CompSource is chocka-block with PC products—more than 200,000
in all. Check out the Best Sellers lists to find
customers’ favorite products in 17 categories, including
desktops, notebooks, and other peripherals.
dalco.com
Dalco Electronics stocks everything from motherboards to monitors. Bargain hunters will want to
start with the specials found on the home page,
which change regularly—but watch out for the
20 percent restocking fee.
databazaar.com
Visit Databazaar.com for inkjet and toner cartridges, specialty paper, backup tapes, flash memory, and cables. All orders ship free.
caplinktech.com
dbuys.com
Stocked with hard drives, motherboards, and
CPUs, Caplink Technology is a system builder’s
dream come true. The site also offers an enticing
mix of digital music players, GPS receivers, and
other gadgetry, with free shipping on most items.
Dbuys.com shoppers get to choose from a firstrate selection of home theater products, including
DVD players/recorders and all-in-one surroundsound systems. Shipping is free on many items,
such as big-screen televisions.
crucial.com
Crucial Technology’s catalog of flashmemory devices includes high-speed
USB thumb drives, as well as memory
cards in CompactFlash, Memory Stick,
MiniSD, SD, and other formats. The site
also sells flash-card readers, which let
you use those memory cards with any
USB-equipped computer.
www.dirtcheapdrives.com
Dirt Cheap Drives gets down and dirty
with low prices on a wide selection of hard
drives, including lightning-fast and largecapacity models. The Best Sellers page of
the most-popular drives presented us with
several tempting yet inexpensive 200GB
and 300GB units.
drivesolutions.com
Drive Solutions sells hard drives for laptops, desktops, and servers. In addition
to internal drives, you’ll find external USB
and FireWire drives for easy connection and
portability, along with enclosures that can
give new life to a surplus IDE drive.
flashmemorystore.com
FlashMemoryStore.com specializes in
removable media. The site stocks every
conceivable flavor of memory card, plus
plenty of card-reader accessories and external hard drives. All products come with
a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a
lifetime warranty.
harddrivesuppliers.com
Hard Drive Suppliers has a moderate selection of hard drives, including SCSI, IDE, Serial
ATA, and notebook drives. Complementing
the $4 flat-rate shipping, all drives are
backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Plus, configuration and installation guides
will help you get that new drive spinning.
usbflashstore.com
The USB Flash Store stocks thumb
drives, flash-memory cards, readers,
and accessories, as well as desktop and
laptop RAM. The company promises free,
same-day ground shipping, a 30-day
money-back guarantee, and a lifetime
warranty on everything it sells.
131
WEB BUYER SHOPPING SITES
digitalfotoclub.com
ecost.com
www.pcliquidator.com
Digital Foto Discount Club has a vast selection of
digital cameras, camcorders, PDAs, and digital audio
gadgetry, and is well-rated by its customers at sites
such as PriceGrabber.com. Check out the Top 10
Best-Sellers in the various product categories.
Look to eCost.com for deals on PC components,
software, electronics, and DVDs. You’ll be enticed
by short-lived but sweet deals in the Bargain
Countdown area.
At PC Liquidator, the inventory is inexpensive and
ever-changing. You might choose an older Pentium
4 motherboard for $24.99 or a 4GB hard drive for
$14.99. Check the Dollar Bin for ultracheap software
and parts.
BUDGET PCs
ewaggle.com
Yes, eWaggle.com has a silly name. It also has
good deals on all types of PC peripherals, including
monitors, external hard drives, and networking
cards—all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Look for the tiny truck icon, which means you’ll get
free shipping on that product.
geeks.com
cpusolutions.com
The line of bare-bones and starter PCs at
CPU Solutions can bring speedy computing to homes and offices with any budget.
About $400 will get you a 64-bit Sempron or Athlon system with your choice of
motherboard and memory.
discountpc.net
Discount PC International specializes in
refurbished desktops and laptops from
Dell, Gateway, MPC, and other major
manufacturers. The inventory can change
quickly, but shoppers will find plenty of
laptop choices for under $500, plus many
desktop PCs for under $350.
ibuypower.com
iBuypower can power up your computing
experience with a 64-bit AMD processor
for under $550. The company’s iVision
series of desktops starts at a mere $199.
Each system is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee and free tech support.
idotpc.com
iDotPC.com sells a variety of inexpensive
desktops built on AMD and Intel processors.
The customization menus let you create
your perfect PC with your choice of processor, memory, optical drive, and other necessities. We configured a reasonably equipped
Pentium 4 system for well under $400.
jncs.com
Shopping for a PC on a budget doesn’t have
to mean limited options. At J&N Computer
Services, shoppers can choose among many
Celeron D or Sempron processors, plus plenty of peripheral configurations, to put together a PC for less than $500. You also get
a three-year warranty on every system.
usedlaptops.com
In business for 10 years, UsedLaptops.com
sells name-brand notebooks for as little as
$225. You’ll find more than 1,100 laptops to
choose from. Browse by price, manufacturer, or features. You can also narrow the selection to models with the exact specs you
seek.
walmart.com
At Wal-Mart’s online home, $500 will buy
you a Windows XP desktop with a 1.8GHz
Sempron processor and a 17-inch CRT monitor. If your budget is closer to $300, you can
get a 2.8GHz desktop—monitor and operating system not included. Many of the PCs
are available only online, not in Wal-Mart’s
retail stores.
132
pcmall.com
Catering to businesses of all sizes as well as
consumers, PC Mall’s catalog includes more than
100,000 products, with hot deals on notebooks, LCD
monitors, and digital media. Sister site MacMall
(www.macmall.com) is devoted to Apple hardware
and software.
With no doubts about the tech-savvy of its customers, Geeks.com is a fun-to-browse tech site
that’s perfect for people piecing together a PC or
looking for a geeky project. Check out the new and
refurbished computer gear, such as cheap optical
drives, and gadgets like a wearable TV watch.
pdasmart.com
geekstuff4u.com
radioshack.com
Looking for something different? GeekStuff4U.
com specializes in high-tech gadgets from Japan.
The selection includes hard-to-find and downright
weird products like an iPod movie recorder and
sushi-shaped USB memory keys.
RadioShack stocks a variety of phones, cables,
digital-audio players, and PC peripherals. Get free
shipping on orders of at least $50.
insight.com
Insight delivers IT products for businesses, including
networking hardware, projectors, and servers. The
stellar Narrow Your Results feature and comparison
tools will help you find the best product.
Is your broken PDA out of warranty? PDASmart.com
offers do-it-yourself repair kits, as well as mail-in
repair and upgrade services for many PDAs and iPods.
Look for extended-life batteries, replacement LCD
screens, and bezels.
store.palm.com
This is where Palm sells its popular Tungsten and
Treo PDAs, plus software, accessories, and replacement parts. Visit the Factory Outlet for deals on
blemished and open-box units.
kvm-switches-online.com
Let your monitor, keyboard, and mouse share more
than one PC. KVM Switches Online is dedicated
to keyboard/video/mouse switches for every type of
hardware. You’ll also find video splitters and rackmountable LCDs.
laptoptravel.com
If you tote a computer wherever you go, take a trip
to Laptop Travel, a site that specializes in
portable-computing and international-travel gear.
The site stocks cases, electrical adapters, modem
converters, mobile desks, and security accessories.
Palm Treo
700W
Smartphone
memorysuppliers.com
MemorySuppliers.com’s customer-friendly policies include $4.95 flat-rate shipping, a 30-day
money-back guarantee with free return shipping,
and lifetime warranties on memory and hard drives.
The Upgrade Guides explain how to install RAM and
troubleshoot common memory problems.
neutronexpress.com
You may get a charge from the dense nucleus
of PC peripherals and networking hardware at
NeutronExpress.com. Visit the Specialty sections for PC components, low-profile peripherals,
and PC security products.
newegg.com
Newegg.com is a nest of good stuff for do-ityourself PC upgraders. The selection focuses on
hard drives, motherboards, CPUs, optical-storage
add-ons, and consumer electronics.
outpost.com
Shoppers at Fry’s Outpost.com enjoy an ample catalog of hardware, software, cameras, and video games.
Notable features include the Power Search function,
special deals, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on
most products.
pcconnection.com
PC Connection can connect you to a world of PCs,
peripherals, and software. Use the Rebate Center to
find products with cash-back deals, or visit sister site
MacConnection (www.macconnection.com) for
Mac OS wares.
styluscentral.com
Use your mobile device in style. Stylus Central has
a large selection of PDA styli, cases, and chargers,
plus a complete line of iPod accessories. Have your
initials engraved on many items for free.
superwarehouse.com
Super Warehouse stocks printers, monitors, storage, scanners, and digital cameras. The selection of
printers is particularly large, including plotters, dotmatrix models, and other printers for special needs.
thegpsstore.com
You may not know where you’re going, but you’ll
know where you are right now with the help of a
global positioning system (GPS) receiver. The GPS
Store sells GPS units for the car, hiking excursions,
and aviation, plus accessories and software.
tigerdirect.com
For deals and discounts, visit TigerDirect. This
sizable catalog includes low-cost PC components,
PDAs, and office equipment. Geeks on a budget can
find desktop PCs for as little as $250 and laptops for
under $500.
tristatecomputer.com
TriState Camera stocks a plethora of digital and analog cameras, plasma televisions, computer peripherals,
and necessities for home or office.
unityelectronics.com
gateway.com
Check out Unity Electronics’ impressive selection
of PC peripherals, including hard drives, optical
drives, and networking products. The site is also
well-stocked with cables and batteries, as well as
parts for handhelds.
One of the biggest players in online computer
sales, Gateway has an enormous and informative site that sells custom-built desktops and
notebooks.
usbstuff.com
At this site, choose among Hewlett-Packard
and Compaq desktop and notebook computers, plus
networking accessories, printers, handhelds, and
digital cameras.
Need gadgets to fill those empty USB ports? USB
Stuff has it all, including digital cameras, CD-RW
drives, printers, and input devices. Check out the
USB microscopes, GPS receivers, and other remarkable peripherals.
usedhandhelds.com
UsedHandhelds.com is a marketplace dedicated
to pre-owned Pocket PC, Palm, and other PDAs,
with plenty of information on the differences
between older models. The company also buys used
Windows Mobile, Windows CE, and Pocket PC
handhelds.
hpshopping.com
hypersonic-pc.com
Need computing power that’s faster than fast? Go
hypersonic. Visit Hypersonic PC for gaming
systems, workstations, and laptops outfitted with
the latest high-performance peripherals. Enthusiast options include 3D-graphics optimization
and case customization.
ibuypower.com
There’s a zone for whatever you need at Zones: the
home page for hardware and software, the Mac Zone
for Apple stuff, the Creative Pro page for graphics
pros, and the Zones Clearance section for special buys.
iBuypower can power up your workspace with a
64-bit PC for less than $500. Even the company’s
least-expensive PCs include large hard drives, dedicated graphics cards, desktop speakers, and other
essentials. All products are backed by a 30-day
money-back guarantee.
zunafish.com
idotpc.com
Zunafish facilitates trades of used video games,
DVDs, CDs, and books. Post your used items, then
propose and execute one-for-one trades with others, all for $1 per trade. Use the My Zunafish page
to monitor your trade offers.
Find a customized desktop, an economical
bare-bones PC, or a personalized laptop at
iDotpc.com. Menus allow you to create the PC
that’s right for you, letting you specify the
processor, memory, optical drive, and other
necessities.
zones.com
>> DIRECT
PC VENDORS
abspc.com
Expect gaming, multimedia, and business PCs
aplenty at ABS Computer Technologies. The company offers a choice of Intel or AMD processors, a
three-year parts and lifetime labor warranty, and tollfree technical support. Visit the Outlet Store for shortlived specials.
lenovo.com
Lenovo sells IBM’s former lines of ThinkCentre
desktops, ThinkPad laptops, and ThinkVision
monitors. Configure built-to-order PCs, and
choose among accessories such as memory and
printers.
Lenovo
ThinkPad
Z60t
alienware.com
hour repair-turnaround guarantee and free lifetime tech support.
shopprostar.com
Each computer in ProStar Computer’s line of
notebook PCs is backed by a 30-day money-back
guarantee, a speedy-repair promise, and free tech
support.
sonystyle.com/vaio
Sony Style is a sleek-looking site selling Sony’s
line of VAIO desktops and notebooks, plus digital
cameras, displays, and storage devices.
store.apple.com
The Apple Store’s well-designed site lets you
custom-configure any Macintosh and offers a
wide array of Mac-compatible software and
accessories. For frequent (or compulsive)
customers, the one-click-ordering feature
makes purchases extra-simple.
toshibadirect.com
The custom-configured notebooks and Tablet PCs
at Toshiba Direct range from budget models to the
unique Qosmio laptops, which combine PC, TV,
DVD, and audio features.
us.fujitsu.com/shop
Fujitsu’s site focuses on portable computing,
including notebook PCs and pen-based tablet
computers. Each computer has several
warranty options.
velocitymicro.com
Looking for a 64-bit processor to push your
games to the limit? They’re in Velocity Micro’s
Gamer’s Edge and Raptor models. The customconfiguration menus offer a mind-boggling array
of component choices.
viciouspc.com
Creating “hardware for the hard-core,” Vicious
PC sells desktops with clear cases, high-output
ventilation, easy-access sliding rails, and frontaccessible USB ports. Washable air filters mean
your computer’s innards will remain dust-free.
voodoopc.com
Alienware can custom-build your dream game
machine—desktop or laptop. Each is available with
out-of-this-world cases in a rainbow of colors.
Buyers get a personalized owner’s manual and tollfree technical support any time of the day or night.
Nobody else can do the voodoo that they do so
well. VoodooPC specializes in high-end PCs for
gamers, with a choice of Intel or 64-bit AMD
processors. Take your pick among tower systems,
laptops, and portables—all thoroughly customizable, of course.
buympc.com
winbook.com
MPC Computers sells desktops, notebooks, and
servers. You can custom-configure a high-performance TransPort notebook, tuned to your specifications, for business, multimedia, or gaming.
cyberpowersystem.com
Power up with a customized Intel or AMD system
from Cyberpower. The selection includes 64-bit
machines, gamers’ dream systems, Media Centers,
and budget PCs for everyday use.
dell.com
Dell’s electronic storefront has always led the
way in ease of use. The site is jam-packed with
detailed information that makes it a snap to
match a machine to your needs. Each system is
configurable to the nth degree, and you can get
quick access to online support customized for
your PC.
falcon-nw.com
Once you get your talons on a Falcon Northwest
PC, you won’t want to let go. The heavyweight desktops and totable FragBox computers include the
hardware you want, the way-cool look you crave, and
the personalized system-rescue discs you may one
day need.
134
maingear.com
MainGear specializes in premium PCs with
advanced specs for gamers and other power
users. The selection includes sleek-looking and
colorful desktops, space-saving X-Cube machines,
and powerful laptops.
monarchcomputer.com
Monarch Computer Systems creates built-toorder desktops, workstations, and servers.
Configure the computer you want, then lock in the
price for up to a week. If you’re building a PC,
check out the PC Parts section for components
and peripherals.
overdrivepc.com
Sleek, overclocked PCs for gamers and professionals highlight Overdrive PC’s offerings. Each
computer includes a quiet cooling system, free
antivirus software, and no-cost shipping.
sagernotebook.com
Specializing in notebook computers, Sager offers
a variety of options, from budget machines to
speedy multimedia units. Service includes a 72-
WinBook Computer sells laptops and desktops
with a 30-day money-back guarantee, a one-year
warranty, and free tech support. Ironically, some
of the best deals,“Web specials,” can only be
ordered by phone.
www.ztgroup.com
ZT Group builds and sells desktop and notebook
computers for every type of user. The selection
includes PCs for gaming, media, home offices,
and businesses, with your choice of AMD or Intel
processors.
>> SOFTWARE
atomicpark.com
Free shipping is available for AtomicPark.com’s
entire selection of business and productivity apps.
Plus, you’ll never pay a restocking fee. The new
Direct Downloads section lets you use new software
in minutes, not days.
bigclearance.com
Offering current-version software at clearance
prices, the big selection at BigClearance.com
includes wares from Microsoft, Macromedia,
Corel, and others.
buycheapsoftware.com
The name says it all. Buycheapsoftware.com’s
selection consists primarily of business and utility
apps. The company offers flat-rate $5 shipping on
small orders and free shipping on orders over $200.
buypcsoft.com
Buypcsoft.com sells Windows and Mac software
in categories from business management to virus
GAMES
prevention. It’s an efficient site with a good selection of big-name applications.
directory.fsf.org
The Free Software Foundation’s Free Software
Directory catalogs no-cost, useful apps that run
with Linux and other free operating systems.
Browse by category, or check out the newest additions to the directory, which are listed front and
center.
distrowatch.com
Keep up-to-date with the latest Linux and FreeBSD
distributions with DistroWatch. You’ll find news
about free operating systems and links to the most
popular distros in categories including multimedia,
beginner-friendly, and live CDs.
download.com
ebgames.com
EBgames.com is a game player’s paradise,
selling new and pre-owned titles for every
game console and OS under the sun. Check
the Hot Deals section for short-term specials on PC games and gaming accessories.
gamehippo.com
GameHippo.com features more than 1,000
free, downloadable PC games. Besides a description of the game, each title also comes
with staff and user ratings, plus easy-toread icons that tell you, at a glance, if a
game is child-safe or playable on a network.
Check out the Top 20 Rated Games list to
pick up other gamers’ favorites.
gameliquidation.com
GameLiquidation.com specializes in factory-sealed console games at bargain prices.
The selection includes games and add-ons
for PlayStation 2 and GameCube, as well
as older consoles. Check the Accessories
section for extra controllers, cleaning kits,
and memory for your console.
gamesondemand.yahoo.com
Never step into a software store again!
Armed with just a PC and a broadband
connection, you can play full-version commercial games with Yahoo Games On
Demand. Opt to play up to 10 games per
month, or try a game for just a few days.
gamespot.com
With juicy game news, authoritative reviews, and cheat codes, GameSpot is a
one-stop shop for PC and console gamers.
Downloadable previews and a price-comparison tool will help you get good deals on
titles you’ll love.
gamestop.com
GameStop.com sells new and used games
for consoles and PCs. Recent price drops,
top sellers, and “just arrived” products are
highlighted, so you’ll always know the score.
Sign up for the e-mail newsletter to get
game deals delivered right to your in-box.
lik-sang.com
Tired of the same old games? LikSang.com imports console games and accessories from around the world. You’ll
discover mod kits for consoles, hard-tofind imported games, and unusual controllers to sharpen your gameplay.
136
CNET Download.com will help you find shareware
and free software, linking to thousands of programs for PC, Mac, and mobile devices. Well-written newsletters and down-to-earth reviews help
you find the perfect program.
driverguide.com
With more than 100,000 downloadable drivers for
every conceivable piece of computer hardware and
operating system, Driver Guide is indispensable
when you’re repairing a malfunctioning system or
piecing together a PC from spare parts.
filebot.org
Buy software, download it, and use it right away
with FileBot. The site sells a wide variety of
audio software, system utilities, business apps,
and games. Free trial versions are available for
many titles.
freewarefiles.com
FreewareFiles.com is an index to free downloadable software for Windows. Articles and tutorials
deliver advice on free software and computer
maintenance.
freewarepro.com
Freeware Pro finds free software and organizes it
into categories such as home office, Web authoring,
and games. Begin with the Recommended Downloads
list to load up your PC with the best no-cost wares.
jumbo.com
Jumbo is a fitting name for this monstrous file
archive, featuring shareware, freeware, and commercial-software demos for PC, Mac, and Linux.
9software.com
#9 Software is stocked with applications in nine
categories, ranging from games to business applications. The company provides free shipping on
orders of more than $99.
nonags.com
Nonags offers software that’s useful, tested, and
(as the name suggests) won’t nag you to pay.
Basic access to the site is free, but a subscription
to the Plus version adds MP3 downloads and “best
of” software links.
nothingbutsoftware.com
You’ll make much ado about Nothing But
Software. This collection of apps includes
games, educational titles, graphics programs,
utilities, and more—all with flat-rate shipping.
Try the programs in the Specials section for as
little as $7.
oldversion.com
Sometimes the latest version of software isn’t
the greatest version: bloat and feature creep can
ruin a great program. OldVersion.com is a nifty
archive of previous versions of applications,
including Internet clients, utilities, and media
players.
palmgear.com
Palm OS users will appreciate the large selection
of free and commercial programs downloadable
from PalmGear.com. Check out the list of
“essential” apps, then sign up to get software
news and tips.
pdfstore.com
The PDF Store specializes in software for creating
content. Shop for applications that produce Portable
Document Format (PDF) files, e-books, and printed
materials.
retrosoftware.com
Retro Software specializes in software from major
publishers including Adobe and Corel, but with a
twist. If you don’t need the latest version of an
application, you can purchase a generation-old
version at a significant discount—or, buy really old
versions for really low prices.
serverfiles.com
ServerFiles.com is a directory of software for network administrators and IT professionals. The
selection includes network-security, collaboration,
and server applications.
simtel.net
For shareware and freeware downloads for
Windows, look to Simtel.net. The home page lets
you jump right in with its lists of the newest and
most popular software releases.
snapfiles.com
Download shareware and freeware in a snap with
SnapFiles. This site will point you to the latest
software releases and Weekly Top 20 titles.
Users’ ratings and reviews show which software
is worth checking out.
software-blowouts.com
Software Blowouts is home to oodles of inexpensive
Windows and Mac OS software, with flat-rate shipping. Peruse the Blowouts page for education, entertainment, and utility titles, many for just $9.95.
softwarecheaper.com
Software Cheaper is a funky little bargain basement that sells Windows and Macintosh software,
most for less than $6. Every order gets you a pick
from the Free Software page. Domestic U.S. shipping is always free.
softwareoutlet.com
Plug in to SoftwareOutlet.com, a veritable virtual
bargain bin. You’ll find dirt-cheap applications and
hardware accessories. Browse older software from
defunct companies, plus modern titles.
store.purplus.net
Purplus Software is a well-regarded seller of software for business, graphics, and music. The site
offers free shipping on orders of $45 or more.
tronixweb.com
When it’s playtime, head to Tronix, a site specializing in software, hardware, and accessories for
PlayStation Portable (PSP), PlayStation 2, Xbox
360, and other console video-game platforms.
Scope out and preorder upcoming games in the
Coming Soon section.
tucows.com
Tucows is an incredible library of freeware and shareware for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This recently
designed site makes it easy to find the newest, most
popular, or top-rated software.
viosoftware.com
Emphasizing low prices and great customer
service, VioSoftware.com sells applications
from Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft, and other
big-name publishers. Shipping is always free.
WIN THIS!
Win a $500 Shopping Spree
at Newegg.com
Enter To Win!
Tell us what you think about the June issue and be entered
to win a $500 Newegg gift card.
To enter go to
computershopper.com/survey
No purchase necessary to win. Void where prohibited by law. Sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the United States who are at least 18 years of age. Winner will be chosen at random
from all participants entered by June 30, 2006. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries entered by the deadline. One entry per person. For a complete set of rules, see computershopper.com/survey. As an alternative method of entry, send a postcard with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, age and the month of the issue of Computer Shopper magazine where the sweepstakes is advertised to Computer Shopper Research, 28 East 28th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY, 10016-7922. Postcards must be received by June 30, 2006.
© 2006 SX2 Media Labs, LLC
AD INDEX
1 & 1 .............................................1and1.com ..........................................88, 97 - 112
ABS ...............................................abs.com.........................................................72, 73
AOpen ..........................................www.aopen.com................................................80
Asus .............................................usa.asus.com .....................................................43
Now
Online.
Antec............................................www.antec.com/newsolutionseries ...............71
Ateck Computers, Inc. ...............www.ateck.com/notebooks..............................96
ATI ................................................ati.com..........................................................Cov. 3
BFG Tech ......................................www.bfgtech.com/physx................................137
Big Screen Center.......................www.bigscreencenter.com/shopper .............135
Buffalo Technology ....................www.buffalotech.com/cs-nfiniti .....................18
CDW Corporation .......................cdw.com/whyhp ......................................Cov. 2, 1
CDW Corporation .......................cdw.com ....................................................116, 117
Crucial Technology ....................www.crucial.com/computershopper..............53
Cyberpower, Inc..........................www.cyberpowerpc.com ..........................27 - 29
Dell ...............................................dell.com/shopper ........................................10, 11
eCost ............................................ecost.com .................................................120, 121
iBUYPOWER ................................www.ibuypower.com.................................37 - 39
Kingston ......................................kingston.com/dt ................................................59
> 1000’s of product reviews
> Help and How-To with
step-by-step videos
> Guides to the best online
shopping sites
> Expert buying guides and
product roundups
> FREE access to an extensive
library of back issues
> Chances to win great prizes
LG Electronics .............................www.lgusa.com .................................................13
Mushkin Enhanced ....................www.mushkin.com...........................................69
Netfirms ......................................www.netfirms.com/shop ...............................2, 3
Newegg.com................................newegg.com .................................................14, 15
PC Tools Software.......................www.pctools.com..............................................55
Prostar Computer.......................shopprostar.com ...............................................51
Sager ............................................sagernotebook.com ...............................48, 49, 57
Softwaremedia.com...................www.softwaremedia.com ................................91
Systemax.....................................www.tigerdirect.com.................................4, 5, 45
Thermaltake ...............................radioshack.com .................................................47
ThinkPad .....................................lenovo.com/newthinkpad/m541 ...............31, 32
TigerDirect.com..........................www.tigerdirect.com/vitality ....................Cov. 4
PLUS!
Sign up today for the FREE
Computer Shopper
EXTRA Newsletter
Trandscend USA.........................www.transcendusa.com...................................21
Trend Micro.................................www.trendmicro.com/worryfree ......................6
USB Implementers Forum ........www.usb.org ......................................................17
U.S. Robotics................................www.usr.com/talknow .....................................41
Vantec ..........................................vantecusa.com/product-storage.html............61
Videoguys....................................www.videoguys.com.......................................133
Visionman...................................www.visionman.com......................................127
Xtreme Gear................................www.buyxg.com................................................35
Zalman ........................................www.zalmanusa.com .......................................67
Get the inside scoop on upcoming
hardware, software, and gadgets
that could change the way you
work and play.
Zipzoomfly.com..........................www.zipzoomfly.com .................................63, 87
ZT Group .....................................ztgroup.com/go/computershopper...................8
The most comprehensive
guide to today’s technology.
All advertising is subject to Publisher’s approval and acceptance without recourse. The advertising herein that is typeset and/or designed by
Computer Shopper is the property of Computer Shopper and not that of the advertiser. The advertiser has purchased the right of reproduction in Computer Shopper only and does not have the right to reproduce the ad in any other place of publication. We are not responsible for
mistakes, misprints, or typographical errors and will not issue credits of any kind for such errors. Advertisers and their agencies assume
responsibility for the condition of the contents of advertising printed, and agree to indemnify the Publisher of Computer Shopper for any and
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Shopper. The opinions expressed in the articles, columns, and ads are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Computer Shopper.
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143
HELP & HOW-TO
BUYING BASICS HOW TO BUY
The Right Wi-Fi Router
BY ERIN KANDEL
SHOPPING SPECS
NETWORKING
STANDARD
802.11g is the current standard for home
networks and is backward-compatible
with 802.11b. The new 802.11n standard is
still in the works, but products based on
its powerful multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology are on store
shelves. MIMO devices are backwardcompatible with 802.11b/g products, but
they may not be compatible with 802.11n
once the standard is finalized.
SECURITY
Most routers come with Wired Equivalent
Privacy (WEP) encryption, but for greater
security, seek out a router with more-powerful Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption and a built-in hardware firewall.
THROUGHPUT
Throughput, measured in megabits per
second (Mbps), refers to the speed of data
transfer a router can provide. While
802.11g, rated at 54Mbps, typically moves
data at speeds up to 22Mbps, MIMOenabled routers are far quicker, offering
actual short-range speeds up to 90Mbps.
Netgear WPNT834
RangeMax 240
Tired of being tethered to your broadband connection? You can
create a high-speed wireless network by simply plugging in a
Wi-Fi router. Here’s what you need to know to pick the best
router for your home or small office.
RANGE
The maximum distance from the router a
wireless access point or networking card
can receive a signal, range can be affected
by walls and interference sources such as
cordless phones. If you need wireless coverage in a faraway spot, MIMO-enabled
routers offer the best range.
3 GREAT BUYS
GOOD
D-Link DI-524
(www.dlink.com, $50)
If you are looking for a basic router
while waiting for 802.11n products to
arrive in stores, this 802.11b/g device
offers respectable maximum throughput and impressive security features,
including WPA support and flexible
firewalls, for a budget price.
144
BETTER
Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router
(www.belkin.com, $159.99)
If you’re shopping for a router that
will give you the largest coverage area,
look no further. When used with
Belkin’s Pre-N PC Card adapter, this
MIMO unit has excellent throughput
and is among the best long-range
performers we’ve seen.
BEST
Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240
(www.netgear.com, $199)
One of the fastest routers available,
this MIMO device also offers ample security options. The router really shines
at short range, offering the best maximum throughput and mixed-mode
performance (with older 802.11b/g
products) in our tests to date.

YYePG.Proudly.Presents,.Thx.For.Support!

Transcription

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