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Posts Tagged ‘usb’

Lian Li doesn’t really have a reputation for catering to the LAN party crowd, and perhaps that’s something the case maker would like to change. Announced today is the PC-TU200 mini-tower PC chassis, a compact and portable enclosure with a handle on top for easy transport and an all-aluminum body that weighs less than 7 pounds.

It’s available in black or silver and sports a “nuclear football” design. There’s a single 140mm fan in front to suck cool air into the chassis and distribute said airflow throughout the case. That doesn’t seem like much, but combined with the aluminum construction … [Read More...]

An invaluable teaching tool—no learner’s permit required

Probably every beginning guitar player who’s ever struggled with a chord diagram has looked down at his instrument and thought, “Man, it would be so much easier if those little diagram dots could appear on my fretboard instead.”

Easier, indeed. Printed chord diagrams require a lot of back-and-forth glancing, from diagram to fretboard—again and again, repeat ad nauseum. Enter Fretlight, which puts an end to the madness by, well, putting those little diagram dots on the fretboard instead.

All Fretlight guitars have a grid of LEDs sandwiched between an advanced polymer fretboard on … [Read More...]

Roomier than the average mid tower

Who knew that something as simple as a new paint scheme and side window could make such an aesthetic difference?

We’ve already reviewed Corsair’s 600T once. We loved the case, but bemoaned the lack of side air intakes. The Special Edition White 600T is virtually the same as the regular edition, with a new paint job and one major tweak: the addition of a side-panel cutout that can be fitted with either an acrylic window or a mesh screen with fan mounts. At 20 inches tall by 10.4 inches wide by 22.7 inches deep, … [Read More...]

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a new Windows 7 slate, which is why I was so interested to check out the brand-new Samsung Series 7 Slate PC, which Samsung debuted today at the IFA conference in Germany. Samsung was cool enough to give me sneak-preview of the Series 7 about a month before today’s launch, so what you’re reading today are my thoughts on the almost-finished version. My unit came with a full-voltage second-generation Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a lightning-fast 64GB SSD. When it hits store shelves in early October you’ll be able to get … [Read More...]

NEC just expanded its MultiSync P Series with a new 24-inch display built for monitor snobs who wouldn’t consider touching a Twisted Nematic (TN) panel with a 40-foot pole. The MultiSynic P241W (or P241W-BK-SV if shelling out for the SpectraView II version) sports an e-IPS panel NEC claims is ideal for Web graphics and photography chores.

In case you’re wondering, e-IPS is one of the newer breeds of In-Plane Switching panels and is considered a sub-category of H-IPS. By using a simplified subpixel structure and wider aperture for light transmission, e-IPS panels can get away with a lower quality (and … [Read More...]

Inventing excuses after losing, dying, or in general just playing like crap is a time-honored tradition among gamers. We’ve heard them all — teammates who don’t pull their own weight, cheaters, tons of lag, screen glare, and worst of all, faulty or unresponsive controllers.

So here’s the bad news: Razer’s Onza TE will make covering up your ineptitude with hardware-based justifications even less tenable. But don’t panic. The good news is you might not have to make as many.

At just $10 more than Microsoft’s standard-issue wired controllers (and the same price as the wireless versions), the Onza TE is … [Read More...]

As an artist, I’ve always wanted some sort of one-to-one input when working in Photoshop or zBrush. I’ve used several of the traditional input tablets, but I’ve never been fully satisfied. I still ended up drawing on paper and scanning the results. It’s just more natural.

Input tablets have been constantly improving in the decades they’ve been around. But the technology remains imperfect. The pressure-sensitive pad sits on the desk, separate from the screen, which takes away some of that natural feel you get from drawing with a pen, especially when trying to add tiny details to your work.

So … [Read More...]

From its humble beginnings as the Netflix box to its current status as one of the pre-eminent media streamers, Roku has come a long way in just two years. And while the new Roku 2 XS doesn’t really move things forward much, it does just enough to retain that title.

If you’re keeping track, the XS usurps the XDS as the new king of the new series, with the XD and HD following in its path. I’ll just go ahead and say it at the outset: Ff you already own a previous gen, 1080p-capable Roku, this is probably not the … [Read More...]

Panasonic isn’t the biggest name in laptops these days, except if you are planning on dropping, splashing, or otherwise abusing the daylights out of your machine. In that case, the Toughbook series is right up your alley. And the newest member of the Toughbook family, the S10, won’t force you to make any performance tradeoffs for the tank-like design.

The S10 packs a new Sandy Bridge CPU, specifically the Core i5-2520M. Users will also be treated to the usual menu of goodies like 4GB of RAM, HDMI-out, USB 3.0, and a 320GB shock-proof HDD. The battery is also supposed to … [Read More...]

We weren’t impressed with the last Linksys-branded router that passed through Maximum Lab North. The dual-band Linksys E3000 (in reality, a rebadged Linksys WRT610N) delivered humdrum performance and lacked a number of important features we expect to find in a high-end router. The E4200 fares better, but we’re still scratching our heads over some of Linksys’s decisions.

The first thing you’ll notice about the E4200 is its minimalist industrial design. Plug in its inline power supply (no wall wart!) and you’ll find that it’s almost devoid of front-panel idiot lights: There are no LEDs to indicate an Internet connection, which … [Read More...]

Storage solutions and HBA (Host Bus Adapter) specialist HighPoint Technologies just let us know about its new RocketU 1144A, which is a four-port USB 3.0 add-in card. That in and of itself isn’t terribly exciting, but it just so happens that this particular model is the industry’s first/only four-port PCI Express Gen 2 x4, 20Gbps USB 3.0 SuperSpeed HBA. That’s right, this thing packs four dedicated USB 3.0 ports, each one capable of a full 5Gbps for 20Gbps total.

“Conventional USB 3.0 HBA’s impose a performance bottleneck on multi-drive configurations, limiting transfer rates to 5Gb/s. Such controllers limit the potential … [Read More...]

A real Velcro PC at last

Perhaps you’ve heard about our concept for the Velcro PC: a computer so small, light, and unobtrusive that you could literally affix it to the back of your HDTV.

That concept might have finally arrived in Giada’s i50 PC. Similar to the original Giada Ion-100, the i50 is a serious step up over the original box.

The most noticeable upgrade is in the brains department: The original Ion-100 sported an Nvidia Ion 2 chip coupled with a 1.3GHz Atom 330; this new model features a 1.2GHz Core i5-430UM processor. It’s not wickedly fast, mind … [Read More...]

Can we build a serviceable rig for just $340? With AMD’s Fusion APU, we’re gonna try

In past months, we’ve shown you how to build rigs for less than $1,000, and we even built a surprisingly speedy $667 PC Value Meal. But what do you do when your budget is half that? Let’s face it, not everyone has half a grand or more to spend on a new computer, and not every build has to be a tricked-out gaming rig. Sometimes you just need a second computer for the family, or an HTPC that doesn’t break the bank. Heck, sometimes … [Read More...]

Memory maker Kingston Technology announced today the launch of its USB 3.0 Media Reader. Kingston’s new compact media card reader taps into the performance benefits of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and offers up to 5Gb/s data transfers for high-resolution images, large data files, and anything else you need to shuttle over to your PC.

“The Kingston USB 3.0 Media Reader’s ability to handle multiple card formats combined with its small form factor makes it perfect for use at home, on the road or in the office,” said Andrew Ewing, Flash memory business manager, Kingston. “It is the essential device for reading … [Read More...]

A good idea hamstrung by complex softaware

The basic idea behind the PopDrive is a good one: a sleek, portable external enclosure that holds two 2.5-inch drives in RAID 1, to protect against the risk of data loss due to drive failure. Add in support for user notification emails, hotswap drive bays, and a relatively speedy 3Gb/s eSATA port, and it sounds like you’ve got yourself a winner. And you might, eventually.

The PopDrive includes a slim, aluminum dual-bay chassis, 5V AC adapter, and USB 2.0 and eSATA ports at the rear of the chassis. If the PopDrive’s 1.2×3.9×6.4-inch aluminum … [Read More...]

Last year I wrote about Sony’s amazing VAIO Z. It was the PC I used for several months as my main work laptop and the one that was in my bag when my son was born last June. I defined the Z as “luxury computing”; it was fast, light, beautifully designed and sported features that no other laptop on the market had. To this day I rank it as one of the best PC’s I’ve ever used.

Now Sony is redefining luxury with the new version of the VAIO Z, which goes on pre-sale starting today. It’s a .66” thin, … [Read More...]

Big form factor, big value

With the steel side panels on and the LEDs powered, the Arvina is a pretty sleek-looking case, although opinions about its appearance were mixed in the Lab.

Sentey’s Arvina GS-6400 has a lot of things going for it, especially given its $89 price tag. The question is whether a bunch of fans and a ton of space are worth the inclusion of some cheapo parts and a somewhat tacky appearance.

Sentey calls the GS-6400 a “high tower,” but we call it a mid-tower. The Arvina has a steel frame and side panels, with plastic trim … [Read More...]