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A-data MyFlash RB1 Shock resistant, Waterproof Flash Drive

Friday, April 28th, 2006 | Reviews, USB Removable Drives | 1 Comment

Flash drives have become very popular because of their flexible use, small size, and fairly high capacity. Their solid state technology means they are much more resistant to a few bumps than other storage media like hard drives.

Despite this, they do often need to take a bit of a pounding, and they are not always designed to be able to handle that. In answer to that A-data designed this drive which is encased in a rubberised exterior.

The design allows it to take those drops on the floor a litle bit better and is also resistant to water for those who insist on using electronics by the pool or who might get caught in the rain.

It comes with many of the standard features of drives today including a USB 2.0 interface, allowing for fast transfer of information. It should require no specail drives in modern operating systems and solution are available too.

Sony VAIO VGC-RB54G Pentium D 820 2.8GHz

Thursday, April 27th, 2006 | Desktop Computers, Reviews | No Comments

Coming in at a reasonable price, this sony vaio computer comes into a range closer to that of what I would like from a home entertainment system PC.

With the usual array of parts, like DVD burner, DVD-ROM, flash card reader, USB, and remote control, what makes sets this model apart from the others in its range?

The Pentium D 820 processor runs a little slower than the 3GHz version of the same cpu, buts allows a much lower price. The premium paid for the fastest is ridiculous at times and I’d rather go for the slowest in the range, than go for an older processor.

The layout of this model is a little more plain. Other models have extra audio/visual ports at the bottom of the front panel, whereas this one does not. There are still the usual ones at the back for the permanent connections you have.

One great thing is that this one comes standard with 2 hard drives in a RAID 0 setup. What this does it set the two drives up together, with the data being split over them and being managed by the onboard controller. The allows much faster speeds as things can be written to either of the drives saving a lot of time. This comes in handy when recording video as it requires a lot of information to be written very quickly to the drives.

The 1GB of DDR2 memory will do the trick and the 128MB ATI graphics card will give you all you need to connect it up to your television and get things running smoothly together.

A-data MyFlash 2GB Portable Flash Drive

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 | Reviews, USB Removable Drives | No Comments

The A-data flash drive has a small compact size and has a large capacity. It is well priced for drive of 2GB which provides just over 3 CDs worth or space for your data.

It is a standard flash drive with no special software required apart from the usual USB2.0 drivers that come with pretty much all operating systems these days.

Besides its small size making it less bulky to carry, the low profile design will ensure that it will fit in any available USB port. The small height of the USB plug compared to the relatively large height of the flash drives in the past has often meant that they needed and extension cable or a spot with an open adjacent USB port.

USB 2.0 ensures that it will have the highest possible transfer rates for a drive of this kind which should make a big difference for moving large files to and from the flash disk itself.

Other features include:

• 2GB capacity
• USB 2.0 interface
• Drivers for Windows 98 included
• LED indicator when its in use
• Security and Partitioning software are supported

Sony VAIO VGC-RC110G Intel Pentium D 830 3GHz

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 | Desktop Computers, Reviews | No Comments

The Sony VAIO VGC-RC110G desktop computer is a good all round machine serving as a home entertainment center PC. With its fairly plain looks, it might not be a cool as some of their higher end equipment, but good for those looking for something that has a little clout.

When you mention Sony computers, or Sony VAIO computers, the first thing that comes to mind is their laptop computers, but the line of Sony desktop computers also have something to offer.

Their models are all designed to be used in home entertainment centers, I suppose because of Sony’s link to electronics and the entertainment industry. So these computers are aimed in line with the rest of their customer base.

This model sports a Pentium D 830 3GHz processor, which is not the newest in the Pentium D series, but allows for a few savings on more expensive, very up-to-date parts. It serves well in all applications. The 1GB or DDR2 memory is plenty for pretty much any application, and their is the option to upgrade if that vast amount ever becomes too little.

As this relatively cheap Sony computer is designed for your entertainment system it comes with Windows Media Center which allows a lot of options for recording from your TV and getting the most from your system. There is also a DVD drive which will write all of the popular DVD formats. It also includes a DVD-ROM.
A single 250GB hard drive covers all of the storage needs. There are options for RAID with SATA, but will necessitate upgrades if you want to take advantage of these features.

The water cooling of this case is cool as water cooling allows the heat to be transported more effectively, reducing the need for big, or many, fans and leading to less overall noise from the system.

All of the audio/visual ports are available from the front of the case, which makes them accessible, but ugly, so there are more at the back for permanent connections. There is also a card reader built into the third DVD bay from the top.

Its features are fine and it includes a non-descript 128MB video card. It does the trick and has alright looks to match. If you need to use it as a desktop computer, then you will have to get normal Windows to do that. In terms of price, I’m one for getting the cheapest of a series, so one with a slower Pentium D would be my recommendation.

A-data FP1 Fingerprint Secured Flash Drive

Monday, April 24th, 2006 | Reviews, USB Removable Drives | No Comments

Transferring data securely has always been an issue. Any kind of drive can be lost, misplaced, stolen or damaged. All of these mean the loss of your data, which is very often valuable.

Flash drives have become popular because of their small size, fairly high capactiy and robustness. However, they are also easy to get stolen or get lost.

To stop others from seeing your private data when they shouldn’t A-data have introduced a fingerprint sensor which makes the drive inaccessible for anyone but those whose fingerprints have been verified.

The drive itself comes with proprietary software loaded onto the disk that gets loaded when the disk is plugged in. It requires you to put your fingerprint on the the sensor to unlock it. It does support more than one users fingerprint and has a backup password system just in case.

This all allows the disk to be pretty secure, although someone could probably get a hold of your information if they were diligent enough.

However, this solution is very good and gives you peace of mind when travelling with your private information. PS. remember to keep backups because even if they can’t hack into it, you still won’t have your data anymore.

The biggest nag is that it will ONLY work in Windows. Other operating systems, you’ll see nothing on the disk.

Some of the other features:

• Sweep-type fingerprint sensor
• USB 2.0 connection
• Software pre-installed
• No special drives needed for fingerprint system

Biostar TForce4 U 775 motherboard

Friday, April 21st, 2006 | Motherboards, News | No Comments

Biostar are attempting to get into the enthusiast overclocking part of the computer sector with this new model. The T-series represents their high-perfromance boards.

In the review at bit-tech.net they have a closer look at how well it performs, especially compared to the other boards in the same price range as this one.

The board itself is well set out with the 24 pin power cable input being the strangest positioned thing on this board. Sitting back near the USB ports it makes wiring a bit of a drag as the wires have to pass across the board from the back of the PSU.

One of the other strange things was the lack of a manual in the box, which was a little strange, although it was probably just forgotten on this box, as I don’t think there is any great reason to not have one. The cost saving could only be minor by leaving it out.

There is an option to set the voltage of the DDR2 modules to 3.3V, which is actually too much for them. With standard voltages of 1.8V this should fry them within a few hours.

Much of the board is set out alright, not too well, but not too badly either. The features it includes are good. A 280MHz FSB speed was all that they could get out of the board which doesn’t rate that great against some of the competition that can be overclocked to much higher levels than that.

For gaming enthusiasts it will not meet the grade. It does well generally, but not enough for those who want to dish out all this cash for a motherboard. Check out the full review at bit-tech.net

LINK

Overclocking the Intel Pentium D 805 processor

Thursday, April 20th, 2006 | CPU Processors, News | No Comments

The Intel Pentium D processor provides a bottom of the range option for those looking for a dual core processor without the cost involved in getting many of them.

This chip is fairly new to the market and mates two smithfield cores together, with a FSB of 533MHz, one L2 cache of 1MB each for the cores. Unlike its brothers and sisters in the 800 series of dual-core processors from Intel, which all run at 800MHz, this one runs slower at 533MHz, with a multiplier of 20 to get to a speed of 2.67GHz.

In the review at legitreviews.com they managed to push the FSB up to 760MHz without any problems from the processor and loaded up Windows and ran their tests without any problems. The actual increase in performance did not quite match the rise in processor speeds, with the overall change being about a 29% in performance or so.

The processor goes past the levels of the 840 processor and starts to come near the level set by the 840 Extreme Edition.

There is a lot or praise for this chip on the site and the test scores go to show how much it can perform, and how much you can get for your money from the lowest priced dual-core processor around. With a decent motherboard for under a hundred bucks, you will be able to get a processor that is capable or running up to 3.8GHz with a little bit of overclocking.

LINK

Thermaltake Matrix Computer Case

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 | Computer Cases, News | No Comments

The Thermaltake Matrix computer case is toutes a “case for LAN parties” according to the detailing on the box. LAN party cases usually have unique designs, clear cases, some cold cathode lights, great cooling and good layouts inside to add to the pleasing look of the case.

The Blue LED 120mm fan located at the bottom and the 120mm fan at the back give it good airflow. The clear side panel lets you see all of your cool components inside and its light enough to lug around to any LAN party you wish to go to.

The case incorporates a tool-less design. All of the peripherals come out with just clips. This applies to PCI slots, hard drives and all the other stuff besides the motherboards screws to the case.

The case does basically what it is supposed to in a case thats priced at about $75. It has good looks and works fine. It’s nothing to write home about and won’t leave any jaws on the floor, but it does provide another option for those looking at cases in this range that are suitable to be lugged around, but are also not lacking in the design department.

LINK

Inflatable USB drive

Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 | News, USB Removable Drives | No Comments

EverythingUSB reports on this remarkable little device. This little monster likes to eat information.

As you put more and more stuff on the flash drive the bigger it becomes. When its near exploding it will tell you that you have nearly run out of space. They only come in this orange color as far as I know. I really like the idea of giving data a physical size, like it actually takes up a portion of space somewhere. It gets a little bit harder to take around when you start to fill up the disk.
Catchy, and definitely worth style points. The website of stuff at Plus Minus is really worth a look at. There are some pretty innovative and cool little gadgets.

The flashbags look like they could offer a lot of storage.

LINK

What is VoIP?

Monday, April 17th, 2006 | Networking (LAN), News | No Comments

Tomshardware takes a look at many of the questions that people have about VoIP technology. This is the technology that allows you to make phonecalls over your computer other users around the world for very much less than the cost of an international phonecall.

VoIP has become popular because of its cheap prices, but the main limitation, according to the article is that people are not sure what its all about. And if a consumer is not sure, they’re likely to go elsewhere.

There are a few variations on VoIP.

There is computer to computer, where both parties need software like Yahoo! messenger with voice of Skype and they call each other using their usernames. This kind is completely free, and the quality is quite good.

The other option is computer to landline. This will usually cost and you will have to use a computer to phone them, the cost however is cheaper than a local call in the area you are phoning to.

Little gadgets like the phone pictured here make things easier. This one attaches to the computer and then you can use it around the house like a normal phone. Other options are standalone phones that perform the same function, but without the need for a computer to be on.

Go check out all the details at Tomshardware.

LINK