Monthly Archives: February 2000
Elsa – Erazor X2
The chances are you’ll already have heard about the nVidia GeForce 256 chipset used in the Erazor X2 and other cards. Some impressive claims have been made for this chipset, which was designed to take much of the hard work of 3D rendering away from the PC’s processor. The theory is that the PC’s CPU…
NEC Direct – Direction SM-466V
NEC Direct is just what it says, the direct sales arm of the giant NEC corporation, owner of NEC Packard Bell, among others. This neat little midi tower system shows what you can do as a hardware supplier, if you use your buying power sensibly and work within your budget. The neat case contains a…
InKline Global – Modem Booster
Now that we seem to have finally reached the limit of analogue telephone connections, at 56kbps, digital seems to be the only way forward. This is especially true since 56kbps is rarely achieved in the real world, with the mid-40s being more common. But while you’re waiting for cable, satellite, ADSL and other technologies to…
S3 – Diamond Viper II
Since graphics chip giant S3 took control of graphics card company Diamond, creating a tidy little one-stop shop, the company has come out with some decent gaming hardware. This, the Viper II, is potentially a little better than decent, though. It uses S3′s latest Savage 2000 engine (imaginative name alert), and features some natty little…
Mindscape – Close Combat IV
Tanks for the memory. It’s getting on for sixty years since the end of the war, but the fascination continues, and war makes an excellent subject for a strategy game such as this. The ‘IV’ in the title demonstrates the staying power, but unlike, say, the Rocky films, this is a series where each instalment…
Eurotech – Ultimate 2000 Multimedia Keyboard
Most keyboards supplied as standard with new PCs are of a consistently high quality. So the upgrade market needs an impressive carrot to dangle in front of buyers if a replacement keyboard is going to sell well. Eurotech’s strategy combines affordability and novelty. Its Ultimate 2000 Multimedia keyboard has more extra buttons on it than…
Lotus – Organizer 6
When Lotus originally launched Organizer (or Organiser, if you want to Anglicise the name), users and critics alike were impressed with its interface, which resembled the popular paper-based personal organisers of the time. Five incarnations later, and we have Organizer 6, which again has a familiar, friendly interface that gives a nod in the general…
Canon – BJC-8200 Photo
Sorry Epson, Canon has stolen your ink-jet photo printer crown. For the last couple of years, Epson has been the unchallenged photo quality champion with its Stylus Photo family of inkjet printers. With its long standing reputation for photographic excellence with traditional film cameras, the wait for a Canon printer to seriously challenge Epson’s Stylus…