Monthly Archives: February 2004
NEC – ND-2500A
There are certain phrases that demand attention and ‘world’s fastest’ is definitely one of them. Although we are now fully used to dual-format DVD writers, NEC has managed to create a milestone with the ND-2500A, which is the first DVD-R/+R drive capable of writing to both formats at 8x speed. It also writes to DVD+RW…
Sapphire – Axion 9100
Generally speaking it is safe to say that integrated graphics are useless for 3D gaming. If you want to build a cheap PC for general office use then it makes perfect sense to buy a motherboard with integrated graphics, audio and 10/100Mbps LAN, but if you want to play games you’re going to have to…
Panasonic – Toughbook CF-W2
The Toughbook range has its roots in muck and grime. The first ones were brutal, armoured things shipped out to the rigs or issued to people who get shot at for a living, and glamorous they were not. Nowadays, although some hard-nut models remain, there’s a new style of Toughbook which has come a long…
Toshiba – e800
Toshiba has a long and fairly distinguished history when it comes to Pocket PC. It has also for some time produced hardware that is available in a number of wireless configurations. Both characteristics continue with the e800, though in some ways perhaps the hardware is a little ahead of its time. The e800 is available…
Pentax – Optio 450
With a 4-megapixel resolution, the Optio 450 should meet most general hobbyists’ needs. A4 prints can be output at very usable quality from a camera of this specification, and anything requiring lower resolutions, from standard-sized snaps to Web imaging, is also possible. What’s important with a camera like this are things like build quality and…
Logitech – DiNovo Media Desktop
Your keyboard and mouse are important parts of your computer. They need to feel right under your hands, and function well. That’s a key reason why there are so many choices out there – wired and wireless, ergonomic keyboards, wheel mice, trackball mice, optical mice and so on. Logitech has always had a strong line…
Empire Interactive – Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller
This scribe was taught harsh lessons in his youth about how ‘hate’ was a very strong word, only to be used in the most extreme of circumstances. I hate Crazy Taxi 3. But then hate, in this context, isn’t a bad thing. It’s the kind of hate where a game is ruthlessly taunting you, demanding…
Pinnacle – Studio Version 9
Studio is Pinnacle’s home video editing software, sold on its own or bundled with a number of different products, sometimes with digital and analogue video editing hardware (see our earlier review here). It’s all about making the job of cutting and tidying your videos into neat movies, and recording them onto DVD or CD, as…
IBM – Thinkpad T41
The IBM Thinkpad, in one guise or another, has been the mainstay of the mobile corporate user for years, outliving any number of newer, shinier, silver and grey laptops. Many notebooks come and go but the no-nonsense black brick seems to go on for ever; the latest skew on a very successful theme is the…
Ulead – DVD Workshop 2
Ulead’s original DVD Workshop was a program we quite warmed to. Its objective, of helping you put together a DVD with relative ease, was easily managed. And, save for the occasional bit of clunkiness here and there, it was hard not to like it. High hopes, then, for version 2, which follows a similar principle….