Monthly Archives: December 2004
CyberLink – PowerDVD 6 Deluxe
No matter what your home cinema set-up, you’ll never obtain a truly cinematic experience. How would you possibly get popcorn that over-priced outside of the theatre foyer? And you’d need to set up some sort of huge fan to emulate the impossibly efficient air conditioning which is always turned on full-blast even in mid-winter. Not…
Epson – AcuLaser C3000
When it comes to desirable standards in printers, the usual wish list includes reliability, speed and volume of printing, relatively low costs, versatility of printable media and of course the quality of the finished product. Epson has built a deserved reputation for achieving many of these goals from simple desktop mono printers to high-end network…
Tapwave – Zodiac 2
It’s a tough choice for some between games console (such as Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance SP) and PDA. But perhaps you don’t have to make the choice at all. If you are happy with the Palm Operating System and don’t need a huge catalogue of games to choose from, the Zodiac 2 from Tapwave might fit…
PURE Digital – The Bug
Pure Digital, or the artist formerly known in one guise as Videologic, is the latest firm to have a tie-in with a designer. We’ve had Microsoft involving Starck to make some rather ugly mice, while Pinnacle used the expertise of Porsche on some of its video editing products, to not that great a visual effect….
Sony – VGC-V2S
The Sony VGC-V2S is one of a new breed of PC that looks like a large TFT display with a keyboard and mouse attached, but which has no actual PC tower because the PC hardware is built into the screen. This isn’t a unique concept – Apple used it recently in its new iMac G5,…
UbiSoft – Scrabble 2005
If you thought you knew all about Scrabble, think again. Scrabble 2005 takes the classic word game and adds features which, for this fan anyway, make it rather special. Before you can start to play you create a profile, which includes something about your Scrabble ability. This process both gives you a rating that dictates…
NEC – i-Select M4610
I’ve never really understood why you’d want a widescreen notebook. OK, I get the bit about watching DVD movies, but every time I try I still get large black bands at the top and bottom of the picture. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but personally I’d rather watch a DVD on something made for the…
Altec Lansing – AHS602
In an age where PC gaming is a serious business and multiplayer gaming via the Net is the biggest growth area, the dedicated gamer is demanding higher quality in everything from graphics and frame rates to interfaces and enhanced audio. It’s in this latter category that manufacturers have particularly thrown their weight recently, and this…
Logitech gamepads group test
Hardened gamers who want to use a gamepad with their PC will happily tell you that the best route is to get an adapter that allows a PlayStation 2 pad to be used in a USB port. Still, that would perhaps be unfair on the nicely evolving range of Logitech pads, which do offer a…
ViewSonic – VG712s
With a 12ms response time, the VG712s finds Viewsonic actively targeting the hardened gaming fraternity, whose members have thus far had few good value TFT screens to pick from that both meet their needs and match the contents of their wallets. And while the current street price still won’t bring this onto everyone’s radar, things…