Computer Technology: 2012

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Origin Chronos (February 2012)

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The Origin Chronos small form-factor PC helps illustrate why I did not give the Alienware X51 an Editors' Choice Award. Alienware crammed some nice design innovation into its little PC, but unlike the Chronos, the X51 still shows performance compromises due to its small size and, I suspect, Alienware's ties to Dell and the precautions necessitated by large-scale manufacturing. Origin navigates around the size issue with well-chosen components, and the company's independence and smaller manufacturing scale allow it the freedom to overclock. The result is a small gaming desktop I would recommend to anyone.

Our Chronos review system ... Expand full review

Our Chronos review system came with the Silverstone SG08 case option, the smallest Origin offers under its Chronos line. The case measures 7.5 inches high, almost 9 inches wide, and just under 14 inches deep, slightly larger overall than the Alienware X51 (13.25x3.75x12.25 inches), but still small enough to make for an unobtrusive living-room system.

The Chronos' size permits only a single graphics card, and Origin has also capped the power supply at 600 watts. That's a reasonable amount of power for a small PC, and almost double the capacity of the Alienware's X51 330-watt PSU. Practically speaking, it means you can use almost any current-generation graphics card in the Chronos. The chief innovation of the X51 is its ability to use a double-wide graphics card in a slim tower case, but the Alienware's smaller power supply means you're limited to midrange GPUs.

4.7GHz Intel Core i5-2550K (overclocked)4GHz Intel Core i5-2500K (overclocked)1.28GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560TiWindows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Compare the specs of the Chronos to those of the Alienware and you'll see the Origin's advantages pretty quickly. Our review configuration costs $200 more than the X51, but it also has a faster CPU and a faster graphics card, not to mention the ability to add an even more powerful GPU down the road. The Chronos has only a 750GB hard drive to the X51's 1TB model, but I'd happily sacrifice a bit of storage for better gaming performance.

If you're willing to spend a bit more for a gaming system, Origin also offers you more options. You can pay $1,049 for a Core i7-based X51, but that's the only flexibility Alienware gives you in terms of core components for the X51. On the Chronos configuration page, you can opt for top-end graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia, as well as an overclocked Core i7 CPU and up to three solid-state drive (SSD) options.

The SSD storage and higher-end graphics cards alone make the Chronos a more flexible system than the X51, and show how even Alienware has become vulnerable to owner Dell's recent trend toward offering fewer customization options. The fact that Alienware will not overclock the X51 out of the box also gives the Origin system a dramatic performance edge.

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
Multimedia multitasking (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
Cinebench
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)

In its price range, the Origin Chronos is the fastest midrange desktop I've seen. That's not a real surprise given its fast clock speed, although I wondered how the Chronos would compete on the Cinebench multiprocessing test. Its Core i5 chip is only a straight quad-core CPU, while the Core i7-2600 in the HP Pavilion HPE h8xt has a slower clock speed but more processing threads thanks to its Hyper-Threading boost. No matter. The Chronos system outperformed it heartily, and it's your best bet at this price if you need fast application performance.

Far Cry 2 (in frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
Metro 2033 (in fps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
3DMark 11 combined test
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550K, February 2012)
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Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight Double 450Mbps N Router

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I've held off reviewing the Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight Double 450Mbps N Router until now due to some known bugs in earlier versions of its firmware. The latest, version 3.0.0.3.108, is still, well, a little buggy, but fortunately not seriously enough to keep the router from being an excellent networking device.

Being the first N900 router from Asus, the RT-N66U offers stellar performance on the 5GHz band and a vast number of features. The router also has great wireless range and was very stable in my testing. With two USB ports it has more to ... Expand full review

The RT-N66U isn't perfect, however. Performance on the 2.4GHz band was slower than I expected, and the router's USB ports lack support for the latest USB 3.0 standard. Nonetheless, if you're looking for a top-notch router for your home or even a small office, the RT-N66U is one of the best on the market, especially considering that its street price is lower than that of the Linksys E4200v2 from Cisco.

Design and ease of use
The RT-N66U looks similar to its predecessor, the RT-N56U, with a sleek casing that more resembles a jewelry box than a networking device. The RT-N66U, however, can't disguise its true nature due the external-antenna design, with three of them sticking up from the back. These antennas are detachable but you do need them in place for the router to work.

Also on the back, you'll find four LAN ports and one WAN port. All of these ports are Gigabit Ethernet, meaning you'll also be able to get a fast wired network if you're not interested in wireless. Near these ports are the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button, the reset button, two USB 2.0 ports, the power button, and a tiny power port. While that may seem to be a lot of things on the router's back, items are well-distributed, so it's less cluttered than you would imagine. Still, it would be a lot better if a few items were moved to the front or the sides of the router, where there are no buttons at all.

On the front, the router has an array of LED lights that show the statuses of the ports on the back, the connection to the Internet, the USB ports, and the wireless networks.

The RT-N66U comes with four rubber feet to make it stay put on a surface, but it's also wall-mountable. It comes with a separate base -- which, interestingly, I couldn't attach to the router until I broke a little piece of plastic off of it -- for keeping it in a vertical position. (That little piece is probably there to keep the base from falling off, but it's just too long, making it almost impossible to attach the base to the router.)

The router comes with a CD that contains setup software that walks you though every single step of how to set it up, so it should be very easy for home users. Savvy users can skip the CD and use the router's Web interface to set it up by pointing a connected computer's browser to 192.168.1.1, which is the router's default IP address. The first time you go there, the interface will greet you with a Web-based wizard with steps similar to those of the desktop setup software.

Either way, you won't have any problem getting the router up and running. I myself was able to do that in less than 10 minutes, including opening the box.

Features
The RT-N66U is an N900 true dual-band router, meaning that both of its bands (5GHz and 2.4GHz) can offer up to 450Mbps, currently the fastest speed of the Wireless-N standard. In order to enjoy this higher speed, your Wi-Fi client also has to support the 450Mbps standard (also known as the 3x3 standard), which most of them don't. Nonetheless, the router works with all existing Wi-Fi clients, including those made for pre-N wireless standards.

To make sure the router offers maximum compatibility, you'll need to change the settings of its wireless networks to Auto and the encryption methods to support both AES and TKIP methods. To do this you will need to use the Web interface, which also allows you to access to all of the router's features.

And the RT-N66U's Web interface is great: well-organized, responsive, and reasonably simple. There are three major parts of the interface that you can access from the left part of the page. The top part is the setup wizard mentioned above, the middle is for General items, and the bottom is the Advanced Settings.

General offers a Network Map for viewing currently connected devices, including those connected to the router via the USB ports. You can click on one of the connected devices to interact with it. For example, you can quickly block a Wi-Fi client or set up a network storage feature of an external hard drive. In the General area, you can also add or change up to six Guest networks, three for each band. Other nifty General features include a Parental Control feature, a Traffic Manager, and management of the router's USB ports.

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Epson WorkForce 645

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The $150 Epson WorkForce 645 proves itself a capable performer for small offices that want a do-it-all device that can print, fax, copy, and scan without a clumsy touch-screen control panel. Epson also outguns the competition in print speed, leading the pack in all of our document tests, with the exception of snapshot photos. The 645 serves up plenty of features that maximize office workflow, including the Epson Connect portfolio of mobile printing features that work with Google and Apple's cloud printing. This printer also has the ability to e-mail print jobs to the 845 directly from any device ... Expand full review

Design and features
The WorkForce 645 fits in tight spaces thanks to its compact design that measures just less than 18 inches wide, 14 inches deep, and 9 inches tall in storage mode with the moving control panel, auto-document feeder (ADF), and paper trays all folded flush into the rectangular unit. The standard colorway for Epson's WorkForce multifunction printer line is matte black with a dot pattern on the scanner lid and minimal use of glossy plastic to combat dust.

A robust control panel folds out of the middle section and rotates up and down for variable visibility on your desk space, and a 2.5-inch LCD in the center acts as the hub for controlling its functions. With many modern printers insisting that users interact through a touch-screen display or virtual buttons, I'm relieved that Epson doesn't succumb to the trend. If you're more comfortable using a touch panel, the WorkForce 840 does include a touch display, but the WorkForce 645's physical buttons make for more efficient navigation.

In this case, the control panel bundles several tactile shortcut buttons with specific action functions like toggling double sided prints with the rear-mounted auto-duplexer, a hard reset button, as well as individual buttons for fax and scanning features. Of course, you also get a four-way directional pad and an OK button for navigating through the menu settings.

The controls are comprehensive and easy to use in conjunction with the Epson driver that comes on the CD included in the box, and other physical features of note include a media card reader on the front panel that supports Compact Flash, MS (PRO), xD, and SD memory cards, and a PictBridge USB port for direct printing and saving images directly off a PictBridge-compatible thumbdrive.

Just above the control panel, you'll find two hinged bays that expose the 2,400-by-2,400-dpi scanner glass and four-ink repository for separate black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges. Its scanning functions let you save an image in three ways: to a specific file folder, as a PDF document in a folder, or as an attachment in an outgoing e-mail message. The WorkForce 645 also benefits from a 30-sheet automatic document feeder on its top that automatically picks up individual sheets from a stack in the tray.

Any multifunction or all-in-one printer for business should include an auto-document feeder (ADF), but keep in mind that they always add bulk to the printer. When you're not copying or faxing stacks of paper, consider keeping the ADF folded up and store the extra sheets of paper in the ample input tray, which can hold up to a considerable 250 sheets of plain 20 pound white paper or 10 envelopes. Finally, an extendable lip on the bottom of the printer corrals all outbound prints.

The WorkForce 645 features a built-in 802.11 b/g wireless print server that only took 5 minutes for me to connect and start printing. Unlike other printers that require you to set up a proxy network, the WorkForce 645 prompts you to establish a direct wireless connection right out of the box without the extra, confusing step of first connecting via a USB or Ethernet cable. The printer also has an Ethernet port on the side for a wired connection to a network.

Connecting through Wi-Fi also means you can take advantage of Epson's host of free mobile printing apps that let you print directly from mobile devices. First, the Epson iPrint application for iOS and Android devices enables you to print Web pages, photos, documents, and anything else on a smartphone directly to the WorkForce 645, though I did notice some of our photos got inadvertently cropped from time to time. I wouldn't recommend printing important images like business presentations this way; it's more appropriate for quick outputs of spreadsheets and to-do lists.

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Samsung Series 9 NP900X4B-A02 (15-inch)

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Are larger-scale ultrabooks the laptop version of "Dead man walking"? Well, it's a disconnect if you like ultrabooks for what they were originally promised to have: small-scale portability. Taking the thin splendor of a brilliantly executed 13-incher and going supersize feels a little like making the laptop version of Amazon's Kindle DX. Then again, the iPad succeeded at transcending being a big iPod Touch, so maybe anything's possible.

I felt more than a little deja vu handling the 15-inch Samsung Series 9 NP900X4B-A02, a larger version of the 13-inch Series 9 laptop that I fell in love ... Expand full review

I felt more than a little deja vu handling the 15-inch Samsung Series 9 NP900X4B-A02, a larger version of the 13-inch Series 9 laptop that I fell in love with exactly one year ago. Actually, that's not entirely accurate: the new 15-incher is a large-scale version of the second-gen Series 9, which we took a peek at earlier this year.

The second-gen Series 9 is far better built, sleeker, and smaller, managing to slide into a footprint befitting a 12-inch laptop. Its big brother, this new 15-incher, goes in the opposite direction, a trend in ultrabooks we're seeing in laptops like the HP Envy 14 Spectre and Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 (even though Samsung doesn't call the Series 9 an ultrabook, it clearly is).

The larger version makes me feel like I've shrunk a bit, but it's still a gorgeous piece of equipment from a structural standpoint. The chassis, keyboard, and touch pad -- even the screen hinge -- have exactly the sturdy, clean design that anyone ponying up for a pricey, fancy laptop would hope for. The screen's big and bright, too, just like its predecessor's. What's not to like?

Well, first, the price: the 15-inch Series 9 NP900X4B-A02 will cost $1,499 when it debuts in late April. That's less than the $1,600-plus for last year's Series 9 13-incher, but it's still way up in the stratosphere. It's not unreasonable for a larger laptop, provided it also has better specs and performance than a tiny ultraportable computer.

That's problem No. 2: under the hood, the 15-inch Series 9 is really just the same as its soon-to-arrive 13-inch sibling. It has a Core i5 processor and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), and even that big screen has the same 1,600x900-pixel resolution. An included 8GB of RAM is the only notably lofty spec. There's no optical drive (of course), and there aren't even any extra full-size ports like Ethernet and HDMI; you'll need dongles or special cables, and only the Ethernet dongle comes in the box.

Still, there's no denying that the larger Series 9 is a beautiful computer. However, is it worth the $1,499 price, especially when even a MacBook Air costs less, and perfectly capable if slightly less sexy full-size laptops can be had for half of that? That's up to you. After all, Samsung makes a less thin but equally powerful Series 5 Ultra that's still reasonably slim but costs over $500 less. Also consider that, for $100 less, the next-generation 13-inch Samsung Series 9 will offer much of the same functionality, in a smaller size with half the RAM. I certainly would love a 15-inch Series 9 if it fell in my lap, but it's a lot of money for what you get. In this instance, you're truly getting a super-size ultrabook. You're paying for thin.

Larger-screen ultrabooks will be a trend throughout 2012, but I'm still not sure I get the motivation for larger, thinner laptops...even though this Series 9 is probably one of the best of them, if you're judging purely on style and feel.

Note: our review version came with Windows 7 Professional installed, but the retail version will ship with Windows 7 Home Premium.

System weight / Weight with AC adapter

Steely gray all around, smooth matte metal surfaces, gleaming polished edges, and elegantly curved sides: the new Series 9 is one of the most impressively made laptops I've ever seen, and it feels as good as it looks. It leaves out any unnecessary flourishes or creaky bits that crept up on last year's model, in favor of a single-piece, all-metal, aluminum construction that's every bit as nice as a MacBook Air.

You'd think that taking the elegant efficiency of the 13-inch model and expanding it to a 15-incher would result in an awkward surplus of unused keyboard space or an extra-wide "surfboard" feel, but that isn't the case. Yes, the 15-inch version feels very wide and flat given its thinness, but I got used to that quickly and fell into the large screen with its compact bezel.

Part of what makes the design feel tight is the fact that this 15-inch-screen model fits into the footprint of a 14-inch laptop, according to Samsung. Indeed, this laptop's dimensions (14x9.3 inches) places it between a standard 14- and 15-inch laptop. It's nearly an inch wider than the 14-inch Series 5, and 0.3 inch deeper. A 15-inch MacBook Pro (which also has a slightly larger 15.4-inch screen) measures 14.35 inches by 9.8 inches. Incidentally, the original 13-inch Samsung Series 9 measured 12.9 inches by 8.9 inches, with a thickness of 0.64 inch, and weighed 2.92 pounds.

The most important metric might be thickness: at 0.58 inch, this is the thinnest 15-inch laptop I've ever come across. It weighs 3.68 pounds, which is also lighter than any 15-incher to my recollection (and is significantly lighter than many 14-inchers).

There's a question that arises: who needs a really thin 15-incher? This larger Series 9 isn't exactly ultraportable, and it's even a bit thicker than I would have imagined. Still, the laptop sits gracefully, has a wide-tilt screen hinge, and feels very comfortable. Because of this laptop's tweener size, after using it for a while you're likely to start feeling like it's not far from a 13-inch. It definitely rests easily in the lap, although the heat venting can run a bit warm.

The full-size raised keyboard has shallow keys, but it feels great to type on. The closest analog I've seen is a MacBook Air. In low light, a built-in backlight kicks in. It's subtle, but effective. The Samsung keyboard lacks a number pad and doesn't have function-reversed top keys (you need to press Fn to raise and lower volume, for instance), but other than a right-hand column of keys for Home/Page Up/Page Down, all keys are full-size and easy to access.

On the extra-large palm rest lies an extra-large multitouch clickpad, using Elan software. It feels as spacious as an Apple trackpad, with a large, matte-black and slightly recessed surface. Samsung posted a driver update during the process of my review that made the pad work a little more smoothly, especially for two-finger page scrolling, and overall it's better than average for a Windows laptop.

The 15-inch matte screen looks as great as the screen on the 13-inch version, although the 1,600x900-pixel resolution is slightly less astounding at this larger size. The screen looks very bright, almost shockingly so, head-on. However, it's a disappointment when viewed from off angles. From side to side it's got a passable range of readability, but from top to bottom the image blows out fast. The screen's so large and wide that the image can begin to degrade around the edges depending on where you're viewing it from, so center stage is best. The self-adjusting screen brightness auto sensor sometimes got finicky depending on where I placed my hand, too. That being said, from a direct viewing angle this is a premium laptop screen experience.

Stereo speakers seated under the laptop are fine for movies and TV shows, even music, but the audio quality resembles a loud pair of good but not great headphones. Plugging in your own headset will help matters.

The 1,280x1,024-pixel Webcam comes with CyberLink YouCam software and its requisite collection of absurd novelty effects. Video quality looked good, both for casual picture capture and Web chat.

Micro-HDMI, VGA (needs dongle)Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone combo jackStereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader, eSATAEthernet (needs included dongle), 802.11n Wi-Fi, BluetoothEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband

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HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One Printer

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The $299 HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One printer is an updated version of the Pro 8500A Plus multifunction CNET reviewed last year. The flagship of HP's workcentric inkjet line gets a performance makeover from the inside out, with improvements to the speed of the print engine and the texture of the 4.3-inch touch-screen display, and a sleeker chassis that hides fingerprints better than the previous version. The device also takes printing to the cloud with ePrint and an accompanying iOS application that make the Officejet Pro 8600A Plus an impressively resourceful printer. I recommend it for home ... Expand full review

Design and features
The Officejet Pro 8600 Plus printer strips away the glossy veneer of the past and replaces it with a modern matte paint job that does its best to hide dust and fingerprints. It has a professional look that should easily fit into any office or home decor, though at 12.4 inches tall, 19.4 inches wide, and 18.9 inches, you'll need to clear a sizable amount of space to fit its large chassis. The printer's sides feature two indented handles that make it easier to carry around, although you won't want to move it on a daily basis.

A single 250-sheet input tray protrudes 4 inches out of the front of the 8600 Plus and a 50-page automatic document feeder (ADF) resides on top. You won't find a manual feed tray in the center console like you would on a laser printer, which might be irritating if you print on irregular media like heavy cardstock or nonstandard envelopes. If that's the case for you, I recommend the HP LaserJet Pro 100 Color MFP, a capable Hewlett-Packard laser printer with similar all-in-one functionality (scanner, copier, fax, and printer).

On the other hand, if paper input capacity is a hindrance, HP also sells a version of this printer called the Officejet Pro 8600 Premium that comes with an extra 250-sheet paper tray, an additional set of ink cartridges worth $60, and a 50-sheet pack of HP Premium Glossy Brochure paper, priced for $14 in HP's online retail store. By upgrading to the step-up Premium package, you'll save about $50 on your overall consumables cost, and I recommend taking advantage of these savings up front if you plan to print lots of photos or graphic documents.

The HP's ample 4.3-inch touch-sensitive color display makes navigating the print, copy, scan, and fax functions a breeze. The screen is the same size as the Officejet Pro 8500A Plus' screen and the competing Epson WorkForce 840, but the WorkForce 840 surrounds its color LCD with a larger 7.8-inch touch panel that provides additional navigation buttons. The HP's entire touch panel, on the other hand, resembles an iPhone on its side and measures 6 inches on the diagonal.

In the end, both printers do an admirable job of providing a simple and clear menu system for navigating their many functions. However, HP makes it easier than Epson to enter text thanks to a full QWERTY virtual keyboard; entering data such as a wireless password on the Epson requires scrolling through the alphabet for each letter and is akin to entering your initials for a high score in an old arcade game. This version of the display also has less mushy play between the outward-facing screen and the hard registration pad below it, so you're less likely to mistakenly press a button. The screen still isn't perfect--for some of the onscreen features I needed to repeatedly push the corresponding virtual icon until the action finally registered. With no way to recalibrate the screen in the settings page, you're in for a frustrating experience until the printer gets it right.

In addition to using a direct USB connection (like most vendors, HP does not include a USB cable with the printer), you can set up the Officejet Pro 8700 Plus on your network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. We tested the Wi-Fi connection and the process was easy; using the printer's touch screen, we navigated through a few setup screens to find our network, quickly entered its password using the virtual QWERTY keyboard, and established a connection within a minute. Macs and PCs alike on our network were able to see the printer without the need to install any additional software.

Once you connect the printer to a wireless network, you can use HP's AirPrint feature to print from any iOS device without an additional application. Using AirPrint, you can print out a photo from your iPhoto library by simply choosing the connected printer and hitting Print. You can't adjust any print properties, however; and our Hipstamatic test photo printed with a portion missing on both letter-size paper and 4x6-inch photo paper.

In addition to AirPrint, the Officejet Pro 8500A Plus also features HP's ePrint technology, which enables you to send jobs from any connected device to the printer using the uniquely assigned e-mail address. You can find this address using the control panel (Wireless > Web Services > Display Email). It's a convenient feature, to be sure, but it comes with a few restrictions. For one, the printer must be on and also connected to your network. For another, it can't print Web pages, although you can simply copy and paste the text into a document as a workaround.

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Thursday 26 January 2012

Cisco Linksys E4200 v2 Maximum Performance Dual-Band N900 router

Review:

The Linksys E4200 v2 Maximum Performance Dual-Band N900 router is a major upgrade to the original Cisco Linksys E4200 that was released in January. Though it looks exactly the same on the outside, on the inside the E4200 v2 boasts 450Mbps on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands (as opposed to just the 5GHz band of the original) and a faster processor for network storage when coupled with an USB external hard drive, and can host up to 50 guest clients (up from the original 10). Other than that, the two routers are essentially the same in terms of features. ... Expand full review

That said, the new E4200 v2 offers all that the original has to give and more, enough to justify its price tag of $199, compared with the original's street price of around $150. If you're looking for a top-notch router with no compromises, especially one that also offers an easy and viable network storage option when coupled with an external hard drive, the Cisco Linksys 4200 v2 will make an excellent investment.

Those who don't care much about the 450Mbps speed should also consider the original Linksys E4200, the Netgear WNDR3800, or the Asus RT-N56U.

Design and ease of use
Like the rest of the Linksys E-Series routers, the Linksys E4200 v2 looks more like an expensive jewelry gift box than a router. With its flat shape and internal-antenna design, the router is more compact than its peers. This means you can leave it out in the open, rather than hide it, as you would most routers. The v2 also comes with a much more compact power adapter than the previous version, which is a nice touch.

The router has four LAN ports and one WAN port on the back. All are Gigabit Ethernet-capable, meaning they support throughput up to 1,000Mbps. Also on the back you'll find the push button for the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) feature, a recessed reset button, and a USB 2.0 port that can host a USB external storage device for the router's network-attached storage (NAS) function. With WPS you can add WPS-enabled clients to the wireless network with the press of a button. The USB port on the E4200 v2 supports either a USB printer or an USB external hard drive for a quick network storage solution. The router now comes with a much faster processor that runs at 1.2GHz (as opposed to the original's 480MHz), promising significantly higher storage performance.

On the front, the new E4200 forgoes the usual array of status LEDs. Instead it has just one white light, in the shape of Cisco's logo, which blinks when the router's booting up (or something is not right) and stays solid when everything is in order.

Like all routers in the E-Series, the E4200 v2 comes with Cisco Connect, software that helps novice users set up and manage the router very easily. Anyone who can use a computer mouse can get the router up and running within about 5 minutes. The software works essentially the same for all E-Series routers.

By default, the software sets up a single wireless network combining the two networks for the 2.4GHz band and 5GHz band, so that they share the same name and the same password. This is similar to how Apple sets up its AirPort Extreme. Though this makes things easier, it also means you won't be able to manually pick which band to use with dual-band clients.

With Cisco Connect you can also turn the guest network (which is available only in the 2.4GHz band) on or off, manage the parental control features, and carry out a few other tasks. The software is very limited in functionality and requires a live Internet connection to work. In order to do more with the router, such as name two separate networks for 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands, or set up the router for an isolated network that's disconnected from the Internet, you'll need to use the router's Web interface by pointing a connected computer's browser to 192.168.1.1.

Note that if you haven't used Cisco Connect, the default credential to log in to the router's Web interface is "admin" for both username and password. Once you have changed the default password, the username remains the same. If you use the Cisco software to set up the router, the password (or encryption key) for the wireless network is also the one required to log in the router's interface.

It's rather confusing to list what you can and can't do with the Cisco Connect software. The good news is, the Web interface's functionality encompasses that of Cisco Connect. For this reason, savvy users can and should skip the Cisco Connect software entirely, so they can be in complete control of the router's settings.

In the end, it's best to use the Cisco Connect software if you are a novice user, or the Web interface if you are a savvy user, but not to use both, to avoid instances where one would cancel out the other.

Starting with the E4200 v2, Cisco has also released a mobile application for Android- and OS-based devices that enables users to monitor the router, or any other router in the E-Series, right from a mobile device. For now you can only do that if the device is connected to the router's wireless local network, and not from anywhere via the Internet.

Features
The Linksys E4200 v2 is a true dual-band router, meaning it has two separate access points--one for the 2.4GHz band and the other for the 5GHz band--that can work simultaneously. It's also the first from Cisco to offer the 450Mbps (or 3-by-3) configuration on both bands. The previous version only supports this on the 5GHz band. Others routers I've reviewed that offer dual-band concurrent 450Mbps include the Trendnet TEW-692GR and the Netgear WNDR4500. To take advantage of this new speed, the clients have to also support the same 3-by-3 Wi-Fi standard, which more and more of them do.

In addition to the networks for the two bands, the E4200 v2 offers another wireless network on the 2.4GHz band for guests. Guest networking is great for when you want to share the Internet with others without giving them access to your local resources, such as files or printers. The E4200 v2's guest networking feature allows up to 50 clients, which is a big improvement compared with the original E4200's maximum of 10. However, you'll need to use the Web interface to set this higher number, as Cisco Connect allows a maximum of 10 clients. This is likely because 10 clients are enough for a home and only home users would use the software rather than the Web interface to set up the router.

Regardless of which option you use to manage the router, you can't name the router's guest network arbitrarily. The guest network's name will always be your main network's name plus a "-guest" suffix. This means guests will always know what your main network's name is and that, well, they are guests.

The E4200 has simple and straightforward support for network storage, including features such as sharing the content of a USB external hard drive (formatted using either NTFS or FAT32), with user account restriction. By default the admin account has full access and can create more user accounts. It also has a built-in UPnP media server with which you can stream digital content to other UPnP-compliant devices, such as set-top boxes, network media players, and game consoles.

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HP TouchSmart 620 3D

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Review:

My feelings about 3D-capable all-in-one PCs have so far ranged from mild enthusiasm to ambivalence, but Hewlett-Packard's $1,599 TouchSmart 620 3D is the first to inspire true frustration. The 3D technology works well enough, but this system is a veritable case study in how Windows PCs can so easily frustrate consumers with bloatware and artless interface design.

HP offers a perfectly capable, non-3D 23-inch all-in-one in its TouchSmart 610. For the above reasons, and others, I recommend that system over the TouchSmart 620 3D to most buyers looking for an all-in-one. If you're committed to 3D, or ... Expand full review

The TouchSmart 620 3D is essentially an updated version of the TouchSmart 610 we reviewed this past April. Along with the 3D screen and accompanying glasses and software from TriDef, HP has added a second lens next to the traditional Webcam on the TouchSmart's top edge. This second lens makes it possible to capture your own stereoscopic 3D pictures and video footage.

For $500 less than this TouchSmart 620 3D, you can still buy a non-3D TouchSmart 610xt. The only other difference between the two is the Radeon HD 6650 graphics card in the TouchSmart 610, not quite as good as the TouchSmart 620's Radeon HD 6670A.

The awkwardness of the TouchSmart's 3D implementation stems from the absence of centralized 3D control software. I understand that various issues of Blu-ray encoding, player licensing, and software drivers, among others, make that idea a challenge, but it's almost as if HP went out of its way to make launching a 3D game or recording and playing a homemade 3D movie more difficult.

HP buried the TouchSmart 620's TriDef 3D Ignition gaming app in the Start menu.

The first hint of this problem is that you will find no shortcut icon or top-level Start menu listing that uses the term "3D" on the TouchSmart 620 3D. The only way you'd know how to launch a 3D game, play a 3D movie, or capture and view homemade 3D content would be if you either dug through the Start menu subfolders, or read the scant two-page 3D section in the back of the (paper) user manual.

To actually play a PC game in 3D on the TouchSmart 620, you need to open the Games folder under the Windows Start menu, then open the TriDef subfolder to launch the TriDef Ignition application. You then assign game executable files to Ignition, and launch them from inside the app in order to trigger the 3D effects.

Though the process of launching a game in 3D isn't as simple as it could be (how about a hard 3D toggle button on the chassis?) I do like that Ignition offers a series of Shift-Alt key-based shortcuts for turning 3D on and off in a game, adjusting the 3D depth, and other settings tweaks. Otherwise, I fail to see how HP can justify a desktop shortcut for HP Games, which links you out to Wild Tangent's utterly disposable casual gaming library, but completely bury the TriDef application, one of the primary reasons anyone would buy the 3D-equipped TouchSmart 620 3D in the first place.

After you capture 3D footage in the Webcam software, there's no obvious way to watch it.

How to enable 3D for Blu-ray movies is similarly obscured, although easier to muddle through than the gaming setup. The system has no immediate indicators showing how you might play a 3D Blu-ray Disc. Fortunately, PowerDVD launches automatically when you insert a disc, and a large "3D" icon in the software player makes your next steps pretty clear.

Points off for the 3D Webcam, though. Again, HP has buried the necessary software for one of this system's star attractions. This time you must look inside HP's TouchSmart Magic Canvas software suite, where again you'll find no indication of the proper software to use. Launch the Webcam software and you'll find a 3D record button, but with no apparent means of playing the content back that you've recorded. You can actually double-click on the thumbnails to play back video, but there's no indicator to that effect in the Webcam program. Fumble around more inside the touch software and you'll find you can also play the movies in the touch Video application.

A few other disappointments mar the 3D viewing experience. The HP's active 3D glasses use a large watch battery for power, and thus aren't rechargeable like the Nvidia 3D Vision glasses that come with the Lenovo IdeaCentre B520. The HP's glasses also rely on autodetection to turn on when the screen displays a 3D image. Autodetection is fine in concept, but HP has added no external light or other signal that the glasses are powered on. That means an added level of uncertainty if you ever need to troubleshoot.

The quality of the 3D playback in this system is fine from a depth perspective, but the screen itself is not as good as those of the TouchSmart's competition. The HP seems to suffer from low black levels, apparent in the 3D Blu-ray of "Coraline," a gloomy stop-motion film heavy with atmospheric shadows and dark environments. The resulting image is greenish and washed-out, which we also noticed both in the racing game Dirt 3 and in content we recorded via the 3D Webcam.

Gaming is usually more of a problem for 3D than movies, since the quality of the experience can be so heavily tied to graphics card drivers and the game code itself. In addition to the greenish tinge of the display, Dirt 3's 3D rendering suffered from noticeable shadow and background flickering. I saw similar flickering and missing textures in Far Cry 2. It's hard to be that critical of 3D in games, given that a driver update or game patch could take care of any issues (more likely for newer titles), but the experience on this system underscores the fact that PC-based 3D content in general needs polish.

Blu-ray/DVD burner combo driveBlu-ray/DVD burner combo driveGigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wirelessGigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wirelessGigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wirelessWindows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

it weren't for the Lenovo IdeaCentre B520, the TouchSmart 620 would look competitive. Unfortunately for HP, the IdeaCentre B520 offers much better value. Lenovo's touch software is not as robust as HP's, and its screen isn't as adjustable, but the Lenovo includes more useful HDMI inputs and outputs. Against such robust competition from Lenovo, it's hard to excuse the HP's price tag.

The TouchSmart 620's reclining display is useful, in that it tilts back up to 60 degrees to make it easier to interact with when you're standing in front of it. As with the 610, HP missed an opportunity to let the screen go perfectly horizontal, whereas Samsung didn't hesitate with its Series 7 all-in-one earlier this year. The hinge design on the TouchSmart is also clunky, in that the screen slides down too readily when you try to simply angle it backward.

For the software, HP has poured a notable amount of effort into its Magic Canvas software suite, but with the sloppy 3D integration and the example Samsung has set by porting its clean tablet touch interface to the Series 7, HP's touch software is starting to look overwrought. I don't anticipate a complete overhaul from HP with the touch-oriented Windows 8 operating system on the horizon, but the TouchSmart 620 3D in particular has shown that Magic Canvas needs streamlining.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
HP TouchSmart 620 3D (Core i5-2400, fall 2011)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
HP TouchSmart 620 3D (Core i5-2400, fall 2011)
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HP Envy 15 (winter 2012)

Review:

One of the few consistent high-end Windows laptop lines, HP's Envy series has always impressed with its sharp design, high-end components, and (aside from the too-expensive very first models) reasonable prices. With this new revision, the Envy has finally gotten its first serious makeover since the original.

Inside our 15-inch test unit was a standard set of components, weighted toward multimedia and midlevel gaming: an Intel Core i5 2430M CPU, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD, and an AMD Radeon 7690M GPU. The series starts at $1,099 for essentially the same configuration, but this unit had its 15.6-inch display upgraded to 1,920x1,080 pixels, a $150 add-on. Intel Core i7 CPUs, SSD storage, and more RAM are all available, but drive up the price considerably.

Even with some upgrades, that's a lot less than a comparable 15-inch MacBook Pro. And, the inclusion of a physical volume control wheel is truly inspired, giving the Envy 15 an edge over the other big-brand premium 15-inch, Dell's XPS 15z, which is thinner, and starts at only $999, but lacks the big click pad and Beats Audio features of the Envy 15.

The biggest downside is HP's just-announced Envy Spectre 14-inch from CES. With an entirely new glass-covered design beyond that of the Envy 15, it's already got this model beaten on looks before even hitting stores.

Price as reviewed / starting priceAMD Radeon HD 7690M/Intel HD 3000System weight / Weight with AC adapter

The new look is quite a departure from that of previous Envys. Made of aluminum and magnesium, in a dark gunmetal gray with a black base, the original Envy laptops had a subtle pattern of imprinted squares covering the wrist rest and the back of the lid, creating an overall unique signature. The new version has more of a two-tone design, with a black lid and keyboard contrasted against a silver tray. The most unusual visual feature is a subtle red stripe around the inner edge of the sunken keyboard--a touch of retro-futurism, perhaps.

As a fan of the original Envy design, I have to admit I'm not quite as sold on this new look just yet. It certainly isn't ugly, but it also doesn't feel as sophisticated as HP's even newer Envy Spectre laptop, spotted at CES 2012 and coming soon in a 14-inch version. If anything, the new look of the Envy hews much closer to the MacBook Pro than before. While open, it's nearly indistinguishable from a MacBook Pro at first glance. Only the sunken keyboard and red accents give it away.

The keyboard felt familiar--this flat-topped island-style setup has been used on many HP laptops before (and it's found in slightly different variations on laptops from Apple, Dell, Sony, and others). The individual keys are large and easy to hit, but the up and down arrow keys get unfairly shrunken down. Shift, Caps Lock, Tab, and other important keys are full-size, however, and the four corner keys lose a little surface area to create a rounded-edge look, but it doesn't hinder typing.

Backlit keyboards are a great extra for any multimedia or gaming laptop, and really should be standard by now in all but the least expensive systems. The model included here is something HP calls the Radiance Backlit keyboard, and it uses individual LEDs under each key. Hit the F5 button, and the keys light up row by row, which is a nice visual flourish, but has no practical impact.

The click-pad-style touch pad was large--slightly longer and squatter than you'd find on a MacBook. Basic multitouch gestures are supported, but still not as smooth as the finger-control action in OS X. Particularly frustrating is the two-finger scroll, as basic a touch-pad move if there ever was one. Few, if any, Windows laptops do this well, but the Envy line has always been especially stuttery with that gesture.

The biggest improvement in the new Envy 15 is the inclusion of a physical volume control wheel. Real-world volume controls are very rare. Occasionally, you'll get a couple of tiny volume-up/volume-down buttons above the keyboard, or a few years ago, capacitive touch strips were popular (but never responsive enough to use). Most of the time, you're stuck fumbling with alternative functions of the Fn keys for volume and muting.

This is an actual wheel, built into the right edge of the system. It's small, but just the right size for flicking with a finger while playing a game or video. A separate mute button sites right below it (and could perhaps be a bit larger). The top of the volume wheel clicks as well, but that command brings up the Beats Audio menu, with access to input and output levels for different devices, EQ settings, and even the ability to flip the volume wheel control direction between clockwise and counterclockwise.

Audio quality is excellent for a laptop, and the speakers get incredibly loud, but the front-firing speakers still lack bass, a problem more of the physics of small laptop speakers than anything else.

The 15.6-inch display has a native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, but note that this is an upgraded display on our review unit. The base model has a 1,366x768-pixel screen--fine for most uses, but less than one would expect from a $1,000-plus laptop. Put another way, if you're considering the Envy 15, the higher-resolution display, which is an extra $150, is a must-have add-on.

Stereo speakers, headphone (x2)/microphone jacksStereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader, eSATAEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, BluetoothEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband

Despite being a full-size 15-inch laptop, the ports and connections on the Envy 15 are limited. Only two USB ports are offered, along with an SD card slot--no eSATA, as found on previous Envy laptops. The twin headphone jacks are a nice extra, but usually more useful on a smaller laptop, for example to share video playback while flying. Adding a Blu-ray drive, instead of the standard DVD burner is $75 more.

While our test unit had the base CPU and RAM (actually, according to HP's Web site, you now start with an Intel Core i5 2450M, instead of our 2430M), both are upgradable, up to a quad-core Core i7-2860QM for $450 and 16GB of RAM for $460 (with several steps in-between for both). A wide variety of HDD/SSD combos are available as well, topping out at $500 for a 128GB SSD plus two 1TB 5,400rpm drives.

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Wednesday 25 January 2012

HP Folio 13

As ultrabooks become a major part of the laptop landscape this year, the key to finding a good one won't be specs--since so many have identical innards--so much as look, feel, and bang for the buck. The HP Folio 13 is a small business-targeted ultrabook that should be equally at home in the hands of a mainstream consumer. Aside from TPM support, the "business" differentiation is cosmetic and arbitrary: the HP Folio 13's hardware--a Core i5 low-voltage CPU, 128GB SSD storage, 4GB of RAM--befits any laptop in the 13-inch ultrabook universe circa 2012.

The Folio 13 is a ... Expand full review

The Folio 13 is a thicker laptop, and a heavier one, too, than the MacBook Air and any of last year's ultrabooks, but not by much. It's a little over 3 pounds, and still thinner than any standard laptop. It's just not wafer-thin. However, the HP Folio 13 only costs $899, which undercuts a lot of the ultrabook competition by at least $100. And consider the battery life: in our tests, the HP Folio 13 had the longest battery life among Windows ultrabooks thus far. I'd give up a bit of thinness to gain more battery life any day, and at 0.7 inch thick, the Folio 13 is still plenty svelte enough for compact travel.

Are there sexier ultrabooks, and even laptops, than the HP Folio 13? Certainly. I'd be hard-pressed, however, to find one as practical, affordable, and solidly performing as the Folio 13. And, if I were currently picking an ultrabook out of a lineup to go to war with, the HP Folio 13 is the one I'd take in my backpack.

Starting price / price as reviewedSystem weight / Weight with AC adapter

On a whole, the sense of deja vu I felt when using the HP Folio 13 is justified: it comes across as an evolved sibling of the HP Pavilion dm4, a laptop I loved just a year or so ago. To lovers of superslim laptops such as the Samsung Series 9, the HP Folio 13 may seem thick and less responsive. To mainstream laptop owners, the HP Folio 13 will feel sleek, fast, and very portable. It's all a matter of perspective.

In fact, I'd say that the whole laptop looks a little bit like a Hewlett-Packard throwback. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, especially since I've liked the feel of HP's recent designs. It's not likely to grab the eye on a table at Starbucks--its brushed-aluminum back lid and palm rest and black keyboard will probably blend right in amid a jungle of laptops and venti lattes--but to those who don't want to treat their laptops like Ferraris, that might be a good thing.

Brushed aluminum gracing the back lid gives the Folio 13 a "professional" air, while the smoothly opening lid and rigid construction makes it feel safe to wedge in a backpack--the Folio 13 has barely any flex in its chassis.

A rubberized bottom surface feels smooth to the touch, and has excellent grip on a desk surface. Heat vents along the bottom might get uncomfortable during lengthy use on a lap, but I never noticed a problem in my week or so of lap and desk typing. That, combined with the smooth palm rests and comfy keyboard, make this a laptop to love working on. No, it doesn't feel like an ultrabook...but credit HP with the decision to stay with its own design philosophy and not bend over backward to make its own version of the MacBook Air.

A single, small power button above the keyboard boots up Windows 7, and if I have one complaint about this laptop's ergonomics it's that this small button is nearly thin enough to require using a fingernail.

The wide, raised backlit keyboard is excellent, beating shallower keyboards on other ultrabooks. This keyboard feels more generous in terms of its key space than the ones on the MacBook Air and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, which are already excellent. The design is reminiscent of HP's ProBook laptops, with keys that are soft to the touch, but respond crisply when depressed. They feel like they have more travel. I'm a keyboard fetishist, and the Folio 13's surprised me with its quality. The top media-control function keys are function-reversed, so hitting volume up doesn't mean fumbling for the Fn key. All laptops should have this, and yet they still don't.

The touch pad, or rather clickpad, beneath is comfortable and easy to use in tap-to-click mode--my preferred way of working--but it's still not as good as the pad on a MacBook Air. I found myself making fewer errors than on other Windows laptops, but the pad was still prone to occasional sensitivity quirks that can slow down a highlight-cut-and-paste process. The touch pad has marked-off zones on the lower third for left- and right-clicking, which adds useful surface area to the pad, although I found locating and clicking by feel was more difficult than engaging tap-to-click. The responsiveness of two-finger scrolling is passable, but hardly what would be considered great.

The glossy, bright 13-inch display has a 1,366x768-pixel resolution and looks very good head-on. At side angles, the image deteriorates as on the average screen on the average mainstream laptop. For the price, the screen is more than adequate, although it's not a stunner.

Now, a word on laptop screen resolution: some might drool over 1,600x900-pixel, 13-inch displays, but 1,366x768-pixel resolution is standard for any mainstream laptop, and I've never wished for a better resolution. A larger resolution at this screen size would sacrifice text size for virtual desktop space, a compromise I don't need. I wish my iPad had a finer resolution for displaying full pages of text, but on a laptop, that isn't a concern at the viewing distance you're likely to be at from the screen.

A built-in Dolby Advanced Audio-branded stereo speaker bar above the keyboard is louder than I expected, and more than suitable for video playback or Web chat in noisy rooms. An HD Webcam offers better-than-average video quality (1,280x1,204-pixel capture).

Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone combo jackStereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks1 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, SD card reader2 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0, SD card readerEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, BluetoothEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband

The other aspect of the HP Folio 13 I appreciated was its ample selection of ports: a single USB 3.0 port, plus one USB 2.0, HDMI, an Ethernet jack (a rarity among ultrabooks), and an SD card slot. Bluetooth is also included--maybe not surprising in a $900 laptop, but it's a feature often inexplicably absent in many mainstream machines.

There are no upgrades available on HP's Web site per se--you can have any HP Folio 13 you want, as long as it has an 128GB solid-state drive, 4GB of RAM, and a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M CPU. There are no graphics options other than the included integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics, which are fine for most basic needs, photo editing, and even video editing and some casual gaming. As an ultrabook, the HP Folio 13 doesn't have a DVD drive. For $150 extra, you could always upgrade to Windows 7 Professional instead of the included Windows 7 Home Premium OS, but the typical consumer won't need to.

The HP Folio 13 feels fast in everyday use, and especially in terms of startup and wake-from-sleep time. A cold boot launched in about 20 seconds, and a lifting-the-lid wake from sleep took only 4 seconds. It felt just as fast as a MacBook Air, but wasn't as silent; I heard a gentle operating whine from the Folio 13 most of the time, although it's possible that toying with the HP CoolSense controls might have helped.

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Sony Vaio VPC-YB35KX/B

Review:

The Netbook is dead; long live the new Netbooks. Atom-toting 10-inch laptops might be a thing of the past, but the 2011 trend of sticking low-power processors in small-screened computers is alive and well. However, this time, the result is a far better laptop. An AMD Fusion processor in a sub-$500 11-incher was a novelty back in January, but now, we're quite used to these devices, which have been slowly getting modest processor upgrades and price adjustments through the year.

We reviewed the Sony Vaio YB15KX/S in February; like many early-2011 laptops, it paired an AMD E-350 ... Expand full review

We reviewed the Sony Vaio YB15KX/S in February; like many early-2011 laptops, it paired an AMD E-350 APU with ample storage space and RAM to create a tiny laptop that performed well and didn't cost too much (for a Vaio, at least). The Vaio YB35KX/B is a revision that upgrades to an AMD E-450 processor, keeping the same 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive as its predecessor, at a lower cost. Depending on where you buy it, it currently can be found for as low as $469.

A similar thing happened to the HP Pavilion dm1, which got its own slight redesign and AMD E-450 upgrade. The processor upgrade isn't something you'll notice at all, but the price drop is a bigger story. At this price, the latest Sony Vaio Y is a much better value. The ample hard-drive space and speedier processor make this an excellent choice as a Netbook-sized laptop that can truly transcend its size and be used as a full-fledged computer.

Yes, there are limitations: the AMD E-450 is considerably slower than a mainstream Intel Core i5 or its equivalent, such as you'd find in an ultrabook or MacBook Air. It's nowhere near as thin as a ultrabook or an Air, but it's also not as expensive. From that perspective, it could be the compromise you're looking for, if you can live with a smaller screen and slower performance.

1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-450 Dual-Core APUSystem weight / Weight with AC adapter

Clad in grayish-black plastic, the Vaio YB35KX/B looks rather generic. A casual passerby might mistake it for an Asus Eee PC Netbook. Classic Sony Vaio touches abound if you know where to look, as in the slightly cramped raised keyboard, convex palm rest, and circular side hinges. The glowing green power button is embedded in the right side of the hinges, which got confusing for me, as I kept pressing the rectangular button on the top right of the keyboard instead, which looks like a power button but is really the Vaio Assist key. Pressing it boots diagnostic software that bypasses Windows 7, and I had to exit and restart when I made this mistake, which I imagine many will.

The left-side hinge is where the AC plug goes. It juts out of the side, without blocking any USB ports.

The modest keyboard has small keys but good key travel, and an overall typing feel that resembles that of a Netbook. Volume and screen brightness are controlled via numbered function keys rather than dedicated buttons.

Nestled below is one of the smallest touch pads I've ever seen. Two discrete plastic buttons beneath restrict space even further, to the point where the responsive touch-pad surface is barely larger than two-and-a-half SD cards placed side by side.

The 11.6-inch, 1,366x768-pixel-resolution glossy inset screen is crisp and bright, but requires head-on viewing for the best results. Movies and pictures looked very sharp. Speaker quality is another matter. The stereo speakers have barely any oomph, and sound is hard to hear even at maximum volume. You'll want to keep headphones handy at all times. The 640x480-pixel Webcam (1,280x960-pixel for still pictures) is serviceable, barely. Pictures looked dark and grainy. Considering Sony's camera and lens expertise, it's surprising that this Vaio didn't have a better Webcam.

Was using this laptop exciting? No. Is it functional? Yes, of course it is. A few Sony software touches like a pull-down dock on the top of the screen (for accessing Sony software, naturally) aren't too intrusive. I found this Vaio easy to hold in one hand, it rested easily on my lap, and the screen tilted to a comfortable viewing angle for lap-typing.

Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacksStereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks3 USB 2.0, SD card reader, Memory Stick reader2 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0, SD card readerEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, BluetoothEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband

This little Vaio doesn't have USB 3.0 connectivity, but it does have Bluetooth. There are three USB 2.0 ports, plenty for a small laptop. There's also HDMI, and...well, that's it. Like all Sony Vaio laptops, the YB35KX/B has a Memory Stick card slot in addition to an SD card slot. The two discrete slots are stacked on top of each other.

One of the best parts of this Vaio is its ample hard drive. It's no solid-state drive (SSD), but a 500GB hard drive matches the average for a larger mainstream laptop. Those looking to make this their big media-library repository will be in luck. The comparatively limited SSD storage on ultrabooks is one of the biggest hindrances for digital hoarders. That won't be a problem here.

Unlike Atom-based Netbooks, this Vaio, thanks to AMD's Fusion processor, is pretty adept at handling Flash and video streaming. On the other hand, Netflix movies sometimes exhibited choppiness during high-speed action; not enough to ruin watching, but enough to make purists feel grumpy. The 1.6GHz AMD E-450 processor, aka an APU, has its own onboard graphics--AMD Radeon HD 6320--to enhance video playback and even allow some basic gaming. Street Fighter IV ran at 17.8 frames per second with 2x antialiasing at native 1,366x768-pixel resolution, as compared with 18.9fps on the HP Pavilion dm1-4010us, which has the same processor. That's not really what gamers would call "playable," but hey, it's something. You could play your average game on this Vaio at toned-down graphics settings.

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Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer

Review:

Released in time for the back-to-school season, Epson squeezes a printer, scanner, and copy machine into a small device it's calling the "small-in-one." The Stylus NX430 occupies roughly the same amount of desk space as your average Blu-ray player, and it performed twice as fast as the four other competitive models, with high-scoring quality results to boot. We recommend investing in Epson's extra-large-capacity ink refill tanks if you print a large volume of full-color documents and photos, but if price and space hold top priority on your printer shopping list, the $99 Epson Stylus NX430 is worth your ... Expand full review

Design and features
The Stylus NX430's space-saving design is the printer's main focus, measuring a little more than 15 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 11 inches tall. Relative to other printers, its size falls somewhere between a single function inkjet and a color laser printer, but at 9 pounds it's only half the weight of the average color laser printer and ideal for offices that frequently move workstations.

The center control panel sits within a console that rotates up to a suitable viewing angle. Though I'm not usually a fan of virtual-only button layouts, I like that the only buttons that light up on the NX430 are the four-way directional pad and the power on and off controls--the rest of the functions illuminate depending on the particular function you're accessing.

I did notice that the screen on this machine feels distinctly less responsive than the capacitive touch dials on the higher-end WorkForce 845 All-in-One. By contrast, NX430's plastic surrounding the screen has a tendency to flex as you press down on it, lending a mushy feeling to menu navigation. The screen itself never gave me trouble in terms of virtual button actuation, however.

I can't fault a $99 device for not including an auto-document feeder or multiple paper input trays, so all paper handling is fed through the single tray on the back and exits through the "mouth" below the controls. You'll also notice a memory card reader up front that lets you walk up and print from an expansion card without actually touching a computer. You can preview your photos on the ample 2.5-inch LCD touch panel, and even make simple adjustments to crop dimensions, resize, or perform one-button touch-ups.

Epson gives you the option to connect the printer to your computer using direct USB or Wi-Fi. I assume most of you will prefer the latter, since Epson doesn't include a USB cable in the box. Smart setup on the touch panel is a two-part process: turn on the machine and click Network Setting, then designate your wireless network and enter its password, and that's it. The entire setup from start to finish, with a connection established on our lab network, took us less than 2 minutes. The installation process also includes a step that asks if you want the system to automatically hunt and install firmware updates, and we recommend you click "yes" when prompted; the appeal of Web-connected printers like the NX430 means you don't have to wait for Epson to ship you software updates, so take advantage of it.

Connecting through Wi-Fi also means you can take advantage of Epson's host of free mobile printing apps that let you print directly from mobile devices. First, the Epson iPrint application for iOS and Android devices enables you to print Web pages, photos, documents, and anything else on a smartphone directly to the WorkForce NX430, though I noticed the printer cropped photos when I flipped orientation from portrait to landscape and vice versa, so I wouldn't recommend using the app to print important images like business presentations this way; it's more appropriate for quick outputs of snapshot photos and to-do lists.

Performance
In our speed tests, the Stylus NX430 performed at an average rate printing photos, but it sprints ahead of the competition with presentation output speed, color graphics speed, and especially text speed. To widen the margin further, the NX515 printed a staggering 14.11 pages per minute of plain text on plain white paper.

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Asus G74SX-A2 - Core i7-2630QM 2GHz - 17.3-inch TFT

Review:

After a season of wafer-thin ultrabooks and pocket-sized ultraportables, there's nothing quite like a giant desktop-replacement gaming rig. Despite making a name for itself with the original Eee PC Netbook and the new Zenbook, Asus has always had a solid line of gaming laptops (sometimes marketed under the "Republic of Gamers" subbrand), the latest of which is the G74SX-A2.

While that jumble of letters and numbers may not be very illuminating, the system it refers to is a strong performer that has the added benefit of not looking like the typical ugly gaming laptop. The $1,949 G74SX is ... Expand full review

These days, two grand is really an astronomical amount to pay for a laptop, and generally only Apple gets away with charging that much. In this case, you do get some serious hardware for the money, including a quad-core 2.0GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M GPU, a 160GB solid-state drive (SSD) coupled with a 750GB hard-disk drive (HDD), and a whopping 16GB of RAM.

All that makes it good for mid- to high-level gaming, though not on the same level as our current gaming laptop leaders, the Origin EON17, which is an overclocked $3,500 monster built into a hideously generic Clevo chassis, and the $5,000 configuration of Dell's Alienware M18x that we tested earlier this year. But even serious gamers are unlikely to notice a difference except on the highest details settings of the latest PC games such as Skyrim and Battlefield 3.

If you're only a casual (or semiserious) gamer, this system may be overkill, but the possibilities of the large dual hard-drive setup and 16GB of RAM may be appealing to video editors and other multimedia types. If you want gamer-oriented power, without the over-the-top designs and blinking lights of an Alienware PC, the G74SX could be your wolf in sheep's clothing.

System weight / Weight with AC adapter

As mentioned above, the look and feel of the Asus G74SX falls somewhere between the dorm-room-chic glitz and lights of an Alienware gaming laptop and the generic, ugly black-box look of hand-assembled specialty systems, typically built around an off-the-shelf Clevo body. The entire outer shell is matte black plastic, and the system tapers slightly toward the front, with the sides of the lid angling down for a winglike look. The rear edge has a giant fan vent, also sharply angled, and reminiscent of the front grille on a classic muscle car--it's one of the few high-design touches on the laptop, so it's too bad it's facing away from the user most of the time.

The trend toward thinner, lighter laptops, at all screen sizes, makes the over 9-pound weight of this laptop even more jarring, although it weighs nearly 3 pounds less than Alienware's massive 18-inch M18x. For a more sophisticated take on what a big-screen laptop can look like, check out HP's Envy line, which does high power and high style equally well.

The feature-free interior has only a keyboard, a large touch pad, a few status indicator lights (HDD access, Wi-Fi, and so on), and power/quick-launch buttons. You're unlikely to ever deliberately use the quick-launch pre-Windows operating system, especially as this laptop is designed to stay tethered to your desk full-time, but as the two buttons sit right next to each other, it's easy to accidentally hit the wrong one. When the system is already running Windows, that second button activates a quiet mode to reduce fan noise.

That aside, the keyboard is a basic, no-frills affair, except for a handy backlight. The flat-topped, widely spaced keys are of the same island style found on most laptops these days, but the bigger footprint could have supported a deeper keystroke. The keys themselves are a decent size, but they wiggle slightly under even light typing, which isn't the kind of premium feel you expect from a $2,000 laptop. There's a full-size separate number pad to the right, and the four arrow keys sit somewhat awkwardly between the QWERTY keyboard and number pad.

The large touch pad is a plus, and unlike some bigger pads that incorporate the left and right mouse button functions directly into the pad (the clickpad approach--Apple does it well, others, not so much), in this case you get physical left and right mouse buttons. The buttons are big enough to hit comfortably, with a solid-feeling, but thankfully silent, click.

Asus packs in several custom software applications, some of which you may find useful, but most are so proprietary that you're unlikely to invest the time needed to learn them. The Rotation Desktop app lets you swap between different customized desktops (much like a Mac does), and the Smart Logon Manager handles facial recognition for passwords. One of the apps, the dreadful Asus Vibe Fun Center (yes, that's really the name), is just an ugly front end for selling you game and music content.

The display is arguably the most important part of a gaming or desktop-replacement laptop. In this case, it's a 17.3-inch, 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution screen, which is exactly what we'd expect from any 17-inch notebook outside of the occasional $500 bargain-basement special. The screen is clear and colors pop, but it doesn't get particularly bright. An overly glossy topcoat reflects light easily, which is a shame, as the off-axis viewing is actually pretty good aside from that. Unlike some high-end laptops that have thin bezels or edge-to-edge glass, this screen is surrounded by thick plastic and (not to harp on the point, but...) doesn't look or feel like a $2,000 system.

The audio is meaty enough to play games without headphones, and only a big, big laptop such as this can pack in speakers large enough to move the air necessary for decent sound. Unfortunately, the volume controls are secondary functions of the F9, F10, and F11 keys, so you'll need to fumble around a bit to adjust volume on the fly.

Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacksStereo speakers with subwoofer, headphone/microphone jacks3 USB 2.0; 1 USB 3.0; SD card reader2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader, eSATAEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, BluetoothEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, BluetoothDVD burner, optional Blu-ray player

While you get Blu-ray and a single USB 3.0, there's something to be said for a big desktop replacement laptop having an eSATA port, which for now is still a more common way to connect a large external drive than USB 3.0. Bluetooth is handy for connecting a wireless mouse without using up a USB port, but don't expect too many frills beyond that.

While the specific configuration reviewed here runs $1,949, there is a less-expensive $1,500 version that drops the RAM from 16GB to 12GB, and ditches the 160GB SSD for a single 1,5TB, 7200rpm hard drive.

Big gaming laptops are, if not rare, then at least not terribly common these days. Most of the 2011 models use one of Intel's quad-core Core i7 CPUs--in this case it's the 2GHz Core i7-2630QM. More than enough for gaming, HD video, multitasking, or whatever else you want to throw at it, this is undoubtedly more laptop power than most people will need.

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Computer

Canon PIXMA MG6220

Review:

Canon's new Pixma MG6220 multifunction printer carries an impressive list of features compared with other consumer-level printers that sell for $200. This capable machine achieves top-scoring marks in both speed and output quality, but also innovates with features you can't get with the competition, like a 3-inch display that pairs well with the touch-sensitive control panel. The touch sensitivity can use some tweaking, but if you're on the hunt for a printer truly worthy of its all-in-one moniker, the Canon Pixma MG6220 won't disappoint.

Design
The Pixma MG6220 features a thin shape and a unique design ... Expand full review

Design
The Pixma MG6220 features a thin shape and a unique design that incorporates folding trays to keep the footprint small. The printer measures 18.5 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep, and just under 7 inches tall with both front and rear trays folded. It also weighs slightly more than average at 20.1 pounds due to the rear-mounted ADF and the six internal ink tanks, but it should still be relatively easy for anyone to transport around the home or office.

The far left side of the printer houses the only hard button for power. Touch-sensitive virtual buttons for copy, scan, and print controls light up the top-mounted interactive panel when you initially hit the hard power button, but the printer only illuminates the commands necessary for each function once you select a print mode. This feature helps eliminate confusion typical of heavily populated control panels.

The MG6220 will always display the "home" and "back" navigation buttons regardless of which application you access (print, copy, scan), but you can also scroll through the menus and adjust the number of print copies using the active touch wheel. Finally, an ample 3-inch color LCD screen lifts up from the middle and tilts 90 degrees forward and back to allow visibility no matter where the printer sits in relation to the user.

The new "as-needed" buttons are useful and easy to use, but I hope the next version will let you adjust sensitivity settings. The fixed setting is so sensitive that a quick swipe can easily trigger an accidental press, and even hovering your finger over the sensor can activate it.

Dual 150-sheet paper trays fold out of the top and bottom of the MG6220 and adjust forward and backward to accept a range of paper sizes from 4-inch-by-6-inch snapshots all the way up to legal-size sheets. The 300-sheet overall paper capacity means you can put different-sized media in both compartments, but the trays themselves both feel easily breakable; I can't vouch for their durability over time and continued use.

The MG6220 can also print labels for your blank CD and DVDs using the extra feed tray included in the box. Canon calls it the Printable Disc tray, and it even has notches that fit full-size CDs as well as mini-media, but the special slot located just above the paper output tray can only accept one disc at a time. Regardless, the process is easy to use thanks to Canon's free label-printing software (included) that lets you design and print your own stickers.

Setting up the printer is simple no matter how you choose to connect it to a computer, and the installation disc offers onscreen instructions that guide you through three connectivity options using either 802.11 b/g/n wireless, an Ethernet cable, or a simple USB cord. You can choose Easy Install to grab everything, or pick Custom Install for a-la-carte features, including Easy-PhotoPrint EX for managing your digital photos, MP Navigator EX to guide you through the scanning process, and more. Keep in mind you'll need 691 megabytes of free hard drive space on your computer if you go with the comprehensive Easy Install.

Once Easy Installation is complete, Windows users will notice several new buttons displayed above the taskbar on the lower right side of the screen. These shortcuts are designed to give you quick access to five of the most commonly used printer functions: Scan a document, Layout print, Photo Print, Show Main Screen, and Hide.

The MG6220 also includes Canon's HD Movie Print that pulls still photos out of videos shot with compatible Canon HD video cameras. I tested the printer with a Canon Powershot S95 top-flight handheld camera and was impressed with the Canon Solution Menu EX software's step-by-step walkthrough instructions.

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Computer

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)

Review:

Like most boutique PC vendors, Falcon Northwest has a mandate to offer its customers the latest PC hardware. That means the company has an inclination to showcase Intel's latest CPUs, even when those chips aren't the most obvious fit for Falcon's hard-core gaming clientele. Well-heeled gamers who also engage in professional content creation or other CPU-intensive tasks should consider this $4,995 Falcon Northwest Mach V and its new six-core, 12-thread Intel Core i7-3930K processor. Pure gamers can get a similar gaming experience from PCs with older Intel chips that cost half as much.

The 3.2GHz ... Expand full review

The 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K in the Mach V is a new, high-end variant of Intel's second-generation Core architecture. Code-named Sandy Bridge-E, the new chip is joined by two other new models, the higher-end 3.3GHz Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition, and, coming in early 2012, the quad-core, 3.6GHz Core i7-3820.

Like earlier second-generation Core i7 CPUs, these new models all feature Intel's Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost 2.0 technologies. Hyper-Threading emulates a second full set of processing cores, effectively doubling the number of threads. Thus these six-core variants can behave as if they have 12 processing threads, and the quad-core model becomes 8-threaded.

Turbo Boost works in conjunction with Hyper-Threading, ratcheting the clock speed per core up in accordance with the software workload and the chip's thermal restrictions. Thanks to Turbo Boost, the Core i7-3930K in the Mach V can potentially hit 3.8GHz, at least on one core, before any tweaking.

The tweaking factor is important. The "K" designation of the chip means that its core multiplier is unlocked, and can thus be overclocked. Falcon Northwest has pushed the base frequency of the Core i7-3930K to 4.4GHz. A competing system with the same chip from Velocity Micro hit 4.7GHz.

That overclocking means significant added performance from Intel's K-designated chips. Older CPUs like last year's Core i7-2600K regularly showed up in the CNET lab clocked to 4.8GHz from their 3.6GHz standard clock speed. Notice how that range of speed overlaps that of Intel's new chips? Remember that.

Along with the extra cores in the new Sandy Bridge-E CPUs comes a new motherboard chipset, the Intel X79. Most important of the new chipset's features is that in tandem with the new CPUs' integrated memory controller, it now natively supports four-channel 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, up from last year's two-channel, 1,333MHz standard.

The X79 chipset has some other new features. It's one of the first comparatively mainstream motherboards to offer eight memory slots, which should interest content creators. It also offers new PCI Express 3.0 graphics card slots, a perhaps too forward-looking feature, as it will only benefit future graphics cards with more bandwidth.

4.4GHz Intel Core i7-3930K (overclocked)4.7GHz Intel Core i7-3930K (overclocked)(3) 1.28GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 570(2) 1.5GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 580(2) 1.28GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 570128MB Crucial SSD, 2TB 7,200rpm Samsung hard drive(2) Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSDs, 2TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive; 2TB 7,200rpm Samsung hard drive120GB Intel SSD, 1TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard driveBlu-ray writer/dual-layer DVD burnerBlu-ray writer/dual-layer DVD burnerWindows 7 Professional (64-bit)Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Expect every major boutique vendor to offer Intel's new chip and chipset. I'll have more reviews of such systems following this one over the next few weeks, but for now I'll compare the Falcon Northwest with the similar Raptor Z90 from Velocity Micro, as well as with the Editors' Choice Award-winning Digital Storm Ode Level 3. That last desktop costs half as much as these luxury boxes, and runs on Intel's previous top-dog CPU, the Core i7-2600K.

Next to its competition, the Falcon Northwest Mach V primarily stands out for its imposing case and its triple-graphics-card configuration. Falcon submitted a Mach V with its new up-venting case earlier this year. Maingear offers a similar design in its flagship Shift.

The Mach V case design is unique enough, and projects a more boutique-looking profile than the plain-but-sturdy Raptor Z90. I'm also happy to report that Falcon has shored up the power button design. The earlier power button wasn't mounted securely enough: push down on it too hard and it would fall into the case, drawing you into a comically arduous process of disassembling the entire front panel to fish it out.

Overall, the Falcon Northwest Mach V offers competitive pricing for its configuration, particularly when you consider the costs of its intimidating case. Velocity Micro achieved a higher overclock setting in the Raptor Z90, though, and offers two solid-state hard drives to the Mach V's one. While you might not be overly price-sensitive if you're shopping for a gaming desktop in this price range to begin with, you can expect to pay a touch more for the Mach V part-for-part than for its competitors.

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)
Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)
Multimedia multitasking (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)
Cinebench (score)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)

As impressive as these PCs can be for their assortment of high-end components, the new Intel CPUs are the real stars of the show. But while the Falcon Northwest and Velocity Micro systems both land on the top of our performance charts, the lack of distance between them and the Digital Storm Ode Level 3 speaks to the difficulties Intel and these vendors will have in convincing gamers that these new Sandy Bridge-E series chips and their supporting motherboards are worth the expense.

The Falcon and Velocity systems only separate themselves in our Cinebench 11.5 multithreaded test. While Photoshop CS5 and our multimedia multitasking tests both benefit from extra CPU cores and processing threads, the new chips really only make a difference for programs with the need and the ability to scale their workloads across all available processing threads. 3D encoders, financial spreadsheet maintainers, and others with specific multithread needs may see some benefit, but for the most part, the Core i7-2600K offers just as much application performance as Intel's new chips and faster memory support, for a significantly lower price.

Crysis (in fps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3930K, fall 2011)
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