2.1 Software Version

2.2 Software Version

I am going to try and cover the changes in the 2.2 software. I probably won’t be able to cover everything, so ask if there is something you don’t see and I will try and add it.

So the first thing I noticed when the phone started up is the new splash screen. The old splash screen was static but the new one is says the word “Droid” while words and numbers float around the screen.

Next is the setup screens. The install wiped out all my apps and setting so I had to save all my settings again. I don’t remember setup screens like this when I originally setup my Incredible, but I could be wrong. What surprised me the most is that in one of the first screens it gives you the option to turn off data. As many of you know I don’t have a data plan so this was nice to have taken care of at the beginning.

2.2 Setup Data

Once the setup screens were complete I was finally given full access to the Incredible. Now I had the opportunity to look at specific applications. The first one I went to was the video camera. The camera was suppose to get an upgrade and I wanted to confirm that the upgrade happened. As you can see from this screen shot the camera is now capable of recording in full 720p. This is exciting for the video quality, but if you read my previous review of the Incredible you will know that I had problems with the audio quality. The camera upgrade unfortunately does not address the audio problems.

2.2 Video Resolution

Another big upgrade for this software is the inclusion of Flash support. As you can see in the following screen shot flash is installed and it was installed by default so I did not have to go to the market and download it separately.

2.2 Flash

The last big upgrade that everyone was looking forward to is the 3G Mobile Hotspot. This feature will allow the phone to be used as a wireless access point for computers and other devices. This is a nice feature but, as you can see here Verizon has modified it to not work unless you have previously bought the feature from them.

2.2 3G Hotspot

2.2 3G Hotspot

Gmail also got a small visual upgrade. Here is a before and after screenshot.

2.1 Gmail Message

2.2 Gmail Message

The calendar also got a small upgrade.

2.1 Calendar

2.2 Calendar

Now on to the applications screen. If you read my last review you know that this screen gave me a big headache whenever I had to use it to uninstall an app. The main reason was that the apps were not alphabetized so it was incredibly difficult to find anything. In 2.2 the apps not only got alphabetized, but it also has a much better layout. I think you will agree when you take a look at the following screen shots.

2.1 Manage Apps

2.2 Manage Apps

I also noticed that there were several new apps. For the most part they are useless to me. As you can see from this screen shot the new apps include, 3G Mobile Hotspot, Flashlight, My Verizon Mobile, News, News and Weather, Skype, and VZ Navigator. There were also 3 new widgets, Data Usage, News, News and Weather. These apps are started automatically and cannot be uninstalled. So if you don’t like the apps you just have to live with them. I downloaded a task manager and I use it to kill the apps every time the screen is turned off. I have to do this because they often turn back on automatically.

2.2 New Apps

As I already discussed 3G Mobile Hotspot is a pay app, and so is the VZ Navigator. The VZ Navigator costs $9.99 a month. This is quite bold of Verizon since the phone already includes Google Navigation for free. I would be surprised if anyone actually uses it.

2.2 VZ Navigator

I was a little excited to try out the Skype app, but when I started it up I got a message that says Skype does not work with WiFi. So this is another useless app for me.

2.2 Skype

Next is the My Verizon Mobile app. For Verizon customers this my be useful for accessing their account info, but since I am not a Verizon customer it is useless. The same goes for the Data Usage widget. It would not show my data usage since I am not a Verizon customer.

2.2 My Verizon Mobile

Next are the News, News and Weather apps and widgets. I didn’t have any trouble getting them to work, but I didn’t find them very useful for me. I just don’t stare at my phone all day waiting for new news, and when I want to read news I use my computer.

Last is the Flashlight app. This is the only new app that I found useful. This app when started shows a flashlight on the screen and when you press the power button it turns on the camera LEDs. There are 3 brightness settings and repeatedly pressing the power button cycles through them.

2.2 Flashlight off

2.2 Flashlight on

2.2 Flashlight LEDs

Like I said at the beginning there are a lot of new stuff that I will not cover. Verizon has been nice enough to provide a PDF that covers more of the new features. If you didn’t find something in my review that excites you then perhaps the PDF will have something for you.

If you have a Droid Incredible you are in for a treat when you get the update. Just remember if you do it manually like I did, then make note of all your apps so you can re-download them. If you are impatient like me go ahead and manually install the update. I didn’t have any problems (no rooting, or hacking required) and I don’t think you will either.

Update 8/28/2010 12:30: Another screen that got updated is the security screen. As you can see from these images we now have the ability to set different kind of passwords.

2.1 Security

2.2 Security

The location screen was updated, but I think it is more confusing now. I don’t know if checking a box means I am sharing my location, or getting my location from Verizon, or Google. I don’t know about you, but having Verizon and Google know where I am at all times is not high on my priority list.

2.1 Location

2.2 Location

Lastly, HTC updated their Settings Widget. As you can see there are a lot more options now. I just wish there was a way to include these all in the same widget (like the power control widget) and not have a separate one for each, this would save on screen space.

2.1 Settings Widget

2.2 Settings Widget

I will continue to look for more updated screen and post them when I find them.

Features

• 1GHz Snapdragon CPU
• 8GB of internal storage
• 748MB of internal ROM
• A microSD slot (up to 32GB)
• 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and autofocus
• 480 x 800 AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
• Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI on-board

Much of the hype around this new smartphone is that it includes a lot of internal storage and a fast processor. With 8GB of internal storage, 748MB of internal ROM, and a 1GHz processor this is all set to be a powerful phone. In addition to all that there is also a microSD card slot which supports capacities of up to 32GB.

On the back of the Incredible is a digital camera. The camera boasts a high 8 megapixel resolution, which makes it one of the highest resolution cameras in a smartphone. In addition, the camera includes a dual LED flash. The flash will be helpful when taking pictures in the dark. Hopefully, the actual performance is as good as the specs indicate.

The screen on the Incredible also has some great specs. The screen is a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen AMOLED with a resolution of 480 x 800. Hopefully, the screen will also live up to my expectations.

Last but not least in this list of features is the Android OS with HTC Sense. While young in terms of development time, the android OS is feature rich and has a lot of support behind it. There are several phone makers and a lot of developers that are all developing for the OS and helping to make it better.

Design

As far as design goes the HTC Droid Incredible is very simple to look at. The front is dominated by the WVGA display. Below the display are four touch-sensitive buttons (home, menu, back, and search), and an optical trackpad. Above the display is the earpiece.

Front

The top only has two items of interest, the power button and the headphone jack. I am glad that the headphone jack is the standard size so adapters are not needed.

The left side also has two items on interest. They are the volume up and down button, and the micro USB port. The micro USB port is used for charging the battery and also for plugging into a computer for transferring files.

Left

The bottom of the phone has the microphone and a hole for a lanyard loop.

The back is mostly plain except for the camera with flash, and a speaker. The back does have a tiered look to it, it almost look like it was designed after a topographical map. The tiered look is not without its purpose. The raised parts are for the battery and other components that stick out a bit more.

Back

That’s it for the outside. The rest of the interesting stuff is on the inside. To get to the inside the entire back has to come off. Fortunately it is very easy to remove the back. Inside are the battery and the SD card slot. Having a battery that is easy to replace is very important if you are a heavy user and you need to change it because you run out. HTC also offers an optional larger battery in case you don’t want to change one out.

Inside

All of this packed into a package with dimensions of 4.63 x 2.30 x 0.47 inches, and a weight of 4.6 ounces.

Performance

So now we get down to the nitty gritty. Just how well does the HTC Droid Incredible perform with all these features?

First, lets start with the most obvious feature and the one you will use the most, the screen. For the most part the screen fills it purpose with flying colors, but there are times when it falls far short of my expectations. For example, when using the screen indoors it looks beautiful and vibrant; however, when taken outside on a sunny day, the screen is almost impossible to see. This is extremely frustrating because you have to find a shady spot every time you need to make a call (because you cannot see the numbers). Most of the time I am not in direct sunlight, so I don’t find this too distracting.

Direct Sunlight

Shade

Next lets look at the camera. The camera is like many other cellphone cameras, it has a small lens, and a small flash. Despite these limitations the camera does do a good job. The 8 megapixels really help the pictures to be large, and the built-in features like auto-focus and spot metering help keep the images sharp and in focus. Videos also looked great on the camera in both 800 X 480 and 640 X 480, but the sound is not so good. I can only assume that the video uses the same microphone as the phone, and it is way too small to pick up anything but the closest/loudest sounds, especially when outside, or in a big room. I think a larger microphone on the back next to the lens would be much better for videos. The last part of the camera I want to talk about is the lens. As you can see from the pictures it sticks out from the back rather than flush like other phone cameras. This fact makes it very easy for the lens to get dirty. I find myself having to constantly clean it whenever I want to take a picture. Their really needs to be some kind of automatically retracting lens cover put in place to protect the lens.

Next is the sound. For the most important stuff the sound was great, I never had any trouble using the earpiece when talking on the phone. However, I ran into trouble when watching movies and playing games. These activities use the speaker on the back of the phone. Not only is this speaker small, but it is facing the wrong direction. This is especially evident when outside, but having the speaker facing away from the user made the sound soft and hard to hear. I ended up having to cup my hand around the speaker to try and redirect the sound back to the front. For movie watching and game playing it would have been very helpful to have a front facing speaker.

Finally lets look at the software. The software is the source of some of my greatest enjoyment and also my greatest frustrations with this phone. I am not going to cover the Android OS extensively because it goes beyond the scope of this review, but I am going to talk about a few of the stand out features that I either really like, or really dislike.

First off is HTC Sense. Sense is a bunch of features that HTC added to the Android OS. This features include Apps, Skins, Backgrounds and more. For the most part they did a great job with the look and feel, and also with the apps. Sense integrates very well with the rest of the OS and for the most part, you cannot tell where Sense ends and the OS begins. The Apps that HTC includes are an improvement over the Google only apps, but they are not without problems. For example syncing to Facebook, Gmail, and Twitter will often cause an error message to popup saying that it has stopped working, and the time and weather apps will sometimes show the wrong location, time, and subsequently the wrong weather forecast. In fact, I have had to turn off the automatic time syncing because, for whatever reason, it sometimes thinks I am in Texas, when in fact I am in Utah. This causes the time to be off by an hour and mess up my schedule. I have tried turning on GPS to fix the problem, but I don’t think those apps use GPS, they must get their location info from somewhere else.

HTC Sense

Next is the app list. The app list is where you have to go if you want to kill a running app, uninstall, or just clear the cache to free up memory. This section is also the source of some of my biggest frustrations because whoever designed this screen forgot to include the ability to sort alphabetically. So in order to find an app you have to slowly scroll through the entire list because your app could be anywhere. Since it is quite feasible that you could have a lot of apps on the device, not including the ones that are built-in, this process could take quite a while. Fortunately, if you are just looking to kill a running app there is a filter that only shows running apps, but they are still not sorted alphabetically.

App List

App List Filter

As far are the processor goes it is nice and snappy, but if you have too many apps running it can really slow things down. There needs to be an easy access task list and kill functionality. Also when switching apps, rather than letting the old one stay running it would be nice if it gave an option to kill the other app.

Battery life on this phone is good, I am able to go all day with the wireless turned on and I still have a good amount of power left when I get home. I am not a really heavy user, but even if I was I could turn off wireless, get a bigger battery, or even carry a second battery with me. Even if the options are not ideal, the fact that I have options is better than not having them.

My next test would be with the data, but if you have been reading my other posts you will know that I don’t have a data plan. I bought this phone on my own and I use Page Plus for my service. Page Plus not only uses the Verizon network, but they are also much cheaper.

Warranty and Support

Unfortunately, the warranty that comes with this phone is through Verizon. Since I did not buy my phone through Verizon I don’t get a warranty. Even those that do get a warranty don’t get much because it is only 12 months.

Fortunately, I have found many forums which provide support for the phone so if you do have a problem there are other options.

Conclusion

Overall I am happy with the phone, I understand there will be things I don’t like, and software is never bug free. I have managed to tweak the setting in such a way that I am satisfied with what I have. I am especially happy with the fact that I found a way to skip the required data fee. That alone makes all the short comings of the phone easier to swallow. If you are looking for a new phone (especially if you don’t want to pay data fees) I recommend you look at the Droid Incredible and read my other post about skipping the data fee.

Features

• Bluetooth (V2.0, HID V1.0) interface can let you enjoy freedom of wireless with other media devices.
• Backlighting makes live easy when in the dark.
• Max. distance of 10M (around 33 feet).
• Plug and play: no need to install software.

One of the key features of any mini keyboard is that it is easy to setup and use. The EFO Keyboard meets that requirement by only requiring a single USB dongle and no software or drivers.

Because the EFO Bluetooth Keyboard does not need any software or drivers, it is compatible with most Operating Systems. It is even compatible with most gaming systems.

There are a whole bunch of different uses for a wireless keyboard. Everything from remote controlling an HTPC, laptop during a presentation, or even writing emails from afar.

Instead of the normal IR interface for most remotes, the EFO keyboard uses Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth has the benefit of not needing line-of-sight and having a range of about 30 feet. This means you can control a computer even if you are not in the same room.

Design

The design of the keyboard is very simple. The front is where you find the keyboard, touchpad, and activity lights. There are actually 5 lights at the top of the EFO keyboard and they consist of charging, external power, Bluetooth status, battery power, and caps lock/input switch.

Front

The touchpad is quite large when compared to other devices like this, but this gives you lots of room to move around in. Below the touchpad are two buttons which are the left and right mouse buttons.

The keyboard is very small, but it does have a standard QWERTY layout. The buttons are also slightly raised, and very smooth. Most of the buttons have dual functions, the second function is indicated with a small number or character above the regular one. However, not everything is perfect. Normally, the F and J keys have a raised spot so that you can orient your fingers without looking at the keyboard. This keyboard does not have these, and some of the keys are not in their normal location, so looking at your fingers while typing is a necessity. The keyboard is also missing multimedia keys. For use with an HTPC the multimedia keys would have been very helpful.

The keyboard also has a backlight function, but it needs to be turned on manually. To turn on the backlight the RF key must be pressed twice. The only way to turn off the backlight is to let the keyboard go to sleep or use the power switch to turn off the keyboard.

Backlight

The bottom has a USB port for charging, a power switch, and a Bluetooth reset switch. If you find that you cannot get the keyboard to connect to your computer then pressing the reset switch may help. I often found myself forgetting to turn off the keyboard. Fortunately, the EFO keyboard also has a sleep mode. This means that if you are like me and you forget to turn off the keyboard, you don’t need to worry about wasted batteries. The sleep mode automatically activates after 30 seconds of inactivity.

Performance

So now it is time to hook it up to my HTPC and try it out.

Because there is no software to install, setting up the EFO keyboard is relatively easy. The first thing you must do is plug the Bluetooth dongle into one of the USB ports on your computer. After that is done the next step is to turn on the keyboard. When the keyboard is turned on it should enter discovery mode. While in this mode the middle status light should blink. If this does not happen, like with mine, then the reset button will need to be pressed. Once the reset button is pressed the light should start blinking.

The next step is to pair the keyboard to the computer and there are several steps to this. the screenshots below show the steps I had to take.

Connect 1	Connect 2
Connect 3	Connect 4

Once the process is complete the keyboard will start working with the computer. The keyboard and touchpad worked very well. The only problem I had using the keyboard was that the letter O would stick. This wasn’t a huge problem because I could eventually get it to work.

As I stated above the keys have a QWERTY layout, so it is easy to find the keys you are looking for. The buttons have a solid feel and give a solid click when pressed. I did not have any trouble getting it to work or using it.

Another problem I encountered is that when I turned the keyboard off and then on again it would not reconnect. I actually had to delete the current device connection and then pair it to the computer all over again.

Warranty and Support

The EFO Keyboard comes with a 1 year warranty, and you get support through the EFO website.

Conclusion

The keyboard certainly does its job, and it does it without breaking the bank. The low price of $60 makes up for a lot of the missing features. This is the most expensive of all the EFO keyboards, but it also has the best keyboard layout and the benefit of Bluetooth technology.

If your looking for a wireless mini keyboard and you are on a tight budget then the EFO keyboard is a great option.

Features

• Powerful performance by design
  Get massive, whole-system computational power from a workstation that optimizes the way the processor, memory, graphics, OS, and software technology work together.
• Sleek new look
  The revolutionary industrial design features brushed aluminum side panels, integrated handles, visually cable-less engineering that maximizes airflow, modular component removal and reconnect, and optional liquid cooling.
• Expandability without comparison
  Tackle the most data-intensive applications with massive data capacity and the ultimate in computing power and system expandability.
• Cluster power in a workstation
  Get cluster-level performance and enable energy efficiency with up to two NVIDIA Tesla C1060 compute processors boasting 240 processor cores per GPU and a standard C compiler to help solve your most important computing challenges more quickly and accurately.
• Parallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme
  Do the work of several workstations – like those that run resource-intensive, Linux 3D design programs – alongside a Windows visualization program, on one workstation
• Designed with the environment in mind
  Minimize power costs with ENERGY STAR qualified configurations, 85% or 89% efficient power supplies, and HP WattSaver, an energy-saving feature that, when activated, helps lower energy consumption in off mode.
• Do more every minute
  Process more tasks—in less time—with the massive computational horsepower of the new Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors and Intel QuickPath Technology featuring an integrated memory controller.

The Z800 can be equipped with up to two Quad-Core processors with clock speeds between 2.00 GHz and 3.46 GHz or up to two Six-Core processors with clock speeds between 2.66 GHz and 3.33 GHz. With these processors the Z800 workstation is all setup to provide exceptional performance.

One of the things that impressed me the most about the Z800 was the design. To come up with the design HP employed the services of BMW DesignWorks.

The Z800 workstation offers a new level of expandability, if you are willing to pay for it. The system supports up to 192 GB of RAM, but it does not come cheap. According to the HP website to add 192 GB (12x16GB) of RAM it would cost an additional $59,920.

The Z800 workstation is also built to be green. No, I am not talking about the color, I am talking about how energy efficient it is. I know that a workstation with two Six-Core CPU’s and a 192 GB of RAM is not going to be a low power machine, but the Z800 does have an 89% energy efficient power supply.

One of my favorite things about the Z800 workstation is how easy it is to take apart. There are lots of easily removable parts, but the one I liked the most is the power supply. This power supply does not have any cables, so it is easy to pull out and replace if needed. I will talk more about the power supply below.

Design

The whole case, inside and out, was designed by BMW DesignWorks. BMW spent quite a bit of effort making the case very easy to get into, easy to take apart, quiet, and cool. There are no tools required to open the Z800 case, or to access any of the parts. When you look inside the case you will notice lots of green touch points. Each of these touch points indicate a part that can be moved or removed.

The front of the Z800 case has a simple design without a lot of frills. At the top is a single slot loading DVD, with an eject button just below the slot. Below that and on the right side of the case is the power button, 3 USB ports, a headphone and microphone jack, and a Firewire port. If you are going to add more drives it is best to order them from HP so they will match the look of the front.

Front

The back of the Z800 case is fairly standard, it has 2 80mm fans on the right which are part of the water cooler radiator. On the left are a bunch of I/O ports and they consist of a Serial port at the top, 2 PS/2 ports, 6 USB ports, a Firewire port, 2 Network ports, a microphone, audio in, and audio out jack. Below all that are the PCI card slots, in the machine I have there is a single video card with 2 Display ports and a DVI plug.

Liquid Cooler Radiator

Back

Now we get to the interesting part, the left side of the case. The left side of the Z800 case is mostly bare except for a small handle and a lock. When you lift the handle the side comes off very easily and we get our first view of the inside.

Left

Inside

At the top is the power supply. As I mentioned before, I really like this part of the Z800 case. The power supply in the Z800 is very unique and it has several innovative design features. As you can see from the picture, the power supply spans the entire length of the case. This was done so that the power supply can get its own fresh air from the front of the case and expel it out of the back. The second innovative feature is that this is a cable-less power supply. This means there are no cables directly attached to the power supply. This simple thing allows the power supply to be easily removed and replaced without having to unplug all the cables. Instead of the cables being attached to the power supply they are attached to the case. There are three plugs in the case that the cables are attached to and there are three plugs on the power supply that connect to the plugs in the case. The reason I like this feature so much is because I have had to replace the power supply in my personal computer, so I know how much of a pain it is to remove all the cables.

Top Panel

Power Supply

Below the power supply is a removable panel that covers the memory slots. The panel has two fans that help to keep the memory cool. When the panel is removed you will see all 12 of the memory slots, you will also see that in the machine I have only 6 of them are filled. Below the memory slots are the two water blocks that cover the CPUs.

Memory Fans

Memory

Below the CPUs is another removable panel. This panel covers the PCI slots. In my configuration there is only one video card, but there is room for another video card and anything else you may need. One upgrade I would probably recommend is a sound card. As you may have noticed, the motherboard does not have enough audio ports to support anything more than a 2.0 speaker system. If you are doing audio or video editing you are going to want more and so a sound card would be required.

Graphics Card

To the right of the PCI card slots are 4 hot swappable hard drive bays. With my Z800 workstation HP filled two of the drive bays with a 150GB 15000 RPM drive, and a 1TB 7200 RPM drive for my testing. The bays slide out fairly easily, but getting them back in can be a challenge. There is a lever on each drawer that needs to be lowered for removal and raised to lock it into place. If you happen to not get the drive pushed in all the way before locking the lever the hard drive will not be fully connected.

Above the hard drives are the 5.25″ drive bays. These bays are quite a bit harder to get to when compared to the hard drives, but the tool-less design helps to keep thing as easy as possible.

Overall the design is fantastic, as I said before it is very easy to get into and access all the various parts.

Performance

With a workstation like this, one would also expect that the performance would be exceptional. So I was very interested in finding out just what the Z800 could do.

The system I was provided came with two 3.33 GHz 6-core processors, 12 GB of RAM, all running on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. The graphics card inside the Z800 is the NVIDA Quatro FX 4800. The hard drives consist of one 150GB 15000 RPM drive, and a standard 1TB 7200 RPM drive.

I started the performance testing by first running 3DMark Vantage. This test puts all the components through different scenarios. Because the processors support hyper-threading I ran the tests once with it on and once with it off. The first image is the score with hyper-threading turned off, the second image is with hyper-threading turned on. The scores are decent, as you can see, but the most interesting thing is that 3DMark reported a higher score with hyper-threading off. I don’t personally but a lot of weight in 3DMark scores, especially with a workstation like this. 3DMark is a gaming benchmark, and the Z800 is not a gaming machine. However, it is still good to see the numbers so the Z800 can be compared to other machines.

3DMark

3DMark Hyper

The next test I ran was PCMark Vantage. This test does not stress the components as much as 3DMark, but it does give an idea of how the Z800 would handle productivity related tasks. The image below is of PCMark with hyper-threading turned off. When I tried to run this program with hyper-threading turned on I was completely surprised when the program failed to run. In my opinion this shows that PCMark is clearly not setup to handle this many threads at the same time.

PCMark

My third test is with a program called Cinebench. This program performs two tests. The first test is a real-time rendering of an animated car chase video, and the second is the rendering of a large graphic. The first test is mostly graphic related, so it mostly uses the graphics card. The  graphic in the second test is rendered by splitting it up into many pieces and then assigning one piece to each thread. So when hyper-threading is turned on, 24 pieces of the image can be processed at the same time. I ran these test with both hyper-threading turned on and off. The images below show the test running in both situations. As you can see the CPUs threads were maxed out. Even with the CPUs maxed out the fans did not get really loud. I was very happy about this because it made things much more pleasant while working with resource heavy programs.

Cinebench CPU max

Cinebench CPU max Hyper

The next two images show the results of the Cinebench test. The first one is with hyper-threading turned off, and the second one is with it turned on. As you can see the CPU portion of the score increased significantly with hyper-threading tuned on. Since the rendering of the image is very CPU intensive it is good to see that hyper-threading is beneficial.

Cinebench CPU

Cinebench CPU Hyper

The fourth test is with Adobe Premier. For this test I encoded a short, but complicated video to see how long it would take. I encoded the video into 720p h.264 and ran this test once with hyper-threading turned on, and once with it off. With hyper-threading turned on it took 54 minutes and 40 seconds to encode the video. I was surprised that neither test maxed out the CPUs. Adobe must not have their software setup to use this many threads. So back to the results, with hyper-threading turned off it took 53 minutes and one second. I was very surprised by these results because I thought Adobe Premiere would do better with hyper-threading turned on. Since there is a high probability that a workstation like this will be used for video production, I think this test is a good indication of how hyper-threading effects video encoding. Hopefully, in the future Adobe will optimize to use all 12 cores and 24 threads.

During all these tests, the hard drives and the fans stayed very quiet. I was very happy with this part because I know the computer can get very hot and normally it requires the fans to spin up to handle the extra heat. With the water cooling system it was more than capable of removing the heat without making the fans very loud.

The power usage also went up considerably while running the tests. At idle the Z800 used up about 167 Watts of power, and when up to 410 Watts while under a heavy load from my tests.

Idle Power

High Power

Support and Warranty

The warranty that comes with the Z800 is 3 years parts, labor, and on-site service. There is an option to add onto that with additional coverage. The maximum warranty that I could find was for 24×7 4-hour on-site response – 5 yrs, workstation + monitor. The is a great warranty and it even has a great price, just $499. That may seem like a lot, but considering how much hardware you can jam into this machine and how much it costs, it is a really great price.

Support can be found with a quick visit to the HP website for drivers and other downloads. HP also has forums where you can ask questions that can be answered by HP staff or other customers. If you would rather talk to someone in person a call to their support reps can give you the answers you are looking for. Last but not least, you could send HP an E-mail.

Conclusion

The Z800 has outperformed all the other workstations and desktops that I have reviewed. This is truly a fantastic machine with not only a really slick design, but also a fantastic level of performance and the potential for so much more. I am very confident in recommending this workstation for any person or company that needs the best performance possible and they want a good looking machine to go with it.

Features

• 8″ screen size, 4:3 aspect ratio, 800 x 600 resolution
• 2 x 1 W speakers
• 1 GB internal memory
• Supports Memory Stick Pro (MS Pro), Secure Digital (SD 2.0), xD Photo Card, Multi Media Card (MMC), and Compact Flash (Type 1 only)
• Sheetfed Scanner from 1.5″ x 2″ ~ 4″ x 6″ with resolutions up to 1200 x 1800 pixels, 300 dpi

To display the pictures and movies the iConvert Digital picture frame has an 8″ screen with a resolution of 800 x 600.

To get pictures onto the frame there are several options. First, the pictures can be transferred directly from a computer onto the frame via a USB cable. Second, the pictures can be transferred to the frame from a memory stick. The frame supports the following types: Memory Stick Pro (MS Pro), Secure Digital (SD 2.0), xD Photo Card, Multi Media Card (MMC), and Compact Flash (Type 1 only). Third, pictures can be scanned directly into the frame using the built-in scanner.

The sheetfed scanner that is built-in can scan photos that range in size from 1.5″ x 2″ to 4″ x 6″. The resolution of the scanner is up to 1200 x 1800 pixels at 300 dpi. When an image is scanned it is automatically converted to JPEG format.

In order to print pictures you normally need to put them back on a computer, but the iConvert Digital picture frame also supports printing pictures directly via a PictBridge connection.

The frame is also capable of playing movies and music. The frame supports MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 (AVI) Video and MP3 audio.

Design

When it comes to picture frame design there isn’t much to talk about. However, with the iConvert Digital picture frame there is something that you won’t find on other digital picture frames. That extra something just happens to be the aforementioned built-in scanner. The scanner is located at the bottom of the picture frame and consists of a small slot that you feed pictures into.

Above the scanner is the 8″ LCD screen and its controls. The screen has a 4:3 aspect ration and a resolution of 800×600. This isn’t horrible, but it also isn’t the best I have seen.

To the right of the screen are 6 touch buttons. The top one looks like a wrench and it opens the settings menu. The next three are for navigating and selecting the menus. The next one is the exit button and it is used to exit the menu, and the last one is for starting the scanning process.

Controls

On the left side are two memory card slots. With these two slots the frame supports 5 different formats. The top slot supports Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital, xD Photo Card, and Multi Media Card. The bottom slow is for Compact Flash.

Memory Slots

On the back is a power button at the top, two USB ports (one mini, and one regular), and a power plug at the bottom.

Power Button

Connectors

Performance

The first thing I did was turn on the picture frame and turn it on. I was immediately greeted by a screen that allowed me to choose where to display images from, but because I didn’t have anything plugged in so I only had one option. After selecting ‘Internal’ I was taken to the main screen.

Memory Screen

The main screen has options for viewing photos, listening to music, watching videos, viewing scanned images, the calendar, and the setup menu.

Menu

Since I don’t have any images, music, or movies loaded in the frame, I decided to checkout the setup menu. This screen is accessed easily by pressing the wrench button. Once pressed the screen displays a menu that has sections for language, sleep timer, USB link, scanner quality, playback volume, and factory default. The only setting I changed was to set the scanner quality to 300 DPI, which is the maximum.

Setup

The only other screen that can be accessed without images, or pictures is the calendar. Since I have not set the date or time, the calendar displays January 1st. To access the setting menu for the calendar you just press the settings button while on the calendar screen. The calendar setup menu has options for setting the clock, alarm, alarm ringtone, date, slideshow photo, and also the system setup. While setting up the calendar I ran into my first frustration. In order to set the time and date you have to click the up and down arrows, unfortunately the buttons cannot be held down so you have to press them multiple times to get to the correct month, date, and time. To make things worse, the buttons require a slight pause in between presses. Needless to say, setting up the date and time is a test of ones patience.

Calendar

So now that I have covered the setup I want to move onto scanning. To start the scanner all you need to do is press the scan button. As soon as this button is pressed the screen changes and the scanner starts up. The only thing left is to adjust the scanner guide and insert a picture.

Scanning

Scanner

After the image is scanned there is a short pause while the image is processed. After the processing the image is displayed along with a menu that will allow you to rotate, save, or cancel the image , or exit the scan mode . My image showed up with the wrong orientation so I had to rotate it before I saved it. This whole process was very easy and I didn’t have any trouble. I did however find it interesting that images that are scanned into the picture frame do not show up under “Photos” instead you have to look for them in “Scanned Images”.

Rotate Photo

Rotate Photo

Scanned Images

Next I wanted to load up some images from my camera. So I put some images on a CF card and stuck it into the frame. At first I could not find a way to see them or transfer them to the frame, that is until I remembered that I selected internal memory when I first turned on the frame. Since there isn’t an easy way to switch to a different memory I had to turn the frame off and then on again before I could tell the frame to look at the pictures on the card. Once I had selected the card I was shown the same main screen, but this time I selected “Photos” and was shown all the images on my card. If I then pressed the settings button it gave me the option to transfer the current image to the frames internal memory. This process was easy and fairly quick, but I have hundreds of images and it would take forever to transfer them all one at a time. A mass copy feature is something that would be very useful. In addition, I think it is silly to make people switch between the different memory types. It should be like a computer and just show them all.

During all this testing the only thing I wished for was a bigger scanner. If Brookstone had made the scanner go across the bottom I would have been able to scan more of my larger images. Instead I had to rely on my flatbed scanner for that.

Support and Warranty

The iConvert Digital Frame comes with a one year limited warranty. The warranty only covers defects in material or workmanship, so if you drop it or you kid spills juice on it, you are out of luck.

If there is a problem Brookstone either repair, replace, or provide you with store credit.

While I can’t complain about the coverage, I really did hope for a longer time-frame. Normally a picture frame sits on a shelf, so there shouldn’t be much wear and tear. However, with the built-in scanner there is a whole new level of wear. The more the scanner is used the quicker it will wear out. It would make me a lot more comfortable to know that if the scanner breaks down it is covered and one year just doesn’t seem like that much time.

Conclusion

Having a scanner built into a digital picture frame is a great idea if you don’t already have an external scanner. The means this digital picture frame doesn’t need a computer or a digital camera to get pictures on it. If this is where you see yourself then this picture frame may be what you are looking for. The iConvert 8″ Digital Frame can be purchased for $199 direct from Brookstone. This is about double what other 8″ picture frames cost, but when you throw in the scanner the price seems to fit.

Features

• Supports All 2.5” & 3.5” SATA HDDs up to 2 TB !
• Hot-Swap Capability for Rapid Multi HDDs Access & Exchange
• Supports eSATA Transfer Speed up to 3Gbps
• Supports USB 2.0 Transfer Speed up to 480Mbps
• Windows & Mac OS Compatible

The BlacX supports both the 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA hard drives. This covers most hard drives that you will run into while repairing computers. If you have an older computer that does not use SATA then this will not work.

2.5" hard drive

3.5" hard drive

The ability to hot-swap the hard drives is extremely useful. This makes it possible to transfer files from multiple hard drives without having to shut down the computer.

Connecting the Thermaltake BlacX to a computer is very easy. It supports both eSTAT and USB 2.0 and that should cover any computer.

Design

The design is very simple, the Thermaltake BlacX is square shaped with very few controls.

Front

The back of the box is where all the connector and the power button are found. As you can see there are connectors for power, USB, and eSATA.

Back

The only other interesting parts are on the top. On top is the hard drive slot, an eject button, and an activity light. The eject button does not do anything special expect physically lift the hard drive away from the connectors so that it is no longer connected. The hard drive slot is where you find the connectors. If you push down the lid that covers the hard drive slot you will simply see a SATA and power connector. The connectors require that the hard drive is inserted with the correct orientation. So I like to push open the lid with my finger just to make sure I am going the correct direction.

Top	Activity light

Performance

The performance of the Thermaltake BlacX is great I didn’t have any trouble using the dock at all. I did however discover one quirk with the eSATA connection that disabled the hot-swapping.

The hot-swap functionality worked really well with USB, but my eSATA does not like it. In order for my computer to recognize the eSATA connection the hard drive has to be in the dock and turned on and plugged in when I turn on my computer. I cannot necessarily blame this on the Thermaltake BlacX because it could very well be a limitation in my computer. For this reason I mainly used the USB connector.

Since USB is slower than eSATA I did have to wait longer for my files to transfer. I mainly used this dock to get access to the files on hard drives that were removed from dead computers. Since these files consisted mainly of personal documents and not large files like moves, I did not really notice the speed difference.

Support and Warranty

The warranty on the Thermaltake BlacX is only 3 years. This is a decent warranty, but having a longer warranty is certainly preferred.

Conclusion

The Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive Dock is very useful for accessing files from hard drives. It has made my life easier because I no longer have to take my computer apart every time I need to get access to files on another computers hard drive. The price of the Thermaltake BlacX is also really great, it can be found on Newegg or Amazon for only $33.99. If you fix computers and need to get data off their hard drives, or if you have a bunch of old hard drives laying around, the Thermaltake BlacX is a great, inexpensive option for accomplishing your task.

Features

• Easily and automatically backup and protect the content on your home PCs and Macs.
• Access your media from anywhere you use the Internet – across your home or across the world. You can even give your family and friends access.
• Enjoy an exceptionally small footprint with large capacity. It’s only 5.5″ (w) x 9.8″ (h) x 9.2″(d), but it’s designed to grow with you. Built-in hard disk drive bays and expansion ports increase storage capacity.
• The HP MediaSmart Server easily fits in your network supporting both wired and wireless PCs (via a wireless router) and requires a wired connection with broadband Internet for remote access.

The MediaSmart servers use Windows Home Server (WHS) to handle backups, and WHS does backups really well. In its original form, WHS could only be used with Windows Machines; however, that was not good enough for HP, so they worked with Apple to make it compatible with Macs and Time Machine.

An alternate use for the Home Server is to store all your media in one place. Having your media in one place has many benefits, one of those is being able to access that media from anywhere, including the internet.

The MediaSmart servers are extremely small. With dimensions of 5.5″ W x 9.8″ H x 9.2″ D they are about half the size of a desktop computer. They are small enough that they can be kept right on a desk or hid away on a shelf, either way they are not going to take up a lot of space. Despite their small size they are extremely easy to expand. There are 4 internal drive bays, 4 USB ports, and an eSATA port. Using these ports the expansion possibilities are nearly unlimited.

The MediaSmart servers can connect to a network with either an Ethernet cable or Wireless connection. Having built-in wireless gives you the most flexibility when deciding where to place it, you literally only need a power plug and a wireless connection and you can store the actual machine anywhere. However, for performance and reliability I recommend you use a wired connection. In fact, when restoring a computer the Windows Home Server software recommends that all the computers be connected with Ethernet cables.

Design

I have written reviews of both the Windows Home Server software and the HP Media Smart server, you can read about them if you are new to this topic and you want to get up to speed. HP sent me the EX495 so in this review I will only be covering the stuff that is new or improved. If you find something that is missing from this review you might find it in one of the other two reviews.

One of the biggest changes to the MediaSmart Server EX495 is a hardware upgrade. Below are hardware specs for both the EX490 and EX495.

The software has also undergone an upgrade as well. With the upgraded hardware HP has been able to add several new features to the MediaSmart server. Some of the new features in this version (3.0) of the software include a brand new look, updated video conversion, media collection, and better OS X support.

The improvements to OS X support include Mac Media Collection, Server Administration via Mac, and faster Mac image level backup and recovery.

The most notable software change is with the MediaSmart Dashboard. The MediaSmart Dashboard is now organized into categories that offer quick access to many important features. At the top of the menu are a series of overview pages. These pages include Tour, System Status, and Mac Overview.

Overview

The most impressive of these pages is the System Status. This page shows a wide variety of information about the system. Starting at the top left of the page there is a notification area for home server issues, below that are boxes with information about add-ins, software updates, remote access, and power management. On the right side of the page there is a large box with storage information, and below that is another box with information about Network, Memory, and CPU usage.

System Status

The next group of options in under the title of Media. These options all relate to gathering, converting, and sharing all the media on your network. These options include In-Home and Web streaming, an iTunes server, Media Collector, Video Converter, Photo Publisher, and Media Server.

Media

There is also a change to the web interface. As you know from reading my past reviews Windows Home Server is capable of sharing your media online through its built-in web page. This is great for when you are on the road and you want to access your favorite TV recordings, music, or ripped DVDs. With the HP MediaSmart EX495 this is even easier than before.

Web interface

Performance

So with all the new hardware and software covered, it is time to see how well they work together. One of my biggest concerns is that the new functionality will bog down the server and it will become unresponsive. So I set out to test some of the new functionality to see how it performs.

Before I could do anything I had to setup the server and install the software on my computer. The process was quick and painless and once it was done I was ready to go.

Install 1

The first test is to see how well the media collection works. Setting up the media collector is fairly straight forward and easy. There are individual settings for each of the different media types, and each type allows you to choose which computers to search.  I setup the media collector to start gathering all the media on my network. In the screen shot below you can see how the settings page allows users to select which computers to search.

Media Collector Settings

Once the media collector got started it didn’t take long for it to start copying files, but it didn’t complete for several days. Below is a screen shot of the media collector as it was finding media on my network. As you can see it lists all the computers on the network, the status of each, all the media found, copied, and ignored. Clicking on either of the last three will open a new box that will show the exact files. Seeing the files is great if you want to diagnose a problem, or just see what has been copied so far.

Media Collector 1

Media Collector files

Media Collector files

Next I wanted to see how well the media converter worked. I have a whole bunch of ripped DVDs and I wanted to see if the server could handle converting them into a different format. So I copied about 10 DVDs onto the MediaSmart server, went through the setup screens, and then enabled it. The process of converting DVDs is time consuming, and luckily the MediaSmart server runs this process in the background. I noticed that converting my DVDs takes a couple hours per movie, this is probably because I wanted them converted to both a single file at the highest quality and a mobile version. Also, as the media collector collected movies from my computers, they were automatically added to the queue and converted.

Converter Settings 2

Converter Settings 1

Converting 2

Here is a screenshot of the system status screen while the media converter was running. As you can see, both CPUs were very busy.

System Status

The only problem I had was getting the converted files off the MediaSmart server. When the converter is done with a video it puts the files to a special folder that users don’t normally have access to. I suppose this is because HP wants you to access them through the streaming feature. This was not good enough for me and fortunately it didn’t take long to figure out how to give myself access to this folder. I also found that .dvr-ms and .wtv files created by Vista and Win 7 Media Center were not converted. I’m not sure why, but hopefully this is something that HP will fix in the future.

Since HP intended the converted movies to be streamed, that would be my next test. Movies, music, and photos can all be streamed through either a networked PC or via the built-in web page. If you are going through the web page I highly recommend that you have the media converter create a mobile version of your movies. A mobile version will be smaller and easier to stream over the web. Either way I tried it, I didn’t have any trouble viewing movies, pictures, or listening to music. The only negative that I experienced was that the audio on the movies was a bit quiet and I had to turn up my speakers. This was probably a side effect of the conversion and since there aren’t any audio conversion settings, I could not do anything on my own. This is clearly something that will have to be addressed by HP.

Media Streaming

As I mentioned earlier, the web interface also got a huge overhaul. As you can see, through the web a user has full access to all the features on the MediaSmart server. In my opinion, the most useful features are the media players, but if you need to make changes to the server or do just about anything else, it is all available.

Last but not least is the power usage. With the new hardware comes a higher power footprint. Since this server is meant to be kept on 24/7 it will have an impact on your power bill. As you can see, when the server is idle the power usage is about 363 watts. However, when the media collector and converter are running the power usage goes up to about 420. If your power rates are high you will need to take this into consideration.

Power Low

Power High

If the power usage is a concern then there is an option to have the server sleep during a block of time. This is great if nobody will be home for several hours every day. Unfortunately, there isn’t an option to sleep at different times on different days, so because I don’t work on the weekends I would have to remember to turn off the sleep option so it is available if I want to watch a movie or listen to music.

Power Management

Support and Warranty

The HP MediaSmart EX495 comes with a one-year limited warranty, with dedicated technical support from date of purchase via self-help, on-line documentation or phone. As far as I could tell the warranty cannot be upgraded. This is a rather short warranty and since it cannot be upgraded this is a big negative.

However, if something does go wrong with the software, there is a really big Windows Home Server community that is great for help. HP also included a software restore disk if the Home Server software fails. If however, it is the hardware that fails you will be required to do your own support to find out what is wrong and then replace it. Hopefully it is not the motherboard, because it is custom from HP and I doubt you could find a replacement.

Conclusion

The improvement that HP has made are substantial and worthwhile. Fortunately for those that have older MediaSmart Servers, HP has made the new software available to all. Unfortunately, on the older hardware the new functionality probably won’t be as smooth.

If you don’t already have a Windows Home Server, then the MediaSmart server is something you should seriously consider. It has a lot of functionality that really makes it attractive to computer users of all kinds. The retail price of $649 price ($631 at Amazon) might seem a bit steep if all you are doing is comparing it to a NAS, but when you consider everything else it does, the price is quite reasonable. Aside from the short warranty, the HP MediaSmart EX495 is the best implementation of Windows Home Server that I have seen.

Features

Up to 200X performance speed
Durable water and shock resistant housing
Compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Linux 2.4 and later, Mac OS9, X and later
Certified for Microsoft Vista Readyboost
Lifetime Warranty

The performance of the Xporter XT is what drew me in. With reported speeds of 200X (compared to what? Patriot does not specify) I was curious to see what it could do.

For those that need it, the Xporter XT Boost is covered in a thick rubber coating. This offers great protection against drops and the shock that inevitably follows a drop.

Compatibility with various operating systems is not a problem for the Xporter XT Boost. This drive complies with the USB 2.0 standard and is therefore compatible with all operating systems that also comply, which happens to be almost all of them.

The fact that this drive is certified for Vista Readyboost means that it has already met Microsofts standards for performance and reliability, lets just hope it is fast enough for the Xbox 360.

Design

When it comes to design, flash drives are probably the most boring items on the market. Most of them are small and rectangular, and the Xporter XT is no different. With dimensions of .43″ (D) x 2.9″ (W) x .75″ (H) it is actually quite large for a flash drive. I think a lot of this is because the entire device is wrapped in a thick rubber coating.

Patriot has decided to go with a bit of a rugged design for their Xporter XT drives and they say it helps prevent damage from drops and some have even had it survive accidental washings. Since this drive will be living in my Xbox 360 I really don’t need the rugged design.

Drive

Performance

Performance is the real reason that I chose this flash drive. With Patriots claim of a 200X performance boost I was hoping that it would boost the load times of the games I install on the drive.

To test the performance of the USB drive I used a small program called Disk Throughput Tester. This program tests both sequential read and write, and random read. I ran these tests multiple times to make sure the numbers I got were not anomalies. In addition to the Xporter XT I also tested a 16GB Sandisk Cruiser so I would have something to compare it to.

Sandisk Cruiser

So lets take a look at the numbers, I will start with the Xporter XT. The Xporter XT has a read speed of 31.4MB/s and a write speed of 5.4MB/s. Next is the SanDisk Cruiser, it has a read speed of 25MB/s and a write speed of 9.3MB/s. The last image is a comparison of the two. The performance looks good for both drives. The Xporter XT is slightly faster with read speeds and in the Xbox 360 I think reads will be more important than writes.ore important.

Xporter XT Benchmark

SanDisk Crusier Benchmark

Benchmark

When I finally got around to plugging the Xporter XT into my Xbox 360 I actually discovered that it was too big to fit in the rear USB slot (I didn’t want it sticking out the front). I ended up having to remove the rubber coating so that it would fit. Fortunately, the rubber cover is a solid piece and with a little effort it slides on and off.

Cover removed

Once it was plugged in the Xbox 360 ran a performance test and then formatted the drive. After it was done I noticed the drive only showed up as having 14.4GB of free space. I did a little research and found out that the Xbox 360 reserves 512MB of storage for system use.

Support

Patriot offers a lifetime warranty with the Xporter XT Boost. Now this is the kind of warranty I can really get behind, and it makes a lot of sense, with no moving parts it should last a lifetime.

Patriot also has lot of support options for those that need it. On their website you can get help via their forms, FAQs, or by contacting the company directly.

Conclusion

I am very happy with the performance of the Xporter XT Boost. The price is also good. I was able to pick up this drive from Newegg for only $43 with a $10 mail in rebate. It can also be found on Amazon for slightly more, $50, but it also has the same $10 mail in rebate. If you are looking for a great flash drive I highly recommend the Patriot Xporter XT Boost 16GB USB Flash drive.

Features

• Battery board – solar battery board
• Light Source – super bright LED (7 LED)
• Battery – rechargeable Ni-MH

The biggest feature of this flashlight is the solar panel which charges the internal battery. This is a great ability and very useful if you need a flashlight and you don’t want to search for batteries.

The light for the flashlight comes from 7 LEDs. LEDs are very efficient and should help the battery to last longer, however they are not known for being very bright.

7 LEDs

Design

The flashlight’s design is nothing special except for the solar panel. The solar panel sits on the handle so it is important to make sure it is not blocked when charging. This will help the flashlight to keep its battery fully charged.

Solar Panel

The power button is located at the bottom of the flashlight.

On/Off Button

Performance

Performance for a flashlight comes down to how bright the light is and how long the battery lasts. It is very difficult to tell how bright a flashlight is without comparing it to something else. So I got out two other flashlights and compared them to see which is better.

The first flashlight I am comparing to the solar torch is one of the really cheap kind that comes free when you buy D sized batteries, the flashlight actually uses 2 D batteries. As you can see from this image both flashlights put out similar amounts of light, but the solar torch has a much bluer light.

Free vs Solar Torch

Free vs Solar Torch

The second flashlight is a very small UltraFire Cree Q5 light that runs off 2 AA batteries. This is one I picked up for camping because I had read that Cree Q5 lights are really bright. I was surprised by how dim the solar torch looks when compared to the Cree Q5, you can hardly see it. You may have noticed that the Solar torch looks dimmer than the picture above, no it is not running out of power, this is just my camera adjusting for the extra brightness of the Cree Q5 flashlight.

Cree 5 vs Solar Torch

Cree 5 vs Solar Torch

Testing the battery life is a bit tougher. EFO claims that the battery will last 8 hours on a fully charged battery, and it only takes 6 hours of sunlight to fully charge the battery. Since there isn’t a battery level indicator, I could never tell how full the battery is, so I have to put some trust in their numbers. I also don’t have 8 hours to sit around in the dark and check to see when the battery runs out (I assume that if I use it during the day it would continue to charge off the light). However, I can say that I have been using this flashlight for a couple weeks and it has never been out of power. I do keep it out on my desk so it is always charging, and that is the beauty of a solar flashlight.

Support and Warranty

The EFO solar torch comes with a 1 year warranty and to get support you have to go through their website.

Conclusion

If you take into account the low cost of only $17 and the convenience of not having to look for or buy batteries, I can say that the Solar Torch is a good flashlight. It is certainly not the brightest, but in an emergency you don’t need a super bright light, you just need something that will help you keep safe. So if you want a flashlight that is ready at a moments notice and you don’t have to worry about batteries, the I recommend you take a look at the EFO solar torch.

Features

• Reduces environmental noise up to 85%
• Detachable cable for cordless noise cancellation
• Includes durable hard-shell travel case, ¼-inch plug adapter, airline adapter and AAA battery

The active noise-canceling technology that the ATH-ANC27 headphones use is capable of cutting out 85% of environmental noise.

If you don’t want to listen to music, but you still want the noise canceling, you can remove the cord and just wear the headphones by themselves.

Included with the headphones are an assortment of accessories. These accessories include a hard-shell travel case, ¼-inch plug adapter, airline adapter and a AAA battery.

Design

The headphones are fairly standard in design. These headphones are over-ear so the headphones are designed to wrap around your ear. Each headphone is enclosed in a very soft cushion.

Headphone Cup

On the outside of the left headphone is the on, off switch. This switch turns the noise-canceling on and off. There is also a small 3.5mm plug for the cord.

Power Switch

The right side headphone has a cover that hides the battery compartment. This battery compartment takes a single AAA battery, which as I mentioned above is included.

Battery

The band that goes around your head is also cushioned. This makes the headphones more comfortable to wear.

The headphones also come with a travel case. It is large enough for not only the headphones, but also all the accessories.

Headphone Case

Performance

Testing headphones and the ability to cancel out noises comes down to just trying them out.

As far as noise canceling and quality of sound I don’t have any complaints. Both the noise canceling and the quality of audio are good in their respective areas. However, those alone do not make a good set of headphones.

The biggest complaint I have about these headphones is that the actual headphones are extremely small. They are possibly the smallest I have ever seen on an over-the-ear headset. This is a problem for me because when I put them on they do not fit all the way over my ears. After about 5 minutes the constant pressure starts to cause pain. Here is a picture of these headphones next to my AblePlanet headphones (AblePlanet on the left), as you can see the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC27 headphones are quite a bit smaller.

IMG_6756.JPG

Another complaint is that the cushion that goes around the ear is not very soft. Combined with how small the headphones are this increased the discomfort that I felt while wearing them.

Last but not least is that they don’t have an inline volume on the cord. Nowadays this is a fairly standard feature on higher end headphones. Fortunately, since the cord is removable it would not be hard to add one.

Support and Warranty
From what I found it looks like the ATH-ANC27 comes with a meager one year warranty. With practically no moving parts I would like to see this much longer (like lifetime). Obviously, this would not cover things like normal wear and tear and blowing the speakers by having the volume too loud.

Since headphones don’t have any user serviceable parts, the support you can get comes in the form of returns. As long as your headphones are still covered by warranty Audio-Technica will replace them.

Conclusion
So this is a really tough call for me. The performance of the audio and noise-canceling is good, but they are very uncomfortable to wear. I have a hard time recommending them because no matter how good the sound is, if I can’t wear them then it doesn’t matter.

If you have small ears then you may be a better match for these headphones. As for me and my ears we will be going somewhere else.

Features

• Multi-event timer
• 7 Day 24 Hour timer with backlit graphic LCD clock
• Measures Voltage, Amperage, KWH and more
• Soft power-up eliminates harmful voltage spikes
• Over Voltage, Under Voltage and Under Current protection provide clean safe power to your expensive appliances

One of the new features in the Kill A Watt GT is the timer. This timer is capable of storing 96 different programs and 7 different combinations for different days of the week. Measurements and programming are stored in memory and retained during power outages, but only if you have installed batteries.

The Kill A Watt GT can measure and display power usage based on Voltage, Amperage, or even KWH (Kilowatt Hour).

P3 International has even included some power protection for any device that is plugged into the Kill A Watt GT. The surge protector doesn’t just guard your devices from voltage spikes. It also provides protection against over current, over voltage, and under voltage, delivering clean safe power to your equipment. It does this by shutting of the power to the outlet when ever the voltage or current is out of the normal range. The Kill A Watt GT also helps prolong the lifespan of your appliances by gently applying start-up power via its Zero power crossing spike-free switch.

Design

The Kill A Watt GT P4480 is not a large device. With overall dimensions of 5.1″ x 3″ x 1.9″ and a weight of only 9.15 oz. it is rather small and light.

The front of the P4480 is dominated by the LCD display. Under the display are a set of 4 buttons. At the very bottom is the plug for your appliance or electronic device. The buttons are used for navigating the Kill A Watt, setting the timer, and changing the display settings.

Front

On the back is a battery compartment and the prongs for plugging it into a wall. The batteries allow you to set the timer, or review the results of a test while sitting on a couch. The batteries also allow the Kill A Watt to save settings in the event of a power outage.

Back

Battery

On top are three buttons On, Off, and Auto. The On and Off buttons will override the timer and the Auto buttons turns the timer back on. While it is on auto the On and Off buttons will light up according the the set schedule.

Top

Auto

Performance

Using the Kill A Watt GT is a bit more complicated than the Kill A Watt EZ. This is primarily because of the added timer functionality. The timer is not difficult to use, but it does add a lot more functionality to the Kill A Watt and with that come some complexity.

If you just want to monitor power usage than all you need to do is plug the Kill A Watt into the wall, plug your device into the Kill A Watt, and then push the ON button. The screen will turn on as soon as it is plugged in and start showing the power usage. The default measurement is Volts, but if you prefer something else it is easy to switch to Watts just by pushing a button.

To use the timer functionality you merely have to select a day, and the set the on and off times. As you can see from the picture below each day can have more than one on and off time. The Kill A Watt GT is capable of storing 96 programs, and if you were to spread the programming out evenly, each day could have roughly 13 different programs.

Timer

The only negative I could find would have to be the backlight. I can’t say I am a fan of the orange backlight, but it is certainly better than nothing. I had to shine a flashlight on my old Kill A Watt EZ in order to see the display. If the backlight were a blue or green color I would be a lot happier.

Backllight

Support and Warranty

The warranty for the Kill A Watt GT is only 6 months. This is probably the shortest warranty  I have seen in a long time. I understand that the cost of the Kill A Watt does not suggest that it will include a lifetime warranty, but I would expect something more like 5 years. I have had my Kill A Watt EZ for a couple years and it still works fine. If the Kill A Watt GT is built with the same quality it should last just as long.

Conclusion

I am very happy with how easy it is to use the Kill A Watt GT. The features and functionality make it great for many purposes. The price is also great, the Kill A Watt GT can be purchased for only $39 from Amazon or $49 from Newegg. If you are interested in getting a better handle on your power usage you need a power monitor just like the Kill A Watt. If you are also interested in a timer then I highly recommend the P4480 from P3 International.

Features

• D-Link Green Technology
• 48Gbps Switching Capacity
• Desktop or Rack Mountable Design
• Non-blocking Architecture

D-Link has implemented several new technologies that help to keep the power usage of their switches down. The first way they save power is by turning off ports that are not in use. This means that if you don’t have a cable plugged into the port, or if the computer that is attached is turned off, then the switch turns off the port.

The second way they save power is by analyzing the length of each cable that is connected, and then adjusting the amount of power to each port. Since shorter cables require less power the switch can lower the power to those ports that have short cables and increase the power to the ports that have longer cables.

The DGS-1024D is also designed for Plug-and-Play and hassle-free installation. Auto-MDI/MDX-X crossover on all ports eliminates the need for crossover cables when connecting to another switch or hub. Auto-negotiation on each port senses the link speed of a network device (either 10, 100, or 1000Mbps) and intelligently adjusts for compatibility and optimal performance. It also features diagnostic LEDs that display status and activity, allowing you to quickly detect and correct problems on the network. Every port also supports a cable diagnostic feature that helps to detect cable-related problems.

Another way that the DGS-1024D helps to insure quality transmissions is through the support of 802.1p Quality of Service (QoS). When the switch receives a frame tagged with an 802.1p priority, it automatically places it into one of four priority queues. Priority queuing is especially beneficial when streaming voice and video on your network.

In order to make this a friendly device for enterprises and data center by making it rack mountable. They do this by including brackets so it can be mounted in a 19-inch rack. The ability to mount this in a rack means that it can replace much more expensive switches.

Accessories

The DGS-1024D is no slouch when it comes to speed either. Featuring non-blocking switching architecture, the DGS-1024D filters and forwards packets at wirespeed for maximum throughput. An 8K MAC address table provides scalability for even the largest networks, while address learning, 802.3x flow control for full-duplex mode, and back pressure flow control for half-duplex mode alleviate traffic congestion and ensure reliable data transmission. Designed using industry standards, the DGS-1024D is compatible with virtually all 10, 100, and 1000Mbps Ethernet devices. It protects your existing network investments while providing you with a straightforward migration path for faster Gigabit speeds.

Design

The DGS-1024D has a very simple design. With dimensions of 11.0in x 7.1in x 1.7in, it is quite large for a desktop switch. It also weighs 4.2 lbs, which makes it fairly heavy.

The front of the DGS-1024D is where all the magic happens. The front houses all 24 ports, and status lights.

Front

Status Lights

There isn’t anything else really exciting to talk about, but on the left side of the switch is a cooling fan, and on the back is the power cable.

Performance

Performance testing for me consists of purely subjective tests. I don’t have any fancy tools for testing actual throughput of a switch like this, but I have been using it for several months now and it is working great. I have not had a single problem since I turned it on.

I really haven’t found any negatives except that the fan is a bit on the noisy side. I solved this by keeping mine locked up in a structured media cabinet in another room. I would consider this much too noisy to be kept in an office. This leads me to the one feature I would like to see added, and that is to have the fan adjust its speed according to how much heat is generated. I would think that the amount of power it uses is related to how much power is being used. Since the DGS-1024D regulates the amount of power it uses based on port usage, I imagine that the less ports you use the less heat it would generate which means the fan speed could be lowered.

Support and Warranty

This switch comes with a 5-Year Limited, but it is only valid in the USA and Canada. This is a fairly good warranty for an electronic device and I have to give kudos to D-Link for having a good warranty. With a fan as the only moving part I would have liked it to be longer.

Conclusion

As you could probably tell I am happy with this switch and that isn’t even taking into account the price. The price of the D-Link DGS-1024D is very reasonable and it can be found on both Newegg and Amazon for only $179.99.

If you are in the market for a new switch and you need lots of ports, the D-Link DGS-1024D is a great option.

Features

• Plug and play: no need to install software.
• Compatible for Mac, Linux, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, etc
• No battery is required.
• Backlighting: Makes text entry effortless – even in low light.
• Light weight: Only with 60 g.

One of the key features of any mini keyboard is that it is easy to setup and use. The EFO Keyboard meets that requirement by only requiring a single USB plug and no software or drivers.

Because the EFO Keyboard does not need any software or drivers, it is compatible with most operating systems, it is even compatible with most gaming systems.

The backlight is nice for when the lights are out. Often when watching TV I turn off the lights and without the backlight I would have to turn the lights back on to see the buttons.

The fact that this is a wired keyboard eliminates the need for a battery, which means there is no need to wait for the battery to charge before it can be used.

Also because there isn’t a battery or wireless transmitter the keyboard is very light weight.

Design

The front is where you find the keyboard, touchpad, and activity lights. There are 5 lights at the top of the EFO keyboard but only the 3rd and 5th actually do anything. They are for input and caps lock. The other three LEDs are only applicable for the wireless versions of the keyboard.

Lights

Lights

The touchpad is quite large when compared to other devices like this, but this gives you lots of room to move around in. Below the touchpad are two buttons which are the left and right mouse buttons.

Keyboard and Cable

The keyboard is very small, but it does has a standard QWERTY layout. The buttons are also slightly raised and that makes them easy to press, but they are also very smooth. Most of the buttons have dual functions, the second function is indicated with a small number or character above the regular one. However, not everything is perfect. Normally, the F and J keys have a raised spot so that you can orient your fingers without looking at the keyboard. This keyboard does not have these, and some of the auxiliary keys are not in their normal location, so looking at your fingers while typing is a necessity. The keyboard is also lacking multimedia keys. For use with an HTPC the multimedia keys would have been very helpful.

The keyboard has a backlight function, but it needs to be turned on and off manually. To turn on and off the backlight the RF key must be pressed.

Backlight

Backlight

The bottom has the USB port, and a power switch, but the power switch does not actually work on the wired version.

USB

Because a cable is required for use, EFO included a USB cord that is 2M long. This give you a little wiggle room while using the keyboard.

Performance

So now it is time to hook it up to my computer and try it out.

Because there is no software to install, setting up the EFO keyboard is very easy, just plug it in.

Once it is plugged in, the computer will detect a new device and install any needed drivers. After that is done the only thing left to do is use it, and using the EFO keyboard is actually very easy.

As I stated above, the keys have a QWERTY layout, so it is easy to find the keys you are looking for. The buttons have a solid feel and give a solid click when pressed. I did not have any trouble getting it to work or using it.

The only big negative is having to be physically attached to my computer. Because of this I would rather just use my full size keyboard and mouse.

Warranty and Support

The EFO Keyboard comes with a 1 year warranty, and you get support through the EFO website.

Conclusion

The keyboard certainly does its job, and it does it without breaking the bank. The low price of $22 makes up for a lot of the missing features. However, if you can afford the more expensive wireless keyboard I would recommend that you get that one instead. Having to be physically attached to my computer is a real pain.

If your looking for a wireless mini keyboard and you are on a tight budget then the EFO keyboard is a great option.

Features

• Perfect Alignment
• The Powermat Sound
• Indication Lights
• Perfect Charge for Every Device
• Auto Shut Off
• Full Charge Check

Perfect alignment is achieved by a magnet in each adapter and charging pad. That attraction between the magnets assures that alignment is precise and the most efficient charging will occur. This is one of the keys to the Powermat system’s ability to charge your devices as fast or faster than the original power adapter.

Each time a device is placed on a Powermat a unique sound indicates that a solid connection has been made and the device is charging. A second, similar sound is heard when the device is removed. The level of these sounds can be changed or they can be turned off.

Each access point has a corresponding light indicator that informs you that your device is charging wirelessly. The intensity of these lights can be changed or they can be turned off.

A Perfect Charge for Every Device is possible because the Mat and the Receiver communicate via RFID. This communication allows the mat to deliver an exact amount of power for the proper length of time so that the transfer of power is safe and efficient and no energy is wasted.

The auto shut off works with the above communication so that when a device reaches full charge, power is shut off to that device to save energy, and to also prevent over charging the battery.

Once full power is achieved and the Auto Shut Off has occurred, the system will monitor the status of the battery in your device. If the battery is used, the system will again start charging until the battery has a full charge.

Design

Powermat makes two different charging pads, Home & Office, and Portable. The main difference between the two is that the portable mat folds up and comes with a carrying case so that it is easy to carry around. The one I am looking at today is the Portable Powermat.

Because of the simplicity of the Powermat, the design is also very simple. The entire device consists primarily of three charging pads that are connected via hinges, which allows the Powermat to be folded. The only real interface is in the back where there are two buttons, a power plug, and a USB port. The buttons are for turning off the charging sound, and lights, the USB port is for charging a USB device, and the power plug is for providing power to the Powermat.

Portable Mat

Buttons

Each of the charging areas allows for only one Powermat-enabled device to be charged at a time. So in all, the Portable Powermat supports charging 3 Powermat-enabled devices and one USB device at the same time.

The Powermat also come with a Powercube, a set of adapters, and a storage case for the adapters. There are 7 adapters included with the Powercube, but the storage case only has space for about 4 adapters. It would be nice if the storage case was bigger so all the tips could fit; however, the chances of needing them all is fairly slim. There are also magnets in both the storage case and the Powercube so they can be attached to each other. This makes them much easier to carry around and there is no fear of them getting lost.

Powercube

Powercube Adapters

The Portable Powermat comes with a travel case that stores the Powermat, and the AC adapter. Unfortunately, the Powercube does not fit inside the case, this means you have to find somewhere else to store it while traveling. It would be really nice if everything could be kept together, this would reduce the chance of something getting misplaced.

Case	Powermat in Case

Powermat also gave me an adapter for my Nintendo DS Lite so I could test the capabilities. The adapter wraps around the bottom of the DS and has a plug that goes into the back. The big square at the bottom is the receiver which then sends the power to the plug that goes into the back.

DS Lite Adapter Box

DS Lite Adapter Front

Performance

So the process of testing the Powermat performs we are checking to make sure that it charges the device properly. I am going to use my Nintendo DS Lite for this test since I have an adapter for it.

Installing the DS Lite adapter was very easy. It snaps onto the bottom and the plug fits nicely into the power slot.

To charge the DS Lite all I had to do is place it on the Powermat. As I place it down I could feel the force of the magnetic field pulling the DS onto the mat. As I mentioned above the magnetic force also helps get the DS lined up correctly. If the adapter and charger are not lined up correctly then the charge will not work.

Once the DS Lite was on the Powermat and aligned correctly it immediately started charging. To let me know that the charging had started the Powermat turned on a light under the pad and emitted a unique sound. I did not notice any difference in charging time while using the Powermat. The only negative is that I could not use the DS while it was charging. Not because it wouldn’t power up, but because it would be impossible to hold it in my hands.

I also tried it out using the Powercube. Using the Powercube offers a bit more flexibility because it does not require the charging device to be in direct contact with the Powermat. So big items like the DS Lite, which might not fit nicely, can be placed off to the side so they don’t get in the way. I did not notice any difference when charging with the Powercube.

Support and Warranty

The Powermat Portable comes with a limited one year warranty. I find this warranty to be less than I expected. With no moving parts I would expect at least a 5 year warranty. I even found a clause in the warranty that says it is not covered if it is taken out of the country. I don’t think I have ever seen that before with other devices. Can you imagine if your laptop warranty was voided just because you took it on a trip to another country?

Conclusion

As I said above their are two versions of the Powermat, Home & Office and Portable. Since they cost the same I recommend you get the Powermat Portable because if you ever need to take it on a trip it will be much easier. At a cost of just $99 it is reasonably priced and very easy to use. Most adapters are price between $20 and $30, and I could not find anywhere that they were less expensive, however the Powermats can be found on Amazon for about $10 off the retail price. The snap on adapters do provide more convenience because they integrate better, but they do cost a bit more. It is also very nice that it includes the PowerCube, this alone will cover most of devices and because no additional adapters are needed it saves money.

If your looking for a convenient way to charge multiple portable devices then I recommend you take a look at the Powermat.

Features

• Featherweight construction
• Durable, semi-rigid EVA molded exterior
• Removable security friendly laptop sleeve
• Full-featured organization panel

When it comes to carry-on luggage it is important that they are as light as possible because I am going to stuff as much inside as possible and I don’t want to go over weight just because the bag adds extra weight.

It is also important that the bag is sturdy because you never know when the bag will have to be gate checked, or something else that could damage a poorly built bag.

The bag is also tech friendly because it comes with a TSA approved laptop sleeve. This means your laptop can stay in the sleeve while going through the X-ray scanners. The sleeve supports up to a 16″ laptop with internal dimensions of 15.2″ x 10.8″ x 1.8″.

Additional features include an organization panel that can store cell phones, mp3 players, accessories, pens and pencils, and also magazines.

Design

The bag is made of EVA material which is very lite weight and durable. This means it can take a beating in case you need to check it in. As you can see from the pictures the version I got is all black.

The front is very unassuming with what looks like just one  zipper compartment; however in the middle of the front is a horizontal line, and this hides another pocket. This smaller pocket is too small for any thing bulkier than a newspaper or a couple of magazines. The zipper also tucks away into the horizontal line so it cannot be seen, but it also makes it difficult to access.

Front

Front Pocket

The larger front pocket has a two way zipper that zips all the way down either side to reveal a rather large pocket. The pocket is divided into two areas, the first is the laptop area and inside here is the laptop slipcase, and a small mesh pocket. The second area of the pocket is about the same size, but it has an organization panel. This panel is divided into several small pockets that can be used to store electronic devices and accessories.

Laptop Bag

Organization Panel

The main compartment also has a few areas of interest. For example on the bottom is a small zipper pouch, and on the door is a zipper pocket for storing dirty clothes. This mesh pocket keeps dirty clothes from mixing with clean. Inside the main compartment are elastic tie-down straps. These are fairly standard in all luggage and it is nice to see that Case Logic did not forget them.

Inside

There is also a zipper that allows the main compartment to expand by 2″, but I would avoid doing that because it will no longer meet the requirements of a carry-on bag.

On the left side is a small zipper pocket which is about the right size for a bottle of water.

Left	Left Pocket

On the left is a handle. This handle is nice because when not in use it lays flush with the bag, but it can pull away from the bag a little so that your fingers don’t get squished when carrying it.

On the top are two handles. The first handle is just like the handle on the left, and the second is a telescoping handle. The telescoping handle pulls out in two stages, the first stage leaves it short and is great for small children, and the second stage goes longer for adults. The handle is also coated is an very soft rubber.

At the very bottom are the wheels. These wheels are very nice because they are much larger than some other luggage that I have had and their size makes them very easy to pull. The wheels are also in-line so they do not add any extra width to the bag.

Wheel

Usability

Using the case is a breeze. As we all know packing to go on a trip is a big pain. Since I am ultra cheap I hate the idea of having to pay to check-in bags. So I do my best to fit everything into a carry-on bag.

The main compartment is as big as possible while still keeping it small enough to be considered a carry-on. I recognize that Case Logic has limits on how big the bag can be and they have done a good job maximizing the space.

I found the front pocket to be a little too difficult to get into. The zipper tucks away inside the case and the opening is really small. The pocket itself is too small for anything substantial so I found that I did not use it very much. Instead I used the larger pocket that is directly behind this one.

The larger front pocket is my favorite because it can be used for so many different things. This pocket is also where the laptop sleeve is. The one thing I would have change is to offer different size laptop bags. I personally use a 13″ laptop and so this bag is way too big. Since the slip case can only hold the laptop and not the power cord it would be nice if there was a separate place to put that. However, since I have a smaller laptop there is extra room at the bottom of the bag and I put the power cord below the laptop.

Support and Warranty

This bag comes with an extraordinary 10 year warranty. For a bag that is going to take a lot of beating I don’t think you can get any better than this. I just wish more electronics manufacturers would take a page from the Case Logic book and also offer nice warranties like this.

Conclusion

As I used this bag I really began to like it. There are a lot of great features that make it helpful for travelers that carry electronics. The only aspect of the bag that I didn’t like is the price. At the time of this review Case Logic lists this bag at $189.99. This is a bit expensive for a small bag like this and I would highly recommend that you look around and find it cheaper somewhere else. For example, Amazon is listing the same bag for as low as $140.03.

If you are in the market for a new carry-on bag and you can afford the price, I really recommend that you go out and pick up the Case Logic 22″ Upright Roller.

Features

• Up to 8x larger than a 40″ TV
• Built-in progressive-scan DVD
• Two 10W speakers with microphone input
• Easy setup – plug, load & play
• HDMI connectivity
• Works with game consoles, iPods

One of the best features of a projector is that the screen size is only limited by the size of the room it is in. With the MovieMate 60 it is possible to have a an 80″ widescreen display by placing the projector only 7.8 feet away from the wall, or 120″ display at 11.8 feet.

The MovieMate 60 has a built-in DVD player. This DVD player is progressive scan, so you can expect good output, but as far as I can tell it does not upscale.

The Projector also has two built-in 10W stereo speakers. These speakers are used for playing all the audio from this projector. However, there is also an audio out so that the audio can be sent to better speakers if you have them.

There is no setup required to play movies with the MovieMate 60. Since it contains a DVD player and speakers, it just needs to be plugged in and a movie inserted. However, if you want to display content from another device (like an Xbox or iPod) then the MovieMate 60 includes all the most popular connectors, including HDMI, and USB.

Design

One of the joys about this projector is the simple design. This projector is aimed at individuals that do not have a dedicated theater room, or don’t know how to wire up a DVD player and speaker system, so simplicity is very important.

The front of the MovieMate 60 simply has the projector lens, and the DVD player. This DVD player is of the slot load variety so there are no drawers that might break off. To the right of the DVD slot is the eject button. To the right of the projector lens is an IR port for the remote control.

Front

The top of the projector is where the manual controls, ambient light sensor, and lamp door are located. Starting at the very front is the lens cover which needs to be open or else the projector will not turn on. Just below that is the focus adjustment. Below that is the light sensor which is under a small clear window. The power button is directly below the light sensor and to the right of that is the source button. Pressing the source button starts the projector searching for an active video signal. The next two buttons are Play/Pause and Stop. These two buttons work directly with the built-in DVD player. Next to that are the volume up and down buttons. The right most buttons are all the menu and navigation buttons. Finally to the right of the buttons is the lamp door. The lamp door is very simple to remove because it only has one screw. Inside you can see the lamp, which has another two screws. Once those are removed the lamp lifts up easily for replacement.

Top

The right side has a handle and a intake vent with air filter. The cover and filter are easy to remove and replace.

Intake

Filter

The left side has the exhaust fan.

Output fan

The back is where you will find all the connectors and the speakers. The MovieMate 60 has just about any connector you could want. These connectors include Component, Composite, HDMI, VGA, and USB. At the bottom, on either side, are the speakers. There is also an IR port of the back for when you are sitting behind the projector.

Back

The remote is fully featured and well labeled. You will know by reading past reviews that having a poorly labeled remote is a pet peeve of mine. The only feature that I would have wanted to add to the remote is zoom, but it is fairly easy to get to in the menus so it is not a big deal.

Performance

So how does it perform? I have been using it for about two weeks now and I think I have tested most of the features. Since this is made for people that don’t have dedicated theater rooms, I tested it in my living room at a distance of 10′ from the wall, at that distance the picture was about 9′ diagonal. I also did not use a screen, instead I displayed it on a normal light colored wall.

Projector

Projected Image

Like I said above, setting up the MovieMate 60 is a snap. Because there is only one cord (power) I was able to get a movie going in a matter of minutes. The hardest decision I had to make was finding a suitable place to put the projector so that it would shine directly against the wall. I ended up using a chair from my dining room and then using the feet to adjust the angle. The projector has the ability to adjust the keystone so you don’t have to worry about it being the correct height, however there is no way to compensate if the projected is off to one side, so it is very important that the projector be directly in front of the wall or screen it is shining on.

The projector is very bright, especially in my small living room. I was able to watch several movies and play some games from my Xbox without any trouble. I did notice that during the day, or when I had lights on, the picture would be washed out and it was difficult to see the dark scenes.

With the speakers in the back it is really important that you sit behind the projector if you want to get the best sound. However, in my living room that is difficult because the room is not very large and I wanted the screen to fill up the entire wall, so I had the projector far away from the wall. With this setup the projector was only about 4 feet from the back wall and that makes it very difficult to sit behind.

Even though I could not sit behind the projector the sound from the speakers was still loud in my living room; however, it was not always clear. Because of the small size of the speakers I was not surprised, but I was still a little disappointed. How is anyone suppose to be happy with this if they cannot hear their movies and TV shows clearly. The maximum volume is 40 and I would regularly have it around 35. I think the ability to change the direction of the speakers would be a helpful feature, but so far that is only available on the MovieMate 72.

The projector does have a zoom feature, but by default it is already zoomed out as far as it can go. So for all intents and purposes it only zooms in and this is of little use to me. I was hoping to be able to place the projector closer to the wall so I could sit behind it, and then zoom the picture larger so it would fill up the wall.

Another issue I had to take into consideration is the max resolution of the projector. The max resolution of the MovieMate 60 is only 540p (960 x 540), which does not stretch to 9′ very gracefully.  This again emphasizes the fact that you want to sit behind the projector, because the closer you are to the screen, the more pixels you are going to see. For example, with my setup above (9′ diagonal screen size) each pixel was about 1/16 of an inch wide and easily visible. This gives us the projector an effective PPI (pixels per inch) of 16. For comparison sake, my 24″ computer monitor which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 has a PPI of 94.

Pixels

As a side thought, I wonder if this projector would work with 3D shutter glasses. I could not find any information about refresh rates, so I don’t know if it meets the 120Hz minimum.

Support and Warranty

The Epson MovieMate 60 includes two years of toll-free, priority technical support, plus a two-year limited warranty and a 90-day limited lamp warranty.

Features

• Up to 30 ppm
• Up to 600 x 600 dpi (1200 dpi effective output with HP FastRes 1200)
• 16 MB of Memory
• 2 Paper Tray (250-sheet input tray, 50-sheet multipurpose tray)
• Supported Media Types: Paper (bond, light, heavy, plain, recycled, rough), envelopes, labels, cardstock, transparencies, heavy media
• Supported Media Sizes: Tray 1: A4, A5, A6, B5, envelopes (C5, B5, DL), 76 x 127 to 216 x 356 mm; Tray 2: A4, A5, A6, 105 x 148 to 216 x 356 mm
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0, Ethernet

Like I said above, this printer is fast. At 30 ppm it is not the fastest printer in the world, but compared to an Inkjet (set to laser quality), and also my old HP 5L, the P2035n is really fast. For example, my old HP 5L has a max speed of 4 ppm and my Epson Artisan 810 has a max speed of 9.5 ppm in laser quality.

Print resolution has also increased quite a bit. The 1200 dpi resolution that the P2035n uses is double the 600 dpi that my old HP 5L is capable of.

While 16MB of built in memory may not sound like a lot, we have to remember that this is primarily a document printer. If you think you need more memory than you may want to consider the HP LaserJet P2055dn.

There are two paper trays in the P2035n. The first is at the very bottom and holds up to 250 sheets of standard paper. The second is in the middle of the front and when it is open it holds up to 50 sheets of paper.

The printer also supports all the standard paper sizes and types that are referenced above.

There are two ways to connect this printer to a computer. The first is USB 2.0, which is useful if you only have one computer, or you don’t have a network. The second way is Ethernet, and this is ideal if you have a network and more than one computer that will use the printer. I don’t buy printers unless they have Ethernet because I have several computers and I need to have access to the printer from all of them.

Design

Before we begin I should mention that this printer is considered small when it comes to Laser printers, however it is twice the size as my old HP 5L. With dimensions of 14″ x 26″ x 10″ and a weight of 23 lb it is also too big to fit on a desk, but not too big to put in the corner of a small office.

The front of the printer is where both paper trays are located. Tray 1 is at the very bottom and pulls out so you can load paper. This tray can hold up to 250 pages and is ideal for standard 8.5″ x 11″. The left side of tray 1 has a small indicator that tells if the tray is empty or full. Tray 2 is above tray 1 and it open from the middle of the front. It opens by pulling the handle and can hold up to 50 pages. I use this tray mostly for custom paper sizes and envelopes so I don’t have to unload tray 1. Last by not least is the power button and it is found to the right of tray 1.

Front

Tray 2

Tray 1

The left and right sides are the same, which is plain. Except for an air vent on the right side, there is nothing else to mention.

The back of the printer has a bypass output tray for heavy paper, or for paper that may bend when run through the top. It can also be used for clearing out paper jams. On the right are the USB and Ethernet ports for connecting to a computer. On the left is a power plug and a Security Slot.

Back	Connectors

The top of the printer has the obvious output tray in the middle and on the right are a series of status lights and two buttons. The two buttons are paper release and cancel. The six lights indicate paper jams, low ink, low paper, etc. Closer to the front another button that is used to open the printer for toner replacement.

Top	Status Lights

Performance

So lets check out the performance of the P2035n. There is not much to testing a Laser printer like this, so I will cover the setup, speed, and quality of printing.

Setting up the printer is a piece of cake because the software offers simple step by step instructions.

Install 1

Install 3

Install 7

Starting up the printer is quick. It took about 30 seconds from the time I turned it on until it was ready to print. However, because most users will just leave the printer on all the time (it only uses 7 watts of power when idle), the start up is very quick. Turning off the printer will save the extra power, but it will also require a longer warm up time. In addition, during warm up the printer jumps its power usage up to 600 watts for a couple seconds.

Once the printer is on and warmed up getting the first page out of the printer is really quick, usually about 5 seconds from the time the print button is clicked.

During printing the energy usage goes way up. The highest I saw was just over 800 Watts, but then settled down to about 550 Watts.

Printing is also fairly noisy, but because it is fast, the printer will not be on for very long. When the printer goes into standby it is absolutely silent.

As far as quality goes, this printer is at the top of its class. Here are some pictures comparing the P2035n against my old 5L, and Epson’s Workforce 610 in Laser quality.

P2035n text

5L text

610 text (laser)

So the only thing left to consider is the Total Cost of Ownership (TOC) and that includes how much it is going to cost to keep it running. Besides the power that it uses, the only other cost will be toner. The P2035n ships with a sample toner cartridge which is good for about 1000 pages, and new toner cartridges retail for about $89. These cartridges are rated at about 2,300 pages (3.8 cents per page). However, since I never pay retail for anything I did some looking around.

There are a lot of aftermarket compatible, and refurbished (refilled) toner cartridges, but I don’t recommend using those, it’s possible that you could void your warranty and damage the printer if they break open and spill toner. So when I look for toner I always look for new HP brand, and I found some for quite a bit less than retail. For example, on Newegg.com I found the toner for only $70 (3.0 cents per page) and on buy.com it was on $44 (1.9 cents per page). However, I am a little suspicious about the buy.com deal because it is sold by a 3rd party vendor and while it does not mention refurbished, I would ask before I purchased.

Support and Warranty

The printer does not come with a very extensive warranty. In fact it is only has a one-year, return to authorized service center, limited hardware warranty. This means if anything goes wrong within the first year it can be sent to a service center for repairs. After that, you are on your own.

I had my old HP 5L for 10 years, and I only replaced it because it didn’t have Ethernet. I hope the build quality of this new HP printer is a s good as the old ones. If I am wrong and this turns out to be a bad printer I will update this review so that others do not make a mistake.

Conclusion

I am really happy with this printer. It was not very expensive, it runs really well, and it easily connects to my network. When I bought this printer I got it from Newegg for only $224, which I think is a great price (I paid $400 for my old 5L). As I mentioned above the ink can be found for a reasonable price and that makes this printer an even better deal.

If you need things like upgradable memory and auto duplexing, you may want to consider the HP LaserJet P2055dn. I really considered buying this one, but it is quite a bit more expensive ($379.99 on Newegg) and I didn’t think the extra cost justified the features.

If you are looking for a Laser printer for a small home office I recommend the HP LaserJet P2035n. I really think you will be happy with both the quality and speed of all the printing.

Even though Lancool focuses on value they did not skimp on design or features. So as I pull this case out of the box there are 2 things that I notice.  One that it is very heavy and two it looks very slick, smooth corners, sleek design!

Basic stats:

Length: 20″ Width: 8 3/8″ Height: 19 1/2″
Approx. 25 lbs.
4 hard drive bays
5 5.25 bays
2 USB ports on top
1 head phone jack on top
1 mic jack on top
1 140mm fan in the front
1 120mm fan in the back
Room for 2 more 140mm fans on top (not included)
2 plastic cable organizers
Vent with screen below the power supply
Holes on the back for water cooling
Supports video cards as long as 290mm.

This case has lots of bells and whistles for a hard core gamer, however if you plan on transporting this case all over town, be warned the case weigh’s roughly 25 lbs with nothing in it.

One of the most critical features for a gamer is airflow. With the Lancool PC-K58 this is no longer a concern. The case includes 2 fans, a 120mm exhaust fan in the rear, and 140mm intake fan in the front. The front fan also spins at 1000rpm for near silent operation. As an added feature there are built-in dust filters to keep your system clean.

Another important feature is keeping the case silent. From the standpoint of the case this means reducing the vibration from fans and hard drives. To help with this Lancool has put rubber insulators on the hard drive cages, fans, and power supply clamp.

This case is 100% tool less, so if you like not having to run around the house looking for a screwdriver to install your hard drive or PCI card or CD-ROM drives, then this case is perfect for you.

As I open the side of the case I notice the new design of the tool less PCI card locks.  Its a simple lever that you pull up to release and push down to tighten.  I think they did a great job in designing this lock.  Its very simple and works great.  My only concern is that it weights too much and adds too much to the weight to the case.

PCI Slots

PCI installed

Installing the motherboard is very simple, they give you short and long thumb screws so you don’t even have to use a screwdriver.  Makes for a very quick install.

The power supply sits on 2 rubber strips and has a clamp with a rubber strip for vibration, so no need for any screws to install the power supply.

Power Supply

Like I said before this case is 100% tool less and that means in order to install a CD-ROM drive you actually need to take out the 4 little screws in the side.  If its a brand new CD-ROM drive then don’t bother putting the screws in, but if its used and you’re moving it from one computer to another then you will need a small screwdriver to remove the screws.  There is this little long piece of plastic on the side of the CD-ROM tray, just lift up the plastic arm and slide the CD-ROM drive in and snap the arm back down. Move the drive forward or backward till it snaps in place.

CD-ROM Drive

This case came included with instructions however removing the hard drive tray was still very difficult to figure out even with the instructions.  There is a sliding lever with an awkward handle at the bottom to move it up and down.  Its tough to move up and down but that is how you secure your hard drives in place.  Slide it up and remove the hard drive tray.  After you remove the tray then you pull the plastic sides out and put the hard drive in and snap the plastic pieces back in place to secure the hard drive to the tray.  Again you need to remove the screws in the side of the hard drive in order to use this tray.  It also has rubber wheels on the tray for anti vibration.

Hard drive cage

Hard drive cage

Hard drive installed

I love all the tool less feature about this case, it seems like they put a lot of thought into building this case, it only it was lighter it would be the perfect case.

In short it is a great, but heavy case. The price is also great, I was able to find it at Newegg for only $69. So, if you are in the market for an inexpensive, tool less, yet sturdy case, and you don’t mind it having a little extra weight, then I highly recommend the Lancool PC-K58.

I would like to give special thanks to Hampton Technologies for sending us this case. Without their support this review would not have been possible.

Features

• Enjoy music, photos and videos with easy to use buttons & screens
• Control your digital entertainment in the palm of your hand with a simple, intuitive remote.
• Built-in Wi-Fi connects seamlessly to your existing wireless home network, so you can access content on your home PCs and through the Internet.
• 2GB (1.5GB usable) internal memory, Memory card support

Like any self-respecting digital photo frame the DreamScreen is able to display photos, and play music. However, the DreamScreen goes one step further and also add video playback and many other capabilities to the mix.

The DreamScreen 100 includes a small remote that can be helpful for navigating the many apps and options. However, if you can’t find the remote or it is not in a convenient location then you can always use the touch navigation buttons.

With built-in wired and wireless network connectivity it is possible to access Internet content and stream/transfer content from a networked computer to the DreamScreen. You can even pull down Internet radio and Facebook streams.

The built-in 2GB (1.5GB usable) of memory is a good amount to start with, but it will quickly fill up, especially if you save video. When this happens you will have to make use of memory cards for expanded storage. Luckily, the DreamScreen supports 8 different formats, including: Compact Flash I/II + Micro Drive + Secure Digital/Secure Digital High Capacity + Memory Stick & Memory Stick Pro + xD Picture Card.

Design

The DreamScreen 100 has a minimalist design with a slick black finish. This design helps to keep the device very clean looking and makes it so it can fit with just about any decor.

The front of the DreamScreen 100 is dominated by the 10.2″ (15:9 aspect ratio, 800 x 480 pixels) screen. However, hidden in the bottom right corner are 8 touch button.  The reason I say hidden is because they cannot be seen unless you touch the area, which activates them. This is a nice way to keep the buttons from distracting from the overall aesthetic feel of the DreamScreen, but it does cause some problems with usability which I will talk about later.

Contents

Buttons hidden

Buttons shown

If you tip the DreamScreen down and view it from the top you will see one single feature that should be pointed out, the Remote control holder. This is a really important feature because it not only keeps the remote safe from getting lost (as long as you remember to put it back), but it also keeps the remote out of the hands of curious little ones (kids) that may otherwise do bad things to it.

Top

The left side of the DreamScreen 100 is where you will find two memory card slots. As I mentioned above, the two slots support 8 different formats, including: Compact Flash I/II + Micro Drive + Secure Digital/Secure Digital High Capacity + Memory Stick & Memory Stick Pro + xD Picture Card. Finally there is a speaker for playing the various types of audio that are supported.

Left

The right side has a power button, headphone jack, 2 USB ports (mini, and regular), an Ethernet plug, and a second speaker at the bottom (like the one on the left side). I found the inclusion of the headphone jack to be interesting. Unless you have some wireless headphones, I think this is probably a fairly useless feature. First because the DreamScreen is too big to be used as a personal media player, and second because if this were hanging on a wall, it would be nearly impossible to get something plugged in without taking it down.

Right

The bottom is simple enough because it only has the DC power plug.

Bottom

The remote that comes with the DreamScreen 100 is meant to be the primary interface and navigation. There are buttons on the remote for some of the most used functions, like volume (up, down, and mute), navigation (up, down, left, and right), display on and off, back, and option.

Remote

Remote Screen

The DreamScreen also includes a disk with some software on it. This software is used to for transferring media onto the DreamScreen directly from a PC. When the disk is first inserted a menu screen appears which gives has many options. The top option is the one we are interested in. Once clicked, the software checks to see if there are any updates. In my case an update was found, but when I tried to download it I got an error and the install failed. So the next time I chose not to check for updates, but the install would not continue. So I was forced to go to HP’s website and download the latest software.

Installer Main

Installer Update

Update Error

Once the software is installed there are a couple options, with the main option being the transfer of media. The other option, which will save you some time, is typing your username and password for Facebook, Pandora, and Snapfish. This means you don’t have to use the onscreen keyboard, which is a big pain.

Drag and Drop Media

Account Management

Performance and Usability

The DreamScreen has so many options to try out that it is going to be difficult to cover everything, so if I miss something that you are interested in I apologize in advance.

When the DreamScreen 100 is first turned on it displays some info screens and asks for your timezone. After that it displays the main menu screen. On the main menu screen there are 11 area that you can go to (10 apps, and 1 setup area). These 11 areas are Photos, Videos, Music, HP Smart Radio, Weather, Clock, Calendar, Pandora, Snapfish, Facebook, and a Setup screen.

The first thing I did was go directly to the setup screen and connect to my wireless network. The setup was straightforward and easy, except when I had to enter my wireless password. I like long passwords for better security and the DreamScreen does not have any easy way to enter them. When prompted for text entry the DreamScreen displays an onscreen keyboard, unfortunately since the screen is not touch-sensitive the keys must be pressed using the navigation buttons on the remote or the buttons under the screen. So after pressing left, right, up, down, and enter about 20 times I finally finished. Unfortunately for me, I had mistyped (the password is shown in plain text so I should have noticed) and when I went back the password area was empty. It would have been nice if the old password had remained so I could just correct the error and move on. Once the password was entered correctly wireless started up without any other problems.

Network Type

Wireless Networks

Keyboard

After getting the wireless setup (and the trouble with typing the password) I thought that it sure would be nice if the DreamScreen had a touchscreen. This single capability would solve so many other limitations that we will talk about further on.

Once the wireless was fully connected the DreamScreen detected that there was an update to the software. I gave it permission to download and install it. I like to do this so I don’t find glitches that are fixed in updates.

Update

Downloading Update

Updating Software

After all that, I finally started trying out the different apps. The first app is Photos. The main screen for photos shows a thumbnail list of all the photos that are in memory. Across the top are different options for seeing the photos, they include: Dates, Folders, All Photos, PC. If you happen to have a memory card plugged in then it will also show up in this same list. The pictures when they are viewed full screen look great and they can be viewed individually or in a slideshow. The photo formats that the frame supports are JPEG, PNG, and BMP. It would be nice to see a few more formats supported like TIFF and GIF.

Photo tumbnails

Photo

Photo options

Because the DreamScreen has the ability to view photos that are stored on a computer I really wanted to try out that feature. In order to do this the computer must be running Windows Media Player 11 or later and have media sharing/streaming turned on. Setting this up is not difficult.  On the DreamScreen, under photo options, you will see a list of all the computers that are setup correctly. Simply select the one that you want to use and click ok. Once that is done the PC tab will be enabled and when selected will display all the photos on the PC, if you have a large number of photos it may take a while to display. After they are loaded, you have all the same options as local photos. I didn’t have any trouble setting this up or playing photos from my computer.

Photo Options

Streamed Folders

Streamed Photos

Next I tried out videos. The screen is laid out exactly like the photos and has the same options, except it is missing the PC option. This is because streaming Video from the PC is not supported. Instead you must store the video in the internal memory, a memory card, or a USB stick before it can be played. Just like pictures the video looks really good and he sound is loud and clear. There are no multimedia controls for controlling the video, like rewind, pause, and fast-forward, so this is not meant for long movies. In fact, anything over 5 minutes is probably too long. The supported video formats include MPEG 1, 2, 4, H.264.

Video thumbnails

Video

Now we move on to music playing. The first screen under music shows all the music that is in memory sorted by name, artist, and album. Across the top are options to show the music by Albums, Artists, Genres, Songs, and also to show music from a PC. While playing a song the frame can also display a slideshow. This is nice if you want a little music to go with your photos. The music sounded great and could get fairly loud if it needed to. Like photos, music can also be played directly from a PC, but once again a PC must be setup to share. I did have problems with streaming music from my PC. For whatever reason when I clicked the PC tab the software would lock up. I never got to see the list of music from my PC. I tried this several times and it was always the same. The music formats that are supported are MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV.

HP Smart Radio is the next app that I tried out. Since this is Internet radio, an Internet connection must exist before the radio will work. The second step is finding radio stations, and there are thousands to chose from. The built-in search can find stations by location, or by genre. No matter which search I tried there were hundreds of results and no easy way to know which were the best. One feature that would have been nice is some kind of preview of each station as it is highlighted in the search results. Like music the sound was great for such a small device.

HP SmartRadio

HP SmartRadio Search

HP SmartRadio Search Results

Next I tried out the Weather feature. If you don’t have access to a window then this can be a very useful feature. However, I have windows both at home and work, so looking at the weather on the DreamScreen is not very useful for me.

Weather startup

Weather

I tried out the Clock next. It is probably the feature I used the most because it works great as an alarm clock. The clock can be run by its self, in dual clock mode (with two different timezones), with the calendar, or with a slideshow of photos. There are also 3 different alarms that can be setup and they can be set to run once, every day, every weekday, or every weekend day. My only complaint is that it is too bright at night, and if dimmed, then it is too dim during the day. However, as I will talk about below, the brightness feature is a bit flawed. It would be nice if there was an auto dim feature that could be set by the time of day. I did notice that the clock numbers changed from red to blue during the day. If it would dim and brighten at the same time this would really be great.

Clock

Clock Options

Dual Clock

The Calendar is next. While having a calendar is nice, without the ability to enter appointments and special events, the calendar is fairly useless (unless you have short term memory loss and you cannot remember what day it is).

Calendar

Pandora is an online radio service and it requires an online account. I didn’t feel like setting up an account so I didn’t test this feature.

Snapfish, like Pandora, is an online service which requires an account. Once again I am lazy and didn’t want to setup an account for a service that I will probably never use (except for this review), so I didn’t.

The last feature I tried is the Facebook app. Setup is easy (I already have an account), but once again it requires that you enter a username and password and typing on the keyboard is a horrible experience. With the Facebook app you are able to view status updates, and photos. However, all this is read only, you cannot update your own status, upload pictures, or anything else.

I saved the setup screen for last because it really isn’t an app, and changes made here affect all the other apps. I am not going to cover everything because much of it is self explanatory. One option I want to talk about is brightness. I ended up using the brightness features quite a bit because I had to turn it down every night, and turn it up every morning. However, I noticed that when I turned the brightness all the way down at night, the backlight is still bright and the display looked washed out. I can only think that the backlight is not dimming with the screen. This is something that really needs to be fixed because it makes the screen look horrible.

Setup

The screen saver is another setting to take a look at. It can be set as a slide show, clock, screen off, demo video, or disabled. I like to keep it as clock so that at night it does not switch away to something else and if I wake up  in the middle of the night I can see the time.

Another complaint I have is with the touch buttons. I was forced to use the touch buttons because the remote didn’t have a battery, and I didn’t have any available (it takes the big flat watch battery). Having to use the touch buttons helped me see all the quirks. The fact that they are touch buttons, means that they don’t provide any feedback to indicate that they were pressed. In addition, every time an app is started the buttons turn themselves off. This means they need to be turned back on before they can be used. The buttons also turn themselves off after a few seconds of inactivity. Turning off after inactivity is much nicer than turning off when an app is started.

The power usage for the DreamScreen is really low. During all the tests it stayed right around 11 watts. For all that the DreamScreen does this is really good.

Power Usage

So after all my testing here is what I think HP can do to make this an amazing product (and this all has to be done without raising the cost, much).

1. First and foremost is to add touch capabilities to the screen and get rid of the navigation buttons. That has to be my biggest complaint and it continues to bug me every time I use it.
2. Second change the main screen from a scrolling list to a series of modules that will show real-time information. This would be much like the main screen of the HP Touchsmart computer. I could have photos in one module, the weather in another, and Facebook in yet another. Then with a quick glance I could seen everything and I could touch/click one of them to expand it to full screen to see more details.
   
   

   TouchSmart Menu

3. Allow the DreamScreen to navigate network shared folders. All my images and music are stored on a Windows Home Server so being able to scan a network folder would be a better option than setting up media sharing.
4. More control over the backlight.
5. Keep the navigation buttons active when loading an app.
6. Add an Internet browser.

I realize that HP can not add touch capabilities with a software update, but it could be added to their next hardware version. Everything else could be done with a software update, and I think it would make the DreamScreen 100 a much more user friendly device.

Support and Warranty

The warranty that comes with the DreamScreen 100 is a 1 year Hardware and 90 days of software support. With practically no moving parts, this should have a minimum of a 5 year warranty against defects.

Support comes through the usual methods, web, phone, and email.

Conclusion

So overall the DreamScreen is a step in the right direction. The feature set is good, but not quite good enough for the rather high retail price of $249. If you look around it is possible to find the DreamScreen 100 for slightly less. In fact, I found it at Amazon for only $179. While this is not a huge discount it does help take the sting out of the retail price.

If HP wants to make this product much better then implementing my suggestions will go a long way to keeping this product relevant for a long time.

Features

• 18.5″ high-def widescreen with tilt and swivel
• Internal antennas for 802.11b/g
• Integrated 6-in-1 digital media card reader
• Built-in webcam and mic
• Integrated premium stereo speakers
• ENERGY STAR® qualified, EPEAT Silver registered, and HP power-management technology

The Pavilion MS214 features an 18.5″ widescreen display. This display is big enough to see clearly, but also small enough that it could easily fit in small spaces (like on a kitchen counter). Best of all the screen features a matte finish, which means it is not glossy.

Inside the Pavilion MS214 is an internal 802.11b/g card and antenna. Wireless G technology is getting a bit old and wireless N is starting to take over, so I am surprised to see that it is not included.

With different media cards laying around all over, it is nice to have a variety of options in a computer. The MS214 has a 6-in-1 media card reader that supports Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC), MultiMediaCard Plus (MMC Plus), Extreme Digital media (xD), Memory Stick (MS) and Memory Stick Pro (MS-Pro). The one format that was left out is Compact Flash (CF). I know that CF is on its way out the door, but my camera uses that CF so I need it, and until I upgrade my camera I will continue to need it.

A built-in webcam and mic are becoming a standard feature on All-In-One desktops like this and the Pavilion MS214 does not forget to include these.

No All-In-One computer would be complete without audio. The MS214 includes a pair of small speakers, under the screen, just for that purpose.

If you’re concerned about the environment (and who isn’t) then you will like the fact that the Pavilion MS214 is ENERGY STAR qualified and EPEAT Silver registered. In addition, the included HP power management software will help to keep power bills as low as possible.

Design

I would argue that the most important aspect of an All-In-One PC is the design. Consumers don’t purchase All-In-One PCs because of their power, price, or portability (for power and price get a desktop, for portability get a laptop). So the only thing left is design, and space saving is probably the most important aspect of that design. With everything built into the back of the LCD panel the space saving is self evident.

The design of the Pavilion MS214 is very simple.The front has only a few points of interest and that helps to keep things looking very clean and classy. At the very top of the screen is where the webcam and microphone are, and at the bottom are the speakers. The only other thing on the front is the power button and that is in the bottom right corner.

Front

Webcam

The left side has a small panel of inputs which include a media card reader, 2 USB ports, a microphone, and headphone jack.

Left

On the right is the DVD drive, eject button, screen brightness up and down buttons, and a hard drive activity light. This is a really odd place to put the activity light because it is impossible to see from the front. In addition, it is impossible to tell what the buttons do unless you are looking right at them. I would recommend to HP that they add labels to the front of the MS214, so that you know what you are pressing when you reach around to push the button.

Right

The back has a bit more going on, including more plugs which are a DC plug, Ethernet plug, 4 more USB ports, and an audio out jack.

Rear Connectors

Also on the back are two removable panels. These panels cover the Memory and Hard Drive. These also happen to be the only two user serviceable parts in the Pavilion MS214. Both are very easy to get to. They only one I had trouble with was the hard drive, and that is because I forgot to undo the screw that holds the drive cage in place.

Memory cover	Memory
Hard Drive cover	Hard Drive

Performance

The HP Pavilion MS214 runs on some decent hardware, it is certainly not top of the line, but it should be enough to get through most tasks. The hardware includes:

• AMD Athlon X2 3250e Dual-Core Processor (1.5 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, 2000 MHz System Bus)
• 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM memory (2x1024MB ultimate performance)
• ATI RadeonTM HD 3200 Graphics with 256MB graphics memory
• 320GB (7200RPM) Serial ATA hard drive

As you can see the the hardware is not exactly smoking. So with the understanding that this is a low end machine, and not a high end gaming rig, I proceeded to run some performance tests.

Before I run any tests I always like to look at the Windows rating. This gives a break down of how the different parts of the machine compare to Microsoft’s recommendations. As you can see the lowest score is on graphics (2.9). This means using all of Windows 7′s built in graphical goodness might put a bit strain of the system. For the most part I keep those things turned off anyways because I don’t care for them and I like to free up CPU cycles for more important things. I was surprised to see the Gaming Graphics score of 4.1. This leads me to believe that you may be able to do some casual gaming. Also I would think that games would be more stressful on a system than Windows Aero, so why did it get a better score?

Windows rating

On to my first real benchmark. I tested with both 3DMark and PCMark. The results of these tests were very poor, but considering the hardware I am not overly disappointed. I was hoping that the high Gaming Graphics score we saw above would have turned into a good score here, but alas it did not. Since I trust these scores more than the built-in Windows rating, I once again thinking that gaming on the MS214 is not a good idea.

3DMark

PCMark 64

To test the video playing capabilities I downloaded a few videos, in different resolutions and watched them. I was paying particular attention to see if the video was choppy or smooth, and also how good the audio was on the speakers.

I played several different video resolutions, including 1080p and 720p. The monitor does not have the resolution to play a 1080p movie, but if I choose the “fit to screen” option the movie is made smaller. For the most part 1080p played fairly well except for fast action moments where the video would become jittery. With 720p I did not have any problems at all, even when expanded to fit the screen both the audio and video played just fine. However the CPU stayed fairly busy during the video playing. It did not affect the quality of the movie playback, but it does not leave a lot of room for running other programs.

720p movie

The second part of the video test is the audio. Since there are no external volume controls on the outside of the MS214 I was a little disappointed and I immediately thought that this is not going to be good. Speakers that rely solely on the Windows volume adjustments are usually underpowered and not very good sounding. However, I was surprised by what I heard. When cranked up the little speakers filled my office to the point that it was almost uncomfortable to have it full blast. All during the video playing there was very little distortion and the speech was fairly clear and understandable. In the end I found that 80 out of 100 was the optimal volume setting for me when watching videos.

The power usage and heat during these tests stayed very low. This can be attributed to the low end hardware and the HP Power Management Technology.

Idle Power	Load Power
Idle temps	Load temps

For the most part HP also kept this system bloatware free. However the one piece of software that they did load, Norton Internet Security, is a bit of a nag. A popup would appear each time I started the computer, telling me to enable the software. A quick uninstall took care of that once and for all.

Desktop

Support and Warranty

I don’t think that HP has ever been considered generous with their warranties, and the warranty that comes with the Pavilion MS214 is no exception. The base warranty is only 1 year for both hardware and software. With this warranty comes 24/7 technical assistance, available online or toll-free by phone, however all repairs must be done by sending the machine back to HP. If you want to add a couple more years to the base warranty, then be prepared to pay for it. HP offers a 2, 3, and 4 year extended warranties that run $159.99, $249.99, and $309.99 respectively. However, it is possible to get a 30% discount if the extended warranty if bought at the same time as the MS214. I would probably recommend at least the 2 year extended warranty because it include at home service.

If the computer needs a piece of hardware repaired there is a good chance that the MS214 will have to be shipped back to HP. Since the only to user serviceable parts are the Hard Drive and Memory, those are the only parts HP will will ship to the customer, anything else will have to be done by HP. I have never thought that shipping a computer back to the manufacturer was a good option. I would rather have a replacement machine sent first so the customer is not stuck without a computer for weeks. For this reason you should really consider an extended warranty with at home service.

Conclusion

Overall the Pavilion MS214 is a very low end computer, but if you don’t need or want to play games or watch 1080p movies, then this should be good enough.The price is also matched to the hardware. At just under $600 this seems to be a decent price. I actually found it on Amazon for $598 with free shipping and no taxes. If your in the market for a budget All-In-One then the Pavilion MS214 will certainly make a great impression.

As an after thought, if HP would add a TV tuner this would be a perfect TV replacement for a kitchen counter. I have a small TV and computer in my kitchen right now and I would love to replace it with an All-In-One like this. I did review the HP Touchsmart a few months ago, but I didn’t like it very much because it was big and had a glossy screen. The Pavilion MS214 is the perfect size and the screen is not glossy. Please HP, add an internal TV tuner, IR port, and remote, I might actually buy one if you do.