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FIRST LOOKS
• The iPod
Does Video
• The Best THE BEST
Home Media DESKTOPS
Center Ever! & NOTEBOOKS
www.pcmag.com THE INDEPENDENT GUIDE TO TECHNOLOGY DECEMBER 6, 2005
Holiday
Gifts
94
Great
Gadgets and Games
PLUS: How to Get the Best Price!
MICHAEL J. MILLER
Forward Thinking
This Year’s Holiday Trends In a year that has
been defined by trag-
What’s the number one American pastime? Some- bilities are what have made notebooks useful and
times I think it’s holiday shopping. Halloween practical. In fact, they are on track to sell more
edies, I hope you’ll
hasn’t even arrived yet as I write this, and already units than desktops—if not this year, then soon. take a moment to
we’re seeing holiday sales. As for music, I love some of the new players.
Technology products remain top gift items, so And I’m intrigued by their latest capabilities. I’m
think about helping
our editors have gathered a list of our favorites not totally sold on video yet, but I have found that people whose needs
(page 131). And we’ve looked at top desktops and the subscription-music services have given me
notebooks at just about every price point—from new choices in how I listen to music. are far more basic.
entry-level machines (page 146) to high-end gam- Naturally, we have to mention cameras in any
er desktops (page 36). We’ve also evaluated great holiday gift discussion. The folks I know who have
ways to compare prices online (page 32). moved to digital SLRs say they are taking a lot more
This holiday season, the biggest category may pictures, then keeping only ones they really like.
be HDTVs. In particular, the sports fans I know Every way you turn, you’ll see great gift possi-
find HDTV to be a huge improvement over regular bilities. But in a year that has been defined by trag-
TV, making the games much more lifelike. edies—from the tsunami in Asia, to the hurricanes
As for computers, most projections say that about in the Gulf, to the problems in Darfur—I hope
half the consumer desktops sold this holiday season you’ll also take a moment to think about helping
will have the Media Center Edition of Windows. people whose needs are far more basic.
But it won’t matter much unless the PC also has a
TV tuner and is hooked up to a decent display—
either an HDTV or a nice desktop LCD. I’m amazed
at how inexpensive 19-inch LCDs are; a 21- to 24-inch
wide screen or a pair of smaller LCDs can change
the way you use your computer. And the new dual-
core machines make a huge difference in your com-
puting experience, particularly when you’re doing
something in the background, such as recording a
TV show or running an antivirus scan.
More people will be looking at notebooks as
desktop replacements. Some of the new machines
run nearly as fast as desktops. But wireless capa-
or transfer it to one of the Portable Media Centers, Housewives, for $1.99 each. This solution can end
or to another video player. And for now, you can up being a lot more expensive than what the Porta-
do this without paying for individual television ble Media Centers or the Archos AV series offer—
episodes. Still, not a lot of people have chosen a but it is relatively simple and elegant. (Though if
Windows Portable solution. you want to view content in other formats on the
Why not? I don’t think people really want TV or iPod, you have to use extra software and convert
movies on such a small screen—fi rst, because bat- the fi les, and you’re back to the complexity of the
tery life is a lot shorter for video other solutions.)
viewing than for listening to mu- My guess is that a lot of buyers of new iPods will
sic. (Apple does say its new iPod try out video, but it will be mostly a curiosity for
will be used primarily for listen- now. Watch this space, though: Apple has down-
ing to music.) More important, played the Media Center concept in the past, but
moving large video f iles and along with the new iPod, it introduced the relative-
coding them in the right format ly unheralded Front Row, a new “10-foot” interface
for your device is often complex. and remote for the iMac.
I think video works better on a Still, the basic concept of downloading a TV
laptop, for now. episode and then playing it on your PC or iPod is
Where Apple has made a big a harbinger of things to come. The iPod is posi-
difference is, as usual, in the tioned to be the fi rst popular handheld device for
software and services around the product. playing video, but we all want to see TV and es-
The best thing about the iPod is how well it pecially movies available for easy downloading.
works with the iTunes software and service, and With faster Internet connections and even faster
the same is likely to be true in the video world. transfers between devices and PCs, I expect video
The big news is Apple’s ability to offer 2,000 mu- downloaded to PCs and portable devices will be
sic videos, a number of Pixar shorts, and ABC TV very popular in the future—and will impact a lot
episodes, including the shows Lost and Desperate more devices than just the iPod.
Right now, though each country controls its one, but it’s as open as we’re likely to get. Making
own top-level domains and can decide what it will information accessible to everyone is too important
or will not allow, the Internet has few restrictions a goal to be left to an international commission.
on content. But while our government hasn’t had
a perfect record on freedom of speech, most oth- MORE ON THE WEB: Join us online and make your
er countries are much less open. One can easily voice heard. Talk back to Michael J. Miller in our
imagine a U.N. group deciding that the Internet opinions section, www.pcmag.com/miller.
www.pcmag.com
DE C E M B E R 6 , 2 0 0 5 • VOL . 2 4 NO. 2 2
First Looks
32
131
Web Services COVER STORY
• Become.com
Holiday Gifts:
• MySimon
• PriceGrabber.com
• Shopping.com
2005
• Smarter.com
• Shopzilla
36 Desktop PCs
Wish
• Alienware Aurora
7500 SLI
• Dell Dimension
XPS 600
List
• Falcon Northwest
X2-4800 SLI
• iBuyPower Aeon
• Overdrive
Torque.SLI
• Polywell Poly
939N4-SLI2
• Velocity Micro Gamers’
Edge DualX
• Voodoo Omen a121 L
61 Media Center PCs
• Sony VAIO XL1 Digital
Living System L
64 Entertainment Build up your gift list and put a smile on
Technology
• Apple iPod 30GB K your favorite people’s faces with these
• Archos choice technology goodies. We’ve brought
Gmini 402
together an amazing assortment of products:
70 Mobile Devices
some of our favorites from earlier in the year
• Palm Z22
and some coming out just in time for this
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN WILKES; CAMERA PHONE PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD BERENHOLTZ/CORBIS
• Palm TX
77 Printers holiday season.
• Ricoh Aficio G700
132 Phones/PDAs/Messaging 137 Gamer Gear
80 Displays 133 Audio Gadgets 138 Kids’ Stuff
• ViewSonic PJ256D K 136 Cameras/Camcorders 140 Gifts for Everyone
• Sharp lL-193A
28 COMING ATTRACTIONS: Apple Power Mac G5 and new PowerBooks; NEC Discussions: Log on and participate!
(discuss.pcmag.com/pcmag)
Showcase Series: 42XR4, 50XR5, and 61XR4; Logitech QuickCam Fusion;
Downloads: Check out our indexed
ProStores 6.0; PassAlong Networks’ OnTour; RxWise. list of utilities from A to Z.
(go.pcmag.com/utilities)
Solutions Opinions E XC LU S I V E C O LU M N S
108 Before You Give Away Your 7 Michael J. Miller: DVORAK ONLINE
Forward Thinking K Each Monday,
Old PC: Here’s what to do in
97 John C. Dvorak John C. Dvorak
order to prepare an aging com-
gives you his take on
puter for a new home. 99 John C. Dvorak’s Inside Track
what’s happening in
112 Hardware: Make your photo- 101 Jim Louderback
high tech today. Visit
graphs even more compelling by 103 Bill Howard
go.pcmag.com/dvorak.
adding information about where
ULANOFF ONLINE
you’ve been.
117 DIY Internet: Improve your After Hours K And each Wednesday,
Lance Ulanoff puts his
favorite Web sites in Firefox with 184 Holiday Software: Games
own unique spin on
Greasemonkey user scripts. make great gifts, and there’s
technology. Visit
120 Security Watch: Though promis- no dearth of fun offerings go.pcmag.com/ulanoff.
ing, SMTP authentication is still coming out for the holidays;
a work in progress. we also include some non-
124 Business: How one far-flung game titles to consider.
small business centralized its
Coming up:
telephone system.
127 User to User: How to watch for Also in This Issue • Radeon X1800 XT and X800 XL
• Silverstone SG01B Micro ATX case
unwanted Registry changes, 93 Feedback • NAS Roundup
and more. 190 Backspace (www.extremetech.com)
PI PE LI N E
T E C H N O L O G Y T R E N D S & N E W S A N A LY S I S
FOR SHUTTERBUGS
Robot Dust Intel’s Portable Prototypes On the heels of its
Less is more at the Dart- iMac and video iPod
mouth College Thayer School GIVEN THE RISE OF MOBILE technology, portability,
power, and cost savings are big themes in Intel’s labs. Those
announcements,
Microengineering Lab, where
researchers have built the were the drivers for several innovations at the recent Inside
Apple Computer has
world’s smallest untethered Intel’s Labs event in New York. unveiled its $499
mobile robots. Thinner than Researchers unveiled a tiny, Windows XP PC called Ruby, high-end photogra-
a human hair, these micro- about 5 inches by 3 inches in size, which runs on approxi- phy software, Aper-
robots are too tiny for a bat- mately 5 watts of system power. The unit was designed with ture. The software
tery, but can be remotely con- a built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and light de- is designed to offer
trolled on a special insulated tector for battery-life optimization. If the unit senses that it advanced and faster
surface, says Christopher is stationary in a dark space, it hibernates. When it feels mo- ways to work with
Levey, director of the micro- tion and light, background systems turn on and the display RAW images, which
engineering lab. “It is remark- comes up with face recognition. are much larger and
Intel’s Personal Wireless Media Server seeks to make
able to make something that
small and send it controls.” content available for multiple devices. Developers installed
more detailed than
As microelectromechani- a Web server on a hard-disc-based cell phone and were
JPEG images, and
cal systems, or MEMS, the able to instantly sync the phone, a PC , and a television. No new ways for
software installation was required on the computer. Using photographers to
a Bluetooth connection, the PC was able to access the phone’s sort and navigate
hard drive and browse its contents. photo collections.
Intel also has a prototype candy-bar cell phone that in- A Loupe magnify-
cludes Wi-Fi, VoIP, cell, and Bluetooth wireless technologies. ing tool lets you
The phone can switch to the most reliable and cheapest wire- examine portions of
less options available as you move. images in granular
“We want to fi nd out what people are doing in their lives
and inform technology,” says Brooke Foucault, a design
detail without hav-
researcher at Intel. All these technologies are prototypes for
ing to zoom and pan
microrobots aren’t pre- now, but could move out of the labs soon.—NPF across large files.
programmed to move, but
smart cards? —Karen Jones will pay to be able to get government organizations less signal. —SR
NET MOVIES Representing a big endorsement of grassroots Internet video, MTV has acquired
iFilm.com—the Net provider of short films, amateur movies, and news clips—for $49 million.
MTV hopes to build iFilm’s audience up to 10 million viewers per month.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
T
he Apple Power Mac G5
desktop line has made its
long-awaited debut with the
T webcam includes a true 1.3-
megapixel sensor, improved
image quality even in challenging
Quad and Dual models, alongside lighting situations, an integrated
three new PowerBook notebooks. microphone, and Logitech’s Right-
The new desktops include faster Sound technology to eliminate echo.
processors, more RAM, and updated The camera also comes with Logitech
graphic capabilities. The G5 Quad Video Effects software, which allows
offers quad-core processing with users to transform themselves into 3D
two 2.5-GHz dual-core PowerPC animated characters or don cartoon-
G5 processors, 512MB of 533-MHz style accessories.— MKM
DDR2 SDRAM expandable up to 16GB, $99.99 list. Logitech, www.logitech.com.
a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive, and
an nVidia GeForce 6600 graphics card. The PowerBook’s new lineup—12-inch,
15-inch and 17-inch models—promises improved screen resolution and longer-life
batteries, as well as the DVD-burning SuperDrive.—Molly K. McLaughlin
Quad: $3,299 direct; Dual (2.0 GHz): $1,999; Dual (2.3 GHz): $2,499; 12-inch PowerBook G4: $1,499;
15-inch: $1,999; 17-inch: $2,499. Apple Computer Inc., www.apple.com.
provides price com- ports multiple lists, ments or search for a specific
pa r ison s for ever y- thus letting you cat- item, you’ll have an easy time
thing from auto parts egorize items as you navigating the site. Handy
to mortgages to video see fit. You could put comparison grids include
games, all wrapped in digital cameras in one merchant ratings, product
an attractive, lively in- list, big-ticket wish availability, and bottom-line
terface. items in another, and pricing. PriceGrabber also
The main entryway so on. Complementing incorporates user reviews
lists over two dozen that, Price Alerts will and, for some products, “ex-
departments, each with notify you via e-mail pert” reviews (usually links
a ha nd f u l of ha ndy when the price for a to outside content). There’s
q u ic k-l i n k s . Under given item dips below even a mobile version of the
Books, for instance, a specified amount. site accessible from any WAP
we found a Harry Pot- THE BREADTH OF CATEGORIES covered by PriceGrabber caters browser-equipped phone.
ter link, which took PriceGrabber’s search results is impressive. to sellers a lmost as What’s missing? Shopping
us straight to a price- well as it does to buy- guides, buying advice, and
comparison page for the Half- PriceGrabber.com ers. All you need is a credit other research tools. But even
Blood Prince hardcover. Alas, A not her Web vet- card to create a StoreFront, without them, PriceGrabber.
the site linked us to only four eran, PriceGrabber where you can sell just about com remains our first desti-
vendors for it, and to just five . c o m s h a r e s m y - anything PriceGrabber lists. nation for buying online.
for Kelly Clarkson’s latest CD. Si mon’s 20t h- cen- For instance, if you want PriceGrabber.com
We expected more. tury heritage. It also to sell your Kelly Clarkson PriceGrabber.com LLC, www.price-
Once you scroll past my- shares an admirable breadth CD , just do a search for it, grabber.com. llllm
Simon’s departments and of product and service cat- then click Sell Yours. When
featured items (which in- egories, the latest being cell other users search for that Shopping.com
clude seasona l picks a nd phones and travel. CD, they’ll see yours along- If your online shopping trips
noteworthy gear), you’ll find One exclusive feature is side the merchant listings. frequently include visits to
CNET ’s buying guides for t he coupon s l i n k , auction sites, you’ll
things like PCs, digital cam- wh ich di rects you want to stop by eBay-
eras, and MP3 players. The site to hundreds of mer- owned Shopping.com
also serves up several dozen c h a n t a n d m a n u - (which is the service
product guides from Con- facturer discounts. PCM ag.com uses for
sumer Reports (though it’s the B row s e yo u r way its shopping links). In
same free content available at into the Computers, addition to standard-
the magazine’s own site). Photo, or Electron- issue price compari-
But the site’s real strength ics categories a nd sons, the site links
is price comparison. When you’ll f ind another you to the auction
browsing for, say, digital cam- link listing rebates. giant’s listings. Thus
eras, you can narrow your Better still, when you SHOPPING.COM LINKS to not only merchant you get one -stop
search by price, resolution, search for a product sites, but also items available via eBay auctions. shopping, though not
manufacturer, or even some- that has an available necessarily the best
thing as obscure as zoom rebate, PriceGrabber dis- When you make a sale, Price- of both worlds.
range. Price comparisons plays the link prominently Grabber skims off a fl at rate The site’s 16 browsable cat-
appear in a thorough, well- within the results—no need of $1 plus 4.75 percent of the egories include Books, Cars,
organized grid, complete with to go looking for it. purchase price. Mortgages, and Hotels. The
out-the-door pricing (includ- Custom i zation options As PriceGrabber has so latter is a weak entry; it’s
ing sales tax and shipping). abound. Though many price- many unique features, it’s limited to major cities and
mySimon comparison sites let you add easy to overlook its powerful doesn’t accurately sort hotels
CNET Networks Inc., items to a personal shopping price-grabbing capabilities. by price. Also prominent on
www.mysimon.com. lllhm list, only PriceGrabber sup- Whether you browse depart- the home page: Shopping
.com’s Top 5, a rating- and Shopzilla (including tax and shipping), found when searching for
popularity-driven roundup of Shopzilla doesn’t ma ke a provides merchant ratings, Kelly Clarkson and Harry
monitors, blenders, car seats, fabulous first impression. It and shows whether a store Potter ; Sma r ter.com wa s
and other seemingly dispa- has a cutesy name and a clut- has an item in stock (with the only price-comparison
rate product categories. tered, generally unappealing quantities, in some cases). site that didn’t factor in tax
M o s t p r o d u c t s e a r c h home page. We also found its Product ratings and reviews and shipping rates for those
results include reviews of the pages slow to load. But once come mostly from Biz Rate, items. Consequently, the low-
product, the store, or a separate but simi- est price it displays for any
both. These come pri- la r price-compa ri- given product may not be the
marily from Epinions. son site ow ned by lowest out-the-door price.
com, though for some Shopzilla. What ’s more, while most
products (mostly in You can bookmark grids can be sorted by price
t he computer c at- or e-mail any product or merchant, a few didn’t
egory), Shopping.com page, though printer- even have that option.
also links to profes- friendly listings aren’t Smarter.com acts a little
sional reviews. We an option. Shopzilla smarter with big-ticket com-
wish the site offered also lets you add items puter and electronics items,
buying advice; as it to a shopping list for adding conveniences like
stands, you’ll have to BEHIND SHOPZILLA’S cluttered UI hides some later review, but the product deta i ls a nd user
do your research else- of the most exhaustive price-comparison lists. option appears only reviews (though not prod-
where. The site offers when you’re browsing uct availability). Even bet-
no product tracking or other you start browsing its endless (and then only with certain ter, it gives you bottom-line
personalized tools. departments and searching items). When viewing the pricing, taxes and shipping
Although some other sites for specific items, you may actual price comparison, the i ncluded. Un for t u nately,
include links to eBay listings, find reason to stick around. “add to list” link is nowhere these numbers aren’t broken
Shopping.com breaks them The site offers useful tools to be found. out separately as on other
out in a separate box (which for shoppers and some of the Still, Shopzilla does an comparison sites; all you see
resides at the bottom of the most exhaustive price com- effective job of pricing CD s, is t he tota l pr ice. If you
page). Here you get some- parisons in the group. books, and all the rest. mouse over it, tax and ship-
thing akin to an eBay mini- We started off shopping for Shopzilla ping rates appear in a little
portal. But for some reason, the Casio camera. Shopzilla Shopzilla Inc., www.shopzilla.com. pop-up, but we’d much rather
some products bear no eBay connected us with a whop- lllhm see the data within the grid.
links at all, even when there ping 66 stores that carry it, far Worse than that, all shipping
are listings for them on the more than any other site. It Smarter.com costs are estimated, meaning
auction site. also came up with the lowest Smarter.com has relatively most of these out-the-door
We also have a gripe with price for that model, though few departments to browse, prices aren’t accurate.
the price-comparison grids: it turned out to be inaccurate: and it does a poor job spot- The service does have a
Shopping.com often lists only The merchant’s price was l ig ht i ng products w it h i n few bright spots, including
“featured stores” (those that actually $100 higher. What’s those departments. But its phone-based price lookups
have paid for more prominent more, we found no way of real problem lies in its prod- via SMS . Like Become, it has
placement), requiring you to choosing between the a dynamic search en-
click another link to see the camera’s three differ- gine that attempts to
complete grid. On the other ent colors; other sites guess the product name
hand, the search engine did let us pick one before as you type. The site
a great job differentiating the comparing prices. looks attractive a nd
various Harry Potter editions O n t he plu s side , enables targeted, filtered
(hardcover, deluxe, and so Shopzilla directed us to browsing in a dozen
on), thus making it easier to a brief but informative main categories, includ-
select the right comparison. digital-camera buying ing phone services. And
But while it managed to fi nd guide, complete with it connects with a decent
one of the lowest prices in three spotlight mod- number of merchants,
the group for Book Six (cour- els targeted at begin- eBay among them. But
tesy of Wal-Mart), that mer- ning, intermediate, and SMARTER.COM NEEDS to do its homework because it lacks buy-
chant’s price wasn’t included advanced users. That’s before it can move to the head of the class. i ng g uides a nd does
in the search results for Kelly currently the only buy- a generally poor job
Clarkson’s CD —and it was ing guide the site has to offer, uct listings, which vary in with product listings, we
the lowest. So while the site but we did fi nd glossaries for value from one product cat- think most shoppers should
is good, it could do better. things like MP3 players, TVs, egory to another and often aggregate elsewhere.
Shopping.com and notebook PCs. include nothing more than Smarter.com
eBay Inc., www.shopping.com. Like all good aggregators, price, merchant, and mer- Smarter.com, www.smarter.com.
lllmm Shopzilla itemizes its prices chant rating. That’s what we llmmm
L
ater in this issue you’ll array. The 500GB certainly Sound Blaster X-Fi sound
find our reviews of 32 of come in handy for the boa rd. T he X-
the latest desktop and DVR features of the Fi sound is
notebook PCs (see “Desktops Media Center op- immersive, and
and Notebooks for Ever y erating system. c a n i m pr ove
Budget,” page 144). Those T he Au ror a bot h ga m i ng
systems are fi ne for the vast delivered a and music
majority of home and busi- smooth 95 playback.
ness PC buyers. But if your frames per The XPS
passion is gaming, this is the s e cond or 600 is sur-
roundup to read. We’ve gath- better on prisingly
ered eight screaming high- ou r D o om YOU GET A LOT quiet. Even
end systems from the leading 3 tests. That’s great, but the for the money with the Dell with its six
boutique makers to see which Falcon Northwest X2-4800 XPS 600. cooling fans, it won’t drive
of these high-powered, high- SLI bests it. The Aurora also you up the wall even during
priced beauties is worthy of lags the Voodoo entry here performance, there are less high-CPU-use scenarios.
your 3D gaming abilities. on the Splinter Cell tests, if expensive alternatives with The X PS 600 should be
only by a few fps. even better performance. able to m a ke m i ncemeat
Alienware Aurora 7500 SLI The XPS 600 packs a multi- out of any day-to-day tasks,
Alienware is one of the more Alienware Aurora 7500 SLI media-friendly 660GB of even while recording TV in
visible players in the gaming With 2.8-GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 hard drive space (two speedy the background. The X PS
processor (overclocked to 3.02 GHz),
PC arena, and its Aurora 7500 10,000-rpm hard drives in a 600’s Doom 3 scores were
1GB 400-MHz DDR SDRAM, two
SLI is nothing if not conspic- 250GB 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives RAID 0 array, plus a 500GB between 78 fps (in Ultra-
uous. With its retro-inspired in a RAID 0 array, two nVidia GeForce drive for storage). It a lso quality mode) and 102 fps (in
7800 GTX graphics cards, dual-layer
black ex terior a nd g reen comes with the Microsoft Medium-quality mode). This
DVD ±RW drive, DVD-ROM/CD-RW
backlighting, the Aurora is combo drive, Creative Sound Blaster Windows XP Media Center means that the game is play-
as flashy as the atmospheric Audigy 4 Pro sound card, Alienware Edition operating system and able no matter what settings
phenomenon that shares its ALX 5.1 surround speakers by Klipsch, two standard-definition TV you turn on. Heavily over-
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center
name. Although it is at the Edition 2005. $5,668 direct. Alienware tuners. So it’s both a gaming clocked and liquid-cooled
pinnacle of Alienware’s gam- Corp., www.alienware.com. llllm machine and a multimedia systems, like the Voodoo
ing PC lineup, there are bet- powerhouse. Omen and Falcon Northwest
ter choices out there at this Dell Dimension XPS 600 The XPS 600’s case is plas- X2-4800 SLI , will get higher
price level (namely the Fal- When we last reviewed the tic, so you don’t get the solid scores on the gaming tests,
con Northwest and Voodoo Dell XPS 600, it had a single- feel of some all-metal cases but such results are more
entries here). core Pentium 4 EE processor. from boutique vendors, but it about bragging rights than
Inside the unmistakably The latest incarnation has a helps keep the price down (if playability: During ga me
Alienware chassis, you’ll find dual-core Pentium Extreme just a little). The case itself is play at 1,600-by-1,200 reso-
plenty of space for additional Edition 840 processor in- tool-less and easy to work in, lution, 74 fps looks just as
hard drives. The Audigy 4 stead, pumped up to the max- so in case you do eventually smooth as 95 fps.
sound card, single TV tuner imum 3.6 GHz. While the fast want to upgrade the compo- So while not the 3D game
card, and twin GeForce 7800 EE 840 processor and dual nents, it’s a snap. leader, the Dell XPS 600 makes
GTX KO cards use the avail- GeForce 7800 GT X ca rds A lt houg h t he X P S 6 0 0 a case for itself as a gaming
able PCI and PCIe slots—but resu lt i n ver y good has a multitude of PCIe and PC for the multitasking multi-
with all that, you really don’t PCI slots, they’re all fi lled media hound.
need anything else. The w it h g r aph ic s c a rd s , Dell Dimension XPS 600
Gatorade-colored liquid With 3.2-GHz Intel Pentium Extreme
cooling the CPU and the Edition 840 (overclocked to 3.6
sound-deadening mate- GHz), 1GB 667-MHz DDR2 SDRAM,
two 80GB 10,000-rpm SATA hard
rial in the Aurora keeps
drives in a RAID 0 array, 500GB
it quieter than some of 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive, two
its purely air-cooled 256MB nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX
competitors. Neatly graphics cards (SLI), dual-layer DVD
± RW drive, DVD-ROM drive, Creative
tied and routed cables Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card, Logi-
help keep airf low ef- tech Z5500 5.1 speakers, Windows XP
ficient. The Aurora has Media Center Edition 2005. $4,699
direct (E-Value code 6V411-X600PC).
500GB of hard drive space, UNMISTAKABLY ALIENWARE, the Aurora is a liquid- Dell Inc., www.dell.com.
thanks to twin 250GB Serial cooled, green-glowing gaming rig worthy of the name. lllhm
Falcon Northwest The X2-4800’s Doom 3 scores iBuyPower Aeon quence of all these fans and
X2-4800 SLI at 1,600-by-1,200 resolution T h a n k s to it s fou r h a rd spinning drives is noise: The
Fa lcon Nor t hwest (both High and Ultra quality) drives, the iBuyPower Aeon Aeon is loud.
has certainly deliv- are top-notch. The Falcon’s system is a gaming rig that Two of the hard drives are
ered w it h t he X 2- Splinter Cell frame rates can hold a whole lot of stuff. 10,000-rpm drives in a RAID
4800 SLI. If you have are also excellent, ensur- It doesn’t have quite the same 0 array, and this does help
the roughly ing you’ll see performance as its peers here, the Aeon get near-top scores
$6,000 for a system, ro ck- ste ady but it’s still competitive. in the SYSmark 2004 SE tests.
you’ll be getting a well- game play. The Aeon came to us in a But those drives consume a
made unit with a kick With 600GB simple, mostly silver case. lot of power and provide less
like a mule. of drive space, W h i l e r e l a t i ve l y c l e a n - drive space overall than the
T he automotive - looking, it appears no two 300GB 7,200-rpm drives
quality paint job has the different from a really also housed in the case. We
“6-foot-deep reflection” good home-built PC , think the two 300GB drives
that you see in a brand new especially without a would have been enough.
car. The only thing to be care- windowed side panel Having two R AID 0 arrays
ful about is that it is car or custom paint job. gives a gaming user limited
paint, and you can nick Inside, ever y nook performance benefit, while
it fairly easily. a nd cra n ny is doubling the points of failure
Keep your keys filled with compo- (if one drive in a RAID 0 array
and other sharp nents and wiring. fails, data on both drives is
metal items T h e re a re t wo lost). We would have either
away from the g raphics ca rds, used only the 300GB drives,
c a s e , a nd b e four hard drives, or kept the two 300GB drives
sure to keep a buffing cloth 2GB of RAM , and as separate entities.
handy for fingerprints. THE FALCON entry delivered a power-hungry FX- 57 CPU. The Aeon’s gaming per-
The X2-4800’s Athlon 64 top scores on many 3D tests. Though iBuyPower did use formance was very good,
X2 processor is liquid-cooled, round cables that would nor- thanks to the two GeForce
using a sealed system that there is plenty of room for mally help airflow, the cables 7800 GTX KO cards. With
won’t require maintenance. videos, photos, games, and themselves are not routed 93 fps on Doom 3 at 1,600-
However, the sealed system the like. And there is more well. The resulting airflow is by-1,200 (Ultra quality) and
means that the dual nVidia than enough space in the anemic, so the system ends 82 fps on Splinter Cell (at
GeForce 7800 GTX graph- X2’s case for additional hard up running 1,600-by-1,200), you should
ics cards must be air-cooled. drives. The Creative Sound have a stutter-free gaming
Sound-deadening matting Blaster X-Fi sound card and experience. However, the
helps keep internal noises Klipsch 5.1 speakers deliver Aeon placed below systems
from escaping the case. an immersive soundstage for in the same price range
The dual-core CPU is over- gaming and music. (such as the Overdrive
clocked to 2.7 GH z (from It’s pricey, but the Falcon PC Torque.SLI) as well
the 2.4 GH z standard). This Northwest X2-4800 SLI as gaming systems in a
tweaking results in one of gives you the rich gam- lower price range (the Ve-
the highest SYS mark 2004 ing experience you crave, locity Micro entry).
SE Internet Content Creation w it h t he for wa rd- With the iBuyPower
scores we’ve seen (335). No looking technology Aeon, you’ll have a rich
doubt this system will be you need to keep gaming experience and
blazing in multimedia tasks up w it h ga m- scads of hard drive space.
like video editing, photo ed- ing releases for But we thin k that the
iting, and Web-page build- years to come. Aeon may be a bit too over-
ing. Additionally, the system IBUYPOWER’S AEON may be loaded with components.
should be able to handle run- Falcon Northwest too loaded for its own good.
ning a long multimedia task X2-4800 SLI iBuypower Aeon
in the background (such as With 2.4-GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 on the ragged edge. And we With 2.8-GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-57
4800+ processor overclocked to processor, 2GB 400-MHz DDR SDRAM,
rendering a video project) 2.7GHz, 1GB 400-MHz DDR SDRAM,
worry that the 680W power two 74GB 10,000-rpm SATA hard
while you continue to work two 300GB 7,200-rpm SATA hard supply is overloaded: We had drives in a RAID 0 array, two 300GB
(or play) in the foreground. drives in a RAID 0 array, two 256MB trouble running our bench- 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives in a RAID
nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX graph- 0 array, two 256MB nVidia GeForce
You’ll also be ready for multi- mark tests until we found
ics cards (SLI), dual-layer DVD ± RW 7800 GTX KO graphics cards (SLI),
threaded games when they drive, DVD-ROM drive, Creative Sound that an errant power cable dual-layer DVD ±RW drive, DVD-ROM
appear next year. Blaster X-Fi sound card, Klipsch 5.1 was stopping one of the cool- drive, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
The two graphics cards Ultra surround speakers, Windows ing fans from turning. Once sound card, Logitech z5500 5.1 speak-
XP Professional. $5,671 direct. Falcon ers, Windows XP Professional. $4,999
help the Falcon system deliver Northwest, www.falcon-nw.com. we cleared the blockage, the direct. iBuyPower Computer,
a great 3D gaming experience. llllh tests ran fine. Another conse- www.ibuypower.com. lllhm
Alienware Aurora 7500 SLI 218 267 241 12,836 8,689 138 100 95 148 89
Dell XPS 600 167 250 204 9,348 7,998 102 83 78 127 74
Falcon Northwest X2-4800 SLI 230 335 278 12,294 8,192 165 109 101 142 78
iBuyPower Aeon 236 270 252 12,671 9,154 136 97 93 135 82
Overdrive Torque.SLI 253 282 267 11,889 9,564 155 109 99 150 88
Polywell Poly 939N4-SLI2 229 262 245 13,019 9,653 127 96 91 138 85
Velocity Micro Gamers’ Edge DualX 221 263 241 13,119 9,974 137 98 93 147 92
Voodoo Omen a121 220 263 241 13,371 10,152 138 100 95 150 94
RED denotes Editors’ Choice.
Velocity Micro Gamers’ to tell the difference during flow between the two heat- Theory (94 fps at 1,600-by-
Edge DualX game play. Playing 3D games generating sections (CPU and 1,200). You will get a smooth
The Velocity Micro Gam- on the Gamers’ Edge, even hard drives), while show- gaming experience even at
ers’ Edge DualX is a blazing with the eye candy turned on ing off the intricate beauty the highest resolutions.
gaming system for those who at 1,600-by-1,200 resolution, of the technology. No doubt Internal expandability is a
don’t want to go beyond the will be smooth and detailed. some of the money Voodoo little limited by the cooling
$4,000 price point, and can So if your priorities lie charges goes to the detail in tubes: You really don’t want
forego some of the frills (such with excellent performance, the case: it looks as though to add anything that could
as the automotive paint jobs, and you can do without the someone has spent hours rub against them. Besides,
TV tuners, and liquid cooling extras a $6,000 system de- cutting, crimping, and rout- the interior is a work of art,
systems) found in the $6,000 livers, save yourself a couple ing every wire, then polish- and you wouldn’t want any
gaming monsters. thousand bucks and look at ing the interior until it glows. add-ons, and their wires, to
the Gamers’ Edge. Again, this is the best-look- detract from that. Better to
ing machine (at least on the use Voodoo’s Upgrade As-
Velocity Micro Gamers’ inside) that we’ve seen. surance program to help out
Edge DualX The cooling tubes are filled with future technology. The
With 2.8-GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX- with blue Slurpee-colored liq- company will upgrade the
57 (overclocked to 2.94 GHz), 1GB
400-MHz DDR SDRAM, two 74GB uid, keeping the overclocked parts you want, clean up your
10,000-rpm SATA hard drives CPU and graphics cards out system inside and out, and
in a RAID 0 array, of the meltdown range. While then test it thoroughly before
250GB 7,200-rpm
SATA hard drives,
not a quiet PC by any means, shipping it back to you.
two nVidia GeForce the system is quieter than a We close this review with
7800 GTX graph- purely air-cooled Athlon FX a warning: If you have the
ics cards (SLI),
dual-layer DVD ±RW drive, DVD-ROM
with SLI graphics. And the means to buy the Voodoo
drive, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi liquid cooling is likely to con- Omen a121, you had better
THE GAMERS’ EDGE gives sound card, Creative GigaWorks Pro tribute to more stable com-
G500 5.1 surround speakers, Windows
great performance, for less. puting as well, since it keeps
XP Home, $3,570 direct. Velocity
Micro Inc., www.velocitymicro.com. t he system f rom
Using a windowed version llllm
of Velocity Micro’s Signature
case, the latest Gamers’ Edge Voodoo Omen a121
is well put together, with neat- The Voodoo Omen
ly tie-wrapped and routed a121 excels as a gam-
cables. Good thing, since the ing system and is one
FX- 57 and its graphics cards of the best-looking
are air-cooled and displayed PC s we’ve ever
for all the world to see. Cool seen. If you have $6,000
interior lighting completes to spend on a new PC , it
the effect, bathing the interi- will have your friends
or of the chassis with a clini- drooling and your gam-
cal blue glow. Expandability ing enemies trembling.
is limited by the plethora of The Omen is a Media Cen-
components already in the ter Edition PC with one tera- THE INTERIOR OF THE VOODOO Omen a121 is a work of art that
case (three hard drives, four byte of drive space. You can features perfectly routed cables and a mirrored divider.
PCI /PCIe cards, and an inter- use the DVR features of the
nal fan that takes up another OS to watch and record your approaching the FX-57 ’s ther- have the gaming skills to jus-
card slot). favorite shows. The nVidia mal threshold, which ages the tify the purchase. Because
Thanks to the twin nVidia graphics cards are meant for processor rapidly. if you show up to a gaming
GeForce 7800GTX graphics gaming, so our Omen came The flash would be noth- event with one of these, all
cards, the Gamers’ Edge was with an external Hauppauge ing without the horsepower to eyes will be on you.
a solid performer. It trailed tuner to handle TV chores. back it up, and the Omen has
Voodoo Omen a121
the more expensive Voodoo Of cou rse, t he Omen’s that in droves. Voodoo over-
With 2.8-GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-57
Omen in the Splinter Cell MCE features are secondary clocked the Athlon FX-57 pro- processor overclocked to 3.0 GHz, 1GB
1,600-by-1,200 test by only to its gaming prowess—and cessor to 3.0 GH z (normally 400-MHz DDR SDRAM, two 500GB
2 f ps. T he Ga mers’ Edge its attention-grabbing case. 2.8 GHz), and dropped in two 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives in a RAID
0 array, two 256MB nVidia GeForce
got mid-pack (though still The Omen’s clear case re- overclocked GeForce 7800
7800 GTX graphics cards, dual-layer
impres sive) scores on the veals a highly detailed inte- GTX KO cards. The result is DVD ±RW drive, integrated Realtek
Doom 3 tests. While it may rior, with a chromed mirror stellar scores on 3DMark05, sound card, Logitech Z-5500 5.1 sur-
not have bragging rights to divider running through the even at 1,600-by-1,200, and round speakers, Windows XP Media
Center 2005. $6,023 direct. Voodoo
the top scores here, we find center. This divider has two also the best scores we’ve ever Computers Inc., www.voodoopc.com.
that you will be hard-pressed purposes: to separate the air- seen on Splinter Cell: Chaos llllh
NEW Dell XPS 400 Direct XPS customer support and Could use a bigger hard drive. Dell’s new luxury multimedia Intel Pentium D 840 530J (3.2
$2,399 direct add-ons. Dual-core performance. desktop suits demanding users who GHz), 1GB RAM, two 160GB hard
llllh Nice widescreen display. Quiet. expect more from a system and drives, 256MB nVidia GeForce 6800
Wireless keyboard and mouse. want the best available. graphics. Doom 3 (10x7): 82 fps.
NEW Falcon Northwest Blazing gaming performance. Pricey. Fingerprints collect on case. The X2-4800 SLI delivers the rich AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (2.7 GHz),
X2-4800 SLI Attractive automotive paint. gaming experience you demand, 1GB RAM, two 300GB drives, dual
$5,671 direct Generous 600GB of drive space and with the forward-looking technology 256MB nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX
llllh 3-year warranty. you need for games yet to come. graphics. Doom 3 (10x7): 165 fps.
NEW Voodoo Media Center in a gaming system. Pricey. Internal sound card instead The Omen excels as a gaming AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 (3.0 GHz), 1GB
Omen a121 Blazing gaming performance. of high-end Creative X-Fi solution. system, and has Windows XP RAM, two 500GB hard drives, dual
$6,023 direct Distinctive case. 1TB of hard drive Media Center Edition to boot. 256MB nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX
llllh space. graphics. Doom 3 (10x7): 138 fps.
MEDIA CENTER
NEW Dell Dimension Newer EM64T-compatible Hard drive is a little small for Media This is a good Media Center for Intel Pentium 4 630 (3.0 GHz),
E510 processor. Twin TV tuners. Quiet Center with TV/PVR. entry-level users or those moving 512MB RAM, 160GB drive, 256MB
$1,299 direct operation. Multimedia keyboard. beyond basic multimedia tasks. ATI Radeon X600 HyperMemory
lllhm graphics, 17-inch LCD.
HP z555 DEC HDTV tuner along with two ATSC tuner doesn’t work with The z555’s HDTV tuner is a nice Intel Pentium 4 530J (3.0 GHz),
$1,999 direct standard-def tuners. Sleek A/V satellite or cable HDTV. Some extra, with its own share of issues. 512MB RAM, 250GB hard drive,
llllm form factor. Quiet. HP Personal crashes and system slowdowns Otherwise, this is feature-packed 128MB nVidia GeForce 6600
Media drives. Plenty of I/O ports. with our early-production unit. Media Center PC. graphics. Doom 3 (10x7): 53 fps.
NEW Sony VAIO XL1 Included 200-disc CD/DVD changer. Changer is loud during some The XL1 approaches Media Center Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8 GHz),
Digital Living System More input/output ports than on operations. Single SDTV tuner. nirvana. You can load 200 CDs and 512MB RAM, 200GB hard drive,
$2,300 direct any other Media Center. 802.11g Smallish hard drive. walk away while the system rips 256MB nVidia GeForce 6200
llllm Wi-Fi. them, then load 200 DVDs. graphics.
ALL-IN-ONE
Apple iMac G5 Simple, stunning design. Quiet. Can’t upgrade graphics. Built-in Apple has another design coup PowerPC G5 (1.8 GHz), 512MB
$2,103 direct Just one cord (for power), thanks speakers don’t deliver much bass. on its hands with the iMac G5. RAM, 160GB hard drive, nVidia
lllll to optional Bluetooth keyboard and It’s about time someone made a GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics, 20-
mouse. Gorgeous 20-inch screen. computer like this. inch widescreen LCD, DVD-R drive.
Sony VAIO VGC-V520G Bright widescreen display. Great A little pricey. No HDTV support. In the spirit of the Apple iMac, the Intel Pentium 4 (3.2 GHz), 1GB
$2,699.99 direct TV tuner. Wireless keyboard with Needs TV/volume controls on the PC components reside behind the RAM, 250GB hard drive, nVidia
llllh built-in touch pad. Wireless mouse. PC/TV case bezel. VGC-V520G’s 20-inch LCD. But Sony GeForce FX Go5700 graphics, 20-
Lots of included software. adds a TV tuner and a DVR. inch LCD. SYSmark: 174.
Velocity Micro Better-than-average graphics Only one optical drive. The Vector SX-V offers the latest Intel Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz),
Vector SX-V card. Motherboard supports the technologies, a wide upgrade path, 512MB RAM, 120GB hard drive,
$999 direct latest technologies. Loaded with and enough horsepower to satisfy nVidia GeForce 6600 graphics.
llllh multimedia features. gamers and multimedia enthusiasts. SYSmark: 188.
BUSINESS
HP dx5150 Business Windows XP x64-capable. PCI x16 Half-height slots. May not fit your The dx5150 benefits from the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz),
Desktop slot for graphics upgrades. AMD- current disk image directives. future-proofing and hardware- 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive,
$915 direct enhanced virus protection. Quiet. based virus protection that the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics.
llllm Built-in dual-display capabilities. AMD Athlon 64 platform offers. SYSmark: 155.
ANALYST'S TIP
JOEL SANTO DOMINGO, Lead Analyst
If you want the ultimate 3D gaming experience, one graphics card—no matter how fast—doesn’t cut it
anymore. You need a dual-card setup. By the time you read this, ATI will have introduced its CrossFire tech-
nology, which is similar to nVidia’s SLI in that both use two GPUs in tandem to improve performance for 3D
games. We’re eager to see which solution comes out on top.
D
on’t call it the Video screen at once, thanks to the you go back to it, you can sim- slightly more robust bass and
iPod, the vPod, or any- larger LCD. On our battery ply resume from where you less distortion. We like that
thing that indicates rundown test, we measured left off. You can also scrub during audio playback album
that this is a video player. It’s 16.5 hours of battery life for through video, though not in artwork and lyrics now stay
simply the iPod, which now the 30GB model, using a real- real time; you scroll through on the screen, rather than the
just happens to have video- world mix of MP3 files encod- a progress bar, and the video device returning to the Now
playback abilities, a larger ed at from 128 to 320 Kbps. jumps to the point where you Playing screen.
screen, a thinner profi le, and The device is rated at 2 hours stop scrolling. One impressive new fea-
improved audio capabilities of video playback. ture is the ability to record in
(such as high-quality stereo The player supports MOV, stereo at 44.1 kHz in WAV for-
recording). Consider that you M P4 , a n d M 4 V ( A p p l e ’s mat via the dock connector.
can now get the 30GB model DRM -protected video con- Of course, this will require a
(with all its enhancements) tent) video files. Content is third-party adapter or micro-
for the same price as the pre- available through the iTunes phone with a dock connector,
vious-generation 20GB model, Music Store, and includes but the feature has been in de-
and you have a pretty impres- 2,000 music videos, multiple mand for quite some time and
sive product. episodes of five TV shows vastly improves upon the pre-
The new 30GB iPod is 30 (including Lost and Desper- vious version’s weak 8-kHz
percent thinner tha n the ate Housewives), six Pixar sample rate.
previous 20GB color model, animated shorts, and plenty Recordings you make are
but the height and width are of free video podcasts. accessible two ways: An auto-
the same. Even the new 60GB You can put your own vid- sync feature in iTunes grabs
model is roughly 10 percent eo files on the new iPod them from your iPod and puts
slimmer than the old 20GB (not just those them right into your iTunes
model. This may not seem purchased from library, restriction-free; the
like a big difference on paper, iTunes), but you fi les are also stored in an un-
but we were impressed with may need to use hidden folder on the iPod,
the new model’s slimmed- QuickTime Pro so you can access them in
down figure when we held ($29.99 direct) to con- disk mode as
the two side by side. vert the files first via well—which
The 2.5-inch backlit LCD, the new Export to could be very
at 320 by 240 pixels, is notice- iPod function, handy for off load-
ably bigger than the previous depending ing onto a device that has
2-inch 220 -by-176 screen. on what co- a USB host port or a PC that
Apple did eliminate the 9- dec was used doesn’t have iTunes on it.
pin remote-control connec- to encode the fi les o r i g i - Unlike the last two genera-
tor in this version, reasoning nally. And of course, mov- THE IPOD FEATURES a larger tions of the iPod (and perhaps
that accessories should go ies you create in iMovie are screen and video playback, all more notably the iPod nano),
through the already-present supported as well. There are in a more slender package. the new iPod ships with a
dock connector rather than also several tips that have ap- slipcover to protect your pre-
through a second propri- peared online for how to get The iPod’s photo capa- cious player from scratches,
etary port. TiVo and DVD content onto bilities remain largely un- which show up easily on the
A new Videos menu i n your iPod. changed, though there are black model. Apple has also
the interface offers access We downloaded an epi- now some new 3D transitions released another accessory:
to video playlists, Movies, sode of Lost and a few video for your slide shows. The big- The new Apple Universal
Music Videos, and Video podc a st s , a nd fou nd t he ger screen, however, does let Dock supports an IR remote
Podcasts (audio podcasts viewing experience remark- you see more of your photos and A/V-mini-jack-to-RCA or
and audiobooks reside in the ably comfortable. Brighter than before. We’d like to see S-video output for watching
Music menu). You can enable shots looked very clear and Apple add support for pan- your video content on a big
or disable TV output, toggle crisp, though, as with most ning and zooming in images. screen. The iPod ships with a
between NTSC and PAL for- devices that play back com- But the iPod’s main focus dock adapter so the iPod fits
mat, and turn the widescreen pressed video, you can often is still music, and Apple (once securely in the Apple Uni-
feature on and off. The stop- see compression artifacts again) has quietly enhanced versal Dock.
watch and screen lock that (like blockiness and banding) the headphone output qual- Apple iPod 30GB
were introduced with the in dark areas. One nice touch ity. Most users won’t hear the
$299 direct (30GB); $399 (60GB).
iPod nano are also present, is that the iPod remembers difference in Apple’s stock Apple Computer Inc., www.apple.com.
although you can now have the point in a video when you earbuds, but if you use bet- lllll
eVGA e-GeForce
Archos Updates Its Media Player 7800GT
Pros: Increased clock
rate over stock nVidia
BY MICHAEL KOBRIN does not support Apple’s ter results. One of the best GPU. Great perfor-
mance. Package in-
N
ever far from the fore- AAC format. features of the device is the
front of portable enter- Subjective sound quality ability to edit your record- cludes Battlefield 2. Lifetime
t a i n m e nt , A rc h o s with the included earbuds is ings; you can crop tracks or warranty.
has upgraded its pocket-size adequate, but highs seem cut from the middle. Cons: Still a tad pricey.
portable media player (the suppressed and mushy, and J P E G a n d B M P p h o to s Bottom line: eVGA juices up
well-regarded Gmini 400) deep bass is lacking. When look very good on the small the clock rates in their version
to include a few of the latest we plugged in our high-end screen, and, although we of the nVidia 7800GT offering
technologies. The new 20GB Etymotic ER- 4P in-ear head- noted some jagged edges, the and bundles in Battlefield 2.
Archos Gmini 402 supports phones, however, sound qual- pixel spacing is tight enough The result is a superb per-
PlaysForSure and Windows ity was very close to pristine, that images retained some former that even includes a
Media DRM for video and au- with plenty of detail as well crispness and had bright, lifetime warranty.
dio. The new model has also as excellent bass response. accu rate colors. We like that $388 street. eVGA, www.evga.com.
jettisoned the previous mod- On our audio lab tests, the you can pan and zoom pho- llllh
el’s CompactFlash card slot in Gmini 402 performed well, tos, view them individually
favor of a more practical USB turning in a nice flat frequen- or in groups of four or nine, Pioneer
host port for connect- and set photos as your XW-HT1
ing directly to USB wallpaper. Slide-show Digital
mass storage class de- features are a bit lim- Wireless
vices. Overall, we’re ited: You ca n set the Speaker
ju st a s i mpre s sed time between slides, but System
with the new version there are no transitions Pros: Good sound. Easy
as we were with the between them, and you to set up. Good reception.
original, though we can’t play music while Cons: Distorts when used as
noticed a few features watching a slide show. a standalone wireless stereo
t hat cou ld sti l l use Video is smooth and speaker.
some tweaking. sharp, with good color. In Bottom line: The XW-HT1 adds
The Gmini 402’s de- a n i m ated scenes , jagged value to any home theater
sign is sleek, with a silver THIS POCKET-SIZE edges become slightly more that doesn’t already include a
plastic shell and a 2.2-inch player can handle your audio, noticeable, but not terribly so. true surround speaker setup.
color LCD that is relatively video, and digital photos. You can easily set the screen It’s also dead simple to set up
bright. The analog controls format to 16:9 or 4:3 aspect and operate, and we think it’s
are quite confusing, though, cy response with solid bass, ratios, and the player sup- a pretty good value.
as many of the buttons per- rolling off just a bit in the ports MPEG - 4 SP in AVI for- $200 street. Pioneer Electronics
form either redundant func- lowest octave. Distortion is mat up to 720 by 480 pixels at Inc., www.pioneerelectronics.com.
tions or do the opposite of admirably low until you push 30 frames per second. Using llllm
what you’d expect. the volume to one step from the TV output and included
In Music mode, the the top of the 99-step scale. A/V cables, we viewed pho- X-OOM Movies on PSP
screen provides a wea lth The device has plenty of tos and video on our 37-inch Pros: Create your own MPEG-4
of i n formation about the power as well, consistently TV monitor, and everything video content to play on the
file being played as well as driving the included earbuds looked very crisp (though Sony PSP.
a two- channel level meter, to 101dB, with peaks of 105dB compression artifacts in our Cons: Utility doesn’t convert
which comes in handy, espe- using our rock test track. animation were more notice- encrypted DVDs.
cially when you’re recording. The Gmini 402’s recording able on the big screen). Bottom line: X-OOM Movies
You can create, edit, rename, capabilities are stunning: It Compared to the new iPod, on PSP is a straightforward
and delete multiple playlists captures audio in PCM WAV the Gmini 402 has a slightly program that helps you
as well as manipulate fi les in or ADPCM WAV format at up smaller screen, but better convert video content to
various ways directly on the to 48 kHz via either the head- battery life when playing vid- MPEG-4 format and load it to
device. The Gmini 402 also phone jack (you’ll have to use eo (5 hours, versus 2 for the a Memory Stick for playback
syncs with Windows Media the included line-in adapter) iPod). With the Apple player, on the PSP. It can’t convert
Player 10, but, unfortunately, or the built-in microphone. you also get a handy source encrypted DVDs (blame Holly-
you can’t transfer playlists You can even set the title of (iTunes) for content. And the wood, not the company), but
to the player (though the fi les the recording via a virtual iPod wins in the form-and- it can handle most other video
in the playlists were suc- keyboard. We heard mini- function department. But the formats.
cessfully synced). An iTunes mal hard drive whine in our Gmini 402 is a strong choice. $26.99 direct. bhv Software GmbH &
plug-in is also available so microphone recordings, and Archos Gmini 402 Co., www.x-oom.com. lllhm
you can sync the Gmini 402 when we used a powered $329.95 direct. Archos Inc.,
with iTunes—but the device microphone, we got even bet-
For an in-depth look at these products,
www.archos.com. llllm
go to go.pcmag.com/guides.
NEW Apple iPod Video looks great on the sharp, Still no pan and zoom for photos. It’s the same excellent music player, 30GB hard drive; 2.5-inch color
$300 street clear screen. Slim design. Well Audio recording requires adapter. now with the added bonuses of screen; AAC, MP3, WAV, JPG, BMP,
lllll integrated with iTunes. Excellent video support, audio-recording capa- MP4; 4.8 ounces; battery life: 14
new audio-recording features. bilities, and enhanced audio quality. hours (audio), 2 hours (video).
Apple iPod nano Very thin. Excellent sound quality. No photo pan or zoom. No FM tuner The iPod nano has an unsurpassed 4GB flash memory; 1.5-inch color
$250 street Color screen. or voice recording. interface, excellent sound quality, screen; AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless,
llllh and an undeniable cool factor. MP3, WAV, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF;
battery life: 14 hours.
NEW Archos Gmini 402 Very good sound quality. Nice- Battery life could be better. No Overall, the Gmini 402 is a fine 20GB hard drive; 2.2-inch color
$329.95 direct looking screen. Video playback FM tuner. No calendar/contacts. player that will satisfy the techie screen; AVI, MP3, WAV, WMA,
llllm is very good. Excellent audio- Buttons are confusing. crowd, but there are a few features JPEG, MP4; 5.6 ounces; battery life:
recording capabilities. we’d like to see in future versions. 10 hours (audio), 5 hours (video).
NEW Delphi XM Roady Small size. Good price. Ticker func- Smallish display can be hard to The XM Roady XT is the smallest, XM satellite radio receiver, 3-line
XT tion for scores and stock quotes. read at a glance while driving. simplest way to add satellite radio monochrome display, 4.0 ounces.
$100 street Coming accessories will expand its to your car.
lllll usefulness beyond the car.
MobiBLU DAH-1500i Very small and light. Good sound. Controls lock via a button instead of The bite-size MobiBLU DAH-1500i 1GB flash memory; four-line
$130 street Excellent recording capabilities. a switch. Included headphones don’t is the smallest, most impressively monochrome screen; MP3, WMS;
llllm Innovative charging/USB cable. let you carry the player in your pants full-featured flash player we’ve 0.6 ounces; battery life: 10 hours.
pocket. Battery life could be better. seen yet.
Tao XM2go Cool-looking design. Rugged feel. Must be powered off to perform The XM2go is a solid portable XM XM satellite radio receiver,
$265 street Buttons are prominent and well scheduled recordings. Indoor satellite radio receiver that lets 128MB flash memory, 2.2-inch
llllm placed. Records up to 5 hours of reception isn’t great. Bulky. you record songs to the built-in monochrome screen, 7.2 ounces;
content. hard drive. battery life: 5 hours.
Creative Sound Blaster Enormous feature set. Stunning Pricey if you don’t need all its The Platinum has all the 7.1 channels, 24-bit/192-kHz
X-Fi Platinum audio quality. Outstanding features. connectivity you need, plus the playback, 24-bit/96-kHz recording.
$200 street interface. Flexible I/O box fits into ability to repair low-bit-rate MP3 Codecs: Dolby Digital EX, DS3D,
lllll a 5.25-inch drive bay. files and badly recorded CD tracks. EAX, DTS, MLP, OpenAL.
NEW eVGA e-GeForce Increased clock rate. Great Still a tad pricey. eVGA juices up the clock rates in its nVidia GeForce 7800 GT GPU
7800GT performance. Package includes version of the nVidia 7800GT. The (445MHz), 256MB RAM (1.1GHz),
$388 street Battlefield 2. Lifetime warranty. result is a superb performer that PCIe, 1,920-by-1,080 top resolution.
llllh even includes a lifetime warranty. Doom 3: 111 fps (1,280-by-1,024).
STORAGE SOLUTIONS
Pioneer DVR-R100 Fast 8X dual-layer and 16X single- No bundled MP3 encoder. The DVR-R100 combines state-of- 16X DVD-R, 16X DVD+R, 8X DL
$89.99 list layer recording. 8X rewriting. the-art recording speeds and a DVD-R, 8X DVD+R, 8X DVD-RW, 8X
llllh Outstanding Ulead software terrific Ulead software bundle at a DVD+RW, 40X CD-R, 32X CD-RW.
bundle. Affordable price. reasonable price. 4.7GB DVD-R test: 6:32.
Seagate External Hard Large storage capacity. Convenient. Software not terribly convenient. A convenient way to increase PC 400GB external hard drive; FireWire
Drive (400 GB) Stacking design. Secure. One- storage or sneakernet your data 400, USB, USB 2.0. Disk transfer
$340 street button backup. around the home or office, this drive rate: 29.2 GBps (USB 2.0), 38.4
llllh is a very good addition indeed. GBps (FireWire).
ANALYST'S TIP
MIKE KOBRIN, Lead Analyst
Video is becoming increasingly prominent in handheld entertainment gadgets. While this feature can be
very compelling, look for a device that focuses on what’s most important to you, whether it’s audio, video,
photos, or gaming. After all, if video is really your top priority, something like a video iPod won’t be nearly
as satisfying as a portable media player with a large, sharp screen and perhaps even recording capabilities.
P
alm Inc. has released dars or sync your existing The terrific Palm TX networks. We used the in-
t wo new PDA s , a nd Microsoft Outlook PIM with is the paragon of the cluded PocketTunes for MP3
both are winners in our your handheld. A few per- Palm PDA . A long, playback and the free Core
book. The $99 Palm Z22 is sonal-organization programs slim slab that closely Media Player for video; both
ideal for students or gadget- also come on the included resembles the earlier work well, and PocketTunes’
phobes who have been CD : SplashShopper, Han D- Tungsten T5, the TX has an Deluxe version ($34.95) sup-
reluctant to commit to a PDA , B ase, and SplashPhoto. We SD memory card slot, built- ports protected WMA-format
while the Palm TX is a solid also wanted to make sure that in Wi-Fi, and a huge 4-inch audio. Yes, the high-end Dell
midrange offering aimed at other, not-included popular screen, which is excellent for Axim X51v beats the TX in
business users who need Wi- games and applications would surfing the Web or reading most ways, but it’s also $200
Fi connectivity that doesn’t run on the device, so we tried documents. more expensive.
break the bank. out Bejeweled, Tradewinds, We connected easily to
and the excellent Documents- both WEP and WPA enabled
Palm Z22 ToGo suite from DataViz Wi-Fi networks on our TX ,
The Palm Z 22 is a (the best program available viewing Web pages in Palm’s
PDA pared down to for reading Microsoft Office Blazer browser and down-
its essence. Small (2.7 documents on a Palm), all of loading e-mail using Palm’s
by 4.1 by 0.6 inches, which worked well. And yes, VersaMail program. The TX
HWD) and light (3.4 there’s full Mac support. can also access the Internet
ounces), the Z22 has a little Pundits say basic PDAs like through Bluetooth phones.
bit of that Apple-esque iLook the Z22 should be dead now Its list of supported phones is
about it. The front panel has that cell phones have PDA better than the T5’s, though
big contacts and calendar functions, but we disagree. there are still some conspicu-
buttons, a power button, and Most phone PDA s are dif- ous omissions, such as the
a five-way navigation rocker, ficult to use and even more Nokia 6620.
and that’s it; there isn’t even a difficult to sync. The Z22 is a We were surprised to fi nd
headphone jack. Battery life is simple, easy-to-use device for that Palm’s Blazer browser
excellent—we got 8 hours, 25 non-techies who want to stay was more compatible than THE BIG SCREEN on the Palm
minutes of continuous use. organized, play a few games, Microsoft’s Mobile Internet TX makes it a pleasure to use.
Though it might resemble a and read a few e-books. The Explorer on some Web pag-
toy, it isn’t. The Z22 can hold Z22 ’s friendly design, simple es (such as Amtrak’s home The TX ’s main weakness
plenty of Palm OS software software, and reasonable page). We were less surprised is its battery life. At just over
and documents in its 20MB power make it the best entry- to find that, compared with 4 hours with Wi-Fi off, it’s
of available, non-perishable level PDA and a fine follow-up the new Pocket Office suite almost exactly on a par with
memory; you sync programs to the Zire 31. on Windows Mobile hand- Palm’s LifeDrive. Most mod-
and information with a stan- Palm Z22 helds, the DocumentsToGo ern Pocket PC s come in at 5
dard USB cable or via infra- $99 direct. Palm Inc., suite from DataViz (which is or 6 hours. The Tungsten E2
red beaming. A 200 - MH z www.palm.com. llllm bundled with the TX) opens and T5 lasted nearly 8 hours
processor—the same used Microsoft Office documents and 5 hours, respectively.
in its predecessor, the Zire faster and maintains format- Palm’s switch to Windows
31—can handle almost any ting just as well. We were Mobile 5.0 for its Treo de-
program designed for the also excited to hear that the vices is a nod to corporate
low-res, 4,096-color, 160-by- upcom i ng Version 8 .0 of buyers who prefer that OS ’s
160 screen. DocumentsToGo promises seamless integration with
In fact, the Z22 is a lot like a decent PDF reader, some- Exchange servers and other
the popular Zire 31 with- thing Palm OS devices have Microsoft infrastructure.
out the Zire’s memory card never had. But the Palm TX proves that
slot. It’s smaller, lighter, and Palm Desktop syncs well the Palm OS can still hold its
cheaper than its predecessor, with Microsoft Outlook PIM own for PIM , Web surfing,
with a bit more built-in mem- information. And yes, the TX and even some multimedia
ory. We miss the card slot, but comes with Mac support. uses. We think it’s the best
we understand Palm had to The TX also beat the HP m id ra nge PDA ava i lable,
make sacrifices to keep the iPAQ rx1950 on all of our per- even though its battery life
Z22 under $100. formance tests: it plays video leaves a bit to be desired.
Palm ships the Z22 with the more smoothly, opens Web Palm TX
usual array of Palm Desktop THE Z22 doesn’t have a lot of pages and Microsoft Word $299 direct. Palm Inc.,
PIM software that lets you features, but that’s the point. documents more quickly, and www.palm.com. llllm
Dell Axim X51v Windows Mobile 5.0 operating Slower at some tasks than models The Axim X51v is loaded with top- Windows Mobile 5.0 OS, 624-MHz
$499 list system brings welcome based on previous OS. Improved, notch features yet can be had for a CPU, 64MB RAM, 3.7-inch 640-by-
llllh improvements. Excellent value. but still so-so, battery life. reasonable price. 480 display, 802.11b, Bluetooth, SD
and CF slots. Battery life: 4:38.
NEW Palm TX Big screen. Inexpensive for a Wi-Fi Comparatively poor battery life. The balance of price and Palm OS 5.4, 312-MHz CPU, 128MB
$299 direct PDA. Very good document software performance make the Palm TX a RAM, 4.0-inch 320-by-480 display,
llllm and Web browser. Slim. terrific midrange PDA. We just wish Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SD/MMC slot, 5.2
its battery lasted longer. oz. Battery life: 4:06.
NEW Palm Z22 Inexpensive. Small and light. Easy No memory-card slot. The Palm Z22 is a fine basic PDA Palm OS 5.4, 200-MHz CPU, 32MB
$99 direct to use. that won’t pinch your budget. RAM, 2.5-inch 160-by-160 display,
llllm 3.4 oz. Battery life: 8:25.
Nokia 6682 Excellent voice quality. Good Small keys. Battery life could be The 6682 is a powerful, flexible Symbian OS, 220-MHz CPU, 10MB
$350 street camera with bright flash. Symbian longer. smartphone that never forgets it’s RAM, 2.2-inch 176-by-220 display,
llllm third-party software available. first and foremost a phone. 1.3MP camera, MMC Mobile slot,
GSM/EDGE, 4.6 oz. Talk time: 7:28.
palmOne Treo 650 Good battery life. International Service plan costs more than that The Treo 650 performs better on Palm OS 5.4, 312-MHz CPU, 32MB
from Cingular voice and data roaming. Fast EDGE of Sprint’s Treo 650. Cingular’s network than on Sprint’s, RAM, 2.6-inch display, 0.3MP
$549.99 direct modem. but you’ll pay more for the speed. camera, Bluetooth, SD slot, GSM,
llllh GPRS/EDGE, 6.3 oz. Talk time: 7:33.
PHONES
Motorola E815 Excellent reception. Very good Can’t use phone as PC modem. The E815 is the most powerful, CDMA, EV-DO, 2.2-inch 176-by-220
$299.99 list battery life. MP3 player. Good Unusual predictive text system. flexible Verizon handset, with very display, 1.3MP camera, 64MB RAM,
llllm price (as low as $100 with service good reception and an attractive 4.6 oz. Talk time: 4:43.
contract). Mac support. price.
Motorola Moto Razr V3 Absolutely gorgeous. As thin as its Screen attracts grease. Not a great The Razr V3 is the ultimate GSM, GPRS, 2.2-inch 176-by-220
$299.99 list name implies. camera. see-and-be-seen phone for style display, 0.3MP camera, 5MB RAM,
llllm mavens. Bluetooth, 3.3 oz. Est. talk time:
7:06.
Motorola V551 Bright, sharp screen. Good camera. No external photo caller ID or For making calls, sending pictures, GSM, GPRS, 2-inch 176-by-220
$209.99 direct Built-in IM client. speaker-independent voice dialing. and occasional laptop Internet display, 0.3MP camera, 6MB RAM,
llllm access on the Cingular network, the Bluetooth, 4.3 oz. Talk time: 8:27.
V551 is your best choice.
Nextel i355 Good price (as low as $99 with Bulky. The i355 is a very good iDen 800, Direct Talk 900, 1.5-inch
$249.99 list service contract). Off-network communication tool for those who 130-by-130 display, 6.9 oz. Talk
llllm walkie-talkie. Very rugged. work (or play) outdoors. time: 9:58.
Sprint MM-A800 The only 2-megapixel camera Bulky. Though the camera is The MM-A800 is the ultimate CDMA, 1XRTT, 2-inch 320-by-240
by Samsung phone in the U.S. Lots of cutting- excellent, many other features bleeding-edge convergence display, 2MP camera, 32MB RAM,
$499.99 list edge features. aren’t quite perfect. phone and the best camera phone 4.3 oz. Talk time: 5:11.
llllm available today.
ANALYST'S TIP
SASCHA SEGAN, Lead Analyst
If you enter a lot of data on your phone or PDA, an add-on keyboard can be a real timesaver. Even if your PDA
already has a thumb-style keypad, an add-on model (with its larger keys) can significantly speed up your
typing. Even the most basic PDA can support a wireless IR keyboard, as can some smartphones. Look to your
device’s manufacturer for add-ons, or to peripheral providers such as Belkin and Think Outside.
Canon image-
The Ink Jet That Acts Like a Laser Class MF5770
Pros: Fast
performance.
BY M. DAVID STONE dard ink jets, which helps the high end of very good for Excellent text.
Every so often some- yield the fast speed. text, the high end of good for Handy 50-page
one comes out with a Because of the G700’s per- graphics, and the high end automatic document feeder.
printer that doesn’t formance claims, we tested it of fair for photos. Compared Works as standalone copier
fit well into the usual with both the ink jet version with ink jets, the text rating and fax machine.
categories. The Ricoh of our business applications is high and the photo rating Cons: Photo quality barely
Aficio G700 is the latest exam- suite and the laser version low; most ink jets these days earns a rating of fair.
ple. Although it’s technically (using QualityLogic’s hard- deliver photos that attain or Bottom line: The Canon
an ink jet, in that it sprays ink ware and software to time at least approach true photo imageClass MF5770 offers
directly on paper, it’s a new the tests in both cases, www quality. But compared with just about everything a small
variation on ink jets. More .qualitylogic.com). The ink color lasers in its price range, or home office needs in a
important, the speed, qual- jet version includes two 12- the text quality is a notch be- laser all-in-one. If you won’t
ity, and price are much more page Microsoft Word files. low the most common score, miss printing in color, this is a
in line with entry-level color The laser version substitutes photos are just a bit below very good choice.
lasers than with ink jets. All two 50-page fi les. average, and graphics are $500 street. Canon U.S.A. Inc.,
of this means its best fit is solidly midrange. www.usa.canon.com. llllm
with the same small-office or The G700 barely missed
heavy-duty home- office an excellent rating for text, OKI Printing Solutions
u ser s who m ig ht with just under half ES1624n MFP
otherwise choose a the test fonts easily Pros: Standalone
color laser. readable at 4 points, color copier and e-mail
The G700 measures and none needing sender, plus 50-page
8.6 by 19.3 by 18.5 inches anything larger than ADF. Scans to FTP site.
(HWD) and weighs a 6. That’s certainly Cons: No standalone fax.
hefty 24 pounds. good enough to han- Bottom line: The ES1624n
T h at ’s big ger dle anything you’re MFP offers most of the fea-
and heavier likely to throw at it. tures a color laser all-in-one
t h a n most i n k Graphics are marginally should have. But it’s pricey
jets, but still a lot good enough to use when for the small to medium-size
lighter than most low- you want output that reflects offices and workgroups it’s
end color lasers. Setup is well on your professional- meant for.
straightforward. Simply load ism. However, default mode $2,800 street. OKI Printing Solutions,
paper, install the four ink THE AFICIO G700 prints with shows obvious banding, so www.okiprintingsolutions.com.
cartridges, plug in the power ink, but its speed is more like you’ll need to use the best llhmm
cord and USB cable, and in- that of a color laser. mode when quality counts.
stall the software. You will Photos are best described Lexmark T640n
also find an alignment routine On the ink jet version of as newspaper quality—good Pros: Exceptional
in the driver, but according to the suite, the G700 turned enoug h for cl ient new s - performance.
Ricoh, there’s never a need to in a record-setting 6 min- letters or Web pages, but not Convenient print-
align the printhead, since it’s utes 35 seconds total, cutting much more. ing of common file
permanently installed in the the previous record—13:10 Wit h its slig htly less formats directly
printer rather than being part for the HP Business Inkjet than ideal quality, the G700 from USB keys. In-
of the ink cartridges. 1200d—in half. Even more doesn’t offer quite enough to cludes network connector.
The most important differ- impressive, the G700 sped replace the HP Color Laser- Cons: Photo quality is at the
ence between the G700 and through the laser version jet 2600n as our Editors’ low end of the range for a
garden-variety ink jets is in of the test in 13:48, which Choice for entry-level color monochrome laser.
the ink technology. The ink also qualifies as a new record laser-class printers. But it Bottom line: The Lexmark
is a highly viscous gel rather for laser-class color printers does offer enough to earn a T640n delivers fast per-
than the usual liquid. As a re- in its price range. The fastest spot beside it, with the 2600n formance for its price and
sult, it penetrates plain paper true color laser we’ve tested still our pick if you care more engine speed, capable paper
on contact, then dries almost that’s priced at $600 or less about output quality, and the handling, and some notable
immediately. That, in turn, is the Samsung CLP - 5 10N, G700 the winner if you care conveniences, including the
makes it feasible to put ink with an 18:14 total. And the more about speed. ability to print PDF files di-
on paper more quickly than Editors’ Choice HP Color rectly from USB memory keys.
Ricoh Aficio G700
with liquid ink, since there’s Laserjet 2600n was even $1,049 direct. Lexmark International
no need to wait for the ink slower, at 21:09. $449 list. Ricoh Corp., www Inc., www.lexmark.com. llllm
.ricoh-usa.com. OVERALL llllm
to dry. The G700 also uses a O ut put qu a l it y i s a l so Text llllh Graphics lllhm
wider printhead than stan-
For an in-depth look at these products,
laser-like, with ratings at Photos llhmm
go to go.pcmag.com/printers.
Canon i9900 Photo Fast printing on photos. True photo- No memory card slots. Eight ink colors give the Canon Photo or all-purpose ink jet; 8
Printer quality output. Direct printing from i9900 true photo-quality output; colors; 13x19; direct printing from
$499.99 list PictBridge cameras. Fast enough to 6,144 nozzles enable it to print cameras. 4x6 photo: 0:30.
lllll serve as an all-purpose printer. photos at breathtaking speeds.
Epson PictureMate Prints from computers, memory Limited to a maximum photo size This PictureMate offers high-quality Photo ink jet; 6 colors; 4x6; direct
Deluxe Viewer cards, PictBridge cameras, and of 4x6. output, plus the ability to preview printing from cameras and memory
$249.99 direct USB drives. True photo quality. images on a color LCD before cards. 4x6 photo: 1:30.
llllh Color LCD to preview images. printing. It can even run on battery.
HP Photosmart 8250 High-quality output. LCD screen. Text quality, while good, is low for a For photos, the HP 8250 offers fast Photo or all-purpose ink jet; 6
$199.99 direct Separate 4x6 tray makes it easy to photo ink jet. Photos are water- and printing and very good quality. It colors; legal size; direct printing
llllm switch between printing documents smudge-resistant, not waterproof also handles text and graphics well, from cards and cameras. Business
and photos. or smudge-proof. making it a good all-purpose printer. app suite: 15:01. 4x6 photo: 1:07.
Canon Pixma MP760 Good to very good print quality. No ADF. No fax features. Equipped with a transparency Print, scan, copy; photo or all-
Photo All-in-One Fast performance. Transparency adapter, the MP760 can scan and purpose ink jet; direct printing from
$299.99 list adapter for slides and 35-mm film. print directly from slides and film. cameras and cards. Business app
llllm Can print directly from slides. suite: 15:27. 4x6 photo: 1:08.
HP Color LaserJet Low price. Good performance. Output quality for photos and With its low price, the 2600n could Color laser; 8 ppm mono and color;
2600n Excellent text. Includes Ethernet graphics is slightly below that of readily replace an ink jet as a legal size; Ethernet. Business app
$400 street connector. more expensive color lasers. personal printer. It could even serve suite: 21:09. 4x6 photo: 0:31.
llllm a few users on a network.
NEW Ricoh Aficio High-quality text. High-quality Network adapter is optional and The G700 is technically an ink jet, All-purpose ink jet; 4 colors; legal
G700 graphics in best quality mode. external. Graphics in default mode but behaves like a color laser. It size. Business app suite: 6:35 (ink
$449 list Extraordinarily fast performance. show banding, which limits the offers extraordinary performance jet suite), 13:48 (laser suite).
llllm Duplexing standard. usefulness of default mode. and high-quality text and graphics.
Samsung ML-2250 Compact size. Excellent text Photo quality is at the low end The ML-2250 is faster than most Monochrome laser; 22 ppm; legal
$230 street quality. Good performance. Ample for inexpensive monochrome personal monochrome lasers, and size; optional networking; optional
llllm paper handling for a personal lasers, though it’s acceptable for the 550-page maximum capacity is duplexing. Business app suite: 8:09.
printer. newsletters and the like. enough even for sharing the printer.
HP Officejet 7410 Fast. Very good graphics and Text quality is acceptable for most With the 7410 you get fast perfor- Print, scan, copy, fax; 6-color ink
All-in-One photos. Ethernet and wireless users but less than ideal for those mance, good to very good quality, jet; legal size; direct printing from
$499.99 direct networking. 50-page ADF. Prints who need extremely small type. and a 50-page ADF, plus Ethernet cameras. Business app suite: 16:11.
llllm from memory cards and cameras. and 802.11g wireless connections. 4x6 photo: 1:51.
Xerox Phaser 6300DN Extraordinarily fast for the price. Output, while very good, falls short Appropriate for a large workgroup Color laser; 36 ppm mono, 26 ppm
$1,499 direct Easy installation. Includes duplexer of excellent (even for text). or a small to medium-size office, color; legal size; Ethernet, duplexer.
lllm and network connector. the 6300DN is fast and feature-rich. Business app suite: 7:07.
ANALYST'S TIP
M. DAVID STONE, Lead Analyst
All-in-one printers are growing in popularity, but most affordable models have been based on ink-jet or
monochrome-laser engines. Epson’s AcuLaser CX11NF marks the coming-of-age of the home and small-office
color laser all-in-one as a category. It’s not the first color laser AIO by any means, but it’s the first one that’s
good enough to deserve an Editors’ Choice, and that makes the category finally ready for prime time.
HP mp3135
Light, Bright Projector Pros: Bright im-
age. Excellent im-
age quality. Small
BY M. DAVID STONE Image quality was generally As is typical for DLP pro- and lightweight.
There aren’t many good. We saw some minor jectors, yellow tends toward Straightforward
projectors light flaws in our tests with Dis- a dingy mustard, and parts on-screen menu.
enough to serve as playMate (www.displaymate of the image can break up Cons: Uncomfortably low
a constant traveling .com), but nothing serious into little red-green-blue volume and poor sound qual-
compa nion. But at enough to create problems rainbows if you sweep your ity. Carrying case doesn’t quite
2.2 pounds and small enough for viewing. The very top and gaze across the screen. But have room for all the cables
to slip in a briefcase or com- bottom of the image were mar- color ramps, on which most you may want to take with you.
puter bag, t he ViewSonic ginally brighter on the right projectors show at least some Bottom line: The HP mp3135
PJ256D qualifies. side than on the left, which visible steps, were absolutely isn’t the least expensive pro-
Once you get where you’re shows in the somewhat higher smooth, as they should be. jector on the block by far, but
going, the PJ256D can do the than average 1.58:1 brightness Video from a DVD player it offers a bright screen paired
job you brought it for, with variance. The change is grad- also fared well. With no on- with excellent image quality.
a native XGA (1,024-by-768) ual enough, however, for it not board audio, you’re limited to Poor sound quality is its only
resolution and a big, surpris- to be an issue. silent movies unless you have Achilles’ heel.
ingly bright image. We a separate sound system. $2,299 direct. Hewlett-Packard Devel-
mea su red it at 1 , 581 But the lack of audio seems a opment Co., www.hp.com. lllhm
lumens, easily bright small enough price to pay for
enough to project a rea- a projector that’s as conve- NEC LT20
sonably large image in nient as it is easy to use, and Pros: Impres-
a brightly lit room. The produces as good an image as sively bright
unit’s contrast ratio was the PJ256D. image for the size.
289:1, an excellent score, ViewSonic PJ256D Excellent contrast
and in keeping with our ex- THE TINY $1,500 street. ViewSonic Corp., ratio. Just 2.2 pounds. Includes
pectations for the DLP engine. PJ256D fires a bright image. www.viewsonic.com. llllm carrying case.
Cons: No audio. Hard to elimi-
nate jitter.
T
he Sharp LL-193A is a Di splayMate tests (www did badly on the light gray
good choice for home .displaymate.com), the LL-193A performance tests, however, and excellent contrast ratio.
and office users who scored points for overall color especially on the white-level There’s no audio, and poten-
wish to move up to a 19-inch quality and screen uniformity. saturation test, where nearly tially more annoying is the
LCD monitor—if you don’t Text readability was generally every box appeared white. lack of remote mouse control.
mind investing in analog- good (legible at 6.8 points) but Similarly, the low-saturation $1,495 list. NEC Solutions (America),
only technology. not spectacular. Dark gray- color and 64-step grayscale www.necvisualsystems.com.
lllhm
A Mode button lets you scale performance was also tests revealed poor high-
choose one of four display good, although extreme low grayscale reproduction.
modes for the 1,280-by- g rays were Although there was no- Sony SDM-S75A
1,024 panel (such as STD ticeable smearing of moving Pros: Good viewing
for standard office light- images when we ran our PC angle performance.
i ng env i ron ments a nd Maga zi ne L abs black-to - Thin bezel. Excel-
Vivid for brighter colors). white motion tests, it was lent text readability.
If your PC utilizes one considerably less than we’ve Cons: Lacks height
of the newer DV I -only seen with other 8-ms LCD adjustment. Function
g raph ics ca rds, you’l l panels. Gamers will appre- buttons are difficult
have to use a DVI-analog ciate the monitor’s smooth, to read. Limited stand
adapter (not included), artifact-free performance, as adjustment.
as the LL - 193A does not will video enthusiasts. The Bottom line: The Sony SDM-
support digital inputs. LL - 193A lived up to its 160- S75A is an affordable 17-inch
Because the spea kers are degree viewing-angle rating LCD monitor that delivers
built into the rear of the and then some; color shifting good image quality, but don’t
monitor, the sound is muted was minimal at all angles. expect a lot of extra features
to an extent, but that may be Sharp LL-193A from this no-frills display.
a good thing, since the audio IT ISN’T PERFECT, but the $429.99 direct. Sharp Electronics $315.99 direct. Sony Electronics Inc.,
For an in-depth look at these products,
quality is subpar at best. LL-193A is good for the price. Corp., www.sharpusa.com. lllmm www.sony.com. lllhm
go to go.pcmag.com/guides.
Dell Widescreen Impressive image quality. Minimal picture adjustments in DVI This is an astonishing value for a 24-inch LCD (1,920-by-1,200), 16:10
UltraSharp 2405FPW Exceptional resolution (1,920-by- mode. Takes up a lot of room for a 24-inch, widescreen LCD, delivering aspect ratio, 12-ms claimed pixel
$1,199 direct 1,200 WUXGA). Aggressive price. desktop LCD. a bright, gorgeous picture. response rate.
llllh Built-in 9-in-1 memory card reader.
Samsung SyncMaster Portrait-mode rotation. Excellent Weak printed documentation. The SyncMaster 213T is an 21.3-inch LCD (1,600-by-1,200), 4:3
213T image quality. Analog and digital Smearing on moving images. excellent monitor, from the high- aspect ratio, 25-ms claimed pixel
$899 list connections and cables. quality LCD panel to the design response rate, portrait mode.
llllh detail throughout.
PC MONITOR/TV HYBRIDS
Samsung SyncMaster Excellent viewing angle. Good Stand lacks height adjustment and Featuring built-in TV and FM radio 19-inch LCD (1,280-by-1,024), 4:3
930mp image quality. Built-in TV and FM does not swivel. Does not include tuners and a wide array of connec- aspect ratio, 25-ms claimed pixel
$700 street radio tuners. DVI cable. tion options, this multipurpose response rate. Contrast ratio:
llllm display is worth every penny. 1,000:1.
Sony MFM-HT75W Great image quality. Well-designed Screen technology is best suited for Delivering great image quality 17-inch LCD (1,280-by-768),
$600 street remote control. Incorporates light-controlled environments. and a useful selection of A/V NTSC tuner, 16:10 aspect ratio,
llllm analog audio/video inputs and an features, the MFM-HT75W handled 16-ms claimed pixel response rate.
integrated NTSC TV tuner. everything we threw at it with ease. Contrast ratio: 800:1.
PROJECTORS
Dell 1100MP Lots of premium features at an Focus is soft in upper corners. Dell has created a winning projector SVGA (800-by-600) DLP engine,
$799 direct extremely low price. Generally No mouse function on remote. by paying attention to detail. The 1,400 claimed lumens (1,429
llllh good image quality. Rugged Standard warranty covers only 1100MP delivers much more than its tested), 4.9 pounds.
carrying case. one year. stripped-down competitors.
Toshiba TDP-T91U Document camera is removable. Larger than some other projectors. The TDP-T91U delivers excellent XGA (1,024-by-768) DLP engine,
$1,899 direct High brightness. Comes with two No auto-sync button on remote image quality, room-filling bright- 2,000 claimed lumens (2,018
llllh remote controls. control. ness, and a document camera, tested), document camera, 8.2
making it a versatile choice. pounds.
NEW ViewSonic PJ256D Impressively small and light (2.2 No on-board audio. Needs up to 2 Weighing just 2.2 pounds, the XGA (1,024-by-768) DLP engine,
$1,500 street pounds). Surprisingly bright image minutes to cool down before you PJ256D is light enough to bring 1,500 claimed lumens (1,581
llllm for its size (1,581 lumens). can pack it up. along all the time, and delivers a tested), 2.2 pounds.
bright, high-quality image.
HDTVS
Brillian Natural image quality (with Lacks an integrated HD tuner. The 6501mPB ranks as the best 65-inch LCoS RPTV, 1,280-by-720,
6501mPB good video sources). Illuminated Needs professional installation. RPTV we have seen to date. But ATSC, CableCard, NTSC tuners.
$5,999 list universal remote. Best-in-class Mediocre composite video quality. achieving optimal image quality is Viewing angle: 170 degrees (horiz.).
llllh contrast ratio. best left to an installation pro. Contrast ratio: 2,000:1.
Dell W4200 Solid image quality. Good on-screen Needs some color/brightness/ It’s tough to beat this deal. The 42-inch plasma, 1,024-by-768,
HD Plasma TV display controls. Dual built-in contrast adjustments out of the box 42-inch Dell W4200 HD Plasma TV NTSC and ATSC tuners. Viewing
$2,799 direct tuners (NTSC and ATSC). Good because default settings look a bit delivers very good image quality at angles: 170 degrees (horiz. and
llllm price. washed out. a very competitive price. vert.). Contrast ratio: 2,300:1.
Optoma Good image quality. Quiet Recessed S-Video input The MovieTime provides good DLP front projector, 854-by-480,
MovieTime DV10 operation. Portable. Advanced incompatible with some premium image quality and quiet operation, DVD player. Maximum image size:
$1,499.99 list image controls. A/V cables. delivering a complete portable 99 inches. Contrast ratio: 4,000:1.
llllm cinema package at a fair price. Brightness: 1,000 lumens.
Sharp Aquos Detailed imagery. Responsive Lacks support for 1080p input via The LC-45GX6U offers impressive 45-inch LCD, 1,920-by-1,080, ATSC,
LC-45GX6U universal remote control. DVI/HDMI. Minor grayscale/color clarity with high-quality HDTV. It’s CableCard, NTSC tuners. Viewing
$7,499.99 list Comprehensive and quick menu tracking problems. the best of the big 1080p LCD TVs angles: 170 degrees (horiz. and
llllm system. Analog and digital tuners. available today. vert.). Contrast ratio: 800:1.
ANALYST'S TIP
M. DAVID STONE, Lead Analyst
DLP projectors generally combine good image quality with affordability, but they can suffer from a rainbow
effect, with areas of the image breaking up into their composite colors. Some projectors are more prone to
it than others, and some people are more sensitive to it than others. So when you buy a DLP projector, be
sure you can return it with little or no restocking fee, and do a test run with a group of people.
FEEDBACK
S I M P LI F Y C O M P U TI N G N OT AG A I N
Don Taber wrote, “A huge number of people want the benefits I have been a PC user since DOS was Version 1.1. I have been
of a computer but don’t want to spend any time understanding through Microsoft Windows rollouts for all versions except
it” (Feedback, November 8). Exactly right. You could say the Windows 2000. I read your Vista review and it came over me
same thing about automobiles. People want to go someplace like a flood. Not another one, no more. I went out and bought a
without having to understand the difference between fuel Mac PowerBook. I just could not do it again.
injection and carburetion. What’s wrong with that? People John Spence
want to exchange e-mail and search the Web without having
to understand the difference between a modem fi rewall and NONSENSE
an antivirus program. What’s wrong with that? The September 20 issue of PC Magazine (page 24) discussed
It’s time the industry started providing a service that’s as Google’s AdSense program in the Internet Business column.
easy to grasp as learning to drive. Blaming the customer just Great concept, but very un-Google like in execution. I manage
an animal-rescue site, and ended up getting fed mainly ads for
How to Contact Us selling animals over the Internet. This was worse than getting
We welcome your comments and suggestions. porno ads, and is akin to an adoption site displaying ads for sell-
When sending e-mail to Feedback, please state in the subject line of your ing babies! We quickly dropped AdSense and hope that Google
message which article or column prompted your response. does a better job at matching ads and sites sometime in the
E-MAIL pcmag@ziffdavis.com. MAIL Feedback, PC Magazine, 28 East 28th
future. For now, sites using AdSense need to watch what gets
Street, New York, NY 10016-7940.
All letters become the property of PC Magazine and are subject to editing. We advertised!
regret that we cannot answer letters individually. Dave Cohen
T
he Technology That Will Never Die Dept.:
Now the Europeans are hot and heavy into work with RSS so that people can subscribe to it. It
power-line networking and have estab- was a far-from-trivial task, until the appearance of
lished the Open PLC European Research the jazzy podcasting kit that you can get from the
Alliance (OPERA, not to be confused with the folks at M-Audio. With a good microphone, the M-
browser named Opera). They expect to establish a Audio Fast Track interface box, and Podifier soft-
worldwide standard by the end of this year—which ware, you should be able to get on the air with your
is quite a rush job, it seems to me. This technology ramblings for around $180. M-Audio has a lot of
has one of the bumpiest histories of anything I’ve cool stuff for musicians and amateur broadcasters
ever followed, and still has not resolved its basic too. Check out the company’s Web site, at www
radio-interference problems, which occur under .m-audio.com.
too many circumstances. This move seems to be Backup Breakthrough Dept.: People who run
an attempt to slow down the runaway success of small businesses know that the best sort of
802.11 wireless networks that are harder for cen- backup is an archival backup on tape. That has
tral governments to control. That’s what this is all always been an expensive proposition, but re-
about. cently Quantum, the leader in standard DLT tape
Podcasting in Full Tilt Mode Dept.: While it took backup technology, released a sub-$1,000 320GB
people some time to figure out exactly what a blog tape drive, which stores data for $0.12 per giga-
is (the majority of folks who go online still do not byte. The best deal ever! Dubbed the Quantum
know), the same may not be true for the next on- DLT-V4, this drive comes with excellent software,
line fad: the podcast. Named after the diminutive including special programs for regulatory compli-
iPod, these are audio fi les that are meant to be au- ance (Sarbanes-Oxley, anyone?). It’s backward-
tomatically loaded via an RSS feed into an iPod or compatible with other DLT systems and can use
other MP3 player and appear on the playlist. They VS160 media as well. It’s available with SATA or SCSI
are best equated with radio shows and many, in Ultra 160 interfaces. This should be a real winner
fact, are exactly that. Lots of TV and radio shows for the company.
have been turned into podcasts for downloading. Of course, you’ll need this sort of backup for
Ebert and Roeper is available, as is Hardball with the upcoming large hard drives. And you’ll need
Chris Matthews. Yours truly can be heard on the to get a lot of tapes. Hitachi and Seagate have both
podcast for podcast’s sake show This Week in Tech already announced half-terabyte hard drives, and
(www.twit.tv). that means we’ll have a terabyte drive by Christmas
There are an estimated 50,000 podcasts avail- of next year.
able on an ongoing basis, though that number While on the Subject of Hard Drives Dept.: I have
may be low. Most of them consist of guys shooting to say that I was impressed by an upgrade drive
the breeze. Others are wannabe talk-show hosts. that Hitachi is marketing. This is a 100GB, 2.5-
There is no one kind of show. Most of it is neither inch, 5,400- RPM notebook drive for those of you
very good nor interesting. who need big storage on your notebook, for mov-
A true podcast was designed to be an attach- ies or whatever. It should work with almost any
ment to an RSS syndication feed from a Web site, Hitachi and notebook, and the drive is quite easy to remove
to which you would subscribe just as you would to and install. It sells for around $140 and includes
a news feed. Recent research has shown that only
Seagate have an enclosure so you can use your old drive as a por-
about 35 percent of knowledgeable users can even announced table drive. Or you can put this drive in the enclo-
figure out how to use an RSS feed, let alone sub- sure and move fi les to it before installing it in the
scribe to a podcast attached to one. The RSS scene
half-terabyte notebook.
became popular during the blog boom, as it al- hard drives; Whatever the case, these little USB enclosures
lowed bloggers to keep track of each other’s post- are very cool. Kudos to Hitachi for putting one
ings as they appeared. Before you knew it, there that means in the box. These enclosures are the rage in Asia,
were thousands of feeds. All blogs now have them we’ll have a where people also like to buy removable hard drive
built in, and most online publications use the tech- kits that let you use the larger CD -ROM–size tem-
nology too. terabyte drive plate to slam and remove a hard drive placed in a
The problem with RSS is there are both a lot by Christmas special interface enclosure. Most small computer
of fl aky standards and earnest competitors such shops have these for about $15. Better than dual-
as Atom and other distribution systems. If using of next year. boot, and perfect for moving drives from point A
RSS isn’t confusing enough, you can imagine how to point B.
A D-SLR with interchangeable zoom lenses can to me, but you can’t argue with the quality of the
capture the width of a room or fi ll the frame with pictures. Much of the time you’ll want to have your
your golden retriever tussling with a stick 30 feet camera on the TTL Balance setting (the term may
away. Sophisticated controls make most pictures differ depending on the camera), meaning it mea-
turn out perfectly, whether you set the shutter and sures and balances flash light and available light as
aperture or just turn the settings dial to Automatic. the picture is taken “through the lens” (TTL). Add
You can crank up the sensitivity in low light to the $50 to $100 for a 1GB to 2GB flash memory card,
equivalent of ISO 1600 or 3200 film speed. and the same for a tripod, and you’re bumping up
In plain English, you can capture an image with- against $1,500. At these prices, you’re getting the
out resorting to harsh flash in many indoor settings. maker’s value-oriented lenses, often under $250,
The autofocus locks in quickly, and the shutter but the pro-quality lens that also lets in more light
responds right away; if you click it as your dog leaps through razor-sharp optics might run you $1,000.
for a Frisbee, that’s what you’ll capture, not Rover If all this is too rich for your blood, you can get
back on the ground a second later. The shirt-pocket many of the telephoto (not wide-angle) advan-
cameras work best outdoors under shadow-free tages of a D-SLR using a superzoom camera with a
daytime sky, with subjects standing still and no 10X or better optical zoom, meaning the maximum
more than 10 feet away. Everything else is a com- extension of the lens is in the range of 300mm to
promise, and that’s why you should think D-SLR . 400mm (35mm film camera equivalent). The shut-
With your D-SLR , you’ll probably want two ter response with action photos may not be quite as
lenses: an 18- to 70mm wide-angle to short telepho- quick, though, as with a D-SLR . Panasonic owns this
to (35mm film camera equivalent: 29- to 105mm). market and has a nice, low-light image stabilizer.
You’ll also want a serious telephoto lens, say 55- to Among mainstream cameras that fit in your
200mm (equal to 80- to 300mm); my preference is pocket, Canon, Fujifilm, Konica Minolta, Nikon,
70- to 300mm (equal to 105- to 450mm). With that Olympus, and Sony all have fine offerings. Despite
lens, you can sit in the stands at a sports event and Kodak’s modest showing on our Reader Satisfac-
fill the frame with two players on the far side of the tion survey, when a technology-challenged relative
field. (Because of image-sensor size, most D-SLR asks advice, my answer ends with, “. . . and make
lenses have a 1.5 multiplier effect; a 35mm D-SLR sure you look at Kodak, too.” Its cameras are easy
and 50mm film SLR camera both cover about 46 de- to operate. And all models can be used with a dock-
grees horizontally.) ing station, which I consider a must-have $80 option
Indoors, you’ll want a separate electronic flash because it makes three things happen: The pictures
with a tilting head, so you can bounce light off the are offloaded automatically to your PC, the batteries
ceiling to produce pictures free of harsh shadows. are charged, and, since it’s in the docking station,
Or you can use a tripod. If a little motion creeps in, when you need the camera in a hurry, you’ll know
it adds a lifelike quality. where it is. D-SLRs don’t get lost either: With a zoom
I recently tried three of the most popular high- lens and flashguns attached, they’re big and notice-
end consumer, low-end pro D-SLR s: the Canon EOS able. In every way, a D-SLR is hard to overlook.
Digital Rebel XT, the Nikon D50 , and the Nikon
D70 s. You’d be fine with any of the three. Canon MORE ON THE WEB: You can contact Bill Howard
sells more cameras, so there’s a better chance a directly at bill_howard@ziffdavis.com. For more of
friend has a lens you can borrow. Also, it has better his columns, go to go.pcmag.com/howard.
Before You Give Away dows can be transferred with the com-
puter, but you should not use these discs
to install Windows on any other com-
112 HARDWARE: 117 DIY INTERNET: 120 SECURITY WATCH: 124 BUSINESS: 127 USER TO USER:
Geotagging photos Customize Web Fight spam The virtual PBX Tips and tricks
sites with with SMTP
Greasemonkey Authentication
FINDING RECIPIENTS
There’s no shortage of people who could use an older computer, provided that it’s
working and properly set up. How do you find them?
If you don’t know somebody yourself (think hard; you probably do), start asking your
friends if they know anyone who really needs a computer but can’t afford a new one.
Still coming up empty? Most public-school teachers know many students in desper-
ate need of a working computer; do you know any to ask? Failing that, craigslist (www.
craigslist.com) has a Web forum for almost every metropolitan area in the country, and
a “Free computer to needy student” post will get an immediate response.
GRISOFT’S AVG ANTI-VIRUS Free Edition
Local charities may be in need of donated PCs; contact them to find out their needs
antivirus program is a good alternative to and requirements. Donations may be eligible for a tax deduction. Dell has partnered
commercial antivirus products, particu- with the National Cristina Foundation (www.cristina.org/dsf/dell.ncf) in a program to
larly for cash-strapped students. facilitate PC donations to local organizations who serve disabled and economically
disadvantaged people. People who donate through this partnership receive a coupon
users, there’s a My Documents folder for 10 percent off any online purchase of software or peripheral, to be redeemed on the
for each one. If you use AOL , you prob- Dell Home Systems Software & Peripherals Web site.
ably have personal files in its Down- Discover Technology (discovertechnology.com), a nonprofit that provides computer
loads folder. Quicken, QuickBooks, and education to people with disabilities, has been setting up computers in shelters serving
TurboTax put their data fi les in unusual Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Houston area. For information on donating to them,
locations you should double-check: contact dtinc8888@hotmail.com. Your local Red Cross shelter might also need com-
Quicken uses C:\Quickenw, C:\Program puters for evacuees—contact your local chapter directly.
Files\Quickenw, or C:\Program Files\
Intuit\Quicken. QuickBooks data files overwrites the file multiple times before er is going to a stranger. If the computer
live in C:\Program Files\Intuit\Quick- erasing it. Almost a dozen free shredder is going to a family member you trust,
books. TurboTax usually stores its fi les programs are available from Snapfiles you can probably skip this step.
in the TAX01 folder inside the default in- .com (www.snapfiles.com/freeware/
stallation folder; search for fi les with a security/fwerase.html), but I use Eraser MAKING A BETTER GIFT PC
.tax extension to be sure. (www.heidi.ie/eraser) for this task. You can add a lot of value to an old com-
When cleaning a system for transfer, You should delete other personal data, puter by installing and configuring soft-
don’t use the Recycle Bin to delete fi les. too. From your e-mail program, delete ware that its new owner could really use,
Even when emptied, “deleted” files are any inbox or stored messages, and com- and by resetting the operating system to
still easily recovered, since the built-in pact all folders if there is such an option. as close to factory fresh as possible.
delete mechanism simply makes the area Delete any contacts in the address book, No one should be without at least a
on the hard drive where the old fi le was and remove any server/log-on account word processor (if not a whole office
stored available to new files. Instead, information. From your Web browser, suite) and an antivirus program. If you’re
use a “file shredder” program, which delete your bookmarks and saved pass- removing such software for licensing
words, and use a program like CCleaner reasons, at least install some free alterna-
(www.ccleaner.com) to delete things like tives. OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) is
your browser’s history, cache, cookies, an excellent substitute for Microsoft Of-
temporary fi les, and so forth. If you use fice (and Microsoft Word). Grisoft’s AVG
AOL or a dial-up or PPPoE Internet con- Anti-Virus Free Edition (free.grisoft.com)
nection, delete any accounts
or connection passwords.
Finally, empty the Win-
dows Recycle Bin once more,
and use a program like Eraser
to wipe all the hard drive’s
e m pt y s pa c e ove r n i g ht .
Though the only guarantee
that no one will recover your
IT’S EASY TO ADD Mozilla Firefox as a files is to replace the hard
second browser that many users will drive, this is a reasonable pre- MOZILLA THUNDERBIRD is a good (and free) e-mail
prefer to Internet Explorer. caution to take if your comput- client for those worried about Outlook security issues.
H A R DWA R E
H
ave you ever wanted to fi nd the But if you are driving, you’ll need entries age itself, there are several options. Least
photos you took of a particular every few seconds if you want accurate expensive are the RoboGEO and Robo-
place? Or to show your friends positions. Finally, make sure that your Photo tools (www.robophoto.com). Their
a travelogue of your photos and where track log has plenty of room and your interface is quirky, and they require that
they were taken? By integrating Global camera’s clock is set accurately, so you you have a publicly accessible FTP server
Positioning System location informa- can later match photos and locations by for your images in order to link in maps
tion with your digital images, you can do time. It’s a good idea to take a photo of (which they retrieve from the U.S. Cen-
both. Called geocoding or geotagging, the GPS displaying its time, so you can sus Web site), so before buying, experi-
the process involves placing or “stamp- ment with the demos to see if
ing” location metadata into the header they’ll work for you.
of your camera JPEGs. GPS -Photo L i n k f rom
It used to be you could do this only if GeoSpatial Experts (www
you had high-end custom hardware with .geospatialexperts.com) is
GPS support. But thanks to rapidly grow- a ver y power f u l product
ing demand, many tools are now avail- that provides sophisticated
able to help you merge your off-the-shelf matching of your images with
GPS location data with your digicam im- track logs. It retrieves maps
ages. If you don’t have a GPS, don’t worry. from the U.S. Geological Sur-
If you know where you were, you can use vey sites. The application is
various utilities to look up coordinates expensive, at $229 direct, but
manually and tag your pictures. it is well designed.
If you want to go the GPS route, you MICROSOFT’S FREE Location Stamper utility lets If you just want a light-
need a unit that supports recording a you add location data to your images, and it displays weight way to share images
track log—essentially a list of locations their locations on a MapPoint map. with location information,
you pass through—and a software utility GEO snapper.com may be for
that can match the timestamp on your calibrate your camera time against the you. You can upload any geocoded im-
images to the location information on GPS time later. Then you simply turn on age or provide location details by hand.
the track log and then help you display your GPS , turn on your camera, and go Users of the site can browse for photos
and share the results. Garmin models take pictures! from a particular location or by catego-
are the most widely supported GPS units, When you get back to your computer, ry. If you have a Nextel camera phone,
but you can get utilities that let you use you can match your log with your pho- you can use the GEOsnapper mobile ap-
track logs from other brands as well. tos. The simplest way to do this is with plication to send geocoded images di-
Before taking your photos, you need the free Location Stamper utility from rectly from your phone to GEOsnapper.
to make sure your GPS is set up cor- Microsoft, part of its ambitious WWMX The mapping interface is clever and
rectly. First, check to see that tracking is (World-Wide Media Exchange) research easy to use.
turned on and is set to create a track log. project (wwmx.org). Location Stamper Similarly, users of the Flickr photo-
Next, if your GPS lets you specify how lets you import sets of photos and track sharing site can also make use of exten-
often it writes track-log entries, make logs and will stamp the location into the sive user-contributed scripts available
sure that it is frequent enough for your EXIF (metadata) header in your camera in the Geotagging group (f lickr.com/
needs. Remember that the faster you JPEGs. That process does not cause any- groups/94823070@N00) to tag their im-
are traveling, the more frequently you’ll thing to appear on the image itself; it just ages for use with either the aptly named
need track-log entries, since later you’ll puts special tags in the header informa- Geobloggers site (www.geobloggers.com)
be matching your photos to your approx- tion indicating the location where the or Google Maps.
imate location by estimating from those image was captured. WWMX will then
log entries. If you are walking, for exam- display the location in a viewer window David Cardinal is a professional photog-
ple, your position changes very slowly, using Microsoft’s own MapPoint . NET rapher and software author. Visit his site,
so you won’t need log entries too often. service (which is free, but of course you www.proshooters.com.
D I Y: I N T E R N E T
The Web Your Way will appear whenever you hover your
mouse pointer over a JPEG image; click
the plus or minus sign to zoom in or
out. The Destroy Target script keeps
Improve your favorite Web sites with the Greasemonkey links from opening new windows. And
Check Range lets you check or uncheck
extension for Mozilla Firefox. BY DAVID A. KARP a range of check boxes on a Web form
by clicking the fi rst check box and then
here’s no Delete button in Gmail, browser that lets you add custom Java- Shift-clicking the last check box.
hancements ads, those clicks add up fast. THE GMAIL INBOX page has no Delete There’s even an Autosave Emails script
Even if you don’t use Gmail, there’s button by default, but you can use a that helps prevent lost work.
surely a Web site you frequent that has an Greasemonkey script to add one. For eBay, you’ll find the Show Only
equally annoying design flaw. Instead of Negative Feedback user script, which adds
waiting for the site’s administrators to fix go to greasemonkey.mozdev.org, click two tabs to eBay feedback profile pages,
the problem, you can use Greasemonkey Install Greasemonkey, and then click letting you show only the complaints an
to fix it yourself. Install when the confirmation box ap- eBay member has received (something
Greasing Up. Greasemon key is a pears. (Greasemonkey also works on eBay won’t let you do). And the Search
free extension for the Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Suite, aka Seamonkey, as of Ver- in New Window script, which we dis-
sion 0.53.) When you’re done, close all cuss later, forces all links in eBay search
browser windows, then restart Firefox. results to open in a separate window.
By itself, Greasemonkey doesn’t do Scroll down to the IMDB and Netfl ix
much of anything. To bring Grease- sections to find user scripts that add
monkey to life, you need to install user links to connect these two sites, letting
scripts that you download or write your- you easily rent a movie you see on IMDB
self. This is where the fun begins. or read the IMDB trivia and goofs for a
Gearing Up. The primary reposi- movie in your Netflix queue.
tory of Greasemonkey user scripts is at And it goes on like this. The noPics-
userscripts.org. Most scripts are site-spe- NoService script filters out craigslist fur-
cific, but many are good for all Web sites. niture listings that don’t include photos.
For instance, install the Email Linkify A script for Amazon.com shows whether
A GREASEMONKEY user script adds tabs script to turn all e-mail addresses in all particular books are available in the San
to the eBay Feedback page to let you Web pages into mailto: links. If you in- Francisco Peninsula Library System. The
locate complaints quickly. stall the Zoom Image script, a toolbar Expedia Expanded Search script lets you
D O - I T-YO U R S E L F
TO DO...
Profi les.) You can also open any script
in a text editor by highlighting the script
name in the Manage User Scripts win-
dow and clicking the Edit button.
More Cool Projects to Try
Writing the Scripts. User scripts can ■ Sometimes you can’t figure out just
do anything JavaScript can do: modify where it was that you took a certain
links and images, change colors and photo. Phillip Torrone has linked a digital
fonts, and even add new content. With camera and a GPS to tag photos with
a little JavaScript know-how, you can maps showing where they were taken
write your own user scripts and custom- (www.engadget.com/entry/
ize the Web to your heart’s content. 5079855875464065). The camera was
For instance, the newwindow.user.js set to take photos at regular intervals
script pictured here uses a for loop to (using a $1.49 RadioShack timer chip),
FROM THE Manage User Scripts box, iterate through all the links on a page connected to a Garmin GPS Forerunner,
you can selectively disable or uninstall of eBay search results. Each time a link and positioned to face out of the front
Greasemonkey scripts. to an eBay listing is found, the script window of his car. The maps were made
changes the link’s target to listing, forc- by importing the data from the GPS and
specify several dates/locations for a flight ing the link to display the corresponding running it through an application that
search on Expedia.com. Bicycling addicts auction in a separate browser window grabs the photos from a free satellite
will appreciate a script that shows racing named listing. Greasemonkey runs the photo server.
results by cyclists of different countries script automatically for all eBay search
in Cycling News pages. pages, so the process is transparent. ■ In Hacking Digital Cameras, Chieh
To install a user script, right- Cheng and Auri Rahimzadeh present
click a link to the script and select a range of tips and tweaks for digital
Install User Script. Or click the link photographers of all levels. Among the
to display and examine the script; topics covered are
then, from Firefox’s Tools menu, building a remote trig-
select Install User Script. ger switch and control-
Be warned that some user scripts ling your camera from
have bugs, while others don’t work afar, accessing raw
at all. Make sure to test each script sensor data, making a
immediately after installing it. pinhole lens, extend-
From the Tools menu, select Man- ing Canon EOS lenses,
age User Scripts; this choice selec- shooting infrared
tively disables or uninstalls any pictures and removing your camera’s
user script you’ve installed. Also, THIS SIMPLE user script forces eBay search IR blocking filter, building a car camera
because scripts are not created by results links to open in a separate window. mount, building a monopod, hacking
the Web site owners, changes to the microdrives, and making a 500-watt
site may break scripts. If that happens, To make a Greasemonkey user script, home studio light. Hacking Digital Cam-
check back at the Greasemonkey reposi- place your ordinary JavaScript code in a eras is the newest title in the Extreme-
tory because the script creator will likely function() wrapper. To streamline script Tech series, published by Wiley.
post a fix. installation, insert the = =UserScript= =
When you install a user script, Grease- comment block to designate the script ■ We doubt many of you would rush
monkey saves it in the gm_scripts folder name, description, and URL s that acti- to do this, even if we provided instruc-
located in your Mozilla profile folder. vate it. Finally, add the .user.js filename tions, but here’s a great example of how
(The profile folder is typically located in suffi x; otherwise, the Install User Script a resourceful person can use limited
\Documents and Settings\Administra- command in Firefox won’t be available. resources to produce an effective DIY
tor\ApplicationData\Mozilla\Firefox\ It’s easy to share the scripts you create solution. A Vietnamese physician whose
through the repository at userscripts.org. hospital couldn’t afford a $30,000
Once you set up a free account, you can endoscopy system (which employs a
either upload scripts to the site or link to small scope to image the interior of
your site if you host scripts there. patients’ bodies) instead set out to build
After working with Greasemonkey his own. Dr. Nguyen Phuoc Huy devised
a while, you’ll start looking at the Web an adapter—a system of lenses—to link
differently. Once-static sites will seem an $800 endoscope to a webcam in or-
more dynamic. Minor annoyances now der to display and store the endoscope’s
become compelling scripting challenges. images on a PC. He has built three such
systems—it takes about a week to build
David A. Karp is a compulsive tinkerer one—and plans to construct them for
and the author of eBay Hacks, 2nd Edi- other impoverished hospitals in Viet-
IT’S EASY TO INSTALL a user script via tion (O’Reilly). David can be reached at nam. See news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
Firefox’s Tools menu. david@ebayhacks.com. technology/4145984.stm.
S E C U R I T Y W AT C H T H E L O O KO U T
D
espite years of effort, unsolicited main can be verified, it can be compared
Labs. In these cases, IM users unwittingly
e-mail continues to be a huge with the domain in the message header’s
download a rogue Google toolbar, which
problem. Most spam is sent using “From” field. If that has been spoofed, the
is installed in their Web browsers. The
e-mail spoofing, where the e-mail header message can be dropped from the server
only working feature on the fake toolbar
is forged so that the message appears to before the recipient even knows he has
saves credit card details, according to
come from someone other than the actual been spammed. Persistent-reputation
Christopher Boyd, FaceTime’s security re-
source. This not only tricks recipients profiles can be established for domains,
search manager. A host of other features,
into opening the e-mail but also masks and these profi les can then be incorpo-
including one to “enable pornographic
the identity of the sender. E-mail rated into antispam policy
ads,” do not work. —Ben Charny
spoofing can occur because Simple systems, shared among
Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the ser vice providers, and
primary protocol used in sending even exposed to the user. a real antispam solution. “These tech-
Internet e-mail, does not include an So far, the deployment nologies don’t really identify the indi-
authentication mechanism. vidual sender, but they do give strong
Among the many solutions pro- assurances that the sender is using a
posed, two of the most prominent are particular domain, and that should be
DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) good enough to cut down on spam,” says
and SenderID Framework (SIDF), which Clifford Neuman, director of the Center
evolved from the Sender Policy Frame- for Computer Systems Security at the
work (SPF) and Microsoft’s CallerID. University of Southern California’s In-
DKIM is supported by a number of ven- formation Sciences Institute. “Without
dors, including Yahoo! and Cisco. Micro- tools like this, so many spam filters don’t
soft and Google are backing SIDF. work, because spammers just pretend to
SIDF is intended to verify that e-mail be from domains that you trust.”
messages actually come from the domain THE ICONIX EMAIL ID plugin lets users According to Neuman, DKIM should
they claim to come from, based on the add a visual indication that a message prove the more effective technology,
sending server’s IP address. Each partici- has come from an authenticated source. because SIDF doesn’t always work with
pating domain creates an SPF record that forwarded messages. “If I maintain
is published in its DNS . SPF records list of both technologies has been limited. alternate e-mail addresses and I set them
the IP addresses of authorized outbound Moreover, difficulties have been re- up to forward messages to my primary
e-mail servers. On the receiving end, the ported in implementing both methods, mailbox, SIDF often makes mistakes,
server looks at which domain the mes- particularly with regard to roaming us- thinking the messages are originating
sage claims to be from, and checks the ers who may need to forge or add certain from the intermediary servers doing
DNS for that domain’s SPF record. If the headers when sending, for example, cor- the forwarding,” he explains. In order
IP addresses match, the receiving server porate e-mail from their ISP account. for SIDF to work properly in this case, it
processes the incoming e-mail. The jury is still out as to which, if must run on both the intermediary serv-
DKIM takes this one step further by either, will prevail. And spammers are ers and the servers where the messages
providing a mechanism for verifying the ready to appropriate both as a means to eventually wind up.
domain of the e-mail sender and the in- convince users of their legitimacy; these The good news, says Neuman, is that
tegrity of the message header sent. The technologies only authenticate domains, that neither technology needs ubiqui-
outbound domain uses a unique em- they don’t necessarily filter spam. When tous deployment in order to be effective.
bedded private key within the message antispam vendor MX Logic tracked a “Both SIDF and DomainKeys are nice in
header. The private key is then authenti- sampling of the 17.7 million messages that they don’t require universal adop-
cated through comparison with a public that passed through its servers in one tion.” The wider the reach of each one,
key registered by the DNS. Once the do- week last June, it found that of the 9 per- the more they can cut down on spam.
cent (about 1.6 million messages) that
KEEP YOURSELF SAFE! Subscribe to our came from domains with published SPF Matthew D. Sarrel, CISSP, a freelance
Security Watch newsletter and get records, 84 percent was spam. writer and information security
up-to-date info on the latest threats Still, experts agree that these tech- consultant, is a frequent contributor
delivered to your inbox automatically:
nologies are significant steps toward to PC Magazine.
go.pcmag.com/securitywatchletter.
BUSINESS
W
ith the steep rise in telecom- pany’s U.S.-based 800 number can be ume of calls,” says GotVM ail CEO Sia-
muting and advances in video routed to cell phones that employees in mak Taghaddos, “whether the calls are
conferencing, many workers Mexico carry, incurring only U.S.-based going to cell, VoIP, or other phones.”
are never—or hardly ever—in a physical fees. Employees can use Voice over IP Crumrine says that both cost savings
office. At San Felipe Development Com- phones from Vonage or Skype for taking and efficiency explain his company’s
pany, a Baja California, Mexico–based Internet calls. The service does not cur- use of GotVM ail. “It saves us money
real-estate firm with just over 40 employ- rently support SIP phones. in that we don’t have to have the calls
ees, workers frequently find themselves GotVM ail operates data centers at transferred down to Mexican landlines
in California offices, Mexican offices, several U.S. locations (using various at maybe 60 cents a minute.”
or other locations. The company faced carriers for calls) that route calls, mes- GotVMail’s VirtualOne pricing plans
the tricky problem of centralizing its sages, and e-mails. The company’s net- are available with flat monthly fees. San
telephone system and voice mail, and work uses Oracle, NetAppliance, Cisco, Felipe Development uses the VirtualOne
found a solution, beginning in October and Dialogic hardware and software Premier plan, which costs $39.95 a month
2003, in GotVM ail—a set of services
offered by Newton, Massachusetts–based
GotVMail Communications.
Typically, the heart of a large compa-
Calling All Mobile Phones
ny’s telephony and voice-messaging sys- San Felipe Development Company needed a unified way to route calls from the U.S. to mobile
employees in Mexico without incurring expensive long-distance charges. It uses GotVMail as a
tems is a PBX (private branch exchange), virtual call center to route calls via landline phone, VoIP phone, cell phone, or MP3 file over e-mail.
which handles extensions, conference
calls, call forwarding, and e-mail inte- Home/office phone
gration. Workers outside the office can
call in to retrieve their voice mail, and in-
Public Mobile
coming callers are seamlessly forwarded switched phone
to remote locations through the PBX. telephone
network
The problem for a small company, VoIP phone
though, is that PBX s cost thousands of GotVMail
dollars, have ongoing upgrade costs, and routing E-mail message
facility
require expertise to manage. Instead of U.S.
issuing workers only cell-phone num- customer
calls local or PDF to
bers and doing without a centralized toll-free
Internet fax
system, San Felipe Development uses California
number
GotVMail as a virtual PBX. MP3 file to e-mail
“Getting lines transferred down to
Mexico can be really expensive,” says
Brian Crumrine, founder of San Felipe
Development, which develops and mar- components, as well as a proprietary for 20 mailboxes (extra mailboxes cost
kets real estate under the name Mi Casa software suite. $10 a month for each set of five). Calls
del Mar. “That’s one reason we use Got- San Felipe Development has both a cost 7.5 cents per minute, but the com-
VMail. We handle all our sales calls into standard U.S.-based number that Got- pany can choose to buy minutes in vol-
Mexico with it. It serves as our phone VM ail issued and a toll-free number. ume—1,000 minutes—and reduce the
presence in the U.S. People can go into Any business can get numbers issued by per-minute fee to 4.5 cents.
their voice mailboxes while on the go, GotVMail online at www.gotvmail.com Advanced telephony is without a
and they can get voice messages e-mailed and have a virtual PBX up and running doubt essential in business. Even with-
to them down in Mexico.” instantly, but companies typically spend out a centralized office or PBX , San
Employees can choose to have fax and some time customizing the service. For Felipe Development’s implementation is
voice messages e-mailed to them as PDF example, some users may want voice as sophisticated as a large company’s—
or MP3 files. Calls coming in to the com- mails forwarded by e-mail, and some but it’s all virtual, and a lot cheaper.
USER TO USER
PC MAGAZINE’S COMMUNITY OF EXPERTS AND READERS
Watch for Registry Changes boxes entitled Successful and Failed. Check
Many of PC Magazine’s tips use RegEdit to the boxes in both columns for the actions
configure a specific Registry setting, but you want to audit: In most cases, this will
every now and then you may find that the be Set Value, Create Subkey, and Delete.
setting doesn’t seem to “stick”: It keeps And in most cases you’ll want to change
returning to its previous value. Clearly the Apply onto drop-down at the top so that
something is changing it back, but it can it reads “This key only.” Click OK, OK, and OK
be tough to track down just what process to start auditing the specified key.
is doing the dirty deed. If you’re running When you notice that the unwanted
Windows XP Professional, though, you can Registry change has happened, it’s time to
set a trap and catch the culprit. check the event logs. Launch Eventvwr
To start, use Local Security Settings .msc from the Start menu’s Run dialog
to enable Registry auditing. Click the Run and click the Security item in the left-hand
item in the Start menu and launch Secpol pane. Double-click the first (most recent)
.msc. Click Local Policies, then Audit Policy, event in the list and peruse its details, then WITH THE =NA() FUNCTION, Excel’s
and then double-click the item in the right- use the down arrow near the top to step graphing module fills in the line graph
hand pane entitled Audit object access. through the details for other events. You’re across the location of the unavailable
Check both the Success and Failure boxes, looking for one where the category (near data.
click OK, and close the Local Security Set- the top) is Object Access and the Object
tings applet. Name field (in the lower pane) is the key to be truly blank (so that nothing gets
Now launch RegEdit and navigate to the you wanted to watch. When you find it, the plotted). Thus something that makes the
Image File Name field will reveal the name cell merely look blank but plots as a zero
of the process that made the change. does not work. Any ideas?
One last thing: When you’ve finished CHRISTAN HOST
sleuthing, be sure to turn off the auditing,
else you’ll fill up the event log with un- In an Excel x,y line graph, if you leave a
necessary notifications. Back in RegEdit, cell entirely blank, there will be a break
navigate to the key you’ve been auditing, in the line where that cell’s data would
again select Permissions from the Edit appear. If the cell contains any kind of
menu, click the Advanced button, and click text, including a formula that returns an
the Auditing tab. Then simply remove your empty string, it will be plotted as if that
name from the Auditing entries list. cell contained a zero. The solution? Use
—Neil J. Rubenking the =NA() function. This returns the #N/A
error, indicating that data is not avail-
Patching an Excel Line Graph able. Excel’s graphing module “patches”
I want to have a dynamic graph (x,y with the line graph across the location of the
lines) that plots a range of data. But there unavailable data, which is exactly the
might be some “holes” in that range. I can behavior you need.— NJR
YOU CAN AUDIT the Registry and then add an IF statement that puts a double
check the event logs to find out what quote in the cell so that the cell appears Send Control Codes to a
might be changing a particular key. empty, but then it plots as a zero. Printer from XP
The particular situation I want to I need to send control strings to my old
key where the unexpected changes are graph involves aircraft flying various dot matrix printer while using Windows
taking place. Select Permissions from the routes. Depending on its range capabil- XP. I would like to do this from either a
Edit menu and click the Advanced button, ity, an aircraft may need aerial refueling. batch file, the command line, or a short-
then click the Auditing tab in the resulting If I plot the fuel level as a function of cut. For example, to change the emula-
dialog. Click Add and enter your username, distance, some aircraft will show a single tion, I want to send the characters Esc,
then click the Check Names button to make descending line while other aircraft will underscore, and ASCII character 2. I can’t
sure it was recognized. When you click OK, have points in the middle where they get find simple instructions on how to do this
you’ll get a dialog box entitled Auditing En- aerial refueling. I therefore need to have correctly. Can you help? Can it be done
try for <name>, where <name> is the name cells allow for refueling points, but if across a network?
of the key, with two columns of check no refueling is required, I want the cells ANDREW CAVASIN
If we print your tip, you’ll receive a You can indeed reference tabular data in
PC Magazine T-shirt. We regret that we Word, though it works a bit differently.
cannot answer letters individually. Highlight the desired cell in that table at
HOLIDAY GIFTS
2005
WISHLIST
It’s safe to say that there’s a gadget
or gizmo in our story to make nearly
everyone on your gift list merry!
AUDIO DEVICES//
SMART BUYING // A personal audio device is as much a lifestyle choice as
a technical choice. Make sure the player can do the things you need it to do,
and that access to the features makes sense.
Logitech Wireless
Headphones for MP3
These sleek headphones use
Bluetooth 1.2, sound great, MobiBLU DAH-1500i
and support most audio play- This little player (shown actual size) is one of the cool-
ers, including the iPod. They come est gifts you could give a music lover. Just slightly
with a wireless receiver, a charger, a bigger than a caramel, the DAH-1500i has 1GB of flash
short audio cable extender, and extra storage, a very readable blue-on-black screen, a
earpads. You can use them up to 60 feet headphone jack that doubles as a USB port, voice and
away from the receiver, and the internal recharge- FM radio recording, and good sound quality.— MK
able batteries last about 9 hours.—Michael Kobrin 1GB, $130 street. Hyun Won Inc.,
$129 list. Logitech, www.logitech.com. llllm www.mobibluamerica.com. llllm
Nikon D50
Help an aspiring shutterbug on your holiday list
enter the digital SLR league with the Nikon D50. This
6.1 MP shooter is light (1 lb 3 oz) and compact and
takes excellent pictures. It’s blazingly fast and has
a lovely 2-inch LCD with a raft of pro features and
great menus to help newbies make the step up.—TS
Body only, $649 list; kit with 18 to 55 mm lens, $799 list. Nikon
USA, www.nikonusa.com. lllll
OUR CONTRIBUTORS: Sascha Segan and Terry Sullivan are lead analysts at PC Magazine Labs; Michael Kobrin is a junior lead analyst.
Lance Ulanoff is the editor for PC Magazine Online. Erik Rhey is a staff writer, and Molly K. McLaughlin is a staff editor for PC Magazine.
Bill Machrone is a contributing editor. Matthew D. Sarrel and Troy Dreier are frequent contributors. Features editor Sean Carroll helped
edit the reviews. Senior editor Carol A. Mangis was in charge of this story.
GAMER GEAR//
SMART BUYING // The gaming platform is important, but it’s only
as much fun to play on as the games developed for it. Microsoft
Xbox 360
You’ve never seen games look
and perform the way they
Sony PSP do on the 360: Graphics are
This device created some seamless and hyperrealistic,
of the biggest gaming thanks to the console’s insane,
buzz in 2005; it’s almost specially-built-for-gaming-
surely on the gift list of high-performance, PC-power-
someone you know. The ful specs. You’ll also be able to
PSP is elegant, has a gorgeous use the 360 as a Media Center
screen, and totally succeeds as a portable Extender. There are too many
gaming console. The music- and video-playback features to mention here, but
capabilities are icing on the cake.— Matthew D. Sarrel just know that the 360 will
$250 street. Sony Corp., www.sony.com. llllh make any gamer you love—
love you twice as much!— CAM
Core system, $299.99 list. Microsoft
Corp., www.microsoft.com/xbox.
llllh
Intec Unlimited
Rechargable
Wireless Controller Nyko Air Flo EX for PC/Mac
For gamers who hate to tear We’ve liked Nyko’s previous Air Flo mice, which featured
themselves away from the built-in fans to cool off hot gamer hands. The EX version
screen, each of these control- builds on the Air Flo PC mouse by add-
lers has a rechargeable battery pack (rated for up to ing driver software, so you can
60 hours) and a connection cable—if you run out of customize button configurations.
juice, you can recharge while you play. They run on 2.4 You can also emulate keyboard
GHz, for maximum responsiveness, and can sense up to 16 and mouse functions, letting you
other players so there’s no interference.— Carol A. Mangis play games that you normally
For Xbox, $34.99 list; for PC and PS2, $29.99. Intec Inc., wouldn’t play with a game pad.— CAM
www.inteclink.com. llllm $24.99 list. Nyko Technologies,
www.nyko.com. llllm
KIDS’ STUFF//
SMART BUYING // Lots of manufacturers are putting out “kid” versions of Radio Shack
adult gadgets (cameras, cell phones, and so on). Most of them are fine, but
make sure you’re not spending more money for limited functionality. VEX Robotics
Design System
The VEX Robotics Design System
is an accessible robo kit for the scientifically inclined
Mattel Vidster teen. And it’s a perfect fit for the robo-hobbyist who
The Vidster is a great way can’t afford an AIBO but might be willing to build his
to introduce tweens to the own metal companion. In fact, this well-machined,
world of digital video—and decently documented kit succeeds as a helpful intro-
keep their paws off your duction for roboticists of any age.— Lance Ulanoff
expensive camcorder. It has a $299.99 direct. Radio Shack Corp., www.radioshack.com. llllm
handgrip and strap for small hands,
a 1.1-inch viewfinder LCD, and 2X zoom. It
records to the included 32MB SD card, and it can take still
photos at 1.3MP. The Vidster is bundled with a basic version
of muvee autoProducer 3.5MX for making music videos or
Nintendogs Best
slide shows, and runs on four double-A batteries.— Erik Rhey Friends Edition
$80 street. Mattel Inc., www.mattel.com. llllm Who would have thought that digi-
tal puppies would provide so much
addictive fun? The tactile experiences
offered by the Nintendo DS make the
LeapFrog FLY game feel eerily close to real, and
For ages 8 to 13, the very cool FLY pen- the animation is unpredictable and
top computer scans and responds lifelike. In this limited-edition pack-
to what you write with it. Draw age is a special-color DS—pink or
a calculator on paper and tap teal—bundled with a Nintendogs
the numbers to use it, or draw a game that features the 6 most
piano keyboard and tap the keys popular breeds; you can
to play a song (a small speaker in unlock all 18 breeds as
the FLY plays the sounds). The FLY you play.— CAM
works only with special FLY paper, $149.99 list. Nintendo,
which has a dot pattern for the scan- www.nintendo.com.
llllh
ner. Other add-on cartridges and games
impressively extend what the FLY can do.—TD
$100 street; paper and add-ons, $8 to $30. LeapFrog Enterprises
Inc., www.liveonthefly.com. llllh
Flight Factory Spin
Blade Indoor Helicopter
This rechargeable, radio-controlled toy helicopter is
Hasbro VideoNow poetry in motion. You can fly it up, down, left, right,
The VideoNow XP is a sturdy, portable and forward—it even hovers, and it has a 40-foot
DVD player for kids ages 6 and up. The range. “Indoor,” though? That’s your call!— CAM
device plays only VideoNow interac- $59.99 list. Flight Factory, www.radioshack.com. lllhm
tive DVDs, which include a decent
selection of kids’ programming.
The “interactive” ele-
ment of our SpongeBob
SquarePants test DVD
was a trivia quiz on the
SpongeBob episodes
and other Nickelodeon
cartoons. Games are
promised soon.— ER
$59 list; DVDs start at $5.99. Hasbro,
www.hasbro.com/videonow. lllhm
Sharp PW-E250
Electronic Dictionary
The Sharp Electronic Dictionary makes an excellent
homework helper and travel companion. It’s easy to use,
with several dedicated buttons that save you from scroll-
ing through confusing menus. At your fingertips are the
Oxford Pocket American Dictionary and Thesaurus, Span-
ish/English translation
tools, and a phrase-look-
up function.— MKM
$49.99 direct. Sharp DLO mini fling
Electronics Corp., Here’s a stylish accessory for a stylish device: a padded iPod mini case
www.sharpusa.com.
that comes in 12 styles and colors. With an elastic strap in the back for
lllhm
money or earbuds, a wrist strap, and a mirror on the inside of the lid, this
case makes a great stocking stuffer for iPod people.— ER
$34 direct. Digital Lifestyle Outfitters, www.dlodirect.com. llllm
Wow-Wee Roboraptor
This toy robot could become the must-have
gadget of the holiday season. With its toothy
grin, blue reptilian eyes, and bright black, white,
and gray body (more than 2 feet long), the
Roboraptor is a surprisingly lifelike robot, with
just enough autonomy to make it truly interest-
Optek Fretlight ing for both kids and adults.— LU
The Optek Fretlight guitar is one $120 street. WowWee,
of the coolest things you’ll ever www.wowwee.com. l l l l m
plug into a USB port. It has 132 LEDs
embedded in its fretboard, show-
ing you where to put your fingers
for chords, scales, arpeggios, and
more. The included Guitar Power CPS Cellboost for iPod
software guides you through every The handy Cellboost is a disposable battery
imaginable major and minor chord that can add around 60 minutes of addi-
and scale, and you can download tional talk time to a power-drained gadget.
practice songs from the company’s You can get Cellboosts for smart
Web site. New colors are offered phones, camcorders, Nintendo Game
for the holidays, includ- Boy Advance SPs and DSs, Sony PSPs,
ing Tobacco Sunburst and Apple iPods (shown; rated at 8 hours
(shown).— BM additional power).— CAM E
$599 list. $7.99 and up, list. Compact Power Systems Inc.,
Optek Music Systems Inc., www.cellboost.com. lllmm
www.optekmusic.com.
>
llllm
BY SEAN CARROLL
here’s never been a better time to buy, no matter what your
T
budget is, especially in a year when you can buy a PC with
Keep in mind, however, that you still get what you
a 17-inch monitor, a 2.93-GHz Celeron processor, and a
pay for. Makers cut corners to lower prices to more
160MB hard drive for $300. And if you can afford a little
attractive levels, and they often leave out things that
more, you can get a PC that would have been out of reach
really shouldn’t be optional. The Compaq Presario
a few years ago. In fact, this roundup includes whole new types of
SR1030Z, for example, is an otherwise quite good
processors that didn’t exist when we did our big yearly roundup last
Windows Media Center Edition desktop—except
November. Back then, 64-bit processors were the big news, as were
that it lacks a TV tuner. That $300 Systemax PC? It
SATA hard drives. This year those are old hat. Now we’ve got dual-
requires that you sign up for AOL service for a year at
core processors, which let you multitask as never before. Photoshop-
$23.90 a month—an unacceptable burden, unless AOL
ping an image when your anitvirus starts up? No problem.
is the single Internet service available in your area.
And almost every PC will require that you shell out more money for security software, as
most come with only a short-duration trial. Dell is a rare exception. Not coincidentally, Dell’s
systems are among our favorites, with the XPS 400 and E510 earning Editors’ Choices.
To help you make your choice, we’ve split the machines into three categories. We define entry-
level systems as desktops that cost $499 or less without a monitor, or notebooks with at least
512MB of RAM for $500 to $1,000. Mainstream systems are desktops that cost under $1,300 (in-
cluding a monitor) or notebooks that cost from $1,000 to $2,000. High-end systems, obviously,
IN THIS STORY cost more.
Although many of the top-of-the-line systems would make fine gaming machines, systems op-
146 Entry-Level Systems timized for gaming are a specialized breed; for a roundup, see this issue’s First Looks section, on
146 Editors’ Choices page 36. There are some dual-core systems among the high-end computers, and most are also Me-
148 Benchmark Test Results
dia Center PCs. When it comes to notebooks, we prefer Media Center (or the equivalent), and 1GB
152 Mainstream Systems
of RAM and a built-in or external TV tuner are a must among Microsoft Windows machines.
152 Editors’ Choices
Read the reviews, check out each machine’s test results (if you’re interested, read how we ar-
164 High-End Systems
rived at the figures in How We Test Computers on page 148), and shop around for deals. We’re
164 Editors’ Choices
confident that you’ll find the machine you need, at a price that just might surprise you.
«« entry-level »»
SR1620NX has tons of expansion space, including a PCIe x16
Compaq Presario SR1620NX slot, which should keep the system from becoming obsolete
Dell Inspiron 6000 for a bit longer than the average entry-level system lasts.
The Dell Inspiron’s performance crushes its competition
The Compaq Presario SR1620NX is a forward-looking ma- among entry-level notebooks; impressive battery life at 4
chine for entry-level users who want a system that will last hours, 13 minutes (nearly double that of the competition)
and can be easily upgraded. For under $500, you get a 64-bit in a reasonably compact package with a sharp 15.4 inch wide-
Sempron 3400+ processor and a dual-layer DVD writer, neither screen makes this an appealing choice. But we’d recommend
of which are common among entry level systems. Best of all, the paying the additional $80 to have a DVD burner included.
HP Pavilion s7210n Slimline PC but with more expandability. Yet it uses traditional desktop op-
tical and hard drives, as opposed to the notebook drives
1.4 GHz Intel Celeron M 360 processor; 512MB 400-MHz DDR2 found on the Mac mini, which should make the S7210n
SDRAM; 160GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive; integrated Intel GMA
900 graphics; DVD/CD-RW combo drive; five USB 2.0 ports, one easier to upgrade. It comes with five USB ports, a 7-in-1
FireWire port; integrated sound card; Microsoft Windows XP Home. (SD, MMC, MS/Pro, SM, XD, CompactFlash I/II, and Mi-
$499 direct (without monitor). Hewlett-Packard Development Co., crodrive) digital media card reader (handy for the family
www.hp.com. l l l l m
with more than one digital camera), and digital audio-out
The entry-level s7210n Slimline ($499 direct with- and analog audio-out for surround sound. iTunes
out monitor) didn’t ace our performance tests, for music, HP Image Zone for digital pictures,
but it’s still very good for the bedroom or for and 60 days of Norton Internet Security are
the space-constrained apartment dweller. also included. (We’d like to see a year or
It can serve equally well as a home server more of security.)
or as a new The s7210 is no speed demon, but it’s
RATINGS PC for someone no slouch either. The notebook-based Cel-
Music: 4 Photos: 3 who needs a Web-surf- eron M 360 processor provides adequate
Video: 2.5 Gaming: 1
ing station that can also handle performance and runs cooler and quieter than
Design: 4.5 Expandability: 2
day-to-day computing tasks. It’s as a desktop CPU. You’ll be able to view rich Web sites and do gen-
Security: 1.5 Value: 4.5
compact as a 15.4-inch widescreen eral-purpose tasks with aplomb, but the integrated Intel GMA 900
PERFORMANCE notebook in both length and width, and graphics aren’t ideal for gaming. Compared with full-size systems’
SYSmark 2004 SE Office it’s a lot cheaper than most desktop- performance, the s7210n is a step behind.
Productivity: 109
replacement notebooks. At about the same price as a conventional minitower PC, the HP
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Content Creation: 126
The s7210n’s strength is its small Pavilion s7210n shows that desktop computers can compete with
size: a bit larger than the Mac mini entry-level notebooks when it comes to value.—JSD
ger hard drive, and more memory, along with the Acer Ferrari 4000 3:40 N/A1
PowerBook’s scroll touchpad and hard-drive Dell XPS M140 N/A1 6:28
protection that parks the drive’s heads during a Fujitsu LifeBook S2210 3:28 N/A1
sudden jolt, greatly boost the iBook’s value. Yet HP Pavilion dv4000 2:28 4:22
the already low price remains the same: $999. Lenovo ThinkPad Z60t N/A1 4:26
Though widescreen, transflective displays are the norm in consumer Toshiba Satellite M55-S325 3:15 N/A1
notebooks, Apple sticks with its 1,024-by-768 antiglare display, which we found lackluster. HIGH END
And we found the iWork ’05 suite (30-day trial) intuitive but not as robust as Microsoft DESKTOPS:
The increase in processor speed—from 1.2 GHz to 1.33 GHz—is slight, as is the graphics Gateway FX400MC N/A1 N/A1
upgrade; the 512MB memory is standard (finally!) and should improve speed. We’d like an ex- HP Pavilion d4100y N/A1 N/A1
tended battery option; the included one lasted just 2 hours, 49 minutes. Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 Sony VAIO RC110G N/A1 N/A1
with EDR raised the mobility rating, as did its 4.9-pound frame NOTEBOOKS:
RATINGS and adapter. The iBook did well on our Security, Music, and Pho- Dell XPS M170 2:34 N/A1
Music: 3.5 Photos: 4 tos ratings. AirPort Extreme wireless (802.11g) is built in. Fujitsu Lifebook N6210 1:46 N/A1
Video: 2 Gaming: 1.5 N/A1
The hand-me-down features from the PowerBook, along Gateway NX850XL 3:22
Design: 3 Mobility: 3.5 2:15 N/A1
with the component upgrades, make the new iBook anything Sony VAIO VGN-A790
Security: 4 Value: 4.5 1:44 N/A1
but “same old.”—CC Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513
RED denotes Editor’s Choice. N/A1—Not applicable: The computer
does not have this feature.
OUR CONTRIBUTORS: Cisco Cheng and Joel Santo Domingo are PC Magazine Labs lead
analysts. Features editor Sean Carroll was in charge of this story.
We use MobileMark 2005 to measure sacrificing textures for frame rates. We which renders a 3D scene in software. We
battery life. also test at 1,600-by-1,200 on desktops also run a Multitasking test for dual-core
Futuremark’s 3DMark05 evaluates gam- (native resolution for notebooks) at High systems: We convert a 3-minute AVI file
ing performance. For high-end desktops, quality settings, using more bells and whis- to a Windows Media WMV file while a Nor-
we also test at 1,600-by-1,200 resolu- tles. The Ultra quality setting runs all fea- ton AntiVirus scan is running in the back-
tion, 4-sample anti-aliasing (4XAA), and tures uncompressed. ground. The encoding session is timed and
8-sample anisotropic filtering (8XAF). For We use Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Chaos the result is posted.
high-end notebooks, we test at native reso- Theory, at the same settings, to test per- For detailed explanations of our tests
lution, 4XAA, and 8XAF. formance with high-end rendering meth- and to read how we arrive at our other rat-
Doom 3 has a self-contained bench- ods including lighting effects. ings, please visit us online at go.pcmag
mark test. Our test at 1,024-by-768, using For systems equipped with dual-core .com/testdesktops and go.pcmag.com/
Medium quality settings, simulates users CPUs, we use Maxon’s CineBench 2003, testlaptops.
99 134 115 N/A2 N/A2 3 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
114 138 125 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
97 136 115 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
102 139 119 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
113 141 126 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
121 156 137 2,474 732 47.0 N/A2 N/A2 33.9 13.4 N/A3 N/A3
141 188 163 168 154 3.1 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
103 129 115 415 415 5.7 5.7 N/A2 5.6 5.6 N/A3 N/A3
131 175 151 2,483 1,242 43.5 N/A2 N/A2 30.0 18.9 N/A3 N/A3
122 160 140 142 150 2.9 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
129 155 143 168 N/A2 3.2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A2 N/A3 N/A3
129 187 155 6,590 3,657 101.3 N/A2 N/A2 93.6 30.6 N/A3 N/A3
113 165 136 1,201 603 22.9 N/A2 N/A2 17.2 9.3 N/A3 N/A3
121 184 149 4,293 2,342 93.6 N/A2 N/A2 62.2 21.8 N/A3 N/A3
107 169 134 1,247 272 22.6 N/A2 N/A2 28.4 10.7 N/A3 N/A3
119 174 145 2,472 1,421 63.5 N/A2 N/A2 32.2 14.7 N/A3 N/A3
1 Notebooks run these high-quality video tests at native resolution. N/A2—Not applicable: This computer was not able to complete this test. N/A3—Not applicable: This single-core PC did not run our multicore tests.
Note: The Apple Macintosh computers in this roundup were omitted from this table, since they do not run these Windows-based tests.
DDR SDRAM; 80GB, 4,200-rpm hard DDR; 60GB, 4,200-rpm hard drive; ATI
drive; 32MB VIA/S3G Unichrome Pro Radeon Xpress 200M, 128MB; 14.1-
IGP graphics; 12.1-inch, 1,024-by-768 inch, 1,280-by-768 display; Broadcom
LCD; Ralink tech 802.11g; 4.2-pound 802.11g; 5.4-pound system weight
system weight (4.9-pound travel (6.3-pound travel weight); DVD-ROM/
weight); DVD±RW drive; three USB CD-RW; three USB ports, one FireWire
ports, one FireWire port; 49-Wh, port; 49-Wh, 4.4-Ah lithium ion bat-
4.4-Ah lithium ion battery, Micro- tery; Microsoft Windows XP Home
soft Windows XP Home Edition. Edition, $999 direct. Hewlett-Packard
$950 street. Averatec Inc., Development Co., www.hp.com.
www.averatec.com. lllhm
lllmm
The slim Averatec The HP Compaq Presario V2000Z
AV3715-EH1 laptop gives midrange performance and
is ideal for commuters features at a budget price. The
and students. It’s got a clean design V2000Z comes with either a Sempron
and an appealing price tag. processor or a more expensive Turion processor; we tested it with
The 4.2-pound AV3715-EH1 has a 12.1-inch antiglare screen and the Turion.
integrates a Sempron 3000+ (1.8 GHz), which delivers decent scores The V2000Z’s 14-inch BrightView widescreen display is easy on
on SYSmark 2004 SE—fine for Web browsing. That said, other sub- the eyes for movies or office tasks. Three USB ports, one FireWire
$1,000 systems are equipped with the more powerful Pentium M port, an S-Video port, and a 6-in-1 card reader are spread out on
and AMD Turion 64 processors. Components include a single-layer the system’s sides. It has a combo DVD/CD-RW drive (we prefer
DVD±RW drive, three USB ports, and an 80GB hard drive. In addition, multiformat DVD burners). Its Altec Lansing speakers work as well
there’s a FireWire port and a 4-in-1 card reader. as can be expected on a laptop.
The AV3715 gets a terrific rating for Value. As with other value The V2000Z’s integrated graphics aren’t 3D-friendly, so gaming
systems, the ratings for Video, Gaming, and Photos were low. The isn’t recommended. Its MobileMark 2005 score was an meager
Security rating is low because of the 2:23. The $25 extended life battery is
RATINGS bundled 30-day trial of antivirus soft- RATINGS a good buy, adding 4:40 of power. The
Music: 3 Photos: 2.5 ware; we’d like to see a full year. Music: 3.5 Photos: 2.5 V2000Z gets a very good Value rating
Video: 1.5 Gaming: 1.5 Video: 1.5 Gaming: 1.5
The Averatec AV3715-EH1 is a because it doesn’t skimp on compo-
Design: 3 Mobility: 2.5 Design: 2.5 Mobility: 2.5
good pick for those looking for a nents, but it fares poorly on Security,
Security: 1 Value: 4 Security: 1 Value: 4
lightweight, stylish system that’s because it offers only a 60-day sub-
PERFORMANCE not going to be used for multimedia PERFORMANCE scription to Norton AntiVirus 2005.
SYSmark 2004 SE Office creation. The design will impress SYSmark 2004 SE Office The HP Compaq Presario V2000Z
Productivity: 97 Productivity: 102
your peers, and so will the price—but gives you the performance and fea-
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Content Creation 136
don’t forget to budget for security Content Creation 139
tures of a midrange system at a bud-
software.—CC get price.—CC
Dell Inspiron 6000 (Media Center) gives you plenty of space to store TV shows, photos,
and music files.
Intel Pentium M 725 (1.6 GHz); 512MB DDR; 80GB, To include MCE, Dell had to sacrifice elsewhere to
4,200-rpm hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator
900 GM, 128MB; 15.4”, 1,280-by-800 display; Intel Pro keep the price under $1,000: The company chose to
Wireless 2200BG; 6.8-pound system weight. (7.7-pound ditch the DVD±RW for a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. If
travel weight); DVD-ROM/CD-RW; 4 USB ports, 1 FireWire DVD-burning is a must, a $79 upgrade to an 8X DVD±RW
port; 80-Wh, 7.2-Ah lithium ion battery; Microsoft Windows
XP Media Center 2005. $968.80 direct (E-Value code 1111- is available. Dell has also included only limited-duration
i6004pc). Dell Inc., www.dell.com. security software, whereas in its other offerings it
llllh provides a full year of protection.
With Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005 and The Inspiron 6000 does, however, have a
great performance for under $1,000, the Inspiron multitude of connectivity options, includ-
6000 is a penny-pincher’s dream and our entry- ing four USB ports, FireWire and S-Video-
level notebook Editors’ out ports, and an SD slot.
RATINGS Choice. At 6.8 pounds, it’s The Pentium M 725 (1.6 GHz) and
Music: 4 Photos: 4 not light, but it has a sharp, 512MB RAM combo rocketed performance to
Video: 2.5 Gaming: 2
bright, 15.4-inch widescreen the top of the entry-level pack. The Inspiron 6000’s
Design: 3.5 Mobility: 1.5
display that’s great for movies. MobileMark score was also impressive, at 4:13, nearly
Security: 2 Value: 4.5
The model we tested didn’t double its peers’ battery life.
PERFORMANCE come with a TV tuner, but you can buy Remember that the sub-$1,000 price tag is available only with
SYSmark 2004 SE Office an external one from Dell for an addi- Dell’s e-code: 1111-i6004pc. (You can’t configure this system for
Productivity: 141
tional $134, if you want to watch and this price on the site.) With this code in hand, frugal shoppers can
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Content Creation: 1 26
record your favorite television pro- enjoy the power and flexibility of the Inspiron 6000 for a very
grams. The sizable 80GB hard drive affordable price.—CC
«
Apple iMac G5 (17-inch) Compaq Presario SR1030Z
Spec Data: 1.8-GHz PowerPC G5 processor; 2.2-GHz AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor; 512MB 400-MHz DDR SDRAM; 250GB,
512MB 400-MHz DDR SDRAM; 160GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive; 256MB integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics card;
7,200-rpm SATA hard drive; 128MB ATI dual-layer DVD±RW drive, DVD-ROM drive;
Radeon 9600 graphics card; DVD/CD-RW 17-inch LCD monitor; seven USB 2.0 ports,
drive; 17-inch widescreen LCD monitor; two FireWire ports; integrated sound card;
three USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports; HP stereo speakers; Microsoft Windows
integrated sound card; built-in stereo XP Media Center Edition 2005. $990 direct
speakers; Mac OS X 10.4.2. ($660 without monitor). Hewlett-Packard
$1,299 direct. Apple Computer Inc., Development Co., www.hp.com. l l l m m
www.apple.com.
lllhm
The Compaq Presario SR1030Z is a
bargain among mainstream desk-
Although it ’s the top PCs. Unfortunately, the lack of a
least expensive iMac, built-in TV tuner card limits its mul-
the Apple iMac G5 timedia flexibility.
17-inch is pricey for a mainstream system. Apple’s The SR1030Z is packed with 250GB
cachet, design, and extras cost a premium, but they’re worth it. If of hard drive space, a dual-layer DVD
you’re already set on getting a Mac, add another point to the over- burner, seven USB ports, two FireWire
all score, since this iMac hits the price/feature sweet spot. ports, a 17-inch LCD monitor, and the Micro-
The 17-inch G5 has a slower processor (1.8 GHz, vs. 2.0 GHz) soft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
and a smaller hard drive than the 20-inch iMac. But for users with operating system. The hard drive can store tons of photos, music,
limited desktop space, that’s a reasonable tradeoff for a system and videos, but it’s a bit strange that the SR1030Z includes Win-
that’s smaller—and $500 cheaper. The iMac includes the iLife dows MCE but no TV tuner.
suite, which is ideal for budding artists—but don’t plan on burn- Regardless, you can still view pictures and listen to music us-
ing anything to DVD. Unfortunately, to reach its price, Apple has ing the MCE interface. The SR1030Z is a good, if uninspiring, per-
forgone the DVD-R drive in favor of a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. former. The Athlon 64 3500+ is a midlevel processor and garners
The included 802.11b/g (AirPort) means the iMac can connect to midlevel scores on SYSmark.There are, however, cheaper, entry-
a wireless LAN, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR lets you connect wireless level systems, such as the eMachines T3302, that achieve com-
keyboards and mice. parable performance. Like most entry-level systems and many
Though Doom 3 was viewable (at 14 frames per second), for midlevel systems, the SR1030Z struggles with 3D gaming. There is
serious 3D gaming, we’d recommend the Dual G5 PowerMac with space inside to upgrade to better graphics: In addition to the open
an nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics card. Spyware, viruses, PCIe x16 slot, there are three free
and other malware aren’t currently huge concerns for Mac us- RATINGS RAM DIMM slots, two free PCI slots,
ers. McAfee and Symantec both have AV clients for Mac OS X, but Music: 3.5 Photos: 3.5 and even space for an additional hard
Video: 2 Gaming: 1.5
they’re not the must-have that they are on Windows machines. drive. The system comes with a sub-
Design: 2.5 Expandability: 3.5
When we were wrapping up this scription to Norton Internet Security,
RATINGS Security: 1 Value: 3
story, Apple announced that it was but it’s for only 60 days.
Ratings: Music: 4 (out of 5) introducing a new, sleeker version of PERFORMANCE If you can overlook the lack of a TV
Photos: 4.5 Video: 4 SYSmark 2004 SE Office
iMac. Look for a review on our Web tuner, the Compaq Presario SR1030Z
Gaming: 2.5 Design: 5 Productivity: 131
site (www.pcmag.com), probably has a lot going for it, and is a good
Expandability: 2 Security: 4 SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Value: 4
by the time this magazine reaches Content Creation 177
system for moderately demanding
newsstands.—JSD applications.—JSD
«« mainstream »»
many ports. A 15-month subscription to McAfee’s Internet
Dell Dimension E510 Security Suite seals the deal.
HP Pavilion dv4000 The HP Pavilion dv4000 is a mobile mainstream multi-
media dream. It’s great for creating, enjoying, and burn-
The Dell Dimension E510 is an all-around winner of a desk- ing music and video, thanks to its powerful processor and
top. Specialists might want the power of a dual-core pro- graphics chipset, great widescreen, and DVD±RW burner.
cessor or need more than its modest 160GB of storage, and It’s even fast enough for moderately demanding game play,
gamers will not be satisfied with its Radeon X600 graphics, but though it’s not highly mobile, because of its heft and modest
mainstream users will find this one to be a fast, powerful, quiet, battery life. The LightScribe drive for etching images and pat-
reasonably priced, and expandable, thanks to its PCIe slot and terns onto DVDs is a cool extra.
HP Pavilion a1250n more than one extra internal hard drive anyway.
There are plenty of USB and FireWire ports to
2.0-GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor; 1GB 400-MHz expand the a1250n externally.
DDR SDRAM; 250GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive; integrated
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics; dual-layer DVD±RW drive The dual-core Athlon processor helps the
with LightScribe, DVD-ROM drive; 17-inch LCD monitor; seven a1250n achieve a SYSmark 2004 Internet Con-
USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports; integrated sound card; tent Creation score rivaling that of high-end
HP stereo speakers; Microsoft Windows XP Media Center
Edition 2005. $1,229 direct ($900 without monitor). Hewlett- multimedia PCs. If you’re a digital photo-editing
Packard Development Co., www.hp.com. aficionado, the a1250n is a bargain. But its Gam-
lllhm ing scores are poor, because of the integrated
HP had to make a few compromises with the Pavil- Radeon Xpress 200 graphics. If you must play
ion a1250n. To shoehorn a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 Doom 3, upgrade via the PCIe x16 slot.
3800+ into the $1,229 system, it left out a separate Compared with similarly priced systems, the a1250n
graphics card and a TV comes out ahead in the 2D performance field, thanks to its
RATINGS tuner. The graphics card may be worth dual-core processor. But the HP lacks the Dell’s TV tuners, a com-
Music: 4 Photos: 4 losing in exchange for the extra pro- promise we don’t support for Media Center systems at this price.
Video: 2.5 Gaming: 1.5
cessing muscle, but the TV tuner isn’t. Another major shortcoming is HP’s standard security software
Design: 3.5 Expandability: 3.5
There’s a lot of expansion space in package: only a 60-day subscription to Norton Internet Security
Security: 1 Value: 3.5
the a1250n, including a PCIe x16 slot 2005 AntiSpyware Edition is preinstalled. Still, the a1250 came
PERFORMANCE and a pair of open PCI slots. There’s with a good mix of HP-based software for digital photos (Image
SYSmark 2004 SE Office only one spare SATA port, though the Zone), music (iTunes and HP Tunes), and more.
Productivity: 149
cables running from the front USB/ The HP Pavilion a1250n is a prime example of bleeding-edge
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Content Creation: 245
FireWire ports and the digital media technology trickling down to the mainstream. The lack of a TV
card reader would get in the way of tuner hurts its score, however.—JSD
1,024MB DDR; 100GB, 5,400 80 GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; Intel Graph-
rpm; ATI Mobility Radeon ics Media Accelerator 900 GM, 128MB;
X700, 128MB; 15.4-inch, 14.1-inch, 1,280-by-800 display; Intel Pro
1,680-by-1,050 display; Intel Wireless 2915AG; 5.9-pound system weight
Pro Wireless 2200BG 802.11g; (6.7-pound travel weight); DVD±RW; four
6.6-pound system weight (7.8- USB ports, one FireWire port; 80-Wh lithium
pound travel weight); dual-layer ion battery; Microsoft Windows XP Media
DVD±RW; four USB ports, one Center Edition 2005. $1,747 direct (E-Value
FireWire port; 72-Wh, 4.8-Ah code 1111-M140PC). Dell Inc., www.dell
lithium ion battery; Microsoft .com. l l l l m
Windows XP Professional. $1,999
list. Acer Inc., www.acer Dell’s XPS M140 is your complete digital
.com. l l l l m
home in a laptop. It’s loaded with Microsoft
The thin, light Acer Ferrari 4000 Media Center Edition 2005 and has a 14.1-
has a dazzling new design and inch widescreen featuring Dell’s vivid TrueLife
components for extra kick under the display, which is wonderful for viewing movies and photos.
hood. The carbon-fiber cover is stronger and lighter than aluminum, The integrated Intel graphics aren’t ideal for a hard-core gamer,
and the interior has a rubberized coating. One design complaint: The but this 5.9-pound notebook is powerful, loaded with a Pentium
mouse buttons are noisy. M (2.13 GHz) and 1GB of RAM. The battery life is also excellent, at
Though the 15.4-inch LCD isn’t as eye-popping as the Bright- 6 hours 28 minutes. Included are a 5-in-1 card reader, a FireWire
View screen on our Editors’ Choice–winning HP Pavilion dv4000, port, and a dual-layer DVD+/-RW burner. The 80GB hard drive
it is vivid enough for movie watching, even with the matte finish, is fine, but a Media Center system with a TV tuner should
thanks to its high resolution (1,680-by-1,050). The Ferrari 4000 have at least 100GB for storage. Dell’s site offers Hauppauge’s
has a solid feature set, including four USB ports, a FireWire port, WinTV-PVR-USB2 Personal Video Recorder for $134 extra.
and a 5-in-1 card reader. Video connections include both VGA and Dell doesn’t disappoint when it comes to value. Security ratings
DVI-D ports. Built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11g are also included, jumped because of the generous 36-month McAfee Security Center
as is a dual-layer DV±RW drive and an subscription. The Music and Photos
RATINGS impressively large and fast 100GB, RATINGS ratings were also high, but the Gam-
Music: 3.5 Photos: 4 5,400-rpm hard drive. Music 4.5 Photos: 4 ing rating was low. Excellent support
Video: 3 Gaming: 3.5 Video: 3 Gaming: 2.5
In our performance tests, the Fer- and service are bonuses with the XPS
Design: 4 Mobility: 2.5 Design: 4 Mobility: 3
rari 4000 fell behind the HP dv4000 line. You’ll get a direct line to the same
Security: 1.0 Value: 3 Security: 4 Value: 4
on SYSmark 2004 SE, both systems salesperson for the life of the system,
PERFORMANCE had good gaming results. Battery life PERFORMANCE and access to certified technicians
SYSmark 2004 SE Office was an impressive 3:43. SYSmark 2004 SE Office who cater to your needs 24/7.
Productivity: 121 Productivity: 141
It’s only a matter of time before The Dell XPS M140 offers a terrific
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Content Creation: 156
Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick get Content Creation 188
Portable Media Center experience
their hands on one.—CC and top-rate customer support.—CC
DDR2; 80GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; ATI 512MB DDR SDRAM; 60GB, 5,400-
Mobility Radeon X700, 128MB; 15.4-inch, rpm hard drive; 128MB Intel Graphics
1,280-by-800 display; Intel Pro Wireless Media Accelerator 900 GM; 14-inch,
2200BG; 6.6-pound system weight (7.7- 1,280-by-768 widescreen LCD;
pound travel weight); DVD±RW Light- Atheros 802.11a/g; 5.1-pound system
Scribe; four USB ports, one FireWire port; weight (5.9-pound travel weight);
48-Wh, 4.4-Ah lithium ion battery; DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive; three USB
Microsoft Windows XP Professional. ports, one FireWire port; 75-Wh, 5.2-Ah
$1,627 direct as tested. Hewlett- lithium ion battery; Microsoft Windows
Packard Development Co., www. XP Professional. $1,879 direct. Lenovo
hp.com. l l l l h Group Ltd., www.lenovo.com. l l l l m
«
Apple Power Mac G5 Dual (2.7-GHz) Dell XPS 400
Dual 2.7-GHz PowerPC G5 processors; 1GB 3.2-GHz Intel Pentium D 840 processor; 1GB 533-MHz DDR2 SDRAM; two 160GB,
400-MHz DDR SDRAM; 250GB, 7,200-rpm 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives in a RAID 0 array; 256MB nVidia GeForce 6800
SATA hard drive; 256MB nVidia GeForce 6800 graphics card; dual-layer DVD±RW drive, DVD-ROM drive; 20-inch widescreen LCD
Ultra graphics card; dual-layer DVD±RW drive; monitor; seven USB 2.0 ports, three FireWire
three USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 400 ports, ports; Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme
one FireWire 800 port; integrated Apple Music sound card; Dell 5650 5.1 speakers,
sound card; integrated speaker; Mac OS X Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005.
10.4. $3,648 direct (as tested, without moni- $2,799 direct. Dell Inc., www.dell.com.
tor). Apple Computer Inc., www.apple.com. llllh
llllm
Though other systems beat it on
The Apple Power Mac G5 Dual 2.7GHz some measures, the Dell XPS 400’s
is the system graphics artists dream feature set makes it the best in class.
of. It has a quiet, state-of-the-art The XPS 400 has an impressive
cooling solution—a combination of 20-inch widescreen, occupies a quiet
liquid cooling and smart fans—and BTX case, and has dual TV tuners, a
a speedy 16X dual-layer, dual-format feature we love. The system has a rea-
(DVD±RW) DVD writer. If your data files are sonable 320GB of storage—though we’d
large, the 8.5GB capacity of dual-layer discs is enough reason to have preferred two 250GB drives, to support
upgrade your system. Other improvements include the new ATI the TV tuners. You could easily add external hard
Radeon 9650, which comes standard—though we tested with the drives, however (there’s no expansion slot).
high-end nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL (a $450 upgrade). These The XPS 400’s SYSmark Internet Content Creation score rivals
improvements, along with Mac OS X 10.4.1 Tiger and iLife ’05, help those of systems costing over $4,000, thanks to a high-end dual-
high-end graphics users get their work done quickly. core Pentium D 840 processor, speedy DDR2 memory, and twin
Apple sent us its widescreen 30-inch Cinema display ($2,999 SATA hard drives. You’re unlikely to see a performance hiccup
direct), which dwarfs all except the biggest HDTV plasma displays. when your antivirus starts in the background. Although Dell leaves
We compared the Power Mac’s performance with that of two bleeding-edge gaming performance to the XPS 600, casual 3D
Windows white boxes, one with the dual-core Intel Pentium EE gamers will be happy with the XPS 400.
840, the other with the dual-core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+. Buyers receive a card with a phone number for a dedicated XPS
Though both outperformed the PowerMac on the two Adobe call center. Dell says this lets you bypass the company’s standard
Photoshop filter tests, they won by only 1 to 2 seconds. The white- support and speak with a dedicated Microsoft Certified Profes-
box systems trounced the Power Mac on Doom 3 tests, but the sional who’ll be your sole point of
Power Mac won on the CineBench 2003 test. This shows that the RATINGS contact. Dell also promises remote
Power Mac has heavy-duty graphics-rendering horsepower, and Music: 5 Photos: 5 troubleshooting. Your agent will sup-
Video: 4.5 Gaming: 4
that the dual 2.7-GHz CPUs can help you get your job done faster posedly even help resolve issues with
Design: 4 Expandability: 3.5
with applications that take advan- third-party software and add-on hard-
RATINGS Security: 3.5 Value: 4
tage of the second processor. ware. Another excellent feature is a
Music: 4 (out of 5) We recommend the Power Mac G5 PERFORMANCE 15-month subscription to the McAfee
Photos: 4 Video: 4 SYSmark 2004 SE Office
Dual 2.7GHz for power-hungry photo, Internet Security Suite.
Gaming: 4 Design: 4.5 Productivity: 187
music, and video artists who need Though we’d have preferred more
Expandability: 4 Security: 4 SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Value: 4
expansion space and the horsepower Content Creation: 269
storage, this machine deserves its
to get the job done.—JSD Editors’ Choice.—JSD
«« high-end »»
and it delivers great performance, even on relatively de-
Dell XPS 400 manding games, thanks to a powerful processor and twin
Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 SATA hard drives.
An exemplary widescreen and the widest array of ports
The “S” in XPS ought to stand for security—or perhaps we’ve ever seen on a notebook make the Toshiba Qosmio
support. Your own personal support professional, reached GV-AV513 a great choice. Impressive multimedia con-
by a special phone number, and 15 months of McAfee Internet trols, clever design, and good performance don’t hurt either. Be
Security Suite caught our attention. Still, no matter what kind warned that the battery doesn’t last long—but as the system
of security is on offer, the machine has to be worthy in the first weighs nearly ten pounds, you might not be lugging it around
place. And the Dell XPS is; we love that it’s got twin TV tuners, too much anyway.
533-MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB nVidia GeForce 6800 graphics card; dual-layer DVD±RW drive with
two 250GB, 7,200-rpm LightScribe, DVD-ROM drive;
SATA hard drives in a 19-inch LCD monitor; six USB
RAID 0 array; nVidia 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports;
GeForce 7800GTX integrated sound card; HP
graphics card; dual- stereo speakers; Microsoft
layer DVD±RW drive, Windows MCE, $2,968 direct
DVD-ROM drive; ($2,538 without monitor).
21-inch LCD monitor; Hewlett-Packard Development
six USB 2.0 ports, Co., www.hp.com.
four FireWire ports; llllm
Creative Sound Blaster Au-
digy 2 ZS sound card; Logitech
With an HP Personal Me-
z5300e 5.1 surround speakers; Microsoft Windows MCE. $2,934 direct ($2,544 dia Drive and a 400GB
without monitor). Gateway Inc., www.gateway.com. l l l l m internal hard drive, the
The Gateway FX400MC is Gateway’s top-of-the-line desktop. It’s HP Pavilion d4100y is
a powerful system for 3D games, home videos, storing and man- ideal for TV completists. The
aging photos, and recording TV. The major upgrade is the nVidia d4100y’s design is utilitarian but functional, with exposed drive
GeForce 7800GTX graphics, which improves the system’s Doom 3 bays and I/O ports. A slot for HP Personal Media Drives fills one of
and Splinter Cell scores. With a 3.0 GHz Pentium D 830 processor the empty 5.25-inch drive bays. Our system came with a 160GB car-
and twin 250GB hard drives in a RAID 0 array, it gets very good SYS- tridge. The Personal Media Drive is an external USB 2.0 hard drive
mark 2004 SE numbers. The dual-core processor can easily handle in an enclosure that facilitates easy docking in the dedicated bay.
editing home video while recording TV in the background. And with The two drives combine for 560GB of hard drive space, plenty
500GB of total hard drive space, there’s plenty of room on it too. for video from the twin TV tuners. There are also two empty hard
Expandability is limited inside to the single open PCIe x1 slot. drive bays and plenty of unoccupied internal SATA ports. You can
There’s only a single open drive bay for internal storage, but there easily add up to 1TB of storage, enough to hold all the information
are six USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire ports. The FX400MC is a your household generates, with room to spare.
better 3D performer than the Dell XPS The d4100y is good at everyday
RATINGS 400, but the XPS 400 has a faster RATINGS tasks, including recording and edit-
Music: 4.5 Photos: 4 processor and dual TV tuners, a boon Music: 4 Photos: 4.5 ing video. The dual-core processor
Video: 4 Gaming: 4 Video: 4.5 Gaming: 3.5
for multimedia multitaskers. The ensures recording in the background
Design: 2.5 Expandability: 3.5 Design: 3 Expandability: 4
Dell’s security package is better than won’t slow games in the foreground.
Security: 1.5 Value: 4 Security: 1 Value: 4
the FX400MC’s 90-day subscription One major flaw: the security is a paltry
PERFORMANCE to Norton Internet Security. PERFORMANCE 60 days of Norton Internet Security
SYSmark 2004 SE Office The Gateway FX400MC will more SYSmark 2004 SE Office and InterMute SpySubtract Pro.
Productivity: 171 Productivity: 167
than satisfy users with a penchant The d4100y is a digital storehouse
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
for 3D gaming and multimedia cre- Content Creation 260
that can archive and serve your digital
Content Creation: 251
ation.—JSD life.—JSD
5,400-rpm hard drive; 1,200 LCD; Intel PRO/Wireless 2915AG; 8.6-pound system weight (10.6-pound
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, travel weight); DVD±RW drive; six USB ports,
64MB; 15.4-inch, 1,280-by- one FireWire port; 80-Wh, 7.2-Ah lithium ion
854 display; AirPort Extreme battery; Microsoft Windows XP Media Center
802.11g; 5.6-pound system Edition 2005. $2,899 direct (with E-Value code: 1111-
weight (6.1-pound travel M170PC). Dell Inc., www.dell.com.
weight); SuperDrive DVD±RW; llllm
two USB ports, two FireWire
ports; 50-Wh, 10.8V lithium ion
Membership has its privileges, and you
battery; Mac OS X 10.3.7. $2,149 get a lot with the Dell XPS M170, includ-
direct. Apple Computer Inc., ing great support, security, and
www.apple.com.
components.
llllm
The 8.6-pound XPS M170,
The Apple PowerBook 15-inch may one of Dell’s best-designed
look like the PowerBooks before it, but updates make it even better. offerings, has a sharp 17-
The most significant is Apple’s Sudden Motion Sensor: If your note- inch widescreen display.
book experiences a sudden jolt (like a fall), the system parks the Thanks to the new nVidia GeForce Go
heads of the hard drive away from the spinning disks. 7800 GTX (256MB) graphics, the XPS M170’s
The PowerBook includes Version 2.0 Bluetooth, with the faster 3DMark 2005 scores raised the roof, surpassing the
Enhanced Data Rate technology, which gives a maximum data rate 6,500 mark. Its Doom 3 scores broke 100 frames per second, a first
of 3 Mbps. You won’t see an immediate benefit to the enhanced for a notebook, and big part of the system’s very high gaming score.
speeds without a Bluetooth 2.0 peripheral, but those should start The nVidia 7800 GTX graphics card effectively manages its power
arriving soon. The touch pad, also improved, can scroll vertically consumption, helping the battery last for 2 hours 34 minutes. Secu-
and horizontally. The aluminum chassis is strong, and the 15.4-inch rity got a boost from the 15-month subscription to McAfee Security
widescreen is bright. The ambient-light keyboard responds well to Center. You get the same personalized service described for the
changes in lighting conditions. The PowerBook has two USB ports XPS M140.
(we’d prefer three) and FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 ports. Video RATINGS Our review unit came with an ex-
connections include a DVI-I port and an S-Video-out port. Our unit Music: 4.5 Photos: 4.5 ternal USB TV tuner and five USB
Video: 4 Gaming: 4.5
came with a 1.5-GHz processor with the optional 8X SuperDrive ports. A DVD±RW can burn DVDs,
Design: 4 Mobility: 1.5
DVD±RW ($150 extra). On DVD playback tests, the PowerBook and a DVI-D port lets you connect to
Security: 3.5 Value: 3.5
mustered only 2:12 of battery life. digital displays. The Dell has excep-
RATINGS With new features like the scroll- PERFORMANCE tional speakers, with a subwoofer in
Music: 4 Photos: 4 ing touch pad, the Sudden Motion SYSmark 2004 SE Office the base.
Video: 3 Gaming: 3 Productivity: 129
Sensor, and the faster version of The luxury XPS M170 is an impres-
Design: 4 Expandability: 3.5 SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Bluetooth EDR, the PowerBook is Content Creation 187
sive performer and a very good note-
Security: 4 Value: 3
better than ever.—CC book.—CC
Fujitsu LifeBook N6210 stant-on button. It also has channel-surfing keys and
DVD playback controls.
Intel Pentium M 750 (1.86 GHz); 1GB DDR; two The N6210 uses InterVideo’s WinDVR 5, a below-
100GB, 4,200-rpm hard drives; ATI Mobility Radeon
X600, 128MB; 17-inch, 1,440-by-900 display; Intel Pro average DVR solution, with access to TitanTV for down-
Wireless 2915AG; 9.6-pound system weight (10.6- loading TV schedules. But we experienced multiple
pound travel weight); DVD±RW; four USB ports, one recording errors. The N6210 has enough connectivity
FireWire port; 65-Wh, 4.4-Ah lithium ion battery; Microsoft
Windows XP Professional. $2,549 direct. Fujitsu Computer options to encompass your A/V needs, including RCA
Systems Corporation, www.computers.us.fujitsu.com. jacks, four USB ports, and S-Video-in, S-Video-out,
lllhm TV tuner, VGA, and FireWire ports. The DVD±RW
Fujitsu’s LifeBook N6210 is living large as a 9.6- will burn home movies, and the 3-in-1 card
pound desktop replacement. It has all the makings reader offers flash memory flexibility.
of a high-end multimedia notebook, including two The N6210 manages to shave half a
100GB hard drives, a pound off its weight with the mobile Pen-
RATINGS built-in TV tuner, and tium M 750 (1.86 GHz) processor, but battery
Music: 3.5 Photos: 4.5 a vibrant 17-inch wide- life was a disappointing
Video: 4 Gaming: 4
Design 3.5 Mobility 1.5
screen, but lacks a full- 1:46. SYSmark 2004 performance MORE ON THE WEB
featured entertainment OS. fell a bit behind the competition, and
Security 1.5 Value 3.5
It’s got a numeric keypad, good the ATI Mobility Radeon X600 couldn’t For many more
PERFORMANCE speakers, and digitally displayed vol- catch up. The N6210 offers only a 90- notebook and desk-
SYSmark 2004 SE Office ume controls. Instant MyMedia lets day trial of Norton AntiVirus 2005.
Productivity: 113
top reviews, please
you play DVDs and watch TV without The LifeBook N6210 is a solid system, visit us on the Web
SYSmark 2004 SE Internet
Content Creation 165
booting into Windows; launch this but for a multimedia machine, consider at www.pcmag.com
feature by pressing the TV/DVD in- the Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513.—CC E
Wade into the immersive battles and 80 Days voices of show stars Vincent D’Onofrio
take on legions of Roman soldiers and If you had the time and money to take an and Jamey Sheridan. For PC.—PS
mythological monsters. For GameCube, 80-day vacation, you could cross the des- Rating: RP. $29.99 list. Vivendi Universal Games Inc.,
PS2 , and Xbox.—MDS erts of Egypt, traverse the jungles of In- www.vugames.com. l l l h m
Rating: M. $49.99 list. Sega of America Inc., dia, visit Japan, and head
www.sega.com. l l l l h across North America be- Myst: End of Ages
fore returning to Europe. The saga of Myst is finally
Star Wars Battlefront II That’s where you’ll go in concluding. The last jour-
Do you want to restore the Republic and this adventure, bringing ney lets you determine
bring down the Emperor, or bring order four scattered items back the fate of a long-lost civi-
to the galaxy? Either way, try your hand to prove you made the lization; you’ll face new
in massive battles with 12 new locations trip. For PC.—PS challenges beyond any-
including the interior of the Death Star thing you’ve previously
Rating: RP. $29.99 list. Matrix
and the volcanic world of Mustafar. For Games, www.matrixgames.com. Harry Potter experienced. For PC.—PS
PC , as well as PSP, PS2 , and Xbox.—PS lllhm Rating: E. $49.99 list. Ubisoft
Rating: T. $49.99 list. LucasArts, Entertainment, www.ubi.com. l l l l m
www.lucasarts.com. l l l h m Fable: The Lost Chapters
Every decision you make in life has SoulCalibur III
Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s a consequence. This is certainly true In addition to the classic fighting mode,
Tale in Mexico in the world of Fable, an this game now offers a single-player
Play as two brothers who action role-playing game adventure as well as 25 playable charac-
are searching for their that is never the same ters and the ability to create your own
father’s killer. Plumb the twice. Whether you be- character. Your thumbs will get a work-
depths of the Mexican come a hero or villain out. For PS2 .—MDS
drug trade as you seek is all in how you play it. Rating: T. $49.99 list. Namco Ltd., www.namco.com.
your revenge. A combat For PC .—PS llllh
and stunt system gives
Rating: M. $49.99 list. Microsoft
points for killing with Corp., www.microsoft.com. The Chronicles of Narnia:
style. For PC , PS2 , and Spartan: Total Warrior llllm The Lion, The Witch and The
Xbox.—MDS Wardrobe
Rating: M. $49.99 list. Eidos plc, www.eidos.com. Harry Potter and the Goblet This is one film that might make you for-
llllm of Fire get about that magic ring. It also has the
The boy mage is back, and he doesn’t makings of a very fun game, in which
X-Men Legends II: have to go it alone in the latest magical you’ll have to help free the frozen land of
Rise of the Apocalypse adventure. A new co-op mode lets play- Narnia from the evil White Witch. For
An uneasy alliance has formed between ers experience the world of Hogwarts GBA , GameCube, Nintendo DS , PC , PS2 ,
the X-Men and the Brotherhood, in a together and unleash their wizarding and Xbox.—PS
fight to reclaim Earth from the Apoca- powers. For PC , Xbox, and PS2.—PS Rating: T. $29.99 list. Buena Vista Games Inc.,
lypse. Improvements include double the Rating: RP. $29.99 list. Electronic Arts Inc., buenavistagames.go.com. l l l l h
superpowers and customization capa- www.ea.com. l l l l m
bilities, new playable characters, and
more types of enemies. For GameCube, Lost in Blue STRATEGY
PC , PSP, PS2 , and Xbox.—MDS A shipwreck leaves you and a companion
Rating: T. $49.99 list. Activision, stranded on a deserted island, where you Age of Empires III
www.activision.com. l l l l h must not only survive but When you’re running an overseas em-
also unravel the island’s pire, you have to discover new lands,
mysteries. This creative gather resources, build up your forces,
ADVENTURE role-playing game makes and improve your technology before
excellent use of the Nin- you can take on rivals. This might
ECHO: Secret of the tendo DS’s innovative fea- sound like work, but fans of the Age of
Lost Cavern tures: Fish with the touch Empires series know that it’s pure plea-
Adventure games don’t screen, and fan the flames sure. For PC .—PS
have to be about buff with the microphone. For Rating: T. $49.99 list. Microsoft Corp.,
heroes with special pow- Narnia Nintendo DS.—MDS www.microsoft.com. l l l l h
ers and big guns; more Rating: E. $29.99 list. Konami,
personal tales like this one are a fun and www.konami.com. l l l l m Black and White 2
appealing alternative. Arok, a young Want to play God? You don’t have to be
hunter/gatherer at the dawn of time, is Law & Order: Criminal Intent a kind and noble deity; you can be a dark
inspired by the Lascaux cave paintings To understand a criminal’s intent and force that commands with a mighty
and sets off on an epic journey to find the solve the hard cases, you need to be able hand. Whichever path you choose,
artist who created them. For PC.—PS to probe his mind. Play as Detective you’ll create and customize a power-
Rating: E. $19.99 list. DreamCatcher Interactive Inc., Robert Goren. This game re-creates the ful creature to do your bidding, while
www.adventurecompanygames.com/tac. l l l h m action of the hit series and features the building settlements to provide for your
followers as you seek world dominance three are ready for action in this addi- OTHER SOFTWARE
through peace or war. For PC .—PS tion to the online multiplayer game,
Rating: T. $49.99 list. Electronic Arts Inc., which features new weapons, maps, and EyeToy: Kinetic
www.ea.com. l l l l m nighttime missions. For PC.—PS Get your own personal trainer on your
PlayStation 2. Choose from 22 workouts,
Rating: T. $29.99 list. Elec-
Diplomacy tronic Arts Inc., www.ea.com. including yoga, tai chi, kick boxing, car-
W hom do you t r u s t ? lllll dio, and strength-building exercises.
T h a t ’s a n i m p o r t a n t Your movements are tracked on screen
question, in this game City of Villains by the EyeToy camera; performance
about making and, more This sequel to the on- analysis maximizes benefits.—MDS
i mpor ta nt, brea k i ng line role-playing game $39.99 list. Sony Computer Entertainment America
deals. Start in Europe in City of Heroes lets you Inc., www.us.playstation.com. L l l l h
1901, with seven players become t he u lt i m ate
( AI or human) control- Zoo Tycoon 2 supervillain, complete Guitar Pro 4
ling each of the major with over-the-top pow- Strummers of all sorts will love Guitar
powers, and continue until only one is ers, truly badass costumes, and such Pro, a simple-to-use multitrack tablature
left standing. For PC .—PS villainous missions as heists, kidnap- editor for 4- to 7-string instruments. You
Rating: E. $39.99 list. Paradox Interactive AB, pings, and infi ltrations. And you won’t enter notes with keyboard keys or click
www.paradoxplaza.com. l l l h m be foiled at every turn. For PC .—PS on an onscreen fretboard. Numerous
Rating: RP. $49.99 list. NCsoft Corp., other handy tools are included.—Carol
Shattered Union www.ncsoft.com. l l l l h A. Mangis
After a questionable presidential race, $60 street. eMedia Music Corp.,
the U.S. disintegrates, and a new Civil Rome: Total War—Barbarian www.emediamusic.com. l l l l h
War breaks out among rival factions. Invasion
As one of them, you have to defeat your The thing about building an empire is Leeza Gibbons Scrapbooking
rivals to restore the fractured nation in that someone always seems to want to Software Platinum Addition
this 3D turn-based strategy game. For bring it down. This time around, you This scrapbooking software works like
PC and Xbox.—PS don’t have to be the empire creator; you a pared-down version of publishing
Rating: T. $39.99 list. 2K Games, www.2kgames.com. can play as barbarian tribes, including programs such as Adobe’s InDesign.
llllm Goths and Huns, and do the sacking for Choose from preset templates or make
a change. For PC .—PS your own, then insert photos and design
Sid Meier’s Civilization 4 Rating: T. $29.99 list. Sega of America Inc., the page to your liking. You can print
From humble Stone Age beginnings, www.sega.com. l l l l m partial or whole pages ready to insert in
venture out to explore the world, build your scrapbook.—NPF
a powerful civilization, The Sims II: $49.99 direct. Mountaincow LLC,
and eventually maybe Nightlife www.mountaincow.com. l l l l m
even head to Alpha Cen- Look for more interac-
tau ri! T he ga me isn’t tion among your Sims as Simple Star PhotoShow
easy, but it’s addictive: you hit dance clubs and As a media-management tool, Photo-
You’ll play into the wee other hotspots. You can Show is powerful yet wonderfully easy
hours. For PC.—PS get your own car—a new to use. It handles photos and video fi les,
Rating: RP. $49.99 list. 2K Games, addition to the Sims uni- provides tools for building professional-
www.2kgames.com. l l l l l verse—as well as plenty looking slide shows and screen savers,
The Movies of other items to keep the and is particularly adept at organizing
The Movies Sims happy. For PC.—PS and tagging your photos—all from a
Lights, camera, action! And script doc- Rating: T. $34.99 list. Electronic Arts Inc., single interface.—Cade Metz
toring, reshoots, and celebrity melt- www.ea.com. l l l l h $39.99 list. Simple Star Inc., www.simplestar.com.
downs. In The Movies, you build a studio lllmm
from the ground up, hire actors and di- Zoo Tycoon 2:
rectors, build sets, and shoot the film Endangered Species Visual Thesaurus 3
you’ve always wanted to make—a campy Some of the most endangered animals An inventive way to explore language,
B-thriller or an epic period piece. For in the world are just about impossible to Visual Thesaurus 3 includes more words,
GameCube, PC, PS2, and Xbox.—PS see in real life. But the next best thing American and British pronunciations,
Rating: RP. $49.99 list. Activision, is to see their digita l fun new display modes, a
www.activision.com. l l l l l cou nter pa r ts i n you r cool configurable display,
virtual zoo. Care for ko- content-filtering options,
modo dragons, crested and (online only) search-
EXPANSION PACKS gibbons, gray wolves, es in French, Spanish, and
and other rare creatures. other languages.— CAM
Battlefield 2: Special Forces For PC .—PS CD, $29.95 direct; online sub-
In modern warfare, you need to call in scription, $2.95 per month or
Rating: E. $29.99 list. Microsoft $19.95 per year. Thinkmap Inc.,
elite troops like the U.S. Navy SEAL s, Corp., www.microsoft.com. www.visualthesaurus.com.
British SAS , and Russian Spetsnaz. All lllhm The Sims II: Nightlife llllh
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