News for June 3rd 2010

Kristofer Brozio | June 3, 2010 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Hello all! It’s that time again for news from around the world!

Storage Related:

RunCore Pro V 100GB SandForce SF-1200 Solid State Drive
QUOTE: "RunCore makes several SSD products, from PCIe SSDs made for a specific netbook model, to desktop / notebook 2.5” form factor drives like the new Pro V. At the time of writing the Pro V wasn’t listed on RunCore’s website, but the Kylin II enterprise was listed on a RunCore enterprise site that I found off the beaten path.
We will look at the internal hardware on the next page in detail, but for the most part this is a Team SandForce drive that uses the standard SF-1222 chip and pairs it with the same Intel flash we have seen in all but one SF-1200 drive to date. Testing will reveal any performance enhancements built into the RunCore firmware and we will discuss that later as well."

Hitachi 500Gb Portable Drive External USB 2.0 HDD Review

Hitachi has a nice looking product line-up of external 2.5 inch drives, we take a look at their 500Gb Portable Drive which comes with a fancy Carbon Fibre finish. Is it up to the task of backing up our vital data? Let us find out
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=1008

OWC Mercury Extreme Pro-RE SSD @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: SSDs are both PC and Mac friendly, which is great news since Apple Computers have made significant progress taking up market share over the past decade. Although Mac computers can be expensive, Other World Computing offers hardware upgrades at prices that compete with the PC market. One such product, the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro-RE, is one of the most affordable SandForce-based SSD’s available. SandForce-based SSDs are getting tremendous attention from the industry, and products based on the SF-1222 controller have demonstrated exceptional operational performance and speed. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the 100GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro-RE, model SSDMXRE100, against some of the fastest storage solutions on the market.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=536

OCZ Vertex 2 100GB @ Techgage

Link: http://techgage.com/article/ocz_vertex_2_100gb/

Quote: Are you interested in equipping yourself with one of the fastest SSD’s on the planet? If so, then OCZ’s Vertex 2 is the one you want to keep an eye on. Thanks to its tweaked SandForce SF-1200 controller, the Vertex 2 is the fastest SSD we’ve ever tested, dominating almost every single one of our tests.

Seagate’s Momentus XT swaps the Windows-only shackles of previous hybrid drives for a scheme dubbed Adaptive Memory. Can it successfully marry 500GB of mechanical storage with 4GB of flash?
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18989

Mobile / Notebooks etc:

HTC Droid Incredible Review:
http://hothardware.com/articles/HTC-Droid-Incredible-Review/

The Android operating system has enjoyed a tremendous boom in popularity since the Motorola DROID was released. Since then, many additional Android-powered phones have come to market. One of the latest new Android phones is the Droid Incredible by HTC.

AsusTek unveil all singing all dancing tablet pc

Taiwan based AsusTek Computer Inc, the same company that thrust the humble netbook upon us back in 2007, have just unveiled a tablet computer that they say will go on sale in the first quarter of next year.

‘Toshiba Satellite T130 Notebook’
Interested in a think and light laptop thats not a netbook?
The Full Article can be viewed at http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/06/toshiba-satellite-t130-notebook/

The $2.50 Laptop Stand @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/the-2-50-laptop-stand/

Quote: “I had been looking for a nice laptop stand for a while, something that could be modified easily when I stumbled across a laptop stand at IKEA, the Swedish Household Superstore. The quality of the stand took me by surprise, and IKEA was selling them for a mere $2.50. Unable to pass up a deal like this, I bought several of them. I passed them along to some of my friends who owned laptops and kept a couple for myself. That’s when I got the idea to start modifying the ones I had into laptop coolers."

Cooler Master NotePal ErgoStand – Review
Article Clip: When laptop coolers first came out the only purpose of the unit was cooling. There werent really any designs to make life easier or more comphortable. No one even thought of these things untill the first unit was designed to offer adjustable heights. We all want the best out of the item we are about to purchase. When it comes to notebook coolers I know I want the ease of use, compfort and cooling for my notebook. Today we are going to take a look at the new generation of notebook coolers, NotePal ErgoStand by Cooler Master.
Article Link: http://umlan.com/reviews/hardware/h125.html

Samsung R580 Notebook @ PureOverclock

Review URL: http://www.pureoverclock.com/article992.html

“Packing an Intel Core i5 processor, discrete graphics card, and some gorgeous styling, the Samsung R580 is positioned as an all-around notebook with a respectable price tag. But is Samsung’s jump into this tough industry segment successful? Let’s have a look at the Samsung R580 and see how this notebook fares.”

Samsung R780 17.3" HD+ LED (Intel Core i5-430) Notebook Review @ Modsynergy.com

Quote: "As a recent graduate from Seneca College’s Computer Networking and Technical Support program, I could not help it reflect at how I even graduated without a notebook. Every time I attended class, I would see a majority of students with a notebook. Whether it be a MAC or PC made no difference, (although in a computer program, you see mostly PC’s), but I guess I’m an old school learner as I believe the paper and pen to be the most effective way to study. Judging at how those students were either surfing the internet, chatting online, or playing video games, that would have just distracted me.

Link: http://www.modsynergy.com/review220.html

HTC EVO 4G Review
"The Apple iPhone jolted the collective cellphone world three years ago, bursting consumer expectations of what a cellphone could and should be able to do. While the HTC EVO 4G, available on Sprint isn’t quite the breakthrough the iPhone was, it does represent the future of cellphones. Just as the iPhone made multi-touch touchscreens, accelerometers, proximity sensors and visual voicemail de rigueur for advanced cellphones, EVO’s 4G connectivity, front-facing camera for video chatting, HD camcorder, and especially its multiuser mobile hotspot capabilities, are all features future high-end cellphones will emulate. But don’t expect imitations any time soon; Sprint is currently the only network with 4G coverage."
Link to the review: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cell-phone-reviews/htc-evo-4g-review/

Assorted Stuffs:

Blu-ray Importing: June 2010 Buying Guide
QUOTE: "Since the last time we last took a look at the ‘Guide to Buying Blu-rays from Overseas’ in May, the Australian dollar has taken a hammering; caused by concerns from the European market and the mining resource tax. Despite this, some competitive overseas pricing coupled with Amazon’s newly lowered international shipping fees and some must-have overseas titles still make importation a viable option.
So let’s jump into the latest instalment of this epic series for 2010, covering some of the later titles released only to import, but safe from the horrors of region coding. This month is almost entirely Steven Spielberg month, with not one, not two, but three titles released."

Nvidia GeForce GTX 480/470 vs. ATI Radeon HD 5870/5850: Comparison Revisited
http://www.techspot.com/review/283-geforce-gtx-400-vs-radeon-hd-5800/
Although the Nvidia GeForce 400 series has been out for about 2 months now, it’d seem the jury is still out on whether or not the series is a success. Some will tell you the GeForce GTX 480 is a power-hungry expensive GPU that failed to deliver, while others claim it lived up to the expectations as the world’s fastest single GPU graphics card and that power consumption figures are for sissies.

How to Build Your Own Watercooling Heatcore @ [OC]ModShop

One such viable alterative that is readily available and easily modified is a heatercore. While there are many different models that can be modified to work in a watercooling system, one that has gained quite a following is the Chevrolet Chevette heatercore. More specifically, the heatercore for the 1986 Chevette, Fedco part number 2-161 or GDI part number 399069, which is approximately 6-1/8" x 6-3/8" x 2". The factory tubes are 3/4" and 5/8" which require some modification to work with 1/2" ID tubing used in a watercooling system but this modification is not that complicated and well worth it considering that most auto parts stores have this heatercore for around $22. Additionally, the tools needed for the modifications are fairly inexpensive and they are likely ones that most already have on hand.

Review URL :: http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=228

Making window management in OSx even better

Exposé – the hallmark of why using the OSX desktop is usually thought to be miles ahead of the one in Windows. The truth of the matter however, is that with Windows 7, Microsoft managed to one-up Apple with some nifty tricks of its own. Sure, switching between open windows is still more practical in OSX, using exposé, whereas you need to alt+tab in Windows. But what about managing those windows? Resizing them, moving them around, stacking them and the like? Here, OSX is sorely lacking!

Read the review over here: http://www.kitguru.net/apple/pete/making-window-management-in-osx-even-better/

HP Officejet Pro 8000 Printer Review
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/HP-Officejet-Pro-8000-Printer-Review/1012
Summary: Review of Officejet Pro 8000, an ink jet printer that comes with standard and wireless networking capability and that HP promises to be more economical than laser printers.