Epson Stylus Photo RX595 | All In One Printer - Prints From Flash Cards

Posted on April 21, 2008

The Epson Stylus Photo RX595 is an All-in-One photo printer manufactured by Epson. It has optical resolution at 1200dpi and has the capability to scan at up to 48-bit color depth. The printer features six normal sized ink cartridges, a small lcd screen, memory card slots and is also compatible with any Pictbridge cameras. It also comes with a sample of 8.5×11” glossy photo paper and a Memorex printable CD-R. Now that I got the boring stats out the way I can get on with the review.

The printer does print quite well considering it’s an all-in-one printer. The configurations are also user friendly and you can fully customize your printing preference through the properties button. One of the printer’s best and most annoying features is the fact that you can print straight onto printable CDs and DVD’s in the tray. The results given are terrific. The CD can look professionally done and its quality is as good as It is on normal paper. As I said this is also its most annoying feature, why? Well It’s mainly due to how awkward it is to align the CD into the tray. Of course you won’t be that bothered by it if you are just printing the odd CD, but I imagine if you want to print a lot it would get quite frustrating.

As it is an all in one printer it has the same functions of a photocopier, printing a scan without the need of a computer. However, for some reason Epson decided that if you need to print more than 100 pages, you would need to do it through the computer, I’m not sure why they took this approach but I never really need more than 100 copies scanned so It doesn’t bother me. Other than that, you just need to scan the document needed, push the big Start button and wait till everything is done. You can also state on how many copies that are needed to be copied and whether it should be black and white or in color.

In conclusion, I would say that the Epson RX595 All-In-One Photo Printer is definitely a worth a look if you want to buy an all in one printer. It is certainly one of the best all in one printers out there, however I would highly suggest you take a look at the dimensions of the printer before purchasing as it is on the large side, if you do want to take a look at the dimensions check the link to Amazon below.

Main features of the Epson Stylus Photo RX595

  • High Quality Printing and Scanning
  • Prints onto CD and DVD’s
  • Prints straight from Flash Card
  • LCD Display

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Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe | Dual Core Processor Great for Overclocking

Posted on April 18, 2008

CPU’s are the second least most likely component you will upgrade in your computers life, the last thing being your motherboard so it’s best to buy a CPU that will scale with your system. The Intel E6600 does just that being one of the most stable and overclockable CPU’s in its price bracket.

Designed as a middle of the range Dual Core processor the E6600 is still one of the most recommend buys for a high end budget system because of the scalability of the processor, as its pretty easily overclocked. Meaning this CPU is ideal for someone who is looking to run a lot of small applications at the same time. Although if you want to play the latest games out there you should really start thinking about buying a Quad Core processor as the E6600 is the limiting factor in my computer playing Call of Duty 4.

Taking a look at the specs though the E6600 Conroe boasts 2.4GHz in each core, I’ve gotten this up to 3.2GHz overclocked on my system and the maximum I’ve seen it overclocked is 4.05GHz so it can really be pushed beyond its stock settings. Taking a look at its other specs it has a 1066MHz Front side bus and 4MB of Cache.

In my eyes one of the best features of the Intel Core 2 Duo range was the power consumption compared to the old P4’s. The newer chips are much more environmentally friendly and green because it only turns on certain CPU features when they are needed, these newer chips also operate at lower frequencies these two factors combined leads to a huge reduction in power.

One of the most common factors I have noticed when looking at the customer reviews on various supplier sites was that most people are saying “It’s incredibly fast, for its price”. Although I did notice a few negatives that I have to agree with, mainly the amount of heat that the chip produces which is a lot considering I’ve now started to use my computer to heat the room rather than turn the radiators on.

All in all though I have to say if you are still running a Pentium 4 processor I think it is time you should upgrade, as you will not only be getting a nice speed boost you will also save on electricity and helping the environment.

Main Features of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe

  • Fast and Stable
  • Reduction in power consumption
  • Easy to Overclock

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PNY Verto GeForce9600 GT | Latest Middle Range Gaming Graphics Card

Posted on April 17, 2008

With the latest line of NVIDIA’s cards (the 9 series) being out for a while now I thought I’d take the plunge and review one, the one I chose was the PNY Verto Geforce9600 GT. If you were wondering why I chose the PNY Verto as the first of the cards to review, simple, at the time of writing it’s the most popular, coming in at the 1st most bought Graphics card on Amazon.

The Geforce 9600 GT is Nvidia’s answer to the lack of middle of the road graphics cards giving DirectX 10 support, true there was the Geforce 8600 GTS but it didn’t live up to the DirectX 9 cards of a similar price.

I’ll start with the specs, the PNY Verto like most of the 9600 GT’s has a base memory of 512MB, a memory clock rate of 1800MHz and a memory bandwidth of 57.5GB/s. The card also has a shader clock rate of 1625MHz and 64 steam processors.

Looking at the Specs above the card shares many of the same specs of the PNY 8800 GT, beating it on shader clock rate, and almost on equal on both memory bandwidth and clock rate, but it has half the steam processors which is where the performance is lost.

But what does it actually perform like while gaming?
Well I tested my both my current 8800 GT and the PNY 9600 GT in my current machine so I could get a direct comparison between the two. I’m testing the two cards by playing Crysis and using fraps to record thefollowing frame rates.

PNY Verto GeForce9600 GT
Min: 20 fps
Avg: 37.843 fps
Max: 59 fps

PNY XLR8 GeForce8800 GT
Min: 23 fps
Avg:42.194 fps
Max 64 fps

Taking a look at the frame rate difference between the two cards provides interesting data, although the 8800 did out perform the 9600 would you want to pay the extra $100 for less than an extra 5 frames per second?

I think that if you are that if you are looking to buy a new card now at under $200 I would recommend going for one of the Geforce9600 GT cards. If you’re looking for more information on the card other than my brief review, I would check the links below.

Main Features of the PNY Verto GeForce 9600 GT

  • 512MB Graphics Memory
  • HD Compatible
  • DirectX 10 Compatible

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Logitech G15 | Durable Backlit Gaming Keyboard with LCD

Posted on April 11, 2008

Computer Gamers are always after the greatest hardware that can help them get one over on the enemy. The Logitech G15 is one of such pieces of gaming equipment that can help gamers reach their goal.

Logitech G15As a gamer I know that speed is everything, especially when trying to dodge bullets so one of the first things that Logitech did to change this from an ordinary keyboard was to increase the timings on the key presses and allow you to press more keys around the WASD area simultaneously. This allows you to duck in and out of cover and strafe much more quickly.

The screen was one of the main things that attracted me to this keyboard, as I wanted to able to see who was talking via voip whilst in game. But the LCD does much more than that and gives you information that you didn’t know you needed until you start using it, for example it can display your characters stats in WoW or the amount of nades you have in BF2. Even in games that aren’t supported by the G15 the LCD can still display the time so you don’t have an excuse for still playing at 1AM.

The G-Keys on the left side of the keyboard allows you to record macros, these allow you to click a single button to carry out a task that would otherwise take you several keystrokes to do. Macros are useful for role playing games such as WoW or Lord of the Rings online, but I have little use for them in First Person shooters other than automatically typing messages on the screen.

There are two versions of the keyboard as a newer version of the keyboard came out and used the same name as the old version which confused quite a lot of people at the time. I think Logitech gave the newer keyboard the same name because they are fundamentally the same, with a few design changes. One of the main differences is the amount of G-keys on the old version there were 18 physical G-keys which made the keyboard way too big to fit on most people’s desks, the new one now has 6 and is now able to fit on most people’s pull out keyboard trays. This was from Logitech listening to its customers and updating a product to fit their needs, how often do you see that from large companies these days?

The Logitech G15 has been my keyboard of choice for the last year and I don’t think I will be able to go back to gaming on a standard keyboard, even after hammering the WASD keys constantly over this time they are still there and working perfectly. The only thing I have noticed is that it’s a lot noisier while typing than it was when I first got it, and for the amount of typing that I do these days It is getting rather annoying.

Main Features of the Logitech G15

  • LCD for displaying in game stats
  • Programmable G-Keys
  • Backlit so you can see what your typing in the dark
  • Media Keys - Change songs while playing
  • Windows Lock - Locks the Windows button to stop the game switching to desktop

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Kingston Data Traveler | Cheap and Robust USB Flash Drive

Posted on April 10, 2008

Kingston Data TravelerWhen looking for a new USB flash drive you might just look for the cheapest of the lot but there are many factors that I take into account before buying a new flash drive. Price does factor in my decision but because I often store important files on my drives that need to be transported I also look for durability and speed so I can transfer files in a hurry.

The Kingston Data Traveler has all of these features that make my life easier when transporting files. Although it doesn’t have any security features so I don’t use it to carry confidential material on, but use it for general files.

The manufacturer stats that it can do up to 3MB/s transfer and 6MB/s reading, I carried out some transfer speed tests on my own and found that the average time for large files (100MB+) was around 2.7MB/s which is fast enough for me.

In the time that I’ve used the Kingston Data Traveler I’ve found it to be incredibly robust for a drive that is so cheap. It’s been in the wash a few times when I’ve forgotten to take it out my trousers but as long as I’ve left it to dry afterwards it’s been fine. Its also been dropped down a flight of stairs but it’s still running smoothly.

If your looking for something cheap, cheerful and robust that will carry your files around then I would recommend this drive to anyone, but if your looking for a more secure USB flash drive to carry around sensitive data then I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Main Features

  • Very Robust
  • 3MB write and 6MB read speeds
  • Cheap for its quality

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Logitech VX Revolution | Cordless 2.4 GHz Wireless Notebook Mouse

Posted on April 8, 2008

Logitech VXThe Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Mouse was designed especially for Notebooks and has many features that aren’t even in the latest of Mice. Even though it’s relatively old It’s a decent mouse if you don’t mind spending a little extra for the features.

First off it has a sleek and comfortable design which makes it easy to handle, fitting comfortably in the palm of your hand. It has a “Hyper-fast” scroll wheel, or at least that what it says as I found it to be quite mediocre, but then again I am used to Gaming Mice although I must admit it does let you scroll through documents and webpage’s faster than some of the mice I have used.

A feature of this mouse that I’m unsure of though, is the zoom button. Its designed to let you zoom in on webpages, documents and pictures with ease, but you really have to ask yourself if you really need this feature. I know I don’t, but then again if you find yourself squinting at the monitor a lot then maybe this mouse was designed for you, or you could just need glasses.

The Logitech VX is wireless one of the features that many Notebook mice have these days, freeing up your work space from wires. Although, I have to point out that you should watch out for busy areas where a lot of people are using their Notebooks. The other day I ran into a problem, there was two of us in the same room using the same mouse and we were interfering with each other’s signal, it was rather frustrating.

I think this is one of the better Notebook mice I have used and it did try to set a trend with some of the features that it offered. Even though most of them never caught on and were in the end pointless, such as the Search button where you highlight a bit of text and click the button for it to open it up as a search in a search engine of your choice.

Main Features

  • Fast and Smooth Scrolling
  • Wireless 2.4GHz Connectio
  • Zoom Button
  • Search Button

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Geforce9800 | The Facts About The New Geforce9800 series Cards

Posted on April 2, 2008

Geforce9800NVIDIA has launched its latest set of cards, the GeForce9800 part of the Geforce 9 series which are its new hi-end graphics cards for desktops. The Geforce9800 comes in GX2, GTX, GS and GT variants. These new cards offer just under a 30% increase in the performance of the graphics as compared to the previous 8800GTX series GPUs.

The power consumption of the GX2 chipset is rated at 197watts. The architecture consists of two GPUs on 65nm scale with 256 stream processors. Since the chipset already contains two GPUs, so with addition of another similar graphics card, the total support comes out to be quad SLI. The model also has 1-GigaByte memory frame buffer and supports directx 10 and shader model 4, with the openGL version 2.1.

The GTX version of 9800 contains only single GPU with the core clock running at 675MHz and the shader clock running at 1688MHz. the memory is clocked at 2200MHz, with data path of 256bit. There is 512 MB of GDDR3 memory compared to the 1GB in the GX2 model. DirectX 10, shader model 4.0 OpenGL 2.1 are supported by this model of Geforce9800 too. Output ports include two DVI ports, an HDMI output, and S/PDIF in connector on-board for routing audio through the HDMI cable

Overall they are great graphics cards or will be in a few months when the prices come down but if you have the money to spend why not? Splash out. Otherwise I would suggest going for the Geforce8800 instead as these are half the price and the Geforece9800’s only have a 30% performance increase at best

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Canon CanoScan LiDE | High Quality Scans With Powerful Software

Posted on March 27, 2008

Canon CanoScanAll in one printers are getting very popular as they have the scanner and printer built into each other, removing the need for a computer when you simply want to print the scanned document. But there are still some very good Scanners that you can buy if you’re not in need of the printer as well.

Cannon are usually the first company I turn to look for scanners and printers because they have never disappointed me with Quality and Reliability and the Cannon CanoScan LiDE was no different.

The scan time on this model is surprisingly quick, after you hit the button you see the scan on your screen in 16 seconds. After the scan the software automatically detects where your document was placed on the flatbed and crops your image accordingly. The software also automatically enhances your image to get the best quality by removing scratches from old images, correcting lighting and reducing fading.

The main reason why I bought this scanner was the ability to create PDF’s out of the images scanned. I wanted to keep digital copies of my old records and using the CanoScan Toolbox software that came with the scanner I was able to do this with relative ease, although it took me a while to work out which software to use due to the lack of documentation.

When scanning all the old family photos into the computer I found I nice time saving feature, Multi-Scan. Multi-scan allows you to place multiple images on to the flatbed and select multi-scan, this was a huge time saver for me.

Main Features

  • Automatic Picture Correction
  • 16 Second Scan Time
  • Ultra Thin

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Posted in: Canon, Scanner

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D-Link DUB-H7 | 7 USB Port Powered HUB Backwards Compatible

Posted on March 27, 2008

D-Link USB HUBHaving only 4 USB ports on my computer and 5 USB devices that needed connecting *Scream* I decided it was time to upgrade and get some more USB ports. I was originally looking for a USB card but the most they supported was up to 4 ports I decided to switch and look for a USB Hub instead.

I finally decided on the D-Link DUB-H7 for two main reasons, I knew it was a reliable hub from reading reviews on Amazon and because it matched my router at the time (I had a D-Link router).

This D-Link USB Hub supports up to 7 USB devices at time, so I’m now never short of USB ports which is always a plus. Now after I bought it I realise that having a USB hub instead of a card is actually a huge benefit. This is because I don’t have to get down on the ground and crawl behind my PC to plug in a device, I just simply push it into the hub on my desktop.

Although backwards compatible with USB 1, on the packaging it states that you might get a slow down in all devices plugged in if you insert a USB 1 device. I tested this but I never noticed any difference, even plugging in more USB 1 than USB 2 devices never seemed to change the speed.

When getting a USB Hub it is defiantly advisable to get a powered one because a lot of modern equipment even USB pen drives need powered ports to operate. I am a huge fan of D-Link in this aspect, they’ve not only made the HUB powered but have also made the plug socket in a convenient sideways position to help other plugs fit around it.

Main Features

  • 7 USB Ports
  • Powered
  • Backward Compatible

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Posted in: D-Link, USB HUB

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Western Digital Passport | 5 x 3 inch Compact and Portable External Hard Drive

Posted on March 27, 2008

Western Digital PassportFor most people who use a Notebook a portable hard drive is a must because of the relatively small amounts of data that can be stored on a Notebook because of its compact nature.
Because of a Notebooks compact nature, owners usually want all their equipment portable and compact as well, this is where Western Digital come in with their passport external hard drive range.

My problem with most External Hard drives is the size, as I’m always on the go and need to carry round my data. Space being the thing that isn’t in great supply in my laptop bag, was the aspect that I found most appealing when looking at the Passport series. The hard drive is only 5 x 3 inches so can fit in my pocket quite comfortably meaning I have more space in my laptop bag.

If you have one of the metal ipods and know how easy shiny metal surface scratches you will unfortunately be able to share the same experience with the Passport hard drive. The scratching is less noticeable on the hard drive though because the surface is black and not silver like the ipod. After a couple of weeks of use and thousands of tiny scratches I don’t think it makes the hard drive any less appealing and in a funny sort of way I would say it made it more appealing.

As you would expect with modern portable external hard drives, the passport is powered through the USB port so there is no extra power supply needed, although this feature doesn’t work with older notebooks so they have supplied a power cord just encase.

Main Features

  • Very small 2.5″ Hard Drive
  • No extra power cord needed
  • Very Stylish

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