Überclok Reaktor

Nov 27, 2008 - Überclok's Reactor gaming PC represents a perfect example of what happens when you send out a star quarterback with a weak offensive line to guard him. In this case, the player is the system--a supremely tuned gaming PC that comes close to hitting some of the best benchmarks we've seen in the category. Playing the part of the weak O-line are the less-than-impressive specifications that come alongside these speedy parts, which include boring peripherals and throwaway optical support.

source :pcworld.com

iBuyPower Gamer Paladin F860-a Gaming Desktop PC

the Gamer Paladin F860-a is relatively inexpensive for a gaming PC. Still, for $600 less, you could buy a power PC--like the Micro Express MicroFlex 92B--that delivers better performance. Our test system came configured with the 2.93-GHz 940 Intel Core i7 CPU, rather than with the meatier 3.2-GHz 965 CPU we commonly see on gaming systems, and it packed a single 1TB hard drive. On the other hand, its 6GB of DDR3-1333 memory is substantially more than the usual 2GB to 4GB we see on power PCs.
Unfortunately, the Paladin F860-a's score of 134 on our WorldBench 6 performance test suite is one of the poorer marks we've recorded for its category. Relying on a single PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, the system achieved frame rates of 62 frames per second on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and 72 fps on Unreal Tournament 3 (each run at 2560 by 2100 resolution and high quality). PCs configured with the top-of-the-line single-card offering from either ATI (the Radeon 4870 x2) or nVidia (the GTX 280) achieve much higher frame rates on these tests. We're surprised that iBuyPower skimped on the graphics card: Even if opting for a top-tier graphics card had forced the company increase its price for the Gamer Paladin F860-a by another hundred dollars or so, the rig's total cost would still be lower than that of most gaming PCs we've tested.
The Cooler Master HAF 932 case offers a great mixture of screw-free upgradability, extensive front-panel connectivity, and unique features--such as a rubber-covered, water-cooling fill hole on the top of the case. Too bad iBuyPower decided to paint the Gamer Paladin F860-a's chassis with an eye-straining red-and-black theme. The black base and red accents look great if you're staring at the case head-on, but the side paneling's solid red might be too much for your home office or dorm room to handle.
Our system arrived with two LG Electronics optical drives in place--a Blu-ray and HD DVD-ROM drive and a standard DVD burner. The chassis has room for four additional 5.25-inch externally accessible devices as well, and five more hard drives can fit into the system's easy-to-use internal 3.5-inch drive trays. A single PCI Express x4 slot joins two free PCI Express x16 slots and one PCI connection for all your motherboard add-ons. As shipped, the case's excellent wiring job provided plenty of room for airflow and for new hardware installation.
Though it lacks an HDMI connection, the Gamer Paladin F860-a can accommodate most external devices on both the front and the rear of its chassis. On the back, you get eight USB 2.0, one FireWire 400 port, one eSATA port, two gigabit ethernet connections, optical and coaxial SPDIF, and integrated 5.1 surround sound. On the front, five USB 2.0 ports are joined by a single FireWire 400 port, an eSATA port, and a media card reader. Few systems offer this much connectivity.
iBuyPower bundled a couple of rather lackluster input devices with this PC: a generic-looking two-button mouse and a 104-button keyboard, both from Logitech. Neither is a worthy companion for a system built for gaming.
The Gamer Paladin F860-a aims for the look of a high-end gaming PC, and it succeeds on some fronts--connectivity, upgradability, and chassis design (minus the paint job). But it fails to deliver on what matters most. For general-purpose usability and gaming, we've seen better performance by more-affordable power PCs, let alone by the ferocious combatants at the top of our gaming PC charts.

source :pcworld.com

Asus EEE PC 1000HE (laptop)

The streamlined and redesigned Asus Eee PC 1000HE takes no prisoners. While the previous offered a solid netbook, Acer's Aspire One stole all the attention with its lean and incredibly affordable approach. With the latest incarnation of the Eee PC 1000, the "HE" might as well stand for "Holy Enhancement!" This model bears only a passing resemblance to last year's Eee PC, and improves upon just about everything from the keyboard to the CPU. Better yet, in addition to losing some unsightly girth, Asus also trimmed the price to $400.
Let's take a quick tour around the machine to kick this off. The first, most obvious thing you'll spot is the cut-out keyboard. Just like you'd find on an Apple MacBook Air or on Sony VAIO laptops, the keys poke through the plastic, creating a wide gap between buttons. In that respect, this feels and looks great, and is generally more usable. The trackpad is just spacious enough -- I particularly like its metal framing and the few multitouch functions incorporated into the design. However, I found the pad slightly twitchy to control. No deal-breaker, but I noticed.
You also get a couple handy shortcut buttons hovering along the top of the unit. They do everything from give the CPU a speed boost (more on that below) and user-definable shortcuts to a screen resolution adapter. That is, you can view 1024-by-768 resolutions even though the native resolution of the 1000HE is 1024 by 600 -- it's a special compression mode that Lenovo employs in the IdeaPad S10 as well, and represents a convenience given that some applications default to a 1024-by-768-pixel resolution and won't work otherwise.
This unit's 10.1-inch backlit LED display is bright and capable of good color reproduction; its glossy coating helps the image pop a little more than you usually see on netbooks. However, the highly polished bezel that keeps the screen in place can get a little distracting at times.
A number of aerodynamic nips and tucks make this 10.3-by-7.4-by-1.4-inch netbook just a hair thinner than the older, clunkier Eee PC 1000 we reviewed last year. It's also a little on the "heavy" side for a netbook, weighing 3.2 pounds. That's the price of strapping an 8700mAH battery to the bottom of this thing; Asus promises that the 1000HE will deliver 9.5 hours of performance (but we got a solid seven hours, nine minutes in our tests).In short, netbooks in this generation are finally packing the battery power required for marathon computing sessions.
Speaking of performance, the Asus Eee PC 1000HE sports Intel's 1.66-GHz Atom N280 CPU. For the sake of comparison, most of the netbooks that came out late last year used the N270 CPU, which runs at a lower frequency (1.6-GHz) and a slower frontside bus speed (533MHz as compared with 667 MHz in the N280). The difference, however, was minimal. Our test unit got a 35 in WorldBench: an average score for what you'll find in netbooks.
The Asus comes with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard disk drive, and 802.11b/g/n /Bluetooth wireless. Around the perimeter of chassis lies a fairly standard set of three USB 2.0 inputs.
The audio, as on the Eee PC 1000, sounds surprisingly strong for its size. But it lacks a good subwoofer, so don't expect to rock a house party with this thing. Other notable features thrown into the mix: InterVideo WinDVD (which seems to be a little bit of overkill, I'd recommend you try out KMPlayer), and 18 months of 10GB of free online storage.
In the end, this is a fairly solid -- and sizable -- jump over what's come out just a few months earlier. In fact, I'd dare say that amongst the netbook pack, this is one of my current favorites and something that I'd highly recommend that you check out. Considering that its selling in some places for as little as $380, you could do worse.

source: www.pcworld.com

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (High Capacity)laptop

didn't expect to see a difference. After all, it's running with the same N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard disk sitting under the hood. It's also got the same 10.2-inch screen and the same 1024-by-600-pixel resolution. What I can't suss out is why this machine scored a 37 in WorldBench 6 while the original notched a 41. On the bright side, it does have gumption. The 6-cell battery in our review unit powered the device for a little over 5 hours.
It's a hair thinner (it now measures 9.8 by 7.7 by 1.4 inches) and more than a pound lighter (at 2.4 pounds, down from 3.6 pounds), and it has a couple of nips and tucks that I noticed straightaway. The two-tone colors pop like a good sports coupe while the unit retains its solidly-built netbook frame. And the keys are a bit bigger, though the machine weighs less (thanks to the big "L" for making the left-shift key a little longer). While the keyboard is very comfortable to tap on, how about flipping the function and control keys? It's a major pain to keep hitting the wrong one.
Something that really should have been changed, but wasn't, is the touchpad. The designers go to all this trouble to expand the keyboard, but my fingers are almost rebelling against me for even thinking about trying to use that touchpad. It's about as small as the the original Asus Eee PC's. Oompah Loompahs say, "That's tiny!" So if you happen to have big sausage-y adult-man hands (like me), you're potentially in for a world of hurt.
But it's not all doom-and-gloom. (Especially if you have dainty digits.) The updated S10 also has a fairly robust, praiseworthy software package. VeriFace Recognition III security software carries over from previous IdeaPads and ThinkPads, so bully to Lenovo for including it here. And the OneKey Rescue software that I saluted in the original S10 is back. It's pretty handy--if pretty basic. You can create full or partial backups inside of a couple clicks (after tapping the shortcut button above the keyboard).
Lenovo Idea Central is a news reader and glorified series of rotating ads in a customer-friendly interface. You might find some use in it--I didn't. What I did find fairly useful: The QuickStart application. Don't want to boot into Windows? You get rapid access to a handful of applications such as Skype, Web browsing, a photo manager, and a media player.
Not half bad considering that these updated machines start at $349 (our test unit, complete with a six-cell battery, sells for $409 as of May 11, 2009).

source :www.pcworld.com