We must admit the title of this post is a bit of a mouthful but the subject is certainly not large and fortunately neither is its price tag. The My Passport Essential HDD from WD measures a slim 4.3 x 3.3 x 0.7 inches and weighs a meagre 7.2 ounces. Ideal for those of us who need to carry around a whole one TerraByte of data. And for the more fashion consious amongst the data transporters, the unit comes in four colors, black, silver, metallic blue and metallic red. Back on more technical themes, the My Passport Essential sports 3.0 USB connectivity for speedy data transfer, up to 3 times faster than good old 2.0 connectivity according to the marketing blurb. Here’s a fuller list of the bits and pieces on the My Passport
* Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility
* Connectivity today; speed for tomorrow
* Up to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0
* WD SmartWare™ software - Automatic, continuous backup
* Hardware encryption, password protection
* USB-powered
* Uses recycled material
* Compatibility - Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Mac OS® X Leopard®, Snow Leopard™
The model scores 4 stars out of 5 on Amazon customer reviews with size, capacity and transfer speeds being positives and issues with the backup software as a negative. So if you’re after a small compact external HDD that will fit in your pocket but aren’t fussed about backup software, then the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE may just be what you are after.
Today we’re taking a close look at Lenovo’s slimline H320 desktop. The H320′s small form factor (SFF) means the unit measures 4 inches wide, 11.5 inches high and 15.2 inches deep, allowing it to fit in spots that ‘normal’ sized desktops can’t. Other features include an Intel Core i3-550 dual core processor, 1 TB of storage and a 7-in-1 card reader. Here are the full list of specifications on the Lenovo H320 slimline desktop.
* Intel® Core™ i3-550 Dual Core processor
* Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit
* Intel® Integrated HD graphics
* 4GB DDR3 memory, 1TB HDD storage
* 7-in-1 card reader, Front-mounted USB2.0 connectors for easy access
* Integrated DVD drive
* Space-saving, compact design -2x smaller than a standard tower PC
* Lenovo Rescue System for quick and easy data recovery with antivirus protection
* OneKey AntiVirus
* OneKey Recovery
* Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7
Check out some more information on the Lenovo H320 40411JU Desktop
Looking very much like a Blackberry, Cricket’s cellphone the TXTM8 is ideal for the texting types with its full QWERTY keyboard. Other highlights include the TXTM8′s 320 x 240 res display, tri-band connectivity, 2 MP camera and GPS navigation. Unfortunately there are a few downsides, poor battery life and below par voice performance according to PCMag. Here’s the full list of bells and whistles on the Cricket TXTM8 cellphone
* 2.2 inch 320 x 240 res display
* Full QWERTY keyboard
* 4 hours and 57 minutes of talk time.
* 2 MP camera
* 4.5 by 2.36 by .55 inches
* 3.58 ounces
* Web-based widgets
* Email app which talks nicely to AIM, AOL, Gmail, Windows Live, and Yahoo Mail, as well as POP/IMAP accounts
* Cricket GPS Navigator
* 120MB of internal memory
* microSD cards up to 16GB.
* Plays nicely with AAC and MP3 files
* Standard 3.5 mm jack
Comfortable keyboard. Good built-in Web browsing and e-mail support. Free GPS navigation.
Sluggish home screen. Only-average voice performance. Poor video playback. Mediocre battery life.
So whilst the 3G TXTM8 from Cricket doesn’t get a resounding thumbs up, it gets a sort of OK review. Probably only an option if you are an existing Cricket customer.
Already have a 3G TXTM8? Then check out these great accessories from Amazon for your Cricket TXTM8.
The Motorola Atrix is an awesome 4G smartphone which can double up as a laptop or desktop. The unit can slot into a laptop dock which sports an 11.6 inch 1366 x 768 res display, two USB ports and weighs 2.34 pounds. Another optional extra is the desktop dock which allows you to use the 4G Atrix as an extra home computer. The desktop dock boasts three USB ports, an HDMI port and headphone jack. But what about the Atrix itself, well here are the specs on the unit
The Motorola Atrix sports a dual-core CPU, the first smartphone in the US to do so, and measures 2.5 x 4.6 x 0.4 inches. It weighs in at only 4.8 ounces and has a decent 960 x 540 res display.
The Pandigital Novel digital book reader is a 7 inch colour, wi-fi enabled, multimedia ereader. The unit sports a built-in 1 GB of memory, a USB 2.0 port, speaker and weighs around 1 kg (2.2 pounds). The Pandigital Novel also sports a price tag that is slightly under the Kindle’s and NOOK’s with Amazon selling the Novel ereader currently for $140. Reading around the net about the Novel, whilst the price tag is a hit with most, there are some comments about a slow performance from the unit. The Novel is integrated with the Barnes & Noble bookstore and is powered by Android. The unit measures 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches, and supports your favourite media formats, MP3, AAC, WAV, JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, MPEG4 along with eBook formats EPUB and PDF.
Today we’re going to take a look a 7.1 channel home theatre system from Pioneer, the VSX-1020-K. According to Pioneer this little sucker will get you as close as possible to exactly what the artist created. A bold statement indeed, and whilst we’ve not heard the VSX-1020-K system in action the features and specs certainly add up to a top-notch home theatre experience. The unit sports six HDMI connections, all 3-D ready of course, “Works with iPhone” certification, network connectivity, on-screen GUI. Here’s a longer list of the features on the Pioneer VSX-1020-K
* Front USB connectivity provide iPod, touch, and iPhone users ultimate plug-and-play integration of their Apple products with their home theater
* Simple connectivity to high-performance HD video, HD audio, portable, internet, wireless, and analog components
* The latest version of HDMI inputs and outputs provide more HD connectivity options with “future-proof” 3-D capability
* 1080p video conversion and upscaling ensures the highest quality video from any source
Pioneer VSX-1020-K Technical Specifications
# Channels: 7.1 surround sound
# Power: 110×7 watts
# HDMI Specification: v. 1.4, 3D, Deep Color and X.V. Color
# HDMI Ports: 6 in (including 1 front in), 1 out
# Component Ports: 2 in, 1 out
# Audio Codecs Supported: DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Pro Logic IIz with pre-out
# Video Modes Supported: 1080p and below
# Audio Modes Supported: Multi-zone (7.1, 5.1 + 2)
# Digital Formats Supported: JPEG, MP3, WAV, WMA
# “Works with iPhone”-certified
Onkyo keep churning out great Home Theatre receivers and the TX-NR708 is no exception. The sleek model sports internet radio, the ability to hook up legacy DVD players, seven HDMI 1.4a inputs, which of course makes the TX-NR708 3D ready. The full list of features on the Onkyo TX-NR708 is almost endless but we’ll try to give a brief list of what we think are the most important bells and whistles on the receiver
* 110 Watts per Channel at 8 ohms, 20 Hz?20 kHz, 0.08%, 2 Channels Driven, FTC
* HDMI (Version 1.4a to Support 3D and Audio Return Channel
* Network Capability for Streaming Audio Files
* 7 HDMI Inputs (1 Front/6 Rear) and 1 Output
* HDMI Video Upscaling to 1080p with Faroudja DCDi Cinema
* Windows® 7 Compatible PC Audio and Internet Radio
* Audyssey DSX™ and Dolby® Pro Logic® IIz Surround Sound
* THX® Select2 Plus™ Certified
* HDMI Video Upscaling to 1080p with Faroudja Dcdi Cinema™
* PLL (Phase Locked Loop) Jitter-Cleaning Circuit Technology
* Preprogrammed RI Remote with On-Screen Setup and Presets
Onkyo TX-NR708 Receiver Features
* THX® Select2 Plus™ certified
* HDMI® (Version 1.4a to support 3D and Audio Return channel) with Deep Color™, x.v.Color™, LipSync, Dolby® TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio™, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, multichannel PCM, and CEC
* 7 HDMI inputs (1 front/6 rear) and 1 output
* Audyssey DSX™ and Dolby® Pro Logic® IIz for new surround channels
* PLL Jitter-Cleaning circuit technology
* Audyssey MultEQ® for room acoustic correction
* Network capability for streaming audio files (MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, FLAC, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, and LPCM)
* Internet radio connectivity (Pandora®, Rhapsody®, SIRIUS Internet Radio®, Napster, Mediafly™, Slacker, and vTuner)*
* Certified with Windows® 7 and DLNA version 1.5
* Firmware updates via Ethernet and USB
* Front-panel USB input for memory devices and iPhone®:/iPod® models (enables display of album artwork)
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with size, capacity and transfer speeds being positives and issues with the backup software as a negative. So if you’re after a small compact external HDD that will fit in your pocket but aren’t fussed about backup software, then the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE may just be what you are after.
