We’ve been looking at Bose gear a lot recently, so rather than halt the trend we’re going to continue with a quick peek at the CineMate Series II 2.1 sound system today. This compact 2.1 home theatre system sports Articulated Array speakers and is specifically aimed at users looking to hook up a sound system to their TV. There’s a simple setup, with a four button easy to use remote control.

Bose CineMate Series II specifications

* 2.1 channel configuration
* 2 speakers and sub-woofer, all wired
* Integrated Amplifier
* 1 x Optical audio input (SPDIF)
* 1 x audio line-in

The key with the Bose CineMate Series II is it’s ability to fool the user into believing that they have full surround sound produced by just two speakers. Bose reckon they do this, and describe the process with a couple of boffins in the video below.

Bose CineMate Series II video

Bose CineMate Series II reviews

Amazon - 4 out of 5
CNet - 3.5 out of 5
Epinions - 3 out of 5
BestBuy - 4.4 out of 5

Pros - Ease of use and setup, sound quality
Cons - Lack of treble/bass controls

Whilst the 3.7 score for the Bose CineMate Series II doesn’t exactly light up the home theatre sound system world, the reviews are not massively negative. So if you’re looking for a sound system for a spare room or may be just have a small lounge the CineMate Series II may be what you’re after.

Featured Tags bose, sound system


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It’s been a while since we’ve taken a look at any LaCie gear, in fact almost two years. So we feel it’s time to make up for that, and today we’re taking a gander at the d2 Quadra hard drive. It boasts a quadruple interface for full connectivity to PCs and Macs, an aluminum heat sink and ergonomic design. There’s backup software included namely Genie and Intego and the d2 talks nicely with Time Machine.

LaCie are counting on the d2 Quadra’s speed to make it appealing, stating it can handle multiple demanding professional tasks and be hooked up to your DV camera. It also offers cool daisy-chaining with other drives to provide RAID 0/RAID 1. Of course there’s a eSATA 3Gb/s connection along with FireWire 400 and 800 but only USB 2.0. There’s a Setup Assistant to, um, assist with setup and the case has a clever and attractive heat sink design. Much nicer than the standard flush cases. Anyway enough marketing spiel and blurb, here are the hard numbers

LaCie d2 Quadra specifications

* Capacity 3 TB
* Spin speed 7200 rpm
* 1 x eSATA 3Gbits port
* 2 x FireWire 800 ports (9-pin)
* 1 x Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port (USB 1.1-compatible)
* Aluminum heat sink design for safe, fanless, quieter operation
* 16MB or greater cache
* Interface Transfer Rate
* eSATA - up to 3Gbits/s (300MB/s)
* FireWire 800 - up to 800Mbits/s (100MB/s)
* Hi-Speed USB 2.0 - up to 480Mbits/s (60MB/s)
* Burst Transfer Rate
* eSATA - up to 105-115MB/s
* FireWire 800 - up to 75-85MB/s
* Hi-Speed USB 2.0 - up to 30-35MB/s
* 1.7 x 6.3 x 6.8 in. / 44 x 160 x 173 mm
* 3.31 lbs. / 1500 g
* Speaks nicely with latest versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 / Mac OS X 10.5(Intel only), 10.6, 10.7, 10.8

LaCie d2 Quadra video review

LaCie d2 Quadra reviews

Amazon - 3 out of 5
CNet - 5 out of 5
Macworld - 4.5 out of 5

Pros - heat sink case design, speed, compatibility
Cons - weight

We like LaCie’s d2 Quadra hard drive, not becuase it’s super connected, or because of it’s clever heat sink design, but because it’s fast, not super SSD fast but for an external hard drive it’s performance is good. And as far as we’re concerned it’s speed that matters, especially with a large external drive. So the d2 Quadra gets a big thumbs up from Our Picks.

Featured Tags external-hdd, lacie


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We confess, we like soundbars, nice shiny soundbars. Of course they may not pump out the greatest quality sound in the world but if you’re looking for a compact alternative to multiple speakers and trailing cables then a soundbar is what you are after. And today we are looking at the CineMate 1 soundbar from quality speaker manufacturer Bose. Unfortunately with that ‘quality’ tag comes a high price and US$1,499 is not cheap by anyone’s standard. But let’s first look at the numbers and then the reviews before closing our wallet on the CineMate.

Bose CineMate 1 features and specifications

* Wall-mounted option for soundbar
* ADAPTiQ audio calibration system - funky system that sets up the CineMate to suit your room
* PhaseGuide sound radiators work with TrueSpace technology to ensure the sound gets to where it’s supposed to be!
* SmartSource input selection system to ensure the best quality sound source is selected
* Wireless Acoustimass module - no nasty cables!
* The remote control is programmable to enable use with other gear
* Soundbar - 4.9 x 36.8 x 2.4 inches ; 7.8 pounds
* Acoustimass module - 11.1 x 14.7 x 7.6 inches ; 13.8 pounds

Bose Cinematic Video Review from B&H

Bose Cinematic 1 SR reviews

Amazon - 4 out of 5
BestBuy - 4.4. out of 5
Crutchfield - 5 out of 5

Pros - Design, wireless subwoofer, easy calibration
Cons - Cost, no HDMI inputs

Despite the glowing customer reviews, we’re going to give the Bose CineMate 1 SR speaker system a thumbs down. There are too many negatives that just grate for our liking, no HDMI, no iPod dock and there are a number of ‘satisfied’ customers who readily admit that for movies and games they’d rather have a 5.1 system. Whilst we realise that a soundbar is never meant to fully replace a surround sound system in terms of audio experience, asking someone to pay $1500 for an inferior product is a touch cheeky if you ask us.

If you disagree and/or have the Bose Cinemate 1 SR then please comment on your experience below

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Viewsonic’s VX2450WM monitor is currently the hot item over at Amazon and so it should be with its price tag sliced almost on half. The 24 inch 1080p LED monitor sports a wide-screen display, 20,000,000:1 contrast ratio along with integrated speakers. There’s a mixed bag of reviews with the absence of an HDMI connection of note. But anyway before we get ahead of ourselves here are the details on the Viewsonic VX2450WM monitor.

Viewsonic VX2450WM specifications

* 24 inch Widescreen LED monitor
* 1920x1080p full HD resolution
* 16:9 aspect ratio
* 20,000,000:1 MEGA Contrast Ratio
* 5ms Response Time
* DVI and VGA Inputs
* Integrated Stereo Speakers
* VESA mount compliant 100mm x 100mm

Viewsonic VX2450WM unboxing video

Viewsonic VX2450WM reviews

Amazon - 4.5 out of 5
CNet - 3 out of 5
NewEgg - 4 out of 5
CrowdedBrain - 8 out of 10
TestFreaks - 9.5 out of 10

Pros - great value
Cons - no HDMI input

We’re going to give the thumbs up to the Viewsonic VX2450WM purely on the price alone! Although no HDMI connection does seem a bit unusual and integrated speakers are a bit ho-hum in these days where PC surround sound outputs are not unusual. So if you’re after a good value monitor the Viewsonic VX2450WM may just be up your street.

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The Canon MX420 is a wireless all-in-one printer ideal for home or office. The MX420 sports a 2.5 inch LCD display with a 30 sheet document feeder, Super G3 high-speed fax functionality and Canon’s Movie Print feature allows you to print a still shot from your favourite movie. Canon’s Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering achieves 4800 x 1200 maximum colour dpi, and the printer uses separate cartridges for black and white printing and colour output. The 30 sheet feeder allows the printer to handle multiple page documents for copying, scanning or faxing and the LCD display allows you to simply view, select and edit your image prior to printing.

Canon MX420 specifications

* 4800 dpi
* High performance ink cartridges
* Fully-Integrated Auto Document Feeder
* 2.5 inch LCD
* Auto scan mode
* Quick start
* Full HD movie print
* Built-in wireless and ethernet
* Mobile printing from iPad, iPhone and Android devices
* USB 2.0 connectivity
* Memory card slot
* 1200 x 2400 dpi scanning

Canon MX420 reviews

We managed to find a few reviews on Canon MX420 all-in-one printer for you to check too.

Amazon - 4 out of 5
Trusted Reviews - 8 out of 10
PCMag - 3 out of 5

Pros - Network connectivity
Cons - print quality

The Canon MX420 all-in-one wireless printer appears to be a good run-of-the-mill unit, nothing flash just does the job. So it just sneaks a thumbs up from Our Picks.

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With a company name that sounds like a character out of Lord of the Rings, but is actually a city in Ghana, the Drobo FS doesn’t necessarily fill you with inspiration at first look. However dig a bit deeper and you will find positive reviews and general all round niceness for this 5 bay NAS. If your interest is piqued then read on.

Drobo FS features and specifications

* 1 x Gb Ethernet Interface
* 3.5-inch SATA drives
* BeyondRAID
* 5 bays
* 150 x 185 x 262 mm
* 3629 g
* talks nicely to Windows machines, Macs and UNIX/Linux boxes
* Self-Healing Technology - When idle, the unit will proactively examine the blocks and sectors on every drive, flagging questionable areas
* Single or Dual Drive protection
* Drobo dashboard management

Here’s Drobo’s video spiel for you to check out

Drobo FS reviews

Amazon Drobo FS 5-bay Gbe Storage Array reviews

Pros - painless setup, flexible
Cons - not quick

If you’re looking for a quick setup NAS with tons of flexibility but not too worries about speed then Drobo FS is probably right up your alley. We give it a big Our Picks thumbs up.

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Samsung’s range of 3D HDTVs, the UND7000 series, have an incredible 0.2 inch bezel to give the models an almost “all-picture” look. Even the still shots of the range look striking. The UND7000 series consists of three models, sporting different screen sizes, 46, 55 and 60 inch. We’re going to concentrate on the mid-range 55 inch model, the Samsung UN55D7000. The reviews are glowing for the 55 inch model and it is currently a top seller at Amazon. So let’s take a deeper look at the Samsung UN55D7000 3D LED HDTV.

Samsung UN55D7000 features and specifications

* 55 inch display
* 1920 x 1080 resolution
* 240Hz Refresh Rate
* Dolby Digital Plus / Dolby Pulse, SRS TheatreSound HD
* 15W x 2 speakers
* 3 x USB ports, 4 x HDMI, 2 x Composite and 1 x Component inputs, PC input, Digitial Audio Output
* Ethernet LAN connectivity
* With Stand 1240.0 x 790.9 x 309.8 mm
* No 3D glasses
* QWERTY remote control
* Built-in Wi-Fi, Skype app, digital recorder

Here’s a video review from 3D TV Buying Guide of the 46 inch model but as mentioned the review applies across the UND7000 range.

Samsung UN55D7000 reviews

Amazon - 4 out of 5
3D TV Buying Guide - 8.5 out of 10

Pros - Great design and picture quality, low power consumption
Cons - No 3D glasses

The Samsung UN55D7000 1080p 3D LED HDTV seems to tick all the boxes with reviewers and gets a thumbs up from Our Picks too, assuming you can overlook the omission of 3D glasses with a 3D TV.

Featured Tags hdtv, samsung


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