Windows Middle East - Oct 2010 by ITP Business Publishing

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THE REGION’S FAVOURITE PC & CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY GUIDE An ITP Technology Publication OCTOBER 2010

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OCTOBER 2010

EXTERNAL HARD DISK GROUPTEST MEDIA PLAYER GROUPTEST BLUR GAME REVIEW STARCRAFT II GAME REVIEW

Four media players get a thorough workout

REVIEWS:

G GAME AME R REVIEWS EVIEWS Blur, Crackdown 2, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Adobe Creative Suite 5 HP Pavilion dm4 notebook Asus ARES graphics card ECS Black Series GTX 460 and more tested... DHS15 • SR15 • LE12 • JD2 • KD1.5 • QR15 • LL7,000

600MB OF FREE SOFTWARE

Packed with games, productivity apps, utilities and much, much more... Licensed by Dubai Media City

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CONTENTS 1

THE REGION’S FAVOURITE PC & CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY GUIDE An ITP Technology Publication OCTOBER 2010

www.itp.net

OCTOBER 2010

EXTERNAL HARD DISK GROUPTEST MEDIA PLAYER GROUPTEST BLUR GAME REVIEW STARCRAFT II GAME REVIEW

MAS MA MAS STER TER TE RS OF M MEDI EDIIA ED EDI Four media players get a thorough workout

CONTENTS WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST

REVIEWS:

GAME REVIEWS Blur, Crackdown 2, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Adobe Creative Suite 5 HP Pavilion dm4 notebook Asus ARES graphics card ECS Black Series GTX 460 and more tested... DHS15 • SR15 • LE12 • JD2 • KD1.5 • QR15 • LL7,000

600MB OF FREE SOFTWARE

Packed with games, productivity apps, utilities and much, much more... Licensed by Dubai Media City

12 COMMENT 12 COMMENT Games seem to be relying on the Internet for copy protection, multiplayer and more. This trend has to stop reckons Editor Jason Saundalkar given that too many factors can influence whether or not you can even play the game at all, when you're reliant on the Internet.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ROUND-UP

14 GROUPTEST 14 STORE IT External hard drives are the best way to boost your machine's storage capacity. These drives can be had with capacities that equal your machine's internal hard drive and with the advent of USB3.0, transfer performance has got a serious boost. We put six of the latest external drives to the test here.

22 GROUPTEST 22 MEDIA MASTERS

MEDIA PLAYER GROUPTEST

When you're out and about and a laptop is too big to whip out for entertainment, your only other option is a portable media player. Over the years these devices have evolved to offer features such as photo and video playback, eBook reading capabilities in addition to standard FM and MP3 playback. Some of these devices can also double as voice recorders and even offer useful expansion options in the form of upgradeable memory. Most portable media players also rely on flash memory for storage and this looks to be the way forward given that the memory is not susceptible to sudden shocks and provides quicker performance. In this grouptest we put four of the latest products through our grueling test process.

WIN BRILLIANT TECH PRIZES W

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2 CONTENTS 6 6 7 8

NEWS

INTEL BUYS MCAFEE UAE BLACKBERRY TALKS MAKING PROGRESS, FACEBOOK GOES PLACES GITEX TURNS 30

31 HOT KIT REVIEWS 33 35 36 37 38 39

ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 5 SONY DVD ARCHITECT STUDIO HP PAVILION DM4 ASUS ARES KINGSTON DT5000 SAMSUNG ML-2855

41 BUYER'S GUIDE THE BIGGEST TECH REFERENCE GUIDE 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

COMPONENTS DESKTOPS DIGITAL IMAGING HANDHELDS MONITORS NOTEBOOKS PERIPHERALS PRINTERS SOFTWARE STORAGE

52 GAME ON 54 56 58

STARCRAFT II BLUR CRACKDOWN 2

60 REGULARS 60 62 64

COMPETITIONS CD CONTENTS LOGGING OFF

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4 REGULARS

Editor’s letter An ITP Technology Publication

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WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

LIFESTYLE CHANGING TECH This was an interesting month for me. After what seems like eons I got hold of a product that flipped my tech lifestyle completely on its head. The product I’m talking about is none other than Apple’s extraordinary iPad. The iPad is my first Apple device. Ever. You see I’ve managed to stay clear of every form of iPod, iPhone, Mac and Macbook not because I’m a PC fan boy (or an Apple hater) but because I was already very satisfied with an equivalent product that I already had. With the iPad however there isn’t an equivalent product, though many seem to be on the way now that companies have realised just how popular slate devices can be. I guess the amazing thing about the iPad is its ability to integrate itself into your everyday life. My morning routine for instance has gone from waking up, reading the newspaper on the sofa in the living room and then booting the PC back in my room to waking up, staying in bed and just using the iPad for everything. Having used the iPad for a couple of weeks it has me completely won over. In the office it feels sort of weird not having the device sitting right next to me and at home, I find myself glancing around trying to find the wonder slate all the time. Geeky I know but utterly true. It almost worries me to think just how reliant I’d become on it, if my iPad had 3G capabilities as well. As great as the iPad is, it isn’t perfect. It would have been even better if you could simply just drag-and-drop certain files onto it via USB connection rather than being forced to use Apple’s iTunes. I’ve never been an iTunes user and while the software has gotten a lot better since I first used it, it simply can’t match the simplicity of dragand-drop file transfers. Another rather glaring omission is the lack of an integrated memory card reader. I know that Apple’s ‘iPad Camera Connection Kit’ includes a SD card reader but that really should have been offered as standard, given how well the iPad does everything else. I suppose Mr. Jobs has to eat well every night. The funny thing is the iPad has actually reminded me about the last bit of technology that changed my lifestyle in such a dramatic fashion because the two sort of go hand-in-hand. I’m referring to my broadband Internet connection. Getting on the high-speed bandwagon several years ago completely wrecked my life because after I had downloaded everything in sight, I chatted until my fingers were about to fall off and then I found something else to do. Years have passed since I first got my broadband connection and I still find myself spending loads of time on the web. In much the same way, I expect I’ll be holding onto my iPad well into the future. Jason Saundalkar Jason.saundalkar@itp.com

Registered at Dubai Media City PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: 0097 1 (0)4 210 8000 Fax: 0097 1 (0)4 210 8080 Web: www.itp.com Offices in Dubai & London ITP Technology Publishing CEO Walid Akawi Managing Director Neil Davies Managing Director ITP Technology Karam Awad General Manager Peter Conmy Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton EDITORIAL Group Editor Mark Sutton Tel: +971 4 210 8225 e-mail: mark.sutton@itp.com Editor Jason Saundalkar Tel: +971 4 210 8635 e-mail: jason.saundalkar@itp.com Deputy Editor Clayton Vallabhan Tel: +971 4 210 8682 e-mail: clayton.vallabhan@itp.com ADVERTISING Group Advertising Manager Brett Pearson Tel: +971 4 2108345 e-mail: brett.pearson@itp.com STUDIO Senior Designer Michel Al Asmar PHOTOGRAPHY Director of Photography Sevag Davidian Senior Photographers Jovana Obradovic Staff Photographers Efraim Evidor, Isidora Bojovic, Rajesh Raghav, Ruel Pableo, Lyubov Galushko, George Dipin, Mosh Lafuente, Murrindie Frew, Shruti Jagdeesh, Verko Ignjatovic PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Group Production & Distribution Director Kyle Smith Production Co-ordinator Basel Al Kassem Managing Picture Editor Patrick Littlejohn Image Editor Emmalyan Robles Distribution Manager Karima Ashwell Distribution Executive Nada Al Alami CIRCULATION Head of Circulation & Database Gaurav Gulati MARKETING Event Manager Preeta Panicker ITP DIGITAL Assitant Editor Vineetha Menon Tel: +971 4 210 8579 e-mail: vineetha.menon@itp.com Sales Director ITP Digital Business Websites Ahmad Bashour Tel: +971 4 210 8549 e-mail: ahmad.bashour@itp.com Group Sales Manager ITP.net Nathalie Akl Tel: +971 4 210 8520 e-mail: nathalie.akl@itp.com Internet Development Manager Mohammed Affan Content Manager Asad Azizi Web Advertising Manager Meghna Jalnawalla Creative Director Craig Willers ITP GROUP Chairman Andrew Neil Managing Director Robert Serafin Finance Director Toby Jay Spencer-Davies Board of Directors K M Jamieson, Mike Bayman, Walid Akawi, Neil Davies, Rob Corder, Mary Serafin Circulation Customer Service Tel: +971 4 286 8559 Printed by Emirates Printing Press L.L.C.Dubai. Controlled Distribution by Blue Truck Subscribe online at www.itp.com/subscriptions Certain images in this issue are available for purchase. Please contact itp images@itp.com for further details www.itpimages.com The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader's particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.

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6 NEWS

NEWS

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

INTEL BUYS MCAFEE FOR US $7.68 BILLION Intel has announced that it will buy security company McAfee, for $7.68 billion. The deal, which values McAfee at $48 per share, a 60% premium, has been approved by both boards, and is subject to regulatory approval. Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that the deal will give Intel a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;third pillar' in computing, to complement its drives for power efficiency and connectivity, in future computing models. "In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences," Otellini said in a statement. "The addition of McAfee products and technologies into the Intel computing portfolio brings us incredibly talented people with a track record of delivering security innovations, products and services that the industry and consumers trust to make connecting to the Internet safer and more secure," he added. McAfee will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, under its Software and Services Group. The two companies will also work together to explore future product concepts, to strengthen security across computing models. David DeWalt, CEO of McAfee, wrote in a company blog that the deal would help to develop new ways of securing different types of devices, to provide a more robust model of security than is possible at present. "This is incredibly exciting to me as it reflects what we at McAfee have been saying for some time: security is a fundamental component of modern computing and it is increasingly relevant in a completely connected world. Intel's agreement to acquire McAfee underscores that," he wrote. "The current cybersecurity model isn't extensible across the proliferating spectrum of devices - providing protection to a heterogeneous world of connected devices requires a fundamentally new approach to security. The industry needed a paradigm shift, incremental improvements can't bridge the opportunity gap," DeWalt added. "There is no better partner that we could have found than Intel. They share our vision for security and they share our vision of a connected world. Working together we'll be far stronger globally and able to make a much bigger difference in people's lives," he said.

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NEWS 7 KEEP UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST TECH STORIES, OPINIONS AND REVIEWS IN OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER To subscribe, go to ITP.net/index. php?option=com_newsletter

FACEBOOK FINALLY GOES PLACES Facebook has launched its location-based service called ‘Places’ that lets users share where they are, and the friends they are with, using a mobile device. "You have the option to share your location by 'checking in' to that place and letting friends know where you are. You can easily see if any of your friends have also chosen to check in nearby," writes Michael Sharon, Facebook Product Manager for Places, in a company blog post. Facebook users who want to try Places need to download the most recent version of the Facebook application for Apple’s iPhone. Alternatively, they can access Places from touch.facebook.com if their phone's browser supports HTML 5 and geolocation. The app is reportedly quite simple to use; once you tap on the 'Check In' button, you will see a list of places nearby and any place not featured on the list can be easily added. After checking

UAE BLACKBERRY TALKS MAKING PROGRESS Talks between UAE authorities and RIM to resolve the dispute over BlackBerry services are making good progress, according to remarks from the UAE ambassador to the US reported by Bloomberg. Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, speaking at a meeting of UAE diplomatic staff in Abu Dhabi said, "Talks are going on and doing quite well. Hopefully we will reach a conclusion in the near future." BlackBerry services are set to be banned by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, over demands that security authorities be allowed access to communications on the service. Al Otaiba added, "It’s a compliance issue with regulatory demands. It's very straightforward. It's not anything regarding censorship; it's not regarding anything besides what the TRA has requested: compliance with regulatory standards." UAE telecoms operators had said they would comply with the ban of BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry mail, which is due to come into place on 11th October.

in, it will create a story in a user's friends' News Feeds and show up in the ‘Recent Activity’ section on the page for that place. Friends also have the ability to tag you through Places and check you in but users have the freedom to alter this setting for greater control. Places is presently available only in the United States but Facebook has plans to launch it in more countries and on mobile platforms other than the iPhone soon.

The Logitech K800 has a built-in light sensors to adjust the backlight based on the environment the keyboard is placed in, while motion sensors detect when hands approach the keyboard - turning it on when near, and off when away. The sensors ensure battery life is conserved, with the K800 said to last 10 days without recharging. "The Wireless Illuminated Keyboard K800 is perfect for someone who values both form and function," said Denis Pavillard, Vice President of Product Marketing for Logitech's keyboards and desktops. "The Wireless Illuminated K800 keyboard includes features that make it a standout - smart backlighting, Logitech Unifying technology, our PerfectStroke key system and Logitech Incurve keys - and presents it all in a very stylish and sleek package that's sure to please," explained Pavillard. The Logitech Wireless Illuminated Keyboard K800 is expected to be available in the UAE this month for AED 499.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

ILLUMINATED KEYBOARD TO SHINE IN SEPTEMBER A new wireless keyboard with keys that automatically illuminate will be across the United Arab Emirates this month.

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8 NEWS

ANDROID TROJAN CAN BE EASILY REMOVED, SAYS EXPERT The first Trojan-SMS malware that targets Google's popular Android OS has started infecting smartphones around the world. Named Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a, security specialists Kaspersky Lab reports that it has already been found in "a number of mobile devices", without revealing concrete numbers. Disguised as a media player application, users are asked to install a file of about 13KB that sports the standard Android extension .APK. Once installed, the Trojan uses the system to send SMSs to premium rate numbers without the user's knowledge or consent, which means money gets transferred from a user's account directly to that of the cybercriminals. "The Trojan-SMS category is currently the most widespread class of malware for mobile phones, but Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a is the first to specifically target the Android platform," stated Kaspersky. "This case is one of the indicators of the platform's growing popularity, but not the only one. Unfortunately we don't have an exact number of infections but we think that this number is not very big. SMS Trojans (for different platforms like J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile and now for Android) are the most ‘popular' malicious programs today in the segment of mobile malware," explained Denis Maslennikov, Senior Malware Analyst and Mobile Research Group Manager at Kaspersky Lab. Maslennikov adds that it's fairly easy to rid yourself of the infection - it can be deleted by a standard Android uninstaller.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK TURNS 30 THIS YEAR GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK is scheduled to run between the 17th and the 21th of October. This year will mark the exhibition’s 30th anniversary. As before the trade show will be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre over a five day period. “The region’s importance as a key global ICT market is reflected by the continuous growth of GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK over the years,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, CEO, Dubai World Trade Centre, organiser of the event. “The event’s 30th anniversary is a milestone for the ICT industry and a credit to the innovators and entrepreneurs who made this market an attractive proposition for foreign investment." GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK is broken into different segments including GITEX Business Solutions, Gulfcomms, Consumer Electronics, GITEX Global Conference, GITEX Global Leaders Summit, GITEX Cloud Confex, GITEX Mobile Apps & Content World and GITEX Majlis. Institutions and companies such as Abu Dhabi Police, Al Ghanim, Amazon, AMD, Avaya, Blackberry (RIM), Cisco Linksys, Comguard, Datel, du, Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Etisalat, FiCall, Ford, Fujitsu/Netapp, Genius and Hitachi are scheduled to appear this year.

NOKIA A AND DU TEA AM UP FO OR E--SERIIES S OFFFER Du Elite Plan customers who purchase the new Nokia E5 or an E72 smartphone can now receive a free 200MB monthly data package for six months, giving customers access to e-mail, the Internet, IM and social networking sites. The offer, offered in collaboration with Nokia, is available to new and existing Du Elite Plan customers and will be available only for a limited time period. "People today are leading increasingly mobile lifestyles, and often the most convenient method of communication - particularly for our culturally diverse customer base - is via email, chat and social networking sites. We are committed to keeping up with our customers' needs and requirements, and are therefore pleased to offer our Elite subscribers this state-of-the-art smartphone along with a free 200 MB data package for six months to access a variety of messaging services, meaning they can stay connected whenever and wherever they may be," commented Farid Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer, Du. The new Symbian-based Nokia E5 comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel camera, free lifetime navigation service and access to the Ovi Store. The smartphone was released in the UAE earlier in the month and costs AED 899 in stores.

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NEWS 9

STICKY FINGER RISK TO TOUCHSCREEN PHONE SECURITY Sticky fingers and smudged touchscreens could pose a security risk to smartphones, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania. Researchers from the University's Computer and Information Science Department investigated the possibility of extracting password data from â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;smudges' of oily residue from fingertips, that builds up during normal use of touchscreens, according to The Register. The researchers found that not only were patterns of smudges easily extracted from handsets but that the smudge patterns were also surprisingly resilient, making so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;smudge attacks' a threat to touchscreen security. The study tested two models of Android-based smartphones, the HTC G1 and the HTC Nexus1, which both require a user to trace a repeated pattern on a 3x3 square grid on the screen, in place of a password. The handsets were photographed using standard camera and lighting set ups, and then photo editing software running on PCs was used to analyze the patterns of smudge marks. The researchers found that 68% of the time, the full password pattern could be retrieved, while a partial pattern could be recovered 96% of the time, even after the phone had been held to the face, to simulate taking a call, which creates a smudge across the whole screen. Smudge patterns were also found to be quite resilient to wiping or being removed through carrying in a pocket. The research whitepaper stated, "We believe smudge attacks are a threat for three reasons. First, smudges are surprisingly persistent in time. Second, it is surprisingly difficult to incidentally obscure or delete smudges through wiping or pocketing the device. Third and finally, collecting and analyzing oily residue smudges can be done with readily-available equipment such as a camera and a computer."

HP's plans to implement a new range of products based on technology from its recent acquisition of mobile specialist Palm could be in disarray, as reports of a senior exec exodus emerge. According to blog TechCrunch, Peter Skillman, Vice President of design at the firm and designer of its muchtoured Pre smartphone has resigned. He joins a slew of recent defectors including Michael Abbot, SVP of application software and services who left in May for a post at social networking site Twitter, and Mike Bell, SVP of product development, who joined Intel in July. Matias Duarte, designer of its WebOS operating system, also departed in May for Google, while the Designer of its notification system, Rich Gerringer returned to his former employer, Apple in June. The departures follow the acquisition of Palm - which was well known for its iconic early PDA designs such as the Palm Pilot - by IT giant HP in April for a reported $1.2 billion. Duarte, Gerringer, Abbot, Bell, and Skillman were credited with the innovative design of the Palm Pre, and with their exit, signals an uncertain future for Palm, which counts CEO Jon Rubinstein as one of the few remaining members of the management team. Parent HP itself is battling its own senior exec woes - vaunted CEO Mark Hurd has stepped down amidst a cloud of controversy over claims of sexual harassment by a former contractor, leaving CFO Cathie Lesjak in charge. The Palm Pre was unveiled in Las Vegas in late 2009 to positive acclaim from the market but struggled to make headway against the then-current Apple 3GS. According to a report from analysts Comscore, Palm has secured just 4.8% of the global smartphone market, well behind rival products from Google and Microsoft.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

MORE DEPARTURES AT PALM

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10 NEWS

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

HP QUARTERLY REVENUE UP 11.4% YEAR-ON-YEAR HP has posted results for its third financial quarter, with its net revenues up 11.4% year-on-year, to US $30.7 billion. Third quarter GAAP operating profit, for the quarter to end of July 2010, was up 5% to $2.3 billion. The company said that growth was mainly driven by the Enterprise Storage and Servers, Personal Systems and Imaging and Printing Groups. Globally, HP saw growth across all regions, with non-US revenue accounting for 63% of total revenue, while EMEA region revenue was up 9%. "The broad-based strength of HP's Q3 performance further demonstrates the power of our strategy and the discipline of our execution," said Cathie Lesjak, HP Chief Financial Officer and interim Chief Executive Officer. "We raised our full-year outlook and are continuing to build momentum in driving out costs, investing for profitable growth and capitalising on HP's competitive advantages in the marketplace," explained Across business groups, HP Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS) reported total revenue of $4.4 billion, up 19%; Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue increased 9% to $6.2 billion, with printer unit shipments up 16%, and Personal Systems Group (PSG) posted a 12% increase in unit shipments, with strong growth in desktop and notebook sectors, and revenue up 17% to $9.9 billion. ProCurve revenue increased 42%, and HP Networking overall increased 198% year over year including the impact of the 3Com acquisition. Despite record service signings, service revenue grew only 1%, to $8.6 billion, with HP Software also flat, with revenue up 2% to $863 million.

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12 COMMENT

VIEWS ENOUGH ONLINE EVERYTHING

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Windows Middle East Editor Jason Saundalkar is not happy with the fact that more and more games seem to depend on an Internet connection for anything and everything. Hello, my name is Jason and I’m a gamer. Now that we’ve got that out of the way I should also say that I’m a rather angry gamer at the moment. Why you ask? Quite frankly I’m fed-up with the way more and more games seem to depend on a working Internet connection for everything. The last straw went up in flames last month, when a long planned network games evening also went up in flames. You see I’m a massive Starcraft fan and now that the second part has finally hit stores (you can read my review on page 54), a few friends and I have been playing, or should I say, been trying to play the game whenever we can. The night in question was planned days in advance, we had decided on the food, the time, the place (my humble abode) and the numbers (that’ll be three of us). On said night however we were faced with disaster because despite the fact that I have three very fast PCs, all of which are networked via Gigabit Ethernet along with three original discs of Starcraft II, we weren’t able to engage in multiplayer mayhem because my 4Mb/sec line decided to play 'now it’s here, now it’s not'. You see Starcraft II lacks LAN play completely so even if you’ve got your own network connection at home, or in the office, or anywhere, you still have to use Blizzard’s Battle.net service. While Blizzard and every other developer will say that this enables them to keep the game up-to-date and deliver a better gaming experience, I can’t help but think it’s also an easy way for them to clamp down on piracy. You see if you don’t have an authenticated CD-key (this is authorised every time you play) you can’t play the game at all. If you don’t have an

Internet connection on the other hand, you can’t play the game beyond the single-player and skirmish matches both of which aren’t nearly as fun as gaming with or against your friends. While I’m all for reducing piracy there has to be a better way to make sure software, be it applications or games, don’t get hacked and cracked and used illegally. Since I got hold of Starcraft II there have been a number of times where I just haven’t been able to sit down with my friends and play simply because of its dependence on the Internet. On a couple of occasions Blizzard’s Battle.net servers were down for maintenance, on another my line’s lack of performance induced heavy lag and, of course, most recently the line just wasn’t stable. Of course, I’m not blaming Blizzard for everything, my ISP is also to blame,

but consider this - I’m sure I’m not the only person on the planet with a dodgy Internet connection. Blizzard risks alienating people who suffer from rubbish Internet access across the globe. Lets not forget also that the massive Starcraft multiplayer events held around the world will now also need super-fast Internet connections to run and even then, there’s always the risk the Battle.net servers could go down, or the lines could fail and potentially disappoint thousands of gamers. Far from ideal. Intelligent, localised copy protection is the way forward, not tying everything to a server somewhere on the Internet. As it is right now Internet copy protection technology is a quick and dirty fix that seems to do nothing but anger the people who are actually supporting the developers.

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WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

14 GROUPTEST

External hard drives

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External hard drives

GROUPTEST 15

STORE IT There are two types of external hard drives; desktop and portable with the former being the focus of this grouptest. These drives can be bought with capacities to match your internal hard drive and are quicker than portable drives. The limiting factor for external drives over the last few years hasn’t been the drives but rather the interface. While USB2.0, the most ubiquitous interface, is reasonably quick a hard drive can easily push more data than the interface can handle. Not ideal. With USB3.0 however all this changes as the newer interface offers bandwidth of up to 400MB/sec, which means the drives sitting within the external shells can operate at full potential. With USB3.0 products now hitting the market it’s the best time to invest in a desktop external hard drive, particularly if you’ve got heavy data needs. That said USB2.0 drives still offer tremendous value, so shop according to your needs but not before checking out the products here first.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

EExternal xternal hhard ard ddrives rives m may ay nnot ot bbee tthe he m most ost gglamorous lamorous pproducts roducts oonn tthe he m market arket bbut ut tthey’re hey’re llifesavers ifesavers w when hen yyou ou ffind ind yyour our machine's internal hard drive is packed full.

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16 GROUPTEST

External hard drives

BUFFALO DRIVESTATION HD-HXU3

HITACHI LIFESTUDIO DESK PLUS

PRICE $170 CONTACT +9714 214 9667 WEB www.buffalo-technology.com

PRICE $155 CONTACT +9714 507 8888 WEB www.hitachigst.com

Eats data for breakfast

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uffalo's DriveStation HD-HXU3 isn’t what you’d call stylish but this didn’t bother us because it destroyed all of its competitors in terms of overall performance. Our test sample HD-HXU3 is equipped with the USB3.0 interface as standard and thus when we connected it to our test rig, it stormed through our benchmarks with ease. Starting with our synthetic HD Tune Pro 4.5 benchmark the drive returned almost unbelievable average read and write speeds of 104.0MB/sec and 100.7MB/ sec. These were the highest figures recorded here. When we moved on to our real world tests, the Buffalo maintained its stellar performance. Copying our 4.2GB test folder from the Kingston SSD in our test rig to the Buffalo (write test), the DriveStation required just 46.1 seconds to get the

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Unique looks and features

✪✪✪✪✪

job done. Copying the data back to our SSD from the HD-HXU3 (read test) the job was done in a mere 34.3 seconds. Both times were the lowest and therefore the quickest in this roundup. Brilliant. It also made quick work of our 238MB read and write tests, again managing the lowest times in this test. Retailing for US $170 and offering 1TB of useable storage space the Buffalo proved reasonably priced considering its USB3.0 underpinnings. The only change we’d make to this drive would be to give it an exterior shell worthy of its colossal real world data transfer performance. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT Ignore the looks and pick-up this bad boy if you have intensive data needs. There’s simply nothing faster in this grouptest.

f all the drives featured in this roundup the Hitachi LifeStudio Desk Plus is the most unique because of its looks and features. The Desk Plus employs a vertical stance and is quite attractively designed – it easily made every other drive here look like a relic. Feature-wise the Desk Plus is ahead of most of the game as well because its LifeStudio software is able to automatically organise content into a navigationfriendly 3D wall. The drive also ships with a separate 4GB USB flash drive that you can use to synchronise your data. Handy. And like its less expensive cousin there’s fully fledged backup software in the form of Hitachi’s Local Backup too. Putting the drive through our benchmarks we found that it offered benchmark figures that were similar to its less expensive

counterpart, the XL Desk 1000. For instance the Plus required two minutes and 13 seconds and three minutes and 15 seconds to complete our 4.2GB read and write tests. These times were identical to the XL Desk 1000’s times. Moving to our smaller 238MB file however the LifeStudio was slightly faster, it completed the read and write tests in 9.1- and 12.5-seconds whereas the XL Desk 1000 needed 9.5and 13.1-seconds. On the value front the Hitachi manages a price per gigabyte of US $0.16, which makes it more economical to buy than the Buffalo and Toshiba 1TB offerings. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT Unique features and a clever software suite make the LifeStudio Desk Plus ideal for users with loads of digital content.

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18 GROUPTEST

External hard drives

HITACHI XL DESK 1000

Loads of capacity for less PRICE $80 CONTACT +9714 507 8888 WEB www.hitachigst.com

Interface flexibility is its thing PRICE $160 CONTACT +3133 377 6544 WEB www.seagate.com

✪✪✪✪✪

lthough both of the Hitachi external hard drives in this test offer 1TB of storage capacity the XL Desk 1000 can be yours for almost half the price. The drive features a USB2.0 interface and despite its value price sports an elegant black body. Compared to the Buffalo DriveStation however the Hitachi’s textured finish doesn’t retain fingerprints and so doesn’t need to be cleaned as often. In terms of value the XL Desk 1000 is unbeatable. At a cost of $0.08 per gigabyte this drive makes you spend the least for 1TB of storage capacity in this grouptest. At the same time the XL Desk 1000 also ships with a USB2.0 cable and backup software in the form of Hitachi’s Local Backup software. The drive is covered by a three-year

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

SEAGATE FREEAGENT GOFLEX DESK

✪✪✪✪✪

warranty too so if you’re on a tight budget, don’t bother thinking twice before buying this drive. Putting the Desk 1000 through our benchmarking gauntlet the drive returned competitive numbers when compared to the other USB 2.0 offerings in this grouptest. The drive required two minutes and 13 seconds and three minutes and 15 seconds to complete our 4.2GB read and write tests respectively. These numbers were identical to the more expensive Hitachi Life Studio Desk Plus but faster than the numbers produced by the Toshiba and Western Digital drives. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT The XL Desk 1000 offers 1TB of storage capacity, a three-year warranty and backup software for an unbelievable price. It’s a steal.

he world’s largest hard drive company says its GoFlex Desk drives are ‘The world’s most upgradeable hard drives’ and in testing we found Seagate has a valid reason for making that statement. The GoFlex Desk actually has a detachable base so depending on what you want to do with the drive, you can simply buy a base and hook it up. As standard the drive uses the USB2.0 interface but if you want to go with the faster USB3.0 interface, all you need to do is purchase the USB3.0 base adapter (includes a USB3.0 card), remove the existing USB2.0 base and connect the new one. In this same way you can turn the drive into a networkready device, switch it to the Firewire interface and more. Clever. Running the Seagate drive through our test gauntlet we found that it

returned figures that saw it trading blows with Toshiba’s Stor.E ALU 2. The Seagate’s HD Tune Pro 4.5 average read and write speeds were 29.7MB/sec and 20.0MB/ sec to the Toshiba’s 29.8MB/sec and 20.0MB/ sec. In our real world tests the Seagate took two minutes and 16 seconds and three minutes and 22 seconds to complete our 4.2GB read and write tests to the two minutes and 16 seconds and three minutes and 17 seconds required by the Toshiba. Retailing for US $160 and offerings 2TB of storage capacity the Seagate offers strong value-for-money at $0.08 per gigabyte. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT Interface-wise the Seagate is simply in a league of its own and offering 2TB of capacity for just $160, it’s great value as well.

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External hard drives

TOSHIBA STOR.E ALU 2

Cost is its stumbling block

PRICE $167 CONTACT +9714 800 4832 WEB www.toshiba-multimedia.com

PRICE $125 CONTACT +9714 881 3234 WEB www.westerndigital.com

✪✪✪✪✪

through our benchmarks it returned competitive numbers. Its HD Tune Pro 4.5 average read speed of 29.8MB/sec saw the drive pulling ahead of the Seagate and Western Digital drives as well as both Hitachi models. Its average write speed on the other hand saw it losing by a fraction to both Hitachi drives but leading the Western Digital and tying with the Seagate drive. In our real world read and write benchmark tests however the Toshiba was much faster than the less expensive Western Digital drive and faster overall than the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT The confusingly named STOR.E ALU 2 offers decent performance and good features, it’s just a shame it’s quite expensive.

e’ve looked at Western Digital’s My Books in the past and have always found them solid products. With the My Book Elite it looks like Western Digital has upped its game further. The My Book Elite scores unique points in this grouptest by being the only external hard drive that you can actually label. The small screen on the front of the drive can be customised using Western Digital’s Smartware software, so should you have multiple drives sitting side-by-side, you can customise the front so you know what data you’ve put where. The display also shows you how much space you have free and how much has been used. The best part is the label you create doesn’t disappear even when the drive is powered down, so you always know what’s on

the drive. Very handy. Retailing for US $125 or $0.13 per gigabyte, the My Book Elite also offers solid value-for-money. It is the second cheapest 1TB external drive here after Hitachi’s XL Desk 1000. The only area where the Western Digital struggles in this grouptest is with regards to performance. Running our 4.2GB read and write tests on the drive its numbers of two minutes and 19 seconds and three minutes and 36 seconds were the highest and therefore the slowest here. The same also held true when we moved on to our smaller 238MB read and write tests. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT While the Western Digital isn’t the fastest external hard drive on the block it offers loads of convenience at a decent price.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST O OCTOBER 2010

WESTERN DIGITAL MY BOOK ELITE The My Book learns some neat new tricks

✪✪✪✪✪

oshiba describes its STOR.E Series as ‘Easy, reliable and elegant solutions to keep your information safe and handy’. The STOR.E ALU 2 can be had in different configurations though our test sample uses a 3.5-inch hard drive and offers 1TB of capacity. The drive can be positioned either vertically or horizontally though the supplied stand suggests Toshiba designed it with a vertical profile in mind. Retailing for US $167 the STOR.E ALU 2 is a pricey drive as is evident by its cost per gigabyte of $0.17. The only other drive that matched the Toshiba in price was Buffalo’s DriveStation HD-HXU3. The Buffalo’s price is justifiable however given that it sports the USB3.0 interface, whereas the Toshiba uses the older USB2.0 interface. Running the Toshiba

GROUPTEST 19

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20 GROUPTEST

External hard drives

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

MANUFACTURER Product Price Tel Web

BUFFALO

HITACHI

DriveStation HD-HXU3

LifeStudio Desk Plus

XL Desk 1000

$170

$155

$80

+9714 214 9667

+9714 507 8888

www.buffalo-technology.com

www.hitachigst.com

3.5-inch

MAIN SPECS Hard drive form factor size Capacity

1TB

Interface

USB3.0

USB2.0

Interface upgradeable Price per gigabyte

$0.17

$0.16

$0.08

Included software

Memeo Backup

Hitachi Local Backup

OTHER SPECS Interface cable supplied

Vertical

Vertical / Horizontal

Cooling fan

Preformatted

1.1kg

1.45kg

1.81kg

45 x 156 x 175mm

123 x 83 x 181mm

50 x 135 x 185mm

Two-year

Three-year

HD Tune Pro 4.50 CPU usage (Read)

6.30%

5.20%

5.30%

HD Tune Pro 4.50 CPU usage (Write)

5.50%

4.60%

3.80%

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Access time (Read)

18.0 ms

14.7ms

14.9ms

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Access time (Write)

18.2 ms

14.7ms

15.3ms

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Burst rate (Read)

159.2MB/sec

29.7MB/sec

29.8MB/sec

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Burst rate (Write)

165.5MB/sec

29.7MB/sec

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Average (Read)

104.0MB/sec

29.7MB/sec

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Average (Write)

Stance

Weight Dimensions (W x D x H) Warranty

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

RESULTS

100.7MB/sec

21.3MB/sec

20.2MB/sec

4.2GB read test time

34.3secs

2min 13secs

4.2GB write test time

46.1secs

3min 15secs

2secs

9.1secs

9.5secs

3.4secs

12.5secs

13.1secs

Performance

-----

----

Features

238MB read time

238MB write time SCORES

-----

----

Value

----

-----

Overall

-----

----

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External hard drives

GROUPTEST 21

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

MANUFACTURER Product Price Tel Web

SEAGATE

TOSHIBA

FreeAgent GoFlex Desk

Stor.E ALU 2

My Book Elite

$160

$167

$125

+3133 377 6544

+9714 800 4832

+9714 881 3234

www.seagate.com

www.toshiba-multimedia.com

www.westerndigital.com

3.5-inch

MAIN SPECS Hard drive form factor size Capacity

2TB

1TB

Interface

USB2.0

Interface upgradeable Price per gigabyte

$0.08

$0.17

$0.13

Included software

Memeo Instant Backup

Nero Essentials

WD SmartWare

OTHER SPECS Interface cable supplied

Vertical

Vertical / Horizontal

Cooling fan

Preformatted

1.08kg

1.17kg

1.18kg

124 x 44 x 158mm

208.5 x 34.5 x 116mm

48 x135 x 165mm

Two-year

Three-year

HD Tune Pro 4.50 CPU usage (Read)

6.00%

5.30%

5.10%

HD Tune Pro 4.50 CPU usage (Write)

6.00%

3.80%

3.10%

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Access time (Read)

15.1ms

15.3 ms

16.9ms

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Access time (Write)

16.4ms

15.3 ms

15.7ms

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Burst rate (Read)

29.8MB/sec

29.7MB/sec

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Burst rate (Write)

29.8MB/sec

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Average (Read)

29.7MB/sec

29.8MB/sec

29.2MB/sec

Stance

Weight Dimensions (W x D x H) Warranty

HD Tune Pro 4.50 Average (Write)

20.0MB/sec

15.7MB/sec

4.2GB read test time

2min 16secs

2min 19secs

4.2GB write test time

3min 22secs

3min 17secs

3min 36secs

238MB read time

9.2secs

9.3secs

9.8secs

238MB write time

11secs

13secs

13.8secs

----

------

SCORES Performance

-----

----

Value

----

---

----

Overall

----

Features

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

RESULTS

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22 GROUPTEST

External hard drives

EDITOR'S CHOICE BUFFALO DRIVESTATION

HITACHI XL DESK 1000

HD-HXU3

icking a winner worthy of our Best Performance award was a piece of cake in this grouptest because Buffalo’s awesome DriveStation HD-HXU3 made it blatantly obvious it was the undisputed performance king. The HD-HXU3 while fairly forgettable to look at is simply a monster in the performance department.

Its USB3.0 enabled performance was so far ahead of the pack that we were able to run our 4.2GB read and write tests three times in the time it took the USB2.0 contenders to complete just one instance of the write test. Beyond its mind boggling performance the Buffalo also offers backup software, a two-year warranty period and is priced aggressively.

ike our Best Performance winner the external hard drive that walked away with our Best Value prize made it easily obvious as to why it should walk away with our coveted award. Simply put, Hitachi’s fantastic XL Desk 1000 beat each and every drive here into submission with its walletfriendly price per gigabyte of just US $0.08.

At a cost of $80 the Hitachi is the least expensive drive in this grouptest so if you’re on a shoe string budget and need 1TB of storage space, it’s your best bet. The drive offers competitive transfer performance so you’re covered on that front too. The fact that you get a lengthy three-year warranty and backup software is just icing on the cake.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

HOW WE TESTED We examined each external hard drive in this grouptest from an objective and subjective standpoint before allocating scores. Objective testing involved connecting each drive to our test rig in turn and running our benchmarks. Our test rig comprised a 3.2GHz Intel Core i5 655K dual-core processor, a Gigabyte P55A-UD7 motherboard, 4GB of Kingston HyperX memory, a Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 128GB SSD drive, Gigabyte DVD writer and finally, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit edition. Our benchmark suite contains a mix of synthetic and real world tests. The synthetic benchmarks come in the form of HD Tune Pro 4.5. Here we run the software's read and write benchmarks and note the figures returned. In the case of the CPU usage and access times lower numbers are better. With the burst speeds, average read and write speeds however higher numbers are indicative of better transfer performance. On the flipside in our real world tests, which include a 4.2GB read/write test and 238MB read/write test, lower numbers are better. Drives that perform well across the board walk away with higher performance scores. We also look at each drive in terms of what software it offers and its value-for-money. If a drive offers a strong mix of performance and features and retails for what we think is a fair price, it is awarded a high value score.

Al Hosani Computer LLC OfďŹ cial Distributor in the Middle East and West Asia 1703 BelResheed Tower, Buhaira Corniche,Sharjah, UAE Tel. +9716-575-444-3, Fax +9716-575-444-9 www.alhosanime.com, Email: sales@alhosanime.com

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WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

24 GROUPTEST

Portable media players

MASTERS OF MEDIA Portable media players make it possible to view different types of content when you're on the move and if you're in the market for a new one, read on as WINDOWS puts four to the test.

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GROUPTEST 25

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Portable media players

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26 GROUPTEST

Portable media players

APPLE IPOD CLASSIC

The power of touch

PRICE $305 CONTACT +9714 352 5211 WEB www.apple.com

PRICE $486 CONTACT +9714 352 5211 WEB www.apple.com

✪✪✪✪✪

he iPod Classic rules supreme in this grouptest when it comes to storage - no other media player here packs anywhere close to 160GB of capacity. Its all metal case with an anodised aluminium faceplate is definitely a winner in the looks department despite being years old and its battery life doesn’t disappoint either. The latter is an impressive feat given the slick user interface and brilliant LCD. Probably the last in the line of hard drive storage, Apple's move to flash memory based media players is a wise one when trying to play a song and quickly scanning through album art in Coverflow, the Classic stuttered for a fraction of a second, no doubt caused by the hard drive being hit by multiple access requests. The hard drive also ensured

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

APPLE IPOD TOUCH

A classic player that packs gobs of storage

✪✪✪✪✪

the iPod was the heaviest media player here. Using Apple’s iTunes software we were able to stuff the Classic with over 70 hours of video and thousands of songs, thanks to its massive storage drive. Needless to say you’re guaranteed hours of entertainment even on the longest of trips. The size of the screen at 2.5-inches is just right though we missed the touch screen offered on the iPod Touch (reviewed right). Having said that, the Classic was still a doddle to use so regardless of whether you’re a newbie or a pro, you’ll be able to access your content with little trouble. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT The Classic packs tons of storage, looks the business and is easy-to-use. A great choice for users with loads of digital content.

pple’s iPod Touch has been on the consumer market for a fair few years though not as long as the iPod Classic (reviewed left). The Touch’s design hasn’t changed massively over the years and if you ever owned or looked at a first generation iPhone, the two look remarkably similar. This isn’t a bad thing however as the Touch was ultimately the best looking portable media player in this grouptest – its minimalist design just works and it also frees up the front face to house that brilliant 3.5inch LCD screen. Besides being the biggest LCD offered here the LCD was also the best in terms of visuals. Video looked fantastic on the Touch, with loads of detail, bright, vibrant visuals and strong contrast. The screen was also a joy to work with as far as interacting with the

player was concerned; it just never skipped a beat even when we were frantically stabbing away at it and it also felt great to use. Given the large LCD screen the iPod’s battery life also impressed, as we got by on a single charge for two and a half days before it went flat. Perhaps the biggest selling point for the iPod Touch is the fact that it, like the iPhone and iPad, grants you access to Apple’s fantastic ‘App store’. There are hundreds if not thousands of useful, fun, quirky and sometimes downright silly apps that you can wile your time away with. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT The iPod Touch is a superb media player that’s capable of providing hours of entertainment either via content or the apps you put on it.

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Portable media players

CREATIVE ZEN STYLE 300

SANDISK SANSA FUZE

Inexpensive but does it offer real value?

Inexpensive and extremely capable

PRICE $81 CONTACT +9714 393 6247 WEB www.creative.com

PRICE $70 CONTACT +9714 282 3700 WEB www.sandisk.com

✪✪✪✪✪

experience instead of imparting positively to it. With 8GB of memory, the ability to view video, play music and tune into radio stations, this media player has got a lot of punch in terms of features. And at just 8cm in height it certainly can be concealed and could serve as a concealed voice recorder. The speaker though is where every letter of impress is found. It won’t blow your ears off but proved quite impressive with audio playback. The supplied headphones are pale in comparison and are best chucked but attach a quality set and the Zen Style 300 will entertain. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT The Zen packs loads of features into a miniature body but its interface and tiny screen can get in the way.

he Sansa Fuze comes from Sandisk’s ‘Sansa Music & Video Players’ line and at a cost of US $70, is the cheapest media player here. In testing the Fuze proved quite a workhorse; it has an easy-to-use interface that’s extremely fast to react to inputs and so the overall experience with the Fuze is quite fluid. The icons and menus look a little dated but proved intuitive in the end. The player’s circular click wheel eases the user into using the Fuze with minimum kerfuffle too. A good landscape screen measuring 1.9-inches is ideal for watching videos, though the quality of its visuals can’t match that of the iPod Classic and iPod Touch in terms of sharpness, vibrancy and detail. The size and resolution does make it possible to navigate the interface easily however,

which is something that can’t be said of the slightly more expensive Creative Zen Style 300. The soft-touch rubberised back cover adds to the Sansa’s aesthetic appeal and it allows the player to remain firmly planted in ones palm. A microSD expansion slot sits on one side of the player allowing the user to increase capacity when the player's 4GB proves too limiting. The Fuze has an integrated FM Tuner with the ability to record your favourite tunes or shows. Given the limited capacity of the player, this is a useful feature that could help you rotate what you listen to. PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES ✪✪✪✪✪ VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪ VERDICT The Fuze packs mighty punch despite its low cost and compact size. It's useable, sports loads of functions and features a memory expansion slot.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST O OCTOBER 2010

reative worked hard on cramming the Zen Style 300 with every feature one would want, along with the capacity to compliment its functionality. Just one problem though, what in the world was their interface team thinking? The Zen’s tech specs are fancy but that's not enough in this case because the player lacks the finer details to make it a winner. Working with the pixelated interface is quite dull and making matters worse is the fact that the menus are riddled with too many options. Navigation then is unimpressive as are its exterior controls. The keys are too tiny and fingers could easily take a swing at two with a single press. The directional controller seen in most Nokia mobile phones is replicated here with an annoying clicking sound that takes away from the user

GROUPTEST 27

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28 GROUPTEST

Portable media players

MEDIA PLAYERS

MANUFACTURER

APPLE

CREATIVE

SANDISK

Product Name

iPod Classic

iPod Touch

Zen Style 300

Sansa Fuze

$305

$486

$81

$70

Contact

+9714 352 5211

+9714 393 6247

+9714 282 3700

Website

www.apple.com

www.creative.com

www.sandisk.com

Weight (grams)

140g

115g

44g

60g

Capacity

160GB

64GB

8GB

4GB

Type

Hard disk

Flash memory

LCD screen size

2.5-inch

3.5-inch

1.8-inch

1.9-inch

Y (microSD)

USB

Line in

Remote control pod

FM radio playback

FM Radio recording

Video playback

Voice recording

Picture playback

Hold button

N (In the Menu)

Search function

Li-ion

One-year

Performance

----

-----

----

Features

----

---

----

Value

----

-----

---

-----

Overall

----

-----

---

----

Price

MAIN SPECS

Memory upgradeable Interface INPUTS & CONTROL

FEATURES

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

OTHERS

Battery type Warranty SCORES

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Portable media players

GROUPTEST 29

EDITOR'S CHOICE APPLE IPOD TOUCH

ather than awarding a media player our highly sought after Best Performance award based purely on the devices performance i.e. battery life and screen, we also considered other factors. In particular we looked at a device’s features so a device that offered a strong mix of performance and features was ultimately the one to

walk away with the award. After examining each media player closely it became obvious that Apple’s brilliant iPod Touch was the player holding all the cards and indeed was the player the team enjoyed the most. The Touch was easy to hold, looks polished and is quite simply fun to use. The fact that it also gives you access to thousands of apps just helped seal the deal.

SANDISK SANSA FUZE

e considered each portable media player here in an effort to gauge which offered the most bangs for your buck. Both the Creative Zen Style 300 and Sandisk Sansa Fuze were finalist given that they were similar in a number of aspects, including price. In the end the Sandisk ultimately got the nod because it was a

better overall product despite lacking 4GB of memory compared to the Creative player. One major reason the Fuze got the nod was because its interface is fun, easy-to-use and looks fairly fresh compared to the Zen’s pixilated and at times frustrating menu system. It also offers a microSD slot, features a slightly larger screen and a hold switch.

Since there are no real objective benchmarks that can be run on portable media players, we examined each very closely in a subjective manner. The first aspect we looked at when it came to these players was their design, dimensions and weight. These are very important factors because they influence exactly how easy the player is to hold and interact with. Devices that were easy to hold walked away with better feature scores than devices that proved tricky to hold and use comfortably. Likewise, if a device looked dated in terms of its design it lost points on the feature score. Here we also paid attention to factors like the device’s LCD size, whether or not it had a ‘hold’ switch and if it was memory upgradeable or not. In terms of performance we rated the players according to the battery life we observed over our test period. As you’d expect portable media players that managed to stay alive longer than their competitors wound up with higher performance scores. The quality of the device’s screen also affected this score. Value was also a key consideration in our rating of these players. Devices packed with useable features, classy design and an easy-to-use interface coupled with what we thought was a reasonable price (taking into account the aforementioned factors) walked away with strong value scores.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

HOW WE TESTED

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Reviews

HOT KIT 31

33 PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Awarded to outstanding Awarded to the most products that have excelled in outstanding product we've both value and performance. encountered during the month.

CONTENTS 33

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection

Sony DVD Architect Studio 5

HP Pavilion dm4

Asus ARES

ECS Black Series GTX 460 NBGTX460-1GPI-F

Kingston DataTraveler 5000

Microsoft Comfort Mouse 4500

Samsung ML-2855ND

Zotac GeForce GTX 460

39 WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Reviews

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32 HOT KIT

Reviews

HOTKIT

WINLABS

TESTING EXPLAINED when dealing with old and new game titles. As all three tests involve playable games, they are real world tests rather than synthetic and thus provide an accurate view of a graphics card’s performance. Each graphics card is tested at three different test resolutions; 1024 x 768 pixels, 1600 x 1200 pixels and, ﬁnally, 1920 x 1200 pixels. All of the games are run on the maximum settings with the exception of full screen anti aliasing, which we leave at 4x setting. Then, depending on the price and positioning of the graphics card, performance scores are awarded based on how well, or not, it has performed at a speciﬁc resolution. For example, low end or entry level graphics cards are graded mostly on their performance at 1024 x 768 pixels whereas expensive, ultra-high-end cards are graded based on their performance across all three resolutions.

HARD DISK TESTING

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

WINDOWS MID MIDDLE EAST is the definitive for PC and consumer electronics Buyers’ Guide fo products in the region. We strenuously test products in our dedicated Dubai WinLab in order to highlight the very best models for our readers. Here we explain just how we test new kit in order orde or derr to ooffer ffer ff er ttruly ru authoritative and objective recommendations, helping us keep WINDOWS recommendatio most relevant technology magazine. the region’s mos

CPU TESTING

GRAPHIC CARD TESTING

Testing processors is a time consuming process because there are a number of different tests that we employ. Depending on the CPU that has to be tested, we construct a testbed using a compatible motherboard. However, the 2Gbytes of OCZ memory, Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card, Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1Tbyte hard drive and optical drive remain as standard components. All benchmarks are run at 1024 x 768 pixels and we employ the following benchmark tests; Cinebench 9.5, PCMark 2005 CPU and memory tests, 3DMark 2003 and 2005 CPU tests and POV-Ray to test raw processing performance. To test multimedia performance, we run a Lame 3.97 WAV to MP3 encode test, a TMPGENC video encode, MPEG to DivX conversion test in addition to running F.E.A.R and World in Conﬂict. With the exception of POV-Ray and all the encode tests, higher numbers mean a faster processor and thus a higher performance score.

Our graphics card testbed comprises an Intel Core 2 Q6700 quad-core processor that runs at 3GHz, an Asus Maximum Extreme motherboard, 2Gbytes of Corsair DDR2 RAM, Western Digital’s 300Gbyte Raptor X SATA drive, a Serial ATA optical drive and a 750-watt PC Power and Cooling power supply. All of these components are housed in Thermaltake’s Armour+ chassis and we use Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system. To test a graphics card, we hook it up to this machine and this is then connected to our Viewsonic VX2835wm 28-inch LCD screen. The screen offers a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, which means it allows us to test graphics cards at all the major resolutions. To test graphics cards, we use three specific benchmarks; F.E.A.R, Company of Heroes and World in Conflict. The first benchmark uses older DirectX 9 rendering technology whilst the latter two game titles use DirectX 10. This enables us to gauge a graphics card’s performance

To test hard drives, we use our graphics card testbed. The drive in question is hooked up to the motherboard’s Serial ATA II controller (or USB or Firewire port if it’s an external hard drive) and tested using a combination of real world and synthetic benchmark tests. For internal hard drives, we rely on a copy test to ascertain real world performance. The test folder is stored on a SSD drive, ensuring that this drive won’t bottleneck the drive being tested and, to gauge write performance, we time how long it takes for the 4Gbyte folder to be transferred from the SSD drive to the test drive. To test read performance, we do the opposite and time how long it takes for the test drive to transfer the data to the SSD drive. Lower times in both cases equate to better performance. Next we call into action HD Tach3, a synthetic benchmark. This tests a drive in terms of its access time, average read and write performance, burst speed and CPU utilisation. In terms of access time and CPU usage, lower numbers are better. With external drives we use the same real world read/write test methodology but instead of using a 4Gbyte folder only, we also test the drive with a single 238Mbyte test ﬁle. Again, lower times give a drive higher performance scores.

OTHER PRODUCTS Products such as MP3 players, PMPs, mobile phone etc are tested for a period of one or two weeks. During this time we use the products as someone who purchased it would and this helps us gauge performance, features and value for money. In most cases the brunt of the testing is subjective and the testing always focuses on real world usefulness.

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HOT KIT 33

ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 5 MASTER COLLECTION A creative marvel of epic proportions PRICE $3,340 CONTACT +9714 336 8482 WEB www.adobe.com

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dobe seems to have a flair for doing things very well and that is best seen in Creative Suite 5 Master Collection. Production and design applications from the older CS4 featured similar interfaces but with CS5 thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot more flexibility to indulge your creativity. Photo editors, video gurus and even publishing professionals will find something in CS5 that will simply allow them to attempt feats they never thought previously possible. The advantage of the Master Collection is, basically, having everything at your fingertips. It also means it's the most expensive option in the bouquet, which is probably its only downside. However, there is an option to upgrade if you have an older edition. Once you're over the price barrier, you can truly reap its benefits when you see how easily one program melts into another. For instance you can easily switch a project between Adobe Illustrator and Flash Catalyst, Adobes latest animation maker. Flash Professional also allows creation of objects that can be absorbed directly into InDesign, a process that would previously consume hours of your life.

The tried and tested Bridge is available at your beck and call however, since Adobe Bridge always had to be run separately, the guys at Adobe just decided to make life easier and create Mini Bridge, a less intensive utility built into most of the apps. This essentially does the same thing in a small panel, thereby eliminating any lost focus on the project. InDesign too has received some mega fine tuning and now sports a refreshed interface and enhanced usability elements that make things so much easier for both beginners and experts alike. Cosmetically, if you don't like the workspace you're working on there are a dizzying number of customisable options. CS Live online services are available separately and include CS Review where documents from Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign can be shared with colleagues to view and post comments. BrowserLab on the other hand is a technological marvel for web designers, as it allows the user to preview content in multiple web browsers, spanning many different operating systems. The barebones have been tweaked too. CS has a serious advantage over

its predecessor by now entering the 64bit era of computing properly. GPU hardware acceleration is also realised when a compatible video card is present in the system. This can potentially provide a serious boost in performance when working with Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere. InDesign makes use of multithreading technology as well, allowing users with dual, triple or quad-core processors to carry on with other tasks whilst the final product gets composed.

PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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REQUIREMENTS AMD Athlon64 or Intel Pentium 4 processor or faster, processor with 64bit support required for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, 2GB of memory minimum, 24.3GB of hard disk space, DVD drive, 1280 x 900 pixel display, Adobe-certified GPU for GPU-accelerated performance, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7. PROS Unbelievable features, excellent 64-bit support, GPU acceleration makes a real difference. CONS Pricey. VERDICT Creative Suite 5 Master Collection is an amazing package that will make it easier to unleash your creativity. The enhanced performance with the right hardware is reason enough to invest in this brilliant suite.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

CREATIVITY SUITE

Reviews

In the next issue of Windows Middle East we detail how to build Dream Machine 2010 and at the end of it, give three lucky readers the chance to win a machine each. Each Dream Machine will comprise the following superb components:

Intel Core i7 980X processor with HyperThreading running at 4GHz Coolermaster V8 heatsink Gigabyte X58A-UD9 motherboard 6GB Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 memory Zotac GeForce GTX 480 graphics card 2x Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SSDs running in RAID 0 Blu-ray DVD writer Coolermaster HAF X ATX casing 1200-watt Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold Series powersupply Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit edition operating system

Pickup the next issue of Windows Middle East to read how we build Dream Machine 2010 and to find out exactly what you can do to win one of these awesome rigs for yourself.

VISIT WINDOWS' FASHION SHOW AT GITEX SHOPPER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A DREAM MACHINE

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HOT KIT 35

SONY DVD ARCHITECT STUDIO 5 Bring your thinking cap

PRICE $40 CONTACT +9716 556 0933 WEB www.sonycreativesoftware.com

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ony’s DVD Architect Studio 5 is built for the video editing aficionado that knows what they’re doing and is familiar with Sony’s own Vegas software. It gives the user powerful control over creation of a project but that comes at the cost of ease-of-use. This program is not for novices and you can expect to spend a good deal of time learning to use it if you’d like to truly exploit its full potential. Once mastered though, nothing else comes close to its remarkable functionality. Complex menu creation, scene and chapter creation, thumbnails, background music, drag and drop options, mixed media support and a built in burner - they’re all there along with hundreds of other features and options. A small set of templates with graphics and buttons can help you get started on your project but should you wish to customise these, this too can be done. For those that prefer not to reinvent the wheel, there are themes online created by other users that are available to download for free. Nifty. Sony’s single-minded efforts towards building the ultimate DVD creator means that the package is actually missing a

few extras that you would have thought would be standard features. You won’t find the ability to import videos from a camcorder or linking to a camera directly for instance. As a result the data you want to compile must be present on your hard drive or already on a DVD. DVD Architect Studio 5 is pretty intensive and will use significant system resources when running. It’s probably not a good idea to multitask with this program and if anything, it just takes away from the experience of using it. There are loads of tutorials to help you get up to speed with the software and if you have time, you can spend hours trying to learn every little trick it has hidden up its sleeve. If you’d like a more interactive approach try visiting its online forums, otherwise the built in user manual, online knowledge base and e-mail support should lend you enough advice to see your project to fruition. When you’re finally ready to burn your DVD disc, you’ll find the time taken on the whole is substantial but you won’t be disappointed when you see the fantastic results. Ultimately Sony’s DVD Architect Studio is a complex, yet intensely powerful program. It is not for newbies

and not for users practising anger management. It take a bit of restraint to overwhelm the initial frustration that might want to make you give-up and call it a day but once you’re past that stage you will wonder how you ever lived without it. Hands down it is one of the best DVD creators in the market. To ask for a more user friendly product, you’d truly be asking for diminished versatility and sometimes that’s not the best thing with a powerful DVD authoring program like DVD Architect Studio 5.

PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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REQUIREMENTS 1GHz AMD or Intel processor, 1GB of memory minimum, 250MB of hard disk space, DVD-ROM/DVD writer drive, Windows-compatible soundcard, DirectX 9.0C or later, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0, Apple QuickTime 7.1.6, Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 compatible. PROS A full fledged DVD creator, intensively customisable in-DVD menu functions. CONS Not the most user friendly video editor, quite a resource hog. VERDICT DVD Architect Studio 5 has everything you will ever need to create your ultimate DVD. If you can put in the effort to get past its steep learning curve, this is a hugely powerful authoring program that can produce incredible results.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

DVD EDITING SOFTWARE

Reviews

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THIN AND LIGHT NOTEBOOK

36 HOT KIT

HP PAVILION DM4 Is this a thin and light for you? PRICE $1117 CONTACT +9714 391 6000 WEB www.hp.com/me

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he Pavilion Dm4 was released in the region last month and HP reckons this notebook ‘fuses fashion with efficiency to offer a stylish notebook PC that meets the personal computing and entertainment needs of every consumer’. Aesthetically the Pavilion Dm4 is without fault. The notebook’s etched aluminium finish looks classy up close and from a distance and ultimately attracted interest everywhere we took it. The LCD, surrounded by piano black, serves to add a bit of contrast to the otherwise mainly aluminium look of the Pavilion. Looks aside the notebook’s physical dimensions and weight match the HP’s thin and light positioning. We found the notebook also offered a battery life of three hours and 45 minutes, meaning you can continue to work long after you’ve left the confines of your home or office. Using the notebook on a day-today basis revealed the Pavilion to be free from any major flaws in terms of usability. The keyboard resembles something you would find on an Apple MacBook and it’s just as good to work on, whether for short periods or for long typing marathons. There’s minimal

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Reviews

flex when keys are hit too suggesting that this Pavilion is quite well built. The notebook’s trackpad is equally good; it is responsive, has a great textured feel to it and offers a reasonably large working area. Thanks to this you won’t have to rework the trackpad’s sensitivity to make quick progress with this machine. The LCD screen is top notch in terms of its colour delivery and clarity. Whether we watched movies, looked at documents or browsed photographs, the LCD bashed out impressively vibrant colours with great contrast and brightness at its native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The only issue with this screen is that it suffers from limited viewing angles – looking at the screen even slightly off-axis resulted in brightness and contrast loss. Another slight issue has to do with the placement of the machine’s two USB ports – these were packed too close together, so when we had our Kingston DT200 USB stick stuck into one port, we couldn’t connect a USB mouse as the connectors made contact with each other. Far from ideal. Our Dm4’s configuration included a 2.27GHz Intel Core i5 M430 processor, 3GB of DDR3 memory and an ATI

Mobility Radeon HD 5450 GPU. The quick processor and reasonable amount of memory helped the machine perform well when we fed it our PCMark Vantage applications benchmarks. In terms of gaming capabilities, while the notebook does feature a discreet GPU, it is an entry-level DirectX 11 solution and so struggled to tackle our intensive gaming benchmarks. Running World in Confict in ‘High’ detail at the LCD’s native resolution, the Dm4 managed an average framerate of just 4fps.

PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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REQUIREMENTS Dual-core 2.27GHz Intel Core i5 M430 processor with HyperThreading technology, HM55 Northbridge, 3GB DDR3 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 GPU, 14-inch LCD screen, native resolution 1366 x 768 pixels, 320GB hard disk drive, dual-layer DVD writer, two USB ports, HDMI output, eSATA, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system, one-year warranty. PROS Great looks, easy to travel with, decent battery life, can tackle applications with ease, DirectX 11 support. CONS USB design flaw, GPU can’t tackle every game on the market. VERDICT The Pavilion Dm4 boasts ‘look-atme’ styling, is great to travel with and in this configuration, is a solid applications machine.

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ASUS ARES Utterly insane but oh so desirable PRICE $1400 CONTACT +9714 299 3873 WEB www.asus.com

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PCI-E GRAPHICS CARD

PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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SPECIFICATIONS PCI-E interface, two ATI Radeon HD 5870 GPUs running in CrossFire X mode, 850MHz

ECS GTX 460

NBGTX460-1GPI-F A sensible choice

PRICE $269 CONTACT +9714 397 8035 WEB www.ecs.com.tw

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PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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SPECIFICATIONS nVidia GeForce GTX 460 GPU running at 800MHz, 1GB of GDDR5 memory running at

he Asus ARES is an ultra high-end, limitededition graphics card and so carries a price tag of US $1,400. The ARES, which is part of Asus’ Republic of Gamers series, feels special right off the bat because it ships in a massive box that when unpacked, reveals a heavyduty metal briefcase. Within this you’ll find the ARES graphics card and like its packaging, the graphics card feels substantial as well. While the card’s length might make you raise an eyebrow, it’s the weight of the card itself that will truly shock you. Asus has built a seemingly bulletproof cooling system that employs a massive cooling fan and Copper heatsinks with no less than eight, 8mm

clock frequency per GPU, 4GB of GDDR5 running at 4800MHz, Copper cooling system with ARES fan, three-year warranty.

he Black Series GTX 460 NBGTX460-1GPI-F is ECS' flagship GTX 460 offering. In line with its high-end positioning ECS ships this card factory overclocked, so the GTX 460 runs at a barely believable frequency of 800MHz. nVidia’s reference specifications calls for the GTX 460 GPU to run at 675MHz. ECS hasn’t tinkered with the memory frequency however and runs the 1GB of GDDR5 at 3600MHz. To keep the overclocked GPU stable ECS has used a coolinag system from Arctic Cooling. This cooler features four heatpipes and two massive cooling fans. The cooler proved its worth during testing as stability was never compromised

3600MHz, DirectX 11 support, 336 Stream processors, nVidia SLI support, two DVI ports, one mini-HDMI port, two-year warranty.

HOT KIT 37 heatpipes. While we had no problems mounting and securing this behemoth to our test rig the cooling system, despite its massive proportions, proved very loud after 15 minutes of testing. Running our benchmarks on the ARES we were blown away by its performance results. The ARES managed benchmark results of 134fps, 79fps and 61.3fps at 1920 x 1200 pixels in our H.A.W.X, World in Conflict and Heaven v2.0 benchmarks. These are the highest results we’ve ever received from a single graphics card. The card’s amazing numbers come courtesy of two ATI Radeon HD 5870 GPUs each running at 850MHz and 4GB of high speed GDDR5 memory running at 4800MHz. VERDICT If you’ve got the cash and the power supply the ARES will blow you away with its DirectX 11 performance.

and, better still, the card was inaudible for the most part even after hours of testing. Feeding the Black Series our benchmarks the added muscle made its presence felt. The card scored 74fps, 54fps and 35fps at 1920 x 1200 pixels in our H.AW.X, World in Conflict and Heaven v2.0 benchmarks. These are very impressive results that make the ECS a much faster offering than Zotac’s GeForce GTX 460 graphics card (also reviewed in this issue). The ECS' great performance does come with a higher price however. Retailing for US $269 the ECS is $40 more expensive than Zotac’s standard GTX 460 graphics card but given what you get, we think it balances out nicely. VERDICT The Black Series GTX 460 offers potent performance and silent operation for a price that makes sense.

WINDOWS MIDDL MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

PCI-E GRAPHICS CARD

Reviews

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SECURE USB MEMORY STICK

38 HOT KIT

KINGSTON

DataTraveler 5000 Data security is its business PRICE $112 WEB www.kingston.com

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PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

CORDED MOUSE

Reviews

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SPECIFICATIONS USB interface, 4GB storage capacity, 256-bit hardware-based AES encryption, titanium-

MICROSOFT

COMFORT MOUSE 4500

Offers comfort and tracking precision PRICE $27 CONTACT +9714 391 7000 WEB www.microsoft.com

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

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PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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SPECIFICATIONS USB interface, Microsoft BlueTrack tracking technology, five customisable buttons, tilt

he DataTraveler 5000 is part of Kingston’s ‘Enterprise/Corporate’ line and places emphasis on data security and reliability. To ensure the drive and data remain intact even after being subjected to physical stresses Kingston has built the DT5000 out of a titaniumcoated stainless steel casing. The drive also boasts waterproof capabilities up to 1.2metres (four feet). In hand the drive feels substantial and the casing so strong that even when we tried desperately to bend it, it exhibited no flex whatsoever. The drive’s data encryption is easy-to-setup and took just a matter of seconds, so even novices will be able to secure their data. The drive employs 256-bit hardware-

based AES encryption in XTS mode and also works with elliptic curve cryptography encryption algorithms (ECC), which meet the Suite B standards approved by the U.S. Government. Running our tests the drive proved secure rather than speedy; it took 21- and 36-seconds to complete our 238MB read and write tests. Kingston’s own DataTraveler 200 managed times of 10- and 16-seconds in the same test. Moving to our larger 1.2GB tests we noticed similar results; the drive took one minutes and three seconds and two minutes and 29 seconds to complete the read and write tests, whereas the DT200 managed times of 45-seconds and one minute and 23 seconds.

coated stainless steel casing, waterproof up to 1.2metres, 24/7 Kingston tech support, five-year warranty.

VERDICT The DataTraveler 5000 is a secure device for critical data. Just don’t expect it to be a rocket sled.

he Comfort Mouse 4500 belongs to a newly released ranged of Microsoft rodents that are based on the company’s ‘BlueTrack’ technology. This is not an ordinary optical mouse however, nor is it a refined laser cousin. This is seemingly the best of both worlds, a combination of optical and laser technology according to Microsoft. In testing we found the mouse worked effectively on a wooden desk, sofa, carpet and even on concrete. The only surfaces the mouse had trouble with were clear glass and mirror-finishes, which considering Microsoft says are out of the tracking engine’s league, didn’t come as too big a surprise.

scroll wheel, ambidextrous design, Windows XP/Vista/7 compatible, threeyear warranty.

The Comfort Mouse 4500 which we tested is the only corded version of Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology range of mice. Being corded the mouse proved very responsive throughout our test period; we never noticed glitches or stutters at all. Grabbing the mouse we found it sat well in our palm and the feel was as the name suggests, comfortable, even after long periods. This mouse can also be used by both right and left handed users. Another plus. The 4500 also has five buttons that are customisable along with a scroll wheel. While the buttons feel great and exude sturdiness, we found the scroll wheel a tad imprecise on occasion, as it was a little too willing to roll. VERDICT A comfortable mouse that tracks well on a multitude of different surfaces. Well priced too.

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SAMSUNG

ML-2855ND

Talks the talk but can it walk the walk? PRICE $297 CONTACT +9714 364 8600 WEB www.samsung.com/ae

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PCI-E GRAPHICS CARD

PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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SPECIFICATIONS Samsung 400MHz CPU, 64MB memory, 1200 x 1200dpi maximum monochrome print

ZOTAC GeForce

GTX 460

A quick GTX 460 for a fair price PRICE $229 CONTACT +9714 886 3300 WEB www.zotac.com

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PERFORMANCE FEATURES VALUE FOR MONEY

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SPECIFICATIONS PCI-E interface, nVidia GeForce GTX 460 GPU running at 675MHz, 1GB of GDDR5 running

ith the ML-2855ND Samsung is going after workgroups that are in need of a monochrome laser printer. In line with its positioning the printer is reasonably well endowed; it packs a swift 400MHz processor, features 64MB of onboard memory as standard and can be upgraded to 192MB, for when print demands increase. The printer’s input tray capacity of 250-sheets also means that you won’t have to worry about refilling paper too often. The output tray's capacity of 150-sheets is reasonable, as is the monochrome print engine’s resolution of 1200 x 1200dpi. Given that multiple users might want to access the printer simultaneously the ML-2855ND sports network

resolution, USB/Ethernet connections, 250sheet paper input tray, 50,000 sheets duty cycle, 8.7kg, one-year warranty.

otac offers four different graphics cards with nVidia’s GeForce GTX 460 GPU with this particular variant retailing for US $229. The GPU runs at nVidia’s recommended frequency of 675MHz whereas the 1GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 3600MHz. If you want more firepower however Zotac also offers an AMP! Edition card that features a GPU and memory that run at 810MHz and 4000MHz. On the interface front the Zotac is fairly feature-rich, you get two DVI ports, one HDMI port and a DisplayPort connector. The card also ships with DVI to D-Sub converters, so it is safe to say that no matter what connector your display

at 3600MHz, DirectX 11 support, nVidia SLI support, two DVI ports, one DisplayPort connector, one HDMI port, five-year warranty.

HOT KIT 39 connectivity into addition to a standard USB port. The former allows you to quickly integrate the printer into your existing network, without the need for a print server. Running our print tests the Samsung proved an average performer, especially when we compared it to some of the contenders in our monochrome printer grouptest last month. The ML-2855ND completed our 20-page print test managing a speed of 22.6ppm, making it faster than only HP’s less expensive P1102W. The rest of the printers in the grouptest were appreciably quicker. The ML-2855ND also struggled when it came to our six-page text and graphics document, its speed of 11.6ppm trailed all the printers in the grouptest. VERDICT Had the ML-2855ND offered quicker print speeds it would have been a far more attractive buy.

uses, you’ll have no trouble connecting this card to it. Putting the card to the test the GTX 460 produced competitive numbers, given it's not a pre-overclocked card. Running our Heaven v2.0, H.A.W.X and World in Conflict benchmarks at 1920 x 1200 pixels the card returned scores of 31.5fps, 50fps and 67fps. Given that all these scores are above the 30fps mark you can expect the Zotac to run games without experienceshattering framerate drops. Dropping the resolution to 1680 x 1050 pixels but maintaining very high settings across all the benchmarks, the card produced very impressive figures, suggesting this is the card’s sweet spot. VERDICT A well-priced DirectX 11 GPU that’s capable of generating fluid graphics at high resolutions.

WINDOWS MIDDL MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

MONOCHROME LASER PRINTER

Reviews

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BUYERS GUIDE 41

BUYERSGUIDE HOW TO USE THE GUIDE The Buyers’ Guide is a fully comprehensive guide to the best products that WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST has reviewed, and is intended to act as an effective resource for buyers of such products in the Middle East market. The Buyer's Guide is updated with new products each month, and out of date products removed.

Each of our ten product categories contains ten recommended product buys. For each product we’ve included vendor (or local distributor) contact details, our Windows Middle East overall rating, our verdict on the product and details of which issue we reviewed it in (alternatively you can find all our product reviews - in full - on www.itp.net). Each of the products shown scored either 4/5 or 5/5 in its respective review, so instead of listing products in score order we have arranaged these by price, with the most expensive at the top of the page. This makes it quick and easy for you to find the product you can best afford. We also offer advice on how to go about buying products within each particular product category. This gives you, the reader, the ability to make a better-informed judgment about what kit is suitable for your needs.

RATINGS EXPLAINED

Awarded to products that offer you the most bang for your buck.

Awarded to products that offer impressive amounts of power and speed.

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

The best product of the month is given this prestigious award.

COMPONENTS DESKTOPS DIGITAL IMAGING HANDHELDS MONITORS NOTEBOOKS PERIPHERALS PRINTERS SOFTWARE STORAGE

AWARDS are basically presented to products for their outstanding performance and value. A Performance or Value winner must have received five stars in that particular category. An Editor’s Choice award goes to outstanding products that have excelled in both value and performance.

FEATURES: What value-added features are included? Do they benefit the user? Are they innovative? PERFORMANCE: Does the product perform well? Is it quick? EASE OF USE: How user-friendly is the interface? Does it require expertise? VALUE FOR MONEY: Does the price represent a fair return on performance? DESIGN: Is the product well designed? Are buttons easy-to-access? Are ports and connections well-placed?

EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD AVERAGE POOR

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Awarded to outstanding products that have excelled in both value and performance.

42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

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42 BUYERS GUIDE Components RATING WEB REVIEWED

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++ www.kingston.com June 2010

+++++ +9714 886 3300 www.giga-byte.com April 2009

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

+9714 369 2666 www.intel.com May 2010

+9714 299 3873 www.asus.com August 2010

Kingston HyperX LoVo KHX1866C9D3LK2 Dual-channel DDR3 memory kit

$200

Kingston’s fantastic LoVo HyperX memory kit offers tremendous performance at an unbelievably low operating voltage.

Gigabyte EX58-Extreme High-end LGA1366 motherboard

$512

If you’ve got a Core i7 processor and want the best performance or you intend on overclocking, this motherboard offers all you’ll ever need.

Intel Core i7 980X LGA1366 six-core processor

$999

This super-chip features six 3.33GHz processing cores and a ton of cache memory. There’s simply no better choice for multi-threaded software.

ASUS ENGTX480 DirectX 11 graphics card

$550

Although the Asus isn’t the fastest GTX 480 graphics card we’ve tested it’s still a worthwhile buy thanks to its sensible price tag.

GIGABYTE GV-R577D5-1GD-B PCI-E Graphics Card If you want to run the latest and greatest games in full splendor and you’re on a budget, then this is the card for you. At 1920 x 1200 the card returned framerates of 41fps, 31fps and 53fps in our Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X, World in Conflict and Company of Heroes tests.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 886 3330 www.giga-byte.com January 2010

BUYING TIPS COMPONENTS Before you buy a motherboard you should first decide on what processor you’re going with. AMD and Intel use entirely different CPU socket types and within each company’s processor ranks, there are different sockets for different chips. If you want a ‘Bloomfield’ Core i7 975 Extreme Edition processor, you’ll need a motherboard with a LGA 1366 CPU socket. On the other hand if you want a ‘Lynnfield’ Core i7 processor, you’ll need a LGA 1156 board. On the flip side, with AMD, you’ll need a Socket AM3 motherboard if you’re going to buy a Phenom II processor.

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

Depending on what you expect your machine to do, you should consider a motherboard’s chipset and its accompanying features carefully. If you want to play games at very high resolutions consider a board that packs multi-GPU technology. This will allow you to run two or more GPUs in parallel for better gaming performance. On the other hand if you’re interested in building a high-end machine on a budget, consider an overclocking friendly motherboard that will let you squeeze the most out of your processor, memory and other components.

IF YOU WANT TO PLAY GAMES AT VERY HIGH RESOLUTIONS ” CONSIDER A BOARD THAT PACKS MULTI-GPU TECHNOLOGY.

$235

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BUYERS GUIDE 43 Desktops YOYOTECH FI7EPOWER MK3 High-end gaming PC

$8,175

Yoyotech’s PC has oddles of character and packs some serious performance under its distinctive hood. The only real issue is its price tag.

BenQ nScreen i91 All-in-one PC

$517

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

$1,200

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

While the nScreen i91 isn’t able to seamlessly playback Full HD content it is ideal for browsing the web, dealing with e-mails and working on office applications.

International Computer Company ZAI Mid-range gaming PC An attractive machine that can tackle apps and games with ease thanks to a balanced set of internal components.

Sky Electronics Expeditor EXP - X980/6/80SSD/1TB/480X2/RV2 High-end gaming PC

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 800 344357 WEB www.yoyotech.co.uk REVIEWED June 2010

$4,688

If you want butter smooth gaming framerates and wait-free application performance the Expeditor is the rig for you. It’s also very reasonably priced considering its high-spec components.

+9714 299 1000 www.benq.com November 2009

+9662 664 446 www.zai.com.sa June 2009

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 266 3774 WEB www.skyelectronics.com REVIEWED July 2010

ZOTAC MAG HD-ND01 I0N NETTOP The MAG (short for ‘Mini All-In-One-Giant’) is a complete package that offers attractive pricing, a sleek frame and full HD video playback. This mini-PC is incredibly compact and with a black and silver finish, it is quite a looker. You can bolt it to the back of your PC’s LCD or even a Plasma or LCD TV.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 266 3774 www.zotac.com January 2010

$299

BUYING TIPS DESKTOPS Buying a desktop machine off the shelf can be tricky business. To get the most bangs for your buck you’ll have to pick a machine that satisfies all of your specific requirements. If you want to play games at high resolutions, with all the details turned on and with a smooth framerate for instance, look closely at the machine’s processor and graphics card; if money is no object opt for a high-end rig that packs a top-end dual or quad-core CPU and a highend GPU with dedicated texture memory. On the other hand if you’re on a constrained budget consider buying a machine that has a mid-range CPU but a high-end GPU.

PICK A MACHINE THAT SATISFIES ALL ” OF YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.

If content creation is your concern, make sure you buy a desktop machine with a triple- or quad-core processor. Most content creation software is heavily multi-threaded so they can take advantage of multiple processing cores and return better performance. At the same time make sure you have ample memory as content creation work is generally quite memory intensive. Aim for at least 4GB of memory if you’re working with images and page layouts and over 6GB if video editing and effects make up the brunt of your work.

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44 BUYERS GUIDE Digital imaging RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 391 8400 WEB www.sony-mea.com REVIEWED January 2010

Sony Bravia VPL-VW85 Full HD projector

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 391 5050 WEB www.canon-me.com REVIEWED June 2010

Canon Legria HFM306 Full HD camcorder

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 364 8600 WEB www.samsungmea.com REVIEWED November 2009

Samsung ST550 12.2-megapixel digital camera

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 391 5050 WEB www.canon-me.com REVIEWED February 2009

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera

$7,357

While the Sony isn’t exactly cheap at US $7,357 it actually offers a cost-effective solution if you’re looking for a way to go Full HD with a massive screen size.

$817

The Legria HFM306 offers high quality capture performance and ease-of-use. The only thing it lacks is a long life battery.

$354

The ST550 is an easy-to-use touchscreen digital camera that offers highly-detailed and colour accurate photographs. It also makes it very easy to take self portrait shots.

$3,133

An aggressively priced full-frame SLR camera that excels at producing high resolution images with little or no visible noise.

OPTOMA ES526 Multimedia Projector The ES526 doesn’t put a foot wrong as far as its projection performance and value are concerned. The projector offers a ‘Bright mode’, which boosts brightness noticeably, whilst the lamp will last for 3000 hours. We were also impressed by the sharpness and crispness of fonts projected through this device.

BUYING TIPS DIGITAL IMAGING There are thousands of digital cameras on the market and each of these models belongs to either the point-and-shoot or SLR camera categories. If you’re just getting started with photography you’re better off trying a standard point-and -shoot model first. However, if you’re a confident photographer and want full control over the images you take, a SLR camera is the way to go.

Going the SLR route the first thing you should do is invest in a high quality lens and a high capacity memory card. SLRs can be purchased with a standard kit lens or as ‘body only’ where the former is a little more expensive as you get a starter lens to begin with. While this lens will take basic photos, you’ll want higher quality ‘glass’ for the best image results.

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Consider buying a tripod for your camera. These relatively inexpensive accessories help you stabilise your camera and are particularly useful for taking photos of distant subjects. The lesser the camera moves the better the photographs.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+4419 236 91800 www.optoma.com January 2009

IF YOU’RE JUST GETTING STARTED ” WITH PHOTOGRAPHY YOU’RE BETTER OFF TRYING A STANDARD POINT-AND-SHOOT MODEL FIRST.

$531

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BUYERS GUIDE 45 Handhelds BlackBerry Bold 2 9700 Business smartphone

$626

RATING +++++ WEB www.blackberry.com REVIEWED September 2010

$700

RATING +++++ WEB www.garminasus.com REVIEWED June 2010

$653

RATING WEB REVIEWED

http://ae.lge.com October 2009

RATING WEB REVIEWED

www.samsung.com September 2010

While the Bold won’t blow you away with its user interface, it is still a great smartphone with loads of features for an attractive price.

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 Touchscreen smartphone The Nuvifone M10 boasts sharp, if unoriginal looks and some very useful GPS features. Great for on the go users.

LG KM900 Arena Touchscreen smartphone While the KM900 Arena offers solid features and a great looking interface, its touchscreen hinders overall usability.

Samsung Galaxy S Touchscreen smartphone

$735

The Galaxy S is a fantastic smartphone that’s fun and easy-to-use. The experience it delivers beats even Apple’s iPhone 3GS.

+++++

LG CHOCOLATE BL40 Smartphone Distinctive looks, great features and intuitive usability are the BL40s strong points. The phone sports a minimalistic design, so the front only shows a speaker, a camera, the 4-inch LCD and LG’s logo. It also features a standard 3.5mm audio jack so you can use most headphones without worry.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 800 54 http://ae.lge.com January 2010

$735

BUYING TIPS HAND HELDS Like fully-fledged notebooks, handheld devices fall into one of a number of different product categories; you can get standard mobile phones or data centric devices such as PDAs and Smartphones. If you’re after a device solely to make phone calls and perform text messaging, a standard mobile will do. These sometimes offer extras such as digital camera and MP3 functionality.

Today’s mobile phones, PDAs and Smartphones allow you to install additional software that you can download off the Internet. To store all this extra data however your handheld will need to have a solid amount of onboard storage. Most handhelds offer between 64MB and 1GB as standard but, if you want more to store additional software or even music or photos, check if the handheld has a memory card expansion slot.

CHECK IF THE HANDHELD ” HAS A MEMORY CARD EXPANSION SLOT.

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Pay attention to the size, resolution and colour capabilities of your handheld’s screen. If you’re buying a handheld with the intention of watching full motion videos, make sure the LCD’s colour palette supports up to 16million colours as these give the best playback quality and colour definition. Lower end LCDs are limited to colour palettes of only 64,000 colours and thus don’t produce the best video or photo outputs. In terms of a device’s screen size, just pick one that you’re happy with and as far as its resolution is concerned, opt for a screen that offers no less than 320 x 240 pixels.

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46 BUYERS GUIDE Monitors RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 362 7500 WEB www.samsung.com/ae REVIEWED June 2009 RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++ +9714 335 3666 www.phillips.com December 2009

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

+9714 881 2191 www.lge.com September 2009

+9714 299 1000 www.benq.ae September 2009

Samsung Series 6 UN40B6000 40-inch LED LCD

TBC

Although the initial outlay is high, this Series 6 model will ultimately prove less expensive in the long term due to its lower power consumption. It also packs killer visual punch.

Philips Cinema 21:9 56-inch LCD TV

$5,449

Although 21:9 content isn’t widely available as yet, the Philips is still worth having because of its impressive video-scaling.

LG Flatron W2261V 22-inch wide-screen LCD

$217

The Flatron W2261V offers killer visuals, an elegant and attractive design and won’t necessarily break the bank. A great buy.

BENQ E2200HD 22-inch wide-screen LCD

$195

BenQ’S E2200HD has aged very gracefully and is now an even better value buy than when it was originally launched.

LG M2294A 22” Flat-screen wonder LG’s latest 22-inch screen is flexible in every sense of the word as it can function as a TV screen or as a computer monitor. It offers great visuals on the whole and, as we’ve come to expect from LG, looks the part too. The included remote will also make sure you never have to get off the couch again.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 881 2191 www.lge.com August 2009

$326

BUYING TIPS MONITORS There are two types of HD display types on the market; HD and Full HD. If a screen is marked as ‘HD Ready’, it will support the 720p and 1080i HD resolutions. A Full HD screen however supports both 720p and 1080p. HD screens are generally cheaper than Full HD screens but, if you’re after the best possible quality, opt for a Full HD screen as 1080p content is far superior to 720p and 1080i content.

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Keep an eye out for a screen’s response time. Response time is measured in milliseconds (ms) and in this case, lower numbers are better. Screens with response times under 5ms are less likely to blur when displaying quick moving content. Slow screens will show tearing or picture breakup and any screen with a response time above 8ms should be avoided.

The most popular display technologies for wide-screen HD TVs today are Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Plasma. Of the two technology types, Plasma screens still offer slightly better colour richness and deeper, more accurate looking black colours, are less susceptible to motion blur and are cheaper when compared to an identically-sized LCD model. LCD-based TVs on the other hand don’t suffer from screen burn-in, are less power hungry, lighter and feature more compact cabinet designs.

PLASMA SCREENS STILL OFFER ” SLIGHTLY BETTER COLOUR RICHNESS AND DEEPER, MORE ACCURATE LOOKING BLACK COLOURS

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BUYERS GUIDE 47 Notebooks HP Pavilion DM3-1340EV Budget portable

$600

Cash strapped buyers will appreciate the DM3’s aggressive price tag and, suave looks and strong overall performance.

FTS M2010 Netbook

$408

A handsome netbook that boasts quick performance and lengthy battery life. The M2010 is competitively priced too.

Asus U53JC Bamboo Collection Desktop replacement

$1,635

Although the Asus has a green element to it, this machine packs serious firepower at a very attractive price point.

Toshiba Qosmio X500-11G High-end desktop replacement

$2,479

The Qosmio X500-11G is a heavy-duty desktop replacement that can tackle applications and games without breaking a sweat.

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++ +9714 391 6000 www.hp.com/me August 2010

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 501 5716 WEB http://ts.fujitsu.com/ REVIEWED November 2009 RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++ +9714 299 3873 www.asus.com August 2010

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 881 7789 WEB www.toshibame.com REVIEWED August 2010

APPLE MACBOOK PRO Desktop replacement notebook The MacBook Pro boasts a large 17-inch LED backlit LCD and despite its large, desktop replacement dimensions, it weighs less than 3kg. The LCD is a stunner when it comes to visual quality; videos look superb and photos are vivid and look very accurate when compared to the original subject.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

TBA www.apple.com May 2009

$3351

BUYING TIPS NOTEBOOKS There are a number of different laptop types available so, depending on your needs, you should pick an appropriate laptop: • Desktop replacements are exactly what their name implies; they are designed to act as a fully-fledged replacement for a desktop computer. As a result they focus more on providing high performance rather than portability, which generally makes these laptops the heaviest type (2.5kg and heavier). They are also the worst in terms of battery life, as a result of their high performance components. These laptops can be configured with components and features that other notebooks just wouldn’t be able to accommodate such (as 17-inch screens). • Portable laptops are designed to balance performance and portability. These laptops sit in a weight class between 1.9kg and 2.4kg, which makes them lighter than their desktop replacement counterparts. Along with this, these notebooks also offer greater battery life. • Ultra-portable notebooks are, as you can imagine, designed for portability exclusively. This laptop type generally offers the longest amount of battery life though they are normally equipped with entryor mid-level components, particularly in terms of the processor, graphics processor and hard disk. These notebooks generally weigh under 1.8kg with the lightest models weighing as little as 1kg. • Tablet PCs are similar to ultra-portables except for one difference; these laptops offer a touchsensitive screen. This screen can normally swivel and sit flush against the laptop’s body so the user can write (using a stylus) as if the PC were a notebook. • Netbooks are the newest member of the portable PC market. They are designed for budget mobile computing. The focus of these devices is primarily light application use such as word processing and web browsing. Size and weight wise, they mirror ultra-portables.

NETBOOKS ARE THE ” NEWEST MEMBER OF THE PORTABLE PC MARKET. THEY ARE DESIGNED FOR BUDGET MOBILE COMPUTING.

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48 BUYERS GUIDE Peripherals RATING WEB REVIEWED

Wii +++++ Nintendo Gaming console www.wii.com April 2007

RATING +++++ CONTACT +9714 883 6244 WEB www.microautomation.ae REVIEWED December 2008

$559

This console transforms gaming from being a geek's pastime into a fun engaging activity for all the family. Ingenious.

Powermatic PE4G-25 Power protection strip The PE4G-25 offers a cost-effective way to protect your electricial hardware from all types of electricial damage.

RATING WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++ Belkin Washable Mouse

www.apple.com February 2010

+9714 391 7000 www.belkin.com March 2009

$23

Apple iPod Touch 64GB Media player

$477

An improvement over its predecessor but while it’s great to use every day, it isn’t quite perfect just yet.

$32

Waterproof mouse Belkin’s Washable Mouse works as claimed, so you needn’t ever worry about buying a new mouse when the next liquid-disaster strikes.

SANDISK SANSA FUZE 2GB Slick and efficient It’s sleek design and surface means it is one of the best looking players out there that works like a dream. Better still, it can be expanded into a player with a formidable storage space with the purchase of a microSD card.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 217 0741 www.sandisk.com October 2008

$125

BUYING TIPS PERIPHERALS Two of the most important peripherals you can buy for your desktop PC - or even your laptop - are the keyboard and mouse. It’s these two devices that you rely on to physically interact with your PC, sometimes for very long periods at a stretch. It’s wise then to invest in quality devices that sport ergonomic designs so you can work without aches and pains. If you’re a hardcore gamer and want every possible advantage consider looking for devices that are designed specifically for gaming. These peripherals will likely offer a number of extra buttons, enhanced responsiveness and more.

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If you want an immersive experience when you’re gaming, watching movies or even listening to music, a fully-fledged surround sound system is a must have. A 5.1 system that’s compatible with the Dolby Digital and/or DTS audio standards is a great starting point that provides six different audio channels (five for the speakers and one for the subwoofer). Depending on the size of the room you should pick a system with an appropriate amount of power, so you don’t have to crank the volume up to maximum. Even high quality sound systems will suffer from reduced quality when running at their top volume setting.

IF YOU’RE A HARDCORE GAMER ” AND WANT EVERY POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE CONSIDER LOOKING FOR DEVICES THAT ARE DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR GAMING.

www.itp.net/reviews

BUYERS GUIDE 49 Printers Brother HL-3070CW LED-Colour printer

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

$360

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

$323

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

$360

Lively performance, compact dimensions and flexible connectivity make the HL-3070CW a worthwhile buy.

OKI B411dn Monochrome laser printer OKI’s B411dn is ideal for small businesses thanks to its super quick print performance and wide array of standard features.

HP P1102w Monochrome laser printer The P1102w is well priced, is reasonably quick and sports built-in WiFi connectivity as standard. A solid buy for a SOHO or small business.

Xerox Phaser 6280N Colour laser printer

$495

A well-priced workgroup colour laser printer that offers high print speeds, top-notch quality and features that adapt to your demands.

+9714 883 5878 www.brother.ae May 2010

+9714 204 5813 www.oki.com September 2010

+9714 391 6000 www.hp.com September 2010

+9714 883 8838 www.xerox.com September 2009

XEROX PHASER 6130N Ready to serve Xerox says its Phaser 6130N is an ideal solution for workgroups of up to seven people that deal with small but frequent print jobs - and it’s right; the printer offers snappy performance. We also found text to be sharp and free of any anomalies. Overall, a well priced colour laser that performs well and also packs in solid features.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 883 8838 www.xerox.com March 2008

$424

BUYING TIPS PRINTERS When you’re in the market for a printing device and performance is a concern, don’t base your decision solely on manufacturer quoted ‘ppm’ (pages per minute) figures. Each manufacturer uses a different testing methodology to produce their ppm figures so you can’t compare one brand’s figures to another.

1 2 3

Printing devices can have a number of different connectivity options such as USB, parallel, Ethernet or even WiFi. If the printer is only going to be used by a single machine, opt for a printer that features USB connectivity. If however you want to share the printer amongst multiple users, consider going the WiFi or standard Ethernet route.

A DUPLEXER IS ABLE TO AUTOMATICALLY FLIP PAGES, SO YOU CAN TAKE ” ADVANTAGE OF DOUBLE-SIDED PRINTING WITHOUT ANY MANUAL LABOUR.

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If you want to save paper without hurting productivity consider a printing device with a built-in automatic duplexer. A duplexer is able to automatically flip pages, so you can take advantage of double-sided printing without any manual labour.

www.itp.net/reviews

50 BUYERS GUIDE Software RATING WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING WEB REVIEWED

+++++

www.abbyy.com

August 2009

Abbyy PDF Transformer 3.0 PDF conversion software

$96

A feature-packed PDF tool that does it all with minimal fuss. It’ll run well on low end machines as well.

www.adaox.com March 2010

ESET Smart Security Security suite

$69

While Smart Security lacks a very strong antispyware component it is very easy-to-use, packs a decent scan engine and a tough firewall.

RATING +++++ WEB www.symantec.com REVIEWED March 2010

Norton Internet Security 2010 Security suite

RATING +++++ WEB www.kaspersky.com REVIEWED March 2010

Kaspersky Internet Security Security suite

$77

A fast, slick and good-looking internet security platform that does a good job of protecting your PC with its wide-variety of features.

$60

With its vast number of features, brilliant performance and US $60 price tag, Kaspersky Internet Security is excellent value-for-money.

APPLE ILIFE 09 Apple’s iLife suite is a multimedia package that is designed to help you organise and manipulate content such as photos, movies, music, DVD and web-based content. A new feature is one known as ‘Faces’ and is part of the iPhoto 09 application. This is essentially designed to help you organise photos without burdening you with sifting through hundreds of pictures.

$106 WEB REVIEWED

www.apple.com April 2009

BUYING TIPS SOFTWARE If your PC is connected to the Internet, is part of a local area network or you connect flash drives that have been attached to other machines, it’s worth investing in a fully-fledged security suite. Most security suites offer anti-virus, anti-spam and firewall protection, so they can keep your machine and its data free from harm. Avoid standalone anti-virus products unless you’re prepared to manually ensure your machine is safe from hackers, spam etc. If you’re on a tight budget you can also benefit from a number of free security solutions that are easily available online. WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

If you’re keen on upgrading to a newer operating system (OS) and your PC has 4GB of system memory (or more), make sure you buy a 64-bit OS rather than a 32-bit variant. A 64-bit OS can address much more memory than a 32-bit OS (32-bit operating systems are limited to around 3GB), so your OS and software can actually take full advantage of all your memory. Running a 32-bit OS with 4GB of memory, the OS and all your software would only be able to use 3.5GB.

AVOID ” STANDALONE ANTI-VIRUS PRODUCTS UNLESS YOU’RE PREPARED TO MANUALLY ENSURE YOUR MACHINE IS SAFE FROM HACKERS, SPAM ETC.

www.itp.net/reviews

BUYERS GUIDE 51 Storage Kingston DataTraveler 200 USB memory stick

$175

Beyond its price and average performance the DataTraveler 200 is worth considering for its warranty and security features.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue 750GB Notebook SATA hard disk

$149

Western Digital’s Scorpio Blue is a quick performer that’s free from noise and vibrations. It also boasts a very attractive price tag.

Intel 160GB X25-M SSD Internal SSD drive

$440

Although performance hasn’t sky-rocketed compared to its predecessor, the second generation Intel X25-M SSD offers better value and reliability.

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX Internal SATA hard disk

$329

The latest update to Western Digital’s VelociRaptor range brings higher storage capacities and better performance. It is the fastest Serial ATA spindle-based drive you can buy.

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++ +4401 932 738888 www.kingston.com November 2009

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING WEB REVIEWED

+++++

RATING CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+++++

+9714 881 3234 www.wdc.com June 2010

www.intel.com October 2009

+9714 881 3234 www.wdc.com July 2010

HP SIMPLESAVE SD 320A Portable USB Hard Drive The sd320a is a no-brainer for novice users interested in data backups. The SimpleSave software is aptly named because it makes data backups supremely simple. The software is also able to perform incremental backups, so you don’t need to worry about selecting new files after the first backup process completes.

CONTACT WEB REVIEWED

+9714 391 6000 www.hp.com/me January 2010

BUYING TIPS There are many different types of storage devices but the most common is the internal hard drive. There are a wide variety of drives available; some target performance seekers, some are designed for low noise and lower power and some aim to offer a mix of performance and price. Thus you should buy a drive that fits your specific needs; if you’re after top performance, opt for a drive that features a spindle speed of 7200rpm or even 10,000rpm.

1 2

If you’re after super-quick read and write performance and money is no object consider buying a solid state drive (SSD). These drives use high speed memory to store data – rather than rotating storage platters - and because there are no moving parts they are extremely quick and, should prove more reliable as well. The only downside with these drives, apart from their high cost, is that they are only available in limited capacities. 512GB is the largest SSD available on the market today. When buying a flash drive look beyond just how much capacity the drive offers. Today it’s possible to buy flash drives that feature password protection, hidden secure partitions and much more. You can also buy flash drives that are designed for rugged use, are water proof and even dust proof.

THE ONLY DOWNSIDE ” WITH THESE DRIVES, APART FROM THEIR HIGH COST, IS THAT THEY ARE ONLY AVAILABLE IN LIMITED CAPACITIES.

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STORAGE

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52 GAME ON

News

GAME ON NEWS STARCRAFT II SELLS 1.5 MILLION COPIES 48 HOURS AFTER LAUNCH

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

USING KINECT, PLEASE BE SEATED Game review website ‘Joystiq’ reports that Microsoft’s forthcoming motion-sensing ‘Kinect’ can in fact recognise a user’s motions even when they are seated. Until Joystiq’s revelation it was widely believed that the motion sensing camera was unable to sense a user’s motions when they were seated in any way. Having tried a Kinect at the Gamescom exhibition Joystiq reports that the camera tracked motions when they were seated on the floor, as well as on furniture. The chaps at Joystiq managed to vary the experiments performed on a Kinect version of an Xbox dashboard and came up with the following conclusion. Joystiq’s website says the following: we tried out the menu system and movie controls to test its recognition of seated users - sitting in a chair definitely works, sitting on the floor works, reclining while facing the Kinect also works. Reclining with the Kinect at our side, we couldn’t get this to work but we’ve been told that it will by launch. The Joystiq guys went on to use another human as a coffee table and Kinect recognised the person behind the human coffee table trying to control the system. Microsoft acknowledged the software used at Gamescom was an updated version of the software used at E3, and said that further improvements are in the process of being implemented.

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has sold 1.5-million copies 48 hours after it officially went on sale around the world. With more than seven years of development and this version being the first of a series of three, Starcraft II is poised to enjoy success in the gaming market. Its predecessor gave millions of gamers years of enjoyable gameplay thanks to its addictive multiplayer. At last count more than 11 million copies were sold. The first day of Starcraft II’s release saw one million copies sold worldwide, while second day sales were 500,000 copies. Averaging US $60 per game, that's $90 million in sales for developer Blizzard. While the developer hasn’t let on how much it cost to develop Wings of Liberty, we think it’s safe to say that they’re well on their way to turning a substantial profit. “We launched StarCraft II in 11 different languages and on five different continents because we wanted to make sure as many players as possible were able to log on and play on day one,” said Mike Morhaime, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Activision Blizzard. “We’re pleased that so many people around the world have already picked up a copy of the game," explained Morhaime.

ID TECH 5 ONLY FOR BETHSEDA Gamers had to swallow unnerving news when id Software's Todd Hollenshead told Eurogamer that the ‘id Tech 5’ engine won't be licensed out to third parties publishers and developers. The voracious engine announced in 2007 forms the crux of id's Rage and Doom 4 titles. Many thought it to be a worthy competitor for engines such as Epic's Unreal Engine 3 but Todd has confirmed that id Tech 5 will only be used in games published by Zenimax and Bethseda Softworks. “It’s going to be used within ZeniMax, so we’re not going to license it to external parties,” Todd said.

www.itp.net/news

News

GAME ON 53

CITIES IN MOTION IN DEVELOPMENT MASS EFFECT 2 TO BE RELEASED SOON FOR PLAYSTATION 3 According to Bioware the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 is on the way. The role playing game will hit stores in January 2011 and will include an introduction to provide a fluid ingress to the game universe as well as access to the Cerberus Network. “One of the things we’re doing is that we’re bringing a lot of the post-release downloadable content and will integrate it into the experience, so that PS3 fans can check that out and play it,” said BioWare boss Ray Muzyka to news website VG247. “So even though it’s Mass Effect 2 specifically, we’re making sure there’s a nice introduction experience, which provides the back-story and the things that have happened up to that point in the universe, and makes it a really seamless introduction,” explained Muzyka. When asked about whether this meant future releases would also be multi-platform, Muzyka responded, “EA is a company that wants to support different platforms, reach different audiences; we’re part of EA and we want to make sure we can embrace that as well. I think we’re trying to do that with all of our products.”

Paradox Entertainment has announced their latest simulation game and this time it's about Traffic. Yes, you heard that right, public transport simulator. Cities in Motion was announced at Gamescom 2010 and is being developed by Colossal Order. The game is about organising urban transit across Vienna, Helsinki, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Should you think that the playability in campaign form is less than palatable, gamers have the option of going sandbox and creating their own campaigns. It features ‘30 different modes of transport including buses, trams, subway trains and water buses.’ "As each city develops and grows the player must continue to meet the ever changing transport needs of its commuters, while at the same time ensuring it remains as profitable as possible," according to the Press release by Paradox at Gamescom. Features include over 100 buildings, advanced economy simulation including contractor deals, banking and insurance. Gamers can also play through 100 years of transportation history from 1920-2020. The different vehicles such as helicopters, buses, trams and the subway are based on real life models.

Atari and Cryptic Studios have announced that they are working on an online cooperative role playing game. At present the game is known only as Neverwinter. The announcement has proven rumours right, with the game scheduled for a 2011 quarter four launch on the PC platform. The game is based on Wizards of the Coast’s property Dungeons & Dragons and the beloved city of Neverwinter. The game is said to be part of a multi-platform event. The release for the announcement says, ‘Neverwinter for PC is scheduled to release in Q4 2011 and is part of a multi-platform event, including a book trilogy from New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore and a tabletop role playing game from Wizards of the Coast. Book one in Salvatore’s Neverwinter trilogy, titled Gauntlgrym, releases on October 5 of this year and lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline.

The 2010 Gamescom trade fair has been declared a success by its organisers Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware (BIU). This marks the show’s second running year. The show, which many see as the European equivalent of E3, attracted 254,000 visitors, 18,900 of which were trade visitors. 505 exhibitors from 33 countries participated this year, with the show serving as the launch platform for 200 industry premieres. The organisers also announced the winners of the Gamescom 2010 awards: Gran Turismo 5 (Best of Gamescom), PlayStation Move (Hardware accessories), Gran Turismo 5 (Console games), Super Scribblenauts (Mobile games), Guild Wars 2 (Online games), Crysis 2 (PC games) and finally, Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Best of family entertainment). The show will have its third outing at the same venue in Cologne, Germany, next year from the 17th to the 21st of August 2011.

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NEVERWINTER ONLINE SET FOR 2011 LAUNCH GAMESCOM 2010 STATS AND WINNERS

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54 GAME ON

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

✪✪✪✪✪ Price: $65 Controller: Keyboard and mouse Requirements: 2.6GHz AMD or Intel processor, 1GB of memory, 128MB GeForce 6600GT or ATI Radeon 9800 PRO graphics card or better, 12GB of hard disk space, DVD-ROM, Windows XP/ Vista/7 with the latest service packs, Internet connection. Best Bit: If there’s a real time strategy game out there that’s presented better than Starcraft II, we don’t know about it. Verdict: With Starcraft II Blizzard Entertainment has added yet another fantastic game to its portfolio. The long development time has produced a game that’s true to the original but still bang up-to-date thanks to a number of new elements and super-slick presentation. tarcraft and its expansion pack Brood Wars are still very popular to this date, despite the fact that both games were originally released over 10 years ago. In South Korea particularly, Starcraft has become part of the culture where professional players participate in matches, earn sponsorships and compete in matches that are actually broadcast on TV. At last check Starcraft and Brood Wars had sold well over nine million copies around the world. The successor to Brood Wars, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (WOL), has a lot to live up to

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

While Starcraft II features a few pre-rendered video sequences, the game’s graphics engine is also used to create cutscenes from timeto-time.

and, being a Starcraft fan, this reviewer is ecstatic to say that it exceeded his expectations. Starcraft II is set four years after the events of Brood Wars and all of the original races (Terran, Protoss and Zerg) make a return. WOL offers both single and multiplayer gaming, like its predecessor, but this time around the single-player campaign only allows you to play as the Terran race. If you want to play the Protoss and Zerg campaigns, you’ll have to wait for the ‘Legacy of the Void’ and ‘Heart of the Swarm’ expansion packs respectively. One of Starcraft II’s strongest points is its simply unbelievable presentation. The game’s installer, menu screens, in-game animation, video sequences and in-game graphics are simply unmatched by anything that’s on the market today. Everything just has tons of polish and explains exactly what Blizzard was doing since the original game and its expansion were released

all those years ago. Playing missions or engaging in multiplayer matches, long time Starcraft fans are in for a treat because while Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty retains the basic feel of its predecessor, it has been updated to the point that it feels like a brand new game. WOL offers about the same number of units as Brood Wars and while some of the fan favourites - such as Siege Tanks and Battle Cruisers - return they have been updated and so still fit with the game’s newer units. WOL has loads of new elements and each serves to make the game that much better. Whereas before you progressed from mission-to-mission with only the videos separating one mission from the next, this time around you get the beautifully rendered videos and the chance to actually interact with the game world. When you first start the Terran campaign, the protagonist James Raynor (voiced to perfection by

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Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Attacking enemies from raised platforms gives you a distinct tactical advantage.

The awesome Battle Cruiser Hyperion serves as your base of operations throughout most of the Terran campaign.

A combination of units is key to winning battles. While Battle Cruisers can dish out serious punishment they’re best used alongside numerous smaller units, which will take enemy fire off them.

Strength in numbers, the fears fearsome some o e om Zerg excel att swelling their ranks to ble numbers. unmanageable

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST AST OCTOBER 2010 10

Robert Clotworthy) runs his raider group (known as Raynor’s Raiders) out of a bar on the colony of Mar Sara. Before and after each mission you get the chance to flick through some tunes on the juke box, watch news updates (these serve as the game’s comic relief), look at trophies and even talk to people. Once you progress in the game, you u get to wander around Raynor’s captured ed Battle Cruiser, the Hyperion. Here you have even more options available; you can talk to a lot more people, research new technology, hire mercenaries forr use in missions and play side-missions ns s that don’t advance the storyline (but are re e still fun and worth playing). Another addition to Starcraft II is decisionmaking - unlike the original you actually y get to make decisions about what you want to do from time-to-time. In one instance we had to choose between destroying ‘infested’ colonists or protecting them long enough for a cure to be found. Playing missions and multiplayer matches it looks as though Blizzard has managed to balance each of the three races perfectly once again. Due to this there’s no unfair advantage to be gained from going with one race over the others. Winning matches and completing missions then becomes a pure test of your skills as a strategist - just the sort of thing this reviewer loves. As polished as Starcraft II is, it isn’t perfect. That said, the issues aren’t actually related to the game itself but rather the developers. As we said earlier Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty only focuses on the Terran campaign and as brilliant as it is, we wondered why Blizzard couldn’t just release all three campaigns in one game? After over 10 years of waiting it’s disappointing to find out that we have to wait even more to experience the Protoss and Zerg campaigns. It also seems a rather blatant way for Blizzard Entertainment to squeeze gamers out of more cash. The other issue is that WOL lacks LAN/network multiplayer support. Due to this you’re forced to use Blizzard’s Battle.net service even if you actually have two PCs in your home on a wired or wireless network. This is far from ideal if you have a dial-up connection or a slow broadband line.

GAME ON 55

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56 GAME ON

Blur

BLUR XBOX

✪✪✪✪✪ Price: $73 Controller: Xbox 360 controller Best Bit: Watching a ‘Shunt’ power-up chase after an enemy car and, eventually, trash it. Verdict: Blur genuinely has plenty to offer whether you're playing the single-player portion on your own or sitting down with friends and engaging in multiplayer mayhem. It's a slick, brutal and thoroughly enjoyable game. izarre Creations has given the gaming community games such as the very popular Project Gotham Racing series and Geometry Wars. Blur is the latest title to come from the developer but whereas some of its games have been exclusive to one platform, this is a multi-platform title that’s available on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Blur offers racing, vehicular combat gameplay and while the game has not been a massive commercial success for Bizarre, it really is a game you should play. The game offers single and multiplayer gaming and whichever you end up playing you can expect an awesome ride from the moment you pick up your gamepad. The game's single player is basic in terms of its storyline; you essentially build up your credentials until you're able to take on a

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boss. Once your past this you move on to tougher foes whilst unlocking new vehicles and race tracks. It's a simple setup but ultimately the races just dominate the experience and suddenly you realise you've become addicted. On the multiplayer front you can compete via 'Xbox Live', 'System Link' and 'splitscreen'. It's here where the game really shines because playing with friends is pure insanity (in the best possible way). Playing using splitscreen you can go at it with up to four of your friends at the same time but the best experience is to be had going with just a two-way split. With four and three players the screen split is too pokey to really enjoy though the game runs fluidly no matter how much mayhem is visible on screen. That said the reason Blur is so much fun is simply down to its gameplay. Driving the various cars is a rush whether you pick a 'drag' optimised car, a tuned 'grip' monster or a 'very drifty' widow maker. Each car drives differently and reacts uniquely to the terrain, so you'll want to pick your

vehicles carefully care before you venture track. A 4x4 will tackle off-road onto the trac tracks better than a sports car despite the speed advantage the sports car has for example. Similarly, cars designed for drag racing offer brutal straight line speed but iffy handling in the corners. Besides the game’s fantastic driving mechanics the power-ups scattered across the tracks up the game’s fun-factor to a completely different level. In total there are eight powerups; Shunt, Barge, Mine, Shock, Nitro, Bolt, Shield and Repair. These power-ups give the driver offensive and defensive options though some powerups can actually be used to do both. Up to three power-ups can be carried simultaneously and the driver is allowed to select and choose which he wants to use or drop them entirely. The Shunt is perhaps the most dangerous of the lot because it is insanely powerful and, more worryingly, can actually track and home in on enemies even when fired from miles away. Playing one-on-one this weapon can radically change the outcome of a

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GAME ON 57

Blur

race because it can either wreck a car entirely (depending on how much damage the car already has) or it can slow down a car catastrophically and allow the other player to catch up. As a result you’ll never find yourself in a position where you think you’re absolutely safe and are on the road to victory. That said, you can counter the Shunt with the right driving moves or by using a power-up. The Shunt, like some of the other power-ups, can be fired either straight ahead or backwards, so a skilled driver can easily setup a death-dealing blow to an opponent in close pursuit. (This reviewer’s favourite ‘move’ is to allow an enemy car to get very close and then simply let loose with a rear-facing Shunt. The results are deadly and fun to watch.) As fun and effective as the Shunt is, Blur actually makes you want to use every power-up because each one has its own unique uses. The Barge for example can be used to counter a Shunt (if timed right), push away an enemy vehicle so he can’t ram you or even push him off a cliff. Like the Barge other power-ups also have their uses so rather than making a beeline for only one or two power-ups all the time, you’ll actually want to pickup and use the others. Visually, Blur offers plenty of eye-candy; the cars look fantastic, the tracks are detailed and fun to drive around and the game ran very fluidly on our Xbox 360 console, even when all hell broke loose on the tracks. Likewise the audio doesn’t disappoint, the music tracks suit the fastpaced gameplay and the sound effects suit the visuals perfectly. The fearsome Shunt has a nice loud blasts and when it finds its mark, the visceral crunch is simply music to your ears.

Blur offers over 55 photo-realistic cars and each and every one of them is a blast to drive.

The game offers superb visuals when viewed on a Full HD screen. The game's framerate is also silky smooth regardless of what happens on screen.

Blur will get your adrenaline going with each and every race. It really is one of the most fun racing titles we've played in recent times.

The 'barge' power-up is great for shoving enemy cars away from your own or, if the terrain permits, can be used for quick kills.

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Picking the right car for the track is critical. Don't always opt for a high performance sports car because speed won't always bring you victory.

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58 GAME ON

Crackdown 2

XBOX

✪✪✪✪✪

Price: $73 Contact: +9714 391 7000 Controller: Xbox 360 controller Best Bit: Still rather fun if the fact that this is essentially the same game as the original doesn’t bother you too much. Verdict: While Crackdown 2 is a fun sandbox-style shooter there are far better options on the market today. he original Crackdown was something of a surprise for this reviewer because despite no prior expectations, countless hours were spent gunning down baddies, scaling buildings and power-lifting cars. That was back in 2007 when Crackdown was originally released on the market. Needless to say developer Realtime Worlds scored a fan in this reviewer. Flash forward to 2010 and Crackdown 2 has hit the market though this time around developer Ruffian Games has taken point in the game’s development. Like its predecessor Crackdown 2 features an open world and sandboxWINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

The open world gameplay is fun but Crackdown 2 isn’t alone in the sandboxstyle gameplay market anymore.

style shooter gameplay. Unfortunately despite hitting the market three years after the original, absolutely nothing has been improved upon. The only difference is that this time around you have a new bunch of bad guys to go after. Gameplay largely sees you trying to complete repetitive mission objectives, moving from one point to another to activate objectives and maintaining control of areas within the city. There are a few side missions that you can have a go at but really there’s very little to keep your glued. Collecting orbs scattered around the game world is still an objective and like the first title, they eventually boost your character’s abilities, allowing him to jump higher, run faster and pick-up heavier objects. The only time you’ll ever really have fun with this game is when you engage in the game’s multiplayer mode. Up to four players can game together and considering what you can do within

the game world, you could potentially spend a few hours raising mayhem. The most disappointing aspect of Crackdown 2 is that even the graphics and audio have remained the same as well. Surely when a sequel is created, updated graphics and sound must be considered as prerequisites before anything else is touched? Unfortunately with Crackdown 2 this doesn’t appear to be the case as it’s a carbon copy of the original.l.. While the first game looked great back in the day, it b is seriously dated a ated by today’s standards. The e fantastic Just Cause 2 just destroys it on d this particularr front and if you compare how much fun you’ll have ve e between the two, Justt Cause 2 is easily the victor. tor.

Same city, same gameplay, same graphics. We aren't quite sure how this game was allowed to be sold as a fully-fledged sequel. It’s more like Crackdown 1.5.

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60 REGULARS

Competitions

COMPETITIONS… As always the Windows team has worked to ensure you have the chance to win some killer, high-tech kit. For your chance to win, just follow the instructions below...

SUPER SSD 128GB KINGSTON SSDNOW V+ SERIES Performance seekers here’s your chance to score some serious muscle for your desktop machine. The generous guys at Kingston Technology have donated one of their colossal SSDNow V+ Series drives for giveaway this month. The drive features 128GB of storage capacity and makes use of MLC NAND flash memory components. Windows Middle East has tested the V+ Series drives in the past and the results were nothing short of impressive; if average read and write speeds of 197.1MB/sec and 167.1MB/sec don’t put a smile on your face, we don’t know what will. Because of the SSD’s immense read/write capabilities you’ll find your operating system, apps and games load quicker than ever. Who doesn’t want that? Being a SSD the Kingston is also silent, shock proof and boasts S.M.A.R.T. technology. You won’t have any trouble integrating this drive into your existing PC either because Kingston supplies ghosting software, as well as the cables and drive rails.

SPEED DEMON

For your chance to bag this superb storage prize, point your browser to www.itp.net/ competitions and answer this simple poser: What type of flash memory

does the Kingston SSDNow V+ Series use? a)MLC NAND flash b)SLC NAND flash c)TLC NAND flash

SING IT

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

DISNEY SING IT: POP HITS If you own a PlayStation 3 and you’re keen on giving your vocal chords a workout we’ve got just the competition for you. We have one copy of Disney Sing It: Pop Hits up for grabs, so read on if you want to sing your heart out. Disney Sing It: Pop Hits is the sequel to High School Musical: Sing It! and is the complete package that includes the game, a couple of SingStar Microphones and a SingStar USB converter. Thanks to this you can get busy singing on your own or with a friend without needing to invest in anything else. The game includes single and multiplayer gameplay and features a wide variety of hit singles from Coldplay, Miley Cyrus and more. Rest assured you’ll have hours of fun. To win this game visit www.itp.net/competitions and answer this simple question: Which of the following bands are featured in Disney Sing

It: Pop Hits? a)Coldplay b)Hotplay c)Triple-play

KARAO READYKE

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Competitions

REGULARS 61

COOL DOCK ALTEC LANSING INMOTION IM310 If you’ve got an Apple iPod, iPod Touch, Nano or a Mini and you’re in need of a portable speaker system this competition has your name on it. Windows Middle East has teamed up with the great guys from Altec Lansing to give away one of their awesome inMotion iM310 portable speaker systems. The iM310 is packed full of features but perhaps the most important is the fact that it can be powered through a wall socket or, when you’re out and about, by three AA batteries. On batteries Altec says the inMotion iM310 can play songs continuously for 48 hours. The dock itself is compatible with a number of Apple products and thanks to the inclusion of an input jack you can connect a secondary device simultaneously. The speaker dock boasts powerful speakers that are capable of deep, rich bass and if you struggle to get out of bed in the morning, there’s an alarm clock too.

BOOM BOX

If you fancy winning this awesome speaker dock, visit our website at www.itp.net/competitions and answer this simple question: How much

battery life does the iM310 offer on three AA batteries? a)24 hours b)48 hours c)90 hours

SUPERIOR SOUND CREATIVE SOUNDBLASTER X-FI XTREME AUDIO NOTEBOOK

Visit our website at www.itp.net/competitions and answer this simple question to win: What interface does

the Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook use to connect with laptops? a)Master Card b)Visa Card c)ExpressCard

AUD UPGRAIO DE

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Most notebooks, even high-end models, rely on basic integrated audio chipsets to produce audio, so even if the notebook has fantastic speakers, you’re left with dull, lifeless audio. If you’re suffering such a fate don’t despair, this competition will give you the chance to turn your notebook into an audio monster. We’ve partnered with Creative to give you the chance to win an awesome SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook soundcard. The awesome audio hardware is fitted to an easy-to-install ExpressCard, so using the card is literally a case of plug-and-play. The Xtreme Audio features Creative’s exceptional X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity technology, packs the X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer engine and also offers X-Fi CMSS-3D, so you can expand your stereo MP3s and movies into surround sound.

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62 REGULARS

CD Contents

OUR PICK OF WINDOWS CD

WINDOWS MIDDLE EAST OCTOBER 2010

DOWNLOAD ACCELERATOR PLUS 9.4 This is more than just your bog standard download manager. It increases download speeds by breaking files into smaller portions and initiating downloads from multiple mirrors - handy when sites limit download speeds or are just plain slow. DAP can also intelligently latch onto the quickest mirrors for the fastest possible download speed.

DRIVING SPEED 2

COMMONCENTS 3

GOM MEDIA PLAYER 2

Driving Speed 2 will give petrol-heads something to cheer about. The game includes four V8 muscle cars and you can race against up to 11 opponents at a time. The game offers photorealistic graphics, good quality sound and realistic car performance, all of which contribute to the overall feel of the game. Driving Speed 2 can also be played with up to eight players in multiplayer mode.

CommonCents 3 is an interesting personal finance tool that works on the envelope budget system. This involves putting aside money for expenses in tagged envelopes, for instance car finance etc. Once that is in place, the remainder is what you live on. CommonCents goes one step further, fully automating the process with the additional functionality of factoring in credit cards and mortgages.

GOM Media Player is an easy-to-use app thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free from bloatware. It can hold its ground and even outperform most media players with its impressive range of supported formats. Just to give you an insight into the playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capability, supported codecs are DAT, MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV, ASF, AVI, MOV, AC3, MP4, and H263. Customisation is a piece of cake for GOM Media Player too.

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REGULARS 63

CD Contents

P O T CK PI

HOW TO USE CD BROWSER Place your CD in your PC’s CD-ROM drive. If you have disabled autoplay, double-click ‘CDBrowser’ on the CD instead. When CD Browser starts, six buttons will appear listing software categories. Click a category and the software titles will appear in the left window. Simply choose which title you wish to view and click its name. Program details will appear along with three buttons: Install runs the installation program, Website takes you to the vendor’s site, and Screen displays a larger image of the software in action. In the middle of the window is also an option to change the CD browser’s skin.

CD 162: SUPERB SOFTWARE UTILITIES ATOMIC CLOCK SYNC 3.0 WINDOWS 7 MANAGER 1.2.6 DISK SCRUBBER 2.0

MULTIMEDIA

DISK SCRUBBER Disk Scrubber is a handy utility if you’re fearful of current deletion methods. The application uses Windows’ builtin cipher program to effectively wipe out the appropriate NTFS portion on the hard drive, effectively eliminating any data. Reasons you should use Disk Scrubber, well let’s just say that all your sensitive data including passwords, credit card numbers and personal information is still available to someone you sell your old laptop to, even though you deleted everything of any significance.

GOM MEDIA PLAYER 2.1.26.5021 ROXIO MEDIATICKER 2.1 MUSICMATCH JUKEBOX 10.00.4033

(WINDOWS 7 32-BIT) NVIDIA GEFORCE 400 SERIES DRIVERS (WINDOWS 7 32-BIT) JAVA RUNTIME MICROSOFT ACTIVESYNC 4.2 DIRECT X 9C DOT NET FRAMEWORK 3.0VLC 1.0 WINZIP 11.1

INTERNET SLIMBROWSER 5.00 BUILD 057 DOWNLOAD ACCELERATOR PLUS 9.4 TRILLIAN ASTRA 4.2.0.20 YOUTUBE2DVD BURNER 1.16.0.90

PRODUCTIVITY PICASA 3 COMMONCENTS 3.3.73.520 STICKIES 7.0

INTERNETBuild 057

SlimBrowser 5.00 9.4 Download Accelerator Plus Trillian Astra 4.2.0.20 0 YouTube2DVD Burner 1.16.0.9

MULTIMEDIA 2.1.26.5021

GOM Media Player Roxio MediaTicker 2.1 033 Musicmatch Jukebox 10.00.4

UTILITIES 3.0

Atomic Clock Sync Windows 7 Manager 1.2.6 Disk Scrubber 2.0

PRODUCTIVITY Picasa 3 CommonCents 3.3.73.520 Stickies 7.0

GAMES

Halo: Combat Evolved Driving Speed 2 2.0.9

FILES ESSENTIALseries drivers ATI Radeon HD 5000 (Windows 7 32-bit) drivers nVidia GeForce 400 series (Windows 7 32-bit) Java Runtime Microsoft ActiveSync 4.2 Direct X 9c Dot Net Framework 3.0

EED 2 DRIVING SPuality Get behind the racing game for your PC.

high-q ter against up to 11 compu Driving Speed 2 is a free V8 muscle cars and race wheel of high horsepower touring car circuits. The game has realistic two quality sound and top controlled opponents on and performance, high physics t your friends graphics, real-world car AI, you can also play agains the with fed-up notch AI. When you’re eight player multiplayer connection with the game’s over a LAN or internet support.