Archive for the 'Computers' Category
Pros
- Easy to install
- Driverless installation
- Bootable on Windows machines
- Excellent warranty
Cons
- Only has two ports
The Bottom Line
With speed gains of SATA / SATA II and a slew of accessories on the market to take advantage of the SATA protocol, slipping one of these MAXpower controller cards into your PCI-Express slot is a no brainer.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
Mac users have been enjoying the benefits of SATA for nearly a decade and the protocol has finally become a standard in all computers manufactured today. From optical to platter based drives to solid state drives, SATA is the standard. Now that standard is starting to wash and soak into accessories making the eSATA port almost as common as the FireWire port. Interestingly enough, Apple does not put eSATA ports on its machines and many PCs are missing these ports as well, though I have seen quite a few PC laptops with them. If you would like to take advantage of the SATA speeds of the many accessories out there and you have a PCI-Express port, then may we interest you in a NewerTech MAXPower eSATA 6G PCIe 2.0 Controller Card?
Pros
- Fast FireWire 800
- Cables included
- Timemachine ready
- Packed with tons of software
- Quality build
Cons
- eSATA requires an external power source
- eSATA performance disappointing
The Bottom Line
OWC’s Mercury Elite line is a fantastic place to find quality and speedy accessories for your Mac or Windows box and this portable hard drive is not exception. Even though the eSATA figures didn’t impress as they should have, truth is, this a portable device that will encounter more FireWire and USB than eSATA which nearly negates the offense. You will not be disappointed slipping this hard drive into your pocket.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
The OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini is fitted with a “Quad Interface” on the back that runs off the bus power of your FireWire or USB ports. OWC packed everything you’ll need in the box including high quality double shielded USB, FireWire 800, and eSATA cables. You will also find a DVD-ROM packed with Intech’s SpeedTools, Prosoft Engineering’s Data Backup for OS X, NovaStorBACKUP for Windows, Carbon Copy Cloner – a favorite of mine – and over 2 GB of other goodies. Inside the slick “aircraft grade machined aluminum enclosure” of the Mercury one would find a 2.5″ SATA hard drive (OWC also offers solid state drives), a translucent blue activity LED, an ultra-protective shock system, and ports for connecting the mini to your computer. You will not find a fan in the super quiet unit since OWC uses the enclosure to rid the unit of heat build up from either the 5400 or 7200 RPM drives. When attached to your computer, instead of the standard OS icon, you’ll see a picture replica of the OWC Mercury Elite AL Pro mini – that’s a mouthful – on your desktop. Ya, between the blue LED and that, it makes the Mercury just that much cooler. 
Ratings
Pros
- Perfect fit
- Easy-press battery-charge indicator button
- Ships fully charged
- Backed by strong warranty
Cons
- Minor gain of “up to 4.4%” battery capacity from original
The Bottom Line
If you need some NuPower to replace your tired and end-of-life MacBook Pro battery, then look no further than NewerTech’s replacement battery. Made solid and backed by NewerTech’s just as solid warranty, you will be hard pressed to find a replacement battery as good as this one for this price.
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
When I first purchased my MacBook Pro, the very first model to replace the aging PowerBook line, I was excited by the longer lasting battery that came with the updated Apple notebook. The original battery lasted pretty long after heavy use; however, nothing lasts for ever. So, it was time to replace Apple’s battery but most likely not with another Apple battery due to the high price tag. So should I get one of those cheap ones on eBay or go to Best Buy and try my luck there? Or, should I try one from one of the longest running Mac accessory company, NewerTech?
Ratings
Pros
- Simplifies data encryption to stupid-easy!
- Great value in price
- Encrypts entire drive including OS
- Easy to use USB dongle to unlock
Cons
- Noisy fan
- Must be powered up and unlocked prior to PC boot
- Lose your key, lose your data
The Bottom Line
Data needs to be protected and protection should be easy. Thankfully the DataPort SecureDock is quite frankly, stupid easy! If you can turn on a key, insert and remove a USB dongle, then you can protect yourself from identity theft, unauthorized access, as well as having a secure off-site backup. Told ya, stupid easy.
Recommended
Yes (Strong)
Full Review
Security is an important thing and many in todays world really do not realize just how easy data can be stolen from a hard drive undetected by the owner. It’s not just a matter of grabbing a hard drive physically but rather just starting one up and copying the information off the computer to a USB flash drive. Accountants, lawyers, and doctors, to name a few, need to protect their data but lack of simplicity is usually the number one reason for this not happening. May I introduce to you the DataPort SecureDock?
Pros
- Fast
- Great looking unit
- Small footprint
Cons
- Quality issues
- RAID1 failure in tests
The Bottom Line
LaCie has made one sleek looking external hard drive that begs for a spot on your desk to show off its good looks. However, if our data failure is any indication of troubles in mass, this is nothing more than a cheerleader on the football team that just looks hot but has no brains.
Ratings
Recommended
Maybe
Full Review
LaCie has been a well known accessory company for Apple for many years long before other companies pushing PC ware started dabbling into the Mac world. That experience has given a lead over those late comers that LaCie has enjoyed and used to push its products into a new realm of sleek looks. The HD Max is definitely one nice looking unit without a doubt with its shinny black case that reminded me of Darth Vader’s helmet when I first took it out of the box. The Dark Side had nothing to do with this cool looking external hard drive as LaCie tapped award-winning industrial designer Neil Poulton to come up with all this black goodness. When you hook up the power and cable the USB into your computer, Mac or PC, a blue light flickers from the bottom on the front of the unit bouncing memorizing light from the surface of your mount location. The light flashes as data is accessed adding to the pretty show on your desk. When you turn the unit around, you’ll find a switch that enables RAID0 or RAID1, two USB ports, a spot for your power, and switch for that power. You’ll also note two other LEDs one for each drive that show blue or the dreaded red for, oops, something’s very wrong, red. Except for the air vents in the back of the unit, the LaCie HD Max is just one nice piece of plastic covering the rectangle RAID hard drive that is small enough to easily hold in your hand.
Pros
- Super speedy
- Well engineered
- Quality build
Cons
- A bit pricey
- Front panel tricky to attach and close
The Bottom Line
With a slew of choices in the external hard drive market, it’s become difficult to pick the gems among the cubic zirconias. Thankfully companies such as OWC exist and continue to bring us diamonds like the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 which glimmers with excellence. In our month of testing, we found ourselves in love with this unit and nearly crying when we had to return it. It’s that good.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes (Strongly)
Full ReviewOther World Computing is known for its Mac accessories and stellar support since 1988. OWC has brought that experience and ventured into the hard drive space with its external storage solutions for some years now. Its latest venture is the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 which offers 2.0 TB to 8.0 TBs of space for your 1 and 0s to be placed on in an alpha bet soup of configuration choices. You can attach the Mercury drive to your Mac or PC by either FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0, or through the speedy eSATA connection. I chose to use the FW800 port in the back of my Mac Pro Dual-Core Intel Xeon box and – wow – did I notice the speed immediately. For fun, I copied over a few ripped DVDs from my Mac’s internal drive to the Mercury Elite and watched it go. When copying 7.86 GBs of data, one becomes use to waiting but I have to say, I was quite impressed with the little amount time it took the OWC box to suck it all up. It only took it a total of three minutes. Impressive. Compare that to the LaCie HD Max which took it over ten minutes. Granted, the LaCie is on a USB 2.0 port but when one accounts the speed transfer ratios, the OWC Mercrury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 is still a clear winner. Ripping a 4.31 DVD only took an amazing two minutes! For a more in-depth speed test look, view the results below.
Pros
- Class-leading pairing that you’re four-year old could do for you
- Sleek with that sweet Apple look
- Long battery life
- Ease of use
- Very good sound quality
Cons
- Short comfort level (about three hours)
- Poor button placement
- Pricey
- Low volume (updated)
The Bottom Line
In a world of “I just can’t find an all around great Bluetooth headset”, the Apple does pretty well. It’s high price makes it difficult to recommend but if you’re not too concerned with that, then we’d say that this headset may just be your iPhone’s digital best friend.
UPDATE: Do note that this is a soft volume headset. Read more below.
Ratings
Recommended
(Weak) Yes No
Full Review
I can’t begin to tell you how many Bluetooth headsets (BTh) I’ve used since that first one I paired up with my SonyEricsson T68 six years ago. I’ve tried a ton of them and spent probably over a thousand dollars on all of them in total. While I’ve found some “good” ones, everyone has had a deficiency. That’s why Apple’s asking price of $129 made me really hesitant when I had to replace my Plantronics Voyager 510. Read the rest of this entry »
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Pros
It’s an iPAQ (and sleeker then all the other PocketPC’s)
Cons
No built in CFII slot
The Bottom Line
Want more then the limiting Palm OS? Want the best design and a solid built PocketPC? Get the iPAQ. If you want Bluetooth, get the 3870.
Full Review
My very first Pocket PC was the iPAQ 3650. I loved it. Coming from my Palm V, I couldn’t even to begin to think why I loved my Palm V as much as I did (back then)! So, when I read that Compaq was coming out with a new unit with twice as much memory (ROM and RAM), an extra built-in internal cache of non-volatile memory, PocketPC2002 and built in Bluetooth, I just about freaked. And top of all that, it looked better then the already cool looking first generation! Read the rest of this entry »