Acer G24

Acer G24 24 inch monitor has a bright, glossy, reflective screen, and a smooth, bright orange bezel. The bottom of the bezel is 2.5 inches above the desktop and measures 1.1 inches on the left and right sides, bringing the full panel width to 22.5 inches that's slightly wider than the Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP's 22 inches. The base panel depth measures 1.8 inches about the same as the Dell's but it extends back another 1.3 inches to house the ventilation system, bringing its full panel depth to 3.1 inches, a hair longer than the Dell's 3 inch panel plus vent.

The display has a 25 degree backward tilt as its sole ergonomic perk. Screen height adjustment, panel swiveling, and pivoting aren't included. Connection options include DVI, HDMI, and VGA, all supporting a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1.920x1.200 pixel native resolution and located on the back right hand side of the panel, next to the neck. All are easy to access however, the HDMI slot is too close to the neck for comfort and our fingers rubbed against it often. The footstand has a sleek space age look with two 7 inch long "toes" that extent out from the neck each at a 45 degree angle.

The full width of the span is 14.2 inches. Knocking the display from the sides yielded minimal wobbling as its wide stand and its 16 pound weight keep it fairly grounded. The footstand is removable and the back of the panel includes four screw holes for VESA wall mounting. The blue LED light in the bottom right hand corner represents the power button located directly underneath it. The five buttons to the left comprise the on screen display array.

The buttons include left and right arrows, a menu button, auto, and an "e" button. Pressing the "e" button displays the available presets including User (custom), Text, Standard, Graphics, and Movie. Selecting different presets altered the brightness and sometimes color temperature of the display. For example, the Text preset lowers the brightness and adds a cool color temperature, making reading text on a white background more comfortable.

The rest of the OSD includes controls for color temperature user control included brightness and contrast control. Unfortunately, navigating the OSD is often an exercise in frustration. Different categories are represented by symbols. Each symbol aligned horizontally along two rows, can be navigated to using the arrow keys. For brightness and contrast control, you navigate to the "sun" symbol.

Pressing the menu button selects the symbol and brings up another menu. Here, you have to choose one of two options, aligned vertically. Use the arrow key to select the bottom option and press menu. Then use the arrow keys again to select brightness or contrast, which are aligned vertically. Press the menu key when your selection is highlighted and adjust your attribute using the arrow key. Not surprisingly, we found this interface archaic, unintuitive, illogical, and ultimately frustrating, especially considering how well designed other OSDs like the latest from Dell are.

Acer H235H

The 23 inch Acer H235H has a flat, glossy, black bezel that contrasts nicely with its glossy blue back. The panel measures 3.2 inches in full depth that's considerably thicker than the 23 inch Samsung SyncMaster P2370, which measured just over an inch deep. The bezel measures 1.1 inches on its left and right sides, and 0.75 inch on its bottom, where a silver Acer logo resides. Under the bezel, the panel slopes back about 3 inches to house the built in speakers.

The bottom of the panel where the speakers are sits about 1.8 inches from the desktop, but, unfortunately, the screen height isn't adjustable and there isn't a screen rotation or pivot option for portrait mode. The capability to tilt the screen back 25 degrees is the only included ergonomic feature. The circular foot stand measures a small 7 inches in diameter, and when knocked from the sides, the display wobbles a considerable amount, given that it has such a narrow base to stand on.

Connection options include DVI, HDMI, and VGA all three ports are fairly easy to access once the removable back panel is taken off. There are also two grooves on the back where you can place the cords to keep them organized. Designated by a single blue light emitting diode, the on screen display button array sits in the lower right hand corner of the bezel, right above the blue LED power button. Pressing the blue LED brings up the OSD in addition to five blue LED buttons that now align the bottom right of the bezel.

The OSD pops up parallel to the button array, and each option corresponds to one of the five buttons. Once a new menu is selected, the function of the buttons changes dynamically, as the middle buttons become the up and down arrow buttons used to navigate through the newly seen menu. Since any button labels for the OSD are actually on the screen (and which would be on the bezel of other displays), calibrating the display in a dark room proved painless. OSD options include the standard brightness, contrast, and various color options. The presets are Standard, Text, Picture, Movie, and, of course, User. The presets don't change anything other than the display's brightness and contrast.

There is an option for setting the OSD to stay on screen for up to 2 minutes (useful for anyone who will spend a good amount of time calibrating), etc. Navigating the menu is mostly painless however, when in the preset menu, there is no option to return to the previous menu without exiting the OSD completely. Acer H235H's 16:9 aspect ratio supports a "Full HD" native resolution of 1.920x1.080 pixels. This continues the trend of more and more monitor vendors moving toward 16:9 from 16:10 because high definition content in particular 1080p movies can fit onto a 1.920x1.080 pixel screen without distorting the image.

Acer B273HU

A plain, matte black cabinet houses the 27 inch panel, which has a maximum resolution of 2.048 by 1.152 dpi, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a 5 millisecond (black to white) pixel response rate. The 14.5 pound enclosure is supported by a square base with a swiveling, telescoping arm that provides up to 4.3 inches of height adjustability and 70 degrees of swivel. A hinge at the top of the stand gives you 5 degrees of forward tilt and 15 degrees of backward tilt. Unlike the NEC EA261WM, this monitor does not support pivot rotation, but the NEC model will cost you around $200 more and you'd have to settle for a slightly smaller (26 inch) panel.

Around back you'll find VGA, DVI, and HDMI inputs, one upstream and two downstream USB ports, and an audio jack for the integrated 1.5 watt speakers. The speakers are adequate for low volume listening but could use a subwoofer component to help pump up the bass tones. Two additional USB ports are located on the left-hand side of the cabinet. Embedded in the lower right hand bezel are five thin function buttons and a power switch, all of which use black lettering. Not surprisingly, the buttons are very difficult to identify against the black cabinet color.

The "e" button brings you to Acer's "Empowering Technology" setting, which offers a choice of five luminance presets, including Text, Movie, Graphics, Standard, and User modes. The Auto button automatically adjusts clock and phase settings (analog only) the Menu button brings you into the main settings screen, where you can tweak color temperature settings, adjust contrast and brightness levels, select an input source, and activate Acer's Adaptive Contrast Management (ACM) feature. This bumps the contrast ratio up to 40.000 : 1, a setting that found to be way too bright for normal desktop use.

The default contrast ratio of 1.000 : 1 is much more comfortable for close up viewing. Two arrow buttons (left and right) are used to select and change the highlighted settings and also act as hot keys for raising and lowering the speaker volume. On the Scaled Fonts portion of the DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) test suite, Acer B273HU did an outstanding job of displaying Arial fonts set to 5.3 points, the smallest setting available. Each character was clear, sharp, and evenly spaced. Color quality was equally impressive swatches on the Color Scales test ramped evenly from black to the lightest shade, and there were no signs of tinting or color tracking errors.

Dark grayscale performance was also quite good. However, there was considerable compression at the high end of the grayscale, resulting in washed out light grays and a lack of highlight detail in my test photo. Viewing angles maxed out at around 160 degrees, as advertised, on both the horizontal and vertical planes. Although it is touted as a business class monitor, Acer B273HU is more than capable of handling your gaming and entertainment needs. Acer B273HU comes with a three year warranty covering parts, labor, and backlighting and ships with DVI, USB, and D-sub (VGA) cables. Unfortunately, an HDMI cable is not included in the box.

NEC EA261WM

Mounted on the lower right hand bezel are four well marked function buttons and a power switch that glows blue when the monitor is in normal operating mode and turns amber when it's in standby mode. The Menu button launches and closes the on screen display (OSD) program, while the Select button activates the highlighted selection and acts as a hot key for selecting an input source. The Reset or DV Mode button restores the highlighted selection back to its factory default setting and lets you choose one of the five preset luminance modes (Standard, Text, Movie, Gaming, and Photo).

There's also a handy four way toggle switch, which makes it easy to navigate the OSD by allowing you to move up, down, left, and right within the menus as if you were using a joystick. Once inside the OSD, you can tweak a variety of settings, including color temperature, brightness and contrast, sharpness, and speaker volume. There's also an Off Timer option that will power down the monitor after a predetermined period of inactivity. If you prefer to change these settings using a keyboard and mouse, you can do so using NEC's NaViSet utility, but it is not included in the box. Instead, you'll have to go to NEC's Web site and fill out an electronic form before you can download it.

NEC EA261WM features an ECO mode setting that, when activated, reduces the panel's brightness to 50 percent from the factory default of 100 percent this in turn reduces power consumption from 85W to 48W, as measured using a P3 International Kill A Watt meter. When ECO mode is enabled, a "carbon footprint meter," which indicates the reduction in carbon emissions while operating in ECO mode, appears in the brightness adjustment screen. For example, according to the meter, switching to ECO mode results in a 15 percent carbon footprint reduction.

The meter begins tracking total carbon savings (in kilograms) from the moment the monitor is powered up. NEC offers a Total Trade recycling service that provides credit toward new NEC products when you trade in your old equipment. Additionally, NEC EA261WM is EPEAT Gold, Energy Star, and RoHS qualified. All of this earns it our GreenTech Approved seal. If you work with multipage documents or desktop publishing applications, you'll appreciate this monitor's ability to reproduce the smallest fonts. Using images from the DisplayMate testing suite (www.displaymate.com), NEC EA261WM did an excellent job of displaying fonts set to 5.3 points (the smallest setting on the Scaled Fonts test).

Text quality was crystal clear, and every character was well defined and perfectly legible. Color quality was also very good the wide gamut panel produced rich colors without any trace of tinting or over saturation. The panel's 5 millisecond (black to white) pixel response rate offered good motion handling performance as well. When played a round of Far Cry 2 without experiencing any artifacts or ghosting, and Pixar's Madagascar 2 on DVD played smoothly and looked spectacular on the big screen. However, the monitor did not fare so well when it came to rendering grayscale swatches.

It was unable to display the lightest and darkest shades of gray on the DisplayMate 64 Step Grayscale Test, showing them as pure white or black instead. The panel's horizontal viewing angle performance pretty much bore out NEC's claim of 170 degrees, but the vertical angle was much narrower, especially from the bottom, where colors began shifting at around 150 degrees. The flaw may not be an issue when you are operating the display in landscape mode, but when you rotate the panel to view it in portrait mode the weak viewing angles offer a faded, subpar picture from either side. NEC EA261WM comes with a three year warranty covering parts, labor, and backlighting. DVI and VGA cables are included in the box, along with an audio cable, an upstream USB cable, and a setup guide.

Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50

Physically, Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 (which comes with a standard one year warranty) is typical for document scanners in its price range. It measures 8.4 by 11.9 by 8.0 inches (HWD) with the input and output trays closed, or 15.9 by 11.9 by 15 inches with the trays extended. Setup is typical as well. Set the scanner in place, open the top cover (which turns into the input tray), extend the output tray at the bottom front, install the software, and plug in a USB cable and power cord.

I installed the scanner under Windows Vista, but according to Epson Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 also comes with drivers and a full set of software for Windows 2000 and XP. Epson says it comes with drivers and a nearly full set of software for Mac OS X, as well, supporting versions 10.3.9 through 10.5x. (The document management software, however, is for Windows only.) For Windows, the trio of Twain, WIA, and ISIS drivers ensures that you can scan directly from virtually any Windows program with a scan command.

In addition to the drivers and the Epson scan utility, Epson includes an assortment of programs appropriate for a document scanner Abbyy FineReader 6.0 Sprint Plus for optical character recognition, Nuance ScanSoft PaperPort Special Edition for document management, and NewSoft Presto! BizCard 5 SE for business cards. All three are among the most common programs bundled with scanners, and all do their jobs reasonably well. Unfortunately, PaperPort SE lacks the full version's ability to index the text in files on your disk, which lets you find files by searching for words in those files.

This is a particularly important feature if you plan to scan documents to searchable PDF format and need to find the right document quickly at some later time. If you want that ability, you'll need a separate indexing program. This isn't a major issue, however, since you can download Google Desktop, with its search feature, free. The scanner itself is far more impressive than the software. Epson rates it at 25 pages per minute (ppm) for simplex scans (one side of the page) and 50 images per minute (ipm) for duplex scans (scanning both sides simultaneously) at 200 pixels per inch (ppi). I timed it scanning to PDF image files at 22.7 ppm and 45.5 ipm. That's a little slower than I expected based on the ratings which are usually pretty accurate for document scanners but still fast enough to earn lots of praise.

Canon CanoScan 5600F

Setting up Canon CanoScan 5600F is absolutely typical for a flatbed scanner. Install the software, unlock the scanner, and then plug in the power cord and USB cable. I tested the scanner primarily under Windows XP, but also installed it under Vista just to confirm that it worked. Canon says it also provides drivers and a full set of programs for Windows 2000 and Mac OS 10.3.9 through 10.5.x.

The bundled software is limited to Canon's scan utility plus ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 for editing photos, but the utility includes optical character recognition, so you can scan a document and turn it into editable text or a searchable PDF file. In addition to letting you start a scan using the scan utility, Canon CanoScan 5600F offers buttons on the top front of the scanner. The choices include Copy, E-Mail (to launch an e-mail message on your PC and add the scanned document as an attachment), and Scan (to bring up the Canon utility and let you choose where to send the scan).

There are also three PDF buttons one for scanning in color, one for scanning in black and white, and one custom button. To scan multipage documents to a single PDF file, you can repeatedly press the same PDF button for each new page, and then press the Finish button after the last page. Like most scanners, the 5600F comes with both Twain and WIA drivers, so you can scan from almost any Windows program with a scan command. (Of course, you'll have to buy any additional programs you want to use.)

That's something to keep in mind when you're comparing Canon CanoScan 5600F with other scanners. A more expensive scanner that already has the software you need may be less expensive than Canon CanoScan 5600F and the added software combined. The Twain driver gives you the choice between exceptional ease of use and control over the scan. The AutoScan mode literally handles everything automatically, letting you scan with a single mouse click.

If you prefer having some control over the results, the Basic mode gives you a few options to set and the Advanced mode adds far more, including such sophisticated choices as adjusting color saturation and balance. All three modes let you scan multiple photos on the flatbed at once, with each photo going to a separate file.

Plustek BookReader V100

Plustek BookReader V100, which comes with a one year parts and labor warranty, is a niche product. Plustek BookReader V100 says it's aimed primarily at libraries and other institutional users that may find it helpful to convert printed books into audiobooks, particularly for the benefit of the visually impaired. It could also see it being of great interest to someone with, say, macular degeneration, which leaves sufferers with peripheral vision only and makes reading difficult or impossible.

But what Plustek BookReader V100 doesn't do is convert printed books to audio so easily that it's worth doing yourself just so you can, say, listen to books while driving. In reality, Plustek BookReader V100 is a conventional book scanner (more on that in a moment) paired with optical character recognition (OCR) software to turn scanned images into text and text to speech (TTS) software to turn the text into audio. None of these technologies are new or even unusual. OCR software comes with most scanners, and TTS software has been around longer than Windows.

As it happens, Plustek BookReader V100 software uses the Nuance speech engine, which has been part of Nuance's OmniPage Pro 16 since the program was released in July 2007. That means the same feats you can perform using the V100 you also can perform using OmniPage Pro 16 with any scanner or using whatever OCR program came with the scanner plus a TTS program, which you can find for about $50. As for Plustek BookReader V100's implied ease of use that you can go from a book to an audiobook with the press of a button or two the description is right as far as it goes, but it leaves out the part where you have to laboriously scan the book, one page at a time.

The one advantage Plustek BookReader V100 gives you is that it's designed for books. Book pages won't lie flat on most scanners. They tend to lift up from the platen near the bound edge, and the scanned image shows the lines of text as curved. The best OCR software today can digitally straighten the lines to improve OCR accuracy, but book scanners avoid the problem altogether. With book scanners, the platen comes out to the edge of the scanner so you can lay the book down with one page flat and the facing side of the book hanging down along the side of the scanner.

This essentially eliminates the curved line issue, but it doesn't make scanning all those pages any less of a chore. Plustek BookReader V100 says that except for some changes in firmware, Plustek BookReader V100 is identical to the Plustek OpticBook 3600, which drives home the fact that it's simply a 1.200 by 1.200 pixel per inch (ppi) conventional book scanner. Plustek BookReader V100 measures 3.7 by 17.6 by 11 inches (HWD), with the front along the width, and the scanner cover lifting from front to back. To scan a book, you position the scanner at the edge of a desk or table, so that the book can hang down from the scanner unimpeded by the table. The platen itself is a bit larger than letter size. An eight button control panel resides on top of the scanner, just to the right of the scanner cover.

Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease

Beyond these few basics, the driver adjusts all settings automatically, like a point and shoot camera. As soon as you position the film holder, you'll see a preview of the image, and you can watch the brightness, contrast, and other settings change until the driver is satisfied it's found the best settings. When the auto adjust finishes, all that's left is for you to give the Capture command. If you've turned on the option to adjust images after each capture, you may then choose from among nine variations, including lighter, darker, and various color adjustments.

As already mentioned, the camera like sensor gives the Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease impressive speed. On my tests, the automatic adjustments typically took 6 to 8 seconds. The capture itself took just 1.9 to 2.6 seconds. As a point of reference, the Canon CanoScan 8800F is one of the faster scanners it have tested for 35mm film, prescanning and scanning one slide at 2.400 ppi in about 1 minute 30 seconds. Unfortunately, Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease doesn't score as well on image quality as on speed.

The 1.800 ppi resolution is theoretically adequate for printing scanned photos at up to 8 by 10 inches, with a roughly 200 ppi image resolution at that size. But the actual ability to resolve detail is much less than with, for example, a 600 ppi scan of the same slides with the Canon 8800F. In one landscape scene, for instance, when it enlarged the picture enough, the scan from the Canon 8800F showed a hint of individual leaves where the scan from Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease showed a solid smudge of color.

The relatively low resolution doesn't hurt the image much for printing at 4 by 6 inches, but it will make a noticeable difference at larger sizes. The automatic setting adjustment also compares poorly with the fully automatic modes in most scanner drivers. PIE is aware of the problem and is updating the driver to address it. PIE says the new driver will be available for downloading from the company's Web site, possibly by the time you read this.

The shortcomings in image quality make it impossible to give Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease Digital Film Converter an unqualified recommendation. Still, if you're the sort of casual photographer Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease is aimed at happy with snapshot quality (for lack of a better term) and not likely to print photos at sizes larger than 4 by 6 you might find the image quality acceptable, if less than ideal. Otherwise, wait for a later generation version that offers the same ease of use and fast image capture, but with better results.

Samsung SC-HMX20C

With its attractive, well rounded, capsule shaped body, Samsung SC-HMX20C looks pretty slick, but its design makes it a bit awkward to hold. The curve of the camera makes one handed operation tricky, it's difficult to keep a steady grip, since you have to slightly unwrap your fingers to reach key recording controls like start and stop and zoom. Alternatively, you can swivel the right handed grip backward to a 45 degree angle but that just makes tapping the main controls on top of the camcorder even more awkward.

There's no optical viewfinder, but the 2.7 inch LCD touch screen offers a wide viewing angle and a responsive user interface. Samsung SC-HMX20C duplicates its zoom and recording controls to the left of the display. If you use these controls instead of the ones up top, you may be able to keep a steadier grip with your right hand. Samsung earns points for compactness; the 1.01 pound camcorder measures only 2.60 by 2.65 by 5.47 inches (HWD). Like Sony's HDR-SR11, Samsung SC-HMX20C features face detection technology while you're shooting, a green box tracks faces within the frame.

In my test shots, the camera had no trouble quickly identifying and autofocusing on faces. You get a 10X zoom lens, which is standard for the majority of models in this price range, though the aforementioned Sony gives you 12X. Like most camcorders in this price range, this Samsung uses a CMOS sensor with a focal length of 6.3mm to 63mm, with f-stops at f/1.8 and f/2.8. It captures still images of up to 4 megapixels. According to Samsung, Samsung SC-HMX20C can store 3 hours 10 minutes of video at highest quality (1.920 by 1.080 interlaced at 60 frames per second).

For additional storage, there's a slot for MMC+ or SD Memory cards (card not included). Like any tapeless camcorder, playback on the Samsung is a dream. You can quickly jump between segments of video with hours between them (like skipping through chapters on a DVD). A tape based camcorder like the Canon Vixia HV30, on the other hand, forces you to rewind and fast forward, the same way you'd cue up a VHS tape.

Video recorded by Samsung SC-HMX20C doesn't look bad not, that is, until you compare it with the Canon and Sony models with the same resolution (1.920 by 1.080i). The overall color tone of video is quite dark and underexposed. Footage shot heading down a subway staircase, for example, was extremely dark and showed no detail at all. In the same shot, the Canon and Sony footage picked up shadows and small cracks in the walls.

The Canon and Sony models record in AVCHD format, which creates larger files with more video information, while Samsung SC-HMX20C records in the smaller MPEG 4 format. Samsung SC-HMX20C also has issues with purple fringing in high contrast areas a problem it shares with the Canon HV30 and the JVC Everio GZ-HD10. Purple halos outlined buildings against white clouds, and indoors, ceiling lights were outlined in purple. The Sony HDR-SR11 is the only camcorder of this bunch that showed absolutely no fringing.

Pure Digital Flip UltraHD

Pure Digital Flip UltraHD looks like the first Flip Ultra. The original's white casing has been replaced with a slicker matte black, and its gray sides have been swapped out for reflective silver. The retractable USB arm mechanism on the camera's right side is the same, but below it, a mini HDMI jack has supplanted the TV out port (although, unlike the Creative's $230 Vado Pocket Video Cam HD, there's no mini HDMI cable included). On the left side, the sliding power switch has been replaced by a button.

The rear controls remain in roughly the same configuration Record in the middle of a navigation wheel with buttons for Play and Trash on either side but have been enlarged so they're easier to press. The most significant aesthetic change here is the larger screen 2 inches up from the original's 1.5. The display is also much sharper than that of any previous Flip. The built in speaker, which runs along the top of the screen, has also been improved for noticeably clearer playback sound.

Another improvement can be found by sliding the front of the device Pure Digital has replaced Pure Digital Flip UltraHD's formerly disposable batteries with a pair of rechargeable AAs, which charge when the camera is plugged into a USB port. With the batteries in place, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD weighs slightly more than its predecessor (5.9 ounces instead of 5). The batteries take a lengthy seven hours to fully charge. The 8GB storage capacity of Pure Digital Flip UltraHD is twice that of the Mino HD, and thus yields roughly 120 minutes of HD recording.

This will likely be more than enough to get you by until the next time you're in front of a computer (especially given YouTube's 10 minute video length maximum). If not, you're out of luck Pure Digital Flip UltraHD doesn't include an SD slot for expansion. Unlike other most other HD pocket camcorders, such as the Kodak Zi6, for example, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD shoots only in high definition. (Similarly, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD only records in SD.) At 720p (1280 by 720 pixels, 30fps, H.264 compressed, MPEG encoded) the quality of video files is quite good for a pocket camcorder roughly on par with the Vado HD and the Mino HD.

But not all situations require HD, and it's nice to have the option of shooting in a lower resolution, particularly if upload times are a concern. The microphone is better than the one on the original Ultra, although it still has trouble picking up sounds more than a few feet away from the camera. Like the MinoHD, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD packs Pure Digital's basic FlipShare software, which works with Macs and PCs and offers very basic editing and direct uploading to sites like YouTube. Pure Digital Flip UltraHD doesn't offer much in the way of a built in menu system beyond its "Get Started" setting, which lets you adjust basic items like the date and camera tones.

Sony Webbie HD

The pocket sized Sony Webbie HD camera is your perfect companion, ready to record antics at a moment's notice. Not only does it record HD MP4 video that plays nicely with sites like YouTube, it also snaps off sharp, 5 megapixel still shots with ease. Cram up to 8.5 hours of HD video footage or thousands of photos on ultra small Memory Stick PRO Duo media. Sony Webbie HD comes in orange, silver and eggplant.

Canon Vixia HV30

Canon Vixia HV30's user interface is similar to that of Canon point and shoot cameras like the PowerShot SD790 IS. It's flat, uses big block text, and has only four colors. The menus are drab compared with those of the Sony and Samsung camcorders, which are projected over images on colorful touch screens in a way that gives them a 3D feeling. What's worse, Canon Vixia HV30, unlike the hard drive based Sony or JVC Everio GZ-HD10, can bog you down with its in video navigation.

You can't jump through recorded video via DVD style chapter menus, but instead need to fast forward and rewind manually to get to the spot you're looking for on the miniDV tape. For some people, though, tape based recording is preferable. If you're the kind of person who will rarely have your camcorder cross paths with your computer, then the miniDV format of Canon Vixia HV30 isn't a major drawback. MiniDV requires much less maintenance than drive based camcorders do.

When you run out of room on a tape (each one holds 60 to 120 minutes of video, depending on quality), you just slap in a new one in and you're good to go. Once the memory on, say, the Sony HD-SR11 is full, you have transfer the video to your computer before you can shoot more. Image quality in video produced by Canon Vixia HV30 was terrific. The only flaw was that, like the Samsung SC-HMZ20C and JVC Everio GZ-HD10, Canon Vixia HV30 produced images that showed a trace amount of purple fringing in high contrast areas (where ceiling lights meet dark ceilings, for example), but the fringing was not as pronounced as with the other two models.

(Sony's HDR-SR11, on the other hand, showed no fringing whatsoever.) When moving from indoor to outdoor lighting, Canon Vixia HV30 had no trouble auto adjusting white balance, so colors always looked accurate. Even though it doesn't feature face detection, as the Samsung and the Sony do, the camcorder was still quick to autofocus on faces. Images were sharp, too 0.75 inch text was legible on screen in footage that was shot from more than 10 feet away. Canon Vixia HV30 has some interesting recording options. It can capture 1.920 by 1.080 high def video in three different modes 60 fps interlaced, 30 fps progressive, and 24 fps progressive.

Thirty fps, the speed at which many TV shows are shot, is great for extracting frames from the video to use as still images. The 24 fps option simulates motion captured on film a very cool effect. In test video shot at 24 fps, the on camera motion did look noticeably different than in comparable 60 fps video. Video editing software isn't included. Canon's bundled "Digital Video Solutions Disc" is misleadingly titled at best. The software doesn't capture video, only still images. The camcorder's HDV video format, though, is compatible with many third party video editing programs.

Mac users can rely on Apple's iMovie '08 (included on newer Macs running Leopard), and PC users should turn to Microsoft's Movie Maker 6 (part of Windows Vista). The top of the camcorder houses a slot Canon calls the "Accessory Shoe." Canon branded accessories, such as lights and shotgun stereo microphones, can snap onto this slot to add more functionality to Canon Vixia HV30. You may not need an extra mic, though. Sound produced by the built in stereo recording on the HV30 was superb not as outstanding as the Sony HD-SR11's built in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround recording, but remarkable nonetheless.

ASUS EeePC 1101HA

It's basically a larger version of the EeePC 1005HA and a lot thinner than the EeePC 1000HE, measuring just 11.3 by 7.7 by 1 inches (HWD). ASUS also did a tremendous job hiding the bulk of the 6 cell battery it's practically flush with the base. The Acer Aspire One (A0751h) and Toshiba mini NB205, on the other hand, have their battery protruding awkwardly from the back. At 3 pounds flat, the 1101HA is as light as the Acer A0751h (3.0 lbs) and a half a pound lighter than the Lenovo S12 (3.5 lbs).

The 11.6 inch widescreen is what separates the 1101HA from the rest of the field. It's the same screen found in the A0751h and the Gateway LT3100 (review coming shortly), making this trio the only ones to ship with this rarity in the United States. The vast majority of netbooks and even popular ones like the ASUS 1000HE and the Toshiba NB205 use 10 inch widescreens and the drab 1.024 by 600 resolution ASUS EeePC 1101HA's 1.366 by 768 one is more desirable from a multimedia perspective. An 11.6 inch widescreen is not the biggest on a netbook, though.

Both the Samsung NC20 (21GBK) and the S12 have 12 inch widescreens and 1.280 by 800 resolutions. And it's only a matter of time before you see netbooks with 13 inch screens. Like the Acer A0751h and the Gateway LT3100, ASUS EeePC 1101HA uses a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, and this is not a coincidence. Intel is basically telling vendors that if they were to stray from the tech restrictions being imposed on the netbook market, there will be repercussions. In this case, the Z520 isn't as fast as the N280 (1.67GHz) processors found in the ASUS 1000HE, Toshiba NB205, and HP 5101.

ASUS, however, did find a solution to counter this setback. Like its previous netbooks, it includes software that allows you to over clock the processor. Using its SuperHybridEngine and if you activate the Super Performance mode, the 1101HA is essentially over clocked to 1.83GHz. It also has a battery mode that lets you conserve energy (it essentially sets the processor back to its normal clock speed. Of course, a processor can only get you so far ASUS EeePC 1101HA, unfortunately, is restricted to 1GB of memory and Intel integrated graphics.

In the Super Performance mode, the 1101HA surpassed the Acer A0751h by a mere 5 seconds in video encoding tests. Against the ASUS 1000HE and Toshiba NB205, ASUS EeePC 1101HA couldn't keep up with their faster cores, trailing them by a wide margin. A lower clocked Atom processor has its advantages, though. The 1101HA's 63Wh battery delivered a MobileMark 2007 score of 6 hours 50 minutes, placing it right up there with the Samsung N120, HP 5101, and the ASUS 1000HE.

Toshiba Mini NB205-N210

Toshiba Mini NB205-N210's footprint (10.4 by 8.4 0.8 inches, HWD) would have been roughly the size of the Samsung N120 (12GBK) (10.7 by 7.4 by 1.2 inches, HWD) and Asus EeePC 1000HE (10.3 by 7.3 by 1.1 inches) had it not been for the extended battery that sticks out by about an inch (The other two have extended batteries that protrude downward from the base). It's as thin as the Acer D250-1165 (10.3 by 7.4 by 0.8 inches) and exactly the same size as the more expensive NB205.

The glossy black plastics aren't breaking any molds, design wise, and the design even has a name Fusion Edition which Toshiba uses to exaggerate a basic In mold process (plastics infused with patterns) used in netbooks like the HP Mini 110 (1030us) and Lenovo IdeaPad S12. The money you save buying Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 instead of Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 won't get you the choice of colors (Brown, Pink, and Blue) and textures that are available with the latter. The common 10 inch widescreen is another reason why Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 is more affordable than most netbooks (It's rumored that Intel charges extra for straying from this size).

Case in point
There's a price premium for 12 inch netbooks like the Lenovo Ideapad S12 and Samsung NC20 (21GBK). This size also means that the screen is limited to 1.024 by 600 resolution, like you'd find on other netbooks with 10 inch screens such as Toshiba Mini NB205-N210, Asus EeePC 1000HE, and HP Mini 110. There areexceptions, though the HP Mini 5101 has an option for a 1.366 by 768 resolution ($25), and the Sony VAIO VPC-W11XX comes standard with it, but at a cost ($500 for the entire netbook).

Paying slightly less for Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 than the NB205 also means a smaller keyboard. The 93% keyboard isn't terrible and brings back the classic look when every other netbook is trending to those that have isolated keys. My only gripes are that the Control, Alt, and Fn keys (I'm a big Windows shortcut guy) are half the size of the main ones (adding the tilda key to the same row caused this aberration), and it pales in comparison to full size typing experiences found on Toshiba Mini NB205-N210, Samsung N120 (12GBK), and Lenovo IdeaPad S12.

Both it and Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 have the best navigating experiences on a netbook. The 1.67GHz Intel Atom N280 processor is the natural progression for netbook makers that used Atom processors in earlier products, and 1GB of memory, 160GB, 5400rpm hard drive, and Intel GMA 950 graphics are nothing out of the ordinary. That said, performance scores video encoding and SYSMark 2007 Preview ones, specifically were in line with those of Toshiba Mini NB205-N210, Samsung N120, and Asus 1000HE. There's really no performance advantages here until netbook makers make 2GB of memory standard, or include Nvidia's Ion graphics platform (for better 3D graphics).

Gateway NV5807u

Gateway NV5807u is not an eye sore, as the glossy plastics and the subtle patterns within the bluish cover are current with what's out there. Both the HP Pavilion dv6t (1030us) and Toshiba Satellite L505D-S6947 employ similar design techniques in which colorful plastics are infused with artwork a process known as in mold decoration. In my opinion, though, this design is a step backward for the company. The automotive inspired looks of current Gateway laptops like the MD7801u and TC7804u are swankier and more distinguishable among the wide range of seemingly similar products.

A small metallic piece on Gateway NV5807u's cover is about the only thing the helps the company differentiate itself from other products, which isn't much. Laptop designs, these days, are trending towards thinness and aluminum metals. Take the Acer Aspire 3935, for example. At 5.8 pounds, Gateway NV5807u is almost a pound lighter than the MD7801u (6.7 lbs). One of the keys for Gateway was to make it as light as the Dell Inspiron 1545 (5.8 lbs) and HP dv6t (6 lbs), which it accomplishes.

The 15.6 inch LED widescreen is part of the 16 by 9 movement, in which laptop screens are being designed to be like their home theater counterparts. At $600, though, a 1.366 by 768 resolution is as high as it will go. At least the 1545 and the dv6t lets you play around with the resolution, albeit at a higher price. A full size keyboard is what you would expect to find on a 15 inch laptop, but give Gateway credit for squeezing in a numeric keypad as well. The dv6 and the L505D have one as well, but not the 1545.

Although the touchpad is big and roomy, a long, thin hard plastic piece makes up the mouse buttons unusual, at first, but it didn't take me too long to adjust to the rocking motion that triggers the left or right mouse button. The features to price ratio falls in Gateway NV5807u's favor. Though it isn't a huge deal, its four USB ports are more than the three found in the Toshiba L505D, HP dv6t, and Dell 1545.

Only Gateway NV5807u and the dv6t have HDMI Out ports. The NV5807u doesn't have a storage expansion port like E-SATA, as found in the dv6t and the L505D. Not that you'll need it, though: Its 320GB hard drive has more than enough storage space for the average user. Every other feature the dual layer DVD burner, Ethernet port, a 1.3 Megapixel Webcam, and multi card reader are standard budget system features.

Falcon Northwest Fragbook DRX

This 12 pound tank is one of only a handful of boutique laptops that have enough cooling fans to run a 3.33 GHz, Intel Core i7 975 processor the top of the line desktop processor, no less. Surround the CPU with an excellent supporting cast nVidia GeForce 280M GTX graphics card, 6GB of memory, and three internal hard drives (one of which is an 80GB SSD), and its competitors can only watch helplessly while they get pulverized in performance tests.

Falcon Northwest Fragbook DRX is in essence a 12 pound refrigerator, built to cool a ferociously fast processor. Rarely does a gaming laptop cross the 10 pound barrier these days the 9.4 pound Alienware M17 and the 8.9 pound Gateway P7808u FX Edition seem like lightweights alongside Falcon Northwest Fragbook DRX. The design lacks inspiration, as the boxy plastic frame is absent of any curves, metallic accents, or fashionable LEDs.

The style of these particular frames is determined by their makers, Taiwanese manufacturers (Clevo or Compal, in this case) that sell them as bare bones frames populated with parts purchased separately by these boutique vendors. Falcon, however, does specialize in custom paint jobs. Falcon Northwest Fragbook DRX can be machine painted with any color imaginable, reminiscent of how automobiles receive their paint jobs. You can also get a custom hand painted design, depending on the request, for a hefty fee (anywhere from $400 to $600).

Dell Studio 1737

Dell Studio 1737 is an easy system to spot since it's fairly large, measuring 15.4 by 11.4 by 1.4 inches (HWD) and weighing 7.5 pounds. It's the type of system you'll want anchored to your desk, though, replacing your old desktop. The HP Pavilion dv7 (2173cl) and dv7-2170us are each only two tenths of a pound lighter (7.3 lbs) and take up just as much space. If the lightest 17 inch laptop is what you're after, Apple is the only one that offers it in the MacBook Pro 17 inch (Unibody). The 1737's looks are simple, and has a common theme seen in most Dell laptops.

You get to pick from a crop of colors or personalize your own from over 200 designs, though Staples only has a select few in stock. This configuration is draped in Midnight Blue, which is otherwise a $40 option through Dell's Web site. The 17 inch widscreen is Dell Studio 1737's most prized feature, as it enriches the movie experience and allows you to work with multiple windows while keeping eye strain down to a minimum.

At this price, though, you so have to understand what you're missing. While it's perfectly acceptable to use the aging 16 by 10 screen aspect ratio, the dv7 (2173cl) and HP HDX18t have already transitioned to 16 by 9 screens, which share a common resolution with consumer HDTVs. Dell Studio 1737 has a 1.440 by 900 resolution, but is dwarfed by the 1600 by 900 and the 1.920 by 1.080 resolutions found in the dv7 (2173cl) and dv7 (2170us), respectively. At $750, though, a baseline resolution is an acceptable concession. Alternatively, Dell's Web site offers better screens (RGB option) and a higher resolution (1.920 by 1.200), but you'll have to buy it there.

Features
Dell Studio 1737 has the most USB ports found on a 17 inch system five, with one that acts as an E-SATA combo port. And while not many systems in this price range gives you a FireWire port, the 1737 has it for those who have compatible camcorders and external storage devices. It includes an HDMI port, which is now a standard feature on media centers, and the slot loading dual layer DVD burner (is usually a crowd pleaser over the tray ejecting ones found in the dv7s. In features, there are several reasons why you're paying less than the dv7 (2173cl) and dv7 (2170us). Their 500GB hard drives are bigger, for one (although you won't hear anyone complaining about Dell Studio 1737's 320GB one), and Dell Studio 1737's Wi-Fi capability maxes out at 802.11g (both dv7s support the 802.11n standard).

Kodak Zi8

We've been messing around with Kodak's latest pocket camcorder, the Zi8, and find the shooter to be an interesting hybrid. With a flip out USB plug, HDMI out and an easily accessible SD card slot, this is clearly a "premium" mix of features for the class, but the $180 price tag keeps the device firmly grounded in Walmart friendly reality. Other odd perks like a line in jack and 1080p have us scratching our heads but in a good way. Overall, we'd feel pretty comfortable saying the footage is about the best you can obtain at this price point.

Colors are great, the image stabilization isn't a gimmick (sorry, Flip), and if you squint hard enough you can almost believe the 1080p is 1080p. Still, the camera is hampered by its cheap approach to processing and compressing the footage it's taking in despite its limitations, we'd say the iPhone 3GS is besting most cheap pocket camcorders on this front, motion just looks much more fluid. But don't take our word for it, check out a couple of video samples after the break.

Olympus E-P2

There's not exactly much in the way of specifics on either of these just yet, but the usually reliable French magazine, Chasseur d'Image, has seemingly revealed in its latest issue that Olympus will be rolling out its E-P1 followup, the E-P2, before the end of the year, and that Leica will be releasing its M8 successor, the M9, as soon as September. The real kicker is that the E-P2 is said to be bringing with it an oft desired viewfinder, while the M9 will reportedly be a full-frame camera, and presumably cost more than a small car. Of course, neither are anywhere close to being official, but it may not be the worst idea to stick with your current gear a little while longer to see how things shake out.

Altek T8680

There once was a time when a 12 megapixel cameraphone would have been laughed at, and, though many are still smirking (guilty), a reality that Altek wants desperately to be a part of with its T8680 handset. Its face looks rather like a PMP with a 3 inch WQVGA LCD, but on the back is the standard sort of 3x pop-out zoom that you'd expect on a compact shooter, sitting next to a tiny xenon flash.

It'll capture unnecessarily high resolution images while being crippled to VGA video, play back MP3 and AAC files, and tune into the Weekly Top 40 over FM. Yes, it'll even make calls, but with only tri-band GSM/EDGE support don't expect to e-mail those gigantic pictures directly from the phone. The T8680 is expected to hit Chinese retailers in about a month for 3000 yuan (about $440), and probably won't be making much of an appearance elsewhere.

MSI Wind Touch the ultimate PC Touch Screen

MSI Wind Touch is a touch screen PC housed in a monitor about the same size as 20 inch iMac.

This sleek touchscreen PC is a one stop shop all you need from web browsing, email, word processing and gaming. The menu for the MSI Wind Touch is simplistic in the most laudable ways.
you may select from Work, Tools, Fun and Web categories depending on what you want to do with it.

The icons are larger than you would find in the normal PC's so that you don't need to use your fingernails or a makeshift stylus to select functions and the responds time is just in miliseconds.


MSI wind Touch has four USB ports and also a four in one card reader. It runs on Microsoft Windows XP instead of Windows Vista but it's ready for windows 7 even with touchscreen capability.

Specification for MSI Wind AE1900.

Screen size : 18.5 inch
Resolutions : 1440 x 900 with 16:9 ratio for LCD
Storage : 160Gb / 2Gb maximum
Connectivity: 4 x USB, N Wi-Fi, Ethernet, 4 in one Card Reader, DVD Burner, 1.3Meb cam and Audio in/out.

Size: 476 x 365 x 49 mm



The MSI Wind Touch is a eco friendly as it consumes only 45watts power.

Samsung S8300

The menu of Samsung S8300 is accessible via the menu button on the touchscreen. The main menu features a 'Widgets' bar, as we are already familiar with from the latest Samsung mobile phones. Some adjustments have been made you can now press anywhere on the screen to open the widget bar. This also causes the widget bar to open unintentionally, however, for example when you try to click on a missed call.

This also makes the main screen somewhat larger than you'd expect at first, since you can scroll on through it and add more Widgets. The multi media player of Samsung S8300 is neat and straightforward the large icons are simple to use. You also have a timeline at your disposal. If you slide your finger along it, you can wind a song forward. In case a CD cover is available, it will be displayed.

Furthermore, the music player can also stay active in the background. The MP3 player Widget is then automatically placed on the main screen. The built-in speaker is excellent, although several high tones are lacking, as usual. Playing video files is also fine, even DivX. If you put an AVI file on the memory card, you will be able to watch a movie on the go. The reproduction will automatically change to full screen upon rotating the phone, which always worked fine in practice.

Furthermore, the keys will lock automatically and the movie keeps on being displayed when the phone is closed. Samsung combines a touchscreen and a numeric keypad in the Tocco S8300. Furthermore, Samsung S8300 features a GPS antenna, an 8.0 Megapixel digital camera with auto focus, HSDPA, AMOLED color monitor and an FM radio. It is the AMOLED monitor, never before applied to a mobile phone, and the combination of the touchscreen and keypad that makes this mobile phone unique.

HTC Android

It is not only noticeable from the back of the phone displaying a text 'with Google' the applications in the menu also make it clear that this phone features the Google operating system. Google Maps, Gmail, Google Talk and YouTube are all available for the HTC Magic Android mobile phone. And of course, the large search machine Widget on the main screen. The large touchscreen makes the HTC Magic excellent in combination with the Internet.

Also thanks to the support of HSDPA and Wifi, and all connections possibilities are available. Email is a matter of inserting the email address and the password, whereupon the application will connect to a server to load the settings. This is extremely easy to do; it provides access to your email in only two steps. The internet pages are well displayed, no black edges or ambiguities.

HTC Magic is the second mobile phone since the HTC G1 to feature the Google Android operating system. The HTC Magic is available in black and white. In addition to the Android operating system, this new HTC mobile phone features an integrated 3.2 Megapixel digital camera, GPS antenna, TrackBall navigation, HSDPA internet and WiFi.