If I had to give an award to a company with the coolest looking hardware, I’d definitely give it to Zalman. Obviously this is purely subjective, but Zalman’s designs are full of pure techno awesomeness (Thank you Po for that word!). It will come as no surprise that Zalman is still living up to that reputation with the new arrival of the Knossos ZM-GM4 Gaming Mouse. Looks aren’t everything though. Many hardware enthusiasts will overlook some performance and functionality if the aesthetics are just right, but this mouse doesn’t seem like it’s sacrificing either. As expected, it has numerous programmable buttons, an adjustable weight tuning system, durable Omron switches and a few more typical features; however, it’s the Transformer type feature that really grabbed my attention. The grip can be adjusted from three places to perfectly fit any hand! If the picture wasn’t enough to make this look like it belonged in a Michael Bay film, the video definitely tops it off showing full rotational views and the mechanical movements. I’m not totally sure whether this is just a new mouse release, or a Deceptacon plot to invade the homes of the world populous, but I can’t help wanting one. The style obviously won’t be for everyone. Also, without any pricing, it’s hard to determine a value. On the other hand, if you like everything on and around your computer desk to have that pure techno awesomeness flare, I’m s...

Geronimo was one of fiercest Native American Warriors known today. He led numerous successful raids, eluded capture many times, and became one of the greatest pillars in trying to preserve the Native American way of life. It seems fitting then that MSI has named one of it’s newest gaming notebooks after the tribe Geronimo came from. These deadly new instruments are powerful, while remaining super efficient, and much like the Warrior in battle, these devices plan on taking no prisoners. Please welcome the MSI GT Dominator and the GE Apache Gaming Notebooks! The phrase “Gaming laptops” almost seems like an oxymoron. Gaming brings in the sense of power draining, but laptops need battery efficiency. This leaves a delicate balance for a manufacturer to straddle because if the device is powerful, it has to stay plugged in lest it die in an hour. On the other hand, if there isn’t any useful hardware, the gaming experience suffers. This is where the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 800M series GPUs come in. If you haven’t already guessed, this is Maxwell architecture. The GTX 750 Ti already showed some impressive performance for remarkable power consumption. These mobile GPUs are primed to follow that lead so that, combined with Intel Haswell technology, a gaming experience can still have a decent battery life. If that was the only exciting thing about these laptops though, it would only be a matter of time before that became the mainstay of every gaming noteboo...

  Apacer’s SFD 25A Cloud-Based SSD Overcomes Bottleneck of Big Data Access     According to IDC research, business data storage has expanded continuously at a compound annual growth rate of 3.9%. Global data storage is estimated to expand 50 times larger at the year of 2020. Therefore, how to employ “Information Lifecycle Management” (ILM) has become a must-know in developing cloud-based storage technology and big data structure. The concept of Information Lifecycle Management is to store application system and a company’s most heavily accessed data (certain trivial operations such as searching for e-mails and updating database etc.) in the SSD with the fastest response speed as On-Line storage. The secondary information can be stored in low-priced traditional hard disks as Near-Line storage. As for backups and archives, they can be stored in lower-cost storage media, such as magnetic tapes, as Off-Line storage. Through automatizing the Information Lifecycle Management, the company can reduce over 40% of its Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The structurehighlights the balance between information value and storage costs. According to this management structure, corporate demand for storage capacity and transmission speed of SSD will be expanded gradually. For this reason, Apacer has launched a high-end cloud-based SSD – SFD (SATA Flash Drive) 25A, which surpasses SATA 2.0 interface SSD of enterprise server. With adoption of SATA 3.0 transmission in...

Introduction As we all know, digital audio has been around for awhile and is pratically a standard on most of our audio devices. Unfortunately, there are still select motherboards out there that don’t offer a digital output, so we’re stuck using an analog connection and laptops that only offer an analog audio jack. Cambridge Audio has the solution with their DacMagic XS. It’s a pocket size device that connects via any USB port and converts the audio to a digital signal.   Before we get started, let’s see what Cambridge has to say about it. Listening to music on your computer is brilliant – instant, easy access to all your digital files and a world of streaming services, internet radio and video sites. The cheap headphone output of a typical laptop or computer is simply not good enough to get the best from your headphones. The DacMagic XS USB DAC / Headphone Amp is an instant upgrade to any computer’s sound output. It connects quickly and easily to any USB port and allows you to hear your favourite music and movies with every drop of detail, exactly as the artist intended.

DirectX hasn’t seen an update for a very long time. PC gaming on the other hand, has seen some very interesting changes over the past years, but more significantly in recent times would be the Steam Machine and AMD’s Mantle technology. These two offer a direct competition to Microsoft so it’s no surprise that they’ve had to find a way to respond and quickly. Without going into too much of the speculation that’s already out, it seems that DirectX 12 may well be a direct response to Mantle technology. The Steam Machine obviously offers competition, but it also requires that games be designed to run for a Linux based OS and is less likely to fill the niche for work at home procedures. Mantle could be much scarier for Microsoft, because if game developers design to it, there could be very little need to upgrade to a new version of Windows while still enjoying peak performance from the latest AMD graphics cards. To modestly explain why this works, Mantle allows more graphics processing to go straight to the GPU rather than having to use the CPU as the middle man. Still run Windows 7? No big deal because you have the latest AMD drivers with Mantle software. DirectX 12 hasn’t revealed details yet, but if it tries to garner the same kind of performance that Mantle does, it will be easier for Microsoft to pin it to newer versions of Windows, forcing consumers to upgrade in order to keep peak performance out of their hardware. While this all ma...

Computer mice are such odd peripherals. So many variations to suit different personal preferences, resulting in a difficult time trying to guess which one is best for you. Having seen a decent number of mice in my days, suffice it to say I’ve seen both good and bad, and plenty in-between. Particular models become popular amongst users, making a name for themselves, and often taking on the established industry. One of the up-and-coming companies which seems to have a good understanding of what makes a good mouse, is Rapoo. Today we have a chance to review the Rapoo 7100P Wireless Mouse with adjustable DPI. Despite the difference in DPI, the other major difference is that this new product utilizes optical sensors rather than laser internals. This has several pros and cons, which we’ll discuss in more detail, but the overarching point to realize here is you get nearly the same mouse for less money. We’re certainly fans of getting good value, so let’s take a closer look at the Rapoo 7100P and find out if it's really is a bargain.

  Dual Swing Door Full-tower PC case – Thermaltake Urban T81     Taipei, Taiwan – March 7, 2014 – Thermaltake, being an industry leader in computer chassis, thermal solutions, and power supply units today officially releasing the new adoption of the Urban with the new Urban T81 –Thermaltake presents an update of its Urban line with the new Urban T81 – an elegant, high-impact design. Beautifully architectured, the T81 is engineered for one solid purpose: To provide enthusiasts with the ability to build the highest performing systems while retaining a simple, elegant, and commanding appearance. It is not merely a PC chassis; it is an exemplar of modernist design. Dual Swing Door Design Inspired by automotive “suicide doors” , the T81′s novel door panels are an innovative and inspired design that sets it apart from any other chassis . Likewise, the front door panel’s brushed aluminum finish masks extrusive drives and devices, producing a unified aesthetic of modern sophistication.  Fully Modular Concept A highly customizable 5.25” & 3.5” drive bay enables users to freely interchange the 3.5” hard-drive cages to suit one’s need, or remove 5.25” & 3.5” drive bays to gain maximum interior space for maximum airflow or the addition of liquid cooling systems  Sleek I/O Port The sleek, brushed aluminum I/O port section provides two of the latest SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, along with four USB 2.0 ports. The integrated fan hub and...

For those of you still running Windows XP, Microsoft would like for you to think about switching over to a newer Windows operating system. I know, XP still works just fine for many things, and still exceeds for some uses. However, come April 8th, Microsoft is ending their support for this iconic operating system. Soon, Microsoft plans to notify users of the operating system by pop-up on their desktop, providing users with a link to the end-of-support page. This page gives more in-depth information about what will happen on April 8th. Microsoft says the pop-ups will keep coming up on the 8th of every month after April, unless the message is disabled by the user. What is going to happen when support is dropped? Well, you will still be able to use your operating system just as you had been before, but Microsoft will not be releasing any more patches, system updates, or security updates. In a further attempt to persuade users to migrate to newer operating systems, Microsoft will be offering a free data migration tool to make your switch to Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 much easier. In order to provide this service to the public, Microsoft has teamed up with Laplink to produce the data migration tool named PCmover Express for Windows XP. Microsoft Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Brandon LeBlanc released this blog statement, “This tool will copy your files, music, videos, email, and user profiles and settings from your old PC to your new device, transferring a...

Razer is all about gaming hype. They proudly boast that their products are “For Gamers, by Gamers.” The problem with hype though, is that it’s usually designed to make people spend more money than they need to. Take phones for example. A new phone every two years can get pricey but cellular companies are trying to diminish that wait so consumers can have a new phone every year! When I heard Razer designed a new keyboard, I smirked a little, and when I saw the video spots, I even laughed. All I can say now is, “I have to have one!’ While the exploding key in the video might have been a little over the top, the features of this keyboard are quite mouth-watering. The actuation point distance of the keys was trimmed, making it faster to press the key, but that’s only the first juicy bit. The really interesting feature is the reset distance. The standard mechanical distance to reset a key is 0.7mm, but the Razer switch is only 0.4mm. Key spam away because this keyboard is going to know the difference between fast clicking and actually holding down the key. The other nice feature is the lifespan, showing around three times the number of keystrokes standard mechanical switches can take before breaking down. To say that I want to own one of these keyboards is an understatement. It’s true that this amount of precision is probably overkill for the standard gamer while e-sport “athletes” will get the most out these features. ...

Are you tired of continuously reconnecting cables to your laptop, but don't want to buy the specific docking station for your laptop? Or, perhaps you have multiple systems that you use daily. Personally, I run multiple systems from home and constantly switch between systems that require more then a remote desktop connection. Diamond Media has a solution for these scenarios. Introducing the DS3900 Docking station! Cconnected via a USB, the DS3900 allows you to keep your primary peripherals connected to the dock and switch over with a single cable swap. Before we get started, here's a little about Diamond.