AceCAD DigiMemo A501
Taking the concept of the Tablet PC to the budget end of the market is the AceCAD DigiMemo A501. It uses an electronic pen with an ordinary nib and a magnetic backing plate to replicate notes you write on ordinary paper.
It will take an A5 pad which slots inside and can be up to 120 sheets thick.
Alienware Area-51M 7700
Alienware are fairly new to Australian shores, but for any PC-addict it's been hard to avoid their familiar little-green-men styling on the internet where Alienware cases are extremely popular among case-modding and PC-styling communities. They're finally here now, and the Area-51m 7700 is the first product through the PC Authority Labs doors.
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
In the performance stakes the 3200+ came up trumps, finishing middle to top of the pack and clearly cementing itself as a solid performing processor for home, office or pure entertainment.
AMD Athlon 64 4000+
The creme de la creme of Athlon 64 products, the 4000+ is a socket 939 CPU with all the bells and whistles. This bad boy clocks in at 2.4GHz, features a 1MB L2 cache and 2GB HyperTransport memory interconnect to work in conjunction with its on-die memory controller.
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55
The FX-55 is AMD's top performer. It's a 2.6GHz beast that will eat through current and future games and applications. Its architecture is based on that of the FX-53, which in turn was based on the first generation FX-51, and AMD has come a long way in bringing 64-bit to the desktop.
AMD Sempron 2600+
Despite the processor industry being driven for so long by the now dispelled 'Megahertz Myth', AMD's budget conscious 1.833GHz Sempron 2600+ CPU put in an very good showing.
Brother MFC-620CN
With a performance reflecting its relatively lower price, the Brother didn't score as well in most printing tests. The photo print in particular took over four times longer than many of the other printers, and its quality was inferior in comparison. Text quality was also poor, particularly on the smaller 6pt font where visible banding occurred.
Canon Pixma MP780
It doesn't seem likely that one device could be all things to all people, but the Canon PIXMA MP780 is the closest thing we've seen yet. It has a feature set that would leave few wanting, and is capable of professional results. Not only that, but this is by far the quickest inkjet in this roundup.
CPU Roundup
If your PC is less of a speed demon and more of a dinosaur then it's time to upgrade your CPU. We put the latest low, mid and high end processors to the test.
Epson Stylus Photo RX630
Epson has gone all-out on their digital photo flagship -- it has eliminated all office-centric features to deliver an enthusiast's juggernaut with film scanning, a six colour ink-tank, and plenty of memory card slots.
HP PhotoSmart 2710
Digital photography is gaining in popularity, and the features offered by the HP PhotoSmart 2710 are designed to cater to this: PictBridge, a large colour screen and on-printer photo editing. The HP is the most expensive machine here, but isn't geared to one particular market or another.
Intel Celeron 2.4
Synonymous with cost effective CPUs, Intel's Celeron has carved a market for itself by producing products which are reliable and boast something many others cannot – interoperability. This has been achievable by producing products that work with the same socket 478 pin configuration found across the entire range of processors.
Intel Celeron 2.6
While the Celeron's history is dotted with major successes, like the legendary Celeron 300A and overclockability, the name has remained a budget brand. Comparatively the CPU lacks features, with only 128KB of L2 cache to AMD's 256KB.
Intel Pentium 4 2.8E
When Intel announced the production of 90nm products over a year ago, the most obvious change was the move to double the existing 512KB L2 cache to a full 1MB of on die memory. This simple transition added more performance than some of the minor clockspeed increases to date, and made the Prescott a household name.
Intel Pentium 4 3.73EE
While AMD has been waving hybrid 32/64-bit CPUs for some time now, speculation has risen over when Intel would unleash their product onto an already expecting market. Here it is, Intel's newest addition to their Extreme Edition clocking in at an impressive 3.73GHz and boasting a 2MB L3 cache.
IrDA Keyboard Switch
PDA sales are flattening, and have been for some time, but it doesn't mean that the sector's dead. Smartphones have their place and are increasing in sales in Australia, but they can't always offer the power or flexibility of a good PDA.
Lexmark X7170
A Lexmark multi-function device, the P6250, won our last photo printer roundup, so the expectations were high for its big brother, the X7170. Unlike our Labs Winner, this machine is definitely targeted at the business market. For an extra $100 premium, the machine adds office-oriented functions such as faxing, a copy feeder and a better scanner. It's also noticeably larger than its brethren.
Multifunction Printer Roundup
You don't have to settle for printer that just prints. PC Authority tests six of the latest all-in-one devices.
Panasonic X700
Much like the PC and component market, mobile phones have a product lifecycle that changes so rapidly it's hard to keep up. Panasonic has stayed with their tried and true clamshell design, first made popular by the GD88 and continued with the X700. This handset turns their previous generations upside down, offering Panasonic's first smart phone based on Symbian OS version 7.0.
Samsung SCX-4100
It wasn't too long ago that mono-lasers by themselves cost over $500, but now that colour lasers have dropped in price, mono-lasers, too, have shuffled down a peg. Samsung has delivered a laser printer with a decent scanner for a very low price. It's a SOHO device, but without some of the features associated with that, such as faxing and document feeders.
ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 8
Getting your PC to meaningfully accept voice commands or dictation has been a benchmark for futuristic computing since time immemorial. Dragon NaturallySpeaking (DNS for short) has been a leader in the field for some time now, and is rapidly becoming devoid of competition.
Sitecom Wireless PC Lock
The tightest firewall and administration system is all for naught if an employee walks away from their PC without locking it up.
Top 100 web secrets
We've searched every corner of the web for the most useful (and useless) sites you've never seen. Download free movies and music, find the cheapest shopping sites, get a degree, make money, walk on Mars and much more.