In The Zone

In The Zone

Logitech Z103 2.1-channel Speaker Set: Standing On The Set Of Scales

littlelion | 01 October, 2009 14:08

In the light of the overflow of multimedia content nowadays, it is hard to imagine how consumers, like us, can enjoy them without good quality audio. Hitting the streets, stores brandish their monstrous 5.1- and 7.1-channel surround sound systems at an upmarket price. So in the midst of the towering speakers, there are the unassuming 2.1-channel speaker systems that offer decent performance without breaking the bank. One of them, the Logitech Z103, went to our scrutiny.

The Z103 is dressed in black with silver highlights, and sports a modern design that can suit to any style of its surrounding environment. Its subwoofer, a wooden enclosure geared with a 4-inch down-firing driver, is compact and stable enough that it can be placed on the top of a regular desktop tower. The whole speaker system weighs about 5 kilograms. In our observation, what makes it a bit heavy is the subwoofer’s enclosure. Snaking from it is the control pod in which the power button and volume knob are placed. The bass control is placed on the back of the subwoofer, along with the 3.5mm jack where the supplied satellites should be connected. The jack is also compatible with headphones. The satellite units come with 2-inch concave drivers and are relatively light. For specifications, check them out after the cut.

WD My Book, My Passport And SmartWare Launch: External HDD Array Extended

littlelion | 29 September, 2009 13:45

In 2000, the first commercial USB flash drive had a scant storage capacity of 8 megabytes. Today, you can buy a 256 gigabyte USB flash drive in simple terms. The big leap took less than a decade. Mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) took more than 50 years to reach 256 gigabytes. Certainly, USB flash drives and other flash-based external storage devices are fast becoming more advanced than ever before.

WD My Book Essential

But in spite of this rapid development, external HDDs remain popular among consumers, mainly because they are less expensive than their non-mechanical counterparts. Nevertheless, manufacturers such as Western Digital (WD) are working zealously to make external HDDs not only price-attractive, but appealing in terms of physique, storage size and features. WD realized that way of thinking by unveiling their latest line of My Book and My Passport HDDs, along with the new SmartWare software.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 Digital Compact Camera: Singing In The Rain

littlelion | 24 September, 2009 14:52

No one, not even the drizzling rain can stop us from testing handheld devices in the outdoors, especially digital compact cameras. Like kids fed up with staying indoors during a showery afternoon, we went outside and enjoyed playing around with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290, not without our good old umbrella of course. We just saw an ideal occasion to see if the camera can get nice photos, in spite of the wet and partially gray atmosphere.

But before we proceed to the actual outputs, let’s start off with the product itself. The W290 belongs to the W series of Cyber-shot cameras, a lineup known for their wide angle lenses and textured coating. Hence, the W290’s Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens has a focal length of 5 - 25mm (28 - 140mm), along with 5x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom. The body is chiseled with fine concentric lines that add to the camera’s looks and improve grip for users, but the other side of the coin is that the lines could easily trap dirt in between as well. In any case, the lines are too fine that one would hardly notice the blemish.

HP Managed Print Services: Clearing Out The Clutter Of Document Management

littlelion | 22 September, 2009 13:53

Without doubt, Hewlett-Packard is among the top brands which almost every consumer could easily relate with printing. Such a premise is no longer surprising, taking into account that HP printers are nearly as ubiquitous as a sheet of paper. This is what we are seeing at the consumer base. But what most of us are probably not aware of is that HP has also achieved that similar level of omnipresence at the enterprise plateau. For this reason, the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) of HP is taking the enterprise business segment seriously.

In the Asia Pacific and Japan region alone, the IPG has slated several solutions in the pipeline to cater to the needs of the enterprise market in terms of document management. These were unraveled and discussed in full detail during the recent regional press conference held by the IPG led by Mr. Bruce Dahlgren, Senior Vice President for Managed Enterprise Solutions (MES); Mr. Chris Morgan, Senior Vice President; and Mr. Pierre Mirlesse Vice President for MES.

ECS P55H-A Black Series Motherboard: Mainstream Precisely Defined

littlelion | 17 September, 2009 16:49

The Intel Core i5 launch which was held at The Establishment last week was not only witnessed by the local media, but also by delegates from major motherboard manufacturers, namely ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte. Nonetheless, another interesting spectacle that we spotted was the showcase of motherboards that are based on the Intel P55 chipset. The said chipset has been making noise at the same intensity as the Intel Core i5 processor for the past few months.

The introduction of the Intel P55 chipset is in line with Intel’s campaign of making the Nehalem architecture more reachable for the mainstream market. Among the P55-basedmotherboards that we caught sight of during the Intel Core i5 launch, the ECS P55H-A Black Edition, is anticipated to be one of the less expensive alternatives available.

Canon Future Nation Launch: Seven New Digital Cameras In One Big Blowout!

littlelion | 11 September, 2009 14:29

We are still far away from COMDDAP, but one of the fair’s major showstoppers, Canon Marketing Philippines, already gave us a glimpse of what to anticipate at their booth this year. After creating some noise in the South during the Davao leg of COMDDAP 2009, Canon focused again its forces in Manila, staging the event dubbed “Canon Future Nation” at Whitespace a couple of days ago in Makati City, in which a total of seven new digital cameras were officially unveiled.

Canon Marketing Philippines President and CEO Mr. Ramon Arteficio made his cordial welcoming remarks amid the members of the press. And who are those guys on stage? Dressed in flashy costumes, they embody the futuristic theme of the affair.

Audio-Technica ATH-SJ3 Monitor Headphones: Bass Is Not Everything

littlelion | 08 September, 2009 15:51

The Audio-Technica ATH-SJ3 is a pair of monitor headphones that bears a resemblance of the AKG K 416 P. The latter made appearance at the Reviewed section of HWM Philippines last April. Likewise, the ATH-SJ3 looks like a crossbreed between a circumaural and a supra-aural type of headphones. The hinges that link the earpieces to the headband allow users to neatly fold the set in similar fashion to AKG’s 3D-Axis mechanism.

But unlike the K 416 P, the ATH-SJ3 has an economical build which makes it very portable but delicate. It is entirety almost made up of plastic, whereas the 1.2 meter-long cable snaking from the earpieces feels a bit frail. The cable ends up with a gold-plated 3.5-mm stereo connector. Each earpiece is covered with a soft, replaceable padding that gently rests against the ear.

Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216 SP 1792MB Graphics Card: Customized Cooling A La Palit

littlelion | 03 September, 2009 16:36

NVIDIA’s attempt to make its midrange portfolio and eagerness to trim down the popularity of AMD’s ATI Radeon 4800 series gave rise to the birth of two other versions of the GeForce GTX 260 GPU. More or less a year ago, the GPU giant came with the GTX 260 216SP, which differs from the original GTX 260 by means of stream processor count. The former has 192 whereas the latter has 216, just as what its moniker openly suggests. Three months later, another GTX 260 216SP had surfaced, still with 216 stream processors, but based on the 55nm fabrication process. Its predecessor is a 65nm chip.

With these offerings joining the fray, NVIDIA has been able to put the Radeon 4800 series in check in some way. The turn of events became a bit more favorable for the Green Team, when its partners brought into being incarnations with customized coolers. Palit arrived on the scene on time with the GTX 260 Sonic 216 SP.

Creative Aurvana DJ Circumaural Headphone: The DJ Is In The House

littlelion | 01 September, 2009 15:33

Creative Technology has been known to most of us as one of pioneers in the PC audio market since the early days of Windows. During the 1990s, the Sound Blaster, Creative’s label for its line of audio cards, was considerably the de facto standard. At the end of the past decade, the company became a major competitor in the portable media player (PMP) arena when it had introduced the NOMAD, under which the MuVo and ZEN sprang out. Eventually, Creative launched the Aurvana lineup of earphones and headphones.

One of the members of the Aurvana’s band of audio gears is the Aurvana DJ, a circumaural headphone, which according to Creative and as what its name aptly suggests, is designed for club DJs and home studio mixers. Given such types of audience, we can clearly see here that the DJ is intended for those who have above-average sensitivity when it comes to sound and music.

ASUS AT3N7A-I NVIDIA Ion Mini-ITX Motherboard: Ionized Do-It-Yourself HTPC, Anyone?

littlelion | 27 August, 2009 14:15

Since its official release, news and reviews about the NVIDIA Ion platform have been circulating around the Web for quite some time. For that reason, we are expecting that you already have a grasp of what the Ion platform is. In print media, HWM Philippines has a review of the first Ion PC, the Acer AspireRevo.

The Acer AspireRevo is clearly intended for those who want a miniaturized HTPC on the spot. But how about for those who are planning to take the do-it-yourself path? No problem. Ion-based mini-ITX motherboards have already reached the mainstream market as options. Banking on the popularity that the Ion platform is currently enjoying, ASUS jumped into the bandwagon and came up with the AT3N7A-I mini-ITX motherboard.

Huntkey X7 900W Power Supply Unit: Modular Design Inside And Out

littlelion | 25 August, 2009 13:36

A couple of months back at Computex, Huntkey introduced their three new lines of power supply units (PSUs), namely the X7 series, Balance King series, and Pop Power series. Among the aforementioned, the X7 series is visibly intended for advanced desktop users, with models having a minimum output power rated at 800W. There is also the 900W model, which we picked as the subject matter of our feature today.

Similar to the enthusiast-grade PSUs that we had met before, the packaging of the Huntkey X7 900W PSU is relatively substantial.

JVC Sophisti NX-D7 DVD Compact Component System: A Breath Of Fresh Air

littlelion | 20 August, 2009 14:34

After more than a month of waiting, your patience has finally paid off! If you can remember, we promised last month that we will be having a “honeymoon” with one of the JVC products that was recently launched locally. Fortunately, our friends from JVC Philippines listened to our plea, allowing us to spend some intimate moments with the flagship offering of the JVC Sophisti NXD Series of DVD compact component systems, which is the NX-D7.

Sharing similarities with its relatives, the NX-D3 and NX-D5, the NX-D7 possesses the most prominent feature of the Sophisti NXD Series which is the Slant Style Design. In our opinion, this design decision is relatively innovative in a sense that it makes the NXD Series stand out among the multitude of boxy and old-fashioned component systems out there. According to JVC, the slanted design does not only touch on the aesthetic aspect but also tackles the technical facet for better sound reproduction. In spite of the slanted design, the drivers of the main speakers are vertically aligned to produce sound all at the same time.

2.4 Times The Printing Advantage: All Thumbs Up For Original HP Inkjet Cartridges

littlelion | 18 August, 2009 14:14

Over three months ago, HP Philippines, through the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG), had invited us to a press briefing in which the company made a comprehensive discussion about the value that users, individual customers and business owners alike, can gain from making use of original HP ink cartridges. What was important about the said meeting were the meaningful figures that HP showed us, drawn from the recent study that they held in collaboration with QualityLogic.

As if their target audiences were still unconvinced about the magic that original HP ink cartridges can bring, HP carried out another valuable study, this time, working in partnership with TÜV SÜD PSB Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based firm specialized in product testing, inspection and certification services, and has a sterling record of over 30 years.

ASUS Eee PC T91 Touchscreen Tablet Netbook: Touching New Heights Of Seamless Computing

littlelion | 11 August, 2009 20:48

Recollecting some of the highlights that took place at Computex, we remembered the battlecry of ASUS which clearly revolved around the philosophy of seamlessness. During the affair, ASUS brought such a bright idea to fruition by throwing in a myriad of products that are not only beautifully designed, but are made to simplify the way how we interact with computers. ASUS allowed us to experience their seamless technology by sending us the ASUS Eee PC T91.

As what you can expect from an offering hailing from the Eee PC product line, the T91 stays within the confines of a netbook, espousing an 8.9-inch LED-backlit display and being powered by an Intel Atom processor. However, take into account that the version of the Atom employed here is the Z520 (1.33GHz) which features 2-issue simultaneous multithreading. The T91 is based on the Intel US15W chipset which means that it makes use of the discreet Intel GMA 500 for graphics processing.

MSI X-Slim X340 Notebook: The Procession Of Ultrathin Laptops Goes On!

littlelion | 06 August, 2009 13:30

As early as the second quarter of this year, MSI has been working hard campaigning for the X-Slim X340 notebook. To recall, its debut at CeBit in Germany was followed by product launches in major cities in Southeast Asia such as Bangkok, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur. Manila got the chance to catch the X-Slim fever as well, through a series of road shows that were staged with the backing of MSI’s local distributor, NetEssentials.

After the hype, it’s now our opportunity to take a closer at the X-Slim X340. Inevitably, the X340 is one of the ultrathin notebooks that you can find in the market to date. Measuring 1.98cm at its thickest point, the thinness of the X340 is pretty close to that of the Apple Macbook Air which measures 1.94cm. The X340 is also ultralight, weighing 1.3kg, a bit lighter than the 1.36kg Air.

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