After my recent experience with External Hard Drives, which I discuss below, I was happy to get the Seagate FreeAgen Go. It has a very good track record, and I was previously happy with my Seagate drive. I sometimes need to transport large files with me when traveling and taking around media files. After my extensive experience I just decided to buy it online instead of my bad luck with stores in Kuwait.
Recent Drives:
I have been through a few external portable drives and a lot have been disasters. I originally had the Seagate from 2004 and it lasted with me for about 4 years before starting to act up. So I bought a SimpleTech hard drive which is abundant in Kuwait, after a week it started acting up and it would hang during transfers so I returned it. I knew from a lot of people that the Western Digital External HDs were having problems and I even recovered data from two crashed WD Portable HDs. I bought one anyways to see my luck, and it wouldn’t transfer anything that was bigger then 1GB, so that was useless and I returned it. And the last one I tried was the Maxtor Portable HD which only hung for a few seconds during transfer which wasn’t too bad compared to my earlier track record. Even though Seagate and Maxtor are one company they are running completely seperatly.
Link: Amazon
Price: $112
After all the developments behind Windows 7 they have anounced the shipping date which is good news. I’m planning on building a system but not sure how it will work for Windows 7 or if I should wait. The best thing they said is that if it works for Vista, then it will work for Windows 7. Its meant to load quiet a bit faster with a lot better features, and more stable from off the bat. This is what Windows Vista should have been, and I’m really looking forward to trying it out.Â
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Link: Gizmodo
The Mini 1000 comes in several configurations, but the basic model starts at $400 and comes with Windows XP Home Edition. You can choose between an 8.9″ or a 10.2″ display, 8GB or 16GB SSD or a 60GB HDD. The stock model has only 512MB RAM, upgradeable to 1GB (for an extra $25), and although the webcam is standard, Bluetooth is not — HP will swap out the Wi-Fi (801.11g) card for a combo Bluetooth/Wireless g version for another $25.
At last HP has switched over to the Intel Atom, the Via processor from before was a little too slow for my liking. I loved the quality of the HP MiniNote and this looks the same, so hopefully it will perform as good as it looks this time around, and he price is very reasonable as well. Too bad they don’t have it upgradeable to 2GB Ram, I’m going to wait to see the reviews on this machine.
Link: UnCrate
Abusive use of my machines over the past year and a half I have reached some limitations with them. The one machine which is handling all the tasks is the ArmorJr, and its doing it quite well but I use it for every day use as well as day to day use, but it does have some limitation with its interaction with the other machine due to speed. I’m planning to build a machine meant for applications and can handle multiple processes and the prices of a lot of parts have dropped dramatically. My main bottle neck currently of the machines is its network capabilities as well as handling multiple processes, but there is only so much you can expect from a mid-level equipment. I have even taken a few parts from the Maximum PC’s recent Dream Machine 08.
The Specifications:
- Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bit or Windows 7 64 Bit and Windows Xp Pro 64 Bit
- Ultra X-Blaster Mid-Tower
- Intel D5400XS
- 2x Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 CPU
- 8GB Corsair FB-DIMM
- POWERCOLOR ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional
- 2x WD 300 GB Velociraptor
- Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W
- LG Super Multi Blue GBW-H20L
I have seen some computer case mods in my time, but this one takes the trophy. Runway lights on the top for the raptors, the laser cut BSG emblem in the front and you can see the disc spinning. The small LCDs so you can see the radar system and whats going on. Its nothing short of an amazing effort, and probably the best I have ever seen, I’m still in awe of this case. From the looks of it, its going to take off, check out the videos after the break.
The Specifications:
• EVGA nForce 590 SLI motherboard
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ CPU
• Two EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS graphics cards in SLI
• 4GB (2x2GB) Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red DDR2 800MHz
• Cooler Master 850W modular PSU
• Pioneer slimline slot loading DVD drive
• Logitech G15 keyboard and G9 mouse
• IZ3D 22″ 3D monitor
• Western Digital RaptorX 150GB HD (x2)
• Swiftech pump, blocks
• Black Ice Stealth 360 radiator
• PC Ice clear fluid
• Primoflex red tubing
• 10″ LCD
• 2.5″ LCD (x3)
A lot of companies have tried to come up with the Mini-Computers after the huge success of the EEPC which is a good balance of price and performance. Sony did make a small laptop PC but it also did cost around $2500 which is ridiculous in my opinion but these new PCs have decent performance with very reasonable price, and all ranging from $400 to $750 depending on options. I have tried a few of them for a decent amount of time and I own the HP 2133, and this is the ranking that I have given based performance and size.
- MSI Wind (10 Inch Screen)
- Acer Aspire Once (8.9 Inch Screen)
- Asus EEPC (10 Inch Screen)
- HP 2133 (8.9 Inch Screen)
It seems the 1TB mark has been broken at last and Seagate is first in line. I’m always happy when they make higher capacity drives, but it seems there are a few drawbacks regarding this new hard drive from Seagate. First off the bat it runs a little hotter then most drives, when other 1TB drives run at 29-34C, this drive runs at low 40s. Then there is the case of speed, it does have 32MB Cache which is needed for something of that size, but its a bit on the slow side. Overall I think its good progress but I’m going to wait for some more reviews a few people have said that this is a casual drive and not something to be used all day long. But for the price its really a great bargain for the amount of space.
Link: Newegg
This video was shot with a pre-production Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR. The files used to create this video were not manipulated in any way, only re-compressed for ¼ resolution display on our website. To view Vincent Laforet’s comments and behind-the-scenes video on the making of REVERIE, please visit his blog
With the release of the new Canon 5D Mark II it seems people are making a flurry of videos, but nothing compares to the work of art that Vincent Laforet has made. Words can’t really describe the quality of the short film or the beauty of it. After watching this amazing short film check out the behind-the-scenes video.
Link: Canon
Link: VincentLaforetBlog
I’m always on the lookout for good high definition movies and recently there have been a few good ones. First off I don’t think anyone can get enough of Iron Man, its just such a damn good movie. Then there are the other movies which are a must have.
- Iron Man 720p
- Gone In Sixty Seconds 1080p
- Robotech Shadow Chronicles 720p
- Rush Hour 2 720p
- Sex And the City 720p
- The Fast and The Furious Pack 1080p
- War Inc 720p
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall 720p
- Madagascar 720p
- Thr Bourne Collection 1080p
Logitech always comes out with interesting keyboards and this is part of their slimeline. Its a full-size keyboard, transparent frame, PerfectStroke key system, soft-touch palm rest, multimedia controls, and of course the backlit keys. I would really like to get my hands on this and try it out.
Link: UnCrate