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Of mice and men
A
t around this time every year, the first tech magazine (in the world, probably) to
the festival season rolls around. give away Hollywood blockbusters on DVD, the
Starting in October and running a first to offer a CD magazine, and the first to start
little into the new year, these few including a free book (Fast Track).
months see an increase in activity Every month, from here on, in the form
by vendors and manufacturers. of Digit TV we’re going to give you as much
Everywhere you go you’re bombarded with video content as we can, and try and share the
discounts, special offers, and other catchy and knowledge and expertise that we are privileged
innovative alliterations that all basically say the to receive. Like Digit 3.0, Digit TV will also
same thing — buy me. evolve based on your feedback, so make sure to
The consumer electronic and personal send us some.
technology segment specifically, sees entire This month, Digit TV is dedicated to buying
product ranges being refreshed, older stock guides, across multiple categories, to help you get
being sold off at rock bottom prices and out of the confusing maze and make informed
buzzwords flying about like nobody’s business. decisions because you actually understand the
For the everyday buyer, this amounts to being underlying technology, instead of just parroting
Robert Sovereign-Smith, Editor
stuck in a maze of choices, with no clear what people tell you. Plus, since it’s a video DVD,
indication of what’s good, what’s value for you don’t need a PC to view it — just pop it into
money, and what isn’t. any DVD player.
You and I alike, spend the few precious We also have a web exclusive, in the form of a
holidays we get with our families at the local PMP test online at thinkdigit.com, so we haven’t
electronic mall, gawking at all the goodies, forgotten our online patrons either.
listening to all the sales pitches that every mall With three more DVDs (Work, Play and
employee is only too eager to subject you to, Learn), all of you should have enough multimedia
getting more confused by the minute about which content for every aspect of your life that
to buy. technology covers. There are a tonne of prizes to
So how do we go from feeling like the little be won everyday of October, so make sure to find
white mice that are made to run mazes in labs, the contest page inside.
to informed customers? Reading and surfing Last month, our career webinar generated
helps, but everything you’ll find online is usually a lot of interest, so we’re going to make sure
outdated in months, and sometimes weeks or you get more of the same from here on — again,
days during festival season. All of us can Google details inside.
for reviews and comparisons, visit sites like I want to stress, however, that all of this
thinkdigit.com, or read magazines like Digit for comes to naught if you don’t share feedback
information, but is that all we need? with us about the initiatives we’re taking. There
Every month, from Although we offer you the best information are two things I’d like to make sure of: one, that
here on, in the form of possible by rigorously testing products, to help we continue to share knowledge, and two that
Digit TV we’re going you get value from every last Rupee you spend; it’s we stay relevant by understanding your needs.
still not enough. As I said last month in this space, So make sure you write in whenever you have
to give you as much we’re not as committed to imparting information something to say.
video content as we as we are to sharing knowledge. It’s the same
can, and try and share reason why today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s
the knowledge and cupboard lining, but this issue of Digit will
expertise that we are command a long shelf life in your home.
Over the past few years we’ve seen
privileged to receive video become the desired form of, not just
entertainment, but learning as well — the spike in
video content online is testament to this. Some
of you will have noticed that we’ve been carrying
videos that have been made completely in-house
by Digit over the past few months. Although this
is still in a teething phase, and know we have a
long way to go, we decided to launch “Digit TV”.
This is another in a long lists of “Firsts” that Digit
has done over the years. editor@thinkdigit.com
For those of you don’t remember, Digit’s other
firsts include the first magazine in India to include
DVDs, and later the first to dual-layer; we were
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 1
October 2009 • Volume 9 • Issue 10
Managing Director Sales and Marketing To advertise
Dr Pramath Raj Sinha VP Naveen Chand Singh
Printer and Publisher Product Manager Navneet Miglani South East
Kanak Ghosh Business Manager Chandan Sisodia Vinodh Kaliappan Jayanta Bhattacharyya
Publishing Director Assistant Brand Manager Arpita Ganguli
Email: vinodh.k@9dot9.in Email: jayanta.bhattacharyya@9dot9.in
Asheesh Gupta Marketing Communication
Thomas Varghese Mobile: +91-97407 14817 Phone: +91-93318 29284
Co-ordinator, Scheduling, Phone: +91-80-2554 6370/73 +91-33-2231 7344/46
Editorial MIS and Ad-sales Aatish Mohite
Editor Fax: +91-80-4151 8330 North
Robert Sovereign-Smith West Pranav Saran
Production and Logistics
Editor-at-large and Online Architect Sr. GM - Operations Shivshankar Hiremath Sachin Nandkishore Email: pranav.saran@9dot9.in
Ahmed Shaikh
Production Executive Vilas Mhatre Email: sachin.m@9dot9.in Phone: +91-93126 85289,
Head - Copy Desk Logistics M P Singh, Mohd. Ansari,
Nash David Mobile: +91-99203 48755 +91-11-4160 8655/56/57/58
Shashi Shekhar Singh
Writers Phone: +91-22-2437 2214/19 International
Aditya Madanapalle, Circulation and Subscription — Sales Fax: +91-22-2448 2059/1123 Navin Chand Singh
Siddharth Parwatay
GM - Circulation Milind Prabhughate Email: nc.singh@9dot9.in
Test Centre Co-ordinator Vijay Mhatre Mobile: +91-99013 00772
Manager - Test Development and Customer Service Prerana Panchal,
Sourcing Michael Browne
Manager - Testing and Processes
Vrushali Londhe, Pushpa Mahar, Shabana Advertisers' index
Shariff
Rossi Fernandes Client Page No Kingston 17
Reviewer Kumar Jhuremalani Abacus 13 KYE-Genius 3
Trainee Reviewer Rohan Naravane Customer Service:
Airtel Back Cover Leo Securities 129
+91-22-4078 9612/13/14
Design AOC 39 LIC 109
Creative Head Kabir Malkani Asus 19, 47 Lipap 133
Art Director Rohit A Chandwaskar Head Office: Editorial, Marketing Bank Of India 11 Map my India 37
Lead Designer Vijay Padaya and Customer Service BSNL 9 Mitashi 55
Senior Designer MV Sajeev Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd CareerNet 93 RX Infotech 137
Illustrators Shrikrishna Patkar, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Chip Tech IT 43 Sagarmatha 153
Chaitanya Surpur D-link Inside Front Cover Sandisk 31
Sr. Photographer Jiten Gandhi Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station),
Navi Mumbai 400 703 Dell 5, 83, 89 Spice Jet Inside Back Cover
Multimedia Phone: +91-22-4078 9666 Ebay 72, 73 Sun Microsystems 21
Project Head Robert Sovereign-Smith Fax: +91-22-4078 9540, +91-22-4078 9640 KG Hosting 159 Topgun 75
Content Head Aditya Madanapalle Kingmax 27 Transcend 25
Cover Design Jayan Narayanan Cover Photography Manas Parekh
Tell us what you feel about Digit Products reviewed this month
Each month, Digit walks through the technology maze to Bazaar........................48 ASUS K40IJ ASUS Rampage II Extreme
bring you the most relevant, and the most researched Cooler Master Elite 334 ATi ASUS K50IJ ASUS Rampage II Gene
Radeon Edition Cabinet ASUS U6 Bamboo ASUS Striker II NSE
stories. If you have an opinion about anything published
Sony Walkman NWZ-W202 ASUS UX30 Biostar G41D-M7
in Digit, or about technology in general, please write to 2GB Dell Adamo Biostar TA785GE 128M
editor@thinkdigit.com A-DATA Nobility NH92 250GB Dell Studio XPS 1340 Biostar TA790GX A3+
External Hard Drive Dell Studio XPS 1640 Biostar TPOWER I45
Product testing Acer F900 Smart-phone Gateway ID 5801 Biostar Tpower X58
Want your product reviewed by Digit? Seagate Barracuda LP Gateway NV48 DFI UT X58 Lanparty
Contact our Test Center at ST32000542AS 2TB HCL Z39 ECS A785GM-M
testcenter@thinkdigit.com Western Digital Scorpio Blue HP EliteBook 2530P ECS A790GXM-A
500GB HP ProBook 4410S ECS G41T-M2
Software on DVD APC Back-UPS RS 550 Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 Gigabyte EP43T-UD3L
To submit and suggest software for CoolerMaster NotePal Color Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 Gigabyte EP45-UD3R
inclusion in Digit DVDs, write to Infinite MSI GX620X Gigabyte EX58-Extreme
dvd@thinkdigit.com Epson Stylus TX550W MSI X400 Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U Sony Vaio VGN-SR46GD GIGABYTE EX58-UD5
Help! Linksys WRT320N Sony Vaio VGN-Z48GD Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H
For subscription or copy-related issues, Samsung Jet Digital Camera test.....80 Gigabyte MA785GPMT-UD2H
send an e-mail to help@thinkdigit.com Samsung Marine Canon Digital IXUS 100 IS Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P
Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H
Endorsements / reprints Philips GoGear Mix 2 GB Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS Intel DX48BT2
Interested in ordering article reprints, Apacer AU380 MP3 player Canon PowerShot A1100 IS Intel DX58SO
or using our logos? Contact SatGuide P360 Canon PowerShot A480 Jetway HA07 Ultra
reprint@thinkdigit.com VU 40-inch Intelligent TV Canon PowerShot SX120 IS Jetway I43GM1-HG
LTV-40i Canon PowerShot SX200 IS Jetway PN78VM2-LF
Business enquiries Gigabyte GK-KM7500 Fujifilm Finepix A170 MSI 790GX-G65
For any business-related enquiries, contact iPod Shuffle Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR MSI G43M2
business@thinkdigit.com Sony A330 DSLR camera Fujifilm FinePix J27 MSI K9N2 Diamond
Laptop test.................62 Fujifilm Finepix S1500 MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum
News and new product launches Acer Aspire 3810T Nikon Coolpix L20 MSI KA780G
To announce new product launches, and press releases, Acer Aspire 4736 Nikon Coolpix P90 MSI P43 Neo3
email us at pressrelease@thinkdigit.com Acer Aspire 5536 Nikon Coolpix S220 MSI P45 Diamond
Acer Aspire 5738G Samsung ES55 MSI P45 Neo2
Disclaimer: For every Digit contest, there will be only one winner, unless Acer Aspire 5738Z Motherboard test........90 MSI X48C Platinum
specified otherwise. In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final. Acer Aspire 5810T ASUS M4A78-HTPC/RC MSI X58 PRO
Printed and Published by Kanak Ghosh, for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. C/o KPT House, Plot Alienware M17x ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO MSI X58M
41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400 703 Apple Macbook Air ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO XFX 790i Ultra
Editor: Sujay Nair, C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Apple Macbook Pro 13” Asus M4A79T Deluxe XFX X58i
Navi Mumbai 400 703 Apple Macbook Pro 15” ASUS Maximus II Gene Zotac GeForce 8200
Printed at Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, Plot No. A, 403, MIDC, TTC Industrial Area, Apple Macbook Pro 17” ASUS P5Q Premium Zotac 790i Ultra SLI
Mahape, Navi Mumbai 400709 ASUS F82Q ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi @n Zotac nForce 780i SLI
ASUS G50 ASUS P6T Deluxe ZOTAC X58
2 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Contents
Enter
8 Inbox
Readers’ Letters
12 Industry Connect
Bala Parthasarathy, MD (APAC) – Snapfish
14 Buzz
HP’s DreamScreen, Microsoft’s open source
initiative and more
Connections
24 Web Watch
From anonymous browsing to Monopoly,
insights into your world online
Digital Life
32 Drool maal
36 Tech Treats
Groovy gifting ideas for Diwali
Welcome to Gizmoland Sci Tech
y through all the
th
Find your way thro gh al the product
dis oun
discounts
un
n Diwal
releases, offers and discounts this Diwali 40 How stuff Works
Flash drives and their working principle
explained
44 How stuff Works
Get to know how LCD panels and the newer
LED TVs work
Toolbox
Workshops
106 Anonymous Browsing
108 Backup your drive using Paragon Drive
Backup
110 Make your own font using your
handwriting
4 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Contents
Tried and Tested
113 Tips and Tricks 120 products tested
•Microsoft Office 2007 48 Bazaar
Acer F900
•Ultra Explorer A-DATA Nobility NH92
•YouTube
•Google Cheat sheet 16
page
250 GB
Epson Stylus TX550
•Windows 7 Special And many more...
and more...
130 Q & A
Your questions, our answers
Street smart
138 Agent 001
The best gaming and HTPC casing and power
supply options
62 Laptops
142 Price watch Dell Alienware Mx17
The latest prices for your reference ASUS Bamboo U6V
MacBook Pro
Esc And many more...
146 Pimp my gadget
Personalise your precious gadgets
Game Reviews: 80 Digital Cameras
150 Batman: Arkham Asylum A total of 16 digital cameras were
tested in the Digit labs this month
152 TRINE
154 G.I. Joe: The RIse of Cobra
156 Unwind
158 Community
Young Indian Innovators 90 Motherboards
More than 50 motherboads
Enter benchmarked from all
18 The smallest categories
of innovations pile
up today to create
tomorrow’s world.
www.thinkdigit.com/d/pmp_test
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 5
DVD Contents
Digit Video Tutorials
Gaming Astronomy 160
3Dstudio Max
Video Games
• Counter Strike
• Anarchy Online
• DVDFlick
A Sci-Fi MMORPG
• Foobar2000
• Ashes 2009
• Pictomio
• Darkest of Days
• Quake3 Arena
• Mini Ninjas
• Windows Movie Maker
• F1 Racing 3.2
• Omega and the End of the
Tips & Tricks
Game Trailers Universe
• Last.fm Scrobbler
• Assassin’s Creed II • Dark Matter
• Subtitle Workshop4
• DiRT 2 • Dark Energy, the Accelerating
• ManicTime
• Kingdom Under Fire II Universe and the Big Rip
• Productivity Meter
• Mini Ninjas
• TimeSnapper Professional
• Spore Hero Introduction to
Computer Science
Educational Tools
Casual Games • Binary Numbers, Programming
• Stellarium 0.10.2
• Orbital Snake Languages, Working in Linux,
As an intelligent robotic “snake- and Programming in C
ship”, pick your way through • Secure File Transfer, Variable
abandoned space stations, Types, and Arithmetic Operators
feasting on scraps of debris • Standard Input Functions,
Boolean Expressions, and Loops
• Candy World Adventure The
Fate of Lillians Tome I 1.01 Game Theory
• Creatrix • Introduction to Game Theory
• Advanced Pathway Painter
Entertainment • Draw Fire 1.0 • Putting Yourselves into Other
• Asynx Planetarium 2.5
Music • Duck Dodgers 1.0 People’s Shoes
• BoneLab 1.0.2.46
• Universica • Fire And Ice 1.0 • Iterative Deletion and the
• DeadLine 2.36
• CIA • Germy Roundup 1.0 Median-Voter Theorem
• Flash Card Factory 1.0
• Last Spring • HangARoo 2.052
• FreeMind 0.8.1
• Looking for a Way Out • Mario Remix 1.0 Aircraft Systems
• Geometry 2.8.2
• Namouche • Mystery Island II Engineering
• GraphCalc 4.0.1
• Occidente • Orbital Snake 2.0 • The Origins of the Space Shuttle
• Guitar Chords 2.2
• Galaxy • Ultimate Sonic 1.0 • Space Shuttle History
• MaxType Lite Typing Tutor
• 100 per cent Rush • Yetisports Gore 1.0 • Orbiter Sub-System Design
• MB Brain Teasers 1.10
• Mind Asylum • Zelda Forever 1
• Power Tab Editor 1.7
• Nights and Days
• Rapid Typing Tutor 2.9.6
• 7 Improvisations Screensavers
• Science Data Reference System
• Quiet Life Vol 3 • Free Fire Screensaver
• Scratch
• Binary Mind • The Matrix Screen Saver 1.11
• The MagicBook 7.0
• Amazing Bubbles 3D Screen-
• Virtual Morse Key 2.5.39
HD Trailers saver 1.2
• Voca 4.3
• Art & Copy • Licking Dog Screen Cleaner
• WordWeb 5.52
• Inception Screen Saver 2.0
• World Wind 1.4.0
• Legion • Don’t Touch My Computer Epi-
• WorldWide Telescope 2.2
• The Blind Side sode 2 1.22
• Zero Spelling 5.0
• The Fourth Kind • Sim Aquarium FreeTank 2.6 Operating Systems
• The Wolfman • Matrix Trilogy 3D Code Screen- Qimo
Videos
saver 3.4 Qimo is a desktop operating
TED
Videos • Distant Suns - Grand Tour 3D system designed for kids. Based
• Adjustable liquid eyeglasses
• Lego Star Wars Screensaver on Ubuntu, Qimo comes pre-
• Happy design
Experience the Star Wars uni- • Digital Talking Parrot installed with educational games
• Nature’s designs
verse in lego animation • The Amazing Spider-Man 3D for children aged 3 to 60
• Digging up dinosaurs
Screensaver
• Engineering and evolution
• The Space Travel Screensaver 1.0
• Militant atheism
• Super Mario World Screensaver 1
• “Mathemagic”
• Super Mario Kart Screensaver 1
• How technology evolves
• Flight over sea 3D
• The world’s deepest caves
• Aquarium
• Wiring a web for global good
• Dolphins and Whales
• Wireless electricity
• Batman Begins 3D
• Faux nostalgia
• 6 Days • Electric Sheep 2.6.6
• Gumbasia • Rain Cast 2.0
• Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs • gPhotoShow 1.6.3
• Piece • Moonlight City 1
• Tanzanian love story • Living Marine Aquarium
• The Crossing Guard • Dream Aquarium 3D
• The Forest • Pac-Man
• Perfect Runaway 1
6 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
DVD Contents
Tools Productivity • Atlantis Word Processor
Multimedia Enterprise • Text Suite Pro with M
ArcSoft Total Media 3.5 Go-00 3.1-10 Player 1.1 3.5.5530
A media hub that combines TV, Go-OO is an • PolyEdit Lite 5.4
video recording, photo editing, OpenOffice. • Jarte 3.3
and media conversion in one org fork that • CrossLoop 2.51
easy-to-use program. You can features • Effective Meetings 1.7.5.4
watch and record TV shows, edit faster load • EZ-Format for Excel 7.2
photos or video, listen to music, and response times, and several
rip CDs to MP3 and much more. features not included in the Developer
It’s everything you need packed standard version of oOo • Bat To Exe Converter 1.5
in one versatile and easy-to-use • Corel WordPerfect Office X4 • WinPenPack Flash Web
application • Express Accounts 2.08 • Open Xava
• Orange HRM • 3D Developer Studio
• Microsoft Office Accounting • Web CEO Free Edition
Express 2009 • Silverfrost FTN95 5.30
• BillQuick Lite 2009 • B*Gallery 3.2.1
• PortableApps Suite • PersonalWebKit 3.3
• inFlow Inventory Software • ActivePerl (Windows) 5.1
Free Edition 1.2.3 • JAlbum 8.4.1
• OpenOffice.org Portable • PHPTriad 2.2
• Microsoft OneNote 2003 • MoreMotion Web Express
• Adempiere ERP • AceHTML Freeware build
• ZWCAD 2009i • SmartDraw 2009 52 • Bloodshed Dev-Pascal
• Jamstix 2.5.2 • OroTimesheet 6.12 • KompoZer 0.7.10Nvu 1
• PDF Studio 6.0 • OrgPlus Professional 8.0 • PageBreeze HTML Editor
• Delcam Exchange 6.0 • EasyBilling 2.6.1 • Ghost Installer Free
DIGIT TV
• OSG Composer CAD 1.2.1 • SurveyGold 8.0 • CSE HTML Validator Lite 10 Visual Buying
• DV Mixer Pro 1.5 • 4ASoft Agenda 9.01 • Web Dwarf 2.5
• Photo Pos Pro 1.72 • Label Flow 4.3 • MyGeneration 1.3.0.3 Guides
• Real-Draw Pro 5.2.3 • Nitro PDF Professional • Hex Edit Free 3.0F • Mobile Phones
• Flash Effect Site Builder Platinum • OneStep Accounting Standard • JCreator LE 4.50.010 • HDTVs
12.06 Edition 4.0 • Source Edit 4.0 revision 3 • Cameras
• Pazera Video Converters Suite • ProShow Producer • SiteGenWiz 1.5
• PhotoShine 3.2 • PDF-XChange Viewer • XMLBuddy 2.0.72
• PMPs
• Avant Media Player 3.4 • Proteus Lite 6.7 • Notepad++ 5.4.5 • External Storage
• JetAudio Basic 7.5.4 • PDFCreator 0.9.6 • HTML-Kit Build 292 • Laptops
• Ultimate Business Plan • PHP Designer 2007 • Netbooks
Internet • Business Functions 1.52 • Install Creator 2 build 28 • Camcorders
• LuckyWire 1.0.0.2 • Project Engine Personal • WordPress 2.8.4
• TomTom Home 2.7.0.1785 • Ultra Hal Text-to-Speech
• Graphic Cards
• CoffeeCup Photo Gallery Reader 1.0.5 Mac • Motherboards & CPUs
• Hermes P2P 3.0 • 3S Accounting 3.2 Artlantis Studio
• P2P Rocket 1.4 • ReadPlease 2003 1.1 Artlantis Studio is the fastest
• SmartFTP Client 3.0.1043 • Microsoft Project 2000 Update stand-alone 3D rendering
• DAP 9.6 SR-1 9.0 application developed
• TVTrigger 1.1 • RationalPlan Project Viewer especially for architects and
• Memeo Send 1.0 3.15.1 designers
• Advanced OPC Data Logger • Netpas Distance 2.5 build • NeoOffice 3.0 Patch 7
• Meteor Share 2.3 • Fleet Maintenance Pro Deluxe • Google SketchUp
• FrostWire 4.18.1 11.0.0.21 • MacJournal 5.1.4
• TubeMaster++ 1.2 • Volutive Free Invoicing & • Blender 2.49b
• Hulu Downloader 2.3.8.21 Inventory 1.3 • Cenon 3.9
• TurboFTP 6.00.735 • Health and Safety Manager Lite • Hoecker-Plot 0.8.1
• Web Site Maestro 7.6 Edition • Art of Illusion 2.7.2
• Email File Transfer Protocol • Speak 1.8.84 • Paintbrush 2.0.1
Server 1.0.1.3 • CyberCafePro Client • Geo3D 2.5.8
• BookmarkAssistPro 1.2.2 • Buyertools Reminder
• VDownloader 1.0 • Smartworks - Project Operating Systems
Planner Reader 1 • React OS
System • FreeOCR 1 • Ultimate Boot CD
• OPTIsend Print 2.6.1 • OmniFormat 7.9 • Back Track
• CrashPlan 7.27.20009 • Auction Sentry Standard
• Hulbee Desktop Standard • PPPCD 1.51
• SilverFast Ai Epson 4870 • Abdio PDF Reader 5.4
• eWriterPro 2.0 • Label Designer Plus Deluxe
• SilverFast Ai - Minolta 9.5.0.1
• eDocPrinter PDF Pro 6.48 • 101 Clips 9.02
• Moo0 RightClicker 1.31 • Digital Dictation 7.5
• Photocopier Expert 6.59 • DoneEx XCell Compiler
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 7
Catching more fish Microsoft going open source?
Enter Inbox 12 Bala Parthasarathy, MD -
Europe and APAC, Snapfish 14 To find out more, read Buzz for technology
news doing the rounds
u I have been reading Digit DVD with the virus updates
for the past 3 years but is another source for false
this is the first time I am positives. Anti-Virus software
writing to you. You are doing with poor registry matching
a great feat by publishing mechanisms, is liable to flag
this magazine every month. perfectly innocent software as
I heartily appreciate your being infected. This is likely to
efforts. Yours is the best tech happen when any source with
magazine in India. I have read a large number of software
other magazines, but I find interfaces with the computer.
yours the most fascinating. I We download the contents of
have a few complaints and I the DVD on secure machines,
hope you would take care of from reputable web sites,
them: and scan the contents before
1. Your idea of providing burning. We suggest that you
Unboxing Videos is very report the false positives to
good. But the videos your Anti-Virus provider.
themselves look very of five years I have few how it is presented. If you Aditya
amateurish. Sometimes the suggestions such as please like tech contests, flip over to
camera goes out of focus. provide big fonts and make page 141 for a chance to win u Thanks for this issue.
Sometimes the presenter’s the fonts darker and I beg loads of prizes over the course I think of ‘more’ you guys
face is visible reflecting on you to do this because the of this month. You will have provide ‘more and more’.
the polished surfaces of font now is making too to answer one tech question Web awards just made
the products. Sometimes stressful to read the article a day. There must have been surfing more easier. Face
the video gets blurred and and when referring “readers some freak mix-up with the recognition technologies
it gets unstable. I didn’t letters section” in Digit for database, and you are the first just stole my heart. CPUs
expect such quality from past few months I noticed and only casualty thus far. were good priced, better
you professionals! complaints about fonts to Medic! performing and best tested.
2. Please change the DVD be changed but the problem Robert Thanks for Tips and Tricks
interface. It is boring. still persists! I suggest you on Browers. Netbooks were
3. Please provide a stable to provide fonts as in August u I bought the latest awesome and cheap. I agree
version of Digit Software 2008 issue... September 2009 issue. I with Editor’s view on WWW.
Archive as soon as possible I also want you to had the DVD containing It just gave all information
(one like the 2006 bring back sections like Graphics Applications Pack but made everyone lazy.
version). “crossword” and “take a virus checked through Avast It just like spoon feeding.
4. In the Price Watch crack” which are really Digit’s and it reported the presence Thanks for reviews on
section, the pictures unique features and it makes of a Virus in your DVD. I am Wolfenstien. Digit has
of the components are zero cost to bring back in sorry to inform you about tested almost everything. I
mismatched with the text Digit. I was shocked to see this Virus. Your DVDs were of think it is time to go bigger.
in the previous versions. Digit Reader’s Meet held at use till now. Now I am afraid Can you guys test different
Please take care of that. Coimbatore because since my of them. Please render service OSes please? Please can
5. And finally, I want to know hometown is Kangayam for to society by providing Virus- you provide Fasttrack on
the name of the person past five years. I’m studying free software. languages like Fortran,Cobol
who deals with the Agent in Coimbatore only. I also N.S. etc. Can you please revist the
001 section. I want to registered at “Digit reader’s Gaming Special issue? I will
congratulate him for those meeting at SMSGUPSHUP The “Customization” section eagerly wait for next issue.
brilliant recommendations. referring coimbatore only” in the DVD is responsible Mayur Gaikwad
Keep up the good work. but the meeting was held for the virus alert. Some of
L. Chandrahas without me! the software (eg: bbclean) The Fast Track to Freeware
Sathiya Moorthy are explorer.exe shell had a big comparison of the
Thanks for the feedback. I replacements for Windows. different distros. Testing
hope you’ll like the ones we’ve We are constantly striving As many viruses start by OSes does not make sense
given this month, and we will to improve our content, and disabling explorer.exe, because of the suitability
continue to improve. some anti-virus for each of these OSes. Each
Robert applications flag OS is meant for particular
the software as purposes, and it is not
u The September issue was a virus. This is really an apples to apples
really great right beginning known as a false comparison. We do include
from the Editorial strongly positive. Anti- developer related content
supporting “Understanding Virus software in the magazine, try out the
comes from challenges not with very Developer section on the
the ease offered by info at sensitive heuristic Work DVD.
fingertips” was excellent scanning will Rossi
and the cover story about flag a number of
“Web awards 2009” also viruses on the u In June 2006 I got my
remarkable. As a reader DVD. The other first Digit only by accident.
8 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Inbox Young Indian Innovators
A Digit initiative, and platform to recognise Feedback
18 the contribution of innovative Indians in the
field of technology
Let us know your feedback at
www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09
Since then I never missed any LETTER OF THE MONTH
issue. At that time I didn’t
have PC at home. In 2007 I u I am a long time admirer and reader of definitely going into my all time favorites. It
brought PC and then as you Digit and am glad to say a very satisfied one was prepared and presently in such a manner
said somewhere in Digit Fast at that. Over the years I have seen Digit evolve that even a novice like me could get the most
in accordance with the current technologies, from it. I would like to extend my heartfelt
Track, installed Windows
the specific needs of the existing scenarios and gratitude to the entire team at Digit for a job
XP as its Free in India just
most importantly the views of its readers. This superbly done.
like Linux. I used all those
has made Digit my (and I am sure many others) I wish the entire team best of luck for the
great softwares (free in India future and keep up the fantastic work. I’m a
best choice for a complete and satisfying
only), many cracks, tricks. technological review. big fan.
But during that time Digit The introduction of Fast Track was another Syed Faheemuddin
was only magazine who milestone innovation from Digit. Comprehensive
made me to use freeware and Compact, it gave us readers an in-depth
and stop using those other knowledge of a particular topic every month. Thanks for the vote of confidence; it’s always
Free softwares, by giving By far, for me, Digit has always been in the nice to get positive feedback.
alternatives to all proprietary forefront of its genre with Fast Track backing Robert
softwares, and telling the it up adequately. Digit has continued to
importance to use of it. deliver the goods this month too, especially www.thinkdigit.com/d/pmp_test
Finally in June 2009, three the Web Awards and the articles on various
years after my first Digit, I web browsers, but this month’s Fast track
completely removed Win XP, was absolutely fabulous. The “Fast Track to
Photoshop, CorelDraw, Media Wireless Technologies” blew my mind away. It
encoders and many others from has answered every question I ever had about
my hard disk and also from wireless technologies especially mobile phones.
backup CD and installed Linux It was very helpful and informative, and it most
MINT 7 GLORIA from June
09 DVD. Credit is only yours.
Thanks a Lot. Last month it the web awards. I am using First burn the contents of Indian culture and it is
was a great issue for new bee Windows Vista home basic. a .iso file to a CD in case of still thriving.) Please print
like me in the world of Linux. Now i want to use Linux. As a live distro such as Moblin, the Month of publication
I was very happy. But what I am new to all this can you Android, or in this month’s in Big fonts at a particular
about this issue. Completely just help me out. I want to case, ReactOS, BackTrack or location, say at the right
disappointing. Nothing is there. use both Linux and Vista Qimo. Place the CD in the DVD top corner and print it
Not a single software, or even a simultaneously. Can I install drive, restart the computer there itself at this fixed
article related to Linux. I know Linux over Vista? Please and hit [F12] to load the Live place for every issue. Make
you’ll say there is gOS, Moblin provide sufficient information CD. The distro should boot in, the life simple and reduce
but in 16 GB it’s nothing. You along with setup for Linux. and usually you can install the time wastage .
are again tempting me to try I also faced problems in distro if you like it using a GUI 2. Bring back the old Digit
all that 16 GB software stuff using distros such as Moblin installer from the desktop. To Archive search, the job
by installing Windows xp. I and Android. I dont know dual boot a distro, go to Start of a novice is not worth
am thinking that do I made how to use them. I think you > Run > discmgmt.msc finding a place in your
mistake by shifting to Linux. I should provide sufficient on your Vista system, and SW. Have you not tried
don’t have internet connection literature to use softwares use the GUI to create around before offering theis to
at home. Its very difficult to you provide with DVD. I 2 GB of free space - more if your readers? Readers are
install any new software and also want to make partition you plan to use the Linux finding it useless.
update system. What about in my hard disk. Is there distro regularly. Then, when 3. Avoid printing in too
the “Digit Software archive”. any software like partition selecting a target partition for small a font size. Those
Please give it, the original not magic for Vista. Please cover the Linux installation, choose who wear specs or having
V2. Sun Virtual Box was also wireless mobile bradband the partition you just created. visual impairments find it
for windows platform and services in your issue. I am The last issue’s Tips and Tricks difficult to read.
what about me. I think you still waiting for a detailed section has a detailed feature Thank God, you have
are biased about OSes. Please article on windows 7. walkthrough of Moblin. Thanks discontinued printig Digit on
give some more space to Open I want to thank team digit for writing in. glossy paper.
peoples also. BTW you are from bottom of my heart for Aditya It is surprising how these
great. All the best. doing great work. There is escaped consideration of a
Pravin Vibhute no doubt that you guys are u I have a few complaints: person of Information society.
amazing. I am very excited 1. You have stopped printing RS Bhattacharya
I am yet another fan of about October issue. Fast track Month of Publication on
Digit. One thing I like most is superb and is of great help DIGIT Cover. Is there any Digit should be bought
about Digit is diversity in to ones with non-technical reason for that ? This gives when relevant, regardless of
content. With each issue you backgrounds. I am very a chance to the sellers to the month. The archive is
get information about lots of impressed by your fight against dupe a customer. (The on it’s way back, and we’ve
things. Your september issue piracy. I am doing my level culture of troubling and made some changes in the
is awesome. Content in the best to promote it. Keep it up. cheating each other in font. Hope you’ll notice the
DVD is also great. I think Rohit Tripathi round robin fashion is differences.
you wasted a lot of pages in Kanpur rampent now a days in Robert
10 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Industry Connect Web awards DreamScreen
Read Digit’s September 2009 HP’s latest photoframe with social
issue for options on photo printing networking capabilities, internet radio and
and all the best web sites around media player
Catching
more fish
We spoke to Bala Parthasarathy, Managing
Director – Europe and APAC, Snapfish, Hewlett-
Packard on its plans for the Indian market.
Nash David
nash.david@thinkdigit.com
What has Snapfish planned for India in the near future?
Anyone who has been keeping a close watch on the online
photography space in India would acknowledge that Snapfish
has etched out an enviable success story within its inaugural
year in India. With a robust economy despite the meltdown, upgrade and enhance our product and service offerings. Hence,
an unprecedented internet penetration rate and the express we have a mechanism on our web site through which customers
globalisation of the Indian consumer, Snapfish had always can share their feedback.
envisioned an all-digital-photography landscape for India. We
indeed have ambitious growth plans for the Indian market that
What is unique about Snapfish that you expect users
comprises business alliances, interesting product integrations
to be drawn? Especially with Google Picasa and Yahoo
and emphasis on product innovation in order to deliver
Flickr for storage and numerous others allowing print,
distinguished service to our customers.
what is Snapfish’s USP?
We have recently launched the Snapfish application on two
of the latest imaging phones by Sony Ericsson – C903 and Being one of the early players in the industry, Snapfish has been
C510 Cyber-shot. Both the phones come with the pre-installed an integral part of the industry evolution for over a decade.
Snapfish application, which allows users to click pictures Hence, Snapfish is in the best position to understand and
and directly upload them on www.snapfish.in from the phone. address the needs of the digital consumer today and is therefore
Moreover, the application also allows users to order prints of the leading player in the online photography space globally.
their pictures and get them delivered at their doorstep. We Further, operating under the aegis of HP we have been able to
have also partnered with eBay India, the leading eCommerce scale down our costs considerably. We don’t anticipate any
marketplace in the country, in our attempt to enrich the major competition since we offer the best quality products at
user experience of the online shoppers by offering them the the best price and also have the largest array of products in the
convenience of uploading and sharing their memories as well as online photography space comprising over 25 photo products.
creating personalised products instantly. Some of our popular products include greeting cards, canvas
prints, collage posters, photobooks, collage photo mug and
photo calendars.
Tell us more about your print labs and how you deliver
prints to the end user?
We have state of the art photo printing labs that house HP’s Tell us some interesting consumer trends in the recent
Indigo, Design Jet and RPS printers. We have tied up with past. How do you see consumers responding in the near
leading logistics companies to have the orders shipped to future?
anywhere in India.
Never relying on the crystal ball, Snapfish has always taken
cues from consumer and market research data in order to
Is the model for Snapfish India specific to India or does predict future trends. With the handset industry witnessing a
it follow the global HP network? mega pixel explosion, camera phones are becoming the digital
Snapfish follows the same business model globally. cameras of the future and the number of people relying on their
camera phones to click spontaneous pictures is bewildering.
Moreover, the basic premise of our business is to help people
What do consumers do if they are not pleased with the
share, print and store their photos no matter what type of
print quality?
gadgets they use to click pictures. Hence, we have already
As part of the HP family, impeccable print quality is in the started work in this direction, initiating interesting partnerships
Snapfish DNA. All the photos at Snapfish are printed using with handset manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson for
printers and have a shelf life of over 100 years if kept exposed Snapfish application integration into their phones. This would
and over 200 years if they are kept protected in an album or in address the needs of the digital consumers who have already
a glass-protected photo frame. However, consumer feedback is started looking for ways to integrate the click, share and print
very valuable to us as it gives us an opportunity to continually phenomenon into a single device.
12 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Pehle aap Small is beautiful
Buzz The internet is buzzing with rumors
that the Sony Ericsson Xperia 3 will be
LG has introduced a new nettop – XPION
X30 which is based on the NVIDIA ION
available in January 2010, and might platform and is priced very competitively
be out before even the Xperia 2 at approximately Rs. 23,500
While most such services Their new foundation it
HP DreamScreen automatically generate distorted
letters, making them difficult for
anyone but a human to discern,
seems is an effort to get more
commercial companies to
participate in open source
brings Facebook, wireless media and Pandora to reCAPTCHA goes about it ventures. As they state on their
differently. FAQ page:
any corner of your home With reCAPTCHA, every time “We believe that commercial
H
P has launched a you prove that you are a human software companies and the
new PC-companion you are effectively helping the developers that work for them
media player, the process of digitising printed under-participate in open source
DreamScreen, documents. Instead of using projects.”
which connects easily to a better and better algorithms Sounds familiar. Isn’t that
wireless or wired network to to generate better distortions exactly what Microsoft did with
bring photos, music and video which can only be recognised its own open source submission?
into any area of the home. The by humans, reCAPTCHA As taken from the blog of a
screen also transforms social instead uses portions of scanned Linux kernel developer about
media and web information documents which failed to Microsoft’s Hyper-V kernel
into consumable, bite-sized get recognised by the OCR drivers code submission:
HP’s DreamScreen
pieces. (Optical Character Recognition) “Over 200 patches make
Before moving on into the Systems Group, HP. “With HP algorithms used to digitise it. up the massive cleanup effort
press release, here’s our own DreamScreen, social media, Many times these can easily be needed to just get this code
bite-sized piece of what you need web services and digital recognised by humans. into a semi-sane kernel coding
to know: It comes in two models entertainment can be enjoyed in With the support and style (someone owes me a bit
with 10-inch and 13-inch screens more areas of the home.” resources of Google behind bottle of rum for that work!)
respectively, has 2 GB of built-in The HP DreamScreen features reCAPTCHA, it is possible for the Unfortunately the Microsoft
memory, touch-sensitive controls a piano-black design with a project to reach an even higher developers seem to have
on the frame, Wi-Fi connectivity, vibrant, flush glass widescreen gear. With all Google services disappeared, and no one is
USB ports, memory card reader, display. The DreamScreen 100 using reCAPTCHA, and with answering my emails. If they do
built-in speakers, a 3.5-mm (measuring 10.2 inches) was more resources from Google to not show back up to claim this
audio jack, and a remote control. designed to fit perfectly on a make reCAPTCHA more easily driver soon, it will be removed in
The software available includes nightstand or dresser. The HP available and implementable, it the 2.6.33 release. So sad...”
Snapfish for photos, Pandora for DreamScreen 130 (measuring is bound to see an increase in The open source community
internet radio, Facebook, a media 13.3 inches) is ideal for kitchen adoption. is one of instant feedback and
player and a clock as well. counters and coffee tables. Projects such as Google continuous change, where
Books and Google News Search projects continually get forked
already use reCAPTCHA to help and die out. Microsoft just
To read the complete story visit
in digitising a great volume of jumped into the deep end of the
http://thinkdigit.com/d/67432/
scans of old books, magazines pool.
and newspapers. Word by word, Their new foundation is
Without further ado, here’s g
Pricing and reCAPTCHA aims to digitise a aimed to be an organisation
the full press release from availability large part of past documents much like Mozilla, Gnome and
HP: The 10-inch HP DreamScreen which right now only exist in KDE, however one which caters
People now can stay current 100 is available today in the print, making more and more of to a much broader spectrum of
with Facebook friends and United States for $249 (Rs. our history indexable, searchable, software projects.
photos, listen to Pandora 12,000 approx), while the and accessible to a greater public. Another citation from their
Internet radio, share Snapfish 13-inch DreamScreen 130 is FAQ, which seems almost
personal photos and enjoy their expected to be broadly available Microsoft unveils new satirical, Poe’s law could have
music and pictures from home later this year for $299 (Rs. open-source initiative come in here:
networked PCs(1) with a new 14,500 approx). If you can’t beat them, join “Specifically we aim to work
category of connected screens them! with particular projects that can
from HP. The HP DreamScreen, g
Google acquires Seems to be the new Microsoft serve as best practice exemplars
a companion to the PC, connects reCAPTCHA strategy. After coming to the of how commercial software
easily to a wireless or wired reCAPTCHA, another one of spotlight recently for donating companies and open source
network to bring photos, the internet’s most innovative around 20,000 lines of code to communities can effectively
music and video into any area projects in now in Google’s the open source community, (to collaborate.”
of the home. The screen also grasp. help Windows run on Linux The cojones! While the
transforms social media and web Not only is reCAPTCHA virtualisation platforms), they foundation does include
information into consumable, an effective device for security have now started a new open members of the open source
bite-sized pieces. against spam, it also manages source foundation CodePlex, not community, it is questionable
“Constant, always-on access to accomplish a mission, to to be confused with their open how much experience Microsoft
to friends, information and convert a large volume of printed source code sharing web site of could possibly have gained about
entertainment is a common literature to text. the same name. collaborating with open source
expectation today,” said Satjiv communities during its singular
S. Chahil, senior vice president, To read the complete story visit code dump which it failed to
worldwide marketing, Personal http://thinkdigit.com/d/15767/ maintain.
The new Samsung Omni PRO B7330 will come with Windows Mobile 6.5 OS The Samsung Star S5233w will launch in India with WiFi; will cost around Rs. 12,000
14 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
A new hope The affordable quad
Buzz Star Ocean: The Last Hope was a game that was
launched for the Xbox 360, but will now see the
AMD has released the first of its kind sub $100
quad core processors. The Athlon II X4 620
light of day on the PS3 in Feb 2010, as it was and 630 are 45nm manufactured quad-core
announced by Square Enix, the developers processor, previously codenamed Propus
Indian govt plans cheaper, the sound quality is also with it accounting for a mere XrossMediaBar and head over
to block all Internet much better. The government 16.2 per cent. to the videos section to watch a
telephony for security could work out an agreement Out of all the statistics, the movie.
purposes with the main players in this only one which caught us off This feature could be
Cheap international calls over regard. Consumers should not guard was how dominant Orkut especially handy for games with
VoIP (Voice Over Internet suffer as a result of government’s was. We had no doubt that it checkpoints that are too far and
Protocol) may soon be a inaction,” Mukhi added. would be the market leader, but few in-between. We have also
thing of the past for Indians The jury is still out on the the amount of share it has is found ourselves sometimes
as the Intelligence Bureau has necessity of such an extreme staggering, considering how few wishing for a feature like this
asked the premier telecom step. On the one hand, the people we know who prefer it to when travelling in a crowded
body, the Department of important of security cannot Facebook now. train. As playing the game
Telecommunications (DoT), to be taken lightly any more Apart from India, only Brazil becomes impossible, the option
block all Internet telephony until in the light of recent events shares such high Google usage, of pausing it to listen to music
security systems to trace the across the world; on the other with it topping the list at 29.8 per and then resume the game
same are in place. hand, curbing advances in cent of all Internet usage in that later, right where we left off, is
The Intelligence Bureau is technology that enable better country. absolutely fantastic in our books.
of the view that currently, India communications do not benefit So why is Google so Round of applause here, please?
does not have the capabilities to anyone. What’s your take? popular in these two emerging Apart from that, the other
track internet telephony calls – economies? ComScore has a big change is that the PSP Go
both domestic & international It’s official: Indians possible explanation. comes with a proprietary cable
– and had asked the DoT find an love Google, Gmail, “As it turns out, there are now. Gone are the days of using
“early solution to this issue in the Orkut, Google Maps, interesting similarities between just any micro-USB cable you
interest of national security”. YouTube and Blogger Brazil and India as emerging have handy with your PSP; Sony
The ‘recommendation’ comes Here at Digit, we are all Internet markets,” Alex Banks,
in the wake of last year’s 26/11 absolutely addicted to Google managing director of comScore
attacks in Mumbai, where the products. Everyone uses Gmail Latin America. “Google’s
terrorists used this medium for as their default client, Google prevalence in these markets can
communication. Maps is the default mapping perhaps best be explained by
“The terrorists used net engine for us and let’s not even the fact that the time at which
telephony as they were aware get into the realms of actual these markets really began to
that India did not have the search and video-sharing. We all develop and flourish was around
technological capabilities to do know who dominates there! the same time that Google was
a live trace of such calls,” Cyber So it doesn’t come becoming a major player in the
security expert Vijay Mukhi told as a huge surprise to us search landscape. As a result,
Economic Times. “In the US and when ComScore says that Google became the dominant is back to its ‘use our cables and
Europe, all players who offer Google and its product constitute Internet brand in these markets make us rich’ nonsense again.
and its success appears to have Part of the reason for this
Post your comments at bled from search into other might be the fact that the PSP
http://thinkdigit.com/d/98531/ areas of the Web like social Go does not come with a TV-out
networking.” port like the older versions. The
VOIP services have provisions an amazing 28.9 per cent of the GameSpot reviewers surmised
that allow governments to track share of total time that Indians It’s Go time for PSP Go that the new proprietary port
these calls. Many of them have spend online. Apparently, of The guys at GameSpot UK might double up as a TV-out
also installed equipment at their the total 21,799 minutes that got their hands on the new port – with another proprietary
premises to monitor VOIP calls Indians (aged over 15) spent on PlayStation Portable Go – the cable that you will have to buy,
upon orders from governments.” the Internet (at work or home) latest version of the handheld of course.
According to a report in July 2009, 6,294 of those were console from Sony – and have Both the reviewers were also
by telecom regulator TRAI, used on navigating Google sites. just posted a detailed unboxing impressed with the build quality
consumers used over 130 million Google accounted for video of the same on their site. of the PSP Go, noting that the
minutes of Internet telephony 88.4 per cent of all searches A couple of things stand slider mechanism feels good, the
in the January-March quarter conducted, and had out in the video, with the most analog nub has more resistance,
of this year. This report also commanding share of time promising new feature being the the chrome buttons on the edge
adds that 34 ISPs in India offer spent in social networking with inclusion of the ability to pause feel better than the plastic ones
net telephony services in India Orkut (68.2 per cent), maps with your game. In the old PSP-3000 of old, and overall, the console
legally. Google Maps (63.9 per cent) and and all previous versions, the has a ‘solid, but lighter’ feel to it.
“This is a good move and multimedia with YouTube (82.8 best you could do was quit the One line in the review did
it will also make the ISPs per cent). It also commanded game if you wanted to perform bother us though: Apparently the
compliant to law,” Mukhi told slightly less than half of all time some other task, such as PSP Go can be synced up to only
rediff.com. “We cannot obviously spent in the blogs category with watching a video. But in the new PCs and not Macs. Is this Sony’s
stop all the players as there are Blogger (47.6 per cent) and email PSP Go, you can simply pause way of welcoming the iPod
thousands of them but it can with Gmail (46.8 per cent). the game (although it takes a lot Touch to the world of handheld
help to a large extent by blocking The one disappointment for of time to do so), go back to the video game consoles?
all the main players.” Google would be the fact that
“This will hit consumers its photo-sharing service Picasa Check out the PSP Go video at
very badly. Not only are the calls has simply not taken off in India, http://thinkdigit.com/d/47687/
Nokia N86 to get face detection firmware upgrade Palm has decided to do away with Windows Mobile OS and work towards their own Palm WebOS in the future
16 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Young Indian Innovators Thinkdigit.com Exclusive
The best PMPs reviewed this Diwali. Go to TED Talks
thinkdigit.com/d/pmp_test and read the Watch videos on exciting and
exclusive test online innovative ideas on Digit DVDs
unique code. Tiny deviations in
the circuit, which have no effect
on the device otherwise are
encoded as a binary sequence
(1s and 0s) and makes each IC
unique.
Priti Ranadive
Even as the number of
computing cores increase,
software applications are slow
to catch up. With dual and
quad-core computers becoming
commonplace, a lot of thought
and effort needs to be put into
Anand Agarawala designing a software to take full
advantage of the performance
stacking of objects, and tossing increases which come with
documents to a printer, or USB parallelism.
drive; commonly used files can Ranadive’s tool enables
even grow in size, making them software to keep up with the
easier to find. multi-core revolution. This
Agarawala’s application, created automatic parallelization tool
as a Masters’ project, has even helps convert legacy source
been presented at TED Talks code to parallel code and
W
and has significantly evolved exploit the advantages offered
ith the advent the brightest minds from this ever since.
of the internet, country and to garner your
the very concept opinion on the most influential Farinaz Koushanfar
of freedom is innovation. As such, we With rampant piracy brewing
something that has undergone conducted a poll at http://www. around us, it’s quite easy to
significant change. Concepts thinkdigit.com/yii, allowing you duplicate software – with
such as open source software, to browse through profiles, and or without the internet. Yet,
and copy-left licences are vote for your most deserving hardware piracy, although a
certainly no invention of the candidate. lesser-known phenomenon,
internet, yet without it, their No innovation is can be perhaps much more
very model becomes infeasible. insignificant; in today’s world, damaging. ICs could be used
Today, most popular web sites, the inventor of the socket is as anywhere from innocent video
be it Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube responsible for our computers players to high grade weapons.
or even Twitter, are populated switching on, as the one who Koushanfar’s technique
with user-generated content. discovered the transistor. The uses a unique ID to lock each
Technology advances smallest of innovations pile chip so that it cannot be used Priti Ranadive
freedom and nurtures it. up today to create tomorrow’s without either a redesign, or
Your computer alone can be world. a code from the designer of by multi-cores. Arguably, this
the source of information, Here are some of the the circuit, making hardware this tool’s best feature is that
entertainment, and even participants: piracy a tough nut to crack. it requires little or no manual
income. Yet, we are still Her method uses inherent effort, and stands to offer great
constrained by the physical Anand Agarawala manufacturing imperfections, performance gains and reduce
world we live in, and even As operating systems progress, as a base for creating the the execution time of the
the best internet connections we tend to see a move towards code. This can be successfully
cannot assuage a hostile interfaces that emulate the implemented in the field of
government. real world. Anand’s software bioinformatics in applications
In August, this year, BumpTop takes it several such as protein folding, weather
we celebrated the 62nd steps forward in this regard, prediction, mathematical
anniversary of our and turns your desktop into a simulations among others.
Independence Day. To realistic 3D physical-desktop- Such fields stand to gain a lot
commemorate this occasion, like environment. by being optimised for parallel
we decided to compile a list We are used to interpreting processing.
of some of India’s youngest the reality around us as physical The young Indian innovator
innovators. Some of India’s objects, and by displaying with the most innovative and
brightest and youngest minds, objects inside your computer. influential creation is...
who have unveiled innovations BumpTop removes extraneous
that are bound to influence the layers of interpretation. Objects Pranav Mistry
shape of things to come. on your BumpTop desktop This young innovator has
Our goal was to introduce obey similar rules of placement, already garnered much fame
to you (our readers), some of and interaction, by allowing Farinaz Koushanfar and attention around the world
18 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Young Indian Innovators SixthSense in Digit MC9500
Read the May 2009 issue of Digit to Motorola’s recently launched
know how Mistry’s SixthSense works handheld computer
Our other candidates
Trilokya and Champak Bora Transmitting music signals through normal house wiring.
Sudhakar Sah Efficient load-balancing of phases in 3-phase power supply units.
Mansukh Prajapati “Mitti Cool”, a refrigerator made entirely of clay.
Sendhil Mullianathan A new model of economics based on consumer psychology.
Tanzeem Choudhury Device for analysing an automatic social networking connection by
recording and interpreting data from multiple sensors.
Sumeet Singh Better heuristic detection of viruses based on how they spread.
Prithwish Basu Algorithms for decentralised (“ad hoc”) networks that can operate without
the need for a base station.
Anurag Dod Founder of first Indian crawler based search engine: guruji.com Pranav Mistry
Sanjit Biswas Cheap Wi-Fi routers that can adjust to changing network environments for
be done in person. While the
best performance. internet may be teeming with
Prem Singh Automated remote-controlled robot called “BSF Robot” that can help in the latest information, it’s often
search and rescue operations. beyond reach. Whether you are
shopping at a store, or on the
Tapan Parikh Information services for small business owners that are centred around way home, there are many times
mobile phones instead of computers. when the plentiful information
Krishnan Kutty
on the internet can be of real use,
Solutions to make driving safer using multiple sensors.
but it’s just not available.
Vijay Krishnan Founder of Infoaxe, a web memory search engine that allows you to The ‘SixthSense’ device,
make your web browsing history (and thus your habits) accessible and aims to make everything you
searchable across computers. see around you an intractable
interface. When you pick up
Sundar Iyer Cheaper and better caching solutions for routers. a carton of milk at a store, it
Anand Raghunathan A mobile security co-processor to make data and communication on mobile can tell you its fat content, and
phones safer. how well it’ll go with your diet,
or when you pick up a book
Harimohan and Manoj Saini Optimised car designs eliminating differential gears by adding a fifth at the store, it will project its
wheel. rating from Amazon, along with
comments, and references. If
Ashok Maliakal Next generation, low-powered flexible displays.
you’re on vacation and need to
Master Moxad Pinakin Thaker Model for utilising waste sewage for useful purposes such as generating snap a picture, you need not
electricity. worry, just form the right gesture
and it will take a photograph.
Shetal Shah Safer ambulances and military transport vehicles for people with head Draw an ‘@’ symbol in the air
trauma. and check your email. The best
T. Sony Roy Cheque authentication system using ‘inkless’ fingerprint; ErPaper, erasable part is that the device would not
cost much more than a mobile
and reusable paper; Cool imager, instant photograph development device
phone in the future.
for use in photo-vending machines. In most demonstrations
of amalgamated reality, we
Suhas V. Shinde A novel new architecture of delay line resulting in 95 per cent power saving see artefacts superimposed
and blended with the live
and 65 per cent area saving.
world. Pranav’s vision takes
augmentation to the world
for “SixthSense” which he calls SixthSense takes a backwards way we interact with physical outside computers. We
a “wearable gestural interface.” approach. A previously objects, making it easier for see many films depicting a
Some of the most brilliant mentioned innovation, people to adjust to a computer future where every device is a
innovations we see today BumpTop tries to mimic the interface. ‘SixthSense’ on the computer embedded, where
have to do with changing other hand turns your newspapers show flexible
the way we interact with www.thinkdigit.com/d/pmp_test physical world into one displays, and your retina is
devices. As technology large interactive entity, the key to your entire life.
becomes a larger part of redefining not only the way This vision in comparison is
life, and gets a larger share we interact with technology, much more real. Why wrap
of our income, it becomes but with everything. every toilet paper in an OLED
even more important how While technology has touch-screen when instead the
we interact with technology, entered every field of our life, gestures can be recognised by a
as we now do so more many tasks such as acquiring computer with a camera? Why
often. daily-use consumables, upgrade the world when you
In this respect, for example, still need to can upgrade yourself?
20 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Your web Track your digital life
From anonymous browsing, Bing to Get to know where you spent all your time,
Connection Mobile Watch 24 Monopoly, insights into your world
online 28 from web sites visited, applications used, to
the games you played
Opera Mini v5 locate people in your contact
released To read more on the Hero, go to list, find emails in your inbox
More than 30 million people http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/hero/ or search in any other area
use Opera Mini as the mobile in Hero. Its SenseUI focuses
browser of their choice to the actual point of typing, on three primary principles:
browse more than 12 billion a minor irritant. To get the Make it Mine, Stay Close and
web pages. Undoubtedly, browser on your phone, simply Discover the Unexpected.
if there is an award in this direct your phone’s existing That’s just R&D fluff for widget
category, it would go to this web browser to http://m.opera. customisation and easy access.
browser. Opera Mini offers com/next to download Opera
a near desktop browsing Mini 5 beta. Camera or phone?
experience and is taking this We’ve seen many ridiculous
a step further with its latest HTC’s Hero debuts specifications in our time.
version that includes a variety The most promising Android Add to that another one. Why
handset, the HTC Hero has anyone would need a 12-MP
finally arrived. Considering camera in the first place, and
the recent hike in taxes, that too in a phone, is well
you’ll have to dig deeper beyond us. Understandable, if
into your pocket to get it’s a DSLR, but in a point-and-
one, especially if you’re in shoot or a cellphone, it’s just an
Maharashtra. While it will be overkill. Yet, here we have the
priced at Rs. 31,990 across new Samsung M8910 Pixon 12,
India, Maharashtra users will all ready to dazzle the Indian
have to shell out Rs. 34,600 audience.
(that’s an extra Rs. 2,600). “Speedy access to the
If you’re not on Airtel’s camera mode, fast shutter
network and you’re in speed and quick browsing, face
Maharashtra, it would be tag and photo tag sorting are
a double blow to know some of the key factors that
HTC’s Hero powered by Android
that Airtel is offering consumers are looking for in
its subscribers 100 MB including A-GPS, gravity-sensor, their mobile phone cameras.
download free of charge for 3.5-mm stereo headset jack, Samsung Pixon 12 holds
six months. Services such a 5-MP autofocus camera and the answer to these pressing
as portfolio manager, hello expandable microSD memory. consumer needs and more,”
Tabbed browsing now on your mobile tunes, weather channel
phone and mobshare will also be For more on the Samsung Pixon, go to
of features, including tabbed available to the users of HTC http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/pixon/
browsing and speed dial. Hero on the Airtel network.
Version 5 beta also has some The phone features
interesting UI improvements. bevelled edges with an angled HTC Hero also includes a said Sunil Dutt, Country Head,
The overall look and feel of bottom and is contoured to dedicated Search button that Samsung Telecom Division.
Opera Mini has changed quite fit comfortably in your hand. goes beyond basic search, The 12-MP CMOS sensor is
a bit and is now optimised It’s designed to ensure a providing you with a more ably supported by a 28-mm
for both keypads as well as convenient conversation too. natural, contextual search wide-angle lens with autofocus,
touchscreens. We tried the It fits perfectly along your face. experience that enables you xenon flash and power LED
browser on the Samsung Jet The HTC Hero is built to last to search through Twitter, flash. Almost every feature you
(S8000) touch phone and and has an anti-fingerprint
were impressed with the screen coating for improved
browsing experience. You’ll smudge resistance and a longer
find a Google search bar next lasting, clearer display. The
to the navigation bar which white HTC Hero includes an
is convenient. The speed industry-first, Teflon coating,
dial and tabbed browsing resulting in an improved,
work fabulously well and the durable white surface.
response of the on-screen With its 3.2-inch HVGA
QWERTY keyboard was display, the HTC Hero is
impressive too. Web pages are optimised for web, multimedia
rendered quite well and only and other content while
require a double tap to zoom in. maintaining a small size and
The cursor was a little buggy; it weight. It also boasts a broad
appeared one character before variety of hardware features
For a feature tour, go to
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/opera5/ A camera you can call from
Facebook’s user base now swells to 300 million; reportedly the web site is making money for the first time Crasher Squirrel on its way to becoming an internet meme
22 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
DLDC Mobile Watch
Statutory warning Nokia-Siemens Networks’ Downlink dual carrier
Tech addiction ‘harms’ learning, according to upgrade gives upto 0.6 Mbps transfer rates on
researchers at Cranfield School of Management existing EDGE connections
can think of is thrown into this indicated. Funnily, the
lot, including tracking touch press release talked a lot Watch an exciting video on the twitter phone at
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/twitphone/
autofocus, geo-tagging, wide about what the company
dynamic range, Smart Auto is doing with Windows statement, for instance: “The US telco could soon allow
mode, image stabilisation, Mobile, given the occasion! announcement of LG’s first users to call each other over
Beauty Shot, and face, smile But first, the new phone: The Android-powered smartphones Twitter. “Twitter’s popularity
and blink detection. It can’t LG-GW620 features a 3-inch comes only a week after the demonstrates that people are
cook your meals yet, but a little resistive touchscreen (320 world’s third largest mobile looking for simple, short ways
training should get it there x 480 pixels, 256k colours) phone company announced to connect globally.
too. As for video recording, and slide-out QWERTY that it would be introducing Now in beta, Jajah’s new
three new Windows Mobile @Call service allows you to
smartphones in the next few tweet your way to a call,” wrote
weeks. These developments Jajah’s Hadara in a blog post.
underscore LG’s commitment To initiate a call, you simply
to offering greater consumer tweet a reply to the person
choice in the expanding you want to talk with and
smartphone category”. add the @call. For example,
if you would like to call @
Twitter Calls username, tweet: @call @
Twitter has managed to garner username. Make sure there is
significant publicity in recent a space between the two user
times. If India’s junta didn’t names and that no additional
know what Twitter is, Shashi text is added to your message.
Tharoor did let them know. Jajah will call you and your
Move over 140 characters, friend and connect the call.
LG’s GW620 powered by Android you’ll soon be able to talk The @Call service is currently
over Twitter, that too without restricted only to US numbers
spending a fortune. On and requires users to be
the Pixon 12 can handle 720 keypad to meet the growing one hand where the Indian eligible for the Beta. To check
x 480 pixels at 30 frames per needs of consumers who rely government plans to block if you’re one of them, log in to
second. All of this data can on their mobile phones for all internet telephony for your Jajah account. Under ‘My
be stored onto a microSD more than just making calls. security purposes, a telecom Services’ in ‘My Account’ page,
card of up to 16 GB. The The device benefits from an service provider in the US is you will see ‘Twitter Calls’. If
screen is another impressive this doesn’t appear, and you
aspect of the phone: The Follow this story at would like an invitation, send
3.1-inch AMOLED resistive http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/LGGW620/ an email to twitter@jajah.com.
touchscreen renders 16 The service has maintained the
million colours at a resolution operating system that was busy bringing phone calls to twitter shorty spirit here too by
of 480 x 800 pixels and comes created from the ground Twitter. A new beta service imposing a 2-minute talk limit
with an accelerometer for up to take advantage of the being launched by Jajah – a on the @Call service.
auto-rotation purposes. The many mobile applications
‘resistive’ part is a bit of a put- and services developed by
off, but Samsung’s TouchWiz search leader Google. “The
2.0 UI does run pretty well on LG-GW620 will appeal to first-
those. Overall, for a price of time smartphone customers
Rs. 29,990, this one seems like by offering a new and different
a good camera with a phone kind of user experience,”
attached to it. said Dr. Skott Ahn, President
and CEO of LG Electronics
LG marries Android in Mobile Communications
a Win Mo hangover Company. “Our objective is
It’s been a long time coming, to provide a wide selection
but LG’s love for Windows of smartphones to satisfy the
Mobile phones has finally diverse preferences of today’s
waned enough for it to feel consumers. This Android
the itch and stray to Google’s phone is just one of many
Android OS. The company smartphone models we plan
has officially debuted its to introduce worldwide in
first Android-based mobile the years ahead.” And this
phone, the GW620, which stress on diversity throughout
comes with a touchscreen the press release makes us
and slider keyboard. The wonder why LG is so adamant
phone will be released soon, on making sure people know
but the price has not been it still loves MS. Take this
e-book readership increases by 53 per cent this year Google feels the heat for digitising books Microsoft sues parties responsible for ads filled with malicious code
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 23
Twitter Granny Rememberthemilk.com
104-year old Ivy Bean from the An Adode Air notifier and an effective to-do list. It
UK has over 45,000 followers on works in sync with various mobile platforms and
Connections Web watch Twitter! Google Calendar
A curious case for one of those nodes. The PHP about just about anyone. single person. The Yahoo Query
anonymity files act as repeaters to all the Consider you access a Language API manages the
Traditionally darknets have Javascript clients out there. The random Twitter profile. After extension’s data backend.
always been regarded as Javascript is the one doing all installing the add-on, all you Identify is therefore
the dark underbelly of the the communication between need to do is hit [Ctrl] + [I] programmed to look up info
internet, but now it seems clients. If, for instance, a chat and it will build a detailed profile for any page that has the
as if accessing a darknet will were to be sent out, it would comprising various identities rel=”me” code in the source.
be as simple as having a web be dispersed among the The ‘me’ annotation is
browser. HP researchers darknet users. There is part of the XFN (XHTML
recently demonstrated a going to be encryption Friends Network) and
darknet - essentially a closed involved too. The best FOAF (Friend of a Friend)
private network - that can be part is once you close markups, which are
accessed through a browser. your browser, your crawled by the Google
Some earlier darknets such as footprint vanishes Social Graph API. The tool
Freenet, Tor and WASTE have instantly. It should be can be very useful to learn
gained notoriety for having interesting to keep an more about people and
all sorts of objectionable eye on this to see if any their trademark internet
content supported by the veil productive applications handles. Running it on
of anonymity they provide. do come out of it. your own profile can be
These darknets need a client shocking or perhaps even
to access them. Finding such People research disappointing if it fails to
clients installed on laptops simplified get the lowdown on you.
would often raise alarm bells An interesting Firefox This way, it helps you fine
for security authorities as extension we came across tune your profile if you
they can be used for virtually a while back was Identity want a more integrated
untraceable communication whose description is at web presence. Or help
aiding even terrorists. once scary and promising; people in disassociating
The HP researchers however depending on which side profiles that they don’t
Identify using ‘me’ links to track profiles
say darknets have their of the fence you look at it. want linked together. The
legitimate uses. Their creation The extension is a social media of that person on other social only hitch is that it requires
aptly named ‘Veiled’ can be marketer or compulsive social networking web sites. How does some work by the developers
used for anonymous whistle networker’s dream come true. it do this? It uses two APIs. The and doesn’t work really well
blowing and will also bring But this means it may be a cyber first is the Google Social Graph currently.
anonymous communication stalker’s punching bag as well. API. This Google project started
to the mainstream. Darknets The extension can amazingly more than a year ago identifies Monopoly in the sky
maintain anonymity by track identities of individuals pages that form profiles of No, we’re not talking about
scattering files as fragments across various social network / people and tracks linkages Airline Moguls. We’re talking
across thousands of servers. media sites and create a profile between pages connected to a about one of the world’s most
They also use something
known as onion routing
that tunnels communication
through a network of relays
so web sites can’t determine
your location. In a podcast with
Security Wire Weekly, Matt
Wood one of the developers of
Veiled said, “We’re leveraging
what browsers have become
lately, to access some of
the functionality offered by
darknets”.
A simple PHP file is
supposed to connect the client
to the rest of the darknet. The
user on the other hand has to
just go to a URL. The PHP file
downloads Javascript code into
the browser. To understand
this concept imagine a whole
bunch of servers with this
one PHP file on them. All
of these PHP files together
create the infrastructure for
the Veiled darknet. Clients
will then connect to each Monopoly city streets
The feud between YouTube and Warner Music is slowly reaching an end Files created with Google docs are soon to be searchable, only for the ones with the option
24 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Webapp for making charts
Head over to lovelycharts.com and make
everything from flowcharts, process diagrams,
mind maps, network diagrams or just about any
Connections
Section Opener Web watch kind of chart
popular board games has since it launched to the world
been virtually recreated into in that unexpected comic For more Bing’s visual search feature, go to
a mega-sized masterpiece as book format. To celebrate the www.thinkdigit.com/d/bing
Google and Hasbro teamed occasion – albeit two weeks late
up to launch Monopoly City – Google has unveiled the new address-cum-search bar Silverlight installed. What you
Streets. The game allows users stable version of their browser, ‘Omnibox’ of Google Chrome are presented with first is a list
to compete in a live, worldwide Chrome 3.0. The version has gotten a much-needed tweak of different categories such as
version of the popular game, numbers seem to be ticking to help users distinguish a search movies, cars and US presidents.
creating the biggest Monopoly by faster than we can report result from a Wiki page and a site In our case, we went for ‘Greatest
tournament ever played. And them, with Chrome 2.0 being you entered from a bookmark Movies’ and were taken to the
yes, you can theoretically launched just four months ago; in its drop-down menu. The next page. Here, we were shown
buy any street in the world! still, who’s complaining? solution? A simple little icon at a grid of 9-columned thumbnails
However within the first few According to StatsCounter, the start of the URL. The one big of various movie posters. It’s
days of launch (on September the browser already has 7.39 disappointment, of course, is the got a nice CoverFlow kind of
9) there were hardly any per cent of the market share lack of extensions in this new feel to it and feels very Apple
streets available for us to buy. in India, making it a force to release. Looks like Google still in most ways. The scroll bar,
A new player will start off reckon with. So what does the has some creases to iron out. funnily, starts at the bottom
with a whopping three million new version have in store for and you have to scroll upwards,
Monopoly dollars – it seems us? Google Chrome Product Bing goes visual where the columns are fading
like inflation has caught on in Manager Anthony Laforge Microsoft has launched a new into. Scrolling upwards, felt
the board games too. With this, wrote a long post on of the feature in Bing that couldn’t a bit like scrolling albums on
you can initially buy a street or official blog about the same, have come at a better time. We HTC’s TouchFLO interface or
make an offer to a street owner and here are the salient points: were trying hard to remember Win+Tabbing through Windows
to buy it off him. The huge Faster browsing: This new the name of a movie about an Aero, where you can see the
money to start off obviously release of Google Chrome is African-American cop who is current item clearly and check
means that the streets will cost faster than ever,
a lot too: Downing Street in the improving by
UK will cost 231,000 Monopoly more than 150 per
Dollars, while Pennsylvania cent in Javascript
Avenue will cost 2 million. performance since
Pedder Road an upmarket the very first beta,
Mumbai road was last valued at and by more than
400,000. Yikes! Of course, you 25 per cent since
can always offset those prices the most recent
by collecting rent from hotels, stable release.
football stadiums, skyscrapers, New Tab Page:
castles, etc. The speed-dial
There is a bit of a weird on the New Tab
rule thrown in, though, page of Google
where if someone makes you Chrome has been
an offer and you don’t reply one of its most
within seven days, the offer popular features
is automatically accepted and now it’s more Searching for
no matter how low it is. So customisable unfamiliar terms
potentially, you will have too. You can is easy with Bing’s
to log in every day and if now rearrange Visual Search
someone spams you with a thumbnails of
lot of offers, you might just your most-visited
stand to lose your property. websites by simply
Hopefully, there will be a fix clicking and dragging your sent to investigate a murder in out obscured previews of the
or some workaround for this. mouse. a racist town, but couldn’t even upcoming items. Pretty soon,
The interface too is buggy, but Additionally, you can pin remember who the actor was. we found what we were looking
thousands are already addicted. thumbnails to a spot so they Visual Search basically puts up for: In The Heat Of The Night.
So go ahead and join the game don’t disappear even if your a whole bunch of images related Hovering the cursor over it
that has turned the globe into browsing habits change. What’s to different categories, making it and at the top of the page –
one giant game board! more, you can hide parts of the easy for you to locate those ‘It’s under the search bar – gave the
page you don’t want to see, or on the tip of my tongue’ things related info: name, genre, rating
Chrome 3 in one year even opt for a simple list view of that you just can’t recall. The and release date. One click
On September 2, Google all your most visited web sites. feature has not been activated and the regular search results
Chrome finished a whole year Omnibox gets icons: The for Indian users yet, but if you page for the movie opened up.
just change your location to Pretty impressive. The same
US (top right corner), you will kind of visual search is possible
For more on the browser, go to
www.thinkdigit.com/d/21123 be able to access it for now at for various other things, such
www.bing.com/visualsearch. as products search, books and
And yes, make sure you have cars.
‘Publish as a Web page’ According to research firm Forward Concepts, besides appealing to the power traveller, small, low-cost netbooks benefitted from the economic slump
26 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Slimtimer.com
Feature SlifeLabs.com A nice alternative to time sheets,
Has a paid time tracking software it lets you create tasks and even
for Mac, but comes with several share them with your coworkers
limitations and those you report to
Track your digital life
Find out how you spend your time in the digital sphere – the web sites you visit, your computer usage
pattern, the applications you used most
start eating into our mainstay? There is a Fruitful Time Productivity Meter
Siddharth Parwatay tremendous loss of productivity that happens The Productivity Meter application stores
siddharth.parwatay@thinkdigit.com due to unstructured time management. information locally as opposed to Rescue
Whether you are a student, blogger, tech Time which sends info to remote servers –
N
enthusiast, or a professional who works from suitable if you want your data to be close at
o one can debate the fact that most home, knowing where you spend your time is hand. The reports are generated on a local
of us spend half our lives in front very important. server at http://127.0.0.1:7885 and the
of a computer screen. We play, interface can be accessed through a web
socialise, interact and occasionally Time Tracking browser. The software lets you track data
do a bit of work among other things in the You can now keep track of your time by using for different users on the same computer.
digital world. But often at the end of the day a host of applications and online services. Most of us browse as part of our work, and
we find ourselves complaining “where has all These applications sit in the background and so just knowing that a browser was running
the time gone?” When you rewind your day it keep track of your activities. The applications for a specified time doesn’t really tell you
literally seems like you got up, got some work will generate contextual reports comprising much. With tagging domains, you can tell
done, read some stuff and suddenly. Before graphs and tags to help you get a handle on productivity meter that the thinkdigit.com
you realize, it’s 10 pm! how you spend your time. and Intel.com domains are for “research” on
What happens when our pastimes processors. Apart from domains, you can tag
Imaging: Shrikrishna Patkar
28 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
MyIntervals.com
Feature An ideal tool for small businesses that bill by Klok Feature
the hour, it’s a powerful web-based project This nice little app built on the Adobe
management tool that combines time tracking Air platform works as a great time
and task management with powerful reporting tracking tool for project management
O
Dhis
t
Make a movie of your day’s activities
With Time Snapper Professional, you can
take automated periodic screen captures of
your activity all day. The software runs in the
background and keeps taking screenshots
at intervals which you specify. The default
is every 10 seconds. During playback,
TimeSnapper even allows you to flag notes
for certain patches of activity. You can choose
to filter by certain programmes such as
Winamp or Firefox. The software also tells
ManicTime in action you how productive you have been. To do
this, specify the applications, domains and
specific programmes and even window titles. mouse over any of the fragments in the window titles you consider productive. So, if
The interface is pretty simple and lets you timeline a more detailed note pops up. you tag Wikipedia.org as productive, it will
view your activity by time periods ranging However, you need to keep tagging the calculate the percentage of time spent on
from a day to a month. You can even choose activities in the tags timeline to make any sense Wikipedia as your productivity. But the most
to view activities within a specified selection of how your time was spent. You also have the fun part is watching your day unfold in video.
within each day, say 9 am to 8 pm. This way option to Tag away time, which is interesting Go try it out!
you’ll know the active and idle time (overall as it lets you track time spent on taking calls
and per hour), time distribution between or going for lunch. All tweaking such as how forums, top games being played on Xfire and
applications and web sites, and lastly tagged much time idle should be considered away etc. top downloads.
time data. To try the application head over to can be done in the Tools & Settings tabs. The Games for Windows Live (GfWL) also lets
fruitfultime.com. statistics tab allows for pulling up a wide range you follow your game trend. If you’re an Xbox
of custom stats.
Rescue Time solo The software Send your feedback at
Rescue Time has a cloud based interface. Its consumed around www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09
client is called the Data collector, so users 30 MB of memory
who are touchy about their data being sent to even while running in the background, which 360 gamer and want to port your GamerCard
remote servers will cringe at this one. Unlike was considerably higher than any of the other data to forum signatures, you can use
other applications, this one is certainly easy to tools. You can download ManicTime from mygamercard.net or similar other services.
set up. While configuring your profile, you can manictime.com, or find it on this month’s
specify productive and distractive activities. It DVD. Music Tracking
also lets you set goals. For instance, “I should If you’re one of those who listens to an
Games Tracking obscene amount of music, you probably know
For many a large part of “playtime” what the value of music tracking software
consists of playing games. Two is. Those of you who don’t, well then it’s
popular applications to track about time you discover. With music tracking
your gaming pattern are Xfire and software such as scribbler from Last.fm,
Gamespy Comrade and perform you’ll know details of your listening habits.
a host of different functions. You The application will tell your favourite artists
can keep tab of games you play on and tracks among other things. The data can
your PC and also other associated be sliced and diced further to show overall
information. The software creates charts or by specific time periods such as last
auto-generated profile codes that three months or last one week. So the next
Rescue Time being nosey about what you were upto
show of your gaming hours, rig time someone asks you what your favourite
config, and other stats that you can song is, all you have to do is look up which
spend more than 4 hours per weekday on embed into signatures on gaming forums. track has the highest play count. The only
very productive time. If I exceed 4 hours, send Since Xfire has a community associated with catch is that you need to register with the
me an email at the end of the day”. One of the it, the application can be used not only to web site before you can begin scrobbling your
advantages of having your data sent across view your statistics, you can see interesting music tastes. Still, registering has its own
is the ability for rankings and comparisons stats about your friend network, your favourite benefits like the aspects of social networking
with other users, which can be fun. Rescue servers, uploaded screenshots, friend’s game that are found on the web site. If you have
time will tell you where you stand in terms of play statistics, private messages from Xfire’s been using a dedicated music player for
efficiency when compared to average users. listening to your music, the scrobbler will
The tool can also be configured to ask you Record keystrokes pick up your listening history instantly
what you were up to in your idle time. Want to find out how many keystrokes you and post it on your profile. Apart from just
make in a day? We found this impressive app tracking, the web interface will give you useful
Manic Time that lets you do exactly that. Head over to recommendations for music based on the
Manic Time has all the functionality with a http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/debuggable/. songs you scrobble. Many of the generated
decent interface. One drawback is that the The application rests in your taskbar and charts can be embedded on other web pages.
application depends heavily on user input. shows you a little pop-up of how many Also there is the option of doing fun stuff
ManicTime’s interface is broken up into keystrokes you make in a day. If this gets with the RSS feed of your music listening for
annoying, simply turn off notifications. Turn example putting the feed onto your blog or
four time lines viz. Browsing, Application,
notifications on when you want to keep track!
Computer Usage and Tags. By rolling the twitter account.
30 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Xxx
xxxxx
Tech Treats
Digital life Drool maal 36 Reach out to your geeky and not-so-
geeky friends this Diwali
Nokia N900
The Nokia N900 is designed to
bringing mobile and desktop
computers closer, in terms of
experience. One of the primary
focuses in this device is the ability
to heavily multi-task, so the device
does not slow down if you get
a call while surfing the internet
and want to dig into the contacts
you have to message. There is a
touchscreen interface, as well as a
full QWERTY keyboard that slides
out. Under the hood is an ARM
Cortex-A8 processor, 32 GB of RAM
with 768 MB of virtual memory
that essentially gives applications
over 1 GB of memory to work with.
The device will use a customised
version of the Linux OS called
Maemo, on the heels of Google’s
adoption of Android, another
Linux-based mobile OS. The device
is available at around €500 (Rs.
35,200)
Surface Tension
The Surface Tension Arcade Table is an innovative approach to furniture.
Surface Tension manufactures tables with a large touch screen interface, and
a computer built in to the table itself. The Arcade edition of this coffee table
has two set of full arcade controls and comes with over 60 retro games, and
any game that is compatible with MAME can be installed later on. Windows
XP is used on the machine, so you can install any software you want and use
the table as a regular computer. Additionally, you can play movies, browse
through photos and surf the internet all with a great 1200 by 700 mm touch
interface. The Arcade edition is available for £2,999 or Rs. 2,39,690 from www.
surfacetension.net
32 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Drool maal
Give us your feedback at
www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09/
Canon Powershot SX20IS
The Canon PowerShot SX20 IS is a follow up on the well recieved Canon
Powershot SX10, which they released last year. The camera brings pro
features to the point and shoot domain, with easy to use functionality, but
leaving the option for a pro to manipulate settings manually. The camera
packs in a 1 by 2.3 inch sensor with a 12.1 MP count, a staggering 20X
optical zoom, 1280 x 720 full HD movie recording, and an continuous shoot
feature that let’s you shoot till you fill up the card. The camera is priced at
$400 (Rs. 19,300)
Fender 57 Champ Custom
Fender is bringing back an old classic amp, that would put any buyer in the
same league as the best of rock legends. Eric Clapton, no less, used this
particular model to record Layla. The materials used for the amp are the
same used when the amp was originally made, and the entire piece is hand-
wired. This is not an imitation, or a mass-produced abomination, you can
own an authentic piece of rock history for $1,000 (Rs. 48,500)
Samsung LN65B650
This astonishingly large (65-inch) CCFL backlit LCD TV from Samsung is sure
to give those large Plasma screens a run for their money. The TV boasts of a
propriety Auto Motion Plus 120Hz refresh rate and a 4 millisecond response
time, with a full HD 1080p resolution. This reduces blur during the action
scenes of a movie, but users can customize the blur settings. The Medi@2.0
suite can stream wireless content, or play clips off YouTube, among other
connectivity options. What is really appealing is the power consumption, as
the device meets the latest Energy Star standards, something that not too
many Plasma screens can claim. The TV is available for $6,000 (Rs. 29,300)
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 33
Drool maal Zune update
Next generation Wii Microsoft recently released the Zune
Rumoured to have HD graphics and 4.0 software update that features
a brand new motion controller quickplay and smart DJ
GigaPan Epic 100
The GigaPan is a set of robotic systems that lets users take astoundingly
large images using an automated robot. The device is a mount with a clicker
that carefully moves a camera, and takes as many shots as the user specifies,
in a grid, and stitches the photos together resulting in large, very detailed
panoramas, with tremendously large megapixel counts (called GigaPixel
by the site). GigaPan systems was teasing the world with some amazingly
detailed shots put up on their website, and a product is finally out in the
market. The GigaPan Epic 100 is available for $449 (Rs. 21,720)
PSPGo
Sony’s rationale for making the PSP Go seems to be to make a smaller, more
compact and lighter device for pocket gaming. The PSP Go, which has hit
the American markets early this month, sports a 16GB flash drive instead of
the UMD memory, and a screen that slides up to reveal the controls beneath.
The only means of distribution of games however, is the official PSP store, a
new mini-game section of which has opened along with the launch of the
PSP Go. The PSP Go sells for $250 (Rs. 12,130)
Compo del Cielo Meteorite
Fragment
Meteoritemarket.com sells a lot of space rock fragments. Most of the pieces
for sale are tiny slices of a rock, that have been cut out from bigger stones.
While those may be rare, hard to find and therefore expensive, if you just
want to show off a big chunk of space rock, pick the Campo del Cielo
fragments, which don’t look like they have been cut out from a larger piece,
and there are pretty big pieces on sale too. This is a particularly large piece
(over 5 KG) that is available for $700 (Rs. 33,980)
34 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Blood-powered lamp Drool maal
A mysterious blood-powered lamp that debuted on Solar Bluetooth
the internet requires you to break off its top, and let A solar Bluetooth head set released by
few drops of blood trickle to emit an eerie glow Brando, stays on standby for infinity
Leica M9
The Leica M9 is a spectacular piece of craftsmanship. The M series has a
long history, and this is one of the world’s smallest rangefinder cameras.
Although the body is tiny, at 139x37x80 mm, the Leica M( manages to
pack in a large 24×36mm sensor. The large and chunky dials make it easy
JVC LT-32WX50 for photographers to adjust the settings, and the M9 has a dial just for the
ISO settings. The Leica M9 includes a license for Adobe Lightroom in the
JVC is debuting in the backlit LCD market and how. The LT-32WX50 package. You can pick one up for £4,850 (Rs. 3,93,300)
is just 7 mm thin at it’s thickest point, and goes down to 6.4mm at it’s
thinnest. This particular screen wouldn’t look ugly or intrude into space
when mounted on a wall. The screen weights just around 5 KG. The
LT-32EX50 offers full 1080p HD resolution, a 4000:1 contrast ratio, and
displays 90% of Adobe’s RGB colour space. Be prepared to shell out
US $ 3,000 (Rs. 1,45,711) though
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 35
iPod Nano Nokia Netbooks
Feature The latest iPod Nano has The Nokia Booklet 3G will sell for less than
a radio, video camera $500, have a 10-inch screen and built in
and microphone GPS navigation chip
Tech Treats
TV Video Game
If you’re on a shoestring budget and you want
to please kids less than age 12 this Diwali,
gift them the good old TV video game that
you get at every local toy shop. It comes with
joysticks, a ‘gun’ and lots of games that can be
Groovy gifting ideas for Diwali played on the television – all for less than Rs.
500. Just pray that the kid hasn’t heard of the
Xbox or PlayStation yet.
Madhusudan Mukerjee Battery operated mobile charger
readersletters@thinkdigit.com An emergency cell phone charger is what Getting your wallet
travellers always need. You can get one for less (Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,500)
I
than Rs. 160 in time for the Diwali holiday
t’s that time of the year when the air is travel. These are pocket-sized, lightweight MP3/MP4 Player
filled with festivities. Come Diwali, and and use 4 AAA batteries/pencil cells and are Every time you think
you’re bombarded with discounts and compatible with most cell phone brands. Visit everyone’s got one,
offers. So, if you have geeks for friends your local mobile store for the best deals on just remind yourself
who prefer gadgets to sweets, here’s a list this one. that everyone who has
of technological thingamajigs categorised already got one usually
according to your buying power. Electric Kettle wants another, better
It’s amazing how cheap one. Innumerable
Starters (Less than Rs. 1,000) kitchen accessories have brands – Chinese
got. The Bajaj Cordless et al. – clutter the The Shuffle still rules
USB pen drives Electric Kettle comes market and spoil you
Flash drives start from Rs. 200 (1 GB) all the between Rs. 799 to 899. for choice. Some of these are even below Rs.
way to Rs. 4,000 (32 GB) and above. They Plug it in and you can 1,000. And then there’s the quintessential
are bare necessity and can be stuff to show make tea, boil milk or iPod. The 1 GB iPod Shuffle is priced below
around. One that stands out makes for a cool water in a moment. Give the Rs. 2,500 threshold and is going to make
gift. The recently launched JetFlash V70 by your mom one, and then Settle for a Kettle your friends flip. You can even change the
Transcend, with eco-friendly rubber makes it proceed to show her skin to the stereotypical pink for your sister or
what a refreshing cup of tea you can make. girl friend. Or get it for your younger siblings
to finally let them have their own private
Hair Dryer listening device. Cheaper players are available
There was a time for much less, if you’re not fussy about brands.
when hair dryers
were only meant for Cell Phone
women. Although If there’s someone
you can still gift who hasn’t got a
your sister one, mobile phone yet,
these days, even or has an old style
Rubber drives are trendy and almost indestructible males sporting one – give him/her
long hair use them. a colour screen cell
highly durable, shock-resistant and dust and Hair dryers are way phone. The Nokia
water-proof. These are available in different within budget – The Philips HP 4823 even 1209 (Rs. 1,500)
colours too – 4 GB (Purple), 8 GB (Orange) while the Philips HP comes in feminine colours and the Nokia
and 16 GB (Red) – and, best of all the prices 4823 is less than Rs. 1650 (Rs. 1,765)
are highly competitive – Rs. 600, Rs. 900 and 700, Panasonic and Remington hair dryers are not only have
Rs. 1,600 respectively. a little below Rs. 1000. colour screens, but Cell phones for starters
offer other features
Pop-Up Toaster
Here’s one for Five things to remember when going hunting for gadget gifts
the kitchen and 1. Make a List: First thing you could do is 4. Finding the best prices: This is the toughest
whether your make a list of exactly how many people part. The most obvious thing to do would
mom works you would like to gift something this be to leg it to a dozen shops and compare
or not, it’ll be Diwali – and who they are. them for discounts and competitive prices.
2. Choose the right Gift: Everyone in your list But then, not all shops have everything.
a welcome
will probably have different tastes. If you Something more sensible would be to check
convenience. like something, it doesn’t mean the one the various internet shopping sites. Check
Usha Lexus you are gifting would like it. out online shopping portals.
toasters come 3. Budget: Make a total of how much money 5. Wrap them up: This may sound inane but
for Rs. 900 Get your daily bread faster you are going to spend on gifts– in fact it the truth is that gifts often lose their effect
or less while would help if you came up with a when not wrapped up – or not
Inalsa ones definite figure for how much you wrapped up well enough. And for
hover around the Rs. 1,000-mark. In fact, are definitely not going to spend some reason, we tend to gift gadgets
considering that it is not just moms who toast this season. Don’t forget Christmas as we buy them – in shopping mall
and New Year are fast approaching plastic bags. Don’t lose out on the
bread, you can gift your dad one.
and credit card interest rates are still element of surprise – cover it up and
nasty in our country. watch them brighten up as it unravels.
36 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Smartphone radiation
Feature cafegadgets.in A recent study on smartphone radiation found that
An online shopping web site with T-Mobile’s MyTouch 3G, an HTC smartphone topped
gadgets you could gift. Besides, the list of the worst radiation offenders. The Nokia
shipping is free 9300i was found to be the least guilty of the lot
such as FM radio, speaker phone and a even plays MP3 tracks. You can plug it into Indulge... (Rs. 10,000 and above)
torch light. Samsung even has a flip phone your PC, hang it on a wall or mount it on a
with colour, radio and Bluetooth (E1310) shelf. This makes a good family gift; especially, 3G Phone
that comes for a little less than Rs. 2,500. your mom, dad and grandparents. Since the
Sony Ericsson has some economical models government is
too and the best buy is the K33Oi (for Rs. Food Processor ushering in the
2,499) that has features such as MP3 player, A good food processor can work like a 3G era into India,
Bluetooth, FM and a camera! Don’t forget to charm to make kitchen work less tedious. there’s nothing
check out the new Nokia Xpress Radio 5030, Homemakers would always welcome a better than giving
which looks great and costs just Rs. 2,300. multi-purpose chopper, grinder, mixer, juicer your loved ones a
and slicer. Fortunately, they’ve all become 3G enabled phone, Since you can’t afford a
Portable DVD Player remarkably economical. The Bajaj Platina PX packed with all their PS3 yet
DVD players are now priced way below the 80F, for example, does all these and costs just favourite features.
Rs. 2,000 mark and if you don’t want to gift Rs. 4,990. Another brand, Kenstar sells theirs The Nokia 5630
one of those, there are a variety of portable for less Rs. 4,580 – and this one even has an (for Rs. 13,000), Nokia 5800 Xpress Music
DVD players that play MP3, MP4 - and even atta kneader. (at Rs. 14,350), the Sony Ericsson W995 (for
have USB slots provided. A definite asset for about Rs. 25,000), the Samsung F480 (at Rs.
the teens and tweens who are active on the Need the ATM? 15,200) – all give you great value for your
party circuit. (Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000) money and are gifts to be remembered by.
Emptying your wallet Digital Camera Gaming Console
(Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 5,000) Kodak has a couple of great cams up for grabs If you’ve got deep pockets – and they’re
– the Kodak Easyshare C140 (8.2 Megapixel, all full – the Sony
Wearable MP3 Player 3x optical zoom with face detection) and PlayStation 3 (at less
Music players you can wear are all the rage the Kodak Easyshare C160 (9.2 Megapixel, than Rs. 25,000) and
these days. Two years 3x optical zoom, face detection and a 2 GB the Microsoft Xbox 360
ago, Sandisk launched memory card) for Rs. (between Rs. 12,000
the Sansa Clip – a 5,490 and Rs. 6,590 and Rs. 15,000 as the
wearable MP3 player respectively. Sony’s rates have recently been
in 1 GB and 2 GB S930 is pretty good slashed) are awesome
sizes and in a variety too, at Rs. 7,800. Turn gifts for your game-crazy
of different colours. to page number 80 for cousins and friends. Put Their vacation will fly by
Sony’s NWZ – W202 the Digital Camera test For people to remember in a few games with it once they get hooked on
is an MP3 player where you can find you better and they’ll never forget to one of these
built into the headset, even more options. the Diwali.
with 13.5mm EX No dangling wires, no
Headphones and soft Bluetooth contraptions Digital Photo Printer Netbook
silicon ear buds. Two Save your friends and family the task of Smaller and more convenient than a laptop
features make it special: lugging their cameras to the nearest studio. yet a netbook is packed with all the features
• Zappin - You can zap through songs really Buy them a photo printer that gives them of a laptop and
fast, listening to 4 to 10-second-clips to check studio-quality prints right in the comfort of more. For almost
out if there’s a song you want to hear. their homes. Two great options in the market anyone today,
• Jog Dial - Once you reach an interesting today are the Sony DPP-FP67 which gives whether student
track, just press the ‘Jog’ button and you’ll be you 4x6 digital or professional,
able to hear the full song. quality prints young or old,
It supports various audio formats, has a with auto red- male or female,
capacity of 2 GB and can be charged within eye correction, a netbook could
3 minutes. Here’s one gift that cuts across all exposure be a life-changing
ages and genders – and is priced at Rs. 4,999. correction and gift. The Dell Acer, Asus and HP rule the
a 2.5 inch LCD Studio 14 (for Netbook market in terms of
Digital Photo Frame preview screen Rs. 41,970), the worldwide
Why put everything on Flickr? Why not show for Rs. 6,990. A Samsung NC10
off all the dozens of pictures you took of your cheaper version (for Rs. 25,249),
favourite people, your last pleasure trip and of the same is For amateur photographers who the ASUS S101H (for Rs. 30,500), the Acer
your treasured memories up for display in Sony’s DPP-FP65 can’t wait for their prints Aspire at Rs. 21,820 – these are only some of
your own home? Digital photo frames make for Rs. 5,990. the options you could choose from. The HP
great gifts for Canon photo printers such as the Pixma Mini 1129TU is another cool one for just Rs.
shutterbugs. IP1200 comes for as less as Rs. 1,855 while 24,700. For a detailed evaluation of the pros
Transcend’s the better Canon CP 760 comes for Rs. 5,390. and cons of netbooks available in the market
T-Photo 710C today, just pick up the September edition
7-inch digital Sony PlayStation 2 of Digit Magazine and you’ll know exactly
photo frame So what if the PS3 is out. The Sony PlayStation which one to buy for your significant other.
costs Rs. 4,399, is guaranteed to send kids and teenagers into One great thing about buying gadgets that
has a 7-inch TFT throes of happiness. It is now available in less are a little expensive is that almost everybody
display, 1 GB than Rs. 7,000 and is great for a first taste of allows payment in equated monthly
This Diwali, gift them with
memory and what gaming is really all about. instalments these days.
digital memories
38 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
How LCD panels work
Sci-Tech How stuff works 44 An in-depth look at how LCD and LED
backlighting technologies work
Flash Forays Positive Charge
Madhusudan Mukerjee
readersletters@thinkdigit.com Source Gate Drain Source Gate Drain
Metal Metal
I
Oxide Oxide
n 1984, Dr. Fujio Masuoka of Toshiba
announced flash to the world. Today, Semi conductor Semi conductor
flash memory is everywhere – pen p-type silicon p-type silicon
drives, thumb drives, MP3/MP4 n-type silicon n-type silicon
players, digital cameras, PDAs, and virtually OFF ON
all portable electronic devices that need to
How MOSFETs work
store data. In fact, they’re slated to replace
hard disk drives pretty soon. the channel from the source to the drain. you apply a positive potential to the control
This makes it unipolar because a single gate, electrons (being negatively charged)
Inside a flash drive electric charge is enough to get the electrons are thrust through the layer of oxide
Flash drives basically store data on an moving. (usually silicon dioxide) between the p-type
electronically erasable programmable read The difference between the flash memory substrate. Some of these are pushed into
only memory (EEPROM) chip. This has transistor and the typical MOSFET is the the floating gate and the electrons are then
a lattice of columns (bitlines) and rows floating gate. Flash drives use FGMOS cells trapped there until forced out again.
(wordlines). Each point of intersection is a (Floating Gate Metal Oxide Semiconductor The electrons enter the floating gate in
cell. A typical flash chip contains billions of FETs) that are basically MOSFETs with two ways:
such cells. Each cell is made of a transistor an additional gate. This is an electrically l Fowler-Nordhein Tunneling: This
isolated gate, with one or more secondary is a phenomenon where electrons are
gates deposited above it, also electrically emitted from a semiconductor into a
isolated from it. This floating gate is dielectric or a vacuum when persuaded
surrounded by resistive material. This way it by a powerful electric field. Unlike other
is difficult for electrons to pass into the gate. forms of emission, electrons pass through
Once they have entered, it also ensures they a barrier – instead of working around
stay trapped until the bias is reversed. If it – because it has not yet lost its wave
function and, decaying into the barrier,
Word line thus heightening the probability of it
emerging on the other side.
l Hot Carrier Injection: If an electron
Control gate or a ‘hole’ ( an absent electron) in a
semiconductor can be made to gain
Peeking into a Flash Drive
sufficient kinetic energy to pass through
Floating gate a barrier, the process is known as ‘Hot
– a MOSFET, to be precise – which has an Carrier Injection’.
additional gate called a ‘floating’ gate added Bit line
on to it. n-source n-drain NAND and NOR flash
Memory
MOSFETs p-substrate The two most common kinds of flash
A MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor memory are NAND and NOR. The
Field Effect Transistor) is midway between Parts of an FGMOS transistor terms are from Boolean logic and
a diode (two p and n type semiconductor
layers) and a transistor (sandwiched HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FLASH DRIVE
layers of p-type and n-type semiconductor
layers). An n-type semiconductor releases Never lost your pen drive or got a virus infection 2. Put in a password: There’s plenty of
electrons more readily, while and p-type in it? You’re kidding me. Given that they’re freeware on the web which allows you to
semiconductors allow electrons to flown featherweight and getting tinier by the day, password protect your flash drive, thus
into them easily. The MOSFET, however, chances of your flash memory device getting ensuring that only you have access to the
into the wrong hands are increasing day by data in it.
is set up a little differently from the typical
day. And everybody knows how the ‘Autoplay’ 3. Encrypt the data: If you do this, even
bipolar diode with a base coated with
function in Windows gets trojans and worms after somebody cracks your password, the
a layer of metal and oxide. The holes
into the works. Here are a few tips to safeguard data will only look like gobbledygook to
in the p-type layer prevent the excess your flash data: him.
electrons from passing from one n-type 1. Buy a wire protected flash drive: Once 4. Anti-virus: Clean your flash drive of
semiconductor (source) to the other a flash drive is write protected, data will malicious software every time you plug it
(drain). But if we just let a positive voltage only get written if you disable the ‘write into a computer, using reliable anti-virus
flow in from the gate, this creates an electric protect’ function. software.
field. Now electrons start moving through
40 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Brave NAND mass production How stuff works
Jennifer Lopez’s new album titled Toshiba and SanDisk plan to mass
Brave will be sold on a chick- produce NAND flash chips on 20nm-
looking 1-GB flash drive class process technology
NAND NOR on a block wise basis, where a collection let’s figure out how flash drives perform
IN IN OUT IN IN OUT of bytes makes a ‘page’ and a collection their individual tasks.
0 0 1 0 0 1
of pages makes a ‘block’. Actions are
performed in chunks and therefore NAND Erasing
0 1 1 0 1 0 is unsuitable as a replacement for the ROM Since none of the Floating Gates (FG)
1 0 1 1 0 0 in your PC which needs random access at contain negative charge to begin with, all
1 1 0 1 1 0 the byte level. the bits will be set to ‘1’. Ergo, if you want
to erase a programmed cell, you’ll need
NAND and NOR functions permit a variety of How flash drives work to set it back to ‘1’ – or rather, compel the
Boolean operations Any data storage device must be able to FG to empty itself of electrons. Applying a
are immensely useful for the creation of perform the three basic actions of Write, voltage (between about 9V and 12V) from
universal Boolean operations. Read and Erase. Whether it’s NAND the source to the control gate along a Word
NAND – which is short for ‘Not AND’ or NOR, reading, writing or erasing are Line would cause the electrons trapped in
refers to the Boolean logic operation all controlled entirely by the voltage the Floating Gate to break out and ‘tunnel’
that says that if any one input is false, combination applied to the WL and the to the Source and the p-type substrate. The
the conclusion is true. Since computers BL. In the case of flash drives, it’s all about Floating Gate is now free of electrons and
only understand zeroes and ones, in the setting the status of a cell to ‘charged’ or set again to ‘1’.
language of electronics, if any one input is a ‘not charged’ – or alternatively, sensing
0 (zero), the output must be a 1 (one). NOR whether the floating gate in individual Programming
(short for ‘Not OR’) is a Boolean which is cells is set to 0 or 1. If a floating gate has Given that all the cells are already at ‘1’,
true if none of the inputs are true – i.e. if electrons, it hinders the flow of electrons programming a blank flash memory device
any – or both – of the two inputs is a one through the transistor (from the control gate becomes restricted to setting a cell to the
(1), the result is a zero. Both of these can to the silicon element), thereby allowing binary ‘0’ value. To write into a flash drive,
be used to make NOT, AND, OR XOR or less than 50 per cent of the current to pass then, a high voltage (about 7V) is applied
XNOR, and so they’re called ‘Universal through – implying a zero (0). Similarly, if to the Bit Line (the Drain) and a higher
Gates’ – and that’s what makes them useful. there is no negative charge in the Floating one (around 12V) to the Word Line (the
NAND and NOR gates are so designed as Gate impeding the flow of current, more Source). Electrons will now flow from the
to function in the above manner. As you can than 50 per cent is allowed to pass Source to the Drain. Typically, some over-
see in the figure, the Control Gate in every through – indicating a one (1). This can excited electrons will jump and tumble
be controlled by deliberately manipulating into the FG (remember the ‘Hot Carrier
the voltage applied at the Source, Drain or Injection’ process?), getting trapped there,
Control gate to change the delta value If giving a negative charge. Turn the power
the drive hasn’t been used at all – or if it’s off and the electrons still stay there, thanks
blank – all the cells are set to ‘1’ because to the insulation of the oxide around the
the flow of electrons is unhindered. Thus FG. Thus, entire blocks of cells can be
the state of the flash cell is determined by programmed into millions of sequences of
whether or not the Floating Gate contains zeroes and ones, literally, at the speed of
electrons or not. If it does it’s programmed, light.
if it doesn’t, it’s erased or blank. The
changing voltage at every cell is measured Reading
by a flash Memory Sense Amplifiers which When a current is passed from the Control
NOR and NAND gates use a differential amplifier to measure the Gate (about 5V) to the Drain (about 1V),
cell is connected to the horizontal ‘Word disparity between the voltage generated by the current begins to flow between the
Line’ (WL). The ‘Bit Line’ (BL) connects all a particular cell current (the flash Bit line two. The voltage is not high enough to
the drains together – which is actually the voltage) and a reference voltage value. If the bump electrons into the FG if it is not
data bus of the chip. The Source Line (SL) Bit Line voltage is higher, it implies that the negatively charged but high enough to
connects all the sources to the ground. ‘Data Out’ signal is pulled to a logic high detect insulation or conduction at every
(binary digit 1) and conversely, if it is lower, cell. The cell sensor tracks the current
NAND vs NOR the ‘Data Out’ signal is pulled to a logic low flow and identifies whether a particular
NAND and NOR basically differ in (binary digit 0). Having understood this, cell is conducting or remains insulating.
architecture and they both have their pros Accordingly, it arrives at a
and cons. NAND has its cells arranged in a binary code of ones (1s)
series – like a NAND gate – and therefore Word line for every conducting cell
lets you erase and write data faster, uses less and zeroes (0s) for every
space (about 60 per cent of a NOR flash) insulating one.
because it doesn’t need so many ‘grounds’, Control Gate
cuts down on costs and is more robust
Thin Oxide Layer
Types of flash
than a NOR flash. NOR-flash memory, on Floating Gate drives
the other hand, has every cell connected When it comes to flash
to the ground in parallel to the bit lines storage devices these
and another end to a bit line. This parallel days, NOR flash takes a
connection is an advantage as every byte Drain Source back seat and it seems to
Bit line
can be addressed individually. Yet, NOR is Current flow NAND all the way. Two
slower in writing and erasing but quicker basic forms of NAND
than NAND in reading data. NAND flash Negatively charged electrons are the preferred form
requires that you read, erase or write data This one is set to zero of storage in solid state
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 41
How stuff works Wafer thin Say hello to mSATA
Kingmax unveils the world’s The new standard geared towards
smallest flash drive with a near wafer-thin drives, it will support
maximum capacity of 4 GB 1.5 Gbps and 3.0 Gbps transfer rates
devices today: Single-Level Cells (SLC) and MLC, it is even possible
Multi-Level Cells (MLC). to store more bits than Send your feedback at
two in a single cell. As www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09
Single-Level Cells the sensitivity to voltage
An SLC flash is so designed as to store only deltas gets better, the flash drive simply At the rate we go about juggling data in our
one bit-value per cell. So, for example, if needs to be able to detect 2N states in the flash drives, the average drive should wear
the memory is being read, each cell can cell (where N = the number of desired per out really fast. Luckily, SLC flash drives
provide either of two values, depending cell). So, for example, if you want each deteriorate only after about 100,000 write/
on the voltage level – 0 (zero) if the cell is cell to hold 4 bits, you’ll need to be able to erase cycles – which could last decades,
programmed or 1 (one) if the cell is blank identify 24 (or sixteen) voltage states in the unless you insist on rewriting all day and
or erased. Thus, the cell sensor in SLCs has cell – viz. 0000, 0001, 0010, 0011, 0100, night for several years at a stretch (MLCs
only two voltage levels to bother about. 0101, 0110, 0111, 1000, 1001, 1010, 1011, last for only about 10,000 such cycles).
1100, 1101, 1110, 1111. Deleting data is different. When you erase
data, the drive doesn’t really erase it, but
Reference points SLCs vs. MLCs only marks a set of pages as ‘invalid’ and
Distribution of cells
Let’s take a better look at the differences stops showing them up when you open the
between SLC and MLC flash drives. drive folder on your screen. It then waits
MLCs take longer time to read and write until you write in some data, removes the
data because it needs to track more minute data from the ‘erased’ cells and puts the
gradations. SLCs can read and write data new bit values into them. This reduces the
1 0
Vt much faster. However, an MLC flash can wear and tear and increases the lifespan of
1.0 V 2.5 V 4.0 V 5.5 V 6.0V hold double the number of transistors the drive.
The SLC Flash detects a zero or a one based on the on the same wafer size as compared to an Of course, not all drives delete the
Threshold Voltage of the cell SLC flash. This allows greater density and same way. Some poorly built flash drives
thus, more memory on the same size chip have high Write Amplification factors –
bringing down the cost per MB. Cheap which is a technical way of talking about
Multi-Level Cells thumb drives or pen drives, therefore, how much ‘writing’ actually happens.
Manufacturers, like Intel, use the same prefer MLC. Therefore, if you
transistors for their SLC and MLC flash. The SLCs, want to change just
difference is in how data is stored or read. In however, score a few pages of data,
the case of a Multi-Level Cell, every cell can on one parameter the drive will erase
represent four states: – lifespan. Every the entire block
a) 00 (two zeroes) indicate that the cell is flash drive that contains those
fully programmed has a limited pages, make the
b) 01 (a zero and a one) represent a number of erase/ changes and write
partially programmed cell programme the new block in,
c) 10 (a one and a zero) show that the cycles. This is thus increasing the
cell is partly erased because the number of times
d) 11(two ones) indicate that the cell is silicon oxide ‘tunnelling’ happens.
fully erased material that is This reduces the
In short, an MLC can store two bits used to separate lifespan of the drive.
of information with no difference in the Floating Gate from other parts of the To put it briefly, MLCs have a high density
requirements of space or power. While cell suffers wear and tear with the repeated and can hold more data at cheaper costs and
the minimum and maximum voltage stay ‘tunnelling’ of electrons during erasure smaller sizes, while SLCs need less power, are
the same in SLCs and MLCs, there are or programming. By and by, the material more durable and allow faster writing and
more gradations between the two voltage dissipates and electrons don’t move about erasing of data. Choice a particular kind of
levels, making the drive sensitive to smaller the way they should. Note that reading does drive would depend on your requirements.
variations in voltage, allowing it to register not reduce life of the flash memory because Flash memory is not without
two bits per cell. This, of course, would the process does not involve the passage of its drawbacks. Some cells get
entail better programming algorithms, electrons through the oxide, only detection unintentionally programmed while
exact placement of charge and better charge of voltage difference. programming other adjacent ones ( a
sensing to detect the amount of charge All SSDs erase in blocks (groups of phenomenon called ‘Program Disturb’).
on the floating gate more precisely. In an pages) and write in pages (groups of cells). Sometimes the threshold value is misread
and a ‘1’ is recorded instead of a ‘0’
(called ‘Read Disturb’). Charge may leak
Reference points out of the FG, affecting data retention.
Some question the ability of flash drives
Distribution of cells
to store information when it comes to
less than 30 nanometres. Manufacturers
all over the world are working to better
the existing technology and eliminate
the drawbacks of both, MLCs as well as
11 10 01 00 SLCs. For all practical purposes, NAND
Vt will do for the average consumer for
1.5 V 3.5 V 4.0 V 5.5 V 6.5V the next few years at least. Flash is the
MLCs give you two bits for the price of one future.
42 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
How stuff works A 4-inch flexible OLED display of QVGA Ennova announced a USB flash drive
resolution with a curvature radius of 2 that packs a OLED screen which also
inches was showcased at CES doubles up as a fingerprint scanner
How LCD panels work
Terry Relph-Knight at least half of the original
readersletters@thinkdigit.com light from the back-light is
L
blocked. However, more
iquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) significantly, when the cells
have their advantages for both are closed they do not block
TVs and computer monitors. all of the light. The ratio of
However, there are two things light passed, between the
they haven’t done as well as CRT; high on and off state defines the
contrast and colour depth/accuracy. displays contrast ratio (note –
This however is set to change with the contrast is always a ratio, not
introduction of LED back-lights. To see an absolute measurement). In
why requires a look at how ‘traditional’ the older type of LCD panel
LCDs work. the CCFL back-light remains
LCD panels use the variable polarisation on at a fixed brightness all the
of electronically controlled liquid crystal time (it may turn off during
Spectral plot of a CCFL back-light taken from the manufacturers
cells to vary the amount of polarised light power saving) and has no
that will pass through the panel. In other effect on the contrast ratio, brochure. The light output is extremely uneven with large spikes at
words, an LCD panel is composed of a which is determined entirely various frequencies
large number (a typical 1,600 by 1,200 by the on/off ratio of the liquid crystal back-light reaches the viewer.
computer monitor has 5,760,000 cells) of panel (ignoring the effect of ambient light Very recently there has been something
tiny, voltage controlled, light valves. The cells reflected from the internal structure of the of a backlash against fluorescent lamps
themselves are neutral density; they pass or LCD for the moment). since they contain mercury, which is
block all frequencies of visible light more poisonous and tends to get released into the
or less equally. To provide the sensation of The Fluorescent lamp environment when old lamps are thrown
variable colour each pixel consists of three Fluorescent lamps for general lighting were away.
of these cells, with individual red, green and introduced commercially in 1938 and were Fluorescent lamps work by ionising
blue filters placed in front of each group of first used in large quantities to light factories a column of low pressure gas (mercury
three cells. A wide range of colours can be during the Second World War (commercial vapour) causing it to glow with ultra-violet
produced by varying the relative amounts LEDs became available in 1968 and blue light. The inside of the glass tube containing
LEDs were not introduced until the late the gas is coated with a mixture of
RGB LED backlights deliver 1990’s). Fluorescent lamps are significantly phosphors that react to the ultra-violet light
brighter, darker and more more efficient than incandescent lamps and by emitting light in the visible spectrum.
colourful displays small fluorescent lamps (Compact Florescent Various mixtures of phosphors are used in
Lamps with electronic ballasts – CFL) have the tubes to give an approximation of ‘white’
of light passing through each of the three been heavily marketed in recent years as light with some variation. For example
cells making up a pixel. Ambient light can ‘energy saving’ lamps. Conversion efficiency “Warm White” tubes have more red while
be reflected from a plate behind the cells, of electrical power to radiant power varies “Cool White” tubes have more blue. The
or a back-light can be used for a brighter, between 17 and 21 per cent compared to less spectral output of a fluorescent lamp is
emissive, display. Most displays used these than 5 per cent for the filament incandescent surprisingly uneven.
days have a back-light and until recently lamp. The luminous efficiency of CFL The CCF lamps used for LCD back-lights
this would have been a Cold Cathode sources is typically 60 to 72 lumens per watt, use a high voltage to start the ionisation
Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) compared to 8 to 17 lumens per watt for of the gas while the tubes used for general
One of the weaknesses of LCDs is low incandescent lamps. lighting run at lower voltages and use a
contrast. When the liquid crystal cells are In back-light applications, efficiency momentary heating coil. As far as the colour
fully open (in the off state with no voltage (regardless of the type of light source) is low range or gamut of LCDs is concerned, it
applied), they do not transmit all of the because a lot of light is lost passing through is the uneven spectral response and the
light from the back-light, for one thing the the diffusers, polarisers and colour filters, range of light frequencies emitted by the
light passes through a polarising filter, so perhaps only 5 per cent of the light from the tube phosphors that limit performance.
Early CCFLs used similar phosphors to the
Jargon Buster
• Polarization - a property of waves that describes
the orientation of their oscillations.
• Ionization - is the physical process of con-
verting an atom or molecule into an ion by
adding or removing charged particles such as
electrons or other ions.
• Dead pixels - They could occur on LCDs when
Photomicrograph’s of two pixels from two LCD panels from different manufacturers. The images are the screen is damaged or put under pressure.
blurred because they are shot through the anti-glare front diffuser. Nevertheless it is still possible to see
that the two panels use different cell geometries
44 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
How stuff works BenQ monitors in India Flexible displays
To read more about BenQ’s LED monitors, LG showcased a 11.5-inch sheet
go to www.thinkdigit.com/d/60724/ of flexible e-paper
phosphor formulations used on the tubes of tubes may be mounted in parallel behind back-lights. LED brightness modulation is
used for general lighting. Recently CCFLs the panel. usually performed by driving them with a
have appeared with modified phosphors to There are several ways to arrange and square wave and modulating the duty ratio
give a greater display gamut, for example drive the LEDs in a LED back-light and these of the wave (pulse width modulation). This
Sony’s Wide Color Gamut - CCFL (WCG- are known as 0D, 1D and 2D. technique does introduce its own problems
CCFL) with a claimed gamut 30 per cent 0D simply uses a number of LEDs and a of RF radiation and the difficulty of actually
larger than a conventional CCFL, but it looks diffuser system to evenly back-light the entire transitioning to a true off state.
like these are going to be eclipsed by the new LCD panel, a direct replacement of the CCFL Of course, if a small high resolution panel
RGB LED back-lights, at least in part because without any added functionality. could be made with a set of RGB LEDs at
using LED back-lights reduces the amount of In a 1D back-light the LEDs are arranged every pixel, the LCD panel would not be
mercury released into the environment. in horizontal rows behind the panel and can needed since the image could be reproduced
By comparing the spectral output graphs be brightness modulated to achieve a crude entirely by brightness modulated LEDs.
of the two types of back-light it is easy to degree of contrast enhancement. Large LED-only displays, where each group
see that RGB LED produces higher peaks Lastly, in a 2D back-light the LEDs can of three LEDs is small compared to the
for red, green and blue and covers more be arranged in groups (for an RGB back- overall display size, do exist and are used for
of the visible spectrum. This results in a light also in sub-groups of red, green and applications such as advertising hoardings.
considerable improvement in gamut can be blue) that can be individually brightness However, at the moment it isn’t practical to
seen from looking at the gamut area plots. modulated, an improvement in contrast produce smaller high resolution displays
over different areas of the display (as shown in this way, so the LCD panel is retained to
RGB back-lights save the in the two photographs of an RGB back lit provide the required resolution and LED
planet television display). back-lights are used to enhance the contrast
RGB LED back-lights offer great (and improve the colour gamut). This is
advantages in terms of power saving and Colour temperature achieved by dividing the display up into
a longer service life than CCFL. According Previously the only way to adjust display quite low resolution segments, typically
to Sharp, for example, their RGB displays colour temperature was to adjust the around 128 segments may be used. Within
consume 40 per cent less power and offer individual gain of the red, green and blue each of these segments, contrast may be
a back-light service life of 100,000 hours, colour channels driving the display. RGB enhanced by modulating the brightness
about two thirds longer than regular LCD back-lights provide the opportunity to of all the LEDs in that segment. This does
change the colour temperature of the back- mean there is some light spill or haloing
light itself. In other words, the shade of the in the areas where the image on the LCD
Two photographs of identical LCD back lit televisions driven with the same signal. On the left the
LCD as well as the modulated 2D back-light is being driven with the image signal while on the right
only the LED back-light is brightness modulated
This diagram shows the various gamuts of ‘white’ light provided by the back-light can changes abruptly from light to dark. Using
different display types plotted as 2D areas easily be varied, for example from a ‘warmer’ more segments will result in smoother
using the XYZ colour space reddish white – 5,000K, to a ‘cooler’ blue- contrast changes across an image. At the
white – 9,300K. moment, the marketing departments of most
TVs. To put this in perspective – if the display manufacturers are keeping quite
display is turned on for 5 hours a day, this Contrast improvement using about the exact details of their RGB backlit
is 20,000 days or over 57 years. LED back-lights displays, Sony for example will not say
LCD panel contrast can be hugely improved how many LEDs they use or in how many
Back-light layout by turning the back-light off. In this case the segments. Sony do say they use 2 green with
The older panel designs with fluorescent idea of representing contrast as a ratio gets 1 red and 1 blue LED in their LED clusters.
back-lights normally use edge lighting where a bit silly because the ratio of - some light - This compensates for the generally lower
a CCFL is mounted near one edge of the to - no light - is infinite. However this really light output of green LEDs compared to red
display. Light from the lamp is guided and only applies in a completely dark room. In and blue.
spread across the back of the display using practice there is often a high level of ambient With computer monitors that are used
a narrow wedge shaped light-guide. The light, which is reflected by the internal primarily to display business graphics its
light is further disbursed using a translucent structure of the display, degrading contrast. debatable that there is any advantage in
diffusion panel and a prismatic panel that LED back-lights can be turned on and off using the area based back-light dimming that
helps reflected light to bounce around. very rapidly and they can also be brightness is being employed in the current crop of LED
Some displays may use two CCFLs top and modulated over a wide range, neither back-light TV’s for contrast enhancement.
bottom, or even on large displays a number of which can easily be done with CCFL This really only comes in to its own for photo
46 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
LG’s Jazz OLED screens How stuff works
LG adds Jazz Theatre Samsung reports around half the
and Jazz Atom its Jazz world’s cellphones will have OLED
series LCD TVs screens in the next five years
realistic images where there are large areas of shows as a sharp
light and shade. spike with a much
lower broader
Contrast measurement – the yellow peak.
specification game Consequently the
Marketing people love numbers they can light from this type
stretch or misrepresent to make their of ‘white’ LED is
products look better and for displays, characteristically
contrast ratio is one of those numbers. It a hard blue-white
would seem that measuring contrast should light, due to the
be straight forward, as mentioned contrast high blue peak.
is the ratio between peak white and black. Spectral plot of an RGB back lit display compared to a white LED back lit Just to confuse
However, as the ‘black’ level falls to lower things, Samsung
display. The RGB plot shows clear peaks for red, green and blue while the
and lower amounts of light it becomes more refer to the
and more difficult to measure accurately. It is white LED plot has a sharp peak at around 450nM and a lower, broader, peak LED backlight
possible to claim huge contrast ratios simply from 500 to 600nM – i.e. blue and yellow technology they
by measuring black levels in a very dark use as LED-BLU
room with the display or at least the back- colour drift as the temperature characteristics where BLU stands for Back Light Unit.
light, literally turned off. of red, green and blue LEDs do differ. Typically, a blue plus yellow phosphor
Measuring with a checker board pattern LED back-light will only manage a 71.6
of black and white rather than with the White LED back-lights and per cent comparative gamut (relative to
entire screen black and white, allows for comparative gamuts NTSC). Experiments have also been done
internal screen reflection and produces a Perhaps an obvious and relatively simple using a blue LED with distinct red and
more realistic result. As does measuring with step in display design evolution is to take a green phosphors. When this LED design is
a known amount of ambient light. conventional LCD panel and simply replace combined with the typical LCD filter sets and
Typical contrast ratios for LCD panels are the Cold Cathode back-light with a white- colour matching functions, a reasonably wide
on the order of 200 to 400 to 1, although light, LED back-light system. The advantage gamut of 91.9 per cent of the NTSC standard
more recent developments in PVA (Patterned of doing this is that the electronics are gamut is obtained.
Vertical Alignment) and S-PVA (Super simplified because the high voltage converter In comparison manufacturers using
Patterned Vertical Alignment) panels provide required by the CCFL isn’t needed and the back-light designs with discrete red, green
claimed contrast ratios of over 3,000 to 1 (i.e. environmental impact is at least modified and blue LEDs are claiming gamuts as
better black levels). The old CRTs provided because LEDs don’t contain mercury. large as 123 per cent compared to the
good contrast because, when properly White LED back-light displays often NTSC standard.
adjusted, black level means the display emits
no light.
Give us your feedback at www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09
Colour stability and
temperature compensation do not provide the best in wide gamut Unfortunately, companies offering LED
All colour displays have suffered from colour photo-realism. This is because the spectral back-light displays use different designs
instability due to temperature change. With output of the the “white” light from the and don’t want to reveal exactly how
CRT and the CCFL back lit LCD panels the LEDs is not very smooth and does not their products work, it may be difficult for
approach, certainly before colour calibrating provide sufficient energy over a wide range the consumer to tell with certainty what
a display, was to leave the display switched of frequencies. Most white LEDs are blue, the differences are between the various
on and displaying an image for between half or ultra-violet light LEDs, with the addition products available in order to make sensible
an hour, to an hour, to allow it to ‘warm up’ of a yellow phosphor in the lens cap, which choices. There is for example the significant
and for the colour to stabilise. There was no converts some of the blue light into light difference between a ‘white’ LED back-light
attempt in these designs to apply corrective at other frequencies, in the same way that and an RGB back-light. A display may even
feedback for colour/temperature changes. a fluorescent tube phosphor converts the use an RGB LED back-light and as a result
The light output of LEDs does vary ultra-violet wavelengths into visible light. offer a better colour gamut, but not apply
markedly with ambient temperature and This is evident in the spectral plot (see – segmented brightness control to provide the
in an RGB LED back-light this can result in white LED spectral plot) where the blue improvement in contrast.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 47
Shooting Stars
Laps, notes and books
Tried & Tested Bazaar 62 Something for everyone 80 16 cameras tested.
Capture more smiles this Diwali
Cooler Master Elite 334
Photographs: Manas Parekh, Jiten Gandhi
ATI Radeon Edition Cabinet
A standard cabinet with fancy stickers!
O
n one side of knobs to keep the
Cooler Master’s drives in place, but
Elite cabinet, we in vain. There’s a
have Ruby – a 120-mm fan placed
character many will associate in the front, but none
with. On the other side, we at the rear – a little
have a semi-transparent red disappointing. The
Contact acrylic sheet. cabinet is bundled
Cooler Master Like many Cooler Master with a 500-W power
Phone: +91-9422501592 cabinets, there’s a meshed supply from Cooler
Email: grill with a dust filter on the Master’s eXtreme
Tanmay_L@coolermaster.com front, which can be easily series, that is
Web site: www.coolermaster.com removed. The build quality known as a cheaper
Price: Rs. 5,650 is above average. Oddly, only alternative to their
one side panel has a screwless Real Power series
Specifications design. On the inside, there of power supplies.
Dimensions: 485 (L) x 187 (W) x are screwless panels with Even then, this
421 (H) mm power supply should
Weight: 6 kg RATINGS be able to handle a
5.25-inch Drive Bays: 4 Features .....................7 power mid-ranged
3.5-inch Drive Bays: 7 Performance ...........6.5 graphics card such as
I/O Panel: USB 2.0 x 2, 3.5mm a GeForce 9800 GTX of person who just wants
Build quality ............6.5
audio in/out (HD Audio supported) easily. a cabinet to show off, this
Expansion Slots: 7
Value for money.........6 It sells for Rs. 5,650, which could be your pick. If you are
Power Supply: Cooler Master Overall .....................6.5 is a little over the top in our meticulous about your power
RS500-PCARA3 (500W) opinion. If you are the kind supply, look elsewhere.
Acer Tempo F900
Acer’s entry into the smartphone market
Contact
T
he F900 marks Acer’s Acer’s implementation the bundled earphones was Acer India Pvt Ltd.
entry into India’s of their custom interface on about average, but we missed a Phone: +91-9818316575
smartphone market Windows Mobile 6.1 has a 3.5-mm audio jack. The 3.2-MP Email: charu.mishra@vdpl.in
with a somewhat somewhat hit-and-miss affair. camera gives decent results of Web site: www.acer.co.in
utilitarian look. Its most striking It isn’t very responsive and photos shot in day light. Price: Rs. 29,995
feature is the 3.8-inch multi-tasking with The call quality is average.
480 x 800 resolution more than three The high capacity battery belts Specifications
screen. It works fine applications can make out a decent life of a day and a Network: Quad-band GSM,
under sunlight, but it sluggish. There were half with moderate usage. At Rs. HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps
isn’t very accurate a few occassions where 30,000, the F900 has nothing Screen: 3.8-inch 480 x 800 pixel
when used with the operating system substantial other than the large Processor: Samsung S3C 6410 533
fingers. It takes some locked up. Internet screen. MHz processor
time getting used to. Explorer is simply Memory: 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM
Its touch-sensitive unusable to browse RATINGS OS: Windows Mobile 6.1
buttons at the full fledged web sites. Professional
Features ..................6.5
bottom give a nice The accelerometer Connecitivty: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g,
vibrating feedback. is not very accurate
Performance ...........5.5 Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA, A-GPS
The phone won’t either. The on-board Build quality ............6 Camera: 3.2 Megapixel
easily fit into any GPS chip works well Value for money......5 Battery: 1530 mAh
pocket owing to its with Google Maps. The Overall .....................6 Dimensions: 117.5 x 63.5 x 12.9 mm
large dimensions. audio quality using Weight: 150 g
Palm announces first quarter results: $164.5m net loss, 823k phones sold. Palm also said that it will stop developing Windows Mobile handsets from now, and just make
48 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Return to the mothership Apple makes their Grand Central
Bazaar
Dispatch multi-core processor
90 More than 50 motherboards tested for
you. Get to know the board of your choice handling tool open source
Seagate Barracuda LP
A eco-friendly drive with mammoth capacity
T
he Seagate Barracuda reliability. Seagate positions this seconds for a 4 GB
LP is a regular 3.5-inch drive to for low-power PCs for folder of assorted
desktop hard drive home use and office networks files.
that packs a punch as an internal storage solution. The Seagate
with its 2 TB of space. It spins We observed no difference ST32000542AS
at an odd 5900 rpm, which is a in vibration on this drive drive sells for
lot slower than the typical 7200 as compared to the Seagate Rs. 16,700. A 2
rpm desktop drives. This slower Barracuda 7200.11 drive. TB drive from
speed should mean better The noise levels were under Western Digital
power efficiency and also better acceptable range. costs a few thousand rupees Contact
In real world tests, the drive less. This drive probably will Fortune Marketing
HDTach 32MB file took 43 seconds to copy a 4 GB help you save in the long run Phone: +91-11-26414468
Average Read (MBps) 95.6
file and 57 seconds to copy an on electricity bills, but you’ll be Email:
assorted 4 GB folder. It took shelling out quite a sum to buy sales@fortune-it.com
Average Write (MBps) 85.7
the same 43 seconds to read it now. Web site: www.fortune-it.com
CPU Utilization (%) 5
the 4 GB file from the drive. RATINGS Price: Rs. 16,700
Random Access Time (ms) 14.8 But a 4 GB assorted file was
Read Burst Speed (MBps) 224.2 read slowly at 90 seconds. The Features ..................7 Specifications
SiSoft Sandra 2008 drive did not perform really Performance ...........6 Capacity: 2 TB
Drive Index, Read (MBps) 90.05 well in the internal file copy test Build quality ............6 Size: 3.5-inch
Access Time, Read (ms) 14 -- which means copying data Value for money......6 Rotational Speed: 5900 rpm
Drive Index, Write (MBps) 81.19 from one partition to another Overall .....................6 Buffer Size: 32 MB
Access Time, Write (ms) 5 on the same drive. It logged 197 Interface: SATA 3.0 Gb/s
seconds for a single file and 259 Dimensions: 147 x 102 x 26.1 mm
Weight: 655 g
Sony Walkman
NWZ-W202 2GB
Sony’s wireless formula to their audio players
Contact
S
Sony India ony recently skipping through many songs.
Phone: 1800-11-11-88 introduced the The ‘Zappin’ feature helps
Email: NWZ-W202. by automatically shuffling
sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com Advertised as the through song clips, but you’ll
Web site: www.sony.co.in “Walkman Unwired”, it’s a have to be patient since each
Price : Rs. 4,990 music player designed like clip plays for 5-7 seconds.
a stereo bluetooth headset. The sound quality of this
Specifications Looks-wise, it’s surely a head- player is decent. The highs and
Capacity: 2 GB turner. The player is controlled mids were pretty clear. The
Device Interface: USB 2.0 (mini- by means of a ‘jog-dial’-esque bass wasn’t very impressive.
USB port on player) clickable roller. The dial is The output isn’t as good as
Weight: 35 g pretty tactile. higher-end Walkmans, but
File Format support: MP3, We observed what we very acceptable. Data transfer
WMA, AAC think might be a flaw, while rates via the PC are average. It
using it in motion. The in- surpassed its specified 12-hour
RATINGS earphones would tend to continuous playback mark
slip out of their ‘sweet-spot’ by almost two hours – a good
Features ..................6 position; thus increasing thing in our opinion. price, or a Samsung S2 2GB
Performance ...........7 ambient noise. Hence, we kept At Rs. 4,990, the W202 sells for half of that price. And
Build quality ............6 adjusting the player back in is definitely expensive when with the flaws mentioned
Value for money......5 its place from time to time. compared to other screen-less above, we really don’t feel like
Overall .....................6 Secondly, swiping the jog-dial players. The new 4 GB iPod recommending this one over
repetitively is irritating while Shuffle sells for around that the latter two.
their own WebOS based phones HTC Leo runs a new version of TouchFLO UI over Windows Mobile 6.5. It sports a multi-touch capacitive 4.3-inch large display
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 49
Bazaar ASUS introduces P7P55D ASUS launches the SV1T
series motherboards for the skype videophone with wi-fi
Core i5 and i7 processors and a touchscreen
Samsung Jet
A multimedia powerhouse
T
he Jet is Samsung’s
attempt at enticing
people enthused
about getting a
multimedia touch phone. At
first sight, the Jet looks very
cool in its black avatar and
holographic back panel. Its
shape and size make it quite
comfortable to hold as well
as to slip into the pocket.
Unlike many metal-bodied
Samsung phones, this one
does not give that feel of
toughness; it feels somewhat
delicate. The phone has a
vibrant 3.1-inch AMOLED
display. The pixel-packed 480
x 800 pixel resolution makes
the content played on it look
crisp. Although the display is
Contact of resistive nature, the OS is
Samsung India Electronics Pvt optimized to be used entirely
Ltd by fingers. There’s no stylus
Phone: +91-22-41511234 provided with the package.
Email: sarfraz.s@samsung.com The display’s vibrance suffers
Web site: www.samsungmobile. under direct sunlight; you
com can just about read the text
Price: Rs. 24,150 on the screen. The front bears
call answer/end keys and times. For example, while headphone jack. The phone
Specifications an odd hexagonal three-way using Google Maps, the text also plays back DivX and XviD
Network: Quad-band GSM, button. It oddly does not help appeared very small. The touch files. We transferred some
HSDPA at 3.6 Mbps navigate through menus but interfacing system works well standard resolution AVI files
Screen: 3.1-inch (480 x 800 pixel rather, it is used to switch and has fewer hits-and-misses without any downscaling and
AMOLED) between running applications. than other touch devices. they played flawlessly. The
Processor: Qualcomm MSM6246 The buttons on the phone The phone is quite narrow, video quality is also quite
800Mhz are tactile. The phone gives so Samsung chose to fit a nice; this phone can easily
Memory: 2 GB internal, microSD a vibrating feedback to every full QWERTY keyboard only double up as a good portable
card slot (up to 16GB) press registered on the display. in landscape mode. It takes video player. The loudspeaker
OS: Samsung Proprietary OS The phone runs Samsung’s time to get typing quickly is quite audible as well. The
Connecitivty: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, proprietary TouchWiz 2.0 and accurately on it. There’s onboard camera takes pretty
Bluetooth 2.1, HSDPA, A-GPS, OS. Its interface design is also handwriting recognition, good snaps. Smile detection
USB 2.0 quite attractive. The interface but we doubt anybody would works as advertised. It can
Camera: 5 mega-pixel auto-focus performs flawlessly thanks to want to use their fingernails to also record video at a DVD-
with LED flash, Video at 720x480 the Jet’s fast processor. The scribble characters. At the end like resolution. Recording
resolution @ 15 fps home screen bears many pre- of the day, the Samsung Jet is high resolution video can be
Battery: 1100 mAh installed widgets like world not a smartphone. Installing a problem as the file size for
Dimensions/Weight: 108.8 x clock, calendar, Facebook applications is only limited a minute of video is roughly
53.5 x 11.9 mm / 110 g etc. that can be customised to Java applications. People 12 MB.
further. Multiple widgets can who would like to extend the At Rs. 24,150, the Samsung
be placed across three home functionality of their phone by Jet is priced a lot above our
screen windows. The Internet installing a lot of third-party liking. At this price, one would
RATINGS browser renders full-blown programs will be put off by get a phone with an advanced
Features ..................8 websites quite nicely. The this. and highly configurable OS
Performance ...........7 browser gets sluggish at times The call quality was pretty than the Jet’s. The phone
lag at times depending on clear and signal reception handles multimedia tasks
Build Quality ...........6 the site you visit. There isn’t a good. Audio delivered by rather well and we would have
Value for Money......6 cut-copy-paste functionality. the bundled in-earphones is definitely recommended it
Overall .....................7 The high resolution screen satisfactory. Better ones can if the price was closer to Rs.
can be disadvantageous at be connected to the 3.5mm 15,000 to Rs. 17,000.
Intel’s i7-820 QM Mobile CPU running at 1.73 GHz for laptops gets benchmarked and apparently, its very fast If various stores on the internet like Amazon, Best Buy and
50 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
CM Storm introduces Creative launches the Zen
Bazaar
Sentinel Advance gaming Mozaic EZ300 media player
mouse with an OLED display in 4 GB and 8 GB capacities
CoolerMaster NotePal Color Infinite
A breath of fresh air
T
he ‘color infinite’ name
tag probably refers to
the variety of colours Contact
this notebook cooler Cooler Master
is available in. From sober greys Phone: +91-94225-01592
to a pastel pink; the colours Email:
add much of the style element Tanmay_L@coolermaster.com
to this sleek notebook cooler. Web site:
We got a golden mat finish www.coolermaster.com
piece which was certainly nice Warranty: 1 Year Replacement
looking. To see how effective it Price: Rs. 2,300
was at cooling, we used one of
the slightly more hotter running Specifications
laptops. We let 3DMark06 run to three speed settings. It draws angle perfectly compensates Dimension: 380 x 300 x 10~50
heat up the system and gauged power through a USB port and for the downward gradient of mm
temperatures with and without compensates for it by providing normal sitting posture. The four Weight: 700 g
the cooler. The laptop chassis another one on the cooler body. rubberised knobs the bottom Fan Dimension: 90 x 90 x 25 mm
definitely was less hot while on Additional features include however can get irritating. Its Max Fan Speed: 2000 rpm
the cooler. The groove pattern hooks on the back panel of footprint is quite large (as much
visible through the mesh is the cooler to manage wires as as a 17-inch notebook) but it’s RATINGS
designed for optimum air flow. well as guide grooves on the quite lightweight; weighing in
The fan takes in air through bottom for the same. In terms at 700 grams. Laptop coolers
Features ..................6
the back intake and pushes it of usage scenarios, you can use are certainly a niche line of Performance ...........7.5
through the mesh. The pattern this on your lap, bed as well products and so can command Build Quality ...........7
is such that you get a smooth as on a desk. The mesh has that inflated pricing. At Rs. 2,300 Value for Money......5
flow of cool air underneath stoppers to prevent slipping and this one may still be worth a buy Overall .....................6.5
your palms. The fan runs very in fact the whole aluminium but a little cheaper and buying it
silent and sans vibrations on all body is anti skid. The cooler’s would’ve been a no brainer.
APC Back-UPS RS 550
Small fry
Contact
T
Elizabeth Jacob his is a UPS that is both have surge protection. In
Phone: +91-80-39872000 positioned as a battery terms of features there aren’t
Email: backup and surge many as compared to some UPSs
elizabeth.jacob@apcc.com protection solution nowadays that come with an
Web site: www.apc.com for business desktops. It has a LCD screen to display status and
Price: Rs. 2,475 rating of 550 VA which comes change settings. There is however
out to an output capacity of 300 a resettable circuit breaker in
Specifications Watts. Therefore it can easily case the UPS shuts down due
Battery: 12V, 40 Watts/5min handle basic home or office to an overload. There’s an alarm
Frequency: 45-65 Hz systems. Gaming systems are when output is on battery and a
Dimensions: 18.55 x 11.5 x 31.3 cm slightly out of reach for this UPS distinctive low battery alarm. The
Surge protection: 160 Joules since gaming rigs would require UPS has three sensitivity settings
Weight: 5.1 kg a more beefier output capacity. which can be used in case you limited spectrum of 165 to 270V.
To test the UPS we ran it on a find it switching to battery However switching between the
RATINGS standard office set up to check power too often. Sensitivity sensitivity settings is difficult
Features ..................6 runtime on battery and also to settings can also be used specific since you need to operate with
check if the switch to battery is to the equipment connected just one button. Still, at Rs. 2,475,
Performance ...........5.5 seamless. The documentation to it. For instance equipment it’s not extremely expensive
Build quality ............7 boasted of a 36 minute backup that cannot handle even minor and as an utility that gives you
Value for money......6 time, but it delivered 7 minutes. voltage waveform distortions enough backup time to save all
Overall .....................6 The two output ports available can be put on the ‘high’ setting your work, it’s well worth the
are standard 3-pin (India) 6A; which operates between a money.
Newegg are to be believed, the Microsoft Zune HD is a major sellout Even as India waits for major private operators to roll-out basic 3G services, in America, T-Mobile
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 51
Bazaar Google’s Android 1.6 a.k.a
Donut has CDMA support, Gyration launches the Air Mouse
Quicksearch and a text-to- Elite that senses wrist movements
speech API performed in the air
A-DATA Nobility
NH92 250GB
A slim drive with an eye-catching design
Contact
A-DATA
A
-DATA’s Nobility drives by other manufacturers. Phone: +91-33-40105500
NH92 is a portable It is available in three metallic Email: jerry_lu@adata.com.tw
hard drive with a USP shades. Web site: www.
to brag. According to The drive we’ve got for test technocratinfotech.com
their website, it is the ‘slimmest’ was sized at 250 GB. A 320 GB Price: Rs. 3,300
drive in the market today and 500 GB version is available
and the ‘lightest’ drive in an too. The drive has a widely-used Real world tests Specifications
aluminum case. It looks very miniUSB port, which ensures File Write 4 GB Single File 173 Capacity: 250 GB
sleek; at 12mm, its thickness is that a replacement cable will be (sec) Device Interface: USB 2.0
on-par with many of the slender easy to find, in case you lose the File Write Assorted 4GB files 217 HDD Interface: 2.5” SATA
mobile-phones available today. original. After putting it through (sec) Dimensions: 114 x 75.8 x 12 mm
It is also quite light-weight and the tests, it is shown that the File Read Test 4GB Single 126 Weight: 152 g
weighs a little more than 150 drive performs at par with other File (sec)
grams. Its dimensions allow it drives in its segment. File Read Test Assorted 4GB 132 RATINGS
to be carried easily in a cargo Files (sec)
At Rs. 3,300, the A-DATA
pocket or a purse. The feel of NH-92 has a very fair pricing. Internal File Read Test Single 331 Features ..................7
the texture reminds us of the too. If you’re looking for a sleek 4GB File (sec) Performance ...........7
etched backplate of the Nokia portable drive, then this drive Internal File Read Test As- 312 Build quality ............7.5
sorted 4GB Files (sec)
E71. Aluminum also gives it a will fit your needs. Value for money......6.5
Photoshop CS2 Image Load 88
decently sturdy feel; better than
(1GB File) (Sec)
Overall .....................7
the plastic casings found on
Gigabyte GK-KM-7500
Surprisingly decent kit...
G
igabyte’s been
Contact known for its
Priya Ltd. motherboard and
Email: sales@priyagroup.com graphics cards and
Web site: www.gigabyte.com.tw recently, they’ve entered the
Phone: +91-22-42203100 peripheral market with cases.
Price: Rs. 2,199 This wireless keyboard
mouse combo are powered by
Specifications AA batteries and come with
Frequency : 2.4 GHz RF no charging dock. The design
Dimensions: 463 x 160 x 20 mm of the keyboard is good – it’s
(keyboard), 100 x 60 x 36.5 mm thin and light-weight. So, if
(mouse) you’re using it while sitting
Weight: 700 g on a couch away from the problematic. With a direct line are makes us believe that this
display or TV, you can easily of sight, we were easily able to product makes good sense for
RATINGS rest it on your lap without any use the keyboard and mouse at those with HTPCs. The battery
hassles. The mouse with the a distance of some 10 ft. ran perfectly fine for well over
Features.......................7.5 AA battery feels pretty light but The keys don’t have a two weeks with average use of
the performance and range of particularly nice feedback some three hours a day.
Build Quality .................6
the keyboard is slightly better and have little travel. There At Rs. 2,199, it’s a tiny bit
Performance..................7 than the mouse. The keyboard are multimedia buttons at the expensive for a basic wireless
Value for money .......6.5 works fine through some top of the the keyboard and keyboard and mouse. Still, if
Overall ............................7 obstacles in between it and a volume control dial on the you spend on it anyway, you
the PC but the mouse is more right top. These kind of features won’t regret it.
began rolling out HSPA+ 3G service in Philadelphia at the insane speeds of 21 Mbps Rumors are afloat that HP, Dell and Acer might soon be releasing laptops with displays
52 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Kingston’s 2,133 MHz HyperX Microsoft’s Bluetooth Mobile
Bazaar
memory for Intel’s Core i5 runs Keyboard 6000 is the thinnest
at a low 1.65 V mobile keyboard till date
Western Digital Scorpio
Blue 500GB
High-capacity storage coupled with a high price-tag!
W
estern Digital test, it took 186 seconds and of these drives aren’t
joins the race 204 seconds for a 4 GB single drastically different.
of the ever- file and 4 GB assorted folder We were almost shocked to
expanding respectively. Comparing it to find that maximum retail price
portable notebook hard drives the Seagate Momentus 5400.6 of this drive is a whopping Rs.
with its Scorpio Blue 500 GB. 500GB drive, there are tests 10,950. The Seagate Momentus
All this space is packed into a where both of them have. But 5400.6 in comparison is for
9.5 mm height body; making in general, the performances nearly half that price. The Contact
it compatible with most of the Scorpio Blue may be a decent Western Digital Corporation
laptops. It uses WD’s anti-shock HDTach 32MB performer but the difference in Email: Amarjeet.singh@wdc.com
protection measures to reduce Average Read (MBps) 67.9 price difference doesn’t make Web site: www.wdc.com
chances of damage. During the Average Write (MBps) 63.3 very good sense. Phone: +91-93210 29204
testing, the drive ran silently CPU Utilization (%) 4 Price: Rs. 10,950
and vibrations were at a bare Random Access Time (ms) 16.1
minimum. Read Burst Speed (MBps) 228.3
RATINGS Specifications
It took the drive just 50 SiSoft Sandra 2008 Engi- Features..........................7 Capacity: 500GB
seconds to write a 4 GB single Size: 2.5 inches
file and 61 seconds for a 4 GB
neer’s Edition Build Quality ...............7.5 Rotational Speed: 5400 RPM
folder with assorted files. It read
Drive Index, Read (MBps) 63.8 Performance..................7 Buffer Size: 8 MB
a 4 GB file at 75 seconds and
Access Time, Read (ms) 14 Value for money ..........4 Interface: SATA
the 4 GB assorted folder at 81
Drive Index, Write (MBps) 64.41 Overall ........................6.5 Dimensions: 100 x 69.85 x 9.5 mm
Access Time, Write (ms) 5
seconds. In the internal file copy Weight: 117 g
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U
Optical companion for your netbook
Contact
ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd.
T
Phone: +91-22–67668800 he Asus SDRW- write only data discs and rip
Email: media_india@asus.com 08D1S-U is a slim, audio CDs to MP3 -- nothing that
Web site: www.asus.in portable external DVD- freely available software out there
Price: Rs. 3,500 writer. It comes in a two can’t do.
cool looking colours - black and To test it, we burnt a single 4.3
Specifications white. It compliments the look of GB file onto a DVD which took
Maximum Write speed: Asus’s Eee PC netbooks. Because eleven-and-a-half minutes. Then,
8x (DVD), 24x (CD) of its thin profile, it can be slid we copied an assortment of files
Data Buffer: 2 MB into a side-pocket of a bag. The amounting to 4.3 GB. It took
Dimensions: 156.4 x 140.8 x 21 build quality is pretty decent and almost exactly the same time as
mm the eject button is tactile. Closing the single file. According to our
Weight: 412 g the tray gave a firm affirmation read tests, it took take around
of our action. The drive can ten minutes to copy an entire
be used either horizontally 4.3 GB DVD onto the test PCs no DVD writers are provided.
RATINGS or mounted vertically on the hard drive. Being a laptop optical It might also work for HTPCs
provided mounting stand. It has drive on the inside, an average where the case doesn’t have
Features ..................7
a miniUSB port at the back and performance from this device is enough space to hold a large
Performance ...........6 is supplied with a Y-type USB expected and that’s what we got. DVD drive. It’s not very easy to
Build quality ............7 cable. The drive comes bundled At Rs. 3,500, the drive’s price is find something this compact
Value for money......6.5 with Cyberlink’s CD authoring somewhat okay. This product either. We give it our thumbs up.
Overall .....................6.5 software; it is not the full-blown can be handy for people owning
version though. It will let you netbooks or nettops where
that support 3D technology for games and movies. Dell’s Latitude Z is rumored to be the first laptop to incorporate ‘Wireless charging’. Its actual implementation yet
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 53
Bazaar MSI Wind U210 featuring an MSI’s ultra-slim X410 swaps out an
AMD Athlon Neo processor Intel CULV for AMD’s Athlon Neo
starts shipping in the US processor with ATI Radeon X1250 GPU
SatGuide P360
Find your way
T
Contact he mapping software further. A seperate category for
SatNav Technologies on this GPS navigation ‘locality’ would’ve been nice.
Phone: +91-92233 87281 device is created by Once you’ve selected a POI
Email: jayaprakash@satnavtech. SatGuide while the or Street it opens the maps to
com underlying device is the Mio chart out the route. The turn-
Web site: www.satguide.in P360 Digiwalker. The device by-turn directions are voice
Price: Rs. 19,999 for India maps is compact enough to easily fit assisted and work quite well in
and international regions into a pocket while the build both pedestrian and car mode.
quality is solid. It sure looks The voice over is available
Specifications sleek with a large 3.5-inch in several Indian languages.
CPU: Samsung 2443 400Mhz touch screen and metal body. However, the POI database was
GPS Chipset: SiRF Star III Now lets get on to the software not very impressive in some
Display Resolution - 320x240 which is essentially what makes of the categories; particularly
Dimension: 17.8 x 72 x 115 mm this PDA a GPS navigator. ATMs. The QWERTY keyboard
Weight: 170 g The software navigation is is not available by default
not very intuitive and takes a and needs to be activated
bit of getting used to. Finger from settings; but is not at all
RATINGS touch is fine but we noticed comfortable to type on since Accessories include a car
Features ..................6.5 that in many cases the stylus one button carries two keys charger and a windscreen
Performance ...........5.5 works out better. Searching for requiring a double tap. The suction car stand. Overall it’s
locations is via browsing POIs interface is not very smooth a robust GPS Navigator that
Build Quality ...........7 (points of interest) or searching when it comes to zooming or will take you from point A
Value for money......4 for streets. The search function scrolling the maps. The lag is to point B but the database
Overall .....................6 is painful as each time, it asks surprising high considering could certainly use some
for city and then drills down it has a fairly powered CPU. improvements.
Apacer Steno AU380
An average pocket-friendly player
T
he Apacer AU380 is a allows for connectivity to a PC. noise while using this feature.
spartan feature MP3 Transferring songs from the Bottom line, the player has Contact
player. Its dimensions PC to the player is realy simple acceptable sound quality but Apacer Technologies Pvt Ltd
are comparable to a and requires no proprietary one does not get the feel-good Phone: +91-80-41529061
small matchbox. The plastic software. It also supports factor from this player. At the Email: india@apacer.com
body has a decent build and a viewing photos, but we really selling price of Rs. 2,999 for Web site: www.apacer.com
detachable clip allows you to doubt anybody would want to this one, there are many other Price: Rs. 1,999
hang the player on you like a do that on such a tiny screen. worthwhile players out there
pen. Its looks aren’t anything There’s a direct voice recording which you can go for instead of Specifications
to talk about; the copper-black button on the player itself, but this one. Screen: 1.1-inch CSTN color
color combination will not it also records a lot of unwanted Audio Formats: MP3, WAV, WMA
appeal to some. The front bears Photo formats: JPEG , BMP
a tiny, non-bright 1.1-inch color Built-in memory: 2 GB
screen that feels just a bit too Other features: FM Radio, Voice
small for say, viewing long Recorder, FM recording
song titles. Navigation isn’t Playtime on internal battery:
very intuitive and the UI design Up to 25 hours
isn’t going to win any awards.
There’s no categorisation of RATINGS
music according to artist,
genre, album etc. Audio quality
Features ..................7
using the provided earphones Performance ...........6
is pretty good for a player Build quality ............6
in this price range. The FM Value for money......6.5
reception is pretty good. A Overall .....................6
miniUSB port on the player
remains to be seen Windows Mobile phone maker i-mate calls it quits and has shut its Dubai officies There is a possibility that the Samsung Omnia i900
54 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Bazaar Nokia N86 update to bring OCZ packs 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB worth
face and smile detection space on their Z-Drive SSDs that connect to
features to its camera a PC via the PCIe slot
Acer Aspire Revo
An Intel Atom nettop with NVIDIA firepower
Contact
T
he Acer Aspire Revo Atom processor will serve as a under Windows Media Player Acer India Pvt Ltd.
R3600 is the first bottleneck -- so forget playing the played quite smoothly. The Phone: +91-80-40708700
nettop, i.e. a small, low- latest games in full glory. cute-looking web-cam delivers Email: dinesh_nair@acer.co.in
power PC to include The Revo’s main intention of a pretty decent video quality. It Price: Rs. 22,999
NVIDIA’s ion platform on board. high-definition movie playback would have been nice if the Revo Web-site: www.acer.co.in
That means its got an Intel isn’t as simple as ‘plug-and-play’. had an optical drive built in.
Atom paired with a moderately You’ll need to use a media player At Rs. 23,000, the Revo is a Specifications
powerful GeForce 9400M that supports GPU acceleration little expensive. If you’re looking Processor: Intel Atom 230
graphics. The diamond-shaped for videos. A 1080p WMV file for a compact, power-saving RAM: 2GB DDR2
casing looks really cool and is download rig that supports full Hard Disk: 160GB
portable. The build quality’s just HD, the Revo could fit your Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9400
about decent. requirements. Ports: 6 USB, 1 e-SATA, Card
The Revo bundle includes reader, VGA, HDMI
a wireless keyboard-mouse PC Mark05 Power supply: 65 W adapter
set that’s pretty comfortable CPU Score 1370 with power cord
to use. The 2 GB RAM is just Memory Score 2352
Dimensions: 180 x 180 x 30 mm
about sufficient, since it runs
Graphics Score 2060
the resource-hungry Windows
HDD 4426
Vista. In our use, the OS ran
smoothly as long as it wasn’t put Overall 1919 RATINGS
under heavy load. We would not 3D Mark 2006
CPU Score 492
Features ..................7
reckon using this machine for
heavy multi-tasking or running Overall Score 1312
Performance ...........7
processor intensive applications. Doom 3 640x480, medium 26.6
Build quality ............6
Running Doom 3 at medium detail (fps) Value for money......6
detail on a low resolution gave DivX to VOB video conversion 1097 Overall .....................6.5
playable frame-rates. But the (secs)
Philips GoGear Mix MP3 player
Shaped like a pen drive
Contact
T
Philips Electronics India Ltd. he Philips GoGear can be described as average.
Phone: 1860-1801111 Mix is a digital audio Audio quality is decent.The
Email: customercare.India@ player that’s shaped the expected punch from the
philips.com like a flash drive. The bass is missing. There are a
Web site: www.india.philips.com tiny dimensions makes it easy couple of equalizer presets
Price: Rs. 2,999 to carry it around. It is built as well as the ability to have
well and looks neat. The front your custom setting. The data
Specifications face of the player bears a screen transfer rates from the PC to
Screen: 128 x 64 pixel, 4 line LCD that could prove to be a bit the player ranged at a pretty
Audio Format: MP3, WAV, WMA small for some. The navigation decent 3.5 MB/s. FM reception
Built-in memory: 2 GB buttons are fairly tactile but felt is pretty decent. It supports
Other features: FM Radio, Voice a bit flimsy. A dedicated volume FM recording for a maximum
Recorder, FM recording control and hold switch lie to of about two hours in the
Playtime on internal battery: the side. A switch to the other player’s memory.
Up to 25 hours side brings out the seemingly At Rs. 2,999, the GoGear
delicate USB head. Mix is priced in range. But
RATINGS The user interface has a similarly designed players like
simple look-and-feel. Songs are the Samsung YP-U5Q offer
Features ..................7 categorized according to artist, everything that this can, with
Performance ...........6 album and play-list. There is better audio quality and at the
Build Quality ...........6 also a folder view available. same price. This player does
Value for Money......6.5 The UI is pretty swift to not offer anything that’s really
Overall .....................6 operate. The audio quality out of the box for us to go
from the bundled earphones ahead and recommend it.
Aircel starts selling select Blackberry handsets and their services across major cities Christophe Ducommun, developer of MovieGate application
56 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Seagate launches world’s first Sony Ericsson’s MH907 headsets
Bazaar
6 Gbps SATA hard drive, the automatically play when worn, and
Barracuda XT pause when one earbud is removed
Epson Stylus TX550W
For those not willing to spend the least.
I
n the world of multi- Contact
functionality devices, Epson India
probably one of the Phone: +91-80-30515000
best marriages of two Email: think@eid.epson.co.in
individual devices have to be Web-site: www.epson.co.in
the printer and the scanner. Price: Rs. 8,999
The Epson Stylus TX550W
represents the latest breed of Specifications
such MFDs. The device looks Printing Method: On-demand
a lot like ‘office furniture’ due ink jet (Piezoelectric)
to its black colored plasticky Maximum resolution: 5760 x
body. Its not very heavy 1440 dpi
to carry around, but has Scanner type: A4 Flatbed Colour
somewhat large dimensions Image Scanner, CIS type sensor,
as compared to competitor 2400 x 2400 dpi resolution
models. To point out some of Display: 2.5 TFT Colour LCD
its USPs, it has a adequately- Memory card slots: CF Type
sized 2.5-inch LCD screen that II, Memory Stick, SD/MMC, xD-
tilts to an easily viewable angle. economy mode, we think that At Rs. 9000, the TX550W Picture Card
It also accepts multi-format pages appear too faint. While is on par with the HP Interface: USB 2.0, Ethernet,
memory cards. Other than the they appear pretty decent in Photosmart C4588 MFD in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
typical USB connectivity, you quality under normal mode. terms of price. This model
also have wireless connectivity. Under high quality, the photo is quite easy to use, delivers RATINGS
This will make it very easy to prints came out fairly well. decent results and has nifty
use this MFD with portable Colors seemed natural and the features like the LCD screen
Features ..................7.5
devices such as laptops. level of detail was pretty good. and Wi-Fi. If you’re looking Performance ...........7
The bundled software makes Scanning an image revealed for an MFD under the 10k Build quality ............6
configuration over wireless that the image quality, although range, the TX550W can Value for money......6.5
very simple. After printing slightly washed out, is pretty definitely be considered Overall .....................7
a variety of test pages in the decent overall. worth buying.
Contact
Samsung India Electronics Pvt
Ltd.
Phone: +91-22-41511234
Samsung Marine
Email: Tough nut to crack
kunal.a@samsung.com
T
Web site: www.samsungmobile. he Samsung B2100 inferior components used in
com Marine is a tough the phone are a put-off. The
Price: Rs. 7,030 phone with a B2100 has a low resolution
spartan feature set. display that’s low for our
Specifications A completely rubberised body liking. It has unsatisfying
Band: Quad band GSM gives a feeling of solidity and sunlight legibility and the
Dimensions: 113 x 48.9 x 17.4 grip. The back panel stays in camera is pretty bad. It uses
mm place thanks to a circular lock a yesteryear 1.3 mega-pixel
Display: 120 x 160 pixels, 1.77- and can’t be easily pulled out sensor. The on board torch is
inch, 256K Colors TFT like most phones. pretty powerful for a phone.
Connectivity: EDGE, Bluetooth The buttons, aside from The 1000 mAh battery gives
2.1 with A2DP, USB being slightly hard to press, a pretty decent up-time.
Camera: 1.3 mega-pixel have a tactile feel. At just over During calls, there were
a 100 grams, the phone is problems of not proper
RATINGS quite light-weight. The phone transmission of audio.
Features ..................6 conforms to the IP57 industry Other than that, the network
standard for robustness and is reception was pretty decent.
Performance ...........7 water, dust and shock resistant. At Rs. 7,030, the phone is a entice the elite adventurer. But
Build quality ............8 Overall, the phone does feel as little overpriced. The fact that for people who have a habit
Value for money......7 tough as it is advertised. it does not have modern-day of dropping their phone by
Overall .....................7 While the meager feature features like GPS or a fitness mistake and damaging it, this
set is acceptable, some of the application will probably not might be for you.
will in an OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has Mobile 6.5 operating system. percent faster HP
for the Mac, claimed that the performance improvementsget Macupdate to the latest Windowsmade his application run up to 50 Indian telecom operator
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 57
Bazaar The latest 8-GB iPod Nano Once released, Windows Mobile 6.5
with a built-in camera is will be found on Samsung’s Omnia
priced at Rs. 9,400 series of smartphones
Linksys WRT320N
Wireless Router
A futuristic looking dual-band router
T
he Linksys acted as the server and the terms of performance. The
WRT320N router is router was connected to it by range and reception isn’t that Contact
part of the modern wire. Two separate zones were great either. Linksys Corporation
design series that setup - one where the laptop At Rs. 8,999, it’s an Phone: +91-98204 29532
parent company Cisco was placed right next to the expensive router. Other than Email:
envisioned. The WRT320N router and the other where the sleek design, it does not jdabrai@cisco.com
maintains the slim profile of the laptop was placed some bring any unique features to Web site: www.linksysbycisco.
its predecessor, the WRT310N, 25ft away. From the tests we the table that could interest com
as well as the futuristic styling. ran, we could conclude that the casual user such as USB Price: Rs. 8,999
The build is sturdy yet it the router is above average in support for example.
looks great.This is one of the Specifications
few routers available today Zone 1 (100 MB File transfer) LAN ports: WAN x 1, LAN x 4
that comes without antennas Signal Strength in Zone 1 (Wireless Mon 3.0, %) 70 RJ-45
protruding. It supports the Sequential (MBps) 4
Frequency: 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz
latest Draft-N Wi-Fi standard. Standards: Draft 802.11n v2.0,
Assorted files (MBps) 2.08
The main difference in this 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.3, 802.3u,
Zone 2 (50 MB File transfer)
revised model is the addition 802.3ab
of a dual band -- which Signal Strength in Zone 2 (Wireless Mon 3.0, %) 40 Size: 202 x 34 x 160 mm
operates at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Sequential (MBps) 5 Weight: 300 g
as well. The router has a easy- Assorted files (MBps) 4.77
to-use firmware interface. It Zone 3 (50 MB File transfer) RATINGS
supports automatic bandwidth Signal Strength in Zone 3 (Wireless Mon 3.0, %) 5 Features ..................7
allocation depending on the Sequential (MBps) N/A Performance ...........6
application being used.
Coming to the performance,
Assorted files (MBps) N/A Build quality ............7
we connected a Dell XPS
Passmark Performance Test Zone 1 / Zone 2 54.32 / 20.86 Value for money......4
Studio 13 wirelessly to the
Video Streaming (HD 1080p) Zone 1 / Zone 2 9/8 Overall .....................6
Video Streaming (DVD) Zone 1 / Zone 2 9/9
router. A dedicated system
Apple iPod Shuffle
Shuffling around
I
t’s that time again and new track shuffle. Sadly Apple has
apples are beginning to moved the volume controls to
fall from, well, Apple trees. the earphone cord so you can
This one is really compact kiss using other headphones
and elongated, whereas the goodbye – in our opinion this
previous one was square. The borders on arm-twisting users
Contact full metal body has an anodised to use only Apples earphones.
Apple India finish and the belt clip is There’s a nifty voice based
Phone: 1800-425-0744 rugged. Gone are the controls navigation feature that can tell
Email: indiasales@mac.com on the body and there’s just one you the name of your playlist
Web site: www.apple.co.in power switch that doubles as a and can also tell you the name
Price: Rs. 4,900 of the artist or the title of a song headphones and quite frankly
RATINGS while it’s playing – neat and Apples own headphones are
Specifications Features ..................6 obviously meant to make up for not for purists. However, the
Capacity: 4 GB the lack of a screen. However earphones do belt out a pretty
Weight: 10.7 g
Performance ...........7.5 you need to download a voice high volume. At Rs. 4,900, the
Frequency response: 20 Hz to Build quality ............8.5 over pack for this via iTunes. new iPod Shuffle 4 GB is for
20 KHz Value for money......6.5 Because of the controls being someone looking for a really
Audio formats: AAC, MP3, WAV, Overall .....................7 on the earphones it’s impossible tiny MP3 player for music and
ALAC, AIFF to test the device with any other nothing else.
claims that the Envy 15 is the “fastest consumer notebook” that it has ever made; running Core i7 processors with ATI Mobility Redeon HD 4830
Digit | August 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
58
Samsung’s 12 mega-pixel
Bazaar
The Asus Eee PC 1201n is their Pixon12 camera phone
first NVIDIA ion based netbook comes to India at Rs. 30,000
Sony Alpha 330L
The Alpha…and the Omega? We think not..
S
ony’s hold over photography enthusiasts. The changed. Sony still uses the
the camera market live view feature means you traditional Minolta mount for
extends to the DSLR can focus using the 2.7-inch flash so you can’t purchase
side of things. Sony screen instead of having to any flash unit and fix it to
cameras are finding a home use the optical viewfinder. the camera. The flash on this
in the Indian market and There’s one jogdial which camera raises well above the
already the A200 has been a means you’re left to depend camera so you won’t ever
hit among those who always on the buttons to navigate have the problem of the
wanted a cheaper DSLR. Sony and access some of the shadow of the lens barrel
brings a mid-ranged camera functions. falling on your photos.
for those who want to take it Image quality is very good Until now, we’ve
a step ahead. with little grain in well-lit recommended the Nikon
The body isn’t as robust scenes.. There’s a visible D60 as a solid DSLR for
as some of Canon and difference in image quality a budget over Rs. 30,000.
Nikon’s costlier offerings but when you go from an Alpha Those who willing to push
it’s still a big step up from 200 to something like this. that budget close to Rs.
the Sony Alpha 200. It feels The detail is crisp and colours 40,000 can be given an easy
pretty light even though it’s a tiny bit emphasised are recommendation. The Sony
a slightly larger camera than good for the most part. There Alpha 330 can be bought for
the Alpha 200. The lens still is fine noticeable noise with Rs. 39,990.
has a somewhat loose feel ISO sensitivity set to 800 and
like the A200. Other makes above especially against dark
prefer to use a heavier-feel surfaces. The stock lens kit Contact
zoom ring. The handgrip can be used for decent macro Sony India
isn’t particularly great either. photography with a little bit Phone: 1800-11-11-88
The little finger slips under of zoom. The stock lens is Email:
the handgrip and you’ll find an 18-55mm which is more sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com
it getting sore after spending or less 3x of optical zoom in Web site: www.sonystyle.com
some time with it. layman terms. Price: Rs. 39,990
The user interface looks Sony products and many
similar to the ones in other of their DSLRs use the Specifications RATINGS
DSLRs from Sony. It looks a Memory Stick format but Sensor resolution: 10.2 MP, Features.........................8
bit more professional than fortunately, this one can APS-C size sensor - 23.5 x 15.7 Build Quality ..................7
the Cyber-Shot range of use both MS and also SD mm, 2.7-inch LCD display, 18-
Performance..................7
point-and-shoot cameras. memory cards. There’s a 55mm lens, Memory Stick/SD/
Still, it doesn’t feel like it’s small toggle switch which one SDHC memory cards supported
Value for money ...........7
geared towards serious you want to use in the bay. Dimensions: 128 x 97 x 71.4 mm Overall ............................7
photographers but just Some things haven’t Weight: 491 g
1GB graphics, 16GB of DDR3 RAM and 2 separate solid state drives (SSDs), running in Raid0 configuration Samsung to introduce powerful and efficient
Digit | August 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 59
Bazaar Core i7
The NEC’s xHCI host controller Intel announces Core i7
becomes the world’s first Extreme and Core i7 processors
certified USB 3.0 product for laptops
VU Intelligent TV LTV-40i
HDTV with a built-in PC!
V
U’s LTV-40i also used the Spyder3Elite
Intelligent TV is colorimeter to measure the
like any other 40- TV’s luminance and contrast
inch VU TV model ratio, and got a result of Contact
but this one comes with 403.5 cd/m2 and 975.65:1 VU Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
with a PC integrated within respectively. This panel is just Phone: +91-22-28377300
it. The system specifications about decent but nothing Email: manjari@technologies.vu
are similar to net tops or spectacular. Web site: www.technologies.vu
low-power computers. At Rs. 69,990, the TV is a Price: Rs. 69,990
There is no internal Wi-Fi little too expensive. A 40-inch
module on that computer. VU TV can be bought for Specifications
The display adapter is roughly Rs. 50,000. The built- TV Resolution: 1920x1080
connected to the TV using in PC is good enough for for (1080p)
a VGA port. The onboard basic computing needs such Aspect Ratio: 16:9
GMA950 graphics solution as working on documents, Contrast Ratio: Native - 8,000:1
can’t handle HD content browsing the internet and Dynamic - 50,000:1
and the VGA link won’t downloading. For anything Brightness: 500 cd/m2
let you use the TV’s native more, we suggest purchasing Colours: 16.7 million
resolution of 1920x1080 a HDTV and then setting up Viewing Angle (Horizontal &
on the computer. A much your own HTPC. It would be Vertical): 178°/178°
lower resolution has to be a cheaper proposition. Response Time: 5 ms
used. Even then, with that Ports: 2 HDMI, 1 S-video, 1 D-sub
resolution, content on the VU TV Benchmarks (VGA), coaxial, component,
panel is readable when you PC Mark05 composite ports.
sit at a distance. PC Specs: Intel Atom N230
CPU Score 1497
Benchmarks show the 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 4
performance of the PC to Memory Score 2408 USB, Windows XP Home edition
be in the same range as Graphics Score 671
an Atom based netbook.
HDD 4799 RATINGS
Its a shame that the PC
can’t handle HD content. Overall 1628 Features ..................6
The bundled iBall wireless 3D Mark 2006
Performance ...........6.5
keyboard-mouse combo gets Build Quality ...........6
the job done. CPU Score 491
Value for money......6.5
To judge the panel, we Overall Score 92 Overall .....................6
tried playing high-definition
WinRAR benchmark 376
content on the TV. We
processors, cameras and chipsets for mobile devices in early 2010 Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices
60 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Laptop test Dell going Z Where’s the mouse?
Dell’s new line of high-end Latitude Z Logitech’s Lapdesk N315 has a
notebooks to feature wireless charging nifty slide-out mouse pad
Michael Browne usage pattern when they create people in the US have been brands that could not / did not
michael.browne@thinkdigit.com a notebook. Different product enjoying their custom Dells for participate in this test such as
I
lines have spawned catering to a long time, but for a choice Samsung, LG, Fujitsu, Toshiba
f anything, our notebook the needs of a specific faction of deprived nation we’re new to all and Zenith for a variety of
test this year is testament people. Corporate users, college this and we’re gleefully happy reasons. Despite this we got a
to change – an evolution of goers, gamers, road warriors, to report an ever increasing good number of models — 31 in
sorts, we’re the reason. Not entertainment junkies — there’s user base hopping aboard this all — and as unique a bunch as
us as in Digit, but every one a unique fix for everyone. And bandwagon. we’d hope to get. From David
of us users. Notebooks have this is a good thing — for one This time we also awarded to Goliath, from the proverbial
walked the product life cycle you have a plethora of choices. two Best Performers, which tortoise to the hare, from
in this country, from being Secondly, you get exactly is unusual. However, we felt Playboy Playmate-grade stuff
playthings of the rich, to the what you want. A handful of that the gaming notebooks to the mundane, there’s truly
drool-worthy devices of the new vendors also offer custom deserved a Best Performer something for everyone.
millennium to what they are configurations these days award of their own since the
today. Their design ethos has and this is, perhaps, the most testing parameters and weights Desktop
evolved — jack-of-all-trades no significant telling point of the assigned were quite different replacements Up to
longer. Manufacturers no longer change of market focus from from the other notebooks. rs. 40,000:
try to get cover every possible producer to consumer. Sure There were quite a few Buy me, I’m better than
your desktop…really!
Most people buying a laptop
look to spend around Rs.
35,000 to Rs. 40,000. This is
Notebooks have emerged from the shroud of generality and where the bulk of the shopping
become more specialised towards specific purposes. In short they’ve happens; volume games are
always fun for manufacturers
evolved to become about as varied as the human beings using them. and competition is fierce. There
The adage ‘something for everyone’ is an understatement is diversity to be had as well;
Laps, notes
as manufacturers rush to provide tailor-made solutions some notebooks have basic
builds and mediocre looks
but better, more powerful
components under the hood
and vice versa. If you’re looking
for an affordable stunner Acers
Aspire 5810T might be down
and books
your alley — a superb looking
notebook from Acers new Travel
Line series of notebooks with
brushed aluminium livered
in silver-gray. It’s slim and the
exteriors are exceptionally well
built. It has a nice, large, matte-
finished, 15.6-inch display
Photographs: Manas Parekh
that has nice brightness levels
but poor viewing angles. Acer
Imaging: Vijay Padaya
uses Intel’s Laminar Wall Jet
cooling technology that claims
to keep your lap cool, note
we said your lap and not the
notebook. This system uses
parallel layers of jets of air,
and is the same concept used
to keep the outer walls of a jet
engine cool. Since its processor
62 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Healthy li-ion Dual-display notebooks 13”, 15” MacBook Pro Owners Still Plagued Laptop test
Laptop makes advice users to gScreen plans to produce high-end with SATA II Issues, and can only avail of
not constantly keep their laptops laptops with two 15.4-inch displays that speeds up to 1.5 Gbps which equates to SATA 1
plugged to keep battery healthy cost approximately 1.5 lakh rupees performance
is pretty basic we don’t figure Desktop
Illustrations: Chaitanya Surpur
it’ll heat up much anyways. The replacements
floating keypad is good with BetWeen rs. 40,001
nice feedback and a positive feel anD rs. 60,000:
to keystrokes but the keypad For the upwardly mobile
itself was uneven and in the When one spends more than
centre — there was something Rs. 40,000 on a notebook
of a wave. This is probably certain things are a given —
due to misalignment of the lasting build quality, faster and
material below the keypad on more powerful components,
which it rests. Key spacing is good usability as well as
absolutely spot-on. The other reasonable compactness. That’s
three Acer Aspire notebooks not to say that one should
share a common design — a have lower expectations from
nice glossy blue covered lid cheaper notebooks but lets
with matte black on the inside. face it — you get exactly what
Quite frankly Acer has upped you pay for and a higher price
their game since the last time gives the manufacturer more
we tested their notebooks — the leeway to play with internal
current crop of models have components, chassis materials
good looking, well-finished lids and so on. A generic desktop
and the floating keypads which notebook is generally between
although delicate (judging 14 and 16 inches in size,
by an incident where a key and the dark grey colour handle many multimedia heavy anything smaller and it can
got detached for no apparent along with the graphics on tasks and we see it lagging in qualify as an ultra compact. Of
reason) are very comfortable the lid looks neat. Sadly their the video encoding test where course the distinguishing line
to use. Ergonomics is also trackpads are some of the worst all the other dual core options is thin.
very good. The Aspire 5536 you will come across — poor outshine it. It does have an ace Gateway is a new entrant
and the 5738Z have 15.6-inch feedback, poor tracking and up its sleeve however, when it to our market courtesy Acer
LED displays while the Aspire the dimples on the surface are comes to the battery test — a who acquired Gateway and all
4736 makes do with a 14-inch abrasive to the pads of ones 15.6-inch display that can play its assets. Their NV48 and ID
display. This also makes its lid fingers. It was good to see every videos for 273 minutes is pretty 5801 are two very
feel sturdier i.e. smaller size, notebook in this category with much unheard of in this price
less flex. This also means a healthy 320 GB of storage segment — obviously power
the shortcut buttons — plenty of space. We were consumption figures are
also pleased to see at least very low, especially since
three USB ports on all its sleekness belies a
notebook, some large battery pack.
had as many as When it comes octoBer 2009
four — plenty to bang for buck,
octoBer 2009
of connectivity however, nobody could
options for add-on hold a candle to the
peripherals. As Acer Aspire 5738Z, its
expected only the great combination of
Acer Aspire 5536 performance, features and
makes a splash in any battery backup means it wins
of the graphics tests our Digit Best Buy award in
with its ATi Radeon this category. If you’re looking Acer Aspire 5738G
video solution. The for a powerful notebook with
Aspire 5810T loses out a good mix of features we different beasts — one is built
here. It’s combination reckon the 5738Z is a great on traditional compact lines
Acer Aspire 5738Z of integrated graphics and deal at Rs. 30,999. If you’re meant as a generic desktop
a Core 2 Solo U3500 CPU looking for something really replacement while the ID5801
placed above the keypad of is not enough for it to attractive looking and sleek for comes across as a notebook
the two larger models is now under Rs. 40,000 check out the for the multimedia fan; that
placed on the right side of the Aspire 5810T — at Rs. 38,401 is other than the gamer. The
keypad on the Aspire 4736. The it’s stylish enough to make an NV48 is built well looks good
Aspire 4736 also has a good impression in any company. If with a nice steel-grey coloured
CPU although all notebooks you want something for playing lid with a glossy finish but
other than the Acer Aspire HD movies without skipping is slightly heavy. Inside the
5536 (Radeon 3200) lack a a beat look at the Acer Aspire keypad is good and has nice
dedicated graphics 5536 — not only is it feedback while being well laid
solution. the cheapest notebook in our out. Gateway did a splendid
ASUS’ K40IJ test (Rs. 29,099) but its Radeon job on the trackpad — just the
and K50IJ sport HD 3200 solution packs a right mix of feedback and grip
identical lid finishes decent punch. or rather slip — great tracking —
Acer Aspire 5810T
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 63
Laptop test 3D notebook screens? Gt300 fab issues
Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Sony to look NVIDIA receives first test samples of next-
forward to notebooks with Stereo 3D generation chip the GT300 family. But fab yields
Screens could be as low as 20 percent
accurate and fast. The left-click trackpad lock button is an issues. Lenovo has used good notebooks that are not
and right-click buttons are well annoyance preventer of sorts, speakers for the Y550 and for meant for hardcore gamers.
placed and long therefore you especially since the trackpad is the first time the beginnings of Notebooks in this category
can use them with thumb and not recessed; meaning it gets bass are audible, although the are for power users who want
little finger while your index activated easily while typing speakers on the costlier Lenovo power sans portability. That’s
finger is on the trackpad. The causing typos. Y650 are much better. not to say you cannot heft
S/PDIF and audio out share a HCLs Z39 made us do a The Lenovo Y550 also has one of these around. It’s just
single smart detect port. The double take when we saw the distinction of having the that a wonderful large screen
ID 5801 is larger, with a 15.6- the amount of RAM — 8 GB most powerful GPU from cannot be incorporated into
inch display and has a very is virtually unheard of on amongst all the notebooks here a small notebook. If you are
sleek, contoured profile when desktops, let alone notebooks. barring the gaming laptops — shopping for a notebook
viewed from the side owing to It has a nice surface finish and the NVIDIA GeForce GT130M priced at above Rs. 60,000 for
the speaker being incorporated is well built and sturdy. Looks is a powerful solution and home use you are somewhat
inside a casing that starts wise its very plain looking. we reckon this model can of a rare breed and of course
from the top of the keypad Lack of shortcut keys and just as easily substitute for you expect a lot more as well
and slopes upwards with a such prevent it from being too a gaming notebook. A fully — great components with the
gentle curve till it runs into the usable. The Function key on the featured Media Centre remote possibility of customisation, a
display. On a negative design outer portion of the keypad unit is also bundled and this great screen suitable for video
note the bezel is wide and means any shortcuts involving works well in conjunction and gaming, support for HDMI
looks ugly compared to the rest use of the Crtl key are going to with Windows Vista — a sweet in order to hook your notebook
of this beauty. Finished in navy be a royal pain. The keys have addition and the unit itself is up to an HDTV.
blue with chrome trimming she a slightly firm feedback; people pretty compact. This duo are miles apart
is a beauty. Brawny too! – in used to squishy Sony keypad When it comes to value in terms of their personas
every respect. A tank like build beware! one cannot deny the appeal of and also the user base they
and great quality of materials However keypad feedback the solid Acer Aspire 5738G, will appeal to. Enter the Dell
on the exterior coupled with is good as is a good mix of features, build Studio XPS 1640 — classy
a fast Core 2 Duo processor, Gateway ID5801 the feel. The and performance for a down build quality including glossy
4 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA trackpad is to earth price — Rs. 40,999. It finished fibre and genuine
GeForce G105M GPU mean the glossy and topped the Best Value charts in leather. It’s built like a tank and
ID5801 has enough grunt to due to this segment and we’re duly has blatantly muscular looks.
tackle anything, well almost this awarding it. HCLs Z39 is a little There is none of the loose
anything. fingers too costly for the features on panels that custom assembled
The keys are nicely laid tend to offer and its plain looks will put notebook assemblers (like
out and the keypad feels stick on many people looking to spend Dell) are known for. Superb
very comfortable the surface this much off. If you’re looking build quality and a superb
to use. Key coating, at spending around Rs. 50,000 RGB-LED display as an option
travel and meaning the Lenovo Y550 warrants along with high-performance
feedback is tracking is not mention — great build quality components make the Studio
also excellent accurate. The lack and powerful components, just XPS 1640 a standout in any
albeit soft and we of a hard Bluetooth live with the mediocre colour crowd. Add to that a very well
really liked its design. switch on this notebook combination used. designed pseudo-segregated
The trackpad is very is a glaring omission. The keypad and dedicated ATi
responsive and tracks quite Lenovo Y550 has a nice onyx HiGH-enD Desktop graphics in the form of the
accurately. The mouse buttons colour with a matte finish on replacements aBove Radeon 3670 and you have a
feel a bit clicky. Shortcut keys the outer body but the inside rs. 60,000: recipe capable of feeding nearly
are red LED backlit and work is a glossy grey that is as Big bang, big bucks every want except one — the
well, they’re also ultra legible. unappealing as the outer part is This is a category created hardcore gamer. The Lenovo
The slot loading optical attractive. for high-end, non-compact Y650 is a very different beast
drive has a neat eject button The trackpad is textured and — it’s very slim and compact
on the edge of the notebook this imparts good feedback, for its massive 16-inch screen
face. A shocking omission is the but tracking accuracy is not as and the notebook feels very
exclusion of a dedicated Wi-Fi good as the best, courtesy Dell Studio xPS 1640 light thanks to the use
switch, although a keypad some much unwanted octoBer 2009 of carbon fibre in the
shortcut does exist. Acer’s lag. The trackpad is also construction. The
Aspire 5738G is identical in small and this may pose notebook is obviously
terms of looks, to its siblings an issue for some people. meant for enthusiast
in the previous category. The mouse buttons are multimedia users and
Obviously this similarity is nice and large and soft to the integrated Blu-Ray
only skin-deep and its innards press. The keypad feels writer is testament
include a potent NVIDIA like hard rubber with solid to this. The graphics
GeForce G105M and 4 GB feedback. Key spacing solution is also very
of main memory. Once again is minimal and layout is respectable (NVIDIA
the keypad is identical in look good, most people will GeForce GT 105M). A
and feel, excellent! Like the be up and running with pity the screen doesn’t
other Aspire notebooks the this keypad — we had no support a higher
64 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
ssD good or bad
Despite their very high read and high intel Ulv cpUs
write performance scores SSDs are still An acronym for ultra low voltage, Intel’s ULVs are
the latest darling of compact, slim, netbook-like
Laptop test
not as reliable as hard drives and when
heavily fragmented their performance notebooks. They offer reduced performance with
drops drastically extra battery life
resolution like 1440 x 900 the gaming laptop — a rare and turbo mode. The screen and Clear Sky — especially
pixels, but a measly 1366 x 768 breed but one that is slowly resolution is a little low for if you like playing at higher
pixels is all you get. The screen catching on in India. Obviously a notebook in this category, resolutions. Priced at Rs.
has good brightness levels and a gaming notebook needs we’d like a resolution of 1440 73,000 the MSI GX620X is a
great colour. Viewing angles are to be powerful in every way x 900 pixels for this screen powerful gaming notebook
better than the Y550. The outer since modern games are the size but all we got was 1280 for those looking for playing
lid of the Y650 is textured and most demanding applications x 800 pixels. The trackpad slightly older, less taxing
looks classy while the inside available so if a notebook can although smooth imparts a games at LAN parties and it is
is a shockingly attractive pearl play games well, it’ll surely do very sticky feel to ones fingers reasonably portable. However,
white. A media centre remote other software without even and this prevents comfortable if you are looking to play the
unit and built in TV tuner adds breaking a sweat. use. The keypad is well laid latest games at high resolutions
to the package. All in all a very out though and works well. please ignore this notebook.
feature rich, powerful solution msi GX620X When it comes to
that is lightweight and slim Gaming on a budget performance especially gaming asUs G50v
despite its large screen. Speaker MSI’s GX620X comes. Decked performance the GX620X Can I play too?
quality is very good (for a in fire engine red (on the lid is not exactly a heavy hitter, At first glance this looks a
laptop) and the bass is pretty obviously because all it has little weird with its orange
decent. The price will make under the hood is a GeForce bodywork. However, the body
you flinch — Rs. 1,03,990 — 9600GT and we’re sorry to say is sculpted well and colour
pretty steep and in our opinion that NVIDIAs mobility versions
a little hard to justify, the octoBer 2009
of their desktop GPUs are not
carbon fibre not withstanding. as powerful. Of course
For this reason alone the Dell this is also the case
Studio XPS 1640 gets the nod with ATi — those
ahead of the Y650 — its more of you who think ASUS G50V
powerful, and costs less with the same GPU in
the configuration we received desktop and notebook
amounting to Rs. 65,900 avatars will offer similar
without taxes, add another Rs. performance, think
7,000 to 12,000 depending on again. So while you will
which part of India you reside be able to play most
in. Of course the Studio XPS games forget about the
1640 can be configured to cost latest games like Crysis
well over a lakh with suitably
powerful components — it all
depends on what you want.
It wins our Best Buy award for MSI Gx620x
its blend of style, performance
and features. and the outer trim) and
brushed black aluminium
GaminG noteBooks: on the palmrest; this is
identity crysis? crisis one good-looking bad
Wars? boy. It’s heavy and owing
The term ‘gaming notebook’ to the all-metal lid feels
is kind of paradoxical simply extremely sturdy. This
because in our opinion gaming colour scheme is much
on a notebook is somewhat of a better than ASUS’ colour
neutered thrill compared to the scheme that involves
full experience of gaming on a orange — not the most
high-end PC. After all, what can attractive of colours
replace a fast Core i7 processor, though it sure looks loud.
GeForce GTX 285 and 27-inch The GX620X doesn’t,
LCD monitor? — Nothing really, rather it manages to
not even a PS3 or an X360, and convey an air of class.
if you’re a hardcore computer- It’s reasonably slim
based gamer not even a gaming for a gaming notebook
notebook. Obviously there is and looks sleek from
a downfall — lugging around all angles. The lid has
a huge cabinet, LCD monitor a magnetic closing
and other paraphernalia is assembly that clicks shut
not everyone’s cup of tea. with a nice positive feel.
Portability matters to many The touch buttons look a
people and LAN-party goers little too bright but work
will give up processing grunt well. There is a touch key
for something smaller. Enter for selecting between eco
Laptop test palm losing on Windows microsoft woos students
mobile Microsoft offers college students
Palm to stop making WinMo devices, Windows 7 Pro at Snow Leopard prices
reports big loss until January 2010
aside the G50V looks good. at lower levels of detail. The should be sufficient
Hinge build quality so-so. Open mighty Logitech MX518 mouse for most games. The
her up and the screen is matte. is bundled with this notebook, 220-odd frames per
Thankfully the resolution is of course its got ASUS branding second in Doom 3 and
an ideal 1440 x 900 pixels; on it. You also get a funky octoBer 2009 45 frames per second
ideal for a 15.4-inch notebook. bag, in fact the laptop ships in Crysis was enough
The screen bezel is a little too inside the bag and not some to convince us that this
thick and spoils the look while ugly carton. ASUS is obviously notebook can indeed be
adding bulk. The keypad is neat selling this one marked to used by a gamer. And guess
and similar in design to Dell gamers on the basis of its Alienware M17x what — this is Dells cheapest
laptops with slight impressions exclusiveness, but at a price tag configuration for the Alienware
on the top of each key for your of Rs. 1,15,000 the G50V is a display is really clear and M17x, which can be configured
finger. The number keypad little to hard to swallow and its crisp with a high resolution of with dual GTX 280 GPUs —
is a plus. The backlit, touch- going to take more than some 1920 x 1200 pixels. Viewing pretty mean. Sadly this won’t
based buttons shortcut keys fancy lighting and packaging to angles are good. The integrated stand up to a really fast desktop
work well and look nice. A blue make us even consider shelling speaker is one of the best we’ve in terms of performance but
monochrome LCD displays out so much. seen on a notebook – good then if you want the best,
certain system parameters bass, a great mid-range and fastest notebook out there
and some might find this alienware m17x extended highs. This notebook be prepared to shell out Rs.
intrusive — thankfully it can be Totally clichéd but ‘here had the best speaker from this 1,39,000 for it or Rs. 2,25,000
disabled. The trackpad surface comes the game’ years bunch. for the highest configuration
is good and has a nice blend This is the first Alienware The Alienware branding is — either way you won’t find as
of feedback and tracking. And notebook we’ve laid our grubby boldly illuminated in pink, powerful a notebook. It wins
best of all its pretty responsive, paws on this year and quite however some of us found this our Digit Best Performance
our only grouse is that it’s frankly we’re impressed. Forget too feminine a colour for an award for the best gaming
small. Of course the fact that about a weapon for gamers, the obviously masculine product. notebook around and the most
it’s recessed into the body is M17x is a weapon incognito The keypad is well laid out powerful configuration.
good since your palm or wrist — its amazingly sturdy and really good, suitable for
will not accidently activate it construction and ponderous a lot of office work (not that apple noteBooks:
while using the keypad. All in bulk means it can be used to you would want to do that on Hi-yo Silver…away!
all, it’s miles ahead of the MSI bludgeon just about any living this notebook anyway) and Apples notebooks are called
GX620X’s trackpad. Viewing being to oblivion and that ergonomics is top class. The Macbooks for those who
angles on the display are so-so includes a woolly mammoth! trackpad is a let down — it didn’t know. Not only do these
although brightness levels are And it’s attractive looking too, lags and tracking accuracy is notebooks run Apples’ own
pretty good. One of the USB with a black coloured, matte rubbish — really a shame and OS called “Leopard” or OS
ports is placed on the rear — finish all over the body and the the only blemish on a near X but they’re pretty different
good for USB printers and lid. The body is very thick; no perfect report card. compared to other Windows-
such. The E-SATA and HDMI wonder given it’s innards. The This freak has got premium based notebooks. Whether
ports are located conveniently front slopes forward giving it innards to go with its menacing this is good or bad depends
and on the side. a very aggressive sports car profile — a quad core processor on whether you’re a fanboy
The GeForce 9700M GPU bonnet like look and grilles — something unheard of for a or a hater. Needless to say our
is reasonably powerful and will embedded into the front light notebook and not one, but two, Windows-based benchmarks
play most games other than up with embedded red LEDs. GeForce GTX 260 GPUs in do not work with OS X,
the more demanding ones The lid closes with a nice SLI. A massive 2 GB of GDDR3 however the hardware used by
like Crysis and Clear Sky albeit positive snap. The 17-inch video memory (1 GB per card) these notebooks is the same.
GaminG: desktops or notebooks?
H
ave you always worthy size without reducing Alienware M17x High-end PC
wondered just how their performance. So a PC Mark05
good a gaming GeForce 9600GT graphics card Overall 8589 9783
notebook is at will be will be more powerful CPU Score 8059 9557
gaming? We receive hundreds than a GeForce 9600GT M Memory Score 5496 6258
of mails a month from readers (for mobility) notebook Graphics Score 14086 13539
wanting to buy a notebook graphics solution. Just to see HDD 5308 5618
for gaming. We typically ask what happens we tested the 3D Mark 2006 CPU Score 3722 4623
them their budgets and if that Alienware M17x alongside a 3D Mark 2006 Overall Score 13637 15627
is anything under Rs. 75,000 powerful PC. Maxxon CineBench R10 (CPU Score) 9914 10967
(which it usually is) we suggest Divx Encode 7.0 (.VOB to .Divx) * 42 38.5
a desktop instead. If you’re one The PC specs were as File transfer Test (4 GB test file-sequential) (Sec) 23.94 34.68
of those readers, this is for you. follows: File transfer Test (4 GB test file-assorted) (Sec) 20.96 25.13
It’s no mystery that gaming Intel Q9650 CPU, 2 x 2 GB Doom 3 (fps) (1024 x 768, Ultra Details) 220.4 260.4
notebooks are never going 1066 MHz DDR2 RAM, ZOTAC Company Of Heroes (Tales Of Valor) 103.9 167.3
to be as powerful as desktop GeForce GTX 285 GPU and 1 TB STALKER Clear Sky (1024 x 768, Max, Dx10) 52.1 67.6
counterparts simply because its WD Black Edition HDD. Crysis (1024 x 768, Dx10, medium detail) 45 50
not possible to shrink powerful Here are the scores: * Less is better
components to a notebook-
66 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
toshiba’s new notebook
beast snow leopard on the hunt Laptop test
Toshiba recently launched their 500 GB, Snow Leopard outsells predecessors in
7,200 rpm notebook 2.5-inch drive opening weeks of availability
People who use Apple-based performance available. Whether NVIDIA’s GeForce 9400M go against Apples
products are mainly designers it is the anaemic components integrated video solution design ethos but
and image-editing professionals or the lack of even a very basic that is acclaimed to be as we’re sure this can
who swear by the usability, RJ45 connect and a mediocre powerful as many be improved. The
interface and performance of screen the Macbook Air will not discrete second gripe is the gap
these products. However, this impress anyone not looking for graphics between USB ports — it’s
doesn’t mean someone wanting superficiality. And that’s what solutions. One too small and if you use
a regular notebook cannot it is — a superficial gem and of the only gripes a USB drive with a wide
buy a Macbook. There are a priced at Rs. 1,12000, it doesn’t with the Macbook body the adjacent USB
Apple Macbook Air
few people in office who use deliver as expected. Pro 13-inch in port becomes unusable
Macbooks and quite frankly All the Macbook Pros comparison to — this is unforgivable
they’re as usable as a regular look sleek as well, remember the others is the placement especially given that these
notebook. Obviously a few they come in three sizes — of the speakers — behind the notebooks have the space for
shortcut keys differ and the 13.3-inches, 15.4-inches and notebook under the hinge as four well spaced out ports. The
interface is unique, but the 17-inches. The all-aluminium opposed to on either side of the Macbook Pro 17-inch is the
learning curve is relatively flat body and the super slim keypad — this causes a decrease only one with three ports while
— Macbooks are designed to profile means they just attract in sound volume and clarity. the others have two each. The
be pretty idiot-proof. An added attention in any company. The Apples segregated keypad is a 17 and 15.4-inch Macbook Pros
advantage (and kudos to Apple 17-inch and 15-inch models little cumbersome at first, but have identical hardware but
for including this) is BootCamp are as slim as the amazing once you get the hang the 17-inch model has a higher
— an addition to the of using it. The keys are soft but screen resolution (1920 x 1200
Leopard OS that not squishy and key feedback pixels). The ability to switch
allows Windows XP is decent. The adjustable between the integrated NVIDIA
to be installed in a backlighting is a little excessive GeForce 9400M and the
dual boot. but it gets the job done. When discrete GeForce 9600GT is a
octoBer 2009
The Macbook Air is one sees the display quality, plus since you get more battery
unique at first glance. brightness and resolution on life with the former and greater
Designed to be really slim the 15-inch Macbook Pro the performance with the latter.
and sleek and lightweight 13-inch doesn’t look so hot In terms of performance
the Macbook Air is built anymore. The 15.4-inch model none of the Macbook Pros are
like a tank courtesy its all has a beautiful display that slouches and the two larger
aluminium structure appears at least 15 per cent models have very powerful
which is built out of Apple Macbook Pro 13 inch brighter and the resolution of processors. Given an identical
Contact Details
Brand company name phone no Web site
Acer (Gateway) Acer India Pvt. Ltd +91-80-4070 8700 www.acer.co.in
ASUS ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd. +91-22–6766 8800 / 1-800-209 0365 www.asus.in
MSI MSI India +91-11-4175 8808 http://in.msi.com/
Dell (Alienware) Dell India Pvt. Ltd. +91-80-2506 8026 / 1-800-425 4026 www.dell.co.in
Sony Sony India 1-800-11-11-88 (Toll Free) www.sony.co.in
HCL HCL Infosystems Ltd. +91-120-252 6518 hclstore.in
HP HP India +91-124-441 7501 http://welcome.hp.com/country/in/en/welcome.html
Apple Apple India +91-80-4140 9000 www.apple.co.in
Lenovo Lenovo India 1-800-425 3353 www.lenovo.com/in
a single piece of aluminium, 13-inch Macbook Pro — this 1440 x 900 pixels is ideal. The set of benchmarks we’re sure
in fact this is something all gives them the appearance of keypad layout and spacing is these notebooks would be
the latest Macbooks share, being even slimmer because identical across all the models as fast or faster than most
therefore the term “unibody”. of the larger screen size. The — a good thing. Windows based notebooks out
The Air is compact enough to 13-inch Macbook Pro is little We have two generic design there, but an apples to apples
necessitate an external DVD more than a 13-inch unibody gripes with Apple and this (pun!) comparison is just not
RW drive and even the ports Macbook released in 2008 with applies to all three Macbook possible between them. What
are minimal – no LAN port an SD slot and a permanent Pros. One (and we hope you’re we did notice was OS X seems
and a single USB port located battery. That being said it’s an listening Apple) the edge of to be better when it comes
on the under part of the body exceptionally well-built and the palmrest is sharp and this to hard drive usage and the
accessible by lifting a small good-looking notebook. It has a starts to hurt the wrists after Macbook Pros were faster in the
hood-like cover. As sleek and great screen, much better than 15 minutes of typing — sounds file copy tests when compared
sexy as the Air is and the fact the display on the Macbook Air. like we’re nitpicking but this to Windows notebooks.
that its storage subsystem is It also sports pretty powerful is, in fact, super annoying. If you’re looking to buy
SSD based there’s very little components including Obviously a dull edge would an Apple based notebook we
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 67
Laptop test
octoBer 2009
apple notebooks
model macbook pro 13” macbook air macbook pro 15” macbook pro 17”
price Rs. 74,400 Rs. 1,12,000 Rs. 1,41,600 Rs. 1,57,400
Warranty 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year
plus (+) Exceptional build and Uber compact Superb build, great per- Superb build, great
components formance and screen performance and screen
minus (-) Glossy screen All show, no go Pricey Pricey
Grand totals (our of 100) 55.05 67.42 72.78 73.41
Features (out of 50) 23.75 30.95 32.95 34.45
performance (out of 50) 31.30 36.47 39.83 38.96
Features
specifications
processor model no / processor speed Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 / Intel Core 2 Duo / 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P9700 / Intel Core 2 Duo P9700 /
2.26 GHz 2.8 GHz 2.8 GHz
ram / ram type / memory speed 2 GB/ DDR3 / 1066 MHz 2 GB/ DDR3 / 1066 MHz 4 GB / DDR3 / 1066 MHz 4 GB / DDR3 / 1066 MHz
platform chipset nVidia MCP79 nVidia MCP79 nVidia MCP79 nVidia MCP79
Graphics solution / Dedicated video memory GeForce 9400M / - GeForce 9400M / - GeForce 9400M and GeForce 9400M and
(in mB) 9600GT / 512 MB 9600GT / 512 MB
HDD size / type 160 GB / SATA 128 GB / SATA (SSD) 500 GB / SATA 500 GB / SATA
optical Drive type DVD RW N/A DVD RW DVD RW
Bundled os Mac OS x 10.5.6 Mac OS x 10.5.8 Mac OS x 10.5.8 Mac OS x 10.5.8
characteristics
screen size / resolution 13.3 inches / 1280 x 800 13.3 inches / 1280 x 800 15.4 inches / 1440 x 900 17 inches / 1920 x 1200
(native, in pixels)
Weight 2.04 kg 1.36 kg 2.49 kg 3.1 kg
no of ports (UsB / FireWire) 2, 1 1, 0 2, 1 3, 1
connectivity: lan / Bluetooth / Wi-Fi (Y / n) Y/Y/Y N/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
video ports: D-sub / Dvi / HDmi (Y / n) N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N
audio ports: (mic / line out / s/pDiF) Y/Y/Y N/Y/N Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
memory card reader / cards supported Y / SD, MMC N / NA Y / SD, MMC Y / SD, MMC
e-sata (Y / n) / rJ11 port N/N N/N N/N N/N
additonal connects Mini Display Port Mini Display Port Mini Display Port Mini Display Port
Build Quality (Body / keypad / lid, 9.5 / 8.25 / 8 9.5 / 8.25 / 7.5 9.5 / 8.25 / 8 9.5 / 8.25 / 8
movables) (so 10)
ergonomics
keypad tactile Feedback / key layout & 8.25 / 7.5 / 4 8.25 / 7.5 / 3 8.25 / 7.5 / 4 8.25 / 7.5 / 4
Usability / shortcut keys (so 10)
Biometrics login (Y / n) N N N N
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / touchpad on/off N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N
dedicated button (Y / n)
performance
maxxon cineBench r10 cpU score 4968 3453 6152 6182
Display mate colour accuracy (so 10) 7.5 6 7.5 7.5
Webcamera / speaker Quality (so 10) 6 / 5.75 4 / 4.75 6/7 6/7
Battery life test (in minutes) 305 218 278 221
HD movie viewing (so 10) 7 5.25 7.5 8.25
Wi-Fi file transfer (in mBps) 4.76 4.55 4.76 4.76
DivX encode 7.0 (sec) * 59.6 97.4 39.2 39.7
sequential / assorted file transfer (in mBps) 33.82 / 27.27 38.49 / 36.53 36.57 / 28.52 37.57 / 28.96
* less is better
68 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
octoBer 2009 octoBer 2009
Gaming notebooks
Brand asUs alienware msi
model G50 M17x Gx620x
price (rupees) Rs. 1,15,000 Rs. 1,39,000 Rs. 73,000
Warranty (Years) 2 years 1 year 2 years
plus (+) Good config, reasonably port- Very powerful config Affordable gaming solution
able
minus (-) Crysis scores Bulky, expensive Not future proof
Grand totals 63.03 79.70 54.78
Features (out of 40) 28.10 29.37 23.78
performance (out of 60) 34.93 50.33 31.00
Features
component specifications
processor model no Core 2 Duo P8600 Intel Core 2 Extreme Q9300 Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
processor speed 2.4 GHz 2.5 GHz 2.26 GHz
ram / ram type / memory speed 4 GB / DDR2 / 800 MHz 4096 / DDR3 / 1066 MHz 4096 / DDR2 / 800 MHz
chipset PM45 nVidia MCP79 Intel PM45
Graphics solution NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT nVidia GeForce GTx 260M x 2 (SLI) Nvidia GeForce 9600GT
video memory type / Dedicated video memory size GDDR3 / 512 MB GDDR3 / 1024 MB x 2 GDDR3 / 512 MB
HDD size / type 320 GB, SATA 320 GB, SATA 320 GB, SATA
optical Drive type DVD RW Bluray Reader/DVD RW DVD RW
Bundled os Vista Home Premium Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Premium
characteristics
screen size 15.4 inches 17 inches 15.4 inches
screen resolution (native) 1440 x 900 pixels 1920 x 1200 pixels 1280 x 800 pixels
Weight 3.3 kg 4.96 kg 2.7 kg
no of ports (UsB / FireWire) 4, 1 4, 1 3, 1
connectivity: lan / Bluetooth / Wi-Fi (Y / n) Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
video ports: D-sub / Dvi / HDmi (Y / n) Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/Y
memory card reader (Y/n) Y Y Y
e-sata (Y / n) Y Y N
type of memory cards supported SD, MMC, xD, MS Pro SD, MMC, xD, MS Pro SD, MMC, xD, MS Pro
inbuilt Webcam (Y / n) Y, 2 MP Y Y
rJ11 (Y / n) N N Y
additonal connects - Display Port, 2 x headphone out Surround out
extra accessories provided ASUS gaming mouse (Mx518) - Gaming bag
Build Quality: Body / keypad / lid, movables (so 10) 7.5 / 7.5 / 6.75 8.5 / 8.5 / 8.75 7.5 / 6.5 / 7
ergonomics
keypad tactile Feedback / key layout & Usability / shortcut 7.75 / 8 / 6.75 8.5 / 8.25 / 7.5 7.25 / 7.5 / 6.25
keys (so 10)
Biometrics login (Y/n) N N N
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / touchpad on/off switch or Button (Y/n) Y/N/Y Y/N/N N/N/N
performance
pc mark05 overall 6426 8589 5673
cpU score / memory score 6126 / 5133 8059 / 5496 5839 / 5129
Graphics score / HDD score 7598 / 5342 14086 / 5308 6783 / 5352
sisoft sandra 2009 pro memory Bandwidth 5.39 Gbps 6 GBps 5.1 GBps
3D mark 2006 (cpU score / overall score) 2143 / 6656 3722 / 13637 2102 / 5638
maxxon cineBench r10 (cpU score) 4910 9914 4729
Display mate colour accuracy test (avg) (so 10) 6.25 6.5 6.5
Battery life test (minutes) 85 71 91
Webcam Quality / speaker Quality / HD movie viewing (so 10) 6.5 / 6.5 / 6.5 7 / 8.75 / 8 6/6/6
DivX encode 7.0 (.voB to .Divx) (in seconds) * 57.2 42 66.3
File transfer test (sequential / assorted) (in mBps) 25.30 / 20.22 23.93 / 20.96 23.34/ 18.50
WiFi performance test 7.0 (in mbps) 41 48 39
Wi-Fi 100mB assorted File copy (in mBps) 5.56 7.69 4.55
Doom 3 / company of Heroes: tales of valor (fps) 133.2 / 62.3 220.4 / 103.9 110.2 / 51.2
stalker clear sky / crysis (fps) 21.8 / 32 52.1 / 45 16.3 / 26
* less is better
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 69
the magic of rGB leDs
Laptop test Dell sued for $4 million Very few displays use RGB LED
Dell paid $4 million to settle a dispute technology but the advantage is a colour
pending since 2008 against them for gamut that approaches 100% of the
deceptive business practices Adobe RGB colour space
How we tested
We segregated notebooks into from every conceivable angle reasons). A disk defragmenter Video Edition was used to
the following categories and including the their hard drive was run on each notebook prior judge the quality and colour
subcategories: size, type of optical drive, to testing and we used latest capabilities of each notebooks
number of USB and FireWire versions of ATi and NVIDIA display. Finally Performance
Desktop Replacements ports, video connects, memory display drivers. Test 7.0s inbuilt Wi-Fi test was
a. Desktop replacements up to Rs. card reader, presence of E-SATA PC Mark Vantage and 3D used to judge the performance
40,000 and even their weight. We also Mark Vantage are a little too of the wireless component with
b. Desktop replacements between rated the build quality of each taxing for many notebooks theoretical data transfers. We
Rs. 40,001 and Rs. 60,000 notebook and the ergonomics, whose specifications are not hooked up a desktop PC using
c. High-end desktop replacements layout and feel of the keypad. up to the latest desktop PC RJ45 connectivity to a wireless
(above Rs. 60,000) The usability and tracking hardware so we used earlier router and used this to connect
Ultra Compacts accuracy of the trackpad was versions. PC Mark05 is our to the each notebook for all
a. Low power ultra compacts also rated. Presence of dedicated generic benchmark of choice wireless testing.
b. Ultra compacts shortcut keys for common because it has one of the Our real world tests consisted
functions like multimedia most complete benchmark of subjective tests for movie
Corporate Notebooks controls, Wi-Fi on/off, Bluetooth suites from testing the hard watching, web camera quality
Apple Notebooks and trackpad disable/enable was drive page file performance, and inbuilt speaker quality. DivX
Gaming Notebooks also scored. to office related benchmarks, Encode 7.0 was used to encode
These categories need no In terms of performance flash player performance, web a 100 MB .VOB file to DivX and
explanations and four of them we ensured a clean install of page rendering, game and 3D this was used to test the CPUs
are simply based on usage Windows Vista by uninstalling testing and application startup. encoding capabilities. Sequential
patterns. We’d like to test Apple unnecessary software from these It has got to be one of the most and assorted tests were done for
notebooks alongside other notebooks, but used the bundled comprehensive benchmarks judging the storage subsystems
laptops but unfortunately most OS itself. So if a notebook came around. 3D Mark 2006 was performance. For gaming
Windows based benchmarks we with Windows XP preinstalled, used to get an idea of the performance we used Doom
use have no OS X counterparts we used that. System Restore graphics and CPU subsystems 3, one of the most scalable
meaning an apples to apples and indexing were disabled performance. SiSoft Sandra and hardware sensitive games
(pardon the pun!) comparison before testing. All battery saving 2009 Pro was used to get an around. For gaming notebooks
just wasn’t possible. features were disabled and the idea of memory bandwidth. we also used three other newer
In terms of features we looked notebook connected to the CineBench R10 gives a good games – Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear
at and graded these notebooks mains at all times except during indication of a CPUs rendering Sky and Company Of Heroes:
the battery test (for obvious performance. DisplayMate Tales Of Valor.
compact, since businessmen comes with a complete backup name suggest (i.e. Elite is higher
on the go like to travel light. and recovery suite from HP than Pro) the 2530P is meant
Something that’s rugged and meaning your data is always for the corporate with deeper
not too flashy — businessmen safe. It’s got a very mediocre pockets. It’s even smaller
want productivity and usability display in terms of colour and with a 12.1-inch display. The
more than pizzazz. Obviously while businessmen don’t need lid has a brushed aluminium
performance, since time is a colour accuracy and contrast finish and this goes well with
luxury few corporate users have. it would be nice to have a the grey-black body. The
Backup software and other slightly better screen. The notebook is quite compact
office productivity related tools trackpad works well and the but feels sturdy. HP states
are a must as well since the Wi-Fi shortcut switch is usable. the use of certain materials
Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch key to effective productivity is To be honest this ones price that increase reliability even
prevention of delays. Therefore a surprised us — we expected it to in dusty conditions and this
recommend the Macbook Pro good business notebook should be well in excess of Rs. 50,000 notebook is built to withstand
13-inch priced at Rs. 74,400 have all these features. but HP makes it available for as wider variations in temperature.
— good value for money and a The four corporate- little as Rs. 40,000 — a Their DriveGuard
very well built, great looking oriented products we received solid buy for someone technology that
piece of equipment. If you want certainly seemed to meet looking at a solidly protects the hard
something really powerful all the parameters set. HPs built, compact, no frills drive in case of a
we recommend the Apple ProBook 4410S was the first notebook. sudden impact is
Macbook Pro 15.4-inch — class- candidate up for test. It’s got a The octoBer 2009 also incorporated
leading hardware and sublime nice textured finish on the lid other HP on this model. The
looks and built, though its and the dull maroon colour is notebook processor is an Intel
pricey at Rs. 1,41,600. really smart looking. Inside the was an SU9300 — this series is
notebook is a mix of glossy and EliteBook known for its ultra low
BUsiness noteBooks: matte black. It’s compact and 2530P. power consumption. An
tie and suit, light but a little on the thick As the IBM-style track point is also
side. The keypad is segregated included although to be
ready to boot with a little less spacing that honest hardly anyone uses
We’ve often asked ourselves what Sony uses and owing to one these days. The trackpad
— what makes a business this the keypad is more usable is small but works well and
notebook? Obviously something — a solid plus for HP. The 4410S tracking is accurate and lag
HP ProBook 4410S
70 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Fastest ssDs on earth
Pliant technologies, a little known
manufacturer Drops Bombshell
Targeting the no-man’s land between netbooks
and notebooks the AMD Neo CPU along with ATi
Laptop test
“Lightning” SSD With 180k IOPS, graphics allows for a powerful solution with a very
500/320 MB/s Read/Writes slim and compact footprint
VGN-Z48GD — the echelon spaced keys. The trackpad is
of upwardly mobile in Sony’s also small and a little cramped
books. Their ‘Z’ series are but tracking is good. Still you
hardcore business notebooks will want to invest in a wireless
— sleek, feature-rich and mouse to get the best out of
expensive. The Z48GD has this notebook.
256 GB worth of SSD under In terms of performance this
the hood. And that’s not all, notebooks storage subsystem
further inspection revealed blows everything else away,
two SSD drives of 128 GB each as expected with the striped
configured in RAID 0. We SSD drives. It also has a very
figure these drives themselves powerful 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo
would cost Rs. 50,000 if not (P9700) processor and this,
more. On the outside the coupled with 6 GB of RAM
Z48GD is ultra slim and really and a 64-bit OS (necessary
light. The display used is a to address more than 4 GB
WLED and the lid is very slim of RAM) makes the Z48GD
as a result. Since it looks much a potent performer in a
smaller than the HP 4410S we diminutive package. A real
were surprised to see it had a pocket rocket, and priced
display as large as 13.1-inches. likewise too — Rs. 1,49,900 is
The body is built of carbon not cheap; but then this level
fibre — rugged although there is of pedigree rarely is. It’s our
noticeable flex. We’re told this Best Performer award winner on
is normal and doesn’t affect account of it’s superb all round
durability in the least. Even the performance.
lid seems flexible and we were
initially concerned about its
free. The keypad is use it long enough flex leading to damage of the Sony Vaio VGN-Z48GD
well designed and the keys you will get accustomed display. Sony reassured us that
are excellently spaced. A small to it; but the two days over this sort of flex is intentional octoBer 2009
fingerprint scanner is provided which we used this notebook as using hard material for the
on the right side of the had us running for cover. lid cover would actually risk
palmrest to allow biometrics- There are five usability modes cracking of the LED-based LCD
based login. The tested battery activated via five shortcut keys. inside. This is because LED-
life is good — just over four These usability modes change backlit LCDs are apparently
hours — enough to keep you the operating environment much slimmer than regular
productive over most domestic according to your needs and LCDs and therefore prone to
flights. Priced at Rs. 99,000 the application shortcuts damage i.e. cracking.
plus tax the EliteBook 2530P available in each mode can be But wouldn’t
is expensive, but those who configured. flexing the lid also
appreciate its subtle talents will The Core 2 Duo P8700 and lead to cracking
shell out. Radeon HD 4570 are both of the display inside?
The Sony Vaio SR46GD pretty powerful solutions. Oh well, we couldn’t get
is Sony’s answer to the The Wi-Fi switch is very answers for everything. The
businessman wanting conveniently located and famous Sony Stamina Mode is
something on a shoestring, if the activity indicators on present and can be used at the
Rs. 74,900 can be considered a the notebook are optimally flick of a toggle switch. This
shoestring. However, this is as positioned — Sony has their allows shifting between stamina Ultra compact
low as they corporate series of ergonomics spot on. The and performance modes which laptops:
notebooks is likely to be priced. trackpad is accurate but there is internally switches between He ain’t heavy, he’s my
The SR46GD is heavier than slight lag, however the tracking Intel integrated graphics and
its sibling and the entire body surface is well designed and NVIDIAs GeForce 9300M
ultra compact!
is made of some fibre-based doesn’t slip or grip too much. giving you either extended By definition an ultra compact
compound that isn’t rigid. It’s a If its features appeal to you and battery life or more video notebook is one that is
good-looking notebook based you cannot spend any more performance. Unlike its lightweight and small. This
on the attractive cylindrical than 74,900 this is a decent buy earlier avatars that required a necessitates a small screen size;
design (Sony speak for the and certainly looks a little more Windows restart this version of not more than 13.3-inches.
circular section connecting the upmarket than the HP 4410S, Stamina Mode makes do with Anything smaller than
base and the lid). The keys are understandable really since it just shutting down all running 11.1-inches and it becomes a
not well designed at all and the costs nearly double. applications and switching netbook. Of course an ultra
gap between keys is too much If you are looking for modes causes your screen compact notebook can also
and the keys themselves too something really classy to blank out momentarily as be a business notebook, since
small. In fact this is one of the however, and don’t mind the graphics adapter changes. the very term ultra compact
worst designed keypads we’ve shelling out big (really big!) Sadly the keypad is still a pain is generic and doesn’t specify
come across. Obviously if you then check out the Sony Vaio to work with thanks to tiny, ill suitability to a particular
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 71
Laptop test
octoBer 2009
Desktop replacements up to rs. 40,000
Brand Acer Acer ASUS
model Aspire 5536 Aspire 5738Z K50IJ
price Rs. 29,099 Rs. 30,999 Rs. 33,900
Warranty 1 year 1 year 2 years
plus (+) Looks good Looks good Good CPU
minus (-) Keypad build Keypad build horrible trackpad
Grand totals (out of 100) 54.46 58.83 52.83
Features (out of 55) 36.62 40.91 33.77
performance (out of 45) 17.84 17.93 19.06
Features
specifications
processor model no / processor speed AMD Athlon x2 QL-64 / 2.1 GHz Intel Dual Core T4200 / 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 / 2 GHz
ram / ram type / memory speed 2 GB / DDR2 / 667 MHz 2 GB / DDR2 / 800 MHz 4 GB / DDR2 / 667 MHz
platform chipset AMD M780/K11 Intel GL40 Intel PM45
Graphics solution / Dedicated video memory Radeon HD 3200 / 256 MB Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / -
HDD size / type 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA
optical Drive type DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW
Bundled os Vista Home Basic Vista Home Premium Vista Home Basic
characteristics
screen size / resolution (native, in pixels) 15.6 inches / 1366 x 768 15.6 inches / 1366 x 768 15.4 inches / 1366 x 768
Weight 2.8 kg 2.8 kg 2.6 kg
no of ports (UsB / FireWire) 4, 0 4, 0 4, 0
connectivity: (lan / Bluetooth / Wi-Fi) Y/Y/Y Y /Y/Y Y/Y/Y
video ports: D-sub / Dvi / HDmi (Y / n) Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/N
audio ports: mic / line out / s/pDiF (Y / n) Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/N
memory card reader / cards supported Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD
e-sata (Y / n) / rJ11 port N/Y N/Y /N
additonal connects - - NA
Build Quality (Body / keypad / lid, movables) (so 10) 6 / 4.75 / 7 6 / 4.75 / 7 7 / 6.5 / 6.5
ergonomics
keypad tactile Feedback / key layout & Usability / shortcut keys (so 10) 8.25 / 7.75 / 6.5 8.25 / 7.75 / 6.5 7.5 / 7.25 / 3.5
Biometrics login (Y / n) N Y N
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / touchpad on/off dedicated button (Y / n) N/N/N N/Y/Y N/N/N
performance
synthetic scores
pc mark05 overall 3690 3139 4571
pc mark05 cpU score / memory score 4131 / 2892 2848 / 3087 5048 / 4191
pc mark05 Graphics score / HDD score 2092 / 4178 1441 / 5412 1990 / 5384
sisoft sandra 2009 pro memory bandwidth 4 GBps 3.8 GBps 4.44 GBps
3D mark 2006 (cpU score / overall score) 1485 / 1261 1012 / 590 1694 / 859
maxxon cineBench r10 cpU score 3227 2403 4067
Display mate colour accuracy (so 10) 5.25 5.25 5.5
Wi-Fi performance test 7.0 (in mbps) 57 56 57
real World tests
Battery life test (in minutes) 108 227 239
Webcamera / speaker Quality (so 10) 6 / 5.5 6 / 5.5 3.5 / 4
HD movie viewing (so 10) 6.5 6.25 3.75
Wi-Fi file transfer (in mBps) 8.33 7.69 7.69
DivX encode 7.0 (sec) * 98.3 111.4 70.6
sequential / assorted file transfer (in mBps) 20.33 / 16.10 19.57 / 17.45 19.98 / 19.59
Doom 3 (fps) 35.9 8.2 13.6
* less is better
74 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
www.thinkdigit.com/d/pmp_test
Laptop test
Acer ASUS ASUS Acer
Aspire 4736 F82Q K40IJ Aspire 5810T
Rs. 34,599 Rs. 36,990 Rs. 36,990 Rs. 38,401
1 year 2 years 2 years 1 year
Compact and powerful Built well Built well, looks good Really sleek, built well
weak graphics Weak CPU Horrible trackpad CPU weak
52.10 51.60 52.77 54.90
35.52 34.93 33.99 38.65
16.58 16.67 18.78 16.24
Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 Intel Dual Core T4200 Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 / Intel Core 2 Solo U3500 /
/ 2 GHz / 2 GHz 2.1 GHz 1.4 GHz
3 GB / DDR2 / 667 MHz 3 GB / DDR2 / 667 MHz 4 GB / DDR2 / 667 MHz 3 GB / DDR3 / 800 MHz
Intel GM45 Intel GL40 Intel GL40 Intel GS45
Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / -
320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA
DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW
Vista Home Premium Windows xP Home Vista Home Basic Vista Home Premium
14 inches / 1366 x 768 14.1 inches / 1366 x 768 14 inches / 1366 x 768 15.6 inches / 1366 x 768
2.3 kg 2.59 kg 2.36 kg 2.4 kg
3, 0 3, 0 4, 0 3, 0
Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/N Y/N/Y
Y/Y/Y Y/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N
Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD
N/Y N/N N/N N/N
- - - -
6 / 4.75 / 7 7 / 6.5 / 6.5 7 / 6.5 / 6.5 8.25 / 6.5 / 8.25
8.25 / 7.75 / 6.5 7.5 / 7.25 / 3.5 7.5 / 7.75 / 3.5 8/8/6
N N N N
N/N/N Y/N/N N/N/N Y/N/Y
4210 3712 4571 2099
4803 / 4147 5093 / 4117 5060 / 4174 2453 / 3258
1991 / 5015 1215 / 4764 2012 / 5066 992 / 4733
4.13 GBps 4.32 GBps 4.41 GBps 4.13 GBps
1665 / 744 992 / 564 1767 / 866 657 / 602
4075 3900 4292 1514
5.25 5.75 3.75 5
35 32 60 36
107 226 228 273
5.75 / 4.25 4 / 3.5 4 / 3.5 5.5 / 4.5
5.75 4.25 4.5 5.5
5.26 3.33 8.33 5.00
71.53 72.4 95.6 153
16.68 / 16.50 19.15 / 17.56 20.30 / 17.17 21.64 / 20.31
18.4 17.3 14.1 12.7
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 75
Laptop test
octoBer 2009 octoBer 2009
Desktop Replacements between Rs. 40,001 and Rs. 60,000 High-end desktop replacements
Brand Acer Gateway Gateway Lenovo HCL Dell
model Aspire 5738G NV48 ID 5801 IdeaPad Y550 Z39 Studio xPS 1640
price Rs. 40,999 Rs. 42,999 Rs. 49,999 Rs. 50,990 Rs. 59,990 Rs. 65,900
Warranty 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year
plus (+) Good components looks good, built Very well built Powerful graphics Lots of RAM Superb build quality
well solution and components
minus (-) build quality of Slightly expensive Lacks shortcut keys poor viewing angles expensive Slightly bulky
keypad
Grand totals (out of 100) 60.62 53.79 57.06 58.54 49.90 63.51
Features (out of 55) 41.15 36.73 37.84 36.48 32.71 39.31
performance (out of 45) 19.46 17.07 19.22 22.06 17.19 24.20
Features
specifications
processor model no / processor speed Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 /
T6400 / 2 GHz T6400 / 2 GHz T6400 / 2 GHz T6600 / 2.2 GHz Duo T6400 / 2.4 GHz
2 GHz
ram / ram type / memory speed (mHz) 4 GB / DDR3 / 800 3 GB / DDR2 / 667 4 GB / DDR3 / 800 4 GB / DDR3 / 800 8 GB / DDR2 4 GB / DDR3 / 1066
/ 800
platform chipset Intel PM45 Intel GM45 Intel PM45 Intel PM45 Intel GM45 Intel PM45
Graphics solution / Dedicated video GeForce G105M Intel GMA 4xxx / - GeForce G105M / - GeForce GT 130M Intel GMA Radeon HD 3670 / 512
memory (in mB) / 512 / 512 4xxx / -
HDD size / type 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 500 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA
optical Drive type DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW
Bundled os Vista Home Pre- Vista Home Vista Home Premium Vista Home Pre- Vista Business Vista Home Premium
mium Premium mium
characteristics
screen size (inches) / resolution (native, 15.6 / 1366 x 768 14 / 1366 x 768 15.6 / 1366 x 768 15.6 / 1366 x 768 14.1 / 1280 x 15.6 / 1920 x 1080
in pixels) 800
Weight 2.8 kg 2.33 kg 3 kg 2.75 kg 2.35 kg 2.91 kg
no of ports (UsB / FireWire) 4, 0 3, 0 3, 0 3, 1 3, 0 3, 1
connectivity: lan / Bluetooth / WiFi (Y / n)
Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
video ports: D-sub / Dvi / HDmi (Y / n) Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/N Y/N/Y
audio ports: (mic / line out / s/pDiF) Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N
memory card reader / cards supported Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD
Pro, xD Pro, xD Pro, xD Pro, xD MS Pro, xD
e-sata (Y / n) / rJ11 port /Y N/N Y/N N/N N/N Y/N
additonal connects NA - - NA - Display Port
Build Quality (Body / keypad / lid, mova- 6.75 / 4.75 / 7 7 / 6.75 / 7 8.5 / 7 / 8 7.25 / 6.5 / 5.75 6.75 / 6.75 8 / 8 / 8.25
bles) (so 10) / 6.5
ergonomics
keypad tactile Feedback / key layout & 8.25 / 7.75 / 6.5 7.5 / 6.5 / 6.75 7.5 / 7.25 / 6.75 6 / 7.5 / 5 7 / 6.5 / 2.5 7.75 / 7.25 / 6.5
Usability / shortcut keys (so 10)
Biometrics login (Y / n) Y N N Y (face recog N N
software)
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / touchpad on/off N/Y/Y Y/N/N N/N/N Y/N/N N/N/N Y/N/N
dedicated button (Y / n)
performance
synthetic scores
pc mark05 overall 4953 4375 4019 5901 4593 6241
pc mark05 cpU score / memory score 5018 / 4274 4989 / 4113 4105 / 3674 5523 / 4473 5044 / 4208 6002 / 5146
pc mark05 Graphics score / HDD 3606 / 4926 1765 / 5423 2989 / 4448 7328 / 4687 2333 / 5269 7448 / 5283
sisoft sandra 2009 pro memory band- 4.67 GBps 4.27 GBps 4.44 GBps 4.7 GBps 4.57 GBps 5.14 GBps
width
3D mark 2006 (cpU score / overall score) 1791 / 2226 1692 / 800 1209 / 2146 1972 / 6496 1699 / 939 4442 / 2077
maxxon cineBench r10 cpU score 4084 4068 4093 4481 4086 4743
Display mate colour accuracy (so 10) 6.5 5.5 6 6.25 4.75 7
Wi-Fi performance test 7.0 (in mbps) 36 37 35 33 35 36
real World tests
Battery life test (in minutes) 94 145 156 129 167 101
Webcamera / speaker Quality (so 10) 6.5 / 5.5 5.25 / 4.25 5.5 / 6 6.25 / 5.5 4/4 6.75 / 7.25
HD movie viewing (so 10) 6.75 4.25 6.75 5.5 4 7.75
Wi-Fi file transfer (in mBps) 5.26 5.26 3.45 3.85 5.26 5.00
DivX encode 7.0 (sec) * 67.1 69.3 104.8 62.5 67.9 57.5
sequential / assorted file transfer (in 19.06/ 19.89 19.88/ 17.65 21.41/ 20.11 15.17 / 14.67 21.62 / 21.28 25.25 / 23.80
mBps)
Doom 3 (fps) 76.1 18.1 116.5 150.1 16.8 137.3
* less is better
76 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Laptop test
octoBer 2009 octoBer 2009
Low power ultra compacts Ultra compacts
Lenovo Acer MSI ASUS Dell Dell ASUS
IdeaPad Y650 Aspire 3810T x400 Ux30 Adamo Studio xPS 1340 U6 Bamboo
Rs. 1,03,990 Rs. 31,999 Rs. 40,000 Rs. 56,000 Rs. 1,15,000 Rs. 59,900 Rs. 98,990
1 year 1 year 2 years 2 years 1 year 1 year 2 years
Sleek, slim, feature rich Very sleek, built well Lightweight Good looks, compact Sublime build quality Very well built, powerful Powerful and
compact
Overpriced None in particular Low performance Weak config Expensive None in particular Bamboo?
and ergonomics
57.76 54.40 44.16 48.08 43.53 58.48 58.43
36.36 37.66 29.25 32.45 28.67 37.66 40.25
21.41 16.73 14.91 15.63 14.86 20.82 18.19
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 / Intel Core 2 Solo U3500 Intel Core 2 Solo Core 2 Solo U3500 / Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 / Intel Core 2 Duo
2.4 GHz / 1.4 GHz U3500 / 1.4 GHz 1.4 GHz SU9300 / 1.2 GHz 2.4 GHz P8400 / 2.26 GHz
4 GB / DDR3 / 1066 2 GB / DDR3 / 800 2 GB / DDR2 / N/A 4 GB/ DDR2 / 800 2 GB/ DDR3 / 800 4 GB/ DDR3 / 1066 4 GB/ DDR2 / 800
Intel PM45 Intel GS45 Intel GS45 Intel GS45 Intel GS45 nVidia GeForce 9400M G Intel PM45
GeForce GT 105M / 256 Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx / - GeForce 9400M GT / 256 GeForce 9300M GS
MB / 256
320 GB / SATA 250 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 500 GB / SATA 128 GB / SATA (SSD) 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA
Blu-ray Writer/DVD RW N/A N/A N/A N/A DVD RW DVD RW
Vista Home Premium Vista Home Premium Vista Basic Vista Home Premium Vista Home Premium Vista Home Premium Vista Home Premium
64-bit
16 / 1366 x 768 13.3 / 1366 x 768 14 / 1366 x 768 14 / 1366 x 768 13.4 / 1366 x 768 13.3 / 1280 x 800 12.1 / 1280 x 800
2.54 kg 1.6 kg 1.5 kg 1.39 kg 2.49 kg 2.2 kg 1.57 kg
2, 0 3, 0 2, 0 3, 0 3, 0 2, 1 3, 0
Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/N/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/Y N/N/Y N/N/N Y/N/Y Y/N/Y
Y /Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N N/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y
Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD N / NA Y / SD, MMC, MS Pro, xD Y / SD, MMC, MS
Pro, xD Pro, xD
Y/ N/N N/N N/N N/N Y/N Y/Y
NA - - - Display Port Display Port NA
8.25 / 6.5 / 6 8.25 / 6.5 / 8.25 4.75 / 5.25 / 6 6.75 / 6.5 / 7 9.25 / 7 / 9.25 8 / 8 / 8.25 6.5 / 6.5 / 5.75
6 / 7.5 / 5 8/8/6 5.75 / 5.75 / 3.5 7 / 5.5 / 4.5 6 / 7 / 3.5 7.75 / 7.25 / 6.5 7.5 / 6.5 / 6.75
Y (face recog software) N N N N N Y
Y/N/N Y/N/Y N/N/N N/N/N N/N/N Y/N/N Y/N/N
5549 2254 2135 2269 3725 5856 5260
6110 / 5170 2457 / 3312 2443 / 3346 2441 / 3354 3173 / 3376 5795 / 4957 5784 / 4986
3907 / 4684 1039 / 5204 1156 / 4824 1043 / 5250 1430 / 12735 3562 / 5949 3188 / 4825
5.59 GBps 4.15 GBps 4.13 GBps 4.26 GBps 4.22 GBps 5.22 GBps 5.3 GBps
2133 / 2463 658 / 599 656 / 637 654 / 631 1038 / 642 2158 / 2179 1897 / 1800
4939 1520 1516 1512 2501 4913 4656
6.75 5 4 4.5 4.25 6.5 6
30 31 37 36 30 39 37
90 328 286 276 131 108 110
6.25 / 7.5 5.5 / 4.5 3 / 4.5 3.5 / 4.5 2.5 / 3 6.75 / 6.25 3 / 4.5
7 4 4.75 5 2.5 4.5 3
3.57 5.00 1.85 3.85 5.26 5.00 4.76
56.1 155.2 155.1 151.2 103.8 53 61.1
23.95/ 22.61 23.01 / 22.75 29.07 / 20.69 27.30 / 22.62 42.22 / 35.96 27.41 / 23.36 21.68 / 20.92
115.3 8.6 9.8 11.1 8.8 68.5 66.6
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 77
Laptop test octoBer 2009
octoBer 2009
audience. Therefore the Sony
corporate notebooks Vaio VGN Z48GD is also an
ultra compact notebook, but
that’s not how Sony positions it.
Therefore this category includes
Brand HP Sony HP Sony
a variety of laptops, some
model ProBook 4410S Vaio VGN-SR46GD EliteBook 2530P Vaio VGN-Z48GD with very difference intended
price Rs. 40,000 Rs. 74,900 Rs. 99,000 Rs. 1,49,900 uses and characteristics with
Warranty 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year only one thing in common —
plus (+) High-quality build Powerful CPU Compact Excellent configura- they’re easy to cart around. Of
tion, ultra compact
course the trade-off is generally
minus (-) lacks dedicated None in particular Overpriced Just the price
graphics performance but that’s not
Grand totals (out of 100) 53.40 58.46 47.78 65.37 always the case as some of the
Features (out of 55) 38.13 35.50 34.47 34.24
jousters in this tourney proved.
performance (out of 45) 15.27 22.96 13.31 31.13
Features
Dell adamo
specifications
Beauty is skin deep
Dell’s offering is suitably
processor model no / processor speed Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo Intel Core 2 Duo
(mHz) T6570 / 2.1 GHz P8700 / 2.53 GHz SU9300 / 1.2 GHz P9700 / 2.8 GHz upmarket in every visual
ram / ram type / memory speed (mHz) 3 GB/ DDR2 / 800 4 GB/ DDR2 / 800 2 GB/ DDR2 / 800 6 GB / DDR3 / 1066 aspect — it’s built around onyx
platform chipset Intel GM45 Intel PM45 Intel GS45 Intel GM45 coloured brushed aluminium
and the chassis is rigid — sublime
Graphics solution / Dedicated video Intel GMA 4xxx / - Radeon HD 4570 / Intel GMA 4xxx / - Intel GMA 4xxx and build quality. There’s nothing
memory 512 MB GeForce 9300M / - suave about it — the Adamo is a
HDD size / type 320 GB / SATA 320 GB / SATA 120 GB / SATA 256 GB / SATA (SSD)
blatant style statement — from
optical Drive type DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW DVD RW
its ultra thin lid to the beautifully
crafted floating keypad with soft
Bundled os Vista Business Vista Business Vista Business Vista Business backlighting that illuminates
64-bit automatically when you touch
characteristics a key. The lid mechanism is
screen size / resolution (native, in 14-inches / 1366 13.3-inches / 1280 12.1-inches / 1280 13.1-inches / 1600 superb. The key feedback is
pixels) x 768 x 800 x 800 x 900 soft and the keys large and very
Weight 2.27 kg 1.99 kg 1.39 kg 1.49 kg comfortable with a slight indent
no of ports (UsB / FireWire) 4, 0 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 in the centre for your fingers — a
connectivity: (lan / Bluetooth / WiFi) Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y finger-sofa anyone? The trackpad
video ports: D-sub / Dvi / HDmi (Y / n) Y/N/Y Y/N/Y Y/N/N Y/N/Y is also responsive. On a negative
audio ports: (mic / line out / s/pDiF) Y/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N Y/Y/N note the display isn’t that bright
memory card reader / cards supported Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS Y / SD, MMC, MS and colours seem slightly dull.
Pro, xD Pro, xD Pro, xD Pro, xD
Its innards aren’t as impressive
e-sata (Y / n) / rJ11 port N/Y N/Y N/Y N/Y although the Adamo is quite
additonal connects - NA - NA visibly geared as a Macbook Air
Build Quality (Body / keypad / lid, 7.75 / 7.5 / 7.75 6 / 7.25 / 5.75 7.25 / 7 / 6.75 6 / 7.25 / 5.75 competitor. It also has an SSD
movables) (so 10)
drive, similar to the Macbook Air.
ergonomics
Battery life was shockingly
keypad tactile Feedback / key layout & 7.25 / 7 / 5.75 5.75 / 5.25 / 6 7.5 / 7 / 5.75 5.5 / 4 / 6
Usability / shortcut keys (so 10) poor though at just 131 minutes,
Biometrics login (Y/n) N Y Y Y the Macbook Air does much
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / touchpad on/off Y/N/N Y/N/N Y/N/N Y/N/N better. In terms of performance
dedicated button (Y/n) the Adamo is the proverbial
performance tortoise. So it’s sexy as hell…but
synthetic scores so is Paris Hilton. And this is
pc mark05 overall 3770 6637 1961 8749 probably something she would
pc mark05 cpU score / memory score 5304 / 4147 6487 / 5316 1828 / 1805 6548 / 5196 buy – at Rs. 1,15,000 the Adamo
pc mark05 Graphics score / HDD score 1619 / 4333 6534 / 5726 1054 / 3935 3858 / 29275 is for those who want to make
sisoft sandra 2009 pro memory band- 4.5 GBps 5.25 GBps 2 GBps 5.65 GBps style statements, and little else.
width For most of us who prefer to
3D mark 2006 (cpU score / overall 1757 / 889 2285 / 4170 649 / 446 2550 / 2286 settle down with the girl next
score) door rather than the flighty
maxxon cineBench r10 cpU score 4192 5229 1562 6427
neighbourhood belle, the Adamo
Display mate colour accuracy (so 10) 4 5.25 4 6
proves too sinful an extravagance
Wi-Fi performance test 7.0 (in mbps) 36 37 49 42
to indulge. Oh! for the life of a
real World tests
playboy.
Battery life test (in minutes) 120 151 248 162
Webcamera / speaker Quality (so 10) 4 / 3.5 5 / 4.75 3.5 / 3 6 / 4.25
HD movie viewing (so 10) 3 3.75 2.75 7
Wi-Fi file transfer (in mBps) 3.70 5.56 5.56 5.26
DivX encode 7.0 (sec) * 67.3 53.4 327.6 46.1
sequential / assorted file transfer 22.22 / 19.92 28.60 / 25.36 13.62 / 12.79 147.33 / 104.22
(in mBps)
Doom 3 (fps) 13.3 136 14.3 80.8
* less is better
78 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com Dell Adamo
ie 8 = longer battery life? arm processors scales 2 GHz Laptop test
A recent test shows that Internet Explorer 8 ARMs Cortex A-9 scales to 2 GHz, meaning
provides more laptop battery time than Firefox, we could well be seeing them in the desktop
Chrome, and other browsers processor sphere
Dell studio Xps 1340 performance. It’s also portable at first use. The 14-inch display is
Guts n Glory enough to be lugged around also pretty mediocre, despite the
The Studio XPS 1340 goes anywhere and it’s easy on the LED-backlighting. One plus is
the way of its larger sibling eye — the proverbial icing on the enormous hard drive — ASUS
complete with leather accents the cake. thought it prudent to load the
ASUS U6
on the bottom of the lid. It’s UX30 with 500 GB worth of
distinctly upmarket looking asUs U6 Bamboo storage. It’s price was a little over the
and feels very solid while When wood is good top at Rs. 56,000 and we cannot see
retaining a semblance of ASUS’ U6 series represent their anyone spending this much. Not
compactness. The top bezel efforts at extreme portability when the Aspire 3810T gives more
is rather wide and although it with good performance. The resolution is just right for a for less. If we were up to blowing
integrates a webcamera. The lid Bamboo is a special edition 13.3-inch display — 1366 x 768 close to 60 grand on a notebook
mechanism is really sturdy. The notebook livered in (you pixels. Brightness levels are we’d figure the Dell Studio XPS
glossy black has a translucent guessed it!) Bamboo. The lid is good but the colour quality is 1340 would get a nod over this in
look to it and in places it is covered in the wood as is the very ordinary. The touch based anyone’s books.
where embedded LEDs indicate palmrest and the trackpad. The keys atop the keypad work
touch buttons just above the rest of the notebook is grey/ well and we like the minimalist msi X400
keypad. The keypad itself is silver and looks quite exclusive styling. The battery indicator is When ignorance is bliss
well laid out with large keys as a result. The keys are spaced located on the front, just below MSI also joins the bandwagon
and although not segregated in out but not segregated, similar the trackpad and its bright of people offering compact
the truest sense the edges of the to the design used on the orange LED is distinctly visible notebooks based on Intel’s U
keys are slightly lower creating previous generation of Dell but not obtrusive. series of Core Solo processors. In
the impression of a gap. The notebooks like the XPS M1330. Performance wise there’s not general the effort
keys are comfortable to type on Keypad feedback and usability much grunt under the hood is proportionate
and feedback is signature Dell – is good and the U6 has a pretty so we didn’t expect much, to the applause
slightly soft and on the mushy responsive trackpad although but this notebook isn’t about and we’re not
side, but key travel is good and its texture is not good as it performance. It’s about style, cheering much.
overall usable. People liking tends to grip your finger pad portability and usability and The X400 is
the firm feedback on the Acer owing to the varnished surface. it meets these parameters in
notebooks will be disappointed The right side of the keypad spades. Quite frankly a price tag
but it’s just a different design feels a little cramped with tiny of Rs. 31,999 is pretty amazing
nothing good or bad about it. Enter and Shift keys. Like the — if you’re looking for value
The trackpad is responsive but Vaio Z48GD the mode switch for money — you’ve got it! Our MSI x400
not as exact as we’d like and its toggles between integrated Intel only grouse is Acer overlooked compact,
small size is no help. In fact the graphics and a GeForce 9300M. an optical drive — a shame but it’s not well
trackpad is a grouse because The U6 Bamboo is priced at because this would be a killer built. The body feels like
after an hour of use one begins Rs. 98,990, and this includes a product with one. Sans that cheap plastic and the notebooks
to miss a USB mouse — a sure two-year, worldwide warranty however, it still manages to bag exterior was a let down. Inside
sign of a less than perfect from ASUS. We reckon this our Best Buy award and we feel the textured palmrest also feels
trackpad. Trackpad buttons is Rs. 15,000 more than we’d it’s well deserved. Should you cheap – really this is unforgivable
are good — mushy with good like for something with this want something good enough and we’re trying to see
key travel and comfortable — a configuration although to for most mundane tasks that something good. The keypad is
relief from clicky-clacky mouse be honest there’s a lot of is also compact buying this is a also tacky, added to this the keys
buttons. uniqueness to the look. no-brainer. The battery life is an aren’t well laid out. Key spacing
In terms of performance amazing 328 minutes. feels slightly off owing to the
the XPS 1340 has got what it acer aspire 3810t large keys and this is not intuitive
takes to trail with the best. The A sweet deal asUs UX30 to most peoples’ fingers, who will
GPU isn’t particularly powerful The 3810T looks decidedly Lots of show, little go be used to closer key alignments.
but it’s more than sufficient upmarket with its slim profile ASUS’ UX30 is their compact, low There’s nothing much to write
for even casual gamers. Priced and brushed aluminium lid. power offering. It’s innards are
at Rs. 59,900 (configuration Since it’s smaller than the similar to the Aspire 3810T. It’s a
dependent of course) the 5810T it looks thicker, but the lot flashier looking however, with
Studio XPS 1340 is a great mix thickness of both notebooks a piano black finish reminiscent
of style and is the same. It feels extremely of some LCD HDTVs. It also
well built in hand and the body borrows the idea of enclosing
is clearly well constructed. connectors with a small slider door
The lid closes with a definitive from the Macbook Air. The lid is
snap. The long power button brushed aluminium and so is the
octoBer 2009
with embedded LED is stylish, palmrest. ASUS chose to use the
ASUS Ux30
so is the silver/grey body. The same trackpads that the K40IJ
keypad is really sweet with and K50IJ use — ugh! The home about here and about all
great spacing, very nice key keypad has good that we can say that the MSI
feedback — ultra usable feedback but X400 is a first effort, and better
and very comfortable, usability is not as things are sure to come out of
the keypad just good owing to a the mistakes made this round. At
feels right. mediocre layout that Rs. 40,000 its one notebook you
The screen doesn’t feel intuitive can easily afford to miss.
Dell Studio xPS 1340 Acer Aspire 3810T
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 79
Microsoft's LifeCam
Cinema is the only
Digital Camera Test Corel's new Digital webcam to offer a
Studio 2010 is touch widescreen 720p HD
input enabled video capture
Shooting
Stars
Rossi Fernandes
rossi.fernandes@thinkdigit.com
A
s competition between companies builds in times like this
where the economy is slow, and demands have already been
met by existing cameras, there’s little left that can grab the
attention of the customer. There’s almost no one who hasn’t
bought a camera. Those who’ve bought point and shoots are looking
at more expensive digital SLRs. What else could point and shoot
cameras offer?
It's getting more and more difficult to We've seen a few instances where manufacturers are already
trying to reduce the megapixel count. Obviously, with fixed
impress customers. It's time to see if sensor sizes, there's little in terms of improvement and the higher-
this latest generation of cameras can... megapixel-is-better-quality myth seems to have burst.
This month, we have cameras that go across categories and this
being the festive season, there's going to be something in here that
fits your budget and your needs.
Imaging: Rohit Chandwaskar
Photography: Manas Parekh
80 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Hitachi reveals high-definition Fujifilm's FinePix Real 3D W1
Digital Camera Test
camcorder that records videos is a dual-lens camera that
in Blu-ray captures footage in 3D
Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
The Canon Powershot SX120 IS is the latest version of the
PowerShot SX series which has been crowned as one of the best
point and shoot ultrazoom cameras around. This SX120 IS is
only a small upgrade over the SX110 IS that had a few issues. It's
predecessor, the SX100 IS was poorly built, that much has been
addressed in the last two models.
A lot of the features from the previous models are present in
this SX120 IS model. If you look at the specifications comparison
between the SX110 IS and the SX120 IS, there's very little that has
changed. For example, this is now a 10MP camera instead of a
9MP one. The amount of digital zoom has been increased but as a
feature it's pretty useless. Build quality is identical. The flash has to
be manually raised unlike some other cameras where the flash pops
out automatically depending on the settings and ambient conditions.
Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
The body is almost totally plastic so even though this might seem
like a prosumer device, it's not. However, it's still better built than
most other cameras. A rubberised handgrip would've been a nice The intensity setting for the flash has also been available on
touch. Canon cameras for awhile now and is useful as it integrates well with
The screen is large, though it's performance is average. It works the rest of the camera settings that are already present and used.
well outdoors but in darker areas, there's a bit of lag. Being a point-
and-shoot camera, there isn't an eyepiece to look through. Canon Digital IXUS 110IS
One of the features many manufacturers are adding to their Canon's Digital IXUS series is designed keeping in mind the kind
cameras is the face recognition. The SX120 uses it a lot. Along with of user. These are more stylish models meant for those who want
the usual timer functions, the SX120 has a face-timer function which a compact camera that is pocketable. The IXUS 110IS is a 12.1 MP
automatically first uses a timer and then clicks a photo when you camera with a 4x optical zoom. The front of the camera is made
point the camera at a face. It's particularly useful for a self portrait. of metal and the finish is satiny — pretty classy stuff. The rest of
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 81
Digital Camera Test Adobe releases Photoshop
Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Nikon's hybrid projector-camera
Raw 5.5 combo starts selling
the camera isn't so special. PowerShot A or SX series of
The 2.8-inch LCD screen is cameras for that. Still, it would
a widescreen because of the be nice to have a few more
dimensions of the camera. metal bits around the controls
The controls at the back of and also a nicer screen. There's
the camera have no icons or also a HDMI connector so you
markings except for the menu can connect your camera to the
and function buttons. TV easily.
One of the killer features of There's one slight problem
this tiny camera is the 720p with the metal body. It
video recording capability. conducts heats so you can
Video quality is rather easily feel the heat around the
impressive even in low-light right side of the camera. This
scenarios — a serious plus gets irritating within minutes
Controls and the mode of using the camera. The Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS
selection is done using a slider other issue we find is with the
on the top of the camera. We position of the flash. There's IS comes in attractive colours. such as the image stabilization
feel the current interface Canon a small slit for the flash and if We received a bright orange features. This is a decent
cameras use is better than you use your left hand fingers model that, to some, looked camera and is probably one
earlier versions. There's a lot to hold the camera as well, it's nice while others found it too of the cheapest options if you
of animations and transition likely that you'll cover the flash. gaudy for a digital camera. want a really compact camera.
effects being used in the The finish on the body isn't as It's sturdy as well but just lacks
interface while moving from Canon Digital IXUS exotic as the IXUS 110 IS. a lot of features.
one menu to another. 95 IS There are a few differences
It's a camera that doesn't The Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS and at first, it seems like the Canon Digital IXUS
have too many advanced has a blockier design than the IXUS 110 IS is overpriced. The 100IS
controls that a serious pricier IXUS 110 IS. The IXUS interface looks a little dated The IXUS 100IS at first use feels
photographer would want. This 95 IS is almost half the price of but the buttons have a nicer and looks like a nicer camera
isn't a camera aimed at such the IXUS 110 IS as mentioned feel than the IXUS 110 IS. The than even the IXUS 110IS. The
users. You're better off with the on Canon's site. The IXUS 95 SX 120 IS is a superior camera body shape is curved on the
in terms of performance edges which gives it a slightly
and features didn't have an more compact look and it feels
eyepiece, which this model better in hand at the same time.
incorporates. The HDMI and USB
The small nifty features connectors aren't on the side
like the face timer are still or the bottom like on many
present on this camera. As a other cameras. Instead, the
point and shoot camera, it's connectors have been put on
very simple to use. It doesn't the back of the camera where
have many of the features that the zoom buttons would
are expected but once again, usually be on some cameras.
the IXUS series of processors The zoom is controlled by the a
follows a different path. Canon trigger-style control. The mode
Canon Digital IXUS 110IS hasn't taken out the essentials selection is done using a slider
HOW WE TESTED
T
he most importance room turned off to ensure maximum zoom is operated. and the set areas in each
was given to the test that only the lights used for The same wideangle test photograph were rated.
scene. A test scene the test setup were utilized. photograph was shot with Other than the test scene,
comprised of several There were two sets of colour the flash on. This was to look the cameras were used
objects of different neutral lights used from either for what adverse effects a under everyday conditions –
colours with lots of detailed side to illuminate the test flash would do. Every camera outdoors and indoors where
designs and patterns on it scene. Colour neutral lights comes with a different type of light wasn’t always constant
were setup on a table. Every emit light without any kind of lens. Some of these are better and bright. While doing
camera was tested mounted tint. This ensured no bias or than the others for different this, all kinds of settings
on a tripod to ensure there mistakes during the evaluation kinds of photography. A good and modes were selected.
was no movement by the phase. Multiple photographs lens on a point-and-shoot Similarly, videos were also
person testing. The cameras were taken using the test should be able to click close- recorded. Some amount of the
were shot using the 'Auto' scene. There were shots up photos of objects, so we test weights were given to the
shooting mode as this is what with the cameras completely used the macro mode to try ease of use and the overall
most users would typically zoomed out and then fully and get as close to the object build quality of the camera.
use. zoomed into the center of as possible and still focus. A The quality of the screen, the
The room was darkened the scene. The quality of video was also shot under this battery doors and buttons all
with the windows blinded the photograph on a bad test scene lighting. All the test matter, so all these were given
and all the tubelights in the lens deteriorates when the shots were closely examined scores as well.
82 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Pentax announces the K-x Samsung releases a 5 MP
Digital Camera Test
prosumer-level dSLR camera system-on-chip image sensor
at approximately Rs. 31,000 for high-end mobiles
Canon Digital IXUS 100IS
Canon PowerShot A1100 IS
mechanism at the back which more compact and better However, occasionally you see to depend on buttons and
is designed rather well. The looking design. The A480 a 'charging the flash' alert when menus to switch to them. The
buttons are top notch quality continues with the design. We the batteries discharge a little. A1100 IS is much simpler in
and it's a really good camera. don’t like the control buttons The top of the camera has that aspect.
In features, the IXUS 110 IS on the back of the camera. space for your finger to rest The A1100 IS comes with
is very similar to the 100IS. The They are simply plastic buttons on the shutter release button. image stabilization and that
only difference between the two etched which gives it a really It makes the camera very is very helpful when you’re
cameras is in the optical zoom cheap look and feel. comfortable to hold on to even taking photos with zoom
lens. The camera uses two AA without a handgrip. or with low-light where the
batteries and the USB data Manual ISO selection is shutter speed has to be slow.
Canon PowerShot connectors lie on the side present. The interface from
A480 behind a rubber door. The older but higher-end Canon Fujifilm Finepix
Canon’s cheapest offerings other thing you notice is the cameras can be seen on the S1500
are the A4xx series and we’ve smaller screen. The resolution A480. Overall, this is a good While all of the photography
tested these cameras in the last doesn’t look like a lot but its camera even though we really world might be focussed on
couple of years and it must be good enough for the casual would like better quality in the Sony, Canon and Panasonic
said — we're impressed. This user. The user interface is build of the camera. for their ultrazoom camera,
line follows the long biscuit- quick to react and there’s not Fujifilm continues to work on
package design for a slightly a lot of waiting between shots. Canon PowerShot their point-and-shoot camera
A1100 IS business. The S1500 is a
The Canon PowerShot 12x optical zoom ultrazoom
A1100IS is a 12.1 MP camera camera.
with a 4x optical zoom. The The interface looks really
AA batteries make the camera outdated and uninspired. It's
a little bulky but at the same nowhere as neat as the Canon
time easier to hold. The and Sony user interfaces.
buttons at the back aren’t Fujifilm also needs to improve
so great in terms of feel and on the processing power
quality. They are bigger than of this camera. It lacks the
some of the other cameras processing power and it shows
we’ve tested. The interface is while viewing one photo after
similar to that on the A480 another. There's a considerable
and both models share quite a processing time even while
few features. The A480 has no deleting. While clicking a
Canon PowerShot A480 mode selection and users have photograph, you will notice a
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 83
Digital Camera Test Aperture Camera facts
The opening that determines the cone A camera is a lightproof box, usually fitted with a
angle and the amount of light that lens that gathers incoming light and concentrates it
enters a camera to be directed towards the film or imaging device
OCTOBER 2009
Digital Cameras Test
Brand Canon Canon Canon Canon Canon Canon Canon
Model Digital IXUS Digital IXUS Digital IXUS PowerShot PowerShot PowerShot PowerShot
100 IS 110 IS 95 IS A1100 IS A480 SX120 IS SX200 IS
Price Rs. 13,995 Rs. 18,995 Rs. 10,995 Rs. 9,995 Rs. 7,995 Rs. 15,995 Rs. 22,995
Overall (Out of 100) 64.98 64.37 60.11 58.54 53.17 60.17 66.49
Features (Out of 40) 29.28 29.42 25.46 24.64 20.02 26.12 30.04
Performance (Out of 60) 35.70 34.95 34.65 33.90 33.15 34.05 36.45
Specifications
Sensor resolution (Megapixels) 12.1 12.1 10 12.1 10 10 12.1
Sensor size (in inches) 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.5 1/2.3
Sensor type CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD
ISO sensor sensitivity range 80 - 1600 80 - 1600 80 - 1600 80 - 1600 80 - 1600 80 - 1600 80 - 1600
Shutter speed range (sec) 15 - 1/1500 15 - 1/1600 15 - 1/1500 15 - 1/1600 15 - 1/2000 15 - 1/2500 15 - 1/3200
Burst speed 0.8 fps 0.8 fps 1.4 fps 1.1 fps 0.8 fps 1.3 fps 0.8 fps
Aperture size range (F number) 3.2 - 5.8 2.8 - 5.8 2.8 - 4.9 2.7 - 5.6 3 - 5.8 2.8 - 4.3 3.4 - 5.3
Lens optical zoom 3x 4x 3x 4x 3.3x 10x 12x
Lens (mm) 5.9 – 17.9 mm 5.0 - 20.0 mm 6.2 - 18.6 mm 6.2 – 24.8 mm 6.6 - 21.6 mm 6.0 - 60.0 mm 5.0 - 60.0 mm
Image stabilization Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
HDMI Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Face detection Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Best video resolution 1280 x 720 1280 x 720 640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 1280 x 720
Frame rate 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
Display
LCD size (in inches) 2.5 2.8 2.5 2.5 2.5 3.0 3.0
LCD Resolution (pixels) 2,30,000 2,30,000 2,30,000 1,15,000 1,15,000 2,30,000 2,30,000
Battery Type Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion 2x AA 2x AA 2x AA Li-ion
Memory cards supported SD, SDHC, MMC SD, SDHC, MMC SD, SDHC, MMC SD, SDHC, MMC SD, SDHC, MMC SD, SDHC, MMC SD, SDHC, MMC
Dimensions (in mm) 87.0 x 54.5 x 97.9 x 54.1 x 88.5 x 54.8 x 95.4 x 62.4 x 92.1x 62.0 x 110.6 x 70.4 x 103.0 x 60.5 x 37.6
18.4 22.1 21.8 31.0 31.1 44.7
Weight (in grams) 115 145 120 155 140 245 220
Design and quality (Out of 10)
Ease of use 5.5 6.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 6.5 6.5
Button quality 7 5 7 4.5 3.5 5 5
Screen quality 5 5 5 5 5 5.5 5.5
Flash/lens covers 5.5 5.5 5 5.5 5.5 5.5 6
Quality of body 7.5 6.5 7 6 5.5 6 7
Battery door quality 6.5 6 6 6.5 6.5 6 7
Performance (Out of 10)
Light scene (Wideangle) 5.63 5.38 6.13 6.13 5.88 5.75 5.75
Light scene (Telephoto) 5.5 5.5 5.25 5.25 5 6 5.75
Macro scene 5.75 5.75 5.75 5.5 5.75 6 6.25
Light scene (Wideangle) 7 7 5.5 5 5 5 7
84 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
USB 3.0 camera Picasa now face friendly Digital Camera Test
The first the world has seen, Version 3.5 will feature face recognition
unveiled by Point Grey can belt not only on web albums, but also on photos
out video in 1080p at 60 fps! stored on a hard drive
OCTOBER 2009
Fujifilm Fujifilm Fujifilm Fujifilm Nikon Nikon Nikon Samsung
Finepix A170 FinePix F200EXR FinePix J27 Finepix S1500 Coolpix L20 Coolpix P90 Coolpix S220 ES55
Rs. 6,999 Rs. 20,999 Rs. 7,999 Rs. 14,999 Rs. 7,950 Rs. 25,950 Rs. 8,950 Rs. 8,990
54.83 55.87 54.29 55.71 53.90 59.36 53.33 60.92
24.68 26.32 24.74 25.71 22.40 27.86 24.98 25.22
30.15 29.55 29.55 30.00 31.50 31.5 28.35 35.7
10.2 12 10.2 10 10 12.1 10.3 10.2
1/2.3 1/1.6 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3 1/2.3
CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD CCD
100 - 1600 100 - 3200 100 - 3200 64 - 1600 64 - 1600 64 - 1600 80 - 2000 80 - 1600
8 - 1/1400 8 - 1/1500 8 - 1/1400 8 - 1/2000 N/A N/A N/A 4 - 1/1500
1.4 fps 1.4 fps 1.4 fps 1.4 fps NA NA NA 1.8 fps
2.9 - 10 3.3 - 14 2.9 - 16 2.8 - 6.4 3.1 - 6.7 2.8 - 5 3.1 - 5.9 3.2 - 5.8
3x 5x 3x 12x 3.6x 24x 3x 3x
5.7 – 17.1 mm 28 – 140mm 5.7 – 17.1 mm 5.9 - 70.8mm 38 – 136 mm N/A 26 – 624 mm 35-105 mm
Yes Yes Yes NA No Yes Yes Yes
No No No No No No No No
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 640 x 480 640x480
30 30 30 30 N/A N/A N/A 30
2.7 3.0 2.7 2.7 3 3 2.5 2.5
2,30,000 2,30,000 2,30,000 2,30,000 2,30,000 2,30,000 1,50,000 2,30,000
2x AA Li-ion Li-ion 4x AA 2x AA Li-ion Li-ion Li-ion
SD/SDHC SD/SDHC SD/SDHC SD/SDHC SD SD/SDHC SD SD/SDHC
93.0 x 60.0 x 21.9 97.7 x 58.9 x 23.4 92.0 x 55.9 x 20.0 102.5 x 73.0 x 67.8 96.5 x 61 x 29 114 x 83 x 99 89.5 x 55.5 x 18 90.4 x 59.0 x 21.6
120 175 113 324 135 460 100 116
5 5 5 5 5 5 5.5 6
4.5 5 4.5 6.5 5.5 5.5 6 4
5.5 5.5 5.5 6 5.5 7 5 7
5.5 4 5.5 6 5 5.5 5 6
6 7 6 8 6 6.5 7.5 6.5
5.5 5.5 5 7 7 8 5.5 6
5.25 4.5 5.25 5 5.38 5.25 4.88 6.38
4.5 6 4.25 5 5.25 5.5 4.25 5.75
5 5.25 5.5 5.5 5.75 5.5 4.75 5.25
5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 5 5 6
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 85
Digital Camera Test Samsung's HZ25W ultra Samsung's newly announced L77 claims
zoom camera includes a to be the world's thinnest camera with
24x optical zoom lens a 7-MP sensor and 7x zoom
considerably large delay there The panorama feature is a
as well. Surprisingly, the startup neat feature that works well. It's
waiting time is almost non- simple to use but the processing
existent. time is quite a bit. A good feature
The LCD display's quality of Fujifilm cameras is the ability
isn't so great either. The to zoom in and out of images
eyepiece which also is a display smoothly whereas many other
in almost all camera is really cameras have intermediate steps
laggy with poor refresh rates. in between.
Quality also is bad. The image
stabilisation isn't very effective. Fujifilm Finepix J27
With the lens zoomed in, The Fujifilm Finepix J27 is a
there's still a lot of movement compact little point and shoot
and it seems the camera camera that looks like it was
corrects at the last moment made to fit into pockets. The Fujifilm Finepix A170
when you press down the click. size means that there's only
Coming back to the interface space for a miniature 3x optical friendly like on a Sony or a other Fujifilm cameras. The
and the usability, the menus zoom to fit into the camera. The Canon camera. The panorama buttons are tiny and the zoom
although not pretty, controls feature exists in this particular is controlled by buttons instead
could have been camera as well. of a trigger-like control. The
designed a little The tiny USB problem is that holding the
better. For example, connector is left open camera is a little more difficult
the ISO settings without any protection with the zoom at the back. The
aren't available in lid or flap. Over time, camera has a glossy finish but
the main menu this might get clogged that doesn't help because the
but accessible with dust. There are very shape of the body itself is very
using a few buttons at the back plain and simple.
separate of the camera. All the The interface is also dull
button. options and shooting and boring. All the shooting
This button modes can be selected by modes have to be accessed
also allows going to the main menu. using the buttons instead of a
you to change The buttons are tiny dial that could've been easily be
the resolution and in comparison to other designed on top of the camera.
Fujifilm Finepix J27
image quality settings. The cameras and feel cheap. The USB connector is placed on
ISO settings should have been buttons on the back and There are small display LEDs the side of the camera and has
present in the main interface the body itself are made of at the back of the camera that no protection flap to stop dirt
along with the shutter speed plastic. It has a really smooth show the status. from getting into the connector.
and aperture size settings. The finish which isn't always a nice The flash is located near the Macro performance isn't
lack of the jog dial means you're thing, as it makes the camera centre of the camera so there's impressive either and focussing
forced to press many more slightly slippery to hold. little chance that your finger takes a long time as well.
buttons and browse through The screen is extremely will cover the flash. This is a
many more menus for simple laggy with or without enough problem faced with many ultra- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-
tasks. On the other hand, it light for the camera to focus compact cameras. HX1
has control buttons which are on. The interface is a little more Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 is
wasted. There are two buttons attractive than the S1500 which Fujifilm Finepix A170 an ultrazoom camera. The HX1
for the face detection and image we found rather appalling. Still, Fujifilm Finepix A170 is a comes with a phenomenal 20x
stabilization options which in there's a long way to go before plastic body camera with optical zoom — a godsend for
our opinion aren't absolutely the interface becomes more controls very much like the those who need a long zoom.
necessary as dedicated buttons.
In terms of the build quality,
it's actually quite good. The
buttons at the back might be
of average quality but the dial
for the mode selection is nice
and feels like one on a dSLR.
The body and the handgrip
has the rough textured feel like
SLR cameras. There's a sturdy
little slider for the power on
switch and the zoom trigger
also is designed and built well.
The camera is really tiny but
it weighs quite a bit with the
four tightly fitting AA batteries.
A slightly larger camera would
feel comfortable in-hand.
86 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
Sandisk Extreme Pro Digital Camera Test
Sandisk's new Extreme Pro CF Sony HDR-TG1
cards store up to 64 GB of data Sony's HDR-TG1 is the world's smallest full
and write at a speed of 90 MBps HD camcorder
Typically, people who want to The Sony DSC-HX1 is priced The side door is huge over-user-friendliness seen on
do wildlife photography. Built at Rs. 29,990 and because, it and has the USB and HDMI cameras of some other brands.
rather well, use of metal zoom had to be sent back urgently to connectors there. The door The zoom trigger brings up
trigger would be nice. Sony, it couldn't be part of the itself is held together by a a help menu when you use it
It has inherited most of the complete test process. frail and flexible plastic hinge. in any of the camera settings
features from the standard H One of the unique and also menus. Lithium-ion batteries
series from Sony. The camera has Canon PowerShot somewhat irritating features is are used so most of the weight
a hinge screen that works well SX200 IS the flash unit which pops out is the camera itself. The jogdial
but only for vertical movement. Canon's PowerShot SX1xx IS the same time the lens does. It is built well just like on Nikon’s
There is no swivel to fold the cameras impressed everyone sticks out the top of the camera dSLR cameras. It isn’t used to
screen back on its face. and we've also looked at the by a folding hinge mechanism control the manual focussing
The recording supports SX120 IS in this test. The and does come in the way while though.
stereo audio recording and the camera is pretty good with just holding the camera with your One of the unique features
microphone is placed on the a few tiny improvements over left hand. There is no way to we’ve seen is the ISO sensitivity
top of the camera. The jog dial the last two models. The SX200 fold the flash unit back in other range which can be capped.
is a feature found on dSLRs IS is a better design than the than to turn off the camera. The camera then will not cross
but its also found on SX120 and features a 12x One of the sides has a chrome- that limit so you never end
ultrazoom cameras. optical zoom — pretty neat finish and that goes well with up with very grainy images.
It can be used for for it's size. the colour and shape of the Video recording resolution is
manual control as OCTOBER 2009
camera. rather basic on the P90 whereas
well. The jog dial most of the ultrazoom cameras
also doubles as a Nikon COOLPIX are aiming at the basic HD
button. All these P90 standard — 720p.
functions bundled The Nikon There are some modes
together for use COOLPIX P90 is a where custom user settings can
with these controls prosumer camera be stored. There are also modes
make it simpler or alternatively can which change the aspect ratio
even in the also be called an of the image to fit TV screens.
manual shooting ultrazoom camera. Operation of the huge
mode. The P90 has the zoom is silent although there
The 20x optical largest zoom is some fine vibration. Image
zoom requires a we’ve seen so stabilization at maximum
very good image far — 24X optical zoom isn’t too bad either. It’s
stabilizing feature zoom (4.0 – very usable but a better quality
and the DSC HX1 Canon PowerShot SX200 IS
110.4mm). Like the lens would’ve really made this
does a decent job. It works Fujifilm Finepix S1500, shine. At maximum zoom,
particularly well up to 8x to One end of the body has a this too has a good handgrip. there’s some quality loss.
10x but any more than that slight curve, this is where you The buttons are all of very good There’s a little bit of yellow
and there's a lot of delay added grip the camera and gives the quality. colouration on the screen after
which makes even pointing to a mock impression of a wider The screen hinge design is the photo has been captured.
distant object a little difficult. grip. It also feels bulkier for very similar to the Sony DSC- On a computer screen though,
Sony includes a couple some reason and sturdier than HX1 and only allows vertical the result looks natural. The
of unique features that merit the SX120. The control dial at movement. The user interface colours are sober and there is
mention. For example, the the back could've been built looks very similar to the ones no overemphasis of colours.
smile and face detection feature better. The other buttons have a found on Nikon dSLRs. It is There’s little to hate about
can shoot photos depending good tactile feel. very functional and lacks the the Nikon P90. It’s a great
on the intensity of the smile. overall camera that now
There's actually a manual moves Nikon closer to the
setting you can turn on for that. ultrazoom camera market at
The other impressive feature least in India. So far, it’s been
is the video recording resolution Canon and Sony that have
of 1440 x 1080 pixels. Video mostly dominated this area.
quality is decent but not very A little more of quality and
nice in low-light. Other than performance and this camera
that, the Sony proprietary could’ve been a winner.
connector to the camera is
something that's very irritating. Nikon COOLPIX
A microUSB interface would've S220
been convenient. An adapter The Nikon P90 might
is provided to allow HDMI have one of the largest
connectivity. Sony continues optical zooms but
to use MemoryStick as the the S220 is one of the
storage format. They're a little smallest cameras around.
more expensive than the more It comes in really bright
commonly used SD and SDHC colours — we got a dark pink
cards. Nikon COOLPIX P90
one. It only has 3x optical
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 87
Digital Camera Test Sony's limited edition digital The US Army is now soliciting proposals
photo frame is made with for a 2.3-GP camera that would be used for
Swarovski Elements wide aerial surveillance
zoom but a huge 10 MP The camera is pretty fast in
resolution. its interface but not as much
The screen isn’t very while shooting.
impressive because of its
poor viewing angles. Visuals Fujifilm FINEPIX
immediately turn when you F200EXR
move the camera from side to The Fujifilm FINEPIX
side. The buttons have been F200EXR is a much better
shrunk as well which is fine. camera in hand than some
There is little space aside of the other cheaper models.
from the screen that takes up It’s built well and is a heavy
most of the area at the back. camera for its size. The
Using and holding the camera control buttons are a little tiny
while shooting is difficult but and a little too flat.
carrying is really easy as it fits The 5x zoom lens in such
Nikon COOLPIX S220
into any space that can hold a compact design makes
a mobile phone. It’s the same good sense for everyone. It’s
case while going through the a big step up from the 3x
menus. It’s easy to press the optical zooms on many entry
adjoining buttons. Because of level compact cameras. The
the space constraints, the USB extended lens is twice the
port has been moved to the thickness of the camera.
bottom of the camera which Although the performance
also means that if you were to and feel of this camera is
use the camera on a tripod, better than the others, the
you have to remove it every interface still has the same
single time to transfer data to old look that we don’t like so
the PC. much and it’s also pretty slow;
The battery door is a little with as much as a two to four
delicate and the battery size second delay between clicking
has been shrunk down as and previewing.
well. It’s a 740mAh battery. There are some more
Nikon hasn’t had enough unqiue features — there’s one
Nikon COOLPIX L20
space to place a mode where the camera takes two
selection dial so all the menus rest of the camera should’ve previewed an image. Most photographs — one with the
and options have been put received a similar upgrade. cameras get you back to the flash and one without the
into a single shooting button The directional buttons and shooting mode when you press flash. This is great for where
on the camera. The menus especially the zoom controls down on the shutter button. you want a guaranteed good
from there on are like on a have a bad feel to them.
mobile phone. The back of the camera
The user interface is a has a slight depression to rest
slightly more user friendly your finger right below the
version of the one in Nikon lens operation button.
dSLRs. Controls on the camera are
really basic with absolutely
Nikon COOLPIX L20 no control over the aperture
Nikon’s L series of cameras size and shutter speed. The
are an entry-level range but interface and mode selection
the latest L20 model seems is almost identical to the S220
to have got a major facelift. model. There is no mode
The details of the design are selection knob on the camera.
similar to the L18 and L19 but One of the most annoying
the slick and glossy paintjob things is that you have to press
has done wonders. The the Scene button after you’ve
Fujifilm FINEPIX F200EXR
Contact Sheet
Brand Contact Phone Email Web site
Canon Canon India Private Limited 1-800-180-33-66 info@canon.co.in www.canon.co.in
Nikon Nikon India Private Limited +91-124-468 8500 NA www.nikon.co.in
Samsung Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd +91-11-4151 1234 zeon.kim@samsung.com www.samsung.com/in/
Fujifilm Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd +91-124-432 5500 contact@fujifilmindia.com www.fujifilm.in
Sony Sony India 1-800-11-11-88 sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com www.sonystyle.com
88 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Lucid's HYDRA 200 is a chip that Vue's surveillance system
Digital Camera Test
lets any motherboard use ATi and comes with two wireless
NVIDIA GPUs together cameras and a base station
photograph in low-light even more apparent. It’s one The Roundup of specifications, it's got a
scenarios. The ability to set of the most comprehensive We're impressed by the cameras very high-resolution sensor,
the aperture size and shutter user interfaces of all the that we received. To start with, a brilliant zoom lens and a
speed is welcomed but there’s cameras we've seen. Every the Samsung ES55 although very well designed body and
very limited control over it. menu and setting has a a cheap camera at just Rs. controls. Even though this
The USB connector isn’t the description at the bottom of 8,990, it performs rather well is just a digital camera, the
typical microUSB and the cable the screen. throughout the test. Even in last ability to record videos at 1280
supplied with it allows you to Controls like these might year's test, we had a Samsung x 720 is a really nice thing to
connect it to a USB port on the impress those who are used with a really good lens. The have. If the SX200 IS is out of
desktop or also to a TV using to computers and gadgets your budget, the SX120
composite connects. in general with lots of should be the next in
complicated menus. Anyone your list. It has a slightly
Samsung ES55 buying a camera for the first cheaper feel but it still
The Samsung ES55 is a time might not really like has a 10x zoom and all
compact point and shoot with this overwhelming number the manual controls that
a nice brushed metal finish at of settings. photographers crave for.
the front but somewhat dull at The preview and Another well
the back. The controls buttons zooming function performing camera was
aren’t of the same quality as allows instant cropping the Canon Digital IXUS
the front. The OK button is so and trimming of the 100 IS. Although a little
tiny that you have to use your photographs which is a neat older than the IXUS 110
fingernails at times to press it. little feature that can be found ES55 also matches that kind of IS, it is a very good performer
The screen bulges out of the on some other cameras as well. performance for a fraction of for a really compact camera.
body otherwise it would’ve The camera also has a the price. While all the cameras It's not as pretty as the Canon
been a much more compact Photo Help guide feature capture great detail on the Digital IXUS 110 IS but if you
camera. which teaches users how to wideangle range of the zoom, want pretty, the IXUS 110 IS is
The user interface has a use the camera and its features. the Samsung ES55 does well your next best option. It's only
very high resolution and the A simple listing of tasks is even with the zoom lens fully a tiny bit lower in performance
fonts and menus are very available with the steps to utilised. The great thing is that than the IXUS 100 IS.
impressive. When do the task. These tasks it's also a compact camera, has The Fujifilm FinePix S1500,
you go into the can also be used as a a great looking interface. We the Nikon COOLPIX P90 and
mode selection and tutorial with step-by-step give it the Best Buy award for the Sony DSC-HX1 were the
camera settings, it’s instructions. these very reasons. full-fledged ultrazooms that we
Canon has dominated got. We like the Sony DSC-
OCTOBER 2009
most of the point-and-shoot HX1 but looking at the shots
cameras tests in the past. This that we were able to take, it's
time as well, the winner is a nothing really special in terms
Canon. The Canon PowerShot of quality. It feels and functions
SX200 IS is one of the costliest like the other Sony cameras
cameras of the lot. It's not a that we've tested in the past
full-fledged ultrazoom camera including some of the older
either. It performs exceptionally H series ultrazoom cameras.
well in both the features and The Nikon COOLPIX P90 had
in the performance tests. The a nice set of features as well
camera shines in all the photo but no HD video recording
and video tests. If we were functionality. If you want a
to rate the cameras on just really huge zoom lens, then
quality, the SX200 IS would the Nikon COOLPIX P90 is for
Samsung ES55 still be the winner. In terms you.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 89
Motherboard test Give your feedback at
www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09
Return To The New processors mean
new chipsets and this
Mothership
in turn means new
motherboards. Here is
a look at the latest and
the greatest
Rossi Fernandes into one gigantic test.
rossi.fernandes@thinkdigit.com We split the boards into
a number of intelligent
M
categories. A category each for
otherboards are Intel and AMD was obviously
the building the first step. Next we
blocks of any segregated the motherboards
system. And there into two subcategories —
is choice aplenty for someone integrated graphics and
looking at buying one. LGA discrete graphics. And this is
775-based motherboards where we made a noteworthy
are still around in numbers
alongside newer Core i7 boards
and AMDs new AM3 socket-
based boards have also joined
the fray.
We received an
overwhelming number of
motherboards although a few
brands like EVGA and Palit
were missed. This time round,
we piled all the motherboards
Photography: Manas Parekh
Imaging: Chaitanya Surpur
90 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
DDR3 for Core i5 AMD shows off DX11
Motherboard test
Kingston starts shipping DDR3 kits AMD demonstrates DirectX 11 hardware
for Core i5 processors running six LCD screens at once
discovery. In general most Green power menu that allows board which is inconvenient. The larger board means that
integrated graphics boards more efficient use of power The PCIe x1 slot is right next there is more space between the
are based on entry-level using the CPU phase control. to the first PCIe x16 slot, so PCIe x16 slots, but not enough
chipsets. However, AMDs There’s also a neat little reading no chance of setting up sound to plug in a second card in the
latest 790GX/FX chipsets that displays power efficiency. cards there. You’ll have to use adjoining slot. The first x1 slot
are high-end offerings but BIOS updating is also simple one of the other two PCIe slots. lies right under the first x16
they also retain an integrated using a flash drive. Just going Two PCI slots seem like overkill slot. The second x1 lies above
graphics solution. Therefore by features and how well it’s for a board of this generation. the x16 slot. Longer sound
we put these boards into the designed, it’s a pretty complete One of the smaller complaints cards might still have some
high-end segment, where they a motherboard that’s not overly is the XFX site design and problem fitting in there because
were tested with a discrete expensive at Rs. 10,500. getting BIOS updates can be a of the high heat sink that lies
graphics card. Core i7 boards XFX and ZOTAC, both little annoying. very close in the way.
were tested seperately, for their ZOTAC’s X58, is, in For those overclockers or
performance is incomparable to comparison to the others, those who might run open rigs,
other platforms — obviously on not as impressive. One there are dedicated buttons for
account of the faster processors problem is the lack of basic power, reset and also clearing
they support. necessary overclocking and the CMOS. Right next to it are
memory tweaking options. the DIP switches that allow
Intel Core i7 One of the biggest flaws quick switching and overriding
motherboards was the lack of the memory of the base clock speed. The
Core i7-based motherboards timing settings. If you have BIOS is also quite elaborate and
XFX X58i
haven’t been affordable and the low-latency, fast memory will be good enough for anyone
cost of the board along with NVIDIA only vendors prior to you'll be sorely disappointed. planning on overclocking with
the price of DDR3 memory this have built boards based on There is no manual option cooling of the board itself the
has put many upgraders off. the X58 chipset. XFX calls its for preventing CPU throttling only thing to worry about.
Prices have fallen, and there are board the XFX X58i. The board down due to power saving BioStar's TPower X58 was
many options available as you is designed and built really well. features like next. There are LEDs for each
are about to see; although they Features and BIOS layout EIST and of the 6 SATA ports on the
are all based on a single Intel are good. In terms of board stepping side. Next to those slots is the
X58 chipset. These boards do layout, it’s similar to the MSI options — all poster and the lit power and
not have a memory controller, X58M board with a similar level these are absent reset buttons. Cooling is taken
since the Core i7 processor now of overclocking features and in the BIOS. OCTOBER 2009 care of by a combination of
integrates the controller on its thought put into heatsinks and heatpipes. The
die. it. It’s a full ATX overclocking menus are well
board and has a sorted out and the increments
Board design and cleanly routed set of for voltages are small and
features heat pipes running good enough for anyone who
While the X58 boards are from one end of might want to overclock this
all extremely high-end and the board to the board.
extremely costly, there’s other. Temperatures Gigabyte’s EX58-UD3R
a trend to be followed — are lower than the is an ATX form factor board
something every motherboard MSI board. There with only four memory slots.
manufacturer follows. The is plenty of space This is a rarity as most boards
mATX form factor means between PCI slots Biostar Tpower X58 have six. Like many other
slightly less expensive and PCIe slots boards, the adjoining slot to
motherboards and it’s which mean you won’t have The benchmarks especially the the first x16 slot and in this
something that will also find any troubles with plugging memory intensive ones suffered case the PCIe x4 slot will be
its way into compact PCs and in sound cards with a large the most. The cooling solution covered by the graphics card.
maybe even high-performance graphics card coming in the used is extremely basic, but There are two x1 slots above
HTPC systems. MSI’s X58M is way. doesn’t get very hot with an the first x16 slots, one of which
one of the few mATX format There is an LED poster air-conditioning unit running. is blocked by the gigantic
motherboards we tested. and dedicated power switches In general, it feels very cheap. northbridge heatsink. The
The BIOS on on the board. For example, the Northbridge second slot is unobstructed.
the X58M is If you want to know Although a great heatsinks shift a bit if you The cooling solution is similar
thorough with exactly what processor board, XFX touch it. Not all is bad though
MSI’s distinctive is best for your has persisted — the board is lined with
overclocking with the ageing solid capacitors along vital
utility called
needs, check out the ALC888 sound region. Additionally, in all
the Cell menu. September issue for solution — a pity. fairness it is one of the
It allows a detailed processor SATA ports are less expensive X58
for accurate comparison test. When placed along the boards around.
overclocking you’re done with that, side like many MSI had
and overvolting. other boards, another board on
Another
you will know which but slightly this platform, the
interesting motherboard category away from the X58 Pro. Unlike the X58M,
menu is the you should look for edge of the the X58 Pro is an ATX board. DFI UT X58 Lanparty
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 91
Motherboard test Next Windows Mobile 802.11n finally approved
1,000 developers are already working WiFi 802.11n gets approval – manufacturers
on the Windows Mobile 7 hint at 600 Mbps speeds
to the ones found in other DX58S0 comes with nothing SCSI over Serial ATA and are
premium Gigabyte boards with special to interest buyers. This meant for extreme performance
the bright blue panel covering is one of the motherboard drives. There’s plenty of space
the heatsinks. The BIOS packages to come between the first two PCIe
has overclocking options with a free game; in x16 slots and there are two
aplenty. this case, Ghost Recon PCI slots in between. The
On the more expensive Advanced Warrior. The Express Gate module is also
and extreme-enthusiast Northbridge heat sink is conveniently placed in between
boards, the Gigabyte EX58- cooled by a flimsy light-weight the PCI slots. The board comes
Extreme, cooling is taken care heat sink. The quick guide with a nifty little overclocking
of by a similar system used manual says that attaching device called the OC palm. It
in the vanilla EX58-UD3R Gigabyte EX58-UD3R the bundled fan is optional. connects to the system allowing
board. This has the option to We think it’s a must as this users to overclock and monitor
add even more heat pipes and onboard the motherboard and heat sink gets hot quickly and all kinds of activity on the
heatsinks — but this seems not one that fits into a PCIe we’ve seen blue screens in the board and off it.
overkill. There are two heat slot like some of the other past while trying to run the The DFI LANPARTY UT
pipes running between the motherboards from ASUS. board without the fan attached X58-T3eH8 has a very nice
Northbridge and the MOSFET The Clear CMOS button is though things cool down a lot bundle. While all the other
cooling heatsinks on the side. conveniently placed at the with the fan. The Southbridge enthusiast boards try to be
The board has a mix of solid back of the board and can is stable and under control at serious, this one tries to put on
block heatsinks as well as fine be accessed from the rear of all times. The board only has a party hat image with its bright
fins. The Northbridge is also the cabinet. There are a host solid state capacitors around coloured slots and fluorescent
connected to a huge flat heat of other features like support the CPU region. There are small rounded cables. A large portion
sink for the Southbridge. The CPU coolers less gap between heatsinks for the MOSTETs. of the motherboard is covered
heat distribution over the board the retention pins than regular Like many of Intel’s boards, this with heatsinks and heat fins
is effective. one too lacks a PS2 port even surrounding the heat pipes.
One of the problems is for the keyboard. The board There’s an additional heat sink
with the placement of the is ideal for SLI and Crossfire supplied with the board if you
standard PCI slots. There because of the ample space want to attach it to the board or
is one after the first two between the two PCIe slots. The to the Northbridge heat sink.
PCIe x16 slots. The PCI BIOS is basic in comparison A separate Realtek 885 audio
slots are typically higher to all the other boards in its controller module is supplied
than the PCIe slots, so category. The SATA ports on that has to be connected to
cards with an open cooling the board point upwards which the motherboard using a
with a exposed fan such could come in the way of some supplied cable without using
as the one we were using cards. Intel has tried to space any PCIe slots. There is no
touch the PCI slot. Unlike them out though. dedicated button to clear the
the basic X58 board from The ASUS P6T Deluxe is CMOS. Instead, a combination
MSI X58 PRO another quality board. The of presses with the power
Gigabyte, there’s a neat
little power button with the LGA1366 and the absence quality of the processor bracket and reset button is to be used
clear CMOS placed right away of retention brackets on one and the back plate behind the besides the usual jumpers.
at the top-end of the board. side of the DIMM slots. The board are of the highest quality. Overclocking feature are
Most of the overclocking ASUS Rampage II Extreme The board is heavy with a thick plentiful and to extreme detail.
features are identical to the is a gigantic looking board. copper pipe running between a The layout of the board might
standard board though. There’s Everything has the look of sequence of heatsinks from the seem a little crowded towards
also a LED poster display on extreme quality to it. There MOSFETs to the Northbridge the upper region near the
this one. are terminals for those who and ending at the Southbridge. expansion ports, but other than
The ASUS Rampage II Gene want to use a multimeter to Cooling is very good. There are that it’s well spaced out.
is the smaller version of the check voltages on the board. 8 SATA ports
Rampage II Extreme board for Power buttons like the ones on out of which two Performance
Intel’s Nehalem CPUs. There the Rampage II Gene are also are SAS ports. The ASUS Rampage II Gene
are basic heatsinks connected positioned there. The heat sink SAS ports are gave us a well balanced score
using anodized pipes. On has a light on OCTOBER 2009 list with all and scored the
load, they do heat up quite a top of it which number one slot under plain
lot. This board belongs to the gives the board performance score list. The
Republic of Gamers family and a very nice look. larger and full ATX version
so it comes with the classy The power of the Rampage II Gene, the
Start and Reset buttons. There sockets for the Rampage II Extreme performed
is also the LCD poster which optional fans similarly in all the tests except
gives the user updates on the are put together in the file transfer tests. The
temperatures, voltages and at one point so exciting DFI Lanparty X58
errors if any. Although this you don’t have board takes the second place.
is an mATX board, there is cables lying all We noticed that the CPU
enough space between the two over the place. performance test in Crysis
PCIe x16 slots. The audio is Intel’s stock fluctuated a bit across boards
powered by a SupremeFX chip X58 board, the ASUS Rampage II Extreme while the graphics benchmark
92 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Facebook Lite DirectX 11 for laptops
Motherboard test
Facebook launches optimised version of Mobile version of AMD’s DirectX 11 chipsets
its well known social networking site rumoured to be out this November
stayed pretty much the same. The Gigabyte EP43T-UD3L cooling if you plan on buying There are no optical or SPDIF
While looking at the scores based on the slightly inferior a water cooling kit. There is a connectors at the back either.
between a Core 2 QX9650 and P43 chipset supports DDR3 transparent panel covering the BioStar's TPower I45 board
the Core i7 975 processor for a RAM. Like the EP45-UD3R, top with provision comes with an add-on
moment, we see an especially this one too lacks a x4 slot. X1 for water inlet and heatsink and fan that
large improvement in the CPU slots on the other hand are in outlet. The board can be mounted on one
intensive benchmarks such as abundance and there are also runs perfectly cool of the heatsinks on this
the DivX file conversion test two PCI slots. The x1 slots can with just the passive board. The first slot has
and Cinebench. accommodate sound cards or cooling solution OCTOBER 2009
any other similar cards as long though. This one
Intel Core 2 Boards as they don’t aling with the also happens to be
(Discrete Graphics) RAM slots. one of the brightest
The Intel LGA775 legacy There are two isolated boards with loads
finally comes to an end. In a heatsinks for the Northbridge of multicoloured
year’s time, there’s no telling if and the Soutbridge without bright LEDs. There
we’ll still see as many LGA775 any interconnecting heat pipes. aren’t any issues or
boards as we do now. The Core They do a decent job of keeping complaints about
i5 is finally coming in to replace things under control. The good the board but the
the Core 2 line of processors. thing about this setup is also problem is that there Biostar TPower I45
that the area around the CPU isn’t anything special
Design and features is kept clear so attaching huge with it either. a long queue of jumpers right
The Gigabyte EP45-UD3R heatsinks and fans is simple. MSI P45 Neo2 is based on under the first PCIe x16 slot
is one of the high-end P45 The MSI P45 Diamond is the P45 chipset as well but which like some of the Gigabyte
boards in the market. Gigabyte another DDR3 motherboard is a slightly less expensive boards can block a fan on an
has made a name for itself for the enthusiast. The size board. The cooling is done by open card design. The jumpers
especially for its P45 boards. of the box gives that away. two blocks of heatsinks one are meant for configuring the
The cooling solution is one Although, it’s a high-end board, for the Northbridge and the PCIe slots. Biostar has got a
of the newer styles used by it doesn’t match up to the style other for the Southbridge, both good design with this board
Gigabyte with the blue badge and design of the ASUS ROG connected by a heat pipe. There and a lot of it has been laid
heatsinks and anodized heat series as such. For example, the are two PCIe x1 slots adjacent out rather well. Installing our
pipes connecting them together. power, reset and CMOS clear to the first PCIe x16 slot out of huge Cooler Master TX2 cooler
This board only has one buttons look really cheap and which one will get obstructd by was hassle free. The processor
PCIe x16 slot so this isn’t for bigger, better designed buttons a single slot graphics card. socket is placed on the extreme
anyone looking for a CrossFire would’ve been a nice thing to The space around the top end of the board and the
solution. There are 3 PCI slots have when you pay so much for processor is relatively clear heatsinks surround the area
and one PCIe x1 slot under the a board like this. The primary without any heat pipes or have been cut low.
x16 slot. Two of the other x1 heat sink supports water heatsinks in that region The ASUS Maximus II
slots are placed above. There is Gene is very much like
no x4 slot, so no x4 cards can the Rampage II Gene
be put on this board. One of except that the Maximus
the x1 slots almost touches the is based on the P45. The
heat sink and the other can be Southbridge heat sink
used as long as the cards aren’t is slightly banked so it
long and touching the RAM doesn’t come in the way
modules. The SATA ports point of the graphics card.
upwards and are placed out The memory slots have
of the path of a PCIe graphics a one-sided clip. This
card. There are no fancy power is another board from
buttons or LED displays on the RoG (Republic of
this motherboard. MSI P45 Diamond Gamers) range from ASUS.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 93
Motherboard test L4D2 Intel CULV
Left 4 Dead 2 game gets ASUS joins the Intel CULV processor
banned in Australia bandwagon for its notebooks
Installing the heat sink isn’t so on some of the other boards The Northbridge heat sink is lot different from the other
much of an issue, but the board in this test. Other than the pretty large with large fins and NVIDIA based boards we’ve
flexes sharply where the heat below-par processor mounting removing heatsinks can be a seen. This ROG-series board
sink is fitted. The capacitors mechanism, it’s a decent board problem but obviously this isn’t has a good SupremeFX II add-
and MOSFETs are placed along with all the features including a major issue. on module which comes with
one side of the processor while RAID using a JMicron chip. XFX’s nForce 790i Ultra a shield to reduce any kind of
the other side is left relatively While all seems great with board uses the standard interference that an on-board
free and open. The only PCIe this board, once again, we’re NVIDIA reference design. The audio chip would pickup. The
x1 slot on this board will be surprised to see a LPT and 790 chipset gets very hot and quality of the board might not
covered if the graphics card is COMM port at the back. The especially so the Northbridge. be anything spectacular as
put on the first slot. The second only PCIe x1 slot lie right below The quality of the heat spreader compared to dedicated high-
PCIe slot can be used for other the PCIe x16 slot so adding isn’t so great. Thankfully, a end sound cards but they’re a
cards, but it still will be very any more PCIe cards might fan is provided which very big step on any on-board audio
close to the graphics card. be impossible. Think carefully neatly fits on the Northbridge solution for sure. The board
The two P45-based boards before buying this card. You heat sink. The processor is has the provision for water
from ASUS were the ASUS have to resort to the other PCI surrounded by a range of cooling although the water
P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n and slots for any other expansion. heatsinks and heat pipes block looks separated from
Intel’s DX48BT2 connecting them together. the rest of the heat sink and
shares some similarities Although this is a pretty high- heat pipes. The bundle comes
with the newer DX58SO end board, there are a lot of with pipe fittings adaptors and
board. Like the X58, electrolytic capacitors used. screws needed to fit the water
there are no PS2 ports. There are dedicated buttons cooling kit. It's showy looking
Electrolytic capacitors are for the power and reset which too — the heatsinks and fins
used all across the board. is handy. There’s also a LED are contoured with strips of
The SATA ports are also poster on the side. There are metal which gives the board a
ASUS P5Q Premium spaced out between where SATA ports lined up on one very clean look. There’s also
the PCIe graphics cards side in between the RAM slots the glowing Republic of Gamers
ASUS P5Q Premium. The WiFi- would normally go. Intel has and the PATA connector. The badge next to the Northbridge
AP @n tag on the ASUS P5Q3 tried to project this board as a first two SATA ports are lined heat sink. The power and reset
board denotes the inclusion of performance board for gamers. up right at the bottom of the buttons are on the board and
a Wi-Fi module that supports For example, the package board. The bundle is nice too. the CMOS reset button at the
802.11n. Both the boards use contains a fancy dog tag. The There are narrow rounded back. Although the sides of the
the ADI AD2000b sound chip board has built in IR support PATA cables and
instead of the usual Realtek so you can remotely control the plenty of black
ALC888. The difference in PC. You’ll need to purchase a SATA cables
layout is the location of the remote and setup the software that go well
SATA ports on the side. The yourself through. with the colour
P5Q Premium has all of them The other X48 board we scheme of the
neatly stacked in a row where received was the MSI X48C board.
as the P5Q3 has a PATA port in Platinum. MSI calls its cooling ZOTAC’s
between. The cooling is simpler solution Circupipe and it is 780i Supreme
with a solid heat sink only for extensive. There is a set of board is almost
the Southbridge with a blue three heat pipes running from identical
to the XFX Zotac 790i Ultra SLI
EPU badge over it. The P5Q the MOSFET coolers to the
Premium comes with a larger Northbridge which are then nForce 790i Ultra SLI with processors are all lined up with
version. Both boards are well channelled to another two minor differences here and heat pipes and heatsinks, most
laid out. heatsinks down the there. In terms of design, the of the area around it is kept
The MSI P43 Neo3 board. There are two Northbridge heat sink isn’t clear.
is a special board that PCIe X1 slots right next as wide as the one on the
has many more PCI to the primary PCIe X16 XFX 790i board. There are Performance
slots than we’ve seen slot. Three standard PCI solid state capacitors again Even after a really lengthy
OCTOBER 2009 slots follow the second along the processor. There’s session of testing, we weren’t
PCIe x16 slot. This a Wi-Fi module bundled with expecting too many surprises
means you can easily the board. The cables in the with the performance. Synthetic
plug in additional LAN package aren’t rounded or benchmarks like 3DMark
or sound cards. The anything. There are molex and PCMark05 stayed more
CMOS reset button is to SATA power converters or less within the expected
positioned behind the bundled with the board in case range. There were hardly any
motherboard. The two you’re using a really old power variations in the video encoding
buttons on the board supply that only came with tests as well. It has to be said
are for the power and molex power connectors. that the P45 chipset generally
reset function. The The Striker II NSE is ASUS’s tops the scores. The P35 was a
biggest speciality of NVIDIA-powered high-end stable and a one that was used
the board is the ability for the LGA775 platform. It for a long time. The P45 builds
to use both DDR2 uses the top-of-the-line nForce on that and is probably one of
ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe and DDR3 modules. 790i SLI chipset. It looks a the refined chipsets around.
94 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
New high-end Dell display 640 GB
Motherboard test
Dell launches high-performance 24-inch LCD Samsung spins out a 640 GB 2.5-inch
screen - Ultrasharp U2410 hard drive
One of the cheaper P45 boards,
the Biostar TPower I45 was
Contact Sheet
Brand Contact Phone E-mail Web site
one of the better performers of ASUS ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd. +91-22-67668800 media_india@asus.com www.in.asus.com
the lot. Intel’s own DX48BT2 Biostar Abacus Peripherals Pvt. Ltd +91-22-40914603 sajid@abacusperipherals.com www.biostar.com.tw
board was among the toppers DFI Xtreme Grafix +91-9987539043 Sudhirsmani@gmail.com www.dfi.com.tw
in the class as well. The biggest ECS SES Technologies Ltd +91-22-30862500 Jacques.roux@sesindia.com www.ecs.com.tw
variations were seen in the Gigabyte Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. +91-22-40633206 viveks@gigabyte.in www.gigabyte.com.tw
file transfer tests where all the Intel NA NA NA www.intel.com
hard drives were defragged Jetway Jetway Information Co. Ltd. +91-9871191716 vsingh@jetway.com.tw www.jetway.com.tw
before the tests and yet there MSI MSI Co. Ltd. +91-11-41758808 marketing@msi-in.com www.msi-india.com
were some differences. Some XFX Rashi Peripherals Pvt. Ltd. +91-22-67090828 response@rptechindia.com www.xfxforce.com
difference can be attributed to Zotac Aditya Infotech Ltd +91-11-46665666 sales@zotac.com www.zotac.com
the difference in performance
experienced because of using
DDR3 or DDR2 memory. be more than sufficient for doesn’t use an all solid-state AMD Socket AM2+/
Game benchmarks such as most people. The board has capacitor setup. There are only AM3 (Discreet
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky and an HDMI port which is a neat two RAM slots spanning most Graphics)
Crysis were also almost identical thing to have. of the motherboard’s length. We talked about how most
throughout the test. The MSI G43M2 is another This board is ideal for a really AMD chipsets have a decent
G43 board, but this one comes cheap setup but who want graphics performance built
Intel Core 2 Boards with some really unexpected some quality. This kind of into the chipset. The AMD
(Integrated Graphics) features such as the LPT and board suites those who want a 790FX and 790GX are almost
The Intel Core 2 processors the COM ports. On the other DirectX 10 compatible board identical chipsets. The 790GX
can run on pretty much any extreme, there’s a FireWire for use with Vista for example. runs a slightly more powerful
chipset for LGA775. There connector as well. The heat sink Biostar like in many other version of the 780G graphics
aren’t too many chipsets for is slightly larger than the Jetway board packages chip. Even then, boards of
Intel processors in recent times I43GM1-HG. The rest of the this kind are typically used by
that provide decent graphics board sports standard features. Performance enthusiasts and those who go
processing performance. The There isn’t anything special Intel’s onboard graphics in for dedicated graphics cards.
Intel G4x series of chipsets are about this board but at the solutions have been disregarded Similarly, NVIDIA has the 780a
pretty identical to the P4x series same time, there isn’t anything for the most part. NVIDIA’s chipset which makes up the
of chipsets, but they come with wrong with it. 9300 chipset motherboards higher range which makes for
an onboard graphics solution. Like the Jetway I43GM1, have been around a while and great SLI-capable boards on the
NVIDIA too has the GeForce the ECS G41T-M2 is another you can read the reviews for AMD platform.
9300 range of chipset which basic board and it looks like a those in our last motherboard MSI’s K9N2 Diamond
we’ve already seen in the last really cheap one. That’s the first test back in November last year. uses the NVIDIA nForce 780a
comparison test. They matched impression you get. It looks like The cost of building systems chipset. MSI’s heat sink design
the AMD 780G and also the a stock Intel G41 board with its around it has been a lot more uses the usual spiralling heat
NVIDIA GeForce 8200 and green PCB. The layout of the than Intel chipsets. The Intel pipes with thin heat-fins on
8300 chipset in performance. board is basic. The Southbridge G43 and G41 chipset boards them. They aren’t very flimsy
We looked some of the newer has no cooling at all. The PCI from Biostar, ECS, Jetway but they can be troublesome
Intel chipsets with onboard slot is placed away but there and MSI didn’t while attaching heatsinks like
graphics – the G43 and the are two PCI-E x1 slots in really break any we learnt. The cooling solution
G41. between but there is only just records. We see works very well though. It’s
enough space for a card. The that the G43 a little strange to see different
Features and design SATA ports are placed in the
OCTOBER 2009
boards are just kind of RAM clips used for half
These boards are really basic a tad faster than of the slots. Huge capacitors
boards with the most the G41 ones. The are used all across the board.
basic of features. They difference in real A PCIe x1 X-Fi audio card is
are made for those who world performance bundled along with the board
just want a desktop is negligible like the high-end ASUS models.
computer for everyday OCTOBER 2009
and won’t really The power control buttons
use and have no interest produce any great used aren’t fancy like the other
in running too many frame rates even in brands either. A good thing is
games. The Jetway pretty dated games. the arrangement of all the SATA
I43GM1 is one of such boards The boards sure ports over the length of two
and uses the Intel G43 chipset. match up with the SATA ports. The board package
The quality of heatsinks is other high-end has almost everything you’ll
cheap and so is the processor Jetway I43GM1-HG boards even P45 need. There are the extra back
retention mechanism. There are way of the PCIe x1 slots so in many of the video encoding panels, SLI bridges of different
only two memory slots which there might be some problems and file transfer tests, so if lengths and power connector
will let you install up to 8 GB if you put in a long PCIe x1 you’re building an Intel for an converters.
of memory that might seem card. extremely low budget and just The Jetway HA07 Ultra
less as compared to some of the The Biostar G41D-M7 is need a graphics solution built belongs to the Hummer range
other motherboards. However, also pretty similar to the ECS into the board, these chipsets of boards. As compared to
8 GB still is a lot and it should G41 board. This board too will do just fine. Jetway’s entry-level boards,
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 95
Motherboard test GT300 LED displays
NVIDIA rumoured to follow AMD BenQ and NEC start producing
in displaying their GT300 GPU LED powered displays
branded memory chip lies in heat sink is used on top of the
between it and the processor. MOSFETs. The board layout
In terms of just features, it is good and there’s a good
matches some of the best mix of PCI and PCIe x1 slots
OCTOBER 2009 boards – in the BIOS and on it. It comes packed with
overclocking department, not plenty of features as well. The
so much. It’s very basic BIOS. dedicated buttons for the
Amongst the two LAN ports motherboard controls is also a
and HDMI port, lies an ancient nice thing to have. The board
COMM port. The board isn’t a is designed for overclockers
form factor fully solid state capacitor board. and the brochures that come
board. The The Gigabyte MA790FX5- with it state it. There’s a switch
same LED sequence UD5P is a high-end board to quickly change the FSB
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe based diagnosing panel is based on the AMD 790FX speed physically. A little more
present on this board. Like the chipset. The 790FX is pretty cooling would have been
these are just a little more TA785GE, this too has all three much the 790GX without the nicer on a board designed for
expensive but come with an display connections – DVI, VGA on-board graphics solution. overclocking. The package we
abundance of features. One of and HDMI. The SATA ports are Cooling is similar to other received came with a signed
the first things you notice is isolated and aren’t hugging the boards except for
that it’s a completely solid-state side of the motherboard like on a few things here
capacitor board. There is a almost every other board. If you and there. For
colourful LED powered display think of using L-shaped SATA example, there’s
at the bottom of the board. connectors on the motherboard a tiny isolated
There’s a plastic sticker which end, it won’t be possible. heat sink for
in place to spread the light It’s kind of funny to see so the SATA chip.
through the gap in the board. many features printed on the The package
Perhaps, this could have been motherboard. Everything from contains back
implemented a little better. A the kind of slots to every single panel for eSATA
switch card is provided to make connectivity such as the LAN, come with molex
sure that the board uses the the 7.1 audio, the DVI ports, to SATA power
entire PCIe x16 bandwidth. The the Firewire connectors are connectors and
heat sink itself is very attractive. printed in large characters on eSATA cables as
The heatsinks are connected the motherboard. The power well. This should
by a copper heat pipe. The buttons and the CMOS clear technically let Biostar TA790GX A3+
pipe is connected using a set of jumper are positioned in one you use any
multiple clips within the heat corner of the board. drive as an external drive very certificate of some benchmarks
sink so the heat exchange isn’t The ECS A790GXM-A easily. The space between the by those who run it. This is a
as much as it could have been if is another that uses the two PCIe x16 slots is sufficient slightly different treatment to a
the heat pipe were completely 790GX chipset. It’s not really and there are three PCIe slots. board that we’ve seen. It’s nice
consumed by a block of heat geared as a high-performance The topmost one lies in the way to know that you’ve been sold a
sink for example. The two PCIe enthusiast board. The board of the Northbridge heat sink well tested product.
x1 slots are placed right below is rather decent looking but Gigabyte has cleverly cut The ASUS M4A79T Deluxe
the first x16 slot. Although, the with its colourful slots and out space in between so allow is an AMD 790FX chipset
first one might not be usable, long cards to be board. Like the P45 boards
the other one will. There are installed. from ASUS, this too uses the
also two PCI slots below the Gigabyte’s ADI2000B chip for the sound.
PCIe x16 slot. This board in other AMD The board doesn’t come with
terms of features is a winner for powered board any PCIe x1 or x4 sized slots.
its price. All the three display the MA790GP- There are four PCIe x16 slots
connectivity options – VGA, UD4H board which can be utilized for any
DVI and HDMI are available. has three PCIe other cards. The Southbridge
There’s also an SATA port x1 slots, one heat sink is rather plain but
meant for eSATA placed right of them right made of copper. ASUS being
near the back of the board right next to the heat themselves have kept capacitors
next to the external eSATA port. sink and almost out of the way of any PCI
There are buttons of all the unusable. A line and PCIe slots. The package
power controls and also CMOS of USB slots on contents are very basic. SATA
clearing. With everything kept the board are cables and back panels are
in mind, this is a very good available behind provided. No fancy fans or
board to consider. Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P the second PCIe cables here.
The TA790GX A3+ from X16 slot. The heatsinks are
Biostar is pretty similar in a dark PCB. The positioning connected by two pipes and the Performance
design to the TA785GE of the Northbridge chip is blue Gigabyte SilentPipe. The boards we tested scored
motherboard and is a full- unconventional and slightly The MSI 790GX-G65 comes almost identical performance
fledged ATX board instead towards the back-end of the with the necessary cooling figures across all chipsets.
of a HTPC-friendly mATX board. The onboard Qimonda setup for the board. The largest Obviously, a lot depended on
96 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Thinner Adamo Paid movies on YouTube Motherboard test
Dell hints at an even thinner version of YouTube talks to studios for streaming
its Adamo notebook at less than 10 mm paid movies over the internet
without breaking a sweat. DVI and HDMI connectors.
Decent AMD 780G based The HD4200 has a big role to
boards can be found as cheap play by trying to replace the
as Rs. 3,500. older but popular HTPC
OCTOBER 2009
The Gigabyte MA785GM- solution chipset the 780G. This
US2H runs on AMD’s 785 board is of the mATX form
chipset. It uses the next factor, so it’s perfect for those
generation of AMD’s on-board building HTPCs.
graphics solutions the HD4200. Gigabyte’s MA785GPMT-
It’s weird to see that Gigabyte UD2H runs on DDR3 and
hasn’t gone with a fully solid being an AMD 785 chipset,
state capacitor board. Those it’s something people will
in the processor region are soon start purchasing to
solid capacitors while the rest build systems based on AMD
Jetway HA07 Ultra are the traditional electrolytic processors. Board prices will
ones. The heat sink on the soon drop along with DDR3
the processor and the graphics AMD Socket AM2+/ Northbridge isn’t very sturdy prices into a scenario similar
card but the motherboard AM3 (Integrated and wobbles from side to side to what it is today – AMD
clearly wasn’t a bottleneck graphics) a little bit. There’s always that 780G boards running on
anywhere. The scores seem This category of the worry that it might not be DDR2 RAM. The audio chip is
a tiny more consistent than motherboards is dominated
the motherboards in the Intel mainly by the slightly older
LGA775. Once again, there’s but very popular AMD 780G
little to comment on the chipsets and now the AMD
performance differences. 785G chipset. The NVIDIA
8xxx series of chipsets has
been around but we
haven’t seen a lot of users
adopting it as much as
we’ve seen the 780G
dominate most of the
market. AMD’s 780G and
now 785G boards come
with a good onboard
solution (HD 3200 in MSI K9N2 Diamond
the case of the 780G and
HD4200 in the 785G) and making contact with the chip now upgraded to the Realtek
also a HDMI port which below. Most of the SATA and ALC889A. The CMOS jumper is
makes them perfect for PATA connectors lie on the oddly placed between the two
building cheap HTPCs extreme right side of the board. PCI slots. The board can be a
MSI 790GX-G65
that can play HD content The board comes with all VGA, little difficult to use. The only
HOW WE TESTED
F
or the AMD boards, a component. It runs a wide processor intensive test was the motherboards tested with
Phenom II x4 965 3.4 GHz variety of desktop applications WinRAR. the dedicated graphics card.
processor was used. For and a few graphic tests to For a more real world test that S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky and Crysis
Intel, it was the 3 GHz Intel Core give a final score for the entire we would use every day, we used made up the real world games
2 Duo QX9650 and the Core i7 subsystem. This includes a video compression program. for this part of the test.
975 (3.33 GHz) for x58 boards. everything from the processor, DivX Converter was our choice For boards with integrated
We used Corsair Dominator memory, hard drive, graphics because of its reliability. It's graphics, it was older games
dual channel kits for DDR2 and card, etc. something we've used for a long such as Doom 3 and Company
DDR3 modules; for the Core i7 ScienceMark was used to time now. The standard 100 MB Heroes. 3D Mark Vantage
Tri-channel kit we used Kingston get scores for the memory VOB file was to be converted and was replaced by the older 3D
memory. Western Digital's 300 benchmarks. We expected to the time noted. Mark 2006. Games like Crysis
GB Velociraptor HDDs were used see large differences between There was no simpler way to and Stalker would bring these
on all test benches. The ASUS DDR2 and DDR3 systems. The test the hard drive performance boards to a screeching halt.
GeForce 9800GTX+ was used on differences in between the and the input/output With motherboards as
the discrete graphics boards. All DDR2 and DDR3 scores would subsystem than to do huge file always, there's a very tiny
the systems were powered by be more interesting though. copy tests on the hard drive. difference in performance
Corsair's HX620 SMPS. For just pure processor and We used a single 8 GB file and between boards using the same
The staple diet of any memory subsystem testing, a 3D then a folder with 8 GB of data chipset. Weights are given
motherboard or any kind of rendering benchmark had to be in it. Times were recorded. to sections of the test and as
desktop performance test used. Cinebench which is basically The graphics benchmarks were always performance was a small
has to include PCMark; which a dedicated benchmark utility separated for boards with on- factor. The features and design
itself contains a multitude of based on the popular Cinema 4D board graphics and the others. of the board on the hand were
tests designed to stress each 3D modelling program. Another 3D Mark Vantage was used for given higher priority.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 97
Motherboard test
OCTOBER 2009
AMD Integrated Graphics Motherboards
Brand ASUS ASUS ASUS Biostar ECS Gigabyte
M4A78-HTPC/
Model No. M4A785TD-M EVO M4A785TD-V EVO TA785GE 128M A785GM-M MA785GM-US2H
RC
Price (Rupees) Rs. 7,100 Rs. 6,700 Rs. 6,700 Rs. 4,135 Rs. 4,800 Rs. 5,500
Overall (Out of 100) 56.26 60.58 67.21 48.90 60.53 55.85
Features (Out of 70) 31.39 35.16 40.55 22.89 35.20 31.60
Performance (Out of 30) 24.87 25.42 26.66 26.01 25.33 24.25
Features
Chipset AMD 780G AMD 785G AMD 785G AMD 785G AMD 785G AMD 785G
Socket AM3 AM3 AM3 AM3 AM3 AM3
Northbridge / Southbridge 780G / SB700 785G / SB710 785G / SB710 785G / SB710 785G / SB710 785G / SB710
Memory Type DDR2 DDR3 DDR3 DDR2 DDR3 DDR2
Max Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 32 GB / 4 16 GB / 4
No. of SATA / IDE Ports 5/1 5/1 5/1 6/1 6/2 5/1
E-SATA Support / No of E-SATA Ports Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 N Y/2 Y/1
No of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 1 1 2 1 1 1
No. of PCI / PCI x1 / PCI x4 Slots 1/2/0 2/1/0 3/1/0 2/0/0 1/2/0 2/1/0
Multi GPU (SLI/CrossFire/N) / No of PCIe Lanes N/0 N/0 Y/2 N/0 N/0 N/0
Integrated Audio Controller Y VT1708S VT1708S Realtek ALC662 Realtek ALC 888S Realtek ALC889A
Number of Sound channels 8 8 8 6 8 8
SPDIF / Optical Port Y/Y N/Y N/Y N/N N/Y N/Y
No of LAN Ports / 10/100 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit
Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N N N
No. of rear USB / FireWire Ports 4/0 6/1 6/1 4/0 6/1 6/1
All Solid State Caps (Y/N) N Y Y N Y Y
BIOS options
CPU voltage range (volts) N/A 1.125 ~ 1.7 1.125 ~ 1.7 N/A N/A 0.825 ~ 2.025
CPU Voltage increments 0.05 0.00625 0.00625 0.05 N/A 0.025
Memory voltage range (volts) 1.8 ~ 2.1 1.1 ~ 1.61 1.1 ~ 1.61 1.95 ~ 2.65 N/A N/A
Memory Voltage increments 0.1 0.015 0.015 0.1 0.01 0.1
Board Layout (So 10)
Region around the CPU 8 8 8 8 7 8
Location of SATA ports 8 8 8 7 7 7
Placement of Memory modules 8 8 8 8 8 7
Graphics card slot and PCI slots 7 8 8 7 7 7
Package Bundle
No of SATA / PATA Cables Provided 1/1 2/1 4/1 2/1 4/1 2/1
Mentionable Accessories Remote control - - - - -
Performance
PC Mark 05
CPU 10142 10278 10301 10220 10250 10293
Memory 6586 6365 6463 6307 6284 6578
Graphics 3372 2596 3738 3558 3417 2666
HDD 8719 8753 8761 8724 8754 8756
Overall 9341 7661 9391 9214 9235 7738
ScienceMark (Memory Bandwidth) 8242 10142 10168 9602 8609 8286
Cinebench R10 9203 11091 11142 11088 11057 11140
WinRAR 3.8 2146 2442 2401 2325 2267 2159
DivX Video Encoding (100 MB VOB) (sec) 31 30 30 31 31 31
Sequential File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 164 170 170 165 164 163
Random File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 195 187 185 191 191 190
Doom 3 FPS (800 x 600, medium detail) 55.3 60.1 60.3 57.1 55.3 55.5
3D Mark 2006 (CPU / Overall) 4618 / 1633 4691 / 1817 4698 / 1821 4655 / 1788 4682 / 1667 4652 / 1650
Company Of Heroes (1024 x 768, lowest) 40.9 43.4 43.5 40.8 34.6 39.6
PCIe x1 slot is too close the x16 slot for any sound great with its dark gray
to the heat sink and it cards. Any more PCIe heatsinks. The board does get
looks like a close fit for x1cards or x4 cards are out pretty hot with the benchmarks
any card. The two slots OCTOBER 2009 of the question. There’s a running. The SATA ports on
other than the PCIe x16 basic overclocking switch the sides are solid and divert
slot are the PCI slots. positioned next to the the connectors away from the
The Southbridge is just a big Northbridge. There are also cards. There is only one PCI
block of metal. dedicated chunky buttons slot and two PCIe x1 slots one
The MSI KA780G is a very for the power, reset and above and below the PCIe x16
basic looking board yet it packs clear CMOS functions. slot. The heat sinks although
in a lot of features. The 780G The ECS A785GM-M close to the PCIe x1 slot but
board comes with three PCI is a really compact mATX it’s been cut out keeping
slots and a PCIe X1 slot above Jetway PN78VM2-LF board. The board looks in mind x1 cards. Being an
98 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Motherboard test
OCTOBER 2009
Gigabyte Jetway MSI Zotac
MA785GPMT- OCTOBER 2009
PN78VM2-LF KA780G GeForce 8200
UD2H
Rs. 7,500 Rs. 2,975 Rs. 7,500 Rs. 3,100
57.58 46.40 54.92 45.32
32.32 23.88 30.87 21.44
25.26 22.52 24.05 23.88
AMD 785G NVIDIA GeForce 8200 AMD 780G NVIDIA GeForce 8200
AM3 AM3 AM2+ AM2+
785G / SB710 GeForce 8200 780G / SB700 GeForce 8200
DDR3 DDR2 DDR2 DDR2
16 GB / 4 4 GB / 2 8 GB / 4 8 GB / 4
5/1 6/1 5/1 6/1 the boards2 has DDR3, Biostar’s
Y/1 N Y/1 N changed quite a TA785GE runs on
1 1 1 1 lot as well. They ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO DDR2 memory
2/1/0 2/1/0 3/1/0 2/1/0 both come with which makes it
N/0 N/0 N/0 N/0 128MB Sideport memory. The a cheaper alternative for those
Realtek ALC889A Realtek ALC662 Realtek ALC888 N/A larger M4A785TD-V EVO also who are on a tight budget for
8 6 8 N/A comes with a larger heat sink. building a system. The only
N/Y Y/N N/Y Y/N Both the motherboards have a missing component is the
1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / 100 Mbps more attractive blue heatsink HDMI connectivity. There are
N N N N winged design that makes them LEDs on the board which can
6/1 4/0 6/0 4/0 look like some of the most be used to identify problems
Y N Y N
elegant looking designs around.
No fancy copper pipes
0.825 ~ 2.025 0.8 ~ 1.55 N/A 1.25 ~ 1.35
running around all over
0.025 0.025 N/A 0.05
the place here. Express
0.75 1.74 ~ 2.46 1.8 ~ 2.7 2.0 ~ 2.2
0.05 0.05 N/A 0.1
Gate is a common feature
on both boards. The
7 8 7 8 ATX version has coolers
7 6.5 8 7 for the
8 7 8 7 MOSFETs
8 8 8 8 while the
cheaper
N/A 1/1 1/1 1/1 mATX
- - - - board
doesn’t.
Package
10349 10230 10246 10273 bundles are
6413 6023 6044 6205 no different
2963 2328 2399 2623 either. ASUS M4A78-HTPC/RC
8731 8856 8778 8884 Once again,
7998 7164 7493 7412 it’s good to see brands like with the board. A small table on
9343 8253 8072 9462 Biostar come up with boards the motherboard itself explains
11141 11047 11041 11063 based on new chipsets so early errors for the combination of
2197 2204 2199 2301 for sale in India. The AMD those status LEDs. Even the
30 31 31 31 785G version of their board front panel pins control pins
166 195 165 164 is called the Biostar TA785GE have been clearly marked.
186 202 195 196 128M. The heatsinks for the The back has a panel which
59.1 49.8 57.5 62.4
Northbridge and Southbridge prevents flexing of the board.
4706 / 1780 4530 / 1322 4665 / 1642 4542 / 1422
are both very thin. Unlike the The ZOTAC GeForce 8200
44.6 33.4 39.8 38.9
ASUS 785 boards that require comes with a thick Southbridge
heat sink which is mostly a
AMD 785 board, it supports is no floppy drive connector on big chunk of metal. It covers a
Hybrid Graphics. The Hybrid this motherboard. It’s a great big area but it still gets really
Graphics allows both on-board HTPC board. hot in no time. A fan would do
graphics and dedicated PCIe The ASUS M4A785TD-M wonders for this board but it
card to work in tandem. ECS EVO is the mATX version of would mean changing the heat
has introduced eJIFFY which the larger AMD 785 board sink a little bit. The layout of
works similar to ExpressGate from ASUS — the ASUS the board is unconventional.
and allows a quick access to a M4A785TD-V EVO. The biggest The 24-pin power connector is
mini operating system. There difference is the additional PCIe placed towards the back end of
is a LED poster for error codes x16 slot and the standard PCI the board. This means that the
and the buttons for power slot. Nothing at the back of the thick cable will run by close to
functions and CMOS clear panels has changed between the CPU fan. As a competition
buttons right next to it. There the two boards. The layout of Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H to the 780G, this mATX board
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 99
Motherboard test
OCTOBER 2009 OCTOBER 2009
AMD High-end Graphics Motherboards
Brand ASUS Biostar ECS Gigabyte Gigabyte Jetway MSI
Model No. M4A79T Deluxe TA790GX A3+ A790GXM-A MA790FXT-UD5P MA790GP-UD4H HA07 Ultra 790GX-G65
Price (Rupees) Rs. 14,850 Rs. 6,395 Rs. 6,390 Rs. 14,990 Rs. 9,900 Rs. 5,500 Rs. 9,000
Overall (Out of 100) 66.27 60.73 56.61 65.48 61.73 62.00 65.84
Features (Out of 70) 40.91 35.52 31.43 40.47 36.06 36.37 40.65
Performance (Out of 30) 25.36 25.21 25.18 25.01 25.67 25.63 25.19
Features
Chipset AMD 790FX AMD 790GX AMD 790GX AMD 790FX AMD 790GX AMD 790GX AMD 790GX
Socket AM3 AM3 AM2+ AM3 AM3 AM2+ AM3
Northbridge / Southbridge 790FX / SB750 790GX / SB750 790GX / SB750 790FX / SB750 790GX / SB750 790GX / SB750 790GX / SB750
Memory Type DDR3 DDR3 DDR2 DDR3 DDR2 DDR2 DDR3
Max Memory Supported (GB) / No of
DIMMs 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 32 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 8 GB / 4 16 GB / 4
No. of SATA / IDE Ports 5/1 6/1 6/2 6/1 6/1 4/1 5/1
E-SATA Support / No of E-SATA Ports Y/1 N/0 N/0 N/0 N/0 Y/1 Y/1
No of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 4 2 2 2 2 2 2
No. of PCI / PCI x1 / PCI x4 Slots 1/0/0 2/2/0 2/2/0 2/3/0 2/3/0 2/2/0 2/2/0
Multi GPU Support (SLI/CrossFire/N) / No
of PCIe Lanes Y/4 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2
Integrated Audio Controller Realtek 1200 Realtek ALC888 Realtek ALC888S Realtek ALC889A Realtek ALC889A Realtek ALC888 Realtek ALC889
Number of Sound channels 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
SPDIF / Optical Port Y/Y 0/0 N/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/N N/Y
No of LAN Ports / 10/100 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit
Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N N N
No. of rear USB / FireWire Ports 6/1 4/1 6/0 8/2 4/1 4/0 6/1
All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y N Y Y Y Y
BIOS options
CPU voltage range (volts) 0.8 ~ 1.7 0.02 ~ 1.26 NA 0.825 ~ 2.025 0.825 ~ 2.025 0.8 ~ 1.55 1.1 ~ 1.55
CPU Voltage increments 0.0125 0.02 0.02 0.025 0.025 0.025 0.0125
Memory voltage range (volts) 1.5 ~ 2.5 1.66 ~ 2.84 NA Default + 0.75 Default + 0.75 1.7 ~ 2.85 1.5 ~ 2.42
Memory Voltage increments 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Board Layout (So 10)
Region around the CPU 8 8 8 7 7 7 8
Location of SATA ports 7 7 6.5 8 8 7 8
Placement of Memory modules 7.5 8 8 7 8 8 8
Graphics card slot and PCI slots 7 8 8 8 8 8 8
Package Bundle
No of SATA / PATA Cables Provided 3/0 4/1 2/1 4/2 4/1 2/1 4/1
Accessories - - - - - Switch Card Molex to SATA power x2
Performance
PC Mark 05
CPU 10282 10271 10266 10291 10366 10277 10262
Memory 6210 6288 6152 6481 6795 6797 6136
Graphics 23353 13500 14695 14929 15201 14573 14832
HDD 8803 8760 8806 8745 8835 8771 8717
Overall 10097 9917 10109 10367 10275 10376 10145
ScienceMark (Memory Bandwidth) 9064 9616 8358 6905 9779 9493 8788
3D Mark Vantage
CPU 37184 35584 35927 36578 36778 35952 36780
GPU 6959 6756 6958 6956 6990 6917 6952
Overall 8734 8471 8715 8722 8764 8667 8720
Cinebench R10 11134 11094 11056 11150 11162 11074 11104
WinRAR 3.8 2363 2371 2210 2293 2388 2352 2248
DivX Video Encoding (100 MB VOB) (sec) 31 30 30 32 30 30 31
Sequential File Transfer (8 GB File) (sec) 163 166 161 165 170 161 165
Random File Transfer (8 GB File) (sec) 193 186 188 190 192 189 189
STALKER Clear Sky (1280 x 1024, low) 79 76.1 78.2 80.1 79.9 79 78.5
Crysis (CPU - 1024 x 768, low) 68 61 64 68 67 64 67
Crysis (Graphics - 1280 x 1024, high) 45 42 44 44 44 44 45
would be a great HTPC board PN78VM2-LF runs on the are the solid-state capacitors into it which makes this board
but it comes with no HDMI GeForce 8100 chipset yet packs in the important regions of the ideal as a base to build a HTPC
port. The only PCIe x1 slot a punch for its low price. Even board. The heat sink is made on. The only PCIe slot is above
would be useless because of the though it’s a basic board, a big of thin gauge aluminium but it the primary x16 slot. The high
first PCIe x16 slot. metal plate at the back ensures works rather well for this chip. heat sink completely comes in
This entry-level Jetway the board doesn’t flex. There There’s also a HDMI port built the way of the slot.
100 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
OCTOBER 2009 OCTOBER 2009
Integrated Graphics Core 2 Duo Boards
MSI MSI Brand Biostar ECS Jetway MSI
K9N2 SLI Platinum K9N2 Diamond Model No. G41D-M7 G41T-M2 I43GM1-HG G43M2
Rs. 7,500 Rs. 9,500 Price (Rupees) Rs. 2,800 Rs. 3,585 Rs. 3,300 Rs. 6,400
66.01 66.23 Overall (Out of 100) 44.73 44.62 53.89 44.15
39.44 40.99 Features (Out of 70) 19.86 19.04 28.26 18.45
26.57 25.24 Performance (Out of 30) 24.87 25.58 25.63 25.70
Features
AMD 750a SLI NVIDIA 780a SLI Chipset Intel G41 Intel G41 Intel G43 Intel G43
AM2+ AM2+ Socket LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775
750a SLI 780a SLI Northbridge / Southbridge G41 / ICH7 G41 / ICH7 G43 / ICH10 G43 / ICH10
DDR2 DDR2 Memory Type DDR2 DDR2 DDR2 DDR2
Max Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 8 GB / 2 8 GB / 2 8 GB / 2 4 GB / 2
8 GB / 4 8 GB / 4
No. of SATA / IDE Ports 4/1 4/2 6/0 4/1
6/2 6/2 E-SATA Support / No of E-SATA Ports N/0 N/0 N/0 N/0
Y/2 Y/2 No of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 1 1 1 1
2 3 No. of PCI / PCI x1 / PCI x4 Slots 1/0/0 1/2/0 1/0/0 2/1/0
2/1/0 2/1/0 Multi GPU Support (SLI/CrossFire/N) / No of N N N N
PCIe Lanes
Y/2 Y/3
Integrated Audio Controller Realtek ALC662 Realtek Realtek ALC888 Realtek ALC888
Realtek ALC888 Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme ALC662
8 8 Number of Sound channels 6 6 8 8
N/Y N/N SPDIF / Optical Port N/N N/N Y/N N/N
1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit No of LAN Ports / 10/100 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit
N N Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N
4/1 4/1 No. of rear USB / FireWire Ports 4/0 4/0 4/0 4/1
Y Y All Solid State Caps (Y/N) N N N N
BIOS options
1.45 ~ 1.8 Default ~ 1.8 CPU voltage range (volts) N/A N/A N/A N/A
0.025 0.025 CPU Voltage increments N/A N/A 0.05 N/A
1.9 ~ 2.4 1.8 ~ 2.5 Memory voltage range (volts) NA N/A 1.85 ~ 3.285 N/A
0.05 0.05 Memory Voltage increments 0.1 N/A 0.03 N/A
Board Layout (So 10)
8 7 Region around the CPU 8 8 8 7.5
7.5 7 Location of SATA ports 7.5 7.5 8 8
8 8 Placement of Memory modules 7.5 7.5 8 8
8 8 Graphics card slot and PCI slots 6.5 7 7.5 7
Package Bundle
No of SATA / PATA Cables Provided 1/1 1/1 2/0 1/1
4/2 6/1
Accessories - - - -
Dvi-to-HDMI con- X-Fi Extreme Audio
verter, USB/Firewire card, USB/Firewire Performance
bracket, SLI bridge, bracket PC Mark 05
CPU 9575 9573 9636 9658
Memory 6037 6091 6235 6280
10258 10273 Graphics 3283 3405 2750 2705
6228 6236 HDD 8714 9923 8824 8835
20022 14710 Overall 7681 7727 6686 6686
8808 8627 ScienceMark (Memory Bandwidth) 5691 5798 6050 6012
12306 9985 CINEBENCH R10 (CPU) 11778 11658 11393 11750
9584 9795 WinRAR 3.8 1818 2086 2124 2063
DivX Video Encoding (100 MB VOB) (sec) 32 31 31 31
36475 35818 Sequential File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 180 163 172 179
7056 6912 Random File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 194 193 210 193
8838 8659 Doom 3 FPS (800 x 600, medium detail) 18.1 19.4 17.5 17.4
11054 10998 3D Mark 2006 (CPU / Overall) 3961 / 854 4036 / 855 4015 / 1142 4134 / 1130
2251 2393 Company Of Heroes (1024 x 768, lowest) 23.03 22.6 26.9 28.2
30 30
171 166 rather respectable scores Some of the boost is from the a similar. With dropping
194 233 across all fields. They also game benchmarks while the prices, these boards along
78 79 have the advantage of being biggest contribution comes with the older AMD 780G
68 71 cheaper than equally well from memory benchmarks and although slightly slower in
44 43 performing boards for the file compression benchmarks. graphics benchmarks are
Intel platform which is why in The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO comparable with the rest of
Performance general AMD based systems leads the charts overall for the benchmarks. Prices too
For boards with onboard are suggest for those who are sheer performance. NVIDIA are much lower than better
graphics solutions, the on a really tiny budget. We see hasn’t released any more AMD performing AMD 785G boards.
performance can be a concern a new trend this time around chipsets in the meantime. The
for some. The boards available where AMD 785 boards leave GeForce 8200 boards from So, what’s the best?
for AMD processors have the older AMD 780 behind. Jetway and ZOTAC present We have a clear leader in every
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 101
Motherboard test
OCTOBER 2009 OCTOBER 2009
Intel Discrete Graphics Core 2 Duo Boards
Brand ASUS ASUS ASUS Asus Biostar Gigabyte
P5Q3 Deluxe
Model No. Maximus II Gene P5Q Premium Striker II NSE TPOWER I45 EP43T-UD3L
WiFi @n
Price (Rupees) Rs. 17,850 Rs. 18,250 Rs. 17,900 Rs. 19,750 Rs. 7,950 Rs. 6,700
Overall (Out of 100) 70.92 76.57 79.27 68.73 70.33 62.10
Features (Out of 70) 44.33 50.25 53.05 43.48 44.04 36.14
Performance (Out of 30) 26.59 26.32 26.22 25.25 26.29 25.96
Features
Chipset Intel P45 Intel P45 Intel P45 AMD 790i SLI Intel P45 Intel P43
Socket LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775
Northbridge / Southbridge Intel P45 / ICH 10R P45 / ICH10R P45 / ICH10R 790i SLI P45 / ICH 10R Intel P45 / ICH 10
Front Side Bus Speed (MHz) 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600
Memory Type DDR2 DDR2 DDR3 DDR3 DDR2 DDR3
Max Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 8 GB / 4 8 GB / 4 8 GB / 4
No. of SATA / IDE Ports 7/1 10 / 1 8 /1 6/1 6/1 6/0
E-SATA Support / No of E-SATA Ports Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/2 Y/2 N
No of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 2 4 3 3 2 1
No. of PCI / PCI x1 / PCI x4 Slots 1/1/0 2/1/0 2/2/0 2/1/0 2/2/0 2/4/0
Multi GPU Support (SLI/CrossFire/N) / No of PCIe Lanes Y Y Y Y Y N
Integrated Audio Controller SupremeFX X-Fi ADI AD2000B ADI AD2000B SupremeFX II Y Y
Number of Sound channels 8 8 8 8 8 8
SPDIF / Optical Port N/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y
No of LAN Ports / 10/100 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 4 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit
Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N Y N N N
No. of rear USB / FireWire Ports 6/1 10 / 1 6/1 6/1 6/0 8/0
All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y N Y Y
BIOS options
CPU voltage range (volts) 0.85 ~ 2.4 0.85 ~ 2.10 0.85 ~ 2.10 1.1 ~ 2.4 1 ~ 2.5 0.5 ~ 2.0
CPU Voltage increments 0.00625 0.00625 0.00625 0.025 0.05 0.00525
Memory voltage range (volts) 1.8 ~ 3.4 1.8 ~ 3.08 1.5 ~ 2.78 1.5 ~ 3.1 1.888 ~ 3.7 1.1 ~ 2.76
Memory Voltage increments 0.01325 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.05 0.02
Board Layout (So 10)
Region around the CPU 8 7.5 7.5 8 8 9
Location of SATA ports 9 8 8 7 9 8
Placement of Memory modules 9 7.5 7.5 7 8 7
Graphics card slot and PCI slots 8 7 7 7 7 7
Package Bundle
No of SATA / PATA Cables Provided 4/1 8/2 8/2 6/2 6 / 1 1 / 1
LED poster, cooling
Wi-Fi antenna,
Accessories LED poster Cooling fan fan, SupremeFX II Cooling fan -
cooling fan Audio card
Performance
PC Mark 05
CPU 9658 9671 9658 9624 9662 9641
Memory 6641 6646 6630 6534 6580 6523
Graphics 15370 15381 15567 20103 15373 15062
HDD 8850 8820 8851 8292 8778 8859
Overall 9501 9413 9484 8995 9407 9349
ScienceMark (Memory Bandwidth) 6746 6897 6688 6623 6679 6524
3D Mark Vantage
CPU 38132 38918 38582 36857 37157 37112
GPU 6976 7078 7001 6984 6967 6978
Overall 8766 8898 8802 8759 8743 8755
Cinebench R10 11711 11502 11847 11701 11828 11721
WinRAR 3.8 2570 2557 2530 2121 2518 2334
DivX Video Encoding (100 MB VOB) (sec) 29 32.2 33.1 32 30 30
Sequential File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 172 171 162.8 174 175 179
Random File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 192 189.1 193.3 202 196 198
STALKER Clear Sky (1280 x 1024, low) 80.7 81.1 81.2 78 78.8 78.7
Crysis (CPU - 1024 x 768, low) 69 85 84 72 73 72
Crysis (Graphics - 1280 x 1024, high) 45 45 42 45 45 45
category — it’s for you to decide board to go for if price isn’t an next in the line. It might not not just on the board but also
the budget you have and what issue. At Rs. 28,500, it’s a lot come with too many fancy in the BIOS and in the way the
you need from your system. to pay for a board and it takes audio card modules but is a board is laid out. It matches the
For the Core i7 processors, we the budget of an Intel Core i7 really solid board for its price. smaller version of the Rampage
strongly believe that the ASUS system very high. The Biostar This board just like any other II Extreme — the Rampage II
Rampage II Extreme is the TPower X58 shockingly is the enthusiast board has features Gene. Going away from the
102 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Motherboard test
Gigabyte Intel MSI MSI MSI MSI XFX Zotac Zotac
EP45-UD3R DX48BT2 P43 Neo3 P45 Diamond P45 Neo2 X48C Platinum 790i Ultra nForce 780i SLI 790i Ultra SLI
Rs. 13,000 Rs. 11,500 Rs. 5,500 Rs. 10,800 Rs. 6,300 Rs. 10,500 Rs. 22,000 Rs. 11,500 Rs. 16,000
65.91 61.20 57.68 72.56 64.69 66.35 62.14 65.42 63.15
40.01 35.16 31.82 46.61 38.96 40.34 40.34 40.27 41.39
25.90 26.04 25.86 25.95 25.73 26.01 21.80 25.15 21.76
Intel P45 Intel X48 Intel P45 Intel P45 Intel P45 Intel X48 NVIDIA 790i SLI NVIDIA 780i SLI NVIDIA 790i SLI
LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775 LGA775
Intel P45 / ICH Intel P45 / ICH Intel P45 / ICH
Intel P45 / ICH 10R Intel X48 Intel X48 / ICH9R 790i SLI 780i SLI 790i SLI
10R 10R 10R
1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1333 1600
DDR2 DDR3 DDR2 DDR3 DDR2 DDR2 & 3 DDR3 DDR2 DDR3
8 GB (DDR3) / 4
16 GB / 4 8GB / 4 16 GB / 4 8 GB / 4 16 GB / 4 8 GB / 4 8 GB / 4 8 GB / 4
GB (DDR2)
8/1 6/1 8/1 6/1 8/1 4/1 6/0 6/1 8/1
N Y/2 N Y/2 N Y/2 Y/1 N N
1 2 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
3/3/0 2/0/1 4/1/0 2/2/0 2/2/0 3/2/0 2/2/0 2/1/0 2/2/0
N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y
Y Y Y Y Y Realtek ALC888 N/A N/A N/A
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 N/A N/A
Y/Y Y/Y N/N N/Y N/N N/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y
1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit
N N N N N N N Y Y
8/1 8/2 4/0 8/1 6/0 8/2 6/1 6/1 6/1
Y N Y Y Y Y N N N
0.5 ~ 2.3 1.2875 ~ 1.6 0.833 ~ 2.0175 0.886 ~ 1.8551 0.9111 ~ 1.888 1.25 ~ 2.025 0.5125 ~ 2.0 0.5 ~ 1.8 0.5125 ~ 2.0
0.00525 0.0125 0.0125 0.01 0.01 0.0125 0.0125 0.00625 0.0125
1.45 ~ 3.04 1.5 ~ 2.5 1.4 ~ 3.324 1.19 ~ 2.77 1.416 ~ 3.324 1.5 ~ 2.75 1.5 ~ 2.275 1.8 ~ 2.5 1.5 ~ 2.275
0.1 0.04 0.012 0.01 0.012 0.04 0.025 0.025 0.025
8 7 7 7 8 7 6.5 7 6.5
9 7.5 9 9 6.5 8 8 8 8
9 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 8
6.5 7 8 7 7 8 7.5 7.5 7.5
4 / 1 1/1 1/1 4/1 4/1 4/2
- - - X-Fi audio - - - Wi-fi fit, cooling fan -
9625 9619 9661 9652 9647 9639 9627 9615 9636
6378 6482 6407 6532 6252 6308 6801 6661 6874
15375 15082 14729 14716 14738 14895 14269 14341 13626
8775 8729 8821 8812 8774 8748 8219 8270 8113
9341 9336 9256 9281 9150 9284 9122 9114 9205
6337 6482 6436 6688 6600 6706 7192 6733 6820
36420 38935 37101 36183 35575 36910 N/A 36453 N/A
6975 6962 6980 6947 6958 6983 N/A 6941 N/A
8742 8760 8757 8705 8709 8759 N/A 8703 N/A
11650 11643 11798 11759 11614 11859 11493 11795 11211
2302 2365 2321 2372 2448 2289 2474 1819 2446
30 30 30 30 31 30 32 31 31
175 175 182 180 177 172 177 175 178
194 193 192 192 200 192 200 204 210
78.4 80.2 76.9 76.9 76.8 79.2 78 80 80
70 71 70 71 72 71 77 72 74
45 45 45 44 44 44 44 44 44
scores, we like the DFI UT especially now for Core i7 P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi @n followed board and then use the same
Lanparty X58 board as well. boards. by the ASUS P5Q Premium. DDR3 modules for a Core i5
It’s a good overclockers board For those who are upgrading The P5Q3 Deluxe comes with or i7 processor. The MSI P45
in our opinion and the bundle to faster Intel Core 2 powered a Wi-Fi module and also runs Diamond lags a little bit behind
and design is also something systems, the best offering comes on DDR3. Those with larger these two boards but it’s also
new in motherboards and from ASUS once again – ASUS budgets can go in for this priced a lot lower. Biostar makes
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 103
Motherboard test
OCTOBER 2009 OCTOBER 2009
Intel Core i7 Motherboards
Brand ASUS ASUS ASUS Biostar DFI
Model No. P6T Deluxe Rampage II Extreme Rampage II Gene Tpower X58 UT X58 Lanparty
Price (Rupees) Rs. 24,000 Rs. 28,500 Rs. 17.850 Rs. 12,500 Rs. 19,500
Overall (Out of 100) 71.47 75.94 72.02 72.51 65.73
Features (Out of 70) 45.59 49.89 45.63 46.67 39.42
Performance (Out of 30) 25.88 26.05 26.39 25.84 26.31
Features
Chipset Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58
Socket LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA 1366
Northbridge / Southbridge Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R X58 / ICH10R
QPI (GT/s) 6400 6400 6400 6400 6400
Memory Type DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3
Max Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 24 GB / 6 24 GB / 6 24 GB / 6 24 GB / 6 24 GB / 6
No. of SATA / IDE Ports 6 / 1 (2 SAS ports) 7/1 7/1 6/1 8/2
E-SATA Support / No of E-SATA Ports Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/2 N
No of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 3 2 2 2 3
No. of PCI / PCI x1 / PCI x4 Slots 2/0/1 1/2/0 1/0/1 2/1/0 2/0/1
Multi GPU Support (SLI/CrossFire/N) / No of PCIe Lanes Y Y Y Y Y
Integrated Audio Controller ADI AD2000B SupremeFX SupremeFX Y Y
Number of Sound channels 8 8 8 8 8
SPDIF / Optical Port Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y Y/N
No of LAN Ports / 10/100 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit
Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N N
No. of rear USB / FireWire Ports 8/1 6/1 6/1 8/1 6/1
All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y Y Y
BIOS options
CPU voltage range (volts) 0.85 ~ 2.1 0.85 ~ 2.5 0.5 ~ 2.5 N/A 1.06255 ~ 1.6
CPU Voltage increments 0.00625 0.00525 0.00525 0.02 0.05005
Memory voltage range (volts) 1.2 ~ 1.9 1.51 ~ 2.5 1.51 ~ 2.5 1.5 ~ 2.760 1.455 ~ 2.4
Memory Voltage increments 0.00625 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.015
Board Layout (So 10)
Region around the CPU 8 7.5 8 8 7
Location of SATA ports 9 9 9 9 8
Placement of Memory modules 8.75 9 9 9 8
Graphics card slot and PCI slots 7.5 7 7 7.5 7.5
Package Bundle
No of SATA / PATA Cables Provided 2,1 6/1 4/1 6/1 4/0
LCD poster, SupremeFX, LCD poster
Accessories - - -
temperature sensors
Performance
PC Mark 05
CPU 11005 11003 11011 10955 11391
Memory 10447 10248 10562 10243 9930
Graphics 15801 15637 15660 15584 22248
HDD 8914 8578 8880 8890 8679
Overall 10419 10040 10724 9899 10656
ScienceMark (Memory Bandwidth) 13959 14328 14324 14103 13882
3D Mark Vantage
CPU 43090 43918 45389 44161 45177
GPU 6936 6973 6943 6935 7042
Overall 8777 8830 8808 8787 8926
Cinebench R10 16048 15490 15917 16010 16307
WinRAR 3.8 4779 4722 4734 4752 4530
DivX Video Encoding (100 MB VOB) (sec) 20.3 18 19 19 19
Sequential File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 168.1 174 172 174 168
Random File Transfer Test (8 GB File) (sec) 194.8 191 180 181 199
STALKER Clear Sky (1280 x 1024, low) 79.5 84.9 83.3 83.7 83.1
Crysis (CPU - 1024 x 768, low) 93 83 82 82 96
Crysis (Graphics - 1280 x 1024, high) 44 45 45 44 45
its appearance once again with decent board to build a system the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO The ECS A785GM-M is another
its rather inexpensive offering around. It’s got a BIOS that’s stands at the top right ahead one that ties with the ASUS
— the TPower I45 at Rs. 7,950. better than what the other of M4A785TD-M EVO. In M4A785TD-M EVO. Biostar’s
Those who want an Intel board boards in its group had to offer. performance, they’re almost TA785GE is the cheapest
with integrated graphics should Performance isn’t too shabby the same. They also happen to 785G offering of the lot. Those
look at the really cheap Jetway either. be some of the cheaper boards wanting to build the cheapest
I43GM1-HG. At Rs. 3,300, it’s a For the AMD processors, based on the AMD 785 chipset. HTPC or even an everyday-use
104 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Motherboard test
Gigabyte Gigabyte GIGABYTE Intel MSI MSI XFX ZOTAC
EX58-Extreme EX58-UD3R EX58-UD5 DX58SO X58 PRO X58M X58i X58
Rs. 21,500 Rs. 14,500 Rs. 17,500 Rs. 12,800 Rs. 12,500 Rs. 10,500 Rs. 13,250 Rs. 12,500
70.71 66.70 68.52 63.09 69.80 63.67 68.96 58.77
44.74 41.10 42.74 37.16 43.99 40.73 44.90 34.43
25.97 25.90 25.78 25.93 25.81 22.94 24.06 24.34
Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58 Intel X58
LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366 LGA1366
Intel X58 / Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R Intel X58 / ICH10R
ICH10R
6400 6400 6400 6400 6400 6400 6400 6400
DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3
24 / 6 16 GB / 4 24 GB / 6 16 GB / 4 24 GB / 6 24 GB / 6 12 GB / 6 24 GB / 6
6/1 8/1 10 /1 6/0 7/1 6/1 6/1 6/1
N N N Y/2 Y/1 Y/1 Y/2 N
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
2/1/1 2/2/1 2/1/1 1/2/1 2/2/0 1/0/1 2/1/0 2/1/0
Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N /N N/Y N Y/Y Y/N
2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit 2 / Gigabit 1 / Gigabit
N N N N N N N N
8/1 8/1 8/1 8/1 6/1 6/1 6/1 4/1
Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y
0.5 ~ 1.9 0.5 ~ 1.9 0.5 ~ 1.9 1 ~ 1.6 0.9 ~ 1.9 0.9 ~ 1.9 N/A N/A
0.00525 0.00525 0.00625 0.0125 0.01 0.01 0.00625 N/A
1.3 ~ 2.6 1.3~2.6 1.3 ~ 2.6 1.5 ~ 2.5 1.2 ~ 2.77 1.49 ~ 2.77 1.0 ~ 1.6 N/A
0.02 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.01 N/A
8 8 8 9 8 8 8 9
9 9 9 7 8 9 9 9
9 9 8.75 9 9 8.5 9 9
6.5 6.5 7 7 7.5 6.5 7.5 7.5
4/1 2/1 4/1 4/0 4/1 4/1 4/2 4/1
Additional heat- - Cooling fan, Ghost Recon -
- - - -
sinks Advanced Warrior disc
11096 10959 11551 11405 10981 10977 10918 10936
10502 10330 10707 9843 10268 10280 9942 10082
15817 15773 15694 14344 15640 15678 15614 15423
8879 8885 8769 8513 8842 8857 8743 8866
10078 9992 10241 10175 10047 9833 9814 10136
14070 13629 14004 14404 13943 13941 13821 13113
45582 45297 45655 43881 44669 44938 43451 43765
6941 6938 6940 6932 6938 6937 6934 6948
8808 8801 8807 8780 8795 8797 8779 8799
15873 16198 16803 15756 15852 15953 15942 15898
4697 4517 4639 4747 4747 4740 4574 4370
18 18 20.7 19 19 20.6 20 19
185 178 165.9 172 186 165.4 171 174
190 185 195.6 194 185 193.2 193 190
84.3 82.8 78.9 84.6 84.1 N/A 83.5 82.7
80 82 95 80 84 100 79 78
44 44 44 45 45 44 44 45
desktop PC should consider 790GX chipsets can be used. life tops the chart. MSI’s K9N2 continue to fall depending
it. It even uses DDR2 memory NVIDIA too has the nForce Diamond powered by the on several conditions. Once
which is extremely cheap at the 780a and 750a chipsets. In NVIDIA 780a chipset follows. you’ve decided the budget and
moment. our test, we see ASUS, MSI and There are many factors that what processor you’re going in
Those who want to build Gigabyte leading the charts. govern what kind of system you for. As it stands today, AMD’s
systems based on the faster for The ASUS M4A79T Deluxe build and what processor you motherboard-processor make a
CrossFire, AMD’s 790FX and which is almost at the end of its go for. Prices will almost always great low cost combo.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 105
Stayinvisible.com Socially anonymous
Gives you a list of proxy servers and
Workshop tools such as proxy checkers, IP
According to a researcher at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, companies can track
verifiers, and email testers for testing
your surfing habits from social networking
whether you are indeed anonymous
web sites
Workshop on
Anonymous Browsing
Mohamed Rameez observer is unable to track on ‘surf!’ to visit the webpage. displayed. However, you will
readersletter@thinkdigit.com from the source to the user. Also, there are several fields notice that to each webpage,
A
There are two basic methods that you check or uncheck snoopblock.com adds a frame
nonymous browsing to browse anonymously. These depending on your needs. on top with advertisements
is the process of are •Java: Checking this enables on it.
browsing the internet 1.Web based proxy services web deployed Java-based The second popular method
while keeping such as https://www. applications such as Java for browsing the internet
any personally identifiable snoopblocker.com. applets, programmes such anonymously is the usage
information secret. With the 2.VPN and proxy clients such as stock tickers or even new of virtual private network
help of the IP address, the as Tor and Hotspot shield. Gmail and Hotmail versions clients such as Tor, Java Anon
physical location of your A web based proxy to run through snoopblock. Proxy and Hotspot shield.
computer can be determined, service such as https://www. However, these programmes We will look at how to install
indirectly leading to the snoopblocker.com works by can gather significant Tor, which is available for
revelation of your identity. having a web server as an information and
When you browse without intermediary between a user hence compromise
anonymous browsing tools and a web server. Users are on your
anonymity.
•Javascript:
Javascript is
required to run
most modern
web pages. The
drawbacks of
enabling this are
similar to that of
enabling Java.
•Cookies:
Cookies enable
the webpage to
perform certain
essential web-
based functions
Google through snoopblocker such as keeping
the user signed
in at all times and Vidalia comes with added flexibility
through a standard internet connected over a secure 128 remembering his
service provider, your bit SSL connection. browsing record. However, download from www.torproject.
computer is identified via an On snoopblocker.com, the some malicious web sites org as a 10-MB file. The bundle
IP address, and sends out a central field is where you post cookies known as contains four components,
request to the server on which should type the address of the tracking cookies, which namely Tor, Vidalia, Privoxy
the web page is served. The web site you wish to browse. gather information about your and Torbutton.
basic principle behind all After this has been done, click activities. Tor is the basic tool that
anonymous browsing •Active X : Allows helps in setting up a VPN node
tools is the routing of Microsoft active X content on your computer so that you
communications through to be displayed. Poses may connect to other users of
a third server that is no major threats to Tor for anonymous browsing.
committed to protecting anonymity buy may slow Tor being a command line tool,
the identities of the end down the loading process it is supplied with Vidalia, a
user. Hence, anonymous due to higher bandwidth Graphic User Interface utility
browsing is basically requirements. that allows you to quickly and
the art of routing web After ticking the easily set up Tor and get it
page requests and other required options, entering running.
packet information over the required address and Privoxy is a filtering tool
the internet over various clicking the ‘surf!’ button, that monitors every web page
lines so that an external the requested page is and other internet service
106 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Chrome Filter Private on Android
According to its End User Lincence Aggreement,
Google reserves the right pre-screen, review,
A University of Cambridge student
has come up with two apps that
Workshop
flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all allow you to browse anonymously on
Content from any service Android-based phones
request from your computer their requests. This to impose content restrictions
and filters it off all personal is a process called upon one of the Tor users
data, adding an extra layer of relaying. This can be routed through your computer
anonymity. Torbutton is an done by clicking on fails in his schemes.
add-on toolbar for Mozilla the “Set Up relaying” To view a list of computers
Firefox that allows you to button on the Vidalia that are connected through
quickly turn anonymous control panel. In the you and computers that you
browsing on and off, without menu that pops up, connect to Tor through, click
having to go to Tor. you are given three the “View the Network” button
Privoxy and Torbutton are options. While you on the Vidalia control panel.
optional while you will find can choose to remain a
that Vidalia simplifies the passive user of the Tor A word of caution
job of getting Tor running services by choosing Anonymous browsing
to such a large extent, you the first option (Run remains anonymous only
would prefer to install it. as client only), the due to the commitment on
second option (Relay the part of providers such as
The Vidalia Control Traffic for the Tor snoopblocker.com, the various
Panel These settings make you a participating member of the
network) makes computers on the Tor network
Once installed, the Vidalia Tor network tings
you a full part of the to keep it anonymous. Every
control panel appears in the Tor network. This time you make a connection
system tray (a yellow onion new browsing/other service makes your computer a node request to these servers /
icon while connecting, black request you make appears as through which other users computers in order to access
when not connected and if it is coming from a totally may browse anonymously. a web site or a file on the
green when fully connected). new computer. This provides You are encouraged to use internet, these activities are
Double-clicking on this opens you with an added level of this option as it is through logged. However, these logs
the control panel. anonymity. other volunteers like you that are kept secret as a matter
To start Tor, one must click These settings make you a you are able to utilise the Tor of principle by these very
the Start Tor button on the participating member of the network. If you choose the providers.
control panel. Once clicked, Tor network. second option you are given Many programs available
it starts connecting to Tor. Now you know how to the option of specifying what on the internet claiming
Various status messages are to be tools for anonymous
displayed till the green bar Give us your feedback at browsing are exactly opposite
reaches full, at which point www.thinkdigit.com/d/oct09 of that - they compromise your
you are completely connected security and assist individuals
to Tor and the status changes enjoy anonymous browsing type of connections is allowed in perpetrating crimes such as
to “Connected to the Tor using Tor. However, your role through your computer. You identity theft.
network”. At this point, in the Tor network is not just may also choose to give an Also, the providers maintain
you may start browsing the limited to this. As you know, anonymous email id. You the services and their assurance
internet and all your actions the anonymity of Tor users may also set bandwidth limits of anonymity only because of
will be anonymous. is maintained by rerouting on the connections routed a belief in the right of every
If you have difficulty the communications around through your computer. individual to have online
connecting, or the progress the network through its The third option, (Help privacy (and commercial
of the green bar is too slow, various nodes until it becomes Censored users reach the interests). Any attempt at
it may be due to the fact that untraceable. You may choose Tor network) makes your misusing this anonymity and
your ISP requires you to use a to help Tor network by making computer an encrypted Node freedom given to you online
proxy, or you may be part of your computer a node through of the tor network so that for malevolent purposes
a local area network in which which others can route anyone (Maybe an ISP) trying (stalking, blackmail, anything
the local computers connect illegal) could adversely affect
to the internet through a that commitment. It is also
local proxy. If this is the case, possible for an individual
click on the ‘settings’ button, to have a court subpoena
go to the ‘Network’ Tab and the connection records of a
tick I use a proxy to server to obtain user specific
access the internet. In information, if the court is
the fields that appear upon convinced that the network
the ticking of this option, you has been used for illegal
have to provide the proxy purposes.
information given to you by All said and done,
your ISP. Tick/Untick the anonymous browsing is
remaining options as per mainly a boon, especially to
your preferences. our oppressed brethren in
The “Use a New identity” countries such as China and
Button on the Vidalia control the Middle Eastern ones,
panel changes your IP where content control and
address on the Tor network censoring are a very real part
in such a way that any A list of all users you are connected to, and are connected to you of life.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 107
Workshop Drive fast Blink and you’ll miss it
Toshiba has added a new 500 GB, 2.5-inch That’s how fast ‘Lightning’ is and that’s
laptop hard drive with a two-spindle the name of the new enterprise SSDs
design that runs at 7200 rpm from Pilant Technology
Backup your drive
Siddarth Raman only on CD/DVD. It allows you
readersletters@thinkdigit.com to add extra files and folders
(assuming you have space). Click
B
Next and soon your recovery
acking up your hard disk / pen drive will be ready
drive is always advised. for use.
A good software that Coming to the restoration
does the trick is Drive part, reboot your system with
Backup from Paragon. You can the disk or USB drive in place
download a trial version for free after setting the appropriate boot
at http://www.paragon-software. sequence from the BIOS settings.
com/home/db-express/download. Launch the Simple Restore
html.. Wizard by double clicking on it.
After you install and register Browse to the image you’d made
the installation, restart your earlier. The next window allows
system. As a word of caution, if you to examine the properties
you have large volumes of critical of your image, such as size and
data, you should back it up in Simple Backup Wizard available free space. Click next.
phases rather than copying Now, choose the disk you’d
all your data at once. Check recurrence. While recovering Recovery Media. like to restore. The last page of
your operating system for any the image, you should select a You can build and store the the recovery wizard will give
infections or malware. Click on different destination location. recovery media either on Flash you an option to review all your
Back up Disk or Partition to get You cannot recover the drive
started. Select the Master Boot from itself. It can also be stored
Record (MBR) and the main on computers that are available
drive (C: for most users). on connected networks.
Check for two important The whole backup process
figures - the size of source, and , takes time depending on the size
the destination location. Ensure of the image. Once it’s done, click
there is sufficient space to store Finish. Click on Check Archive Recovering your partition – the launch screen
the image of the data. Integrity. Select any of the listed proposed changes before
The next view asks you to archives, click next. This could memory (Pen-drive) or on a CD/ it starts destroying data. Click
select where you want to store take some time depending on DVD option; boot from USB is next to begin the restoration
your image file – the backup the size of the archive. the most convenient. Choose process. Hopefully, if everything
destination page. You may also Before you restore your drive, your option, click next. The first has gone on well, the progress
store the image on the drive you you must specify your recovery option is Typical. Use this if bar will eventually reach its end,
are backing up. The program media. If you plan to restructure you want to accept the default and you can click finish. Exit the
excludes that location from your operating system, you need recovery package and start Wizard and restart your system.
the backup location in order to to reboot from somewhere. On burning the disk. It will build If you have followed the correct
avoid ending up in an infinite the first screen, click on Build a Linux-based boot disk with a procedure, your current system
minimal set of tools for restoring will be replaced with a pristine
your image. Advanced is available version that you backed up.
The welcome screen of DBE Building Recovery Media
108 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Workshop Free fonts PC becoming slow
1001freefonts.com, dafont.com and If you are experiencing a drop in
Section Opener urbanfonts.com are some of the many
sites that offer you free fonts
your PC performance, it could be
due to the number of fonts installed
Make your own font
(And more!)
Rasagy Sharma it on the web site. Name the descender can reach. Try and
readersletters@thinkdigit.com font to identify it. You can then keep the letters inside the top
download your own font! and bottom lines to prevent
H
them from being cut off.
ave you ever wanted
to make text appear What you can make using Font
just like your Capture (Symbols/Emoticons)
own handwriting,
but never found a font that Understanding parts of a font
How x-height and baseline affect fonts
could do the trick? Is a little
personalisation all you need The quality of the font What makes a font look
to complete that card you just depends upon how you fill the different from another is how
designed, but all the handwriting template sheet, so we should the x-height and cap height
fonts seemed too common to keep a few things in mind. In are varied. As evident in the
use? Here’s how to get your own any piece of text (say “Digit”), above example, the non-
handwriting font using the baseline is the imaginary uniform baseline and varied
line on which all the letters sit. x-height makes the font look What you can’t do with Fontcapture
The uppercase letters fit between more like rough handwriting, (Overlapping/running hand/cursive
baseline and (1) – which gives whereas uniform baseline and handwriting)
us the cap height, whereas nearly similar ascenders and letters and send across coded
most of the lowercase letters x-height will give the font a messages!
are between baseline and (2) – smooth, pleasant feel. Also, for One of the main limitations
which gives us the x-height. A making your font legible, use of FontCapture is the lack of
few characters have ascender a black marker / gel pen and space: you can’t add fancy
and / or descender (like ‘d’ and avoid using very thin strokes frills to a character because
‘g’ respectively), which may cross throughout the font, though the template has a small fixed
the x-height. a few elegant fonts do have space for each one of them.
The template has small varying the stroke thickness. Getting a running handwriting
guide marks to roughly giving After a few tries, you’ll be font takes a while to master,
The template used to create the font you an idea about how high able to get a font that nearly for which you must start and
the ascender can reach, the looks like something you’ve end the characters at same
First, head on to the web site baseline, and how low the written on paper. But that isn’t height. Also, you can’t have
(www.fontcapture.com), click all you do with FontCapture. It overlapping characters or
on “Create your font now” and can represent alphabets using even simple cursive characters
download the font template anything that you fill in the which might extend into
available as a PDF file. Print template sheet, which means another character’s area,
this sheet and write on it with you can creatively use a few which doesn’t leave much
your handwriting as directed characters that you don’t use room for creativity. But you
and then scan the sheet (use often to represent some special can still come up with many
200 dpi or higher). Save it as a symbols. In fact, you can use interesting fonts. Possibilities
JPEG or PNG file and upload Using markings in the template your own symbols to represent are endless!
110 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Free Windows A phone with XPerience DIY
Microsoft will give away free copies of The xpPhone is a fully-featured, sliding QWERTY
Windows 7 to chosen people in the US, during cellphone with Windows XP as its operating
the launch parties between October 22-29 system!
Making Windows XP look
and feel like Windows 7
Want to enjoy the most talked about features of Windows 7, but don’t want to shift from good old
Windows XP? It’s time to get the best of both worlds, in only 30 minutes flat!
Rasagy Sharma to number the applications
readersletters@thinkdigit.com correctly.
[10.00] Splitting
E
ven though many XP Windows and
users are still reluctant AeroPeek
to make the switch to With Windows 7 comes a new
Windows 7, several set of shortcuts to arrange your
new features and innovative UI open windows. You can “snap”
modifications make it nearly open windows to different
impossible to resist. For all edges of your screen, which
those who still don’t want to is helpful if you quickly want
leave their good old XP (and The new & improved Superbar in Windows 7 (Left), Superbar (with options) in XP to divide the screen into two
don’t want to install all their using ViGlance separate halves. This is done
applications all over again) there with the Windows + Left or
are plenty of 3rd party software click on the thumbnail to open it). [05.00] Adding Task Right keys. Pressing Windows
to get the best features of ViGlance doesn’t require switching Keys + Space bar on the other hand,
Windows 7 in Windows XP. In an installation. Just run the Another feature of the displays the desktop by making
fact, it won’t take more than 30 software (And choose between “Superbar” is that it allows you all applications transparent.
minutes to get most of them up a few options) and you’re to use combinations such as There are several applications
& running on your XP machine! done. Right click on any of Windows + [1] to open the first that allow you to get the same
Before you get started, create the notification icons. Check menu on the taskbar and so functionality in Windows XP,
a system restore point, just in options to select animations on. It cycles through all open but we’ll just look at Windows
case some application starts and other effects. You can also instances of the particular Split. With it’s range of options
acting a little funny. For this, go drag and drop the icons, just application if it’s already open the application is a delight
to Start > All Programs like you can in Windows 7. otherwise starts the application. for any power user. Install the
> Accessories > System Also, similar to Superbar, you To get this functionality, just software and check the list of
Tools > System Restore can pin items that might be download ActivateByNum and Shortcuts available. Also, it
to create one. open so that their link stays on run it. It’s a small Autohotkey allows you to customise each
the taskbar, even when they script (If you use other split (Layout Settings) so you
[00.00] Adding the aren’t open. Though ViGlance Autohotkeys, you can just add can enjoy as much flexibility
superbar at times doesn’t load the the script as well). as you want to. Download
The Superbar minimises the thumbnails quickly, it surely Caution: One of the this nifty app from http://
space taken by each application de-clutters your taskbar and problems with running both www.winsplit-revolution.com/
instance by only displaying gives you a much more fun UI! ActivateByNum and ViGlance download
the icon of the application and If you’re looking for more together is that ViGlance
grouping similar instances of flexibility or eye candy, try doesn’t change the order [15.00] Shaking off
an application as one. You can out any dock software such of the taskbar items, which all inactive windows
click on the icon to choose the as RocketDock from http:// means that you must not using AeroShake
instances you want to open (Just rocketdock.com/download. drag the taskbar items or else Another UI improvement that
ActivateByNum will not be able was seen in Windows 7 is the
SUPERBAR USING VIGLANCE
FOR KEYBOARD WARRIORS
l Add more functionality to your Taskbar!
Link: http://www.lee-soft.com/viglance/ Keyboard switching through the taskbar with ActivateByNum
l Another alternative is to go for Windows 7 Superbar by Haran- Description: Run ActivateByNum to switch to different application/
Hockey. This uses themes to change the behaviour of the Windows application instances by using the [Win+num] combination
Taskbar. Link: http://code.google.com/p/activatebynum/
[Windows 7 Superbar: http://haran-hockey.deviantart.com/art/Windows-
7-Superbar-for-XP-104697395 ] Adding customizable Keyboard Shortcuts
l Taskbaric is another small tool that allows you to show open windows Description: Use Autohotkey to write powerful scripts to do nearly
as icons on your taskbar, though it lacks other features of Superbar anything with your Windows, with just a few key press!
[Taskbaric: http://sites.google.com/site/taskbaric/ ] Link: http://www.autohotkey.com/download/
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 111
Vaio plays spoilt-sport Microsoft’s OEM charge
Sony’s Vaio laptops will not be able to run Windows Microsoft recently revealed that it usually
7’s “XP mode” because Sony disables the required charges around $50 for a Windows copy for a
hardware virtualisation features on its laptops $1000-PC built by an OEM
make it easier to install.
http://www.deviantart.
com/download/106952053/
SevenVG_Refresh_with_
Superbar_by_Vishal_Gupta.zip
l CAD 2009 EDITION v1.5
by Flawless: For getting
the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen in
Windows 7 style, download
this application. http://
flawless02.deviantart.com/
art/CAD-2009-EDITION-v1-5-
for-XP-132794740
l Border Skin by Komalo: This
only modifies the borders of
Using the [Win+Right/Left] combination to place application on half the screen.
the applications to give it an
aero look. Though it has a
few bugs yet to be fixed, it’s
surely worth giving a shot!
http://komalo.deviantart.
com/art/Border-Skin-Aero-
Glass-On-XP-119640021
PowerToys from
Microsoft
TweakUI allows you to change
many features that are generally
not available to customize in
Windows XP. Similarly, there’s a
Power Calculator for advanced
calculations (which beats even
Use the Windows + Space combination to hide applications and show the desktop the Windows 7 calculator in
replacing is manual, so a functionality!).
AeroShake feature. What it to Windows Vista, and there’s a little time consuming. http:// PowerToys for XP: http://
does is simple: shake the active plethora of software and themes dopeysneezy.deviantart. www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/
window (the one you’re using) available to give you a Vista or com/art/Windows-7- downloads/powertoys/
and it hides all other windows. Windows 7 like looks. Complete-109505907 xppowertoys.mspx
Shake it again and the windows Here are a few of the popular l Seven VG Theme by Vishal These were few of the several
are back to where they were. themes, each offering a few Gupta: A very popular theme third-party applications
AeroShake software (Autohotkey special features. There are also a by Vishal Gupta, who also available that bring the best
script) for XP does the same! few complete “Transformation runs a blog with a lot of other features of Windows 7 to your
Pretty nifty replacement of the Packs”, but they’re known to tweaks for Windows users Windows XP. Choose the
Windows + [D] key used to have bugs and are at times (http://www.askvg.com/). ones you need and enjoy the
hide all windows, in case you difficult to get rid of, so you Different parts of the themes pleasure of Windows 7 while
just want to hide other inactive should probably avoid them! are available as setups, which using Windows XP!
windows. And being another Remember to first patch the
AutoHotKey script, it take uxtheme.dll file before installing
very little RAM too. You can these new themes. Download
also customize a few options UXTheme Patcher from http://
to choose number of shakes www.softpedia.com/ (Search for
and behaviour with Extended UX Theme, followed by your XP
displays. Service pack number).
l Windows 7 Complete by
[25.00] Skinning your DopeySneezy: A complete
Windows theme replacement, with a
This is something that need replacement utility to allow
not be covered in detail, as you to backup all the system
Windows 7 looks pretty similar files you need to change. But
SHAKE OFF INACTIVE WINDOWS
Use AeroShake to hide all the windows except the one you’re using, by
merely shaking the titlebar. Shake it again to bring them back to where
they all were.
Link: http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/11/Aero_
Shake_1.3.exe
Using Powertoys like Tweak UI & PowerCalculator to get more out of Windows XP
112 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Digit wishes its readers a Happy,
Prosperous and Safe Diwali
Microsoft Office tags: Appearing in Excel when
2007 a cell encounters a wrong
formula / function, this tag
Changing the colour allows you to change the
scheme properties of the cell and the
To change the default colour rules that govern the formulas.
scheme in Office 2007, click O
• therMiscellaneoussmart
on the Office button at the tags: Smart tags appear at
top left. Next, click on options various other occasions. For
and choose the colour scheme example, when you type a
in the customise menu under name that is part of your
the Popular tab. outlook contacts list, a smart
tag appears that allows you
Minimise/Hide the to quickly insert his address,
ribbon other details, schedule a
To minimise the ribbon, right- Getting around In UltraExplorer.......................................82 meeting or create a mailing list.
click on the Quick Access Microsofthasalsocreatedan
Toolbar located immediately Microsoft Office 2007...................73 Evernote................................................82 API (Application Programming
above or below the ribbon, Essential software............................76 Google Cheat sheet.......................84 Interface) for developers to
and click Minimise ribbon. create more Smart Tags. To find
Ultra Explorer .....................................77 Working with Sub-titles...............86
Similarly, to bring it back click these, go to the More Smart
on Maximise ribbon. YouTube ................................................80 Windows 7 ..........................................88 Tags option in the Autocorrect
Options.
Quick access toolbar
To add more features, right- in the tools toolbar/ribbon a clipboard after pasting Create PDF and XPS
click on the toolbar and space, or on right clicking a text/ options anywhere, this Go to tinyurl.com/ttoff and
select Customize the Quick red underlined entry in your tag allows options such as download the executable file.
Access Toolbar and choose workspace). You will now ‘keep source formatting’ Once installed, you can
and ‘match destination save your files as PDF or XPS
formatting’. by clicking Save as.
T
• heBullets,
numbering and
list smart tag:
This appears
when you
start a list /
numbered list
and Word/Excel
automatically
formats it.
It allows
for various
options such as
The Ribbon is strictly an option numbering and
spacing.
Powerful options in customisation are provided through macros
from a long list of functions notice small tags while you E
• rrorchecking
in Word/Excel/PowerPoint work. Some of these are:
options. T
• hePastesmarttag:
Appearing in the shape of
KeyTips
Within any Office
application, press [Alt]
to highlight all keyboard
shortcuts.
Smart tags
To enable smart tags, go to Paste smart tag in action
Autocorrect Options (found
Keyboard shortcuts need not be known by heart With Office 2007, you can save your documents as PDF and XPS files
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 73 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
mark spaces, carriage returns, headings of different formatting ‘insert’ tab. First, you need to
Macros etc. selectively included. What is create quick parts. This could
Regular Office users are familiar [F7]-Run a spell check more, Word 2007 comes with be a logo, table or header. In
with macros. These are nothing [Shift]+[F7]-Use the Quick Style sets, found on the the menu that pops up, click
but automation of repititive Thesaurus. styles toolbar again, which ‘save selection to Quick Part
tasks. makes adopting styles to your Gallery’, and then add a name
Click on the record macro Word 2007 document even easier. and description. Once you are
button in the ‘code’ toolbox done, all you need to do is click
of the Developer tab. Next, Styles Building blocks on the Quick Part you wish to
assign a name for your macro. Instead of manually formatting Byusingbuildingblocks, insert.
If you’ll need this macro often, each line in Word, you can you can create the bulk of a
you can add it to the Quick use styles. The advantages document using frequently Blogging
Access Toolbar. To do this, are numerous. Recognising used and predefined content Yes, the complex formatting
check the button in the ‘Assign each line for what it stands such as headers and tables. that would often take hours
macro to’ option. Similarly, for in the document (heading, This way, you can save time on a blogging page, can now
you can assign keyboard subheading, etc), and utilising by copying content from other be performed in Word posted
shortcuts by clicking on the styles option allows you to documents. directly. Click on the Office
Keyboard. button and go to Publish >
After clicking OK on the pop Blog. On your first post, you
ups, the macro starts recording will have to select your service
automatically. provider such as blogger or
You can perform your Windows Live. If your provider
required operations such as is not on the list, enter the URL,
inserting a table to a specific and details of the API.
format or performing spell
check. Only keystrokes and Excel 2007
mouse clicks are recorded.
Text that you type in the Pivot table and charts
workspace aren’t recorded A Pivot table automatically
while recording a macro. extracts meaningful information
from the data within it. For
Document inspector example, the maximum and
Click on the Office button and minimum values in each row/
then select the prepare menu. Publish to your blog directly from Office 2007 column, average, etc.
The document inspector is a
handy new tool that ensures quickly change the formatting
that the office document / for a specific group of lines (eg.
spreadsheet / presentation increase subheading sizes by
does not have any unwanted 1 point). Word comes with a
personal / privileged default set of styles, all of which
information such as footnotes can be quickly modified to your
and references. The Prepare preference. Another advantage
menu also provides for various of this feature is that once you
other security features such are done with your document,
as digital rights management, you can go to the Table of
encryption and content contents menu, found in the
management. References tab on the ribbon Complex data analysis is simple with Pivot tables
and quickly make a table of
Shortcuts contents. The table of contents To access building blocks, After you have entered your
There are some useful can be customised with select the ‘text’ menu bar in the data fields, for example, a list of
keyboard shortcuts that you salesmen and their respective
can use in Office 2007. sales, select the data and go to
[Ctrl]+[1]-Single-space all the Insert tab and select Tables
the lines in selection and click on PivotTable. In
[Ctrl]+[2]-Double-space all the pop-up window, choose the
the lines in selection base data for your pivot table.
[Ctrl]+[5]-1.5-space all the
lines in selection Conditional formatting
[Ctrl]+Space-Toggle In the Home tab, click on the
AutoCorrect conditional formatting button
[Ctrl]+[Del]-Delete the in the Styles menu bar. Here,
word to the right of the cursor you have various options such
[Ctrl]+Backspace-Delete the as greater than / less than, top
word to the left of the cursor 10 and top 10 percentage. You
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[8]-Toggle can also choose highlighting
hidden characters that depending upon the range of
Creating a document is as simple as dragging and dropping components
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 74 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
A few clicks can extend your battery life
What took many lines of formulae earlier is now confined to a button
especially in the emphasize and go to the Monitors
values in the cell. category. To view these, go to menu bar in the Slide Show
Advanced effects
Animations > Animations tab on the ribbon. Select the
Charts Effects such as bevelling a > Custom Animation > Add Use presenter view option.
Create a chart as before, by surface, which required a Effects > Emphasize. You Go ahead, fool around and
going to the Insert > Charts separate designer in previous can select options such as glow master the art of real time
Menubar.Now,onthechart presentations.
that you have created, add
trend lines by right-clicking Miscellaneous Office
on the line and clicking add 2007 applications
trendlines. You may further
right-click the trendlines and Optimising to save
choose to format them, as you Power
can do with the axes. To format If you’re using a laptop or
the chart area or vary shading a tablet PC and would like
and scales, right-click the chart. to optimise your power
consumption, go to Tools >
PowerPoint 2007 Options. In the Others tab,
select the appropriate level of
SmartArt Graphics performance/battery life.
To see how this works, go to
theSmartArtButtonfound Shared Notebook With
in the Illustrations menu Some effects that would take a professional designer earlier can now be done in OneNote 2007
bar in the Insert tab. You PowerPoint with a few clicks OneNoteisMicrosoft’sway
of collaboration. To enable
in and lightbulb which were this feature, go to Share >
unavailable in previous versions Live Sharing session. You
of Office. may choose to host or join an
already hosted notebook. In
Presenter view the earlier case, you will have
To utilise this option, plug in an to specify the password to your
extra monitor to your computer notebook while in the latter
With SmartArt, illustrations finally got smart
have a wide range of options presentations, can be
from cycles to hierarchies to performed easily in PowerPoint
processes that you can add 2007. To view these options,
to your document. Once you go to Design > Themes >
select any object, an outline art Effects. Office 2007 also has
is added to your presentation. updated effects in animation, Collaborate with Microsoft Office 2007
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 75 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
case, you will have to enter the
IP address/URL of the other
notebook too. Once joined,
OneNote synchs the notebook
being used by the host to all
the connected computers, after
which modifications made
anywhere are made dynamically
viewable to all users.
Speeding up picture
manager
In Windows XP, go to
c:\Documents and
settings\\ Switch between a rich format with images to a plain unformatted text
local settings\
application data\
Microsoft\OIS. Removing the Ad
Open oiscatalog.cag using bar
a text editor such as Notepad You can disable the Ad bar
and delete any line pointing to that appears on the upper
a remote location. right corner by right-
Vista users, go to C:\ clickingonanyToolBar
Users\\ and uncheck Advertisement.
AppData\Local\Microsoft\ This option is not accessible
OIS. through the menu bar.
YourOfficePictureManager
should now start in a jiffy. Extracting Text
With Foxit Reader, extracting
Essential Software text is much easier. Click
Tips for some of the software on the Text Viewer icon (a
we provide on our DVD, in the pair of glasses on a paper) or
Essentials section. use the keyboard shortcut
[Alt] + [9]. This removes
Foxit Reader all images and formatting
Foxit Reader is a free, light from the PDF. You can now
weight and feature-rich read your PDF in plain text
substitute for Adobe Reader. and even copy text [Ctrl] +
It may not have In addition to [C] from here. To revert back The different text editing tools present in Foxit Reader
typical PDF readers, features to normal mode, press [Alt]
such as adding notes and + [9]. press [Alt] + [7]. Click and
Adding text to the
creating links within a PDF drag the mouse to select the
document
document are also available. If Taking a Snapshot area you want to copy it to the
you are unable to download, Foxit’s snapshot utility is as clipboard. After extracting text and
you can also find it on this effective as the Text viewer. To
month’s Digit DVD. activatetheMarqueeselecttool,
Take screenshots within Foxit itself Add text to a particular place in the file
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 76 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Set Password. Here you will
be asked to enter the desired
password twice. You also have
the option to encrypt the file
names for security or personal
reasons. Click OK to create the
archive. You will need to enter
a password to open individual
files.
Creating a self
extracting archive
To create a self extracting
(SFX) archive, or one that is
automatically extracted to a
folder, select the option Create
SFX archive and click on OK.
When you try to open this file, Create an SFX archive for your data
Use different shapes to help you along your work
images, Foxit also lets you to point, you can insert objects
add text notes. To add text go such as arrows to your text.
to Comments on the menu bar You will find these in the
and then click on the Insert DrawingMarkupToolsunder
Text tool. Double-click on the the Comments menu bar. The
caret to type additional text. tools range from lines, arrows,
You can also add floating different geometric shapes to
text, with or without a border. a very variable cloud tool that
To do this, go to Comments changes shape with each
> Typewriter Tools and click. Try them out, you might
click on Typewriter Tool for find it quite fun to use. You
text without a border. Use the also have an eraser tool, so
Textbox Tool for adding text that you can erase the parts
with a border. you don’t need.
Highlighting text WinRar 3.80
To highlight text in Foxit, use WinRar, also a regular of our
the Highlighting tool in Favorite DVD essentials, is a much View your CPU performance with the WinRar benchmark utility
Tools or select the Highlight used tool by one and all for
Text Tool from the Comments archiving data and also as process.Makesurethatyou
menu bar. Click and drag the data compression utility. instead of showing you the data, have done the right calculation
text you want to highlight. If it will directly ask you for the for bytes or else you will end
you repeatedly highlight the Adding Password path so that it can extract the with with many small split up
same text, the colour of the To password-protect your files there. Also the archive will files. To open the archived file,
highlight intensifies. files, right-click on your file have a slightly different icon just click on the first part of the
If you don’t want to selection and select the option and will have an EXE extension file and extract it.
highlight, or want to highlight Add to archive. Navigate to instead of the default rar.
something and want a different the Advanced tab and click on Similarly, to convert an Benchmarking your
type of marking system, existing RAR archive processor
use the Underline text tool into an SFX archive, go For those of you who follow
or the Squiggly Text Tool. to Tools > Convert our comparison tests, you
These are also located in archive to SFX in the would have noticed that we
the Comments menu bar. menu bar. Click on OK at log the scores of the WinRar
the next dialogue box and benchmark as well. This
Adding Notes your SFX archive is ready. WinRar benchmark allows you
You can add notes around to measures the performance of
the document using the Splitting files how well your CPU compresses
Note Tool. Unlike the text To split a file, first add anddecompressesdatainkBps.
tool, notes can be moved your file selection to an To use this yourself, just go
around and their colour archive. Select the option to Tools > Benchmark and
can also be changed. Split to volumes, hardware test and view the
bytes and enter the results. You can compare these
Markup Tools desired individual file size, results to the results we obtain
If you need added and click OK. This will start to check how well your system
emphasis on a particular Secure your archive by adding a password the archiving and splitting is performing.
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 77 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
Magnify or zoom on to a particular part of the video
between Quarter, Half, Original
Cropping a video andDouble.Bydefault,the
There are two ways to video is set at original. If you
crop a video in VLC. You want to zoom in on a specific
can either use preset part of a video, then it’s back
crops based on aspect to the Video Effects tab in the
ratio, or go to Video > Effects and Filters settings.
Crop from the menu bar Once there click on the
and select the one you Geometry tab and put a check
want to use. To precisely onMagnify/Zoom.Whenyou
crop your video, open the enable that option, you will see
Effects and Filters menu. a small box, similar to a picture
Select the Video Effects in picture box, visible on the
tab and then select the VLC player’s screen. If you click
You can either sharpen or the blur the video with these settings
VLC 1.0.1 can adjust Sigma levels if you
VideoLan player is another tool think the video is blurry.
on our DVD essentials and is Similarly, you can also add
a convenient video playback blur to your video. Go to Video
software. The latest version is Effects and click on the Image
1.0.1. Modificationtab.Here,not
only can you add blur, but
Video adjustments also effects such as gradients,
With VLC, you can adjust hue, waves and water effects. Just
saturation, brightness, gamma click on the option you want
values of a video especially if it to try and the video changes
is poorly shot. Go to Tools > simultaneously. You can also
Effects and Filters from add noise to the video from this
the menu bar and navigate to settings window.
theBasicstab
under the Video
Effects and check
Image Adjust. Move the blocks to solve the puzzle
This unlocks the
scroll options Crop tab. Here, you can crop and drag that small box, the
to change the the video based on pixels and video will focus on that part
settings. Now use individually crop off parts of of the video. To magnify, just
the scroll bar to the top, bottom, left and right increaseordecreasetheZoom
change the colour in real time. bar,locatedbelowtheMagnify
settings. box. This is useful if you want
Under the Zoom and Magnify toMagnifyorZoominona
same settings Similar to Cropping, the zoom particular area within a video,
menu, you can function also has two modes which could be a painting or a
adjust the video that you can use. The first person.
sharpness. Check way is to go to Video > Zoom
Sharpen and you Create precision crops using VLC and watch the changes from the menu bar and select Play a puzzle
simultaneiously
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 78 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
You can convert any video clip plugins.htm and download iv_
into an interactive puzzle. VLC formats.zip that contains the
changes your video into blocks RIOT plug-in. Once installed,
and shuffles them around, while modify the images you plan to
you need to join the pieces use for the web. Click on the
together to get the video back to Save for
its original format. Open the Web option under File in the
Video Effects tab and go to menu bar.
Geometry. Put a check on Next, select between
Puzzle game, and start JPEG, GIF and PNG.
playing. Under JPEG, you can
use the quality slider
to increase or decrease
Creating a video
the quality of the image.
wallpaper Under GIF, you can adjust
VLC has the feature the slider to change the
to use the DirectX colours from 2 to 256
capabilities of your colours and you also
graphics solution and use The pattern made with the Emboss tool in IrfanView
have the option to save
it as a video output mode. it as an interlaced image.
First, get rid of your With PNG, there are no
existing wallpaper. Go to sliders to adjust, but you
Tools > Preferences can change the Colour
from the menu bar and reduction by selecting it
click on Video on the from the drop down.
left. Select DirectX Video With JPEG and GIF
Output from the drop images, you have the
down list displayed next option to compress the
to Output and click on image you are about to
Save. Now start up a save. For this, click on
video and go to Video on the Compress to size
the menu bar and click button towards the right
on DirectX Wallpaper. side of the window. Input
the value of the size you
IrfanView The paint want(inkB)andclickon
The next essential software dialog most OK. RIOT automatically
we are going to give you of us are makes changes to the
tips and tricks about is familiar quality for JPEG, and Create really funky designs with the Swirl effect
IrfanView, one of the most with colours for GIF and
simplest and fastest image will give you an
explorers available. We’re outcome with the
not going to tell you about the desired size. for zoom, actual view, fit to Effects > Emboss. Now use
basics that are possible with There are two viewing panes, window and in-place compare. the Sharpen filter. To do this, just
IrfanView, but instead we’re one displays the original image, press Shift + [S] a number of
going to tell you about some while the other displays the Abstract patterns times till you see a pattern form.
things you could do with optimised image. The area You can create abstract patterns Next for a bit of finishing, you can
IrfanView, that you ordinarily between the two holds buttons or images by using various go to Image > Effects > Oil
wouldn’t use a software filters in IrfanView. You Paint to smoothen out the edges.
like IrfanView for. can either use an existing You can try different filter
image or create a new one. combinations or colours and
RIOTing with Go to Edit > Show create these abstract patterns of
IrfanView Paint dialog from the your own.
RIOT stands for menu bar to see Two other effect filters we
Radical Image IrfanView’s paint tools. are fond of are the Twirl and
Optimisation Tool and Create a new image by Swirl effects. We’ve found an
is a very useful plug-in pressing [Ctrl] + [N]. interesting way to use these
for IrfanView. With Select the Rectangle Tool with a similar method as
this plug-in you can and set the foreground mentioned above. Instead of
optimise images for the colour to white. Set the using a single white colour,
web.Basically,when pixel width to about 5 use different colours for
you save an image, pixels. Next randomly different rectangles and fill the
you can choose saving create rectangles of different canvas. Next, go to Images >
options and also the shapes around your canvas. Effects > Effect Browser
file size. Go to http:// After that apply the Emboss and select Swirl or Twirl, and
www.irfanview.com/ The RIOT interface when you click on Save for Web filter by going to Image > your artwork is ready!
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 79 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
YouTube Those that are available
Here’s a quick list of tricks that would usually carry the HD
could jazz up your YouTube option button under the video
experience. screen anyway. If the button
is coloured red, you’re already
Warp watching HD. Alternatively, you
If you’re tired of seeing all linear could add &fmt=22 to the URL
frames, here’s a cool trick called for the HD view. This increases
Webview – or ‘Warp Speed’ - to the resolution to 1280×720,
get you literally bouncing. Go to H.264 video @ 1024Kbps; audio
http://www.youtube.com/ @ 44.1KHz, 232 kbps stereo.
warp_speed and click on any of Do any of these and the display
the video thumbnails you see. will switch to a wider screen,
The page now occupies the full better resolution (true 720p high
screen and all the video links Satellite videos definition) and crisper sound. If
Use the drop down menu
to change your settings
Played videos are linked
watching, or add &fmt=18 you want to watch only those
to the URL in the address videos uploaded in HD, the new
bar above. This increases the interface makes it even easier
resolution to 480×360, H.264 now. Just click on the Videos
Thumbnails are for the squares video @ 512Kbps; audio @ link on the top left of the
44.1 KHz, 128 kbps stereo. The YouTube home page, and then
turn into floating balls, are colour coded – the circles resolution, however, is 480p or click on the link which says HD
hovering over a dark around them are of the same less. Although HQ is not the in the top centre of the page.
background. colour – and every time you same as HD (High Definition), This will open a grid view of all
Movethemousetohoverthe click on a different kind of the new HQ feature allows you the popular HD quality videos
cursor over a particular circle video, a dot of the same colour to view any video at optimal available for view.
and other related videos burst appears on the top left corner quality if you just change the
out for your reference, with the of the screen. Videos you have settings. Click on ‘Accounts’ in
Making your YouTube
firstoneinthecentre.Besides, watched are connected by the drop-down menu under you
channel look great
a tag appears too – this time lines as a quick review of your User ID (top-right of the screen).
in a speech balloon – to show viewing history. Click on Playback Setup and If you have a YouTube channel,
you what the video is all about. choose the option which says you can spice it up with a few
Click on any one of them for High quality videos I have a fast connection. steps. After signing in to your
the video player to appear and To watch videos in high quality Always play higher- YouTube account, click on
watch your favourite video in modem either click on the ‘HQ’ quality video when it’s Account > My Account > My
a new mode. Similar videos button under the video you’re available’. Channel > Channel Design.
Get your hyperlinks to fly Change Playback settings to HD
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 80 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
This opens the Edit Your speech bubble (a comic book- CHANGE THE BACKGROUND
Channel page. style text bubble), a note (a text- Try http://backgroundtube.com/ which lets you download images from
Click on Themes and box) or a spotlight (a highlighted a whole range of theme categories from ‘Abstract’ to ‘Sports’. Upload
Colors and choose from any of area which displays text when the picture to your channel and don’t forget to change the colour coding
the preset themes provided the mouse hovers over it) to the according to parameters provided by the web site.
above. Click on the new theme video.
link, give your new theme a You could choose to seek and text boxes to different locations
name, click on the Choose freeze the frame you want to with the click-and-drag action of
File button for Background attach the annotation to before the mouse.
Image, upload a picture from you use the editor. Once you You could change the time
your computer and Save click on one of the buttons, the anddurationofeverytag.By
Changes.Bingo,you’vegota annotator toolbar appears in the default, every tag appears at the
new background. middle of the screen with more point in time that you attach it
options. You could type in the and then hangs around for 5
Video annotations text you want to add, edit or seconds before disappearing.
You can now add comments to delete earlier annotations, add You could change this by
your videos. When you play an annotation link or change its feeding in the start and end
times in the H:MM:SS.s format
(Hour:Minutes:Seconds:Millise
conds) to make it visible for as
long as you want.
Annotations, by default, Deleting an annotation is easy
For HD videos only
pop up once they’re published. Active sharing
TheMenubuttonatthe A great way to let friends,
one of your videos, you’ll see bottom of the video player contacts and other YouTube
the Annotations Editor button could be used to turn them members know what you’ve
above the video player. The off. You could click through been watching is by enabling
+ button that appears on the Add or edit comments using this Account > MyAccount > the Active Sharing feature
bottom- left of the screen gives Playback Setup >
you three options of adding a colour. You can drag or resize Annotations and
uncheck the box
which says Show
annotations.
You could delete
all the annotations
by simply clicking on
the delete button
in the pane on the The tools for annotations are cantered for convenience
side of your video
player when you view it in My which you can do by changing
Account > Annotations and settings in your account. Just
then Publish the changes you click on the History button on
have made. the top right of the YouTube
Sometimes annotations can homepage and click the Start
interfere with your viewing even Active Sharing button at the
when you’re watching someone
How to get to your channel else’s videos embedded on
other sites. A simple way to Share your video viewing habits with
disable these is to append the Active Sharing
code &iv_load_police=3 to
the video’s embed code. bottom right of your screen.
This will now
allow people to see
your User ID next
to the video you’re
watching in real
time – and about
twenty-five other
people who may be
watching the video
simultaneously.
Your viewing history
of the last half hour
will also be a part of
Personalize your channel with your own wallpapers. Block annotations by unchecking the box your Channel page.
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 81 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
Ultra Explorer
Although Windows Explorer
manages your files to an
adequate level, other tools give
you added functionality and a
higher level of operability. One
such software is UltraExplorer.
•Installation
UltraExplorer is available as a
free download and is light on
resources.
•Functionality
Ultra Explorer’s functionality
is similar to the usual Explorer.
You have the usual options to
navigate one level up, go back
or move forward. The bar at the
bottom gives you the file count,
size and other details.
•Navigation
Double-click anywhere to
go one level up. The Folder
window on the left is similar Some of the features seen need to be enabled.
to Windows Explorer.
UltraExplorer also has multi- pleased with the drag and drop Filter. It’s simpler and more different colour and font. If you
tabbed browsing. To do this, option. If you want to sort out utilitarian when compared to plan to use the software more
go to File > New Tab or use onlyMP3files,andyou’retoo the Filters Window. The Drives extensively can use extra plug-
the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] bored to create new filter or toolbar gives easy access to all ins, get shell extensions, custom
+ [T]. type in *.mp3, simply drag mapped drives. It also allows theme their environment by
•List/View window anMP3fileontoyourFilter easyaccesstoUSBdrives,CD giving a different skin to every
To enable this, go to View Window and UltraExplorer will drives and other externals toolbar (Tools > Customize)
> Windows > List View do the rest. connected to it. and several other minute
Window. This helps you see the •DropStack window If you’re familiar with tweaks. You can use the
changes you are making within If you’re transferring files from Windows, you’ll know Windows + [E] key to access
the destination window from multiple locations and the the different view modes - UltraExplorer. To do this, go to
the source window (eg. a move destination is the same, you Thumbnails, List, Details, Icons Tools > Shell Extensions
operation). You can now keep would have to open all the are common. > Win+E hook.
tab on both. windows, either laboriously The number of ways What is interesting to
•Favourites window drag and drop each one, or to enable these modes is observe is how much utility
There’s also a Favourites Cut and Paste. The DropStack numerous. The most obvious they’ve managed to pack in a
window that you need to enable serves as a temporary location is View > Column Mode. It is mere Explorer.
in a way similar to the List/ for all your file operations. Drag similar to the Treelist view, but
view window. You can drag and files on to the drop stack and allows you to view the folders Evernote
drop the most commonly used then you can batch process and subfolders horizontally. Evernote allows you to take
programs or folders into the operations on them. The scope Each window can have a notes and synch your notes
side dock. for utility is excellent
•Indexing service (zipping together files
Using UltraExplorer’s indexing in different regions,
service, you can create real-time batch conversions
filters. The Filter Window and mass transfers are
(View > Windows > Filter typical examples).
Window) allows you to create, •Viewer window
filter in and filter out (filter The Viewer window
all similar matches out of the lets you preview the
list) search options. It’s fully file before opening.
customisable with extensions This is extremely
(eg,MP3,TXT)andwildcard useful for small text,
options. If you want to search binary,HTMLor
for a file that starts with A and media files. It opens
ends with T and is a JPEG, you pictures, text files,
can run a search for a*t.jpeg. PDFs,MP3sandAVI
For one character, use ?, while files.
* is the wildcard for multiple •Quick filter bar
characters, or view only folders. To activate the quick Taking and highlighting screen shots with Evernote
•Drag and drop search filter bar, go to View >
UltraExplorer seems quite Toolbars > Quick Evernote’s web interface
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 82 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
betweenyourPC,Macand highlight anything within that
mobile phone. Evernote is image using a pen tool. Press
limitedtoa40MBstorage [Prt Scr] again to adjust the
space per month, but works image borders. To save this as a
across various mobile platforms note, either click on the logo or
such as iPhone / iPod Touch, just hit [Enter]. To discard the
Blackberry,PalmPreand clip, just press [Esc].
WindowsMobile.
Notes using Twitter
Managing notes Follow myEN on Twitter. You
Bydefault,yourusername
will receive an email to link
is considered as a notebook
your Twitter and Evernote
where your notes are stored.
account. Once that’s done, all
You can also create multiple
you need to do is tweet myEN.
notebooks for office and
Just use @myEN and your
holidays. This lets you organise
tweet will be saved as a note.
your data better.
Tags is another way to
classify your notes, images, Login and create a new note instantly
Evernote on the iPhone
tweets, web clips or audio clips. Once you login to the Evernote
You can manually add a tag application on your iPhone,
when saving a note, or select you can capture photos that
the tag you have created from a becomes a note. You can also
drop down list. record audio, take iPhone
screen captures and turn them
into notes. To take a photo, tap
Web clipping with
the option Snapshot. To create a
Evernote
note, tap on Text. Similarly, tap
Go to Evernote.com and click on Voice to create an audio clip.
Downloads. Next click on Web
Clippers located on the left side
Creating notes
You can either type out a note
or use the Ink mode to scribble
the note out. To create a new
text note use [Ctrl] + [0] or
Taking and highlighting screen shots with Evernote
boundaries of the clip and click
Taking a snapshot on the Evernote logo to save
the image to your notes. To
To use the snapshot feature, highlight something within the
press [Prt Scr], which creates image, hit [Prt Scr] a second
a cropping tool. Adjust the time, and you will be able to
Write out notes with the Ink Mode
of Evernote
of the web page. Drag the Clip
to Evernote button onto the
browser link bar located just
below the address bar to use the
web clipping feature. Write out notes with the Ink Mode
You can now select anything of Evernote
from images, text, links or
audio and create a note with
them. To add notes, click and
drag the text or select the
Using Evernote on the iPhone
image that you want to make
a note of. Click on the Clip to
Evernote browser button. After [Ctrl] + [9] for Ink mode.
you login, add a title for the Click on the star shaped button
note, create or add a tag to the on the Ink mode toolbar to
note, and also add some text if enable auto shape mode. Auto
needed. Click Done and your shape straightens out lines and
note will be stored and can be Evernote interface on the desktop curves to give a sharper written
accessed from anywhere. text.
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 83 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
Google Cheat Sheet
Google Search
Example Function Example Function
Apples OR Oranges Any one of the number listed m_Mars Mass of the heavenly body
“Apples and oranges” Exact phrase r_Moon Radius of the heavenly body
Apples -Oranges Without a particular word Pi Value of any constant
~Tech Blogs Looks for items similar and related Site: www.thinkdigit.com Searches within the site
to “tech” Cache: www.thinkdigit.com Searches Google’s cache of the site
+Orange Excludes synonyms and plurals from
intitle: digit Pages with names containing “digit”
the search
in the title
Apple *** Orange A number (here, 3) of words be- allinurl: forum Search with the word forum in the
tween the two words url
2+2 Add two numbers safesearch: pornography Academic material, safe search
2 plus 2 Add two numbers Link: www.thinkdigit.com Sites that link to a site
2–2 Subtract two numbers Info: www.thinkdigit.com Information about a site
2 minus 2 Subtract two numbers Related: www.thinkdigit.com Sites related to the specified site
2*2 Multiply two numbers -inurl:html -inurl-html Searches for the format in the index
2/2 Divide two numbers “index of” *.(format) of files
2% of 2 Finds out a percentage of a number +the/+if Forces inclusion of words otherwise
2^2 A number raised to another omitted during search
12 Kmph in Mph Unit conversions filetype: .mp3/.pdf/.avi Searches for the particular formats
Google Reader
Shortcut Function
Gmail [J] Next file
Shortcut Function [K] Previous file
[C] Compose mail Spacebar Move downwards
[O] Open mail [Shift]+Spacebar Move upwards
[X] Select mail [N] Select next file
[S] Star mail. Press repeatedly to cycle stars. [P] Select previous file
[1] Report spam [S] Adds star to file
[N] Next mail [Shift]+[S] Shares current file
[P] Previous mail [M] Toggles “read” state
[K] Next conversation [T] Add tags to file
[J] Previous conversation [Shift]+[A] Mark all as read
[R] Compose reply [Shift]+[X] Expand/collapse a folder
[A] Reply to all [Shift]+[O] Open current file
[F] Forward mail [G] + [A] Goes to “All Items”
[U] Return to Inbox (or refresh) [G] + [S] Goes to “Starred Items”
[Tab] [Enter] Sends message [/] Quick guide to all shortcuts
[Y] + [O] Archive current mail, go to next
[G] + [A] Go to “All Mail” YouTube
[G] + [S] Go to “Starred Mail” Shortcut Function
[G] + [C] Go to contacts Spacebar Pasue/Play video
[G] + [D] Go to Drafts Right Arrow Fast Forward
[G] + [I] Go to Inbox Left Arrow Move back
/ Go to search box Up Arrow Increase volume
[Esc] Removes cursor from the current field Down Arrow Decrease volume
[Enter] Opens mail, expansion toggle for con- [F] Full Screen
versations [Escape] Return to regular view
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 84 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
Google Docs
Shortcut Function Shortcut Function
[Ctrl]+[A] Select all [Ctrl]+Up Arrow Go to top-most cell in data region (cur-
rent column)
[Ctrl]+[B] Bold
[Ctrl]+[Page Down] Move to next worksheet
[Ctrl]+[C] Copy
[Ctrl]+[Page Down] Move to previous worksheet
[Ctrl]+[D] Copy down (used in combo with Shift +
arrow keys) [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[F] Full screen
[Ctrl]+[E] Center alignment [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[L] Bulleted list
[Ctrl]+[F] Find and replace [Ctrl]+[Shift]+Spacebar Insert non-breaking space
[Ctrl]+[G] Find next [Ctrl]+Spacebar Remove formatting
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[G] Find previous [Ctrl]+[1] Header style 1
[Ctrl]+[I] Italicize [Ctrl]+[2] Header style 2
[Ctrl]+[J] Full justify [Ctrl]+[3] Header style 3
[Ctrl]+[K] Insert link [Ctrl]+[4] Header style 4
[Ctrl]+[L] Left alignment [Ctrl]+[5] Header style 5
[Ctrl]+[M] Insert comment [Ctrl]+[6] Header style 6
[Ctrl]+[M] Insert new slide [Ctrl]+[7] Toggle numbered lists
[Ctrl]+[P] Print [Ctrl]+[8] Toggle bulleted lists
[Ctrl]+[R] Right alignment [Ctrl]+[9] Change list dialog
[Ctrl]+[R] Copy Right (used in combo with Shift + [F2] Edit active cell
arrow keys) [Enter] Move to next cell in column
[Ctrl]+[S] Save [Esc] Cancel cell entry
[Ctrl]+[U] Underline [Shift]+[Enter] Move to previous cell in column
[Ctrl]+[V] Paste [Shift]+[Page Up]/[Page Extend the selection up/down one
[Ctrl]+[X] Cut Down] screen
[Ctrl]+[Y] Redo [Ctrl] + Spacebar Select entire column
[Ctrl]+[Z] Undo [Shift] + Spacebar Select entire row
[Ctrl]+[End] Go to last cell in data region [Shift] + arrows Manual select
[Ctrl]+[Home] Go to first cell in data region [Page Down] Move down one screen
[Ctrl]+Left Arrow Go to left-most cell in data region (cur- [Page Up] Move up one screen
rent row) [Shift]+[Tab] Move to previous cell or row
[Ctrl]+Right Arrow Go to right-most cell in data region [Ctrl]+[.] Superscript
(current row)
[Ctrl]+[,] Subscript
[Ctrl]+Down Arrow Go to bottom-most cell in data region
[Tab] Move to next cell or row
(current column)
Google Maps
Shortcut Function
Blogger Arrow Keys Pan in the particular direction
Numpad arrow keys Pan more in the particular direction
Shortcut Function
[Ctrl] + [B] Bold [=] Zoom In
[Ctrl] + [I] Italic [-] Zoom Out
[Ctrl] + [L] Blockquote More Google Services Check these out
[Ctrl] + [Z] Undo http://labs.google.com/ Find sets based on your inputs
[Ctrl] + [Y] Redo sets
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + [A] Add hyperlink (a=href) http://www.google. An archive of all special Google logos
com/holidaylogos.html
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + [P] Preview
http://www.google. Trends and insights
[Ctrl] + [D] Save as draft
com/intl/en/press/zeit-
[Ctrl] + [P] Publish geist/index.html
[Ctrl] + [S] Save http://www.google. Thirsty for information? Google has the
[Ctrl] + [G] Indic script transliteration com/googlegulp/ right drinks for you
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 85 Digit | October 2009
Workshop
Working with subtitles
S
ince the advent of the dialogues then you need to add at which the last dialogue is of the duration of the first CD.
video culture, many a delay of 2 seconds. Similarly, spoken. Scroll to the point Now select all subtitles [Ctrl]
have felt the need to you may need an advancement on the video where the + [A] and hit [Ctrl] + [C]
manipulate subtitles for (negative delay) of -2 seconds. first dialogue is spoken (eg. to copy the same. Open the
their videos. To add delay, open the subtitle 4:25). Next select the subtitle CD1 SRT and scroll down to
file by going to File>Load that should appear at that the last entry. Hit [Ctrl] +
Subtitle or [Ctrl] + [O]. point. Now go to Video > [V] to paste, and then save the
Synching subtitles
Next go to Edit > Timings Synchronisation > Mark as changes in a new file which will
One of the most common > Set delay. From the drop first sync point or hit [Ctrl] have the combined subtitles
reasons why subtitles may be down list, change to either + [1]. Go to the point on the
out of synch is a simple delay. positive (+) or negative (-) video where the last dialogue Adding subtitles
This is a relatively easy problem delay and enter the delay in is spoken and simultaneously Subtitle Workshop also allows
to fix. The second cause of milliseconds. select the last subtitle entry. you to add subtitles to your
subtitles being out of synch Hit [Ctrl] + [2]. The own video. In doing so, there
has to do with the frame rate. Mismatching application will now ask you if are a few terms we need to
The frame rate of the movie framerates you wish to synchronise as per understand viz. Show, Hide and
and that of the subtitles does To find out the framerate of a Duration. Show is the point
not match. This causes the particular video file open it in at which the subtitle will
subtitles and the movie to go VLC player and go to Tools appear. Hide is when it will
at different speeds. In such a > Codec Information or fade. And the duration is the
case even if the subtitles and [Ctrl] + [J]. Then open time-period for which it will
the dialogues start at the same the corresponding subtitle remain on the screen. To add
time, towards the end of the file for that video in Subtitle subtitles click File > New.
video you may get a delay. The Workshop4. On the top panel Next load your video. The
third is a combination of these of the interface, switch the best way is to pause video
two reasons. This is when the ModetoFramesfromthe where you want the subtitle
process of scaling comes into drop-down menu. You will to appear, hit the [Insert]
the picture. have options such as 23.976 Sync subtitles key and begin typing the
fps. Choose the appropriate subtitle script. Increase
Solutions one. Click File > Save to the reference points. Click Yes. duration and then move on
The easiest fix for mismatching save the changes on to the to the next dialogue and hit
subtitles is to search for the same file. Note that the time Combining subtitle files [Insert] a new subtitle entry
exact file name with date stamp will not get affected At times we get subtitle files with the corresponding time
and other meta data (such with this change and that the that are meant for two CD stamp will be created. You
as“1CD”,[2008],700MB). subtitle format must depend video files, while the video file can also change the position
Often, this should give you on framing to keep time. that we have is a single CD of the subtitles by using the
the subtitle file you’re looking 700MB.Avi.Whatdoyoudo vertical scroll bar on the left
for. The operations described For synchronising in such a case? The quick fix of the video window. Similarly
below are performed using To synchronise using scaling, solution is to apply a delay colour, bold, italics formatting
an easy to use subtitles you will have to open both the (equal to the duration of the options are available. Once you
manipulation software known video file as well as subtitle first CD) to the second subtitle are done click on File > Save
as Subtitle Workshop4. file in Subtitle Workshop. Go file. The long term fix is to As. The application supports
to Video > Open to open the try and combine the two files. almost all known subtitle
Delay in subtitles video. Go to File > Load Let’s consider the files to be formats. Choose a file type that
When you start playing a video, Subtitles for adding subtitles. SRT. Open the CD2 SRT file in supports the formatting you
note the exact time when the The subtitle entries are Subtitle Workshop. Add a delay have added (if any).
first dialogue starts. Next note displayed in the bottom panel
the instant when the first of the screen. To synchronise
subtitle appears. The difference mismatching subtitles the idea
between the two timings is is to fix on two synchronising
the delay. For example, if the points. One point is the time
subtitles start appearing around when the first line is spoken
two seconds before the actual and the other is the point
SOME COMMON SUBTITLE FORMATS
SubRip (SRT) : By far the most SubViewer(SUB) : This format
common text-based subtitle supports metadata. Accuracy is up
format. It doesn’t support rich to 10 Milliseconds. This format is
formatting or metadata. It allows YouTube friendly
for precision of up to 1 millisecond RealText (RT) : An HTML-based
MicroDVD(SUB) : A text-based format that allows a certain
that keeps timing based on amount of text formatting.
framings
Adding subtitles to a video
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 86 | www.thinkdigit.com
Tips & Tricks
RoboForm you launch your and Close’ button. To RoboForm remember it.
You go to a web site that you browser, you simply create another identity,
haven’t visited in a long while need to click the passkey go to Identity > New [25.00] Create
and try as you might, you just through the toolbar and it logs Identity in the identity editor. SafeNotes
can’t login. You try the four or you into the web site with a Once you’ve saved the data, go Regular post-it notes are seen
five password and username single click. to any page with a form and by all. With SafeNotes you
combinations that you have, Roboform will automatically can have a digital equivalent
but not one works. You can [12.00] Fill forms prompt you to fill it with a of regular post-it notes with
make your browser remember
yourpasswords.Butisitreally
safe? And what if you want to
have access to your information
from another computer.
RoboForm is a tool that
lets you manage all your
login information as well as
automatically fill out those
pesky and usually cumbersome
registration forms. It comes in
both a downloadable as well
as online version. The online Creating a passcard
version is better suited to keep
passwords synchronised across To start filling forms single click. password protection. To
different machines. automatically you will first have create a new SafeNote go to
to set up Form Filling. Click [21.00] Generate RoboForm > SafeNotes
[00.00] Download “Setup Form Filling” button random passwords > New. Assign a title to the
and install RoboForm on the tool bar. You will first Since RoboForm remembers note and select which folder
Head over to www.roboform. be asked to enter your name passwords for you, a by it should be saved in. Type in
com/download to download the and country. The geographical product of this functionality the text box and click ‘Save
application. The application information is important to is that you can use random and Close’ when done. The
interface is through a tool configure information such passwords. They will be notes can be accessed through
bar that integrates with IE or as phone numbers and area gibberish, but you don’t have the RoboForm button via a
Firefox. During the installation, codes. The next step is actually to remember them. Password breadcrumb type of navigation.
it will ask if you want it to filling out information in the Generator creates random
be installed for all users and Identity Editor. This takes some passwords of any length. [28.00] Setup
if you want the adapter for time, but think of it this way - Randomness of generated Roboform Sync
Firefox. Check or uncheck you’re only going to be doing passwords makes them We need access to passwords
the box accordingly. You will it once. Also, you can fill in as harder to compromise. To from multiple computers; be
also be prompted to enter a much or as little info as you generate a password, click it your office PC, notebook or
master password. Once this want. There are tabs for credit on the “Generate” button in home desktop. To achieve this
password is entered, you don’t card, address, business and the tool bar when you’re on a RoboForm syncs passwords
need to remember any further even custom info where you registration page. Click fill to and data files with its servers.
passwords. The RoboForm can enter your own fields. Once enter the password and make These are encrypted by AES
installation wizard will also ask you’re done, click the ‘Save a normal passcard to have encryptionwithyourMaster
you to specify the time interval Password as the key. To sync
at which this password should your RoboForm data you
be purged from cache. The will have to install an add-on
default is after 120 minutes of known as GoodSync. Click on
inactivity. the Sync button in the toolbar
and it will prompt you to
[6.00] Make install the add-on. Click Yes
Passcards to install. You will also have
Roboform saves login to register with RoboForm
information in the form of online (online.roboform.com/
passcard. Each passcard signup). Once your account
contains the username, URL is registered, sign into it by
and password for a particular clicking on the Sync button.
web site login. To create a RoboForm will now sync data
passcard, simply login to a web with its servers. To get access
site normally. Roboform will to the data and passwords
prompt you to save the login on another computer, simply
into as a passcard. Change the install RoboForm on that
passcard name (if you wish) machine or access the web
and click Save. The passcard interface at https://online.
even automatically clicks the roboform.com.
submit button so now, once Entering info in the identity editor
| www.thinkdigit.com | vol 9: 87 Digit | October 2009
Tips & Tricks
into problems booting the OS
Windows 7 later on. Go to Control Panel the note title bar for additional someone. Choose the option
> Backup and Restore > notes. Press [Alt] + [4] to depending on your need.
AppLocker Create a System Repair close the note windows (your
AppLocker is a new Windows notes are automatically saved).
Disc, and let Windows 7 Restore the Quick
7 feature that ensures users build a bootable emergency Launch Toolbar
on your PC only run the disc. If the worst happens Calibrate your display
programs and applications you then it could be the only way A lot of Windows Vista and
specify. You can easily block to get your PC running again. The colours you see on your XP users will find the absence
Startup Repair scans your screen varies widely depending of a Quick Launch toolbar in
computer for the problem on your monitor, graphics cards Windows 7 annoying because you
and then tries to fix it so your settings, lighting and more. sort of get used to it. It is disabled
computer can start correctly. Fortunately, Windows 7 by default but it only takes a
Though it can’t fix hardware provides a Display Colour moment to restore it back.
failures such as a failing hard Calibration Wizard that helps Open the “Run” dialog box
disk or incompatible memory you ensure that colours are by pressing Windows + [R]
, Startup Repair does a represented accurately on your and type gpedit.msc
good job at fixing certain screen and everything looks On the left hand
problems, such as missing or crisp and sharp. pane, Navigate to User
damaged system files. Click Start (or
press the Windows
Use Sticky Notes key) and type dccw in
the “Search programs
You can use Sticky Notes to and files” box to start
Safeguard your data from unauthorised write a to-do list, jot down a the Display Colour
access phone number, or anything Calibration Wizard.
else that you’d use a pad of Alternatively, you
other users from accessing paper for. To write a note using can go to Control
executables, Windows Panel > All
Installers, scripts, a specific Control Panel
publisher or path. Items > Display
Go to the Run dialog box and click on
and type Gpedit.msc. “Calibrate Colour”
Then go to Computer from the left pane
Configuration > Windows of the window. Windows 7 now lets you calibrate your screen
Settings > Security
Settings > Application Configuration, Administrative
Other mouse gestures
Control Policies > Templates,andStartMenuand
AppLocker. Right-click on one With mouse gestures in Taskbar.
of the options (executables, Windows 7, instead of right- Double-click on the “Show
installers, or script ) and create a clicking a Taskbar icon to QuickLaunch on Taskbar” in
new rule. access the jump list, you can the right pane.
AppLocker also lets IT left-click and drag upwards Select Enable, Click on
personnel control what to smoothly call it up. In Apply and then press Ok.
applications users can run on addition, clicking and dragging Right click on Taskbar select
workstations. down the address bar in Toolbar > New toolbar.
Internet Explorer will open the Navigate to C:\Users\(user
browsing history. name)\AppData\Roaming\
Startup repair
Microsoft\Internet
If you’ve downloaded
Explorer. Select the Folder
Windows 7, it’s a good idea With sticky notes you’ll no longer EasyConnect
“Quick Launch” and click on
to create a system repair disc forget your tasks
With Easy Connect in “Select Folder”.
straight away in case you run
Windows 7, offering help or Now You should see Quick
a tablet pen, simply getting help is just a few clicks Launch Toolbar on Taskbar.
start writing on the note away. You can use Windows To make it look like it would
where you want the ink Remote Assistance to invite in Windows Vista, right click
to appear. someone to connect to your the taskbar, uncheck “Lock
Launch StikyNot. computer and assist you, even the Taskbar”, and you should
exe from the Run Dialog if that person isn’t nearby. see the Quick Launch toolbar,
box (You can even To access Easy Connect, probably to the right. Right-
type notes in the Start type Troubleshooting in the click its divider, clear Show Text
menu search box) and StartMenuandthenselect and Show Title to minimise the
then type notes at the Get Help from someone you space it takes up. Complete the
keyboard. Right-click a trust. You would now get the job by right-clicking the bar
note to change its colour, option to offer your help to and selecting View > Small
and click the + sign on someone or get help from Icons for the true retro look.
Backup and restore saves you a lot of time
Digit | October 2009 | vol 9: 88 | www.thinkdigit.com
Q&A Opera update
Safe browsing The final build of Opera out with
Mozilla to check Firefox add-ons in added improvements such as
an effort to close security holes Turbo and easy tab management
Your questions, our answers
All your computer niggles and nags are dealt with here!
Weird problem I hope your power supply is even then. If it does, it could that says “Scan for and Attempt
with PC going to sleep perfectly fine. If it’s more than a be a problem with the LCD Recovery of Bad Sectors.” Click
I have a PC running an Intel couple of years old, you should display. Otherwise, it could on Start. If there are physical
Pentium 4 3.06 GHz processor, try using a different power be a resolution problem. Try bad sectors, the only fix to
512 MB DDR1 RAM, installed on supply from a friend to see if reinstalling the graphics drivers. give the drive for repairs or
an Intel D865GSA desktop board. that’s the problem. Also, check If nothing works, you have no replacement.
A few days back, the mother- for loose connections - RAM and other choice but to take it to
board has been going into sleep power cables specifically. your local service centre to get CPU usage is
mode as told by my friend and If nothing works, it could it fixed. always too high
dealer. So, I have replaced the be a bug in the My computer specifications are:
n
motherboard and memory. Now, motherboard our ow Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
I run a Biostar G31D-M7 board. which can Make y MSI radeonR4850
I’ve also had to replace my 512 be fixed by a MSI P45 Neo motherboard
MB DDR1 RAM with a 1 GB stick of BIOS update. 800 Watt PSU
DDR2 RAM. Look up for the Be a part of the first ever community created My PC is taking too much
I’ve installed Windows Vista manufacturer’s Digit Fast Track. You get to collaborate, time to boot. When I play FIFA
Ultimate on my machine. When site for a list of create and control everything from the cover 09, the game lags and the CPU
I was using my machine with bug fixes. Be to the contents. Post your troubleshooting temperature rises to 65C. The
the old configuration, it didn’t extremely careful queries and answer those already posted CPU usage is also too high at
support Windows Aero, but now if you go ahead within the wiki. For more information, some 50 to 56 per cent when
it is working rather well. Now the with flashing www.thinkdigit.com/digitosp there’s nothing running on the
problem that I’m facing is that the BIOS. You PC. Is this caused by some kind of
sometimes my system doesn’t can damage the malware or virus?
start properly and it hangs board. Bad sectors on Shreyan Mohapatra
during start-up. If I restart it by 1 GB of memory is a little hard disk drive
pressing reset button, it doesn’t too less for Windows XP to run I have an Intel Core 2 Duo PC with Yes, it could be malware.
respond and locks up again at within VMware. It’s worth trying a 320 GB hard drive and 2 GB In the task manager, look at
start-up. I have to leave it idle for but another GB of memory RAM. My hard disk has developed what application is using the
some time. After that, it starts would definitely help bad sectors on it. I want to know most CPU resources. Sort by
properly otherwise I have to whether this is bad for my drive. overall memory consumption
repair my operating system using Laptop display Can these sectors be fixed or and also CPU utilisation Also,
the installation DVD. The same problems not? What is a bad sector? What look for services or applications
problem occurs when I play a Some two to three days back, I does it mean and what causes that are taking up lots of
game like Virtua Cop. After play- noticed a slight problem with my them to occur? memory. Try closing those. If
ing a while, the PC shuts down laptop’s LCD. Just at the bottom Pawan Maurya that doesn’t work, uninstall
automatically and then, suddenly, of the screen, near the taskbar your motherboard and graphics
the start-up problem occurs where the shortcut icons and A bad sector is a small card drivers and reinstall them.
again. time are generally displayed, portion on the hard disk that The last option would be to
I want to know why these I could see a thin line blinking has suffered some damage and try scanning the system for
start-up problems are occurring across the LCD. It frequently went is therefore unusable. The bad malware.
over and over again. What is on and off and then remained for sectors will not cause you harm
the solution for this and what is seconds. Could you please tell me in day to day operation. The Is this the right
this problem of board going into what it is and how to rectify this scandisk utility marks the bad time to go in for a
sleep mode? I also want to use problem? sectors so that the operating graphics card?
Windows XP within Vista through My system configuration is: system skips them and no data I need suggestions regarding
VMware. Will my machine allow HP Commercial 6530s, Intel Core is written there. As for causes - it
me to do so? 2 Duo CPU T5870 2 GHz, Windows can be physical damage during
Get Help Now!
S.D. Sharma Vista Home Premium, 3 GB RAM. the manufacturing process itself E-mail us your computing
I am far away from the service or wear and tear or just faults problems along with your contact
The problem you’re facing centre. that show up randomly. details and complete system
configuration to sos@thinkdigit.
could be because of a poor Noklam Bisai You can try fixing the
com, and we might answer them
power supply. If you haven’t Arunachal Pradesh problem by right-clicking on
here! Since we get many more
reinstalled Windows, then the hard drive with bad sectors
mails per day than we can handle,
maybe the older drivers are Try opening up an image in Windows Explorer. Click on it may take some time for your
causing some problems. Try a in full screen or play a movie Properties and click the Tools query to be answered. Rest
fresh install and download the at full screen. See if that line tab. Under error checking, click assured, we are listening!
latest drivers from the internet. keeps flashing and showing up “Check now”. Check the box
130 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Q&A Win Mo ready to go AMD adds more cores
Windows 6.5 mobile handsets start Six-core AMD Phenom II processors to
lining up for release be out sometime next year
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.80 of duty 4. Is this temperature
GHz normal for a laptop? When I’m
Memory: 1 GB DDR 2 not playing and just surfing the
Standard VGA graphics adaptor web, the temperature stays at an
250 GB hard drive average of 50C.
Moser Bear DH-22A8S DVD drive I’ve tried to overclock my fan
Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit but according to users on vari-
Over the last few days my ous forums, the PC BIOS does
DVD/CD ROM drive has been not permit this. I’m thinking of
unable to read or write any buying a cooling pad but are
discs. Whenever I insert a disc, there any other solutions to cool
the following message appears - down my laptop?
“Insert a disc”. Can you help me Amon Pereira
with this problem?
Also please suggest a 19-inch A temperature of 79 C is
LCD monitor and a midrange quite high for the laptop but
graphics card for the upcoming as long as you’re not getting
Dirt 2 will be one of the first games to run on DirectX 11
release of Windows 7. stability issues, it should be
purchasing a graphics card. I NVIDIA based motherboards Bijesh okay. The only way to cool
am about to buy a mid ranged that let you use the power of two things down is to use a laptop
graphics card in the month of or three cards by connecting The DVD drive has most cooler like you said. You could
September. I have read in Digit them together using a SLI- likely worn out as they often do take the laptop to Dell and see if
that Windows 7 is going to be bridge. CrossFire works in the after two years or so. You should they can service it and clean up
released very soon and DirectX 11 same way but is designed by take it over to the vendor for the insides for you. There could
games will be coming at the end AMD/ATI for their cards. repair or replacement if it’s still be a lot of dust clogged in the
of the year. HTPC is a term used for under warranty. heat sinks or the fan might be
So, should I buy my graph- Home Theatre PC. They are Look for the Samsung running slower.
ics card in September or should just like any other PC but SyncMaster D190S and AOC
I buy it after the release of they are built with low power F19. They should be between Registry problem
Windows 7? Will DirectX 11 games components that require little Rs. 6,500 and Rs. 7,500. You My PC configuration is as follows:
have compatibility problems? cooling and run quiet. can easily find 22-inch monitors Processor: Intel 2.8 GHz Dual core
I have been reading Digit around Rs. 10,000 and Rs. Motherboard: Intel D945,
magazine for the past four Graphic card 12,000. Your current PC will run 80 GB hard drive, 1GB memory,
months. It is a very nice maga- problem Windows 7 just about okay. A XFX 9400GT 512MB
zine. Whenever I read it, I come I own a GeForce 8500GT graphic graphics card might let you run I run Windows XP SP2.
across terms like oveclocking, card. I recently installed a fresh the fancier Aero theme. Your Whenever I try to open up Task
SLI, CrossFire, HTPC etc. I don’t copy of Windows XP on my PC memory is more important. Manager or Registry Editor, it
know what the above mentioned infected with virus. I installed Upgrading to 2 GB will help. says that it is disabled by your
terms mean. Can you tell me? the drivers for the graphics card If you are thinking of playing Administrator! I formatted my
Bharat Razdan and after the reboot, it showed some games as well, then we PC twice but there has been no
a black screen with the mouse recommend you to upgrade change in the problem. I also
One or two DirectX 11 pointer. I tried restarting the your entire system. If not, a can’t run games like Street
games might be out this year computer, but it shows up the cheap GeForce 8400GS or Fighter 4 at the minimum resolu-
but the big lot will only come same thing. Also, the audio hard- 9400GT from Palit, ZOTAC or tion. At first, when I install the
next year. It’s not wise waiting ware is not working, even after I POV will be sufficient. game, it runs properly but when I
for those games and then installed the drivers. restart my PC, it starts giving me
buying a DirectX 11 card. The Len Laptop errors that Visual C++ has failed
performance of those games on overheating problems to load the floating module. It
mid ranged cards is yet to be You could try uninstalling I have a Dell Studio XPS 13 (Intel also happens with games like
seen. You can go for a sub-Rs. the drivers through the 2.4 GHz, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 320 Crisis Warhead and Delta Force
10,000 card for now and then Windows Safe mode and see if GB hard drive) that heats up to Xtreme 2.
upgrading to something better it still boots up with the blank about 79 C while playing Call
when the time is right and there screen. Try downloading an
are plenty of DirectX 11 games older version of the drivers as
around. There is no shortage of well. Also, try using the disc that
good DX9 games to play in the was provided to you with the
meantime. card. Try the same thing with
Overclocking is running a the audio hardware. You could
component such as a processor, also try using Windows Update
graphics card, and memory to download the drivers for you.
faster than what it’s meant
to. For these components, it’s DVD drive
usually increasing the core problems
speed or the memory speed. My system specifications are as
SLI is a standard used by follows. Laptop coolers can help maintain temperatures
132 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Q&A OEMs like Google Join in
Sony systems to ship with Google Digit Open Source Wiki launches -
Chrome browser www.thinkdigit.com/digitosp
Your PC is most likely Data recovery isn’t perfect
infected by a virus. There are every single time. So while
many worms and viruses that software might be able to
disable the registry editor and recover most of the data, there
task manager. The only easy are always bits of pieces of the
solution is to use an antivirus files that aren’t intact. This
to remove it. If the games you might be fine for documents
mentioned require some Visual but executables and archives
C++ runtimes, you’ll have to won’t open with the least bit of
download those and install corruption of missing data. The
them if they are corrupted. bad news is that it might not
be possible to recover the files
Data recovery accurately.
query You could try contacting
I have an Intel Core 2 Duo proces- Stellar or some of the other
sor, 250 GB hard drive and 2 GB physically data recovery
RAM. My hard drive crashed and services. They might be able to
I recovered data using Stellar recover data from the drive but
Phoenix. I am a MCA student and remember that it could be very
this data is very precious to me. expensive.
For some reason, file recovered
with formats such as JPG, PDF, Windows XP
RAR and ZIP aren’t opening. It problems
says unsupported type or version. My PC configuration is:
Even EXE files run but it show a Intel Core 2 Duo E4600
command prompt window and Gigabyte S2C 945 GCM mother
closes instantaneously. I checked board
the properties for the files but 2 GB DDR2 RAM
everything seems okay. I tried 160 GB Hitachi HDD Speedfan has a built-in drive health feature that displays basic statistics about
different operating systems such Samsung DVD writer the drive
as Windows XP, Windows Vista Intex cabinet with 450 W SMPS
and Linux. I also tried different Viewsonic 19-inch TFT with only 1. Whenever I boot in XP, a fraction of a second but other-
registry and system diagnostic D-Sub connector Windows runs fine but when I wise, it works fine.
tools but nothing seems to work. I have Windows Vista and XP boot into Windows Vista, the 2. My HDD activity light flick-
Vikram Paliwal installed on my system. monitor goes blank randomly for ers without any program running
and its operation is noisy too.
Also my operating system fails
every now and then.
3. Is a 450 watts power
supply enough if I add one more
hard drive and a graphics card?
Also, suggest a mid-range graph-
ics card for my configuration.
Paramjit Saggu
Chandigarh
Windows normally flashes
the display just before it boots
into the desktop. It shouldn’t
cause any serious problems.
The hard drive LED flickering
could be because of a highly
fragmented hard drive. Try
defragging the drive sometime.
If the hard drive is really old, it
could be some issue with the
drive. Try running a diagnostic
tool or use Speedfan’s internal
drive diagnosing feature.
The 450W PSU will run an
additional hard drive easily.
Whether it runs the graphics
card depends on the kind of
card itself. A basic entry-level
Stellar Phoenix is a general data recovery software card like a GeForce 8400GS
134 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Icy cool Q&A
Some overclockers are apparently making Dragon Ball Z: Sagas
their own thermal paste using diamond dust The first Dragon Ball Z game to be released on a
And reportedly the cooling is remarkable non-Japanese console, the Xbox
outside Windows or in any
other operating system or
system.
Four fans are much more
than enough for the case as
long as two of those fans are
pulling in air and the other
two are blowing out air. The
graphics card temperature of
65C isn’t very high as well so
there’s nothing to be concerned
about.
Error at Windows
startup
I have an Intel core 2 Duo 6300
1.86 GHz processor powered
by 1.5 GB ram and 160 GB hard
drive with a GeForce NVIDIA
7300 GT PCI graphic card with
XP installed. Whenever I log
in any user account, I get an
error “Windows cannot access
SVCH0ST.EXE. You may not
Startup viruses can be disabled by using the Windows msconfig tool have appropriate permission
to access it”. This error started
won’t be a problem but a you might have to change some When I installed Vista 64-bit when I removed this file as it
slightly more powerful card settings such as the boot order. on my PC, the DVD drive does not was affected by a worm. How
might. A mid-range graphics respond very well. It won’t open do I fix this file and the error?
card would be a Radeon About my PC DVDs and the Autoplay feature is I have attached a screenshot of
HD4850 or a NVIDIA GeForce I have the following queries to be also disabled. It shows the basic the error.
9800GTX. Prices are around Rs. solved by you. I have Kaspersky preparation screen for the blank Gurleen Singh
7,000 – Rs. 9,000 depending on Antivirus 2009 licensed up to disk. Also, when I play games like
the make. January 25, 2010. Whenever GTA 4, I think my graphics card The missing file isn’t the
I start my computer, it says gets hot and the temperature SVCHOST.EXE that Windows
OC fail error “C:\WINDOWS\system32\ rises to around 65C. has. It’s a virus or worm that
I have a problem with my config\win.exe”, then it Give me an idea of how I can was removed. The missing link
computer. Whenever it boots, it says make sure that you type the cool that. I have four fans in my is the reason you are seeing
displays an error message with a name correctly, and try again. cabinet. How can I direct them this error. First, make sure that
note “OC failed. Please press F10 Nilash Pritish for proper air flow? the file has been deleted from
to change options on OC Fail”. the hard drive. Then, open up
Can you tell me what it means The error with C:\ The DVD drive might msconfig from the Start >
by OC Fail, and will it harm my WINDOWS\system32\ be having some problems. Run window. Go to the Startup
system? After continuing and config\win.exe that you’re Typically drives go bad after tab and disable or delete
booting, the OS is erratic, the getting is because of a virus. The around two years or so. Check the entry that points out to
mouse movement is jerky and virus might have been removed to see if the drive works fine SVCH0ST.EXE.
the desktop won’t respond. What by the antivirus but Windows
can I do? still tries to run it every time
My computer configuration is: it boots. You can remove this
Intel Pentium D820, Intel 945GV startup entry by clicking on
motherboard, 512 MB RAM, 80 Start > Run. Type msconfig.
GB HDD, Windows XP SP2. It’s a Look for an entry under Startup
HP Compaq DX2280. for win.exe and delete it.
Athreya Rao
Overheating
The error OC fail problems
means overclocking failed. Digit’s Q&A section is one of the
Overclocking is forcing the most interesting sections of the
processor or memory to run magazine. My PC configuration is:
faster than the default speeds Processor: Core 2 Duo E4600, 4
that it’s supposed to. Get into GB Transcend RAM, Palit GeForce
the BIOS by pressing the Del 8600GT, 250 GB SATA hard disk,
key when that error shows up. LG DVD-RW and HCL 700SFL
Reset settings to defaults. Save monitor.
and reboot. It should work but My problems are:
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 135
Tech@Work Digit web awards Recession ends
For more on social and business According to several reports, the global
networking and job portals, read the recession has finally ended. However,
Digit web awards special employment figures would grow gradually
Changing lanes
post recession
An insight on improved job search techniques
Rishi Das in to three categories – non is underway. Companies applicants from both junior and
Co Founder and CEO, serious, serious but unhealthy, diversify to reduce their risk senior industry professionals.
CareerNet Consulting and serious and healthy. While and consolidate their market Don’t wait for the next
readersletters@thinkdigit.com the first category is already leader positions. Effectively, recession to up-skill yourself.
out of business, the second before committing your Continuous learning to up-skill
W
category of companies is services to any organisation is a key and is sure to add value
ith the global grappling with the reality of the find answers to a list of in the long term career path of
economic situation. However, the clear questions such as market an individual.
downturn winners are the companies positioning of a company,
subsiding, who are serious and are with pre- and post-recession growth Widen your job
the next two years or so are a healthy business model. cycles, employee perspectives search channels
expected to usher in a recovery Companies with sound growth and the business potential of Break away for the traditional
phase, there is a silver lining strategies, cost optimisation the company. This will give a job search channels such as
amid the dark clouds on the solutions, steady cash flow clearer picture if the company job boards and newspapers.
horizon that hints at better times Test the strength of your
just round the corner. Markets network and actively use social
are slowly going in the growth networking sites for assistance
phase and instead of the usual from your old friends and
pink slip news, companies have colleagues. This will help
gradually started hiring. This you tap hidden job markets
situation is ideal for job seekers and employee references
who were in staying put during add weight to your resume.
the downturn and are now Moreover, you will be privy to
looking for new opportunities. more intricate details about
However, it will be best to take the company, job profile and
the next career decision while the culture of the firm. From
keeping the following aspects in a compensation point of
reckoning before making your cycles are the ones that have is well structured and view, individuals can expect a
golden leap. been able to weather the storm. functionally sound to usher to 15 – 25 per cent rise in their
These are the ones to be looked the next orbital of growth. compensation if they go in
Industry at as a potential employer. for a job change. However, it
introspection However, be wary of companies Actuate continuous will be advisable to look at
Analyse whether your current that have massively laidoff learning the stock option plans more
industry is going to grow resources during the recession. The onset of recession made seriously now as the markets
slow or boom post recession. In any business environment, us understand the importance have bottomed out and will
If the answer lies in the prior employee layoffs are essentially of continuous improvement of only grow from here.
category, search for similar or a function of business our skills. During recession a This downturn has set up
enhanced roles that align in restructuring and people majority of finishing schools a lot of different benchmarks
industries expected to grow performance. Nevertheless, witnessed huge rush of in the industry. It has forced
in the near future. Actively there have been companies and individuals alike
research and map your career several layoffs due www.thinkdigit.com/d/pmp_test to be pragmatic in good as well
graph in two or more high to poor cash flows as bad times. Though, no one
growth industries and select and unplanned can claim to know the future or
the one that better aligns to growth. It’s wise to know what will unfold in the
your interests and strengths. stay away from such time to come, it will be best for
companies. employees to tread the path
Select a promising We also witness of continuous learning, taking
organisation a slew of M&As as right decisions on career and
The recent downturn has a lot of business keep themselves abreast with
distinctly bracketed companies consolidation upcoming industry trends.
136 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Killer rigs
Make your dream configuration Pricewatch
Section Opener Agent 001 140 a reality. Latest prices of PC
components 142 The latest prices of components
for you
To protect and serve
Agent 001 goes cabinet and power supply hunting, specifically for HTPC and high-end applications
Agent001 not as feature rich as the others mentioned CoolerMaster, Antec, Scythe and NMB.
agent001@thinkdigit.com above but for some affordable cannot be Larger fans are better for although their rpm
beaten. is lower than a smaller fan they will actually
A
For those looking at high-end rigs for move more air and silently owing to the
childhood friend of mine recently gaming or generally powerful PCs we larger diameter of the fan blade. The figure to
upgraded to a GeForce GTX recommend larger, tower-type cabinets. By look at when shopping for fans is their CFM
260 graphics card after much high-end I mean a quad core processor, 2-3 rating indicating the cubic feet of air they can
persuasion. When we opened his hard drives, 4 GB of RAM and a graphics move in a minute, the higher this rating the
cabinet to install it, I was horrified at the card in the range of Rs. 15,000 or above. better the fan. Of course the higher the rpm
signs of rust. Then we discovered his system You can opt for a steel based chassis or the noisier the fan – keep in mind.
would not boot after adding this card. I one made of aluminium. The latter resists If you really want something that is big,
immediately suspected the power supply, corrosion and that is why I recommend it. looks good and built of aluminium, therefore
especially when I noticed it was a non- Steel cases without proper treatment tend light and resisting corrosion look at the
branded 400 watt unit and his older GeForce to rust around the edges and this gradually CoolerMaster ATCS 840 – a superlative
7300GS would work fine. Thus began the worsens, especially if you live in a coastal case with very good cooling (it actually has
hunt for a new cabinet and power supply. region or any area with higher humidity. 3 x 230 mm fans!). Priced at Rs. 15,000
Since HTPCs are super hot, HTPC Cooling is also important; just having four the ATCS 840 represents the pinnacle of
cabinets are also the in thing and most and five fans isn’t sufficient. The case should a high-end cabinet and supports liquid
vendors will be quick to point you to one. have good airflow. Sometimes wrongly cooling solutions and up to 6 hard drives
I recommend these cabinets with caution placed fans can create cross currents of air, with no problems whatsoever. The intake
– sure they’re compact but the cheaper which is not good for cooling. You want the fans also have dust filters – goodbye to
ones are tacky and the cooling system flow of air to be regular and strong and in regular cleaning. The Antec 1200 is priced
woefully inadequate, unless you’re building general cool air should be sucked into the at Rs. 13,000 and is another superb gaming
something based on the Atom platform. The case from the front and possibly the sides chassis albeit not built of aluminium and
attraction is the diminutive size, which some and blown out through the rear. A couple of without dust filters for the fans. This may be
people will kill for – an unobtrusive cabinet fans on the top of the case do not harm since an issue for someone living in a dusty area,
to be tucked away behind furniture with they assist the process of exhausting air out. but in general I advocate the use of dust
a 42-inch LCD TV getting all the glory is a Cabinets that create a turbulence of air inside filters since even regular cleaning does not
much sought after scenario. With shopping them are no good for cooling. Fans are of guarantee protection from a gradual rise in
for HTPC cabinets do consider the better equal importance and most manufacturers temperatures. This is because dust slowly
brands – their cabinets are built better offer very cheap fans with their cases. For works its wicked magic on fans inside the
and smarter (by the latter I refer to better someone blowing a lakh on a souped up case and on components reducing their
cooling), and generally expansion support gaming rig I recommend buying your speed by gradually eroding their bearings.
is better. Brands like CoolerMaster and own fans. Look at brands like If you must buy something good and costly
Antec have some good models albeit pricier make sure it has dust filters since intake fans
than other offerings in the market. Check attract a lot of dust.
out the Antec Fusion Remote Black, priced If you are going for a powerful dual GPU
at Rs. 10,400. For the price you get a fully system like something based on a GTX 260
functional remote unit that works with the SLI, I recommend Corsairs HX 750 priced at
cabinets built in LCD display for a hands-free Rs. 8,500. For single high-end graphics cards
HTPC experience. The cabinet is built very opt for Corsairs TX 650 priced at Rs. 6,500.
well and cooled via two 120mm fans. An For a basic system I recommend a cabinet
Shrikrishna Patkar
Antec 430-watt power supply available for like CoolerMasters Elite 330 priced at Rs.
Rs. 4,100 would be an ideal companion. Not 2,500. If you want something a little
only is it rated at above 80 percent in terms more powerful in terms of cooling
of efficiency but it’s also very suitable for and of course something that looks
high-end HTPC applications. CoolerMasters better, CoolerMasters 690 is also
Media 260 is also available for Rs. 8,100 and available for Rs. 4,000. A good
this is a really spacious case but available power supply for any generic
without power supply. Corsair’s PC is Corsair’s VX 450 –
VX400 is a good PSU for this case priced at Rs. 3,800. If you
available for Rs. 3,800. If you’re want to really squeeze it opt
looking for an ultra cheap HTPC for a VIP Gold 400 watt,
chassis look at the Zebronics priced at Rs. 2,100. I don’t
Cube, available without a power recommend cheaper power
supply for Rs. 2,500 – it’s obviously supplies..
138 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
CM UCP900 goes gold Silverstone Raven
CoolerMasters UCP 900W Silver which
we tested has a new revision, the UCP
The Raven is a unique concept with the
motherboard mounted at a 90 degree tilt from
Agent 001
900 is now available with a 80+ Gold regular cabinets meaning the connectors stick out
rating from the top. Pretty unique, and works well too
I want to buy a S60 based mobile Premiere 6.5 for my video projects and the available now since they will not suffice
phone & my budget is 15,000. It should system configuration is as follows: AMD for anyone needing accurate colours.
support 3G, should have good music qual- Athlon X2 5200+, Asus M2N-MX SE There is one recommendation – Dells
ity, should support maps and also should Motherboard, 2*512MB DDR2 RAM, 2209WA – this is an IPS panel and for Rs.
be well build. candy bar or slide either of 2*250GB Seagate HDD in RAID 0, Sony 16,000 is your best bet for a great
them will do. I would prefer a Nokia device. DVDWriter, iBall Cabinet and LG 17-inch CRT monitor.
Prabal chowdhury monitor. Now I am planning to upgrade to
I suggest looking at Nokia’s 5800 a new configuration with Adobe Premiere I want to buy a cell phone. My budget
Xpress Music. It’s a touch screen based CS3 as my video editor. Please suggest me is Rs. 13000. I figured out Nokia 5630
device and should serve your needs as it the best hardware configuration within a Xpress music and Sony Ericsson w595.
has all the features you need. budget of Rs. 60,000. Please suggest something. I don’t want any
Manoj other brands.
I’m going to buy a new desktop PC. Sky Digital Studio Naveen Kumar
Please recommend best gaming configura- It totally depends on what you are
tion I can get in Rs. 30,000. Also please looking at. If you want better music
keep in mind of AMD Phenom II processors. quality I recommend the Sony Ericsson
Yadwinder Paul Singh w595. If you’re looking for a Symbian
Rs. 30,000 is a small budget for a based device with better application
gaming PC. If you are willing to play the support then look at the Nokia. Either
latest games at lower resolutions and way you can’t go wrong with your choice.
lower levels of detail this budget will just
about do, especially since you want I have Intel Core2 Duo 2.2GHz, 3 GB
everything including a monitor. memory, Intel D945 Board & Radeon
I recommend taking a close look at HD4650 Graphics card. I want to know that
our Killer rigs section. Look at our Basic will this hardware support games devel-
Rig for Rs. 21,350. Now simply add in a oped on cryengine3 like Crysis 2. If no
graphics card like the GeForce 9800GT please suggest the upgrade.
and for Rs. 9,000 extra, you are covered You configuration is indeed a weak for Sarang Bokil
for a very nice gaming rig for Rs. 30,000 CS3. Normally I would suggest a Core 2 This card will definitely not be able to
Quad system but I’m going to give you a play Crysis 2, especially since it barely
I want to buy DELL TFT monitor Core i7 since after we extensively tested runs Crysis. You cannot buy a card today
weather I should buy 18.5 inch i.e. E1910H these CPUs in our test lab, we found them for a game being released in the future. If
or 19 inch i.e. 1909W. Can I buy 18.5 inch? to be superb for any kind of 2D image you want the fastest card available today,
Rishab Garg editing and 3D rendering. I am not it is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285. ATI’s
recommending peripherals like keyboard Radeon HD 5870 is also headed for the
and mouse as any brand is good enough market soon. I suggest you hold your
depending on your usage. You already horses a bit and hang on to your cash for
have a monitor and I recommend you use the next 3-4 months. Things are going to
that for now, as high-end LCDs are costly. get more interesting with DX 11 cards.
I refrain from suggesting cheaper LCDs
like the 19-inch and 22-inch ones please tell me the difference between
core 2 duo and quad core and which is
better. Guide me to buy a best laptop rang-
Category Component Price ing between 45k and 55k, which can be
used in college with bulk storage good
CPU Core i7 920 14,500
performance of network net systems and
Motherboard MSI X58 Pro / Bi- 12,500 good processing speed.
ostar Tpower X58 Pratyush Rai
RAM Kingston DDR3 1 x 5,000 A Core 2 Duo is a dual core processor
3 GB (1333 MHz) based on Intel’s Core architecture which
the term quad core is generic and refers to
Hard Drive WD Caviar Black 7,000 a processor with four cores. There are
Edition 1 TB many quad core processors available. The
Graphics Card ZOTAC GeForce 6,000 Core architecture-based equivalent is the
There will be hardly any difference 9600GT Core 2 Quad. They also have a Nehalem
between an 18.5-inch and a 19-inch in based quad core called the Core i7
Power Supply Corsair VX550 5,500
terms of what you see. Rather opt for a processor, this family also has many
22-inch display if you budget permits you, Cabinet CoolerMaster Elite 2,500 models. AMD also has their Phenom and
as these are hardly Rs. 3000 to 4000 more 330 Phenom II processors, which are quad
than a 19-inch monitor. DVD Writer LG G55n 1,400 core. I recommend the Acer 5738G, we
tested it and it’s powerful enough with
I am a Photographer & Videographer TOTAL PRICE Rs. very good performance for its price,
by profession. Presently I am using Adobe 54,400 which is Rs. 40,999.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 139
KILLER RIGS
everything you will ever need to build your
nBasic rig = Rs. 21,350
nMultimedia cum gaming rig = Rs. 80,700
nUltra high-end PC / Gaming rig = Rs. 1,52,200
own PC. whatever your budget.
HARD DISK CABINET
MONITOR nSeagate 250 GB 7200.11 / Rs. 1,900 nZebronics Antibiotic / Rs. 2,100
nViewSonic VA1928wm / Rs. 8,200 nSeagate 1 TB 7200.11 / Rs. 5,200 nCoolerMaster 690 / Rs. 4,400
nAOC 2230fm / Rs. 14,000 n
Western Digital Velociraptor 150 GB nCoolerMaster ATCS 840 / Rs. 12,000
nDell S2409W / Rs. 15,000 / Rs. 9,900 or Western Digital 1 TB
Black Edition / Rs. 6,800
POWER
nVIP 350 Watts / Rs. 850
nCorsair TX 650 / Rs. 6,500
nCoolerMaster RealPower Pro
850W / Rs. 11,200
GRAPHICS CARD
nNone
n GeForce GTX260 / Rs. 15,000
Zotac
n GeForce GTX 295 / Rs. 29,000
ZOTAC
MOTHERBOARD
n NVIDIA 7025
ASUS
M2N68-AM / Rs. 2,250
video
nASUS P5Q / Rs. 8,500
card
n P6T Deluxe
ASUS
/ Rs. 21,000
MOUSE
SPEAKER nLogitech 3 button scroll / Rs. 300
nNone nLogitech MX518 / Rs. 1,300
n Lansing MX 5021
Altec nRazer DeathAdder / Rs. 2,500
/ Rs. 6,500
n
Logitech Z5500 KEYBOARD
/ Rs. 14,000 nLogitech Multimedia / Rs. 400
nLogitech G15 / Rs. 4,400
nLogitech G15 / Rs. 4,000
SOUND CARD
nNone / NA
nASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
nASUS Xonar DX / Rs. 3,700
MOUSE
NLOGITECH 3 BUTTON SCROLL / RS. 300
NLOGITECH MX518 / RS. 1,300
NRAZER DEATHADDER / RS. 2,500
sound
card
ram
CPU
nAMD Athlon XP 6000+ / Rs. 2,850
nIntel Core 2 Duo E8400 / Rs. 8,200
nIntel Core I7 / Rs. 14,600
RAM
n2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Kingston Value) / Rs. 2,500
n2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz (Corsair XMS2) / Rs. 3,000
n2 x 3 GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator 1066 MHz DDR3/ Rs. 9,000
Price watch
Motherboards
Model Market Price Tested In Socket Speed FSB L2 Cache
ASUS M3N78-EM Rs. 4,300 November 2008 AM2+ 1 6 4
ASUS P5Q Deluxe Rs. 14,900 June 2008 LGA775 2 6 6
ASUS P5Q-PRO Rs. 9,650 LGA775 2 6 6
ASUS P5Q-E Rs. 11,350 LGA775 2 6 8
ASUS P6T Deluxe Rs. 20,975 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 8
ASUS Rampage II Extreme
Rs. 26,000 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 6
(Best Performer)
ASUS Rampage II GENE Rs. 16,450 October 2009 LGA1366 2 6 6
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Rs. 13,050 October 2009 AM3 4 5 6
GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 Rs. 16,950 October 2009 LGA1366 3 6 8
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Rs. 8,900 LGA775 1 6 8
GIGABYTE MA790GP-
Rs. 9,100 October 2009 AM2+ 2 6 4
UD4H
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Rs. 14,250 LGA1366 2 6 8
MSI X58 PRO Rs. 11,300 October 2009 LGA1366 3 7 6
MSI P7N Diamond Rs. 15,200 LGA775 4 6 6
MSI X58 Eclipse Rs. 20,250 LGA1366 3 10 8
XFX nForce 790i Ultra Rs. 21,050 October 2009 LGA775 3 6 6
Zotac 780i Supreme Rs. 14,500 LGA775 3 6 6
Zotac nForce 750a Rs. 6,500 AM2+ 2 6 4
Digital Cameras
Model Market Price Tested in Sensor Optical Zoom LCD Screen Size
Canon Powershot SX120 Rs. 14,995 October 2009 10 MP 10x 3.0 inches
Canon IXUS 100IS Rs. 12,999 October 2009 12 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Canon Powershot A480 Rs. 7,499 October 2009 10 MP 3.3x 2.5 inches
Canon A1100IS Rs. 9,499 October 2009 12 MP 4x 2.5 inches
Canon IXUS 95IS Rs. 10,500 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Canon SX200IS (BEST Rs. 21,500 October 2009 12 MP 12x 3.0 inches
PERFORMER)
FujiFilm FinePix F200 Rs. 17,999 October 2009 12 MP 5x 3.0 inches
FujiFilm FinePix S1500 Rs. 12,500 October 2009 10 MP 12x 2.7 inches
Kodak C140 Rs. 4,999 8 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Nikon P90 Rs. 23,995 October 2009 12 MP 24x 3.0 inches
Nikon Coolpix L20 Rs. 7,750 October 2009 10 MP 3.6x 3.0 inches
Nikon S220 Rs. 8,500 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Olympus FE25 Rs. 5,995 10 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Panasonic FS4 Rs. 6,750 8 MP 4x 2.5 inches
Samsung ES55 (BEST BUY) Rs. 6,990 October 2009 10 MP 3x 2.5 inches
Sony HX1 Rs. 29,800 October 2009 9 MP 20x 3.0 inches
Sony S930 Rs. 7,800 10 MP 3x 2.4 inches
Sony H20 Rs. 17,500 10 MP 10x 3.0 inches
External HDDs
Model Market Price Capacity Interface Warranty (Years)
Seagate Freeagent GO Rs. 5,150 500 GB USB 5 years
Seagate Freeagent GO Rs. 3,250 250 GB USB 5 years
Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini Rs. 3,200 250 GB USB 5 years
Transcend StoreJet Rs. 2,725 160 GB USB 2 years
Western Digital MyPassport Rs. 2,850 160 GB USB 3 years
Western Digital MyPassport Essential Rs. 4,100 640 GB USB 3 years
Western Digital MyPassport Studio Edition Rs. 7,800 1 TB USB, FireWire, eSATA 3 years
142 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Price watch
Processors
Model Market Price Tested In Socket Speed FSB L2 Cache
AMD Sempron 140 Rs. 1,950 September 2009 AM2+ 2.7 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Athlon X2 5200+ Rs. 3,200 November 2008 AM2+ 2.7 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Athlon X2 7850 BE Rs. 3,350 September 2009 AM2 2.8 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Rs. 4,100 September 2009 AM2+ 3 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Athlon II X2 550 Rs. 5,450 September 2009 AM2+ 3.1 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1 MB
AMD Phenom X4 9650 Rs. 6,025 November 2008 AM2+ 2.3 GHz 3600 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE Rs. 7,500 September 2009 AM3 2.8 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 1.5 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 810 Rs. 8,350 September 2009 AM2+ 2.6 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 920 BE Rs. 9,650 AM3 2.8 GHz 3600 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Rs. 12,075 September 2009 AM2+ 3G Hz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE Rs. 13,100 September 2009 AM3 3.2 GHz 2000 MHz HyperTransport 2 MB
Intel Dual Core E2200 Rs. 3,000 September 2009 LGA775 2.2 GHz 800 MHz 1 MB
Intel Dual Core E5200 Rs. 3,375 September 2009 LGA775 2.5 GHz 800 MHz 2 MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Rs. 5,900 September 2009 LGA775 2.8 GHz 1066 MHz 3 MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Rs. 8,850 September 2009 LGA775 3 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 Rs. 8,650 September 2009 LGA775 2.33 GHz 1333 MHz 4 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Rs. 8,750 September 2009 LGA775 2.4 GHz 1066 MHz 8 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 Rs. 12,100 LGA775 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Rs. 12,601 LGA775 2.83 GHz 1333 MHz 12 MB
Intel Core i7 920 Rs. 14,900 September 2009 LGA1366 2.66 GHz 4.8 GT/s QPI NA
Monitors
Model Market Price Tested in Size Resolution Contrast Ratio Response time
Acer V203H Rs. 7,250 20-inch 1600 x 900 10000:1 5 ms
ASUS VM193D Rs. 6,850 19-inch 1440 x 900 800 : 1 5 ms
BenQ E2200HD Rs. 9,950 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 1000 : 1 5 ms
Dell 1909W Rs. 6,800 19-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 5 ms
Dell S1709W Rs. 7,200 17-inch 1440 x 900 600 : 1 8 ms
Dell S2409W Rs. 14,750 24-inch 1920 x 1080 1000 : 1 5 ms
LG 177WSB Rs. 6,300 May 2008 17-inch 1440 x 900 700 : 1 8 ms
LG W1942T Rs. 6,900 19-inch 1440 x 900 700 : 1 5 ms
Samsung 2033 Rs. 7,250 20-inch 1600 x 900 15000 : 1 5 ms
Samsung 733NW Rs. 6,550 17-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 8 ms
Samsung 943NWX Rs. 7,500 19-inch 1280 x 1024 1000 : 1 5 ms
ViewSonic VA1918WM Rs. 6,600 19-inch 1440 x 900 1000 : 1 5 ms
VIEWSONIC VX2255WMB Rs. 12,500 May 2008 22-inch 1680 x 1050 1000 : 1 5 ms
ViewSonic VX2240W Rs. 9,900 22-inch 1680 x 1050 1000 : 1 2 ms
Graphic Cards
Model Market Price Tested in Core Speed Type of memory Memory
EVGA 9600GT Knock-out Rs. 6,650 November 2008 700 MHz GDDR3 512 MB
Power Color HD4850 Rs. 6,600 August 2009 625 MHz GDDR3 512 MB
Power Color HD4670 Rs. 4,650 August 2009 750 MHz DDR3 1024 MB
Palit GeForce 9400 GT Super Rs. 2,525 August 2009 550 MHz GDDR2 1024 MB
Palit Radeon HD 4870 SONIC Rs. 13,500 October 2008 750 MHz GDDR5 512 MB
Palit GeForce GTX 260 Rs. 1,0750 650 MHz GDDR3 896 MB
Palit GeForce GTX 275 Rs. 1,3900 633 MHz GDDR3 896 MB
XFX GeForce 8600 GT Rs. 3,150 540 MHz GDDR3 256 MB
ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 Rs. 9,250 738 MHz GDDR3 1024 MB
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Rs. 26,000 Feb 2009 648 MHz GDDR3 1024 MB
144 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Trine
Enter the mad house
ESC Feature 150 Batman: Arkham Asylum reviewed 152 A beautiful platform, side-scrolling
game reviewed
Pimp My Gadget
Kumar Jhuremalani pimping your gadgets, read on to find out Portable (PSP) are becoming quite popular.
Siddharth Parwatay more. Personalising these devices would definitely
kumar.j@thinkdigit.com The easiest thing to do for small require a bit more than just key chains or
siddharth.parwatay@thinkdigit.com handheld devices is to attach accessories lanyards. There are places where you can
to them. These could vary from small buy and replace the entire body of these
keychains or lanyards that can be attached devices. There are two uses for this, first you
to mobile phones. If you notice, most could save the original body from the usual
Y
ou’ve just bought yourself a shiny pen drives now days come with a small rough handling and scratches and use it
new mobile phone or you might attachment option, you could easily use this later, or do the reverse by using the device
have just assembled a new PC and to attach a lanyard of your choice, which completely, and when bored change the
we’re sure you are happy with it. makes the device different from the others body, which in both cases offers protection.
But there is always a feeling deep down available and at the same time makes it easy To further customise a PSP or DS, there is
inside that something is missing, there is for you to identify. something even better you could do – skin
something that makes you feel that this it. No, we don’t mean peel the skin off your
new gadget or device is not completely device, but instead, put on a fancy new skin
yours. We believe you, this feeling is that personifies your individuality. These
present in almost all of us – the need to skins are available in sticker format and
personalise or customise everything we are made specifically for these devices, so
own. Be it a mobile phone, a computer or there’s no cutting of any sorts needed, it’s
even something as small as a flash drive, just a simple sticker, but looks great and
we need it to be unique and different from you won’t be able to know the difference.
the one owned by the average Joe. So what One might even think that it is the natural
can you actually do to make your gadget design of that device.
more like you, well that’s what we’re here
to tell you. Hello Kitty lanyards have become quite a craze
There are many things that you can these days
customise, but what we’re focusing on here,
is all about our gadgets and other technology For mobile phones, another option is
products. Even so, the few of us who admit buying a funky external cover, but again,
to geekdom, will not shy away from wearing these are sold in bulk, so you might come
that attitude on t-shirts, shoes, etc. so there’s across a random person with the same
a bit about that too along the way. cover as you.
You must have heard of the show called Other than mobile phones and flash
‘Pimp my Ride’, where all the bling is added drives, portable gaming devices such as
to a person’s car, well we’re talking about the Nintendo DS and Sony Playstation
TO SKIN A CAT
We had a word with Eshan P Paarekh, laptops, PSP, cigarette lighters, and pen Choose from a very extensive list at decalgirl.com
Director of SkinJam, and found out what it drives.
was all about. Do you give customers a chance to Not only can you skin just the PSP and
submit their own designs or is it always DS, but there are a range of devices such as
Could you explain what SkinJam is to designs set by you and your staff? mobile phones, mp3 players, video game
our readers? We have more than 350 designs in our
consoles and even laptops. The web site
SkinJam! Is about personalisation and shop and the customers can select from
www.decalgirl.com offers skins for specific
protection of your gadgets. More gadget that.
products and the entire range is listed on
lovers will be amazed by the great concept How much does SkinJam charge for this
of SkinJam’s custom made high quality skin unique service? their site. Again, there is a small chance that
wrap service. We charge Rs. 700 – Rs. 1,000 for the cell the same skin might be used by someone
What made you bring this unique and phones and for PSP and laptops it is Rs. else, and you will lose out on the entire
interesting idea to the Indian market? 1,800. personal and unique look that you are going
We thought that SkinJam is a very good Can your skins be delivered to a person’s for. Well, don’t be disheartened, decalgirl.
idea for us because something like this home, where he can apply it to his com also offers customers a chance to get
has never been introduced in India. As it is gadget on his own, or will he have to templates and design their own skins, but
a very creative thing to do and also helps visit your store? these templates can be used only for the
people to personalise their gadgets. We do not give the skins in hand to any products listed there. To take this one step
What are the products that you have customer. The customer will give us their further, there are some stores that offer even
made skins for up until now? gadget and take it back modified after 2-3 more personalisation by adding crystals and
We have done it on all kinds of cell phones, hours. We do the procedure in our shop. gems to gadgets. You might have seen some
celebrities on the television walking with a
146 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Join the revolution Feature
Go Joe Take part in Digit’s first open
Mecha
154 G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra
reviewed 156 This month’s Unwind geek culture
source project. Go to
www.thinkdigit.com/digitosp
Customising a digital camera is also possible now
Alright, enough about the small devices,
what about adding that custom feel to
mobile phone covered in diamonds; well, your best asset? Stop thinking too much,
you can have that done to your phone to. all we’re talking about is your computer,
Just visit the store called SkinJam, located which most of us geeks would have
in Mumbai and Bengaluru, and you can get understood right away. The phone covered with expensive crystals – toys
this done. You have more of an option to One of the best ways to start off your for the rich and famous
personalise considering the fact that there is customisation experience is by modifying
no limit to certain models that you can have your cabinet. Those of you who have deep to Waseem Yusuf, a 21-year old B.Com
a skin added to, in comparison to decalgirl. pockets and don’t mind spending quite a graduate who has converted his hobby of
com where you have to stick to the models bit can just buy the most expensive cabinet case modding into a profession and has
present on the site. out there which will be unique in a way, as also started his own web store.
There is a chance you can even get a not many people will actually spend that Where does one start with case modding,
skin for your PC cabinet which will look much on it. But, for the rest of us who fall well firstly we’d suggest you purchase a
uber cool. The main drawback here is that under the value segment will need to look fairly priced cabinet that you know you’re
you can’t do it yourself and the designs are for other means to satisfy our thirst for going to use to mod, and won’t feel sad even
mostly fixed, but you can see the employees customisation. The customisation we’re if something were to it in the process. This
of the shop work on your gadget, good talking about is case modding, which point is also agreed by Yusuf, who himself
for the people who don’t want to get their started as a hobby for some, who have found modding tricky when he first started.
hands messy. now turned it into a profession. We spoke Case modding, doesn’t necessarily have
INSIDE THE MIND OF A CASE MODDER
We also got in touch with Waseem Yusuf Initially, it was a little tricky to do it, but colours or cars/bikes. But modding is a way
and found out what drove him to this once I got the hang of it it was much easier. of expressing oneself and so I try to get
extreme profession Modding isn’t just about cutting sheets and inspiration from who I am.
placing cooling fans. Each mod is unique and Do you mod anything other than PC
What made you take up Modding as a requires different skills. This makes each mod cabinets? (eg. Xbox360s, PS2s, PS3s, etc)
profession? special in its own way. Like I said, modding We haven’t tried modding consoles, but yes
Since childhood, I’ve always been is like art. it’s a great idea to mod one’s consoles to
fascinated by computers. I saw a Where do you draw your inspiration or make them unique.
computer for the first time when I was in ideas for each unique mod? What are the tools that you use for
3rd standard and there was instant love I get inspired by a lot of things such as modding?
between the two, which has been growing We use some basic tools such as Dremel,
ever since. So as my love for computers, Drill, Spray Paint, Hole saw, Jig saw, Double
I wanted to try something different. It all Sided Tape, Laser Cutting, Laser Etching.
started as experimentation with my PC and Every mod requires use of different tools;
the results have been pretty impressive! hence, at times not all of these tools come
Slowly I started modding my friends’ into use. More than the tools one needs
computers and finally took it up as a the skills. Jobs such as etching the Logo
profession. Though I believe modding is a on the acyclic sheet require highly specific
way of expressing oneself and not exactly a machines.
profession, every mod is like a work of art. How easy is it to obtain these tools?
Did you start with a normal job and then These tools are used in many other industries
just realised that it’s not for you? and can be obtained from most hardware
I was a trainer at NIIT for Java and .NET. shops. Modding is more about skills,
I’m basically very creative, so teaching creativity and one needs to concentrate &
programming language was quite boring put in a lot of effort. I have always believed
for me. I decided to start my own business; in quality and to get the best quality one
as I said, my love for computers have always needs to be precise in his work. And to get
been there all my life and slowly I realised perfection, the quality of tools used matter
this is what I wanted to do in life. a lot.
In the initial phase when you started,
were you just good at it, or did you To read the full conversation we had with Yusuf visit
practice a lot before opening up shop? http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/97843
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 147
Facebook keeps growing Leap of faith
Feature Facebook claims to be the largest social
networking site as it has 300 million
A shoebox sized robot is being
delevoped by the US military that can
active users online per month from leap over obstacles over 25 feet and
around the world can navigate with the use of GPS
to mean that you need to cut a piece of your up motherboards so that they can fit into attitude. For a long time when it came to
cabinet, a nice paint job for your cabinet is the unique designs created and even create zany, smarty or eyebrow raising t-shirt prints
also considered a mod. Yusuf specialises transparent casings for hard drives with the only option was the Tantra retail brand;
in glossy paint jobs and side panel cuts LEDs lined on the inside, something we famous for their collection of one-liners. But
for various clients. He has now moved on have yet to try. why go by someone else’s creation, when
to modifying cabinets keeping a theme in A complete overhaul is also a possibility you’re more of a wise guy yourself? And
mind. One of the mods he has done was for once you have a particular theme or certainly, why would you want to wear one
the CEO of Vodafone India. concept in mind. Check out some of the of those boring brands that make unwitting
Once you have cut and put a shiny coat crazy mods below that really inspire us to promotional signboards out of you. Custom
of paint on your cabinet you can add more do something insane. designed T-shirts are a way to express your
class by using custom made fan grills and
also customise the internal hardware of the Check out the Digit Extreme Mod Project at
computer. If you have a transparent side http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/40962
panel, you might want to show off what’s
inside your cabinet. You can replace all One of the greatest expressions of individuality. With custom T-shirts you
the normal cooling fans within the cabinet product customisation – though on the can make a statement by wearing a T-shirt
with fans with LED lights or separately non gizmo side – is in the form of custom that says “di9it inside” or even profess
install LEDs to highlight your hardware. t-shirts. You can say a lot to the world at undying love for your favourite band
Cutting the cabinet is just the basics of large by just wearing a slogan, picture or through pictures or lyrics. You even have
case modding, but how much further can sketch. It’s the literal form wearing your the option of being as fabulously offensive
that go. Well, a couple of years ago Team
Digit had done an extreme monster mod
and fit an entire computer into the case of
a CRT monitor. Not only that, but at that
time we moulded out a monster. Check out
the link to get a blast from the past.
Some of the really risky things that have
been done by people are completely cutting
Who says computers can’t have wheels?
A case mod made completely of Lego
Oh no! the Incredible Hulk ripped out my PC Believe it or not, but there’s a PC in that guitar An extreme Doom 3 cabinet
148 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
More WiFi Power of the sun
The next generation Wi-Fi technology,
802.11n, has finally been approved
Students from Tuft University and
the Boston Architectural College have
Feature
as the standard, even though it was created a house that runs completely
conceived seven years ago on Solar Energy
A corny design from tshirts.in Some inkfruit designs
or fantastically tongue-in-cheek witty as you “PC Problem? Date a geek” and others that by far the most artistic designs and actual
want. are too raunchy to even mention! Dilsebol. photographs of T-shirts being worn. We
There are many websites that have com really has nothing to offer that’s worth quite liked some of the Pac man and Tetris
entered the fray to offer custom T-shirts writing home about. The design tool is prints. Being the sentimental geeks that we
among other customised stuff like mugs, very buggy, while browsing through other are the first thought they evoked was “now
mouse pads and stickers. A class of web designs is painful. The only thing worth that’s cool”. Then there are noteworthy
sites in this segment are primarily photo mentioning was the option to modify vector art creations. The web sites offers its
printing web sites such as zoomin.com that pre-existing designs. Now we come down designer community several competitions
also let you print photos on T-shirts. Then to the last category of web sites that allow and prizes. So if you feel you have it in
there are dedicated personalisation web you to submit designs into the general pool you, be a prosumer and submit your own
sites like early entrant myntra.com and of designs, but if the design is ever to see designs.
several others including pringoo.com and the front of a T-shirt it needs to be really Next up bluebustees.com has two
dilsebol.com. The last category of T-shirt good and hence approved. The benefit of very disparate and interesting categories
web sites do allow you to submit your own this is that you get access to a set of really for browsing, viz. Parents Approved and
designs but for shopping on the fly you high quality designs and a vibrant active Parents NOT Approved. Without going
need to bank upon the hundreds of crazy designer community. In this space we have into details the category names should
designs already created by their designer tshirts.in, inkfruit.com and bluebustees. give you a fair idea of what you can expect
communities. Let’s have a look at some of com. tshirts.in may not look all hot a site in each. So go ahead create your own or
the web sites and what they have to offer. but has some really nice designs. choose designs that speak to you and
myntra.com is by far India’s largest The slogans are insanely funny and the express yourself. We’re pretty sure you’ll
on-demand consumer products t-shirts quite affordable. inkfruit.com has turn a few heads.
personalisation brand. The web site is easy
to navigate and their after sales service is
excellent. For customising products the
T-SHIRT PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
web site has a nice applet which lets you for poly-cotton T-shirts. The design is first
We were quite curious to know more
add text and upload your own images about the actual technology that enables printed on paper with a special ink, which
while showing an instant preview. The printing on T-Shirts. What are the different doesn’t get absorbed on the paper. Then
user-generated designs and one-liners processes? Which one is more suited for a the paper is heat-pressed on the cloth so
are not as snappy as some of the other particular cloth or colour scheme etc. So, the colour gets absorbed on the cloth. The
players but there is certainly quantity. we met Mr. Mukesh Bansal, CEO of Myntra. finish comes out good but this is limited to
You have loads and loads of categories com for some insights into this field. white polycottons. At the most very light
and thousands of designs to choose from. There are currently four types of printing colours. Then there is something called
Look for the Digital world and Nerd technologies being used. Screen Printing DTG (Direct to Garment) Printing. This is
categories under Life. The pricing too is a more traditional type of technology. It basically a modified inkjet and can work
is reasonable. Head over to myntra.com is used for printing T-shirts in bulk where on any kind of surface. It supports 32 bit
for a clean shopping / gifting experience you have only a fixed number of colours. colour printing. The machine pretty much
and look out for their collaborative If there are are four colours a screen will also looks like an inkjet printer. Lastly there
offers. pringoo.com is yet another custom be printed for each of the colours. Only is Print and Cut which is used for intricate
design franchise offering you pretty much the part that is treated gets transferred designs. In this form the design is first
everything including custom T-shirts, with a run of each screen. That way there printed on a special media and the outline
stickers and even chocolate wrappers is a limitation of six to eight colours. So, is cut before being heat pressed onto the
in this type of printing you need bulk for fabric. Vendors need to make a choice
powered by Cadbury’s. The designing
the economies of scale to apply, otherwise between these technologies depending
applet works really well but doesn’t offer
one T-shirt will cost you Rs. 5000 which on the formulation of design; whether it
as many fonts as Myntra. The community is not very practical. For printing single consists of a photograph, slogan, or vector
generated designs are especially witty. The T-shirts one of the technologies available graphics etc. and the type of fabric and
“computer age” and “gaming” categories is sublimation. This can work only work colour that was chosen.
have nice designs. We found one that says
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 149
Xxx Xxx
Game review xxxxx xxxxx
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
OS ................................................... Windows XP SP2/Vista SP1
CPU..............................................P4 2.8 GHz/Athlon 64 3000+
RAM......................................................................................1 GB
Free Memory .....................................................................12 GB
Graphics................................................NVIDIA 6800/ATI X700
Get, Set, Gotham!
Faiyaz Shaikh distance, with enemies and guns that they
readersletters@thinkdigit.com may be wielding getting highlighted.
This game will sometimes present
opportunities to use Batman’s stealth
D
arkness descends on Gotham skills along with his arsenal of gadgets to
City. The night sky is obscured isolate and take down the inmates with
by dark clouds lashing rain over a stealth. Such sequences are typically
dark Gothic cityscape. Moonlight set in a room with a handful of Joker’s
pierces through this gloomy curtain, henchmen patrolling. Switching to
illuminating a deserted road — the Dark Detective Mode will highlight vantage
Knight approaches.
A Serious House on
Serious Earth
The Joker has a party planned
for The Batman and the venue
could not be any better than
Arkham Asylum. The asylum
is a mansion on a virtually
isolated island with a
dubious reputation of
‘treating’ some of Batman’s
deadliest foes and The Joker has most of
them on his party list. These guys are not the control of the facility
ones to resort to crime as a means to an end and unravel The Joker’s real
as they seem to have transcended beyond the plan.
petty criminal; proposing an alternate, almost
dystopian view of the world. The Dark Knight
The Joker is escorted by Batman to Returns points and hiding
Arkham Asylum after a failed attempt to The game is played in a third person places, helping you to plan
attack the Mayor’s office. Around the same perspective with an over-the-shoulder camera your course of action.
time, a mysterious fire breaks out in the city’s system. With a push of a button a special There are a variety of ways in
penitentiary, the Blackgate Prison and all visor in Batman’s cowl is activated, switching which Batman can take down his foes
the inmates are evacuated into the asylum. the worldview to Detective Mode. In this without being detected, like inverted
The hospital turns into a real madhouse mode, points of interests are highlighted takedowns (as seen in the movies) and
after Joker, along with Harley Quinn, takes in stark contrast while everything else is using a Sonic Batarang to lure enemies into
control of the security systems and sets all darkened with a dark blue hue. This also traps. Fear is something that Batman has
the inmates loose. It is a long and testing helps Batman preempt enemy encounters as always used against his enemies to great
night for Batman as he works to regain he can see through walls at a limited advantage and you will find scared and
156 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Xxx Xxx
xxxxx xxxxx
RATINGS
Game review
Genre .......................................................................... Action, Stealth, Beat ‘em Up
Platform............................................................Microsoft XBOX 360, PlayStation 3
Developer ................................................................................. Rocksteady Studios
Publisher ................................Eidos Interactive and Warner Brothers/DC Comics
Distributor ...................................................................................................E Xpress
Price ........................................................................................................... Rs. 2,499
Score ............................................................................................................... 8.5/10
isolated enemies firing at nothing, out of night are clearly visible on him. The artists All of these secrets are not accessible from the
sheer nervousness. of the game have used certain artistic license beginning of the game as they may require
to deliver the visual feedback. As the game gadgets that become available at a later stage
Journey into Knight progresses Batman sports a stubble, his cape of the game. This means that if you want to
The game uses to the famed Unreal 3 and has holes in it and there are cuts and bruises achieve 100% game completion, you’ll have
PhysX engine along with other technologies through his armor. to do some back tracking with a complete
like SpeedTree, IDV, ScaleForm, etc. to render arsenal of Wayne Tech equipment.
the dark and gloomy landscape of Arkham Riddle Factory As mentioned earlier, progressing through
Asylum, with a slick vector based heads up You are having so much fun playing the game and locating these secrets will
display (HUD). Along with the customary this game that the Story Mode unlock a bit of Batman lore. In addition to
health display, the HUD is also used to access this however, it will also unlock challenge
and switch between gadgets in Batman’s mode stages. Just like in the game, there are
utility belt. If you cannot find your way to two types of scenarios—stealth and combat.
the next objective or locate that last secret There are a total of four combat challenges
in a location, the game menu can be used and four stealth challenges available to be
to bring up a 2D schematic of Arkham. unlocked. Each of these stages also has
Although the game characters might an “Extreme” mode, effectively taking the
seem a little buffed up, they are modeled total number of challenges to 16 stages. On
with an uncanny resemblance to some completion of these challenges, your total
score for that stage is calculated and
uploaded on the online leader boards.
Worlds’ Finest
It is not easy making a crossover
game, especially ones based on a
superhero and understandably
solid games in this genre are
few and far in between. The
good news is that Arkham
Asylum is easily one of the best
games ever made in this category. In
may seem a little short fact, even if you are not a big fan the Batman
lasting between eight to ten mythos you’ll still enjoy this game.
hours. After you beat the single With the exception of gunplay, this game
player mode, there are a couple of has something for every typical gamer.
other things to keep you busy. There are sections of the game that require
The Riddler also has a challenge for stealth and patience and works well for
of the comic book art. Batman this night and he has hidden those who look for a bit of strategy in a
The Joker constantly tries away secrets throughout Arkham. game. The combat system is robust and
to breakdown Batman’s psyche These are sometimes placed in plain sight free flowing that at times warrants good
by mocking him using the facilities while others are hidden away behind grates reflexes with the gamepad, especially in
video feed and the PA system. And The and breakable walls. These secrets come the later part of the game and in Challenge
Joker is only one of Batman’s problems in various forms like the Riddler’s Trophy, Mode. And for those gamers that enjoy
this night along with The Scarecrow, Poison Patients Interview Tapes, The Chronicles of exploration, there are secrets to be found
Ivy, Killer Croc, Bane and Mr. Zsasz. Arkham and some more. The game measures and rewards to be unlocked.
Due to Batman’s training and completion of your game by the progress Arguably, the only things that go against
conditioning tt may not be easy to break his you’ve made in the Story Mode along with this game is it’s short length and somewhat
constitution, but the effects of this grueling the number of secrets you have discovered. disappointing boss battles.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 157
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Game review xxxxx xxxxx
Chasing than the regular supply of undead skeletons.
The most heavily underused aspect of
the game is the very robust physics engine.
Boxes, bricks, planks, pulleys, lifts and
boards behave in a realistic manner. There
the fireball are a few places where you have to creatively
use a combination of these to get to a
particular point. Say there is a swinging mace
chained to a bar jutting out of the wall. You
Aditya Madanapalle use the magician to levitate the mace in such
aditya.madanapalle@thinkdigit.com a way that it is tied up to the bar, and cannot
swing any more. Using the magician to create
a crate, then impaling the crate on spikes in
T
rine is a 2D platformer that is part of an a wall, and using it as a ladder is a common
emerging trend of the gaming industry to approach. The puzzles themselves get SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
revisit it’s roots, and re-think the whole idea repetitive, and not a single one is a challenge. OS .....................Windows XP,
of 3D gameplay. Trine is based on a robust You will not need to repetitively try to solve a
physics engine, that encourages players to think puzzle, then look up for a walkthrough video Vista or higher
of creative ways to overcome obstacles using their on YouTube at any point of the game. The CPU..................... 2 GHz (dual
surroundings. lack of a challenge, and the underuse of such core recommended)
There are three characters that the game starts a great game engine is very disappointing.
with. Pontius, a Knight, Zoya, a thief, and Amadeus, The checkpoints in the game are automated, RAM........................... 512 MB
a magician. The souls of these three heroes are with no ability to save progress to a specific Free memory ...........600 MB
combined into a single entity as the three reach out point. This often puts you back by a large Graphics.................... NVIDIA
to grab an artifact at the beginning of the game. distance, which makes you replay the same
At this point, there is a charming exchange of parts over and over again. 6800 or better
words between, which only surfaces in the chapter The only real challenge in the game comes
transitions. From then on, the player can switch to up unintentionally. If any one of the three
any of the characters during the gameplay to use the characters die, then you will be forced to play
abilities unique to these three heroes. The magician for a while with just the other characters.
can conjure up boxes to overcome obstacles, the This will force you to use the abilities of the
knight is for melee combat using a sword, and the characters left alive in inventive ways. Players
thief uses a grapple hook to swing across chasms, can choose to challenge themselves by trying
and a bow for ranged combat. Later on into the game, to play the game with only two characters.
the heroes get additional abilities, but these are too The increased difficulty levels just add to
few and far between for the development angle to the numbers of the undead hoard, and the
be engaging. The magician gets the ability to draw abundance and strength of powerups. The
up planks and floating triangles. The thief can use game is very short, about six to eight hours
multiple arrows, and arrows tipped with fire, and the of gameplay, but every minute of the game
knight eventually gets a very powerful hammer. Some feels terribly long drawn out because of the
levels require the player to light torches, which Zoya force of numbers of the undead skeletons. At
can achieve with fiery arrows, and Pontius with his the end of the game, there is a typical tactic
blade. The Wizard is however, useless, as he does not of introducing the element of time to escape,
know the fireball spell, which Zoya points out. which makes sure you have to retry the level
The levels are very detailed and beautiful, and a couple of times.
the story follows a typical fantasy template of an evil The story wraps up in the end, with a
power overcoming a kingdom. Traveling through short montage of how the three characters
the platformer, looking at the intricately detailed end up. In short, the game is great eye-candy,
surroundings is a pleasure, a pleasure heavily marred and a novel new platformer worth playing
by the seemingly endless number of skeletons that once but definitely not another Braid, Little
spawn and try to hamper your progress. What would Big Planet or World of Goo. The game is a
have been a great tourist adventure has been turned little like Amadeus, a lot of cool tricks up his
into a cute little inappropriate nightmare. The combat sleeve, but missing out on the elements that
soon becomes repetitive, and enduring the combat are most obviously necessary.
is a pain. There are a handful of new enemies that
show up, spiders that spit venom and vampire bats RATINGS
that fly out and bite you when disturbed. The range
of enemies is very limited, and relies on numbers
rather than AI or creative use of weapons. There are a Consoles..............PC, PS3, XBOX 360,
few boss monsters in between, but the novelty soon
wears off. A frog with crystal amour on its back, and Publisher .................................Nobilis
a giant skeleton, are the only boss monsters that Developer ........................ Frozenbyte
you actually fight against. Sometimes, you kill a boss Rating...........................................5/10
monster by dropping it into a void, and at other times
you have no choice but to simply evade it. Later on in
the game, the boss monsters are actually easier to kill
156 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Xxx Xxx
Game review xxxxx xxxxx
The rise of Cobra points. These are either dropped by the fallen enemies and structures
Faiyaz Shaikh or found behind destructible object. So, for most part your focus in
readersletters@thinkdigit.com going to be killing, destroying and collecting to rack up your score.
Slain enemies sometimes drop a score multiplier that remains active
for a few seconds, multiplying the score you earn during that period.
E
xperiencing G.I. Joe again after all these years, reminds us of At every checkpoint in the game your total score is tallied and
those days when we would setup elaborate battlegrounds in reaching a certain score rewards you with precious Battle Points.
our rooms, using common household items, to pit G.I. Joe These points are used to unlock other characters in the team roster
action figures against Cobra Command action figures. Now, — quite essential, as this is the only thing that really keeps the game
a couple of decades later, when we picked the latest game based in fresh.
the G.I. Joe universe, the feeling was one of nostalgia and mirth at
the ignomity of two well-equipped power hungry groups fighting for On to the genocide
control over the world. It all reeks of unrelenting military machismo, The mission levels are roughly divided into set piece arenas where it
where even a female G.I. is a Joe. is either dodge and shoot or get behind cover and shoot. You attempt
each mission with two characters playing either co-op with another
The Factions person or in single player mode, switching between the two with push
Like most war stories, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra has two parties that of a button. Even though the game seems to give a lot of emphasis on
are at each other’s throats and then there is a weapons manufacturer. taking cover, the system is not as robust as we have come to expect
The weapon’s company in this story goes by the name of M.A.R.S after some of the other games.
and it is developing warheads for the U.S. Army (G.I. Joe) and is There are situations where things can get pretty hairy as
simultaneously selling some nifty nanotechnology to a group you are taking on foot soldiers, turrets and heavy cavalry
fighting to bring a new world order (Cobra). So the stage simultaneously. The game provides a few tricks to help
is set — for most part of the game, you get to play one of you get through such situations—you can sometimes
the several operatives of G.I. Joe, which is a super secret call for back up in the form of vehicle drop, artillery
division of the U.S. Army. fire or firing from space using a weapon satellite.
In addition to this, each Joe has special ability that
Theatre of War can be a life saver most of the times. This ability is
The game is set across the regular gamut of tilesets available either in the form of enemy drops or by
of frigid, jungle and desert landscapes. Each of building up the ability meter by taking down targets.
these locations has four to five missions, along Each character can store up to three uses of the
with another locked mission. Mission objectives special ability at a time. Causing mayhem ‘efficiently’
are quite straight forward and they can fit into three builds up the Accelerator Suit meter. After the meter
categories — rescue mission, search-and-destroy, and is filled up, you can unleash it to transform both
intelligence gathering. You start the game in a mission room the characters into super soldiers, firing bullets
to select two G.I. Joe characters for your next venture. The game and rockets at godly speed and taking virtually no damage for a few
has a fairly impressive roster of 12 G.I. Joe characters and four Cobra seconds.
characters to choose from.
Each of these characters belong to either one of the three classes — Mission Review
a combat soldier, heavy infantry or commando. Soldiers are all-round Even though the game does not have a lot of depth, it’s paced well
fighters and are very handy in every mission. Heavy infantry class enough to keep it interesting till the end. There is a constant trickle
is great against vehicles and structures and the commando class of new playable characters, right until towards the end of the game
specialises in melee combat. After a mission brief, you are thrown where you get to play as some of the Cobra characters. If you have
onto the mission map with the four locations mentioned earlier. Some enjoyed games like Brute Force or even Contra, there is a good chance
of these locations (along with their respective missions) are initially you will find this one fun to play. The fun however, does not last long
locked and requires completion of certain other missions before they and the game can be completed in eight to ten hours—maybe that’s
are playable. At most points in the game, there are multiple missions lengthy enough for a mindless shooter.
available at a time and they can be attempted in any order you choose. Despite all its flaws, this game is fun to play as it has a certain old
school charm. Unlock able characters and multiple difficulty levels
Mission Directives add a fair bit of replay value to the game. So, if you are a fan of the G.I.
These missions have a primary objective that you eventually reach as Joe universe or are looking for a decent co-op shooter, you might want
the level design is quite linear. The secondary objective is to gather to grab a copy now; otherwise you could wait for a price drop.
collectibles like intelligence and contacts of other G.I. Joe members.
Collecting these gives you different rewards — gathering intelligence RATINGS
Score: 6.5/10
may unlock concept art in the game’s gallery or it may unlock another
side- mission. Locating contact of a G.I. Joe makes that member Genre: Action, Shoot ‘em Up
available to be unlocked in the team roster. In addition, all of these Platforms: PS2, PS3, PSP, X360, Wii, DS
items also add points to your total score. Developer: Double Helix Games, Backbone
Sometimes these collectibles are behind a special door that
requires a particular class of character to open. If you find yourself Entertainment
without the right class of character, there will most likely be a teleport Publisher: Electronic Arts
device somewhere in the level. Using these machines you can swap Distributor: Milestone Interactive Software (PS2, PS3,
one character for another and crack that door. There is also another
queer collective object in the form of Point Clusters, another source of
PSP, Wii, DS) Redington (X360)
Price: Rs. 999 to Rs. 2,499 (depends on platform)
156 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Escape
Digit Diary
Geek culture : Mecha
Gigantic robot like exoskeletons but with people - or in some cases, aliens The team deviated a bit from the regular Quake3 fare and
controlling them are called Mechas. Mechas are not not to be confused with got onto some Warcraft3 instead. Raaabo did not join in, but
gigantic robots - such as the ones seen in any of the Transformers storylines. everyone irritated him by using the quotes that the units in
The earliest description of a Mecha was probably the tripods in War of the Warcraft3 use in the workplace. Here is a handy wc3 roleplay
Worlds. Although impractical, real life models are being built. guide for office use:
To complain about work: grunt “work, work” like an orc
To accept work: “Something need doing?” in a confused voice,
Games
as an orc, or “ready to work” in an easygoing villager voice
To address your boss: use “Milord” or “Chieftain”
Asking for instructions: “I await your command.” in the gruff
voice of a Knight or “The dead stand ready” in a hoarse whis-
per of the undead or “I await your command” as an elf.
Pissed off at colleague: “Maybe you should get a strategy
guide.” or “This outfit is for the birds.”
To scare people: “Me eat dead people!” or “I like chicks that
Heavy Gear II: MechQuest: A Armored are into bandage...” as the Undead.
Mecha combat browser based Warriors: Old
gaming, the series Mecha MMORPG School coin oper-
also has a large from the same
number of sci-fi people who made
ated mecha action
in the street
Elephants do forget
books. AdventureQuest. While being an interesting and highly addictive flash game, there are
fighter style.
a few things about game design that any game developer can pick
up from this simple game. An elephant, a button, and a door... that
is almost all there is in just one level of the game. But every time you
Series
think the game is over, you are forced to rethink that one leve. Head
over to http://tinyurl.com/m5hcmt
Power Rangers: Gundam: The Star Wars: The
A bunch of kids culture is so huge AT-AT walker is
destroy skylines that Japan even the most famous,
while fighting with set up this 56 but there are
giant robotic dinos foot statue, and a other Mecha in the
or animals. mecha school. series.
Mechas
1337sp33k
Stay up to date with internet lingo, so you don’t wt? the next
time you are chatting with someone
Schooled: To get schooled is to learn something after a lot of
The Landwalker The T-52 Enryu Half Tractor, half pain and/or humiliation. Usually used after a gamer has been
is a mech on hire is a Mecha from lumberjack, the six pwned.
from Sakakibara another Japanese legged Timberjack
Kikai Co. that rolls company for clear- is a prototype kekekekeke: An expression of mirth and laughter, the big
along on wheels ing debris during meant for indus- brother of “lol” used for being awesome at a game or trolling
hidden in its feet. rescue operations. trial logging. someone hard.
How we unwind
Movies Music Game
District 9: A refreshing take on The Green Waltz: A free album Anarchy Online: A great Sci-Fi
visitation, check out the Digit by The Dada Weatherman. We MMORPG. Jump in with the
review at http://www.think- like the tracks “Little Man” and updated installer is in this
digit.com/d/45750. “Pixel Song1”. month’s Play DVD.
156 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com
Escape
The Penguin is NEWS
inbflat.net
Growing Fat One of those websites you must visit for the sheer novelty of the
idea. Inbflat.net has taken a number of videos from YouTube,
Microsoft Windows has long been known as a bloated Operating and arranged them in an array. The videos are of musicians
System. Those who use Linux, stand by how small and efficient the displaying their skills in different instruments. Play the videos
Kernel is. However, in the most recent LinuxCon, Linux Trovalds, together, or play some of them, or play a selection at different
the creator of Linux accepted that the Linux Kernel is growing to times to remix and create your own track. There are 20 videos
be a bloated Operating system, and is no longer as streamlined as it to buffer, so you will need a lot of patience or a great internet
used to be. In his words, Linux is now “bloated and huge”. This was connection for this to work smoothly though.
in response to a question on efficiency posed by one of the officials
from Novell, the company that is responsible for the SUSE Linux
distro, one of the most commonly used Linux distros.
Trovalds continued to state that the reason for the bloat was
because of the tremendous lines of code added to the Kernel, and
that it was an unavoidable artefact of the pace at which the operating
system is growing. This has lead many to wonder if Linux does get
adopted on a wider scale, and does eventually become more efficient
and consumer friendly, then the chances are that Linux also will
become an Operating System with the same number of bugs and
holes as Windows.
tech art: Net.Art
For those who came in late
Muddled by so many terms used in the mag? Here’s your short
guide to the tech lingo
Biometric: Computer interfaces that read off humans, typically
for security purposes. These can range from fingerprint recogni-
tion to Iris recognition. Both the hardware as well as the software
are referred to as “biometric”.
SCSI: Pronounced as “skuzzi”, an older file transfer standard
meant for server hard drives, and later used for a range of I/O
devices.
SAS: Serial Attached SCSI, a data transfer standard for moving
data from external devices such as hard drives and tape drives,
found ounly on high end boards.
Image Credit: Joachim Schmid
SATA: Serial ATA - a standard interface between modern
computers and the storage medium, replacing the older PATA
connectors (Prallel ATA). This standard considerably reduced
the number of pins.
CMOS: Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor, a proc-
Net.Art is a rather strange art form, which is basically coding an ess for making integrated circuits. A CMOS sensor is a type of
HTML page with irregular, illegible and often useless characters in integrated circuit with an array of light sensors, used in digital
them. The lines, the letters, the numbers, radio buttons, check boxes cameras.
and in some cases, the animations used are either jarring, outra-
geous, or just simply strange. The reason why people indulge in this CCD: A charge-coupled device, a method in which informa-
art form are various and complicated. To some people who take it at tion collected by a chip is collected. A CCD is one of the two
face value, it is just something unconventional and cool. To others, it commonly used types of sensors for digital photography.
is a way of questioning the establishment of the Internet, about the
standards used by the browsers, or the design principles of websites. F-number: The ratio of the aperture in a lense to it’s focul
Head over to http://0100101110101101.org to check some examples length. Generally, the smaller the f-number of a lens, the better.
out, but don’t linger too much, or you will get a headache.
Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com 157
Community
Interact with forum members and give us feedback
http://www.thinkdigit.com/d/thinkdigit/oct09/
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Community
Win! Win!
The September winner of Green Technology
Win!
A brand new Hero
Contest was Rizwan A Salam from Trivandrum Electric bike – MAXI
was handed over to
Rizwan A Salam by Mr.
Suresh Babu, Legal
Manager of Marikar
Group of Companies.
Take part in the Digit
Festival Contest
and stand a chance
to win your very own
MAXI. You can also
win prizes everyday by
answering daily ques-
tions. To find out how
to participate in the
Digit Festival Contest
head over to page 141.
160 Digit | October 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com