873219 buffalo terrastation es nas storagBuffalo TeraStation

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by mfereday on 9 May 2017
Adding power and extra storage to your LAN is the task undertaken by the Buffalo TeraStation.
SSD drives always carry a substantial premium over conventional hard drives, however the price of storage is one of the few things that continue to drop, while we are meant to have low inflation few have seen real wage growth for many years.
Having recently told you about a Kurio Tablet that although designed for the younger user could equally well be used by an adult that comes with Windows 10. Here a Tablet that comes with a rubber sleeve that could withstand a knock or three.
Moving files – especially larger ones – between devices like phones and PC’s has always required extra thought, the trouble is they are often last minute thoughts? Here a solution from Kingston that is as easy as plug it in to a USB port.

872761 Kurio Student 9 Inch Windows 8 QC TableKurio Smart

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 17 Apr 2017
A reasonably priced Tablet produced by a company in the toy field but equally useable – without restrictions – for an adult. Unlike a lot of recent Tablets this comes with a detachable keyboard and even the latest version of Windows 10 (v1607).

872983 Dell Optiplex 3050 Small Form Factor desktop computer Core iOptiPlex 3050 All-in-One

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by mfereday on 11 Apr 2017
This next offering from the Dell family of products sets out to reduce the amount of office space required for its presence.

872760 Philips Moda 24 inch LED IPS MonitoPhilips Moda 245

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 10 Apr 2017
This has a very small edge top and both sides and only a normal size at the base, it is also very thin. However the most important thing is the quality of the image on the screen, this is excellent and while I tried with the controls to better the ‘Auto’ settings I failed.

872758 BenQ GW2270HM 22 Inch Eye Care MonitoBen Q Panel GW2270HM

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 5 Apr 2017
Having recently looked at various large and high resolution panels there is something soothing about a panel of average size with average resolution. This offering the GW2270 is exactly what the review below is all about, a 22inch panel displaying 1920x1080.
If you expect your Tablet to have a hard life then you are better off paying more and getting one that will survive knocks and drops and even a degree of getting wet. In fact Panasonic launched another of their Toughbook’s on a weather balloon to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere and then brought it back by parachute and it still worked.
Most panels show you a screen of information, some do it with low Blue Light, and some have the ability to rotate so you can see your screen in portrait mode. This offering from Philips however is a first for me having a changing colour display in the base.
Having told you about the other two units in the latest Canvio range the chance came up to tell you about the Basics offering. This is - Bus Powered - so no need for external power as with earlier external drives so it should plug in and be ready to use.
While a number of NAS units tend to require a good amount of knowledge to get them up and running correctly this is not the case with those produced by Buffalo, here I was sent a two bay offering that arrived pre populated with drives.

872017 ASUS Zenbook UX330UA FB025T laptop notebooASUS ZenBook UX330UA

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 22 Feb 2017
This notebook is both light and thin, it also has a metal chassis and for good measure it boots quickly. Anyone on the move that needs a PC has probably only one more request that it runs all day without the need to search out mains power, it can do that as well.

871737 BenQ GL2706PQ 27 Inch Widescreen TN LED Multimedia MonitoBenQ Panel gl12706pq

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 12 Feb 2017
Apart from being a large panel in dimensions it also looks different as it is not a normal 1920x1080 offering. Just looking at it tells you it must have a larger width, this turns out to be 2560x1440 and of course you see so much more than 1920x1080.

871736 ASUS Chromebook C202SA YS0Asus Chromebook C202SA

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 10 Feb 2017
If all you want from a Notebook is to be able to collect your emails and browse the WWW then something like this should high up your wish list, nowadays it is possible to work off line with Chromebooks so word processing and dare I say it games are possible when not online.

871730 Alcatel Plus 10 Tablet with KeyboarAlcatel Plus 10

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 1 Feb 2017
A tablet that comes with a keyboard, when the keyboard is attached then Hotspots become available so while out and about you can get 3G and even 4G coverage. When detached from the keyboard it’s a tablet that can take advantage of Wi-Fi wherever you are.

871739 Acer Aspire R3 131T 1Acer Aspire R3-131T

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 27 Jan 2017
This is a Notebook and a Tablet; the 11.6inch screen can show 1366x768. As it’s a Tablet as well as a Notebook it of course has touch and then Windows 10 starts to make sense, not for Cortana but for the on screen annotation ability.
While this company seems to have been in the UK since 2012 the first of their products I saw was the excellent P9 Smartphone earlier in 2016, then I get to see their ‘cheaper’ brand the Honor 5C SmartPhone and now this rather smart Windows Notebook/Tablet the MateBook12.

871362 BUFFALO TeraStation 3210D 2 Bay 8 TB RAID NABuffalo TeraStation

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by mfereday on 12 Jan 2017
The need for storage capacity continues to grow. To help ease this situation, Buffalo has released a new TeraStation series.
Carrying your personal data in your pocket requires hardware such as the subject of this next review.

871315 philips 276E7QDAB LCD Monitor E LinPhilips 27-inch Monitor

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by mfereday on 7 Jan 2017
It has been a while since I last took a look at a monitor but that period has come to an end with the Philips UltraColor.

871222 Acer Swift 3 S3 471 14 Inch NotebooAcer Swift 3

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 6 Jan 2017
This is the first of my reviews for machines launched at the very end of November by Acer in Glasgow, those who saw my launch report will know it was not cold, wet or snowy; I got the very cold bit almost as soon as I got back to the south of England.

871043 HP Laptop 17 y013nWide-screen Laptop

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by mfereday on 24 Dec 2016
With this next product I had to combine the roles of a reviewer and a brother.

871046 LeapFrog LeapPad Platinum Childrens tablet computeLeapPad Platinum

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by mfereday on 15 Dec 2016
Designed specifically for young children, the LeapPad takes a walled-garden approach to the access and content available to its users.
The Toshiba Canvio Alu portable USB 3.0 hard drives, which form part of the company’s Advanced range, are solidly built 2.5 inch units and are available in a choice of capacities from 500GB to 2.5TB
Is it a notebook? Is it a tablet? No it is both.
A long weekend in Glasgow in late November was not high on my list of places to visit, nothing against Glasgow or Scotland but the week previously it had been -10 degrees in Glasgow so armed with my long johns I ventured north of the border.
This Toshiba unit should be available in sizes up to 8TB by the time you read this. I was sent the 6TB offering as the 8TB has been delayed from the initial launce briefing earlier this year 34 floors up the Shard near the supposedly soon to be finished London Bridge station.

870269 G Technology 3TB G DRIVE Mobile Portable Hard Drive USB G-Drive 3TB

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple by paul_smart on 18 Nov 2016
There is often a long interval between requesting an item and it arriving, this is certainly the case here with this well constructed USB external drive. The manufacturer G Drive calls this a mobile USB drive that works on both MAC and Windows.
The Kensington USB 3.0 hub model UA3000E provides three USB 3.0 ports as well as a Gigabit Ethernet connection and so could be a useful add on to a netbook or laptop which lacks necessary ports.