|  |  |  | | | | | PCMag.com: New Product Reviews | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Has the miniaturization trend got you down? Are you longing to build a PC that catapults you back to those halcyon days of the 1980s and '90s when cases came up almost to your waist and weighed more than both your dogs together? Then the Corsair Obsidian Series 800D is for you: It's a thrilling throwback to the days of DIY yore. It's got space to contain all the components you can imagine, and then some—and then some more. Working in it couldn't be easier. And it's got proper airflow down to a science. The problems? Well, it's big, heavy, expensive ($299.99 list), and on the square and boxy side, and not all its elements are elegant. The 800 is ideal for serious builders (and rebuilders) who couldn't care less about how something looks, as long as it gives them every option imaginable.
Design
Assuming you have the back to carry it (it weighs about 44 pounds empty) and a place to put it (it measures 24 by 24 by 9 inches, HWD), however, this all-black, steel case is loaded with amenities. These begin on the motherboard tray, which features one large (about 7.5-by-6-inch) rectangular hole for installing aftermarket CPU coolers. One unusual twist on this is that the hole is covered by a removable door underneath, accessible through the opposite side panel. Also on hand are 11 more grommeted holes, in two different sizes (1.25 by 2.25 and 1.75 by 3.5), for routing cables behind the tray. Another nice touch: There are ten integrated standoffs for supporting an ATX motherboard, as well as additional holes for installing microATX or Extended ATX (EATX) boards.
The power supply area is its own separate chamber, at the bottom of the case. It has two of the larger grommeted holes of its own, for easily sending cables out to the motherboard and drive area. The chamber will hold extra-long power supplies, and in addition to a sizable vent (outfitted with a dust filter) on the floor, on the far right (closest to the front of the case) is a removable plastic shield that sequesters the case's lowest drive bays.
Speaking of which, the 800D is admirably outfitted in that department, as well. The aforementioned shield isolates two 3.5-inch bays, which will preferably contain drives you won't want to move too often. (You can insert them through the front if you remove the front panel.) Just above those are four more 3.5-inch bays that open on the front panel and have SATA backplanes, meaning you can hot-swap the drives you put in them at any time you like. Just push a button to release the drive clamp, then pull out the tray to add or remove a drive. (The backplanes also hide behind their own removable plastic shield.) Finishing off the storage cavalcade are a full five external 5.25-inch bays, for optical drives or other devices. At the top of the front panel you'll find a the power button and a push-button door that hides four USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, one FireWire port, and the reset button—its position in here makes it nearly impossible to hit it when you mean to press the power button.
What else could Corsair pack into the 800D? Fans and additional cooling options, to start with. There are three 140mm fans inside the case itself: one on the rear panel, one on the ceiling of the power supply chamber, and one for the four external-access 3.5-inch drives that's hidden behind a removable plastic shroud. (We found this a bit tricky to take off and put back on.) This bears all the evidence of a smartly designed cooling system: The case is elevated an inch off the ground, thanks to three sturdy "feet" on the case, leaving the PSU chamber fan to pull in cool air from the floor vent and blow it across the video cards and motherboard, while the hard drives have their own fan and enclosed spaces to prevent heat from mingling. Should you want to cool things even further, there's room to install three 120mm fans or a large liquid-cooling radiator in the case ceiling, and two grommeted holes in both the rear panel and the PSU chamber ceiling facilitate channeling liquid-cooling piping throughout the case.
If all that still isn't enough for you, the 800D also features almost entirely tool-free construction. Optical drives attach with sturdy, easy-to-operate plastic restraints, the four hot-swappable drive trays and the rails for the stay-in-place 3.5-inch drives are simple to use, and the seven expansion slots all come with generously sized thumb screws. You don't even need your Phillips to get into the case: Just push an unlocking button and pull off the appropriate side panel. (Unless the case is standing up and you have gravity working in your favor, this is not something you can do with one hand, which is a bit on the inconvenient side.)
Building
Building in the 800D was just as pleasurable as we expected: We couldn't devise a scenario that left us with insufficient elbow room. (A microATX motherboard works well in this case, of course, but you'll have an astonishing amount of space left over.) If you install a video card of above-average length, such as the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the longest card currently on the market, you have more than two inches of clearances before the nearest obstruction. In fact, Corsair even pre-answered a need we didn't know we'd have. When hooking up the SATA backplanes we needed four SATA data connectors and four SATA power connectors. Corsair included all of the former, but also designed a special four-way SATA power cable that let us connect them all at once. Another surprise we loved: a supplemental motherboard eight-pin power cable that terminated in both four- and eight-pin plugs. This was an enormous plus considering we never seem to have exactly the PSU or cable we need for the motherboard we're working with.
With so much that's positive about the 800D, what's not to like? Aside from the above-mentioned niggles and its back-breaking stature and bank-breaking price, it's not much to look at. The case's sole capitulation to questions of style is a windowed side panel—otherwise, it's just a big, black box, living up to its name with little flair. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but aesthetics do play something of a role with enthusiast cases at this price. Corsair's own 600T looks smoother and shinier, with even better side-panel doors and almost as much interior space—and costs considerably less at $159.99 (list). Swinging the other direction, the Thermaltake Level 10 offers even more innovation, and is a true design marvel that earns its stratospheric $800 asking price. With its built-in handle and carefully cut base, it's also much easier to carry, despite being even heavier.
The Corsair Obsidian Series 800D, then, is a case designed for set-it-and-forget-it enthusiast types who may like tinkering with their systems, but don't really plan to cart them around much. They're the people most likely to benefit (and get their money's worth) from this oversized case. But if they can afford it, we can't imagine they'll be likely to outgrow it any time soon.
• Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
• Thermaltake Dokker
• Antec LanBoy Air
• NZXT Phantom Case
• Antec DF-85 Case
• more
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Light, portable, cheap—these are the defining characteristics of a netbook. These pint-sized devices offer basic Internet access and computing capability in a portable package, with a smaller price tag than a standard laptop. The HP Mini 210-2000 ($599 direct) checks off all of the required boxes, but won't blow you away in any given category considering its parts. What it will do is go the distance in terms of battery life.
Design
Weighing in at just under 3 pounds, the Mini 210-2000 offers great portability for the mobile user that will do anything to lighten their load, and is only a few ounces heavier than the 2.5-pound Acer Aspire One AOD255-1203 ($329.99 street, 4 stars), the lightest netbook we've reviewed. Students will appreciate that it's lighter than the average textbook, and small enough that it can fit easily into a backpack or large hand bag. The Mini 210-2000 also functions as a colorful accessory, available in Charcoal (Dark Grey), Luminous Rose (Pink), and Ocean Drive (Blue). The plastic chassis may not be as thin as the Acer AOD255-1203 or offer the aluminum finish of the HP Mini 5103 ($650 street, 4 stars), it has a semi-gloss finish that hides fingerprints and smudges, keeping a clean look.
The netbook measures 1.25 by 10.5 by 7.5 inches (HWD). The 10.1-inch screen has a standard 1,024 by 600 resolution. It doesn't have the resolution to display high-definition video and images, but it's perfect for reading text, browsing the Web, and viewing YouTube clips. The keyboard is nearly full sized, and offers a comfortable typing experience. It has chiclet-style keys, which helps when trying to differentiate one key from another by feel.
The mouse uses a clickpad, which combines the trackpad and mouse buttons into one smooth surface. It's multitouch-capable, and gesture controls like pinch and zoom or two-finger scrolling are ideal when using a small screen where content may be resized or cut off. The touchpad itself is a tad undersized, measuring only 1.75 by 3.6 inches, but it offers more mousing real estate than the Acer Aspire One AOD255-1203 ($329.99 street, 4 stars) and Dell Inspiron Mini 10 ($425 direct, 3.5 stars).
Features
There are 3 USB ports, a VGA output, and a combination headphone-out/microphone-in jack on the HP Mini 210-2000. There's also a 5-in-1 digital card reader and an integrated webcam. The HP Mini has multiple networking connections, including an Ethernet port, a wireless 802.11b/g/n adapter, and Bluetooth networking, which lets you to wirelessly tether to a broadband smartphone.
The HP Mini 210-2000 does come with a number of programs pre-installed. A 60-day trial of Microsoft Office, a similar trial of Norton Internet Security, and a hefty handful of game demos from WildTangent clutter up the system. A desktop link to eBay, and a New York Times reader program further clutter the desktop. Many users will want to deactivate these trial programs when they first power up the netbook.
And speaking of starting up the machine, when powered on, instead of booting directly to Windows, the Mini 210-2000 instead pulls up a Splashtop, which is a lightweight operating system that lets you access the Web, enjoy your media, and play simple games right away. In addition to shortening the wait to get online, it also lets you access your favorite media and play simple games, all without entering Windows. When you do want to get into the Windows OS, just one click will take you there.
Performance
The HP Mini 210-2000 is outfitted with an Intel Atom N455 processor, a single-core processor with 1GB of RAM and integrated Intel graphics. While these components are sufficient for basic Web browsing and document editing, something as simple as browsing with multiple tabs open can cause noticeably slow performance. For those who are willing to spend a little more for a power boost, you can configure this netbook with a dual-core Atom N550, and RAM can be expanded to 2GB.
When run through SYSMark 2007, the Mini 210-2000 produced average results. An overall score of 37 puts it right alongside the Editors' Choice Samsung NF310-A01 ($399.99 street, 4.5 stars) and Toshiba mini NB305-N410 ($359.99 list, 4.5 stars), both of which scored 38 points. However, it couldn't match the 53 points scored by the Asus EeePC 1215N ($500 street, 4 stars).
Where the HP Mini 210-2000 stands out is battery life: In MobileMark 2007, the 6-cell 66Wh battery lasted a whopping 9 hours 50 minutes. This marathon time beat out even most other long-lived netbooks, like the 8:55 of the MSI Wind U160-007US ($380 street, 3 stars) and 8:59 of the Toshiba mini NB305-N410.
All things considered, the HP Mini 210-2000 is a light netbook that can be used to browse the Web and edit documents for hours and hours on end. If more computing power is a necessity, you might prefer the Editors' Choice Samsung NF310-A01 or an ultraportable, such as our Editors' Choice, the Toshiba Portege R705-P35 ($899.99 list, 4 stars). For students who don't need a lot of processing power or graphics capability, the backpack-friendly size and budget-friendly price tag makes the HP Mini 210-2000 worth looking at.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:
Check out the test scores for the HP Mini 210-2000
COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the HP Mini 210-2000 with several other laptops side by side.
More laptop reviews:
• Acer Aspire AS1830T-3935 (AT&T)
• HP Envy 17 3D
• Lenovo IdeaPad U260
• HP EliteBook 8740w
• HP Pavilion dv7-4272us
• more
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The Canon Pixma MX360 Inkjet Office All-In-One ($79.99 direct) is a good low-priced MFP (multifunction printer) for a home-business owner who wants to connect a printer directly to his or her PC. It prints, copies, scans, and faxes, and has an automatic document feeder (ADF). Above-par text quality, and solid graphics and photos round out the picture.
The 7.8 by 18.1 by 16.4-inch (HWD) MX360 weighs 18 pounds has rounded corners and white sides. The ADF and input tray on top are surrounded by a black beveled strip that gives the front panel–which holds the display, alphanumeric fax keypad, and a number of function buttons—an upward tilt.
The MX360 is slightly more basic than the Canon Pixma MX340 ($99.99 direct, 4 stars) that we reviewed last spring. It lacks WiFi and Ethernet connectivity. It has no media-card slots—which may be just as well, as you can't preview photos on the one-line monochrome text display. It does have a port for a PictBridge-enabled camera, or a USB key (which you can scan to, but not print from).
The lack of these features shouldn't deter a home-business owner looking for a USB-connected PC, as the computer's own display, ports, and card slots can handle all the photo or file transfer and viewing. The MX360 offers fax capability, as well as a 30-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning, copying, or faxing multi-page documents. A 100-sheet paper feeder, though par for the MX360's price, limits its business use to the lightest of home-office duties.
We tested the MX360 over a USB 2.0 connection to a computer running Windows Vista.
Print Speed and Output Quality
We clocked the MX360 on the latest version of our business applications suite (as timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software), which combines graphics pages, text pages, and pages with mixed content, at 1.8 effective pages per minute (ppm). This matched the Pixma MX340's speed, while the Editors' Choice Epson Stylus NX625 ($149 direct, 4 stars) zipped through the tests at 4 ppm. The Brother MFC-J410w ($100 street, 3.5 stars) was a little faster than the Canon, at 2.2 ppm.
Text quality was good for an inkjet, and very good for an MFP at its price. Characters were reasonably crisp and dark for an inkjet. Output is good enough for internal business use, though you might not want to use the MX360 for documents such as resumes with which you want to impress someone through their visual appearance.
Graphics quality was on a par with the majority of inkjets we've tested, good enough for general business use, including PowerPoint handouts. Colors were rich. Issues, all minor, included banding (a regular pattern of stripes of discoloration in some solid-color areas), dithering (the breakdown of solid areas into fine graininess), and trouble printing some very thin lines.
Photo quality was typical of inkjet MFPs. Colors were well saturated but not overly so. A monochrome print showed a slight tint. There was some loss of detail in bright areas in a couple of the photos. Their overall quality was at about the level you'd expect of drugstore prints.
In addition to serving as a home-office MFP, the Canon Pixma MX360 could fill double duty as a home-office and home printer, thanks to its decent photo quality, or it could serve as a personal printer in a larger office. It has its limitations befitting an $80 MFP. Its speed and paper capacity are typical of its price, and you're limited to connecting it directly to a PC via USB. But it has fax and an ADF (which the Editors' Choice Epson Stylus NX625—though far faster and with a fuller feature set, lacks—and prints beautiful text, plus solid graphics and photos. The Brother MFC-J410w offers more features—such as an (admittedly tiny) LCD screen and Wi-Fi capabilities—but it stumbles a bit on output quality, which is one place where the MX360 shines.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS
Check out the test scores for the Canon Pixma MX360 Inkjet Office All-In-One.
COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Canon Pixma MX882 Wireless Inkjet Office All-in-One with several other MFPs side by side.
More Multi-function Printer Reviews:
• Canon Pixma MX360 Inkjet Office All-In-One
• Samsung SCX-4623FW
• Dell V313w All-in-One Wireless Printer
• Brother MFC-J615w
• Lexmark Impact S305
• more
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OS X includes so many powerful, well-designed utilities that vendors need to come up with something special if they want you to pay for their products. Coriolis Systems' iPartition is one of the few commercial utilities for OS X that are definitely worth paying for—but you'll probably want it only if you need one of a few specific features that iPartition performs effortlessly but that the Disk Utility that comes with OS X can't handle at all. Before I tell you about iPartition's elegant interface and smooth operations (and a few of its drawbacks), let me describe the special features that make it worth having in the first place.
Resize Windows Partitions
First, iPartition, unlike Apple's Disk Utility, can resize a Windows partition on your Mac machine. Apple's Boot Camp utility can create a Windows partition and perform some low-level tricks to make Windows boot normally on hardware that it normally can't work with. But Disk Utility can't expand or contract a Windows partition after it's created it. If you want to decrease the size of your OS X partition and expand your Windows partition, you're out of luck if you don't have iPartition. If you're running Vista or Windows 7 on your Mac, there are complicated workarounds that let you perform this feat, but these workarounds aren't available for Windows XP. It's much easier to let iPartition take care of it.
More Disk Divisions
Next, iPartition, unlike anything provided by Apple, lets you divide your Mac disk into a Windows partition and two separate OS X partitions—or even a Windows partition, an OS X partition, and a Linux partition. I wanted to build a triple-boot Mac with three partitions, one for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, one for OS X 10.5 Leopard, and one for Windows XP. Apple's Disk Utility would let me split my original OS X partition into two partitions, one for each OS X version, but when I did that, Windows XP wouldn't boot. Enter iPartition, which effortlessly split my OS X partition in two, and wrote some low-level code to the Mac's boot data so that Windows XP would still boot.
Move Your Partitions
Third, iPartition, also unlike Apple's Disk Utility, can move partitions, not just resize them. Let's say you've got a Mac with two partitions for OS X, one for data, one for applications, and you want to reduce the size of both partitions, and add a third partition in the resulting empty space. Apple's Disk Utility can reduce the size of both partitions, but it can't then move up the second one so that it's adjacent to the first, and you're left with two separate blocks of empty space, instead of the single block of empty space that you want for your third partition. Again, enter iPartition, which can resize and move both partitions, and then create a new partition in the combined empty space.
Using iPartition
Unlike Apple's Disk Utility, you can't run iPartition from the disk that you're going to modify, so you'll need to do one of two things. Either run iPartition from a bootable external disk, like a USB backup disk, or use the built-in menu item that creates a bootable DVD with a copy of iPartition, and then boot from that DVD. When you launch iPartition it displays your hard disk in the form of a pie chart, with each partition in a different color. To perform any operation on a partition, click on it to highlight it. A curved handle appears at the outer edge of the partition, in the form of an arc that's concentric with the outer edge of the pie chart. Drag the handle to resize the partition. Then do the same with any other partition, then click the Go button to perform all your pending operations. It sounds more complicated than it is, and you'll get an idea of how intuitive it is if you check out our slideshow.
iPartition's Weaknesses
Not everything is perfect in iPartition. The help file isn't up to date, so it tells you to use a separate supplied utility to create a bootable DVD. In fact the separate utility doesn't exist, and you simply use iPartition's own menu to create a DVD. Also, after you've created multiple partitions with iPartition, you won't be able to resize them in Apple's Disk Utility, because Disk Utility won't mess with a disk that has partitioning features it doesn't recognize. You'll need to break out your copy of iPartition to manage that disk.
No Other Option
Yes, it's got a few flaws, but without iPartition, I couldn't have set up my Mac to work the way I want it to work, with two partitions for OS X, and one for Windows. When a product does exactly what I want it to do, and does it as elegantly and efficiently as iPartition does, it gets a thumbs-up from me. You'll never need iPartition if you use your Mac exactly as Apple wants you to use it, but if you need its features, nothing else will do.
More Backup Utility Software:
• iPartition 3.3.1
• Jungle Disk 3.1
• GoodSync Pro (for Mac)
• CrashPlan 3.0
• KineticD
• more
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