From the Magazine

5GB Rave-MP ARC5.0

Posted 01/14/2005 at 5:08pm | by

Five gigabytes never sounded so bad

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 0
URL: www.rave-mp.com

The ARC5.0 is not an MP3 player you’d wear with pride.

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Corel Painter IX

Posted 01/14/2005 at 5:07pm | by

Doodlers and dabblers need not apply

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 8
URL: www.corel.com

Opening Painter IX is like walking into the best-stocked artist’s studio you’ve ever seen.

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Seagate 40GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

Posted 01/14/2005 at 4:56pm | by

A rugged drive that gets the job done

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 8
URL: www.seagate.com

Now that Seagate is manufacturing 2.5-inch notebook drives, it makes perfect sense the company would enter the booming portable storage market by slipping one of its new drives into a rugged shell and slapping a USB 2.0 bridge on it.

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Logicube Sonix Drive Duplicator

Posted 01/14/2005 at 4:46pm | by

Drive copying doesn’t get any easier than this

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 8
URL: www.logicube.com

It’s obvious the Sonix is meant for IT folks, given its fat price tag and limited usage for the consumer market, but we ask you this: What hardcore PC fanatic wouldn’t want the portable drive copier and its sleek G-man-esque briefcase pictured above? You might not use it often in the “real world,” but when duty calls, this cool-looking drive copier performs flawlessly.Operation is simple.

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Strata 3D CX

Posted 01/14/2005 at 2:39pm | by

3D imaging program compromises high-end tools for ease of use

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 6
URL: www.strata.com

Strata 3D is a 3D design and illustration package that’s been popular with Mac addicts for awhile.

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Westinghouse W3301 30-inch LCD

Posted 01/14/2005 at 2:20pm | by

It’s a good thing it’s big, because it looks best from afar

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 7
URL: www.westinghousedigital.com

Westinghouse probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think about computer LCDs, but the company is a big player—at least in terms of screen size.

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Enermax CS-10182

Posted 01/14/2005 at 3:09am | by

A case aimed at geeks who have a sense of aesthetics

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 9
URL: www.enermax.com.tw

Over the last few years, computer stores have been invaded by legions of factory-modded cases featuring preinstalled windows, wild paint jobs, and neon LEDs.

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Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook

Posted 01/14/2005 at 1:07am | by

Good audio on a notebook. No, really!

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 9 Kickass
URL: www.soundblaster.com

In its search for fertile markets, Creative has finally tackled the last bastion of piss-pour audio: notebooks.

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ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition

Posted 01/14/2005 at 1:00am | by

The fastest videocard we’ve ever tested--by a hair

Month Reviewed: February 2005
Verdict: 8
URL: www.ati.com

We’re starting to get tired of the old videocard leapfrog game, which goes something like this: The two major videocard manufacturers start with a major refresh of their product lines, releasing new GPU cores that demonstrate incredible performance advancements over the previous generation of chips.

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