Posted 07/14/08 at 10:23:30 PM by Paul Lilly

There's never been a better time to be in the market for a keyboard. On the lower end of the pricing spectrum, OCZ recently announced its Elixir, an über affordable keyboard as part of the company's Alchemy line aimed at gamers on a budget. And for those running out of Swish bank accounts to store obscene amounts of of cash, Art Lebedev Studios' OLED Optimus Maximus has finally emerged from the depths of vaporware to become a shipping product.

In between both extremes, many still consider Metadot Corporation's Das Keyboard the tour de force of keyboard construction, which Maximum PC awarded a 9/Kick Ass verdict back in 2005. The original plank broke the mold by blanking out the keys rather than saddling them with peksy labels, and now three years later, Metadot looks to jump back in the peripheral market with a pair of updated models.

Click the jump to learn more about the Das Ultimate and Das Professional, and how they compare to the original.

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keyboard, Peripherals, hardware, professional, Ultimate, build a rig, das, metadot, qwerty, german

Posted 06/24/08 at 08:02:04 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

We wondered if Dell was making a passive-aggressive statement when it shipped us its new XPS M1530 in flamingo pink. Perhaps the boys in Austin think the MacBook Pro is a bit effete, so the pink is fitting. Or perhaps someone on the reviews team just finished watching Reservoir Dogs and was channeling Steve Buscemi’s Mr. Pink.

Whatever the reason, the XPS M1530—be it pink, blue, or brown—is a worthy contender to Apple’s vaunted MacBook Pro. Featuring Intel’s 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo T9300, 2GB of DDR2/667, a 250GB Samsung SpinPoint drive, and a GeForce 8600M GT, the XPS M1530 certainly has the specs to compete with the MBP in performance.

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dell, hardware, notebooks, reviews, pc vs mac notebook showdown, professional, XPS m1530

Posted 06/24/08 at 07:44:53 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

We’re always a little taken aback when we see Apple’s MacBook Pro in the hands of PC power users. For example, we’ve seen PC game developers typing on MBPs at industry events. And at trade shows, it isn’t uncommon to see Windows app developers sporting Apple’s pro-class portable. Are we far from the day when Bill Gates is a proud MacBook Pro convert?

Even diehard PC users will be wowed by this portable's specs.

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apple, hardware, notebooks, reviews, pc vs mac notebook showdown, professional, macbook pro