Computer Shopper (July 2006)

136 Pages·2006·11.955 MB·English

20
FIXES FOR COMMON WI-FI STORAGE TOP MP3 PLAYERS
TECH PROBLEMS MADE EASY
COMPUTERSHOPPER.COM
(cid:186)
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY
HOW
DURABLE
IS YOUR
LAPTOP?
WE TESTED NEW MODELS—
ONLY ONE SURVIVED DROPS,
SPLASHES, HEAT, & COLD
DIGSIUTAPELR CGAUMIDEERA
6
6
CAO+SO LL1O P1N RWSEINW NAAT SCPE ASR$HM1S1O9ST |2006DISPLAY UNTIL JULY 10, 2006 $4.99 | CANADA $5.99
ULY S.
J U.
800.520.0498
©1999-2006HypersonicPCSystems/SDIInc.AllRightsReserved.

✱
CONTENTS
132 Think the iPod Nano is the best
flash-based MP3 player? Perhaps
it’s time to think different.
JULY 2006 VOLUME 26 NUMBER 7 ISSUE 316
DESKTOPS
20 Overdrive Gemini.SLI
22 Apple Mac Mini Core Duo
22 Gateway FX510XL
22 Shuttle XPC X100
24 HP Pavilion s7320n Slimline
24 Lenovo 3000 J105
NOTEBOOKS
22
21 Dell XPS M1710
26 Dell Latitude D620
26 Lenovo 3000 N100
28 HP Compaq NX9420
28 Toshiba Satellite P105-S921
64
COMPONENTS
30 ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 32
Features 30 nVidia GeForce 7600 GT
32 Creative Fatal1ty 1010 Mouse
NOTEBOOK TORTURE TEST 32 ECS 945G-M3 (1.0b)
64 Drop,Chill,Bake,and Spill 32 Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition
Will toasting your notebook in a DISPLAYS
hot car or knocking it off your desk 34 Dell UltraSharp 2007WFP
spell R.I.P.? We dished out the hurt 34 Envision EN2028
to four major-maker thin-and-light 34 HP VS17
laptops,splashing,freezing,baking, PRINTERS
and dropping them—a lot—to 38 Canon Pixma iP6600D
identify the survivors. 38 Epson Stylus Photo R2400
38 HP Photosmart Pro B9180
DIGITAL-CAMERA SUPERGUIDE
73 Camera Panorama MOBILE PRODUCTS
Webrought out the wide-angle lens 40 LG F9200
40 RIM BlackBerry 8700g
for our annual digicam extravagan- 40
73 40 Tekkeon EZTalker Digital
za.Whether you’re buying your
first digital model or are ready to DIGITAL CAMCORDERS
42 Panasonic PV-GS300
upgrade,see our giant guide for
42 Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1
snapshots of 66 of the latest
42 Sony DCR-DVD505 DVD
shooters.Smile! Handycam
TECH-HELP TOP 20
DIGITAL AUDIO
84 Ask the Editors
49 Peony Media Bluetooth
Help is just a page turn away.Speed Headphone
up your boot time,halt browser 49 Pioneer Inno
hijacks,untangle wireless woes: 49 SanDisk Sansa e200
Our expert editors tackle 20 of the DIGITAL LIVING
most common—and most challeng- 50 Dell W3706MC 42
ing—tech questions they get. 50 Logitech Harmony 550 Advanced
84 Universal Remote
50 Roku SoundBridge Radio
SOFTWARE
52 Norton SystemWorks
Page 96 2006 Premier
Page 84
Page 132 52 Corel Painter Essentials 3
54 EmailTreo
54 Registry Mechanic 5.2
54 SiteAdvisor
57 Ashampoo Burning
Studio 6
Page 64
57 Fresh UI 7.5
30Hankering for an 57 Spytech SpyAgent 5
affordable graphics card
that performs like a pro? TOP 25 50
We look at two new con- 58 The best Media Center desktops,budget
Page 73 tenders from ATI and notebooks,inkjet printers,network-
nVidia—and tell you
which is the better buy. storage drives,and imaging software.
computershopper.com July 2006 5

Help & How-To
COMPUTER CURES
93 Our help guru doles out advice on preserv-
ing old photos,assigning keyboard short- 100
cuts,and fixing a laptop display.Plus,learn
an easy way to bypass Windows’ password
screen.
WEEKEND PROJECT
TechMarket
96 Shared Storage Made Simple
Add communal storage space to all the
COMPLETE PRODUCT MARKETPLACE GUIDE
computers on your home network with a 105 Performance Desktops
single network-attached hard drive.It’s 107 Ultraportable Notebooks
easy to set one up—our primer steers you 110 Home and Small-Office Laser
around the obstacles. Printers
114 External Hard Drives
100 Photo-Flub Fixers
116 17-Inch LCDs
Is your hard drive packed with digital
120 Portable Digital Audio and Video
pictures you’ve shot that just aren’t quite
Players (Hard Drive-Based)
right? Learn shooting techniques that
eliminate common photo flaws,and make Web Buyer
your digital images as perfect as can be—
before you even hit the shutter. THE BEST SITES FOR ONLINE SHOPPING
123 TechProducts
BUYING BASICS
123 Digital Cameras and Accessories 111
132 How to Buy the Right Flash-Based
124 Cases and Mods
MP3 Player
125 Direct PC Vendors
125 Software
126 VoIP Services and Resources
Also in This Issue
TRENDS
15 New “802.11n draft”wireless-networking products
may not be living up to the hype.Plus,Seagate
releases 750GB hard drives,and a new company
is adding Wi-Fi to memory cards.
GEAR
18 • Altec Lansing XT2
• Cooler Master Real Power
550W SLI
18
• LaCie Little Big Disk
• Memorex FlashDiscs
• Sony Ericsson W810i
Walkman
18
• Thermaltake Tai-Chi M2
DEPARTMENTS
8 Editor’s Note
8 Letters
127 Spotlight
131 Ad Index
JULY 2006 VOLUME 26 NUMBER 7 ISSUE 316 Computer Shopper(ISSN 0886-0556) is published monthly, for $24.97 per year in the U.S. and $54.97 per year outside the U.S., by SX2 Media Labs, LLC, 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-
7942. Periodicals Mail postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40009221. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Computer Shopper, P.O. Box 52565, Boulder, CO 80322-2565. Return undeliverable
Canadian addresses to PO Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6. Portions of Computer Shopperare published under license from CNET Networks, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA. Editorial items appearing in Computer Shopperthat were
originally published on www.cnet.com, www.download.com, or www.news.com are the copyright property of CNET Networks, Inc., or its suppliers. Copyright © 2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. “CNET” is a trademark of CNET Networks, Inc. All
other content Copyright©2006 SX2 Media Labs, LLC. All rights reserved. Permission to use Computer Shoppercontent is granted on a case-by-case basis. SX2 Media Labs welcomes requests. Please direct inquiries to [email protected].
You may also make phone requests by contacting Reprint Management Services at 717-399-1900. “Computer Shopper” is a trademark of SX2 Media Labs, LLC. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
computershopper.com July 2006 7