Here a roundup of the latest articles, including Inside the Macintosh Plus, Mionix Ensis 320 Aluminum Mouse Pad Review, Humble Indie Bundle 7 Review, ASUS RT-N56U Dual-band Wireless-N Gigabit Router Review, and NewerTech NuTouch Gloves Review



Inside the Macintosh Plus @ Hardware Secrets

Following the release of the original Macintosh in 1984 and the Macintosh 512K in 1985, Apple released the Macintosh Plus in 1986, now with 1 MB of RAM, an 800 kB 3.5" floppy disk drive, and a SCSI port. Let's check it out.

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MSI GE70 Gaming Laptop Video Review with Kaeyi Dream @ HardwareHeaven.com

Kaeyi Dream reviews the MSI GE70 Gaming Series Laptop from MSI in her latest video review for HardwareHeaven.

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Mionix Ensis 320 Aluminum Mouse Pad Review @ Madshrimps

The Ensis 320 takes part from Mionix new series of aluminum mouse pads, comes in two color flavors and its contact surface has been treated with a low data loss treatment, which gives the product a matte glow. Its total width is 2mm, the first half being the machined aluminum surface and the second a non-slip grip natural rubber material.

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ROCCAT KONE XTD Gaming Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews

This time last year ROCCAT released the KONE[+] to replace the original KONE Gaming Mouse, this year there are two upgrades for the KONE gaming mouse line - the KONE XTD and the KONE Pure. In this article Benchmark Reviews will be looking at the ROCCAT KONE XTD Max Customization Gaming Mouse (model# ROC-11-810).

The ROCCAT KONE XTD looks exactly the same as its predecessor but there have been a few changes under the hood. For starters the KONE XTD boasts an 8200 DPI Pro Aim R3 laser sensor, a 32-bit Turbo Core V2 72MHz ARM MCU processor, upgraded Omron switches and an advanced Tracking & Distance Control Unit. We were impressed with the KONE[+] so let's see if the KONE XTD is a worthy replacement.

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ASUS RT-N56U Dual-band Wireless-N Gigabit Router Review @ Hi Tech Legion

It wasn't until the end of 2009 that we saw the introduction of the 802.11n standard. Originally, the N version still used the 2.4GHz spectrum, however, there was the introduction of the 5GHz band and 40MHz channel width to consumers. The 5GHz band is much less congested and offers higher capacity. The 40MHz channel width allows double the bandwidth (per channel) over the standard 20MHz channel. Many people still have old routers and a mix of old/new hardware. Without the proper setup, the newest hardware cannot work to its full capacity. Did you get a new iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S3? Those can both use 802.11n and the 5GHz band.

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NewerTech NuTouch Gloves Review @ Bigbruin.com

The NewerTech NuTouch gloves have a conductive fiber that is woven into all ten fingertips. This allows your hands to stay warm like a typical glove, while still allowing you to use a touchscreen device. They are made with a blend of materials that is intended to allow them to be soft, comfortable and stretch a little. Before taking a look at these high tech gloves, let's look at some information on them from OtherWorld Computing's website for the NuTouch Gloves.

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NZXT Respire T20 CPU Cooler Review @ eTeknix

NZXT’s Respire series comprises of both the Respire T40 and T20. We have already taken a look at the Respire T40 which you can read here. The NZXT Respire T20 is a cut down version of the Respire T40 so naturally the price is a bit lower and thus the performance will also be lower too. The big question though, is “how much lower will the performance be than the Respire T40″?

NZXT’s Respire T20 sacrifices the four 8mm heat pipes on the T40 in favour of two 6mm heat pipes and one 8mm heat pipe. The fan used is absolutely identical and the heat sink is much thinner so there is still 100% RAM compatibility. You can check out the full specifications of the Respire T20 here.

The Respire T20 falls into the budget segment of the CPU cooler market, at around £30. The Gelid GX-7 (£32), Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim (£35) and Reeven Kelveros (£35) are the closest direct competitors we have tested. Let’s get onto the review and see how this budget offering from NZXT performed.

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Razer Sabertooth XBOX 360 Controller Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Now Razer have a second generation of Xbox 360 controller, the Sabertooth, which looks to improve on the impressive start made by the Onza. Today the Sabertooth launches and we have one attached to our system to find out how it compares.

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Netgear XAVB5201 500Mbps Powerline Adaptor Review @ eTeknix

For a number of years, I’ve had my reservations over the concept of powerline adaptors and this has been a point that I’ve stood against since. This lack of faith was mainly set by a number of different kits that either resulted in very poor throughput (even when plugged in next to each other) or a total lack of connectivity. In a similar light, the concept of transmitting data across a mains cable seems to go against the grain of networking, where running high voltage power cables next to data cables should be avoided to reduce interference and data loss.

As the years have gone on and technology has improved vastly, powerline technology has also come a long way. To see if my woes about powerline adaptors can be set aside and a trust in the technology rebuilt, I’ve been invited to try out one of Netgear’s latest kits, namely the XAVB5201.

For those that are new to the powerline concept, the technology simply uses the existing mains wiring in any building to link together two remote areas that are either too far away to connect by a network cable directly or in a new modern twist, it removes the need to trail cables across the house. There is the argument that there is WiFi for this, but in certain instances, WiFi is not an option.

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Humble Indie Bundle 7 Review @ OCC

For those of you who do not know, Humble Bundle is a company that typically offers bundles of games from independent developers. Occasionally the games come with soundtracks, are ready to play on Windows, Mac, or Linux computers, and more often than not, DRM-free. As impressive as that combination is, what makes the offerings from Humble Bundle always interesting is the company's 'Pay-What-You-Want' model. Even though all together the Humble Indie Bundle 7 contains around $140 of content, you can get most of the games for just one penny. Pay over $1 and you get Steam keys for the games. If you beat the average of current sales, you get all $140 of content. To top it off, you decide where your money goes. When you purchase a bundle you may indicate how much of what you pay goes to the individual developers, to Humble Bundle itself, and to two non-profit organizations; the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity.

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Rosewill SilentNight 500 W @ techPowerUp

Rosewill just introduced their first passive cooling PSU: the SilentNight 500 W made by Super Flower. It offers Platinum efficiency, high performance, and noise output at close to zero levels because of the absence of a cooling fan. This unit goes up against some strong competition, but has many interesting features.

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MSI Z77 MPower Big Bang Motherboard Review @ PC Perspective

The MSI Z77 MPower board pairs sleek looks with the promise of stellar performance, as expected from MSI's Big Bang board series. We decided to validate these claims, putting the board through our normal suite of benchmark and functionality tests to see how well it lived up to its reputation. The MSI Z77 MPower is a bargain at its $209.99 base price with the performance potential packed into the board.

WAY back in August we sat down with MSI's Alex Chang to talk about the Z77 MPower motherboard - take a look at that video below!

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Top 5 Heatsink Charts Updated for January 2013 @ Frostytech.com

In case you missed it, Frostytech's Top 5 Heatsinks Chart has just been updated for January 2013. A couple of new heatsinks rise to the top of the best of the best... If you're lost in a sea of hundreds of CPU heatsinks, the Top 5 Heatsinks really helps narrow down the field. Heatsinks are ranked by the coolest performance, lowest noise and by low profile cooling ability for heights less than 154mm, 110mm, 75mm and 45mm. Use Frostytech's Top 5 Heatsink Chart to find the best heatsink, in your region of the world, that offers the coolest performance.

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Missing The Mark: Nintendo Wii U Review @ HotHardware

History has a funny way of repeating itself, and the more things change, the more they stay the same. Nearly six years ago to the day, Nintendo completely changed the way the world viewed console gaming. The Wii remote (affectionately dubbed Wiimote by most) was a brand new paradigm in gaming control, and it ushered in a wave of motion-based gaming that forced Sony to follow suit with the Move, and Microsoft to do likewise with Kinect.

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NZXT Respire T20 Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

On the dock today is NZXT's Respire T20 heatsink. The Respire T20 stands 160mm tall, putting it in the class of full tower CPU coolers. At the heart of this 510 gram heatsink are three heatpipes; two 6mm diameter and one 8mm diameter, all exposed at the base for efficient heat conduction.

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Acer Aspire S7-191 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

The Acer Aspire S7-191 is an 11-inch Windows 8 Ultrabook laptop that features a 1080p touch screen display, a speedy solid-state drive, a very sleek design and an extended battery. The display is a little dim for our tastes and the battery life without the extended battery is sub-par.

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Nouveau NVIDIA Driver Can Be Faster With Linux 3.8 @ Phoronix

The Linux 3.8 development kernel from 29 December 2012 was benchmarked against the mainline stable releases of the Linux 3.6 and 3.7 kernels to look at the OpenGL performance changes in these different scenarios. The graphics cards used for this Linux benchmarking comparison were a NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT, 9800GTX, and GT 220. When the Linux 3.8 final release is near, additional graphics benchmarks will be published. A daily development image of Ubuntu 13.04 was the base operating system during benchmarking while the Mesa user-space graphics library was upgraded to Mesa 9.1-devel from Git master.

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Cyberpower Zeus M2 Intel Ultrabook Review @ Legit Reviews

Cyberpower PC is one of the premier Boutique PC companies out there today. Recently they have started diving into the Ultrabook market, and have sent out their Zeus M2 Intel Ultrabook for us to toy with. The Zeus M2 has an Intel Core i5-3317U at its' core, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance memory and a 120GB Intel 520 Cherryville SSD! Couple this with a 14.1" screen and a price tag of only $879 and it sounds like a winner! Read on to see if the Zeus M2 holds up to the legacy of the God it's named after!

The CyberPower Zeus M2 offers a 14.1" high gloss screen that has a maximum resolution of 1366x768. This is powered by the Intel 'Ivy Bridge' i5-3317U processor's HD 4000 graphics. While the Intel HD 4000 graphics may not be the meanest graphics around, they are fully capable of some great DirectX 11 graphics and will offer reasonable performance for some light gaming. Speed is certainly one of most common things that people will look for in an Ultrabook, by the specifications the Cyberpower Zeus M2 will have plenty. In addition to the Intel Core i5-3317U quad core processor, there is 16GB of DDR3 RAM installed into the machine! Not just any RAM, Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz RAM, some of the best stuff out there today...

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