Toshiba 80Gb HD, DFI Mobo with Dothan, Matrix LCD kit and More
Good morning folks, Happy New Year! With the holiday season coming to a close, it is back to the grind for this ol'boy. Not that I really mind though; in some sick way I am actually finding myself missing work. Nonetheless, it is getting late and I have a pile of news for you. Here is your AM update...
Toshiba 80GB 16MB Cache 2.5in HDD Review @ Mikhailtech
"The drive features a Fluid Dynamic Bearing motor for quieter operation and spins at 5400 RPM. It's rated for ATA-100 speeds and has a 12ms average seek time. While this may seem slow by desktop standards, keep in mind that more compact lower density notebook drives have a lot of catching up to do. From a laptop perspective, things are looking good for Toshiba's high-end HDD. Two 40GB platters are used to account for the 80GB rating, which is good news since larger platters offer better performance. Last but not least, this drive like so many newer models doubles the previous record by utilizing a 16MB cache. It's no secret that a larger cache is directly proportional to higher transfer speeds (WD's aforementioned SE series proved this). To top things off, a 3 year warranty on 2.5" drives is a step in the right direction (unfortunately 1.8" and optical drives still only carry a 1 year warranty)."
DFI 855GME-MGF and Intel "Dothan" Pentium-M @ LostCircuits
"Currently, no official desktop support for the Pentium M (as in mobile exists), yet, this does not preclude some mainboard manufacturers from taking the mobile 855 chipset with all its known inadequacies and transplant it onto an ATX form factor desktop board. The probably best known solution falling into this category is DFI's 855GME-MGF mainboard in ATX format and with a Socket479 processor interface. Supporting a meager DDR333 and AGP4X only and connecting the peripherals through a shared 266 MB/sec Hub-Interface 1.5 to the core logic, the specs are plebejan at best."
Matrix Orbital MX421 LCD Kit @ Bjorn3D
"What device would a network administrator, an electronics gadgeteer, and a computer enthusiast all find that is useful and maybe even a little fun? Whether you are looking for a programmable device to display status messages, a car stereo, or a downright wicked cool toy to play with (that doubles as a fan controller), the Matrix Orbital MX4 series of LCD kits offers tremendous versatility for just about anyone with an imagination and a purpose."
MS IntelliMouse Explorer Vs Logitech MX900 @ The Tech Zone
"In one corner we have the MS IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth, in the other corner we have the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse. Both are wireless mice powered by Bluetooth technology and both promise to open your computer to a Bluetooth world by allowing it to connect to other Bluetooth devices like cell phones, PDA or anything else that is Bluetooth enable. But the question remains, which mouse is better?"
Pioneer DVR-S806 16x Dual-Layer DVD Writer Review @ CoolTechZone
"At times it seems that drive speeds are moving along in small steps, inching along just enough so that you feel that your six month old drive is slow and ready for replacement. This is exactly what we have been experiencing in the optical drive market. Occasionally, we find that a simple firmware upgrade is all that is needed to hit the next jump in speed. A trip to the development labs of any of the major drive manufacturers would reveal some amazing drives operating at speeds much faster than we can purchase. This trickle of technology is due to economics and little else. Basically, we have to watch closely and make our purchases when the time seems right."
