Tech Review

SBR-02E1S-U Bd-rom 2X USB2.0 Galaxy Blue

Every time a new optical disc technology emerges, products related to it become interesting: One reads reviews, investigates features, considers the price. For a while, and then the drives commoditize and nobody cares. I remember agonizing over which CD burner to get. Then, I spent $300 dollars for a DVD burner that burned both + and - (!). Now, it's more complicated to buy a mouse than a DVD burner. I don't think they even sell cd burners anymore.

Blu-ray is the latest optical technology. Blu-ray isn't a huge deal for me, but it only costs a couple bucks more to get Blu-ray discs on Netflix, and if I ever do purchase a movie, it will be Blu-ray.

Another change has been the emergence of the multi-PC home. In the Asymmetric household, we have a desktop running the TV in the living room. The kids use that one. My wife and I each have our own laptops.

We bought a Sony BDUX10S internal Blu-ray reader for the desktop. It worked well. Not every Netflix shipment is kid-friendly, however, and my wife wanted to see some of the movies on her laptop.

Sony BDUX10S SATA Blu-ray Disc-ROM Drive (Internal)

I needed to buy an external Blu-ray drive. The only reason this review is slightly interesting is because one really can't be sure if Blu-ray will work on their computer. One's PC has to have a compatible video card (My wife's Intel 4500 MHD video on her Dell Vostro 1320 qualifies, the "HD" standing for "High definition.") and a 2 GHZ or thereabouts processor, amongst other issues. You have have the benefit of my three hours of research below:

There are surprisingly few models available, maybe having to do with the cost of tech support. I disqualified the expensive ones that burn (as opposed to just reading) Blu-ray, as I didn't anticipate using that feature.

The portable readers I investigated were pretty cheap, under $150.00. A caution here: Many of them don't come with software. Blu-ray will not play on Media Center or any free player, and purchasing the software separately can be as expensive as the drive itself.

PowerDVD 9 Ultra

I chose the Asus SBR-02E1S-U. It comes with Cyberlink PowerDVD. It's an attractive shiny black and can set up to operate horizontally or vertically. It's different then some of the other drives in that it doesn't run completely off of the USB bus- you have to use an AC adapter. This fact is more comforting than an annoyance to me. If Asus engineers felt the need to require AC power, they must have had a good reason. Who am I to argue? I also noticed that some people on Amazon complain about other drives not working well under USB power.

The most important thing is that it works. After a software update, I successfully saw a Superman cartoon, both of the watchable Batman movies, and Independence Day ( I doubt the 100Mhz Powermac in the movie could have played Blu-ray). It worked so well, that I'm selling the internal Sony and sharing the Asus player with all three computers in my house.

Another question I had was whether the VGA connector (also RGB connector, D-sub 15, mini sub D15, and mini D15 connector) would be able to export the Blu-ray image to an external monitor (my wife's computer doesn't have DVI). It works fine, for now. Movie studios can turn on ICT copy protection which would require blu-ray to play through a digital connection meeting that DRM standard, and then we'd be sunk.

I doubt that this would happen, however. Media companies are rarely that inconsiderate.

Acer H233H bmid 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Display (Black)

Acer X233H bd 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Display - Black

This monitor has been a source of conflict in our home. My wife and I each have laptops (I use it for important things, like Dragon Age and bringing important world events to your attention; and my wife piddles around, selling stuff on eBay and communicating with her family). On a lark (what's a lark? why would I be on one? why would it encourage irresponsibility?), I decided to buy a monitor. Well, now we fight over who gets to connect their internet rig to it.

The monitor:

It's truly a wonderful experience going from the 14" screen on my E6400 or 13" on my wife's Vostro to a large monitor. Everything's bigger, brighter. Since we use our computers for watching TV and movies, the extra size is especially welcome.

The Acer's a very solid monitor. It's full 1080P and 16:9, ideal for Hi-def movies. I like the semi-touch controls. It has Digital (DVI- with HDCP), HDMI and standard analog VGA inputs so you can hook up your Blu-ray player, but not your old VCR or portable media player (like mine, below).

IOGear GMD2025U 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)

I like that it's a matte screen, as the new, low-energy light on the ceiling would make viewing impossible otherwise.

I got the one with the speakers. The sound from my laptop is better than the Acers' so plan on using external speakers. There's also one with USB ports. It arrived with no dead or stuck pixels and all necessary cables.

I bought my wife a Vostro 1320, which reproduces audio worse than my son's old crib mobile. Turned all the way up, Youtube is barely audible. DVDs? Forget it. If my wife wanted to maintain her routine of watching El Gordo y la Flaca while cooking for her devoted husband, she needed external speakers. The Logitech USB V-20s I have didn't seem the right solution considering that she uses her laptop all over the house and on different furniture- kitchen, sofa, bed, as well as the desk.

Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers (Black)

Husband to the rescue! (Technology is a plot by men to stay relevant to women)

Criteria: The speakers had to be of one piece and USB or battery powered. Mini-plug (3.5mm), USB, and Bluetooth were all acceptable connections: The miniplug allows one to use the speakers with cell phones and iPods. I didn't want the miniplug and USB combo- too many wires. Bluetooth was cool as it would have allowed my wife to take a call and use the device as a speakerphone. She could also have placed the speakers anywhere and listened to music with the computer in another room.

Fire up Amazon.

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I very rarely purchase movies, as I usually only watch them once, and Netflix satisfies my movie needs nicely. If I were to purchase movies, however, they'd be Blu-Ray.

It's not that I'm super-picky when it comes to picture quality, and the only "special feature" I've every used is the documentary on the Special Editions of Lord of the Rings (OK, I saw the cheesy space alien "documentary" on the Stargate DVD): It's that prices have fallen to where Blu-Ray isn't too luxurious a choice.

Rent or buy, you're going to need a player. I went to the place where everybody knows my name, Fry's (in Industry), and sought a Blu-ray player for my computer.

I purchased the Sony BDUX10S because it was on sale. It works fine and comes with different color face plates, not unimportant if your computer is in your living room like mine is.

One problem I have with a computer Blu-Ray player versus a set-top unit: Software. The Sony I purchased comes with software to play Blu-Ray discs, Cyperlink PowerDVD, but I've had to update several times to play some of the newer discs like Firefly. So far, it's played everything I've plopped onto the BDUX1OS's tray, but I don't expect my luck to hold out forever.

The solution would be to buy standalone software. Well, buying the software separately costs $99.00 or, more than the drive itself.

I'd advise everybody purchasing a computer to consider a Blu-Ray combo player- one that plays but doesn't record Blu-Ray, at least, if the cost isn't more than about $100 more.

PowerDVD 9 Ultra

Sony SATA Blu-ray Disc-ROM Drive (Internal)

Stargate (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray]

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended Editions) [Blu-ray]

Firefly: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] by Joss Whedon

Blu-Ray story below:

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Whoopi! A keyboard review! It's not all about buying sexy cell phones, laptops, and mp3 players. Sometimes, we have to buy unexciting stuff, and keyboards have qualified for that title, for me at least, since I started using a laptop as my main computer in 2005. The fact that there haven't been any advances in keyboard technology since wireless also puts them just above analog modems in tech excitement.

Still, if you do use a desktop, a good keyboard is the device with the most expense to computer experience impact than any other computer related equipment.

Now, we all know that the best keyboard of all time is still the IBM model M. If it came in a wireless model, I'd buy one in an instant.

I feel like buying one just to remind me of my most blissful typing experiences.

Alas, my desktop computer is in the living room. I have it hooked up to my Westinghouse LCD and use it as my television receiver and DVD player. The kids use it as a computer, of course, and the fact that it's in the living room where everybody can what they're looking at ("you better not be going on Daily Kos") is better.

We use the mouse on the carpet and sofa arm most of the time. That means that we needed a laser mouse which is much better on difficult surfaces. Range is important and need a strong signal from at least ten feet. Bluetooth is not good as the only keyboard on a computer as the signal is flaky and you sometimes need to press keys before the operating system boots. I usually go for the middle, the "sweet spot," in computing when it comes to pricing.

As of today, there are really only two companies worth mentioning for mainstream mice and keyboards, Microsoft and Logitech. Remember when Microsoft came out with the first wheel mouse, the Intellimouse in 1997? I never really liked their wavy keyboard--it seemed more gimmick, but I still bought one, as I was so into computers that even these things provoked intense interest in me, as well as CDroms (especially encyclopedias), games, and utilities like RAM Doubler. After those initial successes, however, Microsoft has come a distant second to Logitech in quality and innovation.

Sale on LX710; I took it home.

Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 710 Laser

I like it. It has a traditional form factor and the keys are...don't know any adjectives for describing keys...errr...good to type on. They don't "click" so it's kind of quiet. I've never used one single shortcut key that manufacturers litter their keyboards with besides the Windows one and the volume control, so I don't care that the LX710 has a bunch. If you swing that way, however, you'll be happy for the bunch. The only complaint that I have about the LX710 is the buttons on the side. They get in the way if you pick up the keyboard a lot. On many occasions, we've accidentally pressed the zoom buttons.

The mouse is great. Substantial feeling and comfortable. So, there you have it, my most exciting product review since I expounded at length one day in the teacher lounge on the advantages of rubber paper clips over the ridged metal variety.

Unlike USB-powered gloves, USB-powered speakers are a great idea: You don't need a power adapter and you can bypass your cheap laptop's sometimes err...cheap audio chip (You can play music if your audio chip or its drivers don't work, either.). I have mine hooked up to a USB hub so that whenever I plug the hub's usb cable into my laptop, I have the speaker's superior sound, as well as my hard drive, drawing tablet, etc.

The reason I chose the V20s over its little brothers, the V10s is the cool case. It makes the V20s a pleasure to travel with.

How do they sound? Very good. Unless you're a sound squid, you'll be happy. You'll be thrilled if you compare them to your laptop's speakers. One very cool feature is that the speakers sync up with your computer's sound. In other words, you don't have to control the volume of both your computer and your speakers- the speakers' volume button controls the computer volume and vice versa.

They sound especially good with Cuban music so if you purchase them, you should subscribe to my Cubanocast feed.

The speakers might cut out at high volume due to the limitations of the USB port, but if you use a hub, you'll be OK.

Logitech 970155-0403 V20 Notebook Speakers (Black)

Logitech V10 USB Notebook Speakers (970194-0403)

USB Warmer Glove Black

SanDisk SDCZ28-004G-A11 4GB Ultra Cruzer Titanium Plus USB Flash Drive (Bronze)

Flash (or thumb or USB or keychain or whatever) drive reviews are usually as exciting as analog modem reviews were in 1999, but I thought I'd spend a little time writing about the Titanium+ because there's something you should know about it.

First, I'm in the Army, and even before the military banned thumb drives, I was concerned with security: What if I put something critical to the security of the United States on my thumb drive, lost the drive, and it fell into the hands of a New York Times reporter? We'd be doomed!

I was thinking of buying an encryption program and adding it to my normal thumb drive or using a free security program like Truecrypt. The first option cost money and Truecrypt seemed a little complicated.

So, while I was cruising the aisles of Staples during a faculty meeting (woops!), I saw the Sandisk Cruzer Platinum Plus for a reasonable $30.00. The box stated that it had hardware encryption and a free backup service.

Physical:

The Titanium Plus is bronze colored. Apparently, Sandisk's market researchers discovered that techies appreciate irony.

The body is metal, which is good. The mechanism is still based on a plastic part that I can see breaking with enough force. The actual innards aren't protected from water or any other element like the excellent Corsair Flash Survivor or Voyager thumb drives are. Still, it's much better to not have a removable (and losable) cap, and I guess you can't have a waterproof, retractable cap.

In essence, therefore, the Platinum Plus is only step-proof.

Corsair 8GB Flash Survivor USB 2.0 Flash Drive - CMFUSBSRVR-8GB

Corsair 8GB Flash Voyager USB 2.0 Flash Drive - CMFUSB2.0-8GB

Performance:

Speed isn't that important if you just use your thumb drive as a floppy replacement. It is, however, if you use your drive to run U3 or Portable Apps (Portable Apps is a better platform overall, and they update their files more frequently.) programs directly from your drive, as there's a dramatic difference in the opening and operation of those programs between different drives.

The Titanium Plus is very fast. A 150MB file copied onto the drive in 22.6 seconds and back onto my computer in 5.75 ticks of my digital watch. The PNY Optima Pro and Attache took 16 and 38 seconds, respectively, for the first operation.

The Flash Voyager GT's chips are at least as fast as those inside of the Titanium Plus, but the GT is more expensive and doesn't have the security software. The same two disadvantages apply to the PNY Optima Pro flash drives.

Corsair CMFUSB2.0-8GBGT 8 GB GT Flash Voyager USB Flash Drive

PNY 8GB USB 2.0 Portable Drive Enhanced for Windows Readyboost, P-FD8GBATT2-FS

Pny P-Fd04Gu20-Rf Attache Portable Usb 2.0 Flash Drive (4 Gb)

Platinum Plus advice:

Let me tell you the first thing you should not do: activate the Beinsync software that automatically back ups your drive. A good concept that, automatic backups- if you're connected to the internet- of what may be some pretty important information. The only things are that the software takes a hundred years to back something up and it makes your drive unusable. That's right, the software slows the drive down so much that it ceases to be useful for anything but staving off muggers. This isn't an isolated problem either, as I returned the first, thinking it was defective, and the problem repeated itself with the second drive.

If you try to delete it or deactivate it after you activate it, you may have to format and reinstall the whole thing like I did.

U3:

The "hardware" encryption only works if you use the U3 password. Without the password, you can't access the files on the drive. And, if you use a Mac, you're out of luck, as U3 only works on Windows PCs.

Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks - White

Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks - Blue

When people ask me for computer advice (and sometimes even when they don't), I always tell them to buy a laptop with Bluetooth; it's a useful technology that rarely adds much to the cost of a computer. One can buy a Bluetooth dongle, but that would defeat part of Bluetooth's advantage, I think, which is that you can connect many things (I have headphones, a remote control, my phone, and, now, this mouse.) without using up USB ports.

I gave away my excellent Logitech V270 to a nerd in need and upgraded to the V470. It works just like the V270 which is to say that it connects easily to a computer the first time and automatically thereafter without any problems.

The V270 and the V470 compared.

The two reasons that the V470 is an upgrade is that it uses a laser and not just an "optical" sensor and that it scrolls side-to-side. I very rarely scroll horizontally, but I might some day. You'll see the advantage of a laser when you're mousing on non-traditional surfaces like a rug or sofa arm.

I'm not sure I like the V470's shinier, contourier shape better, but it's not bad. It feels slightly less substantial than the V270, but that doesn't necessarily means that it's cheaper. The cursor feels a little jumpier, but you can adjust it. Batteries last pretty much forever.

One disappointment is its case. The V270 had a high-quality and useful neoprene case. The V470 has a cheap vinyl one.

Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Bluetooth Mouse- Charcoal

I spent more time choosing this mouse pad than my second car (Dodge Stratus- Don't ask.) Basically, I wanted a mouse pad that sat flat on the table so that I didn't have to spend time avoiding it (I could place my Pepsi on it). The first one I bought, the Optical by Handstands, turned out to be my worst computer-related purchase since a Packard Bell rode shotgun for me from Circuit City to Casa Guirado (Again, let's not get into it.).

The Handstands Optical is "especially designed for optical mice" which means...I don't know, but if this is optimized for optical mice then so was the plastic my grandmother put over her sofa. The Optical is a sticky mess that rubs against the mouse and me in the wrong way. I gave it to the teacher I don't like.

Handstands Ultra Thin Laser Mousepad

On the other hand, the second one is a modern marvel. The mouse glides over the hard plastic like Mario Lopez on Dancing with the Stars. I can back up its effectiveness with hard data too. My blogging has improved 42% since I introduced Mr. Wowpad to Mr. Ikea corner desk.

WOW!PAD 8.5" Diameter Pastel Dots Mouse Pad--Black ( 8DD17-009 )

Brother MFC-665CW Photo Color All-in-One Printer with Wireless Networking

I thought I'd alert my readers to this deal at Staples. It's a wireless inkjet stand alone fax/scanner/printer/copier for $149.00 minus a $30.00 rebate making it $119.00 if you're not lazy (Sorry, it was a $50.00 rebate on Monday when I bought it.). Luckily, Fry's let me return the MFC-240C I bought the day earlier for $99.00.

Brother MFC-240C Color Inkjet All-in-One Printer with Fax

First, let me say that as much as I dislike rebates, Staples makes it as easy as possible with an all-online system called "easy rebates" that actually lives up to its name.

Second, this is a great printer.:

The cartridges go into a little door in the front. Not only does this make loading cartridges very easy, but I can see that little compartment being the difference between life and death when the C.I.A comes to your house looking for library records.

The printer has separate color ink tanks (cyan, magenta, and yellow) unlike the Lexmark and HP offerings in the same price range. Individual tanks mean that you won't throw away a color cartridge after printing out a few ocean scenes. Best of all, the Brother cartridges are ink-only. HP and Lexmark have the print heads on the cartridges which makes them more expensive and their generic replacements not much cheaper. Canon is all-ink. Epson used to be the cheapest ink, but they got wise and started putting chips in their cartridges "for our protection."

Brother ink compartment.

Resolution for both the printer and the scanner is high at 6000 x 1200 dpi and 600 x 2400 dpi respectively. Output is quick (27 ppm black, 22 ppm color) and beautiful.

The fax is fully capable of broadcast, manual and automatic receive, and color. You get a phone hand set, an answering machine(!), and a time-saving feed tray, although the tray only holds ten sheets.

My brand new baby.

MFC 665CW is low-profile and compact. It feels solid and the paper is kept underneath the output tray- a much better design as the paper stays flat and out of the way. The paper-handling style also allows the printer to go closer to the wall. The feed tray has a separate place for photo paper.

The LCD is helpful. Card readers aren't as big a deal as they used to be, but they're still nice to have.**

The best part is that the wireless works. Setup was only fairly difficult (hint: connect the phone receiver). I don't have an easyconnect router so the procedure was more complicated. It involved IP addresses and other nerd arcana. Those of you who have been on dates may want to buy your geeky neighbor a six pack of Pepsi in exchange for his expertise. Heck, he may even do it if you listen to him recount his W of Warcraft adventure.

You need to download drivers for Vista.

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