Computeractive! Latest hardware

Hannspree Hannsnote SN10e1

Anthony Dhanendran — 2009-07-09T09:00:00.000Z

Anthony Dhanendran, Computeractive, Thursday 9 July 2009 at 09:00:00

Monitor maker turns to mini-notebooks

Hannspree is a name better known in the world of monitors than notebook computers. In the past it has come up with some rather strange designs for its screens, too, including ones in the shape of elephants and footballs (designed for children’s bedrooms, naturally) and a memorable model that came with wood veneer panelling.

So it was disappointing to find that the company’s first mini-notebook computer doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary. The model we looked at used a plain white casing and didn’t distinguish itself in any way from the pack.

In fact, the Hannspree Hannsnote SN10e1 is actually an MSI Wind with different logos and labels pasted on to its case. That’s not uncommon – other computer makers such as Medion and Advent have also used the MSI Wind as a template for their own mini-notebooks, and it is a good starting point in many ways.

So the SN10e1 has an Intel Atom N270 processor at its core, with 1GB of memory and Windows XP home loaded onto the 160GB hard disk. The processor and memory were powerful enough for standard tasks such as web browsing, email and word processing, without being able to deal with video editing or big-name games.

The hard disk has plenty of room for storage of documents, music and videos, though.

The Hannsnote’s keyboard stretches across the entire width of the notebook’s interior, which is good, but the keys still felt smaller when we were typing than they did on, say, the Samsung N310.

As with many such computers it’s a shallow keyboard so if you type hard it’s going to be uncomfortable after a while. The trackpad is also very small, as are the mouse buttons below it, making it hard to use.

In addition to being able to connect to wireless networks, the SN10e1 has a socket for wired networks on one side. There’s also a VGA socket for monitor connection, headphone and microphone sockets and three USB ports, as well as a memory card reader.

As is the case with all mini-notebook computers, it doesn’t have enough room for a CD or DVD drive, so you’ll need to add an external one if you want access to such discs (in this day and age that’s less of a problem, though).

One of the big gripes we and others had with the MSI Wind and almost all the computers based upon it was the computer’s battery life, which was less than three hours in most cases. That’s not quite enough for such a computer, which is after all designed for travellers, so it’s disappointing to see that Hannspree has not included a larger-capacity battery with the Hannsnote.

It’s the same one as in the original MSI Wind U100, which gave a battery life of approximately three hours, a slight but not substantial improvement.

The Hannspree Hannsnote SN10e1 is not a bad computer as mini-notebooks go – it worked well and does its job. But it’s a shame that Hannspree didn’t take the opportunity to improve upon the MSI Wind, rather than just replicating it.

At £260 it’s a decent deal at the moment, so if you’re looking for an entry-level mini-notebook the Hannsnote SN10e1 should be on the list.

Nikon D5000

Tom Royal — 2009-07-08T09:00:00.000Z

Tom Royal, Computeractive, Wednesday 8 July 2009 at 09:00:00

Nikon’s cheapest SLR that can shoot high-definition video

We're a little surprised that Nikon's latest digital SLR wasn't called the D75, as it sits directly between the cheaper D60 and the more advanced D90. Its small body and kit lens are very similar to the cheaper model but, like the D90, it takes 12.3-megapixel images and can record high-definition videos.

As a still camera, the D5000 is easily as good as the D60 if not quite up to the standard of the D90. Although it includes the usual control modes found on any digital SLR, it's also packed full of scene modes that allow the user to select what they're photographing and leave the rest to the camera's electronics.

There are so many scene modes, in fact, that they won't all fit on the control dial, so others have to be chosen from a menu. The scenes range from the strangely technical (high-key) to the family-friendly (pet portrait).

Our test photos were perfectly exposed with pleasing colours, and an option in the camera's menus can attempt to automatically correct for perspective – this works surprisingly well and is ideal for those who don't have suitable editing software.

The optical viewfinder is significantly smaller than that of the D90, but still a better way to compose photos than on a screen, and an option allows you to overlay gridlines in order to get shots straight.

The nine-point autofocus system worked well, but we were disappointed by the autofocus on the kit lens: it's markedly slower than that on other Nikkor AF-S lenses we've tested and, unlike better models, cannot be manually overridden by simply grabbing and twisting the focus ring – a switch chooses between manual-only and autofocus-only.

Like the D60 the D5000 has no lens focus motor, so some older Nikon lenses won't autofocus at all – look for AF-S models when buying to be safe.

One notable new feature on the D5000 is its flip-and-swivel screen. This is hinged at the bottom, and can be used at various angles or folded inwards to protect the screen when in transit.

The D5000 has a live-view option, so images can be composed on the display, but in this mode the autofocus was tediously slow. It's handy when shooting at awkward angles or from a tripod, but if you want to compose snapshots using a screen we'd suggest saving some of your cash and buying a compact camera rather than a DSLR.

Once in live-view mode, pushing the OK button starts the camera recording video. Like the D90, the D5000 can record 720p high-definiton video clips and there's a built-in microphone for recording sound.

The main limitation of this mode is that the camera cannot autofocus while shooting, so you'll have to either fix the focus beforehand or focus manually.

This is more of a problem than on the more expensive model, though, as the D5000's kit lens was obviously not designed for manual focus use: to focus you must grip the very end of the lens, and the gearing means that a small adjustments are tricky. Add on a lens with a proper focus ring, however, and things become far, far easier.

We've placed some example video online so you can see for yourself – note that this was shot with a 50mm lens that could be easily focused rather than the kit one.

All things considered we are sure the D5000 is a good camera, but we’re less sure it’s a good buy. With the dozens of scene modes Nikon is clearly marketing it at families and less technical users, but the manual focus limitation of the video mode means that anyone who wants to take snapshots and video their kids would be better off with a proper camcorder and a cheaper camera.

Anyone who wants to take creative photos or videos, on the other hand, will probably want to trade the D5000's scene modes and folding screen for the advanced options and better lens support of the D90. This is a decent, sturdy-feeling camera that'll take great photos, but we're just not sure who should buy it.

Gyration Air Mouse Go Plus

Paul Lester — 2009-07-07T09:00:00.000Z

Paul Lester, Computeractive, Tuesday 7 July 2009 at 09:00:00

Control a PC remotely using this motion-sensing mouse

The Air Mouse Go Plus is the latest in the line of portable wireless mice from Gyration, using motion sensing to manipulate a mouse pointer on screen, rather than moving a mouse on a desktop.

It was originally designed for presentations, but the versatile software, which allows users to allocate specific actions to any of the five controls, eight swiping movements and eight areas of a desktop display, means it is useful for lots of other tasks.

Despite the device being able to respond from 100 feet away from the USB receiver (which plugs into the PC), it’s not much use unless you’re close enough to see the screen.

This does limit the mouse’s use but, in addition to presentations, it has distinct appeal for photo slideshows, media control and other situations where a mouse and keyboard aren’t practical.

The device was responsive, easy to configure and use and, provided its limitations are taken into account, is an effective way to control a PC if you’re not sitting with it at a desk.

Medion Akoya E1312

Anthony Dhanendran — 2009-07-06T09:00:00.000Z

Anthony Dhanendran, Computeractive, Monday 6 July 2009 at 09:00:00

Twelve inches of notebook

The distinction between full-size notebook computers and mini-notebooks is a fine one, and Medion’s Akoya E1312, available exclusively from Aldi shops from 12 July, is more confusing than most.

It has an 11.6in widescreen display, uses an AMD Sempron processor, but runs Windows XP Home. That puts it in-between the two camps: it’s a touch more powerful than other 10in mini-notebook computers, but it’s still fairly light and portable and, like those computers, it can’t handle video-editing or big-name games.

It’s a thin unit with a glossy black case and a rounded hinge at the rear which gives it a stylish look. There is an Expresscard slot for expansion, along with three USB ports, headphone and microphone sockets, a memory card reader and both VGA and HDMI ports for connecting to either a computer monitor or a flat-panel TV.

It can connect to both wired and wireless networks (even the newest 802.11n networks) as well as Bluetooth devices such as phones.

The screen was clear and very bright – it was turned down by default but there are buttons on the keyboard to turn it up.

At 11.6in it was easy to read text on the screen and the keyboard stretches across the full width of the case so it’s easy to type on without making errors. It was a bit shallow, though, so keyboard-bashers might be in for some pain, and the trackpad below was a little smaller than we’d have liked.

As with all Aldi’s Medion computers, this one is likely to be highly sought-after once it goes on sale on Sunday 12 July, so if you’re after one it’s worth getting down to your local shop early. The battery lasted for a little over three hours.

Comparing the E1312 with the similarly priced Acer Aspire One D250 it’s not much bigger, and offers a larger, more useful screen along with a larger and more comfortable keyboard.

Performance-wise there’s not much in it between this and Intel Atom-powered mini-notebooks, but the E1312 is otherwise impressive.

Asus Eee Box B204

Simon Williams — 2009-07-03T09:00:00.000Z

Simon Williams, Computeractive, Friday 3 July 2009 at 09:00:00

Can this small PC be a useful home entertainment computer?

Having created the mini-notebook with its Eee PC Asus followed up with the Eee Box, a tiny desktop version.

Surprisingly successful as a general-purpose home PC, the original Eee Box format was also the ideal candidate for a sitting-room media centre computer, except that it wasn’t powerful enough to handle High Definition (HD) video.

Now Asus claims its B204 and B206 computers (the B206 has a built-in battery backup) – have been improved enough to enable them to handle HD video. To achieve this there have been two major component changes: the main processor and the graphics processor. The models still use Windows XP Home.

The central processor is now a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 and the graphics chip is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450, which should in theory work together to provide HD video support.

We were disappointed to find that the B204 still can’t really handle HD video. Even using the lower resolution 720p format, playback was jerky with dropped frames in standard media software.

This is mainly because the ATI chip offers its hardware boost only under Microsoft’s DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) and some video player programs don’t support this.

The freeware player MPC-HC does support it, however, and when we loaded this, 720p videos played without problem. With the higher-resolution 1080p material, though, there were more playback problems.

The B204 offers other improvements such as 1GB of memory and a 160GB hard disk. The only video output is an HDMI socket for connection to the flat screen, but there are still four USB sockets and an analogue audio socket, which comes with a converter for digital audio output.

As with the other Eee products there is no CD or DVD drive so any video you play will have to be downloaded or taken from an external hard disk, or you will have to buy and plug in an external disc reader.

The Eee Box itself looks much the same as it did before: a box about the same size as a large broadband router, which can be laid flat on the desk, mounted vertically on its slightly shaky stand or fixed directly to a flat-screen TV using a standard Vesa mounting bracket.

The stand and mount are supplied, as are a wireless network aerial and a remote control, complete with an infra-red adapter.

So, this Eee Box is better on the video side than earlier models, but is still not the ideal vehicle for a small-format media centre.

Power Traveller Solargorilla

Tom Royal — 2009-07-02T15:55:00.000Z

Tom Royal, Computeractive, Thursday 2 July 2009 at 15:55:00

Charge your laptop or phone anywhere with this solar panel

Packing for holidays isn’t as easy as it used to be. As well as a passport, sun cream and clothes, many of us want to take a mobile phone – and that means taking a charger, and probably a foreign plug adapter to make it work. If you have an MP3 player, that’ll need a charger too. Oh, and if you’re travelling for work you’ll need a laptop and its charger. Pretty soon the bottom of your suitcase can end up filled with a spaghetti-like mess of power adapters and wires.

One neat solution is the Solargorilla: a foldable solar panel that can be used to charge all kinds of electronic products. Its two panels are fitted into a plastic case that measures around 27x20x2cm when folded shut, and feels impressively rugged – we would have no concerns about chucking it into a rucksack.

The Solargorilla has two sockets. One is designed to charge laptops, and there’s a USB socket for charging smaller devices. A selection of power adapters is supplied in the box, and others can be ordered from the company for a few pounds each.

The only problem we found with the Solargorilla was finding enough sunlight in the UK. Small devices such as a Nokia mobile phone and Nintendo DS games console charged easily, but even on a brilliantly sunny day we couldn’t quite get enough power to properly charge our Medion laptop. If you’re heading somewhere really sunny, of course, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Alternatively the company sells a rechargeable power pack, the Powergorilla, that can be charged from the solar panels and then used itself to deliver a steady charge to a laptop.

All in all, the Solargorilla won’t be ideal for everyone: it’s fairly expensive, and to charge a laptop directly you’ll need very bright sunlight. If you’re travelling somewhere hot and off the beaten track, though, it could prove invaluable.

Nokia E75

David Phelan — 2009-07-02T10:00:00.000Z

David Phelan, Computeractive, Thursday 2 July 2009 at 10:00:00

This ‘business phone’ is neat enough to appeal to everyone

Nokia’s range of E-series phones are aimed at business users, which means they’re great for things such as email.

This new model is the first E-series one with a proper keyboard - it harks back to the company’s Communicator phones, which were always great for typing on but were very hefty.

However, on the E75 a spacious keyboard slides out sideways from behind the screen. The design of this phone was clearly important, and it’s elegant enough to stop it looking like a business phone at all.

It’s reasonably slim like a regular phone, and the gleaming metallic back looks very stylish. Overall, it feels like a classic Nokia that happens to hide a keyboard.

A motion detector means that when you slide out the keypad the screen spins around automatically and quickly so that its orientation matches the keys below.

The benefit of the keypad is obvious – why send text messages using annoying predictive text input when you have a full keyboard available to type on?

It worked very well, although there’s no room for separate number keys which instead occupy the top row of the keyboard - it is odd to have to press a Function key to select them.

Even though it’s sleek and cute, this is a phone that will attract more business-minded users who don’t want to go down the Blackberry route.

The E75 includes a subscription to Nokia Mail – a mail delivery service, free apart from data costs. Setting up a Googlemail account on the phone took just a couple of minutes and was simple and effective.

Like the earlier E71, this phone is designed to work in different ways according to your needs – it can be up for business and personal use with separate, customisable home screens.You can set it so business emails pop up only in the work scenario, for instance.

Internet access is good, with wireless network access built in so you can find a signal in a hotspot, but although the PC software is good for backing up and more, the absence of Apple Mac compatibility is a shame.

There’s a decent 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, mirror and light, and a standard headphone jack. Battery life was decent rather than exceptional but this is a great phone with nice styling and strong features, including the very useful slide-out keyboard.

Konica Minolta Magicolor 1600W

Simon Williams — 2009-07-01T17:17:00.000Z

Simon Williams, Computeractive, Wednesday 1 July 2009 at 17:17:00

A relatively cheap colour-laser printer

Inexpensive colour printing used to be the preserve of inkjet printers, but as prices have continued to drop, it’s now possible to pick up a colour laser for under £150.

Konica Minolta’s Magicolor 1600W is compact for a colour laser, but is still big – microwave oven-sized – compared to an inkjet.

It’s bigger still when in use, as the front cover pulls down to make the paper feed tray and part of the top cover hinges out to make the output tray.

There’s no cover for the paper when loaded, so you’ll probably want to close the machine up when you're not printing so it doesn’t attract dust.

The control panel consists of two buttons and six indicator lights, four of which tell you when the toner in each of the colour cartridges is low.

This printer uses a carousel-style print mechanism, which means each colour in a print is built up separately, before the complete image is transferred to the paper.

This is a slower technique than inline print, which is now more common and produces a colour page in a single pass, but is more expensive.

The Magicolor 1600W only comes with a single USB connection – the USB socket sticks out of the right-hand side of the printer, rather than being less obtrusive at the back.

Konica Minolta only supplies drivers for varieties of Windows – there's no support for Mac or Linux.

Print speeds suffered a bit from the carousel print system, but we still saw a top black print speed of 17 pages per minute (ppm) and a top-colour speed of over 4ppm, both of which were close to the claimed figures.

Print quality was good for both black and colour prints, though black text isn't quite as sharp as from other entry-level laser printers we’ve seen. Colour graphics were bright and attractive, but the range of available colours made photo prints a little over-vivid.

In its intended market of homes and home offices the drum or fuser units, which have lifespans of 45,000 and 50,000 pages respectively, will probably never need replacing.

The only other consumable is the toner itself and this gives a cost per page of 2.6p for black print and 11.7p for colour. The black print cost is good, though the colour is a little on the high side.