Category of small cheap notebooks became very popular and there is no wonder why most of big brands want a piece of cake for themselves. But Asus got all of them off-guard. Because of that we’ve been waiting rather long for Eee’s true rival . We’ve already mentioned MSI’s agility which allowed them again to be first with new product on market. Their trump card wears name Wind and model that InsideHW had tested is MSI Wind U100.
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The long waited AMD platform for notebooks under the name PUMA is finally introduced and InsideHW had a chance to test notebook based on this platform. To all users that have been waiting cheap integrated graphics with good performances, time has come. Intel Centrino was so far “untouchable” in field of portable computers but AMD Puma, by all appearance, got a necessary quality to fight for highest position.
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USB hard disks lately become very popular. This especially goes for 2.5’’models. The reasons for that can be found in their usefulness and practicality. Yet, we are living in times when it is necessary to transfer huge amounts of data from place to place. At first, manufacturers on market fought with larger and larger capacity of these devices. Lately, when capacity stopped being key factor, manufacturers turned to HDD case design. On that field, Prestigio went step ahead of its competitors and launched Prestigio data Safe II Fashion Edition.
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At the end of June, in Spain, we were introduced to a new series of 48xx graphics cards from ATI. We saw then only RV770PRO (4850) but at this moment 4870 (RV770XT) is also available. Even though our sources from AMD didn’t unveil why 4870 wasn’t shown on launching, we assume that some problems with quantities of available GDDR5 memory occurred. Considering that 4850 uses GDDR3 memory, it is no surprise that many retailers had them on stock. ATI 4870 will be sold, in beginning, exclusively with GDDR5 memory (this is the first graphics card that uses this memory) but AMD leaves a possibility that some innovative partner might launch later version that uses GDDR3 memory.
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It’s rare occasion to have on test, on the same month, new generation products from two big rivals (nVIDIA and ATI). This is really good news because ATI had some serious delays with R600 and that is one of reasons why it was so indifferently received on market. ATI realized that now must roll up its sleeves to catch up nVIDIA, because at that point seemed that nVIDIA unreachably moved away.
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As the manufacturer of top PC peripherals, Logitech introduced the set of loudspeakers which significantly satisfy criteria for 100 € price range. Considering the fact that during the past several years they have been more focused on big, too loud and far more expensive sets, the gap between necessary and megalomania went even further. This also resulted in the fact that present trust of the market for „smaller boxes“ is significantly shatter.
Satellites:
(2) 2" drivers per satellite
Subwoofer:
5.25" ported driver
Speaker dimensions (H x W x D):
Satellites:
8.4" x 3.2" x 5"
Center channel:
8" x 4.75" x 3.75"
Subwoofer:
11.25" x 6.5" x 9.75"
Total RMS power:
70W RMS
Subwoofer:
25W RMS
Total peak power:
140W
Frequency response:
40 Hz - 20 kHz
Simply said, after everything we have seen who can persuade us that something small and plastic can play properly? Yet, X-540, model which already had one previous version, return us to time of the golden series of Altec Lansing, Creative and Logitech, when you could always purchase long-term quality set for reasonable amount of money. Logitech´s tendency was constant increase of loudspeaker’s quality, starting with SoundMan series when they started their serious engagement in this domain, and consequently, X-540 is no deviation from the rule. However, its key trump is complete simplicity in all fields, starting with dimensions, design and connections, which became very positive feature after all inventions we encountered on all sides.
Like we are already accustomed to get from them and other manufacturers, it became ultimately necessary to have something revolutionary in domain of acoustics with each new loudspeaker set. This time, Logitech chose FDD2 (Frequency Directed Dual Driver) technology, which allegedly regulates frequency loss in listening area. Speaking as an amateur, on every position in listening area, identical sound from the source reaches the listener. It is hardly that this claim is possible to prove in practice, or to challenge it for this matter, but true is that X-540 set is generally good playing once properly positioned on certain distances, as well as when sitting in front of the monitor on reasonable distance. There are 2“ wideband loudspeakers in each satellite, which is probably unique case that Logitech set owns sufficient satellite power to confront subwoofer unit.
Aforementioned subwoofer has one 5.25“ loudspeaker, predominantly to maintain compact system dimensions, given that Logitech has always preferred huge subwoofer units being capable to move the furniture. Also characteristic for X-540 is the fact that it is one of few, if not first, involved in problems related to positioning central satellite on TFT monitor. Given that the satellites are very light, rate of the laid central satellite can be converted by rotation in certain sort of clip which will be pretty stable attached to the top of TFT monitor. Logitech foreseen this very well, so interior is set in the manner there is no fear from scratching plastics, both on the satellite or TFT edge. Stands of other satellites can be turned into classical wall mount, with possibility of putting moderate dimension subwoofer somewhere where it would not incommode too much. All necessary controls are in separate command module connected to subwoofer with cable. Actually, there is not too much of them: volume control, bass control and turning on „Matrix“ playing mode.
Aforementioned mode is something that Logitech has in its offer for a long time, and it is about modality of division of stereo signal on 5.1 systems, so all loudspeakers would play. However, in this field, Dolby Pro Logic II remains an ideal to be reached, so for this versions is more advisable to use some free software plug-in for the type of player you are using. X-540 left very positive impression, considering the fact it has rather wide tone range, and that in average conditions, it may fill out the room with compact playing. It would be advisable that some future version owns the remote control, given that all competitive models have it for quite some time now. Although, even without it, it receives a recommendation in this category, as well as InsideHW Best Buy award.
MultiMedia 
