2009-03 by Hiba Dweib

america’s fastest isps MaRCh 2009

wiNdows 7 PC Labs Tests and Reviews Beta One

TAx sofTwAre rouNdup Make This Tax Season Easier

> aPP LaunChERS > audiO/MuSiC > BaCkuP > BLOgging > BROwSERS > CaLEndaRS/PiMS > COMMuniCaTiOn/ E-MaiL > COnfEREnCing > fiLE TRanSfER/ dOwnLOad > fiLE ViEwERS/ COnVERTERS > finanCE > fun/hOME > gRaPhiCS > iMS > inTERfaCE EnhanCERS > LOCaL SEaRCh > OffiCE > OPERaTing SySTEMS > nETwORking > RSS REadERS > SynChROnizaTiOn > VidEO

the Best

free software 173

Killer Apps You Need Now

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AND Receive a Full Return on Investment in 90 Days

Or Your Money Back

Spector 360 is the world’s first monitoring solution that makes it easy to detect inappropriate employee behavior. At the touch of a button, you will see ALL PC & Internet activity for your entire company and find out which employees are working, playing, doing their job efficiently or putting your business at risk by engaging in illicit or illegal behavior.

Spector 360 Records ALL Your Employees’ y • • • • • •

Web Sites Visited Chats & Instant Messages Keystrokes Typed Network Traffic Google Searches Files Saved to Removable Media ... and much more! PLUS: • Our Powerful Screen Snapshot Recorder (a video surveillance-like recording tool with easy-to-use VCR-style playback) shows you in exact visual detail what an employee does every step of the way.

More than 50 charts and reports allow you to quickly and easily identify your top achievers, productivity wasters, and anyone engaging in inappropriate or potentially damaging conduct.

© 1999-2009 SpectorSoft® Corporation. All rights reserved. PC Magazine Editors' Choice Award Logo is a trademark of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. Used under license. *Guidelines apply for this limited time offer. Contact your SpectorSoft Sales Professional for complete details.

Stamp Out Internet Abuse Today! Visit Spector360.com or call (888) 598-2788

TOP

You Suspect It’s Happening. Now Get the Proof You Need and Put a Stop to Huge Productivity Losses Once and for All

THINGS YOU WILL DISCOVER

Which employees spend the most time working and which spend the most time goofing off.

Which employees spend the most time surfing web sites and see EXACTLY what they do on them.

What employees search for on Google, MSN, Yahoo and more.

Which employees are posting resumes on Monster.

Who is leaking company confidential information via chat, web mail or removable media.

September, 2008 Spector 360

PC Magazine Editors’ Choice “Spector 360 is the most mature surveillance offering for business use.”

C Widd EEmployee l Monitoring M i i Software Company-Wide

vol. 28 no. 3

march 2009

cove r s to ry

The Best Free Software

I n times like these, the word “free” becomes particularly enticing. But you can’t just go downloading free apps and utilities willy-nilly—that’s a surefire way to put malware and other nasty stuff on your system. We’ve scoured the Internet for only the best free utilities and apps for networking, backup, entertainment, and more. Here you’ll find 173 ways to save a buck.

first looks 9 Software Windows 7 Beta 1 Tax Software Roundup Plus Quick Looks at Spore Origins, eReader 1.3, and more. 13 Hardware Sony VAIO VGC-JS130J/P Canon Pixma MP980 Wireless Photo All-In-One Printer ViewSonic N2201w HDTV/monitor Gateway FX6800-01e

The Fastest ISPs in America

e enlisted thousands of PC W Mag readers nationwide to test which ISPs are the fastest and friendliest. After months of crunching data, here’s what we found.

4 feedback

front side 5 How the stimulus package will affect tech; dealing with the “digital cliff”; the best of our blogs; handy Web sites; finding the right GPS.

OPINIONS 3 First Word: Lance Ulanoff

Plus Quick Looks at the Dell Studio XPS 16, the Samsung P400, the Sony Lifestyle PC, and more 17 Business

24 John C. Dvorak

Lenovo ThinkPad W700

25 Inside Track: John C. Dvorak

ViewSonic PJ513DB

26 Sascha Segan

Apple iWork ’09

27 Dan Costa

SOLUTIONS 45 New Uses for Old Digicams What can you do with your old camera? Turn here to find out. 48 At Work

20 Consumer Electronics RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 (T-Mobile) HTC Touch Pro (Sprint) Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam HD

50 Office

Sony Reader Digital Book (PRS-700)

52 Security

Vizio VP505XVT

53 Tech Tips

Plus Quick Looks at the LG Incite, the Cowon O2, the Nikon Coolpix S60, and more

55 the best stuff

PC Magazine Digital Edition, ISSN 0888-8507, is published monthly at $24.97 for one year. Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York NY 10016-7940.

march 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

Editor-in-ChiEf, pC magazinE nEtwork Editor

Lance Ulanoff

Stephanie Chang

www.pcmag.com Vicki B. Jacobson Dan Costa (reviews), Jeremy A. Kaplan (features) art dirECtor Richard J. Demler EditoriaL prodUCtion dirECtor Nicholas Cosmo pC LabS dirECtor, SEnior Editor (hardwarE) Laarni Almendrala Ragaza SEnior EditorS Sean Carroll (software, Internet, networking), Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics), Carol Mangis (blogs), Kyle Monson, Sarah Pike (Solutions), Erik Rhey (Digital Edition) SEnior writEr Eric Griffith rEViEwS EditorS Gary Berline (software, Internet, networking), Tony Hoffman (hardware), Matthew Murray (consumer electronics) Copy ChiEf Elizabeth A. Parry Copy EditorS Margaret McVeigh, Ann Ovodow pC LabS LEad anaLyStS Cisco Cheng (laptops), Tim Gideon (audio and video), Robert Heron (HDTV and home theater), Mario Morejon (networking and small business), Michael Muchmore (software), Neil J. Rubenking (security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops), Sascha Segan (mobile devices), M. David Stone (printers and scanners) anaLySt Dan Evans (DIY, gaming) jUnior anaLySt PJ Jacobowitz (digital cameras and camcorders) prodUCt rEViEwS Coordinator Zachary Honig inVEntory ControL Coordinator Nicole Graham Staff photographEr Scott Schedivy pCmag.Com managEr, onLinE prodUCtion Yun-San Tsai prodUCErS Gregg Binder, Mark Lamorgese, Whitney A. Reynolds nEwS Editor Mark Hachman nEwS rEportEr Chloe Albanesius aSSoCiatE EditorS Jennifer L. DeLeo, Brian Heater (blogs) Staff EditorS Corinne Iozzio (reviews), Nicole Price Fasig (reviews) aSSiStant Editor Sean Ludwig rEViEwS prodUCEr Errol Pierre-Louis CommErCE prodUCErS Iman Edwards, Arielle Rochette UtiLity program managEr Tim Smith CommUnity managEr Jim Lynch CrEatiVE dirECtor Chris Phillips prodUCtion artiSt Guyang Chen VidEo EditoriaL dirECtor, VidEo and digitaL EVEntS Sebastian Rupley ContribUting EditorS Helen Bradley, John R. Delaney, Richard V. Dragan, John C. Dvorak, Craig Ellison, Galen Fott, Bill Howard, Don Labriola, Jamie Lendino, Jim Louderback, Bill Machrone, Edward Mendelson, Jan Ozer, Neil Randall, Matthew D. Sarrel, Larry Seltzer EXtrEmEtECh.Com Editor Loyd Case SEnior tEChnoLogy anaLyStS Jason Cross, Joel Durham prodUCEr Jeremy Atkinson jUnior prodUCEr Mike Nguyen

dirECtor of onLinE ContEnt, EXECUtiVE prodUCEr EXECUtiVE EditorS

ChiEf EXECUtiVE offiCEr

Jason Young

Christopher Urciuoli ViCE prESidEnt, digitaL SaLES Kenneth J. Detlet ViCE prESidEnt, markEting James Selden 212-503-4689 rESEarCh dirECtor Fred Doscher rEgionaL SaLES managEr Amy Loria 352-873-4288 aCCoUnt EXECUtiVES Susan Narta 949-459-2931; Kathy Pavlak 212-503-4847 SaLES aSSiStantS Angelique Soto (East Coast) 212-503-5255; Meggen Thorp (West Coast) 415-547-8131 aCCoUnt CoordinatorS Christine Blake (East Coast) 212-503-5241; Jamiel Hibbert (East Coast) 212-503-5491; Alycia Eakin (Central, Northwest, and West Coast) 415-547-8036; Angelica Ferrer (West Coast) 415-547-8045 adVErtiSing offiCE 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-7940; phone, 800-336-2423, 212-503-3500; fax, 212-503-5000 For advertising information go to www.pcmagmedia.com ConSUmEr markEting ConSUmEr markEting dirECtor Todd Klyver bUSinESS dirECtor

ziff daViS mEdia inC. ChiEf EXECUtiVE offiCEr

Jason Young

Neil Glass Steve Sutton (General Manager, Interactive) SEnior ViCE prESidEnt Lance Ulanoff (Content, PC Magazine Network) ViCE prESidEntS Norris Boothe (Product Marketing, Game Group), Simon Cox (Content, Game Group), Beth Repeta (Human Resources), James Selden (Marketing and Sales Development, Consumer/Small-Business Group) EXECUtiVE dirECtorS Larry Chevres (Internet Technology), Olga Gonopolsky (Worldwide Licensing, Rights and Permissions), Christopher Urciuoli (Finance) ChiEf finanCiaL offiCEr and SEnior ViCE prESidEnt EXECUtiVE ViCE prESidEnt

thE indEpEndEnt gUidE PC Magazine is the Independent Guide to Technology. Our mission is to test and review computer- and Internet-related products and services and report fairly and objectively on the results. Our editors do not invest in firms whose products or services we review, nor do we accept travel tickets or other gifts of value from such firms. Except where noted, PC Magazine reviews are of products and services that are currently available. Our reviews are written without regard to advertising or business relationships with any vendor. how to ContaCt thE EditorS We welcome comments from readers. Send your comments to Internet address pcmag@pcmag.com or to PC Magazine, 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 100167940. Please include a daytime telephone number. PC Magazine’s general number is 212-503-3500. The West Coast Operations number is 415-547-8000. We cannot look up stories from past issues, recommend products, or diagnose problems with your PC by phone. An index of past issues is at www.pcmag.com/previous_issues. For a list of upcoming stories, browse www.pcmag .com. For a full description of who on staff covers what, go to www.pcmag.com/whocoverswhat. If you are dissatisfied with a product advertised in PC Magazine and cannot resolve the problem with the vendor, write (do not call) Anne King, Advertising Department, at the above address. Please include copies of your correspondence with the vendor. pErmiSSionS, rEprintS For permission to reuse material in this publication or to use our logo, contact Ziff Davis Media’s Executive Director of Rights and Permissions, Olga Gonopolsky, at permissions@pcmag.com, or by phone at 212-503-5438 or by fax at 212-503-5420. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written permission. For reprints, please contact the YGS Group: telephone, 800-290-5460; fax, 717-399-8900; e-mail, pcmag@theygsgroup.com. The following are registered trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.: i-Bench, NetBench, PC DIRECT, PC Labs, PC MAGAZINE, PC MAGAZINE AWARD FOR TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE, PC MAGAZINE EDITORS’ CHOICE, PC MagNet, ServerBench, WinBench, Winstone, Ziff Davis Media’s corporate logo, and PCMAG.com. The following are trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.: After Hours, CPUmark, EasyComputing, ExtremeTech, First Looks, First Looks Plus, i-Bench, Lab Notes, Lab Tales, PC Bench, PC Labs Scorecard, PC Magazine At Home, PC Magazine CD, Front Side, PC Magazine Extra, PC Magazine Marketlink, PC Solutions, PC Tech, Power Programming, Quick Clips, ScreenDemos, SMB Boot Camp, Tech Notes, and WinDrain. Other trademarks and trade names used throughout the publication are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © 2008 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. SUbSCription information For subscription service questions, for address changes, or to order, please contact us: intErnEt: service.pcmag.com (for customer service) or subscribe .pcmag.com (to order). tELEphonE: 800-289-0429 or 386-597-4372 in the U.S. and Canada, 386-597-4370 elsewhere. maiL: PC Magazine, PO Box 54070, Boulder, CO 80322-4070 (please include your postal address and e-mail address with any correspondence, as it will expedite processing). faX: 386-447-2321 in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. E-maiL: subhelp@pcmag.com (please type your full name, your postal address, and the e-mail address at which you subscribe). SUbSCriptionS: The one-year subscription rate is $24.97. PC Magazine is published monthly. If your e-mail address is undeliverable, we will have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected e-mail address within two years. baCk iSSUES: Print back issues, January 2009 and prior, are $8 each in the U.S., $10 each elsewhere. Prepayment is required. Contact customer service (above) for availability. For digital back issues, go to go.pcmag.com/digitalbackissues. maiLing LiStS: We sometimes make lists of our customers available to mailers of goods and services that may interest you. If you do not wish to receive their mailings, please write to us at PC Magazine, PO Box 54070, Boulder, CO 80322-4070. digitaL rEadEr: If you have any problems viewing issues, please contact Zinio at 888-946-4666 or customerservice@zinio.com.

FIRST WORD lance ulanoff

Diary of a Slow PC During the many times I’m called upon to provide tech support, there’s often a moment when my eyes are squeezed shut, my hands are pressed hard against my skull, and I’m muttering under my breath. It’s at such times that I’m this close to giving up. I had one of these moments recently, dealing with a system issue I had probably helped create. Let me rewind. Roughly four years ago, I bought my mother-in-law a new Dell PC. While this may seem like an extravagant gift, I must admit that the whole thing cost less than $500, including the display. These days, that’s not much of a bargain, but back then, netbooks and sub-$300 Eee PCs were pretty much nonexistent. Even so, I made some mistakes with that purchase—ones I would not make again. Take a look at the system’s specs and you can see where I went wrong: Dell Dimension 2400, 2.4GHz Celeron CPU, 128MB of RAM, Intel Extreme Graphics Controller Integrated (82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV/) 32MB VRAM, Microsoft Windows XP. Got it? Right. Even running Windows XP, this machine did not have enough memory or graphics power. In my defense, my mother-in-law did little more than use Microsoft Word and Excel, browse the Web, and access her America Online account. Within a month, I got a call from “Mom.” “The PC seems slow,” she complained. Sometime later, I was out for a visit, checked the system, and agreed: This thing was a dog. I spent some time clearing her Internet cache and defragging the hard drive. That seemed to help, somewhat. However, with those specs, this PC was never going to be even respectably fast. A couple of years later, I convinced my mother-in-law to buy additional RAM. Since she lives hours away, someone else installed the RAM. But it was still a dog. My in-laws explained that the PC had gotten to the point where it could take a minute or more

between actions. This was unacceptable. And so, on a recent visit, I began my 4hour-plus troubleshooting odyssey. Windows’ Automatic Updates recommended an upgrade to IE7 and Service Pack 3. I ran these updates and retested the browser. With one tab open, things were okay. When I opened the second, the system started to slow down a bit. When I tried a third, I was back where I started. Soon I had a system message that virtual memory was running low and I needed to close some processes. Man, this thing was in bad shape. Since resources and processes seemed to be the issue, I began to look at

system specs. The CPU seemed right, but the RAM made me question my sometimes faulty memory. It said 128MB of RAM. I asked my mother-in-law about the memory upgrade she purchased. She said it was in there, but she couldn’t recall how much was added. At the time, neither could I. It was time to take radical action. I powered the system down and unplugged every single cable from it. After vacuuming out unbelievable amounts of dust and dog hair from the back vents and an intake chamber on the front, I took a look at the motherboard and the two memory SIMM chips. It looked as if nei-

My failure to buy the right PC, a bad memory install, and looking for problems in all the wrong places had cost all of us countless wasted hours. things that always ran and were resident at start-up. I uninstalled a bunch of unused AOL utilities and with those eradicated, I did another reboot. The results were the same. Looking for other possible causes, I noticed in the Task Manager that McAfee security software was eating up copious amounts of resources. So I uninstalled McAfee and went with Norton Internet Security 2009 instead. NIS 2009 installed on my home PCs like a dream, but things went a little less smoothly with Mom’s. Initially, the installation killed the Internet connection. I performed an uninstall and then a reinstall and the Internet miraculously returned. I wish I could tell you why. My first reboot after the successful NIS 2009 install took forever, but eventually, I was back online. With a few browser tabs open, however, the system was no better than it had been before. I even got the “virtual resources low” message. I think it was at this point that the head pressing and muttering began. I decided to check the

ther one of them was fully seated. I used my thumbs to press one in—snap!—and then the other—snap! I put the PC back together, rebooted, and immediately the system found 384MB of memory. After this browsing was fast, easy, effortless. This was a zippy PC. In the end, my failure to buy the right PC in the first place, a bad memory install, and looking for problems in all the wrong places had cost all of us countless wasted hours. The lessons here are to buy the right PC with the right specs; don’t always assume your PC’s problem is with Windows, malware, or apps; and always seat memory properly (then make sure the system recognizes it). Now, whenever I call my mother-inlaw, I ask how the PC’s doing. Her reply: “It’s wonderful.” Follow me on Twitter! Catch the chief’s comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff. MARCH 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

Feed Kudos to the Digital Edition I’m really enjoying the digital form of the magazine. I can pick the story I’m interested in and enlarge it, making it much easier to read.—Lorraine Hall

its product upgrades did not install properly. I look at security suites almost every year, since a new retail version is normally a better deal than a service contract extension.—Don Malchow

Security Thumbs Up

Where Art Thou, USB 3?

I just finished reading your security cover story (“Reclaim Your Online Privacy,” February, page 28). It is by far the most comprehensive and informative security suite review I have read. There are more features to evaluate and report on than ever, and you covered them in a well-organized and easy-to-read way. It takes skill, judgment and most importantly resolve to make any technical article readable without reliance on acronyms and terms unfamiliar to users that are not fluent in the particular geek speak dialect. I have relied on reviews of this type ever since I decided to no longer send money to an arrogant company that thought its customer should pay for tech support when

I am going to be purchasing a laptop in the next few months. I have recently been reading about USB 3.0 technology being developed. When are laptops going to be able to support USB 3.0? If I buy a laptop soon, I don’t think I can upgrade it to USB 3.0 from 2.0 without replacing the motherboard.—Steven Feldman At the CES 2009, we saw a few demos of USB 3.0 in action, meaning manufacturers are finally testing interoperability. But getting working ports into laptops takes longer. Look for manufacturers to finalize the PHYs—that’s industry slang for the physical layer device, or the port itself—late this summer. This means we’ll almost definitely

see discrete add-in cards at some point this year. But it won’t be until early 2010 that manufacturers will build the technology into chipsets, and therefore into laptops. Besides, by all accounts, Windows 7 won’t support USB 3.0 at first anyway—we’ll see what happens once it’s out of beta. So in light of that, I wouldn’t hold off your purchase based on this one factor. —Jeremy Kaplan CORRECTIONS AND AMPLIFICATIONS In our Front Side piece “40 Years of the Mouse,” we mistakenly identified the codeveloper of the Logitech gyroscopic mouse. The correct company is Hillcrest Labs. In our December cover story, “The Best and Worst of 2008,” we mistakenly cited the price of the HP Photosmart Pro B8850. The correct price is $549.99 direct. HOW TO CONTACT US We welcome your comments and suggestions. When sending e-mail to Feedback, please state in the subject line which article or column prompted your response. E-mail pcmag@pcmag.com. All letters become the property of PC Magazine and are subject to editing. We regret that we cannot answer letters individually.

Front What’s New from the World of Tech

sending a message After much debate, President Obama finally signed a stimulus bill that ensures, among other things, money for technology so he can continue to use his BlackBerry.

Tech Gets a Cash Boot-Up The economic stimulus act dedicates billions to technology development. The economic stimulus package has dominated nightly newscasts and newspaper headlines for months. Democrats and Republicans disagree over whether the bill will actually boost the economy or simply give handouts to companies that help cause this mess. Despite the political pugilism, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has passed, and the final version includes some serious cash for techrelated projects. The money invested could have some significant long-term effects on Photograph: Getty Images/Saul Loeb

the tech landscape—in both the public and private sectors. So what are your tax dollars buying tech-wise? Basically everything from broadband grants and a $650 million boost to the DTV program to an upgraded electric grid and millions of dollars worth of explosive-detection devices at airports. Here is a more in-depth breakdown of some of the technology projects and initiatives that will get funding. Access to broadband is increasingly considered essential to competing in our

21st-century economy. The package allocates $7.2 billion for broadband grants and loans, split between the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) within the Commerce Department. Agriculture must allocate at least 75 percent of its $2.5 billion to rural areas without sufficient access to broadband, and these grants must be open-access. The NTIA will also get $350 million to track MARCH 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

frontside

broadband availability and develop a Webbased broadband inventory map. Although the DTV transition has been delayed until June (see the story below), the stimulus act allocates an additional $650 million for the converter box coupon program. About $90 million of that total can be used for education and outreach efforts. Also, research funding for technology and other fields will get a nice boost (in an effort to keep math and science Ph.D graduates in the country), including $1 billion for NASA, $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, $2 billion for science research within the Department of Energy, and $220 million for research and grants at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within Commerce. As for security technology, if you enjoy those machines at the airport that puff air at you to detect explosives, there are more on the way. The Homeland Security Department gets more than a billion

In addition to security and infrastructure, the stimulus act includes some serious cash for tech-related projects. for border and airport security technologies, as well as for nonintrusive detection technology at seaports. There is also more money to repair and construct inspection facilities at land borders and to purchase explosive-detection systems. We at PCMag are always reminding readers of the importance of backing up your data. Well, Uncle Sam is also getting the message. At the State Department, the bill allocates $290 million for imme-

diate information technology security and upgrades to support mission-critical operations. Of that, about $38 million will go toward the creation of backup information-management facilities to protect the systems from mission failures, enhance cybersecurity, and secure immediate hardware and software upgrades Don’t forget about $4.5 billion to give our electrical grid a makeover. Digitizing health records is also a hotbutton issue these days. Well, the stimulus package will help make that a reality with about $2 billion for health information technology (HIT), including establishing a national HIT coordinator. And in case you think the government forgot about the children, the stimulus package also sets aside $650 million for the Enhancing Education through Technology program. In addition, $50 million has been divested to state-level Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) initiatives. —Chloe Albanesius

Falling Off the Digital Cliff Even with a converter box, some will be left out in the cold after the DTV switchover. As we know, the transition from analog to digital TV has been delayed from February 17 to June 12. The delay is meant to allow extra time for consumers to get their converter boxes and for the government to implement its transition programs, including the coupons for those boxes and the recycling of the thousands (and maybe even millions) of TVs that will be thrown away. One issue that is still unresolved is that of the “digital cliff.” In a nutshell, a digital cliff means no TV signal (regardless of whether you have a converter box) for those in rural areas or who live a great distance from a digital broadcast station. With analog, a weak signal means low quality, but a weak digital signal means a blank screen. The digital cliff has not been widely reported, and it’s an issue the FCC has not, according to many, addressed effectively. At DTV .gov, for example, you can find information about antenna adapters, but there are no diagrams or maps that explain how a DTV signal works or how far the signal travels. “At this point, our estimates are that 5.1 percent of U.S. TV households are unprepared, which is about 5.8 million households,” says Anne Elliot, a vice president at The Nielsen Company. Elliot says that a DTV signal travels in a different kind of contour from analog PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MARCH 2009

and either finds a receiver or doesn’t. Nielsen defines as “unprepared” a household that does not have any TVs capable of receiving a digital signal after the transition. Nielsen uses a representative sampling of 35,000 households to derive its estimates. The company issued a readiness alert in January stating that the elderly with more disposable income are more ready for DTV than those under 55 Nielsen also found that the top six least-prepared cities were Albuquerque, Houston, Tulsa, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin, and Memphis. The most prepared market is the Hartford-New Haven area of Connecticut, because of the proliferation of cable TV access in that region. Of course, Nielsen does not track small communities such as Ames, Iowa, or remote locations in Montana or Minnesota. Households in rural areas will likely not get digital reception after the transition even if they own a converter box, which could cause a problem for retailers trying to sell DTV antennas. “Our advice for people in rural areas is to buy an upgraded antenna and to test digital reception now, before the transition,” says Mary Diamond, an FCC spokesperson. She declined to elaborate.—John Brandon Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer

BEST of our blogs GEARLOG CSI Stick: A Jealous Lover’s Best Friend The Paraben CSI Stick ($199) plugs into a cell phone and lets the user pull off all the phone’s “forensic data,” including the phone book, text messages, camera-phone images, call logs—everything. The Stick can even retrieve text messages that have been deleted by the phone’s owner. Terrifying! The CSI Stick comes with replaceable heads that can be used with a number of cell-phone models; it is available at Paraben’s site.—Brian Heater

Security Watch Security Vendors Offer Windows 7 Protection Just because you’re running a beta operating system doesn’t mean you can go without security protection. In fact, Windows 7 will nag you to install security and point specifically to security providers AVG, Kaspersky, and Symantec. Kaspersky has announced a prototype of its antivirus app for Windows 7, and Symantec also offers a free beta of Norton 360 Version 3 to those running Windows 7 beta.—Larry Seltzer

GoodCleanTech Recompute Makes a Computer Out of Cardboard While most “green” computers focus on reduced energy consumption or using bioplastic, this one goes off the usual course and uses something else as a material for the desktop’s build. Recompute, as you can clearly see, utilizes layers of recyclable and renewable corrugated cardboard. According to its designer, there are four lowimpact steps in making this computer—die cutting, gluing parts with nontoxic glue, printing, and assembling the electronic parts. There’s no plastic or metal anywhere in the chassis besides what’s in the electronic components. And yes, it’s a real working computer.—Mariella Moon

@Work Polycom Launches High-Res Videoconferencing Polycom recently introduced the QDX 6000 ($3,999) widescreen videoconferencing system for enterprise-level businesses. The QDX 6000 features DVD-quality video that can maintain high resolutions even when operating over low bandwidths. Its video signal operates at 30 frames per second, uses Polycom’s Lost Packet Recovery (LPR), and can take input from up to five video sources.—Mario Morejon

www.r-tt.com/pcmag001.

frontside

BEST

of the Internet

co n n ec te d tr av e l e r

Find the Right GPS for Your Travels Here’s the quickest route to the best GPS device.

MyFolio MyFolio is an online community of artists in which you can easily upload and share media, create your own blog, and create galleries to showcase your talent. The free account offers 1GB of storage space and imposes a limit of 100MB per file uploaded.—Alan Henry get there in style GPS models like the Navigon 2200T and Garmin nüvi 755T have big screens and millions of maps.

Last Freeware Version With Last Freeware Version, you can find older versions of some of your favorite applications when they were free and roll back to when the app didn’t cost money to use. In addition to some popular programs, Last Freeware Version keeps a number of smaller, lesser-known applications.—AH

Now that gas prices have come back down to earth, it’s a lot easier to get behind the wheel again. So, whether that means you’re commuting to work again or you’re finally taking that road trip, a GPS device can help keep you on track. Today’s navigators, though, can do a lot more than just get you from point A to point B. There are units on the market that will help you sidestep traffic, find a great new restaurant, or even make hands-free cell-phone calls. The nuts and bolts of picking the right GPS are fairly straightforward. Start by selecting your screen size and onboard maps, and tack on the additional features that you need (or want) from there. As far as screens go, you can find ones with big displays (like the 5-inch Magellan Maestro 5310, $599 street, l l l h m ) or small (like the 3.5inch Navigon 2200T, $229 list, l l l l m ), but most devices these days feature 4.3-inch displays (like

Clerkdogs Clerkdogs is a Web service that contains hundreds of thousands of movie recommendations from video-store clerks. Enter the name of a movie you like and the service will return a list of other movies you might also enjoy.—AH For more cool Web sites and handy utilities and apps, visit PC Magazine’s blog AppScout (www .appscout.com).

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MARCH 2009

cheap trip The V7 NAV740 is our Editors’ Choice for budget GPSs.

the inexpensive, entry-level Nextar Q4 ($249.99 list, l l l h m ), which are perfect for most people. Every GPS will also have a points-of-interest (POI) database to help locate landmarks, hotels, restaurants, and other attractions along your route, in a particular city, or at your destination. On average, you can expect a GPS to pack a few million POIs. The Magellan Maestro 4350 ($500 street, l l l l m ) has six million, for example. On top of that, several systems tack on extra goodies: Navigon’s high-end 7200T includes onboard Zagat guides and 3D landmark views, and Magellan’s Maestro devices include AAA Tourbook listings. A vital part of getting where you’re going is avoiding obstacles, like traffic jams and tickets, along the way. Some systems have speed-limit alerts and traffic-camera detectors in addition to live traffic updates, which can help you sidestep congestion. The Garmin nüvi 755T($499.99 list, l l l l h ) for example, includes subscription-free live traffic updates provided by Navteq. Many models, like the Sony NV-U94T nav-u ($299.99 list, l l h m m ) include built-in traffic receivers and come with trial subscriptions that let you test the service for free. Aside from navigation tools and other extras, you can find a host of multimedia features in many GPS units. Our budget Editors’ Choice model, the V7 NAV740 ($299.99 list, l l l l m ) has a media player that supports most common music, photo, and video formats. A few other, typically higherend devices, including the Magellan 4350 and the Navigon 8100T ($599.99 list, l l l h m ), can also connect to your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone so that you can make hands-free calls through the GPS.—Corinne Iozzio

First our ratings key:

lllll

EXCELLENT l l l l l m VERY GOOD l l l l m m GOOD l l l m m m FAIR l l m m m m POOR

Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1 Free Not rated Pros Smaller disk and memory footprint. Faster startup/shutdown. Stable. Less intrusive. Taskbar icons more flexible. Working with external hardware is easier. Multitouch support. Nice-looking new eye candy. Cons Maintains Registry and some other Windows baggage. Start-up times not faster than Vista’s in this beta. Click here for more.

Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1

The Beta Debut of Windows 7 Let’s get something straight: The just-released Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1 retains much of Vista’s kernel architecture, as will the final version. But the new OS is more compact than Vista, has an updated interface, and builds in better networking capability. It also includes some cool advances, such as multitouch support and a redesigned taskbar with movable buttons. You can put the beta on as many machines as you like, but you can’t use it for real business purposes, and it expires in August 2009. Though the interface has its own new look, Vista users won’t have much to learn. Even upgrading XP users will have little trouble, but neither will they be able to cling to the past. There’s no XP emulation theme in Windows 7, as there is in Vista. The taskbar has the most noticeable changes, with taller buttons and the choice to combine multiple docs/windows in one app or keep separate. The buttons glow when you hover the mouse over them and show a preview thumbnail of open docs. Also, the Libraries folder-arrangement system let you group related files—regardless of their location. Windows 7 is also optimized for touch-screen systems.

Some other noteworthy features in Windows 7 relate to hardware and networking. Device Stage is a feature that, when you plug in a cell phone or other device, pops up a screen specific to that device with options, including syncing. (However, this feature relies heavily on the device manufacturers providing Microsoft with the necessary data.) When you join a wireless network with Windows 7, you can choose to set it as home, work, or public. When you choose the first, you can create a HomeGroup. That way, you can specify libraries and devices to share, as well as migrate settings to your home environment. Although the licensing agreement for Windows 7 beta prevents me from publishing benchmark test results, I can say informally that in a couple of months of running the pre-beta and a short period of heavy-duty testing on beta 1, I have yet to see anything remotely resembling a crash. I have, however, encountered occasional error dialogs. As far as recommending Windows 7, we’ll have to wait to see how the pricing and final code bears out. But for those who like to tinker, I definitely recommend taking a look at the future of Windows.—Michael Muchmore

INSIDE 9 Software 13 Hardware 17 Business 20 Consumer Electronics

MARCH 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

first looks SOFTWARE

The Best Tax Tools of 2009

This year, more than any other, you want to save every penny you can on taxes. One of these top-notch tax packages can help. By Kathy Yakal

Take your pick As you enter information in TaxACT’s main working screen, you can select from guidance options on the horizontal tab.

TaxACT 2008 Deluxe Edition Deluxe Federal, $12.95 direct; State, $13.95; Ultimate Bundle (Federal and State), $19.95 ll l h m

PROS Very affordable. Simple, understandable interface. Screen toggles for help options. Free support. Good up-front preparation. CONS Help language could be simplified and more context-sensitive. Could use FAQs and less white space. Click here for more.

Although doing your taxes is never an enjoyable experience, the good news is that the 2008 tax code includes changes that may save you money. Some new perks include a new first-time homebuyer credit, an increase in the standard mileage rate, and lowered taxes for many investors, to name a few. The better news is that the new editions of the top tax-preparation packages include these changes. To save you even more money, it turns out that choosing one of these suites may not cost you a dime. A partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance LLC (an organization of several private-sector tax software companies) provides free access to online versions—minus some of the more advanced capabilities—of the companies’ tax software. If you meet the criteria outlined at IRS.gov, you’ll be able to prepare and file your taxes online at no charge through the IRS Free File program. If you don’t qualify, or want the extra features, you have a lot of options. Overall, the three tax packages we review have not changed drastically. Those new to tax-prep programs will find what veterans already know: These programs are easier to navigate than most software. All the products reviewed here use a question-and-answer interview approach to collect the necessary personal and financial information

10 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MARCH 2009

from you. They also break the 1040 down into manageable bits and take you through them in a pretty natural order. They have you provide personal information, and then launch into sections where you enter your income and deductions. And though you can often file federal taxes for free, you usually have to pay for a state filing (typically less than $20). In the long run, the money is well spent to get the highest refund (or lowest payout) and avoid an audit. TaxACT 2008 Deluxe Edition For years, TaxACT has been the tax program of choice for the budget-conscious. It lacks some of the bells and whistles of the premium services but is significantly cheaper than TurboTax and TaxCut. In the areas it covers, it’s a strong competitor. The biggest change this year is the addition of a tool to help you determine the fair market value of noncash charitable contributions. There’s also a new customer import report, and overview screens for income, deductions, and credits. The average filer will probably want more help, but if you can handle 1040s and other forms without the additional support, this is the app for you. On pages that require data entry, TaxACT uses a split screen. The question-and-answer fields are

Investments included TaxCut also asks you questions about stock market–related transactions and calculates your tax obligation.

Best of both worlds TurboTax lets you see your answers as a split screen with the Step-byStep questions above.

positioned above, with several help options in a tabbed window that can be toggled below. Neither TurboTax nor TaxCut employs a split screen; they position help tools elsewhere. With TaxACT, the tax interview questions are thorough and clear, but the program lacks some of the navigational guides that make TurboTax and TaxCut superior. Nonetheless, TaxACT’s interface is simple, fast, attractive—and works in much the same way as those of its competitors. For the cashstrapped, TaxACT is certainly an acceptable option.

TurboTax Premier 2008 TurboTax and H&R Block’s TaxCut wage a mighty battle in the premium personal tax-preparation software market every year, with TaxACT mopping up the more budget-conscious and knowledgeable filers. This year, the outcome is the same as in recent years: TurboTax is our Editors’ Choice. Though TaxCut wins points for its more reasonable pricing and remains a formidable foe in terms of functionality, it hasn’t evolved as skillfully as TurboTax has. Both premium apps continue to do a commendable job of exploding the 1040 into palatable chunks that can be more easily digested and processed, but TurboTax—the more versatile of the two, especially in the Premier version—takes apart complex topics and eases you through them with a greater variety of at-the-ready guidance. TurboTax’s designers have put together an application that’s—arguably—as elegant and deft as any in the universe of desktop productivity applications, though it runs a bit more slowly than the competition. Granted, a program’s interface is just window dressing if it isn’t backed up with solid innards, but TurboTax has that in spades, too. TaxCut’s look is old in comparison, and that detracts from what is a very capable program. TurboTax does a better job of using screen space, whereas TaxCut displays too much empty real estate, which leads to more clicking. TaxACT’s UI falls somewhere in the middle— better overall than TaxCut’s, but not in the same league as TurboTax’s. This package saves time by letting you import W-2 info directly from employers who use ADP, Paychex, and ProBusiness, as well as import tax-related income and expenses directly from Quicken 2007–2009 and major financial institutions. In a nutshell, TurboTax Premier 2008 provides the most cohesive, intuitive, well-designed tax-preparation experience out there, with more understandable and accessible help than the competition offers.

H&R Block TaxCut Premium Year after year, H&R Block continues to publish an exceptional personal tax-preparation program with excellent help tools and audit support. This year, the big news is a $20 price drop from last year (with the package I reviewed, Premium Federal + State + E-File). With TaxCut you get one help session with an H&R Block tax professional covering one topic, audit support, and the additional programs WILLPower and Deduction Pro. Not even TurboTax can match H&R Block in terms of sheer bang for the buck this year. But is the core TaxCut program the best personal tax-preparation program for 2008? Not quite. Given that the old paper and snail-mail system still works just fine, the most important thing a software and e-filing approach can offer (besides a faster refund) is ease of use, and that means a better UI and better help. TaxCut trails TurboTax a bit on both counts. For example, TaxCut’s interface has too much white space, which means extra pages and tedious extra mouse clicks to go from page to page. Also, TurboTax puts more help resources within reach during the process. However, TaxCut oversees the review of your return just as well as the competition. Though TaxCut is an excellent bargain and a solid package, TurboTax is still the best choice if you want the most thorough, well-guided, elegant taxpreparation experience available for the desktop.

H&R Block TaxCut Premium $49.95 direct llllm

PROS Deep search tool. Excellent walk-through of 1040. Expanded explanations within questions. Good help and audit support. CONS Too many screens displaying too little information. Help is not always context-sensitive. Dull interface. Click here for more.

TurboTax Premier 2008 Premier, $89.95 direct; Deluxe, $59.95 llllh

Pros Direct import from Quicken. Elegant interface. Good breakdown of complex topics. Best combination of help tools, some contentsensitive. Thorough coverage of tax topics. Cons Price of state e-file ($34.95). Slow. Click here for more.

MARCH 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 11

first looks software

Quick Looks Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other software products. RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

PROS

CONS

BOTTOM LINE

• Easy for casual gamers to pick up • Fun creature editor

• Game play is repetitive on most levels • Evolutionary stages are limited to undersea adaptation

Spore Origins gives you a taste of the PC version of this evolution game, including the ability to add new elements to your creatures. Unfortunately, the repetitive levels of play that this iPhone title offers could stand a little more diversity.

• Full editing of Excel 2003 docs • Transfers files to and from desktops via Wi-Fi • Allows access to MobileMe files

• No Word document editing • No cut-and-paste

Business iPhone users will welcome the ability to edit Excel spreadsheets and easily transfer them over Wi-Fi to and from desktop systems. But if you’re a serious spreadsheet jockey, you should stick with Mobile Excel.

• Free • Flexible text formatting • Good interface defaults • Easy bookmarking

• Getting new books is harder than it should be

The eReader does a decent job of presenting books on your iPhone, and the dictionary option is handy, but acquiring reading matter needs to be easier, and the software should support more file formats.

• Free • Flexible text formatting • Large free library available • All major e-book file formats accepted • Converts text, Web, and PDF documents

• No undo • Highlighting text for cutting and copying is a bit awkward • Can’t edit Office docs

With support for a broad range of content, Stanza is the most versatile e-book application for the iPhone.

• Good range of editing tools • Pleasant interface • Responsive controls • Many features • Scales to the iPhone’s full resolution

• Can’t shoot photos from within app • Tiny, crowded mode buttons • Effects are strictly photographic

The scope of Photogene’s editing tools—which include many that other iPhone photo-editing apps lack—makes this a very appealing app.

• Converts images to any of nine classic or creative photo styles • Easy to preview images and save them in multiple styles • Four image resolutions

• Can’t tweak images beyond setting the basic style • Somewhat crash-prone

Whether you’re a nostalgia buff, a photography student, or just someone who wants to spruce up your iPhone photos, the easy-to-use CameraBag lets you remake your images in various photographic styles.

• Effective touch-style fingerprint reader • Fingerprint log-in to Windows • Manages username/password credentials for Web sites and programs • Checks for strong passwords

• Must save account credentials manually • No user-defined names for accounts • No automatic generation of strong passwords • Lacks sharing and true reporting features

DigitalPersona Personal 4.0 stores, applies, and rates your passwords. Both the password manager and its associated fingerprint reader are attractive and easy to use. DigitalPersona offers fingerprint-based Windows log-in and an extra-cost file encryption module.

• Blocked every malware sample from launching • Warns of malware-like behaviors • Community-based alert reduction limits pop-up queries

• Identified several perfectly valid programs as malware • Did a poor job of cleaning up malware • Disabled two test systems by quarantining Windows Explorer

a-squared’s near-perfect malware blocking performance is tainted by its erroneous identification of valid programs as malware. In testing, it did a poor job of cleaning up infested systems. You can get better protection for the same price with Webroot or Spyware Doctor.

• Antivirus engine is highly praised by independent labs • Very effective at preventing installation of non-virus malware • Successfully removed many non-virus malware infestations

• Rootkit protection is turned off by default • Needs to work alongside an antispyware product for comprehensive protection • Full scan is interrupted by pop-up queries by default

The Avira engine that powers Lavasoft’s stand-alone antivirus is surprisingly effective against non-virus malware types, but it still needs to work alongside an antispyware solution for comprehensive protection.

• Advanced program control blocks “leak tests” • Browser-independent parental control • Firewall stealths all ports • Prevents accidental transmission of userdefined private data • Includes system migration tool

• Advanced program control damages valid programs • Big performance drag • Antivirus not highly rated by independent labs • Poor malware removal and blocking • Backup very rudimentary

There’s little to love in this Frankenstein’s monster of a suite. Patched together from many separate mediocre tools, it put the biggest drag on system performance of any suite tested. Save ten bucks and get Norton’s suite (or Trend Micro’s) instead.

• Streaming Internet Radio • Station caching • All the functionality of Slacker.com • Free

• Slow to load streaming stations • Requires BlackBerry OS 4.3 or later

With easy, free, customizable Internet radio, this app delivers on the multimedia promises that so often are made in BlackBerry’s television commercials.

MOBILE APPS (iPHONE) Spore Origins $6.99 direct lllmm

MobileFiles Pro $9.99 direct lllmm

eReader 1.3 Free lllhm

Stanza Free Llllm

Photogene $2.99 direct Llllh

CameraBag 1.4 $2.99 direct Llllm

SECURITY DigitalPersona Personal 4.0 With U.are.U fingerprint reader, $69.95 direct; without, $29.95; fingerprint-based file encryption, $14.95 additional llllm

a-squared Anti-Malware 4.0 $39.95 direct llmmm

Lavasoft Anti-Virus Helix $23.95 direct Lllhm

CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 $79.99 direct llmmm

MUSIC Slacker for BlackBerry Basic, free; Slacker Premium Radio, $7.50 monthly Llllh

12 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MARCH 2009

first looks hardware

Sony VAIO VGC-JS130J/P $1,099.99 list ll l l m

Pros Compact all-in-one PC. Vista Premium. Cheaper and better equipped than the base iMac and other all-in-one PCs. Range of colors to choose from. 4GB of memory. 500GB hard drive. Cons Wired keyboard and mouse spoil sleek lines. Some crapware. No back button on the mouse. Weak integrated graphics. Short (91-day) trial Internet security subscription. Click here for more.

Sony VAIO VGC-JS130J/P

An iMac Killer—At Last As netbooks are doing to the laptop markets, all-inone PCs are causing rapid evolution among desktops. This new VAIO all-in-one is a prime example of that progression. It’s better equipped for the real world than the bare-bones iMac—and costs $99 less. The JS130J/P (like its JS190J/B sibling) has a cutting-edge design that would look right at home on the set of a science-fiction film. The screen is bright and clear, suitable for both browsing photos and watching online and DVD videos. The keyboard is comfortable to use, but the mouse feels a bit flimsy and lacks a back button. Also, a wireless keyboard and mouse would have been nice here. This VAIO is $400 cheaper than (the JS190J/B) because it lacks a Blu-ray drive and has a slightly slower processor. That said, the JS130J/P’s dual-core Pentium E5200 is still plenty for day-to-day tasks, and its 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive is the same as the JS190J/B’s. The JS130J/P’s performance is akin to that of its more expensive brother: It’s very good at multi media tasks like photo editing and video encoding, but abysmal at 3D. The JS130J/P finished the Windows Media Encoder test in a decent 1 minute 13

seconds (slower than the JS190J/B, which took 52 seconds) and a speedy 32 seconds on the Photoshop CS3 test (only 6 seconds slower than the JS190J/B). While the JS190J is faster, it’s not a lot faster. Apart from being loaded down with crapware, the JS130J/ P tops its competition by a slim margin, achieving our Editors’ Choice award.—Joel Santo Domingo Spec data: 2.5-GHz Intel Pentium E5200 processor; 4GB, 800-MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 500GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive; integrated Mobile Intel GMAX4500HD graphics; dual-layer DVD±RW drive; integrated 20.1-inch widescreen LCD monitor; five USB 2.0 ports; one FireWire/ i.Link port; integrated stereo speakers; Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

PERFORMANCE TESTS

3D TESTS

MULTIMEDIA TESTS

M Low scores are best.

3DMark06 L

Bold type denotes first place.

1,920 x 1,200*

Cinebench R10 L

L High scores are best.

Windows Media Encoder M

min:sec

Photoshop CS3 Action Set M min:sec

Sony VAIO VGC-JS130J/P

N/A

4,974

1:13

0:32

Sony VAIO VGC-JS190J/B

N/A

6,221

0:52

0:26

Apple iMac (24-inch Penryn)

1,859

5,842

1:03

0:30

RED denotes Editors’ Choice. N/A—Not applicable: The product could not complete this test. *Anti-aliasing/anisotropic filtering was set to 4X.

MARCH 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 13

first looks HARDWARE

Canon Pixma MP980 Wireless Photo All-In-One Printer

Wireless Home Photo Lab Supreme

Canon Pixma MP980 Wireless Photo All-In-One Printer $299.99 direct ll l l m

Pros High-quality photos. Scans and prints from 35mm film. Network and Wi-Fi support. Built-in duplexer. Cons No fax support. Clumsy network installation. Can’t set network support to accept both wired and wireless connections. Click here for more.

As Canon’s replacement for the Editors’ Choice Pixma MP970, the Pixma MP980 has a lot to live up to. The MP970 had the distinction of printing great-looking photos while being far less expensive than any of its competition. The MP980 carries on in that tradition, earning an Editors’ Choice of its own. In some ways, the MP980 is a straightforward update to the MP970, sharing most of the same features. It can print, scan, copy, and e-mail. It can both scan and print directly from 35mm slides and strips of film, and print directly from PictBridge cameras and memory cards (but not USB keys). The two models even share the same lack of office-centric features, with no automatic document feeder (ADF) or fax support. Despite all these similarities, however, the MP980 also differs from the MP970 in important ways, most notably in its ink system. The MP970 used seven inks, and the MP980 uses six. The result is slightly slower speeds for the MP980 and impressively betterlooking monochrome photos. For example, the MP980 scored 16 minutes 25 seconds on our business application suite, compared with the MP970’s 15:58. But photos printed on the MP980 are near professional photo labs output, with pictures that are suitable for framing. So, like its predecessor, the MP980 has some room for improvement, but its flaws are forgivable.— M. David Stone

ViewSonic N2201w

A Versatile 22-Inch HDTV/Monitor

ViewSonic N2201w $430 street ll l h m

Pros Built-in DVD player and TV tuner. Solid light grayscale reproduction. Good audio output. Cons Very weak dark-gray performance. Stiff stand with limited adjustability. Some backlight bleed. Click here for more. 14 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MARCH 2009

Designed for use in tight spaces, the N2201w is ideal for a dorm room, studio apartment, or home office. This versatile 22-inch HDTV/monitor hybrid sports a variety of entertainment features, including a built-in DVD player and a digital TV tuner, but its dark grayscale performance is lacking. The 1,680-by-1,050-resolution panel is perched atop a sturdy oval base. The 3-watt speakers embedded in the lower bezel are a cut above the usual underpowered speakers found on displays. A slot-loading DVD player with five control buttons is integrated into the left-hand side of the cabinet. While in PC mode, you can adjust contrast, brightness, and sharpness, as well as toggle among four Picture modes (though I recommend sticking with the Standard setting). In general, I was impressed with the N2201w’s performance as a PC monitor. It did a very good job of reproducing the lightest shades of gray on the DisplayMate 64-Step Grayscale test. Colors were bold and uniform at the high end of the scale. The panel had a difficult time displaying the darkest shades of gray, however, making the deepest reds and blues darker than they should be. For video, the L2201w showed a sharp picture, with no apparent jaggies or artifacts. Despite a couple of flaws, this LCD is a good deal for a display that pulls double duty as a PC monitor and an HDTV/DVD player combo.—John R. Delaney

first looks HARDWARE

Gateway FX6800-01e $1,249.99 list L lllm

Pros Good expandability. External hard drive bays work with off-the-shelf SATA drives. Plays Crysis yet costs less than $1,300. CrossFirecapable motherboard. Cons Expansion limited by the included 500W power supply. Crapware. Plastics could be better. 64-bit OS doesn’t make sense with only 3GB. Only a 60-day trial of Norton 360. Click here for more.

Gateway FX6800-01e

Power-Packed Budget Gaming Rig The Gateway FX6800-01e is clearly going after the gamer on a budget. It’s a bit more expensive than sub-$800 gaming boxes like the Cyberpower Gamer Ultra SLI Basic, but this Gateway system can play today’s games a whole lot better. The FX6800-01e is equipped with the quad-core Intel i7-920, a Hyper-Threading chip that is capable of processing up to eight streams simultaneously. This system is also equipped with a single 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card. The FX680001e’s chassis includes a pair of externally accessible hard-drive sleds, so you can easily add up to two SATA hard drives without opening the side door. If you do open the case, you can also fit another hard drive, optical drive, a PCIe x4 card, another PCIe x16 graphics card, and three more RAM sticks. You can also configure this system for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 1+0 with multiple hard drives. One complaint: Why install 64-bit Vista when the system comes with only 3GB of memory? Like other Gateway computers, the FX6800-01e has some crapware on it. There’s the usual 60-day trial of Microsoft Office and the 60-day trial of Norton 360. There’s other stuff, too, like ads for eBay, Napster, and ISPs. All this junk can make a system unstable, so for optimum results, you may want to reinstall the OS fresh.

In terms of performance, this system turned in a respectable 58 frames per second (fps) on Crysis at 1,280-by-1,024, and a very smooth 70 fps on World in Conflict (WiC) at the same resolution. These numbers are similar to those of gaming rigs that cost over $700 more. The FX6800-01e is also very speedy on multimedia tasks: 37 seconds for Windows Media Encoder and 26 seconds for Photoshop are impressive even for a quad-core system. All this makes FX6800-01e a performance bargain—and an Editors’ Choice.—Joel Santo Domingo Spec data: 2.66-GHz Intel Core i7-920 processor, 3GB 1066-MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 750GB 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive, 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card, duallayer DVD±RW drive, eight USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports, two eSATA ports, Gateway stereo speakers, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

PERFORMANCE TESTS

MULTIMEDIA TESTS

GAMING TESTS

1,280 x 1,024*

Windows Media Encoder M

min:sec

Photoshop CS3 M min:sec

1,280 x 1,024*

Gateway FX6800-01e

12,521

0:37

0:26

Acer Aspire Predator G7700

13,497

0:41

0:25

Cyberpower Gamer Ultra SLI Basic

4,260

1:07

0:46

L High scores are best. M Low scores are best.

Bold type denotes first place.

3DMark06 L

Crysis L

World in Conflict L

RED denotes Editors’ Choice. * Anti-aliasing/anisotropic filtering was set to 0X.

MARCH 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 15

first looks hardware

Quick Looks Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other hardware products. RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

PROS

CONS

BOTTOM LINE

SPECS

• Speedy gaming and multimedia performance • Expandability • Attractive styling and neat interior • No crapware • Blu-ray reader

• At lower resolutions, it performs not much better than a $1,200 gaming system • A little loud • Nearly $4,000 is a lot of money

The Z55 brings Intel’s Core i7 to a high-performance gaming system. Though not quite as expensive as the systems in the $5K club, its performance is certainly competitive with those in the upper strata.

2.93-GHz Intel Core i7-940; 6GB 1,333-MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two 150GB, 10,000-rpm SATA hard drives (RAID 0); two 1GB ATI Radeon graphics cards; duallayer DVD±RW drive; Vista Home Premium.

• Blu-ray reader included • Unbeatable price • Good performance scores • Good graphics card • Terrific typing experience • Generous feature set

• A bit bulky

Equipped with a Blu-ray drive and generous performance parts for under $1,000, the 6930G has regained the Editors’ Choice accolade for best value media center laptop that its predecessor lost.

2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800; 4GB DDR2 SDRAM; 320GB, 5,400rpm hard drive; 256MB nVidia GeForce 9600M GS graphics; 16-inch display; 7.2 pounds (8.3 pounds travel); 71-Wh battery; Vista Home Premium.

• Gunmetal casing • Included overclocking software • 92 percent keyboard • Excellent battery life • Bright 10-inch widescreen • Under $500

• Lacks a six-cell battery • Could use more features

Its metallic finish makes the 1002HA the most attractive netbook to date, and its performance doesn’t disappoint. However, it could use some help in the features department.

1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; 128MB Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 10.2-inch display; 2.7 pounds (3.2 pounds travel); 31-Wh battery; XP Home Edition.

• Strikingly gorgeous design • Blu-ray reader included • Vibrant 16-inch widescreen • Illuminated keyboard • HDMI and DisplayPort • High-capacity battery is available

• Could be lighter

The XPS 16 delivers a lavish media center experience with a unique design, home-theater features, and a vibrant RGB LED widescreen.

2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM; 320GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive; 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670; 16-inch widescreen; 6.9 pounds (7.8 pounds travel); 85-Wh battery; Vista Home Premium.

• Incredibly light • 8-inch widescreen LED is first of its kind 3G wireless is standard • Two memory card slots • Pre-boot Linux environment is a nice addition

• Mouse buttons are adjacent to the touchpad

The Sony Lifestyle PC is a magnificently designed device with a solid set of features, but performance can be limiting if you’re using it as a primary laptop.

1.33-GHz Intel Atom Z520; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM; 64GB SSD; 128MB Intel graphics; 8-inch, 1,600-by768 widescreen LED display; 1.4 pounds (1.7 pounds travel); two USB ports; 16-Wh lithium ion battery; Windows Vista Home Basic.

• Slim cabinet • Good motion performance • Good text readability

• Poor dark grayscale performance • Lacks multimedia features • Tilt-only stand

The LS221H is an attractive 22-inch display with a slim profile and a fast pixel response. But its flaws include the inability to reproduce dark shades of gray.

22-inch LCD; 1,680-by-1,050 native resolution; HDMI and analog VGA inputs; 16:10 aspect ratio.

• Bus-powered • Speedy FireWire 800 interface • Comes HFS+ formatted (good for Macs) • Comes with all cables and a carrying case

• Comes HFS+ formatted (bad for PCs) • Backup software on CD • Physically a bit larger than the competition • Pricey per GB

The Mercury is a speedy (7,200rpm) SATA notebook-class hard drive that works with USB or FireWire power (for a Mac or a PC) and doesn’t require a power adapter.

External hard drive; 350GB c apacity; 7,200 rpm.

• Highly portable • Unexpectedly bright • Surprisingly high audio volume • LED light source with 20,000hour lifetime

• Doesn’t handle video well—loses details in dark areas • Relatively noticeable rainbow effect

The P400 isn’t the lightest projector, or the smallest, but it delivers a surprisingly bright image and high-volume audio in a highly portable package.

DLP engine; 4:3 aspect ratio; rated brightness, 150 ANSI lumens; analog VGA and com posite inputs, 2.5 by 5.8 by 5.7 inches (HWD); 2 pounds.

• No configuration necessary • No installation needed • One of the most user-friendly backup methods we’ve tested • Works with any USB hard drive or USB key • Can support multiple computers

• No Mac compatibility • You need to buy storage separately • File backups only • May not work with some USB hubs

With the Clickfree cable, making Windows-based document backups is finally as easy as plugging in a power cord.

10 inches.

DESKTOPS Velocity Micro Edge Z55 $3,834 direct, $4,133 with 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor ll l h m

LAPTOPS Acer Aspire 6930G-6723 $1,020 street ll l l h

ASUS EeePC 1002HA $499 list ll l l m

Dell Studio XPS 16 $1,804 direct ll l l h

Sony Lifestyle PC (VGN-588EQ) $1,199 direct ll l h m

DISPLAYS ASUS LS221H $349 list ll l m m

STORAGE OWC Mercury On-The-Go (320GB) $179.99 direct ll l h m

PROJECTORS Samsung P400 $550 street ll l l m

DATA TRANSFER Clickfree Transformer Cable $60 list ll l l m

16 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MARCH 2009

first looks BUSINESS

Lenovo ThinkPad W700 $4,240 direct Llllh

Pros Internal Pantone color calibrator. Palmrest digitizer. Option for a cool secondary display. Quad-core processor delivered amazing results. Dual hard drives. ISV certified graphics. Outstanding graphics for gamers and professionals. WUXGA widescreen. Adobe RGB–compatible screen. Cons Butt-ugly and bulky.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700

The Photography Pro’s Mobile Workstation The ThinkPad W700 is monstrous, and its looks may not strike a chord with fashion photographers, but some unheard-of built-in features will instantly make style moot. The Pantone color sensor, for instance, eliminates the need to carry a separate color calibration device; a Wacom digitizer that’s traditionally part of the screen is cleverly positioned on the palm rest; and an option for a 10-inch secondary display that slides out from the back of the primary one is an industry first. These features, along with the builtin Intel quad-core technology, earn the W700 an Editors’ Choice in the workstation category. With the W700, you also get a CompactFlash and SD slot and connections for DisplayPort, DVI-D, five USB slots, one FireWire port, a webcam, and a fingerprint reader. Although the dual-layer DVD burner sounds ordinary at this juncture, you can upgrade to a Blu-ray burner. The dual 160GB, 7,200-rpm hard drives (320GB total) not only spin fast but are arranged in RAID 0, which comes in handy for performance testing. The W700 runs a 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor—fitting for a machine of this caliber. Add to the quad-core the 4GB of DDR3 memory and we have performance scores that are beyond anything I’ve seen on a laptop. The W700’s

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video-encoding and CineBench 10 scores completely dominated the competition’s. Its 44-second score on Windows Media Encoder 9 is 15 seconds less (roughly 35 percent faster) than the Lenovo Thinkpad T400’s. And its CineBench score was nearly double that of other machines in its class. Obviously, at this price, the W700 isn’t for everyone. But if time is money in your field, the W700 will save you tons of it.—Cisco Cheng Spec data: 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM; 320GB (two 160GB, 7,200-rpm hard drives); 1GB Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M graphics; 17-inch, 1,920-by-1,200 widescreen; 9.4 pounds (12.3 pounds travel); five USB ports; one FireWire port; 96-Wh, 6.45-Ah lithium ion battery; Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

PERFORMANCE TESTS L High scores are best. M Low scores are best. Bold type denotes first place.

MULTIMEDIA MobileMark 2007 L

hr:min

3DMark06* L

1,024 x 768

Windows MeDia EncodeR M min:sec

Cinebench R10 L

Photoshop CS3 M

min:sec

Lenovo ThinkPad W700

2:31

12,678

0:44

10,809

0:30

Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Dual Graphics) - Boot Camp

N/A

6,453