PC Magazine 2009-

holiday gift guide

top products for busy travelers

WiMAX: Why You Want It Right Now

november 2009

Touch This! Fujitsu’s LifeBook T5010 (Multitouch) >> Microsoft Zune HD Takes on the Apple iPod

The Brands You Trust… and Those You Don’t Desktops • Notebooks printers • Digital Cameras • HDTVS Cell Phones • Cell Service Providers GPS Devices • ISPs • VoIP • ROUTERS Portable Media Players

novemBER 2009 vol. 28 no. 11

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COVER STORY

In our 22nd edition of this classic story, we culminate your feedback on over 46,000 products and present results to see which companies you picked for the best laptops, cell phones, printers, and more.

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Typographic illustration (cover and top) by Daniel Pelavin

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FIRST LOOKS

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26 30

16 software

5 feedback

Norton Internet Security 2010 Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 iTunes 9 Plus Quick Looks 22 HARDware Lenovo ThinkPad T400S Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 Getac 9213 Epson Stylus NX515 AVADirect GT3 Plus Quick Looks 30 Consumer Electronics Apple iPod touch (3rd generation) Apple iPod nano (5th generation) Microsoft Zune HD Plus Quick Looks 36 business NAS drives 3M Pocket Projector MPro120 Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 76 the best stuff

letterS

tech newS

7 Front Side Digitizing medical records DIYstyle; the FCC’s report on broadband; a supergeek on reality TV; our gift guide for travelers.

OPINIONS 2 First Word: Lance Ulanoff 42 John C. Dvorak 44 Sascha Segan 46 Dan Costa

SOLUTIONS 66 Wi-Fi routers revealed Here’s everything you need to know about “n” and “g” before buying your next router.

70 office/os Making the most of Win 7 libraries.

74 Tech tips Find Wi-Fi on your iPhone, speed up Vista, and more.

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.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

FIRST WORD LANCE ULANOFF

WiMAX: Why You Want It Right Now

A

s the subway train I’m on races through the white, almost gleaming tunnels of Seoul, I can hardly believe what I’m seeing on the lightweight Samsung netbook that sits on my lap: high-definition YouTube video files streaming with nary a hiccup or pixilation.

Is it a dream? No, it’s a reality—in South Korea. This demonstration came courtesy of Samsung and South Korea’s remarkable WiMAX-based WiBro network.

I’ll be honest: Until now, I hadn’t paid much attention to WiMAX. I knew it was supposed to be faster than current 3G broadband speeds, but I also understood that it was rolling out very, very slowly (and “rolling” would be a generous term). To date, our mobile expert, Sascha Segan, has been able to test WiMAX only in Baltimore. There’s also a competing 4G option, LTE, which isn’t in any U.S. markets currently, but 4G may ultimately have better traction than WiMAX, because of greater carrier support. My response to all this confusion and lack of deployment

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

has been to ignore it until such technologies become a real option in the U.S. That was before my trip to South Korea.

Raising Expectations I currently use two 3G options: AT&T’s HSDPA and Verizon’s EV-DO Rev A. They’re both okay, but I’m comfortable using them only for browsing simple Web sites, tweeting, checking e-mail, and downloading small files. These days, the networks feel like they’re choking from overuse. I figured this was probably as good as can be expected in the world of mobile broadband. I wrongly assumed that 4G would be like 3G albeit a bit faster, an incremental change that I really wouldn’t notice.

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a hilly, densely populated metropolis with over 22 million people. It already has a reputation for broadband innovation. Roughly 90 percent of its population has broadband access, most of it thanks to fiber to the home. According to Hung Song, Samsung’s VP of global marketing for telecommuni-

Both WiMAX and LTE 4G will be fast, but you won’t be able to hop from one to another. cation systems, some pay roughly $35 per month for 100-Mbps download speeds.

This is an unbelievable deal. South Koreans understand fast online access, and it’s only natural that they expect quite a bit from their mobile broadband experience.

Superior Signal, Even on the Subway Back in Seoul’s subway system, I immediately began tweeting my experience and noted how quickly Twitter responded. “This seems fast,” I told my hosts. Before I got on the train, I surfed over to some lengthy YouTube videos. One streamed smoothly as I stepped from the platform onto an arriving train. Next, I found a couple of HD videos on YouTube. All played almost perfectly (I noticed just the occasional throttling down on frame rate).

As we whizzed by each stop, I kept expecting the WiBro connection to stutter as it hopped from base station to base station. That never happened. Eventually, I imagined myself riding the rails all day, enjoying speeds—4.3 Mbps down and 1.6 Mbps up—that rivaled entry-level home broadband in the U.S. I realized I also felt somewhat angry. The U.S. faces an uncertain future in the 4G space. Verizon and AT&T are pushing LTE 4G, while Clear is the leading proponent of WiMAX. Both should be fast, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to hop from one network to another. Samsung execs told me they expect

to support both fully, but that’ll most likely mean devices that are built for one network or the other.

Demanding More from Our Carriers I doubt U.S. consumers even understand the mess they’re facing. Unlike South Korea, which seems to have settled on one type of mobile broadband for its most populous city, the U.S. will have two options— both claiming to be the fastest. That’s a shame.

Now would be a good time for consumers to simply say no: “We don’t want competing platforms. Instead, give us one flavor of 4G and competing devices and service offerings. Most of us will be using 4G with our laptops, and we won’t switch them as readily as we do our phones. But we might switch carriers if we get a better deal or any perks. ” To be fair, the U.S. is nothing like Seoul.

Our sprawling nation’s network of existing cell towers all have to be upgraded to support 4G networks. That takes time and manpower, an almost comical proposition, because companies like AT&T haven’t even finished upgrading all of their networks to 3G. Looks like it’s going to be a long time before anyone in the U.S. can share my experience.

I’ll miss South Korea, but I think I’ll miss WiBro more.

Follow me on Twitter! Catch the chief’s comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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Feed Feed

letters

The Nano is No Camcorder In response to Tim Bajarin’s column “The iPod nano: The New Family Video Camera,” I’ve seen the comparison of videos shot by the iPod nano versus other devices, including the Pure Digital Flip camera. The nano suffers in comparison.

I don’t understand Bajarin’s statement, “I am still a big advocate of still images and continue to see their value.” The Flip Mino HD takes 720p videos, as well as lets you capture individual frames from those videos, which look better than the images from my digital camera. The photos are widescreen, too, but if you don’t like that, crop it as you like to a standard photo perspective.

You enjoy your nano, Mr. Bajarin. I’ll enjoy my much-better Flip Mino HD and Zune HD.—J. Bernardi Don’t Forget the Adapter Why is it that when I read an article such as your guide “How to Buy a Wi-Fi Router,” there is never a mention of the correct wireless adapter that goes with each router? Do not assume customers know enough to get one. Yes, if they have a wireless card already, it will probably work. However, if anyone is

replacing the router for speed and range issues, he or she will need to get the corresponding card/adapter to get close to the desired performance.—“Codaman12” You Spoke Too Zune In Wendy Sheehan Donnell’s piece, “Zune HD Reviewed: Can’t Touch the iPod Touch,” she doesn’t realize that Microsoft has caught up to the iPod touch. The Zune HD, which I actually own, is excellent. Instead of just bashing the competitor, I have tried the touch myself, and found the interface counterintuitive. So I waited for an alternative—and the Zune is it. The apps will come as they are developed. If the free games and apps Microsoft already has released are any indication, the Zune is very exciting. Did you expect 100,000 apps out of the box? The updated Zune Marketplace is perfect. Sure, there are not many apps yet, but all of the other media content is there, and there is plenty of it: TV shows in HD, plenty of podcasts, and thousands of albums, videos, and so on.

As for the Zune player itself, it works perfectly. The HD radio is amazing, and the screen is perfect—better than the touch.

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NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

feedback

The Web browser is also very fast. I’d recommend actually using the device before bashing it.—“Grooper” Gnutella is Here to Stay In your news story, “LimeWire CEO: Firm Has Added P2P Protections,” what those politicians, and apparently the author, fail to realize is that LimeWire is not a network but simply one of many programs people can use to connect to the Gnutella network. Because Gnutella is an open network, nobody can claim ownership or control over the people who use that open and public network.

Don’t forget that Gnutella was designed

from the ground up to be totally decentralized so that no person, company, or even whole leagues of nations can tamper with or shut it down. Trying to blame LimeWire for what happens on Gnutella is like trying to get Microsoft to block all porn on the Internet. The end result would be the same: Real people would ignore the misguided attempts. Sheer force of numbers gives the public an advantage over anyone trying to take away such a freedom.

Peer-to-peer technologies like Gnutella and BitTorrent aren’t going away. Nor will the desire of the public to explore the wealth of knowledge and culture these technologies have made available.—Aaron Walkhouse

Front What’s New from the World of Tech

Your Chart, In the Cloud The Web offers an answer to the conundrum of digitizing medical records.

Everything about healthcare these days has become a hot-button issue, even down to digitizing medical records. This was one of Barack Obama’s top technology talking points on the campaign trail. But so far, progress on this front has been slow.

According to a report co-authored by University of Virginia economics professor Amalia Miller, a big hindrance to getting medical records digitized is privacy protec-

tion, such as HIPAA and state regulations.

So while doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies are dragging their feet, the Web has stepped up as a way for individuals to take matters into their own hands. Specifically, companies such as Google and Microsoft are creating ways to put your chart in the cloud.

For example, Google Health, which launched in October, lets users import NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

frontside

While doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies drag their feet, the Web has stepped in. their medical records, fill prescriptions, get lab results, set up text-based pill alerts, and keep track of immunizations. The service has partnered with pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS, as well as the American Heart Association and medical testing facility Quest Diagnostics. Users can opt to share their information with such partners, but currently such sharing is an all-ornothing venture. You can’t choose to share only portions of your records (functionality Google says is coming soon).

For those who feel the Web opens their medical data to prying eyes, Roni Zeiger, Google Health product manager, says that the records entered into Google Health remain completely private.

“No Google Health user will ever find their health information as search results on Google,” Zeiger says. “That information is yours and only you have access to it.”

Though Google Health has made a big splash, Microsoft has actually been in the game longer, with its HealthVault. Along

with storing medical records, HealthVault also lets you share those records as well as access health-related articles.

A site named RememberItNow has taken a slightly different tack. Instead of serving as an online filing cabinet for your medical history, the site is geared toward caregivers. After uploading the medical records of a person you are caring for, you can use RememberItNow to track doctors’ appointments and remember medication schedules. The service uses e-mail and SMS reminders, as well as tracks overall wellbeing with a health journal and other tools.

The fee for this service is $24 a month.

So how can such services exist amid the strict HIPAA and state laws? Google Health’s information page states: “Unlike a doctor or health plan, Google Health is not regulated

by HIPAA. This is because Google does not store data on behalf of health care providers.

Instead, our primary relationship is with the user.”—Chloe Albanesius, Errol Pierre-Louis, and Erik Rhey

BEST of the Internet Earth-Touch.com Earth-Touch.com is a Web site that posts new nature videos in both standard and HD. The site even has a tutorial that shows you the difference between HD and SD, so you can see what you’ve been missing.—Alan Henry

uQuery uQuery lets you search the Apple App Store from your desktop without having iTunes installed, and also allows you to filter your results based on popularity, price, date, category, and more.—AH

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

FlightCaster FlightCaster predicts flight delays using an algorithm that scours data on every domestic flight for the past 10 years and matches it to present conditions. It even estimates the chances of delays.—Errol Pierre-Louis

The Truth About Broadband According to a new study, “high-speed” Internet may be an overstatement.

The United States may be tops in a lot of areas, but it turns out that broadbandaccess speed is probably not one of them.

This finding came to light as a result of an Federal Communications Commission (FCC) task force probe into the actual speed of broadband connections across the nation. This report w i l l h e l p t h e FCC bring a plan before Congress to spend allocated stimulus dollars.

The study found that broadband speeds advertised by ISPs are generally slower than they claim to be. Furthermore, the report says that the increasing number of users is putting stress on networks: About 1 percent of all users drive 20 percent of traffic and 20 percent of all users drive 80 percent of traffic. The task force also found that most Internet applications are currently focused on communication and entertainment, but that is evolving into education, job training, business and other productive purposes.

Currently, almost two-thirds of Americans have broadband at home. About 33 percent

have access but have not adopted it, and 4 percent said they have no access where they live. The FCC says that getting broadband to everyone should be a priority.

“The cost of digital exclusion is large and g row i n g f o r n o n adopters, as resources for employment, education, news, healthcare, and shopping for goods and services increasingly move online,” according to the FCC. However, the commission goes on to say that if Americans want more than one provider, guaranteed access to fixed and mobile service, or access in rural areas, they should be prepared to see the cost of broadband improvement increase by a few billion dollars. Depending on the type of speeds you want, investment will range from $20 billion for universal 768-Kbps to 3-Mbps service all the way up to $350 billion for 100-Mbps service. For a more in-depth look at the FCC’s findings, the commission has posted all 168 slides from the report on its Web site, which you can view by clicking here.—Chloe Albanesius NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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BEST of our blogs GOODCLEANTECH R Martin Delivers Pedal Power for Only a Penny Leave your car at home and pedal to the office with R Martin’s new line of electric bikes. R Martin has just introduced the R10, R11, R12, and R13 models, all of which use crank-style motors rather than the previous hub motors. Crank motors are 50 percent more efficient, and are better at climbing hills. Using a small electric motor and lithium battery pack, these bikes can travel over 30 miles on a charge and deliver you to your destination with little or no pedaling. Riders can pedal or use the variable speed twist throttle to cruise at up to 20 mph. All three models start at $1,199.—Troy Dreier SMART DEVICE CENTRAL Hack Your Palm Pre Between Palm and Sprint, the two companies got almost everything right on the Palm Pre, except for one thing: third-party apps. Nonetheless, plenty of enterprising developers have figured out ways around the problem. If you’re looking to get the most out of your Palm Pre, and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty in the process, there are some cool hacks to improve your Pre experience. For example, you can use your Pre as a USB storage drive because your PC reads it simply as a mass storage device. For more hacks, click here.—Jamie Lendino

GEARLOG Work in Your Jammies with the Log Pillow For fans of high design who don’t want to put their laptops on any old piece of plastic, there’s the Intelligent Forms Log Pillow. Perfect for Web loafing in bed or on the couch, the Log Pillow consists of six fabric tubes criss-crossed logcabin style and attached with snaps. The “logs” are made from a mix of hemp canvas, cotton, and Lycra and filled with buckwheat hulls. The Log Pillow is available for $69 each at the iF Web site.—Erik Rhey

10 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

@WORK Symantec: SMBs Not Ready for Outages Symantec recently released the results of its 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey, which basically shows a big discrepancy between how SMBs perceive their disaster preparedness and their actual readiness. The company said that despite 82 percent of SMBs feeling ready for disaster to strike (like an outage or hacker attack), it turns out that the average SMB has had three outages in the past 12 months.

Viruses, hacker attacks, and other natural disasters led the outage causes, despite the fact that more than half of SMBs said they weren’t prepared for exactly those things.—JL

Supergeek Off the Grid IBM’s “Professor” takes on Survivor-esque reality TV. Meet John Cohn, the real-life version of the Professor from “Gilligan’s Island” who has just used his wits and technical ingenuity to survive in “The Colony,” a new reality-based educational show from The Discovery Channel. (He is even called “The Professor” by his colleagues at IBM.) The series thrust its members into a hostile land and forced them to survive using only what they could find, along with a healthy dose of guts, genius, and teamwork. Rather than a desert island scenario, the producers created a postapocalyptic, Mad Max vision, littered with leftover, broken technology.

The show’s producers were looking for someone with an extreme tech background.

John saw the show as a wonderful opportunity to do what he is most passionate about: bringing science and technology to young minds in a way that will engage them.

In The Colony, participants found detritus such as car parts and a broken solar panel. They had to use these pieces to create new contraptions to help them survive.

For example, probably the two best creative hacks on the show were the wood gassifier– driven generator and the sun-tracking solar panel. And just for kicks, there was a host of baddies intent on making the cast-members

lives miserable. As an added twist, the producers brought on John’s wife, who herself has a masters in electronics engineering. In Episode 8 you see him truly shocked when they tell him that she is waiting outside for him. When his wife sees the flamethrower John rigged to keep away the baddies, she asks “John, why do you need a flamethrower?” Without blinking, John says, “You need a flamethrower!”

I asked John if he is content with the legacy of having been the mad scientist on a TV show that helped millions of young (and old) minds learn about the magic and delight of science. He paused for a moment, and then said it would be the best legacy he could ever hope for.—Robert Oschler NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 11

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Connected Traveler

The Traveler’s Gift Guide Impress the nomad or road warrior this holiday season with some high-tech travel gear.

TomTom One 140-S $199.95 list l l l l m

A tried-and-true GPS from a top maker, the 140-S is packed with features, such as comprehensive maps of the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico as well as text-tospeech conversion. You even get advanced features like lane assist, multisegment routing, and more.

This is a perfect entry-level GPS for travelers.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

ASUS UL30A-A1

iLuv i1166 Multimedia Player

$775 street l l l l h

$269.99 list Not rated (preview only)

This ultra-thin beauty travels like a netbook but has the features and performance of a full laptop, with a 13-inch screen, full-size keyboard, a 500GB hard drive, ultralow voltage processor, and 10 whopping hours of battery life. All at a lower price than most of its competitors.

This brand-new media player is turning heads. If you just want to watch movies and don’t want to lug your laptop, the i1166 is for you. It plays content from DVD or iPods, comes with a remote, and features a gorgeous 9-inch screen

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

12 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

Samsung Rogue SCH-U960 (Verizon) $99.99 list and up ll l l m

This smartphone has a great camera and video recorder for those impromptu travel moments, as well as a high-res touch screen and superior voice quality.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Clickfree Traveler (16GB) $79.99 list l l l l m

Not much bigger than a credit card, this amazing SSD device is a great way to back up your data on the road. It has an auto backup feature and is compatible with Macs.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

USBCell Batteries AA, $19.50 direct.

Not reviewed These super-handy batteries lighten your travel bag because you don’t need to carry recharging cradles for lithium ions. Just plug these batteries into your USB port to recharge.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 13

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Creative Aurvana X-Fi Noise-Canceling Headphones $300 list l l l l h

A budget alternative to pricey noise-cancelling headphones, the Aurvana is a must-have for frequent flyers. They have excellent noise-cancelling ability, well-defined bass, and more powerful output than the Bose Quiet Comfort 2. And they fold and store easily in the included case.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

HTC Touch Pro2 (Sprint) $349.99 direct and up l l l l m

The Touch Pro2 has world-phone capability, so you can use it anywhere. It also has a sharp screen, great keyboard, and does double-duty as a capable media player.

GPS and lots of included software are extra perks for road warriors.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Samsung Go N310-13GB $450 street ll l l m

This flashy netbook comes in four colors and has a cool rubberizedfeel to the chassis. Its big battery gives you 9 hours of life, and you get a glass screen, comfy keyboard, and Bluetooth (rarely found on netbooks).

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera $200 street l l l l m

A great compromise between a digital and film camera, the PoGo lets you take digital images that print out right on the spot. It’s a great way to take pics of others on your travels and give them a copy.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

iGo everywhereMAX Laptop Charger $119.99 direct Not reviewed Get a few extra hours of juice out of your laptop with this compact battery backup. It includes adapters for almost any laptop model, and you can charge multiple devices (such as a laptop and cell phone) simultaneously.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Timbuk2 Swig Backpack $90 direct l l l h m

Charge4All Portable Charging Mat

Perfect for weekend trips or as a carryon, the Swig Backpack has tons of storage without feeling bulky on your back.

The front flap has a waterproof lining, and inside there’s a padded pocket and Velcro to secure your laptop (up to 15inch models).

$39.95 direct Not reviewed

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Charge up to four mobile devices at a time and protect them from scratches with the Charging Mat. A wide variety of adapters are available, and the mat rolls up and stores snugly in your travel bag.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 15

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INSIDE SOFTWARE Hardware Consumer Electronics BUSINESS

First

Norton Internet Security 2010

Norton Powers Up, Stays Slim Last year Symantec pulled out all the stops to reduce Norton Internet Security’s impact on system performance. The 2010 version of the suite focuses both on improving the user’s experience and raising overall protection. This release version succeeds at both without sacrificing performance, securing its position as our Editors’ Choice.

Although installing competing security suites on a malware-infested system is fraught with problems, Norton, however, handled it with aplomb. Symantec’s oneclick install had the suite updated and running on most systems in under 4 minutes.

And its “Quorum” technology uses input from millions of Norton users to develop a reputation rating for every unique file.

The main window in NIS constantly displays overall CPU usage, as well as usage specific to Norton. Click Performance under this display and the main window visibly flips over to display details on the other side. On 16 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

the flip side, System Insight shows an interactive timeline of security events. One area of considerable improvement is antispam, into which Symantec has infused technology from its Enterprise-level spam protection. Norton filters all POP3 e-mail for spam and viruses and integrates with Outlook and Outlook Express. And parental controls, another typically weak area of Norton Internet Security, has gotten a bump with the Web-based OnlineFamily.

building consensus The Quorum feature compares your files to those of other users.

our ratings key: l l l l l EXCELLENT l l l l m VERY GOOD l l l m m GOOD l l m m m FAIR l m m m m POOR

Norton Internet Security 2010 3 licenses, $69.99 direct.

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Pros Easy, intelligent install.

New access to “insight” data.

Accurate antispam capabilities. Complete parental controls. Best anti-malware component yet. Low performance impact. Well-rounded firewall.

Accurate antiphishing protection. Password management maintains privacy.

Cons Network map doesn’t allow remote configuration or repair.

Norton uses a combination of Quorum’s reputation-based detection, SONAR2 (behavior-based detection), and standard signatures to detect all types of malware.

The first scan on my underpowered clean test system took almost an hour—about twice the average. A subsequent scan got that down to 8 minutes. The suite scored 8.0 of 10 possible points in my malwareremoval test and 7.5 points in a parallel test using commercial keyloggers—both the top scores thusfar.

For a clean system, Norton starts protecting at the browser level. Site Safety warns you away from known malware-hosting sites. If you do download malware, Download Insight catches it. If an unknown file

starts acting suspicious, SONAR will keep it from doing harm. In testing, Site Safety blocked half my malware samples and Download Insight blocked another 30 percent. And when I opened folders containing downloaded malware samples, AutoProtect whacked over 90 percent of them. Overall, it found 97 percent of malware. Its firewall also passed all Web-based attack tests.

Despite this powerful performance, the 2010 suite is still thrifty with system resources, adding 36 percent to boot time, which is not bad. And the browsing test took no longer with Norton installed—most impressive. In short, this is the suite I use to protect my own systems.—Neil J. Rubenking >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 17

first looks SOFTWARE Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 Standard, $99.99 direct; Plus, $139.99 direct L l l l h

Pros Powerful. Photo recomposition feature as amazing as its CS4 counterpart. Tight integration with online services and Premiere Elements 8. Extensive selection of help and tutorials.

Cons Few major changes from previous version. Some tutorials require paid Plus membership.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

Powerful Photo Editing for Non-Pros Just arrived in its next iteration is Photoshop Elements 8, the superpowerful consumer version of its industry-leading Photoshop. With the exception of adding a few new features, Adobe decided not to mess with success. Therefore the interface is largely unchanged. So unless users of Elements 7 really want the new features discussed below, there’s not much reason to upgrade.

But for those without a photo editor, Elements is the best.

The most exciting new addition is the Recompose Photo tool. This feature lets you resize images with respect to their contents, reducing unused or underused space but keeping the most important parts. Note that it takes some practice to master this feature. The other editing changes are mostly 18 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

low-key embellishments on functions that already exist. For example, Photomerge now also comprises exposure functionality, letting you blend a series of over- and underexposed photos into one that looks perfectly lit.

And Quick Fix previews in Quick Edit mode now let you preview prospective changes before you commit to them. Tags are even easier to use, and the new Auto-Analyzer can automatically apply Smart Tags to your files. There are also the expanded help sections—some with video tutorials.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 remains the best option for consumer photo editing. It offers more than the competition in a package that’s as attractive and unthreatening as this kind of software can be.

—Matthew Murray >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

first looks SOFTWARE Apple iTunes 9 Free Ll l l m

Pros Improved iTunes Store.

Sync across multiple PCs. Intelligent Genius mixes. Easier app management for iPhone and iPod touch. Growing movie and TV show catalog.

Cons Still no unlimited music subscription option.

No way to rip or transcode video content. Not enough HD movies or rentals in the iTunes Store.

Apple iTunes 9

Apple Remixes iTunes iTunes is the default music software choice for just about anyone with an iPod or iPhone. This also goes for buying music. iTunes 9 is a significant update that includes a revamped iTunes Store, proper library synchronization across multiple computers (finally), more sophisticated Genius recommendations, and more flexible app management for iPhone and iPod touch users. It’s a solid update that cements its status as our Editors’ Choice for music software.

Compared with its predecessor, iTunes 9 doesn’t look all that different on first bootup. The one obvious new feature is a popup welcome screen that offers a selection of videos explaining how the app works. But most of the big improvements in iTunes 9 are under the hood. One of the best is Home Sharing, which finally fixes the media syn-

chronization process across several computers—letting you sync all music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and apps. The one downside is that setting and forgetting multiple systems to sync everything automatically works only for new iTunes purchases.

Another welcome new feature is Genius Mixes, which creates miniature radio stations using tracks from your library. But perhaps the most visible improvement appears when you fire up the iTunes Store, which has a completely revamped main view and simplified process to preview and buy tracks.

But there is still no subscription option for unlimited listening or an easy way to manage recorded video. Nonetheless, Apple’s iTunes ecosystem remains the most sophisticated and well integrated for organizing and managing your media.—Jamie Lendino >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 19

Quick looks SOFTWARE

MOBILE

BOTTOM LINE

CONS

PROS

SECURITY

F-Secure Internet Security 2010 $69.95 direct

Trend Micro Internet Security Pro (version 3) $69.95 direct

ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 3 licenses, $69.95 direct

Google Chrome 3 Free

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• New task-oriented interface simplifies access • Real-Time Protection Network improves detection • Performance impact reduced • Effective firewall blocks exploits • Repeated malware scans are fast

•S imple, effective spam filter •W ell designed private data protection •U nusually complete parental controls •R emote management through network map •E ncrypted vault folder can be sealed remotely

• Full-disk encryption • Online backup • Comprehensive, accurate antispam component • Effective antiphishing protection • Credit monitoring and identity theft recovery

• Super-fast JavaScript performance • Easy installation • New themes spruce up the browser window • Rendered all test pages without errors

• Big trouble installing on infested test systems • Phishing protection not functional • Limited parental controls • Malware blocking can slow system • Malware information links unreliable

• Heavier performance impact than last year • Poor cleanup of detected malware • Poor phishing protection

• Has serious problems installing on malwareinfested systems • Slowed boot time and system performance • Rudimentary parental controls • So-so malware removal

•N o RSS reader •N o extensions

F-Secure 2010 has a new, easier-to-use interface and improved detection capabilities, courtesy of a new protection network. It has less impact on performance than last year’s version, and its firewall now explicitly blocks exploits.

In almost every area it’s a good choice—but not a great one.

Trend Micro promised improvements in this year’s version, but overall I saw little change. Internet Security Pro still offers good protection, but it may be left behind if it doesn’t move forward.

ZoneAlarm 2010 boasts impressive features, including full-disk encryption. But it slows performance, plus installation is torture, and anti-malware scores are only so-so.

Though it’s less customizable than Firefox, Chrome has come a long way, quickly. It has improved JavaScript speed performance and fixed compatibility issues.

Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

20 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

MUSIC

BROWSER

TomTom (iPhone OS) $99.99 direct

Rhapsody (for iPhone) Player, free; Rhapsody To Go subscription, $14.99 a month

Zune Marketplace (September 2009) Free

Opera 10 Free

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• Snappy interface and map updates • Clear, well-timed voice prompts • Interface follows both iPhone and TomTom conventions

•P lays music over 3G and Wi-Fi • I mpressive selection of tracks •E xcellent UI makes everything easy

• Smart DJ Mixes intelligently assemble “random” playlists • Quickplay window makes getting started faster and easier • Movies now available for purchase or rental

• Clean design • Opera Link syncs your bookmarks and settings • Turbo speeds up slow connections • Visual tabs give mini previews of sites

• Lacks text-to-speech • No real-time traffic reports or fuel prices • No lane assistance when exiting highways

• Song delays when streaming over 3G • Low-res artwork • Drains the battery • Doesn’t work without a connection

• Purchases require Microsoft points or a monthly Zune Pass • Only the Xbox 360 can play HD content in 1080p • Apps available only for Zune HD owners

•N o longer the speed leader •O n-page search and password saving less slick compared with other new browsers •N o private browsing mode

Like its competitors, TomTom left some critical features out of this app. Even so, it makes the iPhone work like a standalone GPS.

Rhapsody for iPhone gives Rhapsody users another way to enjoy their subscription music and makes RhapsodyTo-Go’s $14.99 monthly price tag more reasonable.

With the latest edition of the Zune Marketplace, Microsoft makes a significant leap in features and usability for its music store. But it’s still not ready to dethrone iTunes.

Opera continues to innovate with this latest version, introducing visual tabs and Opera Turbo. But this underdog favorite is starting to suffer from speed problems.

Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other software products.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 21

first looks hardware

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (Multitouch)

A Well-Executed Multitouch Laptop TheT400s (Multitouch) incites lust among business users. It has the ThinkPad X301’s exquisitely thin dimensions, with a 14-inch LED widescreen to boot. It’s the lightest business laptop in its class—and that’s with the internal optical drive. The latest edition (and bear in mind that this is not a convertible tablet) takes advantage of Microsoft’s Touch Pack and other touch-friendly applications made for Windows 7 and is, bar none, the best implementation of a multitouch panel yet on a laptop.

The T400s is considerably thinner than the ThinkPad T400, measuring 13.3 by 9.4 by 1.1 inches (HWD), but weighs a bit more than the original T400s—4.4 pounds versus 3.9.

Unfortunately, the T400s had to unload certain features to achieve this thinness; it has only one memory card reader slot and no FireWire port. It does, however, have every wireless technology built-in—3G, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a GPS chip. And hard drive options include a 128GB SSD. But the big story is obviously the new multitouch gestures. By tapping two fingers

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on the screen, you invoke a series of icons called Simple Tap. You can also customize screen icons for commonly used apps and tasks. Though Simple Tap could be a bit temperamental, otherwise the touch features worked like a charm.

In our testing, high scores were split between the T400s and the T400s multitouch version. Video encoding scores improved by a margin of 6 seconds with the T400s (Multitouch) and outperformed the original T400 by 2 seconds. On MobileMark 2007, the multitouch T400s scored 4 hours 20 minutes, which trails the T400s by 11 minutes (4 hours 31 minute). There is no support here for an extended battery. And the multitouch T400s met our criteria for a Green Tech Approved product, with Energy Star 5.0, EPEAT Gold, and RoHS certification, among other factors.

Though finding the right business implementation for the multitouch screen could prove a challenge, this new T400s is nonetheless an exciting look ahead for Windows 7 systems.—Cisco Cheng >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Specs 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 P9500 processor; 2GB SDRAM; 128GB SSD hard drive; Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics; 14.1-inch widescreen; 4.4pounds (5.1 travel); 3 USB ports; 44-Wh battery; Windows 7 Professional (32-bit).

22 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (Multitouch) $2,395 direct L l l h m

Pros Multitouch panel works well. Exquisitely thin. Modular optical drive included. Fast, energy-efficient processor. Nice resolution. Tough as nails.

Phenomenal typing experience. Excellent green credentials.

Cons No FireWire or extra card slot. No extended batteries available.

PERFORMANCE TESTS

MULTIMEDIA TESTS MobileMark 2007 L

Windows Media Encoder M min:sec

CineBench R10 L

min:sec

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (Multitouch)

4:20

0:56

5,222

0:34

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s

4:31

1:02

5,292

0:35

Lenovo ThinkPad T400

4:12

0:59

5,838

0:26

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

Bold type denotes first place.

(hr:min)

Photoshop CS4 M

N/A—Not applicable: The product could not complete the test, or the test was not compatible.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 23

first looks hardware

Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 (Multitouch)

Fujitsu’s Multitouch Tablet

C

onvertible tablets are and will remain specialized products that cater to a certain group of people. Nevertheless, the multitouch LifeBook T5010 is the hallmark of what a tablet user experience should be. Though the design lacks style and the battery life could use some pick-me-up, it now has dual active displays, which works like this: The pen triggers Wacom’s digitized panel, and when you apply a finger (or two), the capacitive touch panel similar to the Apple iPhone’s, is activated.

The T5010 retains an older chassis that’s just begging for a makeover. While other tablet makers are using 12-inch widescreens, the T5010 opted to use a 13.3-inch screen, one of the biggest for a tablet. The T5010 also has a responsive capacitive touch technology, instead of resistive, so you don’t have to apply pressure against the screen.

The multi-touch display recognizes up to two fingers, and that means you can pinch and rotate photos, Word documents, Web pages, PDF files, and so on. You also get a

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Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 (Multitouch) $1,859 direct l l l h m

Pros Capacitive touch panel. Support Windows 7 Multi-touch. Digitized pen is an excellent tool. Powerful and energy-efficient processor. Mobile Broadband available. Tons of security features.

Cons Clunky design. Tablets are still pricey instruments. Battery life is below average on a single battery. 80GB hard drive is more meager than those found in netbooks.

free upgrade to Windows 7.

Though pricey and a bit outdated in terms of design, the T5010 is a convertible tablet that gives you three vital tools for data input: a keyboard, a digital pen, and now, multitouch.—Cisco Cheng >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Specs 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor; 2GB SDRAM; 80GB hard drive; Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics; 13.3-inch display; 4.8 pounds; 3 USB ports; 63-Wh battery; Windows Vista Business (32-bit).

24 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

first looks hardware

Getac 9213

A Laptop With Rugged Good Looks

G

etac has deep roots in the ruggedized space, a company originally geared toward military- and governmentoriented computing products.

But the Getac 9213 purges the notion that a ruggedized ultraportable should have a rough-and-tumble appearance; its stylish metallic frame looks more like a mainstream product with business-rugged features.

With the help of Intel’s low-powered parts, this featherweight delivered more than 5 hours of battery life, but the 9213’s toughness and energy efficiency may not be enough to warrant its bloated price tag.

In design, the 9213 is reminiscent of the Acer Aspire 3935, measuring just 12.5 by 9 by 1 inches, and weighing 3.6 pounds. Its 13.3-inch widescreen clings to the old-school aspect ratio (16:10), whereas most consumer laptops are moving to 16:9. And the 9213’s classification as “business rugged” means it can survive 1.5-foot drops, water spills, and shock to its hard drive, but it’s not nearly as tough as a fully ruggedized laptop.

The 9213 Ultralow Voltage (ULV) processor eliminates clunky fans and has huge benefits in power savings, but it trails many of

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Getac 9213 $1,800 street l l l h m

Pros Feathery light. Can sustain drops, spills, and shakes. Efficient battery. Excellent navigating experience. Very stylish.

Cons Expensive. Mislaid forward-slash key.

No HDMI or DisplayPort technologies.

its consumer counterparts in performance.

Luckily, the 9213’s 3GB of memory can help offset some of its performance woes. If you work with resource-intensive apps, this laptop is probably not for you.

Overall, the sleek metallic frame and more than 5 hours of battery life can compete with the best of them, but until the price comes down, I would carefully consider the Lenovo ThinkPad X301 or the Acer Aspire 3935.—Cisco Cheng >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Specs 1.4-GHz Intel Pentium SU9400 processor; 3GB DDR3 SDRAM; 160GB hard drive ; 13.3-inch display; Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300 AGN; 3.6 pounds (4.4 travel); 3 USB ports; 58-Wh battery; Windows Vista Business (32 bit).

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 25

first looks hardware

Epson Stylus NX515

Impressive, Capable Home All-In-One With the previous NX400, Epson bucked the trend of designing all-in-ones (AIOs) for home and home office. It instead focused just on home use, with attributes such as printing photos extremely well.

That model missed an Editors’ Choice only because the text quality wasn’t quite good enough. Well, Epson’s back now with the NX515, and with this model, the text quality is much improved, and yes, it’s now earned a spot as an Editors’ Choice.

The NX515 measures 7.2 by 17.7 by 13.5 inches (HWD). The focus on home use shows in the printer’s high quality for photos and scans; the ability to print from PictBridge cameras, memory cards, and USB memory keys; the 2.5-inch LCD for previewing photos; and a special photo copy feature. And the Ethernet and WiFi connections make it easy to share your snapshots. But the lack of an automatic document feeder (ADF) and fax modem limit its usefulness for home offices.

This printer scored an impressive 8 minutes 32 seconds on our QualityLogic speed tests. Photo speed was less impressive, averaging 2:05 for each 4-by-6 and 4:41 for each 8-by-10, but the output quality more than makes up for the moderate speed. And 26 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Epson Stylus NX515 $149.99 direct L l l l m

Pros Extraordinarily fast. High-quality output, particularly for text and photos. Ink is smearresistant, even on plain paper.

Cons Only limited potential for the dual role of home and home office, with features that concentrate on home use.

this printer offers better-than-par text quality and fairly typical graphics quality for an ink jet.

With all of these strengths, plus the convenience of Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, the NX515 not only earns its Editors’ Choice award with room to spare, but resets the bar for what to expect from a home AIO.—M. David Stone >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

first looks hardware

AVADirect GT3 Core i7 Gaming System

A Pint-Size Gaming Box

N

omad gamers who find themselves rolling from place to place know that portability can be almost as important as performance.

The AVADirect GT3 is made for them. This gaming desktop has a compact chassis, yet boasts a full-blown Core i7 quad-core processor and high-powered ATI Radeon HD graphics card. Thanks to its manageable size and reasonable weight, the GT3 is a more practical gaming rig for LAN parties than the humongous speed machines.

The GT3’s mostly ABS plastic chassis (to keep weight down) measures about 15.5 by 4.5 by 12.5 inches (HWD) and uses an internal riser card system that turns the graphics card orientation 90 degrees to fit a full-size graphics card. Because of the cooling needs of a quad-core processor and dual-width graphics card, the very noticeable fans make quite a din. There are also customization options for some of the components but not much room for expansion.

This system was a very good performer on our 3D games test, returning smooth, playable numbers for both Crysis (81 frames

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AVADirect GT3 Core i7 Gaming System $1367.26 direct l l l h m

Pros Compact gaming rig with carrying handle. Decent 3D performance. No bloatware.

Fits full-sized cards. Nice price.

Cons Carbon fiber look is a decal. System is loud. No digital card reader. Upgrade/serviceability is awkward. Only 350W power supply.

per second) and World in Conflict (93 fps) at our standard 1,280-by-1,024 resolution.

The GT3 also finished our Windows Media Encoder test in 34 seconds. In the niche market of hard-core gamers, the GT3 makes a good argument for buying over building.

—Joel Santo Domingo >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Specs 2.66-GHz Intel Core i7-920 processor, 6GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB SATA hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics, DVD±RW drive, ten USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire port, one eSATA port, Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit).

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 27

SPECS

BOTTOM LINE

CONS

PROS

Quick looks HARDWARE

DESKTOPS

LAPTOPS

Gateway DX4300-03 $749.99 list

ASUS K50IJ-C1 $680 street

HP ProBook 4310s $880 direct

Gateway LT3103u $380 street

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• Multimedia oriented • New styling • Device tray on top • Included TV tuner • Built-in Wi-Fi

• Cheap desktop replacement • Numeric keypad included • Big, bright screen • Good battery life

• Fast hard drive • Matte screen minimizes glare • RJ11 and fingerprint reader • Lightweight

• Generous, atypical 11-inch widescreen • Full-size keyboard • 2GB of memory • Big hard drive • Competitively priced

• No Blu-ray drive • Lots of bloatware • Short 60-day subscription to Norton Internet Security

•N o HDMI-Out •D esign is a little boring •M ouse buttons make clicking sounds

• Boxy, thick design • Only 37-Wh battery available • Not enough battery life for road warriors

• Battery life falls short of its rivals • Bland design

A middle-of-the-road quad-core desktop for the multimedia enthusiast, the DX4300-03 is good at a lot of things, but great at nothing.

The K50IJ-C1 is as cheap as a desktop replacement laptop can get without sacrificing too many features or too much performance.

The HP 4310s is inexpensive and comes with a nice mix of business and consumer features, but make sure you buy an additional battery.

The Gateway LT3103u goes against everything that coined the term netbook, but you’ll like the price, 11-inch screen, and the full size keyboard.

2.4-GHz AMD Phenom X4 9750 processor; 8GB SDRAM; 1TB hard drive; 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics; DVD±RW drive; Vista Home Premium (64bit).

2.1-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 processor; 4GB SDRAM; 250GB hard drive; 15.6-inch screen; Atheros 802.11g Wi-Fi; 5.7 pounds 46-Wh battery; Vista Home Premium (32-bit).

2.2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6670 processor; 4GB SDRAM; 320GB hard drive; 13.3-inch screen; Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 AGN; 4.6 pounds; 37-Wh battery; Vista Business (32-bit).

1.2-GHz AMD Athlon 64 L110 processor; 2GB SDRAM; 250GB hard drive; ATI X1270 graphics; 11.6inch screen; 3.2 pounds; 56-Wh battery; Windows XP Home.

Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

28 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

STORAGE

PROJECTORS

DISPLAYS

SCANNERS

Clickfree Transformer for iPod $49.99 list

Optoma HD20 $1,000 street

Lenovo L215p Wide $250 list

Canon CanoScan LiDE 700F $129.99 direct

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• No configuration necessary • Easy to use • Works with any iPod or iPhone • Mac and Windows compatible

• Breakthrough price for a 1080p projector • Reasonably high-quality image quality for 480p and above

• Stylish design • Sharp, hi-res picture • Good color, text, and dark grayscale reproduction • Includes Webcam and USB hub

• Reasonably capable for photographic prints • Backlight correction and color restore features in driver • GreenTech approved

• Doesn’t work with limitedaccess accounts • Requires .NET installation • Doesn’t have iPod dock connector

•U nimpressive image quality for 480i (standarddefinition) TV signal

• No height adjustment on base • Slightly expensive • Some tinting and light grayscale compression

• Film scan doesn’t work for slides • Scans only one frame of film at a time • Film scanning is extremely cumbersome

You’ll never have to worry about leaving your hard drive at home again with the Clickfree Transformer, which turns your iPod into a backup device.

The HD20 brings a new level of affordability to 1080p projectors, with reasonably good image quality for 480p signals and above.

The L215p Wide LCD delivers a sharp picture in full HD and offers a few nice features, including a Webcam and a USB hub, but showed some color issues in testing.

The Canon 700F handles photographic prints and, to a lesser extent, documents reasonably well, but its film scan capability is best ignored.

USB and SATA connections.

16:9 aspect ratio; DLP engine; 4,000:1 rated contrast ratio; component, composite, HDMI, and analog VGA connections; 3.8 by 12.8 by 9.2 inches (HWD); 6.4 pounds.

Widescreen LCD; 21.5-inch screen; 1,920-by-1,080 native resolution; 1080p format; 16:9 aspect ratio; HDMI and analog VGA connections.

Flatbed scanner; 4,800-pixel maximum optical resolution; letter size maximum scan area; USB connection.

Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other hardware products.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 29

first looks CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Apple iPod touch (3rd generation)

Touch: The Song Remains the Same The third generation of the iPod touch looks identical to the 2nd generation, but the capacities and prices are improved: 8GB ($199), 32GB ($299), and 64GB ($399).

There’s no built-in video camera, as had been rumored, which is a bit of a surprise, considering the less-expensive and muchtinier nano got one. With the touch, Apple’s focus remains firmly on music, and, more so than ever, portable gaming. Along with a nice speed bump come some app organization improvements and new Genius features, all of which are welcome additions.

Even if there’s no exciting surprise with this touch iteration, after three long years, there’s still not a better portable media player out there.

The new iPod touch doesn’t just look like the old touch—it’s identical. The device is, as always, dominated by its luscious 3.5-inch glass touch-screen. With a 480-by-320 resolution, the display is the best in the business—only the LCD on the Zune HD, which is smaller, rivals the touch’s bright and responsive screen. The player’s top panel houses the Power button, the back of the player looks like a warped funhouse mirror, and the 30 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

proprietary connection for the USB syncing cable lives on the bottom panel alongside the earphone jack. The Home button remains centered below the display.

Though the new iTunes LP feature is very cool (including video, song lyrics, and liner notes with album purchases), you can only experience those extras in iTunes, not on the touch itself. Also, there’s no 802.11n support yet. Apple claims a 50 percent speed bump with this model, and I did notice the device reacted more quickly to button pushes and finger swipes, as well as a more fluid Web experience. One remaining Web gripe: There’s still no support for Flash, which is a feature I’d gladly trade for the slight speed boost.

On the software front, the new Genius for apps suggests apps you may like based on what you’ve already downloaded. And Genius Mix can organize your music into “mixes” based on genre. In a nutshell, when you improve the best player on the market, even if in tiny increments, it remains the best—and our Editors’ Choice. If you’re not an Apple fan, then check out the Zune HD review on page 33—Tim Gideon >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Apple iPod touch (3rd generation) 8GB, $199 direct; 32GB, $299; 64GB, $399 L l l l l

Pros Best touch-screen portable media player, period. Increased capacities at lower prices. Faster processing ideal for gaming. Top-notch Web browser. iTunes improvements include Genius Mixes, Genius-based app recommendations, and app organization.

Cons Bundled earbuds still stink. Audio file support doesn’t include FLAC or OGG. Browser still lacks Flash support.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 31

first looks CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Apple iPod nano (5th generation)

New Nano is Better Than Ever Remarkably, the latest iPod nano looks almost identical to its predecessor, but this player packs so much more into its small frame: A video camera, an FM tuner (a first for iPods!), a pedometer for joggers, and a larger screen. Priced at $149 for 8GB and at $179 for 16GB ($20 less than last year’s 16GB player), this nano is more affordable and capable than any similarly priced player out there—a hands down Editors’ Choice.

Aside from seven bright new colors, the new nano’s body is otherwise identical to the 4th-generation device. The screen, however, is significantly larger—2.2 inches as opposed to 2 (it may not sound like a lot, but on such a tiny player, that 0.2 inch makes a big difference), with a slightly higher resolution. The included earbuds act as an antenna for the new FM radio—finally.

The big news here is the inclusion of a video camera, a mic, and a built-in speaker on the back panel. Nonetheless, video capture was crisp and vibrant (despite the low 640-by480 resolution), rivaling footage from mini camcorders. You can even choose from 15 effects, such as Sepia, Film Grain, and even 32 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Apple iPod nano (5th generation) 16GB, $179 direct; 8GB, $149 L l l l h

Pros Built-in video camera, mic, and speaker.

Larger display, but same-size frame as previous-gen nano. Excellent user interface. New Genius Mix feature. Adds an FM tuner and a pedometer.

Cons So-so file support. Video camera can’t capture still images. Ships with Apple’s signature subpar earbuds.

Thermal and X-Ray. Unfortunately, the camera can’t capture still images and the mic isn’t great. Even so, no other media player has built-in video.

While the iPod touch has seen many challengers, the nano doesn’t have a serious enemy. Nothing else in this price range comes close to its ease-of-use and graceful design.—Tim Gideon >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

first looks CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Microsoft Zune HD

Zune Aims for Apple

A

fter years of trying, has Microsoft finally beat Apple at its own game? Well, not quite. But the fantastic Zune HD certainly gives the iPod touch some worthy competition. The lack of a robust App Store is the only drawback for the Zune HD, which otherwise flaunts a beautiful touch-screen, an excellent user interface, HD radio, and the best browser we’ve seen since the Apple’s mobile Safari.

While the touch is a better touch-screen player, the Zune HD is a close second.

A very good-looking gadget, the 16GB Zune HD is Onyx Black and the 32GB version is Platinum Silver. This Zune has a smaller, lighter frame than the iPod touch, measuring 4.0 by 2.1 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighing just 2.6 ounces. However, the Zune’s 3.3-inch OLED screen is noticeably smaller than the touch’s 3.5-inch LCD, but video still looks great on it. The touch and Zune HD seem nearly identical in touchscreen sensitivity.

Microsoft’s software updates, however, are still clunkier than Apple’s. But once you’re up and running, the software and interface are impressive. Also, the Zune HD supports only MP3, WMA, and unprotected AAC files.

The best new music feature on the Zune HD

Microsoft Zune HD 16GB, $219.99 direct; 32GB, $289.99 l l l l h

Pros Gorgeous multi-touch OLED screen.

Intuitive user interface with sharp, goodlooking graphics. Strong Web browser. Wireless music purchasing, downloading, and syncing. HD radio.

Cons Limited HD video support. Very slim pickings in the App section of the Zune Marketplace.

is the ability to purchase music wirelessly, thanks to integrated 802.11g. The Zune Marketplace makes it easy to browse for music on the player or your PC, but the Apps section currently has a very limited selection.

Overall, Microsoft has shown Apple that it, too, can make an attractive, easy-to-use player. If Microsoft is able to give birth to an App Store that can rival Apple’s, then the race could get interesting.—Tim Gideon >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 33

SPECS

BOTTOM LINE

CONS

PROS

Quick looks consumer electronics

SMARTPHONES

DIGITAL CAMERAS

HTC Hero (Sprint) $179.99 direct and up

Sony Alpha DSLR-A230 $549.99 direct

Canon PowerShot D10 $329.99 list

Creative Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes + Receiver $149.99 direct

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• Excellent build • Capacitive touch screen • Lots of new, useful applications • Inexpensive

• Competitive price • Lightweight • Good image quality • Clever interface guides beginners

• Fast performance • Top-notch image quality • Waterproof to 33 feet • Freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit • Drop-proof up to 4 feet

•S imple, intuitive design •S treams music wirelessly through iTunes without additional software

• Some bugs • Slow Internet speeds • Lousy camera

• LCD does not support Live View • Kit lens produces soft images at wider apertures • Still image frame rate is a bit sluggish

• Twice as thick as most competing rugged cameras • Protective window does not prevent fingerprints • No HD-video capture

• I nconsistent signal strength • I ncluded optional software works with PC only • L imited remote control functionality

The HTC Hero is the best Google Android phone so far, but it falls just short of the other leaders in the smartphone field.

The Sony A230 delivers terrific value and solid shots for an entry-level SLR, but it lacks features such as HD video capture and Live View.

The PowerShot D10 is water-, freeze-, and shockproof, and it pumps out great-looking images, but if you’re looking for a slim camera, this isn’t it.

You’ll find more reliable and graceful wireless audio solutions out there, but none can match the price or the simplicity of this device.

Sprint; Android OS 1.5; 3.2-inch, 480-by-320 LCD; 5.0MP camera; 4.5 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches (HWD); 4.5 ounces.

D-SLR; 10.2MP; SD/MMC card slot; 3.5 by 4.8 by 2.6 inches (HWD); 1.5 pounds.

Waterproof point-andshoot; 2.5-inch LCD; 35-to105 mm lens; 12.1MP; SD card slot; 2.8 by 4.3 by 1.9 (HWD).

USB; wireless; RF; receiver, 1.1 by 2.7 by 3.9 inches (HWD).

Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

34 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

MEDIA EXTENDERs

BLUETOOTH HEADSETS

Motorola Endeavor HX1

GPS

SPEAKER DOCKs

$129.99 list

Plantronics Discovery 975 $129.99 list

Magellan Maestro 4700 $299.99 list

Altec Lansing Mix iMT800 $299.95 direct

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• Very good audio quality • Excellent noise canceling • Stellar battery life • Easy-to-understand control scheme

•S tylish (for a headset) •C omfortable fit •G ood sound quality •C arrying case doubles as a charger with an LCD display

• Responsive touch screen • Detailed voice prompts • Fast route recalculations

• Tremendous power • Built-in subwoofer • Doesn’t distort at high volumes • Works with iPhone • FM tuner

• Voice quality is ever-so-slightly behind the top of the class • Stealth mode degrades sound quality to other callers

• Poorly placed volume button • Noise canceling slightly behind the top of the class

• Takes a long time to lock location • Inconsistent voice recognition • A little buggy

•N ot nearly as portable as advertised •R emote lacks full iPod menu navigation •N o video out

Motorola aims for the top of the headset class with the Endeavor HX1, a quality unit with a unique take on noisecancellation technology.

Plantronics scores again with the Discovery 975, a slick, chrome-accented headset with a unique design and a surprisingly comfortable fit.

A slim and flexible navigation device, the Magellan 4700 features a big 4.7-inch screen and serves up clear and accurate turn-by-turn directions.

With multiple inputs, the iMT800 lets you play DJ by connecting up to three MP3 players. It also delivers powerful, user-adjustable audio without distortion.

0.7 by 1.9 by 0.5 inches (HWD); 0.5 ounces.

5 hours rated talk time; 0.3 ounces.

Auto GPS; Bluetooth receiver; 4.7-inch touch-screen display; SD/MMC card slot; multi-segment routing; MP3 support; 3.5 by 5.2 by 0.6 inches (HWD).

iPod speaker dock; 2.1 channel audio; wireless remote; 2.5-inch, monochrome display; 7.7 by 19.7 by 9.3 inches (HWD).

Visit pcmag.com for the full reviews of these and other consumer electronics products.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 35

first looks business

SMALL-BUSINESS STORAGE

NAS Boxes for Small Biz For any small business, the need for reliable storage cannot be underestimated.

Sure, the cloud offers a good offsite solution for many companies, but what if your Internet connection goes down (or is otherwise unreliable)? Having a good onsite storage solution that’s accessible from multiple locations will ensure that your vital data stays safe and confidential. Here are three new entries in the network attached stor-

age (NAS) market we’ve recently reviewed at PC Labs.

Acer Aspire easyStore H340 The easyStore H340 is a NAS device that supports up to 4 terabytes. It is quiet, small enough to fit on your desk, and runs only the basic features of Windows Home Server (WHS). Though this NAS device offers some welcome conveniences, such as support for

Acer Aspire easyStore H340 $400 street L l l m m

PROS Simple-to-use Windows Home Server interface.

CONS Networking nightmare if your PC cannot detect NAS with UPnP. Remote access difficult to setup.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

36 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.

Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 2TB, $449.99 list L l l l m

PROS Excellent blend of consumer and enterprise features, such as iTunes, FTP, SSL, and UPS management.

CONS The help files need improvement.

Somewhat difficult to access drives.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

DLNA appliances and the inclusion of an iTunes server, the setup is a bit too complicated for a networking layman due to some issues with WHS. The H340 comes with a 1TB SATA hard drive, and has three additional drive bays, each with LED lights to indicate each drive’s status. The case also includes four USB ports, an Ethernet port, and e-SATA port.

As mentioned, setting up the drive with WHS was challenging because the server OS requires using a WHS Connector service and Toolkit on network computers. But on the plus side, WHS has network monitoring capability and the automated backup feature is highly configurable. The H340 also includes a McAfee Total Protection feature that scans the NAS folders for malware. For performance, this NAS drive is about in the middle of the pack, yielding 10.3 Mbps with our 504MB test file. So overall, the H340 shows a lot of promise, but isn’t for those without some networking experience.

Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 Seagate released the 220 as a smaller prosumer version of its business-class BlackArmor 440. But the company retained

many of the enterprise features available on the larger product, so you get the best of Seagate in this tiny box.

The NAS 220 is one of the smallest NAS devices on the market, about one-third the size of the Acer H340. The case, albeit boring, has a Gigabit network port, plus two USB 2.0 ports. The box can fit two drives for either a 2GB or 4GB capacity. Seagate bundles a BlackArmor Discovery utility that finds the NAS on the network in seconds. It also has a Web server that displays the NAS management pages. Despite its limited hard drive configuration (uses RAID 1 by default), the NAS 220 supports the SMART NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 37

first looks business

Western Digital WD ShareSpace 4TB, $799.99 direct Ll l l h

Pros Highly intuitive Web interface. Plenty of management features and storage configurations. Runs cool and quiet.

Cons Hard drives are not truly hot swappable. Help files for advanced features aren’t always helpful.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

(self monitoring reporting technology) storage manager. You can also generate an SSL certificate, and the UPS feature will shut it down safely if there’s a power failure. This drive clocked 9.4 Mbps when transferring our 1.05GB test file.

In short, the versatile NAS 220 comes with features you would expect in a consumer storage device as well as a small business NAS. Western Digital WD ShareSpace The ShareSpace NAS is one of the most simple-to-master storage devices on the market. It includes top-notch features, such as multiple RAID configurations and remoteaccess services, all blended into a simple user interface.

The WD ShareSpace is a cube-like metal enclosure measuring about 8 inches all around. The front of the case includes three 38 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

USB ports, with two in the back. The ShareSpace has four drive bays, each of which can hold a 1 TB or 2 TB hard drive. The device comes configured with RAID 5 out of the box.

Like Seagate, Western Digital includes a discovery utility that performed as well as the Seagate tool, and much better than the Acer’s Windows Home Server. It also has the friendliest Web interface. In addition to a built-in FTP server, Western Digital provides free remote access to the folders and files using online service MioNet It. The CD also includes the WD Anywhere Backup program. The ShareSpace also bested the Seagate NAS box in performance, averaging 11.2 Mbps on our 1.05GB test file. For its compact size, quiet operation, and superior software and interface, the ShareSpace is the best overall package—and our Editors’ Choice.—Mario Morejon

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Help us celebrate the launch of Intel Core™ i7 and Core™ i5 processors. ®

Can you design the world’s coolest desktop mod?

Submit your creations by November 16, 2009 for a chance to win amazing prizes.

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first looks business

3M Pocket Projector MPro120

A Stylish Pico Projector

P

ico projectors—defined as small enough to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket—don’t qualify as new anymore, but they’re still rare. Just try using one in a public space—connecting it to a camera to show a friend some photos, say—and see what happens. You’ll quickly find that it’s high on the list of gadgets that encourage total strangers to come over and start conversations. That’s particularly true of the MPro120, which offers a sleek design, a screw-on tripod with flexible legs, and reasonable image quality that works for both video and data.

The MPro120 is about the size and heft of an electric razor, measuring 1 by 2.4 by 4.7 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.6 ounces. The solid matte black finish and rounded edges give it a decidedly sleek look and feel. Setup is easy, and in addition to the standard VGA/ RCA cable, you can buy an optional component video cable (with a cable for iPods and iPhones coming soon).

The MPro120 has a VGA native resolution of 640 by 480 and an LED that’s rated for 20,000 hours. However, 3M has made a fundamental change in the engine. The first-generation engine used a white LED as a light source, while this new engine uses 40 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

3M Pocket Projector MPro120 $350 street L l l l m

Pros Fits in a shirt pocket. Connects to computers and video sources. Rechargeable battery.

Cons Although brighter than the first-generation version, it’s still not very bright. Audio is barely loud enough to be usable.

red, green, and blue LEDs in sequence. The sequential approach is intended to display richer colors, but it also results in a slight rainbow effect, which means the light areas of a moving image can break up into little red-green-blue rainbows. Also, the audio quality and volume limit was lackluster.

But you do get good battery life, lasting 4 hours in Normal mode. All told, the Mpro 120 is an attractive choice as both a hard-toresist gadget and a potentially useful tool.

—M. David Stone >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

first looks business

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 $495 direct L l l l m

Pros Document and business-card scanner.

Rated at 20 pages per minute (ppm), or 40 images per minute (ipm) for both sides.

Cons Lack of a standard driver means you can’t give a scan command from within a program.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500

Zippy Document Scanner

F

ujitsu has done a great job of turning out one impressive scanner after another, ratcheting up performance and features over the years. The S1500 fits firmly in that tradition, with faster speed and much improved software than the previous-generation S500. I can even make a strong argument that it’s the best desktop document scanner in its price class. Unfortunately, it falls just one step short of being an Editors’ Choice.

The S1500’s good looks nicely complement an executive office decor, with its silver and black color scheme and a design that’s as sleek as any document scanner I’ve seen. The footprint is a mere 6.2 by 11.5 inches (WD), and you have the choice between opening the front output tray or not. The S1500 offers roughly a 10 percent boost in speed from the last-generation

ScanSnap, to 20 pages per minute (ppm) or 40 images per minute (ipm) when scanning in duplex mode (both sides of the page at once). It shares the same 600 pixel per inch (ppi) optical resolution, which is more than enough for document scanning, and the same 50-page capacity for its automatic document feeder (ADF). Though the ScanSnap software has a number of improvements over the previous version, it uses the Microsoft Office 2007 “ribbon” layout (meaning you’ll love or hate it, depending on how you feel about the ribbon). Also, you must use the software to scan instead of choosing another program and scanning using a standard driver.

Though I feel the driver issue is significant, I still recommend the S1500. Simply put, it is hard to find a better choice at this price.

—M. David Stone >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 41

john c. dvorak

Lost Productivity Lament

T

here is some unwritten law or concept that tells us that computers have contributed to worker and individual productivity. The concept is even embedded in various productivity calculations whereby just getting a faster machine means you have higher productivity.

I question this, as I have been with the desktop computer scene and have had a personal computer—usually the hottest one around—since 1976. My productivity as a columnist is obviously improved by word processing, but the difference between a word processor in 1980 and a word processor in 2009 insofar as my personal productivity is concerned shows no difference. It peaked right away.

And how many people are writers where they can show any productivity at all? The way I see it, only writers, accountants using spreadsheets, and graphic artists using Photoshop can show any real productivity gains of any consequence insofar as the desktop computer is concerned.

42 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

And, yes, the microprocessors have aided machinists and embroiderers, and that does affect productivity. But can we balance all these productivity gains with the downside of computers? Why isn’t that factored into the equation?

Where Did My Two Hours Go? From the perspective of the desktop computer user, the opportunity for these machines to steal time is phenomenal. Ever go into a chat room? They are kind of interesting and compelling until you realize that you are communicating in one of the slowest and most demanding mediums ever. The relative baud rate is nil and time is squandered.

These chat rooms have almost all evolved into social networking quagmires. My daughter, who until recently eschewed Facebook, for example, used to spend her spare time making art. She adopted Facebook as a conduit for keeping up with friends, whom she sees all the time anyway, and now her time is simply wasted writing vapid posts.

This is just the tip of the time-wasting

BlackBerry users are glued to the screen 24/7 looking for new e-mail from anyone as if life and death depended on it. iceberg. Computers give us highly realistic games that suck people into playing them for hours on end. And I’d rather not even want to get into the time-killer called Second Life. Here a person actually creates a whole second life in which he or she can waste countless hours within that structure and waste time as another person.

BlackBerry Breeds Social Misfits And, of course, the microprocessor itself has permeated things other than a machine shop lathe. It is in the soon-to-beubiquitous smart phone. Just watch someone with a BlackBerry or an iPhone. The BlackBerry users are essentially glued to the screen 24/7 looking for any e-mail from anyone as if life and death depended on it. And the iPhone and its crazy apps can waste a whole day of someone’s time.

These little devices hijack even normal socialization. People take phone calls at dinner in a restaurant, they are constantly looking things up on the Web or tracking people or scanning the news.

As a technologist myself, I have obviously promoted smart devices and computers, but I do look around at my own increasing disorganization and remind myself that I originally got into computers to get more organized and more efficient, not less. Instead I got less organized and less efficient.

Messy Desk? Blame The Computer What’s made me contemplate this dilemma is the discorganization of my physical desktop—you know, the one with the screen and keyboard sitting on it. Why can’t I keep it clean? I have to blame something other than myself, but I cannot bring myself to clearing it off and keep it clear. On occasion I have brought in a box and just scraped everything off the desk straight into the box then sorted out the box while watching TV. The desk is now cleared off but within just a few days it’s covered with papers and cables and other crap and the process has to be re-initiated.

I know the computer is to blame. Somehow computer usage has made me more of a slob than I am naturally. I’m absolutely sure that if Marshall McLuhan were alive he could explain it. It has something to do with the mouse, or the interactivity or the bright screen or being in constant contact with too many strangers or something like that.

While I am not sure this lament will do me any good, my advice is simple. Get off the machine! Throw out your iPhone and do some gardening. Go build something.

At least turn off your phone when you are in a restaurant. That would be a start.

Dvorak Live on the Web John’s Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on CrankyGeeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 43

SASCHA SEGAN

A World Without Apple?

I

magine there’s no Apple. Over here in the U.S., that is a very hard thing to do. But in technologically advanced, mobile-crazy South Korea, there’s more iRiver than iPhone. In fact, there are no iPhones at all, no Apple stores, and far, far fewer iPods on the Seoul subway than I’ve seen riding the subway in New York.

That made me think: What if Steve Jobs had never returned to Apple, and the company had crumbled as was widely expected in the 1990s, or just stayed a second-tier PC maker? Would the world’s tech market look a little more like Korea’s?

Obviously, Apple’s design innovations have had an effect on everyone in computing and media—even on the gadgets I saw in Korea. But it’s not as if Apple invented the touch screen, the media player, or the mobile Web browser. Most of Apple’s innovations would have happened anyway; they just might have happened differently.

Here are some ideas based on what I saw in South Korea.

44 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Triumph of the Keyboard Koreans, like Americans, love flip phones.

But that hasn’t kept them off the Web. They surf on flip phones, text on flip phones, and watch TV on flip phones. Here in the U.S., we love flip phones, phones with full keyboards, and iPhones. As I’ve said before, touch keyboards are fundamentally flawed; we put up with typing on a touch keyboard only because we love the rest of the iPhone’s features. An Apple-less world would have a lot more physical keyboards in it.

More Diversity, Less DRM Yes, Korea has its faults. For example, one of the ways the country has kept Apple out is through laws that favor domestic manufacturers. But ironically, that protectionism seems to have created more diversity than the iPod monoculture you see in big U.S. cities. I saw people tapping on big-screen Windows CE media players, typing on things that looked like tiny laptops with tinier keyboards, and listening to music on both traditional flip phones and iRiver MP3 players.

Ironically, Korea’s protectionism has created more diversity than the U.S.’s iPod monoculture.

Here’s where I go out on a limb. The iPod monoculture in the U.S. did great things for the digital music market, but it also locked us into DRM for years. As we found out through the disaster of Microsoft’s PlaysForSure, DRM doesn’t work well when there are too many different companies involved.

Without the iPod, music companies may have taken longer to enter the digital market, but they may have done so with less DRM because no single solution could address enough of the market.

More TV? Koreans are crazy about mobile TV. DMB, their mobile digital TV system, seems to be integrated into everything. This, in large part, comes thanks to a proactive government that set aside spectrum and defined a mobile TV standard long before ours did.

But free mobile TV also provides an interesting solution to the video DRM problem. Film and TV companies are even crazier about DRM than music companies are, resulting in a chaos of different formats. Having one standard for mobile TV let that form of video spread quickly, and perhaps there would have been more pressure for a common mobile TV standard here if Apple hadn’t so dominated the media conversation.

Missing Links Capacitive touch screens are marvelous, but I saw very few in Korea; most people seemed

to be using styli on their touch-screen devices. (Before you comment, Korean isn’t a character-based language like Chinese, which requires you to draw characters with a stylus—it uses a 24-character alphabet.)

The rage for capacitive touch screens in the U.S. has largely been driven by the success of the iPhone; manufacturers don’t seem to get why users love them.

The big wild card, of course, is whether Apple’s iProducts have pushed all interfaces forward. Many modern smart device interfaces—especially the touch screen ones— owe a lot to Apple’s software design. What would interfaces look like if Apple hadn’t brought big icons and simple menus to the game? Hopefully they wouldn’t look like Windows Mobile 5, a mobile OS that is predicated on finger-unfriendly screens that borrow way too much from desktop PCs. Apple and KT, a Korean wireless carrier, recently announced they were bringing the iPhone to Korea. So maybe the era of gadget diversity in Korea is coming to an end.

But I don’t think so. Koreans are very patriotic about their gadgets, and Samsung and LG are both innovative companies. I’m not sure if we can learn anything from Korea’s relative avoidance of all things Apple, but it’s still interesting to see a country where they really do think differently.

STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest on smartphones by reading Sascha’s column at go.pcmag.com/segan.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 45

DAN COSTA

Apple, Take Note: My iPad Wish List

T

here’s a point in the life of every rumor where it either becomes reality or disappears. That’s where we are with the upcoming Apple tablet, a device which has been whispered about for months. At this point, I feel somewhat safe in saying this tablet is going to happen, probably late this year. But since such a device has not been announced, I think this is the time to get a few last-minute requests in with Apple.

First, let’s talk about the keyboard. The keyboard is pretty essential to a laptop, but there is no reason to tack it onto an iPod touch or, say, your TV. Those two marvels of digital amusement are no poorer for lacking a QWERTY keyboard; in fact, they are much richer for it. Lacking a keyboard doesn’t make a tablet a lame device, just a lame PC. And this tablet will not be a PC.

Why We Need Tablets Why I am so bullish on tablets when the form factor has failed so miserably in the past?

46 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

The short answer is that things are different now. The longer answer is that tablet PCs weren’t a complete failure. They are quite popular in vertical industries, but they are used mostly for data entry (filling in forms) or complex design applications (such as designing houses). Such applications are of limited use to the average user, so tablets that delivered them were similarly limited in what they offered consumers.

The problem is that tablet PCs were first and foremost PCs. More than anything else, a new generation of devices (which will include the Apple tablet) will be screens— and we can never have too many screens.

Screens are our gateway to popular culture and windows to our digital lives. And as much as I love my Palm Pre, I don’t want to watch a movie on it or read an e-book on its tiny 3.1-inch display. This is where a touchsensitive, wirelessly connected tablet would come in very handy.

And if Apple, Arrington, or anyone else building a tablet device is reading this, I have a few other requests as well.

A tablet needs to be able to work with all forms of digital content—including the written word.

Wi-Fi and EV-DO Wi-Fi is an amazing technology that offers fast, easy connectivity, usually for free.

Unfortunately, in my experience, Wi-Fi is remarkably abundant, except when you really need it. The next generation of tablets will need built-in 3G modems to take off.

Wireless downloading helped the Kindle resurrect the e-book reader business. Tablet makers should follow the same path if they want to make a true digital companion.

Enhanced Web Caching Even with Wi-Fi and EV-DO, tablets need to be able to work offline. That’s no problem for local documents, MP3s, and video files, but there must be a better way to download and cache your favorite sites. Techies can do this already, but for the average user, it should be built into iTunes. Part of what makes the Kindle so appealing is that The New York Times follows you underground or on a plane. A tablet should offer the same functionality—but with color pictures!

E-book Support The Kindle 2 shows there is a demand for e-books, and there is no reason a tablet shouldn’t be able to read them. I’ve always gotten the sense that Apple has looked down its nose at books in favor of dominating the digital music, TV, and movie business.

But a tablet needs to be able to work with all forms of digital content—including the plain

old written word. (I love e-ink as much as the next geek, but truth be told, color screens are better than black and white, and much better than the gray Kindle screen.)

USB Port It may seem obvious to include a USB port, but Apple has skimped on ports in the past (e.g., the MacBook Air). Any tablet should have a USB port that lets you add storage and, yes, connect a keyboard. I don’t think that will be the primary way of using the device, but it is a nice option.

Some analysts say there is no place for a tablet, because it is another attempt to bridge the gap between a smartphone and a laptop. I disagree. Having a 10- or 11-inch screen to view Web pages, watch videos, play music, or tap some notes on would be pretty darn useful.

When President Obama defended his health care policies in New Hampshire, it was streamed online in dozens of locations and broadcast on TV. At the time, I was lost in a vineyard in Russian River. I would have liked to watch it, but that meant sitting down at a laptop or desktop. All I really need is a screen and a wireless connection.

All I really need is a tablet.

And next year, whether it’s called a CrunchPad, iPad, iTab, Touch Pod, or MacTouch Pro Tab, I will have one.

TALK back to Dan E-mail your thoughts to dan_costa@pcmag.com.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 47

Our readers rated 46,434 tech products and services for our 22nd annual survey. Here are the companies you trust and adore, and the ones you don’t.

By Eric Griffith; with Ben Gottesman and Sascha Segan

W

hat happens when you ask thousands of people what they think of the reliability of their PC makers, peripheral manufacturers, and service providers—and the support they provide? In our case, we get reams of data. We then distill it into easy-to-follow scores so everyone will know exactly which vendors are doing their absolute best. This also reveals which companies could be doing a whole lot better.

48 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Typographic design by Daniel Pelavin

This is the 22nd time PC Mag has gathered this data. Compared with previous years, there was plenty of consistency (just guess what company with a fruity name is on top of every category it enters) and a few surprises (such as the welcome of Asus to the notebooks section).

We also give you even more to consider by adding your ratings on game consoles and GPS devices for the first time (click here for the full results on these product categories).

You might be shocked to see just what game system PC Mag readers prefer. Then again, you may not, if you know what a Red Ring of Death is.

So dive into the data. If you’re preparing to make a purchase, our Readers’ Choice awards in each category may help you make a decision. If nothing else, see if your favorite laptop, printer, cell phone, or what-have-you is the same as that favored by the majority of PC Mag’s tech-savvy readers.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 49

Desktops READERS’ CHOICE Apple John Hodgman’s campaign against the Mac continues to be a losing battle, at least among the readers of PC Mag, who for the umpteenth year in a row gave Apple high marks.

Sony Sony’s media-centric line of desktops are the favorites among the Windowsbased computers in our survey, despite a small market share.

W

hen it comes to the overall satisfaction users have with their computers, Apple once again reigns supreme.

The company’s Macintosh PCs—which we can all state unequivocally are actually Windows PCs too, if you want them to be—have consistently proven to be favorites among PC Mag readers. Apple’s significantly better than average (SBA) overall score (9.1 out of 10) marks it as a clear Readers’ Choice.

The company moved up significantly in scores for tech support since last year, too (8.6 SBA, up from 8.1). It suffered a little in that more of its desktop computers needed repairs this year (12 percent, instead of the 9 percent needing repair in 2008), and the

likelihood of someone recommending a Mac to a friend dropped slightly to a score of 9.2 SBA. Still, these are very high marks.

Even though we can call Apple computers “Windows machines” since they’re powered by the same Intel chips (and can run the same operating system), we still average the Windows-only system vendors separately, since consumers view the two OSs in such different light. And in the world of Windows vendors, not much has changed since 2008, when the average overall score was 7.6. The same goes for this year.

That number held steady in part because of a nice showing this year by Sony. In fact, Sony almost didn’t make the final results in 2009, as a lower number of responses overall led to one-third as many Sony desktop owners participating in our survey. However, Sony owners who did respond are pretty happy with their VAIOs. Sony is the second Readers’ Choice vendor, with a better than average (BA) overall score of 8.2 this year— that’s half a point higher than the nearest Windows PC manufacturer, indicating satisfaction indeed. The company dropped the percentage of its desktops needing repairs by half (from 14 percent to 7 percent) from last year as well. Sony’s likelihood of receiv-

HOW TO READ THE TABLES Overall scores are not based on averages of other scores in the table; they are based on reader answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this product?” All scores not represented as a percentage (%) are on a scale of 1 to 10, in which 10 is best. A dash in a table indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score in that column.

We use a t-test measure on each score against the average of all the scores and determine whether they are significantly different at a 95 percent confidence level. The t-test helps calculate the confidence interval for each score—the range in which we are 95 percent certain that the score is representative. If the score is more than one confidence interval above or below the average, we state that it is better than or worse than this average. For more than two confidence intervals, we say that the score is significantly better or worse.

50 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

9.1 a

9.2 a

8.6 a

Self-built (1,000)

8.5 a

8.7 a

7.7 a

Locally built/Clone (551)

8.3 a

Sony (56)

8.2 b

8.4 b

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (1275)

7.7 b

Dell (2157)

d Significantly worse than average P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING RECOMMENDED

Apple (285 responses)

c Worse than average

PERCENTAGE NEEDING REPAIR

Within the average range

TECHNICAL SUPPPORT

REPAIRS

b Better than average

RELIABILITY

a Significantly better than average

OVERALL SCORE†

DESKTOPS

—

12% b

9.2 a

21% d

8.9 a

—

8.1 a

ALL DESKTOPS

—

8.4 a

—

—

—

—

8.0

6.6

7

7.7 b

8.0 b

7.0 a

Gateway (252)

7.6

7.7

6.1

Acer (88)

7.6

7.9

eMachines (105)

7.2

Lenovo (120) Avg. of Windows PCs

7% b

8.4 b

17%

8.0 a

19% d

8.0 a

—

21%

7.1 c

—

—

11%

7.6

7.7

—

—

14%

7.2

7.1 c

7.4 c

—

—

19%

6.9 c

7.6

7.9

6.6

6.9

15%

7.6

Apple (67 responses)

8.8 a

9.1 a

—

—

15%

9.1 a

Self-built (223)

8.3 a

8.6 a

23% c

8.8 a

Locally built/Clone (149)

7.9 a

—

—

—

7.7 b

Dell (1,100)

7.4 a

7.9

7.4 b

6.9

20% c

7.9 a

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (472)

7.4 b

7.9

6.9

7.2

18%

7.7 a

Lenovo (81)

7.0

7.6

—

—

12%

6.8

Gateway (76)

6.9

—

—

—

—

Avg. of Windows PCs

7.2

7.8

7.1

7.0

17%

6.8

BUSINESS 8.0 b —

8.5 a

6.1 c 7.1

more on next page >> * At least 2 confidence intervals from the average. ** 1 confidence interval from the average. † Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this desktop PC?” It is not the average of the other scores in the table.

Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.

A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 51

9.2 a

9.2 a

8.6 b

Self-built (777)

8.6 a

8.8 a

7.6 a

Locally built/Clone (402)

8.4 a

Dell (1056)

7.9 b

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (803)

d Significantly worse than average roduct name in RED indicates P Readers’ Choice.

PERCENTAGE NEEDING REPAIR

Apple (218 responses)

c Worse than average

REPAIRS

Within the average range

TECHNICAL SUPPPORT

RELIABILITY

b Better than average

OVERALL SCORE†

a Significantly better than average

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING RECOMMENDED

DESKTOPS (continued)

—

11% a

9.2 b

20% c

8.9 a

HOME

—

8.3 a

—

—

—

8.3 a

8.1 b

6.5

6.7

18% c

8.1 a

7.9 b

8.0

6.3

6.9

17%

8.2 a

Gateway (176)

7.9

7.9

—

—

19%

7.6

Acer (61)

7.6

7.8

—

—

10%

7.5

eMachines (93)

7.4 c

7.7

—

—

14%

7.3

Avg. of Windows PCs

7.7

7.9

6.4

6.8

16%

7.7

—

DESKTOPS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD Apple (85 responses)

9.2 a

9.3 a

—

Self-built (318)

9.0 a

9.1 a

7.5

Locally built/Clone (153)

8.8 a

Gateway (70)

7.9 b

7% b

9.1 a

16%

9.2 a 8.7 a

—

—

—

—

8.1

8.5

—

—

11%

7.7

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (370)

8.1

8.3

6.7

7.1

15%

8.2

Dell (516)

7.9

8.1 c

6.9

6.5

18%

8.1

Avg. of Windows PCs

8.1

8.3

6.8

6.8

15%

8

ing a recommendation to others also went up significantly, from a 7.6 in the average range last year to a BA score of 8.4 this year.

Other companies saw very high percentages of products needing repairs— big names like Lenovo, Dell, and Gateway.

These numbers are very consistent with 52 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

reader reports from last year (the only change was for the worse—Gateway’s fall from 18 percent to 21 percent. Needless to say, a high score on this metric doesn’t indicate pleased customers. Another interesting increase in overall satisfaction is with non-vendor PCs—those desktops readers either built themselves (which get an SBA

8.5 overall score) or bought locally from a no-name vendor (8.3 SBA overall). Yes, both types of systems received significantly better than average overall scores, giving them an edge over any Windows PC vendor, even Sony.

The other vendors in the final list either scored the same overall as last year (HP, Dell, Gateway, and Acer), or fell somewhat. Emachines went from a 7.3 to 7.2; Lenovo had the worst showing this year for an overall score in all desktops, dropping from 7.4 to a worse-than-average (WA) 7.1. HP did better this year, going from last year’s merely average 7.6 to a BA score of 7.7.

Extrapolating the market share of a company based on the responses we received yields some intriguing information. Acer is the only vendor in the desktop survey to net more users than last year. It might not seem like much going from 81 responses in 2008 to 89 in 2009, but consider that every other vendor is down by double-digit percentages (17 percent in Apple’s case; 66 percent for Sony); this probably says something about how much PC Mag readers like Acer.

When it comes to business-oriented PCs, Apple is still the top rated, but Windows vendors are led by Dell with an SBA 7.4. Dell also scores high for tech support, both overall and for business, and gets SBA scores for the likelihood of recommending in overall, business, and home systems. HP also scores SBAs in those three areas for likelihood of being recommended. We call that the power of the brand name.

When it comes to desktop systems that

are less than one year old, the scores are always higher—after all, newer computers (hopefully) require less tech support or repair than a system with a few years and a few relocations under its skin. Apple (still the only vendor to get an SBA score) and Dell both had slight drops in their overall scores; Gateway and HP went up slightly, but are all just in the average range. Gateway and HP remain in the average range for overall scores.

Dell’s newer systems had some other issues. Last year for reliability the company scored better than the average (8.2); this year’s 8.1 doesn’t seem like much of a drop, but that score is suddenly worse than the average. It also had an SBA score of 8.2 last year for likelihood to be recommended, which fell to 8.1—merely in the average range this year.

Notebooks READERS’ CHOICE Apple MacBooks of all shapes garner high marks from our readers.

Asus Netbooks or notebooks, it doesn’t matter. Asus is far and away the top-rated Windows-centric notebook maker with PC Mag readers.

A

re you sick of seeing Apple as the PC Mag Readers’ Choice vendor for notebooks year after year?

Tough. Jobs & Co. are back on top again, with the same significantly better than average (SBA) score of 9.2 out of 10 that the company received last year (albeit NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 53

d Significantly worse than average P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

8.8 a

—

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING RECOMMENDED

c Worse than average

PERCENTAGE NEEDING REPAIR

Within the average range

REPAIRS

TECHNICAL SUPPPORT

b Better than average

RELIABILITY

a Significantly better than average

OVERALL SCORE†

NOTEBOOKS

ALL NOTEBOOKS Apple (280 responses)

9.2 a

9.3 a

Asus (75)

8.8 a

8.9 a

—

—

Sony (138)

8.1

8.3

—

—

Lenovo (460)

7.9

8.1

7.3 b

Toshiba (378)

7.8

8.1

6.8

—

Dell (1,273)

7.8 c

8.0 c

6.9

7

Gateway (134)

7.7

8.0

—

Acer (210)

7.7

8.1

—

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (990)

7.7 d

7.8 d

6.4 c

Avg. of Windows PCs

7.9

8.2

Apple (64 responses)

9.3 a

9.4 a

Lenovo (277)

7.7

8.0

Toshiba (82)

7.6

8.0

—

—

Dell (596)

7.5

7.8

7.1

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (297)

7.3

7.7

6.4 c

Avg. of Windows PCs

7.5

7.9

Apple (216 responses)

9.2 a

9.3 a

Asus (67)

8.8 a

8.9 a

Lenovo (183)

8.3

Sony (103)

16% 6% b

9.4 a 9.0 a

12%

7.9

22% c

7.9

13%

8.1

23% d

8.0

—

12%

7.1 c

—

12%

7.8

6.1 c

19% c

7.8 c

6.9

6.9

15%

8.0

—

—

17%

9.4 a

25%

7.7

15%

8.0

7.1

26% c

7.8

5.7 c

22%

7.6

6.8

22%

7.8

—

16%

9.4 a

7.6 b

BUSINESS 7.5 b

7

7.7 b

HOME 8.8 a —

—

8.3

6.9

—

17%

8.3

8.2

8.3

—

—

12%

8.0

Dell (675)

8.0

8.1

6.7

6.8

19% c

8.2

Toshiba (296)

7.9

8.1

6.7

—

12%

8.2

Gateway (108)

7.8

8.1

—

—

10%

7.5 c

54 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

6% b

9.0 a

P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING RECOMMENDED

d Significantly worse than average

PERCENTAGE NEEDING REPAIR

c Worse than average

REPAIRS

Within the average range

TECHNICAL SUPPPORT

RELIABILITY

b Better than average

OVERALL SCORE†

a Significantly better than average

HOME (continued) 6.4

6.4

8.1

—

8.2

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (692)

7.8 c

7.9 d

Acer (179)

7.6 c

Avg. of Windows PCs

8.0

17% c

7.9 c

—

13%

7.8

6.6

6.6

13%

8.1

NOTEBOOKS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD Apple (107 responses)

9.5 a

9.6 a

—

—

5% b

9.6 a

Asus (55)

8.9 a

9.1 a

—

—

2% a

9.2 a

Toshiba (102)

8.3

8.6

—

—

Acer (109)

8.2

8.6

—

—

Lenovo (159)

8.2

8.4

7.4

—

16%

8.2

Hewlett-Packard (HP) (335)

8.1 c

8.2 c

7.1

—

12%

8.2 c

Dell (379)

8.1 c

8.3 c

7.1

6.9

16% c

8.3

Avg. of Windows PCs

8.3

8.5

7.2

6.9

11%

8.5

14% 5% b

8.5 8.4

* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average. ** 1 confidence interval from the average. † Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this desktop PC?” It is not the average of the other scores in the table.

Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.

A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

based on 29 percent fewer responses than last year). Apple’s scores in the All Notebooks category were almost identical to those of 2008, though the percentage of equipment needing repair went up slightly from 15 percent to 16 percent.

In fact, almost all vendors had fewer responses, with one notable exception: Asus debuts on our list this year with an SBA score

of 8.8, more than enough to become our second Readers’ Choice. You might think that this has to do with the company’s successful netbook products, but we drilled deeper into the data to see that netbooks accounted for fewer than 50 percent of the responses we received (other popular types of Asus notebooks are the multimedia, mainstream, and value market segments). Asus also kills the NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 55

competition in the likelihood of being recommended, with an SBA of 9.0—a number worthy to stand with Apple’s. The next best brand is Toshiba at an average 8.1.

Last year’s second Readers’ Choice, Lenovo, didn’t make the cut this year. Its score was down only slightly, but Lenovo also fell two confidence levels, going from an SBA of 8.1 in 2008 to a 7.9 this year, a score strictly within the average range.

Lenovo did score better than average in tech support and repairs, both among all laptops and with business laptops, where it was second only to Apple.

There was little dramatic movement in scores for any of the other major players.

Sony did increase its overall score to 8.1, but that’s within the average range compared with all notebooks, whereas last year it earned a BA 8.0.

As we’ve seen before, Dell and Toshiba continue to get good scores in the likelihood of being recommended category, higher than each company’s overall scores, in fact; we attribute this to the strength of these brand names.

At the bottom of the pack this year is HP, with scores that run in tandem with Acer and Gateway. But HP’s 7.7 out of 10 is considered significantly worse than average (SWA), whereas last year it was within in the average. For more information on how we measure these scores, see below.

Taking a closer look at the percentage needing repairs reveals changes for almost every vendor; only Acer held steady at 12 percent. Apple worsened slightly in this category, along with HP, but the biggest jumps were for Lenovo, which dropped from 18 percent to 22 percent, and Dell, which fell from 20 percent to 23 percent (earning it the dubious distinction of highest failure rate of notebooks). Sony, Gateway, and Toshiba all had major improvements here, however, Sony from 18 percent last year and Gateway with 20 percent last year, both down to 12 percent; Toshiba’s failure rates were reported as 13 percent, down from 19 last year. Such significant drops are all well and good, but none of these companies could even touch new entry Asus: Just 6 percent of its products needed repair.

Methodology We e-mailed invitations to PC Magazine readers to take our online survey, hosted by Equation Research. Respondents told us about the technology they personally use at home and at work, and any support or repair incidents they had within the 12 months prior. Respondents were entered into a drawing to win American Express Gift Checks or prizes provided by ThinkGeek. The survey was in the field in two parts during the summer months.

We score only those vendors represented by at least 50 responses about their products; fewer would not allow for statistically valid comparisons. We use a t-test measure on each score on each question against the average of all the scores and determine whether they are significantly different at a 95 percent confidence level.

The t-test considers a company’s score for each measure, the total number of responses for the company on each measure, and the variability of the responses in calculating the confidence interval for each score—the range in which we are 95 percent certain that the score is representative. If the score is more than one confidence interval above or below the average, we state that the score is better than or worse than this average. For more than two confidence intervals above or below, we say that the score is significantly better or worse.

56 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

Notebooks less than a year old, just like desktops of that vintage, always get higher marks. This year is no different, and, in fact, brings us to the highest number among computers: Apple’s SBA 9.5 overall rating for one-year-old MacBooks. Its youthful laptops received a 9.6 in reliability and likelihood to recommend, too. Asus made another fine showing—after barely making the cut in this part of the survey with only 55 responses—with an SBA of 8.9 overall, and a tremendously low percentage of products needing repair: 2 percent. Apple itself was at 5 percent needing repair.

And what’s with Lenovo and Dell? Some 16 percent of their new notebooks needed fixing, according to our readers.

Printers READERS’ CHOICE Canon Ever consistent, Canon once again comes out on top of printers overall and in several printer subcategories.

Brother The come-from-behind vendor of the year jumped ahead in the lineup enough to garner the second Readers’ Choice in printers for 2009.

HP HP is the 400-pound gorilla of printers, considering the sheer number of responses it received, but users also give the company high scores.

C

anon’s middle name is consistent, at least when it comes to how PC Mag readers feel about its printers. The vendor’s overall score has gone up a little, from an SBA of 8.2 in 2008

to an SBA of 8.3 this year. In fact, it had modest gains across the board for printers overall, with a nice jump in its tech support number from a BA of 7.3 last year to a BA of 7.7 this year. That’s more than sufficient to keep the company’s status as Readers’ Choice.

Our second Readers’ Choice is a slight surprise. For the previous two surveys, Brother managed a score of BA 8.0—better than average, but the competition is very tough. That score was usually on par with HP, but HP’s overwhelming response rate in previous years helped it get SBA scores.

This year, Brother surged ahead with an SBA overall score of 8.2 (compared with HP’s SBA 8.0 overall for 3 years running). Brother remains a clear second place to Canon in business printers, home printers, and printers under a year old, as well.

Finally, HP is back in our Readers’ Choice spotlight. Its SBA overall score of 8.0 was nice enough (and in keeping with the company’s high marks last year and the year before), but we felt HP deserved recognition this year for great scores almost across the board, especially a very good showing in printers for the home market, with SBA scores overall (8.0), for reliability (8.3), and in the category of likelihood of being recommended (8.4). The company takes a drubbing most of the time for its tech support, where it is frequently the only vendor that even earns a score (such as with business printers and printers less than a year old).

The big surprise of last year’s survey was Kodak, which burst onto the printer scene NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 57

REPAIRS

PERCENTAGE NEEDING REPAIR

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING RECOMMENDED

—

4% a

8.6 a

—

4% a

8.4 a

6.7

5% a

8.4 a

7.2

—

3% a

8.3 a

8.0

—

—

31% c

7.8

8.1

—

—

8%

7.5

Samsung (196)

7.7

8.1

—

—

2% a

7.9

Xerox (89)

7.7

7.8

—

—

22% c

7.7

Dell (282)

7.5 c

7.8 c

—

—

9%

7.2 d

Lexmark (358)

7.3 d

7.6 d

—

—

5% b

7.4 d

AVERAGE

7.8

8.1

6.6

6.6

7%

7.9

Canon (134 responses)

8.3 b

8.5 b

—

—

7%

8.6 a

Brother (176)

8.2 b

8.6 a

—

—

5% a

8.5 b

Epson (94)

8.2

8.3

—

—

4% b

8.6 b

HP (1,542)

7.9

8.2

6.8

7.2

10%

8.4 a

Lexmark (86)

7.8

7.9

—

—

14%

7.6

Xerox (63)

7.7

7.8

—

—

25% c

7.6 c

Dell (114)

7.5 c

7.7 c

—

—

16%

7.2 c

Samsung (53)

7.5

7.8

—

—

AVERAGE

7.9

8.1

6.8

7.2

Canon (871 responses)

8.3 a

8.6 a

7.4 b

Brother (399)

8.2 b

8.4 b

HP (2,928)

8.0 a

8.3 a

b Better than average

Within the average range

c Worse than average d Significantly worse than average P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

RELIABILITY

7.7 b

a Significantly better than average

OVERALL SCORE†

TECHNICAL SUPPPORT

PRINTERS

ALL PRINTERS Canon (1,005 responses)

8.3 a

8.6 a

Brother (575)

8.2 a

8.5 a

HP (4,470)

8.0 a

8.2 a

6.4 d

Epson (642)

8.0 b

8.3 b

Kodak (65)

8.0

Konica Minolta (51)

—

8.1

BUSINESS

0% a 12%

7.7 8.0

HOME

58 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

— 6.0 d

—

3% a

8.6 a

—

3% a

8.4 b

5.8

3% a

8.4 a

TECHNICAL SUPPPORT

REPAIRS

PERCENTAGE NEEDING REPAIR

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING RECOMMENDED

8.0 b

8.3

—

—

2% a

8.3 b

Kodak (60)

8.0

8.0

—

—

32% d

8.1

Samsung (143)

7.8

8.2

—

—

2% b

7.9

Dell (168)

7.4 c

7.9

—

—

4%

7.2 d

Lexmark (272)

7.1 d

7.5 d

—

—

2% a

7.4 d

AVERAGE

7.9

8.1

6.7

5.8

6%

8.0

Within the average range

c Worse than average d Significantly worse than average P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

RELIABILITY

b Better than average

OVERALL SCORE†

Epson (548)

a Significantly better than average

HOME (continued)

PRINTERS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD Canon (265 responses)

8.5 a

8.7 b

—

—

4%

8.8 a

Brother (163)

8.3

8.7 b

—

—

1% a

8.6

Epson (154)

8.2

8.5

—

—

2% b

8.5

Samsung (58)

8.2

8.7

—

—

0% a

8.4

HP (805)

8.0 c

8.2 d

6.1

—

6%

8.5

Lexmark (84)

7.9

8.2

—

—

0% a

8.0

Dell (58)

7.6

8.3

—

—

AVERAGE

8.1

8.5

6.1

12%

8.0

5%

8.4

* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average. ** 1 confidence interval from the average. † Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this desktop PC?” It is not the average of the other scores in the table.

Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.

A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

and our results for the first time after running advertisements promoting its inexpensive consumables. The company garnered a Readers’ Choice with last year’s response.

Not so this year. Kodak’s overall score went from a BA 8.3 to an average 8.0 this year,

though it did well with home printers, getting a BA 8.0.

Perhaps worse for Kodak, it’s the first company to show a percentage of products needing repairs higher than Xerox does. We’ve never exactly been able to figNOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 59

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING PURCHASED

34% c

8.3

13%

—

9.1 a

Blackberry/Research in Motion (64)

7.9

38% c

—

19%

—

8.0

Motorola (141)

7.6

11% b

—

9%

—

7.6

Samsung (105)

7.3

17%

—

9%

—

7.4

Nokia (117)

7.3

16%

—

11%

—

7.3

Sony Ericsson (55)

7.1 c

20%

—

16%

—

7.0 c

LG (67)

7.0 c

16%

—

12%

—

7.1

AVERAGE

7.6

22%

8.3

13%

—

7.6

Sanyo (55 responses)

7.5

13%

—

11%

—

7.2

Samsung (73)

7.0

21%

—

12%

—

7.2

AVERAGE

7.3

17%

—

12%

—

7.2

Within the average range

c Worse than average d Significantly worse than average P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

REQUIRES REPAIR

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

9.0 a

b Better than average

REQUIRES TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Apple (164 responses)

a Significantly better than average

Overall Score†

REPAIRS

CELLULAR PHONES (By Provider)

AT&T (CONTRACT)

SPRINT (CONTRACT)

ure out why for years running Xerox has had double-digit numbers in this category. Last year it was at 18 percent (and Kodak was at 14 percent). However, this year Xerox’s percentage needing repair went up to only 22; Kodak more than doubled its score to 31 percent. That’s almost one in three Kodak printers needing a fix; a big problem for a company that hasn’t been in the printer business very long.

On the other end of the repair spectrum, if you want printers that don’t need many 60 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

repairs, go with Samsung or Epson.

All that said about Kodak, guess what?

Our readers still gave the company the highest score for satisfaction with the cost of consumables, an SBA 8.9 out of 10. No one else comes close; the next highest is an average 5.9 for Brother. Obviously, Kodak’s campaign on cost of ownership continues to resonate. Readers scored Epson, HP, and Lexmark low when it comes to cost of ink and toner, giving each a significantly worse than average 4.9.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

REPAIRS

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING PURCHASED

40% d

—

18%

—

8.3 b

Verizon Wireless (53)

7.7

19%

—

11%

—

7.9

LG (404)

7.7

12% a

6.5

8% b

—

7.9

Samsung (132)

7.6

11% b

—

8%

—

7.7

Motorola (244)

7.4 c

18%

—

15%

—

7.4 c

AVERAGE

7.7

20%

6.5

12%

—

7.8

7.7

11%

—

1%

—

8.1

REQUIRES REPAIR

REQUIRES TECHNICAL SUPPORT

7.9

Overall Score†

Blackberry/Research in Motion (114 responses)

VERIZON WIRELESS (CONTRACT)

TRACFONE (PREPAID) Motorola (92 responses) * At least 2 confidence intervals from the average. ** 1 confidence interval from the average. † Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this desktop PC?” It is not the average of the other scores in the table.

Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.

A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

In the individual printer types, Canon dominates wherever it plays: ink jets, ink jet allin-ones (AIOs), and photo printers. Brother and HP run neck and neck in monochrome laser printers. HP leads only in one category, color lasers, where the competition (Dell and Samsung) are not exactly household names.

Well, HP also rules color laser AIO printers and photo AIOs, but that’s by virtue of having such a huge market share that it was the only vendor to make the cut in those categories. Its scores there were quite good.

Cellular Phones READERS’ CHOICE Apple Despite its problems, the iPhone is the most beloved phone among our readers—hands down.

O

ur readers’ love affair with the Apple iPhone abides, as it was the only phone brand they rated significantly better than average, making it the clear Readers’ Choice with an NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 61

d Significantly worse than average P roduct name in RED indicates Readers’ Choice.

Coverage within home area

c Worse than average

Technical support

Within the average range

Customer service (not technical support)

Choice of handsets provided

b Better than average

Plan options

OVERALL SCORE†

a Significantly better than average

Fees

CELLULAR SERVICE PROVIDERS

CONTRACT CELL PHONE PROVIDERS Verizon Wireless (1,026 responses)

8.0 a

5.7 d

6.8 d

7.3

7.5 a

7.1

Alltel (88)

7.8

6.4

7.5

6.9

7.0

T-Mobile (189)

7.6

7.2 a

7.7 a

7.2

7.9 a

7.5 b

7.7

AT&T (789)

7.2 d

5.4 d

6.6 d

7.5 a

6.9 c

6.5 c

7.5

Sprint/Nextel (295)

7.1 d

6.3

7.0

7.0

6.7 c

6.1 c

7.4

AVERAGE

7.5

6.2

7.1

7.2

7.2

6.8

7.8

TracFone (153 responses)

7.8 b

7.9 a

8.2 a

6.4

7.1

—

7.9

Verizon Wireless (82)

7.8

5.8 d

6.6 c

6.8

7.3

—

7.8

Virgin Mobile (62)

7.6

7.9 b

8.0 b

6.5

7.5

—

7.9

T-Mobile (60)

7.3

7.7 b

7.4

—

7.7

—

7.3

AT&T (127)

7.1 c

6.2 d

6.8 c

6.9

7.1

—

7.6

AVERAGE

7.5

7.1

7.4

6.6

7.3

—

7.7

—

8.2 a 8.3

PREPAID CELL PHONE PROVIDERS

* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average. ** 1 confidence interval from the average. † Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this desktop PC?” It is not the average of the other scores in the table.

Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.

A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

SBA 9.0 out of 10. Amusingly, the iPhone’s overall score actually went up between 2008 and 2009 despite the fact that its individual ratings for coverage, call quality, and sound quality all went down!

The iPhone didn’t rate spectacularly as a phone, but it received great scores as a messaging device, music player, video player, 62 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

and gaming device.

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry phones also scored well, though not as well as last year, possibly because quite a lot of them required technical support.

For pure voice phones, Samsung models on Verizon Wireless offered the best reliability and voice quality scores. On AT&T,

Likelihood of being recommended

Voice mail

Call quality outside of your home area

Coverage outside of your home area

Call quality within your home area

a

8.1 b

8.3 a

8.1 a

7.9

8.2 a

b

8.3 b

8.0 b

8.1

7.7

8.0

7.8

7.2 c

7.5 c

7.9

7.8

d

7.6 d

7.6

7.6 c

7.8

7.5 c

c

7.6 c

7.3 c

7.5

7.8

7.1 d

7.9

7.7

7.8

7.8

7.7

8.0 b

7.7

7.8

7.7

8.0

7.8

7.9

7.7

7.4

8.0

7.8

7.2

7.4

—

7.7

7.4

7.1

7.3

7.5

7.9

7.5

7.7

7.7

7.7

7.2 c

7.7

7.5

7.6

7.6

7.8

Motorola phones were considered the most reliable, and Nokia devices were recognized for their superior reception and sound quality. But as always, it’s the combination of carrier and manufacturer that matters as much as the manufacturer alone—for example, Motorola’s phones were the lowest-rated on Verizon.

We received fewer than 50 responses from T-Mobile users, which is not enough to draw conclusions about that carrier’s product lines, so they were not included in our survey results.

Cellular Service Providers READERS’ CHOICE Verizon You can probably hear us now if you’re using Verizon Wireless’s network for your voice communications.

TracFone Don’t feel like you have to pay for a multiyear contract. TracFone users are pretty happy with what they get from the company’s bargain-priced service.

O

nce again, “the network”rules.

Verizon Wireless (VZW) triumphed in the area of contract cell phone providers based on the company’s traditional strengths of customer service, coverage, and call quality, which rated either better or significantly better than average on most measures.

Adding to Verizon’s domination of the ratings this year, second place went to Alltel, which Verizon bought and is absorbing.

In the areas of fees and plan options, however, both VZW and AT&T could stand some work, according to our readers. As in previous years, users griped about Verizon’s high rates, but subscribers are clearly willing to pay a little more for the nation’s best cellular network. Besides, the marks readers assign cellular service providers are traditionally NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 63

among the worst on our survey.

Of the other major carriers, Sprint did a little better than it did last year, and AT&T did a little worse; nonetheless both remain at the bottom, with significantly worse than average (SWA) scores. AT&T also scored SWA on coverage and call quality within subscribers’ home areas, with the iPhone’s sole U.S. carrier being buoyed a little by an excellent “choice of handsets provided.”

Perpetual cellar-dweller Sprint has improved somewhat on all measures since 2008, but the company clearly still has a quite a way to go. In particular, it needs to improve in the area of tech support, which readers gave a dreary 6.1 rating.

If you’re looking for cheap and cheerful, you can’t do better than T-Mobile, which scored significantly better than average on fees, plan options, and customer service.

The only downside is the limited network, shown by the company’s worse than average rating on coverage outside users’ home areas.

Lower fees, great coverage, and flexible plan options helped vault TracFone into the lead among prepaid carriers, though it was helped by a decline in Virgin Mobile’s scores for fees and plans from significantly better than average (SBA) to merely better than average (BA). The prepaid offerings from major carriers like Verizon and AT&T rated low on fees and plan options, which also helped TracFone.

Interested in hearing more about the results of our 2009 survey? For the full report, click here.

64 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

The Rest: Our comprehensive readers’ survey included many more products than those discussed in our story. Below are the Readers’ Choice winners of the other categories covered in our survey. And you can find in-depth reports of all of the products by clicking here.

Digital Cameras Nikon The company makes such highquality digital SLR cameras that the love spills over into Nikon’s overall score, putting the popular manufacturer at the top.

Canon Canon plays in almost every subcategory of digital camera. And in almost all of those, this camera giant comes out ahead of the competition.

Game Consoles Nintendo Wii, Wii, Wii, all the way home… and into many a home, it turns out. We had more responses from Wii users than for the other consoles, and no wonder. PC Mag readers adore it.

Sony The PS3 scores great with picture and sound and reliability; overall it’s a big favorite in this survey.

ISPs, GPS and more GPS Devices Garmin The market leader is also the clear leader in GPS satisfaction among readers, who assigned high marks for reliability, map quality, ease of use, and more.

HDTVs Pioneer If you like plasma screens—and apparently, you really do—then Pioneer is the stand-out manufacturer, scoring high for overall reliability, ease of use, and image quality.

Samsung While it makes a few different kinds of HDTVs, Samsung clearly sets the bar in the ultra-popular LCD category.

ISPs: Fiber Verizon The FiOS service is still extremely limited in coverage area, but wow: If you can get that super-speed hook-up, you’ll fall in love with the Internet all over again.

ISPs: Cable Cox Cox squeaks ahead of the competition, winning the Readers’ Choice award for the first time for its cable ISP service.

Portable Media Players Apple Was there any question that the iPod, a name synonymous with handheld media, would propel Apple to another Readers’ Choice? Of course there wasn’t.

Routers Apple That reliability and ease of use that Mac users expect bleeds over into Apple’s AirPort routers, putting the company once again in the Readers’ Choice seat.

Linksys by Cisco Network giant Cisco’s purchase of home-networking market leader Linksys is again justified by the satisfaction PC Mag readers have with its routers.

Voice Over IP Optimum Voice Cablevision’s digital voice service continues to get high marks from PC Mag readers, who found the connection reliable and the sound quality great.

Vonage Stability and consistency appear to be the hallmark of Vonage, at least among the PC Mag readers who use the service. n

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 65

Solutions The Truth About Wi-Fi Routers Dual-band versus single-band, N versus G. What does it all mean?

Here’s what you need to know about Wi-Fi routers before you buy your next one. By Mario Morejon

A

lmost every broadband router destined for the home market these days has Wi-Fi capability. In fact, it’s been ages since we reviewed a router that didn’t include radios for wireless networking. That means you have a ton of choices when it comes to selecting the right router for your home or small business.

How to choose the right one? Well, don’t go by the makers’ advertised speeds, which seldom have much to do with reality. Some vendors go as far as using the “300” megabits-per-second speed in the names of routers that can’t achieve anywhere near that throughput in the real world. Your best bet is to avoid any pitch that tells you about the speed of the router. Instead, you should look at many features that you might need and that might be buried deep down in the feature chart. Fortunately, the market

66 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

is flooded with Wi-Fi routers, so finding a good one is simpler than you might think, if you know what you’re looking for. Here are ten things to consider.

Is 802.11n (N) really that much better than 802.11g (G)?

Yup. Believe it or not, the 802.11g Wi-Fi router, which uses a technology that has been around for seven years, is still popular, especially in the corporate world. Small businesses buy G routers because they are cheaper and perform adequately. Some 802.11g routers include specialized functions that are essential in business, such as powerful policy-based firewalls and threat-management features. But in the home, speed is far more important, and there the 802.11n Wi-Fi router is king. N routers often deliver as much as five times as much throughput as G routers in real-world testing.

70 OFFice/OS Take advantage of Windows 7 Libraries

74 TipS

Find Wi-Fi networks on your iPhone, speed up file deletion in Vista, and more

Are dual-band routers better than single-band routers?

N routers come in two flavors—single-band and dual-band. Single-band routers use the 2.4-GHz band, the same frequency used

by G routers. Dual-band N routers support 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands. Even at 2.4 GHz, N routers are faster than G routers because they make better use of the frequency range in the band, and they’re better at bouncing signals off surrounding surfaces such as furniture and walls. Switching a dual-band N router from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz is like trading a Toyota for a Maserati.

Some routers can achieve as much as 100

Mbps more by switching up. So the answer is an overwhelming yes: Dual-band routers, though generally more expensive, outperform single-band (2.4-GHz) routers.

What about a simultaneous dual-band router?

Simultaneous dual-band N transmission is a recent development used by some manufacturers to simplify switching between bands. Routers with this feature, such as the D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router and the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station 802.11n, transmit the N signal simultaneously in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. By using

recently reviewed: Single-Band Routers Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router WNR3500 $149 direct l l l m m

ASUS RT-N11 EZ Wireless N Router $65 list l l l h m

Although the ASUS RT-N11 EZ Wireless N Router has an impressive array of business features, it falls a little short on performance.

With its repeater functionality, this device might be handy as a second router or a repeater in a large office.

But its mediocre throughput makes it hard to recommend enthusiastically for home or business use.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 67

solutions WI-FI ROUTERS

both frequencies, the routers achieve longer range and better signal strength, and, as you might expect, they don’t require manual switching between bands. Simultaneous dual-band routers are also more efficient in their throughput. Some, such as the DLink DIR-825, can even manage the bands without any input from users. Simultaneous dual-band can help stabilize the overall throughput on your network. These routers are generally more expensive, but worth the extra money if you have it to spend.

Do I need two, three, or four antennas, or maybe hidden ones?

Because the speed in N routers depends heavily on signal bouncing and multiple transmitters and receiver antennas, the ideal antenna configuration is 4 by 4. This means the router has four antennas, each of which has a transmitter and an antenna. Generally, however, most high-end N routers come with a 3-by-2 or 3-by-3 antenna configuration.

While antennas come in all shapes and sizes, most are visible, tubular antennas. Vendors like Apple, Netgear, and Linksys by Cisco have redesigned some antennas so they are hidden from view. During testing, however, I found no noteworthy performance advantages of one antenna design over another.

What is guest access?

Guest access is one of the most useful—and most underrated—features of a wireless router. Routers with guest access, such as the Belkin N+ Wireless Router (F5D8235-4), can separate a Wi-Fi network into two. This 68 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION novemBER 2009

capability allows friends to use your broadband access without knowing the password for your network. You can achieve a similar configuration with routers that support virtual LANs (VLANs), but the steps in setting up multiple VLANs are more difficult.

What is Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)?

Wi-Fi Protected Setup is a standard for securing your laptop with a Wi-Fi router. The technology simplifies the encryption process that users otherwise have to go through to secure a Wi-Fi network. Is the technology simpler to use than the schemes that preceded it? That depends on the laptop and operating system you use. Vista’s Windows Connect Now (WCN), for instance, is compliant with WPS. When WPS does work, it’s a simple process. Getting the configuration to work on laptops that don’t support it (in both software and hardware), however, is quite an ordeal. Should you then look for this feature in a router? No. WPS isn’t essential, and, all too often, some part of your setup won’t be compatible. Still, many N routers offer it; when it works, it’s worthwhile.

How many wired ports do I want?

The more the merrier. While most Wi-Fi N routers come with a standard five-port block, you’ll be surprised by how many don’t—the Apple AirPort Xtreme and Apple Time Capsule, for example, have only four ports apiece. Adding a NAS device, an Xbox 360, a VoIP phone, and a PC will max out a five-port router (the last port connecting to your DLS or cable modem).

recently reviewed: dual-Band Routers

Apple Time Capsule 1TB (A1302)

D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router

$499 direct

$169.99 direct

l l l l m

l l l l h

$112 street

The D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router provides some remarkable capabilities and overall good performance at a very reasonable price.

ll l l m

The Apple Time Capsule 1TB, an unusual combination of a Wi-Fi router and NAS device, gives all-Mac and mixed Windows/Mac networks an effective wireless storage solution.

Is a strong firewall an important feature for a router?

Fortunately, most routers include a firewall, and many use the SPI (stateful packet inspection) firewall, which is considered to be better than the older NAT firewall. A few routers, such as the SMC Barricade N Wireless Broadband Router (SMCWBR14SN2), provide a range of manual settings on a firewall. Are these routers better? Not really. Typically, manual firewall settings are designed for specific usage needs and not for enhancing the overall capability of a firewall. As long as a Wi-Fi router has an SPI firewall, that’s enough for most of us.

Can home routers meet the needs of small businesses?

For the most part, yes, they can. However, sometimes businesses need extra security or technologies that are not available

Linksys by Cisco Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router WRT320N

This is one of the easiest routers to install and manage. A good choice for novice users, professionals, and businesses that have to give remote workers secure access.

in some home routers. A few home routers, such as the SMC Barricade N Wireless Router and the ASUS RT-N11 EZ Wireless N Router, have advanced features, such as 802.1X authentication, routing, and VLANs that make them particularly attractive to small businesses.

What’s the best way to access your router remotely?

Routers like the Netgear WNR3500 support dynamic DNS—as in the Dyndns.org or TZO .com services—and are the best to buy if you want to access your network remotely.

With dynamic DNS, you can gain access by using a domain name like myhomenetwork .net instead of using the IP address provided to you by your ISP. Since ISPs rotate IP addresses, the easiest way to find your network on the Web is by activating a dynamic DNS account in your router. n NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 69

solutions office/OS

Make the Most of Win 7 Libraries Before your new operating system can be useful, you need to understand how it organizes your data. By Neil Randall

W

indows 7 has its share of highly visible user interface tweaks. After getting past the oohs and aahs of the spiffedup taskbar, you’ll likely find the new look of good old Explorer the most dramatic difference. Click the Windows Explorer icon on the taskbar, or open Computer from the Start menu, and you’ll get a window that displays not only the standard expandable hard drive labels but also a new feature called Libraries.

Win 7 Libraries are, in effect, metafolders.

The idea behind them is simple: We have massive hard drives with files scattered all over the place, and organizing our resources by hard drive and folders (which are always tied to a hard drive) is inefficient. Like Vista, Win 7 provides a Favorites system to help with organization—you drag a folder to the Navigation pane, creating a link to that folder—but Libraries carries organization an important level further.

Win 7 ships with four libraries already in place: Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. Of course, Vista and XP included folders called Documents or My Documents, Music the library concept Each library in your Windows 7 system groups similar files that can exist anywhere in your system, or on your network.

70 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

WHERE TO FIND THEM Libraries are just below Favorites on the Navigation pane.

or My Music, and so forth, inside each user profile (and easily accessible from Computer or My Computer), so you might very well ask how Win 7 improves anything here.

The answer is that the folder “My Music” (to use just one example) contains files and subdirectories that reside inside one big directory called My Music—and that folder exists in one specific location on your hard drive. By contrast, the library “Music” in Win 7 contains links to files, and other directories, and other subdirectories anywhere on your system. Think of the security desk in a large building: From one monitor bank you can view camera feeds from any number of locations within the building. This isn’t like metatagging files, which enables Windows to search for them more efficiently

and accurately; it’s telling Windows that it should consider certain, disparate folders as a group. With Win 7 Libraries, you can add as many locations as you want to each library, and when you open that library all locations will be accessible from within it. And to top that all off, if you join multiple PCs in a Win 7 HomeGroup, you can share entire libraries as easily as you can share individual directories or files.

To show how libraries work, I’ll create a brand new one and call it “Archived E-mail.”

Inside it, I want links to all folders on my various hard drives and partitions that contain Outlook data (PST) files I’ve stored over the years. Every time I install a new instance of Windows (beginning way back in the year 2000 or so), I reinstall Office as well, creating a new Outlook data file. I then import my calendar, contacts, and certain folders from the most recent Outlook PST file, but I often leave much of the data in that older file as an archive. In addition, I have numerous smaller archives and backups scattered around.

LIBRARY CONTENTS The list of included items appears in the Library Locations area of the library’s Properties dialog.

NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 71

solutions office/OS

BROWSING THE LIBRARY The detailed view of the newly added library.

This new library will let me collect them all in one place, so that if I need to find that specific e-mail from six years ago, I don’t have to do nearly as much digging.

To create a library, open Explorer, rightclick the Libraries item, and choose New | Library. Name the library what you want— for me it’s Archived Email. Right-click the new folder and choose Properties. Now, click Include a Folder and navigate to a folder you want to make part of this library.

Highlight that folder and click Include Folder; repeat the process for all folders you want to add. The Optimize this Library drop-down menu of the dialog lets you tell Win 7 whether you want to track this library for General Items, Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos; it would be more useful if you could also specify file types, but this is a good start.

72 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

From this point on, Win 7 will track your selected folders and update them automatically in Libraries whenever you change their contents. In and of itself this feature is useful, but Win 7 expands on it by providing a detailed default view of the library. It expands the included folders to show the files and subdirectories within the monitored directories, letting you easily browse for the file or folder you want to open.

You can add locations to the library in several ways. First, you can reopen the library`s Properties dialog and click Include a Folder again. Second, you can use Explorer to browse to a file or folder and right-drag the item to the library’s heading on the Navigation bar, pausing until it bears the caption Create Link in Folder. Third, you can rightclick on any folder and choose Include in Library, selecting the library you want from

BUILD A NEW LIBRARY Create a new location by dragging an item into the library.

the resulting submenu. You can also create a new library by dragging a folder (not a file) to the Libraries heading itself, where Win 7 will prompt you to create the new library.

MANAGE YOUR LIBRARIES Use the Library Locations dialog to make changes to your libraries.

Finally, the various locations can be modified by clicking the link beside the Includes label, which appears at the top right of the Explorer window when you have selected a library. The result is the Library Locations dialog, from which you can Add or Remove additional items.

In my case, by the time I added all of my old Outlook folders to the Archived Email library, I had a list of nine directories containing several subdirectories, all containing one or more PST files. Suddenly, all my old e-mail was accessible to me, should I want to search it or revisit old discussions.

Of course, using libraries to track music files, document files, or all your various Photoshop files might be more helpful for most users, but for me the Libraries feature worked superbly to give me control over a very specific data type. n NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 73

solutions

Tips Useful tidbits from PCMag editorial staff, Labs analysts, and readers vanishing email If you think your e-mail messages are disappearing, they may just be hidden.

E-MAIL

Disappearing E-mail If you’re finding e-mails from your Windows Mail or Outlook Express inbox go missing right after you’ve read them, closed the program, then reopened it, don’t panic. Most likely, the messages are perfectly safe, and you just managed to accidentally change a setting in Windows Mail that hides messages once you’ve read them. It’s easy enough to fix. From the menu, select View | Current View; you’ll see that Hide Read Messages is checked. Click Show All Messages and the problem is solved.

Both OE and Windows Mail can optionally display a toolbar whose sole purpose is to manage hiding or showing already-read messages, but that seems a bit unnecessary 74 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009

for a setting that’s rarely changed. —Neil J. Rubenking iPHONE

Find Wi-Fi Networks on your iPhone If you have an iPhone, you don’t need a separate dongle to find an open wireless connection for your laptop. Simply take out your iPhone, tap Settings, select WiFi, then open Choose a network to see which WiFi networks are available wherever you are.

This trick is perfect for checking to see if it’s worth hauling out and booting up your laptop in your local library or coffee shop, or for checking whether your home network is visible from that corner of the garage or basement where you’re considering moving your desktop.

Want to find the nearest wireless access point wherever you are? Try searching for “wifi” in the Maps application. Google will plot the nearest hot spots around your location based on the GPS (or cell-phone tower location).—Logan Kugler VISTA

Speed Up File Deletion in Vista When you drag a file to the Recycle Bin, does it sometimes take 30 to 45 seconds to complete the process? A feature in Vista has been causing this problem for some, even though it shouldn’t. Remote Differential Compression attempts to moderate bandwidth when copying files across the

network. It looks to see if the file is already present in the target location and, if that’s the case, analyzes whether it can get away with just transmitting the changes without copying the whole file again. Apparently this feature is not implemented very well and can slow file transfers rather than speed them. Of course the Recycle Bin is not a network destination, but it can be affected regardless.

Simply turn off Remote Differential Compression. Launch Programs and Features from Control Panel and select Turn Windows features on or off. Find Remote Differential Compression in the list, uncheck its check box, and click OK. You may need to reboot for changes to take effect.—NJR

Laptops. MP3 Players. Digitized Baseball Bats. There’s a Tech Gift for Everyone.

Holiday Gift Guide 2009

Bes

Editors’ Choices in Key Categories For the complete reviews of these products and more Editors’ Choices check out go.pcmag.com/editorschoice

sTORAGE

Desktops mainstream

Portable

HP Pavilion Elite m9400t

Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Drive $319 list

$843 list Budget/Value

HP Compaq Presario CQ5110f $699 list

Dell Inspiron 545 $899 list

Clickfree HD325 $180 list Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive Mac Edition (500GB) $150 list desktop

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-975) $8,240 direct

Western Digital MyBook Studio Edition II $430 list

all-in-one

Apple iMac (Nvidia GeForce 9400M) $799 list Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 $799 direct business

network-attached storage NEW Western Digital WD n

ShareSpace 4TB, $799.99 list LCD Monitors

Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP $689 direct

Acer B273HU $409 list

Laptops & Notebooks

SCANNERS

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch

Epson Perfection V300 Photo $99.99 direct

$1,199 direct gaming

projectors

Alienware M17x $4,850 direct

Canon Realis X700 $2,500 list

Multimedia

NEC VT800 $1,000 street

HP HDX16t $1,790 direct

Gadgets

Acer Aspire 6930G-6723

Amazon Kindle 2 $359 direct

Dell Studio 1555 (USE006CS)

Printers

$799 list netbook

Toshiba mini NB205 $400 street business

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 $1,580 direct budget

HP Pavilion dv2800t $1,049 direct

Acer Aspire 3935 $900 street

Netgear XAVB101 $130 street SMC SMCGS8P $300 street CloudEngines Pogoplug $99 direct

Windows Server 2008 R2 Free with Server 2008 license

Cisco Network Magic Pro 5.5 $39.99 direct HDTVs plasma

Vizio VP505XVT $1,499.99 list LCD

Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U $2,099.99 direct

Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 $3,999.99 list

Samsung LN52A750 $3,999 list OLED

Sony XEL-1 OLED Digital TV $2,499.99 list

Digital Cameras

Dell M109S $499 direct

Desktop Replacement

$1,020 street

networking

HP LP2275w $349 direct

Lenovo ThinkCentre M58p Eco Ultra Small $1,089 direct

mainstream

HP Photosmart A636 Compact Photo Printer $149.99 direct

Spiceworks 3.5 Free

gaming/ Multimedia

Dell Studio XPS 435 $1,769 direct

Photo Printer

monochrome laser

compact

Canon PowerShot SD970 IS $379.99 list D-SLR

Nikon D300 $1,800 street

Konica Minolta magicolor 1600W $180 street

Canon EOS Rebel T1i

color laser

superzoom

Xerox Phaser 7500/DN $3,299.99 direct standard inkjet NEW Epson Stylus NX515 n

$149.99 direct

Epson WorkForce 310 All-In-One $129.99 direct

76 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION november 2009

$899.99 list

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 $399.95 list

Digital Video Cameras Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera $299.99 direct

Sony HDR-SR11 $1,099.99 direct

est Digital Photo & Video

Cell phones

iphone apps

Multimedia suite

Alltel

Adobe Creative Suite 3

RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330

$999 direct

From $229.99 with contract AT&T

CyberLink DVD Suite 7 Ultra

Apple iPhone 3G S

photo editing

n Adobe Photoshop NEW

Elements 8 $99.99 direct

Picasa 3 (beta) Free digital photo frame

Sony VAIO VGF-CP1 $299 list portable media Players Microsoft Zune 120GB $249 list

ENTERTAINMENT

From $99 with contract

LG Xenon GR500 $99 direct Sprint

(3rd generation) 8GB,

$199 direct

$199.99 with contract

(5th generation) 16GB, Speakers/Docks

Samsung Memoir SGH-t929 $299 direct

Hercules XPS 2.1 Lounge $60 street

Logitech Pure-Fi Dream $200 direct

media extenders Sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct Slingbox PRO-HD $299 list Gaming consoles Sony PlayStation 3 120GB (PS3 Slim) $299.99 direct GPS Devices Garmin nüvi 265T $279.99 list TomTom One 140-S $199.95 list

MLB 09: The Show $59.99 list NEW iTunes 9 Free n

Verizon Wireless

RIM BlackBerry Tour 9630

security password protection

LastPass 1.5 Free

unlocked

antimalware

Nokia N82 $629 direct

Prevx 3.0 $29.95 direct per year

Headsets

antivirus

Aliph New Jawbone $129.99 list Plantronics Voyager Pro

Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware 6.0 $39.95 direct Suite

$99.99 list

NEW Altec Lansing Mix iMT800 n

$299.95 direct

Rhapsody From $12.99 per month Apple iLife ’09 $79 direct

T-Mobile

NEW Apple iPod nano n

$179 direct

Pandora (for iPhone) Free Slacker Free

BlackBerry Tour 9630

$269.99 direct

n Apple iPod touch NEW

Stanza Free Photogene $2.99 direct

VIDEO-Editing SOFTWARE

$129.95 direct

Air Sharing $6.99 direct

NEW Norton Internet Security n

2010 3 licenses, $69.99 yearly

headphones

Norton 360 version 3.0

Klipsch Image S4i

$69.99 yearly

$99.99 direct

3G network adapters

Net Nanny 6.0 $39.99 yearly Backup

sprint

Sierra Wireless 598U

SOS Online Backup (beta)

$249.99 list

$19.95 direct

Office & productivity Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro $449 direct QuickBase $250 direct per month Skype 4.0 Free Ipswitch Imail Server Premium v10 25 licenses, $1,195 direct Citrix GoToAssist Express

Dropbox 2GB, free; 50GB, $9.95 monthly

Financial QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9 $3,000 direct Quicken Home & Business 2009 $79.99 direct

$69 direct per month

Mint.com (Winter 2009) Free

Adobe Illustrator CS4

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 Free

$599 direct

november 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 77