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Hardware Bytes 110

Posted by michael from the if-santa-didn't-come-through-for-you dept.
Zygo writes "Hey everyone Merry Christmas! (Yes I'm a bit too late) Here's some Hardware & Modding news! : At WinHQ the Xoxide X450 Case, Some pretty Cold Cathode lights over here, nice MX mouses at LANParty, At ClubOC the Swiftech MCX462+T, Some shocking Shockwave Fangrills over at ExtensionTech, Playing Mp3 with the iRock 530 here, a Big cooler here, OCIA brings you the Solarism LM-1711 17" LCD screen, Vantecs Fan Controller at ExtremeMHz, and a 8x GF4 Ti4200 at Viper's Lair"
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  • Google already reported this (Score:4, Insightful)

    by slycer9 ( 264565 ) on Saturday December 28, 2002 @02:22PM (#4972856) Journal
    Just look under the 'results' file under searches for the aforementioned parts. Seriously tho', I know this'll likely be modded down as flamebait, but I fail to see how this qualifies as 'news'...advertisements yes, news, no.

  • hmmm ... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SuperDuG ( 134989 ) <<kt.celce> <ta> <eb>> on Saturday December 28, 2002 @02:27PM (#4972880) Homepage Journal
    Okay maybe it's just me, but I've always been a firm believer with it's what's on the inside that counts. You can put a pretty case on anything, but if you don't know how to use the damned thing, then what's the point.

    This isn't reserved for case modders only ...

    Works for the following:
    - Signifigant others (would you like someone with wonderful qualities that complement you, or do you want someone all your friends are going to be trying to get in the pants of)
    - Cars (Just because you throw a sticker on a car with some fart can exhaust pipe doesn't make it fast! The fast and the furious (get this ...) it was a movie!)
    - Homes (Adding cool rock gardens or other landscaping won't change your neighborhood or your massive termite problem)

    I have always been a firm believer of judge what's inside as looks can always be deceiving. But here we are, promoting outer beauty yet again.

    ... obviously even geeks love the five minuntes of fame and to be looked up to, even if it is only by their peers for a paint job ...

    • Re:hmmm ... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Signifigant others (would you like someone with wonderful qualities that complement you, or do you want someone all your friends are going to be trying to get in the pants of)

      This example is a little abstract, but personally I'd like a girl with both qualities. A nice plain-looking girl does about the same for me as a sexy airhead that you can't talk to for five minutes.

      Cars (Just because you throw a sticker on a car with some fart can exhaust pipe doesn't make it fast! The fast and the furious (get this ...) it was a movie!)

      Nothing wrong with a nice-looking car, since most of them all do the same thing in the same way. I'm not talking about Type-R rice-rockets here, but there's nothing wrong with choosing your car by its looks or making some changes to suit your personality.

      Homes (Adding cool rock gardens or other landscaping won't change your neighborhood or your massive termite problem)

      A beautiful place to live makes you a happier person. There's not much in life as intimately entangled with your being as the places you spend your time in. Since most of us work in shitty ugly buildings, the home is even more important. I'd love to have a rock garden and nice landscaping. Who cares about the neighbors. But yeah, get that termite problem fixed before buying any rocks.

      Really, case modding is cool, and although most of them are pointless, every once in a while I see one that makes me go "wow.. I wish I had that on my desk, just so I could look at it each day".

    • How can something be efficient if you don't like the way it looks? Granted, the design/shape/colour of your computer's case really doesn't have effect on the way it runs (generally speaking, of course; i'm not talking about adding fans/cutting holes/other stuff that could affect performance), some people just aren't satisfied until they've got something looking the way they like it. There are those of us that are very... artistic... i guess, and mixing your two favourite things, computers and art (i guess you could call it), is not only fun, but, in some cases, functional.

      I realise this isn't the point of the article, but by your logic, i should leave Windows looking like... this [skylagoon.com]. Ignoring the fact that that's a fucking gigantic image (and the fact that there are some Slashdotters that will no doubt feel the urge to reply with "use lunax u fag0rt!!!!11")... that is a MAJOR distraction to me (and most other people, it seems). So, i go about modifying it so it looks like this [skylagoon.com]. :D </selfpromotion>

  • Time for a 'casemodding' section. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Brightest Light ( 552357 ) on Saturday December 28, 2002 @02:27PM (#4972881) Journal
    Im pretty sure my karma is going to take a dive for this one, but i dont think im the only person to think that its time to put stuff like this off in another category. I think it would be safe to say that the majority of slashdotters are tired of seeing 'articles' that are basically advertisements for casemod stuff. I, for one, would like to be able to block this out, i dont believe that cold cathode lights qualify as 'hardware', really.

    *kisses karma goodbye* just my 2 cents

    • Even though I allow pretty much all stories, I agree. People have been requesting this for a long time and I can't see where it would hurt. Some people are real into this stuff, some people can't stand it. There's enough of a divided opinion to validate asking for its own section. As a suggestion, send an email instead of bitching in the comments - they might actually hear you that way.

  • Quickies (off topic) (Score:3)

    by brejc8 ( 223089 ) on Saturday December 28, 2002 @02:32PM (#4972895) Homepage Journal
    What happened to the quickies?
    I want them back.
    They were great news and cool stuff nibbits.

  • Its hardware BITS! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A byte is 8 bits and a byte means 256 in base-2. There is only 9 b10 objects here so that means there is 1001 b2 hardware objects here, which is 4 bits.

    So this means there are 1001 hardware bits.

  • xoxide rocks (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by squarefish ( 561836 )
    why not link directly to their site? [xoxide.com]

  • hardware review sites are practically scams (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 28, 2002 @02:53PM (#4972947)
    Please stop accepting stories that link to these 'review sites'- they're nothing more than mouthpieces for the companies hawking all sorts of trash. Just witness insights such as:

    "Generally, CPU nowadays generates bigger and faster cycle-speed."

    Direct quote there, folks. Most of these sites seem to have reviewers equipped with the grammar skills of a middle school student.

    Notice also the banners advertising products from the same company(Zalman); hardware review sites are totally shameless when it comes to advertising and even selling what they review. The term "journalistic integrity" is not even in their (limited) vocabulary.

    Even if they don't sell advertising for the product(or the product itself), they blatantly suck up to companies, just like certain digital camera review sites. Why? Because there are 5 billion review sites, and if they don't gloat about the product, the manufacturer won't ever send them a product again(nor is another manufacturer likely to take the risk.) If they don't get sent products to review, they don't HAVE anything to review because none of the "sites"(ie, some teenager and his 4 friends, or some unemployed guy) have money.

    If they don't have anything to review(or, if they don't have the latest/hottest item), they don't get visits to their sites. That means no ad revenue...and that means they go out of "business".

    Same thing happens in the automotive world, the consumer electronics world(ever notice stereo review magazine writers seem to have a LOT of VERY expensive toys that they own?), movie reviews, etc. It's all just a game to see who can do the best job of sucking up to the biggest audience to get the best perks from the companies.

    I haven't trusted reviewers for about 4 years now...

    • Re:hardware review sites are practically scams (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Ponty ( 15710 ) <awc2@buyclam s o n l ine.com> on Saturday December 28, 2002 @03:10PM (#4972989) Homepage
      Thank you! What is it about hardware review sites that are written by people who sound like they're struggling to present each sentence. I know a lot of them are written by people for whom English isn't their native language, and this is not directed at them. I'm bitching about the people who are just plain dumb. This quote is from the LCD panel review:
      "Image quality was excellent using the analog cable, which lead me to believe things could only get better with DVI. Sadly enough, I was wrong. I had the opportunity to test the monitor using a Radeon 7500 that supported both analog and DVI. Using the analog with the 7500, the overall picture quality was poor at best. Switching to DVI fixed this, giving image quality equal to that of the GF3 using the analog cable. This confused me greatly. I was under the impression that DVI was a step above analog."

      Uh...unless I'm reading this totally incorrectly, this guy is a moron. That and it sounds like he's trying very very hard to sound intelligent. I have absolutely no faith in this guy's ability to come up with a single thing worth reading about an LCD display.
    • They might be reviewing the items that their sponsers (you know, the people that have banners) give them.
    • Supporting evidence of teenager and his 4 friends from the 8x GF4 Review:

      Unfortunately, my motherboard does not support an 8X AGP bus, I will only be able to test this card as if it was a 4X AGP card with 128 Mb of RAM.

      The only difference between this new card and the old Ti 4200 that they just 'benchmarked' 3 months ago is AGP 8x vs 4x. So because the fastest computer they had in their garage only supports AGP 4x, this really was an absolute waste of my time.

      So I'd post the link to the first review of the same card, except that nothing on that site is worth a dime.


    • I've said it before on this forum; Consumer Reports [consumerreports.com]

      The only problem with them (probably only a problem to slashdotters) is that they don't do in-depth computer hardware reviews; general computer reviews are about all you get.

      and no... I'm not affiliated with them in any way, aside from being a happy subscriber. They accept no advertisements at all, and are entirely member-supported. If something sucks, they say so... an invaluable service for those of you that don't like throwing your money away.
    • I wholeheartedly agree! When I want to read about a new piece of hardware, I do not want to read a "20 page review" because of the site pimping whatever their "sponsors" want them to pimp. Never mind the hardware sites that use babes, bimbos, and porn stars to get your attention. If those sites need that much help, they have some real problems with their audience! Also the quality of the reviews is questionable, the LCD monitor review is nothing more than "see how much space it saves and the "quality" of playing a game"! I want to know about color quality using standards like Pantone and CIE (I am sure the reviewer has never heard of either). And for someone who says in the review "If you do not know how to install a monitor, you shouldn't be reading this." take a look at the shot of his desktop with all the icons on it. Obviously he does not know how to move anything to the Task Bar and he really doesn't know much about Windows! The last "real" review I read was for the Albatron motherboard at www.overclockers.com (not a plug for their site). They used professional test equipment to determine points of failure with power, memory, adn CPU (not that I am an overclocker but it was interesting). Unfortunately there are too few sites that really test equipment, other than the "standard benchmarks". Maybe someday they will get it, more than likely they won't.
    • I agree as well. Let's not forget gems like this one:

      The X450 has a very nice brushed aluminum surface with rounded edges and other features that seem to say "bling".

      Please, if you're going to do reviews, adopt a tone of professionalism -- it lends more credibility to what you have to say.

      And for the love of God, we're tired of articles broken into many pages! I realize you sell more banner hits that way, but when you get to the point of one paragraph per "page", it's just ridiculous.

  • yeah RIGHT (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I won't go over that issue here but I would like to state neither I nor Inside-hardware condone or approve the use of peer-to-peer file sharing.

    Either this guy is a little dense or he's lying through his teeth.

    Peer-to-peer file sharing is not immoral or illegal, it's only certain files (and I'd say that's just illegal, not immoral).

    Personaly, I'm going to take a stand against CD-R's. I don't condone the use of CD-Rs or burners.

    feh.

  • Its weird, I just went out yesterday and bought the MX 700 which is in the review. Personally I give the overall higher. Yes, it is more expensive, but I say well worth it. I have no problems with it. And with the right configuration in it, I got almost (all but the task-switching button) to work with Linux (Gnome 2/XFree86). I would really recommend it. If anyone does get this mouse, and they want my config for it, let me know I will send it.

  • Logitech leaving out us Lefties! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thesolo ( 131008 ) <slap@fighttheriaa.org> on Saturday December 28, 2002 @03:04PM (#4972977) Homepage
    That new Logitech MX 500 Optical mouse looks beautiful, but I won't be buying one. Unfortunately (and this isn't just logitech), us lefties are left out of the mouse market, no pun intended! Mice that are designed for right-handed users are just shy of worthless for us.

    What's the point of having quick launch thumb buttons, when the mouse is designed for a right-handed user? Those buttons would be worthless to me, and the mouse becomes counter-intuitive to use. There seems to also be more of a push towards right hand contoured mice; I can barely even find decent symmetrical optical mice anymore (besides Logitech's low-quality offerings)!

    I'm sick of this! Does anyone know of any good optical mice that are either symmetrical or come in a left-handed model?

    • Re:Logitech leaving out us Lefties! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Hear, hear! I would love to have an MX-700 mouse of theirs, but noooooooo, they can't make a left-handed or physically-symmetrical version so I can use it.

      Years ago, Logitech used to be good about making left and right handed models of all their mice. Now they're just cheap and don't care about ignoring a significant number of people who are dying to give them money for a product they refuse to make.

      Funny how the righties just scoff at us, like becoming adept at mousing with the 'wrong' hand is so easy. Oh, yeah? Let's see YOU try it! It may be possible, but it does not feel right.

      Imagine the stink if Logitech suddenly decided that they would no longer make mice for non-caucasian people because most computer users are caucasian (I doubt this is true, it's just an example). Discrimination is discrimination.
    • I always hated mice, then I got one of these [comparestoreprices.co.uk] for a laptop. What a revelation, I find small mice much more comfortable than the more usual rat sized things. You can rest the heel of your hand on the desk, and manipulate the mouse between your thumb and pinkie. No more stiff shoulders after gaming sessions. These rodents are solidly built and reasonably priced. I now have one on every machine I use.
    • That pretty much leaves me with the Microsoft optical wheel mouse as my choice. My Logi cordless sits in a crate somewhere.

      It isn't just you lefties that are getting shafted. Many of us righties use our meeces with both hands as the work demands.

      KFG
    • I got for christmas this Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse Blue.

      Sweetest mouse I ever used.
    • Have you thought of the logistics involved in this? Mfg's would have two designs for each model of mouse that supports this. Not to mention, packaging would have to be different to alert the user that it is either right OR left. Not to mention, vendors would find this to be a headache...trying to figure out how many models of left vs. right to keep in stock at times. And think about the return rate on these mice because of people not reading the label stating that this mouse is for lefties only.

      And speaking of that, I know a couple of lefties and they use their right hand for mousing....what's wrong with you? ;) j/k
      • Have you thought of the logistics involved in this? Mfg's would have two designs for each model of mouse that supports this.

        It is not a logistical nightmare, it's been done before. Logitech used to have most if not all of their "-handed" mice in versions for lefties and righties-- up until the early to mid 1990's. I don't remember if they did this, but I would think just an "R" or "L" somewhere in the part number would take care of the problem of telling them apart for inventory management.

        A nice, obvious "LEFT HANDED" or "RIGHT HANDED" sticker on the box should take care of most of the retarded-customer issues (but there will always be a few lunkheads who don't notice the sticker).

        Since lefties are about 10% of the population, vendors would simply order about 1/10 as many lefty mice as righty, and everyone would be happy.

        I would imagine Logitech doesn't make two version of their mice anymore for the same reason you can't find a [Logitech-made] OS X driver for any of their webcams... they've gotten cheap and lazy and don't want to serve everyone-- just the lowest common denominator (righties and Windows users).

        ~Philly
      • Yes they neeed new dies, however the cad program that is used to generate the dies they use today can just as easily generate dies for both left and right hands.

        Sounds to me a bit like the response given to one OS/2 user when he asked for support. "Our analysis shows no demand for the product in question, and we wish all you people would stop bothering us about it!"
    • A quick google search reveals the MX300, a mouse based on Logitech's ambidextrous mouse design. Check it out, I have one and I use my leg as a mousing surface without any trouble (and it tracks over my keyboard and other odd surfaces too). http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?page=products/de tails&CRID=3&CONTENTID=4997&countryid=19&languagei d=1 [logitech.com]
    • Too many buttons. =(

      I've actually held and tried the Logitech MX500 mouse and frankly, there are just too many buttons on the mouse to press, which can cause no end of confusion unless you have a really good idea how to use the supplied Mouseware software. Does anyone remember Logitech's bizzare Marble F/X trackball mouse? That thing confused the heck out of me figuring out how to use it correctly. (frown)

      One thing I like about Microsoft's and Logitech's lesser optical mouse pointers is that you only have the scroll wheel and two buttons to deal with, which makes acclimating yourself to the pointer much easier.
      • "held and tried" for 5 seconds? I've owned a Logitech MX 500 mouse for 3 days and have already become adept at using all of the extra buttons. There is a total of 5 non-standard buttons, each button in a distinct (but comfortable) location with a discernable shape. Using the Mouseware software to find out what the buttons do isn't exactly rocket science- the first thing you see when you start it is a page showing a labeled picture of the mouse with each function listed. They're also listed on the back of the box and in the manual.

        Also, you don't need to use the extra buttons. All of the standard left/middle/right buttons are in their standard locations. Your hand can easily be positioned to ignore the additional buttons. If you can't figure out the additional buttons, there's nothing stopping you from "acclimating" yourself to the common parts of the mouse. For the user who has a slight ability to learn though there are the very useful extra buttons.
        • I agree with your assessments if you're an experienced computer user, but for the less-knowledgeable user all those buttons on the Logitech MX500 mouse are just overkill.

          For the vast majority of users, a two-button mouse with scroll wheel is more than enough for general everyday use.

          In my personal opinion, the most important thing to be added to a mouse pointer is the scroll wheel, which makes up-down navigation of a long document or web page much easier.
    • I asked my left handed friend why he doesn't use a left handed mouse. He said he's always used his right hand and while he can use his left it feels wierd.

      So.. he might not be sick of this.

      Also Logitech Mice don't suck, I've been using thier mice for quite a few years (as well as microsoft and about a jillion no name brands) and I have to say I'm quite fond of most of thier products. They even had a very nice countoured mouse with thumb buttons that had a rubber grip to top the entire thing off. But of course, it was right hand only so you might not have been aware of it.

      *kissing my karma good bye*

  • Yep (Score:1)

    by Xacid ( 560407 )
    Gotta love dem nice mouses. I just loooove meeses to pieces (old cartoon show, if you've seen it, you'd know) :p

  • Anonymous Cowards (Score:1, Interesting)

    by slycer9 ( 264565 )
    Go ahead and mod me down for this, guess I'm burning Karma today...
    Anyone besides me getting tired of all the AC bitch posts? I'm not talking about the obligatory, AllYourBaseInSovietRussiaImagineBeowulfClustersOfG oatse.cx posts, I'm talking about all the bitchbitchbitch posts from otherwise possibly intelligent folks who use the AC button to hide behind the I'net's anonymity. Jesus, I thought for a while that /. was somewhat above all that carp. You've got a login/voice...use it, if you know you're going to burn Karma, so what!? It's not red blood cells people. It's honestly gotten to the point where I auto-filter out all the AC's I can, sadly tho', some of them make valid/good posts. It's gotten to the point where I'm ready to see Taco and the Gang (wasn't that the band that went up on the space shuttle recently?) remove the option to post anonymously...it's been abused to the point that it's now useless. No one uses it for good anymore. If you've got something to say, use your login, if you don't want to login/use login, piss off. We don't need nor want you here. MODS: GO AHEAD AND DO YOUR WORST. (Karma to burn today.)

  • LANParty... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Kunta Kinte ( 323399 ) on Saturday December 28, 2002 @03:34PM (#4973054) Journal
    Kunta's rule to partying...

    If it doesn't have chicks and beer, then it's not a party.

    "LANGathering" maybe, or "LANGet-together" why not, but I'm sorry it's not a party.

    The geek subculture is cool and all but still.

    Although strictly speaking it is a "party" I'd say the name should be changed lest some poor soul wonders into one of those things expecting to get laid.

    • You've obviously never spiked the Jolt with Ex...
    • I completely agree, except for the fact that I have thrown a number of LAN parties that had both chicks and beer, infact almost everyone of my LAN parties have had both of the above noted party items. but in my humble opinion, I believe that LAN parties without the above noted items should be called "Sleep Optional Gatherings".
    • Dude, every LAN Party I've been to has had copious amounts of beer, weed, shrooms, etc. We turn counterstrike into a drinking game. Your team wins, you take a shot. This tends to even out the skill, plus get you drunk really quick. True, this doesn't solve the women thing, but I personally don't care, just think of LAN parties as a tech-age version of poker night. Most of us have girlfriends anyway, and they don't care how shitfaced we get because there's no "competition" there. I do realize this isn't true for about 99% of slashdot's readers (the closest they've come to sex is circle-jerking with their LAN party buddies) but it's not true for everyone.
  • "Generally, CPU nowadays generates bigger and faster cycle-speed. From MHz to GHz, they have one thing in common, that is they produced a great amount of heat! Heatsink Companies correspond to this issue and are striving to produce a heatsink that could provide an adequate cooling while maintain the noise level as low as possible. One such company is Zalman, a company that strives to provide low noise, high performance heatsink with their very own patent, Computer Noise Prevention System and in short CNPS."
    That has to be the worst paragraph I've read yet. Please people - learn to write right :).
  • mopeds.

    I don't know about anyone else, but when the author of the mp3 player review claims to be an mp3 user on the one hand, and then later claims to be an audiophile on the other hand...he kinda lost me.

    Either you are an audiophile, OR you like mp3. I wonder if this guy has 5Watt altec lansing speakers hooked up to his Onkyo amp at home.
  • Is it really so hard?

    The plural of mouse is mice!!!
  • Hoo boy, the reviewer over at LANParty has really been around...

    Since the introduction of optical mouse a couple of years ago, the technology has evolved many times already...

    I had an optical mouse on my '286 - that would be back in '88 or '89, I think. It needed a goofy mousepad with gridlines on it, but just like the ones today, it didn't get gunked up and it worked pretty well. It's pretty pathetic to hear these "veterans" speak about hardware like they's seen a lot. Probably some snot-nosed 17-year-old who thinks Linus invented Unix a few years back...

    -HL

  • You people make too many generalizations. I wrote the Xoxide X450 case....here are my replies to many of your comments... 1) Why do you break up your articles? Like many people here, I do not enjoy excessive scrolling. No, I do not get more ad clicks from creating multiple pages. This is solely for ease of use. 2) You're in it for the money. What money? I haven't made a dime off of WinHQ. 3) You're in it for the review samples. If I was in it for the review samples, I would have many more reviews than I currently have. I mostly give away my free gear in contests and to friends. 4) You're in it for the ad clicks. This is closely associated with question #2. The only reason why I have ads is because I need to post them in order to receive samples. No samples==no review content. If you look at the ad URLs it does not link to any tracking system. The ad at the top of my site pays for the web hosting. I have and will continue to try to keep the amount of advertising to a minimum. 5) There are so many tech sites! Yes, there are indeed many tech sites. About 50% of them are pure shit. They are definitely in it for the sponsors and their reviews are filled with an absurd amount of grammar/spelling errors. I strive to not make my site like that. I started my site not even knowing the concept of free hardware, so why would my site have its foundation on free hardware? About the "bling" comment. I try to keep my site a little bit laid back, this is not a magazine.
  • Sorry about the format of the text, I didn't realize this comment system supported HTML. :(
  • It may be the "lower end" model to granny and pops, who think the 37 buttons on the MX700&500 are neat (not to mention the "oo, shiny"-factor), but for gaming, this is IMHO the best mouse on the market.

    For gaming, three buttons + wheel is more than enough. It is simply impossible to maintain precise control of the mouse while using all of those buttons. If you look a foot to the left of your mouse, you'll find you have another hand as well, and a keyboard with over a hundred keys.

    And wireless just doesn't cut it for gaming other than minesweeper and solitaire. The hassle of using a cable mouse is nothing compared to the lag and the weight of the batteries on a wireless mouse.

    Another factor is the shape. The shape of the MX300 is the same as the Pilot wheel mouse, which is arguably one of the best ball mouse ever made. It is perfectly symmetrical as well, and should work just as well for you lefties as for the rest of us.

    If you intend to use your rodent for playing games, I suggest you stay clear of the MX700, and take a look at the MX300. For the difference in price, you'll get a good mat as well, which will improve your gaming experience much more than the extra buttons.
  • An older student came to Otis and said, "I have been to see a
    great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures.
    I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment.
    I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but
    I have not been enlightened. What should I do?"
    Otis replied, "Give up suffering."
    -- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters"

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...

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