PC Pro - December 2012

WorldMagsLi.nunx deisttros LABSFedora horizontal scrolling. There’s Windows-style applicationA slick, modern distribution that rivals Ubuntu for ease of use if not overall polish; snapping, which works in preciselyits unusual user interface may not suit everyone, though the same way as it does in Windows: you either drag❱❱ VERSION 17 Beefy Miracle top-left corner of the screen, or modern system that’s attractive windows to the top and sides of (Gnome 3 desktop) click the Activities icon in the and powerful all at once. the screen to dock them in place, same location. This launches, via or use the Windows key and the❱❱ WEBSITE www.fedoraproject.org a smoothly animated transition, Traditionalists may moan, but up, down, left and right cursor a helicopter view of apps open on Fedora doesn’t leave them out. For keys together.F edora is a distribution that’s the current desktop, a launcher a more conservative approach, you been around for a very menu on the left, and a pop-out can download officially sanctioned Software installation, long time. It was officially desktop navigator to the right. versions that are preconfigured meanwhile, is taken care of bylaunched in 2004, but existed There’s also a pair of buttons with the heavyweight KDE desktop the system’s own PackageKitbefore that date under the Red here that lets you switch between manager; there are lightweight installer using RPM packages.Hat moniker, and has actually this app view and a scrolling, LXDE and Xfce versions as well. This isn’t blessed with the mostbeen going for more than 17 years. iOS-style app launcher, plus a user-friendly of front-ends – search box generating results as Other slick touches include we’d prefer to see a little more Plenty has changed in the you type. It’s a thoroughly out-of-the-box multitouch support description next to individualworld of desktop OSes during that on our test laptop, allowing entries. It isn’t a patch ontime, and it’s refreshing to see that two-fingered vertical and the Ubuntu Software Centre, butFedora hasn’t been left behind. In at least it works efficiently, andits default guise, Fedora 17 (aka there’s plenty of software fromBeefy Miracle) runs the Gnome 3 which to choose.desktop system, but its offering isdifferent to an average icon-strewn One annoyance is that theLinux or Windows desktop. Flash player and media codecs aren’t preinstalled, and the In fact, you might be surprised software complement has ato find that you can’t drop couple of weird holes, with noshortcut icons on the Fedora major office suite or photo-editingdesktop at all. When the system package preinstalled. However,boots, you’re faced with a blank it’s easy enough to hunt downdesktop that has a minimalist LibreOffice and The GIMP, andstatus bar running along the top. install them via the packageThis doesn’t change until you manager. The applications thatshunt the mouse cursor into the have been preinstalled are MAIN CONTRIBUTORS good choices, too – Firefox, Rhythmbox for music playback, Jonathan Bray Evolution for email, Nautilus for file browsing and the Totem video player. Generally, it’s tough to criticise Fedora. It’s at least as strong as Ubuntu in terms of ease of use, and its hardware support seems to be pretty sound. It’s marred by a lack of preinstalled codecs and odd software omissions, but it’s still well worth giving a try. The helicopter view shows thumbnails of currently open windows OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ EASE OF USE FEATURES & DESIGNwww.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 151

LABS LinWux diostrors ldMags.netLinux and touch In Ubuntu, the Onboard touch keyboard comes preinstalledA ll the fuss in the finger-sized icons. In theory, it Text entry Touchpads technology industry right should be possible to operate now surrounds touch either distro using a touchscreen. A good onscreen keyboard is Far more successful thantechnologies. Mobile phones In practice, however, it isn’t that critical too. Ideally, it should touchscreen operation is Linux’shave it, tablets have it and, very simple. First, this assumes that appear automatically when support for multitouch touchpads.soon, many laptops and desktop working drivers have been editable fields are tapped and Apple was the first firm to do thisPCs will have it, courtesy of developed for the device in disappear when appropriate, right with its large, buttonlessMicrosoft’s move to Windows 8. question. Without them, your and it has to be responsive, too. touchpads and intuitive gesturesBut what about Linux? distro won’t detect taps and Ubuntu has a keyboard called for scrolling, application switching gestures at all, and you’ll be Onboard preinstalled. It works and more. There are moves afoot to stuck with a physical mouse to a point, appearing andembrace touch technology. Some and keyboard for input. disappearing as necessary, and In this respect at least, Linuxtime ago, Canonical introduced repositions itself depending on has usable hardware support.touch-compatible window sizing Even if drivers exist, touch- where text is entered on the screen. Many of the distributions in ourin the form of “love handles”, based control is unlikely to be a Labs test this month picked up theand the Unity front-end looks as if satisfactory experience. Scrolling However, while typing in a multitouch touchpad on our mainit’s moving in the right direction. and zooming gestures may well standard document works test laptop, providing two-fingeredThe launch buttons that run work in OS windows and core reasonably well, we found entering scrolling in the web browser anddown the left of the screen are applications, as they did on our addresses and search terms into menu lists, complete with smoothlarge enough to be comfortably test tablet, a Samsung 700T, on Firefox highly frustrating. The kinetic animation effects.tapped with a finger, and the Dash which we installed Ubuntu 12.04 problem is that the keyboardis similarly accommodating. LTS. However, it isn’t enough to doesn’t play nicely with the Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora simply add scrolling and panning autocomplete dropdowns, which and openSUSE all had the feature Other distributions are now support. For a smooth touch suggest terms as you type. As switched on by default, and withadopting a similar approach. experience, the core GUI furniture soon as a menu pops up, they openSUSE, we could evenFedora’s modern desktop offers a – the close, minimise and grab focus from the keyboard customise gestures, allocating asimilar layout to that of Ubuntu, maximise buttons, for example and you have to tap the keyboard desktop switch command towith a column of large application – also need to be finger-friendly. once to transfer focus back, then upwards and downwardslauncher icons running on the left No Linux distro we’ve tried so tap a key to enter a letter. This two-fingered swipes. By default,side of the screen and a grid-based far offers this. epitomises the way touch works, a three-fingered tap in Ubuntuscrolling application launcher with or rather doesn’t, on Linux. brought up the finger-sized “love handles”, used to resize windows. Verdict In short, it would seem that Linux has yet to fully embrace the world of touch-based gestures and OS control. Some elements work but, in a similar fashion to Microsoft’s pre-Windows 8 attempts to embrace touch, many don’t. This isn’t surprising – with few touchscreen PCs in consumers’ homes right now, there’s little incentive for (often poorly resourced) open source developers to focus on touch interfaces. Once they become more widespread, however, the nature of open source development means that it won’t be long before touch- optimised versions appear. Indeed, it’s already on the roadmap for future versions of Ubuntu.152 PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

WorldMagsLi.nunx deisttros LABSGentoo Linux either. The release schedule of roughly once a week aims toA basic but very powerful Linux platform that eschews user-friendliness in favour of maintain a happy middle groundperformance and flexibility; it isn’t for beginners who want an easy time between the bleeding-edge and the outdated, so you can expect❱❱ VERSION Minimal-20120710 time for the best possible does this mean a smaller resource to see support for new features❱❱ WEBSITE www.gentoo.org performance. On a modern footprint, it also makes a properly and modern wireless chipsets, desktop, with multiple cores and configured Gentoo system much without having to worry aboutG entoo Linux is a gigabytes of memory, the benefit more secure. buggy beta software. barebones distribution may not be noticeable in everyday that – by contrast with use. However, on older systems, Gentoo is a meta-distribution, Gentoo’s extremely high levelmost major Linux platforms laptops, embedded devices, and in which most components are of configurability brings caveats,– makes no attempt to shield users just about any system that has selected by the user, so there’s though. Compiling everything canfrom the technical workings of the limited resources, Gentoo can run no bundled software as such, leave you with a system that willoperating system. A standard faster than a stock distro. although all the major desktops run only on specific hardware.installation boots into a text-only, and popular applications can be There’s also the burden ofsingle-user environment, providing What’s more, since only the downloaded in Gentoo-friendly compiling and installing your owna minimal set of software, packages you choose are installed, packages. Plus, since it’s a software updates when needed.including a BASH shell, Perl and Gentoo systems typically have a constantly updated rolling release, Complicated packages can take asPython scripting environments lot less running on them. Not only version numbers aren’t meaningful long as 30 minutes to compile onand, of course, the GNU Compiler today’s hardware.Collection. All other componentsof the OS, including the graphical There’s also the hazard knownuser interface, are left for the user in the community as “ricing”,to compile and configure, typically where conflicting or inappropriatevia Gentoo’s source-based Portage optimisations are chosen bypackage manager. inexperienced users. The result is bespoke binaries that run slower This approach has certain than their generic counterparts.benefits. Since most software ona Gentoo system is built from If you want to give Gentoo asource code, a wide range of try without getting your handsarchitectures can be supported, dirty, there’s a live DVD, whichand users can specify hardware- offers a selection of desktopspecific optimisations at compile managers and popular software. MAIN CONTRIBUTORS However, there’s no direct way to install the live system permanently Bleedingsamurai, Darien Graham-Smith, Ynot 82 to your hard disk – and doing so would miss the point anyway. If you want a system that’s ready to go, Gentoo isn’t for you. All the same, we wouldn’t necessarily discourage people from trying Gentoo. The extensive online documentation will guide you through the process of setting up your system, and you’ll learn a lot along the way. And if you’re already an expert user, Gentoo makes a fine foundation for a “Linux from scratch” system. The Live DVD gives an idea of what a Gentoo install could look like OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ EASE OF USE FEATURES & DESIGNwww.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 153

LABS LinWux diostrors ldMags.netopenSUSE For software installation, you’ll be spending a lot of timeA potent, mature and well-equipped Linux OS – while it may not be as simple to use with openSUSE’s YaST (Yetas other distros in this Labs, it’s worth trying out nevertheless another Setup Tool), which combines this job with the❱❱ VERSION 12.1 (KDE 4 desktop) other. However, before the practical Folder View and whole spectrum of system❱❱ WEBSITE www.opensuse.org establishment of the openSUSE calculator, to the less useful configuration and administration. project, KDE was the preferred (but undeniably geeky) binary With sections dedicated toO ld-timer openSUSE desktop, and this remains clock. Widgets can be resized Software, Hardware, System, has been around the the default selection during and even rotated at a jaunty angle. Network Devices, Network block a few times. First installation of the distro. Indeed, Services, Security and Userconceived in 1994 as a German openSUSE is one of the leading We found our multitouch admin among others, YaSTtranslation of the veteran Linux contributing distros to the touchpad worked out of the provides the means to configuredistribution, Slackware, it ran KDE desktop. box, with two-fingered vertical just about every aspect of thethrough a number of different scrolling in applications such operating system. It’s powerful,names and versions before finally We wouldn’t call it the most as LibreOffice Writer and and we particularly like theopening itself up to community intuitive front-end in this Labs, Firefox, as well as two-fingered software collections, whichdevelopment in 2005. but it’s highly configurable. The multidesktop navigation. allow you to install themed key is the Plasma desktop shell, We’d recommend checking out groups of applications with a The move has allowed the which allows users to design the touchpad settings when you single click. It’s a little dauntingcommunity to participate in their own desktop environment. start, too, as you can make all at first, though.the development and testing of You can also add any number sorts of customisations, includingopenSUSE releases, and since of widgets to the desktop, from the two-finger right-clicks. Fortunately, there’s anotherits inception, updates have route for finding and installingbeen released approximately software: packages can also beevery eight months. At the time installed directly from the Packageof writing, version 12.2 was due Search page on the openSUSEto be released – alas, it didn’t website. Behind the scenes,arrive in time to be included in installation is performed in thethis review. same way, but with a more familiar, web-based method. The openSUSE developers Finally, if you find a programoffer both KDE and Gnome that hasn’t already been built fordesktop environments on an openSUSE, the Open Build Serviceequal footing, officially not will compile packages for youpreferring either one to the and publish them in your own, MAIN CONTRIBUTORS personal repository. From here, packages are made available to all Bruno, Jonathan Bray users of the distribution, benefiting the entire community. There’s no doubt that openSUSE is a very capable Linux distribution. It has a wealth of Linux software readily available in its official and community repositories, a flexible desktop environment, and it offers simple community tools for expanding that. If you’re looking for a no-hassle introduction to Linux, then it isn’t the distro for you, but more experienced users should definitely give the live disc a whirl. The Plasma desktop allows users to design their own desktop OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ EASE OF USE FEATURES & DESIGN154 PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

WorldMagsLi.nunx deisttros LABSPCLinuxOS the browser is Firefox, but there’s also Dropbox, TheA solid distro that’s easy to get to grips with, but it just doesn’t have the polish to GIMP, Gwenview and digiKamcompete with slicker, more modern distributions for image viewing, editing and management, Thunderbird for ❱❱ VERSION 2012.08 desktop with all sorts of fancy important items on the left-hand email, Pidgin for IM, and ❱❱ WEBSITE www.pclinuxos.com customisations, including six side of the desktop. Other neat Clementine for music playback. themed desktops targeted at touches include the ability to We found it a doddle to connectPCLinuxOS may sport different activities and a host snap windows to the sides of the to Windows shares and network a horrible name, but that of preloaded applications. desktop at either full-height or printers, and the system was hasn’t deterred people from half-height, enabling four windows extremely responsive.choosing it – over the years, it’s Installation is executed directly to be neatly arranged onscreen inpicked up quite a following. It’s from the live disc, and it was a matter of seconds. The “easy to use” taglinea fork of Mandriva, and on its commendably straightforward. begins to break down, however,website, describes itself as the With PCLinuxOS installed, we Software installs are handled once you begin to use the system“free, easy to use Linux-based found the desktop pretty easy to via RPM packages using the in earnest. Nothing major isoperating system”. get to grips with. There’s a simple Synaptic Package Manager, but amiss in this respect, but there’s application launcher and system since there’s plenty preinstalled, a clutch of small, irritating issues. From an installation tray at the bottom of the screen, you shouldn’t need to use it There’s a search facility, but it’sperspective, this claim has some and a handful of shortcuts to right away. Not surprisingly, hidden under the obscure “Runbasis in truth. It’s available as a command” menu item.compact live DVD, so you can tryit out first. The download for the The OS doesn’t map theKDE default install (reviewed here) Windows key to the mainis a relatively lightweight 1.3GB application launcher menu (andISO, and there are plenty of setting up a custom shortcut toalternative ISOs available for those do so is tricky). The multitouchwhose tastes in desktop managers touchpad on the test laptop didn’tlie elsewhere. work on first install, leaving us reaching for our wireless mouse. At the time of writing, you’llfind lightweight LXDE and Xfce Oddly, given the large librarylive distributions, a “MiniMe” of preinstalled software elsewhereversion of the KDE distribution on the distro, there’s no officewith no apps installed, plus a software to be found anywhere3.9GB “Full Monty” KDE-based in the launcher menu. Instead, MAIN CONTRIBUTORS there’s a link on the desktop to a LibreOffice Manager application, Jonathan Bray which downloads and installs the latest version for you. This isn’t a huge pain, but the small niggles all add up. In many respects, we liked PCLinuxOS – it’s certainly more user-friendly than Debian – but alas we didn’t like it enough to recommend it over other, more accomplished distributions. If you want an easy-to-use distro that will work straight away with less fiddling, then give Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora a try first. Software is installed via the Synaptic Package Manager OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ EASE OF USE FEATURES & DESIGNwww.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 155

LABS LinWux diostrors ldMags.netPuppy Linux distribution compact, however, there’s no sign of heavyweightSmall, agile and very lightweight, Puppy is ideal for use on older hardware or as an desktop apps such as The GIMPadvanced rescue OS. Don’t expect to be wowed by fancy graphics, though or LibreOffice.❱❱ VERSION Wary Puppy 5.3 and as a result, it’s a very quick you’d have to leave the original Instead, there’s AbiWord❱❱ WEBSITE www.puppylinux.org and snappy system in use. installation open as a multisession for word processing, Gnumeric disc, though. Alternatively, for for spreadsheet tasks and theP uppy Linux is one of those This doesn’t mean that Puppy more significant alterations, you SeaMonkey suite of apps for Linux distributions that systems must remain static, though can master another copy of the live browsing, email and HTML doesn’t attempt to compete – far from it. You can make disc and burn it to optical media, authoring. They’ll do the job – andwith the big boys. Instead, it’s a changes to the configuration or or save it to a USB thumb drive. we’re impressed that Flash playerlightweight offering that will run add software via the Puppy installs automatically the first timesnappily even on old, decrepit Package Manager, as you can with All this makes Puppy a prime you run Puppy – but none of thehardware you may have consigned any other Linux distribution, and candidate for a rescue system, and bundled apps are particularlyto the back of the cupboard. changes are saved to a special 3FS appropriately it’s crammed with pretty. As a result, running Puppy file on shutdown, which is located lightweight system tools, from the feels a little like using a computer Another unusual aspect of this either on a selected partition on excellent GParted partitioner to from the 1990s.nippy little canine is that, unlike the hard disk, or on the CD, DVD backup, ftp and ISO burning tools.the rest of the distributions on test, or USB stick. For optical media, Due to the requirement to keep the Likewise, the Openbox desktopPuppy is designed mainly to run environment is rudimentary. Thereexternally from a CD or USB are no niceties such as a searchthumb drive. If you really want, box in the main menu, which canit can be installed to the hard disk make tracking down applicationsof your chosen PC, but the tricky. It isn’t the most attractivedevelopers actively encourage user interface either, withusers not to do this. pixellated icons and text, and no transparency effects or animations. With the ISO burned to abootable USB stick, occupying a If you’re running Puppy onludicrously small 137MB of space, new hardware, it’s worth tryingit took 1min 45secs to boot on the “Racy” version first, insteadour test laptop, so it’s hardly a of the long-term support Waryburden to follow the developer’s edition, since this is tuned forinstructions. Once fired up, the more modern hardware. In oursystem runs mostly from RAM, initial tests on a recent Dell MAIN CONTRIBUTORS Inspiron 17R with Intel HD Graphics 3000, Wary simply Jonathan Bray wouldn’t run in the native 1,600 x 900 resolution. Racy, however, worked correctly right away. So it might not be the slickest of Linux distributions, but that isn’t what Puppy is really about. The really impressive aspect of this distro is its ability to squeeze a full-blown OS, including a raft of applications, into an incredibly small amount of space. That makes it a great choice for anyone wanting to revive old hardware, or create an advanced rescue system. Extra applications are installed via the Puppy Package Manager OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ EASE OF USE FEATURES & DESIGN156 PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

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LABS LinWux diostrors ldMags.netWhy are there so manydesktop environments?U nlike Windows and OS X, which and released as version 1 in 1998. At the time, These aren’t the only two desktops incorporate the graphical desktop however, questions were raised about whether available for Linux, though. Alternatives into the operating system, the Linux the underlying code on which it was built was include Xfce, LXDE and Openbox, as used indesktop environment is a standalone piece compatible with the GNU Public Licence (under the super-lightweight Puppy Linux (see p156).of software, completely separate from the which the Linux kernel itself is distributed). These three desktops are lighter on systemkernel of the operating system. As a result, it resources, making them suitable for oldercan easily be replaced or customised according These concerns led to the establishment of hardware with limited resources, which mightto your preferences. Gnome in 1997, an alternative, unambiguously struggle with a more modern and fully featured free Linux desktop environment; until recently, desktop manager. The two most common fully featured this was the default desktop for the populardesktops on Linux are KDE and Gnome. KDE Ubuntu distribution. The concerns surrounding Although the diversity of graphicalis the original Linux desktop, started in 1996 KDE have since been resolved, so KDE and environments may be confusing at first, the Gnome are now equal citizens. ability to pick and choose in this way reflects the overarching Linux philosophy of letting the As such, you’ll see a fairly even spread of user choose the right components for the job. the two desktops in the distributions in this Labs, with some developers also choosing to customise the desktop heavily, while others stick with the plain desktop. Almost all distros have a favoured default, but often developers will offer more than one live disc, so you can try the operating system in different guises. VIEW FROM THE LABSIt’s been an unusual month in the PC just as responsive and usable as Windows and contributions to all the major reviews. Pro Labs. First and foremost, we’ve OS X. Better still, only a small amount of We’d like to hand out specific mentions to been using something other than fiddling (if any) was required to set them up Ynot 82, Bluriteboy02, Bleedingsamurai, Windows to perform our work. We and connect them to local network resources ActionParsnip, Robsapenguin, Bruno,expected this to be a shock to the system, and printers, before starting work in earnest. Jospoortvliet and Pjb304, who shared theirespecially when our previous attempt to do ideas with us, and provided significantthis – running PC Pro on Ubuntu for a day Another surprise was the gusto with which chunks of prose and expertise. Contributors,for a feature in 2011 – proved limiting. our readers threw themselves into making their we salute you. This time, however, the process has been “We found switching Overall, it’s been an eye-openingfar more productive. The fact is that Linux over an enjoyable, month, but most importantly, this Labs– at least as far as the major distributions refreshing change” test demonstrates that great things can beare concerned – has improved dramatically achieved with the open source approach.since then, and we found switching over own contributions to the Labs, via the medium The distros themselves, many of which arean enjoyable, refreshing change. And the of the PC Pro Linux Labs wiki (kindly hosted excellent, and the writing in these pages (thediscovery that it isn’t only Ubuntu blazing by Memset). We initially wondered if we’d be quality of whicha trail, but other distros too, has been a able to generate enough contributions to make we’ll leave you torevelation. Ubuntu and Linux Mint have the process workable. In the end, the hardest judge), were allmade the biggest impression this month, but part was setting up the wiki in the first place. produced throughwe’ve also enjoyed tinkering with Fedora, group effort andopenSUSE and the lightweight Puppy Linux. Despite the limited time period – the a generosity of wiki was live for only six weeks before the spirit that’s all Many of these operating systems now copy was due for Labs – we received significant too often missingfeel thoroughly modern. Fedora, openSUSE, from our cynical,Linux Mint and Ubuntu are all polished and modern world.poised, with desktop environments that [email protected] PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

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THE A-LISTWorldMags.netLAPTOPS, PCs & TABLETS FULL-SIZE TABLET Apple iPad (3rd gen)COMPACT TABLETNexus 7 32GB Wi-Fi, £399 (£479) www.apple.com/uk8GB, £133 (£159); 16GB, £166 (£199) WEB ID 373648 ISSUE 212www.dixons.co.ukWEB ID 375886 ISSUE 216 Faster graphics and a better camera, but the groundbreaking high-resolution screen is the reason to splash out – it’s a genuine leap forward. We’d opt for the 32GB version.Powerful, well built and with a better screen than you’d expect for the price, the Nexus 7 sets the KEY SPECS 9.7in 1,536 x 2,048 TFT; iOS 5.1; 1GHz dual-core Apple A5X; 1GB RAM; 32GB storage; dual-bandgold standard for budget tablets. 802.11n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4; 5mp rear/0.2mp front camera; 186 x 241 x 9.7mm (WDH); 652gKEY SPECS 7in 800 x 1,280 IPS TFT; quad-core 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3; 1GB RAM; 8/16GB storage; 802.11n Wi-Fi;Bluetooth; NFC; 1.2mp front camera; Android 4.1; 120 x 199 x 10.5mm; 340g ALTERNATIVEALTERNATIVE Acer Iconia Tab A700Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition The Acer is a little behind its rivals when it comes to battery life, but with an Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU and Full HD screen for under £400, this cracking all-rounder is the Android tablet to beat. Small and light, with a good screen and attractive design. You don’t quite get the battery life or 32GB Wi-Fi, £302 (£363); www.pixmania.co.uk WEB ID 376315 power of a larger device, but its portability more than compensates. £249 (£299); www.johnlewis.com WEB ID 372142BUDGET LAPTOP HIGH-END LAPTOPAcer Aspire 5750G Asus N56VM£375 (£450) £650 (£780)www.saveonlaptops.co.uk www.laptopsdirect.co.ukWEB ID 375496 ISSUE 212 WEB ID 376558 ISSUE 216Now with an updated specification, the Acer delivers nippy application performance and the Nvidia Asus’ N56VM packs in a 15.6in Full HD display, a quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU and competent gamingGPU is enough for basic gaming. With solid ergonomics at a good price, it’s a top budget all-rounder. graphics from Nvidia. With great build quality and crisp audio, it’s a superb all-rounder.KEY SPECS 2.1GHz Intel Core i5-2450M; 6GB RAM; 500GB HDD; DVD-RW; Nvidia GeForce GT 610M; 15.6in 1,366 KEY SPECS 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM; 8GB RAM; 750GB HDD; Blu-ray reader; Nvidia GeForce GT 630M;x 768; Windows 7 Home Premium; 382 x 253 x 35mm; 2.52kg. Part code: LX.RXL02.060 15.6in 1,920 x 1,080; Windows 7 Home Premium; 380 x 255 x 28mm; 2.75kg. Part code: N56VM-S4034VALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVESony VAIO T13 Dell XPS 15zIt’s technically an Ultrabook, but this pretty, portable laptop is unusually affordable. With its Core i3 Powerful and well built, the XPS 15z has an excellent 15.6in Full HD screen and offers a veryCPU lasting for over seven hours of light use, the dim screen and average build are easy to forgive. respectable six hours of light use away from the mains. A near-perfect all-rounder.£566 (£670); www.sony.co.uk WEB ID 375187 £999 (£1,199); www.dell.co.uk WEB ID 368896ULTRABOOK ENTHUSIAST LAPTOPApple MacBook Air 13in Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display£833 (£999)www.apple.com/uk £1,499 (£1,799)WEB ID 375160 ISSUE 215 www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 375337 ISSUE 215Not strictly an Ultrabook, but the laptop that so obviously inspired them now has an Ivy Bridgeprocessor and a sorely tempting sub-£1,000 price tag. That’s tough to beat. It’s ditched the DVD drive and slimmed down, but the headline is the incredible 2,880 x 1,800KEY SPECS 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U; 4GB RAM; 128GB SSD; Intel HD Graphics 4000; 13.3in 1,440 x 900 TFT; screen, which is forcing developers to update software. A glimpse at the future of laptop displays.OS X 10.7; 325 x 227 x 17mm; 1.35kg KEY SPECS 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3615QM; 8GB RAM; 256GB SSD; Intel HD Graphics 4000; Nvidia GeForce GTALTERNATIVE 650M; 15.4in 2,880 x 1,800 TFT; OS X; 1yr C&R warranty; 359 x 247 x 18mm; 2.02kgAsus Zenbook UX31E ALTERNATIVE Core i7 power, gorgeous design and a high-resolution display make this one of the best Ultrabooks Alienware M17x R4 yet, and the Zenbook range is growing.£833 (£999); www.pcworld.co.uk WEB ID 370723 A quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU and AMD’s top-end Radeon HD 7970M graphics combine to make the M17x R4 a gaming force to be reckoned with. £1,349 (£1,618); www.dell.co.uk WEB ID 374749162 PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

WorldMags.netOur hand-picked selection of 102 best buys, chosen from thedozens of products tested each month in the PC Pro labsMEDIA PC ALL-IN-ONE PCTranquil PC MMC-12 HP Z1£649 (£779) £2,149 (£2,579)www.tranquilpcshop.co.uk www.laptopsdirect.co.ukWEB ID 372430 ISSUE 210 WEB ID 375100 ISSUE 215It isn’t cheap, and it has no TV tuner as standard, but this beautiful and silent media system is a The first all-in-one we’ve seen in ages to challenge the iMac, and it does so by opening up like astylish addition to any living room. briefcase for easy upgrading of pretty much every component. An expensive technical marvel.KEY SPECS 2.5GHz Intel Core i3-2100T; 4GB RAM; 80GB SSD; DVD writer; 2 x USB 3; 2 x USB 2; eSATA; Windows 7 KEY SPECS 3.6GHz Intel Xeon E3-1280; 8GB RAM; 1TB HDD; DVD-RW; Nvidia Quadro 3000M; 27in 2,560 x 1,440Home Premium; 3yr RTB warranty; 395 x 225 x 40mm IPS TFT; Windows 7 Professional; 3yr RTB warranty; 660 x 419 x 584mm; 21kgALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEChillblast Fusion Vacuum Mini Apple iMac 27in A silent and well-specified living room PC that delivers dual TV tuners and promising performance, As we wait for the iMac to receive an Ivy Bridge update, rivals are beginning to get closer to but it doesn’t come cheap. matching its all-round appeal. £832 (£999 inc VAT); www.chillblast.com WEB ID 376774 £1,166 (£1,399); www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 367360BUDGET PC HIGH-END PCPalicomp Phoenix i5 PC SpecialistDestiny Vortex Destroyer£582 (£699) £1,457 (£1,749)www.palicomp.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.ukWEB ID 366679 ISSUE 201 WEB ID 376309 ISSUE N/AA Blu-ray drive, a solid 22in Full HD monitor, and now with an updated graphics card and new Ivy Stellar performance is matched with a high-quality 27in monitor, a decent 5.1 speaker set andBridge, overclocked processor. At this price, it’s a great low-end deal. top-notch accessories. It isn’t cheap, but it’s a sterling combination.KEY SPECS 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K @ 4.5GHz; 4GB RAM; Gigabyte 277-D3H motherboard; 1TB HDD; Blu-ray; KEY SPECS 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-3820 @ 4.6GHz; 16GB RAM; Asus P9X79 motherboard; 120GB SSD; 2TB HDD;ATI Radeon HD 6670; 22in Acer TFT; 2.1 Logitech speakers; Windows 7 Home Premium Blu-ray; Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 graphics; Windows 7 Home Premium; 3yr RTB warrantyALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEChillblast Fusion Elixir Chillblast Fusion ThunderbirdA basic but solid base unit that’s deceptively fast thanks to a huge CPU overclock. It’s quiet in use, A bold, some would say garish chassis, but inside is an Ivy Bridge PC with power, gamingand well put together. performance, plenty of storage and surprisingly little noise. A fine all-rounder.£499 (£599); www.chillblast.com WEB ID 372364 £832 (£999); www.chillblast.com WEB ID 376405BUSINESS/EXECUTIVE LAPTOP BUSINESS PCSony VAIO Z Series Lenovo ThinkStation E31£790 (£948) £725 (£871) ENNETWRYwww.amazon.co.uk www.lenovo.co.ukWEB ID 368422 ISSUE 205 WEB ID 376852 ISSUE N/ASony totally revamped its tiny portable late last year, lifting out the optical drive and GPU into an This small-form-factor workstation is tiny, but it still includes an Intel Xeon processor and Nvidiaexternal media dock. Expensive, but brilliant. Quadro graphics for a reasonable price.KEY SPECS 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4GB RAM; 128GB SSD; Intel HD Graphics (media dock optional); 13.1in1,600 x 900 TFT; 3G; Windows 7 home Premium; 330 x 210 x 17mm; 1.5kg. Part code: VPCZ21M9E KEY SPECS 3.3GHz Intel Xeon E3-1230 v2; 4GB RAM; 1TB HDD; DVD-RW; Nvidia Quadro 600 graphics; Windows 7 Professional; 3yr RTB warrantyALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEToshiba Portégé Z830 Lenovo ThinkCentre M91pThe first Ultrabook to focus on business has its niggles, but it’s light, thin, has long battery life and ispacked with features. Part code: Z830-104. It’s expensive, but thanks to superb chassis design and strong performance, it’s well worth£782 (£939); www.saveonlaptops.co.uk WEB ID 371551 the cash for demanding business users. From £533 (£640); www.lenovo.co.uk WEB ID N/Awww.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 163

A-LIST Best buys WorldMags.netMOBILE MONITORS CAMERASSMARTPHONE BUDGET TFT DIGITAL COMPACT/BRIDGESamsung ViewSonic Nikon CoolpixGalaxy S III VX2336s-LED S9100Free, £26pm, 24mths £100 (£120) £142 (£171)www.buymobiles.net www.dabs.com www.play.comWEB ID 374950 ISSUE 215 WEB ID 375766 ISSUE 214 WEB ID 372181 ISSUE 208Slightly iffy design, but with a superb 4.8in screen and Superior IPS panels are now entering the mainstream, allowing Great performance and image quality, a huge zoom and an8-megapixel camera, a quad-core processor and a host of ViewSonic to go back to basics and build a monitor that delivers intuitive interface make this the king of point-and-shootsoftware extras, it’s the best smartphone out there. good image quality at a far lower price than we’d expect. compacts – especially given the reasonable price tag.KEY SPECS 1.4GHz CPU; 1GB RAM; 16GB storage; 4.8in 720 x 1,280 KEY SPECS 24in 1,920 x 1,080 IPS matte TFT; DVI, D-SUB; 250cd/m2 KEY SPECS 12mp CCD; 18x optical zoom; 3in LCD; shutter speedTFT; 802.11n Wi-Fi; 8mp camera; Android 4; 70 x 8.9 x 136mm; 132g brightness; 548 x 201 x 426mm 1/2,000s-1s; 160-3200 ISO; 103 x 34 x 62mm; 214gALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEApple iPhone 5 Dell UltraSharp U2312HM Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150Slimmer, lighter and more desirable than ever, but the refined A bit dearer than the ViewSonic, but it offers superb image SLR fans may scoff at the thought, but this bridge camera doesdesign and 4in Retina display command a hefty premium. quality, excellent build and a great warranty. everything – and does it brilliantly.£159, £31pm, 24mths; www.three.co.uk WEB ID N/A £148 (£178); www.cclonline.com WEB ID 375760 £295 (£354); www.wexphotographic.com WEB ID 371305SATNAV PREMIUM TFT DIGITAL SLR/SLDTomTom Dell UltraSharp Canon EOS U2412M 5D Mark III£41 (£50)Apple App Store £183 (£220) £2,416 (£2,899)WEB ID 375418 ISSUE 213 www.aria.co.uk www.jessops.com WEB ID 375823 ISSUE 214 WEB ID N/A ISSUE 217If you own a smartphone or tablet, apps are now a very cheapway to benefit from accurate navigation, and the TomTom app Not the cheapest 24in monitor, but it offers an old-school 1,920 Canon’s 5D Mark III is a stunning all-rounder, and just has thefor iPhone and iPad is undoubtedly the best of the bunch. x 1,200 resolution on a superb IPS panel, with great build edge on its arch-rival, Nikon’s D800, with faster continuousKEY SPECS Requires iPhone/iPad (or iPod Touch with GPS add-on); UK/ quality and a fully adjustable stand. shooting, less noise and a sumptuous tonal balance.ROI maps; HD Traffic, £27/yr or £4/mth; speed cameras, £27/yr or £4/mthALTERNATIVE KEY SPECS 24in 1,920 x 1,200 IPS matte TFT; DisplayPort, DVI, D-SUB; KEY SPECS 22.3mp full-frame sensor; 61-point autofocus; 6fps burst 4 x USB 2; 300cd/m2 brightness; 556 x 180 x 514mm mode; shutter speed 1/8,000s-30s; ISO 100-25600; 950gTomTom Go Live 825 ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE Samsung SyncMaster S27A850D Pentax K-rPerforms superbly and at a very reasonable price. If it’s too Samsung’s PLS panel technology makes a fine debut, mixing Competitive image quality, excellent controls, abundant featuresmuch, the Go Live 820 is the same but with a 4in screen. good image quality with a USB 3 hub and adjustable stand. and outstanding performance from a budget DSLR.£153 (£184); www.handtec.co.uk WEB ID 368701 £451 (£542); www.morecomputers.co.uk WEB ID 370729 £409 (£491); www.slrhut.co.uk WEB ID 371119EBOOK READER SPECIALIST TFT DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERAAmazon Kindle Eizo ColorEdge Panasonic CG275W HC-X800£58 (£69)www.amazon.co.uk £1,365 (£1,638) £423 (£508)WEB ID 371917 ISSUE 207 www.nativedigital.com www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 368146 ISSUE N/A WEB ID 372862 ISSUE 211The newer Touch model doesn’t significantly improve on thissuperb device. If all you want to do is read books, its simple The Eizo ColorEdge CG275W is one of the finest TFTs ever made. Now that the HDC-TM900 has disappeared from stores, thisdesign, rip-snorting performance and low price make it perfect. Image quality is superb, and the ingenious integrated colorimeter is the video camera to buy. It shoots fantastic footage in allKEY SPECS 6in 600 x 800 E Ink screen; 16 greyscale levels; 2GB takes the hassle out of regular colour calibration. conditions and the image stabilisation system is superb.storage; 1yr RTB warranty; 114 x 8.7 x 166mm; 170gALTERNATIVE KEY SPECS 27in 2,560 x 1,440 IPS TFT; 270cd/m2; 850:1 contrast; KEY SPECS 1080/50p AVCHD; 3 x 1/4.1in CMOS sensors; 12x optical DisplayPort; mini-DisplayPort; DVI; 646 x 282 x 425mm; 13.6kg zoom; 9.15mp; 3in LCD; 63 x 68 x 134mm; 345gSony Reader Wi-Fi ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE HP ZR30W Sony Bloggie MHS-TS20KThe store works well; it offers free library loans; it’s readable, With a 10-bit IPS panel and a huge 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, A neat update to the pocket camera, with one ace new feature:quick and handles PDFs well; and it has a great touchscreen. HP’s flagship 30in monitor delivers sublime image quality. a 360-degree lens adapter that makes for hours of fisheye fun.£108 (£129); www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 371920 £867 (£1,040); www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 361456 £62 (£75); www.play.com WEB ID 367357164 PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

WorldMagsB.enst beuyts A-LISTCreate your own reviews comparison shortlistwww.pcpro.co.uk/reviewsPRINTERS SOFTWARECONSUMER ALL-IN-ONE INTERNET SECURITY BACKUP/STORAGE ACCOUNTINGCanon Pixma Trend Micro Titanium Livedrive FreeAgentMG6250 Internet Security 2012 Unlimited, £5/mth, 1 PC £15 (£18)£103 (£124) £26 (£32), 1 PC, 1yr www.livedrive.com www.freeagentcentral.comwww.lambda-tek.com www.play.com WEB ID 373558 ISSUE 210 WEB ID 367126 ISSUE 201WEB ID 372037 ISSUE 208 WEB ID 374038 ISSUE 211 Easy to use, cheap and packed with Small-business owners, freelancers and features, Livedrive is the best all-in traders lacking accounting experienceExtra photo black and grey inks make this the finest A4 Offers a compelling combination of cloud storage service. will love the online FreeAgent.all-in-one for photo enthusiasts, but it’s also very good for usability and effectiveness that youdocuments. You pay a bit extra for the quality, but it’s worth it. won’t find in any of the free packages. ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEKEY SPECS 7-ink engine; 3in screen and touch panel; 2 x 150-sheet Acronis True Image Sage Instantinput trays; duplex; CD tray; USB; 802.11n Wi-Fi; 470 x 367 x 173mm ALTERNATIVE Home 2012 Accounts 2012ALTERNATIVE AVG Anti-Virus Still a very good backup package, now Support is limited, but otherwise this is Free 2012 with live folder syncing. a fine package at a good price.HP Photosmart 5510 It’s riddled with ads, but offers great £19 (£23); www.scan.co.uk £62 (£75); www.ebuyer.com malware detection and web protection. WEB ID 370153 WEB ID 375481If you don’t print as often, this HP is cheap to buy, not too dear Free; http://free.avg.comto run, and produces high-quality prints and excellent scans. WEB ID 374035£41 (£50); www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 372337OFFICE ALL-IN-ONE PRODUCTIVITY WEB DEVELOPMENT GRAPHICS/DESIGNHP Officejet Pro Microsoft Drupal 7 Adobe CS6 Design8600 Plus Office 2010 Standard Free£158 (£190) From £62 (£75) www.drupal.org £938 (£1,126)www.dabs.com www.tesco.com WEB ID 364549 ISSUE 198 www.lambda-tek.comWEB ID 375367 ISSUE 215 WEB ID 358660 ISSUE 190 It isn’t a simple turn-key CMS, but the WEB ID 374218 ISSUE 213 With Office 2013 on the way, we’d hold combination with its add-on modulesHP’s A-Lister gets a curvy, bold redesign for its annual update, off upgrading for now. Try the preview puts it a step ahead of the competition. Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator alland underneath is an office all-in-one that still produces superb at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/office2013. benefit from interface overhauls anddocuments and scans with very low running costs. ALTERNATIVE much deeper improvements.KEY SPECS 4-ink engine; 4.3in touchscreen; 250-sheet input tray; fax; ALTERNATIVE Adobe Dreamweaver CS6duplex; 50-sheet ADF; USB; Ethernet; 802.11n Wi-Fi; 493 x 460 x 315mm Scrivener for Windows Improved for mobiles, although no longer ALTERNATIVE the dominant web standard it once was. Xara Photo &ALTERNATIVE The ultimate document creation and £287 (£345); www.morecomputers.com Graphic Designer 7 organisation tool for serious writers. WEB ID 374221 Graphic design, photo editing and muchCanon Pixma MX895 £23 (£27); www.literatureandlatte.com more in one bargain package. WEB ID 371680 £19 (£23); www.amazon.co.ukDearer to run than the HP, but it has a strength its rival can’t WEB ID 368470match: fantastic, fast photo prints.£113 (£136); www.printerbase.co.uk WEB ID 375118PERSONAL LASER PHOTO EDITING VIDEO EDITING AUDIO PRODUCTIONLexmark Adobe Photoshop Adobe Premiere Pro Steinberg Cubase 6C540n Lightroom 4 CS6 £334 (£401)£85 (£102) £79 (£95) £625 (£750) www.dv247.comwww.printerbase.co.uk www.amazon.co.uk www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 366139 ISSUE 200WEB ID 353659 ISSUE 199 WEB ID 372220 ISSUE 215 WEB ID 374092 ISSUE 213 An ambitious update, with improvements for editing live recordings and boostingA well-built, network-capable colour laser with reasonable As much an organiser as an editor, A new interface and improved engine the quality of MIDI performances.running costs, a huge 250-sheet paper tray and fast, top-quality it offers the tools that most photography make this powerful, professional editor ALTERNATIVEdocument and image output – all at a competitive price. enthusiasts will need. more tempting than ever. Ableton Live 8 The best version of Live yet, with aKEY SPECS A4 colour laser; 21ppm speed; USB; Ethernet; 250-sheet ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE well-rounded feature set.input tray; 100-sheet output tray; 595 x 495 x 402mm Adobe Photoshop CS6 Sony Movie Studio £249 (£299); www.play.comALTERNATIVE Hugely expensive, but for professionals Platinum 12 WEB ID 257713Brother HL-2270DW nothing comes close. 64-bit support and powerful editingA mono laser with all the features a home office needs, plus £506 (£608); www.kikatek.com tools unite in an affordable package.good print speed and quality as well. WEB ID 373714 £50 (£60); www.sonycreative£61 (£74); www.printerbase.co.uk WEB ID 362242 software.com WEB ID 376474www.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 165

A-LIST Best buys WorldMags.netNETWORKING COMPONENTSEXTERNAL HARD DISK PROCESSOR MAINSTREAM GRAPHICS CARDVerbatim Store ‘n’ Go Intel Core i5-3570K AMD Radeon HD 6850USB 3.0 £140 (£168) Typically, £120500GB, £45 (£55) www.aria.co.uk Depends on brandwww.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 374158 ISSUE 213 WEB ID 362152 ISSUE 211WEB ID 370369 ISSUE 204 It’s a little slower than the Core i7s, but Intel’s i5-3570K is our For most people, a card that will play the latest games at highA portable drive that placed among the top USB 3 performers mid-range chip of choice, thanks to its combination of excellent settings on a 1080p screen is the goal, and this one will doin our tests, comes in a variety of colours, and has a very performance and a reasonable price. exactly that.reasonable price per gigabyte. KEY SPECS 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Mode); LGA 1155 quad-core CPU; KEY SPECS 960 stream processors; 900MHz core; 1GB GDDR5 RAM;KEY SPECS 500GB HDD; USB 3; Nero BackItUp & Burn software; 2yr RTB Intel HD Graphics 4000; 6MB L3 cache; 77W TDP; 22nm 40nm; 2 x 6-pin connectors; 230mm longwarranty; 80 x 121 x 15mm; 150g ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEALTERNATIVE AMD A8-3870K AMD Radeon HD 6450LaCie 2big USB 3 Outpaces the best Pentiums, comes close to the low-end Core The HD 6450 is fine for playing HD video on an old PC without i3s, and the integrated GPU is a real cut above. modern integrated graphics.A little pricey, but it’s reasonably quick, has good security £64 (£78); www.avia.co.uk WEB ID 376681 Typically, £40 WEB ID N/Aoptions and is stylish, too.2TB, £183 (£220); www.dabs.com WEB ID 362206NETWORK STORAGE MOTHERBOARD ENTHUSIAST GRAPHICS CARDSynology Asus P8Z77-V Pro Nvidia GeForceDiskStation DS212j GTX 680 £120 (£145)Diskless, £123 (£148) www.dabs.com Typically, £430www.pixmania.co.uk WEB ID 376573 ISSUE 215 Depends on brandWEB ID 374536 ISSUE 212 The latest Asus includes 802.11n Wi-Fi as well as almost every WEB ID 373696 ISSUE 212 feature a PC-builder needs, with plenty of sockets, ports and aFast, feature-packed and blessed with the best interface of UEFI BIOS. It’s an ideal partner for Ivy Bridge. If you have enough cash, Nvidia’s 28nm debut blows AMDany NAS around. The updated DiskStation Manager 4 adds a KEY SPECS Socket LGA 1155; Intel Z77 chipset; 3 x PCI-E x16; away: quicker in practically every test, with impressive newhost of new cloud storage features too. 2 x PCI-E x1; 2 x PCI; 4 x USB 3; 4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets; 802.11n Wi-Fi features, and it’smore efficient, too.KEY SPECS Consumer NAS; 2 x 3.5in drive bays; RAID0, 1, JBOD; 2 x ALTERNATIVE KEY SPECS 1,536 stream processors; 1,006MHz core; 2GB GDDR5 RAM;USB 2; 2yr RTB warranty; 100 x 226 x 165mm MSI Z77A-G43 28nm; 2 x 6-pin connectors; 257mm long MSI’s board offers a rich, rounded specification, Intel’s Z77ALTERNATIVE chipset and Ivy Bridge support for a reasonable price. ALTERNATIVE £60 (£72); www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 376576Qnap TS-412 Turbo NAS Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 TiThis four-bay NAS device doesn’t major on speed, but good For single-screen gaming, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti provides adesign and a range of features make it the high-end choice. serious amount of bang for your buck.Diskless, £210 (£252); www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 374695 Typically, £260 WEB ID 376438WIRELESS ROUTER SOLID-STATE DISK HARD DISKNetgear Corsair Performance Hitachi DeskstarDGND3700 N600 Pro 7K1000.D£95 (£115) 256GB, £227 (£273) 1TB, £50 (£60)www.amazon.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.ebuyer.comWEB ID 371293 ISSUE 206 WEB ID 375805 ISSUE 213 WEB ID 375973 ISSUE 213A pricey, but very quick router across both 2.4GHz and 5GHz If you want the best, you have to pay for it – but this drive The fastest drive in our Labs, yet the price for a terabyte –that works with cable or ADSL connections. It’s unreliable on is reasonably priced for its 256GB, and it’s blisteringly fast too. while not exactly dirt-cheap – isn’t nearly as high as you’dolder ADSL 1 lines, though. The enthusiast’s choice. expect. A great blend of value and performance.KEY SPECS Dual-band 802.11n cable/ADSL router; 4 x Gigabit; 2 x USB; KEY SPECS 2.5in SATA 6Gbits/sec solid-state disk; Marvell 88SS9174 KEY SPECS 3.5in SATA 6Gbits/sec HDD; 7,200rpm spindle speed; 32MBUPnP; 76 x 160 x 233mm controller. Part code: CSSD-P256GBP-BK cache; 3yr RTB warranty. Part code: HDS721010DLE630ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEAsus RT-N56U Corsair Force GT Seagate Barracuda GreenA low-price cable router with sterling performance, simple For tighter budgets, this drive is a little slower, but it comes in It won’t win any speed awards, but this is a very efficient driveoperation and a design that won’t stick out in a living room. six capacities and doesn’t cost the earth. at a good price.£62 (£75); www.cclonline.com WEB ID 371296 240GB, £125 (£150); www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID N/A 2TB, £60 (£72); www.saverstore.com WEB ID N/A166 PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 WorldMags.net www.pcpro.co.uk

WorldMagsB.enst beuyts A-LISTFor the latest Enterprise news and reviewsvisit www.pcpro.co.uk/enterpriseENTERPRISE PEDESTAL SERVER ENNETWRY SECURITY APPLIANCE HP ProLiant WatchGuard XTM 330RACK SERVER ML350p Gen8HP ProLiant DL360p 1yr Security Bundle,Gen8 £4,633 exc VAT £589 exc VAT; www.morecomputers.com www.hp.co.uk WEB ID 375079 ISSUE 214£5,159 exc VAT WEB ID N/A ISSUE 218 Not as easy to configure as, say, Netgear’s UTM 150 appliance,www.hp.co.uk but much smarter. It packs in a lot of security features and isWEB ID N/A ISSUE 217 A whisper-quiet pedestal server that combines good more versatile than any other appliance at this price point. value, huge expansion potential and class-leading remote KEY SPECS 1U rack chassis; 7 x Gigabit; 850Mbits/sec firewall;The DL360p Gen8 is extremely well designed, squeezes lots into management features. WatchGuard and Firebox System Manager softwareits compact 1U rack chassis, and boasts good storage potential KEY SPECS 2 x 2GHz Xeon E5-2650; 16GB DDR3; 2 x 600GB SAS hard ALTERNATIVEwith plenty of room to grow. disks; 8 x PCI-E Gen3, 1 x PCI-E Gen2; 4 x Gigabit Ethernet; 2 x 750W PSU Fortinet FortiGate-111CKEY SPECS 1U rack chassis; 2 x 2GHz Xeon E5-2650; 32GB DDR3; 2 x It has every security angle covered; the centralised management600GB HP 10k SAS HDD; 4 x Gigabit FlexLOM; SD card slot; 2 x 460W PSU ALTERNATIVE options make it suited to SMBs and remote branch deployments.ALTERNATIVE From £2,442 exc VAT; www.fortinet.com WEB ID 372340 Dell PowerEdge T110 IIHP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 Well built, efficient, plenty of expansion room and a wide rangeHP’s eighth-generation ProLiant flagship harnesses Intel’s of options. A fine entry-level server.E5-2600 Xeon processors in a superbly designed chassis.£6,235 exc VAT; www.hp.co.uk WEB ID 376273 £1,123 exc VAT; Dell 0844 444 4155 WEB ID 369607STORAGE APPLIANCE BACKUP DEVICE BUSINESS LASERSynology DiskStation HP StorageWorks HP LaserJet ProDS1812+ Ultrium 3000 SAS 400 MFP M475dwDiskless, £582 exc VAT £2,278 exc VAT £445 exc VATwww.pixmania.com www.dabs.com www.lambda-tek.comWEB ID 375013 ISSUE 214 WEB ID 357982 ISSUE 190 WEB ID 374509 ISSUE 213A top NAS appliance for small businesses that’s affordable, fast Many pundits said tape was dead. They also said that LTO was A lot of features in a compact, affordable device. It delivers on– thanks to its dual-core Atom processor – and absolutely at the end of its roadmap. HP’s 3000 SAS proves them wrong its speed promises and offers excellent output quality, andbrimming over with new features. on both counts. wireless mobile- and web-printing services.KEY SPECS 2.13GHz Intel Atom D2700; 1GB DDR3; 8 x SATA II hot-swap KEY SPECS LTO-5 tape drive; 1.5TB; transfer rate 140MB/sec; 256MB KEY SPECS A4 colour laser MFD; 20ppm; 2 x USB 2; 2 x RJ-11; 10/100bays; RAID0, 1, 5, 6, Hybrid, hot-spare and JBODs; 2 x Gigabit Ethernet buffer; 6GB/SEC SAS Ethernet; 802.11n; fax; 250-sheet input tray; 50-sheet ADF; duplexALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVEQnap TS-879 Pro Turbo NAS Quantum LTO-4 HH Dell 5230dnImpressively fast over Gigabit and 10GbE, and drowning in A compact LTO-4 SAS tape drive kit for businesses with big Good speeds, acceptable quality, low running costs and hugefeatures, including superb cloud backup services. backup requirements and a need for speed. expansion potential make this mono laser good for workgroups.Diskless, £1,330 exc VAT; www.kikatek.com WEB ID 371404 £909 exc VAT; www.saverstore.com WEB ID 213831 £529 exc VAT; www.dell.co.uk WEB ID 370231UPS DEVICE NETWORK BACKUP NETWORK MONITORINGAPC Smart-UPS Symantec Backup Paessler PRTG1500 LCD Exec 2012 Network Monitor 9£399 exc VAT From £608 exc VAT 500 sensors, £790 exc VATwww.apc.com/gb www.symantec.co.uk www.paessler.comWEB ID 374788 ISSUE 213 WEB ID 374467 ISSUE 213 WEB ID 371584 ISSUE 208You pay a premium for an APC UPS, but it’s worth it. It offers BE 2012 is a very different beast to BE 2010, and we’d Licensed by the number of sensors, and with a proprietaryunbeatable management features, and its battery runtime is the recommend existing users familiarise themselves with it before database included, PRTG offers great value with no hiddenonly one we’ve seen to come close to a manufacturer’s claims. upgrading, but it simplifies backup and recovery processes costs. It provides an impressive range of network monitoring immensely. There’s also an all-you-can-eat licence, priced on the tools and combines them with quality reporting and alertingKEY SPECS 1,500VA/980W line-interactive UPS; 8 x C13 battery data to be secured prior to any deduplication or compression. facilities, making it our favourite network monitoring tool.protected outputs; RJ-45 serial and USB portsALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVECyberPower CP1500EAVRLCD-UKA low-cost UPS with a big battery, making it a fine choice for CA ARCserve Backup r16 Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold 15 Premiumprotecting a small-business server.£207 exc VAT; www.systo.co.uk WEB ID 373693 Unbeatable data protection features, and CA’s new licensing The redesigned web console is a step up, the existing monitoring schemes make it more affordable for SMBs and enterprises. tools are present, and the price makes it affordable for SMBs. From £308 exc VAT; www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 373744 100 devices, £1,978 exc VAT; www.ipswitch.com WEB ID 370246www.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 167

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WorldMInathegmsag.nNEeXTtMONTHPC EDITORIAL Tel: 020 7907 6000 NEXT MONTH LETTERS [email protected] ON SALE 8 NOVEMBERPRO TWITTER @pcpro FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/pcpro SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES 0844 844 0083EDITOR Barry Collins: [email protected] IN FEATURESRWC EDITOR Dick Pountain: [email protected] EDITOR Jonathan Bray: [email protected] Apps of the YearDEPUTY REVIEWS EDITOR Sasha MullerTECHNICAL EDITOR Darien Graham-Smith Whether you own a smartphone or tablet,FEATURES EDITOR David Bayon running iOS, Android, Windows PhoneNEWS EDITOR Nicole Kobie: [email protected] or BlackBerry OS, what makes theSENIOR STAFF WRITER Mike Jennings experience is the apps. Next month, we feature our pick of the best apps ofART & PRODUCTION Tel: 020 7907 6274 2012. Expect an eclectic mix, includingMANAGING EDITOR Priti Patel: [email protected] apps that help you to find your wayART EDITOR Camille Neilson: [email protected] around, get you fit, educate you, andDESIGNERS Andrew Bunce, Sarah Ratcliffe, Heather Reeves keep you updated with the latest news andSENIOR SUB-EDITOR Monica Horridge trends. Plus, we look at the year’s top games.SUB-EDITORS Gareth Beach, Julie Birrell, Steve Haines, Rosanna Negrotti Vision techCONTRIBUTING EDITORS Tom Arah, Steve Cassidy, Jon Honeyball,Simon Jones, Dave Mitchell, Stewart Mitchell, Mark Newton, Paul Bionic eyes are no longer toOckenden, Kevin Partner, Davey Winder be found solely in science- fiction movies, as DaveyCONTRIBUTORS Stuart Andrews, Ben Pitt, Dave Stevenson Winder discovers when he meets some pioneers in the field.PHOTOGRAPHY & PREPRESS Danny Bird, Jan Cihak, Julian Velasquez How can technology enhance the lives of those with poor vision? AndADVERTISING Tel: 020 7907 6662 Fax: 020 7907 6600 will bionics ever be affordable to gshuutSptba2opcrUs4fa:Ocp/tnOr/hBrrsiotdpciuesS.tetceboiirCoossbdsy.cnueReuorrklbieuibIvte.roeBef.orEyreSENIOR ADVERTISING MANAGER Ben Topp: [email protected] everyone? We find out.ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Karren Cook: [email protected] MANAGER Sophie Cowan: [email protected] The cartoon geeksGROUP AD MANAGER Gary Rayneau: [email protected] AD MANAGER Paul Franklin: [email protected] Throughout the past few decades of technologyUS ADVERTISING MANAGER Matthew Sullivan-Pond: 001 646 717 9555 advances, one thing has remained constant: [email protected] ability of cartoons to make light of everything tech-related. We look at some of the most lovedAD PRODUCTION Tel: 020 7907 6055 tech cartoons from Dilbert to xkcd, and talk toGROUP PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Robin Ryan the people behind these brilliant works of art toPRODUCTION MANAGER Kerry Lambird find out why they remain so popular.PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Kimberley Montack IN LABSMARKETING & PROMOTION Tel: 020 7907 6270MARKETING & EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE Budget laptopsPaul Goodhead: [email protected] RENTAL AND INSERTS EXECUTIVE With the official launch of Windows 8 andJohn Perry: [email protected] manufacturers desperate to sell off Windows 7 models, it seems now is the time to buy a budgetCIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS laptop. We test the finest portables availableTel: 0844 844 0083 [email protected] for less than £599 to find out whichCIRCULATION MANAGER Emma Read you should buy – and which worksNEWSTRADE DIRECTOR David Barker Pbleesatsewnitohteththeant LeawbsOaSn.d features are subject to change.COVER DISC TECHNICAL SUPPORT [email protected] Tel: 020 7907 6625 Ben Topp: [email protected] Pro magazine, 30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JD SUBSCRIPTIONSDENNIS PUBLISHING LTD Price: UK £49.99; Europe £70; Rest of World £90GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR Ian Westwood To renew a subscription, change an address or report any problems, visitMANAGING DIRECTOR John Garewal www.subsinfo.co.ukEDITORIAL DIRECTOR Tim Danton LIABILITYDIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Julian Lloyd-Evans While every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot beFINANCE DIRECTOR Brett Reynolds held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or any consequence arising from it.GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR Ian Leggett Please note that all judgements have been made in the context of equipment available to PCCHIEF EXECUTIVE James Tye Pro at time of review, and that ʻvalue for moneyʼ comments are based on UK prices at the timeCHAIRMAN Felix Dennis of review, which are subject to fluctuation and are only applicable to the UK market.PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Printed by BGP. Distributed by Seymour Distribution, 2 SYNDICATION & INTERNATIONAL LICENSINGEast Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT. Tel: 020 7429 4000 PC Pro is available for licensing overseas. Licensing contact: Nicole Adams,PC Pro is published monthly by Dennis Publishing Limited. Company registered in England, [email protected] +44 20 7907 6134; Reprints and syndicationnumber 1138891. All material (c) Dennis Publishing Limited. UK property of Dennis contact: Wrightʼs Media 0800 051 8327 (toll free)Publishing Ltd. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole orin part without the written permission of the publishers. Certified distribution 54,367 (Jan-Dec 2011)www.pcpro.co.uk WorldMags.net PC PRO•DECEMBER 2012 169