PC Speakers Logitech Z Cinema 2.1

The Z Cinema system has two satellites are very similar to those of Z-10, but apart from that, this new system comes at a higher band, starting with the fact that this is a 2.1 system. The words "Cinema", however, raises some suspicion, given that relies on a computer system software to simulate the presence of several speakers. The Z Cinema, however, are not a simple diffusion system, because, thanks to the USB connection, behave exactly like an external sound card. Among the "collateral damage" we point out the fact that only work with certain versions of Windows (XP Media Center Edition, Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate). In the pack are also a Media Center remote control.
Large, but easy to install.

Each of the two satellites is a two-way system with woofers and tweeters from 8 cm by 3 cm or smaller or of superior in terms of design. High 25 cm deep and 11, are real stereo speakers that can be put on the desk or subtracting to it a lot of space, or installed on the wall. On the back there are the pre-drilled holes for fixing to the wall, but the package does not include data media.

The subwoofer is quite large (and less than 41 cm deep) and heavy a burden necessary to achieve bass sounds correct. On the system there are control buttons, so you have to do everything with the remote. Audio connectors (input for MP3 players and headphone) are on the right satellite. The USB port is on the subwoofer, which depart from the two wires, rather short, bringing the sound to the two satellites. Can not remove too much then the satellites from the subwoofer, as well as the Z Cinéma from the PC. The subwoofer mounts a 20-cm cone, bass-reflex loaded and with a vent on the side, and the power supply and amplifier. Logitech did not leave things half: the amp has three channels and the power is more than enough to ensure both good dynamics and low distortion.

Technical specifications
- Subwoofer Power: 110 W
- Power Satellites: 2 x 26 W + 2 x 9 W
- Frequency response: ND
- Inputs: USB + 1 line-in
- Headphone: 3.5 mm
- Satellites: Midrange 80 mm + 30 mm dome tweeter
- Subwoofer: woofer de 20 cm
- Dimensions Satellites: 250.4 mm x 115 mm x 112.4 mm
- Dimensions Subwoofer: 292.4 mm x 290.6 mm x 413.9 mm

Unlike other audio systems, the Z Cinéma can not do without, or almost, of a PC, which has some very specific things: the operating system must be Windows XP Media Center, Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.

System Requirements :

- Windows XP Media Center, Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate
- USB
- CD-ROM
- 256 MB of RAM
- 20 MB of free hard disk

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Cyclone Windows 7, Intel blow on sales

"The PC market is picking up, it shows the rise of Intel on the estimates of third quarter."
Intel Corporation has revised upward estimates of the financial third quarter. The company is expected to reach a turnover in the order of 9 billion dollars (estimates range from 8,8 to 9,2 billion), compared to 8.5 billion (8.1 / 8.9) predicted end of second quarter.
Intel hopes, therefore, to sell more products, especially processors. The increase in estimates is a good sign for the entire spectrum of PC, which is preparing for the resumption last month of the year: do not just trawl Snow Leopard, but Windows 7 and the news of Intel's processors and piattorme, Core i5 and Pine Trail at all.

Microsoft windows 7 Operating system

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in mid 2010 Nokia launch Nokia Smartbook

One SmartBook from Nokia. The Finnish company, after submitting the booklet 3G-based Intel Atom CPU (likely coming in early 2010), plans to play hard in the computer world with a solution SmartBook.

SmartBook is a term that identifies products halfway between netbooks and smartphones, that is architecture-based solutions and voted on the use of wireless Internet in mobility. Not by chance the first to spread this term was Qualcomm.

The availability of this product is expected in mid 2010 and production should be entrusted to Compal Electronics and Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry).

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Microsoft Windows 7 and Core i7 on MSI notebooks X420 and X620 series

Core i7 Clarksfield and Microsoft Windows 7 will give a strong jolt to the notebook market.
MSI focuses on Core i7 and Windows 7 notebooks in the market to capture laptop. The Taiwanese company is currently completing a 15.4-inch notebook and 17 inches, which will be based on platform Calpella 7200m and Intel Core i7, Core i7 8200M and Core i7 920XM (Clarksfield quad-core, 45nm). The center also offer Windows 7, a driving force of incredible reminder (at least on paper) in the months to come. The new notebooks will come on the market after the release of Microsoft operating system.

MSI intends also to present new ultra-thin notebook (again with Windows 7): The X420 model will complement the new dual-core Core 2 Duo ULV SU4100 (1.3 GHz, 2MB cache), while the X620 model will be based on Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3MB cache). The prices of these laptops would cost in the range between $600 and $ 900.
Finally, in the range of netbooks, expect greater attention to the models based on the platform Pine Trail, Pineview processor with memory controller and graphics core integrated. The proposal should take the name of MSI Wind U150 and have the touchscreen display, exploitable properly with Windows 7. Release Date: December 2009.

Microsoft wondows 7

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Core 2 Duo E8600 overclocked with MSI P45 Motherboard

Balance performance and power consumption. The overclocked processor and graphics cards is the easiest way to improve the performance of the system, ideally, and no cost. However, there are limits to take into account if you want to enjoy a reasonable relationship between performance and power consumption, since more speed translates into a higher energy consumption. We used an MSI P45 motherboard and a Core 2 Duo E8600 to answer this question: what is the clock speed at which a Core 2 Duo processor delivers the best performance / consumption?

P45 and Core 2 Duo, still a good match.
Although now it seems everyone is only talking of Intel Core i7 and the AMD Phenom II, the dear old dual core Core 2 Duo will remain in circulation for several months. Despite the quad core mentioned above provide a significant performance boost, they are more expensive (Intel) and typically require new motherboards, and DDR3 memory. This will apply equally to future new Intel products, such as chipsets Series 5 (Ibex Peak), which introduce the new processor socket LGA1156 and Lynfield. The new products offer better performance, and probably will fill the gap that exists between the Core 2 Quad and Core i7, but the platform will not be much more efficient configuration of a Core 2 Quad - and more expensive. Ibex Peak is as innovative product, which introduces new features. For these reasons, the Core 2 Duo models will remain attractive for a while ', because many applications do not benefit fully from the four cores.

Platform.
We looked around for a suitable basis for our plan to overclock. The choice of a high-end motherboard, equipped with many features for fans, it was certainly a good starting point, but with the intent to keep the cost to reasonable levels, we opted for a mainstream P45 motherboard. To be more precise, we selected the motherboard MSI P45D3 Neo, a model not equipped with highly advanced features - that many users probably do not use it - but however provides overclocking features we needed. The most advanced P45D3 Platinum would have been our choice in the case of quad-core CPU, but for this project to overclock the Neo is more than enough.

Core 2 Duo E8600

MSI P45 Motherboard

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Monitor 22 inch from Asus, Dell, LG and Philips

Monitor 22 inch 4 models to compare. Save money on buying a monitor 19" or a 20" no longer makes sense, because for just over $ 100 you can buy a 22 inch, a segment that offers both panels to 1680x1050 as a 1920x1080 pixel.
The high-end models offer a very wide viewing angles, are adjustable in height, they have several video inputs and an integrated DVB-T, they can also work as stand-alone televisions. The choices have expanded in late 2008, with the introduction of Full-HD panel: now you can choose between "fewer pixels is more readable" and "more pixels is more detail.

The 22 inch cheap, on the other hand, is not synonymous with low quality, but features thin, as the monitor base is fixed, the only video input is the classic VGA connector (even if the digital input DVI is also gaining ground on an affordable monitor) and the panels are common TN 5 ms, therefore with rather narrow angles of vision, which tend to bring up unpleasant trails behind fast express movement subjects.

The monitor should ideally :
1. be very responsive and without major delays in the display image.
2. with colors faithful to default (dE <3).
3. have a high contrast (to have a contrast of at least 800:1 a brightness of 200 cd / m 2, the black must be less than 0.25 cd / m 2).
4. have wide viewing angles, so you can watch the monitor also veer sideways without seeing the colors.
5. be very ergonomic, adjustable height and a swivel base.
In reality, a monitor like that does not exist, except to focus on products from the price outrageous. Nevertheless, we can consider a good monitor if it excels in at least 4 of the 5 points that we have listed. If the monitor is defective on at least 2 of these points, you can define good, unless it has some cool features or options.

Test :
Design, ergonomics, color fidelity, response times in games, video noise in films, the criteria for assessing the quality of a monitor are many. The ideal monitor should excel in all these fields, but this rarely happens, so you must reach a compromise, emphasizing color fidelity if you do photo editing, or if the reaction is often used to play.
Which diagonal?
Today the small diagonal, 19 and 20 inches, offer a significant savings than their older siblings, and not much point in their purchase, except for personal reasons. It's more interesting to look at 24 inch, which cost less, so that economic models can cost as much as a 22inch mid-range. A larger monitor, of course offers more space, and occupies more on the desktop.

A final consideration. The new LCD monitors are distinguished from those of the past, some new features, or unusual for a PC monitor, such as DVB-T tuner, special glasses that give the 3D effect, or the refresh rate of 120 frames per second instead of the traditional 60, which gives a clean break with the latency and improves the fluidity of the action.

DELL 2209WA
Diagonal : 22 inch
Native Resolution : 1680 x 1050 pixel
Panel : e-IPS 6 ms
Viewing angle H / V : 178°/178°
Connectivity : DVI, VGA, USB hub with 4 ports
Price : 335 euro

LG W2261V
Diagonal : 22 inch
Native Resolution : 1920 x 1080 pixel
Panel : TN 2 ms
Viewing angle H / V : 170°/170°
Connectivity : HDMI, DVI, VGA
Price : 195 euro

Asus VH222H
Diagonal : 22 inch
Native Resolution : 1920 x 1080 pixel
Panel : TN 5 ms
Viewing angle H / V : 170°/160°
Connectivity : HDMI, DVI, VGA
Price : 180 euro

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Core 2 Duo Vs AMD Phenom II X4 to reduced tension

VS

When it comes to processors and overclocking ability, the questions that users ask are: which speed is possible to carry a processore? Which tension needs in order to catch up that speed? Which is the better system than usable cooling? which speed is possible to carry a processore? Which tension needs in order to catch up that speed? Which is the better system than usable cooling?

Voltage, clock speed and power consumption
While the clock speed is the first characteristic that identifies the benefits, while the increase of tension is a variable used to reach higher clock speeds, the voltage is the parameter that affects the energy consumption. The increase in clock speed has a lower impact on consumption than the increase of operating voltage, which impacts more heavily. Similarly, the reduction in operating voltage can greatly reduce fuel consumption.

Low-voltage products
Many laptop processors are simply modified versions, to consume less, desktop counterparts. Think of the Intel Core 2 mobile: it is optimized versions, but in certain conditions consume and offer services identical to those of the brothers for desktop PCs. The Core 2 Duo T-series, have a TDP of 35 W (maximum power consumption of 35 watts), while the P series does not exceed 25 watts.
There are versions with low power consumption for desktop processors: AMD provides long-efficient processors, identified by the suffix and (Phenom II X4 900th and 905th, or X4 9350e), Intel Core 2 Quad models offer the "s" which offer the same benefits of regular models, but have a TDP of 65W instead of 95W. Although these processors are usually more expensive, both in idle which are able to reach peak power consumption reduced, as promised.

CPU low cost do-it-yourself ?
Considering the benefits described above, why not change the operating voltage of the processor on our behalf? We took two MSI motherboard, the P45D3 Neo, recently used for the article "Core 2 Duo better when overclocked, and we have matched with a Core 2 Extreme QX9650, along with a 790FX-GD70, used for the tests with the AMD Phenom II X4 955.

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