Tag: PC
Easy image manipulation software: five of the best
1. Adobe Photoshop Elements [PC / Mac]
Photoshop? Easy?
There’s no denying that the various flavours of Photoshop contain some very advanced features, but in fact it’s possible to do basic image and photo editing and manipulation plus a range of “fancy” things without a whole lot of training.
Photoshop Elements is a cut-down version of the full-blown package which means it doesn’t have as many features but it’s also cheaper. In fact, it often comes bundled with digital cameras.
Get to grips with the basics of Photoshop Elements and you may well find yourself wanting to delve deeper into its powerful tools.
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 5/5
Price: Latest version around £60, may be bundled. PC / Mac
The Advent PQD-9002 desktop PC – available from PC World
PC World has announced that they’ll be exclusively stocking the Advent PQD-9002 desktop PC. This looks like being a good, media-centre, family PC.
It’s got an AMD Phenom X4 9350, 2GHz, Quad-Core processor with a 512MB ATI Radeon HD4350 graphics card so it should be able to handle gaming pretty well as well as playing video without any lag. There’s 4GB of RAM in there and has a fairly substantial 640GB hard-drive so you can store plenty of media as well.
The Advent PQD-9002 will cost just under £600 with an 18.5-inch LG monitor. It will cost slightly more if you want a bigger screen – 20 and 22-inch monitors are also available. It’s a shame it hasn’t got a Blu-ray drive but it’s not a bad price for what you’re getting.
If you’re interested, order one from PC World.
Argonart unveils the Skull gaming PC
This Skull PC case is the work of Argonart – a Midlands-based company who specialise in custom built sculptures. The photo shows it in its early design stage – check out the video for a look at it in action.
The Skull is handmade out of 3mm aluminium alloy and is an example of a gaming PC casing that customers can have made to order. The spec of the PC is also up to the customer – although it would be pointless to have this scary-looking casing hosting a low-end PC. You want to be doing some serious gaming with a monster like this.
I particularly like the way the DVD drive comes out of the skull’s mouth whilst the eyes look menacingly on.
As far as customisable PC casings go – this is about the coolest I’ve seen. If you’re interested in having one made contact Argonart directly and get a quote. The skull design would set you back about £2,000 for the case.
Ashes Cricket 2009 – coming in August
Cricket games are never all that great, let’s be honest. Graham Gooch World Class Cricket on the Amiga was okay but the batsmen would run without prompting causing numerous, unnecessary, run-outs and many a smashed joystick.
But if there was ever a games console designed for a cricket simulator then surely it’s the Wii? Ashes Cricket 2009 by Codemasters will put that theory to the test when it is released next month.
The gameplay has the potential to be excellent. Codemasters is promising various shot types when batting including drives, cuts and slogs – hopefully you’ll also be able to reverse-sweep for six, KP stylee. When fielding, players will be able to polish the ball to affect its movement and bowlers will have to turn the remote during their action in order to swing the ball.
The features of the game sound pretty impressive too – the top eight test playing nations will be there along with real kits and real names. So no Harry Flentoff or Rocky Punting. All formats of the game will be present including tests and 20/20 and they’ll be played in 10 real stadiums with commentary by Jonathan Agnew, Shane Warne, Ian Botham, Ian Bishop and Tony Greig. No Bumble unfortunately.
Pre-order it from Game on the Wii for £29.99. It’s £37.99 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and £24.99 on the PC – although they don’t sound as much fun as the Wii version.
Alienware versus Predator: top spec gaming desktop PCs go head-to-head
It’s time to put two maxed-out gaming PCs to the test — the best Alienware versus the best Acer.
Here’s a raw specs comparison for a top-of-the-range Alienware ALX X-58 and Predator Crusader II. Which one will cut it as the ultimate gaming PC?
| Alienware ALX X-58 | Predator Conquerer II | |
| Processor: | Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme 3.86GHz 8MB Cache | Intel Core i7-965 3.2GHz 8MB Cache |
| Graphics: | Dual 1792MB NIVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 with Optional Ageia PhysX Physics Processing Unit | 2* Nvidia® GeForce® 2* GTX 285 + Nvidia® nForce® 780i SLI (3 way SLI) 2* 896MB VRAM |
| Audio: | 7.1-channel audio + Sound Blaster X-Fi High Definition Surround Sound Audio | High Definition (7.1) channel audio support + Dolby Home Theatre audio enhancement + Creative EAX 4.0 support |
| Memory: | 12GB Triple Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz | 12GB DDR2 1066MHz SDRAM |
| Storage: | 2x256GB SSD + 1.0 TB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM | 2* 1TB SATA Hard Disk Drives & 1* 150GB WD Raptor® Drives |
| Optical drives: | 4x Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner | BD Burner + SuperMulti burner |
| Other connections: | 8xUSB 2.0, 2xFireWire, 1xESATA, 2xheadphones, 2xmicrophone, 1xEthernet | 9xUSB 2.0, 1xFireWire, S/PDIF, 2xEthernet, 18-in-1 memory card reader, 1xline out, 1xmicrophone |
| Cooling: | AlienIce™ 3.0 high-performance cooling | Liquid Cooling on the CPU |
| Other: | Customisable lighting, acoustic dampening, Killer Xeno Pro networking card, Alienware TactX Headset | |
| Guide price: | £5,353.25 | £3,999.99 |
Gallery: Top 10 All-in-One PCs
1 Apple iMac 24-inch
No surprises that I’ve put the Apple iMac at the top of the pile, not simply for its current incarnation but because Apple has been making all-in-one desktop machines for years now.
Sometimes a little quirky, always Apple, these all-in-ones have had their critics but there’s no denying their appeal for those that want stylish design in a single unit.
The current iMac features a 24-inch widescreen display, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 8GB RAM, and gorgeous aluminium body. Yes, you’re paying for Apple-ness, but they’re gorgeous aren’t they? Read more
Is Apple launching a low-end iPhone and tablet PC?
If rumours are to be believed, then Apple will be launching an “iPhone lite” and a “media pad” this summer. People “familiar with the matter” have been yapping away to BusinessWeek, and let slip that the new devices might coincide with the release of iPhone OS 3.0.
One device is a smaller, cheaper, iPhone that’ll allow users to make calls and send texts, but probably cut back on other features like GPS and the camera. The other is a tiny tablet PC, smaller than a Kindle, that would allow owners to view HD video and listen to music. It would also be able to place calls over Wi-Fi.
The rumour has arisen due to Apple’s ongoing talks with Verizon, a US phone network. The company would be the distributors of the devices, if they come through to reality.
(via Ars Technica)
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Asus Eee PC 1000HE
Netbook fan? Me too! That’s why I was dead excited to try out the latest Eee, and you know what? It’s a bit of a monster. Montrously powerful, by netbook standards, and with a montrous battery life.
Unfortunately it’s also monstrously heavy, weighing in at 1.4kg. I suppose you have to compromise somewhere, but for £329, you can’t complain too much. Watch the video above for my full thoughts.
T-Mobile plotting Android home phone and tablet
Remember, before we all had mobiles, the days of the home phone. Having to drag the cable across the hallway and under your door if you wanted to have a private conversation without the rest of your family listening in? That mysterious ‘Mercury’ button?
Those days are mostly at an end, but there are a few people still buying landline phones. As a result, companies are still making them – including T-Mobile who, rumour has it, will be bringing out an Android version next year. There’ll be a docking station that lets you sync it and recharge the battery.
On top of that, there’s a 7″ Android tablet in the works too. There’s very little detail being shared, but it’ll apparently let you ‘check the weather’ or ‘manage data across a wide variety of devices’. Sounds good. More when we get it.
(via Electric Pig)
Asus Airo foldable laptop gets price and date
I’m rather gobsmacked this morning to read that Asus is actually going to release their origami-inspired foldable laptop, the Airo, later this year. There was little said about either it or the dual screened shared notebook concepts…
