Review: Apricorn's Aegis 3.0 portable drive offers an SSD option for better performance

Apricorn’s Aegis Portable 3.0 is a handsome 2.5-inch, silver and black, USB 3.0 external drive with an integrated cable—and it ships in both hard-drive and SSD flavors. If that isn’t a siren’s call to see just how much of a performance boost you get from a solid-state drive in an external USB 3.0 enclosure, I don’t know what is. Apricorn thoughtfully shipped us both versions so we could answer that call.

There’s no outward difference between the SSD version (outfitted with a 256GB SanDisk SD6SB1M256G1022I) and the hard-drive model (which comes with a 1TB, 2.5-inch Toshiba MQ01ABD100), aside from the fact that the SSD version weighs an ounce or two less.

ROBERT CARDINThe Aegis Portable 3.0 comes in an attractive enclosure with an attached USB 3.0 cable.

The Lab ran both models through PCWorld’s 10GB-file stress tests, copying data to and from a 16GB RAM drive, and the differences were as vivid as Apricorn’s advertising claims—at least when writing data to the drives. The 256GB SSD version wrote our single 10GB file at 334 megabytes per second, which is almost three times faster than the hard-drive version’s 115.5 MBps.

With a 10GB mix of small files and folders, the difference in write speed was even more pronounced: 102.7 MBps to 22.6 MBps. But 22.6 MBps is poky, even for a hard drive. We saw similarly subpar write performance from Apricorn’s Aeigis Bio, so it might be the bridge controller. By way of comparison, Seagate’s Wireless Plus 1TB wrote the same test file at 93 MBps, and other external USB 3.0 hard drives we’ve tested typically measure anywhere from 50 MBps to 80 MBps.

On the read tests, on the other hand, the drives finished in a near dead heat. Both the SSD version and the hard-drive version of the Aegis Portable 3.0 read the single 10GB file at 263 MBps. In the 10GB files-and-folder test, the hard-drive version actually edged out the SSD version 214 MBps to 212 MBps.

The superior write performance of the SSD versions of the Apricorn Aegis Portable 3.0 carries a hefty premium: The 256GB model costs $399 and the 512GB unit sells for $599, compared to just $79 for the 500GB, $109 for the 1TB, and $189 for 1.5TB versions. Clearly there’s some pre-purchase contemplation to be done.

That said, the SSD version weighs significantly less than the hard-drive versions, making it a boon for those who like to travel light. And with no moving parts, the SSD version is not subject to damage from drops, bumps, and other physical impacts; you can be as ham-handed as they come and still not have to worry about hurting the drive.

The SSD-based Aegis Portable 3.0 is a nice product for those who regularly back up or copy files onto an external drive, and need to do so in a hurry. In other usage scenarios, you might be better off buying an external hard drive and saving your cash for other purchases.

Note: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that you can grab an unpopulated 2.5-inch USB 3.0 enclosure and populate it with a bare 256GB SSD for considerably less than $400. It might not come with an integrated cable or a carrying case, and you’d have separate warranties for the enclosure and the SSD, but you would save a lot of cash.

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NotePad++ offers portable notepad features for programmers

Notepad++ is a portable notepad that users like computer programmers will find enormously useful, because it offers something the regular Notepad doesn't: numbered lines.

Numbered what, I hear you ask?

If you're testing a program in a language such as Javascript, you’ll get obscure error messages like “operand missing on line 346”. So, it helps if you know which line the bug is on, and how to quickly locate that line. If the lines are not numbered, like in the regular Notepad, you would be sitting there till doomsday, trying to locate that one elusive little bug.  With Notepad++, it's as simple as scrolling down to the correct numbered line.

Notepad++ offers line numbers, which is very useful for programmers.

Other smart features include zooming in and out (handy if you have bad eyesight), macro recording and playback, and tabbed notes, so you can have multiple notes open in the same window and click back and forth between them.  It also offers colour syntax coding, which makes reading through programs easier. Notepad++ is also smaller than Notepad, which results in less strain on your CPU.

Notepad++ is also open source software, so if you have the technical know-how, you can examine the source code and make whatever changes you want to it, provided you don't charge for it. And since it's donationware, you can keep Notepad++ chugging with a donation to the developers.

Expatriate Scotsman now living in Wurzburg, Germany, freelance writer, frustrated future bestselling author, obsessed bibliophile. Other interests include trying to understand The Architect in the Matrix movies, decrypting codes and ciphers, and trying to persuade my landlord and my wife to let me have a Highland Cow for a pet.
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The best Windows 8 business apps for portable productivity

Microsoft may tout the Surface as the best tablet for business productivity, but many professionals stick to traditional desktop programs rather than wading into the Windows Store.

That's unfortunate, because Windows 8's walled garden hides a slew of work-ready apps, especially if you venture beyond the Windows Store's lackluster business section. These apps probably can't replace your reliable desktop software completely, but they're more than capable enough to keep you productive while on the run.

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Review: Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 11 is convertible, portable, and…it runs Windows RT

Microsoft’s vice president of Windows planning may be confident that Windows RT is destined for great things, but I—and the rest of the world—have some doubts. The ARM-based operating system has limits (such as the inability to install legacy apps, or apps from outside the Windows Store) that just don’t belong on laptops.

And while Lenovo’s $949 IdeaPad Yoga 11 may be trending toward tablet status, it’s still very much a laptop. In fact, the Yoga 11 is much more of a laptop than some of its competitors, such as the Dell XPS 10 and the Asus VivoTab RT. The XPS 10 and the VivoTab RT have detachable keyboard docks, while the Yoga 11 has a more unique form factor: Its keyboard doesn’t detach, but you can flip the entire screen around 360 degrees to have a slate-like experience.

So for all intents and purposes, the Yoga 11 is a laptop, not a tablet, but it’s running a tablet’s operating system. As you can imagine, this creates a few issues: You can’t download a third-party browser, for example, nor can you install some of the older applications you’re used to working with. You’re limited to apps that you can download in the Windows Store, which might not be a great thing considering Windows 8 app development has slowed in recent months. All of this is pretty unfortunate, because the Yoga 11 is an otherwise well-made product with potential as a replacement for your 15-incher and your tablet.

The Yoga 11 is the younger, lesser-equipped brother of Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 13, which, as you may remember, I liked…a lot. The Yoga 11 features the same silver-gray rubbery finish, black chiclet-style keyboard, and moderately thick bezel surrounding its smooth glass touchscreen, as its predecessor. Its 11.6-inch capacitive touchscreen has a native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, and features bright, crisp colors. It’s a great touchscreen to use, too: accurate, smooth, and as similar to a tablet experience as you’ll get on a laptop. The touch sensitivity appears to extend just beyond the bezel, which makes certain Windows RT gestures (such as swiping from the right side to see the menu) very easy and intuitive.

The Yoga 11 lives up to its name: It’s super, super flexible, both literally and figuratively. You can use it in traditional clamshell mode (keyboard in front, screen at a 90- or near-90-degree angle), or you can bend the screen 360 degrees around the hinge. There are four modes that Lenovo sanctions: the aforementioned clamshell laptop mode, tablet mode (the screen folded all the way back so that the keyboard is now on the back), tent mode (the screen folded back so that the laptop is propped up on its edges), and stand mode (like reverse clamshell—this time, the keyboard is behind the screen and facing downward, while the screen is at an angle so you can watch movies or play games).

The Yoga 11’s biggest advantage over other laptop-tablet hybrids is its built-in keyboard. Not only is the keyboard built-in (so that’s an inherent advantage over plain tablets), but it’s actually a really, really good keyboard. It’s full-sized, with island-style keys and a small glass touchpad. The keys offer excellent tactile feedback, and they’re very comfortable and easy to type on for long periods of time. For a small system, the keys have just enough weight to ensure accurate typing. I honestly like this keyboard better than the one on the 11-inch MacBook Air (and that’s my primary laptop, at the moment).

It’s also got great battery life: In our tests we managed just shy of nine hours.

The Yoga 11 has a couple of disadvantages worth noting (aside from Windows RT). Our review model comes with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, both of which are a little weak in this era of computing. You already know it runs on an ARM processor (an Nvidia Tegra 3, to be exact), and its speakers are a little on the quiet side. It’s also got only two USB 2.0 ports—no USB 3.0 in sight. So it’s still more tablet than laptop in some ways.

I’ve been a big fan of Lenovo’s Yoga series from the start, and I love laptops that can fit in my purse…so the Yoga 11 is pretty tempting. But it’s not thin enough (0.61 inches) or light enough (2.8 pounds) to justify its tablet OS, and Windows RT has too many limitations for this to be a viable work computer. So, unlike its big brother (which was too heavy to be a tablet, but powerful and usable enough to be a laptop), the Yoga 11 is stuck somewhere in the middle.

The Yoga 11 has a unique, easy-to-use design and a great keyboard. The Windows RT and its dwindling app selection, however, will make me wait until Lenovo decides to release a full Windows 8-equipped 11-incher.

Sarah is a freelance writer and editor based in Silicon Valley. She has a love/hate relationship with social media and a bad habit of describing technology as "sexy."
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Digital Storm x17: It's a more portable gaming option

Even the untrained eye can spot a Digital Storm laptop from across the room, thanks to the company’s insistence on slapping its huge logo across the lid of each system. The overbranded, gaming-oriented x17 is no different: There’s also a large logo on the wrist rest. That said, at just 8.8 pounds sans accessories, it is actually one of the lightest 17.3-inch gaming laptops we’ve seen.

Our review model, which costs $1777 as configured, packs a third-generation Intel Core i7-3610QM processor, 16GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon HD7970M graphics card. The system also features a 750GB hard drive, built-in Bluetooth, an 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter, and a DVD-RW optical drive. The x17 runs a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

In PCWorld’s WorldBench 7 benchmark tests, it scored 99 out of 100. This means it’s only one percent slower than our reference machine, a desktop PC with a second-generation Intel Core i5-2500K processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. While this is an acceptable score for a desktop replacement—the Dell Inspiron 17R-1316MRB scored just 86 on WB7—it’s a little low for a gaming-oriented desktop replacement. The Alienware M17x R4 and the Samsung Series 7 Gamer both scored decently higher on WB7, with scores of 146 and 123, respectively.

The x17’s performance is just about what you’d expect on individual tests. It starts up in 35.6 seconds, which is about 10 seconds slower than the aforementioned gaming laptops. It manages 15.6 frames per second in our Web Performance tests (just a little slower than the Alienware and the Samsung), and it scores only 2006 in the PCMark 7 Office Productivity tests, compared with the Alienware’s 4549 and the Samsung’s 2513.

Luckily, while the x17 may not have gaming-laptop WB7 scores, it does offer up gaming laptop level of graphics. In our Crysis 2 graphics tests, it managed frame rates of between 44.4 (maximum-quality graphics, 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution) and 94.4 (low-quality graphics, 800 by 600 pixel resolution) frames per second. By comparison, the Alienware and Samsung managed frame rates of between 42.8 and 95.7 fps, and 27.7 and 96 fps, respectively, on the same tests.

In our battery life tests we managed to eke out three hours and 54 minutes of battery life, which is just around average for the desktop replacement category.

Gaming laptops are not known for their sleek profiles or light weight, and the x17 is no exception. This 17.3-inch system weighs just under 9 pounds sans accessories (about 11 pounds with the 3-pound power block), which is average for the desktop replacement category, but below average for the gaming-oriented desktop replacement category.

It comes housed in a solid black chassis with robust hinges, a thick base, and a sturdy, unshakeable lid. The cover features a black brushed-aluminum plate with tapered plastic edges. The interior features more brushed aluminum on the wrist rest area, a full-size backlit keyboard with a number pad, and a medium-size touchpad with two discrete mouse buttons and a fingerprint reader.

The keyboard has regular-style keys with flat, plateau-like surfaces. It's nothing special, the key surfaces are a little small, and the keys offer somewhat stiff tactile feedback. Digital Storm squeezes in a 10-key number pad next to the keyboard. The keyboard is backlit, and you can change the backlighting color scheme. The backlight editor lets you choose different colors for each of the three keyboard sections, as well as different pulsing rhythms.

The touchpad, which is located directly below the keyboard on the wrist rest, is a disappointment. It’s attractive enough—textured with the same brushed aluminum styling as the wrist rest, and it blends right in, but it’s not very comfortable to use. The cursor moves sluggishly, and multitouch gestures are jumpy and erratic. The two discrete mouse buttons are stiff and difficult to press, and because they lay flush with the wrist rest, it’s difficult to distinguish between the two. To be fair, most gamers will use a cabled mouse while gaming, so a crappy touchpad isn’t as much of an issue as it would be on a more mainstream laptop.

The x17 has a 3-in-1 card reader, one combination USB 3.0/eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports (one of which is a Sleep-N-Charge type), a FireWire jack, and a gigabit ethernet port on its left side. The right side has four audio jacks (microphone, headphones, line in, and S/PDIF) and one USB 2.0 port, as well as the DVD-RW optical drive. There’s a lock slot, one DisplayPort, one HDMI out, one DVI out, and a power jack around the back.

The x17 sports a 17.3-inch glossy LED-backlit display with a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The screen is surrounded by a shiny black plastic bezel, which contains a built-in webcam. For the most part, the screen looks excellent, rendering text and pictures crisply with well-saturated colors. HD video plays back seamlessly.

After closer inspection, however, we began to notice issues with darker scenes, a distracting shimmering effect while watching videos containing lots of blacks and dark grays. Apart from that, the screen looks very good, with excellent contrast and brightness.

The x17 delivers very good audio, too, thanks to the presence of Onkyo speakers above the keyboard, near the laptop’s hinge. But laptop speakers can only do so much, given the limitations of the form factor, and most gamers will plug in headphones or a headset anyway.

Digital Storm’s x17 is a good gaming machine that’s lighter than most desktop replacements—but it delivers less performance. If you can plump up your budget by $200, you can grab something like an Alienware M17x R4, which costs $1974.

Sarah is a freelance writer and editor based in Silicon Valley. She has a love/hate relationship with social media and a bad habit of describing technology as "sexy."
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Genius Unveils BV 200 Portable Projector With Better Battery, Sharper Display

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Digital Storm x17: It's a more portable gaming option

Even the untrained eye can spot a Digital Storm laptop from across the room, thanks to the company’s insistence on slapping its huge logo across the lid of each system. The overbranded, gaming-oriented x17 is no different: There’s also a large logo on the wrist rest. That said, at just 8.8 pounds sans accessories, it is actually one of the lightest 17.3-inch gaming laptops we’ve seen.

Our review model, which costs $1777 as configured, packs a third-generation Intel Core i7-3610QM processor, 16GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon HD7970M graphics card. The system also features a 750GB hard drive, built-in Bluetooth, an 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter, and a DVD-RW optical drive. The x17 runs a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

In PCWorld’s WorldBench 7 benchmark tests, it scored 99 out of 100. This means it’s only one percent slower than our reference machine, a desktop PC with a second-generation Intel Core i5-2500K processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. While this is an acceptable score for a desktop replacement—the Dell Inspiron 17R-1316MRB scored just 86 on WB7—it’s a little low for a gaming-oriented desktop replacement. The Alienware M17x R4 and the Samsung Series 7 Gamer both scored decently higher on WB7, with scores of 146 and 123, respectively.

The x17’s performance is just about what you’d expect on individual tests. It starts up in 35.6 seconds, which is about 10 seconds slower than the aforementioned gaming laptops. It manages 15.6 frames per second in our Web Performance tests (just a little slower than the Alienware and the Samsung), and it scores only 2006 in the PCMark 7 Office Productivity tests, compared with the Alienware’s 4549 and the Samsung’s 2513.

Luckily, while the x17 may not have gaming-laptop WB7 scores, it does offer up gaming laptop level of graphics. In our Crysis 2 graphics tests, it managed frame rates of between 44.4 (maximum-quality graphics, 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution) and 94.4 (low-quality graphics, 800 by 600 pixel resolution) frames per second. By comparison, the Alienware and Samsung managed frame rates of between 42.8 and 95.7 fps, and 27.7 and 96 fps, respectively, on the same tests.

In our battery life tests we managed to eke out three hours and 54 minutes of battery life, which is just around average for the desktop replacement category.

Gaming laptops are not known for their sleek profiles or light weight, and the x17 is no exception. This 17.3-inch system weighs just under 9 pounds sans accessories (about 11 pounds with the 3-pound power block), which is average for the desktop replacement category, but below average for the gaming-oriented desktop replacement category.

It comes housed in a solid black chassis with robust hinges, a thick base, and a sturdy, unshakeable lid. The cover features a black brushed-aluminum plate with tapered plastic edges. The interior features more brushed aluminum on the wrist rest area, a full-size backlit keyboard with a number pad, and a medium-size touchpad with two discrete mouse buttons and a fingerprint reader.

The keyboard has regular-style keys with flat, plateau-like surfaces. It's nothing special, the key surfaces are a little small, and the keys offer somewhat stiff tactile feedback. Digital Storm squeezes in a 10-key number pad next to the keyboard. The keyboard is backlit, and you can change the backlighting color scheme. The backlight editor lets you choose different colors for each of the three keyboard sections, as well as different pulsing rhythms.

The touchpad, which is located directly below the keyboard on the wrist rest, is a disappointment. It’s attractive enough—textured with the same brushed aluminum styling as the wrist rest, and it blends right in, but it’s not very comfortable to use. The cursor moves sluggishly, and multitouch gestures are jumpy and erratic. The two discrete mouse buttons are stiff and difficult to press, and because they lay flush with the wrist rest, it’s difficult to distinguish between the two. To be fair, most gamers will use a cabled mouse while gaming, so a crappy touchpad isn’t as much of an issue as it would be on a more mainstream laptop.

The x17 has a 3-in-1 card reader, one combination USB 3.0/eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports (one of which is a Sleep-N-Charge type), a FireWire jack, and a gigabit ethernet port on its left side. The right side has four audio jacks (microphone, headphones, line in, and S/PDIF) and one USB 2.0 port, as well as the DVD-RW optical drive. There’s a lock slot, one DisplayPort, one HDMI out, one DVI out, and a power jack around the back.

The x17 sports a 17.3-inch glossy LED-backlit display with a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The screen is surrounded by a shiny black plastic bezel, which contains a built-in webcam. For the most part, the screen looks excellent, rendering text and pictures crisply with well-saturated colors. HD video plays back seamlessly.

After closer inspection, however, we began to notice issues with darker scenes, a distracting shimmering effect while watching videos containing lots of blacks and dark grays. Apart from that, the screen looks very good, with excellent contrast and brightness.

The x17 delivers very good audio, too, thanks to the presence of Onkyo speakers above the keyboard, near the laptop’s hinge. But laptop speakers can only do so much, given the limitations of the form factor, and most gamers will plug in headphones or a headset anyway.

Digital Storm’s x17 is a good gaming machine that’s lighter than most desktop replacements—but it delivers less performance. If you can plump up your budget by $200, you can grab something like an Alienware M17x R4, which costs $1974.

Sarah is a freelance writer and editor based in Silicon Valley. She has a love/hate relationship with social media and a bad habit of describing technology as "sexy."
More by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal

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Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 Portable Monitor Review: An Easy-to-Carry Second Screen

The $200 (as of April 4, 2012) Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 monitor provides a simple, one-cable option for adding a second display to your setup. A second monitor is useful for many reasons, and whether you just want more screen real estate on your already-crowded desk, or you need a second display to take on the go with your laptop, the ThinkVision LT1421 fits the bill.

This portable monitor is slim and lightweight, measuring about 0.37 inch thick and weighing 1.8 pounds on its own, or about 0.85 inch and 2.4 pounds with its protective cover attached. The 14-inch screen gives you 1366 by 768 pixels to work with, an acceptable resolution for a display of this size.

On the back of the ThinkVision LT1421 is a small raised box that houses the kickstand, the Micro-USB port for connecting the monitor to your PC, and the brightness controls. The only cable you'll need to take with you is the included USB cable, as the monitor draws all of the power it needs from the USB connection. On the end that plugs into your computer, the cable splits into two USB connectors in case one does not provide enough power.

The included cover protects the display in transport and can act as a base for you to set the monitor on atop a desk or table. The kickstand can slot into grooves in the cover to help hold the monitor securely, but I found the kickstand to be strong and grippy enough to maintain the viewing angle even without the cover underneath it. The one drawback: The cover can be awkward to put on, and difficult to remove.

DisplayLink software and drivers power this USB-connected monitor. It's the same arrangement as on the Mobile Monitor Technology Field Monitor Pro Classic I tested previously, which means it suffers from the same inability to render smooth gradients and the same odd color profile that you can't edit. You’ll need to install the DisplayLink software on any system you plan to use with the monitor. In my tests, Windows 7 could not install the drivers automatically, so you'll have to install from the included CD, or download drivers from DisplayLink's website. Drivers are also available for OS X.

In use, I found that the ThinkVision LT1421 has fairly narrow viewing angles. It'll work if you're giving a presentation to a few people, as the side-to-side viewing angle is decent, but colors shift significantly if you move too high or too low. Colors look a little washed out, and text is not supercrisp due to the lower resolution being stretched out over 14 inches. In my tests, the matte screen was great under office lighting, with no glare and good brightness, even when I had plugged only one of the two ends of the USB cable into my laptop (a five-year-old Lenovo x61t). In fact, all of the test laptops I tried plugging the monitor into were able to supply sufficient power through just one USB port.

Video playback over the USB connection is lag-free and mostly smooth; a test YouTube video dropped a few frames in full-screen mode, but played back smoothly in the browser window.

The Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 portable USB-powered monitor makes for a great addition to your travel bag with its slim profile, included cover, and straightforward, one-cable connection. The monitor performs best as a secondary display for email, text, and reference material, though I wouldn't rule out sneaking in the occasional video while you work on your main screen.

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Shootout: Best Portable Scanners

The paperless office has yet to become a reality, so for road warriors who need to send electronic documents or receipts back to the home office, a portable scanner can be as important as their laptop. But a good scanner needs to do a few things well: It has to be small yet sturdy, be ready to go in a flash, and, of course, scan documents quickly and accurately. A bonus is software that can organize the documents and pull out important information. We put five of the latest portable scanners—most of which cost less than $200–to the test by timing how long it took to scan a business card, a black-and-white letter, and an 8.5 x 11-inch color photo. Which model deserves that precious space in your travel bag?

The WorkForce DS-30 marks the Epson's first foray into the still portable scanner market. As the new kid on the block, Epson has to tangle with some already established names, specifically Neat Receipts, Plustek and Xerox. So does the DS-30 have what it takes to shake up the portable scanner market?

Read Our Epson WorkForce DS-30 Review

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