Showing posts with label Quick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quick. Show all posts

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Toshiba PX35t review: This budget all-in-one is quick, stylish and a great choice for the student

Toshiba PX35t-A2210 $930.00 The Toshiba PX35t-A2210 is a relatively powerful all-in-one desktop machine. While it is more expensive than the rest of this field, it delivers the performance and features to back up its price tag.

If looks are your top priority, Toshiba’s PX35t-A2210 ($930 as of 8/30/13) will surely woo you with its slim, attractive design. This 23-inch AIO sports a glossy full HD touchscreen, modern-looking wireless peripherals, and a third-generation Intel Core i3-3120M processor. It also boasts 6GB of DDR3/1600 RAM, built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and a roomy 1TB, 7200rpm hard drive.

There's plenty to like about Toshiba's PX35t-A2210, but its sharply angular mouse isn't one of them.

But looks aren’t everything, and the PX35t-A2210 isn’t just a pretty centerpiece for your desk, it’s also a good all-around performer, delivering a Desktop Worldbench 8.1 score of 131. That means it’s nearly one-third faster than our baseline machine, the Acer Aspire A5600U-UB13 . You won’t mistake the PX35t-A2210 for a top-of-the-line gaming machine, but it’ll do just fine managing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; surfing the Web and checking email; and streaming HD clips from Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube.

The PX35t-A2210 relies on the Intel HD 4000 Graphics processor integrated into its CPU, rather than a discrete graphics card, but it can still handle many graphics-related tasks without falling over and dying. It outperformed the rest of the field with our BioShock Infinite benchmark, for instance, delivering the game at 26.6 frames per second (albeit with resolution of just 1024 by 768 pixels and image quality at Low). It took a first-place finish with Dirt Showdown, too, delivering the game at 47 frames per second (here again, with resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels and image quality set to low). This PC won’t have any problem with less visually intense games, such as MMORPGs. Simpler photo- and video-editing tasks won’t be an issue, either.

PCWorld all-in-one PC roundupThe Desktop Worldbench 8.1 chart is repeated here, so you don't have to have to go back to the previous page to see an overall performance snapshot.

Toshiba outfitted the PX35t-A2210 with a glossy 23-inch multitouch screen with native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. It’s a very good display, but it’s not perfect. While it’s extremely bright, and images look crisp and clear on it, colors look a little dull and whites have a yellowish tint. It’s also not the most accurate touchscreen I’ve used. There were several moments in my testing when I accidentally hit the link below the one I was trying to tap. Multitouch gestures are smooth and seamless, but the glass has an ever-so-slightly tacky feeling to it, which can make gliding across its surface a little tough. But it’s a much better input device than the PX35t-A2210’s mouse, which is a modern-looking angular thing that felt uncomfortable and sharp in my hand. The keyboard, meanwhile, delivers shallow tactile feedback but accurate typing.

The Toshiba PX35t-A2210 is attractive, usable, and relatively powerful. It’s a great choice for college students looking to balance work and play, since it performs basic administrative tasks with ease and can also play streaming HD video without a hitch. It has excellent Harman/Kardon speakers (with a Sleep and Music feature that lets you play your digital media player through them), and an ample collection of other I/O ports: Four USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, and one HDMI input (so you can plug in a cable/satellite set-top box or a videogame console).

Editor's note: This all-in-one was reviewed as part of a roundup for back-to-school season. You can read that story, along with reviews of the five all-in-ones we compared it to, here.


From PC World. Electronics product reviews and advice for best reference

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Review: Quick View Plus lets you read nearly any business file

Quick View Plus 12 Standard ($49, 30-day free trial) is nifty file-viewing utility for business users. It allows easy viewing—without having to open the originating program—of literally hundreds of file types, including word processing docs, spreadsheets, databases, and even compressed file archives produced by a myriad of programs. The kicker is that handles many older file types that you may no longer have the software for.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

6 Quick Ways to Secure Your MacBook

Apple releases security updates for its operating system whenever a new threat arises. Those updates usually take the form of a quick patch that requires a restart and gets you right back to your regularly scheduled web surfing in no time. But the thought of having to restart your machine while you have 37 tabs open in Safari can cause may of us to cancel the update, putting it off until a later date. Instead, you’d be far better off installing the update as soon as possible.

Apple’s updates are based on known threats to its operating system, meaning that there is already an exploit floating around the web that can be used to install malware on your computer. Putting off updates, even for a few hours, leaves you unnecessarily exposed to those threats. Want to keep your machine safe? Update your OS as soon as you are prompted to.

Unfortunately, in the case of the Flashback Trojan, Apple was a bit slow on the uptake and didn’t issue a security update to fix the problem until days after it was reported.

2. Install Anti-Virus Software

Somewhere around 15 to 25 percent of Mac users have anti-virus software installed on their system. That means roughly 75 to 85 percent of users’ systems are in danger of being infected . Big-name developers like Symantec’s Norton, McAfee, Bitdefender and Kaspersky all offer anti-virus and malware protection software for Mac systems complete with robust feature sets. If you’re looking to save some cash, we suggest checking out the free to use Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition.

Installing anti-virus software, however, is pointless if you don’t keep it up-to-date or run it regularly. That’s why we suggest that you set your anti-virus program to automatically download and install updates, as well as scan your system at a specified time each day. And if you’re worried that virus scans will impact your system’s performance, you should note that many anti-virus programs offer users the option of scheduling scans for when your system has ample resources available. Meaning scans will only start up when you’re system is doing the least amount of work. 

3. Turn on FileVault

Apple’s OS X includes a wide variety of security features that work to ensure your system and files are safe from Internet ne’er-do-wells. One of OS X’s best features is FileVault 2. The software allows users to encrypt data stored on their Mac’s hard drive with XTS-AESW 123 encryption. FileVault 2 can also be used to protect external drives. To turn on FileVault 2, open your Mac’s System Preferences page and select Security & Privacy. Click FileVault and choose Turn on FileVault. Follow the onscreen prompts and you’ll be set.

4. Activate OS X’s Firewall

Like Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s OS X features a built-in firewall meant to stop block incoming connections from unwanted sources. To switch on your Mac’s firewall, navigate to the Security & Privacy page and click on the Firewall tab then click the Turn on Firewall button. Apple also allows users to customize their firewall settings via the Firewall Options menu. From here you can choose to block all incoming connections, except those that are required for basic web services or automatically allow connections that have a signed certificate.

5.Use Password Assistant to Create Secure Passwords

Password Assistant is another valuable tool Apple has included with OS X. The software helps users create strong passwords, making it harder for less scrupulous users to steal your data. Users can even set how strong they would like their password to be based on length and quality. To access the Password Assistant, open the Users & Groups menu and choose Change Password. Click the key icon next to the new password dialogue box and the Password Assistant window will appear.

The tool makes choosing the type of password you want to use very easy by letting you pick from memorable phrases, alphanumeric, numeric, random or FIPS-181 compliant passwords. You can can also choose to extend the password to up to 31 characters in order to improve its strength.

6. Know What Software You Are Installing

A good deal of malware can be easily prevented by simply knowing what you are installing on your Mac. By default, OS X will prompt you whenever you attempt to install something on your system. That goes for both benign and malicious software.

If you haven’t specifically authorized a program to be downloaded or are otherwise unsure of its origins, don’t install it. Malware developers have a nasty habit of trying to get users to install their software by giving them innocuous sounding names. So before clicking that install button, make sure the software came from a reputable developer.


From Laptopmagazine. Visit Amazon Computer and Notebook Center Here