Name Price at Time of Review (£) Rating Comment Additional Info Supplier Tel Issue Page Additional comments, notes
Drawing Tablets
Acecat II 111 ***** Best of its kind at the price. 20x24cm, 1cm drawing area, two button pen, powered via keyboard or optional PSU Capital Electronics 0181 573 3681 17 100 recommended
Wacom Art Pad 159 ***** A quality tablet at an affordable price. Letraset 0171 928 3411 3 130
Mice and Pointing Devices
Logitech Pilot 20 **** A cut above what is usually delivered with a PC. 3 buttons, 9-pin serial connector, driver software. Logitech 01344 894300 10 106
Mouseman 96 34 ***** Excellent drivers make the third button useful, and it's a good mouse to boot. 3 buttons, PS/2 connector, drivers for Win 3.1 and above. Logitech 01344 894300 21 126
Midi Keyboards
Music Creator Pro 85 ***** Good value keyboard. 49 full sized keys, MIDI compatible. Evolution audio software included Evolution Electronics 01525 372621 17 109 recommended
Multimedia Upgrade Kits
Diamond Multimedia Kit 8000 450 ** Has been rushed out without adequate testing. 8x CD-ROM drive, Yamaha YST-M5 6 Watt speakers, 16 bit, 32 voice wavetable card. TalkData 0171 404 1001 15 104
Video/Sound cards
Diamond Edge 299 **** Good card with stunning 3D performance. Needs better software support. PCI bus, 2Mb VRAM, Max res 1,024x768 24 bit colour. Integrated 3D accelleration and Wavetable synthesis. Datrontech 01252 303333 17 110
Video Cards (no sound)
Spea Showtime 335 ***** Decent picture quality. Combined graphics adaptor. PCI or VESA, MPEG decoder and SVGA card, Video for Windows accelleration, Windows MPEG playback software. Spea 01844 261886 5 124 recommended
Video Blaster 249 *** Disappointing MPEG playback card. Avoid. ISA MPEG decoder, VGA out. Creative Labs 01743 344744 5 126
Wireless Networking
Xircom Netwave 317 *** Comparatively expensive, but without major restrictions. ethernet or peer to peer, cordless, max range 250metres. Xircom UK 01256 332552 16 122
miscellaneous
Epson GT-300 375 *** Combination fax/scanner/photocopier with filing software. 300dpi mono scanner at 4ppm, faxmodem and/or printer required. Epson 01442 611444 13 119
Kurzweil Voice 1.2 825 **** A voice recognition system that really delivers the goods. 60,000 word vocabulary. Kurzweil 0171 602 4107 13 125
Orange Data Adaptor 499 *** Disappointing performance, unless your software is specially configurable. Type II PC card, data comms and fax software inlcuded. Orange 0973 973973 11 115
combination hard drive/cd-rom drive Teac Combo Drive Kit 629 *** A good technical solution, but not for multimedia development. Combination 4x CD-ROM drive and 540Mb hard disk. Teac UK 01923 225235 10 120
RBG converter TVCoder External 150 ***** Neat way to get VGA output onto a TV or VCR. Supports most SVGA cards at resolutions of 640x480 or 800x600. Creative Labs 01734 344744 10 120 recommended.
videoconferencing Sharevision PC3000 999 *** Let down by complex installation and variable video image quality. uses ordinary phone line. Creative Labs 01734 344744 9 109
comms bundle Super Gem Comms Office 199 ***** A wonderful good value idea for the home/small office. 14.4 fax/data modem with internal switching, fax software and voicemail facilities. Dataflex 0181 543 6417 6 112 recommended.
network hub Micronet NR5 240 *** Small and unobtrusive, ideal for a small network. UTP network hub, five 10Base connectors, two AI ports. MiTech Europe 01628 475599 6 116
network adaptor Etherlite Network Adaptor 59 **** Great for small groups but slower than Ethernet and proprietary. Parallel port networking, cables up to 32 devces via daisy chain. ODI and NDIS drivers. Grey Cell Systems 0181 902 8998 6 122
network card Etherwave PC Network Kit 199 *** A simple solution, but expensive. ISA adaptor, comes with Novell Personal Netware. Farallon 0181 758 7546 4 130
touchscreen adaptor Perex Touchmate 650 *** Expensive but good alternative to mouse or keyboard input. Serial adaptor. Ellinor 01734 311066 4 133
music system Korg AG-10 340 **** Flexible addition to sound card for professional MIDI sound. 4Mb sounds on ROM, 32 note polyphony, software bundle. Korg 0181 427 5377 4 136
motherboard Asustek PCI/E-P54NP4 649 ***** Makes SMP computing available and affordable. Computer Connections 01473 232282 3 128
keyboard Natural Keyboard 69 ** Comfortable for some touch typists, a no-no for the self taught. 102 keys, PS/2 connector and 5pin Din adaptor, drivers. Microsoft 01734 271000 2 136
caller display Solwise Caller ID 45 ** Basic with no benefits over free standng options. Caller display unit with Windows Software. Solwise 01482 473899 18 98
keyboard Softkey Butterfly 90 *** Well designed and useful for those worried about RSI. Ergonomic keyboard, integrated trackball option, serial/PS2. Capital Electronics 0181 573 3681 18 98
mouse Gyropoint Desk 119 *** Suitable for presentations, expensive for everyday use. Serial mouse, works in mid air. Ideal Hardware 0181 286 5000 18 99
3D graphics accellerator Creative Labs 3D Blaster 299 *** Expensive as a leisure product, but gives surprisingly good results with 486s. VESA local bus, 1 Mb VRAM, 1 Mb DRAM on board. Creative Labs 01245 265265 19 124
monitor magnifier Pro-Magna 120 *** A rasonable and cheap solution though not suited to heavy DTP or graphics use. for 14in or 15in monitors with anti radiation, anti glare and anti static coating. Structured Wholesaling 0171 431 5423 21 126