|
Name |
Price at Time of Review (£) |
Rating |
Comment |
Additional Info |
Supplier |
Tel |
Issue |
Page |
Additional comments, notes
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Drawing Tablets |
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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 |
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Mice and Pointing Devices |
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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 |
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Music Creator Pro |
85 |
***** |
Good value keyboard. |
49 full sized keys, MIDI compatible. Evolution audio software included |
Evolution Electronics |
01525 372621 |
17 |
109 |
recommended
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Multimedia Upgrade Kits |
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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 |
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Video/Sound cards |
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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) |
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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 |
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Wireless Networking |
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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 |
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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 |
|
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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 |
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