Big brother's little brother: Dell Dimension 5100
DesktopsOur second newborn from Dell this week, the Dimension 5100, runs a 64-bit processor and uses a Balance Technology extended (BTX) motherboard to make the little critter run quieter. Only Windows XP Professional takes advantage of 64-bit processors, and even then few applications have been tweaked to actually use these chips. Previous versions of Windows can still be run on the 5100 -- you just won't be taking performance to the brink. On the other hand, smug Linux users will be able to take advantage of the 5100's extra power immediately -- a 64-bit version of their operating system has been around for a long time.
The 5100 is slightly stumpier than the 9100, but it shares the same bright white styling on the chassis, save for the front panel, which remains a prosaic, business-like silver and grey. The 2.8GHz Pentium 4 at the heart of this little white treat is a fiery beast for most mid-level tasks. Extreme gamers will find no refuge here though: the 5100 is not a Battlefield 2 machine. While the hardware in this Dell is well suited to basic video editing and graphics work, it has its work cut out to deliver great gaming performance, expecially given its rather meagre ATI Radeon X300 SE graphics card. None the less, the 5100 is shaping up to be a fantastic entry-level machine with more than enough power for most. Expect a full review soon. -CS Continue reading...
Mont Blanc: Dell 9100
DesktopsWith the notable exception of Macs, computers have never been the prettiest objects to behold. But the new 9100 is a huge improvement on Dell's difficult goth period (where all its machines had black chassis and front-panels with gaping scars across them).
Dell has swapped the previous generation's scars for a piercing -- its new range of desktops have a massive hole through the front-side of the case which doubles as the perfect carrying handle. A huge nose-ring slipped through this would give the Dell some serious punk credentials. (Come on! We know everyone wants a PC with counter-culture aspirations.) This handle is especially useful if you cart your machine around the house from time to time, but the serrated edges on the hole bite into your hand like a playful puppy. It's nothing to cry about, but it seems rather cruel.
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Alienware takes tranquilisers, gets calmer
DesktopsWhat do you do if you're manufacturing the world's kookiest-looking PCs but you want to sell your Alien-headed weirdness to lawyers and accountants? No one is going to take their bank manager seriously if her PC has purple neon underlights and a scene from War of the Worlds airbrushed onto the case.
In the interests of widening its appeal to the more comatose professions, Alienware have just launched this understated mid-tower chassis. We love its Trojan-horse philosophy and though it looks a little bland considering the company's other perversions, that was the idea.
Downtown and Zboards
Games and GearIf our egos weren't already inflated from having killed our way to Lance Corporal ranking in Battlefield 2, we're now going to seriously bring the pain to the infidels with our Zboard. The latest in a long line of peripherals for totally l33t gamers, the Zboard has brand new keysets for certain games, and by happy coincidence the one we were sent was for our Favourite Game Ever™.
It's a cool idea, but it certainly divided opinions on Crave. Those who've got used to the standard keyboard layout -- or their own custom set -- found it difficult to adjust, and when you've clocked up 50+ hours, any change is bad. Others found it much more easier to adapt -- not only are the keys better spaced, but they're all labelled, so if you decide to bail out of a helicopter, you can find the parachute button before your face meets the pavement.
Hell's Angel: Demonite OverXtreme
DesktopsUpgrading from a two-year-old Dell with genuine coffee-stained patina to the Demonite OverXtreme SLI would be an experience bordering on the religious. This desktop gives Alienware a reason to fire up the gatling guns and oil the portcullis. Prepare for full-on rebel-assault class warfare. This Demonite is London after winning the Olympic bid: fast, determined and slightly drunk with exuberance.
While older desktops leave us feeling myopic, juddering through games with brain-wrenching frame-dropping sloth, the Demonite whizzes at such startling speeds you'll nearly lose control of all bodily functions. You'll only come back to any awareness of your real-life environment hours later, mouth still agape and a little puddle of dribble pooled on your chinos.
Apple and the performing circus widgets
DesktopsApple's OS X Tiger brought us many delights, but our favourite by far is the Dashboard. If you've not got Tiger yet (are you mad?) then you won't know that Dashboard is a series of widgets that magically fly in from somewhere off-screen and provide useful things like flight-trackers, encyclopaedias and weather reports.
Our copy of OS X Tiger came with a selection of Dashboard Widgets included, but Mac users have been designing their own over the past few months and we've stocked up on the critters. Here's the lowdown on some of our favourites.
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Fast as hell: Alienware Aurora
DesktopsSo you want to know how fast the Alienware Aurora 7500SLI is? You're despicable, you speed junky. Isn't anything else important to you? Alright, just this one time we'll give in to your relentless badgering: It's VIOLENTLY fast, the kind of fast that rips a hole through your skull and leaves tendrils of scalp flapping in the wind like tassles on a Harley.
This PC is Evel Knievel strapped to a rocket, hurtling through the air screaming, "More! More! Give me something that's really scary, you pathetic freaks!" In short, this PC is so fast it cusses you. Nothing we threw at the Aurora made it break a sweat.
Scarily good fun: Elonex Lumina
DesktopsSomebody pinch us! This thing actually works! Yet again the gods have smiled on our hideous faces and granted us a Media Center PC that's fully functional out of the box. We've never had this kind of luck before.
The Elonex Lumina is an LCD television with a Media Center stuck to its back like a barnacle. It's thicker than your standard LCD TV, but it's also more powerful. We switched the slab on and expected it to give us a hearty slap in the face -- after all, every other Media Center has.
Extraterrestrial fun: Alienware Aurora
DesktopsYou're an extreme gamer are you, punk? You think you know your SLI systems? You think you know how to daisy-chain high-end graphics cards and overclock processors? God, you sicken me. Truly sicken me. Get out of my sight.
This is the Alienware Aurora 7500SLI and it's here to mess you up. It's here to kick you in the teeth and jam polygons down your throat until you're dead. Then it'll take your corpse and put two nVidia processors in your eyes to pay the boatman. That's how ruthlessly quick it is.
Elonex Artisan: a thing of beauty
DesktopsJust when we'd given up on Media Center PCs as a bad job, the Elonex Artisan parachuted in and made us think again. Three seconds after opening the box, we had it up and running.
Elonex openly challenges the competition with the Artisan. It might as well have stood up and slapped the Higrade DMSII in the face with its own CD tray. It's really that much better. Continue reading...
3.6GHz Pentium 4 Apple Mac: unholy alliance?
DesktopsWhat's this? An Apple G5? No, it's an Apple Pentium 4 3.6GHz. This is the £545 computer Apple is offering to developers in an effort to woo them onto the company's new chip of choice: Intel.
Hang on! Isn't Intel Apple's arch enemy? Well, as Anakin makes his final transformation into Darth Vader on cinema screens across the country, it seems like Apple has made its own Lucas-inspired cross over to the dark side. Despite famously setting light to Intel's bunnyman in a parody advert, Apple has announced it's making the switch to Intel processors.
Brightening up our day: Elonex Lumina
DesktopsCould this be the Media Center that got it right? We usually end up volunteering to strangle each other after playing around with a Windows Media Edition PC. Will the Lumina be the beastie to change our haggard frowns and mutual death-threats to smiles and kisses?
The Lumina is set to arrive at Crave later today and we've been labouring over the spec sheet like puppies dribbling over spilt bolognese. The Lumina's 3GHz P4 processor, 32-inch LCD screen and 1,344x786 resolution make us glad to be alive. As soon as this sucker turns up, we're going to be all over it, stroking and preening like freaks.
Dangerous bytes: the Venomised Holly computer
DesktopsThis PC has clearly swallowed Hunter S Thompson's adrenal gland. Extreme gaming machines don’t get any more violently garish than this.
The Venomised Holly comes with a paint job worthy of a sports car from your choice of a million colours. Holly will even spray an iridescent finish on the computer -- depending on the angle you’re ogling it from, the paint will appear a different colour.
Look, no wires! The Mini goes portable
DesktopsIt's difficult to see the point of what some people get up to with their Mac Mini, but there's no shortage of crazies messing about with them. Silas Bennett has installed an internal battery in his Mini which makes it run without being plugged into a wall socket. You'd still need to plug the monitor into the wall, which makes this a curious DIY project. Mind you, we've put up shelves that have been less useful.
We've previously seen some great car modifications involving the Mac Mini, but the installations are getting more and more lavish.
Welcome to our new Web site
CamcordersWelcome to the new Crave. We thought Crave's crack team of highly-trained gadget monkeys were having far too much fun to be left on their own, so we've decided to join them and Crave is now part of CNET.co.uk, a brand new Web site which launches today.
Crave will continue to keep you up to date on the latest gadget gossip, but will now also be able to give you access to in-depth product reviews on many of the things the Crave team have been lusting after, as well as to personal technology and consumer electronics News and Digital Living features to help you make sense of the technology you already own.
More Aliens: the Darkside PC
DesktopsAlienware have been busy little lunatics this week. No sooner had they sent Crave two Area 51s than they released photos of this Dark Side PC. We've previously brought you tantalising photos of the Light Side edition, but feast your optical cortex on this freak.
Let's hope these new Star Wars PCs don't share the same vunerabilities as the Dark Side's other machines -- the Death Star was famously flawed.
Finned wonder: the Moore Medio
DesktopsStand to attention soldiers, this is military grade home theatre equipment. The Moore Medio runs Windows Media Edition, but looks like it fell off a fighter jet. Tough steel fins run down both sides of the CPU, these serve as heat-sinks -- good job too, considering the kind of heat the chassis generates.
The Medio comes in its own aluminium carry case - we felt like we were unpacking a nuclear bomb when it arrived at Crave HQ. Everything on the Medio is beautifully machined and polished. It's not elegant in the vein of Linn or Bang and Olufsen, but it definitely doesn't look cheap. If you've ever stripped down a Briggs and Stratton, you'll have an idea of the sheer bulk and solidity of the Medio. Continue reading...
Apple Mac: the future of video starts here
DesktopsThe Apple fans currently have some good ammunition against the PC-heads in the office, with some of the team unleashing Tiger as we speak. And since Monday, fans of white finishes and fruity logos have access to high definition movie trailers too. Available from its trailer site, you can now watch clips from new movies such as Batman Begins, Fantastic Four and Kingdom of Heaven.
For anyone unfamiliar with the hi-def revolution, its basic advantage is that it offers video at a much higher resolution than current standards, such as television and DVD material. Written down that might not sound too exciting, but in action it's a revelation -- think of a bigger jump in quality than DVD over VHS and you'll be somewhere close to the additional detail you'll see with hi-def.
Tranquil T2: not so peaceful
DesktopsThere's something odd afoot in the minds of Microsoft. This is the third Media Centre in a row that doesn't display video on a TV out of the box. Beat us like dogs if we're mistaken, but shouldn't a device that is brazen enough to claim it's the 'centre' of all your 'media' at home be able to communicate with the lowly television set?
Ok, we've coaxed these stubborn animals to output video to TV before, but why in the name of Bill aren't they configured for TV output by default? Things looked momentarily hopeful with the Tranquil T2 -- the Windows start-up screen appeared on our TV and then... an ominous black cloud fell across the world. Continue reading...
Fear and Loathing: Media Center PCs
DesktopsPicture this. You plug in your VHS video recorder with two leads, you insert a video, you press play. You watch the video. Fairly simple, right?
Ok, now picture this. You plug in your Media Center and no picture appears on the TV. What are you going to do now? If like us, you turned to the manual, then you're a sucker. It's no help whatsoever -- in fact it actively taunts you with a series of cute little drawings that imply that plugging in a Media Center is like plugging in a toaster. The manual will beat you into a rage with its patronising tone, skipping over vast detail -- like a helicopter manual that asks you to 'take to the skies' before explaining how to switch the thing on.
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