All prices correct on amazon.com at time if writing.

For hard-core gamers who need every edge they can get in that multiplayer frag-fest, or who want total mastery of their character in World of Warcraft, having the right gaming peripherals can mean the difference between life and death. In addition to the advantages good peripherals can give you in-game, having gear that is comfortable to use is also an important factor when you spend a lot of time in front of your computer screen. I have decided to start looking at high-end keyboards for those of you who accept no compromise in their gaming setup, and first up is the new, top of the range G19 from Logitech.

G19 Gaming Keyboard ($241)

An upgrade to Logitech’s popular G15 and G12, the main new feature on the G19 is the 320 x 240 ‘GamePanel’ screen, so let’s take a look…

The Good

• The G19 looks very good with a streamlined design and smart looking matte and glossy blacks with bluish and metallic insets which match Logitech’s other G-series gear
• The LCD backlighting looks stunning and (apart from the M-key and LCD control keys which remain orange at all times) is programmable to any color
• Despite not having a rubberized coating the keys respond well with a nice click, and provide a good grip with noticeable (if a little on the soft side) feedback response
• Overall excellent build quality with the LCD screen attached by a thick metal bar
• 12 fully programmable G-keys with cycle-able M1, M2 and M3 keys to effectively  give a total of 36 keys you can assign to macros, keystrokes, shortcuts or scripts
• Automatic game detection and profile loading
• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• The full color LCD screen looks good and works well, displaying RSS feeds, system performance information, clock and calendar info and includes a  picture and move viewer and even a YouTube player. The screen is easy to control using the 8 dedicated control keys and D-pad and video looks great on it
• The GamePanel is great for displaying game stats and info in compatible games

The ok

• Logitech have stuck with a fairly traditional keyboard layout, with the alphanumeric keys offering a very familiar experience to those upgrading from the G15. This is ok, but it is a bit of a shame that there is no moveable number pad, such as the one featured on the Microsoft SideWinder x6
• The G-keys could be better laid out
• The screen is a bit of a novelty and of debatable long term use although useful for keeping an eye on incoming emails and such-like

The ugly

• The wide distance between keys can make things a bit awkward at times
• The detachable wrist-rest feels a little flimsy
• All the advanced features of the G19 take a lot of power to run and the keyboard needs its own power supply
• Expensive

Conclusion

The G19 gaming keyboard is a great but of kit for those wanting one of the best keyboards currently available, no matter the cost. Sturdily built, thoughtfully designed for maximum functionality, comfortable to use and beautiful to look at, this keyboard will definitely add to your gaming experience.

all prices correct on amazon.com at time of writing.

Continuing with our overview of top-end gaming keyboards, this time we’ll look at the Steelseries 7G Gaming Keyboard which takes a completely different approach to its competitors. No flashy LED backlighting, no LCD screen and no banks of assignable buttons. What you do get is probably the sturdiest, most well-made keyboard available, with lightning fast key response times, so let’s have a closer look…

Steelseries 7G Gaming Keyboard $198.98

The Good

• Very robust build quality
• When connected via PS2 (the default connection, with a PS2 to USB converter included in the box), the 7G can instantly register every single key being pressed simultaneously. This is in contrast to the 7 simultaneous key presses most boards can register, and could be could be a life saver when pulling off a difficult move in your favorite shoot-em-up
• Each key is uses its own mechanical switch and has 18k gold connectors with a guaranteed lifetime of 50 million keystrokes. This amazing build quality results in incredibly responsive keys with almost no (an astoundingly low 2ms) lag time. Touch-typers will gain even more benefit than gamers from this keyboard!
• The large and robust wrist-rest provides plenty of support for your wrists, and the design, which slips over and surrounds he whole keyboard, makes it very sturdy and practical in use
• Convenient thigh holes on underside make it comfortable to place on your lap
• Large non-slip rubber pads on corners
• 2 x USB ports, mic and headphone jacks
• 4 High quality gold pated 6 foot long cables (USB 2.0, PS2, 2 x sound cables). The connections on these cables are very heavily covered inn gold to the best possible connection possible and the cable braiding is of exceptional quality
• Each key can be removed for cleaning or to prevent accidental key-presses.

The ok

• With its severe, minimalist ascetic, devoid of any unnecessary borders (when the wrist guard is not deployed) the G7 look like it means business. It’s down to personal taste of course, but some may prefer the gaudy LED backlighting and LCD screens offered by its rivals
• Very conventional keyboard design, featuring neither low-profile nor any curved styling to make it more comfortable to use. Again, it’s down to taste.

The ugly

• No cushioning on wrist-rest for comfort
• It is perhaps a bit unfair to put the lack on bells and whistles under this heading as this goes to the heart of the design principle behind the Steelseries 7G Gaming Keyboard, but it can’t be ignored that many gamers will miss these extras. The lack of extra assignable keys seems to be a major omission, although of course it is possible to bind the regular QWERTY keys.

Conclusion

This keyboard oozes quality and is almost certainly the most responsive, sturdily built with the highest quality components keyboard on the market. The lack of bells and whistles may be an understandable put-off for many gamers, especially at this this price point, and they may prefer to look at more feature rich offerings such as the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard instead.  Those who value premium build quality and functionality over features however, will find in the Steelseries 7G a keyboard that will prove its value for over 50 million keystrokes (per key).

$284.99 on amazon.com at time of writing.

A compact portable scanner that will scan documents sized up to 8.5″ x 14″ (international A4 sized), the Fujitsu S1300i will slip comfortably into a shoulder bag or briefcase, so that you would hardly notice it. Capable of scanning up to ten pages at a time from its integrated automatic document feeder (ADF) at up to 600dpi, this scanner should make an ideal accessary for businessmen away from the office.

The ten page paper-shoot doubles as a protective cover and the unit can be powered using the provided mains adapter or by USB connection. When powered by USB however, the scan time can take up to twice as long, but the option does improve the scanners portability.

Scanning is a simple matter of loading up the tray and pressing the single blue button, and can be done in full duplex (both sides of the paper scanned in one pass) at almost no loss in speed. Any additional setting changes need to be done using the supplied ScanSnap Manager software, which is functional, is a little sparse.

Once scanned, documents appear as PDFs in the ScanSnap Organizer where they can be converted to all standard Microsoft office formats or converted into a searchable PDF using the included, and rather Abby Finereader OCR software, which produces reasonable results.

Image quality is pretty good, certainly good enough for accurate OCR coverage (although better software such as Omnipage would produce better results), and the scans are performed quickly, with each page taking under 6 seconds on the default 150dpi settings.

However, it should be noted that scan time more than doubles when powered by USB instead of by the mains adapter but scanning in duplex has almost no impact on the speed, which is impressive. Image scans also produce good results, with 300dpi scans taking an extra four seconds and 600dpi scans giving a clear, detailed result.

The Fujitsu S1300i ScanSnap can also scan business cards using the bundled CardMinder program which could be better and gets to the heart of the biggest problem with the Fujitsu S1300i ScanSnap. It is a good quality, functional bit of hardware that is let down somewhat by being bundled with a bunch of ok programs that really should have been combined into a single user interface. The result is a bit a mess, but not fatally so as it all works and the hardware is pretty good.

The Good

• Compact portable scanner
• Up to 600dpi
• Good quality scans

The not so good

• Uninspiring software

Conclusion

This is a decent bit of kit and with the right software, it would really shine. As it is, the Fujitsu S1300i ScanSnap provides all the functionality a businessman on the move is likely need. A good alternative, however, offering a similar range of features at a similar price point, is the Canon image FORMULA P-215, which might also be worth considering.

AMD vs NVidia smackdown!

Although you will never be able to play Crysis 3 with all the details turned up to the max up on a budget graphics card, those of you with limited funds will be pleased to know that a decent gaming experience can be coaxed out of even quite modestly priced cards.

At the time of writing two cards slip just under the 100 buck price barrier on Amazon, one based on NVidia’s GT 640 chipset, and the other on AMD’s HD 7750 architecture, so I thought it would be a good idea to examine which of these similarly priced options is the one for the discerning budget-minded gamers to go for.

VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card N640GT-MD1GD3

A newly released chipset designed to get NVidia back in the sub $100 game, the GeForce GT 640 is a compact card (approx, 6” by 2 ¾”) that will fit into all but the tightest casing, and boasts a 900MHz clock speed. Three video outputs (DVI, HDMI, and VGA) are provided, which allow up to three monitors to independently display at the same time thanks to NVidia’s Surround technology, which is very impressive at this price point and the inclusion of Express 3.0 compatibility is similarly impressive.  Pulling just 65W of juice from the mains, the GT 640 is an energy-efficient card that does not require any additional power connectors, making it look neat in a PC’s case.

This MSI version of the chipset comes with 1 GB of the older (and slower) DDR3 memory and features a compact design with a single large fan.

Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB DDR5 

HDMI / DVI-I / DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 11202-00-20G

Repeatedly voted best in its class, the HD 7750 chipset from AMD has a reputation for delivering blistering performance for its price.  With a power rating of just 55W, the HD 7750 runs straight from the PCI-E connecter, obviating the need for extra connectors.  This Sapphire model does however hog two PCI slot bays, which gives it room for a good-sized fan to help keep temperatures down when the gaming gets hot. Like the MSI GeForce 640 above, this card sports 1GB of memory, but this time of the faster DDR5 variety. Also, like its competitor, the HD 7750it supports up to three monitors, albeit this time through HDMI, dual-link DV-I, and DisplayPort outputs.

The showdown

In features, these two cards are fairly closely matched. However, what gamers need is frames per second, and this is where the HD 7750 really begins to strut its stuff. When playing Skyrim, the HD 7750 pulls off an average of 66.5 fps compared to the GT 640’s 42.2 fps at the same settings, while in Crysis 2 these figures are 44.3 fps the GeForce card compared to 28.5 fps on the GT 640. In short, there is no competition; the HD 7750 wipes the floor with the GT 640.

Conclusion

While the Radeon HD 7750 is clearly the superior card, boasting spectacular performance for such a low price point (as well as impressively low power consumption). The GeForce GT 640 is still a good card, however, and one that flings out quite playable frame rates. If the price for it drops a bit, it may still be a very attractive choice for gamers on a super-limited budget.

*figures courtesy of tomshardware.com.

Although there are numerous kinds of advanced devices used by companies today, there are still those who find fax machines functional and practical. This is why these machines are still used when sharing documents and important papers from one company to another. Since technology is improving from time to time, faxing has become more convenient and easier to use. Through incorporating fax with the Internet, companies are now able to share files and fax messages even without the use of a fax machine. Below are the three best methods on how to send files via the modern internet fax:

1. Internet Fax Features in VoIP Services

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol services function via the use of the Internet. In the United States and Canada, there are a lot of companies that offer VoIP services that provide unlimited online fax (onlinefaxservice.com, nextivafax.com, itsournet fax). Another functional feature of an Internet faxing is the ability to send fax messages to emails and receive them as well. There are various kinds of VoIP plans in which you can choose from. Some of these plans offer international faxing wherein the provider will not charge additional fees. With these available features, it can be considered that this is the most advisable way of sending fax messages whether it will be for your business or for personal matters. For companies who prefer sending fax messages over other methods, this process can also be used for advertising and even sending several promotional information to numerous clients and customers at the same time.

2. Online free fax services

Another practical way of sending fax messages is through services that one can find online. There are hundreds of sites such as My Fax, Pam Fax, Pop Fax that offer faxing services wherein you will need to upload a scanned version of the document, and enter the fax numbers on the chosen sites.  Although some sites offer free faxing, it is still not adequate for big businesses. This is because these companies will need to use the service more as they grow bigger and these sites only offer limited number of fax messages to be sent daily. Because of this, you will need to subscribe to these websites and pay monthly fees that offer unlimited VoIP faxing services.

3. Creativity of ScanR

One more method of sending fax messages is the ScanR. ScanR is one of the sites that let you send fax messages through the internet and offer free basic faxing. Unlike other sites that require you to scan your documents, this site allows you to use your digital cameras or camera phones to directly transfer the files into PDF forms. Some other sites also have the same unlimited type of faxing service. However, some may find this method a bit impractical since there are documents that are not clear when using camera phones in taking pictures.