TechieGroups

In an e-mail announcement, Antec has decided that buyers of their latest cases who don't have USB 3.0 built-in to their rigs shouldn't lose the use of two USB ports. So, interested buyers can contact Antec Customer Support and receive an internal USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter. This won't embue your rig with the great throughput those blue ports normally connote. But if two USB ports just wasn't enough for you, you'll have a solution. The text of the e-mail is below. 

To say we’re pleased with the response that the P280 and Eleven Hundred chassis have been receiving would be an understatement but we’re not settling. We have heard the feedback you and your readers have given us regarding the USB 3.0 internal connector. Specifically, some users who are interested in the P280/Eleven Hundred may not have this connector and wouldn’t be able to take advantage of two of the ports on the case.

As a solution, effective immediately, customers may contact us (http://www.antec.com/support (or 1-800-22ANTEC in the US) and request an internal USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adaptor. All that will be required is a proof of purchase of one of these new chassis

While we at AnandTech recognize that a good portion of our readership prefers to roll their own as far as desktops go, not everyone is that way. Sometimes there are also situations where we'd be better off just recommending a pre-built desktop to family than damning ourselves to being tech support at all hours for the next few years. With that in mind, we bring you our…

If you want to kick back for a change, send something to family or a friend, or whatever your reason for going with a pre-built system, we have a recommendation for you this holiday season.

It’s that time of year again, when thousands of wide-eyed 17- and 18-year-olds will be setting foot on college campuses for the first time.  Many more students will be returning for their second, third, or fourth (or fifth or sixth or…) fall semester.  Whether you’re a student yourself, parent, other relative, or friend, this guide covers many aspects of college computing.  From DIY and retail desktops to laptops to peripherals to gadgets like ereaders to software, we discuss how students use technology and recommend many products, from budget offerings to more powerful gear that will hopefully make higher education more productive and enjoyable!

BESIDES BEING an obvious fashion fad, a tablet, or ‘pad’, has some useful functions. It’s not exactly a great content creation device due to the lack of a proper keyboard, but it is nevertheless great for reviewing content as well as web surfing or browsing electronic books.

However, how great it is depends upon, among other factors, its display resolution. Even though tablets are somewhat smaller in size than notebooks, users will usually hold them closer to themselves when operating, therefore the resolution, and aspect ratio, have quite an impact. And, with the likelihood of using new-generation tablets to watch full HD or even glasses-free 3D movies on the go, the screen resolution gains even more importance.

Now, both the first and second generation Apple Ipads stick with the 1024×768 display, the trusty old XGA resolution. While not terribly great – and barely better than the Iphone 4′s 960×640 resolution on a fivefold smaller screen – the choice, together with the natural 4:3 display format, is good enough for both document viewing and web browsing without constant scrolling, whether in landscape or portrait mode.

On the other hand, many other tablets, while more powerful or flexible than the Ipad in general hardware features, stick with the currently prevalent ‘el cheapo’ 16:9 format displays with netbook-class 1024×600 resolution on both 7-inch and 10-inch models.

Now, that number of pixels is just fine for a 7-inch miniature tablet, as even sharp-eyed people can’t see that much more. The issue is the format, just like on bigger machines. The cost savings due to tagging along with the flat panel makers’ movie screen-proportioned glass results in either non-stop scrolling up and down to see the content in landscape mode, or scrolling left to right in portrait mode, as with the narrow 600 pixels height or width you can’t see any web page or a document properly without moving. Moving to the ‘HD ready’ 1366×768 screen helps only a little to resolve this problem.

However, why not go further? Since tablets are becoming so popular, with or without real justification, there is the volume purchasing power and economies of scale to demand a proper screen resolution and format for a general tablet. The 4:3 or, at least, 3:2 aspect ratio – like that of the Iphone 4, for instance – seems to work best, as it is closest to the paper format.

In the second half of our Mobile Buyer's Guide, we focus on portable machines with screens smaller than 14". The market as a whole is getting a thorough overhaul over the summer, both because of brand new chips coming from Intel, AMD, ATI, and NVIDIA (for those of you keeping score at home, that's…everyone) and because of the rapidly approaching back-to-school season, which always means newly refreshed notebook lineups. With so many new systems out there, who's going to put in the groundwork to figure out which ones can hold their own in the market and separate the contenders from the also-rans? We did, and our findings are in this article. Read on for more details!

The back-to-school season is coming and refreshed product lines are already starting to appear on store shelves. Intel's dual-core Arrandale processors continue to dominate in terms of raw performance, but AMD K10.5-based notebooks are now available from every major vendor. Intel has also refreshed its mobile line and added some low-voltage kit. It's an interesting market full of options, and sifting the wheat from the chaff requires some research. We've decided to do just that and put together a mobile guide with options for everything from multimedia enthusiasts to mobile gaming powerhouses. We're splitting the guide into two installments, with this first part specifically focusing on the larger laptops and desktop replacement (DTR) options. If you're in the market for a new notebook, this article is for you.