Tag Archives: laptop

Review: 1byone 4000DPI Programmable Wired USB Gaming Mouse

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Rating: ★★★★

PROS:

  • Very comfortable to use
  • Braided cable for extra durability
  • Performs well in game, easy to map buttons as per requirements
  • Inexpensive

CONS:

  • Only 6 LED colours to choose from, no fully fledged RGB system
  • Would have liked more programmable buttons
  • Software can only be installed from CD

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Learn more about this product at 1byone.co.uk

I wouldn’t call myself a heavy gamer, but I do enjoy the odd PC game from time to time when I get the chance. Historically, I’ve very much been a controller-based gamer, typically relying on an Xbox 360 or Xbox One PC controller. 1byone got in touch with me and said they thought I should try gaming with a high DPI mouse designed for gaming, so i took them up on their offer to sample one of their latest models.

The mouse comes packaged in a simple cardboard box which thankfully doesn’t require any frustrating man-handling to open, and arrives together with a mini-CD containing the software required to use the mouse’s high DPI functionality. The software is fully compatible with most recent versions of Windows including Windows 10 but unfortunately can only be used as a standard mouse within Mac.

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The mouse itself fits very nicely in the hand and is a good size. If anything I might have liked it to be a tiny bit larger but that’s just personal preference and most will feel it’s an ample size for the job at hand. Buttons are well placed with a button marked ‘DPI’ on the top which by selects each DPI profile that has been configured (and simulatenously changes the configured colour scheme ready for each profile). There are then two other buttons on the left hand side of the mouse which by default act as back and forward buttons for your web browser.

Getting started is simple. Simply plug in your new mouse and then run the bundled setup.exe program within the installation CD and in a few easy steps you’ll be good to go. Once the software is installed, you can configure up to 5 gaming profiles and even assign the profiles to an individual game. The profile can even be automatically selected when a particular game starts.

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Bar a minor spelling error, the interface is well designed and allows easy configuration of gaming profiles.

Playing games with the mouse is very easy and the comfortable thumb rest makes use of the mouse for extended periods of time comfortable. I’m not sure how I’d use the mouse in my left hand as it does seem to be manufactured for right-handed gamers, but that’s likely to be an issue that won’t affect many. The two buttons above your thumb are well placed so you don’t hit them by accident and have a very decent level of feedback and a loud click upon pressing.

Every button on the mouse including the left and right mouse button can be mapped, which can be particularly useful if you want to avoid using a keyboard almost altogether. One of my criticisms is the lack of buttons for you to be able to map – I’d like to have seen a couple more custom buttons myself but overall feel that the choice 1byone made is reflected well in the price.

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My biggest gripe with the mouse is the lack of downloadable software for it. At the time of writing, the only way you can install the software (which is absolutely mandatory if you want to do any form of gaming with the mouse) is to use the provided mini disk. If you don’t have a CD drive on your computer (and let’s face it, many of us don’t these days) you’re going to find the software difficult to install unless you have another computer with a CD drive kicking about. 1byone could however easily fix this!

Aside from those relatively minor niggles, this is a solid budget gaming mouse with as much accuracy as most will ever need. At around £15, it fits nicely within its price range and certainly feels well built and designed to last. If 1byone could fix the software download issue this would be suitable for all games no matter how their computer is configured. If you’re in need of a reliable gaming mouse that won’t cost the Earth, this is a good choice.

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Review: 1byone 7-port powered USB 3.0 Hub with charging port

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Rating: ★★★★☆

PROS: 

  • Excellent build quality
  • Good transfer speeds and connection stabilty
  • Mountable to your desk with supplied adhesive strip

CONS:

  • Host USB cable might be a little short for desktop PC users

RRP £26.99, best price at time of writing £17.99 on Amazon

1byone were kind enough to send me one of their popular 7-port USB hubs for me to try out. I’m always running out of USB ports on my computer, so I was keen to put this one through the paces and see if it could keep up with my heavy demands!

This isn’t just any old USB hub – it’s built with a very nice aluminium chassis and has a very solid feel in the hand. It’s compatible with both USB 2.0 and 3.0 devices and will work in a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on your PC – albeit naturally with slower transfer speeds over USB 2.0 as you’d expect.

The packaging for this product is very simple and to the point – something I like to see. No fiddly plastic to have to cut up and no unnecessarily large box. Inside the box you get the USB hub together with a mains power adapter supplying up to 3A of power as well as the power supplied by your host USB port. You also get an adhesive strip, which can easily be affixed to the bottom of the hub for permanent mounting on your desk.

The design of the hub is minimalistic, but it employs a higher level of build quality than many other competing products. The 1byone hub is made with aluminium to strengthen the device and look good on your desk.

The USB hub can be powered independently of your computer with the supplied power adapter if required – in most cases this will be necessary to power all ports sufficiently. If you’re not using all of the USB ports at the same time, you might get away with not having the power supply to hand, but I’d recommend keeping it plugged in all the time.

So how well does the hub work? I conducted some tests, putting the hub under full load with all 7 ports filled to see how well it handled multiple connections. When connected to the mains, the hub was able to successfully connect all of my devices to the host PC without any intermittent communications or drop-outs. Without the power supply, the hub struggles much more but that would be completely understandable given the power constraints.

Data transfer speeds were fairly good over USB 3.0 – all of the onboard ports are USB 3.0 capable and when I connected my USB 3.0 memory stick it achieved very decent transfer speeds for both reads and writes – very close to what it could achieve when directly connected to my PC.

The hub also has a single charging port onboard. When the hub is plugged into the mains, it’ll keep that port powered even if your computer is switched off, so that you can charge up any of your mobile devices. When your computer is switched on, any of the ports can be used for charging. I found this feature to be particularly helpful, as I could leave devices like my phone plugged into the hub overnight to charge without needing to leave my computer on.

If I had anything I’d like to see improved on the device it’d be the length of the built-in host USB cable on the hub. For laptop users a shorter USB cable is likely to be better and means less cable clutter on the desk, but it was just a little too short to comfortably reach the back of my desktop PC case and sit on the desk where I wanted it. As the USB cable is permanently fixed into the hub it leaves little option of extending it – except with a USB extension cable, which is likely to lead to reduced data transfer speeds. This makes it difficult to confidently give the device 5 stars and is the only reason I’m giving it 4.

Other than that minor complaint, I’m very happy with the hub. Not once did I run into any trouble connecting any of my USB devices and I didn’t experience a single device connection drop-out. This is without doubt a very well built USB hub that will stand the test of time. It’s just a shame that the host USB cable isn’t a tiny bit longer or extendible.

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Charge your iPad from any PC USB port & fix “Not Charging” error

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Just a very quick Christmas post. If you’ve got an iPad and you’re wondering why it won’t charge over your desktop or laptop’s USB ports – it’s because by default desktop USB ports only provide 1A of current to connected devices. Any iPad actually needs more than this to charge, hence why Apple give you a special charging plug to charge it.

However, hope is not lost. You can actually get an app for your PC which manually increases the amount of current that your PC’s USB ports provide. It’s called AI Charger and it’s by Asus. Don’t be  fooled though – it will actually work with any computer and not just computers with Asus motherboards.

All you need to do is download the app from the page, install it and give your computer a reboot. When you turn it back on, you should notice that your computer will now charge your iPad (albeit slowly).

This should actually work on any desktop or laptop. Bear in mind, though, that use of this app while using your laptop’s battery may cause excessive wear to your battery. A useful app though, nonetheless.

Toshiba P850-138 review: well priced mid-range entertainment laptop

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Toshiba has always had a history of producing decent quality laptops that last and feel well built. This laptop is no exception. Whilst the laptop is, by no means, the most powerful machine around, it definitely does pack some decent hardware.

I think Toshiba’s idea was to create a light entertainment machine that wouldn’t cost the Earth. It seems to do that pretty well – considering it has a dedicated 2GB nVidia graphics card, Harmon/Kardon speakers and built in Bluetooth 4.0 and Wireless N Wi-Fi for easy streaming.

However, it’s not all high spec hardware. After all, the machine only has a 2.3Ghz dual core Core i3 processor. Whilst the rest of the hardware in the laptop makes the slower processor unnoticeable, you’d think they’d have looked a bit higher for something that originally cost £600.

Thankfully, the price has since fallen to £500, which I believe is far more reasonable.

The laptop will cater for the average person’s entertainment desires pretty well. The 2GB nVidia GT630M will handle most pre-2012 games at high quality settings without breaking a sweat – and even 2012 games will run if you’re prepared to sacrifice a bit of quality. I tested the machine with GTA IV, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Just Cause 2 – all of which played really well, even at high settings. That, paired with the Harmon/Kardon speakers – which provide a really good audio experience with fairly good bass and treble (especially for a laptop), make games and HD films a pleasure to play/watch. With the bonus of a 640GB hard drive, you aren’t likely to run out of storage for your multimedia.

And for those that need to travel, it’s got you covered too. Battery life is fairly good – expect 4-5 hours of use when browsing or word processing. You’ll even get a couple of hours of gaming out of the battery – but watch the laptop doesn’t overheat when fans are throttled by power management (but rest assured it will shut down if it does get too hot). The device isn’t too heavy to carry around either. At 2.6kg it’s hardly light, but it’s not something that would be too heavy to take to work or commute with. The lid of the laptop has a very smart looking aluminium finish which will stand out in the office, too.

There are a couple of issues. There seems to be a bit too much movement in the keyboard when typing heavily – which doesn’t seem fragile but I would have liked it to be a bit more sturdy. Also, don’t be surprised when you find the laptop full of bloatware from the start – although not all of it is useless. Things like McAfee security can be binned straight away (get Microsoft Security Essentials instead) – however tools like Toshiba’s Sleep and Charge can be a lifesaver.

Sleep and Charge is a utility that’s been bundled with Toshiba laptops for some time now. Basically, two of your four USB3 ports (yes that’s right – four USB3 ports) are programmed so that when you shut down, sleep or hibernate the laptop, the ports remain on. This means you can plug in your phone or MP3 player into the port and charge it off your laptop battery. There’s also a similar tool for the onboard speakers – plug your MP3 player into the 3.5mm mic jack while the device is off and make use of your nice speakers.

Overall, I think that at £500 you won’t get much better in terms of an entertainment laptop. Yes, it has it’s few minor issues – but overall it has all the hardware to keep you entertained for hours on end. I’m really impressed with it, and with a brand like Toshiba I can be confident it’ll be working well for years to come.

When will hard drive prices start to fall?

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If you’ve been keeping up with tech news over the last few months, you’ll remember the Thai floods that wreaked havoc for hard drive production last year. The floods did a lot of damage to major hard drive brands as their factories in Thailand were badly damaged.

Ever since the floods, hard drive prices have skyrocketed. It seems you can’t get a 1TB hard drive for much short of £100 any more, and for anything smaller prices aren’t much cheaper!

Analysts are now saying they expect high prices to continue through 2012 as recovery slowly starts to take place. iSuppli is predicting that supply will be back to normal levels towards the end of 2012, but until then prices will remain reasonably high.

What’s annoying is that, when I look on Amazon, it seems to be cheaper to buy an external hard drive and rip the drive out of it than too buy an internal drive on it’s own. What sense is there in that?!