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• ATi TV Wonder USB 2.0 Offers Portable TV

  Viewing and recording television shows on your computer is nothing new. In fact, the ATi All-In-Wonder series of video boards has allowed computer users to do this for years. While a good product, it wasn't a good solution for laptop users or for people who didn't want to open up their computers (yes, such people do exist). In this article, we review ATi's TV Wonder USB 2.0, which will be launched in September 2004. It promises to put a portable face on television viewing and recording, meaning that laptop users will no longer feel left out. Does the TV Wonder USB 2.0 live up to the expectations of the finicky consumer? Read on and find out. Closer Look The TV Wonder USB 2.0 will be sold for $99 USD. The unit is small and light, so it can easily be transported in a backpack or laptop bag. It comes with a detachable USB cable and a power-supply adapter. The TV Wonder's power adapter is switchable with an input of 100 to 240 volts and uses a two-pronged (no ground plug) connection. On the right side of the TV Wonder are the S-Video and Composite Video/Audio connections. You connect to the S-Video, Composite Video and Antenna at the same time, and you simply use the software to switch between them. The antenna connection for a coaxial connection is at the bottom side of the unit. When the power and USB cable are connected, a red light located just above the ATi logo will come on. The unit does get a little hot during operation, so give it plenty of room for the heat to dissipate. No Remote Wonder 2.0 Unlike some of the other ATi television products, the TV Wonder USB 2.0 does not include the Remote Wonder 2 unit. The Remote Wonder is an RF (radio frequency) remote control for operating the mouse and using the various features of the Multimedia Center, which is ATi's signature video playback/recording application. Although the Remote Wonder is not included, buyers of the TV Wonder USB 2.0 are eligible for a 50% discount off the price. A coupon will be included in retail boxes of the TV Wonder USB 2.0.

• The CyberPower system came in a stylish Coolermaster Stacker 830 case, which would look fine in an office, home or LAN party setting. The case has plenty of places for additional cooling, as it can support four fans on the side in sizes up to 140 mm. The system was powered by a PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 850-W power supply. Unlike CyberPower machines we saw in the past, the cabling was a little less than what we desired.It was wrapped and moved out of the way of the motherboard, but it was bunched up next to the 3.5" and 5.25" bays. The installed 120 mm fan at the front of the case was almost pushing air into a wall of cables. While this was not a detriment to performance in our tests, "cooler is better", and for the long run, the cables should have been organized better. The motherboard was the Asus A8N32-SLI. It had an AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 processor with 2 GB of Corsair TWINX2048-4400PRO. The CPU was cooled with a retail AMD cooler with four heatpipes. The system can support up to three hard drives. The video cards were secured with an SLI adapter depressor to ensure that the SLI adaptor and the video card wouldn't come loose and reek havoc with the system. We are very appreciative of this added touch, since we are looking at nearly $1,000 alonefor the graphics cards in this system. The Cyberpower system included the Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 surround sound speaker system and a Logitech mouse and keyboard. In addition to the USB and Firewire ports on the front of the case below the temperature control were floppy drive, memory stick, SD, compact flash and microdrive media slots. A DVD-ROM and dual-layer DVD burner rounded out the system as a total media solution. Several cables and adapters make sure the output on the video cards meets the needs of the new owner. CyberPower includes a restore disk just in case your system needs a good clearing when Microsoft Windows decides to go schizophrenic or if there is a catastrophic failure. A copy of the motherboard manual - and to make sure customers can utilize their DVD drives - a copy of WinDVD Suite that come in the retail motherboard box. A CD with the special drivers for the all-in-one memory card reader is also provided. Cyberpower has deals and rebates for the coupon clippers out there. Free game download coupons, and separate mail-in rebates for certain parts can be found on this system. This system currently retails for around $4,500 (July 2006) and that price could come down as new processors are arriving on the scene. This system is certainly the less expensive of the two.