Belkin Wireless G Router

Belkin’s new router is rather compact and is excellent for cramped tables. The router can also be hung up in a wall if required. The design is pretty and the build quality isn’t too bad either.

It comes with four ports for clients and one for an Internet Connection – standard for a home router. The user interface is boring, and and way too bare for most people’s liking. The design doesn’t make it very easy to use either. It has all the features expected, including the ones for security. WEP, WPA and WPA2 are all supported, but the interface is painfully slow.

Belkin Wireless G Router

Belkin Wireless G Router

Routing, as expected, is possible too, and a unique feature is the list of application and games along with the list of ports used by them. This means you can just choose from a list and add to the port forwarding list. Filter can be set up to block access during specified hours or days. support for DynDNS and DtDNS is also available, which allows the router to automatically update your WAN IP using free DNS services. This allows easy access to your computer or router from other locations. This feature is increasingly popular on routers these days though.

The Belkin Wireless G Router performs well with wired connections, but not so well wirelessly. A gigabyte of data took around two minutes and four seconds to download accross wires, but the same data took close to seven minutes thirty seconds over the air. Uploading files took a little longer, but we didn’t have any latency issues. The router doesn’t support 802.11n, for those who might want it.

Updating of the firmware can be done using the web interface itself. With everything considred, we can not highly recommend this product because of it’s price.

At $50, it isn’t overly expensive, but for a little more you can get much better products with the same (or more) features and a much better interface.

However, if space constrains are your biggest concern, and you want something really small to hang on the wall or keep on your table, the Belkin Wireless G Router might just be what you are looking for.

Specifications:
Four 10/100 Base-T LAN Ports
One WAN Port
IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g

Popularity: 15% [?]

Intel Core i7 The Fastest Processor from Intel

Intel introduced its most advanced desktop processor, the Intel Core i7 processor. The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput.

The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.

Intel Core i7

Intel Core i7


Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology accelerates performance to match a computer user’s needs and workloads. Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new “power gate” transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption. The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.

The Core i7 processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel “Extreme” platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance.

The Intel Core i7 processor also offers unrivaled performance for immersive 3-D games – over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU physics and AI tests. The Extreme Edition uses 8 threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence and physics to make games act and feel real.

The Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 Express Chipset-based Intel Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are for sale immediately from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.

The Core i7 processor is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance of any desktop platform. Intel’s top performance processor, the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing Intel’s knowledgeable customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip’s speed.

Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition works at 3.20 GHz, and it costs $999. Intel Core i7- 940 works at 2.93 GHz, and it costs $562. Intel Core i7- 920 works at 2.66 GHz, and it costs $284.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Kingston DataTraveler 400 16GB

With prices of flash drives dropping drastically, higher capacity drives are flooding the market at prices that are previously unheard of.

Kingston’s new 16GB drive is one of the largest flash drive we have tested till now.

Kingston DataTraveler 400 16GB

Kingston DataTraveler 400 16GB

In design, the DT400 is of the same size and format as most of the other flash drives. It comes with a swinging protection plate suspended on a hinge. This adds to the sturdiness of the drive and also gives it a nice look.

Password protection in the drive takes care of any security concerns, and performance is not an issue as well. It performs superbly in the sequential file tests. On an average, we got data transfer rates of between 25 and 30 MBps. Write speed are slower s expected. HD Tach showed average write speeds of around 10MBps, which is still quite impressive as compared to other drives of this capacity.

A software called Migosync comes bundled with the drive, and allows you to synchronize files. At $85, this drive makes good sense for those who are looking for good performance within a good budget.

Popularity: 16% [?]