Windows Vista Now Cheaper
It seems as if Microsoft is getting less on its premium products,and there is nothing it can do about it.Microsoft India has made public a wide range of price slashes on the retail versions of its recent graphical giant operating system,Windows Vista.
The price reductions are anticipated to be beneficial for individuals buying their own copy of Windows Vista,the price reduction is effective immediately and will be applicable only for Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate editions.The price cut will roll out across 70 countries.
The price of the full retail version of Windows Vista Ultimate will drop from $399 to $319 and the price of the upgrade version of Windows Vista Ultimate will drop from $259 to $219 and morover upgrade version of Vista Home Premium will drop from $159 from $129.Shop around and you’re likely to get a far better price. For example, right now Amazon.com is selling the full version of Vista Ultimate for $329.99. If similar discounts are available post price drop then Vista Ultimate could fall well below $300 a copy
“Today, there is a transformation taking place in the way consumers purchase software. With the rise of the retail industry in India, we are witnessing increasing demand for off-the-shelf computer software from the do-it-yourself audiences. This reduction in pricing will enable us to reach out to this set of consumers, while at the same time providing our channel partners with a greater opportunity to sell original software,” said Prasanna Meduri, Director – Windows Client Business Group, Microsoft India.
Globally, the revised rates of Windows Vista vary from market to market and the price cut in India is at par with emerging markets.
Transcend’s Storejet 160GB And 250GB HDD
Transcend which is among worldwide leaders in producing digital media and storage devices fora bang launched its new external/portable HDD(Hard Disk Drive).This launch also comes in India with the 250GB version the StoreJet 25 mobile.This Attractive looking HDD weighs upto 206g and has the following parameters of size 134 x 80.8 x 18.8 mm.What’s fascinating about this HDD is that, its rugged,shockproof,Silicon case lets you store data, with utmost reliability.
To add tto its reliability against damage, loss of data data and breakage pertaining to falls it comes with US military standards (MIL-STD-810F – Transit Drop) with advanced two-stage anti-shock technology. To make sure that it is maximum compatible with desktop and notebook computers, it brings with it a high-speed USB 2.0 interface that provides data transfer rates up to 480Mbps, while offering the convenience of plug and play.
Just hold on if u think you are done with its features,it also comes with a ‘OneTouch’auto backup button,elite storjet 2.0software for better scheduling,security,power management and File compression.It also is compatible with almost all leading Operating Systems such as Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS 9.0 or later, and Linux Kernel 2.4.2 or later. 
The other features are:-
- Backwards compatible with USB 1.0/1.1 .
- USB powered- no AC/DC adapter needed .
- Bright LED indicates power / data transfer activity.
- Power Management: Enabling StoreJet’s power-saving mode when idle .
- Lightweight contoured aluminum case for easy carrying .
Transcend’s 250GB StoreJet .5 SATA portable hard drive is available in the Indian market at the price of Rs. 7900 and comes with a warranty of two years.
Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus Hard Disk
The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus family of hard drives is a stylish option for desktop storage and backup. It comes in three capacities: 250GB, 500GB, and 750GB; we tested the 500GB version. The suggested prices are $130 for the 250GB, $200 for the 500GB, and $290 for the 750GB–very reasonable. The OneTouch 4 drives come with everything you need to start backing up regularly: FireWire and USB cables, and backup and restore software.
Once plugged in and turned on, the device will prompt you to install Maxtor Manager, an intuitive application that allows for a variety of backup solutions. You can choose to image the whole hard drive or backup and synchronize just selected files and folders. While we found the application easy to use and effective, it’s not without flaws. First off, it doesn’t allow for choosing just any folder on the hard drive to back up. For example, if you are using Windows XP, you won’t be able to select any other folders in your profile aside from My Documents and Desktop. This means if you use Outlook, chances are you won’t be able to back up the e-mail archive, which by default resides deep in the hidden Local Settings folder. You can, however, choose to image the entire content of your PC’s hard drive. Then, should disaster occur, you use the included SafetyDrill CD to restore the whole system.
Once set up, the backup process can be scheduled to run automatically or initialized by pressing the only one-touch backup button on the front of the device. Overall, we found the backup utility somewhat limited, but still appealing to home users who want a simple backup solution that works.
The device was also very quiet and worked flawlessly during the testing process. We loved the rugged yet very lightweight and compact design. The black and brushed aluminum look gives it a vault-like appearance, unlike the I-beam look of the OneTouch III. The OneTouch button is elegant, though the light it emits could be a little too bright at night.
We were impressed with the throughput performance of the one touch 4 Plus. It took only 9 minutes, 1 second to write a 10GB folder of mixed file types, just a bit faster than the Hitachi External Hard Drive and the simple tech simple drive. It was slower than the competition in the read test, but not by too much, scoring 9 minutes, 16 seconds.
All in all, it’s relatively easy to recommend the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus. It’s a simple, fast, and reliable backup solution for a single computer. If the backup software’s lack of sophistication throws you off, you can always get another suite to work with the drive.
Saitek introduces Cyborg gaming mouse
Saitek comes up with a new gaming mouse for those in need of a little more precision than your standard off-the-shelf model.The Cyborg Mouse would earn its name through an exceptionally sharp, 3,200DPI laser sensor and an adjustable shell. Gamers will be able to slide the front section forwards and backwards to improve the fit, or remove weights from the base for quicker movement.
The four-way scroll wheel will also have an adjustable speed setting where other gaming mice only adjust the main tracking speed, Saitek notes. The peripheral maker is also set to include two freely programmable buttons and a set of media controls to change volume or pause music without reaching for speakers or the keyboard. The USB device is known to be intended for Windows systems but has not received either an official release date or a price.
Gizmos.es points out that Amazon UK currently has it listed with a release date of January 11th and a list price of £40 (or $83), although it can be had for £30 (or just over $60) at moment.
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Review
“The Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX9650 was just unveiled minutes ago and Legit Reviews has one in the hot seat just for you. Read on to see how Intel was able to make double digit performance gains and lower power consumption without increasing the clock frequency or lowering the TDP of the processor. This is one processor you don’t want to miss out on.
This 3.0GHz York field-class processor based on Intel’s Penryn micro architecture brings a 1,333MHz front side bus to Intel’s Core 2 Extreme family of processors. Sounds a lot like Intel’s 65-nm 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Kentsfield-class processor launched in July, eh? Not so. According to benchmarks already announced by Bit-tech, Hot Hardware, PC Perspective, and more, the new processors are smoking fast while consuming “much less” power in the process. With final thoughts like, “the new Core 2 Extreme QX9650 is simply the fastest processor for gaming, media encoding and just about anything else you could do on your PC.”
Blu-ray’s IO-Data BRD-M4 burner
“BRD-M4 , I-O Data’s latest Blu-Ray burner is ready to rock you up. It has SATA connection in all but one of these new burners, where the external model relies on USB 2.0 instead. Both BD-R and BD-R DL can be burnt in 4x and all of them are compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X platforms. and traditional media, DVD ± R 16x, DVD-RW 6x, CD-RW 24x and able to playback of DVDs recorded in the AVCHD format.
The drive will be bundled DVD MovieWriter BD solution v5 software and corresponds with Mac OS X 10.2 as well as Windows 2000 or higher Operating Systems. It will be available coming November in Japan at an expected price of €400.