Friday Reviews part 2

Purple may not be our favorite color, but the Soltek SL-86SPE-L i865PE Intel mainboard has a lot of other things going for it! The best thing is inarguably its pricetag, hovering around the 100 bones mark, and tha’ts saying a lot for a Springdale mobo. As for the other cool additions, well, you will just have to click on the link and read the rest. Tested against an i845G system on a new 800MHz FSB P4C, a variety of RAM was used including Kingston HyperX PC3500.

The irock! 730i Digital Audio Player plays MP3i, MP3 and WMA files. In case you are wondering what MP3i's are, there are basically MP3's with pictures, lyrics and text. This product is packaged with all the essential features that most audio addicts expect. Bang for the buck this is an excellent product; it's small, compact, lightweight and is very well priced. Watch the Video to find out more

If you've been thinking about jumping into the Small Form Factor PC market, now is the time to do so. There are so many great options available to the computer enthusiast and the SB51G exemplifies that. Though the SB51G is no longer the top of the line XPC from Shuttle, it is by no means a slouch either

When I first saw the Data Destroyer I was immediately intrigued with its purpose. The Data Destroyer is designed to "Shred Data" and make it unreadable. When I first heard that it "shred" data, I got an image of a CD coming out in about a million pieces. Norazza, the company who designed the Data Destroyer, had a different idea in mind.

HA: Increasing speeds for Hard Drives also usually mean increased system heat. With entire markets out there devoted to keeping specific system components cool, do you think Hard Drive makers like WD have to play a role in keeping their drives cool or do you think that is entirely up to specialised system cooling companies?

SW: As drive manufacturers we are continually striving to consume less power and generate less heat, but the faster you spin, the faster you move heads to a track, the more difficult that will be. We might be able to bend the laws of physics...breaking them is real tricky! Having said that, it has been gratifying to hear a number of reviewers comment on the WD Raptor running cooler than competitive drives

Upon taking it out of the package, the first thing that hit me was "this sure is bulky!" It's much larger and heavier than any digital audio player we reviewed yet. Another thing I discovered early on: the faceplates are very easily scratched, so be sure to use the carrying case if you don't want to cosmetically destroy this player. Not to mention this is a plastic wonder! It looks very cheap because it is made of so much plastic