Optimizing system performance used to be about defragmenting every so often and limiting the number of applications you’re running. Unfortunately, today’s modern PC needs a whole host of support applications doing their own thing in the background in order to maintain a usable system.

TuneUp Utilities 2010 attempts to corral your PC and whip it into shape with its extensive suite of tools designed around improving performance. Does it succeed? We’ll be taking a look at how the software goes about doing its thing and its benefit to you as a user.
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Its been a long time coming. As of October 22nd you could pick up your very own copy of the polished good stuff. Microsoft’s Windows 7 has promised to make your computing usage a kinder, gentler experience and it has the shiny icons to prove it. But with the “dark cloud” Vista hung over the Windows brand can they get their house back in order?

We’ll be taking a look at Windows 7 and how it handles the day to day rigors of PC usage. Its changes are many but no matter how you use your computer there are improvements to be found for all users.
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Poor Motorola. It’s been ages since the RAZR’s heyday. Poor Verizon. It’s got no real answer to the iPhone, though they should feel somewhat flattered that iPhone owners wish they could use their handsets on its network.

Enter Motorola’s Google Android-powered Droid smartphone. It’s charming nearly everyone that spends time with it.

Is it an iPhone killer? Not likely, but there’s a lot to like, adding some pizazz to the Android handset market and giving Verizon a smartphone that stands toe-to-toe with the iPhone in many of the ways that matter to customers looking for a feature-rich handset.

Here’s a collection of reviews for you to read during Droid launch weekend:

Review: The Motorola Droid – Wired

Overall, Droid makes the iPhone 3G look a little tired, the BlackBerry boring, and the Palm Pre an after-thought. The Droid doesn’t have a single “wow” feature. Rather, it’s the combination of solid phone, smart user interface, and Verizon’s kick-ass network that makes the Droid a cut above most smartphones.

Motorola DROID review – Boy Genius Report

You want one word to describe the screen? Stunning. A 3.7? WVGA 854×480 capacitive high-quality display? We’ll take three. Like we said in our preview, it’s the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android device and possibly in general. Plus it’s responsiveness is second to only Apple’s capacitive displays, so we’re talking about a really, really solid screen here, people.

Motorola DROID review – Engadget

That’s not to say the device doesn’t have its faults; the camera was unpleasant to use, the application selection feels thin in both quantity and quality (despite the claim of 10,000 options), and the phone has bits of basic, non-intuitive functionality that might chafe on some users after a while. But even still, it’s hard not to recommend the DROID to potential buyers eager to do more with their devices. It’s easily the best Android phone to date, and when you couple the revamped OS, Verizon’s killer network, and an industrial design straight from a gadget enthusiast’s fever-dream, it makes for a powerful concoction.

Motorola Droid Review - Gizmodo

Droid’s brain is a potent ARM Cortex A8 TI OMAP 3430—it’s basically the same as the chips inside of the Palm Pre and iPhone 3GS. Like I said in the Android 2.0 review, while it runs apps and multitasks with gusto, basic things like menus and the desktop stutter way too often. It’s like driving a Ferrari with a door that groans loudly every time you open it.

Motorola Droid Review – Ubergizmo

Droid is a high-end smartphone that works very well and represents the best Android has to offer. It steals the thunder from any other Android handset that I had my hands on. As a phone, it is very good, and besides minor quirks like email search, it is a very good communication device as well. The Verizon network also worked wonderfully in an area (Potrero Hill, SF) that has been usually very difficult for T-Mobile and inconsistent (at best) for AT&T. For once, I never *had to* setup WiFi.

Cooling off your computer’s processor provides plenty of benefits, namely extending the chip’s life and, for the enthusiast, a bit of extra headroom before a processor overheats during yet another overclocking session. Years ago, most people struggled with massive air-cooled heatsinks but, increasingly, water cooling is entering as a solid cooling alternative that is nearly free of the fear of liquids mingling near expensive electronics.

CoolIT Systems specializes in creating pre-assembled water cooling kits. The company’s Domino A.L.C. is an entry level kit designed to cool off your system’s processor and represents an interesting and inexpensive introduction into the water cooling world. We’ll be taking a look at the cooler and what it can do for your PC.

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Both Palm and Sprint have a lot riding on the successful launch of the Palm Pre this Saturday. Not since the iPhone has there been this much hope and excitement riding on a little smartphone.

Palm fans (maybe even Sprint fans, there must be some…) will be pleased to know that most reviewers are genuinely impressed with the device and the software that powers it. The pros outweigh the cons by and large in most of the reviews popping up online. And that’s good news for the old innovator that was on the ropes not too long ago.

Palm Pre, Elegant Contender – David Pogue, NYT

So do the Pre’s perks (beautiful hardware and software, compact size, keyboard, swappable battery, flash, multitasking, calendar consolidation) outweigh its weak spots (battery life, occasional sluggishness, ringer volume)?

Oh, yes indeedy.

Palm’s New Pre Takes On iPhone – Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal

All in all, I believe the Pre is a smart, sophisticated product that will have particular appeal for those who want a physical keyboard. It is thoughtfully designed, works well and could give the iPhone and BlackBerry strong competition — but only if it fixes its app store and can attract third-party developers.

Engadget’s Palm Pre Review

There’s no doubt that there’s room for improvement in webOS and its devices, but there’s also an astounding amount of things that Palm nails out of the gate.

Gizmodo’s Palm Pre Review

The software is agile, smart and capable. The hardware, on the other hand, is a liability. If Palm can get someone else to design and build their hardware–someone who has hands and can feel what a phone is like when physically used, that phone might just be one of the best phones on the market.

SlashGear’s Palm Pre Review
Visit for an unboxing vid and tons of pics.

Thankfully they’ve delivered a smartphone not only capable but honestly impressive and distinctive. Improvements to webOS will only make it better, but even in this fledgling state we’d readily recommend the Palm Pre.

Boy Genius Report’s Palm Pre Review

The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there. The only problem with this is, Palm’s never been a hardware company that anyone’s really cared about

Update:

Wired’s Palm Pre Review

Of course, compared to the iPhone, the real missing pieces are those thousands of applications available on the App Store — one for just about anything, as the commercials constantly remind us. Right now, before the June 6 launch, there are only about a dozen or so “preview apps” in Palm’s App Catalog (including an impressive version of Fandango that skillfully integrates the Pre’s GPS and web abilities). Palm claims developers will find it easy to create new apps for the Pre, and is banking on a thriving marketplace. The company has not yet announced details on how you’ll get apps from the marketplace onto your Pre, and the feature wasn’t available for me to test.

Palm Pre review: To Pre or not to Pre? – Fortune

After spending a few hours with the Pre, I wasn’t tempted to give up my iPhone. While the Pre is a very good device that matches the iPhone in many ways and even surpasses it in a few, the iPhone is still a better handset in the ways that matter to me — and in ways that I think will matter to a lot of potential buyers.

Since the advent of external USB storage devices, it’s been extremely easy to add storage to your computer without all of the popping open your case and cramming in the hard drive nonsense.

Western Digital’s My Book Essential Edition 1TB USB 2.0 external hard drive promises a good chunk of extra space at an extremely tempting price. There was a point in time where an external drive would set you back more than your run of the mill internal version but that price premium has slowly shrunk down to an acceptable profit-taking level.

The company touts the drive as a little eco-friendlier with up to 30% more energy efficiency than standard systems, which I take to mean competing brands that offer the same storage space using the same USB 2.0 interface.

Click the break for our full review.

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Hot Hardware is seeing if the linchpin of AMD’s Dragon platform can breathe fire by putting the quad-core 3.2GHz Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition through its paces. This “Hot Hardware Approved” processor may trail behind Intel’s Core i7, but enthusiasts (read: overclockers) will find budget-friendly beast…

Pair one of these processors with an enthusiast-class 790FX or GX-based socket AM3 motherboard and 4GB of DDR3-1333 memory and you’ve got the makings of a powerful desktop platform for about $450. That’s not exactly cheap, but considering the performance and overclockability of the platform, it certainly represents a good value. Yes, Intel’s similarly clocked Core 2 Quads and Core i7 processors still maintain a performance advantage, but there is no denying that AMD’s Dragon platform is an attractive option that has only been enhanced by the introduction of these new CPUs.

Source: Hot Hardware

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Reviews

AMD’s Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition – AnandTech

AMD Phenom II x4 955 Review – Neoseeker

Phenom II X4 955: AMD’s Dragon Platform Evolves – Tom’s Hardware

AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 CPU Review – Overclockers Club

AMD let loose Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU – TweakTown

AMD Phenom 2 X4 955 BE – Bjron3d.com

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor Review – AM3 gets serious – PC Perspective

AMD’s Phenom II X4 955 processor – The Tech Report

CNET has posted a review of iRiver’s slick-looking, aluminum-clad P7 personal media player (16 GB version). Its low price, expandability and competent handling of audio, video and images may make it worth a look for some, but others will find a bone to pick with limited codec support and a less than responsive touchscreen. Oh, and the crappy bundled software doesn’t do it any favors either.

The magazine layout inspired UI, on the other hand, makes it a standout in what has become a crowded space. Overall, CNET’s Donald Bell echoes many of the sentiments of the P7 review over at Engadget.

You can watch the video portion of the CNET review by clicking on the continue link below.

Source: CNET

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Dell’s ultra-thin shot against the MacBook Air’s bow is indeed stylish, and somewhat 007-ish in black. But as Gizmodo finds, the pricey package is lacking in some areas.

One of those areas is fit and finish in some spots, which is surprising considering the luxury, aluminum-clad pool Dell’s wading in. More distressing is the fact that it underperforms in the graphics department relative to some of its $2,000+ competition.

The verdict is that the Adamo it’s a .65-inch stunner (though slightly heavy at 4 lbs) but you might want to wait for a revision or two before hitting the checkout button and slipping one into your messenger bag.

Source: Gizmodo

Living out your days waiting for your computer to finish up its workload? Having trouble keeping up with the enemy in the latest games? If you’re still toiling under the constraints of a dual core, or *gasp* single core*, processor you may want to take a look at the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400. The chip boasts a 2.66GHz clock rate, 6MB of cache, and the highly sought after 45nm die. Legit Reviews has the low-down on the processor and what it can do for your computer:

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 was significantly faster than the Q8200, so
if you are building or updating an existing system the extra cache and
clock frequency seem well worth the extra price. The Intel Core 2 Quad
Q9400 is a great performing mainstream quad-core part that has decent
thermals and great overclocking potential. The x8 multiplier allows for
great overclocking as a single BIOS setting change (increasing your FSB
to 400MHz) will take the Q9400 up to 3.2GHz with no problems at all.

It’s no Core i7 but it’s one of the higher-end chips from the last generation so it should be good for quite a while longer and the added monetary benefits of extending your system’s life span should make you feel fiscally sound.