This software converts web pages, Word documents, Excel sheets and PowerPoint files into PDF and PDF files back into Word documents. It allows you to convert files in multiple formats at the same time into a PDF file each or merge them as a single PDF file. The software has a fairly simple interface and a comprehensive list of options. You do need Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel installed on your machine, though, or else, an ‘unrecognised file format’ error follows. You can choose to convert all or selected pages, size your own page, resolution, scale, colour scheme and more. When converting to PDF, there is no feature that lets you allow the software to choose the appropriate size so that all the content fits into the PDF page. You must set the size by trial and error as with an incorrect page size the format and layout of the pages goes awry. PDF to Word was smooth with minimal misalignment which was easily correctable. The software didn’t work too well with Excel and PowerPoint, although it did perform admirably in the Word-PDF and vice-versa conversions.
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ScanSoft PDF Converter Pro 2 Reviews
ATi Radeon X850 Reviews
The Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition 256 MB card is ATi’s top-of-the-line card. Based around the R480 GPU, it uses 130nm manufacturing process to obtain higher clock speeds. This is probably the first ATi card to employ a two-slot cooling system. The leaf blower fans, first seen on the nVidia cards, do a good job on the Radeon as well. We tested the card on the Intel D925XCV motherboard with 1 GB of DDR II 533 MHz memory, 250 GB Maxtor and Windows XP and the latest updates and patches. We used the latest 4.12 catalyst drivers. The card, as expected, performed superbly posting some of the best scores we have ever
seen. In 3D Mark05, the X850XT PE logged an amazing 5540, the best ever by any card. Below a resolution of 1600x1200, the card becomes CPU-bound and a lot depends on your CPU speed. To avoid this, we ran our benchmarks at a resolution of 1600x1200. We ran Doom3, Half- Life 2, Far Cry and Halo benchmarks and the card came through with flying colours on all counts. One point to note here is that Doom3 prefers nVidia cards and hence, cards based on 6800 Ultra do better than ATi ones, however, the reverse is true for ATi when it comes to Half-Life 2. Which brings us to the million dollar question: Which card should you buy? That would depend on which game engine developers prefer—Doom3 or Half-Life 2. Enough of benchmarking, we also put the card to a real world test and played all these and many more games with pumped up effects. The games play was smooth, effects awesome and not once did the fan blower raise its decibel to exert grievances! But as with all high-end cards, availability may be an issue.
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ACi Commando Reviews
The Commando from ACi is a rugged notebook made of die-cast magnesium alloy. However, the tough construction does add extra weight to the notebook, which is further increased by the addition of a docking station offering extra I/O ports, a floppy and a combo drive. The hardware runs on an Intel Pentium M 1.1 GHz processor with 256MB DDR RAM and a 40 GB hard drive. Its 12.1-inch TFT screen runs at a native resolution of 1024x768. It also has an internal 802.11b Wi-Fi card for wireless access. Under our multimedia-rich battery test, the laptop ran for 3 hours and 55 minutes, it will last longer under normal usage. A long battery life is always desirable in a mobile device. The Commando is certainly a good buy for those looking for a laptop to be used under harsh conditions where it might be prone to mechanical shocks.
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Motorola MPx200 Reviews
Unlike other PDA phones from Sony Ericsson or Palm, the MPx200 from Motorola is rather slim and does not employ touch-screen for data input. This smart cell phone, when combined with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 2002 OS, offers easy one-handed operation. The sturdy build and lustrous satin black body are attractive, but fingerprint imprints are unavoidable. The 65K
colour LCD is amongst the best we have seen. A monochrome sub-LCD up front displays basic information like time, date and caller ID. Features, though, is where this phone may fall short of enticing consumers. With no camera, Bluetooth or even FM radio, the Rs 16,500 price tag seems steep. You do get a SD/MMC slot, IR and a USB cable as the syncing apparatus. Performance is normally peppy, although short bursts of sluggishness do creep in ever so often...
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Genius LOOK 315FS Reviews
Genius has launched the LOOK 315FS Webcam, which looks like a football. After all, the World Cup is on! The body is made of rubber, reminiscent of an actual football, and you’ve got to appreciate the inclusion of the 32 national flag stickers of the 2006 FIFA qualified teams. The LOOK 315FS has an inbuilt microphone, though its quality is not too good. The DD Theme Party application that comes bundled is, without a doubt, the strongest reason in for buying this thingy. You can track a face and add funky-looking theme masks to it. The image quality is nothing to boast about, and is grainy at times. The 315FS has decent gimmick value for Rs 2,400. Combined with the software package and its looks, this is a must-have for the football aficionado. But the video and audio quality are no more than average, making it a can-do-without for someone who wants performance.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750 GB Reviews
The Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750 GB SATA—Seagate’s first hard drive built upon perpendicular storage—is currently the storage behemoth in our test lab. The new recording technology has enabled Seagate to provide oodles of space for all those games and that meticulously-maintained MP3 and movie collection. Seagate has, surprisingly, positioned this drive for the gamer, movie buff, and lower enterprise segment, which doesn’t need the raw speed of the faster 10,000 rpm drives. HD Tach clocked it at a read burst speed of 86.1 MBps—impressive, though CPU utilisation was a bit on the higher side at 26.8 percent. It also posted impressive data transfer scores in SiSoft Sandra 2005 Pro. The size doesn’t seem to affect the performance at all. Overall, we’re very impressed with this Goliath. Although it’s a bit of overkill for lesser mortals like us, if space is what you crave and your pockets are deep enough, this one is sure to satisfy!
Nokia 6708 Reviews
This is Nokia’s second touch-screen phone to hit the Indian market after the 7710. Touted as a business phone for individuals on the go, it runs on the Symbian7 OS with the UIQ 2.1 interface—quite dated if you’re looking for good features. No grouse as far as looks are concerned; the silver-grey colour combination gives the phone an executive look. The large 65K colour screen works in the favour of the phone—especially when you’re using it as writing pad—and dominates the front facia. The keypad, however, is quite cramped. Handwriting recognition is accurate, but needs time to get used to. Devoid of any other option of inputting data, the 6708 doesn’t really qualify as a good business phone—one-handed operation is a must, and the Nokia 6708 is uninspiring on that front. Connectivity options include IR, Bluetooth, a mini USB jack and GPRS for connecting to the Internet. The phone also includes a universal remote for your TV, DVD player, air conditioner, and so on. The phone has 18 MB of memory dynamically shared between applications, and a hot-swappable miniSD slot for memory expansion. The integrated 1.3-megapixel camera delivers mediocre performance. For documents, the 6708 comes equipped with the Quickoffice software bundle. It also supports all major e-mail protocols. This Nokia is a decent product by itself, but falls short of being a good “business” phone. At Rs 21,500, we’d recommend you wait for the upcoming E series of business phones from Nokia...