| Corsair's Carbide Series Air 540 and 330R are Seriously Cool Posted: 04 Jun 2013 01:11 PM PDT  One's a cool character, the other's a quiet performer.
Among the many products Corsair chose to unveil at Computex this year, one of the cooler (literally and figuratively) ones is its new Carbide Series Air 540, a high airflow mid-tower chassis with a wider form factor than most traditional cases. It's built that way to accommodate two "side-by-side" chambers and a Direct Airflow Path layout, which is Corsair's way of explaining a design meant to offer exceptional cooling at low noise levels. The main chamber houses the motherboard and hot-swap 3.5-inch drives, while the second chamber is home to the power supply, SSDs, and 5.25-inch optical drives, which sit behind the motherboard tray. Corsair says that the separate compartments make building a system inside the case a breeze. Sticking with a more standard design, Corsair also unveiled its Carbide Series 330R, a quiet mid-tower with a 140mm front intake fan and noise dampening material on the top panel, side panels, and front door. It also has rubber feet to reduce vibration. You can mount of up to five fans in the 330R. Other features include a USB 3.0 front panel, tool-free 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch drive installation, and built-in cable routing cutouts. The Carbide Series Air 540 and Carbide Series 330R are available now for $140 and $90, respectively. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| PSA: Save $20 on an Amazon Kindle Fire HD for Father's Day Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:23 PM PDT  A gift your pops will like more than a tie.
Father's Day is only a couple of weeks away, and one way to celebrate the occasion is by getting your dad a gift. You could go with a tie (again) or some other piece of clothing, take him out to dinner, or wait for us to finalize our gift guide (hang tight, it's coming). One of the items that has a high chance of making the list is Amazon's Kindle Fire HD, and if you' don't procrastinate, you can save yourself $20 with the purchase of one. Amazon dropped us a note to let us know that from now through June 8, 2013, it's offering $20 off its Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch, and Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 4G models when you use promotional code DADSFIRE at checkout. It's good while supplies last. The Kindle Fire HD line starts at $199 for a 16GB model with "Special Offers" (home screen ads, basically). The 32GB models runs $229. Add $15 to each one to remove the Special Offers function. Pricing for the rest of the lineup looks like this: - Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 16GB: $269 ($284 w/o Special Offers)
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 32GB: $299 ($314 w/o Special Offers)
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 32GB 4G: $399 ($414 w/o Special Offers)
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 64GB 4G: $499 ($514 w/o Special Offers)
The $20 off promotional code works with any of the above eight models. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Toshiba Touts Qosmio X75 Laptop for Enthusiasts and PX35t All-in-One Posted: 04 Jun 2013 11:59 AM PDT  Yes, there's still a market for 17.3-inch laptops!
Between the Computex Taipei convention in Taiwan and Intel's recent Haswell launch, PC makers have come out in full force announcing new products. Count Toshiba among them. Toshiba this week unveiled its new Qosmio X75 laptop for enthusiasts and PX35t all-in-one (AIO) for the mainstream crowd, and though they target two completely different market segments, both have Haswell hardware inside. The Qosmio X75 is Toshiba's way of saying that power users still appreciate a well-equipped 17.3-inch notebook while the rest of the world looks to go smaller and thinner with Ultrabooks and Ultrathins. It wields Haswell processor options, up to 32GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M GPU, dual-drive configurations up to 1.5TB, Harman Kardon speakers, optional Blu-ray drive, and 4K UltraHD (3840x2160) HDMI output. It will be available mid-June starting at $1,400. 
Toshiba also unveiled its new PX35t AIO with a 23-inch Full HD 1080 touchscreen display. Inspired by Toshiba's 2013 TV lineup, the AIO has been "completely redesigned" featuring the company's Skyline styling in silver. In addition to Haswell hardware, it has up to 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, integrated DVD drive, and a few other amenities. It will be available around the same time as the Qosmio X75 starting but at $1,030. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Phanteks Previews Stealthy Enthoo Primo Chassis with Hidden Drive Trays Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:55 AM PDT  Dude, where's my storage?
Phanteks isn't a name that jumps out when you think about computer cases or peripherals. Somehow the company has managed to fly mostly under the radar since it was established in 2007, but if its upcoming Enthoo Primo case lives up to the hype, it will have to get used to sitting in the limelight. The Enthoo Primo is an exercise in stealthy case design, and one of its main features is that it hides your hard drives out of view. It's also the company's first crack at a chassis, as it's been focused on cooling products up to this point. We don't have a ton of details to share just yet because the case hasn't been officially announced, though Planteks has uploaded a couple of videos to YouTube previewing the upcoming chassis. Check out this overview: In addition to hiding storage drives and having a thermally enclosed area for the power supply, the Enthoo Primo looks to offer plenty of cable cutouts to route wires out of the way, and is equipped with a good amount of cooling options, including for both air and water. Here's a walk-through highlighting some of the finer details: Stay tuned -- we'll have more information to share as it becomes available in the coming weeks. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Dell Dishes Up a Bevy of New Haswell Infused Desktops and Laptops Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:03 AM PDT  Haswell invades Dell.
Haswell is here, and if you haven't already, be sure to check out our in-depth review. We'll wait. (Twiddles thumbs). Up to speed? Great, now let's take a look at what Dell has been up to with Intel's latest microarchitecture. Turns out the OEM has been quite the busy body refreshing a plethora of products, everything from its XPS 27 all-in-one (AIO) to its console-esque Alienware X51 small form factor (SFF) gaming PC. The XPS 27 ($1600 and up) has a 27-inch edge-to-edge glass display with an Adobe RGB Quad HD (2560x1440) premium panel. According to Dell, it's the only 27-inch touchscreen AIO with QHD. Other features include 4th Generation Intel Core processor options (Haswell), optional Nvidia GeForce GT 750M graphics, up to a 2TB hard drive, and up to a 256GB mSATA storage option. While still on the topic of desktops, Dell refreshed its XPS 8700 with Haswell. These systems feature up to 32GB of 1600MHz RAM, an SSD option with Intel Smart Response Technology, six USB 3.0 ports, four HDD bays, and up to 4TB of storage, Pricing starts at $700. As for the Alienware X51 system we mentioned, the X51 R2 brings new processor options to the table and discrete graphics up to a GeForce GTX 670. It also offers storage configurations consisting of up to a 256GB SSD for the OS and 1TB hard drive for files. Pricing starts at $899 for Haswell-based setups. On the hybrid front, Dell's XPS 12 starts at $1,200, weights 3.35 pounds, and is able to serve as a both a full-powered desktop and a tablet with a flip of the display. It has a 12.5-inch Full HD panel, is up to 1.6 times faster than the previous generation, and has a battery life of up to 8 hours and 43 minutes. 
Moving away from the home consumer line, Dell announced upgraded OptiPlex 9020, Latitude E5440, and Precision T1700 mini-tower and SFF systems. Pricing for these systems were not announced. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Computex 2013: Gigabyte Announces Ultrablade Gaming Laptops Posted: 04 Jun 2013 07:19 AM PDT 
Powered by the latest 4th generation Intel Core "Haswell" processors PC peripheral maker Razer is not the only "aichmophiliac" in the PC industry. Apparently, Taiwanese company Gigabyte is also pretty serious about cutting through the competition, and to this end has announced a new line of "Ultrablade" gaming laptops. Gigabyte's new lineup of gaming laptops comprises two models: the 15.6-inch P35K and the 14-inch P34G. Both machines pack full HD displays, as-yet-unknown 4th generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processors, and backlit keyboards. Further, they are both 21mm thick and share the same "ultrasmooth sandblasted aluminum matte finish." The 4.17-lb P35 Ultrablade has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M graphics card with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, D-sub, Ethernet, SD card reader and Thunderbolt (optional). The laptop has what Gigabyte likes to call a "quad-storage system." It supports up to two 512GB mSATA SSDs and two 1TB HDDs for a total of 3TB space. But wait, that's not all. You can add another terabyte if you want by swapping out its DVD-ROM for a hard drive. The 14-inch P34G Ultrablade, which tips the scales at 3.74 lbs, packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 760M graphics card, 1TB HDD, up to 256GB mSATA SSD, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, D-sub, Ethernet, SD card reader. There's no word on pricing or availability yet. Image Credit: Gigabyte Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Newegg Daily Deals: OCZ Vertex Plus R2 240GB SSD, MSI GeForce GTX 660, and More! Posted: 04 Jun 2013 07:13 AM PDT |
