Coming up – March 2012 issue of PC User
020 minutes ago
This month sees the release of UserOS HomeServer 12.03, our latest Linux-based operating system. It’s based on Ubuntu 11.10 but we’ve used the Xfce desktop environment instead of GNOME 3. You’ll find it plus a heap of tools such as Linux USB Installer that helps you install Linux onto a USB flash drive from within Windows.
It also includes our DriveShare Beta software to enable you to share external drives with other users on the network.
Also, you’ll find my Notebook SuperGuide with a roundup of 30 of the latest notebooks More >
Get PC User’s RockPod audio/video encoder – Free!
1 month ago
PC User’s RockPod 2 app is now available free for a very limited time on its website at www.pcuser.com.au.
It’ll encode a good range of audio and video formats and will encode to MPEG-4, H.264 and WMV. It also supports encoding to the latest smartphone screen sizes.
The app is free for personal use and works on any Windows XP, Vista or 7 computer, 32-bit or 64-bit.
Grab it at www.pcuser.com.au.
What’s happened to hard drive prices lately?
1 month ago
If you’ve been watching PC component prices lately, you might have noticed that hard drives have gone up in price but as much as 50% or more.
SSDs (solid state drives) have also risen slightly but nowhere near the same level.
The reason? The devastating floods in Thailand. The majority of the world’s platter-based hard drives come out of the Thai technology basin and the floods have affected drive production along with everything else.
At this stage, word is that prices probably won’t drop until April 2012 with online sources suggesting More >
Australia’s first sub-$500 ultrabook about to hit shelves
1 month ago
Local Australian notebook supplier, Pioneer Computers, has just announced two new ultrabooks, with prices starting from an impressive $AU499.
The new Pioneer DreamBook UltraSlim U13 features a new 2.13GHz Cedar Trail-class “Centrino Atom” N2700 dual-core processor. At this stage, we don’t know too much about this chip’s performance levels although we suspect it’s better than the N570 but not as good as a Core i3.
The new model features a 13.3-inch widescreen panel with 1366×768-pixel resolution, along with 2GB of DDR3-1333 RAM and a 320GB hard drive. You also get More >
Update 279 released for PC User RockPod 5
1 month ago
Update 279 is now available for PC User’s new RockPod 5 app.
To install the update, just launch RockPod 5 (available on the cover disc of PC User’s January 2012 issue) and you’ll get notification of the new update. Just follow the prompts.
The update fixes a bug in the way preset options were being loaded when users pressed the device slider controls too quickly, overwriting existing settings.
We also forgot to include the original preset file so after installing this update, you’ll get a one-time option to install those original More >