Reviews 51946 Published by

Here a roundup of todays review's and articles:

A Quick Look At Fedora 22 XFCE
Acer S277HK 27 inch 4K Monitor Review
Addonics M.2 PCIe SSD Adapter X110 Review
AMD A10-7870K Benchmarks On Ubuntu Linux
ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Mini-ITX Motherboard Review
Clipboard Master 4.0 Review
Dual-boot Rikomagic RKM MK36 reviewed
EMTEC SSD Power Plus 120GB Solid State Drive Review
EVGA Geforce GTX 980 Ti Superclocked ACX 2.0+ Backplate 6GB previewed
Intel's NUC5i7RYH mini-PC with Iris graphics reviewed
Lenovo LaVie Z review
Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Wireless Mobile Mouse Review
QNAP TVS-863+ vNAS Server Review
Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Review
Tesoro Lobera Spectrum
Toshiba Portege Z20t Review



A Quick Look At Fedora 22 XFCE

XFCE is one of the lightweight desktop environments available. it takes the minimum amount of CPU and memory usage, so, it keeps the system running smoothly. XFCE is built using GTK2. However, you still can run GTK3 applications on the latest XFCE 4.12, thanks to GTK3 plugins recently added to XFCE. It comes pre-loaded with several applications most of desktop environment comes with such as file manager, applications manager, desktop manager, panel “dock included as quick application launcher”, window manager, ..etc.

In an effort to make Fedora a better operating system, the developers working in Fedora always brings the latest free and open-source software. Fedora 22 comes with kernel 4.0.0, improved anaconda installer, XFCE version 4.12 for XFCE “Spin”. A Highdpi theme for XFCE which brings high pixel intensity for high resolution with high DPI displays. XFCE 4 panel “including the panel” are extensible and supports auto hiding thanks to GTK3 plugins. Also, it comes with a new wallpaper settings, which supports a different wallpaper per workspace option and a better handling for multi-monitor. Thunar file manager now support running multiple tabs in the same window.

Read full article @ LinuxNOV

Acer S277HK 27 inch 4K Monitor Review

The Acer S277HK is a 27 inch, 4K IPS display with a focus on smart, attractive design. It has a particularly thin bezel, termed ZeroFrame by the company, an asymmetrical ‘L-shaped’ metal stand and all the connectors arranged in an easily accessible groove at the back. With excellent colour reproduction along with good brightness and contrast levels, the S277HK delivers great picture quality at a price that’s highly competitive with competing 4K screens.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Addonics M.2 PCIe SSD Adapter X110 Review

Addonics Technologies makes some very unique and innovative storage drive adapters and chances are if you’ve ever built a custom system that had a unique data storage solution you’ve seen some of their products on the market. Addonics has always been good at developing special IO and connector converters that allow you to install new storage devices into older systems.

The M.2 adapter that we are looking at today is a great example of a product that allows you to use the latest M.2 (NGFF) SSDs on a PCIe x4 adapter card that can be used in virtually any board that has an open slot. The Addonics M2 PCIe SSD Adapter X110 (AD2M2S-PX4) is the name of that adapter and it supports two M.2 SATA SSDs on the front and one M.2 PCIe SSD on the back of the $29 adapter card.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

AMD A10-7870K Benchmarks On Ubuntu Linux

Two weeks ago AMD launched the A10-7870K "Godavari" APU. As there haven't been too many independent benchmarks of the A10-7870K yet, this week I picked up the new high-end APU and have been running a plethora of performance tests under Ubuntu Linux. Here's the first batch of the AMD A10-7870K Linux tests.

It doesn't look like AMD has been sampling the A10-7870K much for reviews given that the A10-7870K "Godavari" is just a minor refresh over Kaveri with the A10-7850K. However, I ended up purchasing an A10-7870K for adding to our LinuxBenchmarking.com test farm in delivering daily, upstream open-source benchmarks across 50+ systems. With continuing to add more systems, I decided to toss in an A10-7870K system to get more open-source Radeon graphics coverage. The A10-7870K just boosts the four CPU cores by 200MHz (3.9GHz total), 100MHz bump in the turbo frequency (4.1GHz tops), and the Radeon R7 GPU by 146MHz compared to the previous high-end Kaveri part, the A10-7850K. Everything else is basically the same between the A10-7870K and the older Kaveri parts. The A10-7870K retails for $140~150 USD while the A10-7850K is now going for around $130.

Read full article @ Phoronix

ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Mini-ITX Motherboard Review

Aiming to offer an entirely new level of performance which has previously been out of reach for the small form factor (SFF) scene, ASRock offers up the most powerful mini-ITX motherboard ever to reach consumer marketplaces. Can ASRock’s X99E-ITX/ac motherboard prove that you don’t need to go big to go X99?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Clipboard Master 4.0 Review

I reviewed the clipboard manager Clipboard Master back in 2011 for the first and last time here on Ghacks. Back then I came to the conclusion that it was an excellent program and definitely a contender for the best Windows clipboard manager.

Read full article @ gHacks

Dual-boot Rikomagic RKM MK36 reviewed

Intel's Bay Trail redefined the x86 landscape, by enabling vendors to design affordable mini PCs and tablets capable of running Windows. The new Rikomagic RKM M36 is yet another design based on the Intel Atom Z3736F processor, with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of on board storage.
Rikomagic might not be a familiar name in the PC space, but the company has been churning out loads of Android TV boxes, and now it’s going after the Windows space as well. However, the RKM M36 is a dual-boot system, so you get Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4 out of the box.

The M36 is somewhat bigger than many micro PCs coming out of China and Taiwan in recent months. Luckily, the extra space was put to good use – the device ships with a total of four USB 2.0 ports, a standard RJ45 network connector, and even a Kensington lock.

Read full article @ Fudzilla

EMTEC SSD Power Plus 120GB Solid State Drive Review

Solid state drives keep on going doing in price and it seems more and more companies are jumping in on the inexpensive SSD market. It seems we have come to that point where many consumers are choosing a solid state drive over a typical mechanical hard drive, at least for their OS drive. Today we will be taking a look at a solid state drive from an new company to the SSD market called EMTEC. Their SSD Power Plus drive is on the test bench today and while they offer capacities up to 480GB we are taking a look at the 120GB version (model: ECSSD120GX150). This drive features sequential read and write speeds of 550 MB/s and 160 MB/s respectively. Let’s see what this drive can do!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

EVGA Geforce GTX 980 Ti Superclocked ACX 2.0+ Backplate 6GB previewed

The GTX 980 Ti is Nvidia’s new flagship graphics card, and we all know AIBs like to show off when it comes to flagship products. While most AIB partners offer one or two GTX 980 Ti cards, EVGA is going a step further, or a few steps. EVGA has no fewer than eight different GTX 980 Ti cards and today we will briefly take a look at one of them – the GTX 980 Ti Superclocked with ACX 2.0 Cooler with backplate. The next image shows EVGA’s full GTX 980 Ti line-up.

EVGA decided to set the base GPU clock at 1102MHz, which is significantly higher than the 1006MHz reference clock. The Boost clock is 1190MHz compared to the reference 1074MHz. The memory memory is left at default 7GHz (effective GDDR5).
Note that the GTX 980 Ti Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ with backplate is listed on the EVGA webshop for $680, which does not sound like a big price premium (+$40) for such a hefty factory overclock.

Read full article @ Fudzilla

Intel's NUC5i7RYH mini-PC with Iris graphics reviewed

Despite being branded as the Next Unit of Computing, Intel's NUC wasn't actually a new idea. It simply formalized an approach other PC makers had been taking for years: squeezing lower-power notebook chips into tiny chassis that make even Mini-ITX rigs look morbidly obese. Some horsepower and expansion are inevitably lost versus small-form-factor desktops, but modern mobile chips are fast enough—and integrated enough—to let palm-sized PCs deliver a good experience for most common computing tasks.

The last NUC to pass through our labs was a slim Broadwell unit that wraps a 15W Core i5 processor in a palm-sized package just 1.4" thick. Today, we're taking a closer look at its big brother, the NUC5i7RYH. This model expands the formula slightly to accommodate not only additional storage, but also a beefier Core i7 with a 28W TDP. Those perks make the machine a more well-rounded proposition than its predecessor—and a potentially better fit for a wider range of applications.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Lenovo LaVie Z review

Lenovo's LaVie Z series is a sweet device with a bitter price tag.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Wireless Mobile Mouse Review

Logitech's newest mobile mouse allows you the ability to connect it with three Bluetooth devices and using the Logitech Options software can be configured to handle multiple tasks.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

QNAP TVS-863+ vNAS Server Review

The QNAP TVS-863+ Turbo vNAS is part of a new hardware platform for QNAP that brings a high level of performance to the small tower-based format, at a lower cost than was possible before. That’s not an uncommon theme for NAS product announcements, but this is. The TVS-x63 series is based on a System-On-Chip (SOC) offering from AMD. Stunned…? I know I was when I first heard it. After years of suffering with multiple generations of Intel Atom-based NAS devices with lackluster performance, from every NAS manufacturer in the market, finally we have a low power replacement that rocks the world. The Intel Bay Trail-D CPU is a great little replacement for the Atom, but the new AMD GX-424CC is in another league altogether. The Radeon graphics section inside, plus four CPU cores running at 2.4 GHz, and a well-developed APU architecture that marries the two together for challenging loads, provides a sea change in computing performance for the low-power, low-cost NAS segment.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Review

Razer are arguably one of the most established and recognisable gaming brands out there and through the symbolism of merging serpents forming the holy trinity, they have even managed to create a cult following. The Cult of Razer. Once you buy a Razer product you will then be indoctrinated into this cult where the promise of in-game performance improvment becomes abundant. Aside from reading a little too far into their brand image, it is hard to deny the innovative R & D that Razer has gone through for gamers and how it has shaped the current market today. You could even say that the responsibility for causing an entire generation of 'rubberised plastic' products lays with them too.

Each year sees an assortment of incremental updates and tweaking to their soild stable of peripherals and when they aren't pushing the boundary into new ideas, they also like to keep up with latest trends like what we see here with the Kraken 7.1 Chroma. The Kraken 7.1 has been a fairly popular headset with many gamers, known for its powerful gaming audio and advanced virtual 7.1 surround, the Chroma comes in with that extra cherry on top with some customisable lighting.

Read full article @ Vortez

Tesoro Lobera Spectrum

Last fall, when the initial wave of RGB keyboards were first coming out, I had the chance to check out the Lobera Supreme from Tesoro. While the keyboard wasn’t perfect I was impressed with its value. One of the issues I had with the keyboard was the lack of individual key RGB lighting but recently that changed. Tesoro introduced the Lobera Spectrum with a similar design but with the spectrum backlighting. Today I’m going to dig into it and see if anything else has changed and find out if it is still a good value like their first RGB keyboard.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Toshiba Portege Z20t Review

This two-in-one is the most seamless combination of tablet and keyboard we have so far seen. If you want a laptop and a Windows tablet without either being a compromise, the Portégé Z20t is the system for you. That said, it feels a little heavy for an ultraportable and seems pricey. However, you get what you pay for and the Z20t exudes quality.

Pros:
Works well as both tablet and ultraportable; all-day battery life; Core-M delivers ample performance for productivity apps

Cons:
Integrated batteries; heavy for its size; no fingerprint scanner or smartcard

Read full article @ V3