MaximumPC 2004 12

Reviews

LaCie 100GB Mobile Hard Drive

A big, bold drive that is really, really small

A

s soon as we received the LaCie 100GB Mobile drive, the staffer

who opened the package held it aloft like a newly unearthed gem

and proudly proclaimed to those nearby, “Check this out!” As

everyone gathered around to admire its sleek, clean design, someone

asked, “How big is it?” to which the staffer replied, “100GB.” At this point,

even the art staff spun around in their chairs. Sure, they’re Mac users, but

they can use the LaCie Mobile drive just like us.

Indeed, we were all drooling. Not only is this the sexiest bus-powered

hard drive we’ve ever tested, but also the highest capacity. Its exterior

was designed by F.A. Porsche—a design company where we’re sure the

CEO wears a black turtleneck to work each day. The drive’s rear end has

both a USB 1.1/2.0 port as well as a standard six-pin FireWire port, which

means it doesn’t need any more power than what the USB and FireWire

ports provide. (Smaller four-pin FireWire ports require external power, but

not the six-pin port). In the unfortunate event of a power shortage, an aux-

iliary power cable is provided, as are FireWire and USB cables.

Because large capacity, bus-powered drives often can’t receive

enough juice from a single USB or FireWire port, we tested the drive’s

power capabilities by plugging it into numerous USB ports—both front-

and rear-mounted—on numerous PCs and laptops as well as USB hubs.

We only experienced connection problems once: when we connected the

drive to a USB extension cable that was several feet long. In every other

instance, the drive was recognized immediately and worked like a champ.

There is no bundled software package, but the LaCie Mobile doesn’t

need one to operate. This means that if you want to use it as a backup

drive—and its 100GB capacity certainly allows it to function as such—

you’ll have to find software on your own. (We recommend SyncBack ,

http://www.2brightsparks.com .)

The only kicker is that

LaCie’s drive operates at

4,200rpm drive. But during

testing it delivered transfer

speeds of approximately

20MB per second (FireWire

was a tick faster than USB),

which is just as fast as the

7,200rpm USB drives we’ve

tested.

—JOSH NOREM

OmniView Dual-Head KVM

Belkin delivers the first multi-monitor KVM, but is it

worth the price?

Y

ou love your dual-monitor rig, with good reason. It gives you twice

as much desktop room as a single display, and your productivity has

increased accordingly. But until now, there hasn’t been a practi-

cal solution for someone who wants to share a pair of analog monitors, a

keyboard, and a mouse with more than one PC. Using the latest OmniView

KVM switch from Belkin, you can do just that.

The Belkin KVM uses a proprietary cable to carry both analog VGA

signals, the USB keyboard and mouse signals, and both the speaker output

and microphone input signals to each PC from the unit. On the PC side,

everything connects just like normal, but on the KVM side, you need only

plug in a pair of VGA-like cables. This was necessary to minimize the size

of the KVM—connecting 25 wires to a small box would be unwieldy at

best—but it does mean you’re forced to use Belkin’s cables, which are

expensive. In fact, a relatively short six-foot cable costs a whopping $80!

Image quality and response time are indistinguishable from a normal rig.

Unlike earlier Belkin KVMs, this latest model has no problem whatsoever

delivering repeating signals from the keyboard. (When you hold down a key,

a signal is repeatedly sent from your keyboard to the computer. This allows

you to use your keys for things like movement in a first-person shooter.)

We have two main complaints with the Dual-View KVM: its high price

and its inability to handle DVI monitors. The single VGA counterpart to this

router costs about $280 for the KVM and cables for four computers, but the

dual-head KVM costs a whopping $645! For the difference in price, we’ll

just use a single-head KVM and relegate the dual-monitor setup to our

primary machine.

As for the lack of DVI con-

nections, even most Maximum

PC editors have only one ana-

log display, preferring a more

svelte LCD flat-panel as their

second monitor. And no one

wants to connect an expensive

DVI flat panel to a non-native

analog connection.

—WILL SMITH

This new Belkin KVM lets you connect multiple rigs to a

pair of monitors, a keyboard, and mouse.

It works as advertised, with no control lag or

image corruption.

DARTH VADER

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

Proprietary cables raise the costs of KVMing to

near ludicrous levels.

$325 (+ $80 per computer cable), http://www.belkin.com

MA XIMUMPCVERDICT 7

Besides the elegant design, LaCie’s 100GB portable drive

is bus-powered. That means no ungainly power cables.

Huge capacity, quiet operation, FireWire and

USB ports.

BUS-POWERED DRIVE

BUS-POWERED DATE

Only 4,200rpm.

$370, http://www.lacie.com

MA XIMUMPCVERDICT 9

1 MA XIMUMPC DECEMBER 2004