MaximumPC 2005 05

Best of the Best As of May 200 5

There are scant updates to our list, despite this column’s hiatus last

month. We’ve bumped the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro from the budget vid-

eocard category in favor of nVidia’s GeForce 6600 GT. The 6600 GT is

easier to find, and it outperforms the 9800 in some benchmarks. Plextor

supporters will be happy to know that the PX-716A, which received a

perfect 10 verdict last month, is the fastest single-layer and double-

layer writer we’ve tested. We had planned to recommend Asus’ P5AD2

Premium board as the premiere solution for LGA775 Intel processors,

but Intel’s public admission that 925X and 925XE boards will not work

with dual-core makes us hesitant to recommend any LGA775 boards

right now.

Our current gaming favorites : Far Cry, Desert Combat Final, Psychonauts, Sims 2
University, Scrabble Online, Worlds of Warcraft

Canary Wireless

Digital Hotspotter

We’ve seen our share of key-fob trinkets

that promise to find Wi-Fi access points, but

couldn’t find a 2.4GHz signal if you cooked

them inside a microwave oven.

Canary Wireless’ Digital Hotspotter HS10

is the coolest Wi-Fi spotter we’ve seen yet.

Simply push the scan button and it’ll display

the SSID, signal strength, channel number,

and whether the AP uses encryption. In

some circumstances, the HS10 can even

detect access points that don’t broadcast

SSID—it won’t display the SSID, but it will

inform you that it’s cloaked.

The HS10 isn’t perfect. It could use back-

lighting and slightly better battery life (we

like to scan), and it has a known blind spot

for some popular access points (including our corporate 3Com AP). But it’s a

truly nifty and useful Wi-Fi gadget, and it’s available for an exceptional price.

$50, http://www.canarywireless.com

MAY 200 5 MA XIMUMPC 67

&

Steve Jobs

himself

ordered this

prototype

mouse built,

but never

authorized its

sale because

one button is

more than

enough.

Or is it?

Just like the iPod shuffle, the iKeyboard helps you

“enjoy uncertainty” by randomly reconfiguring the

layout of the keys with each reboot.

The Maxi is so large that entire ecosystems have been

known to form around them, such as this Corsican fishing

village.

Big Mac Attack

As strong proponents of the First Amendment and the peo-

ple’s right to know about the latest hardware, Maximum PC

operatives penetrated Apple’s R&D fortress. Many Bothans

died to bring us these photos of Apple’s upcoming products.

PCI Express videocard:

ATI Radeon X850 XT

Platinum Edition

High-end AGP videocard:

nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra

Budget videocard:

GeForce 6600 GT

Soundcard:

Sound Blaster Audigy

2 ZS Platinum

10,000rpm SATA:

Western Digital 740GD

Raptor

7,200rpm SATA:

Maxtor DiamondMax 10

300GB

External backup drive:

Western Digital Dual-

option Media Center 250GB

Portable USB drive:

Seagate Portable External

Hard Drive 100GB

DVD burner:

Plextor PX-716A

Widescreen LCD monitor:

Hewlett-Packard f2304

Desktop LCD monitor:

Dell 2001FP

Desktop CRT monitor:

NEC FE2111 SB

Socket 939 Athlon 64 mobo:

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe

Portable MP3 player:

Apple iPod 40GB

Photo printer:

Canon i9900

PDA:

Dell Axim X50v

5.1 speakers:

Logitech Z-5500 Digital

4.1 speakers:

Logitech Z-560

2.1 speakers:

Klipsch GMX A2.1

Best mid-tower case:

Chenbro Gaming Bomb II

Best full-size tower case:

Silverstone Nimiz TJ03