19 Upgrades
30 MAXIMUMPC JUNE 2007
MULTI-MONITOR STAND
ADD ELEGANCE TO YOUR DESKTOP WITH A UNIFIED ARRAY
OF LCDsWEBCAM
STATIC PICTURES ARE SO BORINGW
hy do you need a webcam? Well, with a fancy webcam
you can be your own biggest YouTube fan; you can watch
your pets dance around and throw parties when you aren’t at
home; heck, you can fl aunt your naughty bits across the entire-
ty of the Internet. The power is yours!
After fl ashing our best smile (that’s all, we swear), into a num-
ber of lenses, we found ourselves head over heels for Logitech’s
Quickcam Orbit MP ($130, http://www.logitech.com). This camera has
great mechanics: motor-
ized face-tracking, a
clear, 1.3MP image,
and automated lighting
adjustments.
But the real beauty
is in the accesso-
ries. The Quickcam’s
accompanying software
can plop digitized items
directly onto your mug,
including a beer helmet
and a goatee. And you
can even transform
your face into a virtual-
ized avatar, which will
mimic your expressions
rather creepily, but
totally awesomely.So we’re taking a picture of a
webcam, which is taking a pic-
ture of us taking a picture of a
webcam, which is taking....GAMING HEADSET
HEAR BETTER, PLAY BETTERW
e wouldn’t recommend using Turtle Beach’s Ear Force
HPA2 headset ($130, http://www.turtlebeach.com) for critical
music listening—its drivers can’t hold a candle to the con-
siderably more expensive Ultrasone Proline 750’s, our abso-
lute favorite cans—but the HPA2 is fabulous for gaming.
A mic is essential for multiplayer gaming, and the HPA
has a good one mounted on a flexible, removable stalk. But
surround-sound support—complete with an inline six-chan-
nel headphone amp—is what makes this headset special.
You plug it straight into your PC’s three 1/8-inch analog
audio outputs and 1/8-inch mic input, but there’s also a
splitter cable, so you don’t have to reconfigure anything
when switching to a 5.1-channel speaker system.
The sur-
round-sound
support really
makes a differ-
ence with games
that support
3D positional
sound, provid-
ing audio cues
to help you
pinpoint an ene-
my’s location.W
e’re always talking up the necessity of multiple monitors—a
single screen, no matter the size, just doesn’t cut it for
an extreme computing lifestyle. But don’t think your upgrade
mission is complete with the simple acquisition of two or three
monitors. If you want your workspace to truly exude power-
usertude, you’ll combine your LCDs on a single stand.
Ergotron’s LX Triple Display Lift Stand ($300, http://www.ergotron.
com) is the best product we know of for the job. The kit comes
with all the parts you need and easy-to-follow instructions
for confi guring a setup of three VESA-compliant fl at panels.
Unlike competitive models, the LX’s heavy-duty stand can
sit atop your desk without the aid of screws or a clamp. You
simply attach a single mounting rail to the stand and then
hang your screens on the rail using the included mounts and
tensioners. We had no problem positioning our three panels: a
24-inch Dell fl anked by two 19-inch ViewSonics.Because the mounting rail curves in on either side, the
screens are naturally angled for your viewing comfort. The rail’s
fi ve-inch height adjustment lets you raise or lower the screens in
tandem, and you can similarly tilt the screens forward and back.
You want it all when it comes to screen real estate, and a
badass setup like this proves it.With Ergotron’s LX Triple Display Lift, you’ll be sitting as
pretty as a day trader, without all the numbers nonsense.Turtle Beach’s Ear Force HPA2 headset
is a bit heavy, but the suspension head-
band distributes the weight evenly.