Merry Christmas to All Our Readers
Sunday, December 23, 2007
With Christmas upon us and everything icy cold, it comes time to say thanks to all our readers for your support over the past year. Just for a few days I will be taking a well earned break and you may not see any new posts until the 28th December. Don't fret though, as some of the video coverage that has already been shot will be with you before the New Year. All that is left for me to say is "Have a Very Happy Christmas, full of turkey and gadgets!" - Dave.Labels: General News
Xerox Phaser 8860 Review - Raised Prints !
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
There are stacks of choice when it comes to buying a printer, but if you are looking toward the higher end, something for a professional graphics market, then a lot more has to be considered. Speed plays a big part, as does quality of the prints, but if you are churning out volume then running costs are very important. The Xerox Phaser 8860 that we take a look at here, is right up there with all the superfast lasers, but it offers something a little different... just what makes the prints from this machine stand out from the crowd?I am going to deal with the 8860's main features, and deal with the question of how each feature performs as we go. This is a slightly different way of doing things, but it means I can give you instant answers to your questions as they come along. The 8860 ADN costs £1,699 and offers 10/100 Ethernet connections and USB2. I tested the machine on an Intel based Apple Mac, and the software install and connection over both ethernet and USB performed admirably. There were no set-up problems at all.
This printer included automatic duplexing (double-sided prints) from the box. This is a really useful feature when report printing, so was a welcome addition. IT also gives you the ability to save paper (more on the money saving later). With a duty cycle of 120,000 prints per month and a quoted speed of 30ppm in both mono and colour, this reads like a true powerhouse. I cannot vouch for the duty cycle, but the speed is pretty much spot on. Black text resulted in an average of 27ppm, add in some graphics and after processing time we got 25ppm. Colour pages mainly consisting of text came in at 26ppm, with graphics added this dropped to a respectable 24ppm. So if you need speed, the 8860 delivers.
Quality is also very important and at 2400dpi the resolution should be superb. I found text to be great at point sizes 8 and above, but below this, not as crisp as some cheaper laser printers. When printing business graphics and photos the 8860 shone. Smooth gradations, very colour accurate, punchy graphics, all the traits of a high class printer. Now we get to the exciting part, and where the 8860 really stands out from the crowd. This printer uses a solid ink technology, instead of normal laser toner. It uses wax type blocks that you drop into the top of the printer, so loading it is very clean and easy. It then heats the wax and melts it onto the page. Two minor problems with this are the smell, which is not that nice, plus you cannot overprint your printouts on a standard laser or laminate them. If you try this, the print will smear into a gooey mess. That aside, the quality is outstanding. The print is laid onto the page in such a way that you get a slightly raised feel to it. When printing large areas of solid colour or photos this also shows off the finish which has a nice gloss look to it. So the 8860 delivers again, with awesome quality printouts.
The Phaser 8860 offers true Adobe Postscript 3, Mac and PC compatibility, speed, cheap running costs and quality prints. I would not recommend it for the home market, due to the smell, but then it is not aimed at this sector. For small to large office based companies, or graphic design pros, the 8860 really is worth the money. You will be amazed at the consistently good prints, and that raised effect that jumps off the page at you, has to be seen to be believed. This is a lot of money to invest, but well worth it.
Product: Xerox Phaser 8860
Price: £1699
Supplied by: Xerox UK
Contact: 0870 873 4519
Labels: Mac Peripherals, PC Peripherals, Review
iPod Classic Video Review - Most Popular 2007
Our most popular video review of 2007 was the iPod Classic. We got so much feedback from this review that I was amazed at just how many people appreciated the honest look we took of the user interface. Enjoy!
Labels: Apple iPod, Review
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Drinks Machine Video Review
Friday, December 14, 2007
As promised, here is our video review of the Nescafé Dolce Gusto Drinks Machine. Our written review can be found here, but to see this wonderful machine in action, take a look below.
Product: Nescafé Dolce Gusto Drinks Machine
Price: £89.99
Supplied by: Nescafé
Contact: 0800 707 6066
Velodyne CHT-15R Subwoofer Review - Wobbly Legs
When it comes to leisure time, a lot of us enjoy playing a console game or watching a good movie. Gone are the days when the latter means leaving your house for a night out at the cinema. The preferred way of watching a movie nowadays, is at home on your LCD or plasma TV, complete with surround sound. You might be content with your set-up, but the addictive nature of wanting the best picture, and the most awe inspiring sound, will soon have you wanting to upgrade certain parts of your kit. On the sound front, a good set of speakers is essential, but to add that earth shattering bass levels of sound, that shake your booty to extreme levels, you need to look at something above the level of the sub/sat systems that are on the market today. There are plenty of subwoofers available that do a grand job, but to take things to the next level you need to move air, and here we take a look at the Velodyne CHT-15R.There are many models available in the CHT range, the 8R, 10R, 12R, right up to the 15R on test here. Available in a range of colours, dependent on model, you can pick from black, silver or cherry finishes. The black finish on our CHT-15R is really nice, the quality is faultless. Before I kick off with the review good and proper, I should warn you, the 15R is big, not just in performance, but in physical size. It measures approximately 21x21x18 inches and weighs 75 pounds. If you need something a little more lounge friendly then you should look further down the range. All have pretty much the same features, they just differ in performance levels, especially the frequency response and power ratings.
Back to the CHT-15R, this brute packs 1,000 watts of continuous power and a 4.4 pound magnet on the speaker unit. The driver is a massive 15-inch forward firing beast, which delivers a frequency response down to a trouser shaking 23Hz. This is very very low, and the amount of air that is moved when you get powerful in-movie sound effects is quite worrying. You need to appreciate that the 15R delivers the type of movement and rumbles that you can only really experience in the best cinema set-ups... and I am referring to the cinema that you have to travel to, not a home based affair.
Setting up is really easy, and once you have calibrated the 15R with your main speaker levels, you can sit back and enjoy. The included remote control gives you access to the DSP control unit. You can remotely adjust the volume (which aids in balancing the overall sound to blend in with your main speakers), phase adjustment to further match the timbre to your speakers, mute, a night mode (which tones down the output to keep your neighbours happy), plus it gives you access to various presets. The presets available are Movies/R&B, Rock/Jazz, Classical and Games. I am not a great fan of such things, but I must admit they worked admirably. Switching to ‘Games’ seemed to add some extra punch to explosions and sound effects, whereas ‘Classical’ seemed to trim in the settings, to give a more focused and natural bass response.
If your main vice is movies, then the CHT-15R will not disappoint. Testing with the likes of Fifth Element, showed the tight, yet awesomely low frequencies that were being delivered. When you start to ‘feel’ the sound, you know that your sub is really shifting some air. The film U571 has some really loud explosions, and the 15R brought those into my test room with the type of presence I had never experienced from my home cinema system before.
In summary, if you are serious about movie watching and you want the best subwoofer money can buy, then splash your cash on a Velodyne CHT-15R, you will not be disappointed. Just remember to leave enough cash for some rubber bands to tie around your trouser legs.
Product: Velodyne CHT-15R Subwoofer
Price: £799
Supplied by: Redline Scotland Ltd
Contact: +44 (0)131 555 3922
Labels: Home Theatre, Review
Pure Digital ONE Review - DAB for the masses
It seems that the digital TV revolution is upon us, with the UK starting the switch off of analogue transmissions. Where radio is concerned though, we will always have FM, MW, and LW, but for a long time now, if you want that bit extra from the service, then DAB (or Digital Audio Broadcasting) has been the way to go. It has been available to the general public since 1999, so it comes as no surprise that a successor (DAB+) is on the way. DAB+ will offer better error correction coding (so less dropouts, better sound), plus MPEG surround audio, which will be really cool.In its current form, not only does it offer really clear sound, but you also get extra information, such as the DJ you are listening too, or scrolling text with news or current programme information. The choice of stations depends on your area’s coverage, but it is pretty darn good and well worth checking out what you can pick up in your area. Long time leaders in DAB radios are Pure Digital who offer a range of standalone radio, alarm clock radios, and CD combo units, they even do the Chronos iDock which features a dock for your iPod.
In this review we take a look at the very affordable Pure Digital ONE, which is small enough to be used as a portable, whilst just as comfortable as a mains powered unit too. If you are using away from a plug socket, it takes six C-Cell batteries or a ChargePAK. The latter costs £30 and fits into the same compartment. It then charges whilst connected to the mains, and then you have instant battery power when away from home. The ONE is available in white, pink or black, and the white one we have on test is really quite pleasing to the eye. It is an all plastic affair, but does not feel cheap in any way, the standby button is black, with all other buttons finished in polished silver.
So, let’s take a look at those buttons. There are seven small ones arranged in a circle around a larger rotating button, which you turn to cycle through the various menus and then click to confirm your selection. This works very well, apart from I forgot to push it in time and time again... this same large button also controls the volume, so I kept adjusting the volume by mistake. Totally my fault, and after half an hour, I didn’t make the same mistake again. The tiny buttons give you access to the volume, timer, presets (20 in total), info, DAB/FM selection, menu and stations. The arrangement is really nice and makes it very easy to navigate.
The timer works in two different ways. You can either set a sleep timer, to turn the radio off after 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes, or you can use as a kitchen timer. Set the hours and minutes, then an alarm will sound when your cooking is done, which is pretty neat. The DAB/FM button allows you to switch to normal FM radio, if you need to get a station not available via DAB. The information you can choose to have displayed includes scrolling text, time and date, programme type, signal strength and quality, bit rate, plus the multiplex name and info. This is fantastic, so much information on the clear backlit display, but there is more to come...
The Pure Digital ONE also features Intellitext, which gives you on-demand information from the station you are listening to. This includes headlines and news from the likes of Virgin, talkSPORT and BBC Five Live, or any other station that supports it. It is this extra information that sets DAB way above anything FM radio can offer, and the 16x2 display is very clear and delivers this extra info very well.
Now I have given you an idea of what the ONE offers in terms of features, it is time to let you know how it performs. On first switch on, it goes into a set-up mode, which takes about 30 seconds. This grabs the time and date info over the air, and auto-tunes the available DAB stations in your area. I was so excited that I quickly clicked the ‘stations’ button and scrolled through to Virgin Radio and pushed the centre button. The quality was awesome, crystal clear and very rounded. The quality delivered by this small radio really impressed me, and within a couple of hours I was a convert, swearing that I would pick up a DAB radio for myself before the end of the year (which is only a couple of weeks away). The volume goes up really loud and even at its highest, the 3-inch speaker did not distort at all. Music sounds really good, but the vocals are so clear, it makes commentary a real pleasure to listen to. From the offset of the review I had been running on C-Cell batteries, so I could rate the performance. With lots of switching between menus, setting up, tuning, etc, I managed to get 28 hours before the batteries gave up. This is superb, and with just radio listening, I would expect a couple more hours, so this can really be used as a portable radio.
For just under £50 you can pick up a Pure Digital ONE and I can highly recommend it. You can even connect it to your PC via USB to perform product upgrades, so it has some future-proofing built-in. At this price it gives you the opportunity to try DAB on a very small budget. Having spent the money, you probably will not feel the need to upgrade, as the ONE performs so admirably. I was so impressed, that I will most likely make this my first DAB radio (if not, I will look at something from the same company). In fact, I was so impressed that my Christmas shopping list has changed... I am going to buy one for my Mum and my Sister too !
Product: Pure Digital One DAB Radio
Price: £49.99
Supplied by: Pure Digital
Contact: +44 (0)1923 277488
Sound Asleep Pillow Review - Do Not Disturb!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Do you have trouble dropping off to sleep? I know I do sometimes, and having my earphones in my ears has led to some really uncomfortable awakenings. If you fall asleep listening to your iPod (or other MP3 player) with earphones in, then you certainly know what I am talking about. Painful lobes, tangles of wires, and sometimes being woken up by my beloved iPod falling on the floor. Well, the Sound Asleep Pillow aims to solve all this.Basically, for £20 each, you get a nice comfortable pillow, with a speaker built in. Out of the top corner of the seam there is a wire protruding, into which you plug your iPod, or any sound source with a 3.5mm mini-jack connection. An extension cable is also supplied, that connects between the pillow and the gadget you are plugging in.
I had my doubts about how effective the Sound Asleep Pillow would be, but I was really surprised. At low volumes it is quite hard to hear, but from mid-volume up to full, when you place you head on the pillow you can hear music really nicely. Speech is also nice and clear and overall pretty impressive. Where this scores extra marks is that it does not disturb your partner or the rest of the house. Move you head more than a couple of feet away and you cannot hear the sound. At full volume you can hear it slightly, but certainly not enough to disturb anyone.
This solves a big problem, that I mentioned right at the beginning of this review. It stops you getting tangled wires and more importantly prevents sore ears. This product is ideal to soothe you off to a good nights sleep and the price is pretty good too. It'll make a superb present (something a little different don't you think?) or why not treat yourself. The sound is not astounding quality, but it isn't meant to be, it simply does what it says on the packaging. The Sound Asleep Pillow is available direct or at a good selection of retailers detailed on their website. This is a great fun product and is worth the asking price.
Product: Sound Asleep Pillow
Price: £20
Supplied by: Sleep Limited
Contact: info@sleeplimited.co.uk
Noreve Tradition Leather Case for iPhone - Review
Monday, December 10, 2007
Hear yeh, hear yeh, free sim cards are a pourin', great deals are a comin', it really is the season to be jolly. With this passion vintage colour leather iPhone case from Noreve, reminding me of mulled red wine, mince pies, and Christmas holly. If you want something luxurious to protect your iPhone, then check out the video review below.
Product: Tradition Leather Case for the Apple iPhone
Price: $49.99
Supplied by: Noreve USA
Contact: 866-804-9159
Labels: Apple iPhone, Review
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Review - Get All Steamy !
Christmas comes but once a year, but a cappuccino needs to be enjoyed all year through... Most of us lead hectic lives, either in physical jobs, or mentally demanding desk based jobs, so getting that all important wake-me-up drink, or something to set you going at the start of the day, or even winding down in the evening is very important. Popping down to the local coffee shop is an option, but hardly friendly on the pocket. Making a nice, proper tasting drink, with the numerous drinks machines out there, is again an option, but often a chore. So we often settle for a plain cup of coffee or tea, which does the trick, but is a bit boring day in, day out. This is where the Nescafé Dolce Gusto steps up to the block, promising a delicious coffee every time, fast, fresh and instant. The question is, does it deliver? and is it worth your hard earned cash?Personally, I am not a big coffee fan, but I do love Cappuccino and Hot Chocolate, so I was very keen to get this baby set up. Out of the box, it was a simple matter of a few minutes reading the instructions. These are particularly good, in full colour, with nice photos and a step-by-step walk through of how to set up, make a drink and take care of your machine. Setting up was easy, plug in, switch on, top up the container with water and I was almost there. Topping up was really easy, the container lifts easily from the main body of the Dolce Gusto and the fill up cap reveals a really large hole. Once topped up, there is no snapping or awkward alignment needed, you just sit it back onto the base and it slides into place. Now I was ready to make my first drink, which was a cappuccino. The cup holder/drip tray needs to be adjusted in height manually, so I did this for my particular drink.
Most drinks seems to be a two stage affair, so I put the milk capsule into the holder, pushed the piercing pin into it, and slotted it back into the machine. Then the lever on the front is slid over to the red position, and piping hot frothy milk is pumped into the supplied white cappuccino cup. Once you have enough in the cup, you slide that lever back across to the middle position and wait about four seconds for the green LED to stop flashing. Then I popped the used capsule out and trashed it in the supplied tub. The second capsule contains the coffee, so I put this in place, repeated the motions and voila, I had a wonderful cup of frothy cappuccino. The taste was spot on, and I was surprised on two separate counts. Firstly how silky smooth and perfect the drink tasted, and secondly, how stunningly fast I had prepared my FIRST drink. It was just so easy, to say I was totally impressed in an understatement.Taking care of the machine is really easy to, there is really not much cleaning involved. The drip tray will need rinsing every now and again. Plus, if you switch to a different type of drink, it is recommended that you run some plain water through, with the supplied rinsing tool in place. This was really easy to do. You can also purchase a descaling kit, which is probably wise if you live in a hard water area.
Choice... is a good thing. The Dolce Gusto does not disappoint here either. Apart from the cappuccino and hot chocolate mentioned earlier, you also have Latte Macchiato, Caffé Lungo, Espresso and a cold option with Cappuccino Ice.For your £80 you get a choice of base colours on the machine (black, red or ivory), plus you get a starter kit to get you going. This includes a white cappuccino cup, a saucer, a taller glass cup, plus a selection of ten drinks. Ongoing costs are really pretty good too, with packs of capsules costing just under £3 for between eight and sixteen drinks (depending on the variety you choose). Shopping around, I found some on special offer at £2 which is even better.
Another option to make things even more appealing is to register on the manufacturers website, where you can then add points to your account for every box of capsules you buy. These can then be redeemed against accessories, like cups, spoons, or even more drink capsules. For example, every box purchase you register gets you 10 points, and to redeem these for a box of capsules would cost you 150 points.
In summary, the Dolce Gusto is the best drink machines I have ever experienced. It is super easy to use, mess free, and most importantly delivers delicious drinks. The quality of the drink can be put down to a combination of the Arabica beans used in the capsules, coupled with the high 14 bar pressure delivered. This really is a serious offering, and it is built to a very high quality. It’ll save you a lot of time and really guarantee you a great tasting drink every time.
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Product: Nescafé Dolce Gusto Drinks Machine
Price: £89.99
Supplied by: Nescafé
Contact: 0800 707 6066
John Adams Chemistry Set Review
Thursday, December 06, 2007
In the run up to Christmas (only 19 days left) we will be bringing you lots of alternative reviews. Last year, our festive reviews went down very well, helped along by some Christmas turkey, so sit back and enjoy our look at John Adams Chemistry Set. We looked at the same manufacturer's Hot Wires a while back, so I was certainly expecting good things from this one.Years ago I had a chemistry set, it had loads of glass tubes and was very exciting. My parents would look very worried when I was using it, and looking back, it did contain some quite potent chemicals. Then for about the last five years or so, I cannot remember seeing any in the shops. They seem to disappear of the face of the planet. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, but now with the John Adams Chemistry Set the gap has been filled.
This very well presented box comes with loads of goodies. Safety goggles, a beaker, test tubes complete with stand, tongs and a burner. There is a lot more besides what I have mentioned, you can check out their website for a full list. You also get 11 chemical substances; these are Copper Sulphate, Ammonium Chloride, Calcium Hydroxide, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate, Aluminium Potassium Sulphate, Zinc, Calcium Carbonate, Ammonium Hydrogen Sulphate, Iron Sulphate and Sodium Thiosulphate. I should also point out (before the fun begins) that this set it aimed at ages 10 and over.
The lovely 24-page booklet walks you through each experiment and there certainly is a lot on offer... you get the chance to learn about chemical reactions for a starter. You get to create gases, test for indicators (acid, alkali, neutral), even grow some crystals. With the small burner you get to test for chemicals in everyday objects, like wood shavings and glossy magazines, followed by some heat reactions. There really is too much to cover here, but the booklet explains things so well, that it is hard to fault. You are not just tied to using what is included in the box, it makes suggestions of other items, like sugar, cold tea, and old tin lid, to further expand the experiments you can do. This is really great and adds to the value of the whole package.
The John Adams Chemistry Set really impressed me. The build quality and items included are really fab. It certainly took me back to my childhood, and will certainly make a fantastic present for your children this year. Hours of fun for such a small price is hard to find, plus they will be learning at the same time. This is one of the wisest purchases you will make.
Product: John Adams Chemistry Set
Price: £21.99 (average)
Supplied by: John Adams Trading Co. Ltd.
Contact: 01235 833066
Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
No matter how much Mac experience you have, Mac OS X Leopard requires that you get reacquainted. There's a new look, a Quick Look, something called Stacks, a Time Machine, Spaces, and more. So what do Mac aficionados need to get to know Leopard? A clear and concise resource illuminating how best to use and unleash the operating system's powerful new features.O'Reilly's newest release, Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide, fills this need. This timely new resource by Mac expert Chuck Toporek comes packed with more than 300 tips and techniques. It covers all the details you need to learn Leopard's new features, configure your system, and get the most out of your Mac... fast.
"For me, there's a lot to love about Mac OS X Leopard," says Toporek. "The two big features that I can't live without now are Time Machine and Spaces. With Time Machine, there's no reason not to back up the Macs in my home office. It's automatic, and best of all it's transparent after you get through the initial backup."
As for Spaces, "it is... without a doubt... the best feature in Leopard! I do all of my writing on a MacBook, so there's not much screen there to work with. But with Spaces, I can have up to 16 virtual screens to work with, and I can configure it to have applications open in a specific Space. For example, I have Word in Space 1, Firefox in Space 2, iChat and AdiumX running in Space 3, Terminal in Space 4, and so on."
For Mac newbies, Toporek included a Survival Guide that explains how to adapt and a chapter on Mac OS X's key features. Experienced Mac users can leap right to the heart of Leopard with chapters on system preferences, applications and utilities, and configuration. Throughout this pocket guide, clear, easy-to-grasp tables, concise descriptions, and step-by-step instructions that explain:
. What's new in Leopard, including the Time Machine
. How to use Leopard's totally revamped Finder
. All about Spaces and how to quickly flip among them
. How to find things with Spotlight
. How to use Leopard's enhanced Parental Controls
. Handy keyboard shortcuts to increase your efficiency
. Quick tips for setting up and configuring your Mac to make it your own
So if you want to get in on the Leopard buzz and get started taming Apple's new cat now, this is the guide to keep close at hand.
Chuck Toporek is a Mac technology geek and a senior acquisitions editor with Addison-Wesley, a division of Pearson Education. He is the author of three Mac books and one medical book, and he has written for MacAddict and Macworld magazines.
Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide
Chuck Toporek
ISBN: 0-596-52981-3, 223 pages, $14.99, £8.99, 12 Euro
Labels: Books, Mac Software
Gear4 JumpSuit Shield & IceBox Pro Review
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
If you have a new 3rd generation iPod Nano, then you should check out these two cases from Gear4. The video review below covers the JumpSuit Shield and the IceBox Pro, both available from Gear4.
Product: JumpSuit Shield
Price: £14.99
Product: IceBox Pro
Price: £14.99
Supplied by: Gear4
Contact: support@gear4.com
Labels: Apple iPod, Review
Epson DX7400 Review - Multifunction on a budget
Sunday, December 02, 2007
There is a massive choice of multifunction (MF) printers on the market. Some try to do all things great (and fail) and charge a high price tag, others try to do too much and end up just a big disappointment. Epson have been making MF printers for a long time now, and their Stylus DX7400 offers a really good specification on paper, without a high price tag. A little shopping around can bag you the DX7400 for just £48, which gets you an inkjet printer, a scanner, a copier, and the ability to print direct from Pictbridge digital cameras. The only thing it lacks that more (much more) expensive offerings have is a fax machine, but in the age of the email, who uses a fax machine nowadays anyway?!The DX7400 uses a four colour print system, with separate ink cartridges for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This is great, as you only need to replace one empty cartridge at a time, with no wasted ink. This is only going to cost you around £6 per cartridge, so it is very cheap to keep this printer running. Many photo dedicated printers use six or more ink colours, to give you better tonal range, but to my surprise the photos from the DX7400 printed out very quickly and were great quality. When printing on normal inkjet paper (rather than glossy), large areas of flat colour did show some banding, but with careful use this could be avoided. For general full colour prints, like office documents, diagrams etc, not only were all the colours bright and vivid, with nice crisp text, but pages shot out at a great speed. Epson quote up to 32 pages per minute (ppm), in my experience I was getting an average of around 22ppm.
The fact that you also have a scanner bed on the DX7400 is a real boon. It might not sound much, but you will be surprised at how much you use the 'Copy' facility. Just pop your original on the glass, and push either the black copy of colour copy button. I tried some pages of text, which gave me nice crisp copies, with a white background, at around 22ppm. A full colour magazine page was slightly slower and did put quite a lot of ink of the page, things ended up a bit soggy. I changed over to some higher quality matte inkjet paper (100gsm) and then tried the magazine copy again. This time around things were hunky dory. A really nice copy, with good accurate colour reproduction.
Scanning is very simple. You can use Epson's own Scan Assistant software, which offers three different levels of scanning, from an auto-mode, through to a home mode, or a professional mode where you can control more or less every aspect of the scan. The DX7400 is also fully twain compliant, so you can scan from within your fave application (eg. PhotoShop). The scans were great, very fast to preview, and a pretty resectable speed for the final scan. Text was great, photos were very accurate, the only caveat was black and white photos which had a slight green tinge. This was easily corrected, so not really worth worrying about.
To say I was impressed with the Epson Stylus DX7400 is an understatement. The software included is easy to install, it even includes a version ABBYY FineReader for optical character recognition. The rest of the Epson suite of software really allows you to use all of the features easily and effectively. The printout quality is really good, for this price bracket it is hard to fault. Add to this the invaluable copy feature, then on top of that a really good scanner and you are onto a winner. If I had been told that the DX7400 was £99, I would still have to recommend it, but for half this price, it is a real bargain.
Product: Epson Stylus DX7400
Price: £44 (Amazon)
Supplied by: Epson UK
Contact: +44 (0)8702 416900
Labels: Mac Peripherals, PC Peripherals, Review
The Authors
Dave
Dave has been in the graphic design industry for 14 years. Long time reviewer of technology related products, he is Owner/Editor of Geekanoids.
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