Hands on: Alienware X51 review

Up close with the mini gaming PC desktopPC News By Dan Grabham 6 hours ago | Tell us what you think [ 0 comments ]

Tweet We had a play with a Core i7-toting X51

Gaming PC vendor Alienware recently took the wraps off its X51 - a smaller form factor desktop to go alongside its not-so-dainty Aurora line of gaming desktop behemoths.

We got up close with the Core i7 variant of the new mini gaming PC at a demo event yesterday.

The first thing that strikes you is the size - it isn't that much taller than an Xbox 360 - 32cm high at its shortest point and less than 10cm in thickness.

The box has been designed to either sit horizontally or stand vertically, and Alienware is expecting a reasonable number to find homes underneath HDTVs in living rooms.

So what we're looking at here is a couple of the £999 units each boasting a 3.4Ghz Intel Core i7-2600, Nvidia Geforce GTX 555 graphics and 8GB of memory.

Alienware is keen to stress that there's a market for a performance gaming system without the bulk - it believes people are looking for smaller machines, but that gamers still want a desktop PC rather than a laptop. The company is keen to stress it wanted to sit the X51 above traditional small form factor (SFF) systems that don't have a great deal of power or graphics capabilities.

As you can see, there's a slot-loading optical drive on the front (24x dual-layer DVD), as well as a couple of USB 2.0 ports. There are a couple of USB 3.0 ports on the back as well as three more USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, full complement of audio outputs including SPDIF and two DVIs. 802.11n Wi-Fi is also integrated.

Sadly, there's no Blu-ray option for the optical drive. Booo.

Alienware was keen to demonstrate that the lower end £699 is also very capable - it packs a 3.3GHz Intel Core i3-2120, Nvidia Geforce GT545 graphics, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1TB HDD. All models sport Windows 7 Home Premium.

There's also a 3GHz Core i5-2320 mid-range variant available.

We love the look of the thing (and yes, you can customise the colours of those LEDs - there are 8,000 different combinations) but we'll be honest - the X51 is a lot of money for what it is, especially since Alienware believes it occupies a mainstream rather than enthusiast segment of the market.

The unit's weigh clocks in at 5.5Kg - Alienware says it occupies only around 15 per cent of the space of one of its traditional desktops. The components inside are user upgradeable.

You also get a Alienware backlit keyboard and mouse in the box. We'll run our benchmarking rule over it when we hold of one in our TechRadar test lab, though Alienware has posted its on basic benchies for the Core i3 and i7 models, which you can see below - click here for a bigger version.

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Hands on: Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN lens review

Sample images shot with the new Micro Four Thirds lensCameras News By Amy Davies Friday at 12:16 UTC | Tell us what you think [ 1 comments ]

Tweet We used the new Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN lens at the Focus on Imaging show in Birmingham

Sigma announced that it was joining the Micro Four Thirds and Sony NEX format last year, and it is now introducing a 19mm and 30mm lens.

We got the opportunity to test out the new lenses at the recent Focus on Imaging show at the NEC in Birmingham.

We'd like to share some of the images that we took with the lens, bearing in mind that conditions were limited.

Initial feelings on the 30mm lens is that it is a nice addition to the Micro Four Thirds range. It offers a standard field of view (equivalent to 60mm in 35mm terms) that should prove useful as a walk around lens.

Its f/2.8 maximum aperture should prove useful for low light photography, and also allows for attractive shallow depth of field images to be shot.

In our brief time with the lens we found focusing to be quick and accurate, and images produced were sharp and crisp.

We shot the following images on an Olympus PEN E-P3 Micro Four Thirds camera.

We'll be putting the lens through a full test soon.

The Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN proved swift and sharp in the mixed lighting conditions of the NEC.

See high-res image.

Despite the poor light and low contrast subject, the lens locked on quickly.

See high-res image.

The f/2.8 maximum aperture provides a nice degree of background blur.

See high-res image.

The effective focal length of the lens is 60mm on a Micro Four Thirds camera, or 42mm on a Sony NEX camera.

See high-res image.

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Hands on: HTC Sensation XE Ice Cream Sandwich review

Now rocking Android 4.0Mobile phones News By John McCann 11 hours ago | Tell us what you think [ 2 comments ]

Tweet Sensation XE gets Ice Cream Sandwich

TechRadar has been sent by special delivery HTC's Ice Cream Sandwich update for the HTC Sensation XE so we've downloaded, installed and booted it up to find out what's changed.

The update can be installed over the air and we hooked ourselves up to the office Wi-Fi to ensure a speedy download. All you need to do is to go to Settings > About Phone > Software Update and follow the on-screen instructions. In total it took less than 30 minutes to download and install Ice Cream Sandwich on our Sensation XE.

Once loaded we were greeted with version 4.0.3 of Android along with an update to HTC's Sense overlay. HTC did unveil Sense 4.0 at MWC 2012, however the Sensation XE only gets an update to version 3.6 – as Sense 4.0 will only feature on newly released HTC handsets.

Ice Cream Sandwich provides a whole host of new features, but not all of them are implemented / available on the Sensation XE.

Android 4.0 is designed to work without buttons, but seeing as the Sensation XE has four below the screen HTC has taken the correct decision to continue to use them instead of opting for on-screen navigation.

When you start using the Sensation XE after installing Ice Cream Sandwich you'll notice a marked increase in speed, with widgets loading quickly, home screens gliding past without a care in the world and the whole interface feeling really slick.

The new Face Unlock feature is now present thanks to the front facing camera on the Sensation XE, so you'll be able to unlock your phone by just looking at it – love at first sight. To set this up go to Settings > Security > Screen Security and select the Face Unlock option.

Hold down the home button and you're greeted with the new Android 4.0 multitasking menu which shows all open apps as a list of thumbnails. We easily swept up and down the list and a sideways swipe over an app closed it – helping you to quickly conserve previous battery life when you're running low.

Sense 3.6 ensures the Sensation XE still keeps the well known HTC look and feel with the iconic clock and weather combination dominating the main home screen and the 3D weather animation sweeps across the display when you unlock.

You will notice that the 'dock' at the bottom of the home screens has been replaced with a more conventional app tray layout. This may be a little confusing at first if you've become accustomed to the old style dock, but trust us when we say you'll get used to it pretty quick.

Google has taken a leaf out of Apple's book when it comes to folder creation, as you're now able to drop one app on top of another to stick them both into a folder. It's a really useful feature, we just hope Apple doesn't mobilise its army of lawyers.

HTC has kept its own People app for storing your contacts and matching them up with the various social media accounts with wizard-like accuracy.

The 8MP rear-facing camera features a dual-LED flash to brighten up even the darkest of corners and the app opens promptly. Turn off the three second review and you'll be able to snap pictures less than a second apart.

There are some new features within the camera app including the new Ice Cream Sandwich powered panorama scene mode, plus the plethora of options which were already available thanks to HTC.

The noticeable speed increase is mirrored in the internet browser with web pages, including trusty TechRadar.com, loading in a matter of seconds. Auto text re-flow sorted out our zoomed in views, allowing us to read articles without going sideways.

From what we've seen it looks like HTC has done a jolly good job integrating Ice Cream Sandwich into its Sense 3.6 UI.

It provides new features and improved performance, while maintaining the familiar experience which HTC users have come to love.

We are intrigued to see if battery life has also been improved and we'll let you know soon in our full HTC Sensation XE Ice Cream Sandwich review.

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