At its most basic level, the Apple Time Capsule is just an AirPort Extreme with a hard drive built in. It is aimed at the general consumer market, to easily allow people to have a centralized server (for their multimedia, personal files, and well - anything).

It has wireless support (via 802.11n) and of course can be wired up to your network with an ethernet cable.

The name, to me anyway, is a bit of an unwise marketing decision. If someone had told me it was just called a Time Capsule, I would guess it was for archiving important data. Although while it can (and is) used for this, it can also be used for files used daily.

It transfers files, over 802.11n at just over 50Mbps (802.11g is far slower - in the 8Mbps range).

Like the iPod boxes, the main “outer” box slides off to reveal the inner.

Like most Apple products, even the box is nicely designed. Inside you find the Time Capsule itself, regulatory information, a power cable, setup disk, setup booklet and a “The Need-to-Knows of Backing up” guide.

The Time Capsule is of a glossy plastic. When out of the box it is heavier than it looks (weighing in at around 3.5 pounds - so nothing drastic though).

The Apple Time Capsule is compatible with Max OS X 10.4 or later, Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2. It has a built in firewall, built in print server (so you can just add a USB printer direct to the Time Capsule) and four Ethernet ports.

The USB drive used for the print can also be used for an additional storage device (Such as a hard drive).

When plugging it in for the first time it is a very simple process. It connects to your current network easily. Once the installation CD has run, you can execute the Airport utility. This is where you can configure the Time Capsule (including setting up WPA/WPA2 security).

Once the Time Capsule shows up you can easily and quickly transfer files. For small files the transfer rate is almost the same as if it was a local hard drive. For larger files (100MB+) it is slower. We backed up a couple of GB and it took about an hour to transfer.

The Time Capsule is a very simple to use bit of (expensive) hardware. It has great support for Macs (unsuprisingly), and fast transfer speeds. When plugged in the noise from it is very minimal (and unless you have a fanless computer, much more quieter than your PC). The biggest disadvantage? Price. At around $490 it isn’t cheap…

The NSK4480 is a mini tower case that comes with an 80Plus Certified EarthWatts 380W ATX12V v2.0 power supply. It is based on the Antec NSK4400 - a hugely popular computer case.

LiveBlueprints Review: Antec NSK4480 Specifications:

• High-efficiency EarthWatts 380 Watt ATX12V v2.2 power supply
  • Universal input
  • Active PFC and high efficiency design for superior environmentally friendly operation
  • 80Plus Certification means you’ll save money on your power bills
• Advanced cooling system:
  • 1 Rear 120mm TriCool™ 3-speed fan
  • 1 Front mount for optional 80mm fan
  • 1 Advanced Chassis Air Guide, with mount for optional 80mm fan
• 8 Drive Bays
  • Front Accessible: 3 x 5.25”, 2 x 3.5”
  • Internal: 3 x 3.5” with silicone grommets to isolate drive vibrations
• 7 Expansion Slots
• 2 x USB 2.0 front bezel ports
• 0.8mm cold-rolled steel construction
• Motherboard: Fits micro and standard ATX
• Dimensions:
  • 16.6” (H) x 7.8” (W) x 16.5” (D)
  • 42cm (H) x 20cm (W) x 42cm (D)
• Weight:
  • Net: 18 lbs. / 8 kg
  • Gross: 20 lbs. / 9 kg

LiveBlueprints Review: Antec NSK4480 First Looks:

The case is of usual mini tower size and comes with the standard three external 5.75″ bays, two external 3.5″ bay and three internal 3.5″ bays.

At the back of the case it is the normal ATX layout, and there is a large 120mm fan, which takes up the bulk of the upper main section. There are also seven expansion slots.

On the left panel there is a series of holes for venilation and an air duct (used to improve CPU ventilation). The air duct can also be replaced with an 80mm fan, as it has the same standard fixtures.

The front of the case doesn’t come with any fans, however there is room for an 80mm fan (below the hard disk drive bays). It would have been nice if a fan was included here to help with the airflow through the case. There is however a large 120mm fan on the rear of the case which has a switch to change between three speeds. The difference in noise, and power is very noticable between the minimum and the maximum settings of this fan.

The internet hard disk drive bays have rubber rings around the holes to secure the hard drives. These help with reducing virations (And therefore noise).

The side panels of the case are removed by sliding it off after unscrewing the top of the case (which requires no tools thanks to its thumbscrews). Both side panels of the case can be removed, but there is no removable motherboard tray. This does make it a bit of a tight squeeze when installing the motherboard with the PSU, but it is still easily manageable.

This is a case that seems initially to be aimed at a mainstream market (especially considering it ships with a 380w psu), however it has many features of high end gaming cases.

Live Blueprints Review: Advantages

• Affordable
• Stylish
• Thumbscrews
• Easy to take side panels off

Live Blueprints Review: Disadvantages

• Only 380w psu
• No removable motherboard tray

Live Blueprints Review: on a Belkin Laptop Hideaway Review

Today on Live Blueprints we are taking a look at the Belkin Laptop Hideaway. Everyone and their uncle seems to own a laptop nowadays (thanks to ever decreasing costs & increasing wireless connections). But laptops are also very prone to damage due to their movability. Belkin have developed a laptop case aimed at those who need a laptop case, but not for transport. It seems to be aimed just for keeping it safe in your home. So today at Live Blueprints we see if it is actually worth the money

For most of my work (including most work on Live Blueprints) I use a Dell Inspiron 1520, and although it has never left my house, I have managed to break it twice. So I can see why there is a market for laptop cases even for those that don’t need to transport it outside.

The Belkin Transport case could quite easily be stored in a living room and wouldn’t look out a place (something that those classic leather laptop cases can’t do).

It is quite a big case, at 17″ x 12″ x 6.5″. In the photos shown you can see it in its Chocolate / Tourmaline colours, but it is also available in Dove / Tarragon (white & lime green).

As you can see from the photo above, the material is some durable hand washable microfiber.

The laptop hideaway holds everything you need really - plenty of room. It held my 15″ fine - but the specifications say it can only hold up to 15.4″ laptops.

I personally don’t like the look it - it is quite ugly. But compared to a normal laptop case it is more favourable.

It costs $49.99 which is reasonable.

Live Blueprints Review: Positives

• Will keep your laptop safer
• Stylish if you like the look
• Plenty of room
• $49.99
• Lifetime warantee

Live Blueprints Review: Negatives

• Only holds upto 15.4″ laptops

Live Blueprints: What is live blueprints?

I got it from Amazon UK for just under £59.99 (it can be found online for US markets for about $115). I’ve always used Western Digital hard drives and never had a problem with them, so choosing this one was the obvious choice for me.

(Apologies for poor quality photos)

WD Elements 500GB Review: Specifications

Here are the hard drive specifications:

Dimensions:

Depth: 20.4 cm
Device Type: Hard drive - external
Height: 3.6 cm
Weight: 1 kg
Width: 12.5 cm

Expansion / Connectivity

Interfaces: 1 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type B

Hard Drive

Capacity: 500 GB
Interface Type: Hi-Speed USB

Manufacturer Warranty

Service & Support Details: Limited warranty - 2 years
Service & Support: 2 years warranty

Performance

Interface Transfer Rate: 480 Mbps
Seek Time: 8.9 ms (average)
Spindle Speed: 7200 rpm

Power

Power Device: Power adapter
Voltage Required: AC 120/230 V ( 50 - 60 Hz )

Miscellaneous

Cables Included: 1 x USB cable - USB Type A to B - 1.8 m
Compliant Standards: RoHS

It is advertised as simple plug and play - something you would expect from almost all external hard drives, and includes all the necessary USB cables (something that is sometimes missing on cheaper drives).

WD Elements 500GB Review: The packaging

It is a very simple box, and as you can see from the photos not much technical information on the outside. It gives an overview of how much the drive can hold (for 500GB it claims up to 142,000 photos, 38 hours of video (which seems very low to me - at any bit rate I use it can hold a lot more than 38 hours) or 125,000 hours of music)

Inside the box there is minimal excess packaging. The drive itself (as you will see later) is quite well protected from shocks and knocks with its rubber “casing” on each end.

As well as the hard drive itself, a quick start guide, manual, power cable & USB (type A to B) cable is included.

WD Elements 500GB Review: The Drive itself

The drive is in a quite nice looking case. The main metal case is enclosed on either end by a rubber ending. This helps protect it from knocks, and due to its slight rubber “stickyness”, it also prevents it moving around as much. Although untested, I suspect it helps keep noise down too by minimising vibrations.

At one end there are ventilation holes, with a fan behind it, and the other end is for the power & usb cables.

It is a little bit on the larger size (at 20.4cm x 3.6cm x 12.5), but is small enough to “hide” if required (next to pc case, behind a monitor etc).

The case encloses a 7200 rpm drive. The transfer rate seems to be limited by its USB connection.

One slightly annoying thing is that there is no switch. The only way to turn it off is to disconnect one of the cables (disconnecting the USB cable (or turning the computer off) turns it off, as well as obviously unplugging it from the mains). It would be nice to have a switch to be able to easily turn it on/off when required.

WD Elements 500GB Review: Initial installation

Installation on Windows (XPSP2) was a breeze. If you’ve ever plugged in a USB flash drive stick, it is effectivly the same. All that is required is to plug the cables in, wait a few seconds while XP recognises the drive, then it shows up as a regular hard drive in My Computer.

WD Elements 500GB Review: Usage

After plugging it in I went and formatted it in nsfs (as it was fat32). This didn’t take long at all (under 10 minutes, using Window’s quick format option).

Once formatted correctly, I copied over a few GB of files, which only took about four minutes. I find that for files of under 200mb I can’t tell the difference between the WD Elements external HDD and any of my SATA internal hard drives.

The noise from the WD elements hard drive is very minimal, and unless the rest of your computer is fanless it is almost impossible to hear.

For backups and smaller files this hard drive is great. It is probably not such a great idea if you plan to regularly move files from your HD camcorder, but for every day use it is great.

WD Elements 500GB Review: Positives

• Cheap - even compared to internal hard drives
• Fast
• Easy to set up
• Works on all major operating systems
• Very quiet

WD Elements 500GB Review: Negatives

• A little bit bigger than I would have liked

If you are after an external hard drive, I would most definetly recommend the WD Elements External Hard drive. It is available in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB.

Model number reviewed: WD500E035-00.