When I opened the box for the Edifier MP300 speakers last week I was more than a little impressed with the quality of the design.

When I opened the box for the Red Dot desig award winning Edifier Luna 2 speakers and lifted the polysterene tray of plugs and wires out of the way I was totally blown away to see two speakers (each wrapped in their own individual fabric bag) that not only looked like they’d cost a million dollars but also had that weight to them that lets you know these aren’t just any old speakers.

And at around £200 they live up to that impression of not being cheap. But is it worth paying all that money for a pair of speakers?

It’s time to take a closer look at the Edifier Luna 2

Coming with a collection of wires that allow it to be plugged into a laptop by USB, into your MP3 player by combo 3.5mm analogue or television via 3mm analogue or optical digital socket, this is definitely an inclusive speaker.

And it’s also a quality one too – looking and feeling these Edifier Luna 2 speakers you can tell they’re a product of quality with their brushed aluminium, stunning black speaker front and silver back weighing in at 2kg each. Getting everything working is also simple – there’s a RCA lead to connect the left and right speaker, a mains input for the power cable then the three connector options.

Controlling the speakers is all done by the touch sensitive controls to the top of the right speaker something that was a whole lot more responsive than I expected, with volume being controlled by a large plus and large minus symbol. There’s also a neat feature when connected to laptops and using music player playlists (everything from WinAMP to iTunes and Spotify supports this) that a swish of the finger left or right will move you forward or backwards through tracks

And that’s not the end of it’s tricks. Pop your hand on the panel for a few seconds and the speakers will pause the track and mute the sound – pretty cool don’t you think!

But What About The Quality Of The Luna 2’s Sound?

The first thing I was impressed by was the volume. Usually you can only get so much sound out of your speakers before they stop doing anything or alternatively start sounding blooming awful.

With the Edifier Luna 2 it’s a different story. The volume on these speakers kept on going up and up, and with none of the distortion or heat issues that most speakers suffer from when used to too high a level.

I really made sure I put it through it’s paces by using all the features including touch pause, track skipping and volume control as I played through one of my more diverse Spotify playlists which contained everything from Rock to Pop and even some String ensemble pieces.

The result was impressive. The sound was full and colourful on all pieces in all styles, and whilst it may not have had the bass of the Edifier MP300 to really win my other half over, these Edifier Luna 2 speakers are something I’d be proud to have on any cabinet in my house if I had the £200 spare..

The Edifier Luna 2 speakers can be ordered online for £199.99 at PLAY.com.

If I listen to music on my laptop I tend to only listen to it through earphones and the reason why is down to the inbuilt speakers – they’re not bad, they’re just not very good either, and I’ve never been that impressed with any portable speaker systems I’ve tried.

So I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the new Edifier M300 Plus Portable Speaker System either. Well that was until I tried it this morning.

The first thing that impressed me when unpacking the Edifier M300 was how it looked. This is one serious looking piece of kit and is one that’s made to be looked after coming in it’s own very snazzy black carry case.

There are three main elements to it – a slim subwoofer and two circular speakers (measuring 55mm in diameter), and alongside that a few wires, one that joins the speakers and plugs into the back of the subwoofer, one to plug it into the mains and one to pop into the audio out of the laptop or whatever you’re plugging it into.

Once I’d figured out which went where it was time to test out the speakers so I signed into Spotify and chose a few tunes (ranging from classic to pop and rock) to test it out, and with no word of a lie I would have to say that this is one of the best portable speaker systems I have tried as it brought out elements of songs that all speakers I’d used before had never been clear enough to show off.

What impressed me most of all though was the bass from the Edifier MP300 Plus’s subwoofer.  Usually the thing that suffers from distortion first, this speaker system remained clear however high I set the volume (there are two button – an up and down on one of the speakers to change it), and whilst it may have been slightly weaker on the higher end you’d have to be really nitpicking to identify it.

And it’s not just music that the Edifier MP300 excels at. Watching a DVD or playing a game with this system set up will becoming a completely different experience as every ounce of action is bought to life by the power of the subwoofer and the quality of sound from the speakers.

So would I buy one? Definitely. The MP300 Plus Portable has proven to me that portable speaker systems aren’t all tinny and uneffective, and with this one being so darn good looking I would be proud to have it on my desk, and is a total bargain retailing for around £50 at most online retailers.

But don’t just take my word for it, here’s another review I found on Youtube who loved it just as much as me:

The Edifier MP300 Plus Portable is available for £49.99 at MicroDirect.

Does your current laptop take hours to get going, and then grind to a complete halt when you try to open more than one window? Is the only thing stopping you from upgrading to a whole new one the price?

Well thanks to PC World that new laptop isn’t as far out of reach as you might imagine because they’re currently selling their Advent 5511 laptop for just £329.99.

Sold as a refurbished laptop, this Advent refurbished laptop comes with a full 12 month warranty, and has been checked and tested by experts to make sure it has been refurbished to a like new standard, meaning the only bad thing about buying a refurbished laptop is that there are only limited numbers of them making it easy to miss out.

And this Advent 5511 laptop is one of those that’s likely to be snapped up super quick,  because on top of having a good sized 15.4″ screen, it also comes with 2GB of RAM and an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7350 that makes having multiple windows open a breeze.

Windows Vista Home Premium is installed as standard, and thanks to the  UMA Intel GM45 graphics card and Realtek ALC662 sound technology, both picture and sound will impress whether it’s watching a movie or playing a game. You also have a massive 250GB of hard drive to play with, and thanks to the  DVD SuperMulti Dual Layer Optical Drive, backing up is easy too.

And if that wasn’t all good enough, this laptop also comes with wireless capability meaning no longer do you have to spend your days working away at home on your laptop, now every wifi hotspot is your oyster!

The Advent 5511 Refurbished Laptop is available for £329.99 at PC World.

Always fancied having your own website but have no idea where to start and don’t have the funds to get someone else to do it? Magix Website Maker 3 has just been released and could be just the solution for you, and is one of the most simple pieces of software you could choose.

And that’s no clever marketing speak, and I know because I’ve been trying out the software myself, and have been more than a little impressed with how sleek and simple this software is, especially the fact that it doesn’t take up room on my hard drive, running off the internet instead.

If you’re feeling a little hesistant once the software is up and running you can go through the web design beginners guide that comes in the box, but personally I found the software so intuitive and user friendly I jumped straight in.

And the first step was to choose a web template. What really impressed me about this was the range of options. Unlike with some other web design tools you aren’t stuck with a one design fits all option. Here there are a range of offer that are designed purposely to suit different genres and topics, and you’re not stuck to a one page website – you can build it up to as many as you want.

Once you’ve chosen the design it’s then time to start customising, and it’s not just with some paragraphs of text here and there. You can add photos, images and even music, and something I was really impressed by on a website maker like this – flash animation, all which can easily be slotted in thanks to a user friendly side menu.

Using this software meant I could create a web page that looked as professional as many a site on the internet in a matter of moments, and unlike many pieces of web design software that stop there, this package allows you to get your websites online asap because Magix have also sorted out web hosting and domains for you.

Concerning the web space it’s a very reasonable 5GB of space, which should be more than enough for most personal and business sites, and the domain name is sorted too with the option to use the one they provide for you or using the domain name transfer service to use one that you already own.

But that’s not all this software can offer. What if I created a site for friends and family that I didn’t want anyone to see? Well I soon discovered that was no problem because not only can you password protect your site but you can also use the new invitation mode in Magix Website Maker 3 to email select people with invitations that allow only them to access your website.

I was definitely impressed by what this software had to offer and whilst it may limit any one who has a much wider range of web design knowledge, if you’re after a professional looking website and wouldn’t know your HTML from your CSS this latest version of Magix Website Maker is a great option.

Magix Website Maker 3 can be bought online from Magix or Amazon.

The new new Magix Xtreme Photostory 8 is just the ticket.

Designed to allow you to combine all the photos and videos you’ve taken into fun and easy to view slideshows, this software markets itself as being super easy to use, and having given it a go I’d have to agree.

The first thing you’ve going to need to do is get all your photos and videos onto the programme. For some pieces of software this can see you jumping through hoop after hoop.

Thankfully with Magix Xtreme Photostory 8 it’s no where near as complicated – you simply import from your hard drive or digital camera (as long as it’s connected up).

Once that’s done it was time to play, I mean organise ymy photos in the Effect section.

In this effects area you can  do everything from gentle fades to adding 3D text and photo decorations that will have you giggling for hours, and the best thing is you don’t have to do anything more than drag and click to achieve it.  And it’s not just effects this software can do, I was also able to retouch and optimise and optimise some photos I didn’t like to bring them up to a better standard.

And when I’d finished impressing myself with the pans and zooms I’d achieved on your photos, all that was left to do is put a soundtrack to it and make a super sleek (but incredibly easy to implement) DVD menu to make it easy for friends and family to view my photos at their leisure.

Now why can’t all software be as easy to use…

Magix Xtreme Photostory on CD & DVD 8 is available to buy online at Magix or Amazon.

I wrote about MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 14 back in April of last year, and was bowled over by what this movie editing software offered for the price, and so when I was offered the chance to try out the new GIX Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus it won’t surprise you I jumped at the chance.

Offering the same great basics as MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 14 did, such as the ability to import from any source, easy viewing and previewing in the embedded video monitor, video, audio and text effects, this new version also has very fancy new additions.

One of my favourites was the MultiCam editing feature.

You know when you and a friend video the same event and then wish you could combine the two to make two average films great? This incredible pieces of movie editing software from Magix lets you do it by not only synchronising the films but allowing you to pick and mix the best bits of both.

Then there’s the editing. With the last edition you had an impressive amount of control over what you could do with your movies. Now this software is really getting the stage where it can rival packages costing 10 times it’s price, with colour correction quick and easy to apply, as well as much closer control over frames, thanks to MAGIX incorporating the one thing I felt was missing before – a jog shuttle navigation system.

There’s also no need to worry if your HD footage is going to be reduced to poor old standard quality as this version has complete HD support, allowing you to import AVCHD material, optimise it, then burn it straight onto a Blu-Ray disc!

And it’s not just film editing this software can do. You can also record directly from your computer screen via Magix’s screen capturing software to put into your films, create animated holiday routes
in full HD to show people where you’ve been and even use 3D real-time animation software to add a whole new element to your films.

And if that wasn’t all impressive enough, if you buy now from Amazon, you’ll get MAGIX Photo & Videoshow Soundpool 6 for free, allowing to add even better effects, sounds and music to your finished movie before sharing for use on computers, dvds or even mobiles.

Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus is available to buy with a free version of Magix Photo and Video show Soundpool 6 at Amazon.

If you’ve been dazzled by the quality of your Samsung flatscreen TV and fancy getting the same great quality with your desktop, then this Samsung 22 inch monitor is going to be just the thing for your office.

Available for £137.99 at Misco, this monitor comes with the same slim, elegant looks you’ve got from your television, and actually offers you not 22 inches, but 23 inches of gorgeous imagery.

The maximum resolution of the screen is an impressive 2048 x 1152, and with 16.7 million colours to play with, a response time of 5 ms and a viewing angle of  170°/160º, working with this screen as a primary or secondary screen will be a real pleasure.

In fact it sounds so tempting I’m thinking of getting one for myself, especially with a price tag of under £150 – something that would be unheard of just a couple of years ago!

The Samsung SM2343NW Monitor is available to buy online for £137.99 at Misco.

PC World are currently offering a the W2234S LG 22 inch monitor for under £120.

Offering you a maximum resolution of  1680-by-1050 pixels, this 22 inch monotir has a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a 5ms response time which adds together to give you some amazingly crisp images and some of the most vibrant colours you’ll have seen on a PC monitor.

And it’s not just in the image arena that this monitor does well. It is also designed with a tilting stand that will allow you to get the screen exactly how you want it.

And if you’re a gamer you’re going to love this screen, because of top of offering a 16:10 wide-aspect (16:10) imagge, there’s also the option to switch to 4:3 aspect ratio for better control in gameplay.

The LG W2234S 22 Inch Monitor is available for £119.97 at PC World.

Need to get some new anti-virus software but not sure what to get?

Panda Security may not be the first name that comes to mind, but this company’s products have been gaining huge amounts of praise since their release, and thanks to their free online scan service you get to try out just how good they are without having to spend a penny.

And if you should decide they’re worth spending some money on, you’ve got a huge amount of choice from Internet Security software to keep you safe whilst online, and Anti-Virus software to make sure that your computer is protected at all time.

You can try out Panda Security’s Free Scan and software at the Panda Security website.

Your laptop works beautifully and to you it’s like an old friend, but there is one thing that you find ever so slightly annoying about it.

It doesn’t have Wifi, meaning whilst everyone else is in the coffee shop surfing the internet for free, all you can do is work on your Word document and play a game of cards.

If you could just give your laptop the power to do the same then life would be perfect.

Well I’ve got some good news. You can, and thanks to the super small size of the new Sandbery Mini Wifi Dongle not only will you have great performance but you’ll have something so tiny (it’s just over 3cm long) that you can leave it attached to your laptop 24/7.

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it, and what’s even better is it actually does what it said, and I know that because I’ve just plugged it into my computer and gone wireless.

And all it took were two simple steps:

1. Pop the USB Dongle into a USB Slot and CD into a drive and isntall the software and driver
2. Click on the Wifi connection I wanted to be attached to

I promise you that was all I did, and then I was connected up and surfing away, with no internet problems at all, and neither should you as this is designed to have a 100m range inside and 300m outside!

The new mini Sandberg Wireless Wifi Dongle is available for £34.99 at Amazon.