Techinstyle.tv

Streaming media to your ASUS Transformer

Mrs Mario — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to stream movies and music from your Transformer tablet to your PC? Well, you’re in luck because the ASUS video team of Bethan and Spode is about to tell you how to do just that using MyNet. The video is all about that groovy UPnP media streaming experience so you can transfer content from one device to another without stress. It comes as a standard free media streaming app on all Transformers and you can use it to view files on your tablet or another machine, once you have it set up. As you proceed through the video you’ll be taken to The Lab. Awesome. Is it just me or does our Tech in Style scientist look like Abby from NCIS?

Take a look at the video to find out how to use MyNet on the ASUS Transformer and stream files from your tablet to your PC and back again. It will open up whole new media worlds for you. Please be sure to check in and let me know what you think… [youtube_video id="aWEXh5Syk5k&noredirect=1"]

ASUS’ Intel certified Thunderbolt motherboards

Mrs Mario — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:00:59 +0000

In a recent post I looked at the Thunderbolt feature that has now been certified by Intel on two of ASUS’ recently launched motherboards – the ASUS P8Z77-V Premium and the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt. Seeing as I was all about connectivity last time, I thought it would be a good idea to poke around inside the boards and see what other features they have.

The P8Z77-V Premium motherboard has several new features that include the true 4-way Nvidia SLi and 4-way AMD CrossFireX on the PCIe Gen 3.0 slots. You will also discover advanced SSD Caching II so you can cache frequently used programs and files using multiple SSDs for an instant system upgrade. Combined, they also mean better gaming performance across the board. The P8Z77-V Premium has a 32GB mSATA SSD onboard for Intel Smart Response and Rapid Start Technology – nice boot times promised there – and a pair of Gigabit Intel LAN ports. The CPU socket for both boards is the Intel 1155 for third and second generation core i7 or i% processors, Core i3, Pentium/Celeron processors. Both boards boast plenty of memory with digital phase power. The Premium has digital 20-phase and the Pro/Thunderbolt has 12-phase. Plenty of connectivity options surround these ASUS motherboards which is always a good thing. The boards are well proportioned in terms of features, connectivity and power and it is going to be interesting to try one of them out in the future, to really see how far they can be pushed and how well Thunderbolt works in conjunction with legacy systems.

Meet the ASUS Transformer Pad 300 [Video]

Mark — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:07:19 +0000

The Transformer Pad 300 is the newest member of the ASUS tablet family, and offers exceptional performance at an affordable price. Not only does it come in three distinctive colors (Royal Blue, Iceberg White, and Torch Red), but the QWERTY chiclet keyboard dock option is also available. You no longer have to choose between the keyboard or touch screen...you can have both. Some highlights of the Transformer Pad 300 include the powerful NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 Quad-core CPU, the brilliant IPS panel with viewable angles up to 178 degrees, the battery life up to 15 hours, and the incredible audio experience with ASUS Sonicmaster Technology. To find out more, check out the video below:

The burning issue: E-Reader vs. E-Reader apps

Mrs Mario — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:00:51 +0000

What do you think? Are you an E-Reader purist who believes that no book should be read on the screen of a tablet or smartphone? Or do you think that the E-Reader app is the better way to go? Our experts, Bethan and Spode, sit down for a comfy debate on this issue in the video below. I know that I am the purist. I think that the battery life used up by the app – and boy, does it ever chomp down on it – is daft, especially on my smartphone, and the screen just doesn’t lend itself to reading as comfortably as my E-Reader. The backlight makes my eyes hurt and I don’t like the fake page-turning feature that most of them have. What do you think? Do you even care? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below and let’s see who wins – the app or the dedicated device. My money is on the latter… [youtube_video id="4-YPxLWlezo"]

New ASUS N Series multimedia laptop: factory-fresh quick unboxing!

Suds McSoapdish — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:56:43 +0000

The popular ASUS N Series is back with its sixth generation model. It has more computing horsepower with third generation Intel Core processors, more storage (that's also faster), premium displays with wide viewing angles, as well as SonicMaster Premium audio. The third generation N Series also has faster discrete graphics and more features. These features include the two-second Instant On, the ASUS-exclusive USB Charger and powered USB port, and a new HD front-facing camera for improved video call quality. Luckily for me, this unboxing did not involve any money, because the factory sent us a sample just to share with you. Not so luckily for me, I had to promptly give it back! But let's take a look at some photos and explain a bit about what makes the new N Series tick.

Quality starts at the box, and the new design for the N Series showcases the dotted/rippled pattern we'll soon encounter on the laptop itself.

The internal packaging continues the theme, while reminding us that ASUS SonicMaster Premium has been designed in cooperation with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower.

Quick look at the enclosed accessories and internal compartmentalisation. There's a mouse in there, as well as the power adapter and cables.

The first accessory of note is the bundled external subwoofer, which boosts bass alongside the built-in speakers.

Once out in the open, the 15" laptop proudly displays its brushed-metal texture, which looks nice under pretty much all lighting conditions.

Despite all that packed power, the new N Series is still quite slim and lean, as you can see in this shot.

This is also evident from the side. In this photo we see some of the ports and connectors, and more of the hairline-textured cover.

On this side there's the Blu-ray drive, as well as some more connectors. The N Series definitely goes big on I/O! And of course with its dedication to all things HD, a Blu-ray drive is to be expected.

The chiclet keyboard and ripple-effect SonicMaster speaker mesh are complemented by the large multi-gesture touchpad, which has been designed to reflect the proportions of the screen for a more consistent look and feel. The speaker mesh-embedded button in the foreground is the Instant On button, which starts the N Series laptop in roughly two seconds from both sleep or hibernate modes.

I placed the subwoofer next to the laptop to give you a better sense of their relative sizes.

The quality of the screen is quite remarkable thanks to new panel technologies and a full HD 1080p resolution, although the latter is not universal to all new N Series models, so do check when making your purchase. And if you look closely here, you can see the keyboard is back-lit for improved usability in low-light environments.

The backlighting is more apparent in this shot.

I really enjoyed my brief time with this 15" N56 laptop. There are also 14" and 17" models - the N46 and N76 - with varying feature sets to fit into a range of consumer segments, so please do check them out. These are truly premium multimedia machines and I believe they're also decent at gaming with their new and improved graphics.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

The first ever Intel Thunderbolt certified motherboards

Mrs Mario — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:00:47 +0000

Yes, you read that correctly. The P8Z77-V Premium and the P8Z77-V Pro motherboards boast the Intel Thunderbolt certification making them the first Intel certified motherboards in the market to have the latest Thunderbolt connection interface.

The P8Z77-V Pro Premium is the name given to motherboards that are the top of the ASUS range with the latest technologies. The P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt offers the same technology but with some minor differences so people have more options to choose from and still get the chance to appreciate Thunderbolt. So, I hear some of you asking, what is Thunderbolt exactly? It is a brand new and shiny high-speed I/0 technology designed for optimum performance, ease of use and it gives users more flexibility. It has incredibly fast transfer speeds. And this is where I have to be careful of biting my keyboard out of Want. Yes, I Want this. You see, standard USB 3.0 gives you fast data transfers and interaction. It’s good and it’s useful and it does what we have all been nagging for. Now Thunderbolt has marched in and taken this up to two times faster than USB 3.0. Twice as fast! If you have USB 2.0, then the speed of Thunderbolt is even more dramatic with an increase of up to 20 times. When it was first released in 2000, USB 2.0 was the Big Thing in high-speed transfer. Then came USB 3.0 in 2008 – it still feels really recent – which took transmission speeds up to 5Gbit/s and was up to 10 times faster than 2.0.

Today you are looking at Thunderbolt which has been around since 2011 and merges PCI Express and DisplayPort into a serial data interface or at a discharge of lightning. Your call really, although the latter is not compatible with the modern motherboard as yet. Perhaps ASUS has that planned for the future… The Thunderbolt option has simultaneous bi-directional 10Gbps transfer speeds over a single cable and you can daisy-chain (love that description) up to six Thunderbolt devices with a single connection for a clutter-free computing experience. You can connect multiple Thunderbolt-enabled external storage drives to an enabled display and transfer files while watching movies and you won’t get any lag. How tasty… In short, the advantages of Thunderbolt over USB are clear with additional speed, more flexibility, less lag and reduced clutter. But what else do these motherboards have that makes them worth the investment? Find out on Thursday…

The finger tapping keyboard and dock of the ASUS Transformer TF300T

Mrs Mario — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:00:33 +0000

The latest version of the ASUS Transformer, the TF300T, is a modified version of the Transfomer Prime coming in at a different price point with some differentiating features. This particular Transformer comes bundled with the dock which has all the functionality you need, including extra battery power.

I’ve had the good fortune to play around with all the incarnations of Transformer, from the first release to this ASUS Transformer TF300T, and I have to admit that I find this particular keyboard a lot more responsive. It could just be these delicate feminine fingers of mine, of course, but the keys are quick to the touch, easy to work with and have better feedback. The size of the keyboard may be a bit of an issue for anyone who’s not spent a lot of time on a smaller keyboard, like with a netbook, for example, but once you’re used to it there are few faults to find. It certainly is a much better way of working with a tablet if you need to write a lot of text, much easier than with the screen keyboard, and then there are those ever so helpful shortcut keys that run along the top of the dock. You’ll find keys to modify brightness, Wi-Fi, volume and media playback so you get pretty much instantaneous control over regularly used features, especially if you’re a media or internet junkie.

I have to admit that I very rarely use the touchpad that comes included with the keyboard, tapping the screen of the tablet does nicely, thank you, but it seems a handy enough addition. I guess anyone who prefers that type of control would appreciate the gesture. The dock carries around an extra battery which is automatically drained first if you are using the two together, and I’ve managed to get a tidy 13 hours or so with continuous use. The other neat feature is that when you close the dock and pad, it puts the device into standby, saving you the hassle. It’s worth noting that the dock of the Transformer TF300T is lighter than the others while the tablet is heavier, however, the two together come in at lighter than the Prime. I instantly felt the difference but a run on the scales proved me right. The dock is also quick to attach and detach from the pad itself. There is little to no fiddling about and the click as it docks (sorry) is very satisfying indeed. It’s light, easy to use and the keys are boasting an improved interface, so far the ASUS Transformer TF300T is proving an interesting review product.

What does your ASUS laptop say about you?

PeggyO — Sun, 20 May 2012 06:09:12 +0000

Laptops, like people, come in all shapes and sizes. You can own a large unit as a desktop replacement or a small one to fulfill the functions between your main machine and your mobile phone. Your choice of colour and design is an important feature for you. So, in such a varied marketplace, what can you tell about a user through his or her choice in computing gear? Here's a tongue-in-cheek look at what your laptop could be saying about you and your approach to life. The Power Mongers You see these monstrous notebooks every now and then. These are the big boys of the mobile computing world. Laptops like this, in particular the G75VW, practically screams dedication and commitment to the game. Although its user could also be deep in work developing a new app or editing a video. But you can spot the more earnest, or shall we say hardcore, ones with one simple check – the more wear on the big machine, the more serious they are. The Standard These 13” and 15” laptops are found everywhere. They are the go-to notebook for the school and business crowd and you can also find them in most homes. These are the notebooks that get work done. Many business decisions and term papers have been put together thanks to these notebooks. Such notebook users, in particular those who use the ASUS P53SJ, are seen to be focused on the job at hand. They traverse towards results and work is always their priority. The Netbook Crowd This crowd burst into scene around 2008 when ASUS introduced the netbook to the selection and they have been breeding since. They carry these sleek little machines anywhere from cafes to living rooms because they have served well as a vital computing tool. Netbooks like the Eee PC X101CH, are relatively cheap, rather durable and pretty portable. Its owner is often seen as someone who is determined to stay connected to the outside world. They are likely to be bloggers; own an online business, or both. They feel the need to stay on the ball with the Interweb, doing some social networking and generally managing their digital world. The New Laptop Owners of the new ASUS ZENBOOK™ are often seen as a bit of a showoff - they who hold these shiny machines, with the fully embossed keys, stainless screens and track pads that still have sheen. They radiate an air of affluence. But you gotta admit they are adventurous, and will attempt to use new unfamiliar equipment - possibly a new operating system that has been coded to hide familiar items in new places.

ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP Quick Unboxing

colonelsoh — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:00:11 +0000

The GTX 670 is NVIDIA’s latest entry into the mid-to-high end segment and is basically the little brother of their flagship GTX 680. Requiring just a two-slot and twin 6-pin form factor, it fits in almost any case and does not put too much strain on the power supply. The GTX 670 provides quite a lot of bang for your buck, and ASUS makes that even more so by including the GPU Tweak utility in the box to allow for easier overclocking and tuning. The ASUS GeForce GTX670 DirectCU II TOP belongs to the super overclocking class; with the base clock and boost clock set significantly higher than reference at 1058MHz and 1137MHz respectively. The DirectCU cooler and twin 100mm fans drastically reduce the overall temperature while offering better performance over the reference design. Here it is outside of the box: [caption id="attachment_26250" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="The box lists the main features and benefits of DirectCU cooling with its all-copper heat dissipation points, bigger heatsink, and direct contact with the GPU."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26251" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="Standard packaging for all ASUS graphics cards, the components are kept safe and secure."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26252" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="Behold the GTX 670! The card itself measures 10.7″ x 5.4″ x1.7″ and takes up two PCI Express slots. Two 6-pin power connectors are required."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26254" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="Tough backplate like on many other DirectCU cards, this helps prevent the card from warping while reducing noise and aiding in heat dissipation."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26255" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="The carbon look of the front of the card, purely for aesthetic reasons."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26253" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="Standard connectors."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26256" align="aligncenter" width="545" caption="The side of the card shows part of the heatpipe build, which is quite massive."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_26257" align="aligncenter" width="408" caption="Upon closer inspection, we see the large heatsink and impressive solid state capacitors. No wonder it's TOP! "][/caption] While it is not built to compete with the flagship GTX 680 or Radeon 7970, the GTX 670 is an impressive card in its own right. With the addition of the famed DirectCU II cooler and overclocked right out of box, this card is definitely for gamers who are looking for a fast graphics card but on a limited budget. We don't mean to brag but in other news: TechPowerUp just gave the new ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II a perfect score! A very first! In their own words: “Yes, you’ve seen correctly, the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP is the first graphics card ever that I gave a perfect ten score. The stock GeForce GTX 670 provides already great performance, but ASUS has topped that by boosting it with a large overclock out of the box which catapults it beyond GTX 680 performance levels. Averaged over all our testing we see the card 1% faster than GTX 680 and 8% faster than GTX 670. The card does so without massive power consumption increase thanks to an efficient VRM design and low temperatures. ASUS has done away with NVIDIA’s cheap voltage regulation circuitry and put a much better CHiL controller on the card, which also supports voltage control and monitoring.”

A glimpse into the heart of the ASUS Transformer TF300T

Mrs Mario — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:00:48 +0000

When the Transformer first came out it was met with a moment of silence. This Android-based tablet had all the right boxes ticked and made the critics sigh with pleasure. Like all newbies it had its own little foibles and some issues for some people but now ASUS has released the next kid on the block, the ASUS Transformer TF300T.

Unlike its older sibling, this Transformer TF300T comes with the keyboard dock included in the package. There’s no wibbling about whether or not to buy it now, it’s there in the box ready to go. The tablet is light and sturdy and the colour (as I mentioned in my last post) is awesome. It also slots into the keyboard dock as quick as you please. No wrestling, poking, twisting or sighing. Just slip, click and go. I like that. I don’t have time to faff with tediously designed extras and this just works. Like the earlier model, this keyboard dock is also an additional battery so you can extend the life of your Transformer in a pinch. Assuming you’ve charged your dock, of course… You get a microSD slot and a mini HDMI out on the tablet and a full-sized SD slot and USB socket on the keyboard.

An eight megapixel camera faces to the rear and the 1280x800 resolution screen is bright, touch sensitive and pretty much perfect for most things. I have watched Game of Thrones, House and Doctor Who on the Transformer TF300T and found all three to deliver superb quality. Darks are rendered deeply while the brighter colours show no signs of being wishy washy or drab. The same can be said of how the Transformer TF300T handles gaming. It has the Tegra3 to give it the power it needs and there are titles that are included with the device that work a charm. I plan to go into detail on all these features as I put the Transformer TF300T through its paces so feel free to throw some ideas at me and I’ll include them in my tests.