The Affordable MFC-7340

When I got the unit home it was extremely well packaged and came with everything I needed to get started apart from the USB Cable.  It did include the Power Cable, Phone Cable, Phone Adapter, a printed manual and CD with Drivers and OCR Software (software which reads the text from a scan, and converts it to a editable document).

The unit took a couple of minutes to get out of all the packaging, remove the protective tape and insert the toner/drum, after that was all ready to be plugged in and powered on.

Powering on was seamless, it booted up in around 20 seconds and was able to set up my Inital Preferences easily using the built in screen, with the simple questions of Location (which already defaulted to Australia) and Date and Time.

Once that was done, the system was ready to be used instantly for copying and faxing without any further setup.  The three modes all have lit up buttons, so you can easily see which mode is active, and has an informative 2 line display to adjust settings.

Installing the software was also a breeze, after a few simple prompts when you put in the CD, the software is all automatically installed and ready to go in around 5 minutes.

Printing

This printer is one of the better lasers I have used, with the printouts all being extremely clear, and usually having this first page out in around 7 seconds, with a page roughly every 2 to 3 seconds after that.

If the printer is in sleep mode (you can set how long before it goes to Sleep) it usually is around 13 seconds before first page out.  It is also one of the quieter printers I have used, using it in a Small Office, I could easily talk on the phone still without it causing too much background noise, the printer being in the middle of the room.

I also have found the Single Media Tray useful, with it allowing me to easily print on letterheads or envelopes.  The only downside is it is a bit hard to load the media at times.

Scanning

You can either use the computer software to start the scan process, or use the controls directly on the printer.  Speed is great with the Automatic Document Feeder set on Standard Quality Black and White, with a page being scanned roughly every 8 seconds.

Colour quality could be a little better however the results experienced are perfectly adequate for general office scanning where exact colours are not important.

The one thing I like about the scanner on this machine is the ADF feeder and cover for the flatbed scanner are designed so the tray does not slam closed if you let it go, it stays up allowing you to position your document with both hands.

The software allows you to save the finished files in many formats, including standard still pictures or even a PDF, where every scan in that set is combined into one PDF file.

Fax

I personally have not been able to try out the Fax functionality of this printer, other than seeing how it reacts with scanned documents.  If you scan the documents using the ADF it will automatically cycle though all the pages then start the fax call.

If you need to scan using the flatbed scanner, it will ask after you scan the first page if there are more pages to scan, or to start the Fax call.

Once you start the fax call the inbuilt speaker is extremely clear and lets you know easily if the fax is going as it should be.

You also have the option to make the Fax automatically print out a Transmission Report or not after every fax.

Conclusion

For the price I find this a great value Multifunction System.  The performance is great and consistent, the toner refills are not expensive and does hold 250 sheets of A4 Paper, so only needs to be refilled occasionally.

The unit feels sturdy and well built, and think it would last through consistent office use.  I would not recommend it if going to be used to print on special media such as envelopes on a regular basis, it only holding one envelope at a time and being slightly hard to load would cause delays in a busy office.

The one other thing I would gripe about is that the display is not back lit, meaning you have to use it in a well lit room to see the screen clearly.

You can buy the Brother Laser MFC-7340 here: http://www.warcom.com.au/shop/flypage/Printers/Brother-Printers/6468

This little product is fantastic. It will charge pretty much any mobile phone including the iPhone and iPod and it can use a variety of different sources to do it

To start with, it is a folding wall charger, so it plugs directly into the wall socket and when not in use the prongs fold neatly away. Secondly it’s a car charger, which plugs directly into the charging socket in your car and also conveniently folds up for better storage.

Hottips All-in-one Charger

Thirdly the Hottips charging system comes with a detachable USB cord to charge from your PC or MAC and fourthly it has a 9V battery connection for emergencies to transfer power to your mobile device for when you are in those very remote areas. (this is awesome if you are going out into the wilderness or typically somewhere where there is no power whatsoever)

Connectivity is unsurpassed and it is basically what the Hottips charging system is all about, whether you have a Motorola, Blackberry, Samsung, Nokia, LG or an iPhone/iPod it will suit you. There are individual connections for each device, and you just simply choose which one you need at the time. In this day and age when we all have two or more mobile phones and devices this can be really handy because the Hottips system will connect with all of them.

Compact, action packed, extremely versatile and space saving are features we can use to describe the Hottips charging system. Whether you need a replacement for a charger you have lost or broken or you would like to do away with multiples and just have the one easy to use charger, then this is the product for you.

DrayTek Vigor 2710VN Review - Buy From Warcom!

1. It supports ADSL/2/2+ so no matter what type of service you have the 2710Vn will know how to get the most from it.
2. Four LAN ports to plug in 4 different PC’s and really open up that network connectivity, great for a home network or the small office.
3. Firewall and security features second to none, blocking and preventing against all kinds of attacks from the Internet. Whether you’re a total newcomer or a seasoned professional the firewall features will impress.
4. USB port enabling you to insert a 3G USB dongle to give you wireless in those remote ADSL areas and also to prevent against fall over and give you uninterrupted service in the occasion that the ADSL connection goes down.
5. The USB Port can alternatively be used for printer support enabling most USB printers to become a network printer and everyone on the network will be able to access it.
6. Save money with VoIP. The FXS port will let you connect your existing telephone handset and make calls over the internet saving you tons of cash on those lengthy phone calls
7. N Wireless is the latest in wireless speed and technology. It will transmit seamlessly your high-speed broadband connection throughout your entire house, faster, clearer and stronger than ever before. Great for all your wireless devices, everything from your mobile phone to PC’s and gaming consoles.
8. VPN Facilities, the 2710Vn has the capability to set up a Virtual Private Network giving the users of your choice remote data Access. It has two VPN tunnels meaning that at anytime you can have two additional PC’s dialing in remotely to connect to the network, sharing files, music, movies, logging into databases, the list goes on. This can be a network set up between offices, states or even countries, the distance knows no boundaries.
9. Antenna Upgrades, coming with three 2dBi Antennas is great for in and around the house, but if we want to get some more distance covered we can do an easy and simple upgrade to 5dBi or even 7dBi antennas giving you much more range and coverage.
10. Really easy to use and setup, the 2710Vn is ready to rock straight out of the box. Pre-programmed to automatically recognize most of your settings all you need to do is put in your username and password and you’re online.
11. Reliability and ultimate dependability are what Draytek is all about with an extremely low failure rate this is the modem you want in you home or business.
12. Style and Design and embody this truly tidy piece of kit from Draytek. It is a great looking unit and fits right at home with your Mac or PC. Fantastic for the home or office and with all the features mentioned above the 2710Vn is a modem router that totally stands out from the crowd.

Upon first glance any modem setup can seem confusing, but the 7401VGP comes with connection wizard software and an Auto Scan ADSL feature making it a breeze to get going. It is simply the case that you open the box, plug It in, fire it up, put in your username and password and the modem will pretty much do the rest.

Whether you have ADSL2 or 2+ connections the 7401VGP will work with either, and it is even backward compatible with ADSL making it versatile no matter what speed your service is.

It is G wireless ready to go so straight out of the box it gives you a wireless Internet connection throughout your whole house. No need for wires, or messy cabling, making connecting in the room of your choice so much easier. Password security can be set via WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WPA2 so this will leave you feeling safe and secure as it eliminates the threat of other people being able to connect to your wireless service.

When it comes to cost saving its hard beat the fact that you can make unbelievably economic phone calls taking advantage of the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services. You do this by simply connecting your existing telephone handset to the FXS port, at the same time it still has a free FXO port to enable you to make calls via fixed line as well, and it does all of this whilst still sharing a high speed Internet connection.

Billion 7401VGP R3 Review

There are four LAN (Local Area Network) ports on the back enabling you to connect four different computer terminals directly into the modem, giving you greater options for networking, particularly with the home office setup, this is additional to the wireless services and connectivity already being broadcast.

Firewall security options with DoS (Denial of Service) prevention and the SPI (Security Parameter Index) provide hard and determined results blocking even the most intrusive of hackers giving your home or home office a secure network environment, and with traffic prioritization and bandwidth management via QoS  (Quality of Service) management systems you can look forward to a smooth and responsive connection to the internet.

The 7401VGP is quite future-proof and supports IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), a technology in which a digital television service can be delivered over the Internet. As we move forward into the future the boundaries of IPTV are limitless and we are only just really touching on the services that are going to be available to us.

Compact, reliable, and loaded with features the 7401VGP packs quite a punch giving you everything you could possibly need to facilitate and manage your home or SOHO broadband.

I posted a run down on our famous DrayTek 2820VN yesterday at Overclockers, so I figured I’d replicate here for your reading pleasure.

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1. The unit supports ADSL1/2/2+.
2. It has a 3G fall over featured (via usb) so if you internet goes down, you plug in a 3G/NextG usb dongle and keep your interwebs up!
3. It supports VoIP, so you can save loads on phone calls to family friends, and people overseas.
4. The firewall features are fantastic for both newbies, and seasoned professionals in the security game.
5. The VPN features are outstanding, possibly the best VPN of all the units in this price range. (We sell hundreds of these units to HP staff, as they login remotely via VPN to their work).
6. Gigabit ethernet port – so run this out into a gigabit switch and you’re off and running!
7. Reliability on draytek units is second to none, their failure rates are extremely low.
8. It has built in wireless .N support. Great for wireless all around the house, and to your gaming consoles.
9. You can use the USB port as a NAS port.
10. And last but by no means least, it has a secondary WAN port. So you can connect another ADSL modem, or cable modem, or any form of connection really to this port, and setup a triple fail over redundant connection. (Including the USB port obviously)

DrayTek Vigor 2820VN

By any chance are you still using an old CRT monitor? Or are you stuck with a 19″ LCD upgrade which you were never quite happy with? I think it may be time for a change!

The AOC 2434PW 23.6″ Widescreen LCD Monitor could just be the answer you are looking for, and I’m not just saying that because I have one!
This beast is big, glossy and offers HDMI resolution and quality at a great price point.

AOC 2434PW

Upon opening your 2434pw you’ll find the polished aluminum base ready to attach to your 23.6″ glossy screen completing a 3-way adjustable stand.

Once set up and angeled to your liking, you can choose how to drive your widescreen and 2.5 watt built-in speakers. You can settle with the D-Sub and 3.5″ audio jack if need be but with a HDMI cable supplied by AOC, let’s hit up 1080P Full High Definition!

The HDMI is used for both picture and sound and comes with a very tidy cable management system, this means the 2434Pw will be looking the part no matter how many connections you’re running.

AOC 2434PW

The monitor features touch-light controls, including the power on and menu buttons which light up when touched.
In regards to the panel, you are looking at a super fast display; 2ms response time and a dynamic contrast ratio of 60000:1, all available up to a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

To address the issue which some HDMI monitors experience where they are difficult to power on and refuse to go on stand by when connected via HDMI, the AOC 2434PW comes through with flying colours. Once set up under HDMI, the AOC will turn on and off as required and move itself onto stand by when need be.

Winner of the Red Dot Award in 2008 and a massively popular seller in 2009, get your 2434pw for 2010!

Check it out here!

Cheers,

Adam

That being said, here’s a short look into what makes us tick.

Name and current occupation?
Adam Jones. Sales Manager and Accounts.

Why Warcom?
Challenging, Fun and Fast-paced atmosphere.

What’s your poison?
This varies a lot. At this stage…. Soccer

What’s your claim to fame?
Rove Live House Band 06′!

In your opinion, what is the coolest/most useful piece of tech that Warcom sells?
I’m impressed with these new Ethernet via powerpoint adapters you can get. Belkin have a popular one and Billion have a wireless one coming out soon (keep an eye out!). It basically connects to any powerpoint, from your router. You then plug the other end in where ever you need a connection and you can connect to the router via the powerpack (wirelessly with this Billion!). Crazy stuff!

Do you own an iPhone? What do you think of the device?
No I don’t. Due to peer presure, I will probably have one soon. I personally think they are overrated. Some pretty nice cases available though!

What’s in your recently played list?
Bad Medicine (obviously), The Warcom Theme song. Other than that a bit of Cartel, Quietdrive, SR-71, Dashboard Confessional and Paramore.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Soccer, Gaming, Stuffing round with cars/bikes, Tunes (Music), Ice-Cream (eating it)

If you could run Warcom for a day, what would you change?
I’d probably change the colour scheme to shade of Green. Otherwise Paul runs a pretty efficient system.

Favourite Warcom employee and why?
This is a sus question. Kinda like choosing a favourite child or something. In any case I’ll go with myself, Adam.

If there was something you’d change about the technology industry today, what would it be?
I’d be after less suppliers and better profit margins, ultimately.

Thanks Adam! If you’ve got any follow-up questions (personally I’d love to know what the Warcom theme song is…), we’d love to hear them in the comments below!

Cisco, having seen the success of the SPA942, have taken the core functionality of the unit, and improved on it with their new range, which offers something for everyone.

Each of the phones in the SPA5xx Range now offer support for the High Definition codec G.722, which allows your conversations to be crisp and clear as possible.

I will highlight some of the key features of the unit we find to have the Best Features and Best Price Point for Small to Medium Business Use.

Cisco SPA504G 4 Line IP Phone

The New SPA504G IP Phone

This unit at time of writing currently retails for $180.86 Australian Inc. GST at warcom.com.au.

The SPA504G is suited for nearly any business environment, with the ability to have four lines connected, corded and cordless headsets as well as 2 Expansion Panels (headsets and expansion panels purchased separately), where each button allows you to see the status of other lines around the office, or even use them as speed dials or one touch transfers. (Specific Enqipment may be required for all functionality of the Expansion Boards)

With a Backlit, Monochrome Display, the user can:

• See exactly who is calling at any time.
• Choose any name and number from the 100 Entry Phone Directory.
• See records of any Answered, Missed or Dialed Calls.
• Program the phone directly from the unit, without logging into the web interface.

If you would prefer to set up your phone from a computer, the phone has a fully featured Web Interface to allow you to check its status, change any feature and even reset it, just by entering the IP address into an Internet Browser.

The phone also includes a high quality speakerphone, for small conference calls or while waiting for your call to be answered.

The SPA500 Attendant Console

The SPA500 Attendant Console

The SPA5xx Range of Phones are all compatible with the SPA500 Attendant Console, meaning any phone, whether it be the cheapest 1 Line Unit to the Colour Screen, MP3 Playing, Bluetooth Compatible SPA525G.

The Attendant Consoles allow you to One Touch Dial to any Extension or Speed Dial, check the status of other lines around the office (Specific PBX’s required that offer this functionality) with the 3 Colour LED’s on each button.  Each phone can handle up to 2 of these units, and are powered by the same power source from the phone.  No extra power plugs required.

The SPA500 Attendant Console does block the Corded Headset Port on the phones, so please be aware of this before purchasing.

If you have any questions on the range, please feel free to drop us a line at service@warcom.com.au or call us on 1300 WARCOM (927 266)

The FiiO comes very well packaged in a nice retail box, whilst there’s not a lot inside the box apart from instructions and the warranty info, it certainly makes for a great gift!

Navigation

Moving onto the unit itself..

The inline amp has the options of being able to control your iPhone/iPod using the buttons on the amp itself.

These buttons include the following:

• Increase & decrease volume.
• Play next track.
• Play previous track.
• Play a track.
• Pause a track.

The clip on the back of the unit is pretty good, it’s very strong and should survive being man handled.

Overall, the build quality of E1 is simply superb!

Sound Quality

At firs,t I was really skeptical as to how good this unit would be, but after connecting it to my iPhone and cranking it all the way up I was very gob smacked.

There was a noticeable difference in both sound levels, bass and also mid’s.

Noticeable enough that I made all the boys in the office listen to some tunes and give me their feedback. — They agreed, and gave it a big thumbs up!

I’ve since sent a several of these around to close friends and family have given the unit the thumbs up also.

Summary

For the grand total of $39.95 I’d certainly recommend giving the FiiO E1 a go.

Even for the sheer convenience of not having to take your iPhone/iPod out of your pocket to skip a track makes it great, but if you’re anything like me, you want your music crisp, clean and LOUD, then the FiiO E1 certainly helps do just that!

Cheers!

However, our Knowledge Base and e-Mail/Ticketing system are currently offline, which means you may experience delays in getting replies to your emails or accessing our knowledge base.

For any questions, we recommend calling us on 1300 WARCOM (927 266) for a speedy answer.

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Afternoon Everyone!

We’re very pleased to announce that Warcom is on the move!

This relocation has been in the pipeline for a while now, and thankfully we’re now in the final stages of moving over to our new server, in our new home at http://www.dedictedservers.net.au

A fair bit of planning and research has gone into this move, so fingers crossed everything goes to plan.

Here’s the specs of our new beast!

• Dell 1950 with DRAC
• Dual XEON Quad Core 5405
• 16Gb RAM
• 2 x 500Gb SATA

There may be a short period of down time early this Sunday morning, however we do expect the disruption to be minimal.

We look forward to offering you are much faster shopping experience on our funky new shiny speed machine!

- Paul.