Techcrunch: Review: Zune HD

Posted by on under ugly duckling, beautiful swan, zune, gray bird, champis, clear stream, anet, techcrunch, growing pains, ipod touch, thin air, quirks, caliber, sy, hd, offerings, swan, samsung, bush, microsoft |

But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. —The Ugly Duckling

It's been a long, brown trip for the Zune: from its early days (mocked and abject) to its awkward years (deemed a dead end and money pit) it's been embattled and criticized, and rightly so. After all, here was an unpopular company with a frankly ridiculous brand it had pulled out of thin air, attempting to compete with the guys who defined the market. We've always been champions of the devices, despite their quirks, and of the service, despite its growing pains — and Microsoft occasionally made it pretty hard for us to stand by our favorite little misfit media player. Well, for once they just made it really easy. Let's not beat around the bush, now: this thing is going head-on with the iPod touch, one of the most versatile and well-liked devices on the planet. There are other PMPs, sure, but the caliber of these two devices is well beyond the best offerings from Creative, Samsung, or Sony. To make it easy on the Apple fans who are impatient to comment on this story, let me just state it right now for the record: the Zune HD is not an iPod-killer, but it is the only player out there that can go up against it and not be annihilated in the process. It's good enough that everyone owes it to themselves to give it a look — unless you're afraid of just how good it might be.
Tagi: ugly duckling, beautiful swan, zune, gray bird, champis, clear stream, anet, techcrunch, growing pains, ipod touch, thin air, quirks, caliber, sy, hd, offerings, swan, samsung, bush, microsoft

Engadget: ASRock Vision 3D HTPC reviewed: it's the best, guys

Posted by on under quantum leap, gaming performance, source link, vaquero, overclocker, frt, computex, gpu, 4ghz, paws, caliber, 4a, geforce, mainstream, real world, ports, sleep, asrock, nbsp, htpc |

Not so keen on the idea of buying something with an ASRock logo on the front? It's about time to shake your mainstream expectations, vaquero. AnandTech just got their paws around one of the company's highest-end SFF HTPCs, and while we knew from glancing it at Computex that it was primed to perform, the real-world results have shown that it actually is capable of impressing. In fact, these guys called the Vision 3D HTPC "the best SFF HTPC [they had] ever reviewed, hands down," noting that the 2.4GHz Core i3-370M and GeForce GT425M GPU enabled a "quantum leap" in gaming performance for a system of this caliber. Of course, it checks in at just under a grand, but the inclusion of Blu-ray and an HDMI 1.4a port help to "justify the premium pricing." Critics also found the machine to be an easy overclocker, appreciated the trio of USB 3.0 ports and found the "perfect wake-up from sleep" to be a welcome extra in a world of quiescent PCs. No need to take our word for it -- hit that source link to see just how heavily the pros outweigh the cons.

ASRock Vision 3D HTPC reviewed: it's the best, guys originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tagi: quantum leap, gaming performance, source link, vaquero, overclocker, frt, computex, gpu, 4ghz, paws, caliber, 4a, geforce, mainstream, real world, ports, sleep, asrock, nbsp, htpc