Articles

Arctic M551 Gaming Laser Mouse August 2, 2010 - ASE Labs prides itself on fair and honest reviews. We test many products and one of the hardest things to do is to write a review about a product that is lacking. What we have here is the M551 which we thought would be a good addition to the Arctic line up since the M571 was very good. We were wrong and it just proves you can't assume anything. Read full article

Arctic K381 Gaming Keyboard July 29, 2010 - Gaming keyboards are all alike. They are huge, have tons of extra keys, and did we mention they are huge? Arctic Cooling is shunning that design with the release of the Arctic K381 Gaming Keyboard. The K381 offers a minimalistic design with a laptop-like feel to offer a totally different experience. Arctic Cooling is certainly on the right track with these new input device products. Read full article

Cooler Master Choiix Cruiser Mouse July 26, 2010 - Notebook mice are fairly standard. What could possibly be so interesting about another entry into the market? Cooler Master's Choiix Cruiser Notebook Mouse with Blue Trace is hoping to get you excited about a notebook mouse once again. It offers some very unique features with an attractive price. Read full article

Arctic M571-L Gaming Laser Mouse July 26, 2010 - Arctic Cooling is the latest company to expand its market portfolio and create new products to crowd the consumer marketplace. Their first inputs devices are gaming inspired products. The Arctic M571-L is a laser mouse with features that make it run with the big boys, but not with their price. Read full article

Cooler Master Choiix Power Fort Advanced C-2010-K1A0 July 22, 2010 - While most products on the market have a general "me too" feel, Cooler Master breaks out into the portable power source market with their Choiix Power Fort series. Combining some unique features and the ability to use standard cables, the Power Fort is a good competitor in this marketplace. Read full article

Antec Notebook Cooler Basic July 20, 2010 - In the past, notebook coolers have featured a few fans wrapped together in a block of plastic. While relatively effective on paper, not all designs were functional or ideal for all laptops. Today, Antec provides a solution that is aesthetic in appearance, yet simple and functional in design with the passively cooled Notebook Cooler Basic. Read full article

Verbatim Titan XS 320GB Portable Hard Drive July 19, 2010 - Portable hard drives have come a long way in the last few years. Increases in efficiency and design advancements have allowed them to be viable alternatives to USB flash drives. Verbatim has several portable hard drives on the market. Today, ASE Labs has the Verbatim Titan XS 320GB up for review. Read full article

Verbatim Nano Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse July 15, 2010 - While Verbatim may not be a brand you think of when discussing mice, they are rapidly making new product lines and inching closer to the market heavyweights like Logitech. Healthy competition is good and we have the newest notebook mouse for review; the Nano Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse. Read full article

AirLink101 SkyIPCam777W June 15, 2010 - Most people don't think about securing their homes or small businesses with the added piece of mind of a camera system. It could be due to the cost and time consuming setup of a full DVR solution. The SkyIPCam777W changes all that with an all-in-one package that is easy to setup and just works. It could be the IP camera solution for the masses. Read full article

Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard May 17, 2010 - Logitech tries to refresh its product lines every once in awhile. This serves a few purposes. For Logitech, this means a steady stream of revenue. For the consumers, it usually means a better product than before. The G110 is just such a product. It takes over for the G11 that was released about three years ago and bests it in every way. Read full article

Thermaltake BlacX Duet April 30, 2010 - A few years ago, Thermaltake released the BlacX. It was one of the first (if not the first) hard drive docking stations for sale. Thermaltake was the company to really push the product to market. Now, Thermaltake is upping the ante by supporting two drives at once. Read full article

Lexar JumpDrive FireFly April 25, 2010 - Flash drives are fairly common in today. Lexar has been in the flash field for years. Today, we have the small and sleek Lexar FireFly on the bench at ASE Labs. While Lexar has geared this product towards the youth, anyone will enjoy it just the same. Read full article

Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn April 4, 2010 - What flash drive design do you prefer? Some people prefer swivel designs with rotating covers, some people like ones where the connector slides out, and still others prefer the classic cap design. Today, ASE Labs has the JumpDrive TwistTurn up on the block. This is Lexar's entry-level submission in the first category. Read full article

Verbatim InSight 320GB Portable Hard Drive March 26, 2010 - Compact but big on storage capacity, the InSight drive is available in a sleek piano-black finish with capacities of 320GB and 500GB and carries a 5-year limited warranty. With an Always On display, the Verbatim InSight hard drive is a plug-and-play external drive that keeps you in the know - even when it’s disconnected. Read full article

ASE Publishing New R3D Contest March 23, 2010 - We hope you like the new look for ASE Labs, HardwareLogic, and its sister sites. To celebrate this new default look, we're giving away some of our items that we've reviewed in the past. We have many different prizes to give away and there will be multiple winners. Read full article

Arctic Cooling Arctic Sound E352 Earbuds March 16, 2010 - How important is style to you when choosing a product? If product design is one of the main reasons for your product purchases, then the Arctic Cooling Arctic Sound E352 series earbuds may be for you. But how do they stand up to the Editor's Choice Arctic Sound E361 series? Today ASE Labs has a pair up for comparison in order to find out. Read full article

ZAGG PSP Slim invisibleSHIELD March 8, 2010 - Screen protectors have been around since the days of the original Gameboy, but it is only recently that the total body covers like those from cell phones and PDAs have been made available for gaming devices. Today, ASE Labs has the full body ZAGG PSP Slim invisibleSHIELD up for review to see whether or not cellphone-style screen protectors are suitable for handhelds. Read full article

Imation Pro WX 1.5TB Wireless USB February 24, 2010 - Remember when Bluetooth came out? No one bothered to care for a long time until an explosion happened a few years ago. We believe that Wireless USB is in the same boat. The technology solves a problem that people need; the ability to connect peripherals to their computer without a wire. It is just that we are suffering on the implementation and faced without market saturation, the Wireless USB field seems to be stagnating. There are glimmers of hope and Imation brings the first Wireless USB enclosure to the table. Read full article

SanDisk slotRadio Player February 18, 2010 - Never heard of slotRadio? It is an initiative by SanDisk to capitalize on the DRM encumbered music market. For a one time fee, you get lots of music that is playable on certain devices that can play slotRadio media. We at ASE Labs thought that the market moved on from proprietary forms of media. Still, we'll see if it has some worth to it. Read full article

Arctic Cooling Arctic Sound E361-BM Earbuds February 14, 2010 - These days, full-sized headphones are a novelty. They have become impractical for most music lovers with an on-the-go lifestyle, leading to a rise in the popularity of smaller designs. Today, ASE Labs looks at the Arctic Sound E361-BM, one of Arctic Cooling's entries in the crowded sea of earbud models. Read full article

Verbatim Nano Wireless Notebook Mouse February 11, 2010 - Add a dash of color and style to your day, with Verbatim’s Color Nano Wireless Mouse. In six new colors, this mouse travels well in tight spaces. With a receiver that’s small enough to plug into your laptop and leave, it offers 2.4 GHz wireless performance - that means no delays in cursor movements and fewer cords to pack. The receiver also slides right into the bottom of the mouse for safekeeping. Its sleek design offers a smooth, contoured comfort grip for right or left hand and a programmable roller button. Small enough to fit easily in work totes, backpacks or even handbags, Verbatim’s Color Nano Notebook Mouse offers cool colors to match your laptop, your bag or even your mood. Read full article

Roku XR February 4, 2010 - Most people should have heard about the ease of use that the Netflix streaming service provides. One of the major components of this ease of use would be the set top boxes that provide the service on TVs. Roku was the original and is still the best way to get streaming Netflix to your TV, right now. Read full article

CES 2010 Wrap Up January 22, 2010 - The year is 2010 and CES is now over. The exhibitor count was even less than last year, even though attendance was a bit higher. There were some interesting bits, but most of the fancy 3D TVs are just so-so technology. We take out some of the very interesting things seen on the show floor. Read full article

Kingston MobileLite G2 FCR-MLG2+SD4/16GB December 24, 2009 - Most consumer electronic products that use flash memory have moved to SD/SDHC media and with the convergences comes products that can be smaller and portable. Kingston produced an update to the original MobileLite brand of portable card reader known as the MobileLite G2 and this is the focus of the review. Read full article

Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ 16GB USB Flash December 11, 2009 - Tax documents, company memos and even personal files are just some of the things that you might not want others to be able to see. With those security needs in mind, Kingston has created the DataTraveler Locker+, and ASE Labs has the 16GB model up for review. Read full article

D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router December 8, 2009 - Take a router, a NAS, and a picture frame. Now smash it together. What is the end result? The D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router. This convergence device matches a router with a LCD picture frame and even manages to squeeze in a drive based NAS as well. Read full article

Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive November 24, 2009 - SSDs are here to stay. What changes is the segment they can be used in. Kingston has a new approach to a new product in the SSDNow V Series line; The SSD is the boot drive while your spindle drive takes care of all the large amounts of data. You can get the best of both worlds. Read full article

Puretrak Mousepads November 15, 2009 - While mousepads may be dull and boring, there are a few things that you should be concerned about when purchasing one. ASE Labs has always had a fondness for nice mousepads ever since we got a Duke Nukem 3D mousepad way back when... Times have certainly changed and now you see pads that cost an arm and a leg. Thankfully, some companies offer quality products along with a good price. Puretrak is one of those companies. Read full article

Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard October 15, 2009 - Logitech's newest gaming keyboard, the G19, has been released with much praise from reviewers. The color LCD and ability to change the backlighting color of the keys are just some of the features of this new gaming keyboard. Unfortunately, the keyboard seems to have taken a step back in one area critical to the intended use... the typing ability is worse than the older G15. The keyboard may pack a bunch of cool features, but is it worth it with that glaring problem? Read full article

Logitech diNovo Edge Mac Edition October 10, 2009 - Media center setups are now a part of many homes, and with that comes the need to have good input devices to handle the functionality of the setup. Logitech steps forward with the diNovo Edge and really brings home what it means to be a major player in the input device market. This product does pretty much everything right. Read full article