Gigabyte, Razer & Steelseries Gaming Mouse Reviews

Gaming Gear!

Hope you guys like your gaming gear because today I have more reviews dedicated to some funky gaming gear from the biggest brands like Gigabyte, SteelSeries & Razer.

First up though, it’s the Gigabyte M8600
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/m8600-gigabyte-m8600-p-55349.html?sort=2a

Let’s take a quick look over its main features,

Interface: USB
Tracking system: Twin-eye Laser
Resolution: 100 ~ 6500dpi ( Hardware: up to 5600dpi)
Onboard memory: 32KB
Maximum acceleration: 50g
Maximum speed: 150 inches/ second
Cable Length: 1.8m nylon braided / Gold-plated USB connector to mini USB
Dimension: (L)134.3*(W)72.7*(H)42.7 mm
Weight: 148g with battery; 110g without battery
Accessory: Charging dock, Li-ion battery*2, USB to mini USB cable*2, Driver CD, Quick guide, Spare feet pad 

The mouse looks like something ET bought down with him on an un-Hollywoodized visit. It’s got sharp corners with lines cutting into parts, different materials on different sections and a DPI control panel that looks like a launch pad for a space ship (explains the ET thing). Basically, it looks funky.

The packaging it comes in is no less fancy. If the mouse is something ET bought down, the packaging would be the ship. It comes in unconventional cylinder tubing that breaks off into 2 parts. The mouse itself sits on the top section in a cheaply made plastic mould (the ships seating). The bottom section contains all the accessories which come in one tight zip up bag which contain 2 USB Cables, a docking station and a backup rechargeable Li-ion battery. Very appealing set of accessories.

The mouse itself is quite large and people who like to grip their mouse may find it uncomfortable as the middle is quite sharp and sticks up. Claw users like me will find it very comfortable to use. The rear end of the unit has the battery pack which is replaceable, with a simple click on the bottom, the battery just pops out. Gigabyte has rated the battery to last up to 50 hours of use before a charge is needed, with which the 2^nd battery pack, makes for 100 hours of gaming. Enough for any hardcore dedicated gamer. The spare battery back can be placed into the docking station to recharge. The station is also a cradle and charging mount for the mouse itself. However when you place the mouse onto the cradle, it does feel quite wobbly and doesn’t sit in entirely snug. The cradle must be connected to your PC via one of the supplied cables. Another extra feature is the ability to plug the USB cable straight into the front of the mouse as well. It locks in for secure wired usability. All the buttons are programmable to suite your needs as well.

Using the mouse was interesting, at times the cursor would just start moving by itself without me having to move the mouse, which is a bit annoying and disappointing. The side of the mouse where extra buttons are have a plastic lining to it, which feels ridiculously cheap. While gaming, I just could not get used to this mouse, there’s just something about it that makes it not up there with other mice which are cheaper than the M8600.

Overall, I think Gigabyte put a lot of effort into the fancy packaging, filling it with accessories and features but lost focus when it came to how the mouse actually worked and felt. I want to love this mouse, but for the time being I can only like it.

Next up I have the SteelSeries Sensei Pro Grade Laser Mouse
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/62150mssensei-steelseries-sensei-p-53951.html?sort=2a

Let me just start off by saying, it looks like one of those old-school ball mouses except this has shiny top with lights and screens over it and it feels 1000 times better. It’s as simple as a gaming mouse can be but with the Engine software (which you need to download separately) it lets you tweak and personalise the mouse till your heart’s content. The rear end of the mouse has an illuminated Steel Series logo which can be customized within the Engine software. The scroll wheel is also illuminated and can be changed. In front of the scroll wheel we have a simple button which allows you to change DPI settings on the fly. On the underneath of the unit, there is a small LCD screen (yes, it has a LCD screen under it) which can be customized to display what you like. The top shell part of the mouse does leave smudge marks and it looks like the perfect material that welcomes scratches. It’s so shiny and has blurry reflections all over, scratching this would be inevitable. It’s also not so friendly with sweaty palms.

The mouse has two buttons on each side and has a symmetrical design which is useful for our left handed friends out there. People who like to grip their mouse I think will find this unit welcoming, it is nicely and evenly shaped and rounded which allows your palm to comfortably sit over it.

Using it felt quite nice, I got used to it very quickly and movements became very natural. The two buttons on the right hand side of the unit did bother me though. I kept accidently clicking on the buttons because it is perfectly positioned where my ring finger rests. I guess that’s one of the downsides when you have a mouse that is symmetrical and is accustomed to both handed users. Gaming was very comfortable and easy to use. The programmable buttons made it easy to shorten a lot of keystrokes.

Overall, though it’s a solid performing mouse, there are a few design flaws which can be blamed on the mid 1990’s design of the unit but I think many users will be happy with it.

Last up we have the Razer Abyssus – Mirror Edition
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/rz01-00360500-r3m1-razer-abyssus-mirror-edtion-p-46523.html?sort=2a

For $53, you don’t get much of a mouse to be honest. When Razer labelled it with ‘Back to the Basics’, they really weren’t kidding. 2 buttons and a scroll wheel, that’s all you get. Unpacking it was quite ordinary and is as simple as plugging it in and you got yourself a Razer mouse. The rear end of the mouse has an illuminated Razer logo in blue…. Not sure why they didn’t make it green considering their logo is branded as green. On the bottom of the unit you’ll find two switches, one for polling rate switch from 125Hz to 1000Hz (quite a big jump there) and one for DPI with options 450, 1800 and 3500. The mouse is suitable for those who like to claw their mouse and is perfectly suited for left handed users as there are no extra features to the unit.

The scroll wheel is quite heavy to use and isn’t as smooth as what I would like it to be. Gaming however was quite comfortable and fun to use with. Was very responsive and all of the 3 buttons seem to have worked very well. My palm sits nicely on the unit and sweaty palms don’t seem to be an issue as the glossy shell just deflects it all.

Overall though, for the price tag the mouse doesn’t offer enough features or functionality. It looks and feels good but lacks in performance and though it did well with gaming, I can’t picture somebody using a mouse solely for gaming.

sahin.s@centrecom.com.au

Asus All-In-One ET2410IUTS-B011C Review

Asus All-In-One ET2410IUTS-B011C
All in one feature packed desktop!
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/et2410iuts-b011c-asus-et2410iuts-b011c-p-54104.html?sort=2a 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDsW8i5cA

Features

Today we have something special straight from ASUS. I’ll be looking at their all-in-one desktop computer. Today’s model is the base Core i3 priced at $1199; they go up to a Core i5 priced at $1599 with BluRay drives. Bit disappointing to see no Core i7 in one of these units. Would have been interesting to see how much power they could have put into one of these.
So, let’s take a look at what we have to play with today.

Model: ET2410IUTS-B011C
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
CPU: Intel® 2nd Gen Core™ i3-2100
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz
Hard Drive(s): 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s
Optical Drive(s): Super Multi DVD R/W
Networking: Gigabit Ethernet
Graphics: Intel Graphics 3000
Display: 23.6” Multi-Touch LCD-LED (1920x1080)
Audio: Stereo Speakers (2x3w)
Coms: 802.11b/g/n
Inputs: 3x USB2.0, 2x USB3.0, HDMI-in, e-SATA, 1x Microphone, 3-in-1 Card Reader
Outputs: 1x Headphone Out, HDMI-out
Webcam: 1.3m

Taking it out of the box was a bit of a struggle, I must admit the box almost had me beat. Once you open the box you need to pull up the unit to take it out, problem is, it’s pretty much stuck on to the lower foam, so you need to put a bit of strength in your pull to take it out.

The unit comes with a bunch of built in ASUS programs that help add a bit more interactivity with the touch screen. Some of the apps include a nice little paint program which kids would love, however I wouldn’t be a big fan of letting my kids keep fingering my brand new touch screen computer, but each to their own I guess. The programs surprisingly, can be a bit time consuming but it provides good several hours of fun.

One of the biggest things in this unit would be the touch screen. Straight up I can tell you it is very responsive and manages multi-touch gestures very well. It definitely adds a unique experience browsing through windows explorer simply by touching on what I want, however I can see it to be an effort to keep it up. After all, it is a desktop computer, so it will be sitting on your desk (or mounted on a wall if you like with the VESA mounts (not included)) so it means your arm will be constantly raised for you to use this computer by touch. Unless you’re the Hulk, keeping your arm in a suspended state can be ridiculously tiring and I couldn’t do it for longer than 20-30 minutes.

With touchscreens comes the worry of finger prints and smudges, and you'd be right to worry. It does retain prints and smudges however it doesn't keep as much on it as one would think, and doesn't become noticeable till you turn the screen off.

Design

Once I took it out though, it was pretty. I’ve usually been the one who is skeptical about all-in-one designs from companies other than Apple, and though the iMac is definitely up in top spot for its uniform design, this ASUS unit I must say sits up within top 5.

The screens border and backing is a nice mix of polished and matte black, with the speaker area and base in silver. The speakers grill reaches from end to end and is plastered with branding stickers on the left hand side. Not sure what they were thinking with that one. I mean, it looks so sexy, why ruin it with a bunch of unsexy stickers?

The base is one solid piece of hardware. I’m not sure what it is made of, but it is solid to the bone and weighs as much as the entire unit, but it does a good job keeping the screen grounded and no little bump or knock will tip this bad boy over.

On the back of the unit, we have 3x USB2.0 ports, 2x HDMI (1 in, 1 out), Ethernet port and VGA Output. The input can be a very handy feature. If you have a PS3, plug the HDMI into the unit and switch between the inputs and turn your computer into a screen for your PS3. Same goes for any other device with HDMI. This could be very useful features for people who want to watch something on a portable device on the big screen, quickly.

The keyboard and mouse are small and petite and come in a shiny plastic black material. Looks very clean and elegant and are wireless! I did however ask myself why the wireless devices have their own dongle which you need to plug in to the unit, meaning, at the back you have 2x USB2.0 ports and not 3. Not sure as to why they couldn’t just build the wireless dongle, into the unit? Both pieces are quite comfortable to use, however the mouse is quite small.

Overall though, this is a fantastic piece of design. It looks fantastic and would complement any home or office. For small businesses and office workers, this could be a machine you are looking for. The simplicity of it will save you space and power consumption.

Performance

The unit was quite quick to boot up and restart, coming in around the 45sec mark.

The display of the unit is gorgeous.  Full HD playback on the unit produced vibrant colours and rich blacks. At no point were the blotchy marks or pixilation.

The sound on the unit features “Sonic Master” and “DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC™” which simply means, it puts out good sound! Watching HD content, the audio was crisp and clear. From explosions to speech, everything was clearly audible.

The unit features in integrated Intel Graphics 3000 chip for its graphic processing. This means the unit is not suitable for high end gamers. Mid-range casual gamers however might find the unit to be quite pleasant overall.

Our Cinebench software gave us the following test results:

CPU: 2.96pts
OpenGL: 6fps

The CPU performed remarkably well. Easily out scoring 2^nd Gen Laptop processors of the same speed. The graphics however is let down by the Intel Graphics 3000.  

Our PCMark07 benchmark gave a result of 2561 PCMarks. 

Conclusion

This is probably the perfect unit for the family computer. If you need something for the kids to do their homework on, to pay some bills, watch movies, listen to music, then I would highly recommend considering one of these. Its simplicity would be a big attraction to most as you do not have to worry about plugging this into that to work. What I would like to see from ASUS though, is beefed up versions of these units. Give us a unit with 2^nd Gen Core i7, fill it with memory and a dedicated graphics card, and you could find yourself the perfect desktop machine.

A BIG plus to this machine is its 2 year on-site pickup and return warranty! A big advantage to have in an all-in-one pc!

sahin.s@centrecom.com.au