Here a roundup of the latest reviews, including 24 two-bay NAS device group test, Cougar Spike Mini Gaming Case Review, HIS Radeon HD 7750 Low Profile (1GB GDDR5), Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD Review, and Cooler Master Clutch



24 two-bay NAS device group test @ Hardware.info

From this group test we can conclude that the reading performance of most recent NAS devices is excellent, and that the main differences can be found in the write speeds and the number of features and connectors. If you want a simple NAS with lots of features, the Synology DS212j is a good option. If you want to use all of these features at the same time, you will need more power, however. Still, it's worthy of a Bronze Award.

For a more professional product with a more solid casing but not all the features of DSM 4.1, a good option is the LaCie 2big NAS. It's fast, user-friendly, and the new Hybrid Cloud is useful. It's also deserving of the Bronze Award.

If you need a more sturdy chassis and USB 3.0 ports, then the ReadyNAS Duo V2 is what you should get, and it gets the Silver Award. The Synology DS-213 and DS-213+ also qualify as runner-up. Another good alternative and Silver medalist is the Iomega StorCenter PX2-300d. While it's not the most comprehensive product, it does have some innovative features, a display and a solid chassis.

Read more: 24 two-bay NAS device group test @ Hardware.info

Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse Review @ Legit Reviews

Logitech recently introduced a new G-Series gaming lineup: the Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse, a highly customizable and easy-to-use mouse specifically designed for massively multiplayer online (MMO) gamers. The G600 has 20 programmable buttons, an 8200 DPI laser sensor, and onboard memory. Can it outdo some of the most outdone of mice? Read on and find out!

Read more: Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse Review @ Legit Reviews

PowerSkin PoP'n iPhone 5 battery pack Review @ TUAW

Earlier in the week I published some news about a new iPhone 5 battery pack from PowerSkin. Now the Pop'n iPhone 5 battery pack (US$79.99) has arrived for testing, so join me while I take a look at this decidedly different way of keeping your phone powered up.

Read more: PowerSkin PoP'n iPhone 5 battery pack Review @ TUAW

Cougar Spike Mini Gaming Case Review @ Proclockers

If you are a regular reader of Pro-C, you will know what I personally I’m not a huge fan of all-out gaming chassis. I am more of a big fan of the more simplistic styles that we see from the various companies. When I review them we focus more on functionality and allow the reader to make up there on mind on the styling of the outside of the case. And to be on the up and up this is the route most sites take. But, I do have to safe I did the styling of the Cougar Challenger. It was somewhat out there is a way but it appeal to my senses as it clean still and not really over-the-top.

Cougar is back with another new case that reminds us a lot of the Challenger but even more delightful. The new Spike is shorter, cleaner and darker than the black and orange Challenger case we reviewed for Cougar. The one fact about the Spike that will amaze many is that with its many features the case will only set you back about forty one dollar bills.

Read more: Cougar Spike Mini Gaming Case Review @ Proclockers

HIS Radeon HD 7750 Low Profile (1GB GDDR5) @ Funky Kit

A few months ago HIS sent us a Radeon 7750. This card was a full-sized (compared with other 7750s) card featuring a custom cooler but lacked voltage control. Well, HIS is back with a new version of the 7750. This time it is a half-height card that sports a dual-fan heatsink and voltage control onboard.

Since it uses the same GPU as the previous card, lets see if the voltage control makes a difference or if the half-height hinders the card in some way or another.

Read more: HIS Radeon HD 7750 Low Profile (1GB GDDR5) @ Funky Kit

MSI R7970 Lightning Boost Edition review: fastest HD 7970 yet @ Hardware.info

Last year MSI launched the R7970 Lightning, a graphics card based on the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and aimed at overclockers. It has since been replaced by the R7970 Lightning Boost Edition. Same concept, same price, but with improved performance. Reason enough for Hardware.Info to also review this video card.

Basically two things were changed compared to the previous iteration. The R7970 Lightning Boost Edition is built around the AMD Tahiti chip, the same one used in the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. The other difference is that the Boost Edition has newer firmware and different clock speeds.

Read more: MSI R7970 Lightning Boost Edition review: fastest HD 7970 yet @ Hardware.info

Oblanc NC2-2 U.F.O. Headphones @ Tech Reaction

Today we have the Oblanc U.F.O headphones on our review table. They sport a 50mm driver designed and tuned for acclaimed sound clarity and perfect range. Delivers a very rich stereo sound from your phone, laptop, or computer. Collapsible band, tangle-free cord, and in-line microphone with call control. The ear cups are big enough to fit over your entire ear for long and pleasurable use. Now lets’ kick this pig and get this review started.

Read more: Oblanc NC2-2 U.F.O. Headphones @ Tech Reaction

Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire TK Compact Mechanical Keyboard Review @ Proclockers

It seems that every manufacturer on the planet have altered their storyline to include a gaming brand. Rightfully so, as gamers and enthusiasts are the one to keep this desktop PC era continuing into the future, so why not cater to them with their own gear? One no has been as good at this as Cooler Master. There CM Storm line has been around longer than any other, I do believe. It started with cases and migrated to other components like mice, keyboard, surfaces and audio gear.

We will be taking a look at one of their latest keyboard called the QuickFire TK. The QuickFire TK is a compact gaming mechanical for those that maybe a little short of space or just simply wants a smaller keyboard for whatever reason. With the smaller size you do not have to give up features like the number pad or FN keys.

Read more: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire TK Compact Mechanical Keyboard Review @ Proclockers

LG IPS237L-BN review: entry-level IPS7 series monitor @ Hardware.info

A few months back we reviewed the LG IPS277L-BN, a 27-inch Full HD display of the highest quality. That was in part due to the factory calibration of the latest generation IPS panel from LG Display. LG recently sent over the smaller version in this 7 series, the IPS237L-BN. Not everyone has space for a 27-inch monitor or likes having a Full HD resolution on such a large display, so it makes sense to find out whether the more compact model is of equally high quality. It turns out that's not quite the case, but that doesn't mean that this isn't a very good monitor.

As the product name indicates, the LG IPS237L-BN also has an IPS panel. It means that the colour fidelity can potentially be very good, better than that of TN panels that you find in most monitors. The dominance of TN monitors will likely not last forever, as IPS screens are becoming more affordable and more widely available. The main reason to still opt for a TN monitor is that the response time is very fast, still unparallelled by IPS and other display technologies. Progress in that department is being made, however, with features such as overdrive.

We have reached the point, however, that you really only need a TN display if you consider yourself a true FPS 'twitch gamer'. When you put IPS and TN monitors next to each other, you're likely to choose the former. There's now more choice than ever when it comes to IPS displays.

Read more: LG IPS237L-BN review: entry-level IPS7 series monitor @ Hardware.info

AMD Trinity A10-5800K & GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 @ OCAU

AMD's Trinity APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) is not news - it was launched for laptops, as part of the 'Sabine' platform, in May last year. But more recently it has been released for desktop use, which makes it more interesting to enthusiasts. APU is a term coined by AMD to differentiate their long heralded 'Fusion' chips from the discrete equivalents they are built from - such as the FX line of CPU's, and Radeon line of GPU's.

Most users on OCAU enjoy gaming, so this review is concentrated on just that. Read on for: a brief recap of the new APU's, including the A10-5800K that will be tested, an introduction to a new chipset, an accompanying new motherboard from Gigabyte, some overclocking (including a little bit of dry ice, sub-zero OC), and then some gaming results.

Read more: AMD Trinity A10-5800K & GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 @ OCAU

New Sharkoon VS3 Case Series @ Warp2Search

The Standard models of the VS3 ATX case series offers three drive bays for optical drives and an externally accessible 3.5" drive bay. This can, as an example, be used for a card reader, fan controller or USB hub. Behind the LED fan illuminating the mesh front sits the option for either two 3.5" hard drives and a 2.5" hard drive/SSD or alternatively a 3.5" hard drive and two 2.5" hard drives/SSDs. The components can either be mounted vertically or horizontally within the compact case, in order to incorporate graphic cards with a maximum length of up to 35 cm. The maximum height of the CPU cooler is 15.5 cm. The interior is cooled by a pre-installed 120 mm LED fan on the front side of the interior painted case. Additional fans can be attached to the side panel and the rear of the cases. In the Standard Version, the VS3 case provides a ceiling mounting power supply bracket as well as a front I/O with two USB2.0 ports, a microphone and headset jack. The black ATX cases are offered with either chrome, green or red detailing. The front fan illuminates in the same color as the detailing, the chrome version has a pre-installed blue fan. In addition, it comes with seven slots for expansion cards, practical quick-locking mechanisms for optical drives as well as a decoupled mount for 3.5" hard drives. The case measures 427 x 190 x 420 mm (L x W x H) and weighs around 4 kg.

Read more: New Sharkoon VS3 Case Series @ Warp2Search

Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD Review @ TweakTown

The top performance tier of any market is a fascinating place. Performance in just about any task provides a clear point of reference to judge a product. The very best products tend to cost more than those further down the list and because of that, the very best products are not the most consumed.

Determining what products is the fastest is just one way to measure SSDs. Price and performance tend to get most of our attention here at TweakTown, but other factors, such as reliability and availability do factor in when we write a review.

In 2012, three products stood out as delivering the highest performance possible for the SATA III interface. SuperSSpeed's S301 SLC SSD has dropped off that list for today's review because the architecture doesn't support capacity sizes over 128GB. The price would also be an issue if it did as well. OCZ's Vector and Samsung's 840 Pro on the other hand are left and both products scale to 512GB.

Read more: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD Review @ TweakTown

Cooler Master Clutch @ Tech Reaction

Cooler Master sent us the Clutch to help clear some space up on the desk. It will store your MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in a vertical position to accomplish that. Not much else we can say about this here, so lets move on!

Read more: Cooler Master Clutch @ Tech Reaction

Lenovo Thinkpad Twist S230u Review @ Motherboards.org

Despite the fact devices like the iPad are rapidly evolving, gaining new features and functions with each generation, they still aren't acceptable PC replacements. Likewise, the typical PC hasn't been as portable and power efficient as a tablet. This has resulted in a marketplace that believes the tablet and notebook are mutually exclusive; with many users opting to carry both a notebook and a tablet. However, portable PC manufacturers are hoping the "tablet as a companion device" isn't what the market wants. Lenovo, Microsoft, and many others believe it can be one device. After all, why can't your PC be a tablet, too?

Some believe the PC industry was late to embrace tablets, but the reality is that Microsoft and companies like IBM were early pioneers. The Thinkpad X41 (pictured below) shipped in 2005, and was a 12.1" notebook/tablet hybrid running Windows XP Tablet Edition, eerily similar to the Thinkpad Twist in this review. The PC/Tablet hyrbid concept has always been sound---but the execution lackluster---thanks to the state of PC hardware. Performance and battery life are always a trade-off, but in that era, anything offering performance had a massive battery to generate three hours of run time, or your laptop suffered from terrible performance. Touch displays were either resistive or used a digitizer for stylus input, and were not the convenient multi-touch capacitive displays in use today.

Read more: Lenovo Thinkpad Twist S230u Review @ Motherboards.org

Google Nexus 4 Smartphone Review 2.0 @ TweakTown

My initial review of the Nexus 4 was very positive. But why don't we try something different here? We're going provide you with some thoughts on how it has been, two months after our review of LG and Google's very competitively priced - if you can find one - smartphone.

I was incredibly lucky at the time, even if it didn't feel like it, to score a Nexus 4 at launch. Remember, this isn't a review sample; I had to sit in front of my computer and smash my F5 key like the rest of you, in a very small 15 minute window, to secure one of these bad boys. Even now, I read on various forums and Reddit that people simply can't buy one still. This isn't the case everywhere, but we know that there just isn't enough stock of the Nexus 4 to meet demand. This happens, even to Apple, but it seems people want the Nexus 4, sometimes more than you see the crazy demand for the latest iPhone.

I've been using my Nexus 4 pretty much exclusively for the last two months as I haven't received many samples of other phones over the holiday period. I've taken it everywhere with me and it has become an increasingly important tool in my day to day life. You can say that about any smartphone, but when you have your digital life so intertwined with Google services, owning a device that provides you with the 'pure Android experience' does just that.

Read more: Google Nexus 4 Smartphone Review 2.0 @ TweakTown