Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

6 Useful Python Sorting Examples Using sorted Function
AMD A10-7850K (Kaveri) Review
Antec ISK600 Mini-ITX Case Review
Apple Mac Pro review: reinvention of the workstation
ASUS GTX 780 Ti Matrix Platinum Review
ASUS Maximus VII Impact Preview
Coolermaster Devastator Mouse and Keyboard Review
Corsair Force LX 256GB SSD Review
Crucial MX100 256GB SSD Review
KBParadise V60 Mini Keyboard Review
Linux Mint 17 Qiana - Take 1: Cinnamon + Nvidia
Linux professionals use tweak tools to customize their OS, and so can you
Mionix Nash 20 Gaming Headset Review
MSI GP60 2PE Leopard 15.6" Gaming Laptop Video Review
MSI GT60 Dominator Pro Gaming Laptop Review
Noctua NH-D15
Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler Review
PC Specialist Vortex GT Review
Plextor M6e 256GB M.2 PCIe SSDs in RAID – Hitting 1.4GB/s
SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD Review
SanDisk To Acquire Fusion-io
Surface Pro 3 review: The be-all, do-all tablet from Microsoft
The Harsh Reality of False Bait and Switch SSD Claims
The SSD Endurance Experiment: Casualties on the way to a petabyte
WaterField VertiGo and Sleevecase
XFX R9 280 Black Edition OC Review

6 Useful Python Sorting Examples Using sorted Function

A common idiom in programming is sorting a list. Python makes this a very simple task.

Read full article @ The Geek Stuff

AMD A10-7850K (Kaveri) Review

For years, AMD is pushing the idea of treating CPU and GPU equally when comes to computing power through the concept called “heterogenous computing”. After all, why would you waste all of the power and space in a PC if certain workload can be better suited for the GPU as oppose to CPU. Even better would be to have both CPU and GPU working concurrently in parallel to finish a task faster. AMD started talking about such concept with the Fusion platform in 2006 which leads to the company’s acquisition of ATI.

While the concept of heterogenous computing sounded good, getting there is not an easy task. To achieve such goal, it requires a fundamental redesigning of the processor. A lot of work and engineering is needed not just in the hardware but also software. AMD started moving toward true heterogenous computing slowly with the Brazo platform that put the CPU and GPU on the same chip. Then with the Llano, AMD integrated the Northbridge to the same chip and created the Radeon Memory Bus. Trinity/Richland, AMD fine-tuned the architecture and brings us Turbo Core, and allows the GPU to address the system memory.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

Antec ISK600 Mini-ITX Case Review

Antec is no stranger to the chassis market, with well respected products such as the Nine Hundred and Twelve Hundred series chassis. However, Antec has little to offer in the Mini-ITX market, with just the ISK100 and 300 series released thus far. Last November, Antec released the newest case in their Mini-ITX lineup, the ISK600. The small form factor ISK600 is designed to provide all the features any ITX builder would need without the price tag of other cases such as the Corsair Obsidian 250D and the BitFenix Prodigy. The ISK600′s main features include the ability to mount a standard ATX power supply, long graphics cards, up to five internal hard drives, and it comes with a decorative LED strip on the front panel. With the interest in small form factor PCs continuing to rise, it is imperative that new designs offer more to builders than the competition. But does the ISK600 have the features necessary to compete? In this article, Benchmark Reviews inspects the features of the Antec ISK600 and how they compare to the other popular choices in the Mini-ITX market.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Apple Mac Pro review: reinvention of the workstation

It does not happen very often that we come across a product that is so revolutionary that even we need time to get used to it. One of the manufacturers that often release products that are surprising is Apple, and with the new Mac Pro the company shows again exactly how innovative they can be.

An ashtray, a vase, an object of art, but definitely not a computer. Those were our initial reactions when we saw the Mac Pro for the first time. Especially when you can not see the rear of the Mac Pro you will not associate this with a computer at all. The design is revolutionary and as that is quite remarkable, especially for the conservative target market for workstations, powerful machines boasting prefessional graphics like the nVidia quadro cards or AMD's Firepro series, server class processors and memory and storage options usually found in servers as well.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

ASUS GTX 780 Ti Matrix Platinum Review

As NVIDIA’s Kepler architecture matures, board partners have become more familiar with the cores and are now launching their highly modified designs. This gradual progression is most evident in ASUS’s GTX 780 Ti Matrix Platinum Edition which is an engineering tour de force with a myriad of advanced features and a suitably spectacular price that is specifically targeted towards overclockers.

The Matrix series has a long and storied history. Generation after generation, these Republic of Gamers cards have been among the best available and are highly prized commodities due to their longevity and capabilities. This time around ASUS has quite a bit of competition to overcome though. EVGA’s GTX 780 Ti Classified, MSI’s Lightning, Galaxy’s Hall of Fame and GIGABYTE’s Super Overclock have either launched or are waiting in the wings and all of them are hoping to dethrone the Matrix series from its prized position. Naturally, ASUS isn’t taking this challenge lying down and the GTX 780 Ti Matrix Platinum Edition represents a culmination of countless engineering hours and plenty of enthusiast consultation. As a matter of fact, ASUS worked with some of today’s leading overclockers to create a prefect card for the needs of this exceedingly demanding niche.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

ASUS Maximus VII Impact Preview

If there is a motherboard this year, which makes each and every enthusiast, gamer or even overclocker listen closer, than it's the Maximus VII Impact from ASUS' ROG department. After having set a new trend for mini-ITX gaming rigs, ASUS now brings this form factor to the next level by releasing this feature packed and powerful mini-ITX board. Next to an extra powerful VRM design and an additional sound module, there are plenty of other features and obviously, we're going to show them all to you.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Coolermaster Devastator Mouse and Keyboard Review

Coolermaster and their gaming division CM Storm are a popular choice for PC gamers, with a wide range of cooling, chassis and peripheral products that have won virtually countless awards around the world at their disposal. CM Storm do offer a great range of premium products, but we all know that not everyone in the world has a premium sized budget when shopping for their peripherals, which is why CM Storm have created the Devastator. Priced at an average of just £30 the Devestator promises great value for money by bundling together both the MB24 keyboard and the MS2K mouse.

There are many reasons for wanting to save a few bucks at your local retailer, you may just be after a cheaper replacement, you may have spent all your money on a huge graphics card, or maybe your building a rig for your kids to play Minecraft and you don’t think splashing out on a £100 mechanical keyboard is the best course of action. What ever your reason, £30 for a mouse and keyboard combo from a well-known brand name is a tempting option, and today we hope to find out if it really is good value for money or not. CM Storm haven’t let us down with their budget friendly products in the past, so it will be interesting to see just how much you can get for your money at this price range.

The mouse, the MS2K comes fitted with an ergonomic body, a three speed optical sensor, large mouse wheel and rubber grips on the side for extra stability.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Corsair Force LX 256GB SSD Review

Today we review the Corsair Force LX 256GB SSD. Corsair recently released this new addition to their SSD lineup. The series is to compete with Samsung and Micron mostly, in both price and performance. The end result is a very capable and fast SSD that can keep up with the big guns in the market, yet remains priced in a sweet spot.

The LX line of solid-state storage units is actually a bit faster than most high-end drives made of NAND chips (20nm ONFI NAND) yet, is intended as the more affordable SSD series within the Corsair lineup. The SSDs are rated with a whopping 560 MB/s sequential read, running over the all too familiar SATA 6.0 Gbps connection interface. Interestingly however, a relatively unknown controller from Silicon Motion is being used. And as our results will show you, this controller can compete just fine. There is a 'but' though, and that will be write performance. See Corsair wanted to offer a REALLY competitive product price wise on the market, and as such, less components means less costs. Only 4 NAND ICs are needed for this product for the 128GB model (eight on the 256 GB model), so while the read performance is exceptionally good, less memory NAND channels means compromise in write performance.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Crucial MX100 256GB SSD Review

As one of the largest SSD manufacturers in the world, Crucial and parent company Micron has been making some huge moves with their SSD lineup, already introducing three new SSDs this year.

In the first half, Crucial launched the performance oriented Crucial M550 designed for enthusiasts while Micron launched the Micron M500DC designed for hyperscale and datacenter environments.

A couple weeks ago at Computex Taipei, Crucial made another huge announcement revealing the the new Crucial MX100 SSD.

Read full article @ Custom PC Review

KBParadise V60 Mini Keyboard Review

Our summer of keyboard reviews continues with another ultra compact “60%” layout. If you’re unfamiliar with this layout, you might want to check out our Poker II review first to familiarize yourself with it. This is the smallest layout that is relatively commonly sold, and achieves its small size by doing away with dedicated arrow keys, home keys, and even the F key row. Everything is still present; it’s just hidden under a function layer.

In our Poker II review, we ran into several issues with the layout. The fact that the arrow keys were under a layer of the WASD keys caused major issues with highlighting and editing text. The KBP V60 Mini addresses this issue directly, and in fact it’s essentially a direct response to the Poker II in many ways. Not only does it look similar and have a similar layout, many of the issues we had with the Poker II have been addressed here, in an attempt to make a viable alternative to the popular mini keyboard.

Read full article @ HCW

Linux Mint 17 Qiana - Take 1: Cinnamon + Nvidia

Here's a long and fairly enthusiastic review of Linux Mint 17 Qiana 64-bit edition with Cinnamon desktop environment, covering live session, installation in a dual-boot configuration and post-install use, including look & feel, Wireless (2.4GH & 5GHz), Bluetooth, Samba, multimedia playback - Flash and MP3, package management & updates, default and extra applications, customization and tweaks, Nvidia drivers, printing, stability, suspend & resume, resource usage, some minor and major bugs, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Linux professionals use tweak tools to customize their OS, and so can you

Where Windows has utilities, Linux has tweak tools. And whether you're a Linux pro or a recent refugee from Windows XP, they can help you makeA Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" (the latest and greatest offering from Linux distro pioneer Canonical) really start to feel like home.

Read full article @ Computerworld

Mionix Nash 20 Gaming Headset Review

Today I get to take a look at the latest headset from premium gaming peripheral manufacturer Mionix, the Nash 20. Mionix aren’t the biggest name in the industry for peripherals, but their reputation is incredible, anyone I know who has tried their products has been immediately converted to a fan of the brand, and that’s simply due to their attention to quality and performance, creating products suitable for the enthusiast PC user, without charging the kind of money often associated with that level of quality. Unfortunately for Mionix, their reputation is a tough one to live up to, with each new product I see from this brand I expect the same unwavering attention to detail, so I’m hoping to see something pretty special from the Nash 20 today.

The Nash 20 is priced at a little over £100, so it’s obviously a premium price product, and at this price range you’re obviously going to want to see a good return on your investment in terms of build quality, features and of course performance. As you can see from the quote below, Mionix takes their products pretty seriously so it will be interesting to see if it lives up to both their own standards and mine.

Read full article @ eTeknix

MSI GP60 2PE Leopard 15.6" Gaming Laptop Video Review

Today DaveChaos takes a look at the GP60 Leopard 15" Gaming Laptop from MSI. Watch the video review now.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven.com

MSI GT60 Dominator Pro Gaming Laptop Review

MSI's Dominator Pro GT60 packs two significant firsts. It's the first high-end gaming laptop we've reviewed with a HiDPI display (the GT60's 2880x1660 panel is the equal of the vaunted MacBook Pro's Retina display), and it's the first system we've looked at to sport NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 880M. MSI has also packed this system with a plethora of high-end components in a bid to challenge the dominance of more conventional boutique builders like Alienware.

We'll be comparing and contrasting the GT60 against the Alienware 17 we reviewed recently to give you a sense of how the two systems compare head to head. First, though, we want to talk about the specs MSI has brought to the table and the total system package...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Noctua NH-D15

With the NH-D15, Noctua once again takes their place, leading our charts. This cooler offers unprecedented cooling performance that makes all-in-one liquid coolers seem weak, especially considering that it does so while remaining whisper quiet.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler Review

A good cooling solution for the CPU is a must for casual and enthusiast users alike. Keeping the thermal load under control is always important to help achieve higher overclocks and ensure better component longevity. The choices available at reasonable cost consist mostly of air coolers and self-contained liquid cooling units. However, not all coolers are made equal, especially when we talk about air cooling. Noctua knows this better than anyone since they produced the legendary NH-D14 which brought great cooling performance without high noise levels. But this was almost five years ago, and the title of "King of the Air Coolers" needs to be claimed again.

Today I will take a look at the latest offering from Noctua, the NH-D15. The direct successor to the NH-D14 and no less shy for it, this massive air cooler comes with an extensive list of improvements and dare we say the distinct touch of Austrian engineering. Through the next few pages, I will try to determine whether or not the NH-D15 can live up to its venerable predecessor.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

PC Specialist Vortex GT Review

Thin gaming laptops are all the rage in the PC industry right now, as manufacturers attempt to outdo one another with svelte machines offering a level of performance that belies their form factor.

Gigabyte's P34G, XMG's C703, MSI's GS60 2PC Ghost and the Aorus X7 are all recent examples, and though they each offered a substantial amount of hardware in a relatively thin profile, they weren't necessarily cheap, with prices ranging from roughly £1,200 to £1,700.

In this business, thin tends to mean expensive, and does the size of the chassis really matter that much to gamers? PC Specialist reckons performance and value are more pertinent criteria and is hedging its bets with the 15.6in Vortex GT, priced at £999.

Read full article @ Hexus

Plextor M6e 256GB M.2 PCIe SSDs in RAID – Hitting 1.4GB/s

Last week we found the Plextor M6e 256GB M.2 PCI Express SSD to be pretty damn fast, but we really wanted to see what happened when we got two drives running in RAID. The Plextor M6e PCIe M.2 SSD is a PCIe Gen 2.0 x2 device is available in 128, 256 and 512GB capacities and is factory rated as having up to 770MB/s sequential read and 625 MB/s sequential write speeds. . If you happened to put two of these drives together to create a RAID0 array, you are talking about having over 1.4GB/s on the sequential read speeds. You’d need at least three leading SATA III 6Gbps drives to hit those speeds...

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD Review

Last week at Computex, SanDisk announced its latest and greatest in consumer solid state drives, the SanDisk Extreme Pro 6Gbps SSD. Targeting gamers, PC enthusiasts and media professionals, the Extreme Pro boasts performance consistency, as well as all around speed increase from its last round of consumer SSDs. Fortunately for us, SanDisk provided 240, 480 and 960GB samples of the Extreme Pro SSD for our review on return to Canada. Well, it’s our first weekend back and here we work on the SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD Review.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

SanDisk To Acquire Fusion-io

It looks like the SSD industry is going through some serious consolidation. Only a couple of weeks ago, Seagate announced that they have acquired LSI's flash division (i.e. SandForce) from Avago and today SanDisk announced that they will be acquiring Fusion-IO for $1.1 billion cash. Fusion-IO focuses on enterprise flash products (both hardware and software) and is probably one of the most iconic enterprise SSD companies because Facebook has been one of their major revenue sources for years and of course having Steve Wozniak as the Chief Scientist has given

Read full article @ Anandtech

Surface Pro 3 review: The be-all, do-all tablet from Microsoft

The Surface Pro 3 is a magnificent piece of engineering - but is Microsoft's large tablet a device that can truly replace your laptop? We put it to the test to see if it lives up to its promise.

Read full article @ Neowin

The Harsh Reality of False Bait and Switch SSD Claims

It seems that the world of technology has stopped with allegations that some SSD companies are pulling the old ‘bait and switch’ routine in their SSDs by switching off components that many had recognized through initial SSD reviews. We have read several reports and forums, most of which simply repeat the original information, and finally have decided to clarify things just a bit from our perspective. Get ready though as many may not like our viewpoint; it goes against the grain somewhat.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

The SSD Endurance Experiment: Casualties on the way to a petabyte

We started our SSD Endurance Experiment with six SSDs. Now, after an astounding one petabyte of writes, only three of the drives remain. Join us for a closer look at how the casualties failed and how the survivors are holding up.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

WaterField VertiGo and Sleevecase

When I picked up a new laptop this year, I had a strict set of requirements for a new laptop bag. I wanted something that matched the portability of my new Yoga 2 Pro, something that was different from the standard run of the mill bags, and something that fit the laptop perfectly. Surprisingly trying to find a laptop bag that fit an ultrabook was a lot harder than I thought, most manufactures ignore the laptop thickness and just size by the screen size. I did run across a company called WaterField that makes a wide variety of bags, including bags to fit my laptop. Today I’m going to take a look at their VertiGo Travel Bag and a Sleevecase to keep my Yoga 2 Pro nice and safe.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

XFX R9 280 Black Edition OC Review

With the recent slowdown in new graphics card technologies we find the annual price wars starting to gear up. One of the most highly contested areas is the mid-range segment. Quite often we see a re-hash in model numbers - by this we mean re-badging an existing graphics card to make it appear new. Both AMD and NVIDIA are guilty of this practice and to be fair it makes perfect marketing sense. The enthusiast consumer usually yearns for the latest hardware and it is with this thought that a cunning but simple re-fresh of existing models proves both efficient and cost-effective as it uses up existing silicon while supplementing and supporting current gen product family. Like it or not, neither AMD nor NVIDIA are likely to massively reduce 'last year’s stock' when they can keep the price artificially high by a re-badge and BIOS flash.

Read full article @ Vortez