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- Buying Guide: 5 of the best HD 5770 graphics cards tested
- Review: Webroot Internet Security Complete
- 10 best Dashboard widgets for OS X
- Review: Norton Internet Security 2011
- Review: Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac Edition
| Buying Guide: 5 of the best HD 5770 graphics cards tested Posted: 30 Oct 2010 05:00 AM PDT  Sure, we all get excited by the prospect of the latest lightning fast graphics cards, with their rather ridiculous power requirements and sexeh numbers in the GPU specs sheet. How many of us, though, are willing to drop half a month's salary on a card that will be obsolete by the time the transaction hits our bank statements? So what we want is a card that offers the latest tech, and decent performance on realistic settings and all for a justifiable price. AMD's HD 5770 then is one of your best bets, representing the Texan company's best mid-range card to date. The 5770 is, however, an odd prospect right now. Related article: 15 best graphics cards in the world today On the one hand, you will get functionality that supports DX11 and its suite of goodies, such as hardware tessellation and improved multi-threading support. However, as the first mid-ranger with true DX11 capability, we have to remind ourselves that it's just that: a mid-range card. The extra features offered by DX11 require a resource overhead, and when you add in anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, that's an awful lot for a sub-£150 card to do. We've got a mixture here of standard, stock-clocked cards, funky single-slot versions and a few overclocked beasties too to whet your appetite. Pre-overclocked cards though are always a bit of a gamble, and the penny turns on a number of factors. How overclockable is the GPU in the first instance? Does it offer much headroom to the manufacturer? The same goes for the memory. And the price of overclocking at a hardware level, as we all know, is heat generation, which often means an extra premium for a special non-standard cooler that's needed. Eyefinity too is an interesting prospect, with all but the single-slot XFX offering it. The Sapphire cards offer the latest in fourway Eyefinity and if you're after a massive piece of four-monitor real-estate to run your apps, or to spread video output around multiple screens throughout the house, then it's worth a look. But that versatility doesn't stretch to multiple-screen gaming, as the benchmarks highlight. Still, this is all about mid-range gaming, so how do they stack up? XFX HD 5770 - £116
In most tests, the XFX offers equivalent performance to the bulk of the 5770s we tested. Worth noting is that it scored the lowest in our Heaven 2.1 tessellation benchmark, but only by 0.1fps. We'd likely attribute this to the smaller, slightly less-powerful cooler allowing the heat – and resistance – to rise. But in real-world gaming terms, its marginally lower scores in some tests are unnoticeable; the competition really is that close. Verdict: 4.5/5 Read the full XFX HD 5770 review MSI HD 5770 - £133
Out of the box, and like most 5770s, the HAWK offers decent midrange performance. It's swings and roundabouts if we're honest, the card performed slightly better in Just Cause 2 and middle and high resolutions, slightly worse in Far Cry 2, and DiRT 2, but not by any humanly perceivable margin. Verdict: 4/5 Read the full MSI HD 5770 review Gigabyte HD 5770 Super Overclock - £140
It's perfectly reasonable to say that, out of the five 5770's we pitted against each other using the same benchmarks, the Gigabyte Super Overclock is the winner in performance terms. But to call it a clear winner is something of a stretch. The mid-range Juniper GPU is only really capable of so much throughput, and there's the HD 5770's middling memory bandwidth to take into account as well. Verdict: 4/5 Read the full Gigabyte HD 5770 Super Overclock review HIS HD 5770 - £122
The HIS HD 5770 offers gaming performance that is largely equivalent to the other 5770s we've tested. It performed about as well as any other in our Heaven 2.1 high-end tessellation tests, slightly better than most in Just Cause 2 at 1,680 x 1,050, although it was the worst performer in Far Cry 2 at the same resolution, which seems odd. However, that performance differential is so marginal – less than a frame per second – as to be negligible. In real-world terms you won't notice the difference. Verdict: 4/5 Read the full HIS HD 5770 review Sapphire HD 5770 Flex Edition - £153
Sapphire's HD 5770 is a decent mid-ranger that offers all the benefits the 5000-series family has to offer. As well as exploiting the DX11 effects-suite, it also makes AMD's EyeFinity multi-screen technology a possibility, with the option to attach more screens than the average card. And that's fine if you're after some kind Adrian Zeidt multi-screen desktop, running apps and movies. But does it have the grunt to play games smoothly at the potentially massive resolutions offered by two, three or even four screens? Not really. Verdict: 4/5 Read the full Sapphire HD 5770 Flex Edition review Technical analysis We've tested five HD 5770s from the leading manufacturers against each other to see which hits the price/performance sweetspot when it comes to mid-range and high-end gaming. We also cranked the settings up (HDR, anti-aliasing, reflections etc) even at middling resolutions, to see just how capable these cards really are. All of the benchmark results here are at the full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080.
If you're looking to grab a 5770, then the combination of the highest settings with so many pixels is going to stretch the capabilities of this GPU, so you should see these figures as something of a worst case scenario. Ease back on the anti-aliasing for one, and you'll get a noticable boost to your framerates. It's not a bad core by any means though... 
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| Review: Webroot Internet Security Complete Posted: 30 Oct 2010 03:30 AM PDT  Webroot, an internet security firm founded in 1997, has just released its comprehensive Internet Security Complete 2011 suite for protecting your computer from online threats. With its simple, friendly interface and generous online storage, it is well worth considering. Installation is quick and easy, and followed by an initial scan of your laptop's hard drive. From this point on the software works in the background, informing you of any threats or attempts to access your network. Updates are automatically downloaded and hazardous files are picked up instantly with a warning message. The dashboard is clean and simple and not as intimidating as Norton's front end. Any problems are obvious thanks to the red and green colour coding. You can run a scan at any time or schedule one for the future, although scans are performed automatically by default at unobtrusive times. You also have quick access to internet or phone support and can set up an account with Webroot which gives you access to a generous 10GB of online storage for backing up and synchronising your files with two other computers. Webroot automatically adds a toolbar to your default internet browser, which allows you to store log-in and password information for your favourite websites. You can also store personal details and card information, which is then automatically entered into online forms. For added security, all sites are checked out for potential threats before you access them and any attachments you receive are scanned before download. However, there are no parental controls for keeping tabs on your childrens' browsing habits. Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 offers comprehensive protection for your laptop, both online and offl ine, and the sharing and syncing features are an added bonus. Only the omission of parental controls lets it down. Related Links
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| 10 best Dashboard widgets for OS X Posted: 30 Oct 2010 03:00 AM PDT  Dashboard – the screen of widgets that gives you all sorts of information – arrived in Mac OS X 10.4 amid much fanfare, but has become something of a forgotten feature. It remains incredibly useful though. You can view it by pressing F4 on new Mac keyboards, or by clicking its icon next to the Finder in the Dock. You get some widgets as standard, including a unit converter, iCal and a weather forecaster. But there are thousands more online. Here we'll cover 10 of the best. They come as WDGT files – just double-click them to install. Once a widget's loaded, flip it over by clicking i to view settings. 1. RSS Reader
Dashboard could never replace your regular newsfeed software, but if there are a few feeds you'd like to keep a closer eye on, this widget is great. Simply add the newsfeed address and it'll display the top headlines. Click one to read the story in your web browser. You can add multiple feeds too – navigate between them using the arrows at the top. Unfortunately, there's no Google Reader integration. 2. iStat nano
Great for keeping on top of how your Mac is running. With information from fan speed to the temperature of your hard drive, it's all there at a glance. The main Overview gives you key details. Hover over it to select another category, each of which gives you even more in-depth stats of how things are ticking. 3. Net_Remote Social
This one's simplicity itself, but we love it. The chunky buttons give you instant access to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, Gmail, WordPress, Yahoo and AIM websites. Just click the one you want to fire up in your browser – so your blog and favourite social networking sites are literally just a click away. 4. Twitter Search
Love Twitter and want to know what people are saying about a certain topic or user? If you want to run a quick search on Twitter, there's no faster way than to pop the word or words you're looking for into this unassuming little widget and it'll pop up the results for you in your web browser. You can search for keywords, hashtags and usernames by using the respective # and @ symbols. 5. Tea Timer
Ever left your pizza cooking in the oven, come back to your Mac and forgotten about dinner burning away? This widget gives you a food timer. Flip it over to enable alarms, set a sound and voice and tick Keep Alarming. Then go back, click where it says Tea and type in what you're timing. Enter the duration below, then press Play. 6. MightyMonitor
There's nothing more frustrating than when the batteries in your wireless keyboard, mouse or trackpad run out while you are working, or as you're about to finish that level you've been trying to complete for hours. This widget gives you battery readings for your input devices, so you'll know when power's running low. 7. Delivery Status
If you order lots of gear over the internet, you'll know exactly how frustrating it can be having to check the delivery status of each item across multiple websites. Now you no longer have to do this – simply add the details of your order or a tracking number to the widget and it will keep you updated on progress and provide a delivery estimate. It covers your orders from Amazon, Apple, Google Checkout and more, plus packages sent by Royal Mail, Parcelforce, Citylink, TNT and many others. 8. RefurbMe
Refurbished Macs are a great way to nab yourself a Mac that's as good as new, but at a knocked-down price. But there isn't an endless supply of refurbs. This widget enables you to keep an eye on what's on offer, so that when something tasty comes up, you can pounce. Decide whether you're after a Mac, iPod or iPhone at the top, and choose your country's Apple Store from the drop-down at the bottom. 9. UK Motorway News
Do a lot of motorway driving? If so, this little widget gives you an at-a-glance view of the state of play on your commute, meaning you can plan an alternative route if things are looking congested. Flip it over and choose a particular motorway, or leave the box blank to see how things are moving across the entire UK motorway network. Click one of the incidents to be taken to the BBC travel page to find out more. 10. WordReference.com
While Dashboard comes with a translation widget, this one goes far beyond what the former does. Tapping into the extensive WordReference.com website, it can translate from English to 15 languages, and even between some of those tongues. It gives you all the possible translations, showing words in context as well as compound forms. 
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| Review: Norton Internet Security 2011 Posted: 30 Oct 2010 03:00 AM PDT  In a recent worldwide survey, security firm Symantec discovered that two thirds of us have been victims of cybercrime. Norton Internet Security 2011 is Symantec's latest version of the world famous security suite and is built to detect and eliminate any viruses, malware and other threats that attempt to infect your system, keeping you and your family safe when browsing the internet. Internet Security automatically starts in the background when your laptop is booted, with no detrimental effect on performance and no prolonged boot times. We copied some potentially hazardous files on to our laptop and Internet Security immediately found and removed them. A firewall helps to prevent worms and other nasties from externally accessing your laptop, while email protection detects any dodgy attachments you might receive. Users of Microsoft Outlook also have access to an anti-spam filter. Loading the Internet Security dashboard gives you access to a range of tools, including a drive scanner which checks for hidden viruses. Subsequent scans are quick, as only new and altered files are examined. Your applications can also be checked for possible threats and to see how much memory they are hogging. Internet Security keeps you safe online by warning you of any potentially fraudulent websites, and detecting vulnerabilities in your web browser. An Identity Safe tool stores your personal details, credit/debit card information and passwords in a secure fashion and automatically fills in online forms. Internet Security also has parental controls to prevent your kids seeing something they shouldn't online. Norton Internet Security 2011 is a sleek update of one of the world's biggest security software suites. It runs quietly in the background, as security software should, and is no longer a massive system hog. Each copy comes with a year's subscription to Norton updates, and 24/7 phone support. Related Links
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| Review: Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac Edition Posted: 30 Oct 2010 02:30 AM PDT  Following the increased popularity of Apple's MacBook laptops, Parallels has aimed to make it easier than ever for Windows users to move to a Mac with its Desktop 6 Switch To Mac Edition software/hardware solution. Combining Parallels Desktop for Mac software – letting you install Windows as a separate application within Apple's OS X operating system – with a high-speed USB cable for transferring your entire Windows installation, data and programs, switching to a Mac has never been easier. Once the software has been installed on both your Windows-based laptop and your new Mac, you connect both machines via the included cable and can then migrate your entire Windows installation to your Mac in less than 20 minutes. With the migration complete, your old Windows installation can then be opened in a separate window directly from within the Mac OS X operating system. Allowing access to all your favourite Windows software, fi les and folders alongside your new Mac software, it truly is the easiest way we've seen for a Windows user to comfortably migrate to a Mac. As well as accessing Windows as a virtual machine within its own window, Parallels takes its simplicity a huge step further thanks to its Coherence mode. Running Windows in the background, it allows you to open and use your Windows software as if they were native Mac applications – again working seamlessly. If you do not want to import an old Windows installation and merely wish to install and run a second operating system on your Mac, then Parallels also allows that. Using your OS installation disc, the process is as simple as migrating an old laptop. While more complex setting are automated, you can override them to configure settings as you wish. Smooth integration Whichever method you use to install your second – or third, or fourth etc – operating system, the integration between it and your OS X software is smooth and easy to use. Files and folders can be dragged back and forth between each OS and, in most cases, the virtual machine immediately detects and utilises your internet connection with no input required. Finally, Parallels also lets you control your virtual machines remotely from your Apple iPhone, iPad or even your iPod Touch. Accessed via the Parallels Mobile Application, all you need to do is ensure that both your Mac and your mobile device are connected to the internet. Providing an intuitive and staggeringly easy way for new Apple users to migrate to a Mac laptop, Parallels Desktop 6 demonstrates how all software should be – accessible and great to use. Related Links
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