Sony KDL-20S4000 - 20” Widescreen Bravia HD Ready LCD TV - With Freeview
with Integrated Digital Tuner
Customer Review: Very good all rounder
I too looked at this telly in comparison with the Samsung model, as a replacement for my 17-year-old Sony Trinitron bedroom TV. Comparing the two side by side in the local Currys my perception was that the Samsung had the better picture quality; however this may have been due to the signal in the shop or the slightly smaller picture size of the Samsung. Anyhow, I decided on the Sony due to the easy-to-use EPG for the digital tuner; my Sony set-top-box I use on my outdated CRT TV has proved excellent in this respect, and I hoped that this would be carried over to the in-built tuner.
Consequently ease of use and functionality are excellent, with a simple EPG which shows all channels and whats on now and over the next 2 hours. Brilliant. There are a couple of things I’m not too keen on, rather than taking up linespace I’ve compiled a list of pros and cons.
Pros
- EPG functions, best one I’ve used.
- Picture quality (when it warms up)
- Sound quality
- Sony reliability (if my 17-year-old previous telly was an example)
Cons
- Selection of a channel from the EPG also prompts a ‘tune’ or ‘record’ function. This seems unnecessary if it’s the current program, imho, I’d rather have direct access.
- Colours are a bit too bright for me, and there is no colour adjustment, apart from a three-position setting.
- It seems to take a while to ‘warm-up’ to the best picture.
- The quoted viewing angle is 178degrees, true, but at the extremities the picture is (at best) washed out. View full-on if possible!
These are all a bit nit-picking, and shows how good the overall performance of the TV is. Recommended!
Customer Review: Well worth the money!
I too (bizarrely) was also using a Samsung 17″ LCD TV connect to a freeview box and an XBox 360. Sound was pretty bad and the picture wasn’t great with red colours showing up with this lattice pattern…
Roll on this new 20″ HD TV and goodness! The 360 goes in via component now (rather than through the RCA plugs) and its like a breath of fresh air! That and the fantastic inbuilt digital tuner with DVB so you can always see what’s on.
It also has a PCMCIA slot in the side, so if you decide you want to buy one of those Pay As You Go TV cards, you can use one, or hook up any HDMI device to the back of it.
Oh and wall mounting it took all of 10 minutes.
All in all a fantastic HDTV! Go buy one now! I didn’t buy one from here, but rather from a local dealer for ?369.99 down from the RRP which is ?480. When I saw Amazon’s price I almost wept… Ah well..!
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This portable model includes two built-in cooling fans for reducing the internal heat of hot-running notebooks.
List Price: $35.99
Amazon Price: $25.40
Used Price: $21.31
Customer Review: Not always quiet…
This laptop cooler does what it is supposed to do…keep the unit cool. About 80 percent of the time it’s virtually silent, however for some reason it occasionally begins to buzz as if the fan motors have bad bearings but then it goes quiet again. It’s a little irritating when it happens and I was considering returning it but I’ve gotten used to it and will probably just see where it goes. I use it with a 15″ laptop so it’s not a weight issue or at least I don’t think it is. Also it has no provision to tilt so the laptop is raised off the desk surface by about an inch but I’m not a touch typist so it’s not a problem for me however you may want to keep this in mind if you are.
Customer Review: Does the job
Considering the price and size, this is a great gadget. The only power source you need for it is a USB hookup to your laptop, so make sure you have a USB port to spare. My Toshiba laptop was constantly freezing due to overheating (apparently a common problem in Toshibas), and my friend suggested I get this. I’ve only had the freezing problem once since using this product.
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Take a load off your shoulders when you’re racing for your plane with the sleekly designed and ultra-portable Sony Vaio VGN-TZ160N/B notebook PC. Weighing just 2.7 pounds, it offers a sleek, durable carbon-fiber case in charcoal black and a unique rounded hinge design. (Carbon fiber, the same material used on jets and sports cars to keep them lightweight yet sturdy, is much stronger than the magnesium used on standard notebooks.) And with 4 to 7.5 hours of standard battery life, it has the stamina to power you through your most demanding applications. It also includes a redesigned keyboard that balances a smart, sophisticated look with user-friendly touch and feel, and an 11.1-inch LCD using Sony’s XBRITE-HiColor technology with an energy-saving white LED backlight for brilliant colors and added clarity.
Sony takes security serious, and this laptop employs a biometric fingerprint sensor to ensure your data is protected from unauthorized use. It also stores passwords to secure web sites you visit, so authentication and access are quick and easy–you only need your fingerprint. With the integrated wireless WAN, you can access the national Sprint Mobile Broadband service (subscription required) to extend your wireless coverage beyond LAN access networks and hotspots, giving you the freedom to go farther, do more, and stay connected.
It’s powered by the 1.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo ULV (Ultra-Low Voltage) U7500 processor from the newest “”Santa Rosa”" line of chips. It offers an optimized, multithreaded architecture for improved gaming and multitasking performance as well as low power consumption for longer battery life. It includes Intel’s 4965 AGN wireless LAN, which will connect to draft 802.11n routers and offers compatibility with 802.11a/b/g networks as well. Other features include a shock-resistant 100 GB hard drive, 2 GB of installed RAM (maximum capacity), Bluetooth wireless capability (for connecting to peripherals such as PDAs, cell phones, and printers), dual-layer DVD burner, Gigabit Ethernet, and a Memory Stick PRO reader.
The preinstalled Microsoft Windows Vista Business features a new user interface, named Windows Aero, that makes it easy to navigate through the operating system and from application to application. For instance, Windows Aero helps you juggle multiple tasks at once by providing a three-dimensional, real-time, animated view of all your open applications and documents. Vista also integrates new search tools throughout the operating system, includes new parental control features, and offers new tools that can warn you of impending hardware failures.
The Basics
- Processor: The Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 processor offers a 1.06 GHz speed paired with a fast 533 MHz front-side bus and large 2 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system’s performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.) Part of Intel’s “Santa Rosa” lineup of chips, this ULV processor is designed for high performance and low power consumption–perfect for advanced multi-tasking, and 4 to 7.5 hours of standard battery life on a single charge.
- Hard Drive: The 100 GB UltraATA hard drive (4200 RPM) is average in size for notebook PCs–but a bit larger than you’ll find in comparable ultra-light notebooks. It offers more than enough capacity for storing documents and productivity software for road warriors. You’ll also be able to store a good-sized digital audio library.
The G-Sensor Shock Protection feature makes your data even less vulnerable to loss or damage. When the built-in 3-D acceleration sensor detects a risky movement like being dropped, the HDD-head will lock up to secure its position and protect the disc from scratching. An intelligent algorithm, unique to VAIO PCs, judges whether or not a movement is risky, activating disk drive protection only when your hardware is at risk.
- Memory: This laptop has two memory slots and comes loaded with 2 GB of DDR SDRAM (PC4200, 533 MHz DDR RAM; 2 x 1024 MB), which maximizes the capacity of this PC.
- DVD/CD Drive: The dual-layer DVD drive is compatible with a wide range of formats, including both DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, CD-RW discs, and dual-layer (DL) DVD+/-R discs, which can hold up to 8.5 GB of data–great for backing up your MP3 collection or your most important documents. It features the following speeds: 4x for DVD+R DL, 4x for DVD-R DL, 8x for both single layer DVD+R/-R, 8x for single layer DVD+RW, 6x for single layer DVD-RW, and 24x/16x for CD-R/RW. It reads DVD-ROM discs at 8x and CD-ROMs at 24x.
- Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 82-key keyboard (1.7mm stroke and 17mm pitch) and electro-static two-button touchpad. Designed for ease of use and a smart, sophisticated look, the individual keys are slightly raised, producing a user-friendly touch and feel to the keyboard that creates an improved typing experience. In addition, an extra support layer has been added below the bezel to increase the structural integrity of the keyboard and add stability to the keys, giving them an unwavering up-down motion and making for quieter typing.
Screen, Video & Audio
The 11.1-inch XBRITE-HiColor LCD with white LED backlight has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels–perfect for watching movies in their intended 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Sony’s innovative backlight technology offers lower power consumption for improved battery life and provides incredibly high brightness levels, amplifying colors and creating clear, crisp pictures that truly “”pop”" off the LCD. The result: an amazing 72% color saturation for deeper blacks, brighter whites, true-to-life color and razor-sharp detail. And, with the anti-reflective coating to minimize reflection while providing a wide viewing angle, you’ll enjoy a beautifully clear image from almost any angle.
Sony’s Smart Display Sensor feature instantly adjusts resolution when you connect to a display or projector. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 224 MB of total graphics memory from the system memory. Audio is powered by Sony’s Sound Reality audio enhancer.
Networking, Connectivity & Expansion
Be ready for the next platform in wireless connectivity with the integrated Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965 AGN LAN chip. Based on the draft 802.11n Wi-Fi specification, it offers up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range as existing 802.11g wireless. It’s also backward compatible with 802.11b/g networks (commonly found in home routers and Wi-Fi hotspots) as well as 802.11a networks (which has a higher throughput, but more limited range–great for closed office environments). This notebook also features Sony’s SmartWi technology, which seamlessly integrates wireless Wide Area Network (WAN), office/home Wi-Fi LAN, and Bluetooth technologies, enabling you to toggle among your wireless connectivity options depending on your surroundings. Sprint’s Mobile Broadband high-speed EV-DO service (software included, subscription requires) enables you to extend your wireless coverage beyond LAN access networks and wireless hotspots, helping you to keep connected without having to hunt for a Wi-Fi coffee shop.
With the Bluetooth connectivity, you can communicate and synchronize with Bluetooth-enabled peripherals such as PDAs and cell phones. This notebook also includes a next-generation ExpressCard 34 card slot (replacing the PCMCIA slot), which lets you take advantage of thinner, faster, and lighter expansion cards for even more advanced wireless, networking, storage, and security features. Here’s the full list of connection options:
- 2 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals–from digital cameras to MP3 players
- 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
- 1 ExpressCard/34 slot
- 1 VGA monitor out
- Stereo headphones/speakers/line-out
- Microphone/line-in
- Memory Stick slot (with MagicGate functionality)
- Secure Digital memory card slot (also compatible with MMC cards)
It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a Gigabit Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).
Operating System
The Windows Vista Business operating system is designed to meet the needs of business organizations of all sizes. For small businesses, Windows Vista Business will help keep PCs running smoothly and more securely so you will be less reliant on dedicated IT support. For larger organizations, Windows Vista Business provides dramatic new infrastructure improvements, enabling your IT staff to spend less time focused on the day-to-day maintenance of PCs. An array of sophisticated new backup technologies helps protect your information even in the event of a catastrophic hardware failure. And Windows Vista Business has a new user interface, named Windows Aero, which is designed to deliver new levels of efficiency for any business user. This new interface makes it easy to navigate through the operating system and from application to application. For instance, Windows Aero helps you juggle multiple tasks at once by providing a three-dimensional, real-time, animated view of all your open applications and documents.
Every edition of Windows Vista provides the essential tools and technologies to help protect you whether you are browsing the Internet, connecting to a wireless network, or just reading e-mail. All editions of Windows Vista include new tools that can warn you of impending hardware failures long before you have lost any important personal data. And, all Windows Vista editions include parental control features that allow you to manage and monitor your family’s use of games, the Internet, instant messaging, and other activities.
Preloaded Software
Includes Sony Click to DVD (for easy DVD creation), Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office 2007 (60-day trial), Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007 (with 60 days of Live Update), SmartWi, LocationFree Player.
Dimensions & Weight
This notebook measures 10.9 x 7.8 x 1.17 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 2.7 pounds.
Power
It’s powered by the VGP-BPL11 rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of between 4 and 7.5 hours (depending on usage).
What’s in the Box
This package contains the VGN-TZ160N/B notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty, and Sony offers 1-year of toll-free telephone technical assistance.
List Price: $2,279.99
Amazon Price: $1,899.99
Customer Review: Small, Beautiful, Almost Perfect
When you buy a Sony laptop, think two things: Beautiful and expensive. This machine delivers both. When I first opened the small box, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the complete miniturization of everything, including the AC adaptor (thanks Sony!). Even though the keyboard is smaller, I found it comfortable to type on, similar to a Macbook. The screen is gorgeous! This laptop is quiet, thanks to an SSD 32 GB “hard diskless” configuration. This laptop does not generate anywhere the amount of heat I have forcibly had to get used to. It gets warm, but not hot. There’s always a negative with laptops, and with this machine it’s disk space. I’m telling you, they couldn’t fit another third party trial application on this machine. Sony exec are whores. Beautiful and expensive whores, but whores nonetheless. I’m pretty sure I could get my application bundled into the next Vaio if I tried hard enough. Anyway, back to the facts. Start with a 32 GB SSD, which is really 30.7 in real life (nasty little Gigabyte to Megabyte to byte conversion - - - 1024 bytes vs. 1MB - - so you lose 24 bytes per MB in real life). OK, so take off 8 GB off the 30.7 because they don’t include recovery disks, they created a “recovery partition” on the laptop itself, so you’re down to say 22 GB. Vista is a hog, and so MS Office 2007, and so is the biometric fingerprint reader software and so is the adware, the trialware, the multimedia software, the Click to CD software, etc, etc, etc ….. Whew… You’re left with about 8 GB of hard drive space … I don’t know about you and your usage, but 8 GB (to start out with!) is practically nothing. This does not work for me. Maybe it will for you, but not me. So what do you do ……….. Downgrade your new Vaio to Windows XP. Ouch! The Vista screen is so nice and beatiful though. Isn’t this what we paid for? No. We paid to have a small fast beautiful machine. And unfortunately, Vista is just not ready for primetime, therefore, the best move you can make is to go to NotebookReview.com forums reading up and spend a day downgrading your system. Afterwards, everything (well, mostly everything) will work as before, and instead of running into deadends trying to get your old applications to work with Vista, you’ll be with using tried and true, XP, and you’ll have 20 GB of space instead of 8 GB. ** Caution ** - - - remember to create Recovery Disks beforehand (it’s easy and takes 2 DVDs). In conclusion, this machine is sweet, and if you can be happy with not a lotta storage or you can make it through a downgrade, you will love this laptop.
Customer Review: Despite popular belief this subnotebook is best ever..
First of all I was really skeptical on this model, especially when I had just bought the cheaper version TZ150 with 1.06Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM and 100GB 4200rpm HDD. I used the TZ150 for approximately 2h trying to remove all the bloatware that Sony decided to install (apparently an issue with all US/NA Sony laptops) and at the end gave up.. Way too slow, to the point it was unusable. Took it back to BestBuy got charged 15% restocking fee and after reading lots of reviews online I decided to order the faster brother TZ190N.. Let me start by saying the 32GB SSD has 0.3ms access time, making it BLAZING fast.. Adobe Photoshop CS3 opens up in 5 seconds flat, Microsoft office 2007 is as fast as on my quad-core desktop and in general the performance boost from the faster processor, faster SSD and 2GB RAM make it amazingly fast and usable.. I recommend doing a clean Vista install to lose all the sony bloatware and install the drivers from Sony’s site. Granted you’ll waste an evening doing that, but your laptop & yourself will thank you.. Amazing battery life, love the keyboard and the screen is gorgeous. I could do with larger SSD but remember this is NOT a desktop replacement and SSD prices are skyrocket high. I’m very very pleased and if I had to chose I’d buy it again!!
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NETDEFEND VPN FIREWALL 210
Pictured above is the AD10 DIN mounted Appliance Module. This module mounts in a standard UK consumer unit, and can be used to control a variety of devices. The AD10 can be used to control household lighting, outside lights, security lights, flourescant lights, water values or even a mains outlet (thereby allowing you to control washing machines and dish washers). The unit may also be controlled manually by wiring a mains switch to it (either a standard UK light switch or even better by using mains capable momentary push switchs, plus of course, by an X10 transmitter.
The Cisco PIX 515E Security Appliance delivers a wealth of advancedsecurity and networking services for small-to-medium business andenterprise networks in a modular purpose-built appliance. Itsversatile one-rack unit (1RU) design supports up to six 
Somebody stole it. Its menu is fast as H*** and it has perfect sound and image as well as easy to use menu. The reason i did not appreciate is that much when i had it was that i could not capture pictures and that the “plug” of my hearphones broke in the phone and i couldn’t play any games or listen to the radio and my MP3 in private without disturbing others. but now i am concidering very seriously to buy it again because i am bored of all the new 
