Latest Posts in From the Lab

Review: OWC Mercury Pro Dual Layer disc burner

The DVD burners in the iMac (8X write speed for DVD±R) and the Mac Pro (16X write speed for DVD±R) aren’t the fastest on the market. There’s actually a mechanism created by Samsung that can write DVD±R at 20X, and it’s found in OWC’s Mercury Pro DVD-/+RW Samsung Super Writemaster 20X External DVD burner.

While 20X DVD media isn’t readily available, the Mercury Pro can burn certain 16X DVD±R media at 20X; not all 16X DVD±R media can handle the 20X speed. The Mercury Pro also adds LightScribe to the mix, a feature that allows you to etch a monochrome label onto your discs. The catch is that it can take some time to complete the etching process—up to half an hour—and you can only etch labels onto LightScribe-compatible media. According to OWC, LightScribe in the Mercury Pro works only when the drive is connected to your Mac via USB.

OWC's Mercury Pro Dual Layer DVD-/+RW Samsung Super Writemaster 20X.

Review: LaCie d2 DVD±RW with LightScribe disc burner

Even if you have a Mac with a dual-layer DVD burner, there are good reasons for buying a newer external burner. For example, MacBook users might be fed up with the pokey performance of the MacBook’s built-in 8x burner. A burner like LaCie’s d2 DVD±RW with LightScribe can burn some single-layer DVD±R discs at 20x-a huge boost over 8x speed. However, if you plan on using the d2’s LightScribe feature to etch custom disc labels, be warned that any gains in burning speed will be more than offset by the 15 to 30 minutes needed for etching.

Featuring two FireWire 400 ports and a USB 2.0 port, the d2 leverages the thermal characteristics of the sturdy metal case common to LaCie’s line of d2 peripherals, allowing it to operate without an internal fan. A small AC adapter that plugs into the back supplies power.

Benchmarks: Western Digital Scorpio Black laptop hard drive

With concerns for battery life and operating temperature, manufacturers often saddle laptops with hard drives than don’t run as fast or as hot as their desktop brethren. But with a 7,200 rotational speed usually found in a desktop drive, a 16MB cache, and capacities up to 320GB, Western Digital’s Scorpio Black internal laptop hard drive promises speed comparable to that of a desktop mechanism. Quiet, efficient, and only marginally hotter than your standard laptop hard drive, the Scorpio Black is an attractive drive for any high-performance seeking user.

But first, the bad news. If you install the Scorpio Black into your Mac laptop, your warranty will be void. It’s not an easy installation and requires at least two types of screwdrivers and at least five minutes of your time. I also advise a clean workspace so you don’t lose track of all the tiny screws. If you’ve installed a laptop or desktop hard drive before, you should not have difficulty installing the Scorpio Black. However, if even a relatively simple task like installing RAM seems intimidating, you may want to find a professional to install the hard drive for you.

Test results

Review: LaCie Portable DVD±RW with LightScribe, Design by Sam Hecht

Portable products typically must balance a set of contrary design goals: they can either offer fast performance or be physically light, but not both. LaCie’s Portable DVD±RW with LightScribe, Design by Sam Hecht, is one product where style and weight trumped speed and (to a certain extent) sturdiness. Even so, it’s the portable DVD burner of choice for MacBook Air () owners. Just don’t drop it.

The drive draws its power from USB, so it needs to be connected to a powered USB port. LaCie includes a small AC adapter for situations where the Mac’s USB can’t provide the requisite power.

There’s no bundled Mac software with the drive, but you can download for free LaCie’s LightScribe Labeler 1.2. This program lets you create and etch the labels onto LightScribe discs (LightScribe requires special LightScribe media).

Review: JVC Everio GZ-HD5 HD camcorder

JVC's Everio GZ-HD5

JVC’s Everio GZ-HD5 is a digital camcorder that uses three charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to record high-definition video to its built-in 60GB hard drive. The quality of the video captured on the GZ-HD5 was decent (though we’ve seen better), and the quirky methods necessary to transfer the video to your Mac are far from elegant.

Light and compact, the barrel-shaped GZ-HD5 fit comfortably in the palm of my hand, with the record, zoom and, snapshot controls within easy reach for one-handed filming. The camcorder lacks a viewfinder, which would have been helpful for shooting in bright sunlight, but the 2.8-inch widescreen LCD was bright enough for most situations.

iMac performance evolves through the years

No one touted the iMac as a computing power house when it first began shipping 10 years ago today. But at some point in the ensuing decade, the iMac evolved into a viable pro system for many users, blurring the line between professional and consumer desktops.

Just how much has it evolved? In honor of the iMac’s 10th anniversary, we decided to use Macworld Lab’s collection of older iMacs to find out.

Macworld readers are always asking the Lab to compare current Mac models to vintage systems. The problem, of course, is that a G3-based iMac can’t run all of the applications included in Speedmark 5, our test for benchmarking Macs. Still, we thought we’d mark the occasion by trying to quantify the progress in performance made by the iMac over this last decade.

Review: OfficeJet J4680 All-in-One

HP OfficeJet J4680

For $130, you might not be surprised to find print, scan, and copy capabilities in HP’s OfficeJet J4680 multifunction ink-jet printer. But the J460 also has a built-in fax machine, wireless connectivity, and a 20-sheet auto document feeder. HP boasts about the J4680’s 20-page-per-minute black-and-white print speeds and 17-page-per-minute color print speeds, but in our real-world tests, the printer proved to be something of a slowpoke.

Setting up the printer was easy enough: just attach the included USB and power cables, install the software and print cartridges, and you’re ready to go. There were also a couple of cool setup features I hadn’t seen before in an HP multifunction device. First, when running the software installer, you’re asked if you want to install HP’s Inkjet Utility Widget, which runs in OS X’s Dashboard. The widget gives you a quick glimpse of your ink supply and allows you to launch the standard HP printer maintenance utility software. Second, after you install the print cartridges, the printer asks to insert a sheet of paper so that it can print out an alignment page. In itself, this isn’t unusual, but many printers require you to analyze this test output yourself, choosing which bars line up best and then using the printer’s on-board menus to input that info. With the J4680, you simply lay the printed sheet on the scanner bed and press OK. The scanner reads the sheet and makes any necessary adjustments.

Review: LaCie Hard Disk Designed by Neil Poulton 1TB

The LaCie Hard Disk Designed by Neil Poulton is a desktop hard drive that can connect to your Mac via FireWire 400, USB 2.0, or eSATA. It features an interesting design-a shiny black rectangular box with sharp corners, and a blue activity light located on the lower front of the drive that reflects off of your desktop. The drive uses a 1TB, 3.5-inch, 7,200 RPM mechanism, and requires external power to operate.

Many external hard drives we’ve tested lately feature aluminum cases which act as heat sinks, allowing the drives to operate quietly without a constantly whirring fan. The Neil Poulton drive, however, uses a plastic case and does require a fan. It’s not terribly loud, but even with the air conditioning, office chatter (“Can you please hold it down, people, I’m trying to work here!”) and multiple Macs running in the lab, the fan is audible. If you have a microphone nearby, like the one built into a MacBook, the mic will pick up the fan noise.

The LaCie Hard Disk Designed by Neil Poulton.

Review: NEC MultiSync 3090WQXi LCD

NEC’s MultiSync 3090WQXi is a 30-inch wide-screen LCD monitor aimed at professionals whose work requires color accuracy. The 3090WQXi is more expensive than Apple’s 30-inch Cinema HD () display, but it features a wider viewing angle, a higher contrast ratio, and a longer warranty than Apple’s largest display. The 3090WQXi also offers numerous technologies for keeping both color and luminance consistent over the life of the display.

The display connects to your Mac using one of the two DVI inputs. It requires a dual-link DVI-equipped Mac, such as a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. Some Power Mac G5s and late-model PowerBooks also support dual-link, but check your system’s specifications before purchasing a display over 24 inches. You’ll also need to use the included dual-link cable in order to run the display at its native 2,560-by-1,600-pixel resolution. The height-adjustable stand is very flexible, allowing you to tilt, swivel, and even pivot the display, so you can find just the right position for you. The display is nearly 14 inches deep and weighs about 40 pounds, so you’ll need a decent amount of desk space.

Once set up, the 3090WQXi started up in its full, native resolution when we tested it on both a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro. I used X-Rite’s i1Display 2 ($259) to calibrate the monitor to a white point of 6500K and a gamma of 2.2. I found no dead pixels and a little bit of light leakage near the top center of the screen, visible only when I viewed a fully black screen in a darkened room. The black screen wasn’t as pure a black as with some other displays I’ve seen, such as LaCie’s 324 LCD monitor (), but this wasn’t an issue when I viewed photos and graphics on screen. Color and brightness appeared consistent across the screen. Our photographic test images looked great on the display, with rich colors, white whites, and good amounts of shadow detail. Text was very legible even at very small point sizes. The viewing angle was very good, with almost no color shifts or loss of contrast from virtually any angle.

Centrino 2: Coming soon to a Mac near you?

When Intel unveils new processors, it usually rattles off the names of PC makers who’ve signed on to use the latest chips. There is one exception, however—Apple’s name usually comes up only in passing at these events, if it’s even mentioned at all.

But make no mistake: Apple may have been a no-show at Monday night’s launch event for Intel’s new Centrino 2 processor technology while demo laptops from HP, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba showed off the new chips. But Intel’s announcements should be of interest to Mac users, as many of the Centrino 2’s improvements will likely make their way into Mac systems in the near future.

Since the Centrino is a mobile chipset, Mooly Eden, Intel’s vice preseident and general manager of the mobile platforms group, spent much of his presentation discussing power saving features new to the Centrino 2, which is code-named Montevina. Among the power saving improvements made to the Centrino 2 was something Eden refered to as HUGI—as in, hurry up and get idle. A processor draws less power when idle, so the faster the processor can wake up, finish the task and return to its resting state, the less battery power it consumes. And with Intel’s Deep Power Down Technology, idling processor components should draw even less power, the company says.