AOpen H 450A

Advantages: Very cheap, intelligent electronics keep wasted disks to a minimum
Disadvantages: None so far. How long can something this cheap last?

...-RW and 24 speed read machine, was, as I’ve said, a good machine at the time of purchase, but it’s replacement, an AOpen CRW5224, is only costing me a shade over £30 (yes thirty!) from www.dabs.com, AND it’s got a maximum write speed to CD-R of 52x, making full CD copies possible in just a few minutes, and I do mean a few. AOpen may well be more familiar to you as the makers of motherboards. Even if this machine only lasts the 12-month guarantee period and no longer, it’ll only cost me 66p a week to own (as for the DVD player, the most that can cost me is 50p a week thanks to the 2-year warranty). Every month beyond the first year is a bonus for the AOpen, and if it lasts as long as the Yamaha, it’ll cost me about 22p a week. Anyway, that’s got the skinflint bits out of the way. What’s it like to install and use? A BIT OF THE OLD ‘IN OUT... Read review

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Advantages: Extremely quite, beautiful machine
Disadvantages: CPU Cooling fan & the floppy drive connector are placed

...The latest craze in the computer world is miniture computer systems first introduced to us as the 'Shuttle' system. Since then many have taken a stab at this market and the EZ18 is AOpens answer to the call. The EZ18 comes in two colours to my knowledge (pearl white, and slick black)so its possible to accessorise according to your personal preference. I myself went for the slick black (or piano black as my friend calls it) with the glowing blue power button. I bought mine from Microdirect for about £148. Unlike some of its counterparts (the shuttle system, BioStar system) the EZ18 is more of a cube rather than a single story tower and it comes with the bare essentials (partly why they have been called 'barebone' systems). It comes with the motherboard which holds the sound card aswell as the on board graphics(i think its nVidia n... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent features, excellent expandability
Disadvantages: Slightly big for a PDA, no other major disadvantages

...I bought an HP iPAQ h5550 about a year and a half ago from eBay USA, costing me about £250. Back then, the h5550 cost about £500 in the shops, so this was a great discount. However, when I received the item, I was charged £70 duty tax which brought the cost up to about £330. Still, it was much cheaper on eBay than in the high street stores. [FEATURES] The h5550 boasts some features not found on a lot of PDA's, most notably the Biometric Fingerprint reader. More suited to company use rather than personal use, the fingerprint reader provides very high-level security, however I have found that it can be rather innaccurate. Also, I have found that the PIN security suits me well enough, and the Fingerprint reader could be a bit of a waste of money. Other features include an IrDA port on the top, which can come in useful, a port... Read review

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