Advantages: 'Insurance policy' against power outages
Disadvantages: Too expensive for domestic use - businesses only!

...If you run mission-critical services, or just want to impress upon your friends, there are few more serious gestures you can make that to acquire a dirty great Uninterruptible Power Supply! Given that the consequences of a power cut at home are seldom serious enough justify the cost (easily more than that of a decent PC system) few people choose to deploy one of these in a domestic setting. I acquired an APS ‘Smart UPS 1400’ a few years ago as a favour for clearing out an office, and deployed it in my domestic ‘server farm’ until the battery finally gave out around six months ago. But exactly what is a UPS, and why would you want one? Quite simply, an Uninterruptible Power Supply is a box, containing a lead-acid battery, which you place between your IT infrastructure and the ‘raw’ mains supply. The UPS performs three... Read review

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Advantages: simple to use and efficient
Disadvantages: none yet

...! I paid £299.95 as it was reduced from £399.95 and got this 7Kg drum 1400 spin washer boasting a 30 minute fast wash. For your information the larger drum size means that the 1400 spin is working out to be significantly more effective than the 1500 spin in my previous 6Kg drum machine. There is a time delay feature with 1 hour increments so you can set your wash up to 24 hours in advance. This is a good feature if you have cheaper electricity at night and prefer to time your washes to run then. Before I get onto the machine itself, I'll start with a few words about its manual as it was so instrumental in my decision to purchase it. My eyesight hasn't been too wonderful recently, so the clear legible largish type face on the A4 format manual won my instant approval. It is easy to follow throughout and has just the right level... Read review

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Advantages: Inexpensive, adds to the online experience
Disadvantages: Not the sharpest of video image

...About six months ago I had to organise training on vodcasts (like a podcast only with video) in work. I needed to order 30 web cams to allow each of the employees being trained to access the training material and record their vodcast. I rang up our usual supplier and told him what I wanted, the budget I had, and asked for his suggestion. He recommended the Trust WB-1400T webcam and could supply 30 for around £8.00 each. I checked his recommendation out online and came back with some good reviews on it, plus at that price and only having a few days notice I was kind of going to have to go along this route anyway. A couple of days later a large cardboard box turned up with my webcams etc. in it and I was like a kid in a toy shop. I had ordered an extra one for myself as I figured if anyone wants to know how to use it I can't help... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap (for Blu-Ray), better than the Sony ones, works well, upgradable
Disadvantages: No DVD+R / +RW playback, no SVCD or VCD playback

...Overview -------------- One of the new crop of Blu-Ray disc players coming out post announcement that Toshiba is giving up on HD-DVD. Blu-Ray will now enjoy growth in players and discs as the studios just have to back one type now and the shops only have to stock one type now. With discs costing between £18 and £30 it was too much to ask for them to stock the same movies on both types and then there was the problem of some movies only available on one type or the other (because of political allegiances to either Sony or Toshiba). Pity the poor people who bought HD-DVD though... Upgradability & HD Compatibility --------------------------------------------- This player finally made me buy into HD for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it has an upgradable firmware (like the PS3) and secondly it allows 1080i HD output from it... Read review

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Advantages: Use-friendly programmes, electronic display
Disadvantages: Expensive

...I had an Indesit washing machine for about 14 years and it finally decided to give up the ghost. I had to look for another washing machine. There are so many washing machines today on the market that it's hard to choose which you think is best for your needs. I have always been attracted to electronic displays (rather stupidly, as my dishwasher had what an engineer called an 'all-dancing, all-singing display that ladies go for' and it cost a small fortune to repair because of this) and the Hoptpoint Ultima 1400 caught my eye one day. Yes, I did notice the look of the machine first, but when I read about all the different programmes, I was hooked. I pushed away all the memories I had of numerous Hotpoint vans parked outside houses throughout the year. It had seemed that Hotpoint washing machines broke down quite a bit, according... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, good quality, good features
Disadvantages: Only 1.3M Pixels

...features a built-in flash with five operating modes controlled by the flash button on the back panel of the camera. The Auto setting lets the camera decide when to fire the flash based on the amount of light available. Redeye Reduction fires a small pre-flash before the full flash to reduce the occurrence of the Redeye Effect. Forced mode fires the flash with every exposure while Suppressed simply turns the flash off so that it never fires, regardless of the lighting. Finally, Slow Synchro synchronizes the flash with a slow shutter speed for night subjects. >> Storage << The FinePix 1400 comes with a 4MB SmartMedia card as standard. This is where all the photos are stored. Extra cards are available up to 128MB I believe but don’t quote me on that. I’d recommend you purchasing a bigger card as 4MB is only capable of storing 6 images... Read review

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Advantages: A3+ capability, CD/DVD printing function, Resolution, Pict Bridge Port, Colour depth.
Disadvantages: Bulky (but to be expected?), no ISB cable or firewire port, Plastic build.

...☼ Introduction ☼ My long lived Epson C42 plus gave up the ghost a while back so I decided to invest in a new printer. I’ve stayed loyal to Epson as there were no alternatives similar in specification and ability out on the market just now in the same price bracket as the Stylus 1400. I chose this printer as I want a printer that can print high quality photographs from digital and scanned photographs, something capable of A3 print size to print technical drawings and with multiple ink cartridges to keep the costs down. The disc printing ability is an added bonus that promises to come in handy. ☼ Costs ☼ The price I paid for the printer is in line with internet prices at £269.99 which represents good value for money for the specification and ability. Similar A3 capable printers tend to be priced at £90... Read review

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Advantages: Environmentally friendly, Reliable,
Disadvantages: eats socks!!!

...Anyone who knows me knows that I don't have much luck with anything electrical. I have been married for 6 years and in this time I have had 5 washing machines. When my last washing machine broke we couldn't afford a new one so I was constantly taking my washing to my mums, which is quite difficult when you have three messy kids. My mum finally got sick of doing my washing and thought she would buy me a washing machine for my birthday. This was last April. Now my mum and dad are very smart when it comes to purchasing things. Me, I just go and buy the first cheapest thing I see. Which is maybe why they always break. So my mum and dad went off to Curry's the people there were really helpful and showed them all the ranges of washing machines. They then showed them this one. The Tricity Bendix AW1400. The woman in the shop showed them... Read review

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Advantages: Looks good, Lasts a while, Cheap and has expensive parts
Disadvantages: None Really

...I have had this video player for some time now, yes I know what the hell am I doing with a video player. Well truth be it I have 3 video players in my house, I still have a need for them and until I stop using them I will keep them. **Searching** As usual my searches takes me to a few local electrical stores, usually I decide to buy from Argos or Currys. This particular Video player the Aiwa HVGX1400 was available in Currys at a £149.99. I was able to take it away that day from the store. I purely chose this model over all the others mainly due to the fact that it was on special offer and the sales assistants kept telling me how good it was. SOLD **Getting it home** The part we all love! You will be pleasantly surprised when you get this video player home. In its little cardboard box which is fairly small you will find... Read review

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Advantages: Price, screen quality
Disadvantages: Hard drive reliabiliy, lack of backup device

..., collect laptop, use as my own until I leave my current employment then hand back to school. There was of course initial joy – this was great! So, let’s take a look at the Toshiba 1400 that I received under this scheme and analyse how it has coped with daily usage for over a year. THE SPECIFICATION I’m not going to cover all of the specification here or this opinion will cease to be an opinion and start to resemble pages torn from the yellow pages. Here, however, are the essentials. Screen size: 14.1” DVD-ROM USB1.0 ports located at the rear Celeron 1.33 processor 256Mb RAM 20Gb Hard drive 32Mb Graphics with 3D acceleration on board Front panel of media control including DVD controls and headphone and microphone sockets. 3.5” floppy drive 2 PCMCIA slots THE LOOKS Like most Satellites in the Toshiba catalogue this has... Read review

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