Info Laptop

Motherboards & Processors
• DFI Lanparty UT X58-T3eH8 and JR X58-T3H6 – TechSpot
• GIGABYTE MA785GPM-UD2H 785G – TweakTown

Displays & Video Cards
• Inno3D GeForce GTS 250 iChiLL FreezerX 1GB – TweakTown
• Interview with Khronos – The Tech Report
• XFX GeForce GTX 275 XXX 896MB – Elite Bastards

Memory & Storage
• Corsair P64 SSD – Bjorn3D
• OCZ Low Latency Blade DDR3 1600MHz – Pro-Clockers

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Eagle Arion 2.1 iDock Speakers with Subwoofer – Think Computers
• Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth Headset – Legit Reviews

Cooling
• CoolIt Domino ALC CPU Cooler – JonnyGURU
• Scythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler – Verdia Reviews
• Thermaltake Massive23 CS Notebook Cooler – Tweaknews
• Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer CPU Cooler – Tech-Lobby

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Chieftec Dragon Mid-Tower Chassis – ThinkComputers
• Cooler Master Elite 310 Chassis – Bjorn3D
• Corsair HX750W Power Supply – Overclockers Club
• Thermaltake Element G Chassis – PureOverclock

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Alienware M17x Dual-GPU Gaming Notebook – HotHardware
• How-To: Install Windows 7 from a USB Flash Drive – Legit Reviews
• HTC Touch Pro 2 Windows Smartphone – Verdis Reviews
• Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 – TechReviewSource

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Yesterday, a fierce storm blew through the Internet targeting Windows 7, and the reports weren’t good. It’s been discovered that there is a severe enough issue that many are believing could result in a delayed Windows 7 release, although that would be tough to believe, since the RTM has just been released to MSDN subscribers today. According to Microsoft though, they see no issue, and if there is one, it’s not their fault.

The problem lies with the built-in disk-checker, “chkdsk”. When run with the /r switch, on a secondary drive, the program suffers from a major memory leak that effectively hogs all of your system RAM, and ultimately, gives you the infamous Blue Screen of Death. While many people have verified that this issue exists, Microsoft is adamant in stating that they’ve yet to experience the issue, and they believe if anything, it would be caused by hardware, not their software.

“While we appreciate the drama of ‘critical bug’ and then the pickup of ’showstopper’ that I’ve seen, we might take a step back and realize that this might not have that defcon level.” is what Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows Division, said, so it appears that they don’t believe it to be a major issue at this point. It’s also unknown whether or not this bug only exists in the RTM or not, because you’d imagine that if it has always existed, people would have discovered it long ago.

If anyone out there happens to be running any build of Windows 7, and you have a two-disk setup, and you are feeling a little brave, try out the chkdsk command, and see if the bug exists on your system. If your secondary drive is “E:”, then the proper command would be, “chkdsk /r e:”, without quotes.

On the Chris123NT’s blog, a user name FireRX, who appears to be a Microsoft MVP, said, “the chkdsk /r tool is not at fault here. It was simply a chipset controller issue. Please update [your] chipset drivers to the current driver from your motherboard manufacturer. I did mine, and this fixed the issue. Yes, it still uses a lot of physical memory, because [you're] checking for physical damage, and errors on the Harddrive [you're] testing… Again, there is no Bug.” FireRX also said he was sure a hotfix would be issued today.

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Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS M4A79T Deluxe – PureOverclock
• Gigabyte GA-EP55-UD4P – Overclockers Club
• MSI 785GM-E65 – Motherboards.org

Displays & Video Cards
• GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 285 2GB OC – TweakTown
• Using Dual-Monitors to Optimize Productivity – Benchmark Reviews
• Zotac GTX 285 Infinity – XS Reviews

Memory & Storage
• Iomega eGo Mac Edition – Digital Trends
• OCZ Platinum PC3-10666 6GB – Hardware Logic
• OCZ Vertex Turbo MLC SATA SSD – Benchmark Reviews

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Iqua VizorSUN Bluetooth Handsfree Car Kit – Tech-Reviews
• Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard – Phoronix

Cooling
• AeroCool Touch-2000 LCD Fan Controller – Legit Reviews
• Xigmatek S126384 Thors Hammer CPU Cooler – FrostyTech

Chassis & Power Supplies
• NZXT Zero 2 – Virtual-Hideout
• ThermalTake Element G – Ninjalane
• Xclio Godspeed One Advanced Chassis – DragonSteelMods

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Hantech SISO Markus-800 Full 1080p HD Media Centre – ModSynergy
• Samsung Highlight SGH-T749 Cell Phone – Digital Trends
• ZeroShock III Netbook Case – TestFreaks

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Motherboards & Processors
• AMD 785G Chipset – PC Perspective
• AMD 785G Chipset – The Tech Report

Displays & Video Cards
• GeForce GTX 275 Versus Radeon HD 4890 – Legit Reviews
• GIGABYTE GV-R465D2-1G1 Radeon HD 4650 – Motherboards.org

Memory & Storage
• Crucial M225 256GB SSD – TweakTown
• OCZ Vertex 32GB SSD – Think Computers
• Patriot Xporter Magnum 64 GB Flash Drive – techPowerUp
• Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB – Bigbruin
• Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB – Club Overclocker

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Cooler Master SNA 95 Notebook Charging Kit – CCE Reviews
• Logitech G13 Gaming Keyboard – Modders-Inc

Cooling
• Evercool Transformer 4 CPU Cooler – Hardware Bistro
• Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V CPU Cooler – Overclockers Club

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Antec True Power 750 Power Supply – Hi Tech Legion
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Power Supply – VerdisReviews
• QNAP TS-219P NAS – Ninjalane

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Windows 7 versus Windows XP on the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Netbook – Legit Reviews
• Xbox 360 Media Server Setup – Digital Trends

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When Apple’s “App Store” launched just last July, anyone who owned an iPhone or iPod touch found themselves in love with all of what was offered. In my talking to a few iPhone owners shortly after the store launched, many of them had more than ten apps already downloaded, and a few that they found themselves using on a regular basis. Overall, the App Store had incredible success, both for Apple, and the app developers.

There has been one major problem, however, regarding which applications can be found there by users, or put up by developers. Apple has a very stringent application approval process, and if absolutely anything about the app the company doesn’t like, they don’t approve it. In the past year, there have been so many reports of apps pushed away that I’ve lost count, but there seems to be a new story everyday.

Of course, some applications shouldn’t be posted on the App Store, because Apple does need to make sure that their users are safe. But it seems like lately, the majority of denied applications don’t carry along a good excuse. Take the Commodore emulator that was denied last month. The problem there was the ability for the emulator to run code, but to push away such an incredible app for such a reason is foolish. My ideal method would be to warn people about installing such apps. If something killed their iPhone (which is unlikely), then it’d be their fault, not the company’s. Plus, if emulators are denied, that to me says something about the iPhone’s security, or lack of.

Matt Buchanan at Gizmodo is far more aware of the situation with the App Store than I am, though, and his read posted just the other day is a good one. It pretty much sums up exactly why I have little interest in owning an Apple device. The company is too hardcore in their ways, and refuse good apps that are actually very useful… all seemingly in order to please either themselves, or AT&T. There’s far, far too much back and forth with the company. On one day, they might allow something, and the next, they don’t. Screw that… I’ll go where the choice can be found.

The situation crystallizes our worst fears about Apple’s dictatorial App Store. Users aren’t being protected from bad things or from themselves here. Even though it seemed ridiculous to us, when apps with objectionable content were blocked or booted before the ratings system was in place, it was in the interest of some paradoxically lazy but over-protective parent somewhere out there.

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