Macworld UK Reviews

Convert Vault for iPhone review

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Music-streaming app provides great-sounding live tunes

Want to listen to Pink Floyd’s May 9, 1977 performance from Oakland, Calif., while waiting for your flight at the airport? Or the Miles Davis Quintet from the Fillmore East on March 7, 1970 on the train during your morning commute? How about The Clash on February 13, 1979 in Cleveland on your next run? Anyone who enjoys live music from the past 40 years would like Wolfgang’s Vault, a Web site whose Concert Vault section offers more than 1,900 free streaming versions of concerts (plus more than 100 interviews) from more than 1,100 artists.

Path Finder 5.0.2 review

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Frustrated by OS X's Finder? Then discover this program the expands the Finder beyond all recognition

If you find yourself frustrated by some of the Finder’s limitations, you’re not alone. For example, while the Cover Flow mode is interesting, it’d be more useful to me if the bottom section of a Cover Flow window could be switched to icon or column view. And as I noted in my article on Leopard annoyances, you can’t assign custom colorus to the Finder’s Labels feature; you can't set the font size or face, or disable sections, of Finder-window sidebars; and the sidebar and toolbar are linked together—you can’t hide one without losing the other. Finally, I pointed out that Spotlight in the Finder is borderline useless for certain searches, as you can’t show more than the three provided columns in search results.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 review

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Quad-band touchscreen smartphone aims to take on the iPhone, and - to a certain extent - suceeds. Discover what Macworld UK thinks of the BlackBerry Storm 9500

It's been nearly two years since Steve Jobs first demonstrated the iPhone, a move that shocked the mobile phone industry. The iPhone wasn't just a "bit better" but a completely different approach. In the 18 months that the iPhone, and then the iPhone 3G have been on sale we honestly couldn't even consider another phone; now we have two to look at. The first is this one, RIM's BlackBerry Storm available from Vodafone (the second is the T-Mobile G1, or Google phone as it's better known).

Imitation Apollo review

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Imation’s Apollo is one of the smallest hard disks reviewed here, offering a relatively modest 160GB storage capacity. However, there are 250GB, 320GB and 500GB models available too, so you can get more space if you need it.

Apollo review

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

MiniStation TurboUSB review

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Like most of these drives the MiniStation is sold pre-formatted for use with Windows PCs, so you’ll need to reformat the drive before using it with a Mac. However, it does include a Mac version of the Memeo backup software, which will come in handy for people that don’t have Leopard and Time Machine on their Macs yet.

Renamer4Mac review

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Batch rename files on your Mac using a program that finds and filters files based on exact parameters

If there were an industry prize for most literally titled software product, Renamer4Mac would surely be near the top of the short list. It renames files on your Mac. End of story.

Epson Stylus PX800FW review

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Epson's stylish new multifunction printer does more than just shoehorn a printer and scanner together

Most multifunction printers are created by combining a printer with a scanner, and if you're lucky a few copying functions. Some go further with faxing options but a rare few, such as this Epson Stylus PX800FW, go as far as adding features we haven't seen before.

BeBook e-reader review

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:15:00 GMT

Read a wealth of online classics without paying a penny, thanks to this versatile e-reader. But how well does it work with a Mac?

Having digitised our music collections, photographs and videos we’re left with very little entertainment based on old-fashioned media formats. The printed page is the last format to go digital, but e-readers, such as BeBook, aim to turn the printed page into a digital form that can be easily carried around.

BeBook review

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:15:00 GMT

Read a wealth of online classics without paying a penny, thanks to this versatile e-reader. But how well does it work with a Mac?

Mobile Drive XXS review

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Extremely lightweight external hard drive from Freecom

Freecom claims its new XXS drive is one of the world’s smallest USB 2.0 drives. We have seen smaller drives, but they don’t offer the same high capacity as the XXS (250GB for our review unit, with 160GB and 320GB models also available).

HandyDrive review

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:00:00 GMT

A reasonably priced external hard drive with a small form factor

Fujitsu’s HandyDrive provides 500GB for £100, which makes it one of the best-value drives in this group. There are several other sizes available too, ranging from 160-400GB, so it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a basic, affordable backup device.

HD camcorders reviewed

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

High-definition movie making has come a long way since iMovie HD arrived in 2005 -- as the latest batch of HD camcorders shows.

A s its sibling – the HF10 – received a rave review from Macworld (October 2008 issue), expectations were high for the HF100. The big distinction between the two (aside from a £150 price difference) is that the HF10 ships with 16GB of memory onboard, whereas the HF100 does not. Instead you’ll need to feed it with SDHC flash memory cards – sizes ranging from 4GB (for one hour of footage) to 16GB (four hours).

HD camcorders group test

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

High-definition movie making has come a long way since iMovie HD arrived in 2005 -- as the latest batch of HD camcorders shows.

As one of the founding fathers of the AVCHD format (Panasonic is the other), you’d expect Sony to offer something special to the camcorders that carry its name. The HDR-CX11E doesn’t disappoint.

MacBook Air 1.86GHz review

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:00:00 GMT

New model is faster than the original, but can it compete with the new MacBook?

On the outside, the new MacBook Air 1.86GHz is identical to the first generation of Apple’s lightweight laptops. But inside it’s quite different, offering a new and faster processor, upgraded video circuitry, a faster front-side bus, faster RAM, and a new display connector. As a result, the new generation of MacBook Air is superior to the original. However, the substantial upgrades Apple has made to the rest of the MacBook line threaten to narrow the MacBook Air’s already limited appeal even further.

NP200 review

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Portable, bright and white -- this projector makes performance affordable

There isn’t usually a lot of room for innovation in the world of projectors, and manufacturers tend to follow the same formula with very minor variations. From one point of view the NP200 is another formulaic projector in an averagely styled box. From another, it manages to pack in features and get more right than many projectors do.

MacBook Pro 2.8GHz review

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

We put Apple's MacBook Pro 2.8GHz configured-to-order laptop to the test

Whenever Apple launches a range of computers, it always offers customers a chance to upgrade components upon purchase. And the new unibody MacBook Pro is no exception.

Buffalo LinkStation mini review

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Good things can come in small packages, as Buffalo's LinkStation mini proved

As more people move from desktops to laptops, and our homes become populated with multiple computers, NAS (networked attached storage) drives like this LinkStation mini from Buffalo become compelling options.

Phaser 8560DN review

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

A good solid-ink performer, which leans heavily on its green credentials

Solid ink printers aren’t new, but costs have been creeping downwards from the astronomical to the merely painful. The solid ink process is now at the same price point that colour lasers were five years ago, which makes it an affordable proposition for professional users.

MicroStation Portable Silicon Disk review

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

The first external SSD drive we've seen -- but it's expensive

One of the many interesting features of the MacBook Air is that you can buy it with an optional solid state drive (SSD), instead of a conventional hard disk drive. Solid state drives are a bit like Flash memory sticks in that they don’t have any moving parts. This means that they’re more rugged and reliable than ordinary hard drives. They also require less power and, theoretically, should be faster, as you don’t have to wait for any drive mechanism to ‘spin up’.

Adobe Illustrator CS4 review

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Multiple artboards, gradient benefits and new tools for the vector veteran

With the release of Creative Suite 4, Illustrator has benefited from a number of the tools developed by Adobe Labs, such as the community-based swatches utility Kuler. Kuler is now integrated into the application and works in conjunction with Live Color to create quick colour variations.

Adobe InDesign CS4 review

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

The page-layout tool gets an interactive boost and delivers productivity gains

As well as benefiting from Design Premium’s cross-application interface revamp, InDesign CS4 offers a number of welcome productivity boosts. For example, the Links panel has been redesigned, with each link now offering a thumbnail preview. If you have multiple links using the same file you can view these in expandable groups, while each entry in the panel offers a direct hyperlink to pages containing the file. As well as the data shown for each file in the LinksInfo Panel, the Panel Options allowed us to add columns to the Links panel, presenting and organising selected information in list view.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended review

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Image editor enjoys new panels, interface tweaks and enhanced features

As the centrepiece of the Design Premium suite, Photoshop CS4 Extended continues to provide innovative ways to manipulate images. As well as the Application Frame and tabbed documents common to the Mac CS4 family, Photoshop offers a number of new panels, the most useful of which is undoubtedly the Adjustments panel, a one-click way to add an adjustment layer to your image.

Jade Empire: Special Edition review

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Kick some butt with this martial arts RPG

Bioware has a long history of bringing thrilling fantasy-based role playing games to life with titles like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate. The company has made its bones by closely adhering to real Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, creating a “legitimate” role playing game (RPG) experience that still has all the thrills and action of a computer game. They also thrilled Star Wars gamers with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

MacBook Air 1.86GHz speed test

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

New system improves on original models, but still lags behind other Mac laptops

At a media event on October 14, Apple announced a top-to-bottom refresh of its portable Macs. Along with new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros, the company also unveiled an updated MacBook Air that featured faster graphics and more storage.