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the essential home it toolkit

OCTOber 2010

first looks: Apple


iMac 27-Inch (Core i5)
Why We Love the New
Amazon Kindle >>
The Secret to Creating
Powerful Passwords

readers’
choice
awards
2010
the most trusted
brands in tech
Desktops • Laptops • ISPs
Printers • Phones • HDTVs
Cell Service Providers
Cameras • Routers & More
october 2010 vol. 29 no. 10

30 cover StorY
rEADErs’ ChOICE: ThE TECh brANDs yOu TrusT MOsT
Your votes are in! our annual reader survey reveals which companies are
making the grade when it comes to product quality, reliability and cus-
tomer service. Some of the winners may surprise you.

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10 18
FIRST LOOKS tech newS
8 consumer electronics 5 Front Side
Amazon Kindle 2 A consumer group takes Google’s
Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint) privacy policies to task; a storage
breakthrough for Toshiba; tiny flash
Motorola Droid 2 (Verizon Wireless)
drives; a new social CRM tool.
Archos 3cam vision
Sony PlayStation Move OPINIONS
2 First Word:
14 hardware
Lance Ulanoff
eMachines Mini-e ER1402-05
Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i5) 26 John C. Dvorak

HP Envy 14 28 Sascha Segan

18 BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
Dell Latitude E5510 46 your home it toolkit
Epson BrightLink 450Wi Are you that person everyone calls
when his or her computer crashes?
8x8 Virtual Office Pro
Make sure you have these tools
22 SOFTWARE with you at all times.
Cloudmark DesktopOne-Pro Mode
50 security: strong passwords
Kaspersky Internet Security 2011
Running out of password ideas?
Blackberry 6 OS
Read our tutorial on how to create
54 the best stuff passwords that are tough to crack
but easy to remember.

PC Magazine Digital Edition, ISSN 0888-8507, is published monthly at $12 for one year. Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York NY 10016-7940.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 1


FIRST WORD LANCE ULANOFF

Virtualize Windows 8

T
here was a time when I dis- operating system’s core. Now, at least in the
agreed with the idea that European Union, you can choose to have
the core of Microsoft’s next other browsers pre-installed on your desk-
major operating system, Win- top.
dows 8, would be a hyper-
visor, or virtualized machine monitor. Now, Paving the Way
however, I see the beauty of this approach, Although these are mostly minor changes
especially for consumers. that do not get to the true core of the OS,
An operating system that runs every- they do, in their small way, help clear the
thing as a virtualized machine could be one path for Windows 8 to become the first fully
of the most significant and beneficial steps virtualized Windows. I also have a theory
Microsoft has ever taken in the continuing that Microsoft has been working to reduce
development of the Windows platform. And the size of the core OS dramatically (though
there is evidence that this is the exact direc- the company has gone on record, saying
tion Microsoft has been headed in all along. it hates to talk about the kernel) and, even
When I met with Windows executives as features and functionality are added to
at the Microsoft Professional Developers the interface. If you look at what’s possible
Conference in October 2008, they told us on 1MB Web pages, you can see that every-
about the newly componentized nature of thing Microsoft is doing on Windows 7 is lit-
the operating system. For Windows 7, this tle more than calls to the core OS with some
meant a peeling away of many things that lightweight graphics work on the front end.
had been intrinsic to the OS. So, all of the Even flashier features, like see-through
apps that used to come with it—the movie panes, are really off-loaded to powerful
and DVD-creation tools, messaging, and graphics CPUs.
even e-mail—would now be optional. Even My point is that Windows 8 could, essen-
before Microsoft took a hatchet to Win- tially, be a lightweight core (or kernel) and
dows 7, the company had to figure out how even a lighter-weight interface. Everything
to disentangle Internet Explorer from the else could be a virtual machine.

2 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION OCTOBER 2010

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Windows 8 could be a lightweight core and


interface. Everything else could be virtual.
The Benefits of VM allowed to store only local XML files that tell
If everything running on top of the operat- them something about the base hardware
ing system is a virtual machine, then appli- and where to find locally stored files. Device
cations, drivers, files, Web browsers, and drivers already get their Device Stage infor-
the pages you view can all run in sandboxes, mation from just such an XML-like file. I see
protected from each other and incapable of no reason why this couldn’t work for every-
harming the OS. It’s easy to shut down vir- thing else.
tual machines, and in Windows 8, I could
imagine that technical functions, such as Competing with Chrome?
start-up and shutdown and even accessing I know some people will say that there’s lit-
system hard drives and peripherals outside tle reason to wait for Microsoft to build this
the virtual machines, could be user-friendly. mythical virtualized OS—not when Google
In other words, consumers would have no Chrome for the desktop is right around
idea that they’re running a series of virtual the corner. Chrome will be very light and
machines. They’d see a “What’s running” rely heavily on cloud-based apps to get
window, with a bunch of buttons next to stuff done. From a security standpoint, it’ll
each item that lets them pause, stop, or already have a leg up on Windows 7. How-
turn off the app, browser, and so on. They ever, huge questions remain regarding
could still do it the old-fashioned way by power, usability, and always-on access to
selecting “Close” or “Exit” from a drop- critical documents and files. Most consum-
down menu. ers will, I’d venture, still look to Microsoft for
Another obvious benefit of an all-virtu- their next OS. However, if Microsoft doesn’t
alized OS is security. If you’re browsing the do something radical, such as what I’ve pro-
Web and malware tries to attack or overtly posed, there will be fewer people who will
suggest you install it to protect yourself, walk that well-worn path.
that nastyware simply won’t get further Virtualization is already a great tool for
than the browser sandbox. This new kind of businesses, but the smart money is on mak-
OS could kill the security software industry. ing an operating system that sees the world
The biggest and, perhaps, most signifi- in tightly controlled sandboxes. This is how
cant benefit, though, is that the Registry Microsoft will pave a new road for Windows
dies. Windows would no longer keep track users in this still-young 21st century.
of every app, device, call, and DLL file. The
Follow me on Twitter! Catch the chief’s
OS will be done carrying the applications’ comments on the latest tech developments at
water. Virtualized apps and hardware will be twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 3


Editor-in-ChiEf, pC magazinE nEtwork Lance Ulanoff ®

Editor Stephanie Chang


dirECtor of onLinE ContEnt, EXECUtiVE prodUCEr Vicki B. Jacobson
EXECUtiVE Editor Dan Costa
managing Editors Sean Carroll (software, security, Internet, business), www.pcmag.com
Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics) Laarni Almendrala Ragaza
(hardware)
fEatUrEs Editor Eric Griffith
sEnior Editor Brian Heater
pC Labs LEad anaLysts Cisco Cheng (laptops), Tim Gideon (consumer electronics),
Samara Lynn (business, networking), Michael Muchmore (software),
Neil J. Rubenking (security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops), Sascha Segan (mobile),
M. David Stone (printers, scanners)
anaLysts Tony Hoffman (printers, scanners), PJ Jacobowitz (consumer electronics),
Matthew Murray (DIY, components)
jUnior anaLysts David Pierce (consumer electronics), Natalie Shoemaker (hardware),
Jeffrey Wilson (software, security, Internet)
inVEntory ControL Coordinator Nicole Graham
staff photographEr Scott Schedivy
pCmag.Com managEr, onLinE prodUCtion Yun-San Tsai
prodUCErs Mark Lamorgese, Whitney A. Reynolds
wEst Coast nEws Editor Mark Hachman
East Coast nEws Editor Chloe Albanesius
staff Editor Jennifer Bergen (blogs)
CommErCE prodUCEr Arielle Rochette
UtiLity program managEr Tim Smith
CrEatiVE dirECtor Chris Phillips assistant dEsignEr Jackie Smith
ContribUting Editors Helen Bradley, John R. Delaney, Richard V. Dragan, John C. Dvorak,
Craig Ellison, Galen Fott, Bill Howard, Don Labriola, Jamie Lendino, Jim Louderback,
Bill Machrone, Edward Mendelson, Jan Ozer, Neil Randall, Matthew D. Sarrel, Larry Seltzer
intErns Daniel Levine, Brian Westover

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Front
What’s New from the World of Tech

Taking Google to Task


Consumer group attacks the behemoth’s privacy policies

If you happened to be in New York over much like the “do not call” list bans unsolic-
Labor Day weekend, strolling through Times ited telemarketing calls.
Square, you may have seen it: a 15-second, “We’re satirizing Schmidt in the most
animated video that attacked Google chief highly trafficked public square in the nation
executive Eric Schmidt and his company’s to make the public aware of how out of
privacy policies. touch Schmidt and Google are when it
The video, which was displayed on a comes to our privacy rights,” said Jamie
540-square-foot jumbotron, was part of Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, in
Consumer Watchdog’s “Don’t Track Me” a statement.
campaign, which is pushing Congress to The organization pointed to Google’s
pass legislation that would create a list unauthorized collection of unencrypted
of consumers who do not want Internet data traveling over Wi-Fi networks,
companies tracking their online activities – its Buzz social-networking service, and its

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 5


frONTsIDE

recent policy proposal with Verizon regard- privacy online, like Google Dashboard, Ads
ing net neutrality as evidence that Google Preference Manager, Chrome incognito
has “lost its way.” mode and ‘off the record’ Gmail chat. ”
The Times Square ad featured Schmidt A longer, 1:34 minute version of the video
as a sinister ice cream man. “He’s collect- shows Schmidt offering children free ice
ing YOUR personal information,” a message cream. “I already know your favorite fla-
flashes on the screen. It then urges viewers vors,” cartoon Schmidt says ominously. The
to “tell Google to stop tracking your every video closes by asking viewers to ask Con-
move” by texting “EVIL” to 69866, though gress for a “do not track me” list.
it’s unclear what that text will accomplish (or “We think there should be another way
whether your cell phone information will be to protect the public’s online privacy: a ‘Do
collected when doing so). Not Track Me’ list that prevents Google or
“We like ice cream as much as anyone, any other Internet company from tracking
but we like privacy even more,” a Google your every move online,” said John M. Simp-
spokesman said in a statement. “That’s why son, director of the group’s Inside Google
we provide tools for users to control their Project.—Chloe Albanesius

Best of our Blogs


0.2 inches when plugged into ter from customers, critics,
the USB port. At 0.4 ounces, colleagues, and competitors,
it’s light, too, weighing not thus making filtering data
even half an ounce. a challenge. Enter Work-
Plug the drive into a USB streamer, an innovative app
port and just leave it there. in public beta that acts as
You no longer have to worry a “social CRM” tool; it can
about accidentally dislodging help you keep track of all
GEArLOG it when you put the laptop in of the talk.
One Tiny Drive your case, or knocking against Workstreamer gets its
Unlike the buzzing blood- it when walking by your desk. real-time information from
suckers that ruin a perfect Lacie sells the 4GB drive for an array of sources ranging
summer evening, the Lacie $17.99 and the 8GB for $27.99. from blogs and published
MosKeyto flash drive makes Both are available and ship news articles to Twitter,
life simpler and portable. immediately. The 16GB model LinkedIn, Salesforce.com,
Thankfully, the MosKeyto is not yet available. and more. The results (fea-
won’t make you bleed or — Fahmida Y. Rashid tured on your account page,
scratch. Because the ultra- or sent to your inbox) are
small USB key is tiny, I bet I will AT WOrK processed and filtered in an
lose it within the hour, or step social CrM Tool attempt to deliver highly
on it by mistake. Measuring 0.8 The Web is a filled with an relevant business data.
inches wide, it extends a mere ever-growing amount of chat- —Jeffrey L. Wilson

6 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION OCTOBER 2010

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ExtremeTech

A New
Approach
To Storage
Bit-patterned storage could
A closeup of the rows of magnetic grain dots
make drives smaller and faster. of bit-patterned media.

If you thought recent advances in PC areal densities than we see today. Assem-
hard drives were something, it’s possible bling the data into patterns of rows mim-
you haven’t seen anything yet. Toshiba ics markers to make it easy and quicker to
announced it has made a breakthrough in locate the stored data again later.
bit-patterned media, which could make Toshiba’s media is still in the prototype
even the spacious 2TB and 3TB at the top of stage, but the company is claiming that
today’s storage food chain look minuscule. using a practical server pattern allows about
Today’s drives store data contiguously 2.5 terabits (TB) of data per square inch—
on hundreds of magnetic grains (or bits) about 300GB stored in an area approxi-
spread across the surface of a disk. Because mately the size of a postage stamp, and
there’s little break between the north pole nearly five times what is available on even
of one bit and the south pole of another, the highest-capacity drives today (541 Gb
this leads to unreliability and the possibil- per square inch). This could mean about
ity that bits will “flip” when the head passes 25TB of storage on one 3.5-inch drive.
over them. The company expects the first drives
Bit-patterned media, on the other hand, based on bit-patterned media to be avail-
divides the recording surface (the magnetic able in 2013, but will they be mass-produc-
layer) into many uniform sections (or servo ible? Toshiba says the technology has not
patterns), each of which contains only a yet reached “fundamental HDD operation:
few of those magnetic grains. Each grain writing and reading data to and from individ-
(17-nanometer dots manufactured using ual dots.” But if Toshiba irons out the kinks,
an etching mask made of a self-assembled it may give hard drives another weapon in
polymer), can hold one bit of data, which the battle against SSDs—assuming it isn’t
theoretically allows for astonishingly higher insanely priced.—Matthew Murray

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 7


INSIDE
8 Consumer Electronics
14 HARDWARE
18 BUSINESS
22 SOFTWARE

Amazon Kindle (3G + Wi-Fi)


First
Kindle Keeps
its Crown
In the gadget business, there’s and Noble nook and trading in the stubby,
a tendency to add new fea- square, track-point for a more intuitive four-
tures, functionality, and options way toggle button.
with each new version, but you Probably the notable addition to this
shouldn’t expect a drastic revamp Kindle is the integrated Wi-Fi in addition to
from Amazon with its latest Kindle e-book the free, always-on 3G modem. Download-
reader. Although the new Kindle adds ing books is quicker, although 3G download
Wi-Fi, more capacity, a leaner form factor, speeds are so fast it almost doesn’t make a
and a sharper screen, the functionality is difference. Still, it’s nice to have the choice.
largely the same. But that isn’t necessarily Amazon unfortunately has chosen to
a bad thing. In fact, given its new low price stick with its proprietary AZW format, leav-
along with its massive library of e-books ing out ePub support yet again. But it does
and dead-simple book buying, the Kindle is support TXT, Audible, MP3, Unprotected
best dedicated e-book reader you can buy. MOBI, and PRC natively, as well as DOC,
Perhaps the most dramatic change in the JPEG GIF, PNG, and BMP via conversion.
8.7-ounce Kindle is the size: it’s a lot smaller, With its retail support, custom content,
at 7.5 by 4.8 by 0.3 inches (HWD), but main- wider file support, and color display, the
tains its 6-inch e-ink screen. You also get the nook remains a tough contender. But over-
color choice of white or gray-black graph- all, a lower price, a slimmer design, higher-
ite. The Kindle has never been known for its contrast screen, and other improvements
great controls, but this iteration improves keep the Kindle as our Editors’ Choice
that by replicating the symmetrical Page e-book reader.—Dan Costa
Forward/Page Back buttons on the Barnes >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

8 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION October 2010

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our ratings key:


l l l l l EXCELLENT
l l l l m VERY GOOD
l l l m m GOOD
l l m m m FAIR
l m m m m POOR

Amazon Kindle (3G + Wi-Fi)


$189 direct
L l l l m

Pros Compact design. Higher-contrast


screen than its predecessor. Smarter but-
ton layout. Integrated Wi-Fi. 4GB ca-
pacity (enough space for 3,500 books).
Wide selection of books, magazines, and
blogs.
Cons No support for ePub format.

October 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 9


first looks consumer electronics

Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint)

High-Speed
Typing
Machine
Do you need the click of a physical
keyboard’s button to feel like Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint)
you’re actually writing something $349.99 list
L l l l m
on your phone? Don’t be ashamed
Pros Gorgeous screen. Big, comfortable key-
if you do. The Samsung Epic 4G board. Fast. Great video support. WiMAX 4G.
for Sprint is the carrier’s second 4G phone, Cons No voice dialing over Bluetooth. A few
and it’s the first with a physical QWERTY buttons can be unresponsive. You have to pay
for 4G even if you can’t use it.
keyboard. It’s a powerful, high-end Android
smartphone that is a great choice for Sprint
customers. use—though the speakerphone sounded a
The Epic 4G is a surprisingly thin slider bit tinny. When I tested its 4G performance
phone at 4.9 by 3.5 by 0.5 inches (HWD) in Philadelphia, the WiMAX connection
and 5.4 ounces. Yes, it’s a lot thicker than seemed to have trouble penetrating build-
the HTC EVO 4G, but the screen slides to ings and dropped signal indoors. That said,
the side to reveal a rather large and com- when WiMAX worked, I got down speeds
fortable QWERTY keyboard. If you don’t of up to 6.6 megabits—about six times the
want to use the physical keyboard, there are average of Sprint’s 3G network. But 4G use
six input options, including the Swype text- drains the battery quickly.
entry method. The Epic’s 4-inch screen uses While multimedia types will both find
Samsung’s new Super AMOLED technol- things to like about the Epic and the EVO,
ogy. And the Epic is better for multimedia the keyboard is what sets the Epic apart. If
than the EVO. you want to type your messages, surf the
On our tests, the Epic connected one Web, and play your games with little but-
more call out of ten than the EVO in our tons that go “click,” the Epic is your phone—
weak-signal test. The phone’s earpiece and and our Editors’ Choice.—Sascha Segan
speakerphone are both loud enough for any CLICK HERE FOR MORE>>

10 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION October 2010

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first looks consumer electronics

Motorola Droid 2

A Superior
Sequel to
The Droid
Hate the Motorola Droid’s key-
board? That’s okay. Everyone
hated the Motorola Droid’s key-
board. But the Motorola Droid 2
has come to the rescue. Essen-
tially, it’s our Editors’ Choice–winning
Droid X crammed into a slightly gussied- Motorola Droid 2 (Verizon Wireless)
up original Droid body with a much better $199.99-549.99 direct
L l l l m
keyboard. There’s a lot to like here, and the
Pros Much better keyboard than previous
Droid 2 is clearly the best smartphone with Droid. Latest version of Android. Wi-Fi hotspot
a keyboard on Verizon. mode.
At 4.6 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and Cons No voice-dialing over Bluetooth. No HD
video-recording.
5.9 ounces, the Droid 2 has slightly more
rounded edges and a less pronounced
“chin” than the original Droid, but the 3.7- a bit muddy, but free of gain buzz. Trans-
inch screen and 5-megapixel camera are mission quality through the microphone
nearly identical. The Droid 2’s keyboard isn’t quite as good as the Droid X’s, but the
ditches the little-used cursor pad on the speakerphone was loud. We got more than
right for some arrow keys, makes all the 8 hours of talk time, which is excellent for a
other keys bigger, and makes them domed Verizon phone.
and clicky. This phone works on Verizon’s So although the Droid X still narrowly
CDMA EVDO Rev. A network, as well as holds the title as the best overall smart-
802.11n Wi-Fi networks. You can use it as a phone on Verizon and is our Editors’ Choice
wireless hotspot, sharing your connection for non-keyboard smartphones, the Droid 2
to up to five devices for an additional fee. is our new Editors’ Choice for Verizon key-
On our tests, the Droid 2 is a good voice board smartphones.—Sascha Segan
phone. At maximum volume, voices were >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 11


first looks consumer electronics

Archos 3cam vision

A Budget
Player with
Video

T
he sub-$100 MP3 player mar-
ket is littered with subpar Archos 3cam vision
options, but once in a while, $99.99 direct
L l l h m
we see a standout. With a
Pros Thin, compact frame. Touch screen. Lots
sleek design and an intui- of storage for the price. Shoots photos and
tive, touch-screen–based user interface, the video. FM radio and recording. Voice recorder.
Strong file support.
Archos 3cam vision exceeds expectations.
Cons Touch screen isn’t terribly sensitive.
The integrated camera can record video Navigation of user interface can be jittery. Slow
or take photos and store them along with to power up.
your loaded media; it isn’t of the highest
quality, but most devices in this price range earbuds aren’t great, so you may want to
don’t even have this feature, much less 8GB upgrade. The device also comes with a mini
of storage. The same-capacity Apple iPod USB to USB cable for computer syncing. The
nano costs $50 more. The 3cam vision may user interface looks better than past Archos-
not be a masterpiece, but it raises the bar for player UIs, but navigation is a bit cumber-
budget players. some and the screen is not sensitive enough.
A good-looking device measuring 3.9 by Listening to music on the 3cam vision is a
2.1 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.3 pleasant experience (provided you upgrade
ounces, the 3cam vision has rounded edges those earbuds) and video playback is not a
and no physical controls except for a Power/ disappointment, but the resolution could
Lock slider on the bottom panel. The 3cam be a bit higher for this screen size. Overall,
vision features a larger and slightly higher- the 3cam vision can’t touch the iPod nano
resolution screen (3 inches, 400-by-240 or iPod touch in terms of grace, ease of use,
pixels) than the iPod nano’s (376-by-240). and overall quality. But this player’s extra
You’ll find a mini-USB port and earphone features and 8GB of storage make it a great
jack along the bottom panel. As you might low-cost option.—Tim Gideon
imagine for a $100 player, the included >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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first looks consumer electronics

Sony PlayStation Move

Sony Gets
in Motion

M
o t i o n c o n t ro l – b a s e d
gaming entered the
m a i n st re a m w i t h t h e
introduction of the Nin-
tendo Wii back in 2006.
Sony, naturally, wants to snag some Wii
users with the PlayStation Move, an add-on
for PlayStation 3 that brings motion con-
trols to Sony gamers. Microsoft’s compet-
ing Xbox Kinect won’t be available until
early November .
The PlayStation Move consists of two
parts: Sony’s PlayStation Eye camera, and
a wireless, Bluetooth-enabled wand that
looks a little like the Nintendo Wiimote,
except it has an illuminated orb attached Sony PlayStation Move
to its top. Sony also offers the Navigation $49.99 direct and up
L l l l m
Controller, a supplementary device used
Pros Accurate motion sensing. Bundled with
in select games to give you more standard fun titles that demonstrate advanced motion
game controls. You can use the Move con- sensing and control.
troller to navigate menus­— much more Cons Launch titles will likely appeal only to
casual gamers.
effectively than the Wii.
As far as gameplay, Sports Champion
Move games were remarkably smooth in accuracy. And the PlayStation Eye camera
their execution. My favorite Sports Cham- did an excellent job of staying connected
pion game is Gladiator Duel, a weapon- to the Move controllers. Overall, the Play-
based fighting game that offers much more Station Move does exactly what it set out
depth. Occasionally, the PlayStation Move to accomplish: bring very accurate motion
would miss an input (mostly in Table Ten- controls to the PS3.—Jeffrey L. Wilson
nis), but overall I was impressed with its >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 13


first looks HARDWARE

eMachines Mini-e ER1402-05

Great Price,
Good Performance
This is one of the least expensive eMachines Mini-e ER1402-05
desktop PCs on the market. As a $299.99 list
L l l l m
standalone nettop, it’s defined
Pros Compact. Quiet. HDMI port. Quicker than
by its nettop/netbook-class AMD dual-core Atom processors in certain tests.
processor. The system comes Inexpensive.
with an HDMI port and an SPDIF port. At Cons Needs download from Internet for Flash
10.1. Bloatware. No remote included.
$300, it has a high bang-for-the-buck ratio,
and even though it only has a single-core
processor, it can compete with and surpass a decent score on Windows Media Encoder
systems with dual-core Atom processors. (3 minutes 16 seconds). The ER1402-05 was
The ER1402-05 is compact and slim, at also decent at the PCMark Vantage test
11 by 4 by 10 inches (HWD, with the stand). with a score of 1,908. When I played 720p
The extra width is a result of extra space at YouTube videos, the ER1402-05 had a few
the base, which keeps the system from tip- noticeable skipped frames, and the system
ping over, and eMachines sells an optional was unwatchable at 1080p. However, I was
bracket for mounting this system behind able to update the Adobe Flash player to
your HDTV. Along with the HD-friendly rectify the problem. This system couldn’t
ports, the system has 802.11n Wi-Fi, 4 USB run our 3D tests, but simple 3D games like
ports, VGA, and wireless keyboard and Spore and Sims 3 should run smoothly—but
mouse. This system’s 160GB hard drive is don’t even think about playing high-end 3D
a bit small for a consumer desktop these games like StarCraft II. The ER1402-05 is not
days, and the ER1402-05 comes bundled blazing fast, but it is fast enough for day-to-
with bloatware, unfortunately. day Web browsing and Internet videos. It is
Since, the ER1402-05 is a video-oriented versatile and affordable, earning it a spot as
system, I ran some multimedia tests and an Editors’ Choice.—Joel Santo Domingo
YouTube viewing sessions. This system got >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

I Specs 1.7-GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor; 2GB SDRAM; 160GB SATA hard drive; Nvidia GeForce 9200
integrated graphics; Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bi

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PERFORMANCE TESTS
L High scores are best. M Low scores are best. Windows Media Encoder CineBench R10 Photoshop CS4
Bold type denotes first place. (min:sec) M (XCPU) L (min:sec) M

eMachines Mini-e ER1402-05 3:16 N/A 6:58

Acer Aspire Revo R3610-U9012 3:10 1,880 8:03

Lenovo IdeaCentre Q110 4:59 828 9:56

Viewsonic VOT120 N/A 849 N/A

Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice. N/A—Not applicable: The product could not complete the test, or the test was not compatible.

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 15


first looks HARDWARE

Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i5)

An iMac
With Power
If you like the minimal lines of an
all-in-one desktop, but need true
quad-core power for multime-
dia and 3D tasks, then the Apple
iMac 27-inch (Core i5) should be
at the top of your list. It gives you speedy
performance scores, better 3D graphics,
and the same large screen as the previous
27-inch (Core i7)—all for a couple hundred Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i5)
bucks less. $1,999 list
L l l l h
Like its most recent predecessor, the
Pros True quad-core power. Wireless key-
Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i7), the Core i5 board/mouse/Wi-Fi. Mini DisplayPort in/out.
iMac looks like a metal and glass monitor Screen has 2,560-by-1,440 resolution. Large
display. Green certifications. 802.11a/n 5GHz
suspended above your desk surface by a support.
graceful arm. The system has four USB 2.0 Cons Still no Blu-ray drive. No eSATA. Card
ports and a FireWire 800 port, along with reader is SD/SDHC/SDXC only. Requires third-
party adapter for HDMI or DVI.
audio jacks and a Mini DisplayPort. You still
can’t get a Blu-ray drive in this system, but
you can hook up an external USB drive for toshop CS4 test versus the Core i7’s 1:47. In
data or a regular Blu-ray player for mov- fact, this iMac was faster than all the all-in-
ies, using HDMI. This system also can be ones we’ve recently tested. In a nutshell, this
equipped with a 256GB SSD and a 1TB or iMac is faster, better at 3D games and tasks,
2TB spinning hard drive simultaneously. can be equipped with more options (like
The iMac’s processor, speedy DDR3 an SSD), and has a cheaper base price than
memory, and ATI Radeon HD 5750 graph- the Core i7 iMac, making it our new Editors’
ics led it to score higher almost across the Choice and the all-in-one to beat.—Joel
board against the Core i7 iMac. For example, Santo Domingo
it scored 1 minute 40 seconds on our Pho- >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

I Specs 2.8-GHz Intel Core i5-760 processor; 4GB SDRAM; 1TB SATA hard drive; 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics;
dual-layer DVD +/- RW drive; integrated 27-inch widescreen monitor; integrated stereo speakers; Mac OS X 10.6.

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first looks hardware

HP Envy 14

Enviable
Performance

D
espite mixed reviews of the HP
Envy 15, HP charged forward
and launched new additions to
its Envy line. This is the 14-inch
version, lavished with a high- HP Envy 14
end audio system, a backlit keyboard, and a $1,286 direct
l l l l m
high-resolution glass screen—features you
Pros Scales to a quad-core processor. Graph-
won’t find in an HP Pavilion laptop. Perfor- ics card can pump out those frame rates.
mance can be tuned beyond any other lap- Exquisite design. Sharpest and brightest screen
available. Superior speaker system. Very good,
top in its class. There are some issues with backlit keyboard. Tandem batteries available.
the gesture-enabled touchpad, and the sys- Cons Hefty for a 14-inch laptop. Touchpad
tem is heavy, but otherwise, the Envy 14 lives could use some more tuning.
up to its name.
The Envy 14 is covered in anodized alu- With the as-configured dual-core
minum, creating a thin and extravagant- processor, the Envy 14 finished tops in
looking laptop. Decorative etchings spruce video- encoding tests (46 seconds), and
up the lid, which are both eye-catching and CineBench R10 scores (7,684) were admi-
resistant to fingerprints. At 5.2 pounds, the rable. The Envy 14 lets you switch between
Envy 14 is heavier than a number of its com- graphics environments—integrated (Intel)
petitors, but its 14.5-inch widescreen is also and discrete (ATI Mobility Radeon 5650)—
higher resolution than most of those of the so hardcore gamers won’t be disappointed.
other systems, at 1,600-by-900 resolution. Battery life, however, leaves much to be
Photos, movies, and HD content look abso- desired at 4 hours 15 minutes. Although
lutely stunning. Unfortunately, you don’t get this system is pricey and has a couple draw-
a backlit keyboard, but you do get a slot- backs, for its power and size, it has few
loading DVD burner, HDMI and mini-Dis- equals, thus earning an Editors’ Choice in
playPort connections, beefy components, this category.—Cisco Cheng
and the Monster Beats Audio system. >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

I Specs 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-450M processor; 4GB SDRAM; 500GB hard drive; Intel GMA and ATI Mobility Radeon
5650 graphics; 14.5-inch widescreen; 5.2 pounds; 56-Wh battery; Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit).

October 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 17


first looks business

Dell Latitude E5510

A Cost-Efficient
Work Laptop
The Dell Latitude E5510 is for IT Dell Latitude E5510
managers who want the trim- $884 Direct
L l l l m
mings of the Latitude line of busi-
Pros Inexpensive, for the Latitude line. Du-
ness laptops but don’t want to rable chassis. Excellent keyboard. Soft mouse
pay the usual Latitude premium. buttons. 1,600-by-900 resolution. Good pro-
cessor for the money. Huge battery delivered 7
You get a high-resolution screen and rug- hours.
gedized frame plus great performance and
Cons No HDMI or DisplayPort. Heavy.
battery life, all for a relatively modest price.
Durability is one of the fundamental
design differences between a Latitude and any Latitude in the E-family.
a typical business laptop. Despite its mod- On our tests, the E5510 mostly did well,
est price, the E5510 uses magnesium alloy finishing the video encoding test in 46 sec-
in its frame and hinges. That said, the gun- onds, falling slightly behind the Lenovo
metal gray hue is as bland as the black of T410 (45 seconds). But because the E5510
the ThinkPad series. And at 6.1 pounds lacks a discrete graphics chip, its PCMark
(with the 9-cell battery), the E5510 is more Vantage scores ranked near the bottom.
a desktop-replacement than a commuter- However, its 9-cell battery gave it a real
friendly system. On the other hand, its boost on MobileMark 2007, lasting 7 hours
15.6-inch widescreen is large enough to 5 minutes—a class leader. Though the E5510
accommodate spreadsheet users, photog- could use one or two more features, it has
raphers, and anyone who works with mul- the processing power and battery perfor-
tiple windows open at the same time. You mance often associated with pricier enter-
also get a terrific keyboard and dual point- prise laptops, making it our Editors’ Choice
ing devices. Another business-friendly fea- and a good fit for moderate road warriors.
ture is the ability to share docking stations, —Cisco Cheng
port replicators, and power adapters with >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

I Specs: 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-520M processor; 4GB SDRAM; 500GB hard drive; 15.6-inch display; Intel Centrino
Advanced-N 6200 Wi-Fi; 6.1 pounds; 84-Wh battery; Windows 7 Professional (32-bit) .

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PERFORMANCE TESTS
Windows
L High scores are best. M Low scores are best. pcMark 3dMark Media encoder CineBnech R10 Photoshop CS4
Bold type denotes first place. vantage* L 06* L (min:sec) M (XCPU) L min:sec) M

Dell Latitude E5510 6,159 1,864 0:46 6,930 0:33

Dell Vostro 3300 6,714 4,198 0:47 6,790 0:31

Lenova Thinkpad T410 7,315 4,178 0:45 7,809 0:26

RED denotes Editors’ Choice. N/A—Not applicable: The product could not complete the test, or the test was not compatible.
* This test was run at 1,024 by 768 resolution. ** Test was run at 1,024 by 768 resolution. Test was run at 1,280 by 1,024 resolution.

OCOTBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 19


first looks business

Epson BrightLink 450Wi

An Interactive Projector
Ultra-short throw projectors—
which can project, or throw, a large
image at just a few inches from the
screen—are still rare beasts, but
there are significant differences
from one model to the next. The BrightLink
450Wi represents the latest evolution of
Epson BrightLink 450Wi
the breed. It combines its ultra-short throw $2,200 street
with an interactive feature that turns any L l l l h

surface into what amounts to a whiteboard. Pros Ultra-short throw, with 98-inch-diagonal
image at 13 inches from the screen. Turns any
The combination is a lot cheaper than buy-
surface into an interactive screen.
ing a projector and whiteboard separately, Cons Doesn’t handle video as well as it han-
and a lot less limiting in the size of the image dles data images. Low volume for a 10-watt
you can project. speaker.

The projector itself is fairly hefty, at 6.1 by


14.5 by 19 inches (HWD) and 14.1 pounds. port lets you turn the projector on and off
That’s not really an issue, however, since through a third-party controller, and an Eth-
it’s meant for permanent installation. Built ernet port lets you manage the projector
around an LCD-based engine with a WXGA from a computer on your network.
(1,280-by-800) resolution, and rated at On our tests, I measured the 450Wi at
2,500 lumens, it’s a good potential fit for a 2,452 lumens, or about 98 percent of its
small- to medium-size conference room or 2,500-lumen rating. This projector also
classroom. The connection choices include scored well on image quality for data
two VGA ports that can also double as images, running through our standard
component video ports, an S-Video port, DisplayMate tests with only minor problems.
and a phono plug for composite video. Image quality for video was far less impres-
The two VGA ports are each paired with a sive, with motion artifacts, posterization,
miniplug stereo input, and the S-Video and and a low contrast ratio. Nonetheless this is
composite video ports share a set of two still an impressive offering for short-throw
phono plugs for stereo input. The connec- projectors, and it is our current Editors’
tion panel also offers two USB connectors Choice in this category.—M. David Stone
and a microphone input. Finally an RS-232 >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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first looks business

8x8 Virtual Office Pro

Your Cloud
Receptionist
8x8’s Virtual Office Pro has all the
ingredients of an excellent cloud
communications business tool:
It’s incredibly easy to use, requires
little to no VoIP technical knowl-
edge, and delivers hosted PBX, chat, online 8x8 Virtual Office Pro
meetings, Internet faxing, and more. The $49.99 direct monthly per user
L l l l h
price may sound high, but if you calculate
Pros Near-perfect, cloud-based Unified Com-
the costs for deploying and maintaining an munications for SMBs. Integration of VoIP, fax,
on-site phone system—not to mention addi- Web conferencing, and chat into one solution.
Unlimited local and long-distance calling. Some
tional fax and Web-conferencing services— international calling. Easy-to-use Web inter-
the 8x8 sounds much more reasonable. face.
The main component of Virtual Office Pro Cons Program windows sharing in Web con-
ferencing doesn’t work as well as desktop shar-
is the enterprise-class VoIP service. Here
ing. Slightly muffled call quality.
you get auto-attendant, hold music, ring
groups, unlimited and international call-
ing, call forwarding, extension dialing, and slightly muffled, more so than with Skype.
more, which can all lend your SMB a pol- However, I could still clearly hear those I
ished, professional appearance. On top of called. And I found only one glitch with Vir-
those business-class phone features, you tual Office Pro’s otherwise strong Web-con-
have a friendly Web dashboard for making ferencing feature: There was some latency
and managing calls. Internet faxing, chat, issues with content sharing, such as when
Web audio and video conferencing, and I tried to share Excel and PowerPoint files.
call recording round out the offering. And But if you’re ready to put some of your oper-
you can even port your company’s exist- ations in the cloud and like the flexibility of
ing number to Virtual Office Pro, an option a unified communications platform you
not available with Google Voice. I found the can access from any OS, major browser, or
setup to be straightforward and easy, and if iPhone and iPad, Virtual Office Pro is ideal—
you’re stuck, 8x8 offers live chat support. and our Editors’ Choice.—Samara Lynn
On our test, I found call quality to be >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 21


first looks SOFTWARE

Cloudmark DesktopOne-Pro Mode

Antispam
At its
Best
What could be better than a spam
filter that accurately cleans up
any one e-mail account of any
type using any e-mail client? How
about one that does the same for
as many e-mail accounts as you happen to
have, and throws in some bonus features. almost universal success. The one clinker
It’s not free, but Cloudmark DesktopOne- was my free Yahoo Mail account. Only paid
Pro Mode is still quite a bargain. The base accounts are allowed POP3 access, so that
price lets you install it on two separate sys- one was out of reach. But Cloudmark’s sig-
tems—yours and your partner’s, perhaps. nature community-based spam filtering
The basic antispam functionality is identi- blocks virtually no valid mail while correctly
cal to that of the free Cloudmark Desktop- blocking almost all spam. Just 2.4 percent
One, handling all kinds of e-mail accounts: of undeniable spam got past the filter—an
POP3, IMAP, Exchange, HTTP-based mail excellent score. Paying extra for antispam,
(MSN) and Web-based mail. It integrates already included in most security suites,
directly with many popular e-mail clients, may be a tough sell, but Cloudmark is just
specifically Outlook, Outlook Express, Win- that good. Cloudmark’s service is excellent,
dows Mail, and Thunderbird. You can con- and the Cloudmark DesktopOne Pro edition
figure Cloudmark to filter out spam in the is well worth the modest price if you need
background automatically, and the Pro edi- a bit more protection than the free edition
tion lets you enable “spam aging,” automat- offers. Cloudmark DesktopOne Pro is our
ically deleting the oldest spam messages. Editors’ Choice product for premium antis-
In testing, I linked Cloudmark to every pam software.—Neil J. Rubenking
e-mail account I could scrape up, with >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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Cloudmark DesktopOne-
Pro Mode
$19.95 direct per year
L l l l l

Pros Accurately filters spam


from any type of e-mail ac-
count in any e-mail client.
Can handle multiple accounts.
Automatically whitelists those
in local address books. Can
permanently delete old spam
messages. Handy online li-
cense management.
Cons Community-based fil-
tering necessarily lets through
a very small percentage of
spam. Paying for antispam
can be a tough sell.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 23


first looks software

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011

Strong PC Protection

A
ccording to one indepen-
dent market-watching group,
Kaspersky Lab is the hottest-
selling software brand in
U.S. retail stores, with over-
all sales more than tripling for the first half
of 2010. Kaspersky Internet Security 2011,
gives good reason to believe those num-
bers. Kaspersky’s security powerhouse
does its job without pestering you. The
firewall makes decisions rather than asking Kaspersky Internet Security 2011
you what to do. Basically, you should have Three licenses, $79.95 direct
L l l l m
no worries about attacks from outside with
Pros Tough, intelligent, automated firewall
Kaspersky’s firewall on the job. actively blocks exploits. Praised by indepen-
The best firewall feature is its application- dent antivirus labs. Sandbox protects system
files and sensitive surfing. Comprehensive pa-
control system, which assigns programs rental control system. Minimal system
categories: trusted, low-restricted, high- performance.
restricted, and untrusted. Known good pro- Cons Didn’t reach expectations in my
malware-removal tests. Antispam allowed
grams and those digitally signed by trusted
many spam messages into Inbox. Performed
vendors are free to access the Internet and poorly in antiphishing tests.
sensitive system areas. Untrusted programs
can’t even launch. Restricted programs have reported that it blocked specific exploits.
limited access. And the firewall pops up The full suite performed significantly bet-
messages only for significant threats. ter in my malware-blocking tests than the
In testing, it blocked all port-scan tests stand-alone antivirus, detecting 89 percent
and other Web-based tests I threw at it. of malware threats. Finally, it will put very
It was also unusually effective at block- little drag on system resources. Though its
ing attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in performance on spam filtering and phishing
the browser and OS. I hit it with two dozen protection was lackluster, keeping from an
attacks using the Core Impact penetra- Editors’ Choice, this suite is nonetheless an
tion tool; none compromised the test sys- excellent choice.—Neil J. Rubenking
tem’s security. Better still, Kaspersky clearly >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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first looks software

BlackBerry 6 OS

Sending
the Right
Message

T
he latest upgrade to RIM’s BlackBerry 6 OS
BlackBerry OS is the biggest Free
L l l l m
ever. No, this isn’t a Windows
Pros Touch-screen BlackBerrys are finally
Phone 7–type reimagining. viable. Great device and Web video search
BlackBerry is still BlackBerry, functions. Brand-new, world-class Web browser.
Puts IM and social networking at the forefront.
with the things you love (such as the laser-
Cons Still pretty pedestrian design. Lousy Ex-
like focus on messaging) and the things change integration for consumers. Third-party
you hate (such as pedestrian design and a app catalog still thin.
lame third-party app catalog.) But RIM has
finally cracked the touch-screen code here, networking and IM features give you various
delivering a new OS with new search, Web, options to integrate your favorite sites. The
and media features that work well on touch- new OS comes with a new, faster, and more
screen devices. streamlined version of BlackBerry’s desktop
BlackBerry 6 is a true hybrid system, software that feels like one app rather than a
where you can do almost anything through cobbled-together mess of plug-ins.
touch, on the keypad, or using the track- BlackBerry 6 isn’t a complete overhaul,
pad in between them. The main BlackBerry but neither is it skin-deep. It keeps RIM in the
6 home screen has an alert bar at the top game, but doesn’t push them to the fore.
that can become stacked with icons for new Clearly, we’re going to see a lot of Black-
messages, IMs, Tweets, and calendar events. Berrys with touch screens and keyboards
Lower on the screen, there are icons for your over the next year or so, and they’re going
four most frequently used apps. Setting to have a lot of focus on messaging and
up BlackBerry 6 is much easier than previ- media. BlackBerry 6 is an obvious upgrade
ous BlackBerrys; the old, text-based setup for existing BlackBerry users, but we don’t
and options screens have been replaced see this new OS drawing the momen-
by clearer dialog boxes with good-looking tum away from iOS and Android just yet.
icons. E-mail support for Microsoft Exchange —Sascha Segan
Server is still somewhat weak, but new social >> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

October 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 25


john c. dvorak

How Apple Stores


Got It Right

A
few weeks ago, I walked into have all failed for obvious reasons. Com-
the San Francisco Apple puAdd, once a serious competitor with Dell
store at around 7:30 at night, and IBM, rolled out a number of stores which
and it was packed with peo- bankrupted the company. The stores were
ple. I was hoping to see the huge and were more like CompUSA than the
latest new products, but they were not in Apple store. Too much stuff, no buzz.
the store yet. That didn’t deter the hundreds IBM had a few stores prior to the Compu-
of people poking around the place. The line Add experiment, and its stores did seem to
at the registers–oddly placed in the back of have some buzz and activity. But they were
the store—were 20-people deep. The place more aimed at the professional market, and
was jumping. It was actually a scene. A hap- the company decided it didn’t like the way
pening. It was weird. the numbers looked, so it shuttered them all
That’s when it hit me: Apple stores around at once. These stores pre-dated the roll-out
the country have proven once and for all of OS/2 and the line of IBM Thinkpad com-
that a targeted retail outlet designed to puters. I think they would have set the world
sell a line of products with a concise mes- on fire if they’d been kept open during the
sage is the key to success in the computer laptop era. But no.
business. This was long since proven by the Gateway had a series of stores some
automobile industry, and it stuns me that years back called the Country Stores, which
only Apple has figured this out in the com- seemed to be doing well in rural areas not
puter business. served by any other computer-selling out-
lets. But the stores themselves were boring
The Failed Attempts of Others and ominous. You didn’t feel comfortable
The retail-store front has been tried by a and you could not just breeze in and out
few computer companies before Apple and without being harassed like you can with

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It stuns me that of all the manufacturers of


tech products, only Apple has figured out the
secret to retail stores.
the Apple stores. For all practical purposes, ously doubt that this would be true if it were
the Gateway stores did to Gateway what not for the stores. The company would be
the CompuAdd stores did to CompuAdd. doing well, but the stores are obviously
Sunk them. adding a lot.
The latest iteration of all this, of course, is So should Dell, HP and perhaps Sam-
the Microsoft store. Its first try, back in San sung or Acer roll out retail stores? Yes, they
Francisco in 1999, reminded me of the lay- should. Samsung has so many product lines
out of the toy department at Macy’s in New that you’d think it would have had stores
York. Slick and professional. Too bad there by now. I think the company makes about
was no buzz or energy in the place ever. I everything from computers to phones
probably went into there three times, and to washing machines and refrigerators.
there was never more than one other cus- It would be like a Sears store without the
tomer in the place. I have not visited the clothing.
new flagship Microsoft store in Flagstaff, Dell has been trying to get into the same
Arizona, but the photos I’ve seen show it product lines as Apple from the outset but
as quite lively. Microsoft could easily use cannot find a way to do stores. I think the
such a facility to promote its Phone 7 OS, company was scared off by the failures of
the Xbox 360 and even the Zune, as well as IBM, CompuAdd, and Gateway. The com-
other products that need a salesperson to pany must know that there are retail experts
promote. who can figure out what went wrong with
those and avoid the pitfalls. After all, that’s
Key to Success: A Good Sales Team what Apple did. The Apple stores are not
That’s what is great about a storefront like just ad-libbed by Steve Jobs.
this, salespeople. A good sales team can do The tech scene in general could use some
more than move products; it actually helps more of the buzz and energy you can find
the customer in the decision-making pro- any night in an Apple store. Now that every-
cess. And unless they are screwed over by a one knows exactly how to do it right, what
salesperson, customers end up with a good are they waiting for?
feeling about the company.
Dvorak Live on the Web John’s Internet TV
During this harsh economic downturn,
show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on Cranky-
Apple has had little trouble surviving the Geeks.com. You can download back episodes
rocky times. In fact, it has flourished. I seri- whenever you like.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 27


SASCHA SEGAN

Video for Phones:


Let’s Get Serious

I
would absolutely love to watch Get With The Times
more movies and TV shows on my When it comes to video, however, we’re still
phone. And mobile phone mak- in 2004. Finding legal, downloadable video
ers seem to be on board, equip- for most phones is simply impossible; the
ping phones like the HTC EVO 4G content owners refuse to provide it. There
and Nokia N8 with high-res screens and are scattered exceptions to this rule. Apple’s
HDMI ports. But unless the content makers iPhone and iPad can get lots of stuff, even in
and the hardware industry get together to HD. T-Mobile’s HTC HD2 phone has a Block-
provide common encoding and DRM stan- buster app. PrimeTime2Go offers a limited
dards, most high-def phones will be forever selection of low-res TV shows for download
starved of high-def content. on BlackBerry phones. I’ve heard that Sam-
If I want digital music, it’s easy to find. Just sung’s Galaxy S phones may offer down-
pop over to iTunes or Amazon, either on my loadable content, too, but we still have an
phone or my PC, buy an unprotected MP3 incomplete patchwork of incompatible solu-
or AAC file, and play it on whatever. Things tions, with too little content available in HD.
weren’t this easy a few years ago, but we’ve That makes piracy start to sound attrac-
largely gotten past the shock-horror phase tive, but downloaded or self-ripped video
of the digital-music revolution. Most music comes in a multicolored riot of formats,
companies acknowledge that DRM is unac- none of which is guaranteed to play on your
ceptable (except for subscription services, device. Every device supports different
in which case DRM is necessary), and most codecs, bit rates, and resolutions.
portable devices support the major music Streaming services are not the answer.
formats. While there’s still a bit of trouble Netflix is a great option and will, hopefully,
with syncing to some devices, that’s more a come to more phones soon. But streaming
speed bump than a road block. over 3G is never top quality, and it kills bat-

28 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION OCTOBER 2010

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If I want digital music, it’s easy to find. When it


comes to video, however, we’re still in 2004.
teries fast. We’re also potentially coming get manufacturers can smooth the path by
into an era of network scarcity, as shown by agreeing on an HD-encoding standard and
AT&T’s new data caps: You can bust AT&T’s communicating it to third parties, such as
new 2GB data plan with less than 4 hours of the Handbrakes, doubleTwists, and Apples
watching streaming video. of the world so “convert for HD phone” and
To some extent, we just have to wait for “convert for SD phone” become simple,
the digital divisions of TV and movie stu- standard commands.
dios to realize that people want to watch A uniform DRM scheme would have to
video on mobile devices. But even if studios come with this, at least for now. Part of the
decided to make their content available for problem is that usage models for music and
mobile, it would still be either low quality or video are very different. You’ll listen to your
unplayable on many phones. favorite album a hundred times; most TV
shows you want to watch only once. Like it
We Need Standards or not, studios need a way to enable a low-
The content and tech industries need to cost, single-viewing option for video con-
come to a consensus on standard, semi-uni- tent, and that means DRM. I’d love to have
versal video formats, the way they did with a DRM-free world, but there needs to be a
nearly universal support for MP3 and AAC. way to offer low-cost, downloadable single
If you have video content, it’s almost viewings of movies and TV shows, so com-
impossible to figure out how to encode it panies can afford to make more shows and
properly for many phones. Programs like we can afford to watch them.
doubleTwist and Missing Sync can often The DRM they come up with must be an
copy video onto phones, but they fre- open standard, though, operated by an
quently scale it down to sub-high-def reso- industry body and available for free. DRM
lutions that look lousy when you hook up an isn’t just a hideous brainsuck because it pre-
HDMI cable. When I tried to encode my own vents you from owning content. Most DRM
HD video via Handbrake for the Sprint EVO, schemes are encumbered with expensive IP
I just couldn’t get anything I created to play: and proprietary code that prefer one com-
no WMV, no H.264 MP4, and not even HD, petitor in a busy industry. The Prisoner’s
simple-profile MP4. Dilemma applies here: Everyone needs to
The problem is there are just too many work together to win.
codecs, with too many twiddly options.
STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest
This is so far from consumer-friendly that on smartphones by reading Sascha’s column at
it borders on consumer-impossible. Gad- go.pcmag.com/segan.

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 29


The Tech
You Trust
Y
ou know something we don’t know.

PCMag.com’s analysts do a terrific job reviewing thousands of products

each year. Our in-depth analysis helps us understand and report which

are fastest, have the best features, or produce the best output. But there

are limitations to every product review process. We often test a single

unit, which makes it difficult to get a feel for which company’s products will stand the test

of time and how well the manufacturers will support customers when they have a problem

or need help.

This is why every year we ask our readers about the products and services they use. Tens

of thousands respond, rating items on dozens of criteria from overall reliability to satisfaction

with technical support and likelihood of recommending. Combined with our analysts’ reviews,

this gives you a complete picture of a product, so you can make informed buying decisions.

30 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION october 2010

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Brands Our annual survey reveals


which manufacturers are

Most
making the grade in the
world of tech products.
By Ben Z. Gottesman

This year (our 23rd year of our survey), nearly 20,000 readers rated over 105,000 prod-

ucts in 13 different categories from PCs to ISPs to HDTVs. We use these ratings to provide a

collective view of a company’s products, not one particular model or service offering (with

exceptions like game consoles). We present a lot of data for you to review, but don’t worry

about getting overwhelmed. We break down the results for you, with picks for our Readers’

Choice winners and, in some cases, honorable mentions. This will show you whom your fel-

low readers trust—and whom they don’t. If you’re considering a tech purchase, look at what

your fellow PCMag readers have to say. Do they recommend a company’s products, and if

not, why not? Is a company’s service up to snuff or are too many units breaking down? On

the pages that follow, we offer a close look at the results for laptops, desktops, printers, cell

service providers, and cell phones, as well as snapshots of the results for eight other product

categories. For a look at the full results of our entire survey, click here.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 31


Laptops and remained consistent with last year. Inter-
Notebooks estingly, readers rated the company a 9.3
for reliability despite the fact that 15 per-
READERS’ CHOICE cent of Apple respondents reported that
Apple Inc. No other company comes their laptops needed repair. The repair rate
anywhere close to Apple’s ratings. To its is the main chink among Apple’s otherwise
customers, the company can do no wrong. stellar ratings. Only Dell and Fujitsu had
And Apple laptops make pretty good Win- more laptops needing repairs (18 percent
dows machines, too. each); Apple was on par with Lenovo and
Asus Once again, Asus receives the highest HP, with 15 percent needing repair.
overall rating among Windows laptop mak- As can be expected, Apple scored a
ers. Some of its ratings are down slightly whopping 81 percent in our Net Promoter
from last year, but Asus’s users still highly rating, a new addition to our survey this
recommend its computers. year. The Net Promoter Score®, a term
coined by fellow Fred Reichheld of the
If you’re working for one of Apple’s consulting firm Bain & Company, measures
competitors, you probably view Mr. Jobs’ readers’ loyalties to the various brands that
company with the same disdain that you they rated. Calculating NPS is very straight-
had for the kid in class who always blew forward. We ask the question, “How likely is
the curve on exams. Apple has a way of it that you would recommend this comany
making other companies’ decent scores to a friend or colleague?” Based on the
look pretty mediocre. Its 9.2-overall rating answer, each respondent is categorized
and 9.3 likelihood to recommend scores as either a promoter, a passive or a detrac-
are among the highest of any company in tor. The higher number of promoters (and
any category of this survey. (Pioneer also fewer detractors), a brand has, the higher
received a 9.2-overall rating in HDTVs and its Net Promoter score. (For more on NPS,
Apple got a 9.3 likelihood to recommend click here.)
in desktop PCs.) Apple earns yet another Asus, which makes everything from
Readers’ Choice Award for laptops and highly mobile netbooks to high-end gam-
notebooks. The next closest competitor ing systems, posted an excellent reliabil-
is Asus, another repeat Readers’ Choice ity satisfaction rating of 8.9 and had the
winner on the Windows side, with a very second fewest laptops needing repairs
respectable overall rating of 8.5, though it’s (6 percent). Only MSI had fewer laptops
nowhere in Apple’s league. requiring repair. MSI also posted a similar
For the most part, Apple’s results reliability score of 8.8.

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LAPTOPS

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING
a Significantly better than average**

®
OVERALL SCORE †
b Better than average

NEEDING REPAIR

RECOMMENDED

net promoter
­- - Within the average range

PERCENTAGE
RELIABILITY

TECHNICAL
c Worse than average*

SUPPPORT

REPAIRS
d Significantly worse than average**

score
R
 ED denotes Readers’ Choice
blue denotes Honorable Mention

ALL NOTEBOOKS
Apple (803 responses) 9.2 a 9.3 a 8.6 a 8.1 a 15% c 9.3 a 81%
Asus (330) 8.5 a 8.9 a 6% a 8.7 a 61%
MSI (64) 8.1 -- 8.8 b 5% b 8.4 -- 52%
Toshiba (858) 8.1 -- 8.4 -- 6.9 -- 6.7 -- 10% -- 8.4 b 49%
Fujitsu (74) 8.0 -- 8.5 -- 18% -- 8.2 -- 38%
Gateway (276) 8.0 -- 8.3 -- 11% -- 7.7 c 21%
Lenovo (930) 7.9 c 8.2 c 7.3 -- 7.2 -- 15% c 8.1 -- 38%
Acer (551) 7.9 -- 8.2 c 6.4 -- 7.1 -- 10% -- 8.0 -- 36%
Sony (330) 7.9 -- 8.2 -- 6.6 -- 12% -- 7.9 -- 36%
Dell (2829) 7.7 d 7.9 d 6.9 -- 7.0 -- 18% d 7.9 d 31%
HP (2027) 7.7 d 8.0 d 6.4 d 5.8 d 15% c 7.8 d 27%
Compaq (203) 7.3 d 7.7 d 12% -- 7.2 d 7%
AVERAGE 8.0 8.4 7.0 7.0 12% 8.1 40%

* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average.


** 1 confidence interval from the average.
† Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this notebook PC?” It is not the average of the other
scores in the table.
Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is best. For Percentage Needing
Repair, a lower percentage is best.
A blank field indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.
®Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.
What is the Net Promoter Score? This new addition to our survey measures brand loyalty. Survey respondents are categorized as either
promoters, passives or detractors. The more promoters a brand has, the higher its Net Promoter score. For more on NPS, click here.

Still, Asus needs to keep an eye on some bought their laptops within the last year,
downward trends. Overall, satisfaction their likelihood to recommend dropped
dipped from 8.8 in 2009 to 8.5. Similarly, from 9.2 in 2009 to 8.8. The reason could be
while its likelihod-to-recommend rating of the higher incidence of repairs: Five percent
8.7 is the highest aside from Apple, Asus needed repairs (the best among all new sys-
rated a 9.0 last year. Among customers who tems) compared to only 2 percent last year.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 33


DESKTOPS

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING
a Significantly better than average**

®
OVERALL SCORE †
b Better than average

NEEDING REPAIR

RECOMMENDED

net promoter
­- - Within the average range

PERCENTAGE
RELIABILITY

TECHNICAL
c Worse than average*

SUPPPORT

REPAIRS
d Significantly worse than average**

score
RED denotes Readers’ Choice
blue denotes Honorable Mention

ALL DESKTOPS
Apple (638 responses) 9.1 a 9.3 a 8.9 a 8.3 a 9% b 9.3 a 79%
Self-built (1941) 8.6 a 9.0 a 7.2 -- 8.2 a 18% d 7.8 -- 27%
Locally built/Clone (620) 8.4 a 8.7 a 8.0 a 8.2 a 21% d 7.9 -- 33%
CyberPower (71) 8.1 -- 8.3 -- 13% -- 7.8 -- 31%
Sony (50) 8.1 -- 8.3 -- 18% -- 7.6 -- 18%
Systemax (52) 8.0 -- 8.3 -- 15% -- 8.3 -- 48%
HP (2314) 7.7 c 7.9 d 6.4 d 6.4 c 15% -- 7.8 -- 26%
Gateway (430) 7.7 -- 7.9 c 5.6 c 5.8 c 13% -- 7.1 d 6%
Dell (4042) 7.6 d 8.0 c 6.8 -- 6.9 -- 13% -- 7.8 -- 29%
Lenovo (202) 7.4 c 8.0 -- 9% -- 7.6 -- 17%
eMachines (171) 7.4 c 7.7 c 14% -- 7.5 c 10%
Acer (155) 7.2 c 7.7 c 12% -- 7.4 c 10%
Compaq 7.1 d 7.6 c 16% -- 7.1 d -1%
AVERAGE 7.8 8.1 6.9 6.8 13% 7.9 29%
* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average.
** 1 confidence interval from the average.
† Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this desktop PC?” It is not the average of the other
scores in the table.
Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is best. For Percentage Needing
Repair, a lower percentage is best.
A blank field indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.
®Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld

Asus’s likelihood-to-recommend rating only 7 percent this year.


among first year laptop owners is actually Some other vendors also saw repair rates
behind Toshiba (8.9 percent). Reliability improve. Dell went from 23 percent need-
improvements may be the key. Toshiba saw ing repair to 18 percent; it’s nothing to brag
the percentage of new computers need- about, but it is a positive trend. Lenovo cut
ing repairs drop from 14 percent last year to its repair rate to 15 percent from 22 percent

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last year. On the other hand, Lenovo has the In past years, we did not factor Apple’s
highest non-Apple satisfaction with repairs ratings into the industry averages because
at 7.2, but that’s below last year’s 7.6. Simi- its Macs weren’t a viable PC alternative for
larly, among computers less than a year many people. However, now that Macs can
old, Dell’s satisfaction with tech support run Windows (or even Linux), there’s good
dropped from 7.1 to a mediocre 6.5, and sat- cross-platform compatibility between
isfaction with repairs went from 6.9 to 6.4. many OS X and Windows applications. And
Among new laptops, Dell had the lowest since much of our computing is done in a
likelihood to be recommended (8.0). browser, we feel it’s time Apple was placed
on equal footing. Of course, this drives up
Desktops the industry averages and makes other
desktop manufacturers look less impres-
READERS’ CHOICE sive. Perhaps this will serve as a wake-up
Apple Inc. Apple sweeps the category, with call to those companies.
the highest ratings in everything from the Apple’s 9.3 likelihood-to-recommend
reliability of the computers to the techni- rating is a full point higher than its closest
cal support and repair service the company competitor, Systemax (8.3). Apple’s over-
provides. all satisfaction and reliability ratings were
Honorable Mention also over 9.0. Interestingly, both Apple and
Systemax Inc. Even though it’s not Lenovo had the lowest incidences of units
reflected in its overall rating, Systemax is needing repairs (9 percent), but Apple’s 9.3
the most highly-recommended company reliability satisfaction rating is much higher
among those that focus on the Windows than Lenovo’s 8.0. There’s not always a cor-
market, and it leads by a healthy margin. relation between reliability and repair rates:
Sony’s 8.3 reliability rating is better than
These days, most of the excitement Lenovo’s even though its repair rate was
around PCs is in laptops, tablets, and other twice as high.
mobile devices. That said, desktop com- Dell and HP’s results remain very similar
puters remain more popular than laptops to 2009, except that Dell was also able to
among the PCMag.com Readers’ Survey reduce the percentage of systems need-
respondents. Once again, Apple receives ing repairs from 19 to 13 percent, and for HP,
our Readers’ Choice Award for desktops. satisfaction with repairs dropped from a
Unlike last year, though, when Sony also respectable 7.0 in 2009 to 6.4. The overall
received the award, this year the Cupertino- rating for HP’s Compaq brand (7.1) is lowest
based company stands alone. among desktop manufacturers.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 35


PRINTERS

LIKELIHOOD OF BEING
a Significantly better than average**

net promoter ®
OVERALL SCORE †
b Better than average

NEEDING REPAIR

RECOMMENDED
­- - Within the average range

PERCENTAGE
RELIABILITY

TECHNICAL
c Worse than average*

SUPPPORT

REPAIRS
d Significantly worse than average**

score
R
 ED denotes Readers’ Choice
blue denotes Honorable Mention

ALL PRINTERS
Brother (1405 responses) 8.1 a 8.5 a 6.4 -- 3% a 8.4 a 46%
Canon (2095) 8.1 a 8.5 a 7.5 b 6.2 -- 2% a 8.4 a 46%
Samsung (380) 8.1 b 8.5 a 2% a 8.2 a 42%
HP (9210) 7.8 -- 8.1 b 5.9 d 6.3 -- 4% a 8.0 a 34%
Epson (1293) 7.8 -- 8.2 -- 5.7 c 3% a 8.0 b 32%
Konica Minolta (107) 7.8 -- 8.2 -- 7% -- 7.7 -- 19%
Xerox (218) 7.8 -- 8.1 -- 7.2 -- 18% d 7.6 -- 16%
Oki /Oki Data (69) 7.7 -- 8.2 -- 3% -- 7.5 -- 13%
Kodak (168) 7.5 -- 7.5 c 20% d 7.5 -- 27%
Dell (566) 7.3 d 7.8 c 3% a 7.3 d 6%
Lexmark (734) 7.2 d 7.6 d 6.5 -- 4% b 7.3 d 9%
AVERAGE 7.7 8.1 6.6 6.2 6% 7.8 26%
* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average.
** 1 confidence interval from the average.
† Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this printer?” It is not the average of the other
scores in the table.
Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is best. For Percentage Needing
Repair, a lower percentage is best.
A blank field indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.
®Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld

Choice winner, Canon dominates in the ink-


Printers jet categories, and its technical support
continues to get high marks.
READERS’ CHOICE Honorable Mention
Brother International Corp. Whether Samsung Electronics America Samsung
mono or color, standalone or all-in-one, posts very similar ratings to our two Read-
Brother has emerged as the top dog in all of ers’ Choice winners, and its customers are
the laser-related printer categories. only slightly less likely to recommend its
Canon U.S.A. Inc. A perennial Readers’ printers.

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This year our two winners, Canon and company was unable to retain the Read-
Brother, received identical overall scores ers’ Choice Award that it earned in 2009
of 8.1, which were significantly better than after losing it the prior year. HP’s scores are
average, and likelihood-to-recommend rat- decent, but they declined year to year in the
ings of 8.4. While both companies make key service categories: Satisfaction with
devices in every category of printers— technical support dropped from 6.7 to 6.3
including all-in-ones (AIOs)—each company while satisfaction with repairs went down
has found its niche. Canon receives the high- from 6.4 to 5.9.
est marks in all the inkjet-related categories; This year, Brother passed Epson as the
Brother tops all the laser categories. third most popular printer maker in the sur-
Samsung’s overall score was also 8.1, and vey. Brother excels in both mono and color
its likelihood-to-recommend rating was just laser printers; its inkjets don’t fare as well,
behind those of Brother and Canon. Sam- though they’re within striking distance of
sung only makes laser printers and all-in- Canon. Brother may have to improve its tech
ones, primarily for the home market, but it support satisfaction to get there. Satisfac-
does this well, so we’ve awarded the com- tion with Brother’s support is only 6.4 com-
pany an Honorable Mention. pared to Canon’s 7.5. Canon is clearly doing
HP is the most popular printer-maker in a lot right but should keep a close eye on its
the survey: More readers rated HP printers numbers. Its overall rating, satisfaction with
than all other brands combined, but popu- tech support, and likelihood to recommend
larity doesn’t equate to satisfaction, and the are all down slightly from last year.

Methodology We e-mailed invitations to PC Magazine readers to take our online survey, hosted by Equation
Research. Respondents told us about the technology they personally use at home and at work, and any support
or repair incidents they had within the 12 months prior. Respondents were entered into a drawing to win Ameri-
can Express Gift Checks or prizes provided by ThinkGeek. The survey was in the field in two parts during the
summer months.
We score only those vendors represented by at least 50 responses about their products; fewer would not allow
for statistically valid comparisons. We use a t-test measure on each score on each question against the average of
all the scores and determine whether they are significantly different at a 95-percent confidence level. The t-test
considers a company’s score for each measure, the total number of responses for the company on each measure,
and the variability of the responses in calculating the confidence interval for each score—the range in which we
are 95 percent certain that the score is representative. If the score is more than one confidence interval above or
below the average, we state that the score is better than or worse than this average. For more than two confidence
intervals above or below, we say that the score is significantly better or worse.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 37


CELLULAR SERVICE PROVIDERS

ChOICE OF hANDSETS

REqUIRED TEChNICAL
TEChNICAL SUPPORT
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Significantly better than
a
average**

OVERALL SCORE†

(NOT TEChNICAL
PLAN OPTIONS
b Better than average*
–- Within the average range

PROVIDED

SUPPORT)

SUPPORT
c Worse than average*
d Significantly worse than average**

FEES
RED denotes Readers’ Choice.

CONTRACT PROVIDERS ONLY


US Cellular (102 responses) 8.0 b 6.4 -- 7.4 b 6.4 c 8.0 b 30% --
Verizon wireless (3155) 7.8 a 5.1 d 6.4 d 7.3 a 7.3 -- 7.0 b 31% --
Sprint (788) 7.4 -- 6.7 a 7.3 a 7.1 b 7.1 c 6.4 -- 35% --
T-Mobile (541) 7.2 c 6.5 a 7.1 b 6.8 -- 7.6 b 7.4 b 34% --
AT&T (2661) 6.6 d 5.0 d 6.2 d 7.3 a 6.6 d 6.0 d 27% a
AVERAgE 7.4 6.1 6.9 6.9 7.4 6.7 32%
* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average.
** 1 confidence interval from the average.
† Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this cellular service provider?”
It is not the average of the other scores in the table.
Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.
A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

Cellular Service At&t has the iPhone, and it constantly

Providers vies to be the first to offer every other


breakthrough phone, such as the new
READERS’ CHOICE blackberry torch 9800. to quote the poli-
U.S. Cellular It’s not the biggest company, ticians and sum up our readers’ responses,
but its customers like it just the same. call it’s lipstick on a pig, however. Despite hav-
coverage and quality were on par with Veri- ing the top-rated phone across all carriers
zon Wireless, and respondents were much (Apple’s iPhone), At&t itself rates dead
more satisfied with how much they’re being last among cell phone service providers.
charged. the company has overall and likelihood-
Verizon Wireless the company delivers to-recommend ratings below 7.0 for its
what it promises. customers rate calling contract-based phone service. It’s last in
on Verizon Wireless’s network the highest. overall rating and satisfaction with fees,
they’re also fairly happy with their choice plan options, customer support, technical
of phones even without an iPhone in its support, call coverage, and call quality. And
arsenal…yet. its scores are worse on nearly every mea-

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LIkELIhOOD OF BEINg
OF YOUR hOME AREA
wIThIN YOUR hOME

COVERAgE OUTSIDE
COVERAgE wIThIN

OUTSIDE OF YOUR

NET PROMOTER ®
RECOMMENDED
CALL qUALITY

CALL qUALITY
hOME AREA

hOME AREA
U.S. cellular, which sells cell phone service
in about half of the country (26 states), also

SCORE
AREA

earns a readers’ choice. the company’s


ratings in many key categories were slightly
ahead of Verizon Wireless and well ahead
8.2 b 8.2 b 8.0 b 8.1 b 8.1 b 33% of everyone else. calls on U.S. cellular’s
8.2 a 8.2 a 8.3 a 8.2 a 8.0 a 31% network were rated on par with Verizon’s,
and the company scored better in cus-
7.5 c 7.7 -- 7.5 -- 7.7 -- 7.4 -- 11%
tomer support satisfaction. U.S. cellular’s
7.3 c 7.6 c 7.0 d 7.5 c 7.4 -- 9%
main weakness is its choice of handsets; it
7.0 d 7.2 d 6.9 d 7.1 d 6.8 d -7% finished last in the survey on this measure.
7.7 7.8 7.6 7.7 7.5 14% As of early August, it had only one Android
phone to complement a few blackberry and
Windows Phone models.
Sprint and t-Mobile are going in different
directions. Sprint improved on every mea-
sure from last year whereas t-Mobile went
down everywhere except for call quality
outside the home area, which stayed the
sure compared with last year. this isn’t to same.
say that At&t’s main rival, Verizon Wire-
less, is not without issues. Despite winning
readers’ choice once again, Verizon Wire- Cell Phones
less (whose numbers include Alltel, this
year) slipped slightly, falling behind the READERS’ CHOICE fOR AT&T
regional U.S. cellular in many measures. AT&T: Apple Inc. Apple continues to
true to its reputation, readers rated Veri- improve its smartphones. readers love
zon’s call coverage and quality the best. them for everything they do, except making
Its technical support received the highest phone calls.
rating and customer satisfaction with the
choice of handsets matched At&t’s. We READERS’ CHOICE fOR SPRINT,
might be able to attribute this, in part, to T-MObILE, AND VERIZON WIRELESS
its ever-expanding line of Android phones, HTC Corp. Htc has been leading the
except that Verizon has the same 7.3 rating Android charge across carriers. readers are
as last year for phone choice. very happy with the results.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 39


CELLULAR PhONES

REqUIRED TEChNICAL
OF YOUR hOME AREA
wIThIN YOUR hOME

COVERAgE OUTSIDE
a Significantly better than

COVERAgE wIThIN

OUTSIDE OF YOUR
OVERALL SCORE †
average**
b Better than average*

CALL qUALITY

CALL qUALITY
hOME AREA

hOME AREA
–- Within the average range

SUPPORT
c Worse than average*

AREA
d Significantly worse than average**
RED denotes Readers’ Choice.

AT&T - SMARTPhONES (CONTRACT)


Apple (1143 responses) 8.6 a 6.7 d 7.0 c 6.5 d 6.9 d 22% c
hTC (79) 7.7 -- 7.4 -- 7.4 -- 7.3 -- 7.3 -- 20% --
Nokia (62) 7.5 -- 7.7 -- 7.9 b 7.5 -- 7.6 -- 19% --
BlackBerry/RIM (258) 7.4 -- 7.0 -- 7.1 -- 6.9 -- 7.2 -- 28% c
Samsung (74) 7.1 c 7.3 -- 7.3 -- 7.4 -- 7.3 -- 8% b
AVERAgE 7.7 7.2 7.3 7.1 7.3 19%
AT&T - FEATURE PhONES (CONTRACT)
Samsung (224) 7.2 b 7.7 b 7.6 -- 7.5 b 7.4 -- 10% b
Motorola (202) 7.0 -- 7.1 -- 7.3 -- 7.2 -- 7.4 -- 9% b
AT&T (83) 6.9 -- 6.6 -- 7.0 -- 6.7 -- 6.9 -- 19% --
Sony Ericsson (79) 6.9 -- 7.2 -- 7.5 -- 7.0 -- 7.2 -- 14% --
Nokia (145 responses) 6.8 -- 7.7 b 7.5 -- 7.4 -- 7.4 -- 16% --
Lg (125) 6.3 c 7.1 -- 7.1 -- 6.7 -- 6.9 -- 15% --
AVERAgE 6.9 7.2 7.3 7.1 7.2 14%
SPRINT - SMARTPhONES (CONTRACT)
hTC (178 responses) 8.3 a 8.1 b 8.3 b 8.1 b 8.3 b 22% --
BlackBerry/RIM (121) 7.6 -- 7.6 -- 7.7 -- 7.5 -- 7.7 -- 18% b
Palm (134) 7.3 c 7.5 -- 7.9 -- 7.4 -- 7.8 -- 38% c
AVERAgE 7.7 7.7 8.0 7.7 7.9 26%
SPRINT - FEATURE PhONES (CONTRACT)
Lg (50 responses) 7.8 b 7.6 -- 8.0 -- 10% --
Sanyo (67) 6.9 -- 7.2 -- 7.3 -- 7.0 -- 7.2 -- 16% --
Samsung (90) 6.6 c 6.6 -- 7.0 -- 7.0 -- 7.0 -- 22% --
AVERAgE 7.1 7.1 7.4 7.0 7.1 16%
(See page 42 for the key to this chart.)

40 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION october 2010

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LIkELIhOOD OF BEINg
TEChNICAL SUPPORT

REqUIRED REPAIRS

NETPROMOTER ®
RECOMMENDED
REPAIRS
READERS’ CHOICE fOR VERIZON

SCORE
WIRELESS
Motorola Inc. Motorola had the first
Android phone on Verizon’s network, and
7.4 a 14% -- 7.8 -- 8.9 a 67% readers still rate it best despite stiff com-
15% -- 8.2 -- 44% petition from Htc. these are, indeed, the
Droids you’re looking for.
13% -- 7.7 -- 21%
5.9 c 16% -- 7.7 -- 19%
READERS’ CHOICE fOR SPRINT
4% b 7.0 c -11% LG Electronics Feature phone ratings were
6.7 12% 7.8 7.9 28% disappointing overall. LG is the only com-
pany to receive a readers’ choice for fea-
7% b 7.2 b -4% ture phones, and only on the Sprint network.
7% -- 7.0 -- -10%
once again, Apple receives our read-
10% -- 6.9 -- -1%
ers’ choice Award for cell phones. readers
11% -- 6.8 -- -10% appreciated everything about the iPhone
11% -- 7.2 -- -1% except, well, the phone calls. this is, in part,
17% -- 6.3 c -26% because it’s on the lowest-rated service
10% 6.9 -9% provider network in the survey, At&t. Apple
receives the lowest ratings for call coverage
and quality (the grip of death problem and
11% b 8.6 a 58%
subsequent Pr snafu occurred after our
11% b 7.7 -- 24%
survey, for the most part).
7.0 -- 28% c 6.8 d -6% two other companies, Htc and Motorola,
7.0 17% 7.7 25% also receive readers’ choice Awards for
their smartphones. Motorola, which was
12% -- 8.0 b 30% the first manufacturer to bring Android
10% -- 6.8 -- -6% to Verizon Wireless, had the highest over-
all rating among phones on big red, with
18% -- 6.6 c -22%
an 8.4 overall rating. Htc had the second-
13% 7.1 1%
highest overall rating on At&t (7.7) and
Verizon Wireless (8.1), and it posted the top
overall smartphone ratings on Sprint (8.3)

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 41


CELLULAR PhONES (CON'T)

REqUIRED TEChNICAL
OF YOUR hOME AREA
wIThIN YOUR hOME

COVERAgE OUTSIDE
a Significantly better than

COVERAgE wIThIN

OUTSIDE OF YOUR
OVERALL SCORE †
average**
b Better than average*

CALL qUALITY

CALL qUALITY
hOME AREA

hOME AREA
–- Within the average range

SUPPORT
c Worse than average*

AREA
d Significantly worse than average**
RED denotes Readers’ Choice.

T-MOBILE - SMARTPhONES (CONTRACT)


hTC (65 responses) 7.6 -- 7.5 -- 7.8 -- 6.9 -- 7.4 -- 31% --
BlackBerry/RIM (119) 7.5 -- 7.0 -- 7.3 -- 7.3 -- 7.8 -- 33% --
AVERAgE 7.6 7.3 7.5 7.1 7.6 32%
T-MOBILE - FEATURE PhONES (CONTRACT)
Motorola (75) 7.1 -- 7.5 -- 7.6 -- 7.2 -- 7.4 -- 13% --
Samsung (87 responses) 7.0 -- 7.3 -- 7.5 -- 6.9 -- 7.3 -- 7% --
AVERAgE 7.0 7.4 7.6 7.0 7.4 10%
VERIZON wIRELESS - SMARTPhONES (CONTRACT)
Motorola (404) 8.4 a 8.6 b 8.6 a 8.7 a 8.5 a 20% b
hTC (169 responses) 8.1 a 8.3 -- 8.4 -- 8.6 b 8.4 -- 24% --
BlackBerry/RIM (498) 7.5 -- 8.4 -- 8.3 -- 8.5 b 8.3 -- 35% d
Lg (61) 7.5 -- 8.4 -- 8.4 -- 8.5 -- 8.3 -- 13% b
Palm (83) 7.5 -- 8.2 -- 8.1 -- 8.1 -- 8.1 -- 23% --
Verizon wireless (59) 6.8 c 7.7 -- 7.5 c 7.9 -- 7.8 -- 27% --
Samsung (103) 6.8 c 8.0 -- 8.1 -- 8.0 -- 7.8 -- 29% --
AVERAgE 7.5 8.2 8.2 8.3 8.2 24%
VERIZON wIRELESS - FEATURE PhONES (CONTRACT)
Lg (833) 7.4 b 8.2 -- 8.1 -- 8.3 -- 8.1 b 15% --
Verizon wireless (192 responses) 7.2 -- 7.9 -- 7.8 -- 8.0 -- 7.8 -- 20% c
Motorola (347) 7.2 -- 8.2 -- 8.1 -- 8.2 -- 8.1 -- 10% b
Samsung (308) 7.2 -- 8.2 -- 8.0 -- 8.1 -- 8.0 -- 12% --
AVERAgE 7.2 8.1 8.0 8.1 8.0 14%

* At least 2 confidence intervals from the average.


** 1 confidence interval from the average.
† Overall score is based on answers to the question “Overall, how would you rate this cellular service provider?”
It is not the average of the other scores in the table.
Except for numbers indicated by a percentage, scores are based on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is best.
A dash indicates that we do not have enough survey data to give the company a score.

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LIkELIhOOD OF BEINg
TEChNICAL SUPPORT

REqUIRED REPAIRS

NET PROMOTER ®
RECOMMENDED
and t-Mobile (7.6).
REPAIRS
Although phone satisfaction is indelibly

SCORE
tied to carriers, we compared satisfaction
with phone platforms by drilling into the
non-call related ratings that are primarily a
18% -- 8.0 -- 34% function of the phone’s operating systems.
22% -- 7.8 -- 25% Apple was still the top rated for the ioS, but
20% 7.9 30% Google’s Android is extremely competitive.
Apple had higher satisfaction ratings for
application availability, games, and music
11% -- 7.1 -- -12%
player, but, surprisingly, a lower rating for
5% -- 7.0 -- -9% Web browsing (7.8 compared to Android’s
8% 7.1 -11% 8.2). obviously, Google knows surfing. rIM/
blackberry and Nokia scored low for phone-
7.5 -- 14% -- 8.1 -- 8.5 a 50% based Web surfing with 5.6 ratings.
11% -- 8.5 a 52% You’ll often hear blackberry users saying
they’d consider switching to an iPhone or
7.4 -- 23% d 7.2 -- 7.6 -- 16%
Android, but they send a lot of e-mail and
7% b 7.5 -- 13%
no one does e-mail better. right? Maybe
13% -- 6.8 c 0% not. the blackberry did get an excellent rat-
15% -- 7.9 -- 24% ing for e-mail (8.5), but Apple also had an
15% -- 7.0 c 1% 8.5, and Android was just slightly behind at
7.4 14% 7.7 7.7 22% 8.3. blackberry isn’t nearly as well rounded
as the other platforms: Its phones get low
marks for Web browsing, application avail-
6.7 -- 11% -- 6.5 -- 7.5 b 11%
ability, games, music, and video.
15% -- 7.5 -- 13%
Palm, which is now a subsidiary of HP,
8% -- 7.3 -- 3% received interesting results. the phones
7% -- 7.1 -- -3% actually have higher overall satisfaction
6.7 10% 6.5 7.4 6% (7.3) compared to Windows Phones, but
it had a much lower likelihood-to-recom-
mend rating than Windows (6.7 compared
to 7.3). this may be because of older Palm
devices rather than the newer weboS-
based Pre and Pixi. ■

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 43


The Rest: HDTVs,
ISPs, and more
Here’s a quick peek at the Readers’ Choice winners in the
eight other categories in our Readers’ Choice survey.

Our comprehensive survey included cameras that our readers own. Nikon is
many more products than those dis- clearly a leader in this category but needs
cussed in our story. Below are the Read- to improve in the other segments to stay
ers’ Choice winners of the eight other among our readers’ favorite camera
categories we covered. And this is just a brands.
snapshot; you can find in-depth analysis
and scores galore for all of the product Video Game Consoles
categories by clicking here. Readers’ Choice
Sony PlayStation 3 Sony’s customers
Digital Cameras clearly like what they’re getting—a reli-
Readers’ Choice able game console with great graphics
Canon U.S.A. Inc. Canon is a domi- and sound. Oh, and it’s a Blu-ray player to
nant player in all types of cameras, and boot.
it proves it in our survey: The company
receives the highest likelhood-of-recom- Honorable Mention
mending rating in every category. Nintendo Wii Our readers still feel the
Wii is the easiest console to use and also
Panasonic Corp. of North America The the most fun (by a small margin), but
electronics giant gets very high marks overall, they seem to be ready for some-
from readers, especially in compact and thing new.
superzoom cameras.
HDTVs
Honorable Mention Readers’ Choice
Nikon Inc. The company has the high- Sony Electronics Inc. Sony’s excellent
est overall rating when all camera types numbers among all HDTV owners, plus
are combined, but this is driven by all great ease of use, push it into the winner’s
of the well-loved interchangeable lens circle.

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Samsung Electronics America The most GPS


popular television maker as chosen by Readers’ Choice
the majority of respondents, Samsung Garmin International Inc. Readers pre-
is consistently at the top in every type of fer Garmin by a wide margin compared to
HDTV. other after-market GPS devices. But the
company has to watch out for the increas-
Honorable Mention: ingly popular vehicle-integrated GPS sys-
Panasonic Corp. of North America High tems.
reliability is what Panasonic TVs are all
about. VoIP Services
Readers’ Choice
Vizio Inc. Vizio HDTVs not only are good Cablevision’s Optimum Voice Cablevi-
and reliable; they also have the lowest sion’s service is the top-rated phone service
percentage of sets that need repairs. for the sixth straight year. The company
excelled in all aspects of its phone service
Portable Media Players and we were glad to see that a decreased
Readers’ Choice percentage of customers needed support
Apple Inc. With a line of PMPs ranging this year.
from the tiny Shuffle to the do-everything
iPod Touch, Apple continues to lead the Honorable Mention
way. But it shouldn’t get too comfortable; Verizon’s VoIP Services Readers rated
Microsoft has made improvements to its Verizon very similarly to Optimum. Only
offerings, and our readers have noticed. less-than-stellar satisfaction with customer
support drags it down.
Honorable Mention
Microsoft Corp. Microsoft’s PMPs are ISPs
lauded for their sound and video qual- Readers’ Choice
ity. The company seems to have gotten Verizon FiOS As previous years have
over the reliability issues that dogged the shown, people like their super-high-speed
company last year. fiber optic to the home, and Verizon’s FiOS
stands alone when it comes to satisfied
Network Routers customers.
Readers’ Choice
Apple Inc. Apple’s AirPort routers work Honorable Mention
great with Mac and Windows systems WOW! Internet This regional cable pro-
(as well as all the other Wi-Fi devices you vider continues to wow its customers, post-
have). As in so many categories, Apple ing the best numbers in satisfaction with
stands head and shoulders above the fees and customer service.
competition.

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 45


Solutions
Your
Home IT
Toolkit
Are you that person everyone
calls with computer woes? These
tools are guaranteed to help you
help others (and yourself).
By Eric Griffith

I
t’s been true since the dawn of the
Pc’s creation: if you know anything
about technology, everyone calls teamViewer
you every time his or her computer
hiccups or crashes. TEAMVIEwEr
the It pros at your office have their spe- UrL: www.teamviewer.com
cialized tools to assist them. but here’s Platforms: Pc/Mac/Linux/iPhone/iPad
a collection for you to handle tech sup- Price: Free for personal use
port for family, friends, and (if you’re really Your parents can’t figure out how to upload
“lucky”) friends of friends. this mix of hard- a picture to Facebook, and you live 3,000
ware and software should always be on- miles away. Do you try to talk them through
hand when you need to provide a fix, no the process on the phone? Why bother,
matter how complicated—especially for when you can take remote control of their
those times when you don’t know what desktop from anywhere? Have them install
you’re in for until you arrive. teamViewer’s QuickSupport utility, so you

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really need it? Soluto can help. It uses a


“patent-pending low-level driver technol-
ogy” to detect when you’re frustrated or,
more specifically, to pinpoint programs that
cause frustration. And it crowd-sources
data so you and other Soluto users can get
quick fixes.

Ubuntu

UbUNTU LIVECD
Soluto UrL: www.ubuntu.com
Platform: Any
can take over—even from an iPhone or Price: Free
iPad—once they give you the ID and Pass- Sometimes Linux is the most useful solu-
word generated at launch. It’s completely tion for solving Windows problems. You
secure and works like a charm. can go with any flavor, but I prefer the sim-
plicity of Ubuntu, which has all the tools
SOLUTO you’d need on its LivecD—a bootable,
UrL: www.soluto.com workable version of the operating system
Platform: Windows that runs from the cD/DVD drive. better
Price: Free yet, run it on a USb flash drive. It’s totally
Wondering what all that crapware is that free (they’ll even mail you a cD for free),
loads when Windows starts up, and if you gives you access to all the files on your

OctOber 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 47


SOLUTIONS COMPUTEr hELP

(probably non-booting) hard drives, and


you can run memtest to check your rAM,
Disk Utility to check the hard drive, and
even edit drive partitions.

USb 2.0 reprofiler

USb 2.0 UNIVErSAL DrIVE ADAPTEr their data? It’s probably a user-profile prob-
UrL: http://www.newertech.com/products/ lem in Windows (2000 on up to Windows
usb2_adaptv2.php 7) caused by any number of uncontrollable
Platform: Any things, and Windows just stops recognizing
Price: $34.99 list them. reprofiler handles a fix without your
Got an old drive laying around you want having to go into the registry.
to check? No matter what the connector—
SAtA, IDe, AtA, AtAPI, in any size (even for OffLINE NT PASSwOrD
laptops)—this universal cable from Newer & rEGISTry EDITOr
technology will let you connect it to a com- UrL: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
puter via USb 2.0. It even works for for- Platform: Windows
merly internal hardware like old Iomega Zip Price: Free
drives. everything you need to connect that Don’t let the name fool you, this software
outdated storage comes in the box. also works with Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
What does it do? When you forget the all
rEPrOfILEr important administrative password for your
UrL: http://www.iwrconsultancy.co.uk/ Pc, it lets you reset it (as long as there is at
software/ least one other valid account to use). You
Platform: Windows boot it from a cD and it will auto-detect
Price: Free other accounts and offer to reset them,
Got a user who suddenly can’t sign in or see whether for other users or the admin.

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DArIk’S bOOT AND NUkE


UrL: http://www.dban.org/
Platform: Intel systems
Price: Free
Another boot disk? this is the one of last
resort for hard drives you don’t want to ever
recover any data from. It lives up to its name:
DbaN is all about securely wiping all data
from the platters, forever, with no recourse
for recovery.

Speccy

SPECCy
UrL: http://www.piriform.com/speccy
Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Sometimes all you need is some informa- DriveImage XML
tion. Like, just what kind of chip is in this
computer? How much rAM does it really DrIVEIMAGE XML
have? What kind of graphics chip is pow- UrL: http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-
ering those monitors? You can find all that xml.htm
info and a lot more with a quick launch of Platform: Windows
the free Speccy software. Price: Free
If you have a working computer that you
sense might be in danger, it’s definitely time
for a backup. thorough and quick (depend-
ing on the drive size), DriveImage XML
will make a complete backup image of the
drive—just make sure, of course, you have
a larger drive to back up to. And thankfully,
you can run it from a bootable cD. DriveI-
mage XML works with Windows XP, Server
Darik’s boot and Nuke 2003, Vista, and 7. ■

OctOber 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 49


sOLUTIONs sECURITy

How to Create
and Remember
Strong Passwords
By Eric Griffith

W
e live in a password- wrong person discovers it, say goodbye to
driven world, one in some funds, if not friends.
which 4 to 20 char-
acters can unlock the Remember the Underwear Meme
door to accessing data, The saying goes like this: Passwords are like
communicating with friends, and mak- underwear. You should change them often
ing online purchases. The problem is that (okay, maybe not every day). Don’t share
passwords should be different everywhere them. Don’t leave them out for others to see
you use them, making it quite difficult to (no sticky notes!). Oh, and they should be
remember them all. And, if a password is sexy. Actually, sorry, they should be mysteri-
truly strong, it’s usually even tougher to ous. In other words, make your password a
remember. But follow the tips below and total mystery to others.
you can take total control of your terms for
access. Avoid Common Password
If the word you use can be found in the
Use Different Passwords Everywhere dictionary, it’s not a strong password. If
Why would you do this when it’s so easy to you use numbers or letters in the order
just type “fido” at every password prompt? they appear on the keyboard (“1234” or
Here’s why: If “fido” gets cracked once, it “qwerty”), it’s not a strong password. If it’s
means the person with that info now has the name of your relatives, your kids, or
access to all of your online accounts. A your pet, favorite team, or city of your birth,
recent study by BitDefender showed that guess what—it’s not a strong password. If
75 percent of people use their e-mail pass- it’s your birthday, anniversary, date of grad-
word for Facebook, as well. If that’s also uation, even your car license-plate number,
your Amazon or PayPal password, and the it’s not a strong password. It doesn’t mat-

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CAN’T THINk
Of ONE? If you feel
you’ve run out of
password ideas, try
the Password Gen-
erator from
PC Tools.

ter if you follow this with another number. that are both lowercase and uppercase, and
These are all things hackers would try first. special characters. It should be eight char-
They write programs to check these kinds acters, preferably many more; a lot more.
of passwords first, in fact. The characters should be random, and not
Other terms to avoid: “god,” “money,” follow from words, alphabetically, or from
“love,” “monkey,” “letmein,” and for the love your keyboard layout.
of all that’s techie, if you use “password” So how do you make such a password?
as your password, just sign off the Internet 1) Spell a word backwards. (Example:
right now. Turn “New York” into “kroywen.”)
2) Use l33t speak: Substitute numbers
How to Build strength for certain letters. (Example: Turn
To create a strong password, you should use “kroywen” into “kr0yw3n.”)
a string of text that mixes numbers, letters 3) Randomly throw in some capital

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 51


sOLUTIONs sECURITy

letters. (Example: Turn “kr0yw3n” into Third-Party Passwords


“Kr0yw3n.”) If you don’t trust yourself to create an
4) Don’t forget the special character. unbreakable password, there are plenty of
(Example: Turn “Kr0yw3n” into tools that will make one for you. The PC Tools
“Kr0yw3^.”) Secure Password Generator, for example,
You don’t have to go for the obvious and makes one based on your criteria: how long,
use “0” for “o,” or “@” for “a,” or “3” for “e,” include (or don’t) mixed case, numbers,
either. As long as your replacement makes punctuation, similar character replacement,
sense to you, that’s all that matters. A “^” for etc. It even provides a phonetic pronun-
an “n” makes sense to me. ciation guide that you use as your mantra
while typing the password, for example:
Password Creation Tricks MA7ApUp# is MIKE - ALPHA - seven -
Choose something simple to remem- ALPHA - papa - UNIFORM - papa – hash
ber as a password, but when you type it,
place your fingers on the wrong keys— Password Testing
maybe one key to the left or to the right. If you’re worried that your password of
Then a password like “kroywen” becomes choice isn’t strong enough, check it at How
“jeitqwb” or “ltpuerm.” This is only going to Secure is My Password?. The site will even
work for non-perfectionist touch-typists. tell you how long the average PC would take
And skip this tip if you type passwords on to crack it. For example, cracking “kroywen”
your phone; you’ll only sprain a thumb try- would take 13 minutes, “kr0yw3n” would
ing to be inaccurate instead of letting the take about 2 hours, “Kr0yw3^” 15 days, and
inaccuracy flow naturally. “MA7ApUp#” about 3 years.
Another option is to pick a pattern on You can tell from these results that more
the keyboard and type based on that. For capital letters are better for strength and
example, a counter-clockwise spin around more characters (eight instead of seven)
the letter “d” could result in “rewsxcvf.” also make a huge difference. Adding a sin-
Throw in some random caps and numbers gle capital letter to the end of “Kr0yw3^,”
to really lock it down. such as “Kr0yw3nZ,” boosts the crack time
Perhaps the easiest thing to remember is to 3 years. Throw another special character
an acronym from a phrase of your choice. in (“Kr0yw3^Z!”) and it jumps to 237 years.
“We didn’t start the fire, it was always burn-
ing” becomes “wdstfiwab” based on the Password Tracking and Changes
first letters of each word. It’s easy for me to say that you should use
Remember, the longer the password, the a strong password and then expect you to
stronger it is. Always. Something more than remember that messy non-word string of
15 characters is very difficult to remember, characters. But how dare I suggest you use
but it’ll be a breeze with a mnemonic. a different password on every site you visit

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and account you own. That’s madness! soon become a vexing problem when you
Or is it? Here’s a simple trick that would embrace the might of a strong personal
make your already steroid-strong password password paradigm.
even more muscular, while individualizing
it for each entry. Simply take the first three The Right Advice is Wrong
letters of the site or service you’re enter- Some experts will tell you to do a couple of
ing and append them to the beginning or things that go against conventional pass-
end of your strong password. On Amazon, word wisdom. And the reasons are simple:
you’d have “Kr0yw3^AMA.” Your e-mail productivity.
could be “Kr0yw3^EMA.” Facebook would For example, I read a recent treatise on
be “Kr0yw3^FAC.” Notice I always use all why you should write down your passwords,
caps for the appended letters, just to crank especially if you actually go the distance and
up the security. This can work for banks, use a unique string of characters for every
shopping, social networks, you name it. It’s log-in. The amount of time you could lose
like creating a thousand passwords you can trying to remember each password when-
remember easily. ever you have to type it may not be worth
Every few months, you should change it. Just try to keep the list somewhere that’s
all of your passwords—everywhere. Even if not readily accessible, such as in your wal-
you made a password that would take a few let. A desk drawer at work is not optimal for
centuries to hack, you might have shared it keeping out snooping co-workers.
with a co-worker or boyfriend or girlfriend, R e l a t e d a d v i c e f ro m a M i c ro s o f t
right? What happens when they become researcher says that having multiple pass-
ex-coworkers or an ex-BF or ex-GF? Yeah, words is also not worth the effort, or, more
you can probably guess. specifically, the indirect costs of the effort of
You could change your base (“Kr0yw3^”), tracking them all. That’s right, that big list of
which might be easy if you based it on an passwords I just said to put in your pocket?
acronym for a longer phrase. Or you could Maybe it’s not worth it.
change the appended letters by moving Of course, all such worries are moot if you
them to the front or even the middle (“Kr0y- follow the advice above and create super-
FACw3^” for Facebook). Perhaps switch to seekrit-strong passwords that you can eas-
the last three in the service name (“OOK” ily remember.
for Facebook.) You could even stick in the
date of the change. It’s your call. Tools of the Password Trade
You’ll be most annoyed when you What about password managers and other
encounter those select few sites that only methods of entry-like biometrics? Well, of
let you have a short password of four, six, course. We’ll round up some of those for
or even eight characters. What might you soon, but first go pick a strong pass-
have seemed easy before is going to word for backup, just in case. ■

OCTOBER 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 53


Bes
Editors’ Choices
in Key Categories
For the complete
reviews of these
products and more
Editors’ Choices check out 
go.pcmag.com/editorschoice

Desktops budget SCANNERS


mainstream
Acer Aspire AS5741Z-5433
$480 list Epson Perfection V300 Photo
Gateway DX4840-02e $99.99 direct
$799.99 list tablet
document scanner
Budget/Value
Apple iPad (Wi-Fi) 64GB
$699 direct Canon imageFormula DR-
HP Compaq Presario CQ5110f 2020U $645 list
$699 list
sTORAGE
Dell Inspiron 545 $899 list networking
Portable
gaming/Multimedia Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable
NEW 8x8 Virtual Office Pro
Maingear Shift $6,399 direct Secure Drive $319 list $50 direct
Falcon Northwest Mach V desktop Cisco Valet Plus $129.99 list
(Core i7-975) $8,240 direct Western Digital MyBook SMC SMCGS8P $300 street
Dell Studio XPS 7100 Studio Edition II $430 list
Spiceworks 4.5 Free
$1,149 list network-attached storage
Western Digital WD Cisco Network Magic
ALL-In-one
ShareSpace 4TB, $799.99 list Pro 5.5 $39.99 direct
Apple iMac 21.5-inch
(Core 2 Duo) $1,199 direct HDTVs
LCD Monitors
Lenovo IdeaCentre B500 plasma
$1,399 direct
Asus VW266H $309 list
Vizio VP505XVT $1,499.99 list
business HP LP2275w $349 direct
LCD
Dell Optiplex 780 USFF Dell Ultrasharp U2711 Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U
$1,484 direct $1,099 direct $2,099.99 direct
nettop Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8
Printers
Apple Mac mini (HDMI) $699 list $3,999.99 list
monochrome laser
Laptops & netbooks Konica Minolta magicolor Samsung LN52A750 $3,999 list
mainstream 1600W $180 street OLED
Dell Inspiron i1464-4382OBK color laser Sony XEL-1 OLED Digital TV
$749.98 list Xerox Phaser 7500/DN $2,499.99 list
CONSUMER ULTRA-LOW VOLTAGE $3,299.99 direct
Blu-ray Players
NEW Toshiba Satellite T235- standard inkjet
S1350 $630 direct Epson Stylus NX515 $149 direct Samsung BD-C6500 $249.99 list
gaming Photo Printer Digital Cameras
Alienware M17x $4,850 direct Epson Stylus Photo R2880
compact
Multimedia $799.99 direct
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2
Dell Studio 17 (Multitouch) all-in-one $399.95 list
$1,411 direct NEW Canon Pixma MG8120 NEW Kodak EasyShare M580
Desktop Replacement Wireless Photo All-In-One $199.95 direct
NEW HP Pavilion dv7-4083cl $299.99 direct
D-SLR
$999.99 list Canon Color ImageClass
MF8350Cdn $699 direct Nikon D300 $1,800 street
netbook
Toshiba mini NB205 $400 street Canon EOS Rebel T1i $899.99 list
projectors superzoom
business
NEW Dell Latitude E5510 Canon Realis X700 NEW Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V
$884 direct $2,500 list $349.99 direct

54 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION october 2010

True PDF release: storemags & fantamag


storemags & fantamag - magazines for all

est E-BOOK readers


Digital Video Cameras iWork for iPad $9.99 direct
Kodak Playsport Video Camera NEW Amazon Kindle (3G+WiFi) QuickBase
$149.95 list $189 direct $250 direct per month
Sony HDR-SR11 $1,099.99 direct ACT! by Sage 2010 $299 list
headphones
Digital Photo & Video Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Citrix GoToAssist Express
Hi-Fi Headphones $299.95 list $69 direct per month
Multimedia suite
Adobe CS 3 $999 direct bluetooth headsets iphone apps
VIDEO-Editing SOFTWARE Aliph Jawbone Icon $99 list TomTom 1.3 $69.99 direct
CyberLink DVD Suite 7 Ultra Navigon MobileNavigator 1.4.0
$129.95 direct Cell phones $79.99 direct
photo editing Alltel
Air Sharing $6.99 direct
Adobe Photoshop CS5 RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330
Extended $699 to $899 list From $229.99 with contract Photogene $2.99 direct

Aperture 3 $199 direct AT&T Rhapsody 2.0 Free


NEWSamsung Rugby II SGH-
digital photo frame A847 From $249.99 with contract games
Kodak Pulse Digital Photo
Samsung Mythic SGH-A897 NEW Halo: Reach $59.99 list
Frame $129.95 direct
From $199.99 with contract God of War III $59.99 list
portable media Players Apple iPhone 4 $199 list Alan Wake $59.99 list
Microsoft Zune 120GB Sprint
$249 list multimedia
Samsung Epic 4G $349.99 list
CyberLink Media Suite 8 Ultra
Apple iPod touch (4th HTC Evo 4G $299.99 list
$129.95 list
generation with Camera) 8GB, LG Rumor Touch
$229 direct Rhapsody From $12.99 per month
$79.99–$279.99 list
Apple iPod nano T-Mobile
Slacker Free
(5th generation) 16GB, Samsung Gravity 3 SGH-T479 Apple iLife ’09 $79 direct
$179 direct $99.99 list NEW iTunes 10 Free
Speakers/Docks Verizon Wireless
Motorola Droid X $299.99 list security
NEWLogitech Speaker System
Z623 $149.99 direct metropcs antimalware
NEW LG Imprint $49 direct Prevx 3.0 $29.95 direct per year
Hercules XPS 2.1 Lounge
NEW BlackBerry Curve 8530 antivirus
$60 street
$229.99 list Webroot AntiVirus with Spy
media extenders Sweeper 2011 $39.99 direct
unlocked
NEW Norton AntiVirus 2011
Sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct Sony Ericsson Naite $159.99
direct $39.95 direct
Slingbox PRO-HD $299 list
Suite
3G network adapters
Gaming consoles NEWNorton Internet Security
sprint 2011 $69.99 yearly
Sony PlayStation 3 120GB Sierra Wireless 598U $249.99 list
(PS3 Slim) $299.99 direct Norton 360 version 3.0
Office & productivity $69.99 yearly
GPS Devices Spyware Doctor with Antivirus
Garmin nüvi 1390T $269.99 list Office 2010 Professional, 2010 $39.95 yearly
$499 direct

october 2010 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 55


True PDF release: storemags & fantamag

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