Digital marketing is evolving

Alistair Blaxill, executive director, Communisis says marketers need to go beyond personalising activity and individualise it


B2B Marketing - It's no surprise that marketers are continually looking to understand how they can find new techniques to gain competitive footing and steal market share. The rise of digital printing has introduced such techniques, and for many organisations these have provided an opportunity to introduce more engaging communications to customers.

The increased sophistication of digital printing alongside document composition technologies and data management and analysis now empowers marketers to create communications that are driven by an individual's preferences, such as their purchase history and credit and lifestyle information.

This goes beyond the benefits of simply personalising communications that are the result of data and digitally print capabilities, instead it individualises the communication as the result of a complex combination of insight, modelling, data analysis and digital printing.

Personalisation will always be a cornerstone of successful marketing, but where possible it's now time for marketers to look beyond personalisation and consider the next step of fully embracing individualisation. One reason why this development has become so necessary is down to how much the internet has altered consumer expectations. When entering an email address and password to log in to a particular site, users now fully expect that site to ‘know' them and their behaviour.

Amazon.co.uk is often held up as a great example of this, and for good reason. The online retailer was arguably one of the first major companies to appreciate the value in individualising the customer experience, and has long been pushing products at their customers that they think will be relevant and of interest based on previous purchases and browsing habits.

Due to Amazon's huge success, this process of utilising powerful interaction and call to action attributes such as relevance, timing of offer, automated service and a strong recommendation system has now become the desired standard across all aspects of online retail.

As a result customers now not only accept this, but in many cases have come to expect that a site will have some element of personal tailoring based on their previous behaviour. Companies who get this right are rewarded with a strong brand affinity from the consumer, and higher levels of customer loyalty.

In order to apply this successful retail model across other aspects of marketing, businesses need to be in a position to combine the technological advances in data quality, data analysis, content management, document composition and digital print.

However, despite the obvious benefits of such a model, it's fair to say that many will be hesitant to take the plunge due to the cost implications of employing such technologies.

These concerns are understandable, but targeting the right message through the right channel doesn't have to be cost prohibitive. Many marketers are now able to turn to their marketing service provider to manage the integration of data, composition and print for them meaning that huge technology investments aren't needed and a monthly managed service can be provided.

The ultimate aim of individualisation is to improve communications, and it's been proven time and again to do just this. Further still, when executed effectively it also serves as an invaluable tool in increasing retention and engaging prospects.

As well as achieving its primary objective of enhancing the customer experience, individualisation can also dramatically reduce costs by streamlining the marketing function - crucial in the current climate. The ability to target your message via the right place, time and channel is an attainable goal for all businesses, and enables them to practice responsible marketing.

Targeting customers only at suitable points and with relevant messaging is vital for gaining consumer trust, and it's clear that those organisations that embrace individualisation will emerge stronger and with a more loyal and engaged customer based in the eventual upturn than those that choose not to.

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AVADirect Nano Cube Desktop Review

 

AVADirect just entered the small form factor world with its tiny dimension $2,266 Nano Cube. The price is very xpensive for its specification. The size is 7.25x8.75x11.25-inches (HWD). Shorter than its closest competitor, Shuttle XPC H7 5800.

The CPU is 2.83Ghz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s with Nvidia NForce 730i motherboard. The memory is 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The 1792MB Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 graphics taking up all the internal card expansion space. More than enough for home users. The hard drive is not huge, but very fast. It has 120GB OCZ Vertex solid-state hard drive (SSD). No spare drive bay in Nano Cube so you must save your hard drive space.

The Nano Cuba comes with no Blu-ray drive. You need a DVI-to-HDMI adapter for the graphics card because there's no HDMI output.

It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) while the competitor usually give you Windows Vista Home Premium.

Other pictures.

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Eizo ColorEdge CG222W Review

CNET editors' review

* Reviewed by:
Eric Franklin
* Edited by:
Bonnie Cha
* Reviewed on: 07/23/2009

At $1,500, the Eizo ColorEdge CG222W should be considered by graphics professionals only. While the display has color accuracy that's second to none and a plethora of color customization options, its 1,680x1,050 resolution isn't fit for high-def movies or high-performance games. If professional graphics work isn't on your agenda--but you're still looking for a high performing S-PVA-based display that can play games and movies with the best of them--we recommend the lower-priced Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP.

Design and features
The Eizo ColorEdge CG222W has a medium-gray chassis with a matte finish and features straight, angular corners. The bezel measures a short 0.6 inch long on all sides. The panel is 1.7 inches deep (in comparison, most 22-inch models we've tested have a panel depth of more than an inch); however, the back of the display, which houses the backlight, connection options, and ventilation system, extends another 1.2 inches, bringing the full monitor depth to about 3 inches. The panel width measures 19.8 inches long, which is slightly lower than average for a monitor of this screen size.

The footstand measures 15.6 inches in width, with a depth of 9 inches. The display weighs a solid 24 pounds and the footstand features two "feet" that extend outward at 45-degree angles, increasing the display's stability. Anything short of a wrecking ball won't make it wobble, much less knock it over even when the panel height is extended to its highest point. The height of the panel is adjustable by about 3 inches and the distance from the bottom of the bezel to the desktop is 4.5 inches at its lowest. The panel pivots to the left 90 degrees--useful if you prefer portrait mode. Also, the panel swivels left and right about 45 degrees but doesn't tilt back. The display includes an easy-to-assemble, antireflective hood that drapes the panel, keeping unwanted light out.

Eizo includes two DVI ports as the sole video connection options with two USB downstream and one upstream to the right of the DVIs. Accessing the connections proved fairly easy as they rest to the right of the stand; however, pivoting the display makes access a lot easier. There is no HDMI connection, which is a mainstay on most monitors, but since the Eizo is being pushed toward graphics professionals we're not too surprised as they wouldn't see any benefit from using HDMI over DVI professional graphics applications.

The onscreen display (OSD) array is located in the center of the bottom of the bezel and includes several buttons aligned horizontally. The buttons includes the source button that allows you to switch between the two DVI ports. The "M" button toggles you through a number of color presets like custom and SRGB. The enter button gives you access to brightness, color temperature, gamma, color saturation, hue, and gain--all of which allow you to fine-tune the color to your specific needs. Also, not only can you adjust the red, green, and blue colors, but also the yellow, cyan, and magenta as well. Navigating the OSD took some time to get used to, but was fairly easy after a couple of hours.

The Eizo ColorEdge CG222W's 16:10 aspect ratio has a 1,680x1,050-pixel native resolution. The 16:9 monitor trend currently sweeping the market has given many smaller monitors higher resolutions than they were capable of at 16:10. A 22-incher (or 21.5), with a 16:9 aspect ratio, now has a potential high-def, native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels as opposed to 1,680x1,050. We understand that those buying the Eizo monitor would have little use for HD resolutions, though.

Manufacturer's specs:

Resolution: 1,680x1,050
Pixel-response rate: 8ms
Contrast ratio: 800:1
Brightness: 200cd/m2
Connectivity: DVIx2
HDCP compliant? Yes
Included video cables? DVI
Backlight type: CCFL
Panel type: S-PVA
Aspect Ratio: 16:10

Performance
We tested the Eizo ColorEdge CG222W with its DVI connection. The display posted a composite score of 95 on CNET Labs' DisplayMate-based performance tests. We compared it with the 22-inch HP LP2275w, which scored a 91. The CG222W scored excellently in all our color tests and only faltered in our black-screen test where we saw clouding at the top corners of the screen. We also looked at some high-resolution photos and found that while the colors had much more pop in the custom preset, they were more accurate to the real world in the SRGB preset. For accuracy, we recommend the SRGB setting, but for vibrancy, the default Custom setting works.

The Eizo CG222W achieved a brightness score of 259 candelas per square meter (cd/M2)--higher than Eizo's claimed 200 cd/m2 max. The LP2275, with its brightness of 283 cd/M2, came just a few points under HP's claimed 300 cd/m2 max. We're not sure why Eizo would undercut the CG222W's max maximum brightness in its spec list; however, it's probable they used a different methodology than we did to determine the maximum brightness.

Our "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" DVD ghosting test yielded minimal ghosting on both the Eizo and HP. We played the movie in the Eizo's SRGB and Custom preset and preferred the custom setting, since the colors exhibited more life and popped from the screen more than the drab SRGB setting.

Unreal Tournament 3 looked great running at 1,680x1,050. Again, entertainment, such as movies, don't necessarily look better with more accurate colors, and the same holds true in games. We preferred using the more vibrant default custom setting for game playing. Also, the relatively low 1,680x1,050 resolution puts a cap on the impact games can have on this display.

The optimal viewing angle for a monitor is usually directly in front, about a quarter of the screen's distance down from the top. At this angle, you're viewing the colors and gamma correction as they were intended. Most monitors are made to be viewed only at that angle. Depending on its panel type, picture quality at nonoptimal angles varies. Like most monitors, the Dell P2210 uses a TN panel, which gets overly bright or overly dark when viewed from nonoptimal angles. The Eizo was made with an S-PVA panel, which usually shows only a slight change in the gamma correction at the most with angle changes. Indeed, we noticed that the Eizo's screen hardly brightens at all when viewed from the sides, top, or bottom.

In the power consumption tests, the Eizo ColorEdge CG222W drew only 35.87 watts in its Default/On mode--less than HP's S-PVA-based display, the LP2275w, which drew 51.83. Based on our formula, the CG222W would cost $12.93 per year to run. This is compared with the LP2275w's $16.44 per year.

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Brother MFC-5890CN

CNET editors' review

* Reviewed by:
Justin Yu
* Edited by:
Rich Brown
* Reviewed on: 07/14/2009


From start to finish, the Brother MFC-5890CN leaves many unanswered questions in its wake: Who designed this eyesore? Why is it so expensive? Did they forget to test out the features before production? Whatever the answer, one thing is certain: we're unapologetically dissatisfied with this all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier. Don't be fooled by the excessive 3.3-inch LCD: a pretty screen doesn't mean a thing without a solid machine behind it. We have so many more complaints that it's hard to decide where to start. How about this: we advise all CNET readers and others that don't have $200 to stay far away from this model and check out the Canon Pixma MX330 instead.

Design
We normally don't delve too deep into the packaging, but we have to warn you about the Brother's unabashed stickering of its printers. The MFC-5890CN comes prepackaged with no less than five prominently placed stickers smattered across the scanner lid, auto-document feeder, ink cartridge bay, and side paneling. Other companies do this as well, but the difference is that the stickers on the 5890CN don't peel away easily at all, leaving bits of backing that make it look like your printer was mauled by a fed up feline.

Sadly, Brother printers are always the furthest behind in terms of design, and the MFC-5890CN is no different. The cheap black plastic and mushy rubber buttons coupled with a strange extraterrestrial shape looks like a throwback to the first supercomputer in a bad 70s science fiction movie. In addition, you'll notice that the printer is especially larger than other multifunction printers are. Sitting at 9.5 inches tall by 19.1 inches wide by 16.1 inches deep and 23.6 pounds, this tank demands a large portion of desk space.

Instead of integrating the control panel into the main body like its more streamlined competitors, Brother built its version separately onto an extended lip that protrudes out of the front. A large 3.3-inch color LCD screen sits in the center of the control panel and swivels up and down, but the notches behind it only allow for three different fixed angles. To the left of the screen is a numerical rubber keypad for entering fax numbers into the address book, a set of six speed dial buttons, and an additional set of hot keys for fax settings like preview, redial/pause, and hook.

The rights side of the control panel contains more buttons to access the various print, copy, and scanning features. Along with the four quick function keys, there's also a fourth button for "photo capture" that opens a folder to display images on digital memory cards. You can also customize the button to automatically copy images on a card to a specific folder or copy the files directly to an application. The card reader itself is built into the front of the printer directly between the control panel and the paper tray, with slots for PictBridge USB (to connect a digital camera), CompactFlash, and SD/MS/xD.

The large drawer that pulls from the bottom of the device holds blank sheets of paper and the top doubles as a landing where finished prints come to rest. The glaring issue here is that the drawer sits flush in the printer when its fully installed and doesn't extend far enough out of the device. That makes it hard to grab outbound prints unless you have a set of children's hands around to help with the job. Having to reach your hand all the way into this awkward, covered cave to retrieve smaller four inch by six-inch photos makes this design especially frustrating.

While the power and telephone port for the fax machine are located on the left side of the rear panel and easy to get to, the USB and Ethernet ports sit inside the printer. For some reason, Brother forces you to open up the machine, prop up the lid with a plastic arm, snake the USB and Ethernet cables through a small plastic guide, and plug them directly into the internal components. Not only is this an incredibly unnecessary hassle and completely unique to Brother, but you also wind up losing more than a foot of cable slack as a result of all that extensive internal looping. Unfortunately, you have no other data connection options because of the printer's lack of built-in Wi-Fi support. We also find it strange that lifting up the lid and exposing the gearing serves no other purpose other than to access these two ports. Brother could have placed those inputs on the back just as easily, a design that every other printer manufacturer has the common sense to follow.

Features
The drivers on the MFC-5890CN's installation disc give you the option to adjust the printer's quality settings from normal to fine, fast, and fast normal. In addition, you get a box to check natural versus vivid photo printers and a unique "True2life" color enhancement tool with customizable changes to color density, white balance, contrast, brightness, and other settings. Finally, the driver also installs a status monitor that pops up during job processing to monitor ink cartridge levels and quality control.

Brother also gives you the option to install a third-party imaging application called "Paperport" by ScanSoft. This program lets you edit photos in a file browsing set up similar to Apple's iPhoto, with basic photo editing solutions for auto-enhancement, blemish erasing, and red-eye elimination. We played around with the software for awhile and enjoyed its simplicity compared with iPhoto, although don't expect the editing quality to be on par with Adobe suites; this is geared more for light users and amateur photographers with limited time and editing resources.

The printer's scanning, copying, and fax features all perform adequately, especially in conjunction with the 50-sheet ADF that can function without a computer connection. Scanning options include routing images to a file folder, e-mail, or an optical character recognition text translator. You also get four customizable buttons on the virtual Control Center that you can program to any preference. As always, we complain about the lack of a hinged scanner lid that makes it much easier to scan thick books and documents. Copying also works as a standalone device--you can set the magnification from 25 percent up to 400 percent of the original size, but the only two options for pagination are 2 pages on 1 sheet of paper and 4 pages on 1 sheet. The competition usually offers many more including up to four images on one page, thumbnails, and two-sided prints.

The MFC-5890CN uses a four cartridge system with individual tanks for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow that load into the front bay. Brother offers standard and high yield cartridges on its Web site. However, we'll use the high-capacity price points and page yields for a cost per page analysis: color cartridges cost $17 for 750 pages and a black cartridge costs $32 that'll last approximately 900 pages, according to Brother, which factors out to 2.2 cents per page of color and 3.5 cents for black. Those prices are a bit cheaper than the average cost to print, but that doesn't mean much if the print quality is subpar.

Performance
The Brother MFC-5890CN stands out among the competition in our speed test, but not in a good way. It printed the slowest in almost all of the document output tests out of five other printers in the same price bracket. It registered the slowest benchmarks in the photo test, printing at a sluggish rate of 0.81 pages per minute, which surprised us because its older brother, the Brother MFC-685cw released based in late 2007, scored 1.3 photos per minute. The 5890CN performed the best in the presentation speed tests. We printed out a full color 10 page document and it achieved an impressive 2.75 pages per minute--the fastest in the bunch. The rest of the tests didn't end nearly as positively, with the printer floundering in last place.

Like the Brother MFC-675CW, the 5890CN just can't get a handle on output quality. All our test subjects, including pages of text, graphics, photos, and presentations appear fuzzy and hard to read, even after several print head adjustments and troubleshooting. All of the characters, especially those in smaller font sizes, suffer from jagged edges and distorted edges, as if the nozzle isn't properly aligning with the paper. Colored graphics prints look even worse, with heavy line weights and blotchy color blends that transition so abruptly that you can see white blocks between them. We also tried to print graphics and photos on the driver's "vivid color" and "True2life" color settings, but neither significantly improved the shortcomings. Finally, we also noticed a pale white haze blanketing all the prints in our test. We expected to see a much higher standard of quality out of a $200 printer, but we're obviously disappointed in the delivery. Pictures and documents printed from this device aren't even worth a simple snapshot photo, and you're better off taking your pictures to a printer that can do them accurate justice.

Service and support
Brother backs the MFC-5890CN with a two-year limited warranty that includes access to its phone support 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific. We usually see one-year warranties bundled with printers, so we're sure buyers will appreciate and use the extra year of support. In addition to the hotline, Brother's online "As Us" program offers immediate e-mail replies for troubleshooting, and the company Web site provides more support by way of manuals, FAQs, service center locations, and software downloads.

Product summary

The good: Low cost to print; two-year warranty.

The bad: Poor output quality; slow print times; awkward build quality; outdated design; lacks wireless networking.

The bottom line: The Brother MFC-5890CN all-in-one is hands down the worst printer to take up space in our lab. From the irritating initial set up to the horrendous output quality and slow print speed, this device is the easiest way to flush $200 down the drain.

Specifications: Office Machine Functions: Fax , Copier , Printer , Scanner ; Printing Technology: Ink-jet ; Scanner Optical Resolution: 1200 x 2400 dpi ; See full specs

Price range: $139.99 - $199.38 check prices

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AMAZON KINDLE 2

A Darn Good Read




With a new look, an enhanced screen, text-tospeech capability, and a host of additional design improvements, Amazon's Kindle 2 offers everything that made the original Kindle a best-seller—and more. The price remains high, but avid readers will make back some of that cash on discounted e-books. Although I would love to see a more open file format, the Kindle 2 is still the best e-book reader you can buy. With an ever-increasing catalog of magazines and blogs coming to the platform (see the sidebar), the Kindle 2's appeal will extend far beyond the bookstore.

This version shares the original's general form factor, but it's slimmer and lighter, and it features an improved keypad arrangement. The Kindle 2 weighs 10.3 ounces and measures 8 by 5.3 by 0.4 inches (H4\71)), which is much thinner than a paperback book and about half the thickness of the first Kindle. Although it still has the same white plastic frame, the rubberized back has been replaced with brushed aluminum. This Kindle feels more solid than its predecessor, but the Sony Reader PRS-700's mostly metal construction still feels more durable than either Kindle iteration.

The Kindle's proprietary roller wheel has been replaced with a more useful five-way joystick. Also gone are the too-large page-turn buttons, replaced by new, smaller Next Page buttons that are still situated on both sides of the device. The QWERTY keyboard sets the Kindle apart from other e-book readers, but it's mainly intended for searching keywords, making notes, and occasionally entering a URI,. Perhaps the biggest upgrade is the new 6-inch, 600-by-800 electronic paper display, which shows 16 shades of gray instead of just 4. Amazon claims the new display is also 20 percent faster, but I wasn't able to detect any significant difference. As cool as this display is, it's still not a touch screen.

One genuinely new feature is text-to-speech functionality. Select any book or magazine, and the Kindle 2 will read that selection aloud to you. The voice is pretty robotic—more Stephen Hawking than HAL—but it works. Options let you control the tempo of the reading and choose a male or female voice. This feature doesn't really compete with the fluid, emphatic storytelling of audiobooks, which the Kindle 2 also supports, but it's nice nonetheless.

Although the Kindle 2 costs the same as the original, it has eight times the storage. There is no memory card slot, but the company claims you can store more than 1,500 books on its 2GI3 of internal flash memory (1.4GB is available to the user). And all your book and magazine purchases are also backed up online. The Kindle 2's design does not let us perform a battery rundown, but during informal testing I ran it for a week with the wireless radio on before the battery drained completely. In terms of file format support, it supports AZW, TXT, Audible, MP3, Unprotected MOBI, and PRC (natively), and DOC, JPEG, GIP, PNG, and I3MP (through conversion). The notable missing letters there are "PDF."


All in all, the Amazon Kindle 2 looks like a worthy follow up to its popular predecessor. The quirky design choices of the original have been ironed out, and the device has been made easier to use and read. It's still on the expensive side, and I would love to see a touch screen, a more elegant interface, and support for an open publishing platform (like ePub), but I'm confident that those things will come in time.—Dan Costa


PC Magazine April 2009

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Cowon S9 Curve

The Cowon S9 Curve is a mid-capacity personal media player (PMP) and serious competitor to the Apple iPod touch and other high-end players With Sony and Samsung's new PMP players due soon, this is one market niche to keep an eye on.

The 59 is an attractive product that's well designed and built, but it doesn't quite live tip to its image. At 77g, it's light without being insubstantial, and trimmed with a titanium or chrome effect finish. With a gentle Ulric at the back, the S9 slides easily into your pocket.

Its most eye-catching feature is the 3.3in Amoled (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen. This technology dramatically reduces power consumption, and contributes to a video playback time of more than 10 hours and a music playback time of abcut 55 hours from one charge Charging takes about five hours via a USB port or three hours through the optional USB charger.

The screen responds nimbly to touch and there are a number of hardware controls across the top including volume and fast forward/rewind rocker switches, and a protruding play/pause switch. At the bottom, the 3.5mim headphone jack is flanked by a combined on/off slider and hold switch. A USB/external device connector will also take a inc-in feed to supplement the built-in microphone.

Without multitouch, the S9's user interface isn't cutting edge and left us wanting something slicker. Navigating between folders and individual files after launching music or video applications could be improved; it currently involves juggling menus. Audio cuality is excellent - there's a real sense of air and space rom audio files (you'll want to use higher bit-rate files to take acvartage of the audio quality). We also liked the Jeteffect equaliser. It has 26 factory presets and four customised presets. You can specify the frequency of the five equaliser channels arid disable Cowon's 88E+ audio technology and stereo enhancer.

There's a choice of 24 frequency presets on the FM radio, which is easy to tune, set and record from. The in-ear headphones supplied with the S9 are a cut above Apple's standard issue, but its worth getting a pair of decent headphones to take full advantage of the S9, or you can use a wire-free 3luetooth headset.

Video playback is equally impressive thanks to the 480)(272 pixel screen, and 24-bit colour depth will do your videos justice. Tap the flip control to toggle between basic playback controls. bookmark. aspect ratio, and playlist settings. The auto pivot feature means you can always see video (Cr photos and slideshows) in the correct orientation, although switching between vertical and horizontal could be quicker To connect to a TV you'll need the optional video cable.

The USB cable plugs into the same connector. and allows drag and drop file transfer between the S9 and PC. You probably won't bother with the bundled Jet Toys software - most is functionality-limited trial software with no dedicated 59 options in the setup. Jetshell offers device backup and a little housekeeping, but, like the Flash support and text document viewer cn the device itself, it seems redundant



The Cowon S9 Curve is an attractive, well-built PMP with excellent battery life. At £169 its expensive - the iPod Touch is cheaper, and offers more features and better usability. But if you want hours of excellent quality video and audio playback the S9 should be on your shortlist Matthew Moore

Personal Computer World April 2009

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Build a PC for Under $250

Why spend more than you should on a cheap desktop PC? In less than 30 minutes, you can build a low-budget Linux PC that can handle a variety of everyday tasks.

By Brian K. Neal

Today's desktop PCs have capabilities far beyond the needs of most people. Trying to keep up with all the computer trends, many of which arc of little relevance to the average user, is expensive, unnecessary, and enough to make your head spin.

The reality is that a computer capable of handling everyday tasks like Web surfing, e-mailing, burning CDs, editing images, word processing, and preparing presentations doesn't require cutting-edge (read:expensive) technology—and will satisfy the requirements of most average PC users. If tasks like these are what you do most, we'll show you how you can quickly and easily build a stable, stylish, inexpensive PC for under $250.



Building your own PC has several advantages over buying one at retail. For starters, you get to choose the components based upon your criteria. If your work area has limited space, you can pick the right chassis and not be restricted to the bulky, clunky desktops that largely fill the aisles at retail chains. Probably the biggest advantage to building your own budget PC is the absence of crapware, the annoying preinstalled software—mostly trial programs you likely won't want. Crapware wastes hard drive space and eats up system memory, and it's a common problem found on budget retail systems.

In the time you'd spend removing the crapware, which could take as much as an hour in some cases, you could build our PC two or three times over, as it takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes to assemble. All the components gathered for this particular project are readily available at online retailers like Newegg.com, and it's fairly easy to piece them together.

For starters, we chose the Shuttle "G7" Chassis K48 barebones kit. This case/motherboard/power supply combo has a small footprint and is a good find at $129.99. The K48 is stylish and also allows you to "customize" its look by inserting a photograph into the unit's front panel. Even better, it comes preassembled, saving you time and energy. We opted for an inexpensive ($3999) single-core Intel (Conroe) Celeron 430 processor running at 1.8 GHz (which is more than suitable for the Linux operating system we've chosen for the project) and a single 1GB, 667-MHz stick of Crucial I)l)R2 ($11.99 OEM) memory to help the system when multitasking. An 80GB Western Digital ($35.99 OEM) hard drive offers ample storage space to archive music, photos, and videos. Last but not least, a Lite-On dual-layer DVD RSV drive ($22.99) is versatile for watching movies, burning music, and archiving data.




This time around we decided to go with the Ubuntu (Linux) OS over Windows Vista Basic (or Windows XP). One reason is that Ubuntu is free, saving you roughly S85 over Vista Basic or Win XP. Second, Ubuntu is based on Linux, so it's a highly stable OS that can fend off viruses and spyware better than Windows. And just because Ubuntu doesn't cost you a penny, that doesn't mean it skimps on features. It handles a whole range of tasks CD burning, Web browsing (the latest Ubuntu 8.04 is equipped with Firefox 3), photo managing and editing, even office productivity ( it's bundled with OpenOffice.org, which is compatible with most Microsoft Office documents)—are all available with Ubuntu.

The Celeron 430 can easily handle running Ubuntu. Our components are well above Ubuntu's recommended minimum system requirements, which call for a 300-MHz x86 processor, 64MB of system memory, and 4GB of hard disk space. Our single-core 1.8-GHz rig will handle the OS just fine. The latest Ubuntu update does take (slight) advantage of the threading capabilities of dual-core processors, so for $11 more, you can opt for the dual-core Celeron E1200.

Ubuntu can be obtained in several ways. You can download the OS directly (free) from Ubuntu's home page (www.ubuntu.com). You could also request a copy from Ubuntu, which will be shipped free of charge (although delivery can take up to ten weeks). Last but not least, you can find a copy of the latest build at online retailers like Amazon.com for around $13. I prefer the download method, as it's both free and the fastest way to get started.

Our configuration came to a very affordable $240.95. Overall, this inexpensive PC is solid for most any student or home user. For enthusiasts, it makes a good second (or third) PC for the home as well. The assembly takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes, and it's easy to piece together. Follow our ten-step guide and you'll be computing away on you! own customized PC in no time.




1. INSPECT THE CHASSIS.
The Shuttle "G7" Chassis K48 barebones kit comes preassembled, eliminating a good deal of your workload. The first thing you'll want to do is inspect the chassis for damage and/or errors like loose (or missing) cables. To start, unscrew the three thumbscrews at the rear of the chassis, then slide the cover backward and lift it up to remove.



2. REMOVE THE RACK MOUNT.
Two screws hold the rack mount for the drives in place. The rack mount must be removed to install the rest of the components, so remove both screws and lift the rack mount from the chassis. Set aside.



3. PREPARE THE SOCKET FOR CPU INSTALLATION.
Begin CPU installation by pulling the socket's lever side-ways. then lifting it up to a 90-degree angle. Remove the protective socket cover, and lift the metal plate to reveal the socket. The two triangles on both the CPU and socket will serve as a guide when you insert the CPU.



4. SLIP THE CPU INTO THE SOCKET.
Hold We Intel Celeron 430 CPU by its sides to avoid touching the underlying pins when inserting it. Align the triangle on the CPU with the triangle of the socket, and fit. the CPU into place. The CPU should slip into the socket without requiring any real force. Retract the metal plate and push the socket lever down to secure the CPU.



5. INSTALL THE HEAT SINK.
To avoid cracking the processor, make sure the triangles are aligned properly before retracting the socket lever. Place the heat sink on top of the CPU, aligning the heat sink's pegs with the four holes on the motherboard. Twist each peg handle counterclockwise to lock into place. (The thermal compound that assists in CPU cooling is factory-applied to the heat sink that ships with the Celeron 430, so there is noneed to self-apply it.)



6. INSERT THE MEMORY MODULE.
The motherboard that ships with the Shuttle K8 can accommodate up to 2GB of system memory and has two available slots. We'll be using just a single stick, leaving one slot available for future expansion. Locate DIMM socket 1 and unlock the DIMM latch by pushing the retaining clips outward. Align a memory module on the socket so as to match the notch on the pin side of the module with the break on the socket. Seat the memory module firmly in the socket, and secure the DIMM latch by retracting the retaining clips.



7. SECURE THE HARD DRIVE.
Place the hard drive into the bottom chamber of the rack mount that was removed in step 2, and secure with four screws, two on each side. Attach one SATA data cable to the drive.



8. REINSTALL THE RACK MOUNT.
Place the rack mount back into the chassis, and refasten it with two screws. Attach the SATA cable from the hard drive to an open SATA port on the motherboard. SATA cables have a few advantages over IDE: Not only are they easier to connect (with fewer pins), but they allow faster access to hard drive data.



9. ADD THE OPTICAL DRIVE.
Remove the 5.25-inch bay cover from the chassis, and slide the optical drive into the rack mount from the top of the system. Secure We optical drive with screws on both sides, and attach one SATA data cable to its end.





10. ADD POWER CABLES, AND CLOSE THE BOX!
Connect one Molex SATA power adapter to the Molex plug from the power supply, and attach the SATA power connector to the hard drive. Attach the second SATA power cable to the hard drive. Replace the cover (securing it with three screws); attach peripherals (keyboard, monitor, mouse); and begin installing Ubuntu!



PC Magazine February 2009

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