A scanner par excellence, and other cheap hardware

France
The CanoScan LIDE 20 might be the cheapest new scanner in France, but it is not the worst, far from it. The heir to the popular CanoScan N676U, the previous Canon Entry Level offering, has a aslimline body, at a great price, Eur 48 at LCDI. With a 600x1200dpi optical resolution and a 48-bit colour depth internally but only 24-bit externally - the one used by the software, it will easily satisfy most prosumers. It doesn't require any external power supply, deriving its required current from the host USB port.

This can be problematic as most of the time, you won't be able to power it from front USB. Canon's Z-Lid can be used to scan larger objects which aren't necessarily flat. The LIDE 20 uses CIS electronics, which gives you a very compact unit but apparently slightly worse overall quality as compared to CCD. The scanner is compatible with Windows OS, Macintosh and thanks to some geeks, Linux as well. You get more or less the same software bundle found across the Canon Range - Canon's own ScanGear CS and CanoScan Toolbox, ArcSoft's PhotoStudio and PhotoBase, and ScanSoft's OmniPage SE OCR application. The LiDE20 is very simple to use thanks to three buttons only which offer simple Scan, Copy and E-Mail functions. Finally and perhaps most important, the scanning speed of the LiDE 20 is far better than many of its entry level competitors. And it gets a stand-up stand whereby it takes less footprint space in case you don't use it often.

Singapore
When was the last time your computer gear came with an Airbag? The latest laptop from IBM, the ThinkPad T42 offers just that, or at least promises to. At S$ 3799 for the performance model, it is not that cheap but does offer plenty of power on the road. That particular model comes with an Intel Pentium M 735 with the Dothan Core - 1.6GHz and 2MB L2 cache. Windows XP Professional is the preferred OS while a 60GB hard disk with APS - Active Protection System is provided. Basically it helps to protect your hard disk from damage. It consists of sensors which provided with an advance motion detection feature helping to park the hard drive's reading head, moments before any shock occurs.

This feature alone is worth buying that laptop, especially since recovering data from damaged hard disks costs hundreds and head/platter collision is the most common source of damage. Other items on the spec list include a DVDROM/CDRW drive, a Wireless - 802-11b/g , Gigabit Ethernet and integrated modem. The display is a superb 1400x1050 LCD screen - text might not be sharp though at this resolution. The graphics module is a ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 with 64MB memory, enough for playing DOOM III at usable resolutions. The IBM T42 comes with 3 years international carry-in warranty service - parts & labour and free delivery, freee worldwide insurance against theft and accidental damage 360mins Wi-Fi access in Singapore and 2,500 locations worldwide, free notebook carry case and Lotus SmartSuite office software.

UK
CCLonline has relaunched its new website and on this occasion has some very interesting products on display. For example, the Shuttle SN95G5 XPC, is probably the most powerful barebone XPC format PC on sale. At £265, it offers good value for money. Based on an nForce 3 Ultra chipset, it offers a rare occasion to plug a socket 939 Athlon 64 in a SFF as well as being the first one to offer Duall Channel DDR and support for the Athlon64 FX, at least until the iWill dual Opteron SFF beauty comes out en mass. Externally, nothing would differentiate the G5 from a jewel box except perhaps the size.

Its front is made up of sleek black aluminium alloy helping it reach 5KG. Two DIMM memory modules are supported with support for two ATA devices and two SATA150 hard disks. Also crammed in the structure, the 240W Power supply as well as an updated Shuttle ICE cooling system which by the way, saves you from buying a retail CPU model. The system seems to support AMD's Cool and Quiet by default. Overclocking is pretty advanced on this model with support for VCore, VDImm, AGP and Chipset Voltage control as well as CAS Latency control for your DDR module. Other features remain standard. Shuttle uses a third-party Marvel Gigabit LAN module instead of Nvidia's model.

Two PCI slots are provided, Realtek ALC 655 6-channel with a SPDIF port, three internal and external bays. On top o fthat you also get four USB 2.0 ports, as well as a firewire port. GamePC report should bring a smile on Shuttle's board of director. They are ecstatic about the majority of Shuttle's SN95G5 features and component choices. The system is quieter compared to most mid/full tower Athlon64 systems, and performs better than any other Socket-939 platform they've tested to date. "Truly top notch in nearly every regard" they say. CCLOnline also sells AMD 64 3500+ and 3800+. µ