channel and gain in quality instead. So you'd be watching your DVD with an Altec Lansing 641 rather than a Hercules XPS 510. Obviously, the absolute tops are the big 5.1 systems designed for all situations, like the MegaWorks 510D by Cambridge SoundWorks. Though...

and photo retouching. But it's another story for TV. LCD is lagging behind plasma, but it's also cheaper and available in more reasonable display sizes. In terms of absolute video quality, plasma is still tops, because it offers blacks as good as what CRTs...

we tested had more features and ran for $1,400 (€1,200) (MSR), which in our opinion is still quite a deal. Don't expect an absolute desktop PC replacement, though, due to the nx6125's rather poor performance in 3D graphic display. The performance is absolutely...

in this Buyer's Guide) on a Gigabyte K8N Ultra-SLI motherboard full out, temperatures rose only to a relatively balmy 44° C (a little over 111° F) even though frame rates absolutely screamed. At a CPU speed of 2.8 GHz, the FX-57 sits at the absolute apex...

Colors were all true by default. We didn't have to do an inordinate amount of tweaking the color adjustments to get the profile you see below: In absolute terms, this is not the best result we got in this round of tests, but the 970P has the advantage of simplifying...

on-screen, all open for business. One machine that was locked sat there like a magnet. For the fun of it I tried the administrator password from the servers that I was working on and would you believe it, I got in - with a common password! Absolute total hacking...

• -Social Engineering: The Biggest Risk to Internet Security

Next, we present a very nice nylon messenger bag that should ease the style burden, if not the weight, of schlepping books and gear to and from the classroom. The absolute must-have gadget for this fall is next - namely, the Apple iPhone. After that, we...

surprise, because we didn’t really expect that from a machine of this caliber.Audio: Above averageThe audio of the Envy 15 is well above the sound quality of the average notebook. Naturally the bass leaves something to be desired in absolute terms, but the...