From the Lab

Review: Sanyo VPC-WH1 HD camcorder

Jim Feeley — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:10:00 -0800

There are only two reasons to buy Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-WH1 HD camcorder, but they’re good reasons: It’s inexpensive, and it’s waterproof.

Speedmark 6: Macworld Lab's new benchmark suite

James Galbraith — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:01:00 -0800

The Macworld Lab has been hard at work tweaking Speedmark, our overall system performance testing tool, to better accommodate Snow Leopard and to test the Macs on which it runs.

iMac (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:37:00 -0800

Macworld Lab has the new iMacs and we’ve put them to the test.

Mac mini (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:58:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has the Mac minis, and we put them through our benchmark tests. Our result show that the new Mac minis are impressively faster than the models they replace.

MacBook (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:05:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has received the new MacBook and has been hard at work, putting it to the test. And while we don’t have Speedmark 6 finalized just yet, we do have some MacBook benchmark results we’d like to share.

Review: Canon Vixia HF S10 HD camcorder

Jim Feeley — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:47:00 -0700

The overall image quality, deep manual controls, and decent ease of use make Canon’s Vixia HF S10 an excellent choice for both advanced and casual videographers.

Review: Sanyo Xacti VPC-FH1 HD camcorder

Jim Feeley — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:47:00 -0700

Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-FH1 is a high-definition (HD) camcorder that delivers good-looking video and stills.

Review: MCE 8X Blu-ray Disc External Recordable Drive

James Galbraith — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:30:00 -0700

The MCE 8x Blu-ray Disc External Recordable Drive is a relatively speedy optical drive. If you intend to use the drive with USB, it’s worth a look.

Review: Casio Exilim EX-FH20 digital camera

Roman Loyola — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

For non-professional photographers who want to frequently take action shots, the Exilim EX-FH20 is a godsend that helps reduce what seems like guesswork.

Review: Buffalo MiniStation Metro portable hard drive

Chris Holt — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:48:00 -0700

The MiniStation Metro gains an innovative design, but loses at bit in terms of performance.

Preparing for Speedmark 6

James Galbraith — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0700

With the release of Snow Leopard and the inevitable release of new Mac hardware, Macworld Lab is asking for reader suggestions for new tests in Speedmark 6.

Review: FastMac External Slimline USB 2.0 BD-R 4X Optical Drive

James Galbraith — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0700

Though it won’t set any speed records, the FastMac External Slimline USB 2.0 BD-R 4X Optical Drive is a dependable performer. Bus-powered and compact, this portable burner should appeal to mobile users interested in burning Blu-ray and other discs.

Review: Verbatim SureFire FireWire 800/USB hard drive

Chris Holt — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0700

Verbatim’s SureFire FireWire 800/USB the company’s entry to the burgeoning portable hard drive market.

Review: La Cie d2 Blu-ray Professional BD-R, BD-RE Drive

James Galbraith — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

If you’re looking to add an external optical drive to your Mac, the LaCie d2 Blu-ray Professional BD-R, BD-RE Drive is worth considering, especially if you have other LaCie d2 drives on your desktop.

Review: CalDigit VR mini external RAID array

Chris Holt — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0700

The high-performance and high price tag of the VR mini RAID array make this a great fit for audio/visual professional

Review: OWC Mercury Pro 8X Blu-ray External

James Galbraith — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0700

If you’re looking for a new optical drive, and one that can burn high definition Blu-ray movies as well, OWC’s Mercury Pro 8X Blu-ray Pioneer BDR-203 External drive is worth a look.

Review: Buffalo Technology MediaStation 8X External Blu-ray Writer

James Galbraith — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0700

The MediaStation 8X External Blu-ray Writer may not be the prettiest, but it gets the job done the fastest.

Review: ioSafe Solo external hard drive

Chris Holt — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:44:00 -0700

Like an airplane’s black box, the ioSafe solo ensures your data will be kept safe even when confronted with disastrous conditions.

Review: Rocstor Rocpro 850 500GB hard drive

Chris Holt — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:57:00 -0700

The Rocpro 850 500GB is a solid performer in our benchmarking tests and is further recommended by a strong warranty and a competitive price.

Gauging Snow Leopard's speed boosts

James Galbraith — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:01:00 -0700

Macworld Lab puts the new Mac OS 10.6 through its paces to see how much of a boost it provides over OS 10.5.

Review: ViewSonic VG2427wm LCD

Kalpana Ettenson — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0700

The VG 2427wm is a good choice for users who need a big screen for text-intensive work.

Review: Kodak EasyShare Z915

Tim Moynihan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:00:00 -0700

Kodak's EasyShare Z915 is a point-and-shoot camera that's a great learning tool for aspiring photographers.

Review: Rocstor Airhawk A9 portable hard drive

Chris Holt — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0700

If the hard drive market is nothing but a sea of similarly priced gray boxes, then Rocstor’s Airhawk A9 is something of an anomaly.

Review: Pentax X70

Danny Palmerlee — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:35:00 -0700

What makes the Pentax X70 stand out? Its compact size, light weight, 11 fps rapid-fire mode, and terrific usability.

Review: HP 2009m LCD

Kalpana Ettenson — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:57:00 -0700

HP’s 2009m is an affordable 20-inch widescreen display that produced impressive image quality in our subjective tests.

Review: Canon PowerShot SD780 IS

Tim Moynihan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:55:00 -0700

The sleek, solid-colored PowerShot SD780 IS performs very well, with great image quality, a powerful flash, nice high-ISO shots in low light, and more.

Review: Iomega eGo Mac Edition 500GB portable hard drive

Chris Holt — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:57:00 -0700

Known for its iconic sleek designs, Iomega updated to the eGo hard-drive line with improved speeds and more versatile connectivity.