As you can probably tell, I′m not exactly enamored with what lies under the Booklet′s hood–certainly not at the asking price. Let′s start with the hard numbers. In PC WorldBench 6, the Booklet slogs along to a 27. That′s what happens when you have a underpowered machine running Windows 7. In a a quick, subjective performance spin, it seemed painfully pokey. From a cold start, it takes 45 seconds to boot into the Windows 7 Starter Edition desktop. Try opening up more than two applications at a time, and brace for the lag. As for battery life, it′s a slightly better story. In our labs, the Booklet lasted an impressive 8 hours, 39 minutes. It may be nearly delivering on that promise of all-day computing. You just might need that time to get the computer to run.

The nondescript guts aren′t the real story here, however–it′s the Booklet 3G′s upscale lines. The machine′s smart styling is almost techno-retro, making this little laptop look like, well, a large cell phone. The glossy plastic lid may be a smudge magnet, but it nicely offsets the sturdy aluminum case. The mouse buttons have a swooping design. Heck, I half expected to see a version of Snakes running on this thing. In short, Nokia seems to think that it′s still 2002–and I′m okay with that.

But then you try to use the machine. The 10.1-inch screen, with its native 1280 by 720 resolution (not to mention the unit′s HDMI output), may fool you into thinking that you′ll be able to enjoy HD video on it. Between the Booklet 3G′s poky processor and its low-speed hard drive, I found it tough to watch a 480-by-320-resolution video running full screen. The colors and contrast seemed a bit muted, and as if that weren′t enough, the glare coming off the screen was extremely noticeable unless I looked at the display dead-on. I could do my morning shave looking at that reflection.

Something else I noticed while trying to watch video on a bus: The hinge mechanism has almost no grip. The slightest bump kicks the screen back. As a test, I tried just slightly flicking my wrist while holding the machine, and the screen flopped out. That′s a huge pet peeve of mine, and a strike against the Booklet 3G.

I should note that the keyboard is tiny. I′m talking small, scrunched keys, the kind where my fingertip dwarfs the entire button. Over time, I grew accustomed to the size, but I wouldn′t recommend it for long typing sessions (like the time I spent typing this review…ouch). On the other hand, I really liked the touchpad: Spacious, with two big, satisfying mouse buttons, it makes navigating a whole lot easier.

Measuring 10.4 by 7.3 by 0.8 inches and weighing about 2.7 pounds, the unit feels substantial in your hands. On the edges are three USB ports (two on the left side), plus a combo mic and headphone jack (so you can plug in a cell phone headset). I especially recommend sticking with headphones, because the two built-in speakers barely rise above a whisper–and when I tried to crank up Elvis Presley′s “Suspicious Minds,” the speakers cracked.

Also on the side are the power switch and, behind a flap, the SD and SIM card slots. I presume that the easily accessible SIM card slot allows for the closed-case design and permits international travelers to pop in a region-friendly card wherever they may land. Otherwise, the case is fairly clean.

As for software, the big draw looks to be Nokia Ovi Suite, the company′s set of connectivity apps, which didn′t come with our initial test machine. We are hoping to get a closer look at that prior to assigning the Booklet 3G a final score. But going by what we have seen so far, it could be a little tough to give this netbook a hearty recommendation.

The sturdy frame and reasonably slick lines of the Nokia Booklet 3G show that the company has what it takes to make a smart-looking portable. But considering the poor choice of components (really, a tiny, slow hard drive?) and the above-mentioned quirks, this is a too-pricey portable. If someone tried selling me the Booklet 3G at $599, I′d balk. The $299 subsidized deal may rope some people in–until they realize that they would need to shell out $60 per month in data costs.

As nice as this machine looks, it lacks the gumption to make for a versatile netbook. And, yes, it has a good battery life, but we′ve seen better for less in Toshiba′s NB205 (it runs faster for 10 hours). Want a little more power instead of battery life? The $400 HP Mini 311 (with a decent GPU) is another alternative.

In traditional malware detection tests conducted by AVTest.org, Trend Micro was able to detect 96.9 percent of the Trojans, spyware, worms and other malware in AVTest′s huge cache. To be fair, that′s not a bad showing by itself, and a huge improvement over Trend′s performance in previous tests. Last year, the company′s security suite only detected 69.3 percent of AVTest′s samples.

But this year, most of the apps we looked at nailed this test with detection rates over 99 percent, and Trend Micro′s improved signature-based detection rate still came in second-to-last. And it came in dead last when dealing with annoying adware, with a lowly 84.5 block rate.

Trend Micro′s back-of-the-pack performance continued with a ninth place showing in proactive tests that use 2-week-old signatures to simulate detection of newer malware that doesn′t yet have a signature. In these tests, Antivirus + Antispyware successfully identified only 51.7 percent of the baddies, a ninth-place showing (the top performer detected nearly 72 percent of samples). And while Trend Micro is able to identify malware based solely on how it acts, an important feature that can potentially stop brand-new malware, it isn′t very good at it. Of the apps that can perform behavioral analysis, only Panda did worse.

Trend did manage to avoid falsely labeling any benign files as dangerous, and it performed well in disinfection tests, where it successfully disabled all ten malware infections. But its tortoiselike scan speeds were the slowest among the apps we tested. Data throughput for automatic scans, which happen behind-the-scenes when you open or save a file, was only 6.2MB per second.

The Japanese company′s app is user-friendly, with helpful documentation, a well-organized user interface, and clear descriptions for most elements. But Trend Micro′s seriously misguided attempt to over-automate the interface nullifies the aforementioned strong points.

When Trend finds a threat, its default behavior is to delete or quarantine the file without warning users of any activity. So you might end up repeatedly trying to download a file, unaware that your hard drive is being defended from a threat. At worst, you might understandably try to download and install the file on another PC, thereby infecting it.

Trend′s app looks good, but in this unique software category looks take a distinct back seat to performance. And Trend′s malware detection performance lags too far behind other antivirus programs to recommend.

The HD-XR is basically an upgrade to the original $100 Roku Digital Media Player (now renamed the Roku HD) that we reviewed earlier this year: The main new feature is support for 802.11n wireless on either the 2.4GHz band or the less interference-prone 5GHz band (the original supported only 802.11 b/g). Also new, throughout the Roku line, is support for adding and removing services via the Roku Channel Store. This feature is standard on newer units and is available for older boxes via a firmware upgrade.

The new model looks pretty much like its predecessor, a compact black box (5 inches square and under 2 inches tall) with Roku′s logo and a reset button on the front and the connectors on the back: HDMI, component, composite, S-video, and stereo and optical audio outputs; a 10/100 ethernet port; the AC adapter port; and a USB port that isn′t currently supported.

A minor annoyance is that Roku provides only a composite video cable in the box; you′re on your own for the required ethernet cable and the HDMI or component video cable needed for optimal HD support. (Roku does, however, offer a $20 HD cable package that includes HDMI, Toslink (digital audio), and component video cables.)

One of the Roku′s charms is how easy it is to set up and use. Everything is controlled through the remote, which, like the box, is compact–about the same width but half the height of a typical TV controller. It has just a few buttons: A Home button that brings up the main screen, four wheel arrow buttons around a Select button for navigation, and buttons for pausing and playing video, fast forward and fast rewind.

Setup takes only a few minutes. Hook up the Roku to your TV (and audio system, if need be), and plug in the AC adapter to power on the device. This brings up a screen where you provide network setup information, specifying whether you′re using a wireless or wired connection (the latter through the ethernet port). If you′re using Wi-Fi, the Roku searches for and lists all available networks within range: choose the one you wish to join and enter its password. I had no trouble connecting to both my 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi network and later to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. It also worked over a wired HomePlug AV powerline switch without problems.

During setup you also specify TV format. By default the Roku is set to stream in high-def, but you can also specify standard def in either a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio.

Once the network is up and running, you must set up your accounts on the supported services, which requires an Internet-connected PC. With new units, you′ll have to start by setting up an account on the Roku Channel Store, after which you can add the services you want. Older units, such as the one I tested, come with Netflix, Amazon, and MLB.TV preloaded and don′t require a Roku Channel Store account–but you’ll need one if you want additional services.

At launch, the Channel Store lets you add up to 10 more services, but some of them don′t offer video at all: Pandora, for example, is an Internet radio site, while Flickr and Facebook Photos let you view still images on those popular sites. The other services are generally less well known: blip.tv, FrameChannel, Mediafly, MobileTribe, Motionbox, Revision3, and TWiT.

For each service you wish to set up, you must create an account for that service and then link it to your specific Roku, either by typing a code generated by the Roku into the service′s Web site, or getting a code from the Web site to type into the Roku using a software keyboard.

Linking my Netflix account to the Roku HD-XR took literally just a few seconds, after which I was presented with my “Watch Instantly” queue. Selecting a video initiated a few second′s worth of buffering, after which I watched several videos in pretty flawless 720p high definition with good surround sound.

What impressed me most was how well the Roku worked with all three network connections I tried. I expected good performance with HomePlug AV and 802.11n on 5GHz, but in the past I′ve had incredible problems streaming music, let alone video, over 802.11n on the 2.4GHz band because my loft in downtown San Francisco is within range of some two dozen 2.4GHz networks. Yet the Roku worked almost as well on the 2.4GHz hookup as on the others, pausing the several videos I watched only once to adjust for bandwidth.

Also impressive are the Roku′s fast-forward and rewind features. Instead of just showing a timeline, the Roku displays content thumbnails, making it supereasy to return or fast forward to a specific scene.

With new sets and Blu-ray players adding support for Netflix and the like, you might not need a Roku to get the content it supports, and I did wish it had more high-profile services–Hulu, Vudu, and YouTube aren′t supported at this writing, although Roku doesn′t rule out adding more channels to its store. But if you′re a fan of the services it does offer, and aren′t on the market for a set or player that will stream them to your HDTV, the Roku HD-XR offers a reasonably priced way to do the job reliably and well. It made a fan out of me.

–Yardena Arar

I have come across many people calling in for help, though many prefer to call me who know me personally. When they start describing the problem, it becomes a never ending story. One of my friends who had bought a new notebook recently called me saying “I have deleted some of my folders which I created just below Deleted Items in Outlook”. I have downloaded data recovery software from internet which is an “Undelete” program, now this program is running since 15 hours and still nothing is appearing, he added.

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Now hearing this I thought he needs serious advice and then I suggested him to immediately stop that undelete program and download some “Email Recovery” software which would scan the email archive file for deleted folder containing his lost emails.

Next day he came to me with a smiling face and thanked me for the advice, he was able to recover his lost emails (cheers). He downloaded and purchased PST Repair software as the emails are stored inside the .pst file not as a file on a hard drive. Scanning the .pst file resulted in deleted items which he was able to extract.

This is what I would like to bring to the notice for the readers of this post, when you have deleted any emails from either Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook, you need“Email Recovery” software which can repair or recover emails from DBX or PST files.

For recovering deleted files or files lost after accidental format, repartitioning of a Windows drive, you need effective Windows recovery software. You may refer to my list of best windows recovery software on this blog.

There are applications available using which you can recover emails, files or also can repair some of the commonly used office file types such doc, xls or zip. But I seriously doubt the capability of such applications, and so far I have not able to found any application which is having all best data recovery components.

Further, to recover lost photos from you memory card (SD, XD etc) you need efficient photo recovery software as a normal undelete would not be having a capability to find the files using file specific information, as recovering such file like normal data recovery application which depends on file system would not result any data.

In my next posts, I would describe in detail about all the major data recovery components.

Technorati: digital media recovery • email recovery • photo recovery • right data recovery

When we save a file it is divided in small stripes and saved on clusters, concerning the size of a cluster the number of fragments are created, for example to save a file of 16KB we need 4 clusters if the size of cluster to hold data is 4KB. Now it is not fixed that all these stripes would be saved in a contiguous fashion.

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Logical drives become fragmented as we create and delete files and folders or when we install new software, or download files from the Internet or from the local network. File system typically store files in the first contiguous free space that is large enough for the file. If a fairly large free space is not available the file system saves as much of the file as possible in the largest obtainable space and saves the left over data in the next obtainable free space, and so on.

As we know a file when saved either on FAT or NTFS file system, mostly files are never saved on a disk in a contiguous fashion. Gradually when the data increases along with the increase in the size of a file it becomes fragmented heavily.

The more fragmented the drive is, the slower the computer’s file the input/output performance will be eventually increasing seek time. Increased seek time causes delayed boot and overall slow performance of the system.

There are many third party applications which can perform the defrag option, but it is dangerous to use as their knowledge of the file system is questionable. A fault in a defrag operation could prove fatal and would cause permanent data loss.

I think we should rely only on Microsoft and Executive Software International developed “Disk defragmenter”.

There are several benefits of defragging a drive and we should make this as an important part of our computing. Defragging should be done at least once a month by any individual. Unfortunately, defragging the drive of local users in an enterprise network or a large network is not given priority. The only benefit we consider is the fast performance of drive, but it is not the case.

When a file is deleted the contents of files are intact and the only thing which gets deleted is the allocation information related to the file. Space where the deleted file is stored is marked as free space and becomes overwritten when there is a requirement of saving a new file. You must have noticed why it take to save a file and how a big file becomes deleted within few seconds? The reason is quite simple as explained above.

Files deleted from a defragged drive are easier to recover as compared to fragmented drive, any data recovery software recovering deleted files would be able to recover those files which are saved contiguously, and it is than we realize the benefits of defragging the drive. Please note that defragmenter is applicable to Windows operating system. Tools to run defrag on an other file system is a topic which I would be covering in next posts.

I think by this post in my best capacity I have made an effort for people to understand the importance of defrag.

The Barnes and Noble Nook evokes images of curling up in a corner with a good book near a cozy fire, perhaps with a mug of hot cocoa close at hand. And the Nook ($259, as of December 17, 2009) will indeed let you read electronic books; but unfortunately, not everything about this e-book reader makes for a comfortable reading experience.

The Nook (due for wider availability in January 2010) joins a growing array of e-readers, led to date by Amazon and Sony. The Nook′s most directly competes with the Amazon Kindle 2. Both models are of similar size, have similar prices, and are the only models that provide direct-from-device wireless access to each bookseller′s e-book store (Sony′s Reader Daily Edition will add wireless connectivity, as will other readers to be announced at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show.

Assessing the Nook necessarily involves evaluating storefront access, title selection, and title presentation as much as it does appraising the device itself. And ultimately, despite its progressive design choices and clever navigation tools, the Nook feels like a first-generation product in need of a fair amount of future refinement.

The Nook′s greatest design is its innovative use of a touchscreen strip below the 6.5-inch E-Ink electronic paper display that dominates the device. The touchscreen obviates the need for a keyboard or for multipurpose buttons or other navigational aids–such as the Sony Reader Touch Edition′s buttons and the Amazon Kindle 2′s physical keyboard and five-way joystick navigation. Where the Touch Edition′s touchscreen overlay might irk some readers (because text lacks crispness), and the Kindle′s buttons might feel retro in the iPhone era, the Nook′s touchscreen offers a highly adaptable, context-sensitive means of navigating the device.

The touchscreen also adds a splash to color to a device that remains locked in a world consisting of shades of gray. Beyond being a navigation tool for the E-Ink screen, the touchscreen has an on-screen keyboard for data input (such as for searching or for adding notes) and colorful cover thumbnails that you can scroll through; if you flip past the list on the E-Ink screen above the touchscreen, the E-Ink screen moves to the next page to catch up with where you are in the LCD.

With its launch software, the Nook stumbles in a couple of ways. I call out the launch software in particular because Barnes and Noble says that it plans to fix some of the performance issues through a firmware update. But the anticipated update has yet to arrive (it was initially slated to arrive in the week following the Nook′s launch; now the due date has slipped to late December). Until it comes, I won′t be able to say whether the sluggish performance is strictly a software shortcoming or whether it implicates one or more of the hardware components along with the software.

Waiting for a page screen to redraw itself on the Nook′s E-Ink screen can be a serious test of your patience. In a side-by-side comparison of similarly formatted content, the Nook took noticeably longer the Kindle 2 to change the page. More annoyingly, the screen would blink in and out as it tried to perform this operation. Granted, Amazon′s Kindle DX and Kindle 2 (to a lesser extent) do this too, but the Nook is especially slow: It took 14 seconds to open and format the book Up in the Air, for example. That time lag might not sound like a lot, but it feels like an eternity when you′re holding the device in your hands.

Furthermore, I thought that having the Nook′s navigation controls for the E-Ink display on the LCD screen produced an odd disconnect. If the response time hadn′t been so sluggish, I might not have felt that way. But when browsing my book library, I was often stymied by having to put my finger just so on the touchscreen strip of up/down arrows and then having to look up above as my selection moved. When I found something to choose, I would press the nondescript radio dial button on the right of the LCD, look above to see what the E-Ink screen now had on it, and then look below to see what additional navigation choices were available. And all of these recalibrations would occur with a lag (I′d navigate below, but the E-Ink screen would take an unexpected moment or three to catch up).

For those reasons, in the end, having two screens in play simultaneously was a jarring experience: It meant that my eyes had to dart continually from the too-bright lower screen to the more muted, easy-on-the-eyes E-Ink screen. The auto-brightness feature lowers the brightness, but not enough; I had to dial the brightness down manually to as low as 4 to 10 percent to get to passable contrast with the E-Ink screen above.

The Nook′s LCD screen makes it easy to jump into the type of content you want, including your daily content, your library, shopping options, what you last read, and settings. You get the sense that no important features are buried in a hidden menu item (in contrast, Amazon has its store link as a menu item, not as something visible on the screen). I also appreciate the page-forward and page-backward navigation buttons (which work in books, as well as in multipage screens) on the right and left: They are easy to push, and you can switch the hand you use for each operation.

Another design nicety is the black bezel that separates the off-white plastic Nook chassis from the E-Ink screen. The bezel makes the text pop more, for more-pleasurable reading. And the Nook′s fonts (you can choose from a set of two to three fonts, depending on the book) are easier on the eyes than the Kindle 2′s, with more clarity and definition (as with the Kindle, you get a good selection of font sizes–perfect for anyone whose eyesight requires large print).

On the other hand, the power button up top is too flat, and the battery–though removable–requires you to remove a screw to get it out. The microSD card slot is buried inside, behind the easy-to-remove back panel, so it′s protected but awkward to take out. The device charges via a micro-USB port on the bottom. You get a headphone jack for listening to MP3s, but no support for audiobooks.

I found the LCD activation inconsistent, too (due to buggy software, perhaps?). To activate the screen, you press the capacitive touch ′n′ between the touchscreen and the E-Ink screen. That method worked fine, but I also managed to activate the screen without touching the ′n′–just by holding the device in a certain way.

One more complaint: The Nook has separate section for daily content (dubbed “The Daily”), and yet content delivered daily–like blogs or newspapers–also ends up in My Library, where the content clutters and overwhelms the screen, burying any actual book content I may have purchased. In the past week-and-change, I accumulated five pages of My Library content, the vast majority of which consisted of daily items that I couldn′t figure out how to delete.

Barnes and Noble has taken several steps to encourage potential customers to buy into its e-reader universe. For one thing, you can buy books using the Barnes and Noble eReader on multiple device platforms–PC, Mac, iPhone, and BlackBerry (an Android version is due early next year). For another, you can lend friends the books you buy, simply by sending the book to a user′s e-mail address. The recipient can read it for a specified period of time, during which time you lose access to the book via your devices–just as you would if you lent a paper book to someone. The difference: You can lend a book only once, and for two weeks, so lend wisely.

Amazon′s Kindle 2 and Barnes and Noble′s Nook are neck-in-neck in many ways. Each has unique capabilities: Amazon supports international shopping ( if you have a model with AT&T Wireless inside) and has text-to-speech; Nook has Wi-Fi, supports ePub, and runs the Google Android mobile operating system, which throws opens the door for customization and future enhancement.

At least for now, though, I can′t confidently the recommend Nook. If the promised software update dramatically improves performance, the Nook could emerge as a worthy competitor to the Kindle 2. But it′s current sluggish performance, along with the caveats about the LCD′s interaction with the E-Ink screen, can′t be ignored. I′ll revisit this review after Barnes and Noble pushes out its firmware update.

Take, for example, the fake Medicare and Social Security taxes that I had entered in my test tax-return data: TurboTax realized that the employer had been withholding too much, and then went a step further–it told me what I should actually do about the situation (contact my employer, request a revised W-2, and seek a refund). Other sites either missed the overwithholding altogether or caught it but simply noted that the percentage seemed high.

TurboTax also did the best job of noting changes in the tax code plainly and up front. But what sealed the deal for me was the site′s handling of state returns. Most of the other providers PC World reviewed had clearly spent all their time developing the federal side and then throwing together what amounted to glorified data-entry forms for the state side. TurboTax, on the other hand, offers actual guidance and advice at the state level.

TurboTax offers more import capabilities than the other sites, which can be a huge time-saver, particularly at the Form-1099 level (TurboTax can import 1099s from nearly 100 different financial institutions). TurboTax also imports data from Quicken (but only post-2006 PC versions).

Import capability aside, anyone with a lot of Schedule D investment activity should lean toward TurboTax: It was the most sensitive to the intricacies of these transactions without going overboard on the jargon. However, I couldn′t see how the actual Schedule D (or any IRS form, for that matter) looked until I had paid.

The ItsDeductible module gave good guidance on what I could deduct for donated items, though its categories and values differed from TaxAct′s similar offering (note that according to IRS Publication 526, there are no fixed formulas or methods for finding the fair market value of donated clothing or household items). The sales-tax deduction process was the most intuitive of all the sites, and paranoid types and cheaters will appreciate the Audit Risk Meter, which graphically illustrates how likely you are to be audited.

The thing about TurboTax, though, is that the options and quantity of information offered can be overwhelming and unnecessary for those with simpler returns. Even the help options are a little too numerous: TurboTax presents as the primary source for answers its “Live Community” (basically a Q&A chat board with other users–a potentially dangerous option for tax advice, though TurboTax says its experts monitor the busiest sections for bad information). Other help options include the On Demand Tax Guidance feature, the “TurboTax Help” link at the top of the screen (which links to an online database of articles), the “Ask a Real Live Tax Pro” function (only open during certain hours), an interactive knowledge-base guide called “Ask Tina,” and of course the tech support section.

Price is also a growing issue–$49.95 for federal and $34.95 for state. After a grassroots revolt a few months ago that forced Intuit to reverse new printing fees for its desktop products, it′s clear that some users think the tax-prep giant has gotten too big for its britches. That said, if you have a relatively elaborate situation or you′re a closet tax strategist, TurboTax is about as good as it′s going to get.

–Tina Orem

Take the revamped Status bar, which has moved from an area on the left of the screen (where it has been since FileMaker 1) to a more modern position at the top of the window. The Status bar is the primary interface between the user and the database, akin to a browser toolbar. It′s where you search for records, create new ones, sort them, and switch to different layouts (views on your database). Not only does the new location look 1000 percent better, it allows space for customization: You can now add buttons for oft-used functions like Print, Export, or Duplicate record. You can also remove buttons you don′t need.

For most users, upgrading to FileMaker Pro 10 will be a seamless experience, as the underlying database format has not changed since FileMaker 7. In a test with a set of large databases used by a medium-size software company for bug tracking and software development, FileMaker 10 was able to run complex scripts and applications unchanged, right out of the box.

The scripts and apps also ran about 15 percent faster, although FileMaker says it made only small performance tweaks in this upgrade. A frequently run, complex script–one that imports about 28,000 records from an Oracle database (as well as local records from Excel), then manipulates them and generates various reports–took an average of 53 minutes to complete in FileMaker 9, and only 45 minutes in FileMaker 10. Perhaps even more impressive, this company does all its work in FileMaker Pro, not Advanced. Unlike most relational databases, the entry-level version is not dumbed down. The Advanced version adds features needed only by custom application developers.

That said, the Pro version only supports up to nine simultaneous local network users (on Windows or Mac), or five Web users. Larger workgroups will need to buy FileMaker Server 10 ($999; up to 250 simultaneous connections) or FileMaker Server Advanced ($2999; up to 999 users).

Other key features that are new include saved finds, dynamic reports, script triggers, and send-mail capability. Once you′ve tried tools like saved finds and dynamic reports, you′ll wonder how you ever got along without them. Saved finds allow you to save commonly used searches right in the Status bar, for easy access. Before, you had to create scripts to do this, a cumbersome task.

Similarly indispensable once you use them, dynamic reports allow you to edit records and have the changes reflected in grouped reports right away. Enter a new record in a sorted database, and it will automatically move to the right position in the sort order as soon as you save it, eliminating the old “semi-sorted” mode.

Just as useful to many will be the built-in send-mail feature, which connects directly to SMTP servers so you can send out an e-mail blast to your contact database without having to go through your desktop e-mail program.

So what′s still missing? One feature that we′d like to see is the ability to create charts and graphs within the program. Fortunately, third-party add-ons address this need, and the Excel integration features allow you to draw charts from that program as well. Otherwise, it′s hard to point to much that′s lacking.

Overall, FileMaker Pro 10 is an evolutionary upgrade to an already-great database tool that mostly focuses on usability improvements. But once you try it, you won′t want to go back.

–Becky Waring

This MacBook Pro comes with the same 5400-rpm, 320GB hard-disk drive as the previous one, though you can customize it with a faster (7200-rpm) 320GB HDD for $50, or opt for either a 128GB ($300) or a 256GB ($750) solid-state drive. The new laptop comes standard with 4GB of RAM, as did its predecessor (you can upgrade to 8GB of RAM for $1000 more), but the memory is now DDR3 at 1066MHz instead of DDR2 at 667MHz. The system′s Intel Core 2 Duo processor steps up from 2.5GHz in the previous generation to 2.66GHz, though with the same 6MB of L2 cache; for an additional $300, you can upgrade to a speedier 2.93GHz processor. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro has a 1066MHz front side bus, too, versus its predecessor′s 800MHz front side bus.

Like Apple′s other unibody laptops, the 17-inch MacBook Pro′s wide-screen display uses mercury-free LED backlighting and arsenic-free glass. The screen has a native resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels. The glossy screen shows bright, vibrant colors and deep, rich blacks. For people who dislike highly reflective glossy screens because of glare, Apple offers an antiglare option for $50 extra. The new model moves the optical drive slot from the right front of the case to the right side. All of the ports now reside on the left side.

For connecting an external display, the new Mini DisplayPort supplants the full-size DVI port of previous-generation models. Apple is currently the only company using Mini DisplayPort, and the only Mini DisplayPort LCD it sells is the 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display. Apple chose not to include a Mini DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter for connecting the new laptop to a DVI connector; it offers the adapter separately for $29.

Like the most recent version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, the new 17-inch MacBook Pro has a dual graphics subsystem–a high-performance nVidia GeForce 9600M GT chip with 512MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory, and a lower-performing, battery-saving nVidia GeForce 9400M that shares 256MB of RAM with the main processor. The earlier 17-inch MacBook Pro had a single graphics engine, the nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, with its own 512MB of GDDR3 memory. Tests of the laptop running Mac OS X by the Macworld Test Center indicate that the 9600M GT graphics offers a significant performance boost over the 9400M. It sprints through PC WorldBench 6 tests at a steady clip. Earning a 102, it comes in a little slower than HP′s HDX 18. This MacBook Pro also posted respectable (though not stellar) scores in Unreal Tournament III. At high settings, with a 1680 by 1050 resolution it runs at about 47 frames per second.

The new battery on the latest 17-inch MacBook Pro uses lithium polymer sheets instead of cylindrical lithium ion cells. It′s now a fixed part–and no longer user-replaceable. According to Apple, the battery′s new adaptive charging technology will permit the cell to be drained and recharged at least 1000 times while retaining at least 80 percent of its original capacity; that′s between three and five times as many recharges as most laptop batteries can support. In the Macworld Test Center′s battery life test–which involves looping a video in full-screen mode from a ripped DVD saved to the hard drive, with the display set to full brightness, and the Energy Saver preferences set never to sleep but to use the lower-powered nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics–the new 17-inch MacBook Pro ran for four hours, 43 minutes on a single charge, versus three hours, 36 minutes for its predecessor, and two hours, 46 minutes for the new 15-inch MacBook Pro. (In the PC World Test Center′s battery life tests, running Windows Vista it didn′t fare quite as well. It only lasted three hours, 18 minutes.)

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro outperformed its predecessor by about 1.8 percent on the Macworld Test Center′s system performance suite, Speedmark 5. On most tests, however–including Photohop, iMovie, and iTunes–both machines finished within a second or two of each other. For further details, consult Macworld′s benchmark analysis of the 17-inch MacBook Pro.

The latest iteration of the 17-inch MacBook Pro laptop is clearly a winner, but when you start introucing a Windows install into the mix, its battery life doesn′t hold up quite as well.