Miscellaneous Hardware Page...

For now, this page just consists of brief discussions of these parts and certain companies to look for when shopping for them. Don't expect in-depth discussions for most of these though. 

Cases:

• The cases that you use can be more important than one might think. They don't do much electronically other than supplying the power to the components, but they do need to be designed well enough to allow heat to flow through them and out.  They also need to be easily accessible and not cramped on the inside. The more expansion bays they support, the better.  Size is also important. The different sizes are Mini-Tower, Mid-Tower, Full-Tower, and Desktop cases.  My pick for the best case is Addtronics' Server Tower case. Although it's pretty expensive, it will provide great cooling and a lot of expansion space. It has a total of 8 exposed bays, front panel pops off, side doors swing open, top pops off, motherboard tray slides out, it has space for at least 8 fans, it has air filters for the fans, and many other nice features. There is also a Mid-Tower version of this case. Other good cases are made by InWin, CalPC, Antec, and PC Power and Cooling.
• My favorite case is made under several different names including Addtronics and SuperMicro SC750-A.  It's an expensive server tower case, but it is very well-made and easy to work with.  There's plenty of room for expansion and extra cooling fans.
• InWin has improved on the design of the MidTower, and I would suggest it as a good, low cost case. Their Full Tower is also pretty nice and inexpensive (Q500).

Mice:

• Microsoft's IntelliMouse Explorer uses a miniature digital camera type tool that takes 1,500 pictures per second, comparing each to the last, providing for great accuracy.  *The new version 3 IntelliMouse Explorer takes 6,000 pictures per second for much better accuracy. It also has two additional buttons that can be configured for Back/Forward, Copy/Paste, etc. which come in really handy. Previously it wasn't the best for gamers, but with the new version's accuracy it is excellent for gaming. In my own experience, even the original has performed very well in demanding games like Quake 3 with very smooth movement throughout the game.  If you prefer, there is also a wireless version of this mouse. 
• The Logitech Cordless MouseMan Optical is excellent because you get the benefits of both a cordless mouse and an optical mouse.  Only downside is that the mouse requires batteries since it's cordless. The Logitech iFeel Mouse is a better option for gamers.  It has force-feedback support that adds a new element to games.
• Microsoft's IntelliMouse has a nice shape and is very useful in browsing the web with its wheel. It allows you to look up and down web pages without moving over to the scroll bar or using the keyboard (yeah, we're getting lazy).  It can also be found under $20. The IntelliMouse Optical is another good choice.
• The USB version of this mouse is even better as it has a higher sampling rate.  This allows it to have very smooth movement in computer games among other things.  However, don't count on support during Windows '95/98 setup or SafeMode! 

Keyboards:

• Microsoft's Natural Keyboards are excellent. The Natural Keyboard Pro offers a few improvements over the Natural Keyboard Elite that really make this a great keyboard. First, the arrow keys are back to normal size. Second, this keyboard is built like USB components are supposed to be with ports for 2 other USB components to be connected to it (called daisy chaining). It also has a lot of great hotkeys for forward and backward in your browser, launch My Computer, play your CD-ROM, etc. 
• Microsoft's Natural Keyboard Elite is a very nice keyboard.  It has a great ergonomical design and can be used as PS/2 or USB. In less than a week, you will grow to love the "natural" design of the keyboard.  A newer version of the keyboard has a 2 port USB hub on it as well as hotkeys for going forward and back in your browser and much more. 
• Logitech also makes a nice "regular" keyboard that comes with an AT and PS/2 connector.  The keys are soft, and the shape is smooth.

Removable Drives:

• My favorite pick is Iomega's Zip Drive, but not necessarily because it's the fastest.  It is the most widely accepted removable drive, it's fairly quick, it has a fairly large capacity, and it comes in a variety of interfaces (parallel port, SCSI, and IDE).  The Plus! drive is supposed to work with SCSI or parallel port, but I tried one and couldn't get it to work properly with my SCSI card.  It also won't allow you to daisychain SCSI devices, even though it originally claimed to.  Other drives to consider are the LS-120 SuperDrive and SyQuest's drives.
• The Castlewood Orb 2.2 GB, is the good, cheap removable storage with a relatively large capacity.  The disks are only about $20 - not bad for 2.2 GB! 
• The Iomega Jazz 2 GB removable drive is also a good, fast drive for larger storage. 

Scanners:

• Scanners allow you to turn photographs, etc. into a digital format so they can be used in your documents, put on the Internet, etc.  The main thing to look for is the DPI that the scanner will scan at.  The higher the better.  Hewlett Packard's higher end scanners are the best you can get, but they are also quite expensive.  HP's lower end scanners are not so good though, and there are better choices (listed below). Be VERY careful with off-brand scanners. Usually they aren't of very good quality and will produce poor images.  A lot of it depends on what you are going to do with the pictures. Most home use will not require a scanner to scan at incredibly high resolutions...  Don't get a parallel port scanner though - USB or perhaps SCSI scanners are fine.
• MicroTek's scanners give you the best quality for the price. The Scanmaker 4800 is the best scanner for home use at only $99 yet it scans at a surprisingly high 2400x1200 resolution for the price. It even comes with slide and negative scanner adapter. For a step up in quality (and price), you can get the Scanmaker 5600 which scans at 4800x2400 dpi. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with the slide/negative adapter, but there is an optional "free" mp3 CD player package...

Video Capture:

• These cards have a lot of different aspects to consider. I'd advise looking at different reviews of the cards as opposed to just their specifications (which don't usually give you all the necessary information).  You should consider capture size, number of colors supported, compression ratios, input and output capabilities, frame rates, etc.  I won't get too in-depth on these cards. 
• One of the best capture devices for the cost is the Dazzle Digital Video Creator.  It's a stand-alone video editing device that connects via USB. The Digital Video Creator II is a little better (no USB, instead it has a PCI card that is used as a hardware MPEG 2 Encoder / Decoder).  The lower cost DVC 80 and DVC 50 aren't quite as good but may be sufficient for the casual video editor of home videos.
• Some all-in-one video cards like the Matrox Marvel or the ATI All-In-Wonder do video capture and output as well.  Perhaps the best solution for gamers is the NVIDIA Personal Cinema line of cards which also have a great gaming video card.
• If you can afford it, the high-end Targa cards are about the best you can get (most are over $2000 though). 

Digital Cameras:

• The Nikon Coolpix 995 is an excellent, full-featured digital camera, but it comes with the full-featured price of around $900.  This is a great camera for the pseudo-professional with a 3.34 megapixel resolution.
• Lower cost alternatives that still take great pictures include the Olympus D-510 or the Canon PowerShot A20.  Both are 2.1-2.2 megapixel cameras with great image quality. 
• For the budget minded, the Kodak DX3500 also takes excellent pictures for the price.  It's also a 2.2 megapixel camera, but it isn't as full-featured as the ones above.