Beats Studio by Dr. Dre

Visual Appeal

The Beats Studio headphones are visually stunning. They have a suave and serious look that exudes swagger. They come in a choice of either Black or White, and have a certain level of customization do to the black and orange cords which come with the headphones. They have a heavy gloss which is pretty to look at but gets greasy incredibly quick, Cheeto lovers beware. The ambiguous orange and silver beats symbol adds a good contrast to both sides of the ear cups as well as doubling as a fully functioning mute button. Their sick and recognizable style allows them to be worn in public without making the wearer looking like an idiot, and fit comfortably around the neck when you’re done listening, unlike some other over ear headphones (I’m looking at you SckullCandy Skull Crushers). Over all the Beats are slick and the folding design adds a futuristic look all its own.
Visual Rating 9/10






Specs

At 270grams, with the 2 AA batteries inside, the Studios carry some wait but nothing really noticeable. The Frequency Response is 20Hz to 20kHz and the maximum Sound Output is 115dB. That’s like having an entire rock concert cram packed and put an inch away from your ears, but if you value your hearing I wouldn’t test it. The headphone cable’s length is 1.3 meter or a little over 4 ft. Each connector at the end of the cable is gold plated and 1/18 of an inch. So what all that adds up to is some good sound. They also include a noise “cancelling feature” but it barely eliminates background noise, but you can still here ceiling fans and computers quite clearly. If you’re looking for a true noise canceling experience go with Bose Headphones.
Specs Quality 9/10




Sound 

Now the part you’ve all been waiting for. The sound is incredible. From Lynyrd Skynyrd to Lil’ Wayne your shure to be blasting your choice of music for hours. The bass is nothing short of amazing (something definitely expected from the Dres line) but manages to never be overpowering. It’s crisp and rarely sharp. Of course it all depends on the quality of the downloaded song, so if you buy from ITunes you won’t have a problem. If you’re into classical don’t be deterred (although the look of the headphones might clash with your sports coats and sweater vests) the headphones aren’t as discriminatory to your choice of music as I am. Piano still comes out clear and as crisp as each chord of Little Wing. Fellow Hendrix fans eat your heart out.
Sound Rating 10/10




Comfort

The Beats Studios are so comfortable that you know Monster must have skinned some type of adorable creature to obtain this level of comfort (I kid, PETA). But all jokes aside the ear cups are spacious but stay fittingly around the ears. There is a layer of padding on the inside and on the rimming of the ear cups as well as on the inner side of the headrest. It’s easy to wear them for upwards of 5 hours and onwards without any discomfort. And in the same fashion as shoes, the more you wear them the quicker they break in and the more comfortable they become. 
Comfort Rating 10/10






Summary

The Beats Studio by Dr. Dre are a must for music lovers. They’ll set you back around 299.95 dollars but in my personal opinion it’s well worth the price. 
Overall Rating 9/10 


Review by Mason Kinnear

Mac Book Pro 13"

Mac Book Pro: 13"

Opening:

Every time you step into a apple store you are amazed by all the futuristic technology you see. Apple advertises there products as perfect and the future of technology. But people wonder, Are the products really as good as Apple says? Lets take a dive into a detailed review on the Apple MacBook Pro 13”.

Visual Appeal: 

When I first opened the box to my brand new MacBook Pro the first thing that caught my eye was the Unibody aluminum casing. The aluminum gives it that rich future feeling. It includes a crisp 13.3 inch windscreen backlit display that supports A resolution of up to 1280 x 800, with a bright vibrant colored display. The laptop Has some weight to it and is decently thin. Not as light and thin as its brother the MacBook Air but it is still portable to bring to coffee shops, school, or anywhere you may need it! The screen dose a decent job at preventing finger prints yet they are still visible. The black outline around the screen helps u focus on the display. It makes it look very elegant along with the backlit keyboard.

Visual Apparel: 10/10

Hardware: 

The MacBook Pro will come in a 13in, 15in, and 17in. For this review I use a 13in. It uses a aluminum unibody design which means they use one block of aluminum and cut it to make the body of the device. Why unibody you may ask? Unibody is more stable and tougher. The notebook includes a Intel core 2 duo 2.4 GHz possessor with 4GB of memory. It uses a NVIDA GeForce 320M Graphics card so it runs games very smoothly. The battery life is at 10 Hours and I do wish it could be longer. It has a backlit keyboard that gives a nice light behind each individual key. This brightness can be adjusted even turned off to your preference. The keyboard has a wonderful feeling to it. They are spaced perfectly and feel smooth. One thing that would of been nice to add would be a number pad on the right of the keyboard yet the number row will serve you well.This notebook dose include a disk drive so you can play movies, install programs, play your music, or just anything that you will use a disk for. It has 2 USB ports on the left side and dose include a Fire Wire port as well. It also will include a ethernet port and a SD card slot, and a headphone jack on the right left side of the device. Personally i would prefer 4 USB ports yet its not a deal beaker. Apple has included a handy battery indicator on the left side that uses 8 green led’s to show your battery life. One of the best parts of this notebook is the multi touch track pad! It allows you to use gestures with your fingers to do different things like right click, scroll, flip threw pages, pictures,songs, etc. You can also go to your expos from the trackpad and switch threw applications. You can not forget the built in iSight. The web camera is not as good as the $100 you can buy from the store, yet it is pretty standard on laptops.

Hardware: 9/10

User:

Now after reading all of the information above you will be saying to yourself that you may like this device but is it really for me? The MacBook Pro is a advanced notebook for more advanced users. It can be used for day to day internet using and music. Yet the amount of power built into it  is mostly focused to power users like people that will be working on GarageBand, a music creating program by Apple. Other programs like Final Cut, Photoshop, iMovie, Microsoft office, iWorks, etc. The MacBook pro is great for those programs and still has blazing fast internet for you internet users.

Summary:

Overall this notebook is one like no other. It handles all your needs very well. It offers a sexy, futuristic look with great hardware, blazing fast speeds, and with enough power for you power users out there. I will have to say this is a near perfect notebook with very little need for improvement. Its a great product for students, Video editors, photo editors, and business users. 

Signing off this is Ali Khromachou

Mac book pro is a trademark of apple inc., pictures are property of T3ch Box. 

Apple iPad

The Apple iPad: 32g Wi-fi 

Opening:

The Praised Apple iPad, it’s sleek, sexy, and futuristic. Everytime you walk into a Apple store you are simply amazed by this device, it is a stepping stone into the next generation of tablet computing. But is this praised device really worth dishing out the hundreds of dollars?

Visual Appeal:

The iPad is very aesthetically pleasing, weighing no more than a small book, with a 1024 by 768 128 dpi LCD screen, which includes a light obeophobic layering that always makes the device look crystal clean. In addition the glossy jet black front and metallic gray back syncs with the screen to create a sense of visual harmony.  But there are a few cons about the visual appeal of the iPad. For some reason the developers decided to add a finger print proof screen but they didn’t bother to add a scratch resistant back, in my opinion I rather be wiping off finger prints then buffing out scratches. Yes you can buy a case but with a minimum of a five hundred dollar price tag, this is something that should have been added. I suggest you buy a case with the unit, because a twenty dollar case is better than having to spend another five hundred dollars because gravity got its way with your new toy. On a related note, do not even waste your money with apple care, it doesn’t cover physical damages.         

Visual Rating: 9/10

Hardware:

The iPad comes in two models Wi-Fi or 3g each with a 16, 32, or 64 gigabyte variant (I am using a 32 gig Wi-Fi for this review.) If you are on the road a lot I suggest you invest in the 3g model which you can now get on Verizon or AT&T of course you would have to pay the heavy data fee, the Wi-Fi model is for more day to day users. The iPad has an identical 3 pin charge you would use on a iPhone, iPod, etc., with a standard usb 2.0 connection.  With a custom 1ghz Apple A4 processor isn’t anything incredible just your standard mobile processer. The lithium polymer battery is good but it could be better, don’t except to have a international flight on one charge on full brightness. The audio setup is what you would expect from Apple, three speakers and an audio out slot, with a built in microphone. I still wonder why the developers never bothered to add a front facing camera, it feels like the missing piece. Other than that the iPads hardware is really nothing to get excited about, in relative terms it is a supped up iPhone.    Hardware Rating: 6/10

Software:

The iPad currently by default runs on iOS4, which allows for backgrounds and multitasking. Now one of the great things about the iPad is ability to view share and edit various types of media,  for example you could download your entire family’s digital photo and video album onto the iPad and easily bring high quality photos to your next family reunion, or you could download the free Photoshop Express app, and edit photos on the fly, or if you just want to watch a movie buy a Netflix subscription and watch  thousands of high quality movies and TV series all within the power of your fingertips. Also its great for business related things like monitoring stocks. But what I think makes the iPad, is the ability to view magazines and newspapers with this capability Apple could have the power to digitalize the news industry in this decade like it did with the music industry in the last. But there are many cons to the apple software, to start off the iOS 4 is MOST of the time stable, but occasionally you will get a really ugly interface lag, or an application will crash.  Also the actual practicality of an iPad is very limited, at first you think you could do so many things with it but unless you plan on spending a fortune on overpriced apps. Also I am disappointed that it fails to utilize Adobe Flash like its android counterparts do, add that and this would be the best eye candy ever. But overall the software at times makes the iPad feel like god himself created the device at other times it feels like something you would want to play frisbee with.     Software Rating: 8/10

Summary:

Overall the iPad is essentially a large iPhone, yes it does have some good qualities and it has some bad, but at a high price tag is it worth it? Well in my opinion if you have an extra six hundred dollars, go for it, it is a really cool device. But if you have to work overtime to pay it off, do not bother you wouldn’t be missing out on something. I suggest waiting for the numerous upcoming tablets, like the HP Slate, Galaxy Tab, or even the Blackberry Slate.  While the Apple iPad may be the first step into a new generation of tablet computing, there is still much more room for improvement.

Overall Rating: 7/10

Signing off this is David Abramo

Pictures belong to Apple Inc. Not property of T3ch Box 

Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam

Vietnam is Back, and blazing with Fortunate Son.

Intense Online Multiplayer

After the 2010 release of Battlefield Bad Company 2, Dice and frostbite are returning in time for the holiday season of 2010 with there newest release of Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam. This new DLC that expands the online expeirence from Bad Company 2, takes you back in time to a brutal conflict where red dots were not yet invented and aim still mattered. This DLC includes a new 60's soundtrack, 15 new weapons including redesigned weapons such as, the RPK, M60, M16, AK-47 and the new M-1 flamthrower, it may not be accurate but it is the best thing that uses fire...next to the napalm of course. You can fight as a US marine or an North Vietnamese soldier, there are four new maps that come in the DLC all of which have different environments, Hill 137 places you in dense jungles surrounding a napalmed valley filled with fox holes and MG positions, Vantage point has some of the best variety in a Battlefield map seen to date, depending on which side you spawn on, each side will fight towards a mountain side village (enjoy you snipers) making for the best "vantage point" to fight back down hill. The third map is Cao son Temple, a very lush forest surrounded by old temples covered by evergreen, with a small bridged crossed village, which is great for firefights. The fourth map is Phu Bai Valley, this has it all tanks, jeeps, and the huey helicopter available to both sides. There is also a fifth map, The Battle for Hastings is unlocked by the community after 69,000,000 team play actions (revives, repairs etc.). Also new vechicles including the huey. For 1200 microsoft points, you are getting the best deal for your dollar this holiday season, this expansion could very well be one of the best online expeirences in 2010 so load up your dusty M16 once more and put it to some good use. 

Written By: Sgt TY13 (Tyler Ott)