PCW Articles: November 10

I don’t have time to write you an individual blog post about each one, so here’s what we’ve got:

ASUS G73Jw Laptop Review:  Pretty awesome gaming notebook…pretty crappy keyboard.

Japanese Singing Sensation is…a Hologram?: Yes, if any country is going to crowd into a concert hall for a fictional, holographic anime girl…it’s totally Japan.

Apple’s iOS 4.2 Boosts iPhone 3G Performance: Perhaps that San Diego lady doesn’t have a lawsuit, after all.

Fujifilm FinePix Z800EXR: Lovin’ the quickness on this touchscreen camera.

HDTV Reviews: Sony, Vizio, LG, Samsung

Me: Ugh, I have to wake up at 9 a.m. and go into San Francisco.

Lisa: Poor you.  I wake up at 6:30 every day.  Cry me a river.  Why are you going into San Francisco?

Me: Gotta test HDTVs.

Lisa: So you have to go into San Francisco at 9 a.m. and watch television all day.

Me: I suppose that’s one way of putting it.

Lisa: Bite me.

–

Yes, reviewing HDTVs is not quite the couch-potato party it sounds like.  For one thing, did you know that once you’ve reviewed HDTVs with the PC World crew, you can never, ever look at a HDTV (or other TV) the same again?  (OMG, look at that artifacting!  What happened to the detail in this scene?  Wow, the color is so off. I didn’t know windows could move around! Morgan Freeman’s tie is like a discoball.)

Here are the televisions I reviewed for Patrick’s great October HDTV round-up:
Sony Bravia KDL-40HX800 HDTV
Vizio XVT423SV: a Solidly Above-Average HDTV Across the Board
LG 42LE5500: 42-Inch HDTV Fails to Separate Itself From the Pack
Samsung UN40C7000: A Quirky HDTV With Some Strong Features

PC World: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX75 Review

(My Article) From PC World:

Tim says I’m fast-becoming (whether I like it or not) PC World’s touch-screen camera go-to girl.  Woohoo!  This is my review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX75, and my findings were basically as follows:

- Too many physical buttons.  Go big or go home, seriously.  The physical buttons account for half of the commands, while the touch-screen does the rest.  Confusing?  Yeah, just a little bit.

- Cool touch-to-focus feature–tap anywhere on the touch-screen and the camera will focus there.  Neat option, especially if you have a bunch of potential focal points.

- Good anti-shake and autofocus–really quick, effective, and hardly any shutter lag in regular shooting modes.

Bottom line: I’m not sure why everyone is so enamored with touch-screens, but they are.  My personal opinion is that a touch-screen is at best unnecessary and at worst really hard to use on a point-and-shoot.  But the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX75 is decent, although it might be even better without the touch-screen…

Price: $299