Dec 95 First Impressions

by: Tom Ponzo

Long is in. Windows 95 frees you from the constraints of terse eight-character filenames, so you can turn document naming into an essay-writing exercise. But if you're using Win 3.1 apps under Windows 95, you're still stuck with short names.

Name-IT opens the Windows 95 filenaming convention for Win 3.1 programs. It neatly sidesteps the eight-character rule and allows you to use long filenames from within those applications.

With Name-IT, when you select File/Open or File/Save As, if you click on the Long Name button you'll see all the filenames--regardless of length--in your file folder. You can give files long names, but because you're using a Win 3.1 program, only the truncated version of the name will appear in the program's title bar.

There's a possibility of some confusion when you use Name-IT, if you don't include the file's extension with the new name. I omitted the extension for one file and ended up losing it.

Until your apps catch up to Windows 95, Name-IT provides a way to enjoy one of your new operating system's most convenient features.

--Info File--
Name-IT
Price: $29.95 (street)
Disk Space: 1.5MB
System Resources: NARAM: 34KB
Vertisoft Systems
800-466-5875, 803-295-3163

by: Joel T. Patz

For most of us, fax machines, printers and scanners occupy a lot of valuable space. So when a multifunctional, space-saving solution comes along, the antennae go up.

Requiring less than two and a half square feet of desk space, the well-designed, feature-packed JetFax M5 combines the assets of a plain-paper fax machine, copier, scanner and office printer. It also does envelopes, which is critical if this is your only printer.

And it offers a 14.4Kbps modem and the capability of providing very good 300dpi resolution in scanning, faxing and copier modes. Even the most demanding users will thrill to its high-quality results.

After you've attached a phone line, connected cables to your computer and turned on the machine, you can access all the JetFax's functions directly from the front panel. The easy-to-read control panel, with its programmable alphanumeric keypad, control keys and LCD display, puts all of the unit's functionality at your fingertips. Extracting reports, establishing mailboxes or setting up speed dialing, even for groups, is about as simple as it gets.

The battery-protected 1MB memory (upgradable to 5MB) stores incoming material, so if you're out of paper or running a print job at the same time, you won't encounter an unexpected roadblock. Busy signals and communication errors are no longer a problem when a document is stored in memory and the M5 does the work for you. Faxing and printing at 6 seconds per page increases your efficiency, as does setting the collation feature so your faxes are in the proper order when you read them. Scanning to your PC via the TWAIN-compatible scanner increases your creative possibilities.

In addition to increased memory, other available options include a large-capacity paper tray and a two-phone-line upgrade for simultaneous transmitting and receiving of faxes. The only drawback I noticed was that the unit's noisy fan may be quite a bit too loud for small offices.

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JetFax M5 Multifunction Office System
Price: $2,995
JetFax
800-7JETFAX, 415-324-0600

by: James E. Powell

The two things you may do most on the phone are talk and transfer files, but never at the same time. Until now. With the U.S. Robotics Sportster Vi 28.8 Faxmodem with DSVD (Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data) , you can talk to the party at the other end while you transfer files. Bundled with the modem is a copy of Intel's ProShare, which allows you and another DSVD-modem owner to work on applications together while you talk.

To initiate a DSVD session, you can use your telephone to dial the other person, then switch to your communications program. Alternatively, you can start the communications session, then lift the handset, which causes the modem at the receiving end to ring. The receiving party just lifts the handset and the modems drop down to a 19.2Kbps connection, while your communications session remains connected. Hang up the phone, and the modem rate rises back to 28.8Kbps. The first time I tried it, I was amazed at how invisible the technology was. If the number you're calling is not equipped with a DSVD modem, the Sportster works like an ordinary 28.8Kbps modem.

The voice-transmission quality is remarkably high, although in my tests the transmission sounded slightly clipped on rare occasions. My Zmodem file transfers neither hesitated nor lost the connection while I was chatting.

-- Info File --
U.S. Robotics Sportster Vi 28.8 Faxmodem with DSVD
Price: $399
Disk Space: 10MB (for ProShare software)
System Resources: 5% (for ProShare software)RAM: 8MB
U.S. Robotics
800-DIAL-USR, 708-676-7010

by: Julie R. Blumenfeld

To the Prodigy designers: I love what you've done with the place. Overall, Prodigy's new interface looks great, but sometimes there's a little more veneer than value.

From the start, the new look is a welcome change. Gone are the questionable color schemes and oversized Courier text. The category opening screens, such as Highlights and News/Weather, were designed using HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and provide point-and-click access to areas on the service and on the Internet.

Also made over are mail and newsgroups. The mail app offers a split-screen interface, with mail headers on top and the message on the bottom along with retention and deletion options. Browsing newsgroups is easier and more pleasant now.

The streamlined sign-on dialog is smaller and offers five sign-on choices: the Highlights window, the Web browser, your hotlist, the Member Help Center, or a Jumpword or Internet URL that you type for direct access to a specific service.

But once you scratch through Prodigy's new surface, you'll find the service's familiar old face. The bulletin boards and chat areas haven't changed, and the bottom-of-the-screen navigational buttons retain the old look.

Prodigy still lacks options for sign-on setups. You can create only one sign-on profile with a primary and an alternate number. The software doesn't offer a list of modem choices, and communications above 14.4Kbps are not supported.

Prodigy's advertising model has been reworked, with less obtrusive ads and no more "junk mail."

The Prodigy update isn't a one-shot, load-the-software-and-go proposition. For a while, each time you log in, Prodigy will download an update of some sort--a new Web browser, the new mail interface and so forth. According to Prodigy, the whole service will be renovated by year's end.

Look out AOL, CompuServe, MSN--Prodigy is back and swinging.

-- Info File --
Prodigy 9.18
Price: Monthly, $9.95 (first five hours free; each additional hour $2.95)
Disk Space: 3.75MB
System Resources: 2%RAM: 4MB
Prodigy Services Co.
800-776-3349

by: Jim Forbes

For a laptop that keeps on going and going and going, check out AER Energy Resources' new battery pack for Toshiba notebooks.

The PowerPro is available only for the Toshiba T1900 Satellite family, Satellite Pro T2400, T4700C, T4800CT and T4850CT notebooks. The product is an external battery pack that allows you to operate for up to 15 hours without recharges. After watching this battery pack in operation (on a Toshiba T1960 notebook), I was really impressed. On two occasions

I used the notebook continuously for 7 hours and the battery never ran low. In fact, after one 7-hour period the battery's gauge indicated that more than half its charge still remained.

The downside to all this power? Weight and flexibility. The PowerPro cradles your Toshiba portable with a case containing the power cells. Plastic straps attach to the back of your computer. PowerPro connects to your Toshiba notebook through its battery compartment, and the unit recharges via your system's recharger. In most cases, this unit fully recharges overnight.

Although the EnergyPro is available initially only for Toshiba notebooks, AER is developing versions for other computers.

The PowerPro is an interesting product that provides a real advantage for notebook users who need to use their computers for extended periods without a plug.

-- Info File --
AER Energy PowerPro
Price: $399
AER Energy Resources
800-769-3720, 770-433-2127

by: Cheryl Dominianni

Info Select 3.0 is an eclectic sort of PIM. It's not for everyone, but if fashioning your own PIM is your cup of tea, you'll delight in its flexibility.

The program, which I tested in beta, doesn't offer the usual predefined PIM modules, such as a calendar, telephone book and so forth. These features are available, but with Info Select you set up and tailor your own topics based on its five building blocks: Notes, Forms, Databases, Calendars and Outlines.

Info Select's main screen has a Selector on the left side and a Workspace on the right. The Selector is a summary listing all of the stored information, including user-created topics which become Infobases that can accommodate thousands of data items. In the Workspace you enter, view and edit your data. For example, when you insert a note in the topic, a blank screen appears where you can enter as much text as desired. Folder tabs at the top of the screen let you categorize your entries with your own labels, such as To Do, High Priority, Calls or Pending. When you search for an item, Info Select pores through all entries, regardless of the tab they're assigned, so the program yields a list of all calls to be made, action items and so forth.

Info Select comes with many customizable forms and templates. This version's enhancements include font management, spell checking, database importing, drag-and-drop operations and built-in network support.

Info Select is a power user's PIM. Its interface is not very intuitive, but it offers tremendous resources if you're willing to invest a little time and effort.

-- Info File --
Info Select 3.0
Price: $149.95; upgrade, $69.95
Micro Logic Corp.
800-342-5930, 201-342-6518

by: James E. Powell

Home pages get all the attention these days, but the real work in creating useful Web documents is setting up the indexing, hypertext links and jumps. AnchorPage adds value to ordinary HTML documents by building keyword and subject indexes.

AnchorPage parses your selected documents into four views. The Table of Contents extracts headings and subheadings; an Abstract View summarizes the document's ideas; the Concept View presents the topics alphabetically with a short explanation or definition of the abstract subjects; and the Phrase View lists Concept View's keywords and phrases alphabetically. All entries in the views have hyperlinks added to your documents' text, and you can create circular links to allow jumps from topic to topic. AnchorPage also generates a home page that offers access to these views.

You control AnchorPage's settings with several "threshold" options. The settings determine how comprehensive the output will be--a higher threshold will result in a shorter final document. Create a list of nouns to fine-tune the output, adding or removing technical terms or topics as you go. Proper names can be recognized to produce last-name-first entries.

Your files and settings are saved in a project file, and you start the build process by clicking on Run to launch Syntactica, the parsing engine. It's reasonably fast--a 14-document test took about 6 minutes.

You can edit the template AnchorPage uses to build your HTML document, but you should be familiar with native HTML codes.

A copy of Netscape 1.0 is included for viewing the results, along with a conversion utility to move .RTF files to HTML format.

-- Info File --
AnchorPage 1.0
Price: $895
Disk Space: 10MB
System Resources: 11%
RAM: 8MB
Iconovex Corp.
800-943-0292, 612-896-5100

by: Hailey Lynne McKeefry

A perennial favorite on paper, the on-screen version of Day-Timer Organizer has gotten even better with the version 2.0 release. The new version retains the major functions--scheduling, task management, address book, notebook and expense tracking--and has a simple interface that is now even easier to use.

The address book, which uses a tabbed dialog for entering and editing information, is much more customizable. Contact records can have up to four e-mail addresses each, as well as attachments, such as a spreadsheet or a document. You search for names and addresses by assignee, key words or just about any database field. Wildcards in search arguments are also supported. It's also possible to sort records by category, priority or assignee.

The address book includes international address templates for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, so that you don't have to customize the entry form to fit those countries' address formats.

Printing has been enhanced in all modules. I was able to print anything from a single module, including message lists, planners, address lists and expense reports. There's also a variety of print formats, such as envelopes, labels and rotary cards. If the program recognizes your printer model, it will provide graphical instructions on how to orient the paper correctly. One of the most useful print formats produces pocket-sized versions of schedules and contact lists.

Drag-and-drop makes it easy to pick up a contact and drop it directly onto a schedule. Also new is the Speed Dial List, used for accessing your most frequently called phone numbers. TAPI and TSAPI support have been added for telephony functions, as well as MAPI and VIM support for e-mail and a DDE interface for third-party applications. If you use the program in conjunction with a telephony program that supports caller ID, Day-Timer will pop up the caller's record if that person is in your contact database.

The new features in Day-Timer 2.0 don't add up to a generational change, but the improved searching, template customization and ease-of-use features combine to make a good product even better.

--Info File--
Day-Timer Organizer 2.0
Price: $59.95 (street)
Disk Space: 4MB
System Resources: 2%RAM: 4MB
Day-Timer Technologies
800-225-5005, 415-572-6260

by: James A. Miller

Supra Corp. dives into the Plug-and-Play fray with its new line of modems, among the first for Windows 95. I looked at the SupraExpress 288i PnP, an economical V.34-compatible unit.

At the least, for a modem, a Plug-and-Play system should configure its comm port and IRQ settings. Ideally, Windows 95 should be able to load the drivers automatically. I turned off the test system, snapped the card into an empty slot and rebooted. Windows 95's New Hardware Found dialog box appeared, offering three options. I selected Use Driver from Disk. That was all I had to do to get the modem working. Perhaps a future release of Windows will support the SupraExpress right out of the box.

The modem comes with an excellent manual, as well as a diagnostic diskette, COMit communications software from Tradewind and a CompuServe start-up kit.

You can also configure this modem for Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups. Though a 14.4Kbps model is available for $89.95, you might as well go for the 28.8Kbps unit, as it won't break the bank, and it'll make a world of difference during your online travels.

--Info File--
SupraExpress 288i PnP
Price: $169.95 (street)
Supra Corp.
800-727-8772, 360-604-1400

by: James Bell

It usually takes a CD--or two--to deliver most graphics packages, so a business graphics program that arrives on a single diskette is bound to make you sit up and take notice. Fully installed, Dragon Draw 1.0 occupies less than 1MB of hard disk space, and it runs under Windows 95 or NT.

Dragon Draw takes advantage of Windows 95's drag-and-drop technology, with seven libraries of predrawn objects that can be dragged onto illustrations. Palettes are included for bar and pie charts, network diagrams, flowcharts, U.S. state maps, organizational charts and schedules. You select a single palette each time you start a new drawing, and then open additional palettes as needed while you work. It's also possible to create your own palettes for commonly used graphics.

Dragon Draw is easy to use. In addition to the bundled palettes, it has a standard set of drawing tools--lines, boxes, ovals, polygons and text. It adds some more advanced options, like Be'zier curves and "sticky" connector lines, which are ideal for organizational and flowcharts.

You can scale, rotate and adjust the fill and line patterns for objects, add drop shadows and 3-D effects, align graphics using a user-defined grid and change the sequence of overlapping graphics. Dragon Draw's OLE support lets you embed objects in your drawings and use in-place editing.

Dragon Draw is probably too simple for more demanding users who are likely to find the feature set too sparse. Unfortunately, novices will find it too complicated, because it lacks wizards or other online prompts to walk them through unfamiliar procedures.

Even the palette concept--the most interesting part of Dragon Draw--falls short. Most palettes only offer a handful of graphics without additional clip art to complement these symbols. The program includes two palettes of charting objects, but they're practically useless because you can't adjust them to match real numeric data. Dragon Draw is no substitute for a charting program.

Although it demonstrates some good ideas, this initial release of Dragon suffers from a lackluster implementation.

-- Info File --
Dragon Draw 1.0
Price: $69 (direct)
Disk Space: 1MB
System Resources: NARAM: 8MB
Cognitronix
800-217-0932, 619-549-8955

by: Joel T. Patz

The Presenter TView from TView (formerly Consumer Technology Northwest) is proof positive that good things do come in small packages. This outstanding Plug-and-Play peripheral allows you to connect your laptop or desktop computer to any television or video projector for first-class, sharp, unflickering presentations. You can also hook it to your VCR to develop taped presentations with a level of quality you never had before.

Clients need no longer hover around your laptop's small screen for important presentations. The Presenter TView comes with all the cables required for linking your computer to most TVs, projectors or VCRs.

Four easily accessible push buttons on the front of the unit allow you to maneuver overscanned material back to the TV screen. A compress button fits your computer image exactly to the viewing field. A freeze button allows you to hold a television image until the button is pressed again.

TView also comes with TV3, a software option with two very useful features: Presenter's enhanced fonts, which make on-screen characters easier to read, and Electronic Marker, an option which allows you to highlight, write and even draw on top of anything on the desktop.

Presenter TView is one small package that does a big job.

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Presenter Tview
Price: $449
Disk Space: 500KB
System Resources: 8%RAM: 4MB
TView
800-356-3983, 503-643-1662

by: Jim Forbes

The new Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 340 printer is both versatile and rugged enough for the road. Combine those virtues with easy setup and decent color printing, and HP has another winner on its hands.

It took me less than 15 minutes to install the 340 and its drivers. It can be used in either portable or standalone settings. The printer draws its juice from the standard AC power pack or an optional battery pack. In its basic configuration, the 340 weighs 4.3 pounds; the sheet feeder adds 1.1 pounds. It measures 5.9 by 12.2 by 2.6 inches, though its paper handler increases its depth by 1.1 inches.

With a maximum monochrome resolution of 600x300 dots per inch and 300x 300dpi for color, the 340 has a 2-page-per-minute throughput rating for monochrome printing and 2 to 4 minutes per page for color, HP says. It took me slightly more than 2 minutes to print a single-page test document, but about 6 minutes to print a color chart.

The 340 performed superbly on battery power, producing up to 50 monochrome pages (mixed text and graphics) per day, and taking as few as 6 hours to recharge overnight. In portable settings, the infrared port pays off, allowing you to leave your parallel cable at home.

-- Info File --
Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 340
Price: $365
Disk Space: 10MB
Hewlett Packard Co.
800-752-0900, 208-323-2551

by: Michelle Tyrrell

Though ViewSonic has garnered plenty of accolades during the past three years, it still isn't the first name that comes to mind when most people think of great computer monitors. It should be.

I thought my 15-inch monitor was perfect, and although the speakers sitting on either side were bulky they sounded great. Then I tested the ViewSonic 17GA PerfectSound Multimedia Monitor. Wow! What a difference! ViewSonic's 17-inch monitor will take your breath away with its rich color and sparkling sound.

The monitor was an attractive addition to my system even before I turned it on. It's hard to believe that a 17-inch screen with integrated dome stereo speakers takes up so little space. The entire unit measures only 16.46 by 17.24 by 17.24 inches and weighs 40.7 pounds. Eight sturdy buttons on the front of the monitor are easy to reach and simple to use. The on-screen menu system includes controls for volume/mute, horizontal and vertical position and size, pincushion distortion, tilt, trapezoid/parallelogram adjustment, color adjustment and video input signal level.

The 17GA displays 1024x768 pixels at an ergonomic 86Hz refresh rate. Resolution goes as high as 1280x1024, and the refresh rate as high as 160Hz. The 0.27mm-dot-pitch Super Contrast screen and Invar shadow mask combine to produce a sharp, crisply focused image, and the anti-glare coating works well. To say the colors are vivid is an understatement--the image the ViewSonic 17GA produces is awe-inspiring.

I didn't expect quite as much from the speakers as I cranked up the volume on an audio CD. No disappointment here. The speakers pumped out clear, rich, distortion-free sound even when turned to the highest volume setting.

Other goodies include a front-and- center built-in microphone, a headphone jack and external microphone port on the left side of the unit, Windows 95 Plug-and-Play compatibility and Opti-Green software that provides you with four stages of power-down. The ViewSonic 17GA is MPR-II and TCO-compliant. All in all, this is one terrific monitor.

-- Info File --
ViewSonic 17GA PerfectSound Multimedia Monitor
Price: $995
ViewSonic Corp.
800-888-8583, 909-869-7976

by: Tom Ponzo

I've got dozens of diskettes scattered about my desk, and by jotting filenames on their tattered labels I can usually keep track of what's on each one. But with each scratch-out and scribble-in, it gets harder to find what I need when I need it. DiskEasy 2.0 eliminates this inefficiency, and does everything except put the diskette in a storage case.

DiskEasy makes organizing diskettes a snap. The program's interface even looks like a floppy; you enter information such as the names of the files stored on the diskette, file formats and the type of diskette. The Read & Store File option puts that information into a searchable database which you can also sort--by category, group, location, size and format. And you can print a listing of a diskette's contents directly on a label.

The program's label saver option lets you pick which labels to print when using a sheet containing multiple labels. If you only print one or two labels, the rest of the sheet is still available for future use.

The program's other major asset is its help system, which essentially replaces the manual. If you run into a problem, a quick check of DiskEasy's help menu is likely to provide the solution.

DiskEasy is compatible with Windows 3.x and Windows 95, and comes with 180 labels.

-- Info File --
DiskEasy 2.0
Price: $34.95
Disk Space: 5MB
System Resources: 9%RAM: 4MB
Verot Publishing Group
800-771-3279, 214-526-2446

by: Jim Forbes

A good peripheral need not be complicated. The Alps Electric GlidePoint Keyboard for Windows 95 is a case in point.

This is a 105-key keyboard with integrated Windows 95 function keys and a self-contained GlidePoint tracking device. I recommend this keyboard highly--particularly if you need to save space on your desktop.

Although I prefer positive-feedback keyboards, most people will be satisfied with the GlidePoint Keyboard's layout and feel. This is a basic 101-key keyboard with 12 function keys arranged horizontally along the top, plus three special Windows 95 keys and an Erase-Eaze backspace key placed horizontally along the bottom to the left and right of the spacebar.

The Windows 95 logo key brings up the Start menu, and the application key functions like a right mouse click. If you take the time to get used to these special keys, they can improve your productivity.

The biggest difference between the GlidePoint Keyboard and others is, of course, the GlidePoint pointing device itself, which replaces your mouse. To use GlidePoint, you run your finger over an approximate 1.5-inch-by-2.0 inch pad to position your cursor. You use the buttons on the bottom of the GlidePoint to double-click or merely tap your finger twice on the pad.

GlidePoint is a welcome innovation. While I don't think this type of pointing device will completely replace the mouse, it's a usable and instinctive alternative. The only downside is that it takes some time to get accustomed to using it. With my big fingers, I found myself inadvertently pressing the extra keys at first. But sometimes an old dog can learn a new trick, and after a couple of weeks, my fingers became accustomed to the new keyboard arrangement.

The GlidePoint Keyboard comes with a 6-foot cable. The included software makes connecting it to your computer a snap.

-- Info File --
Alps GlidePoint Keyboard
Price: $149.95
Alps Electric
(USA)800-825-2577, 408-432-6000

by: James E. Powell

When I looked at the Iomega Zip Drive earlier this year, I was impressed. With a special, $20 diskette that can hold 100MB of files, users quickly took to this $200 file-storage solution. In the meantime, SyQuest has been perfecting its competitor, the EZ135, and it's a clear winner.

Though the unit itself costs $40 more than the Zip, its $20, 3.5-inch square cartridge holds 135MB. The medium is a hard platter, not a floppy. The drive uses the same Winchester technology found in your hard disk, which explains its speed: SyQuest says the EZ135 has a 13.5ms average access time and a 2.4MB per second maximum transfer rate.

I connected the unit with a Future Domain PCMCIA/SCSI interface to an Epson ActionNote 880C color notebook. I copied all the files in the Windows directory (a total of 21.7MB in 530 files) to another location on the Epson's 700MB hard disk, which took 94 seconds. Copying the same files to the EZ135 took only 85 seconds, for a rate of about 1MB in four seconds. Now that's moving!

With EZ135 diskettes providing a megabyte of storage for 15 cents, it's cheaper than using floppies, even after you add in the drive's cost. It's comparable to the price of adding an extra 1.2GB hard disk to your system. Plus, it's portable, simple to set up and whisper quiet. In short, the EZ135 is a gem.

-- Info File --
SyQuest EZ135 Drive
Price: External, $239.95; internal, $199.95
SyQuest Technology
800-245-2278, 510-226-4000

by: Joel T. Patz

You'll probably soon be seeing the standard 101-key keyboards at garage sales. On the new, 104-key keyboards designed for Windows 95, a Windows logo key on the left fills in the space between the Ctrl and Alt keys. On the right, two new keys, a logo key and an application key, are sandwiched between the Alt and Ctrl keys.

Touch typists will appreciate the access the new keys provide to Windows 95 menus. Pressing on either logo key brings up the Start button menu. The application key is similar to a right mouse button click.

I looked at MicroSpeed's Keyboard Deluxe and NMB's Right Touch RT-6600WIN. MicroSpeed's all-white unit has a sculpted quality. Its keypad letters are dark gray, and when the legs are extended the back of the unit sits about 17/8 inches high. NMB's Microsoft-certified entry offers industry-standard off-white and taupe colored keys, a familiar and useful convention. With the legs in use, the back sits a little more than 2 inches high.

MicroSpeed's coiled cord attaches on the left side and stretches to a maximum extension of 60 inches. This could be annoying--and limiting--if your CPU sits under your desk. NMB's longer, 78-inch straight cord attaches at the center of the unit. Both come with an adapter for PS/2 jacks.

The touch response on both keyboards is very good and neither produces more than normal noise.

-- Info File --
MicroSpeed Keyboard Deluxe KB-104
Price: $69.95
MicroSpeed
800-232-7888, 510-490-1403

NMB Right Touch RT-6600WIN
Price: $49.99 (street)
NMB Technologies
800-662-8321, 818-341-3355

by: John Perry

I'd always assumed a good, high-speed network printer would have to be expensive. Boy, was I wrong!

The Okidata OL1200, an HP LaserJet 4-compatible printer, is perfect for networks. It has an optional network card port for either token ring or Ethernet networks, a high-speed bidirectional parallel port, RS232C and RS422 serial ports, and can support up to 34MB of RAM. The high RAM capacity--like many features of the OL1200--packs an extra punch with data compression via Enhanced Memory Management, which exploits however much memory you have installed to the fullest.

The OL1200 is Energy Star compliant, but even in PowerSave Mode it consumes 19 watts. The Mips R3000 32MHz processor operates on a 32-bit bus, with a 15-second warm-up time or 90 seconds to print from a cold start. The OL1200 can push out 12 pages per minute and is rated to produce a maximum of 24,000 pages a month. But the printer has trouble emptying both the 500-page sheet feeder drawer and the 100-page front-load sheet feeder--the last few pages tend to wrinkle.

The OL1200 comes standard with 45 resident scalable fonts. Should you need more, an easily accessible font card slot can keep 'em coming. The 600-dot-per-inch resolution is enhanced with Oki Smoothing Technology. An extensive menu of options is available via the Status Monitor applet. Under Windows 95, though, I found serious conflicts with the Status Monitor. It works fine on Windows 3.x, but no one at Okidata could tell me when it would be ready for Win95. Otherwise, the driver works fine.

The manual was clear and concise, and, best of all, it devoted five pages to the elaborate printer menu options. Priced comparably to much less capable printers of only a few years ago, the OL1200 is an inexpensive printer that can fulfill your network printing needs.

-- Info File --
Okidata OL1200
Price: $1,499
Okidata
800-OKIDATA,609-235-2600 x8273

by: Jim Forbes

The touchpad pointing device has finally come into its own, and may prove to be a better mouse-killer than your cat. Although the touchpad is now common on notebooks (the device was popularized by Apple about 18 months ago for its portable Macintoshes), I've seen only two touchpads for desktop computers. The Touché Touch Pad is one of these--and it attaches to your computer exactly as a mouse does.

The Touch Pad takes up less than 21 square inches of desk space. Its 5-foot connector cable is more than adequate for most computer installations. I tested the Touch Pad under both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95; installation was routine under both operating systems.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Touch Pad's features. It has a maximum resolution of 500 dots per inch and includes software that allows you to control its sensitivity, create and use shortcuts, and use "gestures" to control the cursor.

The Touch Pad is equipped with two switches located above the pad that function like conventional mouse buttons. The ability to point, select and drag using one finger is an important enough innovation to give the device an edge on all but the best mice.

Although you may need a little time to become accustomed to the Touch Pad, the improvement it offers makes the effort worthwhile. While getting used to it, though, you can expect to make a fair number of mistakes.

The Touch Pad I tested did not have a Windows 95 driver, but Touché will include the driver on units shipped later this fall. When that happens, you can kiss your mouse goodbye.

-- Info File --
Touché Touch Pad
Price: $59.95
Touché Technologies/International Technology Associates
800-223-6433, 415-331-6622

by: Jim Forbes

Canon's new BubbleJet BJC-4100 color ink jet printer makes a strong case for color printing in the home or small office. It offers improved resolution, greater flexibility--and a sense of fun.

The 4100 can handle mixed media such as envelopes, acetate sheets and label stock. It uses separate cartridges for its color inks and ships with the Color Advisor color choosing system. Sporting better-than-average color resolution, the 4100 has the same resolution for monochrome printing as for color--720x360 dots per inch. It's fast, too: Printing a test page of color graphics took just over 1 minute; a 10-page Word document took under 3 minutes.

The paper handler accommodates up to 100 sheets of 8.5- by 11-inch paper, or a small stack of envelopes. In my testing, it didn't jam once, even when fed acetate sheets, label stock and other media.

Setup is a snap. I tested it under Windows 3.1 and had no difficulty loading the drivers. Windows 95 drivers were not available for this printer when I reviewed it, although Canon says they are now under development. The documentation is very good, and I got a speedy response when I called Canon's tech support.

One nice bonus is the inclusion of the Canon Creative CD-ROM. It includes a greeting card design app among other programs. The software bundle included with this printer makes the 4100 an especially attractive purchase this holiday season.

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Canon Color BubbleJet BJC-4100
Price: $399
Canon Computer Systems
800-423-2366, 714-438-3000