The Asus UL30A and Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 are modern 13.3" CULV laptops similar in size and horsepower, but with distinctly disparate personalities. The UL30A has broad consumer appeal, while the Edge 13 upholds its workhorse legacy without the usual drab sobriety of the ThinkPad line.

Ad blocking isn't wrong, Ken Fisher writes, but it can deal a severe financial blow to Web sites, especially tech sites where a large percentage of readers have blockers installed. This applies to SPCR as well as Ars Technica, which has been experimenting with technology to block content for readers with ad blockers, a new twist in this online struggle. And, just a day later, a counterpoint from Techdirt's Mike Masnick who argues, Don't Blame Your Community: Ad Blocking Is Not Killing Any Sites. || These articles have provoked lively debate and a wide range of responses in the SPCR forum discussion.

The Inwin Maelstrom is a modestly priced gaming case with sturdy construction, plenty of ventilation and a large 22cm fan on the side panel blowing directly over the graphics card area. You may have to look beyond its appearance, though, to see its high performance and value.

The Setsugen is a unique GPU cooler that uses only a single extra slot and has a slim 120mm fan next to the GPU core blowing outward through the heatsink body below. We put the Setsugen through an arduous torture test. Can this odd single-fan design tame one of the hottest cards on the market, the Radeon HD 4890?

Our first Radeon HD 5750 sample comes courtesy of Asus in the form of the EAH5750 Formula, a small, midrange graphics card with a rather interesting race-car style heatsink. As the HD 5000 series' energy efficiency is well-known, the unique cooler has the potential to be fairly quiet.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre A70Z is a black corporate machine powered by a Core 2 Duo E7600 processor and equipped with a 19" matte screen. The Asus EeeTop PC ET2203 is a sleeker home system with a 21.6" glossy screen, a mobile Core 2 Duo T6600 CPU and discrete graphics from ATI. Both mostly succeed.

The Zalman CNPS10X Flex is a humbler, cheaper version of the CNPS10X Extreme. It lacks the nickel-plating, extravagant fan controller, and stock fan of the Extreme, but has an improved mounting system and steps have been taken to accommodate an extra fan.

QWERTY still rules, even with handheld devices, and as long as there's a computer lurking, a keyboard seems unavoidable. Couch potatoes (and HTPC users) rejoice: Here are two wireless keyboards with integrated mice, designed for relaxed in-lap use.

The ATI Radeon HD 5450 and HD 5570 are the lowest models in ATI's HD 5000 family. The 5450 may make a perfect HTPC card, while the 5570 is one step up, hoping to deliver reasonable 3D performance at a reasonable price.

Logic Supply offers a Broadcom BCM970012 PCIe mini card that enables any Intel Atom system to play 1080p HD video. We give the card a compare/contrast before/after on a Intel D945GSEJT Atom board, and against two ready-made ION systems from Lenovo and Asus.

Two-fan coolers have popped up here and there, but the NH-D14 is exceptional in being the flagship model of a manufacturer that specializes only in high performance CPU heatsinks. We sink our teeth deeply into this big feast from Noctua.

Based on the mainstream Intel H55 chipset, the Asus P7H55D-M EVO has premium features like eSATA, FireWire, and USB 3.0 powered by NEC controller. It also has a tweak-friendly BIOS, making it a more versatile platform for Clarkdale than Intel's DH55TC.

A link at the web site Working News Blog 117 (mirrored on several other Japanese sites) has brought a huge wave of visitors from Japan over the past day. The link to SPCR's power section is part of a discussion about a recently released Enermax 80 PLUS Gold power supply. We recently took delivery of one of these: an Enermax Modu 87+ 500W sample, which will be tested soon; a review this PSU should be posted in a few days. Discuss this news in the SPCR forums.

In a relevant "classic" match, MadShrimps compares two similarly equipped systems based around the midrange Intel Core i3-661 and AMD's fastest but still cheaper quadcore, Phenom II X4-965. Results are intriguing. Discuss this news in the SPCR forums.

The SilverStone Fortress FT02 is an amalgamation of the Raven RV02's design and the Fortress FT01's construction and appearance. It features a rotated motherboard tray, three 18cm and one 12cm fans, damped side panels, and easy hard drive mounting with optional SATA backplanes.