Mac|Life Targus RSS Feed

Targus Chill Mat for Mac

Jon Phillips — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:49:48 -0500

Burning Naughty Bits Syndrome is, well, a rather personal thing. You’re kicking back on your chaise lounge, bedecked in short pants with a MacBook on your lap, and within 10 to 15 minutes your ’Book’s legendary battery o’ hellfire is threatening to poach your eggs.

Yes, BNBS is something we suffer alone—often in shame and silence—so as “we” proceed to review the Chill Mat For Mac, please understand that our use of the first-person plural is somewhat of a sham. All Mac|Life reviews are written in first-person plural, but only one person in the office actually did long-term testing of the Chill Mat, and that one person is using it right now to write this review—and protect himself from the heartbreak of BNBS.

The Chill Mat's 17-inch diagonal surface accommodates MacBooks of any size.

Chill Mat operation is simple: Place MacBook on Chill Mat, connect Chill Mat to MacBook via a bundled USB cable, turn on both devices, and proceed about your business. Two 3-inch fans blow a cool breeze directly at your MacBook’s searing battery pack, neutralizing its BNBS potential. And thanks to a breathable construction—soft, stretchy mesh on the bottom, grippy Swiss cheese–style plastic on the top—the Chill Mat has no trouble dissipating heat. The Chill Mat just plain works, and we also appreciate the tilt it provides via its angled surface.

While the fans are remarkably quiet, they aren’t truly silent, so they could maybe, possibly, spark an OCD response in the most sensitive users. And, of course, the Chill Mat does draw power from your MacBook—we found it reduced battery run time by 18 minutes in our DVD video rundown test (2 hours, 39 minutes with the Chill Mat; 2 hours, 57 minutes without). But, seriously, what would you rather have, silent operation and extra battery life or a bad case of heat rash? We’ll take the Chill Mat, and kiss BNBS goodbye.

Targus Bluetooth Laser Mouse For Mac

Ray Aguilera — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:20:26 -0600

It’s got frikkin’ laser beams!

We’re big fans of wireless. Any time we can have one less cord snaking across our desk, we’re very happy. So when Targus sent over their new Bluetooth Laser Mouse For Mac, we were excited to give it a spin. And thanks to the Bluetooth built-in to every late-model Mac, the mouse was easy to set up and simple to use between several machines—no Bluetooth dongle required.

A quick trip to the Bluetooth Setup Assistant (System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Bluetooth > Setup New Device) got us up and running. Once the mouse was recognized, adjusting Tracking and Scrolling speeds in the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences allowed us to set the mouse’s responsiveness to levels we were comfortable with. As we usually keep our mouse tracking speeds cranked all the way up on our old USB mouse, we were surprised to find that the Laser Mouse had us turning the tracking speed all the way down before we could control the mouse with the precision we are used to—and even then, controlling the pointer never felt as sharp as our old mouse. Keep that in mind if you are someone who prefers a slower mouse—as in more movement required to traverse screen. The 1200-dpi Targus Laser Mouse is a speedy little bugger, and may not work well for people who aren’t power-mousers.

The mouse also features two programmable buttons on its left side. The Targus mouse driver installs as a System Preference, giving you the ability to launch apps, control your Mac’s volume, perform key commands, or trigger an AppleScript to do practically anything your Mac can do. In practice though, the two side buttons don’t feel like they are in the right spots for our thumb, and consequently we never got into the habit of using them. The Laser Mouse also features a cool, touch-sensitive scroll button. It came in handy for everything from Web surfing to editing large text documents. You can scroll vertically and horizontally. Unfortunately, even after several weeks of use, we were still inadvertently scrolling sideways a bit as we swiped the sensor, frequently causing content we were reading on our screen to scroll off the left side of the page. We wish Targus would offer an option to lock the Laser Mouse’s scrolling into vertical-only. And strangely, the scroll sensor also clicks like a third mouse button, although Targus’s driver doesn’t allow any configuration to make that click actually do anything.

Targus For Mac File Share Cable

Florence Ion — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:40:00 -0600

PC-to-Mac file transfers made easy.

After years of being forced into PC tech support over the phone, you’ve finally persuaded your parents to buy a Mac. Or maybe your PowerBook finally bit the dust, and it’s time for an upgrade. Either way, now you’re stuck with the onerous task of getting documents, movies, music, and an entire archive of LOLCat photos over from that old, worn-out machine to a new one. The Targus File Share Cable can help facilitate the move.

The File Share Cable comes equipped with software built into the cable itself, so there is no need for often troublesome CD-ROM software installation—or any installation at all. Simply plug the cable into each computer’s USB port and click the EasyCopy icon that appears on your computer’s Desktop. The software will then launch windows that will allow you to drag and drop between systems. Directories from both Windows and Mac computers are entirely accessible.

Moving files is incredibly speedy, even if you’ve only got a USB 1.0 port on one end. We transferred all 19 episodes of the ’90s teen drama My So Called Life in .AVI format—about 7GB—from a PC to a 2.4GHz MacBook Pro in about 7 minutes, and the video files remained perfectly intact. Lighter files, like documents and photos, were quick and easy as well. We didn’t experience any data loss or connection interruptions during file transfers with the File Share Cable, so you can confidently select a large group of files to transfer and walk away to tend to other things. As you’d expect, the cord also works beautifully with Mac-to-Mac transfers.

Targus SonicPak

Susie Ochs — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:02:00 -0500

Bag Your 'Book

If the census happened today, how many laptops reside in your household? As many as one for every member of your family? And for every ‘Book, a bag of its own…

Even if you’re no longer a teenager in the chronological sense, the SonicPak’s built-in speaker can bring back that feeling. Pop your iPod or other player into the hidden see-through pocket, connect the cable to your player’s headphone jack, install three AA batteries, flip the speaker’s on switch, and you’ll be ready to jump on your skateboard and head out to annoy the neighbors. Kidding aside, we were impressed with the strong sound that comes from the nearly flat speaker (Targus credits the “NXT exciters”), and the well-padded back and shoulder straps make for a comfy ride.

Inside there’s a padded pocket for 15.4-inch and smaller laptops, plus a separate compartment with five more interior pockets. Outside you get just one zippered pocket, side pockets for bottled drinks, and a super-tough rubber handle, along with the speaker assembly, which can be removed completely. The bag measures 18 by 14 by 7.5 inches (roomy enough for a computer, books or files, lunch, and more) but weighs just 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Our favorite feature besides the speaker was the strong water-resistant material on the bottom.

Defcon 1 Ultra Notebook Computer Security System

Jason Whong — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:51:04 -0500

If it chirps, it’s armed.

The main portion of Targus’s Defcon 1 Ultra Notebook Computer Security System is a 3-foot covered steel cable that retracts into a plastic alarm housing, and uses a four-digit combination to lock the cable. When engaged, the alarm is sensitive to motion; it also sounds if the cable is cut.

There is a security lock adapter located on the other end that mates with a Kensington lock slot, and connecting it to your laptop is as easy as holding the adapter against the slot and pushing in on the end to attach it. The cable threads through the adapter, then back into the alarm housing, at which point an audible beep and flashing status light let you know whether the batteries still have juice. Finally, you just shuffle the combo lock’s numbers to secure your hardware.

Firm pressure on a button on the alarm housing activates the motion alarm at its low-sensitivity setting. Once active, the alarm chirps whenever it detects motion; even as you move the alarm after pressing the button. After a few seconds of chirping, if it still detects motion, it sounds the siren for about 45 seconds, or until the lock is unlocked.

We found the chirping noise a bit irritating, especially while trying to set the numeric wheels to unlock the cable. We also found it embarrassing when we triggered the alarm while trying to unlock the cable; we had more luck trying to enter the code as quickly as possible rather than trying not to move the housing.

The retractable cable is the thinnest of those reviewed for this feature; while this could make cutting the cable a tad easier, it also makes coiling the cable a cinch.