After the Samsung N510 that scored a perfect 5 at the beginning of last month, it’s over to the Compaq Mini 311c. The machines are similarly configured but will the Mini 311c do as well?

The second netbook with an ION chipset, the Compaq Mini 311c is, on paper at least, a bomb, a killer for the Samsung N510, with extremely competitive pricing.

Put yourself out of your misery and find out if this is borne out in practice:

Read the test for the HP Compaq Mini 311c

Remember our rating system does not take into account the pricing of a machine. There is however a filter in the product survey that will allow you to select the best available within your budget and pricing is taken into account in our buyer’s guides.

Product survey: Netbooks
Product survey: Laptops

Now that mouse manufacturers seem to have stopped competing on the number of times per second their products can report their position to the computer, perhaps the next phase will be to see who can add the most buttons?  If that's the case, Razer clearly wants to be a serious competitor: the Rage has 17 buttons in all, of which 12 are on the side under the thumb.  Isn't it all a bit too much?

Razer Naga Find the best price

No you're not dreaming, and it isn't April Fool's Day either: this mouse is real.  But what's the point?  To people who are looking for an unusual calculator?  Unfortunately not, as it's missing a button marked 0 …

The Naga is actually a mouse for online gamers, and those who play World of Warcraft, Warhammer and Age of Reckoning in particular.  You can download a series of add-ons from Razer's servers which will update the mouse with buttons that should be optimised for your favourite game.  After that, good luck finding them!  At least Razer has taken pity on those of us who don't do so much gaming online, and have moved the back and forward buttons for web browsing to next to the main left-click button, just under your index finger.

> Product Survey: Mice

> Christmas Gift Guide: Mice of the Year 2009

This week's battle of digital cameras features two compacts with powerful zooms.  In the red corner, we have the Kodak Z950, with its 10x zoom, HD video and manual modes.  In the blue corner, the Ricoh CX2 and its 10.7x, high-speed burst mode and excellent screen.  Two very different cameras, then, despite everything they have in common.

The Kodak Z950 has a 10x zoom with no wide-angle (35-350 mm) and a 12 Megapixel CCD sensor.  It shoots video in 720p HD and has an ultra-fast autofocus.  The only problem is a screen with a resolution of just 230 000 pixels.  Its retro styling and large, comfortable handling might win some people over, though.

For its part, the Ricoh CX2 does have a 28-300 mm wide-angle, but makes do with only 9 Megapixels.  A high-speed sensor is great for burst mode, and it also produces effective zoom performance.  A very nice VGA screen at the back looks great but the rest of the design is pretty uninspiring.

> Test: Kodak EasyShare Z950

> Test: Ricoh CX2

> Product Survey: Compact Digital Cameras 2009

We've just tidied up our ongoing survey of SLR and micro four-thirds cameras.  We haven't got rid of any tests, as some older models are still on sale, but we wanted to account for the recent improvements in performance at high ISO sensitivities.  That's why we've adjusted the final score of a lot of the kit we've tested.

At the end of 2008, the Nikon D90 caused something of a stir in the usually calm world of digital SLRs.  It wasn't the apperance of a video mode (which wasn't actually that useful) but the quality of the photos it produced.  By using the same sensor as the semi-professional D300, it allowed a wider group of consumers to enjoy sharp photos at up to 3200 ISO, while most of its competitors struggled to get above 1600 ISO.  At the time, it was well the five star rating we gave it.

Since then, this sensor has continued to appear to in other models, starting in the Nikon D5000, and then the Pentax K-x.  After years of using relatively unsophisticated CCD sensors, Sony--which, ironically enough, manufactured Nikon's CMOS sensors--finally made the switch on its own cameras with the Alpha 500 and 550.

Canon has also got involved, with the EOS 500D representing a large improvement on the previous generation, while the first results we've seen from the EOS 7D are very encouraging indeed.  The quality of this new generation of CMOS sensors is clearly becoming a new standard, even on entry-level options.


Score Updates

As a result, we have adjusted the final scores of all the cameras we've tested to better differentiate the performance of different models.  As a rule, all of the old guard, where image quality was very limited above 800 ISO, have lost a star: the Pentax K20D goes down to four stars; the Canon EOS 1000D, EOS 450D and Pentax K-m all go down to three stars.

The 'sub-scores' for image quality, which we introduced in the summer have also been revised in those tests that have them, with the five-star standard now reserved for the EOS 500D and K-x.

The only exceptions to this rule are the micro four-thirds Panasonic GH1 and GF1.  Their ability to handle electronic noise puts them on a level with 2008's SLRs, and with their sensors 50% more dense in photosites, it's no surprise.  However, they compensate for that with some other advantages.  The GH1 is a real hybrid that can stand in for a camcorder, filming with a fluid autofocus and very reasonable sound.  With its flat lens, the GF1 isn't much bigger than an expert compact, but has all the optical benefits of a larger sensor and interchangeable lenses.  That means both of them hold onto their five-star rating, despite only gaining four stars for image quality,helped along by their excellent kit lenses.

Finally, the G1, which doesn't have much of an advantage over an SLR, falls back to three stars with the rest of them.

> Product Survey: Digital SLRs and Cameras with Interchangeable Lenses