Hasta La Gadget!

For all of you CS4 power users out there–I just built the Ultimate CS4 PC over at PCMag.com.

You ever try to open 10 high-res pictures in Photoshop at once and have your PC grinds to halt?  For about 4 grand, I can make sure that never happens to you again.  The secret is in the RAM.  With 32-bit Windows, your machine can’t use more than 4GB of RAM, no matter how many sticks you’ve got in there.  If you bulk up your OS to 64-bit Windows, though, you can pretty much use all the RAM you can cram into your motherboard. 

I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve that you can use to build your own crack CS4 system or just to upgrade your PC.  I’ll also suggest some pretty cool peripherals, like the Wacom Intuous 4 graphics tablet, that let you do away with the keyboard altogether when using Photoshop.

This isn’t a new concept, but Maingear just launched the mX-L, its latest 13-inch laptop, which lets you customize the lid with any photo or image. With the M.A.R.C laser-etching technique, customers can simply upload the image or logo of their choice, and Maingear laser-beams it permanently on the lid.

This is a laptop first, of course, so it comes with a razor-thin 13-inch LED widescreen, the option of a Blu-Ray drive, and an Intel solid-state drive. You have your choice of the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, integrated graphics, and up to 8GB of DDR2 memory. The base price starts at $1,099, but with the above parts, we know it’ll climb higher than that.

Microsoft entered the market for notebook coolers Tuesday morning, expanding the software company’s reach further into PC peripherals.

The Notebook Cooling Base will be available in July for an estimated retail price of $29.95, Microsoft said.

The addition of a cooling base is somewhat disconcerting, given that Microsoft designs operating systems that consume CPU and memory cycles, producing heat, which is then transferred to a user’s lap. Ideally, Microsoft would design a slim operating system that could be run at a slower speed or in a lower-power mode, eliminating the need for such coolers entirely. But we digress.

In any event, the Cooling Base contains a fan and is slanted ergonomically, to make typing easier. Just 1.16 inches thick, it also contains a cable management clip and is USB powered. It will be available in white and black.

If you consider that design somewhat dull, take heart: Microsoft also said itsArc Mouse will be available this month in four limited-edition colors: frost white, eggplant purple, deep olive green and marine blue for $49.95 each. The Wireless Mobile Mouse 3000 will also ship in a limited-edition color palette, including blue sapphire, red garnet, pink topaz, green emerald and purple amethyst for $29.95 apiece.

Imagine a smart phone that, when you pull it out of your pocket, converts to a netbook. According to a report in Information Week, this futuristic technology is closer than you think.

When people talk about shape-shifting technology, most imagine amorphous, gel-like products that smoothly glide from razors to full-sized cars. As Information Week’s story and accompanying video prove, however, the reality is both more mundane and, potentially, more exciting.

MSI is no stranger to mobile gaming laptops, and because it has been aggressive with product launches lately, ATI has entrusted it with its fastest mobile gaming card yet– the ATI Radeon HD4850, which claims to deliver desktop graphics performance on a single card. This implies, though, that the HD4850 won’t be as fast as its CrossFire solutions (dual cards), which can be found in systems like the Alienware M17.

Other goodies include a 1080p, 17 inch widescreen, a Blu-Ray player, and a 9-cell battery — parts that should easily rival some ofits fierce gaming competitiors. The GT725 runs a 2.53GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 processor, and weighs a shade over 7 pounds. No word on pricing yet, but if it’s anything like MSI’s other laptops, the GT725 should be priced in line with our current economy. Update: the GT725 is available at NewEgg.com for $1,600