COOLERMASTER WAS AWASH in updated items, but they also had a few new categories to branch out into as well. Among the PSUs and cases that you know so well were some gems like a new gaming mouse.
The newest member of the Coolermaster family is the Sentinel Advanced Gaming Mouse, and it does live up to the advanced part of the name. It has all the now requisite features, adjustable sensitivity on each axis independently, multiple profiles, memory in the mouse to store it all, adjustable weights, and multi-color LEDs. To customize it all, the Sentinel also has an elaborate software control panel to set everything you need and then some.
A mouse with a display
Things start straying from the ordinary when you are told that it is fully scriptable. By this, we mean not only macros and keyclicks, but breakpoints and loops. You can also download profiles and scripts if you don’t want to play captain junior programmer. It gets weirder when you play with the LED profiles, they have heartbeats and a ‘breathing’ feature where the top LED ‘inhales’, and the bottom of the buttons with additional LEDs ‘exhale’. It is cute, and also scriptable, so this is likely just the beginning.
That brings us to the key feature of the mouse, the laser. In this case, there are not only one, but two lasers, and it works via the Doppler effect. Theoretically, lasers and pickups that can understand interactions between lightsources and the surface like this will have a very high accuracy. How high? The control panel listed 5000DPI which should be high enough for most. When you change the sensitivity, it will show you the result via an OLED readout on the top of the mouse.
For now, the Sentinel is right handed only, and it is a tad on the large side for female hands, at least according to the focus group of one we polled at the Coolermaster booth. For lefties, there isn’t any relief coming soon, but for women, there is a smaller version coming if sales of the original do well.
Nading is bad
To go with the Sentinel, Coolermaster put out a line of mouse pads under the Sniper line. Normally a mouse pad would not warrant much attention, but in this case, the usual designs are complimented by the ones above. The best sage advice, do not nade your mates. Take it to heart.
Choix is the name of the Coolermaster accessory line, things like laptop stands, lint-free screen wipes, and other little widgets. The best new item in the line is a two piece plastic 2.5″ USB HDD case. It snaps apart without screws or latches, and the drive just drops in. You can put one in or take it out in far less than a minute even if you are bad at PC assembly and ODing on caffeine. It is really slick.
PSUs were not overlooked this year either, with two interesting ones. First is a 900W 80+ Gold certified PSU called the UCP. Not much more to say, hight capacity, high efficiency, and shipping soon. The other one was a little odder, the PowerLan 700W has a network port on it. The idea is the PSU itself has a network over power line adapter built in, you just run a cable from the NIC to the PSU, and plug it in. Your house power wiring is now a network. Before you run out and copy the idea, Coolermaster has patented it.
Thin and adaptable
The last thing is called the SNA (Small Notebook Adapter) 95, currently available in 65W and soon in a 95W capacity. Unless you have something really odd, the SNA has an adapter to power your notebook. The main reason to recommend the SNA is it’s size, very slim and tidy, just what you want when traveling.
These highlights are only the beginning, Coolermaster had numerous cases on display as well as accessories and related devices. If you haven’t been there for a bit, check out their web site, http://www.coolermaster.com/index.html there is enough new to keep you busy for a while.S|A
Charlie Demerjian
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