Laplink 11

How to hook up your equipment, but seriously overpriced.

Price: £148.67

Manufacturer: Laplink

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Verdict

Criticising Laplink's core functionality is nigh-on impossible. It has evolved over many years, and matured long ago. This version adds some handy extra features but, even with two cables included, the price is far too high.

Scott Colvey, What PC? 09 May 2002

From the earliest days of computing, people have had a need to transfer data from one machine to another, and Laplink has served as the go-between. This patriarch of the software world has just reached its eleventh incarnation: what new features have the developers conjured up?

Remarkably, the company boasts of eight key improvements over the previous edition ; though how crucial some of these are is debatable. The 'streamlined user interface', for example, certainly looks good but does nothing to enhance functionality. Of more interest to serious Laplinkers will be support for Windows XP.

A genuinely new feature is Push Install, which prompts the program to install itself onto a second computer attached via the supplied serial cable.

However, it's in the list of existing features where Laplink really shines brightly. Put simply, if you need to get two computers talking any which way, there is no better-equipped program available. Laplink allows you to hook up using direct cable connections, dial-up networking or even from any web browser on any computer.

Even so, there are a couple of things we take issue with. First is Laplink's attitude to USB. You get serial and parallel cables, but if you want a USB cord you have to fork out an extra £19.95. USB is now commonplace and offers faster data-transfer speeds than either of the included connection options. It's either a display of ignorance of market trends, or worse, exploitation of customers.

Secondly - cost. Laplink is a fine piece of software and many PC owners could benefit from it, but the high price marks it out squarely as a niche product.

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