Whilst netbooks are all the rage, Sony have released a monster 18.4 inch laptop, the VAIO AW. Amongst other things, the VAIO AW sports a Blu-Ray drive and GeForce 9600M GT graphics card. Currently these puppies are only available in Japan for a starting price equivalent to US$2,792 but expect them to land on other shores soon. Here are a few more details on them

* 1920 x 1080 res 18.4 inch 16:9 display
* 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor
* GeForce 9600M GT graphics card
* Two 250GB hard drives
* Minimum of 2GB of RAM
* 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity
* Optional dual 64GB SSD

It certainly sports all the bells and whistles expected from a decent laptop and since this area of the market seems to be a bit neglected at the moment, Sony may have a winner on their hands with the VAIO AW.

Featured Tags laptop, Sony, sony-vaio-aw


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Less than a month ago we were concerned that this wasn’t going to be the year of cheap SSDs but yet again OCZ are trying to allay our fears. Their 32 GB Core SATA II SSD is currently available for US$99 after a US$60 rebate and is the first SSD available for under the US$100 mark. Here’s a few bits and pieces on this ground breaking unit

* 32 GB capacity
* 83 MB/sec write speed
* 120 MB/sec write speed

There seems to be a few people out there with some reservations about the actual performance of the OCZ unit indicating that larger capacity spinning drives may actually perform better in terms of I/O speed and power consumption. But there’s nothing conclusive so it may be worth giving one of these puppies a spin, but of course they don’t actually ;-)

Featured Tags OCZ, SSD


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Epson have this week announced a couple of new projectors aimed squarely at the home entertainment market. The two new units are the 7100 and 7500 UB in the PowerLite Pro Cinema range. Both models display at a full 1080p HD res of 1920 x 1080 and will be out in time for Christmas. According to the Epson press release

Epson’s D7 high definition 3LCD technology is at the core of each projector’s optical imaging engine, delivering realistic and vibrant colors without the possibility of color break-up, unlike projectors that use a spinning color wheel with a white segment.

This technology results in some pretty impressive contrast figures with the 7100 having a ratio of 18,000:1 whilst its bigger sibling rocks in at an astounding 75,000:1. Here are some details that the two units have in common

* Dynamic Iris System, Cinema Filter, OptiCinema™ Multi-Lens Optics System, Epson Twin Optics Reflection Lamp
* Enhanced airflow system reducing unit noise down to 22 db
* Inputs include component video, dual HDMI 1.3a, S-video, composite video, and VGA-type RGB

Here’s the winner stat though, the 7500 UB will be under US$5,000 whilst the 7100 will be under US$4,000. Not exactly for the fiscally faint-hearted but the price tags are a dramatic drop from the staggering price tags we were seeing on projectors no more than ten months ago. May be if we’re all good children then Santa may bring us one for Christmas.

Source: Epson

Featured Tags epson, epson-7100, epson-7500-ub, epson-powerlite-pro-cinema, projector


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Launched today in Japan, is the latest top end Blu-Ray player offering from Sony, the BDP-5000ES. There’s no holds barred on this puppy, sporting such features as a precision drive HD transport mechanism, low-leakage R-Core transformer and an ultra-rigid frame. Here’s the full low down on this HD player

* BD-Live capable
* Ethernet jack, external flash memory port
* Quick Start mode to give you a six second startup
* 14-bit HD video processor
* HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technologies
* Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology to ensure your DVD collection isn’t redundant
* RS-232C / IR input
* BRAVIA Sync
* User-friendliness with the PlayStation 3’s XrossMediaBar menu system
* massive 22lb ultra-rigid frame and beam chassis to diminish physical vibration
* 7.1 analog outputs

With all these features the BDP-5000ES surely deserves the Sony ‘ES’ label representing its ‘Elevated Standard’ models. But how about a US$2000 price tag? I get the feeling though if you’re into HD playback enough to drool over the BDP-5000ES’s features the trifling little issue of a price tag ain’t gonna stop you rushing out to grab one of these suckers!

Featured Tags blu-ray-player, Sony, sony-bdp-5000es


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AT&T are now offering the Samsung SGH-a237 mobile phone in their current range. The SGH-a237 is an entry-level phone with minimal bells and whistles as you can see from the following specs

* Quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
* GPRS/EDGE data
* 94 x 48.3 x 15.2mm
* 82.2g
* 128 x 160 res 65k color TFT display
* SMS/MMS/IM messaging
* Bluetooth connectivity
* 10 day standby time
* 5 hours talk time

Nothing to write home about, eh? Well, the price tag certainly merits a mention, coming in at US$20 with a two year shackle after a US$30 mail-in rebate. So if you’re after a minimalist phone, this offering from AT&T may just be the ticket.

Source: MobileBurn

Featured Tags at&t, cellphone, samsung, samsung-sgh-a237


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With netbooks being all the rage at the moment, here’s another option from MSI, the U90, an 8.9 inch version of the Wind. Despite the dodgy moniker, the U90 has a good few bells and whistles to match its price tag. Unfortunately it’s only available in Europe right now, but I’m sure it will be heading to other shores shortly. Here’s a brief outline of the U90′s specs and features

* Atom N270 processor
* Built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam
* Stereo speakers and microphone
* 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth connectivity
* 512MB or 1GB of DDR2 RAM
* 8.9 inch 1024 x 600 res display
* 80GB SATA HDD
* Ethernet port, three USB 2.0 sockets, VGA out
* 3-cell battery
* 260 x 180 x 31.5 mm
* 1.0 kg

For European readers, the Wind U90 will sport a 339 Euro price tag which converts to US$500. A neat price tag if MSI follow the direct conversion, which could make the Wind U90 a winner in the netbook arena.

Source: MSI

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