Whilst not the biggest LCD HDTV in the world, Hannspree are claiming their latest model, the HT09, is the first 28 inch LCD unit to sport full 1080p HD. I’m not sure that’s something you’d really be shouting from the rooftops, but if full HD is a necessity for you and you’re also stuck for space then may the Hannspree HT09 is just the ticket. If so here’s some specs and features of the HT09.
* 27.5 inch screen
* 16:10 aspect ratio
* 1920 x 1200 res
* 3,000:1 contrast ratio
* 160 degree viewing angle
* Inputs HDMI x2, Component x1, S-Video x2, Composite x2, VGA x1
* Pair of 5W speakers
* 26.5″(W) x 20.3″(H) x 7.5″(D)
So apart from the novelty factor of a full Hi-Def 28 inch unit, the Hannspree HT09 really doesn’t blow your socks off. But may be it does, as it also sports a US$500 price tag. So for the more fiscally challenged, the HT09 could prove to be a little winner.
Every PC manufacturer seems to be announcing a new desktop unit with the Core i7 processor from Intel at the moment. And not to be left out, Acer have just announced the Aspire M7720 which is powered by the said Intel Core i7. It will initially only be available in Acer’s homeland of Taiwan, but we would expect it to be appearing overseas pretty soon. Other features on the M7720 include
* Intel quad-core 2.66GHz Core i7 920 processor
* 3 GB DDR3 memory, expandable up to 12GB
* 750 GB HDD
* ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 1GB DDR3 memory
Pretty impressive specs and with a sexy price tag of around US$1200 in Taiwan, the Aspire M7720 won’t be making a too serious dent in your wallet either. So come on Acer, don’t keep this little sucker to yourselves!
Haven’t taken the Blu-Ray plunge yet? Players still costing too much? Well Wal-Mart may well have come up with a deal to tempt you to take that plunge into the pool of HD. On Black Friday they will be offering the Magnavox NB500MG9 Blu-ray player for a mere US$128. Wow! The unit apparently did very well in a Consumer Reports review, where it received a score of 87 according to DVICE. When you compare this to the Sony BDP-350 which was rated at 84 you gotta think that the Magnavox unit must have something going for it as well as the price tag! Here are its bells and whistles
* 1080 HD output
* Upscaling to 1080i for your DVDs
* Handles BD, BD-RE (single/dual), BD-R (single/dual), DVD, and DVD-R/RW format discs
* Also cranks out tunes from CD, CD-R, and CD-RW format discs
* Composite and Component video output
* HDMI audio output for Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound
* Digital audio output via coaxial
Not bad for US$128, and even at the current price of US$200 it’s still pretty impressive. However, the only possible downside is that the player does not sport BD-Live as it’s a Profile 1.1 unit. Here’s a great article on CNET explaining the pluses and minuses of the profiles. But if you can live without the bells and whistles of the later profiles than the Magnavox could just be the Black Friday bargain you’ve been waiting for.
AT&T have just launched the touchscreen LG Incite. This Windows Mobile Smartphone doesn’t look very sexy but has all the bells and whistles associated with a smartphone and at US$500 without contract it’s price tag is looking pretty impressive. Here’s a few more bits and pieces on the Incite
* Windows Mobile 6.1 OS
* 528 MHz processor
* 3G, Wi-Fi, Quad band and Bluetooth connectivity
* Touch screen interface
* Voice guided GPS
* 3 Mp camera (still and video)
* Windows Media Player Mobile 10
* MP3, AAC, WMA, and WAV audio format support
* Streaming XM Satellite Radio
* Text and Instant Messaging (AOL, Yahoo and Windows Messenger)
* Mobile email, Xpress mail and Microsoft Direct Push
* Web browser
* 8.7 hours of talktime
* 21 days on standby
* 4.23 oz
* 4.21 x 2.2 x 0.55 inches
* Up to 32 GB of MicroSD expandable memory
* 3″ touchscreen 240 x 400 res wQVGA display
* On screen QWERTY keyboard
Well, certainly a lot of features but nothing to write home about in smartphone terms. If you decide to shackle yourself to a two year plan and take advantage of all rebates, this little sucker will set you back only US$200 which compares nicely to the 8 GB iPhone. Of course the iPhone’s interface may be more appealing than Wi-Mo 6.1!
We mananged to dig up this unboxing video for you to take a look at the unit – unfortunately it doesn’t show off any of the Incite’s features, but does do size comparisons with other units.
Not a bad unit but just not a ground breaker either.
We’re serious ;-) T-Mobile really have brought out the Samsung Gravity slider cellphone in Aqua and Lime no less. For US$50 you get a snazzy cellphone designed for the serious messagers out there. Here’s the low down on this little sucker.
* 4.5 x 2.1 x 0.7 Inches
* 4.3 Ounces
* Up to 6 hours talk time
* Up to 12 days standby time
* Bands – 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz
* 1.3 Mp camera
* Stereo bluetooth connectivity
* MicroSD memory slot
* Full QWERTY slider keyboard
There’s really nothing stunning about the Gravity but at US$50 what do you expect? And for those of you who are heavy texters, the slider keyboard may be all you need to persuade you to purchase one of these puppies. Of course the price tag comes with the usual two year shackle and a mail-in rebate is part of the deal too. But given all that the Gravity may be the winner T-Mobile are looking for.
They brought you the LaCinema and then the Rugged, what next? Simply the LaCie LaCinema Rugged. This tough portable HDD allows the user to store their HD video collection on it and then hook it up to their HDTV via an HDMI (or composite video) connection. The 1080i upscaling feature of the LaCinema Rugged then displays your vids on the HDTV. Simple, eh? These HDD cum media centres seem all the rage at the moment and seem like an ideal Christmas pressie to accompany the HDTV from last year ;)
If you’re still keen here are a few bits and pieces on the LaCie LaCinema Rugged
* Talks nicely with Windows and Mac
* USB 2.0 connectivity
* 1080i upscaling
* MP3, WMA, AC3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC audio formats
* MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI, VOB, IFO, ISO), MPEG-4 (AVI, XviD) video formats
* JPEG (up to 8M pixels), GIF, PNG, BMP image formats
* Comes in two capacities 250 GB and 320 GB
* 90 x 145 x 25 mm
* 250 g
The 250 GB unit comes with a US$220 price tag whilst the larger model at 320 GB can be yours for a nice US$250. Not bad for a external HDD with media player that you can stomp on. Errr, probably best if you don’t try that last bit though. I must admit combining an external HDD with a media centre is an awesome idea, making it real easy to show off your holiday pics at your friends house.
It’ll be interesting to see if hardware manufacturers come up with any more intriguing combination toys for us all to drool over.
Gaming rigs cost an arm and a leg, right? Well, Alienware are trying to prove us wrong by releasing the Area-51 750i gaming desktop for almost under US$1000. At US$1,049, the Area-51 750i may end up finding a place underneath a few Christmas trees this year as Santa delivers the unit to some lucky youngsters. The downside is of course that for your money you’ll get the minimum spec unit as follows:
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 6MB Cache 1333MHz FSB
* Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling
* Single 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GT
* 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz – 2 x 1024MB
* Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
* 250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
* 20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW)
Other accessories come as extra, such as monitor, speakers etc but for the price tag the unit isn’t too shabby. Whilst not the slickest gaming unit out there, it’ll probably handle with a few late-night gaming sessions well.
Of course you can max the 750i out, with an Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme CPU, Dual 2GB GDDR5 ATI® Radeon® HD 4870 X2, 8GB memory and a 1TB HDD, but of course all that extra grunt will also max out the credit card piling on an extra $2,680 to the base cost.
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