Spent many frustrating hours hunting around for your favourite Blu-Ray movie, which of course wasn’t in its case? Well, Sony may have a handy, if slightly large, solution for you with their latest Blu-Ray player the BDP-CX7000ES MegaChanger. This unit, err, weighs in at US$1900 and can handle 400 Blu-Ray movie discs. Of course, it plays nicely with DVDs and CDs in case you don’t actually have 400 Blu-Ray videos. There’s also a nifty function called Gracenote which downloads relevant movie info when you load up a disc. Of course this assumes you have an internet connection wired up to your MegaChanger. A full set of specs seem to be eluding us, so here’s what we can gather from the Sony press release on the BDP-CX7000ES
* store and play 400 Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CDs
* download information from Gracenote’s MusicID® and VideoID™ products to organize movies and music
* outputs full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema
* features an RS232 connection and IR-in
* 7.1 channel analog output
* Deep Color via HDMI (v1.3)
* upscales standard definition DVDs to 1080p
* Ethernet port for connectivity to a local home broadband network
* support 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio
* plays nicely with BD-ROM/R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD-+ Video/R/RW, CD/R/RW, and MP3/JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media
Certainly seems like the BDP-CX7000ES MegaChanger has a heap of functionality but of course it comes with that rather large price tag of $1900. If you fancy something a little less heavy on the wallet then Sony will also be unleashing the BDP-CX960, another MegaChanger but lacking the RS232 connection and IR-in features along with Deep Color. The BDP-CX960 MegaChanger will be available for $800 in the fall, while the big boy BDP-CX7000ES will out and about in August.
We haven’t seen a flipout QWERTY phone for quite a while, so it was nice to see T-Mobile showing some faith in the style by unleashing the Samsung Comeback for US$130 with a two year plan and discounts. The Comeback is available in two colour flavours, Frost Silver Cherry and Pearl White Plum and sports a largish LCD display underneath the flip-lid. Here’s what else you get for your money
* 2 Megapixel Camera with Video Capture
* Send and receive e-mail messages
* 3G connectivity
* GPS built-in
* Instant messaging with Yahoo!, Windows Live or AIM
* Micro SD memory slot
* QWERTY keyboard
* Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology
* Alarm clock, Calculator, Calendar, Phone book
* 4.3 x 2.2 x 0.7 inches
* 4.6 oz
* 5.5 hours of talk time
* 12 days of standby time
* Frequencies 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz, UMTS
US$130 is a lot for what is really ‘just’ a cellphone, with smartphones not costing much more, you have to think ‘Why, T-Mobile, why?’. May be they are just hanckering after the good old days of QWERTY flippa models and of course if you are too then the Samsung Comeback could just be the cellphone you are looking for.
However Our Picks gives the T-Mobile Samsung Comeback a big thumbs down, units like this are practically free these days and with something like the Nokia E71x available for only $100 over at AT&T you do indeed have to think why? May be the QWERTY flippa market is stronger than we all thought.
Sporting a ‘super bright’ 22 inch widescreen, Averatec’s latest offering, the D1005 Series AIO (All-in-One) has been unleased for a nifty price tag of US$800. If you’re cramped for a bit of desk space or just like the neatness of AIO models then your hard-earned $800 will get you the following bells and whistles
* 22 inch WSXGA Wide Screen LCD with 1680×1050 native LCD resolution
* Pentium Dual Core Processor (E5200, 2.5Ghz)
* 3 GB of DDR2 SO-DIMM memory in 2 slots
* 320GB SATA HDD
* Wireless LAN (802.11N Compliant)
* Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN
* Built-in 2.0MP camera
* Windows Vista® Home Premium
* Built-in SuperMulti DVD Burner
* 6-in-1 Media Card Reader, (5) High Speed USB 2.0, (1) DVI-I video port
* 20.9″W x 8.8″D x 18.5″H
* 27.6 lbs
* Microphone Input Jack
* Headphone Output Jack
We don’t think that’s too bad a set of specs for $800 and all squeezed into a small form factor too. Averatec are aiming the D1005 at both business and college students
Its sleek design and small footprint make it an attractive system to sit on top of your desk without taking up a lot of space. As people downsize their office space and college students head back to the dorm, saving valuable desktop real estate is top of mind.
We actually reckon that the Averatec D1005 will have a broader appeal than that though and may be attractive to any PC user out there. You interested? Then browse on over to the Averatec site.
The Nokia Surge, a socially supercharged smartphone, will be available online and at AT&T stores as of the 19th of July. The Surge is a QWERTY silder aimed at the social network jet-set coming with JuiceCaster which allows the user to share images and vids from the Surge on the usual SM sites such as Flickr and Facebook. A mere US$80 will get you one of these suckers along with a two-year shackle after a rebate and a $50 promotion card. But what else can the Nokia Surge do? Here are the details on the unit
* GSM 850/900/1800/1900
* HSDPA 850/1900
* 2.4 inch 320×240 red display
* Full QWERTY slider keyboard
* 2.5 mm audio jack
* 128 MB internal storage
* microSD slot allowing up to 8 GB of expansion memory
* Bluetooth v2.0
* 2 MP camera for stills and action
* Symbian OS, S60 rel. 3.2
* Handles SMS, MMS, Email, IM
* Stereo radio
* 97.5 x 57.9 x 15.5 mm
* 123.9 g
* Handles MPEG4/3GP and MP3/WAV/AAC files
* Standby up to 400 hours
* 4 hours of 3G talktime and 4 hours 50 mins on 2G
Not bad for US$80 and plus the design is pretty nice too. It looks a bit weird when the keyboard is tucked away, like you’ve got an extra bit stuck on the side of your cellphone. But with the keyboard out the shapes all nicely gel together. And of course you know how much we like QWERTY sliders at Our Picks, so we tried to track down a hands-on video review but with no luck. Here’s the closest we got with Mobile Gazette’s video preview of the Nokia Surge.
So if any of you social networking types out there have had a play with the Nokia Surge, let us all know what you think of it.
The eagle-eyed boys over at Format War Central spotted the Magnavox NB530MGX for only US$98 at their local Wal-Mart. This is a drop from its initial price of $168 which it still sells for online, so currently to take advantage of this offer, you actually have to visit a store. Still keen? Here are the details on the NB530MGX
* Full HD Resolution 1080p Video Output
* 24fps (frames per second) for Cinema-like picture quality
* HDMI Output
* Blu-ray profile 1.1 to enjoy Advance Picture-in-picture content
* 11.9 x 17.1 x 2.3 inches
* 9.8 pounds
And that’s about all we could get from the Wal-Mart website about the Magnavox Blu-Ray player. But do you need to know more? With a price tag of $98 possibly not. Intriguingly there are a few negative comments on the FWC page published when the NB530MGX was first released back in January, but at that kind of price, you pays your money and takes your chance.
OCZ have brought out some addtions to their Vertex Turbo SSD series ranging in capacity from 30 GB up to 250 GB. The new SATA II 2.5 inch units can reach read speeds of 270 MB/s and write speeds of 210 MB/s on the 250 GB version. It’s interesting to compare the speeds of the Vertex Turbos against the Corsair and SuperTalent SSDs we have looked at recently. Here’s a breakdown of how the models and capacities match up, for clarity’s sake we have allowed a lee-way on the capacities, for example we’ve assumed that a 30 GB OCZ unit is comparable to a 32 GB unit from the other manufacturers
Model
OCZ Vertex Turbo
SuperTalent UltraDrive LE
Corsair
30 GB
60 GB
120 GB
250 GB
32 GB
64 GB
128 GB
256 GB
128 GB
Max Read Speed (MB/s)
240
240
270
270
230
230
260
260
220
Max Write Speed (MB/s)
145
145
200
210
160
180
195
200
200
Price
$140
$250
$409
$775
$119
$196
$359
$620
$360
Intriguingly not much benefit, if any, at the smaller capacity end of the scale and even on the 250 GB unit an extra 10 MB/s on both read/write for an extra $155? Please. Of course these figures don’t take into consideration reliability of the units but even so, it would take a lot to persuade us to fork out for an OCZ Vertex Turbo based on these stats. Let us know if you have any of these SSD units and how well they perform.
If you’re looking for a high-end gaming desktop then iBuypower’s latest offering the Paladin XLC may just be what you’re looking for. The V3 top-end model sports an Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition processor with three NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 2GB video cards. Here’s all the specs on the Paladin XLC range
Model
Paladin XLC Series V3
Paladin XLC Series V2
Paladin XLC Series V1
Price
$4366
$2159
$1399
Case
Coolermaster HAF 932 Full Tower
Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower
Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower
Processor
Intel Core i7-975 processor Extreme Edition
Intel Core i7-950 processor
Intel Core i7-920 processor
Memory
12GB DDR3-1600
6GB (2GB x 3) DDR3-1600
6GB (2GB x 3) DDR3-1333
Video Card
3X NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 2GB
2X ATI Radeon 4890 1GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB
Hard Drive
80GB Intel X25M SSD
1TB S-ATA-II 7200 RPM
1TB S-ATA-II 7200 RPM
2nd Hard Drive
1.5TB S-ATA-II 7300 RPM
1TB S-ATA-II 7200 RPM
None
Optical Drives
LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive;
LG 6X BLU-RAY Re-Writer & DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive
LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive;
LG 6X BLU-RAY Re-Writer & DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive
LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer Lacosa & Razer Deathadder
iBUYPOWER Deluxe Keyboard & Mouse
iBUYPOWER Deluxe Keyboard & Mouse
Sound Card
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Speakers
iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System
iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System
iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System
Network Card
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
OS
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Quite impressive figures especially the V3 if you’ve got $4000 plus spare at the moment. But with 12GB of memory and three NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 cards onboard, the V3 will give you plenty of great gaming time. All the models are customisable just in case those specs are exactly what you’re after. We also noticed on the V3 that if you’re an impatient gamer and can’t wait for your gaming beast to start up, it comes kitted out with an 80 GB SSD to boot up from in super-fast time. Nice!
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