Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Portable Video

If you didn’t bite when Elgato released its pocket-friendly EyeTV Hybrid, you may be interested in its supercharged successor, the EyeTV Diversity. The USB 2.0 stick makes for easy travel, and this rendition sports dual attachable antennas and a DSP, “which uses information from both tuners to generate the best signal possible.” Designed to work with DTT / DVB-T signals, the device supports dual tuner functionality, PIP, scheduled recordings via the included EveTV 2 software, and a one-year subscription to the “tvtv” program guide. It touts seamless integration with Toast 7, and even provides easy converting for use on video-playing iPods. The company also notes that 1080i and 720p viewing / recording is possible on Macs housing “dual PowerPC G5 or Intel Core Duo” processors, and the dual-tuner USB stick can be picked up now on the other side of the pond for €149.95 ($191).

[Via digg]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Media PCs

While rumors were a swirlin’ in the days leading up to Apple’s “It’s Showtime” event, one thing we didn’t exactly forecast was a refresh in the Mac mini lineup. Nevertheless, Apple bumped its most minuscule Macs by tossing in Intel Core Duo processors, while leaving just about everything else (including price points) the same. In case you’ve been dreaming up a homegrown media center or recording studio, and need to know if the revamped mini would fit the bill, Macworld’s review crew has the scoop. Reviewers admired the inclusion of Core Duo chips in both high and low-end models, the built-in WiFi / Bluetooth, and the “admirable” Front Row performance. Aside from praising the small footprint (and the “impressive versatility” it allowed), they found the “10 to 15 percent” performance boost quite helpful in the typical media center related tasks, but (as expected) didn’t hesitate to slam the weak integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics set. Overall, the speedier new Mac earned a 4 out of 5 ranking, and was deemed an “excellent, fully-featured system” — so be sure and hit the read link for the complete critique on the this maxed-out mini.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

If you thought the bevy of Merom-based laptops coming at you had finally stalled, well, maybe it has — but HP Compaq’s tc4000 tablet PC has arrived (albeit fashionably late) with spec-bumped innards that include an Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz T5600 processor. Aside from the Merom boost, this convertible also packs 512MB of DDR2 RAM, a 12.1-inch XGA display, 5,400RPM 80GB hard drive, 56k modem, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g, biometric fingerprint sensor, and a 6-cell battery. It comes fully prepared for that stylus abuse thanks to the included Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005, and sports the usual complement of ports: VGA out, S-Video out, microphone in, headphone jack, IR, and a trio of USB 2.0 connectors. If you’ve somehow held out on those Merom-powered laptops and just can’t resist the allure of taking notes on an LCD, the tc4400 is available now for $1,479.

[Via Laptoping]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Laptops

Custom laptop designs are a dime a dozen these days, with everything from fast car logos to glorious “Pink Feather” designs being stamped onto the back of LCDs in an attempt to draw the eyes of punters looking for a new lappie. The latest custom job on the market is Fujitsu Siemens’ team of soccer themed laptops which don the colors and crests of four different Premiership clubs: Celtic, Aston Villa, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur, to be precise. Under the soccer shirts, the laptops are Amilo 1536 models featuring 1280 x 800 15-inch displays powered by a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics adapter. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and a roomy 120GB 5400RPM SATA drive. Not quite striker material, we know, but the £1000 (plus three year warranty) price tag ain’t too shabby considering the bundled paint job. Fujitsu Siemens is promising other clubs will join the line-up to celebrate the recent start of the Premiership season, although don’t expect any teams with notable rivalries to be released at the same time. If you follow English football, you’ll notice that the first four club themed laptops are a rather disparate lot: there’s no Liverpool to go with Everton, no Rangers to go with Celtic, and so on. These guys obviously know how to manage their laptop teams without starting a football riot.

[Via Reg Hardware]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

What a difference an “E” makes. Chinese owners of Dell’s Inspiron 640m laptop are apparently furious over the fact that the company misleadingly equipped their new machines with Intel’s Core Duo T2300E processor instead of the T2300 chip that had been advertised, and are lining up to sue over the alleged defrauding, according to news site China Daily. Since the only real difference between the T2300 and T2300E is the former’s support for Intel’s Virtualization Technology, the average consumer probably wouldn’t even be affected by the cheaper processor, but customers are still understandably peeved that they’re not getting all the functionality they paid for. The discrepancy was first discovered in early June by a single owner, who by way of an online bulletin board, learned that hundreds of other unhappy customers were afflicted with the same problem. The owner filed suit against Dell in late July after having apparently been rebuffed in an attempt to get the CPU swapped out (”"I tried to negotiate with Dell and simply asked them to change the CPU, but they said there was no difference between the two and it was unnecessary to change,” claims the owner); now 19 more customers have joined together for their own class-action suit, with many more waiting in the wings, according to lawyers handling the cases. For its part, Dell claims the mix-up stems from a failure to update its Chinese marketing materials, and has issued affected customers both an apology and an offer to refund the full price of returned machines — but at this point, that doesn’t seem to be enough for many of the folks involved. It’s unfortunate that it took a big public stink for Dell to own up to its mistake and attempt a resolution, but as with the just-announced, historic battery recall, this incident proves just how powerful a determined group of individuals can be.

Read- Chinese lawsuits [Via Ars Technica]
Read- Dell’s response

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Seems like only yesterday we were firing off Core Duo announcement after Core Duo announcement (with the occasional Core Solo thrown in for good measure), and now the Merom (aka Core 2) family has finally landed. We can expect ten new Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme chips from Intel today; we'll leave the bithead biz to the fine folks at Tom's and the like, but expect to Leap Ahead into "performance enhancing" buzzwords like Wide Dynamic Execution, Smart Memory Access, Advanced Smart Cache, Advanced Digital Media Boost, and 64 bit processing (from the Core 2 Extremes and Duo desktop chips), as well as Core 2 Duo mobile processors' new Dynamic Power Coordination, Dynamic Bus Parking, and Enhanced Intel Deeper Sleep with Dynamic Cache Sizing, all intended to drop processor juice usage even further. Should we expect to see some announcements of machines based on these long awaited processors? Well, check back in a couple hours, why don't you? In the mean time, Intel assures us that boxes with Core 2 Extreme chips are already ready to rumble, but unfortunately you'll have to wait for the Core 2 Duo desktops and mobiles until early and late August, respectively.

P.S. -If you're of the bencharking ilk -- and somehow we have a feeling you are -- PC Perspective's got a load of early-release performance data they just threw up. Thanks Ryan.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

We know that it’s a bit of a tease to keep featuring products that will never be available in the US, but we figure that if you’re not down with foreign devices, you probably would have stopped visiting this site long ago (or maybe you just skip over these types of posts). Anyway, the latest look-but-don’t-touch model comes from Japanese manufacturer PC-Koubou — the same company that dropped seven new laptops on us not too long ago — who just announced the impending release of its 15.4-inch Lesance AS520AW-DUO gaming notebook. As you probably guessed from the model number, this Windows XP Home Edition-powered machine sports an Intel Core Duo processor of the 1.83GHz T2400 variety, along with ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics (featuring 256MB of VRAM), a 1,200 x 800 pixel display, 1GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM, and a 60GB hard drive running at 5,400 RPM. Also along for the ride are an ExpressCard slot (though no PCMCIA), 8x DVD super-duper multi drive, and four USB 2.0 ports, though WiFi and Bluetooth are nowhere to be found. If you happen to be visiting Japan starting next month, you can snatch one of these beauties up for just $1,371.

[Via MobileWhack]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Serial rebadger, and self-professed home of the “world’s fastest laptop,” Malibal has added two new lines to their collection, the Bodhi and the Lotus. Nothing groundbreaking, but they are nicely specced, with Core Duo processors and integrated 1.3 megapixel webcams. The Bodhi sports a 14-inch 1280 x 768 screen, 4-in-1 card reader, WiFi/Bluetooth combo, dual-layer DVD burner, and options for up to 2GB of RAM and a 160GB SATA HDD. Mere integrated graphics, and the 3 hours of batter life is just average, but they’re fairly compact at 4.85 pounds. The Lotus bumps the screen to 15.4-inches 1280 x 800, and the weight to 5.73 pounds. It can handle those snazzy 2.16GHz Core Duo chips, but the series otherwise mirrors its release buddy. Both laptop lines are on sale now, with the Bodhi starting at $1099, and the Lotus dropping for $1115.

[Via Laptoping]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo has just announced a new addition to its Z61 series of ThinkPad notebooks — which currently consists of the Z61t and Z61m — in the form of a “mobile workstation” called the Z61p. Like the other models in this lineup, the 15.4-inch Z61p offers consumers several Intel Core processor options (maxing out with the 2.0GHz Core Duo T2500), but improves upon the graphics setup by including a Mobility Fire GL V5200 chipset from ATI with 256MB of VRAM. Other features include 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM (expandable to 3GB), up to 100GB of hard drive capacity (in either 5,400RPM or 7,200RPM varieties), a 1,920 x 1,200 pixel display, WiFi, Bluetooth, an ExpressCard slot, and the popular ThinkVantage suite — though you’re not getting the 3G WWAN or titanium case options found on the other Z61 models. While all the pricing details are not immediately clear, it looks like a well-configured system will be going for around $2,400 when these become available next week.

[Via laptoping]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

UK rebadger PC manufacturer Rock has a blazing new 17-inch laptop in store for British gamers, the Core Duo-powered Xtreme CTX T2700. As its name suggests, this model sports a T2700 CPU running at 2.33GHz, along with 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM, a zippy 7,200RPM 100GB hard drive, 8x dual-layer DVD burner, and on the connectivity tip, the always-popular Bluetooth and three flavor WiFi. Graphics on this model also promise to impress, with a 512MB-equipped GeForce Go 7900 GTX card from nVIDIA handling the heavy lifting for the1,920 x 1,200 WUXGA display. As you’d expect, a configuration like this doesn’t come cheap, and will cost around $3,200 when it drops in the next few days.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

China’s Lenovo is giving Japan some love with the new mid-range ThinkPad G50. It’s a bit on the chunky side, and weighs in at a hefty 7.3 pounds, but we suppose that’s to make room for the rather odd inclusion of a built-in floppy drive. The rest of the specs are a bit more standard, like the 15-inch display that ranges in resolution from XGA to SXGA+ (1,400 x 1,050), and the Celeron M or low-end Core Duo processor options. The base model is pretty bare on specs, with a mere 256MB of RAM, CD-ROM drive and 40GB HDD. We’re not quite sure how the Core Duo models manage for specs, other than the PC card slot, gigabit Ethernet and four USB 2.0 ports that all the models share, but there’s only room for improvement. The laptop is 2-inches thick at its biggest, and 1-inch thick at its thinnest, making room for a 2 hour battery, that manages 2.5 hours of juice for the Core Duo setups. So bust out that Commander Keen floppy, dig up 135,450 Yen ($1169 USD) and snap this thing up before someone else gets suckered into it.

[Via Impress]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Desktops

The reign of Core Duo has dominated 2006, but now is the time for a line of desktop processors to take the stand for justice. Or something like that. Announced in June, Intel's Core 2 Duo is officially "out" today -- though you can't buy 'em just yet -- and bit-tech.net has given the Conroe and Allendale lines (4MB vs. 2MB L2 cache) an incredibly thorough rundown. We're not total chip nuts, so some of the architecture notes went a bit over our heads, but it's clear that the Intel's Core architecture has the makings of a champ. While sharing a misleadingly similar name, Intel's Core Duo mobile line isn't actually built on Intel's "Core" chip design, notably lacking 64 bit compatibility. However, the breakthroughs made in the "Yonah" Core Duo chips really shine through in the Core Duo 2, and the chip thoroughly trounced AMD's offerings in bit-tech.net's benchmark tests. Of course, at $999 in the high end (the 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800), and with AMD timing price cuts for Intel's July 24th release party, you might not be quite getting the performance-per-dollar for your desktop that the Athlon has been boasting of lately. Luckily, even faster chips are on the way, and AMD and Intel are charging into a price war that should give us some of the best valued chips we've seen in a while.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Apparently Fujitsu understands that not all business travelers have burgeoning corporate expense accounts ready and willing to absorb the cost of the latest $3,000 ultra-portable business machine. Their new C1410 notebook offers up a Core Duo processor, a 15.4-inch XGA display, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.0 and up to 100GB of storage, with basic configurations starting at just $1,199. We understand that carrying around a 6.6-pound machine (.1-pound lighter than Lenovo’s widely praised and oft-copied ThinkPad Z61m) might be out of the question for some airport rats, but those willing to deal with the extra weight can also enjoy the 11-hours of battery life Fujitsu promises with the addition of an extra cell in a modular bay. Just make sure you get a laptop backpack with some extra padding in the straps to make the arduous walk from tarmac to taxi a little easier.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Desktops

We've been seeing the multi-core trend oncoming for a while now, but it seems Intel isn't just kidding around with the idea. The word on the street is that they have plans for a 32 core chip line named "Keifer" in the next few years to bust on those server tasks, which will no doubt be as boring and onerous as the processes of today. The good news is that while those chips will be fairly low on GHz -- about one third of the fastest Xeon CPU currently available -- but they'll manage 15x the performance with all those cores working in parallel, running a total of 128 threads. Based on a 32nm process, each Keifer should have eight processing nodes holding four cores, with a total of 24MB of cache between them. It appears Intel is most worried about keeping up with the multi-core efforts of Sun's Ultra Sparc chips, with little fear for AMD's Opteron roadmap, but with these Keifer chips being due around 2010, we're wondering how long it'll take for all this crazy multi-core action to trickle down into laptop chips for 32x (or 15x, as it were) the portable fun. The biggest hurdle of all, however, could be a consumer Microsoft OS that can fully help software take advantage of multiple cores, a task which Vista isn't quite up to.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Desktops

Japanese consumers looking for yet another Mac mini-style PC will soon be able to pick up the LF800 from miniPC, which won't run as silently as the ED612E we recently saw from this same company, but delivers a much more impressive set of specs. Instead of that pokey 1.2GHz VIA Eden processor powering the last offering, this model throws down a Core Duo T2300, while also doubling the RAM to 512MB and jacking up the hard drive capacity from 40GB to 250GB. If that particular configuration doesn't suit your needs then you're in luck, because you can also pick up a bare bones model that includes integrated Intel graphics, a PCI-Express x16 slot, and CF reader, along with Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, USB 2.0, S/PDIF, and S-video ports. Both the fully assembled rig as well as the DIY version will be available sometime this month, with the former going for around $1,080 and the latter priced just under $600.

[Via Impress]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Desktops

CRTs are so early 90’s, don’t you know? After threatening the death of cathode ray for years, Apple has finally managed the chutzpah to kill off their eMac, and have released a $900 Intel iMac to fill the educational void. The specs aren’t bad for a $900 Mac, including a 17-inch LCD, 80GB SATA HDD, 512MB of DDR2 SDRAM (though they skimp with dual 256MB chips), a DVD-ROM/CD-RW disc drive, AirPort Extreme, a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor and Intel GMA 950 graphics. An Apple Remote will cost you $26 extra, but otherwise it doesn’t look like Apple cut many corners, which students might enjoy, but that $900 pricetag might be unrealistic for most school budgets. That, and we’re just jealous of those dang kids who get to mess around with an iSight cam and Front Row. We think we’ll just stick with Math Blaster on our 6100 while we wait for that rumored LCD eMac.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

So apparently Toshiba has a Core Duo-powered update to the Tecra M4 convertible tablet waiting in the wings, and this one gives you a 100GB hard drive, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, and especially nice, a dual layer Super Multi drive that handles both flavors of recordable DVDs. Although we haven’t yet seen any pics of the 14.1-inch, WXGA+ Tecra M7, info on Toshiba’s European website seems to indicate that it will look similar to the M4 (pictured), but you’re getting a lot more muscle on the inside with either 1.66GHz or 1.83GHz Core Duo chips. Rounding out the specs are nVidia Quadro NVS 110M graphics, a 6-in-1 memory card reader, four USB ports, PCMCIA slot, video out, FireWire, and both WLAN and Bluetooth wireless radios. It’s not clear when this model will officially be released (pretty soon, we reckon), but we already have a good idea on pricing: it looks like you’ll be able to get a nice configuration for around $1,600 or $1,700.

[Thanks, Ethan]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

It might not be as fancy as the high-class Lamborghinis our pals at Engadget Chinese saw at Computex, but according to this review, the 14-inch Centrino Duo W3J is a winner. Weighing in around 4-pounds, it fits right into the ultra-portable category, but doesn’t skimp on specs including a Core Duo processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 that maxes out at 512 MB when the HyperMemory kicks in (256MB onboard and 256MB shared RAM). It even has the Bluetooth 2.0 that its cousin the A8Jm was so tragically missing - at least here in the States. All that, plus Asus’ signature brushed metal styling and a battery life of about 2.75 make this machine sound like a champ, but we still can’t help but think about the slick Q35 we could buy with the £1029 asking price.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Maybe you’ve noticed that we likes our laptops small, powerful, and foxy ’round here. NEC looks set to indulge our whims with their new VERSA L1100 series of ultra-portables. Weighing in at 4.4-pounds, these widescreen 13.1-inch (1280 x 768) laptops feature dual-layer DVD writers, 802.11b/g WiFi, up to 2GB DDR2 memory (256MB shared with graphics), 100GB disk, a 5-in-1 card reader, and scads of expansion and multimedia outs. Systems can be configured with either Intel Celeron or Pentium M processors — by the latter we assume NEC means the Intel Core, be that Single or better yet, Duo processors which are based on the Pentium M micro-architecture. If not, then we’ll just have to pass when these drop in mid-June.

[Via MobileWhack]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Media PCs

Besides that pair of smartphones we spotted earlier today, Gigabyte has also been showing off a set of home theater PCs at Computex, and whether you like your media centers in tower or pizza box configuration, Gigabyte's got you covered. While both the silver H971 and white A963 support VIIV-powered Core Duo processors, the rest of the specs are nothing that will get you too excited, and the lack of built-in HDMI  or WiFi will probably keep most of our readers from even giving these machines a second glance. Still, if the Intel spin machine has done its job right, the VIIV stickers alone should help Gigabyte move a few units whenever they hit stores.

Read- A963 [Via AVing]
Read- H971 [Via AVing]

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

According to Notebook Review, ASUS' 14.1-inch A8Jm Core Duo-powered laptop is a powerful, feature-filled machine that provides good value for its $1,550 pricetag -- but you also have to factor the cost of potential Geek Squad service calls into that price, because ASUS' tech support options, both online and over-the-phone, are judged to be pretty mediocre. Still, even after having no luck -- and getting no help -- figuring out why the InstantON button on his unit was causing the notebook to boot directly into Windows, the reviewer doesn't hesitate to recommend the A8Jm almost without reservation, citing its video capabilities (a nVidia GeForce Go 7600 card pushing 1,280 x 800 pixels), connectivity options (WiFi, ExpressCard, card reader, and FireWire, DVI, S/PDIF, and five USB 2.0 ports), quiet operation, and most importantly, the speed of its 1.83GHz T2400 processor and 667MHz DDR2 RAM. Besides that buggy InstantON button, the lack of built-in Bluetooth seems to be the only real knock against this model (especially since European versions have it while North American ones don't), but that's an issue you can easily remedy on your own.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Laptops, Media PCs

Along with the 15.4-inch 5670 and 20.1-inch 9800 notebooks that we'd already known about, Acer formally unveiled at Computex two other HD-DVD- and Centrino Duo-toting models from the Aspire line that we hadn't seen before: the 17-inch 9510 and 15.4-inch 9110 (pictured). All four models are being billed as all-in-one multimedia centers, and with all but the 5670 sporting 1,920 x 1,080 resolutions, S/PDIF and HDCP-capable HDMI outputs, optional analog and DVB-T tuners, and of course those high-def, backwards-compatible optical drives (still waiting on those Blu-ray models, though), it sure sounds like Acer knows what it's talking about. Both of the new-new notebooks also offer up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM and nVidia graphics cards, but the 9510 rocks the GeForce Go 7900 GS with 512MB of RAM and up to 240GB of hard drive space, while the 9110 has to settle for the GeForce Go 7600 with 256MB of RAM and a HDD that maxes out at 120GB. Unfortunately, Acer was so busy selling us on the benefits of all these new machines that they forgot a few important details, so both pricing and release dates for each and every one remain a big fat mystery for now.

[Via Notebook Review]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel is using this week’s Computex trade show to reveal various bits of information about upcoming additions to the Core Duo family, including details on the chipset that will support the new Core 2 Duo (formerly known as Conroe) processors as well as the existence of an impending low voltage version of the current Core Duo CPU. Senior Vice President Anand Chandrasekher announced that the 965 chipset will come in three versions (P965, G965, and U965) sporting either Core 2 Duos or Core 2 Extremes — the latter chip coming in July in a 2.93GHz version, followed by a 3.2GHz model later this year — along with DDR2 memory as fast as 800MHz. As for the new ULV Core Duo processor, the company claims that it will sip an average of just 0.75 watts (compared to the one to two watts consumed by the already efficient Core 2 Duo), and be available in a 1.06GHz configuration called the U2500 for $289 this summer. Release dates for the Core 2 Duo chip are still unknown, although a press conference being held tomorrow may contain that key piece of info, which is already being reported by some sources as July 23rd.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Laptops

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments