We’ve seen removable optical drives on nettops before now – ViewSonic had one back in July – but Onkyo’s offering is particularly curvy and pleasing. The Onkyo P305A3 may not have a catchy name but it does offer an Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz processor paired with an NVIDIA Ion graphics chipset, while the optical drive is detachable from the side.
ASUS have stepped up their nettop game with the arrival of the ASUS EeeBox EB1501. The first of the company’s range to include an integrated optical drive, the EB1501 also includes Intel’s Atom 330 dual-core CPU and NVIDIA’s 1080p-capable Ion graphics chipset, turning the neatly-balanced nettop into a pretty impressive media center PC.
Sharp have outed their latest Blu-ray player, the BD-HP52U AQUOS, which supports BD Live content, HDMI 1.3 connectivity and streaming media. The BD-HP52U has x.v. color and supports 1080p 24 playback, as well as Deep Color, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio, and a quick-start mode that promises to have you watching films faster than on rival decks.
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Retailers in the UK are currently under no legal obligation to observe the age classifications on violent or sexually-explicit video games or DVDs, thanks to a legal blunder. The issue is being blamed on an administrative oversight by the Conservative government 25 years ago, where they neglected to inform the European Commission about the 1984 Video Recordings Act.
At just $29, Durabrand’s DVD players were selling like hot cakes at Walmart stores. Unfortunately it turns out that they’re also going up in flames like hot coals, so the retailer is having to recall around 1.5m of them. Apparently there have been twelve reported cases of the Durabrand player overheating, with five going on to catch fire and cause “property damage”.
Somebody nudge Kohjinsha and tell them that their latest netbook, well, isn’t a netbook. The Kohjinsha EX6 may use an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor but with its 11.6-inch display, integrated optical drive and touchscreen – not to mention the $836 starting price – it’s pushing the low-power Tablet PC boundary.
MSI have announced five new notebooks in its C-Series, the 16-inch WXGA CX600, CR600-013 and CR600-017, and the 17.3-inch WXGA++ CX700 and CR700. Each packs a Pentium Dual Core processor – the T4200 2.0GHz, aside from the CR600-017 which gets the slightly faster T4300 2.1GHz – together with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard-drive.
Dell’s latest mini-desktop, the Inspiron Zino HD, has broken cover, but the company obviously has some blackmail-quality information about Engadget and Gizmodo as neither site are spilling the details of what’s inside the low-profile box. Known so far is that there’s an optical drive, plenty of ports and interchangeable top covers with various patterns and finishes.
It doesn’t exactly hold up to their last laptop deal – which saw a Compaq discounted to $298 – but if you fancy a 17-inch display and another big-brand name then Walmart’s latest notebook promotion may tick your boxes. Up for $348 is the Toshiba Satellite L355-S7915, a 2.2GHz Celeron 900 machine with 1,440 x 900 display, 3GB of RAM and a 250GB 5,400rpm hard-drive.
Lenovo have launched a new HTPC, the IdeaCentre Q Series, which while resembling a nettop actually packs a slightly more impressive 2.5GHz Intel Pentium dual-core E5200 CPU with 4GB of RAM and Intel X4500 graphics. First on sale as the $499 IdeaCentre Q700, the 2.36 x 7.87 x 9.84 inch box packs a choice of 320GB, 500GB or 640GB hard-drives together with an HDMI output and optional WiFi b/g.
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