OWC have announced their latest Mercury Pro Blu-ray/SuperDrive “Quad Interface” External Drive, offering Blu-ray and DVD burning for any PC or Mac with FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 or eSATA connectivity. The new Mercury Pro also doubles the burn speed of the previous-generation version.
Ultraportables with integrated optical drives are rare beasts – the netbook world only has one, for instance – and they usually carry a pretty high price premium. That was certainly the case when the VYE S41A first arrived, complete with its convertible 7-inch touchscreen, DVD burner and 800MHz Intel A110 processor: you were looking at around $1,500 when it first launched. Now, Expansys UK have it listed for just £449.99 ($661).
MSI have officially announced their all-in-one nettop. The MSI Wind NetOn AP1900, which was first spotted back in November, has an 18.5-inch WSXGA 16:9 display, Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, up to 2GB of DDR2 memory and both a 160GB SATA hard-drive and DVD burner. According to MSI, at full operating load the 35mm wide NetOn AP1900 requires just 35W, saving around 86-percent on a traditional PC.
Mouse Computer’s optical-drive toting netbook has been spotted in Osaka, flaunting its 10.2-inch screen and DVD burner. The LB-F1500W (and we now know that ‘LB’ bizarrely stands for “Luv Book”) is a generally standard netbook with Intel’s Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 160GB storage, but you sacrifice the typical third USB 2.0 port to make edge-space for the rare drive.
Japanese firm Mouse Computer are looking to stand out from the crowd with their new netbook, which is why the LB-F1500W has an integrated DVD burner. A rare sight on these budget ultraportables, the optical drive – which makes the LB-F1500W a much more tempting prospect for travellers looking to not only work but watch the odd movie – accompanies a 6-cell battery which Mouse Computer suggest is good for up to 5.2hrs runtime.
Toshiba have announced a new 16-inch notebook that they claim is ideal for movie-lovers. The Toshiba Satellite A350 has a 720p HD capable screen with 1366 x 768 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio, together with speakers from Harmon Kardon, but sadly no Blu-ray drive, only a dual-layer DVD burner. Both Intel and AMD processors are available, with the cheapest model having a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 while the range tops out with a Core 2 Duo P7450 running at 2.13GHz.
LG has today announced two stylish and lifestyle DVD players that didn’t get to unveil at CES 2009. Unless I missed it, I don’t remember see any wall-mounted and slim factor media players at CES show floor. One of them supports Dvix HD video playback and the other enables MP3 music direct recording.
Kenwood have announced [via] a set of new in-dash touchscreen navigation and media players, all but one of which include Parrot Bluetooth functionality for using the system as a hands-free kit. The range kicks off with the eXcelon DNX9140, Kenwood’s new flagship, with a DVD player, 6.95-inch WVGA display, integrated Garmin navigation, and voice control. It’s also capable of 5.1 surround sound, via an onboard decoder, and can link to and control your iPod, iPhone or mass storage device.
ASUS have quietly announced one of the first netbooks to use Intel’s upcoming Atom N280 processors, the Eee PC 1004DN. Spotted in among the CES models last week, the 1004DN not only has a 1.66GHz N280 CPU and the HD-capable GN40 chipset, but an integrated optical drive and ExpressCard slot.
MSI have announced their first dual-core nettop, the Wind NetTop D130, which uses Intel’s Atom 330 1.6GHz dual-core processor. The D130 also carves something of a niche for itself by including an integrated DVD Super Multi drive, a rare sighting on nettops. MSI envisage buyers using the D130 as a media center PC, home email or file server, or even for online gaming.
SlashGear Japan
