Hitachi-LG Readies World's First 4X Blu-ray Burner

Hitachi-LG Readies World's First 4X Blu-ray Burner: "Still haven't picked a side in the high definition disc war yet? Perhaps being able to burn a Blu-ray disc at 4X will help decide your allegiance? If so, keep your eyes on Hitachi-LG, since they just announced to availability of a Blu-ray burner that will burn discs at a speedy 4X, rather than the usual, dorky 2X. The burner, GBW-H10N, doesn't support dual-layer discs, nor does it burn rewriteable discs at 4X—that happens at 2X. Still, you can't knock LG-Hitachi for trying. Besides, how many times in the near future do you think you're actually going to burn and reburn 25GBs of data?

The drive reads BD-ROMs and can read/write your favorite vanilla DVD formats, even the somewhat obscure DVD-RAM.

The GBW-H10N is due to ship this month but Hitachi-LG hasn't released a price just yet. Hmm, 4X Blu-ray burner? Can't be more than $100 or $200, if that. – Nicholas Deleon

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LightSnake Smart Audio Cable

LightSnake Smart Audio Cable: "What at first appeared to be a normal, yet well-lit, USB cable turns out to be a 'smart' USB cable that transmits audio via USB without a sound card. 'What?' you say. 'That's impossible! Even WITH a flux capacitor!' Created by SoundTech, the lightsnake is compatible with all Windows versions as well as OS X and runs at USB 2.0 speeds. You simply plug in your git-fiddle and hook the other end up to a USB port and the cable lights up. Then you play until your fingers bleed and the built-in audio booster and 48 KHz sampling will amp up your audio. Coolness."

Panasonic ToughBooks Get Shock, Water Resistant

Panasonic ToughBooks Get Shock, Water Resistant: "Take the phrase 'water resistant' with a grain of salt. I highly doubt this laptop would survive a full plunge in the swimming pool. The draining system protects the laptop's hard drive, motherboard and some other internal components from small amounts of liquids with a waterproof sheet draining system. Also included is impact proof protection up to 220 pounds. These laptops are only available in Japan right now, but expect to see the features heading our way soon."

Belkin 802.11n N1 Router

Belkin 802.11n N1 Router: "Now that we roundly panned 802.11n, we got word of yet another pre-release device, the N1. The N1 should have a throughput of up to 150MBps and 'network status indicator LEDs,' which probably aren't as great as they sound. Should be available June 2006. Price unknown.

Linksys rolls out draft 802.11n gear for networks and laptops

Linksys rolls out draft 802.11n gear for networks and laptops:

Add Linksys to the growing number of companies rolling out products that adhere to the draft 802.11n standard. The company's new additions are the Wireless-N Broadband Router ( WRT300N) and Wireless-N Notebook Adapter (WPC300N ). As you've probably already figured out, the WRT300N can connect your equipment to your broadband network and serve as an access point for wireless devices -- such as a laptop equipped with the WPC300N (or, of course, most 802.11b/g devices). The WRT300N is expected to retail for about $150, while the WPC300N should go for about $120. Seems a small price to pay for 100 mbps throughput -- if you can really get that kind of speed, that is.

Gateway's CX210 / M285-E tablet with Core Duo

Gateway's CX210 / M285-E tablet with Core Duo:

It's been a little while since Gateway's widescreen CX200 Tablet PC has been on the scene, but Gateway's given it a spec bump and a badge nudge, bringing the CX210 / M285-E series (model based on where you buy it: home, or professional) up to date with Intel Core Duo processors. It also appears they've added standard Bluetooth and 802.11a (in addition to the already standard b/g), and an option for ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics, which should goose that $1399.99 base price a little.

Gateway's CX210 / M285-E tablet with Core Duo

Gateway's CX210 / M285-E tablet with Core Duo:

It's been a little while since Gateway's widescreen CX200 Tablet PC has been on the scene, but Gateway's given it a spec bump and a badge nudge, bringing the CX210 / M285-E series (model based on where you buy it: home, or professional) up to date with Intel Core Duo processors. It also appears they've added standard Bluetooth and 802.11a (in addition to the already standard b/g), and an option for ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics, which should goose that $1399.99 base price a little.

Dell's XPS M1710 gaming laptop

Dell's XPS M1710 gaming laptop: "

Today Dell dropped a new XPS gaming laptop in the form of the M1710. This rig hauls up to a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo T2600, 17-inch widescreen display, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX graphics, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120GB SATA disk, dual-layer DVD combo drive, and an array of ports including Firewire, 6 x USB 2.0, DVI and component video, S/PDIF digital audio out, hi-def sound with integrated sub, and 5-in-1 memory card reader. But this type of performance ain't cheap. A fully specced slab in Special Edition Formula Red 'armor' will set you back right around $5,000. Look out Velocity, game's on cuz.

Averatec UMPC With Keyboard

Averatec UMPC With Keyboard: "Hrm... well this looks promising. Averatec has a UMPC coming out with a fold out keyboard a la the Sidekick and still maintains the bells and whistles stance of so many other UMPC manufacturers. Webcam—check. Thumbstick—check. Touchscreen—check.

No CPU info, but it's got at least 512MB, 30GB hard drive, WiFi, as well as embedded 3G phone connectivity. Promising.
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Velocity's Micro NoteMagix M57 Ultra gaming notebook reviewed

Velocity's Micro NoteMagix M57 Ultra gaming notebook reviewed:

Although the hardest-of-hardcore gamers will likely scoff at any laptop that isn't SLI-enabled these days, PC Mag's review of Velocity's 17-inch Micro NoteMagix M57 Ultra shows us that even a solo graphics card combined with a zippy single core processor and a generous helping of RAM can deliver excellent 1,920 x 1,200 fragging performance. The M57 is powered by a 2.26GHz Pentium M 780 -- which gives it only decent productivity benchmark scores compared to a dual core machine -- but the fact that Velocity throws in 2GB of RAM along with the high-end mobile nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX card and a 7,200 RPM hard drive allowed the rig to best PC Mag's previous champ, the Dell XPS M170, in all-important 3-D and framerate testing. Even better, the faults here are few and far between -- a rather-hefty 9.3-pound weight, lack of software for the built-in TV tuner, and separation between mouse buttons are the only knocks in this review -- so non-SLI snobs should feel safe in dropp"