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!

Source: iBuypower

* Intel® Celeron™ 900 (2.2GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 800Mhz FSB)
* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic
* 12.1 inch WXGA display with TrueLife (Wide View)
* 8X DVD+/-RW DVD+/-R Roxio and Cyberlink PowerDVD™ DX 8.2
* 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz, 2 DIMM
* 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Integrated 1.3MP Webcam and Digital Mic with webcam
* Dell Wireless™ 1397 802.11b/g Mini Card

All this adds up to a mere US$800, which compares nicely to the HP TouchSmart. There are some differences in the specs between the two units with obviously touchscreen functionality standing out a mile, but if you don’t like smudgy screens then the Vostro 1220 could be your winner.

Source: Dell

* Windows Vista® Home Premium
* Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66 GHz Processor
* 8 GB DDR3 RAM
* 750 GB SATA Hard Drive
* NVIDIA GeForce GT230 with 1.5GB Shared Graphics Memory
* Labelflash DVD±R/RW Drive with Double Layer
* Integrated Audio, 7.1-Channel speaker configurable
* 802.11b/g Wireless WiFi
* 10/100/1000 BaseT Gigabit Ethernet
* Multi-in-One Card Reader
* Front ports: 4 x USB 2.0
* Back ports: 4 x USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, 2 x PS2 ports (Keyboard, Mouse), Optical S/PDIF Port, 6 x Audio Jacks, Headphones, Microphone, RJ-11 (Modem), RJ-45 (LAN), DVI, VGA, HDMI
* Expansion slots: 2 x PCI (occupied), PCI Express x1 (available), PCI Express x16 (occupied)
* Drive bays: 2 x external 5.25″ (available), 3 x internal 3.5″ (two available)

There’s no monitor of course, but these days everyone seems to do a bit of mixing and matching on the display unit and box so that’s probably not a big problem. And the price tag rocks in at US$800 which is pretty impressive but also explains the lack of Blu-Ray and 802.11n love. But the grunt from the CPU and 8 GB of memory is probably worth it, the missing bells and whistles can be tacked on later.

Source: Acer

* 128 GB capacity
* 2.5 inch form factor
* Maximum sequential read speed 220MB/s
* Maximum sequential write speed 200MB/s
* SATA II 3.0 Gb/s interface
* Samsung controller and MLC NAND flash
* No moving parts for increased durability
* Decreased power usage for cool and quiet operation and increased laptop battery life
* DRAM Cache Memory 128 MB
* 80g

Yeah the usual advantanges of SSD but unfortuantely still a largish price tag with Amazon offering the P128 for US$355. Still not impressed? We aren’t either.

Source: Corsair

* backup software for scheduling automatic data backup
* act as a media server - with DLNA support for sharing music with their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, wireless digital photo frames etc
* internet access to the drive via the MioNet remote access service and ethernet port
* talks nicely with both Mac and Windows PCs
* funky gauge to show when it’s full of zeroes and ones
* USB 2.0 port for extra capacity
* WD GreenPower Technology to suck less juice
* 166 x 160 x 99.00 mm
* 2.50 kg

Western Digital are offering the 2TB unit for US$400 and the larger 4TB version will set you back $700. Not bad for an all singing dancing networked external hard drive. We also managed to find the 4 TB big boy hanging out at Amazon for only $600.

We like the My Book World Edition II as you can probably tell - it seems to encompass all the file server requirements we can think of necessary for a home network. If you’ve invested in one of these suckers please let us know what you think.

* 1080p/1080i/720p output
* DVD upscaling to 720p/1080i/1080p
* HDMI vrsion 1.3
* BD/DVD/VCD/CD/CD-R(RW)/DVD+R(RW) support
* Optical digital audio outputs
* 17 x 2.2 x 10.2 inches

There you have it, nothing flash apart from the $100 price tag. There are four positive user reviews on the Curtis Mathes website for their Blu-Ray player which ends up with 4.5 stars out of five. Intriguingly either no reviewer remarked on any ‘Cons’ for the player or there was no option in the review form for negative comments. Either way, it’s still a great deal, $100 for a Blu-Ray player.

Source: Curtis Mathes

* Handles 3.5 and 2.5 inch SATA HDDs
* USB 2.0 connectivity
* Handles MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX 3.11/4/5 and XviD video formats
* Handles mp3, wav, aac and wma audio formats
* AV, YPbPr, HDMI (576P/1080i) outputs
* CX/5.1H audio output
* 130 x 120 x 68 mm (without HDD)
* 453g (without HDD)

And this little sucker can be yours for only US$79, not a bad price for a very handy little unit.

Source: Brando

* Windows Mobile® 6.1 Standard Edition
* Full QWERTY keypad
* 2.0 MP camera
* Bluetooth® 2.0 connectivity
* Plays nicely with MIDI, MP3, AAC, WAV, WMA, QCLEP, AU, AMR, RA audio formats
* Plays nicely with H.263, MPEG4, WMV, H.264, RV cideo formats
* 320 x 240px res display
* 4.61″ (H) x 2.3″ (W) x€ .54″ (D)
* 3.6 ounces
* Up to 32 GB of expandable memory
* 12.5 days of standby time
* 6 hours of talk-time
* Software includes Internet Explorer® Mobile & Office Mobile

Some nice specs we must admit, but unfortunately no price tag yet nor launch date so we’re a bit surprised to see it on the US Cellular website, but there it is in all its, err, glory. Yeah, it is ugly isn’t it?

Source: US Cellular Samsung Code

* Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor (2.66GHz) 8MB L3 Cache
* 17 inch WUXGA LCD (1920 x 1200)
* Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory
* MS Windows® VISTA Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition
* 3GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 X 1GB
* 250GB 5400rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
* 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
* Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
* Internal Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR Module
* Smart Li-ION Battery Pack (12 Cells)

That little lot will set you back a cool US$2350 so we’ll give you a moment to recover … not cheap but what did you expect for i7-920 processing power. The Sager NP9280 certainly packs a powerful punch and just for fun we maxxed out the unit too. Ending up with a total of $5474 which gave us Intel® Core™ i7-975, Vista Ultimate, 12 GB memory, 160 GB SSD and a Blu-Ray reader. Strangely no space shuttle tiles were included to protect your legs from the heat the Sager NP9280 will pump out. And just to make sure all that heat does easily escape, there are no less than four cooling vents on the underside of the unit. We like the NP9280, we’re just not convinced anyone will actually buy it, so if you have let us know what you think when you’ve let your legs cool down.

Source: Sager NP9280

This near jitter-free transmission operates between the Blu-ray Disc player and a multi-channel PQLS-equipped Pioneer receiver by synchronizing both components’ digital clocks for optimal audio playback.

Ooo, sounds funky doesn’t it, of course to appreciate it, you’ll have to have a Pioneer receiver! Anyway here are the rest of the bits and pieces on the BDP-23FD Blu-Ray player

* 1080p at 24fps
* Advanced Picture Control Suite
* 48-bit Deep Color
* Support for Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD® Master audio
* 1080p DVD upscaling
* 1GB of internal memory
* USB port with HDD support
* BD-Live™ Compliant (Profile 2.0)
* 7.1 Channel Analog Audio, Optical Digital Outputs
* Support for AVCHD video format
* HDMI, Composite, Component video output
* Ethernet connectivity
* 420 x 83 x 287 mm
* 3.7 kg

All this for only US$600 too, it sounds like a good deal to us. The unit certainly has all the features you’d expect from a great Blu-Ray player, so we think Pioneer may just have a winner on their hands here. Let us know what you think.

Source: Pioneer

* DVB-HD module
* 108cm x 68cm x 18cm (not including stand)
* 45 kg
* 40 inch 16:9 1920 x 1080 res LCD HD display
* Handles Dolby Digital 5.1/6.1 EX, Dolby 7.1 EX, Dolby Pro-Logic ll/llx, DTS 5.1. DTS ES 6.1, DTS Neo:6, AAC audio formats

The B&O website is a bit thin on details about the BeoVision 7-40, however there is plenty of marketing blurb including mention of the motorised stand this unit sports

The motorised table and floor stands will turn the TV through a 70° arc at a touch of a button and the screen can be tilted vertically to achieve the best possible viewing angle.

Sounds good, eh? But wait there’s more there’s even an ‘usher’ to help you change discs

And like the usher in a movie theatre guiding you to your seat, a small light comes on to make sure that you can load the disc while keeping the room lights low.

OK, may be that’s taking the marketing a bit too far, but hey this is a Bang & Olufsen unit and one thing they don’t skimp on is marketing spiel and another is the price tag. The BeoVision 7-40 rocks in at US$13500 this month. Ouch, for that kind of money we’d want much more than a 40 inch display and motorised stand thank you very much. But B&O do have a niche market, their gear does look different and is reputedly of high quality so somebody will fork out the dosh for the BeoVision 7-40. If it’s you, let us know what you think.

Source: BeoVision

* Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
* 14.0” High Definition (720p) LED Display
* 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
* 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
* NVIDIA® GeForce® 9400M G
* Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
* 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
* 13.23 x 1.22 x 9.02 inches
* 1.95 kg

And all this for a very respectable US$650. Dell offer a portable CD/DVD-RW drive with the Studio 14z for a mere $90 if you must absolutely have an optical drive. Plus the 14z is available in a range of colours from Ruby Red through to, err, Promise Pink. Actually moving away from the standard Black option will cost you an extra $40 but who wouldn’t do that to be able to say they have a Plum Purple laptop.

After a plethora of under-powered laptops around, it’s nice to see Dell offering a slimline option that doesn’t skimp on processing power and still has a reasonable price tag with it.

Source: Dell

Certainly plenty of inputs for you, but with a lack of currently available specs we are a little loathed to give the UltraVision and Alpha ranges the big thumbs up at the moment. The price tags certainly look attractive but without a bit more depth to the figures we’ll reserve judgement for the time being. Of course if you’ve had a chance to play with one of these suckers please let us know what you think.

Source: Hitachi

* SVGA 858 x 600 res
* 100 ANSI lumens
* 3LED (RGB) technology
* 2000:1 contrast ratio
* 4:3 Native, 16:9 Selectable Ratios
* 15” to 80” images size
* Handles VGA(640 x 480) to SXGA(1280 x 1024)
* Handles 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i
* Inputs include Component Video, Composite Video, USB reader
* 136 x 54 x 120 mm
* USB reader handles JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, MPEG-1, MJPEG, MPEG-1 layer 2, PCM file formats

As we said, nothing exceptional here, in fact downright ugly, apart from the size, weight and USB reader functionality. All in all we do like the BenQ GP1 JoyBee, it certainly fills a niche, not sure how big the market is but at only US$500 it could be a big one.

Source: BenQ

combines the best of a smartphone with the convenience of a flip form factor. In addition to high-speed data capability, e-mail, a 2-megapixel camera and a video recorder, the Pearl Flip comes preloaded with the BlackBerry App World

How they managed to fit a whole world in there is beyond us ;-) but seriously it’s a definite mid-road product, wannabe smartphone yet trying to appeal to trendy handsets consumers, with even a pink option being available. Anyway to help you decide whether you’d take a chance on the Pearl Flip 8230 here’s the low-down on the specs

* 3G High-Speed Data Capable
* 2.4″, 240×320-pixel internal color display
* 1.6″, 128×160-pixel external color display
* Supports the following e-mail protocols - BlackBerry, POP3, IMAP4, MS OWA, Exchange, Domino, and Groupwise
* Supports the following video formats: MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.263 and WMV
* Supports the following audio formats: MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and WMA
* 2 Mp camera
* 128MB of memory with microSD card slot
* 3.98″x1.97″x0.69″
* 3.6 ounces
* 3.5 hours of talk-time
* 216 hours on standby
* CDMA 850/1900 MHz
* 3.5mm headphone jack

For those of us who just can’t decide between a trendy cellphone or an app laden smartphone, the Blackberry Pearl Flip 8230 from CellularSouth may just be the answer. US$100 seems a pretty good price for the unit. If you’ve played with one of these suckers let us know what you think.

Source: CellularSouth

Consumers are using HD video across multiple platforms and devices, and there is a strong demand for playback of DivX HD files. By adding DivX support to the BD390, now consumers can play DivX video up to HD 1080p burned to DVDs or stored on USB flash drives. DivX HD 1080p content can also be streamed directly from a network with a DLNA server making it simple for consumers to playback their library of favorite HD videos.

Which of course in turn boils down to great news for the consumer. Just in case you hadn’t checked out the features on LG’s BD390 Blu-Ray player already, here they are

* Integrated Wi-Fi Connectivity allows you take advantage of NetCast™ Entertainment Access and BD Live from any available Wi-Fi connection
* Blu-ray disc playback delivers exceptional Full HD 1080p video performance, gives you access to real-time extras on BD Live
* You can choose Cinema mode to watch movies at the 24 or 60 frames per second
* Standard DVD Up-Scaling
* Superior Audio Performance that supports surround sound up to 7.1 channels with Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Advanced Digital Out
* 1GB Built-in Memory
* Supports Audio CD, CD-R/RW, Blu-ray Disc, BD-R/RE, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW discs
* Supports format MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX/DivX HD, MKV video formats
* Blu-ray BonusView & Blu-ray BD Live
* Composite Output Up to 480i, Component Output Up to 1080i, HDMI Output Up to 1080p (24 & 60Hz)
* Digitial Optical & Coaxial outputs
* Component, Composite, HDMI outputs
* 17.0″ x 2.2″ x 10.9″
* 6.0 lbs

Impressed? We are! The price tag on the BD390 unit rocks in at US$400 over at Best Buy as well as a few other places, and it also sports a 4.3 out of 5 from customers at Best Buy. Could be just the unit to make you take that Blu-Ray plunge!

Source: DIVX

* 14 inch Wide Screen LED backlight 1366 x 768 res display
* Windows Vista Home Premium OS
* Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0GHz CPU
* 4GB DDR2 RAM
* 320GB HDD
* DVD Super Multi Optical Drive
* NVIDIA GeForce G102M 512MB DDR2 VRAM Integrated Graphics Card
* 13.4 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches
* 5.3 lbs
* 10/100/1000Mbps LAN connectivity
* 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity
* 4 USB and 1 VGA ports
* Internal Speakers
* SD, MMC, MS card reader
* 6-cell lithium ion battery

Fortunately the price tag is average too at US$850 over at NewEgg. So if you’re kind of an ‘Average Joe’ then the K40 may just the laptop you’re after.

* 3 inch OLED WQVGA 432 x 240 res display
* Supports MP3/WMA/AAC/L-PCM audio formats
* Supports AVC(H.264/AVC)/MPEG-4/WMV video formats
* 2.2 x 3.9 x 0.5 inches
* 3.5 oz
* 5 band equalizer

The 32 GB version will set you back US$400 whilst the 16GB unit has a price tag of US$300, which match Apple’s prices for their iPod Touch exactly for similar capacities. The specs are relatively similar too, with the Walkman being slightly lighter, so we guess the difference will be in the displays. The iPod Touch boasts a larger display and resolution but what about the quality? Unfortunately we’ve seen neither unit in action, so if you’ve taken a look at either the Sony Walkman X Series or the Apple iPod Touch let us know what you think.

Source: Sony

* 2.2 x 16.9 x 8.1 inches
* 4.6 lbs
* Supports BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, AVCHD, MP3, JPEG formats
* 1080p output
* Progressive Scan, Dolby Digital Decoder, DTS Decoder
* USB Port
* Optical and Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs
* Composite Component and HDMI Video Outputs
* Ethernet Port
* BD Live Ready
* 24p True Cinema playback
* Upscaling DVD to 1080p

The BDP-S360 has already scored a five-star customer review on the site and with those features and a price tag of US$300, it certainly gets a thumbs up from us. So if you haven’t already invested in the format war victor, the Sony BDP-S360 may just be what you’ve been waiting for.

Source: Best Buy

* 2.4 inch 240 x 320 res display
* Symbian OS
* QWERTY keyboard
* 3.2 Mp camera with live video capture and playback
* Supports MP3, AAC, Real , WAV, WMA audio formats
* Text, image and video messaging along with IM for AOL, Windows Live and Yahoo! Messenger
* Full HTML web browser
* Calendar, Alarm clock, Call Waiting, Caller ID, Personal Organizer tools
* 3G high speed connectivity
* Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
* USB connectivity
* Speakerphone
* 4 hours talktime
* 12 days standby time
* 4.4 ounces
* 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.4 inches
* microSD slot (up to 8 GB)
* 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS
* 850/1900 MHz 3G

Some nice features on the Nokia E71x and all for only US$100 after two year contract and $50 mail-in rebate. We quite like the E71x and so do CNet, here’s their quick video review from CTIA 2009 in April.

So there you have it, the Nokia E71x looks like it could be a winner with some great features and price tag - no touchscreen admittedly but then what do you expect for $100.

Source: AT&T