Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Last week, Mark Rollins covered Vuzix’s widescreen head mounted display.  I recently got a chance to play with the AV310, their widescreen portable viewer.

What’s Cool:
Picture this: you are on a train or an airplane and you don’t want to talk to that stranger sitting next to you.  You have noticed headphones no longer guarantee privacy.  That is where the Vuzix AV310 comes into play.  Putting the Vuzix AV310 on is like putting a big “Do Not Disturb” sign on your face. 

More on Vuzix’s AV310 after the break.

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Toshiba has added the 17.1-inch laptop, the L355D-S7819 to its existing Satellite L350 series. The Satellite L355SD-S7819 is bringing multimedia features and high-speed processing power with AMD’s advanced family of dual-core processors. Sweetest deal is, the L355SD-S7819 will sell at an affordable price, starting at $749.99.

The Toshiba Satellite L355SD-S7819 packs a 17.1-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite display with a 1440x900 resolution, built-in Webcam, powerful ATI Radeon X1250 graphics and a DVD SuperMulti drive. In addition to these features, the L355SD-S7819 also offers an 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 200GB hard drive and built-in stereo speakers.

The Toshiba Satellite L350 laptop series should appeal to users who are looking to replace their desktop with a more portable and yet equally powerful computing machine. With a good docking station for the mouse and a USB port for connecting to other computer peripherals, the Satellite L355SD-S7819 laptop would seem to be a good buy indeed.

Read [Business Wire]

Toshiba has announced that it has updated its highly successful A200 series laptops with even more options for users to have their preferred computing machines at an affordable price. The A200 series now begins at just $600, but keep in mind that price tag is just for base model, and you may want a more powerful laptop once you get the feel of the Toshiba A200 series.

For $600 you’ll get an A215 series model that has a 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display with a 1280 x 800 resolution, a 1.9 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, DVD SuperMulti drive, ATI Radeon X1200 with 128MB for graphics and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g as well as the usual array of ports. Moving up but still an A215 model, you can get a 2.0 GHz processor along with 2GB of RAM and a 200GB hard drive for $749.

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BenQ wants to define a new lifestyle trend in the design of computer hardware. And as an opening salvo, BenQ has released the 24-inch V2400W widescreen LCD. Fresh from receiving the iF Design Award, which is given to elite computer companies for their outstanding design, the BenQ V2400W gives a sneak peek at BenQ’s newly evolved Kinergy Design, that almost mimic a B-2 stealth bomber.

BenQ claims the V2400W LCD as the thinnest 24-inch widescreen LCD, with only 2.44-inches at its thickest point. This measures more than 21% of the next thinnest LCD monitor available in the market today. It has blue-LED and touch controls that adds to its elegant appearance. And how about durability? Was this not taken for granted in place of design and aesthetic features? Definitely not, as the LCD’s stand can fully support the 24-inch widescreen and even provide flexibility for adjusting viewing angles. This was made possible by the precise torque and friction applied between the metallic parts of the hinges.

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Dell’s got a spanking new 20-inch widescreen flat panel LCD monitor. Based on the specs it should offer exceptional color accuracy, the Dell UltraSharp 2009W display is fully adjustable even down to the tiniest detail. Just by looking at the 2009W LCD monitor, you’d immediately know that underneath its elegant look are high end technology features waiting to be used and explored. The 20-inch size may not be enough for your personal widescreen viewing pleasure, but it is definitely more than enough to answer everyone’s need for additional workspace in their desktop computing needs.

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Topping Dell’s CES 2007 bragging list is their Dell UltraSharp 27 in. LCD Display with TrueColor technology. Targeting the display at gamers and video editors, they claim it is “the first 27-inch display on the market to provide 92% color gamut coverage of the NTSC color space.” It has a max resolution of 1920x1200 WUXGA, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, an integrated 9-in-2 media card reader, four USB 2.0 ports and a three-year warranty. It’s currently available in the US for $1,399.

To pump some digital visual goodness into that display, Dell’s also announced the XPS 710 H2C, a desktop gaming system with dual hard drives, two-stage cooling, dual optical drives, dual processors and dual nerds a droolin’. It comes in a midnight black case and pre-overclocked. The H2C’s cooling system, called Black Ice, has a liquid-to-air heat exchanger (which they compare to a car’s radiator) and a fluid chiller with ceramic-based thermoelectric cooling (TEC) modules. The XPS 710 H2C Edition starts at (*gulp*) $5,499 and is currently available worldwide.

Yep, plan to plop down more than $6900 for the display and PC but it should prove to be a pretty dern good gaming setup (at least it better be for that price).

On the less expensive side of their announcements is the Dell E228WFP 22-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor, featuring a 5 millisecond response time and 1680x1050 max resolution. It’s available now starting at $329.

Lastly is the Dell Home Media Suite, a hardware/software bundle that will basically allow customers to receive digital cable (including high-definition) and view or record it onto a PC. The yet-to-be-priced suite will be available in the US after Windows Vista is released later this month (theoretically).

The Home Media Suite will include:

• XPS 410 core 2 duo PC with 2GB memory, 1 terabyte RAID disk array and DVD/RW drive


• Creative Precision Monitor speakers


• Full suite of entertainment software


• Creative Live! Voice webcam


• 27-inch flat panel monitor


• Dell Photo All in One 966 printer


• Linksys 802.11 draft N band router


• Linksys powerline AV bridge


• Digital cable tuner for premium HD TV

Read [Dell] Product [XPS 410] Read [Tech Gadgets]

One of the potentially cool displays that will be, uh, on display at CES is Neurok Optics’ new 22 in. iZ3D Widescreen 3D LCD monitor. Neurok Optics claims the display won’t cause any eyestrain, spatial disorientation, headaches or fatigue, using passive, polarized 3D glasses to complete the 3D effect. It can be switched back to the more standard 2D view, though it requires an Nvidia graphics card (at least that is what the site says, but I’m sure you can use another decent graphics card) with dual outputs. Its resolution seems fairly impressive at 1680 x 1050 with a 170-degree viewing angle, 600:1 contract ration and 16.7 million colors. Available for preorder, the 22 in. 3D monitor will likely cost more than most people paid for their computer. A 17 in. iZ3D monitor is currently available for $1299 and on display in select locations.

Read [Krunker] Site [iZ3D] Eye Test [Vision3D] Locations [iZ3D]

Samsung and T-Mobile sure know how to throw a launch party. Wednesday night I was MIA here at Gadgetell but in full effect (whatever that means) at the Trace launch event in downtown, NYC. The Samsung Trace (SGH-t519) is the slimmest bar phone currently available in the United States, measuring just 0.33” in width and weighing 2.5 oz. 

Exclusive to T-Mobile, the handset comes with a MP3 player, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera with video, speakerphone, airplane mode, and a microSD memory expansion slot.  The 1.5 x 1.2-inch (220x176 pixels) screen with 262K colors is a widescreen format that is surrounded by a champagne colored housing. The quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) Trace supports GPRS/EDGE high-speed connectivity and only costs $99.99 after discounts rebates.

Product Page [T-Mobile]

ViewSonic announced price reductions on two of its latest 20-inch LCD monitors. The new VG2021m and the widescreen VX2025wm are now available for $369 and $379, respectively with three year warranties.

ViewSonic also introduced the VG2021m LCD display with a slim bezel design and integrated speakers. The 20-inch display features an optimum resolution of 1400x1050. With 300 nits of brightness (typ), an 8 millisecond response time and a 500:1 contrast ratio, the VG2021m offers brilliant color rendition, crystal-clear motion and photo-realistic image quality.

Although often overlooked when measuring productivity, larger displays, specifically with SXGA+ resolutions, increase employee output. This is due to a larger viewing surface that allows users to work with documents at true print size or control multiple applications simultaneously. A smaller screen requires zooming, scrolling and toggling, while a larger display can show spreadsheets, Web pages and Word documents side-by-side at 100 percent.

After all the rumors, expected launch dates, and bated breath anticipation Apple has finally replaced the iBook with a 13.3” glossy widescreen (1280x800 resolution) MacBook. The new model is supposidly up to 5x faster than the previous model, powered by a Intel Core Duo processor with a 667 MHz front-side bus and 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2GB running Mac OS X 10.4.6. It also has, as expected, a built-in iSight video camera, Front Row, iLife ‘06, the now standard Apple Remote, DVI-out, dual display support, optical digital audio input and output, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 2 USB ports, a Sudden Motion Sensor, Scrolling TrackPad and MagSafe Power Adapter.

The MacBook lineup includes three models: a 1.83 GHz ($1,099) and 2.0 GHz ($1,299) MacBook in a newly designed, white enclosure and a 2.0 GHz ($1,499) MacBook in a new black enclosure At about one-inch thin, the new MacBook is 20 percent thinner than the iBook and a display that is 79 percent brighter than the iBook. Click more for additional information and images

The new MacBook is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Additional build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 80GB, 100GB or 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple USB Modem, Apple Mini-DVI to DVI adapter, Apple Mini-DVI to VGA adapter, and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

Read [Apple]