Archive for the 'Hardware' Category

ASUS EN8600 GTS Bundled With S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Posted Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 by Marius Trusculescu

Asus today announced it will release its new EN8600 GTS graphics card bundled with the “S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadows of Chernobyl” game. One of the most anticipated FPS (first person shooter) games in history, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has been postponed several times in the past years, but gamers now have the option of enjoying the details with the newly announced graphics card.

Based on the GeForce 8600GTS graphical engine, the Asus card incorporates 256 MB of high speed DDR3 128 bit memory. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) processor is running at 675 MHz, while the memory is clocked at 2 GHz, but ASUS EN8600 GTS Bundled With S.T.A.L.K.E.R. overclocking is also possible for experience gamers who want to squeeze more power out of the card. Customers also have the option of connecting two of this graphics cards in SLI mode to achieve better results.

With such a graphics card HD content is also supported trough the HDTV-out, while Dual DVI supporting two 3840 x 2400 @ 30Hz resolution displays being also available together with the common VGA and TV-out connections.- Marius TRUSCULESCU

[More details at Asus]

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Samsung Confirms HDDVD/Blu-Ray Player Development

Posted Monday, April 16th, 2007 by Marius Trusculescu

At the end of last week, Samsung, world’s first Blu-Ray player manufacturer, announced it plans to unveil a HD player compatible with both the HD DVD and the Blu-Ray Disc format. The result of the next generation DVD war, the new product is not the first in its class as we already presented you the similar device LG unveiled earlier this year.
Samsung Confirms HDDVD/Blu-Ray Player Development The press release reads: “As a member of the DVD Forum and contributor to the DVD Industry, we recognize that both HD-DVD and BD formats have merits. As such, we have decided to market a dual format player.”

Apparently the device is nothing but a project at this time as Samsung is planning to release the player “in time for the holidays“. Therefore details are scarce and the only thing we know is the new player will support all the features of the two stand alone formats but not even the pricing is set yet.

-Marius TRUSCULESCU

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Another SSD From Transcend

Posted Monday, April 16th, 2007 by Marius Trusculescu

Transcend 32GB 2.5-inch IDE Solid State Drive (SSD) Two weeks ago we were showing you the new ExpressCard/34 SSD (Solid State Drive) from Transcend. Apparently the market is still fresh and Transcend decided to add another product in the SSD series.

The 8/16/32 GB, 2.5 inch drive that employs a regular IDE connector allows connection to most of the desktops and notebooks. Among the advantages of choosing these drives over regular magnetic hard disks the most important are the lower power requirements, higher access speeds and higher reliability. However the major disadvantage is the price, and Transcend has no info about that yet.

[Original Press Release]

-Marius TRUSCULESCU

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Posted in Computers, Hardware, Portable Media, Storage | No Comments »

Sony Drops 20 GB PS3

Posted Thursday, April 12th, 2007 by Marius Trusculescu

Sony announced earlier today that it had stopped the manufacturing process for the 20 GB version of its next-generation console:“Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers, we have ceased offering the 20GB model here in North America.”

Last year, when the PlayStation 3 was first launched in North America and Japan, the console came in Sony Drops 20 GB PS3 two versions:

The 20 GB version priced at $500
A 60 GB version with wireless adapter and memory card reader priced at $600

Although the 20 GB version was cheaper, sales reports hinted that only 10% of the demand was for that model. Based on these figures, Best Buy decided last month that it would only sell the 60 GB PS3. Furthermore, the European market and the rest of the world were only offered the more expensive model at this March launch.

The cheaper PS3 model will still be available for purchase until the existing products will be sold, but Sony has no intention for manufacturing more.

-MARIUS TRUSCULESCU

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SpinPoint HDD Announced By Samsung

Posted Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 by Marius Trusculescu

Earlier today, Samsung presented its two new SpinPoint hard disk series for both the enterprise market (the MP1) and for consumers devices (the M5). Both of the 2.5″ models use perpendicular magnetics storage achieving higher memory/volume ratio.

The MP1 is a 7200 rpm hard drive reaching a storage capacity of up to 200 GB in the 2.5 inches form factor, while the M5 5400 rpm drive reaches 160 GB. The 160 GB per disk is the maximum available now, but a two disk HDD with 250 GB maximum storage is currently in development. The new SpinPoint M5 is lighter, quieter and more power efficient, which makes it ideal for portable devices.

SpinPoint HDD M5& MP1 Announced By Samsung

The SpinPoint MP1 series will be available in 80/ 120/ 160/ 200GB capacities with either 8 or 16MB cache memory, as the mass production will start in May, but samples will be available in early May. The M5 has already been shipped in sample quantities to some manufacturers, but mass production is said to begin late April.

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