Filed under: Laptops
It looks like NEC is keeping all its bases covered today, backing up those water-cooled desktops with a range of new laptops boasting some less-than-common specs of their own. Likely to attract the most attention in that regard is the laptops' "face pass" feature, which makes use of the integrated 2.0 megapixel camera to ensure that only you (or someone that looks an awfully lot like you) can access the laptop. Otherwise, the laptops boast a range of fairly standard specs, including your choice of Core 2 Duo processors on the top-end LaVie C model or your choice of Core 2 Duo or Celeron processors on the LaVie L model. Both models also pack 15.4-inch displays, with a Blu-ray drive reserved for the very top-end laptop. Look for the whole lot to hit Japan later this month, with prices ranging from ¥150,000 to ¥310,000 (or about $1,300 to $2,675).
 
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Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs

If you'll recall, Fujitsu's unsightly TEO HTPC was first seen way back in January, and while the newest iteration most certainly steps it up in the hardware department, the aesthetics are still sorely lacking. Nevertheless, the TEO90X/D sports a 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 processor, 2GB of RAM, a half terabyte of HDD space, integrated multicard reader (SD / Memory Stick / xD support), WiFi, FireWire, gigabit Ethernet, audio in / out, and of course, a Blu-ray writer. Furthermore, you'll find an optical digital audio output, HDCP-compliant HDMI / DVI connectors, an ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics set (um, weak?), digital TV tuner, and Vista Home Premium runnin' the show. Slated to hit Japan here shortly, the TEO90X/D is priced at ¥265,000 ($2,282).

[Via AkihabaraNews] 
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Filed under: Desktops
NEC's dabbled in water-cooling before, but it now looks to be making the technology a bit more commonplace, with it helping to keep its new Valustar W line of all-in-one PCs both cool and quiet. Available in both 22 and 19-inch models, the PCs top out with a Core 2 Duo E4400 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT graphics, a 500GB hard drive and, apparently, a Blu-ray burner / HD DVD reader, with a digital/analog TV tuner thrown in for good measure. If that's a bit too much for you, you can scale things back all the way to a 1.6GHz Celeron 420 processor, with a 320GB hard drive and a standard DVD burner. From the looks of it, both options (and a few in between) are available in Japan now, with them setting you back between ¥210,000 and ¥340,000 (or roughty $1,800 to $2,900).
 
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Filed under: Laptops

Not much to tell, but Sony just confirmed the updated specs we've already seen on their 15.4-inch VAIO F-series of laptops with Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, Blu-ray disk drive, and HDMI (a bit too early still for DisplayPort). They've also updated their VAIO C-series (pictured) for the ladies with options for a new T7250 processor and Radeon X2300 graphics. Yup, just seasonal updates to keep 'em fresh and in the news.

[Via Akihabara News]

Read -- VAIO F-series
Read -- VAIO C-series 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

newVideoPlayer("HitachiBluRay_gawker.flv", 475, 376);Despite what Phil Ryan from Crave said, the the US-bound Hitachi Full HD 1080p Blu-ray cameras are very real. In fact, we played with them at Hitachi's booth here in IFA and they felt absolutely fantastisch! Both the Blu-ray (BZ-BD70E) and the hybrid hard drive/Blu-ray model (BZ-BD7HE) are solid and fit well in our hands. Even without the hard drive as a buffer, the Blu-ray-only model worked perfectly good, as you can see in the video above.

Sneaking into the future and concept area of Harmon Kardon's booth, we had a quick eyes-on with their DVC600 media center. Running their Unix-based home theater software, the DVC600 can record up to eight simultaneous HD shows. While we don't have a full spec rundown, we also know it will allow for recording and playback of Blu-ray discs. And while the 3,000-4,000 euro projected price tag will turn many consumers off when it's released this holiday season (at least in Europe, possibly US), it's a sleek system that can stylishly eliminate at least one component in your setup while not compromising power. Hit the rest of the gallery of the DVC600 in the context of HK's entire home theater setup.galleryPost('ifahkdvc600', 8, 'Harman Kardon DVC600');

Sneaking into the future and concept area of Harmon Kardon's booth, we had a quick eyes-on with their DVC600 media center. Running their own software based in Unix, the DVC600 can record up to 8 simultaneous HD shows. While we don't have a full spec rundown, we also know it will allow for recording and playback of Blu-ray discs. And while the 3,000-4,000 euro projected price tag will turn many consumers off when it's released this holiday season (at least in Europe, possibly US), it's a sleek system that can stylishly eliminate at least one component in your setup while not compromising power. Hit the rest of the gallery of the DVC600 in the context of HK's entire home theater setup.galleryPost('ifahkdvc600', 8, 'Harman Kardon DVC600');

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

While there's certainly been quite a few new Blu-ray players to emerge from IFA, Toshiba is making sure the HD DVD faithful (at least those in Europe) aren't slighted by launching a new duo for that crowd. The standalone HD-EP30 and HD-EP35 players will both tout "REGZA-Link (HDMI, CEC-Link) connectivity and native 24 frames per second playback support," and moreover, the HD-EP35 also supports High Bit Rate Audio and Deep Color via HDMI. Additionally, both October-bound units play nice with Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and DTS HD formats, and while the lower-end iteration is set to launch between €349 ($477) and €399 ($545), the EP35 will demand between €449 ($613) and €499 ($682).

[Via TechDigest] 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

A lot went down at this year's IFA conference in Berlin, and as always, we were there to get you the scoop. Here's a quick rundown of our coverage from the past week:
We're live from IFA in Berlin, not Paris Press conferences / keynotes
Live from Sony Europe's IFA keynote Live from LG's IFA keynote Samsung's IFA press conference recap Sharp's IFA presser features giant 1-inch thin LCD (and little else) Panasonic debuts new Viera HDTVs and DSLR hotness at IFA Hands-ons
Hands-on with Sony's new NWZ-S610 DAPs Hands-on with Casio's 60fps digital camera Hands-on with Samsung's SGH-i620 WM6 slider Hands-on with Creative's Zen Hands-on with Samsung's YP-P2 widescreen PMP Hands-on with the LG KU990 Hands-on with Samsung's YP-S5 PMP at IFA Hands-on with Nikon's D3 DSLR for the pros Hands-on with Nikon's new Coolpix lineup Hands-on with the Samsung T10 PMP at IFA Hands-on wi...

Filed under: Features, Home Entertainment

It's not like it's too big of a deal, but we happened by this new Blu-ray player from Sony while we were on our mass-wanderings amongst the gadgetry at IFA, and we thought we'd share a few images. Really nothing to write home about, though it does have a snazzy sliding front panel (the one that appears mirrored) -- but we couldn't say what that panel's function actually is. Maybe you can figure it out, so have a look at the gallery.

Gallery: Hands-on with the Sony BDP-S500 Blu-ray player
 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!