Latest Hardware & Peripherals Stories

Samsung Unveils First External HDD with Reduced Standby Power of 95%

Samsung makes all sorts of products from TVs to hard drives for data storage. The company has added a new external storage solution to its line called the Story Station. The 3.5-inch external storage solution is the first to offer reduced idle power consumption.

Samsung claims that the Story Station is compliant with the coming European Union EuP Directive for Standby Regulation of power set to go into effect in January. Samsung has been able to lower the standby power requirements of the Story Station by over 95% to 0.09W from the previous 2.5W. Read more

Posted on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:00:00 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Sony Optiarc America Unveils new Slim DVD/CD Burner

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

Sony knows that the hoards of netbook users out there don’t have built-in optical drives. That often means that when they travel with their netbook, they also need to travel with an optical drive. What you don’t want to be traveling with are thick and fat optical drives that take up lots of space.

Sony has unveiled the new DRX-S70U-W CD/DVD player. The player burns to DVD+/-R media at full 8x speeds. The device can also burn to DVD dual layer media as well as plain CDs and CD-RW discs. Sony bundles the drive with Nero DVD/CD software and connects to the computer via USB. Read more

Posted on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:05:28 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Orange Unveils Cheap Mobile Broadband

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

One of the universal truths of mobile broadband no matter what provider you use is that the plans are expensive. Orange has unveiled a new mobile broadband plan in the UK that is the cheapest you can get your hands on.

ITProPortal reports the plan costs a mere £4.89 monthly for access. As you might expect at that price, the data limits are scant with only 500MB of monthly data usage before going into massive overage charges. Read more

Posted on Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:41:51 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Western Digital Tosses 1TB Notebook Drive into Ring

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

Western Digital has announced the world's first 2.5-inch hard drive with 1TB of storage space. The new drive has three platters with 333GB/platter. A 750GB drive using the same platters is available as well.

The 1TB drive is also available in a WD My Passport Essential SE external drive. The 1TB will be priced at €205 with the 750GB going for €140. I will be surprised if the drive doesn't make it into notebooks as well. Read more

Posted on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:17:24 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Google Chrome OS Coming to Netbooks

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

When we think of Google the only OS that comes to mind is Android that is being used on smartphones and is coming to netbooks as well. Google has announced a new OS that is specifically aimed at netbooks called Chrome OS.

The Chrome OS will be a development from the Chrome browser and the OS is aimed at cheap netbook computers though Google believes Chrome will come to larger PCs as well. Google says key aspects of the OS are speed, simplicity, and security. Read more

Posted on Wed, 8 Jul 2009 11:55:28 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

BT Unveils Cheapest UK Home and Mobile Broadband Package

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

BT has announced the cheapest home and mobile broadband bundle available in the UK with a price of only £17.12 monthly. That price is the same that some providers charge for mobile broadband alone. You might expect slow speeds for the price, but they appear to be fast enough for most users.

Fixed broadband speeds are up to 8Mbps with mobile broadband speeds as up to 7.2Mbps over the Vodafone HSDPS network. The dongle offered will change to 3G networks as needed. Read more

Posted on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:49:25 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Samsung Introduces Rugged 500GB 2.5-inch HDD

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

Samsung has announced its latest storage product called the Spinpoint M7 2.5-inch HDD. The drive is a rugged storage device with a capacity of up to 500GB storing 250GB per platter and utilizing a rugged base and cover design.

The drive has an operating shock tolerance of 400G/2ms. In addition to the 500GB capacity, the drive is available in 250GB, 320GB, and 400GB. Samsung also claims that the drive uses a new controller that reduces power consumption in seek mode by up to 25% over conventional 2.5-inch HDDs. Read more

Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:45:28 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Optimus Minimus Stickers from Art Lebedev

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

The Optimus line of keyboards with their little OLED tops are certainly slick, cool, and expensive. If you have lusted after one of the keyboards but can't bring yourself to pony up the big bucks for it, a much cheaper alternative may be for you.

Art Lebedev, the design firm behind the OLED keyboards themselves has a new set of stickers that are available and intended for the Optimus Minimus keyboard. The stickers have different letter sets and labels for shortcuts. Read more

Posted on Thu, 9 Apr 2009 12:37:16 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Intel Announces New Atom CPUs

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

If you have been pining away for a netbook or MID with more performance than the current generation of Intel Atom processors can muster, you may have your wish coming. Intel has announced a new Atom Z550 processor that runs at 2GHz.

A lower performance part called the Z515 has been announced as well running at 1.2GHz aimed at power efficiency in smaller devices. Previously the fastest Atom Z processor was the Z540 running at 1.866GHz. Read more

Posted on Wed, 8 Apr 2009 12:06:54 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

Seagate Unveils FreeAgent Theater

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

Seagate has announced a new HD media player that connects directly to your TV to compete with the Western Digital WDTV HD media player. The two devices are very similar in that they connect to your TV and allow you to play all your HD content on the big screen.

Whereas the WD system has an HDMI connection, the Seagate offering lacks that. Why they would skip an HDMI connection on an HD device is beyond me and will be the kiss of death for the product to many users. Read more

Posted on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:38:05 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

LG W2442PA-BF Display Launches

Topic: Hardware & Peripherals

LG has announced a new LCD for computer users that is an affordable HD monitor with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and offers a 16:9 aspect ratio. Connectivity options for the display include DVI and HDMI.

Response time is 2ms making it a good display for the gamer on PC or console. The contrast ratio is 10000:1 with the right settings and brightness is 300 nits. Read more

Posted on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:58:06 GMT | by Shane McGlaun

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