Archives for May 2006
Hey Apple, why the black face?
Darius Chang | May 17, 2006
When Apple came up with the black iPod
nano, we wondered when we would ever see a black beauty in its
notebook
series. Wonder no more as the latest 13.3-inch MacBook now comes in
the iconic white as well as a new black body.
There
are
three configurations to choose from, but only the high-end model
possesses the ebony body. The base model, priced at S$1,887.99 (US$1,242.10)
comes with an Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz processor, 60GB hard drive and a
DVD/CDRW combo drive. The midrange version has a faster 2.0GHz chip and
the optical storage is upgraded to a SuperDrive, at the cost of S$2,248 (US$1,478.95).
The black beauty ups the price to S$2,588 (US$1,702.63)
in return for a larger 80GB storage capacity.
At the
same time, the MacBook Pro has widened its display to a 17-inch LCD.
For S$4,788 (US$3,150),
you get the top-of-the-line 2.16GHz Core Duo processor, 120GB storage
space and SuperDrive.
Now we're talking.
Click here for Apple notebooks
More new colors for the V3x
Juniper Foo | May 17, 2006
Blink, and yet another Motorola has shed its current wardrobe for another designer set of colors. This time it's the V3x series with the US company releasing it in Ash and Licorice, two fancy names to describe what we personally think are simply silver and black. They join the current batch in Cosmic Blue and Hot Pink. Still, it's become an interesting exercise to see just what Paris Hilton-ish hue and name will emerge next from Motorola's color palette.
Meanwhile, for those who've been waiting for the Maroon and Silver editions of the V3i, they're finally out. Both now retail at S$668 without a plan, while the V3x is going for S$798 sans contract.
Digital recording for a song
Philip Wong | May 17, 2006
Now you don’t have to settle with cheap no-brand recorders which creak on touch and roar like a departing Boeing 747. LG has announced recently the debut of its latest entry-level DVD recorder, the DR165W. Priced at an extremely competitive S$329 (US$216.45), the DVR is a serious contender for consumers on a shoe-string budget.
Though light on pricing, the DR165W is no slouch in design and functionality. The sleek 54mm disc spinner comes with multiformat DVD+R/-R and DVD+RW/-RW compatibilities backed by LSI Logic Corp’s DVFX video-processing technologies.
LG also promises enhanced user experience with its user-friendly graphical navigation and time-saving operations such as rapid titling and selection of recorded programs.
More info here
Moto Q: It's coming! It's coming!
Juniper Foo | May 17, 2006
Motorola's long-in-the-tooth smart phone Q is finally, from the mouth of CEO Ed Zander, on its way. Next week, to be exact, though its first public appearance will be on US shelves. As for Asia, unfortunately the local Motorola office is unable to comment on local availability as at press time. So we'll just have to drool from a distance in the meantime.
In an interview with CNET.com, the company head honcho explained that the Q's delay was due to its "complex" innards which needed multiple iterations. Will it still live up to its hype of being a BlackBerry killer nearly one year after it was announced last July? We'll have to see once the first review comes out of the CNET Labs. Surprisingly, in the year-long interim, there have been no clear challengers to the Q's claim of being the smallest QWERTY phone at a razor-thin girth of 11.5mm.
Sony is giving way to AAC
Edvarcl Heng | May 17, 2006
Sony's new music management software is going to play AAC. That's a big turnaround for the music behemoth which once defined and ruled the portable music space. Because AAC is the audio format adopted by Apple, Sony's move is seen as an acknowledgement of the latter's dominance.
This follows the Japanese company's's recent unbridled support for the MP3 format in its new players. Previously, MP3 files were not given equalizer support in Sony's portable music players. So will the Atrac format, popularized in Sony's MD players, fall by the wayside? According to our in-house soothsayer, the odds are short.
More info here
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