Hasta La Gadget!

You know, HTPCs never did anything to deserve the worldwide shunning that they’re dealing with right about now, and Mvix apparently couldn’t care less about the overall lack of interest in buying a PC that’s chained down to the den. Rather shockingly (given the company’s past endeavors), the HDHome S2 and S4 are the latest to emerge on the living room scene, but unlike most other pre-built HTPCs, this one has an atypically weak processor and an unusually large amount of storage capacity. Both boxes get powered by a dual-core Atom 330 CPU, yet you’ll also find a Blu-ray player, HDMI output, Bluetooth 2.0, a half dozen USB 2.0 sockets, WiFi, an embedded TV tuner and your choice of NVIDIA’s Ion or ATI’s Radeon 3200 HD on the graphics front. The main differentiating factor is the amount of hot-swappable drive bays; the S2 moseys along with just a pair, while the S4 can handle four drives at a moment’s notice. Frankly, this thing looks more at home in a closet or server room than beside your HDTV, but either way, they’re both available to customize starting at $999 and $1,599, respectively.

Continue reading Mvix intros HDHome S2 and S4 media servers: HTPCs, with a capacious twist

Mvix intros HDHome S2 and S4 media servers: HTPCs, with a capacious twist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Staying on that cutting edge, are we LG? In a world starstruck by HDMI 1.4, internet connectivity, DLNA, 3D and 1080p, LG’s latest deck has it all, and now we know precisely — er, almost precisely — when she’ll ship. The BX580 has just found itself a slot on Amazon’s website, priced at $399.99 and proudly listed as the company’s first network 3D Blu-ray player. Aside from having the ability to handle forthcoming 3D Blu-ray titles, it also ships with NetCast Entertainment Access, giving users the ability to enjoy web connected content without bothering with an HTPC. ‘Course, that “usually ships in one to two months” could stand to be a little more precise, but we’ll take what we can get at this point.

LG’s $400 BX580 network 3D Blu-ray player ships in a month or two originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember the Gateway NV Series laptop that we reviewed? Of course, you do — it’s pretty hard to forget a laptop with a Blu-ray drive and Core i3 processor for $650. Well, Gateway didn’t forget about it either, and has updated the 15.6-inch NV5 and 17.3-NV7 with new blue, black and red matte lid options, and a one-touch social networking button. The former is pretty self-explainatory, but the latter seems um, interesting. Apparently, a button on the keyboard deck will launch some sort of Facebook, YouTube and Flickr interface that will display a feed of updates. We’re not sure why you wouldn’t just launch your browser to check out those things, but we know, we know, it’s hip to include social networking features. Other than that, the laptop still has an Core i3-330M processor, 320GB hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, and a 4x Blu-ray drive. The 15.4-inch NV59C09u will turn up on shelves at around $799, but we don’t have final word on the 17-incher’s price yet. Hit the break for the full PR, and sift on through the warm press images.

Continue reading Gateway NV has a new matte lid and social networking button, same tempting price

Gateway NV has a new matte lid and social networking button, same tempting price originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While keeping the overdesigned aesthetic of their IdeaCentre brandmates, the new A700 and B305 (above) all-in-ones from Lenovo are moving things forward with optional touchscreens and freshened up spec sheets. The A700 offers the full range of Intel’s Core 2010 laptop CPUs, but tops things off with the slightly older 45nm Core i7-820QM, which gives you four cores operating at a somewhat pedestrian 1.73GHz default speed that can be cranked up to 3.06GHz when circumstances demand it. Other specs include a 1080p 23-inch display, built-in 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, and a side-mounted Blu-ray drive. If you’re feeling extravagant, you can even cram in 8GB of DDR3 RAM, but don’t expect to be paying the $999 entry price for that package when these become available at the end of June.

The B305 gives AMD fans something to admire, with Athlon II X4 processors, Radeon HD 5450 graphics — great for multimedia, but forget about 3D gaming — up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to a 21.5-inch display stretching to 1,920 x 1,080. Built-in wireless and a DVD-RW drive are again present, along with up to a terabyte of storage (2TB on the A700, that showoff) should you opt to tread beyond the $699 entry price. The B305 will be purchasable next month, as will be the H320 old schooler. Starting out at $549, this small form factor pc offers Intel’s 32nm desktop parts, with the finest of the bunch being the 2.8GHz Core i7-860. Radeon HD 5570, up to 8GB of memory, a terabyte of storage, Blu-ray, and wireless options fill out its vital statistics, though you’ll have to buy your own monitor. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo adds touch to IdeaCentre A700 and B305 all-in-ones, vies for your desktop dollars with H320

Lenovo adds touch to IdeaCentre A700 and B305 all-in-ones, vies for your desktop dollars with H320 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Right on time, Denon’s dropped the details on its hardware for 2010 on us. Taking top honors are two Blu-ray players: the DBP-2011UDCI ($799, August, not pictured) and the DBP-1611UD ($399, June, pictured above) that are touted as “true universal players”; with DVD-Audio and SACD playback out of the box and Blu-ray 3D on the way in a fall firmware update the company’s confident they’ll play most any 5-inch optical media you may be able to get your hands on. If you’re past discs don’t worry, Netflix, DLNA and YouTube streaming is also part of the deal.

Those should pair well with any of the slew of receivers due up including the AVR-991 (SRP: $999, July), AVR-891 (SRP: $799, May), AVR-791 (SRP: $499, May), AVR-591 (SRP: $349, May) and the AVR-391 (SRP: $249, July); or the custom install-focused AVR-4311CI (SRP: $1,999, Sept.), AVR-3311CI (SRP: $1,199, June), and AVR-2311CI (SRP: $899, June). All of the above bring HDMI 1.4a repeaters for 3D compatibility, onscreen displays through HDMI, and some include web browsers plus music streaming from Pandora or connected PCs. Check the press releases after the break for all the details including a few new headphone models, though we recommend taking it in just a bit at a time — the threat of overdosing on this much info is high.

Continue reading Denon’s 2010 receivers, Blu-ray players are Control4, streaming & 3D ready

Denon’s 2010 receivers, Blu-ray players are Control4, streaming & 3D ready originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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