Ask Engadget: best prefabricated gaming desktop?

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Wilfred, who needs a new gaming rig (but ain’t interested in buying the time to build one). If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I’m going to buy a powerful computer, so naturally, I am looking to buying a gaming computer. I know about Alienware and iBuyPower desktops, and while I know others exist, I don’t know which one is superior. Looking for a Core i7 and enough horsepower to chew through today’s latest titles, but I’d prefer a company that’s reputable and known for above-average service. Thanks!”

We know you’re probably passionate about [insert PC builder here], but let’s keep the banter civil down there, cool? Cool.

Ask Engadget: best prefabricated gaming desktop? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NextComputing wants you to take your desktop for a stroll, preferably a short one



After watching NextComputing dance around the definition of mobile computing for so long, we’re not all that surprised to see the firm tease its first suitcase-desktop sporting an internal battery. The headlining promise of two to four hours of battery life, however? We’ll take the whole salt shaker, thanks. NextComputing’s half-minute demo shows an unnamed workstation disconnected, unplugged, and lugged off. We’re not really sure where it’s going, or why it needs to be left on for the trip, but hey — a desktop with a battery still beats a laptop without one.

NextComputing wants you to take your desktop for a stroll, preferably a short one originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jun 2011 03:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Merel Mtouch multitouch table hands-on (video)


Multitouch tables haven’t exactly hit the mainstream, but price is likely to be a major factor. Merel’s Mtouch table brings that familiar Microsoft Surface-like multitouch functionality for a fraction of the price, retailing for $3,995, or about half as much as Surface. The 720p, 32-inch display doesn’t sacrifice on power — a 3.2Ghz quad-core Intel Quad i5 Sandy Bridge processor and dedicated Radeon HD 1GB video card keep the Windows 7-based interface running smoothly — but the table’s display suffers from some uniformity issues, likely due to the pair of super-bright LEDs used to light it.

We spent a few minutes with the Mtouch at the CEA LineShows in NYC, and liked what we saw — once we got past the lighting issues, which appear slightly exaggerated in the photo above (notice the two bright spots near our subject’s fingers). Content is loaded using a web interface, and the table is compatible with a variety of formats, including PDFs, which are displayed as “magazines” with easy-flip pages. The table is in the early stages of production — just 30 have been made and sold so far, assembled completely at Merel’s factory in Yonkers, NY. They are available for purchase now, however, and should be shipped to your door within 30-days of placing an order. Jump past the break as we go hands-on with the Merel Mtouch.

Continue reading Merel Mtouch multitouch table hands-on (video)

Merel Mtouch multitouch table hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba’s 21.5-inch DX1215 all-in-one can accommodate even the largest fingers

Clearly sick and tired of watching all of the fun other companies have been having with their all-in-ones, Toshiba this week announced the DX1215, the company’s first entry in the space for the US market. The 21.5-inch touchscreen desktop has two USB 3.0 ports (and four of the boring old 2.0 variety), an HDMI port, 1TB of storage, and built-in Onkyo speakers. The system ships with a wireless mouse and keyboard, and will be hitting Best Buy’s stores and website exclusively on July 3rd, starting at $930 — just in time for your Independence Day ketchup-covered fingerprints.

Continue reading Toshiba’s 21.5-inch DX1215 all-in-one can accommodate even the largest fingers

Toshiba’s 21.5-inch DX1215 all-in-one can accommodate even the largest fingers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sputnik 0667 PC mod: perfect for your early 1900s living room

Do ya hate that slick, aluminum unibody design that you just shelled out a thousand plus smackers for? Looking for something that just screams alt-tech, not high-tech? Then please, feast your steampunky eyes on this beauty of a PC mod that’ll fit perfectly alongside your Memaw’s china closet. Crafted by Swedish art student Love Hulten, this wood-grained cabinet of wonders takes its design cues from “the 20th century and old hi-fi.” Hiding under that well-varnished hood is a Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Mini-ITX motherboard with a 3.2GHz Core i3 500 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD and a GeForce GTX 460 GPU and a log-fire power supply. Love’s hybrid commode is up for sale, but you’ll have to contact the artist himself to get pricing. Check the sources below for a few more shots, as well as a bit of inspiration from the last millennium.

Sputnik 0667 PC mod: perfect for your early 1900s living room originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Geeky Gadgets  |  sourceSweClockers, Love Hulten  | Email this | Comments

Commodore USA begins shipping replica C64s next week, fulfilling your beige breadbox dreams (video)

If you’re like us, you’ve probably been holding your breath in anticipation since Commodore USA announced its replica of the famous C64. It promised a keyboard PC that duplicated the original’s retro-beige finish, with an Atom CPU and an NVIDIA Ion graphics card under the hood. But despite numerous announcements, and even after a cross-promotion with Tron: Legacy, they’ve yet to ship any products. The latest word from the company has pre-orders shipping next week, in five different varieties, from a barebones chassis and card reader to the C64x Ultimate – an $895 machine that includes 1TB hard drive and a Blu-ray player. If you haven’t been teased enough over the past year of delays, hit the video after the break for more preview images.

Continue reading Commodore USA begins shipping replica C64s next week, fulfilling your beige breadbox dreams (video)

Commodore USA begins shipping replica C64s next week, fulfilling your beige breadbox dreams (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Jun 2011 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer announces Predator G5910 for the UK with up to 8TB of storage, ‘combat-machine’ design cues

Acer’s been mighty busy the past few days, trotting out laptops, desktops, a media streamer, and a multitouch monitor, to boot. But the company wasn’t ready to call it a week just yet — the outfit also announced the Predator G5910 gaming rig for the UK gaming crowd. As you might gather from its reddish accents and claw-like doors — a “combat-machine” aesthetic, according to Acer — this is a power tower. These bad boys pack quad-core, desktop-grade Core i5 and i7 processors, up to 16GB of memory, 10 USB 2.0 ports, a 12-in-1 memory card slot, two swappable hard drive bays, and as much as 8TB of storage spread across four SATA drives. In terms of graphics, the most specific thing Acer is saying is that it’s compatible with NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon cards, and that it’s NVIDIA 3D Vision-capable. You can also overclock this guy using Intel’s own Extreme Tuning Utility, but only if you opt for a K-series CPU. This would mean the machine has a P67 chipset — which is what retailers in other European countries are listing — and not the H67 listed in the press release. As final flourishes, Acer threw in a handle on the back, and an angled deck on top to keep your inevitable morass of cables under control. UK shoppers can find it in mid-July starting at £599 VAT. PR after the break.

Continue reading Acer announces Predator G5910 for the UK with up to 8TB of storage, ‘combat-machine’ design cues

Acer announces Predator G5910 for the UK with up to 8TB of storage, ‘combat-machine’ design cues originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s new VAIO L all-in-one thinks it’s a 3D TV

The folks at Sony clearly couldn’t decide whether they wanted to give the world a new 3D HDTV or desktop PC — and thus the latest addition to the VAIO L all-in-one line was born. The newly announced system plays television and features a 24-inch 3D multitouch display, a Blu-ray player, a bezel with built-in touch controls, 1080p HD playback, USB 3.0, and an HDMI port, so you can plug your PS3 into the thing. The system will start hitting stores on July 13th, for around $1,420, a price that includes a wireless keyboard and mouse, plus one pair of active shutter 3D glasses. Thankfully, you won’t need those to view the press release after the break.

Continue reading Sony’s new VAIO L all-in-one thinks it’s a 3D TV

Sony’s new VAIO L all-in-one thinks it’s a 3D TV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SSI’s rugged Spark S9T brings triple-screen computing to power-hungry road warriors (hands-on)

A portable desktop tower with three LCDs mounted on its side, you say? Why yes, there is such a thing. At Computex, we spotted SSI’s camouflaged booth demoing this eccentric Spark S9T rig: a rugged ATX case sporting a handle, a keyboard with a touchpad, plus three 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD panels. As you’ve probably already guessed, the keyboard and the screens can be folded up for storage convenience. Let’s be clear, though: you’ll still need to find a wall socket to power this beastly machine, but such all-in-one solution should still appeal to video editors, military personnel, or even gamers that are regularly on the road. Alas, we couldn’t get a price for single purchases, but feel free to check out the full detail over at SSI’s website — maybe a nice postcard will get you a deal.

SSI’s rugged Spark S9T brings triple-screen computing to power-hungry road warriors (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla’s Webian Shell interface will cloak your OS in a browser (video)

With Google’s fleet of Chromebooks making their way to market, Mozilla Labs has decided to release a similarly browser-based desktop interface, known as the Webian Shell. As of now, the prototype app consists of a screen-encompassing web browser, which essentially replaces your desktop interface. There’s an address bar running across the top of the screen, a clock in the bottom right corner, and a tab button for all your web apps. Developed as part of the company’s Mozilla Chromeless project, the tool was written entirely in HTML, CSS and JavaScript and, unlike Chrome OS, is designed to run on top of existing operating systems, rather than replace them. For now, the Shell is still in an early phase of development, looks pretty spartan and can’t control a system’s hardware. Mozilla, however, says it has plans to incorporate multiple home screens, split screen views and an on-screen keyboard, among other features. Windows, Linux and Mac OS X users can download the Shell now, from the source link. Otherwise, you can just head past the break to see a brief demo video.

Continue reading Mozilla’s Webian Shell interface will cloak your OS in a browser (video)

Mozilla’s Webian Shell interface will cloak your OS in a browser (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Digitizor  |  sourceWebian.org  | Email this | Comments