Sharp upgrades its Internet AQUOS lineup

It's always a little bit difficult to take TV / Internet combinations too seriously -- we've seen the idea flounder oh so many times before -- but Sharp seems to be in it for the long haul with its Internet AQUOS line, and they're bringing forward a refresh in March. The new PCs are running Vista and are designed to work with the D10 series of TVs. The LCD-32D10, LC-26D10 and LC-20D10 LCDs naturally come in 32-inch, 26-inch and 20-inch sizes, with black, white and red casings to choose from, but unfortunately resolution tops out at 1,366 x 768 pixels. The PCs, which hook up to the LCDs via FireWire, allow DVR functionality without actually turning the PC on, but can also handle IPTV, shopping, internet browsing, DVD playback and plenty of other PC functions. The top of the line PC-AX120S includes a 400GB HDD for DVR, along with a 250GB drive for PC use. The AX120S runs a Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, Vista Home Basic and will sell for 240,000 yen ($2,010) in April. If that's too fancy for you, the PC-AX80S and PC-AX60S will be out in March, with 250GB / 80GB HDDs, Celeron M410 1.46GHz processors, 512MB of RAM and 170,000 yen / 150,000 yen pricetags ($1,423 / $1,256). No word on LCD prices, but we're sure you'll be paying a hefty premium on that end as well for the privilege of surfing the nets from your couch.

[Via Impress Watch]

[shimman @ Feb 28th 2007 4:58PM]

it's more like am all-in-one pc concept like an lcd imac than tv/pc combo. only difference is the built-in tv tuner + dvr

if it is designed primarily for tv watching, 720p resolution might be better because current windows & even many websites are not designed for high dpi monitor & it could be worse to have 1080p resolution when you browse www on your sofa

nothing new & not sure i would be interested, but for those just want to surf the web, it might provide better solution, but either having windows(or other os) or sharp's proprietary browser (probably no long term support) would be problematic for those technologically challenged anyway