40gb
Latest
40GB PS3 for $399 on the horizon? Everybody say "wheee!"
The PlayStation 3 price rollercoaster reaches another peak today as Game Informer puts the rumour out there that a new 40GB SKU is on the cards. The price? $399. We've also heard ourselves that this has been in the planning stages for a number of months. When asked for confirmation, Dave Karraker stonewalled us with the following statement: "We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."It's clear, then, that we won't be seeing any new price drops or SKUs hit the market until the 60GB PS3s are sold out. Once that happens, as Pachter said, we'll see the 80GB system drop down to the price of $499. If not, we'll see a new 40GB SKU come in at a price of $399. There's no reason why both of these things couldn't happen, but we're not convinced that's the case. Since the rollercoaster started, we've been saying that the problem Sony is facing is that people can't afford the PS3, not that they won't buy it. A $399 ticket to the PS3 party would be excellent, especially if it were to start before the Christmas buzz hits. However, all this price craziness is making things confusing for potential buyers who keep up to date with PS3 news. Once the mainstream have bought out all of the 60GB models (All 2 to 3 million of them; It could take a while) we'll see something happen.
iTV becomes Apple TV
Well now we know that iTV has officially become Apple TV. It's real folks: we got 802.11 b/g AND 802.11n, USB 2.0, Ethernet, WiFi, HDMI, bunch of standard outs, plus a 40GB hard drive -- all powered by an Intel CPU. So resolution is only 720p -- looks like a few folks are gonna be out of luck, but TV manufacturers are sure gonna be happy to sell all those new sets. Not just one, two or three but five computers can connect to the Apple TV box, making a true hub for all your PCs. You can watch content stored on your rig -- movies, TV shows, photos, etc. -- and you can also pull streaming vid directly off sites like...Apple.com! Plus, the box will even grab content from PCs outside of your house -- finally, we can watch all the great swag that our rich can afford. Interested? You'll be able to grab one immediately for $299.
How to bump your Zune to 40GB
Despite our personal reservations on the topic, if you're rocking a Zune, we say more power to you, and we thought we'd let you know about this simple method to upgrade that little player of yours to 40GB. Ironically, iPodMods did the honors: turns out the Zune uses the same battery as that of the 60/80GB iPod, and while they were mucking about they also discovered that an upgrade to a 40GB Toshiba drive is relatively painless as well. The player also supports 60GB and 80GB drives, but you can't get the back cover back on with those bulkier drives in place, so no dice there. But if an extra 10GB is worth the price and hassle to you, then by all means grab your Xacto Knife and get hacking![Via Zune-Online]
Digital Foci's Picture Porter Elite photo viewer / PMP
Hot on the heels of MediaGear's HD2GO is yet another photo viewer / PMP, but with 40GB or 80GB hard drive options, the Picture Porter Elite is more akin to Epson's P-4000 line of capcious convergence devices. Manufactured by Digital Foci, the USB 2.0-enabled PPE-360 features a 3.6-inch screen (only QVGA, though -- Epson gives you VGA on its models), line-in recording, PictBridge printing support, and video out for displaying your pics and vids on a regular TV. Supported memory card formats include Compact Flash I / II, MicroDrive, SD / MMC, and Memory Stick (xD, miniSD, and MS Duo cards work with an adapter), while the compatible file types include JPEG, TIFF, GIF, and RAW (image), MP3, WMA, AAC, and WAV (audio), and MPEG-1/4, AVI, MOV, and WMV9 (video). The Picture Porter Elite will begin shipping on the 7th, starting at $450.[Via Digital Media Thoughts]
New Archos PMPs appear online
A trio of new PMPs from Archos have been popping up around the web courtesy of a snapshot from the Trois Suisses winter catalog, but details are still scarce as all that's known about these models comes from the little big of information we can glean from the included French description. Making matters even more confusing is the fact that the so-called 604, with its 10.9-centimeter screen and 30GB hard drive, appears to cost about $130 more than the $500 504 which has the same screen but 10GB greater capacity -- although its seemingly slimmer design may account for some of the disparity. Meanwhile, the 404 sports an identical drive to the 604, but only an 8.8-centimeter screen, and is supposedly priced at $440. Both 30GB models are said to be scheduled for a July release, while the 504 should be available in August, but we'll do our best to get specs on these before then, because we like knowing about stuff before anyone else does.[Via GenerationMP3]
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
Samsung Q1 UMPC to go on sale May 7th for $1,100
At a San Francisco press briefing and product demonstration that hopefully went better than its disastrous Korean counterpart last month, executives from Samsung, Microsoft, and Intel jointly announced pricing and availability details for the official U.S. release of the Q1 UMPC. Starting on May 7th, early-adopters will be able to pick up a Q1 -- along with all the high-profit-margin accessories -- at Best Buy's e-tail location for $1,100, with an in-store rollout planned for "later this summer." As you're probably already aware, the Q1, along with models from Asus, Founder, and TabletKiosk, is among the first generation of so-called Ultra Mobile PCs designed to enhance your on-the-go lifestyle, and sports a 7-inch touchscreen, Celeron M ULV processor, 40GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0.
