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Toshiba launches NB520 and NB500 netbooks, one with Harman Kardon sound, one without
When's the last time you said "Crank up the netbook, I love this song!" Yeah, probably never, but if you had a Toshiba mini NB520 you might -- or at least that's what Toshiba would like to envision you would do. It packs stereo Harman Kardon speakers that can crack the foundation and wake the dead with an amazing two watts each, apparently the smallest tweeters H/K has ever put on a laptop. That's paired with an Atom N550 processor, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 250GB HDD, 10 hours of battery life, and a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 LED-backlit display. If that's too loud or you're too old, there's also the "no frills" NB500, offering the same specs but minus the petite sound system and stepping down to an Atom N455, though doing so at a lower price. What price? That we don't know, but we'll find out when both ship in the first quarter of 2011, which starts in a month. Yikes. %Gallery-108653%
Magnavox Blu-ray player to be $128 at Walmart on Black Friday
We casually mentioned this here deal a few days back upon spying Walmart's leaked Black Friday list, but just in case you missed it, there will be at least one Blu-ray player out there for well under $150. The Magnavox NB500MG9 (which is really a Funai NB500 underneath the logo) will be offered for just a buck twenty-eight on the day after Thanksgiving here in the US, and while it's far from the most highly acclaimed BD deck in existence, there's no denying that the price is right. Our hopes and dreams? That five other players undercut it.[Via DVICE]
Amazon gets the BD bundle discounts going early
Aw, yeah. Remember way back when HD DVD and Blu-ray were at each other's throats, and manufacturers were giving out free titles left and right in order to get you to buy one format over another? It seems that little tactic is finding its way back as the holiday / Black Friday season approaches, with Amazon giving users a full $100 off their total purchase when buying an 80GB PlayStation 3 ($399.99), Sylvania NB500 ($199.98) or Samsung BD-P1500 ($211 at current check) along with four Blu-ray Discs from Warner Home Video. Best of all, a fair share of titles are priced well below $25 each, meaning that you'll actually net some discount on the BD player in addition to scoring four "free" flicks. The deal's good through December 31st, but who knows if it'll get any sweeter as the previously mentioned holidays grow closer.[Thanks, A1]
Funai's NB500 Blu-ray player sliding into Wal-Mart for $298
It's funny, in a sad sort of way -- in January of this year, we reckoned that a no-name Profile 1.1 player hitting in Q2 at $300 would seem grossly overpriced. Sadly, it still seems like a fairly decent deal. As BD players refuse to fall in price, Funai's NB500 (which is being spotted in Magnavox and Sylvania attire) has found its way into a number of Wal-Marts. Judging by the picture snapped above, you can bring home the somewhat outdated deck for a mere $298. Unfortunately, we aren't entirely sure how the unit performs, but if anyone's man / woman enough to take the leap and check it out, please toss out your impressions in comments below.[Thanks, Fernando]
Funai announces NB500 Blu-ray player bound for North America
If you're waiting for the manufacturers of value priced gear to enter the Blu-ray arena, your day is coming. Funai, the company associated with brands Sylvania, Emerson and Magnavox officially announced that it will begin production of its NB500 series of players in Q1 2008 with the intent to bring them to the North American market during Q2. The NB500 will be a Profile 1.1 number, with HDMI 1.3a, DeepColor, a "high-bit-rate audio stream out," CEC and output of SD card video footage. The press release is calling for a retail price under $300, but with the recent price cuts seen in the market, we're thinking that Funai will have to come in at substantially less than that figure to stand out.
