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ASUS adds liquid-cooled Haswell to its ROG TYTAN G30 gaming desktop (video)
It's fair to say that Haswell doesn't do much for desktop enthusiasts -- a few percentage points of compute performance perhaps, but nothing like the major improvements for mobile SKUs and integrated graphics. Nevertheless, those questing after every extra FLOP probably ought to take note that ASUS is about to bring out a Haswell-equipped version of its ROG TYTAN desktop. We have no pricing or availability yet, just an official video that popped up on ASUS's official YouTube channel during the weekend. It promises a water-cooled Core i7-4770K with one-button overclocking to 4.1GHz, alongside an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. That choice for graphics seems a bit strange, given the launch of the GTX 770 and 780 last week -- but it's possible the spec will be updated, or that more expensive options will have the newer cards. We won't know either way until ASUS puts out some info pricing and availability, and we'll update this post if that happens.
Line 6 announces Relay G30 system for guitar players who want to rock you sans tether (video)
We've been to concerts where the lead guitar player seemed more concerned about tripping over the wire running to his amp than actually putting on a good show, and that's not cool. Line 6, creator of a series of rockin' music gadgets in the past, is back to sever that tether without trampling your tune, man. It promises great sound over 100-feet, even able to replicate the frequency loss from different lengths of cable, and pledges to be "the most dependable wireless unit you've ever experienced." It uses the 2.4GHz band (so hopefully nobody's running a boosted 802.11b router nearby) and costs $420 -- a bargain in this line of work. Don't believe us? Trust Steve Stevens, who not only has a lovely last name but also rocked out with Billy Idol on Rebel Yell and said "there are systems that cost well over $3,000 that sound nowhere near as good." Of course, if you're a big-spender with tour funds to blow, Line 6 will happily sell you the 12-channel G50 and G90 models, which will set you back $560 and $840, respectively.
Qosmio G30 coming to Japan in May, with HDMI output
Yes, it's another Japan-only shipping announcement from Toshiba (thanks a lot guys; what are we, chopped liver?). This time, the company is boasting that the Qosmio G30, the first HD DVD-equipped laptop, will hit the domestic market next month, for a retail price of about ¥400,000 (about $3,400). Specs are still the same as we've seen before, with the biggest addition being word that the laptop will support HDMI output. That fills in at least one missing piece of the G30 puzzle, namely, if you're going to hand over more than $3K for a laptop just because it has an HD DVD drive, you had darn well better be able to use that drive to pump out some HD onto a bigger screen than the laptop's 17-inch display. (Not that it matters to us, since we have absolutely no idea when we'll see one of these in the US.)
