PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
The first day of this year’s CeBIT is eerily reminiscent of last year, with the UMPC concept, as embodied in a Samsung device, stealing a lot of the limelight.
This year Samsung has added ‘Ultra’ on to the end of its Q1 UMPC, making it in effect an ultra ultra mobile PC. I hope this doesn’t set a precedent for technology product naming or things could get even more confusing than they already are.
The new version comes with a QWERTY keyboard in the form of two halves either side of the screen. Last year’s version came with a software on-screen keyboard that was clearly not viewed as a success. Below the keyboard are games console-style thumb operated controllers and further navigation is possible through the touch screen.
The Q1 Ultra will run Intel’s new Centrino Pro platform, codenamed Santa Rosa and there are also rumours of a cheaper version on the way.
Elsewhere, as previewed by PC Retail yesterday, the new range of Commodore branded gaming PCs were unveiled. These are high spec systems aimed at the Alienware/Voodoo market.
Linksys announced its newest PowerLine networking products that are designed for HomePlug AV, the next generation of PowerLine standards from the HomePlug PowerLine Alliance. The Linksys PowerLine AV Ethernet Kit includes two AV Ethernet Adapter units, which utilise the existing power lines at data throughput speeds up to 100Mbps.
Asus has made a move into Creative’s territory by launching two sound cards under the Xonar brand. Nvidia is claiming to define a new class of GPUs called motherboard GPUs (mGPUs), while AMD has announced strong support for DTX, the open standard specification driven by AMD to enable the broad development of small form factor PCs.
