Hardware – Page 6

Acer launches four new notebook models in Canada

August 25, 2010August 29, 2010 drsquid 5741, Acer, Acer Aspire, AO533, AOD260, AS8943G, Aspire One, canada, netbook, notebook, press release0 comment

Acer continues to make sure that every segment of the notebook market is covered with their latest releases. For the power user, the AS8943G series, with an 18.4 inch edge-to-edge glass display, include 4GB of RAM and use Core i3 or Core i5 processors depending on price point, and for graphics include ATI’s 1 GB Mobility Radeon HD5650 with Direct X 11 support so it should be up to snuff when it comes to gaming as well. Another interesting feature of these is the dual mode trackpad, which can easily…

Razer gaming gear

August 20, 2010August 24, 2010 Doug Groves Futureshop, headset, keyboard, Naga, PC gaming, Razer, Razerone1 Comment

At the recent Futureshop ‘Back To School’, Alex also caught up with Razer, which makes a wide lineup of gaming accessories, from keyboards and mice to headsets. We take a look at some of the gear, including the Naga mouse, which sports a numeric keypad on the side, for the hardcore MMORPG player. Check out more Razer gear at Future Shop here. This article now featured on the Future Shop Tech Blog here.

Nikon D3100 Officially Announced by Nikon

August 19, 2010August 20, 2010 kingpinlei 1080p, camera, canada, D3100, DSLR, Film, filmmaking, HD, indie, manual movie mode, Nikon, Nikon D3100, photography4 Comments

First reported by Nikonrumors.com and turning those very loud rumors into reality yesterday when Nikon officially announced their new D3100 DSLR along with their new batch of lenses. This is very cool as it becomes the first Nikon DSLR to be able to shoot HD in glorious 1080 @24p! The Nikon Canada website has the D3100 listed with a street price of $569.95 for the body only, and $699.95 for the D3100 Kit with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G VR Lens. This is great news for indie filmmakers!

Alienware’s laptop line up

August 18, 2010August 23, 2010 Doug Groves Alienware, Area 51, Dell, Futureshop, gaming laptop, Laptop, M11X, M15X, M17X, PC gaming6 Comments

Futureshop recently held a ‘Back To School’ event with various hardware vendors showing some of their wares. Despite the ‘…School’ moniker, there was a plethora of gaming oriented companies there. For example, Alex got to take a look at the Alienware notebooks coming to retail in Canada via Futureshop, including the M11X ($1199), a portable gaming rig in an 11.6″ almost netbook sized form factor. The M11X has switchable graphics so you can jump from the integrated Intel solution to NVidia’s GT 335M chip for gaming good enough to play…

New Nikon and Sony DSLR Rumours Becoming Real

August 13, 2010August 17, 2010 kingpinlei alpha, D3100, DSLR, Nikon, Sony6 Comments

The very loud rumors of those new Nikon and Sony DSLRs have moved into the realm of the real! The first bit of news is courtesy of Nikonrumors.com. The German Magazine “Foto Digital” has revealed in their September 2010 issue (just delivered to subscribers) has posted in the official news section the first real photos and specs of the upcoming Nikon D3100 DSLR (along with 4 new lenses).

Steelseries 6G V2 keyboard review

August 10, 2010August 10, 2010 Doug Groves 6Gv2, gaming keyboard, heavy, keyboard, pro gaming, review, Steelseries6 Comments

Whether you build your own PCs, or buy a computer off the shelf, the keyboard is often the last thing on your mind. Either the new machine comes with one, or you probably have one (or several) lying around that’ll do the trick. I know I’m that way. On one of my systems, I’m still using the keyboard from the PC manufacturer, which looks nice enough, but for extended use is actually pretty annoying. I’ve generally steered away from most gaming keyboards, because although I do game on the PC…

Nikon to Finally Show Some 1080p DSLR Love?

August 10, 2010August 17, 2010 kingpinlei 5D Mark II, A33, A55, A560, A580, Canon, D3000, D3100, D90, D95, DSLR, HD video, Nikon, photography, Sony Alpha1 Comment

UPDATE: Well, it looks like Best Buy has lent some credibility to the very loud rumors of the D3100. According to Nikonrumors.com, Best Buy has actually put the Nikon D3100 into it’s inventory system; the SKU is 1222817, “Nikon D3100 DSLR w/ 18-55mm v”, with availability: 9/18/2010. Hmmmm… ** DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER! RUMOURS AHEAD! PLEASE TAKE 100 µm (1×10^-4 m) OF SALT WHILE READING! ** Ever since Canon released their 5D MarkII, the smaller 7D and more recently the Rebel T2i — all with gobsmacking Full HD shooting capabilities —…

Acer launches new line of Aspire notebooks in Canada

August 5, 2010August 5, 2010 Doug Groves Acer, Acer Arcade, Acer Nplify, AS5745, AS7745, Aspire, ATI Mobility Radeon, blu ray, canada, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Intel, launch, notebook7 Comments

If you were in the market for a new notebook, but the thin and light category just doesn’t have the oomph you need, don’t worry. Along with the new TimelineX notebooks announced yesterday, Acer’s also announced the AS5745 and AS 7745, of those who want some additional horsepower. The AS5745 Series sports a 15.6″ 1366 x 768 display, while the AS7745 has a larger 17.3″ 1600×900 screen. Some systems will be available with Blu-ray and ATI Mobility Radeon GPUs (5650 or 5850). For those who need to make sure ALL…

Acer launches new TimelineX thin and light notebooks in Canada

August 4, 2010August 4, 2010 Doug Groves 1830T, 3820T, 5820T, Acer, Aspire, ATI Mobility Radeon, canada, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, launch, LED backlit, Microsoft, notebook, Thin & Light, TimelineX, Windows 72 Comments

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a update to Acer’s Timeline series of thin and light notebooks. In fact, when they launched in North America, they weren’t officially known as Timeline machines at all, but the rather more pedestrian model numbers, such as the AS1410, which we took a look at last September. At the time, the AS1410 represented a great value for someone looking for something more powerful than a netbook, without the bulk that a more traditional notebook. Due to the ultra low voltage CPUs in the…

Gateway launches new ID Series Notebook

July 30, 2010July 29, 2010 Doug Groves Acer, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Gateway, ID Series, ID49, ID59, ID79, Intel, notebook, Nvidia, Nvidia Optimus, silver3 Comments

Gateway has just announced the ID Series of notebooks, with silver shells and a funky blue touchpad that glows when touched. The silver casing actually appears to be quite understated in the provided photos. The 3 models all sport Ultrabright LED-backlit displays, and vary in size from 14 to 17.3 inches. The smaller ID49 (14 inch) and ID59 (15.6 inch) share very similar specs with Core i3 and Core i5 options, 4GB of memory (expandable to 8GB) and 1366×768 resolution displays. Some models will also include the Nvidia Optimus technology,…

Acer’s new computer line up – all things great and small

July 28, 2010July 28, 2010 Doug Groves Acer, Acer Aspire, Acer Predator, Aspire, Athlon II, ATI, computer, Core i3, Core i5, desktop, Gaming, HTPC, M3, Nvidia, Predator, Radeon, X34 Comments

Acer, a company that’s grown from relative obscurity outside the DIY computer building community to the world’s number 2 computer maker in just a few short years, has announced three new desktop line ups for Canada, covering the spectrum from the small form factor X3 series to the monstrous Predator gaming rig. Playing the mama bear role, is the more traditional M3. The Acer Aspire M3 series is a standard desktop tower, and will come with AMD Athlon II or Intel Core i3 / Core i5 processors and ATI Radeon…

Panasonic’s New FZ100 Digital Compact Camera

July 22, 2010August 17, 2010 kingpinlei 60 FPS, FZ100, Lumix, Panasonic, photography, point and shoot3 Comments

Panasonic has just announced the release of some new fixed-lens point-and-shoot digital cameras (hmmm… we must be getting close to the Photokina trade show). With the exception of the new Lumix DMC-LX5, all their new cameras have been given the ability to shoot in full HD (1920×1080) using the AVCHD codec. Of particular interest is the FZ100 which has been given one very interesting feature…