Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

We touched yesterday on the new iMac upgrades and talked about the notion that some people only buy Macs because they’re “pretty”. Well another new Apple product that takes all aesthetic pleasantries from the iMac and that lovely Aluminium MacBook Pro and basically makes it a simple screen is Apple’s LED Cinema Display. If you didn’t know already the Cinema Display is basically a Monitor which can be used with either Mac desktop PCs or with laptops. Older models of the Cinema Display were limited to what could actually be plugged into it, but now Apple have seen the fault and left it accessible to basically any type of current Notebook or Desktop Mac.

Ok so what’s great about it other than looks. Originally available in a 24” or 30” model Apple has now opted for just a straight 27” more than adequate space and room for you to do your work and with a resolution 2560 x 1440 it’s certainly packing the pixel power. Obviously as it’s now LED backlit, the screen is super bright with no wait time and greater control of brightness of your screen, not only that it has an ambient light sensor that can adjust the screen brightness to an optimum setting for whatever light your room is currently in.

Other things it has include built in sound, a 49W built in speaker with subwoofer, for fantastic sound whether from your games or media content. It has a built in I-Sight camera and microphone for things like Skype and also packs great connectivity with 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2 Firewire 400 ports. One thing Apple are pushing with the display is it’s eco-friendly, free from harmful toxins and is made of recyclable materials

All in all it’s a great monitor to have if you have a Mac or Macbook. However like all things Apple it comes with a price to match. As it stands there’s no price and only a “Coming Soon” date but looking back at the older models you can expect anything from £700 to £1000 at least.

Usually it’s “the bigger the better” but with Acer’s new S1 series of LCD TV screens it certainly looks like “less is more”. Announced this week, the super thin and small screens not only keep the high quality goods in a smaller space but also are “wallet friendly”. So if you’re interested in a smaller TV for your house or a decent quality, decent sized, space saving monitor, read on.

Housed in a nice glossy black outer shell the Acer S1 series truly indicate that size doesn’t matter. Opting to keep the screens small (18.5” to 23”) these little beauties only measure 15mm thick and a staggering 13mm in depth. Now I know you’re thinking squashing it so thin will mean it’ll lose out elsewhere. WRONG! They offer Full 1080p HD and a whopping 12million : 1 contrast ratio which alters frame by frame to deliver super sharp images. Couple that with a response time of 5ms and you’re looking at a belter. Now there is a downside in that the smaller screens only have VGA and DVI ports where as the larger 21 and 23 get HDMI too. Not only that with EcoDisplay low power consumption, you can sleep easy knowing your helping the environment too.

Prices start at an ultra-low £119.99 too.

Last Friday saw the release of Sony’s first 3DTV the Bravia HX803. We spoke about it a few months back as one to watch, well now its here, ready for the World Cup and has been backed by an advert campaign shown during the World Cup matches ( if you haven’t seen it click here)

For a quick re-cap, HX803 is available in two screen sizes, 40” and 46” and packs Full 1080p HD with LED backlighting for great contrast ratios. They also include Sony’s Motionflow 200Hz Pro technology for super smooth images, Freeview HD, Bravia Internet Video and DLNA support for streaming. They also come packed with plenty of HDMI sockets too, 4 in all. The screen itself uses active shutter technology to give you better quality 3D images with special(expensive) LCD shutter glasses.

So although content to watch isn’t so readily available, Sony is adding some options for you to get your hands on some 3D viewing. The BDV-E370 is a 3D  Blu-Ray player which comes bundled with “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" Also the PS3 has recently updated to allow 3D games playback and when the NEX-3 and 5 cameras we spoke about last month come out they have the ability to take a high resolution panoramic shot that when shown on a 3D TV such as this, the image will appear in 3D.

Available now the screens start at a whopping £1799.

The LG OLED TV has been doing the rounds at tradeshows and on blogs the world over for a good year or so now but now us Brits can expect a release of the super sharp but small TV anytime soon. Now we can finally get our hands (well if you happen to be well-off) on a bigger rival to the Sony XEL-1 which was the only OLED screen available.

At 15” you may think this is relatively small in comparison to a 50” plasma or LCD but the quality is far beyond that of either of the older techs which if you have a mobile or PMP that utilises OLED technology you may have noticed the difference between it and its LCD counterpart. The output is a good 720p and will have Freeview inside. It also has a USB port and will playback any of your movie files including DivX HD. To top all that off though is the best part ………… It’s only 3.2mm thick.

No exact date has been posted by the South Koreans for us though but expect real soon. Also price details are a bit hazy too but you’ll be looking at around £1500. A lot you might say for a 15” screen. Unfortunately OLED screens aren’t cheap to make but when it’s only competition is the Sony XEL-1 which is a few inches smaller but £3000, it doesn’t seem too bad.

Originally the LG LD950 3DTV was scheduled to be released in August but now it has been brought forward allowing consumers to get a chance to snap up some 3D tech at a cheaper price(due to it being a passive 3DTV). For anyone who didn’t know this TV was originally scheduled for release, then withdrawn from LGs product line only to re-emerge again.

With the recent Sky 3D pub showings of the football recently on LGs LD920(the commercial model for LG to show off its tech) has now been upgraded to the LD950 model number as it will now have HDMI 1.4. This was needed due to the fact future 3D sources like Blu-Ray players will use this new HDMI 1.4 as its standard so the TVs needed an update so they could then be on open sale(hence the delay/re-branding).

Now this new model should be available in May time and will come out alongside the monstrous LG LX9900(the first 3DTV available with Active technology). Now for those not in the know its all to do with the type of glasses you wear and the science involved to view the image, Active being better than Passive for the image quality but Passive specs are a lot cheaper to produce. Price details are still not available.

The D241H Display+ is a new monitor with what i can only describe as bizarre features for a monitor. I’m not saying their bad features by any means just strange. In a world where most people own mobile phones or PMPs which can do your social networking, emails and photos, why not have a monitor that can do it independently of your desktop PC.

This 1080P Full HD panel with a 2ms response time, HDMI and DVI port, it’s your standard fairly decent LCD monitor for your desktop, What makes it stand out though is its ability to connect via Wi-Fi(or ethernet) to the net when your desktop is powered off. Once connected it’s widgets can check your email(Gmail and Yahoo! mail) collect RSS feeds from your favourite MightyGadget blog, and other assorted web feeds.

You can also plug in an SD card or USB dongle and playback your pictures turning the monitor into an oversized picture frame. What’s cool is you can have three widgets working at once too. It also comes with a remote with a slide out QWERTY keyboard making it easy to write your emails or messages from a comfortable distance.

No pictures of the screen yet but it’s believed to be available in May and pricing is still TBC.

Taiwanese giants Asus have recently announced this monstrous new 27” monitor with 3D support. Asus seem to be embracing the new future of 3D tech already with a 3D supported laptop out on the market and it seems to continue here with this super monitor.

Design wise it’s not the best looking monitor in the world but Asus can please aesthetically if they want. Quality is the name of the game here though, 27” screen with NVIDIA 3D vision support, will also be available in a smaller 23”(MG236 and VG236H) and 23.6”(PG246)(but why would you want that when you can get 27?). It has dual link DVI allows for full 1080p HD quality images at a staggering 60fps so when you slap on your 3D specs, the image is smooth and jerk free.

Due out later in the year, we don’t have any price available as of yet so keep your eye out for that. It is believed however that the smaller model will be available before the gargantuan one.

Freeview HD is still in it’s first steps. Although the signal is being broadcast in some regions, the sheer lack of set top boxes available to catch the signal seems to be hindering it hitting the mainstream. Sony though have announced that new lines of TVs incorporating the subscription-free Freeview HD tuners will be launched this week.

The NX803 will be available in 40”- 52” screen sizes capable of LED backlit 200Hz images and future-proofed with 3D support. With built in Wi-Fi this model can stream media from your PC but also incorporates the Sony/LoveFilm widget, allowing subscribed users to stream movies from the DVD rental people(when it gets launched)and Skype and Bravia Internet Video(a TV catch-up service).

Also for the more budget/eco conscious, there’s the HX803 and Bravia Essential EX703. The HX803 same as the above but minus the networking options and the EX703 will have the networking options only a less responsive 100Hz screen and energy saving features. Both the latter models will be available in 40” and 46”