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

Ok so the ASUS Eee PC has been out for a little while, and Everex are planning to ship the "Cloudbook" UMPC shortly (release date was supposed to be 25/01/08). The Cloudbook appears to be aiming at the  Eee PC market but how do the two UMPCs compare to each other?

As you can see the spec are quite evenly matched, the main difference worth noting is the 4GB Solid State Disk compared to the 30GB Hard Disk. The extra 22Gb is nice but Solid State provides a performance boost over the slower hard disks with the Asus reportedly booting in 15 seconds.

Possibly the biggest issue with both UMPCs is the 800x480 resolution which will make browsing a lot of web sites quite annoying. However I presume screens with higher resolutions will increase the price / size / weight of the devices.

While I am not a huge fan of Apple some people do love to hate them. This is a joke comparison between the MacBook Air and an old Commodore SX-64

Ok so HD DVD maybe a dying format but Play.Com is offering the Toshiba HD-EP30 HD DVD Player for a bargain price of £119.99 which includes 5 HD DVDs (from a selected range), Bourne Supremacy and 300. If it was just the HD DVDs that would work out at £17.14 per title which is not that bad itself, and then your get the Player as well!!!

It is worth noting that the US gets a better deal than us but at £119.99 this is still a bargain.

Dell have finally released the new 2408WFP Monitor in the US for a reasonable price of $748. Now this is not really the monitor I would want as I would much prefer the 30" 3008WFP Monitor which the larger version of this 2408WFP. I suppose this one will have to do for now, so what you get with this monitor?

• 1,900 x 1,200 resolution
• 178-degree viewing angle
• 1,300:1 contrast ratio
• 400 cd/m2 brightness
• 6-ms response
• 102% color gamut
• HDMI
• 2x DVI
• DisplayPort
• VGA
• Composite
• S-Video
• Component
• A single USB upstream
• 2x USB downstream

Obviously the main thing to note here is the use of DisplayPort. DisplayPort s intended to help solve the problem of displays sucking up too much electricity and should benefit the next generation of displays. DisplayPort can also be used to make internal connections, eliminating the need to translate signals from one format to another.

Unfortunately no graphics cards currently support DisplayPort but they are due out this year. No word on UK availability or pricing!

Ok so I am about 10 years too late blogging about the MacBook Air, but it is pretty big news so I am going to blog about it anyway. So what is the MacBook Air? It is a ultrathin, ultraportable laptop with a 13.3 inch widescreen.

From Apple.com

MacBook Air is nearly as thin as your index finger. Practically every detail that could be streamlined has been. Yet it still has a 13.3-inch widescreen LED display, full-size keyboard and large multi-touch trackpad. It’s incomparably portable without the usual ultraportable screen and keyboard compromises.

The incredible thinness of MacBook Air is the result of numerous size- and weight-shaving innovations. From a slimmer hard drive to strategically hidden I/O ports to a lower-profile battery, everything has been considered and reconsidered with thinness in mind.

MacBook Air is designed and engineered to take full advantage of the wireless world. A world in which 802.11n Wi-Fi is now so fast and so available, people are truly living untethered — buying music and TV shows online, downloading software, and sharing and storing files on the web.

Some of the key features include:

• 13.3" backlit LED with 1280-by-800 resolution
• 2GB of RAM
• 80Gig hardrive
• or 64GB solid-state drive (very expensive)
• 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Built-in iSight camera
• 5hrs Battery
• Oversize trackpad with multi-touch technology
• 1 USB Port
• Headphone Jack
• Micro-DVI

There is no CD/DVD drive built in to keep the size down, though a USB powered external drive will apparently be available.

The batter is not user replaceable but it is apparently possible to pay for a factory fitted battery for you. Apple are quoting $129, I would expect it will be a bit more here in the UK.

In order to reduce the size of the laptop it has been reported that Intel have used the Montevina based chip that was scheduled to be launched later this year. Combined with the Intel 965GMS chipset with integrated graphics the chip has had a 60% reduction on its footprint size. The power rating of the chip is just 20W, as opposed to 35W from the Core 2 Duo

Some more pictures after the jump.

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Hacking your EeePC is becoming a bit of a geek hobby at the moment, and this hacked EeePC has to be the ultimate of them all. This hacked EeePC has been documented over at IVC Wiki and takes hacking your EeePC to a new level.

The upgrades include USB hubs, GPS Module, Bluetooth, SDHC reader, WiFi, FM transmittor, modem and a 2 GB DDR2 module.

The cost? Well not that cheap really.

• USB hubs - 11.20 USD
• GPS module - 36.70 USD
• Bluetooth - 5.65 USD
• SDHC card reader - 6.45 USD
• Adata SDHC 8 GB - 74.50 USD
• Corsair VoyagerGT 4 GB USB drive - 90.94 USD
• Switch + Prototypingboards - 2.66 + 30.10 USD
• Intel Wireless adapter - 62.69 USD
• Airplay FM transmitter - 14.98 USD
• Conexant Modem - 11.89 USD
• Crucial 2 GB DDR2 module - 106.62 USD

Totaling 454.38 USD which included the shipping to Europe. More Pictures after the jump or go to IVC for a detailed run down of the mod.

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Things are not looking to good for HD DVD at the moment Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's agreement to stick with HD DVD has ended and they have decided not to renew the contract. This is not the first troubling bit of news for HD DVD recently as Warner have signed up to a Blue-Ray exclusivity contract and Paramount have an escape contract that can let them just ship following the Warner departure.

Microsoft have been having a lot of problems recently with its live service however it has not stopped them selling a whole load of 360s during the Christmas break.

Apparantly the company has shipped 17.7 Million Xbox 360 Consoles since its launch 2 years ago. On September 30 the figure was apparently at 13.4 million meaning they have sold over 4.3 millions units from October onwards. Pretty impressive really.