With continuous innovation, msi Wind NetTop received many excellent reviews last year. Not satisfied with numerous awards, msi continues to make break though this year by launching smaller and more powerful Wind Box DE200 and DC200 mini computers.

The Wind Box offers the high resolution and multi-media HDMI function, so you can choose to enjoy the widescreen experience at anytime. The accuracy of colors and images will leave any viewer totally speechless. (for DE200)

"ZOTAC is the leader when it comes to performing mini-ITX platforms. With the addition the new ZOTAC ION ITX Synergy Editions, we have the largest line up of high-performance mini-ITX motherboards with over a dozen different models," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. "We see the demand for small form factors increasing and the future of computing will be mini-ITX platforms."

The new ZOTAC ION ITX Synergy Editions bring a full high-performance experience and features that has won the ZOTAC ION ITX platforms many awards, including the NVIDIA ION graphics processor with NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology for full HD 1080p Blu-ray video playback and high-performance video processing and editing capabilities with NVIDIA CUDA technology.

"ZOTAC is always leading the way with our graphics cards. As new displays are shedding old connections, it's the perfect time for us to move ahead do the same," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

By eliminating the legacy TV output port, all newly manufactured ZOTAC graphics cards feature HDMI, dual-link DVI and VGA outputs for high-resolution connections to monitors and televisions. ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250, 9 and 8400GS series graphics cards with HDMI output also have a S/PDIF audio input to route audio from a sound card or onboard high-definition audio for simultaneous audio and video output over a single HDMI cable for simplistic connectivity to the latest displays and audio receivers.

"ZOTAC always listens to user requests for features. End users loved our ION ITX series motherboards, but some requested PCI Express expansion. We listened and thus the ZOTAC ION ITX F series was born," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. "Our engineers managed to integrate PCI Express x16 expansion without sacrificing any of the award-winning features either."

The ZOTAC ION ITX-F series receives power from a high-performance NVIDIA ION graphics processor and energy-efficient dual-core Intel Atom 330 processor for a power packed combination that's ready to take on high-definition video playback and everyday computing tasks.

QNAP Systems, Inc, a world-class manufacturer of Network Attached Storage (NAS) servers today unveiled a unique new network appliance that can best be described as a set-top player crossed with a NAS server. Computer users around the globe face the dilemma of how to centrally store, manage, and playback growing amounts of digital content spread around the home on multiple computers.

"QNAP's ground-breaking NMP-1000 Network Multimedia Player is the definitive product that bridges the gap between the home network and the living room" said Meiji Chang, CEO of QNAP Systems, Inc. "Users are clamoring to centrally store and enjoy all their digital content in the living room and the NMP-1000 just fits the bill" Mr. Chang added.

SAPPHIRE Technology announces the most exciting development in graphics for several generations - not only the fastest single GPU ever, but also the first video cards to support the advanced graphical features only available in Microsoft DirectX 11 and delivering spectacular video clarity, speed and visual effects, including over multiple monitors.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5870 is based on an advanced new graphics architecture from the ATI division of AMD, the second generation of GPU to be built in its 40nm process. This is the very first series of graphics solutions to support the forthcoming DirectX 11, soon to be introduced with Windows 7 and supported in Windows Vista.

MSI's AMD Athlon Neo powered U210 ultra-portable reached retail today. While not intended to be a ULPC, this 12.1-inch notebook sells for US $430. It features a 1366 x 768 pixel 12.1 inch screen, and is powered by a 1.6 GHz Athlon Neo MV-40 processor aided by 2 GB of memory, ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics, 250 GB of storage, and a 4-in-1 media card reader. It is connected by WiFi, 10/100 Ethernet, and HDMI (for HD displays). Windows Vista Home Premium is the preferred operating system, and comes preinstalled.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms,　today announced the VIA EPIA-P720 Pico-ITX board, which takes advantage of the latest VIA VX855 media system processor to deliver stunningly smooth playback of the latest HD video formats for next-generation digital interactive devices.

"VIA continually strives to offer customers compelling product designs that open up new worlds of possibility," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc.　"The VIA EPIA-P720 enables a new class of extremely compact embedded devices that can comfortably handle the most demanding video playback whilst remaining entirely fanless. No other compact platform currently offers these features in tandem."

ASUS today unveiled the brand new ultra-slim Designo MS Series LCD monitors MS246/ 236/ 227/ 226/ 202 to astound users with a perfect combination of exceptional style and picture quality. The design concept behind the Designo MS Series is inspired by the binary state, incorporating a series of contrasting elements like the numbers 1 and 0, straight lines and circles, and black and white into an ultra-slim monitor with a 16.5mm profile. The unique spherical ring stand features Ergo-Fit Technology that lets users adjust the monitor's tilt angle with just one finger. The Designo MS Series' ergonomic design puts the screen at eye level for a comfortable and productive dual screen computing experience when deployed as a notebook's supplementary monitor. It further astounds with its crisp visuals in Full HD 1080p, 50,000:1 contrast ratio, 2ms response time and ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology, along with an extra 40% in power savings. Amazing visuals in a head-turning package-it is simply as good as it gets.

Here's an interesting little gadget from Japan, the Ratoc VGA to DVI/HDMI converter (model: REX-VGA2DVI-PW). For systems with just the D-Sub video output, this box acts as an analogue to digital converter (ADC), and gives out a DVI port. It finds application where you're trying to connect a notebook or PC with just a D-Sub connector to an HDTV. One end of it connects to the D-Sub port (probably over a wire), the box draws its power from a USB port, while it outputs through a DVI port, which can further be converted to HDMI using the included dongle. The box further provides an adjust control that lets you adjust image quality. Finally, there are two catches: 1. The maximum resolution it supports is 1920 x 1200 pixel (so it should do fine for 1080p and below), 2. It's priced at ¥11,000 in Japan (that's a little over US $116).

PowerColor expanded its energy efficient lineup of entry-thru-mainstream graphics cards which it calls Go! Green, with two passively-cooled graphics cards based on ATI Radeon HD 4670 and Radeon HD 4350. The PowerColor Go! Green SCS3 HD 4670 uses a large passive cooler which uses heat-pipes to convey heat to a aluminum fin array. This extends the card's footprint to around two expansion slots. The card maintains ATI reference core clock speeds of 750 MHz, and makes use of 1 GB of memory across a 128-bit GDDR3 memory interface, clocked at 1600 MHz. Output connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Like every other HD 4670 accelerator, it relies entirely on the PCI-Express slot for its power. Hardware CrossFireX connectivity isn't provided.

PowerColor's second offering, the HD 4350 Go! Green HDMI, unlike most other Radeon HD 4350 graphics cards, is a full-height card, with a monolithic aluminum heatsink that cools the GPU and some of the memory chips. The heatsink, although fit for most half-height cards, spans across two expansion slots. Its USP is the onboard HDMI connector, which neighbours DVI and D-Sub ports. Its core is clocked at 600 MHz, with its 64-bit DDR2 memory at 800 MHz. There are three sub-variants based on memory amount: 256 MB, 512 MB, and 1 GB. PowerColor maintains that these graphics cards offer up to 38 percent energy savings compared to standard versions. Other models in this series are the Go! Green HD 4650 SCS, and Go! Green HD 4350 (non-HDMI).

NVIDIA's upcoming 40 nm value GPUs, GeForce GT 220 and GeForce G 210 are on their way to a early Q4 launch. NVIDIA looks to give its 40 nm desktop GPUs the right profile with its reference designs that include low-profile (half-height), single-slot PCBs and coolers. The size and shape of these cards send out good signals about their thermal characteristics, at least for now.

Both these cards use essentially similar designs: a half-height PCB holds the GPU one one end, and memory chips are distributed on the front and back sides of the PCB. The G 210 offers DVI-D and DisplayPort connectors on the card, while the GT 220 offers DVI-D and HDMI. Both cards feature extensions for the D-Sub connector. The GT 220 has a slightly longer PCB, with a dense aluminum cooler. Both cards rely entirely on the PCI-Express slot for power. G 210 features 24 shaders, 512 MB of 64-bit DDR2 or GDDR3 memory, while the GT 220 features 48 shaders, up to 1 GB of 128-bit GDDR3 memory. Pictured below are GT 220 and G 210 and angled, front, and back pictures in the said order.

Major ATI partner Sapphire is releasing a variant of the HD 4890 Vapor-X accelerator, with double the amount of memory: 2 GB. Being a variant, it retains the rest of the feature-set, with a blue non-reference PCB, Sapphire Vapor-X GPU cooler, and separate heatsinks over the VRM and memory areas. The card comes with clock speeds of 870/4200 MHz (core/memory), and provides output from DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. It is expected to retail in Europe for as low as 226 EUR.

Gateway announced two new widescreen LCD monitors in its ranks. The FHD2102 bmidgz is a 21.5 inch display, while the FHD2402 bmidgz is 24 inch. Both offer a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, and brightness of 300 cd/m². While the FHD2102 offers access time of 5 ms and dynamic contrast ratio of 20000:1, the FHD2402 provides 2 ms of access time and 40000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Both monitors take input from DVI, D-Sub and HDMI. They are mounted with 2W stereo speakers. While the FHD2102 sells for $200, the FHD2402 is priced higher, at $270.

Galaxy is readying another variant of the GeForce 9600 GT Low Power Edition. Prior to this, the company had launched the 9600 GT Low Power, Low Profile (LPLP edition), and the 9600 GT Green Edition. Unlike the two, the new variant uses a full-height PCB, and a cooler made by Cooler Master, that doesn't span into more than one expansion slot.

The card draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot, and uses a 2+1 phase power design. Under the cooler is a 55 nm G94 GPU, with clock speeds of 600/1625 MHz (core/shader). The 512 MB of 256-bit GDDR3 memory is passively cooled under the cooler's air-flow. It is clocked at 900 MHz (1800 MHz DDR). Output is care of DVI, D-Sub, and audio-relayed HDMI connectors. It's pricing and availability isn't disclosed yet.

Acer America announced U.S. availability of new Acer Aspire notebooks offering exceptional price/performance and cinematic high-definition entertainment to anyone on-the-go, including students and small business professionals.

These systems boast a dynamic multimedia experience with cinematic HD, 16:9 widescreens and Dolby surround sound audio in a visually appealing sapphire design known as Gemstone Blue. The Aspire notebooks are engineered to suit the needs of users desiring an affordable mobile workhorse for being productive and enjoying digital life at school, on the road or at home.

Sapphire today announced its Radeon HD 4730 accelerator. The new GPU surfaced along with Radeon HD 4790. Together these GPUs fill the Radeon HD 4700 series, bringing relief to the demand Radeon HD 4770 created, but is apparently unable to meet due to technical problems with the 40 nm manufacturing node of foundry partner TSMC.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4730 uses a PCB that is pin-compatible with Radeon HD 4870, as it is based on the same RV770 core with a different configuration. The company used a simple cooler with radially-projecting aluminum fins, which it has been using on inexpensive models of the Radeon HD 4850, and HD 4830. The memory is subjected to its air-flow, while the VRM area has a heatsink of its own. The GPU has 640 stream processors enabled, with a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 512 MB of memory. Sapphire cut down on the number of memory chips used, thanks to the narrower memory bus, while maintaining the memory bandwidth of similarly clocked 256-bit GDDR3. The core is clocked at 750 MHz, while the memory is at 900 MHz (3.6 GT/s effective). The outputs provided on the card are DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. The card takes its power input from two 6-pin power connectors. The card uses a 3+2 phase power circuit. The Sapphire HD 4730 is expected to be priced at 80€.

LaCie announced an economic way to add media player functionality to existing storage devices. LaCinema Classic Bridge enables users to leverage the investments already made on internal and external storage solutions, and turn them into dynamic multimedia devices. Simply connect the Classic Bridge to a desired TV, add a storage device, and play libraries of movies, music, and photos in flawless 1080p HD resolution.

The attractive and compact LaCinema Classic Bridge fits seamlessly into entertainment centers, and enables two options for adding storage. Option one allows users to connect an external USB drive to the front of the device for easy access to their multimedia content. Option two allows users to easily insert an internal hard disk directly into the device for a clean, fully integrated set-up, just like the LaCinema Classic. Users may also choose to implement both options for expanded capacity.

ASUS, the leading provider of integrated Home Entertainment PC solutions, today unveiled an innovative suite of entertainment solutions for home users. Slim, stunningly beautiful, and incorporating the latest standards in dynamic home entertainment, the solutions include the ultra-slim ASUS LS and MS Series monitors, the versatile ASUS 24T1E TV Monitor that receives both analog and digital TV signals, the convenient ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 HD Media Player that supports a wide array of media formats, the aurally superior ASUS Xonar Essence ST audio card which minimizes jitters for clearer and crisper audio output, and the highly portable ASUS External Slim Blu-ray Optical Disk Drives for high quality, high definition entertainment on the go.

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading stand-alone provider of commercial LCD displays and projectors, today announced the 43-inch NEC CRV43 ultra-widescreen specialty desktop display, designed for use in applications such as professional graphics, higher education, government, financial, command & control and home office.

The NEC CRV43 curved display can be seen at InfoComm 09 (Peerless Booth No. 5441) on June 17-19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

We saw an interesting graphics card at Galaxy today. Their latest
9800 GT uses a mini-HDMI connector instead of a normal sized one.

Onkyo's latest addition to its monitor lineup is the LA21TW-01S. This 21.5 inch full HD monitor offers some desk aesthetics apart from its basic display functions. Apart from its native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, it features a maximum brightness of 300 cd/m², and a static contrast ratio of 1000:1 (20000:1 ACR). The unit also holds two 1.6 W (RMS) speakers. It takes input from D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI connectors. It is currently priced at US $ 361.

Today's students and young professionals need a versatile notebook that can serve as their workhorse by day and entertainment center at night. The new Dell Studio 14z powered by the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor provides a perfect blend of performance and portability with graphics support for gaming, HD video, and creative self-expression.

The GeForce 9400M in the Dell Studio 14z delivers up to five times faster graphics performance than Centrino 2 notebooks to accelerate image editing, video playback, and video conversion. With vReveal, the Studio 14z can fix grainy, shaky video twice as fast as comparable notebooks, and then let you upload the video to YouTube in minutes.

HDMI Licensing, LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification, today announced the features that will be incorporated in the upcoming HDMI 1.4 specification. This latest version of the HDMI specification will, among other advancements, offer networking capabilities with Ethernet connectivity and will add an Audio Return Channel to enable upstream audio connections via the HDMI cable. The HDMI specification 1.4 will be available for download on the HDMI LLC website no later than June 30, 2009.

ECS is dressing up two new motherboards for a gala launch at Computex 2009. The A785GM-M and P55H-A were recently announced by the company to be heading for display and launch at the event, in its Computex booth invitation press-release. AlienBabelTech published exclusive pictures of the two.

To begin with, the A785GM-M is a micro-ATX motherboard based on the new AMD 785G chipset. The chipset features a Radeon HD 4200-class IGP. It is possibly based on the new RS880 core. The board supports AMD AM3 socket CPUs, and provides four DDR3 DIMM slots. Its display connectivity options include D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI. The rest of its connectivity includes FireWire, eSATA and one gigabit Ethernet interface.

The P55H-A on the other hand, is one of the company's first offerings that support the upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. This is another of the motherboards we have seen so far, that lack display connectors, and hence, lack Intel Flexible Display Interface support, that connects integrated graphics processors on some CPUs to their output. It provides two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrically dual x8 when both populated). Four DDR3 DIMM slots support dual-channel DDR3 memory, 8 channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, and 6 SATA II ports make for the rest of it.