Gerhard Potgieter

After the long year of hard work in 2008 I just got back from a well deserved vacation and thought I’d treat myself to a long awaited LCD TV.

After allot of considration and research I decided to go with the Sony Bravia T Series. I originaly wanted a 42″ display but after viewing the 32″ I could see that a 42″ would be a overkill, well in my living room it would have been.

The model I got was the KLV-32T400A which boasts the Bravia2 Engine that delivers nice crisp sharp vivid colours, aswell as MPEG Noise Reductions that reduces block noise and improving the edges of characters while at the same time supressing background picture noise.

The display also includes a built in FM radio and built in aplifier to improve analog signals. Although it is only a HD Ready screen it can handle 1080p by downscaling it and after several tests with my XBOX it sure did deliver better quality setting it to 1080p rather than 720p.

The display has 1 HDMI, 1 component, 2 composite and 1 PC input. I must still test out the PC input to see what the quality is like, but sovar I realy impressed with the display and would recommend it to anybody.

All you pc and mac gamers, Logitech just announced the G13 Gameboard. With three game modes, a built in LCD capable of 160 x 43 pixels for stats and messaging, programmable joystick and 25 programmable keys, Logitech says it “offers up to 87 ways for you to control your game.”

It will be available sometime this month in the US and Europe for round about $80 and should make its way abroad anytime after that.

The G13 comes pre-configured for a couple of games including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare and Word of Warcraft: Burning crusade just to name a few. Otherwise, you can setup custom button-profiles as you please and even create macros on the fly without having to pause your quest.

Last year’s recall of overheating Xbox 360s was caused by Microsoft trying to bypass  ATi and going straight to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to save cash, according to analyst outfit Gartner.

Bryan Lewis, research vice president and chief analyst at Gartner, said that the overheating problem in the Xbox 360s was caused by Microsoft trying to avoid using ATi.  It designed the graphics chip on its own, cut ATi out and took it to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to make.

However the chip overheated and in the end Microsoft had to go back to ATi  to redesign the chip so that it worked. Lewis that if Microsoft left the graphics processor design to ATi in the first place it could have designed a graphics processor that dissipates much less power.

It cost Microsoft $1 billion to conduct the recall.

The mini-notebook market has no shortage of compelling systems, especially with this week’s release of the Eee PC 900 in the U.S And with models from both Acer and Dell on the way, how can a lesser-known brand stand out in the crowd?

MSI certainly thinks that their entry will shake things up. MSI shared that the Wind will:

1. Come in two display-size variations: an 8.9-inch and a 10-inch. Only the 10-inch display will be available to the U.S. market.
2. Be available starting June 3rd. The Linux version, running Novel’s SUSE, will have 512MB RAM and an 80GB hard drive. It will retail for $399. The Windows XP version will have 1GB RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and Bluetooth, retailing for $549. However according to MSI a base configuration of the Windows XP product will be available for under $500.
3. Come in four different colors, including black, white, silver, and pink. Both sizes will be available in these colors.
4. Get 6 hours of battery life with the standard six-cell battery. MSI attributes the power savings to the Intel Atom processor, since the system will not have a solid state drive.

Lets just hope that when the Wind hits the South African Market that it would retail for about the same amount as the EEEPC, cause then I would defenitly buy one of them. I love the EEEPC to bits it just that it doesn’t have the power I would like, but looks like things are about to change thanks to MSI.