Slashdot Mirror

Who would make a powerful netbook that is ***too*** good to get a MS sticker?

You're right. no one would make a netbook too good for the slimmed down version of Windows, right?

Guess what, my mp3 gets recharged 80% in 30minutes. This is sufficient for me. And one full charge lasts 50 hours on my mp3 player. i listen to the music on my mp3 very often and quick recharging really comes in handy. i no longer need to buy dozens of batteries each time i go to the walmart. but i wouldn't see this helping that much when it comes to power hungry laptops. my 4 year old laptop lasts less than 50mins without power. i don't think i wanna move around charging for 3minutes and work for other 40 mins. Raw battery time is more important than how quick it charges when it comes to case like my laptop. if my laptop lasts good 2hours than quick recharge time would worth having so. This would be a good application for electric cars also. quick visit to the station or nearby outlet for couple of minutes every 100 mile wouldn't be too much of hassle.

It's only $1549.99 which is the average price of Sony VAIOs

Actually, the Sony software actually facilitates the copying of the CD to the Minidisc. Buying a second CD and copying those tracks would not suffice, because you're just copying CD number 2, which is still stealing, according to them. According to this statement, the only music you should be able to play actual pre-recorded minidiscs, which I don't even think are sold anymore. They even still sell Minidisc players, which from what I can tell, don't even support any DRM'd media formats, and can pretty much only play music which has been ripped from CD, or re-encoded from non-protected formats.

Personally I think it would be nice to have everything in 1 cable, running to the monitor, and then everything just plugs into that. Even if the cable is 1 inch thick, I'd still be happier, Instead, I have to have a spider web of cables going from my desk to my tower. Also, all devices should come with cables that detach at bother ends so I can buy a cable that is the right lenght. I just bought a pair of headphones, and the cable is 3.5 Metres long. They are home theatre headphones, so the length is understandable, but I'd rather just have a 1 metre cable, and hook up an extension cable if I wanted something longer. 3.5 metres of cable makes it a pain to use them for a portable device. If they just had a removable cable, with a minijack attaching to the headphones, then I could switch cables to the proper length for what I was doing.

Mod fanboy down

This is why Most Retailers Have it at $699.

Granted SonyStyle still has it at $659, but that just means they're screwing over their retailers when people go to price match and the retailers have to sell bellow cost.

Last thing, about 1080p tv's not existing... while most tv's "support" and will display the 1080p content it's inputed with it's not showing the full resolution. I've yet to see any consumer tvs whether they are lcds, plasmas, or otherwise with greater then 1366x768 resolution which is a good deal less then 1920x1080.

Uh...well apparently you have not looked very hard.

Sony SXRD - 1920x1080 native in three different sizes. http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDe tailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=1000 1&productId=1001969&navigationPath=n32050n100187

Samsung HL-R5678W - 1920x1080 (avaiable in 4 sizes). http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/DLPTV/HLR5678WX XAA.asp

Mitsubishi WD-62927 - 1920x1080 again in 3 or more sizes. http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/televisions/details.a sp?id=195.

Anyone see the Location Free TV from Sony?
Saw it in the store twice...first time the dude could not get it to work.
Second time it was deep discounted and listed as discontinued...too much hype around mobility when a laptop will suffice.

I would argue that more and more hardware is subsidized and more often than not, those "cheap" laptops are often used to bait and switch the user into buying a more configurable model for a higher price.

If you look at the new macbooks Pro 1.87Ghz Core Duo with a Sony Core Duo like the VGNFE550G FE-Series Notebook. The Sony is 300 CAD less but it has a slower processor, lower res screen, integrated gfx with shared ram, no Bluetooth, no DVI/Dual link DVI, no gigabit and a poor selection of bundled software.

Judging by this comparison, I believe the Macbook Prois competitively priced.

I'm in the market for a device like this for an upcoming trip to Europe. The problem is that I don't want a screen; I'd much prefer just an LCD display for status messages. I'd much rather have a smaller, cheaper (especially cheaper!) device with improved battery life, and if I want to review the pictures, I can always do it on my camera before archiving the photos to the device.

The review only mentions portable devices that have a screen, and I haven't come across many screenless options. The only ones I've seen are the Sony Photo Vault, which burns photos to 8cm (200MB) CDs; the Sony HDPSM1, which is way expensive for a 40GB screenless vault (and I think it is not available in the US); and the XS-Drive family, but their page has a warning about how you need to reformat your memory card after each time you use the device, which does not give me too much confidence in their product. Does anyone know of an inexpensive screenless photo vault available in the US?

Oh yeah, I have a Sony camera so I'm stuck with the stupid proprietary Memory Stick format, which of course makes this much harder.

Thanks!

Sony SLVN750.

Commercial Skip - A portion of playback can be skipped (like a commercial) and playback can be resumed. Press the Commercial Skip up to four times. The VCR will skip 30 seconds for each press of the button, and then restart playback.

This is a Sony Canada site, but the last two Sony VCRs I bought in the US both had this feature.

A quick google found me the KDF-70XBR950 (and Here) with GPL'd software. Also, Sony's GPL Downloads

As to assigning an IP address to a DVR Box, Sony is promoting it's Location Free TV as being able to stream your TV shows to anyplace on the internet.
http://www.sonystyle.ca/view/LocationFreeTVLanding /index.shtml?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=100 01&categoryId=47640
Maybe because it's only being offered in Canada right now they're getting around the MPAA - but what is there to keep someone from setting this up in Canada and running it and accessing from a Wi-Fi hotspot in the Excited States?
The system can be bought at Best Buy (www.bestbuy.ca) in Canada for about $1800 (Cdn) or from Sonystyle.ca directly. It's basically a Small TV set tablet with a 802.11 link to a base station that streams the video to the tablet and even lets you serf the net with a little browser.
Sorry - don't know what operating system they're using - it looks like a custom UNIX setup.

I own the PD-150 and just recently bought a PDX10http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Professional/webapp/ ModelInfo?m=0&sm=0&p=2&sp=11&id=65 263 which is pretty much just a miniature version of the 150/170. The chips are smaller (1/4.7), and don't perform as well in low light, but are wider so you get a true 16:9 compared tof the 150 which just crops the top and bottom the frame. The XLR/Mic mount on top comes off and it switches to imternal mic so you can easily become very discreet if necessary. I would definately get a wide-angle adapter through like the Century Optics one http://www.centuryoptics.com/products/dv/65xhr_wa/ 65xhr_37mm.htm. But it also fits perfectly into the Sony Handycam sports casing http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDe tailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=1000 1&productId=166371&navigationPath=32080n47120n4712 8 which lets you shoot up to 2 metres underwater with audio.

You'd be surprised. The 12.1" iBook is a pretty good bargain for a small laptop. I'll use Canadian prices for comparison, since that's what I have to deal with myself.

Most Windows-based slim laptops are actually quite expensive. The closest I've really found to the iBook is Sony's Superslim Pro, which is a full $300 more than the iBook 700 - and it's debatable whether the Sony is faster. CPU arguments aside, the iBook has dedicated video (a Mobility Radeon); the Sony has a chipset with shared video memory, and I can tell you from personal experience that nothing kills video performance like needing to use system memory.

What's more amusing is that the Toshiba Portegé 2000 is actually a popular laptop, but it's $900 more than the same iBook 700... and it's not only slower, it doesn't even come with a docking station. You're paying for chic alone, and really the iBook does a better job of that.

I won't deny that Apple is expensive, but they can make a convincing case in the portable world. I'm looking to replace my clunky Toshiba with an iBook, but heck - if I weren't in university, I'd probably be considering a Powerbook!

Get your knife and fork ready..

Vaio PCVMXS20 desktop with NetMD minidisc player built in. Although this only does audio not data.

Actually, yes, yes you can:
Right from the horse's mouth
OR
From the store with the puzzled staff

I myself have three Betamax VCRs, two BetaCams and just over 30 tapes. The quality of the image is quite astounding, plus it's fun to wander around and take video with my Super BetaCam. All this old junk still cost less than buying one overpriced digital video camera.