Mitsubishi’s RDT221WM is a 22″ wide LCD monitor in black or white. The pixel format is 1680 x 1050, which is standard on the new crop of 22″ LCD monitors, has a 160-degree viewing angle (quite low, if you ask me), 300 cd/m2 of brightness and a 800:1 contrast ratio. The response time is 5ms. The RDT221WM touts 1W speakers (why bother?) with DVI-D (non-HDCP) and VGA inputs. The price is $506 and will be available on January 26.
The 1W speakers should be an option because that would be something that I would not want to pay for. The 160-degree viewing angle suggests to me that this is not an advanced LCD panel and instead is a run-of-the-mill TN+film type. The reason why they are going toward this technology instead of IPS or VA is because it is simply cheaper. I for one will be staying away. Source: Engadget
Engadget has a blog post about Dell’s 2007WFP. Some have noted that its actually a 2707WFP, a 27″ LCD monitor. Well, the redesign sure is different from the current 20″ wide models. I am not aware that a 27″ is in the works, but if it is, then most likely it’ll have a 1920 x 1200 pixel format, a bit higher than the 1680 x 1050 that we see in the 20″ wide models. With all of the inputs that we see, I would hazard to guess that it will most likely be a 27″ rather than a 20″. Just a guess.
Update 2007.01.02
According to a blog post on DailyTech, a Dell representative had a conversatioin with DailyTech explaining the image came from an upcoming W2707C display training manual. The “C” in W2707C is a suffix denoting a display marketed toward the consumer, instead of business. Other consumer-oriented models already exist such as Dell’s 26″ LCD TV with a model name of W2607C or the W3707C, a 37″ LCD TV. What is confusing is the blog states the resolution to be 1920 x 1200, which is a typical LCD monitor resolution and not a TV resolution. A TV resolution at that level would be 1920 x 1080. But even that resolution would be weird too since Dell’s top-of-the-line LCD TV, the W3707C, only has a pixel format of 1366 x 768. So, what I think is happening is something a bit more, if in fact the W2707C sports a pixel format of 1920 x 1200: Dell is coming out with a multi-function monitor that acts as a monitor but can double-duty as a TV. The extra 60 horizontal lines on top and on the bottom can be easily taken care of by a scaler when watching 16:9 video. Who says monitors must have 1920 x 1200 and TVs must have 1920 x 1080?
Nichia, a Japanese manufacturer of LEDs, announced that it has reached an efficacy of 150 lm/W (that’s lumen per watt) with a drive current of 20 mA. The luminus flux of this new high-bright LED is 9.4 lm at a color temperature of 4600 K. The efficacy of 150 lm/W is much higher than conventional fluorescent lamps at 90 lm/W or high-pressure sodium lamps (132 lm/W). With much higher efficacy LEDs, application needs that require high brightness such as headlights in an automobile can be met. One of the first automobiles to feature a LED-based headlight is Audi’s new R8. In fact, the new R8 incorporates LEDs for all lighting applications.
Source: LEDs Magazine
SED, which stands for surface-conduction electron-emitter display, is the result of a joint venture between Canon and Toshiba. While Toshiba has already manufactured demo units and has showcased them to many CES goers in 2006, that will not be the case due to some legal issues that Canon is sorting out. Canon is working with Nano-Proprietary (Nano) to make sure all the legal aspects of SED is taken care of so Toshiba can be set loose to show SED prototypes to eager folks in the US. Nano, according to its website, has extensive intellectual property (IP) regarding SED technology and in 1999 signed a non-exclusive license agreement with Canon that made Nano $5.6 million rich. However, the agreement between Canon and Nano excluded the use of electron emissions from carbon nanotubes. The Canon license also does not allow Toshiba to access Nano’s IP and the two, Canon and Nano, are in court over the issue. According to the background information found in the ruling on Canon’s motion for summary judgment, it seems as though Canon was in negotiations with Toshiba to develop SED while also negotiating FED (field emission display) technology that is an overarching technology that includes SED from Nano. For detailed information on the case, have a look here (PDF).
Source: Engadget, Nano-Proprietary
Dell announced its XPS M1710 notebook PC in the South Korean market. The XPS M1710 sports a 17″ LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200. The special feature of this XPS is the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive. Other features include an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU running at 2.33GHz and a 667MHz FSB with 4MB of L2 cache, 512MB of dual channel memory running at 667MHz in DDR2 style, a 80GB SATA HDD spinning at 5400RPM and a 9-cell battery.
Now, a XPS system should be top notch because you’ll be paying a lot of money for it: 3,299,000 KRW + 329,900 VAT or about US$3560 + $356 VAT. The components that I would like to see upgraded would first be the RAM to 2GB. Second, I would like to see more than 100GB of storage space in addition to a 12-cell battery, not that you’d want to run the XPS M1710 on batteries for too long. I think the battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is about to end soon. With Dell being one of the largest notebook PC brands in the Blu-ray camp, it is a matter of time. Unless, of course, the folks at HP decide that they’d rather go with HD-DVD. Now that would be interesting, but probably not good for the entire industry wanting to transition to a HD optical format.
Source: Aving.net, Dell