Sitex 22" LCD monitors price update

Current information gathered:

Acer

Acer P203W 20"
Show price: S$299
Remarks: Acer's sub-s$300 20-inch panel comes with a free DVI cable.
Specs: 20-inch widescreen LCD; 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 2500:1 contrast ratio; 300cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI.
Booth: 6C01 and 6F20
http://www.acer.com.sg/products/mon...onitorp203W.asp

Acer P223W 22"
Show price: S$469
Remarks: Comes with free DVI cable and Brother DCP 135C All-in-One printer.
Specs: 22-inch widescreen LCD; 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 2500:1 contrast ratio; 300cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI.
Booth: 6C01 and 6F20
http://www.acer.com.sg/products/mon...onitorp223W.asp

Acer AL2416WB 24"
Show price: S$599
Remarks: Still one of the most affordable 24-inch LCD monitors at the SITEX show. Comes with free DVI cable and Brother DCP 135C All-in-One printer.
Specs: 24-inch widescreen LCD; 1,920 x 1,200 resolution; 1000:1 contrast ratio; 400cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI.
Booth: 6C01 and 6F20
http://www.acer.com.sg/products/mon...toral2416WB.asp

Acer P243W 24"
Show price: S$699
Specs: 24-inch widescreen LCD; 1,920 x 1,200 resolution; 3000:1 (ACM) contrast ratio; 400cd/m2 brightness; 2ms response time; supports DVI, HDMI.


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Samsung

Samsung 2232GW 22"
Show price: S$479
Remarks: This 22-inch Samsung LCD display is going for S$100 less than the street price.
Specs: 22-inch widescreen LCD; 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 1000:1 contrast ratio; 300cd/m2 brightness; 2ms response time; supports DVI.
Booth: 5A30
http://www.samsung.com/he/products/.../art/2232gw.asp

Samsung 226BW 22"
Show price: S$429

Samsung 223BW 21.6"
Show price: S$379


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ViewSonic:


ViewSonic VA2226w 22"
Show price: S$429
Remarks: One of the most affordable 22-inch panels at the SITEX show. Comes with free Targus Notebook Backpack and S$20 shopping voucher.
Specs: 22-inch widescreen LCD (21.6-inch display area); 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 2,000:1 contrast ratio(DCR) ; 300cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI.
Booth: 5M10
http://www.viewsonic.com.sg/product...pecs.php?id=330

ViewSonic VX2235wm-5/7 22"
Show price: S$459
Remarks: Comes with free S$20 shopping voucher.
Specs: 22-inch widescreen LCD; 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 4,000:1 contrast ratio; 2ms response time; 300cd/m2 brightness; supports DVI.
Booth: 5M10
http://www.viewsonic.com.sg/product...pecs.php?id=279

ViewSonic VX2255wmb/h 22"
Show price: S$499
Remarks: Comes with a free Brother 3-in-1 printer.
Specs: 22-inch widescreen LCD (21.6-inch display area); 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 2,000:1 contrast ratio; 300cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI; built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, microphone and speakers.
Booth: 5M10
http://www.viewsonic.com.sg/product...pecs.php?id=311
http://www.viewsonic.com.sg/product...pecs.php?id=313


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NEC

NEC LCD193WXM/LCD203WXM 19"/20"
Show price: S$399/S$559
Specs: 19-inch/20-inch widescreen LCD; 1,440 x 900 resolution (1,680 x 1,050 resolution for 20-inch model); 1,000:1 contrast ratio; 300cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI; integrated speakers.
Booth: 6G40

NEC LCD20WGX2 20"
Show price: To be announced
Remarks: This 20.1-inch gaming LCD monitor will be offered at an exclusive price at the SITEX show.
Specs: 20.1-inch widescreen LCD; 1,680 x 1,050 resolution; 1600:1 contrast ratio (with advanced DVM); 470cd/m2 brightness; 6ms response time; supports DVI; integrated 4-port USB 2.0 hub.
Booth: 6G40
http://www.nec.com.sg/ap/page.asp?id=150

NEC LCD2470WVX 24"
Show price: S$1,179
Remarks: This 24-inch LCD monitor is targeted at high-end users.
Specs: 24-inch widescreen LCD; 1,920 x 1,200 resolution; 1000:1 contrast ratio; 400cd/m2 brightness; 5ms response time; supports DVI; HDCP compatible; thin bezel; optional speaker attachment.
Booth: 6G40
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/26/...470wvx-monitor/


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ASUS:


Asus VW222U 22"
Show price: S$449
Specs: Response time: 2ms; Contrast Ratio: 2000:1; PC Input: DVI/D-SUB Interface; Display Colors: 16.7million; HDCP support; Bonus gifts worth S$90
Booth: 6E20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16824236028

Asus PG221H 22"
Show price: S$889
Remarks: Ultimate Gamers' Choice
Specs: 1st Year Zero Bright Dot Limited Warranty; Wide gaming display with rich video inputs and power bass system; HDMI support; Light-In-Motion effects; Response time: 2ms; Constrast Ratio: 2000:1; PC Input: DVI/D-SUB Interface; Display Colors: 16.7million; Video Inputs: Composite, S-Video, Component, HDMI; 1.3MP Webcam; Bonus gifts worth $150 (Sennheiser PC130 Headset + DVI cable)
Booth: 6E20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16824236025

Asus MW221C 22" (NEW)
Show price: S$495
Specs: 1st year zero bright dot warranty; hdcp support; anti-reflection glare panel; built-in speakers; 2ms; 2000:1; DVI/D-SUB; 16.7m; free altec lansing bxr1121 speaker with subwoofer, dvi cable.


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Philips:

Philips 220CW8FB LCD Monitor 22"
Show price: S$529
Specs: 1680x1050 resolution; Fast response time; SmartContrast and SmartImage technology; PerfecTune support; Hassle-free tuning with SmartControll II; First of its kind SmartAccessory feature for personalizing your monitor
Booth: 6A04 and 6D56

Philips 220XW8FB HD-Ready LCD Monitor 22"
Show price: S$479
Specs: 1680x1050 resolution; 2ms response times; 3000:1 contrast ratio; SmartImage technology; HDMI and HDCP support; USB 2.0 port
Booth: 6A04 and 6D56


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LG:

LG L226WT-WF Widescreen 22"
Show price: S$399
Remarks: recently priced at $399 (based on 8nov promo)
Specs: 2ms Response Time; High contrast ratio 3000:1; Interface DVI; High Brightness 300cd/m2; Wide Viewing Angle 170/170; Picture Enhancing Chip F-Engine, HDCP, ez Zooming; 1680x1050 resolution (WSXGA+); Colours 16.7M (8bit)
Booth: 6D20

LG L226WT-BF Widescreen 22"
Show price: S$429
Remarks: recently priced at $449 (based on 8nov promo)
Specs: 2ms Response Time; New Extreme for contrast ratio 5000:1; Interface DVI; High Brightness 300cd/m2; Wide Viewing Angle 170/170; Picture Enhancing Chip F-Engine, HDCP, ez Zooming; 1680x1050 resolution (WSXGA+); Colours 16.7M (8bit)
Booth: 6D20


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Other LCD and promotions to consider:

Dell:

Dell E248WFP 24"
Online price: S$629
Sitex price: S$589
Remarks: Online Price S$629, Price after S$270 Cash Off, GST & Delivery.
Specs: Entry 24" Widescreen Flat Panel with Analog and Digital DVI-D (HDCP); 1920 x 1200; 1000:1 contrast ratio; 400 cd/m2, 5 ms, Analog, DVI-D (Digital) with HDCP
Booth: 6H20
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/pro...dhs1&l=en&s=dhs


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Prolink:

Prolink PRO221TW 22"
Show price: S$438

Adobe posts their updates

There are a few updates from Adobe, patching Photoshop CS3 to 10.0.1 and also Lightroom to 1.3. Of course the Camera Raw plugin has been patched to support newer camera models as usual!

Singing by the SongBird brings free music via the web

http://www.songbirdnest.com/

An opensource iTunes? The web-browser software gets music off the web for your listening pleasure. The current version 0.3.1 is not free of bugs, but is certainly useful.

Check it out!!

Cheap portable HDD - pre-Sitex sale

http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/priceguide/newsview.php?id=2367

As can be seen on this Bizgram sale - 160gb hdd for only $129. Looks like a bargain to me! take a look!

Stroll at Sim Lim Square - Quest for a LCD

Today is 26 Nov 2007, several days before the impending Sitex 2007. Will we see cheaper prices that what is already offered in out "infamous" SLS (Sim Lim Square)?

For those of you who are foreign to Singapore, SLS is a mall which is populated by many small shops selling electronics products ranging from consumer electronics to computer motherboards and peripherals.

I went around the shops one by one, stopping by those that shows off their wide variety of LCD monitors. My focus was to look for a 22-inch LCD monitor. Pleasantly to my surprise, the prices are quite welcoming but one must be wary of model numbers. It was obvious to me that each manufacturer (eg. Samsung, LG or Viewsonic) have several different models of the same sized LCD monitor - so not all 22" monitors are built alike.

I will only focus on Samsung, LG and Viewsonic, as I feel that their build quality, design and value is what we Singaporeans desire the most. Of the 3 brands, Samsung's design is the slickest, followed by LG. Viewsonic's design is somewhat older looking.

Now for the prices :

Samsung has 3 models, the 226BW, 226CW and 2232GW models spotting prices like S$445, $499 and more than $510 respectively. (please ignore the 225xW models as they are slower screens)

LG has two models, one with 2000:1 contrast ratio while the newer model has 5000:1 (model L226WT or L227WT I think). Prices are S$399 and $445 respectively. Definitely a steal. Look at the comparison of the models here.

Viewsonic has one model that is $499 but is bundled with a free Brother all-in-one printer. See promotion here

For those with a bigger budget, I've seen a 24 inch display that can be had for S$899 and boasts a screen resolution of 1900x1200.


Will we see better prices at Sitex? Stay tuned here.

Robot Fish

As a follow-up to the Robot Fish story, here is a video clip

Nethook vs LinkedIn ?

Nethooks is an upcoming social network for professionals. Can Nethooks beat LinkedIn?
Nethooks has interesting Privacy Features that may be what matured social networkers want.

NAND technology going 133MB/sec

Heard of ONFi ? Open NAND Flash Interface working group will announce the draft ONFi 2.0 specification. Once the spec is announced, perhaps we'll start to see produces that can deliver up to 133MB/second (compared to 50MB/second for current "legacy" interface).

Nokia N82

Nokia launched the N-Series N82 ....

Go to Engadget to read : http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/11/14/the-nokia-n82-gets-official/

Web 2.0 File storage

Check this out http://www.box.net

The Lite plan is free and is tag with a max file size of 10mb each file with 10GB/month bandwidth limit. Max space allocated is about 1Gb.

VGA and DVI days are numbered

Yes.. a new standard is up and coming, called DisplayPort. Companies like Samsung and Dell will be launching 30 inch LCD monitors with DisplayPorts. These high-end monitors boast screen resolutions 2650x1600 with 10-bit color depth. Data rate for such high-res would go as high as 10.8Gbps.

Looks like everyone is up to change VGA cards, monitors in Q2 2008.

HD confusion

This is taken from Engadget:

" 1) 20% of HDTV owners who think they are watching HD broadcasts are actually not; 2) only 41% of HDTV owners were told how to receive HD broadcasts when they purchased their set; and 3) about 40% of HDTV owners believe they have an HDM player, which is larger than the number of HDM players sold to date"

A New Beginning... but first...

What if we transform this little blog into a full blown forum?
I thought the idea is interesting, but we will need hosting space.

I'm toying with the idea of installing WAMP + myBB to test out. But my ISP blocks port 80, so I'll have to operate on another port. Any experienced WAMP or myBB folks? Please help!!

Nokia N-series phones

Nokia has been heavily advertising for the upcoming Nokia N810 Internet Tablet (phone). Specs here:

General

Size

Volume: 128 cc
Weight: 226 g
Length: 72 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Display

High-resolution 4.13" WVGA display (800 x 480 pixels) with up to 65,000 colors
Processor

TI OMAP 2420, 400Mhz
Memory

DDR RAM 128MB
Flash 256MB
Storage

Up to 2GB internal memory
Support for compatible miniSD and microSD memory cards (with extender). Supports cards up to 8GB. (SD cards over 2GB must be SDHC compatible.)
Operating times*

Battery: Nokia Maps BP-4L
Continuous usage (display on, wireless LAN active): up to 4 hours
Music playback: up to 10 hours
Always online time: up to 5 days
Standby time: up to 14 days

Other characteristics
Smooth slide with integrated QWERTY keyboard
Built-in GPS receiver
High quality stereo speakers and sensitive microphone
High-resolution widescreen display
Integrated desk stand
Integrated VGA web camera
HW key to lock touch screen and keys
Ambient light sensor
Connectivity
WLAN standard: IEEE 802.11b/g
Bluetooth specification v. 2.0 +EDR
Profiles supported: HID, FTP, DUN, GAP, SPP, HSP, SAP and OPP
USB 2.0 high speed
3.5 mm stereo headphone plug (Nokia AV Connector)
Language support
HW keyboard variants: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish-Portuguese, Scandinavian and Russian
User interface languages: British English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, American English, Brazilian Portuguese, Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese
User guide languages: British English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, American English, Brazilian Portuguese, Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Arabic

Skype and Logitech

Well well, it appears that there is a partnership between the two companies as we see Skype having a beta version of it's popular VoIP software out. Skype version 3.6 looks like added HD webcam features to users with newer Logitech webcams that have higher resolutions and frame-rates.

Windows Installer Problem

Hi

I'm having Windows Installer Service problem. The service refused to be started up.
Gone through all the MS knowledgebase and forums, no help. Next step is probably to reinstall Windows XP. Any help?

Cheers

Killer Bean Forever

http://www.killerbeanforever.com

Have a look at this binary creation by one man!

Rumours of a new Apple notebook?

Call it what you want, Apple will eventually come up with a new notebook computer that has multi-touch capabilities much like the iPhone of iTouch. It is rumoured that the device will be built by Asus. Will the name be iNewton ? iPad ? MacBook Touch? Certainly the new beast will be bundled with the latest animal version OSX.

We will just have to wait and see.

iTunes and PSP

Hi,

For those of you lucky enough to have a Mac with iTunes and PSP, there is this software that allows your PSP to act as a controller(remote) for your iTunes music. Take a look at http://www.coverbuddy.com/

Polybrite

In a Yahoo! business press release, it was announced that an indestructible mercury-free LED lightbulb developed by PolyBrite claiming to use 90 percent less energy and last up to 15 years or longer, will be marketed by Commerce Energy.

http://www.polybrite.com/products.html

Home Automation - Are we there yet?

When I was a teenager some 20+ years ago, I read a book about home automation, and how one could use an Apple ][+ computer to automate some parts of the home. Through the years, advances include the X10 arsenal of products.... now there is an alliance to talk about wireless home automation : http://www.zigbee.com

GPS in Singapore

GPS is getting more and more popular and WILL become the cornerstone of the next generation of killer apps. I've come across this website that has maps for Malaysia and Singapore for Garmin and Mapking. http://www.malsingmaps.com/portal/

Anyone to recommend any hardware that can do effective navigation? There are probably several categories of GPS :

1. Standalone usb-enabled, bluetooth enabled GPS devices
2. Add-on to existing devices like PSP, Phones, or PDAs
3. mobile phones with built in GPS


I would like to focus on PSP and standalone devices. Any suggestion anyone?

Impulse Buying

I've gone to Funan the IT Mall on Friday afternoon, and had an impulse and bought a 2.5 inch 160gb portable hardisk called sQz(squeez) which is powered by an IDE Samsung hdd. That set me back for about S$169. The shop I bought it from is Fuwell.
I then proceeded to South Asia Pte. Ltd and bought myself a d-link router after having a discussion with the friendly sales person at the store. I finally decided on a mid-range N-router that had gigabit ports. However, currently my desktop PC at home does not come with a gigabit port, so I'm stuck with giga-bit speeds only for the notebooks and my living room media-PC to utilize.

Even though I'm still running at 100mbps instead of 1000mbps, I noticed a marked improvement in speed. Perhaps the CPU of the router is better. The model number of this router is DIR-655. I went to Dlink's website and noticed that there are newer firmware so I downloaded ver 1.05 firmware and updated the device. I also noticed that on the dlink US website, there is an even newer firmware v1.10 but is only application to US-sold models as compared to Singapore models. So I went to Singapore dlink web site http://www.dlink.com.sg to the my 1.05 fw, no luck with the 1.10 version yet.

Latest update: I had problems setting this router up with a Buffalo PCI 802.11G card on a PC with WPA personal. So I gave up and just set everything to no encryption (I guess performance will be good now ! ha). To secure the router from illegal access, I've added MAC address filtering. I wonder if there is a way to add email address in SSID so people can request access ! ha

PSP Slim patch from 3.60m33 firmware to 3.71m33

The instructions can be found at http://www.psp.ckmc-sales.com/

PSP Memory Stick Pro Duo 4gb

For those of you who own PSP here in Singapore, heres the low down one memory stick prices. It appears that many shops who are advertising SanDisk 4GB versions have run out of stock. I managed to buy the last 4 pieces from Alan Photo at level 1 (it's a camera shop) for S$84. No 8GB version found there. The original Sony brand is just too pricy

New Apple Notebooks.

For those of you who are going to get a MacBook for Christmas, here's some good news. The Apple MacBook has finally moved to the Santa Rosa architecture with a healthy GMA X3100 video bump from the lethargic GMA 950 of yore. Available now starting at USD$1,099 for the 13-inch, 80GB, 2GHz white model on up to $1,499 for the 160GB, 2.2GHz black variety of hard-posing laptop.

Update: The MacBook Pro can now be configured with an optional 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo for a $250 premium over the previous 2.4GHz flag-ship configuration.