FireWire, the leading standard for video and audio connectivity, has emerged in a new, exciting set of 1394-equipped PCs and handhelds from global industry leaders and emerging companies this year. Companies such as Toshiba Corp., Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Fujitsu and Gateway—along with a group of new and innovative designers of handhelds and high-performance computer products.
In late June, Toshiba launched its new 1394-equipped 14-inch feature-packed Tecra X9 designed primarily for business users. The Tecra X9 comes in a black or silver casing and includes a built-in fingerprint reader along with the 1394a input and a DVD burner.
Hewlett Packard also continues to deliver 1394-equipped products, with the introduction of its newest Pavilion notebook, the dv2500t, which includes four-pin 1394a connectivity. The new dv2500t was launched in May.
Announced last month, the Dell XPS M1710 is the company's latest premium gaming notebook, featuring 1394 and a 17-inch widescreen. Dell also in late June announced a new set of Inspiron PCs featuring a full range of standard connections including 1394a and/or 1394b.
Among the most innovative developers is NextComputing, creators of the first flextop computer, which announced its 1394-equipped NextDimension portables family at the annual NetWorld Interop Conference in Las Vegas. Featuring 1394a and the low voltage 50W version of Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5300 Series, the NextDimension provides up to eight cores in the briefcase-sized "supercomputer".
Another new design with FireWire is the handheld Small-Talk Ultra from GW Micro, which is based on the world's smallest ultra personal computer (uPC). Small-Talk Ultra is a full-featured talking Windows XP computer, which contains a 1GHz processor, 30GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM, built-in 57-key keyboard, a color transflective display, and integrated wireless, Bluetooth, and FireWire.
Other global leaders designing 1394 into new PCs and notebooks are the following:
- Fujitsu Computer Products, which in June introduced the new E8410 Lifebook notebook, featuring the Intel Centrino Pro processor technology with 64-bit Core 2 Duo Processor along with a 1394a port;
- Everex, with its newly-announced StepNote XT5000T, a well-equipped 17-inch notebook built around an AMD Turion X2 processor and NVIDIA Go 7600 card, with 1394a;
- Gateway, which unveiled two new 1394-equipped laptops, the 15.4-inch E-475M and 14.1-inch E-265M.
"FireWire has become a standard fixture on the new generation of personal computers, with particularly high penetration in a compelling new generation of notebooks," said James Snider, Executive Director of the 1394 Trade Association. "Many of the new systems just announced, such as the Dell M1710 and the Tecra X9, are designed for very different markets—and are getting very good reviews from the industry. We expect to see this trend continue as manufacturers realize the value of 1394's speed and reliability for specific applications or for connecting with a home or business network."
1394 Trade Association
