Hitachi is upping the stakes in notebook hard drive storage sizes as CES approaches by unveiling today the world’s highest capacity 2.5-inch mobile hard drive. Expect to see the new 500GB Travelstar 5K500 showing up in laptops sometime in February.

The Hitachi Travelstar 5K500, which will also be available in a slightly smaller 400GB model, is the company’s fourth generation mobile drive to use perpendicular magnetic recording technology. In exact storage terms you can fit on the 500GB drive up to 500 hours of digital video, 178 feature length movies, 250 games or 125,000 four-minute songs. These drives will be available with a 3.0Gb/s Serial ATA (SATA) interface and will include vibration protection technology against bumps which might impact system performance.

If, for some reason, your laptop doesn’t have an 802.11 wireless card installed or you find yourself still banging around with 802.11b, you might want to consider this gadget from Asus. This computer gear manufacturer is has announced the Asus WL-160N, a wireless USB-based solution with 802.11n functionality.

The Asus WL-160N connects to a PC through a USB 2.0 connection to offer its host the latest 802.11n draft 2.0 specifications as well as being backwards compatible with 802.11b/g speeds. It’s described as the world’s smallest 802.11n USB 2.0 card, making it fairly portable inside a laptop bag. It uses MIMO technology to get a throughput of over 100Mbps.

If you’re a fan of the Asus Eee portable PC you’ll probably be happy to hear that Asus may have a desktop version of the popular notebook in the works. According to Asus president Jonathan Tseng, the new desktop Eee PC will launch in 2008 most likely running Linux and will come with no monitor and an affordable price since it will save by not paying fees for a pricey OS.

Digitimes

Asus last week unveiled its first 19-inch widescreen monitor with WSXGA+ 1680×1050 high resolution. The Asus VW198 should be available shortly.

The Asus VW198, besides the WSXGA+ resolution, offers a 3000:1 contrast ratio and is Windows Vista Premium certified. It also delivers 5ms response time and 300 nits brightness for better picture quality. The VW198 has your standard clean looks and somewhat stylish looks as well.

For notebook or PC users that want to improve their quality of sound emanating from their machine Asus is pleased to bring to you the Xonar U1. This USB audio device looks like it should belong on the head of a member of Devo but in fact it clears up the electromagnetic interference and removes any residue static created by your computer’s circuitry using a digital to analog converter (DAC).

The ASUS R300 and R700 GPS receiver touchscreen media players are planned for European release in November. Both units share the same primary functionality with subtle advantages for the R700.

There are two differences between models. Pictured right is the R700 with a 4.3 inch screen while its R300 counterpart sports a 3.5 inch display. The R700 model includes a RDS-TMC GPS receiver for obtaining traffic data in GPS mode while the R300 does not. The remainder of publicized features are identical.

The Palm Foleo looks like it will be a pretty interesting device despite it’s questionable necessity and a $600 price tag. When we first read about the Asus Eee PC we thought it might be pretty cool as well, but we’re confident about the Eee in the ‘coolness’ arena now with an expected $199 price tag.

The Asus Eee UMPC looks like its no slouch in the world of 7″ notebooks, either. It’s designed particularly for portability combined with browsing the web with a 7″ screen, full keyboard, webcam and microphone. It has a weight of just 1.9 pounds and promises 512MB of RAM with a flash drive for storage in sizes from 4GB to 16GB. Wireless comes standard and built-in, and rumors of 3G abound as well. It would be nice to see a few more specs or something …

ASUS has announced its new line of notebooks, the ASUS A8Jr. The new line is notable for the inclusion of ATI’s Mobility Radeon X2300. The X2300 is one of the first mobile video cards to have DirectX 10 support.

According to ASUS:

“There is an ever-increasing demand for higher graphic processing power and crisper graphics for entertainment and applications alike,” says David Cummings, director of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “Our answer to that demand is the X2300 GPU. This GPU utilizes patented technology to increase processing power and provide the user with smooth, realistic hi-resolution graphics.”

The ASUS A8Jr will at least be able to power Windows Vista even with the full Aero glass interface enabled.

Specs:
- Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology
- Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors T7600/T7400/ T7200/T5600/T5500
- Mobile Intel® 945PM Express Chipset
- Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network …

Another one from CES 2007, Asus has announced the XG Station, an external graphics card station for laptops. This is a godsend for those of us who love the laptop but want more power for gaming.

The XG Station will use an Express Card connection to the laptop and a normal DVI-I connection to a monitor. The baseline kit will include an ASUS EN7900GS video card.

The XG Station also features 5.1 sound capability and multiple controls and adjustments for audio and video settings. The large LCD screen on the XG Station allows you to monitor master volume, GPU speed, GPU temperature, FPS and GPU Fan Speed.

Look for this modern marvel to arrive sometime in the spring of 2007.

Prepare for the next generation of video cards. DirectX 10 is right around the corner with Vista and with it the graphics upgrade games have been waiting for. In fact, DirectX 10 might be the only compelling reason to upgrade to Vista. If the screen shots we’ve seen are any indication, graphics are going to get a whole lot better.

Of course with new software comes need for new hardware that supports it. The next generation cards are coming out. The Asus EN8800 GTX is a high end video card that supports DirectX 10 and DirectX 9. In fact DirectX 9 support is incredible. As many games will still use DirectX 9 in the foreseeable future a card like this might be worth it to kick up the graphics on today’s …

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. has announced that the ASUS TeleSky telecom adapter will now be available with the M2N/TeleSky and the P5B/TeleSky motherboards.

The TeleSky adaptor transforms your ordinary house phone into a multi-functional Skype phone. The adaptor allows you to make both traditional PSTN and Skype VoIP calls using your existing home phone.

As illustrated in the following diagram, the system works by having one jack connected to the house phone and the other linked to the ground telephone line. The TeleSky adapter then switches the house phone connection between PSTN and VoIP networks as necessary. Consumers will be able to use the house phone to perform Skype functions such as SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Conference, call waiting, speed-dial, and 3-way telephoning.

The motherboards will be available from ASUS for both AMD (M2N/TeleSky) and Intel (P5B/TeleSky) platforms.