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Enfora preps ‘Wi-Fi wallet’ Palm PDA cases

Plus Dell's first 800MHz FSB system, eMachines' latest and ABIT's 1GHz FSB mobo

Reg Kit Watch

PDA

Want Wi-Fi on your Palm? US-based wireless specialist Enfora has a very discreet solution the WP802b: a wallet for your handheld that contains a built-in 802.11b adaptor.

As you can see from Enfora's concept picture, the PDA sits on one side, the 802.11b transceiver on the other. The two come together through Palm's Universal Connector. The UC doesn't support full 11Mbps speeds, but since you'll never get a data throughput rate that high with Wi-Fi (network traffic control grabs a lot of the bandwidth), that shouldn't matter too much. The WP802b is compatible with Palm OS 4.1 and 5.0.

The 802.11b transceiver is powered by its own rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery. A typical running time is 24 hours on a single charge, says Enfora.

The case itself measures 3.8 x 6.2 x 1.4in (15.5 x 9.5 x 3.5cm).

The WP802b is due to ship in the next three months. Enfora is also working on dual-band 900/1800MHz GSM/GPRS version, and a 1900MHz GSM/GPRS model for the US market. These two products connect through the PDA's infrared port, allowing them to support almost all handhelds on the market, including PocketPC and Linux-based devices.

Enfora already offers a wallet-mounted infrared-based CDPD radio modem for Palm, PocketPC and other PDAs, for $299.

Desktop

Dell's first Intel i875P-based PC, the Dimension 8300, was launched today. The 800MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR machine ships with Intel's 3GHz Pentium 4 with HyperThreading and up to 2GB of DDR 400 SDRAM. Buyers can stock the i875P's 8x AGP slot with a range of video cards including ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro and Radeon 9800, and Nvidia's GeForce 4 MX.

The 8300 offers up to 200GB of hard drive space through two internal drive bays. It supports two optical drives - users can mix'n'match from 48x CD-ROM, 16x DVD, CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW combo and DVD+RW/DVD+R drives.

10/100Mbps Ethernet comes built in, along with eight USB 2.0 ports (two of which are front-facing). A floppy drive (remember them?) is offered as an option.



eMachines has unwrapped its Spring PC collection, comprising three desktops ranging from $399 to $599 in price.



The entry-level T2240 is based on 2.2GHz Celeron and contains 128MB of DDR SDRAM, 56Kbps modem and 48x CD-ROM, all for $399. The $499 T2245 replaces the T2240's CD drive with a CD-RW unit and a 16x DVD-ROM drive. It ships with 256MB of memory. Both machines provide six USB 2.0 ports, 40GB hard drive and integrated Intel Extreme graphics.

The T2385 is based on a 2.3GHz Celeron with 512MB of DDR, an 80GB hard drive, and the same dual optical drives as the T2245. It too contains a 56Kbps modem, six USB 2.0 ports and integrated Intel Extreme graphics. It costs $599. All three machines come with built-in Ethernet.

In the UK, eMachines systems are exclusively sold by Dixons stores, so expect the new three to make an appearance there soon.

Motherboards

ABIT has released its first Intel i875P-based motherboard, the Gigasystem IC7-G aimed at overclockers. Why Gigasystem? The board supports a 1GHz frontside bus and a 1GHz memory clock.

The board features a number of overclocker-appealing refinements, including a BIOS that has full control of CPU speed settings and automatically resets whenever a failed overclock attempt crashes the system; a CPU fan speed control utility, and Serial ATA conversion for existing ATAPI and IDE peripherals.

The IC7-G sports eight USB 2.0, three 1394, one SPDIF port, and supports multiple Flash card formats. It also features an integrated Intel Gigabit Ethernet network adaptor. ®

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