Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/05/medion_march_out_entertainment_focused_laptop/
Medion marches out heavyweight entertainment laptop
Home cinema notebook
Posted in Hardware, 5th December 2008 13:05 GMT
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Supermarket-PC vendor Medion has blasted the wraps off the Akoya P8610 desktop replacement notebook, which features a Blu-ray drive and surround sound technology.
The laptop's primarily aimed at punters looking for advanced multimedia features but still want the performance of a fully equipped PC. The P8610 features a whopping 18.4in display with a 1680 x 945 pixel resolution and 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.
Medion's Akoya P8610: not for the weak
The audio system features Dolby Home Theater technology and, as Register Hardware witnessed, when hooked up to a full 5.1 surround sound system - or even a more basic 2.1 system - the difference over standard laptop stereo is substantial.
It's even noticeable when listening to music or watching a movie through headphones.
The Dolby Home Theater UI provides complete control over audio set-up
This is not a machine aimed at the users on the move. it measures 441 x 298.5 x 25-39mm and weighs a spine-crippling 3.7kg. On the plus side though, the P8610 does come with a USB notebook mouse, a keyboard that sports a separate numeric keypad, a protective bag, an ExpressCard DVB-T TV Tuner and a remote control.
It also sports a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 processor, Nvidia GeForce 9600M GS graphics, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, an integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam plus three USB ports, and HDMI and VGA connectors.
The notebook will be available from December 2008 but only online at Tesco Direct [1] and Blockbuster [2] as well as Medion' own webstore [3]. It's priced at £800.