HP adds high-end graphics card to notebook

Hewlett-Packard recently announced its Compaq Presario 2800 notebook, which includes high-end graphics and video features. The notebook comes with ATI's Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics card, which will aid users who want to integrate video into presentation software without slowing the notebook's performance. HP says it also improved power management to extend battery life.

The notebook weighs less than 6 pounds, includes a 1.7-GHz mobile Pentium 4-M processor, and has a 30G-byte hard drive, 512M bytes of dual data rate, synchronous dynamic random-access memory, a 15-inch SXGA+ display, an 8x DVD/CD-RW combination drive and USB 2.0 support. Integrated wireless options also are available. The pricing for this configuration starts at $2,248. It should be available by the end of this month, HP says.

Avocent combines analog KVM with digital KVM

Avocent has announced its AutoView 1000R and 2000R, new all-in-one keyboard, video and mouse switches that combine analog connections and Avocent's digital KVM via IP switching onto one switch. Avocent's AVWorks software is bundled with each switch at no extra charge.

The company says its new switches are designed for companies that need to consolidate control of multiple servers and extend secure access to users outside the data center or in remote offices. The 1000R and 2000R are 16-port rack-mounted switches.

Each switch supports PS/2, Sun or USB ports via an AVRIQ interface. The 1000R costs $3,200, and the 2000R costs $4,200. Go to www.avocent.com for more details.

Pocketec ships 60G-byte portable hard drive

The size of portable storage keeps amazing me. Just when you thought you'd reached the limit, another company increases the space.

Pocketec recently announced a 60G-byte version of its Pockey-DataStor (it already produces 20G-, 30G- and 40G-byte versions). The DataStor measures 5 by 3 by 0.5 inches, and requires no power supplies (it draws power from the USB port). The drive is USB 1.1- and USB 2.0-compliant, and offers transfer rates of 480M bit/sec with USB 2.0.

It is self-installing under Windows 2000, ME and XP. Drivers are included for Windows 98 users. The drive also is compatible with Macintosh, Linux and DOS.

Priced at $400, it is available through retailers. Custom-colored cases are available from Pocketec at www.pock etec.net.

Proxim ships dual-mode access point

Proxim is now shipping its Orinoco 5-GHz kit for the dual-slot Orinoco AP-2000 to give customers an upgrade to 802.11a wireless LANs. The company also announced Release 2.0 software that aims to ease installation.

The kit includes an 802.11a CardBus card that inserts into one of the slots of any AP-2000 access point with attached high-gain dual-diversity antennas, the company says. The software includes virtual LAN support, ultra high-density cell size, and automatic channel-selection features. The VLAN support will enable simultaneous operation of two independent wireless networks on the same access point. The VLAN function works with existing VLAN networks.

The AP-2000 costs $900, and the 5-GHz kit costs $250. For more information, go to www.proxim.com.

Shaw can be reached at kshaw@nww.com.

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