Computex 2007: Intel, Kingston, Foxconn, Gigabyte

We immediately noticed that Gigabyte was showing off some new processor heatsink fan designs. Most interesting of which is named the Gigabyte Volar.  As you can see from the pictures, the heatsink is tilted at a 45 degree angle, so that the exhaust air can more easily exit the system as well as cool the motherboard MOSFETs in the process.

We then moved on to Gigabyte’s two new power supplies, the Thor 1200W and the Odin GT 800W. The Odin GT was particularly innovative because it comes with a software suite called P-Tuner that lets you look at current and peak wattage use, voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures while in Windows.

Next up was Gigabyte’s new UMPC, the U60. The U60 runs a full version of Windows XP, is based on a 1GHz VIA C7-M CPU, has 768MB of DDR2-533 on board, a 30GB Hard Drive, has built in WIFI, and a 6.5” LCD with an 800x480 resolution. To top it off, it will only cost around $800, compared with the $1500-$2000 most other UMPC’s are currently going for that price is much more enticing.

The U60’s screen is a touch display but the notebook like mouse surface at the right corner of the screen makes browsing websites very easy. Although the keyboard looks small, it was not difficult to type with once we got the hang of it. Of course, there is a drawback, and that is the fact that the U60 won’t be available in the US this year. Gigabyte plans to release the U60, when they can make the device work with the wireless internet services of cell phone providers like Sprint and T-Mobile, but if you really want it, you could probably just import one from Taiwan.

And finally we were able to check out Gigabyte’s new HTPC, the GB-MEC. Based on Intel’s Core 2 Duo Mobile CPU (Socket M), the GB-MEC uses the ATI RS600ME chipset with the SB600 south bridge, has an integrated Radeon Xpress 1300 graphics chip, is WIFI enabled, supports HDMI, and has a built in Blu-Ray disc drive.