IT Show 2008 - The Complete Coverage (Part 1)
Suntec City has once again become a haven for IT and consumer electronics as the IT Show 2008 officially opens its doors beckoning prospective deal hunters, upgraders, enthusiasts and general consumers with four days of product extravaganza. Check out our full coverage now before you miss out on the best deals out there.
IT Show 2008 - The Complete Coverage
The year's inaugural IT and consumer electronics exhibition is finally upon us as IT Show 2008 opened its doors to the public earlier today. While the year end shopping spree has arguably just ended with SITEX 2007, the new year ushers in hot new technologies, products and gear that will definitely be fueling the next upgrade cycle. This year, IT Show 2008 is being held at the Suntec City Exhibition Center, from the 6th to 9th March, and if you're planning on going down to have a look yourself, don't go unarmed. With a vast array of exhibitors, enticing offers and over three floors to cover, we've already done all the legwork for you, as we've canvassed the entire show flow to bring you all the best deals you will be able to find. This is the definitive IT Show 2008 coverage.
Acer's Booth
Supporting an Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor T2370 (1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache), the 12.1-inch widescreen Aspire 2902Z is offered at a reduced price of S$1398 from its usual price of S$1598, and comes with a free upgrade to 2GB DDR2 RAM and 250GB HDD.
Priced at either S$1299 or S$1699 for its 2.2GHz or 2.66GHz variations, the Acer Aspire L3600 packs 1GB of DDR2 RAM (2GB for its 67M32 variation) in a slim chassis measuring 25cm x 6cm (L x W). It is one of the star buys for Acer desktops, with an option to upgrade from its bundled 19-inch monitor to 20-inch at just S$49.
One of Acer's more prominent offers at the IT Show has to be the Acer Extensa 4620Z notebook, which is priced at only S$999. For this special price, you get an Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor T2370 (1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache), 1GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB HDD and a 14-inch WXGA color TFT LCD screen.
Acer's latest 24-inch LCD monitor, the Acer P243, gives more than it takes, with a resolution of up to 1920 x 1200, contrast ratio of 3000:1 and a fast response time of 2ms. It also features a HDMI port with HDCP in addition to VGA and DVI support. In fact, pay S$699 for this 24-inch LCD monitor and get a S$150 shopping voucher from Acer!
Apple's Booth
This giant banner will be the closest you'll get to a MacBook Air at the IT Show. Only preorders are available at the moment.
The highest end iMac from Apple, this 24-inch model uses an Intel 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme CPU and has 2GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive and a Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics card. For that, you'll need to fork out $3789.
Everyone wanted a piece of the iPod touch, hence its heavily fingerprinted state. While it didn't entice us to give it a go, this will probably be one of the hottest items around. An 8GB model will start from $498 and goes up to a hefty $848 for the 32GB model.
ASUS' Booth
The top model in ASUS' powerful gaming notebook series, the $3498 G2S has been updated with a Penryn class T9300 Intel Core 2 Duo processor and NVIDIA's latest GeForce 8700M GT with 512MB of video memory. With an additional 4GB of DDR2 memory and a 300GB SATA hard drive, this is a machine truly made for gaming.
The less powerful G1S is still a very decent gaming machine, with a Core 2 Duo T7700 processor, a GeForce 8600M GT and 4GB of DDR2 memory. It also comes with a more affordable price tag of $3098.
ASUS' Eee PC remains a favorite with consumers who are still amazed by its tiny size and its very reasonable $598 price tag.
For the entry level consumer, ASUS' 19-inch VW193T is at an affordable $329 while packing in the latest features, like HDCP compliant DVI outputs, a decent 5ms response time and a contrast ratio of 1600:1.
22-inch widescreen monitors are the rage nowadays and ASUS has sweetened its deal for the $499 MW221C (WSXGA 1680 x 1050) with a free Targus backpack and DVI cable worth $168. Besides the freebies, this is a respectable 2ms widescreen display with DVI and HDCP support.
Looking for a full multimedia experience? The 2ms ASUS MK241H fits the bill if you can afford its $868 price tag. This is a full HD display with analog, DVI and HDMI output, a built-in webcam with microphone array and a contrast ratio of 3000:1. Bonus gifts include Altec Lansing speakers and a DVI cable worth up to $188.
Within this cabinet display is the entire range of ASUS mobile devices.
Prices for ASUS' mobile devices start from $699 for the P526 GPS PDA phone to $1118 for the P750, a 3.5G GPS PDA phone using Windows Mobile 6 and equipped with a touchscreen and 3-megapixel camera.
ASUS also has a GPS PDA, the A696 available at the IT Show for $628 with free gifts like a map application, extra stylus and protection case. Meanwhile the $399 A626 is simply a low powered slim PDA with WiFi and Bluetooth.
aigo's Booth
Digital photo frames are all the rage at the moment, and Aigo's A396+ comes with LED lights on the frame and speakers to play background music, remains a hot-selling item since the last COMEX 2007.
From left to right: Aigo's Sunglass MP3 F566 player for all your outdoor musical needs, the E898 4GB video and music player and lastly, the A390 which has a built in speaker.
Aztech's Booth
The Aztech WL950RT 4 Wireless-N router priced at S$129 is a worthwhile buy at the IT Show 2008. Supporting speeds up to 300Mbps, this product is definitely one which would serve you for a very long time.
Aztech's latest HL109E HomePlug AV Ethernet Adaptor is going for a price of S$99. Grab them now before they are gone!
Ban Leong's Booth
Brother's Booth
The familiar blue banner of Brother points the way to its booth located on Level Four. As you're probably familiar with Brother's products, let's just say you can't go wrong with the wide variety of printers that Brother has for all your home and office needs.
At $998, the MFC-9420CN is a 5-in-1 color printer, fax, copy, scanner, mono PC-fax and a print speed of up to 31ppm for mono and 8ppm for color, the MFC-9420CN delivers just the right price and performance for any small office.
Brother's star buy item is the neat 3-in-1 DCP-135C. At a steal for $88, it can scan, copy and print in color too! Due to limited stocks, get this baby before it gets sold out.
If you're sharing printers in the office, then consider getting the MFC-8860DN Mono Multi-function laser printer. Designed for the workgroup environment, the MFC-8860DN is network ready and has three years on-site warranty, all for a cool $988.
Casio's Booth
Available in six different colors, the Casio EXILIM EX-Z80 is going at S$349, giving you imaging resolutions of up to 8.1-megapixels, 3X optical zoom and a wide 2.8-inch LCD screen. Free gifts are worth up to S$179, and includes an EXILIM camera case, 4GB SanDisk SD memory card, an EXILIM lanyard package, lens cleaning kit, SD card reader and a flexi tripod.
Casio welcomes its new kid on the block, the Casio EXILIM EX-Z100, with an attractive offering of S$499. With features such as H.264 Hi-Quality movies, Auto Shutter Mode and Face Detection common to its EX-Z80 sibling, the EX-Z100 ups the ante further with a 10.1-megapixel imaging resolution and supports optical zoom of up to 4X coupled with Wide Angle Lens (28mm equivalent). More free gifts worth up to S$228 await those who purchase the EX-Z100, but be fast, because, as they say, it's only while stocks last.
We believe a picture paints a thousand words, but for our readers' benefit, here's the deal with the Casio EXILIM EX-V7: Priced at S$399 (usual price: S$599), this 7.2-megapixel camera, with an optical zooming capability of up to 7X, would definitely reward you well with a sure-win lucky dip and free gifts worth up to S$148.
Chimei's Booth
Dell's Booth
Creative's Booth
A crowded Creative booth sighted from afar. In most exhibitions, Creative usually has a fair range of products and devices going for a really good offer, and this year's IT Show is no different, which attracts throngs of hopeful buyers.
Remember the Creative Zen Stone player and its various incarnations? Now it is your chance to grab one. Especially when it is up for grabs at a price of just S$89 for the 2GB version with the new built-in speaker feature. The alternative, the Zen Stone Plus is going for S$109 for the 2GB one and S$159 for the 4GB player (also with speakers).
Creative's GigaWorks speakers are also the staple for most PCs and gamers looking for a power-packed sound system and 'High Definition' performance. Here, the T40 is spotted going for only S$249.
Fuji Xerox's Booth
FujiFilm's Booth
Fujitsu's Booth
Imation's Booth
HP's Booth
Compaq's Booth
JVC's Booth
The highly congested JVC booth is spotted.
JVC's latest input into the LCD TV market, the LT-42GZ78 is retailing at $4999 at the IT Show. This is a full HD panel with 3 HDMI ports and featuring a 100MHz Motion Drive technology. So make your way there if you are eyeing one of these.
Two units of the JVC Everio camcorders are featured here. Going for as low as $899 for the GZ-MG330 model (30GB HDD, 35x Optical Zoom, Laser Touch operation), now is the time to own one of these.
KJC's Booth
The KJC booth, with a huge banner and a healthy crowd looking for a good Bluetooth deal.
Priced at $98, the i.Tech Clip Radio featuring a built-in FM radio together with a Bluetooth stereo headset is the star buy. Another gadget to look out for would be the BlueBAND R headphones, going for $128 and which is capable of noise and echo cancellation.
The full ranges of i.Tech's Bluetooth products at affordable prices are up for grabs. Price starts from as low as $38.
NEC's Booth
Olympus' Booth
Seagate's Booth
Packard Bell's Booth
Packard Bell claims to be ranked in the top three vendors in Europe and they have many models on display at the IT Show, most of which are less than $2000.
The EasyNote BU series comes in two flavors, differing in the choice of CPU installed. The higher end model has a T7200 processor compared to a T5600 on the other. Both have 1GB of DDR2 memory, Intel GMA 950 graphics accelerator, 120GB SATA hard drive and weighs up to 1.7kg. Prices are either $1298 or $1398.
For those on a budget or intending to install their choice of OS (Linux anyone?), Packard Bell offers FreeDos as the standard install on some of their lower end models. So consumers can replace this with their preferred OS and enjoy the savings from getting a system without a bundled OS and applications.
Besides notebooks, Packard Bell also offers a GPS navigation device for an IT Show special price of $599. Features include online updates, multi-language voice prompts and even speed camera and ERP warnings.
Sony Ericsson's Booth
Sony Ericsson mobiles galore! Besides the latest mobiles, the IT Show also features great deals for the various camera and Walkman mobiles, which are popular with consumers. Most of the deals quoted here are not tied to any contract.
The latest W890i from Sony Ericsson is sure to make you drool. So hop down to the IT show to see it for your own eyes. Especially when it is priced so affordably at $728 for a slim, 9.9mm mobile with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera.
Viewsonic's Booth
1, gamers should find it suitable for their gaming needs. At $419, it's also $40 less than its usual price.
With an iPod dock included, the Viewsonic PJ258D projector certainly stands out from the crowd. As for its main projector features, it is rated at 2000 lumens, supports HD signals (up to 1080i) and weighs only 1.8kg. Not bad for a $1499 projector.
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