The Year's Best Production Hardware

By David Em

October 3, 2005

(The Year's Best Production Hardware :  Page 1 of 1 )

It's been a banner year for multimedia hardware. A new generation of video, photography, and animation products that manufacturers rolled out at shows like CES, PMA, NAB, and SIGGRAPH is now on the shelves.

Most remarkable this year is a slew of production-class tools once found only in major studios that are now available at prices affordable to The Rest of Us. Here's an overview of this year's best of the best.

Desktop Workstations

Dell and IBM have some brawny workstations, but we were most impressed with ">HP's 64-bit xw9300. With dual AMD Opteron 252 CPUs and support for up to 16 gigabytes of RAM, the xw9300 outperformed any other workstation we've tested. It's solidly built, quiet, and certified to run the most demanding video and animation software packages on the market. If you're looking for a multimedia number-crunching powerhouse, this is the system to beat.

Portables

I just got a look at Fujitsu's brand new P1500D LifeBook, and it takes this year's honors for best portable computer. There are far more powerful portables out there, but at 2.2 pounds, this is a true ultra-portable, not a luggable. The P1500D sports a 1.2 GHz Pentium M processor, up to 512 MB RAM, a 30 GB disk, 80211a/g/b wireless connectivity, and an 8.9-inch touch screen.

The 1500D has a swivel screen that folds back on its keyboard, converting it into a slate. Fujitsu provides handwriting recognition software, and an internal sensor rotates the screen vertically or horizontally, depending on how you're holding it. I'll be covering the P1500D in depth in a future column, but my first impression is that it's a home run.

It's not technically a portable, but Apple's $499 Mac mini is a great lightweight addition to their lineup. PC users who don't want to make a major investment in a second platform but still occasionally need a need Mac for specialized software such as BYTE.com > BYTE Media Lab > 2005