Gadget Update: 2nd week of February

Here comes your 2nd Gadget Update of February from MacPCWiz. Let’s get ready to look at some cool stuff.

LG N2B1 NAServer has Blu-ray capabilities

The LG N2B1 Network-attached Server - more than meets the eye

Network-attached server (NAS) systems usually outdo each other in terms of ginormous storage capacities. LG is trying to go through a road less traveled with the N2B1 NAS — but it can probably turn out to be a very good selling point. The LG N2B1 NAS has a Blu-ray burner installed.

Additional Blu-ray writing capability adds to features

So how does this work, exactly? Well, it’s a Linux-based NAS, but it talks to both Macs and PCs with ease. Just plug it into your network via the Gigabit Ethernet port and you’re good to go. A NAS typically serves as a content server, and you can do just that with this one. Network users can easily stream and use music, movies, and photos stored in its storage – either a 500GB Hard Drive or 1TB ones, depending on which model you purchase. These drives are designed hot-swappable, meaning you can replace hard drives even while the unit is on.

iTunes can use the N2B1 as its iTunes server. In addition, it has BitTorrent and remote access capability. And with a Blu-ray burner, you can easily burn to a Blu-ray disc all those movies you downloaded via torrent. This costs around $320 for the 500GB version and $450 for the 1TB version.

First seen at Softpedia.com.

LaCie Rugged comes out in eSATA

LaCie's Rugged external hard drive, now with eSATA

We featured this drive in one of our articles for top portable hard drives. We here at MacPCWiz were obviously taken by the dashing good looks on this one, as well as the performance it promises. While the LaCie Rugged mobile hard drive initially came out in USB only models, they now offer a 500GB portable hard drive with an eSATA port, and the promise of 90MBps transfer speeds.

We liked this because of the extra protection — if you drop this one on the floor, there’s a big chance that your data may survive the fall. What we’re iffy about is that the people who need this usually work on netbooks and laptops — which in turn do not normally have eSATA ports. To take full advantage of the transfer speeds, you probably need to have one of those high end desktops, which in our mind, kinda defeats the purpose of a external hard drive. This one will cost you $159, not at all bad.

First seen at Nexus404.com.

Acer announces its first ION 2 netbooks

Acer Aspire One 532G - 1st ION 2 netbook

We won’t deny it, we love nVidia’s ION graphics — not only because it brings full HD experience to netbook people, but because it even allows us to connect our DIGISTOR external Blu-ray drive to our ION-powered netbook, and get nice results. Hot on the heels of ION is the 2nd iteration called (obviously) ION 2, and Acer is already using the technology for its Aspire One 532G.

It's a handsome devil, ain't it? Let's hope we can "game" with it.

The ION 2 is rumored to be packing — news of it being “5 to 10 times” more powerful than ION has got our ears perked up. And this baby is going to use Intel’s new Atom N450 processor. It makes use of Nvidia’s new Optimus switchable graphics technology, which means the Ion 2 graphics turn on to handle gaming and other graphics-heavy chores, while less demanding tasks are handled by the onboard graphics of the Atom N540 processor. Cool stuff. No pricing on this one yet, so hold on tight.

First seen at ZDNet.com.

iStorage Pro Pocket drive is a Mac lover

iStorage Pro Pocket external hard drive

Take one look at the iStorage Pro Pocket external hard drive and you know who CI Design is selling these to. The portable hard drive‘s brushed aluminum looks smell deeply of some Mac love, even the front of the iStoragePro Pocket’s aluminum enclosure is reminiscent of the Mac Pro’s trademark perforated front.

It’s basically a 320GB portable hard drive, but it boasts of 7200rpm drives to be able to deliver one of the fastest data transfer speeds you’ll experience. It’s USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 capable, so your MacBook Pro will absolutely love it. The drive comes with a FireWire 800, FireWire 800 to FireWire 400, and USB splitter cable. The USB cable plugs into one port on your computer while drawing power from a mini port and a DC port on the device itself. This rather unique arrangement draws more power to spin the mechanism and enables the iStoragePro Pocket to be compatible with older laptops that usually would not be able to provide enough power to spin the drive’s 7200 RPM mechanism. This baby is priced at $259.

First seen at Macworld.com.