CeBit 2008 fair
CeBIT 2008 has changed over the past years. The fair is now primarily a business fair. Companies attend the fair to showcase their products to the world but the focus is to acquire new partnerships and meet people from the same line of business.
However, a lot of exciting new products are still on display and Flatpanels takes a look at some of the new products from Samsung, LG, Hitachi and BenQ.Samsung
As usual Samsung steals the spotlight. They are the number one attraction on most of the big consumer electronics fairs. At CeBit 2008 Samsung showed us their new crystal monitors, a 31” OLED Tv, a 22” S-PVA monitor and their new 2-in-1 PC monitor.
Crystal monitors
This new monitor series is launched simultaneous to CeBit 2008. They feature a brand new design from Samsung that is sure to excite millions of Samsung design fans. If you have seen the new TVs from Samsung, you’ll notice the very distinct similarity.
Samsung krystaldesign
The two new PC monitors are called T240 and T260. It’s a 24 inch monitor and a 26 inch monitor. One of the main focuses – besides the design - has been to reduce the power consumption and the stand-by power consumption is just 0.3 W. T260 allegedly uses 30 W less than the typical 26 inch monitor.
Both monitor feature a 1920x1200 panel with a response time of 5 ms and a HDMI input. The contrast ratio is 20.000:1 (dynamic).
Samsung krystaldesign
Besides the two large-size version, Samsung promises smaller versions, too. 20” and 22” crystal design monitors are on the way according to Samsung. These are called T200 and T220.
All of the monitor will be available with an integrated HD tuner, too. If you want these versions you need to look for the model names complemented with “HD” at the end.
The monitors are expected to be available in most countries by June 2008.
31” OLED
Once again Samsung has the 31” OLED TV prototype on display. And it’s as impressive as always.
Samsung 31” OLED, by Behardware.com
The product is nameless at the time of publication but you can look forward to a super-thin profile, almost perfect viewing angles, a high (real) contrast and a very fast panel.
And the final TV is a mere 2 centimeters thick.
Samsungs 31” OLED, by Behardware.com
It’s still a prototype but Samsung says it should be ready by 2009 or 2010. Besides the 31” model Samsung also has a 14.1” OLED TV.
At the moment only Sony has an OLED TV on the marked. It’s their 11 inch model called XEL-1. A lot of other big players are betting on the OLED technology, too.
2-in-1 monitor
A nice new concept has been developed by Samsung with the new 2-in-1 monitor. It’s called 2263DX and is a combination of a 22 inch monitor and a small 7 inch monitor, that can be mounted around the frame of the larger monitor.
Samsung 2263DX
The 22 inch monitor is quite traditional and probably similar to other Samsung 22 inch monitors. The new thing is the concept. A small 7 inch monitor can be mounted on the sides or the top of the 22 inch monitor. It’s connected through USB and can show a separate picture to use for reading, stock exchange program or whatever.
Samsung 2263DX
The large monitor is connected through a HDMI, DVI or D-SUB input. It has a resolution of 1680x1050. The small monitor has a resolution of 800x480.
Included in the big frame is also a 3 megapixel webcam and 2x1,5 W loudspeakers. Additionally you’ll find a microphone.
Samsung 2263DX
The small monitor can stand on the table as well and be used as a digital photo frame.
See the presentation on Samsungs website here: Samsung CeBIT 2008
22” with S-PVA
Samsung is one of the biggest suppliers of LCD panels to both TV and monitor makers. S-PVA is Samsung’s own LCD panel technology and is used in for example the Samsung LCD-TVs and Sony Bravia TVs.
S-PVA has also been developed for high-quality PC monitor but the 22 inch segment is at the moment completely dominated by the cheaper and inferior TN panels. Samsungs wants to change this and has introduced the 2263PW – one of the first 22 inch monitors with a S-PVA panel.
Eizo has a 22 inch monitor called S2231W. S2231W uses the same S-PVA panel from Samsung.
Samsungs 2263PW, by Behardware.com
Not much has been revealed about 2263P but i twill feature a glossy, black design. The inputs: DVI, D-SUB (VGA) and HDMI.
And not to forget the integrated USB hub.
Samsung has developed a new system to reduce the response time, too. The circuit is called Enhanced MPA (Motion Picture Accelerator).
One of our Chinese sources points out that we can expect a resolution of 1680x1050, a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a response time of 6 ms. Viewing angles are 178 degrees. The specs hasn’t been confirmed yet.
No word about price or launch date from Samsung.LG
LG has a few new things to brag about but nothing extraordinary. One of the new products is the 22 inch monitor W2252TQ.
22 inch monitor have become very, very popular and LG’s new monitor promises a response time of 2 milliseconds.
LG W2252TQ
The design is new and a little different from other LG monitors but it looks nice. Tilting is possible.
The specs include a resolution of 1680x1050 and a contrast ratio of 700:1 (10000:1 dynamic). The viewing angles are 170 and as you might have guessed it’s a TN panel.
LG W2252TQ
You can connect W2252TQ with the analogue D-SUB (VGA) or the digital DVI.
No indication on the price yet but it’ll be available within a few weeks. A 24 inch will be available, too.BenQ
This April BenQ will launch their new 24 inch monitor. It’s the successor to the popular FP241w and it has an HDMI input and a response time of 2 ms.
The new monitor is called V2400W and has a 24 inch panel. BenQ has also put emphasis on the design and tried a glossy, black look.
BenQ V2400W
The design is quite unusual. The unsymmetrical stand is a breath of fresh air to a quite boring PC monitor market.
The stand allows tilting.
The resolution is 1920x1200 and the response time 2 ms (g2g). The contrast ratio is 1000:1 and the viewing angles are 160 degrees.
The monitor uses a TN panel so it seems that BenQ has sacrificed the P-MVA panel that made the predecessor very popular. A bold move by BenQ that I’m afraid might be a significant.
BenQ V2400W
The monitor has an analogue D-SUB input, a digital DVI and a digital HDMI input.
BenQ V2400W is expected for April 2008. No price indications yet.Fujitsu-Siemens
Fujitsu-Siemens always makes me bored when it comes to monitors. Nothing exciting has come out of their R&D the past couples of years but they did have one new technology to show the world at this year’s CeBit: The “Zero-Watt display”.
Pollution is not good and these days it seems to interfere with our environments. The world needs to be more “green” according to many and Fujitsu-Siemens contribute to this with a new Zero-Watt Display at the Green IT section of CeBit.
The Zero-Watt display is said to reduce the power consumption significantly - but how?
Fujitsu-Siemens Zero-Watt
All monitors use power when in stand-by. Some more than others and the typical monitor uses 1 to 6 W when turned off.
The idea is now to make the monitor use “Zero-Watt” when in stand-by mode. The method to obtaining this goal is a small relay that disconnects the monitor from the power when no video signal is found. To power to monitor back on the capacitors in the monitor maintains a small current – enough to wake the monitor.
According to Fujitsu-Siemens one can save 10 Euro a year (per monitor). This is not much for the average user but on a large office this might be significant.
The first monitors with the Zero-Watt system are expected to be on the market this summer. The technology is ready for TVs, too.Hitachi
TVs are getting thinner, at least if you are to believe Hitachi. They have a new super-slim LCD-TV series measuring only 3.5 centimetres and weights only 10.9 kilograms.
The first TV is called UT32MH70. Soon we can buy a 37 inch version (UT37MX70) and a 42 inch (UT42MX70) – both in Full HD.
Hitachi UT series
The new series of ultra-thin LCD-TVs use a panel with the IPS LCD technology developed by Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba.
The challenge when developing thin LCD-TVs is to make sure the heat leaves the TV. This is especially difficult because of the backlight. Hitachi has been able to do this because of a new backlight system as well as more effective cooling.
The new TVs have a external box for inputs and power. This box is connected to the TV with two cables and is also one of the reasons that the TVs are slim.
Hitachi UT series
Hitachi UT series
The price is not yet confirmed but the 32 inch version will be on the marked in April 2008. The larger models in May/June.Asus
Asus wants to play with the big players and has a USB DisplayLink ready. Samsung and LG also recently announced such products.
It’s the monitor called VW223B; a 22 inch monitor that presented on CeBit 2008.
Asus VW223B, by Engadget.com
The cool thing about the USB DisplayLink is that you can connect the monitor to you computer with a USB cable. This is quite unusual as you need a D-SUB, DVI or HDMI on regular monitors.
The picture isn’t being updated as many times per second but it’s enough for office work. The USB allows you to connect the monitor to notebooks as well and you can have up to 6 monitors connected – at the same time!
The monitor features specs such as a resolution of 1680x1050, a response time of 5 ms and a contrast ratio of 3000:1 (dynamic).
No launch date but we hope to see these monitors soon.---
That’s all folks. See you next year.
