Toshiba didn’t want Samsung to get all the aclaim with its 1.8 inch 160GB HDD, so they went out and made a 320GB 2.5 inch drive. Yes, that would be the largest 2.5 inch drive, so essentially, Toshiba matched Samsung (short-lasting) record for record. What’s even niftier about the MK3252GSX drive is that, unlike its closest competitor, Fujitsu’s 300GB, it runs at 5400RPM rather than 4200RPM. Other specs include an 8MB buffer, 12ms average seek time, and a 3Gbps SATA interface. It’s also very thin, at only 9.5mm tall. No word on pricing, but they should start showing up in notebooks near you around November.

I just love power, especially when packaged in mobile forms.That goes for cars, motorcycles, and, of course, notebooks. The XtremeNotebook Xtreme 917V (wihch is a bit to type) provides some serious power for a low, low starting price of $2,399. The specs:

• 17-inch display
• Core 2 Quad processor
• dual nVidia Geforce Go 7950 GTX graphics processors
• Up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM
• Multicard reader
• Dual-layer DVD writer (no HD?)
• Up to three 250GB hard drives (four spindles? wow!)
• Optional TV tuner
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Wi-Fi
• Standard ports
• 12-cell batter that still manages only about 60 minutes

Sounds like a monster. Go get one, oh rich ones.

This is nit-picking for a lovely device that provides 5TB of storage in a relatively compact form, but why did Lacie call it the "Biggest S2S"? What happens when they release a bigger one? Anyways, here are the specs:

• Standard 5TB storage, scalable to 20TB (via links with other units)
• Full RAID support
• 3Gb/sec eSATA interface
• eSATA-eSATA direct connection
• 200MB/sec burst rate
• Hot-swappable disks

The basic model with PCI-X is $3,699, which is a bit but reasonable for that amount of storage. HD video editors are probably already drowning in their own drool over this monster.

Let me say that, even though I’m a sucker for ultraportable notebooks, and I think the Sony Vaio TZ18GN is a nifty machine with some nice specs:

• 11.1-inch LCD
• 32GB SSD
• Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 2.5lbs

I still feel that $4,300 is a lot to pay for a notebook that’s not some sort of crazy beefed-up 21-inch monster desktop gaming replacement rig. And the striking thing to me is that the SSD option adds "only" $700, which means that the standard HDD version of this puppy is $3,600 if my math doesn’t fail me. And that’s a lot, as well. And, yes, of course, Sony’s not really asking for $billions.

I ditched DirecTV for, well, let’s just say "reasons." I’m now ready to ditch my cable company. And who comes to the rescue? Why, Dish Network, that’s who! They’ve added the ability to connect external storage to their DVR, the ViP622 HD model (for a fee, $39.99), and they’ve enabled updates over Ethernet, so an analog phone line will no longer be required. As if that’s not enough, they’re also allegedly readying their OnDemand service, which for me has always been satellite’s biggest weakness. All of this is going to be happening in the August-September timeframe. So, Dish Network, here I come?