BW1000 to be released in 3rd Q of 2006

March 9th in Hannover Germany and BenQ, one of the leading manufacturers in optical storage, announced the BW1000 model, their first Blue Ray enabled drive. We met with Jeff H. Lin, Administrator Storage Business Division with whom we discussed the Blue Ray model which was showcased in the BenQ booth, one of the largest booths at CeBIT this year. The BW1000 comes in two versions, internal and external which was named BW1000 on-the-go, (which is expected to be released a bit later this year, near 4Q). The company branded the drive as a "Trio", which refers to its compatibility with all three current formats, BD-DVD-CD. The max supported burning speed with BD media will be up to 2X for both reading and writing with either BD-R/BD-RE media for both single and dual layer (25GB and 50GB capacity).

The interface will be S-ATA 1, while the drive will feature Solid Burn, Write Right and WOPC, all unique and well known BenQ optical related technologies.

Apart from BD Optical storage, BenQ will be releasing a new multi drive which bears the model number 1670 DVD³ (pronounced DVD-Cubit). This new release will be able to read and write all media formats, including DVD-RAM, even though no further improvement (speed wise) has been made in DVD-RAM writing. The drive will also have a new bezel, more stylish, with a metallic faceplate and a colored line running across the front of the drive. Really impressive, as we witnessed first hand at CeBIT today. So we will have something to look forward to as we await for the most anticipated release of 2006, that of Blue Ray devices.

While waiting for the release of the Blue Ray technology to hit the retail market, BenQ has given a new dimension to the "LightScribe" technology. The 1655 is yet another release of the well known optical drive manufacturer, which according to the Business Line Manager BenQ Europe, will be able to reduce the LS burning time from 25-27mins, down to 15 mins. On top, the BenQ LS media line has been expanded with a wide variety of stylish colored media, for LS enthusiasts to use.

Some LS media, in various colors to spice up the collection for the end user...

Apart from Optical storage, BenQ showcased some of their reputable LCD Monitors and printing devices.

Having covered as much as possible of the BenQ Booth in Hall 1, which was actually one of the largest booths in CeBIT this year, we now await for the release of the BD drives, which we will test first hand.

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