Boxee Box release date delayed until November

Despite previous intentions, the set-top device being developed by Boxee and D-Link has been postponed until the fourth quarter of this year. The Boxee Box was originally slated to ship by the end of the second quarter – or around now – but it seems that timeframe was "overly ambitious." The companies now plan to launch the media-streamer sometime during November, but an exact date hasn't been disclosed.

There isn't an official reason for the delay, but it sounds like Boxee just needs a little more time to tweak the software. The company said its goal is for the Boxee Box to play 1080p videos from the Web or local network using hardware accelerating whenever possible, and to provide a TV browser experience that can handle things like Flash 10.1 – all without the device feeling obsolete a year after folks buy it.

The Boxee Box is expected to ship for less than $200 and features include an Nvidia Tegra T250 SoC, HDMI, S/PDIF, and RCA connectors, two USB ports, an SD card slot, gigabit Ethernet, and 802.11n Wi-Fi. Naturally, Boxee's media software will be preinstalled and the machine will support a range of formats, such as H.264, MKV, DivX, and VC-1. It'll also ship with a pretty slick looking keyboard remote.

Archos 13 ultra-portable with dual-core Atom now available

Archos is now readily welcoming orders via its online French store for its new Archos 13. Priced at €399.98 (~$480), the ultra-thin treads dangerously close to being cast aside as "yet another Atom-based netbook," but it doesn't come without a few perks. For starters, the 13.3-inch (1366x768) display is a bit larger than you'd expect from a netbook, and the system packs a dual-core Atom D510 processor, which is typically reserved for compact desktops.

Other specs include 1GB of system memory, a 160GB hard drive, a 1.3-megapixel camera, 10/100 Ethernet, an integrated modem, wireless b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, VGA output (no HDMI), three USB 2.0 ports, an MMC/SD/SDHC card reader, and audio jacks. Unfortunately, there's no HD-capable graphics, such as Nvidia's Ion or even a decoder chip from Broadcom. With a six-cell battery the machine weighs about 3.5lbs, measures just over an inch thick, and runs Windows 7 Starter.

MSI's 17-inch GX740 gaming notebook ships stateside

Another one of the gaming notebooks MSI unveiled at CES in January has crept onto the market, with units readily available on sites like Newegg. The 17-inch GX740 features a 1680x1050 resolution, Intel Core i5 and i7 processors (the model on Newegg packs a 1.60GHz i7-720QM), up to 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM, and ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics with 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

Hard drives range in capacity from 250GB to 500GB and some models are equipped with a Blu-ray drive, but the GX740 on Newegg only lists a DVD burner. A subwoofer accompanies the notebook's speakers and connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n, optional Bluetooth, VGA and HDMI-out, three USB 2.0 ports (one eSATA combo), a multi-card reader, and an Express Card slot.

The GX740 ships with a nine-cell battery and there's no mention of how far that'll get you, but battery life is mostly irrelevant when discussing a 7lb Core i7 and Radeon HD 5870-powered laptop. It's backed by a one-year warranty, has Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit preloaded, and the GX740-0749US listed on Newegg costs $1,400, so expect to see a similar price tag elsewhere.