Milan - Lacie today introduced a new series of external harddrives with SATA interface at the SMAU trade show in Milan, Italy. The drives are available in capacities up to 400 GByte. The manufacturer also announced a high-end 21" LCD targeted at graphics professionals.
The new 7200-rpm SATA drives extend the existing d2 family which so far has been available with USB 2.0, Firewire 400, and Firewire 800 interfaces. The SATA version will become available in winter and will increase data bandwidth to the SATA standard of 1.5 Gbit per second. To allow connectivity to older computers, Lacie includes a SATA PCI Card with two SATA ports.
Lacie also demonstrated a new high-end series of LCD monitors for graphics professionals at SMAU. The 21" model 321 achieves a color gamut equivalent to a CRT monitor through "SA-Superfine TFT technology", according to the company. The LCD offers a contrast ratio of 500:1 a brightness of 250 cd/m2, viewing angles of 176 degrees, 10-bit gamma correction and a resolution of up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. The 321 will be available in November for $1700.
