PC manufacturer Medion today unveiled a fully-equipped media center notebook for those seeking features normally found on a fully-equipped PC, but in the convenient form-factor of a laptop.

Medion’s Akoya P8610 sports a giant 18.4-inch display in a 16:9 widescreen ratio with 1680 x 945 pixel resolution for decent video playback, even on the go. As far as sound goes, the laptop comes equipped with Dolby Home Theater Tech and has a slick interface for controlling it in either full 5.1 surround or through a more basic 2.1 setup.

The rig is fitted with a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 processor with 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive, a 512MB GeForce 9600M GS graphics card (which can apparently run at either full power or in a hybrid mode) and a Blu-ray drive.

You’ll get three USB ports, WiFi (802.11 b/g/draft-n), eSATA/USB port (handy for a Kanguru drive), HMDI, LAN and VGA. It also comes with touch-sensitive media controls, a 1.3 megapixel camera, a digital tuner (with remote) and Windows Vista in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

The P8610 is a well equipped notebook and with a price of £800 ($1,173), is a good deal too. With a weight of 3.7kg (8.16lbs) and measurements of 441mm (17.4″) x 298.5mm (11.75″) x 25-39mm (0.98-1.53″), it’s not a portable you’ll be taking everywhere, but it does include a numeric keypad which is so uncommon on laptops as well as a small USB mouse.

The Akoya will be available next week direct from Medion, Blockbuster or UK supermarket chain Tesco.

Sources:
Register Hardware and TechDigest