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Packard Bell imedia lineup gets an Acer-inspired refresh

by Vladislav Savov, posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 4:47AM

Packard Bell recently overhauled its logo in an effort to keep up with the times, but are its offerings up to the same task? The new imedia lineup immediately recalls the recently announced M-series desktops from Acer, and that's no accident. The innards are remarkably similar too, with the top models sporting Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom II X4 processors, a 1.5GB GeForce GT230, HDMI out, Blu-Ray combo drive and a maximum of 8GB DDR3 memory and 1TB of storage. While none of the specs are on the blistering edge of innovation, there's plenty of power there and keen pricing could make them an attractive proposition. The entry-level Celeron-based units start at £299 ($490) in the UK.

AMD's RS880 integrated graphics chip could make netbooks usable

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 8:52AM

Tired of hearing that your next favorite netbook / nettop is hamstrung with one of those woefully underpowered GMA950 graphics chipsets? Eager to see what all AMD is going to do about it? If The Inquirer is to be believed, an up and coming integrated chipset should elevate the multimedia prowess of low-end machines, as the RS880 would actually be based around the new Radeon HD 4200 core. In theory, at least, this chip would be around 15 percent faster than similar alternatives out there now, giving future netbooks just enough power to churn through 720p video without st, st, stuttering. Needless to say, the suits are refusing to comment on the matter, but we're definitely holding out hope for this one.

eMachines intros ET1300-02, ET1810-01 and ET1810-03 desktop PCs

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 1st 2009 at 10:47AM

Just a few short weeks after eMachines outed its EL1300 line of SFF PCs, the company is hitting us up again with a new trio of full-size desktops. The ET1300-02, ET1810-01 and ET1810-03 are all encased within a luminous white mini-tower and ship with a matching LCD monitor, speakers and a keyboard. As for specs, the $449.99 ET1300-02 checks in with an AMD Athlon X2 4850e (2.5GHz) CPU, Vista Home Premium, NVIDIA's GeForce G100 (512MB), 3GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB hard drive, 18x SuperMulti DVD burner, multicard reader, HDMI / DVI / VGA outputs and an 18-inch E182H display. The $369.99 ET1810-03 steps to a 2.2GHz Pentium E2210 CPU, GeForce 7500 integrated graphics and just a single VGA port, while the $299.99 ET1810-01 cranks it down to a 1.6GHz Celeron 420 and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. The trio should be filtering out to respected retailers as we speak.

Gateway's AMD-packing LT3100 netbook unleashed

by Ross Miller, posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 1:21AM

Last time we saw Gateway's 11.6-inch LT3100 it was buried in a heap of other Acer / eMachines netbook reveals, including the Timeline. Now it's gone official, and the big surprise here is that the self-proclaimed netbook is sporting a processor from AMD -- you know, the company who has largely shunned netbooks while later looking to differentiate with the "ultra-portable" Athlon Neo processor. The 1.2GHz Athlon 64 L110 is what's packed in here, in addition to integrated ATI Radeon X1270 graphics, WXGA resolution, up to 2GB RAM and 250GB HDD, card reader, 802.11b/g, webcam, three USB 2.0 port, and a 6-cell Li-ion battery. Not sure if it's because they shied away from Atom or not, but instead of XP we've got Windows Vista Basic for the OS. Available in NightSky Black and Cherry Red, it should be out soon-ish with prices starting at $400.

Update: Now with even more officialness.

BenQ gets its AMD Yukon kicks with the Joybook Lite T131

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 16th 2009 at 10:15AM

AMD's all about the thin-and-light category with its latest chips, and BenQ is happy to oblige with this new Joybook Lite T131 running AMD's Yukon chipset. At 4 pounds and 1.1-inches thick, however, the 13.3-inch laptop isn't incredibly notable in either department -- especially since it's short a disc drive -- but it's still a pretty attractive little unit. There's a 320GB HDD, SD reader and our favorite, an anti-glare screen, but other than the webcam and mic the laptop is pretty low on perks. It's available in either "opulent midnight blue" or "snowy white" and will be hitting China in June, with no word on price or when they might spread the love.

[Via SlashGear]

AMD plans 'Congo' chipset for a future world of thin-and-lights, dodging netbooks for now

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 11th 2009 at 6:49PM

Just like your mom keeps telling you, AMD thinks netbooks are a bit of a fad, and is laying down a roadmap for thin-and-lights while keeping its distance from any sort of "Atom killer." The existing Yukon platform -- featured in HP's dv2 -- just got an upgrade in the form of a dual-core AMD Neo chip, but things will really start to get exciting later this year with the introduction of Congo, which will pair a dual-core Neo with much better graphics and a more modern chipset. Perks in Congo, which is based on the M780G chipset and sports ATI Radeon HD 3200 IGP graphics, include hardware decoding for HD formats, DirectX 10 gaming, love for DisplayPort, HDMI and eSATA, and Hybrid Graphics potential for pairing the integrated chipset with discrete graphics. The hope is to compete well against Intel's CULV and NVIDIA's 9400M in the low-cost thin-and-light space, and if the price stays down and performance pans out, Congo just might.

New AMD Neo Athlon / Turion chips emerge in HP Pavilion dv2z

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 11th 2009 at 9:22AM

Well, well -- what have we here? HP's newly unveiled Pavilion dv2z just so happens to have a bit of fresh silicon within, as AMD's latest Neo chips are front and center in the configuration options. The thin-and-light machine can be ordered with single- or dual-core AMD Athlon Neo and Turion Neo dual-core processors, and if you're looking for specifics, you'll find the new 1.6GHz Athlon Neo X2 L335 and 1.6GHz Turion Neo X2 L625. Other specs on the 12.1-incher include a LED-backlit WXGA panel, optional Blu-ray drive, discrete ATI Radeon graphics, up to 500GB of HDD space, a built-in webcam, WiFi, optional WWAN (Verizon, Sprint or AT&T) and a 6-cell battery. It's up for order right now starting at $599.99, but if you're looking to leave that aged Neo MV-40 behind, you'll have to pony up a bit more than that. Full release is after the break.

Gallery: New AMD Neo chips emerge in HP Pavilion dv2z

Continue reading New AMD Neo Athlon / Turion chips emerge in HP Pavilion dv2z

HP introduces cheaper dv2, dv3, and dv6 laptops, fantastically ugly dv6 Artist Edition

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 9th 2009 at 12:36AM

HP's just kicked out a slew of updates to its laptop lines, and thankfully the biggest news is that they've gotten cheaper. The HP dv2z brings the low end of the 12.1-inch AMD Neo ultraportable down to $599, while the larger Intel-based dv3t is now $649. The dv6 gets two new editions, including the pictured $949 dv6z Artist Edition 2 preloaded with a bunch of Corel art software and a $649 dv6t base model that thankfully loses the awful lid artwork. Seriously, we know HP had to use the design after it won the HP / MTV Notebook Design Contest, but we just don't think too many people want to rock the"surfing peacock" look. There are also a bunch of new eco-friendly printers if you're into that sort of thing -- hit the read link for the lowdown.

xpPhone runs Windows XP, gets costumed as a MID

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 5th 2009 at 3:04PM

You see, the name "xpPhone" is rather disingenuous here. At first glance, you may assume that you're about to discover what's likely the planet's first cellular telephone to run a full-fledged version of Windows XP. Sadly, we've got to slot the device shown above squarely into the MID category -- GSM support be darned. Still, we can't help but applaud the engineering efforts; after all, this thing somehow packs an AMD CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchpanel, WiFi, various cell radios, a 1.3 megapixel camera and a battery good for five solid hours of use into a device barely larger than the average, yawn-inducing MID found in every last corner of Computex. In fact, it's so impressive that we're beginning to question its authenticity as a real, working product. Much like the number of licks to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

AMD shows off world's first DirectX 11 GPU

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 12:00AM

On a roll of late, aren't we AMD? Just when you thought the fun was slowing over in Taiwan, in flies this: the world's first official DirectX 11-friendly GPU demonstration. We also learned that DX 11 (and presumably, AMD cards to push it) will debut prior to the dawn of 2010, but outside of that, most everything else is being kept under wraps. Indeed, the demo was mostly to show that things were still on track and for the chip maker to assure us all that it will "deliver DirectX 11 first." Alright, AMD -- now you've something to prove. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading AMD shows off world's first DirectX 11 GPU

Mio's new Intel Atom and AMD Neo netbooks might help you navigate through a sea of me-too computers at Computex

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 9:11PM

Sure, it's odd to see Mio churning out a couple of netbooks, but what's even more surprising is that they're at least somewhat interesting. The 8.9-inch Atom N270-powered Mio N890 includes 3G, GPS, Mio navigation software, an accelerometer, and a MagSafe-style breakaway power connector. It all weighs in under 2 pounds, and measures less than an inch thick. Meanwhile, the Mio N1210 (pictured) is one of the few computers we've seen so far running AMD's new Neo MV-40 processor. There's no mention of GPS, but the 12-inch laptop is preloaded with Windows 7 and 3G data, measures under an inch thick, and weighs under three pounds. No word on price for either, but both should be headed to Europe this fall.

Read - Mio N890
Read - Mio N1210

AMD debuts Athlon II X2 250 and Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPUs

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 1st 2009 at 9:00PM

If you're AMD, you've got to be feeling pretty good right now. Intel's busy handling a lawsuit bigger than the left half of Russia, you're finally free of that dreaded manufacturing business and you've got a new pair of mainstream CPUs debuting at Computex. The first of the two is the dual-core 45nm Athlon II X2 250, which features a TDP of 65-watts and can whittle power consumption down to 50 percent when handling just "basic tasks." Then there's the first-ever dual-core AMD Phenom II, the X2 550 Black Edition. Built from the ground-up for its 'Dragon' platform, this here chip also supports OverDrive 3.0 and should provide some higher-end features on a budget. Unfortunately, details beyond that are inexplicably scant, but we'll be sure to pass on whatever surfaces at the show. Full release is after the break.

Gallery: AMD debuts Athlon II X2 250 and Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPUs

Read - HotHardware review
Read - AMDZone review
Read - OverclockersClub review
Read - PC Perspective review
Read - LostCircuits review
Read - BenchmarkReviews review
Read - TechSpot review
Read - X-bit Labs review
Read - Legion Hardware review

Continue reading AMD debuts Athlon II X2 250 and Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPUs

AMD ships six-core 'Istanbul' Opteron CPU ahead of schedule

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 1st 2009 at 1:12PM

Say it ain't so! Despite AMD's past of announcing more delays than actual shipping products, the outfit has managed to deliver its six-core 'Istanbul' Opteron CPU five months ahead of schedule. Announced today in a company press event, the new chip is shipping today with support for two-, four- and eight-socket servers. If all goes well, they'll be available to order from the likes of Cray, HP, Dell, IBM and Sun later this month, with HE, SE and EE versions of the six-core Opteron planned for the second half of this year. As for performance, users can expect up to 34 percent more performance-per-watt over the previous generation quad-core processors in the same platform, though we wouldn't expect to see these stray too far from traditional server boxes.

AMD's ATI Radeon E4690 brings HD, DirectX 10.1 support to embedded GPU arena

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 1st 2009 at 8:56AM

AMD's newfangled ATI Radeon E4690 may not be the next Crysis killer, but it should do just fine in next-gen arcade and slot machines. All kidding aside (sort of...), this new embedded graphics set is said to triple the performance of AMD's prior offerings in the field, bringing with it 512MB of GDDR3 RAM, DirectX 10.1 / OpenGL 3.0 support and hardware acceleration of H.264 and VC-1 high-definition video. The 35mm chip also differentiates itself by integrating directly onto motherboards and taking on many of the tasks that are currently assigned to the CPU, but alas, it doesn't sound as if we'll be seeing this in any nettops / netbooks anytime ~~soon~~ ever. Video after the break.

Continue reading AMD's ATI Radeon E4690 brings HD, DirectX 10.1 support to embedded GPU arena

Liquid helium trumps liquid nitrogen at AMD's Phenom II overclocking love-in

by Tim Stevens, posted May 28th 2009 at 10:38AM

Remember late last year, when AMD poured out the liquid nitrogen to boost its new Phenom II X4 to a ridiculous 5GHZ? The company's factory overclockers apparently had a lot of leftover LN2, so they invited a crew of others to come over and splash some around on a set of new Phenom II X4 955 Black processors. After burning through a ridiculous 80 gallons of the stuff they rolled out the even colder liquid helium, which led to a maximum benchmark of 6.89GHz -- more than twice the quad-core processor's 3.2GHz rated speed. In these tough economic times it's good to see that one company at least is still willing to take things to great excesses at the expense of Earth's natural resources.