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Samsung refreshes X Series laptop lineup with Core i3 ULV chips
If you've got a hankering for some battery-sipping Core i3 ULV processors and live south of a certain 38th parallel line, you'll probably want to take a close look at one of Samsung's new designs. We hear on good authority that Sammy's refreshed its X Series laptops with the 1.2GHz Core i3-330M processor, including the 11.6-inch X180 (with the same 3GB of DDR3 memory, 320GB hard drive and most everything else included in the X170 that came before) and the 14-inch X430, which leapfrogs its predecessor the X420 with dedicated GeForce 310M graphics. Both actually report less battery life than their forbears, as the new laptops are rated closer to eight than nine hours, but in the X430 it's a small sum to pay to avoid integrated Intel video. We're also hearing word of a AMD-powered 11.6-incher called the Samsung X125, which should be hitting Europe any minute now for €499 (roughly $647). It's got a 1.7GHz Athlon II Neo K125 chip, 3GB memory, ATI Radeon 4225 graphics, and a manufacturer-reported five hours of battery life, all of which honestly sounds pretty unimpressive for the price. We know you can do better, Samsung. We believe.
Acer Aspire One 521 and 721 review
On the surface Acer's 10.1-inch Aspire One 521 and 11.6-inch Aspire One 721 appear to be fairly run-of-the-mill netbooks -- or ultraportables for those that are morally opposed to calling a laptop with a 11.6-inch display a netbook. They're rather small machines, measure just about an inch thick, and ring up at under $430. But there's a lot more than meets the eye with this Aspire One duo – instead of Intel Atom or ULV processors, both are powered by a new AMD 1.7GHz Athlon II Neo K125 processor and promise 1080p playback thanks to ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics. We've certainly been pumped about these two systems since their French debut, but fear of AMD's usually poor battery life and scorching temperatures have been holding us back from all-out excitement. Do we have nothing to fear but fear itself? We've spent the last few days with these two systems, and will reveal all in our full review after the break. %Gallery-96636%
AMD promises better battery life and thermals with new Neo CPUs, more power with Phenom II platform
Could 2010 be the year AMD poses a real threat to Intel on the laptop front? Well, you know that rumor that it's gonna be powering 109 new laptops? Not only is that true, but it's also going to be in 26 more thin and light systems. Frankly, we're not all that surprised, particularly since it's been no huge secret that AMD's had a bunch of new processors floating about -- some of which have been finding homes in new HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Dell laptops. Thankfully, the silicon heavyweight is finally revealing the source of all this mojo by sharing details about these mighty, yet energy efficient slabs of silicon. Up first is the Ultrathin platform (codenamed "Nile"), which now includes the new 23w Turion II Neo dual-core, Athlon II Neo dual-core, and Athlon II Neo processors -- there's clock speed and TDP specifics of each in the gallery, if that's your sort of thing. To be found in 11- to 13- inch laptops like HP's dm1 and Acer's Aspire One 721, the CPUs can be coupled with ATI Radeon HD 5400 or Radeon 4200 integrated graphics options, not to mention DDR3 and Direct X 10.1 support. The biggest change? Apparently, the line up has been improved in terms of battery life and thermals, and AMD's promising over eight hours of usage when fully charged. Given that battery life and heat were our biggest issues with the previous Neo processors, we're happy to see those problem areas being addressed, but we'll believe it when we really test some of these bad boys in the near future. On the mainstream side of things, AMD continues to cram desktop power into its Athlon II dual-core, Athlon Turion II dual-core, Phenom II dual-, triple- and quad-core processors. There's 12 new chips in all, but the top of the line 2.3GHz quad-core Phenom II Black Edition X920 is definitely the most juicy, and should give some Core i7 rigs a run for their money. Obviously those powerful CPUs can all be paired with ATI's Radeon HD 4500 or higher discrete graphics (which will support Direct X11) or a lower-end Radeon 4200 integrated graphics option. Because AMD now likes to use simple terms with its Vision branding, it didn't provide any hard benchmark numbers, but it promises 80 percent smoother gaming performance than comparable competitive mainstream systems, and 30 percent longer battery life than AMD's previous generation of processors. Hit the break for the full presser, and click on through the gallery for a closer look at the technical details. %Gallery-92770%
Acer Aspire One 521 and 721 spotted in France handling HD video, eying a croissant
You could say this is one of the odder ways to make something official, but Acer's Aspire One 521 and 721 have been deemed just that after surfacing at an event today in France. Just as we'd heard the 10-inch 521, is rocking a heretofore unheard of AMD 1.2GHz V105 (single-core) processor, 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, ATI's Radeon HD 4225 GPU and a penchant for handling 1080p video without breaking a sweat. It's also equipped with VGA / HDMI outputs, a media card reader, three USB sockets, audio in / out, Ethernet jack and a native 1,024 x 600 resolution. The 11.6-inch 721, on the other hand, has AMD's newer 1.3GHz Athlon II Neo K325, which similarly sports full HD playback on its 1366x768 resolution screen. And oddly, Acer seems to also have a new Aspire 1551 lying around, which also has an 11.6-inch display and dual-core Athlon II Neo K325/K625 processor options. Sadly, no further details were available, but we suspect they'll be outed faster than you can turn yourself around, mash play on the video past the break and ping your financial manager to get his / her thoughts on picking this up alongside a new Ditch Witch.
