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Acer Revo 100 now available in UK, slide-out RevoPad and all
We did a bit of a double take when we first saw the press release this morning for the new Acer Revo 100. Sifting through our memory banks (and Engadget archives), we finally remembered: the "Revo 2" with Intel CE4100 shown off earlier this year at IDF. We're betting this is just a twin and the Intel version is still en route, but for now, the Revo 100's packing AMD Athlon II Neo dual-core processor with NVIDIA ION graphics, up to 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, Dolby Home Theater v3, Blu-ray drive, 802.11b/g/n, and a multitude of ports including HDMI and two mini-PCI Express card slots for expansion. More interesting, though, is the slide-out RevoPad, which can function as either a multitouch gesture pad or, when activated, a QWERTY keyboard with lit-up keys on the same surface. Software-wise, we've got Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and Acer's new clear.fi media sharing system. When's it available? Now -- at least in the UK. How much? £599.99 including VAT. We've dropped Acer a line as to US release details; we'll let you know what we hear. Press release after the break.
Acer unveils AMD-infused Aspire AZ3100 AIO, Revo 3700 nettop now available for $349
Can you smell it in the air? Autumn is most assuredly here. Sure, you can deduce as much from equinoxes or changing leaves, but if you ask us, it's almost just as precise to go by a new, pre-holiday product cycle. Acer's taken the cue with two new desktop SKUs -- one each in the nettop and all-in-one categories. First with the latter: the 21.5-inch AZ3100 all-in-one (pictured). A tier lower than the AZ5700, this one lacks the multitouch and TV tuner, and instead utilizes a 2GHz AMD Athlon II 170u processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics, 3GB RAM, and 500GB HDD. Add in a DVD drive, webcam, HDMI, six USB 2.0 ports, Windows 7 Home Premium, and a side chassis for "cable management." It does best its older brother in the price category, though, at just $599 -- about five Benjamins lower. As for the Aspire Revo 3700, it was actually announced earlier this month, but now we've got the skinny on this book-sized nettop's price and availability. That'd be $349 for the tag, and a street date of approximately... now, according to the press release. Speaking of which, all pertinent paperwork can be found after the break. %Gallery-103244%
Dell Inspiron M101z review
We've been having a hard time figuring out what to call the recent influx of 11.6-inch laptops -- you know, the ones which are slightly larger and more expensive than netbooks, yet pack more than double the graphics and performance power. But regardless of what we call them – we're thinking notbooks -- the new category certainly has been building steam by the day, and we can't help but think Dell's new Inspiron M101z could be our favorite yet. Yes, unfortunately, our review unit was adorned in that bright pink color above that's most likely causing your eyes to tear, but don't let its sissy exterior fool you -- it's powered by AMD's new dual-core Athlon Neo II processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive. Yep, she's a heartbreaker on paper, but hit the break to find out if the $579 M101z is in fact a worthy companion. %Gallery-98872%
Sony selling AMD powered VAIOs for the first time in years
We've been keeping a close eye on AMD's big laptop comeback over the last couple of months, and in addition to gaining steam with HP, Dell, Toshiba and Lenovo, it appears AMD's also gotten Sony back into its court. Both Fry's and Best Buy are now carrying AMD Athlon II X2-powered machines, and as you may expect, the prices are quite tempting. Conversely, the Intel-based lineup ranges from $699 to $799, but until we get our hands on one of these ourselves, there isn't exactly a fair comparison to draw at this point. You can hit the source links for the complete specs, but the 15.4-inch EE Series with 4GB of RAM / 320GB of storage and a Blu-ray player is going for $650 while the 17.3-inch EF with a 500GB hard drive for $720. Both also have integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 graphics, but regardless, the move certainly bodes well for AMD's newest processor / graphics, since it appears that Sony hasn't used AMD in its systems since 2005. We guess a welcome back hug is in order.
Toshiba redesigns Satellite ultrathin laptops, we go hands-on
It's no secret that the Toshiba Mini NB305 is one of our favorite netbooks on the market, mostly because of its chiclet keyboard and wide touchpad. Thankfully for us, it looks like Toshiba is planning to spread the same design to its ultrathin Satellite lineup sometime soon. Shown above is what appears to be a minty fresh update to the Satellite M135 on the Computex show floor. The 13-inch laptop looked mighty attractive -- it's about an inch thick, and as mentioned has the same sturdy keyboard as the Mini NB305. We're not the biggest fans of the pattern etched into the metal palmrest, but on the plus side its touchpad has dedicated right and left buttons. We can't tell you much in the way of specs, but it was on display at the Intel booth with a Core i5-U520 processor and also hanging out at the AMD booth with one of those new Athlon II Neo CPUs. This thing is bound to be official sometime soon, but in the meantime check out the hands-on shots below and start saving up for what could be one of the best ultrathins headed to the market. %Gallery-94277%
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 and 15 get AMD's latest, start at $549
We don't yet have much insight into the performance of the many laptops now being powered by AMD's new mainstream CPUs, but we can say we're big fans of the prices they're ringing up. Starting at $549, Lenovo's rolling out the Edge 14 and 15 with big A's latest Athlon II X2 P320, Turion II X2 P520 and Phenom II X3 P820 processors on June 22. They won't be available with discrete graphics options, but the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 IGP should at least go easy on the 4- and 6-cell battery options. Other than that the Edge is the same machine we have come to know and love over the past few months -- now let's just hope that AMD power lives up to its promise.
HP unleashes seven new ProBooks, cuddles up with AMD
No, we wouldn't say we've been looking at AMD lately, HP -- but we've got a strong feeling that we're about to with the slew of not-yet-announced processors that are powering these new affordable business laptops. The HP ProBook 4325s, 4425s, and 4525 may look like their brushed-aluminum business laptop brethren, but instead of Intel inside, they can be configured with AMD's new Phenom II quad-core, Phenom II triple-core, Turion II or Athlon II processors -- all which are apparently 69 percent faster than previous generation HP AMD laptops. Add in an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 530v discrete graphics option and an $619 starting price, and the S-series may just be our new favorite HP sub-brand -- though we'll reserve final judgment until we test these puppies and check out the battery life. In addition to those three, the 14-inch 6445b and 15-inch 6555b pack the same new processor options, but for $799 they have a more durable case with a spill-resistant keyboard. Oh don't worry Intel, the ProBook line hasn't forgotten about you: there's still some Core i3, i5 and i7 love in the new HP ProBook 6450b and 6550b, which now also have vPro remote management technology. And just when you thought HP couldn't go any lower in price with its business line up, the 14-inch HP 425 and 15.6-inch 625 emerge at $550. While these guys aren't exactly the thinnest or lightest of the bunch, they should still provide an ample amount of performance with AMD's new 2.3GHz Turion II dual-core, 2.1GHz Athlon II dual-core and V Series processors and ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics. Not a bad time to be in the boardroom, huh? Head down below for some glossy press shots and the full releases. %Gallery-92238%
Pentium 4 takes on modern CPUs in a benchmarking showdown, suffers ignominious defeat
If there's one thing that bugs us about desktop component reviews, it's that they tend to compare the latest hardware against the stuff immediately preceding it. Everyone wants to know what the improvements between generations are, but for many it's also equally useful to know how 2010's freshness compares to their own computers, which might have been bought or built a few years back. For those precious prospective upgraders, Tech Report have put together an extremely thorough benchmarking session which compares the venerable Pentium 4 670 and its silly 3.8GHz clock speed to a pair of new budget parts: the Core i3-530 from Intel and quad-core Athlon II X4 635 from AMD. Naturally, they've also included other contemporary parts like the high-end Core i7s and Phenoms, as well as a Core 2 Quad Q6600 from a couple of years ago to bridge the gap between the ancient 90nm Prescott and the 32nm young pretenders. It's all quite fascinating in the geekiest (and therefore best) of ways, so why not hit that source link and get reading.
AMD launches new Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs right onto the test bench
Hot on the heels of its first quarterly profit in three years (thanks to Intel, strangely enough), AMD is launching a new pair of desktop processors today that hit for under a buck twenty (amongst a few others). The $99 Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition is the company's quickest dual-core desktop CPU to date at 3.2GHz, while the Athlon II X4 635 is expected to be one of the least expensive quad-core chips around. Both slabs of silicon hit the test bench over the weekend, and as you may expect, no one was particularly blown away. Of course, AMD never set out to shock and awe with this duo, but the performance-per-dollar ratio was downright beautiful. We'll spare you the nitty-gritty details (all the bar charts you can handle are just below), but suffice it to say, these two are certainly worth a look if you're fixing to build a low-end, low-cost tower for... um, your mother. Yeah, her. Read - Hot Hardware Read - AnandTech Read - Computer Shopper Read - Tom's Hardware Read - Overclocker's Club Read - ExtremeTech
AMD 's new Athlon II processors aim to go easy on the power, your wallet
AMD has just outed a selection of new Athlon II procs, which do little to help it reclaim the performance crown, but will be of interest to anyone who likes to keep things minimal -- whether we're talking about prices or temperatures. Starting at $69 per chip (when bought in bulk) with the 2.7GHz dual-core X2 235e and topping out at $143 for the 2.3GHz quad-core X4 605e, AMD's new e-tagged processors operate within a 45W thermal envelope, as opposed to the relatively standard 65W TDP. The Sunnyvale outfit makes some ill-advised claims of "up to 75 percent" better performance versus comparable Intel CPUs -- the small print tells us that number is derived from 3DMark Vantage while testing with different GPUs -- but we suppose until the Thuban six-core shows up, AMD will have to take performance gains from wherever it can get 'em, including its own imagination.
