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HP revs up Pavilion dm1 with AMD Fusion, the notbook wars have begun
We're about to see an onslaught of AMD Fusion-powered 11.6-inch laptops, and HP's newly revised Pavilion dm1 is among the first to be announced, along with the Lenovo X120e. The case has been substantially hotted-up from last year's dm1, and inside you're looking at a dual-core 1.6GHz Vision E-350 APU, which includes Radeon HD 6310M graphics that power an LED-backlit 1366 x 768 BrightView display. 3GB of memory comes standard with a max of 8GB, and there's a 320GB drive and an SD card reader as well as 3 USB ports, HDMI and VGA out, and an Ethernet port. Best of all, it weighs in at 3.52 pounds with a six-cell 55WHr battery that's promised to run for "up to 9 hours and 30 minutes." That's a lofty claim, and one we look forward to testing in the days ahead -- along with just how much real-world performance that E-350 APU really provides for the dm1's $449 MSRP. We'll let you know -- for now, check out some hands-on shots below. %Gallery-112417% %Gallery-112415%
Lenovo ThinkPad X120e snatches up AMD's Zacate, aims to right all of the X100e's wrongs
Remember the ThinkPad X100e? Of course you do, the ultraportable or "notbook" only lasted 3.5 hours on a charge (with a six-cell battery!) and nearly burnt through our jeans. But that's all in the past now -- Lenovo's promising to have turned it all around with the ThinkPad X120e. The 11.6-inch laptop still has the same chassis as the previous version -- awesome curved keys, red pointing stick and all -- but instead of AMD's old Neo parts, it packs the long-awaited AMD Fusion APU technology. We're still waiting on AMD's official Fusion announcement, but the X120e will be available with both the Zacate E-240 and E-350 processors, which includes AMD's Radeon HD 6310 graphics on the same chip. It's said to deliver a pretty great graphics experience with over 6.5 hours of battery life, and better yet, AMD and Lenovo both ensure us that the heat issues have been taken care of. Naturally, we'll have to test that all out for ourselves, but at $399 there's no denying that it's all sounding extremely tempting. The X120e will be available in February, and if you cross your fingers hard enough, we'll whip up a review before you have to pull out the plastic. Full press release after the break. %Gallery-112293%
MSI details Sandy Bridge, Fusion all-in-ones ahead of CES, teases a sliding screen
We just finished reviewing a feature-packed MSI Wind Top, but come CES next week we'll have three more to try: the AE2410, AE2210 and AE2050, each with the very latest silicon inside. Notebook Italia reports that the Taiwanese computer company's using Intel's new Sandy Bridge CPUs in each of its 24- and 22-inch rigs, and grabbed a low-power AMD Brazos APU for the likely budget 20-inch model -- which will reportedly still include a Blu-ray drive like its Core 2 Duo cousin. All three will sport 1080p touchscreen displays and USB 3.0 ports, but also a spiffy new feature called Super Charger that will charge attached USB gadgets even when the computer is off. Innovations, to be sure, but perhaps not as exciting as the concept items pictured above and below -- up top is the MSI Butterfly, which reportedly has a sliding multitouch screen with ten points of contact, and after the break, see the luxurious MSI Angelow. Here's hoping for prices, specs and high-res pictures once we get to the show.
Toshiba NB550D netbook spills specs, including 1GHz AMD Ontario APU and Harman Kardon sound
Looks like the AMD Fusion netbook strategy may be to supplant Intel's Atom wholesale in the leadup to CES, as Toshiba has just become the second manufacturer to swap out an Atom chip for a 1GHz AMD C-50 Ontario APU while leaving the rest of the design practically untouched. Notebook Italia just spotted this 10-inch Toshiba NB550D having a grand old time on the company's German website, leisurely flexing its Harman Kardon speakers and newfound HDMI port, all the while dreaming about ways to upgrade its scant 1GB of DDR3 memory and 250GB of magnetic storage. Interestingly, Toshiba's actually forecasting only 9.5 hours of battery life for the AMD version (compared to 10 hours with Intel's 1.5GHz Atom N550 CPU), but we suppose that's the price you pay to have Radeon HD 6250M graphics on board. We'll try to get pricing and availability when we inevitably spot it at CES next week.
Acer Aspire One 522 falls from the clouds, sporting dual-core 1GHz Ontario APU?
AMD Fusion's taken its sweet, sweet time getting here, but we're hearing you'll be able to get your hands on some Atom-beating netbook chips soon -- for instance, in this Acer Aspire One 522, which will reportedly drive its oh-so-glossy 10.1-inch, 720p screen with a 1GHz AMD C-50 Ontario APU. In case you need a brief refresher, Ontario's the chip rated at just nine watts, meaning we should expect some fairly decent battery life here, though possibly not the heroic performance of its 1.6GHz Zacate cousin. Aside from those specs, the Acer's mostly your standard netbook -- three USB ports, VGA-out, a webcam and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi -- though it does have HDMI out, something you won't find on the otherwise similar Aspire One D255. It's hard to say what it'll cost stateside, but a Thai e-tailer's ringing up a version right now with 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive for 12,829 baht (about $425). Wonder if it runs Android?
AMD publishes CPU roadmaps through 2012, runs a quad-core Bulldozer through the laptop realm
Heard of Trinity, Krishna, Wichita and Komodo? You have now -- they're the codenames of brand-new processors that AMD plans to ship in 2012. AMD dropped preliminary details on the basic platform lineup earlier this week, and it looks like there are some sweeping changes in store -- like the fact that every single chip will have a DirectX 11 capable GPU on board in true Fusion style. Also, if you thought Bulldozer was a desktop processor and Bobcat limited to laptops, you'll be interested to know that's not at all how it's going to work -- powerhouse notebooks and mid-range towers can get the same four high-end cores in the form of a 32nm Trinity APU, while Krishna and Wichita mop up the low-end and hopefully address low power consumption scenarios with 28nm silicon. Of course, there's a little something extra for the desktop enthusiast, and that's where the octa-core Komodo will come in (picture after the break). AMD's also enacted one other very important change, and that's to provide the handy-dandy AMD Codename Decoder™ for telling all these platforms apart. You'll find it at our more coverage link. We kid you not.
Intel to show off Sandy Bridge at IDF next week, AMD counters with Zacate demo nearby
Now this is what you call a juicy standoff. Intel has announced that Paul Otellini will grace the stage at IDF next week with a demo of his company's next-gen CPU/GPU chip, codenamed Sandy Bridge, and not to be outdone, AMD has immediately retorted with plans to put its own Zacate competitor up on display -- at the same time, in the same city, but at a slightly different location. Both Zacate and Sandy Bridge meld general-purpose and graphical processing duties into one slice of silicon, consolidating the traditionally discrete CPU and GPU into a power-efficient do-it-all chip. You'll find details of where AMD's impromptu demo will be taking place after the break, whereas the Intel Developer Forum will probably be discoverable by the masses of bespectacled engineers trudging in its general direction. Boy, San Fran's gonna be one happening place next week!
AMD names second Bobcat APU Zacate, shows off Ontario die size
AMD might still have no actual Fusion product to sell us, but it's added a fresh new codename to the stable of future CPU/GPU hybrids. The Zacate Accelerated Processing Unit is a Bobcat derivative, much like the Ontario, but it operates at a higher TDP of 18W and is intended for ultrathin and mainstream laptops along with power-sipping desktops and all-in-ones. Both it and the Ontario APU will offer two Bobcat cores allied to Radeon graphics capable of performing DirectX 11 instructions, though the Ontario dips all the way down to 9W with the stated aim of punching up netbook and small form factor pc performance. Just for reference, that'll have to compete against Intel's own dual-core solution, the 1.5GHz Atom N550, which scrapes by on just an 8.5W TDP... though, of course, it doesn't integrate the same graphics processing prowess that Ontario promises. The two chips, Ontario and Zacate, will ride AMD's Brazos platform when they finally debut early next year. Until then, enjoy the technicolor die shot after the break.
AMD's Bobcat and Bulldozer, 2011 flagship CPU cores, detailed today
One of these days AMD is gonna have to stop talking about its Atom-killing Bobcat and Xeon-ending Bulldozer cores and finally release them. But, until that happy moment arrives in 2011 (fingers crossed), we'll have to content ourselves with more presentation slides. First up, the Bobcat core is AMD's long overdue play for the netbook/ultrathin market. Pitched as having 90 percent of the performance of current-gen, K8-based mainstream chips, AMD's new mobility core will require "less than half the area and a fraction of the power" of its predecessors. That sounds like just the recipe to make the company relevant in laptop purchasing decisions again, while a touted ability for the core to run on less than one watt of power (by lowering operating frequencies and voltages, and therefore performance) could see it appear in even smaller form factors, such as MIDs. The Bobcat's now all set to become the centerpiece of the Ontario APU -- AMD's first Fusion chip, ahead of Llano -- which will be ramping up production late this year, in time for an early 2011 arrival. The Bulldozer also has a future in the Fusion line, but it's earliest role will be as a standalone CPU product for servers and high-end consumer markets. The crafty thing about its architecture is that every one Bulldozer module will be counted as two cores. This is because AMD has split its internal processing pipelines into two (while sharing as many internal components as possible), resulting in a sort of multicore-within-the-core arrangement. The way the company puts it, it's multithreading done right. Interlagos is the codename of the first Opteron chips to sport this new core, showing up at some point next year in a 16-core arrangement (that's 8 Bulldozers, if you're keeping score at home) and promising 50 percent better performance than the current Magny-Cours flagship. Big words, AMD. Now let's see you stick to a schedule for once.%Gallery-100088%
AMD Fusion APU gets its first public demo at Computex (video)
Hey, what do you know -- the Fusion lives! AMD's CPU / GPU hybrid, which sounded so revolutionary back when it was first thought up, has finally shown off its Accelerated Processing grunt by chewing through a section of Aliens vs Predator live on stage at Computex. We can't say we were exactly bowled over by the performance -- the demo was just a leisurely walk through some leafy terrain, yet still seemed to dip below 30 frames a second at a few points, showing that the APU wasn't all that comfortable handling the DirectX 11 tasks that were put upon it. This chip is targeted at ultraportables, however, and that's a crowd with distinctly lower standards than your usual desktop gamer, so maybe there's a future for this 2011-bound slice of silicon after all. We've got video of the full AMD presentation after the break -- you'll want to skip ahead 59 minutes to see the AVP runthrough. %Gallery-94148%
AMD Fusion sampling soon, arriving in 2011 with Llano APU
To say that we've been waiting for AMD's Fusion CPU / GPU combo for a long time would be an understatement. In fact, while AMD was busy talking about it, Intel swept in with its own Arrandale and Clarkdale chips that pack graphical and computing processing into the same chip. Lest we were discouraged, then, AMD is making a return to form with news that its first Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) is about to start sampling to manufacturers, with a now definite 2011 launch window. Codenamed Llano, this will be a quad-core beastie with intended operating speeds of more than 3Ghz and graphics parts borrowed from ATI's successful line of Evergreen GPUs. That means DirectX 11, a feature Intel is unlikely to match, whereas AMD will have everything Intel currently does and more, with a 32nm production process, on-die integration (rather than just the same chip packaging), and power gating allowing for dynamic per-core overclocking a la Turbo Boost. It's been lonely without you AMD, now just fulfill this promise and all that absenteeism will be forgiven.
