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Wii U has last-gen Radeon inside, still more advanced than PS3 and Xbox 360
Slowly, but surely, we're starting to piece together what's going on inside that mysterious white box known as the Wii U. IBM was a little coy about the multi-core CPU it was providing, but did tantalize us by mentioning the name "Watson" in describing some of its underlying tech. Now details about the custom Radeon GPU are starting to surface and, while certainly capable, it's not exactly cutting edge. At its heart is a chip similar to the R770 found in AMD's last-gen cards like the 4890 and, before you dismiss it, remember the PS3 and Xbox 360 are still capable of pumping out impressive visuals while packing five-year-old silicon (The 360 is essentially running a souped up ATI X1900). The custom core also supports Direct X 10.1 (Microsoft runs out of steam with Direct X 9) and Eyefinity-like multi-display tech for up to four SD video streams -- though it'll be up to Nintendo and developers to put that to good use. In case you're still not convinced of the Wii U's graphical prowess, Crytek has said its advanced CryEngine is "pretty much" up and running on Nintendo's upcoming console -- and, if it's good enough for Crysis, it should be good enough for you.
Samsung SCH-R700 is a cute full-touch dumbphone, looks destined for US
It's extraordinarily rare for a Samsung phone to show up in the FCC with full photography available to the public ahead of its official introduction, so color us surprised to see this lil' SCH-R700 hanging out today. It's an 850 / 1900MHz CDMA device with EV-DO, suggesting it'd probably go to Verizon, Sprint, or US Cellular -- Cricket and MetroPCS would almost certainly be off the table since both of those guys use AWS in their coverage. Beyond that, little is known; the nearly barren draft users' manual is dated from February of this year, so whatever the R700 is, it's been kicking around in labs for most of 2010. Though the button layout nearly guarantees it'll be running a basic dumbphone platform, it sure seems like this would be a great setup for an ultra-low end Android device, doesn't it?
Toshiba's 13.3-inch Portege R700 gets a pair of WiMAX models
Integrated 3G is so 2009. These days, your laptop just ain't a mobile workhorse without a 4G module embedded under the hood, and Toshiba's making sure it keeps with the times by launching a pair of WiMAX-capable Portégé R700 models. The 13.3-inch ultraportable is relaunching with an integrated DVD drive, WiMAX support, the latest Core 2010 CPUs, an ExpressCard slot, eSATA / USB combo port, 4GB of DDR3 memory, inbuilt webcam and a six-cell battery. The Portégé R700-S1332W in particular ships with a Core i7 CPU and 128GB SSD, while the Portégé R700-S1322W steps down to a Core i5 and a 320GB (7200RPM) hard drive. Both units are shipping now from Tosh's preferred partners, with the high-end option going for $1,699 and the low(er)-end one selling for $1,349. It's on you to activate a Clear plan, though.
Toshiba Portégé R700 slides in with a thin design, Core power and an affordable pricetag
Toshiba's announced more than enough laptops for us in the past week, but the 13.3-inch Portégé R700 is ranking pretty high up there on our favorite list. The ultraportable has gotten a complete redesign at its core -- there's a new magnesium chassis that's been re-engineered with an internal honeycomb metal that aims to dissipate heat, as well as a new chiclet style keyboard. Yet, despite its mostly metal build and onboard optical drive, it measures less than an inch thick and only weighs three pounds -- yep, Toshiba is in fact claiming it's the lightest 13.3-inch laptop ever. Rather unexpectedly, it doesn't chicken out with ultra-low voltage power -- instead there will be Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 versions. And the pricing is really enticing -- the Core i3 version with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive will retail for $999, the i5 model with a 320GB 7,200rpm drive for $1,299, and an i7 / 128GB SSD combo for $1,599. And there will also be a blue colored Best Buy version with a Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive for $899. Told you it was rising to the top of our list. These bad boys start shipping today, but if you need some more info before whipping out the plastic, hit the gallery below and the press release after the break. %Gallery-95645% %Gallery-95667%
New Asus U2E laptop, R700 GPS satnav, and more at CES 2008
We'd like to say we're a little more surprised by some news from Asus today concerning a handful of new products they've got coming to American shores, but from the looks of things we've seen almost all of them. First up -- just as hoped for -- the company is bringing the Nova P22 desktop our way, a Core 2 Duo-based number which should please the style conscious without breaking the bank (at its $799 price tag). Also headed this way is the $399 R700 GPS navigator that we saw for Europe recently, a 4.3-inch touchscreen-based nav unit with a petite 1.3-cm-thick (er, thin) footprint, and a bunch of media playin', Bluetoothin' functions that will make you weak in the knees. Also announced for the US is the U2 laptop (here known as the U2E), a Core Duo ULV-based computer, coupled with a 32GB SSD -- which cuts down on the energy-sucking without sacrificing performance (or so they say). There was one new product in the PR that we haven't seen: the 24-inch widescreen MK241, which features HDMI support, a built-in webcam, microphone, and speakers, though no word on price or release date. Check the read links for a slightly more detailed look.[Via jkkmobile]Read - ASUS Dazzles Las Vegas with Exciting New ProductsRead - The New ASUS U2E with 32GB Solid State Drive Integrates Luxury and Technology
Samsung's 17-inch R700 laptop comes to light
Looks like Samsung has gone and whipped up a 17-inch laptop of its own to appease the multimedia lovers out there, but for folks lookin' to get their game on, we doubt you'll find much to love here. The 7-pound R700 sports an all-black motif that's oh-so-Samsung, and features a 1,440 x 900 resolution panel, NVIDIA's GeForce 8400 GS, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, dual-layer DVD burner, built-in HDMI port, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 7-in-1 multicard reader to handle all your flash cards. Oddly enough, we're not told what type(s) of processors will be available here, but we do know the machine will come stocked with Windows Vista Home Premium when it hits the market in February for around $970.[Via Laptops Blog]
Asus' R700 GPS unit hits the FCC
We've known for some time that Asus' R700 GPS unit would be hitting Europe by the end of the year, but it looks like the device could now be nearing a US release as well, as it recently made its all-important debut at the FCC. In case you missed it, this one is a Windows CE 5.0-based device, boasting a 4.3-inch touchscreen, RDS / TMC traffic info, a hands-free Bluetooth kit, a microSD card slot for expansion and, of course, all the basic PMP features you'd expect. Of course, there's still no official word on price or date for the US release, but the European model should be available sometime this month for €400-€500 (or roughly $590 to $740).
Asus R700 GPS unit gets official
We first got to know the Asus R300 and R700 GPS units back in September, but now Asus is finally ready to spill the rest of the sordid details on its well-specced R700 model. The Asus R700 runs a 4.3-inch touchscreen, with RDS / TMC traffic info, a hands-free Bluetooth kit, microSD port and all the trimmings inherent in Windows CE 5.0 -- including a lovable collection of media playback codecs. There's text-to-speech built in for reading street names, but the real twist comes from the ability to vocalize your text messages over Bluetooth. This model will be hitting Europe in December with a set of 3D maps and iGO 8 software for 400-500 Euro ($586-$732 US).[Via NaviGadget]
Asus' R300 and R700 GPS navigators get leaked
Asus has been getting into all kinds of wild activity as of late, from its Eee ultra-cheap laptop, to wooden concept computers, and of course, entry into the GPS market. Well, hot on the heels of the R600 (the company's first foray into navigation) comes the R300 and R700, two new GPS / PMPs that do just about what you'd expect, and maybe a little bit more. The R300 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a 400MHz Samsung CPU, 128MB of RAM, FM tuner, Bluetooth 2.0, can playback MP3, WMA, AAC audio and MPEG-4, H.263 video, and sports a microSD slot. The R700 has a larger, 4.3-inch touchscreen, and an integrated RDS-TMC traffic receiver, though otherwise the specs are pretty much the same as the R300. No word on price, but the units are expected to arrive sometime in November, at least in Europe.[Via Unwired View]
ATI graphics to support DisplayPort 1.1 in early 2008
Egads, the industry's move to DisplayPort is hotting up with AMD announcing ATI Radeon graphics processors supporting DisplayPort 1.1 in the "early 2008 timeframe." Just in time to support Samsung's new 30-inch panel scheduled to see production in Q2 2008. In fact, AMD just completed successful interoperability testing of their presumably "next-generation graphics processor" toting a native DisplayPort 1.1 transmitter. Taking a deeper look then into those analyst notes issued last week, we can expect the new interface to appear in ATI's Shanghai-class, R700 FireGL graphics cards. Now all we need is an official announcement from some of the PC boys are we're good to go. Yeah, we're looking at you Dell. [Via I4U News]
