Wednesday, September 16, 2009

AMD pops out sub-$100 quad-core Athlon II X4 CPU: review roundup

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/amd-pops-out-sub-100-quad-core-athlon-ii-x4-cpu-review-roundup/


AMD has always been one to play the pricing card in its never-ending tussle with Intel, but we get the feeling this introduction may pack more of a punch than any before it. It's a simple concept -- the $99 quad-core CPU -- and given just how in love we Americans are with value menus, you can bet new PC builders will at least give the new Athlon II X4 620 ($99) and 630 ($122) a look. Reviews around the web essentially came to the same conclusion: it's not the fastest quad-core chip around, and the lack of L3 certainly doesn't make it the most attractive, but the 620 somehow manages to compete with all of the processors in its price range while being the cheapest. The "cut-down Phenom II," as HotHardware calls it, suffers a bit on the gaming side due to the L3 removal, but in general scenarios it was plenty potent. Hit the links below if you feel like digging in way, way deeper.

Read - HotHardware
Read - TechSpot
Read - MaximumPC
Read - PC Perspective
Read - TweakTown
Read - PC Pro
Read - AMD Zone

Filed under:

AMD pops out sub-$100 quad-core Athlon II X4 CPU: review roundup ori! ginally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 7:32 PM

VIA unveils its 1080p-playing SurfBoard NetNote, we'll still call it a netbook

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/via-unveils-its-1080p-playing-surfboard-netnote-well-still-cal/

VIA unveils its 1080p-playing SurfBoard NetNote, we'll still call it a netbook
The world needs more tiny notebooks able to fling out high-definition video without flinching. However, the world doesn't need more arbitrarily named categories of devices. So, it's with mixed feelings that we bring news of the finalization of the SurfBoard platform from VIA, pledging to bring 1080p playback to the netbook category -- or rather to the NetNote category, which is what VIA would like us to call it. We won't, but we will be happy to see the VX855 media processor start showing up in little laptops soon, as its support for H.264, MPEG-2/4, VC-1, and WMV9 sounds quite a bit more inclusive than we've found NVIDIA's ION to be. We're not particularly fond of the burnt umber hue applied to the initial recipient above (we liked the looks of the clear prototype much better), but if it means watching high def content in coach class without breaking our backs, killing our batteries, or melting our CPUs, we'd rock it. It certainly would go with the fall fashions. Full press release is below.

Continue reading VIA unveils its 1080p-playing SurfBoard NetNote, we'll still call it a netbook

Filed under:

VIA unveils its 1080p-playing SurfBoard NetNote, we'll still call it a netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 7:32 PM

Fujitsu gifts LifeBook T5010 convertible tablet with multitouch LCD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/fujitsu-gifts-lifebook-t5010-convertible-table-with-multitouch-l/


It's definitely not the first LifeBook to boast a multitouch panel, but given just how popular the original T5010 proved to be, we're pleasantly pleased to see the outfit bless that very convertible tablet with a touchscreen. The new dual digitizer option gives the 13.3-inch machine a whole new purpose in life, as it now supports two-finger touch (for rotating, pinching, zooming, groping, etc.) within Windows 7. Oddly enough, Fujitsu's choosing to ship this with Vista until October 22nd rolls around, so we'd advise you to hold tight for another month and change if at all possible. Everything else about the rig remains mostly the same, though the $1,759 (active digitizer) / $1,859 (dual digitizer) starting tags are actually lower than the MSRP given to the first T5010 in early 2008.

Filed under:

Fujitsu gifts LifeBook T5010 convertible tablet with multitouch LCD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 7:31 PM

New iPod touch gets a speed test, zips right on by

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/new-ipod-touch-gets-a-speed-test-zips-right-on-by/


The new generation of the iPod touch, we've been told, is roughly 50 percent faster than the previous iteration. Well, the fine folks over at the iPhone Blog have done a bit of information collecting on just that topic -- to see if Apple's latest is actually that much faster. Both Macworld and TUAW did testing which showed a reduction in boot times from 31 to 19 seconds, web page loading (using the New York Times) went from 34 to 15 seconds, while app launching saw time reductions across the board. So -- in essence -- yes, the newest iPod touch is about 50 percent faster than the previous model in terms of performance. Hit the read link to hear even more tantalizing details.

Filed under: , ,

New iPod touch gets a speed test, zips right on by originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 7:31 PM

Super Talent's 2TB RAIDDrive shipping next month to the rich and silly

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/super-talents-2tb-raiddrive-shipping-next-month-to-the-rich-and/


Remember that 2TB PCIe RAIDDrive we peeked earlier this year? Yeah, that was no April Fool's joke. Super Talent's answer to OCZ Technology's Z-Drive is on track to ship next month, shortly after it makes a quick stop by IDF next week. The device slots into one's PCIe bus and utilizes a RAID architecture specifically tailored to work with NAND flash memory. In fact, the outfit has actually boosted the transfer speeds from the 1.3GBps estimate to a 1.4GBps promise. The aluminum enclosure houses four discrete SATA SSDs, with the RAIDDrive GS being the model that tops out at 2TB. For those able to deal with "just" 1TB, there's the RAIDDrive ES and RAIDDrive WS, both of which are detailed further in the read link. No exact pricing has been nailed down yet for the flagship unit, but considering that the 1TB RAIDDrive GS is pegged at $4,999 for OEMs, we'll let your imagination do the rest.

Filed under:

Super Talent's 2TB RAIDDrive shipping next month to the rich and silly originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this |&nb! sp;Comments

Read More...

Posted by Augustine at 7:31 PM

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)