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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Broadcom's Crystal HD tech to liven up HD capabilities of N450-based netbooks

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/broadcoms-next-crystal-hd-tech-to-liven-up-hd-capabilities-of-n/

NVIDIA's Ion technology may be hogging the limelight when it comes to netbook graphics, but Broadcom's no stranger to the space. After giving Acer's Aspire One HD playback capabilities that it could only dream of just months prior, the company's newly announced Crystal HD platform could provide Intel's Atom N450 with the multimedia boost it badly needs. The nitty-gritty details are still being withheld, but we're told that "top-tier OEMs including Asus, Dell and Samsung" will be slapping this into their upcoming N450-based netbooks. If you're curious as to why you should care, the BCM70015 promises "near flawless" HD video playback, including support for Flash Player 10.1 and Blu-ray flicks. We're told to expect it to start popping up in forthcoming machines throughout 2010, and if you're looking to soak up anything else in the meanwhile, a promotional video awaits you after the break.

Continue reading Broadcom's Crystal HD tech to liven up HD capabilities of N450-based netbooks

Broadcom's Crystal HD tech to liven up HD capabilities of N450-based netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel's netbook and nettop Pine Trail Atom platforms explored, benchmarked

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/intels-netbook-and-nettop-pine-trail-atom-platforms-explored-b/

Just after finally making them official and just ahead of what will surely be a blowout of devices at CES, Intel has let loose the dogs of benchmarking upon its highly anticipated Pine Trail Atom platforms: the N450 for netbooks and the D510 for nettops. On the portable side it's HotHardware and AnandTech doing the testing, pitting the new Asus Eee PC 1005 PE (which we just reviewed ourselves) against some of its earlier Atom brethren, finding it out-paces the single-core N270 in terms of sheer CPU performance but is generally trumped by the dual-core 330, while its integrated GPU loses out handily to any machine with an Ion processor. But, in terms of battery life, it bested them all. The story is similar over at PCMag, which tested the D510 in a prototype nettop and found that its performance was no better than earlier 330-spec'd machines, but that its power consumption of just 19W under full load undercuts the thriftiest nettops -- it's quieter, too, thanks to a complete lack of fans. So, perhaps not the speed boost you might have been looking for, but fine battery life abounds, eh?

Intel's netbook and nettop Pine Trail Atom platforms explored, benchmarked originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Epic shows off Unreal Engine 3 running on iPhone / iPod touch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/epic-shows-off-unreal-engine-3-running-on-iphone-ipod-touch/

There's certainly plenty of good looking iPhone games available these days, but things could be about to get quite a bit more interesting, as Epic has now demonstrated its Unreal Engine 3 (the same one used for games like Gears of War 2) running on the iPhone 3GS and 3rd gen iPod touch to our friend Anand Shimpi of AnandTech. Unfortunately, it hasn't also announced any games or licensees that will be using the engine, but it seems like it has at least managed to get it running remarkably well on the hardware -- albeit in a somewhat limited demo, as you can see in the video after the break. What's more, Epic also reportedly said that it would be showing off the engine running on "another mobile platform entirely" at CES next month, but didn't drop any further hints besides that. Video after the break, and hit the read link for the full scoop.

Continue reading Epic shows off Unreal Engine 3 running on iPhone / iPod touch

Epic shows off Unreal Engine 3 running on iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 in action: good benchmarks, so-so multitouch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/fujitsu-lifebook-uh900-in-action-good-benchmarks-so-so-multito/

Step aside, VAIO P, Fujitsu's managed to take too-small screens on netbooks to new heights with the UH900, and the addition of a touchscreen makes you seem seriously early 2009. So, how does it perform? UMPC Fever is feeling it, with a CrystalMark score helped along by the UH900's SSD, even if done few favors by the 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor. Unfortunately, while the touchscreen display does offer multitouch gestures, they seem rather laggy -- as demonstrated in the video after the break. And thus we witness the odd disconnect of "laptops" and "phones," as the screen size and processor speed borders on a merging point and the interaction styles (or at least the execution on those styles) almost couldn't be further apart.

Continue reading Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 in action: good benchmarks, so-so multitouch

Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 in action: good benchmarks, so-so multitouch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Pad rumored to have multitouch, Tegra

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/asus-eee-pad-rumored-to-have-multitouch-tegra/

Details on ASUS's rumored Eee Pad were fairly light when the rumors first surfaced, but it looks like things are now starting to get fleshed out a bit more as we near a possible announcement at CES next month. The latest word comes from Netbooknews' sources, who have reportedly all but confirmed that the tablet / handheld will indeed have full multitouch capabilities, and that it definitely won't be running Windows CE (still no word what it will be running). Slightly less certain but more interesting is talk that the Eee Pad will run on NVIDIA's Tegra platform -- or, possibly, Tegra 2, which just so happens to be slated to launch at CES as well.

ASUS Eee Pad rumored to have multitouch, Tegra originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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