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Monday, January 25, 2010

AMD launches new Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs right onto the test bench

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/25/amd-launches-new-phenom-ii-and-athlon-ii-cpus-right-onto-the-tes/

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 launches new Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs right onto the test bench originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bang & Olufsen introduces 46-inch BeoVision 10-46 LCD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/25/bang-and-olufsen-introduces-46-inch-beovision-10-46-lcd/

A 46-inch LCD with some high-end, built-in speakers from Bang & Olufsen? Yeah, this one won't come cheap, but it will definitely make more of a statement in your living room than the average big-screen LCD. Of course, if this one does look a tad familiar, it's because this new BeoVisoin 10-46 is basically just a larger version of Bang & Olufsen's existing 40-inch BeoVision 10, which boasts the same brushed aluminum frame, 200Hz refresh rate, and LED backlight as it's new, larger counterpart. No official word on a price, but the 40-incher came in at just under $10,000, so you can draw your own conclusions. Look for this one to hit "selected markets" (in Europe, most likely) sometime in April -- and if it's still a bit too small for you, you can always consider B&O's 103-inch BeoVision 4.

[Thanks, John]

Bang & Olufsen introduces 46-inch BeoVision 10-46 LCD originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung NC10 hacked to accommodate second mini PCI-e slot

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/25/samsung-nc10-hacked-to-accommodate-second-mini-pci-e-slot/

Samsung's NC10 may be getting a tad long in the tooth in the world of netbooks, but it still has its share of fans out there, some of whom are intent on stretching the netbook to its limits. One such individual is Graeme of the SammyNetbook forums, who amazingly managed to add a second mini PCI-e slot to the netbook that he's used to add a Broadcom HD decoder card. Of course, that mod is somewhat eased by the fact that the NC10 actually has a space and the necessary wiring for a second slot, but Graeme still did have to put his soldering skills to use, and simply hope that the NC10's BIOS recognized the extra PCI-e device (it did). Feeling a little brave? Then hit up the link below for all the necessary details and some pics of the process.

Samsung NC10 hacked to accommodate second mini PCI-e slot originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SlashGear | source

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Kingston's SSDNow V+ series hits 512GB capacity, adds Trim support

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/25/kingstons-ssdnow-v-series-hits-512gb-capacity-adds-trim-suppo/

Kingston's upping the ante on its solid state drive series in pretty much all the ways that count. The SSDNow V+ line boasts a 512GB upper limit, twice the previous generation, with iterative options for 256GB, 128GB, and 64GB. Read / write speeds have more than doubled to 230MB/sec and 180MB/sec, respectively. Best of all, these suckers now support TRIM. Prices range from as low as $268 for standalone 64GB an can go as high as $1968 for 512GB, with an extra $15 or so tacked on if you want the bundle instead -- still alluring, still not for the feint of funding, but the good news is, if you don't need Trim or the extra speed, the original SSDNow V series is available for much smaller dents on your wallet.

Kingston's SSDNow V+ series hits 512GB capacity, adds Trim support originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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âTrexa EV Platformâ; Design your Own Electric Vehicle

Source: http://cubeme.com/blog/2010/01/22/trexa-ev-platform-design-your-own-electric-vehicle/

Trexa is aiming to make electric car designing as easy as simply picking up parts and plugging them in your dream machine. The company has unveiled the world's first fully electric vehicle development platform that lets users design the vehicle on their own.
The platform includes everything from a battery to power electronics. For starters, the standard platform has an acceleration of 0-60mph in 8 sec, a top speed of 100mph, a 105 mile range, and a charge time of 4 hours (based upon an efficiency of 200Wh per mile — comparable to a Prius in electric mode).The on-board batteries can be recharged in just four hours.