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Notbook (n.) — An affordable ultraportable laptop, typically with a 11.6-inch or 12-inch display that is not a netbook. It packs more power than a netbook (i.e. can handle 1080p video and Flash at fullscreen) and provides a more comfortable computing experience than the typical, 10-inch underpowered, shrunken Atom-based laptop. Most do not have optical drives, but do last for over five hours on a charge. Unlike pricey ultraportable laptops, notbooks are more affordable and start at around $400.

About six months ago, the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron M101z arrived on my doorstep for review. The AMD Neo-powered system looked like a slightly enlarged netbook, but in a briefing with Dell, the product manager reinforced quite a few times that the system was absolutely “not a netbook.” I can’t remember his exact wording, but he made it crystal clear — the $449 Inspiron M101z was so much more powerful than an Intel Atom netbook that it could be one’s primary machine. Obviously, I started calling these sorts of laptops “notbooks,” and over the next few months, more and more of them started popping up. Some of them paired Atom with an NVIDIA Ion GPU (e.g. Eee PC 1215N), while others used AMD’s Neo chip and more recently AMD’s new Fusion Zacate APU. (Intel’s Core ULV-powered systems are frankly too expensive to be considered in this category, though some Pentium / Core 2 Duo systems, like the Acer Timeline X1810T, could qualify.)

Uh, so what? There’s a new crop of more powerful, affordable, and highly mobile laptops — what’s the big deal? Well, while many think tablets are what will ultimately cut the netbook market down to size, it’s the notbooks that will also seriously hit the Atom-based lilliputian laptops of today where it really hurts. Don’t get me wrong, ARM-powered tablets like the iPad and Motorola Xoom are going to impact netbook sales in a big way, too (heck, they already have!), but mark my words, notbooks or affordable ultraportables will take a noticeable chunk of both the netbook and the mainstream laptop market. There’s finally a class of laptops that provide a terrific balance between primary and mobile computing without breaking the bank. Think I’m crazy? Hit the break to understand what I’m talking about.

Continue reading Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook

Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What does the next great superpower of desktop graphics look like? Well, it shares an unmistakable family resemblance to the current champ, but its dimensions have somehow been made even larger. Yes, we’re talking about AMD’s Radeon HD 6990 — a dual-GPU monstrosity that’s set to serve as the company’s 2011 flagship — which has just been shown off at an Asia Pacific Fusion Tech Day gathering. Aside from the crazy imagery (one more after the break and a gallery at the source), we’ve found a promise that this polygon deliverator will be available in late Q1 2011. Which gives us just enough time to rent out a room big enough to house it. Now, when’s Crysis 2 coming out?

[Thanks, Christopher]

Continue reading AMD Radeon HD 6990 shows up in its metallic flesh, looking larger than life

AMD Radeon HD 6990 shows up in its metallic flesh, looking larger than life originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 07:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, this sort of sucks. Remember the AMD Fusion Toshiba NB550D with its Harman Kardon speakers? Well, according to Toshiba it won’t be landing in the US anytime soon. According to Liliputing, Tosh has no plans to release the Ontario-powered 10-inch laptop on this side of the pond. Yep, it seems that Toshiba US would prefer to keep Intel’s Atom powering its 10-inch NB520 and NB505 netbooks and save AMD’s higher end Zacate E-Series for larger systems like its 15.6-inch Satellite C655D. Of course, there’s always the Acer Aspire One 522 for those seeking AMD’s Bobcat core and ATI Radeon 6250 graphics in a 10-inch chassis, but there’s just something about those HK speaker grills that have us wishin’ Toshiba would change its mind about this one.

Toshiba NB550D with AMD Ontario denied entry to the US originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, this interim CEO thing doesn’t seem to be too hard at all. Thomas Seifert, the temporary solution to the problem created by Dirk Meyer’s departure from AMD’s top spot, has had a pretty comfy ride reporting the company’s latest quarterly results. The pecuniary numbers themselves ($1.65b revenue, $375m net income) were tame and unexciting, but Seifert got to make a pair of juicy milestone announcements. Firstly, on the mobile and ever-so-efficient front, he noted that 1.3 million Fusion APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) have been shipped to partners since AMD started deliveries in November, and secondly, in terms of discrete graphics chips, he disclosed that the Radeon HD 5000 and HD 6000 series DirectX 11 GPUs have surpassed the 35 million units shipped mark. To give you some perspective on what that means, sales of Nintendo’s bestselling Wii console are hovering somewhere around the same figure. So yes, AMD, your wagon has momentum, but shouldn’t it have a driver too?

Continue reading AMD ships 1.3 million Fusion APUs, 35 million DirectX 11 GPUs, says it has ‘momentum’

AMD ships 1.3 million Fusion APUs, 35 million DirectX 11 GPUs, says it has ‘momentum’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Jan 2011 07:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think tablets will kill off the nettop like they’re doing with the netbook? Think again — well, for now, at least. Compulab has released details of its latest little powerhouse, and this one’s faster than ever despite being less than an inch thick and about six inches across. Maximum spec sees the insertion of an AMD G-series T56N processor, aka the Fusion Zacate, offering dual cores at 1.6GHz while pulling down 18W TDP, paired with a Radeon HD 6310, the two running cool enough to not need a single fan. (It’s the same basic setup found in the HP Pavilion dm1z we recently reviewed.) There’s up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, room for a 2.5-inch HDD, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, a whopping six USB 2.0 ports, and even dual eSATA if you need external storage. No word on price just yet but it’s said to be “competitive” compared to its predecessors, like the PC2, which currently costs between $300 and $700 depending on configuration.

Compulab fit-PC3 offers dual-core AMD power in a case less than an inch thick originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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