Hasta La Gadget!

Could 2010 be the year AMD poses a real threat to Intel on the laptop front? Well, you know that rumor that it’s gonna be powering 109 new laptops? Not only is that true, but it’s also going to be in 26 more thin and light systems. Frankly, we’re not all that surprised, particularly since it’s been no huge secret that AMD’s had a bunch of new processors floating about — some of which have been finding homes in new HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Dell laptops. Thankfully, the silicon heavyweight is finally revealing the source of all this mojo by sharing details about these mighty, yet energy efficient slabs of silicon. Up first is the Ultrathin platform (codenamed “Nile”), which now includes the new 23w Turion II Neo dual-core, Athlon II Neo dual-core, and Athlon II Neo processors — there’s clock speed and TDP specifics of each in the gallery, if that’s your sort of thing. To be found in 11- to 13- inch laptops like HP’s dm1 and Acer’s Aspire One 721, the CPUs can be coupled with ATI Radeon HD 5400 or Radeon 4200 integrated graphics options, not to mention DDR3 and Direct X 10.1 support. The biggest change? Apparently, the line up has been improved in terms of battery life and thermals, and AMD’s promising over eight hours of usage when fully charged. Given that battery life and heat were our biggest issues with the previous Neo processors, we’re happy to see those problem areas being addressed, but we’ll believe it when we really test some of these bad boys in the near future.

On the mainstream side of things, AMD continues to cram desktop power into its Athlon II dual-core, Athlon Turion II dual-core, Phenom II dual-, triple- and quad-core processors. There’s 12 new chips in all, but the top of the line 2.3GHz quad-core Phenom II Black Edition X920 is definitely the most juicy, and should give some Core i7 rigs a run for their money. Obviously those powerful CPUs can all be paired with ATI’s Radeon HD 4500 or higher discrete graphics (which will support Direct X11) or a lower-end Radeon 4200 integrated graphics option. Because AMD now likes to use simple terms with its Vision branding, it didn’t provide any hard benchmark numbers, but it promises 80 percent smoother gaming performance than comparable competitive mainstream systems, and 30 percent longer battery life than AMD’s previous generation of processors. Hit the break for the full presser, and click on through the gallery for a closer look at the technical details.

Continue reading AMD promises better battery life and thermals with new Neo CPUs, more power with Phenom II platform

AMD promises better battery life and thermals with new Neo CPUs, more power with Phenom II platform originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Typical loose-lipped Lenovo had a bit of a hard time keeping its new IdeaPad Z Series a secret, but at least now we can see why. First off, the new line of laptops ditches the glossy, fingerprint-loving covers for ones with a “metallic effect,” and even better, the entire line sports chiclet keyboards that are similar to that on the S10-3. If you haven’t noticed, we really have a major thing for Lenovo keyboards lately. And while the laptops may come in at under 1.2-inches thick, the 13.3-inch Z360 and the 15.6-inch Z560 have onboard optical drives, and both pack standard-voltage Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processor options. Oddly, Lenovo doesn’t seem to be announcing the 14-inch Z460 we had seen a few weeks back, but we assume that one will be up for grabs in other markets. Though the lowest end $649 config won’t have NVIDIA GeForce 315M graphics or Blu-ray, it should pack enough power to handle watching that cute girl cry over Justin Bieber on YouTube and those other necessary productivity tasks. Sneaking into the new family is also the 15.6-inch Z565, which differs from its new-born brothers with a glossy black cover and AMD internals. Like the HP ProBooks and Dell Inspiron M501R, the Z565 can be configured with AMD’s newest quad-core Phenom II X4, as well as with other new Phenom II, Turion II, Athlon II and V Series processors. We’d imagine there will be good deals popping up all over the place, but unfortunately all of the systems won’t be available until June. In the meantime, you’ve always got the the gallery and press release below to cheer you up.

Continue reading Lenovo officially rolls out new IdeaPad Z Series

Lenovo officially rolls out new IdeaPad Z Series originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As with most good things, this comes from Bulgaria. Laptop.bg have finagled themselves a prototype unit of Acer’s forthcoming Aspire 5553G and taken it on a benchmarking adventure to see what it’s made of. Their first impressions relate to the case, which comes in a familiar Timeline-inspired design, including a fingerprint-loving glossy lid and Acer’s particular take on the island keyboard, but they quickly move on to analyzing the quad-core Phenom II N930 heart beating within. Sadly, this particular unit was held back in gaming by its anemic Mobility Radeon HD 4250 GPU, but the news wasn’t all that flattering in CPU-isolating comparisons either. Cinebench 10 found the N930 outperforming Intel’s previous generation chips in multicore workloads, but falling behind on single-threaded tasks. AMD seems intent on pricing its latest Phenoms aggressively, and if you’re not too hung up on getting great battery life these will look appealing, but we can’t help feeling disappointed that Intel’s Core i7s aren’t being given more to worry about. Hit the source for the full review.

Acer Aspire 5553G showcases AMD’s quad-core Phenom II N930 in early review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 07:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ATI’s Radeon HD 5870 first saw the (official) light of day in late September of last year, but the GPU has managed to age well. In the months since that original debut, we’ve seen an Eyefinity 6 Edition hit the market for multi-monitor maniacs, and quite a few factory overclocked options have also made their way out. The benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware scrounged up three of the latest and greatest, all priced just below the $500 mark, which have core clock speeds that are 100MHz higher than standard and memory clock speeds that are up 50MHz above the norm. Cards from MSI, HIS and Gigabyte were represented, and while each of ’em put up a better-than-average fight, the latter card came out on top in nearly every single test. Gigabyte’s Super Overclock technology tended to outperform the other OC’ing solutions, but the whole lot managed to show up the non-overclocked alternatives by a good bit. Still, you’ll be forced to pay a 25 percent premium for an 11 to 16 percent boost in performance, so these are still probably best for enthusiasts who can’t stand to leave a single frame behind. Peep that source if you’re in need of more coaching before pulling the trigger either way.

Overclocked ATI Radeon HD 5870 shootout: HIS, MSI and Gigabyte trade blows originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 May 2010 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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See that up there? That’s the new HP dm4, and you better believe that this aluminum housed 14-inch laptop not only packs a Core i5 processor and plenty of sex appeal, but starts at $729. In a nutshell, that’s basically the whole story of the four new HP Pavilions — gone are the glossy lids and LED touch shortcuts, though remaining in tact are the affordable prices and mainstream power. The inch-thick dm4 happens to be our favorite of the bunch — it’s got a soft etched pattern along the lid, chiclet-style keyboard, on-board optical drive, and is available with different Core i5 CPU and ATI discrete graphics options. And if that 14-incher isn’t for you, there’s also the 14.5-inch dv5, which instead of the brushed aluminum lid, has a matte imprinted cover that’s available in black, red and champagne. Starting at $649, the dv5 is available with Core i3, i5 and AMD’s upcoming Turion II processors, and while it doesn’t have discrete graphics options, the Intel versions will support Intel’s WiDi technology.

Going on up in size, the 15.6-inch Pavilion dv6 is all about choices — you can configure it with either a brushed aluminum or HP Imprint finish, a mulitouch screen, and AMD or Intel Core 2010 processors. The AMD variant will start at $530 and the Intel Core i5 version at $649. Last but not least is the dv7 powerhouse, which now has a Beats Audio option. No surprises here, the 17-incher can be pimped with quad-core AMD or Intel CPUs and ATI discrete graphics. We’re planning to review at least a few of these models before back to school laptop shopping season gets fully underway, but for now, feel free to head on past the break for the full press release and feast your eyes on some of these far-from-budget-looking lappies down in the galleries below.

Continue reading HP Pavilion line made over with metal casing, new AMD and Intel processors

HP Pavilion line made over with metal casing, new AMD and Intel processors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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