Hasta La Gadget!

Well, would you look at this? Dell‘s not-at-all-boisterous launch of numerous R-rated Inspirons left us with far more questions than answers (you know what we mean, J.J. Abrams?), but now things are starting to come together somewhat. We’re guessing some of the mystique surrounding the M501R has to do with the power plant within, because so far as we can tell, AMD has never shipped a Phenom II X4 within a laptop. Sure enough, this here machine can be ordered up with a quad-core X4, and while prices and the like aren’t yet available (the order process seems to be borked for now), we do know that this particular model will ship with a 720p 15.6-inch display, Windows 7, an optional 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 550v (another new one to us), WiFi, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, four color options and a total weight of 5.83 pounds. C’mon Dell / AMD — why not just spill the beans already? Our trigger finger can only itch for so long.

Dell Inspiron M501R seen packing quad-core AMD Phenom II X4 CPU, ATI 550v GPU originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s no Radeon, but AMD’s new range of FirePro GPUs might just strike a chord with a few of you multi-monitor maniacs. Just a few short weeks after the debut of the FirePro V8800, AMD as launched the ATI FirePro V7800, ATI FirePro V5800, ATI FirePro V4800, and ATI FirePro V3800, all of which are aimed at assisting digital content creators, well, create content. Frankly, those pro-oriented cards don’t do a lot for us, but the FirePro 2460 Multi-View most certainly does. Boasting a low profile (half height) form factor, this relatively simple (read: not for hardcore gaming) card packs 512MB of video memory, hardware acceleration of DirectX 11, an average power drain of just 13 watts and not two, not three, but four video outputs. AMD tells us that this was designed for day traders who need four displays to accurately watch their stock prices fluctuate, but we can think of quite a few others who’d benefit from having access to four Mini DisplayPort sockets on a single, low-power card. All of the devices mentioned here should begin shipping today, with the 2460 in particular demanding a reasonable $299.

Continue reading AMD FirePro 2460 Multi-View: four Mini DisplayPort sockets, 13W, no frills

AMD FirePro 2460 Multi-View: four Mini DisplayPort sockets, 13W, no frills originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tossing a pair of GPUs into a single, beastly laptop ain’t nothing new — in fact, Alienware’s own M17x has been offered in such a way since last year — but having said machine arrive at your doorstep with a pair of ATI’s world-beating Mobility Radeon HD 5870s has been downright impossible until now. The earliest of adopters are now reporting (with ear-to-ear grins, to boot) that their dual 1GB HD 5870-equipped M17x machines are finally shipping, and we suspect it’ll only be a matter of time before those CrossFire assisted benchmarks surface to make our existing lappies look patently pathetic. So, hit that inbox once more and tell us if you’ve seen a shipping notification of your own — and if you’ve already got your unit in hand, why not expound with a few opinions on how things are running?

[Thanks, Max]

Alienware M17x now shipping with dual 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPUs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ATI’s Eyefinity has a real corner on the market when it comes to speedy, gamer-friendly multi-display setups for “real people,” and while plenty of ink has already been spilled on the HD 5870 card and the six-display experiences it can power, we just had a gander at possibly the most elite setup yet. The real key here are the Samsung SyncMaster MD230 displays we saw it demo’d with, which sport razor slim screen bezels and an easy-to-build, flexible 3 x 2 grid. Less in-your-face but equally as sexy is that BMW-designed Thermaltake Level 10 chassis (OK, it’s still pretty in-your-face). It’s a custom-configured iBuyPower system, which in addition to the $2k-ish display setup (an official price hasn’t been announced by Samsung) should swipe a few months of your salary without any trouble.

Too rich for you? Well, maybe you’d like to win one for free! That’s right, we’re going to be demonstrating this system on the Engadget Show this Saturday, and one lucky attendee is going to win their very own Eyefinity setup! You have to be there to win, of course.

Not convinced? Follow after the break for some of our hands-on impressions and a quick video.

Continue reading ATI Eyefinity hands-on: we played with the ultimate PC rig, and we’re giving it away on the Engadget Show!

ATI Eyefinity hands-on: we played with the ultimate PC rig, and we’re giving it away on the Engadget Show! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been fortunate enough to spend a bit of time with an Eyefinity setup before, but up until now, it’s been somewhat of a hassle to get a fully functional six-screen setup into a consumer’s home. Today, AMD is taking the legwork out of the equation with the introduction of the Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition, a standalone GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and innate support for pushing a half-dozen panels at once. Outside of that, it’s essentially the same card that we saw last September, and based on the cadre of reviews that we rounded up, the doubled memory bank doesn’t do much to boost frame rates. What it does do, however, is enable six-screen gaming. Unfortunately (though understandably), this type of gaming scenario is only meant for a select segment of users, and many critics found the novelty wearing off exceptionally quick. In fact, it wasn’t long before NeoSeeker became fed up with the bezels ruining the experience, and just about everyone agreed that you needed to sit a good half-mile away to really enjoy it. Either way, we’d encourage you to hit up Hot Hardware‘s collection of videos before biting the bullet, buying up an extra five LCDs and then regretting it for the rest of your Earthly life.

Read – Hot Hardware
Read – AnandTech
Read – NeoSeeker
Read – Rage3D
Read – PC Perspective
Read – TweakTown
Read – FiringSquad
Read – Tom’s Hardware
Read – ExtremeTech
Read – Hexus

ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition review roundup: novel, but not for everyone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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