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If you’re building a starter desktop to get ready for school, you’ll be glad to know that AMD is squeaking just a little more value for the dollar out of its processors. The new quad-core FX-4130 takes a 200MHz hop forward from its predecessor to a 3.8GHz base speed, and ramps up to 3.9GHz if it’s feeling frisky. While it’s thirstier than the earlier FX-4100 at 125W of maximum power draw, the unlocked chip’s $112 retail cost is a potential sweet spot for those tailoring a system to a strict price. Anyone willing to trade overclocking support for yet more of a savings will be glad to know that AMD has been slashing the prices of its Fusion-based A-Series chips at the same time: the across-the-board cuts bring even the 2.9GHz A8-3850 down to $91. No breaks exist here for the performance crowd, alas, but AMD’s new proposition might be just the excuse needed to build that budget Windows 8 PC.

Filed under: Desktops

AMD FX-4130 delivers 3.8GHz quad-core on a budget, A-Series chips get even cheaper originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a day of upheaval in the boardroom at Apple — in the good sense. Remember how Hardware Engineering Senior VP Bob Mansfield said he would retire in June? He’s had a change of heart and will keep working on future products. Meanwhile, two of the vice presidents who’ve been mainstays of Apple’s recent plans, Mac Software Engineering VP Craig Federighi and Hardware Engineering VP Dan Riccio, have been promoted to Senior VP. All three will report directly to CEO Tim Cook, and both Federighi as well as Riccio will get their first turns at Apple’s executive management team. While the shift isn’t going to signal a dramatic change in strategy, it’s notable that Riccio’s role is expanding: he’s moving from his earlier iPad focus to overseeing all the hardware Apple makes. We can only guess at what the ultimate goals might be for the new assignments, although we can imagine Apple jumping through hoops to keep a hardware executive as skilled as Mansfield on its side.

Continue reading Apple promotes pair of execs to Senior VP level, Bob Mansfield to hang around after all

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets

Apple promotes pair of execs to Senior VP level, Bob Mansfield to hang around after all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s being reported that Sony is closing Optiarc Inc., its company subsidiary that manufactures optical disc drives for PCs. Officials are quoted as saying that “fierce competition” forced prices down, causing the business to operate at a loss despite controlling roughly 15 percent of the market. Operations will be wound up by March of next year, with around 400 employees being offered early retirement and others being moved to other parts of the business. Don’t worry about the future of your Blu-Ray and DVD player just yet though — the company will continue to manufacture both as part of its Device Solutions Division.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Sony getting out of PC optical drive business due to ‘fierce competition’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a special moment in every operating system’s life when it loses its innocent .0 status and grows up. It’s OS X Mountain Lion’s turn to mature, as Apple has just pushed out the 10.8.1 update for early adopters. Most of the fixes are for issues that plague specific use cases, such as audio output from a Thunderbolt Display or crashes in Migration Assistant. There are a few remedies that a wider audience might appreciate — a fix for iMessages that don’t send and an improvement to Exchange compatibility in Mail, for example. We don’t yet know of any surprises lurking underneath, but it can’t hurt to have a smoother-running Mac while we investigate.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Apple posts OS X 10.8.1 update, mends your Mountain Lion originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kingmax is known for pushing the limits now and then with its flash storage, so we’re intrigued when it puts out a high-end solid-state drive for the mainstream. Its new SATA III Client Pro SSD lives up to that bill with the combination of a SandForce controller and faster flash memory that can reach some heady speeds for gamers and simple speed freaks alike. With the right drive and ideal conditions, we’re looking at a brisk 550MB/s for sequential reads, 520MB/s for similarly ordered writes and a very capable 85,000 IOPS when writing at random. Kingmax isn’t directly providing prices or release details, but it’s offering capacities from 60GB to 480GB as well both laptop-focused (SMU32) and desktop-friendly (SMU35) kits. The Client Pro-inclined can find the full nuts-and-bolts details after the break.

Continue reading Kingmax intros speedy, SandForce-packing SATA III Client Pro SSD

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Storage

Kingmax intros speedy, SandForce-packing SATA III Client Pro SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 06:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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