Hasta La Gadget!

Now here’s a very positive new sign for MeeGo‘s future. AMD, Intel’s oldest and boldest nemesis, has added its name to the list of companies actively supporting the development of the platform — which got its start as a joint project between Intel and Nokia — and has pledged the contribution of its “engineering expertise” to the further advancement of the open source OS. In simpler terms, AMD must be aware of the great potential of MeeGo and is seeking not to be left behind, as illustrated by Ben Bar-Haim, the company’s software development VP, who expressed AMD’s hope that “this operating system will help drive our embedded plans and create expanded market opportunities for our forthcoming Accelerated Processing Units.” Good to know, guys, good to know. Jump past the break for the full press release.

Continue reading AMD will contribute ‘engineering expertise’ to MeeGo development project

AMD will contribute ‘engineering expertise’ to MeeGo development project originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Heard of Trinity, Krishna, Wichita and Komodo? You have now — they’re the codenames of brand-new processors that AMD plans to ship in 2012. AMD dropped preliminary details on the basic platform lineup earlier this week, and it looks like there are some sweeping changes in store — like the fact that every single chip will have a DirectX 11 capable GPU on board in true Fusion style. Also, if you thought Bulldozer was a desktop processor and Bobcat limited to laptops, you’ll be interested to know that’s not at all how it’s going to work — powerhouse notebooks and mid-range towers can get the same four high-end cores in the form of a 32nm Trinity APU, while Krishna and Wichita mop up the low-end and hopefully address low power consumption scenarios with 28nm silicon. Of course, there’s a little something extra for the desktop enthusiast, and that’s where the octa-core Komodo will come in (picture after the break). AMD’s also enacted one other very important change, and that’s to provide the handy-dandy AMD Codename Decoder[TM] for telling all these platforms apart. You’ll find it at our more coverage link. We kid you not.

Continue reading AMD publishes CPU roadmaps through 2012, runs a quad-core Bulldozer through the laptop realm

AMD publishes CPU roadmaps through 2012, runs a quad-core Bulldozer through the laptop realm originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AMD (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

Yep, that thing is a computer, and while it probably won’t be your next computer, it’s definitely an interesting one. Made by hardware startup Xi3, the aluminum case (yes, it’s available in more than just that orange mocha frappuccino color) houses three separate boards — one holds the AMD Athlon 64 processor and 2GB of DDR2 RAM, another the power / video card, and the last the input / outputs. As you may have guessed, the 20 watt modular system is meant to be tinkered with, and in addition to those internal boards, it has only two sides, eight screws, and that colorful chassis; the company will sell additional modules on its site. So, how much will that little thing set ya back? Obviously, it’s customizable, but the base model, which includes a 1.8GHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of flash storage rings up at $850. That’s pricey considering it doesn’t include a Windows OS, but Xi3 told us that it’s primarily aiming this thing at the embedded market and cloud computing customers. Still, that doesn’t mean you couldn’t configure it with a larger hard drive, install your OS of choice, and find a home for the little guy on your desk. It’s available now at the source link, but before heading over there you’ll want to check out some pictures of the Xi3’s internals in the gallery below and then journey past the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Xi3 Modular Computer is one cool-looking desktop in a cube

Xi3 Modular Computer is one cool-looking desktop in a cube originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Xi3  | Email this | Comments

A quick refresher: Bobcat is AMD’s low-power Accelerated Processing Unit that can handle both computational and graphical duties, Ontario and Zacate are the chips built upon that core, and Brazos is the overall platform that they’ll be doing their work on. Clear enough? We hope so. AMD has finally allowed a few tech pubs to get their hands on Brazos-based systems and, along with feedback about their experience, the guys have come back with some added spec notes. There’ll be two initial Zacate options, the dual-core E-350 running at 1.6GHz or the single-core E-240 clocked at 1.5GHz, while Ontario will offer 1GHz dual-core and 1.2GHz single-core variants. Let’s not forget that both are intended for netbooks and lithe desktop computers before writing them off as too slow — which would be a mistake anyway as the sites that got a chance to play with the E-350 reported very respectable performance. HardOCP dared to try out Crysis and managed to get it chugging along at a resolution around 720p, whereas Hot Hardware witnessed a 1080p video clip being played back perfectly smoothly alongside an instance of Hyper Pi maxing out the CPU load. Benchmark results will have to wait for another day, but feel free to peruse the links below for a more detailed breakdown of the new architecture.

Continue reading AMD teases Bobcat Fusion APUs again, delivers Atom-busting performance (video)

AMD teases Bobcat Fusion APUs again, delivers Atom-busting performance (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  HardOCP, Tech Report, Hot Hardware, PC Perspective  | Email this | Comments

So, the mystery’s solved. If you’ll recall, we spotted ASUS’ Eee PC 1015T sittin’ pretty at Computex, but considering that the OS was wiped by the time we got to it, we were left to take the placard’s word for it when it came to specifications. Now, B&H has begun to offer this bad boy here in the States, with $349.99 nabbing you a 1.2GHz AMD V105 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB (5400RPM) hard drive, ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 4250, a 10.1-inch LED-backlit panel, inbuilt webcam, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 32-bit copy of Windows 7 Starter and a six-cell battery. All told, it rings up at 2.8 pounds and should last anywhere between three and six hours on a full charge, but we’re guessing real-world performance will swing towards the former. It’s available right now in blue, black and white, and if you’re looking for a way to stick it to Intel’s sluggish Atom line, here it is.

ASUS Eee PC 1015T now on sale, complete with AMD V105 CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Netbook News  |  B&H Photo-Video, ExcaliberPC  | Email this | Comments