Hasta La Gadget!

Worldwide PC micro-processor shipments jumped a record 23 percent in the third quarter, according to Monday data from IDC.

That represents an all-time high for a single quarter, driven largely by mobile PC processors for Atom-based netbooks, and particularly those made and sold in China.

“Compared to where the market was at the beginning of 2009, PC processors have come back remarkably strong,” said Shane Rau, director of semiconductor and personal computing research at IDC.

Unit sales were up 23 percent, but revenue was up only 14 percent, due to the low average selling price of netbooks. However, “since PC processor shipments overall just slightly exceeded shipments in 3Q08 – which was itself a record quarter at the time – we know that the processor market is recovering,” Rau said.

Unit sales for mobile PC processors, including Intel’s Atom processors for netbooks, grew 35.7 percent compared to the second quarter. Desktop processor sales grew 11.4 percent, while x86 server processors jumped 12.2 percent quarter over quarter.

Intel continued to dominate the space.

Get the rest of this story at pcmag.com.

Don’t call it a netbook. MSI’s latest sits just out of the low-end category with its 12.1-inch, 1,366 x 768 resolution screen, roomy “ergonomic de-stress” keyboard, and 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo X2, a chip that should best Intel’s Atom offerings of the same spec — at least slightly. A mere four hours of battery life is also decidedlynon-netbooky, but beyond that the usual suspects are here, including a 1.3-megapixel webcam and 160GB hard drive. It weighs in at 2.9lbs and will be running Windows 7 Home Premium (a genuine copy, MSI seems proud to point out) whenever it ships. We’d guess soon.

[Via electronista]

Filed under: Laptops

MSI’s Wind12 U230 flaunts AMD Athlon Neo X2 chip, Windows 7 OS, stress-free keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And now… fighting out of the red corner, weighing in with two Evergreen GPUs, and wearing black trunks and red trim, it’s the Radeon HD 5970. ATI’s latest challenger for the title of undisputed graphics champion has been snared in the wild, and its photo shoot reveals a suitably oversized beast. Measuring in at 13.5 inches and requiring both an eight- and six-pin power connector, the pre-production sample can fit inside only the roomiest and best-powered rigs around. It’s named somewhat confusingly, with AMD dropping its X2 nomenclature for dual GPU setups, but it features two HD 5870 chips running in onboard Crossfire on the same PCB, and foreshadows a HD 5950, which will combine a pair of the more affordable HD 5850s. Performance figures available earlier have been pulled, at the behest of AMD, but we’ve got plenty of eye candy to admire, and there’s also no price tag in sight to spoil our daydreaming pleasure.

[Via PC Perspective]

Filed under: Desktops

ATI’s dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 pictured in the wilderness originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hector Ruiz certainly led a checkered career as CEO of AMD, earning the highest CEO salary in the semiconductor industry as his company’s stock dropped, its products dragged, and its fortunes sank, but the man didn’t stop there — it looks like he may also have been involved in a little illegal insider trading on the side. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ruiz is the heretofore unnamed AMD executive who illegally tipped off a hedge fund investor about the company’s big spinoff of Globalfoundries, ultimately leading to criminal and civil charges against Galleon and six of its employees. Ol’ Hec’s currently in the clear, as he hasn’t been charged with anything, but considering he’s now the chairman of Globalfoundries, well, let’s say things are about to get a little sticky. We’ll let you know — we’ve got a feeling Gizmondo’s Stefan Eriksson is going to look like small potatoes when this is all over.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Ex-AMD chief Hector Ruiz caught up in insider-trading scandal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD’s never been much for keeping to the roadmap, and it looks like the curious launch of its Congo platform is evidence of that very fact. If you’ll recall, we actually saw a Congo-based netbook launch way back in June, and it was expected that a flood of other ultrathin machines would follow shortly thereafter. According to DigiTimes, the demand in the market just wasn’t there (thanks, recession!), so everything was pushed back until November. Lo and behold, our Gregorian calendar has that very month on deck for next, and according to mythical sources at laptop makers, the platform should make its super-duper official debut within a matter of weeks. The dual-core Turion Neo X2 L625, Athlon Neo X2 L335/L325 and / or single-core Athlon Neo MV-40 should be front and center, and AMD is apt to announce progress on its Nile and Brazos platforms — both of which should help carry the chip maker through the next two years. Look out Atom, you’ve got some delayed competition coming your way.

Update: Seems as if this may all just be a “second wave” of sorts when many PC makers choose to launch machines based on this platform alongside Windows 7’s debut. AMD informed us that the November delay notion was also false, and we get the feeling that Congo’s just been waiting for Win7 to really get itself out there.

Filed under: Laptops

AMD’s Congo platform getting really official next month? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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