May 04

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

Posted in: AMD, CoreI7, hands-on, HP, intel, laptop, Today's Chili

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.

Gallery: HP Pavilion dm4, dv5, dv6, dv7 press shots

Gallery: HP Pavilion dm4, dv5, dv6, dv7 hands-on

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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Apr 28

Adobe’s Flash Player ‘Gala’ OS X preview tested: results may vary

Posted in: adobe, Apple, CoreI5, CoreI7, flash, macbook pro, MacbookPro, NVIDIA, Today's Chili

Gala1Flash 101

2.40GHz Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 256MB2
Safari 4.0.595.4 – 152.874.2 – 123.5
Firefox 3.6.483.5 – 148.489.4 – 130.5
2.66GHz Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512MB2
Safari 4.0.559 – 6496 – 132
Firefox 3.6.469 – 79111 – 140


So we just put a few minutes aside to put Adobe’s new “Gala” build of Flash 10.1 through its paces on our latest-generation Core i5 and i7 15-inch MacBook Pros here, and the results are a little confusing to say the least. On our i7 equipped with the high-res display and 512MB GeForce GT 330M, processor utilization playing a 1080p sample video on YouTube dropped by a third to a half on average — not bad — with Safari 4.0.5 besting Firefox 3.6.4 by a smidge. Our i5 saw strangely different numbers, though, with Gala actually increasing the load on the CPU by as much as about 20 percent. Adobe is quick to note that this is nothing more than a rough preview release; Apple just unlocked access to the necessary hardware a few days ago, after all, and we’re sure the company still has plenty of optimization to do. Ultimately, if our i7 figures are realistic, it should make high-def Hulu a decidedly less drama-packed experience down the road.

Notes:
1 Performance measured by processor utilization (note that numbers greater than 100 are possible on multi-core machines).
2 15.4-inch high resolution display, 256GB SSD, 4GB RAM

Adobe’s Flash Player ‘Gala’ OS X preview tested: results may vary originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 28

Intel said to be prepping 1.46GHz Core i7 ULV processor for this Fall

Posted in: CoreI7, intel, processor, rumor, Today's Chili

There’s already been some rumors circulating that Intel would be rolling out a 1.33GHz Core i7 ULV processor this summer, and it now looks like that will be followed by an even faster low-voltage processor later in the Fall. That’s when, according to Fudzilla, Intel will be launching a 1.46GHz Core i7 680UM processor, which reportedly has the same 18W TDP rating and 4MB of cache as its slower counterpart, and can clock all the way up to 2.53GHz in Turbo Boost mode. Unfortunately, there’s not so much as a hint of pricing or any actual laptops that will use the processor, and Intel itself is of course keeping quiet on the matter for the time being.

Intel said to be prepping 1.46GHz Core i7 ULV processor for this Fall originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 26

Core i7-equipped MacBook Pro hits 100 degrees Celsius, your lap cowers in fear

Posted in: Apple, CoreI7, macbook, macbook pro, MacbookPro, Today's Chili

Hydrocarbon fuel cell? 600 degrees Celsius. Large Hadron Collider? -271 degrees. Microwave drill? 2,000. Your run of the mill Core i7 MacBook Pro can’t compete with these extreme temperatures, but that won’t keep it from burning your lap. PC Authority recently put the latest edition of Apple’s sleek silver classic through a series of torture tests, and found that running Cinebench could cause the CPU temperature to climb over 100 degrees Celsius. The metal shell proved ineffective at dissipating the heat as well as the similarly equipped Fujitsu Lifebook SH760, which finished the same test at 81 degrees, and actually required PC Authority to run the MacBook Pro on its side (see pic above) to complete certain tests. The site thinks that Apple’s cooling solution may be inadequate for a Core i7, but these results could be a fluke — in our experience with the machine, we actually noticed an improvement over the egg-cooking solutions of yesteryear.

Core i7-equipped MacBook Pro hits 100 degrees Celsius, your lap cowers in fear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 26

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 4-way SLI exemplifies law of diminishing returns

Posted in: CoreI7, Today's Chili

What’s better than three monstrous GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards in a 3-way SLI configuration? How about four… is what we’d like to say, if Hardware.info hadn’t just discovered that said setup is a huge waste of cash. With a full four GTX 480 cards buckled into an X58 Classified 4-Way SLI motherboard plus a Core i7-980X processor and a massive 1.5 kilowatt power supply to squeeze the juice, the €4,064 ($5,440) box still lost to a similarly configured 3-way rig in a wide variety of benchmarks. You could argue the system was CPU-limited, but Hardware.info used the fastest consumer chip available — so it seems there’s no place in today’s market (keyword: today) for GTX 480 4-way SLI. Except, of course, for droolworthy snapshots like the above.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 4-way SLI exemplifies law of diminishing returns originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 23

MSI’s customizable GX640 gaming notebook now shipping

Posted in: CoreI5, CoreI7, gaming, laptop, Laptops, msi, Today's Chili

MSI’s gaming laptops have looked the same for years, but we aren’t going to judge. As Mother always told us, it’s what’s inside that counts, and the new GX640 — now stateside after a two month vacation in Europe — is quite the upgrade. That familiar red-and-black chassis now houses a 2.26GHz Core i5-540M alongside 4GB of DDR3 memory, and the 1680 x 1050 LCD display is driven by a Mobility Radeon HD 5850 for mondo graphical performance. 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a six-cell battery and a 500GB, 7200RPM HDD round out a value-packed $1100 Amazon.com package, but if you’re looking for a little more juice (and prepared to squeeze), you’ll find you can customize this mean, 5.8 pound machine with a Core i7 CPU, up to 8GB of RAM, SSDs and a nine-cell Li-ion at XoticPC.

MSI’s customizable GX640 gaming notebook now shipping originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 21

Envy 17 pops up on HP.com begging to be officially launched

Posted in: CoreI7, HP, laptop, Laptops, Today's Chili

HP’s clearly been updating its website with new products over the past few days, but our guess is that the Envy 17 that was just added to the domain slipped through a bit early. We wish there were more details thrown up there, but unfortunately the spec and data sheet pages come up blank. One of our eagle-eyed editors did spot some fine print indicating that the laptop “may require” a separate DVD drive to upgrade Windows 7, so our guess is that the 17-incher — like its Envy 13 and Envy 15 brethren — lacks an integrated optical drive. We assume it shouldn’t be all that long before HP officially comes clean about this multimedia system, but we’re just hoping they plan on cramming some NVIDIA Optimus and Core i7 in there to sweeten the deal.

[Thanks, Ali]

Envy 17 pops up on HP.com begging to be officially launched originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 20

Gateway brings back business division with DT, DS-series desktops (update: Europe only)

Posted in: CoreI7, Today's Chili

In 2007 — right before Acer swallowed the firm whole — computer manufacturer Gateway sold their entire business lineup to MPC. Three years and one bankrupt MPC later, Gateway’s ready to give it another go with brand new business desktops, and some decently specced ones at that. The new Gateway DT-series mid-towers support up to Core i7 CPUs and 16GB of DDR3 memory alongside a 1TB hard drive, and wonder of wonders, the small form factor Gateway DS-series can hold just the same. Both run on Intel’s Q57 and H57 Express chipsets, both have slots for optional PCI Express x16 graphics cards, and both have chassis stolen directly from their parent company — Google “X480G” and “M480G” if you don’t believe us. Compared to your shiny new gaming rig, the specs may seem ho-hum, but a Core i7 rig that fits underneath an LCD monitor is still a fairly big deal inside that cube of yours.

Update: Looking to bolster your business with a few of these machines? You’ll have to get in touch with your international associates; Acer tells us the DT and DS desktops are only headed to Europe.

Continue reading Gateway brings back business division with DT, DS-series desktops (update: Europe only)

Gateway brings back business division with DT, DS-series desktops (update: Europe only) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 14

MacBook Pro Core i7 review

Posted in: Apple, CoreI7, laptop, macbook pro, MacbookPro, NVIDIA, review, Today's Chili

While the MacBook Pro is just another Intel-based computer with standard internals, slightly inflated price tags, and a familiar (if legendary) design sense, Apple having the absolute corner on the market for building machines that legitimately run OS X can be a little rough on the upgrade obsessed. Waiting 10 months for a new computer, without an industry full of hungry competitors with wild alternatives to quench your thirst, can be difficult, and the January launch of Intel’s new Core i5 and Core i7 chips for laptops further fueled the saliva. Still, Apple would like you to believe these new MacBook Pros with their 2010-ready internals and same-as-last-year good looks have been worth the wait. Find out for yourself in our full review after the break.

Gallery: MacBook Pro Core i7 unboxing

Continue reading MacBook Pro Core i7 review

MacBook Pro Core i7 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 13

MacBook Pro Core i7 unboxing and preview

Posted in: Apple, CoreI7, impressions, macbook, macbook pro, MacbookPro, preview, Today's Chili, unboxing


So we’ve just gotten our cold, live hands on the new MacBook Pro — you know, the one with the Core i7 CPU? We’re obviously going to be taking this puppy for a spin around the block (a 15-inch version with a 2.66GHz CPU), but we wanted to show you what it looks like (exactly the same as always), and mention a few takeaways from our conversation with Apple about the product. As you already know, the 15- and 17-inch models have a new GPU configuration, utilizing Intel’s integrated HD graphics alongside NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 330M. What you might not know is that the new laptops have done away with the previous method of switching from integrated to discrete graphics, that is, forcing you to select one or the other and then logging you out and back in for the switch. This process is hugely streamlined in the new versions, providing switching on the fly from integrated to discrete, and requiring zero input from the user (similar to NVIDIA’s Optimus). The switches take place on an app-by-app basis judged on what kind of resources that particular application you’re opening requires — so this should be interesting to see when it comes to third-party titles. Apple is also only providing two options here; keep the automatic GPU switching on, or switch to only discrete graphics. So if you’re planning on running these babies just in integrated mode, you’re out of luck.

Other additions to the laptops include “inertial scrolling” (a la iPhone), which feels like a software change to us, but is apparently related to new trackpads on these models, and new configuration options when buying, such as getting yourself a 1680 x 1050 high res display (yes, please) or opting for a 512GB SSD (clocking in, weirdly, at $1,400 for the 2.4GHz models, but $1,300 for the 2.53GHz and 2.66GHz versions). Speaking of money, you may have noticed that Apple bumped the cost of the base 15-inch MacBook Pro from $1,699 to $1,799 — not a welcome change in today’s bummer of an economy, though they’ve brought down the entry to the 17-inch to $2,299. At any rate, you can check out some snaps of the new system below, and hang tight for a full review coming soon.

Gallery: MacBook Pro Core i7 unboxing

MacBook Pro Core i7 unboxing and preview originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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