Hasta La Gadget!

It may be hard for you monogamists to understand, but in the world of CPUs, it’s perfectly acceptable to play friends with multiple chipsets. To that end, the leaked Intel slide above sure explains a lot about what’s going on with the newfangled 1.66GHz Atom N280. First spotted in the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE with Intel’s older 945GSE chipset, many wondered why the supposed match-made-in-heaven GN40 chipset (and its 720p hardware-based video decoder) was left out. Apparently, it’s all part of the plan. Both the N280 + 945GSE and N280 + GN40 are considered “off-roadmap” solutions meant to give companies a subtle differentiating factor until the “real” N270 successor hits the scene. So yeah, that 1000HE you’ve got on the brain isn’t actually a hodgepodge of components, but a real, certifiably okay combination of CPU and chipset — though it’d be so much more bodacious with that GN40. Confused yet?

[Via Fudzilla]

Filed under: Laptops

Intel slide shows Atom N280 with 945GSE and GN40 chipsets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HE up for pre-order, it’s clear that netbooks are ready to make the jump from Intel’s lowly 1.6GHz Atom N270 to the suped-up 1.66GHz N280. In fact, Intel just confirmed shipments of its new Atom processor to PC makers. Now don’t let us hear you bellyaching about that being a meager 0.06GHz jump — the magic isn’t in the clock but in the faster 667MHz (up from 533MHz) front-side bus and new GN40 chipset with hardware-based 720p video decoder. That easily bests the Atom N270 pairing with the customary 945GSE chipset without any increase in power consumption. Think about that when trying to make a 10-inch netbook choice between ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HE (with new N280 proc and GN40 chipset) and Acer’s new N270-based Aspire One. Then again, maybe you’re waiting for the first netbook to ship with NVIDIA’s Atom-based Ion platform with full 1080p playback? Might as well, who knows, maybe you’ll land a production version of Windows 7, a swiveling touchscreen, and a finger-optimized UI in reward for your patience.

Update: Looks like the Eee 1000HE doesn’t have all the new bits — Laptop did some digging and found that it’s still got the same old 945GSE to go with that new proc, although it is still capable of doing 720p video playback. Boring, we’ll wait for the real GN40 machines to show up soon.

Filed under: Laptops

Intel ships Atom N280 for 720p netbooks — NVIDIA’s Ion points, laughs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember all those Clevo laptops revealed last month? While we’re expecting more information at CeBIT 2009, those crazy Canadians at Eurocom have gone ahead and spilled the beans on the 17-inch D900F. As conjectured, the 11.9-pound behemoth’s packing an equally-mighty Intel Core i7 processor in 2.66, 2.93 and 3.2GHz varieties. It’s also got three 500GB hard drives totaling 1.5TB of space, 8GB DDR3 RAM, an NVIDIA G280 GPU, and a Blu-ray burner. Launch date is May 1, although according to Notebook Reviews we shouldn’t expect to get our hands on it until Q4 2009. No word on pricing, but we suspect this powerhouse is gonna burn a giant hole in our pockets from both the inside and out.

[Via Notebook Reviews]

Filed under: Laptops

Eurocom lays claim to Core i7-equipped Clevo D900F originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been nearly a year since we were first confused about what this whole Moblin thing was going to be, but now here it is released to the wild, roaming about in alpha form and looking to find a home for itself in your netbook. If you haven’t been following along, Moblin is a custom flavor of Linux that Intel has been whipping up for installation on devices using its chips, particularly the Atom but Core 2 processors as well. It’s based on Fedora and, as of this release, is confirmed to work on Acer’s Aspire One and Dell’s Mini, though Eee peeps can check it out too — so long as they don’t mind living without WiFi. Mind you, this is still a very early version and there’s a ways to go before a final release, so feel free to sit this round out if you’re not into the whole bleeding edge thing.

[Via Ars Technica]

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

Alpha version of Intel’s Moblin OS released for brave netbookers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With all sorts of tech giants releasing bad news lately, Intel seems to be holding its own. As AMD sheds divisions and multiple thousands of employees, its direct competition has thus-far announced a single round of layoffs, closing a manufacturing facility in the Philippines. Now, however, Intel is taking a little off the top, with Chairman and 35-year veteran Craig Barrett stepping down in May. Barrett, who turns 70 in August, has been at the helm of the most recognizable CPU maker in the world since 1974 and, while he got the company through the bursting .com bubble, it looks like he’s wisely decided to sit this recession out. We wish him a relaxing retirement in some idyllic former-executive paradise, and also wish Jane Shaw, his successor, an awful lot of luck — she’s going to need it.

[Via Reuters UK]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett heads to retirement (voluntarily) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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