Hasta La Gadget!

Intel’s Core i7 has become somewhat of a mainstay in the most recent wave of gaming rigs, but it’s been quite awhile (in processor years, anyway) since we’ve seen any new siblings join the launch gang. We’d heard faint whispers that a new crew was set to steal the stage on May 31st, and those rumors are looking all the more likely now that a few heretofore unheard of chips have appeared online. The 3.06GHz Core i7 950 is shown over at PCs For Everyone with 8MB of shared L3 cache and a $649 price tag, and it’s expected that said chip will replace the aging Core i7 940. Moving on up, there’s the luscious 3.33GHz Core i7 Extreme 975, which is also listed with 8MB of shared L3 cache but packs a staggering price tag well above the $1,100 mark. If all this pans out, this CPU will replace the Core i7 Extreme 965 as Intel fastest Core i7 product. Just a few more days to wait, right?

[Via PCWorld]

Read – Core i7 Extreme 975 listing
Read – Core i7 950 listing

Filed under: Desktops

New Intel Core i7 CPUs show up unannounced originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 20:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want a good example of why Intel — or we, the consumer — needs a strong competitor? DigiTimes‘ has it from sources at motherboard makers that Intel will delay its mainstream desktop Core i5 platform (including Lynnfield procs and 5-series chipsets) from July to early September. A rumor with merit given DigiTimes’ proven sources within motherboard makers like ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI. The reason for the delay is to allow vendors to deplete 4-series inventories that have piled-up during the economic slow-down. Of course, if AMD or… well, AMD could muster the silicon to compete with Intel at the same price point then such a delay would not be possible. How much you say? DigiTimes has the Core i5 processors priced at 2.93GHz ($562), 2.8GHz ($284) and 2.66GHz ($196) when purchased in bulk.

[Via PC Perspective]

Filed under: Desktops

Intel said to slip Core i5 platform to September, competition needed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 04:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seriously, Ajay here would be downright ashamed. His Universal Serial Bus has found some seriously awesome uses over the years, sure, but the latest torrent of USB-equipped garbage is looking to do more harm than good to the venerable connector. In our latest roundup of crap found ’round the web, we see yet again that it’s the USB-infused devices holding down the fort. From a flashlight-packin’ USB SD card reader to a USB Parrot, our heads hurt from just imagining who among us is actually spending cold, hard credit on this rubbish. Feel free to inflict the same pain upon yourself by visiting the links below, and then cast your vote for the worst of the worst. Good luck, brave souls.

Read – USB SD card reader with flashlight
Read – Sparkling USB bracelet with no purpose or dreams
Read – USB Notebook Pocket Cooler puts ‘Huffing’ and ‘Puffing’ out of work
Read – Pepe, the USB Parrot
Read – 4-port USB hub gains a mirror… because it can
Read – Jewel Rose Pin USB Flash Drive: perfect for Great, Great, Great Grandmother’s Day
Read – USB U-Shape i-Speaker just looks disturbing

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Storage

Crapgadget: USB embarrassments shame Intel’s rock stars originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 May 2009 02:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that Intel’s been slapped with a record $1.45b antitrust fine in Europe, it seems like the claws are coming out — AMD just put up that “Break Free” site, and today we’ve got NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang calling Chipzilla’s Atom pricing “unfair.” It seems that Intel sells the standard Atom chip for $45 on its own, but bundles the diminutive CPU into the oh-so-familiar netbook configuration for just $25, meaning NVIDIA’s Ion chipset isn’t price-competitive. Of course, this is just another twist in the endless argument about Ion, but despite the denials, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard whispers that Intel pretty much forces manufacturers to buy complete Atom chipsets — the dearth of Ion-powered netbooks in the market is fairly suspicious considering the GeForce 9400M at the heart of the platform is a well-known quantity. On the other hand, we’ve also heard this is all going to change and change dramatically at Computex next month, so we’ll see — either way, things are bound to get interesting.

[Via TrustedReviews]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part LX: NVIDIA calls Intel’s single-chip Atom pricing “pretty unfair” originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll admit, we were pretty skeptical that Moblin would ever amount to much after seeing the 1.0 build, but it looks like the elves at Intel have been plenty busy: the 2.0 beta is now available, and it’s looking pretty sharp. Unlike the first build’s more traditional Linux interface, 2.0 drops you into an attractive unified application shell reminiscent of HP’s MIE that also allows you to run regular Linux apps. Apps are grouped into “zones,” which function like virtual desktops, and switching between zones is handled by a taskbar-like interface. Of course, even Intel isn’t immune to sticking widgets all over eveything, and the main screen (called the m_zone) has plenty of ’em, from calendars to Twitter to browser history thumbnails. All in all, it’s really slick stuff — check a quick video after the break.

[Via Hylke’s Home; thanks Joey-Elijah]

Read – Ars Technica hands-on
Read – Moblin.org

Continue reading Moblin 2.0 beta impressively demoed on video

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Moblin 2.0 beta impressively demoed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 13:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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