Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve always said AMD should go after the gaping hole between netbooks and thin-and-lights by releasing a low-power platform with solid graphics abilities, and it looks like the company’s finally coming around — AMD’s John Taylor just told us that the chipmaker will be releasing a netbook-class Fusion CPU / GPU hybrid codenamed “Ontario” with integrated DX11 graphics sometime next year. If Ontario sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it leaked in the past — it’s a part of the “Brazos” platform built around the low-power Bobcat core. Of course, AMD has been promising Fusion chips of all stripes for years now without a single shipping part, so saying that a Fusion chip will get it into the netbook game in 2011 is mildly amusing — while AMD’s definitely turned things around, it’s still incredibly late to the low-end party, and Intel’s solidly beaten it to the hybrid CPU / GPU punch with the Core 2010 and Pine Trail Atom chips. Add in the fact that NVIDIA’s Optimus-based Ion 2 chipset seemingly offers the extended battery life of Atom with the performance of a discrete GPU, and we’d say the market niche Ontario is designed to fill may not actually be so niche when it finally arrives. We’ll see what happens — a year is a long, long time.

[Image via OCWorkbench]

AMD to finally take on netbook space with new Fusion chip… next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was hard to be anything but disappointed when Intel’s dual-core Atom D510 processor started hitting nettops and was found to be no better performing than the earlier D330. Sure, it was more frugal, but most users were hoping for a bit more oomph not a bit less consumption. Soon, netbook users will seemingly get a taste of the same bitter pill, with talk that a netbook version of the D510 is in the works, likely called the N500. This is a rather less than shocking development and while it surely won’t mean you’ll finally get Crysis running on your Eee it could make for future netbooks that offer slightly better performance than their earlier brethren and yet deliver even longer battery life. Because, you know, if there’s one thing netbooks need today it’s greater longevity.

Intel bringing dual-core Atom D510 processors to netbooks as the N500? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome OS ‘business version’ coming in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Got a hankering for Pine Trail? We attest to a certain weakness ourselves, and now MSI’s Wind U160 netbook is on sale for $380 to fulfill your Atom N450 snacking needs. We were intrigued by the little laptop when we played with it back at CES, particularly if its standard 6-cell battery hump can really produce the quoted 14 hours of life. For whatever reason Newegg and Buy.com are showing now-shipping right now, while Amazon’s lagging with pre-orders only at this point, but we’re sure you’ll make the right retail choice, whatever happens.

MSI’s Wind U160 netbook up for grabs in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer has rolled into CeBIT with a few all-new systems, but it’s also taken the opportunity to introduce some updates to its existing models, including six new revisions to its Aspire and TravelMate lines. Leading things off are the high(ish)-end Aspire 8942 and Aspire 5942, which pack 18.4 and 15.6-inch displays, your choice of the latest 2010 Core processors, an integrated TV tuner, up to 8GB of RAM, up to 1.2TB of storage (courtesy of to 640GB drives), and some niceties like a multitouch trackpad, and a CineSurround sound system with a “Tuba CineBass” booster. It’s joined by the TravelMate 8372 Timeline series, which is itself available in 13.3-, 14-, and 15.6-inch varieties with Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, and the 15.6-inch Acer TravelMate 6594, which packs a Core i5 or i7 processor and ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics. Rounding out the standard laptops are the 17.3-inch Acer TravelMate 7740 and 15.6-inch 5740, which come equipped with Core i3 or i5 processors, up to 8GB of RAM, and either integrated or ATI Radeon HD5470 graphics.

As if that wasn’t enough, Acer has also introduced the new 11.6-inch Aspire One 752 netbook, which actually packs a Celeron ULV processor instead of the usual Atom, and the Aspire Predator G7750 gaming PC, which finishes things off in a suitably over-the-top fashion with a Core i7 Extreme Edition processor, liquid cooling, dual LAN connectivity, swappable hard drive bays, and support for Acer’s GD245HQ 3D monitor. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look at some of the offerings.

Filed under: Laptops

Acer kicks out laptop, netbook upgrades aplenty at CeBIT originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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