The HD 7750 is a performance-level graphics card that doesn’t need a separate power connector operating at under 75 W. Both new GPU’s use the 28nm process AMD has been building GPUs on most recently. The 7700 series GPUs use AMD Graphics Core Architecture for performance and efficiency. The GPUs also support PCI Express 3.0, AMD ZeroCore Power, PowerTune, AMD Eyefinity 2.0 and AMD App technologies.

The new 7700 series graphics cards are both available today the retailers and online sellers globally. Some versions of the AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz edition with 1 GB of RAM will start at $159 with the HD 7750 1 GB cards starting at $109. The video cards sound like they will offer very impressive performance at a low price that should be appealing to gamers on a budget.

“We were first to 40nm, first to 28nm and now we offer the world’s first GPU at 1GHz; this is a milestone for the graphics industry,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD. “AMD continues to deliver superior performance, rich features and world-class power efficiency – we never stop innovating.”

This device showed up at the FCC just this past week and has been revealed by Sapphire today, it coming complete with an AMD E-450 dual-core processor and Radeon HD 6320 graphics to keep you warm at night. This computer has the ability to support 4GB of RAM, has its own 2.5-inch hard drive bay with support for up to a massive 500 GB of hard disk space. Inside you’ll get Edge-HD3 or FreeDOS software out of the box, but you’ll be able to load Windows 7 or any other comparable operating system on command.

This unit measures in at 7.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches and weighs in at less than 1.2 pounds. You’ve also got Wi-fi, Ethernet, VGA port, HDMI port, and audio ports. You’ve also got 2 USB 2.0 ports as well as 2 USB 3.0 ports to keep you as connected as you’re ever going to want to be. It’s a love festival in a package that can fit in your giant pocket! Take a peek at the older models at the Sapphire site and see how they compare. Pricing and release date have not yet been released for this newest HD3 model – can’t wait!

[via Liliputing]

The prototype we see here is running a lower voltage range of Trinity that should be either the 17-watt or the 25-watt version of the APU. The little display machine is only 18 mm thick and is clearly aiming at Intel ultrabook shoppers. Granted this is simply proof of concept, so shipping versions could change significantly. However, Engadget reports that the machine was very flimsy and has a significant amount of flex in its chassis.

The good news with these designs from AMD is that its targeting a price point much lower than that of the ultrabook and are expected to sell in the $500 to $600 range. At roughly half of some of the ultrabook’s price tag, if the performance is on par, these machines should prove to be popular. The notebook is thin, but it still has all the connectivity we expect with dual USB 3.0 ports, HDMI out, and a mini-DisplayPort out, along with the expected audio jacks, Ethernet, and power ports.

[via Engadget]

AMD’s first APU for tablets is codenamed “Hondo” and will be built on a 40-nm manufacturing process. APUs combine a microprocessor and graphics on the same chip and feature ultra-low power consumption. The company revealed that the first AMD-toting Windows 8 tablet will be available this year.

AMD will also be refreshing its lineup with Brazos 2.0 chips that feature faster TurboCore and universal serial bus 3.0 built on a 40-nm process. A second-gen Trinity APU will be built on a 32-nm process and feature significant improvements in performance and power consumption. Additionally, AMD will be launching a new stand-alone graphics chip called Southern Islands, which is built on a 28-nm process and should debut this year.

In 2013, AMD will launch a successor to the Hondo tablet chip called Temash, which will feature new Jaguar processing cores. Kabini chip for laptops with Jaguar cores, a third-gen Kaveri APU with Steamroller cores, and a Trinity mobile chip will also be introduced in 2013.

[via VentureBeat]

In fact, MSI claims that you get 37.5% higher overclocks using its special cooling solution. The card uses the special cooling solution is called the R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC. The other two graphics cards use traditional cooling systems and are called the R7970-2PMD3GD5/OC and the R7950-2PMD3GD5/OC. The cards all use similar hardware components.

The components used on the Twin Frozr video card are military class III for performance and stability. The components also passed military standard 810G. The line uses Hi-c capacitors with eight times the lifespan of solid-state capacitors. These cards should be good for people that like to overclock.

For the first laptop in this list, the M17X R4, there will be options for how pumped up you’d like your interior to be. GPU options include two NVIDIA options: GeForce VTX 660M or GeForce GTX 675M, and one AMD Radeon 7970M. As for the R2 units, the first one M14X R2 will feature a GPU coming as part of the motherboard, and options including 1GB and 2GB right out of the box. On the M18X R2 the only detail known at the moment is the option for a red or black exterior.

Of course according to That 70′s Show if you’re an average shopper looking for a refrigerator, color is your most important feature – so perhaps that’s all we need! We will keep looking out for future options of course, and we expect them to be dropped sooner than later. Meanwhile check out our current favorite playing a bit of the ol’ Gotham City as well as the newest news on Alienware’s other options out already:

[via Dell News and More]

The Radeon 6670 itself costs upwards of $79.99, so we’re likely not looking at an inexpensive device in the end here. That said, the Xbox 720′s graphics processing power because of this beast of a GPU will be six times the Xbox 360. Compared to the upcoming Wii U (as seen in some lovely hands-on videos back a few months here on SlashGear), the Xbox 720 will be set to have a 20-percent greater performance on the whole.

For those of you out there in the world of developing for consoles can expect kits for the system in August. Now we’ve just got to wait for the third PlayStation and we can have the whole three mouskateers in the ring for 2013! Which one will you be picking up given the information we’ve got currently? Not one whole heck of a lot of information is out there, but the names are all here!

[via IGN]

There’s also a 17.3-inch Full HD LED-backlit display, and a backlit keyboard for those late-night gaming sessions. Samsung is readying both 2D and 3D models, and there’ll be both AMD and NVIDIA graphics options too.

A 5,900mAh battery probably can’t be expected to last all too long if you’re hammering the Series 7 for gaming purposes, but the onboard optical drive and that expansive display means it’ll probably be a solid multimedia notebook too. Samsung expects it to land at the equivalent of $2,228 for the 2D version and around $200 more for the 3D version in Korea, though US pricing is tipped to be from $1,799.

[via Sammyhub]

ASUS, Acer and HP are all tipped to be throwing in with AMD and building new ultrathins based on Trinity, though none of the manufacturers are confirming anything at present. Trinity was last shown off in June 2011 at the AMD Developer Fusion Summit 2011, as a preview of what the 32nm chip could do.

AMD gave a surprise preview of Trinity at CES last week, promoting the APUs’ performance and power improvements over existing Llano chips, as in the following demo video filmed by AnandTech.

Power consumption is expected to drop significantly, with AMD claiming a 17W Trinity is equal in capabilities to a current 35W Llano. CPU performance is up 25-percent, it’s suggested, and GPU performance doubled.

[Image via PCInpact]

The sources claim that NVIDIA is looking at holding off until the power consumption and manufacturing process of the new chips is perfected. If NVIDIA actually sticks to that April launch, it will put the new GPU on the market at roughly the same time as the 22nm Intel Ivy Bridge processors. There will reportedly be several GPUs that come from NVIDIA using the 28nm process.

Sources are claiming there will be a GK104 to replace the current GTX 560Ti GPU, a GK107 for the entry-level market, and a GK106 for the mid-range to entry-level shoppers. The GK110 will pack in a pair of the GK104 GPUs and the high-end will be the GK112. The GK112 is tipped to land in Q4 2012 or even early 2013.

[via DigiTimes]

The video card also supports Eyefinty multiple screen gaming and has DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a connectivity. That will allow the card to support 3D gaming. The PCIe Gen 3 standard and 28nm process used inside the GPU will allow the card to have 32GB/s of bandwidth. This card should be a gaming beast.

The card supports 7.1 channel TrueHD and DTS-HD audio and more. For longevity and performance, the card uses all solid capacitors. The capacitors will help prevent overheating and have a 10-year lifespan according to MSI. There is no word on pricing or clock speeds at this time.

Alternatively you can just use AMD Eyefinity and string a number of displays off of a single card. GCN, to boil down AMD’s parlance, is basically a way to turn GPUs to general computing, with 32 compute units (2048 stream processors), each containing a scalar coprocessor, and being able to turn their hands to the sort of tasks a CPU might normally be expected to handle.

DirectX 11 tessellation is improved, huge background texture files can be managed with little in the way of lag, and automatic overclocking by up to 30-percent is supported; however AMD says that idle power draw has also been reduced with the new GCN system. In short, the promise is a faster, more efficient card with none of the downtime penalties in power and heat that previous performance cards might have forced on gamers.

Systems using the AMD Radeon HD 7970 are available to order from today.

Lenovo IdeaPad S Series

“Netbook” has become a dirty word in computing so allow Lenovo to endear you to the IdeaPad S200 and S206, two models supposedly offering a little more than what you might expect from a netbook. Each has an 11.6-inch HD widescreen display, Atom dual-core processor (S200) or AMD dual-core processor (S206) and up to 32GB SSD, they’re 0.81-inches thick and 2.8-pounds on the scales.

Chiclet keys, WiFi b/g/n and optional Bluetooth, along with a 0.3-megapixel webcam and Lenovo Quick Start “instant on” are useful, but the 4hrs of battery life seems on the low side. The S200 and S206 will go on sale in June from $349.

Lenovo IdeaPad Z Series

The IdeaPad Z580, Z480 and Z380 offer 15.6-inch, 14-inch and 13.3-inch displays, respectively, with Intel Core processors and up to NVIDIA GeForce GT640M 2GB graphics powering 1366 x 768 resolution panels and HDMI outputs. DVD or Blu-ray drives, WiDi and various multimedia processing apps lean on the entertainment message. They’ll go on sale in April from $599.

Lenovo IdeaPad G Series

Lenovo’s affordable line-up kicks off from $399 in June, with the F480, G580 and G780 offering 14-, 15.6- and 17.3-inch displays respectively. Veriface facial recognition, sensible and durable designs and basic multimedia are on offer.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y Series

$899 upwards gets you the Lenovo IdeaPad Y Series, out in April, with the Y480 having a 14-inch Full HD display and the Y580 having a 15.6-inch Full HD display. Intel Core processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB graphics and Dolby Home Theater V4 sound paired with JBL speakers round out a multimedia and gaming powerhouse, while the backlit keyboard and HD camera with night-view are neat touches. A TV tuner is optional, and works with the WiDi wireless display streaming.

If you have an Acer, Dell, or HP laptop then you have been in indirect contact with a company that is not happy with AMD. The company in question is Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese company that manufactures laptops for the previously mentioned companies. According to Quanta, AMD is in breach of contract after AMD chips used in laptops were defective. The laptops in question were made for Japanese computer maker NEC Corp.

Quanta stated the chips are suffering from from heat tolerance issues in a particular laptop line. However, no specific model numbers have been mentioned. Quanta is suing for breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, civil faud, and interference with a contract, claiming it “has suffered significant injury to prospective revenue and profits”. AMD stated these claims are false because Quanta used the same chips in a different computer without the stated problems. If what AMD has said is true, Quanta could be facing a design issue rather than chip malfunction.

[via DailyTech]

Like the Omni 27, the HPE h9 Phoenix gets HP’s freshly-renamed HP Magic Canvas interface and software suite, brought over from the touchscreen TouchSmart series and given a non-touch revamp. That’s joined by LinkUp, the company’s laptop-sync tool, and Beats Audio, while HP also preloads a copy of role-player RIFT.

A trio of internal hard-drive bays and optional liquid cooling round out the key specs, and there’s a useful “valet tray” on the top with charging ports for your phone or iPod and audio connections for easily plugging in headphones when the Phoenix is lurking under your desk. Expect it to go on sale on January 8, priced from $1,149.99.

Hinges are low-profile and integrated, the keyboard keeps the popular chiclet design and it seems ASUS is still looking to push multiple color options, at least going by the above render. It’s a more grown-up look, than the somewhat toy-like previous stylings of most netbooks, though the biggest question still remains around performance.

ASUS demonstrated a number of Cedar Trail prototypes at Computex, and the first model to use the new processors is believed to be the Eee PC Flare 1225C, a variant of the 12-inch AMD Brazos based model announced last week. 10-inch options, the Eee PC Flare 1025 series, are also expected.

As long as it beats the competition in the NVIDIA GTX 580 while not being too power hungry and heating the entire house like the dual-GPU GTX 590 I’ll be happy — and I’m sure the enthusiast gaming crowd will be too. Below are a few of our favorite reviews for the new AMD Radeon HD 7970 for everyone to enjoy. We’ll start with the all popular Anandtech.

AnandTech’s Ryan Smith says at the end of the day this graphics card is geared to be a gaming workhorse — but being their new flagship GPU I wouldn’t expect anything different from AMD. He goes on to mention in most gaming scenarios the power consumption was lower than the competing GTX 580 while offering 20% better performance and sometimes more. He does mention being priced much higher than the last-gen 6970 could be a potential drawback for some.

Tom’s Hardware explains that this is a big improvement and a step in the right direction with the new, smaller 28 nm fabrication and called it “Fast, Forward-Looking, But Not Fully Baked.” Saying that NVIDIA’s upcoming Kepler GPU is still months off so they’ll still retain the fastest single-GPU title for now, but without further testing they didn’t want to give a recommendation just yet.

HardOCP is known for breaking things down very thoroughly and have came up with some decent overall numbers. Claiming the 7970 is at least 30% or more faster than the previous generation while offering 10%+ performance increases over the current GTX 580 competition making this definitely worth the price for giving increased performance across all available games.

Bit-Tech said the HD 7970 by AMD “has certainly thrown down the gauntlet. The HD 7970 3GB is a huge improvement over the HD 6970 2GB and GTX 580 1.5GB” They also mention overclocking — something many enthusiasts and water-cooling fans do daily was a huge surprise. Squeezing around 20% more performance from the card without even tweaking the voltage.

While you are at it don’t forget to check out the review from HotHardware, and Hexus who claim it’s a great graphics card but wont win and Bang4Buck awards. Guru3D also mentions the huge overclocking potential before and after overvolting — making this a great graphics card with plenty of potential.

So the question is: Will you be buying the AMD Radeon HD 7970? And if so will you be tossing this bad boy under a DangerDen waterblock or going all out with some LN2?

AMD also noted they’d continue their strong ties to gaming developers through 2012, this on top of supporting (in one way or another) all gamers, not just those working with AMD products. They spoke of the current state of gaming rigs there much higher resolution displays cost much less than previous lower-end models, and how according to their sources (Steam Hardware Surveys), high-definition monitors are the more common of the two display categories in gaming today. They spoke of power efficiency, reduced cost of ownership, and the thinning out of devices allowing for easier transport and daily storage.

AMD noted that they’ve now got word that over 200 applications are accelerated by AMD GPUs specifically at this very moment, this pointing towards the fact that GPUs aren’t just working for gamers as they once essentially were. They spoke of how awesome they were in that they were the first to work with 28nm processes, how they were the first to PCI-E Gen 3, and how they worked with DirectX 11.1 first as well.

Then came the talk of what was code-named Southern Islands. In this project came three islands: Tahiti, Pitcairn, and Cape Verde. The first of these three, Tahiti, contained Enthusiastic Gamers and the “World’s Most Powerful and Advanced GPU.” Then there’s Pitcairn where all the Hardcore Gamers live and the “sweet spot” for hardcore gamers must also reside. Lastly there’s Cape Verde where Performance Gamers sit with their “new paradigm of performance and power.” What does this all mean? It means AMD is getting specific with their hardware, seeking each different kind of user for precise computing for all!

Thusly they break this project down again into Graphics Core Next, AMD Eyefinity 2.0, and AMD App Acceleration. Here you’ll find their many pinpoints of power including the lovely 28nm Process tech, PCI-E Gen3, custom resolutions, the ability to work with 5 x 1 landscape, and a whole mess of new software partnerships for the very near future.

All of this leads up to the AMD Radeon HD 7970, with stream processors adding up to 2,048, Graphics Core Next shader architecture, 3GB GDDR5 memory and 384-bit bus, 6 pin and 8 pin power connectors, DVI, HDMI, and two mDP outputs, and yes, yes indeed, up to 6 displays working on this same bit of hardware at once. It’s got a whole mess of fabulous display configurations for you to work with aside a full slot for better cooling than ever before – and the fan up back of the hardware has the most advanced cooling and silent acoustics an AMD bit of hardware has ever had.

Matching up against their biggest competitor NVIDIA this AMD Radeon monster out-does it in every benchmark they’ve set up, and their AMD CrossFire Technology is laid out to look rather impressive against the same GPU with no such scaling in place. A whole pack of power-saving technologies are visualized as well such as ZeroCore Power Technology with AMD CrossFire as well as AMD ZeroCore – idle out!

They launch into AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series codename “Tahiti” details, speaking about how inside you’ll find up to 32 compute units, 8 render back-ends with 32 color ROPs per clock and 128 Z/stencil ROPs per clock. Here you’ve got a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface with over 264 GB/sec memory bandwidth and 4.3 billion 28nm transistors. That’s a lot of little pieces of graphics magic! AMD rolls out details on how they’re about to change the whole earth with their first ever GPU with the ability to simultaneously output multiple independent audio streams, one for each screen you’ve got if you like! Be sure to check out Anand’s benchmarks and review of this GPU for starters, then pick one up for yourself at the start of 2012 and rock it all night long.

The integrated graphics on the single APU chip can also be bolstered by a standalone AMD Radeon graphics card, delivering up to 144-percent more performance when the A-Series is paired with an HD 6500 Series GPU. There’s also Internet Explorer 9 integration for Steady Video, offering smoother streaming video playback.

As for unlocked models, the AMD A8-3870K and A6-3670K APUs can be overclocked by up to 500MHz for the CPU and 200MHz on the GPU.

AMD’s first new A-Series desktop APUs will begin showing up in commercial systems and as standalone components from today, the company tells us. The A8-3870K has an RRP of $135 while the A6-3670K has an RRP of $115.

AMD A-Series Desktop APUs

A8-3870K: Four CPU cores, 3.0 GHz CPU base (unlocked), 100W TDP, 400 Radeon cores, 600 MHz GPU base (unlocked), 4 MB L2 cache
A8-3820: Four CPU cores, 2.5 GHz CPU base (2.8 GHz Turbo Core), 65W TDP, 400 Radeon cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3670K: Four CPU cores, 2.7 GHz CPU base (unlocked), 100W TDP, 320 Radeon cores, 600 MHz GPU base (unlocked), 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3620: Four CPU cores, 2.2 GHz CPU base (2.5 GHz Turbo Core), 65W TDP, 320 Radeon cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A4-3420: Two CPU cores, 2.8 GHz CPU base, 65W TDP, 160 Radeon cores, 1 MB L2 cache

AMD A-Series Notebook APUs

A8-3550MX: Four CPU cores, 2.0 GHz CPU base (2.7 GHz Turbo Core), 45W TDP, 400 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A8-3520M: Four CPU cores, 1.6 GHz CPU base (2.5 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 400 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3430MX: Four CPU cores, 1.7 GHz CPU base (2.4 GHz Turbo Core), 45W TDP, 320 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3420M: Four CPU cores, 1.5 GHz CPU base (2.4 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 320 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A4-3330MX: Two CPU cores, 2.2 GHz CPU base (2.6 GHz Turbo Core), 45W TDP, 240 Radeon Cores, 2 MB L2 cache
A4-3320M:Two CPU cores, 2.0 GHz CPU base (2.6 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 240 Radeon Cores, 2 MB L2 cache
A4-3305M:Two CPU cores, 1.9 GHz CPU base (2.5 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 160 Radeon Cores, 1 MB L2 cache
E2-3000M: Two CPU cores, 1.8 GHz CPU base (2.4 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 160 Radeon Cores, 1 MB L2 Cache

The design of AMD’s upcoming ultrathin line is most likely to utilize AMD’s Fusion APU concept, which puts integrated Radeon HD graphics into the processing unit itself, not unlike Intel’s recent Sandy Bridge and upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, which allows a fairly decent level of graphically-intensive work without the need for a power-hungry, dedicated video processing unit. Sandy Bridge has done very well for itself, shipping in some of the most recent Macbook lineups, like the newest Macbook Air, which features an Intel HD 3000 chipset for graphics. Can AMD up their game?

AMD hasn’t had a huge amount of success in the ultraportables market, having faced impediments so far as the processors themselves are more on par with netbooks than to the competing Core i5 and i7 chips Intel-based ultrabooks use. But the move to 28 nm CPU wafer technology may allow AMD to design and push out much more competitive processors, and give currently Intel-only companies another option to choose from.

[via The Verge]

The new processors include the A8-3520M, A8-3550MX, A6-3430MX, A4-330MX, A4-3320M and A4-3305M. All of the processors with the exception of the A4-330MX, A4-3320M and A4-3305M units are 100MHz faster on their base frequency and on the Turbo Core frequency.

Other not so good changes include the A4-3305M losing 1MB of cache and keeping the same operating frequency as the A4-3300M that it is replacing. The 3305M does have a GPU with a higher clock speed than the 3300M GPU at 593MHz compared to the 444MHz of the older part. That new part sounds like a downgrade to me.

[via Hardcore-Hardware]

Many of the reviews noted that the performance of the new flagship parts was barely on par with the CPUs AMD already had. The Bulldozer processors were significantly behind their Intel counterparts in performance. AMD has now come back and said that it was in error when it described the Bulldozer as having 2 billion transistors.

AMD then said that Bulldozer actually had 1.2 billion transistors. What happened to the other 800,000 transistors? The die size is the same reports ExtgremeTech. The issue could be an automated AMD design process with some significant overhead according to ExtremeTech. The plot thickens though when ET asked AMD what was going on when it realized the number of transistors we should see didn’t match up with the 1.2 billion AMD was stating. AMD wasn’t chatty on the subject and it could well be that the number of transistors that AMD is quoting now at 1.2 billion is the functional ones on the chip.

[via ExtremeTech]

However, legacy apps for the traditional Windows desktop won’t be supported: instead, the store will offer Metro-style software. Legacy software will show up as a landing page within the store, linked to developers’ sites, while brick & mortar sales of boxed apps – as well as third-party download sites – will still be supported.

The Windows 8 Store was confirmed in the pipeline several months ago, indeed the icon – though not the functionality – was present on the Windows 8 tablet we previewed back in September. Microsoft has refused to comment on its exact setup until this week, though.

Third-party Metro apps will become particularly important as Microsoft pushes the tablet potential of the new OS. The first such slates are expected to show up in the second half of 2012, with Samsung and ASUS both tipped to be readying models. The initial batch will run on x86 processors from Intel and AMD, though the Windows 8 on ARM project will see Samsung, Lenovo, Sony, Acer and other manufacturers reportedly weigh in with versions running on NVIDIA, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm chipsets in mid-2013.

What’s still unclear at this stage is whether ARM Windows 8 models will be able to run legacy apps at all. Rumors that they would not began last week, amid suggestions that only Metro apps would be supported, though Microsoft is yet to confirm either way.

This is rather good news for AMD, and especially AMD tablet chipsets, seeing that they haven’t been getting much attention in the tablet space lately. Pushing out Ice Cream Sandwich support right now for x86 may just encourgae more developers, and more manufacturers to turn their attention to Intel and AMD, instead of the other chipset makers (cough, Qualcomm, ARM, I’m looking at all of you) that have been dominating the tablet market. The more the merrier, I say.

The instructions for downloading the source code are provided below by the Android development team. On the open source page, you’ll also find the ISO image for MSI’s AMD powered Brazos Tablet. So developers, launch your Android SDKs, and start building something awesome.

Hi all, The ics-x86 branch based on Android 4.0.1 is ready.
You may download the source as usual: $ repo init -u git://git.android-x86.org/manifest.git -b ics-x86
$ repo sync or from the SourceForge mirror $ repo init -u git://android-x86.git.sf.net/gitroot/android-x86/x86/platform/manifest.git
-b ics-x86
$ repo sync

[via 9to5 Google]

In fact, so the notebook players reckon, it won’t be until 2015 until Windows on ARM hardware presents a significant, market-share grabbing challenge to Intel and AMD based hardware. Software support and notebook vendor reluctance are cited as the two main problems: apps written for Windows 8 on regular x86 processors will need to be reworked to run on ARM chipsets.

Nonetheless, producers of ARM chipsets – like NVIDIA and Qualcomm – are believed to be “aggressively cooperating” with firms like Lenovo and ASUS on potential implementations, with both notebooks and tablets on the agenda. The benefit of the ARM chips will be power frugality without sacrificing multimedia power, allowing Windows 8 slates to take on the iPad and Android tablets with lengthy runtimes.

However, Intel isn’t expected to concede the processor market quietly, and will be pushing out Ivy Bridge in early 2012 and then Haswell in 2013. Both platforms are expected to dramatically cut power consumption, making them ideal for ultramobility implementations like tablets and ultrabooks.

In fact, there are two USB 3.0 ports and six USB 2.0 ports, along with stereo line-our and stereo line-in, Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi b/g/n. The two entry-level models use Radeon HD 6290 graphics, with the two higher-end versions packing Radeon HD 6250 and Radeon HD 6320 graphics respectively. Each can output up to 1920 x 1200 over HDMI or 2560 x 1600 over DisplayPort, and the top-spec Pro model supports 3D over HDMI.

Room for an internal 2.5-inch hard-drive, along with a miniPCIe socket with mSATA support, handles storage. All four use less than 24W under load. Compulab will also offer an interchangeable FACE Module, swapping out the normal four USB front panel ports for an alternative set of connections, for instance a quartet of gigabit ethernet and four USB.

Smooth and ribbed cases are on offer, with various SKUs ranging from the bare basics (with no RAM) at $328 plus tax, up to a $698 model running Windows 7 Pro on a 1.6GHz dual-core G-T56N APU with 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard-drive, both wireless options and the four USB front-panel.

[via iTechNewsNet]

Semiaccurate reports that it has learned that an AMD-powered MacBook Air with a Llano processor inside rather than Intel was very near production ready roughly last spring. This is at the point when Apple and Intel weren’t happy together. At what was apparently the last minute the mild Air update we saw last time we reviewed the Air was tossed out onto the market and the reason it didn’t change much is reportedly because it was plan B.

Plan A would have been the first AMD processor under the hood of the MacBook Air. The chip is said to have provided the machine with many times more graphics performance at the cost of a bit of CPU power for the user. According to sources cited by Semiaccurate, AMD machines are still coming from Apple but Cupertino is waiting for the 64-bit chips to surface and then it’s on.

[via SemiAccurate]

Up to four memory channels – with support for up to 1600MHz memory – are on offer, with up to 12 DIMMs per CPU available for a somewhat ridiculous potential total of 384GB memory per processor catered for. AMD is also pretty keen to point out that the new Opterons are the only x86 chips to support ultra-low voltage 1.25v memory, adding to the platform’s energy frugality.

“The AMD Opteron 3000 series offering is designed for hosting customers who require dedicated servers for their customers. These cloud and web hosting customers appreciate the cost savings associated with a lower cost infrastructure, yet still want to deploy a server-class product with reliability and security features and server OS certification” AMD

As for what’s in the pipeline, first to market will be the Bulldozer-based “Zurich” using an AM3+ socket. Zurich will herald AMD’s Opteron 3000 Series, targeting those looking for a compact server with cheap consumer-like sockets and will, the company believes, open up a new market of customers pairing cloud computing with the traditional benefits of a local server.

Zurich will arrive in the first half of 2012, while the new AMD Opteron chips are on sale now.

The C325 is powered by an AMD Fusion E450 1.65GHz processor with 8GB of RAM, 1TB of HDD, and includes a DVD drive. It has an embedded 0.3-megapixel webcam, 6-in-1 card reader, HDMI output, USB keyboard and mouse, and a special speaker feature that lets you play music from your MP3 player without having to boot up the computer. The multitouch touchscreen as well as optional USB 3.0 support will be available later on. The system is priced at $699.

The smaller C225 features the same AMD Fusion E450 1.65GHz processor, but comes in two standard configurations of one sporting 4GB of RAM and 500GB HDD while the other sports 6GB of RAM and 1TB HDD. The two configurations are priced at $499 and $699, respecitively.

[via LogicBuy]

AMD has been struggling with setbacks this year, including the delay of important new chips due to manufacturing problems. Furthermore, worldwide PC sales have been stagnant while smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices experienced strong growth. In order to stay competitive, AMD may have to enter these emerging markets.

The 10 percent cut in AMD’s global workforce along with other cuts in operational costs will save the company a total of $200 million in 2012. That savings will then be reinvested into new technologies such as lower-powered chips for mobile devices or cloud computing.

[via ZDNet]

The V4900 has 1GB of 128-bit GDDR5 RAM giving a total of 64GB/s memory bandwidth. The card supports DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.2, and OpenCL. It also has enhanced AMD Eyefinity and DisplayPort 1.2 technology inside with six-screen setups. The GPU has 480 stream processors and connectivity includes dual DisplayPorts and a single DVI-D port.

The maximum power consumption for the video card is under 75W and the cards can be had in full height and half height units. The card uses a PCI Express x 16 slot. The card will work in machines with at least 512MB of RAM and Windows 7, XP, Vista, and Linux.

Both series are made to center around the idea that the touch display is the place for the organization and exploration of sets of media like images and music as well as “browsing online recipes and viewing social networking sites,” as senior business manager of consumer desktops for Acer Irene Chan puts it. The “quick, finger-tip control” seems custom fit for the upcoming large-scale release of Windows 7, an operating system that relies heavily on the idea that it’ll be used on devices with touch-sensitive displays.

The Acer AZ5 is, again, a 23-inch multi-touch display having all-in-one desktop series that comes complete with two 2.5W built-in stereo speakers with Dolby Home Theater audio, 4GB DDR3 memory, and processor options that include no less than a Intel Core i3-2120 processor, topped off with a 1TB hard drive to store everything you hold dear in this digital world. For software this Acer machine offers clear.fi for media storage and management, this application automatically syncing will all of your other Acer devices with the same software, this including smartphones, notebooks, desktops, storage devices, and multimedia players.

The Acer AZ3 is the smaller of the two choices here at 21-inches with the same HD multitouch panel technology, this time backed up by some similar, but not the same, gear on the inside. There’s the same two 2.5W stereo speakers optimized by Dolby Home Theater audio, one 500GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive for plenty of storage of all your goodies, some utterly lovely AMD Radeon HD6410D Graphics to play all your media all night long, and a AMD Dual-Core A4-3400 Accelerated Processor (at 2.7GHz, 1MB total L2 cache) to run it all.

Each of the two models here has a 1.3-megapixel front-facing webcam plus microphone for video chat, two USB 3.0 ports on the side, and four USB 2.0 ports on the back. Both units have a multi-in-one digital media card reader, and both come with an adjustable back stand as well as 802.11b/g/n Wi-fi. Both also have a standard wireless keyboard and wireless mouse so you’re set to go right out of the box.

Both the AZ% and the AZ3 come with Windows Home Premium 64-bit, a one-year warranty, and the following prices: $749.99 for the AZ5 and $649.99 for the AZ3, both of these prices of course being MSRP – check your local retailer for the final true price.

There’s also WiFi b/g/n and both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity, along with a 6-in-1 memory card reader. A 0.3-megapixel webcam lives above the display, and there’s SRS stereo sound and even an audio input allowing you to pipe your MP3 player through the C325′s speakers. Other ports include HDMI for hooking up a second display or HDTV, and Lenovo offer an optional TV tuner too.

The C325′s metal stand can be tilted from -5 degrees to 25 degrees, and if you’re planning on putting the all-in-one in your childrens’ room then you might be pleased to know that Lenovo has loaded a viewing distance warning app. That uses the webcam to track how close you are to the screen and, as well as dynamically adjusting brightness, alerts you if you’re too close for comfort.

Lenovo will also offer a smaller version, the C225, with multitouch as an option. The C325 should be on sale imminently, priced from $699.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s next Snapdragon S4 chips will also be built using 28nm processes, on silicon produced by TSMC’s factories. In face, the company says it has more than 80 customer tape-outs at present, over twice as many as for TSMC’s 40nm production. As for the chips themselves, TSMC reckons there’s up to a 45-percent speed improvement over the 40nm versions.

“TSMC’s 28nm process offering includes 28nm High Performance (28HP), 28nm High Performance Low Power (28HPL), 28nm Low Power (28LP), and 28nm High Performance Mobile Computing (28HPM). Among these technology offerings, 28HP, 28HPL and 28LP are all in volume production and 28HPM will be ready for production by the end of this year. The production-version design collateral of 28HPM has been distributed to most mobile computing customers for their product-design use” TSMC

What’s still unclear is how involved with Apple TSMC is. The Cupertino company was tipped to be in negotiations with the silicon specialists over potentially replacing some or all of its dependence on Samsung for future Apple Ax processors, tensions between Apple and Samsung escalating amid the ongoing legal battles over patents and design. However, most recently Apple is believed to have decided to hedge its bets more conservatively, sticking with Samsung for the majority of its A6 and A7 chip needs, and placing a minority order with TSMC. In fact, Samsung’s parts cooperation with Apple is tipped to extend beyond 2012.

The key bit of detail that has surfaced in the roadmap is that in 2012 AMD will launch the Deccan platform and in 2013 the Kerala platform will launch. The Deccan platform is expected to hit next June and will include the Krishna and Wichita APUs. These parts will then upgrade in 2013 to Kerala and Kabini APUs. These parts are supposed to have upgrades to them make a significant improvement in power consumption so that AMD can compete with the low power Intel offerings in Ultrabooks today.

The roadmap also shows that AMD has a new part coming for the notebook market in 2012 AMD will be launching the Comal platform with Trinity-based APUs and then in 2013 the Kaveri-based APUs will launch. In Q2 2012, the Brazos T platform for tablets will launch. The Brazos T platform will include the Hondo APU and then in 2013 the Samara platform for tablets will bow in.

[via DigiTimes]

BlueStacks released an alpha of its Player software for Windows earlier this month, allowing Windows users to load Android apps and run them with no modifications involved. Apps can be loaded from the regular .APK file, and played in either full-screen or windowed. A Mac version is in the pipeline, and the company confirmed it was in further talks with PC manufacturers regarding preloading BlueStacks onto new computers and tablets.

AMD says it expects to use the BlueStacks investment to leverage tablets and computers running on AMD processors, while Citrix is eyeing the software’s potential in enterprise settings. AMD has previously admitted that it was slow to broach the mobile computing market, only recently launching chips suitable for tablets and still ignoring smartphones.

Like Intel, AMD has struggled to gain traction among slates, seeing rival ARM picked for the majority of tablets for its chipsets’ low power consumption and solid multimedia potential. So far Windows-based models have been the exception, but Microsoft has confirmed it is working on Windows 8 on ARM builds for 2012.

Having cross-platform Android app compatibility could certainly work in AMD’s favor, and help the company differentiate between its chips and those of rival Intel. Reports out of Taipei have suggested AMD’s bargain pricing is already biting into Intel’s Atom sales.

[via GigaOm]

As you may or may not know, all AMD FX CPUs come with completely unlocked processor clock multipliers for you overclocking enthusiasts out there. Don’t burn down the house with all that power though, you’ll want to use your Guinness World Record holder CPU to keep on giving you what you need at least through the rest of this description. All of these processors also use AMD Turbo Core Technology that “dynamically optimizes performance” across the whole set of CPU cores, this offering you the full benefit of the cores you so gratefully payed for in the first place.

Starting TODAY, AMD FX CPUs will be available around the globe. In this first launch, there are four options from the line, with many more on the way soon. Have a look at this list and see what you might be wanting to get:

• FX-8150: Eight cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.9 GHz Turbo Core, 4.2 GHz Max Turbo)
$245 suggested retail price (U.S.)

• FX-8120: Eight cores, 3.1 GHz CPU base (3.4 GHz Turbo Core, 4.0 GHz Max Turbo)
$205 suggested retail price (U.S.)

• FX-6100: Six cores, 3.3 GHz CPU base (3.6 GHz Turbo Core, 3.9 GHz Max Turbo)
$165 suggested retail price (U.S.)

• FX-4100: Four cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.7 GHz Turbo Core, 3.8 GHz Max Turbo)
$115 suggested retail price (U.S.)

Of course the fine folks at AMD also want you to know about how you can combine these new CPUs with a brand new shiny AMD 9-series chipset motherboard and AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics card as well, these two combining to create what AMD calls the “AMD Scorpius platform” for an “astounding gaming and HD entertainment experience.” Of course this combo does offer more than simply an optimized experience as they hold hands together so well. With the Scorpius platform you get support for AMD CrossFireX technology, this allowing the combination of multiple graphics cards in a single PC, and AMD Eyefinity technology that’ll support super resolution on up to SIX monitors!

Power for the power hungry and gaming elite! Grab it all now at your local retailer or at shop.AMD.com, what are you waiting for!?

What’s that, you want to see the Guinness World Records video for this system? Have a look right here:

The GPU supports DirectX 11 and has a third gen unified video decoder. That video decoder supports dual HD decode of H.264, VC-1, MPEG4, and MPEG2 compressed video streams. It has 512MB GDDR5 frame buffer included in the BGA package and has high memory bandwidth. The GPU is aimed at casino gaming, digital signage, instrumentation, and industrial control systems.

The GPU is designed for the value conscious market and it uses AMD EyeFinity tech. The GPU supports both HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. AMD plans to make the GPU for five years and the GPU is designed to be paired with the APU for better graphics capability.

AMD notes that the record was set by Team AMD FX comprised of overclocking geeks and AMD tech folks. The official PR doesn’t say a lot about how they achieved that frequency. As you can see in the video below the deed required some exotic cooling with liquid nitrogen. However, AMD does note that it was able to overclock the processor well over 5 GHz using only air-cooling or water cooling systems that cost under $100.

It sounds like the 8-core beast will be a very nice processor for the gamer and enthusiast. I wonder if this CPU will bring AMD back to the realm of competition with Intel’s high-end parts. For years now AMD has held onto the low price crowns and let Intel have the performance crowns in the consumer market.

HP promises that the dm1 will deliver 11.5 hours of battery life for the user. Other than the soft-touch black finish the machine will also come in traditional charcoal glossy finish as well. If you hate fingerprints and smudges, go for the soft-touch finish. The little notebook has an 11.6-inch screen with HD resolution and an integrated HP TrueVision webcam. There are a wide range of options for the machine including Intel or AMD CPUs.

The Intel parts are the second generation Core family and the AMD processors are E-Series APUs. The AMD models also come with AMD Radeon HD discrete graphics. Both versions have the same inch thick profile and weigh in at 3.52 pounds. The dm1 with AMD processors will land on September 21 starting at $399.99. The Intel model will land on October 30 with an external optical drive included for $599.99. The soft-touch finish version of both flavors won’t land until later this fall.