05/15, 7:56am
Sony revamps VAIO S and Z lines
Sony has rolled out revamped VAIO S and Z models with revised internals and external tweaks. The VAIO S is available in two models, a 13- and 15-inch variants. The 15-inch VAIO S is the powerhouse of the two and incorporates an 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3612QM quad-core processor clocked at 2.1GHz matched with 8GB of RAM. The notebook also includes Nvidia’s latest discrete GeForce GT 640M LE GPU that will work in conjunction with the integrated Intel HD 4000 GPU to either boost performance or save power depending on use.
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05/15, 6:28am
AMD has formally launched its next-generation Trinity Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). The company says that the improvements in architecture and Piledriver core has resulted in a chip that is twice as efficient per watt as its predecessor the Llano, despite sticking with a 32nm fabrication process. AMD says that based on price, its chips offer superior performance for each dollar spent against Intel’s latest 22nm Ivy Bridge (3rd generation Core series) processors.
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05/02, 3:26pm
New Ivy Bridge Dell desktop ranges ship in mid-May
In addition to making official the Special Edition 15R leaked earlier, along with the smaller 14R, Dell on Tuesday also announced XPS 8500 and Vostro 470 desktop PC families. Both feature Intel's third-generation Core-series processors, dubbed Ivy Bridge. Meant for gamers, graphics professionals, or movie editors, the XPS 8500 desktops are offered with either a 3.1GHz Quad Core i5 3450 or 3.4GHz Quad Core i7 3770.
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04/27, 1:55pm
HP Slate 8 may be much sleeker, net 10h battery
The first production Windows 8 tablet may have been uncovered early in a presentation believed leaked on Friday. Badged as the Slate 8, the third-generation Windows tablet seen by Neowin in preliminary rendered form would be much sleeker than previous generations. The 10-inch tablet would now be much more competitive in design, at 0.36 inches thick and eight to ten hours of battery, while carrying an aluminum design with a chin for the hardware Start button.
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04/25, 11:05am
Intel may get appeal on EU claims at last
Intel may get a long expected chance to appeal a $1.45 billion EU fine at a hearing this summer. Insiders talking to Reuters had Intel making its case at an EU General Court between July 3 and 6. How it would challenge the complaint wasn't said, but it might rely on an ombudsman finding that the European Commission hadn't conducted the investigation properly and missed a meeting with Dell.
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04/24, 8:50am
AMD Radeon HD 7000M official
AMD offered its answer to NVIDIA on Tuesday through the Radeon HD 7000M. The 7700M, 7800M, and 7900M are the first parts to use Enduro, a live graphics switching technology like NVIDIA's Optimus. The implementation can flip between the Radeon and integrated graphics without having to reload or specify apps, and unlike NVIDIA's approach, can work with both AMD processors as well as Intel's.
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04/22, 9:55pm
Intel kicks off 22nm chip line in earnest
Intel on Sunday formally launched its Ivy Bridge processor range. The 22-nanometer chips will, as hinted, start off with 13 quad-core processors in the Core i5 and i7 families, primarily focuses on desktops as well as mid-size and large notebooks. Lower-end Core i3 and i5 chips, as well as ultrabook-friendly low-voltage processors, are coming later in the Spring, Intel said.
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04/20, 10:30am
AMD delivers next-gen Fusion mobile processors
AMD sent word late Thursday that it was already shipping processors based on the Trinity and Brazos 2.0 platforms. The A-series parts based on Trinity theoretically double the performance for the same amount of energy while also modernizing the in-chip graphics. As before, the chips are expected to focus mostly on dual-core A6 and quad-core A8 parts.
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04/19, 6:35pm
Semiconductor maker optimistic despite big loss
AMD today announced revenues for the first quarter of 2012, and the semiconductor maker posted a sizable net loss. Despite a net loss of $590 million dollars, AMD representatives expressed optimism about the company's future performance.
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04/19, 8:00am
Alienware refreshes notebooks, drops 11-inch model
Alienware has refreshed its gaming notebook lineup with a range of internal upgrades, although an upgrade to Intel’s next-gen Ivy Bridge processors have not been included on this occasion. The M14x, M17x and the M18x now include an mSATA slot for giving users a range of storage options, while graphics performance has also been boosted with the addition of support for PCI Express 3.0. This is said to boost throughput over the old PCI Express by 200 percent taking maximum advantage of either the NVIDIA GeForce 600 or AMD Radeon HD 7000 series GPUs.
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04/18, 2:10pm
Upcoming Lenovo notebooks leaked in partner doc
A newly spotted partner listing (PDF) from Lenovo has shown off some upcoming models from the computer-maker. It includes new ThinkPad and IdeaPad models that weren't leaked earlier, including the ThinkPad T430s. This should be a replacement for the T420s and be a thin and light 14-inch notebook that doesn't quite meet the ultrabook criteria, unlike the T430u.
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04/18, 11:00am
Budget Digital Storm gaming rigs start at $800
Gaming PC maker Digital Storm has released a new range called Marauder that fills the entry level of the market. Housed in a Corsair Vengeance C70 tower, the base, Level 1, $800 model gets a quad-core, 3.6GHz AMD FX-4100 processor and a 1GB Radeon HD 7750 for graphics, along with 8GB of 1,600MHz RAM. Next up is the $1,000 Level 2, which sports a 3.1GHz AMD FX-8120 CPU and a Radeon HD 7770 graphics card.
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04/15, 4:35pm
HP dm1 gets fashion designer treatment
HP has ended a lull in its love of fashion-inspired PCs with the quiet introduction of a special Pavilion dm1 by Alexandre Herchcovitch. The variant on HP's crossover 11.6-inch notebook is covered inside and out by a gold pattern from its namesake Brazilian fashion designer. A matching sleeve case should keep the notebook safe.
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04/13, 4:35pm
Next-gen Xbox console to get 16-core CPU?
The next-generation Xbox console, which may or may not be called the Xbox 720, may be powered by a 16-core CPU, SlashGear reported on Friday. That CPU may be branded as IBM Power PC, and be paired with one or two GPUs that has comparable processing power to AMD's Radeon HD 7000. That power will be needed to run next-generation games and the Kinect successor, which is said to be able to read lips and fingertips as well as track multiple players and thus require at least four cores.
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04/13, 11:20am
Zbox now includes 64GB SSD and AMD Fusion
Zotac has released a mini-PC called the Zbox Nano XS AD11 Plus. The 1.5-inch high computer boasts a 64GB SSD and AMD Fusion 1.65GHz dual core processor with Radeon HD 6320 graphics, along with its small size.
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04/10, 12:35pm
Toshiba introduces performance notebooks
Toshiba has brought out two new performance laptops alongside today's earlier affordable notebook announcement. The Satellite P800 series will be powered by Intel's Ivy Bridge processors and NVIDIA GeForce 630M discrete graphics, while the Satellite S800 series will have the choice of Ivy Bridge or AMD's most recent notebook processors with optional AMD graphics.
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04/10, 10:25am
Toshiba details L800, C800 affordable notebooks
Toshiba on Tuesday unveiled two new lineups of mainstream notebooks in the Satellite L800 and Satellite C800. The L800s are thinner than their earlier counterparts and get a choice of third-generation Intel Core (Ivy Bridge) and AMD processors. They are available in 14-, 15.6-, and 17.3-inch screen sizes.
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04/10, 9:25am
Sony VAIO E 14P remakes familiar design
Sony has quietly revamped its VAIO E in Europe to make real one of the CES prototypes we saw in January. The VAIO E 14P has a new, wrap-around design that makes the top surface look like one continuous shell. The white, black, and pink 14-inch PCs all have a new two-tone design with trim around the edges, keyboard, and trackpad in a contrasting color that sets off the design.
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04/06, 8:35pm
Intel worker had copied chip tech before switch
Intel closed a potentially dangerous chapter for itself Friday after a former worker pleaded guilty in a federal Boston court to what could have been a major leak of its information. Biswamohan Pani admitted to five instances of wire fraud for downloading confidential documents just before he left Intel in June 2008, Reuters said. He had not only been hired by AMD at the time but had even begun working there, suggesting he hoped to use the information either for help at AMD or to try and win favor with his new employers.
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04/06, 12:05am
TSMC may have low 28nm supply for CPUs, GPUs
A new and potentially far-reaching rumor has had TSMC's 28-nanometer manufacturing capacity significantly hampered for about half of the year. Supply was said by Digitimes, which has a mixed track record, to be tight enough that it wouldn't clear up until the end of the summer. The shortage was enough that it was purportedly forcing AMD, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm to all limit their releases or find alternative suppliers.
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04/04, 3:55pm
PS Orbis may use both dedicated and integrated GPU
Sony's PlayStation Orbis may have had some of its specifications firmed up through an unusually detailed rumor. The next-generation combo is now believed by IGN to be using one of AMD's current higher-end processors, the quad-core 2.9GHz A8-3850, with the as yet unannounced Radeon HD 7670. While the graphics would be considered low-end by modern standards, the A8's integrated Radeon HD 6550D video might be used in an asynchronous pairing to offload some tasks.
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04/02, 7:15pm
Samsung may swing to ARM server tech
Samsung's chip manufacturing plant in Austin has raised attention for hiring a significant number of long-time AMD staff who have focused primarily on servers. Newly transitioned Opteron VP Pat Patla, but also VP and Chief Engineer Jim Mergard and Senior Fellow Brad Burgess, have all left in the past year. The plant is already being run by Keith Hawkins (no direct link), who used to work at Sun.
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04/02, 2:30pm
Next Xbox may lean on graphics and DRM
A currently uncertain but unusually detailed rumor Monday has Microsoft's next-generation Xbox making aggressive decisions on hardware. Multiple tips to VG24/7 supported AMD's hints of movie-quality 3D graphics with claims there would be two Radeon HD 7000 graphics cores. Rather than simply pair them up to form a single virtual card, as with AMD's usual CrossFire, it would have each core rendering separate objects in the same scene.
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03/30, 2:45pm
PS4/Orbis may get Kinect-like gaming features
The rumored PlayStation Orbis, a codename for the upcoming PlayStation 4, may use a Kinect-like motion sensor to track gamers, according to images posted online at design firm Coque. The illustrations have since been pulled, but have been saved by original rumor source Kotaku and embedded below. The PlayStation Eye, an accessory for the current PS3 console, already has tracking capabilities, though it's not as advanced as the Kinect's sensors.
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03/28, 11:15am
PlayStation 4 gets possible major new leak
Gradually mounting talk of early PlayStation 4 plans culminated Wednesday with a potentially telling rumor. Believed to be codenamed Orbis or "circle," possibly to make it part of a "circle of life" with the Vita, the system outlined to Kotaku would not just break from using the Cell processor but from the entire Power and NVIDIA graphics combo. Instead, it would reportedly use a 64-bit, x86-based AMD processor as well as graphics based on AMD's Southern Island core, used in the Radeon HD 7700 series and up.
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03/26, 2:40pm
Intel widens chip share lead despite ARM rush
Intel has managed to not only hold on to but widen its lead as the world's largest chip designer in the past year, iSuppli determined Monday. By revenue, Intel had seen its revenue in 2011 go up over 20 percent to $48.7 billion dollars despite the effect of the iPad and other tablets. ARM's champion, Samsung, had moved just over half a point to $28.6 billion.
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03/22, 10:00am
NVIDIA GeForce 600 Kepler graphics official
NVIDIA formally brought its Kepler graphics core to the market Thursday, starting with its desktop line. The GeForce GTX 680 introduces new multiprocessing core groups known as SMX; they reportedly provide twice as much performance for the same energy as the GeForce 500 series. With three times as many cores as its ancestor (1,536), 2GB of 256-bit GDDR5 memory, and a 1GHz base clock, it's purportedly 43 percent faster in a game like Skyrim than AMD's Radeon HD 7970, even as it uses 28 percent less power.
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03/20, 11:15am
AMD's Opteron 3200 web server chips start to ship
Chipmaker AMD has just detailed its new eight-core Opteron 3200-series CPUs, meant primarily for cloud and web hosting servers. Based on its current Bulldozer architecture, it can be had in four- or eight-core variants and is rated at 2.7GHz. A Turbo Core mode bumps the clock speed up to 3.7GHz, though only at half the active cores.
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03/18, 1:45pm
HP Pavilion dv4, dv6, dv7, g4 show future chips
HP has inadvertently confirmed plans from both AMD and Intel for future processors through a slew of notebook listings. The Pavilion dv4, dv6, and dv7 all have Intel's Ivy Bridge inside. The smaller two systems are using the quad 2.3GHz Core i7-3610M, while the dv7 has a similarly four-core 2.6GHz Core i7-3720QM.
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03/16, 7:35pm
Lenovo may have hard-coded notebook batteries
Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge E430 and E530 may bring in an unwelcome attempt to demand first-party components. A leak has pointed The Verge to Lenovo implementing Battery Safeguard, a measure that would require an authentication chip on a battery for it to work. The method would outright ban the use of third-party batteries short of Lenovo licensing the technology out.
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03/14, 7:25pm
Products competitive with Qualcomm's Snapdragon
ST-Ericsson is expected to unveil its plans to restructure its operations within the next two weeks. Reuters sources now claim that the reorganization of the joint venture between Sweden's Ericsson and France's STMicroelectronics is in line with the company's plans to be acquired by another chipmaker. Potential buyers named include AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, and Texas Instruments.
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03/14, 4:45pm
GeForce GTX 680 to get 2GB of RAM, have 195W TDP?
Some early specs and an image of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 680 graphics card have been leaked thanks to China's PCOnline and ChipHell. It will be the company's first based on the 28nm architecture and reportedly sport a clock speed of 1,006MHz, but can be overclocked to 1,058MHz for short bursts. There are also said to be 1,536 visual processing cores onboard, along with 2GB of RAM on a 256-bit memory bus.
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03/08, 11:05am
NVIDIA joins AMD, Intel at the Linux Foundation
Graphics processing chipmaker NVIDIA has now joined the Linux Foundation. Other chipmakers already long-time members of the organization are AMD and Intel and support the free and open-source operating system. NVIDIA will now take a more active approach to supporting the platform, as before users had to reverse-engineer drivers for its graphics cards on Linux PCs.
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03/07, 11:55am
Intel Ivy Bridge gets pre-release test
An unofficial, pre-release benchmarking of Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge architecture has shown an overall speed up, but most of all in graphics. Testing at AnandTech of a 3.5GHz, quad Core i7-3770K desktop chip has shown that the Intel HD 4000 integrated video is about 20 to 40 percent faster than the 3000 video on a roughly comparable earlier Core i7 using the current Sandy Bridge architecture. While still trailing behind AMD's Fusion in an A8 chip, it's enough to make games playable that wouldn't have been practical otherwise, such as running Skyrim smoothly at 1680x1050 and medium detail.
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03/05, 3:05pm
GlobalFoundries now truly independent
GlobalFoundries picked Monday to say it had bought out AMD's remaining stake in its manufacturing. The mutually agreed deal now puts the chip production firm entirely in the control of Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), the company that had originally orchestrated the split. GlobalFoundries could now act independently and wouldn't be bound to making AMD processor, although there were no immediate intentions to stop.
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03/05, 12:30am
AMD rounds out Radeon HD 7000 with 7800 boards
AMD put the last touches on the Radeon HD 7000 line Monday with the Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 GHz Edition (links active soon). The two aim directly at the mid-range for gamers and are roughly twice the complexity of the 7700 line. The decision gives the 7850 and 7870 a respective 1,024 and 1,280 stream (visual effects) cores, 64 and 80 texture units, and a common 256-bit memory bus with 4.8GHz GDDR5 memory.
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02/29, 7:35pm
AMD acquires an Intel's micro-server partner
AMD has launched what it calls its ‘disruptive server strategy’ by acquiring SeaMicro, a maker of micro-servers that up until now had been built using Intel’s Sandy Bridge or Atom processors. AMD said that it paid $344 miillion for SeaMicro as it looks to accelerate its push into the cloud server market as a component, and now hardware supplier. The move will be a setback for Intel as SeaMicro’s server designs were flexible enough to accommodate up to 786 Atom processors in one server.
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02/27, 6:20pm
AMD's fastest processor without turbo
AMD has released two high-performance members to its FX lineup of bulldozer multi-core architecture processors for desktops. The new FX-4170 uses four cores to produce a base speed of 4.2GHz and a turbo speed of turbo-speed of 4.3GHz. The six core FX-6200 has a baseline of 3.8GHz with a top speed of 4.1GHz.
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02/27, 4:00pm
Quad-core FX-4170 and six core FX-6200
AMD announced it is adding two new processors to its Bulldozer lineup, the quad-core AMD FX-4170 and the six core AMD FX-6200. Both have 8MB of L3 cache and support up to DDR3-1866 RAM. The FX-4170 will run at 4.2 GHz, 4.3 GHz in Turbo mode, and have 4MB of L2 cache. The FX-6200 will be a 3.8/4.1GHz CPU with 6MB of L2 cache.
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02/23, 11:15pm
Move expands manufacturing, Chinese reach
Industry sources are reporting that former AMD manufacturing arm GlobalFoundries has agree to buy out ProMOS Technologies, a troubled RAM and chip manufacturer with facilities in Taichung, Taiwan. The move should help GlobalFoundries extend its influence with Chinese IC designers and other global companies that rely on integrated circuits but lack fabrication facilities of their own, DigiTimes reports.
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02/22, 7:00pm
Apple turned down AMD over Llano time rame
A potentially major rumor has asserted that Apple was at one point investingating using AMD's Llano architecture mobile processors in the MacBook Air. The company had the kind of power and performance Apple wanted, Forbes heard, but had trouble producing chips in time for the 2011 update. As its former manufacturing wing and now partner GlobalFoundries was adapting to make the Fusion-based chips, where the graphics core is part of the processor itself, it was having trouble generating useful test yields.
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02/22, 10:30am
AMD first to license tech from Cyclos for CPUs
Computer chipmaker AMD will turn to Cyclos Semiconductor for its resonant clock mesh technology in its upcoming Piledriver-based chips. They will replace the Bulldozer-core chips introduced in the fall of 2011. The new technology will reduce the chip's clock distribution power.
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02/21, 1:20pm
No hacks required
The developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion already supports some more recent AMD and NVIDIA video cards without any tweaks, according to forum posts by so-called Hackintosh users. Several posts from the Netkas.org forums indicate that an AMD Radeon 6950 running Netkas EFI will work natively in Mountain Lion. One even claims that a 6950 will continue to work after "warm booting back to Lion from Mountain Lion."
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02/17, 4:30pm
AMD exec to kickstart Qualcomm Adreno graphics
AMD's recently departed graphics CTO Eric Demers is now thought to have jumped ship for Qualcomm. An insider connection talking to The Inquirer said the graphics expert had made the hop "under good terms," but partly in the view that Qualcomm wasn't seen as a direct competitor. Intel and NVIDIA may have tried to poach him in the past.
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02/15, 12:30am
AMD unveils Radeon HD 7700 series
AMD took its Radeon HD 7000 series to the starter level quickly on Wednesday. The Radeon HD 7750 and 7750 GHz Edition step back in visual processor counts versus the 6700 line, from 720 and 800 cores to 512 and 640 respectively, but make up for it through more than a year's worth of technology. Both the new overall architecture and a shrink to a leaner 28 nanometer building process let the 7750 and 7770 climb to 800MHz and 1GHz core speeds (up from 700MHz and 850MHz).
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02/14, 11:20pm
Alienware M18X R2 gets more graphics option
More leaks have surfacesd around the upcoming Alienware M18X R2 that have outlined its potential graphics power. The two higher-end graphics cores, the as-yet unannounced Radeon HD 7970M and GeForce GTX 675M, will both be available in twin-chip setups for very high-end systems if Dell-Lab's historically accurate tips are right. A GeForce GTX 660M would occupy the bottom and might be the only graphics without a dual-chip option in the 18-inch gaming notebook.
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02/14, 8:50pm
AMD CTO Eric Demers leaves for non-GPU firm
Another AMD executive departure has fueled speculation Tuesday. Graphics division CTO Eric Demers is known to be exiting the chip designer as of February 17. Former Apple executive and current primary CTO Mark Papermaster would temporarily take over during his absence.
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02/14, 2:45pm
Apple seen hopping back to NVIDIA for workstations
Apple's long-rumored Mac Pro update could signal a return to NVIDIA for graphics based on claims about production progress on Tuesday. The company had reportedly been soured based on is experience with drivers and hardware failures, MIC Gadget heard. Instead, it would use NVIDIA's Kepler hardware, although which exact parts weren't mentioned.
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02/09, 8:20pm
Intel gets away with minor payout to avoid lawsuit
Intel and New York state together stated Thursday that they had settled New York's antitrust lawsuit. The chip designer had managed to pay just $6.5 million and avoided having to admit or change its behavior over the wrongdoing. Its light penalty came after a district court judge had previously ruled that New York couldn't get tripled damages for willful violations and cut the statute on those affected by half, to three years.
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02/04, 6:40pm
AMD hints openness to ARM
AMD in conversations at the end of the week wouldn't discount the possibility of making ARM-based processors. When pressed by Wired, CTO and former Apple executive Mark Papermaster made the unusual non-denial that "the answer is not no." The company's long-term plans were aiming for a modular chip design that could drop in ARM or another architecture without losing Radeon graphics or other AMD-specific touches.
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