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Packard Bell has expanded its budget range of notebooks. The EasyNote TE, promoted as a "value-proposition" for students and social network users, is powered by an AMD 1.4GHz E1-1200 processor, with a 15.6-inch 1366x768 display and Radeon HD 7310 graphics.
HP has quietly updated part of its Envy line of notebooks to use Intel Ivy Bridge processors. Specifically, the Envy 15, Envy 17, and Envy 17 3D have been upgraded to use Intel's third-generation Core technology, also featuring a boost in graphics power courtesy of the AMD Radeon HD 7850M.
Acer has quietly given its Aspire One 522 and 722 models a specification refresh. The 522 is a 10-inch netbook, while the 722 is an 11.6 sub-notebook both of which were powered by AMD’s 1GHz C-50 processors and Radeon 6250 integrated graphics on launch. A recent check now shows that they have been upgraded to AMD’s new C-60 processor and AMD’s latest integrated graphics processor, the Radeon HD 6290.
AMD is allegedly preparing to introduce several new graphics cards that will fit into the Radeon HD 6000 series, unnamed sources have told DigiTimes. The series is said to be expanding with three new model numbers: 6670, 6570 and 6450. As the numbering suggests, the cards will serve to bolster the entry-level and midrange side of the series.
Acer’s forthcoming Windows 7 tablet announced earlier this week is believed to be based on AMD’s Bobcat platform. In this application, Digitimes sources believe that it’s AMD’s C-50 Ontario 1.0GHz dual-core variant, which also features integrated Radeon HD 6250 graphics. AMD claims that their processors have a speed, graphics and power advantage over Intel’s Atom platform.
AMD's next generation Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 will be launched this Friday, confirming an earlier report. Expected to be followed by a 6900 model, the mid-range cards sport two DVI ports, an HDMI port, and two MiniDisplay ports. Power will be supplied by two 6-pin connectors in addition to the power supplied by the PCI Express port.
Gaming PC maker MainGear on Wednesday introduced its latest gaming notebook, the eX-L 17. It can be had with a choice of Intel's Core i5 or Core i7 processors, topping out at the 1.73GHz quad-core i7, along with a choice of ATI's 1GB Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPU, 2GB NVIDIA's GTX 480M or a 1GB Quadro FX 2800M. The glare-free 17.3-inch screen puts out a 1080p picture.
MSI has expanded its CX-series of mid-range notebooks with the new CX500DX, CX620MX, and CX420MX. The CX500DX integrates a 15.6-inch display with 1366x768 resolution, while graphics are powered by ATI Radeon HD545v discrete components with 512MB of RAM. The notebook is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with DDR2 memory up to 4GB.
Dell's website has been expanded with a teaser page for upcoming notebooks based on AMD's quad-core Phenom II X4 CPUs. The new Inspiron M501R notebook is based on AMD's M880G chipset with integrated Radeon HD4250 graphics, while customers can choose to add Radeon HD 550v discrete graphics components with 1GB of memory.
AMD on Wednesday formally released ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition graphics card, offering 2GB of GDDR5 memory and delivering rendering in excess of 1 billion pixels per second in current generation gaming titles--or up to 12 times more resolution than 1080p HD. The company claims that with up to 2GB of GDDR5 memory users can experience high frame rates and image quality settings in the latest DirectX 11 games in 3- and 6-display gaming setups (using one of five included adapters: 2 mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort adapters, 2 passive mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI dongles, and 1 passive mini-DisplayPort-to-HDMI dongle).
AMD on Thursday morning further expanded its "Dragon" desktop platform with the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card, featuring 1.36 TeraFLOPs of computing power, faster GDDR5 memory, and engine clock speeds capable of nearly 1GHz. The GPU card offers support for DirectX 10.1 titles, including Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X., Electronic Art’s BattleForge and SEGA’s Stormrise released last month, as well as GSC Gameworld’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky. According to the company, the new graphics card is not only designed to provide exceptional value to OEMs and channel partners but also to do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers.
ASUS has recently posted up official product pages of its upcoming Eee Top-series desktop PCs, the ET1602 and ET1603. The main difference between the two is the latter's use of an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 graphics card instead of the former's onboard Intel chipset paired with ASUS' Splendid Video Intelligence Technology for video processing. Aside from this, both share a 15.6-inch LCD touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM. Windows XP will be pre-loaded onto the 160GB hard disk drive, along with Eee Cinema, ASUS' multimedia center software. Wireless network access comes via an 802.11n Wi-Fi module.
After a short teaser campaign, Alienware has revealed an upgrade to its M17 desktop replacement notebook that boosts its all-around performance. The 17-inch system can now go quad-core and has the option of a 2.53GHz Core 2 Extreme for those gamers who would prefer multi-thread performance over sheer clock speed; a 2.26GHz Core 2 Quad is also an option for less demanding tasks.
AMD on Wednesday unveiled the ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card, offering users a lower-cost DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL platform, combined with several of ATI's high-definition video and audio technologies. AMD asserts that the card offers many upscale features at usable frame rates, such as full screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering; it cuts down on performance from the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 by reducing the number of stream processors from 800 to 640 but without compromising on the 256-bit memory bus or other features.
AMD on Tuesday debuted its ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series of graphics chips, including its flagship ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 dual-CPU graphics cards; the combination, it claims, delivers 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power and its value-oriented sibling ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2. The new cards combine two ATI Radeon HD 4800 series GPUs using a faster PCIe 2.0-based interconnect and 2GB of frame buffer memory. Launched in New York City this week, the GPUs are based on the advanced 55nm design and offer DirectX 10.1 support for advanced gaming and ATI CrossFireX for maximum performance: ATI says that the efficient use of all four GPUs in a dual ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX configuration will bring more than three times the performance (using 3DMark Vantage v1.01 benchmarks) of a single ATI Radeon HD 4870 card in many games.
MSI, maker of the Wind mini notebook, has revealed its EX310 notebook, which packs a 13.3-inch LCD screen with 1280x800 resolution and slots in between the company's 10-inch Wind and 14.1-inch P400. The EX310 runs on AMD's Turion X2 Ultra dual-core processor and 4GB of RAM, while an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 graphics card with 256MB of RAM handles HD video playback capabilities via the optional Blu-ray optical drive and HDMI output. A TV tuner card is also optional.
