amd

Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba are the latest PC makers to endorse Advanced Micro Devices' new "Fusion" laptop processors that are expected to make inroads into small, Netbook-class designs.

AMD's new chips appear to be a certifiable hit. They are not only populating slick, featherweight 11.6-inch ultraportable laptops from Lenovo and HP but are also debuting in a larger 15-inch class laptop from Toshiba--the Satellite C655D starting at about $400.

The "Brazos" series of Fusion processors are targeted at small, power-efficient laptop designs and include the dual-core 1.6GHz E-350 and the more power-efficient dual-core 1GHz … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Usually, when we heard of door-buster bargain laptops around the holidays, we tend to imagine 15-inch laptops wedded to Intel Celeron processors. The new AMD e-series CPUs might be nudging into the same territory, if we're to guess from the newly-announced Toshiba Satellite C655D.

The 15.6-inch laptop uses an AMD E240 CPU, part of the new AMD Fusion line of processors, helping keep the cost down. Up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM/320GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and 802.11n Wi-Fi in a 5.5 package for a starting price of $398 doesn't sound too … Read more

Since chipmaker AMD retired the ATI brand name in 2010, its line of Radeon graphics cards for desktops and laptops now carries the same AMD branding as its CPUs. The company hopes to be the high-end laptop GPU maker of choice with its new Radeon HD 6000M, AMD's second generation of Microsoft DirectX 11-capable mobile graphics.

In the past year, we've seen many high-end laptops, such as HP's Envy series, use AMD/ATI graphics, and AMD says that as of the end of 2010 it owned about 60 percent of the laptop discrete GPU market.

Of the new 6000M, Matt Skynner, general manager of AMD's GPU Division, says, "AMD's best just got better by cementing its leadership in notebook graphics. Through our feature-rich line of top-to-bottom next-generation notebook graphics, including AMD's fastest-performing notebook graphics processor, we're enabling a superior visual computing experience in virtually every segment."

The different versions of Radeon 6000M are as follows: HD 6900M/6800M for high-end enthusiast laptops; HD 6700/6600/6500 for nongaming performance laptops; HD 6400 for mainstream systems; and HD 6300 for thin and light laptops that would normally not use discrete graphics. … Read more

Forget about the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Chipmaker AMD would like you to think instead about what it calls the APU, its Accelerated Processing Unit. The combo product uses a single die to contain, according to AMD, "a multicore CPU, a powerful DirectX 11-capable discrete-level graphics and parallel processing engine, a dedicated high-definition video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus that speeds data across the differing types of processor cores within the design."

That means AMD hopes a Fusion APU in a laptop will take the place of the traditional dedicated CPU/dedicated GPU combo, as well as improve on laptops with a CPU and mediocre integrated graphics. Interestingly, Intel is aiming at some of the same goals by vastly improving the integrated graphics in its new Sandy Bridge line of processors.

Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of the AMD Products Group, says, "In one major step, we enable users to experience HD everywhere as well as personal supercomputing capabilities in notebooks that can deliver all-day battery life. It's a new category, a new approach, and opens up exciting new experiences for consumers."

AMD calls the combined processor/graphics platform Fusion, and says it will support 1080p video playback, DirectX graphics, and 3D video and game content. … Read more

Sony will move beyond traditional Netbooks, a market it has never fully embraced, while Lenovo is making a case for these more powerful, but small laptops already.

Sony will move its Netbook-class laptops up-market with Advanced Micro Devices newest Brazos processors, according to sources. Those AMD chips integrate two processing cores and graphics silicon with robust performance--the latter feature a major departure from Intel's Atom, the standard for Netbooks.

"Sony wants to get out of Netbooks," one source said. Intel has "created a great opening for AMD. They can now drive a big truck through that [… Read more

Just about a year ago, Lenovo introduced the ThinkPad Edge series, an updated, low-cost redesign of the ThinkPad targeted at small businesses. The 2011 updates to the ThinkPad Edge series, announced today, bring new second-generation Intel Core i processors as well as a bolder, sleeker design in the 12- and 14-inch Edge E220s and E420s.

The ThinkPad Edge E220s, perhaps the most attractive of the bunch, has an unusually sized 12.5-inch screen but dimensions and weight that more closely match an 11.6-incher. The E220s is less than an inch thick and weighs under 3.5 pounds but lacks … Read more

Quite a lot more details just came out about the insider-information probe that hit the tech world last month, and they're juicy.

The Wall Street Journal has a full report on the whole scheme. Turns out one of the men indicted today, Walter Shimoon, worked for Flextronics, a supplier to Apple. In the papers unsealed today, the FBI caught Shimoon on tape allegedly relaying super-secret details about the yet-to-be-released iPhone last year as well as the internal code name for the project that turned into the iPad. Fortune found the details in the 39-page indictment, and called them out … Read more

While CES isn't always a hotbed of computer news and product announcements, there's always enough new stuff to keep our attention, especially as the competition between traditional laptops and tablets heats up. These are some of the trends and stories we expect you'll be hearing much more about in January.

New laptop and desktop CPUs Unfortunately, some of the products we were most excited about from CES 2010 never actually saw the light of day, leading us to be a bit more skeptical about laptops that look too good to be true (we're looking at you, … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices unveiled last night its new Radeon HD 6900 series GPUs--the 6950 and 6970--for game enthusiasts.

The Radeon HD 6900 series of GPUs, or graphics processing units, features support for Microsoft's DirectX 11 and includes AMD PowerTune, which allows the cards to automatically adjust power consumption based on how they're being used. In addition, AMD said the new series includes "up to 2GB of graphics frame buffer" to appeal to gamers.

Those who are looking to have multiple displays from different vendors should be happy to hear that the AMD Radeon HD 6950 and … Read more