intel

Is AMD still relevant?

How much does Advanced Micro Devices matter these days? Not much.

But you won't find many headlines proclaiming this and then explaining why. This post at The Verge does a pretty good job, though.

I, for one, have been waiting for a bigger, badder AMD to emerge since CEO Dirk Meyer "retired" at the start of 2011. And waiting and waiting and waiting.

AMD's problem for many years has been to overpromise and underdeliver. It began in earnest with the quad-core Barcelona chip debacle and has continued with the perennial promise of a CPU-GPU combo that … Read more

Psst! Intel will make ARM chips

Intel will do what many would consider, at the very least, unusual: make the very kind of chip that it has vowed to crush.

That would be ARM, Intel's biggest nemesis.

First a little background. Intel is the world's largest chipmaker because it owns the x86 design that Apple and all of the world's PC makers use for laptops, desktops, and servers.

But Intel's x86 chips must compete mightily these days against ARM, the chip of choice for smartphones and tablets. Those chips are supplied by Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Samsung.

So, this is where … Read more

Computex: Roundup of hottest Windows 8 devices, day 2

Device makers continue to concoct novel designs to take advantage of Windows 8 Metro interface.

On Tuesday at Computex in Taipei, Samsung showed a Series 5 ultrabook running Windows 8 with a 13.3-inch touch display. … Read more

Samsung adds Ivy Bridge, two sub-$1,000 Series 5 laptops

Aimed squarely at the back-to-school set, Samsung's pair of new Series 5 laptops look like affordable, workaday systems.

Neither the 15.6-inch Series 5 nor the 14-inch Series 5 500 falls into Intel's ultrabook category due to their general thickness, but they also look like reasonably attractive and capable mainstream PCs.

For the $899 Series 5, you get a quad-core, 2.3GHz Core i7 3610QM chip, a 1,366x768-pixel screen, 8GB of system memory, a 750GB hard drive, and a Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics chip. Samsung says the overall weight is 5.5 pounds, with "6-plus" hours of claimed battery life.… Read more

Intel open to putting Windows Phone on its chips

Intel has opened the door to potentially supporting Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system on its chips, according to a report by Computer World today.

Intel is taking a wait-and-see approach to the Windows Phone platform, which has won some critical praise but limited commercial success. Instead, the company is largely betting on the continued success of Google's Android platform, which is the most widely adopted mobile operating system in the world. Android phones running on Intel's x86 platform started to trickle out in different markets earlier this year.

Intel is hoping that Android can boost its presence … Read more

Fujitsu comes to market with a pair of ultrabooks

We seem to be approaching critical mass for new ultrabooks this week. Acer, Lenovo, and Sony all announced new thin laptops yesterday. Now Fujitsu enters the fray with the LifeBook U772 and the LifeBook UH572.

The U772 is the star of Fujitsu's lineup. Starting at $1,149, the U772 has a 14-inch, 1,280x768-pixel screen with edge-to-edge glass, and comes with Intel's new third-generation Core i5 or Core i7 chip, depending on the configuration. For its measurements, Fujitsu says the U772 is .69 inch thick, weighs 3.15 pounds, and offers seven hours of battery life.… Read more

Intel invests in ultrabook touch displays

In case you haven't noticed, Computex is all about Windows 8 and touch. And Intel is doing its part to get the ultrabook industry geared up for touch displays.

On Tuesday, the chipmaker is announcing agreements with Cando, HannsTouch, TPK, and Wintek to guarantee the supply of touch displays, as a flood of touch-enabled ultrabooks hit the market over the next 12 months.

Computex, being held in Taipei this week, offers the first taste of touch products to come. Asus, Acer, and others are showing Intel-based Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks and hybrids. The Asus Taichi, for example, has dual … Read more

Computex: Roundup of hottest Windows 8 devices

One of the reasons Windows 8 is a big deal is the promise of newfangled devices that span laptop and tablet design. Here are some the hottest appearing at Computex in Taipei so far.

Asus more than any single PC maker is pointing the way toward this brave new device world with the Taichi, a dual-screen Windows 8 ultrabook sporting an extra tablet-mode display on the back of the display panel.

And that screen is no ordinary display: it boasts a resolution of 1,920x1,080: that's a lot of pixels for an 11.6-inch tablet screen. And there'… Read more

Sony Vaio L Series all-in-one gets Ivy Bridge, media features galore

Sony has gone all-in on the concept of the home entertainment PC with its new Vaio L-Series all-in-one desktop. Yes, it has Intel's new third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Core CPUs, but that's almost besides the point. Alongside those new chips, you'll find Sony has pushed harder than ever to make this PC an all-encompassing digital media hub.… Read more