quad-core

Rumor Has It, Ep. 7: You can't fight the quad core (podcast)

Karyne may be up a point on the Rumor board, but I'm winning where it actually counts: on Twitter.

As of this writing, I have 232 followers and Karyne has 223.

OK, you can stop laughing now.

We realize, of course, that those numbers are embarrassingly low. So follow us, guys! (@EmilyDreyfuss, @karynelevy, @RumorShow.) Our new high-stakes side bet is who can get to 500 first. Maybe the lucky 500th follower of the winner will get a prize!

The rumors on today's show are of the spiciest variety: sightings of the first quad-core phone (which some people really don't want); two new iPads in 2012; all-new Apple products next year (huzzah); and Siri may ruin my life by coming to old iOS devices. … Read more

Intel's newest lands in an old standard: Commodore 64

Apple surprised many when it introduced quad-core processors into its MacBook line for the first time in February. But a Commodore 64 packing quad-core?

For the uninitiated, the Commodore 64 Keyboard PC was introduced back in 1982 packing a MOS Technology 6510 1MHz (yes, that's one megahertz) chip running the Commodore kernal accessed via BASIC commands.

That model competed with the Apple II and Atari computers.

Well, a lot has changed in 30 years. After resurrecting the Commodore name in April of 2010, the company came out with an Intel Atom-based design in April of this year. That's … Read more

Leaked HTC Edge could be world's first quad-core phone

Now that dual-core phones are a dime a dozen, what's next? Quad-core phones, like this leaked HTC Edge, if the photos are correct.

An Nvidia Tegra 3 processor accounts for the 1.5GHz quad-core processing prowess, according to PocketNow. The Edge also supposedly boasts a 4.7-inch display with 720p HD resolution, an 8-megapixel camera with a backlit sensor and 28-millimeter, f/2.2 lens, It's also reputed to have 1GB RAM and measure about 0.4 inch thick.

Sound a lot like the freshly announced HTC Rezound? As this rumor pans out, expect the specs to line … Read more

Asus' new Android Transformer tablet going quad-core

Asus Chairman Jonney Shih unveiled his company's next-generation Android tablet today, a 10-inch model in the Transformer family that will come with Nvidia's quad-core Kal-El processor.

Shih, speaking at All Things Digital AsiaD conference in Hong Kong, said the model will be 8.3 millimeters thick and features USB and mini HDMI ports, but reserved further details for a formal launch on November 9, according to All Things Digital's report. The tablet is called the Transformer Prime, according to Endgadget. … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 64: The Bionic's here! Now can we stop talking about it? (Podcast)

Somewhere in the world, a pig must be flying, because we've got the Motorola Droid Bionic in the studio. We also dig into the latest tablet news and Antuan promises to work on his pronunciation.

News

Motorola Droid Bionic officially hits Verizon Sept. 8 for $300 http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20102230-251/motorola-droid-bionic-officially-hits-verizon-sept-8-for-$300/

Why Amazon’s will be the first successful Android tablet http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20101227-1/why-amazons-will-be-the-first-successful-android-tablet/#ixzz1XHUvTTRs

Quad-Core Android Tablets Expected in Time for Christmas … Read more

Apple to face fast Android tablets

Apple's iPad will likely have to contend this year with new Android tablets sporting the latest high-speed silicon coming off production lines in Asia.

Nvidia is on the record saying that tablets powered by its quad-core Kal-El chip are arriving this year. "Kal-El-powered tablets are coming this fall, and phones around the CES 2012 timeframe," Nvidia said in a statement to CNET on Friday.

It's safe to presume that Nvidia isn't just blowing smoke. Its processors today power all of the most popular Android Honeycomb tablets, including the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, … Read more

Nvidia touts quad-core chip for Android, Windows 8

Nvidia's CEO boasted about the power frugality of an upcoming quad-core chip, as the company reported better-than-expected earnings today.

The graphics chip supplier swung to better-than-expected earnings in the fiscal second quarter ended July 31, buttressed by revenue from laptop graphics processing units used with systems built around Intel's "Sandy Bridge" processors.

Nvidia reported a profit of $151.6 million compared with a loss of $141 million in the year-earlier period. Revenue surged 25 percent to $1.02 billion. And gross margin--a critical profit indicator--jumped to 51.7 percent from 16.6 percent compared to last … Read more

Rumor: Apple to make A6 quad-core, iPad-only

According to conjecture from Linley Gwennap (reported by Barron's), senior editor at Microprocessor Report, Apple's next-generation mobile processor, the A6 chip, should be quad-core but only available in iPads.

Gwennap wrote a piece examining the structure of Apple's current A5 processor found in the iPad 2 and come up with two interesting conclusions about how Apple is using their own processor technology to advance their hardware faster and more efficiently than their competitors.

One conclusion is that Apple:

"has gone for bigger chips than the 'merchant' silicon offered by vendors such as Nvidia because it can get greater performance at the same price: Apple doesn't pay the markup it would have to give to Nvidia or another company. Larger chip, same money, in other words."

When you make your own product, you reap all the rewards--only fair if you accept all the risk of doing so.… Read more

Nvidia CEO, Qualcomm VP differ on 'quad' future

Nvidia and Qualcomm have very different schedules for putting chips with four processor cores in tablets, smartphones, and laptops. Nvidia's CEO and a Qualcomm vice president spoke to CNET recently on the topic.

Qualcomm announced that it is developing quad-core chips this week for Windows 8. Nvidia made a similar announcement earlier this year. And this week at Computex, Microsoft even floated the concept of a laptop running Windows 8 on top of an Nvidia quad-core processor, according to Anandtech (see photo below).

Analysts are even beginning to mention Apple's future A6 processor as a possible candidate for … Read more

Quad-core AMD laptop CPU allegedly leaked

According to Turkish Web site Donanimhaber, which has successful track record of finding component leaks, AMD plans to release quad-core laptop CPUs as early as June. The report specifically mentions a 1.9GHz A8-3530MX part.

A Google-translated version of the page (as seen on tech blogs Engadget and Electronista) says the new CPUs will integrate Radeon HD 6620G graphics and DirectX 11 support. AMD calls this combination of CPU and GPU an APU, or Accelerated Processing Unit.

AMD has been on something of a roll lately, with its low-cost Fusion E-350 CPU powering our favorite 11-inch ultraportables, such as the … Read more