Intel delivers USB 3.0 in its chips, finally

In Silicon Valley time, it's been eons but USB 3.0 support has finally landed in Intel chips.

Intel -- somewhat stealthily -- announced today that its 7-series chipset family is now available and "shipping in mobile and desktop OEM systems and motherboards worldwide...[and] they also integrate USB 3.0."

The new chipsets -- companion silicon to the main processor -- support both 2nd Generation Intel Core processors, aka Sandy Bridge, and 3rd Generation Intel Core chips, aka Ivy Bridge.

With today's announcement of availability, it's been roughly ten years since Intel announced support … Read more

Evidence of Apple chip design change in iPad teardown

Apple has changed the design of the main chip in the new iPad with tweaks to accommodate a higher-performing chip, according to teardown analysis. That would be necessary, of course, to drive that pixel-dense screen.

There are two significant changes:

Separate DRAM: Apple's A5X chip package does not "stack" system memory (aka, SDRAM), like the A5 did in the iPad 2, as seen in an analysis by Chipworks. Instead, the DRAM resides in "discrete" devices, according to Anandtech. And note that the new iPad has 1GB of memory. The iPad 2 had half that much. … Read more

This is Intel's chip aimed at Windows 8 tablets from HP, others

When Intel announced its newest chip for phones it also pre-announced, in part, the chip that will power future Windows 8 tablets from companies like Hewlett-Packard.

This week Intel disclosed details of the Z2580 Atom chip for phones. All in all pretty impressive: it's Intel's first dual-core chip for phones, uses Hyper Threading (which can allow a dual-core chip to act like a quad-core in some cases), runs up to 1.8GHz in burst mode, and, importantly, packs Imagination's speedy PowerVR SGX 544MP2 graphics processing unit.

That phone chip is what Intel calls "Clover Trail L.&… Read more

Intel offers clarification on 'Ivy Bridge' chip delay

Intel today spelled out in more exacting detail just what the Ivy Bridge chip delay means in the wake of comments published Sunday from an Intel executive.

"Reports of an eight-week delay to the Ivy Bridge launch are inaccurate and our schedule has only been impacted by a few weeks," spokesman Jon Carvill told CNET today.

So, for instance, if a desktop Ivy Bridge product was slated for an April launch, that would be pushed to May. And a mobile product scheduled for May, would launch in June. Intel always staggers production schedules. For example, Intel's most … Read more

Next-gen Intel 'Ivy Bridge' chip delayed

It's apparently official. Intel's next-gen Ivy Bridge processor is delayed, according to a report in the Financial Times, citing an Intel executive.

"I think maybe it's June now," Sean Maloney, executive vice-president of Intel and chairman of Intel China, told the Times. Maloney attributes the delay to the manufacturing process, the Times said.

Though Intel had never announced a particular launch date, the chipmaker had indicated "spring." A June launch clearly makes this a delay.

An Intel spokesperson is also cited in the Times article as saying that the company's plans to … Read more

More reasons to wait for 'Ivy Bridge' MacBook, Windows laptops

Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge chip will be a big step up in graphics performance for Intel. And benchmark numbers suggest that you may want to wait for that new Ivy Bridge-based MacBook or Windows lappy before upgrading your system.

A Chinese-language Web site has posted benchmark numbers (reposted by CPU World) that show a jump in graphics processing unit (GPU) performance of up to 122 percent over the current Sandy Bridge processor.

"In 3DMark Vantage synthetic benchmarks Core i5-3570K (Ivy Bridge) achieved 88.9% higher GPU score when using Entry preset, and 122.1% better score with Performance preset … Read more

Ultrabooks with hybrid drives could start at $600

Lower-end ultrabooks equipped with hybrid disk drives could hit price points as low as $600, according to an Asia-based report.

Because hybrid HDDs--which combine a small-capacity solid-state drive with a standard hard disk drive--cost about 50 percent less than solid-state-only drives, PC makers will opt for hybrid drives in lower-end models, according to a report Wednesday in DigiTimes. This will send prices below $700.

Ultrabooks--skinny Windows 7 laptops that mimic the portability of tablets--currently bottom out at about $800. That includes the Toshiba Portege Z835, now priced as low as $799.99 at retail. The Z835 uses a 128GB SSD, … Read more

Qualcomm S4 chip renders Ice Cream Sandwich 'butter smooth'

Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 chip is racking up benchmark numbers that make the Samsung Galaxy S II's performance seem so last-year while turning Ice Cream Sandwich into a dreamy experience, said a chip review site.

"Occasionally we'll see performance numbers that just make us laugh at their absurdity," said Anandtech. "[Snapdragon S4's] Linpack performance is no exception. The performance advantage here is insane. The MSM8960 is able to deliver more than twice the performance of any currently shipping SoC (system-on-a-chip)."

And what about that Adreno graphics processing unit? "From a compute standpoint … Read more

Intel 'Ivy Bridge' chip delayed, Windows 8 in September, report claims

The next-generation Intel chip destined to populate the upcoming crop of ultrabooks is delayed, an Asia-based report claims.

The delay of the "Ivy Bridge" processor is being reported by DigiTimes, a publication that typically voices the concerns of device makers. Those concerns are just as often opinion as they are fact.

That said, the key point is that volume shipments of Ivy Bridge won't happen until "after June," Digitimes said, citing sources at "first-tier notebook vendors [that] are having trouble digesting their Sandy Bridge notebook inventories due to the weak global economy."

A &… Read more