AMD updated its processor roadmap at its analyst meeting on Thursday, Included in the update was the company’s answer to intel’s Atom processor. They also released the next processor in the Opteron lineup which is now built using the 45-nanometer fabrication process. The Opteron server processors, code-named Shanghai, significantly closes the performance gap with Intel.
Ultraportable Processor
Designed to challenge Intel’s dominance of the netbook and ultraportable arena. This new processor will be dual-core and built using the 45-nanometer fabrication process. It will have 1MB of L2 cache and a DDR 2 memory controller. Huron and Congo are both varients of this chip. This processor will compete with Intel’s Atom. Name: Conesus Code-Name: Yukon Scheduled Release: Early 2009
Server Processor This is the first of AMD’s proccessors to be released using the 45-nanometer fabrication process. AMD claims Shanghai will perform 35% better than its previous generation of server chips while decreasing power requirements by 35%. This processor will compete with Intel’s new Core i7 (Nehalem) which will for the first time will have an integrated memory controller. The Shanghai processor works with multiple CPU motherboards, something the initial Nehalem processor will not be capable of, giving AMD a significant advantage. Name: Opteron Code-Name: Shanghai Scheduled Release: Available Now
Desktop (Mainstream and Enthusiast) AMD will launch its Phenom II processor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Phenom II X4 will contain 8 Mbytes of cache and support eaither DDR-2 or DDR-3 memory. The Phenom II enthusiast platform will be called Dragon and will be coupled with “a terascale graphics engine for breakthrough performance,” according to AMD. Name: Phenom II Code-Name: Deneb Scheduled Release: January 2009
Microsoft released a Windows 7 Preview to software and hardware developers. Initial impressions of the next version of Windows have been largely positive. In addition to a few cool new features, many of Vista’s perceived issues and a few real issues have been corrected. Industry watchers speculate that Windows 7 will be available for purchase before next years holiday season. The Windows 7 Preview is only a pre-beta release and there is a good chance that later releases will add additional features. (They could also take a few away.)
Windows Vista users will be happy to know that User Account Controls will be greatly improved. Users will now have the ability to disable or dramatically decrease how often they are prompted.
Microsoft has created a new application user interface codenamed “Scenic.”
Windows 7 will have native support for touch screens.
Microsoft has removed Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker. This is in response to international legal pressure.
Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 12 and Windows Media Center will all have minor changes.
Microsoft Paint will see dramatic improvements. More advanced features.
Windows 7 will support multiple desktops called workspaces. This is very similar to features found in Linux and Mac OS.
The new Windows Taskbar looks a bit like the Mac OS Dock
Microsoft has made significant stability and performance improvements in Windows 7. In fact, it has even been shown to perform well on a netbook, a feat which Windows Vista does not perform well. I’ll update this article after I’ve used 7 for a bit longer.
On Tuesday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made a decision that will have major effects on the future of wireless broadband products and services in the United States. Many people haven’t heard about the FCC’s decison becuase of all the election news and others haven’t been able to makes sense of all the technical jargon. I’m here to help.
As you should now be aware, analog television will be removed from the airwaves in February of next year. This has freed up a significant amount of wireless bandwidth, much of which was auctioned to the cell phone companies. After the auction we were left with a portion of spectrum known as “white space”. This so called white space is perfect for long range internet access because of its ability to penetrate walls and other obstacles. The FCC voted to open up this unused broadband spectrum and make it accessible to the public.
Now for the fun stuff! The FCC’s decision paves the way for community wide internet access. Hardware manufacturers such as Dell have already committed to build new laptops with wireless cards that will support this new technology. The possibilities are endless and the idea of more broadband competition should make us all very excited!
Intel has lifted the embargo on its new Core i7 processor. The new processor is faster than Intel’s current Core 2 and will significantly outperform AMD’s Phenom processor. The Core i7 is based on the “Nehalem” architecture and has proven to be as much as 35% faster in some benchmarks as compared to other quad-core chips. Taking a page from AMD’s book, Intel has now adopted an integrated memory controller.
The i7 will not work with existing motherboards; you’ll need one designed for the new chip. These new CPUs support the X58 Express chip set, known as “Tylersburg.” The new processors also require the faster DDR3 memory.
The processors introduced today include:
2.66-GHz Core i7-920, priced at $285
2.93-GHz Core i7-940, priced at $562
3.20-GHz Core i7 Extreme 965, priced at $999.
*(All prices are in quantity 1000)
The combined cost of the Core i7 processor, DDR3 and the expensive new motherboard will be significant. For this reason, mainstream computers will not likely see the new processor until the middle of next year.
If you’ve shopped for a laptop in the last six months you have no doubt come across a netbook. These low cost and stylish laptops may be the hottest gifts this holiday season. Target (not exactly a technology superstore) has dedicated an entire endcap to these in demand little netbooks.
So what exactly is a netbook? It’s a small and very light laptop (usually 2 to 3 pounds). Common features include a small screen (usually around 7″ to 10″ diagonal), wireless connectivity and a smaller sized keyboard (usually 80% to 95% of normal size). Some netbooks use a solid-state drive rather than a traditional hard disk drive. While not designed for gaming and other processor intensive tasks, these little laptops are perfect for surfing the web, social networking (MySpace), instant messaging, email and office applications. Some netbooks even include a webcam for web conferencing.
The USB interface was introduced in 1995 and was designed to replace older serial interfaces like RS-232. The original version of USB supported speeds of 1.5 Mbits/s but was quickly updated to 12 Mbits/s. USB 2.0 was released in April of 2000 and dramatically increased speeds to 480 Mbits/s. USB version 2.0 is known as “High-Speed.”
USB 3.0 or SuperSpeed USB, promises a 4.8 Gbits/s transfer rate over a cable as long as 10 feet. It will be backwards compatible and use the same style connector. The new cable will be about the size of an ethernet cable . (An optical cable and connector may be available in the future.) Much like Firewire, the new standard will also support computer to computer connections. USB 3.0 devices are scheduled to ship during 2009 and will likely see wide adoption by 2010.
This week AMD released the ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card, which delivers DirectX 10.1 performance at a budget price.
The HD 4830 runs at 575 MHz and has a memory clock speed of 1,800 MHz. The card generates 740 GFLOPs and includes 512 Mbytes of GDDR-3 memory. It will consume a maximum of 110 watts. AMD claims that this card will outperform the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT and can already be found at newegg.com for $109.00.
The card will be manufactured by ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS, Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology and VisionTek.
Sun Microsystems has announced the release of OpenOffice 3. Initial demand for the new office productivity sweet was so high that Sun was not able to keep the servers up. At the time of this writing, the organization is still running a simplified version of the website and is providing a list of mirror sites.
OpenOffice 3 is completely FREE and supports all major versions of Microsoft Windows. It will also run natively on the Mac. Previous OSX versions had to be run within a windowed X11 session. The combination of a simplified user interface, open document support and compadibility with the new Microsoft Office file types may explain the large demand. If you’ve never taken the time to consider OpenOffice you may be wasting money on expensive alternatives.
Earlier this week AMD announced plans to spin-off its manufacturing division and refocus its efforts on chip design. This spin-off will be temporarily known as The Foundry Co and will be headquartered in the United States. Abu Dhabi based ATIC plans to invest $2.1 billion dollars in the newly formed company and together they will build a $4.6 billion chip plant in Malta, NY. The Foundry Co will also be eligible to recieve $1.2 billion is state incentives.
The Foundry Co will eliminate much of AMD’s debt and make them a much more nimble company. AMD can now focus on chip design and a new 45nm core would be a great place to start.
Shanghai will represent the server market while Deneb will compete in the consumer market. According to AMD, Shanghai will consume approximately 20 percent less power than Barcelona, and will offer a full 6MB of L3 cache.
Throughout the last year I have noticed a significant increase in the quality of products coming from Acer. After there mereger with Gateway and E-Machine they have become a market powerhouse. With the release of the Predator they have jumped head first into the gaming market.
Impressive Specs CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad
System Bus - 1333Mhz FSB
Hard Drive - Up To 4 1TB Hot Swap SATA Drives (Raid 0,1,5,1+0)
Memory - Up To 8GB DDR2
Video Card - 3xNvidia 9800GTX
Optical Drive - BD + SuperMulti Burner
TV-tuner Card - (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) (DVB-T, ATSC)
Power Supply - 1000 Watt
Card Reader
Dual Ethernet
Firewire IEEE 1394
eSATA Ports
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