Written on 1:48 AM by Switch
CUDA software enables GPUs to do tasks normally reserved for CPUs. We look at how it works and its real and potential performance advantages.
Nvidia's CUDA: The End of the CPU?
The rentals of BD software are also brisk, indicating that the DVD is rapidly turning to BD for both soft and hardware. "We are under the impression that the change to BD is taking place at much faster rate than it was when the VHS ...
DVD rapidly turning to BD in both soft and hardware. Pushed by ...
Thanks all for today.
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Written on 4:47 PM by Switch
Santa Clara (CA) - Nvidia today unveiled its GT200 graphics chip, now integrated into the GTX260 and GTX280 graphics cards.
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Written on 12:05 AM by Switch
Taipei (Taiwan) - Everyone is waiting for Intel's quad-core, eight-thread Nehalem processor later this year and we got a little sneak peak at the processor's stability and speed at a closed door meeting with Intel employees.
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Written on 12:05 AM by Switch
VIA Technologies held a launch party today to officially announce its new VIA Nano processor (Isaiah) and a new standard for small form factor motherboards, Mini-ITX 2.
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Written on 12:08 PM by Switch
Whoa. We were wondering what would happen when the performance freaks at Voodoo teamed up with HP, and the first notebook to come out of this acquisition is a surprise. No, it’s not a gaming rig. It’s one of the sleekest and most innovative ultraporables we’ve seen. The Envy 133 (starting at $2,099) rocks an instant-on mode that lets you surf the Web and make Skype calls without booting into Windows (called Voodoo IOS) and a slick power brick that doubles as a wireless access point. Intrigued yet?
Voodoo was kind enough to let us steal a pre-production sample for a little hands-on time, and although the Envy 133 was not benchmarkable, we wanted to walk you through everything that makes this dream machine stand out. Stay tuned for a full review.
Design
It all starts with a druable carbon fiber case that weighs 3.4 pounds and measures a mere 0.7 inches thin, complete with retro-chic squared-off edges. This is the kind of minimalist laptop that Christian Bale would carry if they remade American Psycho for the 21st century–in a good way.
Customization options range from your choice of 14 Voodoo Allure paint finishes to a selection of laser engravings. Underneath the lid you’ll find a brilliant 13.3-inch, LED-backlit display whose high-quality fused composite glass runs from edge to edge for a unified aesthetic. Last but not least is a funky backlit keyboard with a space-age font and a multiple-gesture touchpad (for scroll and pinch options) that’s nicely textured.
No Port Envy Here
More important than the Envy 133’s stunning looks are the innovations packed in (and on) this 3.4-pound machine. You can also connect anywhere via optional integrated mobile broadband, a feature the Air lacks. Two USB ports (one of which doubles as an eSATA port for external storage), an HDMI port, and a low-light VGA webcam are just a few more reasons why we would happily tote the Envy 133 anywhere.
The New Instant On
The Envy 133 launches users into an environment where they can surf the Web and make Skype calls within a mere 10 seconds. Called Voodoo IOS, this environment is powered by Splashtop and gives you the full Internet without having to run Vista in the background. Not only does this feature save time, it should also save battery life. You can also instant message your buddies (via Pidgin) in AOL, Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo, and more, and access photos and music–but not movies on the optical drive.
Juice Meets Connectivity
The 133’s power brick isn’t really a brick at all. It’s more like a flat slab. Voodoo calls it Aura PowerConnect because it allows users to plug in an Ethernet cable for a point-to-point Wi-Fi connection. Essentially , you can create up to a 50-foot wireless network instantly, which is perfect for working in remote offices or hotel rooms with either spotty wireless connections or no Wi-Fi at all.
SSD Optional: The Envy 133 can be ordered with a 4,200-rpm 80GB hard drive or a 64GB solid state drive. Performance hounds will want to opt for the latter, although the instant-on functionality of this notebook makes the boot time advantage of SSD not us compelling.
More Power To You: While the MacBook Air forces you to send in your precious notebook when it’s time to replace the battery, with the Envy 133 you can simply swap and go. The standard battery lasts a respectable (but not great) 3.45 hours between charges.
Matching External Optical Drive Included: Although Apple charges $99 bucks for an external optical drive on the MacBook Air, Voodoo bundles every Envy 133 with an ID-coordinated DVD burner (sorry, no Blu-ray yet).
Outlook: Although the Voodoo Envy 133 is considerably more expensive than the MacBook Air’s starting price of $1,799, and it’s not quite as thin or light, you do get a lot for your money, including more ports, the best instant-on mode yet, and a replaceable battery. The fact that you can customize the Envy 133 to your heart’s content is icing on the cake.
Full Specs for Voodoo Envy 133
CPU: 1.6-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SP7500 or 1.8-Ghz SP7700
Operating System: Windows Vista
RAM/Expandable To: 2GB/2GB
Hard Drive Size/Speed: 64GB SSD (optional 80GB/4,200 rpm)
Optical Drive: external 8X or 6X dvd+/-RW
Display/Resolution: 13.3 inches/1280 x 800
Graphics/Video Memory: intel GMA X3100/384MB
Wireless Networking: 802.11g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
Ports: One usb, esata/usb, hdmi, headphone/mic • Card Slots: expresscard/34
Size: 12.7 x 9.0 x 0.7 inches
Weight: 3.4 pounds
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Written on 6:40 PM by Switch
For the next few months, the big battleground is likely to be in notebook computer platforms, where both companies have new offerings, many of which are being rolled out at this week’s Computex show in Taiwan. AMD today formally introduced its new notebook platform, which has been referred to under the code-name of Puma, though officially it’s just the next generation notebook platform. The CPU is the Turion X2 Ultra chip (formerly code-named “Griffin”), which basically is two K8 cores (the same cores used in the Athlon processors) with some interesting new features: independent dynamic cores let the chip set different power levels for each core and the integrated “north bridge” chip, power optimized HyperTransport 3; a a mobile-optimized memory controller designed for DDR-800 memory.
The heart of the platform is the new 7-series chipset with support for the ATI Mobility Radeon 3000 family of graphics and Wi-Fi support from a third-party chipset (such as Atheros, Broadcom, or Marvell). The graphics come in several flavors. Most distinctive is the HD 3000 integrated graphics solution, which includes support for Avivo HD (for better hardware-assistend HD decode). AMD believes this will far outperform Intel’s integrated graphics. AMD says this solution will offer three times the 3D performance, 5 times the HD quality, and 40% faster wireless than Intel’s solution. I’m a bit skeptical on some of these numbers, but the proof will be in the final notebooks.
Tags: AMD, puma, laptop, solution
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Written on 11:38 PM by Switch
Asus kicked of Computex 2008 with the Eee PC 901, the Eee PC 1000 and the Eee PC 1000H. The product family is quickly evolving from once was a cheap sub-$300 notebook to a trendy gadget that is expected to hit mainstream notebook prices. Also on display is a WiMax-equipped EeePC 901 that could become available in the U.S. as soon as the WiMax confusion clears up and a broadband network becomes available in more areas. Joining the widely anticipated and already previewed Eee PC 901 with an 8.9” screen, Asus also launched two 10” models – the Eee PC 1000 and 1000H.
Detailed specs other than the screen sizes were unavailable from Asus in the U.S. at the time of this writing, but leaked information from Taiwan suggests that at least the 1000H model will come with a 10” or 10.2” screen, Linux or Windows XP, Intel’s Atom processor and SCH chipset, up to 2 GB of DDR2 memory (the maximum supported by SCH), up to 5 hours of battery time an 80 GB hard drive as well as a weight that is slightly above three pounds.
While the 1000 models appear to be a reaction to MSI’s Wind notebook, the focus of Asus’ announcements is certainly on the 901 model. Equipped with an 8.9” screen up to 20 GB flash memory, and an Intel Atom Z520 1.33 GHz processor, the notebook is expected to launch in the $600 to $650 range, which means that the 10” model could break the $700 mark. Asus also has a working demo of an Intel Atom-based WiMax Eee PC 901. Asus is offering both 802.16e USB dongles as well as integrated WiMax solutions covering the frequency range between 2.5 and 2.7 GHz. The company did not say when the WiMax version will be available for purchase in the U.S.
Tags: Asus, Eee, PC, 901, 1000
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Written on 12:01 PM by Switch
The biggest capacity yet from a hard drive powered by USB
External storage is a necessity rather than a luxury for designers. Moving work between the office and home is part of daily life for many of us, while being able to carry a portfolio around at all times is as important as ever. There are plenty of storage options out there, including USB flash drives and external hard disks. But even the biggest flash drives don’t offer enough space, while standard external drives are not particularly portable.
The problem is that 3.5-inch external drives require a separate power unit. But the Freecom’s 250GB ToughDrive Pro draws all its power from a USB port.
250GB is ample space for a lot of data, and this capacity milestone is a marked improvement over what has been squeezed from USB-powered drives so far. There are some tradeoffs though. Transfer speed from the 2.5-inch disk falls well below what is possible from a standard SATA drive. For this reason, we wouldn’t recommend using this as your scratch disk. At £130, you’re also paying a lot more per gigabyte of storage than usual.
It comes encased in rubber to prevent damage should you drop it, which is a welcome feature. However, the dimensions of the drive are larger than we would like, making it slightly too big to fit comfortably in a pocket.
The benefits of a USB-powered hard disk outweigh most of the shortcomings, but if you don’t need the full 250GB, there are even more portable drives that do a similar job.
Tags: Hardware, 250GB, Freecom, Tough, Drive, Pro
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Written on 1:20 AM by Switch
Hey guys i am telling you about the DViCO M-4000SA HD media player. Now they're back with the M-5100SH which bests the former with 1080p support, HDMI output, and H.264 decoding. It still packs Ethernet for plenty of in-home media streaming and of course DViCO will be more than happy to throw in a 3.5-inch, 512GB SATA disk for a fee. But why not save some bills-per-byte and double your capacity with a 1TB Hitachi disk purchased elsewhere. You can also add WiFi and an optional ATSC tuner to create a full-featured 1080i video recorder. Decent but standard stuff so far; what's odd is the pricing.
Categories: Hardware, Tivx, Dvico, M-5100
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Written on 5:59 PM by Switch
Nvidia Corp on Sunday announced a processor line-up it believes will power a new class of fast, small devices with long battery life that can surf the full Internet, play high-end games and display high-definition video. The graphics chipmaker is calling the Tegra 600 and Tegra 650 processors “computers on a chip” for highly portable, visual devices, and it is aiming squarely at a market also targeted by No. 1 chipmaker Intel Corp. Nvidia hopes the Tegra chips, which also include its previously announced application processor APX2500 used in smartphones and handsets, will go into a broad array of computing devices. But it’s aiming first for an emerging category called mobile Internet devices, or MIDs.
Intel was among the first to start bandying about the term, and its Atom family of chips is targeted at MIDs. But Intel and Nvidia both say people are still unsure exactly what a MID is. Mike Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia’s mobile business, said MIDs have screens of four to 12 inches in diameter and may have a touch-screen or keyboard, a connection for a game controller or a wireless high-speed Internet connection. Nvidia says it is more than a dumbed-down notebook PC or super-portable notebook with keyboards suited more for the hands of Smurfs than humans. He said prices for MIDs with Tegra would range from $200 to $250 and be on store shelves by the holiday shopping season.
Tags: Hardware, Nvidia, Tegra, small, device
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