Ad: Manage updates with the Download App

Radeon

Acer's Iconia dual touch-screen laptop makes another appearance

LAS VEGAS--Not exactly new to CES, Acer's inventive Iconia laptop is making another appearance here. Back in November 2010, the dual touch-screen system was shown off in New York, along with a few Acer tablets, but little has been heard of it since.

Walking the line between tablet and laptop, the Iconia has two 14-inch screens, both of which are multitouch-enabled. The bottom screen can display content, a traditional QWERTY keyboard, or a variety of other control surfaces.

When we first saw it (and snagged a demo unit for a hands-on video tour), we said, "Iconia is, at its heart, a Core i5 laptop with familiar specs: up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, integrated Intel graphics, a hard drive up to 750GB, and Windows 7 Home Premium. Ports are also typical for a high-end laptop: two USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, HDMI, and VGA."

In hands-on use, it seemed fast and responsive, and the onscreen typing function was usable, though awkward at first. It's similar to the Toshiba Libretto W100, which also had a dual touch-screen design, but crammed into two 7-inch screens. On the larger 14-inch screens, it feels much more natural, but as with iPad typing, there's sure to be a learning curve. We haven't spent enough hands-on time with the Iconia to tell if it'll be more than a gimmick, or if it will ever be as easy to use as a traditional keyboard. … Read more

Acer's high-end 18-inch Aspire AS8950G packs in Blu-ray, quad-core CPU

LAS VEGAS--There's one high-end laptop hiding in Acer's CES 2011 lineup, and that's the 18.4-inch Aspire AS8950G. The system packs in Intel's new upper-tier Core i7-2630QM processor, ATI's new Mobility Radeon 6850 graphics processor, 8GB of DDR RAM, and a 750GB hard drive. A Blu-ray drive is also standard, as we'd expect in a high-end multimedia laptop these days.

The company says, "The new Acer Aspire AS8950G is the ultimate portable entertainment center," and it certainly seems well-outfitted for media consumption. The 18.4-inch display has a 1,920x1080 native resolution (exactly what we'd look for in a laptop like this), and the screen's edge-to-edge glass gives it a polished home theater look and feel. Audio isn't left out, either, and the Acer CineSurround sound system includes five built-in speakers and a dedicated subwoofer. … Read more

AMD Radeon HD 6000M series--don't call it ATI!

Since chipmaker AMD retired the ATI brand name in 2010, its line of Radeon graphics cards for desktops and laptops now carries the same AMD branding as its CPUs. The company hopes to be the high-end laptop GPU maker of choice with its new Radeon HD 6000M, AMD's second generation of Microsoft DirectX 11-capable mobile graphics.

In the past year, we've seen many high-end laptops, such as HP's Envy series, use AMD/ATI graphics, and AMD says that as of the end of 2010 it owned about 60 percent of the laptop discrete GPU market.

Of the new 6000M, Matt Skynner, general manager of AMD's GPU Division, says, "AMD's best just got better by cementing its leadership in notebook graphics. Through our feature-rich line of top-to-bottom next-generation notebook graphics, including AMD's fastest-performing notebook graphics processor, we're enabling a superior visual computing experience in virtually every segment."

The different versions of Radeon 6000M are as follows: HD 6900M/6800M for high-end enthusiast laptops; HD 6700/6600/6500 for nongaming performance laptops; HD 6400 for mainstream systems; and HD 6300 for thin and light laptops that would normally not use discrete graphics. … Read more

AMD intros Radeon HD 6900 series GPUs

Advanced Micro Devices unveiled last night its new Radeon HD 6900 series GPUs--the 6950 and 6970--for game enthusiasts.

The Radeon HD 6900 series of GPUs, or graphics processing units, features support for Microsoft's DirectX 11 and includes AMD PowerTune, which allows the cards to automatically adjust power consumption based on how they're being used. In addition, AMD said the new series includes "up to 2GB of graphics frame buffer" to appeal to gamers.

Those who are looking to have multiple displays from different vendors should be happy to hear that the AMD Radeon HD 6950 and … Read more

Apple addresses Mac Pro distorted video

Apple has released a knowledgebase article outlining a problem with the ATI X1900XT video cards that were included as CTO options in some Mac Pro systems between August 2006 and January 2008. People using these cards have experienced distorted video output and other visual artifacts, and it appears the problem was in the manufacturing of the video cards instead of an issue that could be addressed by a software or firmware update. Apple is offering those affected by the problem a replacement graphics card, but only if the card matches a specific serial number range by having "V6Z" … Read more

AMD drops the ATI brand

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded: AMD drops the ATI brand as it evolves the CPU and GPU. Apple rumors suggest a radically redesigned and smaller iPod nano without a clickwheel. USA Today restructures itself for emerging mobile platforms. YouTube may get movie rentals as Google tries to negotiate a deal.

The new muscle inside the new iMac, Mac Pro

Apple is tapping Intel chips for its desktop lineup in a way it never has before.

Unveiled Tuesday, updated the iMacs have, for the first time, adopted Intel's Core i3 processor, with some distinct differences between the i3, i5, and i7 models, while the refreshed the Mac Pros tap Intel's most advanced six-core processor, also a first.

So, what should consumers zero in on inside the box? Here's a quick rundown.

Core i3/Core i5 Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading--most have both, but a of couple processors don't: Apple has gone with Core i3 processors for the first time. The Core i3, as the number suffix indicates, is Intel's low-end core i series desktop processor. In addition to the most salient differences--clock (gigahertz) speed and processor core counts--the biggest variation among the various Core i3 and Core i5 models is that a couple of the iMacs don't have both Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading. The size of the cache memory is also a distinction.

A primer, first.

Hyper-Threading: This can double the number of tasks--or threads--a processor can execute. So, a two-core processor can handle four threads. This technology is not offered on prior-generation Core 2 chips. Apple describes it as follows: "When you're running multiple applications at once,… Read more

Dell Inspiron Rs, reviewed

Right in time for back-to-school shopping considerations, Dell has updated its popular Inspiron series of laptops with a new design, and new configurations to boot. Covering a wide variety of CPU levels (Pentium up to Core i5) and prices (mid-$400 up to nearly $1000), the Inspiron R can be either a budget or higher-end laptop depending on what's put into it. To split the difference, we reviewed two of the more midrange offerings, one 14-inch, the other 15-inch.

Both Inspiron Rs we reviewed feature Intel Core i3 CPUs, but with slightly different price configurations. At $779, our Dell … Read more