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Intel will launch its next-generation Sandy Bridge chip line on January 5 at the Consumer Electronics Show, the chipmaker confirmed today.

The launch will take place at Venetion Hotel in Las Vegas. Mooly Eden, Intel vice president and general manager for PC Client Group, along with "surprise guests, will showcase the world's fastest processor with many new technologies Intel has built into our chips to enhance the 'visual life,'" Intel said in a statement.

Sandy Bridge will--for the first time in mainstream laptops--put Intel graphics technology directly onto the central processing unit (CPU).

With Intel's current … Read more

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices has joined the MeeGo open-source Linux project where it will contribute its expertise to drive the adoption of MeeGo in tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices.

Unveiled earlier this year, MeeGo is an open-source operating system created through a merger of Intel's Moblin OS and Nokia's Maemo software. The MeeGo OS is designed to run on mobile gadgets, including Netbooks, tablets and phones, and on embedded devices, such as connected TVs and in-car systems.

The MeeGo project is run by the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit group whose goal is to push the growth and … Read more

Sluggish demand took a bite out of chip sales and shipments toward the end of the summer, says a new study out today from research firm IDC.

For the third quarter, worldwide microprocessor sales rose only 2.5 percent from the second quarter, while shipments inched up just 2.1 percent from the prior quarter. On a year-over-year basis, results were healthier, with chip sales rising 24.1 percent and shipments 8.6 percent over the third quarter of 2009.

Typically, global chip sales jump around 9 percent from the second to the third quarter, while shipments increase 10.6 … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices appears ready to offer the stiffest challenge to Intel's Netbook processor yet. AMD's trump card: extra circuitry integrated into the main processor that brings a higher level of graphics horsepower to small, thin laptops.

Today, at the company's finanical analyst day, AMD announced an umbrella technology dubbed "Brazos" that comprises two new lines of processors for Netbooks ("Ontario") and small laptops ("Zacate").

Aimed at designs that typically range from 10-inch to 13-inch diagonal screen sizes, Ontario and Zacate graft AMD Radeon 6000 series graphics technology onto the main … Read more

The lead up to a graphics card launch always sets off a torrent of e-mails from AMD and Nvidia attempting to influence our opinion. With AMD's Radeon 6800-series graphics cards about to put Nvidia's relatively recent GeForce 400 line behind a generation, our in-box is once again host to an unsolicited flame war.

First, Nvidia sent word of the release of a curiously timed benchmark:

As a member of the ultra-secret H.A.W.X. 2 squadron, you are one of the chosen few, one of the truly elite. You will use finely honed reflexes, bleeding-edge technology and ultra-sophisticated aircraft--their existence denied by many governments--to dominate the skies.

And, in fact, you really are one of the truly elite, thanks to Ubisoft providing an early press preview of the H.A.W.X. 2 benchmark prior to its public release this Friday.

H.A.W.X. 2 has been optimized for DX11 enabled GPUs and has a number of enhancements to not only improve performance with DX11 enabled GPUs but also greatly improve the visual experience while taking to the skies.

Dutifully, AMD follows up:… Read more

Advanced Micro Devices showcased its upcoming Llano chip today, a highly integrated design targeted at sleek computers.

At the AMD Technical Forum & Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, the chip supplier held the first public demonstration of its future AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) codenamed "Llano." Due in the first half of next year, Llano integrates the main processor and graphics function onto a single piece of silicon and is targeted at ultrathin and mainstream laptops, among other designs.

Llano will use 32-nanometer technology, feature up to four CPU processor cores, and integrate AMD's 5000 series graphics … Read more

"That tablet thing? Yeah, we'll get back to you on that." That's a crude but fairly accurate encapsulation of the attitude Microsoft, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices have toward the iPad and the tablet market in general.

Why the cavalier attitude? Before I defer to the opinion of an IDC analyst I interviewed (below), here's one pretty obvious reason I'll put forward. All three companies look at their revenue streams--traditional PC hardware and software on laptops, desktops, and servers--and come to the conclusion that the tablet is a marginal market. A deceptively accurate conclusion, because at this point in time--and even 12 months out--the tablet is marginal compared with the gargantuan laptop, desktop, and server markets.

And listening to both Intel's and AMD's earnings conference calls this week, it's clear that relative nonchalance is the prevailing attitude. While Intel's CEO did address the iPad directly, he later opined that the tablet "numbers...are relatively small in the grand scheme of the ship rate of the PC, notebook, and Netbook businesses." A variation on a theme he's stated during past conference calls. And AMD's CEO went so far to say that the tablet doesn't even warrant R&D spending yet.

At the other extreme is Apple's earnings statement (which, I submit, is as good a crystal ball as you'll get for future market trends), showing a brave new world that is moving to tablets in a significant way. According to figures cited by Apple in its third-quarter earnings, 3.27 million iPads were sold versus 3.47 million Macs. And that happened, mind you, in a matter of months. And iPad revenue? From zero in the first quarter to $2.17 billion by the third quarter.

So, am I being too harsh--or too simplistic--in judging Microsoft, Intel, and AMD by saying, it's the tablet, stupid? On Friday, I asked Bob O'Donnell, a program vice president and analyst at IDC, about the seeming failure of the PC camp to fully grasp the significance of the tablet. His response, more than anything, tries to put the Microsoft-and-Intel-just-don't-get-it argument in perspective.

First some raw numbers. IDC expects Apple to sell about 15 million iPads this year. All media tablets (including other brands) will be about one-tenth of projected notebook shipments, which are forecast at… Read more

Advanced Micro Devices plans to unveil a new line of DirectX 11 graphics cards next week, CEO Dirk Meyer said in the chipmaker's earnings call yesterday.

According to Meyer, AMD will host "launch activities next week" for a second-generation of Direct X11 cards. He added that AMD plans to release "all the family members of that product line I'll call it, by the end of this quarter."

AMD expects to ship "several hundred thousand or hundreds of thousands of units" of the new graphics card during the quarter.

Microsoft's DirectX 11 technology … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices CEO Dirk Meyer said that his company will address the tablet market with a design that packs "great graphics," but isn't in any great hurry.

The discussion came during the chipmaker's conference call on third-quarter earnings, which the company reported today.

"I expect we're going to see tablets in various form factors and thicknesses over time. From everything we understand today, it's still a pretty new market," he said. Currently, by far the most popular tablet is Apple's iPad, which uses that company's A4 processor. Intel has targeted … Read more