amd

At this afternoon's Windows Vista launch luncheon in New York, members of an expert panel, including Dell CEO Kevin Rollins, AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, waxed poetic about the new operating system and generally patted each other on the back.

More interesting to laptop enthusiasts was the slide show that opened the event, during which Vista's hardware partners were represented almost exclusively through laptops. In quick succession, we saw plugs for the first two Windows Vista laptops we reviewed, the HP Pavilion tx1000 and the Toshiba Portege R400 (both convertible tablets, interestingly enough), along … Read more

It would seem that AMD's marketing department has been outworking engineering lately. We thought AMD might use CES to strike back at Intel and its competitor's runaway hit, the Core 2 Duo processor. Instead of new chips, however, AMD sat us down to talk about a new logo. Still with us? Good. You'll soon be seeing Better by Design stickers on Vista laptops and desktops. The Better by Design logo is AMD's seal of approval that a system will provide a satisfying Vista experience in terms of overall performance and, for laptops, fast wireless connectivity.

The … Read more

You might remember how last year AMD followed Intel's Viiv platform with its own Live Project. Both monikers were essentially lists of compatible hardware and software designed to bolster multimedia computing experience (the way Centrino did for wireless networking).

After a year of not much action on the Live front, AMD has just announced the laptop version of the spec, called (you guessed it) the AMD Live Notebook PC. The company calls it, "an easy-to-use mobile media center designed to help consumers simplify and enjoy their digital lifestyle."

What makes a laptop eligible for the AMD Live … Read more

AMD today announced its first desktop processors manufactured on the 65-nanometer process, which arrive more than a year after Intel first started selling its 65nm chips. AMD new chips promise better energy efficiency rather than improved performance. The 65nm chips are dual core, feature 1MB of L2 cache, carry the same Athlon 64 X2 name as the company's existing 90nm chips, and will work current socket AM2 motherboards. AMD's new 65nm chips also introduce another first for the company: strained silicon, which stretches the atoms of the silicon in the chips so electrons can travel faster (more on … Read more

Dell is getting ready to hit the Advanced Micro Devices trifecta with a new notebook bearing AMD's Turion 64 X2 processors. An ordering page, spotted by the ever-cheeky Inquirer, lists three Dell AMD notebooks for sale.

Three different configurations of a 15.4-inch widescreen Inspiron 1501 notebook were listed on Dell's site. Two of the notebooks use a Turion processor that doesn't appear on AMD's pricing page at the moment, the single-core MK-36 processor. You can upgrade to faster dual-core versions for either $50 or $100, depending on the size of your wallet. The base price … Read more

No, that's not a typo. In a world where ultraportables regularly hit the $2,000 mark, Averatec has created a niche with its small, inexpensive systems that are loaded with some pretty compelling components for the price. Thus it is with the just-announced Averatec 2300, a 4-pound system with a 1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50 processor, a 12.1-inch WXGA display, a 100GB hard drive, and a built-in double-layer DVD burner, all for the low, low starting price of $849.

We're eager to see whether the new laptop improves upon its predecessor, the Averatec 2260, which … Read more

When a computer manufacturer has a name like "Alienware," you can easily get the idea that they're marketing to the "World of Warcraft"-playing, Asimov-quoting, ThinkGeek-shopping demographic--and rightfully so. But for those of you who don't do the role-playing game or sci-fi thing, Alienware wants to let you know that it still thinks you'd be interested in its laptops. But I'm not sold.

Let me explain. Last week, as I've mentioned here before, I went to New York's DigitalLife festivities. While I was there, I met with Alienware product … Read more

Imagine that PC companies got to trade places with car brands for a week. We'd nominate Dell for the Ford Pinto (explodes without warning), Hewlett-Packard for the Honda Accord (looks decent, runs well, but not going to get you a date) and Apple for the Toyota Prius (efficient, stylish, and just a tad pretentious). Acer, perhaps wisely, isn't going to leave it up to us.

The company has been shipping laptops co-sponsored by legendary Italian car maker Scuderia Ferrari for several years, easily distinguished by that distinctive "Ferrari Red" casing and the black thoroughbred logo on … Read more