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Samsung today announced a new laptop line, adding the Series 7 to the existing Series 3 and Series 9 lines. We had a brief chance to get our hands on the 15-inch version (as well as a nonfunctioning mock-up of the 13-inch version), to see how they stack up against Samsung's other recent high-profile releases.

While the Series 9 laptops, available in 13-inch and 11-inch sizes, are very high-end machines originally priced at $1,699 and $1,199 respectively, and the Series 3 laptops are closer to budget prices (the 11.6-inch version exclusively at Staples is $699), the Series 7 falls somewhere in the middle, starting at $999.

Samsung reps brought a working 15-inch unit and a nonworking 14-inch unit over to us to check out, and the systems do indeed look and feel like a halfway point between the Series 9 and Series 3 systems. The aluminum bodies were sleek, cast in gunmetal gray, but not as fancy as the curved Series 9 chassis. At the same time, they looked and felt a lot more expensive than the Series 3, which has the feel of a budget-minded plastic ultraportable (but a very nicely designed version of one).

We especially liked how the 14-inch model was built into what would normally be closer to a 13-inch chassis, and the 15-inch model was also fairly slim and light for a midsize laptop. The lids of both models had thinner than usual bezels, which Samsung says is inspired by the company's nearly bezel-less plasma TVs, and the 1,600x900 screen on the 15-inch model was not only bright, but also had a matte finish, a feature we always appreciate. … Read more

AMD has appointed a new president and CEO, the company announced today.

Rory Read, the former president and chief operating officer of the Lenovo Group, will head up the processor company, as well as join AMD's board of directors.

Read comes to AMD with an impressive resume. At Lenovo, according to AMD, he was responsible for "double-digit revenue growth and market share gains." He also spent 23 years at IBM, holding a host of management positions.

Former AMD CEO Dirk Meyer stepped down from his post in January. An employee of AMD since 1995, Meyer succeeded CEO … Read more

The landscape of budget laptops often looks like a police lineup of suspects: a muddy confusion of similar-looking faces and bodies. For $600 you can buy a lot of computer lately, though you're not likely to get something that's particularly sexy.

The $629 Gateway NV55S05u is one of more than a dozen 15-inch Gateway NV laptops with a galaxy of different processors. In the case of our 15.6-incher, an AMD A8-3500M APU is inside. AMD's A8 processor is part of a new line of AMD Fusion processors with graphics and CPU on one chip (called an … Read more

AMD's Fusion series of APU processors first grabbed our attention at the beginning of 2011 for their impressive showing in 11.6-inch ultraportable laptops like the HP Pavilion dm1z, offering great performance and battery life for a good price. The E and C-series APUs representing the entry-level and thin-and-light side of the laptop and desktop universe have been updated, with memory and graphics enhancements and a promised gain in resting battery life.

AMD claims 12 hours of resting battery life on a charge on the C-series APUs, and 10.5 hours on the new E-series. Of course, our battery … Read more

Shipments of PC processors failed to gain ground during the second quarter, but revenue still inched its way higher, according to data out today from IDC.

For the quarter, worldwide chip shipments rose only 0.6 percent from a year ago and fell 2.9 percent from the first quarter. Sales reached $9.49 billion, a 5.4 percent rise from 2010's second quarter but a 4 percent drop from the first quarter.

"The first quarter of 2011 was better than most first quarters due to the extra calendar week," Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing … Read more

AMD's second-quarter earnings report was overshadowed by one massive question: when will the chipmaker find a chief executive.

The company is now nearly pushing eight months without a CEO. In January, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer resigned. CFO Thomas Seifert has been acting CEO this year. While current management has hit its targets and delivered new products, the company needs a leader at some point.

According to AMD General Counsel Harry Wolin the "search for a new CEO remains a top priority." However, AMD isn't going to be roped into any deadline. "The board is pleased … Read more

While it may feel like Netbooks have dropped off the face of the earth in the post-iPad era, inexpensive 10- and 11-inch laptops still lurk out there, although they're changing with the times. While many Netbooks used to be and still are Intel Atom-based, with minimal processing capabilities and hovering around $299, a few 11-inch laptops have emerged with more powerful AMD-based processors and onboard graphics.

We've reviewed several of these ultraportables with E-350 APUs, such as the HP Pavilion dm1z and Lenovo ThinkPad x120e. The $379 Acer Aspire One 722-BZ608 has an AMD APU (the company's … Read more

The high-end notebook graphics war is on for 2011. Nvidia was first to fire a shot a few weeks ago, unveiling the GeForce GTX 580M.

AMD has since counterpunched with the AMD Radeon HD 6990M, its new, most high-end laptop graphics card, which the company now claims, as Nvidia did weeks ago, is the "fastest notebook GPU." This time, the edge indeed seems to belong to AMD. The company boasts a 25 percent improvement over the next-fastest notebook GPU. According to slides from AMD showing head-to-head performance benchmarks versus the GeForce GTX 580M, that statement seems to hold … Read more

Far from being subsumed into the global Acer brand, Gateway continues to churn out new laptops, including a few fairly sharp-looking models. Today, Gateway has updated its NV and ID laptop lines with new looks and new features.

The thin Gateway ID47 manages to fit a 14-inch display into a chassis closer to the size of a 13-inch laptop. The minimalist, nearly monochrome design has a brushed-metal look to the flat lid, which Gateway calls "Brushed Platinum." An alternate design, called "Infinity Blue Liquid," is also available.

The ID47 has a large clickpad-style touch pad, a change from the previous generation, as well as edge-to-edge glass over the display and a USB 3.0 port that also offers a sleep-and-charge mode for powering accessories while the laptop is turned off or sleeping.

Under the hood, the biggest change is the addition of second-generation Intel Core i-series processors--pretty much a must-have for any new laptop halfway through 2011. Some versions of the ID will include discrete Nvidia graphics. … Read more