X11

Windows 8 will have sole custody of DirectX 11.1, according to a Microsoft engineer.

Responding to a question on an MSDN forum, Daniel Moth, a Microsoft program manager, broke the news that "at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made available on Windows 7."

That same holds true for versions prior to Windows 7, leaving the new DirectX version exclusive to Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012.

DirectX is a collection of programming interfaces from Microsoft that enable 3D animation and other multimedia effects used mostly in games. Developers … Read more

Device makers continue to concoct novel designs to take advantage of Windows 8 Metro interface.

On Tuesday at Computex in Taipei, Samsung showed a Series 5 ultrabook running Windows 8 with a 13.3-inch touch display. … Read more

Consumers looking for the latest in lightweight laptops will have a new option come July.

The folks at Gigabyte have just announced the X11, a carbon fiber notebook that weighs only 975 grams, or around 2.1 pounds.

The company is touting the X11 as the lightest 11.6-inch notebook on Earth. That's a tough claim to confirm, though the laptop is certain lighter than other 11.6-inchers, including Apple's MacBook Air, Dell's Inspiron 11z, Lenovo's IdeaPad S200, and even Samsung's Series 9.

The carbon fiber gives the computer its light weight but also provides … Read more

When Apple introduced OS X, it was exploring where the new OS would take the Mac platform. In doing so, and to promote development and compatibility for its OS, Apple included support for a number of popular existing technologies that were appealing to developers. A couple of these were its Unix underpinnings and inclusion of a Java runtime, making it compatible with a plethora of existing Unix and Java tools.

Along with the new OS, Apple promoted its native Cocoa development environment, but also included a library of programming tools called Carbon that allowed older code built for the Classic … Read more

Intel has released a graphics driver update for its Sandy Bridge processors that boosts performance up to 37 percent for games on Windows 7 and Vista.

"This major graphics driver update for 2nd generation Intel Core processors with Intel HD graphics improves game performance by up to 37% on ULV platforms," Intel said in a statement.

ULV--or Ultra Low Voltage--processors are Intel's most power efficient and are typically used in thin and/or compact laptops such as Hewlett-Packard's updated Pavilion dm1 and Samsung Series 9.

ULV-based systems will see the biggest performance improvement, Intel said. "It is where some of the biggest gains are seen on the driver," Intel spokesman Dave Salvator said. But the driver update applies to all systems with Sandy Bridge processors sporting HD graphics. … Read more

Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processor will pack two key--some might say essential--technologies that will make it the platform of choice for Ultrabooks. Hint: one of them is not Thunderbolt--the widely publicized connection technology that is now part of the entire Apple MacBook lineup.

For the uninitiated, Ivy Bridge is Intel's next-gen processor that is being manufactured now and is due to land in laptops by the first quarter of next year. It will have more powerful graphics silicon than the current Sandy Bridge chip and offer improved power saving features to boost battery life.

But those marquee features … 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

At a Wells Fargo Securities conference earlier this month, an Intel vice president confirmed that Sandy Bridge will have special media acceleration capabilities, in addition to the oft-touted boost in graphics performance.

The Sandy Bridge processor--to be announced January 5--will pack media acceleration circuitry, Stephen L. Smith, vice president and director of PC Client operations and enabling at Intel, confirmed at a Wells Fargo Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference held on November 9-10. CNET reported this capability earlier. Part of the conference--when Smith was speaking--was captured on an audio stream.

"The other cool thing is dedicated circuitry for media … 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