By Antone Gonsalves September 16, 2009
Advanced Micro Devices is offering a sub-$100 quad-core processor for mainstream consumer desktops running the upcoming Windows 7. The AMD Athlon II X4, unveiled Wednesday, is available to system builders. Completing the platform for mainstream desktops is the AMD 785G chipset, which is sold separately. The chipset includes the HD 4200 graphics processor. The AMD Athlon II, which has a starting price of $99, is a 45-nanometer processor capable of playing Blu-ray discs. Hewlett-Packard is among the computer makers selling Athlon II systems. AMD introduced its latest low-cost platform as computer manufacturers ready new products for Microsoft's latest OS, scheduled for release Oct. 22. Companies that have recently unveiled new products include HP, Lenovo, and Fujitsu. In competing with its larger rival Intel, AMD has been offering lots of modestly priced processors and chipsets. AMD in early June introduced the dual-core Athlon II X2 250 processors for mainstream consumer desktops. The 3.0-GHz chip with 2 MB of L2 cache has a thermal design power of 65 watts and costs $87. The latest Athlon II X4 is the cheapest quad-core on the market today. AMD sells many dual-core and triple-core processors ranging from $60 to less than $140, including the Phenom X3, Athlon X2, and Athlon II X2.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Dell settles its fraud case with New York, will pay $4 million
By Scott M. Fulton, III September 16, 2009
It's a chapter from the dark side of Dell's history that you'd think it would have worked to put behind it sooner: Last year, a New York state court found Dell guilty of deceptive business conduct and misleading advertising. Specifically, Dell had offered "no interest" financing for customers, and then not only found ways to charge "non-qualifying" customers interest, but to use collection services to hassle customers who didn't think they owed it. It's taken nearly 16 months for Dell to come to any decision about how much restitution New York customers were owed. This morning, the state's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that amount would be $4 million, which either suggests that fewer customers were "baited-and-switched" than was previously thought, or that Dell is getting off easy. "In a classic 'bait and switch' scheme, [Dell Financial Services] instead offered consumers financing at high interest rates, which often exceeded 20 percent," read this morning's statement from the A-G's office. "Dell and DFS frequently failed to clearly inform these consumers that they had not qualified for the promotional terms, leaving many to unwittingly finance their purchase at high interest rates."
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It's a chapter from the dark side of Dell's history that you'd think it would have worked to put behind it sooner: Last year, a New York state court found Dell guilty of deceptive business conduct and misleading advertising. Specifically, Dell had offered "no interest" financing for customers, and then not only found ways to charge "non-qualifying" customers interest, but to use collection services to hassle customers who didn't think they owed it. It's taken nearly 16 months for Dell to come to any decision about how much restitution New York customers were owed. This morning, the state's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that amount would be $4 million, which either suggests that fewer customers were "baited-and-switched" than was previously thought, or that Dell is getting off easy. "In a classic 'bait and switch' scheme, [Dell Financial Services] instead offered consumers financing at high interest rates, which often exceeded 20 percent," read this morning's statement from the A-G's office. "Dell and DFS frequently failed to clearly inform these consumers that they had not qualified for the promotional terms, leaving many to unwittingly finance their purchase at high interest rates."
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Why I chose Windows 7 over Snow Leopard (and you should, too)
By Joe Wilcox September 16, 2009
Last week, I returned to using Windows 7 after spending the summer on a 13-inch MacBook Pro. Apple almost had me there for awhile, but I'm back where I belong and satisfied with the switch. Given that Apple released Snow Leopard a couple of weeks ago, Windows 7 officially launches October 22nd and there is plenty of geek debate about which OS is better, it's appropriate time to tell the story about how I went -- in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien -- "there and back again." First, some background. I am a longtime Mac and Windows user. I have used Windows pretty much since its release in the early 1990s and Macs since December 1998, when I carted a Bondi Blue iMac out of a CompUSA. Based on my reading comments, many Betanews readers are religious about their platform choices; I am not. Mac OS and Windows are just tools to me. I don't dogmatically defend either platform. I'm neither Mac or Windows fanboy. My work requires using both operating systems, and for convenience one usually is primary. That said, I've flopped between platforms for more than a decade.
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Last week, I returned to using Windows 7 after spending the summer on a 13-inch MacBook Pro. Apple almost had me there for awhile, but I'm back where I belong and satisfied with the switch. Given that Apple released Snow Leopard a couple of weeks ago, Windows 7 officially launches October 22nd and there is plenty of geek debate about which OS is better, it's appropriate time to tell the story about how I went -- in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien -- "there and back again." First, some background. I am a longtime Mac and Windows user. I have used Windows pretty much since its release in the early 1990s and Macs since December 1998, when I carted a Bondi Blue iMac out of a CompUSA. Based on my reading comments, many Betanews readers are religious about their platform choices; I am not. Mac OS and Windows are just tools to me. I don't dogmatically defend either platform. I'm neither Mac or Windows fanboy. My work requires using both operating systems, and for convenience one usually is primary. That said, I've flopped between platforms for more than a decade.
Read more here -->Link
Nvidia's Tiny Tegra Powers Zune HD
By Damon Poeter, Sep. 16, 2009
Nvidia is better known for its big and powerful discrete graphics cards, but some of the company's most notable design wins in recent weeks involve integrated GPUs that run the gamut from small to smallest. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based graphics chip maker won over Microsoft with its Tegra system-on-a-chip platform -- that tiny GPU-ARM processor combo powers the new Zune HD. Nvidia calls Tegra "the world's first HD mobile processor." In addition to consumer electronics devices like the Zune, Nvidia is lining up Tegra for an ultra-low power category of thin and light netbooks, such as the forthcoming Mobbinova N910. A smartphone built on Tegra is "in the works," according to Bill Henry, Nvidia's general manager of mobile Internet products. Meanwhile, Nvidia's slightly larger Ion graphics platform has turned up in new netbooks by Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Lenovo after debuting earlier this year in ultra-small desktop PCs -- or "nettops" -- like the Acer Aspire Revo.
Read more here -->Link
Nvidia is better known for its big and powerful discrete graphics cards, but some of the company's most notable design wins in recent weeks involve integrated GPUs that run the gamut from small to smallest. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based graphics chip maker won over Microsoft with its Tegra system-on-a-chip platform -- that tiny GPU-ARM processor combo powers the new Zune HD. Nvidia calls Tegra "the world's first HD mobile processor." In addition to consumer electronics devices like the Zune, Nvidia is lining up Tegra for an ultra-low power category of thin and light netbooks, such as the forthcoming Mobbinova N910. A smartphone built on Tegra is "in the works," according to Bill Henry, Nvidia's general manager of mobile Internet products. Meanwhile, Nvidia's slightly larger Ion graphics platform has turned up in new netbooks by Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Lenovo after debuting earlier this year in ultra-small desktop PCs -- or "nettops" -- like the Acer Aspire Revo.
Read more here -->Link
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