AMD Expands Vision Brand

By Doug Olenick On May 17 2010 - 4:01am

NEW YORK— AMD announced a major increase in the number of computers expected to be equipped with AMD processors, and the expansion of its Vision brand into the desktop PC arena.

“This is the largest consumer client launch in AMD’s history,” said Rick Bergman, senior VP/GM of AMD’s products group, during a webcast last week.

He added this is also the first time the company has simultaneously launched products across all its platforms.

 

 

AMD Launches Retail Education Effort

By Doug Olenick On May 17 2010 - 4:01am

NEW YORK — AMD and its OEM partners will launch a major retail marketing program later this year.

The program’s goal is to educate consumers on the capabilities of AMD’s processors, focusing on how specific chips handle different computing tasks, said Leslie Sobon, AMD’s product and platform marketing VP.

“We want to focus on usage over speeds and feeds — experience over technology,” she said, adding that focus groups found most people could not translate a processor’s specifications to what they wanted to do with a computer.

HP Laptops Offering AMD’s Latest Processors

By Doug Olenick On May 17 2010 - 4:01am

PALO ALTO, CALIF. — Hewlett-Packard this month rolled out a wide selection of AMD-powered notebooks.

The introductions run the gamut from the high-end Envy laptop to the Mini netbook line, and HP is offering AMD’s Vision technology processors as an option across the new models.

The Envy introductions include the Envy 14 and Envy 17. The former is based on a 14.5-inch HD Radiance display that HP said delivers an image 59 percent brighter and has more than 13 hours of battery life.

Sony Updates Vaio-P Series

By Doug Olenick On May 17 2010 - 4:01am

NEW YORK — Sony is all about color this summer with the release of updated versions of its Vaio P-series netbook.

The P series has a severe rectangular shape like an oversized business envelope, and it comes in five colors: Electric Orange, Neon Green, Hot Pink, Icy White and Classic Black.

The 1.4-pound netbook is about 9.5 inches wide and just less than 5 inches tall when opened.

Toshiba Marks 25 Years With Latest Libretto

By Doug Olenick On Jul 6 2010 - 6:18pm

NEW YORK — To celebrate Toshiba’s 25th year in the notebook business the company has updated two of it better-known products, the Libretto and the Portege.

On the consumer side, a limited-edition concept product of the Libretto mini-notebook, rolled out in the United States in 1998, is on tap. And Toshiba’s original notebook, introduced in 1985, has been reconceived as the R700 Portege business notebook.

Acer, Maingear Unveil Summer PC, Laptop Models

By Doug Olenick and Lisa Johnston On Jul 6 2010 - 8:33pm

NEW YORK — A slew of desktop, laptop and PCs with ultra-small form factors were introduced at the end of June.

The new entries include high-end gaming towers from Maingear and Acer, along with the company’s Minie in its eMachines’ brand.

Maingear added a 17-inch high-end gaming notebook to its product mix.

Hitachi Adds 3D Photo Wall Software To Drives

By Doug Olenick On Jul 19 2010 - 11:21am

SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies upgraded its LifeStudio external hard drive line with revamped software and a new marketing philosophy.

The line consists of four SKUs, two portable and two for the home, with capacities ranging from 250GB to 2TB. The drives will ship this month with prices ranging from $79 to $219.

Azmat Ali, Hitachi’s VP consumer marketing, said external hard drive innovation has always been centered on design and capacity, but with these new models Hitachi is emphasizing the experience the drive can deliver.

Gateway Introduces Enhanced-Performance Netbook

By Doug Olenick On Jul 19 2010 - 11:24am

IRVINE, CALIF. — Gateway introduced the LT32-series netbook line geared toward delivering a better entertainment experience.

The LT32 has an 11.6-inch HD LED backlit display with an HDMI 1080p output for pushing HD content onto a larger display.

The LT32 is powered by an AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor and has 2GB of DDR3 memory and a 250GB hard drive. The graphics are ATI’s Radeon HD 4225 graphics with 348MB of discrete memory.

The unit weighs just les than 3 pounds and has 5.5 hours of battery life.

iBuypower Intros 3D Gaming PCs

By Doug Olenick On Jul 19 2010 - 11:26am

EL MONTE, CALIF. — Gaming PC maker iBuypower introduced its first 3D gaming notebook along with two new desktop systems this week.

The Battalion 101notebook features Nvidia’s new GTX 460 graphics card; uses an Intel Core i5-520M mobile processor; and has 4GB of DDR3 memory, a Blu-ray/DVD combo drive, and Nvidia’s 3D vision kit. Base cost is $1,749.

The desktop models are the Paladin E370 and the F860. Th ese are also equipped with Nvidia GTX 460 card and are 3D ready. They have a 700- watt power supply.

Netgear Updates ReadyNAS Line

By Doug Olenick On Jul 19 2010 - 3:42pm

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Netgear latest upgrade of its ReadyNAS storage line features TiVo compatibility.

The three-SKU ReadyNAS networked- attached storage drives can stream HD content to any TiVo box in the house, the company said, alleviating any storage limits of the TiVo device itself.

The ReadyNAS devices come in two-, four- and six-bay configurations with each bay capable of holding a 2TB drive.