Intense Intel-AMD rivalry set for light laptops

The chief executives of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices indicated this week that competition will heat up in the market for sleek, inexpensive laptops running Windows 7.
Both CEOs addressed this new market during conference calls after their companies reported earnings this week. Ultrathin laptops are inexpensive, light laptops--typically between $500 and $800--that are sold in a market segment just above less expensive Netbooks.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday said his company is gearing up to supply more power-efficient chips that contain two processing cores for better performance. "The bulk of the units that have shipped to date were single-core versions of the products," Otellini said. "You'll see a number of laptops show up in retail with the dual-core versions for the holiday season...more ergonomically designed, thinner, lighter," Otellini said.

And AMD's CEO Dirk Meyer chimed in on Thursday. "You'll hear more...next month about the product lineup that we'll be rolling out over the next two years, which will include increasing focus on those small form factor notebooks," Meyer said during AMD's conference call. In the more immediate future, Meyer said AMD will have a "broader assortment of (ultrathin) platforms walking into the Christmas cycle."
To date, this new category of laptops has had a minuscule market-share impact because there was little perceived difference between a Netbook and an ultrathin, according to Bob O'Donnell, IDC research vice president. "A lot of people said this is not actually that much faster, so you're going to see a very rapid transition to all dual-core," he said.
Windows 7 should accelerate sales too. "I think we will see better sales next year," O'Donnell said, as HP, Dell, and others bring out ultrathins with Windows 7.
The category received a boost recently with the rollout of HP's Pavilion dm3, which starts at $549 with an AMD processor and $649 with an Intel processor. The dm3 is expected to be available starting October 22 with the launch of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.
Other high-profile ultrathins include the $548 Acer Aspire Timeline (at Wal-Mart) and the $549 Dell Inspiron 13.
Because ultrathins are more expensive than Netbooks, they are more profitable for Intel. "Part of Intel's strategy is to pull people up from a Netbook," said O'Donnell.
AMD, on other hand, is focusing solely on the space "between Netbooks and mainstream notebooks," Meyer said, adding that AMD, in effect, created the ultrathin category with the introduction of the 12-inch HP Pavilion dv2 back in January. "We created that category really in partnership with the HP," Meyer said.

AMD:- AMD ATI Radeon 5700 & HD 5800

The most technologically advanced and feature rich GPUs AMD has ever created.

Features & Benefits
Expand your visual real estate with ATI Eyefinity Technology, with revolutionary multi-display capabilities that let you see more and get more done
Accelerate the most demanding applications with ATI Stream technology and do more with your PC.1
With full support for DirectX 11, these GPUs enable rich, realistic visuals and explosive HD gaming performance so you can dominate the competition.

AMD :- AMD ATI Radeon HD 5800

ATI Radeon 5750 and ATI Radeon 5770 continue the ascension of AMD’s graphics label ATI on the market. They will have prices up to $160 and will ship soon to PC builders.
The main feature of these cards is that they scale back to 128-bit memory bus and fewer effects cores but continue to keep full DirectX 11 and OpenGL 3.x feature sets, like the 5800 series do. Support for multi-display Eyefinity is not discontinued. Still dual-slot cards, they are consuming less power – 86 Watt for the 5750 and 108 Watt for the 5770.
The range leader 5770 has 800 cores, half the cores of the predecessor 5870, but has the same 850 MHz main clock and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 1.2 GHz. The other card, 5750, has 720 cores, a 700 MHz main clock and 512 MB or 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 1.15.GHz.
The Radeon HD 5770 card will cost $159. As for the Radeon HD 5750 card, two prices are available, following the two versions: $109 for the 512 MB of memory card and $129 for the 1 GB of memory one.
Manufacturers are waiting for these cards and are expected to have them available very soon.

GTX285 SLI on Intel Core i7 975XE

WHILE THE ATI HD5870 LAUNCH stole the graphics headlines this past month, Nvidia is still doing pretty well with the GTX285, its flagship single GPU solution based on the GT200b chip.

Or, to be more precise, the major OEMs are putting out their own vastly improved versions to boost performance of the chip prior to the somewhat (*cough*) delayed arrival of Nvidia's next generation GT300 GPU series. Most of them, like Asus, Gigabyte and EVGA, have created optimised custom versions combining higher-bin GPUs with improved board design, better components, faster memory and usually a complete cooling replacement. And, oh yes, proper utilities for avid gamers to manage performance - and hopefully stability - in real time as they play.

The only problem is that, in both the Nvidia and ATI camps, such advanced solutions are seemingly allowed to appear only half a year or more after the actual reference card arrives, which is often too little, too late.

This is the Asus Matrix GTX285, probably the fastest GTX285 card around. It's a completely redesigned board with Japanese capacitors, lower GPU power noise, and real-time voltage and overclocking control, combined with a brand new 8mm thick dual heatpipe cooling system and a GPU settings reset button on the back. Here we have not one, but two of them in SLI, were running on the Core i7 975XE, the top end Intel desktop CPU and the Asus Rampage II Extreme, the top end Asus desktop mainboard. To complete the test setup we used 12GB of Kingston DDR3-2000 Core i7 compatible memory.

The Asus card doesn't look remotely like any other GTX285 unit. The cooling system is larger and even visually looks more robust, yet the temperature on the GPU was between 11 and 14 degrees cooler, even when overclocked. So, the Asus ROG graphics team did some nifty design wizardry there, something I hope Nvidia will appreciate to have available right at the GT300 launch, in view of the ATI competition at the present moment.

So, rather than stick to the typical GPU speed here, I went straight with 705MHz GPU speed and correspondingly sped up memory at GGRD3-2523 and shader clocks at 1572 MHz, then ran the usual 3Dmark Vantage in both Performance and Extreme modes. I have adjusted the voltages for the GPU and memory up a little bit, but nothing extreme. I was keen to see how far it will go above the generic GTX285, and how close to the new ATI Radeon HD5870, which, by the way, seems to overclock well too.

Intel’s Latest Classmate PC

Intel recently sent a demo unit of their educational line of netbooks, dubbed Classmate PC, for review. I was excited to check out their offering if only to see what One Laptop Per Child’s biggest competitor was up to. While I was initially skeptical, what I found was an ecosystem that focused less on the stand-alone experience and more on the classroom.

At face value, Intel’s Classmate PC looks like a standard netbook. But the internals are ruggedly constructed and

resistant to the drops and rough handling kids are known for. Also notable is the nice large external handle for moving the unit around. Spec-wise, the unit sports a 1.6 Ghz Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, a 8.9″ wide screen at 1024 x 600, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and an integrated web cam. Additionally, my demo unit had a traditional 60 GB hard drive, but solid-state drives are optional. Individual units can be purchased online and retail for around $480.

One of the most touted features of the new generation is the tablet mode. The screen swivels and folds down allowing kids to interact with the software with a stylus or their fingers. Intel has been making a lot of noise about their palm rejection technology, which enables students to write naturally with their hand on the display. The only experience I have with tablet PC’s is with my Wacom-based Lenovo X60 Tablet which never suffered from that problem, so likely this is an evolution of traditional resistive-touch displays. Regardless, the feature seemed to work fine as I never experienced issues where my palm caused problems with the tablet recognizing what I was trying to do, and resting my palm on the screen whi

le writing was comfortable and natural. Additionally, the accelerometer rotates the display properly and quickly whenever I changed orientation of the laptop.

"Not Quite Van Gogh" made by myself using ArtRage

Windows XP Home was preinstalled on the system along with a sample of Intel’s educational software. The system booted quickly and navigating between and using apps was a pleasant experience. The touch screen is a nice addition to programs that support it, such as ArtRage, but is not always the most efficient method of input. Other educational-focused software includes an eBook Reader, a stylus-based notepad, and links to some kid-fri

endly websites. Additionally, the unit shipped with a touch-friendly launcher called Blue Dolphin that made common applications accessible right from the desktop and gave access to volume controls and an on-screen keyboard that are helpful when in tablet mode.

Much of Classmate PC’s potential comes when it’s used in conjunction with Intel’s classroom ecosystem. By itself, this laptop is a ruggedized netbook with some innovative hardware features. And while the software included in my review unit showcased these hardware capabilities fairly well, they did little to show the educational impact laptops in the classroom could have.

I spoke with the Regional Manager for Intel’s Classmate PC Activities in North America, Jeff Galinovsky, about the Classmate PC in depth. It’s clear Intel has put a large amount of its development effort into building out an infrastructure that allows teachers and students to leverage this technology in very exciting ways. In a classroom situation, each student can view content streaming from their teacher’s computer at their desk, on their device, as opposed to using a projector. While in the school, student’s laptops are locked down enabling only the content and applications that the teacher allows. Additionally, if students are allowed to take their laptops home, parents can deploy a policy that can lock down or monitor the computer in a similar manner as at school.

Besides controlling what kids can do with their laptops, teachers can get feedback from students by way of live quizzes to see if they understand a concept, allowing teachers to go back and cover material further if required. Teachers can also push out homework assignments and subsequently have those assignments turned back in over the network. And because the laptops are PC/Windows based, there is a large amount of 3rd party hardware and software that can be used to further the school’s educational goals.

Overall, the new Classmate PC’s are well built and it’s clear that a lot of time went in to figuring out how kids will want to use the hardware. I offered the Classmate PC to my three year old son who grabbed the laptop by the handle and sat down on the couch. In tablet mode and stylus in hand, he began experimenting with ArtRage figuring out how to paint in different colors. I helped him along, pointing out how to change brushes and write his name, and he had as much fun with it as he does his XO-1 from One Laptop per Child.

But in comparing OLPC to Intel’s offering, there are some distinct differences between the two organizations and their mission in making laptops for kids. In part 2 of this series, I’ll look at Intel’s approach to the education market, how it contrasts with OLPC’s, and how the world is big enough for two major players.

GeekDad previously covered the laptop educational market in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of its OLPC XO-1: Two Years Later series.

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5850

Auch wenn die Verfügbarkeit momentan noch schlechter ist als bei der AMD ATI Radeon HD 5870, haben mittlerweile einige Redaktionen Samples der HD 5850 erhalten. Über die Reviews wollen wir euch einen kleinen Überblick geben.

Radeon HD 5850 im Test: Der DirectX-11-Preisbrecher (Quelle: PC Games Hardware)

"Wie die Radeon HD 5870 lässt auch Atis HD 5850 ein klares Fazit zu: Die Spieleleistung liegt durchschnittlich minimal über dem Niveau von Nvidias Geforce GTX 285, welche momentan ab 270 Euro zu haben ist. Je nach Spiel ist die DX11-Radeon zwar einen Tick langsamer, dafür ist lässt sie die Geforce in einigen Titeln weit hinter sich."

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5850 single-card and multi-GPU evaluation (Quelle: HEXUS.net)

"What AMD/ATI has accomplished with the Radeon HD 5850 GPU is the distillation of the range-topping goodness in an eminently sensible fashion, made possible by the use of a smaller PCB allied to widely-available 4GHz-rated GDDR5 memory.

Overall, then, the ATI Radeon HD 5850 1,024MB sets a new performance and features standard at the £200 ($260) price point, and, taking value into account, we'd recommend most readers opt for one over the also-impressive HD 5870."

Radeon HD 5850 review (CrossfireX) (Quelle: Guru3D)

"So the bottom line is really simple: with the Radeon HD 5850 you gain a lot of features and will play your games at really good performance levels. There's very little to dislike here as not only do you have a state of the art graphics card in da house, you'll also have a very wide feature set available which is future proof. If your upgrade path is worth USD 259,- the Radeon HD 5850 comes very much recommended in our book."

AMD's Radeon HD 5850 arrives

"Well, there you have it. The Radeon HD 5850 manages to outshine the fastest single-GPU GeForce card overall while costing less, drawing less power, and producing less noise. We wouldn't be surprised to see Nvidia cut prices in the near future, but in any case, the 5850 is hands-down the second-fastest single-GPU graphics card on the market."

AMD’s Radeon HD 5850: The Other Shoe Drops

"The result of this is clear: the 5870 is the fastest single-GPU card, and the 5850 is the value alternative. Couple that with the fact that it’s cooler running, quieter, shorter, and less power hungry, and you have a very interesting card. Design-wise the 5850 lets AMD get Cypress in to slightly smaller cases that can’t fit full 10.5” cards, something NVIDIA was never able to capitalize on with the reference GTX design (we actually had several comments on this; apparently a good number of people can’t fit 10.5” cards). The 5870/5850 situation ends up closely mirroring the 4870/4850 situation as a result; the 5870 is still the card to get when price (and size) is no object, but the 5850 is there to fill the gap if you won’t miss some of the performance."

AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5850 Video Card Review

"For $259 the ATI Radeon HD 5850 smacks the competition then laughs. AMD has engineered this series smartly, doing what worked for it with the Radeon HD 4800 series. The Radeon HD 5850 uses the same GPU as the Radeon HD 5870 with some streaming processor units and texture units disabled with lower clock speeds. In our gaming experience, the 5850 performed appropriately compared to the Radeon HD 5870. AMD was smart in keeping the 32 ROPs intact on the Radeon HD 5850 and equipping the video card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. With this combination, dual-card 5850 CrossFireX performance is stellar. We were easily able to run at high resolutions with AA and high in-game settings."

ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series Driver at AMD

ust a note, if you are the proud owner of a new Radeon HD 5800 series graphics card, you will receive the best performance by using the new Catalyst 8.66 RC6 driver at AMD. This driver is the officially supported driver for HD 5800 series and is the same driver AMD provided to us to test with in our launch evaluation. Catalyst 8.66 RC6 driver is based on Catalyst 9.10, which will be out in October, and has performance improvements over Catalyst 9.9, plus it enables Eyefinity. We recommend using this driver on your newly purchased HD 5800 series video card, since the driver included on most manufacturers CDs shipped with retail video cards is a modded Catalyst 9.9 driver. Happy gaming.