Tech News and Reviews
Posts tagged Intel
Just say no: Apple and Intel stop using conflict minerals
Apr 6th
While the US government hasn’t issued an outright ban against the use of ‘conflict minerals’ coming from the Congo, it has passed a law that will require companies who use them to tell all of us when our gadgets have been paid for (in part) with blood. Looks like Apple and Intel weren’t too keen on the bad PR that would come from such disclosures, and joined the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and its Conflict-Free Smelter program. The program requires mineral processing plants either prove that they don’t fund the ongoing hostilities in central Africa or peddle their war-supporting wares elsewhere. For now, that means that the folks in Cupertino and Santa Clara will have to find other sources for the three Ts (tungsten, tin, and tantalum) needed to sate our technological appetites.
Intel Core i5-580M and Core i7-640M highlight Sony’s Asian laptop refresh
Sep 13th
Sony’s decided to litter its Asian portal with a smattering of blood-red “coming soon” signs, signifying an unannounced but seemingly very real wave of laptop refreshes. The F Series gets to play with NVIDIA’s new 425M mobile GPU, but the real hotness is to be found in the Z Series, which get access to 2.8GHz Core i7-640M and 2.66GHz Core i5-580M CPU options from Intel. You’ll recognize both as mostly roadmap fodder until now, and they’re joined by the i5-560M, which makes its debut on a couple of Sony’s midrange consumer lines. Basically, it’s a whole lot of new silicon in what look like the same old enclosures, but that’s not going to stop us from speccing out a Quad SSD-equipped VAIO Z just for the fun of it. We can probably expect these upgrades to journey westward soon as well, so why not hit the source link for a little bit of advance reconnaissance?
Intel’s new convertible Classmate PC hands-on
Mar 3rd
Score one for the kids! We just got to toy around with the new convertible Classmate PC and, boy, does it feel solid. Though it feels quite heavy in hand, it definitely feels like it can take a beating in a backpack and, as you can see in the video below, survive a decent fall. We’re less impressed, however, with the resistive touchscreen performance. Though we’re keeping in mind that these were pre-production units, the resistive touchscreen was quite unresponsive to the pen input when we tried to draw on the screen. Can’t you hear the youngins, Intel? They want multitouch! We still appreciate that rotating webcam and the improvements made to the expanded the keyboard and touchpad. You’ll have to hang tight on getting one of these for little Jimmy — Intel tells us these will be brought to you by OEMs sometime in April.
Toshiba’s Intel Wireless Display-supporting Satellite E205 now shipping for $900
Jan 20th
CES is great and all, but one of the bones we choose to pick with the show is the typically long gap between the Vegas introduction and the mass market ship date. Thankfully for us, Toshiba has no interest in keeping us waiting for one of the world’s first Intel Wireless Display-equipped (or WiDi, as it were) laptops. The Satellite E205 — which comes stocked with a 2.53GHz Core i5-430M processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a dual-layer DVD writer, 14-inch display (1,366 x 768 resolution), 500GB hard drive and a Netgear Push2TV wireless display adapter — is now shipping from Best Buy. Of course, you’ll have to deal with integrated Intel graphics, but the inbuilt wireless display technology, multicard reader, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Ethernet jack and media buttons are nice inclusions when you consider the respectable $899.99 price point. So, what’s the hesitation?
MacBook Pro with Intel Core i5 processor revealed via Intel promo flier?
Jan 14th
Far be it for us to argue with order of operations, but an apparent Intel Retail Edge Program promotional email has revealed a contest where those who pass this month’s training can win one of two MacBook Pros with Intel Core i5 processors inside. Only catch is, that’s a model that doesn’t yet exist — whoops! Don’t know how long the company expects those winners to wait, but we’ve gone ahead and kept our calendars clear for the end of the month, just in case Apple feels the urge to send out any last-minute press conference invites.
Intel’s CE 3100 finally gets a shipping partner in Yuixx media player
Jan 6th
Intel’s CE 3100 multimedia processor has been hanging out at trade floor shows for months upon months now, but at long last the slab has a partner product that’ll be shipping to general consumers. Conceptronics’ Yuixx HD media player has just reached the point in its life where shipment is imminent, and in speaking with the firm, we learned that’ll hit the streets of Amsterdam at the end of this month. The rest of Europe is expected to see it in February, while Americans will have to wait until it hits the FCC in March before getting any closer. Unlike some other set-top boxes on the market now, this one relies heavily on its own Widget Channel to bring web-based content to televisions, and pumping out 1080p material ain’t no thang for it. Head on past the break for the full release and a promo video, and look for a little hands-on action as the CES show floor opens.
Intel Core i3, mobile Core i5 processors coming January 7
Dec 18th
Intel’s Arrandale chips haven’t been the best-kept secret around, and today Chipzilla made ‘em official: the Core i3 and mobile Core i5 will launch on January 7, and we’d guess a bunch of new machines come along for the ride. Although the desktop Lynnfield Core i5 is a quad-core, both the new Core i3 and mobile Core i5 are dual-core — and in a first for Intel, both of the new chips have an integrated GPU core that’s being branded “Intel HD Graphics.” The new GPU is supposedly good enough for “high-end” HTPC use, but manufacturers can add switchable discrete GPUs, so don’t fret too much. Both Arrandale chips have Intel’s latest hyperthreading tech, and the mobile i5 also has the Turbo Boost core-overclocking feature found in the desktop i5 and i7, which redirects power to a single core to boost performance when needed.
We got to see a few Core i3 and i5 laptops and desktops in action at Intel’s pre-CES briefing today, although we didn’t get to run any tests. The mobile Core i5 systems on display were doing a fine job running Call of Duty 4, while the scaled-down Core i3 rigs were playing Blu-ray movies and World of Warcraft — not a bad demo, but we’ll let you know when we see some real numbers.
FTC won’t ask Intel to break up
Dec 18th
The Federal Trade Commission may have a pretty big beef with Intel, but it looks like won’t be going as far as to seek a breakup of the company. That word comes straight from the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, Richard Feinstein, who flatly told reporters yesterday that the FTC has “no goal of breaking up Intel.” In case you missed it, this follows a lawsuit that the FTC filed against Intel earlier in the day yesterday, which alleges that the company has engaged in “anticompetitive tactics.” As you can see above, NVIDIA has already responded to that development in its usual manner.
Fujitsu LifeBook MH380 netbook becomes the latest climber on Intel’s Pine Trail
Nov 25th
We still have nothing but leaked roadmaps and insider information about the details of Intel’s Pineview processor and Pine Trail platform at this point, but that’s not stopping a number of manufacturers from prepping their products for the supposedly upcoming unveiling. There was a nettop last month, Lenovo’s latest IdeaPad last week, and now, thanks again to the FCC, we know there’s a new netbook coming from Fujitsu packing the 1.6GHz Atom N450 processor. The LifeBook MH380 sports a 10.1-inch LCD with a resolution of 1366 x 768, 802.11b/g/n wireless, and, well, that’s all our government-funded spies have revealed so far. We’re guessing CES will be a time of great knowing.
