Desktops -- Engadget

Latest Mac OS X 10.6.2 beta build brings back Atom support

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 4th 2009 at 6:42PM

Well, it looks like reports that Apple might be killing Atom support in the next Snow Leopard update may have been slightly overblown, as the latest developer build of OS X 10.6.2 (10C535) has apparently restored support for the processor and simultaneously brightened the spirits of hackintoshers the world over. What's more, there doesn't appear to be any explanation for the switch-a-roo from Apple which, as Electronista notes, could indicate that it was simply a bug or a temporary measure -- although it does of course also mean that Apple can just as easily flip the switch again if it sees fit (which seems like at least a 50 / 50 shot).

[Via Electronista]

NVIDIA confirms Intel chipsets won't support USB 3.0 until 2011

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 4th 2009 at 10:59AM

What was once an unverifiable rumor from an anonymous source has now, sadly, become a confirmed fact. Intel won't be integrating USB 3.0 support into its chipsets until at least 2011. Motherboard makers such as ASUS can still opt to add discrete 3.0 controllers at an extra cost, but Intel -- already accused of dragging its heels on the standard's development -- won't be. NVIDIA spokesman Brian Burke has expressed, in no uncertain terms, his company's disappointment with Intel, while also claiming that chipsets by NVIDIA are more feature-rich and just plain better than Intel's own efforts. We'll add this to our ever-growing collection of things NVIDIA doesn't like about Intel, but we also hope that the immature outburst doesn't obscure the real issue. NVIDIA is correct in noting that Intel needs competition in the chipset space, and the new interconnect's dependence on Intel's whims demonstrates the market-altering powers that reside in Santa Clara, CA. Unless another chipmaker gets serious about competing with Intel, we could face plenty more of these seemingly arbitrary delays in tech rollouts.

VIA Nano 3000 CPU series finally launches to rival Intel's Atom

by Darren Murph posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 10:10AM

We suppose dreams really do come true. Nearly a full year after we heard that VIA was toiling on a new processor line to really give Intel's aging Atom a run for its money, the company has come clean and confessed that those whispers were indeed true. The Isaiah-based Nano 3000 Series is a range of six new CPUs clocked between 1GHz and 2GHz, all of which boast an 800MHz FSB, 64-bit support, SSE4 instructions, Windows 7 / Linux compatibility and power ratings that check in some 20 percent more efficient than existing VIA Nano processors. There's also the promise of 1080p multimedia playback, and VIA swears that we'll see these popping up in all-in-one desktops as well as thin-and-light laptops in the very near future. How soon, you ask? Samples are shipping now to OEMs, with mass production slated for Q1 2010.

Gallery: VIA Nano 3000 CPU series finally launches to rival Intel's Atom

EVGA GeForce GTX 275 Co-opts a GTS 250 for PhysX duties

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 5:14AM

Ready for some more dual-GPU madness, only this time in the resplendent green of NVIDIA? EVGA has gone and concocted a special Halloween edition of the GTX 275, which has sprouted an entire GTS 250 appendage solely for PhysX gruntwork. Dubbed a new form of Hybrid SLI, EVGA's latest combines -- for the first time, from what we can tell -- two different GPUs and assigns them with specific and mutually exclusive tasks. Whether this concept takes off will depend to a large extent on the effectiveness of PhysX acceleration and whether it can show more efficient scaling than regular old SLI with two boards or more conventional dual-GPU setups like the GTX 295. Color us intrigued, either way.

P.S. - That's what the actual card will look like, we're not making it up.

[Via PC Perspective]

Gallery: EVGA GeForce GTX 275 Co-op PhysX Edition

Lenovo's all-in-one ThinkCentre gets official, becomes A70z

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 5:51PM

Lenovo let the word about this one out a little early, but it's just now gotten fully official with its very first all-in-one ThinkCentre desktop, now formally known as the ThinkCentre A70z. Set to roll out by the end of November, this expectedly angular little number packs a 19-inch, 16:10 display up front, along with your choice of Celeron or Core 2 Duo processors, a max 500GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and a range of particularly business-minded features to keep things as stripped down as possible -- even the built-in WiFi is optional. Head on past the break for a complete video overview courtesy of Lenovo itself, and look for this one to start at just $499 when it lands later this month.

Continue reading Lenovo's all-in-one ThinkCentre gets official, becomes A70z

Sony VAIO L touchscreen humiliates presenter on live TV (video)

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 5:14PM

You know what they say in show biz: never work with children, animals, or gadgets. And if you must, make sure that you test drive your consumer electronics before going live. As you can see in the video (after the break), the kids on one overseas morning show failed to heed the last bit, to humorous results. For our part, we're inclined to believe that the unresponsiveness of the Vaio L All-In-One touchscreen herein is pilot error of some stripe, but either way the man on screen handled it like a real pro. Besides, we've seen far worse bloopers on Japanese television -- really, after the whole Yukio Mishima seppuku mess, it's hard for us to take any of this stuff too seriously. Video(s) after the break.

[Via Sony Insider]

Continue reading Sony VAIO L touchscreen humiliates presenter on live TV (video)

Maingear unveils Core i7-packin' SHIFT, your own 'personal supercomputer'

by Darren Murph posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 9:00AM

We'll be straight with ya -- we're betting these "personal supercomputer" claims are just a bit out of line with reality, but even still, there's no denying that Maingear has shoved an insane amount of horsepower beneath the (admittedly large) hood of its newest rig. The beastly SHIFT does away with copious LED lighting and blinging accents found on many modern gaming PCs and instead opts for a classier, more ominous tower. Within, you'll find a vertical airflow system, a Core i7 processor, your choice of ATI or NVIDIA graphics, 8GB (and up) of DDR3-1600 RAM, up to 6 HDDs or 12 SSDs, DVD and Blu-ray options, an Asetek liquid-cooling solution, Razer peripherals, an optional Killer NIC Xeno Pro and Windows 7 running the show. The Intel P55 rig gets going at $2,199, while the X58 model starts $400 higher; for those in creative design fields, Maingear's expected to unveil a SHIFT just for you in the near future. Head on past the break for the full release.

Gallery: Maingear unveils Core i7-packin' SHIFT, your own 'personal supercomputer'

Continue reading Maingear unveils Core i7-packin' SHIFT, your own 'personal supercomputer'

Unfinished Windows 7 feature exploited for virtual WiFi hotspots

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 2:19AM

It wasn't all that long ago that Microsoft was talking up the Virtual WiFi feature developed by Microsoft Research and set for inclusion in Windows 7, but something got lost along the road to release day, and the functionality never officially made it into the OS. As you might expect with anything as big and complicated as an operating system though, some of that code did make it into the final release, and there was apparently enough of it for the folks at Nomadio to exploit into a full fledged feature. That's now become Connectify, a free application from the company that effectively turns any Windows 7 computer into a virtual WiFi hotspot -- letting you, for instance, wirelessly tether a number of devices to your laptop at location where only an Ethernet jack is available, or even tether a number of laptops together at a coffee shop that chargers for WiFi. Intrigued? Hit up the link below to grab the beta.

[Via PC World]

ATI's dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 pictured in the wilderness

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 31st 2009 at 9:10PM

And now... fighting out of the red corner, weighing in with two Evergreen GPUs, and wearing black trunks and red trim, it's the Radeon HD 5970. ATI's latest challenger for the title of undisputed graphics champion has been snared in the wild, and its photo shoot reveals a suitably oversized beast. Measuring in at 13.5 inches and requiring both an eight- and six-pin power connector, the pre-production sample can fit inside only the roomiest and best-powered rigs around. It's named somewhat confusingly, with AMD dropping its X2 nomenclature for dual GPU setups, but it features two HD 5870 chips running in onboard Crossfire on the same PCB, and foreshadows a HD 5950, which will combine a pair of the more affordable HD 5850s. Performance figures available earlier have been pulled, at the behest of AMD, but we've got plenty of eye candy to admire, and there's also no price tag in sight to spoil our daydreaming pleasure.

[Via PC Perspective]

Gallery: ATI's dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970

iPhone and Windows 7 don't play nice, Intel P55 chipset to blame

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 31st 2009 at 5:20PM

The iPhone is one of the most wildly popular phones the world has ever seen, while Windows 7 is well on its way to becoming the globe's most ubiquitous OS. So compatibility between the two would be kinda sorta important, right? Tell that to Intel's quality control team who seem to have somehow missed an issue between Apple's app carrier deluxe and the P55 Express chipset's USB controller. Consistent (and persistent) syncing issues have been reported on Apple's support forums, wherein iTunes on Windows 7 machines recognizes the iPhone, but spits out an "error 0xE8000065" message whenever the user attempts to sync. While some have found limited success with using PCI-based USB cards (and bypassing the chipset), this is clearly a major issue and something Apple would expect to be fixed before shipping its Core i5 / i7 iMacs, which are likely to sport the chipset. Hit the read link for the original thread of sorrow and regret, and do chime in with your own experience in the comments.

[Via The Register]

USB 3.0 and SATA 6G put to good use: benchmarks

by Paul Miller posted Oct 31st 2009 at 1:26AM

The fine folks at both HotHardware and PC Perspective have run the new ASUS P7P55D-E Premium motherboard through its paces, which has the particular distinction of handling both USB 3.0 and the up-and-coming SATA 6G through controllers by NEC and Marvell, respectively. Lucky for us, both sites' tests came to similar conclusions. The Seagate Barracuda XT SATA 6G drive has almost zero improvement over SATA 3G, other than in some burst speeds due to the fancy cache on the 6G -- the bottleneck here is the drive, not the controller. Meanwhile, USB 3.0 has speeds that are roughly 5 to 6 times faster than USB 2.0 with the same drive, a huge win for fans of external storage the world over. Perhaps even better news is that an ASUS US36 controller card with USB 3.0 and SATA 6G support is a mere $30, so this stuff is already basically within reach to the average desktop user.

Read - HotHardware
Read - PC Perspective

27-inch iMacs having performance issues?

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 29th 2009 at 7:17PM

It's not at all clear what the root cause of the problem is, but we've noticed a big uptick in people complaining about performance issues on new 27-inch iMacs on Apple's support boards. The most common symptom seems to be incredibly slow Flash video playback, but people are also claiming that there's a bug forcing the hard drive to spin down, that there's a corrupted Snow Leopard build preinstalled, and even that the problem is bad permissions, which is basically how an OS X user gives up trying to figure things out. Apple hasn't said anything yet, but neither of the 27-inchers we have here are having problems, so we're keeping our fingers crossed while we wait for an official resolution. Video of the issue after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - First Apple Discussions thread
Read - Second Apple Discussions thread

Continue reading 27-inch iMacs having performance issues?

Ubuntu 9.10 'Karmic Koala' released, could decide your OS fate

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 29th 2009 at 8:31AM

It's October 2009 which means something very special for Linux fans: a 9.10 release of Ubuntu. Today we see the launch of "Karmic Koala" featuring a faster graphical boot sequence (no more scary text scrolls), a revamped audio framework that improves sound control across multiple applications, and a new Software Center that visually simplifies the Add/Remove Applications tool. These are just a few of the user-centric improvements meant to have a "transformative effect" on the OS experience and help bring "the world of open source closer to the user." It's available in desktop, server, and netbook editions now so get to it, before you know it you'll be updating to Lucid Lynx.

ASRock readying three Ion-powered nettops, one with a BD drive

by Darren Murph posted Oct 29th 2009 at 1:36AM

The nettop might not be the most riveting piece of machinery out there, but ASRock's hoping to generate at least a small amount of buzz by outfitting its next trio with NVIDIA's Ion graphics technology. Reportedly, the Ion 330HT, Ion 330Pro and Ion 330HT-BD will all ship with a dual-core 1.6GHz Atom 330 processor, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 7.1 channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI / VGA outputs, six USB 2.0 sockets and a powered eSATA port. The 330HT and 330HT-BD are both bundled with MCE remotes, while the latter also gets its DVD burner swapped out with a Blu-ray drive. There's no mention of a price or release just yet, but we're figuring that both of those points should be clarified shortly.

Sony recalls 69,000 AC adapters due to shock hazard

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 28th 2009 at 2:52PM

Oh, Sony. You've been doing so well with not making things blow up lately. Even a seemingly minor fizzle turned out to be a false alarm. While it's not laptop batteries this time, it seems that Sony has run into a bit of trouble with some of the AC adapters used for its VAIO all-in-one desktops and docking stations. Specifically, the insulation used in adapters for the company's VGC-LT and VGC-JS2 series desktops and VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1 docking stations can apparently fail over time and pose an electrical shock hazard for users, although there have been no reports of injuries to date (and only four reports of any short circuiting). Still, it's probably a good idea to take Sony up on its offer for a free replacement. Hit up the link below for all the necessary details.