When we ran our review of the Alienware M11x a few months back, there were a couple of things that really didn’t sit well with us. They had decided on the older Nvidia chipset (which forced you to basically shut everything down to change from discrete to active video) and you were somewhat limited in what CPU options were available. Well, no longer. → Read More
With a Tegra 2 Tegra 2-esque ARM A9-based processor confirmed Tegra 2 inside, 9.7″8.9″ wide screen, and a full gig of RAM, these tablets from Foxconn (unnamed and undated) look to be pretty serious pieces of hardware. They run Android, which I’ve always thought is unsuited for tablets that size, but hey, until something nicer comes out, it’s free and it works. More info over at Giz. Netbook News has a video for you, as well (thanks for the Tegra confirmation). → Read More
Looks like we get a peek at an unannounced update to the MacBook a little bit early. The update (showing up on the label as MacBook7,1) has the same CPU and GPU as the entry level MacBook Pro, but assuming Apple keeps the pricing the same, it should be available for $999. → Read More
Nvidia wants to help out you laptop gamers. How nice of them. From now on, the company will release both desktop and mobile drivers at the same time. This isn’t such a big deal for desktop users, what with their fancy GTX 480s, but laptop users won’t have to wait for the Dells and HPs of the world to release updated drivers. Nvidia’s got you covered. → Read More
Sony just can’t seem to leave well enough alone, it turns out that they have managed to redesign the RSX GPU to make it even smaller and more efficient. A recent tear-down by Japanese fansite PocketNews showed off the fact that they Nvidia GPU used in all the PS3 Slim units has been reduced to an even smaller size since launch. → Read More
Maingear announced their latest today, the Quantum Shift workstation. Designed more for the content developer then the gamer, the Quantum Shift definitely brings the heat. Of course, you customize exactly how much power the Quantum Shift is packing, but it’s designed around Nvidia’s Quadro FX GPU technology. → Read More
Looks like the Nvidia GTX 400 series GPUs are starting to trickle onto various sites several days before the official release. Take that paycheck and pump it right into Direct X 11 goodness~! → Read More
One question that has come up ever since the M11x was released was why didn’t Alienware use the Nvidia Optimus chipset. The chipset that Alienware did use makes switching between the integrated and discreet graphics rather awkward and jarring, and a less then ideal user experience. Well, the rumor rattling around the pipes today is that the M11x may be getting a refresh this summer, and that new chipset may be coming our way. → Read More
There’s been a lot of buzz about the code-name Fermi series of cards NVIDIA has been cooking up. They’re the company’s first DirectX 11-compatible cards, and rival AMD has had the DX11 58xx series on the market for months now, giving them a definite head start. The hope (among NVIDIA fans) was that the Fermi/GF100 cards would blow AMD’s out of the water despite the delays. That doesn’t seem to be the case: although the new GTX 480 flagship card is competitive with AMD’s best, it doesn’t blow it away by any means, and the feature set ends up being the deciding factor.
Check out the reviews from our favorite hardware sites, and our take. → Read More
So yeah, we’re living in the age of 3D. I just made a quick run inside the main PAX East/A> (henceforth know as PAX), and Nvidia has 3D games all over the place. There’s no escaping it~! → Read More
Ten years ago, Final Fantasy VII upped the ante on realistic portrayals of their human characters in their cinematics. It’s a good thing, too –those cinematics became a terrific reward for the hours spent acquiring EXP and levelling up to make one’s characters fortuitous enough to withstand the battles they laid in wait behind. It wasn’t long before the other companies started to ‘level up’ their own cinematics, and less time still before gamers started to crave that sense of realism in the actual gameplay. To that end, NVIDIA (video above) has been working on real-time rendering — literally down to the last hair they can manage. → Read More
It’s official. NVIDIA’s ION 2 GPUs are coming. You’ll see them on more than 30 products come summer time. The company is promising “10x faster graphics and up to 10 hours of battery life.” So much for that whole power-versus-battery-life tradeoff. → Read More
Kudos, I guess, to Asus, being the first manufacturer to incorporate Nvidia’s Optimus technology into actual products. The Taiwan-based company has announced five laptops (note: I refuse to use the term “notebook” when referring to laptops; I think the name “netbook” is dumb, too, so at least I’m consistent) that range in size from 13.3 inches to 17.3 inches, all of which use Optimus. “What is Optimus?” I’m glad you asked! It switches between the Nvidia GPU and the Intel integrated GPU as the situation warrants. So, using Firefox? Let the Intel handle it. Playing World of Warcraft? Nvidia takes over. It’s not too hard to understand. → Read More
If there is one rumor that tends to come and go and agonizes Windows Mobile fans, it’s the one about a Zune phone. Although it’s not officially confirmed, Gizmodo has it on good word that Microsoft will be introducing a Zune phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. More specifically, it will be a Windows Mobile 7 phone with Zune features and capabilities, so it’s not a Zune phone, per se. → Read More
That NVIDIA and Intel haven’t been getting along lately isn’t big news but it looks like NVIDIA has finally gotten up from the dinner table and left the restaurant in a huff. The epicenter of the problem appears to be NVIDIA’s Ion chipset, which provides some much needed oomph to netbook and nettop platforms. Intel wants to keep a distinct separation between its low-power, low-cost Atom chips and its more-capable Pentium chips. When NVIDIA’s Ion is added to an Atom platform, the extra power makes Intel’s higher-end (and higher-cost) CPU offerings a tougher sell. → Read More
This is either a good thing or a bad thing. Actually, like most things, it’s a bit of both. Adobe’s FLV file format is the de facto standard for web video due to sharing sites like YouTube using it exclusively. Many would argue that’s a bad thing (despite the fact that it works well for most people) because it gives a single company a stranglehold over an entire province of internet content.
So when NVIDIA works with them to accelerate decoding the format, it’s a bit of a mixed blessing. Better performance and integration like this will surely extend the life of, and silence performance complaints about, FLV. For now it’s a good thing, but come HTML5… → Read More
Well good morning, Interesting Netbook. You have caught my attention thanks to your inclusion of NVIDIA’s Ion chipset, 1366×768 display, 2GB of RAM, Windows 7 operating system, and longer-than-long battery life. → Read More
ASUS’ NVIDIA Ion-powered EeeBox PC has gotten sort of official. It’s on ASUS’ website now, at least, although there’s still not much in the way of pricing or availability. The specs look pretty nice, though, with a whisper-quiet setup thanks to a dual-core Atom N330 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 250GB SATA hard drive, 802.11b/g/n wireless, card reader, and, of course, the horsepower to push full 1080p video. → Read More
BFG has always been one of the go-to brands for high-end video cards and hardware, and their latest opus continues the tradition. The BFG GeForce GTX 295 H2OC is the beastliest card out there, and is easily the most powerful single-card solution out there, even beating out such dual-GPU solutions as the Radeon HD 4870 X2. That’s some serious power… must be why it costs $800. → Read More
PC gamers- Nvidia is running a deal on a handful of graphics cards that comes with a download code for Rocksteady and Eidos’s upcoming Batman title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. If you haven’t played the demo then go and do that now here. It launches with Nvidia 3D Vision support and PhysX game physics on September 15. Oh, the following Nvidia GeForce cards are part of the deal: GTX 260, GTX 275 and the GTX 285. via Big D → Read More
