Details of AMD’s Bobcat netbook processors emerge

AMD already outlined its plans to enter the netbook processor market during an analyst day last November. As a quick reminder, the company introduced two new processor cores codenamed Bulldozer and Bobcat for release in 2011. Bulldozer is designed for desktops & servers, whilst Bobcat is targeted at ultra-thin notebooks. However, netbooks will also be targeted for the first time within the Bobcat family.

We knew that Bobcat was being designed with power efficiency in mind and AMD’s chief marketing officer, Nigel Dessau, recently said that the netbook chip will run with a similar TDP to the Intel Atom (10W-15W) and “it will have a good processor integrated with graphics, so you won’t need the [Nvidia] Ion graphics to give it half-decent performance.” Read more

Asus Eee PC 1201T reviewed – subpar battery life

Asus is certainly making the most out of its 12.1-inch netbook chassis. It currently has four netbooks sporting 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) displays. This includes the dual-core ION 1201N, the single-core ION 1201NL, the Z-series Atom 1201HA and finally the AMD Congo powered 1201T.

The guys over at Yugatech have tested the Eee PC 1201T. Whilst they liked the Seashell design, chiclet keyboard, crisp display and touchpad, they found it hard to get excited about its poor battery life and only slightly above-average CPU performance. Read more

Netbook shipments drive Intel’s graphic chip share

The rise and rise of netbooks has helped to drive Intel’s graphic chip share over both AMD and Nvidia. According to the latest Jon Peddie Research, Intel’s Q4 2009 market share stood at 55.2 percent, comparing to Nvidia at 24.3 percent and AMD at 19.9 percent.

Out of the three main players, Intel saw the strongest quarter-on-quarter growth of 17.9 percent in the fourth quarter last year, which also relates to the largest year-on-year growth of 114.7 percent. Intel’s growth came mainly from Atom sales in netbooks as well as strong growth in the desktop segment due to the Windows 7 launch. Read more

Netbook/Ultrathin CPUs benched with Windows Experience Index

The sheer number of processors on the market can be a minefield to try and differentiate – different clock speeds, cores and cache sizes all need to be considered (along with TDP).

When testing netbooks, it’s strange that some models have felt more sluggish than others, especially when they’re meant to have the same clock speed. In particular, I’m talking about the 1.6GHz N270 and Z530 Atom. Both had the same speeds but the Z530 always felt more sluggish.

Well it looks like Yugatech has come to the same conclusion (albeit marginal). They have charted all the main Atom netbook processors including a few Intel ULV processors as well as AMD ones. Check out the interesting chart after the jump. Read more

Toshiba Satellite T115 ultrathin gets AMD processor option

The Toshiba Satellite T115 ultra-thin (known as T110 in the UK) has been out for a while already. The 11.6-inch device is powered by Intel CULV processor (Pentium SU4100). However, Toshiba has announced that an AMD Neo processor/AMD graphics option is available on the device.

A number of different AMD CPUs will be available including the AMD Turion X2 Neo, Athlon X2 Neo and Athlon Neo MV-40. ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics are also standard. The T115 should last for 5.5 hours with its 6-cell battery.

The rest will remain the same including 2GB RAM and a 250GB HDD. All this is wrapped in a 1-inch chassis with full-sized keyboard. Other features include an eSATA/USB combo port, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1, two USB ports and Windows 7. Pricing starts at $449 for the T115 when it arrives on 17th January. There is no detail on whether the UK will also see this AMD processor option. Laptop Mag has an initial hands-on here.

Lenovo Thinkpad X100e 11.6” ultraportable gets official

Lenovo has outed the 11.6-inch Thinkpad X100e ultra-thin on its own website, ahead of CES next week. There are few surprises given the detailed leaks that we’ve seen to date. The X100e is a landmark device for us, as it’s the first netbook to sport a trackpoint! As a Thinkpad user myself I much prefer navigating with the trackpoint rather than the touchpad.

Thinkpad’s are known for their great keyboards and the X100e looks like it won’t disappoint in this regard. It will come with an ISO full-sized, spill-resistant chiclet keyboard. Personally I would have preferred their traditional keyboard over a chiclet one, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I see one in person. As well as a trackpoint, the X100e is equipped with a multi-touch touchpad that lets you zoom, scroll and rotate using two-finger gestures. Read more

Asus Eee PC 1201T AMD netbook now official

Asus has a number of 12.1-inch models in its netbook range, the vanilla 1201HA, the ION 1201N and also the AMD-powered 1201T. The Asus Eee PC 1201T has now gone official with its own product page on the Asus site.

The specs confirm what we had heard previously and unfortunately this particular model lacks a HDMI port. You do get a netbook powered by a 1.6GHz AMD Congo MV40 processor, 2GB Ram and 250GB HDD though, with a 6-cell battery rated to last for six hours. Check out the full specs after the break. Read more

Acer Ferrari One netbook hits the US

The Acer Ferrari One ultra-portable is now shipping in the United States with prices starting at $599.99. This 11.6-inch netbook is powered by AMD’s new 1.2GHz dual-core Congo processor as well as ATI Radeon 3200 graphics.

The Ferrari influence is felt via the ‘Ferrari-red’ lid and checkered palm rest. There are also tire-shape grips underneath the chassis, racing-inspired wallpaper and calendar, as well as a quick access key to Ferrari.com. Other features include Windows 7 Home Premium, a 250GB hard drive and a built-in optical drive. Check out the full list of specifications after the cut. Read more

Asus Eee PC 1201T: AMD Congo powered 12.1” netbook

Details of the Asus Eee PC 1201T have emerged. We already knew of such a model number, when the manual for the 1201HA and ION-powered 1201N made an appearance. However, we didn’t know what kind of specifications it would sport. All we knew was that it lacked the HDMI port seen on the 1201N and had only two USB ports.

The Asus Eee PC 1201T was launched at a Chinese press event yesterday, lifting the lid on the 1201T spec-sheet. We now know that it will be powered by the 1.6GHz dual-core AMD Congo MV40 processor. It will come with 2GB DDR2 RAM and a 250GB HDD. Read more

MSI Wind12 U230 officially launched & reviewed

Details of the 12.1-inch MSI Wind12 U230 ultra-thin already popped up on its official website at the end of last month although the product page was pulled shortly after. MSI has now officially unveiled the Wind12 U230. The model is similar to the U200/U210 models, but comes with Windows 7 and is powered by AMD’s new Congo 1.6GHz dual-core processor.

The company claims that AMD’s new platform consumes 60 percent less power than standard notebooks and offers 4-hours of battery life. It also comes with the AMD RS780MN and SB710 chipsets that support HD and DX10 and ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics. Read more

Lenovo Thinkpad X100e details emerge: 11.6” AMD-powered ultra-thin

New details surrounding the rumoured Lenovo Thinkpad X100e have been leaked by German news site Chip.de. There is a whole host of new information including specifications and other marketing material. The leak suggests that the X100e will come with an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display and AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor.

This ultra-thin will support up to 4GB of RAM and comes with 160/250/320GB storage options. As you would expect for a ThinkPad, you’ll get Trackpoint navigation along with a multi-touch touchpad. Other features include Wi-Fi (b/g/n), optional 3G, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader and a 0.3MP webcam.

It will come with both 3-cell and 6-cell batteries, with the latter quoted to last for just over 5 hours. Unusually for a Thinkpad, it will also come in white and red colours and have a chiclet keyboard. No release date has been given, although the previous rumour suggested that this will launch at CES in January. It is expected to launch with prices starting from $449. We’ll keep you updated with further developments. Click through for some X100e slides. Read more

AMD outlines next-generation netbook & ultra-thin platforms

AMD yesterday held an analyst investor day and outlined its product roadmaps through to 2011 for its different product lines including desktops, notebooks and servers. It introduced two new processor cores codenamed Bulldozer and Bobcat for release in 2011.

Bulldozer is designed for desktops & servers, whilst Bobcat will mainly be aimed at ultra-thin notebooks. Interestingly, Bobcat will also see processors targeted to the netbook segment for the first time.

AMD made some bold claims about Bobcat, saying that it will provide 90 percent of today’s performance in less than half of the current silicon real estate. This means it is incredibly power efficient, requiring less than a watt of power. Read more

MSI Wind12 U230 unveiled; 12.1” AMD Neo X2-powered netbook

MSI has quietly launched a new 12.1-inch netbook on its official website. The MSI Wind12 U230 follows on from the U200/U210 models, with a 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) display powered by an AMD Athlon Neo X2 (Yukon CPU MV40/ L335) dual-core processor. Graphics will be catered for by the ATI Radeon HD 3200 and it will come with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Other features include up to 4GB RAM, 160-320GB HDD, HDMI, 1.3MP webcam, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), 4-in-1 card reader, three USB ports and optional Bluetooth. Battery life on the 6-cell battery should be good for around 4 hours. At this point there’s little information on pricing or availability, but we’ll keep you posted.

Via Netbooked.

Acer Ferrari One: AMD Congo-powered 11.6” netbook

Marrying supercar brands with personal computing has existed for a while. Asus has produced Lamborghini-branded laptops, whilst Acer has done the same with Ferrari. Now Acer is trying to race ahead of the netbook pack, by launching the Acer Ferrari One.

This 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) netbook is quite different to your typical netbook. Firstly, it is powered by AMD’s recently announced Congo platform. The AMD Athlon X2 L310 is dual-core offering at 1.2GHz clock speed and 1MB cache. It uses the M780G chipset and ATI Radeon 3200 graphics. The latter is certainly quite powerful (in netbook terms), enabling hardware acceleration of HD video. Read more

The ‘netbook’ gets ever bigger – now above 12-inches

Since the netbook was conceived around two years ago, the size of these devices has got larger and larger. Some of the very latest netbook models to be released from the big guys include 11.6-inch and 12.1-inches. I’m sure this trend won’t go away, despite Microsoft and Intel’s best efforts to crack down on netbooks larger than 10-inches.

However, in China, white-box vendors are now looking to produce ‘netbooks’ that are even larger than 12-inches. To get around the restrictions that Intel places on netbook display sizes, it plans to use processors from AMD and VIA instead. The advantage is that VIA’s platform costs nearly half as much as the Intel Atom.

Now what defines this as a netbook? Not much in all honesty, but there is rising demand for these larger netbooks and therefore these products are being marketed as such rather than the laptops that they really are. Let’s just hope this doesn’t catch on.

Via Digitimes.

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