Thread: Anandtech News

Lenovo will be rolling out its official Ice Cream Sandwich build for the ThinkPad Tablet in May of this year, the company announced via the tablet's product page.
The tablet, which starts at $479.00 and integrates NVIDIA's Tegra 2 SoC, 1GB of RAM, a 10.1" 1280x800 display, optional 3G, and 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, is currently Lenovo's flagship Android tablet. The company also sells two other Android tablets: the IdeaPad Tablet K1, another 10.1" tablet running Android 3.1, and the IdeaPad A1, a 7" tablet running Android 2.3. Lenovo hasn't said when (or if) either of these tablets would receive an official Android 4.0 upgrade.
We'll continue to do our best to keep you updated as Ice Cream Sandwich (reviewed here in its smartphone iteration) trickles out to phones and tablets across the Android ecosystem.
Source: Lenovo



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Clevo's venerable X7200 notebook has gotten more than a little long in the tooth. The desktop hardware-based behemoth has been sporting the X58 chipset and support for LGA1366 processors pretty much since launch, despite the availability of Sandy Bridge processors and 6 series chipsets. Since mainstream hardware just isn't punchy enough for Clevo, they've now released a refresh to the X7200 in the form of the P270WM.
While we don't have any good photos of the new kit yet, we do know AVADirect will be among the first if not the first to have the new notebook available. They'll be shipping the P270WM with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580M standard; not a bad choice, as our testing showed the 580M inching out AMD's Radeon HD 6990M as the fastest single mobile GPU on the market. Users craving as much power as humanly possible will be able to spec the P270WM with a pair of 580Ms in SLI along with up to a Sandy Bridge-E Intel Core i7-3960X.

Where things get really interesting is that, judging from the photos AVADirect sent us, Clevo has finally given the X7200 a much-needed sprucing up. The P270WM includes not just a backlit keyboard, but in a bid to finally satisfy our Jarred Walton, the keyboard itself has been completely redesigned and now includes a layout that's actually functional.
Gallery: Clevo P270WM


Everything else about the P270WM should seem pretty familiar for users who already know the X7200: 17.3" screen at 1080p, punishing 12.13 pound body weight, three 2.5" drive bays, and four SO-DIMM slots to populate Sandy Bridge-E's quad channel memory controller.
Just like every other aspect of the P270WM, though, the pricetag isn't for the faint of heart: pre-orders start at a whopping $3,122 and are expected to ship around early March. Hopefully we'll have one in hand for review in time for launch.



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A common feature in some of the world's most succesful companies is an evangelist. Sometimes that person will be a founder or CEO, other times it will be a salesman or marketing and public relations person. Whatever their role, the evangelist will be passionate about the company, their goals and their products, and if you encounter them, they won't rest until you are as passionate. For LG Electronics, the chief evangelist is a man by the name of Ken Hong. We joined him for a tour of LG's booth, where he introduced us to a new kind of Google TV, LG's Smart TV with Google TV.



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While AMD’s consumer GPU division is well into its deployment of their first 28nm products, the long validation and certification period for business hardware means that AMD’s business GPU division is still in the process of wrapping up the last of their 40nm product launches. In November AMD launched the Turks based FirePro V4900, and today they’re launching the final member of the FirePro product stack: the FirePro V3900.
[TABLE="align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="class: contentwhite, width: 115, bgcolor: #016a96, align: center"] [/TD]
[TD="class: contentwhite, width: 98, bgcolor: #016a96, align: center"] AMD FirePro V7900[/TD]
[TD="class: contentwhite, width: 98, bgcolor: #016a96, align: center"] AMD FirePro V5900[/TD]
[TD="class: contentwhite, width: 98, bgcolor: #016a96, align: center"] AMD FirePro V4900[/TD]
[TD="class: contentwhite, width: 99, bgcolor: #016a96, align: center"] AMD FirePro V3900[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] Stream Processors[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 1280[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 512[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 480[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 480[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] Texture Units[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 80[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 32[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 24[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 24[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] ROPs[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 32[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 32[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 8[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] Core Clock[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 725MHz[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 600MHz[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 800MHz[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 650MHz[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] Memory Clock[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 1.25GHz (5GHz data rate) GDDR5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 500MHz (2GHz data rate) GDDR5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 1GHz (4GHz data rate) GDDR5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 900MHz (1.8GHz data rate) DDR3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] Memory Bus Width[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 256-bit[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 256-bit[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 128-bit[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 128-bit[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] VRAM[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 2GB[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 2GB[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 1GB[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 1GB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] FP64[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] N/A[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] Transistor Count[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 2.64B[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 2.64B[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 716M[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"] 716M[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #eeeeee, align: left"] TDP[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #f7f7f7, align: center"]

It feels like we first saw images of the Droid 4 just a few days after our review went live. And so seven months later, looks like Verizon customers will finally have a chance to get their hands on the latest iteration of the Android phone that started it all (on Verizon, at least). Officially announced at CES (peep our hands-on here and here), the Droid 4 continues Motorola's recent history of marginally iterating with each new model. So, while the screen size (4.0"), resolution (qHD) and chipset (TI OMAP 4430) remain the same, the clock speed (1.2GHz), RAM (1GB) and form factor have been reworked.
The design mirrors the look of the Droid RAZR, including the sealed battery (now up to 6.8 Whr), and svelte design. Ironically, the phone is a hair thicker than the Droid 3 it replaces (13.1 mm vs. 12.9 mm), and some of that added thickness is a result of the inclusion of an LTE radio. There aren't a whole lot of QWERTY LTE phones, and the Droid 4 bests Samsung's Stratosphere 4G in thinness by nearly a millimeter. The 4.0" screen is TFT-LCD with PenTile RGBW at 960x540, likely the same one as the Droid 3.
Like all phones not called the Galaxy Nexus, the Droid 4 will ship with Gingerbread (skinned with not-Blur), and an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade will be incoming at a later date. Positioning the device at $199 gives buyers the option of the super-thin RAZR or the QWERTY inclusive Droid 4, with the cutting-edge Galaxy Nexus or the RAZR MAXX with its huge battery. Stay tuned, Droid 5 rumors should be trickling in any minute now.
Gallery: Droid 4 Available February 10th for $199




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Nokia announced today that their first Windows phone, the Lumia 800 (our review), will be available in white later this month. The initial lineup included three color options: black, cyan (blue-ish), and magenta (red-ish). The white version is internally identical to the other colors, which means 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon, Adreno 205 GPU, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of built-in NAND. At first it will be available in Europe, but other continents will follow.

Lumia 800 lineup

White has proven to be an exceptionally difficult color for smart phones. In the case of the Lumia 800, the chassis has not been painted like phones often are, but the actual plastic (polycarbonate if you prefer that name) has been dyed white. The advantage is that there is no paint to wear out and scratches won't reveal a different color either. This isn't the only problem unofortunately. The material must be designed so that light cannot penetrate it as that might cause problems with the internal components. It was speculated that the white iPhone 4 was delayed because of light leakage, though obviously we don't know the real reason behind the delay. Moreover, white is relatively hard to keep white over time (remember "White" MacBooks), so for example heating up could cause chemical reactions that change the color slightly.
Regardless of the difficulties with white casings, the Lumia 800 will offer that option. We'll see how it fares over time, but there are certainly a lot of people interested in a white phone, so having more choices is generally a good thing.



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It has finally happened; Google has officially released Chrome for Android. In typical Google fashion, the browser is currently in beta and requires Android 4.0 Icecream Sandwich to run.
Chrome for Android has been designed from the ground-up for mobile devices with focus on speed and simplicity and a lot of the features from the desktop version have made their way into the Android version.
Some of the main features include a minimalist UI optimized for smaller screens and support for intuitive gestures such as flip and swipe to manage an unlimited numbers of tabs. Google compares this to holding a pack of cards in your hands, but I doubt it would be the same for a 10” tablet.
Of course, Chrome for Android also inherits the same speed and performance from its desktop sibling with super-smooth scrolling, background loading of top search results and some other under-the-hood tweaks for a speedy browsing experience on your mobile device.
To get an idea of how Chrome for Android compares relative to other Android browsers, we've run some quick SunSpider tests on a Motorola Xoom running Android 4.0.3:

As with the desktop versions, Chrome trails Firefox in raw SunSpider speed, though of course it should be noted that Chrome is a freshly-released beta and Firefox for Android has had a few product cycles to mature. Chrome is also slightly slower than the stock Android browser, but the same footnote applies - Chrome for Android is still a work in progress.
Chrome for Android also features the Incognito mode and as Google calls it, some “fine-grained” privacy options. Some other nifty features include Link Preview, which makes selecting the right link easier on a cluttered page.
The sync feature is an attempt by Google to unify your browsing sessions at home and on your mobile devices. There an option to view the open tabs on your desktop and even get autocomplete suggestions for the most visited websites on your computer, displayed right on your phone or tablet. Bookmark syncing is obviously a given. While these features are extremely handy, I see potential for abuse in every single one of them, especially if you lose your phone.
Android for Chrome is now available on the Android Market, and as usual, Google would greatly appreciate your feedback. We will follow up with a more in-depth benchmark run soon.
Source: Google Chrome Blog




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Intel has posted versions 15.22.54.2622 (32-bit) and 15.22.54.64.2622 (64-bit) of its drivers for the Intel HD-series lineup of integrated graphics processors, which includes both Sandy Bridge and older Nehalem-based chips in both desktop and laptop computers. The drivers are available for all editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Of the Big Three players in the graphics market, Intel is the most erratic about its driver releases - their last generic driver was posted way back in September, and while that driver brought a good number of performance improvements and bug fixes, Intel's latest and greatest fixes just three documented issues: a crashing issue with a program called Interstage Studio Standard J-edition, an issue where the driver would change the refresh rate while on battery power, and an issue where content would appear strangely when rewound. Not terribly exciting, given the wait, but I'm sure that the people experiencing those problems are grateful for the fixes.
As always, Intel notes that these are generic drivers which may or may not be missing features present in the drivers provided by OEMs. I've never had issues using generic Intel drivers on any of my machines, from homemade desktops to OEM laptops to Macs running Windows, but your mileage may vary.
Source: Intel



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Apple has released a range of firmware updates that enable the Lion Internet Recovery OS restore feature across most of its 2010-vintage Macs, enabling easy reinstallation of the OS in the event of a software or hardware failure.
Lion Internet Recovery, a feature which builds on the NetBoot technology in OS X Server, was introduced along with the 2011 MacBook Air and Mac Mini refreshes, and then extended to the rest of Apple's shipping Macs in the following months. Today's updates, which enable support for the 2010 iMac, the late 2010 MacBook Air, and the 15" and 17" 2010 MacBook Pro, follow updates from late January that enabled support for the 13" 2010 MacBook Pro, the 2010 Mac Mini, and the 2010 MacBook. The only model left out is the Mac Pro, none of which (even the currently shipping model) support the feature. Some (but not all) of the firmware updates also fix other minor issues.
The updates can be downloaded using the links provided above, or via Software Update - all updates require a Mac running OS X 10.7.2 or later. The possibility exists that Apple could choose to enable support for even older Macs - models going all the way back to 2007 are capable of running Lion - but until we actually see updates I would say that such a thing is pretty unlikely.



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Originally Posted by FEED

The slide above really puts AMD's focus into perspective. AMD is mostly interested in markets that have high annual growth rates. Looking above you can see that pretty much all of those categories with the exception of the client desktop are interesting for AMD. It's about time that AMD focused more on mobile and I don't believe that it's too late for the company, but it is sad to think that the high-end desktop CPU market won't be as important to AMD going forward. It's likely the right decision for AMD but it's truly the end of an era.



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This quote says it pretty well. Sadly I think that the desktop high end market for processors just got whacked to only Intel as a viable offering going forward. Sad for the industry. Sad for competition for competition's sake, and sad for the consumer.

Sent via highly charged bolt of electricity.