| NVIDIA: there's nothing 'Ultra' about Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks unless you add Kepler Apr 23rd 2012, 16:15  This is a vaguely awkward message for NVIDIA to be putting out. On one hand, the company is best buddies with Intel and is hoping to see its next-gen GPUs bundled with a large portion of the Ivy Bridge notebooks that will ship this year. But to reach that target, it must risk irking Chipzilla by emphasizing the limitations of Ivy Bridge's integrated graphics. That's exactly what happened at a recent presentation, when NVIDIA told us there'll be "nothing Ultra" about the performance of a regular Ivy Bridge Ultrabook because the integrated HD 4000 graphics will only handle around 43 percent of current games. By contrast, if you add in a GeForce GT 640M you'll find that 100 percent of current games are playable with frame rates over 30fps and high detail settings, including Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Crysis 2 and many others. If you leave the lightweight Ultrabook spec behind and combine Ivy Bridge with a GT 670M GPU then you can go even higher -- as we just discovered in our review of the MSI's GT70 gaming laptop. Fortunately, Intel was pretty magnanimous about HD 4000 when it briefed us, and readily accepted that enthusiasts will still want discrete graphics, so we don't imagine the slide above will cause too many hurt feelings. NVIDIA: there's nothing 'Ultra' about Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks unless you add Kepler originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | MSI GT70 gaming laptop review Apr 23rd 2012, 16:01  When NVIDIA unveiled its next-gen Kepler GPU, we were a bit surprised to see its first mobile iteration show up in a so-called Ultrabook. Sure, it was impressive, but we couldn't help but wonder how this mobile chip would perform if someone crammed it into a rig with some real power. Now that Intel's let the cat out of the bag (and into the Ivy) that day has come. Behold: the MSI GT70 gaming laptop. Living up to its next-gen CES promises, this 17.3-inch behemoth falls squarely in the desktop replacement category, at 8.6 pounds, and packs a new 2.3GHz Core i7-3610QM processor, NVIDIA's latest GeForce GTX 670M chip with 3GB of video memory, 16GB of DDR3 RAM and a fancy RAID 0 dual SSD setup -- all wrapped in one hefty, formidable package. So how powerful a combination do Ivy Bridge and Kepler make? Let's find out. Continue reading MSI GT70 gaming laptop review MSI GT70 gaming laptop review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Intel puts Ivy Bridge on the map: first 22nm product, decent official benchmarks, desktop quad-cores from $174 Apr 23rd 2012, 16:01  We hear that pilgrims have already started flocking to the town of Ivybridge (population 12,056) in the forested depths of southwest England. Very soon though, you'll be able to pay homage to Moore's law without travelling further than your favorite online retailer, because the third generation of Intel Core processors has just launched and should be available to buy before the end of this month. These include eight different variants of Core i7 for desktops and notebooks (including Ultrabooks of course), plus five types of Core i5 destined for desktops only. Those watching out for cheaper dual-core i5, i3 and Pentium-branded options will have to wait a little longer, because today's launch is all about the high-end. And just how high is 'high'? Judging from the gossip we've heard, and from benchmarks of leaked desktop and notebook chips, we're looking a significant improvement over Sandy Bridge. But if you want the first official boasts, then read on. Continue reading Intel puts Ivy Bridge on the map: first 22nm product, decent official benchmarks, desktop quad-cores from $174 Intel puts Ivy Bridge on the map: first 22nm product, decent official benchmarks, desktop quad-cores from $174 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Acer dips its toes into Ivy Bridge, refreshes two of its desktops with new processors Apr 23rd 2012, 16:00  Now that the Ivy Bridge cat is out of the bag, you can expect to see a deluge of press releases from PC makers over the coming weeks, each of them saying that this computer or that is getting refreshed with Intel's latest processors. From Acer, at least, we expect multiple announcements: it's only ready to talk about a couple of desktops today, with news around laptops and Ultrabooks coming later. Right now, you can choose from several configurations of the Predator AG3620 gaming tower, with the top-shelf $1,200 model packing a 3.4 GHz Core i7 3770 CPU, NVIDIA GT630 graphics, 16GB of RAM and 2TB of storage space. On the budget end, the $799 Gateway D4860-UR14P will feature a 3.1 GHz Core i5 3450 processor, 6GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. Both are available now -- you know, if you've been waiting for precisely this sort of thing. Acer dips its toes into Ivy Bridge, refreshes two of its desktops with new processors originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE pops up on Verizon for $300, links to Droid RAZR Maxx Apr 23rd 2012, 14:48  We'll take a dedicated microsite over ole Mr. Blurrycam any day of the week. HTC's latest Verizon LTE handset is now an Incredible step closer to being official. The HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE has popped up on Big Red's Droid Does site, complete with specs and a $300 on-contract price tag. The ICS smartphone will be powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with a gig of RAM, and packs a 4-inch super LCD qHD display, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with a VGA shooter up front, an LTE hotspot mode with support for up to 10 devices and Beats Audio on board for "studio-quality sound." The Buy Now link brings you to the Droid RAZR Maxx's product page, so it's not quite clear when you'll be able to pick up an Incredible. You can take a closer look right now, however, at the elaborate dedicated Verizon page at our source link below. HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE pops up on Verizon for $300, links to Droid RAZR Maxx originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Phone Scoop |  Droid Does | Email this | Comments | |
