HIS Takes On AMD Radeon HD 6450, 6570 and 6670

Released back in February, these three budget AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphic cards – the 6450, 6570 and 6670 - were originally available only for OEM companies. However, AMD has quietly made them available recently at retail stores through many of their partners including HIS.

While the technical specifications of HIS offerings are very close to AMD’s reference design, the new HIS Radeon HD 6450, 6570 and 6670 are available in a variety of cooling options especially for 6450 where it is available in both fan and fanless design. Even though they are budget graphic cards, they are still come equipped with many features as per other more advanced GPU in Radeon HD 6000 series such as DirectX 11 support, AMD Eyefinity multi-monitor technology, AMD CrossFire (software-based only), AMD HD3D and many more; making them a good alternative to integrated graphic processors inside desktop PCs.

For further information, head on to your favourite retailers or visit HIS official website at www.hisdigital.com. 

Article From: Lowyat

Hard Drives goes 3D to Give You Double the Capacity

So, there are 3D TVs, 3D monitors, 3D cameras, 3D gaming consoles and such, what’s next? Hard drives of course; how else were we supposed to handle the explosion of data and demand of storage space? Thanks to researchers in France, the storage capacity of magnetic disk drives can be doubled simply by constructing “3D towers” of information.

Unlike traditional storage media that consists of flat discs that are essentially “2-dimensional” and stores magnetic ones and zeros that makes up a data, the team from SPINTEC decided to build up pillars that consist of two magnetic dots each. The bottom dot has a magnetic field that can be read in either up or down, and the top dot has a magnetic field that can be read in either left or right. This means that a pillar of two dots will give you twice the amount of information in the same amount of space, meaning that storage capacity can be doubled.

"Our new approach involves using bit-patterned media, which are made of arrays of physically separated magnetic nanodots, with each nanodot carrying one bit of information. To further extend the storage density, it's possible to increase the number of bits per dots by stacking several magnetic layers to obtain a multilevel magnetic recording device." -- Jerome Moritz, a researcher at SPINTEC, in Grenoble.

(Source: Dvice, Engadget)

Article From: Lowyat 

Alienware M11X Get Refreshed With Intel Sandy Bridge and More

While the crowd is getting used to see two new Alienware gaming notebook in the form of M14X and the upcoming M18X, Dell has also refreshed Alienware M11X for the third time with new hardware, increased firepower and slight aesthetic redesign. Among them are the second generation Intel Core processors, new GPUs, Klipsch-powered audio drivers and new ports.

The newly refreshed M11X is available with 1.5GHz Intel Core i7-2617M or 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-2537M processor that is paired with up to 16GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory. It also comes with dual graphic capabilities featuring the built-in Intel HD Graphics 3000 together with the discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M GPU that comes with up to 2GB of graphics memory. Customers can opt to equip their M11X with a high performance 7200RPM hard drive with up to 750GB in capacity or a solid state drive with capacities up to 256GB. Dell is also kind enough to fit it with two USB 3.0 ports.

Available immediately at www.dell.com.my, the new Alienware M11X gaming laptop is priced from RM 3,799 onwards.  

[Source: Dell Malaysia] 

Article From: Lowyat

Alienware M18X Gaming Laptop Is Official, Coming In May

After being rumoured for quite some time, the monster is now out of closet. Not content with the juggernaut that is 17-inch Alienware M17X [our review of the original M17X], the gaming arm of Dell has one-upped itself by announcing an even larger model, the 18.4-inch Alienware M18X.

With a shell that followed the same design concept as existing Alienware gaming laptops, the M18X is powered by overclockable second generation quad core Intel Core i7 processors; including a Core i7 with Turbo Boost that is factory overclocked to 4.0GHz. In terms of GPUs, users can choose either NVIDIA GeForce or AMD Radeon in SLI and CrossFire configurations respectively, with up to 4GB of GDDR5 memory. It is also able to support up to 32GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory.

Apart from all that, the M18X is also equipped with USB 3.0 ports, HDMI input to connect consoles and other HDMI-capable devices, HDMI 1.4 output for 3D displays and speakers powered by Klipsch Audio. Last but not least, Alienware has also stuffed five programmable keys from their TactX gaming keyboard into the laptop.

Available in black and red colours, the Alienware M18X is expected to be priced from RM 6,046 (USD 1999) when it hit the market in May and hopefully, we will be able to see it in Malaysia at the same time. 

[Source: Alienware] 

Article From: Lowyat 

Logitech launches trade-in campaign for Earth Day

Masters of the peripheral universe, Logitech, are celebrating Earth Day 2011 with a special campaign called the Earth Day Trade-In campaign which will run from April 22 till May 15.

True to its namesake, the campaign will be offering trade-in rebates for purchases of selected Logitech products, where the traded-in products will be refurbished and donated where possible or disposed of responsibly at a trusted electronics recycling facility. Also, if you make a purchase of more than RM100 on April 22 (Earth Day), you will receive a limited-edition Logitech recycling bag.

More details on the Logitech Earth Day Trade-In campaign can be found at http://www.facebook.com/LogitechMalaysia. 

Article From: Lowyat

Alienware M14x Drops First In The Dell Malaysia Store

Those of you who are looking at getting your hands on one of the 14inch gaming beauties from Alienware you'll be glad to know that the M14x is finally available on Dell Malaysia's website starting at RM4,799. As far as Engadget has reported, Malaysia is the first to have the details on the site for the upcoming launch of the M14x and M18x which is slated only for later today. The M14x notebook will be coming with a whole plethora of upgradable options such as a Core i7 2820QM, 8GB of RAM as well as the GeForce 555M with 3GB DDR3 Graphics Memory. So if you've had your eye on a sleek, powerful and all round amazing gaming laptop, go check out the source link.

(Source: Dell Malaysia)

Article From: Lowyat

Intel and Micron Announces New 20nm NAND Flash Technology

Intel and Micron - through their joint venture company, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) - has unveiled the new 20nm manufacturing process technology for NAND flash memory production. This new process technology produces an 8GB multi-level cell NAND device and offers 30 to 40-percent reduction in board space compared to the company’s existing 8GB 25nm NAND flash while maintaining similar level of performance and endurance.

Targeted for smartphones, tablets and computing devices such as solid-state drive, the size reduction will be able to provide extra space for manufacturers include more features into their devices such as bigger battery, larger screen or even another chip that can offers extra capabilities. The new 20nm 8GB NAND flash device from IMFT is already heading to manufacturers as samples and is expected to be mass produced in the second half of 2011.

At the same time, the venture is also planning to introduce 16GB NAND flash device which will enable manufacturers to come up with a single solid-state storage solution that is smaller than a U.S postage stamp and with capacity of up to 128GB.

[Source: Intel] 

Article From: Lowyat

Exclusive Preview: The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Tablet System

Today must be a great day as the fine folks over at ASUS have dropped off one of the latest and greatest tablets in their lineup for us to play with and you get to see it here first! The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is the second tablet to be launched by ASUS in 2011 and is the first to be powered by the stunning Android 3.0 Honeycomb Tablet OS.

At first glance, Honeycomb looks fantastic and crisp thanks to the 10.1inch LED backlit IPS screen which has a covering of the super durable Gorilla glass over it. Transitions between pages and apps are incredibly smooth thanks in no small part to the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and the 1GB DDR2 RAM that it has built in. The Eee Pad Transformer comes with the usual WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as 2 cameras for video conferencing and a Micro SD Card and SD card reader to expand the already generous 16/32GB of internal memory. Rounding out the features, the Eee Pad Transformer also features a built in GPS module, full HD playback (With Mini HDMI port), 16 hours of battery life and a 178 degree viewing angle.

This HDD from Toshiba Can Encrypt and Erase Data Automatically

If you’re one of those who love to store, well, obscene pictures and videos of yourself, I would ask you what’s wrong with you, but that’s not the point. The point is, here’s a must have hard disk from Toshiba because it will self-encrypt and auto-erase itself when it’s stolen. Well, not exactly when it’s stolen per-say, but let’s say your device is stolen and someone tears it apart to sell and that person plugs in your HDD into a different PC, the hard disk will be smart enough to initiate Toshiba’s Wipe Technology and erase data and voila! All your data will be gone and will never be seen by anyone.

Though this technology is cheap, affordable and something enterprise or companies with highly secure information would love to have, I’m not sure how things will be if you wish to upgrade your machine and use back the same hard disk. Would be a pain in the rear end if you forget this function and all the data inside get erased. The disk will be available from June 2011 in 250GB, 320GB and 640GB in capacity, with enterprises getting them first. Pricing to be announced at a later date.

 

(Source: Dvice)

Article From: Lowyat 

Concept Fujitsu Lifebook X2 Photos Look Promising

We've seen some pretty cool concepts in laptop design, but you know with our disdain for all things concept its hard to get on board. This one from Fujitsu however seems so crazy it just might work. Designer Park Hyun Jin at Yanko recently cooked up these renders of a potential Fujitsu Lifebook X2, a cross between a laptop and well a foldy menu of sorts. The concept is simple, take a laptop and basically fold each side again, giving it either a standard laptop form factor, or a smaller, more pocketable version. I can imagine each of these screens would have the capability to be an onscreen keyboard and preferably also work in portrait mode as a book reader of sorts. You may think it's crazy, but you didn't think Acer would have 2 15 inch multitouch screens in the form of the ICONIA did you?

 

(Source: Engadget)

Article From: Lowyat

Early Windows 8 Build Leaked

As with every Windows release that has dropped in history, people have leaked it in one way or another. With the faster broadband speeds and how filesharing is so much a part of our lives, it's almost inevitable that leaks like this happen. So it turns out that an early build of Windows 8 has made it's way into the bay of pirates for all the world to see. At first glance, it looks pretty much like Windows 7, but we're not expecting huge changes as it's still early days. We haven't actually visited the bay to acquire ourselves a copy and not that we're saying you should either but I can't imagine that it would be any better than what you are rocking now. Unless of course you are an OS hipster and want to get on the bandwagon before it became mainstream then by all means, don those wayfairers, slap on that pair of skinnies and search away.

 

(Source: Engadget)

Article From: Lowyat

Adobe Release A Slew Of New Features In CS5.5

A year ago, when Adobe gave the creative community something to cheer about with their new and improved Creative Suite 5, they cemented their position on the top of the industry. Innovative features in the new Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5 among other applications were welcome additions to the workflow of creative professionals, making life much easier as well as making it more accessible to the prosumer.

A year later, Adobe have announced the arrival of the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and despite it's half-increment name, the new features in this point release are nothing to scoff at.

At a press briefing yesterday, Adobe showed off the latest CS5.5 in all it's splendour with it's improved focus on publishing content to tablets and mobile phones. Using the new InDesign, publishers can now create dynamic contents of their magazine optimised for various tablets out there in the market today. Creating a WIRED style magazine app for the iPad just got relatively easier. Not only that, CS5.5 is tightly integrated with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite to facilitate publishing, sale and analysis of the content you put out. This is a great tool for magazines who want to enter the world of tablet versions without the hassle of hiring an entire team to do so.

23" Tablet from Lenovo

So, you’re a geek with a laptop PC, a desktop, a Mac, an All-in-One (AIO) PC, several mobile phones, and tablets, what are you missing? Well honestly, I can’t think of any but according to Lenovo, you can also have a 23” tablet to bring around the mouse and be moved from room to room and even use it with a full keyboard, or as a television! Nope, it’s not a typo and you read correctly, a 23-inch tablet, which is bigger than my AIO at home, bigger than my monitor in the office but thankfully smaller than my TV at home.

Obviously it’s not for mobility use like your Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Blackberry Playbook or Motorola Xoom, William Cai, the Marketing Specialist of Lenovo said it could be moved within the house or even used as a table top for activities such as a fun family game. But it’s not completely new this 23-inch tablet from Lenovo, the company showed off a non-working prototype at the last CES and it was reported to run on Windows 7 as opposed to iOS, Android or the likes.

A large device that could be hooked up to keyboard and mouse, can be used as a television, equipped with touchscreen, supposed to be used within the household compound, wait, I think my AIO already does that except, it’s probably a whole lot heavier than this extra-large tablet which is reported to be designed with a much lighter chassis. No, it’s not only a prototype or concept, it is supposed to arrive within this year.

 

(Source: Dvice)

Article From: Lowyat 

NVIDIA Brings 3D Vision Technology To The Hand Of Web Developers

Not enough with making video games and movies popping out of computer displays, televisions and projectors everywhere with their 3D Vision technology, NVIDIA has announced that they are making its 3D Vision video player technology available for free to all web developers. This move aims to enable web developers to come up with video contents that support the stereoscopic 3D technology.

This is done through a 3D video plug-in that the company developed for the Microsoft Media Platform Player Framework v2.5. This open-source framework is based on Microsoft Silverlight and also features full support for IIS Smooth Streaming together with Microsoft PlayReady DRM.

“The Web is enabling an entirely new market for creating and delivering compelling, innovative 3D content. Our 3D Vision technology now makes it easy for web developers to integrate world-class stereo 3D video capabilities into all types of sites,” - Jon Barad, Senior Business Development Manager, NVIDIA.
“With NVIDIA’s new 3D video plug-in, developers can now take full advantage of the stereoscopic 3D video streaming support available in the latest version of Microsoft Media Platform Player Framework. Microsoft is delighted to work with NVIDIA to deliver exciting functionality and capabilities to help developers build the next wave of websites powered by the Microsoft Media Platform,” - David Sayed, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Corp.

Budding web developers are able learn more about the technology and its implementation at www.3dvisionlive.com/apps. 

Article From: Lowyat

From Concept to Reality: Razer Switchblade To Be Released In China

When Razer Switchblade concept was first shown to the world at CES earlier this year, I bet a lot of people out there were wondering whether this mini gaming machine will just remain as a concept or will it actually be turned into a real product. You don’t have to wait for long for the answers though as Razer is indeed going to release it into the market and their first destination… is China.

According to the announcement that Razer and Intel - who provided the new Oak Trail-based Atom processors for the device - made earlier today at Intel Developer Conference in Beijing, they are currently working closely with Tencent, one of China’s biggest Internet companies, in order to optimize the company’s huge selection of online games for Razer Switchbalde. No actual release date and pricing are available for now but Razer’s CEO, Min-Liang Tan has stated that it will be "affordable".

[Source: Razer and PCWorld] 

Article From: Lowyat

Alienware M18X Puts Most Desktop Gaming Rigs To Shame

Just when you thought the pinnacle of modern laptop gaming had been reached with the Alienware M17x, the purveyor or fine gaming devices has upped the ante with the M18x. Replacing the passé 17 inch screen is a mammoth 18.4inch 1920x1080 full HD display as its name implies. Powering this beast is an overclocked Intel Core i7 Extreme at 4GHz, your choice of either AMD CrossfireX or NVIDIA SLI Graphics and up to a jaw dropping 32GB of DDR3 RAM. Rounding off the specs, the M18x comes with a 3D capable HDMI 1.4 port, WirelessHD for those who are not so big on cables as well as 5 Macro Programmable keys to make raiding that much easier and all wrapped up in a sexy anodised aluminium package.

There is no availability details right now, but I'm very certain the big beast won't come cheap. I'm not sure how mobile this machine would make you, but damn your geek cred would just go through the roof with one of these at Starbucks.

 

Hit up the source link for more pretty pictures

 

(Source: Engadget)

Article From: Lowyat

Intel To Show Cedar Trail-Based Atom Platform At IDC Beijing

If you have read the announcement of the new Intel’s Oak Trail-based Atom processor platform earlier today, you might have been wondering whether Intel is changing Atom’s target market from netbooks to tablets and other embedded devices. Well, the answer is no. In fact, Intel is going to show off the next generation Atom processors platform - codenamed “Cedar Trail” - for netbooks, entry-level desktops and all-in-one designs this very week at Intel Developer Forum in Beijing, China.

No clock speed has been mentioned yet but the new platform which is based on Intel’s 32nm process technology will be equipped with quite a number of new features such as Intel Wireless Music, Intel Wireless Display, PC Synch and Fast Boot. The new Cedar Trail-based platform will also be supporting Blu-Ray 2.0, HDMI and DisplayPort together with dedicated media engine capable of full 1080p playback. 

Article From: Lowyat

Fujitsu unveils Malaysia’s first MeeGo devices; launches 11 new notebooks

You don’t usually see a brand launching twelve products on the same day, but that’s exactly what happened during last week’s Fujitsu Spring 2011 launch event. On the day, the Japanese computer maker unveiled nine machines from the Lifebook series that were powered by the latest 2nd generation Intel Core processors and two machines that were powered by the AMD Fusion Brazos processor.

More interestingly though, was the debut of the ESPRIMO MH300, the first MeeGo netbook on the market that’s powered by an Intel Atom processor.

Story continues after the jump.

ESPRIMO MH300 – RM999

Touting “infinite social capabilities for tomorrow’s computing experience”, the interface on the MH300 looks more like what you’d see on a tablet or on a smartphone than on a netbook. Nevertheless, this makes for a much smoother learning curve if used by someone that isn’t exactly computer savvy, since navigation through the system is rather straightforward.

Article From: Lowyat 

Microsoft and Toyota Teams Up for Better Telematics Services

Having telematics services in cars like BMW and Toyota is not anything new but what can you get if you put Toyota and Microsoft together? Even better telematics services of course, Toyota Motor Corp. and Microsoft Corp has just announced their partnership to build a global platform for Toyota’s next generation telematics services.

Microsoft will be providing the Windows Azure platform onto the car company’s next gen telematics services. The company has delivered similar platforms to the automotive industry before, such as infotainment systems built on the Windows Embedded Automotive platform and in-car mapping services with Bing.

"Today's announcement of our partnership with TMC is a great example of how we continue to invest in the automotive industry and of our commitment to power the services that are important to consumers. It further validates the power of the cloud, as the Windows Azure platform will provide the enterprise-grade, scalable platform that TMC needs to deliver telematics in its automobiles worldwide." -- Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO.

Dell Upgrades Their Commitment to Team Lotus

For years, Dell (www.dell.com) has been working with quite a number of Formula One team and organizations such as the now defunct BMW Sauber F1 Team and the engine specialist Cosworth, in order to help them run their operations smoothly on daily basis. Since late 2009, they have been involved with Team Lotus (www.teamlotus.co.uk) as an Official Supplier and this year, they have decided to upgrade their commitment to the team by becoming one of Team Lotus’ Technology Partner.

“We have been working with Team Lotus as an Official Supplier since day one of this amazing story. Formula One would not function without technology, it is simply right at the heart of everything that powers the sport on and off track, and we have been lucky enough to play an integral role in the establishment and development of the team since it first gained its entry in September 2009. I see this partnership continuing to grow,” - Andy Lark, Chief Marketing Officer, Enterprise and Public Marketing, Dell Corporation.

HP Advances Scalable Cloud Computing with 3PAR Utility Storage

A couple of months ago, HP spent a whopping USD$2.4billion to purchase 3PAR. Since then, the company has already released several systems that uses 3PAR technology and now, the company has just announced the integration of 3PAR Utility Storage across the HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio to simplify scalable cloud computing as well as new storage solutions for virtualization and data duplication.

Managing an exploding amount of data within an enterprise is never an easy (or cheap) task especially if the data is structured and cannot share the same storage as other structured and unstructured data. With the integration, clients will be able to consolidate storage hardware to respond to explosive data growth to address with these challenges with converged block-and-file storage on a single storage array. They will also be able to enjoy automated storage tiering to improve performance and thin storage offerings to eliminate over-provisioning.

“Our clients tell us their journey to the cloud will be one of the most critical transitions for them this decade. HP 3PAR Utility Storage meets their demand for a new storage architecture specifically designed for IT as a Service. The integration of 3PAR with Converged Infrastructure is ahead of schedule and HP is poised to take clients to levels of agility and efficiency they’ve never experienced before.” – Mike Prieto, Vice President and General Manager, StorageWorks, HP Asia Pacific and Japan.

AMD Quietly Brings Out The New Radeon HD 6790

It is not often that a new graphic card entered the market without any buzz whatsoever. So, this release of the latest AMD Radeon 6000 series GPU - the Radeon HD 6790 - kind of caught us by surprise.

The Radeon HD 6790 offers the same amount of capabilities as the older Radeon HD 5770 such as 800 stream processors and 40 texture units but with a wider 256-bit memory bus and slower processor’s clock speed at 840MHz; together with 4,200MHz memory clock for its 1GB GDDR5 memory. It also comes with a price tag that begins at around RM 455 (USD 150) which puts it as an attractive solution for users that are looking for low-end to mid-end graphic cards.

A number of AMD partners such Power Color, Sapphire and XFX already shipping this new card to stores everywhere, so check them out with your favourite retailer or visit www.amd.com for further info.

[Source: Electronista, HEXUS and AMD] 

 Article From: Lowyat