Fujitsu Computer Systems has announced the LifeBook S7211 14-inch notebook, aimed at cost-conscious small and medium size business customers.
The Fujitsu LifeBook S7211 starts at $899 and features the Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T2330 at 1.6 GHz or the Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 CPU at 1.5 GHz, depending on model. The notebook is based on the Intel GM965 chipset with the Graphics Media Accelerator X3100. This integrated GPU manages the S7211’s 14.1″ Crystal View widescreen display with a 1280-by-800 pixels resolution. The laptop features 1GB of DDR2 system memory, expandable to 4GB, a 120GB hard drive at 5,400rpm, and a modular bay, that fits an optical drive, an additional battery for up to 6.5 hours of run time, or a weight-saver.
Regarding networking and communications, the LifeBook S7211 incorporates the Atheros 802.11a/b/g LAN module, a Gigabit Ethernet connection, a 56k modem, and an optional Bluetooth.
It also has a built-in 1.3-megapixel web camera, three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, a 3-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA output.
The laptop weighs approximately 5.2 pounds with an optical drive.
The Fujitsu LifeBook S7211 comes with Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional preinstalled and is available through the Fujitsu’s online store.
Ditech, a local computer store here in Vienna Austria, has a notebook that comes with two 8700SLI. This 6.8KG heavy machine with 17 inch full HD 1920×1200 16:10 screen is one of the first 8700SLI machines that we’ve seen so far.
Each of these cards has 512MB memory and according to Nvidia this chip has 32 stream processors at 625MHz clock, 1250MHz shader clock and 800MHz for 128 bit memory. This is basically G84 chip just packed in notebook, with PowerMizer saving marchitecture enabled.
One of the most interesting facts is that Ditech Dimotion desktop replacement notebook actually uses an Intel P965 + ICH8-R chipset and I guess that this means that SLI works on Intel’s own chipset, you just need to buy that other chip from Nvidia.
The machine comes with three hard drives and can accommodate all Core 2 Duo and some Quads including Q6600 and Q6700. The Core 2 Duo will work all the way to 3GHz with E6850 with FSB 1333 which is a rather rare for notebooks.
You can configure and buy one here, and they start from €2999.
A few sources have confirmed that AMD’s 790FX might be the best overclocker of AMD CPUs so far. AMD’s upcoming Phenom CPUs will be good overclockers and there is a big chance that 2.4GHz K10 part overclocks all the way to 3.0GHz.
AMD partners are very happy with its AMD 790FX motherboards and so is AMD, as these boards will satisfy customers, and of course, they are ready to accommodate two or even four RV670 graphic boards.
The board works well with R680 dual RV670 card; so, at least on the platform side, AMD doesn’t have anything to worry about. However, I am not sure that the AMD CPU team sleeps very well these days.
The boards based on AMD 790FX chipsets are already out and you can buy one if you really try hard, but the official launch should be in some two weeks, together with Phenom’s and RV670 cards.
After rumours of a Google phone emerging over the last few weeks, Google has revealed its new phone operating system today, which will be known as Android. The OS should become available in the second half of 2008 and is expected to compete with the likes of Symbian OS and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. Google has also promised to offer strong support for third party applications (a Software Development Kit to will be available from 12th November) by allowing equal access to all the same capabilities as Google’s own applications, including user contacts, calendar and geographic locations. As well as this, Google has also formed an alliance of 34 companies, known as the Open Handset Alliance, which has helped to develop the OS and will continue to aid its growth and release. Among others, the alliance consists of powerful brands such as T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola. Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, said the following:
Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.
Hmmm, now that’s lovely. Imagine Crysis on that eh ? DailyTech reported that Toshiba’s new 22.2-inch TFT color LCD sports 3840 x 2400 resolution. Unfortunately, the other specifications for the display aren’t nearly as interesting as the resolution. The brightness is only 235 cd/m2; most high-end displays feature brightness in excess of 300 nits. The contrast ratio is 300:1 and the display can produce 16.7 million colors. Viewing angles are simply abysmal at 120 degrees horizontal and 100 degrees vertical.
Toshiba advertises that it will sell the display for 2,079,000 yen, or approximately $18,000 USD. Toshiba also lists a required video card at a price of 312,000 yen or about $2,700 USD, though most high-end video cards today should have no problem supporting ultra-dense resolution — but don’t expect a casual game of Crysis at that resolution. The ship date for the display is Q2 2008.
Asus is one of the first motherboard manufacturers to announce boards based on the new AMD 790FX chipset and the company has launched two boards, both supporting CrossFireX for up to four graphics cards.
The two boards are the M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP and the M3A32-MVP Deluxe, although this time it’s more than just an addition of a USB Wi-Fi card that differentiates between the two boards, as the M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP features Asus new Cool Mempipe Technology which adds two RAM sinks which are connected to the motherboards heatpipe cooling.
Asus claims that this will lower the memory temperature of DDR2 modules by up to 10°C. Both boards have four x16 PCIe 2.0 slots, although they can be run in a combination of dual x16, x16 and two x8 or four x8 depending on how many cards you install.
Both boards also have two PCI slots, six SATA, one eSATA, 7.1-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial S/PDIF, six rear USB 2.0 ports, FireWire and four memory slots for DDR2 memory and if you have an AM2+ CPU, the boards will accept 1,066MHz modules. Both boards also features 8+2 phase power regulation which should make these boards interesting for overclockers.
NVIDIA won’t be the only graphics card manufacturer to introduce a new GT this month. ATI is also shipping its HD 2900 GT video cards. The new cards are using different PCB with only one 8-pin power connector and 256MB/256bit GDDR3 memory. No information available on core and memory clock speeds. Price in Thailand should be around $195.
Update: core/memory speeds are 600MHz and 800MHz respectively.
Crytek’s Crysis demo just won’t stay under our radar. After the DX10 on DX9 script issue was discovered, a number of people started to scrutinize the script files. Now, we have yet another surprise to report about.
The new surprise comes in the form of guns, including nearly everything that you will be able to view in the full game. Next in line are vehicles, tanks, boats and helicopters. All you have to do is to download the “demofunmap #5″ from here, and then extract the level.pak to C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis SP Demo\Game\Levels\island, or whereever you installed the demo. Just be sure to back up the original level.pak so you don’t have to reinstall the demo.
It seems that Crytek has underestimated gamers’ curiosity and desire to look at the script files and editor. And stay off the center of the map, since it triggers the final cut scene and ends the demo. Have fun flying…..
MORE INFO ON AMD’s CrossFireX, or as the proles know it, quad-Crossfire has emerged.
Wily had some bits about it, and now we can flesh out more details.
First, it looks like this:
Second, the connectors, as you can see, need only one to go between cards, unlike what they have now where two are needed. This in effect gives them a lot more headroom, allowing even more-way CrossFire if need, or more likely if there is ever a board that has the PCIe2 lanes. That is nit-picky though. Third, the notes on the slides shown to the Inq say that only Dual is supported at launch with Triple and Quad in Q1, January is strongly suggested.
Last we are treated to another bar graph, eerily similar to the one VR-Zone printed. This on is a bit more specific, and lists Crossfire scaling at about 1.75x, 2.75x and 3.25x for 2, 3 and 4 card configurations. If those numbers look odd to you, well they do to me also, but the graphs are not all that blurry or small.
In any case, we are only two driver drops away from Quad, so I wouldn’t fret all that much. By the time you can get a Phenom at speed with an RS790 and 4 RV670s, or better yet R680s, the drivers will be there. I would look more toward National Kazoo Day than Humiliation Day though
You have probably read all the performance previews of Crysis, both under Windows Vista and XP. If you haven’t had a chance to check those out, the bottom line is that Windows XP performance is far better than Vista.
The “Very High” settings were Vista exclusive until someone decided to play around with .cfg files. According to the post made by “LennyRhys” user on the crysis-online.com forums, you can run the game with very high settings, even on your XP. Of course, you will get a 10 FPS drop, but it will look very close to Vista’s highly praised DX10 graphics.
According to that post, all you need to do is tweak the configuration files in \CVarGroups\ by copying “very high” lines and then paste them over the “high” settings lines and the game will load the highest possible settings. As you can see from the picture below, you get better shadows, the game looks more realistic and the water looks much more natural.
So there you have it. Crytek likes Vista more than XP. You can find more info here, and here are some pictures to show you the difference. Read the rest of this entry »
