Retina MacBook Pro is the 'least repairable laptop'
The poor laptop has only been out for a few days and someone has already stripped it down to its most basic components. That's right, iFixIt has pulled the $2000+ laptop apart and found some interesting things, along with taking lots of pictures. The short summary is that they say it is the least repairable laptop they have ever taken apart.
Kyle Wiens says:
Continue reading: Retina MacBook Pro is the 'least repairable laptop' (full post)
Five overclocking records managed at Computex using GSKILL memory
If you'll remember back to our pre-Computex coverage, we explained how there would be a panel of overclocking experts at GSKILL's booth. Those overclockers weren't just there to look good and answer questions; they were actually overclocking and attempting for some world records. During Computex 2012, they managed 5 new world records.
Super Pi 32M - 4mins 44.734sec
With the astonishing G.SKILL memory speed of DDR3 2646MHz CL5-9-7-18 1T, the two legendary overclockers, Fredyama-san and Shamino have both achieved the super fast Super Pi 32M score at 4mins 44.734sec with ASUS Maximus V Formula motherboard and Intel Core i7 3770K CPU.
Continue reading: Five overclocking records managed at Computex using GSKILL memory (full post)
RumorTT: 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro Retina Display-powered model to hit in October
Apple are set to release a Retina Display-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro in October of this year, according to an insider, reports Apple Insider. Apple are expected to ramp up the production of the 13-inch next-generation MacBook Pro powered by their high-res Retina Display in September.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI has said that Apple has the "highest hopes" for the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Retina Display. The 13-inch model wasn't unveiled at the WWDC because of low yields and greater assembly difficulty, says Kuo.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display will also be sans optical drive, and will rely solely on solid-state flash memory storage. We should expect the screen to sport a resolution of 2560x1600, and be thinner than the 15-inch model, at 18mm. The 13-inch model will also not sport discrete NVIDIA Kepler graphics, and will rely on just the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics.
Upcoming dual-GPU AMD card pictured
In addition to showing off AMD's future roadmaps, Mark Papermaster showed off a cool triple-fan professional graphics card called the FirePro W9000. The card is detailed in the slide shown below and is meant to be a professional version of the 7970. Curiously enough, however, is the fact that the card he held up and the card in the slide appear very different.
Cyril Kowaliski of TechReport noticed the difference as well and put a call into AMD's Dave Erskine to get an answer. Erskine would only say that it was a "dual-GPU product that will be released later this year." Taking a good educated guess, I would say that the card is most likely a 7970x2 (7990?), or in other words, two 7970 chips on one PCB.
After all, AMD has to compete with NVIDIA's dual-Kepler beast, the GTX 690. AMD has been making dual-GPU consumer cards for something like 4 generations now (3870x2) and were rumored to be debuting one at Computex. That debut never occurred, but it seems unlikely that they wouldn't produce a dual-7970 card. The release time frame also indicates that it should be of the Tahiti flavor.
Continue reading: Upcoming dual-GPU AMD card pictured (full post)
AMD details new mobile, server roadmaps
At the end of the Fusion Developer Summit, Mark Papermaster, AMD Executive VP and CTO, produced some roadmaps which provided us a small glimpse into the future plans of AMD. AMD is looking to bring three new APUs to market in 2013 and 3 new server chips later this year. With the come new updated core architectures.
Let's start with the APUs. AMD is planning 3 different versions for various markets. The top APU is codenamed 'Kaveri' and will feature 4 Steamroller cores. Steamroller is the successor to the Bulldozer/Piledriver cores. This APU will feature fully shared memory with the GPU and have 15-35W thermal envelopes and be used in 13.3-15.6" notebooks with thicknesses of 0.83" or less.
The middle APU is codenamed 'Kabini' and will be the successor to the Zacate and Ontario APUs. The Kabini APU will sport Jaguar cores which are the next iteration of the Bobcat core architecture. Thermals will be in the 9-25W range and be used in 11.6-15.6" notebooks with thicknesses in the neighborhood of 0.71-0.94". The bottom APU, 'Temash,' will be similar and manage to fit into a thermal envelope of 3.6W. Wow.
Continue reading: AMD details new mobile, server roadmaps (full post)
Samsung denies they are working on a 'Samsung Facebook', calls it a groundless rumor
We reported yesterday that Samsung was working on a Facebook competitor. We cited a Korea Times article as the source. Samsung has come out today on their official blog and denied the claim saying that it was groundless. They are saying that it is a rumor and no such project exists. They do admit to upgrading "Family Story," however.
The full denial, as seen in the blog post, is quoted below for reference:
Western Digital introduces My Net home networking gear
Western Digital, a manufacturer known for their hard drives and not networking gear, has entered a new market today with the release of a new line of home networking gear called My Net. The new family of products contains a Gigabit switch, three dual-band Wi-Fi routers, and one dual-band router with 1TB or 2TB of network attached storage.
First off, the new N900 Central is a router that features built-in network attached storage. Speeds of up to 900Mbps are possible thanks to the dual-band connectivity. It features the typical 4+1 Ethernet connections for wired networking and comes with a USB for printers or additional storage. The basic N900 is almost the same except it trades the storage for an extra USB and 3 more LAN ports.
The N750 and N600 both feature 5 GigE ports but that is where the similarities end. The N750 can manage 750Mbps and features 2 USB ports. Meanwhile, the N600 can only reach a combined speed of 600Mbps and only features one USB port. The My Net Switch doesn't have any storage, router, or wireless functions, but instead provides 8 GigE ports.
Continue reading: Western Digital introduces My Net home networking gear (full post)
Drox Operative, a new starship action RPG, is available for pre-order, get access to beta, other perks
Drox Operative is a space-based RPG with warring alien races, fierce space battles, a dynamic, evolving galaxy, and co-op multiplayer. The game is now available for pre-order at a reduced price of $14.99. With your pre-order purchase, you will gain access to the latest beta build, forums for feedback, and the final game when it is released.
A bit more about the game from the company itself since they know more about it than anyone:
Online retailer charges tax for using Internet Explorer 7
In a hope to "make the internet a better place," an online retailer in Australia has decided that they have had enough developing for Internet Explorer 7. Hence, they are now charging a fee to users who insist on using the old, out-of-date browser which is extremely hard to make webpages look correct in.
Ruslan Kogan is now charging a 6.8% fee on any purchase made using the old browser in order to offset the cost of maintaining the site to be compatible with Internet Explorer 7. Dubbed "Internet Explorer 7 Tax," users are made aware of the issue via a popup. However, it's not clear just how much of an issue it is.
Internet Explorer 7 makes up only 2.99% of internet traffic, so it wouldn't kill their business not to support it if it did cost this much. It would appear that this is more of a publicity stunt than an actual business need. Kogan insists that Internet Explorer 7 use is a problem in an interview:
Continue reading: Online retailer charges tax for using Internet Explorer 7 (full post)
Enhanced version of 'My Xbox LIVE' app arrives on iOS, Android
The My Xbox LIVE for iPhone app has been updated, which lets you find, learn more about, and control your favorite content from popular entertainment services on Xbox 360. But, it gets better: you can control the content on your console with play, pause, fast forward and rewind controls directly from the confort of your iPhone, on your lounge, bed or bean bag!
The good news doesn't stop there, My Xbox LIVE for iPad has also been updated. The new app sports Retina Display support, as well as improved authentication making connecting your iPad with your Xbox LIVE account easier than it has ever previously been. And for the first time on Android, the free My Xbox LIVE app lets you read and send messages to friends, manage your friends list and invite new friends, read and edit your full LIVE profile (name, bio, motto), change your avatar features and items with the avatar closet, and view and compare your achievement progress with friends.
Some of the updates coming for the iOS version are:
Continue reading: Enhanced version of 'My Xbox LIVE' app arrives on iOS, Android (full post)