News Bits: AMD, Dell Record Sales, nVidia 6800, Samsung Q30, Half Life 2

AMD in the Spotlight, Dell Indicates Potential for Using AMD Processors

AMD is looking to take market share in the server, corporate desktop and notebook space using its x86 architecture. "We're talking x86 chips down to a buck," said AMD CEO Hector Ruiz at a conference on Friday.

AMD will release chips with two processing cores in 2005, and then follow in 2006 with chips based around a new chip core code-named Pacifica. The company is remaining secretive about Pacifica, butrevealed it will be a dual-core chip thatwill contain avirtualization technology--which will allow fora computer to run multiple operating systems.

Some more positive news for AMD came in the form of comments from Dell CEO Kevin Rollins. Rollins said on Friday during a Dell quarterly earning report, "We have been studying AMD closely. Some of their products are more advanced." Rollins had not more than a month ago said that Dell was not interested in AMD, but with these comments it appears Dell may indeed look to incorporating AMD processors in some of its products at some point down the road. And why not? AMD has beaten rival Intel Corp. to market with a new generation of 64-bit microprocessor chips and hasn't been stumbling like Intel has in releasing chips on time.

Two weeks ago inthe NotebookReview.comforums we started conducting a poll that asked the following question:

According to Dell CEO Kevin Rollins people do not care about Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and do not want the choice of an AMD 64 processor in their notebook. So what do you think?
Results:
I agree, Intel Pentium M chips are best for notebooks	[23%]	242 votes
Give me a choice of an AMD 64 processor at least	[50%]	519 votes
I will not buy a Dell notebook because they have no AMD processors	[22%]	231 votes
Who is AMD	[2%]	18 votes
I do not care what processor is in my notebook	[3%]	35 votes

As you can see, quite a few people would at least like to see AMD 64 processors offered by Dell and many are downright turned off because they don't. So, although Dell is pretty tight with Intel of course, there are some good reasons for them to consider AMD...especially if their customers would like them to.

for more info and news on AMD:

• http://news.com.com/AMD+sketches+out+new+high-end,+low-end+chips/2100-1006_3-5450745.html
• http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh48973_2004-11-12_00-17-28_n11730438_newsml
• Dell/AMD Forum Poll http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7365

Dell Notebook Shipments and Profits Rise, 35% More Notebooks Sold Year over Year

It seems Dell can do no wrong these days in regards to continuing to ship more notebooks and gain more market share the world over. The PChardware giant posting record revenues in the third quarter based on strong sales among all product areas and increased shipments to foreign markets.

Dell established an industry record for worldwide shipments, selling a combined eight million standards-based servers, notebook computers and desktop computers in the quarter. The company's shipment growth of 22 percent -- highlighted by a 35-percent increase in notebook computer volumes -- was double the rate of the industry excluding Dell.

Said CEO Kevin Rollins during a Friday earnings report, "We saw strong growth throughout our operations and had very good sales in areas outside the U.S.. And in the U.S., where we have the largest market share, we still saw significant growth, particularly among business customers."

Laptops with Nvidida Geforce Go 6800 Expected by Christmas

Laptops using the new nVidia 6800 graphics cardbased on a standard PCI Express bus should be available by Christmas.Nvidia claims that the 6800 uses less power and offers around twice the performance of ATI's most advanced mobile platform, the Mobility Radeon 9800.

The 6800 offers programmable video processing, with full-resolution video enhancement, high-definition TV support and Windows Media Video (WMV-HD) decode acceleration.

more: http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159328

Samsung to Release World's Lightest 12.1" Screen Laptop, Samsung Sense Q30

Samsung Electronics saidthis weekend thatit would soon beintroducing the lightest 12.1" screen laptop computer in the world.The Samsung Sense Q30 weighs only 1.08kg (2.38 lb), which makes it the lightest laptop in the 12.1" screen arena. The Sony VAIO X505 weighs a mere 1.85 lbs, but it only has a 10.6" screen.

Samsung Sense Q30

TheQ30 uses a decently sized18.5-mm-spaced keyboard, it can read five different flash memory cards, including Compact Flash (CF), SecureDigital (SD)and Memory Stick. It also comes with an onboard 3D sound hardware chip and stereo speakers.

The Q30should have abattery life of 3 hours and 30 minutes with one standard battery, and seven hourswhen using a high-capacity battery.

more: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200411/200411140016.html

Half Life 2 Arrives Tuesday 11/16/2004

This Fall we're seeing the release of several highly anticipated PC games. Doom 3, Sims 2 and now Half Life 2 to name a few. Half Life 2 from Sierrawill be available for purchase this Tuesday (11/16/2004)in stores around the country.

In Half Life 2 players again pick up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted and its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. Below are some screen shots of this world that Freeman must now conquer:

The price of this game will be around $49.99, click here for price comparison and where to buy on the web.