AMD’s Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 graphics cards are here, but they might not be what you expect — though alphanumerics suggest they’d succeed the lauded Radeon HD 5870 and 5850, these new “Bart” chips are actually a pair of solid plays for the PC gaming mainstream. $180 buys you a Radeon HD 6850 with 960 stream processors, a 775MHz core clock and 1GB of GDDR5 memory at a 1GHz effective rate, and $240 nets the HD 6870 with 1120 stream processors and 900MHz / 1,050 MHz clocks respectively. On paper that puts them a good bit behind the finest, but a collection of reviews show they can keep up with the pack, as the 6870 consistently manages to surpass the framerates possible with NVIDIA’s $200 GeForce GTX 460 , and even the cheaper 6850 can do the same in certain games. Some reports indicate they run a good bit hotter than their predecessors, however, so despite the bevy of ports they’re probably not right for your next HTPC. Hit up the reviews below for some promising benchmarks, and if you aren’t turned away by AMD’s lipsticking of the pig , you’ll find ten varieties already for sale at our source link. PR after the break. Read (1) , (2) – Guru3D Read – HardOCP Read (1) , (2) – Bit-tech Read – PC Perspective Read – Legit Reviews Read – Techgage Read (1) , (2) – TweakTown Read – Hexus Read (1) , (2) – TechPowerUp Continue reading ATI Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 reviewed, deemed worthy of the midrange ATI Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 reviewed, deemed worthy of the midrange originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Edward, who isn’t afraid of making us all envious by asking for tips on a monstrous monitor. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com . Hey, I run a small graphic design business in South Yorkshire, UK. Currently we use HP’s LP2475w as our workstation monitors, and are looking for something newer. Since I hate to downgrade electrical stuff, the only logical step would be to 30-inch monitors. They need to have an HDMI input as well as DVI since we’ve a VAIO Z in the office whose only output is HDMI. The other important factors are accurate color (so I guess an IPS panel) without ridiculous pricing. I’m looking at
Continue reading …AngelBird’s PCIe SSD solution brings breakneck speeds, achievable prices, ‘incremental awesomeness’
October 22, 2010 No Comment
PCIe SSD solutions tend to be two things: stupidly fast and stupidly expensive. With read performance of up to 1GB/s and writes happening at up to 900MB/s the Angelbird Wings solution certainly has the speed. And, at a starting price of $239 for a 16GB model, the pricing isn’t too bad — for this sort of setup, anyway. What you’re getting for that money is an expandable PCIe controller board with slots for up to four SSDs of 120GB in size, each offering SandForce 1200 controllers. With one board you’ll get pedestrian read and write speeds of just under 300MB/s. But, with each new drive you basically multiply that, with the maximum figures quoted above coming with four. Interestingly, the controller comes with its own onboard Linux flavor called Virtue, a full UI that you can boot directly into and get all your RAID ducks in a row. Full cost for a fully kitted out system with four boards? $1399, which is hardly cheap for a mere 500GB or so of storage, but is a solid price for 1GB/s performance. AngelBird’s PCIe SSD solution brings breakneck speeds, achievable prices, ‘incremental awesomeness’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Atheros Hybrid system merges WiFi with powerline networking in one tidy bundle
October 22, 2010 No Comment
Network routers are increasingly becoming our portals to the world, and the latest model from Atheros , the Hybrid Router, is making that doorway wider than ever. Naturally it supports 802.11 WiFi and Ethernet, just like any good bit of networking kit, but it also adds in HomePlug AV powerline networking. By just plugging the thing’s AC adapter into the wall you’re extending your network signal throughout your abode and, by plugging in one of the company’s Ethernet or WiFi adapters, you can extend your access to places that even microwaves fear to tread. Atheros hasn’t announced pricing for the Hybrid Router or either the wired or wireless powerline range extenders, but all are said to be shipping before the end of the year, so we’ll all be finding out soon enough. Continue reading Atheros Hybrid system merges WiFi with powerline networking in one tidy bundle Atheros Hybrid system merges WiFi with powerline networking in one tidy bundle originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Nope, you’re not dreaming, but feel free to pinch yourself, rub your eyes or take a cold shower! You’ve read right — the HP Slate is finally official, and after all the teasing , back and forth , and ( very recent ) leaks , the Atom-powered, Windows 7 Slate will finally see the light of day — though in a different way than originally intended. While the first videos released by HP may have made it seem like it would be for consumers, HP’s tactfully changed its tune (don’t forget it’s got Palm / WebOS tablets on the way) and is now aiming the Slate at the enterprise and business market. Still, it will be available on HP’s site for $799 to anyone who wishes to purchase one. So, what does $800 of your hard earned cash buy you? Well, in addition to the dock and case, which are included in the box, the tablet packs pretty much everything we’d heard over the last year — it’s powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD and packs Broadcom’s Crystal HD accelerator for handling 1080p video. (The included dock has an HDMI-out port if you want to hook it up to the big screen.) Obviously, the 8.9-inch capacitive touch Slate runs Windows 7 Professional, but it’s got a Wacom active digitizer for taking notes, which certainly sets it apart from the other Win 7 tablets we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks. Oh, and don’t forget its front facing VGA cam and 3 megapixel camera on its back. We got a chance to finally grope the tablet earlier this week, so hit the break for our early impressions and a short video. Gallery: HP Slate press shots Continue reading HP Slate 500 finally (finally!) official, rings up at $799 HP Slate 500 finally (finally!) official, rings up at $799 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Surprise of surprises! On the day that Europeans finally got to dig into the Windows Phone 7 cake in earnest, Twitter’s official app for the hot new platform has also gone live. We’ve downloaded it to our own WP7 device and are having a play around with it now. If you need a refresher as to what it looks like, check out the video after the break. Update: Okay, we can neither log in nor get signed up at present, though others have clearly achieved the feat already. Twitter.com itself keeps alternating between its new and old versions, so we suspect there’s quite a bit of work going on in the background at present. To answer your queries, loading time from the Live Tile menu to the top tweets page above is approximately three seconds, while scrolling is basically identical to the perfection available on WP7′s own apps. Swiping laterally gets you into Trends, Suggested, and Nearby categories which take a couple of moments to load up their tweets, but otherwise match the performance. Exiting to the Live Tile menu throws you out of whatever you were doing and re-entering the app — as is par for the WIndows Phone 7 course right now — means starting from scratch. The only way you can save you state is by locking the phone, which takes a second or two to resume from its locked state and returns you to the exact point you were at. Great, now let us in, Twitter! Continue reading Official Twitter app for Windows Phone 7 goes live Official Twitter app for Windows Phone 7 goes live originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …HP Slate 500 unicorns its way into e-tailers with product code, leaked documents
October 22, 2010 No Comment
We’d heard the HP Slate finally had a date with destiny (and corporate pocketbooks) sometime this fall , and it’s looking like the device is nigh — a number of boutique online retailers are taking orders for an HP Slate 500, which purportedly comes with an Intel Atom Z540 CPU, 8.9-inch WSVGA LED-backlit screen, 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 64GB solid state drive, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a webcam, a two-cell battery and Windows 7 Professional installed, all for somewhere around the vicinity of $800 to $900. What’s more, CNET ‘s just stumbled upon a document that apparently details the same, plus an HP Slate Digital Pen (no doubt for those who abhor sausages ) and a rear-facing 3 megapixel camera. We’d chalk up the CNET leaks to old prototype documentation and the e-tailer product listings to wishful thinking if either appeared on their own, but together we have to imagine there’s some sort of wind a’ blowing. HP Slate 500 unicorns its way into e-tailers with product code, leaked documents originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’re having a party, where are you? If you happen to be in the NY area, feel free to drop by, we’ll be here at Espace in Manhattan until 10:30PM. Thanks again to Sprint for sponsoring, and all the exhibitors, which include Sony PlayStation, Research In Motion, Palm, Sony VAIO, Bug Labs, Panasonic, Nokia, Sling, Roku, Sonos, Boxee, Peek, and many more. We’ll be streaming live to Ustream with an EVO 4G, among other shenanigans, and we’ll try to update this post with photos and text throughout the night. More details on how to get here and what to expect can be found at this hyperlink . Update: Here’s the Ustream, live from an EVO 4G courtesy of Sprint. We’ll try to keep it live for as long as we can! The chat is here , if you want to hang out. Continue reading Live from the Engadget reader meetup in NYC Live from the Engadget reader meetup in NYC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Cathay Pacific has already promised that it would bring 50Mbps in-flight broadband to some of its fleet by 2012, but it looks like Boeing has beat it to the punch to become the first to actually take the service to the skies. The company has just announced the first certification and installation of Panasonic Avionics’ eXConnect in-flight internet service in one of its Boeing Business Jet 737 aircraft, which will initially be used by Panasonic itself for ongoing testing and demonstrations. That’s the same system that will be used by Cathay Pacific, and consists a fuselage-mounted antenna that communicates with a network of satellites to deliver speeds of up to 50Mbps, or about a hundred times faster than most competing in-flight WiFi. Unfortunately, there’s still no word on any further expansion to commercial aircraft, so Cathay Pacific may well still wind up being the first in that respect. Full press release is after the break. Continue reading Boeing installs 50Mbps eXConnect broadband on 737 Boeing installs 50Mbps eXConnect broadband on 737 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Yes, folks, it’s true: Engadget’s capable of scooping itself at its own reader meetup , as evidenced by the BlackBerry Style we just checked out at RIM’s booth here. The phone is pretty much what you’d expect from what you’ve seen in the shots so far, essentially a clamshell riff on the Curve line; to that end, we’d argue that it feels a little cheaper than your average Bold, but it still seems to be a marked improvement from the Pearl flips of days gone by — and at $99 on contract, we think that’s exactly the market they were likely going for. Interestingly, the keyboard looks more like a Bold component than a Curve one… and depending on the faction of BlackBerry users you fall into, that’s either a very good or a very bad thing. Like the old Pearl flips, the Style’s definitely large and in charge, boasting dimensions barely smaller than the Bold — when closed! Check out the gallery below. Gallery: BlackBerry Style hands-on BlackBerry Style first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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