AMD Benches FX-Series Bulldozer Against Intel CPUs

At the same time with Intel's IDF, AMD is hosting its own press event meant to showcase the company's latest technologies and chips, and one of the most interesting demonstrations to take place over there is a comparison between a yet-unreleased FX-Series processor and some Intel Core CPUs. AMD hasn't disclosed the specs of the Bulldozer processor that is used for this comparison, but two different scenarios are being shown to demonstrate the power of its chips. The first one of these pits an eight-core AMD FX processor against an unspecified Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge CPU, both systems running Handbrake to convert a 5-minute H.264 video in SD resolution. According to Hardware Info, the Bulldozer chip performs this task with an average of 223...

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Ballmer: Windows Phone Sees Slow Sales, But the Future is Bright

Microsoft is confident that their Windows Phone operating system will conquer more hearts than other mobile platforms out there, and that it will prove one of the top OSes on the smartphone market, the company's CEO has confirmed once again.  For the time being, however, things are not as good as Microsoft might have hoped for, with Windows Phone devices taking off shelves at a slow pace, but the future should change that, it seems.  Steve Balmer, Microsoft's CEO, confirmed that sales have been disappointing, but he also stressed on the fact that they are making progress with the new OS release, Mango.  “We haven’t sold quite as many as I would have liked in the first year,” Ballmer said, speaking at the company’s financial analyst meeting, AllThingsD reports. “I’m not saying...

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Windows 8 Reset and Refresh Make Reinstalling Obsolete

With the introduction of two amazing new features in Windows 8, Microsoft has virtually made reinstalling obsolete.  Literally with just the push of a button, well, of a Metro option in the revamped Control Panel, and no effort at all from users, Windows 8 can either be Refreshed or Reset entirely.  The two are different, and customers should not think of the old refresh option that came with the contextual menu when right clicking the desktop. Refresh is about stripping down all changes that users introduced to Windows 8 in terms of settings, save for their personalization options. In this regard, Windows 8 Refresh can be thought of as a basic Reset.  “Your files and personalization will not change. Your PC settings will be...

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Apple Enables Lion Internet Recovery with Macbook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2

Apple has released a new firmware update for owners of 2011 MacBook Pro models with the purpose of enabling a new software component - Lion Internet Recovery, as well as to fix a number of issues. According to the technology mammoth headquartered at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, “[Macbook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2] enables Lion Internet Recovery which starts Lion Recovery directly from Apple servers over a broadband Internet connection if the built-in recovery is unavailable.” Lion Recovery is a new feature introduced in Mac OS X 10.7 which lets you restore system software to your Mac without having to use install discs or drives. Some recently discovered issues are also addressed with Macbook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2, Apple says: “It also includes fixes that resolve issues...

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AMD Demos Trinity Powered Notebook

Just a block away from the Intel Developer Forum, AMD is hosting its own press event, which, apart from the Radeon HD 7000 GPU series demo we reported about yesterday, also includes a notebook that is powered by an upcoming Trinity APU. The system was showcased running Deux Ex right next to an Intel Sandy Bridge laptop, the AMD machine handling the game with a lot more ease than its counterpart, as you can clearly see from the video enclosed in this article. AMD expects Trinity to be 50% more powerful that the A-Series Llano APUs that were launched in mid-June. Much of this power comes from the inclusion of Bulldozer x86 CPU cores, which will be paired together with an updated DX11 GPU architecture. The Bulldozer cores used in Trinity will...

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