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Toshiba’s First Laptops with New AMD Platform, are Out

Toshiba on Wednesday introduced laptops powered by the new Puma-based processors recently announced by Advanced Micro Devices.

AMD’s new Turion X2 Ultra ZM processors will be included in Toshiba’s new Satellite PCs, which will ship later this year, a Toshiba spokesman said.

The Turion X2 Ultra processor is part of the Puma platform launched by AMD on Tuesday. The processors come in two speeds: the ZM-80 runs at 2.1GHz and comes with 2M bytes of cache, while the Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86 runs at 2.4GHz and includes 2M bytes of cache.

Along with the Turion Ultra ZM, Toshiba said two other chips from AMD — Athlon Dual Core QL and Turion Dual Core RM — will be offered in the Satellite P300D, Satellite A300D, Satellite M300D, Satellite U400D, Satellite L300D and Satellite L350D laptops. It wasn’t immediately clear what processors each laptop would come with.

During the Puma launch, AMD said it had won notebook designs for the platform from PC makers including Acer, Asus, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, NEC and Toshiba. About one-third of laptop designs have 15-inch screens, with other models having screen sizes from 12 inches to 18 inches.

Puma laptops are designed to run Windows Vista, AMD has said.

The Puma platform also includes the mobile AMD 7-series chipset and ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series graphics cards. The Puma platform supports hybrid graphics technology, which boosts the platform’s graphics performance by running both the integrated graphics processor and a separate graphics card.

GIGABYTE to Showcase Lineup of New Motherboards

GIGABYTE United is set to showcase its range of new motherboards for Intel and AMD CPUs. On display at Computex will be the live demo of GIGABYTE’s flagship P45 motherboard, the GA-EP45-EXTREME that is designed for extreme overclocking.  Based on the latest Intel P45 chipset with support for Intel multi-core processors up to FSB 1600MHz, the motherboard makes one supports ATI CrossFireX Technology with 2 PCI Express 2.0 x 8 interfaces, and dual LAN.

The GA-EP45-EXTREME is also equipped with GIGABYTE’s unique Hybrid Silent-Pipe slot cooling system which utilizes the natural convection of air inside and outside the chassis to dramatically and noiselessly cool down the North Bridge, South Bridge and CPU MOSFETs without the use of a fan. The GIGABYTE Hybrid Silent-Pipe can also be used with water block cooling systems for additional enhanced thermal performance.

Also on display will be the GIGABYTE GA-EG45M-DS2H, an integrated graphics solution based on the Intel G45 chipset. It is meant for building digital home theater systems and features the latest GIGABYTE Dynamic Energy Saver technology and Ultra Durable 2 design, providing optimized power savings, ultra cooling performance and extended system durability.

On the AMD side, the GA-MA790GP-DS4H features AMD 790GX chipset with integrated ATI Radeon HD 3300 DirectX 10 graphics engine and support for the latest AMD Phenom quad-core processors including a 4+1 phase power design to support 125W TDP and above processors.

In addition to support for HDMI 1.3, DVI and HDCP interfaces, the GA-MA790GP-DS4H includes support for ATI’s Hybrid CrossFireX and CrossFireX technology as well as dedicated 128MB DDR3 SidePort memory. GIGABYTE also includes the ALC889A high performance audio codec and powerful Dolby Home Theater suite of audio technologies making it suitable for ultimate home theater usage.

GIGABYTE Ultra Secure and Ultra Power Efficient Technologies

New GIGABYTE Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced
According to GIGABYTE, its new Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced provides better energy saving capabilities and enhanced system performance. The company says, GIGABYTE Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced is the world’s only motherboard energy saving technology with hardware-based Dynamic 6-Gear* Switching. With support for VRD 11.1, GIGABYTE’s DES Advanced allows the motherboard to switch to 1 Gear phase switching during idle, allowing for a dramatic increase in power savings.

Ultra TPM – Dta Security via onboard TPM

With a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip built-in, GIGABYTE provides TPM hardware-based encryption and decryption with digital signature keys to ensure a maximum level of data protection with 2048 bit encryption. GIGABTE’s Ultra TPM provides an added layer of security by allowing users to store their digital signature key on a USB thumb drive, so that when they step away from their system, they can take the key with them, locking up their data and preventing unauthorized access while they are away.

Gigabyte products are distributed in India by Avnet (India), Ingram Micro and Redington. The Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME is priced at Rs. 21,000.

HTC Intros Touch Pro, a Business-Centric Version of Touch Diamond

High Tech Computer on Wednesday announced the Touch Pro, a business handset a similar design to the iPhone rival, HTC Touch Diamond revealed last month to great fanfare.

Touch Pro shares the curved diamond backside of its sister handset, but it’s thicker due to the Qwerty-keypad that slides out for easy thumb typing. The keypad also includes a fifth row, a top line with numbers, which HTC handset keypads have not had in the past.

Also like the Touch Diamond, the Touch Pro is a 3G (third generation mobile telecommunications) smartphone running Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS. The 2.8-inch screen on front is made for easy touch navigation using HTC’s TouchFlo touchscreen software.

Touch Pro marks the second 3G touchscreen handset HTC has announced head of the 3G iPhone. Last year, the company launched its popular Touch smartphone a few weeks ahead of the iPhone and has sold 3 million since then.

Apple has not formally announced a launch date for its 3G iPhone, but some speculate it may be out this month.

Touch Pro is aimed at business users who need the keypad and message/e-mail functions. An HTC representative said the device will be out globally around August.

The smartphone works on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) networks. For mobile Internet access, it offers data rates up to 7.2M bits per second using HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) on cellular networks, or via Wi-Fi 802.11b/g.

HTC Touch Pro also includes a video-out port so people hook the device up to a larger screen or television and project a bigger image, a boon for activities such as giving presentations.

Price information was not immediately available for the device. As a reference, Touch Diamond will cost around NT$26,000 ($857) when it launches in Taiwan next month. An EDGE-based (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) version of the Touch Diamond launched in India last month at a price of Rs. 27,500 ($646).

The price reflects some of the expensive features on board the device, which are similar to the Touch Pro; including GPS (Global Positioning System) and a 3.2-megapixel camera.