Cpu Reviews

Intel may have the nettop and netbook markets cornered with its Atom processor, but that could quickly change if PC manufacturers become enamored with VIA’s Nano processor, which has been shown to hold its own in benchmarking next to the much more popular Atom. Giving PC makers a nudge, VIA plans to launch its next-generation Nano 3000-series CPU in the third quarter of 2009, with engineering samples being made available in Q1 2009, according to DigiTimes. The new chip will be produced under Fujitsu’s 65nm manufacturing process and will be the first Nano processor to support SSE4 instructions.

Also on tap is a dual-core Nano. A previous roadmap showed the two-cored chip going into production in June 2010, which could give Intel a significant headstart should the company decide to port its existing dual-core Atom 330 CPU over to netbooks instead of just nettops. But now it appears VIA will have engineering samples available in the second half of 2009, with mass production to begin by the end of 2009 or very early 2010.

It has not yet been decided whether the dual-core Nano will use Fujitsu’s 45nm manufacturing process or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC’s) 40nm process. But no matter which direction VIA takes its dual-core Nano part, the company could put itself in a favorable position if it doesn’t run into any delays and makes its two-core chip available for use in netbooks, which have become increasingly powerful as of late.

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Acer definitely wins the prize for being first out the gate with a machine running Intel’s latest addition to its processor line up, the ultra cheap quad core Q9000. However, now that it’s all official and out in the open…

The netbook market what it is today, it’s no real surprise to hear companies are working on a chip in the hopes of grabbing some of the market share currently dominated by Intel’s Atom processor.

HP is reportedly in talks with Intel regarding the restrictions in place on the Atom processor.

Forgive us if we’re starting to sound like a broken record, but AMD continues to find itself struggling to stay afloat. The chip maker’s list of financial woes just keeps piling on, and to date we’ve witnessed high level executives jumping ship, a new CEO take the reins, billions of dollars in quarterly losses, a Phenom(enal) flop (compared to pre-release hype), a major shift in business operations by splitting into separate design and manufacturing companies, and now another round of layoffs.

AMD has been cutting employees more frequently than some people cut their hair. Earlier this year, the Santa Clara chip maker reduced its workforce by 10 percent, and more recently, the company said it would be cutting another 500 jobs to reduce costs. Now AMD is saying it plans to issue another 100 pink slips, for a grand total of 600 job cuts in this quarter alone.

The additional layoffs means AMD will record $70 million in restructuring charges instead of the $50 million it had previously expected. More charges are expected in the first half of 2009, though AMD didn’t say what they would amount to.

Here’s hoping Phenom II kicks ass and finally reverses the company’s fortunes. If not, one has to wonder just how long AMD can keep this up.

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During a recession people resign themselves to the fact that they’re going to have to cut down on some luxuries — and more often than not, gadgets and hardware often find themselves a place on the list of items people can’t afford to buy…

Details of the recent layoffs and financial restructuring of Advanced Micro Devices’ are laid bare in a recent SEC filing. The filing shows the company laid off 600 people, 100 more than the initial figure of 500 a company spokesperson announced…

Unlike in the desktop market where quad-core computing has become commonplace, the four-core revolution has yet to make any real headway into the mobile sector. That might change soon as Intel has launched an affordable quad-core mobile chip.

The new Q9000 processor comes listed at $348, which is far easier to swallow than the $1,038 asking price for the existing mobile quad-core QX9300, or $851 for the Q9100. To make the lower price point possible, Intel cut the amount of cache in half from 12MB (QX9300 and Q9100) to 6MB. The Q9000 races along at 2.0GHz.

Acer has already jumped on board as one of the first OEMs to announce a Q9000-based laptop, the Aspire 8930G-7665, priced at $1,800. In addition to utilizing Intel’s new quad-core chip, the Aspire also comes with an 18.4-inch WUXGA screen and GeForce 9700M GT GPU.

In other mobile chip news, Intel announced a handful of new dual-core mobile processors. These include the T9800 (2.93GHz, $530), P9600 (2.66GHz, $348), T9550 (2.66GHz, $316), and the P8700 (2.53GHz, $241).

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