Mark Hachman

Dell held a press conference in Los Angeles to announce its next-generation XPS PCs, which will include a “mobile entertainment device” that uses aspects of notebook and desktop design. The new mobile Dell XPS M2010 will use articulated hinges to allow the device to fold up and be taken on the road. The Dell XPS […]

Advanced Micro Devices officially launched its “AM2” socket upgrade on May 23, as the company tied its microprocessor products to next-generation DDR2 memory and added support for virtualization technology. In support of the launch, AMD also added two new chips: an AMD64 2.8-GHz FX-62 processor, priced at $1,031; and an AMD 2.6-GHz 5000+ processor, priced […]

Is the hard drive history? Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it will launch two mobile computers in early June that will do away with hard drives altogether, replacing them with 32 gigabytes of NAND flash memory. The notebooks will be the first to use flash memory as the main storage device. The Samsung Q1, described […]

On May 17, Advanced Micro Devices launched a dual-core version of its mobile Turion chip, bringing its brand of dual-core technology to thin-and-light notebooks. In addition, the company said it had begun shipping a mobile Sempron chip, upgraded to include 64-bit capabilities. Both chips will be complemented by a forthcoming “whitebook” logo program, which will […]

A draft version of the 802.11n standard failed to pass a first ballot on May 2, leading existing 802.11n vendor Airgo to criticize existing “pre-802.11n” products that have already shipped. Although the 802.11n working group informally compromised on a draft standard in January, the 40-day letter ballot period closed May 2 without a formal 75 […]

The HyperTransport Consortium announced Version 3.0 of the technology on April 24, increasing the link throughput speed and physical distance, and adding an “unganged” mode that can split the available bandwidth into two distinct channels. Backplanes and components designed around the new backwards-compatible specification will be able to achieve throughputs of up to 2.6GHz, or […]

Following a quiet agreement on a joint IEEE mesh networking standard in March, companies like Motorola are announcing plans to move the technology into their own products. The Intel-and Firetide-led SEE Mesh, which had put forward a proposal to compete with Nortels Wi-Mesh Alliance, resolved their differences and moved forward with a joint proposal that […]

IBM said on March 30 that it has learned how to better control magnetic fields at the atomic level, a technique that it could use in the future to help design next-generation storage elements. In Science Express, Science magazines online journal for time-sensitive papers, IBM researchers will detail how they aligned chains of up to […]

Nvidia, in a partnership with AMD, has set out to oust Intel from the SMB channel. Nvidia has quietly contacted many of the top channel vendors and tier-2 and tier-3 system builders, attempting to put in place an Nvidia Business Platform that will certify new machines and put in place a stable image process that […]

Dell confirmed on March 22 that it had acquired boutique PC vendor Alienware, a move that will add some zing to the companys image. Although Dells acquisition was widely anticipated, Alienware CEO Nelson Gonzalez said that his company will remain a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell, continuing its own brand, design, sales and marketing, and support. […]