Atlantic Beach

Atlantic Beach

Atlantic Beach welcomes new visitors and vacationers back with a hot sun and a wealth of activities. Enjoy the beautiful beaches and major attractions, while enjoying the historic beauty, heritage and amazing the area is known for.
They say there are at least 101 things to do on the coast of crystal, and we say with certainty that it is true. Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway and rivers winding, water-activities include boat tours, cruises, scuba diving, Tours Ecology, fishing piers and fishing, kayaking and boat rentals and more. Atlantic Beach offers one of the best dive destinations in the United States and its natural beauty is unmatched.
The story is also a major attraction at the Crystal Coast. Visitors can enjoy many fun activities along the beach of the Atlantic. For family fun, miniature golf, bumper cars and jetskis fabulous diversions.
Local heritage is also indicated in attractions such as the historic site and museum Core Sound Waterfowl. Skilled craftsmen also gathered along Atlantic Beach. Galleries, arts and entertainment and craft sales abound.
The Crystal Coast is a golfer's paradise with many top flight courses to choose from. With several golf courses in the region, such as Brandywine Bay, Star Hill and Silver Creek Golf Course, you can play from sun up to sundown.
Fall offers the North Carolina Seafood Festival the first week in October on the waterfront of Morehead City and Atlantic Beach King Makerel tournament in September.
Whether in spring, summer or fall, the beautiful Crystal Coast has something to offer everyone. Atlantic Beach offers the serenity of a lazy one week holiday and a weekend. Call our location in Atlantic Beach real estate and blue water vacation to find your "little place in the sun" today.

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Seagate Cutting Warranty

Seagate has decided to shorten the warranty period for most of its consumer-based hard drives in order to cut costs. The warranty affects only the channel drives that are sold through distributors, which is usually in bulk. Here is the list:

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A6-3500 Triple Core Imminent

News circulating about imminent availability of a new model of desktop APU based on Llano silicon, the A6-3500. Like the four other desktop variants of Llano, this processor will drop into a Socket FM1 motherboard and provide both CPU and graphics processing power to the system.



The specs for the A6-3500 almost exactly like the specs for the next model up, the A6-3600. Both run their CPU cores at 2.1GHz and can raise them to 2.4GHz via Turbo Core, both have 444MHz Radeon IGPs with 320 shader ALUs, and both will fit into a 65W TDP envelope. The difference? The A6-3500 has only three cores and 3MB of L2 cache, versus the A6-3600's quad cores and 4MB of L2.



The A6-3500 is priced at $95, about $40 below the fastest desktop Llano, the A8-3850.

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AMD Radeon Memory for Systems

No, this is not a joke, AMD has quietly started selling DDR3 system memory under its Radeon brand. AMD's website confirms the product's existence.



AMD says Radeon DDR3 memory is "ideally suited" to the company's CPU and APU, tested to the highest industry standards on AMD platforms to guarantee reliability and performance. Right now, the product line includes 2GB Entertainment modules (rated for operation at 1333MHz with 9-9-9 timings) and 2GB UltraPro Gaming modules (which can hit 1600MHz at 11-11-11). The company is also preparing Enterprise modules. All three modules are apparently designed to operate at their rated speeds with a 1.5V voltage setting—the JEDEC-specified standard for DDR3.

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Llano Chipsets and Socket

Llano processor is not the only component of the Lynx platform. It also uses chipsets. Since the APU already contains the memory and PCI Express bus controllers, the chipsets consist of only one chip – the South Bridge also known as FCH (Fusion Controller Hub).

AMD currently offers two FCH variants: A55 and A75. The A75 model has native support for all contemporary interfaces, including USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps. The lower-end model A55 supports only old SATA 3 Gbps and USB 2.0 interfaces.


Mainboards for desktop Llano processors based on the above described chipsets come with a special Socket FM1 which is incompatible with AM3. Socket FM1 has significantly different number of pins – 905. All these pins are necessary to ensure that the CPU is connected not only with the chipset and the memory sub-system, but also with the PCI Express x16 graphics bus and monitors.


For the cooling systems, AMD tried to maintain compatibility with the existing infrastructure, so the old Socket AM3 coolers will work just fine with the new processors.

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Desktop Llano Lineup

The first batch of desktop Llano processors includes four APU models with four x86 cores inside. Just like the mobile Llano APUs, they don’t have a marketing name and are assigned A8 and A6 series numbers. A8 series includes higher-end APU models with a "Sumo" graphics core featuring 400 stream processors, while the A6 series includes slower modifications with lower clock frequencies and “lighter” graphics core with only 320 stream processors.

Here is the complete list of currently available Llano processors for the desktop Lynx platform:


There are significant differences in the specs not only between the two different APU series. Two models within each series are, in fact, two totally different products with dramatically diverse heat dissipation levels. The highest-performing models have 100 W TDP, but at the same time there are models with 65 W TDP and Turbo Core support. The clock frequency of the energy-efficient processors has been reduced by about 20-25% below that of their 100 W counterparts, but the features and frequency of their graphics cores remain the same.

Llano’s clock speeds are lower than the frequencies reached by the latest Athlon II and Phenom II processors. And it means that Llano are slower processors, which major advantage will be not the performance of x86 cores, but the performance of their graphics core. So, it makes sense to upgrade from a Socket AM3 to a Socket FM1 platform only for the sake of achieving better energy-efficiency and not in an attempt to boost the performance.

In the desktop segment, AMD’s pricing strategy is to make the A8 Llano processors an alternative to junior Core i3 Sandy Bridge models. The A8-3850's main competition will be the US$134 Core i3-2105. This is a fairly new part which has the same CPU clock as the i3-2100 but a fully enabled HD Graphics 3000.

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Thermaltake Commander MS-I

Thermaltake's new Commander MS-I is the latest eSPORTS chassis for enthusiasts with a pretty affordable price (just $49.99).

It features a side window, a bottom-mounted PSU area, a black-tinted motherboard tray with cut-outs for cable management and behind the CPU socket, support for graphics cards as long as 12.5", a 120-mm silent LED fan at the back, and a multitude of tool-less drive bays. Three 5.25" bays and one 3.5" bay face the outside of the case, while an additional five 3.5" bays and one 2.5" bay can play host to your hard drives and SSDs. Built-in latest USB3.0 SuperSpeed connector (for VN400A1W2N only).

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Zosma Appeared at Japan

Still remember codename Zosma? It is a new Phenom II quad-core processor line based on the same six-core Thuban silicon, but with two cores disabled. Beside the two "potentially" unlockable cores, Zosma also brought the AMD's Turbo Core technology, which previously only found on Six Core Phenom II.

Phenom II X4 960T Black Edition "Zosma" recently spotted at Japan market. This quad-core chip with unlocked multipler comes with the part number HD96ZTWFK4DGR, and is sold in PIB (processor in a box) packages. The chip was tested to allow unlocking of the disabled fifth and sixth cores, proving it's based on the Zosma silicon. It comes with a stock clock speed of 3.00 GHz (15 x 200 MHz), but can bump clock speeds up to 3.40 GHz (17 x 200 MHz). The chip features 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 6 MB of shared L3 cache.

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Mobile A-series Llano finally launches

AMD has launched seven mobile parts of A-series "Llano" Fusion APU today, and the desktop models have yet to make an official appearance soon.


AMD is making some bold claims, in terms of battery life where the company is promising up to 10.5h of usable battery life. In fact, AMD claims that its A8-3510MX APU has 3.5h better battery life than a similar notebook with Intel's Core i5-2410M processor.



When it comes to graphics performance, AMD has always had a huge lead here over Intel, but AMD has thrown in a few new features that should further boost the appeal of its APUs. First up AMD has added what the company called Perfect Picture HD which is a post-processing option for cleaning up 1080p video, a feature that might prove popular with people shooting their own HD home videos. The second feature, called Steady Video is rather quite impressive, it actually pre and post processes the video to reduce camera shake and it even works with online videos.

As always, AMD is being very competitive on price and the company is expect notebook with its new APU's to start at US$499 with an A4 APU, whereas with an A6 we're looking at around US$599 and finally A8 models will come in at around US$699. Of course these are best case scenarios and we'd expect a lot more expensive machine to be available as well, depending on configuration. For those looking for a boost to the graphics performance beyond the APU's integrated solution, AMD supports CrossFire on the platform and claim up to a 75 percent performance boost for its discrete mobile GPUs when pairing them up with an APU.

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AMD Confirms Delay of Bulldozer

During the company's press conference dedicated to the launch of AMD 9-series core-logic sets, AMD announced that its long-awaited FX-series microprocessors will be available within the next 60 to 90 days from now, which points to August or September. Mainboards based on the new AMD 9-series chipsets with AM3+ socket will support both existing high-performance multi-core Phenom II microprocessors as well as AMD FX-series chips with up to eight cores.


Below is official rendered image of AMD 8-Core FX Processor Black Edition box (PIB):

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Bulldozer Maybe Delayed and Need More Tuning

Advanced Micro Devices may further delay release of its highly-anticipated FX-series microprocessors code-named Zambezi that are based on the Bulldozer micro-architecture, according to leaked slides published by a Chinese web-site.


The slides also point to new model numbers for the chips: FX-8150, FX-8100, FX-6100 and FX-4100, which may indicate that the company intends to alter previously set specifications of the chips.

Earlier it was believed that AMD would launch its FX-series of chips in June, 2011. It was also reported that the highest-performing eight-core offering would cost $320, which is in line with the top-of-the-range Core i-series "Sandy Bridge" CPU.

The long-awaited CPUs are now fully-functional and work without flaws, according to a person who wished to remain anonymous. The problem with the delay of the AMD FX family of chips is that they currently cannot operate at truly high-speeds and thus cannot achieve performance levels that AMD wanted them to. As result, AMD will need to design a new stepping of the processor and therefore delay the commercial launch to September.

The currently available B0 and B1 stepping Zambezi/Bulldozer processors can function at around 2.50GHz/3.50GHz (nominal/turbo) clock-speeds and at such frequency they cannot deliver performance AMD considers competitive, a person with knowledge of the situation said on Monday. As a consequence, AMD needs to tune the design of the processor and create B2 stepping of the chip with better clock-speed potential amid similar thermal design power (TDP), which will take several months to complete.

This will slowdown revenue growth of the chip-maker and will also hit its reputation, as this is by far not the first or second delay of Bulldozer in general and Zambezi in particular.

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Llano Competitive Positioning

According to some new leaked slides, systems based on AMD's top-of-the-line, A8-series Llano APUs will in fact compete against those based on higher-end Core i5 and lower-end Core i7 processors, with prices of $699 and upward. A6-series Llano chips look set to go against higher-end Core i3s and lower-end Core i5s, while the A4 series will seemingly tackle the lower end of the Core i3 family.


More shocking still, the slide suggests that PCs based on AMD's next-generation E-series processors—Zacate's successor—will compete dollar-for-dollar with systems based on Intel's Pentium processors. However, the slides are dated May 17, which predates the introduction of Intel's new Sandy Bridge-based Pentiums.

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AMD's Llano APUs Expected to be Affordable

Desktop versions of Fusion - Llano accelerated processing units (APUs) by Advanced Micro Devices are likely to be rather inexpensive, which may make them popular among PC builders as well as end-users. According to media reports, the new desktop chips will cost starting from $70.

The initial family of AMD A-series "Llano" APUs will include five chips and beside that, AMD will also offer a low-end E2-series solution featuring Llano design. The most affordable solution in FM1 form-factor will cost $70 (E2-3250), whereas the most powerful A-series chip will be priced at $170 (A8-3550P).


AMD A-series desktop APUs will have either four K10.5+/Husky x86 cores as well as Radeon HD 6000-class "BeaverCreek" (320 or 400 stream processors) graphics core or two x86 cores and "WinterPark" (160 stream processors) integrated graphics engine. The chips will support dual-channel DDR3 memory controllers, up to 4MB of cache, select processors may also feature AMD Turbo Core dynamic acceleration technology as well as a special multi-GPU graphics support.

AMD A8- and A6-series APUs set to compete against Intel Core i3-2100-series microprocessors, whereas the A4- and E2-series chips will rival Pentium and Celeron solutions.

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MSI WindPad 110W

MSI's WindPad 110W slate has appeared at ExcaliberPC online store, where it's listed with a June 1st arrival date and a $599 price tag. This new 10.1-inch device runs Windows 7 Home Premium and is based on AMD's Brazos platform.

The WindPad 110W has an 1280 x 800 touchscreen, an E-350 APU (two x86 core @ 1.6 GHz, Radeon HD 6310 DX11 graphics), 2GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, an SD card slot, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a webcam, USB 2.0 and mini HDMI ports, and a 4200 mAh battery.

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ASUS X42DE the Colorful Triple Core

Want to be more powerful and stylish than A42N-VX091D? ASUS X42DE - Available in four fun colors with a scratch-resistant IMR design to bring out your personal style. Bigger RAM (2 GB DDR3) and discrete GPU (Radeon HD 5470 512MB)

AMD Phenom II X3 N830 (Triple Core, 2.1 Ghz)
RAM 2 GB DDR3
HDD 320 GB
VGA AMD RADEON HD 5470 with dedicated 512MB
Screen 14” LED (1366 x 768)
DVDRW Super Multi
WebCam, CardReader, HDMI, WiFi, LAN
SRS Surround Sound with Altec Lansing Speaker
6-cell Li-Ion 4400mAh Battery
DOS (Support Windows 7)

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Acer Iconia Tab W500

Acer Iconia Tab W500, the AMD Fusion powered 10-inch tablet PC has already begun to ship in the US with a keyboard docking station is priced at 549 USD but for Japan Acer will charge 60,000 Yen which is about 720 USD.

Right now Acer appears to be offering two different body colors for the W500 as wells as options for the keyboard dock to come with or without the tablet PC. For the US the W500 models spotted have had a light Silver look to them but the models spotted for the UK are darker in color.


The new launch dates displayed on the Amazon.co.uk listings for the tablets show them coming May 1st, 2011.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 technical specifications below:

Processor AMD C-50 (1 MB L2 cache, 1 GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, 9 W)
Chipset A50M Fusion Controller Hub
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit)
HD CrystalBrite LED-backlit TFT LCD with multi-touch screen
Resolution 1280 x 800
Brightness 350 cd/m²
Screen Size (Diagonal) 10.1? (25.7 cm)
Memory 2GB DDR3 onboard
Storage 32 GB SSD, with mini-SATA (mSATA) interface connector
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6250 Graphics with 256 MB of dedicated system memory
Supports: Unified Video Decoder 3 (UVD3), OpenCL 1.1, OpenGL 3.1, OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 5.0, Microsoft DirectX 11
Interface HDMI port with HDCP, RJ-45 LAN
Dual USB 2.0 ports
Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi Certified
10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet
Bluetooth
Card Slot 2-in-1
WebCam Dual Acer Crystal Eye webcams with 1280 x 1024 resolution
Docking Connector Bottom US Keyboard Dock
Battery Lithium-ion battery 3-cells
Battery Life Up to 6 hrs (depending on configuration and usage)
Dimensions (WxHxD) 10.8 x 0.6 x 7.6? (27.4 x 1.5 x 19.3 cm)
Weight 2.14 lb (0.97 kg)

More info and gallery HERE

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ASUS A42N-VX091D with Triple Core

Why choose Dual Core if we can have TRIPLE CORE at Rp. 3.xxx.xxx ?

ASUS A42N-VX091D

AMD Phenom II X3 N830 (Triple Core, 2.1 Ghz)
RAM 1 GB DDR3
HDD 320 GB
VGA AMD RADEON HD 4250
Screen 14” LED (1366 x 768)
DVDRW Super Multi
WebCam, CardReader, HDMI, WiFi, LAN
SRS Surround Sound with Altec Lansing Speaker
6-cell Li-Ion 4400mAh Battery
DOS (Support Windows 7)
Color : Full Glossy Black Metalic

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AMD to Fight i7 Sandy Bridge with Bulldozer

Advanced Micro Devices at present is not able to compete in terms of pure performance against Intel Corp.’s Core i7-series “Sandy Bridge” microprocessors, according to benchmark results, but with its next-generation Bulldozer-based chips the company fully aims to fight.


A leaked document from AMD seen by us here claims that AMD FX-series central processing unit (CPUs) powered by the Bulldozer micro-architecture will be fully able to rival Core i7 2600-series chips. Below is the art-work for FX processor box:


AMD plans to introduce AMD 900-series chipsets compatible with Zambezi processors in Q2 2011. The Bulldozer processors, Radeon HD 6000 "Northern Islands" discrete graphics cards and AMD 900-series core-logic sets will power AMD's next-generation enthusiast-class platform code-named Scorpius.

The initial family of AMD's FX-series microprocessors based on Bulldozer micro-architecture will include four models with eight, six or four cores and 95W or 125W thermal design power (TDP).

The first breed of AMD FX8000, FX6000 and FX4000 currently known under Zambezi code-name will completely support all the advantages that the Bulldozer micro-architecture is supposed to bring, including new Flex FP floating point processing unit. The new chips in maximum eight-core configurations are projected - by AMD's internal documents - to offer roughly 50% performance improvement over Phenom II-series microprocessors in multimedia applications.


The primary family of AMD FX-series central processing units (CPUs) will feature two eight-core models, one six-core flavour as well as a quad-core version. The chips will support dual-channel DDR3 1866MHz memory, will support Turbo Core dynamic acceleration technology and will come in AM3+ form-factor and will have 125W and 95W TDP. The second "wave" of Bulldozer chips will also include four microprocessors and will improve performance of the initial breed of CPUs.

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Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 AMD Fusion mobo

This little mini-ITX motherboard comes with one of the first AMD Fusion APU’s (Accelerated Processing Unit): the Zacate Dual-Core E-350 (1.6 GHz, 18W TDP) with a Radeon HD6310 (clock 500 MHz) graphics core. It also comes with 4 SATA 6Gbps ports and 2 USB3.0 ports, making it a very attractive little motherboard for users who value a power efficient system that still has teeth enough to show 1080p video and play the occasional lighter game.

This is an Ultra Durable 3 Classic motherboard. This means that GIGABYTE has used 2 ounces of copper for both the power and ground layers of the motherboard. It also has Japanese Solid Capacitors and GIGABYTE's DualBIOS technology. As mentioned earlier, this is a mini-ITX motherboard, meaning it measures just 17x17cm (6.7x6.7 inches). GIGABYTE still managed to put a x16 PCI-E-slot and space for 2 DDR3-memory sticks on the motherboard.

The main feature on the motherboard is the big heatsink/fan. This cooler keeps both the APU and the AMD Hudson-M1 FCH (Fusion Controller Hub) cool. The FCH is responsible for 8 USB2.0 ports (4 on the back panels and 4 via the internal USB headers) and the 4 SATA 6 Gbps connectors.


On the back panel we find:
• 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse port
• 1 x VGA port
• 1 x DVI-D port
• 1 x HDMI port
• 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
• 1 x RJ-45 port
• 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

The motherboard also comes with features like HDMI 1.3, Dolby Home Theather Support, and On/Off Charge, which allows users to quickly charge an iPad/iPod/iPhone -- and other USB-charged devices -- even if the computer is sleeping or off.

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AC Ryan Playon!HD Essential

The AC Ryan Playon!HD Essential allows you to store and enjoy all of your precious movies, music and photos in the comfort of your own living room. Free your media content from the limitations of your PC and let the Essential bring them to life in Full HD quality on your TV.

The Playon!HD Essential is designed for users who prefer an easy to use media player without the fuss of networking. Setting a new standard of performance in the class of media players with no network, this inexpensive, user friendly, no-network media player supports the most file formats including Blu-ray and DVD ISO. With exceptional quality and ease, the Playon!HD Essential, plays your media files from external drives (USB drives, USB hard disks, and media cards such as SD Cards). The pre-installed eco friendly, low noise, low power consumption HDD up to 2TB allows you to conveniently store all your media files in one central location.

The Playon!HD Essential makes entertainment simple and enjoyable for you, your family and friends. Simply transfer, store and play your media content with the Essential and enjoy High Definition entertainment, the way it should be.

* More format support than any other no network media player.
* Superior video quality High Definition 1080p.
* Plays BD-ISO files including BD basic navigation.
* Plays DVD IFO/ISO with full DVD menu and navigation support.
* Supports more character sets (for non-English subtitles).
* Completely unique, newly designed user interface (Playon!GUI2.0).
* Smart content management (auto file indexing).

The Essential has similar styling to previous A.C. Ryan devices and has the front panel has a reflective finish with company logo in the centre. Beneath the logo is the on/off button which lights red when in standby and blue when on. The Essential sized 185x150x55mm and weighs approximately 610g.


On the right side of the device we find the input connectors. On the left is a media card slot which supports SD, SDHCm MMC, MS and MSPro. Then there are two USB 2.0 inputs and a USB 2.0 slave port.


Turning round to the back of the Essential we find an exhaust vent for the 40mm cooling fan, power socket and the systems outputs. Starting from the left we have an optical output, HDMI 1.3, Composite audio/video and coaxial audio. There are no network connectors on the back panel of the device as it is designed for those who want a stand-alone player. A.C. Ryan will however offer a Wireless-N dongle for the player.


This is the bundled components consist of a manual, composite video cables, remote, batteries, PSU and replacement feet.

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PCP+ AB5S - 880G

* Chipset : AMD™ 880G Chipset + AMD™SB710 Chipset
* Onboard ATI Radeon HD 4250
* Memory :
- Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology
- 4 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM slots
- Supports DDR3 1600/1333 MHz non-ECC ,un-buffered memory
- DDR3 Max.8GB
* Expansion Slots :
- 1 x 32-bit PCI slot
- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots by 8-LANE
- 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
* Storage :
- 6 x Serial ATA2 3Gb/s connectors
- Supports HDDs with RAID 0, 1,10 functions
- 1 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 IDE connector
* Audio : Realtek ALC883 HD Audio CODEC with 8-Channel
* LAN : Realtek RTL8111DL PCI Express Gigabit LAN
* Rear Panel I / O :
- 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
- 1 x PS/2 mouse port
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
- 1 x VGA port & 1 x DVI port & 1 x HDMI port
- 1 x RJ-45 port
- 1 x Audio I / O ports
- 1 x SPDIF_OUT port (Coaxial)

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Sony, Fujitsu and Toshiba launch Brazos netbooks

Fujitsu and Sony has joined the growing group of notebook makers with Brazos powered machines, as both companies have announced 11.6-inch models in Japan.



Fujitsu’s model is called the LifeBook PH50/C and will be available in red, blue and black. The APU of choice is the E-350 and the standard configuration will include 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. We’re sure some kind of Wi-Fi option will also be included and judging by the picture there’s at least two USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet port, but we’d expect there to be an HDMI port and a D-sub connector somewhere as well. The PH50/C is said to be weighing in at about 1.5kg (3.3lbs) and have a battery life of about 7.3 hours.



Sony’s new model is the VAIO YB which will be available in ever jollier colors, namely silver, pink and green. Sony has gone for the same base hardware as Fujitsu, in other words and E-350 APU and 2GB of memory but fit a smaller 320GB hard drive as standard. The VAIO YB sports three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, a D-sub connector, and twin memory card readers, Gigabit Ethernet and a pair of audio jacks. You’ll also find a 1.3 Megapixel webcam, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR as part of the spec.



The VAIO YB weighs in at 1.46kg (3.22lbs) with the standard battery which is said to be good for up to 6h of usage, although Sony offers two high capacity models which gives you either 7.5 or 11h worth of battery life, although at a currently unknown extra weight addition. No word on pricing as yet, but we’d expect the VAIO YB to be a lot more affordable than the Lifebook PH50/C.

Meanwhile, Toshiba’s NB550D went on sale in Taiwan today and it’s yet another consumer coloured notebook which comes in four different choices of randomly picked colours which includes gold (looks kind of brown to us), green, orange and a blue, although there appears to be a black version as well that is currently not available. This is a smaller 10.1-inch system which shares the same design as Toshiba’s NB520 netbook, but of course with different bits inside.



Feature wise we have an AMD C-50 dual core APU at 1GHz, 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. Toshiba has fitted three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, a D-sub connector, a card reader, an Ethernet port and a pair of audio jacks. You also get 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, surprisingly Bluetooth 3.0, a webcam and a pair of very large Harman Kardon branded speakers for this size machine. Sadly the screen resolution is that of a netbook at 1024x600, but the NB550D weighs in at a light 1.32kg (2.9lbs) with a 6-cell 48Whr battery pack although we don’t have any details in terms of how long it’s meant to last. The NB550D retail for NT$13,900 in Taiwan, or $479, which is about $100 cheaper than the Atom N550 powered NB520 netbook.

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What is an APU

Check out this video which gives a visual representation of the APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) design model.



AMD officially introduced its Zacate and Ontario Accelerated Processing Units, saying notebooks and netbooks based on them are "now available." AMD says it expects PC vendors including Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba to "announce plans to deliver AMD Fusion APU- based systems at very compelling value and mainstream price points." Even tablets based on the new silicon are on the way, although those aren't due out until later this quarter.

Zacate and Ontario combine AMD's brand-new Bobcat microarchitecture, DirectX 11-class integrated graphics, and the new UVD3 video decoding block in a single piece of silicon manufactured using TSMC's 40-nm fab process. Both Zacate and Ontario are available in dual- and single-core flavors, with the former having an 18W thermal envelope and the latter fitting into a 9W TDP. Benchmarks showed that the quickest, dual-core Zacate model can keep up with Intel's entry-level CULV processors and deliver far better graphics performance.

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