AMD surrenders more CPU market share to Intel

AMD has not yet found an effective way to slow its market share decline in the x86 CPU market. According to new market estimates, AMD currently has a 17.7% share, while Intel is at 81.2%.

The new data provided by Mercury Research to PC Magazine sounds somewhat surprising given AMD’s strategy to hold on to market share at virtually any cost and dirt cheap desktop processor prices. For example a triple core X3 8450 processor can be purchased for less than $100 these days, according to Pricegrabber.com and a quad-core X4 9550 CPU for $144.

We recently reported about what appears to be evolving into yet another price war between Intel and AMD especially in the sub-$200 segment, in which AMD seems to have some compelling offers. However, according to the PC Magazine article, AMD’s problem isn’t really the desktop market, it is the notebook in which AMD just does not have Intel’s depth these days and can’t quite keep up in a segment that is growing, while the desktop market is declining.According to Mercury Research, the processor grew by 13.3% in Q3, driven by mobile CPU sales that gained about 27%.

“AMD’s share decline was essentially due to their comparatively weaker mobile mix – the market moved strongly to mobile, and Intel having a larger share and mix benefited more, diluting AMD’s position,” Mercury Research analyst Dean McCarron told PC Magazine. The translation: AMD needs a much stronger mobile product line to stop the bleeding.

Market share numbers have to be taken with a grain a salt and have to be put into perspective, as they can vary greatly from one market research firm to another. However, Mercury Research says that AMD still held a share of 25.3% in Q4 of 2006, the first quarter in which it felt the full brunt of Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor.

If these numbers in fact are correct, then it is clear that AMD will need to roll out a mobile Fusion processor rather sooner than later to improve its competitiveness.

Source: TGdaily

New MacBook Case Leak Rumors

Apple’s next-generation MacBook design has been all but confirmed, courtesy of leaks from both Apple itself as well as those with access to the casing in China. The Mac producer has posted a technician manual (PDF; since pulled) that discusses replacing an AirPort card in the display assembly of a “Late 2008″ MacBook or MacBook Pro, effectively proving that these two systems will receive an update this coming Tuesday with equally new internal hardware designs. No technical features aside from the already likely existence of Wi-Fi are directly shown in the two-page document. Separately, however, a Chinese Mac enthusiast site has posted additional case leaks that show the top halves of both the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Both line up with recently confirmed designs for the new notebooks and show a new, consistent design across Apple’s whole portable line that includes a seamless border, magnetic lid closure, and the trayless keyboard that first appeared with the original MacBook in 2006. The bottom is absent from both systems but has been reported in past rumors as an at least partly tapered design versus the near-flat surface of current models.

Either also shows a reduced number of ports versus today’s systems; in the case of the MacBook Pro, the shift is believed in part to stem from moving the slot-load optical drive from the front to the side for unknown reasons. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro now appears to have dropped its FireWire 400 and regular DVI connectors in favor of the lone remaining FireWire 800 port and a more compact mini-DVI jack.

Notably, the regular MacBook has dropped its one FireWire 400 port and now appears to depend exclusively on its two USB ports for external peripherals. The move would signal one of the first times a non-professional Apple portable has shipped without FireWire since 1999, when the original iBook carried just one USB port. The company’s incentive to do so outside of space concerns isn’t known.

No leaks have yet to surface of a redesigned 17-inch MacBook Pro or a revised MacBook Air, though Apple is now widely believed to be using a new NVIDIA platform for some or all of its portables that would improve visual performance on some systems and shrink the components inside.

Source: Electronista.com

Cineos Flat TV 42" LCD Full HD 1080p

Philips has once again released a new, shiny, stylish LCD TV as you can see, so far no further reviews regarding this.

The price of this baby will hit around £1628.99 “ouch”

As far as the Specs of this hot release seem to be quiet “technological” featuring:

Dimensions	1054 x 731 x 100
Features	Perfect Pixel HD Engine / HD ready 1080p / Perfect Natural Motion / Wide Color Gamut / 100Hz Clear / 2250 trillion colors processing / Dynamic contrast 30000:1
Weight (kg)	27.2
1080p Output	Yes
1080p/24 Output	Yes
720p/1080i Output	Yes
Aspect Ratio	16:9
Auto-tune	Yes
Brightness	500
CI Slot	Yes
Clock	Yes
Colours	17 Bit RGB
Digital Text	Yes
Display Resolution	1920 x 1080
Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)	Yes
Freeview	Yes
Full HD	Yes
HD Ready	Yes
HDMI Ports	3
Native Resolution (horizontal pixels)	1920
Native Resolution (vertical pixels)	1080
Parental Lock	Yes
Pixel Response Time	2
Remote Control	Yes
Teletext	Yes
Tuner	Yes
Tuner Details	DVB COFDM 2K/8K
Widescreen	Yes
Audio Output Power	30
Display Size	42
Display Standard	WUXGA
Display Technology	TFT LCD
Display Type	TFT Active Matrix
Flatscreen	Yes
Speakers	2 x 15W
Viewing Angle (Horizontal)	176
Viewing Angle (Vertical)	176

Warbirds 2008 STV DVDRip XviD-ELiA

Group ELiA released a dvdrip of STV thriller Warbirds few hours ago and it’s now available for download at most torrent sites. This STV flick with Jamie Elle Mann and Brian Krause starring in the main roles can’t really show off too much with its low IMDB rating and poor reviews (it’s a SCi-Fi channel movie after all). Released as standard 1 CD rip with full screen resolution.

Brian Krause and Jamie Mann star in this World War II fantasy that finds a group of US soldiers pitted against a prehistoric enemy after being forced to make an emergency landing on a deserted Pacific Island. As the soldiers struggle to get back in the air and transport their volatile cargo to the front, Japanese pilots and ravenous winged creatures descent from the sky on a mission of death.

Warbirds.2008.STV.DVDRip.XviD-ELiA

1 CD, 700 MB, elia-warbirds
84 min, 592×336, 885 kbps, 256 kb/s AC3
IMDB (3.6), NFO, Torrent
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