These are bad times for AMD. Core 2 Duo took away from them both the performance and the efficiency crown. Since then, they have tried almost everything. First, there was the price wars, to that Intel answered slashing the price on their stock of Pentium D. Then their merger with ATI started the marketing fight. Nothing seemed to stop the downfall.

Recently, we saw an ad were it wasn't clear if they praised the 690 chipset (a real, currently available, new product) or nVidia cards. True, AMD sells processors, and selling chipsets supporting their CPUs is also part of the business, but it's socking to see ATI technology at the service of Geforce chips.

Now, AMD is doing basically the same thing but the other way around: to sell a graphics card, they promote an Intel processor (more precisely, an Asus notebook). By all means, go buy something from them!

Even if you don't have to deal with P4's anymore, laptops still lack good cooling conditions. Whether you find it too hot to rest on your lap or you're concerned about it's components durability, looking for an additional cooling source is always a good idea.

Notebook coolers are unfortunately quite noisy, heavy and/or reduce your battery life. This one from Thermaltake is another story altogether. It may look like a useless mat (300x230x13.8mm), but it's filled with Sodium Sulfate Decahydrate. It's a substance that solidifies when cold, and absorbs heat until it gets liquefies. It's absolutely silent, weights only 640g, does not require power and is as easy to install as, well, a mat.

If you're wondering what notebooks it can cool and how much, you can take a look at BigBruin. They have performed some light tests and, without putting much pressure on it's capabilities, it decreases temperatures between 7 and 10ºC.

Thermaltake iXoft's hidden secret.

New HD DVD Rewrite Capabilities Turn Mobile PCs into Desktop Replacements with More Tools to Create High-Definition Content. That's the word from Toshiba as it promises to make HD standard on Toshiba laptops.

Toshiba Storage Device Division announced the world's first slim HD DVD-RW drive for mobile PCs, further extending high-definition recording capabilities to the IT arena. The new drive can read, write and rewrite to HD DVD-RW discs, as well as read and write to HD DVD-R discs and standard DVD and CD discs.

Toshiba's SD-L912A enables mobile PCs to replace larger desktop systems in the home with this additional high-definition functionality. The drive allows backup of large-capacity PC hard disk drives to the reusable format of HD DVD-RW discs and provides capabilities to store data-rich, high-definition digital content. HD DVD-RW functionality also opens the door to a wide range of applications involving storage and rewriting of large volumes of data.

"High-definition broadcasting and increasing consumer interest in high-definition televisions and camcorders are spurring demand for a high-definition experience across the entire PC and consumer electronics ecosystem," said Scott Maccabe, vice president and general manager of Toshiba Storage Device Division. "HD DVD is the best solution for transitioning to a high-definition world because it is compatible with existing DVD and CD technology. Our new rewritable drive will extend the functionality of HD DVD as a tool for creating and enjoying digital content in the mobile PC environment."

Scheduled for sample shipments in July, the SD-L912A supports high-speed read and write for standard DVD and CD discs, including the complete library of DVD and CD formats. The new drive is compliant with the EU RoHS(1) directive on environmentally hazardous substances, which came into effect in July 2006.

Someone at Anandtech must have had that same question, so they tried to answer it.

It is a known fact that desktop displays are better, even those that are based on the same technology (TFTs) but, have there been no improvement over the years? Are they still far away? Quite so. In order to meet space and power considerations, compromises must be made:

- brightness: very few can even break the 200 cd/m2.
- color accuracy: multimedia professionals should discard the laptop's LCD for production purposes.
- viewing angle: do not believe what the box says, laptops rarely achieve even a miserable 45° arc.
- response time: 25ms or more is commonplace.

The first shortcoming comes from the wish to extend battery life (it would be a good idea to give buyers the opportunity to choose here), the others maybe can be overcome by using something other than a TN panel. Some new technologies are being researched (v.g. OLED displays) that could also fix those problems.

It is interesting to note that all the specifications that matter are hidden by manufacturers (except resolution), which means you have to find them out. Be warned, too, about brands, because the same one may provide either the best or the worst display experience. Our advice is to look up the model you have in mind over the internet to read whatever review you find.

On May 10th , Intel officially launched the last Centrino update: Santa Rosa. Notebooks built around it will get 800MHz FSB, up from the previous 667MHz. There are also a couple of improvements like the introduccion of SpeedStep technology for its FSB and Turbo Memory (designed for use with Windows Vista's ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive and SuperFetch).

AMD has been working on a serious competitor to Intel's mobile platform and they may have it ready around the middle of 2008. By that time, they will probably have to face Montevina, which means performance will surely not be their best bet, especially considering that Griffin will be based on the current generation 65nm K8. Instead, AMD is hoping on getting a power efficient platform: Puma. Their goal is to extend battery life beyond 5 hours. To achieve that, several techniques will come into play:

- Each CPU core gets an independent voltage plane: it can work at a different frequency and/or voltage.

- Mobile optimized memory controller: it also operates at a separate voltage than the rest of the CPU.

- Power optimized HyperTransport 3: either the inbound or the outbound link can be scaled down or turned off.

- PowerXPress: if you have an external graphics solution (other than the one integrated on the RS780), it will be disabled while on battery power.

Mobile or desktop? One of the factors that tilts the balance in favor of the latter is the freedom it allows the user to expand and tweak. You can select components, customize or mod them and, more important, you can overclock.

As appealing as laptops are, they're frustrating for anything more than general PC computing. You can't change bus speed, adjust memory timings or significantly improve the cooling system and gaming is never as good as on a desktop PC. Usually.

From time to time, a model surfaces with some of above mentioned abilities. This is the case of the XPS M1710 reviewed at Anandtech. But as the article shows, you only get a limited control over the CPU, which is a multiplier unlocked T7600G. There's an option between the BIOS that lets you change it from 14X to 19X. That's all. Contrary to what you might imagine, it's not much use because in such an adverse enviroment hotness builds and... throttling happens. At least the marketing boys will have something to shout about but for the rest you'll probably want to stick to overclocking your PC.

Cool & Couture

The SOHO is offered in a variety of flavors with just the right touch of color for all seasons. It's available in two separate sizes for the 13" MacBook, 15" MacBook Pro and also accommodates older PowerBooks, iBooks and similarly sized PCs.

"People need sturdy, functional protection for their computers but don't want to carry around something that conflicts with their personal style," said Tomas Rojcik of iSkin. "SOHO is sophisticated enough for the professional, yet stylish enough for the student -- and it proves computer protection can be as great looking as it is practical."

The SOHO line features five black sleeves with color accented zippers and stitching. They include: Azure (Black with Blue), Graphite (Black with Grey), Magnum (Black with Red), Sahara (Black with Orange) and Amazon (Black with Pink). The complete SOHO line is available at http://www.iSkin.com for $59.99 USD (13")/ $64.99 USD (15").

If anybody can tell us what Couture means, please let us know. Obviously Mac people are more educated than us PC folk

Alienware m9700 - it's outta this world, probably Uranus

As Alienware always receive a top awards (otherwise they get very very angry) it's no suprise that this one gets full marks. Rumour has it you have to write the review first and then they send the product out for evaluation  . Of course we wouldn't know because nobody is daft enough to give us a two grand laptop to torture!

The last time Think Computers took a look at an Alienware laptop it was the Area-51 m5550 15.4-inch laptop. The m5550 is more of a mid-range budget system. The Aurora m9700 is on high-end being Alienware's 2nd most expensive laptop they sell. This notebook is built for gaming with dual 256MB Nvidia Geforce Go 7900 GS video cards in SLI mode! This is the first and only 17" laptop with a dual graphics card system. Before I reveal anymore about this laptop you'd better read the review!

Just when you thought it was safe to drop your ThinkPad, exploding battery syndrome strikes again. Lenovo is recalling Sanyo made nine cell lithium-ion batteries made for use with ThinkPad notebooks shipped between November 2005 and February 2007. It was forced to do so after a number of customers reported that their Thinkpad laptops caught fire after being dropped - why anybody would drop a laptop to see if it would explode is strange but apparently it's the done thing with ThinkPads now.

In accordance with US federal law, Lenovo alerted the Consumer Product Safety Commission after it received the reports, all of which related to an impact on the corner of the laptop. The CPSC said one owner suffered ‘minor eye irritation’ as a result of one such incident - probably when he took it back to PC World for a refund.

The batteries were supplied with the ThinkPad R60, R60e, T60, T60p, Z60m, Z61e, Z61m and Z61p series and were also shipped out to customers as replacement units. The recall has been applied to all batteries with the part number FRU P/N 92P1131. It's not the first time Lenovo has been caught shipping explosive batteries. Last year a large scale battery recall by Sony effect over 500,000 ThinkPads.

Please send any pictures of exploding laptops - we'd love to see them
 

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