Posts tagged with productivity
My Perfect Mini-Notebook
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 9:02 AM
Loading ...One great thing about blogs is that it is anyone and everyone’s chance to express their opinions, and I definitely have opinions. :> However, attacking one’s personal experiences is a bit like questioning free speech or democracy, but that’s exactly what makes Web 2.0 so exciting, everyone does it. So even when I get misquoted (never called it “useless”) in news stories based on what I said in a video concerning netbooks (should be hard to get wrong, I know), it generates discussion on the pros, cons, and on-the-road experiences of various netbook and mini-notebook designs. And after talking with various sources, it has already impacted future thinking, which is ultimately good for consumers, channels, OEMs, and ODM’s.
After testing seven netbooks (1) over the last five months, I now know what I want to see in future designs. This may not be the same for all 6,699,999,999 people on earth, but perhaps for a handful or two of likeminded people.
One caveat: I don’t expect a single mini-notebook design to be able to meet both my usage models:
- One inside the home focused on entertainment
- One outside the home focused on portability
My ideal at-home mini-notebook
I would like to carry my mini-notebook from room-to-room, plugging it in via HDMI to the next best available flat panel TV in the home. It would also be great to wirelessly stream 1080i video content off the web or my home server, which would benefit from HD graphics decode capability, wireless-N, and the capability to externally project at 1920×1080i resolutions. A simple, Gyration-style wireless remote should come standard to easily navigate content from 10’.
For web surfing, I would like the peace of mind that my system could support the next-generation of Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight technology, so it doesn’t become a paperweight in 6 months. This means the processor and native panel screen size must be up to par. Kids’ sites like Webkinz, the “World of Warcraft for kids,” today requires at least 1024×768 (tomorrow, maybe 1280×1024) internal panel sizes, and I need at least enough CPU performance to prevent pauses in the action. Try running Hulu HD, an Apple HD trailer, or iTunes HD TV shows on a netbook and you will know what I am talking about. A 13” panel would really optimize the viewing experience when not connected to an external display.
Battery life isn’t that important at home, but a couple hours would be reasonable, along with a retractable power cord. Weight isn’t as important unless you have difficulty carrying a few pounds room to room. If that’s the case, I would recommend a lifetime membership to Gold’s Gym. Hard drive size isn’t as important because I can leverage the hard drive space on my home server, but I still want at least 160GB for applications or DRM-based content loads in case I need to take it on a family trip.
On games, While I don’t expect to play Crysis on highest quality settings, I would expect to be able to play a game like Spore and the Sims 2 at 30 fps (frames per second) and decent quality settings.
My ideal away-from-home mini-notebook
Outside the home is all about portability features and much less about entertainment. Battery life, size and weight become absolutely paramount in defining an “acceptable” bar level of performance.
Like the “at home” netbook, I still want my version to be able to effectively run today’s and at least one future generation of web applications at resolutions no less than 1024×768. I don’t think that is asking too much, is it? Also, I could live with less than a 10” display.
Eight to nine hours battery life (which we know really means five to six browsing hours) would be optimal, as I probably wouldn’t even need to bring a power cord for the day. If I don’t need to bring my power cord with me every time I go outside the house, then having a larger, possibly less expensive and faster charging power brick would be OK. This only makes sense if it saves money on the BOM cost because those tiny power adapters are cool.
As I said, if I’m going to need to lug this everywhere, weight is a huge factor and at 1.5 to 2 lbs, this seems plenty light enough. Also, the closed height cannot exceed ¾”, which would make it thicker than a Mac Air, but thinner than the Asus Eee PC Surf 4G, allowing for easy storage in a glove box or even in my bedroom drawer.
On the WAN communications side, I want to insert my SIM chip into my mini-notebook from my BlackBerry and get the same speedy, instant-on communications features I have had for years. Sure, I could tether, but if you are redesigning something, why settle for “good enough?” I don’t want to wait for 4G to do something useful or fun and could live with 3G or even, gasp, EDGE. Why should I have to pay for service twice? I know Pat, grow up, this is business… :>
Hard drive storage is a bit more important with this design because I wouldn’t have speedy access to large amounts of quick storage on my home server. Sure, I could use one of those “in-the-cloud” services, but until someone invents a more reliable synchronization tool, I will keep my documents and iTunes and Movielink content on my system, snugly fit on a 320GB hard drive. I have been keeping my “life” on MyYahoo for years, including my contacts, notes, calendar, and email, but documents and content are different.
As I would want to use this in my car, GPS and high bandwidth Bluetooth must be standard. The GPS is obvious, as I could use it as a mapping tool. I would like to use the higher bandwidth Bluetooth to gain access to my car speaker system and also pump audible navigational signals as well. Of course, if this thing serves as the nerve center for my car, I need some type of standard docking mechanism that delivers power with ease of attachment so I can take it in the house when I am home from work. I know, I am asking a lot.
So that is what I want in my mini-notebook. A bit different I know, but did you expect anything less? And if you are wondering why I didn’t call it a “netbook”, well I want to more than just the “net.”
With that, I would like to hear your thoughts on what your dream mini-notebook would look like.
1) Asus Eee PC 4G, Asus Eee PC 900, MSI U100, Dell Inspiron 910, HP 2133, Geode reference design, Asus Eee PC 1000H.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
How I Accelerated My Outlook Performance with a Gaming Utility
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 2:32 AM
In Nigel’s latest blog, he wrote about using the Fusion for Gaming utility 1 to improve his notebook battery life while in-flight. Since launching and blogging on the Fusion for Gaming utility last week, I have also done some simple, ad-hoc testing outside of the gaming space. While it may seem counter-intuitive to do so given the name, I wanted to see if the underlying technology could help me with a challenge I have “at work.” I am excited to say, after a few hours of testing, my Outlook experience feels significantly faster with the utility running.
At work, like many AMD employees and enterprise users, I run Microsoft Outlook 2007 along with the full Office 2007 suite. I run a Microsoft Vista Enterprise-based, multi-monitor desktop in order to do many different things at the same time. I “megatask,” which is simply hard-core multi-tasking.
If you have used Outlook lately, you know that it’s a lot more than just an email client. Outlook links to literally everything… it connects your email to your calendar to your task management system to your journal to your contact list to your … you get the idea. Good product. But for about a year now, I have experienced inexplicable “pauses” when I task-switch between Outlook apps, or when Outlook is synchronizing (you know, when you get the two envelopes in your systray). I had all the obvious things checked out: hardware, corporate software image, Exchange Server settings, archiving, vaulting, network, etc., which always yielded some temporary relief. Then Outlook would start ”pausing” a few weeks later, which I chalked up to doing a lot of work and getting a lot done while increasing my Exchange folder size: I fully plead guilty to AMD IT in using the folders as a file system.
So I loaded the Fusion for Gaming utility and saw an immediate improvement in my Outlook performance. Things loaded quicker, those inexplicable “pauses” went away and it is simply delivering a more productive and enjoyable compute experience. Sounds bizarre, I know, you should see the looks on the faces of my co-workers when I tell them this! So I did some simple digging into the Performance Tab in Windows Task Manager to see if I could attempt to explain any of this.. and it became clearer. On the left, you can see the relative performance data without the Fusion for Gaming utility enabled, and on the right, with the utility enabled.
It appears that on my system, Outlook likes a more limited number of “threads,” “handles” and “processes” or simply put, background tasks. I am sure there is a more comprehensive, long-winded technical explanation from folks who are much smarter than I will ever be, but this is my experience and of course, your mileage will vary :>.
It has worked for me on Outlook, and I urge you to give the Fusion for Gaming utility a spin and let me know what you think.. also, if you are one of those scary-smart guys who can explain why technically my Outlook is faster I would love to hear from you.
My desktop work rig: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ processor @3.2GHz., ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics, Gigabyte GAMA69GM-S2H motherboard (BIOS F3A 8/3/2007) with AMD 690G chipset, 150GB Western Digital Raptor hard drive (10,000 RPM), 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM (recognized by Vista 32 as 3GB), ATI Catalyst Control Center 8.8, AMD OverDrive 2.1.4.
¹ THIS UTILITY MAY DISABLE SECURITY / ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE, OR ADVERSELY AFFECT YOUR SYSTEM. REVIEW ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
3D For the Masses
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 11:40 AM
One simple example is handsets. Almost every major phone maker has licenses some form of 3D technology for phones. Recent news regarding Freescale, STM, and QUALCOMM exemplify this and gives a sense of the future. The iPhone showed with its 3D (albeit, 2D engineered to look 3D) that the population as a whole prefers 3D. It makes sense, right? We see in 3D, so it makes sense that that we would prefer images that reflect our reality.
There are even more things going on in the PC space. It would make sense given the increase in monitor sizes, display resolutions, and the improvements to the 3D engines on mainstream systems. Larger average monitor size gives you the ability to see more on the screen. If you keep your resolution the same on that large display, everything will look huge. So you increase the resolution to, let’s say, 1920×1080 (1080p). Now you are set … except you need apps where you can actually benefit from the “z-axis”. For mainstream consumer computer users, games are obvious. Outside games, it may not be as obvious.
I have tested a few of these 3D apps and wanted to share them with you. Have fun!
- SpaceTime- 3D web search with its own UI. Images, video, and tabbed browsing. Very useful … I love it.
- CoolIris Piclens- 3D web search, images and video, but start search in Internet Explorer or Firefox.
- Google Picasa- Has a few 3D enabled viewing and organizational capabilities.
- Google Earth- 3D flythrough of terrain, buildings, even galaxies. Also, they just added a Flight Simulator feature which is cool.
- Google SketchUp- Simple way to create and share 3D models … like creating models for your deck, pool, or a home addition. You can embed these inside Google Earth also.
- Microsoft Live Search Maps- 3D terrain, buildings, fly-throughs.
- Microsoft Windows Vista Aero- Interface for Windows Vista Premium, Flip 3D features are most useful with a large monitor.
- Tactile 3D- 3D flythrough of your data on your hard drive and network. Not for the tech weary. Recommend 20″ monitor and above.
- AMD LIVE! TM Explorer- 3D media viewing of music, pictures, videos, and TV.
As you can see, 3D is here and available to the mainstream user. It’s only a matter of time, in my opinion, before every app will be 3D-enabled in some way, shape or form.
As you are selecting your systems, make sure you get enough 3D horsepower to accomplish the right task. We offer many types of solutions at many different price points to boost your 3D mojo, whether they be ATI RadeonTM solutions for desktop, notebook, workstations, motherboard graphics, and even the Mac!
You don’t need to hear from me on how competitive we are in 3D …. hear it from some select product reviews below.
- HardOCP- graphics cards
- AnandTech- graphics cards
- AnandTech- motherboard graphics
- Tech Report- motherboard graphics
So there we have it …. 3D is becoming more and more important … and consumers are letting the industry know how seriously they take 3D. Case in point? The “Vista Capable” class action lawsuit!
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
The Right CPU and GPU Combination for a Balanced Platform?
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 7:21 AM
In my last blog I talked about the importance of a balanced platform and what I believe consumers are doing with and aspiring to do with their systems. For this blog, I would like to discuss the required type of balance between the CPU and GPU required for some of the key usage models described below. I know I’m engaging in generalizations here, but the complete variation and dependency list is so large it could fill the Library of Congress. So please don’t hammer me for the brevity.
- Content encoding and creation: While years back the exclusive domain of the enthusiasts, video, audio and photo encoding have been embraced by the mainstream. They just may not know it yet. Both iTunes and Windows Media Player offer video, audio, and photo re-encoding. This is currently 100% the domain of the CPU. While somewhat codec dependent, the better the CPU (e.g. quad core AMD Phenom™ X4), the better the encoding experience. I believe this will change in the future as the software stacks improve on the GPU to enable the parallelization of these tasks, particularly on the video encode.
- Gaming: If you start with a high performance CPU like the Phenom X4, then many titles become more GPU-limited than CPU-limited. This means that they are aching for more graphics performance from the GPU (e.g. ATI Radeon™ HD 3870). The added GPU horsepower (which can be further optimized through the use of our proprietary ATI Hybrid Graphics) allows the user to play at improved frame rates, at higher resolutions, and with the eye candy turned on, ultimately translating into a more enjoyable gaming experience. (1) Try playing a decent game with a higher end CPU and the integrated graphics of our major competitor. Pain is the only thing that comes to my mind. This is well illustrated by an Arstechnica review here. See it in action in a video here. The only major relevant exception on the GPU and CPU rule I can think of are for Flash-based web games on sites like NickJr.com, Lego.com, and Disney.com. And these are scalable with the CPU, not the GPU.
- High-def video playback: In my opinion, the most important thing to have is a graphics card or graphics chipset with special circuitry specially designed to decode (playback) and enhance the quality of high-def video like BluRay movies. Examples of this are the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series graphics cards and the AMD 780 chipset, which both take advantage of AMD’s proprietary Unified Video Decoder technology. These free the CPU to do other tasks while playing back HD video. Generally, the better the graphics card family, the higher the 1080P BluRay visual quality as measured by third party tools such as Silicon Optix’s HQV Benchmark. While the CPU can certainly decode high-def video, a more efficient way to do it is with the GPU. In a recent Arstechnica review here, it shows how an AMD GPU + CPU system walloped our competitor’s platform by a 2:1 ratio when playing a BluRay movie. Click on the video here to see this is action.
- Multi-tasking: Generally, scaling is based primarily on the software performance of the CPU like the Phenom X4. The more things you are running in the foreground or background simultaneously, the more CPU horsepower you will need. This is true for the single user model and gets even more complex for a family that shares a PC, even if the family members physically use it at different times. For example, my home CPU gets hammered when multiple family members remain logged in at the same time, and I find myself competing with Disney “ToonTown” cycles left on in another session. Take that even further when that same PC is being used as your home server to serve up content to all the other PCs or devices in the house. The big exception to this, of course, is if you are blending GPU-limited apps with CPU-limited apps, then it becomes a toss-up. For example, you need a solid CPU and GPU if you would want to watch a BluRay movie the same time you are doing something else in the background, such as content encoding. Same thing goes for game multitasking.
- Social networking: Sites like MySpace and FaceBook have really become content showpieces for personal video, photos, and music. These sites are based on Flash, so they scale with CPU performance. As addressed in content creation above, this is the domain of the CPU.
- Productivity: Like you, I sometimes have gotten my jollies debating “how fast can someone speed up word processing”, but in my opinion, productivity is still ripe for CPU and GPU enhancements. Presentations are turning into multimedia extravaganzas. I am a marketing guy, so I know. Just try and do a pitch without video, pictures, video, 3D text blocks, and 3D rendered backgrounds. A real snoozer, particularly in our fast-paced “give it to me now” society. Finally, it’s hard not to discuss multitasking when you are doing work. How many windows and programs do you have open right now? Are you using Windows Vista with Flip3D and all the GPU rendering tricks enabled? Do you have two or more monitors? Enough said. CPU and GPU both matter here.
I hope I have made the case that a balanced configuration with the right amount of CPU and GPU processing are critical to meet the needs of what users are doing or want to do in the near future. I think I have also shown the complexity as well, particularly for an end user to really know what they need. It’s true that in the majority of cases, end users get their PCs from AMD’s OEM’s and channel partners. I believe that AMD’s job is to better educate and train these OEM and channel partners so that they have the necessary insight to create balanced platforms, which can be configured for specific end user requirements. I will discuss a few of the ways we are doing this in future blogs.
1) http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3MCwzLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Why care about a balanced PC configuration?
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 4:17 AM
There has been an incredible amount of discussion in the high-tech community talking about “balanced platforms” or “optimized systems”. The conversation or press coverage has interestingly enough been more about which component is more relevant versus the need for a balanced platform. Statements or misquotes like “the CPU is dead”, the “GPU is not needed anymore”, or “no one needs 4 CPU cores” have been thrown around loosely in the past few weeks.
In my opinion, this is the wrong conversation to be having.
The right conversation is how the industry can optimize, deliver, and educate on the right balance of CPU, GPU and chipset to effectively and efficiently address the workloads or applications about which the customer cares most. In this and future blogs, I will frame and highlight a few of the challenges and offer some solutions to help address the issue.
It all starts with what consumers want to do or are actually doing with their PCs. Let’s look at some research from AMD and other sources, which I like to joke is sometimes like “grasping at the obvious”, because when you stand back, it looks so evident.
- Digital media goes mainstream. Consumer client usage model growth is moving toward the heavy consumption, editing and sharing of digital media (1). That’s a broad statement, but the fact that this is now “mainstream” is incredible. The digital media wave started with music, moved to digital photos and now it is video. The popularity really makes sense given that digital media is also cutting horizontally across communities like MySpace and Facebook. My friend’s and family’s “spaces” are proudly adorned with their pictures, videos, and music which are entertaining (although some of their home-grown content can be a bit “scary” at times).
- PC gaming goes mainstream. Sure, I have heard the conjecture that PC gaming is dead. The facts paint a very different picture. An employee of one of our biggest technology partners has informally told me that up to 83% of all Windows users play PC games. Recent research from NPD says that 72% of the entire U.S. population played games in 2007 and 90% of those who played online in 2007 reported using a PC to do so. NPD also described the PC as “the driving force in online gaming.” One fun fact that really exemplifies the casual gaming phenomenon is the popular title “The Sims.” This game franchise has sold over 100M copies, so by their calculations, this means that one out of seven homes in Europe and one out of three homes in America are likely have this PC game title. (2). It’s not time to call my co-workers who get up at 6A.M. every Saturday and tell them to stop playing COV/COH together.
- Multitasking matters. Mainstream consumers understand the whole concept of doing many things at the same time and how it applies to their PC purchases (1). Enthusiasts I have talked with have embraced what we like to call megatasking or extreme multitasking, defined as running multiple, multi-threaded apps simultaneously.
- Other stuff is peripheral. Consumers are still doing things like doing word processing, but they believe every PC can do this well (1). Of course.
I believe that effectively and efficiently delivering on these usage models requires the right balance of CPU, GPU and chipset. Some of the use cases above require a heavy duty CPU, some require a heavy duty GPU, some require a heavy duty chipset and some require all three. The industry needs to figure it out. While AMD can’t solve it independently, we plan to shine a big light on the issue, work with others and do our own part in the industry to help solve the problem.
In my next blog, I will be double-clicking on a few key usage models and generalize on the required balances of CPU and GPU. In the meantime, let me know what you think.
(1) Proprietary AMD Research 2005, 2007.
(2) Electronic Arts Press Release: http://info.ea.com/news/pr/pr1052.pdf
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
(4.43 out of 5)
