I kindly asked the PR team to provide me with some of the reviews and headlines, and it appears that many agree with our assessments.

Here are the highlights, and I recommend visiting the sites to get the full download.  I have separated the reviews into the following segments: Blu-ray experience, HD video capabilities, gaming experience, content creation capabilities, and AMD and HP’s new category creation:

Blu-ray Experience

ComputerShopper: HP Pavilion dv2-1030us, John Delaney

• “We were also impressed with the system’s video-handling prowess; the ATI graphics did a good job of delivering smooth playback of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest on Blu-ray.”

SlashGear: HP dv2 and Blu-ray preview, Steven Grady

• “The dv2 is running Vista Home Premium, and plays Blu-ray movies beautifully on the display. The dv2 has an HDMI port for making it easy to use the dv2 as your home Blu-ray player with your HDMI television…”

CrunchGear: HP’s new external Blu-ray driver is sleek as hell, Devin Coldeway

• “The Blu-ray drive that will be coming with the HP dv2 “ultra-slim” notebook is looking really nice. It’s shiny, gorgeous, and incredibly thin. I thought I better get some pictures of this sexy accessory up so you guys know how HP rolls with this new stylish line of not-netbooks-but-not-notebooks.”

HD Video Capabilities

Notebookreview.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Review, Jerry Jackson

• “If you want to connect your laptop to your HDTV and watch 1080p video, the dv2 can handle it.”

JKOntherun.com: HP dv2 on a Road Trip: First Impressions, Kevin Tofel

• “I mentioned HD video playback before. I decided to download and view some 720p content before closing out this post. Hitting up the Microsoft WMV HD Content Showcase, I downloaded the “Super Speedway” video; something I wouldn’t even bother doing with a netbook. I expected playback to be superb and the dv2 didn’t disappoint. It was a joy to watch: I couldn’t detect any stutter or dropped frames.”

JKOntherun.com: HPdv2 Battery Tests Illustrate Compromise of Power vs. Performance, Kevin Tofel

• “Of course, the intent and design of this device is to do just that: you can’t effectively enjoy high quality video on a netbook. And while you can watch high-def media on other notebooks at this price, they’ll generally weigh more and/or have a bigger footprint.”

Gaming Experience

TGDaily: The netbook-killing HP dv2, Rob Enderle

• “The product feels high quality and the graphics performance exceeds anything else short of a gaming box that I’ve had in this year.”

Notebooks.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Unboxed, First Impressions, Xavier Lanier

• “the Pavilion dv2 is the first notebook that’s based on AMD’s Yukon platform, which combines an Athlon Neo processor with ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 graphics. The result is a computer that can be used to watch high-definition video and handle some 3D games.”

SlashGear: HP dv2 and Blu-ray preview, Steven Grady

• “it has been promised to me that the dv2 will game with the best of them, thanks to the ATI graphics card. Fear 2, Call of Duty: World at War and others are said to run amazingly well on this tiny device, showing the capability of a good GPU paired with a less power-intensive processor.”

Notebooks.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Game Demo: Call of Duty World at War, Xavier Lanier

• “The HP Pavilion dv2 is an ultraportable notebook that’s affordable, but has enough graphics muscle that users can enjoy video games….”

Content Creation Capabilities

PC Magazine: HP Pavilion dv2 (1030us), Cisco Cheng

• “So how did the Neo processor fare against the Atom in actual testing? The dv2, with its Neo processor, showed its muscle in video encoding tests, outperforming the Atom-powered Asus 1000HE by 20 seconds and the Mini 12 by 1 minute, 18 seconds. It was the only one that completed Photoshop CS4 tests, finishing in 1 minute 49 seconds (the Dell 12 did not complete the test and the 1000HE’s resolution was too low to even run the test.”
• “In terms of raw horsepower, the Neo clearly has an advantage over Atom.”

Notebookreview.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Review, Jerry Jackson

• “If you want to edit high-resolution images in Photoshop while you’re on vacation, the dv2 can handle it.”

ComputerShopper: HP Pavilion dv2-1030us, John Delaney

• “Compared with other netbooks, the dv2 performed brilliantly, scoring a class-leading 1,261 on our Cinebench 10 benchmark, while the Atom-based Dell Inspiron Mini 12 and Asus N10Jc came in at 718 and 774, respectively.”

Creating the New Affordable Ultrathin Category

PC World: Netbook or Ultraportable: Which is Best for the Job?, James Martin

• “DV2 blurs the lines between netbook and ultraportable more than most portable computers. That’s just $120 more than a high-end HP Mini 2140 netbook, which can’t compare to the dv2’s more robust specs.”

TechNewsWorld: The Death and Rebirth of Silicon Valley, Rob Enderle

• “By creating a hybrid between a netbook and a notebook, the DV2 falls into an interesting product gap. It isn’t as small as a netbook, it is vastly less expensive than a small notebook, it has more performance than many notebooks have (let alone netbooks) and it still costs under US$750.”

JKOntherun.com: HP dv2 Runs the CrystalMark Benchmark Gauntlet, Kevin Tofel

• “The AMD Neo platform is squarely targeted between the netbook market and traditional notebooks. You can get traditional notebook performance in a near-netbook sized package: call it a more portable package than a standard notebook, but not as anemic as a netbook.”

ZDNet: HP Pavilion dv2: Netbook or Notebook?, Jennifer Bergen

• “If Goldilocks was in the market for a laptop, she might pick the new HP Pavilion dv2. It’s not too big, and not too small. It sits between the large and expensive notebooks, and the small-screened netbooks – it’s just right.”

TGDaily: The netbook-killing HP dv2, Rob Enderle

• “As it was designed to be, this is a product that falls within the price range of netbooks and provides capabilities that exceed many $2000 products.”

Notebookreview.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Review, Jerry Jackson

• “The HP Pavilion dv2 satisfies an important need that low-cost netbooks never could.”

Tom’s Hardware: HP Launches Pavilion dv2 Notebook for $749, Jane McEntergart

• “At $749 it’s more expensive than a netbook and more in the range of an ultra portable; a great option for those who’ve realized that a netbook won’t cut it when it comes to anything more than classes, business trips, Facebook or browsing.”

The feedback wasn’t perfect, and that’s expected, as some raised points of question about the dv2’s battery life and fan.

So, all in all, a very good showing for the HP dv2 in regards to the Blu-ray experience, HD video capability, gaming experience, and content creation capabilities; all in a new category created by AMD and HP. The affordable ultrathin. And it’s nice to know that we weren’t the only ones extolling the virtues of the dv2.  The best part about it is that AMD’s ultrathin platform roadmap only begins here, and it even gets better, in the form of the “Congo” platform planned for release in 2H09.  I will see you then!

Note: Blu-ray is optional

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.

Let me tell you about that.

I met up with AMD during my tenure at Compaq Computer Corp. starting in 1995. Back then, lots of PCs sold for as much as $2,000 and the idea of notebooks for consumers instead of just business people was new. AMD helped change the entire landscape on both those fronts and the market has never been the same.

I also fondly recall loving the ATI Rage^TM Pro graphics card. In fact it was at that time that Compaq actually soldered the ATI Rage Pro engine onto the motherboard [it was in fact the first motherboard-resident AGP graphics chip]. Soldering anything on a mobo back in the day was a huge commitment and vote of confidence.

In late 2000, I joined AMD and have called it home ever since.

I admire AMD for a lot of things, but three things come top of mind:

1. Integrity, the highest levels.

2. Putting customers first, sometimes seemingly at its own peril.

3. Defying the pundits and “just doing it”

#1 and #2 are reasonably self-explanatory so I will drill down into #3.  I will provide the “dialogue” as people may have heard it play-out many times before:

• 1990 Pundit: “You have the 386 mask set, but not the microcode. No way can you make a 386.”

But AMD did it.

• 1992 Pundit: “You don’t have the 486 mask set or the microcode. No way can you make a 486.”

But AMD did it.

• 1997 Pundit: “You have relied on Intel’s infrastructure this whole time so no way you can make a 7^th generation CPU with an AMD-based motherboard infrastructure. You are dead.”

But AMD did it.

• 1999 Pundit: “New and proprietary instruction sets from massive companies are the way to go. You are nuts if you think you can drive a 64-bit instruction set by yourselves. You will be dead.”

But AMD did it.

• 2003 Pundit: “No way you can get into the datacenter. You are just a consumer desktop CPU company. Get back in your box.”

But AMD did it.

• 2007 Pundit: “You’ve lost graphics technology leadership and you won’t ever get it back. The competition is too tough.”

But AMD did it.

So I hope I refreshed your memory banks on what pundits may have said, how AMD said “we can” and how AMD “just did it”.  I want to highlight that we didn’t do anything on our own without the support of our customers, their customers, and technology and infrastructure partners.

I am excited about AMD, our employees, and our future.  I am excited about what we plan to bring to our customers on cloud server computing and media-rich consumer usage models. Pundits will take shots and that’s okay, as it tends to motivate us and enhance the sweetness of our successes in the end.

Pundits laughed when Kennedy set his challenge to send a man to the moon and return him safely by the end of the 1960s. We like our moon-shots at AMD, too, and surprising the pundits again and again.

AMD, happy 40^th and I promise I will keep promoting the “we can” attitude and we’ll just do it.

Note: Nigel Dessau, CMO and SVP at AMD is also providing his unique blog perspective on the 40th anniversary here.

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.

Spore, the popular “casual” game from EA, has received as much sales and fanfare as it has controversy from its DRM policies. Spore sold 1M copies and 25M creations were created in its first 2 weeks so no one questions its popularity. But, does anyone question the quality of the visual experience between different notebook technologies? They should, as there are big differences that could really impact their enjoyment. One would expect that today on modern notebooks these differences wouldn’t exist but they definitely do.

Brian Henry, a software engineer in our Performance and Experience Lab, provided me with some data that I thought was interesting. He showed me a visual comparative analysis of Spore on two HP Pavilion dv5 notebooks, both with integrated graphics. One system was an AMD-based (“Puma”) and the other an Intel-based (Montevina). Interestingly, the Intel-based system demonstrated significant difference in Spore quality.

Here are the comparative screen-shots on “high” settings. You don’t need to have 20/20 vision to see there is a huge disparity.

Here is the Intel Centrino 2 (Montevina) system with Core 2 Duo CPU and GMA 4500MHD graphics (1):

Here is the AMD (“Puma”) system with a Turion™ X2 Ultra CPU and ATI Radeon™ 3200 graphics (2) :

Compare the water quality, shadows off the creatures, the grassy field dimensionality and the background fog elements (or lack thereof) between the two images.

The Intel game graphics performance and visual experience shown here on Spore is very consistent with what AMD, Nvidia and others in the tech press have been confirming for a years. And, just to list a few:

• Business Week: “Is Your PC a Graphics Wimp?”
• InformationWeek: “Intel Cites Graphics Problems In Centrino 2 Delay”
• Notebooks.com: “AMD vs. Intel Integrated Graphics Video”
• The Inquirer: “Intel’s G965 embedded graphics stink – official”
• NVIDIA video: “GeForce 7 series Motherboard GPU”
• AMD video: “AMD Phenom X3 + AMD 780 Gaming Demo”

Ironically, this is a phenomenon that has everything to do with the balance of the total platform (CPU-GPU-Chipset) versus the performance of one specific component. Let me explain in a little more detail. The Puma platform combined the new code-name “Griffin” CPU with the new integrated AMD M780G chipset that included the integrated ATI Radeon 3200 graphics. The M780G chipset’s graphics is a 55nm shrink of a full desktop Radeon 2000 Series graphics, which to me explains the awesome performance and quality. It also provides DX10, native DVI, HDMI and HDCP. The chipset and CPU and graphics are married together and provide sophisticated power management capabilities with ATI PowerPlay, ^TM, AMD Cool ‘n ‘ Quiet ^TM Technology, and Display Cache. In my opinion, the combined performance, quality, display, and power management capabilities are a requirement for a good mobile casual gaming experience.

Net-net, even when it comes to casual games like Spore, The Sims, or even Sim City, buyer beware: there can be major differences in the experience with these games on a notebook–differences not changed by a cutesy TV jingle. The industry (of which I am a part) has thus far failed to develop, deliver, and educate end-users on these differences. To me, playing Spore at high-quality would be the low bar game experience for a notebook you just plowed $699 to $1,599 into.

If you play casual games on notebooks, I recommend looking for notebooks with ATI Radeon ^TM branded graphics numbered 3200 and above and with AMD Turion ™ processors.

If you “beg to differ” or have your own casual game nightmare I would like to hear from you.

Note: This blog was originally published on notebooks.com here.

1) AMD notebook specs: HP Pavilion dv5z, BIOS F.05 – 6/18/2008, AMD Turion Ultra ZM-82, DDR2-800 2GB (2 X 1GB) RAM, ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics , 7.1.1.747 VBIOS, Seagate ST9100824AS hard drive, high Spore settings.

2) Intel notebook spec: HP Pavilion dv5z (CORR:dv5t), BIOS F.05 – 6/8/2008, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU P8400, DDR2-800 2GB (2 X 1GB) RAM, Mobile Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, 7.15.10.1502 VBIOS, Seagate- ST9100824AS hard drive, high Spore settings..

Note: No sponsorship with EA is implied in this blog.

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.

Low-priced, 720P HD pocket camcorders (palmcorders) are gaining market momentum and I believe consumers are drawn to the value proposition of low cost, high quality, portable, and convenient video capture and playback. As these devices proliferate, it leaves me contemplating how consumers will respond when they discover just how many of these notebooks or netbooks can’t effectively play back that content. Whether or not low end notebooks or netbooks were designed to do this isn’t relevant, as a recent NPD blog posting (citing new research) may suggest.

The Cameras

Let’s start with the cameras. I evaluated three different models, Flip MinoHD ($179), Kodak Zi6 ($148), and the Aiptek 1080 ($159). These cameras capture HD video at 720P resolution and 30-60 fps at around 10-12Mbps, which I consider mid-level HD video. Compare this to your typical Blu-ray movie peaking between 20 to 40 Mbps.

Compared to higher end HD camcorders priced into the $1,000s, many features have been removed like branded lenses, large magnification, optical image stabilization, night vision and auto-focus, just to name a few.  In comparing between HD pocket camcorders, the differences are found in battery life, image capture quality, external display size, memory upgradability, and physical size.

Pervasiveness

To quickly gauge pervasiveness in the U.S., I sometimes use Best Buy shelving as a proxy indicator. In my last trip to my local Best Buy, these new class of cameras had 7 slots of shelf space, which is significant. Some models that use the lowest-cost clamshell packaging are even sold at Wal-Mart and Target next to $20 JPEG picture key chains and USB flash drives. In addition, many influential bloggers are picking up on these new HD cameras, which is sometimes a good indicator of future popularity. Amazon.com is an “OK” indicator and these new HD palmcorders are relatively high in sales rank.

The Problem

As I see it, the problem is simple…. videos from these new cheap cameras won’t play well on many of the new inexpensive net/notebooks. If new research from the NPD blog is a future indicator, most consumers won’t know the capability tradeoffs between netbooks, low end notebooks and full capability (HD capable) notebooks. This could spell some real disappointment for users who may expect decent playback. In my testing on a typical netbook or real low end notebook, I get around 7 fps – close to a slide show. Think of it this way – the HD palmcorder is smaller and cheaper than any netbook. Is it logical to assume the consumer will know that the video from the palmcorder can’t play on the bigger, more expensive netbook?

Different Solution Approaches

I suggest there are a few different ways that OEMs can solve these problems. They can:

1)    Provide greater CPU power to decode the 720P HD video.  This may also increase the heat, the fan noise and lower the battery life as well. (High end dual core CPU)

2)    Provide an effective graphics solution that efficiently decodes, filters, and color corrects the image. (i.e: AMD 780G, ATI Mobility Radeon™3000, and competing solutions)

3)    Provide a special decode chip that’s expensive and bounded to specific software. (i.e: discrete accelerator)

AMD’s Approach

Our approach is simple: apply the most efficient silicon to the challenge.  In this usage scenario, the most efficient way is to decode the HD video with the GPU. Inside the GPU are special silicon blocks and special quality filters that are optimized for this function. We call this our UVD or Unified Video Decoder. It accelerates decoding of VC-1, H.264, and MPEG2 video and offloads the CPU for other tasks. UVD also applies quality filters against the video to make it look better, when using a supported player like Cyberlink 8. The result is amazing.  Very low CPU utilization, keeping the system cool and very high quality image thanks to the filters provided by ATI Avivo™ technology.

Implications

If you accept that users will increase their consumption of HD video on their notebooks, disappointment for many will follow with low, ~7 fps HD experience or apply an appropriate GPU to execute the task. Another alternative is to invest resources educating consumers on the difference in capabilities between netbooks, low end notebooks, and fully capable notebooks. With the economy and budgets the way they are, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Real-World Efficiency in Action

I want to highlight my favorite example. The new HP dv2 notebook (based on AMD’s “Yukon” platform technology for ultrathin notebooks) uses a superscalar AMD Athlon Neo ™ processor paired with ATI Radeon™ X1250 integrated graphics and optional ATI Radeon ™ HD 3410 discrete graphics to deliver not only full frame-rate HD video from these new HD palmcorders, but also higher end Blu-ray movies.

Conclusion

AMD has already anticipated the importance of HD video in multiple forms: low cost HD pocket camcorders discussed above, Blu-ray movie capabilities, and of course, some downloaded content.  And we have responded with technologies that are in-market today.  Big question remains: where does that leave netbook owners who expected their netbook to work with their even-smaller and less expensive HD palmcorder, even if that was “never the design intent”? It leaves them stranded on a non-HD island. Hopefully they have a second HD-capable PC at home, but if the NPD data is an indicator, they may not….

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.

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2009/01/22/the-significance-of-hd-palmcorders-to-netbook-and-notebook-design/feed/ 4 http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2009/01/15/breaking-records-with-dragons-and-helium-in-the-las-vegas-desert/ http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2009/01/15/breaking-records-with-dragons-and-helium-in-the-las-vegas-desert/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:55:00 +0000 Patrick Moorhead /patmoorhead/archive/2009/01/15/breaking-record-dragon-helium-las-vegas-desert-Phenom-overclock-CES-2009.aspx

How do I describe what happened in a tent on the edge of the Desert in Las Vegas on the last night of CES? Completely over the top…. I can say that it was a story that included dragons and helium at temperatures near the point where atoms and molecules cease to move. While I wasn’t at the event, I had droves of people come to me within and hours to tell an account of what happened. After researching the night’s activities, I wanted to bring it to you.

“The Experiment” was held on the edge of Las Vegas with the goal to push AMD Phenom ^TM II X4 processors to the absolute limits¹ using the most extreme techniques and methods available. The testing was done on AMD Dragon platform technology complete with dual ATI Radeon ^TM HD 4870 X2 and motherboards based on the AMD 790FX chipset.

Overclockers Macci, Hardman, Sampsa and SF3D were given 500 liters of liquid helium and an arsenal of motherboards from DFI and Gigabyte. I am an absolute neophyte when it comes to overclocking and have lots of fun with it, but when you add the pros and put great gear in their hands, the results are stunning. This proved quite true on this special night in the Vegas desert.

A world record score of 45,474 on 3D Mark 05 capped off the evening with all four processor cores at 6301MHz, the memory controller running at 3843MHz, and memory at DDR2-1100MHz. A pair of ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards using ATI CrossFireX™ technology were air-cooled at 800/950MHz.

The team was reinstalling drivers and cold booting on what the meter read as -242C but at that point the meters are only an approximation….amazing stability at temperatures on the verge of absolute zero (-273C at which atomic motion ceases). The team even got a run with one core operating at 6.8 GHz.

Remember, almost all of this stuff is certain to void your hardware warranties and could cause serious damage to your PC hardware. We burn through motherboards, processors and graphics cards at an alarming rate doing it. And liquid helium is incredibly dangerous in untrained hands. Only the most experienced, safe and methodical overclockers should every even think of attempting something this extreme.

There is some great initial posts out there, check it out.

English

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3570593&postcount=432

Event Thread (English)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211726&page=18

German

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,672730/News/AMD_Phenom_II_mit_fluessigem_Helium_uebertaktet_PCGH_vor_Ort/

Finnish

http://plaza.fi/muropaketti/3dmark05n-maailmanennatys-suomeen

YouTube Video of The Event

The team would like to break that record as they refine their techniques and the community goes beyond. We appreciate the support from the OC community that AMD has had over the years and hope that our Black Edition processors continue to raise the level of fun and competition. I am hearing that Dragon technology is proving to be a compelling platform for overclockers and we hope that the community enjoys it.

1) AMD’s PRODUCT WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER DAMAGES CAUSED BY OVERCLOCKING, EVEN WHEN OVERCLOCKING IS ENABLED VIA AMD SOFTWARE.

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.

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2009/01/15/breaking-records-with-dragons-and-helium-in-the-las-vegas-desert/feed/ 9 http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2009/01/06/the-magical-amd-yukon-based-hp-pavilion-dv2-ultrathin-notebook/ http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2009/01/06/the-magical-amd-yukon-based-hp-pavilion-dv2-ultrathin-notebook/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:49:00 +0000 Patrick Moorhead /patmoorhead/archive/2009/01/06/amd-yukon-hp-pavilion-dv2-ultrathin-notebook-netbook-neo.aspx There has been a considerable amount of interest and debate surrounding mini-notebooks (aka “netbooks”), ultraportable notebooks and standard, full-size notebooks. Netbooks sure have come a long way since I first blogged on my experiences back in May. My first configuration had a 7” display at 840×480, 8GB storage, a tiny keyboard, Linux and was priced at $499. Netbooks have changed considerably since then and I think it is safe to say that “more” is what consumers demanded. It is commonplace now to find 10” display at 1024×600, 160GB storage, larger keyboard, Windows XP and priced from $389 to a whopping $789. I have tested now 9 netbooks and clearly see their plusses and minuses, and yes there are plusses. :>

In the background of all the netbook debate, AMD quietly announced the “Yukon” platform for ultrathin notebooks. We wanted to provide something different, something more. We wanted to provide a rich entertainment experience at an affordable price.

So when I got the chance to play with a real, live Yukon-based, HP Pavilion dv2 Entertainment ultrathin notebook, of course I jumped on it, and wanted to share those experiences with you. Because the unit is a prototype sample and isn’t expected to be released until March, I won’t be able to share everything with you, but I will share as much as I can.

The Basic Specs

• AMD Athlon ^TM Neo processor
• ATI Mobility Radeon ^TM HD 3410 discrete graphics with 1080P HD video capability and HDMI-out
• 12.1” LED BrightView display
• Optional external Blu-ray drive
• Integrated webcam
• Nearly full-size keyboard

UPDATE 3/26:

• 0 .93in thin and 3.8lb, varies by confuguration
• Hard drives up to 500GB

Beauty Shots

The HP dv2 looks great and feels like a real notebook. The attention to detail was obvious, in opposition to me who couldn’t get his head out of the way of the picture above.

Front

Back

Left





Right

I cannot share the exact size or weight specifications at this time, but I can show you proportionally how it compares size-wise to objects I am sure you are familiar with.

HP dv2 and U.S. dime

HP dv2 and a BlackBerry Bold

HP dv2 and 10" Notebook

HP dv2 and Mac Air

I had a very enjoyable web experience with the HP dv2 due to many reasons, but three really stand out: the 12.1 display at a nice resolution, a large trackpad with large buttons, and the large keyboard.

On displays, the higher the resolution, the more information you can fit on a screen. The larger the screen, the better you can actually see it. The dv2 combines a large 12.1 screen with 1280×800 resolution. When compared to netbooks, the viewable image area is 45% larger (versus 10”) or 80% larger (versus 8.9”).¹ Not only is the viewable image area larger, you can pack 67% more information on the screen.² That’s a big difference. The best way to describe it is to show the difference. I did a Google search on “AMD Turion”, went into “Shopping” and then into “Show grid view”.

12.1" HP dv2

10" Netbook

8.9" Netbook ; 10" Netbook ; 12.1" HB dv2

HD Movies and Video

High definition video is where the HP dv2 absolutely shines, as I not only did I play 1080P Blu-Ray movies with ease and quality, but also played HD video files from the new generation of pocket HD camcorders.

You can get an external Blu-ray drive as an option that’s about the same size as a Blu-ray case. I really liked the drive as it was very compact, matched the design and size of the notebook, and was powered by only one USB connector, unlike many others you can get in the after-market.

I also successfully played HD video files at full speed from three of the latest pocket HD camcorders. You can buy these cameras from multiple sources for as little as $119 and I see them slowly taking shelf space at retail. This usually is a proxy for real sales and popularity. I tested video files from the Kodak Zi6 (720/60), the Aiptek HD (1080/30), and the Flip MinoHD (720/30) using Cyberlink PowerDVD 8. The dv2 played 720 and 1080 video without a hitch, AND with low CPU utilization. As a comparison, the netbooks played the Zi6 720 HD video at approximately 7 frames per second, according to QuickTime’s Movie Inspector.

The final video clincher for me is the external HDMI port. Forget about 12.1”……. try 52” or 120”, just connect on HDMI cable and you have HD video and audio pumping into your compatible TV or receiver.

Gaming Experience

You would expect the dv2 with the ATI Radeon Mobility 3410 discrete graphics to chew through all the “casual” games like Sims 2, Lego Indiana Jones, and Spore at high settings…. and it did. Also, I tested higher end games like Fallout 3 and even Left 4 Dead. While I would recommend to a hard core gamer an ATI Radeon™ 4000 Series graphics and even multiple ATI Radeon graphics cards using ATI CrossFireX^TM technology for these intense games, I could play them relatively well at 1200×800 resolution at lower quality settings. I was really surprised how playable Left 4 Dead’s first scene was.³ Oh and watch out for the exploding bile man, he is a killer.

Summary

I cannot wait for the HP dv2 to be available in March of this year. It adds most of my personal must-have features in my “ideal ultrathin entertainment notebook”. Features like the 12.1” display, HD video playback, ability to play real games, HDMI out, and a larger keyboard. This supports all my ultrathin notebook needs for casual games, Blu-ray movies, HD video and of course, the web. Is this what you want to see in a Yukon-based ultrathin notebook? I would like to know.

Notes:

1) Resolution: 1280×800 pixels= 1,024,000 pixels; 1024×600 pixels= 614,400

2) Viewable image area: 16:9 (1.78:1) native mode. 12.1”= 61.95 sq in; 10”= 42.63 sq in.; 8.9”= 34.32 sq in.

3) Left 4 Dead at “low” settings.

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.

In Nigel’s latest blog, he gives the big picture of what the new AMD Fusion campaign means to our customers and business partners. Being the new tech lover that I am, I decided to explore the new AMD Fusion for Gaming utility. I‘ll start broad, then get to the juicy details, but first a teaser from my personal numbers: I saw a best-case gaming experience frames-per-second improvement of over 100% using the new utility.

First, as I have covered in previous blogs here and here, for PCs, AMD innovates around usage models. Whether it’s productivity, home media, or playing games, we work with customers, channels, and end users to better understand their pain and pleasure points, apply the right integrated technologies to meet those needs, and then help deliver the complete experience through our customers and channels.

Console and PC Gaming are very important usage models to AMD, and we apply many hardware and software innovations for both “hard-core gamers” and “consumers who like to play games.” Hardware innovations include our ATI Radeon™ HD graphics, AMD Phenom™ and AMD Turion™ processors, and the chipset platforms. On the software side, we deliver drivers and the award-winning ATI Catalyst™ Control Center that lets you tweak almost every aspect of your graphics card with respect to 3D, video, color, power management, multi-GPUs, and display connectivity. Also, AMD Overdrive™ allows you to tune the performance of your CPU, memory, and chipset.

When the AMD Fusion for Gaming development team asked me to try out their newest software creation last weekend, I jumped ALL over it and wanted to share my experiences.

Hard core gamers know that to have the best experience possible, they need a bad-ass graphics card like the ATI Radeon™ HD 4870, a beefy CPU like the Phenom™ 9850 processor, a great performance chipset like the AMD 790GX, software tools like AMD Overdrive and ATI Overdrive™, and as few applications and tasks as possible running in the foreground and background. Historically, even for knowledgeable enthusiasts, this would be a time-consuming process. For the mainstream user who likes to play games, this type of performance optimization was completely out of reach. To solve these pain points, we created the AMD Fusion for Gaming utility.

The AMD Fusion for Gaming utility was designed to optimize your AMD-based PC for smoother, more responsive game play in the latest PC games with the touch of a button; the utility helps achieve the performance previously only available to highly technical enthusiasts. It works by temporarily shutting down background processes and intensifying processor performance with AMD Boost. That means you can keep all the features, tasks, and applications running on your Microsoft® Windows Vista® PC ready when you need them, but turn them off when you are ready to get down to serious gaming.¹

”Simplicity” was the design principle for the utility, but we still let you peek behind the curtains into the advanced interface to change how the utility works. You can customize with user selectable profiles to individually optimize your PC for gaming. Also, you can easily build your own profile and choose exactly what you want disabled for a leaner footprint. If you want to squeeze every bit of performance from your system, engage our most advanced acceleration technologies such as AMD Overdrive, Auto-Tuning and Hard Drive Acceleration.²

So with that long-winded intro, let me tell you what I personally experienced…

Desktop Gaming

I saw a big improvement in my desktop gaming experience using Fusion for Gaming. This was not surprising given I used Expert Profile that initiates AMD Boost, Hard Drive Acceleration, AMD OverDrive and ATI Overdrive in addition to shutting down unneeded services and third-party applications. Playing games just felt “better”. I know that doesn’t sound like science, but real gamers know what I mean. On Call of Duty 4 and Crysis, my system felt more responsive and snappier. I did a few rudimentary benchmarks on these two games using FRAPS, and saw about a 23-29% improvement in frame rates. Using some canned benchmarks, I saw the following:

• 3D Mark: 15% overall score improvement in 3DMark
• World In Conflict: Based on the setting, improvements in frame rates were 55% for the “average” setting, 157% for the “minimum” setting and 116% for the “maximum” setting
• Lost Planet: 5.8% “Snow” and 24% “Cave” scene frame rate improvement

Very impressive, but again, not surprising, given I was overclocking the CPU, GPU, hard drive, and shutting many Windows services, foreground and background apps. I am not a professional benchmarker like Kyle Bennett or Marco Chiappetta, but these numbers make sense given the “feel” of the game. And remember – these are my results achieved on the platforms indicated below – your experience may differ.

Notebook Gaming

One of the things I love to do with my 6 year old son is play PC games. We place a notebook on the coffee table in the living room, plug in two controllers, and go to town. We play games like Lego Star Wars II, Lego Indiana Jones, and IronMan… age appropriate stuff.I would consider this usage model to be about “people who like to play games”, NOT the “hard core gamer”. Surprisingly, I saw some of the largest boosts here. I didn’t expect it because I didn’t initiate AMD OverDrive or ATI Overdrive, just AMD Boost, Hard Drive Acceleration, and turned off unneeded tasks and applications. My hunch is that because it was a 2GB integrated graphics system where graphics shares memory and I run a lot of background tasks, shutting those down really helped. Again, the experience of Lego Star Wars II just “felt better.”

Like the desktop system, I ran some rudimentary benchmarks on the notebook:

• 3D Mark:8.9% improvement in 3DMark
• World In Conflict: Based on the setting, improvements in frame rates were 140% for the “average” setting, 600% for the “minimum” setting and 53% for the “maximum” setting
• Lost Planet: No improvement in frame rates

I didn’t expect to see any improvement, honestly, so I was surprised to see the World in Conflict numbers. Again, my hunch is that it is the memory impact and all the tasks and the applications that were shut down plus the fact that I used a 2GB integrated graphics system. And again – these are my results, yours may differ.

All in all, I was impressed at the simplicity AMD Fusion for Gaming utility brought to my desktop and the improvement to the gameplay. And on the notebook side, I was very surprised at how much it improved my gaming experience and framerates. While not perfect without some glitches as the utility is in beta, I think the AMD for Fusion for Gaming utility pulls together the strength of AMD’s CPU, GPU and chipset franchises better than ever, and pays off on the promises AMD has made to its customers, channels, and end users on the “fused” value of the three components.

You can download the Fusion utility here and AMD Overdrive 2.14 here, and I would love to hear about your experiences.

¹ THIS UTILITY MAY DISABLE SECURITY / ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE, OR ADVERSELY AFFECT YOUR SYSTEM. REVIEW ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING.

² AMD’S PRODUCT WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER DAMAGES CAUSED BY OVERCLOCKING, EVEN WHEN ENABLED VIA AMD SOFTWARE.

Desktop configuration: AMD Phenom X4 9850 processor, ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics, Foxconn A7DA-S motherboard (BIOS 81BF1P03) with 790GX chipset and SB 750, 1GB Seagate hard drive (7200 RPM), 2GB Corsair XMS2 RAM, ATI Catalyst Control Center 8.8, AMD OverDrive 2.1.4.

Notebook configuration: Toshiba L305D-S5873, AMD Turion X2 RM-70 processor, ATI Radeon 3100 graphics, 2GB RAM, 160GB (5400RPM) hard drive, ATI Catalyst Control Center 8.8.

Applications: GooglePack, Digsby, Tweetdeck, Picasa 2 media detector, Windows Defender, Orb, Internet Explorer 8.0, Windows Home Server Connect, AT&T Communications Manager, CD/DVD Acoustic Silencer and Config Free (On Toshiba)

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.

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/09/17/first-weekend-with-the-fusion-for-gaming-utility/feed/ 3 http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/09/08/should-the-pc-be-worried-about-the-best-dma-to-date/ http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/09/08/should-the-pc-be-worried-about-the-best-dma-to-date/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:06:00 +0000 Patrick Moorhead /patmoorhead/archive/2008/09/08/should-the-pc-be-worried-about-the-best-dma-to-date.aspx

I have believed for years that if someone with just minor technical understanding wants to watch their digital videos or photos on their big-screen TV, the PC is still the best choice. Question is, how close are we getting to the DMA (Digital media adapter) catching up to the PC?

After years of personal testing, sifting through mounds of secondary research and sitting through the research glass watching consumers, I have become very opinionated about the best DMA (Digital Media Adapter) to connect to a TV or flat panel for watching videos and pictures. Yes, I have tried a mountain of DMAs in my own home: D-Link DSM-520, Linksys DMA2200, Apple TV, Archos 605 WiFi, HP MediaSmart x280n, Roku SoundBridge, Xbox 360, Iomega ScreenPlay HD, iPhone, iPod, and Roku Netflix player (and a few I am sure I have forgotten). They all have their strengths and weaknesses on price, functionality, content, reliability, and ease of use, but again, the PC still reigns.

It’s not just any PC, though.  It needs to be optimized for a 10′ experience and comfortably fit into the living room.  A small form factor media center PC still “wins” could consist of a low-wattage, high performance CPU like a 65 watt AMD Phenom processor, efficient hardware HiDef video decode off the GPU like a “silent-edition” ATI Radeon HD 3650 or the motherboard-based ATI Radeon HD 3200 connected to the HDTV over HDMI, a Gyration keyboard and remote, and all the video “codec packs”, to run virtually any flavor of video. The chassis must be able to support the usage model technologically, ergonomically, and with style.  Trust me, when you have been married 18 years like me, the “style” thing becomes real important.  For me, the “PC over the DMA” argument comes down to compatibility, ease of use, flexibility, and price.

So when I do run into a DMA that impresses, I want to tell people about it. It’s funny how you hear about these new devices.  A few weeks ago I was at a reception in New York where I ran into Marco Chiappetta, managing editor of Hot Hardware. He told me about a review he did for CPU Magazine of a device called a “TViX”. So I had to check it out for myself over the weekend…  Below you can see the front and offset shots of the TViX sitting on top of a Yamaha receiver.

Here are the basics from the DViCO website on the TViX 6500a:

• · Video formats: .mkv, .iso, .mpg, .iso, .vob, .mp4, .asf, .tp, .trp, .ts, .m2ts, .mov
• · Video codecs: MPEG 1/2/4, AVI, XVID, WMV9, H.264, AVC HD, VC-1
• · Video resolutions: Up to 1920×1080P
• · Storage connectivity: Internal SATA hard drive, 2 external USB drives, and RJ45 networked.

For me, the TViX handled almost all the video I threw at it at 1080 and 720 projecting on a 120” screen with the exception of a few highly encoded .MOV, .AVI, .MKV files, and surprisingly, with videos from a new and inexpensive HD camcorder I just purchased. It also had some issues with a 720P .MOV file off an older digital camera.  It rebooted on a few videos, but again still chewed through most of the formats I threw at it.  It will hopefully be addressed with future firmware updates, but there are never any guarantees with video. These same files I had issues with on the TViX worked fine on my PC using CyberLink, QuickTime or VLC.  Finally, The upscaling of the standard def video to higher def video was impressive as well.

Below you can see the remote (left) and the on screen display when you first power-on (right).

The most impressive thing to me about the TViX was the local storage capability. A bit strange, I know, being impressed by that for a networkable device, but I will tell you more on that later. I added a 1TB SATA drive and two external USB2 hard drives to give me a total of 2.2TB of local storage! Local playback was incredibly fast and my hunch is that some of its on-board memory is coming into play. I have used other DMAs with local storage and it was incredibly slow, so this was a welcomed change.  Below see the open bay for the hard drive (left) and a shot of the back with all the ports (right) which I am sure you recognize.

Networking was a totally different story. No UPnP, so you are kind of on your own to connect it to your networked PCs. I say “kind of” on your own because it did come with PC software to index the PC content, but I was forced to hard-code my PCs IP address into the TViX. I am no self-professed networking expert, and I am brilliantly showing that off as I write. When I did get the streaming to work, it worked well, shockingly well even for very highly-encoded video files.

Net-net for me, the TViX is a decent complement to the PC for videos, photos, and even music if you can figure out the networking and make it reliable, but it isn’t going to compete with the PC anytime soon. And starting at $399 without a hard drive, the TViX isn’t exactly a throw-away, either.  In my next few blogs, I will dig a little bit deeper into building an HTPC.

Note: AMD has no affiliation with DVICO.

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.

I had the pleasure of watching the graphics team as they were developing it. What I saw was an incredible desire and passion to do what was right for the end user as it related to games and video and to do what was right for the customer, the OEMs and the AIB (Add-In-Board) partners. The intensity, drive and sheer will was amazing to watch. And, at the same time, a humble nature…… You just knew that something amazing was going to come out.

The other factor in “how” is history….. a long history of incredible feats in 3D graphics and video technologies. While you never want to rest on history, it is a factor or variable in repeating future success. I had worked with ATI Technologies since 1995 when I ran a consumer desktop product line at Compaq Computer during the “glory days.” I worked with guys like Phil Eisler and K.Y. Ho, ATI’s founder. I picked what I considered the “top 10” (O.K. 13, no discipline) feats I am talking about:

1987 – First graphics accelerator cards released (EGA Wonder & VGA Wonder)

1991 – First Windows accelerator released (Mach8)

1996 – First 3D graphics accelerator chip released (3D Rage)

1997 – First AGP products released and first graphics chip with motion compensation acceleration for DVD playback released (Rage Pro, Rage II+ DVD)

1999 – First AGP 4X products released from ATI

1999 – World’s first dual GPU card (Rage Fury Maxx)

2001 – First GPU supporting DirectX 8.1 programmable shader technology released (Radeon 8500)

2002 – First DirectX 9 GPU with 2x the performance of any existing product released (Radeon 9700 Pro)

2003 – First integrated graphics chipset with programmable shader support released (Radeon 9100 IGP)

2004 – First gaming GPU optimized for HD resolutions released (Radeon X800)

2005- ATI GPU is featured in Microsoft Xbox 360 with first unified shader

2006 – World’s first GPU accelerated physics demo with effects and particle physics

2007 – AMD breaks the teraFLOP performance barrier and first with DX 10.1 and 55nm (ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2)

Again, historical accomplishments are a factor of future success, but as we all know in high-tech, you better not rest on it or you will get your “lunch eaten.” This attitude was best exemplified by an answer to my question to one of the graphics executives, “what’s it like to be on top?” The answer was basically, “we only won one round in a 15 round fight and we aren’t even looking back for a second. It’s off to the next product.” Man, I love that….. anyone who has ever seen the movie “Rudy” has to love that……anyone who has an ounce of passion has to love that.

So there we have it….. having the “world’s fastest graphics card” means something for a day then it’s off to the next product. Maybe history does matter though, and in my opinion, when you hear a large CPU manufacturer talk about incredible claims in graphics and video technologies sometime in 2009 or 2010, you may want to ask them for their “Top 10” graphics and video list as well.

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.

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/08/14/how-on-earth-did-you-guys-deliver-the-worlds-fastest-graphics-card/feed/ 9 http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/08/06/euro-pumas-galore/ http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/08/06/euro-pumas-galore/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:39:00 +0000 Patrick Moorhead /patmoorhead/archive/2008/07/24/new-blog.aspx

Fujitsu Amilo Pa3553 - ZUR48 retailer in Leipzig

Fujitsu Amilo Pa3553 - Volantino Euronics retailer in Italy

Fujitsu Amilo Pa3553 - Volantino Euronics retailer in Italy

Fujitsu Amilo PA3515 - ZUR48 retailer in Leipzig

Acer Aspire 5530G-804G32Bi - Neckermann.de retailer

Acer Aspire 7530 704G32MI - OTTO Versand retailer

Acer Aspire 7530 704G32MI - OTTO Versand retailer

Acer Aspire 5530G-602G16MI - OTTO Versand retailer

Acer Aspire 5530G-602G16MI - OTTO Versand retailer

HP Pavilion - OTTO Versand retailer

HP Pavilion - OTTO Versand retailer

Fujitsu AMILO Pa3553 - OTTO Versand retailer

Fujitsu AMILO Pa3553 - OTTO Versand retailer

HP Laptop on the Move - United Kingdom

HP TX2520E - United Kingdom

HP Pavilion dv5 - United Kingdom Krefel flyer

FSC ZM-80 - Surcouf retailer in France

FSC ZM-80 - Surcouf retailer in France

FSC ZM-80 - Surcouf retailer in France

FSC ZM-80 - Surcouf retailer in France

FSC ZM-80 - Surcouf retailer in France

Fujitsu Amilo PA 3515-001 - Surcouf retailer in France

Fujitsu Amilo PA 3553-002 - Sourcouf retailer in France

HP DV 1005EF - Conforama retailer in France

HP DV 1005EF - Conforama retailer in France

Toshiba 300D - Volantino retailer in Italy

ASUS RM70 17" - Vobis retailer

Toshiba 300D - Euronics retailer

Toshiba 300D - Euronics retailer

Toshiba 300D - MyCOM retailer in UK

Toshiba 300D - MyCOM retailer in UK

Toshiba 300D12I - Auchan retailer in Italy

Toshiba 300D12I - Auchan retailer in Italy

Toshiba 300D12I - Auchan retailer in Italy

Compaq 1311T PC Portatile 15.4 - Auchan retailer in Italy

ASUS RM70 17" - Vobis retailer

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.

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 Radeon^TM 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.

Day three at Computex comprised of more 1:1 regional press interviews and spending more time, maybe too much time, on the show floor given security booted us out of the facility.

Although I had spent a good part of time interviewing some of our technology partners, it was now our turn to give interviews. The first one was with Bloomberg, and while they would have liked to dig deep into AMD’s financial matters, we confined our discussion to AMD’s products and competitiveness. We also talked with IDG on a variety of corporate areas. I have been meeting with Sumner for years and it’s so nice to catch up with familiar faces.

We also hosted a Japanese press contingent that freelanced for publications including PC Watch and MYCOM Journal The discussion focused on our “Puma” platform, the rationalization behind our AMD GAME!™ and AMD LIVE! ™ programs, and the benefits we believe they provide to different sets of customers. I personally like to think of AMD LIVE! and AMD GAME! as guiding posts to deliver a superior technology platform for mainstream gamers and media mavens. Some may disagree and call it just a sticker program or marketing ploy, but if it can help simplify a confusing buying decision, it’s easy to see the benefit. Again, we in the PC industry tend to lose perspective on the ocean that separates enthusiasts and mainstream customers in how each of them approach a solid buying decision. AMD LIVE! and GAME! fill a void in information availability and help save time and effort for the consumer looking for a great all-around digital media and gaming PC.

The final interview was with Hardware Zone out of Singapore. We chatted a lot about the future, or in my opinion, the questionable future for UMPCs and a lot about the mini-notebook spin and hype at this year’s show. As you know, I spent 30 days at home with a lot of different mini-notebooks, comparing full sized notebooks at the same price point, and blogged about my results here. I just hope that consumers get full disclosure when deciding between a mini-notebook and full-sized notebook at the same price point.

After our 1:1 interviews we met up with GearLive for a chat. These guys are awesome in that they sift right through the spin (B.S.) to get to the heart of the technology and the benefit it provides the end user. I absolutely LOVE that approach and wish more folks would adopt this. You can check out our interview with GearLive here:

…as we discuss the next generation notebook platform.

Jake Ludington from GearLive has great insights on the entire Computex show and he shares these insights on his blog here.

Finally, we met up with AMD’s Jacky Wong to talk about ATI XGP™ technology. This is AMD’s new external PCI Express® (PCIe) 2.0 graphics platform, designed to deliver enthusiast-class desktop graphic performance and true multimedia upgradeability to notebooks. The concept is real simple: If you have a notebook with an ATI XGP Technology external PCIe connector and you want some real incredible gaming performance, plug your notebook into an independently powered and cooled graphics “booster unit”, and you are on your way to gaming heaven. Jacky talks more about it here:

…and shows us a notebook connected to three additional monitors playing some cool games.

As we were giving our final GearLive interview of the show, the lights turned down and security entered our realm, a pretty good sign that it was time to leave. Matt Davis, my AMD compadre of the show, just flipped on the camera and we just started walking and talking, trying to summarize what we saw during the show. You can catch that conversation here.

What a Computex 2008 show…… Puma has been let off the leash and the industry’s cycle of innovation rules over anything else. It rules over spin and the giant blue hype machine… the truth always comes out in the end, or that’s what my grandfather the milkman and Christmas tree farmer told me when I was a mere four foot tall…….

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.

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/06/06/day-3-computex-the-innovation-cycle-continues/feed/ 1 http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/06/05/day-2-computex-innovation-book-ends/ http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/06/05/day-2-computex-innovation-book-ends/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:27:00 +0000 Patrick Moorhead /patmoorhead/archive/2008/06/05/day-2-computex-innovation-book-ends.aspx

Today was a huge day for AMD which was capped off with the launch of our next generation mobile platform, formerly code-named “Puma”. For me, it was really a tale of book-ends ranging from checking out some of the coolest technology on the show floor to sharing AMD’s innovation vision with Taiwan’s top 100 tech companies.

With so much technology on the floor, I thought the best way to bring you some of the coolest AMD stuff was to shoot it on video and pics so you can see for yourself. There were a ton of our next generation notebook platforms on the show floor with varying configurations. Check out these videos of new notebooks from HP and Acer and MSI. I especially appreciate MSI’s HDMI port so a user can connect their new AMD-based laptop with a single cable to their TV and get great video and audio. On the desktop front, I thought Gigabyte had a very cool Spider platform that you can see here. Not only was it cool, it was water-cooled with an AMD Phenom™ X4 processor and dual ATI Radeon™ 3870 graphics cards in ATI CrossFireX™ mode.

There were also some unique desktop form-factors as well. Acer had a very cool Aspire L5100 SFF desktop, and at less than 1 liter, it was only slightly taller than my business card. I like SFF but I really love big cases, and Thermaltake had some wicked AMD LIVE!™ and AMD GAME!™ chassis on display. You can see all these below.

The highlight of the day was the launch event of our next generation mobile platform. We had over 400 in attendance and from the feedback I received, we hit the mark with our customers, partners, press and analysts. I caught up with In-Stat’s Jim McGregor and asked him his thoughts about the mobile market and AMD’s platform which you can find here:

Finally, if you missed the event live, you can view it on-demand at Mogulus.

My final event of the day was providing the keynote speech to Business Next’s 2008 Taiwan Info Tech100 Award Ceremony and Forum. The forum included high level executives from Taiwan’s top 100 industries and government officials from what was described to me as “The Executive Yuan”. The theme of the entire forum was “exploring the power of innovation “ and covered a variety of topics from strategy to research and development, operating and executive management……the main point being that innovation has been the key point of technology competition with distinguished companies. One of the biggest treats was the greeting from Taiwan’s Vice President, R.O.C., Mr. Vincent Siew. This certainly isn’t something that I experience every day. It was also an honor to speak alongside Mr. Johnny Shih, Chairman of AsusTek, Adam Judd, senior vice president of Asia Pacific at Juniper, and Mr. Charlie Lee, Tainan factory director of Corning. They really know how to do big events well in Taiwan and this was no exception. Here are some pics below…..

So there we have it, Computex day two, a day of mobile innovation, and certainly a day of innovation book-ends.

(1) From left to right speakers are Mr. Adam Judd, senior vice president of Asia Pacific at Juniper; Mr. Patrick Moorhead, vice president of Advanced marketing at AMD; Mr. Johnny Shih, Chairman of AsusTek; Mr. Charlie Lee, Tainan factory director of Corning.

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.

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/06/05/day-2-computex-innovation-book-ends/feed/ 2 http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/05/07/the-right-cpu-and-gpu-combination-for-a-balanced-platform/ http://blogs.amd.com/patmoorhead/2008/05/07/the-right-cpu-and-gpu-combination-for-a-balanced-platform/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 13:21:00 +0000 Patrick Moorhead /patmoorhead/archive/2008/05/07/the-right-cpu-and-gpu-combination-for-a-balanced-platform.aspx

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.

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