Vizio, known more for its cheap televisions than computers, announced at CES 2013 that it’s bringing a 11.6-inch Windows 8 tablet to market later this year. Much like the Surface, Vizio is selling this a tablet that doubles a premium PC. What sets it apart is that it uses AMD’s latest APU for a presumably cheaper price point.

The new tablet features a full HD 1080p display, 64GB SSD, and an AMD Z-60 APU with on-board Radeon HD graphics. The processor was built with Windows 8 tablets in mind, and as such, features a low-power dual-core 1.0 GHz CPU. The on-board GPU is clocked at 275 MHz, but supports DirectX 11. It’s not going to be a gaming machine, but no Windows 8 tablet has yet proven to be one either.

“We built a tablet PC with Windows 8 that truly allows consumers to accomplish any task while being mobile,” said Matt McRae, Chief Technology Officer, VIZIO. “We are excited to work together with AMD to bring consumers a Tablet PC with the Windows experience that also delivers exceptional visuals using AMD’s expertise in superior graphics processing.”

There’s no mention of pricing or availability yet, but it should be cheap. Vizio has a good track record of keeping prices down, and the use of an AMD processor should help keep the price down even more. With that being said, the use of an AMD processor may turn some people away who prefer more powerful Intel processors in their tablets, but that’s what the $899 Surface Pro is for.

AMD and BlueStacks announced a partnership today that will bring 500,000 Android apps to PCs powered by AMD CPUs. The two forces have launched the AMD App Zone where users can grab the virtualization software required to run Android apps on the PC alongside a number of free apps. Most of the apps are games, but there are quite a few general purpose apps as well.

“BlueStacks’ cross-platform innovation bridges the Android and x86 application ecosystems, providing new opportunities for developers and better experiences for users,” said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Heterogeneous Applications and Developer Solutions at AMD. “By collaborating with BlueStacks, we are enabling software developers to more easily tap into the full capabilities of AMD’s products, and providing millions of consumers with great experiences as they can now run Android apps on AMD-powered devices.”

It should be noted that the Android apps are only available to users running Windows 7 or Windows 8. Users are also only required to have an AMD CPU to run Android apps.

“As the engine behind the AMD AppZone Player, we are providing a potent combination of award-winning software optimized for AMD’s industry-leading hardware. Consumers can now enjoy their favorite mobile apps on the larger, more immersive screen of their PC,” said Rosen Sharma, CEO of BlueStacks. “With BlueStacks technology, app developers can rest assured their Android apps will run directly on Windows without any code change. We’ve made it easy for all.”

Unfortunately, neither company clarifies if these apps will be modified in any way to be better on the PC. Can users up the resolution of Android apps to take advantage of larger displays on the PC? Will controls be optimized for the PC, or will PC users have to replicate touch movements with the mouse? We’ve reached out to AMD for clarification and will update when we hear back.

UPDATE:

An AMD spokesperson just got back to us. They said that PC users can scale Android apps up to 1920×1080. Unfortunately, it’s not true full screen mode as a window must remain open for key functionalities that are accessed in the window. They also said that AMD has optimized its graphics technologies to make the scaling as smooth as possible.

As for controls, they say that the BlueStacks Layercake technology features support and is optimized for touch, keyboard/mouse, and various movement sensors.

WCCF Tech got a hold of an early review from Tom’s Hardware for the GTX 680. The review has since been removed as Nvidia is forcing everybody to remain pretty quiet on their new video card until it launches on March 22. Good thing there are people who grab these things before they’re removed. The review gives us a good look at the performance of the new video card.

The GeForce GTX 680 uses the Kepler architecture that is comprised of a GK104 Core that contains 1536 Cuda Cores, 2 GB GDDR5 Memory buffer, a core clock at 1006 MHz and memory that’s clocked to 1.5 GHz. If you don’t understand what any of that means, just know this: the 680 is a beast that completely dominates the AMD HD7970 and the review proves that.

According to the review, the GTX 680 has up to 50 percent better performance than AMD’s HD7970 when playing games at 1920×1080 resolution. That performance can fluctuate depending on the machine and the resolution. The leaked review doesn’t make any mention of the other components, but we can assume based on similar reviews that the system was rockin’ an Intel i7 and at least 8 GB of RAM.

The funny thing is that the GTX 680 is only ever bested by the GTX 590. That makes sense, however, as the 590 is two GTX 500s working together to create a powerful card. I’m sure Nvidia will release a dual GPU card in the 600 line as well that will smoke the competition. For now though, the 680 appears to be an affordable powerhouse that should appease any gamer’s need for PC gaming.

To see additional benchmarks at a 2560×1600 resolution, check out the leaked review.

With the launch only two days away, the hype for the new Nvidia cards is at its peak. I’ll be saving all my pocket change over the next month to afford its $549 asking price. Are you going to be picking one of these bad boys up soon? Let us know in the comments.

[Lead image: WCCF Tech]

The Cell processor was not the technological feat that Sony had hoped it would be. Many developers complained at its release that it was “very difficult to program for” and that it had a “high learning curve.” Which could explain why the PS3 took 18 months to find its stride in great games. This being said, it is hard to know if it was the cell processor underperforming, or a conscience decision by developers to program in such a way to make it easier to port from the PS3 to the 360 and vice versa.

It will be very interesting to see how these rumors pan out.

For those unaware, Nvidia has been working on the new 28nm production process for a new video card codenamed Kepler. Fudzilla got word from their sources that Nvidia has been talking to its partners and the new cards are already in production. That pegs the release of the new Kepler cards at sometime in April. The video cards are expected to be a part of the GTX 600 series.

Fudzilla’s sources told them that the first line of cards are going to look very similar with a few partners using different cooling techniques. This is because Nvidia’s manufacturing partners won’t deviate from their reference design for the first batch of cards. Once they understand the manufacturing process a little better, they will come up with their own unique designs for the cards as we’ve seen with some of the crazy releases in the current GTX 500 series.

AMD beat Nvidia to market early this year with the release of their HD7000 series of GPUs. AMD’s GPUs were the first to use the 28nm manufacture process. They were also the first to take advantage of PCI Express 3.0.1. If the rumors are true and Nvidia’s cards launch in April, we will soon be able to see how Kepler stacks up.

Nvidia has been relatively quiet about the Kepler cards in recent months with a no-show at CES. This has led many fans, including myself, to question what’s going on with our favorite video card manufacturer.

We’ll keep you up to date on any developments as Nvidia draws closer to the release of Kepler. With AMD being more aggressive than ever in their GPU production, you can be expect this to be an interesting year for video card manufacturers.

So I think the buzz surrounding AMD revolves around price point, especially since AMD has been “ultrathin” for a long time now, offering miniscule sized components since early 2009. In other words, they have been ready for a awhile, the opportunity to be featured in an ultrathin notebook is just something that has yet to come to light.

For the consumer it means the anticipation of a product that competes directly with the Intel equipped Ultrabooks, but is less expensive. Now remember, Ultrabooks are designed to compete against the MacBook Air, and save consumers a lot of bread. So, buyers will expect any AMD equipped Ultrabook knockoff’s to be significantly less expensive than an actual Intel equipped Ultrabook.

Is this going to happen? And if so, when? And, will it actually be cheaper? The answer is, I don’t know. AMD’s new ultrathin 17mm Trinity processors are on their way to the market and ready to be used. There is no telling who will jump on the opportunity to use them in an Ultrabook competitor or how soon it will be.

Intel already announced their new Ivy Bridge platform Ultrabooks at CES. They’re hoping that will bring the price down to a more affordable $799 to $999. AMD, always being one to rain on Intel’s parade, is set to launch their own line of Ultrabooks, creatively called Ultrathin.

Digitimes is reporting that the new Ultrathins are set to be 10 to 20 percent cheaper than their Intel counterparts. The reduced cost is supposedly already attracting HP, Acer and Asus.

AMD is launching their Deccan platform with Krishna and Wichita APUs in June 2012 to compete with Intel’s Ivy Bridge. They will upgrade to the Kerala platform in 2013 with a Kabini APU to compete against Intel’s Haswell.

AMD is pushing their new Trinity-based APU onto the Ultrabook market to increase their 10 percent share in the world CPU market.

There is expected to be 75 new Ultrabooks based on Intel’s Ivy Bridge architecture in 2012 while only about 20 for AMD’s new Trinity architecture. The AMD models don’t offer any significant advantage over Intel’s Ultrabooks except in cost, which has always been AMD’s greatest advantage.

Digitimes is reporting, however, that some vendors fear AMD’s entry into the Ultrabook market will in turn rapidly lower the price of Intel’s Ultrabook models.

"Dirk became CEO during difficult times," said Bruce Claflin, Chairman of the Board. "He successfully stabilized AMD while simultaneously concluding strategic initiatives including the launch of GLOBALFOUNDRIES, the successful settlement of our litigation with Intel and delivering Fusion APUs to the market."

"However, the Board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time," he added. "This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company’s ability to accomplish these objectives."

The company has formed a CEO Search Committee to find a permanent replacement for Meyer. Seifert will continue to act as CFO, and interestingly has asked not to be considered for the permanent CEO position. Claflin has assumed the role of Executive Chairman of the Board and assumes additional responsibilities during the transition period.

"AMD enters 2011 with considerable product and financial momentum. Our roadmap for the year, including our ‘Llano’ APU and 32nm ‘Bulldozer’ based processors remain on track," said Seifert. "I believe we have significant opportunities to cement our leadership positions in several key market segments based on the strength of our upcoming products." 

AMD also announced that its fourth quarter revenue increased 2% to nearly $1.65 billion. This is from the company’s preliminary results. The final results will come on January 20.

As a result of the legal settlement announced today with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel Corporation adjusted its fourth-quarter financial expectations to reflect the impact of the $1.25 billion settlement payment. Intel now expects spending (R&D plus MG&A) in the fourth quarter to be approximately $4.2 billion, up from $2.9 billion. In addition, the effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 20 percent, down from 26 percent. All other expectations are unchanged.

Original Article: According to reports, technology giant Intel has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle multiple disputes with rival chip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices or AMD. These two companies have been feuding for years. Actually, decades. The Wall Street Journal notes that the two companies have had disputes as far back as the 1980s.

In 2005, AMD filed a suit against Intel, claiming that Intel was engaging in unfair competition by offering rebates to Japanese PC makers, who in turn would eliminate or limit purchases of microprocessors made by AMD or Transmeta. Here’s a little more history about the current dispute (via Wikipedia):

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware in June 2005. The court date, originally scheduled for April 2009, has been pushed back to February 2010. One delay was due to the Korea Fair Trade Commission issuing Intel a fine of US$25.4 million. Some of the manufacturers involved in the case are Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Fujitsu, Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi.

In February 2009 it was reported that Intel had spent at least US$116 million to date on legal representation on the antitrust suit. This was inferred from a US$50 million lawsuit filed by Intel against one of its insurers; the lawsuit disclosed that Intel had already exhausted US$66 million in coverage from two other insurers while fighting the antitrust lawsuit.

It appears that everything is now square between Intel and AMD, at least financially. The New York Times reports that the $1.25 billion settlement will resolve all of AMD’s regulatory complaints worldwide as well as suits in Delaware and Japan. In addition to the hefty sum of money, Intel has also agreed to abide by certain terms with regards to business practices.

Earlier this year, the EU fined Intel a record $1.5 billion. According to the NYT, the EU’s commissioner says the company’s settlement with AMD will not affect the EU’s decision on that fine.

Ouch.

Related Articles:

> EU Fines Intel A Record $1.45 Billion

> NY AG Hits Intel With Antitrust Suit

> Intel Apparently A Google Chrome OS Partner, Too

Jonathan Heiliger was interviewed onstage during GigaOm’s Structure 09 conference, and in response to a question about unexpected problems, said, "The biggest thing (that) surprised us is . . . less-than-anticipated performance gains from new microarchitectures — so, new CPUs from guys like Intel and AMD.  The performance gains they’re touting in the press, we’re not seeing in our applications."

Stephen Lawson reports that Heiliger also stated, "Google has done a great job designing and building its own servers for this kind of use."

So we seem to have Facebook either really lighting a fire under its suppliers, or perhaps leaning towards the DIY route.  And of course, both alternatives could lead to improved performance for less money.

Finally, a third possibility would involve some sort of lawsuit, but it sounds like Facebook is more at a stage of identifying issues than seeking reparation.