Monday, June 6, 2005

Intel, Notebook Makers Tout Laptops that Work 8 Hours. Notebooks’ Battery Life to Double in Three Years?

11:58 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Mobile computers have been getting more and more popular recently due to their indisputable evolution towards affordable stylish devices with long battery life. However, there is no limit for perfection and current standard four hours of autonomous work for typical notebooks may double in a two-three years time. Mobile PC manufacturers, silicon designers and battery makers are working on notebooks to get the longest battery life out of whatever type of accumulators they use.

“The spec says this, but it depends on some degree on usage, batteries also don’t have that life for long. They might have four hours at the beginning of the year, but if you start doing more multimedia, it might go down to 2.5 hours by the end of the year,” said Roger Kay, an analyst at IDC.

Intel is one of the companies that benefits most from good notebook sales, which is why Intel is most interested in laptops with long-life batteries, since this will boost sales of notebooks and Intel’s silicon.

“Chipmaker Intel, in fact, is so bullish on the matter that it recently moved up a deadline for notebook makers by two years. It’s now asking them to produce by 2008 thin and light notebooks that can run for eight hours without the use of additional external batteries, said Mooly Eden, vice president of the company’s mobility group,” writes CNET News.com.

The main source of extra battery life is finding new ways of storing power. While researching new materials for batteries, researchers have to keep attention to the space that the possible battery may consume.

“The biggest gains in battery life are likely to come from the guts of the batteries themselves.

For instance, start-up Zinc Matrix Power has devised a way to produce batteries out of zinc alkaline that can provide more energy than conventional lithium ion batteries but don’t take up any more space inside a laptop,” says Mike Trainor, chief mobile technology evangelist at Intel.

• CNET News.com: Get Ready for the 9-to-5 Notebook.

Clash of the Weakest: ATI’s HyperMemory vs. NVIDIA TurboCache. ATI’s HyperMemory Compared Against NVIDIA’s Turbo Cache

11:53 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Designers of graphics processors always for the top spot in the reviews and benchmarks, but, in fact, they do not always try to develop only the fastest products possible. There is always intention to create a competitive solution that would not cost a lot for entry-level computers, which have the largest market share. The latest technology evolutions, such as PCI Express and optimizations of memory bandwidth usage by graphics cards, allowed ATI and NVIDIA to design technologies that allow graphics cards to use system memory as frame-buffer, which reduces the amount of expensive onboard memory and pricing of such graphics cards.

“ATI HyperMemory and NVIDIA TurboCache both do a good job of taking advantage of system memory through PCI Express. The cards perform surprisingly well considering their inexpensive price tags and small amount of on-board memory, and are a definite upgrade over integrated graphics solutions, including ATI’s competent Radeon Xpress 200,” The TechReport web-site believes.

“Based on the results of our testing, NVIDIA’s GeForce 6200 128MB TurboCache with a 64-bit memory bus and 32MB of memory on-board looks like the best option. The 64-bit/32MB HyperMemory card is very competitive considering its slower core and memory clocks, but it doesn’t beat the TurboCache card by much in Half-Life 2, and comes up way behind in DOOM 3. To ATI's credit, HyperMemory cards run about $10 cheaper than equivalent TurboCache products, but we’d cough up the extra money for TurboCache’s superior overall performance and Shader Model 3.0 support,” concludes The Tech Report.

• The Tech Report: A New Battle in Budget Graphics.

Mushkin Offers 2GB DDR Memory Module Kit. Affordable 2GB of Memory Become Real

11:46 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Adrian’s Rojak Pot has reviewed Mushkin 2GB HP3200 memory module kit, which is not designed for overclockers, but for those looking forward additional memory into their computers. This dual-channel memory module kit is set to operate at 400MHz with CL2 3-2-6 timings. Since each module sports 1024MB of memory, total amount of system memory provided by the kit equals 2GBs, which is pretty a lot.

“We tried running these modules at 2-2-2 at 200MHz, but it failed to boot up, regardless of any voltage settings. The stock timings 2-3-2 fared better, hitting 208MHz before it ran out of steam. 2.5-3-3 seemed to be the sweetest spot, if you want to overclock these modules. The loose timings of 3-4-4 did not affect the results that much, allowing a maximum speed of just 224MHz,” claims the author.

“As this is a 2GB memory kit, it is excellent for those who are into heavy multi-tasking or multimedia. As many Photoshop users will attest, 1GB of memory is really not enough memory.

The Mushkin 2GB HP3200 dual-channel memory kit delivers exactly what it claims - high capacity, tight timings, and a reasonable price. It clearly caters to enthusiasts who are looking for large capacity memory modules at reasonably good timings and affordable prices,” concludes Adrian’s Rojak Pot.

• Adrian’s Rojak Pot: Mushkin 2GB HP3200 Dual Channel Memory Kit Review.

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