Nowdays both ATI and NVIDIA have techniques for lowering the GPU power consumption in notebooks based on lower core and memory speeds in 2D modes or while running the notebook in battery mode. While NVIDIA uses their Powermizer integration in Windows Power schemes (2D mode in Power saver, Low power 3D in Balanced and High performance 3D in High performance), ATI have their PowerPlay running in any of the Windows power modes as user directs it. For us Power Play always seemed the smarter and more controllable function, yet it doesn’t always do what it has to. For example, if your notebook has Mobility Radeon HD4570, it may suffer from a bug in PowerPlay that can lead to lowered memory speed in both power saver and performance modes. There is a fix, though. …read on

As we recently mentioned here, Acer had plans on releasing at least two notebooks based on Intel Core i7 and ATI’s newest Mobility Radeon HD5650. Few days later it became clear that there is heavy shortage of HD5xxx chips and videocards, which would apply also to the mobile graphic cards by ATI. Our guy at Acer commented that we can expect a delay of the new HD5650-based models, although he couldn’t say how much we’ll have to wait. …read on

After years of being one of the most unpopular notebook brands (with probably the longest name Fujitsu-Siemens Computers), Fujitsu, now with much shorter brand name, finally settled down to making budget and mid range notebooks for the masses. One of the first re-branded Amilo series notebooks is the Pi 3560 – a 15.6-incher with NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M graphics. Fujitsu also has 16-inch Pi 3560s, but since they use the same screen resolution, we decided to take a look of the regular 15.6″. …read on

After years of research the hard disk manufacturers finally came to an idea that would make lots of money – dress those 2.5-inch cheap disks in plastic, give them a USB interface and people will buy them. And they do, actually. Now every hard disk maker has its own brand of external HDDs, plus there are countless OEM manufacturers, but all they do is to offer the same thing in different package. But finally someone had a really good idea: Samsung. …read on

With all the fuzz around their 3D Vision NVIDIA surely too often took credit of “inventing” the stereoscopic 3D (S3D). Of course it’s not true, but NVIDIA sure did a lot about spreading the word about it. In fact – so much that any average 9 years old (at least those that didn’t go for the better 3D performance ATI’s card currently have) can recite you what do you need to set up a 3D Vision rig – NVIDIA graphics card, 120 Hz monitor, 3D vision glasses, all costly beyond reason if you never played a game in S3D mode. Once you play a game all fits, as the systems can be breathteaking to anyone who’s not picky about small bugs and such. The time came for other manufacturers to get the clue and see there are money to be made out of the S3D. And here we are, playing with a new toy – the first widely available notebook with S3D capable screen – Acer Aspire 5738DG. …read on