Next month Asus is set to add a new member to its Eee PC line, the Eee PC 1225B which runs Windows 7 Home Premium, features an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) LED-backlit display, and is powered by an AMD Brazos APU, either the 1.0 GHz C-60 or the much more enticing 1.65 GHz E-450.

The incoming netbook weights 1.4 kg and also has 2/4 GB of RAM, up to a 750 GB hard drive, integrated DirectX 11 graphics (Radeon HD 6290 for the C-60 version, Radeon HD 6320 for the E-450 unit), a 0.3-megapixel webcam, LAN, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 (this is optional), stereo speakers, an SD/MMC card reader, D-Sub and HDMI outputs, and a 6-cell battery allowing for up to 7 hours of operation per charge.

The Eee PC 1225B will be available in five color versions - gray, red, silver, black and white, and is supposed to start at 349 Euro.

Welcome to the TechPowerUp 2011 PC technology Christmas special. We hope that you will enjoy reading it while tucking into your turkey, Christmas presents and a little too much wine... In this article, we go through the technology of 2011 that has had the most significance, the most impact and was generally the most talked about. It's not necessarily the best tech of 2011 which is the most significant though, since lemons can be just as significant as the ground-breakers in how they fail to deliver - and the backlash that goes with it.

January: Intel Sandy Bridge i5 & i7

Released on January 9th, the new Intel Core i5 & i7 processors were based on Intel's second generation Core architecture built on a 32 nm production process (HEXUS review). They included an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) physically on the same piece of silicon along with HyperThreading. These new dual and quad core processors soundly beat all previous generations of Intel processors in terms of processing performance, heat, power use, features and left AMD in the dust. Therefore, Intel badly needed some competition from AMD and unless you have been living under a rock, you will know how that turned out in October with the launch of Bulldozer. Sandy Bridge was a sound win and is generally considered to be the only architecture worth considering at this point. The i5-2500K is currently at the sweet spot of price/performance. It comes at a stock speed of 3.3 GHz, but typically overclocks to an amazing 4.5 - 5 GHz with a decent air cooler and without too much difficulty in getting there. Models in the budget i3 range were released at various times later. See this Wikipedia article for details.

Previously showcased at CeBIT (in March) and Computex (in June), Asus' 27-inch ET2700 all-in-one PC has now been launched in the US where it's set to go head-to-head with the Apple iMac.

The ET2700 is equipped with an LED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) MVA panel offering 178/178 degree viewing angles (and, depending on model, 10-point multi-touch) and features a Sandy Bridge processor (Core i3-2120, i5-2400S, i5-2405S or i7-2600S), up to 8 GB of RAM, Intel HD integrated graphics or an NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 1/2 GB card, up to a 2 TB hard drive, and either a DVD writer, a Blu-ray combo drive, or a Blu-ray burner.

Today Windows updater may have brought "Bulldozer" users a little surprise. A hotfix that increases the AMD flagship processors performance. As this "hotfix" is bleeding edge news any benchmarks have yet to be seen but this confirms Windows 7 was in fact hampering "Bulldozer" from performing at 100% in all prior benches. What percentage it was previously performing at has yet to be determined. Here is a small snippet from the Hotfix release notes.

This article introduces an update that optimizes the performance of AMD Bulldozer CPUs that are used by Windows 7-based or Windows Server 2008 R2-based computers. Currently, the performance of AMD Bulldozer CPUs is slower than expected. This behavior occurs because the threading logic in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2 is not optimized to use the Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) scheduling feature. This feature was introduced in the Bulldozer family of AMD CPUs.

You can download the Hotfix here.

Toshiba's push into the tablet market will continue next month with the release in its home market (Japan) of the WT301/D, a 10.1-inch model which is powered by an Intel Atom processor (maybe the Z670?) and runs Microsoft's Windows 7 Professional 32-bit.

The incoming tablet has an LED-backlit touchscreen (1366 x 768 resolution), 2 GB of RAM, a 64 GB solid state drive, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a 1.3-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 0.3MP webcam, stereo speakers, a micro HDMI output, and one USB 2.0 port.

The WT301/D has not been priced.

Futuremark, the world leader in performance benchmarking software and services, today expanded its product line with Powermark a new battery life and power consumption test for Windows 7 notebooks, laptops, tablets and other battery powered devices. Powermark is a professional grade benchmark designed for industrial testing of battery powered Windows 7 devices by OEMs, corporations and governments. It includes a convenient set of standard tests based on productivity and entertainment use-case scenarios, as well as allowing custom settings for bespoke testing requirements. Powermark Professional Edition commercial licenses start at $200 for 10 activations. For further details and to purchase Powermark please visit this page.

Jukka Mäkinen, CEO of Futuremark said, "Battery life is critical to delivering a positive user experience. Powermark helps PC industry OEMs and their suppliers strike a balance between performance and power consumption by providing a consistent, accurate and reliable testing and measurement tool created with Futuremark's deep experience in quality benchmarking software."

Well, it looks like the Windows 8 flagship feature, the Metro interface, isn't going down too well with PC users, according to leading market research firm International Data Corp. On top of that, there aren't really any killer improvements in the operating system that make shelling out for a new version compelling. The Metro interface, while suited to a smartphone or tablet, really doesn't do anything for a desktop PC, because it's operation is very restrictive compared to the standard desktop that's been around for over 15 years on Windows and is now a very refined and sophisticated user interface. Also, the fact that many organizations have only recently migrated to Windows 7 and are not looking to spend money in the current economic climate and go through the pains of another upgrade cycle again isn't helping. The poor economy looks like it will hamper sales of Windows 8 on its target devices, tablets, too. Finally, IDC said: "(T)here will be intense scrutiny on Microsoft's ability to deliver a successful tablet experience aboard both x86-based tablets and on devices running ARM processors. This is a tall order for Microsoft, and while the x86 tablet strategy makes sense as a transitional solution for today's PC users, it will be the ARM-based devices that need to shine and clear a high bar already set by Apple."

The ultrabook supporters club has grown some more recently as LG Electronics decided to adopt this form factor and release the Xnote Z330, an Intel-based mobile PC that weights just 1.21kg and is 14.7mm thick.

LG's first ultrabook comes with a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) LED-backlit display boasting a super-thin bezel (8mm), is powered by a Core i5-2467M (1.6 GHz) or Core i7-2637M (1.7 GHz) processor, and can boot up in 9.9 seconds.

AMD published the third performance driver based on Catalyst 11.11, the Catalyst 11.11c. The driver addresses some glaring issues ahead of the upcoming Catalyst WHQL monthly update. The new performance driver addresses the following issue:

Elder Scrolls Skyrim

• Delivers AMD CrossfireX performance scaling for the AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series

Apart from the applied changes, the new Catalyst 11.11c includes all the changes brought about by previous Catalyst 11.11 performance drivers.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.11c Performance Driver for Windows 7 and Vista | Windows XP

The latest beta drivers and the first in the 290 series have been released by NVIDIA today, supporting all graphics cards since the venerable 6-series. Their main new feature are official support for enabling ambient occlusion settings in the control panel separately for specific games and enabling NVIDIA Surround on the new X79 SLI-certified motherboards. Ambient occlusion (AO) is settable for uber-popular games The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. So, what does AO do? We'll let Andrew Burns of NVIDIA explain:

If you're unfamiliar with Ambient Occlusion, it is most easily described as a way to make in-game shadowing more realistic, and therefore better.

What he doesn't say of course, is how it kills your frame rate, especially on lower end hardware. Anyway, there's all the usual goodies in this release: 3D Vision game profiles for games such as MW3, Diablo 3 & LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (yes really). There's a HD audio update and nine fixes too, including one for random flickering of the Windows boot logo as it's loading or fading away and a fix for the mouse cursor flickering and shaking in games such as Crysis 2 & Deus Ex when SLI is enabled when using 3DTV Play. The NVIDIA product release page is here and they have a snazzy-looking driver selector here. The release notes follow.

AMD rolled out its second Catalyst performance driver update in a week, with the Catalyst 11.11b. It follows Catalyst 11.11a, which was released earlier this week. A performance driver update is what AMD used to call "Hotfixes", they are updates for recently-released WHQL-signed drivers, featuring some performance improvements fresh from the Catalyst developer team. In includes all the changes 11.11a brings to the table, plus the ones listed below:
Elder Scrolls Skyrim

• New in Catalyst 11.11b: Delivers AMD CrossFire performance scaling for AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
  o AMD Radeon HD 5000 CrossFire support will be supported soon in an updated driver

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

• New in Catalyst 11.11b: Delivers AMD CrossFire performance scaling

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.11b Performance Driver for Windows 7 and Vista | Windows XP

Do you want a really small PC that fits in the palm of your hand? Well, if you do, then VIA Technology have got you covered with their new ARTiGO A1150. As you can see from the pictures, it has a high 'cuteness' factor, due to its diminutive size of just 5.7" x 3.9" x 2". For processing, it sports a 64-bit VIA 1.0 GHz dual core Eden X2 CPU and a VX900H media system processor supporting the latest HD video codecs including H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2/4 at up to 1080p. Interfaces include HDMI and VGA ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, five USB ports including one USB device port, three audio jacks with optional wireless IEEE 802.11 b/g/n and SD card reader modules.

Target uses include the usual home/office environments, use as a super space-saving desktop PC, a home server, media streaming and surveillance applications. Of course, the real question is what kind of performance can one expect out if it, given that it's targeted at the desktop PC market, so one hopes that it can run Windows 7 at a decent performance level. Oddly, the VIA press release doesn't say anything about the RAM, so it's not clear how much can be fitted, which type and what speed grades are supported.

AMD released its latest "performance driver" for Radeon graphics cards, the Catalyst 11.11a. With this release, AMD is using the term "performance driver" to refer to performance-enhancing Hotfix updates it launches between its scheduled monthly WHQL-signed updates. Catalyst 11.11a fixes some outstanding game-related bugs and improves performance and resolves driver-related bugs for a variety of recently-released titles such as Batman: Arkham City, Rage, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Battlefield 3. The rest of the driver is based on Catalyst 11.11.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.11a Performance Driver for Windows 7 or Vista | Windows XP

A list of changes follows.

We have brought you the potential perils of the upcoming UEFI Forum-implemented - www.uefi.org - Windows 8 secure boot feature here, here and here. However, it appears that it may not be so 'secure' after all, since there appears to be a surefire way to circumvent it, at least for the moment, while it's in development.

Softpedia has scored an exclusive interview with security researcher Peter Kleissner, who has created various Windows (XP, Server 2003 etc) "bootkits", which allow OS infection at the highest privilege level, giving unrestricted access to the whole of the PC. His latest one, called Stoned Lite, shows how the Windows 8 secure boot process, still in development, can be subverted, as it stands. He is planning to release details of how the code works at the upcoming International Malware Conference (MalCon) - malcon.org - that will take place in India on November 25th. It appears that the real vulnerability exists in the legacy BIOS boot procedure, not in Microsoft's implementation of secure boot, as Kleissner said:

The problem with the legacy startup is that no one verifies the MBR, which makes it the vulnerable point. With UEFI and secure boot, all the boot applications and drivers have to be signed (otherwise they won't be loaded). You can compare it to TPM, although Arie van der Hoeven from Microsoft announced that the secure boot feature is mandatory for OEMs who want to be UEFI certified. It is a good message that security is not an option.

Well, this 11.11 release doesn't list any performance improvements unfortunately. It contains just one new unexciting feature and a few fixes, but still has quite a long list of known issues. The new feature is Adobe Flash Player 11 hardware accelerated graphics support, including the A-series and E-series APUs. Fixes include things like Rage texture corruption, bezel compensation working correctly in Far Cry 2 and a screen tearing fix for displays in clone mode. Therefore, if your setup is working fine, there's no rush to update to this driver in case it breaks something. Note the following CAP 1 profile updates added to this release:

- Battlefield 3: Tweaks to the CrossFire profile
- Global Ops: Commando Libya: Improves CrossFire performance
- Driver San Francisco: Disables CrossFire

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.11 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

DOWNLOAD: Release Notes

In addition to their well-known "QuickPort" docking stations, which provide computer connection to unobstructed SATA hard drives, the Sharkoon "QuickDeck" has long been a table adapter in their product line in which data mediums are not standing upright, but rather inserted laying down. The Sharkoon QuickDeck is also immediately available in a "Pro" edition, with a USB3.0 port and stacking feet.

The Sharkoon QuickDeck offers room for SATA hard drives in both 2.5 and 3.5 in formats. The drives are simply inserted horizontally into the front and open top plastic frame. A rail fixed to the floor folds up for smaller 2.5 inch hard drives. The hard drive can be easily detached from the QuickDeck with the help of an ejection lever attached with the SATA port. External connection occurs over the fast USB3.0 port.

The original 8-bit Commodore 64 computer was very popular in the early 1980s, but the original company eventually closed down in the 1990s, having launched their 16-bit Amiga range in the meantime as the C64s successor. For a while now, replica C64 models, packed with the latest PC technology, have been made by Commodore USA, a different company that has purchased the original Commodore brand.

Since last summer, they have been selling a replica for $999 powered by an Intel CPU. This PC, called the C64x Ultimate (model number: C64x-UL) included a dual core Atom D525, NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics, 4 GB RAM and a 1 TB hard drive. A barebones version is available for $349 without a motherboard, just the keyboard and case, allowing the customer to add their own hardware into the retro box. However, Commodore USA has now upgraded their offering with a considerably more powerful CPU. This version is the C64x Extreme (model number: C64x-EX) which includes a 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7-2720QM CPU, mini-ITX motherboard and PSU, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, DVD writer (slot loading) 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The back panel has the following ports: legacy PS/2, USB 2.0 x5 (one eSATA combo) USB 3.0 x2, Ethernet and three audio jacks. Video connectivity is looked after by HDMI, DVI-D and VGA outputs.

AMD today released its latest official version of Catalyst, a software suite that provides drivers for AMD/ATI Radeon graphics processors, A-Series APUs, 7-series and 8-series integrated graphics, and related system software. Catalyst 11.10 WHQL launched today has essentially the same change log as the 11.10 Preview 3 driver, except that it's WHQL-signed. Catalyst 11.10 WHQL is the driver to have when playing some of the latest titles such as Battlefield 3 and Rage.

Catalyst 11.10 WHQL brings in a few new features, too, such as support for 5x1 Eyefinity, with maximum resolution increased to 16000 x 16000 pixels on Radeon HD 6000 series GPUs, and in DirectX 11 applications, and improved Vision Engine Control Center / Catalyst Control Center applications (VECC is installed for A-Series APUs and Chipset IGPs, CCC is installed for discrete Radeon GPUs).

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.10 WHQL for Windows 7 and Vista 64-bit | Windows 7 and Vista 32-bit

Leadtek Research Inc., known globally for its extreme visual graphics technology, added the new WinFast GTX 560 Ti Hurricane graphics card to the Fermi II generation family for enthusiasts. It features dual 90 mm fans, two 8 mm cooper heat-pipes, a large copper base and many fan fins equipped behind the GeForce Fermi 114 chipset, which can reduce temperature more effectively than the standard version containing only two 6 mm cooper heat-pipes from the chipset manufacture. This not only means improvements in the thermal solution but also in noise emission. Only 21 dB is measured during idle time, and even during peak time, it is just 43 dB. Leadtek will release more dual fan design graphics cards, naming them "Hurricane", to highlight these features.

NVIDIA released its latest set of WHQL-signed GeForce drivers, GeForce 285.58 WHQL for Windows XP, and GeForce 285.62 WHQL for Windows 7 and Vista. The new drivers bundle PhysX system software v9.11.06.21, and feature the following [very] important changes:

• NVIDIA recommended driver for Battlefield, as it contains several performance and compatibility enhancements for the final release of the game.
• NVIDIA recommended and enhanced driver for Batman: Arkham City and RAGE
• Fixes reports of occasional driver timeouts while browsing the web

At the outset this is the driver to have before you unpack your copy of Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and RAGE, three of the biggest titles of this fall.

DOWNLOAD: GeForce WHQL 285.62 and WHQL 285.58

Yes, that's right the maker of notoriously vulnerable software is now blaming you, the user, should you get a virus, trojan or other malware infection on your Windows computer. However, it does look like they have some justification for saying this. For those with long attention spans, Microsoft have just released their 168 page Microsoft Security Intelligence Report 6MB PDF, with the stated aim of providing:

An in-depth perspective on software vulnerabilities and exploits, malicious code threats, and potentially unwanted software in the first half of 2011

The first thing to note about the report is that it is limited to its Malicious Software Removal Tool and Microsoft's other anti-malware products. Zero-day attacks that it can't detect are not included in the findings. So, surely it can't all be the user's fault then? It also means that the security angles from third party security vendors such as Kaspersky, Norton and McAfee aren't represented here.

CyberpowerPC., a leading manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today announced the Gamer Scorpius line, a series of desktop gaming PCs based on AMD's new FX-series "Bulldozer" CPU series.

The new Gamer Scorpius series combines AMD's new FX CPU, Socket AM3+ (900 series chipset motherboard), and AMD Radeon HD 6000 graphics into a desktop gaming rig that has a boost in performance of 50 percent over the previous generation of AMD desktop platforms at a low cost. The new AMD FX CPU provides fully unlocked processor clock multipliers that ensure maximum speed while processing to enable an unrivaled PC enthusiast experience for multi-display gaming, mega-tasking and High-Def content creation.

AMD introduced a special BETA Catalyst driver for AMD Radeon graphics processors, that improves performance on the latest title from FPS pioneer id Software, Rage. Bluntly called the "Catalyst Rage Performance Driver", this driver has been rushed in by AMD to address performance issues. It provides "signifacant performance gains" for Rage in both single GPU and CrossFire configurations. The improvements are effective only on Radeon HD 5000 series and Radeon HD 6000 series graphics processors, and is available only for Windows 7.DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst Rage Performance Driver for Windows 7

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, today announced the Samsung Series 7 All-In-One PC, an elegant, streamlined and easy-to-use desktop computer. By combining Samsung's powerful technology with a sleek, minimalist design profile, the Series 7 All-In-One PC offers a top-of-the-line computing experience in a sophisticated, clutter-free package. Additionally, the elegant touch screen monitor capitalizes on Samsung's renowned television technology, offering users a TV-quality experience on their PC.

"Samsung's new all-in-one PC provides all of the benefits of a full-sized desktop computer without the cumbersome tower and wires often associated with that form factor," said Scott Ledterman, director of mobile PC marketing at Samsung Enterprise Business Division. "It's an ideal choice for consumers looking to upgrade their PC, as it will provide them with the latest technology while freeing up valuable desk space in their home or office setup."

Microsoft's first attempt at replacing XP with Vista failed miserably, since Vista had many initial issues and was so poorly received, that the brand was irrevocably tarnished. However, Microsoft's second attempt with Windows 7 has been very successful, since it has always worked very well, even during its development phase and is well liked. Now, if figures from Stat Counter are to be believed, then Windows 7's share of the market has climbed to 41.64%, while Windows XP has dropped to 37.20% - still a hefty percentage and one that Microsoft will be keen to see drop to zero as soon as possible. This means that Windows 7 is now finally the most popular Windows version after almost two years since the retail version was released on October 22nd 2009, with Windows 8 due out likely in summer 2012.