Acer has recently rolled out a new Revo series nettop/mini PC, a model called Revo RL70 which measures 209.89 (W) x 209.89 (D) x 35.35 (H) mm and makes use of AMD's E-450 APU boasting two Bobcat cores @ 1.65 GHz and Radeon HD 6320 graphics.

Acer's compact system also has 2 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a multi-in-one card reader, six USB 2.0 ports, plus D-Sub and HDMI outputs. The Revo RL70(-UR10P) runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and is selling for $329.99.

Today at its annual Financial Analyst Day, AMD has presented an updated roadmap detailing the hardware it plans to bring to the table during 2012 and 2013. For this year, the Sunnyvale-based company is preparing a processor quarter which includes the Trinity, Brazos 2.0 and Hondo APUs (accelerated processing units) and the Vishera CPU.

Set to be the main weapon in AMD's x86 arsenal, the Trinity APU (aka the 2nd gen A Series) is made on 32 nm process technology, and features DirectX 11 graphics, two/four Piledriver cores (Piledrive is said to deliver 25% better performance than the Stars cores found in Llano APUs), and a TDP that can go as low as 17 W on mobile parts. Trinity is expected to debut in Q2 and already has close to 100 design wins (more than Llano had before its release).

Overclocker "Christian Ney" of the HWBOT community claims to have cracked the 6 GHz clock speed mark with an AMD A8-3870K APU, with all four of its cores enabled. The feat consisted of a clock speed of 6067.7 MHz achieved using a base clock of 258.2 MHz and multiplier of 47.0x. The memory was clocked at 3505 MHz, just 95 MHz short of a world-record. The chip was put through a scorching core voltage of 2V. Supporting components included GIGABYTE A75-UD4H motherboard, and GeIL EVO Corsa DDR3 memory. The setup was cooled sub-zero. CPU-Z Validator rejected this submission, probably because like us, it finds 2V vCore and 258.2 MHz base clock unreal for Llano, since it uses a common 100 MHz clock domain for BClk and PCIe.

Last year, ARCTIC revealed the underlying potential of all-in-one home entertainment centers. Our first notable MC001 entertainment center was successfully launched and remarkably praised by numerous media in USA (CPU, TechPowerUp, TomsHardware, Europe (KitGuru, Madshrimps, ProHardver, PC Tuning, HW Legend, InformaticaEasy, 59 Hardware, Cowcotland) and Canada (Overclockers Online) etc.

This year, ARCTIC continues with its spirit of innovation by creating a new generation of powerful home entertainment centers - the MC101 Series which will keep you entertained - always. We design our innovative technologies around you so that you can enjoy more with less effort. In addition to its cost-effective, multi-functional, and high level of accessibility, our MC101 Series deliver fast, compact and feather-light home entertainment solutions that are humbly perfect.

Initially set for a December 20th roll-out, the student-friendly ThinkPad X130e 11.6-inch laptop has now found its way to Lenovo's online shop and where it's awaiting orders (actual shipments start on February 9).

The X130e features a durable construction (rubber bumper around top cover, extra-tough bezel, hinges, keyboard and ports), it runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and packs an Intel or AMD processor, an LED-backlit (1366 x 768) display, integrated graphics, up to 8 GB of RAM, up to a 500 GB hard drive (or a 128 GB SSD), Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, optional Bluetooth and mobile broadband, and a 6-cell battery allowing for up to 8 hours of operation.

Currently Lenovo is offering two base configurations for this machine, one priced at $429, with an AMD E-300 (1.3 GHz) APU, 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB HDD, and one costing $549 that boasts an Intel Core i3-2367M (1.4 GHz) CPU, 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB HDD. Both are available here.

AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 of $1.69 billion, net loss of $177 million, or $0.24 per share, and operating income of $71 million. The company reported non-GAAP net income of $138 million, or $0.19 per share, and non-GAAP operating income of $172 million. Fourth quarter non-GAAP net income excludes an impairment of AMD's investment in GLOBALFOUNDRIES of $209 million, restructuring charges of $98 million, the loss from discontinued operations of $4 million, the amortization of acquired intangible assets of $3 million and a loss on debt repurchase of $1 million.

For the year ended December 31, 2011, AMD reported revenue of $6.57 billion, net income of $491 million, or $0.66 per share, and operating income of $368 million. Full year non-GAAP net income was $374 million, or $0.50 per share, and non-GAAP operating income was $524 million.

Famed printer company Epson has now released in its home market (Japan) a nettop/mini PC based on AMD's Brazos platform. Known as the Endeavor NP30S, Epson's compact (20 x 154 x 173 mm) and light (760 g) system features a C-60 APU (two Bobcat cores @ 1.0 GHz, Radeon HD 6290 graphics), 2 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, Gigabit Ethernet, six USB 2.0 ports, and a DVI output.

The Endeavor NP30S costs 29,820 yen (~ $386) and can be found here.

Without making much noise ASUS has made available, in Germany at least, a new, Fusion-flavored (or should we say heterogeneous-heavy?) Eee PC, the 10.1-inch R051BX. Available in black (but coming soon in white), this netbook weights 1.17 kg, and has an LED-backlit (1024 x 600) display, an AMD C-50 (dual x86 cores @ 1.0 GHz, Radeon HD 6250 graphics) APU, 1 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, and a 2,200 mAh battery.

The Eee PC R051BX has Windows 7 Starter pre-installed and costs 259 Euro.

While it may not be as high profile as the Windows 8/ARM pair, Android/ x86 is still a match with potential. It certainly has a long way to go but progress is being made, and proof of that progress was seen at CES 2012 where AMD showcased a MSI WindPad 110W tablet running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

The WindPad 110W packed a Z-01 APU (two x86 cores @ 1.0 GHz, Radeon HD 6250 graphics), 2 GB of RAM, and was available for some hands-on time, unlike the Tegra 3-powered Windows 8 tablet also seen at CES. Things weren't perfect with the 110W/Android 4.0 mix as the tablet did experience occasional freezes but keep in mind it's all a work in progress. People interested in converting their WindPad 110W from a Windows device to an (experimental) Android tablet can download the Android 4.0 for Brazos ISO via this page.

AMD might be a little sore that its "Zambezi" FX processor family based on its much-hyped "Bulldozer" architecture didn't quite meet the performance expectations of a ground-up new CPU architecture, but it doesn't want to take chances and build hype around the architecture that succeeds it. From various sources, some faintly-reliable, we have been hearing that the next-generation of high-performance desktop processors based on "Piledriver" architecture, codenamed "Vishera", will pack five modules or 10 cores, and will be structured essentially like Zambezi, since Piledriver is basically a refinement of Bulldozer architecture. The latest leak comes from the Software Optimization Guide for AMD 15h family (read here), which was picked up by CPU World while most of us were busy with CES.

CPU World compiled most of the features of what it suspected to be AMD referring to its future processors based on the Piledriver architecture, that's "Vishera" (desktop high-performance), "Terramar" (high-density server), and "Sepang" (small-medium business server) parts. The three are not the first chips to be based on Piledriver, AMD has a new mainstream desktop and notebook APU in the works codenamed "Trinity", which is en route for a little later this year. Trinity basically has an identical CPUID instruction-set as Vishera, Terramar, and Sepang, confirming their common lineage compared to today's "Bulldozer" architecture. The most catchy detail is of Vishera featuring 4 DDR3 channels.

After releasing two versions based on Intel Atom processors, Sapphire is now preparing an Edge HD nettop/mini PC which is based around an AMD APU (accelerated processing unit). Showcased at CES 2012, the AMD-flavored Edge HD3 is equipped with an E-450 chip (boasting two 1.65 GHz Bobcat cores and Radeon HD 6320 graphics), 4 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, LAN, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, D-Sub and HDMI outputs, and USB 3.0 connectivity.

Reportedly, the Edge HD3 will become available on February 1st, priced at $300.

AMD today announced the first AMD Fusion Center of Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, designed to focus on the innovative developer environment and software performance advancements enabled by heterogeneous computing. The center will fund, mentor and promote new commercial enterprises emerging from the vast intellectual property and research expertise in the University of Illinois community.

The University has been a hotbed of new start-ups since the creation of the first widespread web browser - Mosaic - developed by Marc Andreessen in 1992. Through access to AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) technology and platforms, the AMD Fusion Center of Innovation will help bridge access to new AMD heterogeneous computing technology with the innovative spirit stimulated and nurtured on campus.

While many might think that "Ultrabook" is a generic term for a new performance ultra-portable notebook form-factor, it is a registered trademark of Intel, which governs the specifications of what qualifies to be an Ultrabook. Intel will launch a well-defined Ultrabook platform based on its third-generation Core processor family, codenamed "Ivy Bridge", later this year. Meanwhile, AMD is finalizing a performance ultra-portable specification of its own, powered by its next-generation "Trinity" accelerated processing units (APUs), which it will call "Ultrathin".

Ultrathin will be designed to offer competitive CPU performance to Ultrabook, and superior GPU performance to it, at target prices 10-20 percent lower than Ultrabook. In 2012, while Intel bagged about 75 design wins for its Ultrabook platform, AMD claims to have already won 20. AMD's Ultrathin platform will have advantages over Intel's Ultrabook with regards to platform and component costs. The average AMD Ultrathin with $100~$200 cheaper than the average Intel Ultrabook. Some notebook vendors are concerned that a competitive platform to Intel Ultrabook could result in a price-war between the two platforms, and end up reducing the prices of the now profitable-looking performance ultraportable segment.

PowerColor's parent company, TUL, showed off its barebones Mini-PC at CES. Its main unit measures just 165 x 165 x 55 mm (LxWxH), and is available in black and white color options. Under the hood is an AMD G-Series embedded APU, backed by Hudson M1 FCH chipset. It takes in 1 DDR3-SODIMM module, up to 4 GB in size, and runs it at speeds of up to PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066 MHz). The G-Series APU provides AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics, with DVI and HDMI display outputs. The mini PC barebone has room for one 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s drive. Its front-panel offers one USB 2.0 port (USB 3.0 can be opted for), a multi-format card reader, and eSATA 6 Gb/s. Its rear panel connectivity includes 2-channel audio outputs, gigabit Ethernet, four USB ports, and display connectivity. The unit has an internal 40W PSU.

AMD's competitive technology to Intel Thunderbolt, called "Lightning Bolt" (codename, marketing name may differ), surfaced at CES, where AMD was showing off its upcoming "Trinity" accelerated processing units. The technology was dissected by Anandtech, revealing exactly how AMD plans to achieve its goal of providing a much lower-cost alternative to Thunderbolt, over a similar-looking interface. While Thunderbolt is essentially PCI-Express x4 over DisplayPort, Lightning Bolt is the much more mature USB 3.0 SuperSpeed over DisplayPort. It is a single cable that combines a USB 3.0 with DisplayPort (display), and power (sourced directly from the PSU).

The part that makes it affordable is that AMD has already mastered GPU technologies that allow several displays connected to its GPUs using DisplayPort daisy-chaining; while USB 3.0 controllers are getting cheaper by the quarter. Connections of DisplayPort, USB 3.0 and power converge at a Lightning Bolt multiplex, from which the actual ports emerge. Lightning Bolt will stick to established mini-DisplayPort specifications.

At CES, AMD is grabbing some eyeballs with a fascinating real-world capability demo of the AMD "Trinity" accelerated processing unit. At the same booth, AMD displayed the Trinity silicon in three different packages, for three different form-factors. The first one (to the left), also pictured in the earlier article, is a compact FP2 BGA (ball-grid array) package, designed for ultra-compact notebooks, ultrabooks, etc.

The second one (center) is the FS1r2 uPGA package for mainstream notebooks with slightly relaxed space and board footprint constraints. Unlike the FP2 BGA package, the FS1r2 uPGA is socketed, with extremely tiny pins. The FS1r2 uPGA is significantly bigger than FP2 BGA. The third, more familiar-looking package is the FM2, for desktops. FM2 is an updated version of FM1, on which current Llano A-series desktop APUs are based. Unfortunately, FM1 and FM2 are not compatible in any way. Learn more about the FM2 package in our older article detailing it, here.

AMD's next-generation accelerated processing unit (APU), codenamed "Trinity", was demonstrated at CES. Trinity will make up AMD's 2012 A-Series APU lineup, and will be designed for mainstream-thru-performance notebooks, and mainstream desktops (different standards for different form-factors). Pictured below is what its notebook-specific BGA package looks like. The package has an exposed rectangular die, with a stabilizer frame around it (like with GPUs). Notebooks' cooling assembly heat pipes make direct contact with the die. Trinity packs two Piledriver modules (an evolution of Bulldozer), and DirectX 11.1 AMD Radeon HD 7000M graphics (notebook APU) or HD 7000D (desktop APU).

Shown to the CES crowd was a mind-boggling demo. The public were first shown what appeared to be an ATX desktop connected to two monitors, one monitor running a DIRT 3 DirectX 11 game demo at high-quality settings, and another screeen revealing the APU to be running GPU-accelerated video transcoding. No discrete graphics was used, it's just the embedded HD 7000 at play/work. If that alone didn't raise a few eyebrows, the AMD representative removed the lid of the ATX desktop case to which those two monitors were connected, to reveal a 14-inch laptop inside doing all the work. And there's more - the laptop's main screen wasn't idle, it was running a high-definition video playback. Whatever synthetic benchmarks end up telling about Trinity, its real world performance does impress!You have got to watch the video after the break!

Today, after talking tablets big and small, ASUS mentioned no less than four new Eee PC netbooks, three models boasting a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display, the Eee PC 1025C, 1025CE and X101CH, and one equipped with a 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) screen, the Eee PC 1225B.

All three 10-inch models are powered by Intel's Cedar Trail platform while the 12-inch machine is based around AMD's Brazos solution. The Eee PC 1025C and X101CH make use of the 1.6 GHz Atom N2600 CPU, whereas the 1025CE packs the 1.86 GHz Atom N2800 processor. The 1225B comes with the E-450 Brazos APU.

Taiwan-based tablet PC developer BungBungame unveiled Photon 100, a Windows 7 Home Premium-driven tablet PC with a highly-customized user-interface that makes it ideal for use by businesses, in the healthcare industry, restaurants, hotels and insurance, according to the company. The 10.1-inch tablet PC is driven by AMD Z01 accelerated processing unit (APU), with 4 GB of DDR3 memory, and 64 GB SSD. It weighs 820 grams. It is priced at NT $20,000 (US $662), and will be available in February 2012. BungBungame will demo the Photon 100 at the upcoming CES event.

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.

AMD today updated its A-Series line-up of desktop and notebook Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), further improving its top-performing family of dual- and quad-core APUs. Along with speed and performance improvements, AMD Steady Video update make this unique feature more compelling than ever. For desktop users, AMD extends its overclocking pedigree to the APU; for the first time users can tune both x86 and graphics settings in a single processor for boosted performance.

The updated AMD A-Series APUs combine up to four x86 CPU cores with up to 400 Radeon cores, delivering powerful DirectX 11-capable, discrete-level graphics and dedicated HD video processing on a single chip. These new APUs increase performance and deliver a richer feature set than existing AMD A-series APUs. Plus, only AMD APUs offer AMD Dual Graphics for an up to 144 percent visual performance boost when a select APU is paired with a select AMD Radeon HD 6500 Series graphics card.

TechPowerUp today released GPU-Z version 0.5.7, the latest version of our popular graphics system information and diagnostic utility. This release of GPU-Z comes just in time for the launch of AMD's Radeon HD 7000 series. It packs tested support for Radeon HD 7970 and HD 7350. It packs an updated PCI Express 3.0 detection routine, with better detection reliability. It fixes a bug related to "APIC counter broken" on AMD Fusion APU platforms. Detection is improved for some rare GPUs, such as HD 6450A, HD 6470M, and the more popular HD 5570.

Several reliability updates were introduced. This includes fixed (improved) fillrate calculation on Fermi architecture, fixed ROP count on GT 420, GT 520, HD 5450, HD 6450; fixed random values showing as default clocks on some NVIDIA cards; fixed random value showing as shader clock on NVIDIA cards without shader clock; and addition of process size, die size, transistor count for Radeon E6760.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.7 and TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.7 ROG-Themed

December thru January looks to be a busy time for AMD. Along with a few new graphics products, AMD will launch new CPUs and APUs. The company has chosen December 26 to launch its A8-3870K and A6-3670K Black Edition "Llano" accelerated processing units (APUs) in the FM1 package, which feature unlocked base clock multipliers for the processor component, making overclocking a breeze. In two of its presentation slides to distributors, it unveiled the swanky new box art of these unlocked APUs.

These chips pack four x86-64 cores based on the "Stars" K10.5 architecture with 1 MB dedicated L2 cache per core, dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz integrated memory controller, PCI-Express 2.0 root complex, and a "discrete-class" graphics processor that packs 400 VLIW5 stream processors, DirectX 11 support, and the ability to pair with similarly specc'd discrete GPUs. The A8-3870K Black Edition features x86 core clock speed of 3.00 GHz, and Radeon HD 6550D graphics that features all 400 of those stream processors, with 600 MHz GPU clock speed. The A6-3670K Black Edition, on the other hand, has its x86 component clocked at 2.70 GHz, it features Radeon HD 6530D graphics that has 320 out of the 400 stream processors enabled, and a GPU clock of 433 MHz.

Sapphire is working on two new entry-level motherboards for AMD FM1 and Intel LGA1155 platforms. The FM1 board, called the Pure White A55, is a budget micro-ATX board based on the AMD A55 FCH; while the LGA1155 board is the Pure Platinum H61P, an ATX board based on the Intel H61 chipset. The Pure White A55 uses a simple 5+1 phase VRM to power the AMD A-Series APU or Athlon II FM1 CPU. The FM1 socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory. The "Memory Free" feature stabilizes memory clock speeds, voltages, and timings if wrong settings make the system fail POST, at the push of a button.

Expansion slots of the Pure White A55 include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, two PCIe 2.0 x1, and a legacy PCI. All six SATA 3 Gb/s ports of the A55 FCH are assigned as internal ports. Display outputs include HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub. Other connectivity features include 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The board uses redundant BIOS on separate ROM chips, that protect it against bad BIOS updates. The Pure Platinum H61P uses a 6 phase VRM to power the LGA1155 processor. The socket is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory.

In addition to introducing the 'new' Radeon HD 7000M mobile GPUs, AMD has this week updated its A-Series family of APUs (accelerated processing units) by adding to it no less than seven models specifically targeting the mobile segment. All seven chips are manufactured using 32nm process technology and should keep laptops makers (relatively) happy until Trinity lands in the first half of 2012.