Samsung's take on the Surface Pro, the ATIV Smart PC 500T

Subject: Motherboards | February 18, 2013 - 04:30 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Samsung, ATIV Smart PC 500T, Surface Pro, tablet

Samsung has produced a Surface Pro tablet they call the ATIV Smart PC 500T, which comes paired with a keyboard/docking station.  Powered by an 1.5GHz Atom Z2760 and 2GB of DDR2-800 with a 64GB e.MMC iNAND SSD for storage the device the performance will beat a WinRT tablet but it is not going to compete with a laptop.  Strangely one of the most advertised features, the S Pen, was not present in the Canadian package so it is not included in this review.  Silent PC Review noticed that Samsung are working on the 500T's page, though they do not know if it was to correct the erroneous text stating the S Pen comes with the basic model or simpy to give time to have S Pens shipped and attached.  The 11.6" 1366 x 768 screen was washed out in comparison to the Microsoft Surface Pro and it did not seem as sturdy as the Microsoft product either.  Check out the full review to get a better idea how this tablet performs.

"Windows 8 is making possible a new class of mobile convertibles that flip between tablet and notebook. The Samsung ATIC Smart PC 500T is one example, based around a new Atom core and built around a big (for tablets) 11.6" screen, but there's an Ivy Bridge upgrade available in the 700T. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Surface Pro shows us a different vision of the convertible."

Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:

Mobile

• HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15z-b000 Review @ TechReviewSource
• Vizio Thin+Light CT15: Something New and Edgy @ AnandTech
• Origin EON11-S Gaming Notebook @ Tweaktown
• Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro Review @ TechReviewSource
• NZXT Cryo X60 Laptop Cooler @ Rbmods
• Sony Xperia Tablet S @ Tweaktown
• Otterbox Defender for Nokia Lumia 920 @ Kitguru
• Analogix SlimPort adapter with the Nexus 4 @ LanOC Review @ LanOC
• verclockersUK Ultima 10.1" IPS Android 4.1 Tablet @ eTeknix
• Google Nexus 7 Tablet 16GB @ Funky Kit
• Nokia Lumia 620 @ The Inquirer
• Google Nexus 4 Smartphone Review 2.0 - Two Months with Google's Superstar Smartphone @ Tweaktown

News from the Common Platform Technology Forum

Subject: General Tech | February 12, 2013 - 02:10 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: IBM, Samsung, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, CNTFETs, nanotubes

You might not think of IBM, Samsung, and GlobalFoundries as working together for a common goal, but much like the HSA the Common Platform Technology Forum brings together some strange bedfellows.  The Tech Report had a chance to sit in on some of the conference and just how this disparate group of Fab owners and pure research companies are working together to shape the future of the silicon beasts we all love to hate.  One of the main topics of discussion was the move to the 14nm process and just how designs must change in order to shrink the process to that size while at the same time increasing wafer size, with GloFo showing off their plans for the near future.  You will also be introduced to the idea of CNTFETs, the proposed carbon nanotube based replacement for Silicon FinFETs which could beat the limits of even Extreme UV lithography if they can be coerced into self assembly.  Read on and check out where the second and third largest Fabs on the planet are headed in the next few years.

"The opportunity doesn't come along every day to get a detailed peek into the future of computing from the people who are building it. Last week, I had just such a chance."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• 'Let anyone be administrator' bug in VMware snapped shut @ The Register
• Remember that Xeon E7-Itanium convergence? FUHGEDDABOUDIT @ The Register
• Google starts rolling out Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean @ The Inquirer
• Adobe muzzles TWO zero-day wild things with emergency Flash patches @ The Register
• Blackberry uses Samsung Galaxy S3 chips in its Z10 smartphone @ The Inquirer
• Every single Internet Explorer at risk of drive-by hacks until Patch Tuesday @ The Register
• ConnecteDevice COOKOO Watch Review @ Madshrimps
• Netgear R6300 Dual Band Gigabit WiFi Router @ eTeknix
• Unigine Valley & Unigine Heaven 4.0 Coming Next Week @ Phoronix
• Ninjalane Podcast - Console Hardware, HWBot Aquamark Wrapper and EVGA Interview

Samsung tops Apple for both buying chips and malware

Subject: General Tech | January 23, 2013 - 01:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Samsung, apple, andriod, Malware, fud

The good news for Samsung last year is that it bought $23.9bn worth of semiconductor orders in 2012, while Apple ordered a mere $21.4bn which implies that Samsung is buying more chips than Apple, or perhaps is just getting a worse deal.  If the information from Gartner that The Inquirer picked up on is correct, Samsung accounted for 8% of the total semiconductor market in 2012, a very impressive feat.  That is more than Dell and HP's market share combined which supports the theory that the falling sales we saw in PCs was not reflected at all in the smartphone and tablet markets. 

Unfortunately that success comes at a price as Samsung's OS of choice, Android, is expected to see more than one million malware threats by the end of 2013.  According to Trend Micro there were about 350,000 malware threats over 2012 with only one in five Android devices actually having any sort of security software installed.  Perhaps it is time to start thinking more about protecting your phone, especially if you have banking apps or the so called "pay by bonk" enabled on your phone.

"Apple, thanks in large part to its hugely popular iPhone and iPad products, was the largest consumer of semiconductor chips, that is, until 2012. Gartner claims that Samsung has overtaken Apple to become the largest semiconductor user with eight percent of all chips sold going to the firm."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• AMD alllllmost promises profitability by year end @ The Register
• AMD's chip-supply reassessment leads to big quarterly losses @ The Register
• Micron intros high-endurance MLC SSD for data center storage @ DigiTimes
• Foxit outfoxes fiendish flaw to fix foxed-up Firefox PDF plugin @ The Register
• iPad 5 with iOS7 launches alongside JOBS film at Easter @ Kitguru
• Desktop PC: Intel Says the End is Near @ Benchmark Reviews
• Professional Graphics Creation on Linux @ Linux.com

CES 2013: Samsung Teases Eight Core Exynos Octa SoC

Subject: Mobile | January 10, 2013 - 06:29 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: SoC, Samsung, exynos octa, exynos, ces 2013, CES, big.little, arm

Samsung talked up a new ARM SoC during CES that will become the new high-end part of its Exynos 5 lineup. The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa is, as the name suggests, an eight core processor. It is built on a 28nm manufacturing process and employs ARM's big.LITTLE architecture.

While Samsung is not ready to share all the detailed under-the-hood details, the Exynos 5 Octa has four Cortex A15 cores clocked at 1.8GHz paired with four Cortex A7 cores clocked at 1.2GHz. With big.LITTLE, the SoC has both high performance, high powr cores and lower power cores. The configuration is invisible to the end user, and the chip will use the Cortex A15 cores when in 3D applications or other CPU load intensive applications. Then, while the phone is idle or simply running background applications (notifications, checking email, updating twitter and facebook feeds, ect), the SoC will power down the Cortex A15 cores and use the lower power-drawing A7 cores. Ideally, this will give users a "best of both worlds" situation and a balance of performance and battery life.

Samsung claims that the Exynos 5 Octa offers up to twice the 3D performance of other existing current-generation SoCs. However, we do not yet have details on the GPU improvements (if any) over Samsung's other Exynos 5 chips much less benchmark-able products running this chip yet so it is difficult to say whether that statement is true or not. Also, Samsung claims as much as a 70% improvement in power savings over its dual core Exynos 5 processor, which is certainly a bold claim.

According to Engadget, Samsung plans to reveal all the nitty-gritty details on the eight-core Exynos 5 Octa SoC at the International Solid State Circuits Conference on February 19, 2013. It should give NVIDIA's "4+1" core Tegra 4 a run for its money, at lest on the CPU front (and maybe 3D graphics as well, but it's hard to say at this point).

PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!

CES 2013 Day 2: Samsung

Subject: Storage, Shows and Expos | January 7, 2013 - 09:48 PM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: Samsung, ces 2013, CES

I attended the Samsung press conference today, where several new products were announced. Among these was the 2013 line of Smart TV's:

The 2013 series is just a minor cosmetic redesign with a thinner (1/4") bezel. The real difference was in the SmartTV functionality, which has a facelift and now runs on a quad core processor. Samsung also announced the first round of the Evolution Kit - an upgrade module that brings the quad core and new UI to the 2012 SmartTV series. The evolution kit is pricey at nearly $500, but that's still way cheaper than buying a whole new set.

Samsung showed some new Series 7 Laptops, with displays upgraded to HD resolution and 10-point multitouch capability. They also showed a new compact camera series boasting interchangeable lenses, one of which Samsung claims can shoot 3D through a single f/1.8 unit:

They also annunced some appliances, the one catching everyone's ear being a refridgerator called the T9000 (no, I'm not kidding).

The coolest visual was the showing of an 85" 4k OLED TV. Pictures simply do not do this set any justice, but here is one for posterity:

PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!

CES 2013: "Pro-Grade" Monitors, Even One with Touch

Subject: General Tech, Displays | January 5, 2013 - 08:48 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Samsung, ces 2013, CES

The storm is coming. The PC Perspective crew are settling their shelter. Press releases are slowly drizzling from the clouds -- at least given the nature of enterprise web hosting these days.

Samsung released a droplet to promote their upcoming premium touch-screen monitors. Why must you choose between a professional-grade display and a touchscreen? Well, you did not need to, but now you have even more options.

Three panels are being showcased with this press release:

The Samsung Series7 Touch-Sensitive SC770 Monitor allows for up to ten touch-targets to be tracked at the same time. This ensures that a professional who desires to massage their accounting reports can use all ten fingers to firmly work out those deep-tissue trigger points. Also, and much more seriously, software from vendors such as Autodesk and Corel are beginning to take advantage of touch support. Maybe it will be possible to combine touch with stylus input from a graphics tablet to simulate many of the features of the Cintiq 24HD Touch?

The monitor itself is a very thin-bezel 24” FullHD design. Samsung also claims 5000:1 contrast ratio, 5-fold deeper than the 1000:1 ratio of standard displays. You might be used to seeing contrast ratios in the million-to-one realm however that is just a backlight dimming game where apparently this is a true static contrast ratio. It is expected to be available in Q1.

The Samsung Series7 SC750 Monitor keeps the 5000:1 contrast ratio and gains three inches making it a 27” display. It is not touch enabled. It is just 1080p. This display is touted for its thin stand and pivot support to spin into portrait mode.

Samsung lauds the screen as delivering ultra-sharp images due to its high contrast ratio but I just feel wrong about a 27” 1080p computer display. Nothing about that seems ultra-sharp to me. Still if you are interested -- particularly in how it looks -- it will also be available in Q1.

The last announcement has already been out for quite some time. Samsung will be showing off their S27B970 27” 1440p PLS display which is a much better resolution for a 27” display. No sense speculating when I can just point you to its CNET review.

PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!

Apple looking to TSMC to replace Samsung as their fab

Subject: General Tech | January 2, 2013 - 01:31 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: apple, Samsung, TSMC, A6X

According to the news we are hearing from Slashdot and other sources, Apple has finally made the decision to move their chip fabrication from Samsung, for fairly obvious reasons, with TSMC being the lucky fab that will get their business.  They are starting with the current A6X chip, shrinking it to 28nm for the initial run, with the contract for producing the new A7 series dependant on the success of TSMC's trial run.  As the 28nm node is quite familiar to TSMC, barring any production issues that limit availability, they are very likely to win the contract.

"The test will kick off in Q1 2013, The China Times reports, with TSMC producing a new, 28nm version of the existing 32nm A6X that Samsung has been producing for the full-sized iPad 4th-gen; the smaller chip, which will likely be more power efficient as well, will debut in a new iPad 5th-gen and iPad mini 2."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Key security threats to protect against in 2013 @ The Inquirer
• Frankenstein, an all-tube home theater amplifier @ Hack a Day
• Inside the Macintosh Plus @ Hardware Secrets
• Kaiser Baas Photo and Negative Scanner @ Tweaktown
• Two months with Windows 8 @ DVHardware
• Philips Hue: Fancy and colourful lighting at a hefty price @ Hardware.Info
• Top 10 most innovative gadgets for 2013 @ The Inquirer
• KitGuru Annual Awards 2012
• TechSpot: The Year in Tech, 2012 Top Tech Stories

Podcast #231 - Intel NUC, AMD 8000M GPUs, Building a Hackintosh and more!

Subject: General Tech | December 20, 2012 - 03:16 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: video, virtu, VIA, tegra 4, Samsung, radeon, podcast, nvidia, nvelo, nuc, lucid, Intel, hackintosh, gigabyte, Dataplex, arm, amd, 8000m

PC Perspective Podcast #231 - 12/20/2012

Join us this week as we talk about the Intel NUC, AMD 8000M GPUs, Building a Hackintosh and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Allyn Malventano and Chris Barbere

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!

Program length: 1:13:41

Podcast topics of discussion:

1. 0:01:50 We are going to try Planetside 2 after the podcast!
2. Week in Reviews:
   1. 0:02:50 Intel Next Unit of Computing NUC
   2. 0:17:55 Corsair AX860i Digital ATX Power Supply
   3. 0:19:00 HP Z1 Workstation All in One
   4. 0:25:00 Building a Hackintosh Computer - A Guide
3. 0:32:35 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!
4. News items of interest:
   1. 0:33:30 Cutting the Cord Complete!
   2. 0:36:10 VIA ARM-based SoCs in upcoming ASUS tablet
   3. 0:42:00 Lucid MVP 2.0 will be sold direct
   4. 0:44:50 Samsung acquires NVELO SSD Caching Software
   5. 0:49:00 AMD announces mobility 8000M series of GPUs
   6. 0:54:15 Some NVIDIA Tegra 4 Details
   7. 0:58:55 NEC Unveils Super Thin Ultrabook
   8. 1:00:30 Win a Sapphire HD 7870 GHz Edition FleX!!
5. Closing:
   1. 1:02:30 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
      1. Ryan: Panasonic GH2 Micro 4/3 Camera
      2. Josh: Preparation is key!
      3. Allyn: Cheap RAM
      4. Chris: Had solar panels installed this week

1. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
2. http://pcper.com/podcast
3. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
4. Closing/outro

Be sure to subscribe to the PC Perspective YouTube channel!!