Windows running at 1GHz is very important for a whole range of reasons.  Firstly and most importantly all its competitors can already do this.  It also helps keep the cost of devices down and means they can run smaller and with much greater battery life than existing x86 architecture chips such as the Intel Atom.

The processor in the W500 is an AMD C-50, a dual core chip that I genuinely expected to have Windows 7 dragging its heels behind the competition.  Imagine my surprise then when the lowly AMD chip not only matched a 1.66GHz Intel Atom for performance, but actually outshone it.

In the image above we have the Windows Experience Index scores for two Windows 7 tablets, the top one running an Intel Atom dual-core processor running at 1.66GHz, and the bottom score running the AMD C-50 chip running at just 1GHz.

Now the WEI score for a PC isn’t the most scientific measure of actual performance, however the scores here were borne out in general usage with the two tablets when I used them side by side.

The W500 was every bit as quick as the tablet with the Intel chip and even felt more responsive in some tasks.  This is because the original Atom is now a few years old and since it was released, processor manufacturers have been working hard to make their chips more power and performance efficient.

This bodes very well for the next version of Windows, and for Windows users.  We can be certain that the next Windows will be a bit leaner than Windows 7, and thus should run even more smoothly than I’ve experienced here.  The biggest hurdle people will face moving to Windows on ARM though is that none of their existing software will work.  A whole new ‘app store’ will need to be built from scratch to support it and for many people, for whom their existing software works perfectly well, that’s just too much to ask.

This tablet though proves that moving to a 1GHz low power chip doesn’t necessarily mean having to sacrifice all those apps.  The C-50 is still based on Intel’s original x86 architecture and will run all existing Windows software.  While you can expect certain applications such as HD Video, 3D games and anything processor-intensive to be logically out, it will be perfectly good for anything else.

It’s been an interesting learning curve working with Windows 7 on a processor running at just 1GHz (the same speed as the chip inside most modern smartphones) but now that I’ve seen it for myself it’s impossible to deny.  Windows at 1GHz isn’t something we will have to wait another year for, we can have it now.

Up until now, this had to be done manually. Gamers had to check the website of their video card manufacturer to see if a new driver has been released since the last driver installation.

A new driver then had to be downloaded and installed manually.

Today AMD announced that they have started adding ATI Radeon video card driver updates to the popular Steam gaming platform.

This new form of distribution makes sense, considering that gamers are the prime group of users who benefit from regular driver updates.

How does it work? Steam users can check for ATI Radeon driver updates by clicking on Steam >Update AMD Video Drivers.

steam amd driver update

Steam will then check if an updated video card driver is available, and prompt the user to download the video driver update.

steam video driver updates

The Install Now button triggers the installation of the drivers on the system. This installation is automatic with no option to customize it. The version that gets downloaded seems to be a universal installer, with a size of over 100 Megabytes. The largest driver at the official AMD Driver site has a size of less than 60 Megabytes.

Users with a slow Internet connection may want to consider that it will take them almost double the time to download the drivers from Steam.

The driver distribution on Steam cannot be automated at this point. Users still need to regularly check for updated drivers in the menu mentioned above, to find out if they are running the latest drivers.

It would be nice if the updates could be automated, for instance by moving the drivers to the Steam library to use Steam’s standard way of updating, which can be set to be completely automatic.

Still, the availability on Steam is a big step for AMD, as it brings the latest drivers directly to a large group of gamers. It does not get a lot more comfortable than this.

AMD acquired ATI four years ago and pledged to preserve the brand at the time.  Now though, market research for the company has suggested its own brand is well known enough to take over.

The move will see the Radeon and Firepro names continuing but all new graphics cards released from the end of this year will carry the AMD branding instead.

ATI was founded in 1985 and began its life making integrated graphics chipsets for IBM and Commodore.  It was bought by AMD in 2006 for $5.4bn.  This is a deal which hit AMDs finances heavily and is only now beginning to bear fruit.

ATI has done well in the last couple of years as rival nVidia have struggled with their new Fermi technology to make cards that rival the latest Radeons.  Only recently have nVidia begun to ship cards that truly compete with with ATI’s best.

Source : PC Pro

Support will be added to Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 and is already available for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and first motherboards supporting UEFI are already available on the market (MSI P35 Neo3). One of the main differences between BIOS and UEFI is the way applications are coded. Assembler was used if functions or applications had to be coded for the BIOS while a higher level language code will be used to program the UEFI.

The memory footprint is about 10 times smaller as well. The main benefits for customers are a better presentation and (probably) motherboards that are more stable. When will the transition be complete ? Insiders suggest that it might take between two or three years.

The UEFI specification defines a new model for the interface between personal-computer operating systems and platform firmware. The interface consists of data tables that contain platform-related information, plus boot and runtime service calls that are available to the operating system and its loader. Together, these provide a standard environment for booting an operating system and running pre-boot applications.

Seven different systems are introduced ranging from budget system to high end systems. Except for the budget system which uses an AMD cpu all other categories present a INTEL and an AMD system. Next to the budget system (500$ – 700$) resides the entry level systems (750$ – 1100$), the mid range systems (1200$ – 1500$) and finally the high end systems which start at 1900$. Helpful as a starting point. Unfortunately there is no explanation why the mentioned hardware was chosen.