smartech

Well, we didn’t expect this one, but it seems you can find whatever you want at the CEATEC show, that takes place in Japan these days. The object you’re looking at was recently spotted at the Kohjinsha tech booth by Akihabaranews team and seems to boast the “prototype” status at the moment. Besides that, Kohjinsha’s futuristic model packs two 10.1-inch TFT LCD screens at either 1024 x 600 or 1366 x 768 resolution, and can be used jointly and severally. Other than that, you get inside a cool swiveling base, along with some strong specs that include an AMD Athlon MV-40 processor, paired with a 160GB hard drive, up to 4GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium onboard. Regretfully, at this point, we have no price or release dates to share, but be sure we’ll be there to bring them on whenever they get shown.

Update1: It seems to happen faster than expected – as we now hear that Kohjinsha’s 10-inch dual-screen netbook goes on sale these days with a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo processor and RS780MN chipset onboard, both sitting next to an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics, a 3-in-1 card reader, 1.3MP webcam, 3 X USB hubs, WiFi, 1GB of RAM and same capacity drive, standing at 160GB of storage. Battery suppose to deliver up to 4.5 hours of work, while weight is surprisingly light for the overall package, 4.09 pounds (1.84 kg) only. Shipping is set to start 3 weeks from now, worldwide, as prices start with a Â¥95,800 ($1,110) package that includes a Linux version, and climb up to Â¥100,800 for the Windows 7 Home Premium flavor. Get it now if you need a portable multiple action in your hands.

Update2: As you already know, first comes the release, then the unboxing, and the guys at Wow Pow were one of the firsts to take Kohjinsha’s dual-screen netbook for a roundup, in which they share their preliminary thoughts. Hit the break to see their video.

[Akihabara News]

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Not sure if Intel has any reason to be worried, but looks like more and more companies start ditching the Atom-based processor and jump on AMD’s trendy CPU wagon, with Gateway, only recently implementing the Athlon 64 L110 inside its LT3100 11.6-inch netbook and now Medion, housing the Sempron 210U processor inside its latest Akoya Mini E1312 machine. But processors aside, Medion’s new netbook, has a lot more to offer with a nice 16:9 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 display inside, paired with ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics accelerator and an HDMI output to boost your high-def videos. Other than that, you should expect getting 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive 3-in-1 card reader, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity, 6-cell battery (9-cell optional), and Windows XP aboard – all priced at £339.99 (around $550) – from July 12th, exclusively at Aldi UK. Still no word about a Stateside release, so stay tuned.

[via pocket-lint]

With its LT2000 netbook edition, already available for over a month, Gateway is re-storming the market with a new  upgraded version, which carries the title LT3100 and houses a trendy 11.6-inch 1364 x 768 WXGA display, along with what appears to be AMD’s 1.2GHz Athlon 64 L110 CPU, instead of those regular Atom N270/280 processors, we all know pretty well. Other than that, Gateway’s LT3100 includes an improved ATI Radeon X1270 graphics accelerator, up to 2GB RAM, 802.11b/g WiFi connection, three USB 2.0 sockets, 1.3MP webcam, a 6-cell Li-ion battery and 250GB HDD. Additionally, it sports Windows Vista Basic OS inside and offered in NightSky Black or Cherry Red flavors at your choice, with a suggested retail price of $399.99.  Official release is undetermined as of today, but should be considered as “very soon”.

Are you fed up with those endless netbook machines around? Make sure you have enough room for one more version to digest, as Asus recently announced the new Eee PC 1000HV Atom N280 edition, which allegedly includes the ordinary specs we’re all familiar with, but also a strong ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics set, to take care your hefty video duties, such as HD content and gaming treats. Other than AMD’s powerful card (which isn’t that common among this laptop category) this sleeky portable device houses a 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600 display, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive and a VGA output to hook your new toy into a larger screen. Still no word on price or availability, but we’ll feed you in with the details as soon as they arrive.

Update: First benchmark results of the Radeon HD 3450 graphics set just came in, showing an impressive score of 37,430 points, compared to the 28,923 you’d get with the Asus 1000HE.� Make sure you hit the jump to see the complete comparison table.

[Via Slashgear]

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AMD is expected to announce a break up tomorrow morning, due to growing demand for independent, leading-edge foundry production capabilities and increasing R&D costs. According to sources, the giant chipmaker will be splitting up into two companies, as the first one will be responsible for chips designing and the second, for the manufacturing. Additionally, the company has issued a PR release, saying:

“AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Company of Abu Dhabi to Create New Leading-Edge Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Mubadala increases investment in financially-stronger AMD, which is simultaneously unlocking the value of its manufacturing assets”

The meaning is that Advanced Technology Investment Company will strengthen AMD’s financial position by purchasing 55.6 percent of The Foundry (manufacturing company), for $5.1 billion dollar, and both sides will cooperate together, in order to create a clear stand alone leader in global semiconductor manufacturing, that will be able to equally confront Intel. Stay tuned.

[AMD]

Korean company TG Sambo has announced the release of the new TCC-7801 PMP, coming with a 4.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and runs Windows CE 5.0. The new sleeky media player is only 15mm thick and has a powerful AMD Alchemy AU1250 @ 700Mhz processor. In addition, it houses 16GB storage capacity, an E-book reader, Polaris browser to surf the internet via the built-in WiFi b/g connection, a dictionary, T-DMB digital TV and DAB digital radio tuner. No information on price, but this new PMP is expected to be launched in Korea this month.

[via Aving]

It seems that many manufacturers got envy with the enormous success of the Asus Eee PC and wanted to have one of their own. The new UMPC series, from Kojinsha, is equipped with AMD Geode processor, 7″ 1024×600 resolution and a GPS navigation system. More info will be revealed at the CES show and I’m guessing we will see more of those during 2008.

[via gmp3]