Tag: NVIDIA

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NVIDIA Announces GTX780 Ti Graphics Card – Updates SHIELD Handheld Console

NVIDIA GTX780TiSome pretty fun news out of Big Green today.

NVIDIA is taking the wraps off the GTX780 Ti graphics card, which will be available starting November 7th retailing for $699. This is exciting, as early leaked benchmarks are showcasing performance which should rival their GTX TITAN, a card which retails for $1000+. Releasing the Ti variant of the 780 means we’ll see price drops on the OG 780 and the 770, now starting at $499 and $329 respectively.

NVIDIA is also running a game promo starting today. If you purchase a GTX 780 Ti/780/770 between now and November 26th you’ll also get free copies of Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus you’ll get $100 off a SHIELD purchase if you’ve been eyeing their mobile Android gaming console (normally retailing for $300). People looking to grab a GTX 760 or 660 will get Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus $50 off a SHIELD purchase.

Speaking of SHIELD, a huge update is rolling out for NVIDIA’s mighty little handheld. Alongside updating the OS to Android 4.3, SHIELD will also receive a new Console Mode. Plugging the unit into a TV, you can pair up a bluetooth controller and kick back on the couch to play your games. Not a bad feature considering you can use SHIELD as an access point to stream games from your PC to your TV.

NVIDIA released this new video showing SHIELD in action.

More info on NVIDIA’s GTX 780 Ti and the new gaming bundles.

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NVIDIA shows off new $199 Tegra Note, 7″ Android Tablet

nvidia tegra note tablet kai 199 somegadgetguyIt’s kind of exciting watching a company like NVIDIA take a little more control over their hardware destiny. First with the Shield gaming handheld which I really liked from this year’s E3, and now with Tegra Note.

Tegra Note is an evolution of their Kai reference design. Last year NVIDIA led the industry with a design to simplify and lower costs for producing smaller tablets. They’re proud to claim the original Nexus 7 as having been inspired by this groundwork. I’m sure NVIDIA learned a lot about tablets by putting Kai out there and seeing how other manufacturers adopted and changed it.

Now Kai is evolving into the Tegra Note, a 7″ tablet featuring NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 chipset. The list of features is formidable:

Processor Tegra 4 mobile processor with quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU and 72-core GeForce GPU
Display 7-inch HD IPS LCD display (1280 x 800)
Camera Rear 5MP and front VGA webcam
Storage 16GB storage with microSD expandable up to an additional 32GB
Audio Front-facing “HD Audio” stereo speakers with a unique bass-reflex port
Stylus Chisel and Brush tips for natural writing and broad strokes
Peripherals Micro HDMI connector to drive big screen TV videos and gaming
OS 100% Android with latest version of the OS
Software Updates Over-the-air software updates directly from NVIDIA
Battery Life 10 hours HD video playback

If it’s built anything like Shield it should be some quality hardware, and it’ll launch with a magnetic flip cover which can prop it up like a stand. Plus NVIDIA is promising timely OS updates, which is becoming an important selling point for Android customers.

Alongside this specific tablet, NVIDIA’s partners are also working on tablets which follow this reference model, so expect to see more competition around the $200 price point soon from HP, Asus, Toshiba, Xiaomi, and Kobo with Tegra 4 parts.

I find the name interesting however. The badge “Note” is a proper branding for Samsung phones and tablets. NVIDIA is also rocking a proper stylus, but I’m left wondering if they couldn’t find any other name to describe what this tablet could do. I dunno, maybe something like Tegra Style? Or Tegra Design? Yeah, both of those names suck… Nevermind…

(via NVIDIA blog)

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Microsoft Event on September 23rd to introduce Surface 2

surface 2 media event microsoft somegadgetguyThe invites went out this morning!

So you should all know by now how I feel about writing up rumors (I hate writing up rumors), so thankfully we wont have to wait long to get the full scoop on Microsoft’s next-gen Surface. Come September 23rd, we’ll finally have confirmation on all the hardware deets, like whether it will use a Tegra 4 chipset, if it’ll have a proper 1080p screen, and how that new kickstand will work.

Thankfully we do know that MS will be dropping that confusing “RT” label. So that’s already progress.

Until then, we must find other ways of entertaining ourselves… If only there were other tech stories out there to distract us until the 23rd… If only…

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IFA 2013: Panasonic Toughpad 4K – a 20 inch tablet running Windows 8.1

panasonic toughpad 4k ifa somegadgetguyIt’s audacious. PC sales are slowing up, so tech companies need to come up with new product lines to excite the public. Microsoft is blurring the lines between tablets and PC’s with Windows 8, and manufacturers are starting to develop hardware based on that shift.

Panasonic is making the Toughpad 4K a real product. A year ago they showed off a proof of concept 4K display running Windows. Soon you’ll be able to buy one!

This 20″ display has a resolution of 3840×2560, and is being marketed towards graphics and design professionals. In addition to touch controls, there’s the option to use an inductive stylus to get work done. Powered by a Core i5, 8GB of RAM, NVIDIA graphics, and up to 256GB of solid state storage, Panasonic is smudging the lines on “portable” computing. There needs to be a new classification for these types of slate. Something like “Semi-Mobile”.

Impressively, this thing is actually battery powered, and those high performance guts can run for around two hours without being connected to an outlet. At only five pounds, you could conceivably leave the house with the Toughpad. Something you’d never really consider doing with an iMac for example. It opens up some interesting possibilities for temporary workstations and situations where you’d need visuals like presentations. Instead of lugging a laptop and a projector, just pack up your Toughpad.

We’ll see more of this type of product soon in the coming months, as even Sony is releasing a “semi-mobile” computer.

No info on a USA release, but Toughpad 4K should arrive in Europe the middle of November. Expect it to drop for around  €4,500 (about $6000).

(picture via @Windows)

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NVIDIA posts an EXPLOSIVE tear down video of the Shield portable gaming console.

nvidia tear down shield explosion video somegadgetguyOk.

I’m geek enough to really enjoy a good tear down video. The first computer I ever took apart was an 8088 running DOS. It’s in my blood. I like knowing what’s inside my magic boxes. NVIDIA has taken a somewhat novel approach to opening up their Shield portable gaming console (one of my favorites from this year’s E3 btw).

When they said they were going to show us an “exploded” view of Shield, who knew they would take that literally…

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