amd

Xbox 360 games won't work with the Xbox One

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled its newest gaming console, the Xbox One, with a slew of new capabilities. But one thing it won't do is play Xbox 360 games.

Because the new gaming system has a different chip architecture -- Advanced Micro Devices' x86 instead of IBM's PowerPC -- the Xbox One won't have native compatibility with 360 games. It's unclear at this time whether Microsoft will create a solution for that, such as making some of the more popular games compatible through emulation or allowing users to access older titles through a cloud-streaming system. But it … Read more

More PC woes: AMD tanks, Windows 8 misfires in Europe

Maybe the PC isn't dead, but it's definitely showing signs of old age.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices were off more than 12 percent Thursday on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs. And the PC market in Europe saw a sharp decline in the first quarter, according to Gartner.

Goldman downgraded AMD's stock from "neutral" to "sell," saying that AMD's upside in gaming devices, like Sony's upcoming PlaySation 4, "only partially offsets the continued...challenges in the company's core PC business." AMD is the second-largest maker of processors for … Read more

AMD nabs Apple graphics chip designer

Advanced Micro Devices will soon announce it has hired a former Apple graphics chip designer to bolster its engineering leadership bench as it turns itself around, CNET has learned.

Raja Koduri, who most recently served as director of graphics architecture for Apple, will be rejoining AMD four years after leaving that company, people familiar with the hire told CNET. He will be taking on a role in AMD's graphics business, though it wasn't immediately clear to CNET what his title would be. AMD is expected to make the announcement next week.

The move is the latest in a … Read more

The best Windows 8 gaming laptops

We recently complained about the lack of a single best-case gaming laptop for the Windows 8 era. That was largely because of the handful of portable PCs with higher-end graphics cards we'd reviewed in the six months since Microsoft's new OS took over, none thought to include a touch-screen display. That's a feature not particularly called for in even current-gen PC games, but it's one that Windows 8 practically begs for during the hours when you're not using your laptop for gaming.

Since then, we've finished reviews of a couple more gaming laptops -- … Read more

Vizio welcomes spring with new Windows 8 touch-enabled PCs

Welcome to the third generation of Vizio PCs. You won't find many things different technology-wise in this round compared with previous models. The biggest news is that the laptops -- two 14-inch, and two 15.6-inch models -- all ship with touch screens now. Vizio's all-in-ones already had touch screens, but this generation gets a CPU bump, and higher prices to match. Vizio has also added wireless networking adapters that support the new 802.11ac standard across the lineup.

For the laptops, the 14-inch Touch Thin+Light CT14T-B0 comes it at the lowest price, going for $1,089.… Read more

What does a great Windows 8 gaming laptop need?

A recent question from a reader brought up an issue we've been discussing around the office recently -- the lack of Windows 8 laptops that include both a touch screen and a high-end GPU. Our reader's question, excerpted below:

May I ask for your advice on purchasing a gaming PC? I'm considering the Alienware M14x, but the only thing holding me back is the absence of a touch screen and I can't seem to find powerful laptops with a touch screen. Do you think touch-screen laptops will soon become the standard?

It's true that the … Read more

Think PCs are dead? Check out these crazy mods

AUSTIN, Texas--The PC is so not dead.

That's what AMD, one of the world's largest makers of processors, wants the world to know. And at SXSW, the chipmaker is putting its money where its mouth is and showing off a collection of modded PCs masquerading as art.

During its Technograffiti event here tonight, AMD will let the world get a glimpse of a series of PC mods that it hopes will convince people who think mobile devices have fully supplanted PCs that there's still some life remaining in the full-size computer.

"We want people to reimagine … Read more

AMD limps through Q4, and 2013 doesn't look much better

Chipmaker AMD suffered yet another brutal knock to its financials as it came crashing to the end of the 2012 fiscal year with yet another poor quarter.

The chipmaker reported a fourth quarter net loss of $473 million, or 63 cents a share, on revenue of $1.16 billion, down by 32 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 14 cents a share.

Wall Street expected AMD to report a fourth quarter loss of 20 cents a share on revenue on $1.15 billion. 

For the year ending December 29, AMD reported a net loss … Read more

AMD sues ex-managers for allegedly copying 100,000 files

Advanced Micro Devices is taking four former employees to court -- one vice president and three managers from the firm's Boxborough, Mass., plant -- who left the company to go and work for rival Nvidia last year.

The chipmaker is accusing them of coping more than 100,000 confidential documents and trade secrets to take with them.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, claims former vice president Robert Feldstein, along with managers Manoo Desai, Nicolas Kociuk and Richard Hagen, took the files before they left the company. AMD said it wants to recover the … Read more