MaximumPC 2001 11

92 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC|JAN 2011 |www.maximumpc.com

LAB NOTES

Impressed by Fusion

LAB NOTES

Impressed by Fusion

LAB NOTES

IN THE LAB^

HANDS ON WITH THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

Maybe I could grow to like netbooks

I

’ve always thought that netbooks suck.

They’re too weak in graphics and pro-

cessing power to do anything useful but

piss me off. So I am surprised to say that I’m

looking forward to the fi rst $400 notebooks

and netbooks using AMD’s Fusion APU. I got

to kick the tires on the chip at AMD’s head-

quarters, and the graphics performance—

for what it is—impressed me. I was able

toplay Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on

a 1.65GHz AMD E-350 with AMD Radeon

HD 6310 graphics. Yeah, I know, MW2 isn’t a heavy workload at all

anymore. However, we’re talking about a $400 portable here. Try

playing MW2 on a notebook using Intel integrated graphics and

get back to me about your experience. It isn’t pretty because Intel,

sadly, has never cared about graphics performance. Sandy Bridge

may change that, but for now, I think AMD’s path with x86 and GPU

integration is looking pretty damned good.

I don’t need a new

case. My home rig

is doing just fi ne in

a CM Storm Sniper

(with a few extra

fans). That’s what I tell

myself, anyway. But

in the course of this

month’s case roundup

I found myself drool-

ing more than once.

NZXT’s Phantom is

easily the classiest

case that company

has ever produced.

I don’t need one. I’ll

take eight!

I’ve been reviewing

super-slim desktop

displays for the past

few weeks, and now

I’m ready to move to

the opposite end of

the spectrum—

giant TV screens.

I’ve got a few 50-inch

3D displays that

need reviewing, and

I’m really looking

forward to taking

them for a spin. You

know, as soon as I

find a place to set

up these monsters.

I’m lovin’ the industry’s

renewed interest in

designing quality, PC-

oriented loudspeakers.

Corsair and Antec have

announced exciting

new products, and while

both are best known for

manufacturing power

supplies and enclosures,

their product teams hail

from such stalwarts as

Creative Labs, Logitech,

and M-Audio. See

reviews of both of their

2.1-channel systems in

the next issue.

I was watching the

new Hawaii 5-0 last

week, and in the

middle of an episode,

Detective Chin Ho

takes a little break

from investigating

to show off how to

use Bing™ on his

Windows Phone 7™

phone. He even uses

the phrase “Bing it.”

Microsoft —I know

you want to make

this launch a success,

but leave my TV

shows alone.

Aft er spending

two weeks with

Microsoft ’s Windows

Phone 7 OS, I’m going

to make it my smart-

phone platform. The

only bummer is that

the hardware for the

launch phones is so

similar that bench-

marking is useless.

That’s OK for now,

because performance

is snappy, and CPU/

battery utilization

is phenomenally

effi cient.

GORDON MAH UNG

SENIOR EDITOR

AMBER BOUMAN

ONLINE FEATURES EDITOR

NATHAN EDWARDS

SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ALEX CASTLE

ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR

GEORGE JONES

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MICHAEL BROWN

REVIEWS EDITOR