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Most of video game history has been an ongoing quest for better graphics and faster processing. Early video games made little effort to endeavor towards life-like verisimilitude because the hardware power to render life-like images didn't exist on a consumer scale. As hardware advanced, so did the ambition of game developers. What was once considered impossible for home gaming is now a fact of life.
Samsung's upcoming chipsets will support the latest next-gen gaming feature: ray tracing
You'll finally get pretty lights and reflections on your phone
The announcement of Samsung partnering with AMD to include Radeon GPUs in Exynos mobile processors was huge. Phones have been getting better and better in terms of graphics, but while ARM Mali and Qualcomm Adreno GPUs are pretty good, they can't hold a candle to Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon, two of the biggest names in the GPU space. Radeon GPUs, in particular, are used not only in gaming PCs but also on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. The arrival of Radeon for smartphones will be spearheaded by Samsung, and now we know about one key gaming feature to expect: ray tracing.
More Chromebook models can now run Windows apps in Parallels
Still only for enterprise users, but it's something to get excited about
Parallels, a Windows virtual machine app for Chrome OS, is now available on more Chromebooks with the inclusion of AMD Ryzen processor support. VM users are also getting further access to USB and other peripherals as well.
Mobile gaming has grown at an exceptional rate over the last few years — it's truly incredible to see how far phones have come since the days of Candy Crush, especially in terms of graphics performance. Samsung has been keen to remain a big part of this expanding market, refocusing its Galaxy Store on gaming and putting a new focus on releasing graphics driver updates. Back in 2019, Samsung and AMD announced a partnership to bring Radeon technology to smartphones. Now it looks like the fruits of that partnership are are almost within reach, as hinted at today during the Exynos 2100 event.
Acer expands its Chromebook offerings with beefy AMD-powered Spin 514
It's joining the Qualcomm-powered Spin 513 this season
It's often more difficult tracing the differences between old and new Chromebooks given their wild release schedule. For Acer's part, the all-new Chromebook Spin 514 is set to head to market alongside the Spin 513 — the company's first with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c silicon — but towing AMD's 3rd-gen Ryzen mobile processors instead.
How to give your phone the official Cyberpunk 2077 theme
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Upcoming Chromebooks with AMD's powerful Ryzen Zen 3 chipset could spell further trouble for Intel
Evidence points to new baseboards designed around Ryzen 5000U series processors
It's a well-known fact that AMD has had an impressive year with its Ryzen series of processors. Thanks to its 7-nanometer process, the company scored massive leaps in performance compared to Intel's offerings, catching the attention of several manufacturers. With Ryzen 5000 and 5000U series launch around the corner, it was only natural for Google to begin developing a reference board designed around the new chipset, paving the way for flagship performance in Chromebooks.
AMD is bringing Ryzen to Chromebooks
Five familiar Zen-based Athlon and Ryzen-branded chips are coming to higher-end Chromebooks
AMD is bringing Zen to Chromebooks. Shoring up last year's announcement of a handful of A-series chips, AMD has decided that the time is right for its much-loved Zen-based cores to make the trip. In total, five new 15W Ryzen and Athlon-branded chips based on Zen and Zen+ architecture are coming to Chromebooks.
HP is launching the first AMD Ryzen-powered Chromebook
Plus the first new Chromebox we've seen in a while
Today, AMD has announced that it's bringing a few of its high-end chips to Chromebooks, including the Ryzen line. HP is one of the first partners to take advantage of the computing platform on Chrome OS and has taken the opportunity to launch its first Ryzen-powered Chromebook, the HP Pro c645. The company additionally gives us a look at the first Chromebox in a while, the HP Chromebox G3, but this one comes with Intel chips.
When the AMD Link app launched way back in 2017, it was a pretty limited experience, merely allowing you to monitor your PC's resource utilization and other statistics remotely. Once it picked up the ability to stream games, à la Nvidia GameStream, Moonlight or Steam Link, AMD GPU owners started getting antsy for a way to bring the experience onto their TVs. Luckily for them, the AMD Link app has come to both Android TV and Apple TV.
Smartphone graphics have improved quite a bit over the past decade, but they're still a far cry from what dedicated gaming machines are capable of. The idea of a phone with the horsepower of a home game console has always been an exciting prospect, and now Samsung is partnering up with hardware manufacturer AMD to (hopefully) make it happen.
For years, we've had to choose between Intel and ARM-based Chromebooks, but a new contender is entering the game. HP announced the first AMD-powered Chromebook at CES this year. Now, you can drop some cash on this first-of-its-kind laptop with shipping next week.
AMD recently upgraded its GPU software for PC to Adrenalin 2019. It brings with it a lot of new perks, such as the ability to stream your SteamVR games to Daydream standalone VR headset, but you'll first have to install the Radeon ReLive for VR app, which was just added to the Play Store this morning.
Android Studio's device emulator used to be incredibly slow, even on capable hardware. Google has drastically improved the performance over the past two years, but a few issues remain. The Windows version of the Android Emulator uses HAXM, which only works on Intel processors. That means AMD-powered computers can only use non-accelerated ARM images.
Spectre and Meltdown are still fresh in our mind, but already researchers from Microsoft and Google have found a new vulnerability, named Speculative Store Bypass (SSB), that could allow for malicious software to indirectly read from memory. Some Intel and AMD processors are vulnerable, but of greater Android-related concern is the susceptibility of 5 ARM reference designs going back to 2011's Cortex-A15 and including the latest A75.
A report from The Register yesterday claimed that Windows and Linux developers were scrambling to fix a "fundamental design flaw in Intel's processor chips." The flaw theoretically allows any program to view the layout or contents of protected kernel memory areas, which often contain passwords, login keys, cached files, and other sensitive data. Even a web app could potentially read kernel-protected data.
AMD released the newest version of its Radeon Software yesterday, the program used for configuring AMD graphics cards (similar to GeForce Experience for NVIDIA). While most of the new features are only interesting to PC gaming enthusiasts, the new AMD Link feature allows users to monitor their PC from their phone or tablet.
AMD is a pretty big name in the technology world. The semiconductor manufacturer, which rarely pursues legal action against others (at least publicly), has filed a patent infringement complaint with the U.S ITC against several other entities. It asserts that the offensive uses of those technologies negatively impacts AMD and its licensees.
Update: The two sides have agreed to a ceasefire, and the battle is over... for now. Did one participant come out on top? Scroll down to the bottom and let us know what you think.
BlueStacks made quite a splash when they released their alpha x86 Android app player for Windows late last year. When AMD invested millions of dollars into the company, it was clear that they were planning on leveraging the ever-expanding Android platform to put a shot into the arm of their PC chip business. Nearly a year after the initial investment, they're ready to make good: head on over to www.amd.com/appzone to check out the shiny new AMD App Zone. Download your first app from a Windows-based PC to install the new version of the BlueStacks player (along with the app), no sign-in required.