Alleged ATI Radeon HD 5750 leaked, benchmarked

Just over a week after AMD unleashed its powerful ATI Radeon HD 5870 to the world and subsequently the 5850, a forum member at Mymypc.com has posted several images and benchmark numbers of the upcoming HD 5750. Codenamed Juniper LE, this is AMD's first mainstream graphics processor in the ATI Radeon HD 5000 family and is reportedly set to replace the once high-end Radeon HD 4870 with a $150 price tag.

The alleged reference model has a relatively short board and sports a dual-slot design with a teardrop-shaped cooling system slapped on it. Like the 5800 series, it features DirectX 11 support, GDDR5 memory (but on a 128-bit bus and clocked at 1150MHz), and the same port arrangement -- two DVI, one DisplayPort, and one HDMI. The card is also equipped with 1120 stream processors and a 700MHz core clock, according to GPU-Z.

In terms of performance, the new Radeon HD 5750 manages to beat both the HD 4850 and the GTS 250 when running 3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage's synthetic tests -- although by small margins. We'll of course have to reserve judgment until we can put this card to the test in real-world scenarios, but it seems the Radeon HD 5750 could give Nvidia's GeForce GTS 250 a run for its money when it launches (presumably) later this month.

Sony shows off wireless power transfer prototype

Wireless technologies in a variety of forms have seen tremendous growth in recent years. Answering the need for on-the-go computing and customers' struggle with cable clutter, many service providers and peripheral manufacturers have turned to wireless standards to satisfy their consumer base. And yet electronic devices must be powered somehow, making the use of power cables a necessary but sometimes unsightly part of our computer and home entertainment setups.

Even though we've seen some notable progress in this area through inductive charging on devices like the Dell Latitude Z or the Touchstone charger for the Palm Pre, this technology still requires physical contact. Luckily for those keen on the idea of a truly wireless world, Sony has announced the development of a new energy transfer system which it claims will eventually eliminate the use of power cables once and for all.

In its tests the company succeeded in sending a conventional 100 volt electricity supply over a distance of 50 centimeters to power a 22-inch LCD television. The system achieves this feat through high-frequency magnetic resonance, which produces a magnetic field by feeding power into a 40cm-wide square coil of wires.

Of course being an early prototype there are a few drawbacks, including the distance over which it works and the system's 60 percent efficiency, which means a significant portion of the power fed into it is wasted. The company shared no details on how safe the technology is -- an obvious concern -- nor did it offer an estimate on when it will be ready for real world availability.

Asus unveils EeeBox with Ion graphics and Windows 7

Asus has unveiled the latest member to join its EeeBox nettop family, the Ion-packing EB1501. This mini desktop not only sports a sleek new design, it is also the first EeeBox with a slot-loading DVD drive and Windows 7. Aside from using Nvidia's chipset for smoothly decoding 1080p video, the EB1501 also comes with a dual-core Atom N330 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM, and a 250GB hard disk.

Other specs include 802.11n Wi-Fi and gigabit Ethernet, 4 USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, HDMI and VGA out, a multi-format card reader, and 5.1 audio -- all in all, a very solid desktop machine in a compact and nice-looking enclosure. Depending on your configuration options, the EB1501 can also have up to 4GB of RAM as well as a remote, matching keyboard/mouse combo, and a VESA mount in case you want to hide it behind your monitor.

Pricing hasn't been announced for the U.S. yet, but a base configuration should ship sometime after Windows 7's October 22 release to European customers for €399, or the equivalent of $580.

Verizon and Gateway offer 3G-enabled netbook, LT2016u

Gateway and Verizon are collaborating to release a new netbook with support for Verizon's 3G mobile broadband service. The Gateway LT2016u will be available through Verizon's website and stores on October 4, and will retail for $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, which will arrive in the form of a debit card. Naturally, Verizon expects customers sign a two-year mobile broadband contract. This includes 250MB of monthly access plus $.10 per MB overage for $39.99 a month, or 5GB plus $.5/MB overage at $59.99/month.

The LT2016u is outfitted with a 10.1" WSVGA LED display, an Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, a .3 megapixel webcam, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB and VGA ports, a three-in-one media card reader, two speakers, a microphone, a six-cell battery, Windows XP Home, and weighs 2.95lbs. This netbook follows the launch of Gateway's LT3100 and LT2000, which debuted over the summer.

Dell intros 'future proof' Core i5/i7-equipped Vostro 430

Dell has expanded its Vostro line with the Vostro 430 mini tower desktop, which boasts a "future proof" design. Aimed at small and medium businesses, the Vostro 430 ships with video conferencing software pre-installed and features Intel's Core i5 or Core i7 processor, discrete graphics from Nvidia or ATI, up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM and 1TB of storage.

Dell seems to have placed an emphasis on expandability and connectivity with support for dual displays, four total PCI/PCIe slots, an optional Blu-ray disc drive, ten USB ports, legacy ports, and a 19-in-1 media card reader. All of this starts at a reasonable $699 too, which kicks things off with a modestly equipped Core i5 750 system -- and a semi-high-end spec can be configured for under a grand.

The Vostro 430 ships with Windows Vista at the moment, but it's eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 -- except for Vista Home Basic.