Logitech slashes Revue price to $100, focuses on Google TV version 2

Logitech has officially slashed the price of the Logitech Revue to $100 on its own website, and retailers have thus closely followed suit. Just three months ago, we noted that Amazon had cut the price of the device from $300 to $200. At this rate, the peripheral giant will be giving away the Revue for free before the end of the year (of course we're just kidding).

At the same time, Logitech has confirmed again that when Google TV version 2 goes live later this summer, all new and existing Logitech Revue users will automatically receive the update, which is built on Android 3.1 (codenamed Honeycomb). Google is hoping the update will give its platform a much-needed boost, but until then, it appears that sales expectations are still low. This (second) price cut for the Revue is a clear indication of that.

Google's partners are having trouble pushing Google TV as many consumers are finding the platform too complicated to use. For consumers, the update means that a simplified user experience and the Android Market is coming to their TV. For developers, the update means being able to use one SDK to ship apps that work both on Android tablets and on Google TV.

Google has hinted that new hardware from Samsung and Vizio is also coming, but hasn't shared further details. The two were rumored to have Google TV product announcements set for CES 2011, but those plans collapsed, and some even claimed Google was the one that delayed the products. Either way, there will soon be four hardware vendors for Google TV: Logitech, Sony, Samsung, and Vizio

DRAM market remains weak, 2GB DDR3 modules to hit $10

Remember how we said RAM prices probablywouldn't get much cheaper in the near future? Well, that was very wrong. Citing anonymous industry sources, DigiTimes reports today that Kingston has cut deals to sell its 2GB DDR3 modules for as cheap as $11 (yes, that's eleven bucks), and that move has prompted competing firms lower their prices as far as $10. By offering lower prices, DRAM manufacturers expect shipments to rise, but DigiTimes' sources believe the overall demand will remain weak.

Based on DRAMeXchange's stats, contract prices have plunged more than 15% during July and that's expected to continue through August. Average contract prices for 2GB DDR3 modules fell 9.4% to $14.50 in the second half of this month while 4GB modules dipped a similar 9.7% to $28. At the same time, 1Gb and 2Gb chips were $0.75 and $1.59. Etail prices via Newegg are hovering around $25 to $30 for budget 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz kits, while individual 2GB modules are between $15 and $20.

Last Tuesday, iSuppli released a report claiming DRAM prices would continue to fall -- albeit increasingly slower. "Following a drop of 14.2% in the first quarter of 2011, the global average decline in pricing for DRAM slowed to 12% in the second quarter. The rate of decrease is expected to decline to 9% in the third quarter and then dwindle to just 4% in the fourth quarter. The rate of decrease will further slow to just 1% in the first quarter of 2012, and then remain in the 3 to 4% range during the rest of 2012."

In a separate report released last month, the research firm said DDR4 DRAM would arrive in 2014 and rapidly eclipse DDR3 sales by 2015. Although DDR3 will remain relevant for at least a year or two following the launch of DDR4 modules, the newer technology is expected to represent some 56% of the market only one year after it hit shelves. That's a significantly faster adoption rate than witnessed with DDR3, which took two years to achieve 24% of the market and three years before it finally outgrew DDR2.

AMD launches two more sub-$100 Radeons, 6670 and 6570

AMD has rounded out the lower end of its Radeon HD 6000 series today with the launch of two new sub-$100 cards: the Radeon HD 6670 and HD 6570. These two models complement the $55 Radeon HD 6450 that came out earlier this month, and like the rest of the 6000 series they support DirectX 11, UVD3 accelerated video decoding, stereoscopic 3D, and Eyefinity multi-display technology -- with the Radeon HD 6670 supporting up to four-display configurations.

Priced at $99 and $79 respectively, the Radeon HD 6670 and HD 6570 are positioned at very attractive price points, and are intended to succeed the current HD 5670 and HD 5570 graphics cards. The Turks GPU found in the Radeon HD 6670 is clocked at 800MHz while in the HD 6570 it will be running at a more modest 650MHz, with both offering 480 stream processing cores, 24 texture units, 8 ROPs, and a 128-bit memory bus.


In terms of performance both the Radeon HD 6670 and Radeon HD 6570 are up around 10-15% over the Radeon HD 5670 and Radeon HD 5570 they are replacing. They also offer better overall performance than the Nvidia GeForce GTS 240 / 440 they are going up against, but with stocks of previous-generation cards still plentiful and many manufacturers running promos, you'll be able to find much better performing cards for the same or even less money -- like the Radeon HD 5770 and GeForce GTS 450, which are both regularly on sale for under $100.

At least until their launch prices inevitably go down, the real value of these cards is found not in the performance but in their low-power requirements and ability to support multi-monitor configurations. The 6570 has a TDP of 44 watts and uses only 10 watts when idle, while the 6670's TDP is 66 watts and consumes 12 watts while idling. Both cards feature a low profile design and neither of them requires an external power source.