Laptop

There has been some speculation on what the Apple M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra SoCs could deliver in terms of specifications. Figures have been extrapolated from currently known data, with the monstrous Apple M2 Ultra having the potential to sport up to 96 GPU cores, support up to 192 GB unified memory, and transfer data from the memory to the CPU at a scorching 1,200 GB/s.

The MSI Raider GE67 HX has landed, over four months before the competing Razer Blade 15 hits the shelves. The Raider GE67 HX starts at US$2,499 with a Core i7-12800HX, an RTX 3070 Ti and a 240 Hz OLED display that outputs at 1440p. The 15.6-inch gaming laptop is available with an RTX 3080 Ti too, but for US$3,399.

The European Commission (EC) has now completed its deal to make USB type-C a "common charging port" across its jurisdiction. The decision is now set to ensure that new devices of a swathe of consumer electronics categories can use the same cables and power bricks anywhere in the European Union - laptops and iPhones included.

Apple has just announced the new MacBook Air 2022 laptop with M2 processor, and the official product page for the device features some incredible performance comparisons. However, it seems some convenient Intel-like cherry-picking has taken place, as the M2 MacBook Air shows itself to be up to 26x faster than an Apple MacBook Air 2019 with Intel Core i5-8210Y.

Gaming benchmarks for the Intel Arc A730M have leaked, showcasing the GPU's capabilities at 1080p and 1440p. Benchmarked in triple-A titles like Metro Exodus and F1 2020, the Arc A730M gets close to the RTX 3070 and generally outperforms the RTX 2070.

Initial benchmark results for the Arc A730M and Arc A770M have landed, Intel's most powerful laptop GPUs. While only a snapshot of the pair's capabilities, they appear to show that Intel has managed to get close to the performance of AMD and NVIDIA's upper mid-range GPUs.

Elon Musk had agreed to buy the social media company Twitter for a sum of over US$40 billion. However, the Tesla CEO has subsequently raised objections to this deal going ahead, citing alleged discrepancies in the proportion of accounts on the platform that belong to "real" users. The latest move in this vein is a securities filing that has sparked speculation that Musk is now trying to terminate the acquisition.

Apple has launched its redesigned 2022 MacBook Air with M2 chip. The thin and light laptop comes with a fresh look and four eye-catching colors that will help the new Apple MacBook Air stand out from the crowd. The 13.6-inch device is available in two core configurations with prices starting at US$1,199/£1,249/A$1,899.

The 2022 MacBook Pro is now official with many QoL upgrades, including a brand new M2 processor, and a 59 Wh battery. It also supports ProRes encode/decode and has an active cooling fan. The laptop will hit shelves next month starting at US$1,299.

More marketing renderings of the apparently upcoming Dell XPS 9315t 2-in-1 hybrid laptop have been leaked. The latest images appear to show the Windows 11 operating system in action with the aid of large widgets. The new Dell XPS 2-in-1 (2022) looks very much like it could easily join the Microsoft Surface Pro lineup with its design.

The New York State Senate and Assembly have approved the motion to sign the Digital Fair Repair Act into law. The bill is intended to oblige OEMs to make it easier for users to restore their personal devices on their own within the state. Its new law is now viewed as a watershed moment for right to repair throughout the rest of the United States.

A Core i7 12700H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU run all current computer games smoothly on a responsive 15.6-inch screen (QHD). The notebook also offers space for up to three storage devices and comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port.

Clevo has taken the wraps off its newest barebones gaming laptop. Called the X270, the notebook packs an Intel Alder Lake H CPU and an Intel Arc GPU. Since Clevo designs laptops for OEMs like MSI, we can expect to see the machine hit store shelves under a different name relatively soon.

In a notable sale, Amazon currently offers premium renewed units of the beautiful Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 at a steep discount. With this enticing price-to-performance ratio, the previous generation of this 13.5-inch notebook might even be a better deal than its considerably more expensive predecessor.

The European Commission (EC) has long been linked with a move to make all OEMs use the same charging port (more than likely USB type-C) in all mobile devices intended for use within its jurisdiction. A decision to enforce this resolution is now said to arrive mere days from today (June 4, 2022). In a surprise twist, it is now also slated to apply to laptops as well as devices such as iPhones.

A noted Apple analyst has claimed that the 2022 MacBook Air is likely to come in fewer colors as has been previously rumored. For a while now, commenters have suggested the potential M2 MacBook Air would come in a choice of up to seven colors, but this has now been reduced to a selection of four with an iMac blue being one of the chosen few.

The popular Ryzen Edition of Dell's 15-inch gaming laptop is one of the better choices for bargain hunters who would like to spend less than US$800 on their new budget machine. For 1080p gaming in particular, the base configuration of the Dell G15 is certainly worth a look considering its currently discounted sale price.

Sony's new SRS-XE300 and SRS-XE200 wireless speakers are portable tower-style accessories not unlike many others in their market. However, their OEM asserts that they have an edge over this competition thanks to its new Line-Shape Diffuser. It is designed to push the new X-Series variants' sound out over a wider area in front of them.

Huawei has filed a patent for what it describes as a "detachable electronic device" that can dock onto 2 additional objects with compatible connectors. The new IP's images make it more clear that it is intended to be a "core" of sorts for a display and keyboard that can slot into the machine at the user's discretion. This, then, might be a new take on an emerging modular trend.

Intel's Arc A370M dGPU appears to be overall better than similar entry-level solutions from Nvidia and AMD when it comes to content creation. On the other hand, games are not exactly its strong suit, as it trails behind Nvidia's RTX 3050, but it does manage to offer decent ray tracing performance.

The new Dev One is a budget-oriented solution running on the Linux-based Pop!_OS developed by System76. It is powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U APU with Vega 8 iGPU, and comes with one (upgradable) configuration featuring 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB NVMe SSD. The 1080p 14-inch screen is HDR-ready with 1,000 nit brightness.

The fairly large and rather unique 16-inch convertible laptop offers some pretty decent specs at a reasonable price as HP has apparently started a clearance sale in order to make space for the upgraded but certainly more expensive 2022 version of the HP Spectre x360 16.

The MSI Katana GF66 12UGS belongs to the most affordable gaming laptops with the powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. After the upgrade to Intel's newest processor generation, the main problem of the plastic sword still has not been remedied.

TCL has announced a new development in touchscreen technology at one of its Chinese facilities. This "industry-first" HVATouch In-Cell solution is reportedly rated to absorb and improve on the advantages of current integrated touch panels with none of the current drawbacks. The OEM asserts that it stands to help produce clearer and more responsive LCD screens for devices such as laptops or monitors in the future.

Microsoft has refreshed the Surface Laptop Go with a second-generation model. While the Surface Laptop Go 2 launches with a newer processor than its predecessor, it still lacks keyboard backlighting. Also, the entry-level model misses out on a fingerprint scanner, but still costs US$599.99.

MSI has officially announced the Raider GE77 and GE67 laptops powered by an Intel Core i7-12800HX Alder Lake processor. Other specs include a 240 Hz QHD OLED screen, 32 GB of 4,800 MT/s DDR5 memory, up to a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU, and a 99 Wh battery. Prices start at US$2,500 for the Raider GE67 and US$2,600 for the Raider GE77.

The MSI Vector GP76 and GP66 have been updated with Intel Alder Lake-HX CPUs. They are now configurable with an Intel Core i9-12900HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 64 GB of 4,800 MT/s memory, and a 240 Hz QHD screen. MSI will unveil their prices and availability soon.

MSI has launched the CreatorPro X17 powered by the latest Alder Lake-HX processor options up to the Core i9-12900HX and Nvidia workstation graphics up to the RTX A5500. The CreatorPro X17 joins previously announced MSI CreatorPro laptops including the CreatorPro M series, CreatorPro Z16P and the CreatorPro Z17.

The refreshed GT77 will support PCIe5 NVMe SSDs and be nearly twice as thin as its GT76 predecessor. MSI is also bundling neat extras for early bird buyers like a 128 GB flash drive, MSI Lucky dragon keychain, and an M99 mouse.

The SKU comes with 32 GB of soldered RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6E, 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a crisp 17-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS display. If you don't need the higher CPU or GPU power of the XPS 17, then the leaner LG Gram 17 can be an excellent option.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 gets an exclusive processor from AMD: The AMD Ryzen Pro 7 6860Z. This CPU of the U series with a TDP of 15 W is a modified version of the octacore Ryzen Pro 6850U. Alongside the detailed specifications of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13, Lenovo has released the first specs of the processor with the "Z" suffix for the first time.

Lenovo's cheapest but still very capable 14-inch business laptop is currently on sale thanks to two stackable coupon codes, which turn the ThinkPad E14 Gen 3 into a real bargain considering that the notebook is equipped with a well-performing Ryzen 7 octa-core CPU, 16GB of RAM and a FHD IPS display that is vastly improved in comparison to the immediate predecessor.

Microsoft has soft-launched the Surface Laptop Go 2 in South Korea. With a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a sub-1080p display, the Surface Laptop Go 2 is not about to set the world alight. Still, it should represent a decent upgrade from the Surface Laptop Go, with over 20% performance improvements from a CPU upgrade alone.

Intel has been quite open to strategic collaborations ever since Pat Gelsinger stepped in as CEO. Some upcoming Intel processor models are scheduled to be produced in part by TSMC, but Gelsinger's recent visit to South Korea could hint at an Intel - Samsung collaboration on angstrom-era technology.

Dell has swapped the 11th gen Intel CPUs for 12th gen options and the Wi-Fi 6 Killer 1650s WLAN for the Wi-Fi 6E-compatible intel AX211. Though the CPU upgrade is notable, the WLAN update is largely pointless as Wi-Fi 6E is effectively disabled on the model.

Microsoft has announced a major update for the Surface Laptop Studio, its replacement for the Surface Book series. While the Surface Laptop Studio debuted in September, it has taken until now for Microsoft to enable a dynamic refresh rate.

Lenovo now claims to have ended its latest fiscal year (on March 31, 2022) with US$10 billion more in terms of revenue compared to the last. The company has also declared net profits of just over $2 billion (or 72% more year-on-year (YoY)). It attributes this success to pretty much all areas of its business, particularly its enterprise-focused and services arms.

A Ryzen 9-6900HX APU and GeForce RTX 3080-Ti Laptop GPU bring all the current games smoothly to the contrast-rich 4k display (16:10, IPS, 100% DCI-P3, FreeSync). They are accompanied by 4 TB of storage (RAID 0), 64 GB of working memory, and a surprisingly good battery life.

MSI has lifted the lid on a new Titan GT77, which it bills as a desktop replacement. Due to be released on June 7, MSI has teased Intel Alder Lake-HX series processors for the Titan GT77, which should be met by powerful GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

HP has introduced an upgraded Pavilion x360 14, now based on Intel's Alder Lake platform. Equipped with Alder Lake-U series processors, the new Pavilion x360 14 also has an optional 5G modem, a 14-inch touchscreen display and B&O-branded speakers, among other features.

Xiaomi has introduced the RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 Ryzen Edition, a Ryzen 6000H counterpart to the Intel Alder Lake model that the company already sells. Available with the Ryzen 5 6600H or the Ryzen 7 6800H, the RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 Ryzen Edition also comes with an optional GeForce RTX 2050 GPU from NVIDIA's Ampere family.

Xiaomi has released the RedmiBook Pro 14 2022 Ryzen Edition, which it powers with AMD Ryzen 6000H-series APUs. Only available with integrated graphics, the 14-inch laptop also has a 120 Hz display, PCIe 4.0 storage and LPDDR5 RAM, among other features. The RedmiBook Pro 14 2022 Ryzen Edition starts at CNY 5,299 (~US$797).

The SSD controller on the PCIe 5.0 models is indeed producing more heat, but Apacer is not implementing active cooling just yet. Instead, the new NVMe 2.0 devices feature a hefty heatsink with aluminum fins or an ultra-thin graphene thermal pad for compact systems. Read speeds are expected to reach 13,000 MB/s and write speeds can top at 12,000 MB/s.