Laptop

The MacBook Air appears pretty outdated

The MacBook Air is a well-known brand, so it makes sense for Apple to offer corresponding devices. However, both the performance and connectivity fall behind the competition, and Apple's own MacBook Pro 13 is a better alternative.

Andreas Osthoff, 03 Feb 2020 14:49

Lenovo ThinkPad T480s with Core i5, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD is only $670 right now (Source: Lenovo)

Deal | Lenovo ThinkPad T480s with Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Thunderbolt 3, and 256 GB SSD is only $670 right now

The ThinkPad T480s is the lighter and slimmer version of the standard ThinkPad T480 to strike a better balance between a traditional lightweight Ultrabook and a full-on business laptop. The Core i5-8250U may not be the newest, but...

Allen Ngo, 02 Feb 2020 19:55

No one seems to really care about Intel Project Athena

Project Athena was supposed to usher in the next generation of Intel-powered Ultrabooks with Thunderbolt 3, super-long runtimes, and thinner designs. But in reality, Athena is barely on anyone's radar as even OEMs seem to be avoid...

Allen Ngo, 01 Feb 2020 22:38

The HyperJuice GaN charger. (Source: HYPER)

The HyperJuice is the "world's first" 100W USB type C charger with GaN

HYPER has put its new charger up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. Despite packing a maximum rate of 100 watts (W), it is described as even smaller than the MacBook Pro brick with the same kind of port. This is due to its gallium nit...

Deirdre O Donnell, 01 Feb 2020 18:43

The Apple MacBook Pro 15 2019 is not outdated yet

Many retailers still sell the 2019 MacBook Pro 15, even after the launch of the new MacBook Pro 16. You can often get big discounts, so is the MBP 15 still a good choice, and which components should you take?

Andreas Osthoff, 01 Feb 2020 12:21

Intel’s i5-10500H looks to be a preemptive strike on Renoir (Image source: Intel)

World’s first 6-core 8-thread CPU? Intel scrambles hexacore i5-10500H to tackle Renoir

According to a 3DMark page leaked by tipster @TUM_APISAK, Intel may be prepping a 6-core, 8-thread i5-10500H to take on AMD’s Renoir Ryzen 4000 competition in the notebook space.

Arjun Krishna Lal, 31 Jan 2020 21:07

Do not bet big on Comet Lake-H being 10 nm. (Image source: Intel)

Opinion | Comet Lake-H will be another 14 nm refresh, not a move to 10 nm, and here's why

Talk about Intel Comet Lake-H, and confirmation of certain SKUs arriving by the end of March, has prompted speculation about what dies Intel will use for the successors to the Coffee Lake-H Refresh architecture. While some have sp...

Alex Alderson, 31 Jan 2020 20:58

The tech market is found to have some of the most valuable brands on Earth in 2020

The UK company Brand Finance releases a yearly report on the top 500 most valuable brands. Its 2020 edition concludes that the tech sector is the most valuable, with a combined worth of nearly US$967 billion. 5 of its brands, incl...

Deirdre O Donnell, 31 Jan 2020 20:01

Intel brought 14 nm die to its H-series five years ago. (Image source: MyDrivers)

Rumour | Evidence of at least six Comet Lake-H processors appear online with Intel throwing its naming scheme out the window

Following on from the Core i5-10300H earlier this week, two other Comet Lake-H processors have now been confirmed as arriving in March. However, at least three other new H-series chips have arrived online, too. One confirmed arriv...

Alex Alderson, 31 Jan 2020 19:54

Could have gotten more for the same price: The Asus VivoBook 17 M712DA

Asus VivoBook 17 M712DA: A better screen and a bigger battery would come in quite handy

With the low-priced VivoBook 17 M712DA, Asus could have improved a few things without increasing the price in the process. In that case, the fact that the Ryzen 5 cannot reach its full potential would beside the point.

Mike Wobker, 31 Jan 2020 19:39

With AMD Ryzen 7 4700U coming soon, Ryzen 7 3700U laptops just got a lot cheaper (Image source: Newegg)

With AMD Ryzen 7 4700U/4800U right around the corner, now is the best time to buy a Ryzen 7 3700U laptop

Laptops powered by the Zen+ Ryzen 7 3700U are starting to get a lot cheaper to make room for the next generation. These AMD laptops are able to offer comparable CPU performance to the Core i7-8550U or Core i7-8565U commonly found ...

Allen Ngo, 31 Jan 2020 08:13

Marathon-Kämpfer: Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML

Lenovo IdeaPad S540-15IML: It runs and runs and runs...

While many laptops run out of steam quite quickly, the IdeaPad S540-15IML proves to be extremely enduring. Here you'll find a short and clear overview of what the 15-incher has otherwise to offer.

Florian Glaser, 31 Jan 2020 01:26

Intel Core i7-10810U: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 listing reveals new Comet Lake hexa-core CPU with vPro

Intel is getting ready to release another package of Comet Lake U processors for laptops. More specifically: For business laptops, as these new processors feature the manageability feature vPro. The most powerful of Comet Lake chi...

Benjamin Herzig, 31 Jan 2020 00:21

This is the first 2020 SEGA physical game to launch in 100% recyclable packaging. (Source: SEGA Europe)

SEGA Europe announces a switch to 100% recyclable packaging for its physical games

SEGA Europe has pledged to use nothing but recyclables in the original packaging for its hard-copy products in the future. This will take effect with the release of its new PC title, Total War: ROME II. The material in question wi...

Deirdre O Donnell, 30 Jan 2020 22:31

Intel showcased a Comet Lake-U and Xe DG1-powered laptop at CES 2020. (Image source: Intel)

Rumour | Evidence of an Intel Core i7-10710U and Xe DG1 GPU-powered laptop appears on Geekbench

While CES 2020 showed us the in-game potential of a Tiger Lake and Xe DG1-powered laptop, another X1 DG1 product seemingly went under the radar. Now, that possible product has been spotted on Geekbench, hinting at a twin-track app...

Alex Alderson, 30 Jan 2020 21:29

Would you rather have a 28 W Ice Lake or a Tiger Lake-powered Surface Book 3? (Image source: Microsoft)

Rumour | Indications of a Microsoft Surface Book 3 with a Tiger Lake or 28 W Core i7-1068G7 processor and an NVIDIA GPU appear on Geekbench

The Surface Book 3 may have appeared on 3DMark yesterday sporting an Intel Core i7-1065G7 and NVIDIA Max-Q GPUs, but the same leaker has uncovered what could be more powerful models. These SKUs retain the same Max-Q GPU, but esche...

Alex Alderson, 30 Jan 2020 21:02

4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Book S launching on Valentine's Day for $999

The 13.3-inch WoA laptop comes with a special 7 nm Snapdragon SoC for a thickness and weight of just 11.8 mm and 0.96 kg, respectively. LTE Cat.18 Nano SIM, touchscreen, Windows Hello, and a keyboard backlight all come standard.

Allen Ngo, 30 Jan 2020 20:10

The new XPS 13, thinner but not lighter, than before. (Image source: Dell)

Updated | Official XPS 13 9300 specifications are at odds with Dell's claim of it being thinner and lighter than its predecessor

Is the XPS 13 9300 thinner and lighter than the XPS 13 7390? Well, Dell seems to think so at least, even though its product listings state otherwise. Confused? So are we. Update: Dell has clarified that it has changed how it me...

Alex Alderson, 30 Jan 2020 19:15

There may be new Tremont-based chipsets on the way. (Source: Intel)

GitHub hints at new Intel Tremont-based micro-server and mobile chipsets

What is Jasper Lake? This has been a valid question since a leak referenced it alongside Rocket Lake in July 2019. Now, new evidence suggests that it is a mobile SoC based on the new Tremont microarchitecture. The same also nods t...

Deirdre O Donnell, 30 Jan 2020 18:33

Chuwi HeroBook Pro: New version of the MacBook clone available for US$259

Chuwi has released a new version of the HeroBook Pro, its affordable imitation of the Apple MacBook. The new model is clearly more powerful than its predecessor with its improved processor and more RAM, but without any uplift in p...

Alex Alderson, 30 Jan 2020 16:22

The iPhone SE 2 will look dated, but will have fresh silicon inside. (Source: @OnLeaks & @iGeeksblog)

Ming-Chi Kuo: Expect an avalanche of new Apple gear in 1H20

Well-connected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued his latest research note on Apple’s 2020 product pipeline for TF International Securities and Apple fans are in for a treat if Kuo’s predictions materialize. Among new products ...

Sanjiv Sathiah, 30 Jan 2020 05:24

The Quick-E is a disposable 2000 mAh battery bank for just $2.49 (Source: Image source: Quick-E)

Traveling and forgot your charger? The Quick-E is a disposable 2000 mAh battery bank for just $2.49

If you're running out of juice and don't have a charger nearby, welcome to the club. The Quick-E charger is a small and environmentally friendly one-time use battery bank with a pre-paid postage stamp for buyers to return once the...

Allen Ngo, 30 Jan 2020 01:33

Microsoft last refreshed the Surface Book in 2017. (Image source: Microsoft)

Rumour | Microsoft Surface Book 3 appears on 3DMark powered by an Intel Core i7-1065G7 and NVIDIA Max-Q GPUs

Microsoft might be releasing the Surface Duo and Surface Neo later this year, but a Surface Book 3 could be in development too. Two devices that would fit the description have now appeared on 3DMark, which suggest that the Surface...

Alex Alderson, 29 Jan 2020 20:29

AMD announces record-breaking revenues for 4Q 2019, RDNA GPU refresh confirmed for 2020

2019 brought the highest revenues in six years for AMD and the red team expects increased 7 nm CPU adoption for 2020 together with increased demand for custom embedded solutions via the release of the next gen consoles. CEO Lisa S...

Bogdan Solca, 29 Jan 2020 16:24

Intel rumored to launch Comet Lake-H and Comet Lake-S as early as March this year. (Image Source: Livemint)

Rumor | Fear of AMD Renoir Ryzen 4000 could prompt Intel to launch Comet Lake-H and Comet Lake-S earlier than anticipated

Intel could be accelerating the launch of Comet Lake-H and Comet Lake-S CPUs to March this year to counter AMD's launch of Renoir Ryzen 4000 APUs around the same time. As per reports, a reduced pricing is also on the cards. The qu...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 29 Jan 2020 15:47

Razer Blade Stealth Ice Lake just dropped like a rock in price despite being only three months old

What was once $1500 in October 2019 is now just $1000 as of January 2020. Razer's silent price drop could be hinting at a replacement model coming soon. While the Blade Stealth Ice Lake comes equipped with Intel's newest 10 nm Cor...

Allen Ngo, 29 Jan 2020 06:23

MSI Modern 14 foregoes features in favor of GeForce MX250 graphics, a well-calibrated display, and a low price (Image source: Xotic PC)

MSI Modern 14 vs. Prestige 14: What's the difference?

The Modern 14 may be a lot cheaper, but it actually has a few advantages over the more expensive Prestige 14 including additional ports and expandable RAM.

Allen Ngo, 29 Jan 2020 05:55

Lakefield features hybrid CPU architecture. (Image source: Intel)

Intel Core i5-L16G7 turns up on UserBenchmark: Efficient 5-core Lakefield processor for ultraportable devices

A Lakefield chip from Intel has been discovered in UserBenchmark’s database. The processor is named as the Intel Core i5-L16G7. The benchmark entry reveals that the chip has 5 cores and 5 threads, and it offers a base clock of 1.4...

Daniel R Deakin, 29 Jan 2020 04:29

Buy a Gigabyte Aero RTX laptop and get 3 months of Adobe Creative Cloud free (Source: Gigabyte)

Buy a Gigabyte Aero GeForce RTX laptop and get 3 months of Adobe Creative Cloud free

Get Adobe Photoshop, Color, Exchange, Lightroom, Illustrator, Camera, Premiere Pro, and more at no additional charge if you purchase a Gigabyte Aero RTX laptop between now and May 2020.

Allen Ngo, 29 Jan 2020 00:15

With the help of other major foundries, Intel may finally stabilize its chip production issues by early 2021. (Image Source: VR Zone)

Intel CPU shortages still real, select low-power chips could be offloaded to GlobalFoundries

Rumor has it that GlobalFoundries could offload some of the low-power Intel CPUs, including Celeron Pentium and possibly Core i3 models in order to help with the ever-increasing demand for mid-range and high-end Intel CPUs. Furthe...

Bogdan Solca, 28 Jan 2020 15:33

NVIDIA is bringing its SUPER series to laptops in March. (Image source: NVIDIA)

Initial benchmarks reveal what the NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER will bring to laptops later this year

The RTX 20 SUPER refresh for laptops is right around the corner, and initial benchmarks show what the RTX 2070 SUPER could offer. The card, which will NVIDIA's third most-powerful laptop GPU of 2020, offers up to 10% better perfor...

Alex Alderson, 28 Jan 2020 15:14

The Core i5-10300H, have we not been here before Intel? (Image source: Intel)

Opinion | The Core i5-10300H shows that Intel keeps flogging the dead horse that is its 14 nm process

2020 marks the sixth year of Intel's 14 nm process, and the fifth for its 14 nm H-series chips. The Core i5-10300H will be one of Intel's Comet Lake-H chips, and a new independent benchmark result for the quad-core chip underlines...

Alex Alderson, 28 Jan 2020 12:04

Microsoft Modern Standby is causing some laptops to heat up like crazy

Fail | Microsoft Modern Standby is causing some XPS, Lenovo and Asus laptops to heat up like crazy

It's not comforting when the laptop in your backpack or bag would heat up to over 50 C or 120 F seemingly out of nowhere. Microsoft's latest feature can be undesirable in most cases especially to users who are unaware of the diffe...

Allen Ngo, 28 Jan 2020 05:13

Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is the cheapest Ice Lake Core i7-1065G7 laptop you can buy right now at just $450 (Image source: Lenovo)

Deal | Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is the cheapest Ice Lake Core i7-1065G7 laptop you can buy right now at just $450

In a price category inundated with slow Atoms, Core i3, and Ryzen 3 laptops, the IdeaPad S340 stands out from the crowd with its 10 nm Core i7-1065G7 that's barely half a year old. Intel's latest 10 nm Core i7 CPU can now be found...

Allen Ngo, 27 Jan 2020 22:32

The GTX 1650 SUPER and GTX 1650 Ti will be joined by SUPER versions of the RTX 20 series, too. (Image source: NVIDIA)

NVIDIA takes Turing for a spin again with laptop versions of the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER and GeForce GTX 1650 Ti

NVIDIA is fleshing out its mid-range laptop GPU offerings this quarter, with the GeForce GTX 1650 and GTX 1650 Ti set to take on the AMD Radeon RX 5500M and RX 5300M. The GTX 1650 refreshes will both sport 4 GB of GDDR6 VRAM runni...

Alex Alderson, 27 Jan 2020 20:14

Lenovo Chromebook S340-14T Review: The simple Chromebook offers a touchscreen with low reflections

Affordable Chromebook without any real quirks: Review of the Lenovo Chromebook S340-14T

Lenovo's 14-inch Chromebook has an IPS touchscreen display, silent operation and a good battery life. Some sacrifices will have to be made in terms of RAM and storage size.

Sascha Mölck, 27 Jan 2020 15:19

The HyperDisk can fit on a credit card. (Source: ChargeLabs)

Meet the HyperDisk: the "smallest and fastest portable SSD" on Indiegogo

ChargeLabs has designed the HyperDisk to be a tiny external drive housing super-fast memory. This OEM claims that it has read-speeds of up to 960 megabytes per second (MB/s) and write-speeds of 920MB/s. It comes in 512GB, 1TB and ...

Deirdre O Donnell, 26 Jan 2020 17:35

AMD's Ryzen 4000 Renoir APUs seem to be finally competitive against Intel's offerings.

AMD Ryzen 7 4700U Geekbench score indicates a tough competition for the Intel Core i7-1065G7 and Core i7-10710U

An AMD Ryzen 7 4700U running on a Lenovo laptop has recently surfaced on Geekbench. The APU seems to have posted impressive single-core and multi-core scores finally giving the Intel Core i7-1065G7 and Core i7-10710U some good com...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 26 Jan 2020 11:56

Lenovo statement: Thunderbolt firmware responsible for ThinkPad USB C failures

We have asked Lenovo some questions about the Thunderbolt controller failures in recent ThinkPads. Their answers confirm the suspicion that a problematic firmware version is the reason for the problems.

Benjamin Herzig, 25 Jan 2020 20:08

Both AMD and Intel are offering strong mobile processors for laptop OEMs. (Image source: HardZone)

Intel Tiger Lake U chip shows AMD's Ryzen 7 3780U APU the door in Time Spy test but still has to face Renoir

A processor from Intel’s Tiger Lake family has been spotted achieving a credible score on 3DMark’s Time Spy test. The Tiger Lake-U chip racked up scores of 1,300 in the GPU test and 4,400 in the CPU test. A low-power APU from AMD'...

Daniel R Deakin, 25 Jan 2020 10:06

PCs are still the favorite. (Image source: Asia Pacific University)

Game developers are more interested in working with the PlayStation 5 than the Nintendo Switch or Xbox Series X but the PC rules the roost

An interesting survey released by the Game Developer Conference has shown which platforms are the most interesting to developers at the moment. In the console wars, the PlayStation 5 just pips the Nintendo Switch for being the dev...

Daniel R Deakin, 25 Jan 2020 08:50

The Galaxy Book S offers 25 hours of video playback and weighs under 1 kg. (Source: Samsung)

Samsung's Snapdragon 8cx-powered Galaxy Book S is finally shipping

Samsung’s long-awaited Galaxy Book S finally has a shipping date, at least in one country. First unveiled back in August alongside the Galaxy Note 10, the Galaxy Books S will officially hit the market on January 31.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 25 Jan 2020 00:38

Walmart Motile 14 with Ryzen 3, 128 GB SSD, and 4 GB RAM is only $210 right now (Source: Walmart)

Deal | Walmart's most affordable Motile Ryzen laptop is now even cheaper at just $210

The in-house Walmart laptop comes with a Ryzen 3 CPU and just 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The best part, however, is that both RAM and SSD are easily upgradeable if needed.

Allen Ngo, 24 Jan 2020 07:22