Laptop

The TravelMate P6 scores points with a low weight, long battery life, and low operating noise. The equipment is also right: A Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM (dual-channel mode), NVMe SSD, and Thunderbolt 3. Positive: Acer grants the laptop a three-year warranty.

The new Alienware Area-51m R2 carries over much of what made the original Area-51m great while making some major improvements in key areas. Most eye-catching is the inclusion of a 360 Hz refresh rate Full HD display. This makes the Area-51m R2 the only laptop with this high of a refresh rate. Other highlights include options for Comet Lake CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs as well as a 12-phase power delivery system.

Dell has unveiled a refreshed version of its Alienware m17 R3 gaming laptop. It bumps up the refresh rate of its 17-inch FHD panel from 300Hz to 360Hz. There are also some improvements to the notebook's cooling system. However, Dell will reveal the laptop's price and availability later this month.

The new ZBook G7 workstations now include Intel's 10th gen Comet Lake-H and Xeon CPUs, which are 30 to 70% faster than the Coffee Lake models on the previous G6 models. The more affordable Power 15 laptops can be equipped with up to 64 GB of RAM, 2 TB of SSD storage and up to an Nvidia Quadro T2000 GPU, while the Fury series supports up to 128 GB of RAM, 10 TB SSD storage and up to an Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU.

The ZenBook Flip 13 is now configurable with the Intel Core i5-1035G1 and Core i7-1065G7 Ice Lake CPUs. It can be paired with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of solid-state storage. Prices start at US$899 for the base version. Both notebooks will be available for purchase in the United States on September 16.

All that performance in such a thin chassis comes at the cost of fan noise. MSI Cooler Boost mode is a fancy name for "Maximum Fan" mode for users who want to exploit the Core i9-10980HK and Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q GPU to their maximum potential.

mmWave is a sub-type of 5G associated with the potential for ultra-high speeds. However, it is also lumbered with a perception of being unreliable due to weak reception. Qualcomm, Ericsson and Casa Systems seek to change that with its latest claim of a data call using these bands conducted over a distance of nearly 4 kilometers (km).

Lenovo has announced the launch of the Legion Slim 7i laptop. The Legion Slim 7i offers configuration options up to the Core i9-10980HK and the RTX 2060 Max-Q and is touted to be the lightest 15.6-inch gaming laptop to offer this configuration. The Legion Slim 7i also features the recently introduced Coldfront 2.0 cooling solution and an optional Corsair RGB keyboard with 1.3 mm key travel.

There are two new convertibles from Lenovo for the high-end consumer market: The Lenovo Yoga 9i replaces the Yoga C940 line with a new 14 inch model and a new 15.6 inch model.

Replacing the Lenovo Yoga S940 as the clamshell consumer flagship, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i brings many new features. This includes Intel Tiger Lake, Thunderbolt 4, a bigger battery - and the same new design-cues as with the convertible Lenovo Yoga 9i.

For a full-size mobile workstation with all the bells and whistles, it's odd to see a Quadro Max-Q GPU instead of the full-power non-Max-Q variant.

The first details about the next Dell XPS 13 have leaked, but you may struggle to tell the device apart from the XPS 13 9300. Spotted in an Intel Tiger Lake promo video, the next XPS 13 will retain the design of Dell's current ultrabook while dialing up CPU and GPU performance.

The hardware in the Pavilion Gaming 15 brings all modern computer games smoothly onto the matte 15.6-inch screen. This is complemented by an NVMe SSD, 8 GB of RAM (dual-channel mode), and very good battery life.

With the Gram 17 17Z90N, LG delivers a feather-light 17-inch laptop that offers a display in the 16:10 format. The rest of the equipment is also right: Ice Lake processor, NVMe SSD, 16 GB of working memory (dual-channel mode), and Thunderbolt 3. All this is accompanied by outstanding battery life.

HyperAccessory is a start-up that purports to pack the advantages of on-the-go storage with top-end data transfers into a form-factor with the footprint of the average bank-card. This skyBOX also features Wi-Fi 6, alongside capacities of up to 4TB. It has already well exceeded its crowdfunding goal on its ongoing Indiegogo campaign.

D-Link has released its latest AX5400 mesh router on Amazon. This device is rated for up to 6 continuous 4K content streams. Its maker claims that its speeds and bandwidth is due to its "prosumer" build and 160MHz channel.

The release of the ThinkPad X1 Fold, Lenovo's first foldable laptop, draws closer. Now, the company claims that the X1 Fold will arrive this fall, although this could mean anywhere from September to December.

The number of "workplace-style" headsets shipped worldwide might exceed 65 million over the next 6 years, compared to a figure of 22.9 million from 2019. This may correspond to a market value of US$2.94 billion in 2026. This growth is associated with the shift in trends to virtual and online meeting types, as well as the rise of remote work in 2020.

Dell Technologies has posted its performance for its second fiscal quarter of 2021 (2FQ2021), which ended on July 31, 2020. The company has announced total revenues of US$22.7 billion for this period, with a net income of $1.1 billion. This success was attributed to demand for devices and services that drove working and learning from home.

Can an 8-core 25 W cTDP Ryzen 7 4800U outperform the popular 8-core 45 W Core i9-9880H? They're much closer than what you might think at least until you start stressing the Ryzen processor over very long periods.

GeForce NOW is NVIDIA's solution for online cloud gaming. It famously adds titles every Thursday, for the benefit of players who own them already but do not have a high-powered PC to hand. Today, this list includes Control, as well as games that have also become free on the Epic Games Store today.

As public school systems in the United States shift to online learning in response to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, many districts face a massive shortage of laptops for students. The shortage compounds existing problems facing American students in the midst of COVID-19.

The new Tuxedo Pulse 14 among the few Renoir-H ultrabooks available now for pre-order. It is very similar to the Pulse 15 version, except it weighs only 1 Kg and obviously gets a 14-inch screen, plus it comes with a smaller battery. Otherwise, users can still choose between the Ryzen 5 4600H and Ryzen 7 4800H APU options, and may add up to 64 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM along with up to 2 TB of SATA III or NVMe SSD storage.

The Taiwanese foundries are already building a new R&D center for 2 nm technologies and beyond in Hsinchu, which should be ready some time in 2021. The exact timeline for the 2 nm volume production is not yet known, but TSMC reports that it has been collaborating with some of its customers on the development of this advanced node. Market analysts claim that Apple will be first to launch 2 nm SoCs thanks to a five-year production deal with TSMC.

Intel has been emphasizing the need to move away from traditional benchmarks for quite some time now. A recent press briefing to APAC journalists saw Intel extolling its advantages in gaming and postulating it as a more realistic metric that users should lean on compared to traditional synthetic benchmarks, all while making a few chimerical comparisons. While not entirely false, such marketing can potentially backfire in the long run.

Last week's deal is now live again for the exact same Ryzen 7 4700U configuration. It's a decent buy so long as you are okay with being stuck on 8 GB of RAM for the life of the system.

In response to the often harsh realities of the peri-Covid-19 world from the enterprise perspective, Qualcomm implemented the Small Business Accelerator Program to help firms of that description during this time. It exists to donate specific kinds of support and device from the OEM's partners in this initiative. The first round of successful applicants has now been announced.

N5 is already showing better yields compared to N7 and N10 going by production times, and TSMC also plans to squeeze two more nodes in between N5 and N3. N5P is supposed to start volume production some time in 2021, while N4 should become operational in 2022. The surprising part is that N3 scheduled for 2H 2022 will not use GAAFET transistors. Instead, it will be based on some sort of improved FinFET tech.

XMG is now offering an i7-10875H CPU option for the NEO lineup of liquid-metal-cooled laptops. The 17-inch model is also getting a 62 Wh larger battery, although it still seems quite small compared to the 93 Wh battery on the 15-inch model. Additionally, XMG finally reveals the brand of the liquid metal thermal compound.

The 2020 Acer TravelMate P215 may be smaller and lighter than last year's model, but it doesn't run any faster despite its fancy new 10th gen Core i7 Comet Lake-U CPU. Intel's 10th gen Core family isn't looking so hot all things considered.

Nexoc's 15.6-incher brings all modern computer games smoothly onto the matte screen (Full HD, IPS). The device can be individually configured and offers space for up to three storage drives.

Another part of AMD's 2020-2022 roadmap has leaked, detailing several codenames and specifications. Navi2-based APUs will arrive in 2021, but it won't be until 2022 when we see laptop APUs with Navi graphics. Zen 3 will debut with Cezanne and Warhol too.

The latest Razer Blade 15 is now the cheapest it's been even though it will still cost you just a little bit more more than a typical gaming laptop with the same Core i7-10750H CPU and GeForce RTX 2060 GPU.

The slim Zenbook 13's wide range of features is convincing: There is an Ice Lake CPU, 16 GB of RAM (in dual-channel mode), an NVMe SSD, and Thunderbolt 3. Furthermore, the battery life is excellent thanks to the integrated 67-Wh battery.

The Surface Book series comprise innovative 2-in-1s that can run the buyer a pretty penny. Its support and user forums have exhibited a pattern of complaints that these devices develop cracks in their screens (often "overnight"). These defects reportedly appear as a result of doing no more than closing their lids in notebook mode.

A spec sheet from Lenovo confirms that the upcoming ThinkPad T15g Gen 1 can be equipped with either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q or an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q. The T15g Gen 1 can also be configured with a bevy of Intel Comet Lake CPUs. There are a few Xeon options as well.

NEC's latest 13.3-inch ultrabooks weigh only 814 g with an L battery or 868 g with an LL battery. Even so, the bigger batteries are still able to last up to 24 h (15 h for the smaller ones), and both can be charged up to 80% in one hour. The ultrabooks can be powered by either an i5-10210U or an i7-10510U CP coupled with up to 16 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and up to 512 GB NVMe SSD storage.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 1 with AMD Ryzen 4000 convinces us in the review nearly completely. There are barely any real problems. One of the very few categories where AMD was not better however: The battery life.