Laptop

Microsoft has created a new ARM processor in collaboration with Qualcomm called the SQ1. The SQ1 is a redesigned Snapdragon 8cx with built-in LTE, 3 GHz max clock, a more powerful Adreno 685 GPU with 2.1 TFLOPS of performance, and 9 TFLOPS of AI performance. The features of the SQ1 processor will be exclusive to the Surface Pro X.

The first generations of the Surface Laptops were good laptops, but they had some drawbacks. One of them was that it was nearly impossible to repair these devices, as Microsoft used to glue the chassis shut. With the new Surface Laptop 3, Microsoft will now improve the repairability of its laptops to make them more attractive for enterprise customers.

Be prepared to carry around a bunch of adapters if you plan on buying the latest Surface Laptop. The newest models haven't improved upon one of the weakest aspects of the Surface Laptop 2 series to make alternatives like the Dell XPS series, HP Spectre series, or Asus ZenBook series appear more versatile.

AMD and Microsoft have collaborated to create the AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processor — a Zen+ APU custom-built for the new 15-inch Surface Laptop 3. The Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition constitutes two SKUs — Ryzen 5 3580U and Ryzen 7 3780U with Vega 9 and Vega 11 graphics respectively. The integrated Vega GPU also comes with an extra CU for enhanced compute performance.

The 15-inch variant of the IdeaPad S540 from Lenovo is new in our test. The all-rounder and entry-level gaming notebook arrives in a high-quality aluminum case and is able to convince in many areas, such as the display. Unfortunately, it also suffers from a significant weakness, which could have been avoided.

Along with its (impressively varied) new PCs, Microsoft also introduced its first-ever true wireless earbuds today (October 2, 2019). These Surface Earbuds are capable of noise-canceling and voice-activation features. However, they are also designed to carry out tasks such as slide-switching and translation during PowerPoint presentations.

The Surface Laptop 3 is here, and it is arriving in two variants. As per previous leaks, Microsoft has announced 13.5-inch and 15-inch variants of its next laptop. The 13.5-inch version comes with an Intel Ice Lake quad-core processor, while Microsoft has partnered with AMD to create a custom Ryzen chip for the 15-inch version. Both models come with USB Type-C, fast charging and better serviceability than the Surface Laptop 2 too. The Surface Laptop 3 will start at US$999 and will be available to order from October 22.

Preliminary reports position the upcoming Navi-14-based Radeon RX 5500 GPu as a direct competitor for Nvidia's GTX 1660 solutions. Even though the memory bus is not as wide compared to the Nvidia GPUs, the RX 5500 compensates with up to 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM plus higher core and memory clocks.

TSMC strikes back with a "retaliatory litigation", claiming that GlobalFoundries infringed on 25 of its patents that include FinFET designs for the 40 through 12 nm nodes. Unlike GlobalFoundries who sued TSMC's fab-less companies like Apple and Nvidia, TSMC is looking to halt all GlobalFoundries production and sale processes for the infringed nodes.

Prolific leaker Evan Blass has given us a look at the upcoming 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the Surface Laptop 3 a day early, with Microsoft expected to announce the series tomorrow at its next Surface hardware event. The photos, which look like marketing images, show the Surface Laptop 3 in four colours including Blue and Rose Gold, but fans of the current Red variant may be left disappointed.
Update: Roland Quandt confirms the full port selection of the 13-inch Surface Laptop 3.

While we aren't expecting to see any laptops with both the Core i7-8565U CPU and GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU, we could argue that the Core i7-8565U or any other ULV Core i7 CPU would pair very well with an entry-level Max-Q GPU like the GTX 1650 Max-Q. OEMs like Asus and Razer have already been investing in such Ultrabook-Gaming hybrid laptops.

DNS over HTTPS is a new way of connecting to websites proposed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in 2018. Google is reportedly working on implementing it in an upcoming version of its Chrome browser. However, an anti-trust task force associated with the US Congress has taken issue with this new measure.

A new registration of Microsoft's with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hints at a new accessory that could be launched tomorrow in conjunction with the Surface 7 line. It is a wireless charger with a 300 milliwatt capacity. This is also more evidence that the next Surface Pen may go with the same device.

If you're looking for a cheap gaming laptop from Lenovo and don't have excessively high requirements, you can have fun with games in Full HD for less than 800 Euros (~$872). However, minor weaknesses must also be accepted with the price.

Dell recently released a new BIOS revision for the XPS 15 9570, so we thought we would test it. Despite reports to the contrary, the update does not break USB Type-C charging, nor does it have any negative effects on performance either. Read on to find out our experiences with BIOS 1.13.0 for the XPS 15 9570.

The new convertible has a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio and a 13 percent smaller footprint than the 2018 model. It's also slightly thicker with a larger cooling solution in order to accommodate the more graphically capable Core i7-1065G7 CPU.

The slowest laptop with the Core i9-9980HK is the Dell XPS 15 7590 which the Core i9-9880H can outperform by as much 25 percent. If you're out looking for the "ultimate" Core i9 performance on mobile, the i9-9980HK offers only a marginal boost over the fastest i9-9880H laptop in the best of scenarios.

Chuwi's least expensive 4K laptop gets even cheaper with a sizable price cut and a free carrying bag for the first 200 orders.

Visionox is a company involved in the manufacture of flexible display panels. Its latest trick has been the Mi Mix Alpha, Xiaomi's new limited-edition wraparound-screen phone. It has recently opened a new assembly line on which similar screens measuring up to 18 inches can be produced.

The Compubench site has added a listing for a "genuine" Intel CPU that is integrated with a "Gen12 Mobile Graphics Controller". This, then, may be the integrated graphics solution that is said to launch alongside Tiger Lake chipsets. The benchmark indicates that it has 96 execution units (EUs) and goes at 1.1GHz.

The x86 architecture has been hitting something of a wall lately but AMD looks like it could be set to inject it with a fresh breath of life. According to the rumor mill, the company has finalized the Zen 3 design and it introduces a new SMT4 feature that will allow each core to execute four threads simultaneously.

It's becoming more difficult to justify carrying around a laptop with GeForce RTX 2080 graphics when you can simply harness that power from the cloud or an external GPU docking station. Alternatives like eGPUs and game streaming services will make conventional gaming laptops a hard sell in the near future.

Other differences include a pulse-width modulation of 1020 Hz an even warmer CPU temperature of 85 C on the slower Core i5 IPS configuration. DPC latency issues continue to be present on both the Core i5 and Core i9 SKUs.

The market for fingerprint readers (from capacitive to thermal, and consumer- to government-grade) is estimated to be worth about US$3.5 billion at present. This worth is thought to grow to as much as $7.1 billion by 2024, however. The scanner type we have become most familiar with is thought to represent the largest sector over these next 5 years.

After our extensive review of the Lenovo ThinkPad T490s with Intel CPU and the much cheaper Thinkpad T495s with AMD Ryzen CPU, we can pronounce an almost unrestricted recommendation for the AMD variant. Why this is and whether there may not be a catch here, read here.

Be one of the first to own an XPS laptop powered by Intel's Comet Lake-U CPU series. The XPS 13 7390 is expected to be the first consumer Ultrabook available with a hexa-core processor, but it'll likely cost you north of $1800 USD.

Recent Lenovo ThinkPad laptops have a throttling problem when users are running Linux-based operating systems on their devices. Lenovo has now admitted to the problem – and announced that it will be fixed. Newer ThinkPads like the X1 Carbon Gen 7 or ThinkPad T490 are affected.

Current PCBs are eating too much space and researchers think these can easily be replaced with a new silicon-interconnect fabric that would lead to more powerful devices in reduced form-factors. The use of such new fabrics would also cut production costs and improve heat dissipation. Smartphone SoCs and servers may also benefit from the more streamlined design introduced with the silicon-interconnect fabric.

The efforts to reduce the dependence on U.S. technology are constantly fueled with new developments endorsed by the Chinese government. After the Jhaoxin CPUs and the Jingjia Micro GPUs, China is now preparing to enter the memory market with the ChangXin DRAM modules that are expected to be available in 2020.

There have been rumors about Microsoft debuting Windows Core OS next week at its Surface hardware event on October 2, potentially on foldable devices codenamed Centaurus and Pegasus. Now, a Geekbench listing has appeared that shows Core OS running a mysterious Intel Lakefield processor. Have we just seen the first sight of Microsoft's return to mobile devices?

Remember AMD Dual Graphics, Acer FrostCore, or the Lenovo UltraBay? We look back at some of the failed features that major OEMs have tried pushing onto their gaming laptops.

Atlas is a code-name that has popped up in a few Chromebook-related leaks over the past few months. It is linked to development by Google and has been thrown around as a Pixelbook successor. Now, 9to5Google's sources claim that it is indeed part of this series, but not perhaps as some may have assumed.

As promised, we have tested the Modern Standby Performance Improvement Package application for the XPS 15 9750 to determine what it has changed on Dell's prosumer 15.6-inch laptop. The package rolls together several existing updates as we previously reported but makes one important change too. Dell seems to have fixed Modern Standby for the XPS 15 9750, albeit by removing one feature that some people may find useful.

(Update: All fixed!) Asus could definitely be a little more careful next time around. According to the ZenBook 15 UX534 product page, the "ZenBook 16" will have a MicroSD reader and a Thunderbolt 3 port that could potentially fool the average consumer.