Laptop

Microsoft's next probable major software release is 19H2, the April 2019 update. However, a build associated with a release in 2020 is the one that has most recently popped up for users in the Skip Ahead program. Despite this, the company insists 19H2 will be ready on time.

Acer has upgraded its Swift 3 offering to feature the new NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU. The rest of the specifications remain more or less the same. The MX250 is, for all intents and purposes, a re-badged version of the MX150 with slightly higher clocks and will be available in both 10 W and 25 W TDP variants. However, it is not known which TDP variant is being used in the new Swift 3.

A flash sale is now on for the Eve V, but only until 13:00 GMT tomorrow. The Eve V has been plagued with delays, but Eve Technology ensures that the Surface alternative is in stock and will ship in 2-4 working days.

It took TSMC a little over two weeks to fully assess the consequences of the Fab 14B incident. Apparently, the chemical contamination was triggered by an abnormal reaction in the photoresistant material that led to a polymer residue compromising up to 30,000 of 12 nm and 16 nm wafers. Total losses are estimated around US$550 million, but TSMC intends to ramp up production in Q2 to mitigate part of the losses.

Lioncast is a comparatively new manufacturer, but that has not stopped it from expanding its range of mice. The company has now released the LM60, a wired mouse with RGB lighting and a high-resolution optical sensor. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lioncast has designed the LM60 with gamers in mind.

Reuters has reported that the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is planning on investing 120 trillion won (~US$106.6 billion) on chip manufacturing plants. The company will also spend an additional 55 trillion won (US$49 billion) on two existing factories over the next 10 years. SK Hynix is the world’s third-largest semiconductor vendor by revenue.

Lenovo's ThinkPad division gets hit by another leak, as a reddit user has published data-sheets for most of the upcoming ThinkPad business laptops. Though there is no way to verify the specs at this point, the specs of the T490 do line up with the already announced special T490 Healthcare Edition.

Ever since the Chinese government started to investigate memory chip suppliers over suspicious price fixing schemes, DRAM module prices started to slowly decline, and it looks like prices could get reduced by 30% in Q2 2019. By the end of 2019 DDR4 DRAM modules may end up costing up to 50% less, and prices may flatten as the DDR5 standard becomes more popular.

The MSI GL73 with RTX 2060 graphics begins to shine when gaming at higher resolutions beyond 1080p and with DirectX 12 active. Otherwise, users can get the same performance or better out of an older GTX 1070 laptop for lower prices.

An Intel export compliance metrics document has listed the new 9th gen H-series processors for laptops. These CPUs include the Core i5-9300H all the way to the Core i9-9980HK. The 9th gen H-series CPUs are not official yet and Intel has not provided many details apart from the boost clocks, L3 cache, and CTP values aimed at authorities and regulators to determine the capabilities of each chip. The 9th gen H-series processors are expected to be officially announced in Q2 this year and will feature in many gaming notebooks.

Watch a quick 5-minute video following the production, assembly, and diagnostics of the Gigabyte laptop from start to finish.

After testing more than 20 laptops with Whiskey Lake-U processors, the raw gen-to-gen performance advantage looks to be one of the smallest in recent years. If you own a Kaby Lake-R laptop, it may be best to hold off on buying a replacement until Ice Lake comes out later this year.

Acer has released a report in which it puts its January 2019 revenues at about US$540 million. These figures have decreased by 23.7% compared to December 2018 and by 1.3% compared to January 2018. The company has cited the ongoing effects of the SoC shortage in explaining these changes.

NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, referenced both Unreal and Unity Engines in relation to ray-tracing during a company conference call about its fourth-quarter earnings conducted this week. That is odd, however, as only Unreal has ray-tracing support at present. Therefore, Huang may just have leaked Unity's imminent roll-out of similar capabilities.

Dell has responded to a suggestion on Twitter and has announced a new top-tier version of the Alienware m15. The Core i9-8950HK, RTX 2080 Max-Q and 144 Hz model costs US$3,279, but you must do some digging to find it on the Dell US website.

GV, GF, GL, GP, GE, GS, GT... what do they all mean? If you're in the market for an MSI laptop, here's a 101 on the entire G Series from budget all the way up to enthusiast.

One variant of the new Ryzen 3000 mobile CPU series, the 3550H, has been launched in the form of the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 and FX507 notebooks. They are 15- and 17-inch laptops, respectively, both of which feature 4GB of inbuilt RX 560X graphics memory. They also have 16:9 FHD displays with minimal bezels and options on Radeon FreeSync.

The existence of the TU116 GPU, which exists to deliver Turing-level performance without ray-tracing, has been established at this stage. Today (February 14, 2019), VideoCardz has posted what it describes as exclusive images of this chipset. It also has pictures of what may be the MSI Ventus XS 1660 Ti, a card purportedly based on the TU 116.

The bestselling Dell XPS laptop manages to be faster, tougher, brighter, and more feature-packed than the new competing Asus ZenBook 15 without running any louder or shorter. In return, the Asus laptop is much lighter and even a bit smaller, but its advantages don't go much deeper.

The Surface Pen is Microsoft's answer to the Apple Pencil. It has been described as an effective stylus, albeit one that could produce more accurate digital writing. A new patent may help improve on this with changes to both the Pen and the screen used.

Get the XPS 13 9370 with 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD, and a Core i7-8550U CPU for $1175 USD. Deals will last until early next week in an attempt to clear out older stock and make room for newer models.

Lenovo has announced the first T series ThinkPad of 2019. The Lenovo ThinkPad T490, the "bread-and-butter" model of the series, has been announced today as a special edition for the healthcare sector.

A press release from Dell published in early January stated that the Dell XPS 15, Alienware m15, and Dell G7 15 laptops would be offered with OLED panel options starting in March. Unfortunately for those waiting to snap up a Dell laptop with this type of display, company executive Frank Azor has now stated that April is the current target.

The GPU in the Razer laptop has a 22 percent faster base clock rate than the same GPU on the Gigabyte Aero 15 X9. The result? Consistently faster gaming performance on the Razer Blade 15 by 10 to 15 percent.

A new piece in Bloomberg has cited sources allegedly close enough to Activision Blizzard to allege that the gaming company will let "hundreds" of staff go. The firm is apparently taking this action to maximise profits and to "centralize functions". An announcement to this effect is expected on February 12, 2019.

Dell has had to recall certain versions of its portable charging device, the Hybrid Adapter + Power Bank, because of the risk of electric shock. Apparently, the casing of the black adapter part of the accessory can break, which in turn exposes metal components that could pose a hazard. Dell has already received 11 reports of this occurring.

The medals awarded at the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games being held in Tokyo, Japan will be made of recycled electronics, including old laptops and smartphones. The project to collect the required metal for gold, silver, and bronze medals commenced in 2017, and organizers have stated that they are well on course to hit the necessary targets.

AMD has released its final financial report for 2018. It shows that the company had made nearly US$6.5 billion for this year, which is a 23% increase compared to 2017. The company also claims to have posted a net income of $337 million, whereas it had made a net loss the previous year. Analysis has also shown that AMD has increased its share of server and PC markets.

Many Skype users may be reluctant to take a call due to how messy or inappropriate their surroundings may be. Now, however, the app's latest update adds a toggle that blurs everything but the caller out of a camera's shot. This new 'background blur' option is generated by AI, and should function on most PCs.

The year 2019 brings us a new generation of business laptops. One of the first specimens of this new wave has made it to our testing-labs: The Lenovo ThinkPad L390, an affordable ThinkPad laptop for companies and students.

The next Oculus VR headset to be released is rumored to be called the Rift S. The latest leaks on this device suggests that it will come with its own onboard tracking cameras, rather than rely on USB-connected sensors. It may also fix the original Rift's problems with the appearance of 'god rays' on the lenses, and adjust for room lighting with 50-to-60Hz modes.

The crowded traditional Ultrabook space just got a new contender from a gaming laptop manufacturer. MSI's uncommon combination of an ULV Intel CPU and a Max-Q GPU gives it some interesting advantages over the Dell, but it still falls a bit short on some key areas.

It is now clear that AMD will be first to launch 7 nm desktop CPUs, but Intel is not sitting on its hands. Even after all the problems it faced in 2018, Intel is now carefully planning for its upcoming 7 nm CPUs. According to sources from Oregon, the D1X fab will be the first one to manufacture 7 nm CPUs, and the facility is currently going through an expansion that will take at least 1.5 years, so the first 7 nm CPUs from intel could arrive in late 2020.