Desktop

At CES 2020, Acer is introducing new PCs in the ConceptD lineup aimed at creative pros. The ConceptD 7 Ezel is a convertible with the Ezel hinge featuring a 10th gen Intel H-series processor, NVIDIA RTX GPU, and up to 32 GB of RAM. There is also a ConceptD 7 Ezel Pro with a choice of Intel Xeon and NVIDIA Quadro RTX GPUs. Alongside the new convertibles, Acer has also announced the ConceptD 700 desktop workstation with modern looks and specs to match that include the Intel Xeon E and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000.

At CES 2020, Acer introduced three new monitors to its Predator lineup. These include the 55-inch Predator CG552K 4K OLED display, the Predator X32 that is DisplayHDR 1400-certified, and the Predator X38 UWQHD+ panel with a 175 Hz overclocked refresh rate. All monitors feature a wide color gamut coverage and a deltaE<1 color accuracy, which should make them appealing to both gamers and creative pros.

Lenovo has new gaming peripherals to debut at CES 2020. The Legion K300 is an entry-level RGB keyboard, while the Legion M300 is an equally budget-friendly mouse. The M600, on the other hand, is a USB type C wireless mouse touted as having the same 1000 hertz (Hz) polling rate as its wired counterparts.

Samsung has revealed its latest gaming monitors and will have them on display at CES 2020 when it commences on January 7. The new Odyssey G9 and G7 range are the world’s first to feature a dramatic 1000R curve designed to fit within the full span of human vision.

Tipster @TUM_APISAK shared a leaked Userbenchmark GPU comparison between Renoir's iGPU and Vega 10. The benchmarks indicate that Renoir will feature substantially faster graphics performance than previous-gen APUs.

Lenovo's new ThinkCentre M90a AIO adds some security features to a sleek all-in-one form factor PC. The M90a uses Lenovo's Blur Screen Software and IR sensors to protect user privacy. The AIO can be configured with a 10th generation Intel Core U i7 with vPro and plenty of RAM and storage. The AIO also boasts quite a bit of I/O.

Lenovo showed off four new monitors at CES today. The star of the display show is the ThinkVision Creator Extreme, a professional-grade mini-LED monitor that boasts 1000 nits of brightness and is HDR1000 certified. The Creator Extreme's 4K panel covers 99% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Lenovo also announced three other consumer-grade monitors.

NEC's latest All-in-One, the Lavie Home AIO, is targeted directly at families. The AIO sports a Core i7 Comet Lake-U CPU and a 27-inch FHD display. The Home AIO pumps sound through screen-mounted speakers thanks to LG's Crystal Sound Display technology. Users can turn the PC on with their voice and call out to Alexa or Cortana to launch apps.

Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting recently offered up juicy predictions about Nvidia's upcoming Ampere lineup. According to a report by the consultancy, Ampere may deliver 50 percent more performance than Turing, while consuming 50 percent less power.

Zotac will show off the new VR GO 3.0 backpack PC at CES next week. The updated wearable gaming computer can now be configured with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU, which should greatly improve the VR experience.

Dell's new line-up of UltraSharp monitors are all USB type-C this year. They are headlinded by the 43-inch U4320Q, a 4K panel that can be split between up to 4 separate devices via the OEM's Picture-by-Picture (PBP) feature. There are also 27- and 25-inch models in this year's productivity-focused screen series.

Dell is promising further integration with its Mobile Connect application for those who have devices running on iOS. Currently, the iOS version of the service lags behind what is offered for Android users, but a free update scheduled for spring 2020 will give fans of Apple smartphones and the like an equal amount of functionality.

The Core i7 and GeForce Super mini PC offers 270 degrees of ventilation in a chassis size of just 5.85 L. The new white color is similar to the white color used for the Razer Studio laptops and MSI Prestige laptops.

The slightly more potent sibling of the record-breaking Threadripper 3970X has surfaced in the support list of CPU-Z. According to it, this unconfirmed processor sports 48 cores and 96 threads, as well as a TDP of 280 W. If the Threadripper 3990X arrives next month, it would not be surprising to see the 3980X arrive in a month or two.

Leaked slides detailing upcoming Intel 10th generation Comet Lake-S SKUs seem to indicate new changes to Intel's mainstream desktop lineup. These SKUs are led by the flagship Core i9-10900K, which is a 10C/20T part with a 20 MB cache and can boost up to 5.3 GHz thanks to Thermal Velocity Boost technology and a 125 W TDP. All SKUs feature support for hyperthreading, UHD 730 graphics, and new platform features of the Intel 400-series chipset.

Virtual, mixed and augmented reality are probably the most familiar forms of extended reality - or technologically-enhanced experientia - out there. The latest research suggests their combined market may be worth US$30 billion or more by the next decade on. Unsurprisingly, gaming is a prominent sector therein.

EVGA announced the SR-3 DARK LGA 3647 motherboard. Priced at $1800, it's one of only a handful of boards known to support the Intel Xeon W-3175X. The ultra-premium E-ATX board is currently available for preorder.

SSD and RAM maker ADATA is expanding their XPG lineup with the Photon monitor, Gaia desktop, and Xenia laptop. Detailed information about the new products will be announced at CES 2020.

In a website listing that's since been deleted, ASRock accidentally revealed specifications for the as-yet-unannounced RX 5600 XT. The GPU appears to be similar to the RX 5700, albeit with a cut-down memory configuration.

According to rumors out of Taiwan, Apple is eyeing the gaming PC market and plans to release a gaming-focused computer next year. The rumor claims the device will cost up to US $5000 but doesn't offer much information. The rumor doesn't even say whether the gaming computer will be a desktop or laptop.

Nvidia head Jensen Huang claimed that the GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q is faster than ninth-gen console GPUs at GTC China 2019. The claim raises questions about exactly how fast the PS5 and Xbox Series X really are.

AMD looks to have secretly given some their first gen Zen CPUs a 12nm Zen+ upgrade as was noticed by the recent availability of the new Ryzen 5 1600 AF. Initial tests seem to indicate that the Ryzen 5 1600 AF could outperform a stock Ryzen 5 2600 in Cinebench R20 although overclocking results weren't as impressive. The new CPU can be had for just US$85, which represents very good value for budget-conscious builders.

Stuck for what to do this Christmas? How about playing the classic Wake Island, but reimagined for Battlefield V? The map is twice the size of the one from the days of Battlefield 1942, and rounds of Chapter 5: War in the Pacific.

iFixit recently took on the new Mac Pro and rated it 9 out of 10 for repairability. A “Fixmas miracle,” the 2019 model is far easier to repair than older “trashcan” Macs. Together with the new public repair manuals, servicing is more user-friendly than ever.

Intel may find AMD's mobile offerings problematic in the coming year. Chinese forum users have stated that the Taiwanese chip manufacturer will soon debut the Ryzen 9 4900H and Ryzen 7 4800H, both of which are eight-core, 16-thread APUs. The rumors also claim the APUs will directly challenge the Intel Core i9-9880H.

The MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio is more than just a mouthful. The TU102-powered card comes factory overclocked, with three axial fans and takes up three PCIe slots. MSI may have a hard time selling it though, as its US$1,250 price tag may have people looking at cheaper RTX 2080 Ti alternatives.

Physicality Games is a new retailer setting itself up as a platform for games in physical form. Its creators assert that its listings will not be "limited", as with some sellers in this market. It also intends to sell merchandise, gaming accessories and collectibles.

OWC has unveiled its 64 or 128GB RAM stick kits for the new Mac Pro. They come in 768GB to 1.5TB SKUs, meaning a user can match Apple's factory maximum with this third-party memory. However, this option may also enable some savings.

The Radeon RX 5500 XT may have just arrived, but do not forget that AMD is unleashing another mid-range in a few months. Expected to rear its head at CES next month, little is currently known about the RX 5600 XT, but Gigabyte has already confirmed its existence.

JBL has launched the Reflect Eternal headphones via Indiegogo. The OEM claims that they are capable of self-charging, so that it may never run out of battery life or be dependent on a cable for play-time. This is conferred by Powerfoyle technology, which is found in the device's headband.

The latest firmware update for Nikon Z-series cameras allows them to use CFexpress, a new memory-card format associated with faster transfers compared to XQD. This new software also allows the Z 6 or Z 7 to record 4K UHD or full-HD video in RAW. However, this can only be done with Atomos recorders and may not be available for free.

Surnamed "Northern Wind," this year's last major update to War Thunder comes with a full aircraft tech tree and two premium tanks for Sweden alongside two new naval maps, a few solid graphics engine upgrades — including Ray Traced Global Illumination and HDR support, as well as over a dozen of new ships, aircraft, and vehicles for other nations.

The wPrime 1024M benchmark has a new world record holder. An AMD Ryzen 9 3900X owned by user jordan.hyde99 claimed the fastest time in the benchmark for a 12-core CPU this weekend, besting the Intel Core i9-7920X. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that the Ryzen 9 3900X was clocked 330 MHz lower than the 7920X.

LG has announced that the next generation of Signature OLED and NanoCell TVs have "exceeded" the requirements for the 8K Ultra HD designation. This new spec has been developed by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in order to define the next-gen resolution standard. Therefore, the Korean giant may be the first to use buzzwords such as "Real 8K" when marketing new products.

Opera released a variant of its browser optimized for gaming earlier this year. Now, it has announced that the same app, known as GX, is compatible with macOS as well as Windows. Therefore, those using such systems can now use features such as Twitch support and network limiters in their browser.

Visible light communication is a form of wireless technology that uses radiation in the visible to infra-red light spectrum to transmit data. It is seen as an increasingly robust and reliable way of doing so, and needs not much more than conventional, low-power LEDs to work. Its market is now thought to be capable of being worth US$101.3 billion by the end of 2024.

AMD recently released a new graphics card based on the Navi 14 architecture, the RX 5500 XT. The 5500 XT comes in 4 GB and 8 GB flavors and takes the fight to Nvidia's GTX 1650 Super. But with the RX 580 still selling for as low as $159, is AMD's new Navi card worth it?

Tronsmart has announced the Element T6 Max, a new speaker that, despite being wireless and intended as a portable accessory, has a striking 60 watts (W) of total sound output power. The OEM claims this is due at least in part to its new SoundPulse technology.

The latest version of macOS Catalina (10.15.2) brings a slew of minor updates and bug fixes. Interestingly, the update may have fixed the speaker snap, crackle, and pop issues reported by some Macbook and Macbook Pro users, though nothing official has been stated by Apple.

Apple's new Mac Pro is expensive, but most of the components seem worth the asking price (for the most part). But what about the wheels? At its asking price of $400, Apple is pushing the limits of supply and demand.

Several users have reported performance loss and/or loss of fan curve settings after installing the AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 drivers for AMD GPUs such as the Vega 64 and the RX 5700 XT. While the issue does not seem to be widespread at the moment, completely removing all traces of the previous driver using DDU and re-installing the new version looks to be a good workaround.

Get ready for what could be the most expensive cheesegrater in your life: the new Mac Pro is here. It is now available to pre-order from Apple.com and retailers such as B&H. This new PC has configurations that go from 4- to 6-figure USD prices.

The tech market analyst firm Daniel Research Group has reported that its latest study shows US PC shipments will exhibit an indifferent trend. On the other hand, newer form factors are thought to do better in this new forecast. This trend is thought to be related to the strength of the nation's economy over the next 4 years.

Autodesk's Maya is one of the best-known applications in 3D animation. Its latest driver includes features that can be used by NVIDIA RTX graphics cards. This also extends to the latest version of Arnold, Maya's renderer.

Intel believes that the next 10 years will not be plagued with shortages and delayed node releases as its latest road-map shows that die shrinks should occur every 2 years up until 2029. This means that the 7 nm node should be available by 2021, the 5 nm one by 2023, 3 nm for 2025, 2 nm for 2027 and 1.4 nm for 2029.

AZIO has a new RGB mechanical keyboard up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. This one has a less retro appearance, yet is still touted to be high-end in terms of its materials and build quality. It also has the OEM's new FOKAL spinning control, which can be used for a variety of sliding-value options and also acts as a 360-degree joystick.

Final Fantasy fans on PC and Xbox might still be able to get their hands on the much-anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake. Despite Square Enix earlier saying they "had no plans for other platforms," official box art indicates that Remake is slated to be a 1-year PS4 timed exclusive.

EKWB introduced the Quantum Vector, a new full-cover water block for the Asus ROG Strix 5700 series. With D-RGB lighting and enhanced thermal performance, the Quantum Vector is an excellent high-end cooling solution for Navi owners. But with a $154 sticker price, it may more sense to just buy a stock RTX 2070 Super.