MacBook

The latest Notebook 7 slim laptops from Samsung should go head to head with Huawei's MateBook models as value-oriented alternatives for Apple's MacBook Pro and Microsoft's Surface. The Notebook 7 lineup features configurations with gen 8 Intel CPUs, up to 16 GB of RAM, up to GeForce MX250 and GTX 1650 GPUs and thin bezel 1080p displays.

Some people might look at the death of Moore's Law, Intel's 10nm troubles, and Nvidia's highly resistible 2019 mobile-RTX lineup and think that the notebook business is in trouble. I think it might be the best thing that's happened to the industry in years.

A Twitter user has shared a video and information about his MacBook Pro, which exploded during normal use. The video shows the laptop emitting copious amounts of smoke, with the battery having caught fire. The device has been brought to Apple, which needs five days to diagnose the problem.

The ZenScreen is a product that allows the user to take a monitor anywhere they might need to. This year, Asus has updated it with touch capability. This model is also just 9 millimeters deep, has micro-HDMI and Hybrid-Signal USB type C ports.

SanDisk’s long-awaited 1 TB microSD is finally available for purchase. The new card has the potential to expand the storage of Samsung’s recent flagship smartphones, for example, to a massive 1.5 TB of total storage. But it will cost you.

Apple has apparently delisted the LG UltraFine 5K Display from its online retail store. This could possibly mark the end of the product and might be a harbinger of Apple selling its own professional-grade monitor. Rumors are flying that Apple will soon release a 31.6-inch 6K display for use with the Mac Pro desktop.

Notebookcheck has partnered with Dutch premium smartphone case maker Mujjo to offer readers a sitewide discount. All you need to do is type in the custom code for a 15% discount to help treat your mother, or yourself, to a great new case or sleeve.

Did you buy a Mac, iOS device or the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit between 2003 and 2010? If you did, chances are that you received a wall plug too. Turns out that the three-prong adapters sold in certain countries during that period can break and cause an electric shock if touched.

Creative has finally joined the true wireless earphone market with the new Outlier Air buds. They boast IP5X ingress protection, 10 hours of playback on a single charge and graphene in their driver-diaphragms. These Bluetooth 5.0 buds retail for US$79.99 on the OEM's own website.

In an internal memo to Apple Store employees, Apple has instructed its repair technicians to begin repairing MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards on-site rather than shipping the devices to a repair facility. It appears that Apple is trying to mitigate the lengthy turnaround time for the repair, an aftershock of the keyboard's failure that has become a major sticking point for several customers.

Apple is throwing US $500 million behind its upcoming Arcade gaming subscription service, according to a report by Financial Times. The service could be a big payoff for Apple; devs that release games via Arcade will be bound to a period of exclusivity before they can release their game on other non-mobile platforms. That means Arcade may be the only place gamers can access certain Indie titles, some of which may provide unique and fun experiences.

Apple has convinced its main manufacturing partners, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Foxconn, to makes its parts and/or devices using green energy by 2020. This achievement is a big part of the OEM's current drive towards making its business as sustainable as possible.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG for short, is one of the Korean studio Bluehole's biggest success stories. However, some state regulators seem not to like it as much as its millions of players do. Nepal is the latest country to ban the game, citing detrimental effects on children and teenagers.

The new Disney+ streaming service will entail a mixture of old and new shows from all of the studios under its umbrella. This, therefore, includes Lucasfilm, 21st Century Fox, Pixar and Marvel. Therefore, Netflix may indeed forfeit several lucrative series-length titles as Disney parts company with it in 2019. This year should also see much more granular detail on what this new subscription has to offer.

iTunes, the unified account by which Apple apps and services are accessed on devices such as Macs, seems to have been around forever. However, it also appears that this is no longer the case. A 9to5Mac contributor has confirmed rumors that the new protocol Marzipan is being used to make new apps (e.g. Apple TV) that do not require this old system on macOS.

Razer issued fixes for all the models launched from 2016 onward, but owners of the Blade and Blade Pro models released prior to 2016 will have to wait for a few more weeks to get the fixes. The vulnerability is identical to the early 2018 CVE-2018-251 backdoor that affected Apple's MacBooks, which were sold with the Manufacturing Mode still enabled.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is known for his usually accurate predictions surrounding the notoriously secretive company’s plans. After initially hinting that an all-new MacBook Pro design with a 16-inch display could arrive this year, he has now pushed the estimated arrival of this device back to the first half of 2021.

Huawei is set to release its latest power bank for sale for the first time in China. This will take place in the coming week (on April 11, 2019). The OEM alleges that this power bank is compatible with devices that can charge at 40 watts. This includes the P30 line of smartphones, as well as some Matebooks.

Major Australian consumer electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi has extended its massive AU$320 discount on the 512GB variants of the iPhone Xs model until 1 June. The initial price cut was already unprecedented for current-generation flagship iPhone in Australia, but to see the deal extended till 1 June highlights just how much iPhone sales are stagnating.

Aukey, a common name in USB power and mobile-device accessories, has launched a new technology called Dynamic Detect. It allows a dual-port USB-Power Delivery (USB-PD) charger to recognize the number of devices connected to it and allocate its full wattage accordingly. This could allow an ultrabook to fast-charge at the full wattage it needs.

Beats has unveiled its new Powerbeats Pro on its website. These new earbuds are of the 'sports' variety, and thus have over-the-ear loops built into a completely wireless design. Like the new AirPods, they can activate Siri hands-free and have the new H1 chip for wearables.

Another scathing article has been penned by a well-respected member of the Apple community on Apple's malfunctioning keyboards. David Heinemeier Hansson, a software developer, claims that the failure rate of Apple's butterfly mechanism based keyboards is much higher than Apple is willing to admit or may even be aware.

The MacBook accessory company Hyper has posted a page on its website for something it calls the "mother of all USB hubs". It has a total of 18 USB ports, 4 SD card slots, a range of legacy monitor ports and, best of all, a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. If this method of expanding on limited ports in your ultrabook sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The FlexPai by the start-up Royole can be thought of as the first flexible phone. This achievement has been rewarded by a Design Award from Red Dot. The company has also won a second such prize for another of its products: a flexible, portable keyboard.

Despite Apple’s reputation for build quality and design it has been having a few quality issues of late, particularly with regard to its MacBook line. A search on Apple’s website has revealed all of the products in its lineup that are currently eligible for its “Exchange and Repair Extension” programs.

Apple, as many will be aware, rarely if ever offers discounts on its products. However, in further confirmation that iPhone sales have cooled, major Australian retailer JB Hi-Fi has slashed an incredible AU$320 (US$226) off the price of the iPhone Xs 512 GB and iPhone Xs Max 512 GB models.

Third time’s not the charm for Apple it seems when it comes to its troublesome butterfly mechanism-based MacBook keyboards. The company has admitted that users are still experiencing issues with the redesign that was meant to end the problems customers reported with the first two generations.

Huawei also introduced some new products to complement its latest flagships, the P30 and P30 Pro. They include the FreeLaces, a pair of 'neckbuds' with an innovative design. The OEM also now offers a power bank with its SuperCharge technology, which can charge at 40 watts: enough for laptops as well as smartphones.

UDOO recently ran a campaign on Kickstarter for the UDOO BOLT single-board computer, and the developers of the device managed to secure US$635,769 in crowd-sourced funding. It’s likely many investors were attracted by the claim that the BOLT is “almost twice as fast as the MacBook Pro 13”. The Ryzen-powered board should start shipping by the end of the month.

Apple's latest release event debuted Arcade, a new elaboration on the App Store's gaming experience. The company claims that over 100 new and original games have been developed for this new subscription-based service. It is also ad-free and allows offline play.

The Cupertino giant has unveiled the next generation of its TV arm. However, it is not a device; rather, it is a software- and content-based upgrade. The new Apple TV app allows users to cherry-pick channels or streaming providers at need. They could also add Apple TV Plus: the company's new panel of original shows available via subscription.

Apple used to be the tech company that led consumer technology design unchallenged. After a week of rehashed designs masquerading as, in at least one instance, “all new” product launches, the company feels like it is asleep at the wheel under CEO Tim Cook.

Arrested Huawei CFO and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng Wanzhou, has had further embarrassment heaped on her. As if getting arrested in Canada at the request of the US government on espionage charges isn’t enough, it has now been revealed that when arrested, Meng was in possession of several Apple products instead of Huawei equivalents.

Microsoft has become much more open under current CEO Satya Nadella with apps made for macOS, iOS, Android and Linux. The latest step in this initiative is the porting of a version of Microsoft Defender antivirus software for macOS, but in this instance, it is targeted at business users initially.

Apple's latest press release has unveiled the AirPods 2. These new earbuds integrate handsfree Siri activation, faster switching between different devices and wireless charging. However, their design is largely unchanged compared to their preceding generation.

A device codenamed AAPJ140K1,1 appeared on Geekbench last year running macOS Mojave and the hitherto unknown Intel Core i7-8510Y. Now, a recent product change notification document has seemingly confirmed the processor's existence along with the Core i5-8310Y.

Leica has launched the Q2, the second generation of its high-end full-frame sensor module. It is capable of 4K/UHD recording, 47.3-megapixel image capture, and expanded crop functions. The new Leica Q2 also has some degree of water-ingress protection for all-weather use.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised shareholders that it plans to bounce back from a weaker than expected holiday quarter by "rolling the dice" on new products that will "blow you away." Although not revealing what Apple has in stall, it has raised some intriguing speculation on what it might have in the pipeline.

Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the most accurate analyst going around when it comes to Apple’s product plans, has spilled the beans on its entire 2019 product pipeline. Kuo’s latest investor note for TF International Securities includes details about the next iPhone, Mac news, iPad news, AirPod news, a 6K 31.5-inch monitor and a ceramic Apple Watch.

Thanks to its arrival on the Mac App Store, Microsoft Office 365 can now be downloaded and installed by Mac users with a single click. This cloud-connected office suite includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive. Office 365 for macOS supports Dark Mode, Continuity Camera, OneDrive Files on Demand, and more.

Several users have complained of a 'stage light' anomaly in their MacBook Pro displays. iFixit wrote in a blog post that it has identified the cause of the issue and attributes it to the manner in which the display cables connect to the display controller beneath the Touch Bar. This design causes the cables to tear overtime giving the uneven backlighting effect when the display is opened beyond a certain angle. More worrisome, however, is the fact that getting it repaired can prove to be a costly affair.

At one point, Belkin was the go-to brand for third-party Apple accessories, not to mention USB power banks and cables. However, it had gone quiet for a good while following its amalgamation with Foxconn. This year, Belkin and its current international brands (Linksys, Wemo and Phyn) have made a comeback to CES this year to showcase their new products.

US President Donald Trump has been giving his opinion about Apple’s recent rollercoaster ride at the stock market. The POTUS stated that he had told Tim Cook, who is apparently one of Trump’s friends, that Apple should bring production of the iPhone and its other hardware to the US. The Chinese-US trade war is believed to have affected the Cupertino company’s revenue.

The 2018 MacBook Air may be a good option for those who want the Apple-ultrabook looks for a more moderated price. B&H Is currently holding a sales event for this device, which takes between US$100 and $150 off most of its SKUs. However, these offers are only valid until December 22.

Tencent Games has asserted that it has drawn level with Epic Games' Fortnite in terms of mobile user numbers for its own game, PUBG. This means that PUBG has made it to about 200 million users. It is estimated that both games also have the same approximate number of users who play at least once a day (30 million).

Chrome 73 is now rumored to add a feature that can organize tabs into certain sets to the browser. This may be most reminiscent of the similar function that Microsoft is reportedly set to bring to Windows File Explorer in the future. In addition, it is now alleged that Google will add a dark mode to Chrome 73 for Macs.