Thunderbolt

The newest generation of mobile workstations from Lenovo, the Lenovo ThinkPad P73 and ThinkPad P53, have leaked ahead of their official announcement. The smaller Lenovo ThinkPad P53 receives a lot of upgrades, including an OLED screen and a much faster Quadro GPU.

Nvidia Quadro launches are generally quieter and more discreet when compared to their GeForce counterparts. Expect the next generation of mobile Turing-based Quadro GPUs to appear first on the latest Dell Precision laptops this July to supplant the long-running Quadro Pascal GPUs.

The upcoming 17.3-inch system will be just 0.2 inches thicker and 0.8 pounds heavier than the new Aero 15 with a different set of display options. Most core configurable options will be the same between them.

Asus has revealed a new motherboard as part of its celebrations of enjoying 30 years in business. The Prime X299 Edition 30 supports the LGA 2066 socket that is compatible with Skylake-X, Kaby Lake-X, and Skylake-W processors from Intel. This means the special edition motherboard from Asus can operate with up to 18-core CPUs.

Marketing material and the features and technical specifications sheet for the Dell Precision 7740 workstation have apparently been leaked on the Chinese website Chiphell. The new information seems to match the details in documents that were also leaked earlier this month. The Precision 7740 will offer users a choice between AMD Radeon Pro WX GPUs and Nvidia’s seemingly brand-new mobile Quadro RTX GPUs.

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.

It looks like Intel’s 10nm fabrication woes might finally be over. Speaking at its 2019 Investor Meeting, Intel chief engineering officer and group president of Technology, Systems Architecture and Client Group, Dr Murthy Renduchintala, announced that Intel will begin shipping its “Ice Lake” processors in volume from June. He also announced the first details of Intel’s future 7nm designs.

The budget 16:9 MateBook D 14 is best for multimedia playback while the higher-end 3:2 MateBook 14 is best for office and editing work where higher graphics performance is desired. Perhaps surprisingly, CPU performance between the two laptops is nearly identical despite the generational gap.

Up-to-date rumors point to successors for the Huawei Mate 20 line this year. The latest leak on one variant of this series states that it will have the perfectly square rear camera pioneered last year in this series. It will also have a bigger screen, as well as a time-of-flight (TOF) module.

Asus is about to launch a handful of high-end gaming laptops retailing for $1500 up to even $2500. Unfortunately, the majority of these new releases will not integrate Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. Meanwhile, MSI and Razer have been including Thunderbolt 3 as a staple on the super-thin GS series and Blade series for years.

Update: The original deal is back. The barely six-month old HP Spectre x360 13 convertible is now $500 USD off. If you were considering a Pavilion or Envy before, then we recommend looking into this flagship Spectre instead as it offers a stronger and sleeker aluminum chassis design.

If you thought last year's Core X external graphics dock was missing some of that Razer flair, you'd be right. The new Core X Chroma embellishes the eGPU with configurable LED lights that should feel instantly familiar to owners of Razer keyboards, mice, and other accessories.

The VAIO A12 is the latest convertible laptop from the Japanese OEM. The A12 offers a bevy of ports and decent specifications, but the high price (€2300/£2000) may be prohibitive to many consumers. The VAIO A12 is available in Europe and the United Kingdom.

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.

Dell is having its semi-annual electronics sale at the moment, and there are massive savings on offer throughout the company’s extensive range of products. One of the most attractive deals is for a Dell XPS 15 laptop sporting an 8th-Gen Intel Core processor and a GPU from Nvidia’s Pascal-based GeForce 10 series, which can be purchased for US$1,410.99.

Even after brushing off the handful of crashes and stability issues, being able to play one of the most demanding PC titles available on an otherwise low-power Ultrabook is a real treat. The performance-per-dollar is still extremely unfavorable leaving this solution appropriate for enthusiasts only.

The USB Promoter Group has been collaborating with Intel in order to release the USB 4.0 standard based on the USB-C interface with Thunderbolt 3 support. The new USB ports will enable data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps and will provide support for multiple data and display protocols, as well as advanced power delivery features for fast charging devices.

The USB Implementers Forum has announced that the next generation of USB will be called USB 3.2. The new standard is capable of transferring data at 20Gbps, which puts it on a similar level to Intel’s Thunderbolt 2 technology first introduced in 2014 – the key difference is that USB is a much more generic technology and is much cheaper as a result.

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.

With dozens of configurations to choose from across the whole lineup, Zotac has provided a useful table comparing and contrasting some of the major features between all the latest SKUs. It makes for an excellent starting point for users considering a mini PC.

Dell is pulling a Clevo by offering a laptop with desktop CPU options and an upgradeable GPU. Instead of adopting the MXM GPU form factor like MSI and Clevo, however, Dell has created its own proprietary DGFF GPU form factor that promises better support and easier serviceability.

Lenovo aims to become more competitive in the mobile gaming market with the Legion Y740, the company's latest flagship gaming laptop. The Y740 comes in two sizes, a 15-inch and a 17-inch model. Both variants sport Intel's 8th generation H-series CPUs, up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, and up to a 512 GB PCIe SSD / 512 GB SATA SSD or 2 TB HDD combo. The 15-inch model will come with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q, while the 17-inch model gets the powerful GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q. The Legion Y740 is expected to be available next month for $1750 (15-inch) or $1980 (17-inch).

Asus has revealed the StudioBook S (W700) workstation that comes with either an Intel Xeon E-2176 or an Intel Core i7-8750H processor and an Nvidia Quadro P3200 graphics card. The powerful 2.39 kg/5.27 lb laptop, which is aimed at content creation professionals, also comes with a Pantone-validated 17-inch FHD NanoEdge display and up to 64 GB DDR4 2666 MHz RAM.

Clevo is showcasing a wide variety of gaming laptop models powered by Nvidia's freshly announced RTX 2000-series mobility GPUs. There are models that come with Intel's gen 9 and gen 8 desktop-grade CPUs and all the new mobility GPUs from Nvidia are featured, including the Max-Q variants that are integrated in world's first 16.1-inch slim gaming models.

Asus has issued a press release to reveal the new Mini PC ProArt PA90 compact workstation computer. The Taiwanese manufacturer has managed to pack some impressive hardware into the device, including up to an i9-9900K processor, 64 GB RAM, and up to an Nvidia Quadro P4000 GPU option. The Mini PC is aimed at professionals who deal with CAD elements in their workflow.

The Gram 17 notebook is probably one of the lightest notebooks in its class thanks to the lightweight aluminum chassis and the 15.6-inch frame, while the Gram 2-in-1 is LG's first take at a convertible notebook. Both models come equipped with Intel's 8th gen Core ULV CPUs, 8 / 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and 256 / 512 GB of SSD storage.

Intel is planning to release refreshed NUC kits in 2019. A couple of leaked slides reveal that there will be a premium lineup (Ghost Canyon X) with 45 W CPUs that can get up to 8 cores and 16 threads, plus three more affordable family (Frost Canyon X) with 25 W CPUs that can get up to 6 cores and 12 threads. These new kits will be available towards the end of 2019.

The 4.9 mm bezels are 60 percent thinner than the last generation with a "retina-shattering" 13.3-inch 4K UHD display. Razer is promising 100 percent sRGB coverage, Whiskey Lake-U CPUs, and optional full-power GeForce MX150 graphics for a starting price of $1400 USD.

The team over at iFixIt has published a complete teardown of the new MacBook Air Retina. While soldered storage and an integrated keyboard count heavily against the device, new pull tabs under the battery and a separate logic board for the dual Thunderbolt 3 ports make some components easy (well, easier) to repair. Overall, the MacBook Air Retina scored a 3 out of 10 for repairability.

As expected, Apple has unveiled a new Mac mini, MacBook Air and new iPad Pro models. However, one device that missed out on getting a chipset refresh was the 12-inch MacBook, leaving it essentially unchanged since June 2017 barring a new gold hue.

Apple unveiled the new Mac Mini, the first Mac Mini we've seen since 2014. The new desktop boasts some impressive specs, including 8th gen 4- and 6-score CPUs, up to 2 TB of NVMe storage, and up to 64 GB of DDR4 RAM. Thunderbolt 3 comes to the Mac Mini, as well as a few other conventional ports. However, the machine is rather expensive, starting at $799 and climbing all the way to $4,199.