Ultrabook

The US and Chinese presidents have met at the latest G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. As a result, a ceasefire in the trade war between the two nations has been called. Accordingly, it has been agreed that Huawei can conduct certain amounts of business with US companies again.

Google has reached out to SwiftKey users, informing them that the app’s normal ability to predict text while typing based on Gmail data will be suspended soon. This measure is to come into effect starting from July 15, 2019. Then again, this may not be necessary should the SwiftKey developers comply with Google’s latest privacy policies.

June 27 Update: Added comment in response to Razer's communications with NBC. We recently noted in our 2019 Razer Blade Pro review that its AC adapter hit the hottest temperature we've yet to measure on a gaming notebook, 67C. Based on historical evidence from Razer's 2017-2018 chargers melting or catching fire and the fact that the 2019 Razer Blade Pro's adapter is even hotter, I believe it may be prudent for the Singapore-based company to consider a recall — at least perhaps for adapters from their 2017-2018 Blade and Blade Pro systems.

Starting July 1st, Dell will be rolling out deals for its Inspiron, XPS, Alienware, Vostro, Precision, and G Series of PCs to piggy back on the success of Amazon Prime Day. Many of the price cuts are for older models in order to make room for the new models revealed at Computex 2019.

Calculator for Windows 10 was placed on the open-source repository GitHub some months ago. Now, the developer Jérôme Laban has released iOS, Android and WebAssembly ports via the Uno platform. Therefore, nearly anyone with any device can enjoy the versatile Fluent Design app.

The Sharkoon Gaming DAC Pro S is a new product to which any headset with a 3.5mm jack can connect. It also has a USB type A interface to link the same to a PC. This may confer an improvement on the audio coming through the DAC.

Microsoft looks set to bring a WoA Surface to market powered by Qualcomm’s specialized Snapdraon 8cx SoC. The device is said be going by the codename Excalibur internally and could feature on a version of the Surface Pro 7.

Back in January, Lenovo announced their newest generation of high end ThinkPad X1 laptops for a summer release. As promised back then, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2019 and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2019 are now available.

CHUWI has announced that it will be adding the option to upgrade to 16GB of RAM as rewards to its Indiegogo campaign for the Minibook. These SKUs will have the same Intel m3-8100Y SoC as the UMPC's current higher-end version. The first 50 of these are to cost US$10 more than their 8GB counterparts.

We are reviewing the Lenovo ThinkPad T590 at the moment. Having just reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad T490, we used this opportunity to compare both in terms of design & size.

Microsoft is now selling a cheaper version of the Surface Book 2 15. The new model swaps the Core i7 CPU for a Core i5 and drops the dedicated GTX 1060 GPU. However, at $2000, the Core i5 Surface Book 2 15 is hardly a bargain considering the Core i7/GTX 1060 model is a mere $200 more.

There has been an update in regard to the release schedule for Dell’s new XPS 13 2-in-1 7390 convertible. It was originally expected to be made available on July 10, but it seems potential purchasers will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on the upgraded device. The XPS 13 7390 should be released in late July or early August.

Asus has introduced refreshes of the Vivobook 14 and Vivobook 15 in the Indian market. Both the Vivobooks feature Intel Whiskey Lake processors and offer NVIDIA GeForce MX230/MX250 GPU options as well. A backlit keyboard and a Windows Hello-compliant fingerprint reader are also in the offing for a reasonable entry price.

It appears GPD has gone into marketing overdrive in preparation for its crowdfunding campaign for the GPD P2 Max pocket-sized laptop. The Chinese manufacturer is now calling the P2 Max the “world’s smallest Ultrabook” and is comparing it favorably with some of the industry’s major players. The company has also announced there will be a third variant that will come with a 1 TB SSD.

Semiconductors are commonly used in energy transfer for electronics and other related fields. The current state of the art are applications of gallium nitride or silicon carbide rather than conventional markets. The potential improvements and advancements to be gained from this transition could drive their market's worth to as much as US$3 billion by 2025.

Huntkey is known as a maker of power bricks and other similar accessories. However, it also makes other devices, monitors included. Its latest model is the X2471C, which is a 1080p, 144-hertz (Hz) 23.6-inch 1800R-curved panel. This model has a white housing, 2 HDMI ports and 1 Display Port.

The Dell XPS 15 7590 laptop is getting closer to finally being in the eager hands of expectant buyers. According to a recent tweet from XPS chief Frank Azor, shipments of the device should begin in the first week of July, although no exact timeline has yet been proffered. The new laptops should have a starting price of US$999.99.

Huawei's losses could be your gain if you're in the market for a high-end Ultrabook at low-end prices. For only two weeks, both the Core i5 MateBook 13 and Core i7/MX150 MateBook X Pro will each be $200 off.

The connectivity-equipment maker Cable Matters has released a new docking station that can expand a MacBook Pro's output by up to 2x 4K at 60Hz via HDMI. This Dual-Input USB-C accessory can also support 80W Power Delivery (PD) charging and read microSD/UHS-II SD cards. It is available at US$189.99 per docking station.

Huawei has indefinitely postponed the launch of its latest MateBooks confirming the rumors Notebookcheck exclusively reported on during Computex. At the time, we learnt that Huawei had cancelled an order for 16-inch notebook panels and the revelation that it has officially cancelled its launch plans for the CES Asia 2019 in Shanghai this week looks to be the outcome.

Apple's 2019 MacBook Pros integrate Intel's latest 8-core/16-thread Core i9 CPUs, which add 2 more cores over the 2018 version. Those additional cores should mean higher temperatures and lower clockspeeds compared to the previous generation, yet a recent series of tests by well-known YouTube Channel Linus Tech Tips found some very surprising results.

According to HP, 45 percent of ransomware attacks affected healthcare organizations and 2018 was a record-breaking year for healthcare data breaches. The company will be offering a super-secure EliteBook 840 G6 designed specifically for healthcare institutions to alleviate some of these concerns.

The Asus price cut may be small, but it definitely puts the competing XPS 13 in an awkward position. Users who want the most bang for the buck without sacrificing weight or design can consider the ZenBook 13 UX333FA at its new price of $900.

Huawei’s current issues in regard to the US Department of Commerce adding the Chinese technology company to its entity list under the Export Administration Regulations have been well documented. However, while many reports have focused on Huawei’s smartphone and tablet business, there is a rumor that it could be the company’s laptop division that becomes the first victim of the current business restrictions.

One of the first ultrabooks to get the Project Athena certification from Acer would be an updated Swift 5, even though Intel did not mention anything about this model at Computex. According to Notebook Italia, the updated Swift 5 will feature a 14.1-inch display with narrow bezels, a 2.2 lbs chassis, an Intel Ice Lake-U 15 W CPU, up to 16 GB RAM, NVMe SSD storage and a GeForce MX250 dGPU option.

Broadcasts over 4G/LTE are common these days. The technology behind them is used for TV feeds, on-demand video, notifications and data-feeds. Their market will soon also be augmented by 5G analogs, which could push its value to about US$800 million over the next 5 years.

The latest Insider's Preview version of Windows 10 (Build 18912) has updated from 19H1 to 20H1. This preliminary OS fixes some bugs found in its predecessor, but may also be associated with some new ones. It also adds a new ability for Windows Narrator: the ability to read and relay the URLs behind click me-type links.

With the introduction of the Snapdragon 7cx, Qualcomm intends to offer a solid alternative for Intel's Core i3 Whiskey Lake CPUs, targeting budget laptops in the US$300-800 range. The new SoC would also offer doubled power efficiency thanks to its 7 nm fabrication process, which would translate into up to 15-20 hours of battery life.

As 2019 sees the more widespread adoption of OLED panels in notebooks and other portable technology, reports from Digitimes suggests that some LED-panel manufacturers in China may be in trouble.

Dell and Alienware VP Frank Azor has confirmed in a tweet that the recently announced XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 will indeed have all its components — particularly its SSD — soldered on, citing the "extremely tight form factor" and comparing the device to a modern smartphone.

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.

Dell’s new 2-in-1 convertible, the XPS 13 7390, could already be delayed. An expected launch date of July 10 was previously stated, but it now seems it could be almost another month before the convertible hits Dell’s online store. The XPS 13 7390 should offer a considerable step up in terms of features over its predecessor.

It’s possible to save almost US$900 on a Dell XPS 15 (9570) Touch laptop with i9-8950HK processor and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card at the moment. The top-end device in the lineup usually costs US$2,978.99, but this can be knocked down to US$2,082.49 with Dell’s discount and a special coupon code. There are also savings to be had on non-touch XPS 15 laptops.

Finally, we will no longer need separate RGB customization software for our Lian Li PC case, MSI keyboard, ASRock motherboard, AMD CPU fan, or Zotac graphics card. Razer Chroma will support all these manufacturers and more.

After a year-long hiatus, the ScreenPad will be returning in spectacular fashion with the promise of lower power consumption, higher native resolution, larger screen size, and more features for both users and developers to exploit.

Want to be an early adopter of Wi-Fi 6? One of these four Intel-backed 802.11ax routers should do the trick. In truth, however, most home users will have no immediate reason to upgrade until more Wi-Fi 6 routers become available at cheaper prices.

The four laptops guarantee at least 9 hours of Internet browsing at 250 nits, Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, 1 second or faster resume times, Thunderbolt 3, at least 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB NVMe SSD, AI-enhanced performance, and three-sided narrow bezels with far-field voice recognition.

Vapor chamber, MagLev keyboard keys, Eyesafe 16:10 DCI-P3 touchscreen, Gorilla Glass 5, and Intel Ice Lake with Iris will be just a few of the unique innovative features coming to the XPS 13 2-in-1 7390 when it launches in less than two months.

The technology adjusts the wavelength of blue light at the source and then performs the necessary color correction to reach the original gamut of the panel. The end result is a display that automatically reduces "harmful" blue light without impacting colors or requiring special filters or glasses from the end user.

Dell is throwing a curve ball this year to how it is naming its 2019 XPS 15. To the average consumer, however, the change may be a little confusing. The new 7xxx series will directly succeed the older 9xxx series even though the first digit is lower in order to align the XPS series with the 7xxx Inspiron, Vostro, Latitude, and Precision families.

Why use aluminum-magnesium alloy or carbon fiber materials when you can use wood? The HP Envy Wood series will have palm rests and touchpads made of real walnut and birch wood inlays across the entire 13-inch to 17-inch range.

The 2019 refresh will have faster wireless, faster 4G LTE, and new SureView Gen 3 and 1000-nit panel options. In comparison, most flagship Ultrabooks top out at only 400 to 600 nits for inferior outdoor visibility. HP is claiming it has the "world's only outdoor viewable display" for a 14-inch laptop.

The gen-to-gen changes will have plenty of internal updates ranging from security to additional CPU options, display options, and 4G LTE options. HP is claiming its Elite x2 G4 will be the "world's first business detachable with an integrated privacy screen" via Sure View.

Core i5/i7 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB NVMe SSD, Thunderbolt 3, Wi-Fi 6, 1080p touchscreen, three-sided narrow bezels, and 9+ hours of web browsing will all eventually be standard on your next Ultrabook in Intel's vision of the near future. The chipmaker will work directly with OEMs down to the component level to ensure a more seamless Ultrabook experience especially when outdoors and running on battery power.

At Computex 2019, Intel announced the arrival of 10nm Ice Lake processors that will find home in most ultrabooks and non-gaming laptops this year. Ice Lake is based on the Sunny Cove architecture and bring improvements in IPC, AI workloads, and task-specific optimization. It also comes with integrated the Gen11 graphics, Thunderbolt 3, and Wi-Fi 6 onboard the CPU/PCH. OEMs can offer Ice Lake CPUs in 9W, 15W, and 28W TDP configurations.