Gaming

Rumors about upcoming new hardware from Nintendo have been flying around more furiously than ever, with mention of the codename “Aula” that could represent a Switch Pro, Switch 4K, or even a next-gen Switch 2 console. Nintendo has launched the Switch Mario Red & Blue Edition console amidst the speculation circus.

Xiaomi has confirmed that it will be announcing a new RedmiBook Pro laptop with Intel's latest Tiger Lake-H35 processors. However, multiple Geekbench listings assert that AMD versions are on the way, with up to the Ryzen 7 5800H set to power the RedmiBook Pro 15S. Meanwhile, Xiaomi will offer up to the Core i7-11370H with the RedmiBook Pro 15.

Gigabyte has introduced new mid-range gaming laptops powered by both Intel Comet Lake-H and AMD Ryzen 5000H Zen 3 options. These laptops are aimed at the multi-tasking crowd that also likes to game. The Intel-based Gaming G5 and G7 and the AMD-based Gaming A5 and A7 share many features with the Aorus gaming series including the Windforce cooling system.

Gigabyte has refreshed its Aorus gaming laptop lineup to feature NVIDIA RTX 30 Mobile GPUs. The Aorus 15P and Aorus 15G offer largely identical specifications including the Core i7-10870H. The new Aorus laptops take advantage of Microsoft Azure AI to offer automatic performance optimizations depending on the use case.

Acer has introduced a refreshed Nitro 5 with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA RTX 3080 Mobile internals. The Nitro 5 is also being offered with three display options, one of which includes a 360 Hz FHD panel.

Dell has refreshed the Alienware m17 with NVIDIA Ampere mobile graphics. The Alienware m17 R4 features a largely similar configuration as last year and offers a slew of customization options including a 360 Hz FHD panel. The laptop is also recognized as a CES 2021 Innovation Award Honoree in the Gaming category.

Asus is throwing all of its craziest ideas onto its latest 13-inch convertible laptop including liquid metal cooling, an AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS CPU, vapor chamber external graphics, proprietary PCIe x8 connector, and a 16:10 120 Hz Gorilla Glass touchscreen.

Your next Asus ROG gaming laptop will sport Thermal Grizzly liquid metal to improve CPU temperatures and hopefully prolong its lifespan. Asus has been perfecting its automated application process over the past two years.

Asus has launched two new AMD-powered gaming laptops in the Asus ROG Strix G15 and Strix G17. Both notebooks can be configured with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of solid-state storage. The ROG Strix G15 will be available in Q1 2021 from €999 (US$1,215) and the G17 from €1,599 (US$1,945).

ASUS has announced a significant upgrade to the ROG Zephyrus G14, one of 2020's most popular gaming laptops. The new model features AMD Ryzen 5000 APUs, up to a 144 Hz and 1440p display, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Max-P GPU. The ROG Zephyrus G14 still weighs just 1.6 kg, though.

Asus' top-of-the-line ROG Strix Scar 15 gaming laptop has been unveiled at CES 2021. Some of its specifications include an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX/Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080/3070/3060 graphics card, 165Hz QHD/300Hz FHD, up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of solid-state storage. It will be available for purchase sometime in mid-Q1 2021 for €1,499 (US$1,825).

NVIDIA has introduced a new member to the RTX 30 family, the RTX 3060 12 GB. The RTX 3060 is intended at those who are looking to upgrade from a GTX 1060-class card and features 3,584 CUDA cores, 12 GB of GDDR6 192-bit memory, and will be the first RTX 30 card to support resizable BAR. The RTX 3060 12 GB will be available in late February starting from US$329.

The latest iteration of the 15.6-inch Acer Predator Helios 300 could easily be mistaken for the last. However, the OEM asserts that it is rated for even smoother gameplay thanks to its new GPU and display option. Can these new specs help it blow the cobwebs of 2020 away?

The new Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 desktop PC brings Ryzen 5000 series CPUs to Alienware's desktop family. The machine can be configured with a number of AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs as well as the newest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD.

Acer's newest Predator Triton 300 SE gaming laptop comes with a 14-inch FHD screen clocked at 144Hz, 11th Generation Intel Tiger Lake CPUs, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q graphics card, a dedicated 'Turbo' button, and 10 hours of battery life. The notebook will be available for sale in March 2021 starting at €1,399 (US$1,700).

The refreshed models still feature the Comet Lake-H CPUs, as they are limited to Thunderbolt 3 connectors. However, Gigabyte is now offering upgraded professionally calibrated displays, as well as the newly released RTX 3000 mobile GPUs, plus redesigned thermal management. The new AERO laptops are also among the first to feature HDMI 2.1 connectors.

Gigabyte has updated its flagship Gigabyte Aorus 17G gaming laptop with next-generation hardware such as 11th-generation Intel Tiger Lake CPUs and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card. Everything else is mostly the same, including the fully-mechanical keyboard with Omron switches. The company will tell us more about its price and availability on January 26.

Dell has refreshed the Alienware m15 to feature Intel Comet Lake-H and NVIDIA Ampere mobile offerings. The Alienware m15 R4 continues to offer vapor chamber cooling, up to 4 TB of PCIe storage, and also comes with an OLED panel that is HDR500 compliant.

Lenovo has announced a refresh to its Legion 5 15 and Legion 5 17 laptops to bring the latest AMD Ryzen Mobile CPU and Nvidia GeForce GPU options to consumers. Both offer good higher framerate displays with the 15.3-inch reportedly having a sub-3ms response time.

The Lenovo Legion Gaming Dock S600 has been launched at CES 2021. It comes with two USB ports and a wireless charging pad that can charge Qi-enabled devices at up to 20W. The gaming dock will be available for purchase in April 2020 and cost US$89.99.

The Lenovo Legion H200 and Legion H600 are Lenovo's newest entry-level gaming headsets. The former is wired, while the latter can connect with devices in wired and wireless modes. Both headphones will hit the shelves in April 2021. The Legion H200 will cost US$49.99, and the Legion H600 US$99.99.

AMD has launched two new members of the Ryzen 5000 desktop processor family in the forms of the Ryzen 7 5800 and Ryzen 9 5900. Both CPUs have lower TDPs than their similarly named Zen 3 counterparts, and the Ryzen 9 5900 offers an average of 24% faster gaming performance at 1080p than the previous-generation Ryzen 9 3900.

Lenovo has announced its latest slim gaming laptop, the Legion Slim 7. The machine features up to AMD Ryzen 7 5000 series APUs and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs in a chassis that tapers to 15.9 mm. The Legion Slim 7 has a 15.6-inch display, available in either a 1080p and 165 Hz variant or a 4K one that tops out at 60 Hz and 500 nits. The Legion Slim 7 starts at 1.9 kg and will come in two colours.

Lenovo's flagship gaming laptop of 2021 is here, and it packs a 16-inch QHD display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The Legion 7 16ACH-06 also includes the latest AMD Ryzen 9 5000 series APUs, NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 30 GPUs and more I/O than you could shake a stick at.

The new Legion 5 Pro features a new display, CPUs and GPUs. The gaming laptop now offers a 16:10 and 16-inch IPS display with a native QHD resolution, a 165 Hz refresh rate and 3 ms response times. Additionally, AMD Ryzen 5000 APUs and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs now power the Legion 5 Pro, which will be available from March for €1,399 and up.

The Geekbench 5 processor benchmark chart for single-core performance is currently headed by four Zen 3 parts, with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X leading the pack on an average score of 1,680. However, Rocket Lake-S CPUs like the Intel Core i9-11900K and i7-11700K should soon roar back and likely reclaim the table for Team Blue.

A crowdfunding campaign for infrastructure repair on Tsushima island exceeded its funding goals by five times, thanks in part to fans of PlayStation exclusive Ghost of Tsushima.

ZOTAC has unveiled its mini-PC, albeit one that has an 8.3-litre case. Nonetheless, the ZBOX MAGNUS ONE features an Intel Core i7-10700 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU. The ZBOX MAGNUS ONE supports up to 64 GB of RAM too, and has plenty of I/O.

LG asserts that it has brought the "ultimate" slew of updates to its premium TV offerings to CES 2021. The OEM has even invented a new sub-category for this year: QNED, a combination of its mini-LED and Quantum NanoCell Color technologies. As for the OLEDs, the 48-inch C1 has already won a Best of Innovation Award at the show.

Intel showed off a preview of the Rocket Lake-S Core i9-11900K and compared its gaming performance against a PC powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X. The performance improvements seem within the margin of error for now. Intel also briefly mentioned about 11th gen Tiger Lake-H 45 W and Alder Lake processors coming later this year.

At CES 2021, Intel has unveiled the Tiger Lake-H 35 W processors for ultraportable gaming laptops. With the introduction of these processors, Intel is not only offering further market segmentation among gaming laptops but also is looking to take on AMD's Renoir Ryzen 7 4800HS and the Ryzen 9 4900H in single-core performance. The new Tiger Lake-H35 processors led by the Core i7-11375H Special Edition can boost up to 5 GHz and also offer resizable BAR support with NVIDIA's upcoming Ampere mobile GPUs.

With Nvidia poised to unveil the next generation of mobile GeForce GPUs for laptops this week, now is the time to get a GeForce 20 laptop for cheap. Manufacturers like Lenovo are already trying to clear stop of its last generation gaming laptops at deep discounts.

NVIDIA will definitely be unveiling GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs for laptops tomorrow, based on the company's latest teaser. Up to seven Ampere-based GPUs are expected to arrive, from the GeForce RTX 3050 to the GeForce RTX 3080. There will be Max-Q variants of all but the GeForce RTX 3050, too.

While you can certainly use it for games, that isn't really what the Xe Max was designed for. Its performance-per-dollar will be highest for workloads like HandBrake or Adobe Lightroom rather than pure gaming.

At CES 2021, HP has announced the Envy 14 aimed at mobile content creators. The Envy 14 offers a combination of the Core i5-1135G7 and NVIDIA GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q and comes with a 14-inch IPS touch display that is color-calibrated out of the box.

Videocardz now asserts that the first of a new series of Asus TUF machines called the Dash F15 will launch soon. This may be backed up with an image of this laptop from the SafetyKorea regulator. It is said to have a choice of Core i5 or i7 Tiger Lake-H 35 platforms, paired with either RTX 3060 or 3070 graphics.

Game designer David Jaffe, who was the director of the original God of War title for the PS2, has been voicing his opinions about the upcoming God of War sequel that is often called God of War: Ragnarok. He believes it will end up being a cross-gen title for the PS4 and PS5 and that fans should be worried about the release date.

The latest estimated PS5 sales numbers have the console rapidly approaching five million units sold. Rumors have been circulating that there will be a considerable restock within the next few days, and fans in Thailand now have a pre-order date, launch date, and price for the PlayStation 5 console.

Apple App Store users spent a record US$540 million on New Year's Day, capping off a week that saw total App Store spending of $1.8 billion. The App Store continues to be one of Apple's most successful lines of business; since its inception, developers have earned over $200 billion and Apple has earned an estimated $85 billion over the past 12 years.

Those who own current-gen Xbox consoles have reportedly been sent a survey by Microsoft about their experiences with the devices to date. It also contains some pointed questions about how they would like to see it go in the future, hinting at the possible prospect of a new controller with up-to-date features from that for the new PlayStation.

Modder specikk’s City H4ck mod for Cyberpunk 2077 overhauls the game’s hacking mechanic, including vehicle and door hacking options that are strongly reminiscent of Watch Dogs.

The new 15.6-inch XPG Xenia Xe ultrabooks can be powered by either an i7-1165G7 coupled with 16 GB of LPDDR4x-4266 RAM or an i5-1135G7 coupled with 8 GB of RAM. There is no dGPU option and the prices seem a bit spicy, but at least ADATA is including a touchscreen and 2x Thunderbolt 4 connectors.

An incredibly exciting but almost certainly fake itinerary for an upcoming Nintendo Direct event has been supposedly leaked. Featuring on the fantasy wishlist are details of a Nintendo Switch Pro console at US$399 and a huge list of games, including Mario Kart 9, Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of the Past.

Lenovo and NEC have teamed up to introduce new Tiger Lake devices in the Lavie range. The Lavie Mini is an 8-inch handheld gaming PC that comes with optional gaming controller and gaming dock accessories. The Lavie Pro Mobile is a 13.3-inch ultrabook that combines form and functionality without much compromise on the connectivity front.

It looks like Intel's upcoming Alder Lake-S CPUs are going to be the first to benefit from the DDR5 RAM standard. ADATA is already collaborating with motherboard makers like Gigabyte and MSI to ensure compatibility for the ”latest Intel platforms.” Expect to see DDR5 RAM modules with up to 64 GB capacity and up to 8400 MT/s speeds launching in the second half of 2021.

Acer shared details on three new gaming monitors at CES 2021 today. The Nitro XV282K KV will be one of the first monitors to bring HDMI 2.1 to desktops, as well as 4K 144 Hz. The other monitors also offer high resolutions with high refresh rates, but they cost a pretty penny.

MSI will be announcing new products on January 13, but it briefly listed new versions of the GF65 Thin on its website. The 15.6-inch gaming laptop will be available with at least the GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q, along with up to an Intel Core i7-10750H processor. It seems that no AMD options will be available, though.