Ultrabook

Intel announced the Amber Lake-Y CPUs back at Computex in June, but core count or frequency details were not provided. This week, Dell and NextLab501 revealed names and specs for three Amber Lake-Y CPUs, and it looks like the new ULV chips should come with increased frequencies, but the core configuration and the iGPU remain the same.

The latest financial report coming from TSMC reveals that the Taiwanese company experienced some revenue problems in the first half of 2018 due to the crypto market depreciation, but the foundries are expecting substantial profits in the second half over great demand for next gen GPUs and mobile chips.

The move to 8th generation Intel processors has enabled full speed Thunderbolt 3 connectivity on all the four ports in the 2018 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar thanks to the increased number of PCIe lanes available from the CPU. This is an improvement over the 2016 and 2017 models wherein only 2 of the 4 ports had support for full speed Thunderbolt 3.

A problem that has been spotted in early March has resurfaced on Twitter this week, and Lenovo pointed the troubled customer to the official forum. Sadly, the 18-page discussion about the X1 Carbon's inability to use deep sleep on Linux also reveals that Lenovo's machines are unable to use LTE and the fingerprint reader when running this operating system.

The new LPDDR5 memory modules will be featured in next year's handhelds like the Galaxy S10, which will also bring support for 5G connections and improved AI applications. Samsung claims that the new chips are 50% faster and need 30% less power compared to current LPDDR4 chips. Mass production for LPDDR5 chips should begin at some point in Q3 this year.

While Appe's latest handheld devices include pseudo-touchless capabilities via the TrueDepth 3D camera system, it still requires touch sensors for the display itself. Microsoft's newly approved patent does away with the display sensors and relies only on depth map imaging to calculate the cursor position and hand gestures.

AMD is trying to break Intels dominance in the mobile PC market. For that, it needs the PC manufacturers to put out good laptops with Ryzen. The affordable ThinkPad models E485 and E585 with Ryzen could potentially attract a large number of customers – and they are now available in the US and elsewhere.

NRAM is made of carbon nanotubes that are more efficient than the current technologies used in 3D XPoint and NAND Flash devices. Nantero - the company developing NRAM - claims that its technology can provide better write speeds for decreased power requirements and production costs, and the memory has high temperature tolerance (up to 800 degrees Centigrade).

Carry a 5.5-inch 1080p secondary display with you wherever you go with the Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580. On paper, the concept of having the trackpad be a second display would be immensely useful for multimedia and productivity purposes. In practice, however, there are some ergonomic stumbling blocks users should keep in mind.

Since a few months, the name "ThinkPad P1" has been a mystery. Today, a first picture emerged, which shows a ThinkPad with a 15.6-inch screen without a numpad. Potentially, this could be Lenovo's competitor to the Dell XPS 15 and the Dell Precision 5530.

Manufacturers may have to milk existing notebook designs even further for this Holiday season since Intel's next generation CPUs are not expected to come anytime soon. Global notebook shipments will almost surely be slower YoY as a result unless if Nvidia can surprise us with an early Turing launch.

The improved SD Express cards will feature transfer speeds up to 985 MB/s via the PCIe/NVMe interface and 128 TB storage capacities. These improvements target 4K/8K video processing, VR and augmented reality applications, AI-driven vehicles and IoT ramifications. First to get the latest specs will be the SDHC/XC/UC cards scheduled to arrive in 2019.

Already under threat from smartphone chip-based ARM-powered notebooks and having to recover from the unexpected loss of its CEO, Intel looks to be under renewed threat from Qualcomm. Unlike previous ARM-based notebooks, the rumored Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000 could be purpose-built from the ground up to challenge Intel’s ultrabook dominance.

Getting an inside view into the notebook industry is a rare thing and seeing actual prototypes even rarer still. A few days ago, Lenovo showcased such a prototype to Japanese journalists – the prototype of its current ThinkPad X1 Carbon. This two year old prototype looks very different from the production model.

The ThinkPad T, X, and P families are home to Lenovo's more well-known models including the 14-inch T480, 15-inch T580, X380 convertible, and 15-inch P52 workstation. While their design, features, and performance are generally very well received, many may be unfit for users who are sensitive to flickering lights. Be wary when purchasing the following ThinkPad models.

Realtek is almost ready to launch a more affordable all-in-one USB dock for laptops. The latest prototype features a 10 Gb/s USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 main port splits the bandwidth across a great selection of connectors. Even though there is no Thudnerbolt 3 support, all the connector chips are proprietary, so the dock should feature a sub-US$100 price.

Samsung has updated its Chromebook Plus to Version 2.0. While it picks up some new features, its display gets a notable downgrade from a QHD resolution to FHD.

Judging by the latest leaks, Samsung is most likely preparing major overhauls for next year's Galaxy S10 / Note 10 high-end devices. Apparently, Samsung is planning to begin production on the LPDDR5 and UFS 3.0 chips later this summer and this could significantly boost the overall performance for the 2019 models. Moreover, it looks like the Galaxy S10 could finally get 4K video recording.

The lightweight laptop is exactly as thin as the ZenBook 3 UX490UA but with improved cooling and a unique hinge setup. Asus is promising better ergonomics and external GPU (eGPU) support via its integrated Thunderbolt 3 ports. The system launches in one week for $1200 USD.

The VivoBook is Asus’s general consumer-focused product line, with the S-series sitting in the crossroad of trade-offs between portability, battery life, and performance, making it a good general-purpose notebook.

The mainstream 14-inch SKU will serve as the AMD alternative to the existing Intel MagicBook with Core i5-8250U CPUs and GeForce MX150 graphics. Chinese retailers are already detailing the "Sharp Dragon" Ryzen configuration albeit without an official price for now. Unfortunately, don't expect the MagicBook to launch globally anytime soon. The Vega 8 should offer a similar graphics experience as the GeForce 940MX.

Qualcomm is said to be working on a new "Snapdragon 1000" ARM-based chip that it is targeting for Windows 10 machines by either late 2018 or 2019. What will set this chip apart is that it is being specially designed for Windows 10 on ARM PCs with a higher TDP for true notebook-class performance.

Using the 7 nm manufacturing process, the new ARM Cortex-A76 CPU will bring "laptop-class" performance to handheld devices. The new CPU features a totally new architecture that delivers 35% increased performance, 40% improved power efficiency and 4 times increased machine learning workloads for the upcoming "always connected" Windows on ARM PCs.

Using Power banks is normal in the world of smartphones, but in the laptop-space they are not seen that often. One of the reasons is that only a few battery packs have enough power to charge a laptop. Hoping to profit from accessory sales, the PC manufacturer Lenovo has now released a power bank made explicitly for its ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops.

Samsung wanted to prove that it is in no way behind TSMC when it comes to manufacturing process milestones. Even though TSMC is already rolling out a good chunk of 7 nm chips for various companies, it still does not use the EUV tech. Samsung will make full use of the EUV lithography by mid-2018, and then it plans to release 5 nm, 4 nm and 3 nm chips by 2022.

Chromebooks could soon get a substantial performance boost, as the Chrome OS developers are planning to support Intel's Kaby Lake-G CPUs that come with the dedicated AMD Radeon RX Vega M GPU. The first Chromebook that would include such specs is codenamed "Kidd" and it was discovered mentioned in the Chromium code commit repository.

Major cities in the US and across the globe are testing 5G services throughout this year, and some areas might even get limited 5G connectivity in the second half of 2018. Tis has prompted some OEMs to pressure Qualcomm into allowing them to integrate the X50 5G modem and maybe even the upcoming Snapdragon 855 SoC in several smartphones that could launch by the end of 2018.

Control your smart home with a compatible Acer laptop. The free update will begin rolling out today for Spin 3 and Spin 5 owners with more on store shelves beginning in June. Instead of offering the software as an option, however, owners will have one more pre-installed software application that they will have to manually uninstall if they have no interest in Alexa or if they prefer Microsoft Cortana.

AMD announced new Ryzen Pro APUs and all three major OEMs Dell, HP, and Lenovo were on display with corresponding products. We had the chance to talk with the manufacturers and check the new models hands-on.

The market for premium laptops has been growing in recent years, with thin and powerful 15-inch laptops like the Dell XPS 15 or Apple MacBook Pro 15 as one of the growth-segments. Reason enough for HP to release the new EliteBook 1050 G1, which offers a hexa-core CPU and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 in a thin 15-inch chassis.

HP has announced refreshes to its Envy notebook lineup including the Envy 13, Envy 17, Envy x360 13, and Envy x360 15. The standout feature of these notebooks is the new minimalist chiseled appearance similar to the patterning found in sword blades made from Damascus steel. Internally, all notebooks receive an upgrade to the Intel 8th generation CPUs with the Envy x360 offering AMD Ryzen with Vega graphics options as well. The Envy x360 15 also sports a 650-nit bright panel for excellent outdoor legibility.

Intel Cannon Lake once was a very highly anticipated CPU-release. After massive delays, the first Intel CPU generation that is manufactured in the advanced 10 nanometer process has finally arrived – and it enters the market silently, in a low-budget device.

A class action law suit against Apple was filed in the Northern District Court of California by two plaintiffs who have been at the receiving end of the Apple MacBook Pro faulty keyboard fiasco. The suit alleges that Apple intentionally promoted and sold these laptops knowing very well that the keyboards were inherently defective.