Windows

The MateBook 16s has arrived in Europe with an Intel Core i7-12700H or Core i9-12900H processor. Equipped with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, the MateBook 16s also has a 16-inch display and starts at €1,699.

Between bright OLED displays and powerful processor platforms, Apple's refreshed M2 MacBook Pro 13 doesn't bring all that much to the table in terms of upgrades. Is the stale design worth living with for the convenience of macOS? If not, which Windows laptops should you spring for instead?

Lenovo uses Alder Lake P28 in its new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10. These new processors with an increased core count seem impressive on paper, but they do not hold up to scrutiny in practice.

Schenker combines a socketed Ryzen 9-5900X CPU with a GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. This results in a powerful laptop that strikes a good figure in scenarios that demand a lot of performance, be it gaming, video processing, or rendering. However, potential buyers shouldn't require a good battery life, quiet operation, or lower power consumption.

AYA NEO has brought the AIR series to the crowdfunding website Indiegogo. Available in multiple configurations, the AYA NEO AIR series starts at US$499 and rises to US$1,255 for the flagship Pro model. Shipment of AYA NEO AIR series orders should start in Q3 2022.

AYA NEO has teased the AYA NEO FLIP, a fifth gaming handheld it hopes to launch in Q4 2022. Joining the AYA NEO 2, AYA NEO 2 GEEK, AYA NEO SLIDE and the AYA NEO AIR Plus, the AYA NEO FLIP will launch with a design reminiscent of a Nintendo DS. Unsurprisingly, AYA NEO will equip the device with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U APU and a 7-inch display.

Let's face it, we've all just about had it with the same cookie-cutter games featuring the serious, grizzled men with big guns and muscles in place of personality. Fortunately, game developers have caught on to this and there are some incredible gems out there that don't take themselves too seriously. Let's have a look at some of the most outlandish premises in PC gaming.

Xiaomi has officially unveiled the Xiaomi Book S 12.4" thin and light laptop. Its key specs include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 SoC, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB of expandable storage, and a 4,920 mAh battery. It runs Windows 11 out of the box is purchasable now at €699.

More and more manufacturers follow Apple's example and switch to the DCI-P3 reference for their notebook panels. The large multimedia laptop Dell XPS 17 is one of the last devices with such an AdobeRGB panel, and it is also a very good one.

The 1,040-gram Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 scores points with an Alder Lake CPU, Thunderbolt 4, and very good battery life. Positive: The laptop can run completely silently when needed. The OLED touchscreen can be used both with the fingers, as well as with the included S-Pen.

Lenovo offers an interesting and solid subnotebook overall with the Yoga Slim 7i Pro in the 14IAP G7 configuration, which only revealed a few weaknesses in our test.

Today, Microsoft has stopped providing support for its once-dominant web browser. However, this is not surprising since the 27-year-old Internet Explorer has been in control of less than one percent of the browser market for a while and its replacement, namely Microsoft Edge, has been around for 7 years already.

Labeled 2.17 and called "Danger Zone," the latest update for War Thunder brings the legendary F-14A Tomcat jet, an Israeli helicopter tech tree, the first Chinese helo, napalm bombs, two new locations, as well as the rewind functionality for replays. The patch also comes with a long list of bug fixes and tweaks.

With the new Zenbook Pro 14 Duo, Asus once again offers a 14-inch multimedia laptop that provides an additional screen for increased productivity. However, the image quality of the additional display isn't very impressive. An Alder Lake Core i7-12700H from Intel provides ample CPU performance.

LG launched a new generation of its ultra-light Gram-series laptops in 2022. Now, their US-market variants are bundled with one of the OEM's portable monitors for a limited time. The +view accessory has dual USB type-C ports, an IPS panel with a WQXGA resolution and a normal price of US$350.

Aside from the North America exclusive ThinkBook 16p NX, Lenovo is also releasing a real successor to the ThinkBook 16p G2: The ThinkBook 16p G3. Different from the NX model, this one does not downgrade the specifications and it contains a 165 Hz screen as the biggest optional upgrade.

Alldocube has begun offering the GTBook 13, an Intel Celeron N5100-powered laptop with a 3K display. The GTBook 13 also has plenty of ports, a metal chassis and weighs in at 1.3 kg.

Quietly, Lenovo is announcing a new 16 inch ThinkBook: The ThinkBook 16p NX seems to be a North America exclusive follow up to the ThinkBook 16p G2. It replaces Ryzen 5000H with Ryzen 6000H, but downgrades the GPU to the weaker Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti instead of the RTX 3060 of the predecessor.

A powerful performance, a great display with 240 Hz, and relatively slim - what more could a gamer's heart wish for? But to offer all that, Acer makes one large compromise with the Predator Triton 500 SE, sacrificing the ability to upgrade it. That should really be a no-go for a gaming laptop.

GEEKOM has launched what it appears confident will become a user's next "everyday mini PC". Its compact chassis has dual USB type-C ports, dual monitor support and is VESA-mountable. The MiniAir 11 also has an introductory ~US$39 discount off its normal starting price at the moment.

Microsoft could be mandating all OEMs to ditch HDDs and opt for SSDs as the primary Windows boot drive by 2023. Currently, Windows 11 can be installed just fine on both SSDs and HDDs but going forward, Microsoft wants all PCs, including budget ones in emerging markets, to transition their boot drives to SSDs given their obvious performance advantages.

Microsoft pushed a preview of Windows 11 22H2 to Windows Insiders with unsupported hardware on Tuesday. Following the sudden availability of the update, users took to Reddit to share their experiences and speculate about the reason behind the update showing up for PCs that don't meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11. Microsoft later confirmed that it was bug.

More details about the Xiaomi Book S 12.4" have surfaced, with the 12.4-inch tablet set to take on ARM-powered Windows 2-in-1 machines like the Surface Pro X. The Xiaomi Book S 12.4" will support a detachable keyboard and will rely on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 chipset, among other features.

A Core i7 12700H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU run all current computer games smoothly on a responsive 15.6-inch screen (QHD). The notebook also offers space for up to three storage devices and comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port.

The fairly large and rather unique 16-inch convertible laptop offers some pretty decent specs at a reasonable price as HP has apparently started a clearance sale in order to make space for the upgraded but certainly more expensive 2022 version of the HP Spectre x360 16.

While some regions received it one day earlier, Diablo Immortal is now available globally for mobile players. The Open Beta version for Windows PCs is also surfacing today, although it will probably lose most of its players to Diablo 4 once that title hits the market (hopefully next year).

AYA NEO has introduced the AYA NEO 2 GEEK, seemingly a lesser alternative to the regular AYA NEO 2. Already pre-orderable in China, the AYA NEO 2 GEEK will come with Ryzen 5 6600U and Ryzen 7 6800U chipsets, plus 16 GB of RAM and up to 1 TB of storage. The AYA NEO 2 GEEK will be available globally too, starting at US$619 with a Ryzen 5 6600U APU.

Microsoft has refreshed the Surface Laptop Go with a second-generation model. While the Surface Laptop Go 2 launches with a newer processor than its predecessor, it still lacks keyboard backlighting. Also, the entry-level model misses out on a fingerprint scanner, but still costs US$599.99.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 gets an exclusive processor from AMD: The AMD Ryzen Pro 7 6860Z. This CPU of the U series with a TDP of 15 W is a modified version of the octacore Ryzen Pro 6850U. Alongside the detailed specifications of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13, Lenovo has released the first specs of the processor with the "Z" suffix for the first time.

AYN Technologies has provided more details about LOKI, billed as 'the most affordable Windows handheld ever created'. While that claim may be valid for the LOKI Mini, the LOKI Max will rival the prices of other Windows handhelds. AYN Technologies will equip all but the LOKI Mini with AMD Ryzen 6000 series APUs.

Microsoft has soft-launched the Surface Laptop Go 2 in South Korea. With a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a sub-1080p display, the Surface Laptop Go 2 is not about to set the world alight. Still, it should represent a decent upgrade from the Surface Laptop Go, with over 20% performance improvements from a CPU upgrade alone.

AYA NEO has introduced the AIR Plus, the first AMD Mendocino-based device. While the AIR Plus will feature RDNA 2-based graphics like the Steam Deck, AMD Mendocino APUs only have one workgroup processor. Hence, the AYA NEO AIR Plus will have a quarter of the Steam Deck's Compute Units.

AYA NEO has announced that it intends to sell the AYA NEO AIR and AYA NEO AIR Pro, available with up to the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U APU. The AYA NEO AIR series will start at US$499 when it debuts on Indiegogo soon.

Released back in September 2016, the compilation known as BioShock: The Collection is now free on the Epic Games Store. The package consists of BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite. The original games come with new textures, support for higher resolutions and framerates, as well as all the DLCs launched after their release.

No official specs for now, but we found a tweet with leaked information coming from a Chinese forum. According to the leak, there is a Loki Mini model powered by an Intel Alder Lake processor and this is most likely the affordable model touted in the teaser. AYN is also planning to add more expensive versions powered by AMD's latest Rembrandt Ryzen 6000 APUs with RDNA2 iGPUs.

Microsoft has announced a major update for the Surface Laptop Studio, its replacement for the Surface Book series. While the Surface Laptop Studio debuted in September, it has taken until now for Microsoft to enable a dynamic refresh rate.

A Ryzen 9-6900HX APU and GeForce RTX 3080-Ti Laptop GPU bring all the current games smoothly to the contrast-rich 4k display (16:10, IPS, 100% DCI-P3, FreeSync). They are accompanied by 4 TB of storage (RAID 0), 64 GB of working memory, and a surprisingly good battery life.

Microsoft has unveiled Project Volterra, a mini-PC that looks like a black Mac mini. The comparisons do not stop there though, as Microsoft has equipped Project Volterra with a Snapdragon SoC. Thought to be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3, Project Volterra is also stackable but will only be available as a developer kit.

Those who missed last week's big news can still grab the latest freebie from Epic, namely Borderlands 3, which became available on May 20. Released back in September 2019, this title is a great action role-playing first-person shooter that shipped more than five million copies in the first five days on the market.