Windows

With the PICO-TGU4, AAEON has created a compact single-board computer based on Intel's Tiger Lake platform. The PICO-TGU4 also offers up to 32 GB of RAM and a good selection of I/O, including 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, despite its size.

Samsung and Microsoft's efforts to form a joint Android/Windows ecosystem to rival that of Apple's has reached a potentially critical stage. The OEMs are working to bring Quick Share (an AirDrop counterpart found on Galaxy-series smartphones) to PCs. Samsung's Free service is also to arrive on Windows 10 soon, as is a new app called "O".

The long-awaited dark theme for the Google Search webpage on Windows or macOS is reportedly now in A/B testing. This means some users may have already seen this update, which consists of an automatic color-scheme change in accordance with the system theme. This can help address preparing for the shock of that ever-present bright page that clashes with an otherwise eye-friendly UI.

LG introduced the latest, Tiger Lake-powered versions of its ultra-thin and light Gram laptops at CES 2021. Now, they have started to become available to order via the OEM's US website. The SKUs that can be purchased now are some of their 14-, 16- and 17-inch variants, with their new 2-in-1 siblings to follow in March 2021.

Apple was a loyal customer of Intel for 15 years, but the former has now pivoted to using in-house processors. Now Intel has looked re-ignite the old Mac vs PC debate in its latest adverts, where it claims Windows laptops are superior to Apple MacBooks for gamers and content creators.

Commell has added two high-performance single-board computers (SBCs) to its range, both based on an Intel Core i7-1185G7E. The company has designed the SBCs for those who want to build small embedded systems for professional use.

The Teclast F7 Air is a well-built MacBook 12 clone that suffers from weak hardware, short battery life, and a lackluster screen. If all you want is a beautiful laptop for less than $500, the F7 Air fits the bill. Just be prepared to test your patience.

Recently, one of the feet on our Surface Laptop 3 fell off. While Microsoft does not sell replacements on its web store, it offers them in all colours through another channel. For a small fee, you could give your Surface Laptop 3 a fresh set of feet, even outside of warranty.

The brand-new ThinkPad X1 Nano only tips the scale at little more than 900 grams. But it is not only the lightest ThinkPad, it is also the first model to return to 16:10 panels. However, Lenovo had to make some compromises to realize such a compact device, which is apparent by the limited number of ports and the reduced key travel.

The latest hotfix for Cyberpunk 2077 has arrived, hot on the heels of Hotfix 1.11. The latest hotfix fixes a critical vulnerability for Cyberpunk 2077 that could have been used to execute remote code on your PC.

The MSI Alpha 17 with an AMD CPU and GPU is worth a closer look for price-conscious laptop gamers. Not only is the price right but also the performance of the 17-inch gaming laptop.

Microsoft is moving to uninstall its Edge Legacy browser from Windows 10 PCs with April’s Windows 10 Update Tuesday release. For users that haven’t already updated to the new Chromium-based version of the Edge browser, the same update will automatically install it.

Lenovo announced that the Legion 5 Pro will be updated in 2021 with Ryzen 5000 silicon, RTX 30-series graphics and a 16:10 display. A Google-cached product specs reference let slip by the company ahead of its March release seems to confirm this, as well as how much RAM and storage space the machine can support.

Always the same basic model, always an upgrade to the newest CPU generation. The advantages the modern hardware has to offer are usually marginal for generic office notebooks.

The Summit E15 is supposed to make life difficult for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme and Dell XPS 15 top dogs. To do this, MSI uses the most current technology: Tiger Lake, Turing, USB 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, and PCI Express 4.

The ThinkPad X1 series has already been updated by Lenovo, but not the regular T & X series ThinkPad laptops. A listing at the TCO certification site reveals the first details about the upcoming ThinkPads: The X13 Gen 2 adopts the taller 16:10 aspect ratio, like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The bigger T series meanwhile continues to use wider 16:9 screens.

Stealth has unveiled its latest robust machine, which is also waterproof. The WPC-905 mini-PC runs silently too and comes in four processor configurations. The Stealth WPC-905 starts at US$3,195, which is extraordinarily expensive by mini-PC standards.

Simply called "iCloud Passwords," the new Google Chrome extension allows its users to use the same Safari passwords that they created on their Apple device with Chrome on Windows. Besides, iCloud Passwords also saves passwords created with Google Chrome on Windows to the iCloud Keychain for later use on Apple devices.

For those who often find themselves facing way too many tabs on their tab bar, Vivaldi 3.6 comes with a second one. In addition to two-level tab stacks, the latest update for this browser also includes split-screen view and tree-style view (via the Tab Tiling and Window Panel features).

With the Hi10 XR, Chuwi offers a convertible that supports pen input and a detachable keyboard. Its Celeron N4120 processor should keep things ticking over too, as should its 6 GB of RAM.

Chuwi has unveiled another laptop following the HeroBook Pro Plus release last week. The company has called its latest laptop the HeroBook Plus, which it equips with plenty of RAM and an outdated processor. The 15.6-inch laptop retails for US$439.

Shortly after the CES, a Lenovo manager has shared some interesting information in an interview. Especially interesting: In the future, Lenovo ThinkPad laptops will be equipped with better webcams.

With the W12, Pipo combines a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 chipset, up to 8 GB of RAM and a 37 Wh battery in a 2-in-1 form factor. The device has a high-resolution 3:2 display and up to 8 GB of RAM.

TOPTON has released a new mini-PC, and one that it has designed to impress with its high performance, despite its compact dimensions. The mini-PC comes with up to an AMD Ryzen 5 3400GE, but other processors are available. The device supports multiple SSDs, too.

Lenovo updates the inexpensive ThinkPad L series without a big announcement. Both the new Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 2 and ThinkPad L15 Gen 2 are optimized for enterprise customers. They keep the same design as their predecessors, but contain the new Intel Tiger Lake chips.

Dell does without the "slim", "super light", and "mobile" marketing phrases for the Latitude 15 5511, but it presents the business laptop as a practical work machine in return.

A lot of Intel’s hopes for 2021 are pinned on Tiger Lake-H. After all, Intel has to put something up against the Ryzen 5000 CPUs. The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 comes with only a Tiger Lake-UP3 chip. However, it can draw up to 35 watts of power for a significant period of time, showing the world what a Tiger Lake chip can achieve with such a high TDP.

Microsoft is heavily promoting the Surface Pro 7 with recent price drops now accompanied by a new advert comparing the Surface Pro 7 to the MacBook Pro 13 M1. The advert is done in a presentation style and shows why Microsoft thinks you should choose its 2-in-1 device over Apple's laptop.

The MINISFORUM X35G has reached Amazon, following a successful Indiegogo campaign last year. The mini-PC comes with an Intel Ice Lake processor, Intel Optane memory and a Thunderbolt 3 port, among other components. The X35G retails for US$449.99 but is available for US$419.99 with a US$30 coupon.

The new Acer Nitro 5 is already to pre-order, months before its expected arrival. Retailers are offering the 15.6-inch edition with up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, but Ryzen 9 5900HX SKUs should eventually be available. Acer has released Intel versions of the new Nitro 5, too.

Microsoft is yet to release Windows 10X, but the upcoming OS has already been shown working on the Surface Pro 7 and even the Lumia 950 XL. Windows 10X should officially arrive later this year pre-loaded on dual-screen devices.

The Chuwi HeroBook Pro+ combines a 3K display with 8 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 128 GB of storage. The 13.3-inch display has thick bezels though and is powered by an Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core processor. The Chuwi HeroBook Pro+ retails for US$269.00 and is available to order now.

With the UM250, MINISFORUM has launched another mini-PC that packs an AMD Ryzen APU in a compact chassis. The UM250 combines a Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U APU with up to 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The machine starts at US$299 as a barebones PC though, allowing you to equip it with up to 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of M.2 2280 storage.

The ZimaBoard has taken Kickstarter by storm, with people pledging close to US$125,000 in support after less than one week. Two versions of the ZimaBoard are available to order, separated by the CPU, RAM and onboard storage with which they have been equipped. Both ZimaBoard models should begin shipping in July 2021.

Samsung has announced the latest in its EVO series of SSDs. The OEM is pitching the 870 at users with network-attached servers (NASs) as well as consumer PCs. It is rated for top SATA read and write speeds and for 30% performance improvements over its predecessor.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 will soon be available with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Max-P, according to ASUS and two European retailers. Top-end SKUs will retail for as much as €2,299 and should start shipping by early February. There will be a Ryzen 7 5800HS and GeForce GTX 1650 edition, too.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ has made a couple of appearances on Geekbench that point to the convertible laptop being ideal for some light gaming sessions. The Iris Xe iGPU in the Surface Pro 7+ device’s Intel Core i7-1165G7 managed to outscore both the Nvidia GeForce MX350 dGPU and AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000 class).

With up to 12 hours of battery life and a MIL-STD 810H-certified rugged design, the Acer TravelMate Spin B3 convertible promises to deliver all that classroom use requires. This Windows 10-powered portable will hit China in February, EMEA in Q2, and North America in April, with prices starting at US$329.99.

The Huawei MateBook 14 2021 features many internal upgrades from last year's model, including a switch to Intel's Tiger Lake platform. The MateBook 14 is available with up to a Core i7-1165G7 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce MX450 GPU and 16 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM. Huawei only offers the MateBook 14 2021 with a 512 GB SSD though, and in two somewhat understated colours.