Windows

AMD looks to have sent the Radeon RX 5700 XT to reviewers, with 3DMark benchmark results popping up online. The upcoming 7 nm GPU scored well in Time Spy but fell short of the RTX 2070, probably giving the RTX 2060 Super an edge over AMD's next flagship card too.

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.

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.

Today is the day. You can now order the XPS 15 7590, the much-anticipated upgrade to the XPS 15 9570. The 15.6-inch laptop includes up to an Intel Core i9-9980HK processor, 64 GB of RAM, a 2 TB SSD and a 400 nit 4K OLED panel. The device features an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU too. Prices start at £1,349 (~US$1,711) and rise to a dizzying £2,899 (~US$3,677).
Update: US pricing, specifications details and shipping date added.

Khadas has changed the VIM3 slightly from when we previously reported on it earlier this month. The single-board computer (SBC) now features a more powerful Amlogic SoC, the hexa-core A331D, which can output up to 5.0 TOPS. The VIM3 now starts at US$99.99 and will ship worldwide from August 10.

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.

With the recent restructuring changes occurring at Blizzard, a possible 2020 launch for Diablo 4 might signal some negative aspects. While Blizzard has already assured its fans that it will focus more on its franchises, the company could give in to the bad practices that somehow became standard for many rushed launches from the past few years.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has delivered its next single-board computer a year early. The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B comes with a quad-core CPU, up to 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, Gigabit Ethernet dual 4K HDMI and USB Type-C. It should deliver 3x the performance of its predecessor while remaining backwards-compatible with older boards. Better still, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B costs just US$35 and is available to order worldwide now.

Popular video and media player VideoLan Client (VLC) has been found by security researchers to have two serious vulnerabilities, allowing malicious .avi and .mkv files to execute any code with full user privileges. Version 3.0.7 or newer addresses this vulnerability, so check to make sure your version is up-to-date.

Microsoft has released a preview of the new Windows Terminal app to the Microsoft Store. The Windows Terminal app consolidates all command line tools into a unified tabbed interface that offers GPU-accelerated text rendering, custom themes, and support for Unicode and UTF-8 characters. The app is still in early preview with version 1.0 expected to hit the Microsoft Store this winter.

The new XPS 15 is almost upon us, but there will be no long wait for a 4K OLED option. Dell will bring the 4K OLED model to market on June 27, with the XPS 15 7590 being the first in the series to feature such display technology.

The performance of the 16 nm KX-6000 octa-core CPU might not impress too much, as it only manages to be as fast as Intel's 14 nm i5-7400 quad-core model launched in early 2017, but this is no mere feat for the Chinese industry, especially now when the country is looking to be less and less reliant on the U.S.

Microsoft does not normally release data on the performance of its in-house search engine and browser. However, a new leaked slide may give an idea of how Bing and Edge are doing. Apparently, Bing has over 450 million monthly active users and handles 10.5 Billion queries per month.

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.

With a total of 11 new features and no less than 57 bugs squashed, Vivaldi 2.6 is a solid update to the browser that was created to be Opera 12's spiritual successor. This new release comes with a native content blocking mechanism, new customization options, multiple performance improvements, and more.

Although these are only the first preview builds to reach the public, those interested in trying Edge on Windows 7 and 8/8.1 can finally do so. Microsoft Edge now uses a Chromium core, the same that can be found inside Google Chrome, Vivaldi, Brave, and Opera. The downloads are available on the official Microsoft Edge Insider website.

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.

Listings for the Core i7-10510U and Core i5-10210U have appeared on Geekbench, although their scores should be no cause of worry for AMD. The chips are outgunned by not only the Ryzen 7 3700U and Ryzen 5 3500U but also the current crop of Intel Core i U series processors. Oddly, these 10th generation CPUs do not appear to be based on Intel's Ice Lake architecture either.

The company is still burying its heads in the sand over why some XPS 15 9570 laptops are getting hot and experiencing high battery drain when asleep. The company has added having an outdated BIOS and drivers along with wake on Wi-Fi enabled to the reasons that could cause the behaviour but without recognising that forcing people to use Modern Standby could be the cause. Well done, Dell.

The Samsung NC10-14GB netbook that was sold at an auction for a staggering US$1,345,000 is a 2008 model that runs Windows XP SP3 and comes loaded with 6 pieces of malware that have caused damages of over US$95 billion, namely ILOVEYOU, MyDoom, SoBig, WannaCry, BlackEnergy, and DarkTequila.

All signs are pointing towards Dell releasing the XPS 15 7590 in the final week of June, specifically from June 24. Its Premium Customer support has reportedly been saying so as has XPS Vice President & General Manager Frank Azor. People in some countries are looking at a prolonged wait, though.

The XPS 15 7590 is nearly upon us and Dell has confirmed even more details ahead of its arrival. The upcoming laptop will be the first XPS 15 to feature an OLED display, which Dell has confirmed it shares with the Alienware m15. A touchscreen variant may be on the way too.

Samsung has allegedly secured a trademark for a new product called the "Portable SSD T7 Plus". Should this leak prove true, it appears that a successor for the T5 is on its way. This putative product may at least maintain a trend towards max speeds of 540 MB/s, 256-bit AES encryption and a USB 3.1 Gen2 interface in a form weighing just 0.11 pounds.

Hot on the heels of the One Mix 3 and 3s comes the 3s Platinum Edition, an 8.4-inch UMPC equipped with a Core i7-8550Y processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The One Mix 3s Platinum Edition is available to order for US$1,199.99 on Geekbuying and will ship on July 9.

The Banana Pi BPI-M4 is a mouthful, but it packs a punch thanks to its quad-core Realtek RTD1395 SoC with ARM Mali-470 MP4 graphics, 1 GB of DDR4 RAM and 8 GB of eMMC flash storage. The developer board is a dead ringer for the Raspberry Pi 3B+ and is compatible with most HATs too. The Banana Pi BPI-M4 currently ships worldwide from AliExpress for US$35.

Once considered something impossible, Microsoft Edge's availability for Linux is now in sight. According to the developer team behind it, Microsoft's browser is not ready for Linux yet, but there is no technical difficulty that can keep this piece of code away from the Unix-based open source operating system.

The Chuwi MiniBook will feature an Intel Core m3-8100Y or a Celeron N4100 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD in a compact UMPC form factor. The convertible will be available to order from next Wednesday for US$499 for the Core m3-8100Y model.

Even if Huawei's CEO of consumer division himself confirmed the MateBook X launch is going to be postponed amid the U.S. - China trade wars and an earlier report was warning that Huawei could stop producing laptops altogether, the Chinese media is now claiming all the alarming reports are blowing things out of proportions, since Huawei is still ready to launch new Windows-on-ARM laptops in July.

The One Mix 3s comes with an 8.4-inch 2K display, an Intel Core m3-8100Y processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD all in a 650 g chassis. The One Mix 3s is available to order worldwide for US$899.99 from Geekbuying and will ship on June 22.

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.

Fancy an XPS 15 7590 but do not want to fork out over US$1,000? Well, Dell is currently running a free competition to win the 15.6-inch laptop, which will retail for US$1,899.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is not here yet, but a closed Steam beta test is set to start on June 18, when 1,500 eligible users will be chosen to join the battle. A larger wave of Age Insiders will be invited to take this 4K Ultra HD remake — which also features remastered audio — for a spin on June 24.

No special coupon needed for this one, but there is limited stock. B&H has discounted the top of the range version of the Alienware 17 R5 heavily. Grab the 17.3-inch gaming laptop while you can at US$1,450 off its retail price.