Save $500 on a 4K XPS 15 laptop and more with Microsoft’s Pi Day sales
Microsoft has continued the tradition of slashing its prices on top-tier laptops and desktops to celebrate Pi Day, the one day a year where the mathematical constant of pi gets its due respect. You can find deals on fantastic laptops, gaming desktops, mice, headsets, and Xbox hardware in the Microsoft sale.
Chromebook popularity could prompt another round of Intel CPU shortages
Intel may be facing worsening shortages of its 14nm CPU lines as a new generation of Chromebooks ship out in the coming weeks. A new report suggests that we may have to wait until the end of the summer before supply can catch up with demand, which could lead to Intel CPU price rises in the short term.
AMD Ryzen 3000 Threadripper CPUs will launch in 2019
AMD has confirmed that its high-end, Ryzen 3000 Threadripper processors will be released before the end of the year. Announced in an investor presentation, AMD claimed that we'll first see second-generation Ryzen Pro mobile CPUs unveiled, followed in turn by Ryzen 3000 desktop and Threadripper chips.
Nvidia GTX 16 series: Everything we know so far
The GTX 1660 Ti is officially out and about, suddenly released by Nvidia to very little fanfare. No word yet on other cards in the 16-series, though it'd be quite odd to have a 1660 Ti and not have a 1660. Here's everything we know about these new cards, and how they stand in the market of graphics cards.
Grab Alienware’s massive 34-inch curved G-Sync gaming monitor for $450 off
Dell is selling its 34-inch ultrawide gaming displays at a sizeable discount and there are multiple options to choose from. For $750 or $900 you can get 34-inches of premium IPS monitor with G-Sync support and high-resolutions for extra detail in your favorite games and increased productivity.
Nvidia’s 1660 Ti could bring Turing power to laptops without ray tracing
Nvidia's GTX 1660 Ti was its first Turing graphics card without ray tracing and DLSS support. The reduced price tag and decent performance should still make it popular, though, and a mobile counterpart that may be in the works could as well if it makes its way to laptops in the coming months.
Logitech’s G MX518 gaming mouse pairs classic looks with all-new tech
Logitech has relaunched its classic MX518 gaming mouse in the form of the G MX518. It has the same classic shape and style, but with a new paint job and new insides. There's a fancy new sensor, a fast internal processor, and enough memory for multiple profiles that you can take on the go with you.
Microsoft extension adds Google Chrome support for Windows Timeline
Microsoft has launched a new official extension for Google's Chrome that makes the browser compatible with the Windows Timeline function. Now users of both Windows and Chrome will be able to resume browsing sessions across multiple devices or days or even weeks apart. This may not be the last browser added, either.
Nvidia promises DLSS at low resolutions will be ‘top priority’ in future updates
Nvidia's deep learning super sampling is far from perfect even six months after its debut with the RTX graphics cards. Nvidia has made it clear that it's aware of the issues and has pledged to try and fix them with more training of its A.I. algorithm, specifically targeting lower resolutions.
Windows is getting a face-lift in 2020, but you can get a sneak peek right now
An update to Windows 10 that won't be released to the wider user base until 2020 is now available for testing even though the late-2019 update hasn't been released to Windows Insiders yet. It reportedly requires a longer lead time for testing, which may help ward off the bugs we saw with the October update.
This Mac keyboard is slim, dark, and clicky, but it’s still not perfect
The Keychron K1 is a new entry in the niche market of high-end mechanical keyboards for Macs. It has RGB backlighting, tactile and clicky mechanical switches, and a USB-C connector. It can even operate wirelessly and is priced competitively. But with all that going for it, it's still not perfect.
RTX 2070 is the most popular Turing GPU for Steam gamers
Nvidia's RTX 2070 is the most popular Turing graphics card on Steam according to the latest hardware survey results. Although none of the cards have eclipsed their 10-series counterparts in popularity, the RTX 2070 is well ahead of the RTX 2060, 2080, and 2080 Ti, as well as AMD's high-end Vega options.
AMD Navi graphics cards may not reach gamers until October
A new rumor suggests AMD's hotly expected Navi line of graphics cards may not launch until October, months later than was originally expected. The next-gen architecture will be based on a 7nm process like the Radeon VII and may end up in next-gen games consoles, but now the release is up in the air.
Intel’s chips are still vulnerable, and the new Ice Lake won’t patch everything
Intel's Ice Lake might have hardware fixes for Spectre variants, but those won't be worth upgrading for, according to our expert. The new range of CPUs is coming later this year, but it won't do much to protect against the worst problems of Spectre and other speculative execution exploits.
DLSS boosts Nvidia RTX graphics by up to 50 percent in 3DMark
Nvidia's RTX graphics cards can now net even higher frame rates and scores in UL Benchmark's 3DMark Port Royal benchmark thanks to the implementation of DLSS. If you download the latest driver you should see a big improvement in your FPS as well as an uptick in the overall crispness of the visuals rendered.
Nvidia cuts clock speed on laptop-oriented RTX 2080 Max-Q, but keeps CUDA cores
Nvidia has had to slash the clock speeds of the Max-Q versions of its RTX graphics chips to bring their thermal power requirements down to manageable levels. While the RTX 2080 and 2070 Max-Q designs maintain their full complement of CUDA cores, their clock speeds have almost been cut in half.
Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Ti may launch right after Valentine’s Day
Nvidia may have not one, not two, but three GTX Turing graphics cards to debut in the coming months, according to rumors. We will reportedly see the GTX 1660 Ti launch on February 15, with the non-Ti 1660 and 1650 said to debut in early and mid-March, fleshing out Nvidia's midrange graphics card range.
HTC Vive vs. Vive Pro
The new top-tier VR headset from HTC is impressive, but how does it fare when you pit the HTC Vive vs. Vive Pro? It's a tough matchup as the Vive Pro has better specs, but it's so much more expensive it needs to do a lot to justify the costly upgrade. Can more pixels and better audio do enough to sway us?
AMD’s Graphics Core Next successor could give a big boost to parallel computing
A newly published AMD patent application has revealed a new type of stream processor which could make its way into the company's graphics cards. It would seemingly improve the parallel compute functions of AMD's aged Graphics Core Next architecture to raise performance and lower power draw.
Always have way too many tabs open? Google Chrome might finally help
Google's Canary version of its Chrome browser has a new experimental feature to play with: Tab grouping. It allows users to combine tabs that are of a similar topic together, making them easier to manage, and easier to find amidst all the others tabs you have open. It does require a right-click though.
You could be gaming on AMD’s Navi graphics card before the end of the summer
AMD's Radeon VII isn't even out yet but we've already heard tell that its next-generation Navi architecture could be less than six months away. Navi will reportedly make its big entry-level to midrange debut at E3 in June with a general release of various graphics cards just one month later.
AMD Radeon VII will support DLSS-like upscaling developed by Microsoft
AMD's Radeon VII may one day soon support more than high-powered graphics. It could also deliver a DLSS-like upscaling feature developed by Microsoft called DirectML. The open technology wouldn't be locked to Nvidia GPUs and could see wider adoption because of that, including showing up in next-gen consoles.
Chip off the auction block – Intel’s i9-9990XE may be sold to the highest bidder
Intel may be set to expand its ninth-generation extreme CPUs by one more notch, though it's a curious mix and priced oddly. The alleged 9990-XE will drop four cores to just 14, but will increase its frequency to 5GHz when boosted and will have a TDP of 255w. It will also be sold at auction once per quarter.
Oculus Rift vs. Vive Pro
Oculus Rift vs. Vive Pro -- can the aging Oculus VR headset compete with HTC's new, high-end successor to our favorite VR headset? While its price might be far more affordable, the question remains of whether its features can stand up to a new-generation of heaset come with new tracking support and fancier displays.
This ‘computer mouse’ sets the new size standard for portable computing
People have been putting Raspberry Pi computers in all sorts of chassis over the past few years, but have you ever seen one in a mouse before? That's what one hardware hacker has achieved, along with a full-size scroll wheel, twin mouse buttons, a 1.5-inch display, and a miniature Bluetooth keyboard.
Firefox will disable Flash on its browsers by default in 2019
Mozilla will officially disable the Flash plugin by default in a 2019 release build, potentially as soon as September. A new bug report highlights a "deprecation roadmap" which will see Flash disabled by default in the Firefox 69 Nightly build followed by a stable release in September.
The best mice and keyboards of CES 2019
CES 2019 has a tonne of exciting new hardware and software on show, but you can't enjoy the best of it if you don't have a good mouse and keyboard to control them with. Here's our roundup of the best mice and keyboards that the Consumer Electronics Show has to offer this year, RGB lighting and all.
All of Lenovos’ new CES monitors are ultra-fast and ultra-huge
Lenovo has a trio of new monitors on display at this year's Consume rElectronics Show. All launched as part of its Legion range, these high-speed displays are big, bold, and are jam packed with features for gamers and professionals alike. They're not cheap, but they may end up the envy of gamers everywhere.