Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO and transition to a new position at the company as executive chair of the Amazon board in Q3 2021. Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will replace Bezos as Amazon CEO.
“Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else,” commented Bezos in an email announcing the change. “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions.”
Bezos has served as Amazon’s CEO since he founded the company in 1994, and he has presided over the e-commerce giant as it grew from an online bookstore into one of the most dominant technology companies in the world.
Under Bezos’ stewardship, Amazon has come to rule over internet commerce, established itself as a backbone of the infrastructure of the modern web through its Amazon Web Services products, built a subscription empire around its Amazon Prime services, launched popular technology products like the Echo and Kindle lines of devices, and even started dabbling in physical retail through grocery stores and an acquisition of Whole Foods.
Bezos has also prospered as head of the company, with skyrocketing wealth that (until just a few weeks ago) made him the single richest human on Earth, with a net worth of nearly $180 billion.
Bezos’ transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board will mean he’ll be slightly more removed from the day-to-day business of running the nearly $1.7 trillion company, allowing him to focus his “energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.” Those projects will include the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund, which Bezos established last year, and Blue Origins, his aerospace firm, which recently resumed test flights at the end of 2020.
Jassy is a familiar face at the company, having joined back in 1997. He has led the Amazon Web Services team since it was founded in 2003 and was named the CEO of AWS in 2016. The choice of Jassy — who has headed Amazon’s cloud service business since the beginning — over a retail or hardware executive is a telling one for Amazon’s priorities as a company.
Amazon’s cloud business is a huge part of the company (and the internet at large, to the point where AWS outages can take down whole swaths of internet for hours), and its new leadership choice reflects that. It’s also a parallel to other major tech CEOs, like Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, who was similarly an instrumental part of the company’s cloud and server business before taking charge of Microsoft in 2014.
It’ll still be some time before Jassy takes over, though — Bezos isn’t set to transition to his new role until Q3 2021.
(Pocket-lint) – Each year Xiaomi’s Redmi offshoot – known for its budget phones – updates its latest and greatest with a mid-cycle ‘T’ variant, adding a little more to proceedings. In the case of the Redmi Note 9T the goal was to step beyond the already impressive Note 9 – which we found to be a stellar affordable 5G phone.
Problem is, things don’t always go entirely to plan. When we first received the Note 9T it had a software version that we couldn’t then get to update after moving into the phone – which caused umpteen issues with disappearing apps, inability to Cast, intermittent Bluetooth connections, payment verification problems, and more.
But, fear not, it was resolvable. A hard reset later and after installing all relevant apps manually from the Google Play Store, the Redmi Note 9T – on MIUI version 12.0.4 – ironed out the most pertinent of those highlighted problems. But was that initial dark cloud a sign of what was to come, or has our week-long experience using the Note 9T been all sunny skies?
Design & Display
Finishes: Nightfall Black, Daybreak Purple
Build: Glass front panel, plastic rear & frame
Dimensions: 161.2 x 77.3 x 9.1mm / Weight: 199g
Side-positioned fingerprint scanner (in power button)
Display: 6.53-inch LCD, 1080 x 2340 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
It’s all too easy to forget that the Redmi Note 9T is a fairly budget phone. Because, ultimately, it doesn’t look like one. Xiaomi does a decent job in hiding away any real telling signs. No, you don’t get the premium glass rear or other flashy colours as you might further up various ranges, but that’s hardly a concern for a device that isn’t pretending to be a flagship.
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Dressed in its ‘Nightfall Black’ finish here, the Redmi Note 9T is more than befitting of its price point. That plastic rear has a subtle texture that helps to hide fingerprinting, while the protruding circular camera unit – well, ‘designated area’ really, as the top and bottom of the actual protrusion are squared-off absentees – makes the rear panel look altogether more like a case (it’s not, though, as it’s not removable – and, no, don’t try and pull it really hard).
The 6.53-inch screen is the kind of scale that’s very current, delivering decent resolution too. Typically around this price point there’s a fall-out from Full HD to a lower density – look at the Moto G9 Power, for example – but the Redmi holds onto that Full HD+ resolution across its well-proportioned 19.5:9 aspect ratio panel. That’s as sharp as you need.
It’s not the very brightest or most colour-popping LCD panel ever, but you’d never notice that in isolation (as we have a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra running in tandem, however, it’s clear as day – but the Samsung is more than four times the price). Initially we had issues with the 9T’s auto-dimming being overzealous, which is particularly notable when ambient light is low. It’s a long-time issue for the series – and one that Motorola used to have, but since fixed – that we hope Xiaomi’s software will address in the future.
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Rather than opting for an under-display fingerprint scanner sign-in method, the Note 9T has a side-positioned fingerprint scanner, which doubles-up as the power button. While this position has never been our favourite – largely because Android apps now present a massive ‘press here’-style fingerprint on the screen itself, so you’ll typically want to press the screen – it’s largely effective in this setup, responsive the majority of the time, and easy to reach.
Performance & Battery
MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor, 4GB RAM
64GB storage (128GB optional), microSD slot
5,000mAh battery, 18W fast-charging
MIUI 12 software
5G connectivity
Performance is a game of two halves though. That’s the one thing that gets us about the Redmi Note 9T. It always feels as though there’s some jostling between software – battery optimisations and specific permissions, for example – and the hardware on offer. Because MediaTek’s Dimensity 800 is no slouch – it’s a decent enough chipset designed to bring 5G connectivity to a wider audience.
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But the whole package doesn’t always play ball. There’s a lot of tinkering that you’ll need to do with this Redmi to get the most out of it. Whether that’s ensuring per-app permissions are setup to allow, say, Strava to keep tracking – it’s still hit-and-miss anyway – or for the vibration to just dang well stop (it’s on by default in silent mode, which is bananas if you ask us; plus there’s a separate treatment for touch vibration feedback hidden elsewhere in the menus), there’s a sense that Xiaomi’s MIUI software still isn’t quite simple and easy enough.
That was even telling after our first install, with version 12.0.1 fired up, and the numerous issues we had, as mentioned up top in this review. It goes to show just how incredibly important a smooth software experience is – and that’s what we’ve been saying these Redmi devices haven’t quite handled perfectly to date (Xiaomi’s Mi 10T Pro felt like a step down from the 9T Pro to us too). But if you’re OK with knowing what you’re getting then it’s not a big issue, per se, it’s just that competitors like Motorola do better by comparison – if you’re alright with getting a less powerful device for about the same cash, anyway.
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But back to Redmi. The Note 9T has the guts inside to handle a variety of tasks, including gaming. But there are still bugs, especially when it comes to graphics. In South Park Phone Destroyer – yes, we’re a bit obsessed, it’s our standard benchmark for any mobile device review as a result – top layer graphics (i.e. the cards you play in the game) won’t display. Which is a massive problem that means the game is close to unplayable – we’ve only been able to continue on another device. Nothing to do with smoothness or frame-rate – that stuff’s all fine – just an experience with how this hardware and software combination doesn’t quite succeed.
However, get everything arranged as you like – there’s an app drawer or full screen icons options – and the experience is amenable. And it’ll last for a long time – as the 5,000mAh battery on board helps things last an age. We’ve been getting only about half way through the charge over the course of a single day, so two-day life really isn’t out of the question.
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Software plays a major part in that longevity though. And it’s why you’ll need to tell certain apps through background settings that they’re allowed to run at all times, self launch, and do as they please. Which is rather reflective of the Redmi Note 9T experience.
Cameras
Triple rear camera system:
Main (26mm equivalent): 48-megapixel, 0.8µm pixel size, f/1.8 aperture
Macro: 2MP, f/2.4 / Depth: 2MP, f/2.4
Single punch-hole selfie camera (29mm equiv.)
13-megapixel, 1.12µm pixel size, f/2.3 aperture
Last up is the camera arrangement. It’s a triple rear unit – we know it looks like a quad arrangement, but the fourth is the LED light/flash – that, well, only really contains one camera of much use.
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As is typical with budget phones these days there’s the sense that “more equals better”. We don’t think so, though, as it just makes for a more cumbersome looking rear unit, with the 2-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel depth sensors most likely never going to be used at all.
Which leaves the main 48-megapixel sensor to do the hard work. It uses pixel binning – that being it combines four into one – to squeeze more colour and detail out of a scene, rendering frames as 12-megapixels by default. But that’s still huge – it’s like a 4K TV with yet another half-a-4K-TV all pressed into the one image. So scale is no issue whatsoever.
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What’s more trying are certain shooting conditions. We got some decent shots in the late evening, with colours still popping nicely considering the lack of light. But there’s some visible grain that detracts from the detail.
The Note 9T’s main camera is perfectly good enough for a phone – results are even better in daylight – and it fits the bill of what to expect here. Just don’t forget to turn off the default watermark otherwise you’ll want to punch yourself after seeing it plastered over every image (why oh why it’s even an option we have no idea).
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To the front is a punch-hole selfie camera, which cuts a circular opening through the screen. It’s a little large and almost casts a shadow onto content sometimes, which is odd, but it’s all par for the course these days. It’s 13-megapixels and can deliver selfies with usable results.
Overall, the Note 9T sounds like it’s got a grand selection of cameras, but it’s an oversell. Disregard the ‘triple’ on the rear – and it’s a bit of a shame there’s no ultra-wide to be found – and it’s got a workable main and selfie camera combination.
Verdict
The Redmi Note 9T represents great value for money. It’s got a big screen with ample resolution, it doesn’t look or feel like a budget phone – yet affordability is very much its key strength.
So what’s the catch? Well, there’s a bit of push and pull with the software. To get the most out of this phone you’ll need to tinker a bit to get some apps to function to their fullest. And while we’ve experienced some typical issues – excessive screen dimming on the software side, the cameras being an oversell on the hardware side – there’s also been some unexpected oddities, such as particular graphics not loading within games.
Given the context of its asking price, however, the Redmi Note 9T is a capable device that will deliver more core power and features than, say, a comparable Motorola device. But we feel there’s so much more just beneath the surface that’s desperate to get out.
Also consider
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Moto G 5G Plus
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It’s a spot more cash, but Moto’s software experience is just that much better out of the box. It suffers some similar hardware issues to the Redmi – the cameras being an oversell, there’s no under-display fingerprint scanner – but, for us, the user experience here is just a cut above.
Read our review
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Redmi Note 9
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Xiaomi is offering massive discounts on the already affordable ‘non-T’ version of the Redmi Note 9. If you can find it for a sub-£/€200 price point then it’s a no-brainer choice, even over the 9T!
Nvidia’s cloud-based gaming service, GeForce Now, has just received a new update that features new support for Google Chrome’s web-browser and support for Apple’s M1 based Macs (through the native macOS app).
With the addition of Google Chrome, now any device or computer capable of running Chrome should be capable of running GeForce Now. However, Nvidia says they do not guarantee support on devices that are on operating systems other than macOS or Windows. Specifically, that means Nvidia still doesn’t officially support Linux platforms.
We conducted some cursory testing with the Chrome-based GeForce Now app on a Windows 10 machine and found it was very close to the native app experience. However, several options are missing in the settings menu compared to the native app: There is no 30 fps option (60 fps only), no option to change VSync, and the toggle to “adjust for poor network conditions” is missing as well.
Besides the missing options, the gameplay experience was good. Testing with Shadow of the Tomb Raider yielded excellent results; image quality, smoothness, and frame rates were great (with help from a wired 300 Mbps down/30 Mbps up ISP connection). The only minor difference we spotted with our limited selection of tests was in Apex Legends, where switching from the Chrome app to the native-app yielded a barely noticeable decrease in input lag. However, this is a small problem; if you play games casually instead of competitively, this should be a non-issue.
Overall the Chrome version works well, but if you can run the native app, it would be best to do so to get the best experience possible. Nvidia’s Chrome implementation is mostly aimed towards devices that aren’t capable of running the native GeForce Now apps in the first place, like Windows 10 ARM-based devices. Unfortunately, we were not able to test the M1 Mac update at this time.
Before the Raspberry Pi Pico arrived, there was a sharp distinction between the Raspberry Pi and Arduino ecosystems. The Pi is a Linux computer that boots up into a full operating system and the Arduino is a microcontroller that just runs one program at a time. With the arrival of the Raspberry Pi Pico, which is itself a microcontroller, and the new RP2040 SoC, the distinction has blurred. Raspberry Pi Foundation now makes its own silicon, and is enabling partners to use ‘Pi Silicon’ in their boards including Arduino which is working on its own RP2040-based board with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Both the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi Pico are great for physical computing projects where the main goal is to activate lights, motors and sensors reliably, without all the overhead of running a full-operating system. You can even use either one in combination with a regular Raspberry Pi, and use one for higher-level tasks like A.I. and the other for interfacing with electronic components.
The first Arduino board was introduced in 2005 and, since then, millions have been sold and a huge ecosystem has arisen. Meanwhile, the Raspberry Pi Pico just launched recently, but already we’re seeing a ton of support for it. So which is better and which should you use in your next project? To help you decide, we’ll compare the two platforms based on functionality, value, power consumption and more.
Functionality and GPIO of Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Raspberry Pi Pico introduces a new form factor to the Raspberry Pi ecosystem, a 40 pin ‘DIP’ style PCB. All 40 pins are broken out to standard pads and, around the perimeter, there are castellations which can be used to solder the Pico to a carrier board in a similar fashion to surface mount electronics.
The DIP package is nothing new, Arduino boards such as the Micro have been using it for years. The DIP package can be soldered into a carrier board, placed into a breadboard or stacked atop compatible addons. It is a more convenient package compared to the Raspberry Pi and Arduino Uno style layouts which favour a larger layout. Adopting the DIP layout, the Raspberry Pi Pico provides us with an easy to use form factor which is easy to embed into a project.
The Raspberry Pi Pico GPIO offers plenty of digital IO, three analog inputs and multiple I2C, SPI and UART connections. But what the Pico also offers are a series of programmable IO (PIO) pins which can be configured to simulate other interfaces / protocols such as WS2812 “NeoPixels”, they can also be used to offload complex tasks to a background process. All of this from a $4 board means the Raspberry Pi Pico is a low cost “Swiss Army knife” of GPIO pins.
Winner: Raspberry Pi Pico
SoC of Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The older and more popular Arduino boards are powered by Atmel chips such as the ATMega328P but the later boards now feature Arm CPUs. For example Arduino’s Portenta H7 has a dual core Arm Cortex M7+M4 CPU. While the ATMega328 is never going to compete with an Arm processor, it is a reliable chip for projects, proven by the countless number of Arduino projects on offer.
Arm chips are becoming more common with microcontrollers, Adafruit, Seeed and SparkFun have all developed boards with Arm chips. Microcontrollers do not necessarily need multiple cores and fast speeds as they are typically used for a single part of a process.
The RP2040 used in the Raspberry Pi Pico is a level above a typical microcontroller. First of all, we have a dual core Arm Cortex M0+ running at up to 133 MHz, much faster than an UNO’s 16 MHz 328P. SRAM on the RP2040 is 264KB, again much more than the Uno’s 2KB. With only 32KB of flash storage the Uno again falls short of the 2MB found on the Pico.
But how does the Pico shape up against Arduino’s flagship board the Portenta H7? Well the Portenta H7 features a dual core Arm Cortex M7 + M4 that can run up to 480 MHz and have up to 2MB of flash storage and 1MB of RAM. The Portenta H7 also comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, camera interface and a GPU. The Portenta H7 blows the Raspberry Pi Pico out of the water in every way, except the price. Retailing for €89.90 (excluding taxes) which is approximately $109, the Portenta H7 has a high price for the level of tech squeezed within it. To put it into perspective, $109 would buy 27 Raspberry Pi Pico boards.
Winner: Raspberry Pi Pico
Coding Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Arduino IDE is the go to editor for Arduino projects, but there are alternatives in the form of PlatformIO and Arduino Create, a cloud IDE from Arduino. But the Arduino IDE is still what many use and think of when they see “Arduino.”
The Arduino IDE has improved over the years and now we see built in features such as multiple board management and a means to search and install libraries of packages for add-ons and accessories. Arduino Create is a cloud version of the Arduino IDE. It is designed for IoT projects, but it can still be used to tinker with even the most basic Arduino code. PlatformIO comes in three versions, a command line tool, a dedicated IDE, or it can integrate with your existing IDE for example Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code.
As we noted in our Raspberry Pi Pico review, the new platform has two officially supported languages, C and MicroPython. Currently C/C++ on the Raspberry Pi Pico is a workflow best left for advanced users. In fact, Raspberry Pi officially suggests using MicroPython with the Pico especially for new users.
If you would like to write C code on your Raspberry Pi Pico, then you have two main choices. Write the code in an editor (Vi / Vim. nano etc) and then build the code using terminal tools, or set up Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code and use a number of extensions to create a workflow to build and flash code to the Pico. Both of these approaches are possible but they are not the most user friendly. However, help may soon be at hand via an update to the Arduino IDE with support for the RP2040 chip.
If Python is your preferred language, then you are in luck as the Raspberry Pi Pico supports MicroPython, a version of Python 3 for microcontrollers. At launch, MicroPython can be written in two ways, directly into the Python Shell, known as the REPL (Read, Eval, Print, Loop) or we can use an IDE such as Thonny which has support baked in from version 3.3.0 onwards. The path of least resistance is via MicroPython: we can quickly write and deploy our code from the fantastic Thonny editor and we’re using a standard language that’s very popular and used across a variety of platforms.
Winner: Raspberry Pi Pico
Ease of Use on Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Other Raspberry Pi boards are computers. Once we have our OS on the SD card, we use them in the same manner as any computer. But with the Raspberry Pi Pico we see a change of workflow.
No matter our language choice, we need to flash the Pico with an image for that language. This then enables us to write and save code directly to the board. The format of choice for images is UF2, a USB flashing format from Microsoft which has been championed by Adafruit for their CircuitPython range of boards. We just need to press the BOOTSEL button as we plug in the micro USB cable, drop the UF2 file onto the RPI-R2 drive and, in a few seconds, we can start writing code. This ease of use is evident in the MicroPython workflow. Once we have the MicroPython UF2 file on the Pico, we can simply connect using Thonny and start writing code.
The C/C++ workflow is a little more advanced and something that would put off those new to the scene as it requires significant “hoop jumping” in which to create a final product. From a terminal, we need to write the project code in a text editor, then after downloading extra applications and dependencies, we can “build” the project into a UF2 file which is then manually copied to the Pico.
A slightly more automated process is available via Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code, in which we can write the project code and build via just a few clicks. That’s not the most user friendly process for newbies, but this is set to change and it is thanks to Arduino. The Arduino team announced that they are working on an Arduino core for the RP2040. What does this mean? Well it offers the chance to use the Arduino IDE with the Raspberry Pi Pico and other RP2040 based boards
The Arduino IDE workflow has been influenced by years of improvements and feedback; the entire process happens in app with very limited interaction from the user. ore advanced users can change the board, ports and libraries used in a project, features which have seen great improvement in recent Arduino IDE releases.
There are alternatives to the Arduino IDE, including Arduino Create, a cloud version of the IDE which is free for limited use, but to do anything “serious” we need to sign up for a paid plan. The Arduino Create IoT Cloud is a means to create applications based around the Arduino ecosystem and it works exceptionally well, but you will need to invest a little time to learn the process.
How easy to physically use are the Pico and Arduino boards? The first big difference is that the Raspberry Pi Pico comes unsoldered. This is no great issue as it is easy to solder your own pins, provided that you have a soldering iron. Typically Arduino boards comes pre-soldered, with the exception of DIP based board such as the Arduino Nano Every and Nano 33 IoT. With presoldered Arduinos we can start hacking straight out of the box.
Winner: Raspberry Pi Pico
Power Consumption on Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino
The Raspberry Pi Pico is an efficient board for embedded projects. Compared to a typical Raspberry Pi, the Pico consumes much less current, because it is a microcontroller with none of the overheads that a computer brings.
In our review test we powered a Raspberry Pi Pico running 12 Neopixel LEDS at full brightness from a 5V power supply. We recorded 140mA current draw, 0.7W! This is remarkable as a Raspberry Pi 4 running idle with nothing connected would run at 4-5W. So compared to Raspberry Pi, the Pico sips power but how does it compare to an Arduino Uno running the same test?
We recorded 5V at 90mA, 0.45W! So the Arduino Uno consumes the least amount of power but then that was to be expected given that it has the slowest processor. If we were to repeat the test with another board, say the Portenta H7, then we would see a much higher power use as the Arm CPU used on the Portenta is more powerful than even the RP2040.
Winner: Arduino
Which is Better: Raspberry Pi Pico or Arduino?
At $4 and with an impressive selection of GPIO pins, ease of use and great documentation, the Raspberry Pi Pico is the best board for microcontroller projects. For such a small amount of money you get official hardware and know that it will work as expected, unlike other clone boards.
Don’t get us wrong; we have many clone boards in our workshop, but each of those boards has its own quirks that we must work around. Right now MicroPython is your best bet to quickly get up and running with your Pico, but once the Arduino IDE is updated to support the Pico, this will greatly improve the C/C++ workflow to a point where even Arduino fans may just be tempted to try out the Raspberry Pi Pico over their previous favorite.
The Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC), an industry consortium that develops performance benchmarks for servers and data centers and includes names like AMD, Intel, and IBM, has accused Nvidia of violating the TPC’s Fair Use Policy. To compare the performance of its GPUs against other machines, Nvidia presented results from workloads derived from official TPC benchmark workloads and compared them to official TPC results, a violation of the group’s fair use policy.
At its GTC Fall 2020 virtual event last year, Nvidia presented a paper called State of RAPIDS: Bridging the GPU Data Science Ecosystem. In the paper, Nvidia demonstrated the advantages of its RAPIDS suite of GPU-accelerated software libraries for data science workflows over competing hardware and software platforms.
Among other things, Nvidia compared results of its GPUs in workloads similar to those from the TPCx-BB, a TPC big data analytics benchmark that measures the performance of Hadoop-based Big Data systems. The benchmark executes 30 regularly performed analytical queries in the context of retailers with physical and online stores. The queries use regular SQL for structured data and machine learning algorithms for semi-structured and unstructured data. The TPCx-BB benchmark workloads are precise and subject to TPC’s Fair Use Policies.
The GPU giant claimed that its platform “outperformed by nearly 20x the record for running the standard big data analytics benchmark, known as TPCx-BB.” However, Nvidia didn’t run the workloads designed by TPC and used similar workloads instead, which violates TPC’s policies and makes such comparisons invalid and generally unfair. However, Nvidia did mark the version of the TPCx-BB benchmark it used as ‘not official.’
“The TPC actively encourages publicizing of TPC results by all organizations, including the press, market researchers, financial analysts and non-profit organizations,” said Mike Brey, chairman of the TPC Steering Committee. “However, to ensure that users and readers of TPC results are given a fair and complete representation of TPC data, the TPC requests that all users follow the Fair Use rules, outlined in TPC policies, when publishing or publicizing results.”
The TPC said it was working with Nvidia to correct the issue.
TPC is led by companies that produce CPUs, servers, and business software, including AMD, IBM, and Intel. It also includes cloud data center operators like Alibaba, Microsoft, and Oracle. Nvidia is not a member of the TPC.
If you can’t find a PS5 or Xbox Series X, how about an $80,000 electric sports car with comparable performance? Tesla just announced its refreshed Model S today, and a new “Plaid” powertrain isn’t its only performance enhancement — the company claims the car can now compete with next-gen gaming consoles, thanks to a 10-teraflop gaming computer that will apparently come with every new model.
Assuming that refers to GPU performance and Tesla isn’t wildly exaggerating, that might indeed be competitive with a PS5 or Xbox Series X, which offer 10.28 teraflops and 12 teraflops of raw GPU power respectively. There’s more to performance than teraflops, though.
Now, you might ask: who’s going to put a game in your car that might actually take advantage of a gaming PC? For that, I must ask you to look closely at the images above and below. Behold: CD Projekt’s acclaimed sword-slinging adventure The Witcher 3, just as Musk foretold:
Want to play The Witcher game on your Tesla? (you can already watch the show on Tesla Netflix theater)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2020
Here are a number of things we still do not know:
Is The Witcher 3 actually coming to Tesla, and when? (We’ve asked CD Projekt.)
Can you play it on the 17-inch, 2200 x 1300-pixel main display, or only on the 8-inch second row display? Or both?
Will you need a new controller? (Tesla says it has “wireless controller compatibility” but that’s all we know.)
Who’s making the GPU? (We’ve pinged Nvidia and AMD.)
Who is going to sit in their $80,000 sports car and play a 70+ hour game? (fingers crossed for cloud saves)
Why not Cyberpunk? (Okay, this one’s a joke.)
You can see the claims for yourself at Tesla’s Model S website, though they’re a little buried: you have to go to the shop, scroll down to “Interior” and click on “Feature Details.”
Tesla’s been bringing games to its cars for a while now: we tried out Tesla Arcade on a Model 3 back in 2019, and both the first level of Cuphead and a car karaoke mode came to the company’s in-car software later that year. Fallout Shelter was added to the cars last year.
AMD reported its fourth-quarter 2020 and full-year results today, setting new records as it continues to whittle away market share from its archrival Intel despite the challenges associated with the pandemic and US-China trade war. AMD is making strides in all facets of its operation; CPU, GPU, data center, and console sales are all strong, but exceptional demand driven by the pandemic has led to rolling shortages.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said the shortages primarily impact the gaming (both consoles and gaming CPUs and GPUs) and the low end of the PC market, and overall demand has exceeded its planning. That’s particularly challenging given that, in the first quarter of availability, the company’s Ryzen 5000 processors have sold twice the number of units compared to any other Ryzen series in history.
Su expects to see ‘tightness’ throughout the first half of 2021 until added production capacity comes online. That means we could see a limited supply of AMD’s PC and console chips until the middle of the year. Su also explicitly called out the low end of the PC market and consoles as being impacted the most, meaning higher-margin products are more readily available at retail.
Interestingly, AMD’s inventory swelled during the quarter, reaching $1.4 billion in unsold goods (up from $930 million the prior quarter), which seems odd given that the company has unmet demand. An AMD representative tells us that the company’s inventory values can consist of chips in various stages of production, so it’s possible that AMD’s increased wafer starts at TSMC has resulted in more chips in various stages of production. AMD also confirms that packaging shortages continue to be a pinch point in the supply chain. That implies that there could be plenty of chip dies also awaiting packaging, meaning lithographic capacity at TSMC (i.e., wafer starts) aren’t the only factor impacting the company’s ability to deliver chips.
If there’s one certainty, it’s that AMD is selling every chip it can put on shelves. AMD raked in a record $3.24 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter, up 53% over the year prior, and net income weighed in at $1.78 billion, a staggering 948% increase over the prior year, albeit buoyed by an income tax benefit of $1.3 billion.
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(Image credit: AMD )
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(Image credit: AMD )
On the client group side of the house that produces both consumer CPUs and GPUs, AMD’s $1.96 billion in Q4 revenue marked an 18% YoY and quarterly increase. AMD says higher sales of Ryzen processors drove this performance and average selling prices (ASPs) increased during the quarter, though ASPs lagged the prior year due to a higher mix of Ryzen Mobile sales.
That higher mix of laptop chips isn’t surprising – AMD recently recorded its highest laptop market share in history. AMD also says that its Ryzen 5000 processors doubled the launch sales of any prior-gen Ryzen processor. As a result, annual processor revenue grew 50% even though the PC market only grew 13%, meaning the company gained more market share during the year.
On the graphics side of the house, Su said that demand for Radeon 6000 GPUs is strong, marking the fastest-selling GPU over $549 in AMD’s history, and ASPs are up for both the quarter and the year. The company will launch RDNA 2 GPUs in the first half of 2021.
For the company’s EESC unit, which comprises its data center and semi-custom business, AMD raked in $1.38 billion in revenue, a 176% year-over-year (YoY) increase. Su said that the Sony PS5 and Microsoft Xbox ramp is faster than the previous cycle, which seems to be a given in light of the constant shortages. AMD says that it expects sales of its console chips to stay strong in the first half of the year, bucking the normal historical trend of reduced console sales in Q1.
AMD lumps both data center and game console processors under this same unit, making it hard to determine how much of the revenue gain can be attributed to its server chip business. However, during the earnings call, Su noted that server processor revenue reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter and now comprises “high mid-teens” percentage of the company’s overall revenue (for both the quarter and the year), implying AMD raked in ~$550 to ~$600 million in revenue for EPYC server chips for the quarter, and ~$1.4 billion for the year. That’s a big step forward but still lags behind Intel’s $6.1 billion in data center revenue in 2020.
AMD did note that its EPYC ASPs were higher sequentially, meaning the company is making more money per chip. Meanwhile, Intel has taken a haircut on ASPs, and thus margins, as it has cut pricing to fend off AMD’s EPYC.
AMD began production of its next-gen EPYC Milan in the fourth quarter of last year and sampled to HPC and cloud providers. Su said the company is on track for the official launch in March with very strong ecosystem support.
(Image credit: AMD )
AMD’s Q4 gross margins were flat YoY at 45%. For the next quarter, AMD guides for $3.2 billion in revenue, up 79% YoY and down 1% on the quarter.
AMD’s full-year results were exceptional, as well. The company raked in a record $9.76 billion in revenue, a 45% YoY jump, and net income hit $2.5 billion, a staggering 630% increase over the prior year.
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For the full-year 2021 guidance, AMD pegs revenue to grow ~37% (~$13B) and non-GAAP gross margins to weigh in at 47%, driven by growth across all of AMD’s business segments.
AMD also says it is on track to complete its Xilinx acquisition, which should be complete by the end of 2021.
Microsoft posted the second quarter of its 2021 financial results today, reporting revenue of $43.1 billion and a net income of $15.5 billion. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 33 percent. We saw some impressive growth for Surface, Xbox, and cloud-related services in Microsoft’s previous quarter, and it’s very much the same this time around.
The PC market just had its first big growth in 10 years, with around 300 million shipments of devices during 2020. The pandemic has impacted the way a lot of people work or learn, and many have turned to laptops to continue remotely.
Windows OEM non-pro revenue has grown by 24 percent for Microsoft, reflecting the demand from consumers. Windows OEM revenue overall, including pro licenses, grew 1 percent in total, likely because of the strong prior Windows 7 upgrade schedule for businesses.
Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox consoles.Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
This is the first quarter of sales of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. While both debuted toward the end of the quarter (November 10th), Microsoft says hardware revenue has grown 86 percent, thanks to the next-gen consoles.
Xbox content and services revenue has also increased by 40 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Gaming has been incredibly popular throughout 2020, and many have clearly turned to Xbox Game Pass and services like xCloud during the pandemic. That’s pushed Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue up 51 percent.
Over on the Surface side, Microsoft’s updated Surface Pro X and Surface Laptop Go also debuted during this quarter. Surface revenue is up 3 percent, but it’s crucially now a $2 billion business for the first time ever. That’s significant for the long-term health of the Surface business, and it comes during an increased demand for laptops and PCs.
Microsoft also just announced an updated Surface Pro 7 Plus device, available only for businesses and schools. The new model includes a bigger battery, Intel’s 11th Gen processors, a removable SSD, and LTE.
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 lineup.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers have also increased to 47.5 million, a 28 percent bump. Microsoft has been focusing on Teams and Microsoft 365 services for consumers, launching a renewed effort to attract more subscribers last year.
Cloud services continue to be a big boost to Microsoft’s revenues, thanks to the general pandemic shift in work and learning behavior. Both Office commercial and consumer are up, with Office 365 Commercial revenue growth up by 21 percent. Server products and cloud services revenue has also increased 26 percent as more businesses rely on cloud services. Azure revenue itself grew 50 percent.
“What we have witnessed over the past year is the dawn of a second wave of digital transformation sweeping every company and every industry,” says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “Building their own digital capability is the new currency driving every organization’s resilience and growth.”
Microsoft is planning to hold an investor call at 5:30PM ET, and we’ll update this article with any relevant information.
With over 300 million active users worldwide (almost half of which are paying subscribers), Spotify is the world’s largest and most popular music streaming service. But thanks to Spotify Connect – arguably the streaming world’s most important feature – you’re no longer restricted to listening to the catalogue solely through your phone or desktop.
The feature allows you to play the catalogue over wi-fi to any compatible audio product (more on that later) you have in your home – and with just two presses of a button! It’s so simple and convenient that streaming service rival Tidal has now launched its own Tidal Connect feature.
Spotify Connect is a godsend for house parties – so long as you trust your friends with the controls! – but it’s really for anyone who wants to easily access Spotify’s 60-million-song-catalogue and curated playlists on hi-fi and AV kit and smart speakers without the hassle of Bluetooth pairing.
So how does it work? How do you set it up? And what are the perks of Spotify Connect?
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33 Spotify tips, tricks and features
What is Spotify Connect?
As we touched upon above, Spotify Connect is a way of playing Spotify through your wireless speaker, soundbar, AV receiver, voice-control smart speaker, or any other compatible device, over wi-fi. That means you can play your favourite tunes anywhere in the house, all without the need for any convoluted Bluetooth pairing between devices every time you want to listen to music. Just note that it’s a Spotify Premium feature, so you won’t be able to benefit from it if you’re a user of Spotify’s free, ad-supported tier.
Best of all, Spotify Connect doesn’t use your smartphone (or tablet or desktop) app to stream music. It plays music directly from its servers to the device, leaving your smartphone free for making calls and all other uses. You only have to use your phone to identify the speaker in the first place and then control music playback.
To ensure the best quality possible, Spotify Connect always streams in 320kbps, which is the highest bitrate Spotify currently offers.
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How does Spotify Connect work? What products support it?
Just like Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect works over wi-fi. It seeks out compatible devices that are connected to the same wi-fi network and links them together to wirelessly to stream music.
To use Spotify Connect, you’ll first need a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer with the Spotify app downloaded on to it. To use Spotify Connect with most devices you’ll also need a Spotify Premium subscription, although some (the PlayStation 4, for example) are happy to work with Spotify Free. Other perks of paying for the Spotify Premium subscription (£9.99, $9.99, AU$11.95 a month) include no ads and being able to pick songs on the mobile app rather than just shuffle.
And then you just need the right product. Chances are you might already have a speaker or amp that supports Spotify Connect: there are heaps of Spotify Connect-enabled products, including smart speakers, music streamers and other hi-fi streaming components, wireless speakers, smart TVs, wearables and car audio systems. You can find the full list of compatible kit here.
Spotify Connect really has become a must-have feature in the AV and particularly audio world, and these days you won’t see many streaming-enabled products without it. In fact, it’s become so ubiquitous it’s usually the first feature you’ll see on a streaming-capable product’s feature list.
Spotify Connect works on one device at a time, unless you’re using a multi-room system such as Sonos, where you can select a group (two rooms or more, set up via Sonos’s app) to stream music to.
Spotify vs Tidal – which is better?
Apple Music vs Spotify – which is better?
How to set up Spotify Connect
Spotify Connect is simple to use. Download the latest version of the Spotify app to your control device – a smartphone, tablet or computer, say – and make sure both it and your chosen product(s) are connected to the same wi-fi network.
On your smartphone, launch Spotify, log into your subscription account, and select a song to start playing. Click the ‘Now Playing’ bar, then the device logo at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. This will show which of your connected products can play from Spotify. Select a device (the text will go from white to green) and music will start playing on that device. Magic!
If you’re using Spotify Connect to listen to a song on another smartphone or tablet, make sure both devices are logged in to the same Spotify account and simply follow the steps above.
On the desktop app, click the ‘Connect to a device’ button in the bottom-right corner. This brings up the devices menu. Select the one you’d like to use, and it’ll do the rest.
Spotify claims using Connect lets you switch between multiple products “without skipping a beat”. In reality, there’s always a tiny bit of delay when you swap products, but it’s much quicker than having to pair to Bluetooth every time.
Once you’re all set, your smartphone or computer becomes the remote control: select a song or playlist, pause, skip or shuffle through Spotify’s vast catalogue.
Another big advantage of using Spotify Connect (especially on a product that supports it natively), is when you fire up the app or switch between products, it will always adjust the volume automatically for the chosen audio product. Pretty neat.
Best music streaming services 2021
How do you use your smartphone while using Spotify Connect?
You can use it normally without worrying that whatever you’re doing – sending a text, playing a game, watching a YouTube clip – will interrupt the music.
All songs are streamed directly from Spotify’s cloud servers to your Spotify Connect product; your phone acts purely as a controller.
First of all, this means playing Spotify won’t sap your smartphone’s battery – a fine reason to invest in a Premium account. Since you’re only using your smartphone or tablet to control playback, it goes a long way in prolonging the battery life.
Secondly, it means you can wish your mum happy birthday or make that pizza delivery call without having to pause and interrupt your carefully curated playlist.
You can also switch between devices seamlessly. Were you listening to Spotify through your headphones on your way home? Once you’ve walked through the door, simply select your Spotify Connect-compatible stereo system in the app and the song will carry on playing through your speakers without having to pause or restart it. If it’s non-stop music you want, you’ve got it.
Listen to the What Hi-Fi? playlist
Does Spotify Connect work with voice control?
If you use a smart speaker, such as the Amazon Echo, Sonos One or Google Nest Audio, you can use voice commands to play music from Spotify on them.
Add your Spotify account to the list of music streaming services (this can be done in the Alexa or Google Home apps) and make sure you select Spotify as your default music player so you don’t have to specify which service to use at every turn. Then simply say “Alexa, play the new Taylor Swift album” or “OK Google, play the John Wick soundtrack” and your smart speaker will comply.
We can’t see the Apple HomePod and HomePod Mini with Siri voice control supporting Spotify Connect anytime soon, although you can play Spotify through those Apple speakers via AirPlay.
But you might not need to rely on other brands and services to get voice controlled Spotify music: there are reports that Spotify is testing its own in-app “Hey Spotify” voice assistant.
We hope that if and when it does happen, Spotify finally unveils that lossless Hi-Fi tier – we’ve had our fingers crossed for over three years now.
MORE:
Read how Spotify saved the music industry but left some genres behind
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AMD’s Ryzen 3000 and Athlon processors (including the unlocked $49 Athlon 3000G) have shaken up the low-cost landscape and made a splash on our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy, but crushing shortages of chips has gripped the industry, which impacts the low end of the market in a particularly painful way. So even though quad-core models with gaming-capable integrated graphics have an MSRP for a mere $100, and the Athlon lineup now dips below 50 bucks (although it’s not always easy to find the 200GE at the moment), supply is short. Intel’s response to AMD’s challenge has brought Hyper-threading to its low-end Pentium processors and two additional cores to the Core i3 line, which greatly improves performance for its budget chips even though they’re still limited in terms of their graphics.
AMD hasn’t released its Ryzen 5000 chips for the low-end yet; the series bottoms out at the Ryzen 5 family. We expect that Ryzen 3 models will come in due course, shaking up our low-end rankings. Intel also has its Rocket Lake processors incoming next month, but these chips will use the refreshed Comet Lake architecture for the Core i3 and below chips, so they probably won’t have much impact on our rankings.
The 200-series AMD chips are surprisingly capable at gaming even without a dedicated card. For more details about how the 200GE stacks up against Intel’s comparable budget chip, see our feature AMD Athlon 200GE vs. Intel Pentium Gold G5400: Cheap CPU Showdown.
For those looking for something with a bit more gaming prowess without having to resort to a dedicated graphics card, AMD’s Ryzen 5 3400G is tough to beat. While the Ryzen 4000 APUs are faster, they’re not readily available and cost a lot more. The 3400G is a solid option but doesn’t offer a big performance boost over previous-generation chips like the Ryzen 5 2400G.
If your budget is a bit more flexible and you’re looking to pair your processor with dedicated graphics for gaming, AMD’s Ryzen 3 3300X is great if you can find it at retail around the MSRP of $120, and Intel’s new Core i5-10600KF is impressive at about twice that amount. But like so many other PC components, both of these processors are hard to find in stock at reasonable prices. Hopefully availability will improve over time, but it probably won’t happen until later in 2021, at which time we’ll have new processors.
When choosing a CPU, consider the following:
You can’t lose with AMD or Intel: Both companies offer good budget chips, and overall CPU performance between comparative parts is closer than it’s been in years. You can see how the chips stack up in our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy. That said, if you’re primarily interested in gaming, Intel’s chips will generally deliver slightly better performance (and consume more power) when paired with a graphics card, while AMD’s Raven Ridge models (like the AMD Ryzen 3 2200G) do a better job of delivering gaming-capable performance at modest settings and resolutions without the need for a graphics card.
Clock speed is more important than core count: Higher clock speeds translate to snappier performance in simple, common tasks such as gaming, while extra cores will help you get through time-consuming workloads faster.
Budget for a full system: Don’t pair a strong CPU with weak storage, RAM and/or graphics.
Overclocking isn’t for everyone, but the ability to squeeze more performance out of a budget offering is enticing. Intel doesn’t have overclocking-capable processors for the sub-$125 market, but AMD’s processors allow for tuning, and in most cases the bundled AMD cooler is sufficient for the task. Automated overclocking features in most motherboards make the process easy, so even the least tech-savvy users can enjoy the benefits.
For even more information, check out our CPU Buyer’s Guide, where we discuss how much you should spend for what you’re looking to do, and when cores matter more than high clock speeds. If you can expand your budget and buy a mainstream or high-end processor, check out our lists of Best CPUs for Gaming and Best CPUs for Applications. Below, you’ll see our favorite budget picks.
The Ryzen 3 3300X unlocks a new level of performance for budget gamers with four cores and eight threads that can push low- to mid-range graphics cards to their fullest. This new processor wields the Zen 2 architecture paired with the 7nm process to push performance to new heights while enabling new features for low-end processors, like access to the speedy PCIe 4.0 interface. The 3300X’s four cores tick at a 3.8 GHz clock rate and boost to 4.3 GHz, providing snappy performance in lightly threaded applications, like games.
AMD includes a bundled Wraith Spire cooler with the processor. Still, you might consider budgeting in a better low-end cooler to unlock the full performance, particularly if you are overclocking. Speaking of which, the Ryzen 3 3300X can overclock to the highest all-core frequencies we’ve seen with a Ryzen 3000-series processor, making it a great chip for enthusiasts. Unlike AMD’s other current-gen Ryzen 3 processors, you’ll need to pair this processor with a discrete GPU, but the low price point leaves extra room in the budget for a more capable graphics card.
You can stick with the value theme and drop this capable chip into existing X470 of B450 motherboards, but you’ll lose access to the PCIe 4.0 interface in exchange for a lower price point. Better yet, AMD will have its new B550 motherboards on offer in June 2020. These new motherboards support the PCIe 4.0 interface but provide lower entry-level pricing that’s a better fit for this class of processor.
When money is tight, being able to game without a graphics card can lead to serious savings. And with RAM prices continuing to soar, those working with small budgets need to tighten the strings anywhere they can.
That makes the four-core, four-thread Ryzen 3 2200G particularly appealing for budget gaming builders and upgraders. The $99 chip delivers solid 720p performance thanks to its Vega on-chip graphics, decent CPU muscle for mainstream tasks, and can be dropped into an existing inexpensive 300-series motherboard (after a requisite BIOS update), to form the basis of a surprisingly capable low-cost PC. It’s also unlocked, so with proper cooling you can tune the graphics or the CPU to best suit your needs.
Overclocking is possible, though officially unsupported
All models provide similar performance after overclocking
Reasons to Avoid
Graphics engine and memory can’t be overclocked
Weak single-threaded performance
AMD’s Athlon 240GE serves as the flagship of the company’s budget lineup, but it still packs a convincing punch for low-end gaming systems. The integrated Radeon Vega 3 graphics facilitate playable frame rates at lower resolutions and quality settings, but the 3.5 GHz base clock is the only differentiating feature between the Athlon 240GE and its counterparts. Due to the unofficial support for overclocking, that means you can tune the Athlon 200GE to the same top performance as the more expensive chips, but at a $20 price savings.
If overclocking isn’t in your plans, the Athlon 240GE is the best budget chip in its price band. Intel’s competing Pentium lineup lacks the graphical horsepower to be serious contenders for the extreme low-end of the budget gaming market, but they are attractive if gaming isn’t your primary goal. That is, of course, if you can find them.
Overclocking is possible, though officially unsupported
All models provide similar performance after overclocking
Reasons to Avoid
Graphics engine and memory can’t be overclocked
Weak single-threaded performance
AMD’s sub-$60 Zen-based Athlon is a good all-around value, thanks to its four computing threads and Vega 3 graphics that are capable of light gaming at lower resolutions and settings. Lightly threaded performance isn’t great, but when you’re spending this little on a CPU, you should expect compromises somewhere. And while it isn’t officially supported by AMD, if you have a compatible motherboard, this chip can be overclocked to eke out some extra CPU performance.
If your build budget can swing it, the $100 Ryzen 3 2200G is a much better chip with more cores and beefier graphics. But if you can only spend $60 or less on your CPU and you aren’t adding a dedicated graphics card, the Athlon 200GE is tough to beat. Intel’s competing Pentiums, the Gold G5400 and G4560, deliver better CPU performance. But they have higher MSRPs, and production shortages have made them hard to find unless you’re willing to spend close to $100 or more, making them incomparable in terms of budget CPUs.
Read: AMD Athlon 200GE Review
Integrated Graphics Gaming Performance
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You won’t find many game titles that will play well at the popular 1920X1080 resolution on the sub-$80 chips, but there are a few. As we can see, AMD’s $100 Ryzen 3 2200G is the undisputed king of the hill for 1080p gaming on integrated graphics, but the Athlon chips also push out playable frame rates in a few titles (if you’re willing to tolerate lower graphics quality settings).
Switching over to 1280×720 finds the Athlon processors providing up to 50 FPS at stock settings and experiencing a decent performance boost from overclocking. Remember, all of the Athlon chips will benefit equally from overclocking, meaning the Athlon 200GE and 220GE will achieve the same level of performance as the overclocked Athlon 240GE. That’s an amazing value for these low-cost chips. It should go without saying, but the Ryzen 3 2200G’s Radeon Vega 8 graphics engine blows through the 1280×720 tests with ease.
Intel’s Pentium lineup, and even the Core i3-8100 for that matter, struggle tremendously under the weight of these titles. Gaming at 1920×1080 is a painful experience: You won’t find many games that are playable on Pentium processors at that resolution. Switching over to the 1280×720 resolution brings the Core i3-8100 and Pentium G5600 into acceptable territory, but those chips still can’t match the Athlon’s performance, not to mention the crazy good savings. Intel’s Pentium G5400 is particularly disappointing, though, due to its pared-down UHD Graphics 610 engine. We wouldn’t recommend this processor for gaming on integrated graphics.
But it’s hard to recommend Pentium processors at all right now. Intel is struggling with a shortage of 14nm production capacity, so these chips are extremely hard to find, and when you do find them, they are subject to severe price gouging.
Discrete GPU Gaming Performance
We focus primarily on integrated graphics gaming performance for ultra-budget chips, but these processors are also a great pairing with low-end discrete graphics cards. Below, we’ve tested the chips paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 at the 1920×1080 resolution to remove any GPU limitations from our tests below. We tested with an Nvidia GeForce 1080 FE graphics card to remove graphics-imposed bottlenecks, but the difference between the processors will shrink with the cheaper graphics cards that are commonly found in budget builds. Provided the performance deltas are small, you can select less expensive models and enjoy nearly the same gaming experience with graphics cards on the lower-end of the GPU benchmarks hierarchy.
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Intel’s Coffee Lake Pentium models come with slight frequency improvements, a 3W increase in the TDP rating, and 4MB of L3 cache. These slight adjustments deliver a surprising boost to performance compared to the previous-gen Kaby Lake models. The Coffee Lake Pentium Gold G5600 even beats out the Kaby Lake Core i3-7100 in most of our gaming benchmarks, highlighting the impressive performance gains Intel made within a single generation.
The G5600 grapples with the Ryzen 3 2200G. The Ryzen 3 2200G is relatively simple to overclock with single-click options in the BIOS, and the bundled cooler provides enough headroom for all but the most extreme overclocking efforts. At stock settings, the 2200G trails the Intel Pentium Gold 5600, but the advantage of AMD’s unlocked multipliers is clear: At $99, the tuned Ryzen 3 2200G’s performance nearly matches the $117 Core i3-8100.
The Ryzen 3 2200G also comes with powerful integrated graphics that provide surprisingly strong gaming performance at lower resolutions and quality settings. That’s a feat the Core i3-8100 simply cannot match. If you’re seeking the absolute best gaming performance (when paired with a dedicated card) regardless of price, the Core i3-8100 fits the bill. If you want the most bang for your buck or plan on gaming on integrated graphics, the Ryzen 3 2200G is the clear value winner.
Productivity Performance
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The Core i3-8100’s solid mixture of frequency and IPC throughput delivered to our expectations. The agile processor took the lead in several of our lightly-threaded applications, like the Adobe Cloud suite, but it is also surprisingly powerful in threaded workloads. The Intel Core i3-8100 also offers superior performance in applications that use AVX instructions, like HandBrake, which is a great addition to its impressively well-balanced repertoire. Much like we observed in our gaming tests, the Core i3-8100 offers the best overall performance.
Even after overclocking, the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X isn’t competitive enough with the Core i3-8100 to justify its higher price tag, and the lack of integrated graphics also restricts its appeal.
The Ryzen 3 2200G continues to impress with its lower price point and competitive performance, not to mention the integrated Vega graphics, making it the obvious choice for budget builders who are willing to spend a little extra time on tuning.
The Pentium lineup excels in most applications, but the Athlon processors also offer an impressive level of performance. It’s also noteworthy that Intel’s Pentium processors don’t accelerate AVX instructions, a staple in many types of rendering applications, while the Athlon processors fully support the densely-packed instructions. Intel’s chips lead in lightly-threaded applications, like web browsers, but the competing AMD chips also offer more than suitable performance in those workloads.
IBM suffered a surprisingly significant loss of business at the end of the year. In the final quarter, sales fell year-on-year by a good six percent to 20, 4 billion US dollars, about 16, 8 billion euros, as IBM announced on Thursday after the US market closed. Net income fell 42 percent to $ 1.3 billion due to high corporate restructuring costs.
The numbers were not well received by investors, the share initially fell by more than seven percent after the trading hours. In terms of profit, IBM exceeded market expectations, but significantly higher sales were expected on Wall Street. In the past twelve months the share price has fallen by 16 percent.
Less growth in the cloud business IBM’s lucrative cloud business with IT services and storage space on the Internet recently grew significantly more slowly than in the previous quarter, as can be seen in the IBM annual report. The sales increased here compared to the same period last year by ten percent to 7.5 billion dollars. Because of the weaknesses in the traditional core hardware business, for example with servers and mainframes, overall group-wide sales have been on the downside for a long time anyway.
In the past financial year, sales rose by five percent to 73, $ 6 billion back. Profits dropped 42 percent to $ 5.5 billion. IBM wants to split off its IT infrastructure business and go public on its own. In future, the focus will be on cloud services and business areas such as data analysis and artificial intelligence, which should bring more growth.
Falling share price IBM has not been able to position itself with a stronger growth in recent years, which investors no longer want to accept. In addition, IBM is preparing to split into two publicly traded companies. In the infrastructure division, which is currently being separated, there are job cuts in Europe. Round 10. 000 Jobs should be dropped, in Germany the United Service Union Verdi speaks of around 1000 jobs. Job cuts in order to compensate for general weaknesses are not well received by investors.
This now has a full impact on the company’s share price. Since Thursday evening, the price of an IBM security has only known one direction: down. Over the course of Friday morning, a share lost around 7, 20 percent. On Thursday, an IBM share was still quoted at 107, 90 euros. Now their value is 100, 05 Euro like. (with material from dpa) / (olb)
The company Kong has released version 2.3 of the microservices gateway of the same name. The current release changes the default settings for running Lua scripts in favor of security. It also brings some additions to the plug-ins for logging and authentication, among other things.
With a view to global use, Route and service names are now specified in UTF-8. In addition to Russian or Japanese characters, emojis may also be part of the service name.
Open instead of secure The secure-by-default principle now applies to the settings: Kong Gateway is set restrictively by default, and if you need more flexible settings, you must activate them explicitly. This is especially true when running Lua code. The scripting language could previously be used for serverless functions as required and they thus potentially had access to the Kong process itself.
There was an explicit recommendation to secure the administration port and, if in doubt, corresponding plug-ins to deactivate in the configuration. Now, however, the software is turning the tables and by default only executes Lua programs in a sandbox. Administrators must explicitly allow extended use.
The sandbox has its own rules Specifically, serverless Functions that Lua code in the sandbox only has access to the Kong PDK (Plugin Development Kit), the OpenResty-ngx APIs and the Lua standard libraries by default. There are three new configuration parameters for sandboxing: untrusted_lua , untrusted_lua_sandbox_requires and untrusted_lua_sandbox_environment .
In the Standard setting sandbox allows the parameter untrusted_lua running Lua code in the sandbox. Via off the loading of Lua code is generally prohibited, while on allows execution without sandbox. The latter setting corresponds to the previous specifications.
untrusted_lua_sandbox_requires is a global setting , which provides additional modules for the sandbox, and with untrusted_lua_sandbox_environment you can define additional Lua variables for the sandbox.
Extended plug-ins There are a few notable additions to the plug-ins from Kong Gateway. The fact that the HTTP log plug-in allows headers to be added to the HTTP request is intended to improve the interaction with observability tools such as Splunk and the tools of the Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK). The key authentication plug-in brings the two new Boolean configuration parameters key_in_header key_in_query , which are set to true by default.
Finally, the parameter require_content_length can be used to specify that the request size limiting Before reading the request body, the plug-in ensures that the header contains a valid content length .
Big gorilla for small services Kong connects an open source API gateway with a load balancer. The gateway has Italian roots and was originally 2009 in Milan. Until the renaming 2017 the company behind it was called Mashape, and the Kong software has been 2015 an open source project.
There is also an enterprise product that offers additional functions for administration, security and high availability. In addition, the enterprise version with Kong Studio contains an adapted version of Insomnia for creating, testing and publishing REST- and GraphQL-based interfaces.
Further innovations in Kong Gateway 2.3 can be found on the Kong blog remove. As with the previous versions 2.1 and 2.2, Kong has released a beta version of Kong Enterprise 2.3 parallel to the open source version.
Intel has published the figures for the fourth quarter and the full year 2020. For the fifth year in a row, the chip giant can report a sales record. In the fourth quarter, sales were exactly 20 billion US dollars, which is about 200 Millions below the result a year ago, but is still a strong result. The fourth quarter is always the strongest at Intel in the full year.
The high turnover does not go hand in hand with an equally increased or constant profit, because here Intel has to decrease by 15% report year over year. Across the quarter, Intel also posted a plus here, but this is once again due to the strong fourth quarter. The lower margin is primarily due to higher taxes, which in the overall result of 14, 4% to 21, 8% increased. Of course, this has a significant impact on the result.
Broken down into the individual business areas, many groups have reported declines in sales. Across the quarter only the Client Group (to which the desktop and notebook processors belong) and the Automotive division Mobileye reported a plus. The data center, IoT and FPGA divisions report sales declines in the range of 16%. The Optane memory division is almost unchanged at -1%. Viewed over the full year, this looks a little better in most business areas than the quarterly comparison suggests.
The comparatively high turnover in the client division captures a large part of the lower turnover with its plus the other areas again. Intel is also benefiting from the pandemic situation in the form of high sales of notebooks. This area grew by 30%, while desktop processors posted a decrease of 9%.
But the first problems are becoming apparent, especially in the data center business. Intel justifies the declines here with the current competitive market and a certain “cloud cycle”. Ice Lake-SP, the next Xeon generation, is slated to go into mass production this quarter.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Even if AMD continues to increase the pressure in the notebook sector, Intel can still do this always growing the fastest and maintaining its strong market position. With the Ryzen Mobile 5000 processors and the notebooks presented so far, however, there are signs that the manufacturers in the high-end area are quite ready to move more away from Intel.
As a preview of 2021, Intel refers to Rocket Lake-S, the upcoming desktop platform, which is due to start this quarter. This also applies to the already mentioned Xeon processors based on Ice Lake-SP. For later in the year 2021 Intel is already planning Alder Lake for the client processors and Sapphire Rapids for the Xeon processors. To what extent Rocket Lake-S and Ice Lake-SP will have a positive effect remains to be seen.
Until 2023 7 nm is not gaining momentum
With regard to the coming years, the focus is certainly on Intel’s development of its own production. The delays at 10 nm currently have a strong effect, with 7 nm only 2023 to be ready has been confirmed several times by Intel, but the consequences of this will determine the coming months at Intel.
Some of the products will be sold in 10 nm SuperFin and later Enhanced SuperFin. But even if you want to increase the capacities further, you will not be able to manufacture everything yourself in 10 nm in the coming years. Whether and to what extent Intel will rely on external production or license production in its own factories will be decided in the coming weeks.
With the official takeover of the post as CEO by Pat Gelsinger on 15. A decision should be made in February. Gelsinger has now gained an overview and gave some interesting answers during the questions from analysts:
“I’ve seen the results of the great job the teams have done in last 6 months. I have confidence that most of our 2023 portfolio will be internal, but with an increasing use of foundry at the same time. I will take time to dig deeper, but I feel Intel is on a great path. “
Pat Gelsinger also assumes that Intel 2023 will largely stand on its own and firm feet again with regard to production. But even then, Intel will still be dependent on certain capacities of the foundry production. In the coming weeks Gelsinger will take a closer look at the available data and progress in order to then determine the procedure for the next two years.
“We ‘ re also pausing to look deeper into the roadmap for more clarity in the future. We also have adjustments in leadership too, also making adjustments in product leadership team over time. One of my favorite engineers Glenn Hinton announced he was coming back to the company today . The key leaders are coming back to Intel. Leadership, roadmap, a few more weeks of analysis will allow us to put Intel on a path. “
Gelsinger also refers to the return of Glenn Hinton, who was involved in the 90 years in the development of numerous micro-architectures and associated processors.
General Motors (GM), and the subsidiary specialized in the self-driving vehicles sector Cruise, have entered into a long-term partnership with Microsoft to accelerate and optimize the development of systems related to the creation, and future marketing, of vehicles capable of moving on the roads in complete autonomy
by Carlo Pisani published 22 January 2021 , at 09: 21 in the Technology channel Microsoft General Motors
General Motors (GM) , and the subsidiary specialized in the self-driving vehicles sector but Cruise , they have a long-term partnership term with Microsoft to accelerate and optimize the development of systems linked to the creation, and future marketing, of vehicles capable of moving on the roads in complete autonomy.
Companies will bring together all their advances made so far in the context of autonomous driving , both as regards the software and the hardware part, as well as what has matured in the cloud computing and the know-how related to the production of the final devices , with the ultimate aim of create a safe and user-friendly autonomous driving platform; a new equity investment of over 2 billion dollars in Cruise is also planned.
“Our mission to offer safer, better and more affordable transport to everyone is not just a technological race, but also a race for confidence. Microsoft will be a force multiplier for us as we market our fleet of self-driving, fully electric and shared vehicles “ stated Dan Ammann , CEO of Cruise.
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Among the systems covered by the partnership there will be Azure , the already known Microsoft cloud and edge computing platform, which will be implemented to allow GM to offer services dedicated to the diffusion of autonomous vehicles on large scale.
“Advances in digital technology are redefining every aspect of our work and life , including how we move people and goods. As Cruise and GM’s preferred cloud, we will apply the power of Azure to help them scale and mainstream autonomous transportation. “ said Satya Nadella , CEO of Microsoft.
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“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we move towards a zero accident, zero emissions and zero congestion future. Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of fully electric and self-driving vehicles from Cruise and will help GM gain even more benefits from cloud computing as we launch 30 new vehicles and readers globally by 2025 and we will create new businesses and services to drive growth “ stated instead Mary Barra , president and CEO of GM.
GM also welcomes Microsoft as its supplier with which to pursue various internal digitization initiatives, including collaboration systems, archiving, artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
Intel closed on 2020 with record turnover of 77, $ 9 billion. The fourth quarter exceeded expectations at a crucial time for the company’s future: in mid-February, CEO Bob Swan will hand over the helm to Pat Gelsinger.
by Manolo De Agostini published 22 January 2021 , at 08: 01 in the Market channel Intel
Bob Swan’s latest quarterly as Intel CEO before handing over the scepter to Pat Gelsinger closes a record year : the US company reached in 2020 a turnover of 77, $ 9 billion , in growth of 8% over the previous year. In fourth quarter sales reached 20 billions of dollars, above the October expectations of 2.6 billion, but in 1% decrease over the same period of 2019. Earnings per share of 1, 42 dollars, albeit down by 10 %, exceeded forecasts.
Net profit stopped at $ 5.9 billion, – 15%, even if taking as reference the result of the whole year it proved to be quite stable, losing only the 1% and thus decreasing to 20, $ 9 billion. In this case the impact of taxation, which has risen since 14, 4% al 21, 8%, made themselves heard. “We significantly exceeded our expectations for the quarter, crowning our fifth consecutive record year “, commented the outgoing CEO. “The demand for the computing power that Intel offers remains strong and our focus on growth opportunities is paying off. It has been an honor to lead this magnificent company and I am proud of what we have achieved as a team. Intel is in a strong financial position. and strategic at a time when we concretize this strategic transition and take Intel to the next level “.
Q4 2020
Q4 2019
vs. Q4 2019
Turnover (billions of dollars)
20
20,2
– 1%
Gross margin
56, 8%
58, 8%
– 2 ppt
R&D and MG&A (billions of dollars)
5.4
5
+ 9%
Operating margin
29, 5 %
33, 6%
– 4.2 ppt
Tax rate
21, 8%
14, 4%
+ 7.4 ppt
Net profit (billions of dollars)
5.9
6.9
– 15%
Earnings per share (dollars)
1, 42
1, 58
– 10%
The pandemic has been a cure-all for Intel’s accounts , with millions of consumers who found themselves having to renew their technological equipment ( notebook in particular) due to the new needs of remote work and study. Online service providers have also had to upgrade their datacenters to meet a renewed demand from their customers. However, not everything is “roses and flowers” from a financial point of view. The gross margin remains below the 60%, a historical “psychological” value for the company, stopping at 56, 8% in the quarter (down by 2 points on the same period of ‘last year) due to both greater production investments and the competitive and economic situation.
In the fourth quarter it was particularly the CCG division (Client Computing Group) , that of the CPUs for notebooks and desktop PCs, with a turnover up 9% at 10, $ 9 billion . Overall, in 2020, the division grew by 8% achieving sales for 40, $ 1 billion. Intel said it saw a + 33% in fourth quarter CPU sales, backed by record-breaking notebook sales.
2020
2019
vs. 2019
Turnover (billions of dollars)
77, 9
72
+ 8%
Gross margin
56%
58, 6%
– 2.5 ppt
R&D and MG & A (billions of dollars)
19, 7
19, 7
–
Operating margin
30, 4%
30, 6%
– 0.2 ppt
Tax rate
16, 7%
12, 5%
+ 4.2 ppt
Net profit (billions of dollars)
20, 9
21
– 1%
Helpful per share (dollars)
4, 94
4, 71
+ 5%
Flow of operating cash
35, 4
33, 1
+ 7%
“We are seeing a very strong market response to our 11th Generation Tiger Lake CPU Core PCs . Our customers offer over 150 systems, well above expectations. We believe we have gained market share in terms of CPU units in the PC sector with a growth of 33% in the quarter . In a market where competitors are facing problems supply, this is a clear example of the incredible value and scale of our network of factories as we continue We want to offer greater performance and cost efficiency to our customers “, the company management pointed out.
Looking at the sales volumes in detail, it turns out that most of the growth is due to notebooks . Volumes registered by desktop processors increased by 22% on Q3 2020, with a decrease of 7% on Q4 2019 he was born in 01% in the comparison between the integer 2020 and the 2010. Turnover related to laptops has soared by 30% compared to the same period last year, with volumes increased by 54% on Q4 2019, although with a decrease in the average price linked to the sale of a greater number of models to low cost, especially Chromebooks.
The division of servers , Data Center Group ( DCG ) saw turnover stop at $ 6.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down 16% on Q4 2019, but the trend over the whole year is clear: + 11% to 26, 1 billion. The quarterly figure is due to a mix of factors, from AMD’s increased competition with EPYC CPUs (which is reflected in a falling average price of 12% in Q4 and 3% year-on-year by virtue of the heavily lowered price lists of Xeon CPUs compared to the past) to the macroeconomic environment to arrive at a physiological slowdown in investments from the cloud sector after the previous quarters.
Intel Divisions
Q4 2020
vs. Q4 2019
2020
vs. 2019
Centric date
DCG
6.1 billion
– 16%
26, 1 billion
+ 11%
Internet of Things
IOTG
777 millions
– 16%
3 billion
– 21%
Mobileye
333 millions
+ 39%
967 millions
+ 10%
NSG
1.2 billion
– 1%
5.4 billion
+ 23%
PSG
422 millions
– 16%
1.9 billion
– 7%
– 11%
+ 9%
PC centric
CCG
10, 9 billion
+ 9%
40, 1 billion
+ 8%
Sales records also for Mobileye , the Israeli company that offers assisted and autonomous driving solutions, which in the quarter reached 333 million dollars (+ 39%) , while the IOTG (Internet of Things Group) division lost the 16% to 777 Millions of dollars. The NSG (Non-volatile Memory Storage Group) and PSG (Programmable Solutions Group) segments close the picture, with revenues down by 1% and respectively) %, although over the entire year the NSG division has developed a + 23% (pity that the NAND business is destined for SK hynix).
In the 2020 Intel has invested 13, 6 billion in research and development and 14, 3 billion were injected into the purchase of new machinery and the upgrading of production , “while focusing on strengthening our CPU core business, improving execution and accelerating growth,” the company added. Intel expects revenue in the first fiscal quarter 2021 of about 18, $ 6 billion , where last year it touched 19, 8 billion: however, it must be remembered that the world was starting to seriously face the pandemic and consequently Intel benefited of an initial surge in technology purchases.
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