During the CES trade fair 2021, ASUS presented a lot of new and refreshed laptops based on mainly on NVIDIA GeForce RTX cards 3000 and AMD Ryzen series processors 5000. In addition to gaming news, there are also announcements of cheaper TUF Gaming devices and 14 – an inch ZenBook ultrabook Duo 14 with Intel Tiger Lake processors. This time we will focus on one of the slimmest laptops of the Taiwanese manufacturer – ZenBook 13 UM 325. Last year, the laptop was launched for the first time, but then it was based on Intel Ice Lake-U processors. This year’s version is going to the AMD Cezanne-U APU, while heading towards OLED screens and not with 4K resolution, which for many people is absurd in this diagonal.
ASUS presented new version of ZenBook laptop 13 UM 325. It will be based on AMD Ryzen 5 5600 U, AMD Ryzen 7 5800 U processors and an OLED Full HD screen.
ASUS ROG Flow X 13, ROG Zephyrus, ROG Strix – gaming laptops with AMD Cezanne-H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, RTX 3070 and RTX 3080
New ASUS ZenBook 13 UM 325 (2021) will be equipped with the following APU processors: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 U (6C / 12 T, Zen 3) and AMD Ryzen 7 5800 U (8C / 16 T, Zen 3). This is a big change, because last year’s version had a processor with up to 4 cores and 8 threads. Another change is the matrix – instead of an IPS screen, ASUS offers an OLED panel with a diagonal 13 , 3 “and resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels This is one of the newest OLED screens from Samsung that we heard about at CES 2021. 100% DCI-P3 color coverage and luminance of 400 rivets.
AMD Ryzen 5000 – premiere of Cezanne processors for laptops. Zen 3 architecture enters top notebooks
Like last year’s version, the new ASUS ZenBook 13 UM 325 has an integrated NumberPad with a touchpad. Inside the laptop you will also find 16 GB of LPDDR4x RAM clocked at 3733 MHz and a single PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD with a capacity of 1 TB. Among shared These ports can be found: 1x USB 3.2 type C Gen.2 (DP 1.4, Power Delivery), 1x USB 3.2 type A Gen.2, full HDMI 2.0b and a microSD memory card reader. As in the predecessor from 2020, there will be no 3.5 mm audio-jack socket (the adapter will be included in the set). Built-in battery with a capacity 67 Wh is supposed to allow a maximum of 16 operating hours away from a power outlet. The weight of the laptop is 1. 14 kg. Unfortunately, we do not know the price of the ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED or the date it was introduced to the store. However, by combining efficient and energy-saving AMD Ryzen processors 5000 and a Full HD OLED screen, we will certainly get one of the most interesting laptops with such a small size.
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Let’s just get to it: Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro are the best true wireless earbuds that the company has made yet. For their $200 asking price, you get a comfortable fit, effective active noise cancellation, and good, punchy sound quality. These earbuds improve on Samsung’s prior efforts with clever features like a speech detection mode that automatically lowers your music and lets you hear the outside world as soon as you start talking.
But they also inch Samsung closer to a siloed-off world, not unlike Apple, where the best experience is reserved for people who stick to Samsung-branded devices. A few features like 3D audio and automatic device switching — sound familiar? — only work if you’re using these earbuds with a Samsung phone or tablet. Most people aren’t going to be cross-shopping the Galaxy Buds Pro and AirPods Pro since they’re designed for different mobile operating systems, but Samsung has never leaned into its own ecosystem with earbuds quite like this. Thankfully, there’s enough good for everyone else that the Galaxy Buds Pro still come out a success.
The Buds Pro are an amalgam of the Galaxy Buds Plus — they have an in-ear design with silicone tips — and the open-air Galaxy Buds Live, from which they borrow some style cues. The outer casing is a tasteful mix of glossy and matte finishes and has been redesigned to protrude less from your ear. Samsung says this revamped shell also “reduces the contact area between your ear and the bud, improving comfort and minimizing any clogged-up feeling.”
The wing tips from the Galaxy Buds Plus are gone; Samsung got the message that some customers experienced discomfort from those over time. Instead, you get the usual three sizes of silicone ear tips, which are a bit shorter than before to help with the low-profile design. Samsung tells me it has considered including foam tips but has so far held off. You’ll also notice a section of mesh on the outside. This covers one of the three built-in microphones and is there to act as a wind shield for voice calls. (More on that later.)
I really like how these earbuds fit. They feel stable and twist into place for a good seal in my ear canal, without making my ears feel too plugged up. The air vent and reduced contact area really do seem to make a difference there, and I appreciate that the Buds Pro don’t noticeably jut out from my ears like some competitors. If I have one critique, it’s an old one: more than a few times, I accidentally activated the touch-sensitive controls when trying to adjust the fit of an earbud. Such is life with tap gestures, I suppose. The controls can be turned off if this proves a problem for you.
According to Samsung, the Galaxy Buds Plus are rated IPX7 for water and sweat resistance, which means they can survive a half-hour swim in fresh water — so even your sweatiest runs and workouts shouldn’t present any problem. That’s the highest rating among any of Samsung’s earbuds and beats out the AirPods Pro, Jabra Elite 85t, and Bose Sport Earbuds, which are all IPX4. Either earbud can be used independently with mono audio if you prefer that option for voice calls or biking.
The wonderfully pocketable Buds Pro charging case is so close in size and shape to the Buds Live case that accessories for the latter will fit the former, and it still charges over both USB-C and Qi wireless charging. But endurance is one area where these earbuds settle for very average numbers. Samsung promises up to five hours of playback with ANC enabled (or eight with it off). Case top-offs put you at 18 hours of total battery life or 28 without noise cancellation. That’s basically on par with the rest of the field, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the 11 hours of continuous audio that the Galaxy Buds Plus are capable of. Alas, it turns out the Buds Pro have a smaller battery capacity (61mAh for each bud versus 85mAh) on top of their more power-hungry ANC feature.
The Galaxy Buds Pro have two-way speakers in each earbud: there’s an 11-millimeter woofer and 6.5mm tweeter. Those are larger than what was in the Buds Plus, though smaller than the single 12mm driver from the Buds Live; in that instance, Samsung was most focused on getting satisfactory bass out of an open-style earbud. Here, it’s aiming for “the most comprehensive sound in the Galaxy Buds line yet.” I can’t speak to what “comprehensive” is supposed to mean, but the Buds Pro are enjoyable to listen to, with a good bass thump, crisp treble, and a pleasant soundstage / imaging.
A lot of earbuds can make it feel like everything is happening in the middle of your head, but these do a solid job keeping instrumentation and vocals distinct. Sturgill Simpson’s “Oh Sarah” and Troye Sivan’s “Easy” (with Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson) make for nice showcases — in very different genres — of how layered the Buds Pro can get.
Bass heads might want to go for the “bass boost” EQ setting, and the tweeters can occasionally give off a little too much brightness and sibilance for some tracks like Jason Isbell’s “Be Afraid,” but for the most part I was very pleased with the sound signature. I don’t think Samsung hits the same fidelity as something like Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 2, but those are nearly $100 more expensive. I’d be perfectly content with the Buds Pro as my daily earbuds.
The active noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds Pro is much better than the Galaxy Buds Live, where it seems to barely do anything since there’s so much outside noise to contend with. Samsung claims that the Buds Pro can cut down on “up to 99 percent” of noise “at 118.43Hz,” which is wildly specific and won’t mean much to most people. In my experience, Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds, Sony’s WF-1000XM3 earbuds, and the AirPods Pro all outperform Samsung at quieting the world around you, but Samsung does a perfectly adequate job at muffling street noise and household distractions. You can choose between high and low levels of noise cancellation in case you’re sensitive to the effect.
Samsung’s latest transparency / ambient mode still doesn’t sound as natural as what Apple and Bose have achieved, but it’s a definite improvement over the very digitized version from the Galaxy Buds Plus. And the fantastic “voice detect” feature, which automatically lowers audio volume and switches from ANC to ambient mode when you start talking, is one of the best things about the Galaxy Buds Pro. Sony did something similar on its 1000XM4 headphones, but I haven’t seen this convenient trick in many earbuds, and now I wish all of them at least had the option.
Samsung uses a “voice pickup unit” — basically an accelerometer that senses jaw movement — to know that it’s you talking and not someone nearby. After a few seconds of no more talking, ANC returns and your music gets turned back up. Voice detect works as expected, but if you’ve got a tendency to talk to yourself or sing to your music, you might want to keep it disabled and assign ambient sound to a long press of one of the earbuds. Controls work the same way as other Samsung buds, with a single tap to pause / play, double to skip to the next song, triple to go back, and a customizable long press that can be used for volume, voice assistants, or ambient mode.
For voice calls, Samsung has a three-mic system and uses beamforming to isolate your voice from your environment. The lower profile of the Buds Pro helps combat wind noise, and the mesh-covered chamber does a good job filtering out any gusts if you’re talking with someone outside. Clarity is also good, as you should be able to hear in Becca’s video review above. Speaking of voice, the Galaxy Buds Pro still have hands-free “Hey Bixby” capabilities.
Pro as in… AirPods Pro?
There’s no denying that a few features of the Galaxy Buds Pro are heavily influenced by Apple’s AirPods Pro. The first of these is 3D audio, which is Samsung’s take on the immersive spatial audio capabilities of the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Load up a movie with Dolby surround, and the Buds Pro will attempt to cram a surround sound listening experience into a pair of earbuds.
Samsung says that 360 audio uses Dolby head tracking technology, which “enables you to stay at the center of the scene when you’re watching a movie or TV show.” In concept, this sounds similar to Apple’s approach, which uses sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes in the earbuds and your iPhone or iPad to keep the sound source anchored to your device — even when you turn your head side to side.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how convincing Samsung’s 3D audio is or whether it compares favorably to spatial audio because it requires OneUI 3.1, which for now is only available on the new Galaxy S21 lineup. The $1,300 Galaxy Note 20 Ultra that Samsung sent for this review doesn’t have that update yet.
The second AirPods feature that Samsung has tried to directly counter is automatic switching. Apple’s earbuds can hop between an iPhone, iPad, or Mac depending on which one you’re using in that moment without you having to manually make the change. Samsung says it has now pulled off the same trick, so the Buds Pro should automatically switch between your Galaxy smartphone and tablet. Unfortunately, the laptop gets left out of Samsung’s equation completely, which makes the feature somewhat less helpful. I wish that more earbuds would just give us proper multipoint Bluetooth pairing to two devices at once; Jabra continues to be the standout there. Automatic switching feels like a makeshift solution until Samsung can get to multipoint.
Both of these capabilities require you to be fairly entrenched in Samsung’s ecosystem. 3D audio only works on Samsung hardware, so if your Android phone is from a different brand, you lose out on it altogether. Same goes for auto-switching. If neither feature is important to you, that might not matter, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Also worth mentioning is that Samsung isn’t extending the same level of iOS support it has maintained for the Buds Plus and Buds Live: the existing iOS app doesn’t work with the Buds Pro, so you can’t use features like voice detect on iPhone. I’m not sure what the reasoning is there, but maybe Samsung’s internal data shows that not many people are pairing its earbuds to Apple devices. You can still pair them and use noise canceling and ambient modes — much like the way AirPods Pro function on Android.
The Galaxy Buds Pro face stiff competition everywhere you look, and you can find superior ANC and sound quality elsewhere. But with these latest earbuds, Samsung has blended much of what worked best about the Buds Plus and Buds Live. Battery life is merely average, but that’s the only real gripe I’ve got. They don’t necessarily win at any one category, but the Galaxy Buds Pro strike an excellent all-around balance. And you can clearly see Samsung trying to recreate some of the ecosystem “magic” that AirPods owners are now used to.
The Buds Pro feel great in your ears, sound better than any Samsung earbuds to date, and have convenient tricks to complement their decent noise cancellation. There’s still a place for the Galaxy Buds Plus if all you want are wireless earbuds with a battery that just goes and goes, and the Buds Live remain the better pick if you need environmental awareness at all times. But if you’re nabbing the Buds Pro as a preorder bonus for a new Galaxy S21, you should be more than satisfied.
Samsung’s portable OLED screens allow for a thinner and lighter design and a webcam to be placed under the screen.
Samsung has announced since the beginning of the year that it will scale its OLED panels 13 to 3 – 16 – inch sizes, which means in practice, among other things, laptop screens. In addition to the image quality offered by OLED for laptops, the new technology also allows the webcam to be hidden under the screen.
Samsung’s display front camera technology has already been featured in patents in the past, but unlike prototype phones previously seen on the market and ZTE’s Axon 20 5G, the Korean manufacturer is first introducing camera technology to its laptops. According to Samsung, the on-screen camera solution allows laptops to have a 93 percent screen-to-body ratio, in addition to which laptops are promised to decrease in thickness and weight with thinner display technology.
The Korean manufacturer has released a video promoting OLED panels, which talks about the Blade Bezel, but the video does not reveal whether it is a direct future computer model or a marketing term for the thinned edges of the screen with OLED panels and a camera under the monitor. In the video, the new OLED panel is promised to be only 1 mm thick and 130 grams, while traditional displays are, according to the manufacturer, just over 2 mm thick and 180 in grams
Intel’s new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, doesn’t start his new role until February, but he’s already prepping the company to take on Apple’s M1 chips. The Oregonian, a local newspaper in Oregon where Intel maintains a large presence, reports that the chip maker held an all-hands company meeting yesterday, and Gelsinger attended.
“We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino” makes, Gelsinger reportedly told Intel employees. “We have to be that good, in the future.”
Intel has been facing increased competition from both Apple and AMD recently. Apple announced its transition to its own silicon back in June, calling it a “historic day for the Mac.” The transition has gone well, with M1-based Macs providing impressive performance and battery life compared to existing Intel-based Macs.
While Apple will still use Intel chips for some Macs in the future, the move away from reliance on Intel is significant. It comes just as AMD has taken the performance crown from Intel in gaming, and pressures its laptop dominance with new Ryzen 5000 mobile chips.
Intel announced earlier this week that current CEO Bob Swan is stepping down from the position on February 15th, set to be replaced by VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. This marks a return to Intel for Gelsinger, who previously worked at the chip maker for 30 years.
An Intel manufacturing facility.Intel
Gelsinger now faces the reality of competing with Apple, AMD, and others after Intel has struggled to transition to a 10nm manufacturing process for years. Intel has also delayed its 7nm chips until at least 2022, and the company now faces a tough decision whether to outsource chip fabrication.
That’s a decision that Intel had scheduled to make next week, but The Oregonian reports it could be delayed to give Gelsinger time to weigh in on the choice. Bloomberg News recently reported that Intel has been in talks with both TSMC and Samsung to outsource some chip production. Market research firm TrendForce claims around 20 percent of Intel’s non-CPU chips will now be outsourced to both TSMC and UMC.
Analysts argue that outsourcing its own CPU production would allow Intel to be more flexible and focus on its designs to recover from the 10nm issues it has experienced. Apple, AMD, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and other Intel competitors are already using TSMC for chip production.
(Pocket-lint) – CES takes place every January – typically in Las Vegas – and while it’s back for 2021, it’s all-digital instead. So while we’ve not been rushing around any real show floors this year, there’s been a lot of virtual running around instead.
It’s been a bumper year for laptops at CES 2021, too, with a heap of updated machines, new processors, and a big focus on gaming. Here’s the very best laptops revealed so far to give you the big picture.
Microsoft
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus
In an unexpected move at the start of CES 2021, Microsoft added a new Surface device – but it’s not a wholly new device, rather the Surface Pro 7 Plus (or 7+) is a modified Surface Pro.
Really the Pro 7+ is aimed at education and business rather than consumers. That’s why there’s a larger battery and removable SSD, along with upgraded 11th generation Intel Core processor options.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 Plus has longer battery life and a removable SSD
Pocket-lint
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE
Here’s one that’s a little different: a gaming laptop that’s, well, ‘hidden’ inside a more casual laptop shell.
Gaming laptops are big business – but not just for hardcore gamers, per se – which is why this Predator model has come to be.
It’s all all-new idea for Acer’s gaming line-up for a number of reasons, one of which being that it’s the first Predator laptop to feature a smaller 14-inch screen.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review: The everyday gamers’ laptop
Razer
Razer Blade 15 (2021)
Lots of more traditional gaming laptops appeared at CES 2021 (there’s yet more below), but Razer pulled out the big guns by showing off its new Blade 15 with screen refresh rates up to 360Hz. Wowzers.
The design is second to none, too, with the same precision-crafted, CNC milled, durable finished design you’d expect from Razer.
How about that for a flash of design and speed? Looks like a real treat.
Razer reveals Blade 15 and 17 laptops with 360Hz screens and next gen Nvidia RTX GPUs
MSI
The GE76 is available in 15- and 17-inch forms, offering a super-fast 300Hz refresh rate screen – only the Razer lade 15 (featured above) can best that.
In addition to the standard GE76 Raider – which features an RGB light bar at the front – there’s also a special edition version, called Dragon Edition (pictured), which has an etched in dragon emblem. How about that for standing out?
Under the hood the GE76 features up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, along with Intel Core i9 CPU, delivering a super-powered combination.
MSI GE76 Raider packs in 300Hz screen, Intel Core i9 and Nvidia RTX 3080 superpowers
Gigabyte
Gigabyte Aero 17G / HDR
Gigabyte updated its Aorus and Aero lines, featuring the latest Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics and up to Intel Core i9 processors – putting it up there against the likes of MSI (featured above).
Top of the stack is the Gigabyte Aero 17G – priced from $2,499 – featuring a 17.3-inch screen with up to a super-fast 300Hz refresh rate. Or you can pick a 4K OLED panel with high dynamic range instead.
That’s some serious gaming clout with respect to visuals right there.
Gigabyte’s Aero and Aorus laptops come with RTX 3080 and OLEDs
Lenovo
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 i
Now for something out-and-out different: a dual-screen laptop. But the ThinkBook Plus, here in its second-generation form – which Lenovo calls “Gen 2 i” for some reason – features an E Ink display on the exterior, while an LCD screen lives within (in more standard laptop design fare).
This second-gen device’s key shift over the original product is that the E Ink display now covers 68 per cent of the exterior, increasing it by over 48 per cent compared to the original.
So why dual screen? Just as we said of the original: “E Ink is a low refresh-rate monochrome display technology, just like you have in an Amazon Kindle. It’s designed to be super low-energy in use, to negate battery drain, without the backlight causing eye stress. For reading, therefore, it’s a very comfortable experience”.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 i brings expanded E Ink second-screen display
Pocket-lint
Acer Chromebook Spin 514
In a first for Acer’s Chromebook line-up the 2021 Chromebook Spin 514 sports an AMD Ryzen processor and graphics. It’s part of the increasing shift away from Intel chipsets.
Key to the design is a hinge that means this Chromebook can be used as a laptop, pressed flat as a tablet, or spun around for ‘stand’ and ‘tent’ positions at any angle you please.
The years have shown Acer progress its product line, too, with this 2021 model sporting far smaller screen bezels to the edges of its 14-inch Full HD touchscreen display.
Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (2021, AMD) review: Versatility is its charm
Lenovo
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i OLED
The 2021 version of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro now offers an OLED display as part of its spec – promising richer blacks and more saturated colours than its LCD counterpart.
That screen is a 14-inch panel with a 90Hz refresh rate, while the resolution can be specified up to 2.8K (that’s 2880 by 1800 pixels) across its 16:10 aspect ratio – which is wider and taller for more visible real-estate.
The screen is the one core difference in an otherwise similar feature set to the Slim 7i Pro’s LCD counterpart – both models including up to 11th Gen Intel Core processors with optional Nvidia GeForce MX450 discrete graphics.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro adds OLED display to tempting specification
Lenovo
Lenovo IdeaPad 5G
The IdeaPad 5G is Lenovo’s third take on the connected ultra-fast laptop. The IdeaPad’s aim is to being in a new phase of affordability, the 14-inch model – which isn’t available in North America – starting at €799.00 in Europe.
Take that in context: the Yoga 5G launched with a staggering £3K price tag on contract in the UK – at a time of life when hardly anyone is out and about on the move.
The IdeaPad 5G follows a similar structure to earlier Yoga 5G: it’s built upon Qualcomm’s 8CX hardware, which means 5G connectivity, no fans needed for cooling (so it’s silent), and absurdly good battery life is a given.
But that hardware also means full-fat Windows apps aren’t necessarily supported.
Lenovo IdeaPad 5G is a connected ultra-portable with Qualcomm processor
HP
HP Elite Folio
The most noteworthy of HP’s new releases at this CES, the Elite Folio, is centred around Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 platform with a fanless design and 5G connectivity.
That brings with it similar advances and drawbacks to the Lenovo IdeaPad 5G (featured above), i.e. great battery life but not full compatibility with the full suite of Windows apps – but if you want 5G and longevity for an on-the-go office-like laptop then it’s likely to be a cracker.
HP’s slew of new laptops is headed by the Elite Folio with 24 hour battery life
Apple is planning a major MacBook Pro redesign for the third quarter of 2021, according to a research note written by TF International Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo and reported on by MacRumors, 9to5Mac, and Apple Insider. Kuo calls it the first major redesign of the MacBook Pro since the introduction of the current generation in 2016.
The new MacBook Pro is said to have squared-off sides like the iPad Pro and the iPhone 12; the current laptop already has sharp edges, but it sounds like the top and bottom panels are going to be flatter than before as well. The new model will reportedly come in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes both featuring Apple-designed Arm processors, with no Intel options. Kuo says the laptops will use a similar heat pipe system to the current 16-inch MacBook Pro, giving more thermal headroom and enabling higher performance.
Perhaps most notably, Kuo believes the new Pro laptops will backtrack on some of the controversial changes Apple made with the current generation. The OLED Touch Bar, for example, is said to have been replaced altogether by physical function keys. Kuo also says that there’ll be a wider range of ports reducing the need for dongles, though he doesn’t get specific. And a MagSafe magnetic charging connector is also set to return. (It’s not clear whether it’ll have anything in common with the new MagSafe accessory system for the iPhone 12.)
A new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Apple’s M1 processor was just released in November, but that model otherwise had near-identical hardware to the existing Intel version. If Kuo is to be believed — and his track record suggests that he is — the next models could be a huge improvement.
Following Nvidia’s announcement of the mobile RTX 30 series GPUs, notebook manufacturers are quick to announce refreshes of their laptops with the new hardware. MSI, being one of the key players in performance category wasted no time announcing a bunch of updates across its lineup. The CPUs are still Intel’s older 10th Generation, except for the Stealth 15, which will employ the new H35-series.
MSI Raider
Let’s start with the MSI Raider GE76. A big 17.3-inch gaming laptop with a choihce between 3840 x 2160px 60Hz display or a 240Hz one at 1080p resolution. The CPU options go up to 10th Gen Core i9 paired with an RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6). RAM is configurable up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 while the storage relies on two M.2 PCIe NVMe slots. A smaller, 15.6-inch version of the same, called Raider GE66, is also available.
MSI Raider
There’s a special GE76 Dragon Edition version brings more premium looks and patterns and SteelSeries keyboard. It also comes with a 300Hz 1080p display.
Pricing starts at $2,199 for the 17-inch variant and $1,499 for the 15-inch one. Both launch in February.
MSI Stealth
The MSI Stealth GS66 is a 15-inch laptop with either a 1080p@300Hz display or 2160p@60Hz. CPUs go up to 10th Gen Core i9 aided by anything between RTX 3060 and RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6). Storage and RAM are both the same as on the Raider-series.
MSI Stealth GS66
But there’s also the MSI Stealth 15M, which is the only one, for now, that offers the new Core i7-11375H Special Edition Tiger Lake-H35 CPU. It’s a more portable version of the GS66 with 15-inch 1080p screen at 144Hz and up to 64GB of RAM. Only one M.2 SSD slot, though, but since this is Intel’s 11th Gen platform, the laptop also supports Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6/6E connectivity.
MSI Stealth 15M
The GS66’s price is yet unknown while the Stealth 15M will sell for $1,499 and will hit the stores in March.
MSI Leopard
MSI Leopard
The next in line are the MSI Leopard GP76 and GP66. The GP76 is a 17-incher and the GP66 is a 15.6-incherm, but the panels are 1080p@144Hz in either case. The available CPUs go up to Core i7 (again 10th Gen). You can select an RTX 3070 or RTX 3080. Dual M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slots and up to 64GB RAM support are at hand as well.
The 15-inch model will ask $2,299 while the bigger iteration will start at $1,799. Sales begin in February.
MSI Thin
MSI Thin
Finally, we got the MSI Thin with price tags ranging from $999 to 1,499 depending on the configuration and the screen size. The 17-inch GF75 and 15-inch GF65 share the FullHD resolution and 144Hz refresh rate, but you can also get the the smaller version with a plain 60Hz panel.
There was a time I would have railed against a gadget maker for daring to ship a phone without a charger.
That time was yesterday. Then, Apple was the poster boy for the idea — Apple with its goody-two-shoes rhetoric about saving the environment while continuing to produce an array of proprietary cables and wireless chargers, one of which requires you to buy a new power brick anyhow.
Samsung doesn’t have those problems. It’s been all-in on USB-C and the Qi wireless standard for years, and you can use any such cable and any charger from any reputable manufacturer to top up your Samsung phone. Heck, those same universal cables and chargers work with laptops and tablets, too: you can use a MacBook or iPad charger to juice up a new Samsung phone, as long as it’s recent enough to use the universal port.
Even if you do want a new charger, you might not buy it from Samsung these days; while it’s nice that it dropped the price of its standalone USB-C charger from $35 to $20 to mark this occasion, companies like Anker and HyperJuice / Sanho produce tiny yet potent gallium nitride (GaN) chargers you can toss into any bag, not to mention playing card-deck sized ones with enough power and ports to charge a laptop, phone, and tablet simultaneously.
Left: old and busted. Right: new hotness.Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
I bought a couple of those, and I’m good on chargers for the foreseeable future. For now, most any power brick that comes with a gadget is just a piece of waste, something I’ll need to recycle or attempt to pawn off on a friend.
It wasn’t always this way. I remember being grateful for the Samsung chargers that came bundled with my Galaxy S6 and S7 because they were the best on the market — remember these tapered right-angle wall warts that stuck out so ridiculously far?
They also happened to be powerful adaptive fast chargers that worked perfectly for lots of devices, whether they needed fast charging or not. Motorola’s TurboPower charger was also pretty good as I recall, but it only came with the company’s most expensive phones, and the early USB-C versions had a fixed (not detachable) cable.
There are still some arguments why smartphone companies should keep bundling power bricks with their new devices, like how there will always be some people who’ve never owned a phone before and won’t have a charger. Many will also point out that these companies are doing it for selfish reasons — still charging you the same amount or more for a phone while giving you less value in the box. (It’s fun to rag on these companies’ duplicity, too.) But like my colleague Dieter said succinctly last June, I don’t care: let’s get rid of 300,000 tons of e-waste and help the world’s remaining brand-new USB-C smartphone buyers get their chargers elsewhere.
With Samsung, Xiaomi, and Apple all ditching the charger, it’s effectively over regardless of how you feel. By market share, they’re the number 1, 3, and 4 brands, respectively, accounting for nearly half of all smartphone shipments in the world, and in the United States, it’s been a Samsung and Apple duopoly for years. But more importantly, the smartphone world has long gone where Apple and Samsung lead. The bundled phone power brick is dead.
One of the biggest announcements at CES 2021 seemed to come and go without much fanfare. Overshadowed by Nvidia’s debut of its RTX 3000-series graphics chips for laptops, you might have missed hearing that a growing number of manufacturers are finally building fast-refreshing QHD screens into their portable gaming machines.
Standalone QHD (1440p) monitors are a popular choice for discerning gamers who use desktop computers for several reasons. First, the displays are often more affordable and feature-packed than most 4K monitors while looking nearly as good. And importantly, modern high-end graphics cards, like the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Nvidia RTX 3080 (and even some last-gen products), run games very well at QHD.
Frustratingly and inexplicably, though, QHD hasn’t been an option if you want one built into your gaming laptop. You’ve had a choice of either 1080p or 4K or the option to output to a 1440p monitor that you purchase separately. That’s changing for 2021, and perhaps at the perfect time, as machines powered by RTX 3000-series and AMD’s incoming RDNA 2 graphics chips will take full advantage of QHD.
Acer’s Nitro 5 has the option for a QHD display.Image: Acer
I’m still of the opinion that 1080p looks fine for most use cases, but I won’t argue that displaying games in 1080p with relatively smooth performance is a low hurdle for even midrange laptop hardware to clear. On the other hand, playing the latest AAA games at 4K resolution with all of the graphical settings set to max is at once impressive and mediocre, with frame rates frequently dipping into the unplayable zone. QHD screens in powerful laptops can offer great visual fidelity with hardware that should have no issue keeping up.
Razer’s Blade 15 is one of a few laptops announced at CES 2021 that will let you add a QHD screen to your order, and I was pleased to see that doing so won’t add all that much to the grand total. For $2,199 ($200 more than the model that features an FHD 144Hz panel), you get a machine with a QHD IPS screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, along with the new Nvidia RTX 3070 and a six-core 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor. This price is on par with many current laptops equipped with last-gen parts and a fast-refreshing 1080p screen.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see gaming laptops with QHD screens falling below the sub-$2K price point this year. Acer’s Nitro 5 for 2021 will also have the option to be configured with a QHD screen, and I’m sure many other OEMs will follow suit.
Image: Razer
I’m not yet able to tell you what kind of performance Nvidia’s RTX 3000-series delivers on new laptops until later in the month. But if you’re used to gaming on a 1080p monitor, seeing it all running on a more pixel-dense QHD screen could be revelatory.
A Geekbench 5 score for another Zen 3 based Ryzen mobile processor has leaked for AMD’s new Ryzen 9 5900HS in Asus’ newly announced ROG Flow X13 gaming laptop. It’s a very thin 2-in-1 gaming device with an external GPU dock that features an RTX 3080.
Ryzen 9 5900HS Geekbench 5 Score:
Single-Threaded Score: 1381
Multi-Threaded Score 5897
Core i7-10875H Geekbench 5 Score:
Single-Threaded Score: 1238
Multi-Threaded Score: 5914
The Ryzen 9 5900HS is one of AMD’s recently announced 35W parts aimed towards more compact gaming notebooks (like the ROG Flow X13). The 5900HS comes with 8 cores and 16 threads, a base frequency of 3 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.6 GHz. The 35W limit will hinder multi-core boost frequencies, but it’s still enough to retain very high single-threaded performance, which is perfect in the gaming, as games are still largely optimized for fewer than 8 cores.
The closest competitor to the ROG Flow X13 — that we can find on Geekbench 5 — is the ROG Zephyrus S17, a 17-inch gaming notebook powered by an Intel Core i7-10875H with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a max boost frequency of 5.1GHz.
In the Geekbench 5 scores, the Ryzen 9 5900HS managed an 11% performance lead over the Core i7-10875H in the single-threaded score, even though the 10875H’s has a 500M MHz higher boost frequency over the 5900HS. But the Intel part made a comeback in the multi-threaded score and won by 0.2%. The percentage win is so small that it is within margin of error, so we can call the multi-threaded comparison a tie.
For the multi-threaded score, the Core i7 had a bigger advantage over the 5900HS due to the notebook chassis the chip resides in. The Zephyrus S17 is much larger than the ROG Flow X13, allowing the S17 to utilize a larger cooling system and probably a higher power limit for the i7 chip. This may be why the i7 was able to catch up to the more power and thermally constrained Ryzen 9 5900HS in the multi-threaded run.
The end has finally come for Adobe Flash on the Raspberry Pi. What once powered many memes and early Internet games is no more. With the latest update to Raspberry Pi OS, Adobe Flash has been removed from the official Raspberry Pi operating system but this brings about an issue of its own.
Adobe Flash was once the darling of the late 1990s and early 2000s web. Embedded games, interactive interfaces and full blown applications were built with Flash, but over time it became bloated, buggy and a security risk. The removal of Flash from Raspberry Pi OS has been on the cards for quite some time and with the January 11 update they have finally removed it. The removal of Flash does have one impact on Raspberry Pi OS. The popular Scratch 2 programming application will now no longer work as it relies upon Flash. So before you update your Raspberry Pi to the latest OS, ensure that your projects work with the Scratch online editor.
Looking through the release notes, the other changes to Raspberry Pi OS in this release are largely bug fixes for the new PulseAudio configurations introduced in the December 2020 update. There are a few fixes for the Chromium web browser, notably removal of artifacts in Google Maps 3D view. An updated Linux Kernel, now 5.4.83 and updated Raspberry Pi firmware keeps your Pi securely up to date.
Raspberry Pi OS is available from the Raspberry Pi website, where it can be downloaded as a disk image, or via the Raspberry Pi Imager tool.
Let’s be honest. This wasn’t the CES anyone wanted. We’ve been covering North America’s largest tech show for years, so we can definitively say that, without in-person booths and demos, it’s just not the same. The most interesting things at any show happen outside of the scripted press conferences where we get to see and touch products in person, talk to product managers off the record or wander the halls, looking for the unexpected.
However, even in a down year, there were some bright spots that give us hope for a tech-filled 2021. From a new generation of powerful AMD laptops to a super-sleek compact chassis and even an RGB mask, these are the hottest new products unveiled this week.
Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 5000 Mobile
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series granted the company the performance lead over Intel in desktop PCs for the first time in more than a decade, and now AMD has brought that same powerful Zen 3 architecture to laptops — and in record time.
The four-, six- and eight-core ‘Cezanne’ Ryzen 5000 Mobile series should bring the best of Zen 3 to laptops, granting the company the lead in single- and multi-threaded applications over Intel’s Tiger Lake chips that still top out at four cores. These powerful new chips will also find their way into gaming laptops hosting the fastest mobile GPUs, finally giving us high-end options for AMD’s mobile platforms.
The entire Ryzen 5000 Mobile lineup comes with threading enabled, higher clock speeds than their predecessors, and brings AMD’s innovative new boost technology to laptops for the first time, which promises higher performance in lightly-threaded work and longer battery life. AMD even threw in two new overclockable HX-series models that support core, memory, and fabric overclocking, which could be a potent combination with the company’s RDNA2 mobile GPUs that land later this year. — Paul Alcorn
Read more:AMD Announces Ryzen 5000 Mobile ‘Cezanne’ Processors, Zen 3 and Overclocking Comes to Laptops
Best GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
(Image credit: Nvidia)
Nvidia effectively wins this one by default, because nothing else was really announced. Sure, GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs are coming to gaming laptops as well, but those are just power-optimized versions of the Ampere GPUs we already know and love — well, those of us who are lucky enough to have found one in stock, at any rate.
The GeForce RTX 3060 sounds like an amazing value proposition. Performance looks like it should come pretty close to matching the RTX 2070 Super, a card that launched at $500. What’s more, Nvidia has elected to go with a 12GB VRAM configuration, which is more memory than any of the other RTX cards outside of the RTX 3090 and Titan RTX. It’s about time, I say! Plenty of games won’t need 12GB, but there are enough that now creep past 8GB that it’s a welcome change, and 6GB definitely wouldn’t feel right on a $330 mainstream card that’s supposed to last a few years.
The real question: Is there a chance in hell that Nvidia and its partners will have enough RTX 3060 cards available at launch to satisfy the demand? My crystal ball is literally laughing at me for even asking, and suggesting I check back around Computex time to see if things have improved. — Jarred Walton
Read more:Nvidia RTX 3060 (12GB) Coming in Feb for $329
Best Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga
(Image credit: Lenovo)
In the ultraportable category, CES 2021 was dominated by business laptops to go with the launch of Intel’s 11th Gen vPro mobile processors. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Titanium impressed with its looks and the thoughtfulness given to its design. The 3:2 aspect ratio on the 13.5-inch, 2K display is great for all types of work, as it provides a taller screen. It also makes for a much better tablet experience than a 16:9 laptop. That display also promises Dolby Vision HDR support, while the audio will come from Dolby Atmos speakers.
At 0.45 inches thick, the Titanium Yoga is the thinnest ThinkPad ever, but still tested to military standards. While we haven’t had hands-on due to the virtual nature of CES this year, it looks like it will be a stunning and lightweight convertible 2-in-1at just 2.54 pounds. — Andrew E. Freedman
Nvidia’s new RTX 30-series mobile GPUs and new processors from both Intel and AMD meant a slew of gaming notebooks at this year’s CES. But the MSI Stealth 15M was one of very few to utilize both a new processor and GPU. This laptop is, at 0.6 inches thick, somewhere in-between full-on gaming and an ultraportable. It’s combining a 35-watt Intel Core i7-11375H CPU with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q GPU, which should be somewhat formidable for most games.
The all-aluminum stylings and black and white color options appear quite slick. Some of MSI’s other ultraportable gaming options, like GF75, will offer a 45W processor and similar GPU, but it’s also a bit bulkier. For those who want it thin, the Stealth is one of a few laptops in an area we’ll keep a close eye on. — Andrew E. Freedman
Read more: MSI Debuts Stealth 15M With Tiger Lake H35, Powerhouse GE76 Raider
Best Case: iBuyPower Revolt 3 MK3
(Image credit: iBuyPower)
Taking credit for perhaps the most improved product at this year’s CES, iBuyPower’s Revolt 3 MK3 desktop is a drastic departure from the
Revolt 2
’s RGB and glass-heavy horizontal design. Instead, what we’ve got here is a compact tower with no glass or RGB but plenty of vents on all sides.
Not only does that give it a more understated look that’s easier to fit into your typical office and plenty more space for air to enter and escape the machine, but it’s also more equipped to take advantage of the small form factor footprint that unifies the Revolt line. A handle on the top makes this case easy to pick up for transport, plus it’s got a hook on either side for holding peripherals like headsets.
The side of the case also has a swing-out door for housing a 280mm radiator, plus you can also add on an optional 80mm exhaust fan at the top. The case also comes with a 700 W SFX-L power supply pre-installed alongside pre-routed cables, which makes for one less component you’ll need to buy and should make for less cable clutter.
The key drawback here is the potential for noise. We’ll have to get our hands on it ourselves to say anything definitive, but all those holes do mean you’re probably not going to have much sound dampening.
But that’s an easy tradeoff for such a step forward in usability and looks compared to the oddly-shaped Revolt 2. Plus, you’ll be can get the Revolt 3 MK3 in white too. — Michelle Ehrhardt
Read more: iBuyPower Goes Back to Basics (In a Good Way) With Revolt 3 MK3 SFF PC and Case
Best Motherboard: EVGA Z590 Dark
(Image credit: EVGA)
Intel’s Rocket Lake-S CPUs may not quite be here yet, but motherboard makers rarely let a CES go by without a cadre of new boards to show. And over the last couple of days, we’ve seen details of nearly 50 Z590 motherboards land in our inboxes. While many are intriguing, the EVGA Z590 Dark stands out.
The design of the E-ATX board has an understated aggressiveness, with its large copper heatsinks and black…well, pretty much everything else. The board backs up its aesthetics with a crazy overbuilt 22-phase VRM and a 10-layer PCB. Most of the connectors are angled, to help in hiding cables, which is aided by a cutout in the area of the 24-pin power and USB header connectors.
The board’s primary oddity is a CPU socket that’s rotated 90 degrees. That could complicate some cooler setups, and you only get two RAM slots. But the latter is a nod to memory overclockers, who often get better results on two-slot Mini-ITX boards. No word yet on rated supported RAM speeds, but you can bet they’re going to be among the fastest on the market. And while you lose RAM slots, the board ships with an extra pair of SATA ports (8 total), so you can probably plug in every functional SATA drive you’ve got in a drawer or a box in the back of your closet. For faster storage, the EVGA Z590 Dark has three M.2 slots. And if 11 drives isn’t enough for you, you may want to consider a drive storage rack, or perhaps talking to a professional about your digital hoarding disorder. — Matt Safford
Read more:
EVGA’s New Z590 Dark Motherboard Offers The Meanest Look
Best Monitor: LG UltraFine 32EP950
(Image credit: LG)
There’s no denying the image quality boost offered by OLED, with its deliciously deep blacks. When it comes to PC monitors though, finding an OLED screen in a size that can comfortably sit atop a desk has been virtually impossible. Enter the LG UltraFine 32EP950, an OLED stunner in an eye-pleasing 31.5-inch form factor.
LG’s 4K OLED monitor targets professionals with a lot of color (a claimed 99% of DCI-P3). But enthusiasts of any kind will appreciate the bevy of ports, which includes DisplayPort, HDMI and even USB-C with 90W charging.
But what really makes this UltraFine ultra fine is that it brings us closer to being able to put the amazing contrast of OLED right in our home office without necessarily breaking the bank — or desk like you would with the more common, larger OLED TV alternatives. — Scharon Harding
Read more:LG Debuts 31.5-Inch OLED Monitor At CES 2021
Best Concept: Razer Project Hazel
(Image credit: Razer)
CES 2021 was different this year, for all the reasons our lives are different right now. But we certainly didn’t expect to see Razer, a gaming-focused company, make a concept mask that might even make the category kind of cool.
Project Hazel is not for sale — and may never be. But the ideas make sense. It’s clear to allow you to see others’ emotions, as well as for the hard of hearing to be able to read lips. There are voice amplifiers so that you aren’t muffled by the mask. The case is also a charger, and it has UV lights to disinfect the mask. The whole thing would be an N95 respirator, and oh, yeah, there are two Chroma RGB rings.
There are some questions we have, like if the mask’s ability to let in fresh air and expel CO2 would completely protect against an airborne virus like the one that causes COVID-19. But the thoughtful ideas could make for an improved mask in a world where it looks like we’ll be wearing them more often. — Andrew E. Freedman
Read more: Razer’s Project Hazel Is an RGB Face Mask for Our New Normal
Best Keyboard: Asus ROG Claymore II
(Image credit: Asus)
Tenkeyless (aka TKL) keyboards are very popular with gamers, because they save space by doing away with the numeric keypad many people only use for work. However, there are times when you really need those extra keys and Asus’ new ROG Claymore II keyboard has the answer: a numpad that slides on and snaps into its right side.
The Claymore II works in both wired and high-speed 2.4 GHz wireless modes. You can also swap out the USB-C cable with one of your own.
This keyboard also uses Asus’s own opto-mechanical keys in either Blue or Red style. This allows for less key wobble than traditional mechanical keys and lets more RGB light through. — Avram Piltch
Read more:Chop off Your Numpad with the Asus ROG Claymore II
Best Mouse: Thermaltake Argent M5 RGB Gaming Mouse
(Image credit: Thermaltake)
We didn’t see a lot of mice at this year’s CES, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a clear winner. Thermaltake’s peripherals have been less than beautiful in the past, but this year’s CES saw a change in direction for the company with its new Argent line. Meaning “silver,” the idea behind Argent is to pair Thermaltake’s impressive technical features with premium build quality and silver finishes.
Take the Argent M5 RGB Gaming Mouse, our favorite mouse from this year’s show. While it does separate itself from the rest of the Argent line with a black main body, it’s still got a slick, symmetrical look that’s highlighted by RGB alongside its sides and bottom and a textured metallic silver scroll wheel on top. Achieving that symmetrical look means that the design here is ambidextrous, which can be a mixed bag for right-handed gamers, but lefties will be sure to appreciate the extra usability.
On the inside, the Argent M5 is packing DPI support from 100 to 16,000, plus a polling rate under 1ms and 64Kb of memory. The mouse’s 8 programmable buttons also use Omron switches, and the wired version’s cable is both braided and detachable.
That’s right- the Argent M5 also comes in both wired and wireless options, which gives it plenty of versatility. The wireless version of the mouse does lose RGB along its bottom and sides, likely to save battery life, but in exchange, it can connect over either Bluetooth 5.0 or 2.4GHz using a USB adapter.
All of this leaves us with a powerful, versatile Thermaltake pointer that finally looks the part. — Michelle Ehrhardt
Read more: Thermaltake’s Attractive Argent Peripherals Pair Silver and RGB Elements
Best Headset: Lenovo Legion H600
(Image credit: Lenovo)
It’s hard for a headset to stand out in an all-virtual CES. After all, we can’t test the audio quality, comfort or even durability. But what makes the Lenovo Legion H600 innovative actually has nothing to do with any of those characteristics. The standout feature is the wireless headset’s ability to charge wirelessly. But unlike other wireless charging gaming headsets we’ve seen, the Legion H600 gets its charge all while hanging attractively in its headset stand.
Sadly, you’ll need a specific headset stand to make this happen. The Legion S600 Gaming Station comes at an additional cost but also brings its own Qi wireless charger, as well as two USB Type-A passthrough ports. We’d rather the cans and headset stand/charger come bundled together. But if you’re willing to make the investment this looks like a clean, clever way to charge and store your cans, as well as other devices. — Scharon Harding
Read more:Lenovo’s Legion H600 Is a Wireless Charging Headset That May Actually Make Sense
Nvidia has the first three graphics chips from the Ampere family GeForce RTX 3000 for notebooks. Compared to the 2000he and 1000 series heralds a small paradigm shift: The mobile graphics chips differ more from the desktop graphics cards of the same name than in the last two generations .
On its own product page, Nvidia no longer calls the top model just GeForce RTX 3080, but GeForce RTX 3080 Notebook GPU (or on the English page: GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU). The same game on the GeForce RTX 3070 Notebook GPU and GeForce RTX 3060 Notebook GPU.
6144 Shader for the mobile GeForce RTX 3080 The mobile GeForce RTX 3080 relies on 6144 Shader cores and optionally 8 or 16 GByte GDDR6-RAM on 192 Data lines – this corresponds to the maximum expansion of the GA 104 – graphics chips. The Desktop RTX – 3080 relies on the GA 102 – GPU in a version with 8704 active shader cores and 320 wide memory interface.
The predecessors GeForce RTX 2080 and GeForce GTX 1080 shared largely the same specifications with the desktop versions, which is why Nvidia on dispensed with an addition to the name such as “Notebook GPU”. Only the clock frequencies were lower in favor of efficiency.
The desktop counterpart of the GeForce RTX 3080 takes under load 320 watts. Even thick gaming notebooks approve of the graphics chip at best half, and usually less. Simply reducing the clock frequencies is probably not enough to push the power consumption down far enough. In addition, the large GA 102 – GPU with a chip area of 628 mm² only conditionally suitable for notebooks, where the mainboards are typically fully packed.
Specifications of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX Notebook GPUs 3000 (Ampere) Model GeForce RTX 3080 GeForce RTX 3070 GeForce RTX 3060 GPU Ampere (GA 104) Amps (GA 104) Ampere (possibly. GA 106) FP 32 – shader cores 6144 5120 3840 Boost clock (depending on TDP) 1245 – 1710 MHz 1290 – 1620 MHz 1283 – 1703 MHz Thermal Design Power (TDP) 80 – 150 Watt 80 – 125 Watt 60 – 115 Watt theoretical computing power FP 32 14, 2 – 19, 5 TFlops 13,1-16, 5 TFlops 9.8 – 13, 0 TFlops Memory amount / type 8 o. 16 GByte GDDR6 8 GB GDDR6 6 GB GDDR6 Interface / transfer rate 256 Bit / unknown 256 Bit / unknown 192 Bit / unknown Mobile GeForce RTX 3070 and 3060 According to the mobile GeForce RTX 3070 the GeForce RTX also falls 3070 for notebooks less powerful than the desktop sister – 5120 instead of 5888 Nvidia calls shader cores. Only with the mobile GeForce RTX 3060 it looks different: your GPU comes with 3840 Shader cores therefore – 7 percent more than the recently announced desktop RTX – 3060. However, the notebook version always appears with 6 instead of 12 GByte GDDR6-SDRAM.
Manufacturers can configure the graphics chips with different power limits as usual. The top model GeForce RTX 3080 (Notebook GPU) takes depending on the device 60 to 150 watts on. As a result, the GPU boost clock frequencies differ between 1245 and 1710 MHz. The base rate is further below. The computing power ranges in typical boost scenarios from 14, 2 to 19, 5 TFlops. The GeForce RTX 3070 (Notebook GPU) comes to 12,1 to 16, 5 TFlops, the GeForce RTX 3060 (Notebook GPU) to 9.8 to 13, 0 TFlops. The latter can also be used with 60 Configure watts.
Max-Q and HDMI 2.1 With the introduction of the mobile RTX – 2160 – Nvidia updates the series marketed as Max-Q Design specifications. This includes updated fan controls, Dynamic Boost 2.0, which divides the energy budget between the CPU and GPU, and WhisperMode 2.0, in which the GPU clock rates adjust to the volume.
Nvidia also supports Resizable Base Address Register (BAR) on notebooks first: CPUs can access the graphics memory via the PCI Express interface, which potentially increases the frame rate in 3D games. The function is in and of itself old hat, with AMD’s Smart Memory Access (SAM) of the Radeon series RX 6000 under Windows got a new meaning.
Interesting for players who operate external monitors or smart TVs on their notebook: Manufacturers can use HDMI 2.1 lead to the outside, what for Ultra HD resolution with 3080 × 2160 Pixels at 144 Hertz is enough (120 Hertz for high-end TVs).
Notebook designs with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX – 3000 – GPUs that s will appear over the next few months ollen.
(Image: Nvidia)
Notebooks appear promptly All major notebook manufacturers want from the end of January or February 2021 Devices with RTX – 3000 – Bring graphics chips onto the market. Asus has already announced several models from the RoG family, Acer for example the compact Predator Triton 300 SE and Lenovo different Legion notebooks. Dell wants to update its own Alienware devices.
The German company Schenker has Neo and Pro models of its own XMG notebooks with RTX – 2160 – GPUs announced and concretized the schedule: First, new editions appear with the previous Intel processors Core i – 10000 H alias Comet Lake-H . Notebooks with AMD’s new Ryzen will follow at the end of March at the earliest – 5000 H-CPUs and RTX – 3000 – GPU.
Almost all manufacturers will also combine the mobile GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3070 with AMD processors – the 4000 he Ryzens appeared at most with the GeForce RTX 2060.
Currently, many of the best gaming monitors on offer feature DisplayPort 1.4a, but this tech has been available for three years now, and the market’s itching for an upgrade. The DisplayPort 2.0 spec was announced in June, so when can gamers expect to see monitors and graphics cards supporting it?
It’s true that HDMI 2.1 is only just catching up to DisplayPort 1.4 with 4K and high refresh rates. But at CES 2021 this week, we saw numerous HDMI 2.1 monitors announced and nothing in the way of the next-generation of DisplayPort products.
DisplayPort 2.0 promises gains over DisplayPort 1.4a, especially where 4K is concerned. The downside to DisplayPort 1.4a is that to pull off high refresh rates at 4K, it needs to use a technique called Display Stream Compression (DSC). Many monitors don’t support this though, and it’s expensive to implement. That’s why there haven’t been many 4K, 144 Hz monitors.
What’s Taking So Long?
As explained by VESA’s display rep Craig Wiley on The Tom’s Hardware Show, currently, the chips to support DisplayPort 2.0 are being tested in labs.
“What’s kind of created a delay is the COVID-19 situation,” Wiley said. “What normally happens is that companies get together and test hardware among themselves to check out interoperability between a PC and a display. As a matter of fact, VESA has test events we call PlugTests, typically two or three a year. But we had none in 2020. This has caused a delay in debugging and developing.”
During those PlugTests, PC, chip, display and display chip vendors all come together to make sure the products work well together.
“That also kind of proves out the compliance testing so we can certify equipment,” Wiley explained. “So without being able to test a lot of different things and seeing how things work together, it’s kind of hard to finish that whole compliance program. So that’s been part of the problem. ”
The good news is Wiley expects DisplayPort 2.0 products to be available on the consumer market in the second half of 2021.
In terms of whether graphics cards or monitors will arrive first, Wiley noted that “they all kind of prototype together.”
A new PlugTest is planned for March in 2021, in Taiwan, where the compliance spec should be completed.
For more from Wiley and on DisplayPort, check out our interview with the VESA exec on The Tom’s Hardware Show.
Why Do We Need DisplayPort 2.0 Again?
DSC works well and certainly better than chroma subsampling but is still subject to artifacts from time to time, though opinions about that seem to be divided. Still, consumers and professionals generally agree that it’s best to avoid compression if possible — even if it’s supposed to be visually unnoticeable.
That’s where DisplayPort 2.0 comes in. It more than triples the bandwidth to a mighty 80 Gbps and alleviates the need for DSC. That’s enough for up to 8K at 60 Hz or 4K at 240 Hz without compression. With compression, 16K resolution 60 Hz HDR monitors are no longer out of reach.
Also making DisplayPort 2.0 interesting is boosted support for multi-monitor setups. This tech is already present in older DisplayPort versions, but due to the limited bandwidth, it’s mostly useful for lower-resolution monitors. The max effectiveness you could get out of multi-monitor setups with DisplayPort 1.4a was two 1440p panels at 60 Hz without compression.
For gamers, DisplayPort 2.0 means they can run two of their best 4K gaming monitors at 144 Hz over a single cable without the use of compression or one 4K 144 Hz screen alongside a pair of 1440p panels.
That being said, the best graphics cards currently not in stock at most retailers don’t have DisplayPort 2.0 hardware on them yet, meaning you’ll have to wait for yet another generation and hope DisplayPort 2.0 makes it onto those.
While we wouldn’t postpone a GPU purchase based on DisplayPort 2.0 alone, if you want your laptop to feed a big wall of monitors through a single cable, there might be a case to hold onto your pennies a little longer, especially with USB 4 packing DisplayPort 2.0 as Alt-mode — even if the bandwidth is limited to ‘only’ 40 Gbps there.
While all eyes are set on the Galaxy S21 announcement scheduled for later today, Samsung Display posted a teaser for an upcoming laptop with an OLED display that will also sport an under-display camera. The device in question is called Blade Bezel and will be the first product in Samsung’s portfolio to bring a camera under the display. The accompanying teaser video shows out the laptop and focuses primarily on its display.
The Blade Bezel’s OLED panel is advertised as just 1mm thick and weighs 130 grams. Thanks thanks to the added screen real estate from the removed bezels, the laptop is advertised as having a 93% screen-to-body ratio. We don’t get the actual dimensions of the laptop but we’re expecting a slim and light ultraportable notebook.
UD camera • OLED panel
Samsung is rumored to be working on implementing an UD camera in its phones for a while now but it seems the results are not yet optimal and it’s easier to test the waters with a laptop before bringing the tech to smaller form factors. According to early speculations, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will be the first Samsung phone to debut with an UD camera later this year.
Source (in Chinese) | Via
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