Computer Systems News - Page 30

The latest and most important Computer Systems news - Page 30.

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Apple's new 4K iMacs are ridiculously hard to repair

Derek Strickland | Oct 17, 2015 3:04 PM CDT

It looks like Apple's new 21.5-inch iMacs have been updated with something other than the 4K Retina display: completely unrepairable hardware that makes every DIY tecchie shudder in revulsion.

Apple's new 4K iMacs are ridiculously hard to repair

The folks at iFixit are experts at tearing down the latest tech and putting it all back together in tip-top shape, and as a result their analyses carry some pretty hefty weight. So when iFixit rated the 21.5-inch 4K iMac with a repairability score of a measly 1 out of 10, it means Apple is earnestly pushing toward in-house serviceability.

What exactly makes the new iMac so daunting? Basically, none of the parts in the all-in-one computer are replaceable in any capacity. The RAM is soldered to the logic board (which isn't really surprising). What is surprising is that the logic board doesn't have a Fusion Drive connector, cutting off any plans to add further storage. The Intel CPU is also fastened to the board, and Apple has even melded the iMac's glass cover front with the Retina display, further upping the cost of repair.

Continue reading: Apple's new 4K iMacs are ridiculously hard to repair (full post)

Intel and Arduino Team up for Arduino 101

Steven Bassiri | Oct 16, 2015 5:15 AM CDT

Recently, Intel launched a new business unit dedicated to makers. While Intel's Galileo and Edison modules have been around for a while, most makers tend to use lower cost Arduino or Respberry Pi boards. Intel decided to take another route this round, and has teamed up with Arduino to provide their new Curie microcontroller on an Arduino board that looks eerily similar to the Arduino Uno.

The Curie microcontroller is replacing the typical ATmega chips we see on Ardunio boards. Curie was announced earlier this year and has some pretty decent specifications especially considering its size. Many people complain about the low processing power of the Uno, but the Curie is much beefier than what we have seen in the past from Arduino. The Arduino 101 is supposed to be an easy to use board, and it is aimed at education sector.

Many might be wondering what the Arduino 101 brings to the table compared to the Uno, and according to our sources, "[Arduino 101] is an evolution of the popular Arduino Uno board, adding a Bluetooth Smart (Low Energy) radio, an accelerometer and gyroscope to allow students and makers in general to create the types of connected and motion sensitive projects they have come to expect in today's world". It is compatible with the current Arduino IDE (software interface) so current Arduino users who might want a little more kick than an Uno might want to check out this new board.

Continue reading: Intel and Arduino Team up for Arduino 101 (full post)

87% of Android devices are vulnerable, Nexus models most secure

Derek Strickland | Oct 14, 2015 2:10 PM CDT

It's been long known that the Android platform isn't nearly as secure as it should be, but we haven't really had a concrete answer as to how vulnerable the OS actually is. A recent study from the University of Cambridge delivers the answer, and it's pretty surprising.

"We find that on average 87.7% of Android devices are exposed to at least one of 11 known critical vulnerabilities," the university writes in the study's conclusion. "In our data, Nexus devices do considerably better than average with a score of 5.17; LG is the best manufacturer with a score of 3.97."

The study also lays the blame on device manufacturers, citing that most modern smartphones receive few security updates thereby leaving them open to a number of vulnerabilities like the TowelRoot, Gingerbreak, and FakeID exploits. "We showed that the bottleneck for the delivery of updates in the Android ecosystem rests with the manufacturers, who fail to provide updates to fix critical vulnerabilities."

Continue reading: 87% of Android devices are vulnerable, Nexus models most secure (full post)

HP unveils its new 34-inch curved all-in-one 'Envy' PC

Anthony Garreffa | Oct 9, 2015 1:27 AM CDT

HP has just announced its new Envy Curved All-in-One PC, slapping an entire PC into a 34-inch curved UltraWide monitor. The 21:9 aspect ratio looks beautiful on the new PC, with HP claiming it's the world's widest curved AIO and the first to receive Technicolor certification.

HP's new UltraWide AIO PC also has 99% of the sRGB color gamut for professionals, with six speakers being crammed into the AIO courtesy of Bang & Olufsen. HP will let consumers configure the Envy Curved All-in-One PC with Intel's new Skylake-based Core i5 or Core i7 processors, up to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, up to 16GB of RAM, and various storage configurations.

Windows 10 will come pre-installed, which shouldn't be a surprise now that Microsoft's latest desktop operating system is here. HP's new AIO PC looks to be aimed at professionals and non-gamers, but gamers can get in some decent gaming at 3440x1440 with a GTX 960 if they set their in-game visual settings to Medium.

Continue reading: HP unveils its new 34-inch curved all-in-one 'Envy' PC (full post)

Report: Apple to launch 4K 21.5-inch iMac next week

Derek Strickland | Oct 7, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

On the heels of iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus sales, reports indicate that Apple is ready to bring 4K resolution to its 21.5-inch iMacs.

Sources at 9to5Mac say that Apple will start selling the new 4K iMacs as early as October 13, making it a surprise announcement to bolster its product line and fill in the gap between September's iPhone sales and November's upcoming iPad Pro release.

Although the 4K-ready iMacs will sport 4,096x2,304 resolution, the new models will reportedly match the current 1080p iMacs in terms of aesthetics. Significant changes are coming under the hood, however, with refreshed hardware across the board including a beefier video card to power the display. It's assumed Apple's El Capitan OS will be pre-loaded, and speculation hints that Apple's new Force-Touch Magic Mouse 2 and a new enhanced Bluetooth keyboard combo could come inside the box.

Continue reading: Report: Apple to launch 4K 21.5-inch iMac next week (full post)

Does custom liquid cooling in a pre-built PC interest you? This should

Chris Smith | Sep 24, 2015 7:33 AM CDT

For those who just want to have it all, Digital Storm has announced its AVENTUM 3 Gaming Desktop, complete with a custom made liquid cooling setup comprised of EK Water Block parts and plenty of love.

Does custom liquid cooling in a pre-built PC interest you? This should

As explained by Harji Chana, Chief Operating Officer of Digital Storm, this model "is our declaration that a PC does not have to be just the sum of its parts. We designed the AVENTUM 3 from the ground up with a focus on unmatched accessibility and modularity that can't be found anywhere else." That alone is a big claim for sure, but the AVENTUM 3 does bring some big guns to the table.

Featuring a separated chamber design (think similar to the Thermaltake Level 10), this build houses the components within a special sealed chamber, completely separate from the chamber which houses the liquid cooling setup - meaning heat will not interfere across all your internals.

Continue reading: Does custom liquid cooling in a pre-built PC interest you? This should (full post)

The tiny ASUS ROG G20GB packs a GTX 980, i7 and DDR4 punch

Chris Smith | Sep 11, 2015 8:12 PM CDT

If you're looking for something tiny yet mighty, ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) division has just released a beastly compact desktop, naming it the G20CB. This "Mayan-inspired" small form factor system features 8 million color LED options for the exterior plus ASUS ROG's own Aegis II app in order to help you control everything within.

With plenty of different component choices available depending on your budget, ASUS ROG allows users to spec their mini-machine up to an Intel Skylake i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 video card, 32GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM at 2133 MHz and a 256GB SATA 6Gbit/s SSD.

Complete with Microsoft Windows 10, ASUS' poster-child small form factor system received a CES 2015 Best Innnovation Award, a 2015 iF design award plus the 2015 Taiwan Excellence Gold Award. Designed to support up to three HD displays through the power the the GTX 980, this 9.5-liter desktop doesn't currently have a price tag attached.

Continue reading: The tiny ASUS ROG G20GB packs a GTX 980, i7 and DDR4 punch (full post)

This custom mini-ITX gaming PC is powered by the new R9 Nano

Derek Strickland | Sep 9, 2015 9:31 AM CDT

Renown custom PC maker DG Lee has created a custom mini-ITX build centered around AMD's new Radeon R9 Nano that hits an amazing 10TFlops of performance.

This custom mini-ITX gaming PC is powered by the new R9 Nano

With AMD's Radeon R9 Nano small form-factor GPU releasing this week, the company has launched a promotional #MakeItNano campaign where enthusiasts compete by making their own custom chassis builds, with the winner snagging an R9 Nano. To inspire competitors and wow PC owners across the globe, AMD conscripted DG Lee to create a striking mini-ITX build to house AMD's mini powerhouse GPU. The results are nothing short of amazing.

The SFF PC is called the "Unprecedented High-Density Teraflops Machine", and packs a serious performance punch in a beautiful stylish design. The compact chassis measures 166mm x 244mm x 188mm size and houses a single 4GB R9 Nano GPU at 8.9 TFlops, which is combined with the monstrous 1.4 TFlops generated by Intel's 18-core Xeon E5-2699 V3 processor to hit a grand total of 10 TFlops in performance speeds. The team actually wanted to pack in two Radeon R9 Nanos and initially targeted a blistering 20 TFlops... but technical problems held them back and AMD only wanted to showcase a single-card build.

Continue reading: This custom mini-ITX gaming PC is powered by the new R9 Nano (full post)

ASUS announces the ROG G11 PC, powered by the new Intel Core i7-6700K

Chris Smith | Sep 8, 2015 6:28 AM CDT

Pre-built computer systems are certainly gaining traction in this day and age, seeing companies like iBUYPOWER, CyberPower PC, Alienware, Origin PC and ASUS alike push some high-end products direct to customers, whether they are straight from the factory or out of a building workshop.

Adding to the plethora of recent releases is the ASUS ROG G11, offering up a powerful Intel Core i7-6700 processor, up to 32GB or DDR4 RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 video card coming complete with Windows 10.

With storage space options that include a 3TB hard drive and 256GB PCIe SSD, these releases are certainly catered towards those with a little cash to spare and no time or knowledge about building a system for themselves. Saying that, buying pre-built certainly isn't a totally negative thing, just the same way people spend money on workshops to modify cars - it all depends what you want as a computer enthusiast!

Continue reading: ASUS announces the ROG G11 PC, powered by the new Intel Core i7-6700K (full post)

Acer's new 10-core smartphone will 'dominate' Android gaming

Derek Strickland | Sep 4, 2015 8:13 AM CDT

Acer has gone all out by bringing enthusiast-grade gaming across the entire spectrum of devices, including a new decacore smartphone and beefy 8-inch tablet.

At IFA 2015, Acer announced its new Predator 6 performance smartphone that will reportedly "dominate any game you throw at it".

The Predator 6 runs Android (possibly 5.1), sports 4GB of RAM, a 10-core MediaTek processor (most likely the Helio X20 mobile SoC), and a 6-inch full HD display with haptic feedback that Acer says will "perform just like a controller". It also has a 21-megapixel back-facing camera and features a slim, lightweight feel modeled after the stylized metallic flair of Predator line. No pricing has been revealed so far.

Continue reading: Acer's new 10-core smartphone will 'dominate' Android gaming (full post)