Laptops News - Page 42

Apple might have unveiled its new MacBook Pro to the world with excitement, and while it is a beautiful machine - with it smaller and thinner than previous MBPs, and it rocks the new OLED touch bar - it's let down by its Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, a courageous move.

Well, if you want to plug anything into your new MacBook Pro, you're going to need to throw down some benjamins on dongles. Yeah, lots of them. If you want to plug an HDMI cable into it and display your MacBook Pro on the TV, buy a dongle. Need an Ethernet jack? Dongle. SD card? Dongle. VGA port? Dongle. How about older Thunderbolt 2 devices? Dongle. What about your new iPhone 7? Dongle.

BGR went through the list of dongles you'd need, and it adds up quickly:

Apple has unveiled their new refreshed line of MacBook Pro laptops, with two new 13-inch models and a single higher-end 15-inch model that rocks Radeon Pro 450 graphics from AMD.

The lower-end 13-inch MBP features a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor at 2GHz, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, 2 x Thunderbolt 3 ports and Intel Iris Graphics 540 - but it's the higher-end 13-inch MBP where the fun begins.

Apple has refreshed its MacBook Pro line up with some slightly beefier hardware, with Apple noting the new display on the MacBook Pro is 67% brighter, 67% higher contrast, and has 25% more colors than the MacBook.

Razer today unveiled its new high-end Razer Blade Pro ultrabook that's aimed at replacing your enthusiast desktop rig.

With the Razer Blade Pro, Razer packs in ultra-performance desktop-grade components in a sleek, ultra-slim form factor. The Razer Blade Pro rocks a 17.3-inch IGZO UHD 3840 x 2160 G-Sync display with multi-touch and 100% RGB Adobe color with up to 170 degree viewing angles, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 video card, an Intel Core i7-6700HQ quad-core CPU at up to 3.5GHz, 32GB of DDR4 RAM at 2133MHz, and up to two 1TB PCIe M.2 hard drives.

The ultrabook also rocks a full mechanical keyboard with Razer's Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical switches and Razer Chroma color lighting. In order to efficiently manage heat, Razer's new ultrabook is outfitted with a custom cooling solution, made up of "dynamic heat exchange" and "vapor chamber" technology to effectively dissipate heat.

Google hasn't unveiled their new Chromebook Pro laptops yet, an expected high-end Chromebook unveiling that is meant to arrive later this month. Before that, Samsung has accidentally teased the Chromebook Pro on their own website, but it was quickly edited and removed - after Chrome Unboxed managed to get some system specs.

Codename Kevin is Google's purported Chromebook Pro, which features a 12.3-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 2400x1600 (234 PPI, 400 nets, 3:2 ratio) that is a Lenovo Yoga-like device with the screen capable of being rotated 360 degrees, turning it into a 12.3-inch tablet. Inside, there'll be an ARM-based 8-core processor at 2GHz, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of local flash storage on top.

Samsung's upcoming Chromebook Pro will reportedly rock an all-aluminum chassis with curved edges, weighing just 2.38 pounds and 13.9mm at its thickest point. Battery life wise we're being told to expect around 10 hours, while it should hit shelves on October 24 at only $499 - tablet pricing, with the power of a laptop.

Apple has unleashed its iPhone 7, so now its onwards towards the next-gen MacBook Pro laptops which are looking to be announced sometime next month.

The new MacBook Pro is expected "some time in the second half of October", with Apple working on macOS 10.12.1 so that it fully supports the purported Touch ID sensor, and OLED touchbar. Apple is expected to fully revamp their 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which should rock Intel's new Kaby Lake CPUs - making for thinner, lighter MacBook Pros.

Apple is expected to unveil their Touch ID fingerprint sensor onto the next-gen MacBook Pros, borrowing the security side of things from the iPhone and iPad. The fingerprint sensor would allow MacBook Pro owners to log-in to their laptops using their fingerprint, or they would allow for Apple Pay purchases with your fingerprint, which is now supported by macOS Sierra, and iOS 10.

One of the more exciting things we've heard about Google in the last few months is that they're reportedly working on a next-gen OS that would see the combination of Android and Chrome OS, known as Andromeda. Well, now there are rumors that Google will unveil an Andromeda-powered 'Pixel 3' laptop, which will hit the market in Q3 2017.

The purported Pixel 3 would arrive with a 12.3-inch display, with Google wanting its ultra-thin laptop to be used in 'tablet' mode, too. We could see a Lenovo Yoga-type of flexibility with the Pixel 3, especially as it is supposedly powered by an Intel Core m3 or i5 processor, 32/128GB of storage and 8/16GB of RAM. We should see two models of Pixel 3, one with the Intel m3/32GB storage/8GB RAM and the higher-end model with Core i3/128GB storage/16GB RAM.

Android Police reports that there should be a fingerprint scanner and more on the Pixel 3:

Dell has impressed with its XPS laptops in 2015, with the company refreshing the smaller XPS 13 model with Intel's new Kaby Lake processors on the new 14nm process.

The upgraded XPS 13 arrives with the new Kaby Lake-based Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors offering more performance and improved battery life. Dell is touting around 22 hours of productivity in various apps, 13 hours for web browsing or Netflix streaming - not bad for a 13-inch laptop.

Dell's new XPS 13 starts at $799 with the 13-inch display optioned with a 1080p panel, Core i3 processor, 128GB SSD, and only 4GB of RAM. You can option for the higher resolution display and faster Kaby Labe processors, with a 3200x1800 touchscreen option, up to 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. All of the XPS 13 models include high-speed Killer NIC-based Wi-Fi, and insanely fast Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.

Microsoft has been making steady progress with its Surface Pro line of tablets, and now the world is looking to the next-gen Surface Pro 5 as the product that could really begin hurting the MacBook line from Apple.

The next-gen Surface Pro 5 is expected to rock Intel's new Kaby Lake processor, which is based on the 14nm process. On top of the beefier CPU, the new Surface Pro 5 could rock a 4K-capable display and USB-C connectivity. Microsoft could tap either NVIDIA or AMD for the GPU side of the Surface Pro 5, with their new Pascal and Polaris architectures, respectively.

There are also new rumors that Microsoft could unveil a new 'Surface Pen' that would replace the AAAA battery-powered stylus, and more in line with Apple Pencil, and the improved S-Pen on the recently recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone from Samsung.

Razer has just announced its new Blade and Blade Stealth gaming notebooks, with the new laptops being outfitted with Intel's next-gen Kaby Lake CPU, as well as NVIDIA's new Pascal-based GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.

The new 14-inch Blade notebook doesn't look any different to the current (or is that now last-gen) Blade, which rocks a Core i7-6700HQ and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Inside of the new Blade, Razer has opted for the GeForce GTX 1060, which is VR-ready.

Razer provides two display options for the Blade, with the original IGZO-based 3200x1800 display on offer, but we also have a IPS-based 1920x1080 offer, too. You can option some higher-end hardware for the Blade, with up to 256/512/1TB PCIe-based M.2 storage on offer.

Acer unveiled a new line of ultrathin notebooks at IFA 2016, with the Swift brand launching with Intel's next generation Kaby Lake architecture.

Acer's new Swift line has four models in tow; the Swift 1, Swift 3, Swift 5, and Swift 7 - the higher the number, the more premium the product. Acer's flagship Swift 7 model is just 9.98mm and only 1.1kg (2.48lbs), featuring a 13.3-inch 1920x1080 IPS-based display that is found in a beautiful all-aluminum unibody and thin bezel.

Inside of the Swift 7 you'll find an Intel Core i5-7300U processor, based on Intel's new Kaby Lake architecture on the 14nm process. It'll also sport a 256GB SSD, up to 8GB of RAM, 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C ports, and 2T2R 802.11ac with MU-MIMO for connectivity.