Latest News - Page 419

Intel's new 'Arrow Lake' Core Ultra 200HX Series is built for high-performance notebooks and gaming laptops, delivering up to 5% more single-thread performance and 20% more multi-thread performance compared to the Raptor Lake-H refresh. Expect these CPUs to be paired with NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 50 Series 'Blackwell' laptop GPUs that are expected to be announced at CES 2025 shortly.

According to Intel, these gaming laptops are set to launch later in Q1 2025, so we'll have to wait a bit to find out their actual in-game performance in popular titles like Cyberpunk 2077. The Core Ultra 200HX Series flagship is the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, which has 24 (8 Performance and 16 Efficiency cores) and a boost clock speed of 5.5 GHz.

As these are designed to be paired with discrete GPUs, they're equipped with first-gen Alchemist integrated Arc Graphics rather than the latest Blackwell architecture - just like desktop Arrow Lake. With 4 GPU cores, you're looking at a 13 TOPS NPU - falling short of Microsoft's Copilot+ spec.

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit - alleging that the company was retaining recordings of private conversations with the virtual assistant Siri.

This settlement marks the end of a 6-year proceeding starting in 2019, during which Apple has vehemently denied any wrongdoing or liability for the matter. The accusations brought towards Apple cap a long string of cybersecurity concerns. A recent report from The New York Post highlighted an iOS setting 'Enhanced Visual Search' that evidently shares user's photos and photo data with Apple by default. Just 3 weeks prior, warnings were also issued that failing to update to iOS 18 could leave users vulnerable to security threats. 

As part of the settlement, U.S. users who owned Siri-enabled devices between September 2014 and December 2024 are eligible for compensation. Eligible individuals may receive up to $20 per device, with a maximum of five devices per person, pending court approval in February. Instructions on how to claim, and when payments will be disbursed, will be approved by a federal judge in the next hearing scheduled for Feb 14th, 2025. 

The new HDMI 2.2 specification has been unveiled at CES 2025, rocking up to 96Gbps of bandwidth and the introduction of a high-end "Ultra96" HDMI cable that "enables all the HDMI 2.2 specification features". Check it out:

HDMI 2.2 has some wicked high resolution and refresh rate support, with new HDMI 2.2-enabled products supporting 4K at up to 480Hz, 8K at up to 240Hz, and even 10K at up to 120Hz. HDMI 2.1 as it stands (and HDMI 2.1 cables) can only support up to 4K 120Hz, but for future TVs, monitors, graphics cards, and consoles... the ceiling is far higher than it is now (4x higher refresh out of 4K is impressive).

LG just unveiled its new G5 series OLED TVs at CES supporting 4K at up to 165Hz, so the 96Gbps of bandwidth is more than enough for years and years to come. HDMI 2.2 includes a new "Latency Indication Protocol (LIP) for improving audio and video synchronization, especially for multiple-hop system configurations such as those with an audio video receiver or soundbar".

Microsoft has pushed out another stark reminder that support for the world's most popular operating system will be ending this year, and that users of that operating system will need to upgrade to Redmond's latest OS to continue getting critical security updates.

Microsoft has taken to its website with a new blog post by Microsoft EVP and consumer chief marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi, who explained that Windows 11 is "available at a time when the world needs it most," which references the looming October 14, 2025 date that will mark the end of support for Windows 10. Users still running the now 10-year-old OS will be faced with a choice of no longer receiving critical security updates that will result in their machine becoming exponentially more vulnerable to attacks, or pay the $30 a year to continue to receive Windows 10 security updates.

Despite Microsoft's marketing speak such as Windows 11 being available at a time "when the world needs it most," it's been long reported by myself and numerous other publications that Windows 11 adoption rate will not hit Microsoft's desired mark by the time October 14 rolls around. For example, Windows 10 is still currently on more than 60% of all PCs. In fact, over the last two months Windows 10 user base increased to 62.7% while Windows 11 fell to 34.1%. However, looking at the Steam Survey data, Windows 11 is in the lead with a 55% marketshare, while Windows 10 holds 42%.

Intel recently launched its first second-gen Battlemage desktop gaming GPU, the Intel Arc B580, which is competitively priced at $249. With stable drivers and software and massive architectural improvements compared to the first-gen Arc cards, the Arc B580 is selling out due to the positive response.

Michelle Johnston Holthaus, interim co-CEO of Intel and CEO of Intel Products, said during the company's big CES 2025 keynote that the reception to the B580 has been "nothing short of fantastic." And it's not hard to see why, in our in-depth review of the Intel Arc B580, we praised its GeForce RTX 4060-beating performance - where it also outpaced NVIDIA's mainstream entry in games with raytracing.

Although Intel didn't announce that it would release a more powerful Intel Arc B750 or B770, it will launch the entry-level B570 next week. Intel also reassured everyone that it has no plans to exit the desktop GPU market anytime soon.

If you thought 120Hz, or the more recently adopted 240Hz refresh rate displays were quick, buckle up, because CES 2025 will unveil a 750Hz gaming monitor.

The new gaming monitor comes from the company Koorui, and according to reports it will be officially unveiled at CES 2025 located in Las Vegas. The new gaming monitor stands as an example of TN pixel technology being pushed to the limit, as the new gaming monitor named the G7 is a TN panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (FHD).

TN panels are known to be quicker in terms of refresh rate and response time compared to IPS panels, but they typically suffer in the color accuracy department. However, according to Koorui the G7 sports a 95% DCI-P3 color space coverage and HDR400 support. As for other specifications, the G7 is slated to have a 0.5ms GtG response time, along with height and swivel adjustments. Additionally, the upcoming gaming monitor features 2x HDMI 2.1 ports, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 connection, and 1x headphone jack. Koorui expects the G7 to be available sometime in 2025.

AMD officially announced its next-gen RDNA 4 graphics architecture at CES 2025, complete with "supercharged" AI hardware and other upgrades. It's set to debut in the desktop gaming market with the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 in Q1 2025, with the company focusing on these GPUs' AI capabilities with FSR 4 and new features for its Adrenalin software and driver.

These new AI features will run locally on RDNA 4 GPUs with 'AMD Chat,' which allows users to learn more about their AMD products, including information on how to get the best performance out of their Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 GPUs. This very cool feature should tie into Adrenaline's suite of FidelityFX, HYPR-RX, and overclocking capabilities.

Adrenalin's AI features and capabilities go beyond adding a helpful AI to chat with; there's more cool stuff on the way.

AMD is changing its GPU naming with the announcement of its next-generation RDNA 4 GPUs at CES 2025. Starting with the flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070, which will be followed by the Radeon RX 9060 Series, the reason for the name change comes down to two things.

First, calling it the Radeon RX 9000 Series brings the naming in line with the current desktop Ryzen 9000 Series for brand synergy. Second, the decision to change what would have been the Radeon RX 8800 XT (if it followed the same naming convention as the Radeon RX 6800 XT and 7800 XT) to the Radeon RX 9070 XT will make the process of purchasing a brand new GPU easier for the consumer by matching the competition - aka NVIDIA.

This means the Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 will be positioned as alternatives to the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER and GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, as well as the upcoming GeForce RTX 5070 and GeForce RTX 5070 Ti - which are expected to launch in February.

At CES 2025, AMD announced its next-generation Ryzen Z2 Series processors for PC gaming handhelds. Featuring upgraded RDNA 3 Radeon graphics, the new APU series is designed to deliver "console-class gaming in a handheld" with vastly superior efficiency for improved battery life. It also supports FSR technologies like Super Resolution, Frame Generation, and driver-based Fluid Motion Frames.

Interestingly, AMD confirmed that the Ryzen Z2 Series is set to arrive this year in several handhelds, from the Lenovo Legion Go series to ASUS's ROG Ally handheld and even Valve's Steam Deck.

Even though Valve has made it clear that we won't be seeing a Steam Deck 2 anytime soon because it's waiting for a massive generational leap in performance, efficiency, and affordability, we might end up seeing a mid-generation refresh ala the PlayStation 5 Pro.

At CES 2025, AMD formally announced the latest version of its AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution technology, FSR 4. Explicitly developed for RDNA 4, starting with the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 GPUs, FSR 4 represents a significant evolution for the upscaling technology because it marks a shift to a new ML or AI-powered approach.

Although we weren't given a release date or full specs for the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is seeing a name change to match the latest generation of Ryzen CPUs and its GeForce RTX competition, we do know that the new RDNA 4 architecture features new "supercharged" AI hardware.

This means FSR 4, like NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XeSS, will use GPU AI hardware for upscaling and frame generation. AMD has undoubtedly decided to make this change to improve FSR's image quality and bring it closer to NVIDIA DLSS.

AMD has just wrapped up its CES 2025 press conference where it officially unveiled the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which the company is touting as the world's best CPU for both gamers and creators.

AMD explained during its press briefing that it has seen a very positive reaction to the release of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is currently viewed as the best gaming CPU in terms of performance while also factoring in efficiency. To provide consumers with an option that builds on the power and efficiency of the 9800X3D, AMD has unveiled the Ryzen 9950X3D, which has been designed with gamers and creators in mind.

As for specifications, the 9950X3D sports 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, a maximum boost frequency of up to 5.7 GHz, and 144MB of total cache, which includes AMD's second-generation V-cache technology. AMD went on to showcase the performance uplift of the 9950X3D versus the company's previous generation of CPUs, and the Intel's competing solution. For example, AMD states the 9950X3D falls within 1% of gaming performance compared to the 9800X3D, but compared to previous generation 7950X3D it's on average 8% faster across 40 games tested.

AMD announced its next-generation RDNA 4 graphics architecture at CES 2025. The first two desktop GPUs to utilize the new tech are the Radeon RX 9070 XT and the Radeon RX 9070.

AMD confirms that RDNA 4 features optimized compute units (CUs) compared to previous generations like RDNA 3, "supercharged" AI, improved raytracing performance per CU, and better media encoding quality for creators. In addition, RDNA 4 will see the debut of AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4, which is embracing AI for high-quality 4K upscaling and Frame Generation.

The FSR 4 teaser includes an image of Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, so we can expect this to be one of the first titles to include FSR 4. Unfortunately, during the CES 2025 pre-briefing, AMD did not provide performance benchmarks, release dates, or in-depth details for the new RDNA 4 GPUs. More information is coming later this quarter.

We are on the eve of NVIDIA's huge unveiling of the next-generation GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, and now we get to have an early gander at GAINWARD's custom GeForce RTX 5080 16GB graphics card. Check it out:

GAINWARD's new custom GeForce RTX 5080 retail packaging leak shows us just what we need to know (and has already been rumored, leaked, drip fed to us for months now) that the RTX 5080 ships with 16GB of GDDR7 memory. The new ultra-enthusiast flagship GeForce RTX 5090 has been confirmed with a monster 32GB of GDDR7 memory.

The first Blackwell gaming GPU to launch will be the GeForce RTX 5080 which will feature 16GB of new GDDR7 memory clocked at up to 32Gbps (30Gbps is expected) on a 256-bit memory bus, which will result in up to 960GB/sec of memory bandwidth, which means the RTX 5080 has virtually as much memory bandwidth as the current-gen flagship RTX 4090 24GB.

Samsung has already kicked off CES 2025 early with the unveiling of a crazy 500Hz gaming monitor, but the South Korean company has more monitor options available, and one is a world' s first in terms of size and resolution.

The newly announced monitor marks the third gaming display Samsung has unveiled for CES 2025, with the first two being the Odyssey G8, a 27-inch OLED 4K gaming monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate, and the Odyssey G6, another 27-inch OLED display, but with a 2560 x 1440 (QHD) resolution and an industry-leading 500Hz refresh rate. Now adding to the mix is the Odyssey G7, and while all of the aforementioned displays are interesting in their own rights, the Odyssey G7 is shaping up to be truly unique.

Reports indicate the Odyssey G7 will be a 40-inch display with a bump in resolution rather than refresh rate, as the upcoming gaming monitor will have a 5,120 x 2,160 resolution, or 5K, and a refresh rate of 180Hz. Samsung states that the Odyssey G7 is an industry first as it is the first 40-inch gaming monitor with a 5K resolution. Another interesting monitor Samsung has unveiled is a 39-inch 4K gaming monitor, which is designed for users who don't think 32 inches is big enough, but moving to a TV that's likely 50+ inches is far too much.

Samsung's Ballie, a spherical robot that was first revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 2020 is finally coming to market, putting to bed the longstanding assumption that Samsung will never release the peculiar robot.

CES 2024 is littered with prototype concepts that will never make it to market for various reasons, and since its unveiling and lack of release, Samsung's Ballie has fallen into that category. However, it appears that is no longer the case as CNET reports Samsung will be releasing the AI-powered companion sometime in 2025. For those who don't know, Ballie is a stay-at-home robot companion that is capable of greeting its owners at the door, projecting video/images on surfaces, and being able to control other Samsung smarthome devices.

Ballie communicates with users through a text-based app, but users can also throw commands at the AI robot with their voice. Additionally, through its array of cameras and sensors, Ballie is able to determine the best viewing angle for its projected image/image based on the location of the users face.

The human brain is truly and incredible piece of wetware that even the smartest of researchers have yet to fully understand, but when it comes to speed researchers have found the human brain is quite slow, especially compared to something as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi or a phone call from a smartphone.

According to new calculations that were published in a recent entry into the scientific journal Neuron, the human brain processes a thought at just 10 bits per second, which is remarkably slow when compared to an average Wi-Fi connection in the US being capable of 260 million bits per second, or even a simple phone call at approximately 64,000 bits per second.

To arrive at this number the team looked at feats of human achievement and applied methods from the field of information theory, and what they found was even mentally intensive activities that are blended with minimal physical movement barely breached the 10 bits per second mark.

AMD will host its CES 2025 press conference on January 6 at 11:00am to 11:45am PST, where you can tune into the livestream below frorm the comfort of your lounge, chair, or bed.

The company will be unveiling its new RDNA 4 GPU architecture, new Radeon RX 9000 series GPUs with the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070, new FSR 4 upscaling technology, new Ryzen CPUs, and so much more. We'll be introduced to the higher-end X3D desktop processors with Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D, as well as mobile HX3D variants with the flagship Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.

We should also be introduced to the new Krackan Point APU, featuring Zen 5c CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 GPU corers, inside of the new APU that will feature an NPU with up to 40 TOPS for AI workloads on Copilot+ systems. AMD is also expected to unveil its new Strix Halo APU that will sport a huge 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 processing power, joined by a far beefier RDNA 3.5-based GPU with 40 Compute Units (compared to Strix Point with 16 Compute Units).

United Airlines has announced it will be accelerating the timeline of bringing SpaceX Starlink satellite connectivity onboard its plans to United travelers across the world.

The airline now expects to be testing Starlink connectivity for on-board Wi-Fi next month, with its first commercial flight anticipated to take off in spring 2025 on the United Embraer E-175 aircraft. United now plans to outfit its entire two-cabin regional fleet before the end of 2025, and have its first mainline Starlink-enabled plane in the air before the year is finished.

In the end, United has plans to add Starlink to its entire fleet. Access to Starlink will be free for all MileagePlus customers, including game-changing in-flight entertainment experiences like streaming content, shopping, gaming, and more.

Ugreen has just unveiled its new Nexode Desktop Charger 500W, with up to 500W of power at your fingertips... enough to charge not one, not two, but 5 laptops at once, and enough power to even juice up your e-bike or e-scooter. Check it out:

The new Ugreen Nexode Desktop Charger 500W is a huge power brick that has boosted the overall power output from 300W to 500W over the previous-generation charger, with up to 240W of power delivery over a single USB-C port. There are 5 x USB-C ports and a single USB-A port on the charger, capable of charging 5 laptops at the same time (so, so handy to have one charger to rule them all).

This isn't just for your PC or laptop, as it can be put anywhere you need USB ports: your desk, the kitchen, your workshop, and other places. Ugreen has said that its new Nexode Desktop Charger 500W can also be used to charge power tools and e-bikes, which is real, real handy.

GMKtec has just unveiled its new K11 Mini-PC which is powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS "Hawk Point" APU, it comes with 32GB of RAM pre-installed, a 2TB SSD, and an OCulink port. Check it out:

The new GMKtec K11 Mini-PC features the Ryzen 9 8945HS "Hawk Point" APU which is based on the Zen 4 architecture, sporting 8 cores and 16 threads. The 32GB of RAM is pre-installed but it can be upgraded to 96GB of RAM, while the 2TB of SSD storage can be expanded up to an 8TB SSD (there are dual M.2 SSD slots inside).

The Hawk Point APU comes with the Radeon 780M integrated GPU which is good for mainstream games, but it's not as good as the new Strix Point APU that features an RDNA 3.5-based iGPU. However, that's where the OCulink port comes into play as it can provide GMKtec K11 Mini-PC owners to plug in an external graphics card, amplifying gaming performance.