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DLSS support coming to Homeworld 3 and a couple of Early Access titles this week

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | May 8, 2024 8:02 PM CDT

Upscaling tech is such a big part of PC gaming that NVIDIA announces which titles are adding support for DLSS Super Resolution and DLSS 3 Frame Generation every week. However, with that said, only a handful of PC games are adding support this week - limited to DLSS Super Resolution or DLSS 2. There's no Frame Generation, but hey, there's always next week.

DLSS support coming to Homeworld 3 and a couple of Early Access titles this week

The big one is the long-awaited Homeworld 3 from Blackbird Interactive and Gearbox, which launches on May 14. This strategic sci-fi RTS takes place in beautifully rendered 3D spaces, and for all GeForce RTX owners, DLSS 2 will boost performance while maintaining the game's impressive visual fidelity. Homeworld 3 is the latest installment in a long-running and beloved PC franchise, so there's definite hype surrounding its launch.

The second game getting DLSS 2 support is a little more unknown. It's an Early Access RPG available to play on Steam and already sitting on a 'Mostly Positive' user review rating. With survival mechanics, exploration, action, resource and town management, story, and armies to command in a medieval setting, Bellwright is worth checking out.

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Continue reading: DLSS support coming to Homeworld 3 and a couple of Early Access titles this week (full post)

Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Mini-PC: Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, touchscreen, video camera, OCulink

Anthony Garreffa | Computer Systems | May 8, 2024 7:51 PM CDT

Minisforum is gearing up to launch its new AtomMan X7 Ti Mini-PC, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H "Meteor Lake" CPU, a built-in 4-inch touchscreen, OCulink connectivity, and so much more.

Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Mini-PC: Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, touchscreen, video camera, OCulink

First off, the AtomMan brand from Minisforum is something new, aimed at the Mini-PC market and offering something different than what we've seen over the years. Inside, the new AtomMan X7 Ti features some high-end components, including Intel's flagship Meteor Lake CPU with the Core Ultra 9 185H.

Minisforum's new AtomMan X7 Ti Mini-PC is the first product to feature an Intel Meteor Lake CPU and the new Dynamic Screen, a 4-inch touchscreen that shows system monitoring information like real-time temperature monitoring, CPU, GPU, SSD usage, and more.

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Continue reading: Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Mini-PC: Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, touchscreen, video camera, OCulink (full post)

Intel Arrow Lake rumored to be the best part of 1GHz slower than 14th-gen CPUs

Darren Allan | Processors | May 8, 2024 2:05 PM CDT

Intel's next-gen flagship CPU could be dialing back clock speeds considerably - by a whole lot, in fact, at least if this leak turns out to be correct.

Intel Arrow Lake rumored to be the best part of 1GHz slower than 14th-gen CPUs

Upfront, let's arm ourselves with the usual helping of seasoning, and indeed a heavier dose than normal here, as this is a rumor that comes from Weibo, not exactly our favored source for reliability (though it does get some things on the money).

At any rate, Wccftech noticed that user 'MebiuW' posted about how Intel's Arrow Lake range - which could be revealed in Q3 - will witness clock speeds being reined in considerably.

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Continue reading: Intel Arrow Lake rumored to be the best part of 1GHz slower than 14th-gen CPUs (full post)

Weight quirk means the M2 iPad Air is actually heavier than the high-performance M4 iPad Pro

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices | May 8, 2024 1:45 PM CDT

Back when Apple started to use the Air name with the MacBook Air and original iPad Air, it was used as a way to symbolize just how thin and light the devices were. It made a ton of sense and it's remained that way for years. However, as the rest of Apple's tablet and laptop lineups have continued to also shrink in size and weight, things have started to get a little more complicated. Now, the release of the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air have proved that point once more.

Weight quirk means the M2 iPad Air is actually heavier than the high-performance M4 iPad Pro

As noticed by MacRumors, the new M4 iPad Pro is actually lighter than the M2 iPad Air, something that seems strange when you remember that the iPad Air is supposed to be the thin and light tablet of the two.

To put things into perspective, the 13-inch iPad Pro weighs just 1.28 points or 579 grams whereas the 13-inch iPad Air comes in at 1.36 pounds or 617 grams. Those who prefer their tablets to be a little on the smaller side will notice that the 11-inch iPad Pro weighs just 0.98 pounds or 444 grams, while the 11-inch iPad Air measures 1.02 pounds or 462 grabs.

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Continue reading: Weight quirk means the M2 iPad Air is actually heavier than the high-performance M4 iPad Pro (full post)

The new iPad Pro and iPad Air sport familiar battery life figures despite power-sipping chips

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices | May 8, 2024 1:30 PM CDT

When Apple announced the new M4 iPad Air and a revamped M2 iPad Air, including the all-new 13-inch display option, the company didn't make a big deal about the battery life that buyers can expect from either one. Apple did however note that the M4 chip is more power efficient than the previous-generation M-series chips, but that was as far as things got. So it's perhaps interesting that Apple's published battery life for the new iPads is essentially the same as it has been for years.

The new iPad Pro and iPad Air sport familiar battery life figures despite power-sipping chips

As MacRumors points out, Apple says that the new iPads both manage the same 10 hours of battery life that the company has been advertising for years, and that's notable given the fact that both of these tablets now have better, more power-efficient chips than the models that they replaced. It's notable that the new chips are also faster of course, so there's a trade-off to be made there.

The new M4 chip is built on a second-generation 3nm manufacturing process which means that it's more power efficient than even the M3 that came before it. It also has six efficiency cores which is two more than the M2 that was in the 2022 iPad Pro that this new model replaces. The tandem OLED display is also thought to be more energy efficient, all things that might have been expected to allow Apple to save some battery life and increase performance.

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Continue reading: The new iPad Pro and iPad Air sport familiar battery life figures despite power-sipping chips (full post)

Buying an M4 iPad Pro or M2 iPad Air? You won't get one iconic thing in the box anymore

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices | May 8, 2024 1:15 PM CDT

The new M4 iPad Pro and a refreshed M2 iPad Air are now available for preorder after they were announced during the Let Loose event yesterday. The event was a big one despite its relatively short length, unveiling not only the new tablets but also a new Apple Pencil Pro and a refreshed Magic Keyboard. All of those new things are now available for preorder and they'll officially go on sale on May 15. But those who choose to pick up a new iPad Pro or iPad Air won't get something that Apple device buyers have become so used to.

Buying an M4 iPad Pro or M2 iPad Air? You won't get one iconic thing in the box anymore

That thing isn't something that's a big deal but it's something we're so familiar with. The thing? The familiar Apple stickers that have been included in boxes for decades at this point.

The news hasn't been confirmed by Apple but a 9to5Mac report based on a memo that has been distributed to Apple Store teams notes that there will be no stickers included in any of the new iPad boxes.

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Continue reading: Buying an M4 iPad Pro or M2 iPad Air? You won't get one iconic thing in the box anymore (full post)

The M4 iPad Pro has a new OLED display with a variable refresh rate, but no always-on display

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices | May 8, 2024 1:00 PM CDT

Apple announced the brand-new M4 iPad Pro yesterday and it brings with it some big upgrades, not least that superfast M4 chip that everyone's talking about. But the thing that most people will notice first is likely to be the new OLED display and it's something that Apple focused on heavily, too. But there's one feature that we would have liked to have seen arrive that was sadly missing - an always-on display like the iPhone 15 Pro.

The M4 iPad Pro has a new OLED display with a variable refresh rate, but no always-on display

An always-on display was never seriously rumored for the arrival of the new iPad Pro but the news that it would be using an OLED display similar to the iPhone had given some hope that Apple might spring a surprise. Now, Apple has published technical specifications for the new iPads and has confirmed that the new OLED display features a variable refresh rate that can go as high as 120Hz and fall to just 10Hz. And as impressive that is, and as much battery life it could help the iPad save, it doesn't go as low as the iPhone 15 Pro display's 1Hz. And it's that 1Hz refresh rate that is needed to offer an always-on display.

The iPad Pro has offered a 10Hz refresh rate since 2017 with the tablet fluctuating between 24Hz and 120Hz depending on what the device is being used for at the time. The high refresh rate is useful for high-speed on-screen content and fluid animations, but refreshing the display that many times per second can impact the battery life terribly. Moving to a 10Hz lower refresh rate will help Apple save battery life to be sure, but 1Hz would have been even better.

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Continue reading: The M4 iPad Pro has a new OLED display with a variable refresh rate, but no always-on display (full post)

Buying a 1TB M4 iPad Pro will get your double the RAM and an extra CPU core thrown in

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices | May 8, 2024 12:30 PM CDT

Apple announced the brand-new M4 iPad Pro yesterday alongside the new M2 iPad Air and the Apple Pencil Pro, not to mention the revamped Apple Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro. There was plenty announced during the event, but it's the M4 iPad Pro that's particularly notable. It's a hugely powerful tablet and one that comes with plenty of RAM and storage. But it turns out that if you pick two particular storage options you'll also get some other things thrown in for good measure, too.

Buying a 1TB M4 iPad Pro will get your double the RAM and an extra CPU core thrown in

Apple didn't make a big deal out of the news when it announced the M4 iPad Pro, but it's since been discovered that anyone who spends the extra $600 to upgrade from 256GB of storage to the 1TB model (or higher) will also get an additional CPU core and twice as much RAM.

Apple has historically not chosen to give details about what cores the iPad has and how much RAM is offered, but in the case of the M4 it turns out that the base model with 256GB of storage comes with an M4 chip that has a 9-core CPU. But if you then choose to buy a 1TB or 2TB storage option you'll actually get an M4 chip that has a 10-core CPU instead. You'll still get the same number of GPU cores so there is nothing of note there, but it's interesting that Apple is putting two versions of the same M4 chip into the same tablet here.

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Continue reading: Buying a 1TB M4 iPad Pro will get your double the RAM and an extra CPU core thrown in (full post)

Google chose the worst possible time to announce the Pixel 8a budget Android phone

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices | May 8, 2024 12:15 PM CDT

It's impossible to miss the fact that Apple announced the new M4 iPad and M2 iPad Air yesterday alongside a new Apple Pencil Pro and a refreshed Magic Keyboard, but did you know that Google also announced a new product? You probably didn't, because it chose to announce it on the same day that Apple sucked all the air out of the room. Which is a shame, because the phone is actually pretty good.

Google chose the worst possible time to announce the Pixel 8a budget Android phone

The Pixel 8a was a phone that we'd seen leaked here and there in recent weeks, a phone that offers people the chance to get their hands on a new phone with high-end features at a price that doesn't cost high-end figures. The Pixel 8a is sure to be a popular device, as well as it should because it has a ton of features that make for a great experience. And at $499, it's going to be hard to beat.

Google's Pixel 8a features a new Actua display that measures 6.1 inches. It has a high-speed 120Hz refresh rate and is 40% brighter than the display that was already a solid option in last year's Pixel 7a. The good news doesn't end there, either, with a new 256GB storage option available for those who want it.

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Continue reading: Google chose the worst possible time to announce the Pixel 8a budget Android phone (full post)

Microsoft Edge users who haven't activated Windows 11, watch out: this change could be bad news

Darren Allan | Software & Apps | May 8, 2024 11:55 AM CDT

Windows 11 users running an inactivated copy of the operating system may find that in the future, there's a further penalty exacted on them for failing to activate - and it involves Microsoft's Edge browser.

Microsoft Edge users who haven't activated Windows 11, watch out: this change could be bad news

Windows Latest noticed that in a fresh test build of Edge, there are several flags that hint at the potentially incoming move. These are:

Just by looking at those flags you can guess the functionality being leveraged: a check for activation, then a trigger if Windows 11 isn't activated that means Edge Settings are locked.

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Continue reading: Microsoft Edge users who haven't activated Windows 11, watch out: this change could be bad news (full post)

TikTok sues US government to stop app shutdown and undo a new law

Jak Connor | Software & Apps | May 8, 2024 11:02 AM CDT

The Senate officially banned TikTok in the United States, giving the popular app owner the choice of selling it to a US government-approved buyer or having it banned from app marketplaces.

TikTok sues US government to stop app shutdown and undo a new law

The US government has deemed TikTok a national security risk due to its owner being China-based company ByteDance, which officials believe have ties to the Chinese government. More specifically, the US government believes TikTok is capable of scraping the personal data of 170 million Americans, and that data could then be shared with the Chinese government. Furthermore, the US government believe TikTok could be used to spread misinformation throughout the US.

The banning of the app gave its owner 270 days to sell TikTok, with an additional 90-day presidential extension. TikTok and ByteDance have since responded to the new legislature by filing a lawsuit that directly challenges the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which President Biden signed into law last month.

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Continue reading: TikTok sues US government to stop app shutdown and undo a new law (full post)

Sabrent launches new Rocket NANO 1TB 2242 DRAM-less Gen4 SSD: up to 5GB/sec

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | May 8, 2024 10:28 AM CDT

Sabrent has just launched its newer, faster M.2 2242 SSD with the release of its new Sabrent Rocket NANO 2242 SSD.

Sabrent launches new Rocket NANO 1TB 2242 DRAM-less Gen4 SSD: up to 5GB/sec

The new Sabrent Rocket NANO SSD has been designed for specialized devices like the Lenovo Legion Go, Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, and other portables, but the company is clear that the Rocket NANO SSD will work anywhere. The new Rocket NANO SSD can be extended to M.2 2280 form factor, or you can adjust your motherboard standoffs while most enclosures, add-in cards, and devices such as cloners will work "as-is," says Sabrent.

This is a new DRAM-less SSD, so the Sabrent Rocket NANO SSD is single-sided, so there's no need to worry about whether it'll fit in your machine or device. Now, let's talk about those important read and write speeds, shall we?

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Continue reading: Sabrent launches new Rocket NANO 1TB 2242 DRAM-less Gen4 SSD: up to 5GB/sec (full post)

Sabrent's new USB-DS12: USB-C to SATA and IDE adapter for old school HDDs

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | May 8, 2024 8:42 AM CDT

Sabrent has the true one-stop storage management solution for SATA and IDE HDDs, SSDs, and optical drives like CD/DVD-RW. It easily connects to Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems and other host d evices over an integrated 5Gbps USB-C port (USB Gen 3.2 1x1).

Sabrent's new USB-DS12: USB-C to SATA and IDE adapter for old school HDDs

The maximum speed of the Sabrent USB-DS12 will depend on the drive's interface at speeds of up to SATA 3Gbps (SATA II, or SATA-300). The USB-DS12 adapter is plug and play, making it super-easy to work with virtually any device as it requires no drivers, and is hot swappable at all times.

If you've got a new HDD or SSD, or an old HDD or SSD, both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives require additional 12V power to operate reliably, so Sabrent -- the good guys they are -- have included an external power supply.

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Continue reading: Sabrent's new USB-DS12: USB-C to SATA and IDE adapter for old school HDDs (full post)

US government plans to prevent AI software like ChatGPT getting to China

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | May 8, 2024 8:27 AM CDT

The US government is reportedly preparing to make another move against China to prevent the nation from gaining access to the US's best artificial intelligence capabilities.

US government plans to prevent AI software like ChatGPT getting to China

The Biden administration has already taken measures to prevent China from gaining AI supremacy by banning the exportation of specific high-end NVIDIA graphics cards, which are used to train the AI models, and proposing a rule that requires all US cloud companies to inform the government when foreign customers are using their cloud systems to train AI models.

According to reports, more guardrails are being considered by the Commerce Department, which plans on targeting the exportation of proprietary or closed-source AI models. The idea behind these new purported regulations is to prevent US-based AI giants such as the Microsoft-funded OpenAI, the company behind popular AI tool ChatGPT, or Google DeepMind, creators of Gemini, from taking their world leading AI models to global market and selling them to the highest bidder.

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Continue reading: US government plans to prevent AI software like ChatGPT getting to China (full post)

US prosecutors are investigating Tesla for securities and wire fraud

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | May 8, 2024 7:44 AM CDT

Reports indicate that Tesla is being investigated by US prosecutors for any possible evidence of committing securities and wire fraud.

US prosecutors are investigating Tesla for securities and wire fraud

The examination of the company by US prosecutors is to find evidence of Tesla committing securities and wire fraud by misleading consumers and investors with Tesla's self driving capabilities found within its electric car line-up.

The two technologies, Tesla's Full Self-Driving system, and the Autopilot system, have been a point of conjecture for quite some time, as some regulatory bodies have argued the naming of the technologies is misleading due to the features not providing full autonomy, as Tesla still requires drivers to periodically place their hands on the wheel and be ready to take back over when necessary.

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Continue reading: US prosecutors are investigating Tesla for securities and wire fraud (full post)

FTX says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to fully repay customers

Jak Connor | Cryptocurrency & Mining | May 8, 2024 7:22 AM CDT

Defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which was headed by the now-convicted Sam Bankman-Fried, has said that it will have more than enough money to pay back all of its customers.

FTX says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to fully repay customers

In March 2024, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the co-founder of FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding customers and investors with the investment firm. FTX entered into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan after the firm collapsed in November 2022. The result was SBF being arrested and John J. Ray III, an attorney who specializes in recovering funds from failed corporations, being brought on as chief executive of FTX.

Ray has since said that he is pleased the company is now in a position to "propose a Chapter 11 plan that contemplates the return of 100% of bankruptcy claim amounts plus interest for non-governmental creditors". Notably, the plan will still have to be approved by a US bankruptcy court, and FTX is currently still in the process of recovering all lost funds with no date on completion being mentioned in reports.

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Continue reading: FTX says it has billions of dollars more than it needs to fully repay customers (full post)

Scientists announce breakthrough discovery of a whale 'alphabet'

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 8, 2024 3:15 AM CDT

Researchers have penned a new study called the "Contextual and Combinatorial Structure in Sperm Whale Vocalizations" and it details a new "alphabet" that has been discovered.

Scientists announce breakthrough discovery of a whale 'alphabet'

Scientists from MIT CSAIL and Project CETI state they have developed a breakthrough in understanding cetacean communication. Notably, cetaceans include the following species: whales, dolphins, and porpoises. So, what did they do? The team took what is called codas, which are a series of different linguistic vocalizations that have been studied for decades, and applied machine learning technologies to decipher what is being "said."

According to reports, the research took 8,719 sperm whale codas there was collected by researcher Shane Gero from time spent off the coast of Dominica, a small Caribbean Island, and applied them to a machine learning algorithm while also factoring in contextual details through implementing music terminology.

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Continue reading: Scientists announce breakthrough discovery of a whale 'alphabet' (full post)

CPU shipments experienced 33% growth in Q1 2024 compared to last year

Kosta Andreadis | Processors | May 7, 2024 11:01 PM CDT

The global client-based CPU market showed impressive growth in Q1 2024, with John Peddie Research reporting that shipments hit 62 million units - a 33% increase compared to Q1 2023. However, compared to the previous quarter, this figure represents a 9.4% decrease.

CPU shipments experienced 33% growth in Q1 2024 compared to last year

Even though the dip compared to the previous quarter bucks the recent growth trend, the report notes that the Q1 dip, when viewed with the context of year-over-year growth, "is an indication that the market has stabilized and has returned to its traditional cyclic behavior."

Looking into the numbers more closely, Notebooks and Laptops are driving the growth as desktop market share has declined. A year ago, the split between Notebooks and Desktops was 68% and 32%, with this figure changing to 73% Notebooks and 27% Desktops in Q1 2024. With integrated graphics being a key part of the mobile CPU space, iGPU shipments increased by 30% year-over-year.

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Continue reading: CPU shipments experienced 33% growth in Q1 2024 compared to last year (full post)

ASUS plans 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, ProArt laptops with AMD's new Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | May 7, 2024 10:32 PM CDT

ASUS is going to have a helluva show at Computex 2024 this year, with 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, and ProArt laptops powered by AMD's next-gen Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs.

ASUS plans 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, ProArt laptops with AMD's new Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs

The new leaks are coming from ITHome, which reports that the leaked product page of the new 240W and 180W TOG Compact Plug adapter which lists the new variants. The new "W" models are the next-gen variants with AMD's Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs while the "U" variants are the Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" APUs.

However, since this news hit the web, the new ASUS VivoBook S16 laptops have been teased with CPUs that aren't named in the Ryzen 8050 naming scheme. The new ASUS VivoBook S16 laptop has been teased on the official ASUS website with a CPU called the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor.

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Continue reading: ASUS plans 14 next-gen ROG, TUF, ProArt laptops with AMD's new Zen 5-based Strix Point APUs (full post)

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 with 12-Core AMD 'Strix Point' processor and GeForce RTX 4070 coming

Kosta Andreadis | Laptops | May 7, 2024 10:02 PM CDT

The new ASUS Zephyrus G16 will be powered by AMD's new 12-Core next-gen Ryzen "Strix Point" APU, which a South African retailer has leaked. The high-end AI and gaming laptop also comes packed with mobile GeForce RTX 4070 8GB graphics, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, and a 16-inch WQXGA OLED display. Although regional pricing varies, the listing price is translated to roughly $3,700 USD, so it won't be cheap.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 with 12-Core AMD 'Strix Point' processor and GeForce RTX 4070 coming

The price could be a placeholder, with the final SKU launching at a much lower price point of around $2,000 USD. Based on information from a related ASUS leak, it seems that AMD's next-gen "Strix Point" Ryzen APU featured in the new ASUS Zephyrus G16 will be called the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 - a new naming convention from AMD that puts AI front and center.

That leak confirms that the APU features a 12-core, 24-thread CPU that clocks up to 5.1GHz (with 36MB of cache) with AI performance of up to 77 TOPS. Paired with the GeForce RTX 4070, it'll be an impressive machine for any AI or non-AI-related task.

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Continue reading: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 with 12-Core AMD 'Strix Point' processor and GeForce RTX 4070 coming (full post)

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