Computer Systems News - Page 1

PC shipments are expected to go through a huge sales boost in 2024, which will be driven by the "AI PC" wave that we're going to see begin in January 2024 and not stop throughout the year.

According to research outlet Canalys, in their new report, they see 2024 being a "delight" for the PC business. We've been seeing dips from the heights of the pandemic when pre-built system builders were essentially selling everything they could get their hands on and build.

But, after the pandemic, the PC industry saw huge drops in sales units dipping after the 2021 high, down in 2022, and down even more in 2023, but now 2024 is expected to be back up towards 2022 levels, and 2025 will get closer to 2020 levels. The entire PC business isn't doing great, but AI PCs are expected to see shipments increase by 8% up to 267 million units.

The mini PC market has returned in a big way in recent years, and if you've been following the space, then no doubt you've come across the competitive and powerful range from GEEKOM - a company that specializes in mini PCs to suit any need - and it's upcoming products could very well be little gaming powerhouse. And that's all due to them housing AMD's Ryzen 7 7840HS and Ryzen 9 7940HS processors.

These high-end mobile processors make up the flagship offerings in AMD's 'Phoenix' series, including Zen 4 architecture with AMD Radeon 780M graphics (12 CUs and up to 2.7 GHz clock speed). With the recent launch of the ROG Ally from ASUS, the Legion Go from Lenovo, and product companies like AYANEO, we've seen this type of APU - in Ryzen Z1 Extreme form - do some pretty amazing things.

With a Ryzen 7 7840HS or Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, GEEKOM's upcoming Mini IT13 PCs will undoubtedly be great little gaming boxes. The sort of device you could connect to a TV and treat it like a dedicated (and tiny) gaming console.

Thanks to the advances in the APU space, namely with low-power mobile Ryzen processors from AMD. And with that, we've seen a recent resurgence in mini-PCs that can be used for a lot more than just basic network tasks, from being able to handle complex content creation apps to serving as portable media platforms and servers to even little game boxes that can sit next to a TV or monitor for compact PC gaming on a device a lot smaller than even an Xbox Series S.

AYANEO is a company known for making some of the most powerful and capable PC gaming handhelds on the market (recently covered the impending launch of the company's new AYANEO Slide), but its latest release is a mini-PC. More specifically, the AYANEO Retro Mini PC (AM01) - sets itself apart from the pack with a retro design that makes it look like a miniature classic Macintosh. And ti comes with interchangeable decorative magnets and a set of stickers to help you make your AYANEO Retro Mini PC your own.

Outside of the gorgeous retro look, the AYANEO Retro Mini PC design features a 35W silent heat dissipation system, so there's none of that loud, tiny fan sound found in many other mini PCs. The retro beige shroud encloses some decent hardware, with the AYANEO Retro Mini PC's entry-level ($150 early bird price) variant equipped with an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, 8GB of DDR4 Dual Channel Memory, and 256GB of storage.

When you think of a computer you think of something like an all-in-one, like an iMac, or a laptop like the countless models that are on the market today. But there is a third type of computer that technically isn't a computer at all. That's a thin client, and it's a device that acts as a go-between between the user and a remote computer somewhere in the cloud. Now Amazon has a new one on offer, and it looks very familiar indeed.

That's because it looks like an Amazon Fire TV Cube, a little box that was designed to be like a Fire TV Stick but offers more capabilities. Now, TechCrunch reports that Amazon has leveraged what it did with the Fire TV Cube to create new $195 devices that can connect to virtual desktop environments over the internet - like AMazon's own Amazon WorkSpaces.

The new thin client has USB and HDMI ports for connecting to monitors and input accessories like keyboards and pointing devices. You can even plug a headset and other things into it, too. The whole thing is designed to be installed and managed by an IT department in a business of course, something that makes the similarities to the Fire TV Cube all the more fun. Because this looks nothing like the IBM computers you're used to seeing litter offices around the globe.

COLORFUL has just unveiled a new sleeper gaming PC with the introduction of its new G-ONE Plus all-in-one gaming PC, powered by both an AMD CPU and GPU inside.

The new COLORFUL G-ONE Plus AIO PC is powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor, with 8 cores and 16 threads at up to 4.9GHz based on the Zen3+ architecture and being the HX variant, and it has a higher 45W TDP. On the GPU side of things, there's the Radeon RX 6850M XT powered by the Navi 22 GPU, based on the RDNA 2 GPU architecture with 2560 Stream Processors.

We also have 12GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit memory bus, with performance that should be close to the desktop Radeon RX 6700 XT, but it'll be limited by its rather decent 165W. COLORFUL will have multiple configurations for power settings on the Radeon RX 6850M XT: Beast at 165W, Gaming at 154W, Balance at 135W, and Quiet at 114W.

Underwater data centers aren't something new, with Microsoft and its Project Natick taking data centers into the depths of our oceans back in 2014, and now China has kick-started the construction of the world's first commercial underwater data center off the coast of Sanya, which is a coastal city south of Hainan Island.

In a new report from China Central Television (CCTV) each of the data storage units can process over 4 million high-definition images in 30 seconds, with an estimated performance of 60,000 regular desktop computer systems all working together. The first of the data storage units was installed back in April, but a few days ago, the engineers added another data storage unit on the sea floor south of the Hainan province.

The company has plans to install 100 watertight data storage units as the building blocks of its underwater datacenter dreams, with each of the data storage units weighing in at 1300 tons, which is the same as 1000 cars. Getting something that big and heavy to the bottom of the ocean isn't easy, as you can imagine. Each of the data storage units takes around 3 hours to move the 35 meters to the bottom of the ocean.

Aftershock PC and SteelSeries have been cooking up their new limited edition SteelSeries x FaZe Clan PC, which is truly a symbol of top-tier gaming excellence and a true piece of esports history.

FaZe Clan are on top of the Counter-Strike 2 world and have been the first to secure themselves a CS2 tournament victory. Aftershock PC was on the ground at IEM Sydney 2023, where FaZe Clan made history with the first CS2 victory and got the FaZe Clan team (Karrigan, Rain, Ropz, Broky and Twistzz) members stop by the Aftershock PC booth and sign the side panels of these gaming PC systems.

It wasn't just at IEM Sydney 2023 either, with FaZe Clan winning 3 consecutive tournament victories, which started at IEM Sydney 2023 and then led to their domination at the Thunderpick World Championship 2023. Then, most recently, the guys smashed it at the CS Asia Championships 2023.

Alienware and Dell recently updated their custom PC lineup with the new Alienware Aurora R16 range that incorporates a brand-new look and feel with 14th-gen Intel CPUs and the latest in GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics. In a surprising move, Dell is now selling the previous Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktops with a brand-new configuration featuring Intel Arc A770 16GB graphics cards.

Paired with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 13700F or higher CPU, this is the first all-in-one Alienware gaming desktop to feature Intel hardware for all processing. Surprisingly, the Intel Arc A770 16 GPU can be upgraded to a GeForce RTX 4070 for an additional USD $50 - which is a bargain when you factor in that the Intel Arc A770's performance sits below the GeForce RTX 4060.

The fact that Intel Arc A770 GPUs, even with 16GB of VRAM, can be picked up for under $300, and the USD $1,949.99 asking price for the all-Intel Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop feels a bit steep.

Apple's new M3 24-inch iMac is a solid option for people who want their computer and their monitor to be one and the same thing, but it isn't quite big enough for some power users. For those who need extra screen real estate, the 27-inch iMac was perfect until it was killed off. Now, any hopes of it making a return and getting an Apple silicon upgrade have been dashed for good.

That's because despite not normally commenting on rumors, Apple has confirmed in a statement to The Verge that it has no intention of releasing an Apple silicon 27-inch iMac. Anyone who wants something of that size is going to have to look elsewhere.

Unsurprisingly, Apple has the perfect answer. Instead of buying the non-existent 27-inch iMac, customers are instead directed towards the Apple Studio Display and either a Mac Studio or a Mac mini. The end result will of course be similar to a 27-inch iMac, including the 5K display that made the Intel-based one so popular.

The rise in popularity of PC gaming handhelds has been one of the most interesting things in recent years, with devices like the Steam Deck from Valve and ROG Ally from ASUS leading the pack. AMD's mobile processor technology with integrated graphics powers the latter, specifically the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. An impressive gaming chip that's also found in the new Lenovo Legion Go - which is now available starting from USD 699.99.

With a price point higher than the competition, the Lenovo Legion Go might be the most impressive PC gaming handheld to date, thanks to its cutting-edge design and other notable features. The standout is the 8.8-inch QHD (2560 x 1600) IPS Touchscreen display, which is not only large for a gaming handheld but comes packed with specs like 500 nits of brightness, 144Hz refresh rate, and 97% DCI-P3 color accuracy.

Throw in 16 GB of LPDDR5X-7500MHz, 1TB of internal M.2 SSD storage, and Wi-Fi 6E, and the Lenovo Legion Go doesn't cut any corners. Outside of the impressive specs, one of the big design features is a detachable controller system similar to the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons - except optimized for PC gaming.