Computer Systems - Page 20

Trump has blasted Apple on Twitter today, with POTUS saying that he would not grant the company a tariff waiver for its new Mac Pro.

A few weeks ago, Apple petitioned the Office of the United States Trade Representative for an exception for its new Mac Pro, after they had decided on moving production out of the USA from Texas, to China. The tariff that Apple is expected to pay is a 25% duty tax on both select components, and parts.

Trump tweeted: "Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!" Trump has previously said that exemptions would be made if companies, like Apple, could show that important parts of the products can only be sourced from China if they're deemed not to be "strategically important".

The new Raspberry Pi 4 was announced today, bringing even more potency to the ultra-versatile tiny desktop computer.

The Raspberry Pi has been upgraded with a few new bells and whistles. Major new features include dual video output via two HDMI micro connectors and USB Type-C power connector, allowing for an extra 500mA of current. The flavorful mini-PC comes in three LPDDR4 memory flavors and price points: 1GB for $35, 2GB for $45, and a nice 4GB option for $55.

The new Raspberry Pi 4 sports a beefier 1.5GHz quad-core ARM Cortext CPU for roughly three times the performance, two USB 3.0 ports alongside two USB 2.0 ports, and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.

Apple has just unveiled its new Mac Pro and holy balls it is a beast when fully-specced. The bare minimum Mac Pro will begin at an already high price of $6000, but the company was mum on the highest-end specs of its new PC.

The base model Mac Pro includes up to a 28-core Intel CPU and support for up to a huge 1.5TB of RAM (12 x 128GB DIMMs) as well as the world's most powerful graphics card courtesy of AMD in the new Radeon Pro Vega II. It is one of the most amazing PCs ever built, and that is coming from someone like me who is quite anti-Mac and super-enthusiast. Holy balls this PC is amazing though, there's no doubt about it.

Let's break it down into its specs:

Overclocker '8PACK' is making headlines today with Overclockers UK unveiling his new 8Pack Orion X2 rig that costs an insane $43,000. What do you get for close to $50K? Well, not one but two damn powerful rigs with some absolutely beautiful custom watercooling and craftsmanship.

The new 8Pack Orion X2 is a dual-system with a fully custom watercooling system inside of the Phanteks Elite Full Tower PC, packing an Intel Core i9-7980XE processor (18C/36T) overclocked to a minimum of 4.6GHz. 8Pack has designed what Overclockers UK explain, and I would have to agree with, one of the "most complex and efficient custom watercooling systems ever installed in a PC".

TBoth of the systems are powered by a power splitter from the 8Pack Edition Super Flower Leadex power supply which provides 2000W of power to the systems, alongside 80Plus Platinum Certification.

CES 2019 - ASUS has had some huge reveals at CES 2019 so far but one of the most radical changes to their gaming line up would have to be the new, and very awesomely named ROG Mothership. The new ROG Mothership is a Microsoft Surface Pro style gaming laptop with some ridiculous specs.

The new ASUS ROG Mothership arrives as a huge 17.3-inch tablet with a Surface-style hinge at the back, with a native 1920x1080 panel at 144Hz, with 3ms response and NVIDIA's G-Sync technology. Inside, there is the Intel Core i9-9850HK processor and NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 2080 graphics both of which are overclocked and ready to game at 1080p 144FPS with G-Sync.

There's up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM inside, with 3 x NVMe SSDs in RAID0 for some ultimate speed, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, normal USB-C port, 4 x USB Type-A ports, HDMI, Ethernet, and an SD card slot. This is joined by truly insane dual 280W charging ports, since this laptop is pretty much an on-the-go-kinda-I-guess desktop gaming PC specs. ASUS has also included Windows Hello facial recognition support for its built-in webcam, making it easier than ever to get to your desktop and start gaming.

CES 2019 - Corsair is getting out ahead of the crowd with its unveiling of a new One Pro i180 Compact Workstation PC, which can now be tricked out with an Intel Core i9-9920X processor with 6C/12T and up to 4.5GHz, as well as NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.

Inside, the Core i9 + RTX 2080 Ti can be configured with 32GB of DDR4 RAM, a 960GB M.2 SSD and 2TB HDD. Corsair is known for its RGB goodness, so the new workstation ships with RGB lighting which looks great, and its iCUE app so that you can control it.

HP is getting into the holiday spirit with some big sales on a range of their products, with notebooks, printers and full desktops all on special. It ranges between their touch-capable notebooks through to more powerful desktops, right up to the gaming-focused Omen X by HP machines, all discounted for Christmas.

First up is the HP Envy 17 which is a larger-than-life 17-inch laptop where in a world dominated by smaller 15.6-inch panels, HP includes a 4K display on the 17-inch laptop and normally ships for $1799. HP's special drops the 17-inch Envy to just $1199, a discount of a rather large $600. There aren't many 17-inch notebooks on the market so if you're in the market for one, saving $600 on HP's Envy 17 would be a good start.

If you're after a small laptop then there's the HP Spectre X360 laptop which features a smaller 13-inch panel, but hefty Core i7 processor, up to 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD storage. This all usually costs $1429, but HP is discounting the laptop to $1179 during the holidays.

Can you believe it has been close to two years since Microsoft revealed its first all-in-one desktop? The Surface Studio has been here for a while now, and at its latest event, Microsoft revealed the new Surface Pro 2 system.

The revamped Surface Studio 2 might not look that different from the outside, but there is a lot of new things going on under the hood. There are upgraded NVIDIA Pascal-based graphics, up to 32GB of RAM, up to 2TB of SSD, and much more. Microsoft says this is the fastest Surface ever. The GPUs inside of the new Surface Studio 2 will include options for a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB and GTX 1070.

The same 28-inch display is here but this time Surface Studio 2 is 38% brighter, and has 22% more contrast. This is because Microsoft used a new LCD and oxide transistor technology. Microsoft has added USB-C support and Surface Dial integration with the new Surface Studio 2 including the latest and greatest Surface Pen.

Acer has been pushing its Predator gaming brand for a couple of years now with mixed success in the gaming PC market, but now it is entering a totally new market with its new Predator X brand which is destined to most likely not even make a scratch on the dual-CPU workstation market.

The new Predator X series was just unveiled at IFA 2018 and comes as a 2 x Intel Xeon 8180 system (these processors cost over $10,000 each), 192GB of ECC RDIMM, 2 x NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (these also cost $10,000 each), then a mix of storage, PSU and other bits and pieces for what will most likely cost over $50,000. The system is being built for the next-gen CPUs from Intel that will arrive in the form of the Cascade Lake-SP family.

The system seems totally out of control when it comes to insane specs and equally questionable price of $50,000+ on components alone, whether Acer can sustain itself with these systems. If they're made-to-order then the company might be okay, but if they're ready on shelves and don't fly off them... Acer could have millions of dollars of unsold systems with components that are highly sought after, especially the new Quadro RTX 8000 cards.

Acer has just unveiled its new Predator Orion 5000 series gaming desktops, which can be configured with some seriously fast PC hardware that will ensure you can play any game on the market, at any resolution and frame rate.

Acer's new Predator Orion 5000 gaming desktops can be configured with Intel's latest Core i7-8700K, 32GB of Intel Optane memory, and up to 2-way NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards in SLI, just in case 4K 144Hz HDR gaming was on your wish list.

Jeff Lee, the GM of Stationary Computing for Acer's IT Products Business explains: "Getting the specs right is just half the fight. Predator Orion desktops provide a well-rounded choice for gamers with a striking chassis, built-in airflow management, expandability, and award-winning software that brings everything together, we're excited to add the new 5000 and 3000 series to the Predator Orion family, and together with the top-of-the-line Predator Orion 9000, Acer is providing a full lineup of gaming desktops that cater to a wide range of needs".

MAINGEAR Is making some truly gigantic moves in the last few months, with their latest news probably the biggest - the boutique PC maker has teamed with Joel Zimmerman, otherwise known as deadmau5 as an "advisor and investor" to the company.

He joins MAINGEAR in a time before vertical take off, with deadmau5 himself explaining: "I first found MAINGEAR when looking for a high-end PC for my studio, and started as a customer first. I became a huge fan. Since then MAINGEAR has powered all of my projects including, my recently released "where's the drop?". As a gamer at heart I'm a big believer that the future of PC gaming and eSports has amazing potential for growth. It was obvious to pick MAINGEAR as my first investment in the space and with MAINGEAR's crowd raise you can invest as well".

What will deadmau5 bring to the table? Well, he hopes to help guide the future of PC gaming with MAINGEAR by advising the company on future products and projects.

Dell has just unveiled their refreshed Inspiron 17 5000-series laptops, which are powered with the latest and greatest APUs from AMD in the form of Raven Ridge.

The new Inspiron 17 5000-series come in a few different flavors with AMD's new Ryzen 3 2200U or Ryzen 5 2500U, with both versions packing a 17.3-inch 1080p TN-based display. Inside, there's up to 32GB of RAM, USB 2.0/3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4b output, 3-in-1 SD card reader, fingerprint sensor, and a tray-loading DVD-RW drive.

The strange thing here is that while Dell's new Inspiron 17 5000-series laptops rock AMD's latest Ryzen/Vega Mobile technology, it packs a 1/2TB 5400RPM (!!!) mechanical SATA HDD. 5400RPM! You know, the now super-slow throwback to the mid-2000s 5400RPM mechanical HDD.

Corsair has made some changes to its all-in-one gaming PC, with the refreshed Corsair One now capable of being configured with Intel's latest Coffee Lake CPUs, including the ridiculously fast Core i7-8700K.

Some other changes include an upgrade to the motherboard, where Corsair has switched things up with the refreshed Z370 chipset. Other than that, there's not much changed inside; so we still have two models in the Corsair One Elite, and Corsair One Pro Plus.

The Corsair One Pro Plus rocks the Intel Core i7-8700K (6C/12T), 16GB of DDR4-2666, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, 480GB NVMe SSD and 2TB HDD. The higher-end Elite model upgrades the RAM to 32GB, but includes everything else the Pro Plus comes with.

CES 2018 - MAINGEAR has unveiled their beautiful and beyond beasty new F131 Gaming Desktop with exclusive APEX Cooling, which looks absolutely delicious.

The company has packed the new F131 gaming PC with some of the latest and greatest technology from Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and others. MAINGEAR has included support for the latest GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA, while supporting AMD's new Ryzen Threadripper (up to 16C/32T) and Intel's best Core i9-7980XE with 18C/36T.

Don't worry if you're a multi-tasker or serious workstation user, MAINGEAR provides plenty of storage options alongside up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM.

CES 2018 - Digital Storm's new Project Spark is the company's smallest mighty PC yet.

Project Spark might be small, but it can pack some serious enthusiast-grade power. The system comes with a customized liquid cooling solution that can optimize heat levels for discrete graphics cards up to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 and an Intel Core-i7 8700K CPU.

Interestingly enough, Project Spark utilizes a new Micro STX platform to ensure a small footprint (Digital Storm says the build can deliver "the performance of a full-size desktop at a quarter of the size.") The small-yet-beefy Project Spark also comes with three M.2 storage slots, an MXM slot for discrete graphics cards, and a SATA 6Gb/second port.

CES 2018 - Now that Intel's relationship with AMD has reached this point, with the company unveiling their next-gen Core processors powered by Radeon RX Vega M graphics, and snagging Radeon Technologies Group boss Raja Koduri in the process, we can get on with the awesome product announcements.

Intel hasn't just announced a new Core processor range with Radeon graphics, it has also unveiled their latest NUC that is the smallest VR-capable PC, ever.

Intel's new NUC is codenamed Hades Canyon, which is a bit thicker and taller than its predecessor, Skull Canyon, released in 2016. The new Hades Canyon NUC comes in two different versions, with the flagship model rocking the Core i7-8809G processor and more powerful Radeon RX Vega M GH graphics, with the CPU clocking in at 3.1GHz base and 4.2GHz boost.

Apple's new iMac Pro is right around the corner, but now we're hearing that it will feature Apple's own mobile A10 Fusion processor that will be used for always-on 'Hey Siri' functionality.

The use of the A10 Fusion mobile processor is a first for Apple, but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows according to developer Steve Troughton-Smith, who took to Twitter to say that the A10 "Seems to handle the macOS boot & security process, as expected; iMac Pro lets Apple experiment with tighter control without the rest of the userbase freaking out". The developer added that unlike the Touch Bar, the inclusion of the A10 processors means the new iMac Pro might "always be running, even when macOS is shut down".

Furthermore, the developer adds that it "looks like the A10 in the iMac Pro is what boots up the x86 and passes it an EFI firmware to load. One could say that the x86 is the coprocessor, and the A10 is in control...".

MSI is expanding their Infinite Gaming Desktop series to include Intel's 8th generation Core Processors with the MSI Infinite X. The MSI Infinite X takes MSI's desktop gaming series to the next level, with i7-8700K processor, up to 64GB DDR-2400Mhz memory and MSI's own graphic cards- no boring, sub-par performing reference cards.

The Infinite X is targeting high-end gaming performance with the added potential of overclocking. MSI have included their exclusive Silent Storm Cooling 3 thermal design, this multiple-chamber design allows for efficient cooling when overclocking using MSI software. Regarding storage, the Infinite X can house 2x 3.5" HDD, 1x 2.5" SSD and 2x M.2 SSD, the perfect all-round solution.

MSI have allowed for customization as well, providing either a classic black side-panel that creates a strong, bold appearance, or an elegant 4mm thick tempered glass side-panel. The tempered glass side-panel allows for users to showcase their MSI hardware, and with the support of RGB Mystic Light that can enhance your desktops appearance to your liking. Future proofing your Infinite X is easy, MSI have also allowed for easy access to all hardware which allows for any hardware component to be easily upgraded in the future.

HP has just unveiled its new and improved dual-processor Z8 workstation PCs, with the new machines boasting two Intel Skylake-SP Xeon CPUs with 56C/112T, up to 3TB of DDR4 RAM, mega loads of storage, and 9 x PCIe 3.0 slots, oh and 10GbE networking.

HP's new Z8 workstations will be some of the best off-the-shelf (can I even say that with everything online these days) PCs you can buy, which is a dying breed with so much moving into the cloud and into supercomputers, and even the growing power of quantum computing with companies like D-Wave.

Inside of the new HP Z8 workstation PC are 2 x Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processors with 28C/56T of CPU power in total, both rocking 205W TDP each. This means 410W of heat needs to be moved from the CPUs alone, so HP has put some engineering efforts into the Z8 workstation so that the company didn't need to rely on liquid cooling.

ZOTAC are well known for their impressive Mini PCs and have continued to push innovation, this time with the all-new MAGNUS EK and ER range Mini Gaming PCs. That's correct, the first Mini PCs ever to be built with desktop sized graphics cards. These VR ready Mini PCs are available with a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 or 1070.

The EK Mini PC features a 7th Gen Intel Core quad-core processor and includes the revolutionary Intel Optane memory that enables SSD like performance while the MAGNUS ER series is the first Mini PC to feature an AMD Ryzen processor. Both options feature support for 32GB DDR4-2400MHz memory, 2.5" and M.2 SSD support and smart thermal design to allow for amazing cooling properties.

For more information, visit ZOTAC's website here.