Computer Systems News - Page 6

Apple's Mac lineup has improved greatly in recent years, thanks in no small part to the arrival of Apple silicon and M-series chips, and the ditching of Intel's offering. We already know that the M-series MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops are among the best portables on the market in terms of power and battery life, while the desktop iMac and Mac Studio machines are also great buys. Then, of course, there's the Mac Pro. Now, new research has looked into who is buying Macs today and, importantly, what computer they had previously.

According to the research, just 43% of those buying a new Mac in the year ending in December 2023 said that their previous computer was a Mac. That figure means that almost 60% of those buying a Mac had previously used a PC of some description, suggesting that a ton of people are switching right now.

The figures, put together by CIRP, show that 35% of Mac buyers had a PC as their previous computer while 16% came from Chromebook. The remaining 6% was made up of people who were either buying their first computer or were categorized as "other," perhaps suggesting they had a tablet of some sort.

MeLE has just revealed its new stick PC, featuring an Intel N100 "Alder Lake-N" processor, which will fit in your pocket. Check it out:

The new MeLE pocket-sized PC measures just 146 x 61 x 20mm and weighs only 184g, which makes it about the size of a regular smartphone. Inside, we've got the Intel N100 "Alder Lake-N" processor with 4 cores -- all Efficient cores --operating at between 800MHz and 3.4GHz.

We've got 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4X-4266 memory and either 128GB or 256GB of eMMC storage, which isn't expandable. MeLE includes two USB 3.2 ports for external storage if needed. On the GPU side of things, the MeLE pocket-sized PC features Intel UHD graphics with 24 Execution Units, which support dual 4K 60Hz displays. There's no DisplayPort here, but there is USB Type-C, which unfortunately doesn't have DP Alt mode.

Apple's iMac hasn't changed an awful lot in the last few years and while it's a good-looking, colorful all-in-one computer, it's probably time that it got a new lease of life. What that will look like is unclear right now, but a new report suggests that it could borrow heavily from Microsoft's Surface Studio.

The Microsoft Surface Studio is an all-in-one computer that can be folded almost flat and then used as a giant touch-screen device, including stylus support. The use cases are obvious and include architects and artists, and now it appears that Apple could launch a future iMac that follows somewhat in the Surface Studio's footsteps.

The patent, first spotted by Patently Apple, describes a device that appears similar to a Mac with a tilting touchscreen that can be used by artists and others. The patent doesn't specifically say that of course because they're notoriously vague, but the image that shows what such a device could look like is clearly similar to Microsoft's.

AOOSTAR has just revealed its new GEM12 Pro Mini-PC, which can be configured with up to AMD's latest Ryzen 7 8845HS "Hawk Point" APU, and it features a built-in fingerprint scanner and even a display.

The new GEM12 Pro Mini-PC features up to the Ryzen 7 8845HS processor with 8 cores and 16 threads of Zen 4-powered CPU power, at up to 5.1GHz. You've got an XDNA-based NPU (Neural Processing Unit) for AI workloads and integrated Radeon 780M graphics based on the RDNA 3 GPU architecture.

AOOSTAR says it uses an in-house vapor chamber cooler with up to 75W of cooling power, which will handle the Hawk Point APU when it's absolutely maxed out. AOOSTAR's new GEM10 Pro Mini-PC features a fingerprint scanner, OCulink connectivity, USB4 support, and a built-in display. It's actually a slick-looking Mini-PC with some fantastic functionality and features.

TECNO has just announced the world's smallest water-cooled Mini-PC by introducing its new MEGA MINI Gaming G1.

Inside, we'll find an unnamed Intel Core Ultra or Core i9-13900H SKU from the previous series, with 32GB of DDR5 memory and 1TB of SSD storage. On the GPU side of things, you've got NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4060 inside, providing plenty of gaming power... all in a Mini-PC system that's also water-cooled.

TECNO has an awesome window on the front of the system showing the pump and its tubes hanging out, with a large fan behind it keeping things super-cool inside the small Mini-PC chassis. We've also got Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, as well as both Thunderbolt 4 and OCulink ports.

AOOSTAR has just unveiled its new GEM10 Mini-PC, inside packing the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS APU and rocking the fast OCulink connector for external graphics cards. Check it out:

The new AOOSTAR GEM10 Mini-PC features an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS APU with 8 cores and 16 threads of CPU power based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base CPU clock of 3.8GHz and boost clock of up to 5.1GHz. It features 16MB of L3 cache and a 35-54W TDP, depending on your use. On the GPU side of things, we've got a Radeon 780M integrated GPU with 12 compute units with GPU frequencies of up to 2700MHz.

AOOSTAR is using its Glacier 2.5 newly-designed and upgraded cooling system, with a default BIOS of 35W TDP, adjustable to 28W, 35W, or 45W, depending on what you need. There are dual 2.5GbE enthusiast-grade ethernet ports, 3 x NVMe 4.0 Gen4 SSD slots for huge amounts of super-fast storage, and it all fits into a 0.6L aluminum chassis which is CNC machined. The cooling system will operate at under 40dBA, meaning it'll be fast -- and most of all -- quiet, during operation.

MSI has just revealed its latest Cubi N ADL Mini-PC, which has an Intel N100 (Alder Lake-N) processor with a fanless design for zero noise. Check it out:

The new MSI Cubi N ADL Mini-PC features an Intel N100 processor with 4 cores and 4 threads -- all E-Cores here for Efficiency across the board -- with a TDP of just 6W and frequencies of up to 3.4GHz aren't bad. Because the CPU only uses 6W, a fanless system has been used for passive cooling goodness. No fans, with a single heatsink that MSI has placed under the chassis of the Mini-PC itself.

Intel's lower-end N100 processor features Intel UHD graphics with 24 Execution Units (EUs) that support 4K60 display output, with MSI using 3 x display connectivity options here: DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB Type-C which all support 4K resolution output. MSI also uses dual 1GbE ethernet connections, providing users with the option of combining the network connections for faster speeds or using this system as a NAS or multimedia server.

This could very well be the most powerful desktop PC on the planet, and one that you can buy - if you happen to have a spare $41,500 USD sitting around somewhere. GTPShop has put together a brand-new high-end workstation that it's saying is the world's first to feature NVIDIA's powerful Grace Hopper Superchip GPU and CPU combo.

Featuring the high-end H10 Tensor Core GPU with NVIDIA's custom 72-Core Grace CPU, you're looking at some of the most powerful hardware on the planet for delivering high-performance AI acceleration.

Until now, we've only heard of the Grace Hopper Superchip being available in cloud systems and data centers, so seeing one inside a PC that can sit on a desk is pretty exciting. GTP offers multiple configurations covering GH200 576GB and GH200 624GB chips, priced at $41,500 and $48,500, respectively.

GMKtec has just launched its first Ryzen 8000 series "Hawk Point" APU-powered Mini-PC system, with its new K8 Mini-PC system a successor to the GMKtec NuvBox K6 Mini-PC.

The new GMKtec NuvBox K8 Mini-PC has a drop-in replacement APU over the K6 system, with AMD's new Ryzen 7 8845HS APU an upgrade over the Ryzen 7 7840HS inside of the K6. The new Ryzen 7 8845HS APU has the same 8-core, 16-threads of CPU power, but now it features a built-in NPU for AI workloads.

AMD has boosted the XDNA AI processor from 10 TOPS to 16 TOPS of AI performance, with the same 8 cores and 16 threads of Zen 4 processing power clocking at up to 5.1GHz, with 12 RDNA 3-based Compute Units that have a boost clock of 2.7GHz.

Minisforum has a new Mini-PC on the way, with the new HX100G Gaming Mini-PC featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, and Radeon RX 6650M GPU. Check it out:

The new Minisforum HX100G Gaming Mini-PC is a successor to the HX99G, which featured a Ryzen 9 6900HX "Rembrandt-R" processor, with a Radeon RX 6600M graphics card, but now the HX100G has far better specifications inside.

We're talking about the Ryzen 7 7840HS "Phoenix" processor with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, a decent upgrade over the Zen 3+ chip inside of the HX99G Mini-PC. AMD's new Ryzen 7 7840HS processor has a TDP that spans between 35W and 54W.