Laptops News - Page 1

When Apple announced the macOS Sonoma update during its WWDC 2023 event on June 5, it previewed a number of new features that are going to be available to Mac users later this year. However, not all of them will be available to everyone.

macOS Sonoma - image: apple.com

That's because some of the macOS Sonoma features won't work on some Macs - specifically, those that are running Intel chips.

While a macOS update being made available to more Macs is always a good thing, it seems that reducing the functionality on some of them is the only way that Apple could make that happen. And while it isn't yet clear why Apple silicon appears to be required for these specific features, this could be an indication that it's only a matter of time before Intel Macs no longer receive big macOS updates at all.

All the rumors were true - Apple has now announced its biggest-ever MacBook Air at the company's WWDC 2023 opening keynote. The new 15-inch MacBook Air is set to be available in four colors, while Apple also confirmed that the 13-inch MacBook Air is getting cheaper.

Apple MacBook Air - image: apple.com

The new 15-inch MacBook Air will start at $1299, Apple confirmed via press release. The news means that the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is now set to sell for $1099 while the M1 13-inch MacBook Air will retail for under $1000, but only just - it can be yours for $999.

The brand-new 15-inch model will be available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray with Apple noting that its 15.3-inch display can provide one billion colors and 500 nits of brightness. That's 25% brighter than a comparable PC laptop, we're told.

Computex 2023 is off to a roaring start, and as you can probably imagine, ASUS is very excited to show off its latest products. Introducing the already-released ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED.

ASUS was kind enough to give me an introduction to the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED and explained to me that the product is designed for versatility as it can be transformed into multiple modes depending on what the user requires. ASUS explained to me that the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with an ASUS Lumina OLED display for more accurate color, which tiers perfectly into the video-watching mode as pictured above. More specifically, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with a 17.3' 4:3 2.5K FOLED touchscreen that folds down to a 12.5" 3:2 laptop, as pictured below.

ASUS has equipped the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with a laptop mode for users that need to work in tight spaces, such as on a flight, or users that are looking to conserve battery life. Additionally, users have the option of using a virtual keyboard if the physical keyboard isn't their forte. Furthermore, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with a 12th Gen Intel Core 17 processor.

Apple is expected to announce new Macs with M3-series chips in the future and a new report suggests that Apple is now testing an M3 Pro for a future MacBook Pro update.

If the report is accurate the M3 Pro will feature more cores than the M2 Pro and M1 Pro that came before it, with the MacBook Pro thought to be in testing ahead of an expected 2024 release. The machine in testing is said to be running macOS 14, a software update that isn't expected to ship to the public until this September.

The latest report comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and his weekly Power On newsletter. Gurman believes that Apple is now testing the chip based on data collected by an App Store developer that has been shared with him.

If you've been pondering picking up a 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro or Apple's latest Mac mini but have been waiting for a great price, now might be the time to hold on a little bit longer.

MacBook Pro - image source: apple.com

That's because a new report claims that Apple is getting ready to start selling refurbished 2023 Macs, with those including updated 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models as well as a revamped Mac mini that offered the most powerful chips ever used in that chassis.

Those chips include the latest that Apple silicon has to offer, with all of Apple's 2023 Macs sporting M2-series silicon. The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros ship with either the M2 Pro or M2 Max chips inside, promising speed improvements of up to 20% CPU and 30% GPU performance. They also have support for up to 96GB of RAM which is a big jump over the previous 64GB limitation. Other improvements include an upgrade to HDMI 2.1 and Wi-Fi 6E support.

Apple could be getting ready to announce a number of new portable Macs within the next few weeks according to a new report. But that report stopped just short of saying exactly which of those Macs we should be looking out for.

Apple MacBook Air colors - Source: apple.com

The report says that Apple has a lot going on for the upcoming WWDC23 event that will kick off on 5 June 2023, with a few MacBooks on the horizon. But it also says that some of them might not arrive just yet after all, leaving potential buyers a little lost as to what they should be saving their cash for

Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple is working on a number of Macs. He says that the much-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air is still coming while a refreshed version of the current 13-inch MacBook Air is also in development. There's also an updated 13-inch MacBook Apro as well, we're told.

A future MacBook Air could be smaller than the one that is currently on sale. Or, at least, the display that it uses could shrink from the current 13.6-inch panel that is used today.

That's according to a tweet by display analyst Ross Young that was sent to his paid subscribers on the platform. According to Young, the MacBook Air's rumored move to an OLED display technology could bring with it a slightly smaller screen - 13.4 inches down from the current 13.6-inch model that is on sale as the M2 MacBook Air. However, it isn't clear yet whether anyone will notice that shrink in size or if Apple could rejig the layout of the model including the notch.

In that tweet, reported on by MacRumors, Young is said to have added that the MacBook Pro isn't likely to get its own OLED display until 2026. That's when Young expects that the supply chain will be able to produce enough OLED panels for both lines of notebooks. Previously, it's said that suppliers of OLED displays have focused on other products and smaller screens - like the iPad Pro and other tablets produced under other brands.

With DDR5 memory becoming a mainstay in the desktop space, especially for new builds, the next-gen high-speed memory is also making waves in the laptop gaming market. And with that, TEAMGROUP has launched a new range of high-performance DDR5 memory specifically for laptop gaming with its new T-FORCE VULCAN SO-DIMM DDR5 Memory range compatible with 13th Gen Intel CPUs.

T-FORCE VULCAN SO-DIMM DDR5 Memory for laptops, image credit: TEAMGROUP

And these kits are fast, with max clock rates of 5,200 MHz with cooling delivered via an ultrathin graphene heat spreader. This alone makes installation a breeze (as much as it can be regarding gaming laptops), offering up improved speeds and cooling.

Capacities for the kits go up to an impressive 64GB too, which makes these an excellent option for high-end design and content creation in addition to playing the latest games. Kits will be available in 16GB and 32GB capacities.

The PotatoP 'laptop form factor device' is a new project ushering in a portable with a startling amount of battery life - two years of (claimed) longevity, in fact.

Meet the PotatoP which is specifically built for Lisp programming duties (Image Credit: Andreas Eriksen)

And the ultimate aim of this creation is to achieve 'endless' battery life, so you'll never have to plug it into the mains if the inventor manages to pull this off.

Looking at the PotatoP - named playfully after the term 'potato PC' referring to a seriously underpowered computer - rather than a laptop, it appears to be more like a cross between an old Commodore Amiga and a Kindle e-reader (sort of).

Apple's much-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air will sport a brand-new M3 chip, according to a new report. The same chip will also be used in a refreshed version of the current 13-inch MacBook Air, too.

Apple MacBook Air - Image source: apple.com

The report claims that the new chip is already being tested in a 13-inch MacBook Air under the codename J513, while the 15-inch version carries the J515 codename.

Apple has of course confirmed nothing about either machine, but 9to5Mac now believes that they will both get new M3 chips, although they'll still have the same 8-core CPU configuration that we're familiar with from the M1 and M2.