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Gigabyte's Aero 15 OLED laptop is made for video editors (updated)
In 2019, OLED laptops are nothing new. ASUS even took this feature to the next level on its dual-screen ZenBook Pro Duo. At Computex, Gigabyte is the latest company to join the trend, with a refreshed Aero 15 featuring a Samsung 4K AMOLED panel, wrapped in a 3mm-thin bezel. Inside, you get up to a Core i9-9980HK octa-core CPU, up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU, DDR4 2,666MHz RAM and a speedy SSD. It's quite the beast. But what Gigabyte has been focusing on is the fact that every Aero 15 OLED has its screen tuned by X-Rite Pantone before leaving the factory, and with its 100-percent DCI-P3 gamut plus DisplayHDR 400 certification, this laptop is clearly designed with video makers in mind. Likewise, this is one of the very few laptops that feature a UHS-II SD card slot. This means you no longer have to whip out a dedicated card reader to reach full speeds -- up to about 300MB/s or at least three times faster than UHS-I cards. For on-the-go video editors and creatives, it's a very tempting feature.
Intel announces six new ninth-generation Core processors
Intel's slightly subdued CES 2019 keynote began with the announcement of six new chips for desktop users. The company's Gregory Bryant took to the stage to say that the company was launching a sextet of ninth-generation Core processors. These will range from the low-end Core i3 through to the Core i9 for power users. The company has only revealed details for one of the six chips that will be released, the 14nm Core i5-9400, which it expects to be available at the end of the month.
Intel's 9th-generation Core processors reach up to 5GHz
The rumors were (mostly) true: Intel has unveiled its first 9th-generation Core processors, aiming them at desktop-based enthusiasts. The updated CPUs ultimately represent a refinement of Intel's existing 14-nanometer chips, but promise both more headroom for overclocking (thanks to new soldering), support for Optane-based memory sticks and hardware-level mitigations for Spectre and Meltdown attacks. Naturally, they also boast lots of cores -- not as many as that 28-core Xeon, but you can now expect at least eight cores and the same 18 cores as last year in the flagship Core i9-9980XE model. The Core i9-9900K, meanwhile, is billed as the first "broad volume" processor to hit 5GHz, albeit 'just' when using one of its eight cores (it normally starts at 3.6GHz).
Intel's first 9th-generation Core processors may arrive October 1st
Intel is still struggling to make 10-nanometer chips, but it might still have a few surprises up its 14nm sleeve. WCCFTech claims to have leaked data revealing that Intel will launch its 9th-generation Core desktop processors on October 1st, starting with unlocked models that could make the company's eight-core performance more accessible. The highlight for many would be the Core i9-9900K, the first mainstream desktop Core i9 chip -- you wouldn't have to pay a fortune for an X-series or Extreme Edition CPU. It would tout a 3.6GHz base clock speed, but could boost to 4.7GHz with all eight cores (5GHz with one or two cores) and support up to 16 code threads.
Origin's EON15-S is one of the lightest gaming laptops yet
Origin recently launched a pretty lightweight Max-Q gaming laptop, but with its latest model, it's pushing the form factor even more. The new 15.6-inch EON-15S is just an inch thick and tips the scale at a mere 3.4 pounds, but it packs up to an Intel Core i9-8950HK 6-core CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics. What's more, there's a special toggle that lets you get up to eight hours of battery life, presumably by throttling back the CPU and GPU.
Acer's Predator Helios 500 gaming laptop is a Core i9 powerhouse
It wouldn't be an Acer launch event without high-powered gaming PCs in the mix, and this year is no exception. The company is kicking things off with the Predator Helios 500, a 17.3-inch brute of a laptop with up to an overclockable Core i9 chip (with or without speedy Optane memory), overclockable GeForce GTX 1070 graphics and either a 1080p 144Hz screen or a 4K panel. You can load up to 64GB of RAM and either 1TB of SSD storage or a 2TB spinning drive. As always, this kind of portable speed won't come cheap: the Helios 500 shows up in June starting at $1,999.
ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 packs Intel i9 power and 4K display
ASUS is adding some extra punch to its new ZenBook Pro 15 while still keeping the laptop slim and light. It's one of the first portable computers to offer Intel's new 8th-generation, six-core i9-8950HK processor even though it's just 18.9mm thick and weighs 1.86kg.
Intel brings a six-core i9 CPU to laptops
With its latest batch of 8th-generation Core chips for laptops, Intel is focused on delivering even more desktop-like performance. Just take a look at its new six-core monster processor, the Core i9-8950HK. We were impressed that the company was able to bring quad-core chips to ultraportables with its first batch of 8th-gen CPUs, but the 8950HK lives up to the crazy specifications we'd expect from the i9 lineup (which includes Intel's insane 18-core desktop chip).
Acer's new gaming PCs include an 18-core liquid-cooled desktop
It wouldn't be an Acer CES event without some gaming PCs, and this year the focus is on the desktop crowd. The PC maker is unveiling two systems headlined by the US release of the Predator Orion 9000, a spare-no-expense tower for dedicated gamers. If you can get past the over-the-top "look ma, I'm a gamer" styling, you'll find a lot of power under the hood. The system uses a combination of liquid cooling and a partitioned airflow system to drive some seriously high-end components with little noise and some room for overclocking, including up to an 18-core Intel Core i9, twin GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards and as much as 128GB of RAM.
Intel’s 18-core chip was a risk. It will probably pay off.
Intel's high brass made a decidedly un-Intel move last August. During a routine business meeting at the company's Santa Clara headquarters, they decided to upend their desktop CPU roadmap for 2017 to prepare something new: the beastly 18-core i9-7980XE X-series. It's the company's most powerful consumer processor ever, and it marks the first time Intel has been able to cram that many cores into a desktop CPU. At $2,000, it's the sort of thing hardware fanatics will salivate over, and regular consumers can only dream about. The chip's very existence came down to a surprising revelation at that meeting last year: Intel's 10-core Broadwell-E CPU, which was only on the market for a few months and cost a hefty $1,723, was selling incredibly well. And for Intel, that was a sign that there was even more opportunity in the high-end computing world. "The 10-core part was absolutely breaking all of our sales expectations," Intel's Anand Srivatsa, general manager of its Desktop Platform Group, told Engadget in an interview. "We thought we'd wait six months or so to figure out whether this was actually going to be successful. But within the first couple months, it was absolutely clear that our community wanted as much technology as we could deliver to them."
Intel’s Core i9 Extreme Edition CPU is an 18-core beast
Last year at Computex, Intel unveiled its first 10-core consumer CPU, the company's move into the world of a "megatasking." It was a pricey chip, launching at around $1,700, but it satisfied users who needed to juggle several intensive tasks at once. Now, Intel is upping the ante with a new family of processors for enthusiasts, the Core X-series and it's anchored by the company's first 18-core CPU, the i9-7980XE.
What to expect at Computex 2017
We're pretty much halfway through the year, which means it's Computex time. As usual, you'll find a handful of us running around the Taipei show floors next week, where we'll be getting our hands dirty with the latest PC products and components. Last year was relatively fruitful, thanks to what was then a recent VR explosion. Several PC brands introduced high-end GPUs or affordable ones capable of running VR. Even Intel surprised its hardcore users with its first 10-core desktop CPU. ASUS topped it all off with Zenbo -- an adorable $600 home robot that went on sale in Taiwan earlier this year. This year, however, is bound to be quieter. For one, Microsoft already stole some of Computex's thunder with its own events earlier this month, so we're not expecting anything major from it next week. Intriguingly, HTC Vive has no official presence at Computex this year, which means less VR. Still, based on recent leaks and launches, we have at least a rough idea of what to expect.
Gulftown processor dubbed Core i7-980X, making its debut Q1 2010?
If you didn't make it to eBay in time to put down $1,200 or so for your very own pre-release Gulftown chip, cheer up! The countdown to the six core wonder continues apace, with more news each passing day. According to a purportedly leaked slide that popped up on China's PC Online, the 32nm chip will be known as the Core i7-980X and not the Core i9, as previously rumored. Part of the i7 "Extreme Edition" series (so extreme!). If everything goes as leaked, the 3.33GHz processor could be included in new Mac Pro systems come early 2010 -- which more or less jibes with rumors that the processor will be available sometime in March. See the new product name appear on the roadmap after the break.
Leaked Intel Core i9 chip makes its way to eBay?
Would you pay $1,200 for an as-of-yet unreleased Intel Core i9 chip? Hard to say if the transaction actually occurred, but an auction recently ended from a Taiwanese eBay user who claims to be selling a six-core, 2.4GHz Xeon Westmere Gulftown processor. We can't vouch for the validity of the listing, but those are some pretty convincing pictures being tossed around -- ones that aren't blurred, which might give Intel an advantage in snooping out the leak. That's not all, though -- Nordic Hardware (via Tom's Hardware) also reports that the OCTeamDenmark forums had it listed for on sale for $850. The 32nm fella had some promising benchmarks released recently, although its release isn't slated until at best sometime early 2010. Sure, it's great to be first, but with early adopter prices like that, we don't mind waiting until it goes official. %Gallery-79549%
Intel's desktop roadmap leaked, with faster i5 and i7, introduction of i3
Just when you thought you had enough gigahertz in your life, along come the folks at Impress to blow the doors off Intel's upcoming crop of desktop processors. In the highly detailed charts there's wild talk of a low-powered "S" version of Core i5 that lowers the chip from 95W to 82W, a new Core i3 line that strips out the Turbo Boost technology and dips into budget-priced territory, and word that at the time of this roadmap at least the Core i9 "Gulftown" chip isn't slated for until Q2 of next year. We could probably bore you all day with the details, so hit up the source link for all the sordid details before we get ourselves too worked up.
Early Core i9 benchmarks promising, make you wonder why you even bothered with Core i7
Immediate obsolescence is an age old problem in the computer industry, but it doesn't look like the upcoming Core i9 "Gulftown" processor is going to do anything to solve it. Word is from early benchmarks of the upcoming Intel processor is that it bests the current Core i7 at the top of the heap with speed gains as large as 50% -- directly in line with its addition of two cores on top of the Core i7's existing four. Of course, six 2.8GHz cores aren't quite as exponentially helpful when applied to non-optimized tasks, but with most major modern software development aimed at better utilizing multiple cores, the core overkill of Core i9 will likely prove increasingly useful over time. At the start, however, Core i9's improvements will come at a premium: 130W power consumption instead of 95W in Core i7, and of course a high-end only price tag to match. Word is we'll be seeing these chips hit the market in early 2010, possibly as soon as January.
