MX150
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ASUS ZenBook S13 review: A gamer’s ultraportable
It's already clear that 2019 is going to be a big year for intriguing gaming laptops. But ASUS's ZenBook S13 proves that even ultraportables are in for some wild changes. It's a 2.5-pound laptop with one of NVIDIA's dedicated GPUs, which absolutely trounces the integrated graphics plaguing most light notebooks. And it packs all of that power in a sleek frame with some of the thinnest screen bezels I've ever seen. The ZenBook S13 is close to being the laptop of my dreams, one that's incredibly light, but that can also play some games.
Xiaomi takes on the MacBook Pro by adding back some ports
It's been well over a year since Xiaomi released its first laptops (if you even remember at all), and for some reason, the smartphone maker has decided to make more. Following the Mi Notebook Air series, we now have the 15.6-inch Mi Notebook Pro clamshell which, as you can tell by the name, is geared towards performance users thanks to its 8th-gen Intel quad-core CPU, NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU (aka the mobile version of GT 1030) and SSD. While it's debatable as to how similar-looking the Mi Notebook Pro and the MacBook Pro are (naming convention aside), Xiaomi wasn't exactly helping by dedicating a keynote slide to mocking the lack of mainstream ports on Apple's machine.
Acer's Switch 7 hybrid tablet has dedicated graphics without a fan
Acer's Switch 5 tablet wasn't something to write home about. The kickstand was clever, but what else was there to lure you away from, say, a Surface Pro? The company has a better answer today. It's launching a slew of new PCs at IFA 2017, and the headliner has to be the Switch 7 Black Edition. While the 13.5-inch slate is larger and heavier (2.5lbs) than the Switch 5, it's also the first fanless 2-in-1 to pack dedicated graphics -- in this case NVIDIA's GeForce MX150. You probably won't be playing Destiny 2 on this machine, but the extra visual oomph should help with video streaming and creative apps while giving you enough peace and quiet to concentrate.
McIntosh intros Blu-ray ready MX150 AV Controller
Don't let the analog meters and Olde English lettering fool you, McIntosh gear is keeping up with the times while staying upscale. While not always the first out of the gate with the latest features, the ultra-high end brand of D&M Holdings has shown a commitment to keeping its customers' equipment racks glowing that familiar blue and green. Unveiled at CES this year was the MX 150 A/V Control Center, with five HDMI 1.3 inputs, support for the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA codecs (naturally), RoomPerfect auto-equalization, support for multiple subwoofers and video upscaling (unspecified, but the D&M line has some good choices to borrow from). Set for release in March for a price around $12000, we won't blame you if you decide to wait for a McIntosh Blu-ray deck before jumping in.[Read - press release] [Read - pricing info]
