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Intel is making gaming easier for people without graphics cards
Intel is making life a little easier for PC gamers on a budget. A new driver update for its 6th-gen Core processors and above will configure a game to your rig's specs automatically. As PC World reports, this includes the "Kaby Lake G" processors on addition to Skylake. Finally, no more fiddling in the menus on your machine running integrated graphics to get a game to run above 20FPS. At least that's the idea. It's a lot like how NVIDIA's GeForce Experience works for discrete graphics cards. The first games to benefit from this include Battlefield 1, Dota 2, Grand Theft Auto V, League of Legends and Overwatch. Sure, you'll probably lose out on shadow detail and texture filtering, but at least you'll be able to play, period.
Intel's all-in-one Xeon chip will speed up car connectivity
Intel's Xeon chips normally reside in distant server rooms or brawny workstations. But that's not ideal for the modern internet, where connected cars, VPNs, streaming video and other tech frequently needs computing power somewhere in between. That's where its newly launched Xeon D-2100 processor might come into play. The system-on-a-chip is designed to bring the performance of a Xeon to the "edge" of a network, where that extra speed might be more effective. It includes up to 18 cores and the requisite hooks for four 10Gbps Ethernet ports, but uses 'just' 60W to 110W of power. In other words: you could tuck some of these into a local office without the demands that normally come with server chips.
What is Intel Coffee Lake?
Intel's 8th-generation "Coffee Lake" CPUs are now on the market. These chips come with a modest bump in CPU frequency, but the big news is that Intel is finally adding 6-core processors to its mainstream i7 and i5 lines. More cores means these chips will perform better at tasks that benefit from multithreading, such as content creation and data processing, and the increase in frequency and cores will give a boost to gaming frame rates. Intel used to release chips on a "tick-tock" cycle that saw every release alternate either a new design, or a new manufacturing process - called a "node." A new process node, like moving from 45nm to 22nm, means smaller transistors and a faster or more power-efficient chip. But manufacturing challenges made tick-tock falter a few years ago, and now new releases are much harder to predict. "Coffee Lake" is the fourth chip Intel has released at 14nm, and the third based on the "Skylake" design from 2015. New designs and nodes are coming, but we'll probably have to wait until they arrive in 2018 to see a big jump in performance.
Xiaomi's first laptop is the $750 Mi Notebook Air
It wouldn't be a Xiaomi event if it was just announcing one product. In addition to the new Redmi Pro smartphone, the Chinese company threw in a huge surprise by launching its first-ever laptop line, the Mi Notebook Air, running on Windows 10. It comes in two sizes -- the powerful 13.3-inch and the portable 12.5-inch -- and both feature a slim body, a 1080p display with slim under-glass bezels (while still managing to fit in a 1-megapixel webcam), a backlit keyboard, a USB Type-C charging port plus a minimalistic metallic design -- in gold or silver, naturally -- with no logo on the outside. The best part of all? The top-spec model costs just 4,999 yuan or about $750.
MSI ships its Mac Pro-like Vortex gaming PC
Do you like the Mac Pro's concept of stuffing a lot of computing power into a small cylinder, but wish there was a gaming PC inside instead of workstation hardware? You just got your wish. MSI has started shipping the Vortex, a riff on Apple's formula that crams a full-on game rig into a tube that's just 10.6 inches tall. It uses similar vertical cooling and includes Thunderbolt ports (Thunderbolt 3 in this case), but it's clearly aimed at a crowd that's more interested in Far Cry Primal than Final Cut Pro. The mini desktop is billed as relatively upgradeable, and there's even customizable lighting if you think the system isn't attention-grabbing enough.
Alienware will give recent laptop buyers a free upgrade
It's tough to buy a laptop when new processors are imminent -- you can't help but feel that the system you just bought will be rendered obsolete weeks later. That might not be a problem if you snagged one of Alienware's latest laptops, though. The Dell-owned PC maker is promising free upgrades if you bought one of its updated portables (those introduced on August 27th) and new processors reach the relevant Alienware line within 30 days. In other words, you're not hosed if a Skylake-based system shows up while you're still getting used to your days-old machine. The company tells us it has "high confidence" that Skylake will show up by late September, so you'll be future-proofed as long as there isn't a delay.
Lenovo's latest gaming PCs are faster and flashier
Lenovo probably isn't the first brand you think of when you're looking for a gaming PC, between its reputation for business PCs and its frequently frugal designs. However, it's definitely trying to improve its gamer cred today. The system builder has trotted out three Y-series computers that match the requisite speed boosts with more flair than you're used to from Lenovo. The IdeaPad Y700 laptop you see above has the expected choices of the latest Intel (sixth-generation Core) or AMD (Carrizo-based A10) processors, but it also sports more angular, attention-getting 15- and 17-inch designs. Those red JBL speakers are bound to catch your eye, even if the Y700 isn't quite as ostentatious as other portable gaming rigs.
Acer's Nitro notebooks put gaming power into a regular case
Acer has revealed its latest Aspire V Nitro notebooks that are aimed at gamers -- without looking like gaming laptops. Dressed in basic-black, tapered cases, the 15- and 17-inch models still bring the latest Intel Skylake sixth-gen Core i7 and i5 mobile chips and NVIDIA GTX960M graphics with up to 4GB of RAM. You also get up to 512GB of M.4 SSD storage (2TB if you opt for hard disks), 32GB max of DDR4 RAM, USB 3.1 Type-C ports and 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 on the top-end "Black Edition" models. All models can also be had with up to 4K screens.
Acer's all-in-one has Intel's latest chips and depth camera
Laptops are the biggest winners with Intel's less power-hungry Skylake chips, but desktop computers do get some perks. Acer has just launched the U5-710, a new all-in-one (AIO), that uses the new CPUs along with Intel RealSense cameras. The high-end Aspire U (U5-710) model gets the latest Core i5 or i7 sixth-generation desktop chips, most of which have four cores and a modest performance bump over the earlier Haswell models. They do use slightly less juice, however, and support up to 16GB of faster (and pricier) DDR4 RAM.
Toshiba unveils a 12-inch convertible laptop with a 4K display
Toshiba may have been, er, less than original when it unveiled its Yoga-like Satellite Radius series, but the latest model in its laptop-slash-tablet line does quite a lot to stand on its own merits. The newly launched Satellite Radius 12 packs a 12.5-inch 4K touchscreen into a compact convertible that measures a scant 0.6 inches thick and weighs 2.9 pounds. That's more than a little impressive when you consider that Lenovo's equally new (and equally light) ThinkPad Yoga 260 sticks you with a 1080p display. You'll also get your choice of speedier, more energy-efficient sixth-generation Intel Core processors and an infrared camera that can sign you in using facial recognition.
MSI dresses up its gaming lineup with Skylake
With Intel's new Skylake processor inbound, it was only natural that gaming notebook manufacturers would jump on board to offer this latest boost to their machines. MSI is no exception, kitting out a few of their existing machines with the 6th-generation processor. If the promise of a CPU that can be overclocked 30 percent higher isn't enough to entice you, there are plenty of other new goodies packed into the lineup that might be worth the ding to your bank account.
Intel's 'Skylake' CPU family includes an unlocked laptop chip
To say that Intel has been dragging out the launch of its Skylake-based processors would be an understatement when it didn't even reveal full details after it started shipping the first CPUs. Most of that secrecy is coming to an end today, however, as the semiconductor giant is officially launching the wider 6th-generation Core family. You'll soon see mainstream Core i3, i5 and i7 chips in desktops and laptops, as well as updated Core M processors in ultraportables, convertible PCs and tablets. As you'll see in a minute, though, this isn't just a straightforward refresh.
Lenovo's latest pro laptops pack 4K and Xeon processors
There are plenty of workstation laptops that claim to deliver on the promise of heavy-duty computing on the road, but they're not usually that much different on the inside than a garden variety portable. You can't say that about Lenovo's monster new ThinkPad P50 and P70 systems, though. The two not only offer things you'd expect in this class, such as color-accurate 4K displays and pro NVIDIA Quadro graphics, but Intel's first-ever mobile Xeon processors (specifically, the E3-1500M) -- you won't have to settle for an ordinary Core i-series chip here. If you need to crunch 3D models or video when you're out of the office, one of these rigs may be your best bet. That CPU upgrade also brings the kind of perks normally limited to desktops, including support for a whopping 64GB of memory and Thunderbolt 3 ports that can handle dual 4K displays.
Intel's pro-level Xeon processors are coming to laptops
Intel's professional-grade Xeon processors are no longer confined to fancy workstations or data centers. The chip designer has unveiled its first-ever Xeon processor family for laptops, the E3-1500M v5. The Skylake-based part is meant to deliver the kind of heavy lifting that you'd want as a pro (such as rendering 3D models or crunching big data sets) while giving you a laptop that's still thin and light enough to carry around. It has Xeon mainstays like error-correcting memory and remote management, but it also rolls in support for brand new features that any self-respecting techie would like, such as the new Thunderbolt 3 connector. If you want, you can drive dual 4K displays, USB Type-C devices and more from a single port.
Intel targets gamers with sixth-gen 'Skylake' CPU launch
With mobile annihilating the mainstream PC industry, Intel knows gaming is buttering its bread. The chip giant launched its sixth-generation "Skylake" desktop processors today with two enthusiast quad-core models: the Core i7-6700K and i5-6600K. The 14-nanometer chips are unlocked for maximum overclocking (all the "K" series CPUs will be), and if you're not into that, the two new chips have fairly high base frequencies: 4.0GHz for the Core i7-6700K and 3.5GHz for the i5-6600K. Compared to similar current-gen models, prices are reasonable -- suggested retail is $350 for the i7-6700K and $243 for the i5-6600K, with street prices likely lower.
Intel delays next-gen chips as Moore's law begins to crack
Intel says its next-gen "Cannonlake" chips will be delayed by six months, marking the second time in a row it hasn't released a CPU on a two-year "Moore's law" cycle. Last year's 14-nanometer Broadwell chips were similarly delayed, and even Haswell and Ivy Bridge were behind schedule. Intel said that the setback for the new 10-nanometer chips was caused by the increasing complexity in building transistors that small. Addressing the elephant in the room, CEO Brian Krzanich said that "the last two technology transitions have signaled that our cadence today is closer to 2.5 years than two."
Intel: Where we're going, we don't need cables
If you ask us, Intel's "Llama Mountain" design -- a PC even thinner than the iPad -- is already pretty futuristic. "Futuristic" might be an inaccurate word, though, considering that thing (or devices like it) will arrive later this year. No, if you want futuristic, you'll have to look toward Intel's next-next-generation chips, slated to debut sometime in 2015. A couple years from now, PCs might be missing cables, ports and even passwords -- not that Intel gets much of a say on that last one.
Lenovo and Dell back effort to bring wireless charging to laptops and tablets
Wireless charging is a technology often reserved for smaller devices -- smartphones, watches and electronic toothbrushes -- but that's about to change. The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) just updated its Rezence charging standard to support laptops, tablets and devices requiring up to 50 watts. The Alliance only just made this change official, but it's been coming for awhile: when Dell joined the group back in February, the A4WP promised to introduce a higher-power specification that would enable Ultrabooks to charge untethered.
Intel's next Thunderbolt port can handle two 4K displays at once
There's a good reason why the Mac Pro has six Thunderbolt 2 ports: current Thunderbolt tech isn't powerful enough to drive more than one 4K display per port. Future computers shouldn't face that limitation, though. VR-Zone has leaked a presentation which suggests that Intel's next Thunderbolt controller chip, Alpine Ridge, has enough bandwidth (40Gbps) to drive two 4K screens at the same time. That could prove a big help to video pros who want multiple ultra-sharp displays without filling up all their expansion space.
Intel delays Broadwell chips to early 2014 due to production yield problems
We hope you weren't dead set on buying devices using Intel's Broadwell processors, as the company has delayed production of the 14-nanometer CPU line to early 2014. Fixes for early manufacturing defects didn't work as well as expected, CEO Brian Krzanich says, limiting Intel's ability to produce enough functioning chips. The setback shouldn't affect Skylake, Broadwell's successor. Still, it's not good news for a semiconductor firm that's scrounging for good news in an unforgiving PC market.
