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HP's Pavilion x360 14 now comes with 4G LTE
HP's mid-range convertible favourite has been given a revamp.
ASUS adds new Intel chips to its Zephyrus gaming laptops
ASUS has refreshed its line of gaming laptops with new 10th Generation Intel Core processors, NVIDIA RTX 2070/2080 Super graphics and a bunch of other features designed to make gaming and content creation slicker and smoother. First up, the new Zephyrus S17 (pictured), which comes with a 17.3-inch display with super narrow bezels in an 18.7-millimeter-thin chassis. A 300 Hz refresh rate and 3ms grey-to-grey response time means the display is lightning fast, and it comes with Pantone-validated color accuracy as well.
Apple's new MacBook Air comes with a Magic Keyboard and costs $999
Apple is upgrading the MacBook Air with better internals, its new more reliable Magic Keyboard and is hacking the price down to $999. The upgraded model also gets double the amount of storage, making it a better machine for folks who want to work on the go. Ever since Apple abandoned its much-derided butterfly keyboard in the 16-inch MacBook Pro, people have wondered when the "Magic Keyboard" would trickle down. The MacBook Air is the second recipient of the new-old scissor switch keyboard, which should remove people's concerns around reliability. The company is using the time to boost the refreshed Air's internals, throwing in new 10th-generation Intel Core chips. The base model will ship with a 1.1GHz dual-core i3 CPU, while an extra $250 will net you a 1.2GHz quad-core i7 chip that, with Turbo Boost, can be pushed to 3.8GHz. Apple says that, numbers aside, the new chip will crank out performance twice as fast as on the previous model. Storage has been doubled, up from 128GB on the base model to 256GB, and users can spec their laptop up to 2TB. That's all solid-state storage, and it will be pricey: The 2TB option will set you back an additional $800 on top of the list price. Thankfully, Apple has finally brought the price of the MacBook Air back below $1,000, with a retail price of $999. That puts some clear water between the lower-power, more portable Air and its more powerful Pro siblings. It's also something that we've argued since 2018, saying that Apple's cluster of similarly-priced machines with wildly different specs was too muddled. Education buyers, meanwhile, can snag the new MacBook Air for $899. It's not just the MacBook Air that's getting some love from the company, but also its oft-forgotten sibling, the Mac Mini. Much like the Air, Apple is doubling the amount of storage on the $799 base model up to 256GB, while the $1,099 configuration now gets 512GB of storage as standard. The new MacBook Air will be available to buy in stores at some point next week, but pre-orders are open today. It's worth saying that, with Apple's stores closed due to coronavirus concerns and issues around the current global crisis, ordering online might be the only way to snag one of these for now.
Intel 10th-gen desktop chips may pack better multitasking across the board
Intel's 10th-generation Core desktop processors appear to be right around the corner, and the biggest improvements may come to those who don't splurge on the most expensive models. Leaks at Informatica Cero and VideoCardz have detailed a Comet Lake-S CPU lineup where every Core chip, from the i3 to the i9, reportedly includes Hyperthreading. You might not need need to buy a Core i7 or better to wring truly strong multitasking performance out of your system.
Intel's latest X-series CPUs include an 18-core model under $1,000
You won't have to spend quite so lavishly to get an 18-core Intel Core X chip in your gaming rig. Intel has offered the first details of its 2019 Core X-series chips, and the flagship, 3GHz (4.8GHz turbo) Core i9-10908XE will pack 18 cores for $979. That's far from trivial, but much better than the $2,000 you've had to pay until now. Other models are also decidedly more affordable, including the 10-core i9-10900XE ($590), 12-core i9-10920XE ($689) and 14-core i9-10940XE ($784).
