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HP's Omen 15 is the first gaming laptop with a 240Hz display
HP has just upped the refresh rate ante with its latest Omen 15. The company says it's the world's first gaming laptop with a 15.6-inch 1080p 240Hz IPS display, meaning it should stay ahead of even the quickest-shooting gamer. The laptop itself should also be able to keep up with the screen, as it's equipped with NVIDIA's all-new RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU, an 8th-generation Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of RAM and the latest 802.11ax wireless, aka "WiFi 6."
Microsoft's Surface Pro 6 puts quad-core CPU power in a thin tablet
While the Surface line has been a leader in the convertible device market, competition is coming from all angles, including Lenovo's Yoga line, Apple's iPad Pro and even the leather HP Spectre Folio that was just unveiled. Last year's Surface Pro brought refinement to Microsoft's top-of-the-line convertible device, while staying incredibly light with great battery life. Now it's time for a refresh and the Surface Pro 6 comes with updated 8th generation Intel Core CPUs combined with up to 16GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD all wrapped in black, blue, red or "platinum" grey. As shown by the leak earlier, it's sticking with same charging connector and USB 3.0 ports (no USB-C here). The design hasn't changed much, keeping that ubiquitous hinge and Surface Pen close by, and it's sticking to a 3:2 aspect ratio that helps maintain usefulness as a tablet. The 2,736 x 1,824 12.3-inch display is improved, at 267ppi and -- according to Panos Panay -- the best contrast ratio they've ever achieved. There's also an 8.0MP HD rear-facing camera to go with its 5MP / 1080p front-facing camera used for Windows Hello and video calls.
Intel adds more power to its 8th-generation NUC mini-PCs
So far, Intel's biggest NUC news of the year is its Hades Canyon mini-gaming PC with AMD RX Vega graphics. If you don't need something quite so powerful and costly, however, Intel just rolled out some other 8th-generation NUCs. Rather than using 15 watt chips like before, they pack 28 watt 8th-gen Intel CPUs with Iris Plus 655 graphics. That'll let you hook up to three 4K monitors and a TV for entertainment, while doing some light gaming.
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).
Dell's latest Inspiron PCs include the first 17-inch 2-in-1
Dell is launching its latest generation of Inspiron PCs pacing Intel's latest 8th-generation "Kaby Lake" chips, with a bit more fanfare than usual. Exhibit "A" is the Inspiron lineup of laptops and 2-in-1s: Dell says the Inspiron 7000 is the first 17-inch 2-in-1 on the market. That might seem excessive, but the larger screen makes some sense -- foldable devices are increasingly used in "tent" mode for multimedia and graphics, rather than just as glorified tablets.
Dell's XPS 13 gets the very latest Intel quad-core CPUs
If you want the most portable 13-inch laptop that's also as fast as possible, Dell's XPS 13 laptop may be in your future. The new model is available with Intel's 8th-generation Core i7 or i5 CPUs with quad-core, eight-thread horsepower, a 3,200 x 1,800 (QHD+) display, 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 and two USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports. Yet, all of that fits into what Dell calls "the smallest 13.3-inch laptop on the planet," with 5.2 mm top and side bezels and as little as 2.7 pounds of heft.
Intel's eighth-gen CPUs will be more powerful than we thought
Earlier this year, we didn't expect much from Intel's eighth-generation Core processors. But at Computex in May, the company surprised us all by revealing they'll be 30 percent faster than last year's chips. That alone would have been notable, but now Intel is making an even bolder claim: They're actually 40 percent speedier. At least, that's the case for one of its laptop chips when running through the Sysmark benchmark. And when it comes to five-year-old computers -- the kind Intel expects the majority of consumers to upgrade from -- they're twice as fast at productivity tasks.
Intel claims 8th-gen chips will be 30 percent faster than 7th-gen
Intel's upcoming eighth-generation processors could be more interesting than we initially thought. While the company previously said they would represent a modest 15 percent improvement over seventh-gen chips -- a performance gain it's been achieving steadily over the years -- Intel revealed today at Computex that the new processors actually perform around 30 percent better. Sure, that figure is only based on a Sysmark benchmark, but it's an encouraging sign for overall performance improvements.
Intel's 8th-gen Core processors won't be revolutionary
It's clearer than ever that the days of tick-tock Intel chip upgrades (new process one generation, new architecture the next) are long gone. Intel has revealed that its 8th-generation Core processors, due in the second half of 2017 will once again be built on a 14-nanometer process -- yes, for the fourth time in a row. The company is shy on what these new chips will entail, but it's claiming that it'll manage another 15 percent performance improvement (in SysMark tests, anyway) like it did with the 7th-generation Core designs you see now.
Pioneer announces 8th-gen plasmas with 20,000:1 contrast
Pioneer has announced its 8th generation of plasmas in Europe, with six 720p sets available in June in 42- and 50-inch sizes, and four 1080p sets in 50- and 60-inch flavors coming in September. All models have integrated DVB-T tuners and detachable speakers, with the 720p sets sporting a 16,000:1 contrast ratio, and the 1080p sets stepping it up to a whopping 20,000:1. Pioneer claims that it redesigned the sets from the ground up with improved color reproduction and contrast in mind, and have improved over older plasmas by up to 80%, including Intelligent Brightness Control, which promises to display the best picture regardless of lighting conditions. Prices and exact release dates have not been set, but Tech.co.uk is reporting potential model numbers of PDP508 for the 50-inch 1080p set and PDP4280XD / PDP5080XD for the 42- / 50-inch 720p units.[Thanks, Martin B]
