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Jan 26, 2022
"Looking across the industry, 2021 was dominated by two recurring themes, unprecedented demand, and ecosystem supply constraints," Gelsinger said.
Intel reported record revenue for the quarter—$20.5 billion, up 3 percent from a year ago, on $4.6 billion in profits. But the company's Client Computing Group (CCG) reported sales that fell 7 percent to $10.1 billion. Supply constraints hit Intel's PC customers, lowering their ability to ship PCs. Notebook revenue fell 16 percent, though desktop revenue helped offset it, growing 19 percent.
"This [the constraints] was most acutely felt in the client market, particularly in notebooks," Gelsinger told analysts. "But constraints have widely impacted other markets including automotive, the Internet of Things and the data center. As we predicted, these ecosystem constraints are expected to persist through 2022 and into 2023. With incremental improvements over this period, the industry will continue to see challenges in a variety of areas, including specialty and overall foundries shortages, substrates, as well as third party silica."
Gelsinger also named power controllers, display LED controllers, and different component pieces as other areas where shortages are a concern.
With that said, Gelsinger said Intel is well positioned to navigate the market, given that the company has always emphasized building chips from its own fabs. The company said this week that it plans to build a new megafab complex in Ohio,
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Jan 26, 2022
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition - Best gaming laptop on a budget
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Jan 26, 2022
This web-based package features eight courses that introduce students to social media marketing, digital advertising, and the tools that create web-based audiences. They'll come to understand the role that various social channels play, best practices in content creation, and they'll even learn how to track audience behaviors so they can identify trends.
Worried your technical aptitude might not be up to the task? Don't sweat it. The content is beginner-friendly so virtually anyone can understand it. And each course is delivered by Faisal Siddiqui, an experienced and respected entrepreneur who has earned a 4.1 out of 5-star rating from past students. The point is, no matter who you are or what your technical experience is, you can walk away with some real skills.
Oh sure, you could just hire a marketing manager to do all this social media stuff for you. Or, you can save all that expense and get The
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Jan 26, 2022
Microsoft's announcement came at the end of a Wednesday blog post authored by Panos Panay, chief product officer of Windows Devices at Microsoft. The blog post reiterated many of the claims made by chief executive Satya Nadella during the company's earnings call, such as the claim that 1.4 billion users now use Windows. Panay also reiterated many of Microsoft's thematic statements, such as how the world has evolved into a hybrid working environment.
It was what's next for Windows, though, that was the most interesting part of his statement. "Next month we're bringing new experiences to Windows that include a public preview of how you can use Android apps on Windows 11 through the Microsoft Store and our partnerships with Amazon and Intel, taskbar improvements with call mute and unmute, easier window sharing and bringing weather to the taskbar, plus the introduction of two new redesigned apps, Notepad and Media Player."
All of these features have been "released" previously as part of the Windows Insider program, specifically for members of the Windows Insider Dev Channel, where Microsoft tests out new code. Microsoft has s
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Jan 26, 2022
The Stream Deck Pedal is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a set of USB-connected pedals that go underneath your desk, within easy reach of your feet. The gadget includes three pedals (a big one in the center is a little less obvious) bound to just about anything you can think to do within a game, Discord, Twitch, or any associated programs. Users can bind the pedals to three separate actions, and use program profiles to expand that based on whatever's running in the foreground.
This isn't the first pedal input for PCs, of course—driving game fans have had car-style pedals for years, and various vendors have offered USB pedals that can be bound to different applications, and foot controls are popular for musicians who have no free hands. But Elgato's pedal is the first one you might see on, say, a Best Buy shelf, and it fits in with the
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Jan 26, 2022
The Gold P31 is currently our top choice as the best PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD. In our review, we said it's "the first NVMe SSD to feature 128-bit TLC NAND." The 1TB model we tested aced our CrystalDiskMark 6 and AS SSD synthetic benchmarks, nearly hitting the 3.5GBps read and write speeds claimed in the press release.
As the previous quote suggests, our review also raved over the Gold P31 giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars and an Editors' Choice Award. In addition to performing well on thesequential read and write tests, the drive also did well in our large file write test, coming in second only to the Seagate FireCuda 520. Our large file test times the transfer of a 450GB file, which most people are unlikely to do very often. Still, it's a good test of the drive's capabilities.
The bottom line is this is an excellent drive and right now it's available at the best price we've seen in a while.
[
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Jan 26, 2022
Price When Reviewed$250
A year and a half into the latest generation of graphics cards—one plagued by chip
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Jan 26, 2022
With this laptop, you can expect good 1080p gaming with high to ultra graphics depending on the title and it's packing Nvidia's recent technologies including DLSS and real-time ray tracing. The display will also help improve the experience, as it's 15.6 inches with a 1080p resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz-brightness maxes out at 250 nits.
The processor is Intel's "Tiger Lake" Core i5-11400H, a six-core, twelve thread CPU with a boost to 4.5GHz. It has 8GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard NVMe storage. It comes loaded with Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth, too. For port selection, it has two standard USB 2.0 ports, one Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 1, and one standard USB 3.2. There's also HDMI out if you want to game on a bigger screen.
The 3050 Ti isn't the best graphics card you can find, but it works well for the current crop of games at 1080p. Plus, this rig should provide quite a few years of solid gaming.
[Today's deal: Dell G15 gaming laptop with an RTX 3050 Ti for $735 at Dell.com.]
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Jan 26, 2022
PCWorld's Gordon Ung took care of our usual exhaustive review of the new generation of Alder Lake chips, starting with the absolute top-of-the-line Core i9-12900HK. He compared it to both AMD's latest and greatest, the Ryzen 9 5900HX, and Intel's last-gen Tiger Lake Core i9-11980HK.
Because of the nature of pre-built laptops, the tests aren't as perfectly controlled as desktop benchmarks. Even so, we can glean some pretty definitive results based on crunching the numbers. If you don't have time to go through more than 6000 words of scrupulous detail — or maybe you just can't fit it into your lunch break — here are the important points to take away, as we wait for review units to start flowing in to inform our roundup of the best laptops.
The new 12th-gen chips are speed demons
Perhaps you could be forgiven for predicting this plot twist beforehand, but Intel's new top-of-the-line chip is faster than its old top-of-the-line chip. But this is no mere iterative bump: The Core i9 Alder Lake CPU beats out Intel's previous best effort by a considerable margin, especially when it comes to intense media applications.
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Jan 25, 2022
"Three months in, and we are delighted by the response to Windows 11," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said during the company's calendar fourth-quarter 2021 earnings call with analysts. Microsoft reported that revenue for Windows OEM licenses shot up a substantial 25 percent compared to a year ago, prompted by the sudden surge in PC sales during the pandemic. Commercial PC licenses helped the surge, given that they generate more revenue.
Nadella didn't break down the number of users for Windows 11 and Windows 10, respectively, and he used some odd metrics to describe Windows 11's success. "We are seeing more usage intensity and higher quality than previous versions of our operating system," Nadella said, whatever that means. Microsoft representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nadella did say, that Microsoft Windows captured more market share this quarter, presumably against Apple's MacOS. Otherwise, however, he didn't clarify which OS he was referring to.
Sales of Microsoft's Surface devices also benefited, growing 8 percent after two quarters of negative growth that compared poorly to strong sales at the beginning of the pandemic-fueled 2020 year.
Overall, Microsoft's More Personal Computing, also known as its consumer/PC business, experienced 15 percent growth to $17.5 billion. As it has been for the last few quarters, however, it was Microsoft's Azure cloud business that drove revenue, as cloud services grew 46 percent. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud business grew more slowly at 26 percent, to $15.9 billion. Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes, which houses Office, grew 19 percent to
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Jan 25, 2022
First up, the Eufy Security SoloCam E40 for $90. That's down from $125 to $130 and an all-time low. We gave the SoloCam E40 4 out of 5 stars in our review. We called it "a compelling option for anyone who wants an affordable home security solution." The camera is fully standalone and has 8GB of local storage that can hold a minimum of two months worth of footage. It has all the features you're looking for including two-way audio, built-in alarm, and it's IP65 weatherproof.
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Jan 25, 2022
The Beats Studio3 over-the-ear headphones feature active noise cancelling (ANC) and Apple promises up to 22 hours of listening time with this feature on. There's also a quick charge feature where you can power up the headphones for just 10 minutes and get three hours of listening time out of them.
These headphones feature Apple's W1 headphone chip, which allows for easy Bluetooth pairing with compatible Apple devices. It also has a transparency mode that lets environmental sounds filter past the noise cancelling in order to maintain some awareness of your surroundings.
The Studio3 have on-cup controls and a microphone for taking calls. They're not designed for hands-free Siri as devices with the H1 chip do. Instead, you have to hold down the ‘b' button on the left ear cup.
If you don't have an Apple device, these will still work as regular Bluetooth headphones. That said, you'll lose the advantages of easier Apple pairing and some customization features.
[Today's deal: Beats Studio3 for $175 at Amazon.]
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Jan 25, 2022
If this is a little too 1980s throwback for you, then maybe the simple math of "14 is more than 8" is more meaningful. As in, 14-cores in a Core i9-12900HK is simply almost always going to be more than the 8-cores in an 11th gen Core i9-11980HK or the 8-cores in a Ryzen 9 5900HX, even with Intel's new chips using a mixture of high-performance and high-efficiency cores.
To see just how much 14 is more than 8, you'll have to read on. But the bottom line? The Core i9-12900HK sets a new standard for high-performance laptops, whether you're gaming or getting work done. After debuting in knock-out fashion on desktops, Intel's Alder Lake simply crushes the competition—and its predecessor—in notebooks.
How we tested
For this review, no thin and light laptops were allowed, and we solely focuse
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Jan 25, 2022
Price When Reviewed$199
Best Prices Today
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Jan 25, 2022
There's smart - and then there's rubber-meets-the-road smart. If you've got the world's greatest app idea, maybe it's time to learn enough about computer science to actually make your idea real.
Nobody's gonna say that's easy. But for inquisitive, engaged people interested in acquiring new skills and knowledge, there are pathways to make even some of the most technical learning fun.
Math and science and computer science are in-demand skills that require some real time and investment to master. However, STEM training in those fields doesn't have to be boring readings with boring lectures stuffed into boring coursework.
Thankfully, there are options for motivated go-getters to build that kind of education with some life and purpose behind it, all with a little help.
Brilliant is training engineered to engage active learners
Brilliant respects ambitious learners, people who want to learn how to think and problem-solve rather than memorize formulas and rules without context.
With a Brilliant membership, thoughtful
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Jan 24, 2022
Customers in parts of Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles now have the option to choose symmetrical 2Gbps or 5Gbps fiber, the company said Monday. (Symmetrical plans mean that customers receive the same speed both for downloading and uploading data.) AT&T is currently working to upgrade existing fiber customers to those plans throughout 2022, too, the company said.
Specifically, AT&T will charge $110 per month for the new 2Gbps plan, or $180/mo for the 5Gbps plan. Business customers can receive the new higher-speed options for $225/mo or $395/mo, respectively. The 5Gbps plan also includes a free subscription to HBO Max as well as AT&T's ActiveArmor security service, the company said.
To see if you're eligible, you can visit AT&T's availability page. AT&T's fiber internet page claims that the cheapest plans begin at $55/mo for 300Mbps service.
AT&T also said that it's moving to a "straighforward pricing plan" for new customers, where the company won't charge separate fees for equipment, and has eliminated data caps. AT&T also won't increase the price at 12 months, the company said.
What's next? AT&T also said that it has 10Gbps technology up and running in its labs, signposting the
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Jan 24, 2022
You can obtain it one of three ways: waiting for Windows 10 to push it to you, triggering the download using an application, or creating installation media. We walk you through each method below.
However, before getting started, we advise first verifying that your PC is compatible with Windows 11. It can save you some time if it turns out you're stuck with Windows 10. Also, if you're starting from scratch (or, ahem, have been running an earlier version of Windows unactivated), you might also want to snag a cheap Windows 10 license. Because upgrades are free, it'll allow you full access to Windows 11 features for far less.
Once you've confirmed that your system is ready to go, here's how to download Windows 11.
Windows Update
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Jan 24, 2022
In our review back in November 2020, we called the WD Black SN850 "one of the very best consumer NVMe SSDs you can buy currently." We gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and an Editors' Choice award.
The SSD market has changed since then, especially for PCIe 4.0 SSDs thanks to new Phison controllers, which have added more speed to second generation devices. The SN850 is decidedly in the first generation, but we still see it as a solid recommendation for those looking for a PCIe 4.0 SSD.
WD claims the 2TB model offers around 7,000 megabytes per second sequential read speeds and 5,1000 MB/s sequential writes. We tested the 2TB model for our review. Unfortunately, we only tested it over PCIe 3.0. Nevertheless, from what we saw you should expect speeds pretty close to what WD claims. This drive also comes with a five-year warranty.
If you're looking for a good SSD with a ton of capacity, the SN850 is an excellent choice, especially at this price.
[Today's deal: 2TB WD Black SN850 for $271 at Amazon.]
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Jan 24, 2022
First up we have the APC BGM1500 and BGM1500B for $187. That's down from the usual $260 price. They're the same UPS with the "B" standing for black. The 1500VA/900W UPS uses sine wave output for a more seamless transition from wall power to an emergency backup. The UPS has a total of 10 outlets with 6 for surge protection and battery backup and another 4 that are solely for surge protection. It also has Ethernet ports and coaxial cable in and out. On the front of the case, there's also three USB ports including one Type C and two standard port.
The second item is the BR1500G bundle for $314, which is down from $390. This bundle includes two items: a 1500VA/865W UPS with 10 outlets (5 surge protectors plus battery backup and 5 surge protectors only) and an external battery pack that provides additional running time for you UPS.
As a reminder, a UPS isn't going to run your PC after the light
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Jan 24, 2022
Today, we'll show you how to undervolt your Nvidia or AMD graphics card. Best of all, it's free and fun to do!
Radeon RX 6600 Swft 210
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Jan 24, 2022
[This 8-bit processor built in Minecraft can run its own games]
Monument Valley
Monument Valley is one of the most visually stunning games I've ever played. You're tasked with guiding Princess Ida through a series of puzzles. Many, if not most, of these puzzles are optical illusions, so you really need to have a keen eye to play this game. It's a beautifully designed game with a really chill soundtrack. I usually play this game at night when I'm in bed because there's something so serene about it. If you're looking for a low-stakes experi
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Jan 23, 2022
This beginner-friendly bundle introduces students to things like general computer science concepts, network fundamentals, Linux navigation, security basics, and more. It features 15 courses in all, and each one focuses on a different skill, so it's great for people who want to train while keeping their options open.
Then, after completing each course, you'll find yourself prepared to pass a certification exam from CompTIA — the respected industry organization that sets the standard for IT professionals. That means, within a very short amount of time, you could walk away with some hefty credentials and be ready to compete for jobs that boast some of the highest salaries within the industry.
Every course is delivered by iCollege, which has been in operation since 2003 and is considered one of the most trusted sources for e-learning on the web. Several of the courses, in fact, come highly rated by past students, and they're all presented in a manner that maximizes comprehension.
In o
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Jan 22, 2022
With lifetime subscriptions to both Degoo Premium's 10TB Backup Plan and KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, this bundle provides a reasonable means of protecting yourself from cybercrime without incurring the expense. And that's amplified since you'll have both services for life, which means you'll never have to renew or pay again later.
You just keep your files on Degoo Premium'
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Jan 21, 2022
Intel committed $20 billion to the new facility, which Time had earlier reported would include a pair of fabs. Intel said Friday that there will be room for up to six separate chipmaking facilities, though they won't all be built out immediately. In a statement, Dr. Randhir Thakur, senior vice president and president of Intel Foundry Services, said that the new fabs will support Intel's angstrom-class fabs, including its new Intel 18A manufacturing process. Intel's new Ohio fab will be operational by 2025, Intel said, when the 18A process is expected to come on line.
Intel has fabs scattered all over the world—from Israel to Ireland—though the vast majority of the company's manufacturing has been in the United States at sites like Hillsboro, Oregon; Chandler, Arizona; and Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The new Ohio fab will build out the "Silicon Heartland," adding an estimated 3,000 jobs to the region.
Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger has referred to domestic chipmaking—as opposed to foundries in Taiwan and elsewhere—as both critical for the American economy and American security interests. Gelsinger has also criticized the U.S. government for not subsidizing American chipmaking, as other governm
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Jan 21, 2022
Mind you, not all advertised laptop deals are actually deals, so we've only included the ones we consider actual bargains—and we've explained why. We'll add new laptop deals as we see them daily and remove any expired sales. Right now, we're seeing strong discounts on gaming laptops, Microsoft Surface devices, and more. If you're looking for Chromebooks we've got those deals in here too!
We've provided a handy list of laptop-specific shopping tips at the end of this post, and immediately below are the deals themselves.
The best laptop deals in 2022
HP 15-ef2126wm
HP
From: Wal
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Jan 21, 2022
But people who regularly pop 4K Blu-ray discs into a 11th- or 12th-generation Intel PC don't have to accept the downscale to 1080p. You can continuing getting that experience with the help of a free (for now) program called MakeMKV, which allows you to rip a copy of movies and TV show episodes as a single MKV file. For most people, this file format offers a similar experience as direct playback from a UHD disc, since it preserves chapters, subtitle tracks, and multiple audio tracks. And despite its reduced file size compared to the original disc, you'll see far less sacrifice of picture and audio quality than with a 4K stream.
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Jan 21, 2022
The starter kit features four white ambiance bulbs (i.e. no color) and a Philips Hue bridge. The bulbs are the equivalent to 60 watt incandescent bulbs, but have a maximum operation power of 10 watts.
The bulbs integrate with all the popular voice assistants including Amazon's Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant. You can also control the lights from your smartphone using the Hue app.
This kit allows you to set the smart lights to turn on or off at preset times. You can set scenes for fun occasions like movie night or turn your lights on or off remotely. Philips claims these bulbs have more than 50,000 different shades from warm to cool white light for whatever you need during the day.
Smart lights are incredibly helpful and they really make things more convenient. This deal is one not to be missed.
[Today's deal: Philips Hue E26 Starter Kit for $60 at Philips-Hue.com.]
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Jan 21, 2022
The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 features a 15.6-inch 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of onboard storage. The processor is a "Tiger Lake" Core i3-1115G4. The CPU features two cores, four threads with a maximum boost to 4.1GHz.
As we said, the specs aren't a standout, but you can often find laptops like these on sale for $100 more-sometimes without a 1080p display.
As for ports, you're getting one USB 2.0, two USB 3.2, and one HDMI 1.4 out. There's also 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an SD card slot.
While this laptop isn't really suited to be a daily driver (unless you keep all your files in the cloud), it's a handy laptop to take to the café or wherever else you need to go.
[Today's deal: Dell Inspiron 15 3000 for $310 at Dell.com.]
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Jan 21, 2022
Here's the thing though: While those perspectives are all absolutely valid and true—AMD's graphics card is a bizarre creature indeed, and one that doesn't move the performance needle over prior GPU generations, as I explained in my own Radeon RX 6500 XT review—I feel they're missing some crucial perspective. It ain't 2016 anymore and the world needs affordable graphics cards right now. If it can stay in stock, the Radeon RX 6500 XT scratches that itch.
[ Further reading: AMD's $199 Radeon RX 6500 XT tested: 5 key things you need to know ]
Yes, AMD cut features hard to make the Radeon RX 6500 XT a reality, and those choi
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Jan 21, 2022
While everything on the list below has its pros and cons, there's one laptop that really stands out from the rest. The Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon Gen 9 nabbed our top spot because of its roomy display, stellar keyboard, and quiet operation. Read on to learn more, and be sure to visit our guide to the best laptops overall if you want to peruse the cream of the crop from every notebook maker.
1. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 - Best overall
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Jan 21, 2022
While everything on the list below has its pros and cons, there's one laptop that really stands out from the rest. The Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon Gen 9 nabbed our top spot because of its roomy display, stellar keyboard, and quiet operation. Read on to learn more, and be sure to visit our guide to the best laptops overall if you want to peruse the cream of the crop from every notebook maker.
1. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 - Best overall
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Jan 21, 2022
This bundle features eight courses that present accounting fundamentals in a language that's easy to understand. Students will learn about debits and credits, come to understand financial statements, how to run a payroll, about ledgers and special journals, and that's just for starters.
Each course is facilitated by Robert Steele, a CPA who comes highly rated. He's taught over 247k to date and boasts more than 12k reviews. The courses in this bundle, in fact, are rated at no less than 4.1 out of 5 stars, so this is a good opportunity to learn a skill that could not only let you tame your own finances but perhaps even begin a new career.
So, how much can a CPA earn? About
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Jan 20, 2022
According to Google's initial promotion, the system allows players to "seamlessly play some of the most popular Google Play Games… across mobile, tablet, Chromebook, and Windows PC devices." (Remember that devices running Google's Chrome OS have had access to Android apps on the Play Store for years.) Mouse and keyboard controls are supported on the select titles, which include Mobile Legends, Summoners War, State of Survival, and Three Kingdoms Tactics. Progress and achievements will sync across devices, at least if the game developers are fully taking advantage of the existing Google Play Games system.
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Jan 20, 2022
We're not trying to ruin Wordle, which has become a fun activity for millions. But we couldn't really ignore a Wordle hack that is literally right under your nose. And if you want to one-up a friend who is constantly bragging about their Wordle prowess, well….It's really no different than the Pokemon Go maps of a few years ago, is it?
How to beat Wordle using WordHippo
Let's start with Wordle 213, whose solution stumped Twitter. Many people discovered that the first three letters were P-R-O…and then absolutely failed to guess the last two letters, X and Y. Naturally, Wordlers probably considered more common words like "proud" and "prowl" first. But what words would make sense?
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Jan 20, 2022
As this is a desktop external hard drive, it requires its own power source as opposed to the portable kind that can run off of a USB port. The box includes the hard drive, a USB cable for connecting to a PC, and an AC adapter.
The drive is formatted for NTFS, which means a Windows machine can read and write to it out of the box. Macs can read from it as well. If you want them to write to to it, however, you'll need to reformat the drive into something such as FAT32.
Once you're set-up, this 10TB drive has enough room for backups, shared storage, or as a media library.
This is a great deal. It's really a massive amount of storage that you can put to good use in any way you see fit.
[Today's deal: WD Elements 10TB desktop external hard drive for $170 at Newegg.]
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Jan 20, 2022
First up is the Anker USB-C power strip for $26, which is down from $40. It has three regular power outlets plus two standard USB ports and one USB-C port for charging mobile devices. This is a pure power strip, so it doesn't come with any surge protection.
Next up is the USB-C Anker Nano II charger for $25, which is down from $34. The 30 watt charger is powerful enough for some laptops as well as mobile devices. This is an extremely compact charger for 30W, as it takes up 59 percent less than many other comparable ones.
Finally, there's the Anker USB-C hub for $65, which is down from $100. This is an 11-in-1 hub with ports for everything you can think of including standard USB, HDMI,
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Jan 20, 2022
But in early January, an offshoot of PC seller iBuyPower took the wraps off a new premium product: The Hyte keeb SR65, a 65-percent mechanical keyboard that will cost a whopping $400 for the fully loaded kit—that is, the version with all the pieces necessary for a complete keyboard. At double the MSRP of the most expensive keyboards from companies like Corsair and Razer, it's sure to induce immediate sticker shock upon its arrival in May. It's also sure to spark questions like "Why do you build it yourself?" and more certainly, "Why does it cost so much?!"
In a word, customization. You get a level of personalization that can transform your everyday typing experience from something you just do into a genuine pleasure.
Custom is as custom does
Of course, custom mechanical keyboards don't have to cost $400. Like with PC building, as you lay on extras, the price goes up.
But custom boards do run more on average than their mass-produced equivalents. (Economy of scale is a factor.) In exchange, you get total control over each of these elements when building from scratch
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Jan 20, 2022
Price When Reviewed$389
Best Prices Today
Retailer
Price
Delivery
$389.00
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Jan 20, 2022
The HD Touch Screen Smartwatch looks and operates similar to most popular brand name options out there, but it costs far less by comparison. It features a bright 1.75" touch screen display; it tracks your activity, heart rate, and sleep; and it features a number of sport modes so you can better analyze your physical fitness.
You just connect it to your phone via Bluetooth, and you're all set. You'll
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Jan 19, 2022
It doesn't appear that Opera plans to replace its desktop browser with its Crypto Browser, although the language Opera used was a bit vague. (Opera already offers a specialized gaming browser, Opera GX.) "Today, we are taking our Web3 effort a step further by allowing you to test experimental browsers on Android, Mac and Windows that will become our flagships for you to interact with Web3," Opera said in a blog post.
Though Opera's browser is still built upon the same Chromium underpinnings as its current desktop browser, Opera also built in a number of Web3 features. (In some circles the term "Web3" has become synonymous with the blockchain, referring to a decentralized web that's governed by tokens.) In Opera's case, that includes designing in a more fully integrated non-custodial crypto wallet as well as quick links to crypto news, airdrops, and, yes, NFTs. The Crypto Browser Project also includes support for what Opera calls distributed apps, or dApps —a suite of decentralized apps that can provide more functionality than traditional plugins, according to Opera.
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Jan 19, 2022
As reported in Bleeping Computer, there's no intentional malice in this move. Intel is depreciating the SGX functionality that's been present in Core processors since Skylake (2015) because of a series of attacks made by security researchers, who found it an easy vector for getting through CPU defenses. So doing without it will result in appreciably increased security (and perhaps less patching work on Intel's part) for newer hardware. And weighed against the vast majority of users who no longer have or use an optical disc drive, it seems like a prudent move.
Still, this is going to be a serious problem for home builders who enjoy the dwindling media center PC niche. (AMD's Ryzen CPU architecture also does not support 4K Blu-ray playback.) CyberLink, maker of the most popular Blu-ray playback software, has noted the problem and doesn't mention any work-around. At the moment there doe
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Jan 19, 2022
This version of the Spin 3 is part of Intel's Evo platform, meaning it's a lightweight device with solid battery life and a good screen resolution. This particular model is rocking a dual core, four thread Intel "Tiger Lake" Core i3-1115G4 processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of onboard storage. If you need more storage than that, there's a microSD slot.
The display is 13.3-inches with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 1920-by-1200 screen resolution. As this is part of Acer's Spin lineup, the display is touch enabled. You can even use this laptop in tent or tablet mode depending on your needs. It also has a built-in Wacom stylus for when you need to mark-up a webpage or a PDF. And yes, it's loaded up with Windows 10 Home, but Acer claims it can be upgraded to Windows 11.
If you need an everyday travel laptop, this is an excellent choice, as it can work in several different configurations and it has a solid amount of power for most productivity tasks.
[Today's deal: Acer Spin 3 for $450 at Acer.c
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Jan 19, 2022
Sabrent claims you can expect sequential read speeds up to 4,700 Megabytes per second and write speeds up to 1,800MB/s. That's over PCIe 4.0, however. If you're going to use this drive with a PCIe 3.0 motherboard and CPU, then the read speeds drop down to 3,300 MB/s.
With either a PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 motherboard, this drive is still pretty fast. But if you want the best speeds, you really need to use this with PCIe 4.0. That means you need to have an AMD Ryzen 3000 desktop CPU or higher. An Intel Rocket Lake (11th gen) or Alder Lake (12th gen) processor would work, too. You'll also need a compatible motherboard that also supports PCIe 4.0.
Once you have those two magic pieces, the amazing speeds of this PCIe 4.0 storage will be yours.
[Today's deal: 1TB Sabrent Rocket Q4 for $93.50 at Amazon.]
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Jan 19, 2022
Price When Reviewed$199
AMD's $199 Radeon RX 6500 XT breaks new ground for desktop graphics cards, and many of the GPU's achievemen
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Jan 19, 2022
Putting this GPU through its paces took quite a bit more effort and explaining than usual. Head over to our comprehensive Radeon RX 6500 XT review for the complete rundown, but for folks who don't feel like wading through thousands of words and dozens of charts worth of analysis, here are five key facts you need to know about the Radeon RX 6500 XT.
1. This is a great graphics card for beginning PC gamers…
PC gaming picked up serious steam over the pandemic, but newcomers haven't had a shot at investing in affordable new gear, with most graphics cards going for double MSRP or more thanks to a mixture of a chip crunch, logistics woes, booming demand from cryptocurrency miners seeking profits, and more. We've resorted to suggesting a CPU with good integrated graphics as the best budget "graphics card" for gaming. Ugh.
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Jan 19, 2022
Why Microsoft wants Activision Blizzard isn't particularly complicated. Though executives have made a couple of peeps about the nebulous "metaverse," the simple answer is that Microsoft needs more and more exclusive content for its trio of platforms: Xbox consoles, PCs, and the Xbox Game Pass, both in download and streaming varieties. Combined with strategic acquisitions both big and small over the last few years (Bethesda, Mojang, Obsidian, Rare, Double Fine… it's a long list), Microsoft is well-placed to put its exclusive woes in the past, and emerge as the leader in a new world of games as a servi
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Jan 19, 2022
GameGuru is a no-code game development platform that's designed for use by non-techies. And it's a lot of fun to use, too. With the software, you simply start creating your world visually and add individual elements such as characters, weapons, and more as you go. And then after you're done you can export your creation, so you can share it with others or even sell it for profit.
This bundle includes the Windows-compatible GameGuru software plus 13 DLC asset packs so you'll have hundreds of design options available to you. The assets all come royalty-free so you can use them how you please, and you'll enjoy access to each one for life.
Game development is
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Jan 18, 2022
The upcoming program (PDF link) for the International Solid-State Circuits Conference includes a listing for "Bonanza Mine," an "ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC," a paper authored by three Intel employees. The listing was unearthed by Tom's Hardware.
So far, the program doesn't indicate whether or not Intel actually plans to ship Bonanza Mine as a finished product or as a research project. The listing, however, implies the latter. The lead author, Vikam Suresh, is described as a research scientist at Intel Labs, focusing on "high-performance and energy-efficient micro-architecture and circuit design for data encryption and authentication, design of cryptographic primitives for random number and key generation, and block-chain technologies and high-performance data compression."
In December, Raja Koduri, senior vice president and general manager of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) Group at Intel, hinted at the company's plans for blockchain and that they would not include general-purpose CPUs or GPUs. That's probably not a surprise given that effective Bitcoin mining moved into A
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Jan 18, 2022
On Tuesday, Microsoft unexpectedly announced a "simpler" version of Windows, Windows 11 SE, in its latest effort to push aside Chromebooks and make Windows the operating system of elementary- and middle-school classrooms.
For years, that operating system was Windows 10 (and now Windows 11) Hom
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Jan 18, 2022
The Exynos 2200 series of chips was announced this morning and is presumably slated for the upcoming Galaxy S22, Galaxy Z Fold3, and Flip3 phone lines. In addition to the usual incremental improvements in ARM-based SoC designs, Samsung is letting AMD handle the design of the new Xclipse GPU series. It's a "hybrid graphics processor" using RDNA 2 architecture.
What does that mean? Not a lot in terms that matter to end users, but Samsung does say that the Exynos 2200 platform will use "the industry's first hardware-accelerated ray tracing on mobile." Ray tracing is an advanced graphics lighting technique that, while possible on more or less any hardware, really requires custom-designed chips in order to effectively run during active gameplay. R
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Jan 18, 2022
The news comes from as an official announcement from Microsoft itself, emblazoned with its prospective acquisition's biggest game series like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. The acquisition is valued at $68.7 billion with Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard stock shares at $95 each. The deal is being given a full media blitz with a promotional page, press release, blog posts, open letters to employees, and even a map of the proposed management team.
Assuming it goes through, the nearly $70 billion acquisition would be by far the largest in the history of the gaming industry, with Take-Two's purchase of Zynga earlier this year coming in a distant second at "just" $12.7 billion. For the sake of comparison, Nintendo's current valuation in terms of market cap is approximately $55 billion in USD.
A
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Jan 18, 2022
The Fire HD 8 features an 8-inch 1280-by-800 IPS display with the aforementioned 32GB of storage. It also has 2GB of device memory (RAM) and there's a microSD slot for more storage.
The downside of Amazon's tablets is that the Fire app store is not as versatile as it should be. For example, some key apps like Google's YouTube are missing. This can be remedied by installing the Play Store, though that does require a few extra steps and an online tutorial or two.
Even without the full Amazon experience, you get access to most streaming services and a good amount of mobile games. You also get easy access to your Amazon stuff including the storefront, Amazon Video, Kindle, and more.
If you live in Amazon's world or hang out there some of the time, the Fire HD tablets are an excellent low-cost choice.
[Today's deal: 32GB Kindle Fire HD 8 for $45 at Best Buy.]
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Jan 18, 2022
The Chromebox is the desktop alternative to the Chromebook. They're small mini PCs that you can hook up to an external monitor and rock out to Chrome OS on a larger screen. These are handy devices for anyone who wants a simplified living room PC for casual use like email, web surfing, and the occasional spreadsheet or text document.
For the most part, Chromeboxes are about as low powered as their laptop cousins and that's definitely true of this model. This Acer Chromebox CX13 features an Intel Celeron 3867U processor, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of onboard storage.
For ports, you get one USB-C at USB 3.1 Gen 1, three standard USB ports at USB 3.1 Gen 1, one HDMI, and Ethernet. It also has 802.11ac Wi-Fi, an SD card slot, and Bluetooth 4.2LE. It also comes with a free keyboard and mouse.
For everyday tasks, it's hard to beat the Chromebox CX13 at this price.
[Today's deal: 32GB Acer Chromebox CX13 for $149 at Walmart.]
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Jan 18, 2022
In fact, you'll probably kick yourself that you didn't think of this sooner.
Teams typically opens itself during the startup or boot process of your Windows machine, and that's the key to removing it. Within the Settings app on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, scroll down to the Apps Startup menu. You'll see a list of applications that launch during your PC's startup process.
Simply switch the toggle switch assigned to "Microsoft Teams" off, and Teams won't show up during the boot process any more. Presto!
Turning off apps that launch at boot is a simple process. Notice that Microsoft Edge is turned "on," too: This won't be the case for all PCs, but there's an option within Edge to "quick launch" it, which leaves Edge open even when you're not using the browser. It's optional, and doesn't m
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Jan 18, 2022
Clean up your hardware
Before we get to the software tweaks, let's talk about the physical GPU itself. The first thing you'll want to do is remove it from your case and give it a good cleaning. This will involve removing built up dust. Were your GPU cables messy? Clean those up, too. This will go a long way in improving thermals now that the dust is gone and airflow path cleared. A neat system cabling process will help avoid cables touching your GPU fans, too. Be gentle and take precautions with static, though.
Stock Cooler: Now, let's take it a step further. If you're comfortable taking the stock cooler apart, there are two things you can do to improve your GPU. Depending on the age, it may be beneficial to reapply the thermal paste on the GPU itself and even update some of the thermal pads. These can be easily purchased online but make sure you use the correct sizes and heights to avoid contact issues.Water Block: You can even add a water block to your GPU. This is a fun process, but not all GPUs will have appropriate water blocks available for them. If you're successful, however, you'll enjoy much lower temperatures and noise levels. This will give you more headroom for overclocking, too. It will feel like an entirely new GPU afterwards! For older GPUs, check out online selling groups or eBay to find a good deal on a compatible water block.
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Jan 18, 2022
This bundle features eight courses that introduce students to many of the coding languages that professionals use today. They'll discover how to develop an iOS app using Swift, how machine learning and decentralized Blockchain apps work, web development languages such as Bootstrap, HTML, and CSS, and gain an understanding of Java too.
And since these courses are all delivered by John Bura, you'll be learning these skills from a highly rated professional with years of practical experience. Don't know who he is? John has contributed to the development of 40 commercial games so far and his company, Mammoth Interactive, produces games for just about every platform out there.
The point is, if you want to get into app development either for yourself or to form the basis of a possible new career, then The
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Jan 17, 2022
Uninstall a Steam game using the Steam client
To uninstall a game using your Steam client, launch the Steam client and then click the Library tab in the top-left corner of the window.
Marshall Gunnell/IDG
Next, locate the game that you would like to uninstall in the left-hand pane. Games that are currently installed will have bright white text, whereas the games that aren't currently installed will have grayish text.
Right-click the game's title from the list. A
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Jan 17, 2022
A bit of context. During CES at the start of January, Nvidia announced the GeForce RTX 3050 and AMD announced the Radeon RX 6500 XT, with retail prices at $250 and $200, respectively. We could go into a lot of detail on the respective technical power of these cards, but that's another article. Suffice it to say, they're built with budget gaming PCs in mind, targeting decent 1080p performance and bringing some high-end features like ray tracing and DLSS to a price point at which they've never been available before.
So what's different about these cards, that will make them any
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Jan 17, 2022
Price When Reviewed$120 for 1TB, $250 for 2TB
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Jan 17, 2022
LastPass is an easy, safe, and more affordable option when compared to other password managers. Instead of choosing your own unique and sufficiently complex password for each of your accounts, the app does it for you. And it saves them too, so you won't have to remember anything, nor write them down on the palm of your hand or otherwise record them.
When you log into your accounts, LastPass enters your password on your behalf so you'll enjoy instant access. You won't have to fumble about trying to remember a password you haven't used in six months or run the risk of getting locked out. And you can install it on all your devices — including Android and iOS smartphones and tablets — so you can take it with you everywhere.
A
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Jan 16, 2022
This web-based training package introduces students to data management with Microsoft Excel, analysis with Alteryx, and visualizations with Power BI. It includes nine courses, each facilitated by respected instructors like Nikolai Schuler and Chris Dutton, that break it all down into terms that are easily understood. That means even beginners can purchase this bundle and walk away with some pretty hefty skills that can be put to good use on the job right away.
What really sets this package apart from others, though, is its flexibility. Since it's all done online, there are no actual class sessions to attend. And you'll enjoy lifetime access too, so you can take as long as you want to complete them. Basically anyone can take them, regardless of how busy their schedule is. Plus, since it's
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Jan 15, 2022
G Cloud Mobile Backup is a highly rated service that offers a safe and reliable way to back up your mobile devices. You just sync your phone to your 100GB account and your files will be securely tucked away so you can access them at any time. It's next-level security against all kinds of cyber threats, you can upload everything from call logs to messages to media, and you can even sort your saved data so everything is easy to find.
If you have a mobile device, then G Cloud Mobile Backup is a must — And particularly so if you have a habit of losing phones or otherwise upgrading every couple of years like most of us tend to do. When you consider the cost of most
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Jan 14, 2022
According to reports released by Gartner and IDC, 2021 continued the unexpected surge in demand for PCs and Chromebooks. According to Gartner, PC shipments surged 9.9 percent in 2021 to 339.8 million units. IDC reported even sharper growth: 14.8 percent, up to 348.8 million units. (IDC is a division of IDG, the company that owns PCWorld, but has no editorial affiliation with us.)
The two analyst groups typically differ slightly in how they collect their data. Gartner tracks desktops, notebooks, ultramobiles like the Microsoft Surface, and Chromebooks; IDC tracks desktops, notebooks, and workstations, but not tablets in its year-end reports. Nevertheless, both firms had the same conclusion: Sales were fantastic, and could have been even better if components and finished PCs could have been moved more efficiently.
"2021 has truly been a return to form for the PC," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers, in a statement. "Consumer need for PCs in emerging markets and global commercial demand remained strong during the quarter with supply being a gating factor. While consumer and educational demand has tapered in some developed markets, we continue to believe the overall PC market has reset at a much higher level than before the pandemic."
IDC and Gartner reported that Lenovo, HP, and Dell maintained their position at the top of the PC market, both worldwide and in the United States. All three showed growth.
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Jan 14, 2022
It's a bit complicated. See, the Humble Choice service is switching from a multi-tiered options to a single $11.99-a-month option. (As noted by Ars Technica, this is in fact far less choice than the service as it exists now.) As part of this change, Humble has developed a new launcher program to give subscribers access to the "Vault" of 50 older games and newer indie titles in the Humble Games Collection. But said launcher is very specifically only coming to Windows when the service gets its revamp on February 1st. Existing Humble Choice subscribers have been told in no uncertain terms that Mac and Linux aren't invited to the party.
Until the February 1st deadline, subscribers can download DRM-free copies of whatever Humble Trove games are available on Mac and Linux
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Jan 14, 2022
Let's talk about the guts and ports. The MSI Summit comes equipped with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB of NVMe SSD. In other words, you should expect very zippy everyday performance. The port selection is pretty diverse, too. You're getting one USB 3.2 Type-C, one USB 4.0 Type-C (DP/Thunderbolt 4), one USB 3.2 Type-A, a micro SD card reader, a webcam lock switch, and audio combo jack.
The convertible aspect of this laptop is super appealing, especially if you're a business professional that travels a lot. You can it prop it up like a tent or swing the 1080p touchscreen display around and use it like a tablet. This deal includes a sleeve for the laptop and a MSI pen for the touchscreen display, too. The pen is a nice bonus, as this type of accessory is normally an additional cost. The minimalist aesthetic is perfect for a professional environment. The bronze trim really sells it for me.
This is a great deal that's going to end soon. If you're really jonesing for something that's both functional and swanky, look no further than the MSI Summit.
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Jan 14, 2022
Intel, which unveiled its 12th-gen Alder Lake laptop CPUs just last week at CES, let PCWorld take four nearly identical laptops outfitted with the Core i9-12900HK for a spin during a live stream of our Full Nerd podcast. You can watch us run the benchmarks live in the recording of our live stream below.
While the four preproduction laptops aren't quite final units, they're based on MSI's GE76 Raider with final drivers, firmware and tuning still to come. The laptops were outfitted with the 14-core Core i9-12900HK CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, 32GB of DDR5/4800 RAM, and Windows 11. The updated GE76 remains the same externally as the previous-gen model, but there have been some upgrades to it, including a new MSI "phase-change liquid metal" thermal pad that boosts the CPU's performance. MSI has also tweaked the 12th-gen laptop's GPU to 175 watts, versus the 11th-gen version's 165 watt TGP GPU.
We ran all but the gaming benchmarks on laptops set to MSI's balanced profile, rather than it
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Jan 14, 2022
As part of their "one more thing" teases, both companies demonstrated desktop CPUs running at 5GHz or greater. AMD's started the rap battle by demoing its next-gen Ryzen 7000 processor running the game Halo Infinite with all of the CPU cores reportedly at 5GHz or above. Which CPU model and how many cores wasn't disclosed, but we're assuming at least 8-cores or more cores for it to be impressive.
Two hours later, Intel fired back with its own game demo of Hitman 3 being played on an upcoming 12th-gen Core i9 "KS" chip, with every performance core running at 5.2GHz. While impressive, Intel doesn't technically qualify for the "all-core boost" prize since the remaining efficiency cores buzzed along at "only" 4GHz. But those performance cores are really what matters when it comes to gaming.
Why is 5GHz such a big deal: You
We know, you're making the whatever face at all this chest puffing because it's no big deal. After all, the original 5GHz line on a desktop PC was crossed with AMD's FX-5950 chip almost nine years ago
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Jan 14, 2022
Although every laptop on this list has been personally vetted by the PCWorld team, there's one that really stands out from the pack: The Acer Swift X nabbed our top spot because of its impressive battery life, attractive color scheme, and discrete graphics card. Read on to learn more.
[Best laptop deals 2022: Top picks from budget to extreme]
1. Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G-R1S6)
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Jan 14, 2022
This economically priced e-training package is ideal for professionals who need to further their education but wish to do so without incurring debt. It features eleven courses, each administered by respected instructors from iCollege, that introduce students to the fundamentals of Cisco networking technologies. And they'll walk away with the skills they'll need to acquire several certifications, so they'll be equipped to compete for a better salary.
Under most circumstances, this training would normally cost upwards of $3,200. But by choosing to learn online instead of in the classroom, you can save most of this cost. In fact, The 2022 Ultimate Cisco Certification Training Bundle is being offered at only
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Jan 13, 2022
Update: On Jan. 13, Stardock shipped Start11 1.1, whose most significant addition is the inclusion of folders, something that Windows 11's own Start menu lacks. You can also add "fences" to the Start menu, Stardock says, with support for its Fences app. We haven't tested these new features.
Start11, priced at $4.99 as a standalone utility, doesn't offer everything: it can't create any dynamic Windows 10 Live Tiles, for example, and your ability to move and resize the Windows 11's taskbar icons is still somewhat limited. But if you'd like a more gentle transition between Windows 10 and Windows 11, Start11 certainly helps.
Start11 is the latest iteration of the "StartX" utilities from Stardock, which shipped similar Start8 and Start10 utilitie
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Jan 13, 2022
Uninstall programs from the Start Menu
You can quickly uninstall an app from Windows 11's Start menu. First, click the Windows icon in the taskbar to open the Start menu. At the top of the Start menu, you'll see a list of pinned apps. If the app you want to uninstall is in this list, right-click it and then click Uninstall from the context menu that appears.
Marshall Gunnell/IDG
If the app y
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Jan 13, 2022
Microsoft Defender Preview is listed on the Microsoft Store app, with Microsoft listed as the publisher. Though the app can be downloaded and installed, we wouldn't recommend trying out untrusted software without scanning it with Windows Defender proper, or running it on a virtual machine. When we did so, however, it didn't seem to do anything.
The app's description, however, is more telling. "Security, simplified. Microsoft Defender is your personal defense against digital threats," it reads. "Secure your devices across operating systems including Windows, Apple, and Android."
Windows Defender is the name of Microsoft's antimalware protection for Windows, which has evolved from rather mediocre security to one of the better antimalware solutions available. Now, it appears that Microsoft wants to migrate Defender further.
Technically, the Defender Preview has been "available" for some time. But we have some new leaked images of what could be the app in action. Aggiornamenti Lumia, which has also leaked upcoming Windows feature
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Jan 13, 2022
This laptop features an Intel "Comet Lake" eight core, sixteen thread Core i7-10870H processor with a boost of up to 5GHz. It's one generation behind Intel's latest processors, but it's still a very good CPU for gaming.
With the RTX 3070 powering the graphics, you get top notch 1080p gaming along with Nvidia's latest technologies, including DLSS and real-time ray tracing. Even better, the 15.6-inch 1080p display has a refresh rate of 144Hz and it's rocking Nvidia G-Sync for buttery smooth gaming visuals.
For RAM, you get 16GB, which is excellent for a 1080p gaming rig. As for onboard storage, you're getting 512GB of NVMe SSD. This laptop is also rocking Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), two standard USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 1 HDMI 2.1b, 1 Mini DisplayPort 1.4, and a Thunderbolt 3 port. There's an Alienware graphics Amplifier port if you ever want to try this laptop with a higher end desktop graphics card.
This should be an excellent gaming laptop and, for a limited time, you can get it at a great price.
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Jan 13, 2022
It's no secret that we're fans of PC Building Simulator. Back in 2018, we said it "might be one of the most important DIY enthusiast tools ever created." It's a nice little tool/game that can get you up and building PCs (virtually) in no time. That said, it does lack some of the finer points of PC building like the all-important cable management.
If you're willing to go up to the 4 item bundle, which is currently priced at $6.29 (this middle tier cost is pegged to the average payment), you'll get access to the ROG Workshop DLC, the Razer Workshop DLC, and the Overclocked DLC. The Overclocked includes a bunch of NZXT cases like the H700i.
Finally, there's a $15 bundle that adds another six DLC packages with components from EVGA, Fractal Design, Aorus, NZXT, and the always popular esports expansion.
Build the pretend PC of you dreams for just $15 today or more if you'd like to give a little extra to support the charities that benefit from this bundle.
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Jan 13, 2022
But new stuff also costs an arm and a leg—at least if you're talking about a new PC. And you might not even truly need a new PC to accomplish what you're looking to do, because most everyday tasks don't require much processing power, especially now that so many services have moved onto the web.
Fortunately, there are a slew of ways to breathe new life into an older PC that's starting to feel a little pokey. Even better: Most are outright free, a couple of (still relatively low-cost) hardware upgrades aside. Sure, these tweaks and tips aren't as thrilling as booting up a brand new PC for the first time—but they'll let you continue to get the job done with the gear you already have. Try them before you invest in some shockingly cheap PC upgrades or even a whole new laptop.
Streamline your startup
Let's start with the simpler things first. If your computer is chugging, too much software booting at system start may just be to blame. Before you take more drastic measures, clean up your startup by opening the Startup tab of Windows 10 or 11's Task Manager, or typing "msconfig"—minus the quotation
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Jan 13, 2022
The issue apparently stemmed from a way Firefox handles HTTP3 web requests. "It appears that a recent update to the browser triggers an infinite loop in the network thread that prevents any pages from loading, leaving the browser useless," The Independent reported this morning, linking to an arcane configuration fix to correct the issue.
I managed to confirm the fix worked with my own Firefox install, but fortunately you shouldn't need to jump through technical hoops anymore. Shortly after 8 a.m. eastern, Firefox's Twitter account said that simply restarting the browser should fix the issue now.
— Firefox ?? (@firefox)
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Jan 13, 2022
So when Montech casually released a $70 case last year with six included RGB fans, it caught our attention. Even with the rising shipping costs in late 2021, Montech didn't budge on that price, either. Naturally we had to get our hands on one. Not only because we love a great value buy, but because it's important to know if you're getting an extremely budget case with eye-popping extras, or a solid case with lackluster fans.
As you'll see in the video above, the answer lies a bit in the middle. Montech makes smart decisions about where to cut corners, even if some design choices are, uh, choices—like the daisy chain of proprietary molex connectors that power the fans and their RGB. The result is a pretty attractive mid-tower, one good enough to earn our 2021 Case of the Year award, even if it feels a bit like seeing fancy rims and spoilers on a Honda Civic with manual-crank windows.
Like a Civic, all the basics are firm
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Jan 13, 2022
Price When Reviewed1999
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Jan 13, 2022
The Smartest Streaming Bundle features year-long subscriptions to CuriosityStream (a popular source for documentary films and TV shows), SOMM TV, Tastemade, Topic, Nebula, and One Day University. Combined, these services will be sure to satisfy your thirst for knowledge no matter what kind of subject you are interested in. And since you'll be subscribing to them all for a full year you can save most of what you'd spend to subscribe to each one individually.
All you need to enjoy is a compatible Android or iOS device. And the price really can't be beaten, and especially not this week since a one-year subscription is being offered for just $39.99. That works out to just
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Jan 12, 2022
The 10GB of VRAM on the original RTX 3080 felt somewhat lacking right out of the gate, as games like Doom already chew up immense amounts of memory with every graphics knob cranked at 4K resolution. It probably wouldn't be something you'd have to worry about in most games soon, but the new version's 12GB of GDDR6X completely alleviates any potential concerns. Nvidia also expanded the memory bus width in this model from 320-bit to 384-bit, which helps boost overall memory bandwidth to 912GB/s, up from 760GB/s in the original.
Nvidia also tweaked the GPU configuration of the new 12GB RTX 3080, bumping the CUDA graphics core count from 8704 in the original to 8960 now. That, combined with the upgraded memory, should make the 12GB RTX 3080 just a wee bit faster than the original, though we would've preferred that Nvidia gave this card a slightly different name (like RTX 3080 Super) given the small-but-key GPU tweaks.
Don't bother trying to hunt down a Founders Edition version of this graphics card. Nvidia told PCWorld to contact board vendors (like EVGA, Asus, MSI, et cetera) for more product information—including pricing. Yes, Nvidia didn't even slap an
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Jan 12, 2022
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22533 is currently rolling out for the Dev Channel, which means the code isn't guaranteed to roll out to the stable channel of existing Windows 11 PCs. But given the level of distaste for the current flyout structure, there's a good chance it will.
What do we mean? If you use your laptop's hardware controls to adjust the brightness or volume, the control typically appears way up in the top left-hand corner of your screen, with some odd vertical slide bar controlling the experience. It doesn't look anything like Windows, really.
With the updated flyout experience, you'll see the new hardware indicators for brightness, volume, camera privacy, camera on/off, and airplane mode "align with Windows 11 design principles," according to the Windows blog post announcing the changes. So you'll see a transition between the old flyout, and the new, like so:
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Jan 12, 2022
Star Trek's fictional species of space vikings have technically had their own language since The Trouble with Tribbles way back in the original TV series, but the film series started expanding Klingon into a semi-functional language during the 1980s. With a combination of canon works and the help of enthusiastic fans, Klingon has become a somewhat "real" language over the few decades, complete with its own promotional institute and official translations of such works as Hamlet, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and A Christmas Carol.
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Jan 12, 2022
The Eufy Security Smart Lock Touch is a keyless door lock with several options for opening the door. You can open the door with a fingerprint scan, your smartphone via Bluetooth, a keypad, or a key. It's also IP65 weather resistant, which means it can withstand dust and rain.
Smart locks like this work by replacing the outside housing and the turnkey. The deadbolt itself, however, already has to be there.
In our review of the Smart Lock Touch, we gave it three out of five stars since the early model we tried had a buggy fingerprint reader. Anker's had some time to refine the product since June 2020 and the problems we found may have been ameliorated since. In fact, the high number of positive reviews on Amazon suggest the fingerprint reader has improved. Beyond that objection, we really liked the attractive design, the lock's configurability, and the included high security physical keys. Anker also stores your fingerprint data locally, so there's no worry about it heading up to the company's cloud.
If you're looking to better protect your home, this is a a solid option at a good price.
[Today's deal: Eufy Security Smart Lock Touch for $140 on Amazon.]
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Jan 12, 2022
We haven't reviewed this specific security camera, but we generally like Wyze gear. This smart device features a 1080p security camera with two-way audio for talking with anyone at the door. The built-in siren is controlled manually, which is probably a good thing to keep your neighbors friendly. It's also weatherproof with IP65 resistance for dust and rain, meaning you can use it indoors or out.
As with other Wyze cameras, this one is compatible with both Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control. It can also record video when it detects motion and sound. You can set it up to send security alerts to your phone when this happens.
If you need a new security camera, this is a very nice deal and right now it's available at an all-time low.
[Today's deal: Wyze Cam Spotlight for $36.60 on Amazon.]
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Jan 12, 2022
Nvidia was the first to step on Apple's sneakers when it announced its new GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPUs. Nvidia casually compared not just its newest GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU against Apple's fastest M1 Max, but also the far more pedestrian GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU using Autodesk Arnold, Blender, Chaos V-Ray, OctaneRender and Redshift.
As you can see from the comparison with the MacBook Pro 16's M1 Max, both the new GeForce flagship and the far blander RTX 3060 Laptop GPU simply crush the M1 Max. And by crush, we mean crush, because when a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU takes 10 minutes to perform a render and a GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU takes 22 minutes using Autodesk Arnold, versus 78 minutes for the M1 Max, it's a beat-down. That's an 87 percent decrease in rendering time for the RTX 3080 Ti vs. the M1 Max, and a 78 percent advantage for the RTX 3060. That's a shellacking no matter how you count it for working creators, but it should be pointed out that many of these apps have long been optimized for Nvidia's GPUs, giving GeForce a home field advantage.
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Jan 12, 2022
Microsoft's PowerToys debuted more than two years ago, evolving from a single utility to an even dozen Windows tools that perform specialized tasks to improve your life. Some can be extremely powerful! I will show you a number of ways I use Microsoft's PowerToys within Windows 10 and 11, as examples for you to accomplish more, too.
For those who want to dive into the code, you can visit PowerToys' GitHub page. But if you simply want to download and use PowerToys, there are two simple ways:
Download PowerToys from the Windows Store, orUse WinGet: Open PowerShell from the Start menu and type in or copy this code: winget install Microsoft.PowerToys -s winget Either way, you'll end up with a small utility that will live in your Taskbar. At any time, you can click on it to open its Settings menu and play around with the various tools. Each PowerToy offers a ton of configurability—that's the whole point!—but the basic functions are simple enough that you should be able to easily grok what each does. And each PowerToy has a master on-off switch, so you can disable each if you don't need to run it. (This isn't particularly necessary, bu
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Jan 12, 2022
But to what end? Do PC makers have anything new to say on sustainability, and is there really a difference between companies? I dove into a pile of CES announcements and annual corporate responsibility reports to find out.
[ Further reading: Best of CES 2022: The most intriguing and innovative PC hardware ]
Who had announcements at CES 2022?
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Jan 12, 2022
Probooking is a popular and highly-rated app that renders calendar management a cinch. It's ideal for scheduling all kinds of meetings and appointments, it syncs with your Google Calendar, and it automatically detects time zones too — thereby eliminating confusion over meeting start times. Plus it works with all modern browsers, so you can use it across platforms.
It's so effective, users have given it a glowing rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars on Appsumo. If your current day planner app isn't working out, then it's time to give Probooking a try. Lifetime subscriptions are on sale for $97 but, if you buy now and enter the code PROBOOK10 at checkout, you'll save an extra 10 percent and
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Jan 11, 2022
Micron said the teeny-tiny SSD (the smallest one above) measures 22mm x 30mm but is still capable of hitting 2TB of capacity and decent performance thanks to the company's new 176-layer QLC NAND. Micron calls its 176-layer ultra dense NAND an "unprecedented" development for PC storage for not only decreasing the physical space, but also upping the performance over its previous tiny 22x30mm SSD. The company said the new 2400 series SSD can deliver 33 percent higher I/O as well as 24 percent less latency compared to the previous Micron SSD built on its 96-layer technology.
Micron is actually offering the 176-layer QLC NAND in the less runty 22x42mm size as well as the familiar 22x80mm "gumstick SSD" size in capacities of 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. Performance of the 2TB versions (no matter the size) is rated at 4,500MBps sequential read and 4,000MBps write.
Power consumption is also impressive on the new QLC NAND, with active idle power of the highest capacity drive at under 150 milliwatts. It's enough that Micron said the drives are capable of meeting Intel's Evo (or "Project Athena") requirements that mandate at least nine hours of battery life on a laptop even with a high-resolution display.
So why buy this tiny SSD? For most people with a desktop it likely makes no sense, and most laptop owners will simply buy the standard 22x80mm drives. But as PC makers increasingly look to shrink laptop footprints without giving up storage performance and capacity, smaller 22x30mm SSDs may increase in popularity.
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Jan 11, 2022
PCI-SIG, the group that oversees the specification, said PCIe 6.0 will support 64 Giga Transfers per second, which equals about 256GB/s over a 16 lane configuration. To reach that blistering speed, PCIe 6.0 will use Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels, or PAM4, as well as updated packet management and flow control. Of course, like all versions of PCIe, it will be backwards compatible with previous versions.
Long-time chair and president of the PCI-SIG, Al Yanes, said the new standard will be initially aimed at data centers, but like previous versions of PCIe, will scale out to other uses over time. The spec has been brewing for some time but the final release means vendors can finally begin making hardware to support it.
Intel alder Lake are the only CPUs with pcie 5.0 support currently
Intel Core i5-12600K
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Jan 11, 2022
First, a bit of context. While it's true that random access memory and modern SSDs use similar types of storage, flash memory, they're still used in very different ways. Computer RAM requires constant electricity in order to maintain the data in its memory, and if the power goes out, that data disappears. So RAM is used for information that's needed quickly, but not on a permanent basis. Whereas the flash storage used for recording data — what's still colloquially called the "hard drive" even if that's no longer technically accurate — can keep data stored even when the power's off. The same is true for, say, an SD card or a USB storage drive. These two types of storage are called volatile, requiring power, and non-volatile, storing data even when no power is present.
While it's possible to use non-volatile storage for the same kind of tasks that RAM performs (things like scratch disks and Intel's Optane memory are good examples), the lower speed m
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Jan 11, 2022
AVG Internet Security is our favorite budget antivirus suite. We gave it four out of five stars in our most recent review. The suite has an easy-to-understand interface, and we really liked that it had a good number of extra features despite being a budget security suite.
In AV-Test's latest results from September and October 2021, AVG Internet Security scored 100 percent in both the 0-day and widespread malware tests. Some of the nicer features include webcam protection, remote access shield, and phishing protection. For scanning, it has a quick scan, as well as customized scans for specific files and folders, a boot-time scan, full scan, as well as a scan for USB drives.
This is a very nice antivirus suite, especially at this price, and it should run on most machines with very little performance impact.
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Jan 11, 2022
HP's clever idea might not wow you like CyberPower PC's wild "breathing" PC case, but this truly ingenious design could prove much more practical. HP has already patented what its calls a Cryro Chamber, a case rejiggering that effectively increases CPU cooling by moving the liquid cooler out of the PC's hot interior.
For the uninitiated, most gaming PCs today use all-in-one closed-loop coolers that are essentially scaled-down car radiators. They remove heat from the CPU and exhaust the waste heat out of the PC, passing it through a radiator. The problem is the general design of cases themselves: You have a rectangular box where the radiator is typically mounted in the back, top, or front of the system.
With systems that mount the cooler on top or in back, the heat is moved from the CPU through a water block and hoses to the radiator. The radiator, however, is still mounted inside of the PC, so even though the heat is expelled through the radiator, the radiator is first "cooled" by air that's already been heated up from the graphics card, voltage regulation modules, and other components inside of the PC.
You can see an example of this in HP's smaller Omen 25L desktop, which uses the conventional setup found in th
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Jan 11, 2022
This TV features Dolby Vision HDR with the expected 1,000 nits brightness and more than 132 local dimming zones. It's also packing Dolby Atmos audio, and Hisense says the set includes the ability to intelligently adjust picture and sound based on the genre of whatever it is you're watching.
Google's Android TV operating system provides easy access to your favorite streaming services. The 4K TV features Google Assistant built-in for voice control, and it has far-field microphones so that you can control the TV from afar. Hisense says the TV also integrates with Alexa for some controls.
Overall, this looks like an excellent TV at a solid price, and as long as you have the room for this monster it promises a serious upgrade to your Super Bowl Sunday.
[Today's deal: 55-inch Hisense HDR 4K Smart TV for $500 at Amazon.]
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Jan 11, 2022
The 10GB of VRAM on the original RTX 3080 felt somewhat lacking right out of the gate, as games like Doom already chew up immense amounts of memory with every graphics knob cranked at 4K resolution. It probably wouldn't be something you'd have to worry about in most games soon, but the new version's 12GB of GDDR6X completely alleviates any potential concerns. Nvidia also expanded the memory bus width in this model from 320-bit to 384-bit, which helps boost overall memory bandwidth to 912GB/s, up from 760GB/s in the original.
Nvidia also tweaked the GPU configuration of the new 12GB RTX 3080, bumping the CUDA graphics core count from 8704 in the original to 8960 now. That, combined with the upgraded memory, should make the 12GB RTX 3080 just a wee bit faster than the original, though we would've preferred that Nvidia gave this card a slightly different name (like RTX 3080 Super) given the small-but-key GPU tweaks.
Don't bother trying to hunt down a Founders Edition version of this graphics card. Nvidia told PCWorld to contact board vendors (like EVGA, Asus, MSI, et cetera) for more product information—including pricing. Yes, Nvidia didn't even slap an
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Jan 08, 2022
Enpass is a browser app that simplifies security while simultaneously rendering your accounts practically unbreakable. It actually comes up with passwords on your behalf, stores them on your local device so you'll always have them on hand, and then automatically enters them when you log into your accounts.
That means you'll never again waste time trying to remember a password you haven't used in months, so you also won't have to deal with the frustration of getting accidentally locked out. It also means that your security will be unsurpassed since Enpass encrypts everything and doesn't store any of your data on their own servers.
It's a really effective product with great reviews and user ratings to back it up, such as these from Trustpilot and G2
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Jan 08, 2022
Price When Reviewed$1399 Starter Kit| $1749 Streamer Plus Kit | $2799 Streamer Pro Kit
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Jan 08, 2022
We reviewed this laptop in an upgraded configuration with the same Ryzen 7 processor, but with a GeForce RTX 3070 instead of a 3060 and with a QHD display instead of 1080p. We gave that version four out of five stars, calling it "outstanding value among midrange gaming laptops."
With this laptop's RTX 3060 GPU, it should give you no-compromises 1080p gaming in most games. If you want to put this clamshell on a secondary monitor, you could even try 1440p, though that will require some compromises such as reducing the graphics quality.
This laptop is rocking a 17.3-inch 144Hz IPS display and a Ryzen 7 5800H processor, which is a Zen 3 CPU with eight cores and sixteen threads and a boost to 4.4GHz. For RAM and storage, you get 16GB of memory and a 1TB NVMe SSD. This laptop also comes with Wi
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Jan 08, 2022
Plugging in a CM4 board to the Interceptor adds a ton of ports to the tiny machine: four RJ45 Ethernet ports, five standard SATA ports (for hard drives, SSDs, or external media), two USB 2.0 ports, and two full-sized HDMI ports. Other expansion options include a standard set of case controller pins and four cooling fans, plus a 9-pin header for even more USB expansion. Power comes from a standard ATX motherboard power connector, compatible with that dusty power supply you haven't used since the Pentium 4 was top-of-the-line.
As noted by Tom's Hardware, the Interceptor and its accompanying OS image from Axzez is designed primarily for network-attached storage projects. But with so many expansion options, there are certainly other ways you could apply the hardware. The only real downer is the reliance on relatively ancient USB 2.0 ports, especially when the full-sized Raspberry Pi 4 can handle USB 3.0. So if you're using this thing for storage, make sure to lean heavily on those SATA ports.
The Interceptor is available for $99
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Jan 08, 2022
HardwareLuxx.de editor Andreas Schilling spotted the update from Intel, which lists games affected in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. While Denuvo isn't mentioned
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