Tag: intel

Microsoft Targets The iMac With New All-In-One Surface PCs, Reports Say

New submitter Miche67 writes: Two reports say Microsoft is working on an all-in-one (AIO) PC under the Surface brand. If that’s true, it would put it in competition with HP and Dell, which have their own AIO lines, as well as put it in competition with Apple’s iMac. Network World reports: “Both DigiTimes and Windows Central picked up on the story, each citing their own sources. DigiTimes, a Taiwan-based publication with connections to the PC industry over there (but also a very mixed record of accuracy) said the new devices would come in the third quarter of this year. Windows Central, which is a little better when it comes to rumors, said it did not have a solid release date.” Business Insider was able to find a patent filing by Microsoft for a desktop PC that supports the rumored AIO design. “The device is evidently targeting a ‘modern and elegant’ design and is meant to be something akin to a premium appliance or furniture, ” Windows Central wrote. Intel’s release date of the new Kaby Lake line of processors around Q3 of this year complicates things. While Kaby Lake is said to be more mobile-friendly with less power consumption and heat, they would make for a good choice for an AIO machine. However, it would be pushing it for Microsoft to release its AIO machines in the same quarter that Kaby Lake is due. On a semi-related note, a programmer at Building 88 recently confirmed that Microsoft will release Surface 5 devices next year powered by Kaby Lake processors. He posted pictures of four device holders marked “2017” on his Twitter account. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Microsoft Targets The iMac With New All-In-One Surface PCs, Reports Say

ASUS’ ZenBook 3 is thinner, lighter and faster than the MacBook

How much more can ASUS shave off of the ZenBook, its flagship ultraportable? Apparently, quite a bit. The company’s new ZenBook 3, announced today at Computex, clocks in at just 2 pounds and 11.9mm (0.46-inches) thick. In comparison, the previous ZenBook UX305 weighed 2.64 pounds and was 12.9mm thick (0.51-inches). Sure, those might just seem like incremental improvements, but they’re remarkable when you consider just how insanely thin and light the previous model was. Most impressively? The ZenBook 3 just barely edges out Apple’s svelte MacBook , which weighs 2.03lbs and is 13.2mm (0.52-inches) thick, all the while packing in a larger 12.5-inch display. ASUS attributes the ZenBook 3’s weight loss to a new “aerospace-grade aluminum alloy, ” which it says is 40 percent stronger than what’s typically used in laptops. Honestly, that just sounds like marketing fluff, but there must be something special about the laptop’s new material to lose 0.6 pounds from the last gen. ASUS is still sticking with its “spun metal” style, so hopefully you’re a fan of the concentric metallic rings on its cases. It’ll be available in “Quartz Grey, ” “Royal Blue, ” and the seemingly ubiquitous “Rose Gold.” Unlike the MacBook, the ZenBook 3 won’t be under-powered. At the top end, you’ll be able to configure it with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe SSD (which should be faster than a typical SATA drive). The display is covered in Gorilla Glass 4, and it looks like Asus was also able to slim down the bezel (now it covers 82 percent of the laptop’s front). The ZenBook 3 packs in a Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port for charging (which it says can juice the laptop’s battery up to 60 percent in 49 minutes), and it should last around 9 hours of typical battery life. As for cooling, Asus says it’s developed the “world’s thinnest” fan at just 3mm. There’s also a built-in fingerprint sensor with Windows Hello support. The ZenBook 3 will start at $999 with a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. Stepping up, you can get it with a 512GB SSD for $1, 499, and you can add a Core i7 processor, 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM for $1, 999. ASUS isn’t talking about availability details yet. We’ll definitely be paying attention to this ultraportable. Check back soon for hands-on impressions of the ZenBook 3. Developing…

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ASUS’ ZenBook 3 is thinner, lighter and faster than the MacBook

Intel’s quad-core “Skull Canyon” NUC is a workstation for the size-obsessed

Andrew Cunningham Intel’s quad-core “Skull Canyon” NUC. 10 more images in gallery Every year when Intel refreshes its NUC mini PCs, it releases more models meant to cover a wider range of needs. There are cheap fanless NUCs, NUCs that can fit in full-size hard drives, and mainstream NUCs that are essentially little Ultrabooks inside boxes. This year is the first where Intel has tried to release a quad-core workstation-class NUC itself instead of leaving that field to OEM partners . This PC, also known as “Skull Canyon” because of Intel’s history of using skulls to promote performance-focused products, is quite a bit different from the other NUCs. It needs more space for cooling, so it’s around twice as wide as standard NUCs (though it’s a little shorter). But with that increased size comes a lot more flexibility and performance. Pricing and building Like other NUCs, the Skull Canyon version is sold as a “PC kit,” which means you have to add your own RAM, SSD, and operating system before you can actually use the thing. Assuming you want to equip it with fast PCI Express SSDs and a healthy amount of RAM, you’ll end up spending near $1,000—around $650 for the NUC itself, another $180 or so for a 256GB Samsung 950, $60-ish for 16GB of DDR4 RAM (Skylake supports up to 64GB), and $100 for your Windows 10 license if that’s the operating system you prefer to use. Read 21 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Intel’s quad-core “Skull Canyon” NUC is a workstation for the size-obsessed

Leaked image purportedly shows hand-off feature in Windows 10

Even before Windows 10 was released we heard about its first major update, codenamed ” Redstone .”‘ Today, a purported screenshot from a recent Redstone build suggests that Windows users will finally get a feature that OS X has enjoyed for two years now: the ability to transfer work progress from a mobile device to a computer or vice versa. According to a believable-looking screenshot posted on Reddit, nestled in the build’s settings is a specific toggle for users to “Let apps on your other devices launch apps and continue experiences” on your PC via Bluetooth. With this, you could finish emails or tasks on your PC that you started on your phone or device. This possible hand-off feature isn’t a total surprise: Microsoft introduced Project Rome back at its Build developer conference earlier this month, with early demos hinting that the tech will work much the same way as Apple Handoff. But Rome is expected to differ in several ways, like transferring data between a device and computer via WiFi in addition to Bluetooth. Like the Redstone screenshot above, Rome aims to “connect experiences, ” running apps on both devices that trigger certain activities: for example , posting a trivia question on your device after a certain point watching a film on your PC. Source: MS Power User

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Leaked image purportedly shows hand-off feature in Windows 10

Solar Impulse 2 completes its flight across the Pacific

After months of delays and days of flying , Solar Impulse 2 has finished crossing the Pacific . The sunlight-powered aircraft arrived in San Francisco Bay on the night of April 23rd, with an expected touchdown at Moffett Field (as of this writing) around 3AM Eastern on the 24th. This isn’t the toughest stint to date (that honor goes to the 5, 061-mile trip from Japan to Hawaii), but it was no mean feat. Pilot Bertrand Piccard had to travel 2, 717 miles between Hawaii and San Francisco, with only short naps allowed during the 3-day expedition. As daunting as this and the eight previous legs of the trip have been, the tough part isn’t over yet. While flying over the US will be a relative cakewalk (Solar Impulse 2 should reach New York by early June), the aircraft will then have to travel 3, 566 miles to Europe. That’s a straight 5 days in the air, folks. After that, the plane will complete its around-the-world mission by heading to Abu Dhabi. This hasn’t been the quickest adventure given that the aircraft took off back in March 2015. However, speed isn’t really the point. Solar Impulse 2 and its namesake technology are meant to show that green energy can accomplish as spectacular a feat as flying across the planet. If the flight encourages anyone to embrace clean power, it accomplishes its goal. Source: Solar Impulse , YouTube

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Solar Impulse 2 completes its flight across the Pacific

Intel’s Apollo Lake chips promise slimmer, beefier budget PCs

Intel’s Atom-based processors have gotten much better at delivering a lot of bang for the buck , but there’s still little doubt that you’re using a low-cost system. PCs like HP’s Stream series still tend to be thick, carry a meager amount of RAM and rule out intensive tasks like 4K video. You might not have to make quite so many sacrifices going forward, though: Intel has offered a peek at Apollo Lake, a next-generation system-on-a-chip that promises to inject some life into the budget category. It’s not only more compact, but efficient enough that PC makers can afford to slim things down without as many compromises — they can use smaller batteries without hurting battery life, for instance. The more inclusive design (should also save several dollars (around $5-7) in parts that can be rolled into more RAM, better displays and similar upgrades. There’s more than size and cost savings, of course. Apollo Lake borrows the graphics technology from Intel’s Skylake architecture, which brings full hardware-based 4K video playback and an overall boost to visual performance. It’ll also help drag lower-cost computers into the modern era with richer support for technologies like USB-C . Intel isn’t yet revealing clock speeds, pricing and a few other key details for its new platform, but it’s promising Celeron- and Pentium-branded processors in the second half of 2016. They won’t make you forget about higher-end Core CPUs when they ship, but they might just raise the bar for computing — that starter laptop or tablet won’t be as likely to choke on basic duties. Via: AnandTech Source: Intel

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Intel’s Apollo Lake chips promise slimmer, beefier budget PCs

Moore’s Law Stutters as Intel Switches From 2-Step to 3-Step Chip Cycle

Intel has announced that it’s moving away from its current “tick-tock” chip production cycle and instead shifting to a three-step development process that will “lengthen the amount of time [available to] utilize… process technologies.” Read more…

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Moore’s Law Stutters as Intel Switches From 2-Step to 3-Step Chip Cycle

Heat-Assisted Data Storage Could Squeeze 10 Times More Data on a Drive

Whether it’s on your laptop or in a data canter, extra storage is always welcome. Now, it’s been shown that heat-assisted magnetic storage could let us squeeze over ten times more data into the same volume. Read more…

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Heat-Assisted Data Storage Could Squeeze 10 Times More Data on a Drive

Razer’s updated Blade gaming laptop has a slimmed-down design

The gaming show GDC has just begun, and Razer used the opportunity to unveil the fifth generation of its popular Blade gaming laptop . The new edition will offer significant performance improvements over its predecessor from 2014, with fresh specs that include an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a GeForce GTX 970M GPU powered by 6GB of video memory, 802.11 AC WiFI and a PCIe solid-state drive. Additionally, the machine has a 3, 200 x 1, 800 QHD+ display and Chroma backlit keyboard, with a slimmed-down CNC-milled aluminum case that’s less than three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs just 4.25 pounds. In addition, with the release of the its Blade Stealth Ultrabook, which we recently reviewed, Razer is dropping the price on the Blade from $2, 400 to $2, 000 for the 256GB capacity (it’ll be $2, 200 if you want a 512GB drive). What’s more, the Blade will be compatible with Razer’s new “Core” external GPU dock as well, though you won’t get the $100 discount offered with the Stealth. You can pre-order the Blade from Razer’s website starting today. It will begin shipping in April.

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Razer’s updated Blade gaming laptop has a slimmed-down design

Intel and Micron Partnership Soon To Launch 10TB SSD For Enterprise Market

MojoKid writes: Intel and Micron have been tag-teaming various storage and memory technologies and word on the web is that the fruits of that partnership is a 10-terebyte SSD that’s right around the corner. The largest SSD in Intel’s stable at the moment is 4TB, which itself is pretty large. However, both Micron and Intel are of the opinion that typical planar NAND flash memory has gone about as far as it can go, and that 3D stacked Flash memory is the future. They’ve also developed a “floating gate cell” design – a first for 3D stacked memory – resulting in 256Gb multi-level cell (MLC) and 384Gb triple-level cell (TLC) die that fit inside of a standard package. The two companies are targeting gumstick-sized SSDs reaching 3.5TB and regular 2.5-inch SSDs hitting (and even surpassing) 10TB. Apparently that’s about to become a reality. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel and Micron Partnership Soon To Launch 10TB SSD For Enterprise Market