Dell’s XPS 13 ultrabook just received a significant performance upgrade and enhanced asthetics.

The new XPS 13 now uses Intel’s 8th gen Quad-core i5-8250 and i7-8550 CPUs. The CPUs have a baseline TDP of 15W, but can be configured for to up to 25W. Dell states that the new cooling solution in the new XPS 13 can handle up to 27W, so it’s likely that the CPUs had their TDPs increased accordingly. Despite the robust cooling, the weight of the is kept at  just 2.67 lbs.

The Dell XPS packs a display that guarantees a peak brightness of 400nits. It covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 72% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. Full HD and 4K resolution are [...]

Microsoft announced a new Surface Pro at its ShangHai event today. While the new Surface Pro is not a full-blown iteration of the Surface Pro 4, it does update it with some much-needed improvements and a few new features.

Model Microsoft Surface Pro Colors Platinum Material Magnesium Alloy Processor Intel 7th Gen Core m3, i5, i7 Graphics Intel HD Graphics 615 (m3) Intel HD Graphics 620 (i5) Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (i7) Memory 4GB, 8GB, 16GB DDR4 Display 12.3″ 2,736 x 1,824p PixelSense display Cooling Passive (m3, 15) Active (i7) Weight m3: 1.69 lbs (766 g) i5: 1.73 lbs (786 g) i7: 1.73 lbs (786 g) Price Starting at $799.99

The new [...]

Dell XPS 15 | Image Source: Dell

Digitimes reports that the prices of retail laptops are expected to increase by 5% to 15% in 2Q2017 to offset the rising cost of components.

Components like DRAM, SSDs, and displays are experiencing a shortage due to a shift in manufacturing. Many component manufacturers are prioritizing production for the lucrative smartphone market which has unfortunately left a shortage of PC components.

The shortage has already began affecting both the DRAM and NAND markets last year. Mainstream SSDs are expected to increase by 10% due to the NAND shortage and PC vendors have already begun [...]

Several years ago, Razer launched their 17″ Razer Blade gaming laptop which was wildly successful as it was the first to to integrate high performance components into a relatively thin and light design. Since then, Razer has introduced several new models of the Blade including the popular 14″ Razer Blade along with the 12.5″ Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook.

With all the new product introductions, the 17″ Razer Blade hasn’t seen much love lately, until now. According to a recent announcement, Razer announced a complete redesign of the 17″ Razer Blade which will now be called the 17″ Razer Blade Pro. Although the exterior of the [...]

 

Kicking off PAX West 2016, Gaming hardware maker Razer recently announced some updates to the Blade Gaming Laptop and the Blade Stealth Ultrabook.

 

Razer Blade 14″

As one of the most popular gaming notebooks on the market, the 14″ Razer Blade has recently been updated to take advantage of Nvidia’s latest GeForce GTX 1060 graphics. According to Razer, the new Pascal architecture based GTX 1060 graphics card will provide up to a 40% increase in performance compared to last generation graphics.

In addition to the new GTX 1060 graphics solution, the 14″ Razer Blade still offers all the features that made it [...]

HP’s new Spectre laptop is not only the thinnest laptop on the market, but quite possibly the sexiest too.

As a new premium product to the HP’s Spectre line, the HP Spectre shows off its luxury heritage to the fullest. Meticulously crafted from aluminium and carbon fibre in a two-tone accent, the Spectre is just 10.4mm thick and weighs 2.45lbs. The corning gorilla glass screen and the unique piston hinge mend the pieces together in a spectacular fashion.

Unlike some competitor’s products, the Spectre does not sacrifice on the number of ports. In fact, the Spectre comes with three USB Type-C ports, two of which are compatible with [...]

In an incredible move, AMD has announced its support for External GPU via Thunderbolt 3 graphic docks.

External graphics docks aim to bring huge boosts in gaming performance to power-sipping ultrabooks and notebooks. Leveraging a fully-fledged desktop graphics card docked in a thunderbolt enclosure, users can easily convert their workstations into a gaming rig at the plug of a cable. This is thanks to both Intel giving the nod to external graphics with the release of Thunderbolt 3 and AMD’s efforts in developing the necessary firmware and drivers.

The advantages are obvious. External graphics card offers the best flexibility for work and play. Once refined, mobile [...]

Razer has added a new model to its Razer Blade gaming laptop line in the form of an ultrabook and a graphics expansion dock.

The Razer Blade Stealth is the smallest of the Razer Blade series. With a weight of 2.75 lbs, it further emphasizes power in mobility.  The Razer Blade Stealth ultrabook comes equipped with an Intel Core i7-6500U CPU with Intel HD 520 integrated graphics and 8GB of DDR3 RAM. It can be configured with up to a 512GB PCIe SSD, albeit this option is only available on the model with the UHD display. Networking is handled with a wireless AC network card with Bluetooth 4.1. The Razer Blade Stealth is also the world’s first ultrabook with per-key RGB [...]

October 6 was a big day for Microsoft. In New York, the software giant launched perhaps the biggest product launch event it had in recent memory.

Surface Book

The Surface Book is Microsoft’s latest premium 2-in-1 device and its features don’t disappoint. It comes with a 13.5″ screen with a whopping resolution of 3000p x 2000p. According to Microsoft’s press release, the optically bonded screen has a fineness comparable to that of printed paper. The screen, or the Clipboard, can be detached from the keyboard base to be used independently as a tablet. It can also be connected in reverse, turning the unit into a canvas. The Surface Book does away [...]

Things We Thought We Didn’t Need

As a hardware reviewer, there comes a time when the “wow, I didn’t know I needed this” epiphany hits. Generally we stick with reviewing certain types of hardware that we review often and we tend to forget about some of the smaller, essential products until they are presented right before us.

Case in point. VisionTek’s new Charge & Sync USB 3.0 Seven Port Hub.

My Cicero four-port USB 2.0 hub lasted well over a decade and back when I bought it, the USB 2.0/1.1 conversion was a brand-new concept. When Windows 7 overtook XP, I thought my now driverless hub would need to be retired, but instead, it has far outlived its useful [...]