Techreport

HP has an eye on the professional crowd this week with a set of new devices in its EliteBook line. The company has a pair of new business-focused laptops with optional ultra-bright 4K screens, and an stylish, upgradeable AIO machine with a pop-up camera. ...Read more...

Raja Koduri, the senior vice president and chief architect of AMD's Radeon Technologies Group, is taking an extended leave of absence from the company. As first reported by Fudzilla and confirmed in a follow-up by PC Perspective, Koduri will be taking the majority of the fourth quarter of 2017 off "to spend time with [his] family." According to the internal email that PC Perspective obtained, Koduri will begin his leave on September 25 and return sometime in December. AMD CEO Lisa Su will be taking over the captain's chair in Koduri's stead. We've asked AMD for comment and we'll update this article if we hear back.In his email, Koduri says he "used up a lot of family credits" in bringing Vega to market , that he had been "contemplating [this leave] for a while now," and notes that "there was never a good time to do this." The fourth quarter of 2017 will apparently be a quiet one for the Radeon Technologies ...Read more...

Toshiba has announced that it's entering negotiations with a bidding group led by American investment capital company Bain Capital to purchase its silicon manufacturing business over objections from manufacturing partner Western Digital. Bain's group also includes South Korean chip manufacturer SK Hynix and a pair of investment groups backed by the Japanese government. The group's offer is reportedly worth ¥2.4 trillion (about $22 billion), including ¥200 billion ($1.8 billion) earmarked for infrastructure. Toshiba had previously chosen a Bain-led group of investors in June before lawsuits from WD apparently spoiled the deal. ...Read more...

I remember watching Dick Tracy cartoons as a kid, and being totally in love with the two-way wrist communicator the detective used. Apple has now made that possibility a reality with its new Apple Watch Series 3, which comes with built-in cellular connectivity, a first for the product line. ...Read more...

I bet you have no idea what Apple released in its latest keynote today. That's right, a new pair of handsets, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Although they slot in under the mighty iPhone X, the sequels to last year's iPhone 7 models bring with them a cadre of enhancements including a new SoC, a refreshed camera setup, and wireless charging. ...Read more...

As the leaks suggested it would, Apple is introducing a major leap forward for the iPhone to mark its tenth anniversary. The iPhone X (say iPhone 10) ditches the iPhone's trademark bezels and home button for a whole new way of interacting with iOS. ...Read more...

Sour about my choice? It's also National Report Medicare Fraud Day.

Most viewers tuned into Apple's event at the Steve Jobs Theater inside the company's new headquarters looking for information about the latest iPhone, or perhaps the third version of the Apple Watch. The fruit-flavored computer company showed off the Apple TV 4K between those products this morning. As one might expect from a streaming box in 2017, most of the attention was on the new device's ability to play back 4K video with high dynamic range color (HDR). ...Read more...

Back at Computex in June, we got a brief look at Cooler Master's MasterCase H500P case, the apparent revival of the company's HAF line of high-airflow cases. A product page for the case has now popped up on Newegg. The H500P is highlighted by the pair of enormous 200-mm, RGB LED-illuminated fans stuffed behind an acrylic front panel with ventilation along its sides. ...Read more...

Are you boredly browsing the web at work? Do you feel fatigued from all of the tasks you've yet to tackle? I know what you need, gerbils. You need to spend some money! We've dug through the deals on offer at our favorite e-tailers to produce a few fairly fine Tuesday deals. Today, we're offering up a pair of motherboards, an HP ultrabook, and a nice price on an Xbox One S with an accompanying display. ...Read more...

AMD's Ryzen Threadripper brought up to 16 cores and 32 threads to the PC party. Intel's Skylake-X Core X CPUs have up to 18 cores and 36 threads in their back pocket. For some sensitive workloads, even the might of the latest high-end desktop chips is woefully insufficient. Lenovo's ThinkStation P720 and ThinkStation P920 pack dual Xeon Bronze, Gold, or Platinum processors for those in need of serious horsepower.The machines offer support for six channels of ECC DDR4 memory along with multiple M.2 and PCIe slots for adding fast storage and workstation graphics cards. Each of the LGA 3647 sockets can ensconse a CPU with up ...Read more...

The only way a monitor can provide more immersion than an ultrawide panel is if it's ultrawide and really big. Philips' 492P8 is wider-than-ultrawide, and its 49" diagonal measurement is sure to warp the sense of scale in any room. Anandtech took a minute to check out the monitor at the IFA show that just wrapped up in Berlin. ...Read more...

The rumor mongers over at Videocardz have gotten a hold of benchmark figures for Intel's upcoming eighth-generation Core processors. Previous rounds of the rumor mill have reported that Intel will formally announce eighth-gen desktop chips on October 5. Numerous sources have claimed that the next-gen chips will have increased core and/or thread counts compared to the Kaby Lake chips on shelves now. ...Read more...

The idea of taking what's essentially laptop hardware and packing it into ridiculously tiny enclosures didn't start with Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) mini-PCs, but the series has been one of the most successful examples of that concept. Intel sells NUCs to end users, but it also offers some embedded models in kit form, as well as in board-only format. The company just released six new "Dawson Canyon" models packing Kaby Lake CPUs.

The American smartphone market is dominated by Apple and Samsung, but Asus is hoping the two giants have left some room in the low end for its latest ZenFone 4 Max handset. The company is hoping a flagship-style dual main camera setup, a giant internal battery, and an affordable price are enough to lure buyers away from more established players. ...Read more...

There aren't that many companies making chips to begin with these days, and you can count the number of firms on the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing on one hand. Samsung is one of those, and it seems the company intends to maintain contention for the top spot. The largest of the chaebols just announced that it has a new "11-nm" manufacturing process called 11LPP in the works. Looking further ahead, Samsung also announced that its work with EUV lithography is on track for production readiness.For the crowd focused on the latest and greatest, the company says its 7-nm process with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) is on schedule for the second half of 2018. The company claims it's produced "close to 200,000 wafers" using EUV since 2014. As another example of its preparations for EUV insertion, Samsung says it has been able to push yields up to ...Read more...

AMD's Ryzen Threadripper processors come with a handy adapter ring for common Asetek liquid coolers, but early testing of dedicated heatsinks for those CPUs suggest that one really wants a full-coverage cold plate to extract the most performance from the chips. Newegg is making that task easier today with a combo deal on a motherboard we like and an interesting pair of full-coverage liquid coolers for AMD's biggest, baddest CPUs. ...Read more...

G.Skill has announced that it's readying up DDR4 memory kits capable of reaching 4600 MT/s transfer rates. The Trident Z Series DDR4-4600MHz kits will include a pair of 8 GB modules with CL19-23-23-43 timings. The company says the modules in the kits are built using hand-picked Samsung B-die integrated circuit components. ...Read more...

If the rumors about widespread increases in core counts in Intel's eighth-generation Core processors turn out to be correct, the launch of the new chips figures to be one of the company's most exciting launches in several years. Now, Finnish technology website iO-Tech claims to have gotten its hands on a price list for the three models most eagerly anticipated among enthusiasts: the four-core, four-thread Core i3-8350K, the six-core, six-thread Core i5-8600K, and the range-topping six-core, 12-thread Core i7-8700K. Furthermore, the site says that the new chips will be available worldwide on October 5. ...Read more...

USA credit-reporting bureau Equifax has been hacked. The breach allowed hackers to access the personal information of "approximately 143 million" Americans, or about 44% of the populace. According to the company, names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and some driver's license numbers were exposed by the attack. Other, much smaller leaks include the credit card numbers for about 209,000 people and credit dispute documents for about 182,000 people. The information leaked this way could allow criminals to apply for fraudulent credit accounts or engage in other sensitive activities that rely on Social Security numbers for personal identification.Equifax was aware of this catastrophic exposure of personal information July 29, but sat on news of the hack until it had full details of the breadth of the intrusion. The company has set up an information portal for the breach so that Americans can check whether their personal data has been affected by the attack, and it's offering one year of its TrustedID Premier service to those who ...Read more...

ASRock's latest motherboard was designed not only for overclockers, but by one as well—Taiwanese clock-wranger Nick Shih. If you're looking to overclock your new Intel Core X-series processor, the company's X299 OC Formula motherboard might be for you. The board is compatible with Intel's Core X LGA 2066 processors and supports quad-channel DDR4 memory that can be overclocked to 4600 MT/s. The loadout of four DIMM slots instead of eight allows for shorter trace lengths and should help overclocking stability. ...Read more...

As we close the curtains on the first week of September, AMD delivers the month's first Radeon driver update. The Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.9.1 seems to exclusively be a bugfix release, as the company isn't trumpeting support for any new game releases or hardware. Instead, the fixed issues list counts down eight smushed bugs. ...Read more...

As we close the curtains on the first week of September, AMD delivers the month's first Radeon driver update. Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.9.1 seems to exclusively be a bugfix release, as the company isn't trumpeting support for any new game releases or hardware features. Instead, the fixed issues list counts down eight smushed bugs. ...Read more...

I was pretty impressed by Zotac's Zbox Magnus EN1070. Zotac piled a lot of graphics horsepower into a package that barely outsizes a Nintendo Wii. Still, the EN1070 had its limitations. Its low-power Core i5-6400T CPU lacked single-threaded grunt, and its 180W power adapter wasn't really up to the task of letting the mobile GeForce GTX 1070 inside spread its wings. None of that should be a problem for the current-generation Zbox Magnus EN1080K that we have on loan from a friend of the site.

We wrote a week ago about some high-profile design wins for AMD's Pro business-focused processors, including new Lenovo ThinkPads based on the AMD Pro versions of the silicon designer's Bristol Ridge APUs. We now have a lot more information about Lenovo's ThinkPad A275 and ThinkPad A475 laptops. As a refresher, Bristol Ridge is AMD's most recent spin on its construction-core architecture, now boasting support for DDR4 memory but still built using GlobalFoundries' 28-nm process technology. ...Read more...

Yeah, yeah, I know that's root beer...

Some people have an obsessive need for all of their hardware to match aesthetically. Got the latest ROG motherboard? Gotta have the top-tier ROG graphics card, monitor, soundcard, and router. Asus introduced the Republic of Gamers Horus GK2000 keyboard early last year, but—shame of shames—its LED lighting was single-color. The company has rectified this grave error, and now offers a version of the Horus GK2000 with RGB LED backlighting. ...Read more...

It's Thursday deal time at The Tech Report again, and we've got a bumper crop for you on this day. We've got a pair of displays, a TR Editor's Choice processor, and a sweet deal on the Xbox One wireless controller. ...Read more...

Zotac has made a name for itself over the years by packing copious amounts of computing power into ever-shrinking form factors. We were impressed with the Zbox Magnus EN1070 and have an even-faster Zbox Magnus EN1080K in the TR labs right now. The company is back at it again with two new machines. The Zbox PI225 has enough performance for everyday tasks, and it's stuffed into a fanless package roughly the size of a SATA SSD. Meanwhile, the Zbox MI553 brings an Intel Core i5-7300HQ quad-core processor and next-generation display and peripheral connectivity to the party. ...Read more...

If you're of a mind to build yourself a hot new Ryzen-based gaming rig but need to have Wi-Fi as a connectivity option, maybe check out MSI's new X370 Gaming M7 ACK. This is a no-compromises motherboard for Socket AM4 CPUs that includes an expansion card bearing Killer's Wireless-AC 1535 2x2 wireless adapter. ...Read more...

We talk up a couple metric tons of gaming hardware every week, but there's a fair chance that you don't really care for either high or variable refresh rates. Perhaps all you want is a display with a nice combo of size and resolution, along with excellent color reproduction. Meet the Philips 276E8FJAB monitor, a fresh arrival on U.S. shores. ...Read more...

If for whatever reason you need a few thousand Skylake CPUs, you better get your order in soon. Intel just issued a Product Change Notification (PCN) that lays out the schedule for the discontinuance of four sixth-generation CPUs: the Core i3-6098P, Core i5-6402P, Core i5-6600K, and Core i7-6700K. The document says that Intel started the process of discontinuing these CPUs yesterday, and that it will be taking the last orders for these chips by March 30 of 2018. ...Read more...

AMD's Bristol Ridge AM4 APUs have been out in the wild for almost a year now. The chips were sold to AMD's manufacturing partners months before Ryzen silicon hit the market. System builders looking to put together a system around an AM4 motherboard without buying a discrete graphics card have been out of luck until today. Six different APUs have now popped up on Newegg, ranging from the two-core 3.0 GHz A6-9500E to the four-core 3.8 GHz A12-9800. There's also a single Athlon model based on the same die but with the graphics component disabled: the X4 950. ...Read more...

These days, the topic of pointing devices is dominated by mice, trackpads, and touch displays. But decades ago, the trackball was the clear number two behind the still-popular rodent. Logitech thinks there are enough thumb-balling die-hards around to justify creating the MX Ergo, a trackball complement to its MX Master 2S and MX Anywhere 2S laser mice. The MX Ergo is the company's first new trackball design since the release of the M570 wireless unit all the way back in 2010. ...Read more...

Folks who follow technology rumors will no doubt be aware already that VideoCardz covers more than just, uh, video cards. Inveterate leaker and site owner WhyCry just posted up some purported pictures of six upcoming ASRock motherboards bearing the yet-to-be-announced Intel Z370 chipset. WhyCry's info is usually pretty reliable, but this is still rumor content, so take it with the usual saline supplement.

In one promotional picture for MSI's latest gaming laptop, the GT75VR Titan, you can see a single hand holding up the beastly thing. Given that the "laptop" weighs in at a full 10 pounds (4.5 kg), that's absurd. That sets the tone for the entire machine. This beastly piece of hardware is ridiculous, and I kind of want one. ...Read more...

Champion overclocker Der8auer is up to his usual shenanigans. Over on Facebook, he's posted up a racy topless image of what he says is a Core i9-7920X. This 12-core CPU shares the same die with the rest of the top tier of Skylake-X CPUs that goes up to 18 cores. These CPUs have yet to hit store shelves, and the man has already popped the lid on one of them to reveal the mirror-smooth silicon beneath.

Champion overclocker Der8auer is up to his usual shenanigans. Over on Facebook, he's posted up a racy topless image of what he says is a Core i9-7920X. This 12-core CPU shares the same die with the rest of the top tier of Skylake-X CPUs that goes up to 18 cores. These CPUs have hit store shelves just recently, and the man has already popped the lid on one of them to reveal the mirror-smooth silicon beneath.

Some very active typists swear by split-style keyboards for maintaining posture and reducing the impact of repetitive stress. These folks have mostly been left out of the conversation when it comes to keyboards crammed with clicky switches, though. The barren harvest of split boards with Cherry MX switches ends now that Kinesis' Freestyle Edge keyboard is available for preorder. The standard tenkeyless layout has 87 keys, though this board's eight macro keys swell the total to 95. The company's Kickstarter campaign from March generated enough interest to get the Freestyle Edge a fixed spot in the company's lineup. ...Read more...

A local place makes a 29" pizza. This is how I have to transport it.

My buddies give me no end of grief about the fact that I love to shop. I don't get to do it as much as I'd like, but as a gamer, it's easy to translate the hunt for deals into a quest for value. We've gone on just such a quest today, and we've pulled out a few fantastic finds for you to consider on this lovely Tuesday. ...Read more...

We techies tend to get excited about displays touting super-high refresh rates, but the market for thin, stylish panels with lots of pixels is quite a bit larger. Asus is courting the fashion-forward crowd with its Designo Curve MX32VQ and MX38VC monitors. Both models have curved panels, a Qi wireless charger in the stand, and integrated Harman Kardon-designed speakers with Bluetooth capability. That should let space-starved buyers charge their smartphones on the display while they play music on its speakers. The base also includes color-shifting lighting that reacts to the sound output. ...Read more...

How was your Labor Day, gerbils? I spent the entire day in front of my PC enjoying my shiny new MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X. It burns through the games I play in 4K with ease, so maybe it's time for me to start looking at 8K monitors. There's Dell's UP3218K, of course, but soon it won't be the only offer in town. Philips just let the world know of the 328P8K professional IPS monitor with a 7680x4320 resolution. This bad boy spreads its 33 million pixels across a 32" diagonal. ...Read more...

Nvidia's board partners have been jockeying to see who can make the smallest GeForce GTX 1080 for some time now, and Gigabyte is apparently upping the stakes with its GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G. This card offers a GTX 1080-reference 1607 MHz base clock and a 1733 MHz boost range, but it does so using a board that's just 6.7" (169 mm) long. Compare that to the 10.5" (267 mm) length of the GTX 1080 Founders Edition, and you have a card that's theoretically much friendlier to Mini-ITX and other small-form-factor builds than average. ...Read more...

Asus' TUF branding might not get the lion's share of attention, but there are a few interesting items in the lineup. The latest reliability-focused motherboard to come out of Asus' stable is the Ryzen-ready TUF B350M-Plus Gaming. We have to say it looks the part. ...Read more...

SanDisk managed to cram 200 GB of storage space into a microSD card just two years ago. That amount of storage space on a semi-rugged piece of consumer electronics the size of a pinky nail is still pretty amazing, but the company has doubled that capacity with the 400 GB Ultra microSD UHS-1 card.

In case you've forgotten, way back in the distant age of this past July, Microsoft announced that it was going to move Windows to a twice-per-year update model. The Semi-Annual Channel is the new schedule, and we're coming up on the six-month mark since April's Creators Update. The next update for Windows, simply titled "the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update," will become available October 17. ...Read more...

Razer isn't shy about throwing around the word "ultimate." The company is using the superlative again to describe its Basilisk wired gaming mouse. With a 16,000 DPI optical sensor, a dial for adjusting the resistance of the scroll wheel, and a sniper button, the new pointer might at least be the serpent king of Razer's bundle of poisonous snakes. ...Read more...

I have to confess—when I first heard of Lenovo's Yoga 720 convertible, I thought it was a subtle jab at HP's x360 branding. Of course, the existence of the Yoga 920 eventually cast doubt on that idea. The meaning behind the names aside, Lenovo's at IFA with two new Yoga convertibles and the Miix 520 12" tablet. Let's have a look at the company's latest portable PCs.

The Moto X used to be one of the Android flagship phones back when it was actually made by Motorola. Nowadays, the Moto Z2 is the top-of-the-line unit in Lenovo's Moto smartphone lineup. The company has now brought out the the Moto X4, the fourth iteration of the X series. The phone's coated in Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 on both sides, so it has the look of a high-end device. The 5.2" 1920x1080 screen and Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC are decidedly mid-range technology—not that that's a bad thing. Let's take a closer look. ...Read more...