Techreport

Acer unveiled a series of new Aspire and Predator laptops at CES this week. A standout among them is the ostentatious Acer Predator 21X (which we looked at before), a $9,000 notebook with a curved screen—the first of its kind on a laptop. A handful of gaming laptops and a Chromebook fill out the ranks. ...Read more...

ASRock is the last (but surely not the least) of the major motherboard vendors to announce new models based on Intel's 200-series chipsets. The company has a reputation for its willingness to experiment with esoteric features and exotic visual designs, and these new boards do not disappoint in those departments. The company's only talking Z270-based mobos right now, and has three boards headlining the series. ...Read more...

Fresh from CES in Las Vegas, Acer has three gaming-oriented displays ready for action. There are three new displays in the Predator lineup, all boasting high refresh rates and rapid response times. Even better, they add to the growing list of monitors with Nvidia's G-Sync variable refresh rate technology. ...Read more...

The market for gaming peripherals has quickly gotten crowded in the last few years. HyperX—a division of Kingston Technology—has released several well-received headsets in the past, including the Cloud Stinger that we liked well enough to recommend. This year at CES, HyperX is expanding its peripherals lineup with new keyboards and a gaming mouse. ...Read more...

The market for gaming peripherals has quickly gotten crowded in the last few years. HyperX—a division of Kingston Technology—has released several well-received headsets in the past, including the Cloud Stinger that we liked well enough to recommend. This year at CES, HyperX is expanding its peripherals lineup with new keyboards and a gaming mouse. ...Read more...

Honor, the sub-brand of Chinese electronics company Huawei, has a new budget smartphone. The Honor 6X looks like a solid piece of hardware, offering some premium features at an easy-to-swallow price. ...Read more...

With every new generation of Intel CPUs we usually get new chipsets, and that means new motherboards. Not wanting to be left out of the Z270 chipset party, MSI has its own volley of modernized mainboards ready for release. The company says it will be showing "over 30 models in 4 segments" at CES, although its pre-show press release shines the spotlight on the Gaming series of mobos. MSI counts 24 new entries that lineup alone.As it's historically done, MSI is grouping its motherboard offerings in Arsenal, Performance, and Enthusiast families. The Enthusiast-class boards are MSI's top-end offerings, ...Read more...

Device manufacturers seem convinced that consumers want their gadgets thin and light above all else. Toshiba's new 2-in-1 convertible PC, the Portégé X20W, definitely follows this trend. Judging from Microsoft's announcement of the device barely ahead CES, however, this might be a Windows 10 Pro device that offers portability with very little compromise. ...Read more...

Just in time for CES, HP has a gorgeous-looking new monitor for us to feast our eyes on. The Omen X is the latest entry in HP's gamer-focused Omen hardware line, and it's also the company's first G-Sync-enabled display. ...Read more...

A lot of nerds (like this newswriter) don't care how their setup looks. Some people demand style, though, and that means that cheap plastic and ungainly wires going everywhere are unacceptable. Dell is clearly catering to the latter crowd with the new 27 Ultrathin monitor it's showing at CES. Engadget's Devindra Hardawar got an early look at the new monitor, which sports a 2560x1440 resolution on its 7mm-thick display. ...Read more...

There's something to be said for a desktop PC that doesn't take over the top of your desk. Just in time for CES this year, ECS is introducing two new Liva mini-PCs. These tiny barebones PCs pack Intel processors into kits that can purportedly handle 4K video and light gaming in the right configuration. ...Read more...

Wireless is considered less of a luxury these days and more of an expectation. We expect it to work and to be relatively simple, despite the sheer complexity inherent to network devices and the variety of different environments we use them in, from crowded apartment buildings and old homes to concrete McMansions. Mesh routers are a step toward that goal, and Linksys is entering the fray with its new Velop modular mesh Wi-Fi system....Read more...

Intel's Kaby Lake seventh-generation processors may not offer a huge leap over the previous-generation Skylake chips, but they're a big release nonetheless. The fine people at Asus have created a number of new motherboards based on the range-topping Z270 desktop chipset. The company's Edge Up blog has a detailed report on what to expect from the new motherboards.The biggest difference between Z170 and Z270 is an increase in front-side I/O lanes from 26 to 30. This bump doesn't affect SLI or Crossfire configurations in any way. Using an M.2 ...Read more...

Oh, so you thought that the Gigabyte motherboard onslaught was over? Not so. The company is firing on all cylinders, and it's complementing the Aorus lineup of Z270-based motherboards with a few offerings under its own brand. Let's dig in. ...Read more...

Oh, so you thought that the Gigabyte motherboard onslaught was over? Not so. The company is firing on all cylinders, and it's complementing the Aorus lineup of Z270-based motherboards with a few offerings under its own brand. Let's dig in. ...Read more...

You didn't forget that CES starts this week, did you, gerbils? Roccat is bringing its latest feature-filled human interface devices to the show, which kicks off tomorrow. The new devices—three mice and a keyboard—are based around a couple of new features that the company calls Force FX and Owl-Eye.The new keyboard is a modified version of the company's existing Isku FX keyboard, and it's called simply the Isku+ Force FX . Like its predecessor, it's an RGB LED-equipped ...Read more...

Greetings, gerbils. Unless you've been living under a rock or a pineapple under the sea, you know that Kaby Lake desktop CPUs have been released, along with the Z270 chipset. Every motherboard maker is getting in on the action, and Gigabyte is certainly no exception. The company has released a helping of super-fancy motherboards under its Aorus gaming brand. To make this easier, we're kicking off with the highlights from the highest-end model and drilling down. Let's take a look at the goods.

Lenovo is charging out of the gate at the Consumer Electronics Show with new portable machine. On one corner, we have machines representing its stalwart Thinkpad business-oriented brand. On the opposite end, there's the company's new Legion gaming marque. All of the machines pack Intel's latest seventh-generation Kaby Lake CPUs. The Thinkpad X1 Carbon is a traditional slim laptop, the Thinkpad X1 Yoga is a cross between a laptop and a tablet, and the Legion Y520 is a gaming laptop with gamer-oriented aesthetics and discrete graphics cards. Let's take a look at each one of these. ...Read more...

Today marks the debut of Intel's full range of Kaby Lake CPUs for laptops and desktops. Although the star of the show is the Core i7-7700K that we just reviewed, Intel and its partners will also be showcasing 15W and 28W mobile chips with Iris Plus graphics, new mobile Xeons, higher-TDP laptop CPUs, and Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 desktop CPUs this week at CES.As we've come to expect from Intel CPU launches, the company has dozens of parts ready to go for next-gen systems, so we'll be covering them in broad categories and noting the highlights. ...Read more...

The growth of the PC gaming peripheral market shows no signs of slowing down, and as a result, everybody is getting in on the action. Patriot (neé Patriot Memory) already has gaming range called Viper with a keyboard and a mouse to its name. The company is now broadening that lineup with a pair of keyboards and a pair of mice. ...Read more...

Thermaltake loves to put RGB LEDs in computer parts. The Taiwanese outfit has studded fans, power supplies, and mice with color-changing lights in order to add appeal to these products. The company has now pulled back the curtain on its Meka Pro mechanical gaming keyboards with LED lighting. The new keyboards have per-key LED illumination, but only in "Cherry MX" red. The color may be static, but Thermaltake does provide several dynamic lighting modes like pulse, sparkle, and wave. All Meka Pro keyboards are full-size models with ten-key sections, and buyers get to choose between Cherry MX Blue, Brown, or Red switches. ...Read more...

The open nature and flexible implementation specifications of AMD's FreeSync variable-refresh-rate technology have doubtless contributed to its wide adoption by monitor manufacturers. At its summit in Sonoma, California, last month, AMD boasted that it now has 121 FreeSync displays from 20 display partners, and it's quick to press that numeric advantage over the claimed eight partners and 18 displays it says that Nvidia has netted with G-Sync.Not every one of those 121 FreeSync displays are a gamer's dream, though. Refresh rate ranges aren't often clearly communicated by manufacturers, and support ...Read more...

Good evening. We're all gathered here for the broadcast of the Giftus Maximus, the day where the grand prize is handed to a very lucky gerbil. All cameras are ready for the arrival of TR Santa. We even threw out a green carpet, to compensate for all the redness in his suit. We expect him to be flying in shortly. Okay, we're hearing some music in the distance, and it sounds rather grand. We see the sled in the distance now, coming in slowly. There's a heavenly glow around it, and cherubs in winter clothing playing harps. Quite a spectacle, we must say. TR Santa outdid himself for the grand prize.The sled has landed, and the elves are unrolling long carpet. They're carrying a palanquin with red and golden curtains. The palanquin is real close now, and Santa is coming down the steps, carrying a ...Read more...

With CES not even a week away, hardware companies are announcing their lineups for the show. Zotac has plans to show off a new model of Zbox mini-PC, a Thunderbolt 3 graphics dock, a GTX 1080 Mini graphics card, and more. ...Read more...

Remember that Intel Core i3-7350K that the rumor mill was talking about a while back? According to a post on Japanese tech news site Hermitage Akihabara, if that CPU exists, it won't be joining the rest of Intel's seventh-generation processors at launch time. The site says that shipments of the new chips have already arrived in shops, but that certain models, including the 7350K, are absent from the lineup.The site seems quite confident that desktop Kaby Lake CPUs will be going up for sale next Friday on January 6. Earlier rumors pegged the Core i3-7350K at around $175, but ...Read more...

Howdy, gerbils! We bet you're stocking up on all the liquor you can get your little paws on, in preparation for the huge party tomorrow. Your liver's barely recovered from all that eggnog, and now it's getting hit by another dose of foul liquids. While you're still sober, we'd like you to take a look at our selection of deals. CES may be just around the corner, but there are still tasty promotions running. See what we have in store below.That's all we have for today, folks. Don't drink too much in New Year's parties. If ...Read more...

Right this very moment, Amazon is running a "Digital Day" sale. The site says it has up to 80% off on all sorts of digital goods, starting with games but also including movies, music, and applications. There are reduced-price items in nearly every type of thing the site sells in digital form, so it's definitely worth a look. ...Read more...

Reports from around the internet suggest that some owners of Google's Nexus 6P and Pixel phones have been experiencing issues with their handsets. Users are reporting that their phones are shutting down as if their batteries had run dry, when the battery life indicator says there's between 10% and 60% of juice remaining.Google has a thread about this problem in its Issue Tracker. Over 2000 people have already labeled the issue with a star icon, and many shared screenshots they took of their battery usage screen after plugging in ...Read more...

Evening, gerbils. We're eager for our New Year's parties, but first we should look through the next bag of prizes. TR Santa was here and gone before we arrived, and he left a shocking pink bag with a glittery ribbon tied on. Its shine nearly blinded us when it caught the midday sun. Santa left a hand-written note telling us to "give this to someone special." That sounds like a command, and we wouldn't dare disobey someone with that much power.Okay, let's see what's in this oddly colorful bag. Great Scott, it's full of stars... oh wait, that's just glitter. Goodness, I think we're in shock, folks. You won't believe what this ...Read more...

After a very successful Kickstater campaign earlier this year, keyboard maker Das Keyboard is ready to unveil its 5Q "Cloud-Connected" keyboard, which the company says can make the keyboard "an output device." Das Keyboard will be showing it off alongside its accompanying software to the public at CES 2017 next week. ...Read more...

Video games have come farther in the last 20 years than we could've imagined, and games like Star Wars: Battlefront look remarkably close to their cinematic counterparts. Sometimes, though, certain titles are labeled "classics" for a reason. Cases in point: the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games from the '90s, much-loved by older gamers everywhere but that never received a modern-day remake. Hobbyist developer David Esparza Guerrero felt the same way, and decided to do something about it. He went to work remaking X-Wing, has recently posted a video of some of his ongoing work....Read more...

Samsung might have had a stumble on the phone arena, but the company is looking to lead the way in the high-end monitor market. We first heard about the CF791 ultra-wide gaming monitor back in August. Now that that display has hit the market, Samsung is talking up its next big thing: the CH711, which the company describes as a a 2560x1440 curved gaming monitor with quantum dot technology. ...Read more...

Alongside a refresh of its long-running ThinkPad line, Lenovo announced a pair of new displays ahead of CES 2017. The ThinkVision P27h and P24h join the growing market of USB Type-C connected displays and offer super-narrow bezels around IPS panels. The monitor's USB Type-C port is the star of the show, since it has support for USB Power Delivery and is able to juice up connected devices in addition to carrying a video signal.

Evening, gerbils! We're broadcasting today from TR Europe, as Santa said he was tired of being fed milk and cookies. We prepared him a bowl of caldo verde, a good helping of bacalhau, and a chalice of Port wine as a digestive.We think the promise of food might make him extra generous, and... brrrr that's a cold wind. Wait, what the...?! The food is all gone? Who's burping in the distance? There's a ...Read more...

Ahead of this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Lenovo announced that it's refreshed its lineup of ThinkPad laptops. The headline feature for the updated machines is that they're fitted with Intel Kaby Lake CPUs. Lenovo has other tricks up its sleeve, though. Other nitfy features include new touchpads supporting Microsoft's Precision Touchpad, fingerprint sensors, and new connectivity options including Wi-Fi Certified WiGig. In total, there are nine new laptops to discuss, so let's get started. ...Read more...

For a display used primarily for professional purposes—photo manipulation, modeling, or graphic design—accurate color reproduction is an absolute necessity. That's exactly the promise behind ViewSonic's newly-announced display, the VP2771, which ViewSonic says will offer "superior color accuracy and uniformity for color critical applications" thanks to factory calibration for Delta E≤2 color precision—a standard in color reproduction sought after by professionals. ...Read more...

On Christmas day, an internal build of Windows 10 (version 14997) leaked to the internet. Unlike the Preview builds that Microsoft distributes to Windows Insiders, which are mostly-complete builds intended for QA testing, this leaked build appears to include early versions of multiple unannounced features. According to Twitter user WalkingCat (@h0x0d), the 14997 build includes a new "Game Mode.". @h0x0d looks like Windows will adjust its resource allocation logic (for ...Read more...

Consumer SSDs using the NVMe protocol have been around the block for a couple years, but are only recently hitting prices that your average enthusiast might call affordable. Samsung's recent release of the 960 EVO SSD set a new bar for reasonably-priced NVMe SSDs, but competition is mounting. PNY just released the CS2030 M.2 SSDs with NVMe support, available in 240GB and 480GB capacities. ...Read more...

For a brief moment yesterday, it looked as if Asus had a new Chromebook ready for us to check out in time for the New Year. Chrome Unboxed spotted the Asus C302CA Chromebook yesterday at Newegg. The store briefly had a product page up for the device but eventually brought it down. Apparently someone at Newegg hit the "Go" button a bit early, though the site did manage to order one in the meantime. It seems Newegg will actually ship it, too.

Hello and good afternoon, dear gerbils. We're most pleased to see you all in good health. You all seem a little plumper—we wonder if that's the effect of the cameras or all the Christmas food you gorged on. We're waiting on TR Santa, watching the afternoon sky for any sign of his reindeer-powered sled. Ah, we finally see it. But it appears to be flying much lower and slower than usual, and swerving around a little. It seems to be particularly loaded, and now it's landed. Uh, is that Santa? He's a bulky enough man, but apparently the steady diet of milk and cookies seems to have taken its toll. We think his sweater is bursting at the seams. He's kindly asked us to go pick up the bag as he's unable to walk (or roll?) the distance.Ah, there we are. Let's see what's in today's bag... Oh. My. Goodness. What a sweet combination. This is a bag of Gigabyte and Arctic gear, and it contains a GA-Z170X-UD5 TH mobo ...Read more...

Case manufacturer Raijintek first launched its Metis Mini-ITX chassis towards the end of 2014. The company has now unveiled the Raijintek Metis Plus, an updated and modernized version of the original chassis. Being a Mini-ITX case, the Metis Plus is designed for small motherboards, but can still accommodate fairly large CPU coolers and full-size ATX power supplies. One side panel is ventilated with stamped holes and the other side has an acrylic window, for a glimpse at the system within. ...Read more...

USB Type-C is, in the eyes of many, the future for computer peripheral and device connectivity. The port's high potential bandwidth and power delivery mean that it can handle just about anything one might want to throw at it, from video and audio to fast disks and quick-charging batteries. Despite this, motherboard and case makers have been slow to take up the cause of One Port To Rule Them All—at least as far as desktop PC cases are concerned. MSI and Phanteks have teamed up to kickstart that cause, and they've introduced a motherboard and case with support for front-panel USB 3.1 Type-C ports. ...Read more...

The HandBrake project has reached version 1.0.0 after 13 years in development. Originally started as a convenient DVD ripping software for BeOS, the project has grown in recent years to become one of the foremost video transcoding software packages. The new version comes 14 months after the 0.10 release, and includes over 1700 individual source commits added since then. ...Read more...

We've taken a look at Gigabyte's compact Brix gaming systems in the past. Now, the Brix Gaming GT is poised to take a VR-ready to the road or living room with its compact dimensions, an Intel sixth-generation Core i7-6700K CPU, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. The Brix Gaming GT identifies itself as a gaming PC with a cluster of RGB LEDs and a pair of flaps on top that open when the system is thermally loaded. ...Read more...

The AMD-provided benchmarks for the company's upcoming Ryzen CPUs have painted the chips in a very favorable light indeed. Wiser heads know to wait for third-party data before making any judgements, though. As it turns out, some of that data is already trickling out. A reddit user posted what is reportedly a leaked image taken from the newest issue of French tech magazine Canard PC, presenting benchmarks of what appears to be a Ryzen engineering sample.I'll cut to the chase: in synthetic and productivity benchmarks like video encoding, 3D rendering, and CAD, the Ryzen sample sits comfortably between the 6-core Core i7-6800K and the 8-core i7-6900K ...Read more...

It's hard for me to believe, but 2016 is on its way out. Christmas, New Year's, and CES will soon be upon us, and we anticipate a big and busy year for The Tech Report in 2017. For now, the TR staff will be taking a short break from our Twitter feeds, inboxes, and test benches to be with our families for the Christmas holiday. We wish you safe travels if you're traveling this weekend, and a happy holiday to all our readers around the world. ...Read more...

Ho ho ho, gerbils. It is I, the TR Santa. I'm doing away with those doofuses that have been presenting these things the past week, and will be bringing you the gifts directly. That's right, I'm looking directly into the camera so you can check out all my nose hair in glorious wide-gamut 4K, with both G-Sync and FreeSync.Today there are more gifts, and let me tell you, boys and girls, they are good. This giveaway I was contracted for is heating up, and the best stuff has been saved for last. What I have in my ...Read more...

Intel and Micron may be trying to upend the chip memory market with their 3D XPoint non-volatile memory technology, but that isn't stopping SK Hynix from investing â‚©3.15 trillion ($2.6 billion) in additional fabrication space for regular DRAM and 3D NAND flash. The company will spend this money to build a new fabrication plant in Cheongju, South Korea and expand clean-room operations in an existing plant in Wuxi, China. ...Read more...

Howdy, gerbils! We'd normally have a weird story involving some character with goods for sale, possibly with a theme of snow or the word "ho." But even though it's Friday, it's a very busy day at TR HQ, and we have to forego the usual fancy introduction in favor of this very paragraph. Summary: deals, you buy them. Have at it.That's all for today, folks. Have plenty of eggnog handy, and enjoy your time with your family. ...Read more...

While PC components like graphics cards, motherboards, and memory are now manufactured with integrated physical protection, PC case maker In Win has decided that chassis panels are no longer a necessity. The company's X-Frame 2.0 "case" eschews top and side panels in favor of an open design mounted to a four-footed pedastal, via a swiveling-and-tilting support structure. ...Read more...