Techreport

If you know me—and if you've been reading this site for the last few years, you know me well enough—then you know that I am just about as strident an Apple-hater as any. Knowing that should give you important context for the next thing I'm about to say: I think Apple's new Mac Pro looks fascinating. ...Read more...

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Microsoft really wants gamers to play their games on a PC running Windows 10. The company wants it so badly that it's made two PC gaming-focused announcements that are seemingly at odds with one another. Xbox chief Phil Spencer's blog post is kind of all over the place, so let's try to follow along. ...Read more...

One of my dumb jokes as a kid was to walk up to someone and ask them to draw a blank. It worked.

To the surprise of absolutely no-one, Gigabyte has a big presence at Computex. The company sent over a whole packet of photos of its booth, which was mostly Aorus-flavored. Unfortunately, I'm not at Computex, and if you're reading this, you're probably not either. So instead of the booth, let's talk about the new products Gigabyte has on the way. Besides the seven Socket-AM4 motherboards based on AMD's X570 chipset, there's a trio of monitors and a PCIe 4.0 SSD to talk about. ...Read more...

Intel held its Computex keynote Monday night (US time), and if we can be completely honest, we weren't exactly blown away by the company's announcements. There was the Core i9-9900KS that you've no doubt heard about—more or less a Core i9-9900K with "multi-core enhancement" built right in—and some new Xeon E-series CPUs, as well as a few other topics we'll be talking about eventually. ...Read more...

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Which number is the brisket? Don't cheat.

As part of its announcements yesterday, AMD proudly boasted that it had strong support from its partners for the launch of its third-generation Ryzen CPUs. Specifically, the company said that it had "over 50" new motherboards on the way. Well, Asus is certainly doing its part—the company is releasing no less than ten different boards bearing the X570 chipset. The Republic of Gamers is here with both high-end Strix boards and premium Crosshair models, there's a TUF gaming board, a couple of more mainstream Prime offerings, and finally a Pro WS platter.

AMD is going head-to-head with two of the largest semiconductor companies in the world, and perhaps the red team seeks to take the initiative against its blue and green rivals, because it is charging into battle with standard held high. Exactly as expected, AMD CEO Lisa Su announced a whole pile of new products during her opening keynote at Computex. Dr. Su specifically spoke about the third-generation Ryzen CPUs sporting the Zen 2 architecture and the Navi-based Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards, but the Ryzen 3000-series CPUs are coming along with the new X570 chipset, too.

Remember the MMORPG, gerbils? Do you remember massive open worlds filled with hundreds or thousands of other players? Do you recall a time when "gank" and "aggro" were common components of your vernacular, when "voke" was intuitively understood to mean "provoke", and when acronyms like LFG, PST, KOS, and OOM (among myriad others) were ubiquitous?

Hi there good fellows! I'm back to writing terrible introductions to deals posts again. On today's episode, I'm happy to report that my rather worrying shoulder and back problems are on a good track to recovery. Ever since a couple or three months ago, I've been regularly doing stretches multiple times a day and undergoing physical therapy, including but not limited to ultrasonic cannons, needle poking, electrical torture, and vice-grip squeezing. My chiropractor has also done great work in piecing out and rearranging the parts that comprise my upper spine to roughly, sorta, more-or-less where they should be... ish.At any rate, I'm feeling much better both physically and mentally, because when one has a bad shoulder and back and proceeds to lose feeling on a thumb, one ...Read more...

That reminds me, I need new tires before winter returns...

Microsoft has released the May 2019 update for Windows 10, also known as version 1903. To celebrate the occasion, the Windows maker has also made some changes to the way Windows updates are delivered to PCs across the world. A blog post from Windows Servicing and Delivery Director John Cable covers an update for Windows 10 versions 1803 and 1809 that will enable PCs to get the latest feature update for the world's most popular desktop OS. ...Read more...

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If you're someone who reads this site regularly, I don't have to tell you that Nvidia is pretty much dominating the graphics card market right now. AMD's still holding out with refreshes of its Polaris and Vega designs, but they're looking awfully long in the tooth compared to Nvidia's Turing. AMD needs new Radeons, and fast. Fortunately, it looks like Navi is on its way pretty darn quick. A Sapphire representative speaking to the Chinese press blabbed a whole bunch of info about two new cards coming from the company. The details were, uh, detailed in a now-removed blog post over at Chinese-language site Zhihu; thanks to Videocardz and TechPowerUp for the info.

Just a couple of days after Huawei found its way onto a U.S. government trade ban list, the telecommunications giant has been given a 90-day reprieve. The Commerce Department has issued a Temporary General License (TGL) to allow Huawei and its 68 non-U.S. subsidiaries to continue "certain activities necessary to the continued operations of existing networks and to support existing mobile services, including cybersecurity research critical to maintaining the integrity and reliability of existing and fully operational networks and equipment."

Stick with this theme for my parentheticals I will not.

The Bureau of Industry and Security within the U.S. Department of Commerce has added Chinese device maker Huawei and its affiliates to the Bureau's Entity List. That list is comprised of companies prohibited from trading with American businesses without a special license. According to the Commerce Department's announcement, the move comes in the wake of the Department of Justice's allegations that Huawei both directly violated and conspired to violate trade sanctions against Iran. These charges are covered by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This creates an immediate import ban in the United States for all products made by Huawei and prohibits American businesses from dealing with the electronics giant.Because Huawei's smartphone lineup relies on Android and Google Play—a product of the United States—the company will face technological hurdles going forward. Reuters reports that Google says it's complying with the order and that future devices won't have access to its services. According to Google's spokesperson, "Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get ...Read more...

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Nothing says "I'm a fish nerd again" like feeding live food. So, I had to test this thing out. Review incoming?

HP would like you to know that it's got a new line of gaming products out. Normally I'm not overly concerned with what HP would like, but there's some pretty cool stuff in there, so let's play along and pick through the latest offerings from the company formerly known as Hewlett-Packard. There's five laptops, two new displays, a couple of mice, and a few other goodies to peek at. ...Read more...

Greeting, folks. There isn't much time for pleasantries today, other than to mention that it's real sunny out there and I wish I wasn't swamped with work. Today's crop of deals is plentiful, however, and it's as hard as ever to not bring out my own credit card and acquire some of these fine sundries. Check them out. ...Read more...

Of course, there's more than one way to dance like a chicken.

How was your weekend, gerbils? I spent a huge portion of mine without internet access after spending the majority of Friday without power thanks to hurricane-force storms on Thursday. Today I'm back in business though, so let's talk about some hardware. Specifically, let's talk about AMD's upcoming third-generation Ryzen processors.

Greetings, folks. You may have noticed Colton's notice of the date for the TR BBQ XVI, taking place on August 10. If you have the means to do so, I'd advise you to attend. I did so a couple years ago during my first-ever trip stateside, and I have nothing but the best memories from the couple days there. In the meantime, before you do your travel planning, check out today's crop of PC hardware deals. ...Read more...

The countdown for the TR BBQ XVI has officially begun. If you're unfamiliar, the TR BBQ is a yearly gathering of TR forum goers on the shores of Lake Michigan in Holland, MI, where we all partake in juicy ribs, a cornhole tournament, a hardware swap, and general tomfoolery. I started up this year's TR BBQ thread a few months back, but things get real once we reach the three-months-to-go threshold.Yes, that means TR BBQ XVI is coming up on August 10. Last year's BBQ was a big success even though we didn't have beach access or the traditional ...Read more...

Aww!

Gerbils make up a slightly older audience than you're likely to find on most tech sites. So saying, I suspect we're likely to have a whole bunch of folks that remember the original Windows PowerToys fondly. For those who don't recall—or who weren't born yet—the PowerToys were a collection of tools and tweaks that could be used to modify Windows 95 (and later, Windows XP) into a form more functional for enthusiasts and power users. Now, Microsoft is reviving the PowerToys name with a new series of utilities with the same overall goal, this time for Windows 10. ...Read more...

To date, Google's Pixel phone sales have not exactly set the world on fire. The Android maker's phones have long offered great cameras and excellent software support at flagship prices, but competition is fierce. Yesterday at IO 2019, Google announced the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, which will purportedly bring those features to a mid-range price point.Arguably the most important question is that of price. Let's get that out in front for context. The Pixel 3a retails for $399 and the Pixel 3a XL will set you back $479. That puts the Pixel 3a family at a price point somewhat below even the cheapest $549 OnePlus 6T. According to The Verge's liveblog ...Read more...

Unsalable and only appreciable by the most hardcore packaging nerds, this is my proudest creation.

Greetings, gerbils. I'm typing this intro and deals posts furiously fast, as I've still got lots of work to do today before I get into the studio to record bass for my band's EP. If you're wondering, yes, that all sounds a little too professional for what really means "I'm praying I can at least muddle through getting the five songs done in an afternoon without needing 100 takes for each." Wish me luck. In the meantime, here are today's PC deals. The crop was good, and it was hard to pick out the top six. ...Read more...

The year of Linux on the desktop is finally upon us. Microsoft tried to make it happen in 2017 when it released Windows Subsystem for Linux. Back then, Microsoft wrote a wrapper for Linux system calls that translated those calls into Windows NT kernel functions. It works, but it's not very fast and many apps won't run. Microsoft knows this, and yesterday at the annual Build conference, the Windows maker announced the second iteration of Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Greetings, folks! After half a dozen sessions with a physical therapist and a few chiropractor adjustments, my back and shoulder have seen massive improvements. This whole deal left me with two big pieces of advice for those who, like me, have work patterns that require a long time sitting down or doing repetitive motions. The first one is: stretch, stretch, stretch. The importance of those exercises can't be understated, especially as time moves on and you're not 18 and stop being able to heal with a night's rest and a beer. The second bit of advice is also simple: if you feel that something's not quite kosher with your back or limbs, don't hold on for very long in hopes that it'll improve—chances are you're just making a bad situation worse. Anyway, here are today's PC hardware deals. It's a good crop, if I may say so. ...Read more...

It would have been all too easy to overlook a blog post about professional rendering and visual effects over at Intel's IT Peer Network site. Most of the post talks about Intel's rendering framework and how it gets used in the VFX industry. However, a kernel of information about the company's upcoming Xe graphics chips was buried in the post. Given how starved we are for details on the all-new lineup, it's pretty tantalizing. Here, I'll spoil it for you: Xe is going to have hardware-accelerated ray-tracing.

Historically, I prefer photos in this space. I couldn't pass this one up, though.

AMD had something of a disappointing first quarter of 2019 according to the company's first quarter financial report. Revenue, operating income, and net income were all down while operating expenses were on the rise. Gross margin was actually up bit. Let's see how it looks in table form.Source: ...Read more...

The only bubble tea place by me somehow manages to freeze their bobas. It's tragic.

Greetings, gerbils. It's a fair day today, and when I'm done with work, I'll be going into my power armor in Fallout 4. I'm a sucker for open-world RPGs, and lately I've been spending my time revisiting both that title and the magnum opus The Witcher 3. For both games, I've installed unobtrusive enhancement mods that improve the experience without really altering it, as it should be. Alas, sweet gaming goodness will only come later today—right now it's time for PC hardware deals. ...Read more...

If you read the entirety of this post about the launch of the GeForce GTX 1650, you may recall that we noted the release of a new GeForce driver at that time as well. Well, it so happens that that driver, GeForce driver 430.39, shipped with a few stowaways—mainly in the form of a couple of annoying bugs. Fortunately, Nvidia's already busted out a patch in the form of GeForce beta driver 430.53 Hotfix.

UPDATE: Newegg contacted us to let us know that there will not actually be a drawing for a free Ryzen 3000 CPU for purchasers of the Ryzen 7 2700X 50th Anniversary edition as we were originally told. The retailer says that the "reference to a product drawing" was "erroneously posted" and that it has since been removed.Are you a die-hard AMD fanboy? Do you have the original green logo tattooed on your body? If so, then you definitely don't need me to tell you that AMD's just released the 50th Anniversary "Gold Editions" ...Read more...

Hi, guys! I'd have a mildly amusing intro, but there's nothing amusing about the situation I'm in right this second. I have to attend a wedding tomorrow, and my overnight reservation location isn't picking up their phones. Wonderful. Anyhow, here's the top PC hardware deals of the moment. I particularly fancy the laptops, if I may say so. ...Read more...

I don't normally get into gaming laptops, but exceptions can be made. The best portable gaming PCs have plenty of horsepower, don't look like typical garish gaming laptops, and have displays with pixels you actually want to look at. Razer's newly-updated Blade 15 Advanced appears to make a run at all three of those qualifications. ...Read more...

This was too ridiculous not to share.

As it happens, it's not just Nvidia that's popping out some new products this week. With relatively little fanfare, Intel's dropped the rest of the ninth-generation Core series on us yesterday. That includes the remainder of the current series' desktop lineup—mostly multiplier-locked and lower-end chips—as well as a full lineup of laptop processors. Let's have a look at the mobile parts first. ...Read more...

Go for it!

Well, to the surprise of absolutely no-one, the leaked specifications for the GeForce GTX 1650 that showed up last week were completely correct. So saying, the card is out now, and you can buy one. Both Newegg and Amazon have multiple listings for the cards, but caveat emptor: some of the listings on Amazon appear to be early third-party sellers selling GTX 1650 cards at inflated prices.

Greetings, folks. Colton's published a big piece yesterday, and you should totally go check it out if you have any sort of interest in solar power or renewable energy. He's placed what look like a couple square miles' worth of panels atop his abode, and the rig's taking in kWs like they're going out of style. In the meantime, here's what you came here for: sweet, juicy PC hardware deals. ...Read more...

Greetings, fellow deal seekers! Bruno's got the day off, so, while the code-monkey's away, the gerbils will play. A couple of us have picked a couple deals we like and we submit them for your approval. Personally, I've been immersing myself back into the wonderful world of aquariums and fishing for the kind of deals unlikely to make a splash on the front page. That leaves me a bit out of touch with the latest and greatest PC hardware deals and means my picks aren't tried and true bargain basement fare. But I still think they're worth a look.Colton's ...Read more...

Close enough? The coincidental egg was what really sold it to me.