It was hard not to shed a tear when MediaWorkstation disappeared, taking its wild six-screen a-X2P workstation laptop with it.
The company’s workstation laptop promised to be an incredible, and ridiculous, powerhouse, with two AMD EPYC Genoa Zen 4 CPUs, two full-size GPUs, up to 3TB DDR5 RAM, one M.2 NVMe boost SSD, and five storage drives.
But if you still have a yearning to own a laptop with half a dozen screens attached to it, then we have good news.
Choice of screen resolutions
Acme Portable’s Megapac L3, the successor to the company’s FlexPAC III, is available to buy and while it only – only! – comes with three 24-inch displays, it can be combined with the company’s ML3 triple display accessory, for a grand total of six screens.
If you’re noticing similarities between this system and the discontinued a-X2P beast, it’s because MediaWorkstation was once a reseller for Acme Portable and had been looking to push the limits of what could be achieved with the platform.
The Megapac L3’s 3x 23.8-inch displays come in a choice of resolutions – UHD (3840×2160) with up to 800 nits brightness, Full HD (1920×1080) with up to 1000 nits, or WUXGA (1920×1200) with 1000 nits, all featuring an optional touchscreen.
It’s powered by a single/dual Intel Xeon, Intel Core, AMD Ryzen or AMD EPYC CPU, with up to 1TB DDR4 RAM and up to 150TB storage. There are seven expansion slots, and it comes with an 850W auto-switching power supply, although there are 1000W or 1200W PSU’s available.
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The dimensions for the three screen Megapac L3 are 16.39-inches high, 22.96-inches wide and 11.98-inches deep, with a weight of 52.82 lbs. It comes with a 105-key keyboard with an integrated touchpad, padded rolling transit case, and can be customized to military specifications.
There’s no pricing available on the website, but if you want the Megapac L3, with three or six screens, you can contact them with your requirements.
Happy Star Wars Day to those who celebrate! But even on these most nerdy of holidays, the tech world moves so fast it’s like it’s jumped to Hyperspace.
If you’ve lost track of the top stories this week we’re here with our trusty lightsaber to cut through the noise so you can get caught up on the most important tech news of the past seven days from Netflix, Rabbit R1, DJI, and Apple.
Speaking of, be sure to head back here on Tuesday, May 7, to read about all the latest hardware announcements from the Apple event. And return next Saturday for another ICYMI news round-up.
In social media posts, Apple has described its upcoming showcase as “a different kind of Apple event,” which has got us thinking about how this iPad-centric reveal might differ from previous Apple events we’ve tuned into.
There are some obvious but boring conclusions to draw here, like the fact that this ‘Let Loose’ event is being held slightly earlier than other Apple events – proceedings are due to kick off at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST, which is May 8 at 12am AEST in Australia – but we’re hoping Apple justifies its own hype with a more exciting revelation (perhaps we’ll get a sneak peak at the company’s long-awaited generative AI software?).
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Other countries, including the US, aren’t affected yet. But, with a global rollout likely to happen, we suggest you work through your watchlist of the best Netflix shows, best Netflix movies, and best Netflix documentaries ASAP. Otherwise, you might have to start paying extra or be subjected to ads when you’re automatically switched over from the Basic tier to the Standard with Ads one, if you want to watch them on the world’s best streaming service.
5. The Rabbit R1 disappointed us
(Image credit: Rabbit)
Welcome to the very disappointing age of personal AI devices. First there was Humane AI, a wearable AI Pin that was slammed by most major tech critics. Following fast on its heels was Rabbit R1, a far more adorable pocket-sized AI companion that at least has a screen.
Sadly, that’s the kindest thing we can say about it at the moment. This is a bright orange device that is supposed to bridge the gap between intention and action without the need to navigate various apps. In reality, it’s an odd little box with an awful analog scroll wheel, inconsistent performance, and an average LLM. As far as we can tell, it does nothing your iPhone with the Microsoft Copilot app installed on it can’t do, and the marquee item – accessing app features without using apps – often doesn’t work. To make matters worse, there are now claims that the Rabbit OS is little more than an Android app. That may be so, but it’s definitely not the handset’s biggest problem, At least it only costs $199.
4. The DJI Mini 4K landed on Amazon
(Image credit: DJI)
A potential DJI ban in the US aside, life just got harder for DJI rivals that make beginner-level drones after the launch of the Mini 4K.
It’s DJI’s cheapest-ever drone to shoot 4K video and it costs less than $300 / £270 which is an absolute bargain. With much the same hardware as the Mini 2 SE, the Mini 4K is ideal for beginners with easy flight moves, tutorials in the Fly App, a foldable sub-250g design, 31-minute flight time, downward object sensing, and Level-5 wind resistance.
Where it improves on the 2.7K video-equipped Mini 2 SE is higher resolution video, higher bit rates, and a 2x digital zoom. DJI’s cheapest drone just got more powerful and we expect it to be very popular.
3. The Arc browser came for Chrome’s lunch
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Arc browser finally came to Windows 11 after originally launching on macOS and iOS, and we’re already loving it more than than Google Chrome and especially Microsoft Edge. It’s speedy, uses far less memory than Chrome, and lacks Edge’s annoying ads and all its other clutter.
Obviously, things aren’t perfect in every way. As it is a Chromium browser, the looming privacy threat of Manifest V3 is very real, and there’s the issue that the browser can still track users with ad block installed.
Though Arc has a lot of great things to offer, and The Browser Company team developing it has promised big feature updates are incoming, including Windows 10 support.
If you’re interested in trying out Arc out for yourself, you can download it for free here.
2. New VR games abandoned the Quest 2
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Boumen Japet)
The Oculus Quest 2 might have recently seen its price drop to just $199.99 / £199.99 / AU$359.99, which is ridiculously cheap – but we highly recommend you ignore it and pick up a Meta Quest 3 instead, even if it’s $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.99.
That’s because the first Meta Quest 3 exclusive games were revealed recently, with Batman: Arkham Shadow being announced only a few days ago. So finally, after years of dominance, it’s officially time to put down your Quest 2 – as stupendous as it was – and pick up a different standalone headset as you can no longer enjoy the latest and greatest VR software on the aging Meta device.
So long Quest 2, we’ll miss you.
1. ChatGPT became a little more human
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Artificial intelligence became a little more human this week for all ChatGPT Plus users after OpenAI rolled out its Memory feature.
Exactly what the name suggests, memory allows the AI chatbot to recall key details from your previous conversations. Say you mention your birthday is next week, or that you just got a new cat, the bot will remember this and should use the information to inform its responses to your prompts in the future.
This should make it feel more like you’re continuing a conversation with the same person rather than a complete stranger every time, but if the idea terrifies you then you can turn the feature off, delete the bot’s whole memory, or delete only certain details.
As we reach the end of another week, we’re looking back to see what tech deals popped up that are worth checking out. This coming Tuesday, Apple will almost certainly announce new iPads, which is probably why a slew of discounts have materialized for the company’s slabs. We didn’t highlight those here — even if you want an older model, it’s probably wise to wait a few days to see how the announcements affect pricing. Deals that are worth checking include sales on three flagship smartwatches: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Google Pixel 2. A couple of our favorite Anker power banks are on sale, with the USB-C Nano battery down to a new low. You can also save on one of our top gaming mice and our favorite dual-screen gaming laptop. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget
The Apple Watch 9 is back down to $299 at Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart. That’s about $30 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked, when certain colorways went down to $269. Overall this current deal is $100 cheaper than paying full price and about $30 less than the sale prices lately. The deal applies to the 41mm case size with GPS and Bluetooth connectivity and is currently valid for all four colorways. If, like me, you prefer the larger 45mm case size so it’s easier to see the numbers on the display, you’ll have to pay the full $429 unless you want it in Starlight. Then it’s $100 off.
The Series 9 is the top pick in our guide to smartwatches and Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave it a review score of 92 when it came out last September. It’s a great companion for an iPhone and the always on display makes it much easier to see things at a glance. The health and fitness tracking is comprehensive and the new Double Tap feature is handy (when it works) for answering calls and pausing timers.
We call Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 the best option for Android users in our guide to smartwatches. Walmart is now selling the wearable for $229, which is $70 off the list price. That’s not an all-time low, but still a decent savings if you’re looking for a wrist computer that plays nice with your Galaxy phone. The deal applies to the 40mm case size with Bluetooth connectivity in the Graphite colorway.
We gave the Galaxy Watch 6 a review score of 84 when it came out last September. It’s not a huge change from its predecessor, but that’s not a bad thing. The bezels are thinner and the screen is brighter, plus it gives you lots of health and fitness tracking features. The battery life is decent for a smartwatch, lasting more than a full day with the always-on display enabled. If you want a wearable that lasts even longer, you might be better off going with a fitness tracker. Our top pick in that category, the Fitbit Charge 6 is on sale for $140 directly from Fitbit.
The Google Pixel Watch 2 has dropped back down to $300 after a 14 percent discount at Amazon, Best Buy and directly from Google. Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the smartwatch a review score of 79 when the wearable came out last October. The design is beautiful, the stress management features are useful, and the health-focused sensors accurately produce helpful data. But software quirks, like the clunky integration of the Fitbit app for fitness tracking and some confusing presentations of your health data.
The Echo Dot, our favorite smart speaker under $50 is now down to $28 at Amazon after a 44 percent discount. That’s about $5 more than the lowest its ever sold for, which we saw during last year’s Black Friday sales. The Echo Dot puts out surprising sound for its size and lets you access the helpful skills and voice controls Alexa has to offer. It’s a good entry point into the world of smart home automation and can play music with decent audio when its not turning off your lights, telling you the weather or reminding you it’s trash night. If you’d rather buy from Target, the Echo Dot is the same price from that outlet.
The even smaller Echo Pop is also on sale and down to $20, or about $2 more than its all-time low. We haven’t tested this one yet, and wouldn’t expect the sound to be particularly robust, but if you’re just looking for another access point to Alexa’s abilities, this is one of the cheaper ways to go.
The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is on sale for $1,100 at Amazon and Best Buy. Even with the discount, that’s still an expensive phone. The deal applies to the base 256GB model and takes $200 off the list price.
We named the S24 Ultra the “best premium” pick in our guide to the best Android phones. Samsung’s flagship has a speedy Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, a long battery life and a bright and clear 6.8-inch OLED display. The titanium frame feels premium and it comes with the pretty responsive S Pen built-into the handset. Plus you’ll get a full seven years of software updates out of Samsung.
Our top recommendation, Google’s Pixel 8 Pro, has a slightly better camera set and cleaner software (not to mention a much lower price as it’s currently on sale for $800 at Amazon and from Google).
The 6.7-inch Galaxy S24+ is back down to $850 as well. That’s a $150 discount and another all-time low for the unlocked model. We gave the S24 Ultra a score of 89 in our review earlier this year, while the S24+ earned a score of 87.
The Bluetooth tracker we recommend for anyone who uses a Galaxy phone is Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag2. And currently Amazon is selling a single tag for $21. If you’ve got multiple things to keep tabs on, you can get a four-pack from Best Buy for $77, which works out to $19.25 a pop.
The tags only work with Samsung phones, and use a similar approach to Apple’s AirTags in that the fobs anonymously ping nearby Samsung phones to help locate your lost items. In our tests we found the SmartTags2 to be loud and nearly as precise in their finding abilities as AirTags. Of all the tags out there, I thought these had the most attractive design with a smooth and rounded shape with a large eyelet. The left-behind feature wasn’t as quick and the ring-to-find wasn’t as loud as our top pick, the Chipolo One, but the SmartTag2 remains a good companion for Samsung phones.
The second generation Apple Pencil is back on sale for $79 at Target, Walmart and Best Buy. That’s a $35 discount off the full price and matches the lowest price yet for the stylus. While this is a deal we’ve seen a number of times before, it’s important to note this time that Apple will host a product launch event on May 7 and a new Pencil is likely to be part of the announcements. It might make sense to wait until then before you buy. That said, at $79, it’s a relatively inexpensive way to get your hands on a responsive stylus. It’s currently the top pick in our iPad accessories guide and pairs quickly and works well with the current generation iPad Air, Pro and Mini models.
When Engadget’s Sam Rutherford reviewed the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16, he said, “the main factor preventing it from being a great mobile gaming battle station is its price.” Amazon is now selling the base model for $1,700, which is a 32 percent discount off the $2,500 list price. This configuration comes with a NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
We named the Duo 16 the best gaming laptop with a dual screen in our guide because it’s powerful and the extra screen makes multitasking a lot easier. If you don’t love being without your extra monitor when you’re away from your main workstation setup, this is a decent mobile solution — though at five-and-a-half pounds and nearly an inch thick, this isn’t a lightweight portable by any means. But at least some heft has been removed from the price.
Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are $50 off and down to $249 at Amazon, Walmart and directly from Bose. That deal has surfaced quite a few times over the past year, and matches the buds’ lowest price.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave the QC Ultra earbuds a score of 88 in his review, and they’re the top pick in our buying guide for best noise cancellation. If you want to shut out the world, these are the buds to get. The earpieces are on the large side but we found them comfortable. There’s no wireless charging or multi-device connectivity, however, and both the battery life and mic quality could be better.
Anker’s 20,000mAh Prime portable charger is down to $90 from its list price of $130. That’s a discount of 31 percent and matches a previous record low. It’s our pick for a premium power bank in our guide to the best power banks. It looks slick, has a built-in screen and offers one USB-A and two USB-C ports. It charged an iPhone 11 from near dead to full in about an hour and 45 minutes and did that three times, with enough left over for a 75 percent refill. Stick this in a pack (with a cable) and you won’t have to worry about a dead phone.
Another pick from our guide, the Anker Nano Battery with fold out USB-C connector is on sale for $16 with an on-page coupon, which is $14 off the device’s list price. That’s if you don’t mind getting it in white. Other colorways are $19. The fold out connection means you can leave the cables at home and its small size makes it easy to keep with you so you can give a partial refill to any phone with a USB-C port.
Wi-Fi dead zones are annoying, but if you’re not ready to step up to a full mesh system, an extender may be your best bet. TP-Link’s RE315 Wi-Fi extender is our pick for the best budget option in our buyer’s guide and right now, Amazon is selling it for $23, which is a 23 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve tracked.
It provides up to 867 Mbps speeds on the 5GHz band and 300 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, and covers up to 1,500 square feet. That won’t cover a huge house and if you need lightning fast speeds or support for Wi-Fi 6, you may want to go with a more expensive model.
The Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite is down to $50 after a 38 percent discount, which is the lowest price we’ve seen since last year’s Black Friday sales. Engadget’s Jeff Dunn named it the best gaming mouse for MMOs thanks to its comfortable shape and 12 programmable side buttons. Those let you access several in-game actions with just a press, and some of the buttons are textured to help you tell them apart without looking. He does note, however, that Corsair’s iCue software to assign the keys is wildly unintuitive.
We recommend this mouse in our guide to work-from-home gear for new grads, but anyone will appreciate the ergonomic features of the Razer Basilisk V3 X HyperSpeed. Right now, Best Buy is selling it for $60, which is a mere $10 discount, but is within a dollar of the lowest price we’ve seen this year.
It’s marketed toward gamers, but the contoured shape and thumb rest make it comfortable for most right handed people, gamer or not. The mouse feels sturdy has a precise scroll wheel and lasts for hundreds of hours on a single AA battery.
The Litra Glow from Logitech is one of the things we recommend for anyone who’s just getting started on their game streaming journey. Right now, Amazon is selling it for $49.50, which is $10 off the list price, though its not the lowest price we’ve seen. It clips onto the top of a monitor and generates a clean, even glow to help you look better on camera.
JBL’s Flip 6 is on sale for $100 at Amazon, Target and directly from JBL. That’s a 23 percent discount off the $130 price tag and about $10 more than the all-time low it hit for Black Friday last year.
In our guide to Bluetooth speakers, the Flip 6 earns high marks for overall sound quality, durability and volume considering its size. The unique shape lets you stand it on its end or rest it on its side, depending on where you’re listening. Based on our guide’s recommendation, I went ahead and bought one and have been impressed with the easy pairing and clear audio — that I can easily take from room to room and out into the backyard.
If you want bigger sound and more battery life, go for the midrange JBL Charge 5. It’s on sale for $140 instead of $180 at Target and from JBL.
Another pick from our Bluetooth speaker guide, Bose’s SoundLink Flex, is back down to $119 at Target, Amazon and Bose which is a 20 percent discount and matches the all-time low we saw for last year’s Black Friday sale. It’s not a room filler, but the sound is bright and dynamic and the bass is impressive for its size. The outside feels nice with an exterior sheathed in soft-touch silicone, except for the powder-coated steel speaker grilles. It’s also IP67 rated so you can feel comfortable using it near a pool or at the beach, or just in the backyard where the hose might get it.
If you want bigger sound and don’t mind paying full price, Bose will soon offer a bigger version, the SoundLink Max, for $399.
Apple’s Studio Display is expensive at $1,600, but now Amazon is selling it for $1,300 after a 19 percent discount. That’s the lowest price we’ve tracked and beats the price it went for during Amazon’s October’s Prime Day sale. The deal applies to the tilt-adjustable stand, not the height and tilt stand. That version is also on sale, but is going for $400 more.
As we Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar said in his review, the display is really just for the Apple faithful, everyone else would be better served by another monitor. That said, the build is solid, the speakers are good, and the screen is bright and accurate. Plus the A13 Bionic chip inside make its webcam and mics a little more responsive.
One thing to note is that Apple is hosting its iPad event in a few days, though a new display is not one of the things we’re expecting (this model was introduced along with the iPhone 13 in 2022).
Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang shows off the new Blackwell GPU chip (left) at an 18 March event in San Jose, California.Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty
The rapid advance of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked a global technological race to produce computer chips that power the models. A US ban on selling high-quality computer chips to China is stifling the country’s progress in key technologies, according to researchers both inside and outside the country.
The chips have become increasingly crucial to power the latest advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI). “Generative AI could change society,” says Yiran Chen, an electrical and computer engineer at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “If China is isolated, it’s not able to catch up.”
In the past few years, interest in AI has exploded as a result of progress in generative AI tools — large language models that can produce original text, video or audio content based on human-generated input. Such models underlie technology including OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT and Microsoft’s digital assistant Copilot.
The AI boom has also sparked a global race to produce increasingly powerful computer chips that can cope with the large data sets needed to train and execute models. Nvidia, one of the leading developers of such chips, based in Santa Clara, California, has seen its market value shoot past US$2 trillion for the first time last March. “The US is ahead of almost every single country because of companies like Nvidia and AMD,” says Ahmed Banafa, an engineer at San Jose State University in California.
Export controls imposed by the US Department of Commerce in October 2022, and subsequently tightened a year later, prohibited the sale of certain technologies to China, including chips that can operate above speeds of 300 teraflops, or 300 trillion operations per second. It also limited the sale of state-of-the art manufacturing equipment that could be used to produce such chips. The United States was acting because China “has poured resources into developing supercomputing capabilities and seeks to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. It is using these capabilities to monitor, track, and surveil their own citizens, and fuel its military modernization,” said a statement from the US government accompanying the export controls.
The ban has “dramatically limited” China’s progress with training AI models, says Chen.
“We cannot get high-end Nvidia chips in China and we cannot fabricate high-end chips,” says Yu Wang, an electronic engineer at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Supply stagnation
Many suppliers outside the Chinese mainland, such as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in Hsinchu, which produces chips for Nvidia and other US developers, will not sell its most advanced chips to China to avoid falling foul of US sanctions. “For China, TSMC can only fabricate chips below the bar of the regulations”, meaning the 300-teraflop limit set by the Biden administration, says Wang. “So China can only do their own high computing-power chips inside China.”
China’s leading competitor to Nvidia, Huawei, has sought to develop its own AI chips, but Banafa says China is still “at least five to ten years” behind the United States, partly because it cannot get access to the most advanced equipment needed to produce such chips.
Generations of chip design are labelled according to nanometre ratings, with smaller numbers denoting more advanced chips. Nvidia’s latest chip — the GB200 Blackwell, intended to sell at $30,000–$40,000 per chip according to chief executive Jensen Huang — has gaps of just four nanometres, approaching the width of a strand of human DNA.
Nvidia and other US companies, such as Intel, along with Samsung in South Korea, are now transitioning to 3 nm technology and even pushing down towards 2 nm. “When you go down, you can add more transistors and more power,” says Banafa.
China’s best efforts, from Huawei, are still at around 7 nm, meaning that Chinese companies have to use more chips to achieve the same computing power as one advanced chip. “Until they have a technology breakthrough that will take them lower, they’re [playing] catch-up to the US,” says Banafa.
Other avenues
Jenny Xiao, a partner at the research-focused AI investment fund Leonis Capital in San Francisco, California, says a “black market” for high-end chips has developed in China. “If you say ‘I want to buy 5,000 chips,’ it’s hard not to get noticed,” she says. “But if you’re a smaller start-up, it doesn’t really affect you.”
There has been some good news for Chinese chip development — using AI itself to design computer chips. Yunji Chen, a computer scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Computing Technology in Beijing, and his colleagues said in the past year that they have developed the first chip to be designed by AI without human input1, called Enlightenment-1. “I believe that in five or ten years, AI can design chips as good as human beings,” says Chen. “If you want to design an AI chip, traditionally you need three years and 1,000 people. But if you use AI, you just need several hours. If this cycle becomes real, how AI evolves will be much faster.”
But for the time being, China is finding itself increasingly isolated as AI chip development continues apace elsewhere. “Who’s going to use a chip fabricated by China?” says Yiran Chen. “It’s a commercial war.”
A lack of competitiveness in AI could exacerbate what some describe as a brain drain in the country. “The broader issue is the economy,” says Xiao. “Most ambitious Chinese students want to go abroad and stay. They’re not thinking about being in China.”
If you know someone who is graduating this year, whether from high school or university, chances are good the gear that’s gotten them through the last four (or more) years is ready for a refresh. The good news is that graduation time is typically a big one for gift-giving, so if you know someone who is about to hit college or the dreaded “real world,” you can make sure they’re prepared by perusing our list of the latest tech. Everything here should be a major upgrade that’ll make the transition easier and last for years to come, as well.
Laptops
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
A good laptop remains the standard, go-to tool for getting things done. But it’s also a personal purchase, with people having strong opinions about which operating system, screen size and specs they need. So there are a few things you’ll want to know going into this purchase, but all of these laptops we recommend are some of the best and most well-rounded options on the market. Unless the person you’re shopping for has some specific needs, one of these machines should hit the mark.
Dell’s XPS 13 Plus is easy to recommend for anyone who uses Windows. At this point, Dell has almost perfected its industrial design: it’s thin and light, but not at the expense of power or battery life. The keyboard and display are excellent, and you can get impressive specs without breaking the bank. One downside is that Dell seems to have moved fully to a design that only has two USB-C ports and no headphone jack, which can be a bit limiting. But those quibbles aside, the XPS 13 Plus remains an excellent choice.
Right now, the XPS 13 Plus includes Intel’s 13th-generation Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That also includes a 13.4-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 display, and the whole package costs a very reasonable $999 direct from Dell right now. Dell has also offered the same configuration with a 4K display for $200 more, but as of this writing it’s unavailable. Either way, that’s a lot of power for the price.
For someone who’s a gamer, though, we recommend going in a different direction. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 has been our favorite gaming laptop for a few years now, one that combines relative portability (3.5 pounds and a 14-inch screen) with serious power. In our review we said that the laptop was incredibly compelling, even if it’s more expensive than it used to be. It has a powerful AMD processor and graphics card coupled with a great display, comfortable keyboard, spacious trackpad and solid design. It’s not a champ on battery life, but we got seven hours of non-gaming use out of it – pretty decent considering the specs.
You can get the Zephyrus G14 in a wide variety of configurations, but one we’d recommend includes an AMD Ryzen 9 8000 series processor, NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 2,560 x 1,600 OLED display with a 120 hz refresh rate.
For people who prefer a Mac, Apple’s lineup can be surprisingly complicated. Fortunately, the company just updated all of its laptops with its latest series of M3 processors, so now is a great time to purchase one.The MacBook Air is still the company’s best laptop for most people, and it now comes in both 13- and 15-inch configurations. In both cases, it’s an extremely light and portable computer that has better battery life than almost anything you can buy. The best option if you’re looking for longevity is the $1,499 13-inch model that includes 512GB of storage, 16GB of RAM and the M3 chip with a 10-core GPU. You can grab that same configuration with a 15-inch display for $1,699. And while we think that the Air is enough computer for most people, if you’re buying for someone who has a heavier workload like photo or video editing, the $1,999 MacBook Pro is worth considering. It gives you a significantly more powerful M3 Pro chip with a 14-core GPU along with other niceties like a gorgeous 14-inch mini-LED display.
Given how dominant a force Chromebooks are in education, it’s entirely possible that someone just finishing school might want to continue using Chrome OS. Fortunately, there are lots of premium Chromebooks that are well-designed and capable enough to last for years. One of our favorites is Acer’s Chromebook Spin 714. It includes a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor alongside a 14-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 display that offers a little more vertical space than your average 1080p screen. Add in a solid keyboard and trackpad, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and you have a Chromebook that doesn’t require many compromises. The one downside is that its 7ish-hour battery life isn’t spectacular — but given the laptop’s price, it’s probably good enough.
Tablets
Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
No, tablets have not replaced laptops as some predicted when the category started blowing up last decade. But they also still do a ton of things well. They can be a great option for getting work done, engaging your creative side with art and music-making apps or just enjoying movies and games. For the vast majority of people, Apple’s iPad is the only tablet worth considering, even if they don’t otherwise use Apple products. That’s thanks to time-tested, reliable hardware and a massive software library with hundreds of thousands of apps optimized for the iPad’s larger screen.
As for which is the best iPad, the iPad Air remains the right choice for most at the moment – especially if you’re looking for a good graduation gift. While the basic iPad is a great value, you get a lot when you step up to the Air. Perhaps most importantly, the Air has Apple’s M1 chip, a very powerful chip for a tablet that was in many Macs for years. This means the Air is extremely fast, even though the M1 is a few years old at this point.
The rest of the iPad Air’s hardware is also impressive for the price. It has a large 10.9-inch screen with thin bezels and an anti-reflective coating; the display is also laminated directly to the glass, so there’s no distracting gap beneath the surface. The Air includes 64GB or 256GB of storage, 10 hours of battery life, support for the second-generation Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard and an improved 12-megapixel front-facing camera. For $599, you’re getting almost everything that the iPad Pro offers for a lot less cash. The only caveat here is that Apple is expected to release new iPads this spring. As of this writing, the M1 iPad Air is our favorite, but just know that there may be a new Air on the way in the coming weeks.
Android tablets have never had the same level of success as the iPad, largely because of the well-documented software issues on larger-screen Android devices. But if you’re shopping for an Android diehard, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 (or S9+) are solid choices. The S9 features a high-resolution 11-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and has an S-Pen stylus included in the box. For someone looking for a bigger canvas, the S9+ steps things up to 12.4 inches. And while Android historically hasn’t been the best option for large-screen devices, Samsung’s Dex feature switches things up into a more desktop-like multi-window mode, which can be great for productivity. Samsung’s built-in apps that take advantage of the S-Pen are solid as well. You might have a hard time finding apps that are designed for the Tab S9’s larger screen, but if you’re buying this for someone familiar with Android, they’ll likely be aware of the trade-offs.
Smartphones
Google
The most important computer people own, or at least the one they probably rely on the most, is their smartphone. And if you know someone who is still rocking the same device they brought to campus with them four years ago, they’ll definitely appreciate an upgrade. The good news is that it’s pretty easy to pick out a phone that’ll satisfy just about anyone, regardless of whether they prefer Android or iOS.
This year, we’re recommending the iPhone 15 Pro Max for new graduates. The standard iPhone 15, 15 Plus and 15 Pro are all excellent phones, but the Pro Max is undeniably the best option out there. The 15 Pro Max has the best iPhone camera you can buy, with a 5x telephoto lens that gives it a big advantage over the 3x option on the standard iPhone 15. Other significant features include the massive and gorgeous 6.7-inch always-on display with a 120Hz refresh rate and the A17 Pro chip.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is expensive at $1,199, and some people may not be happy with such a large device. As such, the $999 iPhone 15 Pro is easy to recommend as an alternative, but camera nerds will really enjoy the 15 Pro Max. And the extremely fast processor and Apple’s track record of delivering software support for years means this investment should last a long time.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung continues to make the best Android devices you can buy – as such, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is our pick this year. At $1,299, it’s another pricey device, but it delivers everything you could ask for: an incredibly bright and high-quality 6.8-inch OLED screen, a high-resolution 5X telephoto camera (along with other excellent lenses and sensors), nearly two full days of battery life and strong performance. The latter comes thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and 12GB of RAM. It also comes with Samsung’s handy S Pen, for anyone who wants to use a stylus on the S24 Ultra’s giant screen. Given how thoroughly Samsung dominates the Android space, this isn’t a surprising recommendation, but it will make most Android fans happy.
While Samsung’s devices are hard to compete with, Google has routinely made excellent Android phones for a bit less cash. The $999 Pixel 8 Pro is worth a look if you’re a fan of Google’s clean take on Android, and their phones always have some nifty software tricks baked in. Battery life has been upgraded over the Pixel 7 Pro, the latest Tensor 3 chip keeps things speedy and its camera performance is as good as ever. And the fact that this phone is built by Google means it’ll get software updates before any other Android phone on the market; Google is also promising seven years of software updates.
Both of these phones are big (the Pixel 7 Pro’s screen is 6.7 inches while the S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch display), but the good news is that both Google and Samsung offer smaller-screened devices that keep most of the same features and specs as their larger siblings. You’ll save some cash with a smaller device, too.
Headphones
Billy Steele/Engadget
Almost anyone would benefit from a good pair of noise canceling headphones, and once again Sony has made our top pick. While Sony’s WH-1000XM5 is almost two years old at this point, it’s still the best over-ear option on the market. At $400, they’re more expensive than the XM4, but they offer a combination of incredible sound, a time-tested, refined design and excellent noise-canceling that is hard to beat. They also fit better and more comfortably than ever, and have 30 hours of battery life. The 1000XM5 looks better, sounds better and wears better than the previous model – it’s hard to ask for much more.
While the WH-1000XM5 is getting a little old, Sony refreshed its wireless earbuds last year, making them our new favorite pick. As with its over-ear headphones, the $298 WF-1000XM5 earbuds feature incredible sound quality, long battery life, excellent noise cancellation and a comfortable design. Sony completely redesigned the WF-1000XM5 inside and out, with a new design and drivers as well as updated chips that power their noise-canceling features. Battery life hasn’t improved, but it’s still impressive. The earbuds can get about eight hours of playback with ANC active – that jumps up to 12 hours if you turn it off. Sony also included a host of smart software features like Speak-to-Chat automatic pausing, Adaptive Sound Control adjustments based on movement or location, 360 Reality Audio and a customizable EQ.
If you’re buying earbuds for an Apple user, though, consider the second-generation AirPods Pro. They don’t quite beat Sony’s WF-1000XM5 in sound quality or battery life, but there are a host of features that make them the best earbuds to use with an iPhone, iPad or Mac. The fast pairing tech Apple introduced with the first AirPods still makes it extremely easy to start using these earbuds, or to switch them seamlessly between different Apple devices. Both the case and buds are sweat and water resistant, making them a better option for workouts.
These second-gen AirPods Pro also have big improvements in noise cancellation and sound quality, and the “transparency” mode that lets in outside sound lets you have a conversation or hear the world around you in a totally natural way. Apple improved on that last summer with a new “Adaptive Audio” feature that blends noise cancellation and transparency depending on your environment. And, Apple finally added USB-C to the charging case!
Monitors
LG
There are a dizzying number of computer monitors on the market, at basically any price you can think of, which makes recommending a single monitor a very difficult task. Fortunately, we’ve looked at a host of options and have a few good ones that don’t break the bank and offer a great viewing experience. LG’s 32-inch 32UN650-W is an excellent choice for a large, high-resolution panel that includes niceties like built-in speakers, HDR, support for AMD Freesync and a stand that offers tilt and height adjustments. It sticks with a standard 60Hz refresh rate rather than anything faster, but it’s an excellent choice for most people, especially given its $450 price.
As usual, gamers require something a little different. For that set, check out the 25-inch ASUS ROG Strix 380Hz monitor. The resolution maxes out at 1080p, and it’s a much smaller display compared to the LG — but a 380Hz refresh rate is wildly quick, and the 1m GtG response time will go a long way towards eliminating motion blurs. It also has HDR, but with a higher maximum brightness than the LG. It’s a rather specialized piece of equipment, but one that’ll undoubtedly be appreciated by gamers.
Bags
Waterfield
As important as the right gear is, your grad also deserves something classy and stylish to carry all that stuff around. The Executive Leather Messenger from Waterfield Designs is an expensive choice, but it’s worth the cost. Waterfield makes everything by hand in its San Francisco shop, and the materials it uses are top notch. I’ve owned a lot of their products over the years, and I can safely say this bag will last a decade or more, and the leather will only look more attractive as time goes on.
On the inside are two padded slots, one for a tablet and one for a laptop. There are also two pockets, one zippered, as well as a pen slot and a metal key fob. Finally, there are two easily-accessible hand pockets under the flap, both with an extremely soft plush lining. The Executive Leather Messenger comes in three different leather colors and costs either $399 or $419, depending on which size you choose. It’s an investment, for sure, but it will last a long time.
Waterfield’s bags are typically quite pricey, but the company recently released a new line of “essential” options that offer the company’s excellent construction and smart features at a lower price point. The $179 Essential Messenger is a lightweight option that does away with the leather and uses tough textiles instead. But its magnetic closures are fast and easy to undo, the strap is easily removable for wearing over whichever shoulder you choose, and it has foam inserts to help it keep its structure. There’s a built-in sleeve for a laptop up to 14 inches, and I can confirm you can shove a surprising amount of gear in it considering its smaller size.
There’s also something to be said for a good backpack. For that, check out Peak Design’s Everyday Backpack. As the name suggests, it’s a fairly minimalist design that works in a lot of contexts, and it comes with the company’s typically smart organization features. It has a number of configurable dividers inside to keep everything from pooling at the bottom, and it combines the large internal space with a host of internal and external pockets and access points. Finally, it also has a number of external straps that can be easily hidden if you don’t need them — but they provide versatile expansion of the bag’s carrying capacity. If you want to attach things like a tripod or tie a jacket or blanket on, go right ahead. There are a ton of different ways to use this bag, which means it should last years as it can just be customized to fit commutes, vacations or any other excursion.
EU antitrust officials on Monday identified iPadOS, Apple’s operating system for iPads, as a significant digital gatekeeper under the EU’s new tech regulations, which carry strict requirements to promote fair competition and expand options for consumers.
The European Commission concluded that iPadOS plays a crucial role for business users accessing the market and that Apple holds a significant and sustained market position. The Commission has given Apple a six-month deadline to fully comply with the obligations set by the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the “biggest” update in the iPhone’s history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more….
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. …
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple’s all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple’s consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were…
On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple’s upcoming “Let loose” event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple’s event invite shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Apple CEO Tim…
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its “Let Loose” event on May 7. First, Gurman now believes there is a “strong possibility” that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple’s next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro and iMac six months ago. He said a …
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of “Let Loose” and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more …
In IDC’s own words, its Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deploymentis “designed to provide clients with a better understanding of how enterprise infrastructure technologies (server, external enterprise storage systems, purpose-built appliances: HCI and PBBA) are being deployed in cloud environments and what type of buyers are acquiring them.”
The Next Platform has been following these trackers as they are released every quarter, and noticed that while hyperscalers, cloud builders, and other service providers who “build datacenter infrastructure and sell capacity on it” surpassed 50 percent share of the combined server and storage revenues in the first quarter of 2020, by the close of 2028, if IDC is right, that figure will have jumped to 69.7 percent.
The reason, of course, is LLMs. While enterprises, governments, and academic institutions (EG&As) all desire to ride the AI wave, it will be more affordable for them to do so through the cloud rather than buying, running and maintaining their own data centers.
No server makers
Digging into IDC’s data, The Next Platform’s Timothy Prickett Morgan has identified that “non-cloud” spending is now seriously below “all-cloud”, and this is a trend that shows no signs of slowing.
Prickett Morgan paints a grim picture of where this might lead us. “In that longest of runs, enterprises may lose the skillsets required to run their own infrastructure as they become more dependent on service providers. In that longest of runs, there may not be independent chip makers and system makers and storage makers, and IT may get a hell of a lot more expensive because of that. There may not be any server buyers at all, and no server makers. Just hyperscale clouds (that is an intentional hybrid) that sell application access with expensive AI built in that no one can easily replicate in a datacenter of their own, all based on hardware of their own design and making.“
And things get gloomier. “What if the plan for the hyperscalers and cloud builders is not just to build their own stuff, but to keep you and your OEM partners from building an alternative? That is what happens when the EG&A sector gets too small, and don’t think for a second these ever-hungry behemoths don’t know it.”
That may sound like the worst case scenario, and it may not come to pass, but the trends and projections presented by IDC and analyzed by The Next Platform underscore genuine concerns within the tech community. If organizations increasingly depend on hyperscale clouds and invariably lose the capability to run their own hardware, this could create a tech monopoly where only a handful of major players dictate the terms of IT solutions. The consequences could range from inflated pricing to reduced options for customization and flexibility. This is a transition that organizations, tech vendors, and policy makers need to monitor closely.
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HighPoint has unveiled the industry’s first 8-Channel PCIe Gen5 x16 NVMe Switch and NVMe RAID product lines.
Powered by Broadcom’s PEX89048 IC, these are designed to cater to high-demand, data-intensive applications and integrate Broadcom’s Gen5 PCIe switching technology to utilize x16 lanes of Gen5 host bandwidth, direct from the CPU, across Intel and AMD platforms.
HighPoint says this unique architecture enables each AIC/Adapter to maximize transfer performance for up to 8 independent device channels, and support as many as 32 NVMe devices via backplane connectivity.
Synthetic Hierarchy
The Rocket 1600 series NVMe Switch uses native inbox drivers, meaning that a 2PB solution is possible using Solidigm 61.44TB SSDs, providing they already work with the system in question.
HighPoint’s PCIe Gen5 NVMe AICs high-performance switching architecture integrates Broadcom’s 48-Channel PEX89048 switch IC to provide x16 lanes of dedicated PCIe Gen5 upstream bandwidth, ensuring x4 lanes of downstream bandwidth are available for each NVMe device channel. HighPoint says “The innovative hardware architecture enables our Gen5 NVMe product series to deliver up to 64GB/s of transfer bandwidth, minimize latency, facilitate consistent, robust I/O throughput.”
The PCIe Gen5 and Gen4 Switching Architecture employs a technique known as a “Synthetic Hierarchy” to isolate the host system’s operating system from any PCIe physical changes. It enables the AIC/Adapter to directly manage resource allocation to the downstream PCIe channels and provide true hot-swap /hot-plug capability.
The NVMe Switch Series consists of the Rocket 1628A, which is a PCIe Gen5 x16 to 4-MCIOx8 NVMe switch adapter, the Rocket 1608A, a PCIe Gen5 x16 to 8-M.2×4 NVMe switch AIC, and the Rocket 1528D, a PCIe Gen4 x16 to 4-SlimSASx8 NVMe switch adapter.
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HighPoint’s RocketRAID 7600 PCIe Gen5 NVMe RAID AICs and Adapters are built on the foundation of the Rocket 1600 Switch series, and provide RAID capabilities using HighPoint’s drivers, which are compatible with qualified NVMe drives from the company’s ecosystem partners. The Rocket 7600 Series AICs/Adapters can directly support up to eight M.2 or U.2/U.3/E3.S NVMe SSDs.
The NVMe RAID Series includes the Rocket 7628A, a PCIe Gen5 x16 to 4-MCIOx8 NVMe RAID adapter, the Rocket 7608A which is a PCIe Gen5 x16 to 8-M.2×4 NVMe RAID AIC, and the Rocket 7528D, a PCIe Gen4 x16 to 4-SlimSASx8 NVMe RAID adapter.
HighPoint says its PCIe Gen5 NVMe AICs will begin shipping globally in Q3 2024.
If you’ve lost track of this week’s most important tech news then don’t fret, as we’re here to catch you up to speed – and this is one week you won’t want to have missed.
We say that because some major things have happened in the last seven days. Meta announced that it’s sharing its Horizon OS with other VR headset makers – which is the biggest announcement it will likely make this decade – Apple teased its 2024 iPad lines and gave us a launch date for them, and DJI gave us a release date for its cheapest-ever 4K drone.
And here at TechRadar we hosted our first Sustainability Week, producing a whole host of articles showcasing some fantastic examples of how the tech industry is focusing on sustainability – and a few instances where it still needs to do better.
Let’s get you all caught up on the week’s biggest stories that you might have missed…
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though, as we also zoned in on the energy impact of processors and graphics cards, calling for the likes of AMD, Nvidia and Intel to work together towards a more sustainable chipmaking future. We’ve also shared insights on how you can do your bit, whether that’s by opting for refurbished tech, seeking out sustainably sourced devices, or using your phone to save the planet.
6. Apple set a launch date for its new iPads
The official invite for Apple’s May 7 launch event (Image credit: Apple)
Apple has confirmed the date for its next “special Apple Event” as May 7 at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST, which is midnight AEST on May 8, and while iPads aren’t officially on the cards, the invite includes a snazzy Apple logo featuring an Apple Pencil surrounded by splashes of color – a strong indication that new tablets will be shown off.
We’re expecting the headline announcement to be a new iPad Pro with an OLED display and M3 chipset, with two iPad Air 6 models plus some accessories – such as a new Pencil and potentially a Magic Keyboard – also likely to get shown off.
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And if this isn’t enough Apple for you, just over a month later Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC 2024, will kick off on June 10. So make sure to check back here regularly to keep yourself in the loop.
(Image credit: Meta)
This week Meta announced that its Horizon OS – the operating system used by its VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 – is coming to third-party hardware, starting with ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox devices.
This is huge news, as it’ll hopefully lead to a much more diverse range of VR headsets in the near future, with the already teased gadgets including a “performance gaming headset,” “mixed-reality devices for productivity,” and a more Quest-like headset coming from the trio of partners respectively.
However, Meta might want to make sure that Horizon OS doesn’t copy too many of the bad aspects of Windows, though only time will tell how this move will play out.
4. A Sony wearable took us one step closer to Dune
(Image credit: Future / Axel Metz)
With the recent launch of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and Dyson’s Bane-like air-purifying headphones, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’ve reached peak wearable tech. However, this week Sony showed us that the wearable product class is just getting started.
The Sony Reon Pocket 5 is a wearable thermo device that cools or warms your body, depending on the conditions of your environment. Designed to sit neatly on the back of your neck, the Reon Pocket 5 uses a plate-like “thermos module” and five sensors to determine optimal body temperature and, hopefully, make you more comfortable while you’re traveling on public transport or walking in less-than-ideal conditions.
The Reon Pocket 5 offers five levels of cooling and four levels of warmth, meaning that – in theory – it’s just as useful on a stuffy commuter train as it is outdoors on a frosty morning. We took the device for a spin at a recent demo event, and we can confirm that it does indeed regulate body temperature pretty effectively – though you’ll have to put up with looking like an extra from a sci-fi movie when wearing it.
3. An Android phone served up superior audio
(Image credit: Moondrop)
The lack of an audio jack in most of today’s phones hasn’t been popular with everyone – especially not audiophiles, who love the fidelity of wired connections for hi-res audio. Enter the Moondrop MIAD01 – this phone not only has a 3.5mm jack, it also has a 4.4mm balanced output for connecting to a powerful music system without distortion, and a “flagship” DAC to make sure high-end digital files get treated properly on the way to your ears.
On top of that, it’s a pretty cool phone as well. It’s got a great futuristic look (as do all Moondrop products – just check out their earbuds when you’re bored), a large 120Hz OLED screen, and dual cameras on the back. For serious streaming audiophiles, a dedicated music player or a portable DAC tend to be a big part of listening on the go, and this phone aims to replace both – and the music lovers on the TechRadar team are watching closely.
2. The Deadpool and Wolverine trailer delivered Easter egg galore
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)
Deadpool and Wolverine is edging closer towards its July 26 launch date, so it’s high time that Marvel released some new footage to further fuel our excitement for the duo’s multiversal buddy-cop flick.
Thankfully, the comic book giant duly obliged earlier this week (April 22) with a brand-new trailer – and, unsurprisingly, the Marvel Phase 5 movie’s latest teaser is packed with Easter eggs. Some are easier to spot than others, mind you, so we’ve taken the liberty of picking out six of the best and/or easily missable ones from Deadpool 3’s newest trailer. Once you’ve read that, check out ourX-Men movies in order guide to see what films you need to stream ahead of the MCU’s next flick, too.
1. DJI’s cheapest-ever 4K drone got a release date
(Image credit: DJI)
A DJI drone announcement without the usual speculation, rumors and leaked pictures is a rare thing, but the DJI Mini 4K quietly popped up on the DJI Amazon store this week, complete with a April 29 release date.
We’re not expecting big things from the Mini 4K – it will likely be a modest refresh of the DJI Mini 2 SE, with similar specs like 31-minute flight time, level 5 wind resistance and a sub-250g body – but it will become DJI’s cheapest ever drone to shoot 4K video, and that should make it one of 2024’s most popular drone for beginners.
Ampere Computing unveiled its AmpereOne Family of processors last year, boasting up to 192 single-threaded Ampere cores, which was the highest in the industry.
These chips, designed for cloud efficiency and performance, were Ampere’s first product based on its new custom core leveraging internal IP, signalling a shift in the sector, according to CEO Renée James.
At the time of the launch, James said, “Every few decades of compute there has emerged a driving application or use of performance that sets a new bar of what is required of performance. The current driving uses are AI and connected everything combined with our continued use and desire for streaming media. We cannot continue to use power as a proxy for performance in the data center. At Ampere, we design our products to maximize performance at a sustainable power, so we can continue to drive the future of the industry.”
AmpereOne-3 on its way
Jeff Wittich, chief product officer at Ampere, recently spoke with The Next Platform about future generations of AmpereOne. He told the site that an updated chip, with 12 memory channels and an A2 core with improved performance, would be out later this year in keeping with the company’s roadmap. This chip, which The Next Platform calls AmpereOne-2, will reportedly have a 33 percent increase in DDR5 memory controllers and up to 50 percent more memory bandwidth.
However, what’s coming up beyond that, at some point in 2025, sounds the most exciting.
The Next Platform says the third generation chip, AmpereOne-3 as it is calling it, will have 256 cores and be “etched in 3 nanometer (3N to be precise) processes from TSMC”. It will use a modified A2+ core with a “two-chiplet design on the cores, with 128 cores per chiplet. It could be a four-chiplet design with 64 cores per chiplet.”
The site expects the AmpereOne-3 will support PCI-Express 6.0 I/O controllers and maybe have a dozen DDR5 memory controllers, although there’s some speculation here.
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“We have been moving pretty fast on the on the compute side,” Wittich told the site. “This design has got about a lot of other cloud features in it – things around performance management to get the most out of all of those cores. In each of the chip releases, we are going to be making what would generally be considered generational changes in the CPU core. We are adding a lot in every single generation. So you are going to see more performance, a lot more efficiency, a lot more features like security enhancements, which all happen at the microarchitecture level. But we have done a lot to ensure that you get great performance consistency across all of the AmpereOnes. We are also taking a chiplet approach with this 256-core design, which is another step as well. Chiplets are a pretty big part of our overall strategy.”
The AmpereOne-3 is reportedly being etched at TSMC right now, prior to its launch next year.