The PC market is on the rebound, thanks to Windows 10's looming end-of-support date and AI PCs
Up 5% this year, 8% in 2025
Steam's new official controller comes from Hori, arrives this Halloween
Programmable inputs, gyro, Steam quick access button, and more
Something to look forward to: Hori is known for its high-quality console gamepads and has released PC controllers before, but working directly with Valve on an officially licensed pad is somewhat unexpected. Furthermore, this is the first controller Valve has licensed since discontinuing its Steam controller almost five years ago. However, Hori has only confirmed a Japanese release so far.
More practical PCIe 5.0 SSDs will finally arrive this year based on the SiliconMotion SM2508 controller
Fast PCIe 5.0 SSDs that won't require active cooling
In context: Up until now, the only PCIe 5.0 SSDs on the market have been powered by the Phison E26 controller. They're certainly fast, with sequential speeds of over 12GB/s, but they also run incredibly hot and are power-hungry. We're talking active cooling requirements and over 11W of power draw under load, which is not exactly ideal for rigs.
Intel Lunar Lake leak hints at nine SKUs, including the flagship Core Ultra 9 288V
PCs powered by Lunar Lake CPUs are expected to launch this September
How heavy was the first ever 1 GB hard drive?
Real hard drives have handles – two handles. And no, that's not the BFG.
Microsoft's Surface Copilot+ PCs earn high scores from iFixit for being super repairable
A welcome change from Microsoft
Pre-launch testing of Ryzen AI Zen 5 APU confirms AMD's IPC claims
The tests are pretty comprehensive
Seagate launches official refurbished hard drive store on eBay
The drives come with a two-year warranty
NPU vs. GPU: What's the Difference?
Use cases, architecture, and key features for specific computing tasks
Modder tries spinning an entire PC to cool it, but centrifugal force has other ideas
There's a reason the fan goes *inside* the PC and not the other way around
LG Display begins mass production of world's first tandem OLED laptop screens
Two is better than one
Ryzen 7 7700 gets discounted at several retailers, down to $246
The Ryzen 7 7700 offers solid gaming performance at a great new low price point, and the included Wraith Prism RGB cooler makes the deal even more appealing. If you need extra power, the R7 7700X is also available for $275.
Intel confirms Lunar Lake AI laptop CPUs will launch September 2024
Arrow Lake desktop CPUs are expected to launch in October
How Much RAM Do Gamers Need? 16GB vs. 32GB vs. 64GB
How much RAM do gamers need? It's a question we get asked a lot, and it's one we used to answer yearly with a good old-fashioned benchmark review. Here's our latest update.
Pocket 386 retro laptop with 40 MHz CPU, 8 MB RAM arrives for under $200
40 MHz in your pocket
Major capacitor breakthrough could usher microelectronics with 170 times higher power density
Tiny capacitors, huge potential
When Are Next-Gen GPUs Launching? Should You Buy Now or Wait?
With a new GPU generation not so far away, we're approaching the point where you'll have to decide whether to grab the graphics card you want now or wait for the next generation.
Intel Lunar Lake chips might be delayed, while competing Snapdragon X and AMD Strix Point are ready to go
Possibly delayed until late 2024
Western Digital's new budget NVMe SSDs arrive at peculiar price points
The new drives are just a few bucks shy of better storage products
TSMC explores massive rectangular chip substrates to meet AI demand
It could translate to significantly more chips per wafer
Samsung warns of app incompatibility on its Qualcomm PCs, despite Microsoft's promise
Fortnite is on the list, too
In context: Poorer performance aside, a big reason for the slow uptake of Arm-based Windows PCs has been the lack of compatibility with many commonly used apps and games. Microsoft has tried to address that with Prism, an emulation layer that lets apps run "great," regardless of whether their developers have baked in support for the architecture; however, Samsung is seemingly contradicting those claims with a new disclaimer.
Samsung is investing in GPUs, but consumers and gaming applications aren't the focus
The investment could be used to create digital twins and accelerate AI HPC workloads
Dell's first Snapdragon X Elite XPS laptop breaks cover at $1,300
Inspiron and Intel Core Ultra versions also available, with Latitude coming later