Hasta La Gadget!

Throughout this wretched pandemic, I’ve been finding myself latching on more and more to the fandoms of my youth. When times are tough and days are cloudy, there’s nothing like a little digital light shining from a Pikachu’s tail.

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PC accessory manufacturer Corsair has unveiled its first laptop, the 16-inch Voyager AMD Advantage Edition, that’s unabashedly designed for gamers and streamers. It’s an all-AMD affair, packing both Ryzen 6000-series processors and an AMD Radeon RX 6800M GPU. It appears to be some of the first fruit from its 2019 purchase of gaming PC manufacturer Origin. 

The highlight feature is a 10-key LCD macro bar above the keyboard that’s powered by Elgato, allowing streamers to customize controls using Stream Deck software. At the same time, you don’t have a MacBook Pro touch bar situation where the function keys have been replaced, as it has those, too. And because of the laptop’s unusual clamshell design, you can access the macro bar even when the laptop is closed.

Corsair

You’ll be able to customize the keys to different live streaming controls like switching scenes, adjusting audio and loading videos or photos. That way, you could presumably control streaming from your laptop, and the keys could also be used with video conferencing apps like Zoom. 

The 16-inch 2,560 x 1,600 240Hz display (16:10) looks ideal for gaming with a good blend of resolution and speed. Other features aimed at gamers and streamers include a full-sized keyboard with Cherry MX ultra-low profile mechanical switches (in conjunction with membrane for half-height keys), and a 1080p30 webcam with a physical privacy shutter. 

Corsair

Corsair is offering two versions with either a Ryzen 7 6800HS or Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, along with a Radeon RX 6800M GPU for both. Both versions are well-equipped for gaming or creative work, with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD on the Ryzen 7 version, and 64GB GB of DDR RAM and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD on the Ryzen 9 model. Both include a pair of Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB 4.0 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port and a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port, along with an SDXC 7.0 card reader, 3.5mm combo audio jack, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

The design is certainly different from other gaming laptops, but it looks sleek with a 19.9mm tapered design and thin display section. It weighs in at 2.4kg (5.3 pounds), a bit heavier than the 16-inch HP Omen 16 gaming laptop (5.03 pounds). The bottom bezel is fairly chunky, likely to accommodate the extra space required for the touch bar. 

With the Voyager AMD Advantage Edition, Corsair appears to be taking on Razer in the enthusiast gaming segment. Corsair’s press release shows $2,700 and $3,000 price tags for the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 models, respectively, though the company also said that “availability and pricing will be announced at a later date.” 

The former New York mayor lost it during the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York on Sunday.

AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 7000 chips will mark another major milestone for the company: they’ll be the first desktop processors running 5 nanometer cores. During her Computex keynote presentation today, AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed that Ryzen 7000 chips will launch this fall. Under the hood, they’ll feature dual 5nm Zen 4 cores, as well as a redesigned 6nm I/O core (which includes RDNA2 graphics, DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 controllers and a low-power architecture). Earlier this month, the company teased its plans for high-end “Dragon Range” Ryzen 7000 laptop chips, which are expected to launch in 2023.

Since this is just a Computex glimpse, AMD isn’t giving us many other details about the Ryzen 7000 yet. The company says it will offer a 15 percent performance jump in Cinebench’s single-threaded benchmark compared to the Ryzen 5950X. Still, it’d be more interesting to hear about multi-threaded performance, especially given the progress Intel has made with its 12th-gen CPUs. You can expect 1MB of L2 cache per core, as well as maximum boost speeds beyond 5GHz and better hardware acceleration for AI tasks.

AMD is also debuting Socket AM5 motherboards alongside its new flagship processor. The company is moving towards a 1718-pin LGA socket, but it will still support AM4 coolers. That’s a big deal if you’ve already invested a ton into your cooling setup. The new motherboards will offer up to 24 channels of PCIe 5.0 split across storage and graphics, up to 14 USB SuperSpeed ports running at 20 Gbps, and up to 4 HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2 ports. You’ll find them in three different flavors: B650 for mainstream systems, X650 for enthusiasts who want PCIe 5.0 for storage and graphics and X650 Extreme for the most demanding folks.

Given that Intel still won’t have a 7nm desktop chip until next year (barring any additional delays), AMD seems poised to once again take the performance lead for another generation. But given just how well Intel’s hybrid process for its 12th-gen chips has worked out, it’ll be interesting to see how it plans to respond. If anything, it sure is nice to see genuine competition in the CPU space again.

While Ryzen 7000 will be AMD’s main focus for the rest of the year, the company is also throwing a bone to mainstream laptops in the fourth quarter with its upcoming 6nm “Mendocino” CPUs. They’ll sport four 6nm Zen 2 cores, as well as RDNA 2 graphics, making them ideal for systems priced between $399 and $699. Sure, that’s not much to get excited about, but even basic machines like Lenovo’s Ideapad 1 deserve decent performance. And for many office drones, it could mean having work-issued machines that finally don’t stink.

“White supremacy shouldn’t be the main target,” said Greene, instead urging panic over the “invasion” at the border.