Hasta La Gadget!

Windows laptops are in a bit of transition thanks to the recent introduction of Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs. However, that designation currently only applies to systems featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips. But now, with some help from AMD, HP’s OmniBook Ultra 14 is packing even better AI performance in a thin and light chassis.

Powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series chips, the OmniBook UItra 14 is said to deliver up to 55 TOPS of AI performance, which is more than the 45 TOPS you get from the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus’ Hexagon NPU. HP claims this will support a range of new features including faster AI image generation, improved camera effects in video calls and more. Meanwhile for non-machine learning-related tasks, the OmniBook Ultra also sports an integrated Radeon 980 GPU. But perhaps most importantly, because AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 silicon is based on x86 architecture, you won’t run into app compatibility issues as you do with the existing crop of Arm-based Copilot+ PCs. That means you can play games like Fortnite and League of Legends whose anti-cheat systems have not yet been updated to work on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips.

To help expand the OmniBook UItra’s AI abilities, HP also created its own AI Companion app, which includes the company’s Wolf Security system, an improved version of its Smart Sense performance optimization tool, support for Windows Studio Effects and Poly Camera Pro and more. Notably, HP says the laptop will also get a free update that will unlock all of Windows 11’s current AI features like Image Creator and real-time transcription, which will make the OmniBook Ultra 14 an official Copilot+ PC. That said, there’s no official timetable for when that patch will be available.

As for the rest of the system, careful observers may have already noticed that the OmniBook Ultra sports a very familiar design. That’s because unlike HP’s Qualcomm-powered OmniBook X which was built using a brand new chassis, for its latest AI PC, HP reused the frame from one of its Spectre laptops for the Ultra. This is why the notebook features those distinctive angled corners. 

The OmniBook Ultra also has two Thunderbolt 4 ports (a first for any AMD-powered HP laptop), one USB Type-A slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. And while both the OmniBook X and OmniBook Ultra are 14-inch systems, the latter features a larger 68 Wh battery (versus 59 Wh for the OmniBook X), resulting in a slightly bulkier device that weighs 3.5 pounds and measures 0.65 inches thick (compared to 2.98 pounds and 0.57 inches for the X).

Unfortunately, at this point, it remains to be seen if AMD’s new AI-focused chip can deliver the same level of longevity we’ve gotten from current Copilot+ PCs, though HP is touting around 13 hours of life in Mobile Mark and up to 21 hours of continuous video playback.

The HP Omnibook Ultra is slated to go on sale sometime in August starting at $1,450.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-omnibook-ultra-14-is-hps-first-amd-powered-next-gen-ai-pc-143126124.html?src=rss

The horde is relentless. Every time I naively get overconfident in the timing of my laser sweeps and think I finally have the advantage over my enemies, the next wave comes in tenfold just to put me back in my place. I flatten them, they come back stronger and overtake me, and our little dance starts all over again.

In Laser Sphere, a Playdate game made by Pulp creator Shaun Inman, it’s just you and your prone-to-overheating space laser against the world. From the game’s description:

The lights in the sky are fading. A massive shell around an ailing star is the last bastion of a civilization witness to a cosmic extinction level event. But at the edge of the gloom lurks a horde driven mad by darkness, bent on snuffing out the last of the light.

Your job is to defend the Sphere from the incoming attackers, using the crank to control the direction of the laser beam and ‘A’ to fire. You can hold ‘A’ for a continuous blast of the laser, but this is a time-limited action — after a few seconds, your laser will overheat and be unusable until it cools down, leaving you completely vulnerable. To prevent that, you can instead shoot in short bursts to conserve power. But when tiny, high-speed enemies are coming at you in droves, good luck trying to snipe them each individually. When all else fails, you can deploy a bomb to take out a large number of enemies at once.

Shaun Inman

There are ways to improve the Sphere that’ll give you a better shot at holding off the swarm. After destroying the ships, you can collect their materials and use the currency from this at the end of each level to purchase upgrades and make repairs. One add-on will reduce the laser’s cooldown time, while another fortifies your shield.

Thanks to the overheating/cooldown element, every decision feels high-stakes, and Laser Sphere as a result is an extremely engaging little action game. (The music by Mike Freuden is pretty solid too). There are enemies of different sizes, each type moving at a different speed, and you really have to stay on your toes to make sure you’re making the best use of your laser for whichever threat is most pressing at the moment. Otherwise, you’ll end up without a weapon when a couple dozen attackers are right on top of you. You can get Laser Sphere on the Playdate Catalog for $6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/laser-sphere-uses-playdates-crank-to-control-a-space-laser-and-im-having-a-blast-223109297.html?src=rss

The horde is relentless. Every time I naively get overconfident in the timing of my laser sweeps and think I finally have the advantage over my enemies, the next wave comes in tenfold just to put me back in my place. I flatten them, they come back stronger and overtake me, and our little dance starts all over again.

In Laser Sphere, a Playdate game made by Pulp creator Shaun Inman, it’s just you and your prone-to-overheating space laser against the world. From the game’s description:

The lights in the sky are fading. A massive shell around an ailing star is the last bastion of a civilization witness to a cosmic extinction level event. But at the edge of the gloom lurks a horde driven mad by darkness, bent on snuffing out the last of the light.

Your job is to defend the Sphere from the incoming attackers, using the crank to control the direction of the laser beam and ‘A’ to fire. You can hold ‘A’ for a continuous blast of the laser, but this is a time-limited action — after a few seconds, your laser will overheat and be unusable until it cools down, leaving you completely vulnerable. To prevent that, you can instead shoot in short bursts to conserve power. But when tiny, high-speed enemies are coming at you in droves, good luck trying to snipe them each individually. When all else fails, you can deploy a bomb to take out a large number of enemies at once.

Shaun Inman

There are ways to improve the Sphere that’ll give you a better shot at holding off the swarm. After destroying the ships, you can collect their materials and use the currency from this at the end of each level to purchase upgrades and make repairs. One add-on will reduce the laser’s cooldown time, while another fortifies your shield.

Thanks to the overheating/cooldown element, every decision feels high-stakes, and Laser Sphere as a result is an extremely engaging little action game. (The music by Mike Freuden is pretty solid too). There are enemies of different sizes, each type moving at a different speed, and you really have to stay on your toes to make sure you’re making the best use of your laser for whichever threat is most pressing at the moment. Otherwise, you’ll end up without a weapon when a couple dozen attackers are right on top of you. You can get Laser Sphere on the Playdate Catalog for $6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/laser-sphere-uses-playdates-crank-to-control-a-space-laser-and-im-having-a-blast-223109297.html?src=rss

The horde is relentless. Every time I naively get overconfident in the timing of my laser sweeps and think I finally have the advantage over my enemies, the next wave comes in tenfold just to put me back in my place. I flatten them, they come back stronger and overtake me, and our little dance starts all over again.

In Laser Sphere, a Playdate game made by Pulp creator Shaun Inman, it’s just you and your prone-to-overheating space laser against the world. From the game’s description:

The lights in the sky are fading. A massive shell around an ailing star is the last bastion of a civilization witness to a cosmic extinction level event. But at the edge of the gloom lurks a horde driven mad by darkness, bent on snuffing out the last of the light.

Your job is to defend the Sphere from the incoming attackers, using the crank to control the direction of the laser beam and ‘A’ to fire. You can hold ‘A’ for a continuous blast of the laser, but this is a time-limited action — after a few seconds, your laser will overheat and be unusable until it cools down, leaving you completely vulnerable. To prevent that, you can instead shoot in short bursts to conserve power. But when tiny, high-speed enemies are coming at you in droves, good luck trying to snipe them each individually. When all else fails, you can deploy a bomb to take out a large number of enemies at once.

Shaun Inman

There are ways to improve the Sphere that’ll give you a better shot at holding off the swarm. After destroying the ships, you can collect their materials and use the currency from this at the end of each level to purchase upgrades and make repairs. One add-on will reduce the laser’s cooldown time, while another fortifies your shield.

Thanks to the overheating/cooldown element, every decision feels high-stakes, and Laser Sphere as a result is an extremely engaging little action game. (The music by Mike Freuden is pretty solid too). There are enemies of different sizes, each type moving at a different speed, and you really have to stay on your toes to make sure you’re making the best use of your laser for whichever threat is most pressing at the moment. Otherwise, you’ll end up without a weapon when a couple dozen attackers are right on top of you. You can get Laser Sphere on the Playdate Catalog for $6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/laser-sphere-uses-playdates-crank-to-control-a-space-laser-and-im-having-a-blast-223109297.html?src=rss

The horde is relentless. Every time I naively get overconfident in the timing of my laser sweeps and think I finally have the advantage over my enemies, the next wave comes in tenfold just to put me back in my place. I flatten them, they come back stronger and overtake me, and our little dance starts all over again.

In Laser Sphere, a Playdate game made by Pulp creator Shaun Inman, it’s just you and your prone-to-overheating space laser against the world. From the game’s description:

The lights in the sky are fading. A massive shell around an ailing star is the last bastion of a civilization witness to a cosmic extinction level event. But at the edge of the gloom lurks a horde driven mad by darkness, bent on snuffing out the last of the light.

Your job is to defend the Sphere from the incoming attackers, using the crank to control the direction of the laser beam and ‘A’ to fire. You can hold ‘A’ for a continuous blast of the laser, but this is a time-limited action — after a few seconds, your laser will overheat and be unusable until it cools down, leaving you completely vulnerable. To prevent that, you can instead shoot in short bursts to conserve power. But when tiny, high-speed enemies are coming at you in droves, good luck trying to snipe them each individually. When all else fails, you can deploy a bomb to take out a large number of enemies at once.

Shaun Inman

There are ways to improve the Sphere that’ll give you a better shot at holding off the swarm. After destroying the ships, you can collect their materials and use the currency from this at the end of each level to purchase upgrades and make repairs. One add-on will reduce the laser’s cooldown time, while another fortifies your shield.

Thanks to the overheating/cooldown element, every decision feels high-stakes, and Laser Sphere as a result is an extremely engaging little action game. (The music by Mike Freuden is pretty solid too). There are enemies of different sizes, each type moving at a different speed, and you really have to stay on your toes to make sure you’re making the best use of your laser for whichever threat is most pressing at the moment. Otherwise, you’ll end up without a weapon when a couple dozen attackers are right on top of you. You can get Laser Sphere on the Playdate Catalog for $6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/laser-sphere-uses-playdates-crank-to-control-a-space-laser-and-im-having-a-blast-223109297.html?src=rss