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Today we’re taking a look at the Needletail SX, Arkh Flight Systems’ (AFS) new flagship gaming PC. AFS seemed to have one goal when putting together the Needletail SX: make an insanely powerful gaming PC regardless of cost. Indeed, you’re working with a lot of power with the Needletail SX, but money can’t be an issue if you’re looking to buy one, as you’ll be paying a premium price for access to such a rig. It the Needletail SX worth the hefty price tag? Read on to find out.

Hardware

When you pull the Needletail SX out of the box for the first time, you’re likely to be taken aback by how awesome everything looks. All of your hardware is enclosed in an excellent NZXT Switch 810 full case, which has a window on the right side so you can look inside and view your motherboard. The case itself is sleek, with more than enough room on the inside to add additional hardware should you ever want to. The case also comes equipped with a number of dust filters to make fan maintenance less of a chore. The case is glossy in most places, which means that it will attract fingerprints easily, but a little upkeep is a small price to pay to keep your Switch 810 looking great.

That sexy-looking case is filled with some of the best hardware around. Bringing everything together is an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard. This particular motherboard features an Intel x79 chipset, and enough PCI express 3.0 slots to support 4-way SLI or Crossfire. Even though the Needletail SX already comes with more than enough graphics power, it’s nice to know that you can continue to upgrade should you need any more power in the future. On the back of the unit, we’ve got 4 USB 3.0 ports, 8 USB 2.0 ports (one of which is reserved for ROG Connect), and two eSATA 3.0 ports. The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme is an excellent motherboard, but then again it would need to be with all of this high-end hardware attached to it.

As far as the CPU goes, you’re working with an Intel Core i7-3930k, which has six cores and 12 threads. This CPU normally comes clocked at 3.2Ghz, but AFS takes care of the overclocking for you and bumps that up to 4.4Ghz before sending it off. The model we received uses Intel’s older Sandy Bridge microarchitecture, but it seems that AFS has since updated its models to use Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs. It goes without saying that you’ve got a lot of processing power under the hood, and even that’s something of an understatement. You’ve got an excess of processing power under the hood, as the i7’s six cores can handle whatever you need to do with this computer with plenty left to spare. One only needs to look at the Geekbench and Cinebench scores posted below to see that much is true.

Next up let’s talk about RAM. Surrounding the CPU in a rather nice looking display are 8 G.Skill Ripjaws Z 4GB DD3 cards at 2133 MHz. That means you have a whopping 32GB of RAM at your disposal – likely more than you’ll ever need, but there to ensure that everything runs extremely smooth. Indeed, that RAM helps make this computer incredibly fast, regardless of what you’re doing. You can play a game with all the settings maxed (more on that later) and never have to worry about stuttering, thanks partially to the amount of RAM you’ve got under the hood.

The dual SLI EVGA NVIDIA GTX680 graphics cards help with that too, naturally. With 2GB of video RAM each, this SLI setup can handle anything you can throw at it, as far as gaming goes. The GTX680 is one of NVIDIA’s enthusiast-level cards, meant only for those who take PC gaming incredibly seriously, and this computer uses two of them. Of course, installing two of the best GPUs around makes for a pretty significant price hike, but with these two working together, you won’t have to worry about updating your graphics hardware anytime soon.

The CPU is cooled by a Corsair Hydro Serious H100 cooler, and what’s interesting about this particular water cooler is that comes with adjustable fan settings. There are three settings in total – low, medium, and high – and the computer comes set to medium out of the box. You’ll be able to use the medium settings for most anything you’ll be doing with the Needletail SX, as it isn’t too loud (though it isn’t exactly silent either), and provides more than enough air to keep the computer cool while playing even the most graphics-intensive game. AFS recommends that you install a CPU thermometer widget to ensure that your CPU never runs above 82 degrees Celsius for too long, but in all of my tests, I never managed to get the CPU to heat up hotter than the mid-50s range. In other words, this cooling system does its job wonderfully, even when you’re intentionally trying to push it to its limits.

With storage, you’ve got a Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD and a Plextor M3 256GB SSD to take advantage of. Both are connected through SATA 6.0, and the operating system (in this case the Needletail SX is running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) is stored on the SSD. With the 256GB allowed by the SSD, you might want to consider installing some of your most-played games on it, as load times are obviously dramatically shorter when running from the SSD. This HDD/SSD setup, along with the RAM and CPU, makes this beast ridiculously fast, so time spent waiting for something to boot or load is kept to a minimum.

You’ve heard enough about how great the hardware in this PC is, but the benchmarks prove that it isn’t just talk. With Geekbench 2.0, the Needletail SX managed to post a score dangerously close to 25,000. The processor was the star of the test, pulling in ridiculously high numbers, especially with the processor floating point test. Running Cinebench 11.5, we get impressive results once again. Cinebench is a benchmark tool that tests both the CPU and the graphics power, and both came back with excellent scores. The CPU test showed a score of 12.71, while the OpenGL test ran at a smooth 60.34 fps. It isn’t that often you get a computer that can put out scores like that – be it in Cinebench or Geekbench – which just goes to show that AFS was serious about building an enthusiast-level gaming PC when they put the Needletail SX together.

Gaming

I’ve already mentioned gaming a couple of times in this review, but now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. After reading through the hardware section, it should go without saying that gaming is wonderful on this machine, but just for the purpose of reiteration, I’ll say it anyway: gaming is wonderful on this machine. I tested Battlefield 3, Skyrim, and Batman: Arkham City (all at 1920×1080 resolution) on this rig, and it was able to play all of them as if it was nothing.

With Batman: Arkham City, I used extreme detail settings, NVIDIA 32x CSAA, high DirectX 11 Tessellation, and turned NVSS and HBAO on. The result was a game that ran consistently between 50 and 60 fps, with an upper limit of around 70 to 75. Changing the settings to 8x MSAA and keeping everything else the same, we get about the same results: 50-60 fps consistently with a max that sits right around 70. On 8x MSAA, I enjoyed 60 fps on a more consistent basis, but when you’ve got a frame rate that averages around 55 fps, the difference is hardly noticeable. Overall, the graphics were incredibly smooth and there was very little stuttering; normally, the game stuttered briefly when it was loading a new area, but that was it. Not too bad for a PC port that many people have issues with.

Moving right along to Battlefield 3, turning up the settings as high as they can go – that includes 4x MSAA and 16x Anisotropic filtering – I managed a frame rate that ranged between 70 and 90 fps. That’s when you’re in outdoor environments with a ton of action surrounding you. With indoor environments, the frame rate can jump as high as 120 fps. Like Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3 looked amazing on the Needletail SX, with almost no stuttering whatsoever.

Finally, we come to Skyrim, which is unfortunately locked at 60 fps. There are ways to change this, but using ultra settings, 8x Anti-Aliasing, and 16x Anisotropic filtering, the game ran at a solid 60 fps all the time. That’s with Bethesda’s HD DLC and Laast’s Pure Waters mod (along with a few weapons and armor mods) installed. With Skyrim on the Needletail SX, you get nothing but silky smooth visuals, and trust me when I say that this is the way Skyrim was meant to be played.

Again, the Needletail SX is an excellent gaming rig, and it’s sure to handle whatever kind of gaming challenge you give it. You’re working with a lot of power under the hood, and the good thing is that this hardware isn’t going to become obsolete anytime soon. If you want to game with the visuals maxed while still enjoying an excellent frame rate, you need look no further than the Needletail SX.

Wrap-Up

So I’ve been singing the praises of the Needletail SX for quite a few paragraphs now. If you couldn’t tell by now, I’m in love with almost everything about this PC. The word “almost” is key there, because there is one significant downside to the Needletail SX: its price. With all of that hardware you’ve got installed, this PC does not come cheap. It comes in at $4,499, and that doesn’t include the operating system. You’ll have to buy the operating system separately (AFS offers the many versions of Windows 7 as “additional options”), so if you want the exact build I was working with here, you’re going to have to shell out $4,698.

That is going to hold a lot of people back, but it’s clear that AFS didn’t want to make a budget PC with this one. The old adage “you get what you pay for” applies here, and that high price tag means that you’re getting one of the best (if not the best) pre-built gaming PCs around. The Needletail SX is Arkh Flight Systems’ flagship model, and the company has packed this thing with some of the best hardware currently available. The steep price tag means that only the most serious of gamers need apply, but if you’ve got the cash and you don’t want to build a PC yourself, then you should be very happy with the Needletail SX.

NEEDLETAIL SX gaming PC Review is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The storied ThinkPad line has just turned 20 and, over all those years, the brand has established itself as something that (mostly) successfully straddles the line between boring corporate accessory and classy consumer choice. Stoic is an apt term for the machines and, through those two decades, they’ve only gotten better and better — well, most of the time, anyway.

Welcome, then, to what is the latest and, therefore, what should be the best: the $1,499 ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It’s an evolution of last year’s X1, thinner and lighter than that pre-Ultrabook despite having a larger display. The Carbon moniker here not only describes this machine’s matte black exterior but also applies to the woven and resin-impregnated composite structure within, delivering a rare mix of light weight, svelte dimensions and durable construction. It’s a wonder to behold but can it improve on the previous ThinkPad X1‘s shortcomings? There’s only one way to find out.

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review: the definitive Ultrabook for pros

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review: the definitive Ultrabook for pros originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s time to get serious about touch-screen computers here in the summer before Window 8 is formally released – and Lenovo’s got your back with a massive all-in-one called the IdeaCentre A720. This 27-inch display-toting AIO works with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, an all-glass “frame-less” front, and an Intel Quad-core Core i7 CPU (Ivy Bridge) under the hood. And it folds flat so you can play touchscreen table hockey – what more could you want?

Hardware

Any review you see of this device – if you don’t run out and buy it right now, that is – will tell you that it’s quite gorgeous. Without appearing too similar to what the market has dubbed “Apple-esque”, this Lenovo machine carves out a new space for the manufacturer, prepping us for a future that’s very bright for sleek-looking and sleek-feeling computers. The display is, again, massive, you’ll be working with just the touchscreen on it’s own if you wish or with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (included), and you only need to pop the power cord in to get started.

Hit the power button on the lower right of the display (behind the display, rather, as the outer rim angles inward) and the machine lights up with loveliness. You’ve got a 10-point touch-screen experience ahead of you with several light-up touch-sensitive buttons under the rim near the bottom of the screen as well. There you can brighten up or dim down your display, change sound levels, and adjust what’s on your screen with a touch in several other ways.

The bottom left of the machine has two HDMI ports, one in, one out. There you can connect with your smartphone – as most smartphones now have such a connection in one way or another, or you can push content out to a much more major-league HD display. In other words, you can make this computer the biggest wired remote control of all time!

You also have one USB 3.0 port on that side and three USB 2.0 ports on the back. Also on the back is your power port and Ethernet port as well. Then there’s your ability to adjust the display. The whole computer is massively heavy – ringing in at 11.6kg or 25.6 pounds. You’ll be able to view the display anywhere between 90 degrees straight up and down and 0 degrees (flat). Moving the display (as demonstrated in our hands-on video below) is extremely easy yet keeps the machine tight in place wherever you want to leave it.

The speaker grilles you’ve got up front of the base are part of this machine’s Dolby Home Theater v4 setup, and they sound rather nice. This machine presents one of those situations where you wont be needing additional side-speakers all around just to hear it across the room – you’re set! Along the right side of the base of the machine you’ve got a Blu-ray Disc slot where you’ll be able to read and burn Blu-ray disks as well as CDs and DVDs.

Also included in the review pack we’ve received is the optional TV tuner so we can pick up some sweet channels and make this an even more inclusive device. This package also includes an IR Windows Media Center remote control which has worked like a charm with the included receiver which you simply plug in to the machine and click away.

Up top on the front of the screen you’ve got a 720p HD webcam so you’ll be able to Skype the whole night through – and also make use of some brand new interactive Kinect-like games as well (you’ll see more of this in our hands-on video below as well.) Have a peek at some additional features inside this device in the following readout:

Software

For graphics you’ve got a lovely NVIDIA GeForce GT630M 2GB discrete graphics which you’ll certainly need to love as there aren’t any options for switching when you pick up this machine. That said, we’ve had no problem working with any game that’s been thrown at the machine with Batman: Arkham City flowing like a charm and Diablo III having no graphics issues to speak of. Playing Batman with a wireless game pad and this massive display was an extra treat as the hardware lends itself to a pushed-back appearance. In other words, there’s nothing to distract from the fun.

Because this is a touchscreen-centric device, Lenovo has included a hub where you can play a set of games that work entirely with touch. You’ve got 10-finger touch sensitivity, which makes things rather interesting for the updated Pong they’ve got ready for you, and you can play the keyboard as well – the musical keyboard, that is. This system is demonstrated in the hands-on video we’ve got prepared for you right here, as it were.

You’ll see that not only does this computer make use of its touchscreen surface to make music and to play games, it’s ready to make use of the camera as well to play some interesting video games. The camera-centric games aren’t nearly as fine-tuned as the touchscreen games, which is why you won’t see them advertised as a feature on this system. They are there though, and they’re fun to work with. Windows 7 is here as well, and it’s clear that though this system is working with a perfectly legitimate set of extras (like a pull-out onscreen keyboard) to make your experience nice in the meantime, Lenovo has prepared this system for Windows 8 – that’s not an official statement from them, but it seems pretty clear when you’re working with the machine.

As for performance, you’ll find this machine working perfectly well for an all-in-one system, and with the quad-core i7 under the hood, you’re good to go for processing video and playing hardcore games at your leisure. Of course it’s no beastly custom-made gaming computer, but it’s really not meant to be. What you’ve got here is more an entertainment machine than a workhorse.

It would be nice to have a more vast collection of touch-friendly applications out there in the world of Windows 7 right this minute, but alas, someone has to go first with the hardware. You’ll find Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja – as well as the awesome two-finger version of space hockey – to be more than enough to play with until the new wave of touchscreen apps comes on later this year.

Wrap-Up

The Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 is a home run for Lenovo. You won’t find a better touchscreen PC for this price, not until Windows 8 makes touchscreen PCs a commodity. For now they’re still somewhat of a rarity – and this machine is one of the good ones. This machine is well worth the cash and ready to be your school or home-friendly all-in-one computer right this minute. You’ll find this all-in-one monster available online right now for right around $1849 straight from Lenovo.

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you like the idea of wireless charging, you might be interested to learn that according to a report from Digitimes, it seems that Intel is interested in bringing the wireless charging feature to their smartphones in 2013. This standard of wireless charging has reportedly been approved by the Wireless Power Consortium as the Qi standard and is expected to draw its source of power from Intel-powered ultrabooks. This coupled with the required software and transmitter is said to be able to charge phones from a distance without having to be placed in a specific position and is also said to consume low power.

As a quick recap, Intel recently released Intel-based smartphones this year. Granted they are a bit late to the Android game what with Qualcomm, NVIDIA and Texas Instruments having already released Android devices, so it will be interesting to see if this wireless charging feature using ultrabooks will be one of the ways for Intel to gain an upperhand. However it should be noted that Digitimes has a hit and miss record when it comes to these rumors, so perhaps taking them with a grain of salt for now might be a good idea.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Intel to port Android 4.1 Jelly Bean over to Atom-powered smartphones and tablets, Intel announces Lava XOLO X900 Android smartphone for India,

Lenovo has officially announced the ThinkPad Tablet 2, its much-leaked Windows 8 slate with optional pen input for what the company describes as “differentiators that matter” in the tablet segment. Headed to stores in October, alongside the launch of Windows 8, the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 packs an Intel Atom processor and a 1,366 x 768 IPS LCD multitouch display, along with a battery good for up to 10hrs runtime.

That display can be outfitted with an optional stylus, which uses an active digitizer for more precision and slots neatly into a silo on the slate itself. Other options include a fingerprint reader, integrated 3G/4G – with both HSPA+ and LTE variants on offer, and Lenovo already having confirmed AT&T as one carrier – and a ThinkPad-style keyboard for heavy-duty text entry. Finally, there’ll be a desktop dock with HDMI output, a trio of USB ports and wired ethernet.

The ThinkPad Tablet 2 has twin cameras, 8-megapixels on the back and a 2-megapixel shooter up-front for video calls, and the whole thing weighs under 600g and is 9.8mm thick. Unsurprisingly, Lenovo is putting a little extra weight on its enterprise potential, hoping to leverage Windows 8′s pro-features to make a dent in the business market.

What we don’t yet know is exactly how much Lenovo will be charging. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 will be going up against not only Microsoft’s own Surface Pro – the more expensive version of the own-brand tablet, with both stylus control and Windows 8 rather than Windows RT – but the iPad which has already made strong gains in the enterprise marketplace.

Price differences between those two devices are expected to be broad, however; the new iPad starts from $499 while the Surface Pro is tipped to be around the price of an ultrabook, or presumably in excess of $699. Lenovo will tell us more closer to launch.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 gets serious with Windows 8 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.