Just ahead of Computex, E3 and Intel’s launch of its 4th generation of processors, NVIDIA has announced its GTX 700M family of graphics processors (GPUs) for laptops. This is a performance-oriented refresh that hits on nearly all important elements: core […]
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It wasn’t all that long ago that we first got our mitts on the Blade 2.0, and today we came to grips with two new third-gen Razer gaming laptops: the Blade Pro and a fresh 14-inch model. On the outside, both of these Blades favor their elders — both sport matte black anodized-aluminum shells with Razer’s trademark Slimer-green accents and diminutive power bricks. Where they differ from previous Blades is in what lies beneath that familiar facade.
Each will come with Intel’s fourth-generation Core-i7 quad-core silicon (a 47W chip in the Pro and a 37W CPU in the 14-incher) and a freshly revealed NVIDIA GTX 765M GPU, plus bigger batteries than ever before. If it wasn’t already obvious, let us spell it out for you: a big reason for these changes is electrical economy. One of the biggest complaints with any portable gaming rig is its battery life, or more accurately, lack thereof. A more efficient CPU and GPU, plus an extra 10 to 14 Wh of juice means that Razer is acutely aware of the problem and is taking steps to fix it. Razer ran the MobileMark 2007 battery test on the new 14-inch Blade and it lasted six hours. Of course, we’ll have to wait until we review these new rigs to discover real-world battery life, but at least on paper, the two new Blades will be a bit more miserly.
We’ve already seen a couple of new desktop GTX cards from NVIDIA this month, and if the mysterious spec sheet for MSI’s GT70 Dragon Edition 2 laptop wasn’t enough of a hint, the company’s got some notebook variants to let loose, too. The GeForce GTX 700M series, officially announced today, is a quartet of chips built on the Kepler architecture. At the top of the stack is the GTX 780M, which NVIDIA claims is the “world’s fastest notebook GPU,” taking the title from AMD’s Radeon HD 8970M. For fans of the hard numbers, the 780M has 1,536 CUDA cores, an 823MHz base clock speed and memory configs of up to 4GB of 256-bit GDDR5 — in other words, not a world apart from a desktop card. Whereas the 780M’s clear focus is performance, trade-offs for portability and affordability are made as you go down through the 770M, 765M and 760M. Nevertheless, the 760M is said to be 30 percent faster than its predecessor, and the 770M 55 percent faster.
All of the chips feature NVIDIA’s GPU Boost 2.0 and Optimus technologies, and work with the GeForce Experience game auto-settings utility. The 700M series should start showing up in a host of laptops soon, and a bunch of OEMs have already pledged their allegiance. Check out a video with NVIDIA’s Mark Avermann after the break, where he shows off a range of laptops packing 700M GPUs, and helps us answer the most important question of all: can it run Crysis? (Or, in this case, Crysis 3.)
Gallery: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700M slide deck
Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, Peripherals, NVIDIA
Razer promised it was aiming to iterate its Blade gaming laptop on a yearly basis, and despite the company’s recent focus on tablets, it appears to be keeping its word. Today, a mere eight months after releasing the second-gen Blade, Razer unveiled two new members of the Blade family: the 17-inch Blade Pro and its 14-inch sibling. As you might expect, the Pro tops its elders with new silicon and storage options. It’s exchanging third-gen Intel Ivy Bridge silicon for a fourth-gen Haswell chip and upgrading from an NVIDIA GTX 660M to a GTX 765M GPU. Oh, and Razer’s nixed the HDD options from the big Blade’s menu — the Pro packs a 128GB SSD standard, with optional upgrades to 256 or 512GB. That new hardware is evidently smaller than what it’s replacing: though the Pro shares the same size chassis as its predecessor, it packs a 74Wh battery (the older Blade has a 60Wh cell). Other than that, the Blade Pro comes with Razer’s Switchblade interface, a trio of USB 3.0 ports, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 1920 x 1080 display, just like the prior Blade.
Meanwhile, the new 14-inch Blade will come with mostly the same hardware as the Pro, meaning it’s got a Haswell chip and GTX 765M graphics along with a buffet of SSD choices. Those components are stuffed inside a chassis that measures 13.6 x 9.3 x 0.66 inches, and weighs 4.13 pounds. Naturally, given its smaller size, it lacks the Switchblade LCD and buttons, has a 1.3 megapixel webcam (as opposed to the Pro’s 2 megapixel unit) and a 14-inch 1600 x 900 display. And, despite its relatively svelte dimensions (for a portable gaming rig), the baby Blade still has a 70Wh battery inside. The Pro starts at $2,299, or $200 less than prior Blades and the 14-inch model will set you back a minimum of $1,799. Each will be available in North America in Q2, with a worldwide rollout of the Pro coming sometime later this year.
Update: Good news, Indie game developers! Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan just announced that those devs with a successfully funded Kickstarter can get a new Blade Pro for just $999.
If you told us Acer was coming out with an innovative new take on the Windows 8 convertible, we’d probably laugh in your face. After so many months of evaluating slidable, twistable, bendable and detachable machines, we’d (hopefully) be forgiven for believing we’d seen every possible form factor. The Aspire R7 proves that we were wrong, and we’re actually kind of glad. With a 15.6-inch display sitting in a unique, flexible “Ezel” hinge, this device lets you switch between four modes, and the panel can even lie nearly flat above the keyboard like an all-in-one desktop. Oh, and Acer switched the positions of the keyboard and touchpad, a setup that definitely takes some getting used to.
Though the R7’s form factor sets it apart, it offers the same specs as many Windows 8 convertibles: you get a 1080p screen, a Core i5 processor and 6GB of RAM for $1,000. So does the R7’s appeal hinge on its distinctive design? Follow us past the break to find out — we promise the bad jokes stop here.
Gallery: Acer Aspire R7 review
Toshiba has released its Portege Z10T, an 11.6″ Ultrabook/tablet hybrid that is designed for a professional environment where things like being a full-size computer, a real tablet and “dongle-free” (for Ethernet, VGA…) do really matter. The overall goal of the […]
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When Toshiba first teased the Portege Z10t business Ultrabook at IDF Beijing last month, our initial hands-on went as smoothly as things usually go at trade shows: we bum-rushed the stage to take a few photos, while company reps declined to answer any of our questions. Fortunately for all of us, the mystery is gone: Toshiba just formally unveiled the Z10t, and it’s available now starting at $1,499.
As we reported earlier, this is an 11-inch laptop / tablet hybrid aimed at the enterprise. It will launch initially with Ivy Bridge vPro chips, as well as some industry-standard security features like TPM. What we didn’t realize, however, is that it sports a 1080p IPS screen, along with a Wacom digitizer for pen input. In any case, if all you wanted was a firm MSRP and release date following our initial hands-on, well, there ya go. But if you were hoping for a few more details, we’ve got those too. Meet us past the break for a full rundown of all the features, along with some first impressions.
Gallery: Toshiba Portege Z10t hands-on
Gallery: Toshiba Portege Z10t
Filed under: Laptops
Microsoft’s Surface Pro started shipping in the US back in February, but its rollout elsewhere has been sporadic, and a 256GB model non-existent — until now. Japanese customers lusting after the Intel Core i5-powered hybrid will be able to claim one on June 8th, priced at 99,800 yen ($975) with 128GB of storage. The new 256GB iteration will premiere on shelves there for 119,800 yen ($1,175), and customers there will be able to adorn it with the Touch Cover for 9,980 yen ($100) and tactile key Type Cover for 10,980 yen ($110). Better still, Microsoft will toss in its pressure-sensitive pen (and Office 2013) for all the versions as well — just in time for you to finally do something useful with it.
We’re used to Apple’s CEO teasing product strategies at D Conferences, but not staffing changes. And yet, here we are: Tim Cook has revealed at D11 that former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is joining Apple to coordinate the firm’s drive toward eco-friendliness. While there are few specifics at this stage, including Jackson’s title, we know that she’ll report directly to Cook. There’s certainly no shortage of tasks for her to handle: along with Apple’s shift toward renewable energy sources, she also has to worry about the environmental impact of the products themselves.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Apple
Just a year after Tim Cook sat down for his first non-financial interview as CEO of Apple, the man himself is back for yet another round. He’ll be seated in Rancho Palos Verdes, California this evening at the D11 conference, taking questions from hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, and we’ll be liveblogging every moment of it. The interview is taking place with under a fortnight to go until Apple’s WWDC, where we’re expecting to see details on iOS 7, the Mac lineup and perhaps a glimpse at whatever the company is cooking up in the wearables department. If you’ve arrived here prior to 6PM PT on May 28th, feel free to bookmark this link and return at the time listed below.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Apple
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