Intel has already started to sell low-power dual-core Core i5/i7 Kaby Lake microprocessors for notebooks, but desktop parts with four cores and high frequencies are due in early 2017, as Intel announced back at IDF and the Kaby Lake-Y/U launch. In advance of the desktop launch, as is typical with how CPUs are launched, Intel has to send out qualification and near-retail samples to partners for pre-testing of release systems. Typically this is kept under wraps, without official public announcements (it's up to you how many of the leaks you want to believe), but late last week Intel sent out a 'Product Change Notification' through its online/public channels, with details about a good portion (no way to tell if it is all the SKUs) of Intel's Core i7 and Core i5-7000 series parts.
Within the PCN, Intel notified its customers about an additional assembly/packaging site for its desktop Kaby Lake-S chips in Vietnam and therefore had to disclose model numbers of the CPUs as well as some of the specifications. In addition, in a separate PCN detailing package adjustments for how chipset ICs are shipped, it would seem that Intel has also mentioned names of its upcoming 200-series chipsets.
According to Intel’s document for partners, the company intends to release at least 11 quad-core processors for desktops based on the Kaby Lake microarchitecture in Q1. What is noteworthy is that the company wants its customers to get ready to receive the first shipments of the KBL-S chips assembled in Vietnam starting from November 4, 2016, this week (which means that the final specs of the new processors have been set and will only be changed in extreme circumstances). The initial KBL-S lineup would seem to include three Core i7 SKUs, seven Core i5 CPUs as well as one Xeon E3 v6 product. (The fact that a Xeon v6 is included in this is interesting, given that Intel removed standard chipset support for Xeon E3 CPUs with Skylake and v5, meaning that both consumer and enterprise platforms are due to land in January.)
All the Kaby Lake-S processors will use the B0 stepping of the core, and will have 100-300 MHz higher base frequency compared to their Skylake-S counterparts. The PCN does not explicitly state the TDP, however we do not expect much to change given the slightly improved 14+ nm technology and the increased frequencies (same thing applies to cache size, which has been consistent for several generations). We have already observed that mobile Kaby Lake CPUs have higher clock rates compared to their predecessors due to enhancements of Intel’s 14+ nm process technology, and we see that their desktop brethren also have improvements on this front. We do not have the final Turbo frequencies at hand, but we expect them to be considerably higher than the base clock rates.
| Basic Specifications of Quad-Core Intel Core i5/i5 and Xeon E3 | |||||||||
| Kaby Lake-S | Skylake-S | ||||||||
| Model | Cores /Threads |
Freq. (Base) |
TDP | Product Code |
S-Spec | Model | Freq. (Base) |
||
| i7-7700K | 4/8 | 4.2 GHz | 95W | CM8067702868535 | SR33A | i7-6700K | 4.0GHz | ||
| i7-7700 | 3.6 GHz | 65W | CM8067702868314 | SR338 | i7-6700 | 3.4GHz | |||
| i7-7700T | 2.9 GHz | 35W | CM8067702868416 | SR339 | i7-6700T | 2.8GHz | |||
| i5-7600K | 4/4 | 3.8 GHz | 95W | CM8067702868219 | SR32V | i5-6600K | 3.5GHz | ||
| i5-7600 | 3.5 GHz | 65W | CM8067702868011 | SR334 | i5-6600 | 3.3GHz | |||
| i5-7600T | 2.8 GHz | 35W | CM8067702868117 | SR336 | i5-6600T | 2.7GHz | |||
| i5-7500 | 3.4 GHz | 65W | CM8067702868012 | SR335 | i5-6500 | 3.2GHz | |||
| i5-7500T | 2.7 GHz | 35W | CM8067702868115 | SR337 | i5-6500T | 2.5GHz | |||
| i5-7400 | 3.0 GHz | 65W | CM8067702867050 | SR32W | i5-6400 | 2.7GHz | |||
| i5-7400T | 2.4 GHz | 35W | CM8067702867915 | SR332 | i5-6400T | 2.2GHz | |||
| E3-1205v6 | ?/? | 3.0 GHz | ? | CM8067702871025 | SR32D | - | - | ||
| Additional Info from Other Sources | |||||||||
| i3-7300* | 2/4 | 4.0 GHz | 65W | ? | SR2MC | i3-6300 | 3.8 GHz | ||
| Pentium G4620* | 2/2 | 3.8 GHz | 51W | ? | SR2HN | Pentium G4520 | 3.6 GHz | ||
| Pentium G3950* | 2/2 | 3.0 GHz | 51W | ? | SR2MU | Pentium G3920 | 2.9 GHz | ||
*CPU details taken from this piece at PCOnline
Aside from the 14+ process offering higher frequencies, the base microarchitecture of Kaby Lake-S, as explained at the release of Kaby Lake-Y/U in September, is essentially the same as Skylake. However, on top of increasing the frequencies, Intel is also adding in Speed Shift v2 which allows for much quicker adjustments in CPU frequency over Skylake (down to 10ms rather than 30ms).
It remains to be seen is whether the new 14+ process technology will also enable considerably higher overclocking potential compared to existing CPUs. If it does, then the new chips have a chance to become rather popular among enthusiasts, potentially toppling the i7-2600K as a long term favorite.
It might be noted is that Intel’s Kaby Lake-S will have to compete not only against their predecessors, but also against AMD’s Zen products due in Q1. That being said, some would argue that given AMD's recent presentation of certain benchmark metrics, Zen is geared more towards the high-end desktop crowd. Nevertheless, it looks like early 2017 is going to be an interesting time for microprocessors.
In addition to model numbers of its Kaby Lake CPUs, Intel also revealed the names of its 200-series chipsets in another document it sent to partners. As expected, the lineup will include the Z270 PCH for enthusiast-class PCs with overclocking capabilities; Q270, H270 and H250 for mainstream systems and B250 for office/business computers.
| Intel 200-Series Chipsets | ||||||
| Name | Socket | Stepping | Product Code | S-Spec | ||
| Intel H270 | LGA1151 | A0 | GL82H270 | SR2WA | ||
| Intel Z270 | GL82Z270 | SR2WB | ||||
| Intel B250 | GL82B250 | SR2WC | ||||
| Intel Q250 | GL82Q250 | SR2WD | ||||
| Intel Q270 | GL82Q270 | SR2WE | ||||
| Intel C422 | LGA1151? | A0 | GL82C422 | SR2WG | ||
| Intel X299 | ?!? | A0 | GL82X299 | SR2Z2 | ||
Also in the list of chipsets were a couple of unknowns as well.
Listed in the PCN is C422, which because it has a 'C' in the name means that this is typically geared towards workstations and Xeon platforms. This may be in line with the E3-1205 v6 CPU SKU as seen in the processor list.
Also is X299, which really throws up a few question marks. The X-series chipsets are typically for Intel's High-End Desktop Platform (HEDT), and we've had X58, X79 and X99 in the last decade, from Nehalem up to Broadwell-E which was released back in May. This means either one of two things - either Intel is bringing the X nomenclature to Kaby Lake, the mainstream platform, or this is the next chipset for HEDT and the future Skylake-E series of processors. The first option in making X299 a Kaby Lake-related platform seems a little odd. However the second one, with Skylake-E, makes sense. After X99, the X119 name doesn't have the same marketability (if Intel was to keep parity with number jumps), but by pushing Skylake-E onto the 200-series naming as X299, it moves both mainstream and HEDT chipset naming strategies onto the same track. Note that we don't have a time-frame for Skylake-E as of yet.
Intel’s motherboard customers, given the Q1 launch, must be ready to receive the 200-series PCH ICs on new reels. According to the PCN, these will come with additional protections bands starting from December 2, 2016. Intel may or may not announce the whole 200-series (not X) lineup at CES, given this late in the day adjustment to core components for the motherboards.
As for improvements of the Intel 200-series chipsets, we are still waiting on official confirmation as to exactly what to expect. Various unconfirmed leaks have indicated additional PCIe 3.0 chipset lanes, some new platform features and support for Intel’s Optane SSDs, however we will be here for the official launch when the time comes. It might be worth noting that almost all the motherboard manufacturers have now formally announced new 100-series BIOS support for Kaby Lake CPUs, meaning not all enthusiasts will have to get new motherboards.
Qualcomm and NXP Semiconductors on Thursday announced that they had signed an agreement, under which Qualcomm will acquire NXP. The boards of both companies have already unanimously approved the all-cash deal representing a total enterprise value of about $47 billion. The new entity will be able to address thousands of devices and the combined expertise of both companies will be particularly important for automotive, mobile and IoT industries, which are poised for growth. The combined company will be one of the world’s largest suppliers of semiconductors in general, with revenues comparable to those of Samsung and Intel. However, it is not going to be easy to combine the assets of Qualcomm and NXP under one company.
Qualcomm intends to pay $110 for every NXP share, or for $37.88 billion (according to estimates by Reuters, based on the company’s 344.4 million diluted shares as of early October), which represents around 10% premium compared to the stock price of around $98.66 at close on Wednesday. When NXP’s debt is included, the enterprise value goes up to around $47 billion in total. Last week several media outlets reported that the NXP management wanted to get $120 per share, but agreed to $110 proposed by Qualcomm. In fact, given that the NXPI stock was trading in the range between $61.61 and $107.54 in the last 12 months, $110 seems to be a rather fair price.
Qualcomm headquarters. Photo by Coolcaesar at en.wikipedia
What is interesting is that Qualcomm intends to buy NXP in an all-cash deal, which means that the company will have to borrow money, as it has around $17 billion in cash and other short-term assets its pockets today (according to U.S. regulators). Even adding in long-term securities only brings Qualcomm's piggy bank to around $30 billion in total. Qualcomm’s total debt as of today is $11.77 billion and with a new multi-billion loan (or loans) as well as NXP’s debt, its total debt will be well over $20 billion. The company does not reveal the names of its creditors right now, but it admits that it will have to borrow money to pay to NXP shareholders as well as liabilities of the company eventually.
Qualcomm and NXP intend to close the deal by the end of calendar 2017, after regulators in various jurisdictions approve the buyout. What is noteworthy is that the two companies are starting their integration effort today, well before they get all the approvals they need, which shows their confidence in the deal closing, and confirms that it will not be easy to merge the two multi-billion corporations. If everything goes as planned, the transaction valued at approximately $47 billion will be the largest semiconductor takeover ever. Last year Avago paid $37 billion for Broadcom and earlier this year Softbank bought ARM for $32 billion.
From an economics points of view, large chip-related acquisitions in the recent years are not surprising. Electronics get more complex and more expensive to develop. As a result, semiconductor companies need to expand their businesses to gain access to and volume in various existing and emerging devices. Moreover, by taking over other companies, chip developers not only get IP they need, but can also cut down certain costs and/or get rid of competitors. Finally, as companies get bigger, it gets easier for them to negotiate with their suppliers because now they need to get more goods or services.
Qualcomm will create a rather formidable force in the semiconductor world by combining two very different companies with 72,000 employees in total. However, the giant machine that Qualcomm and NXP are going to create may be worth more than the sum of their capitalizations if everything goes according to plan.
Right now Qualcomm is the world’s largest supplier of SoCs for mobile devices and telecom equipment. Last fiscal year the company earned $25 billion in revenue: $17B from selling chips and $8B from technology licensing. In the recent years Qualcomm has been trying to diversify its business and offered various solutions for automotive, IoT, healthcare and even datacenter industries. While the company has been gradually expanding its product portfolio with various solutions, mobile SoCs has remained its bread and butter for products sold. Moreover, some of the markets and products categories hard to break into due factors such as conservative approach of manufacturers, very long development cycles, etc. For example, despite of having CPU, GPU, sensors and other IP, Qualcomm has never made into Top 10 suppliers of automotive semiconductors (according to IHS).
By contrast, NXP has been focusing on mixed-signal semiconductors as well as various specialized microprocessors and microcontrollers. NXPs chips are used inside automobiles, in healthcare equipment, NFC equipment (in fact, NXP was one of the inventors of the technology) and in hundreds of other devices. Based on data from IHS, NXP earned $9.72 billion in revenue last year.
While Qualcomm and NXP overlap in certain areas, they aren't direct rivals in any significant sense of the word; the sum of their revenues come from different markets. Therefore, the acquisition will be complementary for Qualcomm because it greatly expands its addressable markets (potentially up to $138 billion in 2020) and brings thousands of new clients (Qualcomm says that NXP serves 25K direct and indirect customers). The combined company will have revenue of well over $30 billion and will be the world’s No. 3 supplier of semiconductors after Intel ($51 billion in 2015) and Samsung ($40 billion), based on rankings from IHS. Keep in mind that Samsung sells tons of commodity DRAM and NAND flash memory, whereas the new Qualcomm will specialize on various general purpose, automotive, IoT and special purpose computing solutions. In fact, the new Qualcomm will be a rather unique company with no direct rivals of comparable sizes, as companies like Avago (together with Broadcom), MediaTek, Texas Instruments, Renesas and other earn considerably less.
During the conference call with investors and financial analysts, the management of Qualcomm and NXP emphasized multiple times that the new company will not only be able to develop unique solutions thanks to massive amount of IP available to leverage (some of which goes back to semi IP from Motorola and Philips), but will be able to address automotive and IoT industries better than its competitors. In the best case scenario, Qualcomm will be able to offer highly-integrated platforms for hundreds of emerging devices from smart wearables to 5G-enabled IoT equipment to self-driving automobiles with wireless charging, in addition to more advanced platforms for hardware we use today, such as smartphones, routers or servers. At the same time, while the management teams accentuate that the transaction is not about cutting costs or synergies, it is inevitable that there will be redundancies and optimizations. Therefore, some existing projects are expected to be cancelled (it will be interesting to see what happens to Freescale’s CPUs, for example) and some will be merged. Qualcomm predicts that two years after the two firms merge, the new company will save at least $500 million annually.
The acquisition of NXP clearly makes a lot of sense for Qualcomm, but the integration of the two companies is not going to be easy. Firstly, NXP is still integrating Freescale Semiconductor (the deal closed last December). Secondly, NXP has its own semiconductor fabs (all of which are outdated and Qualcomm has never had its own fabs). Thirdly, NXP has more employees than Qualcomm itself (45K vs 27K). Finally, the new company will have to remain very agile to remain competitive on rapidly developing markets, such as smartphones.
Executives of Qualcomm said on Thursday that the combined company would be managed by execs from both firms, who know how certain businesses work. For example, Qualcomm plans to use NXP’s sales teams to sell Qualcomm-branded devices for IoT because these people know the market and know how to address it. In the meantime, Qualcomm does not have immediate plans to get rid of NXP's semiconductor production facilities and NXP’s execs will continue to manage them. But in longer term, the company may reconsider its approach to manufacturing as Qualcomm has long based its business around being a fabless semiconductor. Overall, while the integration efforts are underway, there are things that may change between now and late 2017, when the deal is expected to close. Therefore, only time will tell how the combined company will look like and how it will be managed.
No matter how optimistic execs from Qualcomm and NXP sound today about the prospects of the merged company, it will be a very tough job to blend the two firms. Nevertheless, the importance of connected devices will only grow in the coming years (one may call it the 5G era) and therefore having the whole package of IP needed to build different kinds of devices (from water quality sensors to smart cars and smart buildings) is clearly important.
Much ink has been spilt over the last year on the subject of the MacBook Pro. In short, Apple hasn’t given its professional laptop lineup a real overhaul in some time. Only the smaller 13” model ever got Intel’s 5th gen Broadwell CPU – the 15” model is even further back, on 4th gen Haswell – and otherwise the laptops haven’t had major feature updates since 2013. As a result, Apple has been due as anyone can be to update their laptops. And at a special event held at their campus this morning, they have done just that, launching the 4th generation of the MacBook Pro.
For better or worse the new 4th generation family doesn’t have a catchy name like Retina to help set it apart from the prior models. But make no mistake, Apple has been busy on giving their languishing laptops a much-needed facelift.
All-told, Apple has introduced 3 new MacBook Pro models: a basic 13” version, and then two full-featured versions at 13” and 15” respectively. All three models are form the same mold, so to speak. All of them get the same new unibody design, the same wide color gamut (P3) display, and the same upgraded internal hardware composed of Intel’s 6th generation Skylake CPUs, Thunderbolt 3, and new SSDs. What separates the basic 13” from the other two models, besides cost, is that it doesn’t include Apple’s new much-touch Touch Bar (more on this in a sec).
| 4th GenMacBook Pro Lineup | ||||||
| Model | 2015 15" | 2016 13" (basic) | 2016 13" (touch) | 2016 15" | ||
| Dimensions | 1.8 cm x 35.89 cm x 24.71 cm | 1.49 cm x 30.41 cm x 21.24 cm | 1.55 cm x 34.93 cm x 24.07 cm | |||
| Weight | 4.49 lbs (2.04 kg) | 3.02 lbs (1.37 kg) | 4.02 lbs (1.83 kg) | |||
| CPU | 2.2GHz Core i7-4770HQ (Haswell) |
2.0GHz Core i5-6360U (Skylake) | 2.9GHz Core i5-6267U (Skylake) | 2.0GHz Core i7-6700HQ (Skylake) | ||
| GPU | Intel Iris Pro 5200 | Intel Iris Graphics 540 | Intel Iris Graphics 550 | Intel HD Graphics 530 + Radeon Pro 450 (2GB) | ||
| Display | 15" 2880 x 1800 IPS LCD sRGB Gamut |
13" 2560 x 1600 IPS LCD P3 Gamut |
15" 2880 x 1800 IPS LCD P3 Gamut |
|||
| Memory | 16GB DDR3L-1600 | 8GB LPDDR3-1866 | 8GB LPDDR3-2133 | 16GB LPDDR3-2133 | ||
| SSD | 256GB PCIe SSD (PCIe x2) | 256GB PCIe SSD | ||||
| Toucb Bar | No | No | Yes | |||
| I/O | 2x Thunderbolt 2 (supports DP1.2), 1x HDMI 1.4, 2x USB 3.0 (Type-A), 3.5mm Audio, SDXC Slot | 2x Thunderbolt 3 (supports DP1.2 & USB 3.1 Gen 2 modes), 3.5mm Audio |
4x Thunderbolt 3 (supports DP1.2 & USB 3.1 Gen 2 modes), 3.5mm Audio |
|||
| Battery Capacity | 99.5 Wh | 54.5 Wh | 49.2 Wh | 76 Wh | ||
| Battery Life | 9 Hours | 10 Hours | ||||
| Price | $1999 | $1499 | $1799 | $2399 | ||
If you’ve been watching Apple over the years, then you know that the company has a (sometimes unhealthy) obsession with reducing their products’ thickness, and the 4th gen MacBook Pro follows that obsession to a T. The new family of laptops is thinner than ever, with Apple taking them from 18mm to 14.9mm and 15.5mm for the 13” and 15” models respectively. Altogether, the total volume is down 23% for the 13” model and 20% for the 15” model.
Apple is still using their now tried-and-true aluminum unibody design for the family, so if you’re familiar with the current color-coated MacBook, then you know what to expect here. Though the event was very brief on how Apple was able to shave off so much volume compared to the last generation, it sounds like they’ve gone with a thinner cooling system, and in the case of the 15” model, AMD’s low-profile Polaris 11 GPU.
Under the hood, this change in volume comes without a significant change in official TDPs (so all factors held equal, Apple would be removing the same amount of heat in a thinner design). Apple has finally made the jump across the entire family to Intel’s 14nm Skylake processors. The basic 13” model uses a 15W CPU, the higher-end 13” model uses a 28W CPU, and the 15” model uses a 45W CPU, the latter two being the same TDPs as the last generation. Apple isn’t talking up CPU performance too much here, but given how long they’ve been on Haswell on the 15” model in particular, we should see a good performance bump.
Meanwhile, in a change from the 3rd generation design, all 15” 4th gen MacBook Pros come with discrete Radeon Pro graphics. Apple has tapped AMD’s new Polaris 11 GPU, in part for the low z-height it offers, which replaces the 4 year old Cape Verde GPU in the previous MacBook Pro. Apple is offering 3 dGPU configurations at increasingly higher performance. From what AMD has told me, these chips are all in the ballpark of 35W. Relative to the previous dGPU models – or even more, the previous model that only offered an integrated Intel GPU – GPU performance should be greatly improved over the last generation. Over 2x for the top-tier Radeon Pro 460 is a very reasonable assumption right now, though one that testing will need to confirm.
On the SSD side of matters, Apple has quickly talked up the fact that the new MacBook Pros use a new SSD. Apple traditionally uses multiple vendors, but the quoted 3GB/sec read speeds are consistent with the latest generation of drives out of Samsung and Toshiba. So is the fact that Apple is now offering SSDs up to 2TB in size.
More visible is the change to the display. Apple hasn’t increased their resolutions at all – so these are the same 2880x1800 & 2560x1600 resolution configurations at before – but they have upgraded what these displays can do. All of the MacBook Pros now support the wider P3 color gamut that Apple has been championing for the last year and already offers on the iMac, iPhone 7, and iPad Pro. Meaning that the new laptops now support a wider color gamut and can display material mastered for P3 (or photos taken from the iPhone 7) at their full gamut. The new displays are also said to be quite a bit brighter than before; Apple is throwing around 500 nits, or 67% brighter.
And, perhaps most interestingly, Apple has confirmed that the new displays support “variable refresh rate” technology. I need to dig into this more, but if this is an implementation of AMD’s FreeSync tech or something similar, then it would potentially be a nice improvement in perceived screen smoothness. Apple’s also touting that the new display consumes 30% less power, but it’s not clear how much of that is due to variable (e.g. lower) refresh rates and how much of that is from panel and backlighting improvements.
Apple has also reworked the keyboard and trackpad, in part to integrate the latest technologies and to achieve their thinness goals. The new MacBook Pros utilize a newer revision of the butterfly switch first introduced on the MacBook keyboard. This means we’re talking about a shorter travel distance than the prior generation MacBook Pros – something that may not be popular in all corners – but at the same time we’re told that these aren’t the same identical switches as on the MacBook, and that there have been some changes to improve the feel. Meanwhile the Force Touch trackpad has been enlarged; it now goes from the bottom edge of the laptop to the keyboard, the full area that Apple could hope to give it. This is a 100% area increase for the 15” model, and a 46% increase for the 13” model.
Apple has also overhauled their input/output options on the new MacBook Pros; quite radically in fact. Apple has doubled-down on Thunderbolt 3/USB Type-C. All three models contain solely either 2 (13” basic) or 4 (all other models) TB3 ports (which also double as USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports), and then a 3.5mm audio jack. This means the MagSafe port is gone, as are the USB Type-A ports and the Thunderbolt 2 ports. In this sense it’s very close to what has happened with the MacBook, except the MacBook Pro gets a larger number of ports. TB3 is enabled through the use of Intel’s Alpine Ridge controller; the 2 port versions have a single controller, and the 4 port versions have 2 controllers (since Intel doesn’t make a 4 port version). Furthermore all 2 or 4 ports can be used for charging or display outputs as necessary, so they are all equals in functionality.
Last, but certainly not least however, is perhaps the marquee feature of the 4th generation MacBook Pros: the Touch Bar. A bit of a poorly kept secret in the run-up to today’s launch, the Touch Bar is a (presumably OLED) capacitive multi-touch display that replaces the row previously occupied by the function keys. The idea, in a nutshell, is to make a dynamic row of virtual buttons that can be whatever an application (or user) needs them to be, bringing with it all of the advantages of multi-touch that Apple has developed over the years for their iOS devices. Note that the Touch Bar is only available on the higher-end MacBook Pros; the basic 13” model forgoes the Touch Bar in favor of a traditional row of function keys, presumably for cost reasons.
Rounding out the feature set, the Touch Bar also includes a Touch ID fingerprint sensor on its right side, and the necessary controller – what Apple calls the T1 – to handle Touch ID and the Secure Enclave duties. This sensor means that virtually everything that can be done with Touch ID on iOS devices can be extended to macOS: one-touch login, Apple Pay confirmation, etc. You can even use it to do things iOS can’t do, such as swap between users. Taking a page from those iOS devices, the Touch ID sensor is the one physical button that’s part of the Touch Bar; it is both a fingerprint scanner and the device’s physical power button.
Judging from the presentation alone, the Touch Bar is going to be divisive among users. Replacing physical buttons with a capacitive strip is a major change; if you’re used to feeling buttons, there’s nothing here to feel. On the other hand, Apple is convinced that the function keys are underutilized right now, and that space can be put to better use. Even with the track pad already offering Force Touch, the Touch Bar has the advantage of being able to display what button it is, and behave separately from the trackpad. As someone who admittedly is still old school enough to configure the function keys to work as actual function keys – and not the screen/sound/playback controls Apple defaults to – I’m definitely going to have to sit down with the new Touch Bar to get an idea of what the transition is like. It’s a bold idea for Apple; but bold ideas can be both good and bad.
Wrapping things up, the new MacBook Pros are available for order today. The basic 13” model (the one without the Touch Bar and only 2 TB3 ports) will retail for $1499 and is shipping immediately. The other two models will be at $1799 and $2399 for the 13” and 15” models respectively, and will not be shipping for another 2-3 weeks.
Finally, Apple has also illustrated how the overall MacBook family of laptops is organized now that they’ve added the new MacBook Pros. The 11” MacBook Air has been removed from sale entirely, while the 13” model is still for sale, but hasn’t received any update. Given that the new MacBook Pros are thinner than the MacBook Air 13”, it seems likely that it’s going to eventually be phased out entirely. Consequently the new, modern MacBook lineup consists of 4 laptops: the 12” MacBook, the basic 13” MacBook Pro, the advanced 13” MacBook Pro, and the 15” MacBook Pro.
The Okeanos is Reeven’s flagship CPU cooler utilizing a twin-tower design. Just like Reeven’s other CPU coolers, it is named after a Greek deity, although this one is a bit weird considering ‘Okeanos’ is a Titan that personifies a body of water but this cooler is not an AIO liquid-cooling unit. It has some high …
- Post Reeven Okeanos CPU Cooler Review: A King in Yellow appeared first on Modders-Inc. #moddersinc
Cooler Master has upped the ante with its MasterPulse headset, releasing a Pro version which boasts virtual 7.1 surround sound and an integrated sound card, among other improvements.
The MasterPulse Pro is a USB over-ear headset which comes with a sound card built into the in-line control box on the cord, tackling audio processing duties and taking at least some of the strain off your PC's processor, the company notes.
The in-line controls feature a graphic equalizer with three different listening profiles – music, movies or gaming – that can easily be switched between (or you can turn the equalizer off, as a fourth setting). It’s also possible to adjust bass levels on-the-fly.
Furthermore, the in-line panel allows for the 7.1 surround sound to be turned on or off, as well as the microphone, and can also be used to play with the MasterPulse’s lights. Yes, another addition for the Pro headset is RGB LEDs for the ear cups.
Speaking of those, there’s extra padding for the ear cups, and comfort is a prime consideration for this headset which has five cushions in total, and it benefits from a flexible headband, along with a lightweight aluminum frame.
The ear cups also have magnetic side panels which you can remove for a noticeably different sound (or indeed to switch them out for your own custom 3D-printed panels).
Cooler Master says that the MasterPulse Pro will be available before the end of the month with a suggested price of £85 (around $105, AU$135).
Xiaomi has added two new phones to its lineup: the Mi Note 2 and the Mi MIX. Both are flagship phones with large screens that emphasize performance and design; however, despite some overlap in criteria and internal hardware, these are two very distinct devices.
Like its predecessor, the Mi Note, the Mi Note 2 has an aluminum frame and a glass back with curved edges, but instead of the previous design’s flat front, the Mi Note 2 uses a flexible OLED display to allow curved edges to the front too, design features Samsung’s recent Galaxy phones also employ. Another obvious change from the previous model is the addition of a capacitive fingerprint sensor. The pill-shaped sensor, which sits below the screen and is flanked by capacitive navigation buttons, keeps the lower bezel relatively slim, giving the Mi Note 2 a screen-to-body ratio of 77.2%. The rear-facing camera sits flush with the shiny and smooth glass on the back and includes a slightly raised and polished ring to protect the lens.
The design is generally symmetric and balanced: The centered earpiece has the sensors and front-facing camera to either side, and the centered USB Type-C port on the bottom has matching arrays of holes for the downward-firing speaker and microphone. The offset 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge and the dual-color LED flash on the back are the only features to break symmetry.
The Mi Note 2’s 5.7-inch OLED display delivers excellent black levels and covers 110% of the NTSC color gamut, according to Xiaomi, which basically means it should deliver highly saturated colors. For people who prefer more accurate colors, the phone provides an sRGB mode and a control for adjusting the display’s color temperature. Unfortunately, its 1920x1080 resolution is less than ideal for such a large display.
Inside the Mi Note 2 is Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 821 SoC, which includes four of its custom Kryo CPU cores and an Adreno 530 GPU, and a sufficiently large 4070mAh non-accessible battery that supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology. It also comes with either 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal UFS 2.0 storage or 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but there’s no support for microSD cards.
The 8MP front-facing camera includes autofocus and Xiaomi’s third-generation beauty mode processing. Around back is a 22.5MP Sony IMX318 Exmor RS sensor, which is among a new generation of sensors that use smaller 1.0µm pixels. Despite the reduction in full-well capacity, Sony claims its new sensor matches the image quality of its previous IMX230 Exmor RS sensor that uses larger 1.12µm pixels. Stacked above the sensor is a lens array with six elements and an f/2.0 aperture.
The Mi Note 2’s rear camera supports phase detect autofocus (PDAF) to improve focus speed. There’s no optical image stabilization (OIS), which could negatively impact low-light still image performance, but the camera does employ 3-axis electronic image stabilization (EIS) when shooting videos, even in 4K.
The Mi Note 2 comes in two different colors—Piano Black and Glacier Silver—and three different versions—two which will only be available in China and a global version that supports 6 modes and 37 frequency bands. The Mi Note 2 will be available in China starting November 1st for ¥2799 (4GB RAM / 64GB NAND) or ¥3299 (6GB RAM / 128GB NAND). The global version will cost ¥3499 (6GB RAM / 128GB NAND).
| Xiaomi Mi Note 2 | Xiaomi MIX | ||
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996 Pro) 2x Kryo @ 2.35GHz 2x Kryo @ 2.19GHz Adreno 530 @ 653MHz |
||
| Display | 5.7-inch 1920x1080 AMOLED | 6.4-inch 2040x1080 IPS LCD | |
| Dimensions | 156.2 x 77.3 x 7.6 mm 166 grams |
158.8 x 81.9 x 7.9 mm 209 grams |
|
| RAM | 4GB / 6GB LPDDR4 | ||
| NAND | 64GB / 128GB (UFS 2.0) |
128GB / 256GB (UFS 2.0) |
|
| Battery | 4070 mAh non-replaceable Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 |
4400 mAh non-replaceable Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 |
|
| Front Camera | 8MP, f/2.0, AF | 5MP | |
| Rear Camera | 22.5MP, 1/2.6" Sony IMX318 Exmor RS, 1.0µm pixels, f/2.0, PDAF, HDR, dual-tone LED flash | 16MP, f/2.0, PDAF, Auto HDR, dual-tone LED flash | |
| Modem | Qualcomm X12 LTE (Integrated) 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Category 13/12) |
||
| SIM Size | 2x NanoSIM (dual standby) | ||
| Network | China | Global | China |
| FDD-LTE | B1 / B3 / B5 / B7 |
B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B8 / B12 / B13 / B17 / B18 / B19 / B20 / B25 / B26 / B28 / B29 / B30
|
B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B8 |
| TDD-LTE | B38 / B39 / B40 / B41 | B38 / B39 / B40 / B41 | |
| GSM | 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | |
| WCDMA | B1 / B2 / B5 / B8 | B1 / B2 / B4 / B5 / B8 | B1 / B2 / B5 / B8 |
| CDMA | BC0 | BC0 / B1 / B10 / B15 | BC0 |
| TD-CDMA | B34 / B39 | B34 / B39 | |
| Wireless | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.2, NFC, IrLED, GPS/GNSS/Beidou | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MU-MIMO, BT 4.2, NFC, GPS/GNSS/Beidou | |
| Connectivity | USB Type-C, 3.5mm headset | ||
| Launch OS | Android 6.0 with MIUI 8 | ||
| Launch Price | 4GB/64GB: ¥2799 6GB/128GB: ¥3299 6GB/128GB (global): ¥3499 |
4GB/128GB: ¥3499 6GB/256GB: ¥3999 |
|
The larger Mi MIX was jointly developed with prolific designer Philippe Starck and features an all-ceramic body with ceramic buttons. The front is dominated by a 6.4-inch display with virtually no bezels along the top or sides, giving the phone a 91.3% screen-to-body ratio. The 5MP front-facing camera is located in the lower-right corner of the slim lower bezel, while the ultrasonic (instead of infrared) proximity sensor is located behind the screen. There are no physical or capacitive buttons in the lower bezel either, because it uses onscreen navigation controls.
Eliminating the upper bezel meant eliminating the traditional earpiece speaker too. In its place, the Mi MIX uses a piezoelectric-driven cantilevered beam that produces sound by vibrating the phone’s ceramic frame instead of a speaker driver. What’s not clear, though, is if people nearby will also be able to hear the conversation, or if the sound is directed only towards the user.
A circular camera sits flush with the ceramic back, stacked above a circular fingerprint sensor. A USB Type-C port sits centered on the bottom edge flanked by a symmetric array of small holes hiding a downward firing speaker and microphone. A 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top edge.
Its 6.4-inch IPS LCD display has an odd 17:9 aspect ratio that’s supposed to make room for the onscreen navigation controls while still providing a traditional 16:9 viewable area, at least in portrait mode. Its 2040x1080 resolution seems low for such a large display, but it still provides a decent 362 PPI pixel density. Xiaomi claims a peak brightness of 500 nits and 94% coverage of the NTSC color gamut, making this a wide-gamut panel with more saturated colors. Like the Mi Note 2, the Mi MIX also provides a control for adjusting the display’s color temperature and a native sRGB mode.
Its internal hardware is also similar to the Mi Note 2’s, packing in an impressive list of hardware. The key differences are a larger 4400mAh battery and twice the internal UFS 2.0 NAND.
The Mi MIX will be available exclusively in China beginning November 4th and will come in two different versions. The standard version will cost ¥3499 with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, while a special limited edition version, which comes with 6GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage, and 18K gold-plated accents around the rear camera and fingerprint sensor will cost ¥3999.
