Steam Proposes Linux Kernel Changes To Improve Multi-Threaded Games

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Steam developers have proposed some changes to the Linux kernel that would reduce the CPU load for multi-threaded Windows games that run on Linux via the WINE-based Proton utility.

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Global Notebook Shipments To Decline In 19H2 - Report

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Global shipments of notebooks are expected to fall in the second half of 2019 for most vendors because of multiple reasons, including U.S. import tariffs, China's weak economy, Intel CPU shortages, and a lack of innovation.

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New AMD Ryzen 3000 chipset driver will finally let you play Destiny 2 again

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A few weeks ago when the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X launched, an issue showed up where you couldn't play Destiny 2 on the new chips. However, those dark days are over, as you can finally play the game again, thanks to a beta driver update. 

In a blog post titled "Let's Talk Clocks, Voltages and Destiny 2", AMD lays out some of the issues users have been facing with the 3rd Gen Ryzen chips. For instance, there are some changes to the way AMD Ryzen 3000 processors will report voltages, clock speeds and temperatures in order to make the CPU behavior easier to understand from a surface level. 

This is all delivered through a new chipset driver, version 1.07.29, which also features a workaround to get Destiny 2 players back in the game. 

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This issue with Destiny 2 became apparent right when the new processors hit the street. The game would not launch, and would instead sit in the background using up a negligible amount of CPU and memory resources. We installed this chipset driver on our own machine, and we can confirm it works. 

We should mention that the workaround for the Destiny 2 issue here is only a beta solution, and could potentially have some side effects down the road. For instance, some slowdowns have been reported, according to a post from Anandtech.

However, in the same AMD blog post, Team Red says more permanent BIOS updates are in the works, and should be made available via motherboard manufacturers as soon as they're stable – a process that may take a couple weeks. 

Growing pains

We said it back when the AMD Ryzen 3000 chips first started showing issues with Destiny 2, and we'll reiterate it again here: PC hardware launches always have some growing pains to get over. Still, it would have been nice to see this driver update launch much earlier – it's not a great feeling to jump on a $499 (£499, AU$789) Ryzen 9 3900X and not be able to play one of the biggest PC games on the market. 

Still, in the face of the supply issues faced by high-end Ryzen processors, there are likely a lot of people waiting to pick up one of these chips anyways. By the time that these chips are more widely available we're sure the BIOS updates will be available for download. 

If you picked up a Ryzen 3rd Generation processor early, however, you may as well download this driver, especially if you're trying to play some Destiny 2, especially as it gets ready for its free to play launch later this year. 

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Google could ditch Intel’s server CPUs for AMD Epyc

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There are whispers on the grapevine that Google is thinking of switching its servers over from Intel to AMD, which would obviously be a huge win for the latter.

Before we get too carried away, though, bear firmly in mind that this is merely speculation from an analyst firm.

As Seeking Alpha highlighted, Lynx Equity Research is the company in question, with its analysts hearing ‘rumblings’ that Google is no longer happy with Intel’s server hardware.

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Moreover, the analyst firm has floated the notion that its research into the supply chain indicates that AMD server boards are being made for Google, to back up the broad assertion.

If this prediction comes true, the gravity of this can’t be underestimated for AMD, given the sheer weight of number of servers that Google has (Google is obviously one of the biggest server heavyweights out there, probably vying for the top spot with Microsoft, although exact figures aren’t clear). Not to mention the general signal this will give off to the server buying world.

Remember that server CPUs are where the real money is to be made, not consumer chips (although in the latter, AMD is already squeezing out Intel by all accounts).

Epyc gains

AMD has made big strides with its ‘Rome’ second-gen Epyc server processors, which are set to be launched in August, with other analysts previously picking out these CPUs and the data center market as a particular strong point for AMD with its new 7nm products.

Epyc offers 64-cores and 128-threads per socket, not to mention that crucially, for the business market, AMD’s chips have been seen to have less security issues than Intel’s in recent times.

Of course, even if Google is switching across to AMD as suggested, that shift will happen slowly (likely very slowly) over time. And Intel will doubtless want to fight back, and fight back hard – it’s already rumored to be doing so in the consumer market with a purported 10-core Comet Lake CPU to take on AMD’s new Ryzen 9 3900X.

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Via PC GamesN

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AMD admits not all Ryzen 3000 processor cores will hit top speeds

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The AMD Ryzen 3000 series of processors have been getting a lot of good press recently (we were particularly impressed by the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X), however some particularly tech-savvy users have discovered that not all the cores on the processors hit their advertised boost frequencies.

Pretty much all modern processors come with two advertised clock speeds: a base clock, which is the minimum frequency the processor will run at, and a boost clock, which is the fastest speed the processor will run at depending on tasks and certain conditions, such as heat.

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This gives us a decent idea of the kind of performance we can expect from a processor, but if the Ryzen 3000 series of multi-core processors only reach those boost speeds on some of the cores, the picture becomes more complicated.

What’s going on?

Tom’s Hardware has taken an in-depth look at these claims, and found that on its Ryzen 5 3600X chip, only one core hit the advertised 4.4GHz boost clock.

The website contacted AMD, which confirmed that some Ryzen 3000 cores are faster than others – with the faster ones known as ‘Ryzen Master’ – resulting in a mix of fast and slow cores.

Tom’s Hardware’s tests backed this up, and the website found that there was around a 75MHz – 100MHz difference between the fastest and slowest cores. In the grand scheme of things this isn’t huge, but it does show a potential change in AMD’s binning process for the processors – which is a way of making sure the best-performing components get to market.

Previous generations of AMD Ryzen processors reached boost frequencies on all cores, while Intel also claims its processors reach their turbo frequencies on all its cores.

PCs running the latest version of Windows 10 appear better at using the fast and slow cores thanks to the improved Windows 10 scheduler and latest drivers, but people using older versions of Windows may see worse performance.

Tom’s Hardware also thinks that these slower cores could be why the Ryzen 3000 processors aren’t particularly good at overclocking – as slower cores could struggle to maintain higher frequencies, lowering the overall overclocking potential of the chip.

So, what does this mean? It could be a result of AMD changing its binning process to be better optimized. AMD has beaten Intel, its chief competitor, to the punch by releasing 7 nanometer chips – Intel has admitted it won’t reach 7nm until 2021 – but could this rush to release 7nm before Intel have resulted in compromises being made?

It certainly gives weight to Intel’s argument that its 10nm process – which is out later this year – will be comparable to AMD’s 7nm process due to Intel holding itself “to a stricter standard than others.”

However, while on paper this sounds disappointing from AMD, most day-to-day users won’t see an impact. However, when Intel does release its new chips, AMD’s Ryzen 3000 processors could once again be on the back foot.

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AMD Quarterly Earnings Report Q2 FY 2019

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AMD Quarterly Earnings Report Q2 FY 2019

AMD announced their second quarter earnings for the 2019 fiscal year, and the company’s revenue was $1.53 billion for the quarter. This is down 13% from the same quarter last year. Gross margin improved from 37% to 41% year-over-year. Operating income was $59 million, down from $153 million a year ago, and net income was down $81 million to $35 million. This resulted in earnings-per-share of $0.03.

AMD Q2 2019 Financial Results (GAAP)
	Q2'2019	Q1'2019	Q2'2018
Revenue	$1531M	$1272M	$1756M
Gross Margin	41%	41%	37%
Operating Income	$59M	$38M	$153M
Net Income	$35M	$16M	$116M
Earnings Per Share	$0.03	$0.01	$0.12

Although AMD was in the black for yet another quarter, this is certainly a dip that AMD does not expect to last. Their forecast for Q3 2019 is a 9% year-over-year increase in revenue to $1.8 billion, and they’ve recently launched new products that could help them achieve those goals.

AMD Q2 2019 Computing and Graphics
	Q2'2019	Q1'2019	Q2'2018
Revenue	$940M	$831M	$1086M
Operating Income	$22M	$16M	$117M

Looking back at Q2 though, Computing and Graphics revenue was down 13% to $940 million, and AMD attributes this drop to lower graphics channel sales. This drop was slightly offset though by higher client CPU and datacenter GPU sales. Also good for AMD and their investors is that their average selling price for client processors has increased thanks to more Ryzen sales, and GPU average selling price has also increased thanks to datacenter GPU sales. The Computing and Graphics segment had an operating income of $22 million for the quarter, compared to $117 million a year ago.

AMD Q2 2019 Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom
	Q2'2019	Q1'2019	Q2'2018
Revenue	$591M	$441M	$670M
Operating Income	$89M	$68M	$69M

AMD’s other major segment is their Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom, and this product group also saw revenues fall 12% to $591 million for the quarter. AMD attributes this drop to lower semi-custom product revenue, which you can more or less read as console sales, and that makes sense since the current generation consoles are reaching the end of their life, but both Microsoft and Sony have both committed to AMD platforms for their next generation consoles, so expect this segment’s fortunes to get a bit better soon. Operating income was $89 million for this group, which was up from $69 million last year. The higher operating income is thanks to higher EPYC processor sales, which is also a great sign for this segment.

Although this quarter’s revenue certainly saw a dip, AMD did just launch their latest third generation Ryzen this month, which wouldn’t be reported in their Q2 earnings which ended June 29th. As we saw in our review, this is a great step forward for AMD’s processor designs, and they have also launched their Navi based GPUs in July, so it makes some sense to see a dip prior to a major product launch. We’ll keep our eye on their results for Q3, but as previously mentioned they are expecting this to be a short-term drop, and with their new product lineup, that seems like a safe bet.

Source: AMD Investor Relations

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AMD Releases New Chipset Drivers For Ryzen 3000: More Relaxed CPPC2 Upscaling

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It’s been nearly three weeks since AMD’s launch of the new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs and our extensive coverage of the new parts. Among one of the things that didn’t quite go as smoothly is AMD’s BIOS and software situation where as things were still very much in flux following the launch.

One issue that was repeatedly brought up by the community over the past weeks was the new CPU’s idle behaviour both in terms of temperature as well as voltages. In particular, the new parts seemingly looked like they rarely idled at lower performance states and instead looked to remain at high frequencies even when not doing much.

While initially appearing as an issue, it really wasn’t one and rather just a side-effect of AMD’s new CPPC2 fast frequency ramp-up behaviour. Monitoring applications that are badly programmed tend to have a too heavy of a monitoring loop that causes load on the CPU – triggering a frequency ramp-up as the CPU is seeing a larger load. Given the new CPU’s sub-1ms ramp-up this meant that it was very hard to actually catch the machine at the lower frequencies – even though it most likely did idle correctly.

AMD has now addressed this concern and tweaked the CPPC2 behaviour in the new Ryzen power plans with the release of a new chipset driver package.

As AMD states in their community brief on the issue, part of the new behaviour change is that the new scheduler settings will now have a much more relaxed ramp-up time compared to the previous versions. In particular, when the chip will be at its base frequency and idling voltage, it will now take a significantly longer load for the chip to ramp up to its boost frequencies.

In our quick A/B testing between the two driver versions, we can see that prior to the update the CPU would ramp up in around 840 microseconds to its boost clocks, whilst on the new power plan in this data-set took it a longer 17.5 milliseconds.

The new behaviour thus should make the CPU ramp-up much less susceptible to smaller transient loads. The new boost duration is still very much adequate and extremely fast – sustained CPU workloads will see largely imperceptible difference, while intermittent workloads such as games also won’t be affected as once the CPU gets over the initial base frequency ramp threshold it maintains the sub-1ms frequency change behaviour.

I also took a look at the Windows power plans if they changed, and it seemed that they indeed did. While on the old version the CPU would idle at ~2.2GHz, the new driver idles at 3GHz. Seemingly the frequency up-scaling has also been slightly slowed down as in my quick testing I saw frequency ramp up half as quickly.

AMD has also addressed concerns about the reported high temperatures of the chip. The company explains that generally the value that most applications are reading out is the maximum of several sensors on the chip. Essentially this acts as the junction temperature of the chip – whilst most of the die would actually be a different/lower temperature.

A new version of Ryzen Master now includes a different temperature readout algorithm that is meant to better represent the “overall” temperature of the die rather than the absolute maximum a sensor reports. AMD says this is a better representation of the temperature of the CPU. Besides averaging across different sensors, it also averages readouts over a small time-window. In my testing the most affected scenarios are idle and low-load scenarios and the new temperature behaviour isn’t nearly as erratic and spiky.

Related Reading:

• The AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen Deep Dive Review: 3700X and 3900X Raising The Bar
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Intel Tiger Lake Leak: 10nm CPU Benched at UserBenchmark

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A quad-core, eight-thread Tiger Lake processor has been benchmarked with the UserBenchmark software.

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MSI Gaming Laptop With RTX 2060, 120 Hz Screen Is $370 Off

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Need a new gaming laptop for school? Newegg has the MSI GL63 gaming laptop with an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and RTX 2060 graphics card for $1,129.

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Honor Set to Enter TV Market with New Honghu 8K CPU

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Not being shy to take some gambles, this one appears to be its biggest yet: Honor is going to be developing both TVs and display scalers for the consumer market. Today at a briefing Honor disclosed some minor details about its new Honghu 818 chipset, which it states will be the driving force behind its push into consumer televisions.

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Zotac Mek Mini Gets Gutsier With 9th-Gen Core & RTX Super

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Maximum spec increased to RTX 2070 Super graphics card and Intel Core i7-9700K CPU.

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Intel's Epyc Potential Loss: Google Servers May Switch to AMD

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A new report said that Google has been building its own servers with AMD Epyc CPUs as it considers a switch to AMD over Intel.

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MediaTek Announces New Helio G90 Series SoCs: Gaming Focused Mid-Range

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Today MediaTek announces a new series in its product line-up: The new G-series starting off with the G90 and higher binned G90T. The new chips seemingly are a marketing exercise for MediaTek as it tries to battle again Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 7xx devices. The new G90 on paper very much looks like an update to the P90 which was announced late last year – updating the CPU and GPU IP whilst also slightly improving the camera capabilities of the chip.

MediaTek Current P- & G-Series
SoC	Helio P90	Helio G90 (Helio G90T)
CPU	2x Cortex A75 @ 2.2GHz 6x Cortex A55 @ 2.0GHz	2x Cortex A76 @ 2.0GHz (2.05GHz) 6x Cortex A55 @ 2.0GHz
GPU	PowerVR GM 9446 @ 970MHz	Mali G76 MP4 @ 720MHz (800MHz)
APU / NPU / AI Proc. / Neural IP	2x +140GMACs (Tensilica DSP) + In-house Inference Engine 1127GMACs total	2x APU +1TOPs total perf
Memory	2x 16bit LPDDR4X @ 1866MHz	LPDDR4X @ 2133MHz
ISP/Camera	1x 48MP or 2x 24+16MP	1x 48MP (64MP) or 2x 24+16MP
Encode/ Decode	2160p30 H.264 & HEVC	2160p30 H.264 & HEVC
Integrated Modem	Category 12/13 DL = 600Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM, 4x4 MIMO UL = 150Mbps 2x20MHz CA,64-QAM
Mfc. Process	12FFC

The new G90’s main feature update is the switch from Cortex A75 cores to new Cortex A76 based IP. The new cores are clocked in lower at 2.0GHz, which is 10% lower than the 2.2GHz of the P90. The higher binned variant, the G90T, ups the frequency slightly higher by 50MHz at up to 2.05GHz. The big cores are accompanied by the same core config as on the P90- 6 additional Cortex A55 cores running at up to 2.0GHz.

Another big change in the IP setup is that MediaTek is dropping Imagination’s 9XM core sin favour of a Mali G76. The new GPU comes in a MP4 configuration (MediaTek also likes to specify three execution engines per core), running at up to 720MHz in the G90 and 800MHz in the G90T. MediaTek promises 26% faster performance than its direct competitors, the competition here being Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730.

Part of the gaming theme of the SoC, MediaTek promotes its new “HyperEngine” game technology. It looks here that this is a response to Huawei’s GPU Turbo or Qualcomm’s own variant – it’s a plethora of software optimisations that promise to improve the experience of the phone. The most important aspect for MediaTek here seems to be the promise of 60% shorter rendering latency.

In terms of the APU performance we don’t have immediate details of the G90’s, but it looks like things have remained relatively unchanged compared to the P90, with possibly Tensilica DSPs augmenting MediaTek’s own inference engine IP which is here stated to be able to operate at up to 1TOPs.

On the camera department, the regular G90 remains the same as the P90 with up to 48MP single-sensor ability or 24+16MP multi-sensor capture. The G90T clocks the ISP higher and promises compatibility with the newest 64MP sensors that have been announced by vendors such as Samsung.

The new chip continues to be manufactured on the 12nm FFC process and thus MediaTek should likely be able to price the chip extremely competitively against Qualcomm who has more advanced process node chips in this range.

Related Reading:

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Examining Intel's Ice Lake Processors: Taking a Bite of the Sunny Cove Microarchitecture

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Intel has been building up this year to its eventual release of its first widely available consumer 10nm Core processor, codenamed "Ice Lake". The new SoC has an improved CPU core, a lot more die area dedicated to graphics, and is designed to be found in premium notebooks from major partners by the end of 2019, just in time for Christmas. With the new CPU core, Sunny Cove, Intel is promoting a clock-for-clock 18% performance improvement over the original Skylake design, and its Gen11 graphics is the first 1 teraFLOP single SoC graphics design. Intel spent some time with us to talk about what’s new in Ice Lake, as well as the product's direction.

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AMD's CPU sales move ahead of Intel in Japan

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The news comes from PC Watch Japan (via Hexus), which cites aggregated data from 24 resellers including Amazon Japan, BIC Camera, Edion and several physical stores. The publication writes that the recent surge in popularity of AMD’s chips has seen its CPU market share increase to 68.6 percent.





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MediaTek announces Helio G90 and G90T gaming chipsets with HyperEngine technology

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MediaTek has announced two new chipsets in its gaming-centric G-series. The Helio G90 and G90T chipsets feature HyperEngine technology which helps boost the graphics performance. Both chipsets are the first of their kind by the Taiwanese chipmaker and are aimed at the mid-range smartphone market. During the launch, Manu Kumar Jain, MD, Xiaomi India revealed that the company will soon launch a phone that uses the Helio G90T processor.

MediaTek's new chipsets are fabricated on a 12nm TSMC FinFET architecture and use ARM Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 CPUs with Mali-G76 as the graphics processor. Interestingly, these are same processor cores used by Qualcomm on its flagship SoC. The G90T supports upto 10GB RAM while the G90 is only compatible with upto 8GB LPDDR4x RAM.

The Helio G90T comes with the support of four cameras and upto 64MP sensor whereas the regular version tops out at a triple setup and 48MP camera. Additionally, the new chipsets also offer support for Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) and HDR10 standard.

TL Lee, General Manager, MediaTek Wireless Communication said, “With the Helio G90 series you get a super-fast and responsive display and reduced lag for smoother gameplay – because every millisecond counts in the game world. Whether it’s Fortnite, PUBG or other top titles, this chip is a gaming powerhouse."

MediaTek's new chipsets support dual Wi-Fi bands. This enables a single antenna to be connected to two Wi-Fi bands or routers simultaneously to maintain a consistent connection with the Internet while decreasing latency and jitter. The rapid response engine increases touch input for a more fluid gaming experience.

With the two new chipsets, MediaTek is aiming to make an impact in the mid-range smartphone market and with a soon-to-be-released phone by Xiaomi, we'll soon see their claims put to test.

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AMD Tackles Ryzen 3000 Issues With Beta Chipset Driver

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AMD shared a beta chipset driver update to address problems with Ryzen 3000 CPUs and "Destiny 2."

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Nvidia reveals 10 RTX Studio laptops for creative pros, and a big bonus for GeForce GPUs

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Nvidia has announced a whole bunch of new RTX Studio laptops and mobile workstations targeted at creative types, bringing serious amounts of performance for ray tracing, AI and other heavyweight computing duties.

In total, 10 of these portable powerhouses were revealed over at Siggraph 2019 in LA, with Nvidia RTX Studio notebooks coming from every major laptop manufacturer (meaning there are now 27 machines in total in the RTX Studio line-up, with eight of these currently available).

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The 10 new products will run the gamut from consumer laptops using RTX 2060 graphics cards, up to turbocharged mobile workstations which have Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs.

Nvidia picked out some specific models, including the Lenovo Legion Y740 Laptop Studio Edition which will come in 15-inch and 17-inch flavors running with GeForce RTX 2080 GPUs, and will launch this autumn.

Lenovo ThinkPad P53 and P73 mobile workstations will be available sooner in August, in the same sizes, but equipped with up to Quadro RTX 5000 graphics solutions.

HP will have the ZBook 15 and 17 mobile workstations, also with Quadro RTX – and the 17-inch version will allow the buyer to specify up to a Quadro RTX 5000.

Dell will offer Precision 7540 and Precision 7740 mobile workstations which again will be configurable with up to Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs.

Driving ahead

These notebooks come with Nvidia’s Studio Driver, built for stability and reliability, and optimized for heavyweight software packages like Blender, Autodesk Arnold, Maxon Cinema 4D, Substance Painter by Adobe and more (but lacking all the latest tweaks for games, as seen in the more regularly updated Game Ready Driver).

A key aspect here is that the latest version of Studio Driver now supports 30-bit color in OpenGL applications like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere on all GPUs – meaning not just Quadro graphics cards as was previously the case, but now GeForce models.

So, GeForce-powered notebooks can now work on media content with fully accurate colors, without suffering the banding that can be seen when using 24-bit color.

This is a sizeable step forward, and a major benefit for those who are running with a GeForce GPU in their RTX Studio laptop, rather than stepping up to an expensive Quadro solution.

According to Nvidia’s own testing with Autodesk Arnold, a laptop equipped with an Intel Core i7-8750H processor with a GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU offers performance levels of up to 7x faster than a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Core i9 CPU and Radeon Pro Vega 20 GPU.

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MacBook 2019 release date, news and rumors

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The MacBook is no more, so your hopes of buying a MacBook 2019 have been officially dashed. Unfortunately, Apple low-key announced on July 10, 2019 that they dropped the MacBook from their MacBook line-up, and confirmed that it will not be replaced with a new version. At least, not in the foreseeable future. In fact, this 12-inch laptop is no longer available on the Apple website.

This isn’t a huge surprise, especially because last year came and went with no sign of the new MacBook. Instead, Apple launched the new MacBook Air – which some would argue replaced it. It didn't make an appearance at the WWDC 2019 alongside the redesigned Mac Pro 2019 and macOS Catalina, either. Because the latest thin and light had been out for nearly 2 years, we were actually more than ready for the follow up. 

Looking back, the MacBook 2017 was everything we’ve wanted since the thin and light rebirth back in 2015 – at least on paper. It was packing the powerful 7th-generation Intel Kaby Lake processors that gave it a massive boost to power, as well as the Butterfly keyboard, which is better than ever, despite some persisting issues. 

Now that we have Intel Amber Lake processors, we would have loved the MacBook 2019 to utilize these, taking a huge leap over the 2017 model and giving MacBook users an indisputable reason to upgrade.

The good news is that both the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro both received a refresh, giving MacBook users who are looking to upgrade a couple of fairly affordable alternatives.

Of course, with third-party retailers still selling them, you can still take home a 12-inch MacBook, perhaps at a cheaper price.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next 12-inch MacBook
• When is it out? It won’t. Apple just killed it.
• What will it cost? Presumably the same as current models

MacBook 2019 release date

None of the most recent reports, rumors or leaks gave any idea as to when and if we’ll see the MacBook 2019. Of course, the lack of information was probably due to the fact that Apple didn’t have any. That is, outside of declaring its demise.

In 2015, Apple rolled out the first MacBook in April. That was following a March keynote, an increasingly common time for Apple to release a device.

However, Apple went all of 2018 without releasing a new 12-inch MacBook. While we initially thought the blame was on Intel’s 14nm shortage, the Cupertino behemoth had no problem putting out the MacBook Air 2018. 

Furthermore, Apple didn't showcase the MacBook 2019 at WWDC 2019, though that was hardly surprising as this year's hardware portion of the keynote focused entirely on the new Mac Pro 2019 and its 32-inch 6K Retina display, the Pro Display XDR. 

However, with the new macOS 10.15 boasting new features such as the Apple Music, TV and Podcasts apps (formerly iTunes), Sidecar and Voice Control, Apple could have used the opportunity to show off a MacBook that’s obviously designed for entertainment – the MacBook 2019. 

Unfortunately, July 2019 saw Apple completely dropping the MacBook, opting instead to give the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pros a well-deserving refresh. 

MacBook 2019 price

This is another aspect where we’ll have to speculate based on the current pricing of the MacBook. 

The entry-level MacBook cost $1,299 (£1,249, AU$1,899) to start when it was still available at the Apple Store. Only one more model, with more storage and power, went for another $300 to $450 on top of that. We think that Apple would have launched the MacBook 2019 around the same price as these models.

There was speculation that Apple will be releasing a cheaper 13-inch MacBook, but that turned out to be the new MacBook Air. 

With the pricing so tight here, amounting to minute differences in hardware between offerings, we wouldn’t have seen a price drop. The only way we saw the MacBook budging on price is if Apple introduced sizable storage or higher power options, which would have sent the price up, rather than the opposite. 

For the MacBook 2019 price to have come down, compromises would have been made. Apple could have lowered the memory down to 4GB from 8GB. But we didn’t think that would have happened, especially because 8GB is standard these days. 

Instead, the only way we’d have seen a cheaper MacBook 2019 was if Apple dropped its storage from 128GB SSD instead of starting with 256GB. This would have been beneficial to those who’ve already invested in external drives. Considering how much Apple charges for a bump in storage, lowering that amount should equate to a considerable price drop.

Still, since Apple has pretty much said that they don’t have plans to follow up its last MacBook release, speculating on the price is futile.

What we want to see in MacBook 2019

Again, the MacBook is no more. Still, if the Cupertino behemoth did push the release of its 2019 successor, here’s what we were hoping to see Apple improve about the MacBook 2019.

MacBook 2019 keyboard and screen
Throughout 2018, there were plenty of rumors that Apple had plans to design a MacBook with dual screens. One of these screens would be a capacitive touch keyboard. Early 2019, we stumbled upon a rumor that the touchscreen keyboard would have raised glass and haptic feedback, so it will feel as much like a traditional keyboard as possible. However, it’s easy to expect this to raise the price on any MacBook that implements it.

Even if this touchscreen keyboard doesn’t make its way into the 2019 MacBook, it doesn’t mean the Butterfly mechanism keyboard won’t be improved upon – especially after Apple admitted that some of the keyboards in recent MacBooks are faulty and is now offering to repair them for free. 

That’s why we’re pretty sure that the MacBook 2019 will feature the same third-generation Butterfly keyboard as the new Macbook Pro while MacBook Air will have with a membrane that makes it less prone to jamming up.  

More ports, please
One of the biggest problems with the 12-inch MacBook, ever since its initial release has been the all too obvious lack of ports. With just the one USB-C port – that isn't even Thunderbolt 3! – and a headphone jack, this port situation absolutely needs to change in the MacBook 2019. Even one additional port will help, so that you can charge while also connect a different device at the same time without needing a dock.

We’ve already seen Windows laptops accomplish this feat. Take the Huawei MateBook X, for instance, with its two USB-C ports, or even the similarly priced MacBook Pro, which has two. Maybe there’s room for a microSD card reader too, though that may be pushing it.

Punchier processors
Costing as much as it does, Apple really needs to put some more power into its 12-inch MacBooks. 

Then again, the MacBook has consistently used energy efficient Intel Core ‘M’ and ‘Y’ series CPUs up to this point, so we wouldn’t bank on seeing full-fat Ultrabook processors, as they’d generate too much heat for the tiny, thin chassis.

Now that Amber Lake Y-series CPUs have been released by Intel, we’d like to see Apple shove these latest 8th-generation processors into the new MacBook. However, at this point, those are essentially old tech already, so again, we’ll just have to see.

We’ve also seen some rumors that Apple is planning on crafting an ARM-based MacBook at some point, and if the iPad Pro 2018 were any indication, we could definitely see this happening. Apple would just have to work out some kinks in getting macOS to run on an ARM system.

It’s also safe to assume that Apple will put its T1 or T2 processor into the MacBook 2019 – as it has with all of its latest Mac releases.

Since the 12-inch MacBook lacks a Touch Bar, it’s safe to assume that if one of these co-processors is implemented, it will be used for the automatic wake and ‘Hey Siri’ functionality that’s currently unique on to the iMac Pro, MacBook Air 2018 and MacBook Pro 2018.

Sturdier build
The Apple MacBook already feels remarkably sturdy in hand, but over time it can become inundated with scratches – even if you are exceptionally careful. Luckily, Apple has recently filed a patent that details plans for making ‘indestructible’ hardware, through some unique coatings. 

This will be an excellent option for a premium device that most users won’t want to upgrade for four to five years, as well as help keep the MacBook looking as stunning as the day you opened it. 

Of course, we don’t know if this patent will ever see the light of day or even get utilized for the MacBook. However, this approach, alongside the improved Butterfly keyboard found in the MacBook Pro 2018, could make the MacBook 2019 a much more durable device, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Stronger audio and video
Speaker performance and webcam quality are two corners that Apple obviously cut when in designing the MacBook. With the MacBook 2019, this needs to end. Tinny speakers and a sub-HD webcam for a laptop this expensive and designed for entertainment simply isn’t acceptable, and not in this day and age.

Apple needs to beef up the webcam up to 1080p, to make it more worthy of its price tag. The speakers, though, are a problem we don’t necessarily have a solution for. Supporting the speakers with down-throwing bass modules in the base might work? Otherwise, stick to your better made external speakers and headphones.

• These are the best Macs that 2019 has to offer so far

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AMD Ryzen 3000 release date, news and rumors

Intel admits it won’t catch up with AMD’s 7nm chips until 2021

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Update: Intel has released a statement clarifying Bob Swan's comments, and arguing that its 10nm chips will be comparable with AMD's current 7nm process. Meanwhile, Intel promises that its 7nm that will arrive in 2021 will provide 2x scaling. 

“There’s been some confusion around node names, because over the years we’ve held ourselves to a stricter standard than others. But we want to set the record straight. Our 10nm node is comparable to the foundries’ 7nm nodes today. Our 7nm process, which is on track for a 2021 first-product introduction, will deliver 2X scaling on top of that. So, purely from a process standpoint, we are neck-and-neck with the foundries. When you add to that our innovations in packaging, interconnect, architecture and software, it’s clear we have what it takes to deliver industry-leading products today and in the future.”

As Intel has not yet released its 10nm consumer processors, we cannot verify its claims just yet – but we're looking forward to putting them through their paces soon.

Original story follows...

Intel has explained how it struggled to bring 10-nanometer processors to market, while also admitting that we won’t see its 7nm chips until 2021.

Meanwhile, its competitor AMD has recently released 7nm chips (such as the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X).

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• AMD Ryzen processors are now outselling Intel in Asia

The revelations come from Intel CEO Bob Swan, who said at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, that Intel’s goal to have a 2.7x transistor density improvement in its 10nm chips compared to current 14nm chips was too ambitious.

"At a time when it gets harder and harder, we set a more aggressive goal. From that it just took us longer," Swan said.

Because of this, Intel has been slow to move on from 14nm. This has led many people to suggest that – for Intel at least – Moore’s Law is dead.

Moore is less

Moore’s Law, which is named after Intel co-founder and former CEO Gordon Moore, states that transistor density in computer chips doubles every two years. It’s been a driving principle behind Intel’s processor strategy, and many people credit it with the fast pace of technological advancements we’ve seen in the past.

Because of Intel’s delays with 10nm, it has fallen behind this schedule. However, with 10nm out this year and 7nm out by 2021, Intel is hoping it can catch up with Moore’s Law.

Swan admits that the 2.7x scaling for 10nm was both too ambitious and too complicated. He also explains how Intel made an error when it “prioritized performance at a time when predictability was really important”.

However, as Swan notes, “The short story is we learned from it, we'll get our 10nm node out this year. Our 7nm node will be out in two years and it will be a 2.0X scaling so back to the historical Moore's Law curve.”

You can watch a recording of Swan's appearance on Fortune's website.

So it looks like we’ll finally see 10nm chips from Intel this year, while 7nm will have to wait until 2021. That’s a long time considering both AMD and Qualcomm have 7nm chips out right now. But will Intel be happy with ceding any performance advantage 7nm brings to its two biggest competitors for that long?

• Best processors 2019: the best CPUs for your PC

Via PC Gamer

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The best laptop 2019: our pick of the 15 best laptops you can buy this year

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If you're looking for the best laptop in 2019, you've come to the right place. On this page you'll find the best laptops money can buy in 2019 for a variety of budgets and use cases.

We're constantly updating and reviewing this list to ensure that you get the very latest laptop recommendations. The newest entry in our best laptops list is the Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019). This new model has some of the latest (and most powerful) components you can find in a laptop, making it a worthy entry in our best laptops list. 

Every laptop on this page has been carefully tested and reviewed by us, and only the machines that have really impressed us make their way into our best laptops list. We're constantly updating this guide as well, so as soon as a new laptop gets released – and we deem it worthy – then it will make it into our best laptop guide.

We don't just list the most expensive laptops on this page. We've got the best budget laptops and Chromebooks, as well as a mix of affordable and high-end gaming laptops. Basically, if you're after a certain type of laptop, then this guide to the best laptops of 2019 will have you covered.

We've also included our very own price comparison tool that will ensure that you're getting the best deals for the best laptops.

The best laptops of 2019:

The Dell XPS 13 has been a regular of our best laptops list for years, and the 2019 model is no exception. It retains everything we've come to love from Dell's flagship 13-incher, from the gorgeous and light design, to the powerful modern components that power it. The Dell XPS 13 rocks an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and a bezel-less ‘Infinity Edge’ display, this Dell XPS 13 continues to be the most popular Windows laptop in the world. 

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What’s more, there’s a wide range of customization options, so you can really make the Dell XPS 13 the best laptop for your needs. The 2019 model doesn't bring a huge amount of improvements, but then not that much about the Dell XPS 13 needs improving. Its webcam has been placed at the top center of the screen, rather than at the bottom, which a lot of customers have been asking for. You also get a longer battery life in this year's model.

Read the full review: Dell XPS 13

Huawei has done it again, and its latest laptop is one of our picks for the best laptop of 2019. As with last year's Huawei MateBook X Pro, the MateBook 13 comes with some of the latest components, including a discrete Nvidia MX150 graphics card, and a gorgeous lightweight design, that you'd expect to find on a much more expensive laptop. The fact that the MateBook 13 offer so much, yet comes with an impressively low price – compared to its Ultrabook competitors, like the XPS 13 below – makes it our choice for the best laptop money can buy right now. Sure, you may be missing a few minor niceties here and there to achieve such a competitive price, but on the whole, this is the most value-packed flagship laptop that we’ve ever tested.  If you're after a few more bells and whistles, like super-fast Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 4K display, then the Dell XPS 13 or MacBook Pro (also on this list of best laptops) may be better choices. Recently, the US government blacklisted Huawei, which many feared would have implications on whether the Chinese company's laptops would still get support from the like of Microsoft and Intel. The good news is that both Microsoft and Intel have confirmed that they will continue to support Huawei laptops, which means the MateBook 13 and other models will still get important Windows 10 updates. This recent uncertainty has meant that many stores have dropped the prices of Huawei's laptops, so you may get an even better deal if you act fast!

Read the full review: Huawei MateBook 13

• This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of writing. For Australian readers, check out a fine alternative in the Dell XPS 13 

The HP Spectre line of Ultrabooks and 2-in-1 laptops has always consisted of extraordinarily attractive devices. So, when we say that the 2019 Spectre x360 takes things to another level, that should mean something. This is one of the most beautiful laptops on the market right now, with its gem cut design and sleek profile. Couple that with the powerful Intel Whiskey Lake processors and long battery life, and you get one of the best laptops on the market right now. Its ability to flip into a Windows tablet is just icing on the cake. 

Read the full review: HP Spectre x360 (2019)

This year's model of the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro is the most powerful MacBook the Cupertino company has ever made. By fitting some of the most powerful components in the world (including 6- and 8-core Intel processors) into the iconic slimline MacBook body, Apple has created a formidable professional laptop that earns its place on our best laptops list. Of course, being a MacBook Pro, while it's powerful and beautifully designed, it's also incredibly expensive – especially if you start customising its components. But, if you have the budget, this is an amazing device that can serve as an essential productivity tool. However, there's no denying that this is a pricey machine, so you may want to consider one of the Windows alternatives. If you're open to switching to a PC, definitely consider the XPS 13 or the excellent MateBook X Pro. But, if you're a steadfast Apple diehard, this is definitely the best laptop for you.

Read the full review: Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)

The Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 is the best gaming laptop of 2019 thanks to its powerful components that include a 6-core Intel processor, and the latest RTX 2080 graphics from Nvidia. It's also one of the best Asus laptops ever made. Not only is this a brilliant performer, but it's also impressively thin and light as well (by gaming laptop standards). 

• Save some cash and grab a Prime Day gaming laptop deal

Asus' Zephyrus laptops have constantly pushed the boundaries of what gaming laptops can do, and this new model for 2019 is no difference, which is why it has made it straight onto our best laptops list. It's available to pre-order now, but be warned: this is a very expensive laptop. If you're looking for something a bit more affordable, check out the Acer Predator Helios 300 later on in this list.

Read the full review: Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701

Microsoft's second attempt at a pure laptop device is an absolute winner in our view, and while it doesn't represent a huge overhaul of the original Surface Laptop, it offers improvements in all the areas we were hoping for, including updated hardware that brings serious performance benefits. This is a laptop that finally delivers on what Microsoft set out to do with the original: a pure, powerful Windows 10 laptop experience. If you're not sold on the 2-in-1 nature of the Surface Book 2 (which is also on this best laptops list), but love Microsoft's premium build quality and design, then the Surface Laptop 2 is the laptop for you. A very worth addition to this list.

Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Laptop 2

Last year’s Dell XPS 15 was already one of the best laptops you could buy, but now that Dell has taken the beautiful redesign of the Dell XPS 13 and applied it here – while also making it a convertible. Well, it’s amazing. Not only do you get one of the most aesthetically pleasing 15-inch laptops on the market, but it also packs one of those new Intel  Kaby Lake G-series CPUs featuring ‘discrete-class’ Radeon graphics. This means that this laptop packs serious power – even if it can get a little loud.

Read the full review: Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a fantastic affordable gaming laptop that proves that even if you don't have the kind of money to buy the MSI GS65 Stealth that also features on this best laptops list, you don't have to sacrifice too much when it comes to power. The Acer Predator Helios 300 packs some excellent components, such as a new 8th generation 6-core Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card and 16GB of RAM. While it's still an expensive proposition compared to regular laptops, for a gaming notebook you are getting a heck of a lot of power for the price.

Read the full review: Acer Predator Helios 300

When it comes to the best Chromebook laptop, you have a choice between two stark alternatives. There's the premium Chromebook Pixel, which we list further down this page, and then there's the excellent Asus Chromebook Flip C302, which combines premium features in a much more affordable package. For many people, Chromebooks are excellent and affordable laptops that are perfect for students, and the Asus Chromebook Flip C302 is easily one of the best Chromebooks, and one of the best laptops, money can buy. It comes with an Intel Core processor, full 1080p display, touchscreen, backlit keyboard and USB-C port.

Read the full review: Asus Chromebook Flip

When HP unveiled the HP Spectre Folio, it made some big claims about how the 2-in-1 laptop would reinvent the PC. While it doesn't quite match the hype, what we do have is one of the most beautifully-designed laptops we've ever tried. Billed as "modern vintage meets technology", the HP Spectre Folio is built directly into a piece of genuine leather. That's not a fancy cover, it's a part of the laptop. It's not just looks that has put it on this list of the best laptops of 2019, the HP Spectre Folio is also a brilliant performer as well, with modern components powering the device. It is very expensive, though, so if you're on a budget, check out the more affordable 2-in-1 Acer Switch 3 below. But, if you want the best laptop for making a statement as soon as you pull it out of the bag, then the HP Spectre Folio is the one to get.

Read the full review:  HP Spectre Folio 

If you want the Microsoft Surface Book 2 but you want to spend a lot less, the Acer Switch 3 2017 is definitely the your best option. It's designed around essentially the same concept as the Surface Book 2 and it's a less capable thanks to slightly lower power innards, but for most tasks it's a brilliant little machine. What's more, to add further value this 2-in-1 laptop/tablet comes with the keyboard upgrade which means no little extras to pay for. As usual it comes in several different versions, with USB Type-C, 8GB RAM, an IPS display and Intel Core i3 7100U CPU coming with the more expensive option.

Read the full review: Acer Switch 3 

Last year's iteration of the MacBook is another win for Apple, and it's once again won us over with a gorgeous design, excellent performance and best-in-class battery life. Apple has updated the processors with Intel's 7th-generation Kaby Lake range, which means you get improved performance and longer battery life without sacrificing the thin and light design that the MacBook is famous for. While the MacBook 2017 is not designed as a pure productivity machine, like the more powerful and versatile MacBook Pro above, or as a gaming machine like the Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501, it's still one of the best laptops in the world right now thanks to being a super slim and light MacBook that you can take anywhere without even noticing the weight, and being a powerful showcase for macOS High Sierra. If you're after a MacBook, this year's model is easily one of the best.

Read the full review: Apple MacBook

The best Chromebooks have experienced huge success in recent years as a result of their accessibility, and the Google Pixelbook is no exception. Even though it costs twice as much as the average Chrome OS device and doesn’t come with a stylus as you may expect, the Pixelbook is built to withstand the future. It features a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports for accessories and super fast file transfers, a hinge that flips inside out for watching movies on planes and a taste of Android. You get full access to the Google Play store on the Pixelbook, from playing Sonic the Hedgehog to watching videos in VLC. The icing on this pixelated cake is its long battery life – it lasted nearly 8 hours in our own testing, so you shouldn’t need to worry about the Pixelbook dying on you. 

Read the full review: Google Pixelbook

• This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Asus Chromebook Flip C302 

While you may have been convinced that ‘budget Ultrabook’ was an oxymoron up until this point, the Acer has turned this common misconception on its head with the Swift 3. That’s because the company has taken the all-aluminum chassis of the Acer Swift 7 and stuffed some more affordable components inside for everyone to enjoy. It doesn’t run macOS, but the Acer Swift 3 does put the age-old MacBook Air to shame in about every other regard, including the nigh-unbeatable price tag. Of course, in the process of demolishing the competition, Acer did have to cut a few corners in order to keep the price so impressively low. So although you can’t expect much in the way of an Ultra HD display or quality onboard sound, the performance benchmarks alone give even the Surface Laptop a run for its money.

We've also had a glance of the upcoming 2018 edition of the Swift 7 at CES 2018, which comes with boosted graphics and processing specs. It could be a shoe-in for a place on this list when it launches later this year.

Read the full review: Acer Swift 3

While it may not have the best keyboard in the world, the Samsung Notebook 9 was one of the best laptops you could buy in 2018. and that stands in 2019. Packed with more horsepower than the MacBook Pro, but at a much lower price, Samsung has crafted a laptop that has just as much substance as it does style. Plus, on top of its killer specs, it’s lightweight and thin, making this one of the most portable 15-inch laptops you can buy today.

Read the full review: Samsung Notebook 9 

• This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the MacBook Pro 

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Which type of laptop is best for you?

General laptops: Where the best cheap laptops are found, devices that focus more on practicality than style, portability or power. That’s not to say they can’t be fast, but you’ll typically find a non-Ultrabook clamshell laptop with an HD screen and spinning drive-based storage for less than $600 or £400.

Ultrabooks: Where you’ll find thin-and-light notebooks sporting SSD storage and display resolutions that exceed 1080p. Paired with powerful, albeit mobile-centric components and especially long battery life, the best Ultrabooks will cost a pretty penny – $700 or £500 to $2,000 or £1,800.

2-in-1 laptops: Where notebooks that double as tablets are located. The Surface Book 2 might be a ways off, but many of the best 2-in-1 laptops are available right now. Outfitted with both detachable and 360-degree rotating hinges, these hybrids are the most versatile way to experience Windows 10 (or Chrome OS) on a touchscreen.

Chromebooks: Where you’ll find the best Chromebooks running Chrome OS. These do much of what Windows and macOS can in the browser, focused on cloud storage over local, while recently getting Android app support for touchscreen models. They generally cost less than $300 or £200 and some can even withstand a slight tussle.

Gaming laptops: Need a laptop to play games (almost) just like a shiny desktop PC can? Then you’ll want one of the best gaming laptops. These machines generally cost from $800 or £600 to upwards of $3,000 or £2,800 and they’ll likely be the ones to take advantage of AMD’s laptop-grade Ryzen processors first.

Laptop-tablet hybrids: Designed from the tablet-first approach to laptop-tablet hybrids, the best Windows tablets pack beyond-HD touchscreens, sometimes with kickstands in their frames or provided via keyboard covers. These generally shine with a stylus, and range from the budget to the premium price ranges.

Linux, Windows or Mac - which one is best for you? Watch our guide video below: 

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Nearly half of Japanese desktop CPU market claimed by AMD

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It's no secret that AMD has been seeing a pretty substantial surge in popularity over the last couple years since the first generation of Ryzen appeared on the scene. And, as further proof of AMD's popularity, AMD processors now make up nearly half of desktop processor sales in Japan. 

This comes via a aggregated report from PC Watch Japan, and it shows that the market share for Team Red's processors has grown substantially over the last year or so – from just 17.7% in January 2018 to 46.7% in June 2019. That's a pretty massive jump in a relatively short period.

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And, the positive sales growth doesn't end with the desktop market, either. Even among prebuilt PCs and laptops – a market that AMD has been struggling with for years, the chip maker is seeing significant gains. They're obviously not as significant as the desktop market, but AMD does now claim 14.7% of the market – up from 3.9% in January 2018. 

So, while AMD isn't exactly destroying Intel in the market, thanks to wins like the Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X, it's gaining market share in a market that used to be very one-sided. 

Rising with Ryzen 

This is hardly the first time we've heard of AMD gaining significant market share. We did hear earlier in July that AMD is taking over much of the CPU market in Asia, and even earlier there were reports that AMD is doubling Intel's sales in Germany. 

However, what really gets our interest here is the rise in market share of AMD's mobile processors. Just last week we saw leaked benchmarks of Intel's 10th-generation Ice Lake processors beating the Ryzen 9 3900X in single-core workloads. Now that's a leak and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it does help illustrate that Intel are still the leaders in mobile performance. 

The fact that AMD has been able to reclaim this much of the desktop market is still impressive, though. And, when the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X hits the street in September, it might be hard for Intel to reclaim the desktop market. Either way, we'll have to wait and see what Comet Lake has to offer later this year. 

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Testing Ryzen 9 with SMT On vs. SMT Off

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When we compared AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X gaming head to head against the Core i9-9900K we found that the 12-core AMD processor was about 6% slower. We've been requested by readers to retest the 3900X with SMT disabled, essentially turning the 12-core, 24-thread CPU into a 12-core, 12-thread CPU. Many...





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