This year’s Computex was one of the most monumental in ages. Funnily enough, that made it feel both insanely packed and curiously quiet on the PC front.
Qualcomm’s imminent entry into the premium PC space with Snapdragon X Elite-powered Copilot+ laptops cast a shadow over Computex after being announced in late May, with a wide array of top PC makers already on board for a June 18 launch. AMD and Intel’s keynotes focused heavily on their AI-infused laptop chips in response – but those aren’t launching until July and this fall, respectively. So, we heard a lot about the chips underpinning the next generation of laptops, but little about the laptops they’ll actually be in, with a few exceptions.
On the desktop, Nvidia focused on AI (natch) but AMD rolled out its hotly anticipated Ryzen 9000 desktop processors, powered by a new Zen 5 architecture. And PC component and peripheral makers were out in full force, flexing their influence in the increasingly competitive world of computing.
We live in interesting times — but enough backdrop. Which reveals got us deeply, personally excited? This is the best hardware and software of Computex 2024. Giddy up.
The best PC hardware and software of Computex 2024
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
<div class="scrim" style="background-color: #fff" aria-hidden="true"></div>
</div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry</p></div>AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X might not look exciting at first blush, with no increase to core count and only a slight bump to the maximum boost clocks — especially when you compare it to AMD’s new Ryzen 9 9950X flagship. But when you look at the thermal draw (TDP) you realize the exciting part: It’s 65 watts compared to the 7700Xs’ 105 watts.
That’s a huge drop in power, which hints at the efficiency of AMD’s Zen 5 architecture, and means that you should be able to get 8 fast cores without needing to worry about massive cooling solutions. Even with this drop in power AMD says that the Ryzen 7 9700X will still see an IPC/performance uplift, with the ability to push the chip harder for those who have more robust cooling installed. Of course, we’ll have to see how these Ryzen 9000 CPUs perform in reviews, but I’m all for cooler, quieter, and less power hungry systems. -Adam Patrick Murray
Intel Lunar Lake
Intel needed to get a win at Computex, to stem the sudden threat of Qualcomm-powered Copilot+ PCs serving as the vanguard for the future of Windows. Chipzilla didn’t have any firm products to show off, much less many laptops powered by its next-gen CPUs, but the company’s exhaustive Lunar Lake processor architecture reveal bought it time.
Intel says Lunar Lake will not only offer 14 percent faster CPU performance than its predecessors, it’ll have up to 50 percent higher graphics performance and a whopping 60 percent battery life, as well as a Snapdragon-matching NPU for AI workloads. It’ll serve as the vanguard for Intel’s next-gen Xe2 “Battlemage” GPU architecture, while ruthlessly eliminating technological standbys like hyperthreading and replaceable memory helped Intel optimize for peak power efficiency. Intel and AMD need better battery life, fast, to compete with Qualcomm’s new notebooks – and Lunar Lake shows Intel plans on putting up a fierce fight. –Brad Chacos
Fractal Design’s tiny Raspberry Pi concept case
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
<div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Fractal Design Raspberry Pi case" class="wp-image-2358061" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" /></figure><p class="imageCredit">Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry</p></div> </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry</p></div>I need to be clear: This is not an official product that Fractal will be selling, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of it at the company’s suite — and I hope they release this in some form in the future.
This custom-made Raspberry Pi case that looks like a very tiny Fractal North was fabricated to help showcase Fractal Design’s new Scape headphones (which is a new category for the company, and a promising headphone in its own right). I’m a sucker for both Fractal cases and tiny renditions of things, so this fun concept continues to live in the back of my mind — until it can, hopefully one day, live at the corner of my desk. –-Adam Patrick Murray
Nvidia SFF GeForce guidelines
Small form factor PCs are some of the most stylish around, especially if you don’t follow the trend for disco lighting and fishbowl displays. But the explosion in graphics card sizes, especially at the high end, means it’s almost impossible to build one with top-of-the-line components.
Enter refreshed SFF guidelines from Nvidia, which should finally mean you can get by with “just” 2.5 card slots for a high-end design. A maximum of 304mm in length and 50mm in height mean that building in stunning SFF cases like the
Asus ROG Mjolnir Portable Gaming UPS
Autentifică-te pentru a adăuga comentarii
Alte posturi din acest grup
Electric vehicles (EVs) are clearly the future, but what’s available
Anker remains one of our preferred sources of power banks, USB-C hubs
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Microsoft encourages you not to
Who needs a smart home hub you can snag cheap Wi-Fi smart bulbs that
