FANTASSY'

Quality, not quantity May is traditionally a pretty slow month for PC hardware, and for a fine reason: Everybody in the industry saves their big guns for Computex, the Taiwan tradeshow that kicks off at the very beginning of June. While CES is all about pie-in-the-sky dream hardware, Computex keeps it real, as vendors display the new hardware they’ll be selling during the crucial holiday season. So next month’s hardware roundup will be awesome. But what May’s output of new PC hardware lacked in quantity, it sure made up for in quality. This month, Google teased a new type of chip that blows away Moore’s Law, Dell adorned one of the best laptops around in gold, and oh yeah—the first-ever graphics card built on 16nm technology was released, and the results of jumping forward not one but two generations in underlying hardware was nothing short of glorious. Let’s dig in.

HP's late 2014 laptop was an omen of what was to come: a revamped gaming platform with new devices rolling out this summer. In late 2014, HP teased the return of the Omen—a line of always-stylish luxury PCs produced by VoodooPC, which HP acquired in 2006—with a 15.6-inch laptop. Now, HP is bringing Omen back in full force with two sleek-looking laptops and a stylish, powerful desktop tower. All three rock some interesting specs. Let’s dive in. When we looked at the late 2014 Omen laptop we said the device offered “bags of style and reasonable gaming performance in a thin and fairly cool chassis.” In that respect, not a whole lot has changed with these new models. The new Omen laptops come in 15.6- or 17.3-inch display sizes and up to a quad-core, 2.6GHz Intel “Skylake” Core i7-6700HQ processor. Both laptops come with either 1080p or 3840-by-2160 display resolutions, up to 16GB of RAM, and a variety of storage options that max out at a dual-storage 4 terabytes worth of hard drive space and a 128GB hybrid drive. If you really want to go all out, you can also upgrade to an Intel RealSense cameras for various purposes, including gesture control on compatible games. The graphics are where these Omen devices get into “reasonable gaming performance” territory. Both laptops come with up to Nvidia’s GTX 965M—a respectable little GPU, but one firmly in the entry-level gaming category. It’s hard to describe the desktop as “reasonable,” however. For those who want the jaw-dropping best of the best, the HP Omen desktop can be kitted out with up to an Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics card—or, as we like to call it, “the most badass graphics card ever created.” There’s also an eminently respectable AMD R9 390X option. HP says the Omen desktop is ready to work with HTC’s Vive VR headset out-of-the-box. Beyond the graphics card, options go up to an quad-core, 4GHz Intel “Skylake” Core i7-6700K processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD and 3TB hard drive. The device has four USB 2.0 ports, two with USB 3.0, one USB 3.1 Typce C port (select models), a media card reader, and dual-HDMI out. Overall, the new Omen PC's a nice, stylish-looking desktop, but it’s about what you’d expect if you married gamer sensibilities with the current trends in PC hardware design. It’s pretty, but hardly a conversation piece. HP's also pairing the desktop with a new 32-inch 2560-by-1440 FreeSync-compatible display with two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, and a USB hub. Pricing for the display wasn't announced, but it will release in August around the same time as the desktop, which is also lacking a pricing announcement. The new OMEN laptops roll out on July 10 with prices starting at $900 for the 15.6-inch and $980 for the 17.3-inch. The story behind the story: What’s interesting about HP’s announcement isn’t so much what it said, but what it didn’t. HP is introducing its new devices less than a week before the Computex trade show begins—and less than a week before AMD is also expected to potentially introduce its first graphics cards rocking the Polaris architecture. If AMD was rolling out new high end gear to match the GTX 1080, you’d think HP would hold off on this announcement. That suggests the rumors may be spot on when they claim AMD will start with mid-range graphics products for Polaris. It’s also curious that the laptops will rock the 965M and not something new. Perhaps that means new mobile parts also aren’t coming for gamers at Computex next week as the new graphics generation is only just now lurching to life. Typically, companies that are including unannounced components in their new hardware will say things like “this laptop features an Nvidia GPU” or something similar without getting into specifics. That’s not the case here. That’s all speculation though. We should have a better idea of what’s going on in the graphics world once Computex wraps up.

The era of the living room computer finally has its last—and maybe most important—piece: Lapboards. Razer’s Turret finally shipped out in late April and today Corsair announced its competing Lapdog ($120 on Newegg) is available for purchase. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been seeing lapboard prototypes and the like for years now, and none ever made it to market before these two. But there are some huge benefits Lapboards allow you to utilize a mouse and keyboard in the living room without hunching over a coffee table or putting a hardcover book on the couch as a “mousepad” (something I’ve done multiple times). And a lapboard looks a hell of a lot nicer than keeping some crappy throwaway keyboard on the side of the couch. As far as the latter point, Razer’s Turret seems like the early winner. It’s sleek, it’s small, and it folds up and sits in a dock when you’re not using it. I’ve actually been experimenting with the Turret on airplanes—it’s easier than setting my laptop on the tray and then splaying my elbows out to the side to type. On the other hand, Corsair’s larger footprint is more comfortable both for typing and mousing around, and it accommodates a full-scale K65 or K70 mechanical keyboard—although neither a mouse nor keyboard is included in the $120 lapboard itself. You’re basically buying a very nice piece of padded aluminum. Either way, it seems like a pretty useful peripheral if you buy into the living room PC shebang. I don’t know how many of you that is—for better or worse, I haven’t heard much about Steam Machines lately. Manufacturers seem to have cooled off trying to push PCs into traditional console spaces. We’ll be reviewing both, nevertheless. The Turret sells for $160 and includes a miniature keyboard and mouse, while (as I mentioned) the Lapdog is $120 with a bring-your-own attitude. Look for our full impressions in the near [CENSORED]ure.

AMD's Zen chips, an x86 licensing strategy, and world-class GPUs could be keys for the company to be the competitor it once was. The rivalry between AMD and Intel peaked during the first decade of the 2000s, when the companies consistently challenged each other with a stream of chip innovations. Since then, AMD lost its way, and today it barely registers as a threat to Intel. But the competitive landscape could start changing as early as next year. Intel’s x86 chips are installed in most PCs and servers, and AMD has been losing market share for years. AMD’s chip technology has fallen behind Intel’s after some ill-advised architectural changes, acquisitions, and manufacturing problems. Intel’s x86 processor market share was 87.7 percent the fourth quarter of 2015, growing from 86.3 percent a year earlier. AMD held just a 12.1 percent share, falling from 13.6 percent, according to Mercury Research. But AMD has made some smart moves recently. It decided to cut its reliance on the declining PC market in 2013, something Intel finally acknowledged this week while cutting 12,000 jobs. AMD also has emphasized custom chips and hit paydirt with specialized processors for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. AMD is now poised to threaten Intel’s market dominance. Only time will tell if AMD will be successful, but here are some technologies and business decisions AMD is relying on to better compete with Intel. Licensing x86 architecture It’s possible we’ll see PCs and servers using AMD-based chips not made by company, with AMD now licensing its top-line chip architecture. The long-running two-horse x86 race could then include more players, a development bound to hurt Intel more than AMD. Licensing is an easy way for AMD to expand the installed base of its processor technology while generating licensing revenue. AMD this week licensed its upcoming Zen server chip architecture to THATIC (Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co. Ltd.), a consortium of public and private Chinese companies, as part of a joint venture. Lead in graphics AMD has a valuable asset that Intel doesn’t possess: the world-class Radeon and FirePro GPUs. Graphics processors are hot, with sales of gaming PCs growing in an otherwise slumping market. Intel wants to focus on gaming but only has a good CPU. AMD still has to compete with Nvidia in GPUs, but the company has a combination of hardware technologies that put it in a better position than Intel in virtual reality and gaming. Versatile CPU assets If you want an ARM chip for PCs or servers, AMD can make it. If you want x86, AMD has that, too. AMD officials have stressed the importance of versatility many times over the last two years. AMD’s business relies on x86, but the company has stocked up on ARM technology, which could explode into servers and embedded devices in the coming years. Intel makes only x86 chips and doesn’t have its sights on ARM. Zen CPU AMD is placing a lot of faith in its upcoming Zen x86 CPU—if it fails, it could take the company down with it. But Zen could be equalizer AMD needs to compete with Intel in CPUs, and it could perhaps attract some enthusiasts over from the Intel camp. AMD claims Zen delivers a 40 percent performance improvement per clock cycle, which is higher than the single-digit gains delivered by recent x86 chips. The first Zen chips for enthusiast desktops will ship later this year. Servers The time is ripe for AMD to grow in the server market, where Intel’s superior Xeon chips have destroyed AMD’s Opteron processors. AMD once held a double-digit market share, but then came problems with the faulty and poorly constructed Bulldozer architecture. AMD’s server strategy is now in shambles, and it is relying on the Zen chips for what it calls a “reentry” into the server market. The company will initially target Zen chips at hyperscale servers, then at other systems. Chinese market AMD is chasing the booming Chinese server market by licensing its upcoming x86 chip to THATIC. That frees up cash-strapped AMD from committing resources to selling chips in the country. AMD could also use the licensing strategy to sell more PC chips in China, where the company has a committed following among home PC builders. Custom chips AMD had to find a new place to sell its processors with PC shipments falling, so it focused on products like gaming consoles, gambling machines, ATMs, and automobiles, all of which require custom processors. The console makers are already coming back to AMD for more processors. AMD is now taking on only larger custom-chip orders that will bring in considerable revenue.

AMD FX-8350 and FX-6350 CPUs now have a quieter cooler as part of the package. AMD is bringing its Wraith cooler to more CPUs in hopes that lower temperatures and quieter operations will sweeten the deal. The Wraith cooler is now bundled with AMD FX-8350 ($180) and FX-6350 ($130) processors. It’s already available on AMD’s FX-8370 CPU ($200) and A10-7890K APU ($170). AMD first introduced the Wraith cooler during the CES trade show in January. Wraith promises to be much quieter than AMD’s typical coolers. Its fan also operates continuously at low speed, which should be less distracting than a fan that keeps switching on and off. Keep in mind that AMD FX-8350 and FX-6350 processors are already on the market without the Wraith cooler, and for now retailers are continuing to sell the old models. The new CPUs that include the Wraith cooler are specifically marked as such on the box. Why this matters: While stock coolers aren’t usually praiseworthy—and are often replaced by anyone looking to overclock their machines—the Wraith cooler is noticeably quieter than the ones that have previously shipped on AMD processors. Consider it a pleasant add-in for users who aren’t dead-set on aftermarket solutions.

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AMD is licensing its server chip technology to a Chinese joint venture and may later license its PC chip designs. Things just a lot more interesting in the x86 server market. AMD has announced a plan to license the design of its top-of-the-line server processor to a newly formed Chinese company, creating a brand-new rival for Intel. AMD is licensing its x86 processor and system-on-chip technology to a company called THATIC (Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co. Ltd.), a joint venture between AMD and a consortium of public and private Chinese companies. AMD is providing all the technology needed for THATIC to make a server chip, including the CPUs, interconnects and controllers. THATIC will be able to make variants of the x86 chips for different types of servers. Most PCs and servers are based on x86 chips, but licensing the chip technology to other companies is rare, even if that company is a joint venture, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. AMD is much smaller than Intel, and licensing offers it an easy way to expand the installed base of AMD technology. The resource-strapped company will also generate licensing revenue in the process, McGregor said. AMD is taking every step it can to be competitive with Intel, and there's a good chance it will ultimately license its PC chip designs, McGregor said. The deal is a sign that AMD is looking to monetize its large portfolio of intellectual property, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. "I would expect more deals like this in areas AMD can’t reach with their platforms or resources. I would expect arrangements not just for their CPU technology but also their GPU technology," Moorhead said in an email. Intel won't be happy to hear this news. Suddenly, the long-running two-horse x86 race could include more players, which would hurt Intel more than AMD. Intel dominates the server and PC markets, and licensees could flood AMD's x86 chip variants into more servers and possibly even PCs. Intel has been holding on tight to its x86 designs and hasn't licensed its chip technology yet. The company makes its own chips, with either sales or design partnerships with companies like RockChip in China. Intel hasn't licensed its x86 architecture to its engineering partners. "Intel will give you a black box, but not the keys to the kingdom," McGregor said. AMD will probably license server chip designs based on its upcoming Zen architecture. Zen is supposed to be AMD's best CPU in more than a decade, with performance gains of up to 40 percent per clock cycle. AMD also hopes Zen will make it a true competitor against Intel. AMD will continue to sell its homegrown server chips. The first Zen server chips will be in servers early next year. Intel and AMD have already have an x86 cross-licensing agreement. AMD is confident it is not violating any agreement by doing the joint venture with THATIC. AMD has been quiet about the size of its share in THATIC, but it's not pouring money in. AMD's only investment will be the intellectual property, and it is expecting overall revenue of $293 million from the deal. THATIC operations effectively will be in the hands of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a national research institution. AMD's approach here is much like that taken by ARM, which licenses its chip designs to many companies. ARM processor designs are used in smartphones and tablets from the likes of Apple and Samsung. However licensing chip technology hasn't worked out for companies like Nvidia, which found no takers for its Kepler GPU design. AMD once was a competitive threat to Intel in servers, but it squandered most of its market share with missteps like the heavily criticized Bulldozer architecture. AMD also bought microserver company SeaMicro for $334 million in 2012 but exited that market last year. The licensing deal and joint venture also give AMD a direct entry into the booming China market. Companies like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba are building mega data centers, much like Google and Facebook in the U.S., and are committing a lot of computing resources in areas like machine learning. AMD's entry will also intensify server competition in China. IBM is warming up to Chinese companies with its Power architecture and Qualcomm is making a 24-core ARM server chip for the market. The joint venture will also give the Chinese government access to x86 designs, which it has coveted for a long time, McGregor said. China wants to foster the development of homegrown chips, and local companies already have access to architectures like Power, ARM and MIPS. But there's still work for AMD to do in building a relationship with the Chinese government. Intel has a head start as it has played politically nice and invested heavily in China.

The Predator 17X laptop and Predator G1 desktop look great, too. Acer is firing on all cylinders with its powerful new Predator gaming PCs, which will also provide the compute muscle for your virtual reality headset. The Predator 17X is a 17.3-inch laptop with an Intel i7-6820HK Core processor that can be overclocked to 4.0GHz. The GeForce GTX 980 GPU can be overclocked as well, to 1310MHz, which is a whole load of graphics performance. For a big laptop it's fairly portable, especially considering its "custom triple-fan cooling system," akin to what you might find on a desktop. The laptop sucks in air at the sides and pushes it out the back. But watch your electricity bill if the system is running at full speed for long periods of time. The 17X can be configured with a 1920x1080 pixel display, or a 4K display with 3840x2160 resolution. It has superfast NVMe storage and supports Thunderbolt 3 via a USB-C port. It will go on sale in North America in June starting at $2,799, with other countries to follow. Acer also announced the Predator G1 gaming desktop. The company claims this is portable too, though you'll need two hands to lug around the 16-liter chassis. Acer going after the "LAN party" crowd (is that still a thing?), where enthusiasts gather in groups to do their gaming together. The G1 has some features found in bigger gaming rigs. It can be configured with Nvidia's fastest GPU, the Titan X, for the best gaming experience available. To back that up, the system can be loaded with Intel's latest Skylake chips and 64GB of DDR4 RAM. Storage options are up to a 512GB solid-state drive or a 4TB hard drive. The desktop will be available in China in May and North America in June, with other countries to follow. U.S. pricing starts at $2,299. Both systems have the muscle to run virtual reality headsets, said Jason Chen, CEO of Acer, at a launch event in New York Thursday. He didn't say which headsets can be plugged into it, but presumably they include the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. He said Acer's Predator systems going forward will support all the major virtual reality platforms. Acer also announced the Predator Z1 27-inch monitor, a curved display that supports Nvidia's G-Sync technology for improved game play. G-Sync aims to reduce stutter and lag time by synchronizing display panels to the refresh rate of games. GPUs are connected directly to displays. The monitor has full HD resolution and a refresh rate of 144Hz. It has DisplayPort and HDMI ports, and five USB 3.0 ports. The monitor will be priced at $599 in the U.S. when it ships in June.

Welcome

Welcome

Playing PC games in your living room needn’t look so nerdy anymore. Back in January 2015, Razer demonstrated an intriguing mouse-and-keyboard combo called the Razer Turret, which was designed to sit in your lap for living room gaming. Fifteen months later, it’s available for purchase. The $160 Razer Turret is a slick-looking keyboard and mouse with an attachable magnetic mouse pad, which is meant to keep the mouse from sliding off during gaming sessions. The keyboard supports up to 10 simultaneous key presses, while the mouse has a 3500-DPI sensor. For connectivity, the Turret uses a wireless 2.4 GHz USB adaptor, and it also supports Bluetooth. An included charging dock props the mouse and keyboard upright when they’re not in use. The keyboard should last up to four months on a charge, while the mouse should handle about 40 hours of gaming. When Razer first announced the Turret, it was supposed to be an add-on for the Razer Forge, a lightweight game console and media streamer running Android TV. But Forge has gone through some tough times since then. Razer quietly abandoned plans for PC-to-Forge game streaming—arguably the main justification for the Turret—and the console still doesn’t support Netflix. While Razer has maintained that it has big plans Forge, and has ported over some of the Ouya game library, Razer didn’t even mention Forge in its latest press release for the Turret. Razer does advertise the Forge on its Turret store page, but the mouse-and-keyboard applications are limited. The Turret keyboard’s built-in Android navigation buttons would be better-suited for the Nvidia Shield Android TV box, which supports PC game streaming from a networked computer or from Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service. Really though, the Turret will make the most sense for an proper living room gaming PC or Steam Link streaming box. Why this matters: The idea of making the mouse and keyboard couch-friendly isn’t new, but there aren’t many solutions that don’t clutter up your living room with loose components or look excessively dorky. Razer’s solution isn’t cheap, but its ability to keep things clean could be priceless.

Welcome

A recent patent filing hints at a way Microsoft could put Windows Hello under your thumb. As computing devices shrink, Microsoft seems to think that a trackpoint, or “thumb mouse,” might be a good idea, especially if it hides a practical surprise: a fingerprint sensor that could be used to enable Windows Hello. As noted by Windows Central, Microsoft recently filed a patent for a low-profile pointing device with an optional optical sensor beneath it which could be used for identification purposes and for navigation. There’s no guarantee that the patent will be approved, or that the trackpoint will ever ship within a Microsoft device; still, it’s an interesting idea that shows how Microsoft is imagining its hardware might evolve. Why this matters: Though biometric identification was originally sold as a way to secure phones and other mobile devices, its convenience lends itself to other scenarios. Although Windows PCs can be secured with a four-digit PIN, using facial recognition or a fingerprint sensor is arguably just as fast, and far more secure. Microsoft’s own biometric technology, known as Windows Hello, is not only a key feature of Windows 10, but a tool that Microsoft hopes users will embrace over passwords at various sites around the Web. Looking ahead to compact computing Microsoft’s patent filing is broad enough that it appears to cover anything from a more traditional trackpoint, or “nipple mouse,” like those on Lenovo's ThinkPad notebooks, to something with a slightly larger surface area. It’s worth noting that Microsoft has never put a physical trackpoint inside its Surface devices, which use a camera to identify the user. Microsoft’s patent envisions a touch-sensitive surface, with the possibility that it bemade of semi-transparent material. That would allow a sensor beneath the trackpoint’s surface to read a fingerprint. Although it sounds like the trackpoint could tilt if necessary, Microsoft’s patent also suggests that the trackpoint could optically sense the user’s finger as it “swipes” left, right, up, or down. Aesthetically, embedding a trackpoint within the clean key layout of the Surface could be a risky proposition. Remember, though, that Microsoft came close to releasing the so-called Surface Mini, a smaller version of its Surface Pro tablet line. As devices shrink, there’s less room for a traditional trackpad. Microsoft has already made some concessions to the “trackpoint” concept, building in a “soft” trackpoint as part of Windows 10 Mobile GUI. The idea is that sometimes a cursor needs to be positioned between letters, and the touchscreen interface simply isn’t precise enough to do the job. Finally, there’s the security aspect. Microsoft’s Lumia 950 smartphone attempted to use a camera as a biometric interface, which would recognize the unique pattern of a user's iris, but it doesn’t really work that well. The patent is all very much a mountain of circumstantial evidence, of course. But Microsoft may be envisioning a day when [CENSORED]ure Surface phones or tablets ship with an optional keyboard equipped with a pointing device that also serves as biometric authentication.

Asus didn’t want to be left out of the wearable tech craze with its latest Republic of Gamers desktop. The ROG GT51CA has all the trimmings you’d expect from a high-end gaming rig, including up to a 6th-generation (Skylake) Intel Core i7-6700K processor, support for an Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X graphics card, dual 512GB M.2 PCIe RAID 0 solid state drives, up to 64GB of DDR4 memory overclocked to 2,800MHz, and a multi-zone thermal solution with liquid cooling. The case is pretty slick as well, looking vaguely like an evil robot, with a special lighting mode that activates while the system is overclocked. But what really makes the ROG GT51CA stand out—for better or worse—is the included ROG Band, which you’re supposed to wear on your wrist. Waving the band in front of the desktop unlocks the Shadow Drive, a hidden partition where you can stash confidential data. The band can activate the system’s overclocking as well. Does the ROG Band serve any purpose while you’re away from your desk? In theory, the NFC chip inside could be used for phone unlocking or home automation. But out of the box, it’s just another way to interact with the PC, with no fitness tracking, notifications, or any other features you’d expect from a wrist-worn wearable in 2016. Odder still, the NFC sensor the ROG GT51CA needs to communicate with the ROG Band is optional. The product information Asus provided for the ROG GT51CA doesn't say whether the ROG Band, too, is optional. Given that we don't have pricing or retail availability for the system or any accessories, you’ll have some time to think over your level of commitment to wearable gaming tech. Why this matters: In all honesty, remembering to strap on a wristband is probably going to be less convenient than remembering a password, and push-button overclocking would be a far better solution than NFC-based hand-waving. Still, the underlying idea of a gamer-centric wearable has some potential. Maybe next time Asus can hook up with Razer or another wearable device maker on something that’s a bit more versatile.

The 12-inch MacBook also gets a graphics boost and longer battery life. Apple on Tuesday updated its laptop offerings with a new version of its 12-inch MacBook. The company upgraded the processor and graphics subsystem, boosted battery life, and expanded the color choices. Apple offers two standard configurations of the new MacBook with new Skylake processors that are an upgrade over the Intel Core M Broadwell processors in the previous MacBook. The $1,199 model comes with a 64-bit 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M3 processor with Turbo Boost up to 2.2GHz, 4MB L3 cache, and 256GB of PCIe-based onboard flash storage. The $1,599 model has a 64-bit 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core M5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz, 4MB L3 cache, and 512GB of PCIe-based onboard flash storage. Each model has the option to upgrade the processor to a 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core m7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 4MB L3 cache for an additional fee. All MacBook models come standard with 8GB of 1866MHz LPDDR memory and Intel HD Graphics 515 with support for a resolution of 2304-by-1440 pixels. The MacBook still has a single USB-C port that can deliver 100 watts of power, 10Gbps data transfer speeds, and can be used to connect external displays. Like the previous MacBook, the laptop measures 11.04 x 7.74 x 0.52 inches (the end towards the user tapers to 0.14 inches), and weighs 2.03 pounds. Apple claims that the battery life has improved, stating 10 hours of “wireless web browsing” and 11 hours of ”iTunes movie playback.” That’s a boost of an hour for each usage over the previous MacBook. Apple added a rose gold finish to the MacBook lineup to go with the gold, silver, and space gray options. Apple also announced that the standard configuration of the 13-inch MacBook Air now comes with 8GB of memory instead of 4GB. Macworld has a full review of the 12-inch MacBook in the works, so stay tuned.

HP's Remote Graphics Software turns the Mac into a remote desktop that can run applications hosted by Z workstations If your Mac isn’t fast enough to edit 3D video, HP has a workaround to make it possible. HP’s new remote graphics tool will allow Mac users to tap into the massive computing power of HP Z workstations, which can have up to 44 CPU cores. The Remote Graphics Software (RGS) turns the Mac into a remote desktop tuned for graphics. A “sender” plugin on the HP Z links to a receiver on the Mac, allowing the computers to share screens and applications. “HP is upgrading your Mac,” said Christian Jones, worldwide product manager for remote desktop software at HP. The Mac receiver is being released as HP announces new workstations with the latest CPUs and GPUs. The high-end HP Z840, equipped with Intel E5-2600 v4 chips and Nvidia Quadro GPUs, can outperform any Mac. Mac users will be able to run 4K video-editing applications hosted by the HP Z via the RGS plugin, HP representatives said during a conference call. The company later clarified that while true 4K video will be visible on the host Z PC, the stream to the remote Mac could be lower resolution depending on bandwidth and other factors. So a Mac user would be editing a 4K video without actually seeing the video in 4K. RGS is based on HP’s proprietary codec called HP3, which provides deep compression. HP declined to provide a clear outline of what Mac users will be able to do with RGS at different Internet and network speeds, but streams can adjust to the best resolution available, Jones said. HP’s announcement is part of a campaign being waged by PC makers to draw users, particularly creative professionals, away from Macs. Apple hasn’t upgraded the Mac Pro since 2013, and RGS will provide access to new video editing software on the Z. RGS is also a way to keep data safe in a centralized computer, Jones said. Other competing remote protocols include Teradici’s PCoIP and Microsoft’s RemoteFX. The RGS receiver for Macs is free, and the sender plugin is installed in every Z workstation. The RGS technology will work on any other non-Z workstation PC, but users will have to pay for the software.

HP's VR-capable Chromebook may be ready in the coming months. The Chromebook Pixel may soon be challenged by some high-end competition. Swirling rumors and Chrome OS code commits suggest that HP's creating a powerful new Chromebook, code-named Chell, which may even pack virtual reality capabilities. The bulk of the speculation about the upcoming Chromebook comes from Chrome Story, a Chrome OS-focused site. Diving into code commits, which name Chell’s manufacturer, and other development information in recent months, Chrome Story has pieced together an idea of what the new Chromebook is going to look like. It appears likely that the HP-made laptop will have a touchscreen, 16GB of RAM, two USB-C ports, a standard USB Type-A port, Bluetooth, and an expandable storage slot for SD cards. The PC will be powered by an Intel “Skylake” Core chip and also offer a backlit keyboard. Based on the high-quality specs, Chrome Story believes HP's new Chromebook may actually be a Pixel successor. If it’s not, and HP is working on its own high-end Chromebook, it certainly doesn’t seem all that different from the current Pixel. The latest flagship Chromebook also has a touchscreen, Core i5 or i7 processor, two USB-C ports, an SD card reader, backlit keyboard, and an option for 16GB of RAM. The big difference between Chell and the 2015 Pixel would be the addition of virtual reality support—but most PCs that can meet the demands of virtual reality have a discrete graphics card. So far there haven’t been any hints that Chell would have that kind of hardware. If that’s the case then the device would rely on Intel’s integrated graphics. Intel’s HD or Iris graphics may be enough to run VR for platforms like Google Cardboard or Samsung's Gear VR, but they definitely wouldn’t be able to power the sort of AAA VR games found on the Oculus Rift. Speaking of which, it’s far from clear what kind of accessory HP's new Chromebook would need to take advantage of its VR features. HP has publicly stated it plans to bring VR to Chromebooks via the power of the web, however. Why this matters: VR is a major theme for 2016 with the introduction of the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and the upcoming PlayStation VR. Web-based platforms apparently don’t want to be left behind. Mozilla has been working on the Oculus Rift-compatible MozVR since late 2014, while Google added 360-degree videos to YouTube in March 2015.

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Colfax's Ninja Developer Platform Pedestal is a pricey desktop rocking Intel's Knights Landing chip, which is primarily designed for supercomputers. Colfax’s new Ninja desktops are anything but invisible; these workstations can roar with the unprecedented computing power of Intel’s latest 72-core supercomputing chips. The workstations have the upcoming Xeon Phi chip code-named Knights Landing, which Intel has claimed is its most powerful chip to date. Intel last year said a limited number of workstations with the chip would become available in 2016. Knights Landing wasn’t designed with desktops in mind, but for some of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The 72-core chip can be used as a primary CPU, or as a coprocessor to rev up intense computing tasks, much like GPUs. The expensive Ninja workstations can be ordered from Colfax’s website, and will ship at a later date. A pure desktop-style tower box called “Ninja Developer Platform Pedestal” starts at $4,983. A base configuration includes a 240GB SATA SSD, a 4TB hard drive, and 96GB of DDR4 memory. The price jets up to $7,577 for a fully loaded configuration with two 1.6TB SSDs and two 6TB hard drives. The liquid-cooled system includes multiple PCI-Express 3.0 slots and two gigabit ethernet ports. The more expensive Ninja Developer Platform Rack workstation looks like a mini-supercomputer in a blade server design. For an entry-level price of $19,703, the workstation will include a 240GB SSD, 4TB hard drive and 96GB of DDR4 memory. The price goes up to $25,581 with a 1.6TB SSD and two 6TB hard drives. It has multiple PCI-Express 3.0 slots, and storage can be hot-swapped in 12 bays. It also has two gigabit ethernet ports. The desktops will have CentOS 7.2 Linux. It’s unclear whether these workstations will support Windows, but Intel hasn’t yet recommended the OS for the 72-core chip. Workstations are powerful desktops used for graphics, film editing, virtual reality and engineering applications. Recently introduced workstations from Dell, HP and Lenovo come with Intel’s new Xeon E5-2600 v4 chips, which have up to 22 cores. The pricey Ninja desktops aren’t for fun and games. The workstations are for researchers who want to write and test applications before deployment on supercomputers with Knights Landing. Desktops with CPUs and GPUs still remain a safer option for as conventional applications and games aren’t tuned to extract the full computing power of the 72-core chip. The Knights Landing chip is tightly integrated into the system, making it tough to add more memory and components. It’s not known if GPUs from Nvidia and AMD will work with Knights Landing, but if they are able to coexist, the desktops could deliver amazing performance. Xeon Phi rose from Larrabee GPU's ashes The Xeon Phi chip family is a byproduct of Larrabee, a GPU that Intel dropped unceremoniously in 2010 after design challenges surfaced. Like top-line GPUs, Knights Landing is designed for highly parallel workloads such as weather modeling, genomics, weapons design and economic forecasting. Knights Landing can deliver about 3 teraflops of peak performance, which is about the same as some high-performance GPUs in the world’s fastest supercomputers today. The chip mixes conventional x86 CPUs with specialized vector processing units, differentiating it from regular x86 chips in PCs and servers. But the Intel chip could soon lag behind the competition. Nvidia late last month introduced the Tesla P100 GPU based on the Pascal architecture, which offers 5 teraflops of double-precision performance and could ultimately outperform Knights Landing. Knights Landing will be used in supercomputers like Cori, which will go live later this year at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center in Berkeley, California. An earlier Xeon Phi chip is already in China’s Tianhe-2, which right now is the world’s fastest computer, with peak performance of 54.9 petaflops. Innovations in Knights Landing could ultimately come to mainstream laptops and desktops. It has 16GB of high-bandwidth MCDRAM stacked memory, which Intel claims has five times more bandwidth than DDR4 DRAM and is five times more power efficient and three times denser than GDDR5 on GPUs. The chip also supports the new OmniPath fabric, which Intel says will speed up communication inside a computer. The desktops will include programming tools like Intel Parallel Studio XE Professional Edition.

Chrome is giving up on XP two years after Microsoft ended support for the aging operating system. Google said the end was nigh, and now the time has finally come to say goodbye to Chrome support for a number of legacy operating systems, including Windows XP. Version 50 of Google’s browser recently rolled out sans support for Windows XP, Vista, and all versions of Mac OS X under version 10.9, Mavericks. Google first announced that it would be dropping support for XP and Vista in November. If you’ve already got Chrome running on any of the legacy systems, you’ll still be able to use it. What you won’t get any longer are new feature or security updates. The story behind the story: The most notable support loss with Chrome 50 is Windows XP. Google continued support for the aging OS because of its large user base for two long years after Microsoft tossed it to the web’s wolves. The company also saw XP support as an opportunity to convince IT organizations to move away from Internet Explorer to Chrome. “If you’re an IT administrator...you can use Legacy Browser Support to set Chrome as the primary browser and limit the usage of the unsupported, legacy browser to only specific web apps,” Google said in a blog post in late 2013. Adios, Windows XP, Vista, and numerous Mac OS X versions. Bye-bye Chrome If you’re on a legacy operating system it’s inadvisable to continue using Chrome—especially if any of your other browsers are still receiving updates. (Though if you’re still using XP, Chrome’s lack of support might not bother you since your OS doesn’t receive security updates either.) Mozilla's Firefox browser still supports all the operating systems Google dumped in the latest Chrome update. Google first promised to extend support for Windows XP in October 2013—six months before Microsoft would end support for XP. At the time, Google said it would support Chrome until at least April 2015. As of mid-April, an estimated 181 million PCs worldwide were still using XP.

Tough times may mean discounted products. For only the second time in its history, the semiconductor market is expected to decline during 2016, as demand for PCs and mobile devices falls. Gartner reported that global semiconductor sales are expected to fall slightly, by 0.6 percent, to an estimated $333 billion this year. This follows a decline of 2.3 percent in 2015, the firm said. James Hines, research director at Gartner, said the market is waiting for the next big demand driver. The traditional markets — PCs, ultramobiles (such as tablets) and smartphones—are all expected to decline. Emerging markets like Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable electronics are too small to have a measurable impact, he said in a report. Both chip and traditional PC companies are expected to report their first-quarter earnings over the next few weeks. Traditionally, first-quarter results are among the lowest of the year, as electronics are still po[CENSORED]r gifts during the traditionally strong fourth quarter. TSMC, an Apple supplier, and the world’s largest foundry for fabless chip makers like Nvidia, said that it slightly trimmed its expectations of smartphone growth from 8 to 7 percent. The company said it saw customers restocking inventory, rather than buying in anticipation of new demand. However, analysts polled by Yahoo Finance expect the PC’s dominant chipmaker, Intel, to report revenue of $13.9 billion, up about 8.7 percent from a year ago. Analysts expect profits of about 48 cents per share. Intel, though, has tried to distance itselffrom the PC, predicating [CENSORED]ure growth on the Internet of Things, the data center, and its emerging Optane memory business. What this means: It’s not surprising that slower sales in the dominant PC, tablet and smartphone markets would have a ripple effect on the chip industry. But you may have noticed a whiff of desperation in the marketing of wearables and IoT, too. Major corporations need the next big thing, and they need it now. If that doesn’t happen—and it doesn’t seem like it will—you may see more consolidation. Avago bought communications chipmaker Broadcom for $37 billion last year, and names like Freescale, Spansion, and LSI were all snapped up. That trend could continue, along with another one: Tough times mean discounts.

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Every little bit of help counts, right? The Windows Blue Screen of Death isn’t known for being particularly descriptive, but Microsoft may be looking to change that in a [CENSORED]ure version of Windows 10. A Reddit user posted a picture last week that shows a new version of the dreaded blue screen, one with a QR code and a link where users can get more information about the error that caused their computer to crash. Right now, the code and the link take users to a webpage that discusses generic fixes for errors that might cause a crash. In the [CENSORED]ure, though, Microsoft could provide a QR code that leads to more specific information about what caused the computer freeze up. That could be more helpful than the information provided on the blue screen today, which typically includes obscure codes that you have to go search for online to understand. Right now, it’s hard to tell what causes the QR code to appear during a crash, though it appears tied to the latest Insider preview build of Windows 10. In my testing, the QR code didn’t appear when I forced a blue screen of death on my Surface Pro 3, though a link to the help page did. What’s not clear is how the feature will end up getting implemented for general consumers. Microsoft hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment.

Prying the obsolete XP from users proves difficult, especially in China, where it remains the No. 2 operating system Even though Microsoft retired Windows XP two years ago, an estimated 181 million PCs around the world ran the crippled operating system last month, according to data from a web metrics vendor. Windows XP exited public support on April 8, 2014, amid some panic on the part of corporations that had not yet purged their environments of the 2001 OS. Unless companies paid for custom support, their PCs running XP received no security updates after that date. Consumers were completely cut off from patches, with no alternatives other than to switch to a newer operating system or continue running an insecure machine. But two years after XP’s support demise, nearly 11% of all personal computers continue to run the OS, data for March from U.S.-based analytics vendor Net Applications showed. Meanwhile, Windows XP accounted for about 12% of all Windows-powered PCs. (The user share difference between all PCs and those only running Windows was due to the fact that Windows was the OS on 91.5% of all personal computers, not 100%.) Further reading: Windows XP holdouts: Meet the diehard faithful who refuse to move on The 12% represented approximately 181 million PCs when compared against the 1.5 billion Windows personal computers worldwide, a number that Microsoft has regularly cited. That number put XP as No. 4 among Microsoft’s editions, behind Windows 7, which powered an estimated 861 million systems, Windows 10 (235 million), and Windows 8/8.1 (199 million). Windows XP’s user share also exceeded that of all versions of Apple’s OS X by 40%. Windows XP Bliss. While XP’s usage share of the U.S. market was a minuscule 3.2%—less than half the global average of 7.5%—XP last month remained a strong contender in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). There, XP accounted for 26.2% of all personal computer operating systems as measured by Irish analytics company StatCounter. China has an even bigger XP problem according to Baidu, the PRC’s largest search provider. Data from Baidu pegged XP’s share of the country’s OS market at 31.6% for March, a significant decline from 44.1% a year ago but still almost a third of all PC OSes. Microsoft has launched several initiatives in the PRC to get customers there to upgrade to a newer version of Windows. Last fall, for example, Microsoft partnered with Baidu to promote Windows 10 adoption. In return, Baidu was made the default search provider for the Chinese version of Windows 10. At XP’s current 12-month rate of decline as tracked by Net Applications, the operating system will drop into the single digits in May, but will remain above 5% until March 2017, nearly three years after its expiration. Part of the difficulty in leaving XP is that there is no direct migration between it and Windows 10, Microsoft’s latest edition. Instead, users must first upgrade to Windows 7, then next to 10. Or more likely, dump the system and purchase a new PC with Windows 10 pre-installed. Two years after retirement, Windows XP’s user share stubbornly resists falling into the single digits.

EU privacy regulators reportedly see the Privacy Shield agreement as inadequate. Microsoft is throwing its weight behind the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement, which is intended to safeguard the privacy of European Union citizens when their personal information is exported to the U.S. for processing. But a document leaked late last week suggests the proposed agreement does not have the backing of EU data protection authorities, who are meeting this week to finalize their position on it. Microsoft will seek approval to conduct data transfers under the agreement, its Vice President for EU Government Affairs, John Frank, wrote in a blog post Monday. He promised the company would respond to individual privacy complaints within 45 days, and comply with the recommendations of national data protection authorities in case of dispute. However, the agreement does not go far enough, and U.S. and EU officials still have more work to do, Frank wrote: "Additional steps will be needed to build upon the Privacy Shield after it is adopted, ranging from additional domestic legislation to modernization of mutual legal assistance treaties and new bilateral and ultimately multilateral agreements." The company delivered its verdict on the transatlantic data transfer deal just two days before European Union data protection authorities are due to deliver their own. Privacy Shield was negotiated to replace the July 2000 Safe Harbor agreement, which the Court of Justice of the EU overturned last October, declaring it incompatible under EU privacy laws. Those laws require that the personal information of EU citizens only be processed in countries where it can be accorded the same level of privacy protection as under EU law. The Safe Harbor Agreement was inadequate for that purpose, the CJEU found. When the European Commission officials unveiled details of the new agreement with the U.S. in February, they said Privacy Shield answered all the CJEU's criticisms of Safe Harbor. They also published a draft "adequacy decision," the legal instrument required to add Privacy Shield to the list of data transfer mechanisms acceptable under the EU's 1995 Data Protection Directive. In the draft, the Commission claims it has the support of the Article 29 Working Party, which brings together the EU's national data protection authorities. The working party hasn't made its mind up yet, though: It has been conducting its own analysis of Privacy Shield since February and is due to finalize its position at a meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. German data protection authorities are against Privacy Shield, according to a briefing document accidentally published on their website last week. The document, posted by German lawyer Carlo Piltz to his blog, calls on the working party to reject Privacy Shield as inadequate under EU law. The German briefing document calls for the working party's executive summary to state: "Until these issues are addressed, the WP29 considers it is not in a position to reach an overall conclusion on the draft adequacy decision. It stresses that some of the clarifications and concerns – in particular relating to national security – may also impact the viability of the other transfer tools." It also wants the working party report to conclude: "Therefore, the WP29 is not yet in a position to confirm that the current draft adequacy decision does, indeed, ensure a level of protection that is essentially equivalent to that in the EU." The German delegation wants the European Commission to remove from the adequacy decision any references to the Working Party's approval, and it wants Privacy Shield to be referred to the CJEU if the Commission goes ahead without taking into account the working party's criticisms, according to the document downloaded by Piltz. The German authorities have since removed copies of the document from their websites, he wrote Friday. The contents of the leak did not surprise Aaron Tantleff, intellectual property attorney at Foley and Lardner. "The purpose of Privacy Shield was to ensure that there was a mechanism in place to ensure a level of protection in the U.S. that is essentially equivalent to that in the EU. Based upon the current draft of the Privacy Shield framework agreement, I can see how one may find that the current draft does not appear to satisfy this requirement," he said. The data protection authorities don't get the last word on Privacy Shield. Their opinion is only advisory, and there are other bodies that have yet to weigh in, including the European Parliament.