General Gaming Article |
- Lian Li Intros New Cube-Shaped PC-V33
- Asus' New Router Looks Like a Mechanical Spider
- Newegg Daily Deals: Asus ROG GL551 Gaming Laptop, WD Red 6TB HDD, and More!
- Acer Intros Stackable Modular PC
- Acer Unleashes a Bevy of Predator Gaming Products at IFA
- Asus ROG Teases Liquid Cooled GX700 Gaming Laptop
- Intel Gives Skylake a Proper Launch, Unveils Several New CPUs
- 10 Unique Features of Windows 10
- Synology DiskStation DS415play NAS Review
- Flashback: Dream Machine 2015 Predictions
| Lian Li Intros New Cube-Shaped PC-V33 Posted: 02 Sep 2015 01:43 PM PDT Looking for a cube-shaped chassis for your next PC build? Take a look at Lian Li's new midtower case, the PC-V33. The chassis features a flip-open canopy, a shock-absorbing drive cage, support for full ATX motherboards, and enough space to house a 240mm water-cooling radiator. The case will be made available soon (early September) for $199 (PC-V33A/B) and $229 (PC-V33WX). Lian Li said on Wednesday that the front and top panels create a "canopy," which is essentially a folded piece of aluminum that is attached to the chassis frame by a hinge. When the canopy is swung open and the side pop-out panels removed, you can change the internal hardware without the sides getting in the way. The new case features a two-compartment design. The bottom section plays host to the power supply and hard drives while the top portion is for the motherboard and the graphics card. The case also comes in three styles: silver brushed aluminum (PC-V33A), black brushed aluminum (PC-V33B), and a version with a black interior and a tempered-glass side door (PC-V33WX). "The floor of the main board compartment acts as a barrier so CPU and GPU heat does not affect the PSU or drives," the company says. "The included 120mm fan vents the top compartment through the newly designed rear vent. The bottom compartment filters air for the PSU that is vented right out the back. The drives have their own 120mm exhaust fan with the aggressive new vent hole pattern" According to Lian Li, the front bracket can fit dual 120mm fans or a water-cooling radiator up to 240mm. The case can also accommodate CPU coolers up to 190mm, and graphics cards that are up to 330mm long. The bottom section provides enough space for a 300mm power supply. As previously stated, the case includes a shock-absorbing drive cage. This cage can store up to four 3.5-inch drives and comes packed with a rubber dampening system that the company says eliminates vibrations. This cage can be fully or half removed, providing additional space if needed. Finally, the specs show that the case measures 334x352x390mm and provides seven expansion slots. The case also comes with two 120mm fans on the back, but customers can opt for two 120mm fans for the front. There are also two USB 3.0 ports, an HD audio jacks, and an illuminated power button. |
| Asus' New Router Looks Like a Mechanical Spider Posted: 02 Sep 2015 12:04 PM PDT Hide the children Asus is showing off a new 802.11ac router that make comparisons to Google's OnHub inevitable, though not because they're similar. In fact, they're different in every way imaginable. Whereas the OnHub was designed from the ground up to take residence in the living room or other area where it will be seen by family and friends, Asus' new RT-AC5300U might scare the kids if you leave it out in the open. Hell, it might also scare adults. That's because it looks like a giant mechanical spider. It has eight antennas, and unlike the OnHub, they're not hidden -- they protrude from all four sides of the router. Like all modern routers, Asus plays the marketing game with its AC labeling. The AC5300 claim is actually a combination of two 5GHz 802.11ac bands, both rated at up to 2,165Mbps. There's also a single 2.4GHz 802.11n band rated at up to 1,000Mbps. You can't combine them for a single, super-speed connection, though they're all blazing fast on their own. You get two USB ports with the RT-AC5300U, one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0, and four GbE LAN ports. It also boasts 128MB of flash storage and 256MB of DDR3 RAM, and we presume it's only a matter of time before third-party firmware developers hop on board. For comparison, the OnHub has a single USB 3.0 port and it doesn't work at the moment. Asus says the RT-5300U will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. No word yet on price. |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Asus ROG GL551 Gaming Laptop, WD Red 6TB HDD, and More! Posted: 02 Sep 2015 11:42 AM PDT Top Deal: Gaming on the go has always been a thing, it just hasn't always been affordable. Those new to the tech scene know nothing of the astronomical price tags that every gaming oriented laptop used to carry. These days? The cost of entry is must more pedestrian. Take for example today's top deal for an Asus ROG GL551 Gaming Laptop for $1222 with free shipping (normally $1299 - use coupon code: [0901NWDUS46]). It's not going to put our Dream Machine to shame, but it is rocking a respectable collection of parts -- Core i7-4720HQ processor, 16GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 960M GPU, and 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD, and a DVD burner. Other Deals: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200 RPM 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $75 with free shipping (normally $94 - use coupon code: [ESCAXAN28]) WD Red 6TB IntelliPower 3.5-inch NAS Hard Drive for $240 with free shipping (normally $250 - use coupon code: [ESCAXAN23]) BenQ XL2730Z Black-Red 27-inch 1ms (GTG) WQHD 2560x1440 TN Panel (Free Sync) Professional Gaming Monitor for $530 with free shipping (normally $550 - use coupon code: [0901NWDUS36]) CyberpowerPC Desktop Computer Gamer Ultra AMD FX-4300 (3.80GHz) 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Windows 10 Home for $470 with $5 shipping (normally $480 - use coupon code: [0901NWDUS89]) |
| Acer Intros Stackable Modular PC Posted: 02 Sep 2015 11:18 AM PDT On Wednesday during IFA 2015 in Berlin, Acer announced a number of new products such as tablets, phones, and laptops. One of the more interesting items currently on display is the latest edition to its Revo series of mini PCs, the Revo Build M1-601. This device follows the Revo One mini PC that launched during CES 2015 back in January. What makes the Revo Build unique is that it's modular, allowing customers to stack components like building blocks instead of cramming them into a single chassis. These blocks communicate with each other using pogo pins that have a magnetic component. That means customers won't have to hassle with wires when switching out components. "The Blocks can also work independently or with other PCs," Acer says. "The Revo Build M1-601 desktop is packaged in a tiny 1 liter chassis with a 125 x 125 mm footprint that takes up minimal space and can be placed almost anywhere." The Revo Build consists of a base block that plays host to the motherboard, an Intel Pentium or Intel Celeron "Skylake" processor, Integrated Intel HD graphics, and memory configurations of up to 8GB of DDR4 RAM. The company says the memory can be upgraded by simply "loosening" one screw. Acer says it also plans to release 500GB and 1TB hot-swappable portable hard drives at launch, plus a Wireless Power Bank block, an Audio Block with speakers, and a microphone sometime thereafter. Additional reports state that the company is also releasing a GPU block and a projector block. Unfortunately, the company hasn't said when or if the Revo Build will be released in the United States, although the American arm of Acer made the announcement. For now, the unit will ship in October across EMEA and have a starting price of €199. The device will then head to China in December with prices starting at ¥1,999. Pricing for the additional blocks is unknown as yet. |
| Acer Unleashes a Bevy of Predator Gaming Products at IFA Posted: 02 Sep 2015 10:18 AM PDT Desktops and laptops and tablets, oh my! Acer has big plans for its Predator gaming line. Down the line, you can expect the Predator family to include projectors and smartphones. In the meantime, Acer just introduced a whole bunch of Predator products, including two laptops, two desktops, a tablet, and a monitor. The new desktop options include the Predator G3 and G6. As with past Predator desktops, the physical design is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. Inside the battle armor, however, are Skylake processor options, up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, and GeForce GTX graphics cards. The desktops will be available in December starting at $849. If you need something to pair them with, Acer announced the Predator Z35, a curved 35-inch UltraWide monitor with a 2560x1080 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate (overclockable to 200Hz), and Nvidia G-Sync support. Acer's two Predator laptop options include the Predator 15 and 17, the former with a 15.6-inch display and the latter with a 17.3-inch panel. Other features include Core i7 Skylake processors, up to a GeForce GTX 980 GPU, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a FrostCore cooling system that consists of three fans. These will be available next month starting at $1,499. Finally, there's the Predator 8 tablet. It has an 8-inch display with a 1920x1200 resolution, Intel Atom x7 processor, four front-facing speakers, and offers haptic feedback. It will be available on November 6 starting a $300. |
| Asus ROG Teases Liquid Cooled GX700 Gaming Laptop Posted: 02 Sep 2015 09:40 AM PDT Mobile meets liquid cooling We expected to see some interesting products based on Intel's unlocked Core i7-6820HK Skylake processor for laptops, but it didn't occur to us that a company would use it as the foundation of a liquid gaming notebook. Apparently it occurred to Asus. One of the many products it's showing off at IFA is its ROG GX700, which is the "world's first water cooled gaming laptop." Unfortunately Asus is keeping pretty tight lipped about the specifics, saying only that it boasts an overclocked sixth generation Intel K-SKU processor (the only one we know of is the aforementioned Core i7-6820HK) the latest Nvidia graphics processor, and a 17-inch IPS display with a 4K resolution. Judging by the press photo, an external apparatus provides the system's liquid cooling. It's pretty bulky and negates the mobilty of a laptop, though we suspect (hope, really) it detaches rather easily so that you can still take the GX700 with you without lugging around an external box. Asus also unveiled the ROG G752, another Skylake laptop but cooled with air. There will be three SKUs available, two with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and one with an optional upgrade to the 6820HK. According to Anandtech, The lowest end (G752VL) sports up to 64GB of DDR4-2133 RAM, GeForce 965M GPU, 128GB or 256GB NVMe SSD, up to a 2TB HDD, and Windows 10. Stepping up to the G752VT gets you an upgrade to a GeForce GTX 970M (3GB and 6GB options available), and the G752VY bumps it up to a 4GB or 8GB 980M, along with an option to upgrade to a 4K display. Pricing for the G752 will start at $1,499. |
| Intel Gives Skylake a Proper Launch, Unveils Several New CPUs Posted: 02 Sep 2015 09:10 AM PDT Skylake arrives in full force Intel formally introduced its sixth generation Core processor family, codenamed Skylake, at the IFA event in Berlin. You might be thinking, "Wait, didn't Intel already launch Skylake?" The answer is yes, kind-of-sort-of. What we saw from Intel (and reviewed) a month ago were its Core i7-6700K and Core i5-6600K processors for enthusiast desktop users. This larger launch is the full Skylake lineup consisting of Intel's "best processors ever." Most of the newly introduced CPUs are aimed at mobile computing form factors like 2-in-1 devices, laptops, and even compute sticks, though there are a few desktop offerings in the mix as well. We'll kick off this slideshow with Intel's 45W mobile Skylake chips. These are Intel's Skylake-H processors. All except for one are quad-core CPUs. Arguably the most interesting chip of the bunch is the Core i7-6820HK. Yes, there's a "K" on the end, meaning it's an unlocked part. And yes, it's intended for laptops -- fancy that! Here we have a look at Intel's 28W Skylake-U lineup. These are all dual-core processors with Hyper Threading support and GT3e (Iris Pro Graphics 550) graphics. Skylake-U also consists of 15W processors. You can expect to see these CPUs in Ultrabooks and ultra-thins, along with NUCs and NUC-like PCs that are small in size with limited cooling potential. For even smaller and thinner devices, like tablets and compute sticks, there's the Core M line. According to Intel, Core M offers twice the performance of "leading premium tablets," a claim it made based on some benchmarks using Apple's iPad Air 2. Intel's mobile Skylake lineup also includes a pair of Xeon processors with ECC support. These are the first ever Xeon CPUs to be built specifically for laptops -- up to this point, laptops with Xeon hardware inside used desktop processors. Desktop LineupThat's a total of 26 mobile Skylake processor SKUs, but what about the desktop? Let's have a look. There are two versions of Skylake-S for the desktop. Shown above are the 65W and 47W models. The lower power 35W desktop parts are also sometimes referred to (unofficially) as Skylake-T. Like the 65W versions, they all use HD 530 graphics. This is just the beginning. Intel says it plans to deliver more than 48 Skylake processors in the coming months, which will feature Iris and Iris Pro graphics, as well as more Xeon E3-1500M processors for mobile workstations and vPro CPUs for businesses and enterprises. |
| 10 Unique Features of Windows 10 Posted: 02 Sep 2015 12:30 AM PDT |
| Synology DiskStation DS415play NAS Review Posted: 02 Sep 2015 12:30 AM PDT At A Glance(+) Fresh: Accessible in File Explorer; DLNA certified; simple, easy-to-navigate interface. (-) Stale: No HDMI; limited to 32TB; a little pricey. Last week, we took a look at the QNAP TurboNAS TS-451 network attached storage appliance, one heck of an intelligent storage solution that packs four hard drive bays, an Intel Celeron dual-core processor, 1GB of DDR3L RAM, and HDMI output. This week, we checked out another contender in the four-bay storage market, the Synology DiskStation DS415play. This model is built for the home or small office and sells for around $499 without hard drives. On the back are two 92mm fans to keep the NAS cool (there are Cool and Quiet modes), two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a gigabit Ethernet port, and the power jack. On the front is another USB 2.0 port, the power button, and a row of LED status indicators, and the four hard drives. There's also a removable panel that provides access to the four drive bays. Neat and clean. The NAS measures 165x203x233.2mm and houses an Intel Atom CE5335 dual-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, and 1GB of DDR3 RAM. The maximum internal raw capacity is 32TB, which means the device can handle four 8TB hard drives. For this review, we used four Seagate ST20000DN001 2TB drives in a Hybrid RAID mode, that were supplied by Synology. Synology's NAS is powered by the DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system. This platform doesn't throw every installed app on the screen, but instead offers a hidden app tray that can be accessed by the Main Menu button in the upper left-hand corner of the interface. By clicking the icon, DSM shows all installed apps in a drop-down menu that's reminiscent of Google's Android platform. That said, the initial "desktop" screen, which can be accessed by any web browser on any device (there's a mobile version for tablets and phones), initially provides the Package Center (app store), the Control Panel, the File Station, and a DSM help icon. The Help provides information such as storing files, setting up a home theater, securing the NAS, building a cloud with the NAS, and so on. This is great stuff for those purchasing and setting up a Synology NAS for the first time. The File Station is probably the most important part of the DS415play. Here you can upload music, photos, video, and other files to specific folders, which will be accessible in their respective apps like Audio Station and Photo Station. However, what's even better is that there's really no need to hit the "upload" button in the app, as users are able to see these folders in Windows 10 and older by going into the File Explorer, Network and then the NAS listed in "Computer." Expand the NAS shortcut and you'll see the folders… no network drive mapping is needed. Awesome sauce. The Package Center is the place where users get additional apps. The NAS already comes packed with 21 apps such as the Resource Monitor, Storage Manager, Text Editor, Media Center, and much more. This NAS-based store offers over 80 apps listed under five categories including Backup, Multimedia, Business, Security, and Utilities. This store isn't quite as robust as the one serving up apps for QNAP's NAS, but there should be plenty here for DiskStation customers such as WordPress, Surveillance Station, Plex Media Center, and phpBB. The apps offered on the DiskStation weren't quite as weird in design as the last NAS we reviewed. Take Photo Station 6, for instance. A folder of images appears in the app as an album. You can upload photos to a new folder/album by clicking the Add/Upload Photos option. Even more, any picture that is stored on the NAS can be shared directly to social networks via links to Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and three others. Uploading and sharing is a breeze with this NAS. We like that the DSM platform provides widgets that sit on the desktop. The NAS comes with the System Health and Resource Monitor already installed. However, additional widgets are just a click away, including Storage, Connected Users, Scheduled Tasks, File Change Log, Recent Logs, and Scheduled Backup. All of this info can be accessed through the Control Panel, but it's nice having some of the system info just a glance away. The Control Panel is the backbone of the system, and consists of four categories: File Sharing, Connectivity, System, and Applications. Under the File Sharing menu, users can modify settings for shared folders, file services, user accounts, group accounts, and so on, while Connectivity plays host to external access, network, and wireless settings. Essentially, Synology's Control Panel brings everything into one window and makes it easy for new and experienced NAS customers alike to manage the device. The DiskStation DS415play is DLNA certified, meaning you'll see the NAS pop up as a multimedia server on a number of DLNA-based devices such as PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, many network-connected HDTVs, and more. This NAS also boasts a hardware-accelerated transcoding engine, meaning this device can visually upgrade the stored media on the fly. This device is also capable of multi-channel streaming, allowing users to watch stored movies and TV shows simultaneously in different rooms. According to Synology, the DS415play was tested in a Windows environment using RAID 5 and produced average read speed of 112.35 MB/sec and an average write speed 98.58 MB/sec. To verify the speed, we used a 2GB file and the same PC from our recent QNAP NAS review: a rig with 8GB of RAM, an Intel Core i7-4790K clocked at 4GHz, Windows 10 Pro, and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD with 500 GB of storage. Robocopy showed a write speed of 72MB/s, whereas Windows 10's file copy showed a write speed of around 86MB/s and a read speed of 105MB/s using Windows 10 again. This test was only performed on a home-based gigabit network since the NAS does not provide a 10GbE port. Still, the speeds should be satisfactory for home users. One of the features that we wanted to see on this specific NAS was an HDMI port. This was included on the QNAP TS-451, providing a second interface that was more suited for a home theater and enlisted popular multimedia apps such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Facebook, Skype, Spotify, TuneInRadio, and a few others. That said, you can access the DiskStation from the Internet, but don't expect to surf the web with this device. One of the DS415play's biggest features is its cloud-based service called Cloud Station, which essentially allows the user to sync files to a number of different devices running Windows PC, Windows mobile, Mac, Linux, iOS, or Android. Users can even sync files that are stored on Amazon Cloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and a few others by syncing the local files to the NAS. That way, if something were to happen with the online accounts, the user would have a backup copy stored on the NAS. Another plus is the unit's ease of backing up data. Simply create a folder by way of Desktop Explorer and tell Windows 10 or later where the backup needs to go. Or, the user could schedule a backup in the Backup & Replication settings and restore their PC from a specific backup file (DATA or LUN). Either way, the NAS is a good solution for saving and protecting your data, as it also includes an antivirus solution to keep those files clean. As with the QNAP's NAS solution last week, there are so many features provided with the Synology DiskStation that it's difficult to cover everything in just one review. Both share a similar purpose, and both have their own pluses and minuses. However, the DiskStation ever so slightly comes out ahead because of the way it interacts with desktops and mobile devices. It's easy to upload files and that's what really counts. Still, we wish that the DSM platform allowed for an HDMI port. The whole front end/back end aspect on QNAP's solution was very cool, and the front end was extremely easy to navigate for everyone in the household. Synology's DSM operating system may be simple in appearance, but there's a lot under the hood that may overwhelm users who are not computer/NAS-savvy. Do we like the new DiskStation? Sure, and we recommend it to anyone who needs a storage solution that doesn't pretend to be a home theater PC. There's plenty here to keep files backed up and safe, and plenty of options for streaming media to consoles and other devices. Again, the price starts at $499, but the final cost will depend on the hard drives you shove into the DiskStation. |
| Flashback: Dream Machine 2015 Predictions Posted: 01 Sep 2015 05:00 PM PDT The good, the bad, and the wrong predictionsWay back in 2011, the old staff at Maximum PC predicted what Dream Machine 2015 would look like. Well, now that Dream Machine 2015 is officially here, we thought we would look back at our predictions to see how we did. Dream Machine 2015 teaser video You'll see a lot of the old staff pick specific components for Dream Machine 2015 below, but equally interesting to read are their general predictions of the tech industry as a whole. Remember that back in 2011, tablets had just splashed on to the scene and were the new hotness. Now, tablet sales have crashed. With that said, let's take a stroll back through memory lane, shall we? Nathan Edwards (former Senior Associate Editor): "First, it'll still be a desktop computer" Nathan was right about that one. "...but it'll probably be smaller. As laptops and tablets gain prominence in the lives of average users, desktops will become more and more the domain of the power user, but that doesn't mean they'll stay as huge as they are. I predict the 2015 Dream Machine will have a micro-ATX or Mini-ITX motherboard" Nope. Our Dream Machine uses a big full-tower chassis. "[it will use] a 24-core processor" Not quite. Our 5960X only has eight actual cores, but it does have 16 threads. "maybe 48GB of RAM" We actually used 64GB of RAM! "The GPUs it does have might not be PCIe at all—optical Light Peak could have superseded it by then." Nope. We're still using PCIe. This is how Dream Machine 2015 ended up looking. "The DM will also have at least 1TB of solid-state storage, though I'm sure it'll still have mechanical drives for mass storage." Right you are, Nathan. This year's Dream Machine actually has four one-terabyte SSDs and four six-terabyte HDDs. "Most computers of 2015 will be glorified docks for smartphones and tablets." Not exactly. Traditional tablets are a fading market. There has been some traction with two-in-ones, however. "Dream Machine, though it'll surely have a phone dock" Nope. "30-inch panel" We ended up going with a 27-inch (but it's a beautiful 5K one). "Mechanical keyboard" Yep. "laser mouse" Yep. "a really great headset" Yep. Alex Castle (former Online Managing Editor): "It'll still feature an x86 processor, but with 12 or more physical cores running at more than 5 GHz." Right about the x86 processor, wrong about the 12 physical cores, as our CPU only has 8 physical cores. And we couldn't reach 5GHz unfortunately, but 4.5GHz isn't terribly far off. "You'll find at least 64GB of RAM (probably more) in the system, and one or more terabyte-class SSDs." Whoa. We used 64GB of RAM on the dot and have four terabyte-class SSDs! "If we're even still bothering with HDDs and that point, we'll only need one for massive capacity storage." Nope. We've got four massive 6TB HDDs. "I don't think Dream Machine 2015 will feature any optical drives. " Good riddance, we say! The actual innards of Dream Machine 2015 Gordon Ung (former Senior Editor): "I'm going to say that the rig will run one single x86 processor sporting 12 cores." We're using a single x86 processor, but it only has eight physical cores. "It will be built on a 15nm process" The 5960X uses a 22nm process, we're afraid. "[It will] clock in at the 4.5GHz range (overclocked)" Did you summon a soothsayer here? That's right on the money! "The CPU or APU or BPU by then will have eaten even more graphics capability but discrete graphics will continue to be king." Right you are. "Switchable graphics, however, will finally work so the 90 percent of the time your PC isn't pushing heavy duty 3D needs, it'll be running on the on-board chip's graphics." Switchable graphics is par the course for gaming notebooks, but not so true for desktops. "The box will likely sport 64GB of DDR4/3333" Very close. 64GB of DDR4 clocked at 2,800MHz. "As I said, discrete graphics will still be king for anyone who actually cares about gaming and DM2015 will sport no fewer than two GPUs in the PCIe 4.0 slots. " Right about having at least two GPUs, but we're still on PCIe gen 3. "I'd guess it'll have two 2TB SSDs in RAID 0" We've got four one-terabyte SSDs in RAID 0, so that's close. "Hard drives will continue to handle bulk store with say, a total of three 9TB drives for 27TB of storage." Again. Very close. We've got four 6TB HDDs for a total of 24TB of hard drive space. "USB 4.0 running Thunderbolt will be integrated into the chipset as well." Nope. No Thunderbolt and we're running a bunch of USB 3.0. "The PSU, interestingly, will continue to be topped out at 1,500 watts as there's simply no where to go from there." Close, but 1,600 watts is actually what it generally tops off at in the United States, and that's what we ended up using. "The panel will support native 4K or 4096x2160 pixels and 120Hz capability for 3D and touch capability." While they do make 4K panels that run at 120Hz, our panel runs at 5K with an insane resolution of 5120x2880. It's also a 60Hz panel with no touch capability. Markkus Rovito (former Online Editor of Maximum Tech): "We'll begin with a motherboard accommodating 96GB of RAM" We ended up going with 64GBs. "The board includes four Thunderbolt slots, as well as plenty of USB 4.1 and SATA7 ports, as well." Nope. Sorry. "For storage, we've finally gone all solid-state. Three 3TB SSDs make a respectable 9TB data dump." Unfortunately, this year's DM "only" had 4TBs of SSDs…. "Dual octa-core processors clocked at 5.5GHz" Nope. One octa-core processor clocked at 4.5GHz. "Four graphics cards clocked at 2GHz each " We did end up using four graphics cards, but our GPUs carried base core clocks of 1,207MHz, not 2GHz. Katherine Stevenson: "In 2015 there may very well be large numbers of people who don't own a desktop PC, or even a notebook, as smartphones are showing all signs of evolving into pocket-size powerhouses capable of meeting many computing needs on their own." It's true that smartphones have become ultra popular around the world, but most people still use either a desktop PC or notebook for their productivity needs. "It's quite likely, however, that the Dream Machine of 2015 will be smaller than DMs past, while packing way more power." Smaller? Not quite. With a chassis that measures 11.2x26x25.7 inches, this Dream Machine is plenty big. Way more power? You bet! "Discrete graphics cards will probably be obsolete" It's true that Intel and AMD have been gaining traction with integrated graphics, but they still have a lot of ground to cover, especially as it pertains to Dream Machine. "This mighty mite will be paired with a large, high-res display, possibly curved, that's capable of displaying 3D content sans glasses and 4K video in all its glory." High-res display: yes. Curved, 3D, and 4K: no. The latter of which is incorrect because we've gone with a 5K monitor! Amber Bouman (former Online Features Editor): "Dream Machine 2015 will almost certainly feature a glasses-free 3D display of some sort, and with the average display size creeping ever larger, the display in question will likely be 30+ inches." Nope, and 3D monitors never picked up much steam. "Maybe 35 or 37 inches, and there will be at least two monitors." We went with a single, but beautiful monitor, and they still don't really make monitors that big. "I also think that there will be some type of mobile aspect to it—an associated tablet that docks to the PC, or a smartphone dock... perhaps some sort of flexible tablet? Perhaps a projected hologram or 3D image? Either way, the mobile aspect will be impossible to ignore or exclude." Nope. Sorry. "I'm also thinking—and this is pure speculation—improved/increased voice controls, better/more cloud adaptation freeing up memory and hard drive space, and heavy home integrations, i.e., controlling your front door, home theatre, or alarm system with your PC." Windows 10 does support Cortana and you can get more cloud storage to free up hard drive space, but it probably isn't that sophisticated. The whole upcoming "Internet of Things" thing seems to be touching upon your later prediction, though. Jon Phillips "I wouldn't hazard to posit anything about the specific components we might find in Dream Machine 2015. But I do think that on the CPU side of things, the so-called "power wall" will continue to force Intel and AMD to mitigate clock speed limitations with multi-core designs. How many cores exactly? I'll reserve speculation!" A fair, but safe assumption. "Sure, new process technologies will eventually emerge that allow us to handle thermals and power issues at very fast frequencies, but don't expect any mass-market breakthroughs within the next four years." This is largely true. "All that said, I'm willing to state with utmost certainty that the CPU in DM2015 will be running an X86 architecture. It won't be ARM so that we can all play the desktop version of Angry Birds 4." That's correct. "And we'll probably see some type of iteration of Thunderbolt." Not on this Dream Machine, unfortunately. "And while notebook, tablets, and even smartphones will continue to chip away at desktop sales, we'll still see a thriving PC hardware enthusiast community in 2015, and we'll continue to be using desktops for games, video editing, and mundane office crap. " Right you are. |
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