While the season of gifting has come and gone, the discounts are still going strong. If you’re looking for a hardware upgrade, theHP Store Red Tag Saleis definitely worth a look. This shopping event includes deals on laptops, desktops, displays, printers, and more, withup to 62% offstandard prices.
One of the highlights is the HP Spectre x360 Laptop (13t Touch). Normally priced at $1,149.99, this lightweight yet powerful device is now just $729.99. The x360 runs Windows 10 on an 8th-gen Intel i5 processor, with 8GB of memory and 256GB of solid-state storage. It also has Intel UHD Graphics 620 for smooth gaming.
Another dazzling deal is $710 off the HP 340S G7 Notebook PC. This 14-inch laptop has a 10th Generation Intel i3 processor and great battery life. If you want more power, you can upgrade to an Intel i5 or i7 processor, up to 16GB of memory, and up to 512GB of storage.
You can also save 52% on the HP 24uh 24-inch LED Backlit Monitor. This impressive energy-efficient display offers full HD resolution at 60Hz, with a 5ms response time and a 10 million : 1 dynamic contrast ratio. During the sale, the monitor is only $119.99.
From gaming towers to security software, there are many more great savings in this sale.Head over to the HP Storenow to find yourself a steal.
At the Snapdragon Tech Summit in 2018, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8cx — a new mobile platform designed for Always On, Always Connected PCs. Devices with the new chip were expected to hit the market late last year and, as expected, Microsoft unveiled the Snapdragon 8cx powered Surface Pro X in October last year. Along with the Surface Pro X, the chip can also be found on the Samsung Galaxy Book S and now, it’s making an appearance on the Lenovo Yoga 5G 2-in-1 convertible.
Back at Computex 2019 last year, Qualcomm and Lenovo partnered to announce “Project Limitless” — a laptop powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx. The partnership has now finally come to fruition and we now have our first look at the Lenovo Yoga 5G 2-in-1 at the ongoing CES 2020. What differentiates the new Yoga from other Snapdragon 8cx powered devices is that it’s the first 8cx device to be paired with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 modem for 5G connectivity. The Snapdragon X55 modem can already be found on a number of Android devices and it supports both millimeter-wave full-band and sub-6 GHz 5G networks.
The Lenovo Yoga 5G offers a sleek design with a 360-degree hinge that we’ve previously seen on a number of Yoga devices from the company. The notebook weighs in a just 1.3kg and features a 14-inch Full HD IPS touch display with 400 nits of peak brightness. For graphically intensive tasks, the Yoga 5G packs in a Qualcomm Adreno 680 GPU that should be enough for high-definition media consumption. The Yoga 5G will pack in 8GB of RAM for fluid multitasking and up to 512GB of internal storage. The device is aimed at professionals and features an IR camera and a fingerprint sensor for security. Lenovo claims that the laptop can offer up to 24 hours of battery backup on a full charge, making it ideal for those of you who are constantly working on the go.
Since the Snapdragon 8cx is an ARM64 chip, the Yoga 5G will run Windows 10 on ARM out of the box. x86-64 bit applications will need to be recompiled to run on Windows 10 on ARM, though many x86- 32 bit application can be run through the emulation layer. In terms of I/O, the Yoga 5G packs in two USB Type-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack, and a nano-SIM slot for 5G SIM cards, however, the Yoga 5G will also feature eSIM support. Lenovo is set to release the Yoga 5G sometime in Spring this year at a starting price of $1,499.
At the Snapdragon Tech Summit in 2018, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8cx — a new mobile platform designed for Always On, Always Connected PCs. Devices with the new chip were expected to hit the market late last year and, as expected, Microsoft unveiled the Snapdragon 8cx powered Surface Pro X in October last year. Along with the Surface Pro X, the chip can also be found on the Samsung Galaxy Book S and now, it’s making an appearance on the Lenovo Yoga 5G 2-in-1 convertible.
Back at Computex 2019 last year, Qualcomm and Lenovo partnered to announce “Project Limitless” — a laptop powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx. The partnership has now finally come to fruition and we now have our first look at the Lenovo Yoga 5G 2-in-1 at the ongoing CES 2020. What differentiates the new Yoga from other Snapdragon 8cx powered devices is that it’s the first 8cx device to be paired with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 modem for 5G connectivity. The Snapdragon X55 modem can already be found on a number of Android devices and it supports both millimeter-wave full-band and sub-6 GHz 5G networks.
The Lenovo Yoga 5G offers a sleek design with a 360-degree hinge that we’ve previously seen on a number of Yoga devices from the company. The notebook weighs in a just 1.3kg and features a 14-inch Full HD IPS touch display with 400 nits of peak brightness. For graphically intensive tasks, the Yoga 5G packs in a Qualcomm Adreno 680 GPU that should be enough for high-definition media consumption. The Yoga 5G will pack in 8GB of RAM for fluid multitasking and up to 512GB of internal storage. The device is aimed at professionals and features an IR camera and a fingerprint sensor for security. Lenovo claims that the laptop can offer up to 24 hours of battery backup on a full charge, making it ideal for those of you who are constantly working on the go.
Since the Snapdragon 8cx is an ARM64 chip, the Yoga 5G will run Windows 10 on ARM out of the box. x86-64 bit applications will need to be recompiled to run on Windows 10 on ARM, though many x86- 32 bit application can be run through the emulation layer. In terms of I/O, the Yoga 5G packs in two USB Type-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack, and a nano-SIM slot for 5G SIM cards, however, the Yoga 5G will also feature eSIM support. Lenovo is set to release the Yoga 5G sometime in Spring this year at a starting price of $1,499.
At CES 2020, Qualcomm has announced a new Bluetooth codec aimed at improving voice call quality. Aptly named aptX Voice, the new codec is part of the aptX Adaptive audio family. While mobile carriers have made great strides improving the voice call quality on their networks in recent years, users have not able to enjoy many of the improvements when they’re making calls over Bluetooth.
Qualcomm claims its new aptX Voice can fill this gap by offering the same HD quality voice over Bluetooth that we enjoy on our smartphones.
“aptX technology revolutionized the Bluetooth stereo listening experience by bringing unprecedented wireless audio quality, and aptX Voice is set to do the same for voice calls”
Think of aptX Voice as aptX HD but for voice calls. The codec offers 32KHz sampled audio with a flat 16KHz frequency response which is significantly better than those offered by the narrowband Bluetooth codecs within the Bluetooth Handsfree Profile which are usually capped at 8KHz sample rate. Qualcomm says the super-wideband support allows the codec to deliver superior voice clarity and speech intelligibility compared to the existing codecs. The codec will also reportedly make it easier to hear faint talkers, accented speakers and double-talk i.e. when both parties are speaking at the same time.
The aptX Voice will be offered as an optional codec in the aptX Adaptive suite. The codec is already supported on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765 Mobile Platforms. It will be available for licensing to headphones and accessories makers as part of Qualcomm’s new range of Bluetooth Audio chips which the company plans to release later in 2020.
At CES 2020, Qualcomm has announced a new Bluetooth codec aimed at improving voice call quality. Aptly named aptX Voice, the new codec is part of the aptX Adaptive audio family. While mobile carriers have made great strides improving the voice call quality on their networks in recent years, users have not able to enjoy many of the improvements when they’re making calls over Bluetooth.
Qualcomm claims its new aptX Voice can fill this gap by offering the same HD quality voice over Bluetooth that we enjoy on our smartphones.
“aptX technology revolutionized the Bluetooth stereo listening experience by bringing unprecedented wireless audio quality, and aptX Voice is set to do the same for voice calls”
Think of aptX Voice as aptX HD but for voice calls. The codec offers 32KHz sampled audio with a flat 16KHz frequency response which is significantly better than those offered by the narrowband Bluetooth codecs within the Bluetooth Handsfree Profile which are usually capped at 8KHz sample rate. Qualcomm says the super-wideband support allows the codec to deliver superior voice clarity and speech intelligibility compared to the existing codecs. The codec will also reportedly make it easier to hear faint talkers, accented speakers and double-talk i.e. when both parties are speaking at the same time.
The aptX Voice will be offered as an optional codec in the aptX Adaptive suite. The codec is already supported on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765 Mobile Platforms. It will be available for licensing to headphones and accessories makers as part of Qualcomm’s new range of Bluetooth Audio chips which the company plans to release later in 2020.
Foldables displays have been luring enthusiasts at tech shows like the CES, Las Vegas, for over a decade now. The start was rough and patchy and all we saw were concept products. With time, we started seeing foldable OLED TVs and even though Samsung showed the first prototype of a foldable smartphone display in as early as 2014, the company took five years – and multiple hiccups – to realize that vision. After devices like the Huawei Mate X, the Galaxy Fold, and the Motorola Razr, there’s decent confidence in foldable smartphones but many laptop manufacturers like Lenovo have already started pitching ideas for foldable laptops. After Lenovo, chipmaker Intel is publicizing their own concept of a foldable “Horseshoe Bend” computer that can be folded into a 12.5″ laptop.
Instead of seeing this as a typical laptop, you can see Intel’s Horseshoe Bend concept as a desktop computer with special powers. The kickstand allows the concept device to sit straight on a table and hooked to a keyboard and mouse. In this orientation, the OLED screen measures 17.3-inches diagonally, which is quite a lot of real estate compared to a standard desktop monitor. Plus the display also supports touch which makes it even more useful.
Images courtesy of CNET
When folded along the center, the Intel concept becomes a mini laptop with a screen size of just about 12.5-inches. In a conversation with CNET, Intel GM Chris Walker insists that this is “not a reimagine tablet” but a mobile PC with full PC capabilities. CNET, which also got an exclusive look at the prototype, reports that Intel may not build this prototype into a commercial machine – after all Intel is not a PC manufacturer, but it is likely to sell this recipe to one or more OEMs for the latter to convert the concept to a product.
The Intel Horseshoe Bend concept is just 7.75mm in thickness and comes with “two hinges in parallel” to unite both the halves. Like the Galaxy Fold, there’s a gap towards the center when the display is folded. But this space, Intel suggests, can be used to accommodate a full-sized physical keyboard. The same keyboard can be used when the PC is fully stretched out for desktop usage. If you won’t like that much, a virtual keyboard comes up on the concept PC when it’s folded midway. For now, the prototype only seems to fold inwards and not outwards; so a tent mode may not be feasible just yet.
Images courtesy of CNET
Inside, the Intel Horeshoe Bend PC rocks Intel’s upcoming Tiger Lake 10nm mobile processor which will succeed the current Ice Lake Intel Core processors. The Tiger Lake processors will be announced later on in 2020 and not only is Intel showing the concept design but also using this chance to tease the new microarchitecture.
Clearly, the Intel foldable concept PC is far from being utilized as a commercial device. You obviously cannot buy it but the chipmaker will be working with other manufacturers to produce other pragmatic solutions. Naturally, there will a hefty price tag hanging from one of those but if you cherish technology irrespective of the money, you should be able to treat yourself with one of the devices based on this concept later this year.
Foldables displays have been luring enthusiasts at tech shows like the CES, Las Vegas, for over a decade now. The start was rough and patchy and all we saw were concept products. With time, we started seeing foldable OLED TVs and even though Samsung showed the first prototype of a foldable smartphone display in as early as 2014, the company took five years – and multiple hiccups – to realize that vision. After devices like the Huawei Mate X, the Galaxy Fold, and the Motorola Razr, there’s decent confidence in foldable smartphones but many laptop manufacturers like Lenovo have already started pitching ideas for foldable laptops. After Lenovo, chipmaker Intel is publicizing their own concept of a foldable “Horseshoe Bend” computer that can be folded into a 12.5″ laptop.
Instead of seeing this as a typical laptop, you can see Intel’s Horseshoe Bend concept as a desktop computer with special powers. The kickstand allows the concept device to sit straight on a table and hooked to a keyboard and mouse. In this orientation, the OLED screen measures 17.3-inches diagonally, which is quite a lot of real estate compared to a standard desktop monitor. Plus the display also supports touch which makes it even more useful.
Images courtesy of CNET
When folded along the center, the Intel concept becomes a mini laptop with a screen size of just about 12.5-inches. In a conversation with CNET, Intel GM Chris Walker insists that this is “not a reimagine tablet” but a mobile PC with full PC capabilities. CNET, which also got an exclusive look at the prototype, reports that Intel may not build this prototype into a commercial machine – after all Intel is not a PC manufacturer, but it is likely to sell this recipe to one or more OEMs for the latter to convert the concept to a product.
The Intel Horseshoe Bend concept is just 7.75mm in thickness and comes with “two hinges in parallel” to unite both the halves. Like the Galaxy Fold, there’s a gap towards the center when the display is folded. But this space, Intel suggests, can be used to accommodate a full-sized physical keyboard. The same keyboard can be used when the PC is fully stretched out for desktop usage. If you won’t like that much, a virtual keyboard comes up on the concept PC when it’s folded midway. For now, the prototype only seems to fold inwards and not outwards; so a tent mode may not be feasible just yet.
Images courtesy of CNET
Inside, the Intel Horeshoe Bend PC rocks Intel’s upcoming Tiger Lake 10nm mobile processor which will succeed the current Ice Lake Intel Core processors. The Tiger Lake processors will be announced later on in 2020 and not only is Intel showing the concept design but also using this chance to tease the new microarchitecture.
Clearly, the Intel foldable concept PC is far from being utilized as a commercial device. You obviously cannot buy it but the chipmaker will be working with other manufacturers to produce other pragmatic solutions. Naturally, there will a hefty price tag hanging from one of those but if you cherish technology irrespective of the money, you should be able to treat yourself with one of the devices based on this concept later this year.
