Danh mục: Tin tức

Enthusiasts know that three of the most important criteria for choosing the best gaming monitors are speed, contrast and resolution. All will affect price, so how can one find the best bang for the buck? Where’s the sweet spot where performance and price are most advantageous?

Of the three major panel technologies, IPS, VA and OLED; VA offers the most contrast for the least money. IPS can provide stunning contrast when paired with a Mini LED backlight, but it is expensive. OLED has the greatest dynamic range of all with its infinite black, but it is also expensive. A VA panel can deliver a great picture for relatively little money.

AOC offers a few VA monitors in its budget line and one of the latest examples is the CQ27G3Z. It’s a 27-inch curved monitor with QHD resolution, 240 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR, wide gamut color and retails for less than $400.

AOC CQ27G3Z Specs

The CQ27G3Z doesn’t have much in the bells and whistles department, but like any good budget screen, it delivers it where it counts. The picture is excellent thanks to a VA panel with around 4,000:1 native contrast. It’s curved tightly at 1000R to create a more immersive effect. I put that in the realm of individual preference when talking about any 16:9 aspect curved monitor. There is some slight image distortion with a tight curve in this screen size. But for games, it delivers an enhanced experience.

Color is wide-gamut, with over 86% coverage of DCI-P3. You can find larger gamuts for a little more money, but the extra color is also an enhancement. Accuracy is decent with calibration and there is a usable sRGB mode.

The most significant value-add is the CQ27G3Z’s 240 Hz refresh rate. There aren’t a plethora of 240 Hz QHD screens out there, and most of them are premium displays. AOC is undercutting the competition with a price of $375 at this writing. You also get Adaptive-Sync with FreeSync from 48 to 240 Hz and G-Sync compatibility, as confirmed by my tests. The CQ27G3Z has not been certified by Nvidia.

Additional features are sparse. You get a frame counter and an aiming point. In addition. blur reduction via backlight strobe can be used in lieu of Adaptive-Sync. The full 240 Hz can be enjoyed over the two DisplayPort 1.4 inputs with HDR at QHD resolution, while two HDMI 2.0 ports support 120 Hz operation with VRR for consoles. There are no USB ports or speakers, nor is there LED lighting. But you get a solid package with everything needed for high-performance gaming for less than $400.

Assembly and Accessories

The CQ27G3Z comes from its crumbly foam in three parts. The panel snaps on after attaching the upright to the base with a captive bolt. The panel mount has a 100mm VESA pattern with fasteners included. The power supply is internal, so you get an IEC cord plus DisplayPort and HDMI cables.

Product 360

The CQ27G3Z is attractively styled with simple molded shapes and a smooth curve across the back. Red trim signals its gaming intent, but no additional LED lighting exists. The front bezel is nearly frameless on three sides, with 7mm borders on the top and sides and 23mm on the bottom. The red trim is also visible from the front, with accent strips and a hole in the upright for cabling.

The stand is lightweight and solid with a 5.1-inch (130mm) height adjustment, 40 degrees swivel to either side and 5/23 degrees of tilt. There is no portrait mode. Movements are firmer than the CQ27G3Z’s light weight suggests. Build quality is definitely above the price point here.

The input panel is well stocked with two HDMI 2.0 and two DisplayPort 1.4. You’ll need the latter for full 240 Hz operation with HDR and Adaptive-Sync. The HDMI ports support 120 Hz with HDR and VRR for consoles like the PS5 and Xbox One. There are no internal speakers, but you can plug headphones or powered speakers into the 3.5mm audio jack.

OSD Features

The CQ27G3Z’s OSD is controlled by four keys which you’ll find across the bottom right part of the panel. They are a bit clunky compared to the joysticks found in many of the latest displays. The ribbon-style menu is the same one I’ve used in AOC monitors for the past ten years. It’s intuitive and divided into seven sub-menus.

The Luminance menu controls brightness and contrast, offers seven picture modes, three gamma presets, a dynamic contrast option and HDR modes that appear when an HDR signal is present. I don’t recommend the dynamic contrast as it clips highlight and shadow detail. The CQ27G3Z has plenty of contrast already. The HDR modes are Display, Game, Movie and Picture. The default and best option is Display. It has the best color accuracy but also presents one downside, edge enhancement. I’ll discuss that more in the hands-on section below and in the HDR tests on page five.

In Color Setup, you can adjust the white point with presets or RGB sliders. Also here is the sRGB mode, which has a fixed grayscale. It correctly renders the sRGB gamut if you want to use it for SDR content or color-critical tasks.

Picture Boost is something unique to AOC monitors. You can create a window on the screen, size and move it, and adjust its brightness and contrast independently of the rest of the image. It’s handy for highlighting areas of the picture.

OSD Setup has the expected options but also includes the DisplayPort version and a break reminder. This is a timer that pops up on the screen when it’s time to stop fragging and get a drink or snack.

The CQ27G3Z adds a PIP option; not all AOC monitors have one. You can size and move the window and swap between two video sources.

In Game Setting, you’ll find additional game modes, which are picture presets. Hint, leave this off lest you become lost in the many possible combinations of picture and game modes. The Standard mode from the Luminance menu is all you need. Also here is a three-level overdrive, FreeSync toggle and the frame rate counter. If you’d rather use a backlight strobe for blur reduction, that’s also here with 20 intensity settings. As you increase the value, the screen gets darker, and motion becomes smoother as the pulse width changes. It works well with almost none of the phasing artifacts common to backlight strobes. It is a viable alternative to Adaptive-Sync and overdrive, especially when speeds exceed 200fps.

In the Extra menu, there is an off timer, factory reset and basic signal information. You can also change inputs here or by pressing the leftmost control key.

AOC CQ27G3Z Calibration Settings 

In the CQ27G3Z’s default Standard picture mode, grayscale is a bit green in tone, with visible errors in the brighter parts of the image. Gamma is slightly dark on its number 1 setting, which is fine for a high-contrast panel like this. I achieved much better grayscale with a few tweaks of the RGB sliders in the Color Setup menu. More importantly, color accuracy and contrast are improved as well. My recommended settings are below.

In HDR mode, the default mode, Display, offers the best color accuracy but also adds visible edge enhancement. You can avoid this by selecting the Game mode, which introduces some clipping in the red primary. I’ll explain this with charts on page five. Ultimately, I preferred the look of the Display HDR mode.

Gaming and Hands-on

When considering the CQ27G3Z for daily productivity, I had expected some image distortion given its 1000mm radius, which is tighter than most curved screens. I was pleasantly surprised that I could barely notice a difference. It helps that the screen is 16:9, so you won’t be moving document windows out to the edge of your peripheral vision. After a few hours of use, I concluded that the CQ27G3Z is as useful for work tasks as any other 27-inch flat screen. So, don’t let the curve dissuade you.

The curve is undoubtedly welcome for gaming. Though I would choose a 21:9 monitor over a 16:9 one for play, the CQ27G3Z’s curve clearly enhances the experience. I had no trouble finding a good position for the screen since the stand has plenty of height. I could keep it vertical and have my eyepoint in the center, the optimal setup for curved display gaming.

Once I had spent a few hours playing Doom Eternal and Call of Duty WWII, I found the CQ27G3Z to have excellent feel and response. 240 Hz is clearly smoother than 165 or 144. And with reasonably low input lag, I could keep my aim true and consistent. Stopping on target was easy, and I had no trouble making out fine detail in distant objects thanks to the 109ppi pixel density.

The HDR experience was average compared to all the monitors I’ve experienced, meaning that contrast and color were very good but not at the level of a premium screen. That’s no surprise given the CQ27G3Z’s $375 price tag. When that is considered, it’s a champ. The HDR image popped nicely with clear detail at all brightness levels and nicely saturated color.

During the SDR tests, I noted that calibration is required for best results. The default image is a bit flat, thanks to grayscale errors. But if you plug in the settings above, you’ll see a much better picture.

Video processing delivered an average experience with one positive exception that I’ll note in a moment. Adaptive-Sync worked perfectly on both FreeSync and G-Sync systems. The overdrive is a bit weak because it doesn’t completely remove black trail artifacts from moving objects. But in most cases, this issue did not distract from gameplay. I also noted a better-than-average use of backlight strobing when I tried the blur reduction. Like most monitors, it requires you to turn off Adaptive-Sync but at 240 Hz, but this isn’t a big deal. The CQ27G3Z’s backlight strobe is much better than average because the phasing artifact common to this feature is almost entirely invisible. AOC’s MBR option is one of the best examples of blur reduction I’ve seen.

Test Takeaway: The CQ27G3Z delivers high frame rates with solid video processing and low input lag. Its HDR image is of average quality for the price, but it’s nice that the support is there. Aside from a weak overdrive, it is a good gaming monitor and well-suited for daily tasks. 

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

MORE: How We Test PC Monitors

MORE: How to Buy a PC Monitor

MORE: How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor

Nvidia has introduced three high-performance professional graphics cards based on the Ada Lovelace architecture for workstations as well as a server-grade grade professional board that can be used both for remote graphics and light AI applications. The introduction completes transition of Nvidia’s ProViz family of high-performance products to its latest Ada Lovelace architecture.

To address performance-demanding professional graphics applications, such as computer aided design and digital content creation, Nvidia add three new products: the RTX 4000 20GB, the RTX 4500 24GB, and the RTX 5000 32GB boards based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. In addition, Nvidia is rolling out its L40S datacenter board with 48GB of memory.

The new Nvidia RTX 4000 20GB workstation graphics card largely mimics the RTX 4000 SFF product released several month ago, but it uses a full-height PCB albeit comes with a single-slot cooling system and is rated for 130W. The part is powered by the AD104 GPU with 6144 CUDA cores that is clocked higher compared to the SFF variant and thus delivers up to 26.7 FP32 TFLOPS of compute throughput, which is comparable to compute performance of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4070. This board will offer higher performance than the RTX 4000 SFF for the same price of $1,250 in September.

The green company is also rolling out its Nvidia RTX 4500 24GB featuring the AD104 GPU with 7,680 CUDA cores that offers up to 39.6 FP32 TFLOPS of compute performance, which is on par with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. The ProViz graphics card is equipped with a dual-slot cooling system with a blower fan and is rated for up to 210W of power. The product is set to be available in October for the price of $2,250.

Yet another graphics cards that is being rolled out today is the Nvidia RTX 5000 32GB based on the severely cut-down AD102 graphics processor with 12,800 CUDA cores that delivers compute performance of 65.3 FP32 TFLOPS. This unit is positioned to sit below the flagship RTX 6000 Ada and the whopping performance difference between the two parts implies that over time Nvidia might offer a solution that will sit between these models. In the meantime, Nvidia will have its RTX 5000 32GB for $4,000 and RTX 6000 48GB Ada for $6,800.

The new workstation boards will be used by companies like Boxx, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Lambda in their upcoming workstations this fall. In addition, these boards will be available from Nvidia’s resellers, such as Arrow and Ingram from such AIB suppliers as Leadtek, PNY, and Ryoyo,

But as there are professionals who use remote workstations, Nvidia is also rolling out its L40S Ada datacenter card that uses the AD102 GPU with 18,176 CUDA cores that delivers a whopping 91.6 FP32 TFLOPS, which is in line with performance of the RTX 6000 Ada. The L40S Ada will be first used in Nvidia’s OVX servers used for graphics AI, and video processing, but eventually they will likely end up in different machines as well. While the L40S Ada is clearly a datacenter product with a passive cooling solution, it still has display outputs, so it can be installed into a workstation assuming that there is enough airflow inside or a special blower attached to the board. 

“As generative AI transforms every industry, enterprises are increasingly seeking large-scale compute resources in the data center,” said Bob Pette, vice president of professional visualization at NVIDIA. “OVX systems with NVIDIA L40S GPUs accelerate AI, graphics and video processing workloads, and meet the demanding performance requirements of an ever-increasing set of complex and diverse applications.”

We don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of the Radeon RX 580 2048SP. It is a China-exclusive SKU, after all, and far from being able to compete with the best graphics cards. However, a Chinese manufacturer has breathed new life into the five-year-old Radeon RX 580 2048SP.

AMD China released the Radeon RX 580 2048SP in 2018, so the Polaris 20-based graphics card is a bit long in the tooth. While the Radeon RX 580 2048SP sounds cool because of the model name, it was, in essence, a rebranded Radeon RX 570 8GB with a moderately higher boost clock. The Radeon RX 580 2048SP may seem like a dud, but it sells pretty well in the Chinese market, so manufacturers still love it after all these years.

Kinology, a Chinese vendor, has given the Radeon RX 580 2048SP a new twist. Kinology isn’t an official AMD partner. Like many other Chinese companies, it’s likely just a local outfit that relabel and resells OEM graphics cards. Kinology (via realVictor_M) has released a particular Radeon RX 580 2048SP with an upgraded memory subsystem to 16GB of GDDR5. For comparison, the regular Radeon RX 580 2048SP is only available with 4GB and 8GB configurations. Kinology’s model has triple or twice as much memory, depending on which SKU you compare it to.

Although Kinology gave the Radeon RX 580 2048SP more memory, the company used slower GDDR5 memory chips. The vanilla Radeon RX 580 2048SP uses 7 Gbps GDDR5, which across a 256-bit interface, provides 224 GB/s of memory bandwidth. In contrast, the Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP employs 6 Gbps chips, limiting the bandwidth to 192 GB/s. It has more memory, but the bandwidth takes a 14% hit.

Besides the memory, the Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP has nothing else to offer. It still uses the 14nm Polaris 20 silicon with 2048 shaders that boosts 1,206 MHz, so it’s somewhat lower than AMD’s reference 1,284 MHz boost clock. From a performance standpoint, the Radeon RX 580 2048SP is slower than the GeForce GTX 1060. The Kinology model is 170W, 20W higher than the regular model, probably due to the added memory chips. The Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP still employs a single 6-pin PCIe power connector.

The Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP sells for $83 on JD.com, which isn’t a bad price. The faster Radeon RX 580 starts at $129 in the U.S. market, so the Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP’s price tag gets a pass.

TSMC in collaboration with partners Bosch, Infineon, and NXP, on Tuesday unveiled plans to form a joint venture and construct a chip fabrication facility near Dresden, Germany. The joint venture named European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) will own a fab that will produce chips for automotive, industrial, and IoT applications using TSMC’s 12nm, 16nm, 22nm, and 28nm-class process technologies starting from late 2027. 

The planned ESMC fab is expected to have a production capacity of around 40,000 300-mm wafer starts per month, though TSMC does not disclose whether by a wafer it means a wafer processed on a 28nm node, or a 12nm process technology. By modern standards, a fab with a 40,000 WSPM is not exactly a large production facility (GlobalFoundries’ Fab 1 in Dresden has capacity of well over 100,000 WSPM), but since this particular fab will be used almost exclusively for German and Austrian automakers, industrial equipment producers, and IoT companies, it should be just enough to meet their demands in the latter half of the decade.

 “This investment in Dresden demonstrates TSMC’s commitment to serving our customers’ strategic capacity and technology needs, and we are excited at this opportunity to deepen our long-standing partnership with Bosch, Infineon, and NXP,” said Dr. CC Wei, CEO of TSMC. “Europe is a highly promising place for semiconductor innovation, particularly in the automotive and industrial fields, and we look forward to bringing those innovations to life on our advanced silicon technology with the talent in Europe.”

Meanwhile, the fab will use TSMC’s mature technologies, such as 28nm and its various specialized derivatives, including 22nm low power fabrication process. TSMC has been trying to urge automakers and other customers to transit their long-living designs to its 28nm-class nodes for a couple of years now and cease using legacy 45nm, 65nm, 90nm, and older nodes. Now that there is a 28nm-capable fab in Europe, they will certainly be more inclined to do so. In addition, the fab will be capable of processing wafers on TSMC’s FinFET-based 16nm and 12nm production nodes that are gaining popularity among automakers today.

The new fab is meant to ensure a consistent chip supply for German and Austrian automotive giants in the second half of the decade. There is a catch though. Complex system-in-packages for self-driving and infotainment will define value of autos in the coming years. And yet, automakers like BMW, Mercedes, Stellantis, and VAG — which are investing heavily in proprietary silicon for their autos due in the coming years — will have to produce their SoCs and SiPs either in Taiwan or the U.S. if they go with TSMC. Alternatively, they will have to use Intel’s fab near Magdeburg, Germany, to make their leading-edge processors.

“Infineon will use the new capacity to serve the growing demand particularly of its European customers, especially in automotive and IoT,” said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon Technologies. “The advanced capabilities will provide a basis for developing innovative technologies, products and solutions to address the global challenges of decarbonization and digitalisation.”

The ESCM fab is slated to start constriction in the second half of 2024 and begin production in late 2027. TSMC will operate the fab.

As far as ownership is concerned, TSMC is poised to command a majority 70% stake in the venture, whereas the remaining partners —Bosch, Infineon, and NXP— will equally share the remaining equity, each securing a 10% stake. Investments in the fab are expected to be around €10 billion with €5 billion rumored to come in subsidies from from the German government and under European Chips Act.

Right now at Best Buy, you can find the Asus Zenbook 14 Q410 for one of its best prices to date. It has a recommended price of $799 but is currently marked down to $499. It’s not clear for how long the $300 discount will be made available.

This deal is notable for its 13th Gen Intel processor and 2.8K OLED touchscreen display. For a laptop with these specs in this price range, it’s definitely worth a look whether you’re in the market for something casual or a little beefy for media purposes.

Under the hood, you’ll find an Intel Core i5 13500H processor which can reach up to 4.7GHz. It’s accompanied by Intel Iris Xe graphics which outputs to a 14.5-inch touchscreen OLED panel with a resolution of 2880 x 1800px. For storage, users get a 512GB internal SSD to take advantage of which connects using a PCIe 4.0 interface. This is alongside 8GB of LPDDR5-4800 for memory.

The Zenbook 14 Q410 has an integrated mic and 1080p webcam for video conferencing. A 3.5mm jack is also available for audio peripherals. As far as ports go, it has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two HDMI ports, two Display Ports, a USB Type-A 3.2 port and one USB Type-C port. It’s powered by a 10Hr battery and is supported by Asus with a limited 1-year manufacturer’s warranty.

To get a closer look at this deal, check out the product page for the Zenbook 14 Q410 over at the Best Buy website.

Robert Hallock, who has been with AMD for over 12 years, has joined Intel as the new Senior Director of Technical Marketing. Hallock will focus on AI for consumer processors as part of his new position.

Hallock joined AMD in August 2010 and had been with the chipmaker until September 2022. Hallock started as a Product Marketing Manager and slowly climbed up the hierarchy ladder until he became the Director of Technical Marketing, a position he had held for two years and three months.

“After a restful sabbatical, I’m excited to announce my next adventure! Today I joined Intel Corporation as Senior Director of Technical Marketing, where I’ll be focusing on AI for consumer processors.

I’ve always been happiest working on the next big thing in Client, and spending some time on AI is surely that. The PC is never boring, of course, but AI sure seems like an unusually unique moment. It’s not often an all-new category of accelerator shows up, after all.

We are—all of us—on the cusp of transformative performance improvements for speech, text, music, images, video, and more. There’s a fantastic team at Intel working to make those everyday experiences better, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it!” wrote Hallock in his LinkedIn post.

Hallock had always been on the technical end of marketing AMD’s products. So it wasn’t surprising that Intel hired him as the company’s Senior Director of Technical Marketing. Hallock was a beloved figure in AMD’s fanbase as he was very active on social platforms, including Reddit, Discord, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter). He often provided helpful insight on the technical aspects of AMD’s platforms, helped users with platform-related issues, and offered valuable information that sometimes isn’t public.

Intel’s holding its annual Intel Innovation event from September 19 to 20. The chipmaker has confirmed that the company will present its highly-anticipated Meteor Lake processors at the event. Intel will also present a new roadmap with a heavy emphasis on AI so that we may see Hallock in his first Intel event very soon.

If you just want to free your desk of wires, any wireless mouse will do. But a great wireless mouse is more than just a convenient, clutter-free tool for interfacing with your PC. The best wireless mice combine heavily-researched ergonomics and finely-tuned productivity improvements to give you something that feels like a natural extension of your arm and still makes you more efficient. 

Productivity mice are different from gaming mice. You may not need a high-polling-rate, low-latency mouse for work, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other factors to consider when picking the perfect productivity mouse, such as multi-device control, built-in Bluetooth, speedy scroll wheels (and tilt wheels), and lengthy battery life. 

This list focuses on productivity mice, but if you’re looking to improve your game you can check out our list of best gaming mice. And if you’re serious about desk decluttering, pair the perfect pointer with one of the best wireless keyboards for ultimate freedom.

The quick list

The Best Wireless Mouse You Can Buy Today

Best Wireless Mouse for Most

The Logitech MX Master 3S isn’t the cheapest mouse on this list, but it’s worth every penny because it will make you more productive if you make use of all its features. The 3S combines a comfortable, sculpted design with helpful features such as an electromagnetic scroll wheel, a separate thumb wheel, and a ton of customization options. It can also use the Logi Flow software to switch its connection seamlessly between three different devices — even carrying clipboard contents with it.

The MX Master 3S’s scroll wheel is one of its most impressive features: It lets you toggle between a smooth or ratcheted feel with the press of a button — or automatically, based on how fast you spin it. A second thumb wheel on the left side lets you perform tasks such as zooming in and out of documents, scrolling horizontally in spreadsheets, and raising and lowering your system volume.

The mouse has six configurable buttons (seven if you include the scroll wheel’s click), which you can set to do different things in different apps. So, for example, you could have the side buttons perform forward and back functions in your browser but act as Pg Up and Pg Dn in a word processor. 

The MX Master 3S has two noticeable improvements over its very-similar predecessor, the MX Master 3. The sensor now goes all the way up to 8,000 DPI, which means that you can get much faster movement, a boon if you have multiple monitors to move your cursor through. And the right and left click buttons have quiet switches which will be barely audible to your coworkers or housemates. 

Read: Logitech MX Master 3S Review 

Best Wireless Ergonomic Mouse

The Logitech Lift is an ergonomic wireless mouse designed for users with small- to medium-sized hands — it’s not for everyone, but it’s nice to see an option for users who might not find the larger Logitech MX Vertical comfortable to use. The Lift also comes in both right-handed and left-handed versions, making it one of the only ergonomic mouse options for left-handed users (though while the right-handed version comes in pink, white, and graphite, the left-handed version only comes in the latter). 

The Lift has a vertical design, which puts your hand at an “optimal” 57-degree angle — also known as the “handshake angle.” This angle is more natural than the typical horizontal angle mice normally have, but this design does lift your hand away from your desk. If you’re used to a regular mouse, it may take you some time to get used to this new position (and you may never get used to it, especially if you work with very precise movements — it’s harder to be precise when your hand is further from the desk). 

The Lift is a productivity mouse; it works with Logitech’s Logi Options+ software and includes Logitech’s productivity features such as Logitech Flow, which lets you switch between three different PCs. Logitech Flow isn’t perfect — there’s a small delay between devices, but it’s an excellent feature for people who switch between a laptop and a desktop, or a laptop and a tablet. 

The Lift’s vertical design makes it less-than-ideal for precision tasks, such as gaming — gamers who want an ergonomic mouse should check out the incredibly comfortable Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro. 

Read: Logitech Lift Review 

Best Budget Vertical Mouse

The Lenovo Go Wireless Mouse is a cheaper take on the vertical mouse layout than the Logitech Lift and the Logitech MX Vertical, with a price that ranges from $30 – $50 depending on sales (which Lenovo frequently has). Despite this, it’s got a strong luxury feel thanks to the comfortable, stylish cork side finish, and it also has many of the Lift’s and MX Vertical’s strengths.

These include the natural, 57-degree “handshake position” angle and the many programmable buttons. There’s one fewer button here than on the MX Vertical, making for a total of 6, but the DPI is much more customizable than on Logitech’s mouse. Here, you get to set 3 specific numbers from 800 to 2400, and you can still swap between them on the fly with a single button press.

Another bonus here is that this mouse only requires one AA battery, as opposed to 2. It’s not a huge savings, especially since the purported battery life is 18 months long, but you’ll more easily be able to recharge this mouse by digging through your junk drawer.

Maybe the most unfortunate change here is to the side button placement. Rather than being in the divot where your thumb rests, like on the MX vertical, the side buttons here instead rest on the mouse’s top edge. You’ll have to strain your thumb to reach them, which hurts this device’s otherwise strong ergonomics.

Best Premium Productivity

Often, gaming gear is a cheap way to get your hands on a mouse with professional-level features. Razer is known mostly for its gaming peripherals, but it’s also been dabbling in the productivity sphere by taking features it’s known for in its gaming products and translating them to a line specifically for productivity.

Enter the Razer Pro Click Mini. This mouse is the second productivity focused pointer from Razer, and features quieter switches and a smaller footprint than the first. But unlike other productivity focused mice, it’s also got a high max DPI (12,000), a 1,000 Hz polling rate, 7 programmable buttons, and 2.4GHz wireless connectivity. Plus, it’s got 5 onboard memory profiles and you can remap buttons, including the 4-way tilt wheel with both infinite and ratcheted scrolling, in Razer Synapse. 

That makes this an especially powerful contender for the office, with lots of versatility and highly responsive input, although its sleek gray and white exterior and comfortable ergonomics mean it’s still at home in your boss’ line of sight.

It’s a bit of a shame that it uses AA batteries instead of being rechargeable, especially since those batteries do make it a touch heavier. But with a purported 465 hours of 2.4GHz battery life and 725 hours of Bluetooth battery life, it’s easy to just stuff this in your bag and forget about it for months on end.

Read: Razer Pro Click Mini review 

Best Budget Mouse

What even is a “best mouse,” anyway? Don’t you just need a way to point your cursor without too much delay and without hurting your hands? If this sounds like you, the Logitech M510 will be your new best friend. Its no frills design makes it one of the most inexpensive mice on this list at $20, while its 2.4 GHz connectivity keeps it lagless. Meanwhile, its comfy, ambidextrous body should fit nicely into most hands and its two side buttons are accessible across palm, claw and fingertip grip styles. Its software, Logitech Options, is also robust enough that you can easily get more advanced with it later on, once you’ve started to see the light of fancy mice.

You can set the DPI up to 1000 with Logitech options, for instance, although it’s somewhat obliquely presented as a “pointer speed” slider that refuses to give actual numbers. You can also swap the left and right mouse button functions, easily view battery life and map any number of functions to 5 of the mouse’s buttons. These include keystroke assignments, common functions like copy or paste and even a “gesture” toggle that works with mouse movement to open up even more mappable actions. What’s even better is that you can set the mouse to have different profiles per application.

These Logitech Options features aren’t unique to the 510, but it’s good to know that you can still access them even if you go for the most basic of Logitech’s mice. Speaking of basic, this mouse glides well with its 4 rubber feet and boasts a 24 month battery off its two AAs. At 0.28 pounds, it’s also easy to lift and travel with.

All around, this is a great starter mouse, although its ambidextrous design leaves it with a somewhat underdeveloped thumb rest and it doesn’t have special features like an infinite scroll wheel. 

Best Small Mouse

The Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse is a thin little credit card of a pointer that presumes that the most comfortable form factor for a mouse is to have as little mouse in your hand as possible. This makes it great for travel and style, especially with its 8 available colors and Bluetooth connectivity. At 78 grams with batteries installed, it’s easy to carry around with you and push around a table. At the same time, its sleek rectangular exterior makes it difficult for certain grip types to handle it, and it doesn’t come with extra buttons or too much configurability.

With just a left button, a right button and a scroll wheel that can’t tilt to the side, this mouse isn’t meant for more than basic work. The scroll wheel’s push-in button can be remapped to input a key combination, open the screen snipping tool or even input a macro, but that’s the most advanced usability you’ll get out of this mouse. Otherwise, all its software will let you do is swap the left and right click, change how fast the wheel scrolls (and in which direction) and adjust your DPI.

The max DPI is higher on this mouse than what you’ll find on other productivity focused entries, though. The minimum DPI is 400 and the maximum is 1800, which means you’ll be able to easily track your cursor across all sorts of resolutions and monitor sizes. 

There’s no doubt that the mouse’s lightweight nature lends it a certain level of comfort, as it doesn’t take much force to use, although it can feel bulky in the hands thanks to its rectangular shape. That’s a bit odd given how small the mouse is, and it doesn’t help that palm grip users don’t have much of a body to rest their palms on.

Still, this is a good mouse for Bluetooth devices, casual use, travel and those who prefer lightweight and small accessories that stay out of the way. It also looks good. But its functions are limited, and it’s not the most comfortable for all types of users.

Best Travel-sized Ergonomic Mouse

The Microsoft Arc Mouse is a more ergonomic take on the Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse that nonetheless loses some functionality in the pursuit of greater comfort. It feels great in the hands, so much so that it might convince you to abandon a claw grip for a palm grip instead. However, its hair-trigger button (which doesn’t physically distinguish between left/right click zones) and its lack of scroll wheel means it’s not for everyone.

At $80, the Arc Mouse is more than three times the cost of the Modern Mobile Mouse, but is still affordable compared to other ergonomic mice on this list. It also carries over some of the benefits of the Modern Mobile Mouse — an uncomplicated, lightweight body, multiple color options, and easy portability (it can bend flat to fit into bags with no issue). 

It’s also got the same weaknesses as the Modern Mobile Mouse — and then some. Most noticeable and egregious is the lack of a scroll wheel or separate left and right click buttons. Taking the Modern Mobile Mouse’s lack of buttons a little further, the Arc Mouse opts to have one clickable touchpad for its input. Clicking the left side works as a left click and clicking the right side works like a right click (although you can swap these), while an optional three-finger-click option can serve as either a middle click or a keyboard combination of your choice. This can take some getting used to at first, as you find where the boundaries between the different options are, but it generally works. 

Instead of a scroll wheel, the mouse wants you to flick your finger to scroll. This results in stilted scrolling that requires a lot of extraneous flicks, even on the highest sensitivity setting. Not only do you lose precision with this, but you also lose comfort, which goes against the point of the mouse.

Also a little disappointing is that bending the mouse flat also turns it off, so you can’t use it in this shape if you prefer. Further, the mouse is not built for fingertip or claw grippers. 

Some people will love this mouse, either as a main pointer or as a backup while traveling. It’s a niche pick, but so are most ergonomic mice.

Best Trackball Mouse

The Logitech Ergo M575 Mouse is the hero your strained wrists have been waiting for. With it, you won’t need to move them at all. Just lay your hand on your mouse once, and you’re all set for eight hours straight without needing to move it again (aside from getting up to go to the bathroom). Of course, your thumb will be getting a workout the whole time.

That’s because this mouse uses a trackball to move the cursor. It’s not a new approach, but at $50 and with 2.4GHz and Bluetooth support, the Ergo M575 is more advanced than what you would have gotten in the ‘90s.

Using it will take some practice, of course, but it feels like a dream in your hand. It completely eliminates strain from repetitive motions, and the wide body perfectly contorts to my hand shape. Again, it does require my thumb to do a lot of movement, but if there’s anything decades of gaming has taught me, it’s that my thumbs are pretty resilient when it comes to carpal tunnel syndrome. The rest of my hand, not so much.

Of course, speaking of gaming, not being able to move the mouse’s body itself does come with some struggles. For instance, while this isn’t our best gaming mouse list, let’s not kid ourselves. You’re probably not constantly swapping between a gaming and work mouse with your home setup. If you were hoping to use this mouse to moonlight in games, think again. While its trackball can reach a DPI of up to 2000, it’s harder to do controlled flicks or steady tracking with it. Not common use cases on the job, but very common in games.

Clicking-and-dragging also takes some rewiring at first, as I’m not used to using both my thumb and my index finger when doing so. It took a bit of thought to remember to let go of my index finger when I was done dragging, but not my thumb. Similarly, it can be hard to precisely highlight text with a trackball.

Most of these issues, aside from the mouse not being well-suited to games, are easy enough to fix with practice. And once you do, your wrists will thank you. Your desk might thank you too. While the M575 is a bulky mouse, it also paradoxically has a small footprint because you don’t need to move it when using it. It doesn’t even need a mousepad, making it great for people with small desks or keyboard trays.

Like the Logitech M510, the M575 is compatible with the Logitech Options software, which lets you remap its three extra buttons, check battery level, swap the left/right click and adjust DPI. The customization on offer here is fairly robust, and allows you to set a button to open programs, control media, enter certain key combinations and the like. Plus, you can set the mouse to use different settings depending on which program you have open.

If you like trackball mice, this is one of the best modern options available.

Best Mouse for Multiple Devices

At first glance, the Logitech Triathlon M720 mouse doesn’t appear to offer much for its $40 price that the more basic, $20 Logitech M510 mouse doesn’t already have. It’s got one extra button hidden away in its left thumb rest, which itself is more prominent than the thumb rest on the M510, plus a switch hidden under the scroll wheel that swaps it between ratcheted and smooth scrolling. But it’s also got one other additional, non-remappable button on its side with a “123” printed next to it. This button is where you’ll find the Triathlon’s unique use case, which is its ability to pair with up to 3 computers at once and swap between them on the fly either with that button or through Logitech Flow.

Logitech Flow is a unique piece of software that allows the Triathlon to easily treat multiple computers like one desktop simply by moving the cursor between their displays. This lets you copy and paste images and files easily, or even just use a laptop as a secondary or tertiary monitor without hassle. Think of it like a software solution for a KVM. All you have to do is pair the Triathlon to each of the PCs you want to use and make sure Logitech Options is installed on each.

In practice, it works almost flawlessly, plus you can add a Logitech keyboard into the mix if you have one. The only major issue is with connectivity standard limitations. To connect to a device, the M720 needs either Bluetooth or a Logitech Unifying Receiver. Since it only comes with a single unifying receiver, you can’t have all of your devices using 2.4 GHz unless you buy individual receivers separately. There’s no issue with connecting multiple Bluetooth devices, however, nor did I have a problem connecting one device via 2.4 GHz and one via Bluetooth.

Less of an issue is that a device’s mouse cursor does not disappear when you move your mouse off of it, which can be mildly annoying if you’re using a laptop as a secondary display.

If you need to quickly move files across devices or just simply do not own a secondary monitor but do have a laptop, Logitech Flow can be a boon to your productivity. But if all you need to do is connect a single mouse to multiple devices and swap between them on the fly, other Logitech mice can also do that.

Take the Ergo M575, which has both 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth compatibility. I easily connected the M575 to one device via 2.4 GHz and one device via Bluetooth, then swapped between them on the fly via the button on the bottom of the mouse that changes the M575’s connectivity standard. It’s a more hack-y solution, and requires you to turn the mouse over every time you want to swap devices rather than using an easy side button, but it does take away one of the Triathlon’s unique strengths.

Nonetheless, the Triathlon is still inexpensive compared to mice like the Ergo M575, and is a good choice if you’re just getting a Logitech productivity mouse and need to use it across multiple devices. It’s comfortable in the hand across all grip styles, easily remappable via the robust Logitech Options software and has access to an always-satisfying smooth scroll wheel.

Tips for Picking the Best Wireless Mouse

• Shape and comfort: Mouse shape and design play a prominent role how effective a cursor-controlling tool it is. An excellent wireless mouse will feel like a natural extension of your arm — not a clunky, cheap-feeling hunk of plastic that hinders productivity. Consider how you grip or hold your mouse to determine where you’ll want more or less height or width. The size of your hands also plays a role in picking the best wireless mouse for you. 
• Bluetooth or dongle: Some wireless mice connect via Bluetooth, while others connect via 2.4GHz wireless using a USB-A (or USB-C) dongle — and some mice offer both. If you’re only going to use your mouse with one PC, consider one that connects via 2.4GHz wireless, especially if you’re going to game on the side —  you’ll get a reliable, lag-free connection this way. If you have more than one device to connect to, a Bluetooth connection will let you connect to multiple devices and switch between them — some even let you switch without manually pressing a profile-switch button. 
• Rechargeability: Mice running on AA or AAA batteries are usually cheaper than their rechargeable rivals, and usually last longer — months, or even years. But they’re heavier and less convenient to travel with. 

Finding Discounts on the Best Wireless Mice

Whether you’re shopping for one of the best wireless mice or a model that isn’t on our list above, you may find some savings by checking out our lists of the latest Best Buy promo codes, Corsair coupon codes, Logitech promo codes, Micro Center coupons, Newegg promo codes, Staples coupons and Razer promo codes.

Micron on Monday introduced its CZ120 memory expansion modules that comply with the CXL 2.0 Type 3 specification and feature a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface. The modules are designed to expand DRAM capacity and bandwidth for servers that need more high-performance memory to run workloads that require loads of RAM, including in-memory databases and software-as-a-service. Samples of the modules are now available to interested parties.

The Micron CZ120 memory modules are equipped with 128GB and 256GB of memory, which is in line with what typical RDIMMs offer. The expansion modules come in a E3.S 2T form-factor with a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface and are based on Microchip’s SMC 2000 controller compliant with the CXL 2.0 Type 3 standard as well as Micron’s memory chips made using the company’s 1α (1-alpha) DRAM production node. 

From a performance point of view, Micron’s CZ120 CXL 2.0 memory expansion modules provide bandwidth of up to 36 GB/s (measured by running MLC workload with 2:1 read/write ratio on a single CZ120 memory expansion module) and are not significantly slower than DDR5-4800 RDIMMs with 128GB and 256GB memory onboard that offer a peak bandwidth of 38.4 GB/s.  

Modern servers based on AMD’s 4th Generation EPYC ‘Genoa’ CPU with a 12-channel DDR5-4800 memory subsystem feature memory bandwidth of up to 460.8 GB/s per socket, whereas machines powered by Intel’s 4thGeneration Xeon Scalable processor featuring an 8-channel DDR5-4800 DRAM system can boast with a 307.2 GB/s. While in both cases CPUs get ample of bandwidth, there are workloads that need more DRAM and higher bandwidth and CXL 2.0 memory expansion modules are designed for this very purpose.  

Micron claims that the addition of four 256GB CZ120 memory expansion modules to a machine equipped with 12 64GB DDR5 RDIMMs (768GB) can enable a 24% greater memory read/write bandwidth per CPU than servers using RDIMM memory alone, whereas additional memory capacity will enable server to process up to 96% more database queries per day.

“Micron is advancing the adoption of CXL memory with this CZ120 sampling milestone to key customers,” said Siva Makineni, vice president of the Micron Advanced Memory Systems Group. “We have been developing and testing our CZ120 memory expansion modules utilizing both Intel and AMD platforms capable of supporting the CXL standard. Our product innovation coupled with our collaborative efforts with the CXL ecosystem will enable faster acceptance of this new standard, as we work collectively to meet the ever-growing demands of data centers and their memory-intensive workloads.”

Micron has not disclosed when it plans to ship its CZ120 memory expansion modules commercially and how much will they cost. It is likely that the products will be deployed sometimes in 2024 after interested parties validate and qualify them, though some companies may deploy them sooner, whereas other will likely test them for longer periods, depending on workloads.

With the new college year approaching, it’s time to get everything in order for the new term. You need to register for classes, get your clothes and toiletries and grab all the tech gear you need to succeed in your studies and have fun in your downtime. 

When you’re planning your year, make sure you have each of these seven important gadgets / computers.

Desktop or Laptop

While colleges still have computer labs, it’s pretty much impossible to get through a semester without a system of your own. A laptop is the most convenient choice because you can take it to class with you every day. However, a desktop can give you more processing power for your money.

If you’re in the market for a laptop – and for most people that’s the best choice – check out our list of best college laptops, which includes both lightweight productivity systems such as the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 8) and highly-portable gaming rigs like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Acer Nitro 5.

When shopping for a college laptop, look for one with long battery life, lightweight, and a good keyboard for typing those papers and taking notes in class. If you get one with a bright screen, you may also be able to use it outside or next to a window on a sunny day.

Here are some current laptop deals:

What about a desktop PC?

Monitor

A separate screen for your laptop such as a larger desktop monitor can be kept in your room and then connected to your laptop or desktop for a more ergonomic working environment and for less eye-straining entertainment if you perhaps wanted to stream some TV whilst relaxing. 

When looking for the best monitors like the large 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 make sure to check what kind of connectivity they possess and then it’s just a choice of size and resolution. There’s also the option of going for a smaller portable screen such as the  Nexigo NG17FGQ that can be of a similar size to your laptop screen but give you the ability for a dual-screen setup. Take a look at some of the best portable monitors available.

Here are some current deals on monitors:

Storage

There will be storage on your computer and most universities will provide you with some sort of cloud storage as part of your course. If not, it’s worth getting a free account at least, something like Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar. If you’re like me, then redundancy is second nature, and if you can have multiple backup storage options then you should. Tech can always fail, get lost, or even be stolen, so don’t chance it. 

The other consideration of storage besides data backup is transport. If you need to copy files from one location to another and you have no network or rubbish wifi, then a small portable external SSD like the Samsung T7 Touch or external HDD is a great option, and don’t forget the humble USB flash drive that you can keep on your keyring like the Kingston DataTraveler Max which is super-portable and always on hand when you need it. We’ve listed some of the best of our favorite external SSDs for your consideration.

Here are some current deals on external storage:

USB hubs

A must-have for any desk setup, a USB hub can help you connect multiple devices to your computer or laptop if you don’t have enough available ports on your device. Devices such as mice, keyboards, headsets, and hard drives all take up a valuable USB slot on your machine, and having more is always better. Luckily we have a list of the best USB Hubs that we’ve tested. 

There are an amazing number of different hubs out there with varying combinations of USB ports, HDMI, Ethernet, Memory card slots, and more. Check what ports your laptop or computer already has and note down what kind of ports your peripherals use and how many you need, then match that info to the type of hub you’re looking for. If you’re running out of USB-3 ports maybe go for something like this Sabrent 60W 10 Port USB 3.0 Hub to give you plenty more ports to plug into.

Here are some current deals:

Speakers

You’re not going to be working all the time and when you do get some downtime and it doesn’t involve a night out, then maybe you just want to relax with a movie or some music. If you have your own space then a small pair of PC speakers is a great idea for letting you watch and listen to your favorite content. A small pair of budget-oriented speakers such as the Creative Pebble Pro can be picked up for under $60. 

If you’re sharing a room or accommodation then speakers might not be an option. This is where one of the best gaming headsets or a pair of headphones might be the best option. A headset would enable you to chat with your friends and family online or communicate with your team in an online game. Go for something with plenty of connectivity like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1, which can plug into almost any device to cover all your bases.

Here are some current deals:

Game Consoles

A gaming desktop or laptop might not be what you’re after, and non-gaming computers are normally a little cheaper and less burdensome on the wallet. But what if you still want to play some games? Then perhaps a handheld console like a Nintendo Switch or Valve Steam Deck might keep you entertained, or if you’re in the market for something with a little more power, then perhaps opt for Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, or Sony’s PlayStation 5. 

You can also pair one of these consoles with the best gaming monitor for PS5 or Xbox. If money isn’t an object then the 27-inch Sony INZONE M9 has a 4K resolution and VRR, making it one of the best monitors for pairing with the PlayStation 5 console.

Here are some current deals:

Accessories

With all the tech you’ll be taking to college don’t forget that bag of leads and plugs, make sure you have all the correct cables, plugs, and leads for all of your devices. Everything wants charging and powering, think about a power strip with a built-in surge protector, spare HDMI or DisplayPort cables, USB or Lightning charging cables for your phone, etc. 

Here are some current deals:

Enjoy the new school year and good luck in your studies.

The best gaming laptops are diverse, with varying components and materials. The right one for you may have different parts and a different price than someone else. They go from high-end components to slim, efficient machines to cheaper laptops made of plastic.

Sure, a high-end PC that costs several thousand dolloars might have the highest-end graphics and a top-notch display, but most of us can’t afford a rig like that. Our picks for the best gaming laptop are often high-end models (we’re an enthusiast site, after all), but most come in various configurations at various price points. For those on a tight gaming budget, we’ve have dedicated pages for the best gaming laptops under $1,500 and the best gaming laptops under $1,000.

Thankfully, there are more gaming laptop options now than ever, from budget-friendly to desktop replacements. Some come with full-size Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards, while others go for the more efficient designs (Nvidia formerly called these “Max-Q”) that enable thinner chassis and (sometimes) quieter fans.

The quick list

Best Gaming Laptops 2023

The Best Gaming Laptop

MSI may not have adopted an 18-inch display on its flagship laptop, but in our testing, we were still enamored. A mix of powerful performance from the Intel Core i9-13950HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 provided for one of the most powerful gaming laptops we’ve seen to date.

And that 17-inch, 16:9 display is no slouch. MSI has added Mini-LED technology, so the 4K 144 Hz display looks incredible. It’s not OLED, but in our tests, it often looked almost as good, with extremely high scores on both our light meter (511 nits) and our colorimeter (161.6% sRGB, 114.5% DCI-P3).

Add in a Cherry MX mechanical keyboard that’s an absolute pleasure to use (alongside per-key RGB backlighting to keep it looking good), and you get some luxury you don’t see in most gaming laptops (even if MSI doesn’t use the mechanical switches for the number keys or arrow keys).

The battery life, at under 4 hours on our tests, makes the Titan a true desktop replacement. But if you’re willing to bear the expense of these top-end components and don’t plan on unplugging too much, you have one heck of a system in the Titan.

Read: MSI Titan GT77 HX review

Best Thin and Light Gaming Laptop

The Asus ROG Strix G16 is catching up to Razer in powerful, portable gaming laptops well. The Strix G16’s Core i9-13980HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 provided great performance in a  0.89-inch thick chassis. Is the design as sleek as Razer’s Blades? No, but at $1,999.99 when we tested it, Asus is also competing on price.

We also appreciated the Strix’s battery life — it lasted for 8 hours and 49 minutes on our battery test, as well as the RGB keys with 2 millimeters of travel.

The laptop’s lid is aluminum, but the rest is plastic. In our time with the laptop, not once did we think the ROG Strix G16 felt cheap.

Perhaps the biggest issue we had is that our unit had a 1920 x 1200 touch screen. The RTX 4070 should power that no problem, but in this price range you often see 1440p (or, in 16:10 screens like this one, 1600p)  display panels.

Read: Asus ROG Strix G16 Review

Best 17-inch Gaming Laptop

17-inch laptops may not be the biggest around anymore, but they can still deliver a balance of power and immersion. The MSI GE78 HX Raider is a powerful laptop (we reviewed it with an Intel Core i9-13950HX and RTX 4080) with a 17-inch screen sporting a fashionable 16:10 aspect ratio and 2560 x 1600 resolution and 240 Hz refresh rate. 

This laptop takes advantage of its size by using plenty of ports, including Thunderbolt 4, multiple USB Type-C and Type-A ports, an SD card slot, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet and a 3.5mm audio jack. There’s also a giant touchpad (which is funny since most gamers use mice) below the Raider’s most comfortable keyboard.

MSI redesigned the laptop for this year, and it’s less subtle than it previously was. It has a racecar look with blacks and reds. Underneath the wrist rest, there’s an RGB light bar that shows each individual bulb, giving it a bit of a retro aesthetic. 

Read: MSI Raider GE78 HX Review  

The Best Budget Gaming Laptop

The MSI Katana 15 is among our favorite gaming laptops for those with just $1,000 to spend. We tested a $999 model with a Core i7-13620H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 offering strong 1080p performance, though you may have to turn down some settings in some games.

Even under $1,000, you get 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which is nice to see, as those are often some of the first specs to get cut for a budget PC. Instead, the chassis is made of cheap plastic, but the internals should get the job done.

The display isn’t the most colorful, but its 144 Hz refresh rate will be a boon for esports players. We also appreciated the quality of the speakers for the price.

Read: MSI Katana 15 Review 

Best Budget Alternative

If you want a solid option under $1,500, the HP Victus 16 gets you a 16.1-inch screen, long battery life (for a gaming laptop, anyway) and a strong display. But to get it at its best price, you may have to wait for it to be on sale. Our review unit was $1,199 on sale, but typically costs $1,449.

With a 4050, you can’t expect the best performance around, but most games will play on a least medium settings.

Still, there’s a bunch of positives here. The Victus ran for over 7 hours on our battery test, and its display reached a bright 313 nits of brightness. The chassis is attractive for a budget option, and looks like it could fit in just about anywhere.

While our configuration had a Core i7-13700H and 32GB of RAM, there are versions of the Victus 16 that are regularly under $1,500, like a Costco Model with 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an RTX 4060 GPU for $1,399.

Read: HP Victus 16 review

Best All-AMD Gaming Laptop

If you’re a PC gamer on the go, a thin PC like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 may be up your alley. The Zephyrus uses an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS and an AMD Radeon RX 6800S, as well as the company’s proprietary features like SmartShift (to move power between the CPU and GPU) and SmartAccess Memory.

For the latest update, Asus added a webcam, which was a glaring omission on previous models. The all-AMD model has also moved to a taller, 16:10 aspect ratio.

On our battery test, the Zephyrus ran for over 10 and a half hours, suggesting you could last all day on this notebook when you aren’t gaming.

It is, however, a bit pricey. The Zephyrus starts at $1,599.99, while we reviewed it with the top-tier specs at $2,499.99.

Read: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review

Best 18-inch Gaming Laptop

18-inch gaming laptops are in vogue, with tall 16:10 screens mixed with some of the most postful components on the market. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is expensive, but with an Intel Core i9-13980HX and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, it’s ready for the most intense games with serious graphics.

The 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz display gives you some options, including prioritizing gaming at high resolution, or turning that down and playing esports at high frame rates. Considering how powerful the system is, some games will play at high resolution and high refresh rate.

The Strix looks like a gaming machine, if that’s your aesthetic, with logs of RGB and aggressive logos. While Asus includes a webcam here, it’s only 720p, which is a shame considering how everything else on this system is high-end.

Beyond the performance, we also appreciated this system’s speakers, which are loud and detailed, and the fact that its display was bright at 402 nits on our lightmeter.

Read: Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review 

Best 16-inch Esports Machine

For under $1,500, you can get a 16-inch esports machine with a screen that also allows for high-resolution, intensive titles. The 2560 x 1600 display goes up to 165 Hz, which is fast enough for esports at 1080p, while the high resolution will make action games look great. Sure, some gaming laptops have faster displays, but they’re often more expensive.

The “i” in 5i Pro stands for Intel. We tested with an Intel Core i7-13700HX along with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060. Our system also had 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD.

This model has an improved 1080p webcam over previous generations, which is good for working as well as gaming. We found that its SSD was fast in our testing, and it offered competing gaming performance. That being said, you may want to consider one of the best gaming headsets because there’s plenty of fan noise and the audio quality isn’t the best.

Read: Lenovo Legion Pro 5i (Gen 8) Review 

The Best Dual-Screen Gaming Laptop

For when one screen isn’t enough, the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 offers two, powered by AMD’s top-end Ryzen 9 7945HX and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 40890. The second screen, dubbed ScreenPad Plus, provides a bit of extra real estate for chat apps or guides while gaming, and lifts up in order to increase ventilation.

The main mini LED screen, at an incredible 684 nits of brightness on our light meter, looks excellent with HDR games and shows. It’s matte, while the ScreenPad Plus is glossy, but that’s a minor issue.

With shiny purple and blue lines, Asus eschews the standard RGB on the lid, and it looks refined and unique because of it. Now if only Asus could refine the placement of the keyboard and mouse, which have been awkward for a few generations now. You’ll have to decide if that second screen is worth the effort.
Read: Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16  Review 

Gaming Laptop Shopping Tips

Finding the Best Gaming Laptop

While many of the best gaming laptops come with a 1080p display and high refresh rates, some include 4K screens, so you can pick between fidelity and resolution. Several gaming laptop go as fast as 360 Hz. There are also an increasing number of 2560 x 1440 display options, giving you an option other than 1080p or 4K. Additionally, some more expensive, premium options include OLED for deeper blacks and more vivid colors.

There is more choice than ever in components, too. While Intel is still a popular option, AMD’s Ryzen processors are becoming more common. On the GPU side, Nvidia’s RTX GPUs are in most laptops, though AMD is slowly starting to pair its own graphics cards with hits CPUs for what it calls an “AMD Advantage.” (We’re not seeing AMD GPUs with Intel CPUs).

The latest technologies in processors include Intel’s 13th Gen “Raptor Lake” processors, which use a hybrid design with Performance and Efficient cores, and AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPUs. We should see a bunch of laptops with both of these sets of chips as the year progresses. Other trends we expect to see are more laptops with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which also means larger screens in some cases.

Nvidia’s RTX 40-series has started to hit desktops, and were announced for laptops in January. They’ll range from the RTX 4050 all the way up to the RTX 4090 (the first time a xx90 has been on mobile).

To help you find the best gaming laptop, we’ve compiled a list of the best models we’ve tested and reviewed recently. For much more on how to narrow down your list of best gaming laptop considerations, check out our best gaming laptop buyer’s guide. But here are a few quick tips to get you started down the road to the right portable gaming rig for you.

While many gamers may go to desktops to get the most performance for their money, try lugging a tower, monitor and keyboard around in your backpack. When you need a powerful rig you can take with you, there’s no substitute for a gaming laptop.

The picks on this list should be ready to run Windows 11 if it didn’t come preinstalled already.

• Focus on the GPU: Most games are dependent on the GPU, and those aren’t upgradeable. If you splurge on a powerful GPU now, you’ll be gaming comfortably for a few years.
• You can upgrade some parts later: While the best CPUs for gaming and GPUs are almost always soldered down, most gaming laptops let you replace the RAM and storage, so you can buy cheaper now and add more memory and a bigger best hard drive or SSD down the road. Thicker, more powerful laptops are often easier to upgrade than thinner ones, so be sure to do some research before buying. (We include this information in our reviews).
• Battery life will probably be bad: Very few gaming notebooks get 8 hours or more on a charge, and you need the power supply to get the best gaming performance anyway. However, we’ve seen some strong times from AMD’s Ryzen processors, and Nvidia suggests its improved Optimus technology may help turn the tide. For peak gaming performance, however, you’ll want to be sure to be plugged in while playing.

Discounts on the Best Gaming Laptops

Whether you’re shopping for one of the best gaming laptops or another model that didn’t quite make our list, you may find some savings by checking out our lists of Dell coupon codes, HP coupon codes, Lenovo coupon codes, Razer promo codes or Newegg promo codes.

MORE: How to Buy a Gaming Laptop

MORE: Best Gaming PCs

MORE: Best Ultrabooks and Premium Laptops

Users in the market for a top-of-the-line gaming SSD should look at this offer on the SK hynix Platinum P41 1TB SSD. It has a recommended price of $89, but right now is marked down to just $64. As of writing, it’s unclear how long the offer will be available.

We reviewed the SK hynix Platinum P41 SSD last summer when it debuted, and it’s still held up to our findings. This is a high-powered SSD with great specs for gaming and quality performance to back it up. It was also released at a reasonable price, making this offer that much more worth it.

The SK hynix Platinum P41 SSD is available in a few capacities, including 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. This discount applies only to the 2TB model. All drives in this line have an M.2 2280 form factor, connect using a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and rely on an SK hynix Aries controller. The 1TB edition can reach read/write speeds as high as 7000/6500 Mbps.

This SSD also supports optional 256-bit AES encryption for added security. It’s backed by a limited 5-year manufacturer’s warranty that voids should the drive reach 1200 TBW. Users can also take advantage of Amazon’s 30-day return policy if need be.

Visit the SK hynix Platinum P41 1TB SSD product page at Amazon for more details and purchase options while the offer lasts.

There’s been no slowing down in the LK-99 alleged superconductor breakthrough saga. Yet instead of it becoming clearer whether or not LK-99 is “the First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor” as claimed by the original Korean Authors, we’re left with more questions than answers. The original poster of one of the Billibilli videos circulating on the Internet and seemingly proving LK-99’s levitation ability has come forward, and admitted his clip was a hoax. 

The video in question is allegedly from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing and purports to show a small black substance floating in the air as it follows a magnet. According to the video’s poster, he did it for “attention grabbing purposes” – it was a way to coast the hype around LK-99. Well, he did write “LK-99” and “levitating”, which sounds about right for the purpose. You can see the original video below (if you expand the… tweet? X?).

This original (and now debunked) video doesn’t look very good, no; the angle is a weird one to choose (but it’s not like everyone has to also be a cinematographer); and there’s an overall sketchiness to it. But even if it looked great, it could still be a fake as could any of the videos we’ve reported on in our coverage. 

We should note, however, that there are at least two other LK-99 levitation videos circulating, which have not been withdrawn or disproven. As we reported previously, these videos come from Huazong and Wuhan universities.

Whenever a claim as momentous and potentially civilization-changing such as “we’ve found the world’s first room-temperature superconductor” is made, noise is bound to follow. And sometimes the noise gets to you, which is why it’s important to note that whether LK-99 is or isn’t legit is still very much up in the air.

Granted, the scientific community usually doesn’t have to deal with social media-spread videos when it’s evaluating whether or not a given paper has merit. But even focusing on the hard science (which we want to be clear, replicable, and truthful) and moving on to the boundaries of peer-review scientific process, it becomes difficult to deal with the noise. 

After all, papers have been published in Nature claiming “near-ambient” superconductivity that have been proven as hoax and described as “a very disturbing picture.” And let’s not forget that the Korean author’s paper is still pending the outcome of a proper peer-review process. 

Superconductors are attractive because they are impactful, and everyone wants their own black swan. However, materials science is a messy affair that plays in the same realm as quantum physics. 

The original paper also lacks crucial information that you’d think would be there. Neither the cooking time (how long at what temperatures the mixtures have to stay within a vacuum oven for LK-99 to be synthesized and whether there’s thermal variation at any moment) nor the quench rate (the same, but when it needs to cool down) are, however, well-documented.

The video poster ultimately claimed that the experience of being a part of the noise had changed him, and that he’d be more cautious with his actions and words in the future. 

We should all be so lucky.

The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB might be one of the least attractive GPUs due to its $500 price point, but according to a review by Daniel Owen, the GPU is substantially quicker than the $100 cheaper 8GB model in several modern games. In his review, Owen compared the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB to the 8GB model to see how much of a performance difference the extra VRAM capacity would provide. He found the RTX 4060 16GB provides roughly 40% extra performance in several modern 2023 titles at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. At 4K resolution, the additional VRAM is even more beneficial, giving the 16GB card twice the performance of the 8GB model (on average).

It’s worth mentioning that the 4060 Ti 16GB’s capacity is only advantageous in games that spill over 8GB of memory capacity. Nonetheless, Owen’s review found that quite a few 2023 titles will take advantage of more than 8GB of memory.

The tech YouTuber compared the 16GB version of the RTX 4060 Ti to the 8GB version in seven modern AAA 2023 titles, including Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart, Jedi Survivor, Forespoken, Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil 4, Remnant 2 and The Last of Us Part 1. Testing was also conducted at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions with various game settings (including RT settings) to see how the GPUs behave in different scenarios.

Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart is one of the most sensitive applications to the 4060 Ti 16GB’s extra memory capacity. At 1080p Very High with RT enabled, the 16GB was 34% faster than the 8GB model. At 1440p, this lead was boosted to 43% and at 4K, the 4060 Ti 16GB was 85% quicker. With RT disabled, the 4060 Ti 16GB lost a bit of its lead but was still more than 30% faster at 1080p and 1440p, and over 50% quicker at 4K.

Lowering graphics quality settings to High (with no RT) made the 16GB card a whopping 50% quicker than the 8GB model at 1080p. We’re not sure how this is possible, but we suspect this might be a bug with the game. So take this result with a grain of salt.

Another VRAM-sensitive title is Resident Evil 4 (2023), where the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB was 12% faster at 1080p, 9% faster at 1440p, and 24% quicker at 4K — with the game running at its maximum settings with RT effects. Tho interestingly, the 1% lows in this game are particularly sensitive to the 8GB limitation on the lower-end 4060 Ti, revealing a 77% to 113% performance advantage in 1% lows for the 16GB card at 1080P, 1440P, and 4K.

However, not all of the latest 2023 releases need more than 8GB of memory to perform well. Owen found that the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB saw no noteworthy performance improvements with Remant 2 and Jedi: Survivor at 1080P or 1440P — even with both games running in their highest graphical settings (with RT enabled on Survivor). The only exception is at 4K resolution, where the 16GB card was 7% faster in Remant 2 and 14% more performant in Jedi: Survivor compared to the 8GB model.

For a full breakdown of the rest of the games Daniel Owen tested, check out his full review on his YouTube channel.

As far as VRAM utilization is concerned, all of the games that performed better on the 16GB card did not use the whole 16GB. The most demanding title was Resident Evil 4, utilizing just 12.1GB of memory at the game’s maximum settings at 4K resolution. The rest of the games (and tested resolutions) sat below 12GB, with most hovering in the 9GB to 11GB range. This is great to see and means the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB will have the additional memory capacity to spare as it ages.

Daniel Owen also tested VRAM utilization with resolution upscaling to see how that might benefit the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. Interestingly Owen found that DLSS 3 frame generation negatively affects VRAM consumption and consumes more video memory than standard DLSS upscaling with frame generation disabled.

In testing with Cyberpunk 2077, he found that the game will consume 8426MB of VRAM at 1440P RT Ultra settings on the 16GB 4060 Ti. With DLSS Quality, memory usage drops by over a full Gigabyte down to just 7249MB, but with Frame Generation enabled, VRAM usage goes back up to 8GB (or 8000MB) roughly.

The RTX 4060 Ti 8GB suffers from the same problem, but less so since the game is approaching the hardware’s 8GB limit. The 8GB memory is still a bottleneck, providing less FPS than the 16GB card, even with DLSS enabled. (To clarify, DLSS quality mode saw the closest performance gap between the two cards.)

Overall, Owen found that the more expensive RTX 4060 Ti 16GB can be substantially faster in some games, particularly at 4K resolutions, than its 8GB counterpart, proving that 8GB can be a bottleneck even on a mid-range GPU like the 4060 Ti. However, Owen’s results also demonstrate that the 16GB’s additional capacity is not-beneficial in all games, at least for now. It’ll be interesting to see how games evolve down the road and if we’ll see more of a performance gap between the two cards if games utilize more than 8GB of memory.

With all the rage on superconductors zipping through the news (looking at you, LK-99), it’s sometimes easy to let other stories fly under the radar. But science happens everywhere, all the time: now, a research team with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a superconducting device that they say will bring improved energy and thermal efficiency to electronics. Their work was published in an online issue of Physical Review Letters.

Like LK-99 (which is still going through a messy replication and peer-review process), the MIT-designed diode (a kind of switching device) is still in its design infancy. Yet even so, Jagadeesh Moodera (lead author) et al. say this diode is already twice as efficient as previous diode architectures when it comes to carrying current (and preventing losses), with ample design room left to improve its characteristics.

It could even impact quantum computing. And in fact, this development came as a serendipitous discovery as the team looked into Majorana fermions, one of the building blocks of topological qubits, a yet-to-be-vindicated qubit design that’s been pursued by none other than Microsoft. The team soon realized their Majorana-inspired work on superconducting diodes could be easily transferred into the realm of classical (i.e., non-quantum) circuits.

Diodes are a crucial part of any chip, and are an integral part of a circuit’s design. While transistors are used to amplify input signals from low resistance circuits to high resistance circuits within the chip, diodes are usually responsible for converting alternate current (AC) to direct current (DC). 

With chip design being forcefully constrained by the amount of heat generated by electrical losses (a bottleneck that’s seen increasingly more complex transistor designs and new cooling technologies that deal with these issues in a limited manner), the benefits of lossless diodes in improving computing and thermal efficiency shouldn’t be underestimated.

All the hallmarks of a superconductor were required to make the super-efficient diodes. The MIT research team showed that tiny differences between the edges of the diode devices could be optimized (by adding serrated edges, or applying other deformations). That’s why the design is still open for optimization: the amount of possible design variations is enormous, and there’s only so much time to find what the best asymmetrical configuration is. 

The design quirk shows that even microscopic differences in materials can result in disproportionate results. These diodes also have superconducting hallmarks such as the Meissner effect and the ability to lock into pre-existing magnetic fields (known as flux pinning).

Speaking with SciTechDaily, Philip Moll (Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Germany and not involved in the research) said that the MIT team’s paper showcases how superconducting diodes are now an “entirely solved problem from an engineering perspective”. He also added that the record efficiencies showcased by the design were hit “without even trying”, with structures being “far from optimized yet”. That sounds like perfectly smart (although still hard) science.

Crucially, the team says its superconducting diode is robust, and is able to operate over a wide temperature range while potentially opening the door to new technologies and designs. Adding relevancy to the discovery, the engineers say these diodes’ design is simple and compatible enough that it’s easily scalable – millions of them can be produced across a single silicon wafer.

So let’s get them out here already?