Apple : iPhone 11 and 11 Pro deals US: get the best prices for April 2020

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• iPhone 11 and 11 Pro deals US: get the best prices for April 2020
• The best Steam games 2020
• The best MMO games 2020: live a second life on console and PC
• After the Pixel 5, Google may its use own chipset to rival the iPhone
• macOS Catalina is here: everything you need to know about macOS 10.15
• Best OnePlus phones of 2020: these are the top new or older OnePlus handsets
• Amazon plans further recruiting spree and loosens restrictions on 'non-essentials'
• A Huawei graphics card for servers may be coming soon
• Sony is encouraging social distancing by gifting two free PS4 games
• All GitHub features are now free for everyone
• AMD Navi release date, news and rumors
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 release date, price and specs: all the RTX 3080 rumors
• AMD Ryzen 4000 release date, laptops and specs: everything we know about AMD's next CPUs
• Intel Comet Lake release date, news and features
• Nvidia Turing release date, news and features
• Google starts ditching Android apps in favor of web apps on Chrome OS
• Dell wants to kill off BIOS attacks
• OnePlus 8 vs OnePlus 8 Pro: what's the difference?
• Microsoft's Surface Pro 7 gets a $260 price cut at Best Buy
• Zoom virtual background: how to use the feature, create your own and free image options

iPhone 11 and 11 Pro deals US: get the best prices for April 2020 Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:33 PM PDT The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro is Apple's latest smartphone, and it's available to order from all major carriers and retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. To help you wade through all the different plans, we've listed the best iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro prices and deals that are available in the US today.  The Apple iPhone 11 features a 6.1-inch LCD display, while the iPhone 11 Pro comes with a Super Retina XDR OLED display in either a 5.8-inch or 6.5-inch size. The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro both have updated camera hardware with a Wide and new Ultra-Wide camera on the back of the iPhone 11 and Wide, Ultra Wide and Telephoto cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro. The battery received an upgrade with Apple stating that the iPhone 11 provides a one hour longer battery life compared to the XR, the Pro offering four more hours of battery life when compared to the XS, and the Pro Max offering 5 hours more battery life compared to last year's XS Max. The iPhone 11 has a starting price of $699 for the 64GB storage model which is actually $50 cheaper than the iPhone XR was on launch last year. The 64GB iPhone 11 Pro is priced at $999, and the 64GB iPhone 11 Pro Max is priced at $1,099, which is the same price as the XS and XS Max when they launched last year in the US. Right now, Apple is offering up to $320 off the all-new iPhone when you trade-in an eligible device. iPhone 11 deals from US carriers: iPhone 11 Pro deals from US carriers: iPhone 11 Pro Max deals from US carriers: The iPhone 11 Pro Max, the bigger version of the 11 Pro, is priced at $1,099 from carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon. Sprint is offering the Pro Max for $45.84 on a Sprint Flex 18-month lease, and Verizon is offering up to $500 off with select trade-in and Unlimited. AT&T is offering up to $700 off when you switch to AT&T and port-in your number, or up to $500 off without port-in. Learn more about the newest iPhone with our hands on iPhone 11 review, iPhone 11 Pro review, and iPhone 11 Pro Max review. You can also shop more iPhone offers with our roundup of the best iPhone XR prices and deals. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The best Steam games 2020 Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:29 PM PDT Narrowing down the best Steam games of 2020 is practically backbreaking work, mostly because you’ll spend hours hunching over your computer doing so. There are over 23,000 titles on the popular online gaming platform, after all, and new exciting titles are popping up every day. It’s not just the vast catalog. The best Steam games also encompass a wide variety of game genres, from the best open world games and best MMO games to the best co-op PC games you can enjoy with friends. And, while part of the fun is browsing and discovering all these games, many of which you’ve never heard of before, your time is perhaps best spent on immersing yourself in the games instead of the hunt. That’s why we dug deep and did the work for you. We scoured Steam ourselves and found the best Steam games of 2020, some of which are among the best PC games we’ve ever played. Whether you want something brand new, a recent hit or a classic, you can’t go wrong with any of these titles on our list. You're going to get hours upon hours upon hours of gameplay out of Kenshi. (Image credit: Lo-Fi Games) Kenshi Some of the best Steam games 2020 has are those that cannot really exist anywhere else. Complicated RPGs and strategy games require the unique features of a gaming PC to thrive, and Kenshi is a perfect example.  Taking cues from the old Mount & Blade games, Kenshi is a sandbox, squad-based RPG where you’re in charge of your own story. You’re dropped in the midst of a massive world – think Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall huge – and you’re not limited by any of the gameplay systems. You can simply build a home for yourself, or set off on a grand adventure.  You’re going to get hours upon hours upon hours of gameplay out of Kenshi, because the world is the game, not just its setting. If you've played and loved Firewatch, you'll definitely enjoy What Remains of Edith Finch. (Image credit: Annapurna Interactive) What Remains of Edith Finch One of the best Steam games is actually this indie smash from 2017. However, since it’s won a 'best game' BAFTA award, it’s time to give it another go. What Remains of Edith Finch, easily one of the first best Steam games on our list, is a narrative-led adventure in which you walk, first-person style, around as Edith Finch, exploring the house in which you grew up. You look over the preserved relics of dead family members and are sucked into vignettes that tell the stories of how various Finches died. We get it, it sounds grim. However, its appealing style and magical realism make What Remains of Edith Finch touching and profound rather than depressing.  It plays out a little like an interactive movie. You can’t fail as such, aside from getting lost, and the entire experience lasts 2-3 hours rather than 20.  Don’t buy this if you’re going to feel short-changed by its length, but if you’ve played and loved Firewatch, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture or Gone Home, you’ll definitely find What Remains of Edith Finch to be one of the best Steam games 2020 has. There's plenty of fantasy fuel in Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdon, and it's more immersive than your average game. (Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment) Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdon While the first Ni No Kuni game was a collaboration with Japanese animation masters Studio Ghibli, Ni No Kuni II is not. It does, however, hold onto the same delightful art style.  It also switches up the fighting mechanics. As opposed to training up avatars to fight for you, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom has a fun real-time battle system. You control three fighters with fast, slow and magic attacks, and the ability to dodge. And, the sequel is a bit more action-packed than the first one.  It’s not all about action, though. While Ni No Kuni II is an action-adventure RPG, you also build up a kingdom, which lets you bonuses for your characters. This part is unexpectedly addicting. The story is more conventional than that of the first game, which might be down to Studio Ghibli’s limited involvement. However, there’s plenty of fantasy fuel, and it’s more immersive than your average game, deservedly earning it a spot among the best steam games 2020 brings to the table. Into the Breach is moreish, smart and deceivingly deep. (Image credit: Subset Games) Into the Breach Not every top Steam game is an epic open world title that will set you back $60 on PS4 and Xbox One. Into the Breach is a sophisticated sci-fi strategy blast that you can play on your lunch break at work.  It is made by the team behind Faster than Light, still one of our favourite PC games of the last decade. And for the handheld gaming veterans out there, there are shades of Advance Wars to it too. Earth has been attacked – and almost occupied – by aliens. In Into the Breach, you control groups of mechs sent from the future to reverse this fate. That may sound like a mind-bending premise, but it actually proves that the plot doesn’t matter too much sometimes. We know Earth will come out tops, it’s just a matter of how. Each encounter takes in an 8x8 block grid, your battlefield. Play unfolds in turns, and your mechs have to stop aliens from obliterating too many of the field’s buildings and outposts. It has the tactical purity of chess. As you play, you can upgrade your mechs to improve your chances.  Like FTL, Into the Breach is moreish, smart and deceivingly deep.  Surviving Mars' survivalist approach to "city" building is absorbing. (Image credit: Paradox Interactive) Surviving Mars Some screenshots make Surviving Mars look like The Sims: Red Planet edition. However, this best steam game is, in fact, more like Sim City meets The Martian. You build an outpost on a barren patch of Mars, and have to keep it running to avoid your colonists from dying on the planet’s harsh surface. And, it’s harder than it sounds.  That is, while mismanaging resources in Sim City or Civilization may make your inhabitants angry or lower your income, in Surviving Mars it can cause a chain reaction that sees life support systems fail. You’ll hear “a colonist has died”, and be left scrambling to fix the problem before other inhabitants start dying like bubbles popping as they touch the ground.  Surviving Mars’s interface leaves something to be desired, but its survivalist approach to “city” building is absorbing. Final Fantasy XV is somewhat different from the FF games of old. (Image credit: Square Enix) Final Fantasy XV After the massive multiplayer Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix finally got back to their series’ single player roots with Final Fantasy XV. It came to PS4 in late 2016, but was only ported to PC in March 2018. However, you do get all the DLC released on the consoles and, if your PC is beefy enough, you’ll experience better frame rates. Final Fantasy XV is somewhat different from the FF games of old. You travel around an open world, often by car, packed with Americana-style buildings, all your companions are human and the combat plays out in real time, not as turns. Still, you can tell this is a Final Fantasy game just by catching a 15-second clip of it in action. A mix of mobile game style and merciless old-school progression mechanics gives Descenders a fresh feel. (Image credit: No More Robots) Descenders The PC tends to get linked with the kind of games that sit you down – for hours on end until your eyes are red and part of you start to regret your life choices. However, it isn’t always that way.  With Descenders, you can play in quick blasts. If you can drag yourself away from its moreish-ness, anyway. You’re a downhill free rider who has to get down procedurally generated courses with as much style as possible, preferably using a gamepad. It might remind you of the heyday of Tony Hawk games, or snowboard console classic SSX.  The use of generated “tracks” means you can’t master courses, which means that it’s the mastery of the bike’s physics you need to be shooting for. A career mode pits you against a series of courses in the same style of environment, each with objectives. Finish the “boss course,” and you unlock a new terrain. But you have limited lives for the whole run. A mix of mobile game style and merciless old-school progression mechanics gives Descenders a fresh feel, just one of the many reasons why it’s made our best steam game list. There's a business side to American Truck Simulator that gives it depth. (Image credit: SCS Software) American Truck Simulator Not every game has to be about destroying aliens or gunning down unnamed soldiers. For instance, American Truck Simulator, one of the best steam games to play in 2019, feels like mindfulness meditation next to those games. You drive a big 18-wheeler-style truck over the long highways of the US, transporting cargo from A to B. Breaking the traffic codes doesn’t end in a GTA-style police chase, just a fine. This is the sort of game you can put on like cozy slippers after a long day at work.  Yet there’s also a business side to it, giving it depth. You start as a lowly contractor, but can earn enough money to build your own shipping empire. Pillars of Eternity is a challenging, slightly retro-flavoured RPG. (Image credit: Paradox Interactive) Pillars of Eternity PC gamers who have been playing since the ‘90s might remember all the fuss surrounding the Baldur’s Gate titles. In fact, some of their most loyal fans still get teary-eyed reminiscing about their favorite side characters.  Isometric role-playing games like Baldur’s Gate don’t cut it in the AAA world anymore. However, Pillars of Eternity brings back the spirit of those games to the Steam crowd. This is a challenging, slightly retro-flavoured RPG in which you control a band of classic fantasy-style adventurers. It’s made by Obsidian, the team behind Fallout: New Vegas. Pillars of Eternity II is on the horizon too.  If you like your RPGs fantasy-themed, also consider Torment: Tides of Numenera. Legend of Grimrock II is a dungeon crawler where you move in blocks. (Image credit: Almost Human) Legend of Grimrock II Another throwback to a style of game that has all but disappeared, Legend of Grimrock 2 is a dungeon crawler where you move in blocks, as opposed to freely. Why would you want that? It changes your relationship with the environment, making it feel more like an intricate puzzle instead of an open world a texture artist had been let loose on.  There are an awful lot of actual puzzles involved here too, in-between the bouts of classic "Dungeons & Dragons" style combat encounters. Plus, as retro as the play style is, Legend of Grimrock 2 looks incredible, with many outdoors areas to prevent you from getting bogged down in dimly-lit dungeons. PUBG remains one of the most fun shooters on the market in 2019. (Image credit: PUBG Corporation) PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds When it comes to in-vogue games, few titles continue to capture the zeitgeist (and fill it full of bullet holes) the way PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds does. It may have one of the worst acronyms ever, but that hasn’t stopped PUBG from putting the ‘battle royale’ subgenre on the map and turning itself into a phenomenon in the process. Sure, there’s a lot of hype still surrounding it, but the game behind all the coverage and Twitch fascination is still one of the most addictive on Steam, as well as one of the best steam games this 2019. That simple premise – parachute into a map with no gear, scavenge for weapons and armour, and fight for survival with a single life in a continually shrinking map – is still engrossing, even if it has a few too many bugs. Whether you’re teaming up with friends or braving its maps by your lonesome, PUBG remains one of the most fun shooters on the market in 2019. Kingdom Come: Deliverance is one of the latest releases on our best Steam games list. (Image credit: Deep Silver) Kingdom Come: Deliverance One of the latest releases on our best Steam games list, Kingdom Come: Deliverance boasts an experience that’s both reassuringly familiar and deeply alien. Set in a fictional Medieval Europe, it’s a first-person RPG where dialogue choices mold your world as much as your ability to problem solve and your skills in melee combat. It’s a game of unbelievable freedom, allowing you to carve a path through the Dark Ages however you see fit. You might get off your face on schnapps and get in a fight with the town drunk. You may start filling your pockets with the gold of unsuspecting townsfolk, Thief-style, or stain your blade with blood in the battlefield. Part Elder Scrolls, part Dark Souls, part something else entirely, it’s an action-RPG that punishes as much as it empowers. It also runs best on PC (with the right specs, obviously) so get it on the download pronto. Rainbow Six: Siege is one of those success stories that keeps on succeeding. (Image credit: Ubisoft) Rainbow Six: Siege Who knew, way back in 2015, that a Tom Clancy game would become one of the industry’s biggest success stories. But here we are, four years later, with a game that has over 25 million registered players and in its fourth year of consecutive content updates as well as premium bells and whistles. Rainbow Six: Siege is one of those success stories that keeps on succeeding, and for one very important yet simple reason: it’s fun as hell to play. Paring back the Rainbow Six formula to its roots - two teams fight in the same map, one protecting an objective while the other attacking and fighting their way in - no two matches in Siege are ever the same. You’ll be barricading doors, breaching through walls, blasting through ceilings and building an operator that’s attuned to your playstyle. It might not be groundbreaking. However, add in the limited time Outbreak mode (think Siege plus zombies), and you’ve got one of Steam’s most complete packages. Celeste is one of the most unforgettable games we've come across in many years. (Image credit: Matt Makes Games) Celeste From the indie team that gave us TowerFall and TowerFall Ascension comes one of the most rewarding pixel platformers in years. As you climb the titular mountain, flame-haired heroine Madeline battles her innermost demons just as much as the harsh and dangerous conditions around her. In its simplest form, Celeste is a tight, 2D, twitch-style platformer, but in reality it’s one of the most unforgettable games we’ve come across in many years. As poignant in narrative as it is unforgiving in gameplay, Celeste has over 700 ‘scenes’ to traverse, a myriad of secrets to uncover and a story that will grip you as much as the muscle-memory building formula of its platforming. For a game built around the simple mechanics of jump, air-dash and climb, there’s an incredible amount of depth to be found as you claw your way to the summit in more ways than one, which is why it warrants a spot on our best steam games list. Divinity: Original Sin 2's secret sauce is the complexity of its combat. (Image credit: Larian Studios) Divinity: Original Sin 2 When Divinity: Original Sin 2 was released in 2017, it had quite the legacy to live up to, that of its predecessor, which incidentally happens to be one of the most accomplished RPGs of all time. Then what does developer Larian Studios do? It only goes and follows it up with one of the most important additions to the genre in years. Divinity: Original Sin 2 is an enthralling fantasy world with a deep and complex combat model and one of the most riveting stories you’ll experience outside of a 1,000 page tome. The big selling point, and the main ingredient of Divinity: Original Sin 2’s secret sauce, is the complexity of its combat. You control a party of characters together with your own custom avatar, and utilize each one individually in battle. With countless skills and attributes to mix and match, the breadth of tactics available makes this a daunting yet deeply rewarding way to test your RPG abilities. There's a wealth of sci-fi lore and mechanics to delve into with Stellaris. (Image credit: Paradox Interactive) Stellaris The grand and operatic strategy genre has given us some true classics on PC, experiences that consoles have consistently failed to duplicate. From Crusader Kings to Europa Universalis, these are games with bucket loads of tactics and guile.  Well, it just so happens the developer of those very games has taken that deeply immersive concept and put it in the dark ocean of space. Enter Stellaris, an evolution of the genre that takes the space exploration of EVE Online and Mass Effect and hits the hyperdrive button. You’ll traverse through countless of procedural galaxies, filled with thousands of planets and a myriad of alien species, each one possessing unique traits, economies and social strata. Whether it’s the power (and consistent balancing act) of interstellar diplomacy or the deep customisation of starship designs, there’s a wealth of sci-fi lore and mechanics to delve into with Stellaris. Dota 2 is still one of the most addictive titles on Steam. (Image credit: Valve Corporation) Dota 2 By far one of the oldest games on the list - well, that is if you consider 2013 old - Valve’s MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), Dota 2, is still one of the most addictive titles on Steam. It’s also the only game on this list that’s free-to-play, so you don’t even need to have a healthy bank balance to enjoy its addictive battles. Age aside, Valve has been constantly updating and overhauling the game since launch, making it one of the most evolved MOBAs on the market. If you’ve never played it before, it’s a simple yet intoxicating setup: two teams of five players face off in a large map. Each one is defending a base with an ‘Ancient’ inside that must be protected at all costs. Find your opponent’s base and raze it to the ground to win. Anticipate to experience brilliant hero v hero showdowns, brutal ambushes, tactical plays and nonstop action. Brutal and beautiful in equal measure, Cuphead is a must have Steam title. (Image credit: StudioMDHR) Cuphead Run and gun platformers have carved a niche out for themselves on mobile, but they’re few and far between on PC. Luckily, this one was built to be a Microsoft exclusive with Xbox One in mind and the result is one of the most unique gaming experiences you’ll ever come across. Intended to capture the look and atmosphere of 1930s cartoons, Cuphead places you in the shoes of the titular hero and tasks you with battling across three distinct worlds and bosses that will capture your imagination with their ingenuity that crush your resolve with their difficulty. Recommending a notoriously tough game might sound counter-intuitive, but the steep difficulty curve is part of its appeal. With a distinctive soundtrack and those standout visuals at your side, you’ll earn every stage clearance like a piece of territory in a war, each victory feeling that much more satisfying. Brutal and beautiful in equal measure, Cuphead is a must have Steam title. Subnautica is a survival game set deep in the ocean on an alien world. (Image credit: Unknown World Entertainment) Subnautica Another somewhat fresh release on this list, Subnautica has already made waves (pardon the pun) despite having only dropped in January of this year. A survival game set deep in the ocean on an alien world, its unique twist on the classic template makes for a game that’s both entrancing to watch and challenging in its many interconnected mechanics. You’ll explore shallow reefs, dangerous trenches on the seabed and everything in between, all the while managing your precious oxygen supply. Oh, and there’s an entire ecosystem of alien marine life to contend with. Plenty of these fishy and mammalian critters want to add you to their menu, so you’ll need to outsmart and avoid them while scavenging for resources to build new equipment and tools. Like all the best survival games, the very best materials lie in the most dangerous of places. Do you dare swim deep enough to find them? Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus dials up the violence and the depth of storytelling. (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks) Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus With so many multiplayer shooters sharing the spolight in this feature, it seemed high time to pay homage to one of the best single-player FPS games ever made. MachineGames gave Wolfenstein a bloody, alt-history revival in the form of 2014’s The New Order, so it had its work cut out for it when it came to bettering all that visceral Nazi slaying. Then along comes 2017’s The New Colossus, dialing up the violence and the depth of storytelling that it would make most Call Of Duty titles look at the floor in humiliation. What makes The New Colossus so vital is how it doesn’t stray from its formula, but polishes and expands on it in almost every way. Bigger and more challenging bosses; intense set-pieces; myriad weapons that spit glorious death; a story that asks far more questions and presents some bold answers. It’s also rock hard, and consistently unforgiving, so lock and load at your peril... You'd be crazy not to add Resident Evil 7: Biohazard to your Steam library. (Image credit: Capcom) Resident Evil 7: Biohazard  It’s not often that a franchise as significant as Resident Evil gets a new lease of life – especially when you consider the zombie-loving license had fallen into a lifeless parody over the past decade – but here we are with a truly terrifying horror game with the words ‘Resident Evil’ in the title. What a world, eh? While us PC folk aren’t allowed to scare ourselves half to death in VR yet (RE7 is a PSVR at the moment), that doesn’t mean it’s any less frightening. Dropping the third-person perspective that’s felt tired and rote for awhile now, RE7 embraces the first-person view that’s helped Outlast and company re-energize the horror genre, and boy does it make for one chilling 8-10 hour scare fest. With Capcom’s big budget, a creepy swamp setting (honestly, just go with it) and a storyline that feeds back into the series’ winding mythology, you’d be crazy not to add this to your Steam library. Civilization VI gives you more freedom and control than ever. (Image credit: 2K Games) Sid Meier’s Civilization VI How could we make this list of games to play on Steam and not include the most recent offering from the master of turn-based strategy and tactical simulation? The Civilization series has gone through many forms over the years, but the sixth entry takes all the best bits from those earlier incarnations, smooths off the edges and serves up one of the most rewarding turn-based video games ever made. There’s nothing quite like building a nation from a fledgling settlement and nurturing it into a worldwide powerhouse, and Civilization VI gives you more freedom and control than ever. Eliminating the pre-set paths that hampered the still stellar Civ V, Civ VI transforms into a landscape that rewards intrepid explorers and self-assured conquerors with the opportunity to expand their budding society with new technologies and alliances. Sid Meier’s name alone is part of PC gaming’s lofty heritage, so owning this little doozy is a no-brainer. Undertale weaves all the best elements from the ever-evolving RPG genre into world built on choice, consequence and compassion. (Image credit: Toby Fox) Undertale Undertale is one of those games that stays with you. A work of digital art whose charm and creativity never fails to keep its edge, no matter of how many times you play it through. And considering just how many innocuous JRPGs are out there right now, that’s a pretty extraordinary feat in unto itself. So why is Undertale so superb? It takes all the best elements from the ever-evolving RPG genre and weaves a world built on choice, consequence and compassion. As a child dropped into an underground world filled with terrors, you’ll have to face a whole host of monsters to make it home. How you face them and what choices you make, define your journey.  And its Telltale-esque consequence system doesn’t just extend to dialogue choices – you can spare monsters after a fight, forging possible crucial alliances for later in the game. You can even end fights by telling your opponent jokes. It’s a game of such warm and pleasant quality you’d almost believe it was a JRPG from the earliest heyday of the genre. There are just so many virtues The Witcher 3 has to its name. (Image credit: CD Projekt) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt For years, one game sat atop the dark and misty mountain of action-RPGs. Skyrim was its name, and no other franchise, be it Dragon Age or Dark Souls, could even come close to breaking its iron-clad grip upon the genre. Then along came Geralt of Rivia, riding atop The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a confident swagger, ready to give The Elder Scrolls a good thrashing. If you’re looking for a game that strikes a perfect balance between length of play (you could easily spend 100+ hours across its unbelievably diverse map – one that’s a good 20% bigger than poor old Skyrim) and sheer quality, then The Witcher 3 is a must. There are just so many virtues The Witcher 3 has to its name. Brilliant writing, memorable quests, truly challenging beasts and a pair of DLC expansions (Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine) make this one of the best games of this or any other generation. There's a reason Inside won many a GOTY award in 2016. (Image credit: Playdead) Inside Inside will break your heart. Fair warning. If you’re not off-putted by that, then see it rather as a mystery to be solved scene by heart-wrenching scene. Created by the same studio that made the wonderful 2.5D platformer Limbo – you know, the one about a little boy stuck in a nightmare world where a giant spider chases him endlessly – it should come as a huge shock to learn that Inside will leave you just as tearful as its predecessor. Thing is, Inside is a brilliant piece of art. Without a scrap of dialogue, you’ll explore a world in a similar platforming vein as Limbo, overcoming various ingenious environmental puzzles and evading both the flashlights of an oppressive government and the shadow of a conspiracy that’s clearly not going to end well. But it’s worth every second. There’s a reason it won many a GOTY award in 2016, so you’d be a fool not to add this to your Steam library. Just remember to pack a few tissues. Rocket League boasts fine-tuned physics and a larger focus on multiplayer. (Image credit: Psyonix) Rocket League Once upon a time there was a little game on PlayStation 3 called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. It was all about using remote control-esque cars to knock a giant football around a makeshift pitch. Thing is, no one played it and the game slowly faded into obscurity. Then Rocket League came along, which was fundamentally the same thing, albeit with fine-tuned physics and a larger focus on multiplayer. One trip into PlayStation 4’s PS Plus lineup later and the game went supernova. And with good reason, too. It’s a modest concept but it just works – it’s a place where skill shines through as you boost your little RC car and hit the motorized equivalent of a bicycle kick. It’s magnificent, offering one of the best ways to play online (whether with friends or a bunch of strangers). Come on, who doesn’t want to spend their evening chasing a football with a car? FIFA? Pfft. Portal 2 manages to take a brilliant recipe and somehow make it even more delicious. (Image credit: Valve Corporation) Portal 2 Portal, back in its day, was groundbreaking. Sure, it sounds like we’re filling out boots with hyperbole, but back in 2007 all those portals, companion cubes and sociopathic AIs were blowing our minds over and over. Then Portal 2 came along and made the original look like a crossword puzzle in The Sun. Okay, the first Portal is still remarkable, but Portal 2 took a truly revolutionary concept and twisted it into something new. Everything in this game works without a hitch - the ebb and flow of its story, the growing difficulty of the puzzles and the new ways you’re forced to make your mind think with portals. It’s even got Stephen Merchant and JK Simmons in it! Portal 2 manages to take a brilliant recipe and somehow make it even more delicious, sprinkling in all new depths of platforming and puzzle flavour. If you haven’t played it, buy it now. If you have, play it again. Stardew Valley's pixelated retro graphics, unique soundtrack and kooky characters make for a relaxed and fun game. (Image credit: Chucklefish / ConcernedApe) Stardew Valley The incredibly charming Stardew Valley is an indie farming RPG which sees you moving from the bustling city to your grandfather's old, run-down farm near sleepy Pelican Town. You’ll get to uncover the secrets of the mysterious town while growing a thriving farming empire. Stardew Valley's pixelated retro graphics, unique soundtrack and kooky characters make for a relaxed and fun game which combines elements such as farming simulation, adventure, dating simulation and crafting. Get ready to become emotionally attached because once you step foot in Pelican Town, it's hard to ever leave. Want to get the best deals on Steam games? Check out: Steam sales and deals: the best PC game bargains This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The best MMO games 2020: live a second life on console and PC Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:23 PM PDT The best MMO games capture a gaming experience like no other. Otherwise known as Massively Multiplayer Online Games, these are vast fantasy worlds where players essentially create their avatars, which they can then level up and enhance over time through interactions, battles and play. What’s so unique about these games is that these worlds get filled with enough players – all plugging in from around the world – to fill a small country. World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth While they don’t appeal to all gamers, the best MMO games have become so popular that even Amazon has been busy building its own – a 17th century set game called New World. That’s because MMO games offer you a chance to actually lead a second life or simply a break from your current one. Better yet, these games offer a certain level of freedom you don’t have in the real world, with so many possibilities, a world of adventures, opportunities to make new friends and even the possibility to fly across space in your own ship. If you’re new to the acronym MMO or its popular variation MMORPG (RPG means Role Playing Game), don’t panic. We gathered the best MMO games 2020 has to offer. Whatever it is that appeals to you, one of these MMO games will draw you in. What can I play it on? PC What’s the payment structure? Free trial up to level 20, then a monthly subscription fee Let's face it, this was an obvious one. Blizzard's World of Warcraft has been going since around 2004 and it's been the reigning champion of the MMO genre for a long time. But in that time it's changed quite a lot.  It's one of the most successful and influential games in the genre with new content frequently being added for a thriving, dedicated player base. If subscriber numbers look like they're wavering even slightly, you can be sure Blizzard will come out with another great expansion to corral everyone back into the fold and maybe bring some newbies with them. The latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, hit in August and packs in a new load of dungeons, with a raised level cap for experienced players, and an option to 'boost' your level for newer ones wanting a more level playing field. World of Warcraft is kind of an essential for anyone interested in the high fantasy MMORPG and we can’t see it being knocked from prominence any time soon.  You can download the game for free on the official website.  What can I play it on? PS4 and PC What's the payment model? Free-to-play Planetside 2 is a first person shooter on a massive scale. If you're not interested in the kind of granular play offered by games like Black Desert Online, then this game's focus on all out war against other players might appeal to you. The game revolves around three factions in a constant state of war. Players will choose their faction and then spend their time attacking and defending bases on a huge map to remain ahead of the competition. One day you could be on the attack, the next you could be desperately defending. Either way you're always fighting.  Planetside 2 is now five years old and though it doesn't have quite the same popularity or playerbase as it once did, it offers something a little different to the rest of the MMOs on this list.  You can get going for free on the official site.  What can I play it on? PC What's the payment model? Free-to-play  Rather than a sprawling world with endless choice, Secret World Legends is an MMO which places a lot of focus on storytelling. If you're tired out by the usual high fantasy and space fare, this is a game which is set in a world very close to our own. Well, kind of. It's our world if cults, mythological creatures, crazy conspiracies and supernatural phenomenons were commonplace.  There's more than 100 hours of story to enjoy here and players are able to explore locations all over the world and take part in a range of missions to unlock the mysteries of the world.  While it's possible to play through the story on your own, you can also team up with others and adventure with players from across the world.  You can start your story via the official website or on Steam.  What can I play it on? PC What's the payment structure? You can download the base game for free and then each expansion is buy-to-play If you're looking for player-versus-player combat then you should definitely give Guild Wars 2 some of your time. Whether you like fighting other players in contained structured modes or you'd be interested in fighting against hundreds across sprawling maps in World-versus-World mode, Guild Wars has you covered.  For those that don't enjoy the grinding that's traditionally involved in MMOs then guild Wars 2 will also appeal – this is an accessible game and it doesn't try to copy World of Warcraft. The game's world is dynamic and player decisions have real consequences which promises a story that feels individual. You can download the game and purchase expansions on the official site. What can I play it on? PC What's the payment model? Free-to-play, with purchasable DLC and optional subscription Few fictional worlds are as perfect for the MMO treatment as Tolkein's Middle-earth. Sure, Frodo's adventure was thrilling, but we all know we could have one equally as exciting if we had the chance. You get to choose between being a Human, Elf, Dwarf or Hobbit before you drop into Middle-earth and explore the locations you know and love with an intimacy that no other Lord of the Rings game has allowed.  You can expect to find the usual World of Warcraft style of questing here, alongside crafting mechanics and the ability to purchase and set up a home. Overall, it's a pretty standard MMORPG in terms of mechanics, but its setting really helps it stand out.  Though the game is free-to-play, there are expansions available for purchase which add to the game's story and introduce new items and mechanics. Even better for Tolkien fans: the storylines follow in line with the books.  You can fine the base game for free on the official site or Steam. What can I play it on? PS4, Xbox One, PC What's the payment structure? Buy-to-play It's been a while since the last mainline Elder Scrolls release and we're pretty sure it'll be a while until the next one so if you're a fan looking to breathe fresh life into Tamriel, Elder Scrolls Online is an excellent option. Like Final Fantasy 14, this is a game that struggled initially. But since dropping its subscription fees for a buy-to-play model, perception has dramatically improved. Despite being one of the most modern and recent MMOs to hit the market, Elder Scrolls Online has really picked up traction, which is undoubtedly helped by being in a recognizable universe that many wish to return to.  After the success of Morrowind, Elder Scrolls Online has had several DLC updates including Summerset, Wolfhunter and Murkmire. Here you'll find the traditional Elder Scrolls viewpoint and combat but it’s all neatly tied in with those traditional MMO features like looting, crafting systems and PvP and PvE missions.  What can I play it on? PC and mobile later in 2018. What's the payment structure? Free-to-play but can pay monthly membership for more items, character customization, quests and game world access. Membership will also include mobile game access when it's launched.  Like World of Warcraft, Runescape is one of those names that's renowned in the MMO world, partly because it's one of the oldest games in the genre still going. And yet, with its user base managing to double in 2018, it's still very much alive and kicking. Originally a browser-only game, over the years Runescape has expanded into its own program with vastly improved visuals and mechanics. At its heart, though, it remains a game that's dedicated to giving players freedom in combat and questing. It's perhaps for this reason that it remains one of the most popular and updated games in the MMO genre. You can start playing via the official Runescape site.  What can I play it on? PC, Xbox One, PS4 What's the payment structure? Buy-to-play with optional in-game purchases Black Desert Online certainly isn't one of the more accessible games on this list, but it's one that you may find it worth investing some time into. As a Korean MMO it does place a heavy emphasis on grinding, but for anyone looking for in-depth profession and crafting systems it's a contender. More than many other MMOs, this is one that will try to draw you into a second life. It also has one of the most robust character creation systems in the genre. This is a game that has something to engage with on big and small scales. Want to fish and farm? You can do that. But you can also take part in guild wars and sieges past a certain level.  Don't expect a vast story here – this is very much a sandbox game where you craft your own story and adventure.  But there are various systems and mechanics to engage with and connecting them together can be rewarding, even if the process proves time-consuming and complicated.  Black Desert Online is a complex but stunning game. It has its problems, but its move from PC onto Playstation and Xbox One has only made it more relevant for a mainstream audience. What can I play it on? PC What's the payment structure? Free-to-play or subscription There's been a lot of high fantasy in this list so far – if you're more of a space age type then you might want to take a look at Eve Online. A word of warning, though: we said Black Desert Online is complicated but Eve Online edges to beat it. This is a game world that's been going for 14 years and it's become somewhat infamous for being one of uncaring betrayal. While you can do whatever you want in the game, just remember that others can do whatever they want. And sometimes that involves ruining you. Space colonization is a tough game and there's no room for lasting friendships.  EVE Online is kind of the ultimate in sandbox MMO gaming – it's a game world driven by its playerbase; a playerbase capable of dragging out wars and schemes over periods of months with plenty of fighting, smuggling and sabotage in between.   Just because it's not the easiest game to learn doesn't mean you can't do it, though. Unlike the creators of Black Desert Online, over the years developer CCP has attempted to make it slightly more accessible and the developer has put together a thorough and helpful tutorial for beginners.  Besides, sometimes there's no better lesson than getting something horrifically wrong. The introduction of a free-to-play option is also a great chance to dip your toes in and see if you're interested in delving deeper.  What can I play it on? PS4 and PC What's the payment structure? Buy-to-play It's not been an easy journey for this Final Fantasy MMO. First launched in 2010 to an overwhelmingly negative response (and for good reason), Square Enix then spent two years reworking and rebuilding it to create something much better.  In its latest and vastly improved form, Final Fantasy XIV is a game that will appeal to franchise fans and newcomers alike.  Boasting an accomplished class system and a story that builds steadily over the game's various expansions, this is an MMO which really captures the essence of the Final Fantasy franchise with plenty of fan service.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

After the Pixel 5, Google may its use own chipset to rival the iPhone Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:22 PM PDT Google is working on its own chipset to power Pixel phones of the future and it could appear in a handset as early as next year, according to a report from Axios.  While the Google Pixel 5 may still use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 chipset, Google may strike out on its own after that in a bid to better compete with Apple’s iPhone 12.  Google has made “significant progress toward developing” the chipset, per the report, which it’s designing in partnership with Samsung. The chip, codenamed Whitechapel, will allegedly be manufactured with Samsung’s 5nm tech and feature an 8-core ARM processor. The chipset will also have hardware that’s optimized to work with Google’s machine learning tech as well as Google Assistant. While Google has reportedly already received working versions of the chips, it won't be ready until 2021 at earliest. If true – and if Google is making enough progress to deploy the chipset in the coming years  – it could be a bit of troubling news for Qualcomm, which has produced the Snapdragon chipsets in the Pixel 4 and its predecessors, as well as the mid-range Pixel 3a.  But the report goes on to say that future versions of the new chipset could be used in Chromebooks. That’s an interesting aspiration, if true, given how many of the best Chromebooks run Intel processors; but a Google chip could be tuned to Chrome OS in the same ways this current chipset sounds like it’s designed to push the Pixel line to new heights. Google Pixel 4: a rundown of the most recent Google phone running a Qualcomm SoC Best Android phones: many run Qualcomm's leading Snapdragon chipsets Google Pixel 5: all we know about Google's upcoming flagship Don’t Pixels already have Google chips? Google’s smartphones already run some custom chips designed by the tech giant, though these haven’t been system SoCs; instead, like the Pixel Visual Core that debuted on the Pixel 2, they’ve been focused on photography or, in the case of Google’s Titan M, security, as Ars Technica points out. Thus, Google’s new main SoC could be just the next stage in building more and more of the silicon that goes in its Pixel phones. Given that Apple and Huawei have made their own chipsets for years, there’s obvious incentive to break from Qualcomm to build an SoC tuned to its own devices. And while Samsung may continue to run Snapdragon 865 on its top-end smartphones sold in the US, its phones everywhere else run its Exynos chipsets.  The Pixel phones would still need to run some Qualcomm silicon, like its modems that are powering 5G phones. But while a majority of the best Android phones use Qualcomm's chipset, today's report suggests a further splintering of the smartphone hardware market is possible. Via Droid Life Google Pixel 4a: everything we've heard about the upcoming phone This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

macOS Catalina is here: everything you need to know about macOS 10.15 Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:10 PM PDT The macOS Catalina, Apple’s latest macOS, is officially here and available for everyone to download on their Mac. Unveiled at Apple’s WWDC 2019 conference in San Jose, California, earlier in the year, this macOS brings in some fresh features, necessary updates and a few new skills, all designed to improve your computing experience. Among those things it brings to the table are the ability to use newer generation iPads as a secondary screen, as well as this new feature called  "Project Catalyst,” which allows iOS 13 and iPadOS developers to easily port their work over to the macOS. Some older features are also going away, most notably the beloved iTunes, which is retiring after almost two decades to make way for Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV and Apple Books. Curious what other amazing updates the macOS Catalina brings to the table? We’ll run through all things macOS Catalina. Whether you’re thinking about upgrading from the previous macOS or looking to make the most of Catalina, this will help you make sure that it’s what you want on your mac. And, if you're having issues, check out our macOS Catalina problems: how to fix the most common issues guide for help.  Cut to the chase What is it? macOS 10.15 Catalina, successor to macOS 10.14 Mojave When is it out? Out now How much will it cost? Nothing. Apple software updates are always free The macos 10.15 features Sidecar so you can use your iPad as a secondary screen. macOS Catalina release date Apple held its iPhone 11 event on September 10, but the show came and went without so much of a mention of macOS 10.15. Still, Apple's macOS 10.15 Catalina page was updated with an "October 2019" release window. Apple didn't share any more specifics about the release, so when it launched it caught us all by surprise. Fortunately, this does mean you can now download macOS Catalina, so long as you have a compatible Mac. You might want to wait until the next update comes out, just to ensure that any serious bugs are squashed. You see, updating your operating system is definitely a large undertaking, and you could possibly break something, losing a lot of valuable data. So, if you don't absolutely need the new software, waiting may be your best bet. We'll update this hub as soon as we know a new update is on its way, but if you want to live on the edge, go ahead and hit that download button. We'll show you how. macOS Catalina compatibility If you want to get your paws on the latest macOS update, you'll have to make sure your Mac can really support it. Fortunately, if you already have macOS Mojave installed, you're probably in the clear. Unless, of course, you circumnavigated Apple's restrictions. 12-inch MacBook (2015 and later) MacBook Air (2012 and later) MacBook Pro (2012 and later) Mac mini (2012 and later) iMac (2012 and later) iMac Pro (2017) Mac Pro (2013 and later) Goodbye, iTunes – hello, Apple Music, Podcasts Books and TV It's official, iTunes is no more. From its ashes, however, rises a unique collection of magnificent apps for macOS: Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts and Apple Books – and they will be polished versions of those already found on iOS. Apple Music gives macOS Catalina users access to their entire music libraries regardless of whether the tracks have been downloaded or are being streamed. This also holds music that's been ripped from CDs, incorporated into the same libraries. Apple TV, on the other hand, is home for the app's channels and offers more than 100,000 iTunes movies and TV shows that you can browse to buy or rent. And, content will be available in 4K HDR video and Dolby Atmos audio wherever it’s offered. Apple TV+ can also be accessed courtesy of this app now that the service has rolled out. At the same time, Apple Podcasts brings the service's more than 700,000 podcasts, as well as new episode updates, to the Mac in a totally fresh interface. This rendition of the app also offers better search functions that can pull up episodes by hosts, guests or even discussion topics. Finally, Apple Books is the portal to all the audiobooks you would want to purchase, download and listen to. Similar to the other new apps, it also features a familiar interface for anyone who is used to iTunes. Concerned about all your existing music and playlists, as well as iTunes gift cards and credit? Don’t worry. All your music and playlists will be transferred over to the Apple Music app in macOS Catalina. Plus, any iTunes gift cards or unspent iTunes credits are still valid to be used in these new apps. In macOS 10.15 Catalina, the iTunes Store, which is accessible through the Sidebar in the Apple Music app, is still available to buy new music. And of course, you can also subscribe to the Apple Music streaming service using the app – if you do, you can hide the iTunes Store for a cleaner, more minimalist interface. You'll sync your devices via Finder in macOS Catalina. With iTunes making its exit, syncing devices in macOS Catalina is now taken care of courtesy the Finder app. It can back up and sync those devices. According to Apple, it will be easier to drag and drop files for quick transfers as well. Apple Sidecar at work in macOS Catalina.  Sidecar turns your iPad into another display This is perhaps the most thrilling update that macOS 10.15 Catalina offers: the ability to extend your Mac's display to a nearby iPad, whether wired or wirelessly. A good amount of MacBook users are already own an iPad, so this essentially means that a significant number of mobile workers just received a secondary display for free. Possibly even more notable for designers is that this connected iPad can also be used as a drawing tablet with specific supported apps. Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Illustrator and iWork are the first apps listed that support this capability. The Sidecar feature is supported by those models that can also run the new iPadOS, specifically the iPad Pro (all models), iPad (6th generation or later), iPad Mini (3rd generation or later), and the iPad Air (3rd generation). Apple says that the following Mac apps will support Sidecar's Apple Pencil input and other enhanced features: Adobe: After Effects, Illustrator, Premiere Pro Affinity Designer & Affinity Photo Cinema 4D CorelDRAW DaVinci Resolve Final Cut Pro & Motion Maya Painter Principle Sketch Substance Designer & Painter ZBrush Screen Time for macOS has a special "One more minute" feature. Screen Time comes to macOS One of Apple's most meaningful changes to iOS 12 was Screen Time, an app that tracks your iPhone or iPad usage time and offers insights into the trends. This time around, this feature will not only come to macOS with Catalina, but also offer a new “One more minute” feature, giving you more time to save your work or finish up a game. This information will also be synced across your other Apple devices, so that you have a complete profile of how often you look at your collective screens, as well as get tips on what to do with that information. Additionally, it will also include parental controls on time spent using a Mac, as well as with whom kids are able to interact with on those devices. Twitter's return to macOS was made possible by Project Catalyst. Project Catalyst Thanks to Apple's new Project Catalyst initiative, macOS 10.15 Catalina will soon be populated with a slew of iOS and iPadOS apps. There are a number of them available at launch, but the real potential of this initiative is that it opens up the floodgates for all kinds of apps to come over to the Mac. For developers, it all seems to start with simply checking off a box within the Xcode app in macOS 10.15 Catalina. A series of new features and protocols then become available to the app in the development phase, from which the developer can choose to add to their apps – presumably with additional yet lighter coding. It looks to make the process smoother and even quicker, with even the likes of Twitter using the tool to more effortlessly bring its native app back to macOS from iOS. Other fun improvements Safari browser now has a new startup page that uses Siri Suggestions to surface commonly visited websites, bookmarks, iCloud tabs and more. Mail now lets users block messages from senders, mute message threads from issuing push notifications and send unsubscribe requests from within the app to mailing list providers. Lastly, Reminders gets an overhaul in the visual interface so that it will allow users to more easily create, keep track and organize their reminders. This is the new Mac Pro for 2019 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Best OnePlus phones of 2020: these are the top new or older OnePlus handsets Posted: 14 Apr 2020 02:05 PM PDT OnePlus phones are becoming a bigger and bigger draw, with the company quickly amassing an Apple-like following of dedicated fans, and that's because of the quality of the handsets themselves – and their value.  OnePlus may have only celebrated its sixth birthday in December 2019, but in that time it has made several phones that have found themselves in our list of the best smartphones, with its 2019 lineup of phones being particularly impressive. We've finally seen the brand's 2020 devices unveiled: the OnePlus 8 and the higher-spec OnePlus 8 Pro.  As expected, they're exciting, high-powered devices – but until we've fully tested them, we're going to keep them out of this ranked page just yet. We'll add them soon, but until then, check out our reviews (for the OnePlus 8) and extended hands-on (for the OnePlus 8 Pro), linked above. OnePlus typically puts out two ranges of phones each year. There's the basic numbered series towards the beginning of the year, then the T phones at the end – the latter tends to be a slightly improved version of the former for each year, with the real tech boosts coming to the main series, but that's not always the case. In 2019 those ranges had two devices each, but we may see the OnePlus 8 line expand to three devices (including a new 'Lite' device) so this list could have even more new devices on it, though the first two OnePlus 8 phones have already launched. The company also announced a mystery concept phone early in the year – the aptly-named OnePlus Concept One – but since that's not a commercially-available product we won't add it to this list. So if you're in the market for a new OnePlus phone, there are lots of things to choose between – to T or not to T, older cheaper phone or newer flagship, and with the addition of the Pro devices in 2019, the decision to go with one of them is also a consideration. So without further ado, we've ranked all the recent OnePlus phones that we've tested, to let you know what the best ones are. Best phone | Best Android phone | Best iPhone | Best budget phone The best OnePlus phones of 2020 at a glance OnePlus 7T Pro OnePlus 7T OnePlus 7 Pro OnePlus 6T OnePlus 6 OnePlus 7 OnePlus 5T The best OnePlus phones The best OnePlus phone available right now is the OnePlus 7T Pro, the upgraded version of number 3 on this list and the Pro version of number 2; it's basically a mix of those competitors. This phone is a great-looking device, with a pop-up front-facing camera and three very decent cameras on the rear. It has got a 90Hz display which is crisp to look at, and had one of the best processors available when it came out. It's a very small upgrade over the OnePlus 7 Pro, and has a lot in common specs-wise with the 7T, which are both more affordable phones, so if money's an issue you might want to check out the other entries on this list. If you want the real best of the best though, then the 7T Pro is for you. Read our full OnePlus 7T Pro review While the OnePlus 7T Pro was arguably a very slight upgrade over its predecessor, the 7T is a huge leap up from the 7; in fact, the device is even better than its 'Pro' sibling in a few ways, such as a higher-resolution zoom camera. The OnePlus 7T has the 90Hz refresh rate, Android 10, and top-end chipset of its bigger sibling, but loses the pop-up camera and a portion of the asking price as a result. This phone doesn't have wireless charging, but if that's a feature you need, you're in the wrong guide, as no OnePlus phones have that method of juicing up. But in general the OnePlus 7T isn't just a decent budget device, it's a fantastic one. Read our full OnePlus 7T review The OnePlus 7 Pro was the first 'Pro' phone from the company to come out, and in the brief time since its launch this and the 7T Pro have become some of the most popular flagships around. The OnePlus 7 Pro has three powerful cameras, a beautiful all-screen display not broken up by a notch or punch-hole (thanks to the pop-up front-facing camera), and a great battery life and fast-charging combination. It's also not going to break the bank as much as something from Apple or Samsung. Since the device has now been succeeded by a T-series upgrade, it's now decidedly affordable, so you can pick it up for a great price. It's not a huge downgrade either, with only a few minor differences, so we'd recommend it wholeheartedly. Read our full OnePlus 7 Pro review The OnePlus 6T was one of the best affordable picks of 2018, bringing top-end features at a mid-range price tag. Well, it did have a mid-range price tag, but with the release of the 7 and 7T handsets, the 6T is now seriously affordable. The phone has decent cameras, a long-lasting battery and a sturdy, refined design, perfect for people who want a great handset without needing top-end features. Sure, there's no wireless charging and the display isn't QHD, but not everyone needs those features in a smartphone. Read our full OnePlus 6T review The OnePlus 6 may have been overshadowed by the 6T in 2018, but that doesn't mean you should count it out. It was a great phone then, and it's a great phone now, even if its successors are better. The phone has a decent camera array, a solid build, and also the last physical (as opposed to in-screen) fingerprint sensor on a OnePlus handset, so if you're looking for an affordable device with a fingerprint scanner that isn't in the screen, this is the phone for you. Plus, thanks to the fact that it's older than the prior phones on this list, it's now rather affordable – although from most retailers it's roughly the same price as the 6T. Read our full OnePlus 6 review We know what you're wondering – why is the OnePlus 7 below the 6-series in our rankings of the best OnePlus phones? Well, that's because it's very similar to the 6T, but costs more, and it was also completely overshadowed by the 7 Pro. Sure, the phone has a 48MP camera, but it's joined by a much weaker 5MP snapper, and in most other ways it's almost exactly the same phone. If you've used the 6T, you won't find the 7 very different. That doesn't mean it's a bad phone, not by any means, and if you can find it in a deal it would be worth picking up. But for the best affordable OnePlus phone right now, you might want to stick with the 6T. Read our full OnePlus 7 review Sure, the OnePlus 5T may be a bit older than the other phones on this list, but there are still some good reasons to get it, not least the fact it's older and more affordable. The phone's screen isn't broken up by a notch, as it has a bezel instead – so if you wanted one of the Pro phones because it has an unbroken screen but are on a tight budget, this might be preferable. It has also got roughly as good a camera array as the OnePlus 6 and 6T, a decent processor, and some features which were pretty premium in 2017 - such as face unlocking - that are still great now. Read our full OnePlus 5T review This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Amazon plans further recruiting spree and loosens restrictions on 'non-essentials' Posted: 14 Apr 2020 01:43 PM PDT Amazon has announced that it will hire an additional 75,000 workers to help meet consumer demand during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Back in March, the ecommerce giant said that it would hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers to deal with the recent surge in online orders. According to Amazon, it has already hired over 100,000 new employees since that time, though the company revealed its plans to hire even more workers in a blog post, saying: “To help meet demand, we’ve hired more than 100,000 people since March 16, including for grocery delivery, and we are hiring for 75,000 additional roles. We are also investing more than $500 million to support employees and partners during the crisis. Ramping hiring enables us to more quickly receive, restock, and deliver products to customers and continue increasing delivery window availability.” Amazon sellers protest FBA shipment freeze These are the best shopping cart software of 2020 Also check out the best small business web hosting While Amazon has continued to invest in new employees, it has also raised the hourly pay and doubled overtime pay for its existing warehouse workers. Non-essential items At the beginning of the outbreak, many Amazon customers were surprised to find that their Prime deliveries had been delayed as the company had shifted its focus to ensure that essential items, such as healthcare products and groceries, would be given priority over non-essential ones. However, a new report from The Wall Street Journal has revealed that the ecommerce giant will begin loosening some of its restrictions on non-essential items. This means that those working from home will now be able to buy the equipment they need without having to wait weeks to receive their items. Essential items will still be given priority over non-essential ones but the move will certainly be good news for those who have been holding back on Amazon purchases as a result of shipping delays. We've also highlighted the best ecommerce platforms Via CNBC This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

A Huawei graphics card for servers may be coming soon Posted: 14 Apr 2020 01:31 PM PDT The graphics card market for servers is even more competitive than it is for the best gaming PCs, and Huawei might be jumping into it to heat it up for Nvidia, AMD and Intel.  The giant tech company will be spinning off a new Cloud and AI business group to try and enter into the crowded GPU market, according to a post from South Korea tech publication The Elec.  We'll show you how to build a PC Check out the best Nvidia graphics cards Will Huawei enter the Nvidia vs AMD showdown? Its very unlikely that this will result in Huawei graphics cards for everyday consumers, like the Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon GPUs you may be used to. Instead, these would compete with the likes of Nvidia Tesla GPUs, which typically cost thousands of dollars and are much faster than anything you'll find in a gaming machine.  Either way, Huawei might end up putting the pressure on Nvidia here, as its Ascend 910 AI Processor is around twice as fast as the Nvidia Tesla V100 – a GPU that starts at $7,999 (about £6,330, AU$12,420).  These Huawei graphics cards will unlikely be a huge deal for most consumers, but just like Intel is doing with its Xe graphics cards, it's a possibility that this could potentially result in consumer-level graphics cards in the long term. This is purely speculation on our part and if it happens, we probably won't see it soon, if ever.  Via Wccftech Here are the best gaming laptops This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Sony is encouraging social distancing by gifting two free PS4 games Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:55 AM PDT Sony has some good news for all the gamers stuck in self-isolation this week: it’s giving away two of widely recognized and widely lauded PS4 games absolutely free. The games up for grabs include Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection that rounds up the first three games in the series and remasters them for the PS4, as well as the PS4 port of Journey.  Check out our PS4 Pro review Here's everything you need to know about the PS5 Interested in the best PC games? According to a post on the PlayStation Blog, the games are part of the company’s new Play at Home Initiative that intends to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and includes a generous $10 million fund for indie developers to help support them in this difficult time.  The games will be available starting on April 15 at 8pm PST / 11pm EST and will be available through May 5, 2020 at 8pm PDT / 11pm EST. Once you redeem the games, Sony says, they are yours to keep and the post makes no mention of needing a PlayStation Plus membership to snag the games. Unfortunately, Sony says these games might take longer to download than usual - as the company is complying with the governments' request to preserve internet bandwidth - but thankfully you have three weeks to jump on this deal. Looking for other great PS4 games to buy this week? Check these out: Here are the best Xbox One games This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

All GitHub features are now free for everyone Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:42 AM PDT After bringing unlimited private repositories to free users last year, GitHub has now announced that it is making private repositories with unlimited collaborators available to all of its users. This means that all of the core GitHub features are now available for free for everyone. Up until now, if an organization wanted to use the developer platform for private development, it had to subscribe to one of the company's paid plans. However, GitHub believes that every developer should have access to its platform and that price should not be a barrier to entry. Teams will now be able to manage all of their work together in one place including CI/CD, project management, code review, packages and more. GitHub launches Android and iOS apps GitHub acquires JavaScript developer platform npm Github raises bug bounty prize However, teams that require more advanced features (like code owners), enterprise features (like SAML) or personalized support can upgrade to one of GitHub's paid plans. GitHub plan changes Now that the core GitHub features are available to all users for free, the company has updated the pricing of its plans to reflect the change. GitHub Pro now has a reduced monthly price of $4 and will include 2GB of Packages storage and 10GB of data transfer. The monthly price per user for GitHub Team has also been reduced to $4 and there is no minimum seat requirement. GitHub Team will also include 3,000 Actions minutes per month for private repositories after May 14. GitHub Enterprise includes all of the features available in Team as well as SAML single sign-on, 50,000 Actions minutes per month, 50GB of GitHub Packages storage and advanced auditing for $21 per user per month. GitHub Free for organizations is available now and includes private repositories for unlimited users. Any organization that was previously using Team for Open Source will now have GitHub Free. Additionally GitHub Free for individual developers now includes unlimited collaborators and any organization or individual using the free tier will receive GitHub Community Support. Also check out our roundup of the best website builders This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

AMD Navi release date, news and rumors Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:40 AM PDT The AMD Navi graphics cards have gone on to become AMD’s most popular and most successful graphics cards yet. Not long after the release of the AMD Radeon VII and the GPUs’ reveal at Computex 2019, AMD showcased the series’ first two cards as mid-range GPUs that rival Nvidia's highly popular Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 at E3 2019, alongside the Radeon RX 5500 for 1080p gaming. And, things have gone swimmingly for the AMD Navi since then. Top AMD Navi cards like the AMD Radeon RX 5700, AMD Radeon 5600 XT and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT have gotten more than favorable reviews from us while many gamers have switched over to Team Red to power their gaming PCs. That’s not all. AMD CEO Lisa Su pretty much confirmed that the 'high-end Navi' GPU, AMD RDNA 2, is definitely on its way, though perhaps not until the end of 2020. A new rumor suggests that it’s coming out in October 2020, alongside the Ryzen 4000. Until then, we have the already released AMD Navi cards to satiate our gaming needs. If you’re ready to switch from your aging graphics card, you have everything you need to know about these GPUs here. And, we’ll keep this page updated with all the latest AMD Navi information that surfaces, including the upcoming RDNA 2, so be sure to bookmark it. Here's everything you need to know about the AMD Vega II Cut to the Chase What is it? AMD's next-generation 7nm GPU architecture When is it out? Out since July 7, 2019 What will it cost? From $279 At Computex 2019, AMD took the stage and showed a mysterious Radeon RX 5000 graphics card.  AMD Navi release date Both the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and Radeon RX 5700 XT were released on July 7, alongside the Ryzen 3rd generation processors. These cards are now available for purchase at the AMD store. As are the AMD Radeon RX 5500, AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT and the newly unveiled AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. The rumored “Nvidia killer” or the Big Navi graphic card still hasn’t received a release date. However, it’s highly likely that the AMD RDNA 2 will come out in 2020, probably in October 2020. As for Navi 20, the rumored lineup for 2020, it's still anyone's guess. We do know that the Xbox Project Scarlett, powered by Navi, will be out Holiday 2020, so we could see the more powerful Navi chips released around that time. In fact, we've just recently seen leaked roadmaps that suggest their successors could be hitting the streets sometime in 2020. Alongside these AMD Navi updates, AMD has also released their brand new game-developer toolkit, Fidelity FX, which has been available for free since June 10. Fidelity FX is designed to enable game developers to get more detail and crispness in low contrast textures, allowing them to take full advantage of what these AMD Navi cards are capable of. Both the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and Radeon RX 5700 XT were released on July 7, after their unveiling. AMD Navi price At Computex 2019, AMD took the stage and showed a mysterious Radeon RX 5000 graphics card going head to head against an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 in Strange Brigade, where it performed about 10% faster. It was later revealed that was the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT. However, with E3 2019, AMD proved it’s still king when it comes to components for the masses. AMD revealed its two new graphics cards to be drastically cheaper than their competitors.  The Radeon 5700 is currently priced at $349 (about £275, AU$500), a price tag that’s $50 cheaper than the RTX 2060 when it was released in January 2019. The Radeon 5700 XT, on the other hand, is $399 (about £315, AU$580). And, that’s with offering similar performance at 1440p to the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super at Ultra settings. The Radeon RX 5500 and the Radeon RX 5500 XT are priced at $169 (about £130, AU$240) and $199 (about £150, AU$285) respectively. Finally, the Radeon RX 5600 XT will set you back $279 (about £215, AU$400). Since AMD hasn’t so much as shared the codename for that rumored ‘Nvidia killer’ yet, we don’t know how much it will cost. However, it’s expected to compete with Nvidia’s top RTX cards and equipped with ray tracing chops so it will most certainly have a premium price tag, though perhaps competitive with Nvidia’s prices. AMD Navi is the first mainstream AMD graphics card to break away from the aging GCN architecture. AMD Navi specs Right off the bat, we know that AMD Navi is based on the new 7nm RDNA graphics architecture, making it the first mainstream AMD graphics card to break away from the aging GCN architecture. At Computex 2019, AMD said that we’re going to see 1.25X faster performance per clock and 1.5X performance per watt over GCN. This means not just improved performance in the best PC games, but also increased power efficiency. In addition, AMD Navi is using faster GDDR6 memory, compared to the GDDR5 in the Radeon RX 500 series.  The lower-end AMD Radeon RX 5700 features 36 compute units, 2,304 stream processors and a boost clock of 1,725 MHz, not to mention 8GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, with 65 render output units (ROPs) and 256 texture units. The mid-range AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, on the other hand, boasts 40 compute units, with 2,560 stream processors and a boost clock of 1,905MHz. This GPU also has 8GB of GDDR6 video memory (VRAM), 14Gbps GDDR6 VRAM, 64 ROPs and 256 texture units. That’s all well and good on paper, but what about their actual real-world performance? Well, AMD showed the Radeon RX 5700 XT in a demo against the RTX 2070, where it bested Nvidia's mid-range card in World War Z by about 10% at 1440p on Ultra. Indeed, during our tests of the card, we found the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT to be a 1440p monster, with no massive drops in performance, no matter how demanding the game is. The Radeon RX 5700, on the other hand, performed better against the RTX 2060 by 21% in Battlefield V and by 9% in The Division 2, also at 1440p on Ultra. In our review, we hailed the Radeon RX 5700 as an absolute powerhouse at its price point, bringing 1440p gaming at Ultra settings to the mainstream. The Radeon RX 5500 XT is very much a 1080p graphics card, with its 22 compute units, 1,408 steam processors and a boost clock of only 1,845 MHz. It's not the most powerful card out there, but based on our review, at its price point it definitely gets the job done. And, finally, the Radeon RX 5600 XT, which AMD is marking as the ultimate 1080p graphics card, will have 6GB of GDDR6 and 36 compute units. Rather than taking on the RTX 2080 Ti at the high end, AMD is looking comfortable inhabiting the mid-range where it has traditionally excelled. That is, until that high-end Navi is finally unleashed and the PS5 launches. Back in April, Sony Lead System Architect Mark Cerny revealed that the PS5 would be using a custom AMD Navi GPU, and that it would be capable of some pretty impressive things.  For instance, the PS5 will likely support ray tracing, along with 8K resolutions. We think that’s a little pie-in-the-sky, and we’d take it with a grain of salt. But, AMD Navi could theoretically mark a true generational shift when the next generation of consoles hits the streets. AMD Navi GPUs will also be behind Project Scarlett – the next Xbox. We don't know the exact specs, but Microsoft made a point to talk up its capabilities, mentioning things like "real time ray tracing", 8K capabilities and up to 120 fps gameplay. Beyond that, we have heard rumors about another generation of Navi graphics cards on the high-end hitting the streets in 2020. These high-end graphics cards are rumored to be code-named Navi 20, and should feature improved performance that takes on Nvidia’s flagship. We could see AMD graphics cards capable of this in the future if these rumors are to be believed. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 release date, price and specs: all the RTX 3080 rumors Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:37 AM PDT Speculation about the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 has been stacking up. We’re now seeing a ton of leaks about Nvidia Ampere, the popular theory being that it will be the graphics architecture behind the next lineup of Nvidia GeForce GPUs. And, despite the fact that Nvidia tends to release graphics architectures for professionals and data centers first – like it did when Nvidia Volta preceded the Nvidia Turing graphics cards – the internet rumor mill hasn't stopped spinning. The most recent of those rumors are that of a leaked benchmark for an Nvidia GPU with 33 teraflops of theoretical floating point performance and a Nvidia graphics card with 124 compute units. This leak hints towards what the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 could look like, even though it’s looking like the RTX 3000 graphics cards aren’t coming out until August. With more next-gen Nvidia GeForce graphics emerging, we gathered all the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 rumors, gossips and hints in one spot. Keep this page bookmarked, as we’ll keep it updated with all the latest RTX 3080 rumors and information that come our way. Cut to the chase What is it? The next Nvidia GeForce flagship When is it out? Possibly in August 2020 How much is it? Likely around the same price as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 RTX 3080 release date In the past, Nvidia GeForce lineups have been about two years apart. For instance, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 dropped back in May 2016, with the GeForce RTX 2080 succeeding it in August 2018. The time between the GTX 980 and GTX 1080 was a bit shorter, with the former arriving in September 2014. Still as a general rule, we've been able to historically count on there being a new lineup of graphics cards every couple of years.  For a while, the rumor mill was suggesting that we're going to see the next GeForce lineup make an appearance at GTC, or the GPU Technology Conference in March. But, Nvidia has since canceled its ‘exciting’ GTC graphics card revelations. Tweaktown has reported that Nvidia plans to unveil the Ampere GPU architecture in August this year and launch it in September at Computex 2020. This is highly likely, as it’s similar to how Nvidia launched Turing at Gamescom back in August 2018, and would mark a straight 2-year cycle for the current-generation cards. We’ve also heard that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which may be up to 40% faster than its predecessor, could launch by the end of 2020. With how these things typically go, we won't actually know when the RTX 3080 is on its way until Nvidia is ready for us to know. In fact, we won't know if it'll even be called the RTX 3080.   RTX 3080 price Because we're so far out from a potential GeForce RTX 3080 release, we obviously have no idea how much it will cost. But, that doesn't mean we can't do a bit of speculation about it.  Nvidia Turing graphics cards saw a large price jump over their Pascal predecessors, and we'd almost expect the same to happen with whatever comes next. However, we have heard some rumors that suggest that the next-generation graphics cards will be more affordable. That said, this rumor revolves around another rumor that the cards will be manufactured using Samsung 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) manufacturing process. We'd take that one with a grain of salt.  One thing that absolutely needs to be taken into consideration when talking about RTX 3080 price is 'Big Navi'. When Nvidia Turing hit the streets it was basically completely unopposed by AMD. Even when Team Red dropped the Radeon VII in February 2019 it was totally incapable of dethroning the RTX 2080. Competition has definitely heated up since then, though.  Both the Radeon RX 5700 series and the Radeon RX 5600 XT have caused Nvidia to drop prices in response, and the threat of 'Big Navi' supposedly beating the RTX 2080 Ti by 30% could force Nvidia to drop its prices to compete. Still, we won't know the RTX 3080's price until we see Nvidia lift the veil – or at least until more substantial leaks surface. RTX 3080 specs We have seen a lot of really vague speculation and rumors surrounding supposed RTX 3080 specs, but there are some constants: that it’ll be 7nm and will be faster than the RTX 2080. That second one should be super obvious, of course – why would Nvidia put out new graphics cards if they're not significantly faster? The other rumor, the 7nm manufacturing process, is much more interesting. If you've been following the AMD vs Intel smackdown over the last year, you're probably aware that one of the things that's kept AMD on top of the CPU world is the fact that it's been able to fully adopt 7nm while Intel, at least when it comes to desktop, being stuck at 14nm. If Nvidia is able to adopt a 7nm manufacturing process for the RTX 3080, AMD won't have such an easy time dunking on it. If these rumors are actually true, it would mean that Nvidia could significantly boost performance - up to 50% according to some rumors - while boosting power efficiency significantly. When combined with DLSS, which will absolutely be a part of whatever graphics cards Nvidia puts out next, could potentially lead to 4K graphics cards being available in the mid-range sector for the first time.  Exactly how much faster and more powerful the RTX 3080 would be, it’s too early to tell. However, there’s a Nvidia GPU with a whopping 33 teraflops, 24GB of memory and 1.11GHz clock that was recently spotted in a benchmark. While this card may be too powerful to be the RTX 3080, it could also hint towards what the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 may look like. We have even seen some more specific spec leaks, notably one from hardware leaker KittyCorgi, who suggests that Nvidia's next-generation flagship could potentially come with up to 20GB of VRAM. Of course, this is a leak we'd take with a hefty dose of salt, but it could potentially prove our theory that the next graphics architecture Nvidia announces will in fact be for professionals. The Quadro RTX 6000, for instance, packs 24GB of GDDR6 - but it also costs $4,000 (£4,066, AU$6,999). Right now, if we had to put our money down, we'd suggest that these leaked specs are for an Nvidia Quadro or Tesla card, or maybe even the follow-up to the Nvidia Titan V. Whatever the GeForce RTX 3080 looks like, we seriously doubt we've seen it yet. Don't worry, though. We'll keep our eyes open for the next generation of GeForce, and we'll be sure to update this article as soon as we see any juicy RTX 3080 spec rumors.  Best Nvidia graphics cards 2020: finding the best GPU for you This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

AMD Ryzen 4000 release date, laptops and specs: everything we know about AMD's next CPUs Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:35 AM PDT There’s no stopping AMD Ryzen 4000 from demolishing Intel. With Team Red already sitting on top of the CPU world, selling 40% more processors than its rival, these big flagships are going for the knockout, with the Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops already nearly as fast as their desktop counterparts. After giving us a sneak peek at sneak peek at AMD Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops at CES 2020, these mobile processors are already out, delivering hugely improved performance across the board. As evidenced by the compelling Asus Zephyrus G14, they’re delivering desktop-class performance in a lightweight laptop, changing the gaming laptop scene forever. It doesn’t stop there – AMD may also be preparing to add a new flagship APU, Ryzen 9 4900U, to the lineup. Of course, laptops aren't the entire scene. We've heard plenty of whispers about the AMD Zen 3-equipped Ryzen 4000 processors for desktops, which could be coming in October. And, these will be based on a 7nm+ manufacturing process. That means that they could potentially push clock speeds high enough to really make Intel hurt, especially if Team Blue stays stuck at 14nm on desktop.  There's already so much information and gossip out there about the next generation of Ryzen for laptops and desktops. So we gathered all the most important bits right here in this article to help you stay ahead of the Ryzen 4000 curve. We'll also make sure to keep this article updated with all the latest news, so be sure to bookmark us so you can stay on top of it.   Cut to the chase What is it? AMD's next lineup of processors for laptop and desktop When is it out? Laptops are out, desktop to come out in October What will it cost? TBA AMD Ryzen 4000 release date Right out of the gate, the next-generation of Ryzen processors for desktop haven’t seen an official release date. We know that Lisa Su said AMD Ryzen 4000 for desktop will be coming in 2020. And, a new rumor suggests that they are set to go on sale in October 2020, alongside the RDNA 2 graphics cards.  Last year, AMD took its Ryzen 3rd Generation processors to Computex 2019 for a preview, and announced more details later at E3 2019. Back at CES 2019, AMD announced Zen 2, the microarchitecture that would later be behind Ryzen 3rd Generation, Threadripper 3rd Generation and Epyc 2nd generation. We expected Team Red to follow suit by announcing Zen 3 with some vague details at CES 2020, but that didn't happen.  While E3 2020 has been cancelled, Computex 2020 has simply gotten a later date: September 28-30, 2020. If all goes well, we could see AMD giving us a sneak peek at the desktop chips at the conference, like last year, before rolling them out in October. We did get something at CES 2020, at least, when AMD CEO Lisa Su unveiled the AMD Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops. Prior to their release, the much-anticipated 7nm mobile processors have since shown up in product listings on Amazon for multiple Asus gaming laptops in China and Canada.  Now, these chips are out in the wild and ready to power a new generation of thin and light laptops that boast incredible performance and impressively long battery life. The newly-released Asus Zephyrus G14 is leading that charge. We should start seeing more laptops rocking AMD Ryzen 4000 processors by the end of Q2 2020 across both ultraportables and gaming laptops. AMD Ryzen 4000 Price As far as the laptop chips, the prices of the processors themselves are not relevant to most people, as laptop manufacturers will absorb the price and repackage them. Still, we will probably see prices increase over last-generation AMD laptops, due to the fact that AMD's processors will be behind flagship-class laptops like the upcoming Lenovo Yoga Slim 7. We'll probably see Ryzen 3 laptops starting around the $600 mark, with laptops rocking the Ryzen 7 4800H or 4800U hitting the premium market above $1,000. However, we can be a bit more specific with our speculation on the desktop lineup.  AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation saw higher prices than Ryzen 2000, largely due to the introduction of Ryzen 9 processors with up to 16 cores. However, the Ryzen 7 3700X did launch at the same $329 (£319, AU$519) price point as the Ryzen 7 2700X that came before it.  Due to the success of chips like the Ryzen 9 3900X and 3950X, however, we fully expect AMD to follow suit with the Ryzen 4000 lineup. For reference, we included the pricing of AMD Ryzen 3000 processors below. We expect the pricing to stay roughly the same for the next generation.  AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: $749 (about £590, AU$1,080) AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: $499 (about £390, AU$720) AMD Ryzen 7 3800X: $399 (about £310, AU$580) AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: $329 (about £260, AU$480) AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: $249 (about £200, AU$360) AMD Ryzen 5 3600: $199 (about £160, AU$290) AMD Ryzen 5 3400G: $149 (£139, AU$240) AMD Ryzen 3 3300G: $99 (£94, AU$144) AMD Ryzen 4000 Specs Right now we know the most about the AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile lineup, so that's where we're going to start. These will be the first 7nm processors to make their way to laptops, and with that they bring some huge benefits.  The biggest of these is, just like Ryzen 3000 desktop before it, core counts. Even with ultraportable laptops, which have previously been limited to 4 core/8 thread configurations, you're getting 8 cores and 16 threads.  This is a huge improvement, and even though clock speeds are limited to 4.2GHz - or a bit higher with 25W configurations – users should see massive gains in productivity workloads. If recent leaks are any indication, AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile chips really won't be much slower than the desktop processors. However, what's odd is that only every other SKU has hyperthreading. For example, the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U has 8 cores and 8 threads, whereas the 4800U has 8 cores and 16 threads. Both of the announced H-Series chips for mobile have hyper-threading however, along with higher base clock speeds.  One of the key features of this AMD Ryzen 4000 series for laptops is going to be the integrated graphics performance. Now, we haven't had a chance to test this yet, of course, but AMD is promising a boost of up to 28% over Intel's Ice Lake when it comes to graphics performance. These chips will not be in gaming laptops, however, but when you just want to get in a quick Overwatch match on your lunch break, it will make a major difference.  We went ahead and listed the core specs of each of the laptop processors.  AMD Ryzen 7 4800U: 8 cores, 16 threads | 1.8GHz base, 4.2GHz boost | 12MB cache AMD Ryzen 7 4700U: 8 cores, 8 threads | 2.0GHz base, 4.1GHz boost | 12MB cache AMD Ryzen 5 4600U: 6 cores, 12 threads | 2.1GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache AMD Ryzen 5 4500U: 6 cores, 6 threads | 2.3GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache AMD Ryzen 3 4300U: 4 cores, 4 threads | 2.7GHz base, 3.7GHz boost | 6MB cache AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: 8 cores, 16 threads | 2.9GHz base, 4.2GHz boost | 12MB cache AMD Ryzen 5 4600H: 6 cores, 12 threads | 3.0GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache We know far less about desktop, however. Beyond the fact we know it'll be revealed in 2020, Zen 3 is largely an enigma wrapped in mystery. It will be based on a refinement of the 7nm process found in Zen 2, but any more specific information is purely in the realm of rumor.  Benchmarks for a desktop-based variant have shown up online recently, but that chip is a Zen 2-based Renoir APU. That means that it won’t deliver the same level of performance as the high-end SKUs.  There are rumors that it will be based on TSMC's new 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) process, similar to what's rumored to be seen with Nvidia Ampere. If this is true, the processors could be much more power efficient, which could see clock speeds see a sizable bump - which could seriously threaten Intel's chips in the gaming scene.  Another thing that could make Intel start sweating is the rumor that with Ryzen 4000, AMD may introduce more powerful hyperthreading, with each physical core having four simultaneous processing threads, as opposed to the two found on today's silicon. This is a rumor we'd definitely take with a grain of salt, but if it's true it could even further widen the gap between AMD and Intel when it comes to multi-threaded workloads. It's unlikely that we'll see huge core count bumps with this generation, like we did last year. Instead, AMD will probably use the EUV process to boost performance while cutting power consumption. This does mean that there likely won't be much of a reason to upgrade if you already have a Ryzen 3000 chip.  Still, we won't know what AMD Ryzen 4th Generation processors will look like until we see them announced by Team Red. We'll be sure to update this article as soon as we hear more about AMD's next desktop chips and once we've been able to actually test the laptop models.  We'll show you how to build a PC This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Intel Comet Lake release date, news and features Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:32 AM PDT The Intel Comet Lake mobile processors are now out in the world. Announced in August 2019, Intel’s 10th-generation processors first made their way into Ultrabooks in late 2019. And now, they’re on their way to gaming laptops and workstations, bringing the fight to AMD Ryzen 4000. There’s already a mouthful of information out there about Intel Comet Lake, but it can be a bit confusing. Keeping track of Intel’s releases is already hard enough – looking at you, Cannon Lake. But with its 10th-generation Comet Lake processors, Intel has really taken things to a new level. These processors have not only been designed alongside Intel’s Ice Lake processors for laptops, but they were also released around the same time, the two series altogether making up Intel’s 10th-generation Core lineup. The only major difference between these two is the manufacturing process, with Ice Lake being the first 10nm processors Intel has put out in the mainstream and part of Project Athena, and Comet Lake being yet another iteration of the 14nm Skylake architecture. That’s not all. Besides mobile processors, we've also seen rumors about Intel's Comet Lake-S for desktop computers. If the most recent leaks are accurate, these next generation desktop range will include a 10-core flagship capable of 5.3GHz boost as well as a 6-core, 12-thread chip with a 4.5GHz boost clock speed. To help you make sense of the Intel Comet Lake range, we’ve broken things down for you. Let’s dive into everything Comet Lake, and talk about any rumors about future desktop parts. Keep this page bookmarked, as we'll update it with any new information that comes our way.  Cut to the chase  What is it? Intel’s 10th-generation mobile platform  When is it out? Mobile chips are out now What will it cost? Depends on the laptop  We still don't know when we'll actually see Comet Lake-S desktop chips. Intel Comet Lake release date  Intel pushed out its 10th-generation Comet Lake processors for laptops back in August, with the actual laptops filtering out over the following months. On top of those, Intel has announced early April the full lineup of Comet Lake-H processors, which will be the high-performance chips that will be found in gaming laptops this year. That means we will be seeing those chips out in the wild in the next few months. We still don't know when we'll actually see Comet Lake-S desktop chips, though their prices have already been leaked. They were previously rumored to hit the streets in the first quarter of 2020, but even at CES 2020, Intel disappointingly made no mention of them.  There’s still a big chance we’ll see them soon, however. According to Spanish news outlet El Chapuzas Informatico, Intel will unveil its 10th-generation Comet Lake-S processors for desktop on April 30.  We have also seen some leaked product roadmaps that suggest that Intel Comet Lake-S processors will come out in 2020, so that's definitely where our money is. Though it’s also possible that if the Intel Core i9-9900KS release date of October 2019 was any indication, we might not see Intel releasing its latest flagship mainstream desktop processors before Q4. In fact, a leaked slide points to Comet Lake-S desktop processors being delayed.  Still, we’re hoping that some of the other Comet Lake-S processors will trickle out before then. We already caught a glimpse of the Intel Core i3-10300, a hyperthreaded entry-level chip from the lineup, and the Intel Core i9-10900 and Core i5-10500 processors have recently been spotted in the 3DMark database as well.  We might not see Intel launching its latest flagship mainstream desktop processors before Q4. Intel Comet Lake price  Now that the Comet Lake processors for laptops are out, the price tag for each chip is also finally available. We’ve listed them out for you below so you can decide whether or not to upgrade. These are Intel’s recommended price for every Comet Lake chip:  Intel Core i7-10710U – $443 (about £340, AU$635) Intel Core i7-10510U – $409 (about £315, AU$585) Intel Core i5-10210U – $297 (about £230, AU$425) Intel Core i3-10110U – $281 (about £215, AU$405) With laptop pricing, though, it’s important to keep in mind that these aren’t prices that consumers will ever see. Instead, it’s a suggested price that Intel gives to its distributors, which can charge above or below this price to laptop manufacturers. These prices will generally be worked into the overall price of the laptop, but these numbers can still give a decent idea of which segment of the laptop market each chip falls into.  As far as Intel Comet Lake-S pricing, obviously we don’t have official information on that yet. However, Comet Lake-S prices have recently been leaked, and they are as follows: Intel Core i5-10600 – €279.46 (about $310/£250/A$510) Intel Core i5-10500 – €252.72 (about $280/£230/A$460) Intel Core i5-10400 – €227.34 (about $250/£205/A$415) Intel Core i5-10400F – €193.92 (about $215/£180/A$355) Intel Core i3-10320 – €203.28 (about $225/£185/$370) Intel Core i3-10300 – €189.91 (about $210/£175/A$350) Intel Core i3-10100 – €152.50 (about $170/£140/A$280) We can also do a bit of speculation based on previous generations of desktop processors. Coffee Lake Refresh saw the prices go up a little bit from Coffee Lake, but the differences were pretty negligible – just $20 (£30, AU$135) from the Intel Core i7-8700K to the i7-9700K. Below, we went ahead and listed the pricing of Coffee Lake Refresh’s desktop offerings, but we could see prices go up or down (probably up) when Comet Lake is actually announced.  Intel Core i3-9100F – $122 (about £90, AU$170) Intel Core i3-9100 – $122 (about £90, AU$170) Intel Core i3-9300 – $143 (about £110, AU$199) Intel Core i3-9320 – $154 (about £118, AU$215) Intel Core i3-9350KF – $173 (£194, about AU$230) Intel Core i3-9350K – $173 (about £130, AU$240) Intel Core i5-9400F – $182 (£188, about AU$250) Intel Core i5-9400 – $182 (£194, about AU$250) Intel Core i5-9600 – $192 (about £150, AU$260) Intel Core i7-9700 – $323 (about £250, AU$450) Intel Core i7-9700K – $374 (£409, AU$659) Intel Core i9-9900K – $488 (£519, AU$899) Now that the Comet Lake processors for laptops are out, the price tag for each chip is also finally available. Intel Comet Lake specs  Comet Lake is yet another iteration of Intel’s 14nm manufacturing process. This means that there isn’t much improvement in the way of power efficiency, and thermals will probably start to ramp up. We haven't got a chance to test each of these processors yet, but we expect the difference over 8th-generation Whiskey Lake chips to be pretty minor – aside from the Intel Core i7-10710U, of course, which boasts is a 6-core (12-thread) processor with a boost of up to 4.7GHz. We've got all the specs of the Intel Comet Lake Mobile chips here: Intel Core i7-10710U – 6-cores, 12-threads | 12MB Cache | 1.1GHz base / 4.7GHz boost Intel Core i7-10510U – 4-cores, 8-threads | 8MB Cache | 1.8GHz base / 4.9GHz boost Intel Core i5-10210U – 4-cores, 8-threads | 6MB Cache | 1.6GHz base / 4.2GHz boost Intel Core i3-10110U – 2-cores, 4-threads | 4MB Cache | 2.1GHz base / 4.1GHz boost These may look very similar to Whiskey Lake, but with some higher clock speeds. The biggest differences here, though, are the inclusion of Wi-Fi 6 compatibility and Thunderbolt 3 on the die.  As far as desktop processors go, we already have plenty of rumors to fuel some speculation.  One of the most common threads among Comet Lake-S rumors is the fact that we’re going to see up to 10-core 20-thread desktop chips. We’re going to go ahead and assume that if this is true, this 10-core 20-thread processor will be the follow up to the Intel Core i9-9900K, with a 10-core single threaded chip taking over the Core i7-9700K’s slot. A much recent benchmark leak hints that this successor, the Intel Core i9-10900K, shows that it will deliver an almost 30% leap in performance. Unfortunately, another recent rumor seems to suggest that this 10-core flagship is a power-hungry beast. According to this leak, the Core i9-10900F (F means there’s no integrated GPU) draws 224W in terms of PL2 while flooring it in a stress test scenario, with an all-core boost of 4.6GHz. If this is to be trusted, users will be needing some serious cooling solution. On the mid-range side, recently-leaked specs of the Intel Core i5-10600 has already given us a taste of how these might compare to AMD Ryzen 3000, which shows that Intel will have to offer some competitive prices for its Comet Lake-S chips to keep up with AMD. Some leaked slides from Intel appeared on Informatica Cero showing a broad lineup of desktop processors. Here are the Comet Lake-S processors that were leaked, along with their single-core Turbo speeds: Intel Core i3-10100: 4 cores, 8 threads 4.3GHz Turbo Intel Core i3-10300: 4 cores, 8 threads, 4.4GHz Turbo Intel Core i3-10320: 4 cores, 8 threads, 4.6GHz Turbo Intel Core i5-10400: 6 cores, 12 threads, 4.3GHz Turbo Intel Core i5-10500: 6 cores, 12 threads, 4.5GHz Turbo Intel Core i5-10600: 6 cores, 12 threads, 4.8GHz Turbo Intel Core i5-10600K: 6 cores, 12 threads, 4.8GHz Turbo Intel Core i7-10700: 8 cores, 16 threads, 4.8GHz Turbo Intel Core i7-10700K: 8 cores, 16 threads, 5.1GHz Turbo Intel Core i9-10900: 10 cores, 20 threads, 5.1GHz Turbo Intel Core i9-10900K: 10 cores, 20 threads, 5.2GHz Turbo Beyond that, we'll just have to wait and see what 10th-generation desktop chips are going to look like. The good news is, Intel is already looking to bring out the big guns, which are necessary with AMD pushing high-core count and high-performance chips. Images Credit: TechRadar Check out the best processors This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Nvidia Turing release date, news and features Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:29 AM PDT The excruciatingly long wait for Nvidia’s next-generation Turing graphics cards was, without a doubt, worth it. The latest and greatest GPU architecture has been powering our graphics needs for quite a while now, and the sheer power that these graphics cards deliver has taken the computing world by storm. We finally have the Turing-powered Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 in our hands, as well as Nvidia’s Super RTX cards led by the RTX 2080 Super. And, we know they’re the best graphics cards for the games we’ll be playing for the next few years. And, that’s without factoring in the Titan RTX card, which the company showcased recently. Nvidia Turing is all about the real time ray tracing: it takes this long-awaited graphics technology to the mainstream. This brings about a graphical revolution in the way the best PC games are rendered. And, judging by high-profile games like Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, that revolution has begun – especially considering you can enable ray tracing on non-RTX cards (to the tune of a major performance hit). And, with these graphics cards showcasing their graphics prowess in the desktop arena, it’s no surprise that Nvidia is hitting the mobile sphere as well. The company recently announced that its Turing-based GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super graphics cards are now going to be available for gaming laptops beginning April 2020. Of course, there are Nvidia Turing cards out there for people that don’t need the unique RTX tech: the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, GeForce GTX 1660 and GeForce GTX 1650. They’re not quite as powerful as their ray tracing cousins, but they’re significantly more affordable.  Rounding it all out, Nvidia officially announced its mobile Turing graphics processors, along with a ton of laptops equipped with them. Here’s everything we know about the Nvidia Turing graphics cards. Cut to the chase What is it? Nvidia’s latest graphics card architecture When is it out? Out since September 20 What will it cost? $599 (£569, AU$899) - $10,000 (£7,830, AU$13,751) Image Credit: Nvidia Nvidia Turing release date All of the currently-announced Nvidia Turing GPUs are now out in the wild – from the GTX 1660 and 1660 Ti to the RTX Super cards: RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2080 Super.  At CES 2019, we didn’t just finally get an RTX 2060 announcement, but also over 40 gaming laptops sporting the mobile version of Nvidia RTX graphics. These days, the best gaming laptops, alongside the ones we saw at CES 2019 like the Alienware Area 51m, are all packing the latest Nvidia Turing graphics.  On the other hand, the GeForce RTX 2060 Super and GeForce RTX 2070 Super hit the streets in July to compete with AMD Navi. If you were looking for a graphics card that you won’t have to take out a personal loan to afford, these are certainly the more affordable options. The pricier GeForce RTX 2080 Super followed, seeing a release date of July 23rd.  Thankfully, the RTX-series cards are readily available now after some initial limited availability. And, thanks to the release of the newer cards, you’ll likely find more than a few older models on sale every day. What’s more is users will have these RTX Super cards available on-the-go as well. Nvidia just recently announced that the RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super graphics cards are now going to be available for gaming laptops in April 2020. That’s alongside the GeForce RTX 2060 laptops, which are going to start coming in at $999 (about £800, AU$1,640). Image Credit: TechRadar Nvidia Turing price Although the Nvidia Turing series started with the Quadro RTX GPUs, we're far more interested in the graphics cards available for consumers. If you wanted to check out these enterprise-leaning parts, we’ve got you covered here. Otherwise, the prices for Nvidia Turing graphics cards are as follows: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti: $1,199 (£1,099, AU$1,899)  Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super: $699 (about £560, AU$1099) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080: $799 (£749, AU$1,199)  Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super: $499 (about £395, AU$720) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070: $599 (£569, AU$899)  Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super: $399 (about £315, AU$580) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060: $349 (£329, AU$599) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti: $279 (£259, AU$469)  Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660: $219  (£219, AU$389) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650: $149 (about £115, AU$210) Overall, the prices for Nvidia's newest graphics cards seem to have risen with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti taking the place of Nvidia’s past Titan cards. This shift up was sadly seen across the entire lineup.  That is, until the Super RTX cards rolled out. Perhaps in an effort to keep up with the growing popularity of AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 GPUs, Nvidia released the RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2080 Super, at a lower price – $100 less, to be exact – than their predecessors when they were first released. Essentially, anyone looking to upgrade to one of the RTX Turing cards can now pay less for even better performance. Then there’s the Turing GTX cards. These are heralded by the $279 (£259, AU$469) GTX 1660 Ti, and provide phenomenal value at the low end. The most recent of these cards, the GTX 1650, is priced at $149 (about £115, AU$210), and is positioned to compete with the AMD Radeon RX 570. Image Credit: TechRadar Nvidia Turing specs The marquee feature of Nvidia Turing is the inclusion of ray-tracing, which can render more realistic visuals and lighting in real time without having to fall back on programming tricks. Through specialized RT cores, these graphics cards can basically calculate how light and sound travel in a 3D environment at a rate of up to 10 GigaRay/s on the RTX 2080 Ti. These specialized cores also allow Nvidia Turing-based graphics cards to process ray tracing up to 25 times faster than Pascal. When these RT Cores aren’t in use for ray tracing, they essentially switch off, ceasing to draw any power.    In addition to these RT cores, the Turing Architecture also features Tensor Cores, like the ones found in Volta. These specialized cores enable artificial intelligence and neural networking so that Turing cards get better at rendering over time – something previously exclusive to supercomputers.  With the ability to deliver 500 trillion Tensor operations a second, this technology accelerates deep learning training and inferencing. This allows Nvidia to offer Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which could be a version of super sampling that won’t bring your computer to its knees.  Even for games that don’t support this new DLSS tech, these AI-fueled cores should deliver traditional anti-aliasing much more efficiently – up to eight times. As with Volta, Nvidia Turing is adopting GDDR6 memory – up to 11GB in the RTX 2080 Ti, which can clock in at up to 14Gbps, and up to 8GB in the RTX 2080 Super, clocking in at up to 15.5Gbps. That’s quite the leap over the Pascal-powered Nvidia Titan Xp that clocked in at 11.4Gbps. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is an absolute behemoth of a GPU. With 4,352 CUDA cores, 11GB of GDDR6 VRAM with a 352-bit memory bus and 18 billion transistors, it’s capable of 4K Ultra gaming at high refresh rates for years to come. It’s no wonder it comes with such a high price tag.  The more mainstream RTX 2080 and RTX 2070, as well as the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 Super, are also quite impressive and absolutely destroy the previous generation of GPUs. The former will feature 2,944 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 memory and clocks in at a 1.5GHz base frequency. The 2070, though is be a bit weaker, coming with 2,304 CUDA cores 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and clocked at a 1,410Mhz base frequency. And, while the RTX 2060 is basically just a cut-down RTX 2070, with the same TU106 GPU, but with 1,920 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a boost clock of 1,680 MHz, it’s still a formidable graphics card. Nvidia has also launched some non-RTX cards, starting with the GTX 1660 Ti. This entry-level card features 1,536 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM at 12Gbps, and a base clock of 1,500 MHz. It’s slower than the RTX 2060, but it’s a substantial upgrade over the GTX 1060 it replaces. Team Green’s second non-RTX GPU, the GTX 1660 features 1,480 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR5 video memory and a reference boost clock of 1,785MHz. It might not sound mighty on paper, but between its low price and fantastic 1080p gaming performance, it’s currently the absolutely best entry-level graphics card you can buy. A third non-RTX GPU has been released, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. This low-end GPU features the TU117 GPU, clocked at 1,485GHz with a boost of 1,665GHz. This budget card features 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM with 128GB/s of memory bandwidth on a 128-bit bus. Nvidia Turing Performance  As long as you have the high-end specs to back them up, the new Turing RTX cards are able to perform much faster than their Pascal equivalents. These cards will be able to push it even further once DLSS or deep learning super sampling is more widespread. Additionally, due to the AA improvements in the Tensor cores, we’re seeing about a 20-40% increase in games that don't support DLSS. In our benchmarks, the GeForce RTX 2080 outperforms the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti  by about 11% and the Nvidia GTX 1080 by a more impressive 32% in Middle Earth: Shadow of War in 4K. This performance difference is even more massive when you look at the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. It’s not only 20% faster than the RTX 2080 in the same title, but beats out the last-generation 1080 Ti by a massive 30%, destroying the GTX 1080 with a 45% performance delta.  Then, there’s the RTX 2080 Super, the high-end offering in the Super RTX series. When pitted against its predecessor, we found the RTX 2080 Super is only about 4-5% faster than the RTX 2080 Founders Edition, which may not be worth the upgrade if you’ve already invested in the RTX series. However, if you’re upgrading from a GTX card, and you don’t have the funds to shell out for a $1,199 RTX 2080 Ti, the RTX 2080 Super is as close as you’re going to get to robust 4K gaming experience.  The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 is less impressive, and while it does absolutely wipe the floor with the GTX 1070, it’s essentially neck in neck with the GTX 1080 – barely hitting a 10% performance increase at 4K in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. At this price point, we expected more, especially after seeing the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti’s impressive performance. On the other hand, we’re very impressed with the price-to-performance ratio of the RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2060 Super. This is especially true for the former, which offers a much better performance than the vanilla RTX 2070 at $100 cheaper, and can even breach the RTX 2080’s territory. With boosted specs, the RTX 2060 Super will easily handle 1440p gaming with ray tracing enabled, rivaling the RTX 2070’s performance.  The RTX 2060 is obviously the weakest of the bunch, but you shouldn’t dismiss it outright. The mid-range Nvidia Turing card far outclasses the GTX 1060, but what’s more surprising is that it surpasses the GTX 1070 Ti – for a lower asking price. We were able to get 90 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p, whereas the 1070 Ti lagged behind at 86 fps. That’s not a huge difference, but the 2060 is $100 cheaper at launch.  In traditional games, there’s no question that Nvidia Turing marks a total upgrade from Pascal. And, over time as drivers mature and users get ready to start overclocking their Turing cards, the difference is only going to grow. That’s not to mention the inclusion of incoming DLSS and ray tracing in games, which should only increase the Nvidia Turing performance gap. When it comes to ray tracing, there was only one title that supported it at the time of writing: Battlefield V. And, in that title, the Nvidia Turing cards use a hybrid rendering technique – combining both traditional rasterization and ray tracing in order to produce playable frame rates. Nvidia utilizes “Bounding Volume Hierarchy,” or BVH to track large portions of the scene being rendered for whether or not a ray is being bounced. The RTX cores will then dig deeper into these large rendering zones until it finds the polygon that’s getting hit by the light ray.  This method impacts performance far less than tracking each ray live, but it’s still very demanding. In our own testing, you’ll be stuck at 1080p if you’re looking for smooth gameplay with ray tracing turned on. However, with Nvidia’s latest RTX drivers, it’s claiming to increase performance by up to 50% for ray tracing. We’ll be sure to test this and report back, but we have to wait for the new Battlefield V patch to do it.  As for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, you can expect a much better performance than the GTX 1060 for less money – up to 56% faster in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p in our testing. That makes the 1660 Ti a beast when it comes to value. Meanwhile, this the latest in AMD Vega This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Google starts ditching Android apps in favor of web apps on Chrome OS Posted: 14 Apr 2020 10:48 AM PDT Google has started quietly replacing some Android apps with Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in the Play Store for Chromebooks. Though PWAs were available in the Play Store before, Chrome Unboxed has spotted that Google has started making them the default on Chrome OS, with Twitter and YouTube TV the first to receive the PWA treatment.  Check out the best laptops Here are the best USB-C monitors on the market right now Here are the best Ultrabooks Dominick Ng, a manager on the Chrome OS Apps Platform at Google, confirmed the move on Twitter, and said that this project was “some of the most challenging and satisfying engineering work” he’s ever done. The switch from Android apps to PWAs is good news for the Chromebook faithful. While being able to install Android apps is one of the key selling points of Google’s barebones desktop OS, these apps are often poorly-optimized, can cause machines to stutter, and take up lots of storage on often low-spec devices.  What even is a PWA? PWAS - which are essentially web pages that offer some of the same functionality as native apps, such as notifications, and dynamically shift to fit mobile or desktop screens - typically run better on the web-first operating system; they are faster, take up less storage, and have a lower impact on battery life.  Updates are also easier, as developers can push these out invisibly whenever an internet connection is available and users open the app.  The process for installing these apps won’t change. When you locate Twitter or YouTube TV in the Play Store and hit download, the PWA-version will automatically load, with no option to download the Android alternative. These lightweight, web-based apps can be uninstalled with this process like an Android app, too. Though Google has yet to officially comment, bar Ng’s tweet, it’s likely we’ll soon be seeing more PWAs become the default choices on the Play Store as Google starts pushing the web-based technology to the masses and starts phasing out locally-stored apps in favour of lightweight PWAs. Don't like Chromebooks? Here's everything you need to know about Windows 10 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dell wants to kill off BIOS attacks Posted: 14 Apr 2020 10:26 AM PDT With more people working from home than ever before, organizations need to protect their remote workers now more than ever and Dell believes this starts with the devices they use to get their jobs done. One area often targeted by hackers is the BIOS as it is the core system built deep inside a PC which controls critical operations such as booting and ensuring a secure configuration.  To protect users from BIOS attacks, organizations need built-in security solutions to protect endpoints which is why Dell Technologies has introduced Dell SafeBIOS Events & Indicators of Attack (IoA) to further protect its commercial PCs. Dell launches Dell Technologies on Demand Michael Dell: Advancing humanity by unlocking the power of data Also check out our roundup of the best business laptops The company's new solution uses behavior-based threat detection at the BIOS level to detect advanced endpoint threats. BIOS attacks The sudden transition to remote working as a result of global pandemic means that organizations need to ensure that their workers' PCs are secure, starting below the operating system in the BIOS. Securing the BIOS is particularly important as a compromised BIOS can potentially provide an attacker with access to all data on the endpoint including user credentials. In a worst-case scenario, an attacker could even leverage a compromised BIOS to move within an organization's network and attack its broader IT infrastructure. Dell's SafeBIOS provides organizations with the unique ability to generate Indicators of Attack on BIOS configurations including changes and events that can signal an exploit. When BIOS configuration changes are detected that could indicate an attack, security and IT teams are alerted in their management consoles which allows for swift isolation and remediation. SafeBIOS Events & IoA gives IT teams visibility into BIOS configuration changes and analyzes them for potential threats even during an ongoing attack. The SafeBIOS Events & IoA utility is now available for download on Dell commercial PCs as part of the Dell Trusted Device solution. We've also highlighted the best antivirus software This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

OnePlus 8 vs OnePlus 8 Pro: what's the difference? Posted: 14 Apr 2020 10:05 AM PDT The OnePlus 8 is here and as has recently become customary for the brand it has landed alongside the even more high-end OnePlus 8 Pro. But just what exactly do you get if you go Pro? And is it worth spending the extra on the OnePlus 8 Pro rather than getting the OnePlus 8 – which is already a high-end phone? To answer the first question and help you answer the second one for yourself, we’ve compared these two phones in detail, looking at their designs, screens, cameras, and other specs, so you can see just how similar – or different – they are. Read our OnePlus 8 review Or our hands on OnePlus 8 Pro review Price and availability The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will both be available in the UK and the US, hitting stores on April 21 in the UK and April 29 in the US. The OnePlus 8 starts at $699 / £599 for a model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, rising to $799 / £699 for a version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The OnePlus 8 Pro meanwhile starts at $899 / £799 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, rising to $999 / £899 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. So you’re paying $200 / £200 more for the equivalent Pro model than for the basic OnePlus 8. Design The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro both have a glass back and a metal frame, with curved edges on both the front and back, like so many other flagships. They also both come in Onyx Black or Glacial Green shades – though the OnePlus 8 is additionally available in Interstellar Glow, while the OnePlus 8 Pro additionally comes in Ultramarine Blue. The OnePlus 8 Pro (L) and OnePlus 8 (R) The OnePlus 8 is also the slimmer, lighter phone, coming in at 160.2 x 72.9 x 8mm and 180g, while the OnePlus 8 Pro is 165.3 x 74.35 x 8.5mm and 199g. That means the OnePlus 8 Pro is also taller and wider, but then it also has a bigger screen, which we’ll get to below. Display The OnePlus 8 has a 6.55-inch display, while the OnePlus 8 Pro ups the size to 6.78 inches. The OnePlus 8 Pro’s screen is also higher resolution at 1440 x 3168 (for 513 pixels per inch), compared to 1080 x 2400 and 402 pixels per inch on the OnePlus 8. Plus, there’s a 120Hz refresh rate on the OnePlus 8 Pro, while it tops out at 90Hz on the OnePlus 8 – though that that’s still notably higher than the ‘standard’ 60Hz offered by the majority of smartphones. Still, the OnePlus 8 Pro’s screen is bigger, sharper and smoother than the OnePlus 8’s. But both models have a Fluid AMOLED screen with HDR10+ support, both have a single-lens punch-hole camera in the top left corner, and they have similar but not identical aspect ratios. The OnePlus 8 is 20:9, while the OnePlus 8 Pro is 19.8:9. Camera and battery The OnePlus 8 has a triple-lens camera with a 48MP f/1.75 main sensor, a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro one. The OnePlus 8 Pro on the other hand has a quad-lens camera, made up of a 48MP f/1.78 main one, a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one, an 8MP f/2.44 telephoto one (with 3x hybrid zoom), and a 5MP f/2.4 color filter camera (focused on lighting effects and filters). So the OnePlus 8 Pro has more and likely better lenses on the back, but both models have a 16MP selfie camera. As for the battery, the OnePlus 8 has a 4,300mAh one and the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 4,510mAh one. So the battery is slightly bigger in the OnePlus 8 Pro, but there’s also a slightly bigger, sharper screen to power. Both phones support Warp Charge 30T fast charging, but the OnePlus 8 Pro additionally supports wireless charging, which is a first for a OnePlus phone. It also supports reverse wireless charging, so you can use it to wirelessly charge other devices. Specs and features Both OnePlus 8 models have a top-end Snapdragon 865 chipset paired with 8GB or 12GB of RAM, but in the OnePlus 8 you’re getting LPDDR4X RAM, whereas in the OnePlus 8 Pro you’re getting LPDDR5 RAM, which improves memory speeds by almost 30% and reduces power consumption by 20%. Storage comes in at a choice of 128GB or 256GB on both models, and both support 5G, run Android 10 (overlaid with the company’s OxygenOS), and have in-screen fingerprint scanners and dual stereo speakers. So there’s not a huge amount of difference here. Takeaway The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro have similar designs, the same chipset and software, and some other identical features, such as in-screen fingerprint scanners, but there’s a whole lot that’s different. With the OnePlus 8 Pro you get a bigger, sharper screen with a higher maximum refresh rate, more cameras, some of which – on paper at least – have superior specs, faster RAM, a bigger battery, and wireless charging. It sounds like a substantially better phone then, but it’s also substantially more expensive, so may not end up being as good value. As for how good each handset is in practice – make sure to check our OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro reviews to find out. Will either of these make our list of the best phones? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Microsoft's Surface Pro 7 gets a $260 price cut at Best Buy Posted: 14 Apr 2020 10:01 AM PDT Best Buy is slashing the price on Microsoft's laptop-tablet hybrid, the Surface Pro 7. For a limited time, you can get the Surface Pro 7 with Type Cover on sale for $699. That's a $260 discount and the best price we've found for the 2-in-1 tablet. The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 features a 12.3 -inch touch-screen display and packs 128GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, and an Intel 10th Generation Core i3 processor. This deal includes Microsoft's Type Cover, so you don't have to worry about an extra $100+ expense to complete the 2-in-1 laptop experience. As we mentioned above, this is the best price we've found for the Surface Pro 7 bundle and a fantastic deal for a powerful 2-in-1 tablet. We don't know how long Best Buy will have the Surface Pro on sale, so you should take advantage now before it's too late. Shop more tablet deals at Best Buy here Shop more laptop deals at Best Buy here See more offers with the best cheap laptop deals and the best cheap tablets 2020: the top budget options. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Zoom virtual background: how to use the feature, create your own and free image options Posted: 14 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT While Zoom virtual backgrounds isn’t the video conferencing application’s most essential feature, it’s undoubtedly the most fun. Available for free and paying users, Zoom virtual backgrounds allows you to trade in your bomb-site bedroom or tired old office for another setting entirely with just a few clicks. You can choose from a selection of stock options - such as the Golden Gate Bridge or a Caribbean beach - or you can upload an image or video from your own device. What is Zoom? How it works, tips and tricks and best alternatives Here's our list of the best video conferencing services of 2020 Check out our step-by-step guide on how to use Zoom video conferencing Zoom’s virtual backgrounds feature has been especially cherished in recent weeks, with millions of workers forced to rely on Zoom video conferencing to communicate with colleagues as a result of quarantine measures. While remote working veterans may have the luxury of a dedicated video conferencing space, Zoom virtual backgrounds provide a great alternative for those of us whose home office doesn’t provide the ideal setting for a Monday morning meeting. To find out more about Zoom video conferencing, how it works and the latest news, check out our guide and how to use Zoom page. How to use Zoom virtual backgrounds Activating, configuring and using Zoom virtual backgrounds is simple, requiring only a few steps. First, ensure the Zoom virtual backgrounds feature is enabled in your account settings. You can do this by accessing your account page via your web browser, navigating to Settings in the left-hand bar, clicking on In Meeting (Advanced) and toggling Virtual Backgrounds to on (the slider will turn blue once the feature has been activated). To configure your Zoom virtual background, log into the desktop application and click on the settings icon in the top right corner. Under the Virtual Background tab, you can choose from stock options, or upload an image or video via the + icon below the video feed. Whichever background you select in the settings pane will automatically be applied when you next log into a video conference (which is worth bearing in mind if you’re also using the application to conference with friends in your downtime). For the best results, it’s important to ensure the video is bright and evenly lit. Zoom virtual backgrounds don’t perform quite as well in partial darkness or glaring light, which can both result in unwanted distortion. Using a green screen backdrop is ideal, but impractical for many, and a plain background of any colour works perfectly well so long as your clothing isn’t the same colour. Creating custom Zoom virtual backgrounds Creating your own custom Zoom virtual background is simple, especially with the newly released tool from Canva. If you’re a whizz with Photoshop (or any other image editing software), you have the freedom to create any background you like, but Canva provides a simple alternative for those of us not gifted in design. Canva’s tool allows you to create your own Zoom virtual background using its library of millions of illustrations and icons, and customise the design with a few easy-to-use editing tools. For those who haven’t used Canva before, there are 80 ready-made templates available, ranging from star sign-themed illustrations to landscape shots. We’re partial to this lemons background ourselves. The required image dimensions depend on the resolution of the webcam you’re using. If you’re not sure, you can find out using this webcam resolution test. According to Zoom’s general guidelines, images should have a minimum resolution of 1280x720 pixels, but the higher the resolution the better. Videos, meanwhile, should have a minimum resolution of 1280x720 pixels and a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Free Zoom virtual background images If you don’t want to go to the trouble of creating your own Zoom virtual background, you could opt for one of the following popular options. Thanks to a few generous companies, you’re spoilt for choice. You can sit on the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones or ride with Westworld’s finest cowboys and cowgirls, thanks to this complementary selection from HBO. Both NBC and FOX also tweeted out some fine options, including the couch from The Simpsons, the Bob’s Burgers restaurant from Bob’s Burgers, and Leslie’s office from Parks and Recreation. If you’re looking for something a little more business appropriate, image gallery Shutterstock has also provided a pack of free Zoom virtual background images, including this tranquil shot of Mt. Fuji in Autumn. Searching for Zoom virtual backgrounds on Twitter will also yield hundreds of great options created by talented artists or offered up by IP holders - and plenty of memes too. More free options: - Bethesda - Spongebob’s pineapple - DC Comics - The ‘This Is Fine’ meme - Pixar The best webcams If you’re after a new webcam for Zoom video conferencing - or indeed any other kind of video conferencing - these are our top recommendations right now. Here's our list of the best video conferencing solutions of 2020 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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