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Top Five Notebooks of 2014

VR World Staff — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 08:54:07 +0000

With the holidays approaching fast and the sales that come with it many people will be getting new notebooks this holiday season. Researching what the best notebooks out there are takes time and we though we could help out by giving you our choices in five different categories of notebooks. They are gaming, ultraportable, Chromebook, business, and Apple MacBook. With the latest computer parts in these notebooks it will be certain that they will be able to earn there keep for quite some time. There are many things to consider when looking for a notebook and budget is a big one. Most of these choices are going to be in the higher end range since they perform better.

Gaming Notebook: MSI Computer GT72 Dominator Pro with GTX 980M – $2,299

This gaming notebook is the top of the line from MSI, and it does not disappoint. Equipped with Intel i7-4710HQ, 16GB of DDR3-1600, a 128GB SSD, and a Nvidia GTX 980M 8GB, this will tear through any recent and upcoming game. The best thing about the GT72 Dominator Pro is that MSI has taken steps to ensure that you can update the graphics down the line when new and better GPUs come out. This means that the investment made in this computer will last a lot longer than comparable notebooks that are stuck with their graphics for the life of the product. If you are wanting some more speed from the notebook then throw in four identical M.2 SSDs inside and put them in RAID 0 for read/write speeds of up to 1600MB/s. From experience with MSI’s SuperRAID as it is called I can attest to how massive of an improvement that speeds like this can be, it makes using the notebook just so much more enjoyable. You can even attach three monitors to the notebook with two mini-displayport and one HDMI outputs. The keyboard feels like no other notebook keyboard and is made by the gaming company SteelSeries. Bottom line is that if this is in your budget and you are a gamer or even a power user, I have little doubt that you will love this notebook.

Apple Notebook: 15″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pro with Retina display – $2,374.99

There is no denying it, Apple makes good notebooks and they are arguably the best notebooks for running Windows on as well. The Retina display will allow for better multi-tasking with various windows as the resolution gives lots of screen real estate. The Retina display will be great for those who edit photos or video as the display will reproduce colors very well. The construction of the MacBook Pro is amazing and the fit and finish are things that other companies could learn a thing or two from. The choice with the 2.5GHz Intel i7 was made for what would be the most capable and powerful option with a reasonable price. At Apple you can customize the MacBook Pro with up to a 1TB SSD and a 2.8GHz Intel i7.

Ultraportable Notebook: Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro – $1,382.99

The 2-in-1 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro is the latest model in the Yoga line and features an amazing watchband style hinge. The hinge is made up of hundreds of individual pieces that allows the notebook to flex like no other and fold to use it in different positions. The screen is a high resolution (3200×1800) IPS touchscreen that will reproduce colors very well and look much better than lower quality panels. If needing something very light, portable, and a long battery life then this notebook should be on your list of ones to check out. The stylish Yoga 3 Pro is one of the most stunning designs out now and is powered by the brand new Intel Core M processor.

Chromebook – Toshiba Chromebook 2 1080p $329.99

Chromebooks are a new breed of notebook, and people are really loving them. Chromebooks generally are affordable, light, and have long battery life making it an easy choice for those who need something portable. The best thing about this model is likely the 1080p IPS panel that will look much better than panels that are in other models. Powering the notebook is an Intel Celeron processor, and while not very powerful it will get the job done and sip power giving longer battery life. The battery should be good for up to 8 hours and 45 minutes. The audio has been fine-tuned by Skullcandy meaning that it should deliver much nicer sound than the standard Chromebook. This will be useful if you enjoy listening to streaming music while you surf the web or do work. The 802.11ac Wi-Fi is blazing fast and will allow you to get better coverage over other Chromebooks.

Business Notebook: Lenovo X1 Carbon – $1,619

When looking for a business notebook it is wise to choose something that is portable and light so you can easily get work done no matter where you are working. The X1 Carbon also offers great battery life allowing up to 9 hours from a single charge. Lenovo is the the most used PC maker for businesses and they sure do know what they are doing with its lineup that is geared for productivity. The keyboard is surprisingly good and has back-lighting making it easier to get work done while on that red-eye to an important meeting or at home in the evening. The integrated fingerprint reader should help simplify secure login by allowing you to simply swipe a finger over it. When it comes to a business notebook, choosing Lenovo is a wise choice that millions have made before.

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Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI : The Start Of A HTPC

VR World Staff — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 00:58:44 +0000

When considering a new HTPC build a lot should be taken into account, and a big part of that should be the motherboard, If size is to be kept to a minimum then the obvious choice for a motherboard is a Mini-ITX form factor board. If it should be power efficient then the AMD APU lineup is a good starting place since it has decent GPU and CPU power. Choosing something that fits both of those criteria will mean that a A88X Mini-ITX board is likely on the list. This Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI will fit the bill nicely since it has a lot of features that a user will want when building a HTPC and not a lot of unnecessary fluff filling up the already cramped board.

The HTPC is a great option for those who have a lot of media that they have accumulated over the years and want to watch on a tv or home cinema. There are plenty of large HTPC builds that users can do with a simple ATX sized board and a big case. But for those looking for something a bit smaller that will look great next to the tv or in the home cinema the Mini-ITX solutions are often the best. They will be compact builds and many of the HTPC cases for them look great and will blend right in with current components that users may have or will be getting.

Overview

Gigabyte is a well known and trusted brand and its boards are many peoples first choice when it comes to picking a new motherboard. They have a couple different choices of A88X Mini-ITX boards. The only current AMD chipset Mini-ITX boards that you can find on sites like Newegg are the A88X boards. So they made sure that people have a few choices in that small segment, which is great for selecting a board that will suit your needs. This board sits at the top of the lineup and it comes packaged with a dual band 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 add-in card. This means that the board is up to date with the speediest Wi-Fi standard available, and will be able to operate at speeds of up to 867Mbps.

The board offers a few features to enhance this board. The board has Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable 4 Plus, meaning that the board is built with good quality components that should stand up to stress that may come from certain setups. The board also uses all solid capacitors and Low RDS(on) MOSFETs which will work at higher temperatures and have longer lifespans. This board also features DualBIOS which means that users will have a second BIOS to fall back on if the first one has issues, such as a failed BIOS flash. Humidity Protection, Power Failure Protection, and Electrostatic Protection are all in the board as well. Also on the board is ESD protection for USB and LAN, as well as one fuse per USB 3.0 porst.

AMD Eyefinity technology is available for those who choose to use this as a small desktop build with multiple monitors. This board also has two HDMI ports instead of having multiple different options. With using a qualified AMD APU and GPU that have Dual Graphics technology the board will use both the discrete GPU and the APU to deliver better graphics performance. 4K Ultra HD support is there right out of the box as well via HDMI ports.

Specifications:

Model: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
CPUs: FM2+ / FM2 Athlon/A- Series
Chipset: AMD A88X (Bolton D4)
Memory: 2×240pin Dual Channel DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333
Maximum Memory Supported: 64GB
Expansion Slot: PCI Express 3.0 x16
Mini Card Slots: 1 x mini-PCI Express slot for the wireless module
SATA: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s
SATA RAID: 0/1/5/10/JBOD
Audio: Realtek ALC892 / 7.1 Channels
LAN: Realtek 10/100/1000Mbps
Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with Bluetooth 4.0, 3.0+HS, 2.1+EDR

Rear Panel Ports

1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
1 x DVI-D
2 x HDMI
2 x USB 3.0
4 x USB 2.0
1 x Optical
5x Audio Ports

Internal I/O Connectors

2 x USB 3.0 + 2 x USB 2.0
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x APU fan header
1 x system fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
1 x chassis intrusion header

Physical Spec

Mini ITX
6.7″ x 6.7″
Power Pin: 24 Pin

Features

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 Plus Technology
IR Digital 4+2 phase APU power design
GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS
Support for @BIOS
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Xpress Install
Support for EasyTune
Support for Smart Recovery 2
Support for ON/OFF Charge
Support for Wi-Fi Share
Support for Cloud Station

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Keyssa's Kiss Connectivity Looks to Kill Connectors

Anshel Sag — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 02:22:06 +0000

Keyssa, a company that has been in stealth mode for the past few years has finally come out with their new revolutionary technology that utilizes EHF 60 GHz wireless connectivity to transmit a whole host of connectivity standards without using any cables or connectors. The Kiss Connectivity, as Keyssa is calling it, is essentially a very short range wireless connectivity standard designed to allow someone to touch two devices together and to transfer data across them as if there were a connector or a cable between them.

This is not designed to replace wireless standards like Wi-Fi, WiGig, Bluetooth, or NFC, but rather operate in parallel with those standards in order to deliver a connector-less device. However, this technology does operate at the same 60 GHz frequency as WiGig also known as 802.11ad and is capable of transmitting signals at or around the same speeds as WiGig’s theoretical maximum speeds. Keyssa states that Kiss Connectivity’s maximum throughput is 6 Gbit/s while WiGig’s is 7 Gbit/s but Keyssa has been very clear that they do not consider themselves another wireless protocol since they are designed to simply replace a connector.

In fact, Kiss Connectivity is capable of transmitting and passing through standards like USB 3.0, DisplayPort, SATA and even PCIe. Keyssa claims that Kiss Connectivity is incredibly secure because it is point to point and as such is not as open to devices outside of the close proximity that Kiss Connectivity requires. Kiss Connectivity is wireless, technology even though you could theoretically use it by touching, they have designed it to require 1cm of proximity for security purposes. What will be interesting is to see how well this technology works in practice and how it will be implemented in devices. After all, Qi wireless charging requires essentially direct contact and if there is any misalignment you could have problems. And judging by the fact that the Kiss Connectivity is touted as a very small solution, there are going to be some problems with alignment. Especially when you consider that Kiss Connectivity, like most radio technologies, cannot go through a metal case which means that you either have to have a plastic body or find a hole in your metal casing to transmit Kiss Connectivity.

Another interesting tidbit about the company is that if you look at the majority of their leadership team and a lot of the advisers, there are a lot of former Silicon Image employees. This is relevant because Silicon Image is one of the companies behind HDMI and MHL, two very prominent but proprietary technologies that require licensing in order to be used. There is no denying that the group of people that Keyssa has assembled are experienced and capable individuals and probably a very strong team. However, it must be acknowledged that Kiss Connectivity is still a proprietary technology and does not necessarily mean that you can get rid of a power connector on your device unless you go with something like Qi or Rezence and if you’re going to put a power connector on your device in the future it will very likely be a USB Type-C connector which also carries data and video. It remains to be seen if anyone is willing to build a fully wireless device, but there’s no doubt that Keyssa’s Kiss Connectivity is the technology that can enable that.

They’re also backed by Intel Capital and Samsung, which lends a bit more legitimacy to their technology even though both Samsung and Intel are already showing WiGig technologies for similar applications (not direct touch point to point). While Samsung and Intel aren’t necessarily showing the exact same technology, they are still harnessing 60 GHz to transfer large amounts of data, be it video or simply files. The end result, however, is the same.

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VESA DisplayPort 1.3 Standard Announced

Anshel Sag — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:10:11 +0000

VESA officially announced the DisplayPort 1.3 Standard Monday, something long-time readers of Bright Side of News* may have already been familiar with.

Many months ago, there was talk about DisplayPort 1.3 exclusively on BSN*, those rumors pointed to 8K and 4K 3D. In terms of bandwidth, the 8.1 Gbps per channel was spot on as VESA’s new DisplayPort 1.3 bandwidth clocks in at exactly 32.4 Gbits/second. This is more than enough to support 4K video (as DisplayPort 1.2 already does this with much less bandwidth). However, the increase to 32.4 Gbps appears to be more of a future-proofing of DisplayPort 1.3 as it already incorporates 4K support as well as adaptive sync from the DisplayPort 1.2a standard that preceded it.

DisplayPort Bandwidth

The new DisplayPort 1.3 standard also brings HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0 compatibility, enabling you to take a DisplayPort connector and make it into an HDMI 2.0 connector at will via an adapter. Thanks to the added bandwidth of the DisplayPort 1.3 standard, there is also the possibility of supporting 4K displays at 60 Hz and up to 24-bit color, and as if that all weren’t enough there are additional data channels available for USB 3.0 connectivity with Dockport. This means that we could expect to see USB 3.0 connectors on some 4K monitors using only a single data cable and a separate cable for power.

VESA is currently only talking about 5K resolution support like for the recently announced Dell 5K monitor with DisplayPort 1.3, which very likely means that we won’t see 4K3D and 8K support until DisplayPort 1.3a when VESA adopts their compression standard as part of DisplayPort. While there isn’t necessarily an exact timeframe for such an update, there’s a very good chance that the industry could see it follow shortly after DisplayPort 1.3’s announcement today. It is a little disappointing that the compression standard didn’t make it into DisplayPort 1.3, but there could have been a timing issue that caused a delay that wouldn’t have enabled DisplayPort 1.3 to have the necessary compression to support 8K resolution.

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Zotac releases affordable DisplayPort cards

Theo Valich — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:00:19 +0000

Since DisplayPort will be the “Flavor of the year” in 2009, and start to replace DVI and analog D-SUB, more and more companies are joining in with their products that feature this connector.
Zotac decided to launch the most affordable cards so far – based on GeForce 9400GT and 9500GT, these boards are targeting those entry-level systems that will be inside those “Christmas special” systems that will be equipped with “displays for 2009″.

Two el cheapo parts...

All in all, interesting parts.

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New “nForce for AMD” chipsets take shape under GeForce name

Theo Valich — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:00:39 +0000

Last week, Chinese site Expreview.com published a story about the new generation of nForce chipsets for AMD processors.

We managed to find more details through course of the weekend. For starters, the lineup will consist out of three (not two) chipsets with various capabilities.

MCP82-S1, MCP82-S2 and MCP82-S3 will round the lineup, all targeting their respective markets (high-end, mainstream and entry-level). The S1 and S2 will support SLI, while S3 targets lucrative OEM/ODM deals – our sources indicate that this variant will be pitched as a successor to GeForce 6150 line that conquered many Dells, HPs and Acers out there.
MCP82-S1 targets the high-end, with Hybrid-SLI technology attaching up to three graphics cards in 3-Way SLI (one card connected via x16 slot, two via x8 slots). The chipset features 35 PCIe lanes and 7 links. You can expect that a typical MCP82-S1 mainboard layout for will include three PCIe x16, two x1 and one PCI 3.0 slot. Or two PCI and single x1 slot.
MCP82-S2 supports 19 PCIe lanes and 4 links, so typical layout will be two PCIe x8 slots and two x1 slots. Or, single PCIe x16 and three x1 slots. As you can see, this board does not target the multi-GPU gamer, but rather offers compelling single-card experience. HybridSLI is supported, of course.
MCP82-S3 should be available only in micro-ATX form factor, offering a cut-down cost effective version of S2. These motherboards will target customers that are entering the world of computing. If Nvidia gets the price down, you will see this chipset even in netbooks. We feel that combination between next-generation Tegra and MCP82-S3 would be quite interesting for netbook market. Of course, if Microsoft allows licensing of Windows Mobile for a “cut-down notebook”.

In the future, you should connect your monitor to the motherboard.

Integrated GPU in all three chipsets is based between G92 and GT200 chips, offering improved performance in CUDA applications. I haven’t been able to find out will it bring 32 or 40 shader processors (thus, two or three FP64 DP units). mGPU features Dual-Link DVI, HDMI and analog VGA connectors. If Nvidia really wants us to connect our displays to their mGPU, they should put two Dual-Link DVIs or two DisplayPorts. Only then they can start thinking about removing one DVI connector from their GeForce cards, not before (more about that later).
Storage-wise, Nvidia continues with hardware RAID support – RAID 0, 0+1 and 5 are all supported through six SATA connectors. Hardware network chips will continue to offer GbE or paired GbE speeds through two RJ-45 connectors. Of course, if you activate paired GbE network, you get single RJ-45 with 2Gbps speed.
Memory-wise, MCP8 series supports AM2, AM2+ and AM3 processor sockets, so you can expect to find DIMM slots for either DDR2-800/1066 or DDR3-1066/1333/1600. SLI Memory will continue to be supported from the box and there is little doubt that new SLI-Ready memory will not appear in time for launch. If AMD scores a big one with their 45nm line-up, we might even see the continuation of AMD-CPU-Only memory from OCZ, for instance.
Further integration with AMD processors includes full support for Advanced Clock Calibration, feature from latest Southbridge chips from ATI. With ACC, you can push the CPUs further than you were before. Usually, a gain is around 200-400 MHz (from 2.8-3.0 to 3.2 on air), and the overclocking capabilities of AM3 processors remain unknown.
The biggest question that lies in the air is – will the nForce brand survive? Destiny of S3 is already sealed and delivered (GeForce), but time will tell will we see nForce 890a and 870a, or will the naming convention swing the GeForce way. We expect these chips to launch in June, during Computex Taipei 2009.

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How to name a SVGA projector today? It’s a Wii projector!

Theo Valich — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:00:38 +0000

Going through dozens of e-mails can only lead to depression… or revelation. I’ve encountered a press release stating that BenQ is releasing two short throw DLP projectors: MP512ST and MP522ST.
The former is targeting gaming market with quotes such as “ideal for playing the Wii”, while the latter should excel in business and education. Or so the press release goes. The fact of the matter is that MP512ST is geared towards the Wii because it sports a resolution of 800×600 pixels (SVGA), and if it stayed there, we would be happy. But the release continued quoting that an 800×600 projector is ideal for “PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, movies and more”.
Anybody who ever played a PS3/X360 games on 800×600 projectors knows that he is going to get blurry images and down sampled resolution. Other than that, rest of specifications is solid: 2200 ANSI lumens, 2500:1 contrast ratio, HDMI and two 5W speakers. The lamp eats up 185W and will last for roughly half a year (3000-4000 hours). All of this is enclosed in a snow white case. It should look good with the Xbox 360, fairly good with the white Wii and not so good with the PS3.

Wii Projector otherwise carries a dull name of MP512ST ;-)

What makes this projector interesting is the fact that it is capable of projecting a 140cm (55″) image at only one meter (100cm, 40 inches) distance from the screen. This is really an impressive feat. Price in UK is set at 430 squids ($740) and will be available at the end of October.

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nForce is dead: Zotac releases its GeForce 9300 motherboard

Theo Valich — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:00:22 +0000

I saw first motherboards based on MCP7-series chipset back on Computex 2007. Yup, after a year and half nVIDIA is finally releasing MCP7 series to market, featuring GeForce 8-class GPU for Intel processors.
It is hard to understand what kind of problems delayed this part for over a year, but one of theories could be that nVIDIA didn’t want to cannibalize the sales of GeForce 8400 and 8500 series, which is give-or-take the performance that you’re going to get with GeForce 9300/9400 chipset.
Zotac is well known manufacturer of nVIDIA graphics cards, and also known as the company that produced highest clocked 8800Ultra, 8800GT and GTX280 cards out there. Zotac is already in the motherboard business, but guys’n’girls didn’t push them to the market. Things will change with this one, for sure. Zotac is relying on NVIDIA GeForce 9300 GPU with 16 shader processors and all the features NVIDIA has on its mainstream GPUs: DX10, OpenGL 2.1, CUDA and PhysX, Hybrid SLI, PureVideo HD and so on, and so on. This baby supports a maximum of 16 GB of DDR2 memory, which is a nice upgrade from 8GB limit from previous Intel chipsets, nForce 6 and 7 series.

GeForce with PCIe slot, not the GeForce that goes in the PCIe slot

What makes this motherboard special is “Zotac-special”: beside HDMI audio/video connector, this motherboard also features DVI audio output, so technically, you can drive two TV screens via HDMI from the same motherboard. This company was first to offer DVI Audio on NVIDIA graphics cards and it’s nice to see that trend spreading across various nV partners.
But perhaps the most important part is the fact that nForce brand is slowly cease to exist. NVIDIA stated that all future products will include graphics processors and Hybrid SLI modes. With the focus on GeForce brand, it is no wonder that nForce is slowly, but certainly – going the way of dodo birds.
Future of NVIDIA is most probably integration of Tegra processors with the GeForce parts on their AMD/Intel chipsets, able to boot OS without using AMD/Intel CPUs at all. Who knows, the day when GeForce graphics card will boot operating system may not seem so far away.

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