At Canalys Channels Forum last week, Lenovo finally revealed launch timeframe for its foldable ThinkPad X1 hybrid notebook that was first revealed in May. The company says that the machine is ready from hardware standpoint, but it needs its software partners to polish off their programs for the innovative unit.

Lenovo’s foldable ThinkPad X1 features a 13.3-inch OLED display featuring a ‘2K’ resolution that can be folded in half to fit it into a small bag. The hybrid notebook can be used in tablet, book, and clamshell modes to serve different purposes. It can also be attached to a stand or a dock for workloads that require a mechanical keyboard and a mouse. The foldable ThinkPad X1 uses an undisclosed Intel processor as well as Microsoft’s Windows operating system and is therefore compatible with a wide variety of software applications.

Image by Laptop Mag

Milanka Muecke, director of global commercial communications and brand at Lenovo, described the foldable ThinkPad X1 device as a fully-fledged PC that fits in the palm of a hand:

“I have it right here and you can have it in your purse. It looks like a leather bound notebook that you can carry with you all day long, but it is a full performance PC that fits in the palm of your hand.”

Lenovo now expects to ship its foldable ThinkPad in the second quarter of 2020, though it is unclear when it will be revealed from April to June (Note, June is Computex). From the hardware standpoint, the product is sound, but software still needs certain fixes, according to Gianfrano Lanci, COO of Lenovo:

“It will start shipping probably Q2 next year. […] Hardware is ready, but we need to still fix certain things from a software point of view and that does not depend 100% on us.”

The high-ranking executive of Lenovo does not expect foldable ThinkPad X1 to be an immediate bestseller (probably because of price and other factors), but as a new form-factor it will enable Lenovo to tap into emerging market segments. One of the obvious segments that the foldable ThinkPad X1 will address will be high-performance tablets like Apple’s iPad Pro. Meanwhile, Lenovo will ship its device several months before Microsoft’s launch of dual-screen Surface Neo that targets the same segment.

Related Reading:

• Lenovo Launches ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7: Thinner, Lighter, Comet Lake Inside
• Lenovo’s 2019 ThinkPad X1 Yoga: An Ultralight Convertible with Comet Lake
• Lenovo Unveils ThinkPad P1 Gen 2: New 15.6-Inch Carbon Fiber Chassis
• Lenovo Unveils ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2: New CPU, GPU, OLED Display Option

Sources: The Register, Laptop Mag, TechRadar

Source: AnandTech – Lenovo: Foldable ThinkPad X1 to Launch in 2020

AMD has accidentally published its Product Master list – a list with all of its consumer, enterprise, and OEM parts listed. In the latest publication, it reveals multiple CPUs that could potentially be released in the future. The document, which is dated September 2019, indicates that AMD may be mulling to launch its Ryzen 7 3750X product with a 105 W TDP, though does not disclose its specifications or if it is OEM-only.

From AMD’s Master Product Document

As the product number suggests, AMD’s Ryzen 7 3750X will sit between the eight-core Ryzen 7 3800X and the eight-core Ryzen 7 3700X, which leads to a suggestion that we are dealing with another eight-core CPU with SMT. Meanwhile, the base frequency difference between the Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X is only 300 MHz, which is pretty narrow, whereas the former features a mainstream TDP of 65 W, while the latter can go all the way to 105W.

Keeping in mind that AMD already has a rather diverse Ryzen 3000 (aka Matisse) family and the fact that the company may have various ideas how to improve its product lineup, it is not particularly easy to make predictions about future products, especially if they may end up as OEM-only products, inside desktops of only one or two partners. The only thing that is certain at this point is that AMD might be considering to strengthen its desktop family if it feels necessary.

AMD’s Product Master document seems to be aimed at the company’s sales teams and contains OPN codes along with US ECCN, HTS, and CCATS codes that are required by the US export regulators. While the list mentions numerous products, at least some of them are potential or partner-specific products.

Related Reading

• AMD: Next Gen Threadripper and Ryzen 9 3950X, Coming November
• AMD Brings Ryzen 9 3900 and Ryzen 5 3500X To Life
• AMD Ryzen 9 3900: A 12-Core 65W CPU Listed
• AMD Ryzen 5 3500 & 3500X Support Spotted
• AMD Announces Ryzen Pro 3000 Series CPUs For Q4

Sources: AMD, Reddit, Tom’s Hardware, Komachi_Ensaka/Twitter, Planet3DNow.de

Source: AnandTech – AMD Ryzen 7 3750X with 105 W TDP: Spotted at AMD

Adding to its small X570 product stack, Biostar has unveiled its latest ATX sized model, the Biostar Racing X570GTA. While nothing to do with ‘Grand Theft Auto’, the X570GTA takes the more budget-focused stance with a Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit Ethernet controller, a Realtek ALC887 HD audio codec, and has support for DDR4-4000 memory.

Bordering on one of the most basic feature-sets we’ve come across for any current model on the X570 chipset, the Biostar Racing X570GTA encompasses its typical Racing brand theme with a black and grey accented design. The X570GTA has a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot which has a coating of metal slot reinforcement, a second full-length PCIe 4.0 x4 slot from the chipset as well as two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots.

Storage support consists of a single PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot with support for SATA drives too, as well as six straight-angled SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. Although not as prolific as some vendors offer on its lower-spec X570 models, the Biostar Racing X570GTA has support for DDR4-4000 memory with support for up to 128 GB; AMD recommends that the sweet spot for Ryzen 3000 processors is DDR4-3600. Delivering power to the CPU is a single 8-pin 12 V ATX input and the power delivery isn’t determined, but we have reached out to Biostar to find out. The CPU section of the power delivery is cooled by a svelte looking aluminium heatsink, while the SoC/IGP area is laid bare. The X570 chipset is actively cooled, and Biostar hasn’t focused too much on aesthetics with its design with no integrated RGB LEDs.

On the rear panel of the Biostar Racing X570GTA is a limited amount of USB connectivity with just four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. Users looking to use a Ryzen based APU can access integrated graphics with a pair of HDMI and D-Sub video outputs, while a PS/2 keyboard port, three Realtek ALC887 codec powered 3.5 mm audio jacks, and a Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit Ethernet port make up the rest.

The Biostar Racing X570GTA is set to hit retail next month with an MSRP of $160. This puts it same price bracket as the MSI X570-A Pro which benefits from an extra PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot and has a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec.

Related Reading

• AMD + ITX + TB3? It’s the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 Motherboard Review
• In The Lab: ASRock X570 Aqua Motherboard Preview
• The GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme Motherboard Review: Fanless AM4
• Best Motherboards Q3 2019
• The MSI MEG X570 Godlike Motherboard Review: Thor’s Flagship

Source: AnandTech – Biostar Unveils Racing X570GTA Motherboard

AMD has already officially confirmed plans to launch its 3^rd Generation Ryzen Threadripper processors this November, but naturally kept all the details to itself. At the time, it stated that the first products to market will be 24-core products. According to the company’s Product Master document that was published by AMD, it looks like some preliminary information about the CPUs is now in.

Based on the document (as well as previously released claims by the company), AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 3000-series family will include 16-core, 24-core, and 32-core CPUs with a TDP up to 280 W for its most extreme parts. This is up from a 250 W TDP featured by AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 2000 processors with up to 32 cores. The new process technology along with a higher thermal design power will likely enable the new CPUs to run faster and offer a significant performance increase when compared to predecessors (plus, keep in mind performance boost from the Zen 2 microarchitecture).

From AMD’s Master Product Document

The new CPUs are also said to use a new variant of the SP3 socket called SP3r3, which questions if they will be drop-in compatible with previous-gen motherboards. Considering the fact that AMD is preparing new chipsets for its next-generation Ryzen Threadripper processors, but has been stated with providing socket compatibility, it will be interesting when AMD defines the compatibility table. This is likely a differentiator for PCIe 4.0 support.

AMD’s Product Master list is seemingly targeted at the company’s sales teams and contains OPN codes along with US ECCN, HTS, and CCATS codes that are required by the US export regulators. Although the document mentions a variety of products, at least some of them are potential or partner-specific devices not exactly located in the company’s roadmap for mass products. Therefore, the information from the list should be taken with a grain of salt, as some of these parts may not be hitting the market.

Related Reading

• AMD: Next Gen Threadripper and Ryzen 9 3950X, Coming November
• TRX40 Chipset For Upcoming AMD Ryzen Threadripper Listed
• AMD Brings Ryzen 9 3900 and Ryzen 5 3500X To Life
• AMD Ryzen 9 3900: A 12-Core 65W CPU Listed
• AMD Ryzen 5 3500 & 3500X Support Spotted
• AMD Announces Ryzen Pro 3000 Series CPUs For Q4

Sources: AMD, Reddit, Tom’s Hardware, Komachi_Ensaka/Twitter, Planet3DNow.de

Source: AnandTech – Details About 3rd Generation Ryzen Threadripper Appear: 24 and 32 Cores, Up to 280 W

Bucking the trend of ever higher clocked DDR4 memory kits, G.Skill has introduced a new high-end memory kit that is focused on lower memory latencies. Compatible with both Intel and AMD platforms, the premium memory kit offers CL15 latencies at up to DDR4-4000 speeds.

G.Skill’s Extreme Low Latency DDR4-4000 32 GB kit consists of four 8 GB modules based on cherry-picked Samsung’s 8 Gb B-Die chips. The sticks are rated for 4000 MT/s CL15 16-16-36 at 1.5 V. The modules use G.Skill’s custom PCB, feature an XMP 2.0-enabled SPD, and come with G.Skill’s blingy Trident Royal Z heat spreaders with a crystaline RGB lightbar, or regular Trident Z with classic all-black heat spreaders.

The Extreme Low Latency DDR4-4000 32 GB kit has been validated both on AMD’s X570/Ryzen 3000 platform (using MSI’s X570 Unify motherboard) and Intel’s Z390 platform (using MSI’s MEG Z390 Ace motherboard). Keeping in mind that we are dealing with modules that work at clocks and latencies well beyond those recommended by JEDEC at voltages that are a whopping 25% higher than spec for DDR4 DIMMs, one will clearly need a high-end motherboard with a VRM that can deliver clean and quality power to the modules.

G.Skill will start sales of its Trident Z Royal 32 GB DDR4-4000 CL15 kit late in Q4 2019. Pricing has yet to be announced, but considering their high-end specifications, expect them to be expensive.

Related Reading:

• G.Skill Shrinks Latencies of DDR4-4000+ Kits for Coffee Lake: DDR4-4266 CL17 Announced
• G.Skill Reveals Trident Z Neo DDR4-3800 CL14 Kit for AMD Ryzen 3000
• G.Skill Unveils Trident Z Royal Hexa-Channel 192 GB DDR4-4000 Kit for Xeon W-3175X
• G.Skill Trident Royal Crystalline DRAM: Premium Gemstone Glamour
• Corsair Announces Vengeance RGB Pro Memory: Up to DDR-4000, 10 RGB LEDs

Source: G.Skill

Source: AnandTech – Royal Memory: G.Skill’s 32 GB DDR4-4000 CL15 Kit for AMD & Intel

Chips&Media this month has started to license out its Wave510A hardware decoder IP, the industry’s first AV1 video decoder. The base decoder core supports decoding up to 4Kp60, but it can be scaled out to handle 4Kp120 and 8Kp60 resolutions as well. The IP is designed to be integrated into SoCs for various applications, including televisions, STBs, smartphones, and PCs. Meanwhile, since the Wave510A only decodes AV1 streams, it will likely be licensed by parties who want to add AV1 to their existing SoCs.

The Wave510A video processing unit (VPU) IP is based on two fundamental units: the V-Core and the V-CPU. The 32-bit V-CPU controls the whole IP block, communicates with host CPU, parses bitstream syntax from sequence to slice header unit, and prescans slice data. The V-Core performs entropy decoding, inverse scan, inverse transform/quantization, motion compensation, and loop filtering. The IP VPU can be connected to host using Arm’s 32-bit AMBA3 APB bus, and also has two 128-bit AMBA3 AXI busses to access external memory and on-chip SRAM.

The Chips&Media Wave510A can decode AV1 Main profile @ L5.1 50 Mbps at 8 or 10-bit color depths, with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. The VPU can output to various displays at up to 8192×8192 resolution in various formats. When clocked at 500 MHz, it can support up to 4Kp60 realtime decoding in a single-core configuration, whereas in a dual-core configuration it can decode 4Kp120 and 8Kp60 streams.

The AV1 royalty-free codec was introduced about 1.5 years ago by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), and it is gaining traction throughout the industry. Over the past few months we have seen multiple technology licensing companies announcing hardware encoder IP blocks as well as several SoCs that already support AV1 decoding using in-house developed IP (or using general-purpose cores).

Amphion Semiconductor was the first company to announce an AV1 decoder with its CS8142 decoder IP, but this part is still in development. By contrast, the Wave510A from Chips&Media is available now and can licensed in the form of a verified synthesized RTL source. Meanwhile, the Wave510A only supports AV1, so to build a complete video decode pipeline supporting codecs like HEVC and AVC, designers will have to license or develop additional IP blocks to support those other codecs. On the other hand, the Wave510A can be easily added to existing designs and improve their feature set.

Related Reading:

• YouTube, Netflix Publish First Videos Transcoded Using AV1
• Alliance for Open Media Releases Royalty-Free AV1 1.0 Codec Spec

Source: Chips&Meida (via Design & Reuse)

Source: AnandTech – Chips&Media Launches Wave510A Hardware AV1 Decoder IP

While Xiaomi is best known in the west for its smartphone products, like other electronics conglomorates, the company produces a significant selection of electronics products, and that variety is continuing to grow. To that end, this week the company unveiled its first computer monitors, including the flagship 34-inch curved Mi Surface Display, a 21:9 aspect ratio display with a 3440×1440 resolution.

Xiaomi’s 34-inch curved Mi Surface Display was designed primarily for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts in mind, which is why it has a 4 ms GtG response time as well as a variable refresh rate of up to 144 Hz enabled by AMD’s FreeSync technology. The monitor can display 16.7 million colors and is said to cover 121% of the sRGB color gamut.

Meanwhile, although Xiaomi has not officially disclosed who makes the panel underlying the monitor, based on unofficial information, the LCD would seem to use a 1500R-curved VA panel from Samsung Display. So expect technical specifications like brightness and contrast ratio to be in line with those offered by other monitors that use the same panel.

Like other devices from Xiaomi, the Mi Surface Display features a minimalistic design and has very narrow (~2 mm) bezels on three of its sides. Meanwhile, it has a stand that can adjust its height and tilt.

The manufacturer does not disclose which connectors does the Mi Surface Display have, but since we are talking about a contemporary monitor for gamers, it is reasonable to expect it to feature DisplayPort and HDMI inputs.

Xiaomi’s Mi Surface Display will be available in China starting October 21. Those who pre-order it ahead of the launch will get it for ¥1,999, whereas those buying afterwards will have to pay ¥2,499 (~$312 without VAT). It is unclear when and whether the Mi Surface Display will be available in Europe or the USA as the company may prefer to avoid competing against traditional LCD makers in these regions.

Related Reading:

• Xiaomi Unveils Its First Mechanical Keyboard with Configurable RGB Backlighting
• Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha: A Truly All-Around ‘Surround’ Display Smartphone
• World’s First Smartphone with a 64 MP Camera: Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 8 Pro
• The Xiaomi Mi9 Review: Flagship Performance At a Mid-Range Price

Sources: Xiaomi/Weibo, GizmoChina, BGR.in, NotebookCheck

Source: AnandTech – Xiaomi Reveals 34-Inch Mi Surface Display: 144Hz WQHD w/FreeSync

Arctic has formally introduced its Freezer 50 TR cooler for AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper processors, which promises to remain quiet even when the CPU gets hot. The socket TR4-only cooler comes with two fans, has multiple heat pipes, and weighs more than 1.2 kilograms. And, for the multi-colored lighting enthusiasts among us, it’s equipped with 13 addressable RGB LEDs.

The Arctic Freezer 50 TR borrows its design from other so-called ‘mega coolers’: it has a massive dual-tower heatsink featuring 104 aluminum fins, while eight U-shaped 6-mm heat pipes that form the base cover the part of the IHS of the Ryzen Threadripper CPU ‘right where the processor’s die is’. Moving air from the massive heatsink is a 120-mm plus 140-mm fan set, with Arctic’s fans using fluid dynamic bearings. While the mismatched fans are unusual, Arctic says that using two fans of different sizes increases airflow and therefore improves performance. Depending on the load, the fans will rotate at 200 ~ 1800/1700 RPMs, so it should be very quiet under light loads.

It is noteworthy that when the Freezer 50 TR cooler was originally showcased early this year, it actually advertised as being able to go passive under low loads. However this feature is absent from the final version, and while Arcitc hasn’t specifically said why, it’s not hard to imagine thermal stability proving to be a greater concern than expected from such a large (and power hungry) chip like Threadripper.

When it comes to dimensions, the whole construction of Arctic’s Freezer 50 TR measures 147.8×149.5×165 mm and leaves a RAM clearance of 37.5 mm. While the cooler certainly cannot be called compact, it should fit into most enthusiast-grade PC chassis.

The manufacturer does not disclose the cooler’s rated TDP, but says that it can cool down Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX as well as CPUs ‘of 32 cores and beyond’. So as we’ve seen with some other air coolers of this size (which can handle upwards of 340W) it’s a reasonable bet that the 50 TR can dissipate at least 250 W of heat, leaving some additional headroom for overclocking and/or future processors with a higher TDP.

Finally, as is increasingly customary for enthusiast-grade cooling systems these days, the Arctic Freezer 50 TR comes with 13 addressable RGB LEDs. These can be controlled using software from leading motherboard makers as well as a standalone controller (to get it, one will have to buy an appropriate version of the cooler).

The Arctic Freezer 50 TR is available now from Amazon and will shortly hit other channels, where it’s currently selling for $69.99.

Related Reading:

• Arctic Preps Freezer 50 TR: A ‘0 dB’ Cooler for AMD’s Threadripper
• AMD: Next Gen Threadripper and Ryzen 9 3950X, Coming November
• Computer Upgrade King Shows Off a Compact 32-Core Ryzen Threadripper PC
• The MasterAir MA621P TR4: CM’s Triple Fan Tower Cooler for Threadripper
• CES 2019: Deepcool Unveils 280W Capacity Assassin III Air Cooler
• Alpenföhn Unveils Olymp: A Giant Air Cooler Rated for 340W TDP

Source: Arctic (via TechPowerUp)

Source: AnandTech – Arctic’s Freezer 50 TR Air Cooler w/ RGB for AMD’s Threadripper Launched

Forecasting strong demand for its 5 nm and 7 nm class process technologies in the coming years, TSMC has announced that it’s increasing its capital expenditure for 2019 by a whopping 36% – 40% over its earlier plans. The lion’s share of the additional money will be spent on the equipment that will be used to make 5 nm chips.

TSMC expected its 2019 CapEx to be between $10 billion and $11 bullion early this year (in line with $10.5 billion in 2018), but increased demand for chips to be made using one of its 7 nm-class nodes (N7, N7P, N7+, N6) and projected demand for 5 nm semiconductors made the foundry change its mind. At its conference call with analysts and investors this week, TSMC said that it had decided to raise its 2019 CapEx by $4 billion to increase production capacities available to its customers. The company now expects its capital expenditure for the full year to be between $14 billion and $15 billion. Furthermore, TSMC upped its CapEx forecast for 2020 and expects it to be similar to the revised CapEx for this year.

According to TSMC, $1.5 billion of the $4 billion will be spent to increase its 7 nm capacity, whereas $2.5 billion will be used to increase 5 nm capacity. The company did not disclose what kind of equipment it intends to buy, but in the light of the fact that its 5 nm technology will heavily use extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) on up to 14 layers, and the fact that both N7+ and N6 also use EUVL on up to four and five layers respectively, it is safe to say that some of the money will be spent on ASML’s latest Twinscan NXE step-and-scan systems.

From a chip designer’s perspective, TSMC’s N5 looks extremely attractive compared to N7, as it offers an up to 1.84x higher transistor density (i.e., enables to shrink die size of a given chip by up to ~45.6%), a 15% performance increase (at the same complexity and power) or an up to 20% power reduction (at the same frequency and complexity). TSMC’s N7+ also looks quite good (compared to N7) with its 1.15 – 1.20x higher transistor density and around 10% lower power consumption.

TSMC considers both 5 nm and 7 nm to be ‘long’ nodes, which means they will be used for years to come by tens of its customers, and is why it needs additional capacities to meet demand. Meanwhile, the first fabs to make chips using EUVL on multiple layers are already in place: TSMC’s Fab 15 is producing SoCs using N7+, whereas TSMC’s Fab 18 (the first phase of equipment move-in was completed in March 2019) is ready to start making commercial N5 chips sometimes in Q2 2020. Otherwise, it’s important to note is that lead times of fab investments are on the scale of quarters; so while the money are formally spent in Q4, the actual production capacities will come online only sometimes in 2020.

Demand for advanced process technologies (16 nm and below by TSMC’s definition) is very high in general these days. According to TSMC, SoCs for smartphones, HPC, and IoT applications accounted for a whopping 87% of its revenue in the third quarter. All of these SoCs these days demand a high transistor density, decent frequencies, and the lowest power consumption possible, which is why chip designers tend to use technologies with FinFET transistors and various enhancements that maximize performance, improve power savings, and/or increase transistor density (which allows customers to cut costs by making smaller chips or pack more features into a chip of a regular size and increase their value).

Advanced technologies accounted for a 51% of TSMC’s $9.4 billion wafer revenue in Q3 2019. From wafer revenue perspective, various 7 nm technologies brought TSMC 27% of its revenue last quarter, the highest share of all nodes. That said, it is not surprising that the company is increasing CapEx to meet demand for its leading-edge process technologies.

Here is what Wendell Huang, CFO of TSMC, had to say:

In TSMC, we build capacity according to our customer’s demand. To forecast such demand, we take into consideration not only from each individual customer’s indication, but also our own forecast based on macro as well as market segment outlook. Given the stronger outlook for 5G deployment next year, the demand for our 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer has increased significantly in the last few months.

We have, therefore, decided to raise our full year 2019 CapEx by USD 4 billion to meet this increased demand. We now expect our 2019 CapEx to be between USD 14 billion and USD 15 billion. About USD 1.5 billion of the USD 4 billion Capex increase is for 7-nanometer capacity and $2.5 billion is for 5-nanometer capacity.

Related Reading:

• TSMC Starts to Build Fab 18: 5 nm, Volume Production in Early 2020
• TSMC: N7+ EUV Process Technology in High Volume, 6nm (N6) Coming Soon
• TSMC: 3nm EUV Development Progress Going Well, Early Customers Engaged
• TSMC Announces Performance-Enhanced 7nm & 5nm Process Technologies
• TSMC Details 5 nm Process Tech: Aggressive Scaling, But Thin Power and Performance Gains
• TSMC: No Plans to Buy Rivals at The Moment
• Samsung to Invest $115 Billion in Foundry & Chip Businesses by 2030

Source: TSMC

Source: AnandTech – TSMC Radically Boosts CapEx to Expand Production Capacities, To Reach B For 2019

Back in the day, virtually all PCs came standard with a three-year warranty with some makers offering to extend it to five years. Due to cut-throat competition on the PC market, manufacturers started to cut down their costs and long warranties were among the first things to go.

While most laptops shipped today come with relatively short one or two year warrantees, there is continuing pressure on notebook makers both to support their devices for longer, as well as to take steps to differentiate themselves in a very crowded market. As a result, we’re finally starting to see longer warrantees become more common – at least on higher-end models. To that end, in a bid to improve their competitive position, this week Dynabook has announced that it will offer standard three and four year warrantees for select notebooks.

From now on, Dynabook Americas (formerly Toshiba America Client Solutions) will offer its three-year +Care Service warranty with select ‘featured configuration’ notebooks, as well as four-year +Care Service warranty with select built-to-order laptops. The new warranties will cover the recently introduced Portégé X30-F, Portégé A30-E, Tecra X40-F, Tecra X50-F, and Tecra A50-EC. If one of the said machines fails, customers will have four repair options: an on-site service for SOHO or corporate clients, an international carry-in service, a depot service center, or a customer replaceable part sent to the owner.

It is important to note that the three- and four-year warranties will only be available with select ‘featured’ and BTO configurations. So while Dynabook is offering longer warrantees on some laptops, their ‘base’ warranty remains at one-year for everything else. Nonetheless, it is good to see that that a PC maker now offers a long warranty with no extra charge in the US.

Related Reading:

• Dynaboook Reveals Tecra X50: A Lightweight 15.6-Inch Laptop with a 10+ Hrs Battery Life
• The Return of the Portégé: Dynabook Launches 2019 Portégé X30
• Toshiba’s PC Products Rebranded to Dynabook
• Dynabook Shows Off New G-Series Laptops: Under 2 Pound Ultrabook With 19 Hour Battery Life

Source: Dynabook

Source: AnandTech – Dynabook Updates Support Policies, Now Offers 3 & 4 Year Warranties For Some Models

Philips has introduced its new 346B1C ultrawide curved monitor, which is designed for business and professional users looking for a large display offering USB Type-C docking. The Philips 346B1 is one of the industry’s first productivity-focused curved displays that features a 21:9 aspect ratio, as well as a 100 Hz maximum refresh rate, a built-in Gigabit Ethernet, and even VESA Adaptive Sync (i.e. Freesync).

The Philips 346B1C is powered by a 34-inch VA panel with a 3440×1440 resolution, 300 nits brightness, a 3000:1 contrast ratio, a 5 ms GtG response time, a 100 Hz maximum refresh rate, and 178°/178° viewing angles. While the LCD was designed primarily with productivity applications in mind and can display 16.7 million colors, it does cover 119% of the sRGB, 90% of the Adobe RGB, as well as 100% of the NTSC color spaces. Furthermore, the monitor is factory calibrated with a Delta <2 accuracy for the sRGB gamut.

One of the main selling features of the Philips 346B1C is its connectivity. The monitor has one DisplayPort 1.2 input, one HDMI 2.0 port, and one USB 3.2 Type-C input. The latters supports up to 90 W Power Delivery, making it suitable for powering even higher-end 15-inch notebooks. In addition, the monitor offers a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, a quad-port USB 3.2 hub, and a headphone output. Last but not least, the display has an integrated KVM switch that enables to control two PCs using one display, one mouse, and one keyboard. One thing to note is that when the LCD uses a USB-C connection, it can only support 3440×1440 @ 100 Hz when the upstream USB connection feeding the USB hub is set to 2.0, presumably as the full bandwidth mode requires all 4 high-speed lanes from the USB-C connection.

Traditionally for productivity monitors, the Philips 346B1C comes with a stand that can adjust height, tilt, and swivel. Furthermore, it has VESA mount holes.

The Philips 346B1C will be available next month. In the UK, the product will cost £539, so expect MSRP in the USA at a sub-$600 level.

Related Reading:

• HP’s E344c: A 34-Inch Curved Ultra-Wide Productivity Monitor
• Philips Brilliance 329P9H: A 4K IPS Monitor with USB-C Dock, GbE
• Philips Brilliance 499P9H Ultra-Wide 49-Inch Monitor Now Available
• Philips 328P6VU Professional 4K Display: DisplayHDR 600, USB-C, GbE
• Philips Unveils 43-Inch 4K Gaming LCD with DisplayHDR 1000, DCI-P3, FreeSync

Source: Philips

Source: AnandTech – Philips Reveals 346B1C 34-Inch 100 Hz Curved UltraWide Monitor with USB-C Docking

Between the smartphone revolution, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, the demand for cutting-edge chips has never been higher. And if you have any doubts about that, then one only needs to look at the record-breaking sales of the equipment used to fab those chips. ASML, the leader in the field for photolithography, announced this week its financial results for the third quarter, revealing that its sales, profits, and net bookings all topped expectations, as the company received orders for 23 extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) tools.

ASML’s revenues in Q3 2019 totaled €2.987 billion ($3.3 billion), with a net income of €627 million ($692.7 million). During the quarter, ASML sold 45 DUV and seven EUV lithography systems, as well as five used lithography systems. In total, the company sold 136 step-and-scan tools this year so far, of which 18 were EUV tools. In Q4, the company intends to ship eight EUV step-and-scan systems, bringing the total for 2019 to 30 EUV systems.

ASML’s biggest bump in the third quarter came from a total of 23 orders for Twinscan NXE EUV systems from various customers. Combined with other bookings, ASML’s net bookings totaled €5.111 billion in Q3, the company’s highest ever for a single quarter. It is particularly noteworthy that ASML reaffirmed that it expects its EUV tools to be adopted by both logic makers (i.e., CPUs, GPUs, etc.) and memory manufacturers.

As of July 2018, there were 31 EUV scanners installed at various fabs across the world, including several machines in various semiconductor research organizations. With 10 systems sold in H2 2018 and 18 EUV scanners installed this year, the number of EUV lithography tools used in the world is approaching 60 units. Of course, the number is considerably behind the number of DUV step-and-scan systems used nowadays, but it is clear that extreme ultraviolet lithography is gradually getting more widespread, and that demand is continuing to increase.

Officially, only TSMC and Samsung Foundry use ASML’s Twinscan NXE scanners to make chips using their N7+ and 7LPP manufacturing technologies. Both contract makers of semiconductors will expand their usage of EUV tools as they adopt new fabrication processes. Furthermore, Intel will use EUVL for its 7 nm technology that will be deployed across multiple fabs through 2021. Furthermore, companies like Samsung and SK Hynix are mulling the use of EUVL for DRAM production.

Here is what Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML, had to say:

“For the remainder of the year, we expect Logic to continue to be strong, driven by the leading-edge nodes supporting end-market technology and applications such as 5G and artificial intelligence. The timing of Memory recovery remains uncertain. We continue to make solid progress in EUV. Customers have introduced their first EUV manufactured devices and we have seen EUV mentioned in product announcements. In the third quarter, we shipped seven EUV systems, three of which were NXE:3400C, our higher productivity model. We received 23 EUV orders in the third quarter which contributes to our highest ever value of bookings in one quarter. This strong order flow confirms the adoption of EUV in high volume manufacturing for Logic and Memory. Our overall view for 2019 is essentially unchanged as we continue to see 2019 as a growth year.”

Related Reading:

• ASML to Ship 30 EUV Scanners in 2019: Faster EUV Tools Coming
• Samsung’s Aggressive EUV Plans: 6nm Production in H2, 5nm & 4nm On Track
• TSMC: 3nm EUV Development Progress Going Well, Early Customers Engaged
• Micron’s DRAM Update: More Capacity, Four More 10nm-Class Nodes, EUV, 64 GB DIMMs
• Samsung Completes Development of 5nm EUV Process Technology

Source: ASML

Source: AnandTech – EUV Demand is Up: EUV Device Manufacturer ASML Beats Sales Estimates

Razer has introduced the industry’s first notebook keyboard based on optical switches. The low-profile keyboard promises tactile feedback of mechanical switches as well as near instant actuation required by gamers. The keyboard will first be used by Razer’s Blade 15 Advanced notebook with more models coming in 2020.

Razer’s new optical laptop switch uses an infrared light beam to detect when a key is pressed. According to the developer, the actuation point of its switch is one millimeter, which allows gamers to input more commands in less time. Meanwhile, the switch features mechanical tactile click to provide a more comfortable typing experience than membrane keyboards.

In addition to the new switches, Razer’s new noebook keyboard supports N-Key Rollover with anti-ghosting as well as Chroma RGB lighting in every keycap.

The first Razer laptop to use the company’s optical keyboard is the Blade 15 Advanced that costs $2,649. As the name suggests, the notebook is equipped with a 15.6-inch display featuring a Full-HD resolution and a 240 Hz refresh rate. The laptop is based on Intel’s six-core Core i7-9750H that is accompanied by NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 2070 with a Max-Q design, 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2667, and a 512 GB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD.

The mobile PC is equipped with Intel’s Wireless-AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5 adapter, one Thunderbolt 3 port, one USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 port, two display outputs (a mini DisplayPort and an HDMI), and a 3.5-mm audio jack. Just like other modern laptops, the Razer Blade 15 also has a webcam, a microphone array, and stereo speakers.

Related Reading

• Azio’s Iris Keyboard: When Style Meets Comfort
• Corsair Announces K83 Wireless Entertainment Keyboard for HTPCs: Keyboard Meets Joystick
• The i-Rocks Pilot K70E Capacitive Gaming Keyboard Review: Our First Capacitive Keyboard
• Xiaomi Unveils Its First Mechanical Keyboard with Configurable RGB Backlighting
• ROCCAT Launches Horde AIMO: “Membranical” keyboard

Source: Razer

Source: AnandTech – Razer Unveils Optical Laptop Keyboard

TE Connectivity, a maker of various connectivity solutions in general and CPU sockets in particular, has revealed its roadmap describing future sockets for what looks like a range of future server processors. The roadmap reaffirms that Intel’s upcoming server CPUs will use LGA4189 sockets and indicates that some form of future CPU will use a larger LGA4677.

TE’s LGA4677 socket will be made by the company starting from 2021, and is listed on the diagram as supporting PCIe 5.0. It is noteworthy that according to the manufacturer, LGA4677, LGA4189 and LGA3647 sockets will coexist on the market. This is likely due to long-standing contracts using existing sockets and requiring like-for-like replacements over the lifetime of the hardware.

Image by Kazuki Kasahara from PC Watch

Considering a significant increase in the number of pins featured by LGA4677 (compared to LGA4189 that will be used for Cooper Lake and Ice Lake server CPUs), it is logical to expect it to support processors with a higher TDP. Meanwhile, it is too early to make guesses about exact TDP levels. Alongside improvements in PCIe, we could also consider increases in memory controller counts as a strong indication of more pins.

No large server CPU company has formally confirmed existence of LGA4677 socket in its roadmap.

Related Reading

• Intel’s LGA4189-4 and LGA4189-5 for Cooper Lake & Ice Lake CPUs Now Available
• Power Stamp Alliance Exposes Ice Lake Xeon Details: LGA4189 and 8-Channel Memory
• Intel Xeon Update: Ice Lake and Cooper Lake Sampling, Faster Future Updates
• Intel to Offer Socketed 56-core Cooper Lake Xeon Scalable in new Socket Compatible with Ice Lake
• Intel Architecture Manual Updates: bfloat16 for Cooper Lake Xeon Scalable Only?
• Cisco Documents Shed Light on Cascade Lake, Cooper Lake, and Ice Lake for Servers

Sources: Kazuki Kasahara, PC Watch

Source: AnandTech – LGA4677 Socket Spotted: Future Server Socket with PCIe 5.0 Support

Samsung Display has announced plans to invest a further ₩13.1 trillion ($11 billion) in the R&D and production of QD-OLED TV panels. The plan includes building up two QD-OLED production lines in South Korea between now and 2025, with the first starting production in 2021. In addition, the company will invest in R&D of quantum dot-enhanced OLED technology, which promises to provide finer colors than today’s OLED displays and televisions.

The first step of Samsung’s QD-OLED plan will be converting its L8 fab in Tangjong, South Korea, from making LCD substrates to QD-OLED substrates. The plant is expected to produce 30 thousand QD-OLED substrates per month starting in Q1 2021. Longer term, Samsung will be converting all of its 8^th Generation LCD production facilities to QD-OLED in a bid to increase the number of substrates produced monthly to 100 thousand.

The QD-OLED technology promises to simplify (i.e. lower the cost of) production of OLED-based televisions and monitors, as well as enabling wider color gamuts, which is something expected from next-generation content. Contemporary WOLED panels from LG Display use a blue or white (yellow + blue) OLED emitter stack, and a WRGB color filter system on top with a variety of additional layers behind, between, and ahead of them. By contrast, a QD-OLED panel uses an OLED emitter stack (some believe, with two emitting stacks) with a quantum dot RGB color filter (also called quantum dot color converter, or QDCC) system on top.

Today’s OLED panels feature 22 layers, whereas a QD-OLED panel may cut the number to 13, which means fewer deposition stages, lower material and production costs, and, perhaps, better yield. The QD-OLED technology is still considered to be rather challenging as Samsung has to solve light management issues. Meanwhile, according to Display Supply Chain, one square meter of an QD-OLED panel will cost around $26, whereas one square meter of a contemporary OLED panel costs approximately $95.

Lee Dong-hoon, CEO of Samsung Display, had the following to say:

“Quantum dots are semiconductor particles which luminate close to natural colors. It is the future growth vision of the large display industry. With the investment we will lead the premium display market.”

Related Reading:

• Samsung Mulls Suspending South Korea LCD Plant Due to Oversupply
• Samsung Acquires Quantum Dot Tech Company QD Vision
• Samsung’s 8K QLED TV 55-Inch: A More Affordable 8K Ultra-HD TV
• 8K Association Sets Minimal Specs for 8K Ultra-HD TVs
• Sharp to Demonstrate 120-Inch 8K LCD TV & 8K TV with 5G Modem at IFA
• AU Optronics’s New 85-Inch 8K LCD TV with 1,024-Zone Backlighting
• Samsung’s 2019 QLED UHD TVs: 8K TVs Revamped, 4K TVs Get New Panel & Backlighting

Sources: Reuters, Nanosys, The Investor, Nikkei, DSCC, OLED-Info

Source: AnandTech – Samsung to Invest Billion in QD-OLED Panel Production

OWC has started sales of its new DAS device that can also serve as a Thunderbolt 3 dock. The Mercury Elite Pro Dock is aimed at creative professionals with the latest Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptops that require a significant amount of storage capacity along with a set of traditional interfaces, including USB 3.0 Type-A, DisplayPort, GbE, and an SD card reader.

OWC is a well-known name in the Mac world as for years the company made accessories and upgrades for Apple’s computers. Since modern MacBooks cannot be upgraded, the company had to refocus to docks and now moves forward with its Mercury Elite Pro Dock that also serves as a DAS.

The OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dock is based on Intel’s JHL6540 controller and can be daisy chained with other Thunderbolt 3 devices. On the DAS side of matters, the OWC Elite Pro Dock can pack two 2.5/3.5-inch hard drives and supports RAID0, RAID 1, JBOD, and Span modes to maximize reliability (by mirroring them), double their sequential read/write speeds all the way to ~530 MB/s in case of two 14 TB HDDs (by striping them), or just use them as two separate hard drives or one big drive. RAID is enabled by an ASMedia controller and its mode can be manually switched using a special switch on the back.

OWC plans to offer its Mercury Elite Pro Dock in multiple versions to hit different price and capacity points. All the SKUs will come with two hard drives and offer a 4 TB, 6 TB, 8 TB, 12 TB, 16 TB, 20 TB, 24 TB, and 28 TB capacity.

On the dock side of things, the devices has a GbE port (Intel I210), two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A connectors (Fresco Logic FL1100EX), a DisplayPort 1.2 output, and an SD Card reader (Genesis Logic GL-3227). The OWC Elite Pro Dock can output up to 120 W of power and therefore can power a laptop as well as charge USB devices at the same time.

OWC’s Mercury Elite Pro Dock can be acquired as a DIY kit without any hard drives inside for $319.99 or as a ready-to-go product with two HDDs in RAID 0 inside. The cheapest 4 TB version costs $519.99, whereas the highest-end 28 TB model is priced at $1,399.99. Interestingly, but OWC does not commit to a particular hard drive model or even a manufacturer and ships its device with either Seagate or Toshiba HDDs inside.

Related Reading

• LaCie Announces 2big Dock: 2-Bay TB3 DAS with Card Reader, USB-A and DisplayPort
• LaCie Announces 2big Dock: 2-Bay TB3 DAS with Card Reader, USB-A and DisplayPort
• Promise Launches Pegasus3 External Storage via TB3: Up to 48 TB, 1.6 GBps
• LaCie Launches 6big and 12big: Up to 60/120 TB External Storage with Thunderbolt 3

Source: OWC

Source: AnandTech – OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dock / DAS Combo: TB3, up to 28 TB, USB 3.0, DP, GbE, SD