More than a month after their reveal at CES 2025, I think it’s fair to say NVIDIA’s 50 series RTX GPUs are a disappointment. Between manufacturing issues, the company’s misleading marketing around the 5070 and minimal performance gains over the 40 series, this might be one of NVIDIA’s worst releases in recent memory. But the worst part of it all has been watching history repeat itself.

Looking back at the last few weeks, I’m reminded of an article I wrote in 2022. The short of it was I bought an RTX 3070 in August of that year, or little more than two years before NVIDIA announced the GeForce 40 series. Plenty of readers rightfully pointed out that I was wrong about the effect the crypto market would have on future pricing, but I think my underlying reasoning was sound. I bought the 3070 when I did because I had a feeling NVIDIA’s new GPUs would cost more than their 30 series counterparts and that finding a new card at release for a reasonable price would be nearly impossible. And I was right: 40 series cards were difficult to find at launch.

Here we are two years later at the start of a new GPU generation, and we’re doing this all over again. If you’re just a regular person looking to upgrade your gaming PC, not only is it impossible to find a 50 series GPU in stock anywhere, but nearly every single model is priced far above NVIDIA’s suggested price. There’s no pandemic to blame this time, so what gives?

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

The problem is that trends during COVID set a precedent. Since 2020, some people have been willing to pay whatever it costs to buy NVIDIA new cards at launch. The difference now is that rather than give scalpers the chance to profit on that behavior, NVIDIA’s partners have decided to take that money for themselves. The end result is that the company’s GPUs are now marked up as high as the market will tolerate, and they will continue to carry outrageous prices as long as supply is limited.

It’s time we admit the business model at the heart of the GPU industry is broken. For the uninitiated, AIBs (or add-in board partners) like ASUS, Gigabyte, XFX, and Zotac produce the majority of GPUs you can buy from NVIDIA and AMD. In the past, this model led to differentiation between cards in the same tier. For instance, there was a time in the mid-aughts where you could spend extra to buy a GeForce 8800 GT with 1GB of VRAM instead of the 512GB specified by NVIDIA. However, those days are long gone.

Modern AIB GPUs can feature slight overclocks or an extra fan but fundamentally they’re all the same product. Whether you buy a 5070 directly from NVIDIA or one of its partners, it will still be a 5070. At best, you might see a few percentage point difference in performance if you pick a model with an overclock or additional cooling, and yet pricing can vary dramatically between different AIBs and even within one company’s lineup.

Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia said it best in one of the outlet’s recent DF Direct episodes. “The AIB model seems, for a lot of cards, like some weird middle man that purely exists to extract more value from the consumer, and doesn’t offer valid differentiation for the price increase.”

Just look at the 5070 Ti. According to NVIDIA’s website, pricing starts at $749. However, retailer websites tell a different story. If you visit Newegg, for instance, there’s not a single 5070 Ti listed for $749. The most affordable one comes in at $799, with every other option priced above $830. There’s even one listed at $920. Needless to say, the 5070 Ti is a very different (and worse) value proposition at $900 than it is at $750.

Newegg briefly blamed the Trump administration’s recent tariffs on Chinese imports for the inflated price of NVIDIA’s new 50 series GPU, and that would have been a plausible explanation if the cost of those cards went up by only 10 percent.

NVIDIA seems uninterested in tackling the problem in a meaningful way. So far, the best solution it has offered is a program that gives an unspecified number of US customers the chance to buy a 5090 or 5080 directly from the company. Provided they deliver the performance the company is promising, AMD’s new $549 Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT cards will put pressure on NVIDIA to price the 5070 and 5070 Ti more aggressively, but it remains to be seen if AMD will manage to keep the cards in stock and at their suggested retail price.

Pricing for this generation’s GPUs will normalize eventually, but unless there’s a fundamental change to how the industry does business, you can bet all of this will happen again. Just because the industry has always done things this way doesn’t mean we should settle for business as usual — especially as the status quo gets worse every launch cycle.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/the-gpu-market-is-built-on-a-broken-foundation-143100986.html?src=rss

Apple has been steadily updating its product lineup over the last year or so to make sure as many devices work with Apple Intelligence as possible. But shockingly enough, the new base iPad now has an A16 chip rather than the A14 in the previous model. That’ll certainly provide better performance, but it’s not enough for Apple Intelligence. It’s an obvious way to differentiate this iPad from the just-updated iPad Air, which now has an M3 chip. The two most recent Air models also work with Apple Intelligence.

One nice thing here is that Apple doubled the storage and kept prices the same — the 128GB model costs $349, and you can also get it with 256GB or 512GB of storage. It comes in blue, pink, silver and yellow.

Besides the A16, much remains the same here, though. The iPad still has a 10.9-inch screen (that they’re just calling 11 inches at this point) that lacks some of the niceties you’ll find on the iPad Air display like full lamination to the front glass and an antireflective coating. It has basically the same camera array as other non-Pro iPads at this point, a 12-megapixel shooter on both the front and back. There’s no Face ID, unsurprisingly — you’ll need to authenticate with Touch ID on the power button. 

As with the iPad Air, the new base iPad is open for pre-orders now and will be available on March 12.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apple-updates-the-base-ipad-with-an-a16-chip-and-more-storage-141208654.html?src=rss

It’s been less than a year since Apple update the iPad Air, but the company is taking another opportunity to speed things up by adding the M3 chip to the mix. The new iPad Air still comes in 11- and 13-inch sizes and starts at the same price as the prior model — $599 for the 11-inch and $799 for the 13-inch. It also works with a redesigned Magic Keyboard, similar to the one Apple introduced last May with the iPad Pro. 

It’s definitely a strange update, given that Apple doesn’t typically upgrade its iPads on an annual basis at this point. And an M3 versus the M2 that it had before likely won’t make a big difference to most users — the iPad Air already worked with Apple Intelligence, and the M-series chip also enables it to use the more advanced Stage Manager multitasking mode. I guess moving to the M3 means Apple can get one step closer to winding down M2 production.

Most other specs appear identical to last year’s model. The 11- and 13-inch displays are the same resolution and are still stuck at a 60Hz refresh rate, though they are fully laminated to the glass and have an antireflective coating, unlike the screen on the base iPad (which was also just updated). It still uses Touch ID on the power button rather than Face ID, and storage (which starts at 128GB) remains unchanged. As usual, you can get 5G wireless capabilities for an extra $150. 

Surprisingly enough, Apple cut the price of the updated Magic Keyboard — it now starts at $269 for the 11-inch and $319 for the 13-inch, $30 less than before in both cases. It’s a lighter and thinner keyboard than the one it replaces, and adds an extremely handy function key row to the top. There are a few differences to the keyboard compared to the iPad Pro model, though. It isn’t backlit, and the trackpad doesn’t have haptic feedback. Still, it’s a definite step up over the older model Apple offered, at a better price as well. That said, it’s identical in size to the M2 model, so an older Magic Keyboard should work without issue.

Pre-orders start today, and the new iPad Air will ship on March 12. In case you were curious, it looks like it comes in the same four colors as the last model: space grey, starlight silver, purple and blue. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apple-updates-the-ipad-air-with-an-m3-chip-and-a-new-magic-keyboard-140525345.html?src=rss

Peak Design may have recently begun dabbling in tripods and dedicated smartphone accessories, but it started as a bag maker. It’s continuing that tradition by announcing its first-ever roller luggage, the Roller Pro Carry-On. This bag is appropriate to stow away overhead during flights, thus the name, but also comes with some tech-friendly features.

First of all, there’s a hidden compartment specifically for an AirTag tracker. That would come in mighty handy in the case of a mistaken identity/swapped luggage type of deal like in the movies. It also boasts external gear loops for hooking stuff like tripods. There’s a protected pocket for chargers, headphones, tablets and laptops.

The Roller Pro has been designed to accommodate the company’s newly-announced XL-sized Camera Cube. This container fills the entire volume of the Roller Pro and holds a 400mm prime lens, along with other camera accessories. The company says it turns the bag into a “mobile creative workstation for photographers on location or in the studio.” It also eliminates the need for a dedicated camera roller.

Tech aside, this is a piece of luggage. To that end, the carbon fiber handle has been designed for “maximal strength in a minimal volume.” Peak Design says it’s “significantly stiffer” than rival handles, but takes up “just a third of the volume.” This allows for more packing space, which is always good. The 60mm wheels also nestle into the corners, further maximizing space. The capacity is expandable from 34L to 39L, which is great for piling on last minute gifts while traveling.

Peak Design

It’s covered in a lightweight polycarbonate shell and Peak Design’s proprietary VersaShell fabric. The Roller Pro is available in a few colors and preorders start today via Kickstarter. This is a Peak Design product, however, so get ready to empty that bank account. The price ranges from $140 to $600, depending on add-ons.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/peak-design-made-a-roller-suitcase-thats-perfect-for-techies-and-content-creators-140035490.html?src=rss

I’ll cut right to the chase: If you’re an RTX 4070 owner looking to upgrade to NVIDIA’s latest video cards, the $549 RTX 5070 won’t be much different than what you’re used to. Aside from DLSS 4’s ability to generate multiple extra frames, the 5070 is practically the same as the 4070 Ti in our testing (and in some cases it’s worse). So if you’re already committed to spending more than $500 for a new GPU, you’re likely better off saving up a bit more for the $749 5070 Ti, which has more VRAM (16GB instead of the 5070’s 12GB) and more capable hardware for gaming in 4K.

Given the current state of the video card market, though, those prices are basically just theoretical. NVIDIA’s previous RTX 50-series cards are already selling well above their retail prices at most stores, if you can find them in stock at all. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the RTX 5070 suffering the same fate. For now, though, Best Buy has NVIDIA’s Founder’s Edition card and an ASUS model listed for $549.

The RTX 5070 comes in $50 cheaper than the RTX 4070’s original launch price, so at least we’re edging closer to the days of the $500 RTX 3070 (again, if you were lucky enough to snag it for that MSRP). The 5070’s price alone made it the new NVIDIA GPU I was most looking forward to test. But after spending some time with it, I can see why NVIDIA was able to keep it relatively affordable: It’s simply not a huge jump from the 4070.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Hardware

As the runt of the litter (so far), the RTX 5070 is clearly behind its siblings on paper. It sports 6,144 CUDA cores, compared to the 5070 Ti’s 8,960, and the aforementioned 12GB of GDDR7 memory. Notably, the RTX 4070 also shipped with 12GB of memory, though that was slightly slower GDDR6X RAM. The new card has a 33 percent memory bandwidth advantage — 672 GB/s vs 504 GB/s — but it would have been nice to see more RAM, especially since AMD managed to deliver 16GB in the upcoming $549 Radeon 9070.

The NVIDIA Founder’s Edition RTX 5070 we reviewed looks similar to the 5090, with a gorgeous metal case and dual fans to cool down the PCB sandwiched in the middle. A dongle with two 8-pin PSU connections is included in the box, and the 5070 requires a 650W power supply at a minimum. (Though I’d recommend going for at least an 800W PSU if you want to future-proof a bit.) Around the back, the 5070 features three DisplayPort 2.1 connections and an HDMI 2.1 port.

In use: Solid 1440p and 4K, especially with multi-frame generation

I was a bit worried that testing the RTX 5070 would meaning scaling down my Avowed settings from maxed out 4K to 1440p. First-world problems, I know. But the 5070 managed to stay above 60 fps in 4K with ray tracing and graphics settings cranked up — so long as I was using DLSS upscaling. I typically saw between 65 fps and 75 fps in a variety of areas, which played smoothly on my 32-inch Alienware QD-OLED monitor.

I saw a smoother 120 fps while playing Avowed in 1440p, but I preferred sticking with 4K since it’s not a very fast-paced game. Instead, it’s a title where you’re often moving slowly through the world and absorbing breathtaking vistas and gorgeously constructed environments. Without DLSS, the 5070 crawled along at just 15 fps in 4K. In comparison, the 5070 Ti reached 90 fps in 4K with DLSS, and 32 fps in 4K without any upscaling.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Clearly, the RTX 5070 is best-suited to 1440p gaming, just like the 4070. But it’s more capable if you don’t mind the interpolated frames from DLSS 4’s multi-frame generation. It can generate up to three frames from every one that’s natively rendered. That led to me seeing 168 fps in Dragon Age: The Veilguard while playing in 4K with graphics settings cranked up. The 5070 Ti, meanwhile, hit over 200 fps while playing Veilguard in 4K, while the 5090 reached 250 fps.

Your experience with the RTX 5070 will mostly come down to the amount of games you play with DLSS 3 and 4 support. Halo Infinite, which doesn’t work with any upscaling technology yet, hit an acceptable 97 fps in 4K. Still, I think most players would prefer the smoother 138 fps performance in 1440p, or even the 178 fps I saw in 1080p. Cyberpunk 2077, meanwhile, flew in 4K with multi-frame gen in ray tracing overdrive mode, reaching 115 fps.

Benchmarks paint a far starker picture for the RTX 5070. It was practically identical to the RTX 4070 Ti in 3DMark’s TimeSpy Extreme and Speedway tests. And it lagged behind that card in the Port Royal and DirectX ray tracing tests, as well as in Blender’s benchmark, where it was a full 1,200 points behind the 4070 Ti! NVIDIA clearly leaned more on tensor core performance for DLSS for the 5070, rather than raw rasterized or ray tracing speeds.

Unsurprisingly, NVIDIA’s Founder’s Edition cooling setup shined on the RTX 5070, where it kept temperatures between 35C and 40C while idling, and under 75C while I was gaming and running benchmarks. The fans were audible but not annoying when I was really stressing the card, thoughI didn’t notice much since I also had audio blasting on my speakers.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Should you buy the RTX 5070?

As I mentioned up top, I don’t think the RTX 5070 is a compelling upgrade if you’re already satisfied with an RTX 4070. But if you’re coming from an older GPU, and you’re not ready to shell out $750 (or likely more) for the 4070 Ti, it’s currently the best value NVIDIA is offering. The 5070 will handle 1440p gaming well, and it’ll be acceptable for basic 4K gaming for non-DLSS titles. Throw multi-frame generation in the mix, and things look even better.

Still, for the price, I really wish the 5070 was more of a step up from the 4070. If the 5070 Ti ever comes back down to its $750 retail price, it’s likely a better longterm purchase since it has 16GB of RAM. That’ll make it better equipped for handling massive 4K textures, and it’s also more powerful in general to deal with more demanding gaming engines and ray tracing. The 5070 is a GPU that might satisfy you for a few years, whereas I think the 5070 Ti could handle most of what you throw at it for the next four years.

For now, though, my advice is the same as it was in my 5070 Ti review: Don’t rush out to buy a new video card right away. NVIDIA’s pricing and stock availability is incredibly volatile, and it’s not worth paying over $900 for something like the 5070 Ti. In a few months, prices may fall back down to Earth, especially with AMD’s more reasonable $549 and $599 Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT in the mix. In fact, it’s worth waiting a bit just to see how well those two cards compare to the 5070.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Wrap-up

While NVIDIA mostly succeeded with delivering a semi-affordable midrange GPU with the RTX 5070, it’s competing against itself when compared to the excellent RTX 4070. It’s limited by having only 12GB of VRAM, and without the magic of DLSS AI upscaling, its performance isn’t that much different than the 4070 Ti. In the end, the 5070 feels a bit like a missed opportunity to deliver a truly performant card for close to $500. Instead, it’s more of the same, with a healthy dose of AI.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-review-basically-a-4070-ti-thats-better-at-4k-140016718.html?src=rss

Alienware unveiled a widescreen 34-inch QD-OLED monitor a few years ago and it was hit from the get-go thanks to the HDR brightness, OLED color accuracy and smooth 175Hz refresh rate. Now, the company has launched an updated version that boosts the refresh rate to 240Hz — making it a tempting option for gamers who prize visuals and speed. Dell’s gaming brand also revealed several inexpensive LCD gaming models, including a 25-inch, 320Hz model for just $250. 

On top of the boosted refresh rate, the new Alienware 34 Ultra-Wide QD-OLED Monitor (AW3425DW) offers improved connectivity with HDMI 2.1 FRL, while adding G-SYNC, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and VESA AdaptiveSync certification. As before, it comes with WQHD 3,440 x 1,440 resolution and 1800R curve, providing a 21:9 gaming experience that while not as sharp as 4K, is still a huge leap ahead of 1080p. It goes on sale today for $800. 

Along with that model, Alienware’s 27-inch 280Hz QD-OLED Monitor (AW2725D) is also available at a reasonable $550 price point (arriving summer 2025). It combines QHD resolution with a high-speed 280Hz refresh rate, allowing sharp high-quality visuals along with a smooth gaming experience. Rounding out the QD-OLED models is the 27-inch 4K QD-OLED Monitor (AW2725Q) previously announced at CES, with a 240Hz refresh rate and highest pixel density of any OLED or QD-OLED monitor, the company claims. It’s available starting today for $900.

Finally, Alienware unveiled four new LCD monitors, including 34- and 32-inch curved VA monitors with 180Hz refresh rates priced at $400 and $320, with both available starting March 6th. The most interesting, however, is a 25-inch 320Hz monitor available for just $250 (coming summer 2025), giving pro gamers on a budget a very high-speed option, if they don’t mind a smallish screen. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/alienware-boosts-its-34-inch-qd-oled-gaming-monitor-to-240hz-140015276.html?src=rss