Acer’s Nitro 5 for 2021 was launched a little earlier in the year. That was the AMD Ryzen variant though. At the same time, the entry-level gaming laptop stepped out of the ‘entry-level’ segment and started becoming a high-end gaming PC the moment they fitted an AMD Ryzen 9 5900H and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU into the build.
That is not to say that Acer is abandoning the entry-level gaming laptop market though. The Nitro 5’s configuration choice is a testament to the segment. You can opt for an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, for example, to be paired to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. Still, there is an option missing from the Nitro 5 line-up. Until now that is.
The option we were referring to is the Intel variant of the Acer Nitro 5. After all, the Acer Nitro 5 of the past has always been Intel powered. In that sense, the update should come as no surprise. The only surprise though is the options that you get from the Acer Nitro 5 intel edition.
Source: Acer
The latest addition to the Acer Nitro 5 family in 2021 is powered by an 11th Generation Intel Core i7-11800H (up to). Considering that the latest Intel Core i7 is the most powerful mobile platform chip based on Intel’s latest 10nm process, you are getting a lot of power for your money here still. The Processor is also paired with a potent NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 for good measure.
Processing power aside, you do need ample RAM and storage size to fully take advantage of a gaming laptop. For that you get up to 16GB of RAM from the Acer Nitro 5 for all kinds of creative and gaming purposes. You also get 512GB in SSD storage for speedy access to all your applications. There is an additional 2.5” SATA slot, if you want more storage for your Nitro 5. If you want to, you can also upgrade your RAM to top out at 32GB.
All these things are housed in a familiar body with a slightly redesigned display shell, for easy identification we suppose. You get a 4-zone RGB keyboard that you can easily recognise from the AMD variant Acer Nitro 5, nothing new there. You also still get WiFi 6 capability with Killer Ethernet E2600 support for smooth and stable online gaming experience.
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Unlike the AMD counterpart, the Intel powered Acer Nitro 5 only comes in two flavours though. You can choose between the more powerful Intel Core i7-11800H paired with a 16GB RAM variant and a more moderate Intel Core i5-11400H with 8GB of RAM. The Inte Core i7 variant is now available at Acer official online store, Acer’s official Shopee store, and Acer’s officially Lazada store for MYR 5,699. Every purchase made between now and 9th July 2021 will come with a free Acer Gateway FAE-i5 pro Wireless Earphones (MYR 239).
If you are on a budget and planning to get the Acer Nitro 5 with Intel’s Core i5-11400H with 8GB RAM instead, it will set you back MYR 4,799. It will only be available in Malaysia at the end of July 2021 though. For more information on Acer’s Nitro 5, do visit Acer’s website.
About two months ago, Lenovo dropped their brand-new Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2. The new gaming smartphone replaces their old Lenovo Legion Phone Duel. It also came with a whole slew of updates that makes it one of the most compelling gaming smartphones in the current market.
There was no solid release date for the smartphone in Malaysia though, until today that is. The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 is finally released in Malaysia. It is available now and it will set you back MYR 3,299 for the lesser 12GB + 256GB variant and MYR 3,899 for the 16GB + 512GB variant. It also comes to Malaysia with a Maxis and Hotlink special deal at that. A little more on that later.
Source: Lenovo
The Legion Phone Duel 2 is built to be the ultimate gaming phone in the market with its horizontal first orientation approach. Even its pop-up selfie camera pop’s up from the side if you are holding the device like you normally would. When you game, it is a more natural position too. At the same time, a pop-up camera allows for a fuller display real estate for a more immersive experience.
It also packs the most powerful processor the Android market has seen so far, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G System on a Chip (SoC). With up to 16GB of RAM, the spec sheet looks more like a powerful gaming laptop than a gaming smartphone. To keep the device running as optimally as possible, the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 packs a very innovative cooling solution to keep things running as comfortably as possible.
To keep the powerful internals running for the entire day, there are two batteries inside the device that adds up to 5,500 mAh capacity. Two batteries also means that the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 charges faster and safer at 90W. The approach allows the device to be properly optimised for a comfortable horizontal use of the device too. To ensure that you really conquer your games, there is the touch-sensitive trigger buttons.
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
The internals are encased in mix of glass and aluminium, fronted by a 6.92-iunch AMOLED Full HD+ display that refreshes at 144Hz and 720Hz Sampling rate for a near instant touch response time. The pop-up camera is also a very powerful 44-Megapixel sensor with ultra-wide angle lens that ensures that you look good in that mobile gaming stream.
The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel 2 is now available in Malaysia from any Lenovo Exclusive Stores nationwide and online official stores on Lazada and Shopee. You can get the Legion Phone Duel 2 in two colour options – black or white. There are also two variants of the smartphone, a 12GB + 256GB variant and a 16GB + 512GB variant, to choose from. The device will set you back MYR 3,299 onward and if you are a Maxis and Hotlink user, you are entitled to claim a complementary Lenovo 500 Bluetooth headphones worth MYR 189 between 28th June to 31st July, 2021.
We were planning to review this item on video. The problem was our studio had to close because of the Pandemic. It is now a written review instead.
There is a reason why we wanted to review the Razer Seiren Mini on video though. We technically can use it as our audio input for the video, completely using the audio recorded from the Razer Seiren Mini as our voice over for the video. Why? Because it made sense.
The Razer Seiren Mini is not necessarily a new product segment for Razer though. They had the Razer Seiren X before this, a big mic thing that Razer made for streamers. That USB mic received plenty of praises for being one really good mic especially for streamers.
It was a little big though. Then again, having a big mic is not really an issue when you have a streaming set up at home. Having a big mic is never really touted as an issue at all for streamers.
So, what is the Razer Seiren Mini? Why would anyone buy this little mic if they could just get the adult sized Razer Seiren? Is it even something you should consider?
Design
It comes in three colour shades; it comes in plain black, solid white, and even pink. There are no green mics though; quite odd considering this is Razer we are talking about. But at least the black is universal enough that it does not look like it is out of place on the video. If you want a little bit of a flavour, the pink should fit your style nicely. Keep in mind that it does not taste like cotton candy though, it tastes metallic.
Literal taste aside though, the whole package of the Razer Seiren Mini is rather unassuming. The capsule looking body with mic does not look like it is made to impress anyone. The whole package comes with its own mini legs too, which is nice, because that means you do not need to get a separate mic stand for it. It is easy to set up too because the mic uses a proper, regular mic stand ¾-inch thread. There are two standard mic holder thread though, so do check properly.
In some ways, it looks cute because it is just so tiny, and light. It looks and feels durable too, and that is the best part because we think that users might use this mic as a portable mic set-up as well. At least, that is also what Razer is selling this product as, a “portable mini microphone”. The only missing thing from the whole package, in that case, is a carrying case for the mic.
Hardware
Inside this tiny capsule is a 14mm super cardioid condenser. Which also means it is not a passive type of dynamic mic that words by just plugging it into an amp or mixer; you need power. At the same time, you cannot plug this into any XLR, or ¼” jack though. It is a USB Type-C mic that also draws its power from the PC it is connected to.
Specifications
Sample Rate
44.1 KHz – 48 KHz
Microphone
14mm Super Cardioid Condenser Built-in Shock Mounting
Frequency Response
20 Hz – 20 KHz
Power
5V 500mA Via Micro USB
Sensitivity
17.8 mV/Pa (1 KHz)
Max SPL
110 dB
Features
While the mic does not look like much, there is quite a lot of things packed into the small capsule mic though. It is a USB Type-C mic, which also means it is a simple plug and play now. The USB port is designed to sort of hide the cable connection and make the whole capsule look whole. There is some clever surprise inside the capsule body as well.
Flush USB Plug and Play
Micro USB is not necessarily new in electronics. The difference between this one mic with other mics of its type is how they hide the cable. Well, they did not really hide the cable, just the fact that they made it seem like the cable is a part of the mic capsule itself. Of course, they colour match the cables too.
Razer does not just give you a regular looking USB cable for you to connect to your Razer Serine mini and calls it a day. They made an effort to properly design a USB cable head that matches and sits flush with the body of your Razer Seiren Mini.
While it is a plug and play mic solution, it is not Razer Synapse compatible unfortunately. That can be a good thing too though; it just works. To control the volume, you just go to Windows audio settings and sort it out. All you have to do is figure out the best place to put your mic and you can get streaming, podcasting, and even use it in your video conference.
Super Cardioid Condenser
Source: Razer
What you get inside the capsule mic, as mentioned before, is a 14mm super cardioid condenser. A condenser cannot work without a power source, unlike dynamic mics. There are advantages to dynamic mics compared to condensers. For example, on a dynamic mic, you get cleaner audio and it is simple to work with. Dynamic mics are known to be durable as well, just find a studio and ask them for their oldest Shure SM58 mic, ask them how old it is, and you will understand why.
Condensers have their own advantages as well though. Condensers tend to be a lot more sensitive than dynamic mics. Heightened sensitivity allows you to place the mic further away from you or have more control over sensitivity depending on where you place the mic. But that also means that you have more freedom to place your mic in different locations and positions to pick up different sounds like ambient noise and such. On top of that, condensers can be a lot more compact than dynamic mics.
Super cardioid refers to its pickup pattern which centers mostly at its front and a little bit at the back. It is a tighter pattern compared to a general cardioid mic though which also means that it will be a lot less sensitive to noise and sounds from the sides of the mic. Which also means you really want to point the front of the mic toward the source of the sound you want being picked up, you. At least that is straight forward enough to do; the front of the mic is where the power indication LED and RAZER branding is.
Built-in Shock Mount
Because condensers are also more sensitive, every little bump and shake can be picked up by the mic. That is why shock mounting is important when you get a condenser. That was our concern as well when we picked up this little Seiren Mini. Fortunately, Razer thought of that and figured out a way to fit a shock mount into the capsule, and it works. You still hear knocks on the mic, obviously, but when you place it on the table, knocks and bumps on the table is hardly heard through the mic, unless it is a hard knock. If you are using a boom arm and accidentally brushed or knocked your hands against the boom arm, the shock is also hardly heard through the mic. You only head knocks and bumps very clearly if you are bumping or knocking against the mic directly.
Tilting Stand
We will not call this the best quality tilting stand that you can find in the market. We are going to say that this is a good mic stand for your Razer Seiren Mini though. The best part about it is that you can use it with other mics or mic holders with standard mic stand threads. That also means that you can technically use different mic with a standard mic holder, and it works too. Although, you do want to make sure that you either balance the weight properly or that the mic is not too heavy to work with; dynamic mics like the Shure SM58 should be fine.
It is made with plastic mostly, even the base is covered with plastic material. Excluding the mic, there are two parts to the stand that comes standard with your Razer Seiren Mini. You get a base with a tilting thread, and a plastic stem that adapts the base to the mic because the thread on the base is a smaller standard thread. The base also comes with an anti-slip foam at the bottom to grip ensure that it does not get to move too much on your desk. The foam bottom also helps eliminate micro vibrations from your desk, which is a bonus in getting cleaner sound from you.
Performance
When you talk about the performance of a mic though, its sound quality and reproduction is everything. The thing is, specific mics serves different purposes in its design though. Mics like the Seiren Mini is really built for streamers and podcasting. That also means that it should deliver that ‘radio voice’ quality over voice chats and when you are recording a podcast, or in video calls.
Audio Quality and Reproduction
First of all, before you start thinking about downloading software solutions from Razer to control the mic, forget it. Even Razer’s synapse does not recognise the device. That also means that Razer’s own apps will not control the mic’s pickup. There are no physical buttons to the mic either, which also means you have to go into Windows 10’s or MacOS’s sound settings and control the mic sensitivity there.
No complains on that though, because it is simple enough to get to Windows audio settings and set the mic to default to the Razer Seiren Mini, set the volumes correctly in different use cases and just leave it from there. In most cases, we leave our mics to 100% sensitivity in Windows settings, especially when we tuck the mic further away from us (about 0.5m away from the mouth).
When we do our podcast though, we stuck the mic closer to our mouths and lowered the sensitivity on Window itself because the mic is now that much closer to our mouths to the point that we are almost kissing the mic. Here we find a problem with the Razer Seiren Mini. It does not have a pop-filter and Razer does not sell a Seiren Mini specific pop-filter too. That results in pops when we say things like “pick”, or “ping”, or “pack”. It is easily corrected by buying a generic pop-filter though. You only have to worry about mounting the stuff.
The audio you get from the mic is quite remarkable though. You get the same sort of sound signature with the bigger Seiren X from this little capsule. That also means a crisp voice with very clear mid-frequencies and low frequencies for great and clear voice. That also means your teammates or audience can hear you very clearly. Just be sure that nothing else is making noise behind you though, since it is a condenser.
Of course, you need to be the judge of the sound quality that the Razer Seiren Mini reproduces for you too. So, we have included a few voice clips for you to listen to. We used Adobe Audition to record all sample sound tracks.
The Razer Seiren Mini – Portable Goodness in Value for Money Package
You can get your hands on the Razer Seiren Mini at MYR 249 from Razer’s official store on Shopee, or their own online store. If you really look through Shopee, you can get a Seiren Mini for even lower prices. There are three colours to choose from as well with the Razer Seiren Mini – Quartz, Mercury, and Black. We do suggest the Black for a more professional and cleaner look.
Still, if you do want to spice up your set up a little bit, the white coloured mercury colour scheme looks great too. While we are not fans of the pink Quarts colour scheme, we do think that there are plenty who would like that colour option too. Whatever it is, the colour options do give a little more freedom for expression, we think.
While we would like to see USB Type-C replacing Micro USB on the Razer Seiren Mini, there is nothing much wrong with Micro USB. A lot of older USB devices still work nicely. Plenty of audio interfaces in the market are still relying on USB Type-B ports too. With the provided cable anyway, the connection is secure and reliable.
At the same price with the Razer Seiren Mini, there are other solutions like HyperX’s Solocast USB microphone. The Solocast does come with a nice built-in stand that looks extremely sturdy. The mic is also taller and a little bigger than the Razer Seiren Mini. Because of that though, it is a little more cumbersome, less portable. When connected to your PC, the USB cable sticks out like a sore thumb too, which could be less appealing in terms of cable management. The HyperX Solocast does have a touch sensitive ‘mute’ button though, while the Razer Seiren Mini does not.
Thing is, recommending the Razer Seiren Mini is really easy for us. At its price, it is hard to find a compelling enough mic that boasts the same quality and features. It is also a relatively economical and simple way to increase the audio quality of your conference calls and even streams. Because it is so small, you can easily throw it in your bag and set up anywhere and anytime.
Working on-the-go comes with a lot of compromises. When you are on the move, you want a companion that is fuss-free, easy to work with, reliable, and most importantly light and compact. The trade-off to that is always power.
You see this in modern laptops made for the working professionals. When you get super lightweight, super compact laptops, they usually do not come with a discrete GPU. That also means that if you need your PC to do more than just word processing, or browsing the web, or even create presentations, you are going to have to compromise a little bit.
It is 2021 though. In that sense, we should not have to compromise that much when it comes to portability and power, especially if your work relies on that kind of power. Of course, you want something industrial, durable and reliable too in your work notebook PC. The one name you can associate with all the things mentioned above in a professional notebook is Lenovo’s ThinkPad.
Source: Lenovo
Specifically, we are looking at the most powerful ThinkPad in their line-up; we are looking at Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Extreme. In its Gen 4 clad, it is the most powerful Lenovo ThinkPad ever; or at least it can be.
Within the very familiar all-metal body of the ThinkPad lives an Intel Core i9-H series 11th Generation processor (up to). The most powerful mobile processor that Intel has to offer is accompanied by a very powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (up to) for good measure. With up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM at 3200MHz, the new ThinkPad X1 Extreme is an extremely powerful machine that can chew up 3D rendering work, eat video workflow for lunch, and drink photo editing work for tea-time without breaking a sweat, especially with Lenovo’s reworked and patented cooling technology.
You can pair the powerful internals to a 4K+ (up to) 16-inch display to ensure that you get every detail exactly right. You see more too with a unique 16:10 display ratio. With 10-bit colours, HDR 400 and up to 600nit in brightness, you will get every colour for your projects right too. If you are working with a lot of Audio, the Dolby Atmos certified speakers should do that job for you.
Source: Lenovo
While a lot laptops stop at 720p video webcam, the Lenovo ThinkPad goes beyond that to make this your ultimate work laptop anywhere you may be working from. It packs a Full HD 1080p webcam as standard with a physical shutter. For added security with Windows Hello, you can spec it with a Full HD 1080p Infrared Hybrid webcam. Of course, the ThinkPad also comes with the a fingerprint reader as standard.
The familiar all-metal chassis is even more durable than ever too. It is MIL-STD 810H certified, which also means that it can withstand more than just the regular bumps and nicks. You can be sure that it will survive a drop from your desks too, just in case you are that clumsy that day. The build standard is not really to allow you to be clumsy and rough with the laptop though, it is just to ensure that you do not lose your important work data in case the inevitable happens.
Everything above might make the laptop sound like a chunky block of aluminium slab that you would dread to carry in your backpack. That is not the case though. It only weighs 1.82kg; and at 17.7mm, it is not exactly thick either. It might come with a chunky power brick though to ensure that the powerful processors get enough power.
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is expected to be available in select markets from August 2021 onward. Prices for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 starts at EUR€ 2,099 (MYR10,431*). There is no word on availability and official pricing of the device in Malaysia just yet. They did say that the availability and pricing for Malaysia will be announced soon though, so watch this space.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of EUR€ 1 = MYR 4.97
Samsung’s Odyssey Gaming Monitor lineup has been the talk of the town since it debuted last year. Last year, the company introduced two models which stole the limelight with their curves. This year, it looks like Samsung’s Odyssey Gaming Monitors are flattening the curve, bringing more options for gamers.
Source: Samsung
The expanded line up still brings the hallmark features of the Samsung Odyssey lineup with high refresh rates, NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync compatibility and most importantly, Samsung display technology which infuse more vivid, vibrant colours to the gaming experience. The four new models span three lineups: the premium G7, the balanced G5 and the affordable G3.
The largest of the new additions to the line up is the Odyssey G7 (G70A) which comes with a large, 28-inch display. The display comes with VESA DisplayHDR 400 which certifies it for colour accuracy and vibrance. It comes with a Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution of 3,840 x 1,260 pixels and has a 1ms gray-to-gray (GTG) response. For those looking for high refresh rates, the Odyssey G7 comes with 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 400cd/m3 . It also comes with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. The G7 is also the model with the widest array of ports coming with a Display Port 1.4, 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, and 3 USB 3.0 ports.
Source: Samsung
The Odyssey G5 (G50A) comes with a slightly smaller 27-inch display with a Quad HD (QHD) resolution of 2,560×1,440 pixels. It has HDR10 certification for colour accuracy and vibrance. It has a peak brightness of 350cd/m3 and also comes with 1ms GTG response time. However, it has a higher 165Hz refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. Both the G5 and G7 support low input lag mode which allows for better latency while gaming. They also have support for Samsung’s Super Arena Gaming UX and CoreSync Lighting. The G5 only comes with 2 inputs: 1 Display Port 1.2 and 1 HDMI 2.0 port.
The G3 (G30A) comes in 27-inch and 24-inch sizes. Like the other monitors announced, it has a 16:9 aspect ratio but only has a peak brightness of 250cd/m3 – the lowest among the bunch. It comes with a Full HD resolution of 1.920×1,080 pixels with a 1ms motion picture response time (MPRT). Like the G7 it has a 144Hz refresh rate. However, it only supports AMD’s FreeSync Premium and doesn’t support the various features mentioned above in the G5 and G7. On the ports front, it has two ports: 1 Display Port 1.2 and 1 HDMI 1.4.
Source: Samsung
Pricing & Availability
The Samsung Odyssey monitors will start being available globally starting on 21 June 2021. No Pricing has been announced internationally.
E3 2021 happened last week and that was the biggest thing that happened in the week. We love gaming, of course we are going to talk about it. While we were excited about the event, it went a little underwhelming and a little under the radar for some reason.
E3 is back in the 2021 after the 2020 hiatus thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In 2021 though the largest gaming conference in the world has gone completely digital and the announcements from various brands were made over live streams on YouTube. Sadly though, while it was more accessible, it was also a little on the underwhelming side.
Sure, there were a few notable game launches and announcements made in the conference itself. Halo: Infinite was Xbox’s big highlight, Razer launched a new gaming laptop that is also their first AMD powered rig alongside a 27-inch gaming display, Nintendo teased Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild 2 a little bit more, and the upcoming Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was quite notable. But other than those, everything else seems a little underwhelming.
Razer took this chance and stole some E3 limelight with their E3 launch too. They are not launching any games though. They launched their latest gaming laptop, the Razer Blade 14 with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series CPU for the first time ever. They also launched a nice looking 27-inch gaming display with QHD resolution and 165Hz in refresh rate in the same show.
We would like to see more from E3 0221 though. We wanted to see Nintendo showing us some gameplay from Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild, for example. We wanted to see more exciting AAA games teased from E3, something that makes us go “wow, that looks goo” like Battlefield 2042, for example. We did not get a lot of those moments.
To put it plainly, we expected more from E3. We wanted more in E3 2021, because 2020 and 2021 are the years where hunger for new games becomes bigger and a little more insatiable. So, what else do we expect from E3? Listen in, find out.
A year ago, the Pokémon Company announced its first foray into the Massively Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre with the announcement of Pokémon Unite. The MOBA is developed in partnership with Tencent’s TiMi Studios and is one of the first in a slew of new games that expand the diversity of Pokémon game genres. This week, we’re getting a little more detail about the upcoming Pokémon MOBA.
Source: The Pokémon Company International
Each game in the Pokémon world is unique to a region – Pokémon Unite is no different. The new region, known as the Aeos Island, is the home of Unite. In this region, which is located somewhere in the undiscovered oceanic frontiers of the Pokémon world, players will be meeting familiar monsters but in a completely new environment. Aeos Island is the home of the Unite Battle Committee which oversees the Unite Battle tournaments. Players who come to Aeos Island will be taking part in these battles where they will need to team up with four other Trainers and compete. The competition will see these teams of four go head-to-head to score enough points to win before time runs out. Players will also encounter a new, unique energy called Aeos energy which allows them to evolve their Pokémon in battle.
The Aeos Island Unite Battles
Trainers will need to face off in 5-on-5 battles. During these battles, they will need to take down their opponents as well as wild Pokémon to gather Aeos energy. They will then need to deposit this energy in one of the opposing team’s goals. That said, the battles won’t be as straightforward. Each stadium will have its own set of rules which will challenge Trainers. Who knows, you might even encounter some Legendary Pokémon in your battles. Pokémon level up and gain new moves and even evolve during battles. However, unlike other regions, Pokémon in the Aeos Islands revert to Level 1 after each battle.
Source: The Pokémon Company International
Trainers will come face-to-face in battles that will challenge them. Elite teams will force Trainers to think out of the box for a strategy to win. Communication and teamwork will be the key to success as Trainers take on Unite Battles. Synergise with your team and find your role in your team. While classic Pokémon strengths and weakness don’t exist in Aeos Island, each Pokémon has one of five unique roles and play styles – Attacker, Defender, Speedster, Supporter and All-Rounder – for you to master.
Source: The Pokémon Company International
Source: The Pokémon Company International
Source: The Pokémon Company International
You start off as a rookie, you will make your way up the ladder from the Beginners Cup to take on the Master Cup. Your ranked battles will be on show for the world to see on the global ranking boards. Trainers will also be able to use Holowear to dress up their Pokémon. Take a snapshot of your Trainer avatar with your Pokemon and use it as your profile picture to show off your unique style.
Pricing & Availability
Pokémon Unite will be free to start. Trainers have the option to purchase additional items, Unite Licenses and more using Aeos Gems. Aeos Gems can be acquired through in-app purchases. However, if that’s not your groove, you can earn Aeos Tickets and Aeos Coins in-game as you progress.
Pokémon Unite will be released on the Nintendo Switch and on mobile. There are plans for cross-platform play but it is unclear if it will be available at launch. The game will be on the Nintendo Switch in July 2021 with the mobile version planned for September 2021.
Razer’s Opus that was launched last year drew some resemblance with a certain wireless over-ear headphones from a different brand. Nothing wrong with that, there are not many ways to design a sleek and stealth looking headphone set without falling back into similar design structures. At the same time, we would like to see more colours from Razer’s stables. It is Razer after all.
They did come up with an answer a year later in 2021 with a new range of Opus lifestyle-centric headphones. Except, they are not the high-end type of headphones the Opus is. They are called the Opus X.
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
The Razer Opus X has very similar design cues with the higher end THX certified Opus. They share the same general shapes and curves in all the right places to make it look less gamer, more general use. The only difference you might find on the outlook is probably the colour choices you get with the Razer Opus X, which incidentally gave away the “gamer” look.
The Opus X comes in three colour choices. You get to choose between the white ‘Mercury’, pink ‘Quartz’, and Green (Razer.com exclusive). The more expensive Opus only gets the Black colour option. While the Green and Quartz might stand out in the crowd, we think the Mercury colour option could be more subtle.
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Inside the headphones are still two beefy 40mm dynamic drivers to deliver super low frequencies from 20Hz to super high frequencies at 20kHz. Obviously, there is no microphone stems here because Razer understands that you have a life outside of your house and a microphone stem outside your home looks odd. It does have the same noise cancelling microphones built into the sleek chassis for both voice chat and phone calls.
It is wireless like the Opus, obviously. You connect your PC or smartphone to it via Bluetooth 5.0 for stable connection and high-quality audio transmissions. You also get 30 hours of battery life with it, which matches the best the market has to offer in terms of wireless headphones. When the battery runs out though, there is always a trusty 3.5mm jack with included cables when you buy the product.
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
While this Razer Opus X does not feature THX’s touch like its more premium brother, it does offer Active Noise Cancelling (ANC). In that sense, this is one of the more affordable products that feature ANC in the market currently. With 60ms low latency connection, this should also be one of the more affordable Bluetooth enabled gaming headphones with ANC capabilities. We prefer over-ear solutions for gaming too, we think this would be perfect if you are trying to lose the cables on your desk.
Price and Availability
We kept saying that it is a more affordable product, but we have not actually mentioned its price. The Opus X is already available in Malaysia and you can buy it from Razer.com online store, or Razer’s dealers and official stores across the nation. It is also about half the price of the THX Certified Opus at MYR 549 (US$ 99.99*). If we are honest, you can hardly find decent ANC enabled headphones at that price currently.
Monitors are becoming increasingly more in demand lately with more and more people working from their homes. Back in 2019, Razer announced their first monitor with the Raptor 27. This year, the company is refreshing the monitor with higher specifications and better refresh rates.
The new Razer Raptor 27 comes with a wide angle IPS display. As its name suggests, the display is an impressive 27-inches. It comes with a QHD resolution of 2560×1440 pixels and supports both AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-SYNC technology. The Raptor is equipped with a higher 165Hz refresh rate compared to the 144Hz of the 2019 version. The panel covers 95% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut promising pretty impressive colour accuracy and is also HDR400 capable.
More impressively, the Razer Raptor is the first monitor in the world to come with THX certification. The certification guarantees that the Raptor 27’s display is able to represent and recreate visuals as the creators envisioned it. To get this certification, the Raptor 27 was put through 4000 individual tests to ensure colour accuracy, panel performance, sharpness and upscaling. According to the certification, the Raptor 27 meets the standards. This certification is one of the first in the industry.
Design wise, the monitor retains the iconic, near bezel-less design of the 2019 iteration. It comes with a matte-black finish with a forged aluminium base. The back of the Raptor is emblazoned with high-end textured fabric. It also comes with built0in cable management channels which run along the back of the monitor. It comes with Razer’s Chroma RGB lighting allowing users to customise their experience with their Synapse 3 software.
Razer also announced their Raptor VESA adapter which allows users to use standard VESA mounts to mount their monitors on multimonitor stands and even their wall with ease.
Pricing & Availability
The Razer Raptor 27 will be available starting early Q3 2021 for USD$799.99 (MYR3,293.61) or €999.99 (MYR4,992.68). It will be available from select retailers and Razer.com.
The Razer VESA Mount Adapter will be available at the same time for USD $99.99 (MYR411.64) or €99.99 (MYR499.22) and will be available exclusively on Razer.com.
Razer’s Blade series should be familiar with gamers around the world. After all, Razer has become one of the most valuable and best-known brands in the world of PC gaming. The Blade series kickstarted and revolutionised the whole ultra-thin, ultra-portable gaming laptop industry on its own technically.
The first Razer Blade had an all blacked out Apple MacBook-esque aesthatics but with internals that you could never find on any MacBook Pro. It packed all the right hardware for the ultimate modern gaming laptop at that time basically, but it was packed in a package quite unheard of in a gaming laptop. Of course, that got the whole world excited.
Imagine the hype then when there is a new Razer Blade laptop that is set to launch. Welcome to the Razer Blade 14. Razer claims that it is the world’s most powerful 14-inch gaming laptop and incidentally the thinnest of its type at just below 17mm thickness, or quite a little bit less than an inch at 0.66-inch. They have kept the clean slate design that is pretty much the signature of the Razer Blade series too.
It is not all looks with no push though. Inside the super thin laptop package is a display with up to 165Hz and up to Quad HD in resolution. This is technically a first in 14-inch notebooks. The 14-inch panel also features up to 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage for the best-in-class colour reproduction on the display. With AMD’s FreeSync Premium technology, screen tearing is a thing of the past. Paired to THX Spatial Audio technology built into the device, gaming and movies are more immersive than before.
To power the super-fast display is an arrangement of equally impressive set of hardware. You get AMD’s most powerful Ryzen 5900HX processor. In this arrangement with AMD, the Ryzen 5900HX is also an unlocked high-performance 8-core CPU built to be the most powerful processor in a 14-inch notebook that is the Razer Blade 14. It is clocked at a maximum of 4.6GHz, which is not just great for games, but for content production as well. Because of the way AMD’s Ryzen Zen 3 processors consumer power too, Razer says that this can get up to 12 hours in battery life.
A powerful CPU needs to be paired to a powerful GPU too though. That powerful GPU comes in the line of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (up to). NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line mobile GPU will keep the 165Hz display running happy at a max resolution of QHD. IT also comes with Resizable BAR to allow memory sharing between the processor and the GPU for better power efficiency and more effective use of the systems depending on what is required in different conditions.
This much power in such a tight package produces another problem on a thin-and-light gaming laptop though. That problem to combat is heat, and with the hardware, a large amount of them. Razer pioneered the vapor chamber technology in the mobile computing space in their first Razer Blade and they are not about the be fazed by the new challenge of heat. They developed a new ultra-low-profile fans with 88 fan blades that are as thin as 0.1mm each, that is as thin as a human hair. The combination of the new ultra-low-profile fans with the proven vapor chamber technology, the Razer Blade 14 keeps itself cool and performing at the highest level.
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Unlike plenty of modern ultra-thin notebooks today though, the Razer Blade 14 comes packing in I/O ports. You have one HDMI 2.1 port that supports 4K @120Hz output, no Mini DisplayPort though at our disappointment. You get two Gen 2 USB 3.2 Type-C ports too that supports display output and power delivery. There are two additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports for super-fast data transfers, or expansion. There is still even a 3.5mm audio jack that support THX Spatial Audio, so that you do not need to get an adapter, or buy a wireless solution to still enjoy your existing headphones.
On top of all of that, the Razer Blade 14 is made with immersive gaming, and productivity in mind at the same time. The anti-ghosting keyboard is back on the Razer Blade 14. It is a per-key Razer Chroma RGB keyboard too for you to really customise the PC to your own flavour. Like plenty of 14-inch notebook of its class, you get a 720p webcam. But it also comes with an IR blaster for Windows Hello facial recognition login on Microsoft Windows 10 that comes with the notebook.
The Razer USB-C GaN Charger – The New Standard
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Alongside the Razer Blade 14, Razer also launched their own revolution in charging technology. They released their Razer USB-C Ga Nitrate (GaN) Charger to the world. It is also Razer’s first and it pushes out a collective 130W in charging power. It can power up to four devices simultaneously (2x USB Type-C, 2x USB Type-A). It is also technically smaller than traditional chargers and even GaN chargers of its type. While it may be a third-party charger to use against your other smartphone, or tablet devices, it also packs all kinds of safety features to ensure that your devices are charged safely and cleverly.
Price and Availability
The all-new Razer Blade 14 will be available immediately from official RazerStores, selected retail partners worldwide, and Razer.com. There is no colour options here, just the regular black with the green LED backlit Razer logo. You can get your hands on one with prices starting at MYR 9,999 (US$ 1,799.99*).
The Razer USB-C GaN charger is available for pre-order now too for about US$ 179.99 (MYR 741**) in select regions via Razer.com and RazerStore locations. They say that the charger will ship out within 30 days. Again, there is no colour options here other than the standard Matte Black that pretty much a signature of Razer. There are no mentions on its availability in Malaysia at this time.
For more information on the Razer Blade 14 and the USB-C GaN charger, you can check out their website.
* Official Razer Pricing
** Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.11 on xe.com as of 15/06/2021
