Alienware isn’t shying away from proving that Gamers can be stylish too. No, no, they’re not going into streetwear like other gaming brands (not yet… anyways). Instead, the company has revamped its Alienware Aurora Desktop with a whole new design with familiar design cues and a sleeker form factor.
The new Alienware Aurora R16 drops all pretensions for a sleek, minimalist design focused on performance. The new R16 comes with a smaller overall size but doesn’t sacrifice the volume. In fact, it maintains the same volume as the R15. It’s also easier to store with a more uniform shape. The biggest change? Well, the signature “Stadium Ring” is now on the side. Alienware has designed the Aurora R16 to catch your eye from the side this time. The stadium ring surrounds the intake vents of the new Aurora R16.
Speaking of intake vents, the Aurora R16 is designed with optimised airflow for better cooling. The new design takes in air from the front via vents nestled in the stadium ring. The top vent can be optimised to either draw in cool air or expel heat depending on how you configure your fans. The chassis itself is built to include anywhere between 2 to 4 fans depending on your configuration.
The Aurora R16 comes with a motherboard based on the Intel Z960 chipset. Alienware has customised the board to maximise performance both in terms of thermals and convenience. It comes with liquid cooling options for the CPU in addition to the standard 240mm heat exchanger. The system is built to support DDR5 5600MT/s memory for intensive tasks. It also comes with Killer E3100G Ethernet which supports bandwidths of up to 2.5Gbps over ethernet. Wireless connectivity runs on Killer’s AX1675 Wi-Fi E which supports WiFi 6E and the system also supports Bluetooth 5.3.
The R16 still comes with a bevvy of I/O ports including three USB-A and a single USB-C on the front panel for quick and easy access under the AlienFX enabled Alien head power button.
There will be multiple configurations of the Alienware Aurora R16 available depending on your region. In Malaysia, the Aurora will be launching with a configuration featuring the Intel Core i7F processor with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD storage. This will be complemented by an NVIDIA RTX 4070.
Pricing & Availability
The Alienware Aurora R16 will be available soon in Malaysia. Dell Malaysia hasn’t announced an availability date just yet. However, the system is now available on the US Dell online store with prices starting from USD$1,749.99 (MYR7,999).
In Malaysia, the Aurora R16 will be priced at MYR10,599 (USD$2,318.78) with the specs mentioned previously and 2 years of Dell Premium Support.
AMD launched their processors with 3D V-Cache technology in their 5000 series of desktop CPUs. The first of the 3D V-Cache equipped CPU was the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. What this does is basically increases the CPU cache massively allowing for more memory access for the CPU and even the GPU with Smart Access Memory technology. They introduced the same technology too to the new Ryzen 7000 series CPUS rather recently on the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D.
How they massively increased the size of the cache available to their CPUs is by stacking the V-Cache module on top of their chips, hence the 3D moniker. Instead of spreading the memory module out and about, they stacked the memory modules to increase the height of the processor slightly and in turn increase the size of their cache. While it is a great solution to increase the CPU’s efficiency and effective speed, it is not so great for overclocking since stacking one chip over the other is not necessarily recommended in heat management. Still, we thought it was a great way to make your laptops more powerful without increasing power consumption by all that much or overclocking your chips. While this did not happen in the previous generation Ryzen CPUs, it is happening now with the new AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D made for laptops.
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
While it might seem like redundant technology for modern laptops, it is a clever technology that might allow you to fully take advantage of high-performing gaming laptops or creator focused laptops. Gaming laptops today come with high speed and high-resolution displays. In most cases, while resolution and detail are the GPU’s responsibility, frame rates and speed are determined by how much a CPU can process. That also means that you want a fast CPU to keep up with fast displays. That is where the 3D V-Cache technology comes in.
For the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, the 3D V-Cache bumps its memory to a whopping 144MB from the measly 64MB the regular Ryzen 9 7945HX packs. All its 16 cores still clock up to 5.4Ghz and offer about 55W of TDP. Thanks to a larger memory though, the CPU can process much faster than before and keep up with high-speed displays with ease. According to AMD, they have recorded a 15% boost in performance over the regular processor. They are also seeing massive gains even when TDP is at a low 40W.
This is a mobile CPU though, which means that you will not be able to find the chip out in the market on its own. You will find the AMD Ryzen 7945HX3D first in the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D in August of 2023. Of course, AMD is working with more partners to bring the X3D technology to more gaming laptops. You can find out more on AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 series CPU with 3D V-Cache technology on their website.
Cybersecurity is a big talking point today. It is not a new thing; it really has been a concern since the digital age. There are always going to be perpetrators out in the wild who try to cheat, game systems, and even do harm to others for their own benefit. The most recent security threat, and still is one of the biggest threats to cybersecurity, is ransomware.
The thing is, while there are numerous talks about how cyber security should be implemented in corporations and company devices, we often forget that the cyber-first world encourages users to also use their own personal devices for work and at work – your smartphones for example. Where your organization’s issued devices are locked down and secured, your own devices are not. Where Your organization implements security measures on their own back-end digital infrastructure, your own devices are often left untouched. Where your company protects itself, you are left unprotected. So, what do you do?
You get yourself a protection plan of yourself of course. You get yourself Kaspersky’s latest and most comprehensive protection program. For 2023 Kaspersky introduces products that are more streamlined than ever and more comprehensive for all kinds of budget. With updated UI, the Kaspersky protection suites are also made to be more intuitive than ever while offering the most comprehensive protection and control back to users. Their latest suites also offer protection for Windows, Mac, Android, and even iOS.
Kaspersky Standard, or Plus, or Premium
The product naming scheme has become even more simplified than before too. Now you pick between the Standard, Plus, and Premium protection plans that offer different coverage and protection layers. Of course, they come with different price points too.
With the Standard package starting at MYR 70/year (1 device), you get the full might of Kaspersky’s antivirus program that will also detect and remove viruses or malware even before you get your Kaspersky security suite. On top of that, you get real-time protection against the latest known threats to your devices. Kaspersky standard also comes with Safe Browsing and Anti-Phishing suites alongside Firewall and Network Monitor to further protect yourself from malicious websites, downloads, extensions, and even applications. Unlike older cybersecurity suites that tend to slow your PC down, the new Kaspersky security suite offers Quick Startup, PC Speed-up, and Disk Cleanup Tools to ensure that your PC is always working optimally. If you game on your devices too, Kaspersky offers a Game and Do Not Disturb modes to ensure that your devices work to offer the best performance for your games while ensuring that you are not disturbed in an intense battle.
The Plus suite from MYR 96/year (1 device) onward adds an unlimited VPN subscription and Premium Password Manager to the mix. You also have access to Data Leak Checker that monitors the internet and dark web for compromised personal data while offering steps to ensure that your data is always protected. The plan also offers users the ability to monitor their home network and the devices that are connected to the network.
The Premium plan offers the full might of what Kaspersky can offer you for MYR 139/year (1 device) onward. On top of everything you get from the Standard and Plus plans, you also get Kaspersky’s identity protection suite and premium technical support that can even help you install your Kaspersky application for you, if it is too much of a hassle for yourself to do. They also offer the occasional PC health checks done by a professional if you need. In terms of identity protection, they offer something they call an Identity Protection Wallet that stores copies of your sensitive data including identification documents and even licenses in an encrypted format. There is also a one-year free subscription of Kaspsersky Safe Kids suite to further protect your family.
Price and Availability
Kaspersky’s Standard, Plus, and Premium protection plan is now available for MYR 70/year onward (Standard, 1 device) all the way to MYR 195/year (Premium, 5 devices). You can get them from Kaspersky’s website or authorized retailers across the nation. If you choose to get your Kaspersky protection suite now from their website, you are entitled to a 17% introductory discount for your 1-year subscription.
Gaming laptops can be a better buy than most types of laptops out there. There are going to be some compromises. A gaming laptop is larger and heftier than thin-and-light laptops. Since they are heftier, they are less portable too than thin-and-light laptops. They require more cooling and pack more powerful hardware, hence more power demands and larger power bricks.
While they are less mobile, they are powerful devices that can make short work of anything you can throw at them. When the mood takes you, you can play games. If you want to, you can even create content.
Which one do you get though? This one maybe, the Predator Helios Neo 16; Acer’s latest entry into the gaming laptop market.
It will set you back at least MYR 4,899. The one we got sets you back MYR 6,399. Whichever you buy, you get a premium metal chassis that holds a state-of-the-art cooling solution for your laptop.
The price difference between the two Predator Helios Neo 16 models is about MYR 1,500. Is the MYR 4,899 package worth buying? Should you spend the extra? We find out.
Design
Unlike the Predator Helios 18 and 16, the Neo 16 (as we shall mostly refer to it) has a slightly more complex design at the back of the display. We think that it is to compensate for the lack of external RGB treatment. To a certain extent, we think it is interesting.
That is not to say that the Predator Helios Neo 16 is ugly. We think that the subtle etchings and engravings on the clam add some drama to the laptop. According to Acer, the engravings point to a real location. We have not bothered to find out what they lead to.
The chassis design shares similarities with previous generation Helios laptops. You still get a protruded “tail” of the chassis for optimized cooling surfaces and airflow. Of course, it is also a subtle way of telling the world that it means business. There is also morse code adorning the protrusion that spells either ROTNUERP or PREDATOR (obviously) depending on its orientation.
Inside is the usual affair for gaming laptops. You get an addressable 4-zone RGB keyboard inside. The WASD keys are highlighted with more RGB passthrough, as usual. There is a numpad array too, making this a full keyboard with a large trackpad. Thanks to the arrangement, the main keyboard is pushed further to the left of the device offering a more natural gaming position. Above the keyboard is a familiar air intake perforated grille.
Hardware
You can get your Predator Helios Neo 16 in two configurations. You can either get it with a 13th Generation Intel Core i5 and NVIDIA’s entry-level GeForce RTX 40 GPU. It tops out at Core i7 and GeForce RTX 4060.
16” WQXGA IPS (2560 x 1600) 16:10 aspect ratio 165Hz 100% sRGB NVIDIA G-SYNC
Memory
16GB LPDDR5 1TB PCIe® NVMe™ 4.0 M.2 SSD
Networking and Connections
Intel Killer WiFi 6 AX 1650i Intel Killer Ethernet E2600 Bluetooth 5.1 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 USB-C® 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 1x 3.5mm AUX Jack
Battery
90Wh Built-in Li-Po battery 330W proprietary barrel plug power adapter
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Miscellaneous
FHD 60p camera 4-Zone RGB Keyboard DTS:X Ultra Audio MicroSD Card Reader DisplayPort over USB-C 2 years On Site Warranty w/ Accidental Damage & Theft
Features
The Predator Helios Neo 16 is not cheap by any means. In fact, in this configuration we have, you are spending a premium for a gaming laptop.
More Useable Rear I/O
The Predator Helios Neo 16’s power inlet port is at the back of the device, same as its predecessor. This time though, the Neo 16 offers an array of ports out the back. There are two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and an HDMI 2.1. That also means that you can either have three monitors connected (two via USB-C, one via HDMI), or use the USB-C ports for other peripherals. Whatever it is, we do appreciate the cable management options that come with rear I/Os.
4-Zone RGB Full Keyboard
As we mentioned earlier, the Neo 16 gets a full keyboard treatment complete with a numpad section. The numpad section looks squeezed because they are rather narrow. That is not a bad thing though, we still prefer having it than not. There are also a few media buttons on top of it alongside the PredatorSense button, which we appreciate.
We still find that the most annoying part of the keyboard is the power and PredatorSense buttons arrangement. The Neo 16’s power button and PredatorSense buttons are integrated into the numpad arrangement and feel the same as any of the other keys. While the power button sits further away, we might still hit it accidentally while we work on the numpad. The PredatorSense button sits right next to the backspace button, which will get even more accidental launches.
Despite the complaint, we like the keyboard. There is enough key travel and tactility to button presses for some needed assurance. It is also quiet enough that it will not annoy anyone at the workplace or the café. We felt like we could get a long essay and email typed out without too much fatigue.
PredatorSense – Go Eco, Go Quiet, or Go Hard
PredatorSense is one of the most unique tuning platforms for gaming laptops. The new one offers a mascot figure on the home page, which is a little unnecessary, we think. That aside though, PredatorSense is one of the more useful software you have in the Neo 16.
It allows you to change between preset Eco, Quiet, Balanced, Performance, and even Turbo modes. Each mode selection gives you a slightly different colour to the iconic ‘Turbo’ button at the top left corner of the keyboard. The PredatorSense interface also monitors the laptop temperatures and spools Acer’s 5th generation Aeroblade 3D Fans when needed. The app is also where you change or turn off your RGB lighting schemes.
NVIDIA Advanced Optimus
NVIDIA’s Advanced Optimus technology allows the GPU to be completely turned off for even quieter operations. That also allows PredatorSense to operate on a single fan (we see an average of 45oC operating temperatures) to keep the laptop quiet in cafés or offices while extending its battery life. When the mood takes you, the discreet GPU kicks in for the extra kick. Obviously with a significant bump in power consumption, you want to make sure that you are plugged in.
The ‘Turbo’ Button – Now the ‘Mode’ Button
One of Acer Predator’s signatures on all their devices is their ‘Turbo’ button, which is now a ‘Mode’ button. While the old ‘Turbo’ button only offers extra speed and noise from your laptop, the new button switches between preset profiles from battery saving eco mode, all the way to opening the taps the 13th Generation Intel Core i7 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 inside the hull of the Neo 16 and then spool up the metal fans.
We think that the mode switch is a much better use of the ‘Turbo’ button. You do not need to navigate into PredatorSense or the bottom right of the Windows taskbar to switch between power modes. You can toggle through different modes with a single button, saving you plenty of time to work on important things like going through your emails and then straight to killing monsters.
Performance
This is a proper gaming laptop with a powerful 13th Generation Intel Core i7 CPU paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. Keeping everything cool is an in-house 5th Generation AeroBlade 3D metal fans with what they call Vortex Flow technology. There is a huge power brick rated at 330W to keep up with the hardware’s power demands.
Multitasking & Productivity
For MYR 6,399 you are getting 16GB in the form of DDR5 RAM. That also means that you are getting some of the fastest sets of 16GB RAM you can get on a laptop. We were able to smoothly work with about 20 Google Chrome tabs, five Microsoft Edge tabs, and 10 Mozilla Firefox tabs. You should not have any trouble working with Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint at most times. The sizeable RAM also benefits large Excel spreadsheets.
We use Adobe’s suites of applications including Lightroom and Premiere Pro. In Adobe Premiere Pro, we find that the Neo 16 works well enough even if you are scrubbing through 4K footage. Of course, once you load in all the special effects, transition effects, and colour correction or grading, the program might slow down a little, but you can scrub through the footage relatively smoothly. It took about 11 minutes for us to export a two minutes 50 seconds 4K 30p video from 4K H.264 format video footage.
Entertainment & Gaming
While it is a Predator gaming laptop, it is not necessarily made for high-end gaming like Acer’s Predator Helios 16 or Helios 18. That does not mean that you will enjoy your games any less.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is not a high-end GPU, it is considered an entry-level gaming GPU. It is still a potent GPU though, made for modern gaming with support for modern hardware. It supports ray tracing technology and DLSS 3.0 upscaling technology. The Neo 16 also features HDMI 2.1 that offers support for 8K displays at 60fps. We think that the laptop can cram a Mini DisplayPort but it might not be too useful.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is a capable GPU. You are not going to get anywhere near the Neo 16 display’s 165 frames per second (fps) capabilities at QHD resolution when you play the latest AAA titles at the highest graphics settings. If you adjust your expectations a little, you are going to get a great gaming experience still.
We tested the laptop with Need for Speed: Unbound, F1 2022, Cities Skylines and Death Stranding. In Need for Speed Unbound, we left the game at high settings and got 90 fps. In F1 2022, at the same settings, we got 120 fps, while in Death Stranding, we got about 90 fps on the same preset. While playing Need for Speed: Unbound we found that the average temperature of the Predator Helios Neo 16 is kept at about 70oC. This, we think, can be attributed to the liquid metal thermal paste paired with their proprietary cooling solution.
Battery Life
One of the things we are most impressed with is the Neo 16’s battery life. In our test, we left the Neo 16 on Balanced mode and then eco mode when unplugged, we had a few tabs of Mozilla Firefox tabs open alongside a Microsoft Word document open. We played music through Spotify’s web player on its speakers most of the time. We played a couple of videos on YouTube from time to time.
We managed to get nearly four hours of use time with the Neo 16 in eco mode before the battery percentage hit 20%. In eco mode, your RGB is turned off by default. You still can turn on RGB from PredatorSense if you want to. You technically can push your Neo 16 into high-performance mode on battery power to tank your battery life.
Display & Audio
You get a 16-inch WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) at 16:10 aspect ratio. It is not Mini LED or OLED display, like some other laptops. Instead, you are getting an IPS panel which might seem like a compromises.
While IPS panels do not boast colour saturation and HDR like OLED, they are cheaper. That means that you are not necessarily paying a huge premium just for a slightly better display. IPS panels tend to be a little faster than standard OLED displays today too, making them a little more suitable for competitive gaming, if that is what you are into.
You lose out on colour contrast, local dimming, and the inky blackness that OLED displays can offer, but you are not giving up a lot. IPS displays are still much brighter than regular VA or TN panels and offer colour reproduction far superior to other LCD technologies. With up to 100% sRGB colour gamut, you still get highly saturated and impressive colour contrasts over regular LCD panels and at a super-fast refresh rate at 165Hz.
On games like Need for Speed: Unbound and F1 22, we appreciate the extra world information we can see on the 16:10 aspect ratio. Even with games like Cities Skylines or RTS titles like Age of Empires IV, we appreciate the breadth of things we can see on the screen. We think that open world games like Red Dead Redemption II benefit most since the HUD is less obstructive.
Like Acer’s many laptops, the Predator Helios Neo 16 comes with DTS:X certified audio. There are two down-firing speakers at either side of the Neo 16. The two speakers are not the most powerful speakers you can find on a laptop. They offer rich mid to high tones at medium volumes. We think that the speakers are happiest when you set it to 80% and below. There is no subwoofer to work with low-end power and detail tends to suffer. While it is fine to game on the laptop, the speakers do leave a little more to be desired.
The Predator Helios Neo 16 – Definitely a Heavy Hitter
The Predator Helios Neo 16 that we have here will set you back MYR 6,399. You are paying for the most modern CPU and GPU combination in the form of the 13th Generation Intel Core i7 and NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. While it is a lot of money, on paper, the Helios Neo 16 looks more like the value choice of gaming laptops.
Where most gaming laptops offer Full HD resolutions at this price range, the Helios Neo offers a WQXGA display. You also get 1TB SSD with the Neo 16 where some offers half that storage. Unlike most gaming laptops, you get liquid metal thermal paste for better heat management.
It is a productivity warrior if you are a creator since with enough horsepower under the covers to get your creative work done quickly. The display is even accurate enough for you to do your colour grading with, or a quick photo edit. There is enough storage space to store not just your video workflow but also all the games that you want to take on the road.
It packs enough grunt for you to play most AAA titles on-the-go. You are getting decent enough performance to enjoy your games wherever you set up. If you want, you can even connect 4K monitors to it for more immersive gaming experiences. A decent pair of gaming headphones should also add to the immersion.
It does not look like a typical gaming laptop for 2023. The cover design can be somewhat flashy. We think it looks interesting in a good way. It is not the most handsome thing out there, but it has its charms.
We think that a price difference of MYR 1,500 is large enough to warrant spending less at MYR 4,899, we do think that the MYR 6,399 option is much better in the long term. The MYR 4,899 package is still worth getting, but you are giving up a lot of horsepower for it. If you do have the extra money to spend, you should get the Neo 16 in its Core i7 and GeForce RTX 4060 guise, it is worth those extra pennies.
Samsung launched their updated ultimate gaming monitor back in CES 2023 in January. To be fair, CES 2023 saw Samsung showcasing several versions of their ultimate gaming monitor, the Odyssey G9. One of them was the Odyssey Neo G9 that packs dual UHD resolution on a 57-inch curved panel. While it does sound nice, only NVIDIA’s most powerful GeForce RTX 4090 seems to fit the bill for that display. You might even struggle getting the most out of the monitor even with NVIDIA’s most extreme GPU. The Odyssey Neo G9 is a little unrealistic then. But what about the other monitor Samsung introduced? What about the Odyssey OLED G9?
The Odyssey OLED G9 is not necessarily a new recipe from Samsung. Samsung already made the Odyssey G9 in the prior years. It is an out-of-this-world, hardware-pushing, borderline overkill of a gaming monitor that offers 49 inches of ultra-wide experience in dual QHD resolution at a curve. That also means you do not need to lean to one side of the display to see what is happening at the edge, simply turn your head and you are there. It was, in its day, the ultimate gaming monitor for the ultimate gamers. You want one, until. CES 2023 arrives, and Samsung says they can make this recipe even better.
Source: Samsung
It is a simple recipe; just add OLED into the mix. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 is now born. While it is new in Malaysia, the product has seen the light of day in other regions, including South Korea and the United States. No matter though, that was a month ago and now it is officially arriving in Malaysia.
For starters, if you missed our CES 2023 coverage on Samsung’s ultimate gaming monitor, it offers 49 inches still at 1800R curvature. It still allows you to just swivel your head to see everything clearly and easily from a single spot. You still get the 32:9 dual QHD resolution from the older regular Odyssey G9. It even comes standard with 240Hz refresh rate for ultra-smooth frame rates when possible, and 0.3ms gray-to-gray response time for ultra-fast and responsive gaming. It still comes with AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro for tear-free gaming and visual experience for even more immersion when you game. There is also a new CoreSync and Core Lighting+ that cleverly lights up in RGB and according to what you see on your display to add even more immersion to your games and movies. If you do not want a bulky speaker set-up to take up space on your desk, there are even two 5W speakers to work with.
The biggest change to it, and its party piece, is the OLED panel that this one comes with. It now offers a true HDR experience with DisplayHDR TrueBlack 400 standard. That also means that you are not just getting vivid colours, but an inky black that is more accurately represented than before. You can even start to appreciate the incredibly vivid and bright colours that the Odyssey OLED G9 can now offer thanks to the typical OLED colour reproduction.
Source: Samsung
Source: Samsung
Source: Samsung
Source: Samsung
It is not just games that will pop on the display. You can now opt for the Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SC) to come with TizenOS built right into the monitor to directly reach OTT services like Netflix or Prime Video. Since the display real estate is expansive enough, you can even opt to work with multiple views (Multi View) for the ultimate multitasking experience. It is modernized too, to take on the future world. It offers HDMI 2.1, Micro HDMI 2.1 and Display Port 1.4 inputs with Auto Source Switch+ so that you can work with multiple devices quickly. They redesigned the stands too, sturdier than ever while still allowing you to easily adjust its height and tilt.
The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 is now available for MYR 9,499 (G93SC) onward. For MYR 500 on top of that (MYR 9,999), you can get the Odyssey OLED G9 with smart TV functionalities. You can head over to the nearest Samsung authorised dealer or Samsung official stores to get your hands on one of these gaming monitors. You can even head to their online stores to make a purchase. If you do get your monitor between now to 31st of August 2023 though, you get to buy your Odyssey OLED G9 for MYR 8,074 and MYR 8,499 respectively. For more information on Samsung’s latest Odyssey OLED G9, you can visit their website.
Acer’s Swift lineup has carved out a niche for itself thanks to its long legacy of literally being some of the thinnest and lightest laptops available on the market. However, that changed with the introduction of their Swift X laptop. The new generation of Acer Swift laptops was now supercharged as creator powerhouses with top-of-the-line discreet GPUs and cutting-edge displays. The new legacy continues with the Swift X 14 which comes with NVIDIA’s latest RTX 4050 laptop GPU.
The Swift X 14 was announced earlier this year at Acer’s next@acer event alongside CES 2023. The laptop continues to build on the Swift lineup’s heritage of strong, durable builds and portability. The new Swift X 14 comes in at only 1.55kgs with a 17.8mm thickness but comes packed with up to a 13th Generation Intel Core i7 H series processor and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. The combo unlocks numerous possibilities for creators with support for Ray Tracing and even high-performance 3D rendering. Oh, did we mention…? It’s also a certified NVIDIA Studio device. This allows you access to NVIDIA’s most optimised Studio drivers which are specially tuned for graphical and video work with programs like Blender and the Adobe Creative Suite.
It’s not only got the power, but the Swift X 14 also comes with a redesigned chassis that holds a 29% larger battery, a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, VESA DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 and 100% DCI-P3 coverage and a totally redesigned thermal setup. The redesigned thermals improve heat dissipation by 7.16%.
Aside from that, Acer’s Swift X 14 comes with support for up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD memory and a complete array of ports including a HDMI port and numerous USB ports and a microSD Card reader. Also part of the package is a 1080p FHD webcam with Acer PurifiedVoice and PurifiedView technology with AI noise reduction.
Pricing & Availability
The Acer Swift X 14 is currently available in stores and on the Acer e-store. Prices for the laptop start at MYR5,999.
Integrating your smartphone and PC experience has always been a problem for many years. Apple has successfully done so with their range of devices thanks to the nature of their strictly closed development. You can work on your iPhone and then transfer your FaceTime call to your iPad tablet when you get access to it, and then even to your MacBook or Mac desktop when you get to them, without too much fuss. The closest thing we have on Android and Windows is the Microsoft Phone Link platform, which can be a pain to work with at times.
Alternatively, you have Google’s Nearby Share that works as a file transfer protocol between Android devices and Windows devices. It is far from seamless though. While it is simple enough on your Android devices to work with, your PC have to have the app installed and open for it to receive files from your various Android devices.
Samsung’s Quick Share is sort of the in-between the Phone Link and Nearby Share platforms. It is more like the Nearby Share platform, except that it is made for Samsung devices specifically. Nearby Share is made for the general Android devices that come with multiple connectivity standards and hardware. Samsung’s Quick Share is made for Galaxy devices with specific hardware that comes with all Galaxy devices; meaning communications between two devices can be standardized, made seamless, and be made at greater speeds. That is why you can only find the Samsung Quick Share button on Samsung’s Galaxy devices including the Galaxy Book laptops. Then again, that is not the case anymore.
Source: Microsoft Store
Source: Microsoft Store
Source: Microsoft Store
Source: Microsoft Store
Samsung has made the Quick Share app available on the Microsoft Store for other Windows devices. While Quick Share for mobile devices is still only available on Samsung’s Galaxy devices, you do not have to have Samsung’s Galaxy Book devices to take advantage of it. You can now download it for free from the Microsoft Store.
There are a few more caveats though, other than that you must have a Samsung smartphone to take advantage of it. You must be on a Window 10 operating system at least with 2004 release (build number 19041), which is not entirely difficult since Windows 11 is the standard operating system today (unless you are on a corporate device, and they have not moved on from Windows XP just yet). You also need to have Intel’s Bluetooth driver version 22.50.02 and Wi-Fi driver version 22.50.07 to get the Quick Share app to work on your Windows device. All of these should not be too big of an issue if you have a modern laptop and ensure that you regularly update your Windows device. It only becomes a problem when you have a device that does not support Intel’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers, then you cannot enjoy the Quick Share function on your Windows device. Still, you can never know until you disassemble your PC, so you can try it for yourself by downloading the app from Microsoft Store.
Powerful gaming laptops are known to be quite large and bulky in nature. There is a good reason for that. Since a laptop is meant to be mobile while packing everything you need in a PC, there is always the concern of space within the hardware to pack enough cooling for the heat producing components inside. Gaming laptops, inevitably, pack more powerful components than regular laptops. That also means that the cooling requirements are a lot more than before requiring larger more powerful fans inside a laptop that adds plenty of heft to it.
Computing technology has progressed so much today that a gaming laptop today is vastly more powerful, and more purpose built than ever before. With more power comes more heat, which also needs a larger, heftier solution than before. But cooling technology has also improved so much that the cooling solutions today are much more efficient than before.
All these things culminate in a thin-and-light gaming solution like we have never seen before, basically the Acer Predator Triton 14.
The Acer Predator Triton 14 is a new thin-and-light gaming laptop from Acer’s gaming skunkworks division reimagining the ultra-portable thin-and-light laptop for productivity. It is created not just for gamers in mind, it is created for the creative professionals, content creators, and even the accounting professionals who just have a knack for gaming in their down time. It weighs just 1.7kg, which is no lighter than a regular thin-and-light laptop. For a gaming laptop with powerful internal though, it is a big deal. It is also only 18.9mm thick, which is also no thinner than a regular laptop, but it does pack a lot of power underneath with optimal cooling solutions.
Within the all-metal body construction is a powerful 13th Generation Intel Core i7 that is paired with up to NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 GPU for laptops for maximum performance. You can fit the Predator Triton 14 with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM operating at 6,000 MHz transfer speeds and up to 1TB of PCIe NVMe Gen4 SSD for smooth and fast operations in both gaming and productivity situations.
The powerful components power Windows 11 through an impressive 14-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS display. The display offers 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut to cater to even the most demanding creators or creative professionals on the road. For when the mood takes you, the display also offers 165Hz for a smooth butter like gaming experience. With Intel’s Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1675i modem inside the Predator Triton 14, it can go wireless and still play games online as if it was connected via a LAN cable – smooth, stable, and speedy. There is even a Full HD webcam that offers AI-enabled features like Purified View for improved images, automatic framing, advanced background blur, and gaze correction for video calls.
To keep everything cool and running at its best is Predator’s latest and most advanced cooling system ever. The 5th generation AeroBlade 3D fans are made of metal and to be as thin as possible to maximize airflow (Vortext Airflow), to cool the heat transfer components to keep temperatures manageable. The new Triton 14 is also equiped with Liquid Metal thermal grease for even more efficient cooling for better performance in the long run.
Price and Availability
The Acer Predator Triton 14 is now available at Acer’s eStore and official stores on Shopee and Lazada. You can also get your hands on one from select Acer Concept stores throughout the nation. Purchases made before the 16th of July 2023 are entitled to free gifts worth MYR 699 that includes an Acer Nitro VG270E 27-inch gaming monitor and a one-year license for Trend Micro’s Antivirus. More on the Predator Triton 14 can be found on their website.
WhatsApp, at least in Malaysia, is the most popular messenger app that has ever existed. It is a common bridge between iOS and Android users. Some Nokia devices running proprietary operating systems (OS) can also support WhatsApp messenger these days. When everything becomes more integrated, they introduced WhatsApp web, an official workaround for you to use your WhatsApp messenger on your PC, and without flipping between devices. Then they introduced WhatsApp Desktop app, a sort of workaround if you are too lazy to turn to your browser to type “web.whatsapp.com” into it to use WhatsApp web.
WhatsApp Desktop though was one of the best things to happen to WhatsApp users. It allows users direct access to their WhatsApp messages on their PC or Mac devices without having to go anywhere else. With just a click of a button or icon, your PC or Mac turns into your answering machine powered by you. The app is based on the Electron framework, details of which we will not get into. What you need to know is that the WhatsApp Desktop experience is very close to what you get on WhatsApp web, just without having to type a URL into your browser.
A few months ago, WhatsApp revolutionized again finally with an official native Windows app simply called WhatsApp. It looked nothing like WhatsApp web or WhatsApp Desktop. It looks cleaner and feels smoother, and rather fitting to the designs of Windows. Naturally, we switched to the native app. Not everyone switched to the new app however and remained with WhatsApp Desktop, to the point that WhatsApp is now forcing users to switch their native app.
They do that by shutting down their old WhatsApp Desktop app and encouraging users to switch to the native app instead. The first indication to WhatsApp shutting down their old WhatsApp Desktop app is when WhatsApp notified users of the app about a month ago with a countdown on the app’s main screen. If you try to access the Desktop app now, the main page will only tell you that the app has expired and offers you a link to the new app, at least to its Microsoft Store page.
Since WhatsApp has not introduced a native app for the MacOS currently. That also means that you will still have to rely on your WhatsApp Desktop app if you are on a Mac or work with WhatsApp web for the time being. That does not mean that WhatsApp will not have a native app for Mac though, you can safely expect the native app to also come to Mac devices and the old Desktop app to be retired.
When AMD launched their latest Ryzen 7000 series processors for the masses, it was regarded as one of the best things to happen in the personal computing industry. They were AMD’s most powerful processing chips ever and one of the most advanced in the market. It was built with 5nm process technology which allows it to achieve efficiency like no other.
The requirements of a computing solution for corporate use are a little different from the consumers market though. While the regular user prioritizes things like gaming performance, or streaming capabilities, or even rendering speeds, the corporate user cares more about protection and security over everything else, especially in world where cyber-attacks happen more often than we know. That is where the AMD Ryzen PRO edition of processors come in, and they have finally introduced Zen 4 for workspaces in the lates AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 and PRO 7040 series of CPUs.
You know all about the AMD Ryzen 7000 series by now. You can pick from a huge range of chips from AMD Ryzen 7000 series, from the Ryzen 5 all the way to the Ryzen 9 series chips, depending on your budget and power requirements. You get sort of the same thing in the Ryzen PRO series chips, except since they just launched the new chips, you only get to pick from three selections that range from the Ryzen 5 PRO series to the Ryzen 9 PRO series.
Model
Cores / Threads
BoostFrequency9
Base Frequency
Total Cache (MB)
TDP (Watts)
GPU Model
AMD Ryzen™ 9 PRO 7945
12/24
Up to 5.4 GHz
3.7 GHz
76MB
65W
Radeon Graphics
AMD Ryzen™ 7 PRO 7745
8/16
Up to 5.3 GHz
3.8 GHz
40MB
65W
Radeon Graphics
AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 7645
6/12
Up to 5.1 GHz
3.8 GHz
38MB
65W
Radeon Graphics
The new AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7945 CPU is the equivalent of the high-performing AMD Ryzen 9 7900, not the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X. Both will also offer up to 65W power consumption and Radeon Graphics to boot which also means you technically can run your PC without a dedicated GPU if you do not need one, especially if all you need is to crunch a huge amount of data and numbers off a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7745 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 are equivalents of the AMD Ryzen 7700 and AMD Ryzen 5 7600 respectively. Of course, all of them come with AMD’s Zen 4 architecture as well for the best computing performance out of your processing chips currently.
You get a little bit more flexibility when it comes to laptops though. Of course, we think that more budget conscious operations would require a higher degree of control over the budget for their operational devices. For that, you still get to choose within the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO range all the way to the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO range in the series. The top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS offers the same performance as the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS alongside AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics.
Source: AMD
The differences between these chips are more than just the numbers they offer and their outlook. They offer something called the PRO security layer. If you do not know yet, it is layer of protection that is baked into all Ryzen PRO processors for not just reliable performance, but also for cyber protection. It is not really a virus protection program either; it works with Microsoft’s Secured-Core PC protection algorithm to protect its equipped device from operating system level cyberattacks. Of course, combined with Windows Hello, the Ryzen PRO series processors can form what is known to be the most secure computing platform on an end device your business can get. It is not just software protection either with AMD’s clever Shadow Stack that also helps physically prevent control-flow attacks on a hardware level. There is even a AMD Secure Processor dedicated security chip on board that encrypts your data automatically. On a device management standpoint, AMD’s latest Ryzen PRO 7000 series desktop and PRO 7040 series laptop processors offer support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager services so that your IT department can easily manage your corporate devices remotely.
There is a downside here if you wish to get the AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 series desktop CPUs for your business. You will not be able to buy the chips off the shelves from vendors and retailers. Off-the-shelves, you can only get the AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 series desktop chips in pre-built systems from AMD’s manufacturing partners like HP or Lenovo currently. The AMD Ryzen PRO 7040 series for mobile computing will see life in HP and Lenovo’s upcoming commercial products. If you do wish to get your hands on a desktop series processor for your business, we suggest that you contact your local AMD support for more information.
