Tag Archives: AMD

Computers, Gaming, News

Acer Announces New Nitro 5 with AMD and NVIDIA

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Acer’s Nitro 5 series has always been a compelling option when it comes to an entry level gaming laptop. It’s also one of the most affordable gaming laptops in market right now. Acer Malaysia has just announced a refresh of its casual gaming laptop which sees the price come to about MYR 2,999.

The new Nitro 5 comes equipped with a quad core AMD Ryzen 7 processor and is complemented with an NVIDIA GTX1650 discreet graphics card. The new setup also comes with 512GB of storage. This isn’t just your regular spinning hard disk either. It’s a PCIe NVMe solid state drive (SSD) which promises quick performance and load times. It comes with 4GB of RAM but can be upgraded to 32GB should you see the need to. There is also an additional m.2 slot if you need even more performance memory. Acer is also touting that the Nitro 5 comes with an HDD upgrade Kit which allows users to upgrade the storage on the laptop.

The AMD touting Nitro 5 comes with a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with 120Hz refresh rate. The screen itself covers a whopping 80% of the face of the laptop thanks to it’s slim 7.18mm bezels. The new laptop also comes with Waves MaxxAudio advanced sound optimization technology with Acer’s own TrueHarmony technology for better, more immersive sound.

The Acer Nitro 5 comes with dual fans and dual exhausts which have been design with the company’s CoolBoost technology. This increases the fan speed by 10% allowing better cooling performance. In addition to this, the cooling of the GPU and CPU is also increased by 9% thanks to CoolBoost. With online gaming, your connection stability is increasingly important; the Nitro 5 comes with Killer Ethernet E2500 and Acer’s Network optimizer to help keep you up to speed. This gives you the option to manually tweak your network performance or you can simply leave it to the computer on Auto mode.

Acer’s NitroSense will allow you to keep an eye on the happenings of your Nitro 5. The software allows you to manage component temperature, loading performance, power usage among others with the hit of a dedicated Nitro Hot-Key. It also comes with HDMI 2.0 ports as well a USB Type-C and more to allow you supe up your gaming.

Pricing and Availability

The new Nitro 5 with AMD’s Ryzen 7 and NVIDIA GTX1650 is immediately available in Malaysia. Prices start at MYR2,999.

Editorial, News, techENT Download, Video

techENT Download |AMD Feels the Heat, Sony Ups the Ante with Xperia 1 II, HUAWEI Mate Xs & more

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Here’s the TechENT Download for the week of 24th February. Boy was it an eventful one for tech! Here’s run down of some of the most pertinent tech news of the week!

AMD Feels the heat from ASUS as the Strix RX 5700 overheats after the company’s recommended settings didn’t cut it for cooling.

Sony releases a slew of devices spearheaded by the Xperia 1 II to usher in a new age of mobile with a focus on Content Creators. Together with the Xperia 1 II, they also announced a new Xperia 10 II and Xperia L4 completing their offerings for the mobile segment.

HUAWEI showed the world how to fold with its Mate Xs. The new foldable spearheaded a whole line up of MateBook D and the new MateBook X Pro laptops and the new MatePad Pro. While HTC is making a come back with its new Wildfire.

More updates as we’re hearing more developments around the COVID-19 impact on the tech industry. This time, it looks like it’s Microsoft saying that its being affected.

We’ve started a new Podcast, techENT’s Tech & Tonic! The new podcast will see us talk about some of the most interesting news and topics in tech with some of our friends in the industry. It is available on Spotify, Anchor, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Breaker, and other podcasting host channels! If we are not yet on your favourite channel yet, let us know in the comments so that we can work our way there!

Computers, News

Lenovo ThinkPad Laptops 2020 Upgrade – Better Working Experience

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Lenovo has always been about giving customers the best value. Giving customers a wide variety of options to choose from to fulfill their needs. This time around, Lenovo has given the ThinkPad Laptops new upgrades to give you better productivity. 

The updated ThinkPad features a new modern standby mode where the laptops operates like a smartphone. In standby mode, the system goes into low power and remains connected at all times to keep the laptop in sync with whatever that is going on in the background. This makes it really convenient if you have to work away from your laptop and coming back to it at a later time. 

Source: Lenovo

To further complement the innovation of productivity, users can quickly resume where they left off by using a Wake on Voice command. Instead of using precious time to physically wake up the laptop. You can now just use your voice to wake up the laptop while you work on something else. There is also now a unified communications function keys to enable users to instantaneously answer or decline calls. 

The next upgrade is WiFi 6 connectivity. Even though WiFi 6 is not readily available yet, but this is a good future proofing measure done by Lenovo to keep in times of what’s to come in the near future. WiFi 6 not only gives better connectivity speed but also has better security. Do keep in mind that this is a two-way hardware upgrade, so you will need to have a WiFi router that also supports WiFi 6 connectivity to optimise its performance. 

There will also be a more premium UHD, OLED, and Dolby Vision options to deliver the best visuals. Not to miss out, the audio department gets Dolby Audio Speakers treatment on the ThinkPad T and X series. The ThinkPad L series will only feature an enhanced audio experience from Dolby Audio. 

Source: Lenovo

Lenovo has not forgotten about security upgrades as well, so you can enjoy all the conveniences without having to worry about any security breaches. With Lenovo’s own security solution, ThinkShield. The laptop would come with an optional PrivacyGuard ePrivacy display and PrivacyAlert on models that have an IR camera. This PrivacyGuard ePrivacy display with PrivacyAlert helps protect users from prying eyes of over the shoulder glances. So that anything on your screen is for your eyes only.  

All these goodies can be found with a new processor from both the blue and the red team. In the blue team, we have the latest 10th Generation Intel Core vPro processor and in the red team, we will find the AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Mobile processor. All of these options will be available in the ThinkPad T Series and the smaller more portable X Series. Specifically the T14, T14s, T15, X13, and X13 Yoga. 

The L Series did not get the same display upgrades as the T and X Series. The L Series has gotten a redesign instead. It is now thinner and lighter across the board! It also comes with Windows 10 Pro and a conveniently placed fingerprint sensor for security and convenience. 

The new upgrades will be available from Q2 2020 with an expected pricing from USD 647 all the way to USD 1,099. If you would like more details, do refer to the list below. 

ThinkPad T Series
T14 – USD 849 (MYR 3,568)
T14s – USD 1,029 (MYR 4,325) 
T15 – USD 1,079 (MYR 4,535)

ThinkPad X Series
X13 – USD 849 (MYR 3,568)
X13 Yoga – USD 1,099 (MYR 4,619)

ThinkPad L Series
L13 – USD 679 (MYR 2,854)
L13 Yoga – USD 799 (MYR 3,358)
L14 – USD 649 (MYR 2,728)
L15 – USD 649 (MYR 2,728)

Computers, News

HONOR MagicBook Series Breaks Cover in Barcelona

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Mobile World Congress 2020 (MWC2020) has been cancelled and we are still mourning a little bit. That does not deter brands from launching some of their biggest mobile products of the year though. One of them is HONOR, a familiar name in the smartphone community.

Honestly, we are a fan of the brand with their value proposition. We loved then HONOR 8 and HONOR 9 when it came out. That was because we also agreed with HONOR that flagships should not cost an arm and a leg to own. Smartphones should be a fuss free experience with online marketplaces and great value proposition.

Over the years, the brand has come to more than just a smartphone maker. They are also now a smartwatch maker. For this year, they are also a PC manufacturer.

Source: HONOR

It does make sense, they do know how to make great devices at prices lower than what you can expect from brands like Samsung, for example. So what do they have up their sleeves for the world of notebook PCs? The MagicBook 14 and 15 is here.

Both pack the same things within the lightweight and thin body construction. The only differentiation between the two models are the screen sizes at 14-inch and 15-inch. Of course, different screens also means differing body sizes and slight difference in weight.

The MagicBook is powered by a powerful AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor. That processor comes with an integrated Vega GPU, which is proven to be quite a performer as well. This means, at the right temperature, the AMD powered MagicBook could work its magic on video editing. To be sure of that though, HONOR fits the MagicBook with up to 8GB of dual-channel RAM for optimum memory usage. You might be able to upgrade that DDR4 module to even more RAM. Its 256GB SSD may not sound like plenty, but because it is SSD, the HONOR MagicBook should feel quick.

Source: HONOR

To top it all of, the 14-inch display is Rheinland certified and is coated with an anti-glare coating. That also helps you work in bright light environments without the lights firing back at you from the display. Keeping everything powered up and ready to get going is a 56Wh battery that is quoted for 10 hours of continuous battery life. It charges via a USB Type-C cable at up to 65W, very fast. Still there is more than just one USB Type-C port on the MagicBook. It also has a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port for maximum flexibility.

There is one interesting feature on the MagicBook that would really appeal to existing HONOR smartphone owners though. There is something called Magic Link. It works just like HUAWEI Share except for HONOR devices only. With Magic Link though, you can control your smartphone from the display of the MagicBook instead. That also means you can check your messages, reply emails, and open browser on your smartphone but on the notebook PC. The best part, you can just drag and drop files from and to the device without ever needing to connect a cable from the PC to the smartphone.

  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR
  • Source: HONOR

The HONOR MagicBook will be available March 2020 onward in selected markets; Malaysia not one of them yet. It will be priced at EU€ 599 in the launching markets. That is about approximately MYR 2,751. While that may not sound like much, we are expecting prices to be a little lower in Malaysia. How much, we do not know for sure yet. There will also be a 512GB storage version of the HONOR MagicBook 14 and 15 later on.

Computers, News

HUAWEI MateBook D Series Launched With Better Value For Power

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The 2020 HUAWEI MateBook D Series was launched back in November 2019 and in the UK earlier this month. However, the series made its global debut last night.

Let’s not waste time and get down to business then, shall we? The D Series laptop is made for the mass market giving you optimal performance and excellent battery life for a daily all rounder. There is the smaller 14 inch, MateBook D14 and a bigger 15.6 inch MateBook D15. Both laptops have thin bezels that are only 4.8mm and 5.3mm respectively. This would give the laptops a screen to body ratio of 84% and 87% respectively.

The displays are not touch displays unlike the MateBook X Pro which was also launched at the same time.  Both D series screens have a 16:9 IPS display and both laptops comes with a hinge angle of up to 178° where you can lay the laptop almost flat. 

Now to the workhorse that makes it all happen. The MateBook D will be running on either AMD or Intel’s chipsets. Giving you the your preferred option for the best value for money. For Intel’s chipset both D14 and D15 will only come with the 10th Generation Intel Core i5 processor. This processor will be paired with NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card that has 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM to give you all the power to process what you need. 

If you are on the red team instead, there are more goodies for you to choose from. Powered by AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 processor for you to choose from. Coming with AMD Radeon Vega Graphics you will be able to game and work on heavy tasks with ease. 

To power this baby up, the D Series uses a multi-purpose 62W Type C charger for the D14 and a 65W Type C charger for the D15. All of the D series laptops feature an overheat protection that will automatically stop charging the laptop once the temperature crosses a threshold to avoid any damages to the laptop. 

Last but not least the pricing and the specifications. For Intel’s line up on the D14, we have an Intel Core i5, paired with 8GB of RAM, 512GB SSD of storage and NVIDIA MX250 graphics card which cost €949 (MYR4,357). On AMD’s line up we have either a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 to choose from with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD for storage. The AMD variations will be going to go for €699 (MYR3,209) for the Ryzen 5 and €799 (MYR3,668) for the Ryzen 7. 

As for the bigger D15, it also runs on the same Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD storage and a NVIDIA MX250 graphics card. Weirdly enough the D15 will be priced the same as the D14 at €949 (MYR4,357). The D15 for AMD on the other hand will cost €649 (MYR2,980) which will be coming with Ryzen 5, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The higher Ryzen 7 will come with also 8GB of RAM but a bigger 512GB SSD going for €799 (MYR3,668).

Computers, Gaming, News

ASUS heating things up with AMD as ROG Strix RX5700 overheats

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Source: ASUS

When the ROG Strix RX 7500-series graphics was launched it was HAWT. It seems like they’re taking that pretty literally; the graphics cards have been reported to heat up, even when not overclocked. Imagine what damage it would have done if it was overclocked, you could likely cook an egg.

ASUS posted a statement a week ago stating that the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) is not getting its optimal thermal performance as more graphical performance is demanded from the GPU. According to ASUS, the GPU’s cooling fans are torqued between 30 to 40 PSI following AMD’s recommended guidelines. This was done as a precaution as the Radeon RX7500-series is the first GPU based on a new 7nm architecture. Thus, ASUS didn’t want to risk completely killing the GPU. 

Source: ASUS

To solve the problem, ASUS said they have done extensive R&D testing to find out the best PSI range for the GPU to have the most efficient thermal performance. Form their test ASUS has determined that the optimal pressure for the GPU is almost double from the guidelines ranging from 50 to 60 PSI.

On that account, all ROG Strix Radeon RX-7500 shipped from January onwards will ship defaulted to the new settings for better performance and reliability. If you have bought a ROG Strix Radeon RX5700 series before January of 2020, don’t fret. ASUS has got you covered. Contact your nearest ASUS service centers starting March of 2020 and ASUS would happily perform the upgrade for you. 

Even though the upgrade would be free, there is another set back to the the upgrading program. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, logistics has been affected and necessary shipment of the components would take quite some time. Again do contact your local ASUS service centers for future details.