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Computers, News

Dell Gears Up for Creators with new XPS Desktop & S series Monitors

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Hot off their international launch of a new line up of XPS laptops and their Malaysian launch of the Precision and Latitude lines, Dell is adding a new member to the XPS family: the XPS Desktop. The new XPS desktop draws inspiration from the minimalistic designs of its laptop brethren. Keeping it simple, elegant and performance driven. In fact, it’s even slimmed down to keep a sleeker profile. The once 24L body of the XPS Desktop is now only 19L and it doesn’t sacrifice much when it comes to space for internals.

The new XPS Desktop isn’t just elegant, it packs the power when it comes to specifications. It comes supped up with 10th generation Intel Core i processors ranging from the Core i3 to the creator focused Core i9. This is paired with a up to 128GB of RAM and complemented with up to 4TB of storage in various hardware configurations.

Built for Content

Keeping it’s eye on creators and hardware intensive processes, the XPS Desktop will be coming with a slew of options for it’s graphics card ranging from the NVIDIA GT 1030 to the NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER and even AMD graphics processors ranging from the AMD Radeon RX 5300 to the powerful Radeon RX 5700 XT. It also has options for a DVD-RW or Blu-ray burner in the optical drive department.

Of course, being a performance focused desktop, the XPS comes with a bevvy of ports on the back. On the front, it comes with 3 USB 3.1 ports, 1 USB Type C, a 3.5mm jack and a SD card slot. It also comes with support for Killer AX1650i WiFi 6 connectivity. Complementing the power packed internals are options for 150W or 500W power supply.

The Dell XPS desktop take a page out of its laptop brethren with voltage regulator cooling to more efficiently cool the processors. In fact, the engineers at Dell have designed the chassis to maximise airflow and cooling when it comes to the hard disks and processors. Accessing the internals shouldn’t be a problem with the toolless system that it adopts.

A Perfect Match with the New Dell S-series Monitors

Together with the new power packed XPS Desktop, Dell also announced three new S Series monitors. The new additions to the affordable S-series monitors bring even more options and larger sizes to the popular series of monitors.

The new additions to the S series monitors come in two different sizes: 27-inch and a larger 32-inches. The 27-inch monitor comes in Full HD and 4K Ultra HD resolutions. These monitors have 99% coverage of the sRGB gamut and are equipped with AMD FreeSync technology. The Dell 32 Curved 4K Monitor (S3221QS) comes with dual 5W speakers built-in.

Dell is bringing the Dell Premium Panel exchange program to the S series monitors during their limited hardware warranty period. The Premium Panel exchange will ensure that you get a consistent experience with the new monitors. Dell will replace defective IPS panels which result inconsistent bright spots. This program is available in the United States for now. No information if the Dell Premium Panel exchange will be coming to other regions.

Pricing & Availability

The Dell XPS Desktop is available immediately in the U.S. and Canada with prices starting at USD$649.99 (MYR2,774.41). It will be available in Malaysia starting the end of July 2020. Prices will start at MYR3,499 for a Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and a GTX1650 Super.

Europe and other regions will have the XPS Desktop within the month as well.

The Dell S-Series monitors will be available worldwide starting on 20 August 2020. Malaysia will be getting the monitors in late August with their prices to be announced at a later date. International pricing is as below:

  • Dell 32 Curved 4K UHD Monitor (S3221QS) will be priced starting at USD$499.99 (MYR2,131.13).
  • Dell 27 4K UHD Monitor (S2721QS) will retail with prices starting at USD$449.99 (MYR1,918.02).
  • Dell 27 Monitor (S2721DS) will retail starting at USD$349.99 (MYR1,491.78).
Business, Computers, News

Lenovo ThinkPad E Series Empowering the New Work From Home Culture with AMD’s Ryzen in Malaysia

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Lenovo’s laptops have long powered the productivity of small and medium businesses. In fact, their ThinkPad brand has been in the business for more than two decades now! The series has become synonymous with sturdy, well built, purpose built laptops which Lenovo has taken to the next level with models such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. However, the company didn’t announce another top of the link ThinkPad this time. Instead, they’ve shifted their focus to their affordable, durable, and purpose built line up: the ThinkPad E series.

They’ve partnered with AMD this round to bring even more efficient but powerful performance with AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series. The Ryzen 4000 series has been touted to bring better power efficiency and double digit performance gains over the previous generation of Ryzen processors. In fact, it’s boasting more than 30% increases in performance.

The two new entries: the ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 come equipped with the AMD Ryzen processors ranging from the Ryzen 3 to the Ryzen 7. These processors come with an integrated AMD Radeon graphics processor which provides enough power for regular day to day graphics and data processing. The processors are complemented with support for up to 24GB of RAM. 8GB of the RAM is soldered with an extra slot for users to add up to 16GB of RAM. On the memory side of things, the ThinkPad E14 and E15 both are able to support a dual SSD setup with up to 1.5TB of combined space. By default, the laptops come with up to 512GB of memory. The second SSD is an optional add on with support for up to 1TB of memory.

When it comes to display, the ThinkPad E14 comes with a 14-inch, Full HD screen; users have the option of a higher contrast IPS display or a TN display. Similarly, the ThinkPad E15 comes with a 15.6-inch display with the same options. Both laptops come with dual 2W Harman speakers with Dolby Atmos certification and a dual array microphone for conference calls. In fact, the laptops are optimised for conference calls with quick shortcut functions for answering and hanging up on con-calls directly on the keyboard. To complement this, the laptops come equipped with a 720p webcam with an optional Infrared function.

If privacy is a concern with the 720p webcam, Lenovo has got you covered with Lenovo’s built-in ThinkShutter allows you to cover the webcam when it’s not in use. However, the webcam is also used to keep your data secure by locking your laptop when you walk away and unlocking when you return. This, of course, works with Windows Hello and will require the IR sensor to work.

Other than that, the laptop comes with a few Lenovo staples including the spill-resistant keyboard and also the slim form factor that has now become ubiquitous with the ThinkPad brand. Both also support WiFi 6 connectivity.

Pricing and Availability

The ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 are already available in Malaysia with prices starting at MYR3,499 and MYR3,449 respectively.

The laptops are available via their official partner, SNS Network (M) Sdn Bhd. Customers can make their order in one of three ways:

  • Head to their head office in Petaling Jaya at C-11-2, Block C, 3 Two Square, Jalan 19/1, 46300 Petaling Jaya.
  • Email sales@sns.com.my
  • or call 018-2028616
Computers, Gaming

Dell G5 Gaming Launched with new Dell Gaming Monitors

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Dell’s gaming line up has long been one which has been growing in its scope and popularity. With the introduction of a whole new ethos and design last year, the company’s gaming segment is quickly growing and packing more of a punch. Last year, there was one big piece missing when it came to their offerings; this year, they are making sure they have all their bases covered with the Dell G5 Gaming Desktop.

The Dell G5 gaming desktop adopts the rugged design language of Dell’s gaming series and equips itself with some of the most sought after features. It’s deep metallic colour and hard lines are a pretty obvious cues that this machine is made for performance and gaming. You’ll be able to see the muscle behind the performance with the window on the side of the desktop.

The G5 is built for performance with options for processors ranging from the 10th Generation Intel Core i3 all the way up to the Intel Core i9 processors. This is paired with up to 64GB of RAM and up to 3TB of space. Hard disks are available in multiple configurations to fit the needs of the user. Users are able to choose graphics cards ranging from the NVIDIA’s GTX1650 to the RTX2070 Super or the AMD Radeon RX5600.

When it comes to connectivity, the G5 is equipped with more than enough ports for any user. These ports include USB type C, USB 2.0, Ethernet, and 3.5mm jacks for headphones and microphones. On the wireless side of things, it has support for WiFi 6 with Killer Wireless and Bluetooth 5.0.

Dell Gaming Monitors

Together with the Dell G5, Dell also announced two gaming monitors: the Dell 27 gaming monitor and the Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor. The two monitors join the ranks of the renown Dell monitor series which is well known for display quality and colour reproduction.

The new Dell 27 gaming monitor is a flat screen monitor. It has a QHD 4K resolution of 2560×1440 pixels. It has options for 144Hz and 165Hz refresh rate. The In-fast IPS Nano Color display has a 16:9 aspect ratio and is HDR compatible. Colour reproduction wise, the monitor covers 98% of the DCI-P3 gamut and has a 1.07 billion colours colour depth. It also has a 1ms grey to grey response time. The Dell 27 Gaming monitor is equipped with LED edge lighting so you can immerse yourself in the game. It has certifications for AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA’s G-Sync. On the back, it comes with 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, 1 Display Port, 4 USB 3.0 downstream ports, 1 USB 3.0 upstream port, a headphone jack and audio line out.

If you’re looking for something more curved, the Dell 27 Curved Gaming monitor has your name on it. The monitor comes with a Full HD display with 144Hz refresh rate. It comes with a 16:9 aspect ratio and is a VA panel. It covers 72% of the NTSC CIE 1931 gamut and 83% of the NTSC CIE 1967 gamut with a colour depth of 16.7 million colours. It has a 4ms grey to grey response time. It also comes with LED edgelighting which enables users to be more immersed into their experience. The monitor is AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA GSync compatible. It has 2 HDMI 1.4 ports, 1 Display port 1.2 and 1 headphone jack at the back.

Pricing & Availability

Dell’s G5 Gaming Desktop hit the market on July 9, 2020 with prices starting from USD$699.99 (MYR2,993.01). The G5 doesn’t look to be making its way to Malaysia. We will update you if this changes.

The Dell 27 Gaming monitor will be available starting June 28, 2020 with prices starting at USD$569.99 (MYR2,436.87).

The Dell 27 Curved Gaming monitor is available started 21 August, 2020 with prices starting at USD$279.99(MYR1,197.04).

Official Specifications

Dell G5 Desktop

Dell 27 Gaming Monitor

Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor

Business, Computers, News

AMD Takes Aim at High Performance Computing with the RADEON PRO VII

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AMD has been creating waves in the processor space for a few years now; dropping the gauntlet for its competitors when it comes to their Ryzen processors and also their RADEON graphics cards. The company is also expanding their reach to mobile in a collaborative effort with Samsung to bring their RDNA architecture to mobile processors.

That said, the company has long been working at providing compute capabilities to the industry as well. While they haven’t had a single product geared at taking on the market directly, their products have been used and optimised for years. This year, AMD is filling the void with their new AMD RADEON PRO VII graphics processor.

The new AMD RADEON PRO VII graphics processor uses AMD’s VEGA 20 architecture to help deliver top class performance at a more affordable price point for the industry. In fact, the new PRO VII comes in at about 25% of the price of competing products. This allows companies and workforces to free valuable resources for other functions.

With the new PRO VII, AMD looks to address the increasing demand for simulation workloads. The new card is capable of up to 6.5 TFLOPS of double precision performance and is equipped with 16GB of HBM (High bandwidth memory) to help process compute and simulation tasks more efficiently and at a faster pace. In fact, the RADEON PRO VII has about 1TB/s of memory bandwidth. This allows it to handle even more complex models and datasheets and even enables more efficient 8K broadcasting. It also runs at lower temperatures compared to the competition allowing it to function at high capacity for longer durations.

The RADEON PRO VII also supports AMD’s Infinity Fabric Link which allows two GPUs to share memory resources for bigger project workloads. The new GPU is also built with security in mind with hardware validated boot.

Software Geared for Professionals

Together with the announcement of the RADEON PRO VII, AMD also highlighted their continual support for industry and professional applications with their commitment to providing stable, industry grade software. The company announced the availability of Professional drivers which will be updated regularly. In addition, their software will have Day-0 certification from relevant parties to ensure that programs are stable and compatible for professionals. This certification process will be ongoing and will be applied to every update.

In the same vein, AMD also announced that their RADEON ProRender will have a more simplified licensing model to enable more widespread adoption. The company will be using the APACHE based licensing format to streamline licensing and ease adoption among professionals. At launch, the ProRender 2.0 is supported by Unreal, SideFX, Autodesk Maya and Blender.

Pricing & Availability

The AMD RADEON PRO VII card will be available starting June, 2020. It will cost USD$1899 (MYR8,215.05).

AMD’s entreprise drivers are already available for download as of the announcement.

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.