Lenovo’s Foldable Thinkpad X1 Is Launching Q2 2020

The hardware is ready now, but Lenovo is waiting for software to catch up and properly support a folding display before going ahead with a launch.

Back in May, Lenovo revealed what could be the future of laptops in the form of the foldable Thinkpad X1. The prototype device consisted of one large display that bends in the middle just like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, only it’s the size of a laptop and uses a 13.3-inch 2K OLED screen. Lenovo has now confirmed you’ll be able to buy one next year.

As AnandTech reports, Lenovo used the Canalys Channels Forum to explain that the foldable Thinkpad X1 is actually ready to ship from a hardware point of view. The hold-up is software, because app makers require more time to tweak their software to work well with a folding display and the different configurations it allows for.

As to when we can expect to purchase this unusual new X1, Gianfrano Lanci, COO of Lenovo, said, “It will start shipping probably Q2 next year … Hardware is ready, but we need to still fix certain things from a software point of view and that does not depend 100% on us.”

While you may expect the foldable laptop to compete with other high-end laptops, Lenovo doesn’t agree and views the iPad Pro$943.41 at Amazon as its main competition. That makes sense when you consider both are all-screen devices, it’s just that this X1 has the added ability to bend and become a laptop in form and function.

When PCMag got some hands-on time with the prototype back in May, it was clear Lenovo wants the device to replace or substitute your laptop, tablet, and possibly even your phone. Corporate road warriors look to be the main audience being targeted, and I suspect the price will reflect that. However, the biggest hurdle Lenovo will likely come up against is convincing people this isn’t just a giant Galaxy Fold, which even after months of rework remains an alarmingly fragile device. Lenovo will also be keen to get this X1 on the market a few months ahead of Microsoft’s Surface Neo, which is sure to have a big impact late next year.

Arm Announces New Ethos-N57 and N37 NPUs, Mali-G57 Valhall GPU and Mali-D37 DPU

Today Arm is announcing four new products in its NPU, GPU and DPU portfolio. The company is branding its in-house machine learning processor IPs the Ethos line-up detailing more the existing N77 piece and also revealing the smaller N57 and N37 siblings in the family. To top things off, the company is also making ready its first mid-range GPU IP based on the brand-new Valhall architecture, the new Mali-G57. Finally, we’re seeing the release of a new mid-range DPU in the form of the Mali-D37.

Introducing the Ethos NPU Family

Arm’s NPU IP offering was first announced early last year, detailing its architecture a few months later, and has been publicly been known until known just as “Project Trillium”. Arm at TechCon this year has officially branded the IP as the Ethos line-up, and the N77 has been the main product that’s been previously referred to as the Trillium codename.

Microarchitecturally, the new branded Ethos-N77 now publicly changes its specs compared to what had been revealed last year by allowing for a configurable 1 to 4MB SRAM implementation, whilst last year it had been disclosed it would scale up to 1MB only. Arm explains that customers needed more memory bandwidth for processing these mesh networked NPUs, as DRAM bandwidth doesn’t scale up in the premium segment as fast as the core count does. The flagship IP offers up to 4TOPS processing power at 1GHz clock and has a respectable 5TOPS/W efficiency.

Arm is able to use the same building blocks across the different IPs. The NPUs all share the same MAC computation engine (MCE) and programmable layer engines (PLE). The MCE consists out of 128 MAC units, as disclosed last year, and is paired alongside a PLE. An MCE and PLE, plus SRAM, make up a computation engine (CE), and this is the scaling block that differs between the N77, N57 and N37, coming in 16x, 8x and 4x configurations in terms of the CE count.

The mid-range and low-end variants are being released a lot faster than other new IP technologies because Arm is seeing a lot more interest in doing ML in cost-constrained devices where every mm² of silicon is important. Particularly features like smartphone face unlocking or DTV resolution upscaling are becoming commodity features.

The new NPUs have already been licensed and delivered to customers.

Revealing the Mali-G57 – First Mid-range Valhall Based GPU

Earlier this year, Arm had announced the new Valhall architecture in the new Mali-G77 that we’re expecting to see in SoCs next year. The new GPU architecture is a more major departure from the Bifrost based GPUs we’ve seen over the last three years as Arm has completely revamped its graphics ISA and computation microarchitecture.

Today, Arm reveals that the company is adopting the new Valhall architecture in the mid-range, starting off with the new Mali-G57. We currently don’t have too many details on exactly what the finer microarchitecture configurations of the new GPU looks like, but we’re very likely looking at something that will be very similar to the G77, scaled down similar to how the G52 looked like compared to the G72.

Improvements compared to a G52 with three execution engines per core (3EE) promise 1.3x better performance in a similar core configuration, 30% better energy efficiency, and 30% better silicon density (due to the better performance).

Mali-D37 DPU – Bringing High-End Features To the Mid-Range

Finally, to wrap things up, Arm is now bringing to market a new mid-range DPU in the form of the Mali-D37.

The new IP is based on the “Komeda” architecture which was first introduced in the Mali-D71 and its follow-up, the Mali-D77 announced this year. Then new DPU targets resolutions of 2K and FHD and promises to take up only <1mm² on 16nm.

ZTE NEW PATENT HAS A UNIQUE PUNCH-HOLE CAMERA

The smartphone industry is consistently evolving and the race to get a true full-screen device is heating up. We’ve have seen all sorts of designs aimed at improving the screen ratio of smartphones. It all started with a notch, then waterdrop design, pop-up camera, periscope structure, sliding design, and most recently, the punch-hole design. Some months ago, Oppo and Xiaomi showcased their “invisible” selfie camera solutions in short videos. Recently, Xiaomi got a patent from CNIPA for a dual “invisible” front camera. Now, ZTE has a patent for a stylish punch-hole camera. The positioning of this camera is unique.

In April this year, ZTE Corporation applied for a patent with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) for a ‘Display panel, camera device, terminal and screen manufacturing method’. The patent describes a ZTE phone with a very small punch-hole camera. To make the camera stand out, ZTE will integrate the selfie camera with the basic icons at the top of the display. By placing the front camera between these icons, you hardly notice that there is a camera.

The battery indicator is at the far right and we have the camera next to it. Extra icons including the network, WiFi etc towards the left of the camera. The screen will also have a ‘sound wave transmission area’, according to the patent description. In practice, this means that the speaker, receiver and / or the microphone will be placed under the display. Smartphones with Sound-on-Display technology include LG G8 ThinQ, which was introduced at the beginning of this year. However, this technology is new to ZTE.

Motorola’s mysterious pop-up camera phone might be the One Hyper

Motorola has already released the One Vision, One Action, One Zoom, and One Macro this year but it’s not stopping there. New information points towards a fifth model that’ll arrive in the near future and be marketed as the Motorola One Hyper.

Unlike recent Motorola-branded smartphones, this particular device is expected to debut with an all-screen design that makes use of a 6.4-inch LCD display, impressively thin bezels and a new pop-out camera system. The latter includes a 32-megapixel selfie sensor and aligns perfectly with the vertical camera setup and stripe that are featured on the back of the phone.

As leaked images have previously revealed, the stripe on the One Hyper’s rear is home to the ‘Motorola One’ branding and the company’s famous batwing logo. The camera module, on the other hand, includes a 64-megapixel primary camera and a dedicated depth sensor.

Powering the One Hyper will be the not-so-hyper Snapdragon 675 which Motorola has previously used inside the Moto Z4 and One Zoom. The chipset is reportedly paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage as standard, although other configurations are certainly possible.

A 3,600mAh battery paired with fast charging should complete the package alongside a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner that’s surrounded by an LED ring that’ll likely double as a notification light. Lastly, reports suggest the phone will ship with Android 10 pre-installed.

Stardock Brings More Touch Controls to Windows 10

A new Stardock utility called TouchTasks makes Windows 10 easier to use on tablets and other multitouch PCs.

“To make the Surface Pro and devices like it a much better tablet experience, we’re releasing TouchTasks 1.0,” Stardock’s Brad Wardell told me. “This is an app that takes advantage of the fact that the touch surface of a tablet extends slightly beyond the display area so you can define spots just off the screen that you can tap to have them do things.”

TouchTasks defines five areas—three on the top of the display and one each on the left and right—that you can tap to perform an action. There are some useful actions built-in, like a customizable application launcher (on the left by default) and a task switcher (on the right).

But you can also access a brightness control panel, the on-screen keyboard, recent documents, the Start menu, a quick nav panel, or Show desktop. Or you can launch any application or press a hotkey. It’s your choice.

TouchTasks works in both portrait and landscape modes, and it will rotate its touch points as you rotate the display. It doesn’t interfere with Windows 10’s built-in edge swipes, either, based on my initial testing.

TouchTasks normally costs $9.99 but it’s available for just $4.99 right now and you can grab a 30-day trial to see if it’s what you want.

Intel Ghost Canyon NUC teardown reveals removable “The Element” module inside

Intel’s upcoming “Ghost Canyon” NUC is expected to be one of the most powerful mini computers from the company to date. Expected to be powered by a 45 watt, 9th-gen Intel Core H-series processor, the small form-factor computer will be aimed at gamers, and it includes a PCIe x16 slot for a discrete graphics card.

But it turns out the GPU isn’t the only thing that’s removable.

A teardown of a pre-production sample by a member of the Koolshare forum reveals that the heart of the computer is a removable module Intel currently refers to as “The Element,” which means you may be able to upgrade the CPU, memory, storage, and other components while keeping your existing case, power supply, and graphics card.

Intel hasn’t shared many details about the upcoming Ghost Canyon system yet, so the KoolShare post also reveals some interesting details including that:

The system measures 9.4″ x 8.5″ x 3.8″ making it small for a desktop, but large for an NUC.

It will be available wot Core i5-9300H, Core i7-9750H and Core i9-9980HK processor options

In addition to a cooling fan on The Element module, there are dual cooling fans on top of the system.

The computer has a 500 watt internal power supply.

There are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, six USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet jacks, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5, an SD card reader, an HDMI 2.0a port, a headset jack on the front, and a 3.5mm audio line out on the back.

According to an Intel spec sheet, the system supports up to three 4K displays if you’re using Intel UHD graphics alone. You may be able to connect additional displays if you add a discrete GPU.

Speaking of GPUs, the computer supports up to an 8″ long, double-width graphics card that uses up to 225 watts of power.

Other features include support for up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 memory, three M.2 slots with support for NVMe and/or Intel Optane memory, and a plastic case with a metal frame.

Intel will offer a 3-year warranty.

Last I’d heard, Intel was planning to bring the Ghost Canyon NUC to market early next year.

Windows 10 is adding a native framerate counter

Microsoft will finally be adding a native framerate counter to Windows 10.

The company has already began rolling out the new feature to the native Windows 10 Game Bar, but some users will probably have to wait a while to get their hands on it.

This new feature will finally allow Windows 10 users to measure their in-game performance without the use of additional tools. While most third-party gaming applications, like Steam or Origin, have their own built-in counters, a native option has been requested for quite some time.

For those who get the Windows 10 October update, Microsoft will easily allow users to monitor performance with the use of Game Bar. By opening the Game Bar program, easily done through the use of Win+G, players will easily be able to toggle a live framerate counter on their games.

Windows users will be able to customize the experience slightly to make times a little bit nicer. With the Game Bar framerate monitor offering a full performance graph, alongside CPU/GPU/RAM performance graphs, it should be one of the better options available. Hopefully, Microsoft will also include benchmark recording for easy charts.

Adding a native framerate counter to Windows 10 is a fantastic move on Microsoft’s part. With the company wanting to bring more gamers over to the Windows Store, especially with Xbox Game Pass PC, adding hardcore gamer features is a must.

SK Hynix Develops 16 Gb DDR4 Chips for 32 GB Modules

SK Hynix announced on Monday that it has completed development of its first monolithic 16 Gb chip. This chip is to be made using its 3rd Generation 10 nm-class process technology. The new memory devices will enable the company and its partners to make more energy-efficient and higher capacity DIMMs, such as 32 GB unbuffered modules for consumers or higher capacity buffered modules for enterprise consumption.

SK Hynix’s 16 Gb chip made using the company’s 3rd Generation 10 nm-class manufacturing technology (also known as ‘1Z’ nm) and is rated for DDR4-3200 data transfer rates. The company states that these chips have a reduced power consumption by 40% when compared to modules of the same capacity based on 8 Gb DRAMs produced using the company’s 2nd Generation 10 nm-class (aka 1Ynm) process.

SK Hynix’s ‘1Z’ nm process technology uses a new substance that enables it to maximize capacitance and improve stability of DRAM devices compared to previous generation process technology. It remains to be seen whether or not usage of the new chemicals translate into additional benefits, such as clock range, or latency. Also, the new technology enables a 27% higher bits-per-wafer productivity, which will make new memory chips cheaper to produce. The manufacturer stresses that its ‘1Z’ nm process does not use extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) and is still a fully DUV process.

In addition to its 16 Gb DDR4 chips, SK Hynix also introduced its 32 GB unbuffered DIMM and SO-DIMM modules that can be used by desktop computers. It is unclear when these modules are to be available, but it is logical to expect them to emerge after the 16 Gb DRAM devices hit mass production in 2020.

The company plans to use its 1Znm process technology to make a variety DRAM types, including commodity DDR4 memory, LPDDR5, and HBM3.

Grab this WD Black SN750 1TB SSD is at its lowest price ever

Amazon’s got a great cheap SSD deal on the WD Black series SSD just in time as the fall’s biggest titles start to take up precious storage on your PC storage.

You can pick up the WD Black SN750 1TB NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with heatsink right now for $179.99, the lowest it’s been all year, a $100 savings off the MSRP and $40 lower than the previous best.

Transfer speeds of 3,470 mbps make it a great choice if you’re looking to improve load times on games over an aging HDD. While excellent for gaming (faster load times), a good SSD is also perfect for tasks such as video editing when working with larger video files. Its custom heatsink allows for the SN750 for longer, sustained peak performance which is always a plus.

Take a look and see how it compares to the best NVMe SDDs of this year.

If you’re unsure or just weighing your options, make sure you bookmark our Black Friday SSD deals page where we will be combing all the major online retailers for the best deals we can find leading up to Black Friday.

Jorge Jimenez is a Hardware Writer from the enchanted lands of New Jersey. When he’s not filling the office with the smell of Pop-Tarts, you can find Jorge streaming bad games with his dog or binge-watching an irresponsible amount of Law & Order: SVU.

GA-PICO3350 is Gigabyte’s smallest motherboard to date (embedded CPU + RAM and storage slots)

Measuring just about 3.9″ x 2.8″, the new Gigabyte GA-PICO3350 motherboard is just a little larger than a Raspberry Pi Model B (3.4″ x 2.2″). But while the Raspberry Pi features an ARM-based processor and embedded memory, Gigabyte’s tiny board has a DDR3L SODIMM slot for laptop-type memory plus an mSATA/mini PCIe slot for storage.

That said, while you could theoretically use Gigabyte’s tiny new Pico ITX board for just about any computing task, its embedded 6 watt Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core “Apollo Lake” processor isn’t exactly a speed demon.

So I suspect this is the type of board that will appeal more to IoT developers than to home users. Still, it’s kind of nifty… mostly because it’s just so small.

In addition to the specs listed above, the board has the following features:

2 x USB 3.0

Gigabit Ethernet

HDMI 1.4a

SATA 6Gb/s connector + SATA power connector

USB 2.0, Serial port, GPIO, LVDS, and SMBus headers

Gigabyte says the system supports Windows 10 64-bit software as well as Linux (although the company suggests downloading “Linux driver from chipset vendors’ website or 3rd party website.”

There’s no word on the price for the GA-PICO3350, but the similarly-=sized MSI MS-98I6 sells for around $300 — although that model supports faster memory and features dual display outputs and dual Ethernet jacks, among other differences.

MSI’s pico-ITX board is also slightly larger, at 101mm x 73mm compared to 100mm x 72mm for the Gigabyte model.