Though AMD’s latest Ryzen 4000 processors are commanding plenty of interest and the next-generation Ryzen 5000 processors have yet to launch, the company isn’t sitting idly by. A recently leaked road map suggests AMD’s Ryzen 6000 processors — the successor to the Ryzen 5000 chipset — may be ready as early as 2022 with a 5nm design utilizing the company’s Zen 4 architecture.
The processor currently goes by its code name of Raphael and bundles the company’s next-generation Navi 2 graphics architecture. According to the leak shared by Twitter user @MeebiuW, this suggests the Ryzen 6000 APU could integrate Zen 4 processor cores along with integrated a Navi 2 GPU design.
Navi is expected to debut first as a stand-alone discrete graphics solution, representing a huge architecture change for AMD as the company shifts away from its current Vega solution. Navi is expected to debut new features, like real-time raytracing, that will make it more competitive against offerings from rival Nvidia, like the current-generation GeForce RTX 2000 series and the oft-rumored GeForce RTX 3000 series that’s expected to debut this fall.
But before we arrive at the Zen 4-based Ryzen 6000 processors, there are still a few more items to get through on AMD’s roadmap, and 2021 will be a very busy year for the company. From the leak, the launch of Warhol, Van Gogh, and Cezanne are supposedly planned for a 2021 launch, with the latter being pegged as a successor to AMD’s Renoir but with a Zen 3 architecture.
Van Gogh, on the other hand, is designed for computer vision and machine learning, or CVML, so it could have a different — and more specific — purpose than other processors in the lineup. As an APU, Van Gogh is expected to be the first to integrate Navi-based RDNA 2 graphics. And while AMD has so far been inspired by famous artists in history for code names for its products, that may change after Van Gogh. The successor to Van Gogh, according to MebiuW, is said to be called Dragon Crest.
And Warhol is the last product in the 2021 road map, can either be a Vermeer Refresh or an interim product as AMD moves from its AM4 to AM5 socket, according to Videocardz. Warhol will be a desktop processor that’s likely expected to launch in mid-2021.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.