Popular PC maker Asus just took the wraps off its newest high-powered notebook, which is the latest in the company’s Republic of Gamers series of laptops.
Dubbed the G550JK, the latest laptop to come out of Asus wears a 15.6-inch 1080p LED matte display, and is stuffed with an Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M graphics with 2GB of RAM, 8GB of RAM, and a 750GB 7,200 rpm hard drive. the fact that the display is matte instead of glossy likely means that it will be easier to use whenever sunlight directly hits the screen. Glossy displays are often very reflective, which can torment your eyes. The G550JK also packs a DVD burner as well.
Measuring 15.1 x 10 x 1.1 inches and weighing exactly 6 pounds, the G550JK is covered in a paint job dominated by black, and supplemented by red trim. The system’s lid wears a brushed finish, along with a pair of logos in the center: Asus’ typical logo, along with a Republic of Gamers insignia.
Asus claims that the system’s GPU can be “safely overclocked” up to 5 percent, due to heatsinks, and a pair of fans that work to keep the G550JK’s innards cool. It’s unclear what ports are built into the laptop’s body, but we do know that it will support 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity. The G550JK is kept afloat by a four cell battery, which gets a boost in the form of Optimus tech. According to Asus, this allows the system to save battery life when you’re not running a GPU-intensive program on the rig.
The G550JK is backed up by a one year international warranty, along with one year of accidental damage protection. The latter will save your bacon in case your G550JK falls prey to drops, spills, power surges, and fire damage.
The Asus Republic of Gamers G550JK can be pre-ordered now from Newegg, Amazon, B&H, and TigerDirect. All of those retailers are selling the G550JK for $1,099.99, except for B&H, which offers it for slightly less ($1,069.99).
The G550JK will begin to ship on July 20, according to Amazon.
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.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.