HP has released a pair of new PC monitors for creative professionals under its Z series umbrella during CES 2022. Like most professional-grade displays, HP’s third-gen Z34c and Z40c boast color accurate LED screens that use a curved form factor to immerse you in your work, but they also come with useful features designed for the hybrid workflow.
With a pop-up webcam, integrated speakers, and capable microphones, the new Z studio monitors are as much about web conferencing with clients and colleagues as it is about getting your work done.
Of the pair, the Z40c G3 is the larger model, and it comes with a 40-inch ultrawide UHD panel with a 5K by 2K pixel array. According to the company, the size and resolution means that the Z40c G3 is about the size of four 20-inch monitors combined, making multitasking seamless and easy.
The IPS panel comes with an anti-glare coating, and the monitor itself is capable of supporting 100% of the sRGB color space and 99% of the wide DCI-P3 gamut, making it ideally suited for projects such as video and photo editing. And at 300 nits, screen brightness, however, isn’t as strong as some other pro-grade monitors.
To help creatives collaborate remotely, the Z40c G3 comes with a pop-up 4K webcam, which can be stowed when not in use to keep your space clean and minimalist as well as aid in privacy, and it has dual 5W speakers for a complete video conferencing solution.
The smaller Z34c G3 comes with an ultrawide QHD screen that’s color calibrated to support 99% of the sRGB color space, as well as 85% of the DCI-P3 gamut. The Z34c G3 comes with an integrated pop-up 5-megapixel webcam, noise-canceling microphones, and speakers for Zoom calls.
Both monitors can be connected to a laptop or desktop via a single USB-C cable for power and video, or through the HDMI port. There’s also a USB-A hub, support for an RJ-45 port, and an integrated KVM switch for added convenience. The KVM switch allows you to switch between two devices with the same keyboard and mouse, using one display, HP said.
Additionally, if you want to connect more than one device to the monitor, picture-by-picture mode makes it easy to view the images from two computers simultaneously.
For ergonomics, both panels can be tilted, swiveled, and rotated on the stand.
Pricing information was not immediately available for either monitors at CES.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.