Intel is trying to redefine what a “budget GPU” really means in 2024, and it’s doing so with the new Arc B580 GPU. In what Intel itself described as its “worst kept secret,” the B580 is the debut graphics card in Intel’s new Battlemage range of discrete GPUs, and it’s arriving at just $249. That’s a price point that’s been relegated to 1080p for decades, but Intel says the B580 will change that dynamic.
It’s a 1440p GPU, at least by Intel’s definition. That’s despite the fact that Intel is comparing the card to GPUs like the RTX 4060 and RX 7600, both of which are more expensive than the B580 and squarely target 1080p. Intel says it can deliver higher performance than these two GPUs while undercutting the price, all in an attempt to capitalize on 1440p gamers. “1440p is becoming 1080p,” as Intel’s Tom Petersen put it in a pre-briefing with the press.
How much faster? By Intel’s metrics, the B580 is 10% faster than the RTX 4060 on average — Intel didn’t provide any performance comparisons to the RX 7600. That may not sound huge, but there are a handful of games where the B580 looks very impressive. In Cyberpunk 2077, for example, the B580 is 43% faster, and in Resident Evil 4, it’s 32% faster.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the B580 shines bright in games like these. Unlike the RTX 4060, which has 8GB of VRAM, the B580 comes with 12GB. At a higher 1440p resolution with maxed-out graphics settings, the additional VRAM is put to good use in games constrained by memory, such as Resident Evil 4. Less in VRAM-constrained games, the performance delta is unsurprisingly smaller.
For gen-on-gen improvements, Intel says the B580 is 24% faster than last-gen’s A750 on average. Once again, the A750 is restricted to 8GB of VRAM, so you see larger improvements in games like The Last of Us Part One.
Intel made several comparisons to the A750, from performance per watt to performance per dollar. It’s an interesting choice, considering Intel has an Arc A580 — you can read about it in our Intel Arc A580 review. The naming here certainly suggests that Intel has higher-end ambitions with Battlemage, which has been rumored for some time.
For now, however, we only know about two GPUs. The B580 is the card Intel is pushing right now, which arrives on December 13 for $249. Like the Arc A750 and A770, it will have a Limited Edition version created by Intel, as well as several board partner designs from brands like ASRock, Acer, and Sparkle.
The B570 is a cut-down version of this card — you can see the spec comparison above — that will launch on January 16 for $219. Intel didn’t provide any performance metrics for the B570, though based on the differences in specs, it shouldn’t be too far behind the B580 in games.
Right now, we’re simply going based on the performance Intel has shared. As usual, we’ll need to wait until the B580 is here to validate Intel’s performance claims and see how the card stacks up against a wider swath of GPUs — particularly those targeting 1440p like the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 7700 XT.
Regardless, $249 is a very attractive price. As it stands, neither Nvidia nor AMD have gone down to that low of a price this generation. The most inexpensive options are the RTX 4060 at $299 for Nvidia and the RX 7600 at $269 for AMD. It seems Intel wants to keep the B580 at that price, too. With its Limited Edition design, at least, Intel confirmed that the cards are being made in Vietnam. That will, hopefully, get around the proposed tariffs on China and Mexico that could go into effect next year.
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.