Virtual reality enthusiasts, listen up. If you use an Nvidia GeForce graphics card, today is a great day to update your drivers.
Version 361.43 of Nvidia’s WHQL-certified GeForce drivers comes with all sorts of features for VR users, including support for version 1.1 of Gameworks VR. That should make games look a lot better while wearing your headset – which in turn will make things even more immersive.
“This Game Ready driver includes the latest GameWorks VR tweaks, bug fixes, and optimizations to ensure you have the ultimate VR gaming experience,” according to the release notes.
Gameworks VR is Nividia’s collection of APIs, libraries, and features for virtual reality devices. Version 1.1 of Gameworks VR offers VR SLI for both OpenGL applications and the latest Oculus SDK, expanding that capability to a bunch of games that previously didn’t support it. VR SLI means that if you have multiple GPUs, one can be assigned to each eye. This will should lead to better frame rates and frame pacing, which is very important for an immersive VR experience.
Like most drivers, these also include a selection of bug fixes. The new drivers should “mitigate flickering and tearing related to rendering to the scanout surface,” for example. A bug on Windows 10 systems that caused hot plugging to fail has been fixed. And lag in Star Wars Battlefront with SLI enabled should also be better, if not eliminated, meaning you can better immerse yourself in a galaxy far, far away, should you choose.
Go ahead and check out the release notes if you want more details — there’s a lot to read about here. It’s interesting to see Nvidia continue to work on the VR experience, especially when you consider that there’s basically no consumer-focused hardware out there yet. This driver update, and some patents Nvidia has applied for, suggests Nvidia thinks that will change.
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.