Qualcomm is ready to step up and strengthen the ARM-based side of the PC market. At its annual Snapdragon Tech Summit, the company announced the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform.
This is a new ARM-based mobile system on chip (SoC) that should take on Apple’s M1 processor and bring new experiences to a potential new wave of laptops in the year 2022.
There’s a couple of big advancements with the new 8cx Gen 3. The most notable is that it’s built on the 5nm PC platform, something that Qualcomm’s rival Intel has yet to accomplish. That means more performance in a smaller CPU die, but the similar power efficiency and consumption remains the same as previous-generation Snapdragon PC-based chips.
In addition, Qualcomm claims that, thanks to new prime cores, the 8cx can deliver an up to 85% generational performance uplift and up to 60% greater performance per watt in Geekbench 5 multi-thread testing when compared to a traditional unnamed x86 processor.
But what about the integrated GPU? According to Qualcomm, advances in the Adreno GPU account for a 60% improvement over the last generation, with the game Big Rumble Boxing being able to run at full HD at 120 frames per second. Outside of gaming, there are some additional features supporting better teleconferencing. That includes including improved camera start-up time (15% faster), support for auto focus, auto white balance, and auto exposure, as well as noise cancellation.
Qualcomm says this is possible through A.I. acceleration, for which the SoC supports 29+ computing operations in a single second. Note that the 8cx Gen 3 also supports 4K HDR cameras, up to 4 cameras, and up to 24-megapixel web cameras.
Another feature in the new 8cX Gen 3 chip is the support for the Microsoft Pluton TPM chip. This should securely store sensitive data such as credentials, personal data, and encryption keys directly on the SoC. In other areas of security, there’s support for Windows Hello, and a new “Dedicated Computer Vision processor,” which can determine user presence and lock the system as someone steps away from it.
Of course, the benefit of Qualcomm mobile compute processors is always-on connectivity. This year’s 8cx Gen 3 sports lightning-fast speeds of up to 10 Gbps, in addition to Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 to enable the fastest Wi-Fi 6/6E speeds available.
To line up with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 Compute Platform This 6nm SoC aims to bring up to 60% faster CPU performance, 70% faster GPU performance, and 5G connectivity to a new range of entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
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.