Microsoft may have paid for the latest installment in the long-running Tomb Raider franchise to be a timed Xbox One exclusive, but that deal was only ever going to last for a short while. This week, the game will be released for PC — and you’ll need a potent rig to run it.
First and foremost, it’s important to stress that Rise of the Tomb Raider seems to have been very faithfully ported to the PC. This isn’t a slapdash job akin to the Batman: Arkham Knight fiasco that played out last year, it’s just that the already handsome Xbox One version has been outfitted with some extra options to really push its limits.
Digital Foundry put the game through its paces, publishing the findings in a report posted on Eurogamer. Apparently, though, the extra work put in to ensure that Rise of the Tomb Raider sparkled as an Xbox One exclusive means that a budget PC might not be able to recreate the console experience, even if the game is still playable on such hardware.
To test out the more advanced graphical options, Digital Foundry compared an Nvidia GTX 970 and an AMD R9 390. With unlocked framerates and all settings maxed out, the AMD card offered a slight framerate advantage. However, it was noted that the GTX 970 actually fared better in some parts of the game, with cut-scenes, close-ups and interiors managed better by the R9.
The report states that players will need a rig packed with an i5 quad-core processor and a GTX 970 or comparable graphics card for results similar to the Xbox One version of the game. That’s a formidable set of specs, but not altogether unsurprising given that Lara Croft’s latest excursion is something of a graphical showcase.
This is only the first of two Rise of the Tomb Raider ports scheduled for 2016, and Xbox fans will no doubt be interested to see how both versions of the adventure measure up to the original release. The game is out for PC tomorrow, with a PlayStation 4 launch scheduled for the fall.
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.