AMD has just expanded its lineup of the best processors for laptops by introducing the Ryzen 8000HX series. These CPUs are set to appear in some of the best gaming laptops coming out in the next few months. The downside? There might not be much of an increase compared to the 7000HX series.
These CPUs, while new, aren’t exactly a “fresh” product line. They’re a refresh of the Dragon Range lineup, dubbed Ryzen 7000HX series, and are built on Zen 4 architecture. For reference, we already have Zen 5 chips in laptops; those belong to the Fire Range generation and are still very new, so you might not be able to find them in stores.
As far as the Ryzen 8000HX series goes, spec-wise, the new chips are almost the same as their predecessors. It’s unclear how they will be made faster than the previous generation, but AMD promises to deliver ultra-fast and smooth gameplay as well as solid performance for resource-heavy workloads.
The new chips come equipped with RDNA 2 integrated graphics, and they all use the Radeon 610M iGPU. In reality, they’re most likely going to come paired with some of the best graphics cards, including Nvidia’s RTX 50-series. These are high-end chips made for laptops that consume a fair bit of power, so we won’t find them in ultrabooks; instead, they’ll become part of laptops that are on the bigger side and consume a lot of power.
So, what’s new in terms of specifications? We’ve got four CPUs to dig into, including the Ryzen 9 8945HX, the Ryzen 9 8940HX, the Ryzen 7 8840HX, and lastly, the Ryzen 7 8745HX. These chips range from 16 cores to eight cores. The two flagship chips come with 16 cores and 32 threads as well as a maximum clock speed of 5.4GHz (8945HX) and 5.3GHz (8940HX). They sport a total of 80MB of combined cache.
Then, there’s the 12-core Ryzen 7 8840HX with a maximum clock speed of 5.1GHz and 76MB of combined cache. Lastly, AMD is launching the Ryzen 7 8745HX with eight cores, 16 threads, 5.1GHz boost frequency, and 40MB of cache. All chips have a varying TDP, ranging from 55 to 75 watts for the two 16-core variants and 45-75W for the other pair.
Without testing these CPUs, it’s hard to say what the difference is between these chips and their non-refresh counterparts. However, depending on the price, they might end up being cost-effective alternatives to the upcoming Fire Range CPUs.
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.