If you like themed products and interesting designs, this new retro-style monitor from Japannext (JN-V236G180F-RETRO) has everything you could want. Spotted by Tom’s Hardware, it aims to blend nostalgia with modern technology to make a fun product complete with the perfect gimmick — you can watch or play anything you want in monochrome.
In terms of specs, it hardly qualifies as of the best gaming monitors, but that isn’t really a deal breaker since the price is just 20,000 yen (around $200). It’s a 23.6-inch panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1080p resolution, and 180Hz refresh rate. It has a 1ms response time, an sRGB gamut of 90%, and a DCI-P3 coverage of 80%, along with 300 nits of brightness.
Again, the specs are nothing impressive, but have you seen how it looks? The display is set into a retro-style casing with a thick off-white bezel complete with speakers and dials on the right-hand side. You can use the dials to adjust the brightness and the volume, just like an old mid-20th century television.
Plus, you can toggle on the monochrome mode whenever you want — if playing a new PlayStation 5 game in black-and-white is something you’ve always wanted to do. It sounds silly in some ways, but sometimes products should just exist to be fun, and you can always count on the Japanese market to deliver in this area.
You connect the monitor to a range of devices, including your PC or your PS5 and it’s also compatible with VESA stands and arm mounts. There are a few other features too, like a blue light filter, flicker-free technology, and AMD FreeSync.
For retro gamers, this monitor could look great next to actual CRTs, letting people play modern titles without ruining the aesthetic of their retro setup. If you’re in America, however, you’re unlikely to see this product on the market. JapanNext does sometimes sell its wares in European countries, however.
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.