Computing

It’s back to school time, which means that for some students or their parents, it’s also time to invest in a new, or their first, school laptop. Taking advantage of this unique shopping season, Microsoft and its OEM partners have gotten the ball rolling with a team of Windows 10 S computers. The latest to join the team is ASUS’ very first Windows 10 S laptop, the VivoBook W202, which is, quite honestly, going to have a hard time standing out from the rest.

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Computers, especially laptops, are getting thinner and thinner. At some point, it might be near impossible to cram more data storage in those already crammed spaces. But even if future technology does make it possible, there will always be a need for external storage you can take with you anywhere. Unfortunately, such portable drives are often limited in capacity, bulky, slow, or all of the above, especially when compared to internal data storage. Not unless you save up for Samsung’s new SSD T5 portable drives.

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Most of the time, when you hear about new Network-Attached Storage (NAS) products, they’re geared towards professionals or, at the very least, small to medium businesses (SMB) or home offices. But with the mass of data we produce and the growing number of computers and devices in our homes, the benefits of reliable data storage as well as access from multiple devices will soon also be critical for home owners as well. Ready to meet that demand, Synology has announced the new DiskStation DS418j for home use and with a home-friendly price to boot.

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Microsoft's war over Surface reliability with Consumer Reports has taken another unexpected turn, with leaks suggesting a combination of ambition and inexperience led to higher than expected return rates. The two companies came head to head last week, after Consumer Reports took the unexpected decision to strip Microsoft's Surface Book and Surface Laptop of their "recommended" ratings, in addition to warning buyers off the Surface Pro 4. That was down to the worrying results of a survey which suggested Microsoft's laptops and tablets were the least reliable in the industry.

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Later this month, thousands of students will return to college, and thousands more will be heading out for their first semester. Just as necessary as dorm room mini-fridges and a comfortable backpack is a laptop, the tool through which you will complete seemingly endless course work and Netflix binging. Whether you're in the market for a top-tier laptop that'll last you four plus years or just something cheap to get you through your first semester, this list has got you covered.

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You may be able to ignore or even break the laws of man, but the laws of (Newtonian) physics are not to be trifled with. Such laws put a limit on how much processing power we can cram into physical spaces before they turn into incendiary weapons. So when a laptop such as the new EVGA SC17 is bequeathed one of the fastest graphics cards in the desktop market, there is reason to be awed and floored. But, as with anything, there will always be a price to pay, literally and figuratively.

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Microsoft has pushed back at Consumer Reports' decision to strip the Surface range of its "recommended" award, arguing that its actual reliability is much better than was claimed. Consumer Reports had previously granted both the Surface Laptop and the Surface Book its coveted recommendation, based on factors such as performance and design. However, it backtracked after surveys of existing Surface owners reported significantly higher problems with their laptops and tablets compared to the rest of the industry.

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Looks like we’re back to the good old days of having almost a dozen different Windows editions for very specific sets of users. In addition to the basic Home and Mobile Windows 10 editions, there’s also Pro, Education, Pro for Education, Enterprise, Enterprise LTSB, Mobile Enterprise, IoT, Teams, and S. Actually, make that exactly a dozen. Introducing Windows 10 Pro for Workstation, designed for very high-end PCs and very advanced power users. Because Windows 10 Pro just isn’ t Pro enough.

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Microsoft might be reconsidering its Consumer Reports subscription today, with the news that the Surface Laptop and Surface Book have both been stripped of their "recommended" status. Concerns about reliability of the Surface line-up as a whole have prompted the review organization to backtrack on its awards, in addition to suggesting that the Surface Pro shouldn't be among your top considerations for a 2-in-1 hybrid, either. Microsoft is suitably outraged, as you'd expect, and indeed there are some big questions around just what Consumer Reports is testing and how they're doing that.

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AMD's ultra-high-end Ryzen CPU platform THREADRIPPER is here, and early reviews suggest it's a monster. AMD's latest release adds to their full CPU refresh with Zen architecture for all markets: mainstream, budget, and enthusiast. With AMD Ryzen Threadripper, the company offers up to 16 cores, 32 threads, and 64 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 connectivity. And the hardware itself is as big as your hand.

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Consumer Reports has withdrawn its recommendations for Microsoft's Surface laptop and 2-in-1 range, citing concerns about reliability after polling owners. The decision particularly impacts the latest Microsoft Surface Laptop and the Surface Book, which the reviews organization had initially awarded its coveted "recommended" designation. However, Consumer Reports says it also applies to the Surface Pro released earlier in the year.

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Although our devices are getting smaller and our appliances getting smarter, the amount of data we produce have grown immensely. As such, it is even more critical to find ways to store all that data without having to expand the amount of physical space that servers and racks already occupy. Samsung, best known for smartphones and consumer electronics, might just have the data storage solution for those as well. It has just revealed a series of data storage solutions whose high capacities are all thanks to Samsung’s new V-NAND tech.

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