HP

There’s only so much you can change in a laptop, given its more or less fixed design. But while you can’t swap out processors and graphics cards, you can at least push them to their limits. Overclocking is common fare for gamers, but it is only recently that gaming laptops have started to embrace the practice. Jumping on that trend, HP is announcing the OMEN X Laptop, part of its new brand of gaming computers. But more than an already powerful laptop out of the box, this devil dares you to overclock it til it can give no more.

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Back in May of last year we first saw the rise of the VR backpack with such manufacturers as Aorus, MSI, ZOTAC - and HP. Imagine our surprise when HP came here in July of 2017 again with another far more sleek and low-profile entry into this ecosystem.

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Say what you want about Microsoft’s past hardware flops, but there’s no denying it has become somewhat of a trendsetter in some areas. The Surface Pro tablets, the HoloLens headset, and, lately, the Surface Studio. The latter, however, might take a bit of time before it sinks into OEMs mindsets, not to mention budgets. That is why it’s a bit disappointing that HP’s newest Pavilion All-in-One hasn’t made that jump yet. Powerful and gorgeous, it’s just a pen and a few angles away from becoming a Surface Studio rival.

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Computex 2017 might be over, but HP is far from done. Especially with E3 just around the corner. Perfectly bridging the two worlds of PCs and gaming, HP’s new OMEN lineup promises to bring the best hardware inside innovative, if not unusual, packages. Heading the charge is the OMEN X Compact Desktop, which could very well be called the OMEN X VR Backpack 2. Because while you can indeed carry it around where you want to you can also dock it to an accessory when you need an added push.

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Microsoft is betting big on Windows Mixed Reality, and it turns out PC makers are rising to the challenge with a variety of designs shown off this week at Computex 2017. The software giant's decision not to make its own headset, following the Surface strategy, but throw the responsibility over to OEMs had led to some concern that we'd see plenty of me-too mixed reality visors clogging shelves come the holiday season. Happily, it looks like that's not going to be the case.

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Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor already features in a few high-end smartphones - the Galaxy S8 and Xperia XZ Premium come to mind - but before long, it'll serve as the brains of Windows 10 PCs as well. Qualcomm announced today that it has partnered with three different PC manufacturers to bring the Snaprdragon 835 to their machines. It certainly sounds like the new Surface Pro is going to have some Snapdragon-flavored competition shortly.

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Last week in Shanghai, away from the very scrutinizing eyes of Western media, Microsoft unveiled the New Surface Pro, a.k.a. not the Surface Pro 5. Reception has been mixed, ranging from "this should have been called the Surface Pro 5" to "meh". Fortunately, Microsoft's "tablet that can replace your laptop" is no longer the only game in town. In fact, there's quite a few of them right now. We take a long at some of the most recent and most enticing 2-in-1 options so far this year to see which one might be the best for your mobile Windows 10 needs.

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Microsoft may have made some waves with its Surface Laptop announcement, but a new challenger has entered the ring. HP has unveiled new models in its ENVY line - at Cannes Film Festival no less - and these new notebooks seem to be positioned for competition with Microsoft's latest notebook. In all, HP has introduced three new notebooks in the ENVY line today: the ENVY 13, ENVY 17, and ENVY x360 15.

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Microsoft has left the Surface Pro to languish, unloved, and HP isn't going to let an opportunity like that pass it by. Welcome, then, the HP Spectre X2, the latest in the laptop company's range of touchscreen 2-in-1s. With the body of a tablet - and a 12.3-inch, 3,000 x 2,000 resolution one at that - and the flexibility of a magnetically-attached keyboard, HP is hoping you'll forget all about your Surface Pro dreams.

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Drivers are small pieces of software that allow an operating system to communicate and use hardware. Each driver is focused on a specific class of hardware, like display, USB, audio, etc. So when an audio driver starts logging every keystroke made on a computer, you know something's up. That's the situation HP found itself in when security researcher Modzero reported that one of its audio drivers has a hidden keylogging function that poses a security risk to owners of its enterprise laptops.

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Microsoft has unveiled its take on VR controllers, with the Windows 10 Mixed Reality motion controllers making their debut at BUILD 2017 today. Intended to pair with the Windows Mixed Reality headsets we've already seen announced from a number of companies, the controllers allow for better interaction in virtual 3D space. Meanwhile, there's also news for developers hoping to get their hands on the VR/AR kit.

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The unexpected success of the Microsoft Surface Pro tablets gave rise to a new breed of 2-in-1 Windows 10 computers that tried to emulate, if not downright imitate, that formula. Unsurprisingly, some of them didn't get it right. At least not on the first try. The HP Elite x2 tried to mix things up a bit and aimed a tad lower. Unfortunately, it also missed the target by some standards. Rather than scrap the product, HP has apparently returned with a gen 2 model that mostly fixes what was wrong with the first.

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