Apple took to the stage to hype up its new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros today, but of course, the most important thing to almost every customer out there is price. These new MacBook Pros are going up for pre-order today and begin shipping out next week, but how much will each one cost you? That depends on what you're looking for.
For a while, the MacBook's disappearing ports were something of a meme among the I/O enthusiasts of the world. However, with today's new MacBook reveal, Apple has reversed course, announcing that it's actually adding ports to the new MacBook Pro. In addition, it looks like the display on the 2021 MacBook Pro is taking a design cue from modern iPhones, picking up a notch it can call its own.
It's less than a day before Apple's next big event, but there seems to still be some time for a small little change to expectations. Of course, something as minor as a marketing name change won't really affect how the next batch of MacBook Pros will perform, but it could either clarify or confuse consumers about which model to get. Debuting with new Macs is Apple's next-gen Silicon, which might not be called the Apple M1X after all.
Astropad has announced a massive update for its Luna Display product, offering a key feature for customers who own a Windows PC and an iPad. With Luna Display 5.0, Windows users can now utilize the iPad as a second screen for their computer, the same sort of functionality that has been available to Mac owners for years.
Dell has expanded its rugged laptop portfolio with the addition of the Latitude 5430 Rugged and the Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme laptops. Both laptops use similar hardware inside, including 11th generation Intel Core processors with optional vPro capability. The machines also have integrated Wi-Fi 6E and optional 5G connectivity.
There have been a couple of new PCs announced in the past few days, and, given Microsoft's latest launches, it's no surprise that they all revolve around Windows 11. Acer does have new Windows 11 PCs to show off, but it is casting its net a bit wider. It has even more new Chromebooks joining its growing army of devices running Google's web-centric OS, and this year's lineup aims for almost every user need and design inclination.
Acer has announced an expansion of its antimicrobial product lineup, unveiling new laptops, a tablet, a monitor, various accessories, and even an antimicrobial jacket. The expansion adds multiple product lines targeted at both commercial and consumer customers, Acer explains, adding these alongside the new Chromebooks and other products the company has unveiled.
Earlier this year, Acer introduced 3D vision technology they called SpatialLabs. Hey introduced this tech with a laptop that was not for sale to consumers, and have been developing the tech ever since. Now they've introduced a laptop called the ConceptD 7 SpatialLabs Edition, complete with a "3D Stereoscopic module for SpatialLabs" capable of outputting 1920 x 2160 pixel resolution imagery in 3D mode. They also launched SpatialLabs with a more formal webpage for developers to join in on the fun.
PCs, which some have limited to desktops, workstations, and conventional laptops, were once thought to be a dying breed. The proliferation of powerful smartphones and the offloading of computational resources to the cloud are believed to be the cause of the PC market's inevitable but slow demise. And then came 2020 and COVID-19 that almost threw all reason out the window. That was the backdrop that led to this market's revival, and it is now seeing its sixth consecutive quarter of growth, though there are also growing signs of potential problems around the corner.
With the launch of Windows 11, a few PC makers have raised their hands to call attention to new PCs that will be shipping with Microsoft's latest OS out of the box. Other OEMs, however, might not have the same resources to push out completely new laptops and desktops and are content just to announce that existing products will be eligible for the free upgrade. Of course, Samsung is also taking the opportunity to remind its customers that they can already enjoy integration with their mobile phones even before Windows 11 gets that promised native support for Android apps.
Windows 11 came out a day earlier than planned, but it didn't take long for PC makers to jump on board and announce support for the newest Windows release. In addition to Microsoft's own Surface line, the likes of Acer and Razer have been quick to debut new laptops that come with Windows 11 right off the bat. LG, in contrast, is taking a slightly different route and isn't announcing anything new. Instead, it's simply saying that its 2021 line of Gram notebooks now have Windows 11 pre-installed if they haven't shipped out just yet.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is the most versatile professional notebook computer I've ever used. After using this device for only a relatively short period of time, it's clear that Microsoft made peace with the idea that they could, and would, create a multi-tiered laptop machine with a transforming body that remained elegant as it performed all tasks. Now, if this machine continues to perform well after we've used it in work mode for a few more weeks, we'll have a real winner on our hands.