Latest news with #laptops
Digital Trends
4 days ago
- Business
- Digital Trends
3 reasons to buy the Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 (2025) gaming laptop
Brash and bold has been the signature trait of Asus' ROG line-up of gaming laptops for years. With the ROG Strix Scar 18, Asus took that formula, gave it the bleeding edge silicon treatment and added a dash of upgradability, without compromising a bit on the gamer aesthetics. There's still plenty of RGB fun here, and the cool AniMe Vision LED matrix on the display is here to stay. You can't mistake this 8-inch behemoth for any other laptop out there. Of course, performance is why you're splurging on this laptop, and you get just that by the oodles. But there are more reasons to get this machine than meets the eye. Recommended Videos Hello, ease of upgrades! One of the biggest advantages of investing in a gaming laptop, especially a big and bulky one, is the upgrade flexibility. Yet, it's not always convenient. And definitely not without its own set of risks. I learnt that lesson the hard way. About four years ago, I tried to upgrade my Asus ROG Zephyrus GA502, one of the slimmest and lightest gaming laptops back then. I ended up breaking the latches and few other plastic bits flew, while the screws could never fully go back in place. In retrospect, I should've read the manual, but at the same time, removing the back panel shouldn't have been an exercise in fragility. The latest iteration of the ROG Strix SCAR 18 solves that dilemma for anyone who is interested in DIY upgrades but lacks the nimble hands of a seasoned electronics repair guy. The hefty gaming laptop from Asus goes for a tool-less design, which lets you replace the storage and RAM modules in a few seconds. Thanks to the next-gen Q-Latch engineering, which is a mainstay on Asus' desktop motherboards, users can easily access the RAM, SSD, and fans without requiring screen drivers. 'A specially designed frame covers the rest of the mainboard to protect the other components, but can easily be removed with a few screws for users who want to tinker further,' says Asus. Also, both the SSD slots can take PCIe Gen 5 modules, so it's pretty future-proof, as well. We love to see the focus on designs that ease repair and replacement, and it's great to see Asus following in the footsteps of Framework, even if these are baby steps. Dazzling, in the right ways This one is an unabashedly gaming brute, which means it matches all the braws with the most outlandish gamer-pleasing aesthetics you will find on a gaming laptop. In addition to the per-key RGB lighting flexibility for your keyboard, you get an RGB strip that surrounds the entirety of the base. Think of those flashy JDM rides that light up the motorway. But if you look closely at the lid, it's not just the backlit logo that stands out. Asus has equipped the ROG Strix Scar 18 with a secondary dot-screen that is made up of 810 LEDs bleeding light through over nine thousand tiny holes. Asus calls it the Anime Vision display, and in the true spirit of gaming customizability, this secondary screen can dance to your creative tunes. Flash your name across it, put up a fun GIF, or animate any other image of your choice. Just make it fun, will ya? Talking about display, the 18-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1600) panel is nothing short of a visual treat on this one. It's a mini-LED panel, the same tech that you will come across on the MacBook Pro. In a nutshell, it's gorgeous, thanks to deep contrast, wide viewing angles, and stunning color reproduction. It offers nearly double the sustained SDR brightness compared to its Apple counterpart, and also beats it at contrast levels, based on lab tests. Overall, if you're eyeing creative work where color accuracy matters, the ROG warrior fares better than the MacBook Pro in our sRGB, AdobeRGB, and DCI-P3 color gamut coverage tests. Oh, this vibrant panel is pretty fast too, thanks to the 240Hz refresh rate. 'For gamers, it promises outstanding high dynamic range (HDR) performance along with a super fast refresh rate that supports Nvidia G-Sync for tear-free gaming,' says Digital Trends' review of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18. Another underrated perk? There's also an IR camera atop the display for Windows Hello facial recognition. You want performance? Cool! Digital Trends' reviews expert, Mark Coppock, labeled the ROG Strix Scar 18 as 'very large, and very awesome, gaming laptop.' This machine certainly has the substance to go with its flashy looks. Lots of it, actually. Asus will let you max this one out with Nvidia's top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, though you can pick up configurations with the RT 5070 Ti and the RTX 5080 graphics cards. Running the processing duties is Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX, a beastly 24-core Arrow Lake chip and a peak clock speed of 5.4 GHz. On synthetic tests, it fared better than AMD's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 silicon, and expectedly outpaced its Core-i9 predecessor. On the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark, it even raced past Apple's mighty M4 Max processor. Of course, you're buying this beast to play games, so let's get into it. The Blackwell 5000-series GPU in this machine is loaded to the neck with upscaling and frame generation tech, and coupled with the DLSS4 goodness, you are assured of immersive visuals in games. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra presets and ray-tracing enabled, this machine provides an average 70fps output, while Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1600p resolution and Ultra graphics settings maintains a respectable 87fps output. Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla at 1440p resolution and Ultra High settings managed a cool 122fps. This machine also maintains its cool under stress. Asus has fitted an end-to-end vapor chamber, assisted by liquid cooling (on both the CPU and GPU), triple cooling fans, and plenty of vents on the ROG Strix Scar 18. Thankfully, the fans won't hurt your ear canals to the point of shutting down the lid and escaping the desk.
The Verge
5 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Razer's Blade 18 laptop price jumps $300, to $3,499.99
Razer's powerhouse Blade 18 portable gaming desktop replacement is launching today with a surprise price hike from its originally advertised $3,199.99 tag. The company has quietly raised the cost of the base spec, which features an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, to $3,499.99 — a $300 jump from its CES reveal earlier this year. The Blade 18's top RTX 5090 graphics spec is also getting a heavy $400 price increase from $4,499.99 to $4,899.99. Razer is also now offering a new RTX 5080 configuration option that starts at $4,099.99. As to why Razer has increased the Blade 18's prices, the company has not responded to our request for comment at the time of publication. In April, Razer had temporarily halted direct sales for its laptops just a day before the Trump Administration announced tariffs that would increase costs of tech coming from countries like China and Taiwan, where many laptop components are made. At the time, Razer Public Relations Manager, Andy Johnston, told The Verge Razer had no comment regarding tariffs. Over a week later Razer un-paused sales, including for its just launched Blade 16 laptop. You can order the new Blade 18 on Razer's website now, with deliveries starting June 2nd, even for a maxed out configuration that features 4TB storage and 64GB RAM for $5,199.99 (RazerCare warranty not included).
Digital Trends
6 days ago
- Digital Trends
Windows on Arm vs Intel: Which laptop platform is right for you?
In just over a year, the landscape of Windows laptops has changed with the arrival of machines that draw power from Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, instead of those from Intel. Or even AMD. Think of it as the same kind of transition that Apple pulled off with the Mac, but instead of one, there are multiple brands carrying the torch for Microsoft. The overarching project is called Windows on Arm, and it has solid a few solid products in the past few months. The ultra-slim Asus ZenBook A14 and the Dell XPS 13 have been my favorite Snapdragon machines so far, and more are yet to come. The core premise behind these machines is to deliver snappy performance (with a special focus on AI) and long battery life in a thin and light chassis. Recommended Videos In their current shape, think of them as the MacBook Air equivalent on the Windows side of the ecosystem. In fact, a couple of Snapdragon devices that I've tested even leapfrog Apple's smash-hit laptop and deliver an astounding multi-day battery life. But can they really beat legacy laptops on the x86 architecture, when the latest generation of Intel chips has also started to embrace the Copilot+ badge for top-tier performance? Let's unfold the conundrum: What about my apps? Are my Intel-based PC apps going to work on an Arm-based Windows laptop? Yes, they will. If the developer has created a separate codebase for the Arm version of their app, even better. If not, you can still download the Intel (or x86) version of the app and run it on your Snapdragon-powered Arm-based laptop or PC. One of the biggest challenges with bringing Windows to an entirely different architecture is the situation with non-native software aka the stuff made by other developers. Now, Microsoft has developed an emulation layer that can run x86 apps just fine, with a small performance hit, that is. The secret sauce here is Prism, which essentially translates x86-64 code into ARM64 instructions. So, if an app was originally developed to run on an x86 PC powered by Intel and AMD processors, it will technically work on Windows on Arm machines with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor at their heart. Microsoft is using Prism to pull it off, while Apple relied on the Rosetta 2 emulator when it shifted Macs from an Intel (x86) to M-series (Arm) silicon. What about the performance hit that comes with emulation? Well, it is definitely here, but you likely won't run into it. Microsoft says that 87 percent of the total app minutes spent by users of Copilot+ PCs are inside software that is now written natively for Windows on Arm. In a nutshell, you won't have to worry about the emulation hit by Prism, which itself got a performance boost with the Windows 11 24H2 update. Windows on Arm is right for… If your primary requirements from a laptop are fast wake up, thin and light design, reliable productivity performance, and above all, a fantastic battery life that can easily last a full day, you can safely pick a Windows on Arm laptop. In my time with Windows on Arm machines, I have noticed that they are pretty fast, especially at running apps for office-based work. If your typical work day entails browsing, task management software such as Asana or Trello, communication, and workplace platforms such as the Office suite, these laptops will run just fine. Even if you are trying a creative suite of apps such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, they work without any major red flags. If you're interested in making the best of AI tools, such as Recall or Copilot Deep Research, these machines can handle the workflow without breaking a sweat. At benchmarks, the underlying Snapdragon X series laptops beat Intel and AMD machines, so there's that. The only major hiccup is the graphics performance, and especially the scalability part of it. In my time, I never found Windows on Arm a limitation for my work, which is spread across web browsers, task management apps, communication platforms, and a bit of media editing. For a majority of business customers and even students, the experience would be similar, unless you are running specialized software. Why pick the Windows and Intel combo Emulation has its limits, and for a certain audience, it totally doesn't work. Gaming is one such scenario. 'Drivers for hardware, games, and apps only work if they're designed for a Windows 11 Arm-based PC,' says Microsoft. Likewise, any program that requires custom drivers, such as an antivirus package, printing utilities, and virtualization software, will give you a hard time. Games that rely on anti-cheat software simply won't work. But there is more to it. There are only three Windows on Arm processors currently on the market viz. Snapdragon X Elite, X Plus, and X. The latter is pretty weak, and often gave me a 'processor not supported' warning message for a large number of games in the Xbox Game Pass library. The graphics situation is to blame here. The top-end Snapdragon X Elite won't fare dramatically better at AAA games, either. Likewise, if you are planning to run CAD software or engage in hi-res multi-stream video editing, a powerful processor paired with a beefy graphics engine is a must. You will also need a lot of RAM and onboard storage. Unfortunately, even the most powerful Windows on Arm laptops won't offer the graphics chops needed for that kind of work, nor the memory upgradability you seek. Gaming laptops are here to stay, and so are mobile workstations with 'Pro' grade processors such as the HP Zbook for creative professionals. In a nutshell, if scalability and flexibility are what you seek, you can skip Windows on Arm. Another crucial part is the pricing. Windows on Arm laptops are still struggling to go below the $700 price point. That leaves out a huge chunk of buyers. For nearly half the price, or close to the $450 margin, you can get competent laptops with Intel (and AMD) processors that can handle light workloads with ease. So yeah, if affordability and hardware versatility are what you desire, look on the Intel side of the Windows laptop ecosystem.
Digital Trends
7 days ago
- Business
- Digital Trends
Dell Canada sale: Savings available for laptops, desktop PCs, Alienware
Dell Canada just launched a wave of limited-time offers on laptops and desktop PCs, so if you've been thinking about getting an upgrade, don't waste this opportunity for massive savings. This is an excellent chance to buy a high-performance computer in particular, as the discounts are simply amazing. With the overwhelming number of laptop deals and desktop computer deals from Dell Canada, as well as Alienware deals featuring gaming laptop deals and gaming PC deals, you may need help in narrowing down your choices. We've got you — we selected our favorite bargains from the ongoing Dell Canada sale, and if any of these catch your eye, we highly recommend moving forward with your purchase immediately. The prices are expected to last until June 1, but we're not sure if stocks will still be available by then. Dell Pro 16 laptop — C$1,209 C$1,466 18% off The Dell Pro 16 is an excellent business laptop that will boost your productivity. It's powered by the Intel Core 5 120U processor, integrated Intel graphics, and 16GB of RAM that's on the level of top-tier machines, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. The Dell Pro 16 also features a 16-inch screen with Full HD+ resolution for sharp details, a 512GB SSD for ample storage space for your apps and files, and Windows 11 Pro pre-installed — all at 18% off, for savings of C$257. Alienware Aurora R16 gaming desktop — C$1,900 C$2,400 21% off Our top pick among the best gaming desktops — the Alienware Aurora R16 — makes an appearance in the Dell Canada sale with a 21% discount that translates to savings of C$500. This configuration with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F processor, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti graphics card, and 32GB of RAM will let you play the best PC games at their most demanding settings, and you'll have plenty of storage space for your gaming library on its 1TB SSD. Dell Tower Plus Desktop PC — C$2,050 An extremely dependable desktop computer at home is a growing necessity for every family, and the Dell Tower Plus Desktop is a great option. With the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 processor, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM, this PC will help you tackle demanding tasks. It also has Windows 11 Home pre-installed in its 1TB SSD. Alienware m16 R2 gaming laptop — C2,300 C$2,800 19% off The best gaming laptops will have your prepared for the upcoming PC games of the next few years, and that's one of the benefits of going for the Alienware m16 R2. You can get 19% off this configuration with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM, for a C$500 discount. The gaming laptop is also equipped with a 16-inch QHD+ screen with a 240Hz refresh rate, and a 1TB SSD with Windows 11 Home out of the box.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Minnesota man sends used laptops to Guatemala: "We cannot solve all the problems in Guatemala, but we can help"
If you think it might be trash, think again. A former Minneapolis teacher collects used laptops to help those in his home country. "She was reading the screen and couldn't believe that she could write her name and look at the screen," said Julio Batres of Minneapolis. A memory in the can for one husband, father, abuelo, and current soccer referee. "It was a big surprise for her," said Batres. Batres recalls one time he gave a laptop away in his rural hometown, San Felipe, Guatemala. So, he's continued the gesture for the past 15 years, donating over 350 computers and counting. "In Guatemala, students don't have access to technology," said Batres. "Old computers that people don't like here, they become new in Guatemala." Batres is a former Minnesota teacher himself who's been in the U.S. since 1980. "It was sad for me to see the schools waste computers here. Three or five years old and they just get rid of them," Batres added. So Batres tries to bridge the gap, flying down to Central America nearly twice a year with stacks of donated tech. But if it's an urgent need... "I'm shipping at the end of this month. Fifteen laptops to Guatemala," said Batres. You might be curious as to how Batres gets these laptops to Guatemala. He said he pays for it. "It doesn't matter to me, I'm happy to do it," Batres said. Which he'll continue to do, even if donations slow down. Batres himself continues to look for and purchase cheap laptops, computers, keyboards and more posted to Facebook Marketplace. "I think it has an impact. We cannot solve all the problems in Guatemala, but we can help," Batres told WCCO. Batres will even find a way to refurbish laptops with minor damage. He accepts donations by finding him on Facebook.
