New Tech Shout

Microsoft Surface Neo

On Windows 10X, Microsoft built a "Wonder Bar," essentially a dynamic touchscreen above the keyboard. We continue to learn more and more information about Windows 10X, a platform that draws its juice from Windows10 but is tailor-made for dual-screen computers, foldables and more. You'll be able to view apps on a single screen while using a device such as the upcoming Microsoft Surface Neo, that goes across displays. Now there is a touch strip like the one on the MacBook Pro.

You probably know that the Surface Neo has a magnetic keyboard that can be attached, which leaves some space at the bottom for the touchscreen. Well that strip becomes the... Wonder Bar. It's a feature of Windows 10X and it came to light when Microsoft recently released Windows 10X developer tools and emulator. The Wonder Bar extends the size and usability of the laptop by "hosting device with input accelerators and a virtual trackpad for mouse input precision."

It also reminds me of ASUS ' ZenBook Pro Duo with its secondary functional screen above the keyboard. It appears the Wonder Bar can be activated by switching to a virtual keyboard with support from Wonder Bar, not just the physical one. It can view emojis, gifs, suggestions for text, and watch videos, menus and options. It can display media playback controls, smaller applications such as the Windows Calculator, and I'm sure Photoshop tools could also appear there.

Now it is up to the developers to integrate the Wonder Bar further into their apps. It practically imitates the MacBook Pro Touch Bar but with a twist. Fresh leak between this Wonder Bar and the Surface Duo, things start looking a little better than October's underwhelming prototypes.

LG Gram 17

Laptops with large screens are usually considered unwieldy and bulky, unless you think of the 16-inch MacBook Pro from Apple.

The LG Gram 17 is an exception, however, giving even Apple's slimline computer a run for its money. It's called the lightest 17-inch laptop ever made, weighing just 2.95 pounds, and a $1,245 snip.

LG has been successful in developing a super thin and light laptop with a 17-inch screen where everyone else has struggled. The system was so well received that retail giant Costco also invited its customers to an exclusive version.

The older and cheaper version ($1,200/£929 at Amazon) comes with the 8th generation Intel Core i7 GPU, 16 GB ram and 256 GB SSD. It also has a LG battery that says it will power your computer for almost 20 hours — yes, 20 hours.

It's not waterproof or shockproof, but its magnesium alloy frame makes it more durable than most laptops of this size. It also has a dedicated numeric keypad and complies with strict MIL-STD-810 G standards.

The 17-inch display (with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels) is a cherry on a rather large cake.

It is worth noting that UK consumers will also be able to purchase LG Gram 17 directly from Amazon, but they should be careful to levy additional taxes.

LG Gram 17 (2019)—$1245 at Amazon. Would you like a laptop with a big screen, but wouldn't you like a monster cart? Its only variation is that of the LG Gram. It's sleek, versatile, and has a lot of memory and a numeric keypad. Plus, the price tag is probably not going to give you a heart attack.

Great HP Laptop Deals

HP launched promotions on their Presidents ' Day, and we see a lot of cheap laptops and extra savings on a number of computers to get excited about. We've found a lot of sales for every need from cheap HP laptops offering amazing $279 price tag specs, all the way to amazing HP Spectre builds available for just $673 (if you're among the top 30 to order).

You can also save an additional 5 percent on cheap laptops over $599 with code 5PDS2020 and an extra 10 percent on laptops with code 10PDS2020 priced at over $999. Which means even more money saved on some great versions of HP laptops.

HP's Presidents ' Day sales have also expanded to include a variety of cheap PC accessories, such as great discounts on mice, keyboards, wallets, apps, and headphones, if you want to take the extra mile. If you're looking for more RGB lights, you'll also find an excellent live sale right now on HP's range of OMEN gaming laptops and accessories.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold

Hey guys! We have a news for CES 2020: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is a foldable laptop. If I remember correctly Lenovo revealed a foldable laptop with a full screen display at Computex last year. Now they're back at CES 2020 with additional device details including price tag and start date. Let's face the ThinkPad X1 Fold from Lenovo.

So, we're dealing with a laptop with a flexible screen, an OLED 4:3 panel that folds down the centre. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold packs a 13.3 inch LG pOLED touchscreen with 4:3 aspect ratio and 2048x 1536 pixel resolution. It has active pen support and the device is very lightweight when folded, and easier to transport than even most tablets. It also only weighs 999 grams, which is quite impressive for a 13.3 inch laptop.

The machine can be flipped at 90 degrees, so it is easy to use the bottom half as the virtual keyboard, and the top side as the main screen. The ThinkPad X1 Fold also comes with a lightweight phyiscale Bluetooth keyboard that can support the virtual keyboard. You are also having the device's leather cover, which includes a stand. Lenovo claims the product has been in development for 4 years, and it has undergone a variety of changes in design.

In the end the system of multi-link torque prevailed. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is made of carbon fiber and metal alloys with a light weight. Specs include 8 GB of RAM and an Intel Core mystery processor with "Intel Hybrid Technology," which will also bring graphics from Intel Gen11. The price tag is $2500, and with Windows 10, the system will launch in mid 2020. There will be a later version of Windows 10X, too. Inside, there is 1 TB of SSD storage, a 5 MP HD RGB + IR camera, and a Dolby Audio speaker.

Asus Zephyrus G14

The Zephyrus G14 is, Asus says, it is the most powerful 14-inch gaming laptop ever. At CES 2020, Asus revealed a whole load of gaming hardware with both desktop PCs and laptops, the latter being headed by a model the firm claims is the most powerful 14-inch gaming notebook in the world.

That would be the Asus Zephyrus G14, which certainly packs a decent amount of power into a 17.9 mm thick, pretty slim chassis, and the device weighs in at a palatable 1.6 kg.

The G14 runs on one of the new mobile chips from AMD, and is powered by up to an8-coreand 16-threaded Ryzen 7 4800HS. That's partnered with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card (6 GB video RAM boast).

Asus provides up to 16 GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM on the memory front, and storage comes as a M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD with up to 1 TB capacity. There are a few choices for the 14-inch panel, the top of which–at least for gamers–has a Full HD resolution with 120Hz refresh rate plus AMD's adaptive sync, 100 percent sRGB coverage, and it is Pantone-validated.

You can also choose the same monitor but with a refresh rate of 60Hz and no adaptive sync, or a screen with a resolution of 2.560x 1.440 which is 60Hz again (but has adaptive sync). All of these are panels at the IPS level, and very thin bezels sport.

Asus says the G14 provides 10 hours of battery life, and offers charging via one of the Type-C USB ports (although the other Type-C connector is not capable of power delivery).

The laptop also benefits from support for Wi-Fi 6, and a backlit keyboard with an ErgoLift hinge tilting the screen at a more comfortable angle.

Asus also notes that the G14 has an innovative cooling system and some models display' AniMe Matrix' on the laptop lid. The latter uses a 1,215 mini LED matrix which can be used to view graphics like animated GIFs or messages.

DJs may theoretically use the AniMe Matrix to display visualizations that respond to, for example, the music being played, and ultimately Asus plans to add more practical aspects such as the ability to view the current battery level, or new email alerts.

We're certainly keen to see how the8-core Ryzen 7 4800HS drives this seemingly nippy 14-inch gaming laptop, and it looks commendably compact with some neat extras to the power levels on offer.

The good news is that the launch date is not far away, with the Asus Zephyrus G14 set to go on sale late March (in the UK). However, no pricing has yet been announced.

When the going gets TUF

Not content with the Zephyrus G14, Asus also unveiled a bunch of new TUF Gaming laptops, including a pair of 15-inch models, and a pair of 17-inch notebooks.

The main devices being introduced at CES are the TUF Gaming A15 and A17, which use 4000 chips from AMD Ryzen, and these versions should also be available in late March, just like the G14. TUF Gaming F15 and F17 notebooks with 10th generation Intel Core processors will be released later in 2020.

So, you get a choice of Ryzen 4000 APUs (upto8-core,16-threads) with the A15 and A17, which can be combined with up to 32 GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM.

If you're plumping into the TUF Gaming A15, you'll get a 15.6-inch Full HD screen with 144Hz refresh rate, and AMD's adaptive sync technology, plus on the front of the GPU, you can specify up to a RTX 2060. Space can take the shape of a 1 TB NVMe PCIe SSD.

As for the TUF Gaming A17 which runs a 17.3-inch Full HD display with a refresh rate of 120Hz, again with adaptive sync. You can have up to a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti for a graphics solution and capacity will again be up to a 1 TB PCIe SSD.

As always, the TUF laptops are built to be rugged and reliable, produced to meet the MIL-STD-810H requirement, ensuring a few bumps and short drops will happily survive.

These models are also more compact than their predecessors, with the variants of 15 inches being 7 percent lower and the models of 17 inches shrinking by 8 percent a little further, according to Asus. Pricing has yet to be confirmed.

Gaming desktops

At CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Lenovo showed off the world's first 5 G laptop, with the Lenovo Yoga 5 G becoming the first PC to connect to 5 G networks.

We first saw back at Computex 2019 an early version of the Lenovo Yoga 5 G, where it was branded as Project Limitless before its official name was released, and now we have a glimpse of the final product.

This is an ultra-portable2-in-1 device, like other Yoga laptops, with a screen that can be folded backwards to turn it into a tablet.

The Lenovo Yoga 5 G is the first laptop to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx platform, which includes built-in 5 G connection support, enabling the Yoga 5 G to connect via a service provider and super-fast mobile internet access.

This will allow you to easily download large files, with download speeds of around 4Gb / s, according to Lenovo. If this is handled, it could be a real change in the game.

24-hour battery life The Lenovo Yoga 5 G provides 5 G connectivity, but it can also support the battery life of up to 24 hours. Qualcomm Adreno 680 graphics and Dolby Atmos driven user-facing stereo speakers mean that the Yoga 5 G should also be a good entertainment system.

The 14-inch full HD IPS screen provides 400 nits of brightness, so it should provide vibrant image quality, weighing just 2.86lbs (1.3 kg), so it's going to be nice and portable.

We look forward to an attempt soon to give the Lenovo Yoga 5 G–keep an eye out for our hands on review. From our point of view, previous Snapdragon-powered laptops were missed opportunities as they were dropped by poor performance. We hope the pattern will be bucked by the Lenovo Yoga5G.

In the first quarter of 2020, the Lenovo Yoga 5 G will go on sale starting at $1,499 (around £ 1,200, AU$2,100) and will be branded as the Lenovo Flex 5 G in North America.

At CES 2020, Dynabook unveiled with Intel's 10th generation processors, the Portégé X30L-G, the world's lightest 13.3-inch business laptop.

The company's new laptop is designed for portability at just 870 g and the device includes numerous features to help improve connectivity, performance, security and user experience while meeting and exceeding Microsoft's Modern Device standard, which serves as a benchmark for modern computing devices.

The Portégé X30L-G aims to be the perfect companion for working professionals, and the laptop has been carefully designed with an exceptionally light but durable magnesium chassis. Dynabook has designed the computer to meet MIL-STD-810 G requirements and the laptop is put through military-grade drop, temperature, humidity and dust-proof testing to prove how durable it is.

In terms of screen configuration, the Portégé X30L-G has a Sharp non-reflective 13 "IGZO FHD LCD screen that offers high brightness at 470NIT but low power consumption compared to a st. A 14.5-hour battery life combined with a Quick Charge function that can provide a 4-hour battery charging time of just 30 minutes means users don't have to worry about keeping their battery in motion.

Despite the ultra-lightweight and compact form factor of the Portégé X30L-G, Dynabook has not compromised its specs and the laptop features the latest Intel Core 10th generation processors with a wide selection of SSD storage options like SATA, quick PCIe and Intel Optane to allow fast workflows and increase productivity.

The laptop features a Micro SD card reader to provide additional portable storage options for users as well as rapid DDR4 RAM memory to ensure that the device can meet the demands of today's business applications.

A USB Type-C port allows users to charge and connect the Portégé X30L-G to display or transfer data via a single connection. While the design of the laptop is ultraslim, it is still fitted with a full-size HDMI port and two USB 3.0 ports to prevent users from having to carry adapters while they are driving.

Due to face and fingerprint biometric authentication via Windows Hello and Intel Authenticate, the Portégé X30L-G is also highly secure. The new laptop from Dynabook also includes the Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM) and the company's own bios to provide another robust layer of protection.