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It’s been a busy week in hardware. We’ve had a ton of announcements, most of which came from a single company. AMD pretty much stole the headlines this week when it refreshed a good chunk of its graphics card lineup. The top-end Fury and Fury X have yet to launch so we’re still eagerly awaiting the benchmarks, but if the leaked numbers are any indication, these cards should be a force to be reckoned with in terms of graphics performance.
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The company also unveiled Project Quantum, a uniquely designed small form factor PC featuring not one, but two Fury graphics cards. We’ll know soon enough how powerful this thing really is once AMD officially launches its Fury cards and reviewers have the chance to test just how well they perform.
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Aside from AMD, let’s have a look at some of the other hardware news from the week.
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Processors
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Due to delays in the launch of Broadwell chips, Intel finds itself in a little scheduling situation. 6th generation Skylake processors are well on their way to launch later this year barely leaving any room for 5th generation Broadwell to make its full debut. A report from Digitimes now claims that the Skylake processors will launch in August during Gamescom 2015.
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Board partners have already unveiled their Skylake-supporting 100-series motherboards at Computex 2015 so we know that Skylake’s launch is imminent. With support for DDR4 memory, we should be seeing some nice performance increases on platforms based on the new chips.
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Devices
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We’ve had two big announcements from HP and Toshiba this week. Starting with HP, the company unveiled some new Windows-powered devices in its ENVY lineup. The refreshed laptops come in sizes ranging from 14” to 17” and feature the latest processors and graphics from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. HP also announced the Pavilion x2, a 2-in-1 PC with a USB Type-C connector as well as the new HP Pro Tablet 608, which will ship with Windows 10 once the OS is released.
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Toshiba also unveiled new laptop computers in its Satellite range. These PCs are designed specifically for Windows 10 as they come with a dedicated Cortana button for quick access to the virtual assistant. Users will get to choose from the Satellite S, L, C, Radius and Fusion offered over a wide range of price points and feature sets, so there’s something in there for everyone.
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In Other News
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While it’s not the 10TB HDD we saw last week, Samsung unveiled what is claims is the world’s thinnest 4TB external HDD. At 0.78 inches thick, they’re certainly slim for their capacity. Small too, considering they come in a 2.5” enclosure. There’s no word on pricing yet but the drives should be available later this month.
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On the other end of the scale, Lian Li introduced new members to its DK-series PC cases. These PC cases are special because not only are they high-quality cases, but they’re tables as well. The latest entries in the series, the DK-Q2 and the DK-Q3 are the result of feedback from the previous models, now with higher body depth for better legroom and removable motherboard trays for easier installation.
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Made of aluminum and tampered glass, these cases/tables don’t come cheap. The DK-Q2 is priced at $990 while the DK-Q3, which supports two sets of PC components will sell for $1490. Both will be available in the USA by the end of the month.
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Last but not least, Microsoft unveiled a new version of its Xbox One controller designed for hardcore gamers. The Xbox One Elite Controller comes with four additional paddles on the underside of the device, has redesigned triggers, a built-in profile manager, and almost every aspect of it is user customizable. It also comes with its own carrying case and accessories in the box. Whether or not that’s enough to justify its $150 price tag is up to you to decide. The controller will be available in October.
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Those were the hottest tidbits from this week in PC hardware, we’ll have more for you next week, so stay tuned to WinBeta for that!
\n\nFurther reading: AMD, Intel, Microsoft, Skylake, TWIPCH, Windows
