Samsung unveils 27-inch curved monitor for gamers

Samsung Electronics has introduced its first curved display designed for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts. The company claims that its new monitor has a wider field of view than flat 27” panels, which also makes the display seem bigger than 27”. Unlike custom-built curved displays available previously, Samsung’s SD590C will be priced relatively affordably.

The Samsung SD590C display is based on a VA panel that sports 1920*1080 resolution, 178-/178-degrees viewing angles, 4ms response time as well as 60Hz refresh rate. The product features Samsung’s 3000:1 mega dynamic contrast ratio technology as well as Game Mode, which detects changes in scenes, enhances the colour and alters the screen’s contrast. The monitor features a D-sub, an HDMI and a Display Port ports as well as built-in stereo speakers.

While the curved display will hardly be a good buy for hardcore gamers who prefer 120Hz and higher refresh rates, those, who want maximum immersion into their video games will likely find the Samsung SD590C a valuable buy.

The SD590C will be available in the U.S. beginning October 1, 2014 for an MSRP of $429.99. It is unknown when the produce hits the European and the U.K. markets.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/monitors/anton-shilov/samsung-unveils-27-inch-curved-monitor-for-gamers/

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iMac refresh could include 5K display and AMD graphics

Apple is due to refresh its line of iMac all in one systems later this month, alongside the launch of new iPads and Macbooks so as you would expect, the rumor mill is starting to turn. Apparently, the new 27 Inch high end iMac will feature a 5K screen, much like the one Dell showed offa few weeks ago, Apple may also be switching from Nvidia to AMD for its GPUs.

Intel’s Broadwell CPUs aren’t available just yet so this year’s iMacs will be getting a refreshed Haswell CPU, in addition to a 5120×2880 screen. For those of you who don’t know, this resolution contains 14,745,600 pixels, making it significantly more demanding than 4K, which contains 8,294,400 pixels.

Apple re-kindled its relationship with AMD last year with the launch of the Mac Pro, which featured AMD’s FirePro graphics cards. However, it looks like Apple is interested in AMD’s non professional GPUs as well, according to new rumors, low end 1080p iMacs will stick to Intel’s Iris Pro graphics while higher end models will use R9 or R7 series chips.

For the last couple of years, Apple has been using Nvidia’s GPUs in its systems, current iMacs and Macbook Pros use the GT 750m Kepler based chips.

The refreshed iMac and Macbook models will presumably ship with Apple’s already announced, OS X Yosemite update as development recently entered the final stages.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/apple/matthew-wilson/imac-refresh-could-include-5k-display-and-amd-graphics/

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The Windows 10 technical preview is now available to download

Microsoft officially announced Windows 10 last night but the Technical Preview of the operating system is already available to download for those who want to test out an early build before its official release late next year.

The Windows 10 Technical Preview has been designed for enthusiasts, developers and enterprise customers to evaluate the latest changes. Microsoft has created the Windows Insider program to deliver regular updates throughout the Windows 10 development cycle between now and next year, you’ll have to sign up to take part in the insider program but Microsoft seems to be taking a pretty open approach to development from this point forward.

You can sign up for the Windows Insider Program, HERE. Microsoft has also launched a dedicated Windows Technical Preview page with instructions on how to sign up, download and install.

There are several language options currently only a few language options available: English, Chinese and Portuguese.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/gaming/operating-systems/matthew-wilson/the-windows-10-technical-preview-is-now-available-to-download/

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Google’s project Ara smartphones to have hot-swappable components

At a recent developer event Google re-emphasized plans to show a fully-functional prototype of its modular Ara smartphone platform in late 2014 and revealed some additional details about the project. Apparently, Google’s plan is to keep everything simple and therefore the majority of modules of Ara handsets will be hot-swappable. While in general this is a good idea, it brings a number of questions regarding viability of the platform.

Smartphones based on the project Ara modular platform will be powered by Google Android L operating system, which provides exceptional flexibility in terms of hardware support. As a result of that and the hardware innovations, the modules, except the CPU and the display, will be hot swappable and can be changed without switching phone off, reports Phoneblocks.com.

Hot-swappable cameras, communication modules, storage devices and sensors make a lot of sense for the end-user. However, since no switch off is needed, it is obvious that the microprocessor module contains system-on-chip, memory and some other key components needed to make an OS run. As a result, the CPU module will be pretty expensive.

Typical mobile SoC cost around $30 (not including RAM) to device makers. Retail price of an Ara CPU module could get close to $80 or even $100, once device makers start to use stacked high-bandwidth memory that will likely be more expensive than LPDDR3.

Display modules of modern smartphones cost around $50 to device makers, which will likely translate to $100+ per module in retail.

All-in-all, key components of project Ara smartphones will cost rather high amounts of money, perhaps, around $200 or even more. Other components will unlikely be inexpensive as well simply because they will be bought in retail or from resellers, not from manufacturers in high volumes.

While prospects of project Ara are not too bright from the market perspectives, many companies, including Quanta, Toshiba, Rockchip, Foxconn, Laird Technologies and Array Labs, believe that the platform will take off.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/laptops/anton-shilov/googles-project-ara-smartphones-to-have-hot-swappable-components/

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