Νέα και φήμες για το PC Hardware

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Alienware teases June 10th product reveals
Dell's Alienware division has already sent out invites to Neowin and other media outlets to attend a special event June 10th in Los Angeles. Now the company has launched a countdown website for that event, along with two teaser videos that offer glimpses of what Alienware will reveal next week as part of its E3 2013 activities.

The countdown website (https://alienware.moontoast.com/estore/embed/3092?fbId=51ac9caf5cd74) links to a section of Alienware's Facebook page, which reveals that there will also be a live video stream of the press event starting at 10 pm Eastern time on June 10th. The live stream will be available on Alienware.com, or with additional camera angles on the machinimalive.com website.



The first teaser video seems to show either a new notebook or a new tablet-notebook hybrid; it's very hard to tell. It also appears to have a green-themed lighting scheme, although its more than possible that the light color can be customized.



The other teaser video shows an unnamed Alienware team member talking about how they want to evolve the design of their new PC products away from the "retro" Roswell UFO look into what they think the future will be like 50 or 100 years from now. Again, it's hard to tell exactly what Alienware has in mind, but we will be on the ground at LA during the event to give you all the details.

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Acer Aspire S3 and S7 hands on


Acer updates its ultrabook lineup. Dante D'Orazio checks out the new laptops at Computex 2013

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Intel Shares Additional Details on 20Gbps 'Thunderbolt 2'



Intel announced the next generation of Thunderbolt, codenamed "Falcon Ridge," back in April, but today the company shared some a few additional details about the upcoming release.

As previously announced, Falcon Ridge, now officially dubbed Thunderbolt 2, supports up to 20Gbps bi-directionally, doubling the bandwidth of the original Thunderbolt. The new version of Thunderbolt will support both DisplayPort 1.2 and 4K video.

Named "Thunderbolt™ 2", this next generation of the technology enables 4K video file transfer and display simultaneously – that's a lot of eye-popping video and data capability. It is achieved by combining the two previously independent 10Gbs channels into one 20Gbs bi-directional channel that supports data and/or display.

Current versions of Thunderbolt, although faster than other PC I/O technologies on the market today, are limited to an individual 10Gbs channel each for both data and display, less than the required bandwidth for 4K video transfer. Also, the addition of DisplayPort 1.2 support in Thunderbolt 2 enables video streaming to a single 4K video monitor or dual QHD monitors.

Thunderbolt 2 is backwards compatible with current generation cables and connectors, so existing hardware will continue to function with the updated controller. Intel expects Thunderbolt 2 to begin production before the end of the year, ramping up into 2014.

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Sony VAIO Pro 11 and 13 are world’s lightest touchscreen ultrabooks
The Sony VAIO Pro 11 and VAIO Pro 13 are being hailed as the lightest ultrabooks with a touchscreen in their respective classes, with the smaller unit weighing about 1.9lbs and the larger weighing about 2.3lbs. Both are constructed from carbon fiber, adding an element of durability to their svelte frames. As with the VAIO Duo 13 announced earlier this evening, both the VAIO Pro laptops will be available the middle of this month.



The VAIO Pro 11 has an 11.6-inch display, while the VAIO Pro 13 has a 13.3-inch display. Both run Windows 8, and both have full HD TRILUMINOS touchscreen displays. As with the VAIO Duo 13, both the VAIO Pro 11/13 also feature X-Reality, which is Sony technology that analyzes images and both finds and replicates missing pixels, resulting in sharper and clearer images.

Inside, users will find a fourth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, although perhaps its most notable hardware feature is its battery, with both laptops boasting very long battery lives. The average battery life of the VAIO Pro 13 is said to be 8 hours. The VAIO Pro 11, with its smaller display, has an average battery life of 11 hours. Both can be expanded with an optional sheet battery, which boosts the Pro 11 to 25 hours and the Pro 13 to 18 hours.

The keyboard is designed so that it “tilts gently” when the laptop is opened, something that is designed to elevate the wrists where needed, with the arms tapering downwards to the desk due to the design of the laptop. In combination with large keys, the aim of this design choice is to eliminate strain. The keyboard is backlit, as well.

Both of the laptops features Sony’s ClearAudio+ technology, which offers four audio presets and an equalizer for those who prefer to create custom audio settings. There’s NFC, which Sony says can be used in conjunction with NFC-enabled wireless speakers for portable external audio options. In addition, there’s a Wi-Fi router powered by the AC adapter that can be used with an Ethernet cable to create a personal Wi-Fi network; it supports up to five devices.

http://presscentre.sony.eu/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=8652&NewsAreaId=2

Sony unveils VAIO Duo 13 hybrid laptop with slider keyboard
Sony has unveiled a couple new laptops this evening, among them being a new slider hybrid called the VAIO Duo 13. This laptop uses Sony’s Surf Slider design to switch from a slate into a laptop with a slider keyboard complete with a trackpad. Thus far Sony has only said the hybrid will be available sometime in the middle of this month, rolling out worldwide for a yet-unspecified price.



The VAIO Duo 13 has a TRILUMINOS Display for mobile, which is Sony’s display technology for producing accurate, saturated colors. In addition, it also features Sony’s X-Reality technology, which analyzes media content and creates pixels that are missing, increasing quality by enhancing aspects of the content you might not otherwise notice was lacking, such as a pattern. Moving on from that, there’s also ClearAudio+, Sony’s audio technology.

As for some slate-specific features, there’s a rear 8-megapixel camera with an Exmor RS for PC Sony sensor, which was used specifically for the clear images it takes. Those images can be used in conjunction with the CamScanner app for turning pictures of documents into scanned documents, with the software including support for actions like angle adjustments and straightening.



Because the slate serves specific purposes aside from simple tapping and swiping, the VAIO Duo 13 uses an OptiContrast panel, which is sensitive enough for activities such as writing and drawing. Both can be achieved using the digitizer stylus that is included with the hybrid laptop, and notes can be taken with the accompanying Note Anytime for VAIO app.

To keep apps, emails, and other regular digital content updated, the VAIO Duo 13 maintains an Internet connection while in Sleep mode, enabling software updates and such. Concerns about what this feature does to battery life are valid, buy Sony promises the hybrid has longer battery life than other Ultrabooks, coming in at somewhere around 15 hours. The device can be roused from Sleep mode in “less than one second.”

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201306/13-0605E/index.html

AMD “Elite” A-Series desktop APUs official with up to 4.4GHz quadcore
AMD has taken the wraps off of its 2013 A-Series “Elite” APUs for desktop, hoping to show Intel that 4th-gen Haswell won’t get all the chip attention this year. Building on AMD’s integrated CPU/GPU architecture, the new Elite platform consists of a cluster of new quadcore chips, ranging from the relatively power-frugal A8-6500 through to the top-spec A10-6800K running at up to 4.4GHz.



All of the new Elite chips now feature Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics, for what AMD says is up to a 15-percent improvement in graphics performance over the last-gen processors. They’ll also work in an AMD Radeon Dual Graphics setup – where the integrated GPU works alongside, rather than being replaced by, a discrete graphics card – for up to double the overall performance.



Other improvements include a bump in multithreading performance, which is now up 9-percent over the last-gen chips, and a 13-percent jump in memory performance thanks to the DDR3-2133 supported on the A10-6800K. Meanwhile, AMD says users can expect up to 2.5x the image processing performance than Intel’s comparative 3rd-gen Core processor, and up to 3.2x the OpenCL performance.

That OpenCL showing is part of what makes AMD’s APUs so interesting. The company is pushing its idea of heterogeneous computing, where the CPU and GPU parts of the combined chip work in tandem, splitting the compute load rather than leaving it to one or the other.

AMD has sensibly made the new Elite desktop chips pin-for-pin compatible with the existing FM2 socket, for easy upgrades, which should mean the processors begin to show up in the wild soon after launch later this year. No word on pricing at this stage, but there’s more on the technical side of each APU in the gallery below.

http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Mobility-Press-Tour-Deck_FINAL-39.jpeg
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http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Mobility-Press-Tour-Deck_FINAL-61.jpeg

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Gigabyte outs Intel Haswell-powered gaming laptops
Gigabyte outed a pair of gaming laptops today, each featuring the latest 4th generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor.



The P27K and P25W are aimed at performance enthusiasts looking to get the most out of their mobile systems, and the latter can support up to 24GB of RAM!

Besides the impressive maximum memory, the P27K has a 17.3-inch 1080p screen, Nvidia GTX 765 2GB GPU, space for up to two 256GB SSDs and a 1TB RAID 0 HDD, a plethora of ports and connectivity features including USB 3.0 and Bluetooth v4.0, at a weight of 3.2kg.

The P25W is the smaller-screen member of the duo, with a 15.6-inch 1080p display, Nvidia GTX 770M 3GB graphics card, support for up to 16GB of RAM, and comes in at a slightly lighter 2.8kg footprint.

According to Gigabyte, each will become available in June (P25W) and July (P27K) for $1299 – $1799, depending on configurations.

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New ‘Mac Pro’ Image Pushed to Mac Sites
An interesting image of what is supposedly a new Mac Pro was sent to several Mac sites on Sunday, including The Mac Observer. There's no context, there's no additional information, and there's zero track record with the anonymous sender, but it's an interesting image.



As noted in the caption, the image came to us via a tweet, and it was from a brand new account clearly created with the intent of spreading this image, mcpro456. The sender has not replied to our requests for more information.

As such, we are in no way endorsing this as a bona fide leak, and we further suggest you examine it with a great big bag of salt on hand so that you can take a grain at a time as needed.

But, it's an interesting image. We've been teased by Apple CEO Tim Cook himself that a new Mac Pro would come out in 2013, and another Apple exec reportedly said that it would be worth the wait.

It's 2013, of course, but few are expecting Apple to announce a new Mac Pro at the company's World Wide Developer Conference, which starts on Monday, June 10th (tomorrow). There has been informed speculation that it is the new Mac Pro that will be built in a new Apple factory in Texas, and building out this new facility is part of the reason we've been waiting so long for a new model.

We mention this because the image appears to be of a webpage. If it is a leaked image from inside Apple, having a webpage mockup to leak suggests an imminent release, but again, this device hasn't been the source of the usual spate of rumors that precedes new Apple products.

Accordingly, it seems much more likely that this is a brilliant mockup by an Apple fan. If so, delivering it as a supposed screenshot is an absolutely genius way of doing so.

On the other hand, it would be pretty darned awesome if it was real. If so, we'll know in less than 24 hours (as of this writing).