AMD recently tried to add support for key HDMI 2.1 features like 4K@120 Hz and 5K@240 Hz to their open-source Linux graphics driver called AMDGPU. They invested engineering resources over several months to prototype the necessary code internally before publishing. The goal was to showcase HDMI 2.1 capabilities and get the implementation approved by the HDMI Forum. Unfortunately, the Forum ultimately rejected AMD's request, blocking Linux users of new AMD Radeon GPUs from utilizing those cutting-edge display features over HDMI. In comments, AMD stated: "The HDMI Forum has rejected our proposal unfortunately. At this time an open source HDMI 2.1 implementation is not possible without violating HDMI Forum requirements." This outcome comes as a major disappointment given the time and effort AMD expended aiming to satisfy the Forum's guidelines. The months of work now feel wasted with this outright rejection. As reasoning, the HDMI Forum cited legal and compliance rules around not enabling open-source HDMI 2.1 code.

Legal issues and compliance are major problems for open-source HDMI developers, as HDMI Forum has decided to make the HDMI specification private in 2021. This directly translates into the newest open-source driver developments, where the latest features will probably remain behind a closed-source binary. Consequently, AMD is advising Linux gamers to use DisplayPort if they want access to features like 4K 120 Hz gaming. Meanwhile, Windows AMD users still get full HDMI 2.1 capabilities. This dichotomy spotlights the ongoing obstacles around open-source driver development. The rejection also strains the AMD - HDMI Forum relationship. AMD hoped spearheading open-source HDMI 2.1 drivers would position them as leaders in the open-source community. Instead, their flexibility plea was denied by the rigid HDMI Forum requirements. Ultimately, whether Linux-based AMD owners can ever utilize next-gen HDMI 2.1 displays fully remains to be determined. For now, AMD continues pushing open-source as the best approach, while the HDMI Forum refuses to budge on compliance demands. Both sides seem firmly entrenched, leaving consumers caught in the middle.

Samsung Electronics today at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2024 in Barcelona is showcasing how SmartThings will bolster its B2B displays to shape the future of business connectivity. Samsung's "SmartThings for Business" exhibition emphasizes the new advancements that the cutting-edge internet-of-things (IoT) platform will offer, as well as Samsung's commitment to providing more connected, easy-to-control digital signage across industries. "In a commercial display sector where operational efficiency is key, Samsung digital signage is leveraging SmartThings to deliver next-gen connectivity and features to organizations of all sizes," said SW Yong, President and Head of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "This further expansion of the SmartThings ecosystem will serve to elevate experiences for customers and partners from a wide variety of industries."

How Businesses Can Leverage Connected Tech Through SmartThings—From the Smart Store to Smart Office
At the event, Samsung is showcasing how SmartThings enables business owners to leverage their digital signage to connect and gain more control of their smart devices across various landscapes. By offering the SmartThings connectivity feature to commercial display products such as Smart Signage and Hotel TVs, users can experience the convenience of hyper-connectivity in their business environments. These changes will include Samsung smart devices, as well as other devices that support the industry's latest IoT specifications, Matter and the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA). Through the application of SmartThings to various business environments, Samsung contributes to the more efficient management of space and energy by transforming places of business into interconnected smart spaces. These connectivity improvements have been designed to benefit all types of business customers, from small and mid-sized business owners to enterprises. Examples of the smart spaces—including a smart store, smart office and smart hotel—are on display at Samsung's booth at ISE 2024.

Raising the bar and becoming a CES 2024 Innovation Award Honoree, Dell Technologies is introducing the world's first 40-inch 5K monitor certified for five-star eye comfort, the Dell UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor (U4025QW). Marking nine years of being an industry leader in PC monitors, Dell continues to push the boundaries of display innovation, bridging the gap for those who demand ultimate performance with the best technology and design.

Whether you're a content creator, data scientist or engineer, or you just need a monitor to keep you in your flow—a device with the best value in precision and efficiency is critical to keeping you productive in any work environment. Known for outstanding visuals, the U4025QW is a must-have for professionals who require clarity and remarkable color. This ultrawide curved VESA DisplayHDR 600 certified monitor comes with IPS Black Panel technology for greater color contrast and intricate detail in 5K resolution (5120x2160).

Explore the possibilities of what you can create on a bigger canvas with incredible detail (218 PPI) and true color accuracy. The ViewFinity S9 is Samsung's first 5K high resolution IPS display designed for creators (5,120 x 2,880). The 27-inch display offers DCI-P3 99% color gamut and 600 nits of brightness to deliver the color saturation and detail that brings your ideas to life. You can see improved image shadow and highlight details and preserve screen color accuracy with a Matte Display that works to drastically reduces light reflections.

ViewFinity S9 is also Pantone Validated, offering authentic reproduction of more than 2,000 Pantone colors and 100 Pantone SkinTone shades on screen. To customize the display calibration for different projects, the S9 can use your smartphone to adjust settings like DCI-P3 or sRGB color space, color temperature, luminance, and gamma. Smart Calibration allows for simple and intuitive customization without the need for additional, complex calibration tools.

Samsung Electronics today announced it is expanding its ViewFinity monitor lineup with the global availability of the 27-inch ViewFinity S9 (S90PC model). The launch of the ViewFinity S9 strengthens Samsung's high-resolution monitor lineup following the introduction of the ViewFinity S8 (S80PB model) in June 2022 which featured an Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution. The new ViewFinity S9 is optimized with all the tools needed in industries like graphic design and photography and also being named a CES Innovation Award honoree in 2023.

"Our new 5K monitor is designed to deliver the highest performance and best experience for professionals in creative and visual industries," said Hoon Chung, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "With the ViewFinity lineup, we will provide creatives with top-notch visual experiences, along with the lifelike color clarity and versatile connectivity they need to achieve the best in any project."

KVM switches are either one of those things you need or you don't have much use for, however Sabrent has launched a new Thunderbolt 4 based KVM switch that differs from your average KVM switch in a few ways. As any KVM switch, it allows two computers to share peripherals and displays, but it also supports up to 60 Watt USB PD charging of laptops. The latter is something Sabrent has offered on its USB-C KVM switches, but this time around the power adapter for the KVM switch handles both devices, unlike its USB-C KVM switches which required a USB-C PD charger per device, with the power being passed through the KVM switch.

The Thunderbolt 4 KVM switch lacks any traditional display outputs, relying entirely on Thunderbolt 4 for display connectivity, although DP Alt mode over USB-C is supported and each output supports up to 8K 60 Hz output with DSC 1.2 or 5K 60 Hz without DSC. The KVM switch supports three Thunderbolt 4 devices, four USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A devices and two inputs via Thunderbolt 4, with all USB ports supporting data speeds of up to 10 Gbps. It also comes with a switch button, which means you can hide the KVM switch out of sight and still have easy access to switch between devices. Sabrent is asking for US$299 for its Thunderbolt KVM switch, which is a steep premium over its USB-C KVM switch which is currently selling for US$119.99.

On June, 15th—the Philips 40B1U6903CH business monitor hit the market. It is equipped with a large, 39.7-inch screen (100 cm diag.), 5K2K (5120 x 2160) resolution, and a speedy, multifunctional Thunderbolt 4 docking solution.

A New Way of Working
The Thunderbolt 4 docking solution is flexible and versatile; allowing data to transfer at a speed of 40 Gbps with a bidirectional bandwidth and is also compatible with previous Thunderbolt cable connections, USB, and DisplayPort. With the Philips 40B1U6903CH being equipped with this technology, it is an ideal solution for professionals looking for fast data transfer, fast (1 Gbit/s) Ethernet connection, and 90 W power delivery capability to connected devices.

Apple today announced M2 Ultra, a new system on a chip (SoC) that delivers huge performance increases to the Mac and completes the M2 family. M2 Ultra is the largest and most capable chip Apple has ever created, and it makes the new Mac Studio and Mac Pro the most powerful Mac desktops ever made. M2 Ultra is built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process and uses Apple's groundbreaking UltraFusion technology to connect the die of two M2 Max chips, doubling the performance. M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors—20 billion more than M1 Ultra. Its unified memory architecture supports up to a breakthrough 192 GB of memory capacity, which is 50 percent more than M1 Ultra, and features 800 GB/s of memory bandwidth—twice that of M2 Max. M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that's 20 percent faster than M1 Ultra, a larger GPU that's up to 30 percent faster, and a Neural Engine that's up to 40 percent faster. It also features a media engine with twice the capabilities of M2 Max for blazing ProRes acceleration. With all these advancements, M2 Ultra takes Mac performance to a whole new level yet again.

"M2 Ultra delivers astonishing performance and capabilities for our pro users' most demanding workflows, while maintaining Apple silicon's industry-leading power efficiency," said Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. "With huge performance gains in the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, combined with massive memory bandwidth in a single SoC, M2 Ultra is the world's most powerful chip ever created for a personal computer."

For those waiting for a 5K2K or 5120 x 2160 gaming monitor, it seems like you're going to have to wait a while longer yet, as LG's latest addition in the ultrawide 4K category is targeting professional users. The 39.7-inch Nano IPS based display tops out at a brightness of 300 cd/m² and it has a typical IPS contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a response time of 5 ms grey to grey, with a colour gamut that meets 90 percent of the DCI-P3 standard. Rather interestingly, it has a maximum refresh rate of a rather unusual 72 Hz, rather than the somewhat more common 75 Hz and there's support for AMD FreeSync for those that still want to game on the monitor. The panel is curved, but LG doesn't mention the actual curvature, but a guess would be somewhere between 1800R to 1500R.

However, what makes this display stand out is that it features Thunderbolt 4 and it can be daisy chained with a second, identical display, although this drops the refresh rate down to 60 Hz on both panels. It delivers up to 96 Watts of power over the Thunderbolt port, which means it would power most notebooks that don't feature a discrete GPU. Other connectivity options include a single DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI ports, which are limited to 3440 x 1440 resolution, a pair of USB 3.0 ports on the side as well as a headphone jack around the back. The display also has a pair of integrated 10 W speakers and sports a stand with height, tilt and swivel adjustments. The 40WP95CP-W is said to retail for around €1,339, but most retailers seem to list it for around €1,400 or more at the moment.

Tomorrow, the Touch Taiwan trade show kicks off in Taipei and AUO will be showing off a range of new products at the show, which TPU will be attending, so we'll have some hands/eyes on coverage this week. As far as gaming monitors are concerned, the big announcement from AUO is a 49-inch ultrawide, curved 5K display panel that supports refresh rates of up to 360 Hz. The company didn't reveal the actual resolution in its press release, but we'll find out at the trade show what 5K resolution means in this case, as it's most likely 5120 x 1440, since this is what most 32:9 5K displays offer today.

AUO will also be showing off a 24-inch, 540 Hz, 1080p display panel that the company claims will "eliminate screen tearing, stuttering, and ghosting issues. There's no mention of the display panel used, but it's most likely a TN panel. Somewhat less gaming related, AUO will also have a 17.3-inch, transparent Micro LED notebook panel on display, which the company says will enhance the display quality under glare, something they'll hopefully be demoing at the trade show.

Samsung Electronics today announced the company will introduce new models in its monitor lineup, expanding its visual display leadership for the users. New offerings in the Odyssey, ViewFinity and Smart Monitor lineups at CES 2023 will deliver unmatched image quality and a range of innovative features for people looking to work, play and live through their monitor display. Samsung is revolutionizing the ultra-wide display category by launching the Odyssey Neo G9, the world's first single monitor with dual ultra-high definition resolution. This innovation is a testament to Samsung's industry-leading position in delivering the most immersive and lifelike gaming experience available on the market.

"We are introducing the future of gaming monitors with our Odyssey Neo G9, making each game more lifelike with innovative features and picture quality on a new scale," said Hoon Chung, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "CES is the perfect place to showcase our innovations that can take not only gamers but also graphic designers or TV fans to the next level while providing personalized experiences across a range of integrated smart apps."

ASUS today launched the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702), the 17.3-inch foldable OLED laptop. To create this futuristic device, ASUS and Intel have developed industry-first solutions to advance innovation in the foldables category, including collaborations between domain experts and an ecosystem partnership. Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a response to users' desires to achieve the ideal balance between mobility and productivity in their modern 24/7 lifestyles. ASUS engineers and designers worked seamlessly to create a device that delivers effortless efficiency with a modern minimalist design. It eliminates the need to compromise when working in different environments—in office, at home, while traveling or relaxing—by elegantly incorporating two screen sizes and multiple usage modes into one highly portable device.

This Intel Evo -certified foldable laptop offers users two sizes of OLED display in one device: a large 4:3 17.3-inch 2.5K touchscreen that folds in the middle to create two seamless 3:2 12.5-inch 1920 by 1280 displays. When folded fully closed along the precision-engineered 180° hinge—which is tested to withstand over 30,000 open-and-close cycles—it's an ultra-compact and portable 12.5-inch device that's smaller than a sheet of photocopier paper. Multiple versatile usage modes—Desktop, Laptop (with Bluetooth keyboard), Laptop (with virtual keyboard), Tablet, Reader and Extended—are enabled by the folding design in conjunction with the full-size ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad, and each screen can additionally be split into multiple windows and the contents arranged, using the intelligent window-management feature in the ASUS ScreenXpert 3 and exclusive Mode Switcher apps. Despite its versatility and large screen size, the device weighs just 3.31 lb without the keyboard, or 3.97 lb with it.

HTC VIVE, the global leader in premium virtual reality (VR), today set a new benchmark for business and consumer VR, bringing 5K resolution and a 120-degree field of view as standard to the two new VR headsets announced today at VIVECON 2021, HTC's global VR conference. VIVE Pro 2 pushes the boundaries of PC VR for incredible gaming, creating, and experiences, while VIVE Focus 3 redefines business VR with a purpose-built All-in-One with no compromises. HTC also announced VIVE Business, its comprehensive range of tools designed to support businesses of any size to get the most out of VR.

"Today's launch marks a major milestone in our strategy to create the very best immersive experiences. We have listened to our customers, from well-known global companies to smaller firms and professional users, and have designed these premium headsets from the ground up to meet the challenges they face, adding a professional range of software, platform and services to make implementation as smooth and effective as possible," said Cher Wang, HTC Chairwoman and CEO. "In line with our mission, we've combined the very latest technology with the needs and aspirations of our customers, enabling them to unleash their imagination to improve people's lives and solve problems for business and society."

Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) unveiled new products and software that reimagine work so anyone can perform at their best. With a new portfolio of intelligent, collaborative and sustainable devices, Dell is transforming work experiences to give people greater flexibility to work from anywhere.

"People's expectations of their technology continue to evolve. It's why we push beyond barriers to create devices that offer better experiences and are more integrated into our lives," said Ed Ward, senior vice president, Client Product Group, Dell Technologies. "Our new intelligent PCs make it possible for us to work smarter and collaborate easier, so we can give our best selves in all that we do. Secure, sustainable and smart: that's the way forward for PCs."

Pimax, a VR hardware manufacturer known for innovative features such as extremely wide field of view and high resolution previously demoed a prototype VR headset at CES 2020 called the Pimax 5K SUPER together with Pimax new flagship headset the Pimax 8K X. Today Pimax is announcing the general availability of the new Pimax 5K SUPER, a refreshed version of the popular Pimax 5K Plus with a wide variety of updates.

The Pimax 5K SUPER features an Industry-leading high refresh rate with a standard 160Hz and even an experimental 180Hz mode along with an updated Modular Audio Strap (MAS) that allows much greater comfort and ease of use. The headset includes the popular Pimax comfort kit face cowling, Pimax nose guard, Pimax ruggedized housing system, and Pimax VR Experience software.

Apple today announced a major update to its 27-inch iMac. By far the most powerful and capable iMac ever, it features faster Intel processors up to 10 cores, double the memory capacity, next-generation AMD graphics, superfast SSDs across the line with four times the storage capacity, a new nano-texture glass option for an even more stunning Retina 5K display, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, higher fidelity speakers, and studio-quality mics. For the consumer using their iMac all day, every day, to the aspiring creative looking for inspiration, to the serious pro pushing the limits of their creativity, the new 27-inch iMac delivers the ultimate desktop experience that is now better in every way.

"Now more than ever, our customers are relying on the Mac. And many of them need the most powerful and capable iMac we've ever made," said Tom Boger, Apple's senior director of Mac and iPad Product Marketing. "With blazing performance, double the memory, SSDs across the line with quadruple the storage, an even more stunning Retina 5K display, a better camera, higher fidelity speakers, and studio-quality mics, the 27-inch iMac is loaded with new features at the same price. It's the ultimate desktop, to work, create, and communicate."

LG Electronics (LG) today introduced a new 27-inch UltraFineTM 5K Display (model 27MD5KL) which, along with the company's 24-inch UltraFine 4K Display (model 24MD4KL), gives consumers two high-quality monitors that are designed specifically for the latest Apple products.

LG's UltraFine displays deliver amazing image quality when connected to a Mac or iPad Pro. Designed to enhance productivity, the LG UltraFine 5K delivers powerful all-around performance and the latest connectivity options. With Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C support, the monitor is an ideal companion for the latest Mac notebooks and desktops, as well as iPad Pro. LG's 5K monitor allows users to configure a versatile Mac workstation with video, audio and data transfer through a single cable. And thanks to 94 watts of power, the UltraFine 5K can also charge any USB-C compliant host such as Mac or iPad.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced that it has released version 2.0 of the DisplayPort (DP) audio/video standard. DP 2.0 is the first major update to the DisplayPort standard since March 2016, and provides up to a 3X increase in data bandwidth performance compared to the previous version of DisplayPort (DP 1.4a), as well as new capabilities to address the future performance requirements of traditional displays. These include beyond 8K resolutions, higher refresh rates and high dynamic range (HDR) support at higher resolutions, improved support for multiple display configurations, as well as improved user experience with augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) displays, including support for 4K-and-beyond VR resolutions.

The advantages of DP 2.0 are enjoyed across both the native DP connector as well as the USB Type-C connector, which carries the DP audio/video signal through DisplayPort Alt Mode. DP 2.0 is backward compatible with previous versions of DisplayPort and incorporates all of the key features of DP 1.4a, including support for visually lossless Display Stream Compression (DSC) with Forward Error Correction (FEC), HDR metadata transport, and other advanced features. The increased video bandwidth performance of DP 2.0 carried over the USB-C connector enables simultaneous higher-speed USB data transfer without compromising display performance. DP 2.0 leverages the Thunderbolt 3 physical interface (PHY) layer while maintaining the flexibility of DP protocol in order to boost the data bandwidth and promote convergence across industry-leading IO standards.

Apple today updated its iMac line with up to 8-core Intel 9th-generation processors for the first time and powerful Vega graphics options, delivering dramatic increases in both compute and graphics performance. From consumers to pros alike, users will notice their iMac is faster for everyday tasks all the way up to the most demanding pro workloads. This boost in performance, combined with its gorgeous Retina display, sleek all-in-one design, quiet operation, fast storage and memory, modern connectivity and macOS Mojave, makes iMac the world's best desktop.

"Customers are going to love the huge boost in iMac performance. With up to 8-core processors and powerful Vega graphics, the iMac lineup is stronger than ever," said Tom Boger, Apple's senior director of Mac Product Marketing. "With its stunning Retina display, amazing design, twice the performance, and macOS Mojave that our customers love, iMac is by far the best desktop in the world."

MSI, a world leader in gaming hardware, debuts an industry-leading selection of gaming products at CES 2019, including the brand new GS75 Stealth laptop with the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU and the PS63 Modern Prestige laptop, designed for business executives and content creators. "MSI is devoted to gaming and our new lineup reaffirms our position as an industry leader endorsed by gamers and eSports teams worldwide," said Charles Chiang, MSI's new global CEO. "We are honored to be recognized by the CES awards panel and will continue to push boundaries to achieve extreme performance, superior design, and maximum reliability." MSI will also be debuting exclusive gaming technologies with next-level interactive functions designed for full immersion. Partnering with Ubisoft, MSI will enrich the gaming experience of Assassin's Creed Odyssey with RGB light dancing synced to the game and haptic feedback underneath the palm to generate vibration upon in-game events such as gunshots.

GS75 Stealth: The Game Just Got Real
Experience extreme performance with realistic in-game lighting on the go with this thin & light 4-sided thin bezel gaming laptop. Equipped with the latest Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, a 17.3" 144HZ IPS-level display, and an extra-large, highly responsive and accurate touchpad, the GS75 stuns in an impressive aluminum alloy body. Highlighted by an internal passive radiator that delivers earth-shaking audio with booming bass, the GS75 measures only 0.75 inches thick. The GS series breaks the stereotype of bulky and heavy gaming laptops, offering an exceptional and portable gaming experience. MSI will also be unveiling the revamped version of the award-winning GS65, a 15.6" gaming laptop armed with the latest CPU and GPUs while weighing less than 4.19 lbs.

Intel processor integrated graphics will get its first major hardware update in 4 years since Gen 9.5 "Skylake," with the introduction of the Gen11 architecture that debuts with the company's "Ice lake" processors. The company confirmed in an XDC 2018 conference presentation that the iGPU will support DisplayPort 1.4a along with VESA DSC (display stream compression), enabling it to support display resolutions as high as 5K (5120 x 2880 pixels) with 120 Hz refresh-rate.

Without DSC, 5K-120 Hz requires 42.4 Gbps of bandwidth (not counting interconnect and protocol overheads), which even DisplayPort with HBR3 cannot provide, as it caps out at 32.4 Gbps. DSC offers "visually lossless" compression of the 5K-120 display stream down to roughly 14 Gbps, which can be comfortably handled by DisplayPort 1.4a. 8K (8192 x 4320 pixels) at 60 Hz also becomes possible. Merely supporting these new high resolutions doesn't imply Gen11 iGPUs can game at those resolutions. Support for them is necessitated by rapid increases in resolutions (pixel densities) and refresh-rates of high-end notebooks and ultra-portable devices.The complete slide-deck follows.

Here are some of the first pictures of the bare printed circuit board (PCB) of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 1180 graphics card (dubbed PG180), referred to by the person who originally posted them as "GTX 2080" (it seems the jury is still out on the nomenclature). The PCB looks hot from the press, with its SMT points and vias still exposed. The GT104 GPU traces hint at a package that's about the size of a GP104 or its precessors. It's wired to eight memory chips on three sides, confirming a 256-bit wide memory bus. Display outputs appear flexible, for either 2x DisplayPort + 2x HDMI, or 3x DisplayPort + 1x HDMI configurations.

The VRM setup is surprisingly powerful for a card that's supposed to succeed the ~180W GeForce GTX 1080, which can make do with a single 8-pin PCIe power input. The card draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. There is a purportedly 10-phase VCore side, which in all likelihood is a 5-phase setup with "dumb" phase-doubling; and similarly, a 2-phase memory power (which could again be doubled single-phase). The SLI-HB fingers also make way. There's a new connector that looks like a single SLI finger and an NVLink finger arranged side-by-side. NVIDIA still hasn't given up on multi-GPU. NVLink is a very broad interconnect, in terms of bandwidth. NVIDIA probably needs that for multi-GPU setups to work with not just high resolutions (4K, 5K, or even 8K), but also higher bit-depth, higher refresh-rates, HDR, and other exotic data. The reverse side doesn't have much action other than traces for the VRM controllers, phase doublers, and an unusually large bank of SMT capacitors (the kind seen on AMD PCBs with MCM GPUs).

Yes, you've definitely read that right. Iiyama have silently come out with what has to be one of the best price/performance ratio monitors in the high pixel density races. The XB2779QQS is a 27" affair with a 60 Hz IPS panel trucking along in delivering its 5K (5120 x 2880) resolution. The contrast ratio is also a good selling point for the monitor, at 440 cd/m² (we've been seeing one too many 250 cd/m² brightness monitors as of late), and the contrast ratio is rated at 1200:1. For this price, however, the panel remains an 8-bit one, which is still more than enough, as years have shown us. The aspect ratio is the usual 16:9 (which means no fidgeting required with games or other content, as you likely would with most content on a 21:9 screen).

When it comes to connectivity, there are 3x HDMI ports (limited at 3840 x 2160 pixels and 60 Hz), 1x DisplayPort 1.3 (able to display the full resolution and refresh rate) of 5120 x 2880 pixels and 60 Hz. The XB2779QQS is listed at roughly €799 in the EU, which likely means our US readers should be able to snag it for as low as $799. Here's hoping.

At CES 2018 in Las Vegas, LG will introduce upgraded models of its popular monitor lineup with Nano IPS technology that take color reproduction capabilities to a new level. In response to customer feedback, LG added support for HDR600 with even higher dynamic range of peak brightness and new connectivity options with full Thunderbolt 3 compatibility.

LG's new 32-inch UHD 4K monitor (model 32UK950) is the first to offer LG's advanced Nano IPS technology. Nano IPS technology involves the application of nanometer-sized particles to the screen's LED to absorb excess light wavelengths. This greatly enhances the intensity and purity of on-screen colors for a more accurate and life-like viewing experience. This LG monitor can display 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color spectrum, comparable to monitors used to master Hollywood blockbusters. Ideal for media prosumers seeking superb color reproduction with its support for HDR 600 LG 32UK950 users will experience high dynamic range of peak brightness of 600 candela (cd/㎡).

Today, Drobo announced two new special editions for the 5N2 and the 5D3 to bring performance and peace of mind to power users. Power users among creative professionals, SMBs and connected homes require increased speeds, data recovery protection, and extended support for their data-intensive workflows. These special editions are best-in-class complements to Drobo's stellar history of delivering award-winning simple, safe, and smart storage solutions.

All Gold Edition Drobos include a premium DroboCare warranty for five years, replacing the standard two-year coverage for uninterrupted protection on Drobo products. Additionally, the Gold Editions include a 128GB mSATA SSD for up to 30% faster access to frequently used files. The Platinum packages also include one instance of a data recovery service within a five year period. This partnership is an industry first and a direct result of our power users' desire to ensure their data will never be compromised. DriveSavers has the highest recovery rate for mechanical, water and fire damage, file corruption, and more on hard drives and all data storage devices. Drobo has an exclusive partnership with DriveSavers for this level of service, potentially saving customers thousands of dollars in recovery fees.