Dell may not believe in an imminent "AMD-Intel duopoly", even though the green team has some very interesting products in its portfolio. But even so, Dell has silently launched some Inspiron laptops that are powered by AMD's latest architecture. The total number of AMD-powered laptops reaches four in their Inspiron 17 5000 line, with a mix of AMD's latest Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5 APUs with Vega integrated graphics.

AMD has been making waves on computing markets with its latest line of processors powered by its innovative Zen microarchitecture. Its strengths and weaknesses are very well known by now, so there's no use harking them all over again; suffice it to say that the company has regained competitiveness - and then some - with many of Intel's products in as many different industry sectors. The company's APU solutions, for one, are one of a kind solutions that allow users to do some very impressive gaming sans a discrete GPU. However, Intel's been spending the last several years before AMD's Zen entrenching themselves in all markets, so AMD clearly has an uphill battle in fighting existing relations and supply channels. Case in point: Dell.

Channel Pro is reporting that Dell EMC's CTO, John Roese, said today at WMC that "Intel is the big player, AMD is the second player. There's enough diversity between them that there are use cases to have them both in our portfolio, but just the sheer breadth of the Intel processor portfolio is massive compared to even the accelerated AMD world."

Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company, today announced it has signed a global original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement with Dell EMC to deliver Ruckus' broad portfolio of wireless solutions, including access points (APs), controllers, virtualized and data analytics assets, and Cloudpath secure network access software-along with Ruckus IoT and CBRS LTE products-as Dell-branded solutions. This agreement gives Dell EMC's networking sales team and end-user customers access to Ruckus' award-winning portfolio of secure wireless connectivity solutions and strong brand presence not available through alternative suppliers. The agreement is effective immediately and encompasses a range of sales, marketing and customer support programs in international markets, including APAC, EMEA and the Americas.

"Delivering innovative wireless networking solutions to our partners is key to address the insatiable demand for high-performance wireless networking in the enterprise," said Dan Rabinovitsj, president, Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company. "The Dell EMC brand and market reach is complementary to our own and represents a significant path for growth for both companies across a range of vertical markets, including education, public infrastructure, the federal government and service providers. We view Dell EMC's strength in storage and scalable computing platforms as critical to collaboration where complete bundled solutions are required to compete and win."

Dell EMC announced three new servers designed for software-defined environments, edge and high-performance computing (HPC). The PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R7415 and PowerEdge R7425 expand the 14th generation of the Dell EMC PowerEdge server portfolio with new capabilities to address the demanding workload requirements of today's modern data center. All three rack servers with the AMD EPYC processor offer highly scalable platforms with outstanding total cost of ownership (TCO).

"As the bedrock of the modern data center, customers expect us to push server innovation further and faster" said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, president, Server and Infrastructure Systems at Dell EMC. "As customers deploy more IoT solutions, they need highly capable and flexible compute at the edge to turn data into real-time insights; these new servers that are engineered to deliver that while lowering TCO."

Dell today announced it will be the first authorized reseller of the Meta 2 Augmented Reality Development Kit, equipping commercial companies with the tools needed to more easily innovate and adopt new AR technology applications that can advance their business. In partnership with Meta, Dell aims to make AR more accessible for business deployment, particularly in healthcare, manufacturing and construction, by providing tools for creating immersive experiences unique to the needs of those industries.

Dell is the only technology provider with an end to end ecosystem to consume, create and power VR and AR. The new offering with Meta stems from Dell's VR/AR Technology Partner Program, which brings together other innovators in VR and AR to test and collaborate on the best technology solutions for varying applications and experiences. This program allows Dell to help current and potential customers to better navigate the new and rapidly evolving VR/AR ecosystem, by working with partners to verify and certify the best software and hardware solutions for VR and AR applications - bringing standardization where it is needed most.

It looks like Intel has achieved the design goals of its new Core i7-8705G multi-chip module, built in collaboration with AMD. Combining a 4-core/8-thread "Kaby Lake" CPU die with an AMD "Vega" GPU die that has its own 4 GB HBM2 memory stack, the ruthless duo put similarly-priced discrete GPU setups to rest, such as the combination of an 8th generation Core processor + NVIDIA GeForce MX 150. More importantly, entry-level discrete GPU combinations with high-end mobile CPUs have a similar power/thermal envelope as the i7-8705G MCM, but at significantly higher PCB footprint.

Dell implemented the Core i7-8705G on one of its latest XPS 15 2-in-1 models. The device was compared to an Acer Swift 3 (SF314-51), which combines a Core i5-8250U processor with GeForce MX 150 discrete graphics; and a Dell XPS 13 9370, which implements an 8th generation Core processor that has Intel's workhorse graphics core, the HD 620. The three devices squared off against each other at "Rise of the Tomb Raider" game benchmark. The i7-8705G averaged 35 frames per second (fps), while the MX 150 barely managed 24 fps. The HD 620 ran a bored intern's PowerPoint slideshow at 9 fps.

At the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Dell is unveiling a suite of elegant new products and software to address the myriad ways people play and work. In addition to revealing some of the world's most beautiful devices, Dell will highlight incredible hidden innovations within these products designed to improve performance, functionality and the overall user experience.

"At Dell, innovation never sleeps. We're passionate about creating technology that expands the boundaries of what's possible," explains Sam Burd, president, Client Solutions Group, Dell. "With Dell, the incredible product design you see on the outside makes for gorgeous machines, but one of our most striking advantages comes from the innovation within. Beauty and brawn lurk beneath those beautiful exteriors, revolutionizing and redefining personal computing, and giving people experiences they want - and some they've never dreamed possible."

Today, Intel is launching a first-of-its kind processor: the 8th Gen Intel Core processor with Radeon RX Vega M Graphics. Packed with features and performance crafted for gamers, content creators and fans of virtual and mixed reality, it expands Intel's portfolio thanks to its optimization for small form factors like 2 in 1s, thin and light notebooks, and mini PCs.

Among the devices launching with this processor: new thin and lightweight 2 in 1s from Dell and HP as well as the most powerful NUC Intel has ever introduced. The new 8th Gen Intel Core processor will come in two configurations:

• 8th Gen Intel Core processor with Radeon RX Vega M GL Graphics (65W total package power)
• 8th Gen Intel Core processor with Radeon RX Vega M GH Graphics (100W total package power), which features an unlocked configuration

As part of Microsoft's "12 Days of Deals" push towards achieving more and better sales of Microsoft-branded products, the company has pushed a pretty hefty discount for its MR HMDs mere months after their release. The discounts see the Acer Windows Mixed Reality, Dell Visor, HP, and Lenovo Explorer take price-cuts of $200 over the base price, while Samsung's Odyssey HMD sees a much more level $50 price-cut.

With a move so close to holiday season and in the wake of steep discounts from Virtual Reality headset makers Oculus and HTC, Microsoft is pushing as hard as it can towards shipping enough units to build a new VR ecosystem. Consumers are the ones that stand to gain the most here, however. Though if you want to get your hand son one of these, be fast: the Acer and Dell options are already sold out, and the others' supply might also be inferior to the demand. So go there, and grab them while they're hot.

Dell is rolling out Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on its largest selection of personal, business and gaming PCs, monitors and other electronics, helping shoppers find the best tech gifts at an amazing value.

Launching now, Dell is offering early access to its select Black Friday deals for the next 48 hours; deals run again from Nov. 15 - 24. Rolling Black Friday doorbusters¹ will be available to the public Nov. 23 - 24 and to Dell Financial Service customers Nov. 13 - 14. Dell Advantage Loyalty Rewards, Dell Member Purchase Program and Small Business customers can access the doorbusters from Nov. 15 - 22. Cyber Week deals will be available starting Nov. 26, and rolling Cyber Monday doorbusters¹ will launch Nov. 27 at 8 a.m. ET with new deals posting hourly until 8 p.m. ET. (see below for a detailed timeline)

Toshiba today announced that it has signed an agreement with a consortium led by Bain Capital to sell its memory business for JPY 2 trillion (approximately USD $18 billion). The consortium includes Korean memory giant SK Hynix, which contributed JPY 395 billion (nearly 20 percent) of the consortium's investment toward acquisition of Toshiba Memory Corp. Apple and Dell are the other members of the consortium.

Toshiba Corporation (erstwhile parent of Toshiba Memory Corp.) continues to hold a 40.2 percent stake, which along with another Japanese company, Hoya Corporation, holding a 9.9 percent stake, ensure that Japanese firms hold 50.1 percent of the business, keeping Japanese regulators happy. The Bain Capital-led consortium will hold a 49.9 percent stake, ensuring that Toshiba Memory Corp. stays afloat, and away from rival Western Digital, which has dragged Toshiba to a multitude of international courts and arbitrators. Apart from SK Hynix, the Bain Capital-led consortium includes Apple and Dell, who feared they would lose DRAM and NAND flash price bargaining power if Toshiba Memory fell in the hands of Western Digital, which owns SanDisk.

Dell is revealing a suite of holiday wish-list worthy devices and services that provide the most immersive and comprehensive computing experience available. The new offerings include Inspiron 7000 2-in-1s and laptops with new 8th Generation Intel Core processors; performance enhancements to the critically acclaimed XPS 13; Dell Visor Windows Mixed Reality Headset; and Premium Support Plus service. These new innovations demonstrate Dell's commitment to providing the best audio and visual computing, virtual reality (VR) and gaming experiences for consumers.

"We're in Berlin this week to demonstrate Dell's global leadership in innovation across personal computing, gaming and virtual reality," said Ray Wah, senior vice president and general manager, Dell Consumer and Small Business Product Group. "From our new mixed reality headset to beautiful new laptops and 2-in-1s, our holiday lineup introduced at the show includes some of the best designs with incredible visual experiences, exceptional performance and support to match."

Dell has just announced immediate retail availability of their new UltraSharp U3818DW monitor. As the model name might suggest, we're looking at a 37.5" panel. It features a 3840 x 1600 resolution (which isn't that common to begin with), and supports a USB Type-C input (via DP 1.2 alternate mode.) Sadly for the gamer side of every one of us TPU users, Dell is positioning the U3818DW as a business-class monitor - it gets professional-market oriented features, such as an anti-glare coating, but loses support for AMD's FreeSync or NVIDIA's G-SYNC, which is a shame.

The panel is an 8-bit + FRC IPS solution, a 24:10 aspect ratio, 2300R curvature, and 1.07 billion colors. The panel is manufactured by LG, and if you fancy its size, curvature and resolution but fancy some gamer-oriented features, you can look towards LG's 38UC99 and Acer's XR382CQK, which both use the same panel but include FreeSync support. Refresh rate on the Dell UltraSharp U3818DW is locked at 60 Hz; it features a 5 ms gray-to-gray response time, and maximum brightness is set at 350 cd/m². Inputs range through 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0, and 1x USB 3.0 Type-C. The U3818DW also features a 4x USB 3.0 hub with support for 4x USB-A. Each screen is sRGB-calibrated to Delta E < 2 accuracy, and the monitor also technically supports the DCI-P3 color gamut, but only covers 78.1% of it. Dell's UltraSharp U3118DW is now available directly from Dell for $1500.

Alienware and Dell head into this year's E3 with a triad of new PC gaming systems and components - high-end Alienware gaming desktops with new multi-core processor options, a full range of performance gaming monitors and peripherals with Alienware's signature design and a new Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop bringing VR to all. Alienware and Dell continue to demonstrate why, together, they have become a leading PC gaming brand worldwide with gaming solutions for players of all levels and budgets.

Driven by a fierce commitment to deliver what PC gamers want in gaming products and community, Alienware and Dell continues to make solid investments in PC gaming, virtual reality and esports through ever-expanding offerings and partnership innovation. This has stoked an incredible 17 consecutive quarters of PC growth*, continuously innovating with PC performance and designs, both in the realm of gaming, VR and beyond.

Dell, which makes some of the best computer monitors around (though they really don't tend to be the most cost-effective), has announced a new addition to its line of monitors. The UP2718Q is a 27" monitor which boast of 4K (3140* 2160) resolution, and supports the UHD Alliance's HDR10 standard. Its peak brightness of 1,000 nits ensures its adherence to the HDR standards (which backs up to 400 nits brightness on non-HDR material), while the 100% Adobe RGB, 100% sRGB, 100% REC 709, 97.7% DCI-P3, and 76.9% REC2020 color coverage ensures this is a panel best used by professionals who need extreme color accuracy. Connectivity wise, we find 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0a ports, 2x USB 3.0 ports, and a hub of 4x USB 3.0 ports, two of which are capable of charging.

Here it is. The OLED monitor to beat all others. Sate your image quality needs with the new, $3500, 4K OLED monitor from Dell. Its 30" displays a 3840 x 2160 resolution, and presents a response time of just 0.1ms at a 60 Hz refresh rate - with no support for Freesync, sadly. It can 1.07 billion colors (Anandtech assumes it's probably a 10-bit presentation), and covers 100% of the Adobe RGB color space, 97.8% of the DCI-P3 color space (which is expected to be adopted in home movies and cinema in the future), as well as 85.8% coverage of Rec2020. Dell declares a 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, which is basically only truly achievable on OLED displays, due to their ability to turn off individual pixels.

When it comes to inputs, the Dell Ultrasharp UP3017Q features 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 connector,1x HDMI 2.0 port, and 1x USB type-C port, which is compatible with video and data connectivity as well as power delivery up to 100W. The monitor's stand supports Tilt (5~21°), Pivot (+90°, -90°), and Height (100 mm) adjustments. AnandTech reports that Dell has implemented a special pixel-shifting technology to try and inhibit the possibility of static image burn-in, which is one of the drawbacks of this panel technology, and perhaps one of the reasons its transition towards a desktop environment wasn't made sooner. What do you think of this? Are you looking forward to having an OLED monitor in front of you, or would you prefer to keep high-frequency monitors?

Dell today started selling its flagship 32-inch (31.5-inch viewable) 8K monitor on its website. The Dell UltraSharp UP3218K boasts of "visuals that rival life," thanks to its gargantuan 7680 x 4320 pixels resolution, which is four times that of 4K Ultra HD, and sixteen times that of Full HD. At its size, the display offers a stellar pixel density of 279 ppi. Under the hood is an IPS panel with 178°/178° viewing angles, 60 Hz refresh rate, 6 ms response time (GTG), 1,300:1 static contrast ratio with dynamic mega-contrast, and 400 cd/m² maximum brightness. The display takes input from two DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. Backed by a 3-year warranty, the UltraSharp UP3218K is priced at USD $5,000.

Microsoft is looking to reduce costs in its Azure cloud computing platforms for tasks like search, storage, machine learning and big data. And after having developed a version of Windows for servers that use ARM processors, in a joint work with Qualcomm and Cavium, Microsoft seems to also be looking forward to leave its dependency on Intel products as nothing but a memory. Microsoft's ARM server design, dubbed Project Olympus, looks to hardware innovations so as to reduce costs, boosting competitiveness and flexibility in regards to other big players in the cloud space, like Amazon and Alphabet. That the design is open source is also a boon to other businesses and Microsoft partners.


Though the design isn't "deployed into production yet (...) that is the next logical step," said Jason Zander, vice president of Microsoft's Azure cloud division. "This is a significant commitment on behalf of Microsoft. We wouldn't even bring something (...) if we didn't think this was a committed project and something that's part of our roadmap."

At CES 2017, Dell has unveiled yet another addition to their monitor product line, and this one is drool worthy: an 8K, 32" UltraSharp monitor, with an insanely high resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 at 60Hz. Labeled as the world's first 32-inch 8K resolution display with Dell PremierColor, the UP3218K offers 1.07 billion colors and packs in more than 33 million pixels - four times as many as a 4K display and 16 times more than Full HD. That means it offers a PPI rating of 280 - which translates into "very high" settings for a desktop screen.

Dell has announced at CES their new ultrathin 27" monitor. Aptly (and maybe unoriginally) named the "Dell 27 Ultrathin Monitor", it sports a Quad HD (2,560 by 1,440 pixels) screen with a 178º viewing angle which also supports HDR (though apparently, and according to Dell, not the same as HDR standards you'll find in 4K TVs. However, it will still be able to display higher contrast and color range than most consumer monitors, with support for up to 99 percent of the SRGB gamut.

On the heels of the recent Gen-Z interconnect announcement, an aggregate of some of the most recognizable names in the tech industry have once again banded together. This time, it's an effort towards the implementation of a fast, coherent and widely compatible interconnect technology that will pave the way towards tighter integration of ever-more heterogeneous systems.

Technology leaders AMD, Dell EMC, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Mellanox Technologies, Micron, NVIDIA and Xilinx announced the new open standard to appropriate fanfare, considering the promises of an up-to 10x performance uplift in datacenter server environments, thus accelerating big-data, machine learning, analytics, and other emerging workloads. The interconnect promises to provide a high-speed pathway towards tighter integration between different types of technology currently making up the heterogeneous server computing's needs, ranging through fixed-purpose accelerators, current and future system memory subsistems, and coherent storage and network controllers.

A group of leading technology companies today announced the Gen-Z Consortium, an industry alliance working to create and commercialize a new scalable computing interconnect and protocol. This flexible, high-performance memory semantic fabric provides a peer-to-peer interconnect that easily accesses large volumes of data while lowering costs and avoiding today's bottlenecks. The alliance members include AMD, ARM, Cavium Inc., Cray, Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Huawei, IBM, IDT, Lenovo, Mellanox Technologies, Micron, Microsemi, Red Hat, Samsung, Seagate, SK hynix, Western Digital Corporation, and Xilinx.

Modern computer systems have been built around the assumption that storage is slow, persistent and reliable, while data in memory is fast but volatile. As new storage class memory technologies emerge that drive the convergence of storage and memory attributes, the programmatic and architectural assumptions that have worked in the past are no longer optimal. The challenges associated with explosive data growth, real-time application demands, the emergence of low latency storage class memory, and demand for rack scale resource pools require a new approach to data access.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016, a 9.6 percent decline from the first quarter of 2015, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This was the sixth consecutive quarter of PC shipment declines, and the first time since 2007 that shipment volume fell below 65 million units.

"The deterioration of local currencies against the U.S. dollar continued to play a major role in PC shipment declines. Our early results also show there was an inventory buildup from holiday sales in the fourth quarter of 2015," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

AMD is working on a standardized external graphics solution for notebooks. This solution will allow people with ultra-thin notebooks to enjoy the mobility served up by frugal, mainstream hardware; as well as high-end gaming, with the graphics card plugged in at home. It also probably gives AMD greater control over design and cooling solutions. Unlike a mobile GPU that sits inside your notebook, and makes it bulky due to additional cooling and power requirements, an external graphics card sits on your desk, sipping on wall socket power.

AMD's external graphics solution isn't necessarily an AMD-branded piece of hardware, but rather an open specification for notebook vendors to follow. AMD will merely provide the GPUs and software ecosystem that makes the solution truly universal and plug-n-play, with "standardized connectors, cables, drivers, and OS support." Such a graphics card will interface with just any notebook with a high-speed interface (eg: Thunderbolt). Its drivers will make it crunch your games, while sending back output to your notebook's display, over the same connection. This gives you the mobility of an ultra-thin notebook. You should also be able to plug this into your work's boring Dell desktop, or any SFF ITX box. Pictured below is a Razer Core graphics solution embedding a Radeon R9 Nano. Other examples include MSI Gaming Dock and Alienware Graphics Amplifier.

Dell introduced the UltraSharp U2717D monitor, featuring a super-thin bezel design, which the company refers to as InfinityEdge, that lets you build multi-display setups, with minimal bezel loss. The 27-incher features an IPS display panel, with WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution, 6 ms (GTG) response time, 350 cd/m² maximum brightness, and 1000:1 static- with dynamic mega-contrast ratio. The panel surface features 3H anti-glare coating. Inputs include DisplayPort 1.2, mDP 1.2, and HDMI 1.4a (with MHL support). A USB 3.0 hub comes included. Dell didn't reveal pricing or availability.