According to Geekerwan, Apple's latest M4 silicon has achieved a remarkable milestone by using liquid nitrogen to chill Apple's M4 iPad Pro. This unconventional approach unlocked great single-core performance, surpassing even the M3 Max and M2 Ultra processors in Geekbench v6 benchmark tests. The setup involved cooling the M4 iPad Pro, equipped with a 3+6 core configuration, using a Kingpin Cooling T-Rex Rev 4 CPU LN2 pot filled with liquid nitrogen. This extreme cooling allowed the M4 processor to operate at an astonishing 4.41 GHz during the benchmark run, resulting in a staggering single-core score of 4,001 points. This score represents a 28% increase over the M3 Max found in the 16-inch MacBook Pro and an impressive 44% improvement over the M2 Ultra powering the Mac Studio.

Notably, the M4's single-core performance is capable of reaching scores in the 3,000s. With liquid nitrogen cooling, it suprases the 4,000-point mark, making this achievement all the more remarkable. While the M4's multi-core performance did not match the lofty expectations set by its single-core power, it still managed to achieve a score of 13,595 points, outperforming both the M3 Max and M2 Ultra, which scored 20,957 and 21,330 points, respectively. This was done on the 3+6 core configuration with three P-cores and six E-cores, which is not the top-end M4 configuration. This shows that with adequate cooling, like MacBooks, the upcoming M4 Pro and M4 Max chips could achieve much higher performance than their predecessors.

Yesterday, Apple launched its next-generation M4 chip based on Apple Silicon custom design. The processor is a fourth-generation design that brings AI capabilities and improved CPU performance. First debuting in an iPad Pro, the CPU has been benchmarked in Geekbench v6. And results seem to be very promising. The latest M4 chip managed to score 3,767 points in single-core tests and 14,677 points in multi-core tests. Compared to the M3 chip, which scores 3,087 points in single-core and 11,702 in multi-core tests, the M4 chip is about 22% faster in single-core and 25% faster in multi-core synthetic benchmarks.

Of course, these results are not real-world use cases, but they give us a hint of what the Apple Silicon design team has been working on. For real-world results, we have to wait a little longer to see reviews and results from devices such as MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, which should have better cooling and possibly better clocks for the chip.

Apple today unveiled the groundbreaking new iPad Pro in a stunningly thin and light design, taking portability and performance to the next level. Available in silver and space black finishes, the new iPad Pro comes in two sizes: an expansive 13-inch model and a super-portable 11-inch model. Both sizes feature the world's most advanced display—a new breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display with state-of-the-art tandem OLED technology—providing a remarkable visual experience. The new iPad Pro is made possible with the new M4 chip, the next generation of Apple silicon, which delivers a huge leap in performance and capabilities. M4 features an entirely new display engine to enable the precision, color, and brightness of the Ultra Retina XDR display. With a new CPU, a next-generation GPU that builds upon the GPU architecture debuted on M3, and the most powerful Neural Engine yet, the new iPad Pro is an outrageously powerful device for artificial intelligence. The versatility and advanced capabilities of iPad Pro are also enhanced with all-new accessories. Apple Pencil Pro brings powerful new interactions that take the pencil experience even further, and a new thinner, lighter Magic Keyboard is packed with incredible features. The new iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, and Magic Keyboard are available to order starting today, with availability in stores beginning Wednesday, May 15.

"iPad Pro empowers a broad set of pros and is perfect for anyone who wants the ultimate iPad experience—with its combination of the world's best displays, extraordinary performance of our latest M-series chips, and advanced accessories—all in a portable design. Today, we're taking it even further with the new, stunningly thin and light iPad Pro, our biggest update ever to iPad Pro," said John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. "With the breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display, the next-level performance of M4, incredible AI capabilities, and support for the all-new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard, there's no device like the new iPad Pro."

Apple today announced M4, the latest chip delivering phenomenal performance to the all-new iPad Pro. Built using second-generation 3-nanometer technology, M4 is a system on a chip (SoC) that advances the industry-leading power efficiency of Apple silicon and enables the incredibly thin design of iPad Pro. It also features an entirely new display engine to drive the stunning precision, color, and brightness of the breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display on iPad Pro. A new CPU has up to 10 cores, while the new 10-core GPU builds on the next-generation GPU architecture introduced in M3, and brings Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading to iPad for the first time. M4 has Apple's fastest Neural Engine ever, capable of up to 38 trillion operations per second, which is faster than the neural processing unit of any AI PC today. Combined with faster memory bandwidth, along with next-generation machine learning (ML) accelerators in the CPU, and a high-performance GPU, M4 makes the new iPad Pro an outrageously powerful device for artificial intelligence.

"The new iPad Pro with M4 is a great example of how building best-in-class custom silicon enables breakthrough products," said Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. "The power-efficient performance of M4, along with its new display engine, makes the thin design and game-changing display of iPad Pro possible, while fundamental improvements to the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and memory system make M4 extremely well suited for the latest applications leveraging AI. Altogether, this new chip makes iPad Pro the most powerful device of its kind."

Apple is reportedly working on creating in-house chips designed explicitly for its data centers. This news comes from a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, which highlights the company's efforts to enhance its data processing capabilities and reduce dependency on third parties to supply the infrastructure. In the internal project called Apple Chips in Data Center (ACDC), which started in 2018, Apple wanted to design data center processors to handle the massive user base and increase the company's service offerings. The most recent advancement in AI means that Apple will probably serve an LLM processed in Apple's data center. The chip will most likely focus on inference of AI models rather than training.

The AI chips are expected to play a crucial role in improving the efficiency and speed of Apple's data centers, which handle vast amounts of data generated by the company's various services and products. By developing these custom chips, Apple aims to optimize its data processing and storage capabilities, ultimately leading to better user experiences across its ecosystem. The move by Apple to develop AI-enhanced chips for data centers is seen as a strategic step in the company's efforts to stay ahead in the competitive tech landscape. Almost all major tech companies, famously called the big seven, have products that use AI in silicon and in software processing. However, Apple is the one that seemingly lacked that. Now, the company is integrating AI across the entire vertical, from the upcoming iPhone integration to M4 chips for Mac devices and ACDC chips for data centers.

While everyone has been focused on shipping an AI-enhanced product recently, one tech giant didn't appear to be bothered- Apple. However, according to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple is readying an overhaul of its Apple Silicon M-series chips to embed AI processing capabilities at the processor level. As the report indicates, Apple is preparing an update for late 2024 and early 2025 with the M4 series of chips, which will reportedly feature AI processing units similar to those found in other commercial chips. There should be three levels of the M4 series, with the entry-level M4 codenamed Donan, the mid-level M4 chip codenamed Brava, and the high-end M4 chip codenamed Hydra.

Sales of Apple Macs peaked in 2022; the following year was a sharp decline, and sales have continued to be flat since. The new AI PCs for Windows-based systems have been generating hype from all major vendors, hoping to introduce AI features to end users. However, Apple wants to be part of the revolution, and the company has already scheduled the World Wide Developer Conference for June 10th. At WWDC this year, Apple is supposed to show a suite of AI-powered solutions to enable better user experience and increase productivity. With M4 chips getting AI enhancement, the WWDC announcements will get extra hardware accelerations. However, we must wait for the exact announcements before making further assumptions.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, discussed planned generative AI software features during an early February earnings call: "As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we're excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year." His "prepared" statement did not provide any specific insights into involved technologies, but many iPhone experts believe that the upcoming release of iOS 18 could be "the biggest update" in Apple mobile operating system history. The American multinational technology giant is seemingly taking a relaxed approach with internal artificial intelligence developments—rival smartphone maker, Samsung, has already jumped into the on-the-go AI deep end with its recently launched Galaxy S24 series. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (for Galaxy) chipset is ready to take on all sorts of artificial intelligence-augmented tasks, while a next-gen ARM Cortex-X "Blackhawk" unit (leveraging "great" LLM performance) is in the pipeline for a late 2024 rollout.

Taiwan's Economic Daily News has reached out to insider contacts, albeit on the hardware side of things—their sources reckon that Apple is working on next generation processors that sport "significantly upgraded Neural Engine performance with additional cores." Tipsters believe that plans for 2024 include an effort to "significantly strengthen the AI computing power of the (existing) M3 and A17 processors," while the true "new generation" M4 and Bionic A18 chipsets will be augmented with greater AI computing core counts. Taiwan's top foundry is reportedly in the mix: "Apple has strengthened the AI computing performance of mobile devices and greatly increased the computing power of its own processors, which has simultaneously increased its wafer investment in TSMC. According to industry sources, Apple's wafer production volume for TSMC's 3 nm enhanced version process this year is expected to increase by more than 50% compared with last year, making it firmly the largest customer of TSMC."

AMD's Socket AM4 platform accommodates PC builders of all stripes. Those who need the latest connectivity and features can choose an X570 or B550 motherboard to enable the next-gen PCI Express 4.0 interconnect for the graphics cards and storage devices. Not every PC builder needs to be on the cutting edge, though, and the attainable B450 platform is tailor-made for systems where value is the most important consideration. We're boosting the bang-for-the-buck of this platform with a refreshed family of ASUS B450 motherboards.

Going with one of our refreshed B450 boards for the foundation of your build gives you more flexibility in how you allocate resources in your next Ryzen system. You might be able to choose a faster processor, a boosted graphics card, a bigger, future-proof power supply, or quieter, more robust CPU cooling. The latest Ryzen 3000-series processors will be right at home in our buffed-up B450 boards, and you can still install first- and second-generation Ryzen CPUs in these boards if need be.

At the 2017 International CES, ASRock showed off some of its first socket AM4 motherboards for AMD Ryzen processors and 7th generation A-Series "Bristol Ridge" APUs. Leading the pack is the X370 Taichi. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. It uses a 16-phase CPU VRM with high-capacity Super Alloy chokes. The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and two PCI-Expres 3.0 x16 slot (x8/x8 when both are populated). The third x16 slot is electrical x4 and wired to the chipset. Two other x1 slots make for the rest of its expansion area.

Connectivity on the X370 Taichi include two USB 3.1 ports (one type-A and one type-C), ten USB 3.0 ports, 8-channel PureSound 4 onboard audio solution (of the same grade the company is deploying on its high-end Intel Z270 motherboards), gigabit Ethernet with an Intel-made controller, and 802.11ac WLAN. Storage options include one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, one 16 Gb/s M.2 slot, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Next up, is the X370 Professional Gaming. This board is practically identical to the X370 Taichi. The two boards share a common PCB, and differ only with the red+black color scheme on the X370 Professional Gaming, as opposed to white+black on the X370 Taichi.

ASUS today announced its latest mini PCs, the VivoMini VC65 Series. The VC65 and VC65R mini PCs feature a versatile modular design with three storage and optical drive configurations for increased performance, productivity, and entertainment. They are the world's smallest mini PCs that can accommodate up to four 2.5-inch SSD or HDD storage modules. VivoMini VC65 Series mini PCs are designed for a wide range of computing tasks for the home or office, and are powered by up to desktop-grade 6th-generation Intel Core processors. The top-of-the-line VivoMini VC65R model features built-in RAID support, making it ideal for a network attached storage (NAS) or mini server system. These mini PCs feature a compact design with an embedded power adapter, and can be placed horizontally or vertically. VivoMini VC65 Series can also be VESA-mounted.

The VivoMini VC65 Series is the first of the range of sub-2-liter ASUS consumer PCs that will bear the new ASUS VivoMini name. Existing VivoPC models (VM62N, VM62, VM60, VM42, VM40B, VC62B, VC60V, and VC60) will retain the VivoPC branding.

Consistently devoted to the compactness and lightweight of the terminal devices, Apacer, one of top ten PC SSD manufacturers in the world, rolls out mSATA Mini M4 SSD of Small Form Factor (SFF for short) today to meet the market demands. The product is only 26.8 × 29.85 mm in size. Compared with mSATA SSD adopting JEDEC MO-300 standard specification, this latest model has its size reduced by over 1/2. Featuring ultra-compactness and slimness, it can break through the physical limit of the spatial design, and significantly reduce the size and weight of the terminal device. In addition, it also boasts anti-shock, anti-vibration and low power consumption, thus enabling itself to become the most reliable storage choice for the portable devices applied in the military, medical equipment, on-board navigation system, tablet computer, etc.

Hard drive prices refuse to budge after last year's floods that struck manufacturing facilities in Thailand, even as manufacturers turn record profit. The solid-state drive market, on the other hand, is finally rolling with competition, high volume production, and advancements in NAND flash technologies. With memory majors such as Hynix adding new NAND flash manufacturing facilities to their infrastructure, SSD is expected to finally get its big break in the mainstream market.

SSD prices, according to price aggregators, are on a free-fall. Models which once held relative pricing as high as $2 per gigabyte, and going deep within the $1 mark. For example, Crucial's widely-praised M4 256 GB SSD has a price per GB of 'just' $0.82, and a market price around $200, something unheard of, for a 256 GB SSD with transfer rates of over 500 MB/s. With SSD major OCZ Technology releasing new generations of drives under the Vertex 4 and Agility 4 series that use Indilinx processors, older Vertex 3 and Agility 3 models are being phased out, some of these are seeing sub $1/GB prices. Intel is also responding to market trends, with prices of its SSD 520 series dropping sharply. Find a boat-load of stats at the source.

Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, announces a CPU cooler with huge performance packed into a seemingly miniature package. That new compact CPU cooler is the GeminII M4 - a GeminII series cooler.

Redefining cooling performance for space restricted environments, GeminII M4 is engineered to maximize cooling with its minimal CPU contact gaps and four extremely efficient direct contact heat pipes that provide excellent heat dissipation. Standing at a mere 59mm / 2.3in tall, it is uniquely suited to thrive in the small spaces afforded to CPU coolers in HTPCs and other slim systems. This small size is accomplished by developing a new smaller 120mm fan that is only 15mm thick as opposed to ones that are traditionally 25mm. This newly developed fan not only provides the benefit of a 10mm shorter height, it maintains high airflow - providing up to 58.4CFM when set on high speed.

Dell today announced additions to the PowerEdge portfolio with new blade, rack and tower servers designed to deliver value and performance in demanding enterprise and mainstream environments. The new blade servers offer strong performance gains and improved efficiencies from the shared power, cooling and network infrastructure, and professional IT services. The new tower and rack servers are built to enhance customer IT infrastructures with enterprise-class capabilities and tailored chassis designs for small and midsize businesses.

Dell introduced industry-leading innovations in the PowerEdge 12th generation servers based on input gathered from more than 7,700 customer interactions in 17 countries across four continents. The company was the first-to-ship servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family with the first wave of PowerEdge 12th generation servers in March 2012.

For those who thought with the Indilinx buyout and release of Everest and Kilimanjaro series NAND flash controllers, OCZ is on course of becoming a largely self-sufficient SSD industry player, here's a revelation. Its new Everest series silicon, used in recently-launched SSD families (such as Octane and Vertex 4), is essentially a re-badged Marvell controller (found on SSDs such as Crucial M4, Intel SSD 510), with custom firmware developed by OCZ. This discovery by Anandtech was confirmed by OCZ (Indilinx).

The Indilinx Everest (Octane and Petrol series) and Everest 2 (Vertex 4 series), are both re-badged Marvell chips with Indilinx firmware. Although it doesn't change anything, it perfectly explains how OCZ could come up with two "new" SSD controllers (Everest and Everest 2) almost instantly, after the Indilix acquisition. Everest 1 is essentially a higher-clocked Marvell 88SS9174, while Everest 2 could very well be a re-badged Marvell 88SS9187, according to the source.

Crucial is known for issuing firmware updates for its M4 series SSDs that bring significant improvements, be it the 0009 update that introduced performance improvements by as much as 20%, or the 0309 update that fixed a lot of BSOD instability issues. Introduced on Wednesday, the newest firmware update, "000F", introduces the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with certain SAS expanders and peripheral RAID cards.
• Improved throughput stability under extremely heavy workloads.
• Improved data protection in the event of unexpected, asynchronous power loss.

With higher performance, improved OS-level stability, and now with higher throughput stability and improved data protection in the event of power loss, Crucial M4 is closer to being the perfect consumer SSD.

DOWNLOAD: Crucial M4 000F Firmware Update Windows 7 Updater Utility, Manual Boot File, Instructions

Over last weekend, Crucial released a new firmware update for its M4 series SSDs, which aims to fix several blue screen of death (BSOD) issues that users are facing. Crucial's investigation into the BSOD complaints revealed that a bug in the older firmware caused the drives to become unstable after 5,184 hours of operation. After that, every hour the previously-rock-stable drives cause BSODs. The firmware update only applies to drives connected to SATA hosts, and not SAS expanders. Crucial is still working on a firmware update for drives connected via SAS expanders.DOWNLOAD: 0309 Firmware Update for Crucial M4

German peripheral maker Raptor Gaming Technology has this week announced its latest creation, a flagship gaming mouse called the 'M4' which features an ergonomic, right-handed design, an adjustable weight system, and a 6000 dpi laser sensor (users can adjust the resolution from 400 dpi to 6000 dpi, depending on their needs).

Raptor's new gaming mouse also has a Soft-Touch surface, six buttons, on-board memory to storing game profiles, a 2.5 meter cable, a gold-plated USB connector (500/1000 Hz polling rates are supported), and comes bundled with a wrist rest, the Raptor Mousebag XL, a weight bag with 16 weights (each weight is about 2 grams), and two sets of mouse sliders. This whole package is set to become available very soon (should be a matter of days) and will cost 79.90 Euro.