According to an attendee of a recent Intel AI presentation, company representatives revealed a release timeline for next-gen Core Ultra "Panther Lake" mobile processor family. Team Blue's China office appears to be courting users of DeepSeek R1, as evidenced by meng59739449's sharing of a processor product roadmap (machine translated by VideoCardz). A volume launch of Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake-H" series seems to be on the cards for Q1 2026. Earlier this month, an Intel executive insisted that Panther Lake was on track for a second half of 2025 roll out. Lately, industry moles have alleged that a "problematic 18A node" process has caused delays across new generation product lines.

Team Blue watchdogs reckon that high volume manufacturing (HVM) of Panther Lake chips will kick off in September. By October, an Early Enablement Program (EEP) is expected to start—with samples sent off to OEMs for full approval. Industry experts believe that Intel will following a familiar pattern of "announcing the processor in the second half of the prior year, but ramping up mass production in the following year." Previous generation mobile CPU platforms—Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake—received similar treatment in the recent past. Last week, a Panther Lake-H (PTL-H) sample was on general display at Embedded World 2025—the German office is similarly engaged in hyping up the AI-crunching capabilities of roadmapped products.

The rising prominence of Huawei's Ascend accelerator series has generated plenty of news articles over the past couple of months. Earlier in the week, reports suggested that the Chinese technology giant had circumvented international trade sanctions. Many observers will forget that parts of Huawei's portfolio contain "less ambitious" products; namely notebook PCs. Despite navigating tricky conditions in 2024, the manufacturer still has access to a supply of Intel-produced processors—but a contingency plan is reportedly in place. TP Huang (aka tphuang) reckons that a completely in-house formulated "domestic commercial PC" is due for release in China. The technology soothsayer's social media post mentioned a "7 nm Kunpeng-920 CPU" clocked at 2.6 GHz. Previously, Huawei's Kunpeng proprietary processor designs were deployed in server (2024) and desktop (2020) environments.

According to Huawei Central, company representatives have disclosed that the mysterious Kunpeng-920-powered AI laptop will be added to their "Qingyun" enterprise-oriented product range. TP Huang elaborated with additional leaked details—the forthcoming model is tipped to feature: "fully domestic power management integrated circuits (PMIC); including Unisoc CT100 replacing EPSON in clock generator. It is expected to run on HarmonyOS PC version and a localized dev tool chain." An extension of Huawei and DeepSeek's current relationship is anticipated to trickle down to portable devices—insiders believe that the new AI notebook will support DeepSeek's model on edge. TP Huang predicts an April launch window.

One of AMD's key announcements at its 2025 International CES keynote was the Ryzen 9000HX line of processors, codenamed "Fire Range." A successor to the 7000HX "Dragon Range," this is essentially a BGA package of the "Granite Ridge" MCM, which combines one or two "Zen 5" CCDs with a client I/O die. The processor lacks an NPU and has a basic iGPU, but is meant for enthusiast segment gaming notebooks and portable workstations, as it's meant to be paired with discrete GPUs, taking advantage of the package's lavish 28 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The Ryzen 9 9955HX3D stands out in the series as the only model with 3D V-Cache, making it possibly the fastest mobile processor for gaming notebooks—faster than even the "Arrow Lake-HX," given how the desktop 9800X3D compares to the Core Ultra 9 285K at gaming.

Notebook OEM Dream Machines put out a press release which specifies that the first notebooks powered by the 9955HX3D will ship either toward the end of March, or early-April 2025. "Fire Range" is known to have scored design wins from several popular notebook OEMs, which means the chips could have a good run at the markets this generation. Notebooks powered by the 9955HX3D and discrete GPU options that include the GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU and the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, are expected to be priced around €2,530 and €3,860, respectively.

Acer today expanded its line of Chromebook offerings for education with three new laptops plus one tablet model, all with brand new features to enhance reliability, versatility, and total cost of ownership, alongside performance technology to positively impact the school environment and promote student success.

"Acer Chromebooks have become an integral part of the school day for K-12 students," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, Acer Inc. "Our new line of Acer Chromebooks for school settings continues to build on the promises of collaboration, tech-readiness and access to information students need, while ensuring teachers and administrators provide the tools needed for students to succeed.

WEROCK Technologies GmbH, innovative manufacturer of industrial computer technology, announces the launch of two new rugged high-performance notebooks. According to the manufacturer, the laptops have been designed for professional, industrial use with complex tasks in a wide variety of locations where strong performance is required. They are delivered with Intel Core Ultra processors of the Meteor Lake generation, Intel AI Boost, Arc Graphics, with up to 16 cores, a 4.8
GHz turbo clock frequency and up to 64 GB RAM. Pioneering AI and machine learning functions including AI assistants set the course for modern computing and fast performance.

The new Rockbook X540 G3 and Rockbook X550 G3 laptops have been developed for field service professionals in numerous industries. They have numerous modern communication functions - including options for 4G LTE or 5G, have a dedicated uBlox GPS/GNSS sensor, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and also offer numerous other interfaces such as Thunderbolt 4, USB ports, HDMI and a serial port.

The mobile cavalry has landed with the introduction of Area-51 laptops. These 18-inch and 16-inch laptops have an acute focus on power, performance and innovative engineering in a new otherworldly design language. Like its desktop counterpart, Area-51 laptops are an expression of maximum performance that cater to gamers seeking the preeminent gaming experience.

Armed to the nines with next-gen high-performance technology and enveloped in our brand-new industrial design, Area-51 symbolizes the next act for Alienware.

• Elite Performance: Area-51 unleashes 280 W of power on next-gen NVIDIA graphics and a next-gen Intel Ultra CPU - this is the upper limit of performance on any gaming laptop, period.
• Robust Thermals: A new intricate thermal architecture enables Area-51 to move up to 35% more air through the system while being 15% quieter.
• Sophisticated Design: Area-51 laptop design exudes a mysterious identity that invokes curiosity while elevating comfort and functionality.

Acer today announced refreshes to the well-rounded Swift Go series and the eco-friendly Aspire Vero 16 laptops, combining enhanced computing performance, power efficiency, stunning displays, and sustainable designs in the evolving AI PC era. The Swift Go 14 and Swift Go 16 laptops offer seamless productivity and adaptability in any work environment, with streamlined AI task execution and multi-day battery life, wrapped in ultra-thin and light designs. Available with 3K OLED or 2K IPS touch display configurations, these laptops deliver striking visuals to complement their eye-catching exteriors.

The Aspire Vero 16, a carbon-neutral laptop and the world's first to incorporate bio-based oyster shell material, now features a chassis made from a combination of more than 70% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic and bio-based material. The bold innovation from Acer offers a sustainable laptop option without compromising performance or durability. All the new laptop devices are equipped with Intel Core Ultra 200H series processors and built-in Intel Arc graphics built-in, engineered to scale accelerated AI performance and maximize efficiency for work and creation. Mobile workers will also appreciate the new Acer Connect 5G mobile Wi-Fi and Acer Wave D7 Wi-Fi dongle, providing high-speed internet connections anywhere, anytime.

AMD today announced the Ryzen 9 9000HX and 9000HX3D line of mobile processors targeting enthusiast-segment gaming notebooks and portable workstations. These chips compete in the same market-segment as the Intel Core Ultra 200HX series. Codenamed "Fire Range," and powered by the "Zen 5" microarchitecture, the chip succeeds the "Zen 4" based "Dragon Range." This is essentially a thin BGA package of the desktop "Granite Ridge" chiplet-based processor, just the way "Dragon Range" relates to "Raphael." The chip has two "Zen 5" CCDs with full-sized "Zen 5" cores that are geared for high clock speeds, and have the full hardware FP implementation for AVX512, unlike the "Zen 5" cores on the "Strix Point" mobile processor.

AMD has, curiously, skipped single-CCD variants of "Fire Range," there are no Ryzen 7 9000HX models being announced today. There are just three processor-models—the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, the Ryzen 9 9955HX, and the Ryzen 9 9850HX. The 9955HX3D is AMD's flagship mobile processor for gaming notebooks. It features a 16-core/32-thread configuration, and features 3D V-Cache memory on one of the two CCDs. The chip hence comes with 144 MB of "total cache" (L2 + L3). It ticks at 2.50 GHz base frequency, and can boost up to 5.40 GHz for the CCD with 3D V-Cache. It comes with a configurable TDP range of 55 W and 75 W. There is no NPU, but the client I/O die puts out a boatload of I/O that includes 28 PCIe Gen 5 lane, from which 24 are usable, so the discrete GPU has a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 connection, besides two M.2 NVMe Gen 5 connections directly from the processor.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) is excited to announce its participation in CES 2025, taking place at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, USA, from January 7 to 10. At the event, ECS will showcase its full lineup of cutting-edge products, including motherboards, mini PCs, and notebooks, designed to meet the needs of home entertainment, office, school, and commercial applications.

Unleash Your Potential with the Ultimate LEET Gaming Motherboards
ECS new models of LEET gaming motherboards - Z890 series marks a significant advancement in motherboard technology, offering notable improvements in performance, stability, scalability, and user-focused design, all tailored to meet the evolving needs of consumers. ECS Z890 motherboards are compatible with the latest Intel Core Ultra processors for the Intel LGA 1851 socket and feature four DDR5 DIMM slots, supporting up to 256 GB of total memory with impressive overclocking capabilities, including speeds of up to 8800 MHz. These motherboards also offer advanced connectivity options, including two PCIe 5.0 graphics slots, four PCIe 4.0 slots, ultra-fast 5 Gb Ethernet LAN, and the latest wireless networking technologies.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, further expands its line-up and affirms its foothold in PC accessories with the announcement of the new Razer USB 4 Dock. Engineered for superior performance, this dock represents a leap into the future of connectivity, combining high-speed data transfer and dual-display functionality to meet the demands of high-stakes gaming and intensive productivity.

"With the Razer USB 4 Dock, we're unleashing the next level of high-performance docking," Travis Furst, Head of Notebooks and Accessories at Razer. "This powerhouse is engineered to deliver blazing-fast data transfer and stunning dual-monitor 4K display output, all through a single cable solution to the laptop, making it the ultimate tool for gamers and professionals alike."

The 2024 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) has named three groundbreaking laptops—Cyborg 14 AI, Stealth 18 AI Studio, and Titan 18 HX—as "Featured Finalists" for their outstanding innovation and design. These laptops, each representing the cutting edge of gaming technology, push the boundaries of user experience with their unique aesthetics and high-performance capabilities.

The Cyborg 14 AI offers a visually striking fusion of biological and mechanical elements, The 14-inch compact and lightweight body echoes the convenience of gaming on-the-go. The Stealth 18 AI Studio, modeled after stealth combat aircraft with top-tier gaming performance, precisely carried out the task, where thin meets powerful. The Titan 18 HX, MSI's flagship gaming laptop shares a kindred spirit with hardcore gamers. The voracious gaming appetites with PC specifications and high-grade thermal efficiency by all means sets the bar extraordinarily high.

Acer today expanded its Copilot+ PC lineup with the new Swift Go 14 AI and Swift 14 AI laptops, delivering versatile performance and elevated productivity with incredible battery life.

The Swift Go 14 AI features the latest Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor in an ultra-portable design. Acer also announced the Swift 14 AI featuring the new AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors which leverage the advanced AMD XDNA 2 architecture to utilize greater AI processing power and performance without compromise. Whether creating, working, or streaming on-the-go, these Copilot+ PCs streamline daily tasks and workloads more efficiently and enable Acer's on-device AI applications to help elevate users' digital experiences.

Acer today launched new Swift 14 AI and Swift 16 AI Copilot+ PCs, its first Swift models powered by new Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2). The ultra-sleek, striking laptops are equipped with the latest in all-new processing capabilities and deliver up to 48 Trillions of Operations Per Second (TOPS) NPU AI performance to handle power-demanding AI workloads.

Powerful AI Processing with Advanced Security Features
The new Acer Swift 14 AI (SF14-51/T) and Swift 16 AI (SF16-51/T) deliver best-in-class AI performance with new Intel Core Ultra processors that optimize processing across the CPU, built-in Intel Arc graphics, and next-gen neural processing unit (NPU) to accelerate AI workloads. As a result, the new laptops can accelerate generative AI tasks and creations with ease. They also feature new P-cores and E-cores designed for uncompromised performance while delivering exceptional power efficiency and battery life.

With the PhaseSheet PTM, Thermal Grizzly Holding GmbH presents an electrically non-conductive thermal pad based on a phase change material (PCM). With PhaseSheet PTM, Thermal Grizzly closes the gap between traditional thermal paste and thermal pads based on graphene or carbon thermal pads. This means that the respective advantages in terms of application and thermal conductivity can be combined in one product.

PhaseSheet PTM is a thermal pad that has been optimized for applications where maintenance cycles are subject to long intervals. It is more durable than traditional thermal conductive pastes, but not as durable as KryoSheet, for example, which is virtually maintenance-free. The maximum thermal conductivity of PhaseSheet PTM develops and stabilizes after around ten thermal cycles above 60 degrees Celsius.

Acer today introduces two new Acer Chromebook Plus Enterprise laptops, both designed with powerful technology and Google AI capabilities that ensure businesses, their workforces and frontline employees are equipped with the latest technology to work in the cloud more efficiently and securely.

Both new Chromebook Plus Enterprise models - the Acer Chromebook Plus Enterprise 515 and Acer Chromebook Plus Enterprise Spin 514 - come with the business capabilities of ChromeOS unlocked, ensuring best-in-class security, simple management, flexible access, and enhanced administrative support, all coupled with double the speed, memory and storage. The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (CP514-4HN) is also available for consumers or individuals.

Acer today debuted two new premium Chromebook Plus laptops - the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 and Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE - that combine versatile designs with a 2x faster Intel Core processor and up to double the memory and storage, giving people the power to do even more all at once.

As Chromebook Plus devices, the two new models support enhanced generative AI features for connectivity, creativity, and collaboration, such as a "help me write" feature available with just a right click, Google Photos' Magic Editor, Gemini, and more. The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is a slim convertible optimized for on-the-go productivity and connectivity with a 360-degree hinge that allows it to be used in myriad ways and places, and the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE is a next-generation cloud-gaming Chromebook with the latest gaming-centric hardware to stream and play AAA games with NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Boosteroid, Amazon Luna and more.

Acer today expanded its line of Chromebook Plus laptops with the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 (CB514-4H/T), providing users with a performance-minded, compact and durable model that enables them to do more with the AI-powered capabilities of ChromeOS. "The new Acer Chromebook Plus 514 (CB514-4H/T) delivers the sought-after combination of a portable design, 14-inch Full HD display and performance-minded technology that lets users get the most out of exciting capabilities offered with Chromebook Plus," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, Acer Inc. "Students, businesses, families, and individuals need to be more productive, connected and empowered than ever, and can achieve this using Acer Chromebook Plus devices."

The new Acer Chromebook Plus 514 is the latest addition to Acer's lineup of Chromebook Plus laptops that offer enhanced Chromebook performance and experiences, emphasizing better hardware designs with upgraded displays and cameras paired with powerful productivity, creativity, and multimedia capabilities. Like all Acer Chromebook Plus laptops, users have the power to do more with the new Chromebook Plus 514 (CB514-4H/T). Powered by an Intel Core i3-N305 processor and an ample 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 provides 2x the speed, memory, and storage, giving responsive performance and efficient multitasking, whether running built-in AI-powered apps like Google Docs and Photos, watching favorite shows in full HD on a 1080p display, or movie-making with LumaFusion. Plus, the processor ensures all-day enjoyment with up to 11 hours of usage on the fast-charging battery.

After two years of decline, the worldwide traditional PC market returned to growth during the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) with 59.8 million shipments, growing 1.5% year over year, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Growth was largely achieved due to easy year-over-year comparisons as the market declined 28.7% during the first quarter of 2023, which was the lowest point in PC history. In addition, global PC shipments finally returned to pre-pandemic levels as 1Q24 volumes rivaled those seen in 1Q19 when 60.5 million units were shipped.

With inflation numbers trending down, PC shipments have begun to recover in most regions, leading to growth in the Americas as well as Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). However, the deflationary pressures in China directly impacted the global PC market. As the largest consumer of desktop PCs, weak demand in China led to yet another quarter of declines for global desktop shipments, which already faced pressure from notebooks as the preferred form factor.

LG Electronics USA (LG) today announced pricing and availability of its 2024 premium lineup of laptops - the LG gram Pro and LG gram Pro 2-in-1. The 16- and 17-inch LG gram Pro models retail for $2399 (16Z90SP-A.ADB9U1) and $2499 (17Z90SP-E.ADB9U1) respectively while the CES 2024 Innovation Award-winning 16-inch gram Pro 2-in-1 (16T90SP-K.ADB9U1) retails for $2099. For a limited time, customers shopping on LG.com can pre-order the 16- and 17-inch LG gram Pro and 16-inch LG gram Pro 2-in-1.

Throughout the duration of the pre-order period from February 21, 2024, to March 10, 2024, customers will be able to purchase the 32 GB-RAM/2 TB-SSD LG gram Pro laptop for the price of a 16 GB-RAM/1 TB-SSD model of the same screen size. They'll also receive an LG gram +view IPS portable monitor (16MR70.ASDU) and expedited shipping at no additional cost. All standard terms of purchase apply.

Colorful is now exclusively a GeForce RTX graphics card vendor, but it had a brief stint with AMD Radeon under the separate Colorfire brand. This brand is reportedly making it back, but not for graphics cards. Colorful isn't just selling graphics cards and motherboards, but also has a growing line of gaming notebooks. Apparently, the Colorfire brand will denote notebooks powered by AMD Ryzen mobile processors. The discrete GPUs are still GeForce RTX 40-series. The news emerged from a regulatory filing by Colorful's notebook ODM, Clevo, which is a well known notebook manufacturer for several brands. The filings speak of the Colorfire MEOW R15 24, and the MEOW R16 24, which presumably feature 15-inch 16:9 and 16-inch 16:10 displays, respectively.

Both the Colorfire notebooks are powered by AMD Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" mobile processors with full Ryzen AI enablement, while their discrete graphics options include GeForce RTX 4060 series and RTX 4070 series Laptop GPUs. The listings also mention at 180 W power supply for the MEOW R15 24; and a 230 W one for the MEOW R16 24, which seems to tally well with a combination of a Ryzen 8040HS series 45 W-class processor, and a GeForce RTX 4060/4070 series GPU with configured total graphics power in the 130 W to 160 W range.

NVIDIA has released a new GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 551.46 that should fix stuttering issues in some scenarios. According to the release notes, the new hotfix driver fixes micro-stuttering in some games when vertical sync is enabled, as well as stuttering when scrolling in web browser. It also fixes stuttering issues on Advanced Optimus Notebooks when running Red Dead Redemption 2 under Vulkan API, and stability issues in Immortals of Aveum under extended gameplay.

The new GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 551.46 is based on the latest GeForce WHQL driver, version 551.23. You can download the new GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 551.46 over at NVIDIA's support page.

ASUS today announced the launch of its latest BR1204, CR, and CZ series laptops at Bett UK 2024, marking the third consecutive year of ASUS Education launches at the Bett Show and demonstrating its dedication to educational technology innovation. The flagship BR1204 is engineered to withstand the daily challenges of classroom activity, meeting the highest standards of durability. Accompanying the BR series are the CR and CZ Chromebook series (CR1204, CR1104, CZ1204, CZ1104), which bring unparalleled versatility and mobility to hybrid-learning environments.

Together, these series champion the ASUS commitment to reliability, user-centric design and safety, both online and offline - with easy-to-service designs that ensure IT administrators can maintain devices with minimal effort, enhancing the efficiency of education technology. With the comprehensive ASUS lineup for education, both teachers and students are equipped to excel in the digital age.

Acer unleashes a series of powerhouse gaming laptops, headlined by the refreshed models of the Predator Helios 18 and Predator Helios 16. Acer also announced the new Predator Helios Neo 18 gaming laptop and major updates to the Predator Helios Neo 16, all outfitted with the latest Intel Core 14th gen processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs with DLSS 3.5 technology and NVIDIA Advanced Optimus. NVIDIA RTX Laptop GPUs are packed with specialized AI Tensor Cores enabling unmatched AI performance and accelerations in creative apps, ultra-efficient productivity, blistering fast gaming, and more. The Predator laptops feature Microsoft's Copilot in Windows 11 and a dedicated Copilot key for quick access to AI-powered task assistance. They also come with one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, giving gamers access to hundreds of high-quality PC games.

Gamers seeking a competitive edge will be thrilled with the Predator Helios 18 and Predator Helios 16 laptops as they come with options for captivating Mini LED panels, MagKey 3.0 swappable mechanical switch for shorter key travel and response time, and lightning-fast network speeds with Wi-Fi 7 compatibility.

Acer expanded its Swift family of thin and light laptops with new Intel Core Ultra processors featuring Intel's first neural processing unit (NPU) and integrated AI acceleration capabilities. Now even more performance-minded, capable, and intuitive for content creation, schoolwork, productivity, and play, the new Swift laptops' powerful processing and AI-supported features further the laptop's usability.

"After unveiling our first Intel Core Ultra laptops last month, we're debuting even more products in our Swift line to help a wider range of customers take advantage of premium laptop experiences and AI-supported technology for more exciting and effective PC use," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer. "Plus, these laptops feature impressive updates that help customers do more - and do them even better."

Acer today announced new models of the AI-ready Acer Swift Go 14 (SFG14-72) powered by Intel Core Ultra processors that feature Intel Arc graphics processing unit (GPU) and Intel AI Boost, its new integrated neural processing unit (NPU), to deliver efficient computing performance of AI workloads and immersive experiences on the thin-and-light laptop. Students, professionals, and creators can leverage the Swift Go 14's array of AI features such as Acer PurifiedVoice and Acer PurifiedView for videoconferencing and customization tools on the OLED laptop. Accomplishing tasks and workflows are also made easier on the Swift laptop with Microsoft's Copilot in Windows 11.

"Our new Swift Go 14 goes beyond its stylish design and high-resolution display, delivering the latest suite of collaboration technology to support a wide variety of functions and lifestyles," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, Acer Inc. "The Swift Go 14 is one of the first devices in the market to be outfitted with Intel Core Ultra processors, paving the way to enhance support of generative AI tasks on more Acer devices moving forward."