The new Surface Laptop Studio features what Microsoft calls a boundary-pushing design, yet we felt like we'd seen the easel before. Lo and behold, Acer ConceptD 3 Ezel launched last year with a very similar design and HP launched the similar Spectre Folio in 2018. Not to belittle Microsoft here, as they have designed a much slicker hinge mechanism than Acer, while seemingly also improving upon the materials used and unlike HP's Spectre Folio, this is a "full fat" laptop and not a glorified tablet.

The Surface Laptop Studio is a strange looking machine, as it has an overhang, something I never expected to see on a laptop and although it appears to have been designed to allow for better cooling, there's just something about it that irks me. Yes, it makes it appear thinner than it really is and Microsoft uses the overhang to tuck away and charge the optional Surface Slim Pen 2 underneath, but it just looks odd for a lack of a better word. Oddities aside, it should be Microsoft's most powerful Intel powered laptop to date and it even packs a discrete NVIDIA GPU.

The Ultrabook name seems to have faded away, but the concept has clearly not gone anywhere and Gigabyte has announced its new U4-series of what they simply call ultralight notebooks. This is also the first 14-inch notebook series from Gigabyte in a while, since the company has focused on 15.6 and 17.3-inch models over the past couple of years' with the last 14-inch model from the company being the AERO 14.

The U4-series is quite a different beast, as the AERO 14 was still weighing in at 1.89 kg, whereas the U4 is almost half that at 990 grams. If you're a sucker for sturdy products, then this might be what you've been waiting for, as Gigabyte claims it meets the MIL-STD 810G specification, which means that the product has gone through "simulation-testing has been conducted in eight harsh working environments, including extreme altitude, temperature and humidity, mechanical vibration, sand and dust, salt fog, etc."

VIA Labs, Inc. (VLI), a leading supplier of SuperSpeed USB, USB Power Delivery Controllers, and now USB4 controllers today unveiled the VIA Labs VL830 USB4 Endpoint Device. USB4 is a major update to the USB architecture, enabling multiple simultaneous data and display protocols to share a single high-speed link with support for a maximum aggregate bandwidth of 40 Gbps. VL830 offers both USB and DisplayPort functionality and operates at full performance when used with Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 systems, and is also backward compatible with previous-generation devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones that support DisplayPort Alternate Mode over USB Type-C.

"VIA Labs VL830 represents a culmination of our experience in developing USB Type-C, USB Power Delivery, and USB 3.2 products, an industry leader in time to market, and contribution and participation in standards development," said Terrance Shih, Business Development Director, VIA Labs, Inc. "USB4 is based on Thunderbolt technology and we are very excited to deliver these capabilities at new price points."

The first desktop processors to implement AMD's "Zen 4" microarchitecture will feature integrated graphics as standard across the lineup, according to a Chips and Cheese report citing leaked AMD design documents. Currently, most of the Socket AM4 desktop processor lineup lacks integrated graphics, and specialized "G" SKUs with integrated graphics dot it. These SKUs almost always come with compromises in CPU performance or PCIe I/O. With its 5 nm "Raphael" Socket AM5 desktop processor, AMD is planning to change this, in a bid to match up to Intel on the universality of integrated graphics.

Built in the 5 nm silicon fabrication process, the "Raphael" silicon combines "Zen 4" CPU cores along with an iGPU based on the RDNA2 graphics architecture. This would be the first time AMD updated the SIMD architecture of its Ryzen iGPUs since 2017. The RDNA2-based iGPU will come with a more advanced DCN (Display CoreNext) component than current RDNA2-based discrete GPUs, with some SKUs even featuring DisplayPort 2.0 support, besides HDMI 2.1. By the time "Raphael" is out (2022-23), it is expected that USB4 type-C would gain popularity, and mainstream motherboards as well as pre-built desktops could ship with USB4 with DisplayPort 2.0 passthrough. AMD relies on a discrete USB4 controller with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring, for its first Socket AM5 platform.

Cable Matters, an industry-leading connectivity solutions supplier, today launched two innovative USB-C video adapters with 8K and dual 4K 60 Hz resolution support for the ultimate work and play video solution. The Cable Matters USB-C to 8K HDMI and DisplayPort Adapter combines an HDMI adapter and a DisplayPort adapter into one for maximum flexibility and performance. The USB-C video hub supports up to an 8K resolution over HDMI or DisplayPort, enabling ultra high-resolution video over one convenient adapter.

"This is one of the first adapters on the market to support 8K video through DisplayPort and HDMI," said Cable Matters President and CEO Jeff Jiang. "It is the perfect one-adapter solution for 8K devices." Cable Matters also launched the USB-C to Dual HDMI Adapter. It leverages the latest standard as specified in HDMI 2.1 to support up to an 8K resolution on one HDMI port. Both USB-C adapters support dual 4K 60 Hz monitors if two video ports are in use at the same time, providing the ultimate multi-monitor solution for the serious worker or gamer.

In 2011, computers were clogged with too many input/output (I/O) ports. There were USB ports for data; Ethernet ports for internet; and DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA ports for video. Despite being large enough to accommodate multiple ports, the computers still couldn't keep up with users' needs.

The solution? Intel launched Thunderbolt technology, which consolidated data, video and power on a single, small connector. Thunderbolt allowed users to move data quickly and confidently among connected smart devices - like PCs, docks, monitors, solid state drives, external hard drives and cameras - using that single connector. At the time, Thunderbolt boasted the ability to transfer a full-length, high-definition movie in less than 30 seconds and back up a full year of continuous MP3 music playback in just over 10 minutes.

OWC, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits announces the OWC Envoy Pro FX universal compatible Thunderbolt and USB Portable SSD. By supporting the max performance capability of any interface up to 2800 MB/s and built like a tank with dust/drop/waterproof certification, you can transfer gigabytes of data in seconds anywhere.

The OWC Envoy Pro FX is ideal for everyone and every need for Mac and PC compatibility spanning back to 2010. Fast, tough, Bus-powered (no AC adapter needed) portability. That's a lot of features boxes checked off. The OWC Envoy Pro FX then goes to the next level by being the ideal drive for various uses and ranging from photography, video, and document storage backups to a secondary/portable OS boot drive. The perfect on-set project drive for editing dailies, multi-angled camera shots, utilizing large sample libraries within audio projects, or portable Steam games library.

Synaptics Incorporated today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire DisplayLink Corp., a leader in high-performance video compression technology, for $305 million in an all-cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in Synaptics' first quarter of fiscal year 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, and be financed from existing cash on hand. Synaptics expects the transaction to add approximately $94 million in annualized sales and be immediately accretive to non-GAAP gross margins, non-GAAP operating margins, and non-GAAP earnings post-close.

DisplayLink's high performance software compression technology enables universal docking and casting of high bandwidth video from any device to any display using any transport medium such as USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi. For the Enterprise IT market, the solution supports multi-OS environments including Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS and Ubuntu Linux enabling a myriad of devices to seamlessly dock to multiple high resolution (4K, 8K) displays.

Today, Intel revealed new details about Thunderbolt 4, the next generation of its universal cable connectivity solution, delivering increased minimum performance requirements, expanded capabilities and USB4 specification compliance. For the first time, Thunderbolt 4 will offer docks with up to four Thunderbolt ports and universal cables up to 2 meters in length. Intel's upcoming mobile PC processors, code-named "Tiger Lake," will be the first to integrate Thunderbolt 4. Intel also announced the Thunderbolt 4 controller 8000 series, compatible with the hundreds of millions of Thunderbolt 3 PCs and accessories already available. Thunderbolt 4 developer kits and certification testing are now available.

"Thunderbolt provides consumers with a leading connectivity standard across a range of devices, helping to advance computing experiences and delivering on the promise of USB-C with simplicity, performance and reliability. The arrival of Thunderbolt 4 underscores how Intel is advancing the PC ecosystem toward truly universal connectivity solutions," said Jason Ziller, Intel general manager of the Client Connectivity Division.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA ) today announced that it has released version 2.0 of the DisplayPort Alternate Mode ("Alt Mode") standard. DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 provides seamless interoperability with the new USB4 specification published by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), and fully enables all of the features in the latest version of the DisplayPort standard (version 2.0) through the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector. With DisplayPort Alt Mode, the USB-C connector can transmit up to 80 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of DisplayPort video data utilizing all four high-speed lanes in the cable, or up to 40 Gbps with simultaneous SuperSpeed USB data delivery. VESA anticipates first products incorporating DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 to appear on the market in 2021.

DisplayPort 2.0, which was introduced in June 2019, provides up to a 3X increase in data bandwidth performance compared to the previous version of DisplayPort, as well as new capabilities to address future performance requirements of 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 (AR/VR) displays, including support for 4K-and-beyond VR resolutions. Featuring the highly efficient 128b/132b channel coding shared with USB4, DisplayPort 2.0 delivers a maximum payload of 77.37 Gbps across four lanes (up to 19.34 Gbps per lane)—supporting ultra-high display performance configurations such as an 8K (7680x4320) display with 60 Hz refresh rate with full-color 30 bpp 4:4:4 HDR resolution uncompressed, and 16K (15360x8460) 60 Hz display with 30 bpp 4:4:4 HDR resolution with compression. With the release of DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0, all of these high-performance video capabilities are now available to the USB ecosystem.

USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the support organization for the advancement and adoption of USB technology, today announced the publication of the USB4 specification, a major update to deliver the next-generation USB architecture that complements and builds upon the existing USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 architectures. The USB4 architecture is based on the Thunderbolt protocol specification recently contributed by Intel Corporation to the USB Promoter Group. It doubles the maximum aggregate bandwidth of USB and enables multiple simultaneous data and display protocols.

The development of the USB4 specification was first announced in March 2019 by the USB Promoter Group. It is now officially published by USB-IF and available for download here.

Intel is well on its way to making the innovation delivered with Thunderbolt 3 available to everyone. Today, Intel announced that it contributed the Intel Thunderbolt protocol specification to the USB Promoter Group, enabling other chip makers to build Thunderbolt compatible silicon, royalty-free. In addition, the USB Promoter Group announced the pending release of the USB4 specification, based on the Thunderbolt protocol. The convergence of the underlying Thunderbolt and USB protocols will increase compatibility among USB Type-C connector-based products, simplifying how people connect their devices.

"Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification is a significant milestone for making today's simplest and most versatile port available to everyone. This, in combination with the integration of Thunderbolt 3 into upcoming Intel processors is a win-win for the industry and consumers," said Jason Ziller, general manager, Client Connectivity Division at Intel.

While we just recently covered the USB 3.2 specification. The USB Promoter Group has today announced the pending release of the USB4 specification, a major update to deliver the next generation USB architecture that compliments and builds on the existing USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 architectures. The USB4 architecture is based on the Thunderbolt protocol specification recently contributed by Intel Corporation. It doubles the bandwidth of USB and enables multiple simultaneous data and display protocols.

The new USB4 architecture defines a method to share a single high-speed link with multiple end device types dynamically that best serves the transfer of data by type and application. As the USB Type-C connector has evolved into the role as the external display port of many host products, the USB4 specification provides the host the ability to optimally scale allocations for display data flow. Even as the USB4 specification introduces a new underlying protocol, compatibility with existing USB 3.2, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt 3 hosts and devices is supported; the resulting connection scales to the best mutual capability of the devices being connected. "The primary goal of USB is to deliver the best user experience combining data, display and power delivery over a user-friendly and robust cable and connector solution," said Brad Saunders, USB Promoter Group Chairman. "The USB4 solution specifically tailors bus operation to further enhance this experience by optimizing the blend of data and display over a single connection and enabling the further doubling of performance."