Lenovo today kicked off the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show with a full range of exciting products to show how "different innovates better." Today's consumers expect their devices to be tailor-made to meet their needs and fit their usage habits, whether at home, in the office or on the go. Today's announcement solidifies Lenovo's continued dedication to innovation through the lens of every individual and the demand of their distinct life.

"Our approach to innovation is to ensure we're constantly evolving and understanding how technology is infused within every individual, business and home," said Gianfranco Lanci, president and chief operating officer, Lenovo. "We're dedicated to understanding our customers and will never stop creating better experiences, whether PCs for work, play or gaming, next generation AR/VR innovation or within the smarter home."

ECS is pleased to showcase brand new mini PC LIVA Z family series products at 2017 CES. we are sincerely invite you to explore our latest innovations and new technology ,for more info, please refer to attached press release . The display products of ECS include LIVA Z Mini PC, LIVA ZE Mini PC, LIVA Z Plus and Mini PC. Among them, LIVA Z Plus Mini PC will be displayed in Exhibition Hall Live Demo, showing Intel 7th generation Kaby Lake latest performance and emphasizing the rich use situation.

We will display dual screens that display both HDMI and DisplayPort independent monitors, with extra monitors allowing you to have more space for multitasking. At the same time, it presents the seamless connection of life style. The built in 802.11ac is three times faster than the old version of the Wi-Fi standard networking speed. You can easily share the network and provide peripherals device for network roaming through mobile hotspot function. It is compatible with any Bluetooth device and realizes wireless entertainment free life with Bluetooth 4.0. LIVA Z Plus minicomputer is equipped with the latest Intel graphics technology and makes the family entertainment and games step into a new realm. The exhibition will also show the popular game LOL(League of Legends) by using high-resolution settings smooth screen. You can enjoy the lifelike photos and there will be no distortion of the situation.

Regret not taking advantage of the free upgrade offer to Windows 10? A loophole in the Windows 10 Free Upgrade offer lets you freely upgrade your Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 installations to the latest Windows 10, five months after the free upgrade offer expired. Apparently, Microsoft is keeping the free upgrade offer open to people who use assistive technologies. These could include people who use screen narrators or magnifiers. You can now simply head over to Microsoft Accessibility website, and on checking an undertaking that you do use assistive technologies, avail the free Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft reportedly isn't checking if you actually use these features.

An upcoming build of Windows 10 operating system, build 14997, reportedly features a component ominously named "gamemode.dll." This sparked off speculation of the operating system featuring a special runlevel that's optimized for PC gaming. It's likely that in game mode, the operating system prioritizes CPU, memory, and GPU allocation to games being run, and sheds unwanted processes to free up memory.

Sources tell "Windows Central" that the game mode could allocate hardware resources to a game with the efficiency of an Xbox One console, which means only the bare minimum services needed to correctly play the game will be enabled. At this point it's unclear if the Game Mode will benefit only games built on the UWP, or even the vast Win32 ecosystem of games distributed by Steam, Origin, and UPlay.

GIGABYTE introduced a new line of compact desktops designed for serious gaming, the BRIX Gaming GT series. Measuring 276 mm x 384 mm x 128 mm (DxHxW), this desktop has the chops for gaming at 1440p or even 4K Ultra HD, although GIGABYTE is marketing this as the ideal desktop for VR gaming in the living room. Its case features a chimney-type common air channel that pushes hot air from top-vents. A 400W custom-design PSU powers the machine.

Under the hood is an Intel Core i7-6700K quad-core processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2133 SO-DIMM memory, a 240 GB M.2 SSD, an additional 1 TB 2.5-inch HDD, and a vacant 2.5-inch drive bay. Audio is care of a Realtek ALC1150 HDA codec, backed by TI Burr Brown OPA2134 AMP circuit over the headphones jack. Networking includes an Intel 3165NGW dual-band 802.11ac WLAN with dual Bluetooth 4.0 interfaces, and Killer E2400 gigabit Ethernet. Other connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports (of which one is type-C), four USB 3.0 ports (of which one is type-C, total two type-C ports), and 6-channel audio. Windows 10 comes pre-installed. GIGABYTE didn't reveal pricing.

ASUS today announced Xonar U7 MKII, a high-quality USB sound card and headphone amplifier. The compact Xonar U7 MKII is an upgraded version of the acclaimed Xonar U7 and features true 7.1-channel,192kHz/24-bit high-definition (HD) surround-sound output for incredible audio performance. Xonar U7 MKII comes with ASUS Sonic Studio, a software utility with an intuitive single-screen interface that provides complete control over a wide range of audio features, and Sonic Radar Pro, a feature for gamers that visually maps in-game sounds in first-person shooter (FPS) games to provide a competitive advantage.

ASUS Xonar U7 MKII retains the compact USB-powered design that was a highlight of the original Xonar U7 and delivers true 7.1-channel, 192kHz/24-bit HD audio, outperforming most available USB-powered audio devices. With a high-quality Cirrus Logic CS4398 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and exclusive ASUS Hyper Grounding technology, Xonar U7 MKII has a 114dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), ensuring ultra-pure sound for the best listening experiences. The small size of Xonar U7 MKII takes up minimal room on a desk, and makes it easily portable, so laptop users can enjoy great-sounding audio anywhere.

If you are using a modded BIOS on your AMD Polaris card, and try to install AMD's excellent Crimson ReLive drivers, you might be in for a surprise. This is because AMD re-enabled their BIOS signature enforcement with these latest drivers. Basically, if you modded your card's BIOS in search of higher overclocking, more voltage or customized fan settings, the hash in your BIOS is no longer recognized by AMD the driver, since it differs from the factory values.

On detecting such a modded BIOS with an invalid checksum, the Crimson ReLive driver won't load, meaning that the system will run with the VGA fallback driver only, without 3D acceleration and Radeon Settings will not start. However, you can force your modded BIOS to load on Crimson ReLive if you're willing to jump through some hoops.

Realtek have recently updated their High Definition Audio drivers. Version 2.80 of the drivers brings some overdue improvements to the table, at least when it comes to the time frame of their release: Windows 10 is now supported, and there are some mysterious "customizations" added. Codecs ALC255, ALC235 and ALC867 where also added, and support for Windows 8.1 was improved.

You can grab the drivers from Realtek's own site, right here.

After announcing earlier this week the impending release of their VR Go backpack, ZOTAC has now made pricing details available: $1999 will net you the ability to strap a PC to your body so you can freely engage with enemies or friends alike in VR environments.

The ZOTAC VR GO can work autonomously for up to two hours, feeding on two Li-ion batteries rated at 95Wh (6600mAh). The batteries can be hot-swapped and charged separately, featuring a DC12V-out for powering the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. When not in use as a backpack to play virtual reality games, the VR GO can be used like a normal desktop computer: its form-factor allows it to be placed on a desk either vertically or horizontally and all the ports will remain accessible. It isn't very heavy, either, though at 4.95 kilograms, your mileage may vary.

ZOTAC International, a global manufacturer of innovation, is pleased to introduce an entirely new way to experience immersive VR with the ZOTAC VR GO backpack. Since making the impact at Computex 2016 with the first ever mobile VR experience, ZOTAC has improved the design, performance, and endurance of the original backpack.

"The VR GO is an exciting innovation for everyone to finally enjoy VR the way it is meant to be experienced," says Tony Wong, CEO, ZOTAC International. "We want to provide the best of both worlds to our users: Powerful VR in high resolution and fast framerates while enjoying true mobility in a compact, wearable form. The VR GO is the best way to VR."

So everyone wants to crash at your place to watch the latest shows on your 4K Ultra HD TV, you can even "chill" with that special someone, if you can take your eyes off 4K content; and it turns out you even spent $500 on buying a new 4K monitor for your PC, because you demand no less than 3840 x 2160 pixels in front of your face; and among the first things you do (besides heading over to Interfacelift for some great wallpapers), is Netflix. Only Netflix has other ideas.

Apparently, you need a 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processor (or possibly AMD's upcoming "ZEN" processor), Windows 10 operating system, and Microsoft Edge web-browser to get 4K to work right on your PC, according to a Tom's Hardware report. Two factors could be pushing these steep-requirements - HEVC CODEC hardware acceleration, and hardware-level DRM features being introduced with "Kaby Lake." HEVC could prove crucial for Netflix as streaming 4K in existing H.264 format could quadruple bandwidth consumption over Full HD. HEVC encoding lets Netflix minimize the bitrate greatly. For Netflix's DRM component to access the CPU's hardware DRM features, it needs Windows 10, older versions of Windows won't work. If these requirements aren't met, Netflix will simply play your content in Full HD. No soup for you.

Today at Autodesk University, HP Inc. unveiled the world's first mini workstation designed for users in CAD and other compute-intensive industries. The stylish, new HP Z2 Mini Workstation delivers breakthrough power and versatility and at only 2.3" high is 90% smaller than a traditional business-class tower. With this new offering, HP is positioned to extend its workstation leadership by delivering a new category of workstation that offers superb performance, elegance and efficiency.

HP Z Workstation products have become the industry standard for customers demanding a full performance workstation. Building off the success of the HP Z240 SFF, the HP Z2 Mini Workstation is twice as powerful as any commercial mini PC on the market today and has the ability to support six displays right out of the box. The HP Z2 Mini was designed for the millions of CAD users demanding smaller hardware without compromising acoustics and performance and mission-critical reliability.

AMD today released yet another version of their Software Crimson driver. The version, now updated to 16.11.3, highlights support for the imminent and highly awaited Dishonored 2. The fixed issues list is a bit shorter than last time: according to AMD, with this version, "Steam and Origin will no longer terminate when using AMD X-Connect Technology on unplug.

Barring that, no more new highlights or new features. This release also packs all of the previous 16.11 driver branch fixes and game support. As always, you can download the drivers from the links below.Download: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.3 Beta for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD today released the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.2 hotfix, highlighting an improved Shader Cache storage limit, which will allow the Shader Cache feature to store more shaders for extremely demanding games that may have previously hit the old storage cap.

Apart from that, not much is new, since it includes all of the previous 16.11 branch driver fixes and optimizations. The software release also includes an updated "Known Issues" list, which you can read after the break. As always, you can grab the drivers right here at TechPowerUp - just follow the links bellow.Download: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.2 Hotfix for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD today released the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.1 Beta, which brings support for the impending Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. The software also includes a CrossFire profile for Titanfall 2 under DX11. The long list of fixes and known issues are best left after the break. As always, you can grab the new drivers right below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.1 Beta for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

Futuremark, the Finnish software development company best known for its 3DMark benchmarking suite, has just announced the availability of another benchmark suite. Aptly named VRMark, this suite teste your system's ability to run VR games and experiences, since the performance required for VR is much higher than for typical PC games - just consider that the recommended frame-rate for an optimal VR experience stands at 90fps. Run VRMark to see if your PC has what it takes to deliver a great VR experience on the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. VRMark benchmark tests run on your monitor, no headset required. If your PC passes, it's ready for the two most popular VR systems available today.

NVIDIA has issued a Hotfix driver, version number 375.76, which deals with some issues identified in their previous WHQL driver version, 375.70. Namely, the hotfix drivers fix occasional flickers on high refresh-rate monitors, as well as GIF artifacting.

The hotfix also includes all of the previous updates from NVIDIA's WHQL driver release, such as driver optimization, SLI support (provided the game engine supports multi-GPU), and GeForce Experience optimal settings for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Dishonored 2, and Titanfall 2, and include optimization for "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition" and "Obduction VR." Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 375.76 Hotfix Driver for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit

ZOTAC International, a global manufacturer of innovation, is pleased to introduce MAGNUS ERX480 as the world's first AMD powered Mini PC equipped with Polaris Architecture. The award-winning ZBOX MAGNUS Gaming Mini PC series, renowned for whisper quiet performance, brings a refreshing level of power and speed for every gamer. "We are always aiming to provide powerful solutions available to a wide audience and the MAGNUS ERX480 could be it" said Jacky Huang, Director of Mini PC.

MAGNUS is designed for gaming and entertainment. Hosting power that surpasses the requirements for experiencing virtual reality, MAGNUS is an ideal solution for both high-end gaming, premium entertainment, and much more. "The Radeon RX 480 with Polaris Architecture changes the gaming hardware dynamic with an effective cost-performance combination. We're excited to partner with ZOTAC, a well-established gaming mini PC manufacturer, to bring together the world first and most powerful AMD based gaming mini PC equipped with a Radeon RX 480" said Spencer Pan, AMD Corporate VP and President of Greater China.

The two prestigious families of MSI and 2K GAMES have joined forces to present you a bundle you can't refuse. By purchasing any of the eligible MSI Intel GAMING X99/Z170/H179/B150 Motherboards or Windows 10 GAMING Desktops, you will get the MAFIA III game for free! Six years in the making, MAFIA III is the latest masterpiece by 2K GAMES and Hangar 13. Presenting a vast Open-World gaming experience with the legendary cinematic narrative the MAFIA series are known for. Featuring incredibly vivid facial animations and tense action, MAFIA III pledges to provide the most engaging gaming experience yet.

Fierce gunfights, close quarters combat and nail-biting car chases form some of the most thrilling chapters of this action masterpiece. MSI GAMING Motherboards & Desktops will keep you at the edge of your seat with Audio Boost 3 providing supreme audio components to support 8-channel HD audio output. While Military-class audio enhancer NAHIMIC will fully immerse you into the heart of the action with a full 3D surround experience. Gamers will feel the explosions, the gunshots and the screams of enemies biting the dust like they are there in person.

AMD, CyberPowerPC, and Oculus VR announced a breakthrough Oculus VR-ready gaming desktop priced at just US $499. At the beginning of 2016, you needed to spend a minimum of $949 to build a desktop that meets Oculus VR minimum requirements. Under its hood, is an AMD FX-4350 quad-core processor, Radeon RX 470 4 GB graphics card, 8 GB of dual-channel memory, 1 TB of HDD storage, and a DVD drive. The desktop also includes a keyboard and mouse. The only other piece of hardware you need to spend on is the Oculus Rift HMD itself.

CyberPowerPC is also selling a slightly more premium variant in the Gamer Xtreme VR desktop, priced at just $699. For $200 more, you get an Intel Core i5 "Skylake" quad-core processor, Radeon RX 480 8 GB graphics, pre-installed Windows 10, and WiFi WLAN adapter, besides all that you get with the $499 variant.

AMD at the Canalys Channels Forum announced the first PCs featuring 7th Generation AMD PRO APUs (formerly codenamed "Bristol Ridge PRO"). Built for business, AMD PRO APUs deliver increased computing and graphics performance, improved energy efficiency, while providing a secure and stable platform to protect customers' IT investments.

"In the past two years we made incredible progresses in the commercial client segment. Since its inception in mid-2014, AMD PRO processor unit shipments increased more than 45 percent enabling businesses all over the world to simplify IT with secure, high performance, reliable solutions" said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Business, AMD. "We are thrilled to have PC market leaders like HP and Lenovo expanding their use of AMD technology in their business client portfolios."

Digital freedom activists are up in arms over a discovery by Lenovo Yoga 900S and Yoga 710S users that you simply can't replace the pre-installed Windows 10 Signature Edition operating system with one of your choice, such as Linux. Redditor BaronHK tried installing Linux on their notebooks and couldn't, so a support ticket was raised with Lenovo to guide them to install Linux. Lenovo responded that the notebook features Windows 10 Signature Edition, and that "it has been locked as per Lenovo's agreement with Microsoft."

On the Yoga 900S and 710S, Lenovo deployed a proprietary soft-RAID setup that cannot be recognized by Linux installers. You can't even change the SATA controller mode in the BIOS setup program. Even Windows installations don't succeed without special F6_install drivers by Lenovo, and the company only provides drivers for Windows. Lenovo cannot argue that its hardware specifically requires Windows, because Live images of Linux, (such as Ubuntu) function just fine on these notebooks. It's just that you can't make your Live session permanent by installing Ubuntu on the device. Lenovo has since gone into full damage control and denial. It removed the thread from its support forums (view a cached copy), and even changed its explanation from "we blatantly admitted to anti-competitive practices that could cost us a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit" to "we simply don't have drivers for our deliberately unusual RAID setup."

AMD Wednesday released the latest version of Radeon Software Crimson Edition. Version 16.9.2 (beta). These drivers come with day-one optimization for "Forza Horizon 3," the latest addition to Microsoft's smash-hit race sim. The drivers also lack the AMD Gaming app by Raptr, the app that started out at AMD's equivalent to NVIDIA GeForce Experience. This move shaves the installer size by about 35 MB.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.9.2 for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

Microsoft recently sparked a stir when it was reported that the company will support upcoming CPU architectures by Intel and AMD only on Windows 10, with the keyword being "support" and not "compatibility." This means that Microsoft will offer customer-support and likely serve updates to Intel "Kaby Lake" and AMD "ZEN" machines only running Windows 10 (and its enterprise variant Windows Server 2016, based on the NT 10 kernel), and not older versions of Windows. The processors themselves are compatible with any x86 operating system, Windows or *nix, 32-bit or 64-bit. HotHardware dug out the likely causes of this decision.

Apparently, new power-management and SMT features are behind the decision. With its "Kaby Lake" microarchitecture, Intel is introducing a new power-management feature called Speed Shift Technology. This lets the processor adjust its clock-speed to match processing loads at response time of 15 ms. This likely requires OS-level hooks, so the on-die power-management components can poll for processing loads and accordingly raise or lower clock-speeds 66.66 times each second, at no CPU cost. In its ZEN microarchitecture reveal, AMD too spoke about fine-grained, multi-domain clock-gating (≠ power-gating) on its "ZEN" based processors, such as "Summit Ridge."

If you're holding out on Windows 7 as your PC gaming platform, you may also want to hold out on your current hardware for a long while. Microsoft is making good on a warning it made earlier this year, that it would not provide support to users of upcoming processors on older Windows operating systems. At their launch, Intel's 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processors and AMD "Summit Ridge" and "Bristol Ridge" will receive support from Microsoft only on the Windows 10 operating system. Older Windows versions will not receive drivers from Microsoft that support the new platforms. This is similar to Microsoft cutting off support for Windows XP from Intel's 3rd generation Core "Ivy Bridge" processors.

Without platform support, your Windows installation won't utilize many of the CPU features introduced with "Kaby Lake" and "Zen" and will likely run on a bare-minimum compatibility mode. This effectively cuts off PC enthusiasts from using older Windows versions on new hardware, such as the still-popular Windows 7. Non-Microsoft operating systems such as the latest *nix distributions such as ChromeOS, SteamOS, and OS X are still fully compatible with the upcoming chips.