If Microsoft sells Surface devices based on AMD, Qualcomm, and Intel Core processors, as expected, it could represent a new milestone for Microsoft: microprocessor diversity.
While it’s true that Microsoft has used Nvidia Tegra chips to power the Surface 2 and Surface RT, the lineup has otherwise been powered by Intel’s Core microprocessors. Now, Microsoft is expected to build Surfaces around AMD’s mobile Ryzen and a version of Qualcomm’s 8cx chip. If so, it will be an enormous stamp of credibility for both chips.
Although Microsoft hasn’t confirmed its product plans in advance of its announcement on October 2, AMD’s mobile Ryzen chip will likely appear inside one of two versions of the Surface Laptop, either the standard 13-inch version or a new, larger 15-inch option. Photos leaked by Evan Blass, a Twitter user who specializes in product leaks, shows a Surface on ARM product, similar to the Surface Pro 7, that probably includes a modified version of the Qualcomm chip. That tablet appears to have been redesigned, with a pen tray and a pair of USB-C ports.
A big break for AMD and Qualcomm
Both AMD and Qualcomm have struggled to crack Intel’s near monopoly in the laptop market. AMD’s mobile Ryzen—which is based on it’s older Zen+ architecture, rather than the Zen 2 architecture used by its desktop parts—has barely appeared, except in just a few laptops such as the Acer Aspire 5, which houses a mobile Ryzen 3.
Qualcomm, too, has been largely unable to move beyond partnerships with Lenovo and Samsung into the broader notebook market. Early versions of the Snapdragon chips that Qualcomm shipped for PCs, such as the Snapdragon 855, couldn’t keep up with Intel’s Core, though the battery life far outpaced what Core laptops could offer.
Nevertheless, Qualcomm’s vision for always-on connectivity would seem to naturally intersect with Microsoft’s vision of productivity across a variety of form factors. “I hear Qualcomm has been anxiously waiting to get a Surface win for the Always Connected PCs after designs with other OEMs,” said Kevin Krewell, a chip analyst with Tirias Research. “I was surprised Microsoft waited so long to design in Qualcomm.”
Like other analysts interviewed for this story, Krewell said that he had no direct knowledge of what Microsoft would announce. “Considering the low power of the Snapdragon processor, it could be perfect for an extremely thin device,” Krewell added. “I’d like to see it used in more innovative designs.”
Qualcomm has shown off its new 8cx in an attempt to overcome that stereotype and prove that it’s as fast as a Core i5. That Core i5 that Qualcomm tested against was Intel’s “Whiskey Lake” architecture; in the meantime, Intel has released two new architectures, Ice Lake and Comet Lake, that promise to be faster.
AMD, meanwhile, is chugging along in the mobile space, somewhere in the gray area between viability and irrelevance. According to Mercury Research, AMD’s mobile market share is about 15 percent or so, essentially coasting on the legacy of its A-series chips: quasi-competitive performance at a low price. The new mobile Ryzen, whatever the architecture, would help give AMD a more competitive footing. An AMD partnership at least would make sense, given that AMD SoCs have powered the recent Xbox generations as well as the upcoming Project Scarlett, analyst Krewell pointed out.
Oddly, the chip we know the most about is the Snapdragon 8cx, with the performance numbers that Qualcomm has provided. We can’t say with how well AMD’s latest mobile Ryzen will perform, but it likely will be well behind Intel’s Ice Lake and Comet Lake chips.
Both AMD and Qualcomm have to start from somewhere, however, and Surface would represent a high-profile win for both. Each also brings a unique approach to the Surface lineup: connectivity and long battery life for the Snapdragon 8cx, value for the mobile Ryzen.
“With Microsoft including AMD and Qualcomm processors in its new Surface lineup, it’s sending the clear message that silicon diversity is important to its future,” said Patrick Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights. “Both AMD and Qualcomm bring some unique features to the table that Microsoft wants to offer its customers. AMD brings strong GPU and overall notebook performance and Qualcomm brings great connectivity and battery life.”
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If you’ve been paying attention to the system requirements for PC games over the last year or so, you’ll probably notice that a lot of them are asking for some pretty beefy specs.
If you were to take these requirements’ word for it, you’d believe that a $40,000 PC is necessary to play all the best PC games maxed out at 4K. Luckily, you don’t need to follow these system requirements to the letter, as a lot of them are a bit overblown.
However, the component that gets the most overblown hype in these system requirements is system memory, or RAM. We’ve started to notice that a lot of games – most recently Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – are recommending gamers to have 16GB of memory in their rigs. But, is that actually necessary?
Well, luckily, we have some hardware lying around that we can see whether you truly need to cram a bunch of new RAM into your gaming PC.
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(Image credit: Infogram; Future)
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(Image credit: Infogram; Future)
You don’t actually need 16GB of RAM – yet
To test whether or not you actually need 16GB of RAM to get some gaming done, we shoved an 8GB kit of RAM – two 4GB sticks for dual-channel performance – into our test bench with an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and an RTX 2080 Ti just to remove any other bottleneck. Oh, and we ran all of our tests at 4K (3,840 x 2,160).
We ran through the canned benchmarks in both Metro Exodus and Middle Earth: Shadow of War, two of the most demanding PC games around right now. And, it will probably shock you, but if you have 16GB you’ll get slightly better frame rates, but not by much.
In Metro Exodus at 4K and max settings (including ray tracing), we got an average of 36 frames per second (fps) with our 16GB system, whereas that number dropped down to 34 fps when we went down to 8GB. That’s a 6% difference, so it’s nothing to scoff at, but it probably isn’t enough to ruin your experience. Even the 1% lows were within this 5-6% window, with the 16GB kit hitting a 24 fps low, while the 8GB kit bottomed out at 23 fps.
The difference was even less pronounced in Middle Earth: Shadow of War. In that game, our 16GB PC got an average of 75 fps, whereas our 8GB system scored 74. This is such a small difference that it’s totally within the margin of error.
(Image credit: Tobias Dahlberg from Pixabay )
But, that might be ending soon
So, users with 8GB of RAM should be fine in the near future, especially if you’re not trying to play graphical powerhouses like Battlefield V or Metro Exodus at 4K. Hell, even when we were playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for ‘work’ we only noticed our rig using 7GB of system memory, and that was with several Chrome tabs open in the background.
However, back when we were testing Borderlands 3 performance, we did notice that game chewing through system memory like it was so much bubble gum. That game, even with minimal tasks running in the background, will chew through 12GB of system memory, and that’s even with an RTX 2080 Ti, which has 11GB of video memory available.
Like most things, it’s all going to boil down to which games you’re trying to play and the quality settings you’re willing to live with. Even if you’re playing the latest and greatest AAA games, if you’re willing to turn down some settings every now and then, you should be fine with 8GB of RAM for a while yet.
If you’re the kind of person to lose their mind whenever you can’t run a game maxed out at 120 fps, you’re going to want to pick up that 16GB RAM kit – but we suspect most people in this category have already done so.
For most people, especially if you just want to play some Overwatch to escape from the horrors of your everyday life for a little while, 8GB is more than enough, and we wouldn’t recommend spending that cash on a new RAM kit.
But, even if you aren’t comfortable with 8GB of RAM, and you want to upgrade to be safe, at least RAM is cheaper now than it has been in a few years, so now would be the time to upgrade. Who knows when it will be this cheap again?
Welcome to TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2019. We’re celebrating the most powerful gaming platform on Earth with in-depth articles, exclusive interviews and essential buying guides that showcase everything PC gaming has to offer. Visit our PC Gaming Week 2019 page to see all our coverage in one place.
Companies around the world prefer to have multiple databases in multiple locations over multiple platforms, according to a report unveiled at the Percona Live 2019 event in Amsterdam. Respondents from over 85 countries participated in the survey, many of whom offer cloud and SaaS solutions to startups, growing businesses, and established enterprises.
Over half of the respondents avoid the public cloud and opt for alternatives that allow for easy deployment and scaling
(Image credit: Percona)
While over half the respondents run up to 25 databases instances in production, some larger organisations even have over 10,000 instances. The report suggests that as the companies scale up operations, they need databases to interact with more and varied applications: “Each application may or may not play well with an existing database. This has led to database specialisation. The prevalence of database options is leading more companies to pick open source database technology based on the application use case.”
Those who list vendor lock-in as a critical reason to adopt open source are on average 10% less likely to buy support from a vendor
(Image credit: Percona)
The survey doesn’t put a figure on the use of open source solutions as compared to the proprietary ones, but it does say that over 80% use more than one open source database. While, open source MySQL databases dominate in open source database adoption, the survey points out that PostgreSQL and PostgreSQL-compatible databases have shown an increase in adoption in the last few years. Surprisingly 43% run both MySQL and PostgreSQL, which are both mature relational databases that are often seen pitted against each other.
Most people rely on the out-of-the-box MySQL Community installs, with MariaDB in second and Percona in third
(Image credit: Percona)
Another surprising trend is that despite the number of options on offer, relational DBMS continue to dominate, with over 90% of the respondents using them. Interestingly, 73% choose to use both a relational database as well as a NoSQL purpose-built database. The survey claims that when it comes to NoSQL, MongoDB Community is the clear winner. But note that while the survey does track usage of other NoSQL databases as well, it doesn’t directly compare their adoption with MongoDB.
Smaller companies are more likely to use Google than Microsoft, but larger companies prefer Microsoft to Google
(Image credit: Percona)
Cloud is a different story
The survey points out an interesting trend; while most survey respondents are well-informed about using open source technology in the cloud, they often find themselves tied to cloud vendors with a single solution and large monthly costs. Over half the respondents avoid public clouds, which is dominated by AWS.
The report goes on to point out that despite the popularity of containers and the advent of orchestration options like Kubernetes, there aren’t many who are using containers to run databases. In fact, the survey discovered that only a third actually put Kubernetes into production and an even smaller percentage use Kubernetes for databases. Another interesting highlight in the report is how changing the software license influences adoption criteria or behavior.
Besides the report, Percona also plans to make the raw data available to allow anyone to look for different trends: “We want to provide the community with a way to get this data, and use it and to make all open source databases better,” says Matt YonkovitPercona’s Chief Experience Officer: “We want them to see like “oh, this is where this industry is going; here’s my target demographic; here’s the concerns; here’s what I should focus on, here’s what I should change my model to”.
Those looking to learn more can download Percona’s full report for free.
Join The Full Nerd gang as they talk about the latest PC hardware topics. Today’s show dives into Brad’s XFX Thicc II Ultra and Sapphire Nitro+ reviews, Radeon Image Sharpening landing on RX Vega cards, Adam’s journey so far into RTX vs high refresh rate gaming, and so much more. As always we will be answering your live questions so speak up in the chat.
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Amazon is putting consumers at risk by listing and recommending cameras with security flaws that leave their owners exposed to hackers and snoopers according to a new Which? investigation.
The consumer association carried out extensive tests on six wireless cameras and found serious security flaws despite the fact that these devices have thousands of positive reviews and were even able to earn a coveted “Amazon’s Choice” recommendation. To make matters worse, many of these devices are marketed as being suitable for use as baby monitors.
The investigation found a number of issues including weak passwords and strangers being able to remotely control these cameras to spy on users and access their unencrypted data.
Which? Was first alerted to these problems by industry experts and comments in Amazon reviews including a rather shocking one from a father who said he had “chills down his spine” after hearing a mysterious voice coming from a camera next to his child’s crib after it was apparently hacked.
Connected camera security issues
Which? carried out lab tests on four cameras suspected of having security issues: the Victure 1080p, Vstarcam C7837WIP, ieGeek 1080p and the Sricam 720p.
It was quite simple for the testers to gain root access to the Victure 1080p which would enable a hacker to take complete control of the camera and view footage captured from the device as they pleased. The Vstarcam C7837 had a default username that was set to the basic ‘admin‘ as well as an easily guessable default password.
The ieGeek 1080p and Sricam 720p cameras both use the same app and because of this, both devices share the same security flaw. Which? found that WiFi passwords were sent unencrypted over the internet when a user entered them on both devices. This would enable an attacker to access the user’s home WiFi network to see what users are doing on the web and even gain access to data stored on other devices in their home.
Some of the cameras the consumer association looked into even had their passwords and usernames written clearly on the side of the product and users frequently uploaded pictures of them alongside reviews. This opens up users of these devices to potential attacks regardless of whether or not the posted the picture as once the information is out there, hackers can easily use it to their advantage.
Which? has asked Amazon to remove these products from its store but when the group reached out to the e-commerce giant, the company declined to comment.
We’ve also highlighted the best VPN services of 2019
If you’re in the market for a cheap laptop deal, now’s a great time to find a good price, regardless of whether you’re shopping for work, school, or home. To make finding the machine that’s right for you easier, we’ve collected the cheapest prices and best deals of the week in addition to a selection of some of our perpetual cheap laptop favorites. This week features an assortment of workhorses, versatile machines, and basic configurations perfect for students.
We know that shopping for a new laptop can be an often arduous task of comparing storage, memory, processing power and features, but our guide below will help you find the best laptop deals and get the most for your money. From huge names like Dell, Asus and Lenovo to lesser known brands, you’re sure to come away happy with these bargains.
If you’re a gamer, you’d be better suited checking out our selection of cheap gaming laptop deals, as the models on this page are not usually built with gaming in mind. We’ve also rounded up a fine collection of cheap laptop offers in the UK too.
Plus, with Black Friday 2019 on the horizon, now’s an excellent time to go bargain hunting for the laptop of your dreams. Who knows? You might stumble upon a great holiday gift in the process.
The best cheap laptops at a glance
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 i5
Lenovo 11.6-inch Chromebook
Samsung 11.6-inch Chromebook
Evoo 11.6-inch
Ematic 14-inch
Dell Inspiron 11 3000
Asus Chromebook C423NA
Lenovo Chromebook S330
Samsung Chromebook 3
Asus Chromebook C423
Asus VivoBook 15.6-inch
Acer Aspire 5 15.6-inch
Acer Chromebook 15 CB515
Lenovo IdeaPad 330 15.6-inch
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 i3
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 i5
Lenovo Ideapad 330S
HP 15 Graphite Mist 15.6-inch
Lenovo IdeaPad 330 15.6-inch
Acer Spin 5
The best cheap laptop deal of the week
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 i5 laptop | $489 $429 at Walmart We don’t see stock lasting long on this one, especially with a $60 discount. This will be a very slick laptop for multitasking multiple applications at once thanks to 8GB of RAM, 8th-gen i5 quad core processor and a 128GB SSD. It’ll have a good swing at some light media editing and gaming too with these specs.View Deal
More top cheap laptop deals of the week
Lenovo 11.6-inch refurbished Chromebook | $93.99 at Best Buy This refurbished Chromebook isn’t winning any awards for looks, that’s for sure. But if you’re after something to cover the bare basics on the tightest of budgets, then Chromebooks are often a better pick over the cheapest Windows laptops. This model only has 16GB of storage, but you can always expand via a USB drive. It comes with 4GB of RAM so you’ll be able to do some light multitasking too. View Deal
Samsung 11.6-inch Chromebook | $219 $159 at Walmart If you want a new Chromebook instead of a refurbished one this is a nice model from Samsung. Again, it’s 4GB of RAM (decent) but with a small 16GB of storage which is fine if you’re mainly using this for work, but any extensive storage would need a USB drive. View Deal
Evoo 11.6-inch touchscreen laptop | $129 at Walmart Save $60 off the MSRP. If you’re after a cheap replacement laptop or just something for basic work tasks like document editing, web browsing, and email then this very portable laptop should keep you going for an incredibly low price. It’s even better value when you consider it’s a convertible touchscreen too. 32GB of storage isn’t great though and you’ll struggle to download too many future Windows updates with that much capacity. View Deal
Ematic 14-inch laptop | $249 $169 at Walmart Another cheap laptop here that’s more for light work. It costs a bit more, but comes with 4GB of RAM instead of two, so it’ll run things a bit faster and will let you multitask a tad more. Like some of the above deals though, it only has 32GB of storage, so it will struggle with future Windows updates eventually. Available in blue, black, pink, red and purple at this price. View Deal
Dell Inspiron 11 3000 laptop | $249 $199 at Dell As we’ve mentioned before, 32GB on a Windows laptop isn’t very future-proof, but 64GB on a laptop deal like this one is much more workable. A $50 discount at Dell today means this super portable 11-inch laptop is perfect for light work, document editing and web browsing. 4GB of RAM is solid too at this low price. View Deal
Lenovo Chromebook S330 | $199 at Walmart This 14-inch Chromebook is much cheaper today than its old $299 MSRP and could be just right for you if you’re after a cheap laptop for basic activities. Unlike 32GB Windows laptops, you don’t have to worry about not being able to install oversized future updates. With 4GB of RAM, the Chrome OS will easily handle plenty of tabs too. View Deal
Samsung Chromebook 3 | $279 $237.77 at Amazon When you’re in the market for a cheap laptop to get some light schoolwork done, or even just to browse the web, a device like the Samsung Chromebook 3 is an obvious choice. And you can save $42 on the Samsung Chromebook 3 today with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. View Deal
Asus Chromebook C423 | $252 at Newegg This 14-inch Chromebook costs more than the cheap Windows laptops mentioned earlier and only has 32GB of storage too. But seeing as it runs on the super light and fast Chrome OS, that’s nowhere near as much of an issue as it is with a low-capacity laptop running the bloated Windows operating system. Add in a HD display, dual-core Intel Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM and you have a very capable Chromebook that will power through multiple basic tasks at once with ease. View Deal
Asus VivoBook 15.6-inch laptop | $399 $259 at Walmart We do love the brushed steel effect design on the chassis of this surprisingly cheap laptop. The internal spec isn’t too shabby either with 4GB of RAM, a quad core processor and a 128GB SSD. A great laptop deal for handling the basics with a bit of extra speed too. View Deal
Acer Chromebook 15 CB515 | $399 $307 at Amazon The Acer Chromebook 15 CB515 isn’t the most powerful laptop on the market, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s powerful enough to get through pretty much everything the Chrome browser can do, which is all you need out of a Chromebook. And, that big discount helps. View Deal
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 laptop | $499 $349 at Microsoft This is a great price for a laptop/tablet convertible with decent spec inside too. You’re getting an 8th-gen i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. If the touchscreen element of this 2-in-1 laptop doesn’t interest you, then you can get similar spec for standard laptops for less money elsewhere on this page. View Deal
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 i3 laptop | $379 $349 at Walmart There’s some serious spec here in this Walmart laptop deal for under $350 thanks to the $30 discount. 8th-gen i3 processor, 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. It’s handle basic tasks like document editing, web browsing and media playback easily and a fair few at once thanks to the RAM. If you need a bit of an extra kick (maybe you’re editing a bit of media or doing some light gaming) you can get the same laptop equipped with a quad core i5 processor for $399 further down this page. View Deal
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 i5 laptop | $489 $429 at Walmart We don’t see stock lasting long on this one, especially with a $60 discount. This will be a very slick laptop for multitasking multiple applications at once thanks to 8GB of RAM, 8th-gen i5 quad core processor and a 128GB SSD. It’ll have a good swing at some light media editing and gaming too with these specs.View Deal
Lenovo Ideapad 330S | $407.99 at Amazon In the US you can get the Ideapad 330S with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD for just over $400. This is a good performer for the price, and a decent laptop for day-to-day tasks.View Deal
Lenovo IdeaPad 330 15.6-inch laptop | $469.99 at Newegg Save $210. The IdeaPad range from Lenovo is a solid choice for any laptop user and this model has been built with speed and multitasking in mind thanks to the 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. This laptop deal will expire soon though, so act fast if you want to save. View Deal
Acer Spin 5 | $599.99 at Microsoft Microsoft has just knocked $150 off this popular 2-in-1 convertible laptop. And considering touchscreen models are usually extra expensive anyway, that’s an excellent deal. The internal spec impresses throughout too with 8GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and an 8th-gen i5 processor. View Deal
Where to find the best laptop deals in the US:
We’ve compared prices on some of our favourite cheap laptops and run through the details on why we recommend them further down this page. But if you’d like to browse the latest laptop deals directly from your favorite retailers we’ve included a list of the most-recommended stores directly below.
Here we have one of the few budget laptops with a processor nearly equivalent to a MacBook Pro from a couple of years back, that is, if you opt for the Intel Core i5 configuration. The best part? Among the best Acer laptops right now, it’s roughly half the cost of its Apple-branded rival. Now given that it sells at a range of different prices, the Acer Swift 3 can be an obtuse purchase, but lucky for you, the midrange model will get you by just fine.
CPU: Intel Atom x5-Z8350 | Graphics: Integrated Intel HD Graphics | RAM: 4GB | Screen: 10.1-inch HD (1,280 x 800) LED touch display | Storage: 64GB
Tablet and laptop in one
Sizable hard drive
Tiny size could be tough
This convertible laptop has always been about function over form. For one minuscule transaction, you’re getting a tablet equipped with an included keyboard and even a fingerprint scanner for more secure logins. Along with reliable performance and a magnesium-alloy chassis, it’s built to last – not to mention, one of the best Asus laptops you can buy when you’re on the budget.
CPU: 1.5GHz Intel Celeron 3205U | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics | RAM: 4GB | Screen: 15.59-inch, HD (1,920 x 1,080) touchscreen | Storage: 32GB SSD
Stunning battery life
Attractive, fanless design
Trackpad feels clunky
While it may be outclassed by the Pixelbook and the Samsung Chromebook in terms of sheer power, the Acer Chromebook 15 can still pack a wallop while providing battery life that is frankly out of this world. It’s rare that a laptop can truly provide all-day battery, but in our independent battery tests, Acer’s Chromebook lasted an astonishing 17 hours – on top of providing enough power to get your work done online. If you’re looking for a 15-inch Chromebook that will give you the most bang for your buck, look no further.
CPU: 1.44GHz Intel Atom x5-Z8550 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 400 | RAM: 4GB | Screen: 10.1-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,200 resolution), IPS touchscreen | Storage: 64GB flash storage (plus 128GB with microSD)
Insanely thin and light
Keyboard surprisingly accurate
Woefully underpowered
Dated microUSB port
If you’re looking for a Lenovo laptop, the Lenovo Yoga Book, and the Windows 10 version of it in particular, is the sort of futuristic fodder you would find in an episode of Black Mirror. It has a keyboard that doubles as a Wacom touch panel and, best of all, it’s cheap as hell. Now, of course, that comes with the caveat of a weak Intel Atom processor, but the rest of the Lenovo Yoga Book should go down in the history books.
With its slick lines and a slim silhouette, the Acer Chromebook 14 makes for a subtle, snazzy laptop. Although its display isn’t the most attractive we’ve seen, it’s still acceptable for full HD. On top of that, the keyboard and trackpad adhere to the principle of ‘it just works.’ The battery life is satisfactory as well despite falling a bit south of Acer’s 12-hour claim in real-world use.
Windows 10X will be Microsoft’s new operating system for dual-display laptops, according to information procured by veteran (and usually reliable) leaker Evan Blass. Microsoft is holding an event in New York City on Wednesday, October 2, where Windows 10X is expected to be shown along with a raft of new Surface hardware, leaked by Blass on Monday.
Blass tweeted the leak with a few tantalizing details: “Not pictured here: dual-screen Surface powered by a new version of the platform, Windows 10X— designed for dual- and folding-screen devices—which runs desktop applications in containers.”
EVLeaks Evan Blass
That last bit is especially interesting, as it suggests Microsoft will be taking a new, virtual-machine-like approach to multitasking with dual-display devices. Anyone using two or more displays with Windows right now knows you can already move application windows from one display to the next. It’s possible that containered applications will be easier to manage on less powerful ARM-based machines, for instance, or (as The Verge suggests) devices running applications from the cloud rather than from local storage.
Soon afterward, we saw the Asus Project Precog concept at Computex, as well as Lenovo’s Yoga Book C930, which combines a 10.8-inch main display with a second e-ink display that can be used as a drawing or typing surface, the latter via a virtual keyboard.
Asus
Asus beats other PC vendors to the punch with its dual-display ZenBook Pro Duo.
In the summer of this year Asus debuted the ZenBook Pro Duo (shown above), with a 15.6-inch main display and a 14-inch landscape secondary display fitted above the keyboard. Soon afterward we also saw HP’s Omen 2XS dual-display gaming laptop, with a similar primary-secondary display design.
Meanwhile, rumors have swirled about Microsoft’s own dual-display take on the two-screen trend, reportedly a Surface. Whatever it actually will be, we expect to see it on Wednesday; stay tuned for our coverage.
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Asus