Nanoleaf now has Sonic Edition smart lighting panels

If you’re a Sonic the Hedgehog fan and want to level up your home with some unique smart lighting, you’re in luck. Nanoleaf is releasing a Sonic Limited Edition of its Shapes Starter Kit to celebrate the release of the movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – the sequel to the box office smash video game film adaptation.

Nanoleaf is one of the best-known brands in the smart lighting industry. The products come in a series of shapes, which customers can piece together however they like to create an installation that can be hooked onto a wall. Nanoleaf is particularly popular with gamers and streamers, so a Sonic-themed product is quite apt.

The 32 lights included in the pack allow users to build a portrait of either Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles ‘Tails’ Prower or Knuckles the Echidna – the three main characters in the upcoming animated movie. Three colours (Sonic Blue, Tails Yellow and Knuckles Red) are also programmed in the Sonic 2 playlist in the Nanoleaf app to streamline the build process.

Alternatively, if users want something that is not related to the speedy blue hedgehog, they can build the Nanoleaf shapes in a different custom configuration and choose from over 16 million colours.

The panels feature a screen mirror mode, which means that they will reflect the colours shown on a screen in real-time. There is also a rhythm feature, where panels react to sound and music.

The Nanoleaf Shapes Starter Kit features triangular and mini-triangular panels. If that doesn’t suit your tastes, you can opt from a range of styles, including the Hexagonal product, and the rectangular Canvas version. For something a little more sophisticated, there is also the wood-effect Elements lights.

>>>>>> Laptop Battery >>>>>>Hot Products

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti: All you need to know right now

The successor to Nvidia’s top-end GPU, the Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti, was teased at Nvidia’s CES 2022 keynote in early January with a promise that we’d hear more by the end of that month.

As we now know, that didn’t happen. In fact, it wasn’t until the end of March that Nvidia finally released the mammoth GPU.

We cover all there is to know about the top-end Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti right here, from release date and pricing information to confirmed specs.

When was the Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti released?
While we were treated to a glimpse at the top-end Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti during Nvidia’s CES 2022 press conference, not much was actually revealed beyond its existence. Nvidia claimed that we’d hear more about the graphics card in late January – when some had expected the company to release the GPU – but as we now know, nothing was revealed.

In fact, it wasn’t until months later that Nvidia finally released the RTX 3090 Ti. It’s available to buy now following release on 29 March 2022.

How much does the Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti cost?
The standard RTX 3090 was the most expensive card in Nvidia’s collection at $1,499, so it should come as no real surprise that the souped-up RTX 3090 Ti costs even more. In fact, the mammoth GPU comes in with a cool £1,879/$1,999 RRP.

Of course, that’s just an RRP and it’s possible that manufacturers and retailers could choose to charge even more for the top-end GPU as with most other recent releases. It’s available at retailers including Scan in the UK and Best Buy in the US, but stock is going quickly.

It’s undoubtedly a premium graphics card, but considering the packed 24GB of GDDR6X RAM on offer, it’s not designed for gamers – or even consumers, really. It’s aimed more at creative professionals running complex 3D software or editing 8K video, which makes the price tag a little more understandable.

>>>>>> Laptop Battery >>>>>>Hot Products

AMD Zen 3 & Ryzen 5000 Series: Everything you need to know

In the last few years, competition in the components space has exploded into life. While Nvidia and AMD battle it out in the GPU space, the latter has also emerged as Intel’s major rival when it comes CPUs.

Intel remains the market leader, but the Ryzen 5000 Series took performance on the AMD side to the next level. These desktop processors were the first to run on the company’s new Zen 3 architecture, although they’ve since been joined by laptop-focused mobile chips.

AMD typically staggers the release of its new silicon, and that’s no different this time around. In April 2021, the company revealed the new Ryzen 5000 G-Series, which focus on gaming and content creation, before new budget CPUs arrived almost a year later. Here’s everything you need to know.

AMD Zen 3 (Ryzen 5000) release date
The Zen 3 and new Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processors were officially launched at AMD’s online event on 8 October 2020. This first wave of desktop chips then went on sale from 5 November.

>>>>>> Laptop Battery >>>>>>Hot Products

Intel Arc mobile graphics card: Everything you need to know

Intel announced Intel Arc, a new brand of graphics technology that looks to compete with the likes of Nvidia and AMD on its own website in 2021, showcasing a video teasing what to expect from the first graphics card in the series at launch in 2022.

The company held true to its word, with the reveal of the first Intel Arc graphics cards in late March 2022. Though desktop cards are in the works, Intel’s first graphics cards are focusing on laptops, bringing gaming prowess to ultrabooks.

The question is, what should we expect from the tech giant? Is the Intel Arc range a competitor to the hugely popular Nvidia RTX 30 Series and AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series? We round up all the latest Intel Arc GPU news right here.

When was the first Intel Arc graphics card released?
Intel initially confirmed that the first of many Intel Arc graphics cards, codenamed Alchemist, was set for release sometime during Q1 2022, which runs from January until March 2022.

However, just days after the CES 2022 announcement, Intel removed all mentions of a Q1 2022 release from its Intel Arc page on its website, suggesting that the release could potentially slip later into the year.

Intel then officially lifted the lid on Intel Arc at an event on 30 March, focusing on Arc A-series mobile GPUs, and more specifically, the affordable Arc 3 series.

Intel confirmed that laptops featuring the new A350M and A370M graphics cards will be available for pre-order today, with more powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7 mobile graphics cards set for release in the “early summer”.

>>>>>> Laptop Battery >>>>>>Hot Products

New Ryzen 5000 Chips Mean Faster Chromebooks That Last Longer

AMD introduced the Ryzen 5000 Series for laptops back in January 2021, but now they’re coming to Chromebooks. The Ryzen 5000 C-Series is designed for high-end Chrome OS devices, despite Google’s software usually being associated with low-cost laptops.

There are a four new chips that manufacturers can pick between: Ryzen 7 5825C, Ryzen 5 5625C, and Ryzen 3 5425C and Ryzen 3 5125C. Core counts range from two to eight and clock speeds from 3.0GHz to 4.5GHz, but several specs are consistent across the lineup.

The underlying Zen 3 architecture, which debuted with the Ryzen 5000 desktop CPUs back in 2020, is one common factor. All four CPUs use a 7nm manufacturing process, despite the Ryzen 6000 Series having shifted to 6nm. You also get the older Radeon Vega integrated graphics, rather than the latest RDNA 2.

This table shows how they compare:

AMD chose not to release Ryzen 4000 CPUs for Chromebooks, meaning the previous generation are now two years old. As you might expect, AMD is advertising big performance gains compared to 2020’s Ryzen 3000 C-Series. According to internal benchmarking, the top-spec Ryzen 7 5825C is up to 67% faster than the Ryzen 3 7300C for web browsing and up to 107% faster for multitasking.

As usual, the Ryzen 5000 C-Series chips aren’t available to buy as standalone components. Instead, they’ll be integrated into Chromebooks from a range of companies, with two devices already announced.

Acer Chromebook Spin 514
At the same time as the Ryzen 5000 C-Series announcement, we got our first look at the Chromebooks they’ll power.

Acer’s Chromebook Spin 514 is the company’s mid-range convertible. The new CPUs combine with 8GB of RAM here, while you also get a 128GB SSD. This helps power a 14in Full HD LCD display, which offers touch support in addition to the 360-degree hinge.

>>>>>> Laptop Battery >>>>>>Hot Products