Laptop Batteries, Chargers and AC Adapters

While most gamers are interested in Nvidia’s high-end RTX 30 Series (if not the RTX 40 Series due in the coming months), there’s still a huge market for entry-level graphics cards that don’t cost the earth.

With that in mind, Nvidia is said to be prepping a new entry-level graphics card that could hopefully retail at around $150 – and what’s more, a Videcardz report gives us a good idea of specs and when the GPU will be released.

Here’s everything there is to know about the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 right now, from release date and pricing speculation to leaked specs.

When will the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 be released?
According to the Videocardz report outlining the upcoming graphics card, the budget-focused Nvidia GTX 1630 is currently scheduled for release on 31 May 2022.

Of course, that’s yet to be confirmed, but with Nvidia set to take to the stage at Computex 2022 in little under 24 hours, it’s likely that we’ll hear more about the graphics card then.

We explain how to watch the Nvidia keynote at Computex 2022 separately if you’re interested in watching the event live, though be warned; it’s either a very late, or very early, start depending on where you are in the world.

How much will the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 cost?
As an entry-level graphics card, it should come as no surprise that Nvidia will want to price the GeForce GTX 1630 competitively – especially in a market in desperate need of entry-level options.

With top-end graphics cards still hard to come by, let alone at RRP, the budget specs of the GTX 1630 should mean less (or no) interest from crypto-miners. That’s the hope, anyway!

While there aren’t any specific pricing rumours about the GTX 1630 right now, it’s worth noting that its sibling, the GTX 1650, has an RRP of just $149, so we’d expect something similar for the GTX 1630.

Here’s how much the existing GTX 16 series costs:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (GDDR5): $149
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (GDDR6): $149
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super: $159
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660: $219
We’ll update this section once we hear anything else, or get confirmation from Nvidia.

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The iPad Air 5 brought with it some key upgrades, including an improved 12Mp front-facing camera, 5G connectivity and the same M1 chipset as the iPad Pro and Apple’s MacBook line, but it’s safe to assume that Apple is hard at work on the next-gen iPad Air behind closed doors at Apple Park.

While it’s early days, we cover all there is to know about the iPad Air 6 right now, including release date and pricing speculation based on previous releases and our wishlist of features we’d love to see on the next-gen tablet.

When will the iPad Air 6 be released?
While you might be excited by the idea of the prospect of an update to the popular iPad Air 5, there’s some bad news: you’ll likely be waiting a while.

Unlike Apple’s iPhone range, which is updated every year, the iPad range has a longer upgrade cycle, meaning you shouldn’t expect the next iPad for quite some time. What we can do, however, is predict when to expect the tablet to appear based on previous releases.

The iPad Air 3 was revived back in March 2019 after a five-year hiatus, with the iPad Air 4 following 18 months later in September 2020. There was a similar pattern with the release of the iPad Air 5, which came 18 months after the release of the iPad Air 4 in March 2022.

With all that being said, it’s safe to assume that Apple has an 18-month upgrade cycle for the iPad Air, leading us to believe that the iPad Air 6 will be released in September 2023.

We’ll update this section as soon as we hear any concrete news, but based on the above, we wouldn’t expect that for a while yet.

If that’s too far, take a look at our iPad Air 5 (2022) review to see whether it’s worth buying.

How much will the iPad Air 6 cost?
The iPad Air 4 saw a sharp price hike when it was redesigned in 2020, but we can’t see Apple rising the price any further – it’s very much a premium tablet at its current £569/$599 starting price, after all.

The iPad Air 5 matched the pricing of its predecessor (and was actually £10 cheaper in the UK!) and bar any currency exchange rate fluctuations, it’s unlikely that the iPad Air will change in price.

For reference, here’s how much the current iPad Air range costs:

iPad Air (64GB, Wi-Fi): £569/$599
iPad Air (256GB, Wi-Fi): £719/$749
iPad Air (64GB, Wi-Fi & Cellular): £719/$749
iPad Air (256GB, Wi-Fi & Cellular): £869/$899
To see how the tablet compares to the rest of the iPad collection, take a look at the best iPad.

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Apple announced its M2 processor at its 2022 WWDC event, claiming the new silicon can eke out 18% greater performance compared to the M1 chip in current Macs.

Like the M1, the M2 is based on a 5-nanometre process. It has more than 20 billion transistors (25% more than M1), an 8-core CPU, and up to a 10-core GPU.

What does that actually equal in real life? Well, Apple claims the M2’s CPU and GPU are 18% and 35% faster respectively over M1.

The new silicon also boasts of a 40% faster 16-core neural engine capable of nearly 16 trillion operations per second. It also will be able to support 100GB/s memory bandwidth.

For people using the computers it should result in better performance for those CPU-heavy applications used in music production, video rendering, 3D modelling, and similar. Of course Apple said performance trounces Windows computers, boasting of twice the performance of a 10-core PC laptop at the same power level.

Similarly, Apple said the GPU in the M2 can run 2.3x faster than “the latest PC laptop chip” and “matches its peak performance at the same power level”.

This taunting is usual but the M1 was so good that we won’t be surprised if this proves to be true.

New hardware

This M2 update comes after the M1 was launched in November 2020. Since then, Apple has added the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra to the line-up. M2 will be able to support up to 24GB of LPDDR5 memory, leaving the door open for possible similar beefed-up iterations for desktop Macs soon.

The M2 will debut in the newly announced MacBook Air that takes its design cues from the latest MacBook Pro, losing the wedge shape but gaining a deep blue colour option and larger display. These laptops will sell running macOS Ventura, the latest version of Apple’s Macintosh operating system.

Given the clear and huge performance and battery life gains the M1 gave over the Intel MacBooks that came before it, we’ll have to wait and see if the new M2 will feel like such a leap forward.

It’s adding in a higher bandwidth video decoder that can support 8K H.264 and HVEC video, and will better run Apple’s ProRes video engine.

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Apple focused heavily on iOS 16 at its annual developer conference in June 2022. Among the headline features are a redesigned, highly customisable lock screen, with less intrusive notifications, improvements to Focus and more.

But while Apple spent a significant amount of time talking about iOS 16, it didn’t mention many of the smaller changes, some of which are well worth knowing about.

So without further ado, here are the best features we’ve spotted that we think you’ll love when you update to iOS 16 later this year. For more on the big software update, take a look at the latest iOS 16 news.

1. The Fitness app is available for all
   iOS 16 marks the first time that iPhone users who don’t own an Apple Watch will be able to fully use the Fitness app, with access to the same three-ring system that tracks calories, standing hours and exercise. Instead of getting that data from a Watch, it’ll use the iPhone’s built-in sensors.

Of course, it won’t be quite as accurate, and you won’t see advanced metrics like heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, but it’s a nice app that’ll let you keep an eye on your general fitness goals over time.

1. Privacy Access History
   While the iPhone and iPad can let you know when your mic, camera and location are being accessed by apps, it’s only handy if you catch the icon while it’s in use, with no way to look at what has been accessing tech recently – until iOS 16, that is.

A new privacy access history feature will give you a list of all the apps that have recently accessed your camera, microphone and location data, and it’ll be accessible by tapping the icon in the control centre when it appears.

Goodbye secret location-tracking apps!

1. Locked Photo albums
   Whether you want to protect photos of sensitive documents or you’ve got a lot of, ahem, spicy selfies, iOS 16 will let you lock down those images so no-one else can see them.

As the name suggests, locked photo albums allow you to password protect specific albums within the Photos app to keep them away from prying eyes.

1. Haptic keyboard support
   While a relatively small new feature, iOS 16 will add subtle haptic feedback when typing on the keyboard, providing a more tactile experience when composing tweets and sending texts – though it can be disabled if you’re not a fan.

If it sounds familiar, it should be; it’s a feature that has been available on Android for years, and it’s great to see it finally make the jump to the iPhone.

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Search around online and you’ll find the general advice is that you don’t need antivirus on your iPhone or iPad. And while the reasons for that advice are sound, the real answer is a bit more nuanced than an outright no.

Apple has designed iOS – and iPadOS – in such a way that it is very difficult for malware, including viruses, to penetrate its defences. This is a good thing, but remember that modern antivirus software does far more than detecting and blocking viruses.

In fact, calling it ‘antivirus software’ does it a disservice as the threats go way beyond viruses these days. The latest security software protects your device – and you – from a much wider range of dangers.

The people who create viruses are in a constant battle with the companies that make the operating systems (such as iOS and iPadOS), and have realised that it it’s far easier to trick the user into handing over their password and payment details than trying to make some malware that will achieve the same result.

After all, the criminals are after your identity and your money: that’s the end game.

So, this means that running an ‘antivirus’ app on your iPhone and iPad can be a very good idea indeed as it can protect your from yourself!

Here are some of the things that security apps can do – even on Apple devices:

• Warn you of potentially fake websites that might try to steal sensitive information
• Warn you of dangerous links in messages and emails
• Manage your passwords for you so you can have a strong, unique password for every website (and not use the same one for all accounts)
• Increase your privacy online by using a VPN
• Protect your identity by giving you early warning if any of your personal info is found on the dark web
• Protect your photos and videos so only you can access them

So while they won’t protect your iPhone or iPad from viruses (because they don’t need to), they are far from pointless and you should certainly consider installing one of them.

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