Subsequently, Sony upgraded hard drives giving users the option for a 1TB drive. However, an extensive library of newer triple-A games means this might not suffice for some users (myself included). Fortunately with later software updates Sony has allowed the PS4 to support SSDs up to 8GB in size if you have a fat wallet. Upgrading your PlayStation 4’s hard drive is not that difficult, but some steps should be followed when installing a new drive....

Enable Remote Tracking, Locking, and Wiping The prospect of losing our smartphones, or having them stolen, fills us with dread. For those that don’t lock their devices (something we’ll get to later), it brings the risk of someone accessing their accounts for nefarious purposes. All of which are good reasons why you should use Google’s ‘Find My Device’ app, which until recently was called Android Device Manager. Once it’s set up, you’ll be able to locate your handset (providing it’s turned on and has a wireless signal) and ring, lock, or wipe the phone....

If you go to HP’s website, the Omen and Victus seem to share the same market space and are available in the same configurations. To someone new to HP’s product line, it could be confusing why there are multiple models for what looks like the same laptop specs. So let’s see if we can differentiate them, and how this generation of the tried and true Omen stacks up… Features and Design The HP Omen 16 is predominantly plastic with what appears to be brushed metal around the edges....

In the case of our evaluation unit, I ran into a problem right from the get-go. When I turned on the computer for the first time, I was greeted with a hard drive error similar to what you might get if you’re trying to boot from a USB or flash drive. I checked the BIOS but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. My next step was to run the HP diagnostics program which told me the hard drive was disconnected or not installed....

Huawei has patented one component used in EUV lithography systems that is required to make high-end processors on sub-10 nm nodes. It solves the problem of interference patterns created by the ultraviolet light that would otherwise make the wafer uneven. Huawei has solved an issue in the last step of chip manufacturing that’s caused by the tiny wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. Its patent describes an array of mirrors that split the beam of light into multiple sub-beams that collide with their own microscopic mirrors....

Instagram will receive a significant fine by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), the Irish independent national authority responsible for upholding privacy and other fundamental digital rights in the European Union as stated by the GDPR regulation. Meta’s social network has to pay more than $400 million for how the company managed children’s data up until last summer. As of writing, the news & media section of the DPC site had not been updated yet, but the EU privacy regulator has confirmed the decision: the huge fine – one of the largest ever imposed by the Irish authority – comes after a lengthy investigation which started in 2020, regarding how the social network managed data of its youngest users between the ages of 13 and 17....

Intel’s six-core solution should nonetheless be ample for gamers and may even be the new go-to solution for budget builders. Those folks would do best to avoid the Z370 chipset considering it’s typically more expensive and only enables overclocking for unlocked parts, though there is not much choice as the moment. As you may realize, AMD was a bit cheeky and somewhat annoying by using B350 and X399 for its Ryzen chipset names....

The i7-3720QM averaged 107.7fps in HandBrake, 10% and 22% slower than the i7-2600K and i7-3770K desktop processors. For a modestly clocked mobile chip, it’s remarkable that the i7-3720QM is slightly faster than the i7-975 Extreme Edition, a three-year-old flagship desktop processor that once sold for $1,000. The i7-3720QM averaged 134.9fps in x264 HD Benchmark’s second pass test, 9% faster than the Phenom II X6 1100T and about equal to the FX-8150....

The clock speed advantage enjoyed by the Kaby Lake series was realized in our first encoding test. Here the 7700K was 7% faster than the 6700K while the 7600K was 6% faster than the 6600K. We are back to 1-2% gains when testing with Hybrid x265, the new Kaby Lake processors didn’t really offer anything new here. Running the x264 HD Benchmark saw the 7700K pull ahead of the 6700K by an 8% margin while the 7600K was just 6% faster than the 6600K....

Anonymous sources tell PC Games Hardware that Intel is preparing to release another significant driver update for its Arc graphics cards in February. Significant changes might also soon come for the company’s graphics control software. The update should drastically improve Arc Alchemist’s performance for games using all graphics APIs. The patch follows a December update that improved the GPU line’s massive disadvantage with DirectX 9 (DX9) titles. One of Arc Alchemist’s main weaknesses is that it doesn’t natively support DX9 because Intel needed to focus its development efforts on DX12....

Intel Core i7 Test System Specs - Intel Core i7 975 EE (3.33GHz) - Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHz) - x6 2GB OCZ ULV Reaper HPC PC3-12800 (CAS 8-8-8-20) - Asus P6T Deluxe (Intel X58) - Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 (1.5GB) - OCZ GameXStream (700 watt) - Seagate 500GB 7200-RPM (Serial ATA300) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) - Nvidia Forceware 263.09 AMD Phenom II X4 and Phenom II X6 Test System Specs - AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (3....

Basemark claims its latest graphics benchmarking software — GPUScore: Sacred Path — is the first to offer cross-platform comparisons. It lets users and businesses directly compare the horsepower of Windows systems, Android devices, iPhones, and more. Typically, benchmark systems only compare PCs, PC components, or mobile devices of the same type for obvious apples-to-apples lineups. Users tend to upload their results to websites like Geekbench, where others can compare them, while developers use them for optimization....

The benchmark result was shared by Jarrod’sTech while reviewing a MSI GE78 HX Raider powered by the i9-13980HX. The laptop is fully kitted out with a 175W Nvidia RTX 4090 laptop GPU, 64GB of DDR5-5600MT/s memory, 240Hz 1600P screen and 99.9WH battery. Cooling is aided by six heat pipes connected to two fans cooling both the CPU and GPU. The laptop also packs MSI’s Overboost that allows the CPU and GPU to combine their power envelope, giving the CPU a total of 250W when the GPU is idling....

The average desktop replacement weighs around 6 pounds or more, sports a Core i7 quad-core chip, at least 4GB of RAM and 500GB of storage, and tons of connectivity. Battery life is not one of their strong points due to the large display and powerful hardware, so most of the time you’ll be looking at around three hours of autonomy or even less. Laptops in this category start around $1,000 but fully-loaded models can easily fetch upwards of $1,500....

HP G62t Despite being a member of HP’s budget-minded G60 family of laptops, the G62T slightly resembles the high-end Envy line in terms of appearance with a stylish matte finish. It has basically everything you could want for the money – you get an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor, DVD burner, 320GB 7200RPM hard drive, 3GB of DDR3 RAM and a 15.6-inch 1366x768 LED display. Some specs upgradeable, including the integrated Intel HD graphics which you can replace with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 discrete GPU....

The Motorola Backflip is a mid-range smartphone offered by AT&T that stands out for its unusual “reverse flip” design and extra touch pad behind the display for scrolling. This Android-powered smartphone is designed around the MOTOBLUR experience and packs some fairly decent specs, including a 3.1-inch capacitive touch screen, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, auto-focus and geo-tagging support, accelerometer, and a 528MHz processor. It’s currently shipping with Android 1.6 but the device is scheduled to get an update to version 2....

Microsoft started rolling out the Windows 11 2022 update, also known as the 22H2 update, in over 190 countries last week, introducing several upgrades and new features to the company’s most recent operating system. But there were also some unwelcome additions. As is always the case with updates, Windows 11 22H2 caused system issues for some users, including Blue Screens of Death during the installation process. There has also been a slew of reports from those who installed 22H2 claiming the update has caused unstable framerates in games—one person said the slowdown was so bad that their games were unplayable....

The main addition of Windows 11 insider build 22567 is the ability to schedule updates for times of the day when the local energy grid is pulling more from renewable energy sources. It uses regional carbon intensity data from electricityMap and WattTime if available. Windows hasn’t rolled out the optional feature to all insiders yet but will expand it based on initial feedback. Another new feature appears to be a follow-up to Microsoft’s subscription information page that rolled out last month....

Lenovo installs plenty of their own software such as the ThinkVantage Toolbox, which is a suite of programs that cover things like system health, security, networking and diagnostics. Lenovo’s custom power management program, Power Manager 3, is also included and set to a medium power / energy saving profile by default. Out of the box, the X220 takes about 47 seconds to boot into Windows and become fully responsive. Intel’s Turbo Boost 2 is also part of the new second generation Core series chips and is designed to better manage workloads by dynamically adjusting individual core speeds depending on the processing power is needed....

At 224 PPI, the display is sharp and provides a good viewing experience for both text and imagery. This IPS panel features excellent viewing angles that make it easy to see at nearly all reasonable positions. Testing the color performance of the Yoga Book is tricky because Lenovo has implemented dynamic contrast that cannot be disabled. This is not good news for creatives who demand perfect color accuracy, as the Yoga Book will change its color output depending on the image it’s trying to display....