PCWorld December 2020

Let me just say it out loud, OK? Apple is full of it. I’m referring to Apple’s claim that its fanless, Arm-based MacBook Air is “faster than 98 percent of PC laptops.” Yes, you read that correctly: Apple officials literally claimed that the new MacBook Air using Apple’s custom M1 chip is faster than 98 percent of all PC laptops sold this year. Typically, when a company makes such a claim, it publishes a benchmark, a performance test or actual details on what it’s basing that marketing claim on. This is to prevent lawyers from launching out of missile silos across the world. Apple’s website restates the claim by stating: “M1 is faster than the chips in 98 percent of PC laptops sold in the past year.” The site also includes…

In mid-November, Google announced a major change to its policy on storing photos and other documents: All will start contributing to your overall storage cap, pushing you to eventually pay for Google’s Google One cloud storage, or risk having files deleted. The changes won’t take place immediately. Beginning on June 1, 2021, any new photo that you take with a smartphone not made by Google will count towards your cap, which is currently 15GB within Google’s free tier. The same is true of any new Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files. Existing photos and documents, however, will not. The change is a major one for Android smartphone users, but can affect iOS users too. Generally speaking, when you take a photo with your Android smartphone, it’s backed up…

Intel claimed recently that its new Iris Xe Max graphics can outperform Nvidia’s GeForce MX350 in gaming, and even top a GeForce RTX 2080 in some encoding tasks. How it does that—through power sharing, and an Intel technology called Deep Link—could make the package of an 11th-gen Core Tiger Lake CPU and an Iris Xe Max GPU a spec to look for in future laptops. Code-named DG1, Intel’s first discrete GPU since 1998’s Intel i740 will appear in mainstream thin-and-light PCs like the Acer Swift 3x, Asus VivoBook Flip TP470, and Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1. The Iris Xe Max faces off against Nvidia’s GeForce MX350 and MX450, both discrete mobile GPUs that split the difference between a gaming-class mobile GPU and the integrated graphics included in mobile Ryzen and Core…

AMD’s market share in notebook processors has reached a new all-time high, according to new market research, thanks to the powerful mobile Ryzen 4000 processors AMD released in March. The numbers were compiled by Mercury Research for the third quarter of 2020, and released on November 3. AMD’s notebook market share, excluding processors sold into the Internet of Things market (IoT) has reached an all-time high of 20.2 percent, climbing by 5.5 percentage points in the past year. AMD’s overall market share (including products for the IoT market and also system-on-a-chip processors, or SoCs) increased 4.1 percentage points in the third quarter, and 6.3 percentage points total over the past year. It now totals 22.4 percent, its highest point since 2007, according to Mercury. With nearly all of the X86 processors…

If Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser fails to open your favorite sites soon, there’s a reason: Microsoft will block those sites from opening in Internet Explorer, and will require them to be opened in Edge instead. Although Microsoft has long tried to get rid of Internet Explorer for security’s sake, the ancient browser clings to 5 percent of the worldwide browser market. Preventing sites from opening within Explorer is a new way for Microsoft to “encourage” users to abandon Microsoft’s legacy browser and adopt Edge instead. The change, however, doesn’t actually mean that you have to stop using Internet Explorer; you just have to stop using the Internet Explorer browser. (We’ll explain.) Microsoft described the changes in a support document, and indicated that the change in behavior will roll out in…

The Porsche Design Acer Book RS is a beautiful laptop with a lot riding on its slim shoulders. With a name like that (Porsche Design is owned by the same parent company as automaker Porsche AG), it is naturally expected to combine performance along with style. The lofty prices—$1,400 for the base model and $2,000 for the “premium package”—also carry some pressure to deliver. Will this product rise to defend its good name? Partner Acer’s considerable skill at making laptops is a solid starting point. Announced in October and available in December, the Porsche Design Acer Book RS does appear to bring sports-car flair. The lid for its 14-inch display is made of 3k carbon fiber for lightness as well as aesthetics. The all-metal, CNC-machined chassis has diamond-cut edges, an…