#pc-hardware

#pc-hardware

Arm Holdings is poised to make a big splash in the chip game, perhaps a bigger one than initially expected, with $15 billion in annual revenue from the new chip currently being projected through 2031.

US PC shipments are set to fall by 13 percent this year thanks to the ongoing memory and storage crisis, with budget PCs hardest hit. Memory and storage costs will see at least a 60 percent increase during Q1 2026, compounding last year's rises of 40 to 70 percent.

After Google released its TurboQuant compression algorithm, which can purportedly drastically reduce the amount of memory required for certain AI workflows, stock prices for memory manufacturers dropped significantly.

Really, though, the show just confirmed what was apparent since RAM prices skyrocketed over the last few months, driven by demand from AI datacenters. As Samsung's marketing leader, Wonjin Lee, told Bloomberg at CES: "There's going to be issues around semiconductor supplies, and it's going to affect everyone. Prices are going up even as we speak."

When Falcon initially debuted the FragBox in 2004, it was notable for being a genuinely small PC that used full-sized parts. That's still a main selling point today: It can still fit in large NVIDIA GPUs, including the beefy RTX 5090, as well as either Intel's latest Core Ultra chips or AMD's Ryzen 9000 CPUs. A huge 280mm radiator sits at the top pulling out hot air, and it also serves as an All-in-One (AIO) liquid cooler for the CPU.

According to IGN and TechCrunch, sources say Intel is going to compete by developing a custom Intel Core G3 "variant or variants" just for handhelds that could outperform the Arc B390 GPU on the chips it just announced. IGN reports that by using the new 18A process, Intel can cut different die slices, and "spec the chips to offer better performance on the GPU where you want it."

In my opinion, the biggest issue with gaming laptops is their high barrier to entry. They're expensive, with many costing several thousand dollars. It makes sense, though, since you're (usually) packing top-tier hardware, a high-quality display, and a robust cooling system into a compact machine.

Like all nice things, the best gaming PCs on the market can cost a pretty penny, but that's not the case today. Amazon just dropped the 2025 ASUS TUF T500 PC by 11% which brings its $900 price to $800 - an impressive $100 discount. There are no complicated coupon codes to enter or long checkout steps to worry about, either. Just add the PC to your cart, and the discount applies automatically.

If you're weighing your options, consider some Presidents Day offers on iBuyPower's pre-built desktops, including the $1,899 RDY Element 9 Pro R07 and the $2,099.99 Slate - both of which are stocked with high-end AMD processors and GPUs that can tear through most games at 1440p with fast frame rates. They also come with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB of storage, along with a mouse and keyboard.

"Many people in the PC industry said, well, if you want graphics, it's gotta be discrete graphics because otherwise people will think it's bad graphics," Macri said at last year's CES. "What Apple showed was consumers don't care what's inside the box. They actually care what the what the box looks like. They care about the screen, the keyboard, the mouse. They care about what it does."

They won't have an Nvidia graphics chip next to an Intel CPU, but rather an Nvidia N1 system-on-chip at the helm - and overnight, a Lenovo leak revealed that the company has built six laptops on the upcoming N1 and N1X processors, including a 15-inch gaming machine. Dataminer Huang514613 posted those names to X, including 14 and 16-inch models of the Ideapad Slim 5, two variants of the 15-inch Yoga Pro 7, and a Yoga 9 transforming 2-in-1.

The Ryzen 7 9850X3D features the same 8-core, 16-threads design as the 9800X3D, as well as the same 96MB L3 cache that makes these chips especially suited for gaming workloads. Thanks to the higher level of binning, the 9850X3D can now hit 5.6GHz clock speeds, up from the 9800X3D's 5.2GHz, at the same 120W TDP. This is an almost 8% increase in clock speed, and should make the 9850X3D the fastest gaming CPU in AMD's lineup, and consequently, on the market.

At CES, I did what you're not supposed to do: I brought a pre-production laptop to use as my primary workhorse during a hectic event. The unproven rifle in question is the new Arm-based Asus Zenbook A16. It's a 16-inch laptop that weighs less than a 13-inch MacBook Air and comes with a high-end Snapdragon X2 processor. Going into CES with a Windows on Arm laptop running an unreleased processor sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Lenovo has brought a slew of updates to its Legion and LOQ line of gaming laptops for CES 2026. The refreshed laptops are all built around Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs. The new Legion 7a is both thinner and lighter than the previous generation and is aimed at gamers, creators, and working professionals. Lenovo says the new 7a will be powered by AMD Ryzen AI 400 CPUs and RTX 50-series GPUs, delivering up to 125W of total system power.