PC Sales Have Increased for The First Time in Six Years

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July 16, 2018

PC Sales in Q2 2018 — Screen Capture from IDC

With smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices becoming more important in everyone’s daily life, traditional PCs are not the only go-to devices people use like the once were. However, according to two marketing research firms (Gartner and IDC), the shipments of PCs are growing in the 2nd quarter of 2018, first time in 6 years.

There are some differences in the results of the actual shipments for each research firms. For example, IDC’s data has included Chromebooks, but Windows Tablets (similar to the Surface Pro) are not counted. On the hand, Gartner excludes all Chromebooks and non-Windows Tablets, but still counts Windows Tablets.

According to IDC, HP shipped the most computers to the customers, at 14.8 million units. This is a 7.6% increase from the 2nd quarter of 2017. The second place was taken by Lenovo (+Fujitsu), which had 13.7 million shipments, another 5.4% increase from last year. Dell also had a 9.0% bump in shipment quantities to 11.2 million. The total PC shipments worldwide in Q2 2018 were standing at 62.2 million, a 2.7% improvement.

It is the same story in Gartner’s results, with Lenovo, HP and Dell at the top 3 spots, but Lenovo (+Fujitsu) shipped more units this time. Most large companies had recorded at 3.0% of increase in numbers, when compared to Q2 2017. And the overall PC shipments worldwide improved by 1.4%.

It is believed that the increase in shipments is mostly powered by businesses. Gartner’s analyst thinks, “In the business segment, PC momentum will weaken in two years when the replacement peak for Windows 10 passes…”. We may not see this kind of growth in the future, after businesses have already updated their machines.

For more information, you can visit IDC’s website or Gartner’s website.

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Our Store First Giveaway Is Live Now! Join to Win The Prizes

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Anson

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July 15, 2018

Unboxing Treatment Store Giveaway

To celebrate the launch of our store, we decided to host a giveaway (worldwide). We will be giving away one of our beautiful T-Shirts to each of the winners. Two winners will be selected randomly.

The giveaway starts on 15th July and ends on 29th July, a two-week participation period.

For more information, you should visit our store’s giveaway page.

Good Luck!

2x Unboxing Treatment Store T-Shirts Giveaway

Apple Finally Updates The MacBook Pros with The Much-Needed New Intel CPUs

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Anson

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July 13, 2018

Apple MacBook Pro 2018 — Photo from Apple

Before today, Apple’s 2016 MacBook Pro lineup was still using the old dual-core Intel 7th Generation processors. With most of the Windows laptops, even budget models, got updated to the latest 8th gen processors with 4 to 6 cores. The MacBook Pros were easily outperformed by those laptops. Now, Apple finally responded and launched the new MacBook Pro 2018 with new CPUs, more RAM and True Tone display.

In terms of dimensions and weights, everything remains the same as previous generations for both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. There are still four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the devices. Apple claims the butterfly keyboards on the new MacBook Pros are quieter now, and hopefully more durable.

The most important improvement for the 2018 lineup is definitely the 8th Generation processors. For the 13-inch models, you now get a quad-core Intel Core i5 CPU clocked at 2.3 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.8 GHz at standard. It can be upgraded to a quad-core i7 at 2.7 GHz to 4.5 GHz. The 15-inch models have a more powerful 2.2 GHz/2.6 GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 and can boost to 4.1 GHz/4.3 GHz. Also, you can upgrade the 6-core i7 to a 6-core i9 with all cores running at 2.9 GHz, and Turbo Boost clock at 4.8 GHz. All processors should have hyper-threading available.

Other hardware do get updated too. 13-inch MacBook can have up to 16 GB of RAM and 2 TB of SSD storage, while 15-inch can have up to 32 GB of RAM and 4 TB SSD. Internal GPUs, dedicated GPUs and battery capacity also receives a slight spec bump. The Retina Display now supports True Tone technology. The new MacBook Pros add support for “Hey Siri”, due to the inclusion of Apple’s own T2 chip, which is the first in Apple’s laptop lineups.

Pricing remains the same for the base models at $1799 USD (13-inch) and $2399 USD (15-inch) and available for purchase starting today. For more information, you can visit Apple’s product page or press release.

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Google Chrome Is Going to Get The Biggest UI Redesign in Years

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Anson

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July 12, 2018

Google Chrome Canary Redesign

Google has been actively pushing its Material UI Design to most of the services/products, such as Android OS and Gmail. Google Chrome’s overall design has not been overhauled for a few years. And today, Google has released an update to the Chrome Canary browser, giving the browser a refreshing look.

In this version of Chrome Canary (69.0.3489.0 canary), you could expect visual changes from the omnibox suggestion bar, pinned tabs, tab shapes and colors. There is no more solid boundaries between each tab. Tabs are only separated by color difference and a ” | ” now.

Google Chrome Canary Redesign

Everything inside the browser becomes a lot simpler and cleaner. All buttons and address bar are circles or have rounded corners.

Apart from visual difference, there are no words for performance or speed improvements. The new UI design is definitely a welcome change for Google, which allowing Chrome to finally match with other modern applications in terms of design/look. We should be able to see the new updates rolling out to the public in the coming months, after bugs have been fixed in the Canary version.

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Microsoft Introduces The $399 USD 10-inch Surface Go Tablet

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Anson

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July 10, 2018

Microsoft Surface Go Tablet — Photo from Microsoft

After the discontinued Surface 3 tablet in 2015, Microsoft’s new Surface devices always feature a larger 12.3-inch screen and a much higher price tag. Today, Microsoft is aiming to compete with cheaper iPads/Tablets in the market with the new Surface Go tablet.

From the exterior, the Surface Go does not look much different from its larger brothers, apart from the slightly rounder corners. It just like a miniature version of the Surface Pro. The 521 grams/1.15 pounds, 8.3 mm thick magnesium body has the signature built-in kickstand. It gets a 10-inch display in a 3:2 aspect ratio, with a resolution of 1800×1200. The PixelSense display also supports up to 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity using the Surface Pen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krRRskzHWFE

Inside the Surface Go, an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y processor, accompanied with 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB or 128 GB of internal eMMC/SSD storage. The CPU is a dual-core (4 threads) 7th generation model, which similar models are used to power less resource-hungry ChromeOS laptops. The 5 mega-pixel front facing camera is capable of Windows Hello Facial Recognition. The table only has one USB-C 3.1 port for both charging, data input and video output. An microSDXC card slot and a 3.5 mm headphone jack can also be found.

The Wi-Fi version of the Surface Go with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB eMMC storage will cost you $399 USD (MSRP). Adding an additional $150 USD will double both RAM and storage sizes. Pre-orders start today and tablets will be shipped in August. Accessories, such as Surface Go Type Covers and bluetooth mouse, are also available. LTE versions with higher storage capacity are expected to come out in the near future (late 2018).

For more information, you can visit Microsoft’s blog.

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Seagate Announces New 2.5-inch BarraCuda SATA SSD for The Mainstream

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Anson

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July 5, 2018

Seagate BarraCuda SSD — Photo from Seagate

Seagate is known for its high-capacity and fast mechanical hard drives in the industry. It only released the FireCuda Hybrid HDD, with a SSD cache to speed up frequently used applications. Seagate does not involve too much in the consumer SSD market, although it has the Nytro Series Enterprise SSDs available. Now, Seagate announces its latest BarraCuda SATA SSD to the public.

The BarraCuda SSD is using the standard SATA 3 6Gb/s interface, with a 2.5-inch form factor. The drives will have four different storage capacities, including 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. 3D TLC NAND flash is used for the SSD, probably from Toshiba. The exact model of the controller is yet to know.

For performance, the BarraCuda SSD is rated to have sequential read and write speed at up to 560 MB/s and 540 MB/s. Both 4K random read and write IOPS are at 90,000. Smaller capacity drives may have slightly less write performance at 530 MB/s. All models come with a 5-year warranty and have a MTBF of about 1.8 million hours. The 2 TB SSD has up to 1067 TBW (Total Bytes Written) and 1 TB at 485 TBW, 500 GB at 249 TBW,250 GB at 120 TBW.

Seagate decides to launch the BarraCuda SSD on Amazon Prime Day 2018 exclusively for 36 hours (July 16), with limited supply. Wider availability around the globe will be started in September. The 1 TB SSD will cost $249.99 USD, 500 GB at $129.99 USD and 250 GB at $79.99 USD (MSRP). For more information, you can visit Seagate’s product page.

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Light Is Going to Release A Smartphone with 9 Cameras in 2018

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Anson

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July 4, 2018

Light 9-Camera Smartphone Prototype — Photo from The Washington Post

If you have followed tech news in recent years, you would probably know the weird-looking and expensive Light L16 Camera. It is an Android-powered portable camera system, with 16 camera modules in different focal lengths. According to The Washington Post, Light will be releasing a multi-lens smartphone in late 2018, and currently working on a prototype with 9 cameras.

Most flagship smartphones now features a dual-camera system, which are generally used to capture depth data for portrait/bokeh photos, or monochrome pixels for sharper images. The 9-camera array used by Light are all located on the back. It can take photos at resolution up to 64 megapixel and have better low-light performance.

If the Light’s upcoming smartphone have similar capabilities from its big brother L16 camera, it would be a huge step forward for mobile photography. The L16 can offer up to 5x optical zoom for loseless zoom-in, and provide a more detail depth map for bokeh effects. However, Light would need to cut the designing and manufacturing cost for the smartphone down a lot, because the L16 retails for $1950 USD.

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Unboxing and Review of Seagate BarraCuda 1TB HDD (ST1000DM010)

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Anson

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Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

Although Hard Disk Drive, aka HDD, is not the speed champion in the storage market anymore, its higher capacity and cheaper price still allow HDD to stay alongside much faster Solid-State Drives. In this review, we are taking a look at the Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB HDD.

Specifications

[table id=428 /]

Unboxing

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

The packaging of the HDD may change depending on your locations and resellers. The front of the box has a Seagate logo on top and a photo of the internals of a hard drive.

There are both Seagate and Synnex (warranty provider in Hong Kong) service hotlines at the back, in case you need any technical support.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

Not much are shown on the sides of the box. At the bottom, a sticker indicating both the model number and serial number is found.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

As with any other HDD manufacturers, the Segate BarraCuda 1TB is also protected by an anti-static bag, sitting securely on a plastic tray.

Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB HDD

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

The front of the HDD gives you all the necessary information about the drive, including the model name, capacity and country of origin. Multiple safety and regulatory labels are printed on the front as well.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

Standard 3.5-inch hard drive mounting holes can be located at the sides of the drive.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

A green PCB is at the back of the drive, which houses all the drive’s controller and the 64 MB of cache. The SATA 3 connector provides up to 6 Gbps of total bandwidth to the HDD.

Review

Testing Methodology

To test the performance of the solid-state drive, we use three well-established storage benchmarking software. They are CrystalDiskMark, ATTO Disk Benchmark, as well as AS SSD Benchmark.

CrystalDiskMark can measure both sequential and random 4KB read/write speeds with a queue depth of 32. ATTO Disk Benchmark can test how the drive performs across different transfer block sizes, mostly in a sequential environment. AS SSD Benchmark can provide both normal read/write speed and the IOPS performance of the drive.

CPU: Intel Core i5-8400 @ 2.9 GHz (65W TDP)
Motherboard: ASRock Z370 Killer SLI

Performance

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

In the CrystalDiskMark test, the BarraCuda HDD performed reasonably well in terms of sequential read and write . It reached speed of up to 202.6 MB/s for read and 191.8 MB/s for write. However, the drive fell short in random 4K operations, at less than 2 MB/s.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

The results are pretty much the same with AS SSD benchmark. The sequential speeds were similar at around 185 MB/s, while 4K random speeds topped at 1.45 MB/s.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

The BarraCuda HDD got at most 372 IOPS and a score of 52 in our testing. IOPS determines how a storage device deals with small capacity but large volume files. For reference, a SATA SSD can have IOPS from 50,000 to over 200,000, which is about 125 times higher.

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

In ATTO Disk Benchmark, the HDD achieved the advertised speed, when the file size increased from 4 KB. The drive has a maximum read and write speed of about 203 MB/s and 198 MB/s respectively.

As expected, the BarraCuda HDD or any mechanical HDDs would not do as well as SSDs when handling random small data. When compared with the famous Western Digital Blue 1 TB HDD (its review here), the BarraCuda does fairly good with slightly faster read and write performance.

Conclusion

The Seagate BarraCuda 1TB HDD performs reasonably well when compared with traditional spinning hard drives. The sequential speeds can average at about 200 MB/s, but drop significantly in random operations.

The hard drive comes with a 2-year warranty, with rated workload limit of 55 TB per year. The drive should be durable enough for the average consumers. I would still recommend using a SSD for the OS drive, because of the faster random speeds. The BarraCuda 1TB HDD has a MSRP of $49.98 USD, and only costs around $44 USD at the time of this review. There are different capacity options for you to choose, from 500 GB up to 8 TB.

You can purchase the HDD from your local/online resellers or the links below from Amazon and Newegg.

Amazon US: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB HDD (ST1000DM010)
Newegg US: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB HDD (ST1000DM010)

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Support this website simply by shopping in Amazon. It will give us small kickbacks, if you use the above affiliate links to make any purchases, which will help us grow.

Specifications

Unboxing

Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB HDD

Review

Testing Methodology

Performance

Conclusion

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