These things can take time, but at last this generation of graphics
cards has been pretty much finalised. AMD did its part early on, having
almost its entire lineup sorted before the summer, while Nvidia has been
dragging its heels like a schoolboy who's forgotten his homework.
The release of the GTX 650 Ti,
though, marks the completion of this generation of cards, and despite
the fact it's taken nearly an entire year to get to this stage, things
have never looked so good for the consumer.
It's somewhat
inevitable that every generation offers more power for less cash than
ever before, but it's still surprising that a card you can buy for less
than £100 will be able to deliver more than 30fps on average at full HD
resolutions in the latest DX11 titles.
It's strange, then, that
people are calling these the end times for the discrete graphics card,
what with all the advances in integrated CPU graphics performance. For
the end user though, us PC gamers, our rigs have never looked so
sprightly.
Being
able to pick up mid-range cards with the sort of performance the
high-end cards of the past few years could only wish for, is making our
gaming experience the envy of the slavering console hordes.
Just
look at the gaming shows of the past year, GamesCom and E3 especially.
All the best-looking titles were being demoed on high-end PCs. Why?
Because there's no way to get the games looking as good on the current
generation of consoles.
With the next generation of those limited
tech bricks not arriving until the tail-end of 2013, the PC has an
entire year of even greater gaming dominance. And by then, chances are
it's still going to hold the technological gaming advantage.
But
what of right now? Who are the winners and losers in the great graphics
arms race? We've lined up the full range of gaming-capable graphics
cards of this generation and we'll tell you where the smart upgrade
money should go.
2012 was a rather strange year in terms of
graphics card releases. It all kicked off in a rather bizarre way just
before Christmas 2011 when AMD 'launched' its HD 7970 - despite only actually having stock in January.
We
could have understood AMD's desire to get the card in front of the tech
press before Christmas if Nvidia was likely to have its brand new card
out soon after, but the green team was a long way behind with its new
GPUs - but we'll get back to that later.
Still, the new top-end
card arrived and it was - somewhat inevitably given the lack of Nvidia
competition - the fastest GPU around. But it was a brand new GPU
architecture, in a year when AMD had also released a new CPU
architecture with limited success.
That new architecture
represented a strange flip in terms of the focus of each side's graphics
card design. Rather than looking to continue with its standard,
one-trick method of hitting gaming frame rates, AMD was now, with the
Graphics Core Next chips, focusing on nailing compute performance. That
had been Nvidia's route with the previous generation Fermi cards and now
AMD was creating a very similar architecture to cope with the graphics
engines of the day.
And then in March, Nvidia dropped the K bomb:
Kepler hit the streets with the GTX 680. It's new 28nm architecture had
almost switched sides with AMD - the Kepler GPUs focused more on raw
graphics performance than the general compute-focused Fermi cards that
came before it.
Where's my compute?
AMD's Graphics Core Next is just about the top GPU around
Nvidia
has left a lot of the compute power out of the consumer-focused cards
then, preferring instead to jam the extra silicon necessary for such
general-purpose calculations into the Tesla series of professional
cards.
That space-saving silicon design means the top consumer
Kepler chip is an incredibly power-efficient graphics processor, with a
TDP of just 195W compared to the 250W TDP of the competing Radeon HD
7970. Nvidia's Kepler GPU also introduced the Intel-aping GPU Boost,
which dynamically ramps the GPU clock speed depending on the power usage
and thermal envelope.
Now it was AMD's turn to play catch-up as
it introduced the PowerTune Technology with Boost - which more or less
did the same thing for its GPUs - later in the summer. In terms of raw
graphics performance, the top two tiers of graphics cards - GTX 670/680
and HD 7950/HD 7970 - are much of a muchness, trading performance leads
in different game benchmarks.
At the top, then, it pretty much
comes down to which card's feature-set you prefer and which plays best
with your favourite games. Things have become a lot less equitable in
the lower echelons of the graphics card market. While AMD had released
its full HD 7900, HD 7800 and HD 7700 series of cards into the wild by
the end of March, Nvidia would take another seven months to actually
flesh out its Kepler lineup.
That meant AMD could keep its prices
high while it was the only new kid on the block, and then take an axe
to its GPUs' price tags when Nvidia's rival cards finally touched down.
We will probably never know the real reason for Nvidia's tardiness on
its lower-end cards, but rumour has it that low silicon yields on its
28nm process had something to do with it.
The GK110 may well find its way onto a desktop near you
Nvidia
just claimed to be waiting for the wealth of big games titles coming
out at the end of the year. Whatever the truth of it, AMD is winning the
price battle, and has better cards available at every price-point in
the sub-£250 market.
One of the big problems, though, is the fact
there are few games out there at the moment that will really tax a
modern GPU. If you've bought a card in the past couple of years and are
still sitting on a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, or lower, then
there's really not a compelling reason to upgrade. Chances are you'll
still be hitting reasonable frame rates in the latest games and that
means the upgrade market is a little flat.
If you are looking for
a new graphics card, though, there has never been a better time to make
the move because you can pick up an inordinate amount of pixel-pushing
power for very little cash these days. But are you still going to need a
graphics card in your next PC?
Both AMD and Intel are making
great strides in the integrated graphics market with future generations
of chips. AMD, though, is segmenting things, leaving its top consumer
chips, the FX range without any graphics on die. Intel, on the other
hand, is resolutely sticking its iGPUs in every chip it throws out, bar
the crazy £800+ Sandy Bridge E side.
Discrete days numbered
Nvidia's GTX 680 represented a change in focus to perf/Watt
With
the processor upgrade to Haswell next year, Intel is predicting a
doubling of its graphics performance in Ivy Bridge. In terms of gaming
on the desktop that still isn't going to give you the frames per second
you'll need to get the most out of Star Citizen, but on the mobile side it's talking up the capabilities of the GT3E Haswell graphics.
Speaking
to the graphics guys at IDF this year, Intel seems to think it will be
making dedicated gaming laptops without dedicated graphics cards a
reality in the next generation. With the next generation of AMD's APUs
looking to include the proper Graphics Core Next architecture as the GPU
component, its new lineup could also make things sticky for the
dedicated graphics side.
With no concrete news yet of Nvidia's
Project Denver - it's own ARM-based gaming CPU with a full-fat GeForce
graphics part - the green side of the graphics war is looking a little
ill-equipped for the coming battle - at least on the PC.
AMD re-wrote its own rule book on GPU make up
The
next generation of both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards will simply be
building on the advances of their respective first 28nm parts, so we
don't expect a lot of particularly interesting new tech next year, just a
little faster and a little more efficient. So that makes this
generation even more interesting.
These cards will consistently
drop in price up to the launch of the slight upgrades of the HD 8000 and
GTX 700 series of cards, and with the next generation of consoles not
arriving until the tail end of next year, right now this is all the card
most of us need. But which one is best for you? Let me show you…
Graphics cards on test
1. EVGA GTX 680 Signature 2
The
GTX 680 is still an impressive piece of technical engineering this far
down the line. Released back in March, Nvidia's current flagship card is
still at the top of the graphics tree, duking it out with AMD's HD 7970
for GPU supremacy. That's impressive given the fact that its GK104 is a
far simpler bit of silicon compared to the Tahiti XT behemoth in the
AMD card.
The GK104 is a 3.5bn transistor chip verses the 4.3bn
transistor Tahiti XT core, and as such is smaller and more power
efficient. That's quite a change compared to the Fermi generation where
the top GTX 480 and GTX 580 housed massive, power-hungry GPUs chock-full
of CUDA cores and SM units.
The
HD 7970 GHz Edition is the fastest consumer graphics card, and the best
news is it's not the most expensive. When Nvidia released the GTX 680,
AMD was able to counter with the upgraded GHz Edition of its HD 7970,
upping the clockspeed to cope with the new kid on the block and retain
its top-GPU crown.
This is the card to get if you're powering a
hi-res screen or three. It's got the graphics processing chops to run
pretty much any game at 2,560 x 1,600, on the highest settings, without
batting a silicon eyelid. It may only be a little faster than the GTX
680 in most tests, but in the compute-heavy titles, such as the
lighting-intensive DiRT Showdown, it has a clear lead.
Featuring
an only slightly cut-down GK104 GPU compared to the top-end GTX 680, we
were big fans of the GTX 670 when it first tipped up. It was only a
little slower than the top GeForce card and was much cheaper. It also
had a performance lead on the HD 7950 and was on par with the original
HD 7970.
Time hasn't been kind to the GTX 670 though and with
prices staying relatively high since launch, its relevance has
diminished. The new GHz Edition of the HD 7970 put it out in front of
both top Kepler cards and the Catalyst driver optimisations, and more
compute-oriented game engines have made the HD 7950 a rather tantalising
prospect in comparison.
There's
a tremendous sense of value when you get this Asus version of AMD's HD
7950 out of the box. It really is rather massive. The triple-slot
cooling array, means that you're going to have to think long and hard
about whether you've got enough space inside your PC chassis to house
such a behemoth of a card. That said it's not a bad little performer,
especially at this price point.
AMD has managed to be incredibly
aggressive on pricing as new Nvidia-shaped competitors have hit the
streets, and to have this sort of performance for much less than £300 is
impressive.
This card swaps performance leads with the more
expensive GTX 670 across our benchmarking suite, showing that it has the
chops at both hi-res and in the more compute-oriented games/lighting
engines we've started to come across.
When
we first saw the GTX 660 Ti from EVGA it was hovering around the £260 -
£270 price mark and was then bumping heads with the HD 7950 and that
was a battle it was never going to win. Unlike a lot of the other Nvidia
cards, though, this has had a little price cut in recent times.
Now
it's available for just under £230 and that makes it much more of an
interesting proposition. At this price it's smack bang in the middle of
the HD 7950 and HD 7870, and in performance terms too that's exactly
where it ought to be.
Broadly speaking it's a quicker card than
the HD 7870, even the overclocked Gigabyte version we're looking at in
this test. There are a couple of instances where it suffers by
comparison, but then only very slightly. Interestingly it's actually
quicker than the HD 7870 in the traditionally AMD-centric DiRT Showdown.
When
the HD 7870 first tipped up in March we weren't that fussed about it.
Sure, it delivered decent numbers in the benchmarks, but at about £260
it was way overpriced and left us feeling rather cool towards this
mid-range Radeon card.
Thanks to Nvidia finally getting its act
together with its own mid-range cards, AMD has started aggressively
pricing and now the HD 7870s, and even this overclocked edition, are
sitting below the £200 mark. At this price there really isn't anything
Nvidia can do to compete.
Now the GTX 660 Ti's prices have come
down, though, it does represent a little more competition for AMD's
mid-range master. Still, the Pitcairn XT is pretty much all the GPU you
need for your 1080p screen - it will throw polygons around at impressive
speeds in any game you care to throw at it.
When
Nvidia finally got the GTX 660 out of the door it was all set to go
head-to-head with AMD's HD 7850. And that would have been completely
right - both offer similar performance figures. Among the
Nvidia-favouring titles it does better, and vice versa with the
AMD-centric games.
Had the situation stayed static then Nvidia's
cards would've had their own place in the world. Yay. But AMD held its
pricing at a level before Nvidia's mid-range hit the streets and thanks
to its cards being out for a good while longer, AMD's been able to slash
its price tags. That means the straight GTX 660 is now going up against
the vanilla HD 7870.
Despite the overclocked nature of this EVGA
card, it still can't beat the stock-clocked Radeon. Even on the
Nvidia-sponsored games, like Max Payne 3, it's second best to the current mid-range king.
The
performance of the HD 7850 when it first came out, combined with its
relatively low price tag, made for a very enticing mid-range card. That
impressive start has only gotten better as time has moved on and the
price has dropped ever lower. Once it dropped below £200 it was hard to
really recommend anyone with a 1080p screen spending more.
Now
it's sub-£200 graphics card crown has slipped as its HD 7870 big brother
has usurped the HD 7850's place by making itself a whole lot cheaper
than it used to be. Still, at £150 you'd surely expect us to still be
pretty taken with the HD 7850.
And while it's still a great
mid-range card, there has been one other sibling to make us take a
second look. And that's the 1GB version of this GPU. You might expect
the extra gigabyte of graphics memory to push this graphics card
significantly ahead in the high-res benchmarks - but you'd be wrong.
So,
you thought things looked bad for the HD 7850 in standard 2GB trim when
the 1GB version came out, but spare a thought for the poor ol' GTX 650
Ti. Bless its little silicon socks, it's really trying.
Throwing
off the shackles of the GK107 GPU, Nvidia decided to lumber the standard
GTX 650 with this Ti version, which is rocking the same pumped-up
pixel-pusher as the GTX 660. That means it's actually much more of a
reasonable gamer's graphics card than the standard version. Were it
simply going head-to-head with an equivalently priced HD 7770 then it
would have beaten the AMD card hands down.
Sadly it's all shifted
around and this AMP! edition of the GTX 650 Ti sits in between the 1GB
and 2GB versions of the HD 7850 - and suffers by comparison with each of
them.
We
have to admit this was a bit of a surprise. We wanted to get the 1GB
version of the HD 7850 to test it against the HD 7770 more than anything
else - assuming this would be the card it'd be going up against. After
all, the 2GB frame buffer of the stock HD 7850 must be partly
responsible for its impressive showing at hi-res, right?
And
that's putting post-processing such as anti-aliasing in the mix. How
wrong we were. It seems that the bottleneck to the Pitcairn Pro's
performance is not the memory at all - the GPU itself bottlenecks
performance well before the memory gets anywhere near making things
crawl.
What does that mean though? Well, it means the 1GB version
of the HD 7850, especially the slightly overclocked version supplied by
MSI, is more than able to keep pace with the stock 2GB version of the
Pitcairn Pro card.
This
is as good as it gets if you're looking for a genuinely gaming-capable
card at the sub-£100 level. Granted, it's only just under £100, but
compared with the competing GTX 650, at this price point it's the
gamer's only real option.
Heaven is a great metric for comparing
GPU performance in isolation of any marketing nonsense, or any company
specific extras, and the figures don't lie. The HD 7770 is considerably
faster than the GTX 650 in Heaven 3.0 with only Batman: AC
actually giving any parity of performance between the two cards. Across
all the other benchmarks, whether at 1080p or 2,560 x 1,600, the AMD
graphics card has a pretty significant advantage. When you look at the
different GPU architecture it's easy to see why.
What
both iterations of the GTX 650, in either this or the speedier, pricier
Ti-trim, have going for them is their diminutive size. They're both
pleasingly small little graphics cards, ideal for the wee PC. Well,
ideal for the wee PC that you don't really have any interest in getting
decent gaming frame rates from in any case.
Okay, that's a little unfair - the traditionally Nvidia-lovin' Batman: AC
will still let you top 40fps at 1080p at the top settings. Elsewhere,
though, you're going to have to seriously tighten your
graphical-pretties belt in order to make sure you're getting decent
frame rates.
This is the same GK107 GPU that we've seen in a
number of laptops recently - that twin SMX GPU being perfect for the
power- conscious mobile crowd - and if you're running a 720p screen, at
1,366 x 768 or similar, then you're going to be able to get some decent
gaming speeds.
This
far down the pecking order of graphics cards you will really struggle
to get anything close to decent gaming frame rates out of a normal 1080p
screen. With the Sapphire HD 7750 you're not going to be pushing much
past 20 frames per second in most games without seriously knocking back
the graphics settings or resolution.
This version of the HD 7750,
with the 2GB of relatively slow DDR3 video RAM, is almost irrelevant in
gaming terms. That said, though, you can pick up a low-profile version
which could go into a small machine to stick under your TV.
With
Steam's TV mode, and a drop in resolution, you'll be able to get almost
gaming-capable speeds at 720p on your telly. For another £20, though,
you can get double the gaming performance with an HD 7770, and £50 extra
will get you the awesome HD 7850 1GB.
The
main, indeed probably only, selling point of the GT 640 Zone is the
fact that it's completely silent. With a chunky passive cooler sitting
atop the GPU and memory chips, there are no spinning fans whirring away
like a mini-turbine inside your PC. That means that despite its standard
card height it would make a pretty decent media centre GPU.
Like
the HD 7750, you'll struggle to get any decent gaming frame rates out
of the card at standard 1080p resolutions and top settings, but lower
your expectations and you'll be able to hit reasonable gaming speeds.
Nowadays,
lower settings in current games don't make them look much worse than
their console counterparts but, still, for an extra £20 you can pick up
much more bona fide gaming cards.
Benchmark analysis and winner
Given our penchant for high-performance components it might seem
strange that we've gone all gooey over a £120 graphics card which is
easily outperformed by a good chunk of the cards on test. But a quick
scan of the benchmarks on these 'ere pages should show you why we're so
taken by the HD 7850 1GB.
It beats the other cards in its class
in pretty much every test and gives much more expensive cards a run for
their money. In fact, as the two value tests prove, it offers the most
performance for your dosh of the lot - and you can't ask for much more
than that.
At the top of the tech tree, the HD 7970 and GTX 680
inevitably fight it out, each taking it in turn to top the test. Except
when it comes to price performance - in both tests the Sapphire offers
far better value than the EVGA.
And the winner is… MSI HD 7850 1GB
We've
been accused in recent times of being AMD fan boys here at PCFormat.
That's a rather ridiculous accusation considering that we get to test
every single card on the market and we don't have to make decisions on
what graphics cards to jam in our machines based on tribal loyalties.
What
we do base our decisions on is a combination of gaming performance and
the cost to you, our beloved readers. In this generation it's been an
almost complete whitewash for AMD in terms of performance per pound, and
actually in outright straight-line gaming speed too.
Most of
this is down to Nvidia's tardiness in releasing the new Kepler
architecture into the wild, giving AMD the time to harvest its cards at
the high initial price tags and then the option to slash prices when the
competition finally comes around.
At every pairing AMD comes out
on top. At the top-end, the HD 7970 has held on to the performance
crown thanks to the release of the GHz Edition, even the pricey,
overclocked EVGA GTX 680 Signature 2 can't maintain a consistent
performance lead over the AMD card. The price cuts have also allowed the
HD 7950 to carve out an excellent little niche for itself, sitting
between the GTX 660 Ti and GTX 670.
The GTX 660 Ti has become a
little more relevant thanks to some price chopping on the part of Nvidia
for a change. It's got enough about it to take on the HD 7870 and make a
real fist of it.
The truth of it, though, is that Nvidia
actually hasn't had to make a fight on the pricing front. It has been
happily selling its Kepler cards thanks to existing goodwill among its
user base, and that tribal loyalty sometimes outweighs the actual
performance. If Nvidia is still selling at its current pricing then
there's really no reason to get any more competitive on cost.
That's
where AMD really has to fight its corner, after all, a quick check of
the Steam hardware survey shows that Nvidia still has the advantage in
numbers out in the real world.
The real star of the show, though,
has to be the incredible HD 7850 in lightweight 1GB trim. We really
didn't expect this MSI card to be quite as impressive as it is. We
ostensibly got the card in to go up against the HD 7770, but as it
turned out it made things uncomfortable for the 2GB version, and for
both the GTX 650 Ti and the GTX 660.
In fact, for the gamer on a
budget, the HD 7850 1GB is the perfect 1080p graphics card - it's got
some impressive performance chops in high-resolution trim too. We've had
a play with a pair of these in CrossFire too, and at £240 you're
getting performance that is right up there with the GTX 680 and HD 7970.
The
vagaries of multi-GPU systems in terms of playing nice with modern
games mean it's still not an absolute must-buy pairing, but it's getting
pretty darned close.
Browse > Home / / Xbox One release date, news and features
As the new Xbox One finally touches down, Microsoft is ready to enter
a new era of console gaming and take on a new generation of multimedia
consumers.
The company described the Xbox One as "the ultimate all
in one entertainment system - one system for a new generation." It has
the second generation of Kinect baked in nice and deep and has powerful
specs similar to those of the Sony PS4.
The
new Xbox wants to be the one-stop entertainment solution for your
living room, integrating live TV, games, movies and web services like
Skype, all controlled using Kinect's improved voice recognition
features.
But this is all just the start - at E3 on June 10, Microsoft is to reveal
more details about the Xbox as a games console first and foremost, as
well as the line-up of launch titles, peripherals and services.
Xbox One price
No
pricing info has yet been revealed by Microsoft - expect this when we
get official confirmation of worldwide release dates. Many retailers are
second-guessing the price, with both £399 and £499 both seen online in
the UK.
Either way, it seems increasingly likely that the Xbox One
will be more expensive than the PS4 - but still cheaper than its
predecessor when it launched in 2005.
No
big surprises here, really. The Microsoft Xbox One comes packing an x64
8-core AMD Jaguar CPU, USB 3.0 ports, 500GB hard drive and 8GB DDR3
RAM. Connectivity-wise you've got 802.11n Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct
functionality for exchanging data between devices - specifically the new
Xbox controller.
There's also the addition of a Blu-ray drive,
which marks Microsoft's first move to embrace the disc format created by
Sony et al, which vanquished HD DVD back when TechRadar was but a glint
in someone's eye.
So as expected, then, the new Xbox One is more
like a mini-PC than any Microsoft console that's come before. These
specs put the console on a par with the PS4 and bode well for developers
who want to make cross-platform games.
The console has not only
an HDMI-out port but also HDMI-in too. This is for interfacing with
set-top boxes in order to integrate the Xbox One with your TV-watching
experience. As far as you're concerned, you'll only have one device
instead of two.
Xbox One: always online?
One rumour that put the fear of God into many gamers was that the new Xbox would require an always-on internet connection.
Microsoft has confirmed that an always-on internet is not required.
However, your home console will be required to check in to Xbox Live at
least once every 24 hours. If you don't do this, you'll be locked out
of your games, while other functions like TV/Blu-ray watching will be
unaffected.
If you're signed in on another person's Xbox One,
playing your library of games, you'll need to check in to Xbox Live once
per hour.
Xbox One: Kinect
The new Xbox One has Kinect
functionality built into its very core. To turn the console on, you need
only say the words "Xbox on" - the console is always listening.
A
live demo at the launch event showed Kinect instantly responding to
hand gestures and voice commands. That simply isn't possible on the
current hardware with the Xbox 360 and suggests that the new Kinect v2
is the gesture and voice controller we always wanted it to be.
The
demo showed the ability to switch between games, videos, music and live
TV instantaneously using simple voice commands such as "Xbox watch TV".
You can even ask to watch a specific channel - HBO was an example they
used - and Xbox will take you there straight away.
Microsoft says
that Kinect 2 is so fast and powerful that it detects motion in just 13
billionths of a second - the time it takes light to get from you and
into the camera.
The Kinect sensor as a resolution of 1080p which
means its footage will look great on your HD TV, and it captures video
at 60fps which means footage that's lovely and smooth.
The camera
also has a field of view that's 60 per cent bigger than the original
Kinect which means less faffing around trying to stand in the exact spot
it tells you to. That combined with the more powerful processor means
you'll be able to get a lot more people gaming with Kinect all at one
time.
What's more, Microsoft says that the new Kinect uses infra-red, which means it works in complete darkness.
The
new Xbox controller is very much based on what's come before, but under
the hood there are 40 technical design innovations. The pad has an
integrated battery case which takes AA batteries.
Microsoft
confirmed to us that this will work much in the same way as the 360's,
but the integrated build will obviously be a lot more comfortable. The
biggest change from a gameplay point of view are that the re-designed
triggers will now give you vibrating feedback in-game.
All of the other buttons and surfaces have been tweaked as well, but most of the changes are out of sight.
We were lucky enough to get some hands on time with the new Xbox One Gamepad where we got a peek at a few of the 40-plus improvements that have been made over its predecessor.
Based
on our brief time with the new controller we felt that the impulse
triggers possessed the most promise and potential for immersing players
that much deeper in the game play, while subtler features, such as
magnetic sensor-equipped triggers and a battery case that no longer
protrudes from the back of the controller, hint at the many ways the
controller will provide improved precision in your games and comfort in
your hands.
One last feature of the gamepad that should please gamers is the low-power sleep mode
it'll slip into if you step away from your TV. But instead of switching
off completely, a la Xbox 360 pad, it'll wake up as soon as you pick it
up again.
The
Xbox One games will come on Blu-ray discs but they're only for one-time
use. Once you've installed the games onto your hard drive, you no
longer need them as the game is tied to your Xbox Live account. This is a
similar idea to that employed by Steam and Uplay on the PC.
Xbox Live upgraded
Live
is the most popular online gaming platform on the planet and it's
getting a huge behind-the-scenes overhaul for the new generation.
While
current games servers number roughly 15,000, Microsoft is expanding
that to a barely conceivable 300,000 in order to ensure you have instant
access to your games and content no matter where you are.
Xbox One personalisation
You
can turn on the Xbox One by simply walking over and talking to it. It
turns on instantly, and Kinect will recognise you and take you straight
to your own personalised home screen. Here you have access to your own
personal movies and music, as well as leaping straight into your own
save games.
Xbox One games
Microsoft has announced
that its own games studios will release 15 games in the first year of
the Xbox One's life cycle. Other than that, we also know that FIFA 14 will launch on the console with exclusive content, and the new COD game, Call of Duty: Ghosts, will also have exclusive content on the Xbox.
The confirmed exclusive titles are Forza Motorsport 5, Quantum Break, Halo 5 and Ryse. Many other cross platform titles have also been confirmed and you can get the full lowdown on them all over on OXM's Xbox One games page.
However,
it is yet to be seen whether the cloud might come to the rescue and
allow games to be streamed over the web. Perhaps E3 has the answer...
Xbox One release date
Microsoft
sadly made no mention of an Xbox One release date during its Redmond
launch event. However, more details are promised for E3 in July, which
is when we should find out when we can expect to get our hands on one.
However, that hasn't stopped retailers opening pre-orders already.
Many industry experts actually predicted that we'd finally get some hard Xbox info at GDC this year but turned out not to be the case.
All indications are that the next Xbox will arrive in time for Christmas 2013.
Microsoft briefly stated that the new Xbox is imminent in an interview with the Verge before swiftly backtracking and issuing a moderately embarrassing denial.
This is further backed up by a Microsoft job advert which confirms a new Xbox launch is imminent.
Further
rumours of an Xbox release date of pre-Christmas 2013 was backed up at
the end of November 2012 by a Bloomberg report which cites sources at Microsoft and says we are likely to see the new Xbox make its debut at E3 2013.
But then! In January, a report from Game Informer
suggested that we'd actually see Microsoft bust out an all-singing
all-dancing event to launch the new Xbox around Game Developers
Conference in March.
Why no E3 reveal? Because Microsoft wanted to
make a splash away from the noise of the mega-show. Unfortunately, the
report indicated that Sony had the same idea for the PS4...
Xbox One review
We'll
be at E3 to hopefully get our first play with the console itself, so
check in with TechRadar on June 10 and we'll let you know what we think.
The full Xbox One review is likely to land in the autumn.
Xbox Mini
Strong
rumours are building that Microsoft is planning a double assault on the
console market. The new Xbox will allegedly be joined in the cabinet by
an Xbox MIni - a small, Apple TV-like device based on Windows 8, with the ability to stream Xbox 360 games from the cloud.
Xbox One vs PS4
Aah,
the eternal question. If you're not planning to buy both, which one
should you buy? We'll have a better idea of which console is likely to
lead the charge into the living room when we've gleaned more information
at E3 2013, but looking at the specs that we already know, we've made an early comparison.
Browse > Home / / HTC One Max release date, news and rumours
Apparently there's something big brewing over in Taiwan as news of the super-sized handset going by the moniker HTC One Max begins to make its way onto the web.
After the success of the HTC One
the Taiwanese firm is probably feeling pretty bullish about its chances
going forward and it's no surprise that rumours have begun to crop up
suggesting it's looking at a One mini and a phablet device codenamed T6.
We've
sifted through all the HTC One Max/HTC T6 talk to bring you a
definitive run down of what you might be able to expect from HTC's
monster mobile.
HTC One Max release date and price
HTC
currently doesn't have any events planned for this year, but that hasn't
stopped speculation on a possible HTC One Max release date.
At the moment reports point towards a release towards the end of this year, so the One Max might be one for the Christmas list.
Pricing is equally as unknown for now, but expect to shell out the big bucks for this larger than life handset.
Growing pains
The
main attraction on the HTC One Max will be its display which is
apparently shaping up to be a mammoth 5.9-inch, full HD affair.
This would dwarf the 5.5-inch, 720p Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but with rumour of a Galaxy Note 3 on the horizon the One Max may find itself matching Samsung's next phablet when it comes to screen size.
Original
reports suggested HTC would only give the T6 a modest screen bump,
upping if from 4.7- to 5-inches from the HTC One - although those
rumours seem to have been laid to rest now.
Anyone for Key Lime Pie?
One of the big surprises with the much talked about HTC One Max surrounds the operating system it'll be running.
Key
Lime Pie hasn't even been announced yet so if it is to appear in the
HTC T6 then Google's going to have to get a shift on - unless it decides
to team up with the Taiwanese manufacturer for a joint launch. Tasty!
Double take
Usually
with key phone launches a whole platter of images claiming to depict
the handset in question are leaked online, although when it comes to the
One Max we've only had one so far in the form of a blueprint.
If
the picture does indeed show the HTC One Max then fans of the HTC One
will be pleased to learn that it won't really deviate from the
flagship's design language.
From the rear, the One Max (or HTC T6 if you want to use the codename) appears to be identical to the handset it's based on.
On
the front only minor cosmetic changes show up, with additional width to
accommodate the larger display and a shift of the sensors at the top of
the device from the left to right side of the upper speaker grille.
Spec me up Scotty
In terms of other specifications
for the HTC One Max we only really have The Unlockr report to go on,
but it's worth noting the details came via @evleaks, which has a pretty
decent track record when it comes to uncovering handsets.
Apparently the One Max will feature a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 2.1MP front camera, UltraPixel rear camera and a sizable 3300mAh battery.
Now
those are some pretty tasty specs and it will certainly give the
competition a run for its money - but we're going to have to wait and
see if they are accurate.
Browse > Home / / Best Windows 8 tablets: all the Windows 8 tablets we've reviewed
But Microsoft doesn't give up easily, and Windows 8 tablets are with us, both in the form of full-blown Windows 8 Intel-powered devices such as Sony's Tap 20 and Windows RT ARM-based tablets such as Microsoft's own Surface RT.
Before you dismiss Windows 8 tablets as a flash in the pan, Windows 8 tablets aren't one kind of device.
We're
seeing a huge variety of devices, ranging from simple slates to fully
convertible laptop-tablet hybrids, including those where keyboards slide
out from beneath the screen, as well as those with styluses and
detachable keyboards. We've even seen tablet/all-in-one hybrids.
There's
as much variety in the Windows 8 tablet range as there is in the entire
catalog of tablets available running all the other operating systems.
So
it really is up to you to decide what sort of Windows 8-powered tablet
you want. Do you want to use it mainly for reading, playing games,
typing out documents on your commute or sketching ideas for a new
artwork?
To help you decide, here's a rundown of the Windows 8 tablets that we've reviewed so far.
One
of the original laptop-tablet hybrid gang members, the Acer Iconia Tab
W500's optional keyboard dock brings the bulky functionality, while
Windows 7 Home Premium brings the power. Though not strictly speaking a
Windows 8 tablet, it is available refurbished or new for some very low
prices. However, you get what you pay for, with Windows 7 showing that
it wasn't made for tablets.
Windows
RT runs this laptop-tablet hybrid with detachable keyboard that looks
like its full laptop XPS siblings. Coming with a full copy of Microsoft Office 2013
already installed, the Dell XPS 10 can only run apps from the Windows
Store, while a microSD card slot and two USB 3.0 ports expand its
storage capabilities. The 1366 x 768 resolution on the 10.1-inch screen
is fine for documents but is dull compared to others we've seen, which
detracts from media consumption. However, the keyboard is cramped, so
it's not great for long periods of typing either. The battery life, when
attached to the keyboard dock, is brilliant, but this does make it very
heavy compared to other tablets.
Boasting
an Intel processor and full Windows 8, the Asus VivoTab Smart can run
new Windows Store apps and older desktop software from your old laptop,
and comes with Microsoft Office pre-installed. Its power efficiency and
capability are extremely impressive, as are its connections, which
include NFC
compatibility for wireless payments and Bluetooth 4.0 support for
connecting peripherals. With a monitor and keyboard attached, you could
mistake the VivoTab ME400 for a full PC. An 8MP rear camera with flash
and Full HD video shooting is better than average, and there's a 2MP
front-facing camera for video.
Business-focused,
the Dell Latitude 10 runs Windows 8 and features fingerprint scanners
and smart card readers, offering something a little different. The
docking station that comes with the tablet also boasts four USB ports
and other connections for linking the device to an external monitor and
keyboard, in order to use it as a full work machine. It also comes with
the ability to swap the battery for a spare, which is again an unusual
feature in tablet world. The tablet also works with a stylus, if you buy
one separately, and comes with an 8MP rear camera with flash and
autofocus, and a 2MP front-facing video call camera.
Microsoft
Office 2013 apps are welcome additions on this Windows RT-toting tablet
with a 10.6-inch screen that lacks a Full HD resolution but benefits
from sleek Corning Fit Glass. The big screen works well as a monitor to
accompany the keyboard dock, though of course it's effective on its own
too, responding quickly to gestures and flicking through apps rapidly.
There's an 8MP rear camera with autofocus and a flash if you fancy
taking photos or Full HD videos, plus a 2MP front shooter for video
calls. The high quality design and 32GB flash storage are excellent
additions in a tablet that's been around for a while, and can be found
substantially discounted if you shop around.
The
most famous of all the Windows RT tablet-laptop hybrids, Microsoft's
Surface RT is distinctively colourful and clicky, as we've all seen in
the TV ads. It's also square and sturdy, and has a fresh VaporMg coating
and a 10.6-inch widescreen that works well when you want to snap apps
side by side in Windows. The clip-on Touch Cover feels very light, and
typing on its flat surface takes some getting used to, or the more
expensive Type Cover feels more like a normal laptop keyboard, if that's
what you'd prefer. Its kickstand supports the screen at a handy angle
in laptop mode, though the processor struggles with demanding graphics
more than a laptop's would. The screen is bright and clear but
relatively low res, but ultimately, a lot of the Surface RT's success
depends on how many desirable apps are added to the Windows Store, since
you can't download and run apps from elsewhere.
One
of the first Windows RT tablets to be released, the 10.1-inch Samsung
Ativ Tab has an average resolution and a strong 1.5GHz processor and 2GB
of RAM to run the show. Brushed aluminium lends it a high quality feel,
while there are ports for USBs, a microSD card slot to boost the 32GB
or 64GB of internal storage, and a connector pin for the optional
keyboard. Windows RT runs well on the touchscreen, although it lacks the
number of apps that you can run on Android and iOS tablets. A 5MP rear
camera can shoot 720p video, and there's a 1.9MP front-facing camera
too.
Trying
to perfect the balance of portable tablet and full Windows 8-powered
laptop, the Acer Iconia W700 boasts a separate dock and keyboard, with
excellent connectivity options including an HDMI port for you to hook it
up to an external monitor and use as a home PC. The tablet itself
boasts a stunningly sharp screen and solid aluminium build, but the
plastic dock is too cumbersome and fragile to stuff into a bag every
day, making the tablet best for typing at home and lighter,
keyboard-free work when out and about.
Another
convertible tablet-laptop hybrid, the 10.1-inch Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2
runs full Windows 8 and looks like a full laptop when docked, although
its Intel Atom processor is weaker than a laptop's. Its Wacom stylus is
tucked away until needed, and the keyboard is solid, but it features the
divisive trackpoint nub instead of a trackpad, which could put people
off. The tablet joins to the keyboard dock by resting in a slot rather
than locking in place, which means it can detach quite easily if you're
not careful and the two can't be clipped together in a clamshell style
for transportation, making them a little vulnerable.
The
keyboard dock of the HP Envy x2 offers a great selection of connections
- including an HDMI port for hooking it up to a monitor - and a second
battery, though the tablet on its own doesn't have so much as a single
USB port of its own. The 11.6-inch device runs full Windows 8, with a
Windows Start button on the bottom when it's held in landscape
orientation that wakes the whole thing up. As well as a front-facing
webcam, the tablet-laptop hybrid features an 8MP rear camera with a
flash and Beats Audio for your music, though the speakers are weak.
The
11.6-inch Samsung Ativ Smart PC is another tablet-laptop hybrid that
runs full Windows 8 and has a clamshell design when locked onto the
keyboard dock. It also comes with a Samsung S-Pen that works precisely
with the digitised touchscreen. The 64GB of inbuilt storage can be
expanded via the microSD card port, while there are also connections for
USB, micro HDMI and Bluetooth 4.0, among others. But because it has a
relatively lightweight Intel Atom processor with inbuilt graphics,
making the tablet's battery life longer than most, performance can
suffer from extremely frustrating lag and app crashes that make it a
chore to use at times.
Microsoft's
own full Windows 8 tablet-laptop hybrid, the Surface Pro, has the same
look and the same VaporMg coat as the Surface RT, but has a tweaked
kickstand and magnetic connectors for power and the two tear-off
keyboards. It also has a higher resolution 10.6-inch touchscreen with
excellent blacks, a smooth, pressure-sensitive stylus and an Intel Core
i5 processor. It can run any application you throw at it, and has USB
and DisplayPort connections, but it's heavier than other tablets and has
a shorter battery life than the Surface RT.
As
the name suggests, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga is extremely flexible. Its
special double hinge means its keyboard can flip 360 degrees, so you can
use it in typical laptop position, tablet position, tent position or a
stand position. The keyboard turns off when it's folded into a position
where it won't be needed, so that you can just use the 13-inch screen as
a large tablet without worrying about accidental key presses. The
Windows 8-toting device also recognises and can be controlled by hand
gestures via the 1MP webcam.
Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro - £950/US$1,100 (around AU$1,560)
Outclassing
its smaller brother, the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro runs full Windows 8
with a much beefier Intel Core i5 processor and a hinged keyboard dock
that turns it into a device that's almost an Ultrabook. A pen with a
clickable right mouse button works well with the 11.6-inch touchscreen,
which itself is crisp and colourful. The keyboard is substantial and its
hinged lock feels sturdy and more flexible than the Surface's
kickstand, but the trackpad struggles with gestures.
Lifting
and sliding the Full HD screen back reveals a keyboard on the 11.6-inch
Sony Vaio Duo 11, which is all held together by a weighty hinge, making
the tablet and its keyboard inseparable. The full Windows 8
tablet-laptop also boasts an Intel Core i5 processor and a stylus,
offering more for creatives and business people. Swipes through the
interface are quick and easy, and the tablet can run full intensity
Windows apps such as Photoshop. The keyboard lacks a trackpad though,
offering just a nub, so you'll rely on the touchscreen or a USB mouse
here. An SD card slot can expand the 128GB SSD storage space, plus there
are USB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI and VGA ports, but the whole package does
add up to a heavy one that's always heavy, since you can't disconnect
the keyboard.
Giants
will be pleased with this 20-inch tablet/all-in-one PC with full
Windows 8, but the rest of us will struggle to swing the Sony Vaio Tap
20 around with much abandon, so will need to rely on the kickstand to
prop it up on a desk if we don't fancy using it flat on a tabletop or
squashing our laps. Its powerful Intel Core i5 processor and huge
touchscreen need a big battery, which makes the device heavy, so it's
better off on a desk, paired with the bundled Bluetooth keyboard and
mouse. These peripherals will come in handy because we found the screen
so low res that using touchscreen gestures on it was difficult. The 1MP
webcam is also low res, and it doesn't have a rear camera, which is fair
enough.
Taking a leaf out of the Dell Inspiron Duo's
design book, the Dell XPS 12 is a tablet-laptop hybrid with a
swivelling screen that folds back on itself so you can use it like a
tablet. Running Windows 8, the 12.5-inch device has a touchscreen and a
spacious keyboard and trackpad, so you can choose whether to use
on-screen gestures or the trackpad in laptop mode. As a laptop it's
powerful, with a fast processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD drive, but as a
tablet it's heavy, although it does have a Full HD screen. The tablet
functionality is best treated as an added bonus rather than its main
purpose.
Uniquely,
the Asus Taichi doesn't just have one screen, but two - one on the
front and one on the lid. More a laptop than a tablet, the device runs
full Windows 8 on both screens, with the lid screen taking over from the
main screen when the device is closed or you manually switch between
them with a keyboard button. You can also choose to run both screens at
once, to do two separate tasks, though this slows the system down. The
secondary screen's coating gives extra depth to colours, showing that
it's designed for more tablet-like uses such as watching TV shows, while
the front laptop screen counters reflections well so you can
concentrate on work documents.
Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC - £1,500/US$1,700 (around AU$2,460)
The
enormous 27-inch Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC is certainly not
your usual tablet. We can see that at first glance. Coming with board
games, electronic dice and a custom touch interface, Lenovo is keen to
push the tabletop aspect of this device, as much as its ability to
convert into a touchscreen all-in-one PC when propped up on its
kickstand and hooked up to its Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. A dual-core
i7 mobile processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard drive and 8GB SSD are of course
more than most Windows 8 tablets would boast. We're just not sure how
much we need a tabletop tablet PC.
Flexibility
is the big selling point of the Lenovo Thinkpad Helix, which works as a
standalone 11.6-inch tablet when removed from its keyboard dock or when
unclipped, turned around, clipped back into the dock and folded back
over the keys. It also works as a small laptop when clipped in a normal
laptop position or in 'presentation mode', where the screen faces your
audience with the keyboard around the back. It also comes with a
pressure-sensitive Wacom stylus that's designed for artists, and boasts
3G, 4G and NFC support.
Rugged
and splash-proof, the 10.1-inch rubber-coated Panasonic ToughPad FZ-G1
isn't the best looking tablet around, but it does run full Windows 8
Pro. It comes with a stylus that can be used as a right mouse or
customised for your own controls, and the tablet can reportedly survive
drops of 4m (13ft). An Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB RAM help Windows 8
to boot up in six seconds, and gesturing through the interface works
well. The battery is removable and lasts for around eight hours, and you
can choose to upgrade that, the storage or the processor, or even add a
rear camera to accompany the 1.3MP webcam around the front.
