Apple's MacBook Pro 13 and 15 2016: Has Apple moved backwards?

Now just a few days ago Apple has announced their new 2016 Skylake line of MacBook Pros. The announcement they boast as supposedly 'Groundbreaking', may not sit well for some.

But why they think it is? Let's run through the specs and features they released earlier. As to where I usually get my information from, I usually keep updated via Notebookcheck. I'm also basing some of my observations from my experience with my MacBook Pro 13 with an i5 4278U, the one predecessor the new MBP 13s are designed to replace.

TOUCHBAR:

Their main feature is the Touchbar, which is available in the more expensive models of the MacBook 13 as well as the MacBook 15. Now new as they think it is, It's not as new a concept. In fact Razer, integrated touch pads with various functions in their Blade Lineup of Laptops. But this feature alone only jacked up the expensive laptop to be even more expensive. And even the base MBP 13 isn't exactly cheap either.

It's a very gimmicky addition. Although it adds shortcut features to many applications and programs, it's not something that would replace my Touchpad, Keyboard and Mouse. If you're a long time user like myself that have been accustomed to MacBooks since my days in Singapore Polytechnic from 2007, you can always rely on Hotkeys, that practically made stuff like this kinda irrelevant.


Underpowered Graphics:

Now granted the Skylake Iris Graphics for the MBP 13 are a big improvement over the Haswell line. But when it comes to gaming, it's not really super good for Triple A Titles. You can check the Iris 540 and Iris 550 pages with regards to their performance and their metrics speak for themselves.

Polaris Graphics have been kinda underwhelming too. At least for the RX460. Paying so much for a MBP 15 and all you get on a base model 15 that can only output just shy of 1 Teraflop / Second. And it's not exactly miles ahead of Iris Pro Graphics.

With the Base Radeon Pro 450, it has the power similar to an R7 250X / R9 M375X on paper which isn't exactly good for the price you pay for. And knowing AMD at this stage, they may just very well base these Radeons around rebadged Bonaire GPUs for all I know. Recently nVidia has just released the GTX 1050 Ti. The power draw may be high at 75W but it wouldn't have been a problem for them to shrink its TDP down like what they already did on their other GTX 10 series graphics.

Now ever since they released the first MacBook with a Type C USB Port, I've since never liked the design philosophy behind it. With only one port in that, there's one big thing that I hate....

Adapters, Adapters and MORE Adapters!!! UGH!!!!!

Because, this is the only ports they have!

Nothing but USB Type Cs!

Sure, the High Bandwidth from Thunderbolt 3 is nice but not everyone has room for adapters all the freaking time! I can only tolerate as far as needing an adapter for my displays from my Thunderbolt 2 port of my MacBook Haswell 13. But at 35 SGD, even one adapter is expensive! Thankfully, the MBP 2016 line didn't do an IPhone 7 which is ditching the 3.5mm Audio / Headphone jack. That was an extremely weird and bad implementation on the said phone.

But here is a big reason why:
Sure, they advertise these new MacBooks as potentially the most portable laptop in the world. There's a big But to it, thanks to the MBP's heavy reliance on those freaking adapters for the only type of ports they have!

If you need to connect other devices or friends want to back some data out, you need to have so many adapters with you. Now this is not a joke, if you have too many adapters to bring with you, it becomes so unsightly to see so much cable clutter on your desk! Worse still if you've only a small area on your desk to work with. It's just that tedious!

Therefore, you'll lose the whole point of what true portability is, which is supposed to be the name of the game in your MacBook Pro!

I had been so thankful for my Haswell MacBook 13 as my daily driver because it has all the ports that I require including an all important SD Card Slot which has become my main form of Secondary Storage. This all in one combination of I/O means I really don't need to bring anything else with me to school!

COST!

Still having said that, the cost (I wanna emphasize:) even for my Refurb unit is quite hard to swallow at 1.5K SGD when mum bought it. Now the cost is a lot worse.

I really thought, BY NOW, costs of even the most expensive 13-Inch Macs should be WELL below the 2,000 SGD mark, and the most expensive 15-Inch, well below 3,000. I know Apple has been known not to sell at budget prices but for a student who is a powerhouse content creator like myself who needs power on a budget, we just don't have that kind of money to spill, do we?

And if you think about it, for the specs you see? How much less can you find a laptop with similar specs, it's like 30-45% less man! You can easily find laptops like this way cheaper or laptops way more powerful than this for the price of this MBP 13.

And harking back to the cost of the adapters, just to get enough adapters required would very well be like a quarter the cost of the laptop which is incredibly ludicrous! Despite the recent temporary price drops, it's still on the high side.


What they did right though:

It's kinda hard to pin point the areas and specs that Apple had done right for this iteration of the MacBook Pro. And if there were any, it wasn't much at all except retaining a few things as most of the new features implemented I feel are kinda gimmicky, good to have but really not needed. Few things they retained are the awesome Retina 16:10 screen with great brightness and color accuracy. 2560 x 1600 for a 13" and 2880 x 1800 for a 15". And even right now, the resolution can't get much better for a 13". Also retained is the trackpad. My Haswell Trackpad has been good to begin with and has been serving me well, was made better with the larger size. Last thing they did retain is the build quality which you bloody well expect it from Apple given to how expensive and somehow underpowered this laptop is.

BOTTOMLINE:

So has Apple potentially moved backwards? Knowing the company has been a money whore for a while, I would really say so as a matter of factly. Or actually the literal definition would be: Apple is leaving its customers and consumers behind. The new changes implemented made it more unreasonably expensive for their performance per dollar but also for all the thunderbolt adapters and crap.

That's the reason why I never intend to switch from my current MacBook Pro 13, which in itself despite its tiny 128GB SSD, has served me so incredibly well during my time here in LASALLE.

So Apple, please get your shit together ya because if you think about it, sometimes, simplicity is still best.

Gigabyte P27G V2 / Clevo W370SS Review: 17" Laptop (GTX 860M)

Now if you all know me, the GM106 I feel is a good step forward in terms of Power Draw and performance per watt. The GTX 860M from this 17" Monster is a mid-range GPU. With a Core i7 4700MQ it has, it can fulfil the role of a Desktop Replacement. Sure, the 860M may seem dated but I got this laptop on a Cheap impulse deal and with quite an awesome array of stuff which can double up as a Multimedia player.

I got this laptop as an impulse bid for 500 USD. And it's based of the Clevo W370SS Barebones which has 1 mSATA slot and 2 2.5" drive bays for mass storage. The build quality for most Clevos are average at best so I was kinda expecting this to be not as much different.

One thing I notice about the laptop, that it's absolutely huge! Here's a comparison when I lay my MacBook Pro on it!

Which means it won't fit in my standard sling bag, but it does fit into my CM Storm slingbag that I got some time ago.

I did have to do a couple of things to it.

When I received the Laptop from the seller, and I booted up into a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro (Very nice), I found there was only the SSD instead of the 1 SSD + Hard Drive. So I opened up the back and found the HDD dislodged from its SATA Connector so it just needed to be reseated back in. Also, there was a open and missing 2.5" Drive Cover. It leaves fitting in a 2.5" drive abit floppy and less secure but being open meant that it could act as a Hot Swap bay which is interesting, so for the heck of it I installed a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB in there and secure it with tape.

The more interesting thing was actually the CPU. The seller advertised a Core i7 4700MQ that's in there. But it was actually a 4810MQ in there. Apparently I got a CPU upgrade instead! I confirmed it with the BIOS (if you can see it zoomed in on the photograph), CPU-Z and Device Manager. The 4810MQ is neither cheap nor low end. It can closely matchup to some of the flagship quad cores i7 currently on the market. I got thrown in a substantial bump and I couldn't be happier.

American Megatrends BIOS confirmed a 4810MQ, 16GB RAM, and all 3 Drive bays occupied.

So Specs are currently jacked as follows.
Haswell Core i7 4810MQ (4C8T 2.8 - 3.8 GHz Turboboost, 6MB L3 Cache)
16GB DDR3 RAM (2 x 8 GB Kit, one more Free slot)
DVD Burner
128GB SSD + 1TB Drive Combo. (Added a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Secondary SSD)

Right IO: SD Card Reader (Full Depth), USB 3.0 x 2, eSATA / USB Combo 3.0 Jack, HDMI, RJ45-LAN
Left IO: DVD Burner, USB 2.0, Kensington Lock, Audio Jacks.
Back IO: VGA, Power Jack

Keyboard:

Not as good as an MBP Keyboard, but still more than satisfactory.

Keyboard is of Chiclet switch, and a full length with a full complement of Number Pad. It has albeit dim, backlighting. But usage in Dark areas, the Backlight is enough for the job. The Keys certainly have a good amount of travel and feel more tactile than the other keyboards. They may not be as good as MacBook Pro but typing feels alright and more than adequate enough for the job. It does take getting used to as the major side of the keyboard is slightly off centered, but for productivity and office work, having the Number Key Pad is always good to have.

Average Touchpad at best.

Touchpad:
Touchpad for a 17" laptop, is not considered large at all. Compared that to my MacBook Pro, the latter is larger and easier to use. Mediocre at best... thankfully the multitude of ports are enough to take in an external mouse.

Screen:
Users of the Gigabyte P27Gv2 will be well chuffed with this particular Chi Mei branded screen. The N173HGE it is fitted with is nice. At 1920 x 1080, it is still a good resolution for a gamer and most mid-range GPUs can run natively and relatively well on Full HD. Scaling of windows is less of an eyesore and problematic to run on. Saturation is fine, contrast is fine. It's a matte screen and anti-glare, good for using under light. Users who want something for professional work should look elsewhere but this screen generally does subjectively well.


MAINTENANCE

Bottom: 
The bottom houses 2 hatches. One hatch for a 2.5" drive. And the other hatch which houses all the main components. With the screws removed you have access to everything for upgrades and maintenance. The main hatch contains the 2nd 2.5" drive, the CPU, and 2 of the 3 (Yes, 3) RAM slots.  These can be changed but the GPU unfortunately is soldered to the board. Other than that little quirk, the bottom has tonnes of options. But that ain't all yet!

The main hatch allows access to the components:
2.5" Drive, 2 SODIM RAMs (1 currently filled), CPU, GPU (soldered), Cooling Fan.
Below it is the other 2.5" Drive Bay.

Under the Keyboard: If the bottom maintenance isn't even crazy enough, there's even under the keyboard should users be a little adventurous! Currently, all 3 slots here, the mSATA SSD, the 3rd RAM slot and the Wireless Modules are populated but they can be swapped out.


Drive Performance:
The configuration by default is an mSATA SSD and a 2'5" HDD Combo. There is also a second 2.5" bay should the user wish to populate it with a second drive. The SSD is in the form of a LiteOn 128GB SSD which is meant for your primary operating system and ensures a snappy response. Even though it's a standard mSATA drive, its speeds can beat most of the 128 GB SSDs out there. 128GB isn't much (which is the reason I installed an 850 EVO), but that'll really give any system a nice little kick.

The Hard Drive it comes with is a very nice 7200 RPM 1TB Drive from HGST, a sister company of Western Digital. The HGST HTS721010A9E630 has 32MB of Cache, and this combined with a 7200 RPM spin speeds, makes this a reasonably fast drive for mass storage. The reviews on it are mixed with many claimed to have died on arrival but mine has been fine so far and I don't intend to push this drive all that hard.

The HGST Drive is sufficiently fast, with 32MB Cache and a 7200 rpm.

SSDs really help for general performance and snappiness. 

PERFORMANCE

Synthetic Benchmarks:
Cinebench:
There's a little problem with Cinebench that often blue screens while running it, either something wrong with the download or outdated driver, I have no idea. But updating the HD 4600 Graphics driver seemed to have solved the problem.

This benchmark along with Rendering videos and stuff nets huge benefits with a high end Haswell CPU. The 4810MQ may be dated but with it ranking on the very high echelon of Laptop Core i7s, it is just about on par with other CPUs like the Skylake 6700HQ. It's also the most powerful CPU of all my CPUs I have, including a 2600K, so Multitasking should be easy on this CPU.

It's leaps and bounds over most of my other CPUs I have used: Core i7 3630QM, Core i5 2500S, Core i3 2100, AMD A8-5557M,

Having a Powerful CPU speeds up Rendering, if under favorable conditions, doesn't throttle much.

While a High Turbo of 3.8 for Single Core benefits Single Threaded Performance well

3DMark:

A GTX 860M and a 4810MQ is a reasonably balanced system. The i7 handles the physics while the 860M handles the graphically intensive tasks.

A High End Quad Core and a decent GPU make a balanced configuration, although it'll better with a GTX 870M instead.

Although not recommended, at least not by me anyway, the GPU can except a small overclock. So this is after a 50 MHz Core and Memory Overclock, and in the most favorable conditions possible: Air Con Temps, CPU and GPU hasn't heated yet prior to testing. The OC graphics score lies in line with a GTX 960M, GT 755M SLI and just a couple hundred points away from a GTX 870M. So people who are looking for laptops on the cheap should consider a GTX 860M one, and it's not really worth the upgrade to the 960M.

Games:

Now this version GTX 860M is a clock-modified GTX 750 Ti that has fared well in many games. There is a Kepler variant with 1152 CUDA Cores. The Kepler's config is essentially a downclocked and lower memory bandwidth of the GTX 760. This GPU is on par with a GTX 770M.

But the 640 Maxwell cores run just fine and it just seems to perform a little better than the Kepler one while being more power efficient, according to the Notebookcheck Maxwell vs Kepler Benchmarks:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-860M-Maxwell-vs-Kepler.114908.0.html

Having a powerful CPU also helps. For players who generally play MOBAS like DoTA 2, League of Legends or some other titles professionally, this GPU has your back. The games I tested are with the overclock:

StarCraft II: A dated engine since 2010
but is still especially CPU intensive during big battles.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void: StarCraft II's game engine may be dated for 6 years. But it is still a very relevant game that really emphasizes on a strong processor and good physics capability. As an RTS game, it still looks good and action packed for its age. It can still bog down even Hex-Core or Octo-Core CPUs extremely hard when a big battle rages on with max supply armies. But it's perfectly smooth at the Extreme Preset at 1080p when on normal circumstances.

In game screenie: Dota 2 at maximum settings

Defense of the Ancients 2: No worries running it maxed in 1080p. Easy to get between high 90s to 120 fps.

Diablo 3: Easy to run but benefits greatly from a SSD.

Diablo III: Already a GTX 750 could max at 1440p, I don't see why it shouldn't max 1080p. That said though it also helps to have a powerful CPU for physics as well as being the game that has the biggest impact by running on an SSD.

CS:GO - Easy Peasy on the Eight-Sixty.
The photo demonstrates some of the
good color saturation the Chi Mei Screen has. 

Counterstrike Global Offensive: For someone who plays CS:GO professionally or competitively, High Frame Rates are paramount to a his success. The GTX 860M just takes this game on stride. CS:GO is a very friendly title to run on, even on low-end hardware and integrated graphics that can run well on 720p even at high settings..

Left 4 Dead 2: Based on a similar engine to CS:GO, I maxed it and it gives me a locked 60 FPS.

Metro Last Light: The most demanding title I have in my library. It may be a dated title but a few years on, Metro Last Light remains notorious of bringing even high end hardware to its knees. Turning down the settings a little bit will improve performance but the game still looks good in general. At the Very High Quality setting, Normal Tessellation, 4X Filtering, the game still achieves an average of 32 FPS, 21 FPS at its worst and a max of 59.

Still a very demanding benchmark, even with a slight overclock to the 860M.

Doom:

Doom is the newest FPS in 2016, and it's even more demanding than Metro. The 2GB 128-bit VRAM appears to be the bottleneck here and gets tanked quite badly in 1080p. Lowering the game to 900p at the Medium preset helped the GTX 860M perform much better. It can get around mid 40s most of the time, sometimes hitting the mid 50s with occasional dips below 30 when shit hit the fan. It is a great looking game nonetheless, even when you turn the settings down to get a playable performance.

900p Medium Details seem to be the sweet spot

Sound System:
Clevo advertises the VIA Audio Chip system for Sound Blaster Cinema. But knowing Clevo, their speaker options are never amazing. The speakers are upward facing above the keyboard. It's not soft but for a 17" form factor it isn't loud. I would feel better if it had a small sub at the bottom. Users would obviously turn to external speakers or headphones for sound anyhow.

Heat:
Heat is manageable on this system when the surface temps on the laptop are concerned. Using the Keyboard WASD while gaming is very comfortable on load, which is testament on the cool wrist rest. The right tends to be a teeny tiny bit warmer than the left side but not a concerned anyhow. And it makes more sense since the left hand uses that keyboard for gaming a lot more often. So the good, the majority of the waste heat is channeled away from the general keyboard area for a comfortable use.

Not so good on the lap as due it gets a little warm on the underbelly, and of course it's heavy. Though it's usable but not recommended.

Battery: Battery life is poor despite having a 77Wh capacity, 3-4 hours on a regular use. For a Desktop Replacement class (DTR) laptop, you have to expect that but I was hoping for more especially due to the 860M being a Maxwell based GPU rather than a Kepler one.

Noise: Because of the SSDs that is on this thing, and fans switch off when the system idles with nothing going on, it's completely silent. At load, the thick chassis does help mitigate some of the noise, which although audible but it's still manageable.

PROS:
- I/O Options - Comes with a full array of Connectivity, including optical drives.

- Mass Storage Capacity: Already comes with a fast mSATA by default. Room for 2 2.5" Bays.

- Good Full Keyboard: Tactile with backlights. Positioning needs some getting used to but it's good.

- 3 RAM slots - A nice amount of RAM slots allow for some sick amounts of RAM. I have 16GB RAM in.

- Maintenance / Upgrade Room - There's a tonne of paths in there! Everything save the GPU can be swapped either for upgrades, replacement or cleaning. No space is wasted in this form factor.

- Cool wrist rest - Surface Temps on the chassis are cool to the touch on load.

- Acceptable Noise emissions.

- GPU Overclock as always is possible, but do that at your own risk.



CONS:
Mediocre Battery

Weight: Heavy at about 3.2 Kilos.

Questionable Build Quality: Screen demonstrates little flex and Plastic cracks easily.

Small Touchpad

GTX 860M is soldered on.

Average Speakers.


BOTTOMLINE:

Clevo has come up with a nice 17" Performer which offers pretty much everything a user needs at a very fair price. Their upgrade rooms just makes enthusiast drool. The GTX 860M is a mid-ranged GPU but it serves as a great GPU for both multimedia and light mainstream games and MOBAs. The form factor isn't for everyone but it does make a good all-purpose laptop that doesn't really sacrifice anything much. Build quality is average however so care must be taken with this laptop.

After the Pro Duo, nVidia Responds with the GTX 1080!

Well, after the AMD Radeon Pro Duo surfaced and was given a soft launch, nVidia GeForce hits out with their first new Pascal GPU that will be made available to the market in 2 weeks. The GTX 1080 is going to be a nice interesting addition, and something which I plan to replace either my 2 GTX 970s I have in my gaming system, or start my i3 4330 build with it.

The coverage and the content of this card has been absolutely promising, to say the least. Although it uses the middle ground GDDR5X as to the HBM of the Fury and FuryX, and the current GDDR5 Standard. The differences between GDDR5X, HBM and GDDR5 cannot be defined just yet because HBM's clocks are rather slow in respect to its 1024-bit bus width while the GDDR5X 1080 can support higher transfer rates at a base of a good 10 Gbit/s.

With that said, the GTX 1080 has the following specs.

2560 Pascal CUDA Cores - Now Pascal Cores and Maxwell cores can't be compared but the performance has been said (with leaked benches) to surpass the 3072 Maxwell Core Titan X. I can definitely foresee a Titan in the future because on Wikipedia, their first NVLink chip which uses the GP100 core that is said to house 3584 Pascal Cores (40% more cores so there should be more SMX units on GP100 than it does on GP104 but don't quote me on this one).

1607 Mhz Core, 1733 MHz Boost Clocks - This is a VERY (Impressively) scary clocks out of the gate, even at stocks. There have been photos that it can overclock past even the 2.1 GHz mark, but whether it was done air cooled or water cooled cannot be determined just yet.

8GB GDDR5X VRAM: A new counterpart to Fiji's High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). Double of the predecessor, made even better thanks to a double clock off the GDDR5X RAM speeds. GDDR5X is a new memory standard which integrates an updated RAM controller. It requires a new PCB with it, having 190 vs 170 pins of standard GDDR5. With a Bandwidth of 320GB/s, that will be good for High Res / VR Gaming. It'll be 256-bit, same as a 980. I won't be surprised if the Ti version in the distant future would be 384-bit.

599 USD Standard, 699 Founders: Not too bad for pricing wise. Especially if you can find future AIBs on the base 599. Because that fits just between the Launch MSRP of the 980 and the 980 Ti. And it's no contest with the Titan X either. And even with that performance at the founder's price of 699, it seems pretty damn good. It's clear that a single 10 can already flat out beat a 980 Ti without a problem by 30%. It'll be behind the Pro Duo, but not all that much, say 15-20%. And pair two 1080s for a combined price lower than a Pro Duo, it is a serious contender.

API Support: Pascal will be the first to support the Vulkan API. What Vulkan is said to do, is to balance CPU either by lower the CPU overhead and dedicate full power of the GPU to the application while the CPU is free for its usual computation workloads. Or balance out the CPU load across most if not all the cores so the cores are used at the optimal level. Vulkan will also be supported on cards all the way back to Kepler GTX 600 series with a driver update.

180W TDP: The 180W TDP lies closer to the 165W 980 than it is to the 250W Titan X, 980 Ti, R9 290X which are still below the 275W of the Fiji and Hawaii based Fury and 390X. That TDP is even lower slightly than the respectably efficient Tongas. Power efficiency like Maxwell should be quite nice, and it requires a single 8-pin.

There have been leaked Fire Strike Benchmarks, made known by Overclock3D which you can see here:

The scores look to scale well with the Core Overclock. There's also been a recent leak of AIB partners that might release a Liquid Cooled one clocked at 2.5 GHz. And if that scaling is true, this may be a serious contender with the Radeon Pro Duo once you turn up the clock speeds past the 2 GHz Ceiling.


Having said that, I'm edging to see from the bigger tech reviews whether they can pit the GTX 1080 (Stock and Overclocked speeds) against:
R9 295X2
R9 390 Crossfire
R9 390X Crossfire
R9 Fury Crossfire
R9 Pro Duo
GTX 970 SLI
GTX 980 SLI
GTX 980 Ti / Titan X SLI

Then again, only time will tell!

Radeon Pro Duo: Worth the $1500???

Just a short while ago, the Radeon Pro Duo was launched. We have been anticipating this GPU (as the Fury X2) for quite a while now because of the power efficiency that Fiji provides compared to the Hawaii. The Fury line of GPUs have been super successful also to thermal efficiencies. Heat has never been an issue at all, as far as the Furies go, even when just air cooled. The Fury Nano is a good example of good heat control and power envelope, being similarly specced to the Fury X. Though it's a little bit of a power lock on stock, OC-ing it will bring it super close to the Fury X.

Don't expect it to come cheap, at 1500 USD. Now for 1500 American Greenbacks, it better damn well be fast. It's geared towards VR, but also Prosumers and VR developers so it's not for the meek of wallet. As a general gaming card though, one card will be enough to ensure your gaming system will last for years to come.

The pricing is a lot more than putting 2 Fury Xs in Crossfire. But I understand that cramping everything into a single PCB will definitely take the headaches out from fitting in 2 rads into the system if you're using 2 Fury Xs rather than Nanos. And it'll be the most powerful fit in an ITX system (in a small and long case like the Coolermaster Elite 130).

Having that said, what do you get for extra 400-500 bucks instead of 2 Fury Xs / Nanos put together?

- A Full Dual Slot card
- Double the VRAM on a Single PCB.
- 350W TDP instead of 550W TDP for 2 cards.
- VR Capable.


Now the card's raw power is totally ready for max scores in VR-gaming, with 8192 Stream Processors and 8 Gigs of HBM. This raw power will render itself way too powerful / overkill for standard 1080p gaming. 2 GTX 970s that I have is still tipping overkill already, let alone the Pro Duo. Good Hi-Resolutions like 1440p or 4K or Eyefinity is the way to go with this card.

Having said that, I would wait till they jack the pricing down because spending extra instead of going 2 cards is questionable. But this is not the first time they jack the launch prices so high. Because they did the same with the Radeon 7990, and the R9 295X2 also at the same launch price, only to later jack the costs down once nVidia Flagships enter the market. It's the same thing that nVidia did with their Titan Z. And now the Fiji based Pro Duo / Fury X2 kinda makes the old GK110 Z like a dwarf, don't it? Then they jacked the pricing down also in light of Maxwell. Jacking off huh? See the trend?

A Single 980Ti can beat a Fury X but No Doubt the Pro Duo gonna be way more powerful than a single 980 Ti. But no question otherwise that 2 980 Tis will still be cheaper and more powerful than a Pro Duo and with the overclocking dream too. Who knows? Maybe even 2 regular 980s when overclocked can even go head to head or at least come extremely close? I don't know!

At this tier of GPUs / configurations that are similarly powerful or similarly priced that are so many Single or Dual Flagship options available. So It'll be plenty interesting to see how the reviews will go head-to-head between these options:

R9 Pro Duo
2 R9 Fury Xs
2 R9 Fury Nanos
2 R9 Fury
R9 295X2
Single R9 Fury
Single R9 390X
2 R9 390Xs
2 GTX 980 Tis / Titan Xs
2 GTX 980 OC
Single 980 Ti / Titan X

I wouldn't be surprised that AMD will surely jack the pricing down later. However all that will depend on how good Pascal will eventually turn out as well as the reviews for this GPU.

Project: Secondary Studio Computer 'Lumberjack' and quick review of Zotac GTX 750 Low Profile

Well, I have a tiny project for this computer I just bought called 'Lumberjack' which I got in end October 2015.

This is based off a slim 6200 PRO desktop chassis from Hewlett Packard. It's a slim desktop, with an i3-2100, complete with a nice high capacity 750GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Professional, Optical bay, 2 Gigs of RAM. As you can see I love me my Sandy Bridge. It has been an excellent, rugged and proven architecture despite the platform being like 5 years old. The setup will also have the USB Mike which I'm writing a post for it as well.

Let's run down on the specs pretty quick:

- Intel Core i3 2100
- 2GB DDR3 RAM (Which I swapped out to a 4GB GSkill Red RAM Stick in the photo below)
- 750GB Seagate Hard Drive
- Windows 7 Ultimate
- 240W PSU
- Optical DVD Burner
And 10, that's right, 10 USB 2.0 ports.

It's gonna be similar stuff to the sort of thing YouTube Channel Green Ham Gaming TV does, like recycle old hulls and bringing them to gaming order. Now the 6200 PRO, being a slim desktop and with a small 240W PSU, I can't afford to cramp a graphics card that would stress the PSU too much, and one that would be a low profile. It can still be a double slot though. I did manage to find the ideal one without breaking the bank. Although after deducting 65W from the i3 2100, I have about 175W to play with, but even with a decent GPU that can fit this power envelope, I needed to reserve for stuff like the Drives and the USB plugs. Theoretically I could put a GTX 750 Ti in but I'm going to be safe.

Then later, I came across this graphics card on eBay:

Zotac nVidia GeForce GTX 750 Low Profile

That's a tiny card with a small little funky orange fan. It's still a dual slot card which is fine by me and it may only have 1GB of GDDR5 texture memory on a 128-bit bus which limits bandwidth but don't let it fool you. It's still a pretty decent GPU. Having worked with Maxwells on my 970s in SLI, the baby GM106 is no slouch. This card fit the bill for a few reasons.

1. It's a nice mid-range card that is practically the most powerful low profile GPU behind the 750 Tis that are available in Low Profile factors.

2. It's among the 750s that don't require an external 6-pin PCI-E connectors.

3. It can still accept a slight boost tweak on the clocks even if I overclock it on such a wimpy Power Supply.

The card came assembled in its full size bracket with the standard VGA, DVI-I and HDMI ports. But Zotac was nice enough to include the brackets so you can split the 3 connectors from 1 full profile to 2 low profile slots should you have to cramp into a slim desktop like my Lumberjack. One bracket for the DVI and HDMI and the other one for the VGA. But if you don't need the VGA, you can unplug it out of its header on the card.

It comes with documentation and manuals and the usual Driver Disc which you don't need frankly. You can use the CD to get your started but it's best Download the latest GeForce Experience and use it to install the latest drivers available.

Close up of the Tiny Low profile GTX 750 that has been coping well with the overclocks

Shot of internals of 'Lumberjack' with that Graphics card and an extra 2GB RAM stick I put in.

Scores:

Now the GTX 750 is not the best of cards available. It's the most entry level to the GTX grade cards in this series but it can pump out some respectable scores on 3D Mark Fire Strike, Sky Diver and Cloud Gate as you can see below. It's also the 3rd most powerful Low Profile GPU that is available, and after overclocking it, it's quite the card really.

Zotac GTX 750 Low Profile Fire Strike: 3819 on Graphics Score with the Physics being a slight bottleneck

Zotac GTX 750 Low Profile Sky Diver 12575 Graphics score

Zotac GTX 750 Low Profile: Cloud Gate 28019 Graphics score

Now checking the graphics score in relation to the mobile GPUs using the GM106 core like the GTX 850M, 860M, 950M and 960M. We're right on the level with a GTX 860M. And after a +120 on the Core and +150 (Equates to 75 on GPU-Z) on the Memory Clock, we're hitting a Fire Strike 4162 score on the graphics, a 10% Increase. We're right on the level of a stock 750 Ti and the 960M which isn't too shabby even though the better GPUs have 640 cores, 128 more CUDA Cores than the 512 it has.

Despite being a small low profile card, the temperatures of 64 with the overclocks are good. It's pretty quiet too, partly due to a closed case and the fan is facing away from my ears.

An Overclock that boosts the GPU score to 4162

General Gaming Performance

As for general performance, Lumberjack doesn't disappoint. Even though it's operating on a hard-drive, it doesn't really feel all that slow and neither is it noisy. It's actually an Enterprise Level albeit old Hard drive, 750GB will be plenty for some videos that I plan to record and store there and the system is whisper quiet, both idle and at loads. Performance generally on Windows on a single 4GB Stick was abit sluggish since it was probably at the limit of hitting the page file especially on single channel. That was a bit of a pain since the windows install was clean without any Dell Bloatware that the seller did for me. But adding a 2GB Stick to make it 6GB on dual channel really help things along, bringing the Mem Score index of 5.4 to 7.5 on Windows Experience Index while also felt a heavy improvement by just adding a 2 Gig Stick on dual Channel.

In terms of Gaming, the card has demonstrated little difficulty running Life is Strange and Borderlands 2 at my set FPS Cap at 60 at maximum 1080p settings, made it even easier with the overclocks.

Other light titles like Counterstrike Global Offensive, Left for Dead 2, Diablo III, League of Legends, Dota 2, Path of Exile and perhaps even StarCraft II will be a breeze for the GTX 750 to handle.

With the recent acquisition of the 1440p QX2710 Monitor, the lighter titles can even be tapped up to 1440p, some at maximum settings.

Some of the current stuff can still be run if you'd lower the settings or resolutions down abit 900p / 768p will suit these just fine.

General Game Performance

Diablo III - 93 FPS - Max 1080p, 45 FPS - 1440p
Dota 2 - 65 FPS - Best Quality 1080p
StarCraft 2 -76 FPS  Maximum 1080p
Left for Dead 2 - 60 FPS Maximum including AF x 16 and MSAA 8X 1440p 

Some AAA titles of today will run quite well on Medium to High 768p

Metro Last Light: 1366 x 768 Medium 4x AA, 56 FPS
Wolfenstein The New World Order
Borderlands 2
Bioshock Infinite

CONCLUSION

'Lumberjack' actually gave me about the same power in terms of gaming maybe more than what my first DIY Rig was able to give. The GTX 750 when I overclocked, can exceed all my mid range GPUs I used before, like the Radeon 5850, the GTX 550 Ti and the Radeon 6850. For most of the games that are not so demanding, the GTX 750 just handles the job pretty well. And let's say you have an old pre-built system that doesn't have a large power supply and you still want to play games on, the GTX 750 will have your back. It can breathe new life to old systems, turning them to decent low-end gaming machines and a nice HTPC.

Future upgrades I can take with this without pushing the power envelope is to swap the Hard Drive with an SSD or unplug the DVD Writer and add the SSD. Upgrade the i3 to the Core i5 2500S or the 2500T or the i7 2600S. And maybe even upgrade to a GTX 750 Ti LP and give the GTX 750 to my bro.

MagicForce 68-Key MINI Mechanical Keyboard (Cherry MX-Blues)

My fully decked out Keyboard just arrived from Massdrop! This is probably the last keyboard purchase for a long time. This is my very first Cherry MX Blue Keyboard, and one of those keyboards whose form factor is not a standard one.

Not many words needed to describe this keyboard. The reason why this keyboard caused such a buzz is pretty much it represents the absolute size limit that you can shrink a tenkeyless form factor without compromising too much functionality. The close competitor with this similar size will be the Ducky MINI but it is more limited in functionality; the arrow keys, page up/down, Insert and delete keys (essential to my general workloads) missing compared to the MagicForce.

Be prepared to pay more as you deck this keyboard out. But this truly made this keyboard my own.

Differences between this keyboard and standard Tenkeyless Form Factor:

- 5 rows instead of the standard 6. F Keys are integrated to the Number Keys via Function key.

- The Home and End Keys are activated via Function Key on Page Up / Down.

Other Features:
- 9 Brightness LED Levels (Function + Up / Down keys)

- Pulsating LED effects (Function + Left Key to toggle. Function + Right to adjust pulsing speed)

- Available in all switches of Cherry MX, Gateron, or Kailh switches. (Currently, Kailh boards are out of stock).

- Media Playback Functionality (Via Function Key)

- Plug and Play.

- DIP Switches under its base:
Swap Left Caplocks for Left Control, Left Windows for Function Key (Awesome), Lock Windows Keys (Good)

Customizations:
Gold Chassis
White Keys
Gold LEDs on WASD and Arrow Keys.
Blue LEDs on the rest of keyboard
Cherry MX Blues.

Overview of the Keyboard that I received on the 26th January 2016.

Where to Get it:
If you want to get that keyboard from Massdrop, the link is as follows. Do support the drop if you want to get the keyboard at their lowest deals. Do allow some time for shipping, for around two and a half months as it does take a while to build it to user specifications.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/magicforce-68-key-mini-mechanical-keyboard?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=influencer&utm_term=416&utm_content=randomfrankp


Gallery:

I'll shush up now. Take in the beauty of some of the photographs taken with both my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Nikon L830.

New addition to the fleet

Backlights off. You can see the Chassis much more clearly.

Standard Cherry-MX Blue Switch

Another Shot.

Comparison to a standard Tenkeyless Form Factor

Tale of Two Keyboards.

Moving a little further ahead, I went to compare the sound and feel between Cherry MX Blues and Blue Outemu's. YouTube Video above.

I found the Cherry MX Blues on this keyboard outclass the Blue Outemu Switches in almost every possible way as typing feel is a lot smoother and less mushy than the latter and it sounds slick to type on too. Although the Outemus are an okay switch, it has a more obvious tactile bump at the bottom, abit heavier and clackier once you bottom it out.

For typists, The Cherry MX Blues is really a perfect blend. Although clicky, they are not much louder than MX Browns which I also have. (Photo above: Comparison to TK Form Factor)


Conclusion:

The bottomline is that this form factor, though with less keys, still retains most of the functionality of a Tenkeyless Keyboard. Going even shorter like say the Ducky MINI without the arrow keys and Page Up/Down Keys is too much a functionality compromise since I use these keys for office work. Thus I feel between the Ducky MINI and the MagicForce, The 68-key config is just the perfect limit. 

This form factor is a perfect fit for small and tight spaces on your desk as a main keyboard (Albeit without the Num Pad). And because I'm used to MacBook Pro Style configuration which allowed me to live without the F1-F12 Keys, it's a viable addition to your MacBook setup. In fact, you configure this to a fully white keyboard with white case and LEDs and all, making it a complement to a Mac Setup or any build that doesn't use a dark colour computer case.

However even better, also as a portable compact, lightweight mechanical keyboard to bring along to LAN events and it just looks good. Highly customizable, it can be suited to your tastes and needs.

QNIX QX2710 27" 2560 x 1440p IPS / VA Monitor Review - The Bang-for-buck 1440p

Synopsis

I was looking for a cheap 1440p monitor as a direct replacement to my 21" Philips 222 EL 2 as my main monitor when I came across this on Qoo10. I loved my 21" monitor but it was too small for my needs, seeing now I have to do with occasion photo detailing.

Delivery Process:
Qoo10 and QNIX wasted no time sending it to me. I sent the Request on Friday (8-Jan) afternoon. It reached Singapore in less than 48 hours and was sent to me on Tuesday. The box it came in was reinforced with an outer layer of cardboard. The reinforcement is tight with tape but it's easy to remove with a small steel ruler.

The review samples had these plain white boxes with Korean Text but this one comes with the standard consumer Box which on the outside describes a bit of some of the features that the monitor has.

The box is tightly reinforced...

But reveals some of the goods when revealed.

But lo and behold, you get yourself a mammoth like this big ol' QX2710 from QNIX. Even at that size, at just over 4 Kilograms, it is still relatively light for its size.

This is the same monitor that Kyle from AwesomesauceNetwork reviewed as being one of his best IPS panels he had ever used. I read somewhere it's more of a VA Panel than an IPS but I could be wrong. Other sources that this panel is based off the Samsung PLS panel. So some research is in order.

With that said, I'm taking a look at the QX2710.

My first 1440p monitor I own. It's relatively lightweight for its size.

To assemble the monitor is fairly straightforward. First you want to unscrew the key from the bottom of the monitor. They did this instead of putting in separately or shoved into the base so you know you won't misplace that key. Then you take the base and slot the monitor in and going back to that key, screw it through the treads of both monitor and the base to secure the monitor firmly into its mount.


Accessories Kit

QNIX include pretty much everything you need to get this monitor running. Apart from the monitor, you'll get:

- A Power Brick
- Power Connector that goes into the Power brick. It's a 2-pinned plug.

Included Power Brick which
uses a detachable standard power
supply cable.

- 2 to 3 pin Adapter
- 1 x Dual Link DVI Cable
- 3.5mm Audio Jack
- Manual

The thing that puts me off.... why QNIX?! Why is your manual in Korean only! At least have it in basic English! It's not that hard.

The jack of the power brick outputs using a detachable standard power cable which they included.  It is a 2-pin heavy plug. But it's nice that QNIX included the 2 to 3 pin adapter (already attached for you which is very nice) for easier plugging in to a UK Wall socket. Moreover I did have a tonne of standard UK 3-pin Power cables lying around that can be used with the Power Brick, so finding suitable cables for it isn't a problem. It's also good that the brick is external rather than a built-in Power Supply. So in an event the power brick goes bad like from a power surge, you just need a replacement brick without swapping the entire monitor.

It was also important that they throw in a Dual Link DVI Cable. I tried with my single link DVI cable which wouldn't work, the monitor will keep flashing upon getting the signal. The Cable is just not fast enough to receive all 3,686, 400 pixels at a time as compared to a 1080p one in which a single Link DVI works. So they did include one. And I did have one extra Dual Link DVI Cable now.

Basic Layout and Connectivity

Left: No I/O. 

Right I/O: 3.5mm Audio Jack, HDMI out, DVI out (Supports only Dual Link)
Below it hidden by the DVI Cable is the DC Power in.

The monitor I configured didn't have too much in a way of outputs. However for this money, I couldn't complain. And there's one thing that all monitors can follow, is the position of the ports. The great design cue is that they placed the I/O at the side instead of placing at the bottom either facing the back or worse facing the bottom.

The Right Side had an Audio Jack to connect between your computer's in built speakers. It had a Dual Link DVI out and a HDMI out. HDMI provides a resolution at the default 1080p at 60 Hz.

However at least for OS X Capitan, although it displays itself as 1080p, the scale will look as if it be a 1440p display. I could tell the difference while using a 1080p screen and a 1440p one side by side. What I can probably infer is that the pixel density retains itself over the resolution spectrum.

The base model comes with a single Dual Link DVI port but I bought the one that also had HDMI on it. Other output configurations are also available at varying prices with Display Port and Mini Display Port options also available on the market.

The monitor however doesn't support single link DVI which is why QNIX was nice enough to include a Dual Link DVI in the accessories box. Well, you can't have too many DVI cables as I did face a huge challenge buying DVI cables around here when I was facing a cable shortage.

The Left has nothing on it. But the similar looking plates do suggest provisions for more outputs but at a higher cost.

The rear houses both the integrated 2 x 5W Speakers which can be output from a standard 3.5mm Jack or the integrated controller using a HDMI Interface. The back also has VESA 100mm by 100mm mount for mounting to the wall or to a custom stand.

Stand

The stand that is provided is a bummer as it only offers tilt and no height adjustment. Completely removing its assembly including the neck of the stand requires the getting into the monitor itself. So it's not easy to remove that stand without a screwdriver. Sure it does get the job done but unless I plop it on a raised base on my desk, it's gonna be too low. That is why the monitor is placed on my Slim Desktop for that height that was the perfect for me.

Controls

Although it's hard to see the control indicators without a flash, it's quite easy to feel the buttons. The button controls on the monitor have a satisfying tactile click upon pressing and controls couldn't be made simpler.

'Source' to Toggle between DVI and HDMI in my case.

The back of the monitor: Speakers and below it
is a standard VESA mount.

'Menu' to bring up the On Screen Display to change the settings and calibrate your monitor. Also doubles as a switch to confirm settings.
Up and Down arrows to go through the various stuff.

I'd like to point out that the OSD is available if you have the option with more than 1 I/O port like mine comes with HDMI and DVI.

Controls on the bottom of the monitor are abit hard to
See without the flash. 

On Screen Display Menu

 The Menu is very minimalistic as what you'd come to expect from Korean branded monitors.

Gaming Mode and DCR Toggles are available.

Performance
For a VA monitor at that price, it is good. The viewing angles aren't shabby and washed out
when at those tight spots, gallery in the next section. The blacks aren't super black as it's supposed to be but I don't really see that much of a difference. And the brightness and contrast levels can be easily manipulated to one's liking. But in terms of brightness and out of the box experience, it is more than good enough even without any tweaking.

As for color reproduction, it is not the monitor for stuff like Photoshopping and editing. It can to some extent, but there are better monitors that are fit for graphics work. Well, for that price, what can you do anyway.

However as a general monitor for games, watching movies, videos, YouTube and stuff, QX2710 can take care of it very well.

Monitor using its HDMI Output on OS X El Capitan. HDMI is limited to 1080p at 60 Hz.

The on board speakers on the QX2710 are mediocre at best. It's soft even at maximum volume. It doesn't help that the speakers are facing the rear. Made worse for Mac OS X to output HDMI Audio to that interface by default, I'd prefer to just stick to my MacBook Pro's Speakers. Although it's enough for basic stuff like watching YouTube videos, you would want to plug in an external speaker solution anyway for gaming music and movies. Still it's there if you somehow want it.

Dynamic Contrast which is a way for the monitor to automatically calibrate itself when trying to bring out dark colors though unnecessary is nice to have.

The monitor is said to be able to overclock to 120Hz refresh rate which is very nice for gamers. I haven't got up to that stage since I don't really find the need for overclocking monitors. But the option is there though and users who have been using this monitor can easily push 100 Hz for a butter smooth and responsive gaming experience.


Viewing Angles Gallery:

From the bottom side

Acceptable viewing angle From the Top

From the right edge.

Pricing:

The pricing of this monitor is where it's at and it is what makes this a special performer. At launch in 2013, this monitor sells at around 360-375 USD (510-550 SGD) and that is just the model with a single DVI port. However just this week, I got mine just over 260 SGD with both DVI and HDMI and a matte screen. The Base model with a single DVI costs just SGD 219 from Qoo10 (150 USD) which for a 27" 1440p monitor with this performance, is very nice.



BOTTOMLINE
"Total Bang for buck 1440p!"

That's my quick quote to summarise the QX2710. Is it the best? Nope. But I can say that the monitor is right up there with some of the other best monitors available, especially in the IPS Panels and within this price bracket. QNIX has produced a solid performing 1440p monitor for the gaming masses without breaking the bank.

There is really no other 1440p monitor that I can ever find at this price, a solid one at that and at a 27 Inch Diagonal length. This price would have otherwise net you a smaller 1080p one from the bigger refutable brands like ASUS and BenQ. Not many features yes, but you get actually more than what you pay for. The screen estate coupled with good base color reproduction is nothing to laugh it.

The HDMI out is nice to have so it is possible to plug this into consoles like the PS4 and XBox 1 even though that they are locked at their own native resolutions.

Pros: 
Solid Color Reproduction at most viewing angles,
Real cheap and excellent price to performance ratio, especially at that size and resolution.
Cables and Accessories
Good out of the box color calibration
Decent Viewing Angles
Negligible colour bleeding.
Fairly light for its size.
Overclocking refresh rate is nice to have.

Cons:
Could have more outputs
Poor Speakers
No Height Adjustment on the stand
Requires digging into the monitor to completely remove the stand for VESA Mounting.
Why's the Manual in Korean?

Now having said that, for gamers who are looking at a cheap, but VERY worthy upgrade to old 720p, 900p and 1080p monitors, this is a Solid "Value-for-Money" and "GOLD" award contender if one doesn't need to care much for its shortcomings and limitations like the stand and speakers. It otherwise does have nice features for the gamers. This monitor may have been out for a while for over 2 years, but reviews have shown that it can still hold its own against the more expensive and more recent monitors and do so on the cheap. Not as good for like super extensive editing like Photoshop and Final Cut / Premier Pro but as a general use 1440p monitor? This monitor is a total steal.

Price:                  *****
Design:               ***
Features:             **
Performance:      *****
Overall:              *****

QX2710 - a Solid value for money proposition at 1440p

My Current Desk Setup: From small to medium 21" to Large 27".