Articles by Wayne Williams, Editor

Plucky startup Bolt Graphics still wants to use RISC-V to compete with Nvidia, AMD in AI and beyond — and given CUDA's port on RISC-V, there may be something there

By Wayne Williams Published 12 January 26

Bolt Graphics is betting on RISC-V and CUDA compatibility to challenge Nvidia and AMD with a radically different GPU design focused on AI and rendering.

Nvidia's latest RTX 5090 GPU card has an audio jack — yes a headphone socket, on a video card, but no wooden trim or SSD like its predecessor

By Wayne Williams Published 12 January 26

The Asus ProArt RTX 5090 targets creative professionals with its compact dimensions, 32GB of GDDR7 memory, and an unexpected audio jack.

Minisforum beats Dell, HP and Lenovo to unveil first Ryzen AI 9 HX470 PC — AI X1 Pro-470 mini PC supports 12TB SSD storage and up to 128GB DDR5

By Wayne Williams Published 11 January 26

CES 2026 Minisforum beats Dell, HP and Lenovo to unveil first Ryzen AI 9 HX470 mini PC - AI X1 Pro-470 supports 12TB SSD storage and up to 128GB DDR5.

GMKTec EVO-T2 has more AI firepower than Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC — Core Ultra X9 388H delivers 180TOPS, 50% more than its AMD rival

By Wayne Williams Published 10 January 26

GMKtec's new EVO-T2 mini PC is powered by Intel’s 18A Core Ultra X9, with support for up to 128GB of LPDDR5x memory and 16TB of SSD storage.

Asus vies for fastest mini PC ever with Panther Lake NUC 16 Pro — B390 GPU inside the Core Ultra X9 388H impresses but won't beat the 8060S

By Wayne Williams Published 10 January 26

The Panther Lake based Asus NUC 16 Pro blends strong integrated graphics with leading AI performance.

Acer launches 40th Ryzen AI Max+ 395 system as it pitches Veriton RA100 mini PC as an AI workstation — but unless it is keenly priced, it will struggle against better value competitors

By Wayne Williams Published 9 January 26

Acer targets creators and developers building and running local models with its Veriton RA100 Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC.

The era of 6K monitors has come: after Dell, Acer launches another 20-megapixel screen — 32-inch PE320QX has 7 ports and a webcam but no KVM

By Wayne Williams Published 9 January 26

CES 2026 Acer’s new ProDesigner PE320QX monitor packs real 6K resolution in a 32-inch display with a generous selection of ports.

Patriot Memory Viper Venom 32GB DDR5 5200

2026 could well be the year of the $500 32GB DDR5 memory module — experts predict DDR will go up by 60% in Q1 2026 alone

By Wayne Williams Published 8 January 26

2026 could see 32GB DDR5 memory costing $500 as analysts warn of steep DRAM price rises driven by server demand.

Nvidia quietly launches free software update for its AI mini PC which turns it into an external AI accelerator for Apple's MacBook Pro

By Wayne Williams Published 8 January 26

CES 2026 Nvidia plans a major software update that will expand DGX Spark’s role in local AI workloads.

Maingear BYO RAM scheme showing RAM sticks on a desk

Is RAM the new Bitcoin? DDR4 memory prices are rising so fast, some tracker graphs are running out of space - and I fear 2026 could well see a 10x price rise

By Wayne Williams Published 7 January 26

Is RAM the new Bitcoin? DDR4 prices jump from under $100 to several hundred dollars in a matter of months and the worrying trend shows no signs of slowing.

Razer joins AI bandwagon with external AI accelerator backed by iconic AMD chip architect

By Wayne Williams Published 7 January 26

CES 2026 Razer announces Forge AI Dev Workstation at CES 2026 alongside a compact Tenstorrent external AI accelerator.

AMD says its Instinct MI500 AI Accelerator will come in 2027 — but is it too late with Nvidia set to introduce Vera-Rubin in 2026?

By Wayne Williams Published 7 January 26

CES 2026 AMD details Instinct MI500 architecture and memory plans ahead of the AI accelerator's 2027 debut.

2 Comments

Conner makes a comeback with modern storage solutions

Legendary HDD brand that created 3.5-inch format makes surprising comeback at CES 2026 — could illustrious names like Maxtor, Iomega or SyQuest be next?

By Wayne Williams Published 6 January 26

CES 2026 Once a pioneer of PC hard drives, Conner reappears at CES 2026 with a very different product focus.

LG launches yet another lighter-than-light 17-inch laptop with an RTX 5050 GPU — and I am so confused

By Wayne Williams Published 5 January 26

CES 2026 The latest LG Gram Pro 17 pairs "Aerominum" construction with Nvidia RTX graphics, but with few clear differences from the 2025 model.

Intel beats AMD on sheer value as it ranks 7 CPUs in PassMark's top 10 Price Performance leaderboard — AMD gets number 1 but it's just an entry level Ryzen 5 on clearance sales

By Wayne Williams Published 4 January 26

Intel dominates PassMark’s price performance rankings as seven of its CPUs appear in the top ten.

The Core 9 Ultra 285K is Intel's fastest CPU and costs under $500 - so why is it so much cheaper compared to AMD $679 Ryzen 9 9950X3D?

By Wayne Williams Published 3 January 26

Benchmark data places AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D only slightly ahead of Intel’s cheaper and more efficient top desktop processor.

5 Comments

AMD is slowly turning into Intel of yesteryear as $501 32-thread Ryzen 9 7950X is just enough to beat 20-thread $270 Core Ultra 7 265KF — so what's going on?

By Wayne Williams Published 2 January 26

Intel’s Core Ultra 7 pricing exposes how AMD’s high end desktop CPUs now offer smaller performance gains despite far higher prices and power requirements.

11 Comments

Screaming Wi-Fi, internet dresses and unhinged AI chatbots - 20 of the wackiest tech stories we saw in 2025

By Wayne Williams Published 28 December 25

From fungal batteries to a dress made out of the internet, these wacky 2025 stories show just how strange modern tech can be.

10 impossibly small Japanese laptops under 1Kg that you will probably never be able to buy (unless you fly there)

By Wayne Williams Published 27 December 25

Ten impossibly small Japanese laptops under 1kg - but you'll probably never be able to buy.

10 storage technologies that want to replace hard drives

By Wayne Williams Published 27 December 25

From enterprise flash to experimental archival media, these are ten technologies looking to replace traditional hard drives... one day.

What a knob! Startup shoves circular controller in tiny laptop dock to create perfect desktop companion — shame you have to wait four months to get it

By Wayne Williams Published 26 December 25

HubKey Pro 2 is a crowdfunded circular controller with fully customizable keys and a dual-4K multi-functional hub.

Acemagic just launched one of the weirdest-looking Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PCs to date - Tank M1A Pro+ supports 24TB storage, quad 8K screens and claims to match the RTX 4070M laptop GPU

By Wayne Williams Published 25 December 25

Acemagic’s Tank M1A Pro+ joins the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC wave with support for four 8K screens, 128GB memory and up to 24TB SSD storage.

Intel sells the fastest sub-$200 CPUs that you can buy right now and AMD can barely keep up, even with a Ryzen 9 5900XT — so I have to ask, is Intel the new AMD?

By Wayne Williams Published 25 December 25

Intel’s cheapest desktop CPUs are now faster than AMD's, and Team Red is feeling pressure across the sub-$200 market.

2 Comments

Guess where all the NAND flash components are going? The 8th (yes, eighth) 245TB SSD has been announced amidst race to quench AI storage thirst of hyperscalers

By Wayne Williams Published 24 December 25

DapuStor announces a 245TB class SSD as AI workloads continue to shape flash storage priorities in hyperscale data centers.

Large External SSDs are now cheaper than internal ones as 4TB SATA SSD face extinction due to negligible price difference

By Wayne Williams Published 22 December 25

External 4TB SSDs costing less than internal SATA models shows shifting NAND priorities and increasing market pressures.

Wayne Williams

Articles by: Wayne Williams

Useful links