Toms Hardware

Apple recently updated macOS to resolve an issue that, according to ZDNet, could result in some USB-C docks bricking specific MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. Apple said that “macOS Big Sur 11.2.2 prevents MacBook Pro (2019 or later) and MacBook Air (2020 or later) models from incurring damage when they are connected to certain third-party, non-compliant powered USB-C hubs and docks.” Mac owners affected by the bug initially speculated that Apple’s new M1 chip was to blame. The first Macs to feature the chip weren’t released until 2020, however, so the inclusion of the “MacBook Pro (2019 or later)”…

One of the world’s most popular and innovative computers officially launched on February 29, 2012. Nine years and 38 million units sold later, the Raspberry Pi powers a huge community of makers, students and businesses. What started as a small project, meant to increase applications for Cambridge University’s computer science program has become a global movement. Every serious tech enthusiast should own at least one Raspberry Pi or, if you’re like me, 30 Raspberry Pis. You can use one as a lightweight PC, a retro arcade machine or to power a variety of projects, from home security cameras to tic-tac-toe-playing…

Tensions between the U.S. and China have proved lucrative for some Japanese companies. Nikkei Asia today reported that prices for used chip-making equipment, which aren’t subject to U.S. restrictions imposed in 2020, have risen 20% on average as a result of increased demand from Chinese semiconductor manufacturers. The U.S. imposed new sanctions on SMIC, the largest semiconductor manufacturer in China, in September 2020 to prevent it from purchasing new chip-making equipment. It also added the company to the Entity List in December 2020 to make it even harder for other businesses to supply it with American-developed technology. Used chip-making equipment…

Making your own keyboard from scratch isn’t usually this hands-on, but the results are totally worth it. This custom Raspberry Pi Pico keypad comes from a maker known on Reddit as Duzitbetter who decided to 3D print the circuit inside. Where other makers would design their own PCB, Duzitbetter decided to 3D print custom channels to route copper wires from the keys to the Pico. The keypad has a 3 x 3 layout to support 3D printed keys fitted with Gateron switches. (Image credit: Duzitbetter)According to Duzitbetter, the board, circuit, case and keycaps were designed just for this project and…

The Raspberry Pi Pico has no shortage of options when it comes to digital displays. We can use LCD screens, output to VGA / DVI or use bespoke screens such as the Pico Display or Pico Explorer Base’s IPS display. But sometimes we need a small, cheap option to get the job done. OLED screens such as the 0.96 inch model used in this tutorial, are trivial to use with MicroPython and they cost only a few bucks (or pounds) making them ideal for projects. In this tutorial, we will learn how to connect an OLED screen to a Raspberry…

Intel’s 11th-Gen eight-core Tiger Lake-H 45W processors for mobile devices are expected to land in the first quarter, and, judging by the latest retailer listings (via momomo_us), the 10nm chips shouldn’t be far off. Intel has launched several Tiger Lake chips that adhere to power limits under 35W. However, the chipmaker will have to roll out the 45W parts if it really wants to compete against AMD’s core-heavy Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne) processors. Like all Tiger Lake offerings, the 45W processors are based on Intel’s 10nm SuperFin (10SF) process node and wield Willow Cove cores and Xe LP graphics. Besides the…

Ethereum mining is most profitable on high-end graphics cards, but enthusiasts are often willing to use whatever they have on-hand, especially as the cryptocurrency’s value continues to rise. Now they’ll have another option: Apple’s new M1 chip. Zensors software engineer Yifan Gu found a way to make the ethminer utility run on a MacBook Air featuring the M1 processor. It required a bit of setup, but Gu made the code available on GitHub, so curious Mac owners can check it out themselves. This isn’t the first time someone’s used the M1 for mining. CryptoAge reported in December 2020—just one month…

Fry’s Electronics wasn’t the only electronics retailer affected by COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Best Buy laid off 5,000 employees of its 102,000 employees in response to the pandemic-hastened rise of online shopping. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said in an earnings report that “online sales grew almost 90% to a record $6.7 billion and made up 43% of our total Domestic sales” in the 13-week fourth quarter of 2021 that ended on January 30. But that doesn’t mean the company’s brick-and-mortar stores were obsolete. Quite the opposite: Barry said, “almost two-thirds of our online revenue was…

Being one of the world’s leading contract makers of laptops, Compal not only produces notebooks for large brands but also proposes various design concepts that may be eventually commercialized by one of its customers. This year Compal proposed a laptop design with three displays.  Compal’s Airttach is a 13-inch laptop that may be equipped with proprietary custom-built displays that can be seamlessly attached to the sides of the primary screen to create one large screen featuring a 48:9 aspect ratio. The side displays use proprietary power and signal interconnects (or maybe even a combination of wired and wireless technologies, based on some…

Not a lot of companies have announced Mini-ITX versions of their Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060-based graphics cards so far, but among them is PNY, one of Nvidia’s premier partners. One store in Germany claims to have stock of PNY’s GeForce RTX 3060 board designed for compact machines, and there are three things that immediately attract attention: a minimalist design, integrated addressable RGB lights, and a very long name.  From a specifications point of view, PNY’s GeForce RTX 3060 12GB XLR8 Gaming Revel Epic-X RGB Single Fan Edition is a rather regular Nvidia GA106-300-based graphics card with 12GB of GDDR6 memory. The board has a…

In an attempt to relieve some of its Ampere stock, Nvidia recently introduced the Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) product line that specifically targets Ethereum mining. While the chipmaker was reluctant to share more details, the truth has come to light in the latest GeForce Game Ready 461.72 WHQL driver. When Nvidia launched CMP, the chipmaker was firm on the fact that it wouldn’t impact the supply of its GeForce gaming graphics cards. Since CMP was designed to solve the cryptocurrency mining situation with Ampere, it would make sense that the graphics cards were based on older silicon. VideoCardz dug into…

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that required an extensive review of critical American supply chains, with a special focus on semiconductors, to “ensure our economic prosperity and national security.” The executive order requires the Secretary of Commerce to ”submit a report identifying risks in the semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging supply chains and policy recommendations to address these risks” by June 4. The White House explained the order’s focus on semiconductors in a fact sheet: “The United States is the birthplace of this technology, and has always been a leader in semiconductor development. However, over the years…

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 gave us the power of the Raspberry Pi 4 in a smaller package but it came with a cost, the Compute Module 4 needed carrier boards for GPIO access, USB, Ethernet etc. Tofu, a carrier board from oratek is designed for industrial applications and it comes with features not found on the official Compute Module 4 IO board, including an M.2 socket for use with NVME SSDs and 4G network cards. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Oratek)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Oratek)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Oratek)Carrier boards are a necessity…

Only a few hours are left before the GeForce RTX 3060 goes up for purchase at retailers around the world. Given Nvidia’s recent launch history, the mid-range Ampere graphics card’s stock might be equally limited so legit customers will likely have to fend off cryptocurrency miners and scalpers once again. If you haven’t been following the GeForce RTX 3060, here’s quick summary. Built with the GA106 silicon, the GeForce RTX 3060 comes equipped with 3,584 CUDA cores, 112 Tensor cores and 28 RT cores. The reference clock speeds include a 1,320 MHz base clock and 1,777 MHz boost clock, but…

Samsung is reportedly working on a laptop based on its own Exynos system-on-chip that features a built-in AMD RDNA-based GPU. The system will run Microsoft’s Windows 10 and compete against always-connected personal computers (ACPCs) based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platforms for laptops. Samsung licensed AMD’s Radeon RDNA GPU IP in 2019 and promised that the first products to use AMD’s graphics technology would be available within the next two years. Samsung’s latest Exynos 2100 SoC that powers international versions of the Galaxy S21 smartphones continues to use Arm’s Mali-G78 MP14 graphics, but when launching it early this year, Samsung said its ‘next flagship product’ would…

Nvidia is raking in cash in the midst of ongoing graphics card shortages, but there isn’t a lot of good news for gamers on the near horizon. Nvidia released its Q4 and fiscal 2021 earnings today, notching an impressive record of $5 billion in quarterly revenue, up 61% over the prior year, as it powered its way to net earnings of $1.457 billion, but the company’s comments on the current mining boom paint a dire picture. Like most semiconductor manufacturers, Nvidia has suffered from a string of crushing shortages fueled by pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions. To make matters worse for…

SiPearl this week signed a deal with Open-Silicon Research, a contract developer of chips, and announced some additional details about its upcoming Rhea system-on-chip (SoC) for high-performance computing (HPC) applications. The new processor will be ready by 2023.  Under the terms of the deal, Open-Silicon Research, the India based entity of OpenFive, will provide physical design services to SiPearl. Typically, such services include integrated circuit layout, design verification, layout post processing, and tapeout. In addition, Open-Silicon Research will also be responsible for implementation of Rhea’s HBM2E memory subsystem, 2.5D packaging, chip bring up, and ramp up to volume production.   SiPearl…

AMD will reveal a new Radeon RX 6000 graphics card during Episode 3 of its “Where Gaming Begins” event on March 3 on 11 AM US Eastern. Although the chipmaker didn’t specify which model, it’s likely going to be the much-awaited Radeon RX 6700 XT. Following AMD’s Big Navi release pattern,. the Radeon RX 6700 Xt is the next SKU in line after all. AMD’s render of the RDNA 2 graphics card aligns with a previous leaked design of what the Radeon RX 6700 could look like. On an aesthetic level, the Radeon RX 6700 XT shares similar traits as…

The RTX 3060 launch is almost upon us, but we won’t have to wait until tomorrow to see benchmarks. Videocardz.com today posted early numbers of how the 3060 runs in synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark and Unigine Superposition. The site attributes these tests to anonymous sources, and although synthetic benchmarks and pre-launch tests can be inaccurate, the results are quite underwhelming. Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060 will be the company’s new mid-range card for the Ampere generation, featuring 3584 CUDA cores, 12GB of GDDR6 memory, and a $325 MSRP (good luck getting one at that price). The GPU will be launching on…

Nvidia announced its RTX 3060 last month, later revealing that it was putting the brakes on Ethereum mining performance with this card. Simultaneously, Nvidia announced the professional ‘CMP’ mining GPUs. However, within all this, CryptoLeo, a Russian YouTuber that specializes in cryptocurrency, showed that the GPU was still profitable to mine with — as long as you didn’t mine Ethereum. Now, the same guy is tearing down his sample of the Zotac RTX 3060 graphics card for your viewing pleasure. The first thing that stands out to CryptoLeo in the teardown is that the GPU’s memory comes with thermal pads…