maximumpc.com SEP 2020 MAXIMUM PC 13
TRIUMPHS TRAGEDIES
NEW CHAMPION
Fujitsu has unveiled its Fugaku
supercomputer, with 158,
ARM A64FX processors.NO DOUBLE-DIPPING
Microsoft’s Smart Delivery
system for Xbox games won’t
allow developers to charge
you for a Series X version if you
already own the game.THUNDERBOLT IS STILL GO
Intel has release the specs of
Thunderbolt 4, due to debut with
its Tiger Lake chips.END OF SEGWAY
After 18 years the iconic Segway
PT is to retire. The company is to
concentrate on electric scooters.BLU-RAY FAIL
Thousands of Samsung Blu-ray
players have died at once, perhaps
due to a firmware problem with
expired SSL certificates.PAY TO PLAY
Google Play Music is to close as
YouTube Music takes over. There’s
a fee to use Google speakers, even
if you own the music.A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in techTech Triumphs and Tragedies
OCULUS HAS two versions of its
standalone VR headsets: The
accomplished Quest, and the
considerably cheaper Oculus Go.
But no longer, as the Oculus Go is
to go. There will be no new software or updates after December,
although you’ll still receive security patches and bug fixes until the end of- The Go was an attempt at low-cost VR. Lacking position tracking and
fancy controllers, it managed to sell over 2 million headsets in a year. The
Go was designed to introduce VR to people unwilling to invest in the bigger
headsets, but the limited capabilities didn’t show VR at its best, and it was still
too expensive for the mass market. Oculus is to concentrate on higher-end
headsets with the full six degrees of freedom, and high-resolution graphics.
Oculus claims its customers have spent over $100 million on the Quest,
and that more than 10 games have broken through the $2 million barrier. –CL
Low-cost headset
is to be droppedOCULUS GO GONE
SECOND NEW XBOX DUE
THERE HAVE BEEN MUTTERINGS of two versions of the Xbox Series X
for months. We had two codenames after all: Anaconda, and Lockhart.
Leaked documents confirm that Microsoft is going to make another more affordable
version of the X Series. It will be aimed at 1080p or 1440p gaming, rather than the exotic
heights of 4K and beyond, which will keep the cost of the required graphics silicon down.
It makes sense: The company sold two version of its Xbox One after all. It also enables
Microsoft to undercut the PS5 with a “budget” model, and out-perform it with the full
version. Tech specs are unsubstantiated, but it is expected to run a slightly slower CPU,
have less usable RAM and a slower GPU, and ship with no optical drive. The end result
is a box with less power than an Xbox One X but able to play the latest X Series games.
We don’t have a name or price yet, but S Series and $399 are widely touted. We expect a
launch announcement soon, with the boxes arriving in time for the holidays. –CLCHEAPER SERIES X FOR 1440P
APPLE’S DECISION to ditch x86 processors
and move to ARM-based chips for all its
machines has caused a stir. Now we are
starting to get an idea of what’s in store
as development kit is distributed, based
around the existing A12Z Bionic chip,
along with beta software. There are no
meaningful direct benchmarks yet, its
not the final hardware, or software, and
there’s lots of emulation going on. However,
developers have been impressed. Apple’s
new iPad Pro already runs an A12Z chip,
and it’s no slouch, holding its own against
a MacBook Pro armed with a Core i5-8257.
The next version will be based around this,
although exact details are still fuzzy. We
can expect a SoC version with more cores,
higher frequencies, and integrated GPU.
Some analysts are predicting performance
hikes of between 50 and 100 percent when
ARM MacBooks land.
While Apple gave little away about
the silicon at the World Wide Developers
Conference, except that it was going to be
“truly profound.” It did want to talk about its
software, and unveiled Universal 2. This is
a classification for executable files that will
run on x86 and ARM. The software detects
what you have and proceeds accordingly.
Many of the big productivity applications,
Photoshop and the like, have already been
ported. The original Apple Universal binary
from 2005 did the same job during the
transition from PowerPC chips to x86, and
this is the third time Apple has switched
tracks now. The plan is for the full transition
to take two years, and will kick off with
MacOS 11 (Big Sur), and the ARM-based 13-
inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.
If Apple has waited this long to jump, we
can assume it is confident. Intel and AMD
ha v e s o m e think in g to d o. T h e A-S er ie s A R M
chips have had a record of improvements.
ARM chips are also gaining ground in
supercomputers and server farms, as well
as dominating mobile devices, leaving x
silicon in the middle. –CLTwo-year plan unveiled
APPLE’S
TRANSITION
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