AI accelerator

Razer When you’re buying something like a new laptop, especially for gaming, you want the most bang for your buck when it comes to processing power. With so many options, it can be difficult to lock down, even more so if you’re looking for something suitably powerful that you can take anywhere. Enter stage left the Razer Blade 14 (2024), which offers the most graphics power per cubic inch out of any comparable laptop. That’s possible thanks to an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HZ 8-core 16-thread processor, AMD Ryzen AI, and up to…

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends I’m sorry to say it, but I’d be lying if I said otherwise. NPUs are useless. Maybe that comes off as harsh, but it doesn’t come from a place of cynicism. After testing them myself, I’m genuinely convinced that there’s not a compelling use for NPUs right now.  When you go to buy your next laptop, there’s a good chance it will have a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) inside of it, and AMD and Intel have been making a big fuss about how these NPUs will drive the future of the AI PC. I don’t…

Jensen Huang was BFFs with everyone in Silicon Valley this year, becoming the only person to walk across all three conference stages of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Why? Because everyone needs his GPUs to power their AI dreams.Top 5 Shopping Tips for Amazon Prime DayGraphics Processing Units were once only coveted by PC gamers looking to max out their home setup, but now they’re the crown jewel of the most lucrative tech companies in the world. It’s a unique position to be in, but how did Jensen Huang get here? And what…

Kunal Khullar / Digital Trends The AI era is upon us. With generative AI continuing to push forward, companies like Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are also talking about the hardware side of the equation. With the introduction of the NPU, which stands for neural processing unit, processes that use AI will be sped up — at least, in theory. Apple has been using an NPU in its chips for years now, so they aren’t exactly brand new. And yet, being heralded as the “next big thing” across various industries, they’re more important…

Foz Do Arelho / Qualcomm While 2023 was a relatively quiet year for laptops, 2024 is going to be a shake-up. With everything from AI chips to an embrace of ARM, we’re about to see some things come to fruition that have been bubbling in the background for years. Even PC sales are expected to receive a bump as a result of it. The end result will be laptops that might look familiar on the outside — but will represent a major shift in how they are made and used, and even how they function. Efficiency looks to make a leap…

Intel Intel’s Meteor Lake processors represent more than just a new generation. It’s a fresh start for Intel — a cycle it seems to find itself in every few years — and the birth of the AI PC. Most importantly, it’s a sign that Intel can deliver on its road map with a fresh generation of processors built on a new node. Meteor Lake ushers in the Intel 4 node, which we first heard about nearly three years ago with the launch of 11th-gen CPUs. It also marka the start of the Core Ultra era of CPUs, along with a…

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends A lot has been made of Intel’s new Meteor Lake chips. They have a new brand, naming scheme, and even new technology in the form of the NPU (neural processing unit). And they come at an important time. The stakes have never been higher for Intel, as it faces competition from all sides. They’re also an important litmus test for the idea of the NPU, or neural processing unit. But these are mobile chips, so what ultimately matters is how they perform in laptops you can actually buy. I tested…

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends The first details about Windows 12 are starting to take shape, and the rumored OS could repeat the biggest mistake of Windows 11. As we’ve heard previously, the new OS will likely have a big focus on AI features. Now, we’re hearing that many of those features will require a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU), as reported by Windows Central. It’s hard to forget the fumble Microsoft made with Windows 11 and its requirement of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). This security chip isn’t…

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends It’s been a hard year for PCs. Laptops and desktops sales have sunk from their pandemic highs throughout 2023 and normalized back to the status in 2019. Not even Apple has been completely spared from the drop. But a new study is predicting a surprising surge in interest in the PC in 2024, renewing hopes that another wave of innovation and excitement for the platform is underway. After seven straight quarters of decline, the report from Canalys forecasts 5% growth in the final quarter of…

Nvidia Corp., the world's most valuable chipmaker, is updating its H100 artificial intelligence processor, adding more capabilities to a product that has fueled its dominance in the AI computing market.The new model, called the H200, will get the ability to use high-bandwidth memory, or HBM3e, allowing it to better cope with the large data sets needed for developing and implementing AI, Nvidia said Monday. Amazon.com Inc.'s AWS, Alphabet Inc.'s Google Cloud and Oracle Corp.'s Cloud Infrastructure have all committed to…