Here's What You Need To Know About The Google Pixel 3 XL

Google makes an entry into the Fall smartphone reveal by launching the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL right after Apple's pair of flagship devices the XS, and recently LG just revealed the V40 ThiQ. From my vantage point the Pixel 3 looks like a pretty decent smartphone, then again I'm still impressed with the Pixel 2. But let us turn our attention to this year's top-end variant, the Pixel 3XL. A much larger display infused with pretty exciting and controversial features.

From all the information I’ve gathered, here's what you need to know about Google's newly released Pixel 3 XL.

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Lets Break Down The Design

The Google Pixel 3XL has retained its minimalist design with a few incremental changes. One of those changes being the notch, the famed display notch which has become the staple feature seen on several flagship devices, more on the notch later. But let us focus on display, the Pixel 3XL has a 6.3-inch 29060 x 1440px AMOLED with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Now about that notch, many who had the honor of holding the Pixel 3 have made mentioned that by far it has the deepest notch ever witnessed on a smartphone, and I'm inclined to agree, judging from all the images I've viewed.

Within the notch, aside from the camera, you'll find brand new set of stereo speakers over the top the old two speakers, potentially it should output better sound. The very edge of the Pixel 3 XL ( and Pixel 3) you'll find an aluminum frame that sits directly between the front and back of Gorilla Glass 5 plates.

Switching over to the back of the device, it's entirely different from previous iterations where you had the two-tone color scheme encased entirely with metal; there's a frosted glass inlay that's infused into the glossy glass panel retaining its signature two-tone design. Google likes to call the frosted glass "soft touch" giving the appeared illusion that back is still made out of metal, enabling wireless charging.

Hardware Internals

The internal hardware within Google Pixel 3XL is very much similar to what you have with most flagship Android devices on the market, circa 2018. It's rocking a 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, an Octa-core CPU, Adreno GPU for the visual graphics. What's surprising the Pixel 3XL has only 4GB of RAM, all things considering most of your top end smartphones today are now topping out at 6GB or more. I'm curious to see how this smartphone will perform during the long haul. On the battery front, the Pixel 3 XL a 3,430mAh battery.

Then There’s the Camera

The Pixel 2 can probably make a case for having the best smartphone camera on the market, the standout feature on the device. How will the Pixel 3 XL top last years iteration? Well, according to the camera specs, it should. The 3 and 3 XL retains its 12MP camera but completely adding a whole new front-facing setup.

The camera specs goes as follow, the 12MP camera has a f/1.8 lens, large 1.4um pixels, dual pixel phase detection autofocus, and both optical and electronic stabilization. The front-facing camera is a significant upgrade from last years iteration, its dual 8MP setup. One camera has a f/2.2 fixed focus snapper with a 97-degree field of view and other having a f/1.8 shooter with a regular 75-degree FoV and autofocus. Google makes all the components and HDR+ technology.

Android Stock Software

Right out of the box the Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 3 will come stock with Android 9.0 Pie, Googles newest and latest release. It will come fully equipped with Google Assistant that can be summoned by either voice or squeezing the Active Edge feature.

Google introduces a new feature called Call Screen; this will allow Google Assistant to screen users calls and let anyone know who's calling ( US feature only). Google Assistant can wake you up featuring Sunrise Alarm displaying a warm sunrise colors right before the activation of the alarm.

Then we have Google Lens; it receives an update allowing it to display suggestions, read QR codes, copy numbers and addresses directly from the camera, in real time.

The final standout feature in Android Pie is Adaptive battery and Digital Wellbeing, operating by limiting resources to apps and services you may not be using while giving you a rundown on your actual usage of the phone with options to set timers for apps you might think is being overused.

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How To Buy and Properly Install RAM

Probably the easiest hardware installs are inserting memory, or better known as RAM. Easy because it's a two-step process, you open the panel to your computer and locate the memory module which I like to call the RAM slot, and insert memory into these slots. Easy task, but if not done correctly it's quite possible to hinder system performance.

First, let's get into why is RAM is the most critical piece of hardware aside from other essential components such as the processor, hard drive, oh, and let's not forget the graphics card. RAM is a volatile memory that temporarily stores data. Once the computer is powered down, that same data gets erased. RAM is used by the central processing unit (CPU) when the computer is storing information that is needed right away. Your computer as you know it will not boot if RAM is absent. A vital component to say the least.

As years past, software such as the operating system, video editing software (Photoshop) and even the Google Chrome web browser has become known memory hogs. Try using just 4GB of RAM today in a computer system, and you'll notice a difference in performance, as in slow to a crawl. Today all computers at the minimum must have at least 8GB of RAM. If you want your machine to run at peak performance, 16GB is sufficient. Even your top end smartphone now have at least 6GB of RAM; currently, the Note 9 has an astounding 8GB of RAM. I wouldn't consider it to be overkill you max your system with 32GB.

If your current PC feels crappy and you plan on adding more RAM or you're in the process of building your very first computer, here are some essential tips you should follow when installing or upgrading RAM

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What You Should Know Before You Buy RAM

It's important to know that there are different types of RAM. Most if not all PC's today use DDR4 memory modules, older systems, say ten or more years older that's still in existence today use DDR3. But as of now, motherboards and laptops only support DDR4 memory.

If you plan on upgrading RAM to your system or building an entirely new computer, you should consider speed and of course memory kit capacity. Now tests have shown on memory bandwidth that purchasing super fast RAM have minimal impact on overall system performance. But quicker RAM frequencies does decrease wait time response from the processor. In my years of experience in constructing computer systems, when using fast RAM, I have not noticed any performance gains.

Either way, its very important to always know your system compatibility, refer to your manuals. Most motherboards will accept frequencies ranging from 2600MHZ to as high as 4600MHz, the highest being the most expensive option. Here's a bit of warning, never mix-match RAM speeds, doing so will enable your computer to chose the DIMM ( dual in-line memory module) with the slowest frequency, thus impeding overall performance.

  Trust The Installation Process

 Assuming you've done the diligent research, ordered and purchased your RAM from your respective vendors, you may begin installing your memory into the slots.

Wait, before you proceed to the first step, I must remind you when dealing with builds and upgrades, make sure your PC is powered down, detach the cable from the power supply and discharge static electricity from your body by simply touching the metal portion of the PC case. Now you may begin removing the side panel so you can access the motherboard. You should see four slots that is adjacent to the processor, what you're seeing is the actual DIMM slots. It's where you insert your RAM.

Remove the old kit before you install new memory if by chance you’re upgrading your system. Start by toggling the plastic retention clips at either end of the memory slots, this makes it easy for you to pull out old RAM and insert the new.

If you find there's dust of any foreign debris in or around the slots, remove it either by spraying it with compressed air or use a shop vacuum. In the image below I’m using the DataVac duster which you can purchase from Amazon.

The time has arrived to insert the new memory kit. Rule of thumb, always make sure you correctly situate your RAM module: The notch on the edge of the RAM must match up with the rise in the memory slot. That is if you're aren't  filling in all the RAM channels that are available, always refer to your motherboard's manual to see which specific slots you should fill in first. Placing the RAM in the wrong slot can cause system instability.

That notch you see at the bottom of the RAM, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, make sure it matches with the rises in the memory channel that's on your motherboard, you can't miss it.

Once you seated the RAM into the slot, carefully toggle the plastic retention levers so that you can lock the memory modules in place. You should hear a click, that means the toggle has secured your RAM.

Epilogue

Now you're all done, place the side panel back on and power up your system. Once you have booted up your computer, go into your computers BIOS and see if the system recognizes your new RAM. Or, to simplify things a bit, within  Windows OS go into Control Panel then click on  System, you should see RAM capacity which means the computer has accepted your new memory.

A forgotten mentioned tip: To access the computers BIOS prior to system boot, press the F2 key or the DEL key.

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The Update: YouTube For iOS Will Offer HDR Playback Support For iPhone XS and XS Max

Consumers with newly purchased iPhone XS and XS Max need to swipe ans make yourself over to the app store and update your YouTube app, there you'll find the app will now support both these devices. Surprisingly, HDR support was only limited to iPhones 8, 8-Plus and iPhone X. Consumers can take full advantage of high dynamic range content.

The option to switch to HDR is there for late gen iPhones users only to be limited to viewing content in 1080p resolution. Android users such as myself have always granted the ability to see content up to 1440p with no issue. Even with Safari, the default web browser in MacOS has yet adapted to Google's VP9 codec which is customized for video resolution higher than 1080p, all while using less bandwidth.

How soon Apple will adapt to VP9, that remains to be seen. But for now, you're officially ready to view HDR content on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max if you right now update the YouTube application.

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Phanteks Unveils The Glacier G2080Ti and G2080 That Illuminates

It’s not out the realm of possibility for third-party GPU cooling manufacturers to unveil a slew of products right after a flagship launch of any graphics cards, which is what NVIDIA had done a few weeks back when they raised the curtains and revealed their RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti. Phanteks a company that's heavily involved in computer hardware and other accessories has just launched their brand new Glacier G2080Ti and G2080 water-blocks.

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In looking at this cooling apparatus, its designed for the enthusiast system builder, and gamers looking to push their new NVIDIA RTX graphic cards passed its performance boundaries. The G2080Ti is a full cover water-block who's optimized central channel structure, fully complete with a 6mm thick nickel-plated copper base explicitly made for efficient heat exchange. The entire block is tightly-sealed with VITON O-RINGS, which are the leaders in the industry.

Let's examine the DuPont Viton rubber washer; it seals the entire Glacier G2080 water-block, the military grade hardware is capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures. The Viton rubber washer seal is also rugged enough to resist any forms of damage during installation as well as retain form after being compressed for an extended period.

The actual Phanteks Glacier Valve fittings can easily maintain an entire water-cooling setup with fitting rings. The new glacier valve fittings allow any system builders to close off water-loop and perform any needed maintenance without having to drain the whole system.

As I mentioned in the title of this post, these water-blocks illuminates, that's because Glacier offers digital addressable RGB lighting, which is also compatible with ASUS Aura SYNC and Phanteks Digital RGB controller, sold separately. 

Your water-block color scheme choices are Satin Black and Mirror Chrome with D-RGB lighting. Preorders are now being accepted only at the UK Overclockers for £139.99. No word on when it will hit the US market.

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Let Us Examine Apples A12 Bionic Processor Up Close

Topic: mobile processors

Last week right on schedule Apple made their Fall reveal of their new iPhone lineup, which include the iPhone XR, XS and their and their top tier option the iPhone XS Max ( $1099 start price,ouch). Nothing more but incremental changes to design and hardware which was expected, but under the hood of these devices, the hardware, one in particular, the A12 Bionic processor is what made headlines at the Apple event. The processor should be familiar to iPhone X users. Apple introduced A11 Bionic chip right alongside Facial ID last year. The A11 chip critical feature is the performance controller which is capable of running six cores simultaneously under heavy workloads.

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Fast forward to 2018; Apple upgrades their new iPhone line with an A12 Bionic processor. Apple states it is first in the industry to use a 7nm processor. They also claimed in quote: " its the smartest, most powerful chip ever in a smartphone." In observing the latest benchmark numbers, there may be some validity to their claim as the processor has six-cores ( two performance cores and four efficiency cores, a four-core GPU, making it 50 percent faster than the A11 chip, there's also an updated Neural Engine. They also mentioned that a small portion of the processor is designed to handle AI tasks.

The A12 Bionic chip is basically beefed-up variant in comparison to the A11 processor; its Neural Engine had two cores, compared to the new processors Neural Engine which have up to eight cores. The old Neural Engine can handle up to 600 billion operations per second, while the new version is capable of handling 5 trillion operations per second.

In looking at the GPU up close, Apple didn't provide much information on the actual architecture, except what I do know is the hardware is also customized by the company.

Finally, we have the precision 16 bit makes incorporated into the A12 chip.  Apple started implementing the 16-bit value after the A8 chip and its also integrated into the A12's Neural Engine. It allows operations to performed rapidly and at the same time save power. But this all in theory, how it holds up in real time usage remains to be seen.

Question, how long before we'll see similar type processors such as the A12 Bionic make its way to Apple's line of Macs? Plans are in the works to incorporate ARM-64 processing into their ultrabook line of laptops Bucking the trend that emphasis should be on performance and power consumption, less on speed and power.

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Explanation Needed: How Does a Mirrorless Camera Work? How Is Different From a DSLR Camera?

As the new month has come upon us, its time for a newly written episode of "Explanation Needed." Let us venture into the world of digital photography and focus our attention on the Mirrorless camera. What exactly is the mirrorless camera?  How does it differentiate itself from the DSLR camera? But first, lets grasp and understand the whole concept of  the mirrorless camera and get a good understanding on how it operates.

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Shiny light enters the lens without relecting onto a mirror, straight to the sensor

The one defining feature with mirrorless cameras is it doesn't require any reflex mirror, which is a critical component of any DSLR camera. The mirror in a DSLR reflects the light onto the sensor with the image displayed on the optical viewfinder, with a mirrorless camera, the image sensor is exposed to direct light. The digital preview of the captured image is on the rear LCD screen or electronic viewfinder ( EVF).  Always keep in mind, the sensor in a mirrorless camera receives direct light without it being reflected from a mirror.

Observe the mirror box inside the DSLR camera, look real closely.

The term "mirrorless" really didn't get used until the mirrorless digital cameras came with interchangeable lenses, much like what you have with DSLR.  The point and shoot camera we all purchased during the early days of digital photography also minuses a reflex mirror inside, which technically constitutes as being a mirrorless camera. 

Regarding the actual physical design, the difference is size, the DSLR camera uses a bulky mirror box, while the mirrorless option doesn't, thus being much thinner. 

Like the DSLR, the mirrorless camera can be fitted with a myriad of lens thanks in part to a bayonet-style mount that allows anyone to attach different types of lens. Each camera manufacturer has its version mount, disallowing anyone from using it on any mirrorless camera. However, several third party manufacturers will produce lenses for those mounts. The key features in all mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras are flange-back distance; this is space between the actual lens mount and sensor, which is much smaller on a DSLR. Making it possible to attach a wide variety of lenses.

 The differences between mirrorless and DSLR, the ability to auto focus is far more significant with a mirrorless camera, but that all depends on the actual manufacturer and which lenses is used with the camera. Battery power is where the mirrorless camera will fall short, mainly because constant usage of live view or EVF, causing the battery too drain much faster than DSLR. However, video caption on mirrorless cameras is impeccable. With DSLR's video mode must be set to live view, thus using the rear LCD screen rather than the optical viewfinder, this, of course, will impact the battery power, rendering viewfinder useless. The viewfinder with a mirrorless camera can still be in full use while in video mode.

There is no clear advantage in using a Mirroless cameras or DSLR, sure, you have much clearer video with the latter, but shorter battery life, it all comes down personal preference. Mirrorless camera, particularly the compact models are the obvious choice for photo hobbyist, but the trade off is you get minimal battery power.

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Huawei Reveals AI Cube Alexa Speaker Combine With a 4G Router

Today, Huawei just unveiled their new AI Cube smart Speaker which has a built-in 4G modem and Wi-Fi router. Let's get this out of the way right now, as you can see in the image above, the AI Cube is not a cube but a cylindrical elongated shaped smart speaker that resembles Google Home, only thing is top is much flatter. 

One would call this an ultra combo device as it has a 360-degree wireless speaker that's combined with Huawei-Amazon that promises Alexa integration and other unmentioned AI capabilities. 

The Huawei AI Cube joins an already competitive smart speaker market that includes Apple's HomePod, the Google Home devices and, Samsung's Bixby speaker. Huawei seemingly edges out the competition as the speaker options consumers with more networking capabilities by including an actual slot for an LTE SIM card, turning the device into a 4G hotspot, there's also an Ethernet port, giving users the ability to morph the speakers into a Wi-Fi router.

As far as the AI Cube specs go, it measures roughly 8.6-inches in height and 4.57-inches across at the base and top, the weight of the speakers are 2-pounds. The AI Cube supports LTE Cat-6 for cellular speeds in upwards to about 300Mbps and has 802.11ac with dual-band Wi-Fi. It features 4 microphones,  a 15-watt Mono Speaker, and Far Field Voice Recognition.

 Interestingly enough, judging from the images and video captions I've viewed, the AI cube 360-degree speakers seems like it should output pretty decent sound, though it has yet to be tested in a live demonstration. The selling point from Huawei is produce the perfect multi-faceted device that according to the company, should be groundbreaking with a potent sound system.

Now here's the deal, AI Cube will come only to the European market right in time for the Christmas shopping season, no word on whether or not it will come to the US.

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According To Bloomberg Apple Will Unveil Three New iPhones

As the Summer winds down we're are heading into the brisk days of Fall, depending on where you reside. Anyway, its this time of year you almost expect something new coming down the pipe from Apple which usually winds up being their next generation handheld device, the iPhone. Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is set to launch three new devices. If Apple sticks to the usual script, we could see them be unveiled sometime in mid-September.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Debby Wu seemingly have close ties to those inside Apple as they're reporting the company will brand their devices as being the S-models. More than likely you'll have incremental upgrades to the hardware, no drastic changes to the overall design. Sadly as reported, you will still have a $1,000 iPhone.

Without dragging this written post into baseless chatter, here are specific things expected to come from Apple in coming weeks, according to Bloomberg rumors.

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The iPhone will come in threes

The iPhone X will be an upgraded 5.8-inch OLED screen; the top tier iPhone will have a massive 6.5-inch OLED display, which could be their biggest smartphone to date. Apple will also introduce a new but cheaper variant which will resemble the current gen iPhone X, the screen itself will measure in at 6.1-inch, it won't be OLED; instead, it will be LCD. The two larger variants will have dual-SIM card slots position in the same location.

The name game

Names of Apple's three newest handheld devices is expected to be the "iPhone Xs,  and for the larger screen devices "the iPhone Xs Plus." These names, of course, are subject to change once Apple gives their keynote address.

Color schemes

According to rumors, the 6.1-inch iPhone will come in various color schemes, such as gray, white, blue, red, and even orange. Along the edges its expected to be aligned with UN-colored aluminum instead of the colored-matching stainless steel casing as seen on the current iPhone X.

The friendly gestures

New gesture controls will apply to all three devices, Apple's face-unlocking feature on the iPhone X will have expected changes. The much larger 6.5-inch display will give users access to massive screen real-estate, giving you the ability "view content side-by-side" imagine how apps such as Calendar will look on the upcoming iPhone.

Device updates in the Apple ecosystem

The iPhone is not the only thing that will get an update. Bloomberg also reported there will be an update to the AirPods, the Apple Watch will get a much bigger display along with a new wireless charger. The iPad Pros will get a significant upgrade to the design that will include a much slimmer bezel, and it could finally have Face ID which replaces the fingerprint-sensing home button. 

Remember, these are all just speculative rumors reported by a valuable news source. Whether or not Apple stays on Que with their schedule iPhone announcement remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

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NVIDIA's New GeForce RTX Series (RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080): Here's What You Need To Know

I had a few days to digest all the information I've gathered on NVIDIAs newest flagship video caption cards, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080, or the RTX 20 series. The features and specs pose no surprises to many like myself as rumors have circulated the Internet months before launch. In gathering up Intel on NVIDIAs newest generation graphics card, I have come away very impressed. Here's what you need to know from my perspective. 

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NVIDIA introduces a whole new Turing powered architecture, infused with a ray tracing, potentially game-changing technology that will allow PC users to experience more realistic scenes in games, bringing fourth programmable lighting and shadowing effects for more accurate character and objects.

Let's put aside NVIDIA's newest features on their graphics cards and focus our attention on the specs. Staring with the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti the top founders' edition, you have an astounding 4,352 CUDA cores, 1350 MHz base clock, 1635 MHz boost clock, 11 GB GDDR6 memory, a 14 Gbps memory speed, 352-bit memory interface, 616 GB/s memory bandwidth.  The RTX 2080 variant, spec numbers are a tad below the 2080 Ti, still a potent graphics card. The CUDA count is at 2944, base clock measuring 1515 MHz, boost clock at 1710 MHz, 8GB GDDR6 memory, 14 Gbps memory speed, 256-bit memory Interface, 448 GB/s memory bandwidth.

In looking at the Turing  architecture in detail, is quite capable of delivering high-performance that's 6X greater than Pascal ( which was introduced two years ago), but this is all based on a claim from NVIDIA. With existing games on the market, you probably won't see a big difference in performance over Pascal, at least not yet.  With Ray-tracing, it's made possible by a Turing based GPUs that have an mass number of transistors, 18.9 billion to be exact and three individual processing engines.

Though GeForce RTX will support SLI, the connector itself will replace with NVLink providing a faster link between cards in multi-GPU configuration at 100GB/sec. Another added new features in this SLI config is VirtualLink, this is an all-new USB-C base one standard that will connect next-generation virtual reality headsets using just one cable for power output and data.

When it comes to cooling, NVIDIA has deleted their blower-style setup and gone back to a dual-fan configuration. Leaked images on the Internet shows a customized GeForce RTX 2080 and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti having as many as three fans. 

In regards to pricing and availability, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti will go for $999, while the RTX 2080   will have a  $699 price point. Pre-orders are readily available and will start shipping on September 20th. The GeForce RTX 2070 which I didn't mention in this post will launch a much later date; the price will start at $499. The NVIDIA Founders Editions graphics cards will be priced at $1,199, $799, and $599.
 

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The Logitech K780 Multi-Device Connecting Keyboard For The Computer,Smartphone and Tablet: The Review

The Intro

The elusive search for a quality wireless keyboard may have ended with the Logitech K780. Unlike most wireless keyboards I've purchased in the past, the K780 is not only compatible with Windows and Mac computers, but it has a unique feature that enables users to switch between devices using the same keyboard by merely engaging in the Easy-Switch button, more on that feature later in this post.

I've spent a better part of a week using the Logitech K780 wireless keyboard and I have some strong opinions, scroll down for the written review. 

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About the Design

Total awe of this design

Regarding design, the Logitech's K780 does meet my standard. Its nicely compact and comfortably flat, measuring just  0.3-inch in the front, 0.9-inch in the back. Unlike most traditional keyboards which have the squared off corners, the Logitech K780 edges are rounded, adding sleekness to the keyboard aesthetics. The well crafted round concave keys almost mimics the old school typewriter, only these keys are a bit bigger. What stands out the most is the rubberized tray that runs right along the length of the keyboard, its primary purpose is to hold mobile devices at a very comfortable viewing angle.  

Connecting Devices

There are exactly three Easy Switch keys located on the very top row on the left hand side, its situated between the escape (ESC) and F4 key. The buttons or keys are color-coded in white standing out from the rest. These three corresponding buttons allow users to switch between paired devices; button one connects you to your PC, button two to your smartphone and I'm assuming the third button enables users to connect to the tablet. Since this is a wireless keyboard, you, of course, need to Bluetooth receiver dongle which comes with the keyboard cleverly stored in the battery compartment. Just plug the receiver to  your computers USB 3.0 port (Plug-n-Play). 

That right there is the USB receiver, without you have no coinnection, DUH?

 I  ran into some problems when tried to sync my PC and other devices to this keyboard. I had to power down all my devices so that I can establish a Bluetooth connection. Once I was able to pair my K780 keyboard to my devices,  thus far I haven't had any problematic issues. I'm able maintain signal strength as far as 15 feet, without losing any connection.
 

Functional Performance

My fingers gliding across the keys

The primary function of the K780 wireless keyboard is to free yourself from your mobile device's touchscreen, which it does very well. With my smartphone or tablet being seated in the rubberized cradle, my fingers seamlessly glide across the keys while responding to a barrage of text messages or typing out documents, a very comfortable experience indeed, almost like I'm using a laptop. 

Not So Portable Keyboard

Seriously, would you fit this keyboard into a backpack?

If there's one minor gripe with the Logitech K780 I would say though, it's primary purpose is to free yourself from touch typing on a mobile device, this keyboard is not the most portable device around. It Weighs 1.9 pounds, measuring 15-inches in length, it would be somewhat challenging to shove this keyboard into a backpack. Still, it is well constructed enough to handle the riggers of long-distance traveling.

Don't mind the books in the background, its just photo props

Epilogue:  The Final Thought.....

From a consumer perspective, I'd say the Logitech K780 is probably one the best keyboards I've purchased to date. It most certainly checks the boxes regarding design and functionality. I'm so enamored with this keyboard, I've decided to make it my daily.  

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Samsung is Set To Mass Produce 4TB QLC SSD's

Topic: Storage Tech

Samsung, you know the company that manufacturers all things technology have just announced that they're in the process of mass producing 4-bit QLC (quad level cell) 4TB SSDs. This move  from Korean tech INC could entice PC enthusiasts to start purchasing Multi TB hard drives. Further into 2018 Samsung is also expected to release the 2.5-inch  SATA 3 QLC SSD's  that will come in 1TB and 2TB.

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The 2.5-inch SATA 3 drive uses Samsung's new 64 layer 1TB 4-bit V-NAND chips. The upcoming 4TB storage drive, featuring their highly acclamied  32 V-NAND chip technology. Regarding performance, the drive according to Samsung is as good as the Samsung 3-bit SSD, thanks in part to the 3-bit SSD controller and TurboWrite technology, boosting read/write speeds, the numbers goes as follow; sequential read will be 540MB/s,  a 520MB/s sequential write speed.

Probably the most significant announcement made by Samsung that has me stoked is their microSD cards will also be implemented with the new 1TB 4-bit V-NAND chips. The new chip makes it easier to efficiently produce 128GB memory cards for smartphones, which according to Samsung, have much higher capacities for high-performing memory storage.

The expected timetable for when Samsung will introduce their flagship 4TGB QLC SSD to market, as well as the 1TB and 2TB models in the 2.5-inch SATA 3 form factor is late 2018. Potential consumers will be offered a 3-year warranty. Samsung have yet to any prices.

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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX 32 Core Flagship X399 CPU,Lets Talk About It

Strange as it seems like you'll always find manufacturers start releasing flagship hardware and device around August, gearing up for school and holiday shopping season. The latest such company is AMD, unveiling to market their newest flagship processor, the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX. Let's talk about AMD's powerful piece of hardware that will undoubtedly change the scape of desktop workstations. 

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The new Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX  processor is for the ultra-premium desktop systems; it comes with 32-cores and 64-threads eclipsing Intel's halo product which has 28 cores and 56 threads. The processor is expected to feature a base clock frequency of 3.0 GHz (3.4GHz precision boost frequency) and the maximum boost clock frequency that allows the processor to reach 4.0 GHz while the precision boost overdrive frequency is rated at +200 MHz raising the total to 4.20 GHz in a single core optimized workloads.

Other noted features include 16MB of L2 and 64MB of L3 cache giving a grand total of 80MB of available cache on a single processor. The processors TDP is kept at 250W, with a TR4 socketed board that is fully compatible with 2ND generation Ryzen Threadripper processors.

When it comes to what you get for the money, compared to the $2,000 Core i9-7980X processor, the Ryzen Threadripper 2990X is priced at just $1799, offering better architecture based on a 12nm process, 14 more cores, 28 more threads and at $200 less. In comparison to the late gen Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, you get 16 more cores, 32 more threads, much faster clocks at $800 more.

Of course, to have a processor of this magnitude release to market, you should expect a slew of refreshed X399 motherboards that are constructed entirely for the 2nd generation HEDT processors. You already have in existence the MSI MEG X399 Creation and AORUS X399 Extreme, so you should look forward to more products from other manufacturers come down the pipeline. 

 What we have with Threadripper 2990WX is a powerful piece of hardware that will prove beneficial to those looking to build a high-end system capable of handling graphically intense gaming and heavy workloads that includes video editing. The processor is expected to hit the market on August 13th.

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What to Look For While Shopping For a Hard Drive

Even for the casual computer user shopping for a hard drive is not such a difficult task. Often there seems to be a greater emphasis put on storage capacity, less emphasis on performance and features. The overall mindset is if a hard drive has enough space to accommodate all of my applications and family photos, no worries needed. Plop down the cash, purchase made. 

Easy right? But before you go on purchase a new drive, there are some things you should consider, such as warranty, speed capability, and much more. Like any piece of hardware, if you're shopping for a new drive it I recommend that you carefully do your research before you make that eventual purchase. Whether you're considering buying an SSD or the traditional 3.5-inch drive, there are limitless brands to choose from, Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung,  to name a few. 

As best I can I drew up a precise guideline you should follow if you plan on buying a new drive, read on. 

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Begin the process of choosing a hard drive

So many hard drives to choose from

As I stated in a couple a paragraphs above, there are several brands to choose from, for the SSD (solid state drive) my choice has always been SanDisk SSD-Plus, for the 3.5-drive my top pick is the Seagate Barracuda. Both these drives are reliable, perform well and thus far either have not failed me during operation. But those are my choices, the market is heavily saturated; there is a bevy of drives to choose from, pick the brand you think best fit your system. 

So many SSD's to choose from

Whether or not you judge branded hard drives based entirely on speed, performance, and storage capacity,  the difference between each brand is very slim. Often manufacturers may offer one or two features that may affect the price point. 

Make the correct Interface choice

Observe the back of this hard drive, this is an actual SATA interface                           

Hard drives are available in two types of storage interfaces, PATA (parallel AT- attachment) and SATA ( Serial Advanced Technology Attachment),  with the latter having a much faster data transfer and reduced size cables. PATA is a much older storage interface, there's a good chance that you won't find such technology exist in even a ten-year-old computer, so my suggestion is to go with the SATA interface because its the only choice you should make. But for the interested curious minds, PATA interfaced hard drives are a bit different in appearance, the actual data and power connectors are much longer. On the other hand, SATA power and data connectors are much smaller. Regarding performance, SATA interfaces have a faster seek time, a larger buffer, and support a SATA-only feature known as NCQ, which is an acronym for Native Command Queuing. This SATA protocol allows hard drives to optimize the order in which read and write commands can be executed. 

The unimportance of storage capacity

Lots of Gigs of space means  endless amount of porn stored? Really?

When it comes to storage capacities, it makes sense to advise readers to buy hard drives according to need, how much storage space you think you might use, but that would be bad advice on my part, as you can never have enough storage space. Especially when you have operating systems, video and audio files, various applications, photos, and even useless junk files consume a great deal of hard drive space. Ultimately, you have to decide the amount of storage needed and what you are willing to pay. The best advice I can give is to choose a model based on cost per gigabyte; this will determine the best return on your investment.

Purchase a drive with plenty of cache

Cache is primarily embedded memory within your hard drive; it acts as a buffer between the rest of your computer and physical storage drive. Most modern hard drives, the 3.5 desktop variant on average will come with 64MB cache, while solid-state drives have 4GB memory cache. Hard drives that have storage capacities exceeding well past 1TB  will usually have a large memory cache, this, of course, will affect price point. Memory cache along with storage capacity is one of the main features listed on your hard drives spec sheet. With that said,  drives with a larger cache does enhance system performance and speed.

Pay close attention to power consumption

Take a wild guess, which one consumes more power?

The 3.5-inch desktop hard drives that's on the market vary when it comes to power consumption and noise level due to internal integral moving parts inside that consist of the actuator stepper motor, the central spindle, the spinning disk, all give off some form of heat signature. SSD's, on the other hand, have no moving parts at all, thus producing low levels of heat and power consumption. It's probably the reason why solid state drives have primarily replaced the 3.5-inch hard drive as the primary boot drive. Aside from being much faster, they also run quietly

It won't hurt to check the shock rating

Not sure this is what happens when you drop a hard drive but I needed to use a scary example, so here you go

 The hard drive shock rating more than likely won't impact your decision making, but it's certainly good to know what you're getting in value. In case you're curious, hard drives are measured accordingly to gravity (G), this is the level of shock drives can withstand while in operation and non-operation. Rarely do desktop computers go through a series of sudden shocks or drops, that is, of course, you continually move it from one location to the next.  The preferred location is the desktop or the floor. Now if you're holding a hard drive in your hands, you stand the chance of accidentally dropping it if you're not careful. With that said, most drives today are structurally sound and incredibly resistant to any damages or drops.

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Using PC Partpicker Let's Build a PC Without Going Over $1,200

The positive aspects of building a PC today is you don't have to sacrifice a large sum of currency to purchase hardware. In fact, it's entirely possible to construct a system that's priced well under $1,000 and still handle resource taxing tasks such as gaming and video editing. Go on YouTube, and you'll see system builders create stable systems out of reasonably priced hardware.

So while brainstorming what content I want  post on this  website, an idea struck my brain, use PC Partpicker to put together a stable system for just under $1,200. PC Partpicker is a comparison shopping website that enables users to compare prices of various PC components from multiple online vendors. This post is for those first time PC builders who may find hardware shopping difficult.

Without further ado, let's begin this build; hopefully, this should ease your decision making a bit.

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The Processor

Purchasing a processor can be an expensive acquisition, luckily, we're using an AMD Ryzen processor which have a good rep for being high performing and price friendly. We kick this build off by going with AMD Ryzen 5 2600X. This bang for the buck CPU has an atsounding six working cores and 12-threads.

Listed Partpicker price: $225  Where to buy? B&H

The CPU Cooler

We're going to need to keep the processor cool and stable, my pick here is the Deepcool-GAMMAXX 400 White 74.3 CPU cooler. It has a decent peak RPM speed at 1500.

Listed Partpicker price: $37.99.......Where to buy? Amazon

The Motherboard

 I present you the Gigabyte-GA-AB350-GAMING 3 ATX AM4 motherboard. I pick this particular system board, not because it's priced reasonably low,  but it actually stands up to riggers of computing workload, that includes gaming and overclocking. I actually have this motherboard in one of my builds so I can attest to its great performance. 

Listed Partpicker price: $76.99  Where to buy? Newegg

The Memory

For our memory let's play it safe and go with the Corsair-Vengeance LPX DDR-2400 ( 2x 8GB). This particular memory module has gotten a very high approval rating from many and yours truly. 

Listed Partpicker price: $149.99....  Where to buy? Amazon

The Storage

For storage, I like to always use the SSD for boot and HDD ( spinning internal hard drive) to store all my applications and various other files. Solid state drives are dirt cheap now, on the market you can find plenty 500GB SSD's for just $135. Since we're trying to keep this build under $1200, the cheapest SSD I can find this build is a 240GB SanDisk.  We're going to dump most of our applications on this ever so reliable 2TB 7200 RPM  Seagate Barracuda.

Listed Partpicker price: SSD $53.99.... Where to buy? Amazon Internal hard drive: $58.89 Where to buy? OutletPC

The Graphics card

The most expensive piece of hardware in this build is the graphics card. You never want to shortchange yourself when it comes to quality and performance, so you may have to make the necessary sacrifice and spend the money.  Good news, graphics cards are starting to come down in price as the supply is on the verge of rebounding. With that said, my graphic card of choice here is EVGA-GeForce  6GB GTX 1060.   I consider this to be a 2nd tier graphic card which will still  allow  users  to game in ultra high settings at 60 frames per second. You will undoubtedly get high performance for the buck at just $299.

Listed Partpicker price: $299.99.... Where to buy? Amazon

The Power Supply

Reasonable priced power supply units with a high power efficiency rating are plentiful on the market. But for this build, the EVGA SuperNOVA 650 watt unit is definitely the obvious choice. Aside from all the impressive features, it has a 80-Plus Gold rating and is a fully modular unit. 

Listed Partpicker price: $69.99..... Where to buy? Amazon

The PC case

Finally, we have the PC case, the last thing needed to complete this build. For me, Thermaltake View 21 has everything you need in a near-perfect chassis, a beautiful compact design, spacious interior, and cable management capabilities. Oh and that tempered glass adds sleek flavor to the overall design.  Whats standout to me is you can mount your hard drives vertically on the motherboard tray or horizontally on the PSU tunnel.

Listed Partpicker price: $59.99.... Where to buy? Newegg

The grand total for this Pc Partpicker build................................... $1001.92

                                                                                           Saving: +$200 ( give or take  a $1 and change)

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Potentially we have here a well-constructed system that's capable of handling any high intense workload and importantly I kept cost well below $1200. PC Partpicker is a useful tool that makes PC building fun and simple. It cuts down on the brain wrecking researching for sure. If you're looking to build your very first computer head right over to PcPartpicker.com so you can pick and choose your hardware.

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AMD Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X CPU Cinebench Numbers Found On The Internet

The next Gen Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X processors still have no launch date, but we're already seeing overclock benchmark numbers leaked online. XFastest, which is Chinese base website somehow managed to gain access to some engineering samples, pushing frequencies well past its default numbers using liquid nitrogen to cool one of these processors.

First up we have the Ryzen 5 2500X,  with this particular processor they used a 240mm water cooling setup, which allowed an additional 300MHz of boost clock, upping the frequency ceiling to 4.2GHz.  Once done, the website ran the test through Cinbench R15, posting 1,006 scores in the multi-threaded test.

Image Source: XFastest.com

With the Ryzen 3 2300X, overclock numbers are much higher, frequencies pushed past 5.6GHz (that's 563MHz) thanks in part to liquid nitrogen cooling, but overclocking was achieved under unstable conditions.  The clock frequency had to be lowered a tad below 5.6GHz, once the test was complete,  it scored 895 points.  

Though the score seems low in comparison to the other processor, keep in mind the 2500X is considered to be a high-end processor that has eight working threads.

The benchmark scores is a clear indication of what we should expect regarding specs and performance. As with most products leaked on the web prior market release,  AMD likely will launch these new processors real soon. Stay tuned.

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WhatsApp New Option Feature Makes Group Cat More Organize

The most significant appeal with WhatsApp is group chat, I mean the idea of chatting with multiple contacts via text is a technological feat if you ask me. But that same feature, group chat that can be a bit chaotic. This is why WhatsApp just introduced a new feature whereas an option group chats that allows approved administrators to send messages.

This feature change will make group chat more functional and more attractive to the user. This change comes at a time when not too long ago WhatsApp added a bevy of features that includes group descriptions, anti-Spam tools, and catch-up feature that shows users replies and mentions. Some of these mentioned features are indeed nothing innovative, being that Facebook owns WhatsApp so some of these features may seem familiar.

Before I close this important post, here's what officials from WhatsApp had to say in their recent blog post: "One way people use groups is to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations. We've introduced this new setting so admins can have better tools for these use cases."   To access and enable the setting, all you need to do is open "Group info" in group chat, then go right over to Group Settings> Send Messages and select "Only Admins."

For those frequent users of WhatsApp drop a comment on the box and let me know whether or not you like this new group chat feature.

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Explanation Needed: What Exactly is NVMe? Better Known as Non-Volatile Memory

It's been quite some time since I last posted an Explanation Needed, where every month I break down tech and make it simple for the everyday gadget and computer user. This month we take a look at NVMe technology, a term you may have seen written in text or thrown around in conversation when the topic entails memory and storage. 

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Not to be mistaken for Envy-Me, NVMe is an acronym for Non-Volatile-Memory express. The technology has been around since 2009 and its still relatively new, but its just now starting to impact computer technology in present day.

You might be asking what exactly is an NVMe and how does it operate? Well, the technology may seem complicated to many, but here's what have. NVMe is a super fast way to access non-volatile memory. Flash and SSD's (solid state drives) are a type of non-volatile memory, which means power is not required to hold data in place. Hence, NVMe is a quick way to access Flash memory.

When SSD's first burst on to the tech scene, they used SATA and or SAS protocol to access data, this is more in line with existing hard drives we're all used to seeing. To keep up with the SSD speeds, high performance and be closer to CPU, PCIe ( PCI Express) was the next logical interface for Flash memory. But there was a big problem, past SSD's lacked any added features nor was it industry standard. In comes NVMe, which is constructed for non-volatile memory and packed with features. NVMe is nothing more than a transfer protocol, not a form factor, like SATA, PCIe interface or the newest and latest M.2.

Now the benefits of using with using NVMe SSD's is speed. It's 7x faster than SATA SSDs. Traditional hard drives use SCSI protocol that has one queue per command. With NVMe it is designed to have up to an astounding 64,000 queues, each capable of 64,000 commands at the same time. Accessing this type of speed used to be very expensive but the technology is getting cheaper by the year.  Today you can purchase a 500GB SSD NVMe for just $200.

Up until 2017 NVMe widely didn't have component support. But that seemingly has all changed; as more laptops and motherboards are now offering support for this technology. Currently, it has operating system support from Windows, Mac OS, Linux and even Chrome OS. 

Its safe to say NVMe has caused a massive paradigm shift with storage technology. 

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ADATA XPG SX8200 SSD NVMe Base Storage Technology; Lets Talk About it

As the trend goes when new storage technology burst upon the scene, a few years in existence you will start to see a decline in price. Prime examples are SSD's, remember when they first graced the market? Retail prices were astronomically high. Fast forward to present day  2018, it's not surprising to find them in abundance under a  $200 price range.

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Now we have NVMe storage technology, which by the way is an acronym for Non-Volatile Memory Express. It's a new communications interface/protocol constructed mainly for the SSD by several manufacturers including Samsung, Seagate, Sandisk, and Intel. There is one particular NVMe base drive that deserves to be brought up in conversation that entails storage technology, let us talk about the  ADATA XPG SX8200 SSD.

Put the ADATA XPG SX8200 main feature and specification aside, which we will get to in the next paragraphs, this storage drive has a bit of uniqueness going on here, the storage drive according to its listed benchmark numbers is speedy, yet affordable. It offers at peak read and writes speeds of 3200/1700MB, with a decent warranty and an excellent solid endurance. You get all of this at just $159.00, with a fair amount of storage, 480GB. Not bad, considering higher performing NVMe's were significantly expensive.

So let's talk about the features and hardware specification outlined on the ADATA XPG SX8200. For starters, you have a NAND Flash 2nd generation 64-layer 3D TLC, a PCIe Gen3x4 interface, an M.2 2280 Form Factor; you get 2,000,000 hours MTBF ( Mean Time Before Failure). The drive is the size of a stick of gum, weighing just 8g, dimensions measuring in at 22 x 80 x 3.5mm, the consumption power is only 0.33W.

Interesting enough, the ADATA XPG SX8200  comes packaged with SSD Toolbox utility software, for monitoring, maintaining, and drive updates  The tool interface itself is pretty snazzy with vibrate and dated looking features. ADATA also includes an XPG-branded aluminum heat spreader for added cooling to the drive.

For those who may not be familiar with NVMe, it can be used as your primary storage drive since this is technology a solid state drive. Currently, the ADATA XPG SX8200 is for sell on Amazon. 

Key tech terminology:  NAND flash memory is a type of nonvolitale storage technology that dopes not require power to store data.
 

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Why Not Get The Huawei MateBook X Pro? A Sleek Ultraportable at a Valued Price

Huawei is known for making some impressive top-end smartphones, and even the not so knowledgeable gadget user might have heard of Huawei. The Chinese manufacturer heads into the summer of 2018 by market launching a pretty impressive laptop, the MateBook X Pro.

So in this new installment of Why not? I'm a make a good case for MateBook X Pro, why it should be your next purchase, assuming that anyone reading this post is shopping for a new laptop.

Why I love the MateBook X Pro so much? It's what you get for the value, a sleek ultraportable laptop that brings about some impressive bells and whistles, along with impeccable hardware rivaling Apple's current-gen MacBook Pro and Microsoft's Surface Book 2,  both costing in upwards of about $2000.

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Now not I'm  knocking the Surface Book 2 or the MacBook Pro as they're both high performing laptops ( or Notebooks for the technically correct). With Huawei MateBook X Pro, you're getting an impressive premium design that's super thin and compact. And hardware is equally impressive, to start, with the $1,199.99 variant you get an Intel 8th generation Core i5-8250U with 8GB of RAM and 256GB M.2 NVMe solid state drive, for the higher configuration which cost $1,499.99 ($300 extra), you get a Core i7-8550U processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB M.2 NVMe solid-state  storage, NVIDIA GeForce MX150 discrete graphics processor. Both devices are  13.9-inch touchscreen display with a super high resolution measuring 3000x2000.

Other noted features include a Dolby Atmos sound system for that surround sound feel, 2-USB Type-C and 1-Thunderbolt 3 ports, on the left side of the laptop you have your USB 3.0 Type-A port. In the box include a USB-C cable, 65W power adapter, and Huawei's own MateDock 2, which basically is a USB-C adapter with USB-A, HDMI, VGA and USB-C connectivity, accessory that will normally cost you an extra $50.

 The Huawei MateBook X Pro laptop is no Surface Pro knock off as it has a unique quality that separates from its competitor. I would say though the device regarding design is Apple inspired.

So why not get the  Mate X Pro? I certainly made a case to purchase this device, that's if you happen to be in the hunt for a quality laptop.

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Hardware Breakdown Presents: The Amazon Fire TV Cube

The success of Amazons Firestick and other set-top devices have somewhat changed how we view content on TV. I don't know any household this present day that doesn't have a have Firestick plugged into their TV, everyone has a Firestick, and they're still in high demand. So what does Amazon do for an encore? Launch the Fire TV Cube.

In this new installment of hardware breakdown,  we'll take a close examination at the Fire TV Cube hardware encased inside this cubical shell. Let's get out the virtual tools and crack this device open this open, shall we?

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The External Ports

Before we venture into the device, the external ports have caught my attention, there's one Micro USB port, one HDMI port, an infrared port which I'm assuming is for the voice control remote, and finally, we have the power port, all nicely aligned. Though this device is WiFi capable, you can also connect to the Internet via Ethernet connection made possible with the Amazon Ethernet Adapter.

The Internal Hardware

Cracking open the Fire TV Cube we find a Quad-core ARM 4xCA53 processor that has a 1.5GHz clock speed. There is 16GB of internal storage and 2GB of memory. The Fire TV Cube is capable of outputting video up to  2160p, up 60 fps; this means you can stream 4K content, the high definition streaming is all made possible with a Mali450 MP3 GPU.

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