Paul's Hardware (1.48M subscribers)

July 15, 2024

Video length: 15m 18s

0:00 Intro - AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs Launch July 31

1:36 New Info on Zen 5 Architecture

3:13 AMD’s Benchmarks for 9600X, 9700X, and 9900X

5:53 All the 800-series Chipsets: X870E, X870, B850, B840

7:09 Strix Point SOC - Ryzen AI 300 Series (mobile)

10:20 Ryzen 9000 Overclocking - DDR5-8000, Curve Shaper

11:47 Setting New World Records with 9950X LN2 OCing

13:15 5th Gen AMD EPYC CPUs in 2H ‘24, Zen 6 and Zen 7

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Gamers Nexus (2.23M subscribers)

July 15, 2024

Video length: 24m 56s

00:00 - World Records on the Ryzen 9 9950X

01:46 - Curve Shaper Explanation for Ryzen 9000

06:43 - Liquid Nitrogen Overclocking Setup

13:11 - Cinebench R23 World Record (16-Core)

19:00 - Cinebench R15 World Record (16-Core)

20:21 - WPRIME (16-Core) (Correction in Desc)

21:38 - Conclusion & Wrap

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However, a group of researchers at Microsoft have been working on a new AI large language model that was developed specifically for spreadsheet programs like Excel, Google Sheets, and others. Those Microsoft team members recently published their research paper on this new model, which has the fairly unimaginative name SpreadsheetLLM, on the Arxiv.org site (via VentureBeat).

In the paper, the researchers note that spreadsheets include layouts and formatting that have a lot of different forms and options. The researchers claim this can result in some issues for standard AI LLM in terms of their token limitations along with understanding spreadsheet-specific features like cell addresses and formats.

The team says that their SpreadsheetLLM was designed to try to overcome these challenges. In addition, the team developed what it called SheetCompressor, which as the name suggests, actually compresses spreadsheets so that it can be used more effectively by SpreadsheetLLM.

The paper states:

It comprises three modules: structural-anchor-based compression, inverse index translation, and data-format-aware aggregation. It significantly improves performance in spreadsheet table detection task, outperforming the vanilla approach by 25.6% in GPT4’s in-context learning setting.

In their experiments, the Microsoft researchers were able to offer much better results with larger spreadsheets while at the same time cutting the costs down in terms of tokens by as much as 96 percent.

There's no word on when or even if Microsoft plans to make SpreadsheetLLM available to the general public. the paper does note there are still some limitations to this model, including if a spreadsheet uses any background color and borders because they could take up too many tokens. Also SheetCompressor currently cannot compress cells that include natural language. The paper stated:

For example, categorizing terms like "China," "America," and "France" under a unified label such as "Country" could not only increase the compression ratio but also deepen the semantic understanding of the data by LLMs.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft can turn this research into an actual product.

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After weeks of waiting, AMD has finally announced when it plans to officially launch its new Ryzen 9000 family of desktop CPUs. Back in June, it stated the chips would launch sometime in July, but today, as reported by Videocardz, AMD has confirmed that the processors would become available on the last day of the month, July 31.

If you were hoping for some pricing for these new CPUs, you would still have to wait a bit longer, as AMD has not yet revealed what these processors will cost. The company previously indicated that the prices would be announced closer to the retail launch date, so we still have a little over a couple of weeks to go.

The new Ryzen 9000 CPUs will also be the first to use AMD's Zen 5 architecture. The company has already claimed that it will offer a 16 percent average IPC uplift compared to the performance of the older Zen 4-based Ryzen CPUs.

The first Ryzen 9000 CPUs will start with the Ryzen 5 9600X with six cores and 12 threads and a maximum clock speed of 5.4 GHz. The next CPU is the Ryzen 7 9700x with eight cores, 16 threads, and a max clock speed of 5.5 GHz.

There will also be two new Ryzen 9 processors with the Zen 5 architecture. One is the Ryzen 9 9900X, with 12 cores, 24 threads, and a max clock speed of 5.6 GHz. Finally, the most powerful processor in this initial list is the Ryzen 9 9950X with 16 cores, 32 threads, and a max clock speed of 5.7 GHz.

In addition to the new AMD Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 CPUs, the company's new Ryzen AI 300 CPUs with NPUs designed to be a Microsoft Copilot+ PC chip will be used in the newly announced HP OmniBook Ultra 14-inch Next Gen AI laptop.

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Neowin reported in June that the US was set to ban Kaspersky products from being sold and then it delivered on that ban. Kaspersky initially said it would fight the ban in court but it's unclear if that's still the plan given this latest news of layoffs.

In a statement obtained by Zero Day, Kaspersky said:

"The company has carefully examined and evaluated the impact of the U.S. legal requirements and made this sad and difficult decision as business opportunities in the country are no longer viable."

The security company said that less than 50 employees will be affected by the winding down in the US. Some of those affected reported that they are now receiving their severances but have not shared the details.

As an anti-malware tool, Kaspersky software holds a privileged position on Windows computers. The US government is concerned about Kaspersky's links to the Russian government in combination with the privileged position it holds on computers and worries data could be stolen from computers to the benefit of the Russian government which is heavily sanctioned due to its war in Ukraine.

In the initial report posted by Neowin before the ban was officially announced, it was said that the restrictions on Kaspersky would ban the download of software updates, resales, and licensing of Kaspersky products. Given this, it's important for organisations and businesses to find a replacement anti-malware solution to ensure that their computer systems stay safe from attackers.

The ban would also affect white-label products that integrate Kaspersky into their products under a different name. These companies would be notified so they can make the appropriate plans.

Source: Zero Day - Image via Depositphotos.com

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The main highlight of the update is a new location called Coffee Shop. Besides being, you know, a coffee shop, it features spaces for taking pictures of your cars or entire convoys. Inside the shop, you will find a photo studio perfect for taking high-quality images.

At night, you will get to witness a new drone show, and during the first week of the series, players will get a chance to earn a new Coffee Cup outfit.

The update includes new props such as smashable coffee cups, plinths, barriers, flags, boards, and a mural.

As usual, each content update in Forza Horizon includes a batch of exclusive cars that you can earn by completing seasonal events. In this update, you can earn the following vehicles:

• 2017 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Coupe (a returning car from Forza Horizon 4)
• 2021 Lamborghini Aventador LP780-4 Ultimae
• 1976 Volkswagen SP-2
• 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF
• 1973 Volkswagen Thing

If that is not enough, get ready to purchase a new premium car pack, which consists of four Japanese cars:

• 1993 Autozam AZ-1
• 1997 Mitsubishi Montero Evolution
• 1997 Nissan Stagea RS Four V
• 1991 Toyota Sera

Finally, here is the list of various bugs the update fixes:

General

 

• General performance and stability fixes

 

Cars

 

• The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N’s rear badge will now show as intended
• Fixed the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse’s dark matte textures
• All three Time Machine’s side mirrors will now display properly
• Fixed an issue with the 1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara ‘Jurassic Park’ where sometimes wheels were clipping after large jumps

The next update for Horizon 5 will focus on high-performance daily drivers. Look out for four exclusive cars, new racing routes, fresh EventLab props, and more.

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However, in recent months, Apple's sales in China have reversed this declining trend. IDC recently reported that Apple had a 15.8% share in Q2 worldwide smartphone shipments, with improved performance in China and other key regions.

Today, Bloomberg India reported that Apple India's sales reached $8 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2024. This represents a nearly 33% increase from the $6 billion in sales recorded in 2023. Furthermore, Apple's India sales have almost doubled compared to the $4.1 billion achieved in 2022.

Nearly half of Apple's revenue in India was generated by iPhone sales. Until two years ago, Apple struggled to sell its iPhones in India due to their premium price tag. To address this, Apple began assembling non-Pro iPhone models in India, which reduced their cost and led to a surge in sales. In fact, Apple's assembly partners in India doubled production to $14 billion in the last fiscal year. To expand its reach further, Apple began opening official retail stores in India last year.

During the last earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized that India is an incredibly exciting market and a major focus for the company.

By focusing on key markets like India and implementing initiatives such as local assembly and retail expansion, Apple has not only reversed the downward trend but also achieved significant growth in these regions. As Apple continues to prioritize the Indian market, it is well-positioned for further growth and success in the coming years.

Source: Bloomberg

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Gamers Nexus (2.23M subscribers)

July 15, 2024

Video length: 23m 11s

00:00 - Recapping the Week

01:24 - GN Updates: Test Benches, Mega Charts

06:15 - FTC Puts ASRock, Gigabyte, Zotac on Notice

09:35 - Noctua Responds to NH-D15 G2 Review

13:31 - NVIDIA and Antitrust Charges in France

15:53 - Ryzen 9000X3D CPU Rumors

17:18 - Sony Ends Blu-Ray Production

18:30 - Controller Usage on Steam Triples & Deck

19:52 - New Internet Speed Record

20:52 - New Intel CPUs Vulnerable to Attack

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Paul's Hardware (1.48M subscribers)

July 14, 2024

Video length: 11m 05s

0:00 Welcome to Paul’s Tech News - July 14, 2024

1:20 Intel has a Pretty Big Problem - 13th/14th Gen CPUs Crashing

5:20 Early Pricing and Benchmark leaks ahead of Ryzen 9000 Launch

6:57 NVIDIA Executives have been selling 100k+ shares every day since June

TECH BRIEFS

8:02 AMD may unveil Radeon RX 8000-series GPUs at CES 2025, says leaker

8:44 AMD is racing Intel to production of chips on glass substrates

9:15 MSI Exposes 600,000+ Warranty Records

10:01 Tiny folding keyboard contains a full AMD Ryzen PC

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Table of contents:

1. Windows 10 and 11 news
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and 10

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

July 2024 Patch Tuesday updates are now available. Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2 received KB5040442, and version 21H2 received KB5040431. These updates fixed bugs and improved the operating system's security. Among those fixed bugs was one that broke the taskbar on certain Windows 11 editions. Windows 10 received KB5040427, and Copilot+ PCs with Windows 11 version 24H2 got KB5040435.

Windows 11 version 22H2 is on its way out. Microsoft has issued a reminder that the first big feature update for Windows 11 will reach its end of life in less than 90 days. In addition, October 2024 will put the final nail into version 21H2's coffin—Microsoft will end support for Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise SKUs. Customers with Windows 11 versions 21H2 and 22H2 will be automatically updated to version 23H2.

In addition, the company posted some details about KB5034441 and KB5034440 updates causing the 0x80070643 error and announced a new Black Lotus patch deployment phase. There is also an official workaround for the broken Photos app on Windows 11, a guide on how to restore WMIC in Windows 11 before its upcoming removal, and a confirmed bug with the Windows Update Agent APIs in the latest non-security update for Windows 11.

By the way, if you want to check whether your Windows 10 PC supports Windows 11, try this third-party tool that offers a better overview of supported hardware. Its latest update received an updated list of supported processors.

Notepad for Windows 11 received spellchecking support. Without any announcement, Microsoft rolled out the feature to all users in the Stable Channel.

Finally, some changes happened in Windows 11's official support docs. Microsoft posted a guide on recovering a local account with a password reset disk and restored the guide describing switching from a Microsoft Account to a local account.

There are also new virtual machines from Microsoft. These evaluation VMs are now available under version 2407 in two formats: Hyper-V and VirtualBox. VMware and Parallels are not available due to "ongoing technical issues."

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:

The latest Canary build offers some changes and new features for the Lock Screen and Start menu, plus there are some minor changes and fixes to polish the operating system.

The latest Beta build quietly added a new Start menu layout. Like the app launcher in iOS, it will let you organize applications into different categories, such as Developer Tools, Entertainment, Music, Navigation and Maps, Games, and more.

22635.3930 also brings some notable updates to the taskbar. You can now switch to a simplified tray area, toggle Windows Studio Effects using a dedicated button on compatible devices, enjoy smoother taskbar thumbnail animation, and even open jump lists when hovering the cursor over pinned apps (hidden by default).

Finally, Microsoft released new Windows 11 24H2 ISO files that let you clean-install one of the recent preview builds without downloading it from Windows Update and a new version of Windows 11 Validation OS.

To finish the Windows section of this Weekly, here are some former Microsoft employees flexing their day-one Windows 95 copies in pristine condition. By the way, Windows 95 hit RTM exactly 29 years ago, on July 14, 1995.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Besides announcing the upcoming end of support for Windows 11 version 22H2, Microsoft issued a notification that old Outlook clients will soon stop working in certain environments. Therefore, customers are urged to update to the latest releases to continue receiving emails.

In addition to releasing Firefox 128, Mozilla revealed that it would continue supporting the browser on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 beyond the current schedule. That was announced during an ask-me-anything session with Firefox engineers on Reddit.

Microsoft revealed that Edge and other Chromium-based browsers now feature better SVG support. Thanks to Microsoft's contribution to Chromium, modern browsers now handle scalable vector graphics much better than before, allowing more scenarios, such as app-to-web, web-to-web, or web-to-app.

To finish the browser section of this Weekly, here is a feature update for Arc, a relatively new player in the browser market. Version 1.10 arrived with Arc Max features, improved tab spaces, bug fixes, and more.

Microsoft 365 Insiders received a bunch of new features to try. Excel now has a Python Editor, Word on iPad can convert PDF documents into Word files, a new UI for document permissions, and dynamic watermarks in various Office apps, such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

PowerToys received a small bug-fixing update. Version 0.82.1 landed with fixes for crashes on Windows 11, brightness bugs on Windows 10, and more. There are no new modules or updates for existing utilities.

Other notable updates include the following:

• Microsoft Edge 128.0.2690.1 is out in the Dev Channel with various fixes.

• Microsoft Designer received new features for making AI-assisted custom invitations.

• Microsoft 365 Education subscribers can now access the Clipchamp video editor.

• Microsoft is now requiring its employees in China to use iPhones at work.

• Microsoft Loop tables now support custom in-app update notifications, and its Copilot integration can transform blank pages into structured documents.

• Microsoft Teams Public Preview members can now try out custom emojis and reaction support.

• Copilot for Microsoft 365 now supports the Traditional Chinese language.

• Microsoft Forms added support for setting up rules to answer survey questions.

• The Microsoft Entra Suite security and identity tools are now generally available.

• Microsoft has given up its non-voting observer seat on OpenAI's board.

• The Microsoft Cashback receipt scanning feature is on its way out.

   

Here are the newest drivers released this week:

• Nvidia 475.14 is out for Kepler-based graphics cards with security fixes.
• Intel 32.0.101.5762 non-WHQL with performance improvements in Diablo IV and more.

Finally, here is this week's Microsoft 365 Roadmap Weekly with the latest additions for Outlook, Teams, Forms, and Planner.

Reviews are in

Here are the software or hardware we reviewed this week.

Robbie Khan published a review of the EasySMX X05 game controller. This affordable gamepad received a perfect store rating for its price, quality, ergonomics, battery life, and performance. The only downside is the missing option to customize ring LEDs individually.

There is also a review of the Edifier STAX Spirit S5, which are great closed-back Planar Magnetic headphones with fantastic sound dynamics, premium construction and materials, good battery life, on-board EQ, and other pros. However, they are not without some cons, so check out the full review here.

Steven Parker reviewed the TerraMaster F4-424, a 4-bay NAS with a powerful processor, DDR5 memory, NVMe storage for its operating system and apps, and easy setup.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Microsoft has released its Xbox app for Amazon's Fire TV 4K and 4K Max streaming sticks. It will allow everyone to access the company's cloud gaming and play Xbox games without owning a console. However, you will need a compatible gamepad and Xbox Game Pass subscription.

Sadly, not all Game Pass news was positive this week. Quietly and without any public announcement, Microsoft changed the price of PC Game Pass in the US. It now costs $11.99 per month instead of $9.99 per month. A 12-month Xbox Game Pass Core subscription now costs $74.99 instead of $59.99. You can find the list of all countries with adjusted prices here.

Another interesting Xbox story from this week was a report about Microsoft stopping marketing Xbox consoles in Europe and some Asian regions. Microsoft reportedly wants to shift focus from consoles to Game Pass subscriptions, Xbox controllers, cloud gaming, and PC gaming.

Paradox Interactive announced that Cities: Skylines 2 is now indefinitely postponed on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. The reason is the same as before: stability and performance issues. In its statement, the studio said it "have not yet met the stability and performance targets." Therefore, PC is currently the only way to play the sequel.

Forza Motorsport received a new content update. Update 10 is now available with a proximity radar and other changes. Events-wise, it offers various races in the "Nemesis Month," which focuses on famous car manufacturer rivals.

Nvidia GeForce NOW received three new games. They include Once Human, Anger Foot, and Cricket 24. If you own them on supported platforms, you can play them using Nvidia's GeForce NOW cloud streaming service.

Deals and freebies

Floppy Knights is this week's free game you can claim in the Epic Games Store. It is a mix of tactical battler and deck builder games where you play as a young inventor, eliminating various monsters. Also, Amazon Prime members can claim a free copy of Suicide Squad.

In our regular Weekend PC Game Deals series, you will find more specials, hit indies, new bundles, and more.

Other gaming stories include the following:

• The Concord PC hardware specs have been revealed for the game's two upcoming beta weekends.
• Ghost of Tsushima was the best-selling US game in May 2024, thanks to its PC launch.

• Planet Coaster 2 is official and will launch later in 2024 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is reportedly coming to Xbox Game Pass this month.

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When Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in 2021, he estimated the metaverse could reach a billion people over a decade. Not long after, Bill Gates predicted that within two or three years “most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids—which I call the Hollywood Squares model, although I know that probably dates me—to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars.”

In fall 2022, Microsoft announced a partnership with Meta that would bring Mesh, a platform for collaboration in mixed reality, and its set of Microsoft 365 applications to Meta’s Quest products. Meta has launched Horizon Workrooms for meeting purposes. IT company Accenture purchased 60,000 Oculus headsets to train new workers in October 2021 and built its own metaverse, called Nth floor, which included digital twins of some of its offices, complete with cafés and legless avatars.

Still, nearly three years later, the average office worker isn’t strapping a headset to their face to meet with their colleagues. While nine out of 10 companies can identify use cases for extended reality in their organization, only one in five have invested in the tech, according to research surveying 400 large companies across multiple industries published by Omdia in February.

But this doesn’t mean the vision is dead. Rather, experts say, companies are looking for the best use cases for the metaverse. They add that the metaverse itself—at this point not a monolith but a concept fragmented across multiple virtual worlds and platforms—will need some revamping to work well for different types of employees, and the technology people use to access it must improve.

The metaverse must be built in a way that centers the needs of real people, says Anand van Zelderen, a researcher in organizational behavior and virtual reality at the University of Zurich. That means evaluating how workers feel in the metaverse and taking steps to combat loneliness that some experience as they enter virtual spaces that can’t match physical meetups. The current technology “takes people too much out of their reality, and people don’t want that for long periods of time,” van Zelderen says.

Instead, he says, the metaverse must “enhance our reality rather than replace it.” Meaning it should do more than replicate the in-person office. People could use the tech to meet in intriguing virtual locations, like mountaintops or Mars, or design virtual workplaces to meet the specific needs of their teams, he adds.

“We have an opportunity to be who we want to be, to work where we want to be, to meet in ways that we want,” van Zelderen says. “It shouldn’t be up to supervisors or tech developers to dictate how we want to experience the metaverse—give people more freedom to choose and build their work surroundings.”

Businesses, for their part, are likely to be selective in how they use virtual spaces. “Companies are trying to identify where VR actually adds value,” says Rolf Illenberger, CEO and founder of VRdirect, which focuses on VR software for enterprises. “There’s no point in using a new technology for something that’s perfectly fine in a video call.”

Plus, willingness to adopt VR tech remains an obstacle, as some people find wearing headsets unnatural and the technological learning curve steep. Even Apple’s Vision Pro headsets, which made great leaps in functionality, are not expected to sell more than 500,000 devices in the US this year.

“VR has not taken off in the last decade to the degree that people imagined it might,” says J. P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst on the Future of Work team at research firm Forrester. “It has been replete with failure and expectations that exceeded reality for a very long time. There seems to be some level of human rejection of the technology.” Sleeker, better hardware that resembles a pair of eyeglasses could be the key to wider adoption, but the technology has yet to meet those needs.

Illenberger says he does see companies more frequently employing VR for safety training and in fields where workers take a more hands-on approach to developing products, like engineering and automotive manufacturing. UPS has used VR technology to train drivers, Fidelity has used VR for remote onboarding of employees, and Walmart has used VR to train workers in its stores.

But for some, the value of gathering in the metaverse alone has proved itself. Madaline Zannes, a Toronto-based attorney, has law offices in the metaverse. She meets with colleagues and clients in her five-floor building in the virtual world Somnium Space.

While having a presence in the metaverse has been a great networking and marketing tool for her firm, which focuses on business law as well as Web3, Zannes says it also helps to foster “more of an emotional connection with everybody,” due to the immersive nature of the platforms she uses. People can move around or emote, and being able to tap someone on the shoulder and start a conversation is far more personal than being constrained to a square on a video call in a large group.

Further development and adoption of the metaverse has been delayed in large part because business travel has resumed since the onset of Covid-19. And a year after most people heard the term metaverse for the first time, they were introduced to ChatGPT. AI became the new shiny object drawing the attention of CEOs—even if they aren’t actively training workers to use it. However, Gownder says, another shock to the business world along the lines of the pandemic could spur more rapid investment and development of virtual tech for work.

Even as Web 2.0 has descended into a disinformation and privacy nightmare, there is still time to save the metaverse from such a fate, as my colleague Megan Farokhmanesh has written. But making it work for employees will require that developers meet their needs. Until then, people will either get their butts into physical offices or further embrace the Hollywood Squares model.

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Hey Game Pass member, we're making a change to auto-redeem rewards options which means your current discounted Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass auto-redeem subscription is going away on August 12, 2024. You can still use your points on a new auto-redeem subscription or explore the catalog for other rewards.

The GPT X account has some more info on these changes. It states that due to the new prices for PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the current auto-renewal points plan is shutting down and subscribers will have to sign up for new auto-renewal setups. Specifically, PC Game Pass will soon need 7,750 Microsoft Reward points for an auto-renewal, versus the old 6,750 points. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will soon need 12,000 Microsoft Reward points for an auto-renewal, versus the old 10,500 points.

Original story - If you have signed up for the Microsoft Rewards program, there's been a nice feature that allows users to use the points they have earned for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. Indeed, Microsoft set it up so those points were set up to be accessed by Game Pass auto-renewal methods. However, that convenient perk is going away in the very near future.

Members of the Microsoft Rewards subreddit on Reddit have been posting images of messages they have received from Microsoft. The message states:

Your Game Pass auto-redeem subscription is being discontinued.

 

Important changes are coming to the auto-redeem functionality for your Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscription. As of 8/12/2024, you will no longer be allowed to use your Rewards points to fund your Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscriptions. If you'd like to elect another service to use Rewards points for auto-redemption, please visit the Rewards catalog.

Microsoft offered no explanation of why this change has been made for Microsoft Rewards members.

The shutdown of using Microsoft Rewards for Game Pass subscriptions comes just a few days after the company announced sweeping changes to its Game Pass program. They included monthly price increases for PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that are now in effect for new users, with current subscribers getting hit with the changes on or after September 12, 2024.

Microsoft also announced it would no longer offer the Xbox Game Pass for Console plan for new subscribers. In addition, it will launch a new tier, Xbox Game Pass Standard, that will include access to hundreds of Xbox games but will not offer subscribers any Day One game releases.

An unconfirmed report from Thursday also claims Microsoft will soon end its marketing plans for Xbox consoles in some international markets, including Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

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Thanks to Qualcomm's new processor, Microsoft's original vision for the Surface Pro is finally a reality, making it the most exciting release since 2012.

Windows Central Verdict

Powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X processor and now with a stunning 120Hz OLED display and flexible Flex Keyboard, Microsoft's new Surface Pro 11 is the most exciting version since the original Surface Pro. Excellent performance and battery life make this Copilot+ PC a must-recommend (95/100).

The Surface Pro series has steadily evolved over the past decade, overcoming the challenges of Intel's x86 processors. Microsoft's commitment to excellence has often shone through despite the constraints of the tablet PC form factor. Nevertheless, battery longevity often lagged compared to other high-end Windows laptops—some even at lower price points, often making Surface Pro a tough sell.

However, Qualcomm's groundbreaking Snapdragon X silicon marks a new dawn—a moment of significance heralding the arrival of the quintessential Surface Pro long envisioned, offering unparalleled performance and exceptional battery life. 

Well, that's the overtly verbose claim, at least.

I've spent the last two weeks with Surface Pro 11, reviewing precise details on what works and what can be improved. It turns out that the hype is real, especially if you love the device's unique design.

Why you should trust me

Me and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 from my 2014 review. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

This review is written from the perspective of someone who actually likes using Surface Pro. In fact, I’ve been following Microsoft’s Surface Pro journey since day one, when I was in New York City when Microsoft launched the Surface RT in 2012, and never looked back. 

 

I’ve always loved the Surface Pro design, even with all the tradeoffs, which mainly included performance and battery life, because, despite those shortcomings, there was simply no other computer like it in the world (see my Surface Pro 3 review, which was a game-changing device).

 

I’ve also been a big fan of ARM64 processors, having used nearly every Windows on an ARM PC in the last seven years (yes, I even loved Surface Pro X, even if I knew few people would appreciate it).

 

So yeah, I know the entire Surface Pro lineup quite well, but I’ve also used almost every primary premium PC in the last 8 years, including recent MacBook Pros and Airs.

Surface Pro 11: Price and specifications

Microsoft Surface Pro 11 with Flex Keyboard and Slim Pen. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

This may be surprising, but Microsoft has dropped the price of the Surface Pro 11 compared to the Surface Pro 9 (2023) and Surface Pro 8 (2021).

 

Surface Pro 11 starts at $999, and it comes with the brand-new 10-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 13-inch LCD, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of user-replaceable storage. 

 

Previously, such a configuration would cost $1,399. However, Microsoft doubled the RAM and storage for the Surface Pro 11 and kept the $999 introductory price (the $1,099 Surface Pro 8 only had 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage).

 

Going up to the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite also gets you the new premium OLED option with HDR600. That CPU bump (roughly equivalent to going from a Core i5 to a Core i7) plus a more premium screen starts at $1,499. It also has a slightly larger battery (53Wh vs 48Wh).

 

The top-tier model costs $2,099 for OLED, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. (While expensive, this is also $400 cheaper than the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Pro 10 for business with the same configuration.)

 

Microsoft will have a 4G LTE/5G Surface Pro 11 due later this summer, pending regulatory approval.

 

Of course, no Surface Pro is complete without a Surface keyboard. Pricing starts at $140 for the standard Surface Pro keyboard. Alternatively, you could get the Surface Pro keyboard with pen storage ($180, no pen included, $280 with Slim Pen) or the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard ($349 without pen, $450 with the Slim Pen).

 

Color options include sapphire (blue), dune (gold), platinum (silver), and black. Note, however, that the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is only available in black or sapphire, but they are backward compatible with previous Surface Pro 8 and 9 devices. If there is high demand for the new dune colorway, Microsoft could add a dune Flex Keyboard later.

 

For this review, Microsoft supplied me with the OLED model with Snapdragon X Elite, sapphire blue, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage ($1,499), and the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen ($449). The total price is $1,950.

 

Ideally, this $1,950 is the preferred package as it showcases the best of Surface Pro's capabilities and flexibility as one of the most unique Windows PCs on the market. 

 

However, dropping to the $999 model (with the traditional LCD and slightly slower Snapdragon X Plus processor) plus the $140 Surface Pro keyboard for $1,140 will also deliver an excellent experience similar to Surface Pro 9 (albeit cheaper, faster, and with better battery life). 

 

As I explain below, I highly recommend that users try the new Flex Keyboard (with or without Surface Slim Pen), as it's an exceptional experience.

Recommended configuration

Disclaimer

This review was made possible thanks to a review unit provided by Microsoft. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.

Surface Pro 11: Design and features

Suface Pro Flex Keyboad (left) and Surface Pro 11 both in sapphire blue with packaging.  (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

The design of the Surface Pro 11 has not changed much compared to the Surface Pro 9, the last consumer model (there is also a newer Surface Pro 10 for business with Intel processors).

 

The tablet PC is still relatively compact at 9.3mm thin and weighs 1.97 pounds (0.89kg) and 2.75 pounds (1.24kg) with the Flex Keyboard and Slim Pen. It’s still not as thin as the Surface Pro X (2020), which was just 7.3 mm. When I asked Microsoft about this, the company noted that Surface Pro customers wanted “no compromises” regarding performance. While Surface Pro X was extremely thin, it was because it had no venting or fan for the processor. By keeping the Pro 11’s chassis a bit thicker and keeping a small fan, Microsoft could crank up the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor with less concern for thermal throttling. We’ll see in the performance section that the company stuck to its word.

 

The ports are simple, with two Type-C ports supporting USB4 and the magnetic Surface Connect Port for the tiny 39-watt charger. Plugging my Thunderbolt 3 and 4 external drives into the Type-C port had no issues, meaning the Surface Pro 11 should be compatible with most Thunderbolt accessories and the best Thunderbolt docks.

 

Some may lament the lack of a microSD card slot, but I don’t think a device this size lends itself to those types of video/photo “pros,” whereas the new Surface Laptop 7 15-inch does and, therefore, has one. 

 

Microsoft could not have made it easier to replace the SSD on Surface Pro 11. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

The same fully adjustable kickstand is on the rear, and hidden behind it is the magnetic door, which pops off to reveal the replaceable SSD. (I’ve seen some people quibble that this door could easily get “knocked off,” but that is not a problem. You must physically press down in a particular spot to get the door to pop off.)

 

Finally, it's worth mentioning that the Surface Pro 11 is quite repairable. The independent iFixit gave it an 8 out of 10, noting that the tablet PC is "impressively modular and accessible."

Surface Pro 11: Display and audio

The Surface Pro 11 and the new 2880x1920 (2.8K) OLED VESA DisplayHDR 600 display. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Turning to the front of Surface Pro 11, we see the gorgeous 13-inch 2880x1920 (2.8K) OLED display and 267 pixels-per-inch (PPI), with the top bezel still thicker than the rest due to housing many of the Surface Pro 11’s electronics and front/rear cameras.

 

Like Surface Pro 9, the Surface Pro 11 has a 120Hz display that can be set to 60Hz to save battery (or just preference) and can be used with an optional dynamic refresh rate where the screen runs at a lower frequency when the screen is static to save battery but quickly ramps up to 120Hz when there is motion.

 

New this year is the optional OLED panel, which offered 550 nits of brightness in my tests and is VESA DisplayHDR 600 (high-dynamic range) compatible. This makes movies and compatible video games pop with extreme brightness (up to 900 nits, according to Microsoft).

 

The two Type-C USB4 ports, which work with Thunderbolt 4 devices. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

There is also support for Dolby Vision, a form of HDR that enhances contrast in video content encoded in supported movies. 

 

Besides getting very bright, OLED panels can also be very dim, which is excellent if you are working in a dark room and don't want to stare at a light bulb. In my tests, this OLED panel can drop to just 2.0 nits at 0%, which is so dim you can barely read the display. 

 

Color accuracy is also excellent, with 100% sRGB, 88% AdobeRGB, and 96% DCI-P3. While those numbers aren't perfect, the latter two have improved from Surface Pro 8's LCD, which only garnered 81% AdobeRGB and 83% DCI-P3.

 

Microsoft offers Vivid (more contrasty) and sRGB (more natural) color profiles, which can be easily changed depending on user preferences. Users can switch to HDR, which overrides both vivid and sRGB, with the caveat that HDR consumes more battery life due to the brighter peaking.

 

Additionally, Microsoft includes sensors for auto-brightness (which changes when lighting changes), change brightness based on content, and adaptive color (which automatically adjusts the display color when your environment changes) — a robust suite of options that most laptops fail to offer.

 

Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and Flex Keyboard can operated independently.  (Image credit: Windows Central)

 

Overall, it’s an incredible 13-inch display. OLED delivers those super dark blacks with excellent contrast, and HDR600 makes movies and video games much better.

 

However, Microsoft could improve by adding an anti-reflective (AR) layer to the Surface Pro’s glossy display. Microsoft has done this on Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for business users but not for these new consumer variants. 

 

When I asked Microsoft why there was no AR, it had an answer: The new Pro 11’s display gets so bright that it believes glare is less of an issue. That reasoning has some truth, as this is the brightest Surface Pro display ever. Still, I’d argue that having an AR layer would improve the experience even more.

 

Dolby Atmos is included with the excellent dual-front-facing speakers on Surface Pro 11. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Not much has changed for audio on Surface Pro, which is good. Microsoft has always had some of the best audio of any Windows PC, which continues with Surface Pro despite its diminutive size. 

 

Flanking front-facing, barely visible speakers pump out rich and punchy audio, bolstered by Dolby Atmos for the speakers (and headphones). 

 

Microsoft doesn’t include the Dolby Access app for some reason. Still, if you download it from the Microsoft Store, you can tweak the audio via a 10-band EQ or one of the many presets (games, movies, music, voice, etc.), including dynamic, which adjusts the sound based on the current content playing. The same app also lets you tweak Dolby Vision to a lesser extent. However, you’re probably best leaving it on Dolby IQ (auto-optimizing every scene in a video based on your environment).

Surface Pro 11: Performance and battery

The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (left) vs Microsoft Surface Pro 11 (right). (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

The performance of Surface Pro 11 with the 12-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite 80-100 is nothing short of astonishing, especially compared to recent Windows laptops.

 

On Geekbench 6, the Surface Pro 11 scored 2,780 on single-core and 14,327 on multi-core (the scores reported here are the highest I recorded after multiple runs).

 

When measuring just CPU performance (Geekbench 6), it is accurate to say that the Surface Pro 11, at 4.2GHz, effectively matches the Razer Blade 15 (2023) with a 14-core Intel Core i7-13800H peaking at 5.2GHz. Likewise, the Surface Pro 11’s ARM64 chip is faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS 'Phoenix' processor in the late 2023 Razer Blade 14. Both are significantly heavier gaming laptops (with RTX GPUs) and have worse battery life (when not gaming).

 

Geekbench 6.2: The MacBook Pro 14 with M3 (16GB) wins on single-core, but the Surface Pro 11 has a wide lead on multi-core, which most modern apps utilize. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Things get interesting compared to a 2024 Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M3 and 16GB of RAM). Apple beats the Surface Pro 11 on single-core (3,155 versus 2,780) but gets clobbered on multi-core (12,106 versus 14,327). Multi-threaded performance is how modern computers run, as there are very few (if any) apps that only leverage single core these days, so I'd argue that multi-core is the more critical metric.

 

While not the fastest PC the Surface Pro 11 does well on Geekbench v6.2. (Image credit: Future)

 

However, these results are unsurprising as the Apple M3 only has 8 cores (some of which are performance vs. efficiency), whereas the Snapdragon X Elite 80-100 has 12 cores, all performance and two that can boost to 4.2GHz. 

 

Nonetheless, the MacBook Pro is a more expensive 14-inch laptop, heavier (3.4 vs. 2.75 pounds with Flex Keyboard) and thicker (1.55 vs. 0.93cm) than the Surface Pro 11. In terms of size and form factor, this is a significant accomplishment for Microsoft, considering the design challenges.

 

While Geekbench 6 is good, it only looks at a short burst for CPU performance. For this reason, Microsoft was keen on reviewers looking at Cinebench 2024, a sustained benchmark optimized for ARM64 (including Apple silicon).

 

For a more sustained and prolonged benchmark Cinebench 2024 (ARM64, x86) shows that Surface Pro 11 is quite competitive.  (Image credit: Future)

 

Looking at Windows 11 PCs, Surface Pro 11 pulls ahead of modern juggernauts like the Dell XPS 14 (2024) and Dell XPS 16 (2024), both running Intel Core Ultra 7 “Meteor Lake” processors. However, you can see how pumping more power into a lower-tier Snapdragon X Elite processor, as found in the ASUS VivoBook S15, can result in a significantly higher score. A 15-inch laptop (including Surface Laptop 7) with multiple fans can handle thermals better than a 13-inch tablet with one, which should not be surprising.

 

The results for Cinebench 2024 are just as impressive. Again, compared to the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3, the Surface Pro 11 quickly takes the crown for multi-threaded performance (833 versus 716 of the MacBook Pro) but again comes up short for single core with 123 for Surface Pro 11 compared to 141 the MacBook Pro.

 

Looking at just ARM64 Windows PCs we can see where Surface Pro 11 compares to previous and current laptops. (Image credit: Future)

 

On PCMark 10 Applications, we can compare current Qualcomm Snapdragon X PCs to previous Snapdragon 8cx (Microsoft SQ) processors and see they aren’t even close. Surface Pro 11 nearly doubles Surface Pro 9’s (Microsoft SQ3) performance, scoring 12,946 to 6,754, and nearly triples the performance of the original Surface Pro X.

 

On Crossmark we can see how Surface Pro 11 handles x86 app emulation compared to other x86 Windows 11 laptops. (Image credit: Future)

 

I’m throwing in CrossMark, too, for comparison, even though it is not an ARM64-native benchmark. Instead, you can see how Surface Pro 11, while emulating x86 apps, matches the performance of the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X. That’s an older laptop from 2022. Still, it runs the powerful 8-core AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture, designed for big gaming laptops (and it is analogous to the 14-core Intel Core i7-12800H in performance). That’s not nothing, especially since we’re talking about a PC tablet, not a 14.5-inch Creator laptop with an NVIDIA GPU. 

 

Compared to the modern Dell XPS 14 with a Core 7 Ultra processor, there’s about a 15% difference when Surface Pro 11 emulates x86-64 apps versus an Intel laptop running x86-64 native.

 

Surface Pro 11's SSD is the fastest of any Surface Pro to date, but it's only middle of the road compared to other laptops. (Image credit: Future)

 

The only slight disappointment in performance comes from the SSD, which comes in at 3,748 MB/s for read and 3,511 MB/s for write. Those are not terrible numbers, and it is important to note they are the fastest for any Surface Pro (Surface Pro 9 earned 3,470MB/s read and 1,900MB/s write speed, while Surface Pro 8 was a meager 2,390MB/s read and 1,609MB/s write speed), so that’s good. But comparatively, I see higher read and write speeds in modern PCIe 4.0 drives, e.g., Surface Laptop Studio 2 blazes with 6,462 MB/s read and 4,948 MB/s for write.

 

Some of that reduced performance (not that you will notice it) is made up for with the inclusion of some of the fastest RAM available, which is (at least) 16GB of LPDDR5x-8448 MT/s—current Intel Core Ultra laptops peak at LPDDR5X-7467 MT/s.

 

What about real-world performance? As someone who uses all the latest laptops, including ones spec’d out with Intel’s Core Ultra H-series, I can say that performance is impressive primarily if you use the Microsoft Edge browser, which is highly optimized for this processor (but Google Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, and Opera all run natively, too; see our best native Windows on Arm apps for more). Apps snap open, lightning fast, app-switching with no stutters, and everything (including video) feels more responsive than any current Intel laptop I have tried.

 

Surface Pro 11 AC (plugged in) vs DC (battery) when set on max performance results in barely any differences. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Another exciting thing is that Microsoft is not throttling the Snapdragon X Elite when on the battery, as there was only a 2% difference in single-core performance and 0.5% difference in multi-core whether plugged in or not (both situations running high-performance mode). Those results are well within the margin of error and test variances.

 

Turning to the GPU gets a bit tricky. The Adreno XI-85 GPU with 3.8 TFLOPs is below that of Intel Meteor Lake Arc graphics, which runs between 4.2 and 4.5 TFLOPs, but well ahead of Intel 13th Generation mobile processors where UHD graphics only got 1.7 TFLOPs.

 

Qualcomm’s GPU drivers are also very new. Indeed, for this review, Qualcomm gave me beta drivers, which will be pushed out to consumer devices in the coming weeks via Windows Update. Qualcomm has also told Windows Central that it plans to release an Adreno updater app akin to what NVIDIA and AMD have, which will receive promised monthly GPU driver updates. This beta driver alone supports more games like Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, Far Cry 5, StarCraft 2, Street Fighter 6, and Wolfenstein Youngblood, and it improves performance for other games and app stability and performance.

 

Speaking of games, a lot has been said about them for these new Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips. Qualcomm claims it is good enough for casual gamers, which I consider myself, but obviously, Surface Pro 11 is not a gaming PC. 

 

(I wrote an entire article in 2018 about why Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are not great for gaming).

 

From my experience, Surface Pro 11 is like a giant Steam Deck at this time, meaning all my games from my Steam library that I tried played just fine. The one game that would not, DEAD OR ALIVE 6, also does not play on Steam Deck.

 

Here is a non-exhaustive list of Steam games that played fine for me: Anomaly Agent, Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3, Broforce, Command & Conquer Remastered, Cookie Cutter, Cyberpunk 2077, Dave the Diver, Dead Cells, Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, Hades, Horizon Zero Dawn, Maniac, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Minecraft Dungeons, Rocket League, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Trinity Fusion, Turbo Overkill, and ULTRAKILL.

 

By playing, I mean at least 720P and over 30 FPS, but often going higher on both fronts depending on the type of game. Sometimes, the neural-processing unit (NPU) would kick in with AutoSR, which uses AI to upscale the game and works well. Other times, if a game supported HDR (like Doom Eternal), that would kick in making excellent use of Surface Pro 11’s 120Hz display.

 

Turning to Qualcomm’s recommended games, which I did not try, it lists GTA5, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, F1 2022, God of War, FIFA 2022, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Witcher 3, Overwatch 2, World of Warcraft, Redout 2, Control, DOTA 2, Civilization VI, StarCraft 2, and Total War: Warhammer III that are playable at full HD and 30+ FPS. More games can be found at www.worksonwoa.com.

 

Ironically, anything that does not work well for gaming is anything through the Microsoft Store/Xbox app, which often blocks me from downloading any game, let alone playing it. Something is up with Microsoft’s distribution and installation architecture that needs to be worked out, as this is a red flag for anyone with an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

 

However, if most of your gaming library is on Steam (like me), I can say that the Surface Pro 11 has been a blast for casual gaming. Notice, however, that I do not play the “popular” arena games, things that use anti-cheat, etc., which are known to have problems with ARM64 (Microsoft and Qualcomm are working with companies on both fronts to solve these issues). Instead, I prefer side-scrollers, dungeon crawlers, occasional “boomer shooters,” and fun indie titles, which fit the “casual gamer” description quite well. Your mileage (and definition) may vary, but I think many hyperbolic complaints are being made here, especially since this GPU has been on the market for less than 3 weeks.

 

As a casual gamer who uses Steam, I've been thrilled with what Surface Pro 11 can do, considering it lacks an NVIDIA GPU.

 

For video samples of game playthroughs, you can follow my thread on X, where I share some video samples.

 

(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Surface Pro 11 can definitely get warm on the back under 10+ minutes of the CPU running at 100% on a warm summer day, but it's never hot to the touch.

 

(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

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The temperatures and thermals of the Surface Pro 11 have been suitable, but it can still get toasty under sustained load, e.g., Cinebench, which hammers the CPU at 100% for 10 minutes. In that case, the back of Surface Pro 11 can hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). The front of Surface Pro 11 (center and upper display) gets warm but never hot at 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). The fan also kicks in at this point but remains relatively quiet. (Being summer, testing conditions were above average for ambient temperatures in the upper 70s degrees Fahrenheit (~26 degrees Celsius), so these results are skewed higher).

 

But what about everyday use? The Qualcomm chip does well here; it barely gets warm to the touch and runs effectively silent the whole time.

 

Windows 11 battery estimate on Surface Pro 11. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

On battery life, Surface Pro 11 failed to complete our typical PCMark 10 battery benchmarks, but looking to Windows Battery Report, which generates a history of discharge, recharge, and standby times, Surface Pro 11 has averaged 10 hours and 7 minutes, peaking as high as 15 hours and 03 minutes and as low as 6 hours and 20 minutes (due to gaming). 

 

Windows Battery Report: Battery life on Surface Pro 11 can vary depending on whether you are gaming or browsing the web, but on average, I get 10 hours of real-world usage. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Those numbers are impressive for two reasons: First, these are real-world numbers, not estimates nor synthetic benchmarks, but rather my using Surface Pro 11 as a regular laptop for the last two weeks. The second reason is that Surface Pro 8/9 only managed 6 to 7 hours of real-world usage from our previous reviews, sometimes getting 8 hours and other times close to 5, depending on variables like display brightness and CPU/GPU usage.

 

To be clear, Surface Pro 11 likely has the lowest battery life of all the new Snapdragon X PCs due to its unique and compact form factor, but 10 hours of real-world usage is a massive gain from previous iterations and effectively makes Surface Pro 11 an all-day device. Standby battery life is also fantastic as the Surface Pro 11 may lose at most 2% overnight, but it's usually less.

Surface Pro 11: Copilot+ AI

The Surface Pro 11 is one of the first in a wave of new Copilot+ PCs, which focus on AI. (Image credit: Microsoft)

 

Microsoft classifies the Surface Pro 11 as a "Copilot+ PC," a new umbrella term for AI PC laptops with specific specifications: 16GB RAM, an NPU of 40+ TOPS, and a minimum of 256GB storage. Surface Pro 11 fits into this category, granting access to all the exclusive Copilot+ features designed to run locally on the dedicated neural processing unit (NPU).

 

In short, the NPU, along with software in Windows 11 and software from third-party vendors, can run AI software much faster and more securely than sending it to the cloud and having it come down again, which is currently how most AI apps are handled due to the complexity of the task.

 

However, up to this point, the roster of Copilot+ features has been somewhat underwhelming. Currently, four main Copilot+ features are available, with the standout Copilot+ feature (Windows Recall) set to launch later in the year. Users can enjoy enhanced Windows Studio Effects, Cocreator in Paint, Image Generator in Photos, and translations in Live Captions.

 

I won’t dwell too much on these features, as our senior reporter Zac Bowden covered them in his Surface Laptop 7 review. We will have deeper dives on Copilot+ for more information.

 

For now, what you need to know is this:

Windows Studio Effects is very good. When you are on video calls, the ability to align your eyes to the camera automatically, the high-quality background blur (two options), and various effects not only look outstanding but also do not affect performance (e.g., dropped frame rates) because the NPU is so good at what it does.

 

The Surface Pro 11 is sapphire blue is stunning. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Cocreator in Paint is theoretically excellent but a bit underbaked at this point and goofy. As the AI behind it improves, I can see this being a fantastic feature for those not artistic who need to create images for PowerPoint or other creative endeavors, as it is effectively AI-assisted drawing. If you have an idea, you can sketch it out, prompt MS Paint what you intend, and watch as the AI redraws it. You can use a slider to tell the system just how much AI assistance you want, too, which is clever.

 

The same applies to Live Captions translation, but more improvements are needed. By hitting the button in the quick menu, you can turn on instant captions for any video being played or even audio apps like Spotify. It’s a bit of a hit-and-miss in the various languages, but the translation or even conversion to captions is extremely quick.

 

I guess this is cool? AI Image Generator in Photos doesn't do much at the moment. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Finally, there is Image Generator in Photos, which can create new photo backgrounds using AI. However, I found it useless or gimmicky like some other AI features here. That’s a shame, but assuming Microsoft can build out AI better in its Photos app, it could someday be a valuable inbox tool for those who want to do some advanced editing without the required skills.

 

Overall, please don’t buy a Surface Pro 11 for the AI features today but rather for its powerful hardware to take advantage of new AI apps coming to the market. Even if you think AI is a passing phase (I do not believe that), there is no downside to having an NPU in your computer, just in case.

Surface Pro 11: Flex Keyboard & touchpad

The new Surface Pro Flex Keyboad and Slim Pen are outstanding. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

While Windows Central broke the news that Microsoft would be using Qualcomm’s new processors for its Surface PCs, we missed the part about the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard, which I think is a game changer.

 

While paying $450 for a keyboard (which includes the Surface Slim Pen; $350 without one) is a lot, there is a good reason for the extra cost — in fact, here are three reasons:

 

1.      It’s now fully wireless.

2.      It has a built-in battery to operate wirelessly.

3.      It now has a superior haptic touchpad.

 

If that doesn’t justify the cost, think of it this way: I mentioned earlier that the Surface Pro 11 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $400 cheaper than the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Pro 9, with Intel processors and the same RAM/SSD configuration. If you throw in the $140 Surface Pro keyboard (no Slim Pen), you will pay $1,539 for the experience or $1,679 with the Slim Pen with the Intel versions.

 

The Alcantara fabric still feels great on the Surface Pro Flex Keyboard. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

However, you only pay $1,449 for the Surface Pro 11 and the Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen, which is $230 cheaper than a Surface Pro 9/10 with Slim Pen and the older keyboard. I can’t see how this isn’t a win for consumers.

 

(I’d also mention this keyboard has the new dedicated Copilot key, but I don’t consider that a significant addition.)

 

Going deeper into those new features, the Flex keyboard now has wireless Bluetooth built-in, so you can pull the keyboard off the Surface Pro 11 and continue to use it remotely. Such a setup is ideal on an airplane (keep the Surface Pro 11 on the table and use the keyboard in your lap) or if you prefer a more flexible setup (hence, I assume the new Flex name).

 

Using the Flex Keyboard at a distance thanks to Bluetooth reall opens up possibilities for using Surface Pro 11. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

There was no delay in separating the keyboard and continuing to use it—it all worked seamlessly. Moreover, as Bluetooth 5.4 is on board Surface Pro 11, there was no delay or stutter when typing, which can sometimes happen when devices use older Bluetooth protocols.

 

So, that's one reason for the extra cost, but for the keyboard to work wirelessly, it also had to have a battery built in, which this does. That battery adds some thickness and a bit of weight, but it also lets Microsoft make the keyboard stiffer, so there is less flex when pressing down on the board (something some users have complained about the older keyboards). 

 

The battery recharges when connected to Surface Pro 11 (there is no other way), and users can check the battery status using the Surface app.

 

Microsoft claims the Flex Keyboard can provide up to 41 hours of continuous typing while detached, although that number will depend on whether you have the backlight enabled. The critical takeaway is that it'll last a reasonable amount of time.

 

The haptic touchpad is not only accurate, but it's also slightly wider and taller than previous versions. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Luckily, even though you can operate the Flex keyboard over Bluetooth, the keyboard's multi-stage backlight still works as you had hoped.

 

In a clever move, Microsoft also allows the hinge/connector area of the Flex keyboard to roll over on itself, which adds a few millimeters of elevation to the front of the keyboard when on a hard surface, adding a touch of ergonomics (and keeping the connectors out of the way). The Surface team's attention to detail here is fantastic.

 

The Surface Pro Flex Keyboad can "roll over itself" when used independently to add a bit of ergonomic lift. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Another change is the Slim Pen charging slot. While it’s still at the top of the keyboard, it is now constantly exposed, whereas previous iterations hid it behind the fold of the keyboard and the Surface Pro’s display bezel. This is good as it allows easy access to the Slim Pen, where previously, you had to pull your keyboard away from the screen to get to the pen. It’s a slight reduction in the usage barrier but effective, as you are now more likely to reach for that Slim Pen.

 

Despite the space taken by the new exposed pen charging slot, the new touchpad is surprisingly wider and a smidge taller than the Surface Pro keyboard with Slim Pen.

 

The new Flex Keyboard's haptic touchpad lets you enlarge the right-click area. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Speaking of the touchpad, the new haptic technology is a welcome addition. Based on technology developed by Sensel, the new haptic touchpad is fast, accurate, consistent, and nicely adjustable. I’ve written a lot about haptic touchpads in the past and consider them a premium feature that all high-end laptops should include. Since there are no moving parts, the touchpad is less likely to fail after long-term usage. You can also adjust how much the touchpad “clicks” using built-in software and even enlarge the right-click zone to your liking (I found the default click zone too small, so through the Surface app, I went to the medium-sized one and now have no false clicks).

 

Whether you find value in these features in the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is up to you. As a regular user of Surface Pro, I found these features to be an exciting evolution of this series, and I highly recommend the Flex Keyboard if you can afford it.

 

If all that is too much for you, you can grab the regular Surface Pro keyboard for $140 or one of the many in-between models to fit your needs.

Surface Pro 11: Camera and mic

The rear 10MP camera is often very useful. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

Microsoft pulls no punches with the front-facing camera on the Surface Pro 11 as it packs one of the largest, by megapixel count, cameras I have seen on any laptop at 12.2MP (4:3, 4032x3024). When set to a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is more common for wider shots, the camera is still 8.3MP (3840x2160), which is still on the large end considering many laptops are at 5MP these days (exceptions being a few recent HP laptops which can push up to 8MP).

 

Combined with the previously mentioned AI tools from Windows Studio Effects, you can easily get the best webcam performance on any laptop today with auto-framing, two levels of background blur, gaze correction, and various filters. The colors were punchy and warm, and the sharpness was exquisite.

 

The 12MP front-facing camera with Windows Hello for facial recognition.  (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

If I had to nitpick, my only complaint would be that there is no privacy shutter (Microsoft has insisted for years that the white “on” LED, which is hard-wired to the camera, serves this purpose because there is no way for the camera to be on and the LED not to be). 

 

Microsoft also did not include any human presence detection (HPD) hardware. HPD hardware lets Windows PCs lock and unlock the computer based on whether there is a person in front of it using what are basically sonar sensors to detect a human form. Although Qualcomm ships this hardware as part of Snapdragon X, Microsoft did not include it, which is likely to keep costs down, as well as design and spacing considerations for the camera bezel area.

 

The 12MP front-facing Surface Pro 11 webcam with Windows Studio Effects (AI) is excellent. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

The rear 10MP camera is unique to Windows 11 PCs. While you are unlikely to rely on it over your smartphone camera, it’s good enough (and super convenient) for professional use, such as snapping whiteboards during a meeting or classroom. I’ve used the rear camera on Surface devices for these purposes before, especially when notetaking in OneNote, and have enjoyed the experience.

 

Finally, I have no complaints about the microphones. Microsoft has always had a strong game in its front-facing microphones, and Surface Pro 11 continues to provide an excellent experience for those who participate in many video calls.

Surface Pro 11: The Competition

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 with Intel or older Qualcomm processor.  (Image credit: Zac Bowden | Windows Central)

 

There is not much competition when it comes to Surface Pro 11, as Microsoft has consistently locked up this market for years despite a few other OEMs trying to make similar devices.

 

The first obvious choice would be Surface Pro 10, which is in some ways the same laptop but with an Intel Core Ultra processor and Windows 11 Pro. There is no OLED option, and pricing starts at $1,199 for the Core Ultra 5 processor, which is $200 more than the Surface Pro 11 ($100 is the Windows 11 Pro license). Performance and battery life won’t be as good, and neither will gaming (as these aren’t gaming laptops), but if you’re concerned about app compatibility, Surface Pro 10 for business is your best bet.

 

If you want much less performance (and battery life), you could opt for an older Surface Pro 9 with its Microsoft SQ3 (Snapdragon 8cx Gen3) processor, but it is hard to recommend that device, especially at the trending ~$800 price point.

 

The new Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. (Image credit: Windows Central)

 

Say you are OK with the performance and possible gaming limitations. Any of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X laptops, including Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, ASUS VivoBook S15, Surface Laptop 7, or HP OmniBook, will get you, in many cases, longer battery life and similar performance (HP’s OmniBook/EliteBooks are slightly slower due to the lower-tier Snapdragon X Elite). The tradeoff is you’re giving up the Surface Pro form factor and opting for a traditional clamshell laptop. That’s a satisfactory solution for many, as you should buy Surface Pro for its abilities, not its looks.

 

Speaking of, the new Dell XPS with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is nearly the same size and weight as the Surface Pro 11 (with keyboard), has the same processor, and can have a 3K tandem OLED display for around $1,899. In my early testing, I found that the XPS 13 "feels" like the Surface Pro 11 with a more traditional clamshell laptop design. 

 

ASUS has the forthcoming ProArt PZ13, a tablet/Surface Pro form factor that uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor. It packs a 13-inch 3K OLED screen, is built to be more rugged, has two Type-C ports (and an SD card reader), and includes a pen and keyboard. However, I don’t expect that laptop until sometime “later this year,” likely towards October.

 

Finally, assuming you want to ditch Windows 11, you could buy a new 13-inch Apple iPad Pro. However, the starting price for that tablet is $1,299, which is $200 more than the Surface Pro 11 ($999). If you add in an Apple Pencil ($79) and Magic Keyboard ($349), the price is now bumped up to $1,727 compared to $1,278 for Surface Pro 11 and the regular Surface Pro Keyboard with Slim Pen (or $1,448 if you opt for the newer Flex Keyboard and Slim Pen combo). Indeed, for $1 more than that iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard/Pencil combo, you could get the premium Surface Pro 11 with an OLED display and double your storage to 512GB.

Surface Pro 11: Scorecard

Attribute	Rating & Notes
Value	4.5/5 — Surfaces are never cheap, but you get much more for your money this time.
Design	5/5 — Nothing is like this PC and the sapphire blue is 🤌
Software	4/5 — It's great for 90% of users, but I'll dock it for any unique issue you may face and the AI is underbaked.
Display	4.5/5 — The OLED choice is amazing, but it'd be perfect with AR.
Performance	5/5 — It blows every past Surface Pro away and competes with the best Windows laptops.
Battery life	5/5 — If I'm hitting 10 hours of real-world usage, I'm not complaining.
Keyboard and touchpad	5/5 — The new Flex Keyboard is fantastic.
Camera, mic, and audio	5/5 — These are the best cameras and mics you'll find on any Windows laptop.
Total score	4.75/5 (95%) —It's basically perfect save for some minor quibbles.

Surface Pro 11: Should you buy it?

The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and Flex Keyboard take the Surface Pro line to a new level. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

✅ You should buy this if...

• You want the best Surface Pro ever. Please make no mistake; it's now cheaper, much faster, and has a much better battery life. Add the OLED HDR600 display and new Flex Keyboard, and the Surface Pro 9 looks like a joke.
• You want the best of Windows 11. With a pen, inking, touchscreen, tablet design, NPU for AI, variable form factor, small, portable, solid battery life, 12MP camera, 5G (soon), and excellent performance, Surface Pro 11 shows the best of what Windows can do in 2024. 
• You're a creator. The Surface Pro 11 is perfect for students, professionals, artists, and anyone who creates for a living or a hobby. Of course, it's also excellent for consuming media like binging movies. 

❌ You should not buy this if...

• You want to game a lot: Sure, Surface Pro 11, like its predecessors, can do light gaming, but unless most of your games are on Steam, Epic, and not the Microsoft Store, you should probably look elsewhere.
• You're a video editor. You can edit video on Surface Pro 11, but if you're regularly doing 4K 60 FPS, I don't know why you wouldn't get a larger laptop with an NVIDIA GPU. 
• You don't like the form factor. Some people love Surface Pro's design, while others hate it. Which are you? Luckily, Microsoft has a Surface Laptop 7.

 

---

 

The short version of this review is that the new Surface Pro 11 and Flex Keyboard are an outstanding combination that dramatically improves the Surface Pro line—only the original Surface Pro and Surface Pro 4 rival it in terms of impact.

 

Qualcomm’s new processors are getting a lot of attention (for good reason), and there is much hedging, hawing, and drama surrounding how they compare to Apple.

 

In many ways, this all misses the point. We need to answer only one question: Is Surface Pro 11 significantly faster than previous versions, and does it have significantly longer battery life? The answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes. 

 

It’s not even close or debatable.

 

Adding things like a very bright OLED HDR600 display, that gorgeous dune colorway, an outstanding 12MP front-facing camera, and all the new features of the Flex Keyboard, the Surface Pro 11 is a massive win for Windows users and makes it one of the best AI PCs of 2024.

 

There’s also the fact that the Surface Pro 11’s entry-level model is now $400 cheaper than the Surface Pro 9 with the same configuration, which stacks up to the top configuration.

 

While I understand the concern around gaming (and I did my best to try and answer that here as a casual gamer), I think you should never buy a Surface Pro if gaming is one of your main goals for a laptop. Full stop: you should buy something with a discrete NVIDIA RTX GPU if you like gaming. Relying on Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm’s integrated GPUs and calling yourself a “gamer” is weird. Second, the GPU here is capable of gaming but is being held back by some software compatibility, especially with anti-cheat solutions, but it will take time for the drivers to mature and games to catch up. 

 

Qualcomm told me its goal with gen 1 of Snapdragon X was CPU performance and battery life, which it accomplished. I suspect that, with generation 2 and beyond, we'll see Qualcomm's GPU performance ramp up, similar to what Apple has done (the Apple M3 and Apple M4 are more about their GPU improvements than the CPU, which are minimal).

 

What matters to me, as someone who uses Surface Pro as their regular PC for home and travel use, is that I can use it for its intended purpose. That includes Office, OneNote, web, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Spotify, watching movies, YouTube, Discord, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2024, Google Meet, Skype, Outlook, Twitter/Threads, Copilot … Not only do all these apps run on Surface Pro 11, it is the fastest experience I’ve had in such a form factor and runs better than many of my Intel and AMD laptops and gets better battery life.

 

The Surface Pro 11 is as powerful as some of the best Windows laptops, but super thin, light, and very adaptable. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

 

The only real complaint I can understand about Surface Pro 11 is that some people don't want this form factor, which is fair. However, I'm not one of those people. 

 

Can someone out there find non-mainstream apps like Rekordbox (professional DJ software) that won’t work? Sure (it relies on AVX2, something currently not supported). And Qualcomm will direct you to Djay Pro Neural Mix Pro, a native Arm64 app. Likewise, we’re still waiting on compatibility for Adobe Premiere later this year (Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop have been supported for years). Still, users can now download DaVinci Resolve 19/Resolve Studio 19 (beta 4), which currently supports Windows on Arm.

 

Having witnessed the evolution of every Surface Pro version and yearning for a device that excels in performance and battery life akin to the best Windows laptops (and even MacBooks), Microsoft has undeniably nailed it with the Surface Pro 11, making it a strong recommendation.

 

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In India, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been investigating Apple's practices of forcing App Store developers to use its own in-app purchase system. Today, Reuters reported that the CCI found that Apple had exploited its dominant position in the market. Reuters was able to access the CCI's 142-page investigation report, which is not yet public. The report mentioned that Apple has a "significant influence" over how third-party services are delivered to consumers on the iOS platform via the App Store.

The CCI report had the following regarding Apple's practices:

Apple App Store is an unavoidable trading partner for app developers, and as a result, app developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple's unfair terms, including the mandatory use of Apple's proprietary billing and payment system. From the perspective of app developers, the Apple iOS ecosystem is indispensable.

Unlike in the US and European markets, Apple's iOS market share in the Indian market is still in the single digits. Apple is arguing that antitrust concerns are invalid due to its low single-digit market share in the Indian smartphone market. In India, Google controls about 90-95% of the smartphone market with Android OS. The CCI has already fined Google for forcing developers to use Play Store billing, and Google has challenged the fine.

The CCI's findings could lead to significant changes in Apple's App Store practices in India. However, with Apple disputing the allegations and Google's own case still pending, the final outcome remains uncertain.

Source: Reuters

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What you need to know

• OpenAI was previously placed under fire for prioritizing shiny products over safety.
• A former employee has corroborated similar sentiments while referring to the company as the Titanic of AI.
• The ex-employee says OpenAI's safety measures and guardrails won't be able to control and prevent AI from spiraling out of control if the company doesn't embrace critical and sophisticated measures.

OpenAI has been hitting the headlines for the past few months (debatably for all the wrong reasons). It started when most of its safety team departed from the company, including the former head of alignment, Jan Leike, who indicated the company is focused on shiny products as safety culture and processes take a back seat. 

As it turns out, a former OpenAI employee, William Saunders, has seemingly echoed similar sentiments. While speaking on Alex Kantrowitz's podcast on YouTube earlier this month, Saunders indicated:

"I really didn't want to end up working for the Titanic of AI, and so that's why I resigned. During my three years at OpenAI, I would sometimes ask myself a question. Was the path that OpenAI was on more like the Apollo program or more like the Titanic? They're on this trajectory to change the world, and yet when they release things, their priorities are more like a product company. And I think that is what is most unsettling."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hasn't been shy about his ambitions and goals for the company, including achieving AGI and superintelligence. In a separate interview, Altman disclosed that these milestones won't necessarily constitute a dynamic change overnight. He added that interest in tech advancements is short-lived and may only cause a two-week freakout.

The former lead of super alignment for OpenAI revealed he disagreed with top OpenAI executives over the firm's decision-making process and core priorities on next-gen models, security, monitoring, preparedness, safety, adversarial robustness, and more. This ultimately prompted his departure from the company as well. 

In the grand scheme of things, it's highly concerning if the ChatGPT maker is prioritizing shiny products over safety despite Altman openly admitting there's no big red button to stop the progression of AI.

Safety is OpenAI's biggest issue

Advancements in the AI landscape are majorly riddled by safety and privacy concerns. Remember Windows Recall? Microsoft's privacy nightmare and a hacker's paradise. The Redmond giant recently unveiled crazy next-gen AI features shipping exclusively to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs, including Live Captions, Windows Studio effects, and the show-stopper, Windows Recall.

Members of the Microsoft Rewards subreddit on Reddit have been posting images of messages they have received from Microsoft. The message states:

Your Game Pass auto-redeem subscription is being discontinued.

 

Important changes are coming to the auto-redeem functionality for your Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscription. As of 8/12/2024, you will no longer be allowed to use your Rewards points to fund your Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscriptions. If you'd like to elect another service to use Rewards points for auto-redemption, please visit the Rewards catalog.

Microsoft offered no explanation of why this change has been made for Microsoft Rewards members.

The shutdown of using Microsoft Rewards for Game Pass subscriptions comes just a few days after the company announced sweeping changes to its Game Pass program. They included monthly price increases for PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that are now in effect for new users, with current subscribers getting hit with the changes on or after September 12, 2024.

Microsoft also announced it would no longer offer the Xbox Game Pass for Console plan for new subscribers. In addition, it will launch a new tier, Xbox Game Pass Standard, that will include access to hundreds of Xbox games but will not offer subscribers any Day One game releases.

An unconfirmed report from Thursday also claims Microsoft will soon end its marketing plans for Xbox consoles in some international markets, including Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

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Some of the best Arm processors come from companies like Apple and Qualcomm, which license Arm's processor instruction set but create their own custom or semi-custom CPU designs. But Arm continues to plug away on its own CPU and GPU architectures and related technologies, and the company has announced that it's getting into the crowded field of graphics upscaling technology.

 

Arm's Accuracy Super Resolution (ASR) is a temporal upscaler that is based on AMD's open source FidelityFX Super Resolution 2, which Arm says allows developers to "benefit from the familiar API and configuration options." (This AMD presentation from GDC 2023 gets into some of the differences between different kinds of upscalers.)

 

AMD's FSR and Nvidia's DLSS on gaming PCs are mostly sold as a way to boost graphical fidelity—increasing frame rates beyond 60 fps or rendering "4K" images on graphics cards that are too slow to do those things natively, for example. But since Arm devices are still (mostly, for now) phones and tablets, Arm is leaning into the potential power savings that are possible with lower GPU use. A less-busy GPU also runs cooler, reducing the likelihood of thermal throttling; Arm mentions reduced throttling as a benefit of ASR, though it doesn't say how much of ASR's performance advantage over FSR is attributable to reduced throttling.

 

"Using [ASR] rendered high-quality results at a stable, low temperature," writes Arm Director for Ecosystem Strategy Peter Hodges. "Rendering at a native resolution inevitably led to undesirable thermal throttling, which in games can ruin the user experience and shorten engagement."

 

Why not just use FSR2 without modification? Arm claims that the ASR upscaling tech has been tuned to reduce GPU usage and to run well on devices without a ton of memory bandwidth—think low-power mobile GPUs with integrated graphics rather than desktop-class graphics cards. ASR's GPU use is as little as one-third of FSR2's at the same target resolutions and scaling factors. Arm also claims that ASR delivers roughly 20 to 40 percent better frame rates than FSR2 on Arm devices, depending on the settings you're using.

 

• 

• 

Arm says it used "a commercial mobile device that features an Arm Immortalis-G720 GPU" for its performance testing and that it worked with MediaTek to corroborate its power consumption numbers "using a Dimensity 9300 handset."

 

When the ASR spec is released, it will be up to OS makers and game developers to implement it. Apple will likely stick with its own MetalFX upscaling technology—also derived from AMD's FSR, for what that's worth. Microsoft is pushing "Automatic Super Resolution" on Arm devices while also attempting to develop a vendor-agnostic upscaling API in "DirectSR." Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Game Super Resolution a little over a year ago.

 

Arm's upscaler has the benefit of being hardware-agnostic and also open-source (Arm says it "want(s) to share [ASR] with the developer community under an MIT open-source license") so that other upscalers can benefit from its improvements. Qualcomm's upscaler is also a simpler spatial upscaler a la AMD's first-generation FSR algorithm, so Arm's upscaler could also end up producing superior image quality on the same GPUs.

 

We're undeniably getting into that one xkcd comic about the proliferation of standards territory here, but it's at least interesting to see different companies using graphics upscaling technology to solve problems other than "make games look nicer."

 

Listing image by Arm

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Windows Central is reporting that it received messages from Microsoft revealing the receipt scanning feature will be shut down in about two weeks from today. The message stated in part:

Thank you for using the receipt scan offers as part of the Microsoft Cashback Program. Due to recent changes, the receipt scan feature will no longer be available as of July 25th 2024, and you will no longer be able to earn cash back by scanning receipts through Microsoft applications.

Microsoft's message did not offer an explanation of why this feature is being removed from the Microsoft Start and Bing mobile apps.

While the receipt scanning feature will soon no longer be available, the Microsoft Cashback program will continue past July 25. It's actually a subsection of the Microsoft Rewards program. If you are a member of that program, you can use the Microsoft Edge web browser to search and shop for products via the Bing search engine. Certain retailers will give you cash back or rebates on your purchases.

You can learn more about the program at the Microsoft Cashback website. It also shows that its members can earn up to $1,000 a year in cash and rebates with the program. The service is currently available in 36 countries.

Meanwhile, if you have been an avid user of this deprecated feature, there are other mobile apps, including Fetch, Swagbucks, and more, that offer cash back or points toward gift cards for scanning receipts.

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Today, Frontier officially announced plans for a sequel, Planet Coaster 2. The second game will not only allow users to build virtual roller coasters in their theme park but will add the ability to design and put in water park attractions as well.

The press release adds:

Make a splash with guests as they float along lazy rivers, speed down flumes, plunge into wave pools, and ride exhilarating water coasters. Create an authentic water park experience by providing changing rooms, sunbeds, lifeguards, and more.

Planet Coaster 2 will also include more advanced tools for players to build the roller coaster or water park rides of their dreams. It added:

Players can further unleash their imagination and create unforgettable memories for their guests by using the enhanced event sequencer tool, combining animatronics, smoke, water jets, sound, and more in dazzling displays throughout individual rides and across their parks.

The game will include three modes of play. The Sandbox mode, as the name suggests, will give players a free form way to construct their ultimate virtual amusement park. The Career mode will give players a number of different scenarios to complete. Finally, the Franchise mode will let you control a global part network.

In addition, the game will include multiplayer, such as building a park with friends in Sandbox mode or going to the top of the leaderboards in Franchise mode. You can even visit your friend's custom parts and ride the attractions in a first-person viewpoint.

Planet Coaster 2 will launch sometime in the fall of 2024 for the PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.

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For years now, Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass has set itself apart by offering subscribers launch-day access to new first-party titles in addition to a large legacy library of older games. That important "day one" perk is now set to go away for all but the highest tier of Game Pass' console subscribers, even as Microsoft asks for more money for Game Pass across the board.

 

Let's start with the price increases for existing Game Pass tiers, which are relatively straightforward:

 

• "Game Pass Ultimate" is going from $16.99 to $19.99 per month.
• "Game Pass for PC" is going from $9.99 to $11.99 per month.
• "Game Pass Core" (previously known as Xbox Live Gold) is going from $59.99 to $74.99 for annual subscriptions (and remains at $9.99 for monthly subscriptions).

 

Things get a bit more complicated for the $10.99/month "Xbox Game Pass for Console" tier. Microsoft announced that it will no longer accept new subscriptions for that tier after today, though current subscribers will be able to keep it (for now) if they auto-renew their subscriptions.

 

In its place, Microsoft will "in the coming months" roll out a new $14.99 "Xbox Game Pass Standard" tier. That new option will combine the usual access to "hundreds of high-quality games on console" with the "online console multiplayer" features that previously required a separate Xbox Game Pass Core subscription ("Core" will still be available separately and include access to a smaller "25+ game" library).

 

But while the current Xbox Game Pass Console option promises access to Xbox Game Studios games "the same day they launch," those "Day One releases" are conspicuously absent as a perk for the replacement Xbox Game Pass Standard subscription.

 

"Some games available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on day one will not be immediately available with Xbox Game Pass Standard and may be added to the library at a future date," Microsoft writes in an FAQ explaining the changes.

 

Players who want guaranteed access to all those "Day One" releases will now have to subscribe to the $19.99/month Game Pass Ultimate. That's an 81 percent increase from the $10.99/month that console players currently pay for similar "Day One" access on the disappearing Game Pass Console tier.

 

To be fair, that extra subscription money does come with some added benefits. Upgrading from Game Pass Console/Standard to Game Pass Ultimate lets you use Microsoft's cloud gaming service, access downloadable PC games and the EA Play library, and get additional "free perks every month." But it's the launch day access to Microsoft's system-selling first-party titles that really sets the Ultimate tier apart now, and which will likely necessitate a costly upgrade for many Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

More problems, more money

While Xbox Game Pass launched in 2017, launch-day access to all of Microsoft's new first-party games wasn't promised to subscribers until the beginning of 2018. Since then, loyal Game Pass subscribers have been able to play dozens of new first-party titles at launch, from major franchises like Halo, Forza, and Gears of War to indie darlings like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps and much more.

 

Sure, access to hundreds of older games was nice. But the promise of brand-new major first-party titles was instrumental in driving Xbox Game Pass to 34 million subscribers as of February. And Sony found itself unwilling to match that "day one" perk for its similar PlayStation Plus service, which only includes a handful of older PlayStation Studios titles.

 

In a 2022 interview with GamesIndustry.biz, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said throwing new first-party games on their subscription service would break a "virtuous cycle" in which new full game purchases (at a price of up to $70) help fund the next round of game development. "The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want."

 

And Microsoft may come to a similar conclusion. Including first-party titles with cheaper, console-focused Game Pass subscriptions probably seemed like a good idea when Microsoft was still trying to attract subscribers to the service. But Game Pass subscriber growth is starting to slow as the market of potential customers has become saturated. Microsoft now needs to extract more value from those subscribers to justify Game Pass cannibalizing direct sales of its own first-party games.

 

And let's not forget Activision, which Microsoft recently spent a whopping $69 billion to acquire after lengthy legal and regulatory battles. Recouping that cost, while also offering Game Pass subscribers launch day access to massive sellers like Call of Duty, likely forced Microsoft to maximize Game Pass' revenue-generating opportunities.

 

“Let’s put it this way: If 7 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers were planning to buy ‘Call of Duty’ for $70 but now have no reason to (as it’s part of their subscription), that leaves almost half a billion dollars of revenue on the table,” MIDia analyst Rhys Elliott told The Daily Upside by way of illustrating the significant numbers involved.

 

For players who enjoy a wide variety of games and would likely purchase all or most of Microsoft's first-party titles at launch anyway, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate it still probably a good deal at its increased price. But players who subscribed to a relatively cheap console Game Pass option years ago may want to reevaluate if maintaining that launch day access is now worth $240 a year.

 

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A year ago, news came out that Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards are unlikely to release before 2025.

This was later brushed aside when the board partners claimed that both RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are in fact releasing this year itself.

Meanwhile, some specs of the GPU likely to power the RTX 5090 got leaked. Suggesting a 40% increase in the CUDA count.

Then even more rumors came out that the GPU powering RTX 5090 will use a massive 512-bit memory bus.

Then recently, VideoCardz reported that as per a known leaker panzerlied, Nvidia is unlikely to use a full 512-bit memory interface for the RTX 5090. Instead, it will use a cut-down 448-bit memory bus, which allows just 28GB of VRAM.

Now after leaks of likely release dates, CUDA counts, memory bus and VRAM capacity, we now have a rumor suggesting the clock speeds for the RTX 5090.

RTX 5090 Base Clock

VideoCardz reports that panzerlied has again leaked more information (translated) about the Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card.

In a post, panzerlied reveals that Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is likely to hit almost 2.9GHz of base clock. Which is more than 600MHz higher than the RTX 4090 which comes at a base clock of 2.23GHz.

What’s interesting is that RTX 4090 itself hits max 2.52GHz in boost speed. So not only the RTX 5090’s base speed is going to be faster than the RTX 4090’s boost speed, the RTX 5090’s boost speed is going to surpass 3.0GHz.

Specs Table

Just to give the readers some idea, here’s the specs table comparing RTX 4090 & RTX 5090.

Conclusion

There’s a question about how Nvidia has managed to increase the clocks so much. @kopite7kimi says that the RTX 5090 uses the same 4N (5nm) process node as the RTX 4090. So process node is not receiving any major upgrades.

There’s a possibility that Nvidia has improved the architecture further. That could be a good reason behind the clock speed increase.

It must be mentioned that finally these are just rumors and should be counted as just rumors.

Either way, we are likely to see either an announcement or a release for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 in the later part of the year. Meanwhile, expect more leaks and also changes in some specs.

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