October 3, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

💻 New Chromebook Plus category supercharges laptops' specs

⌚️ Apple's finally done with its $17,000 smartwatch

🎮 Trump lawyer arrives in court with a gaming laptop

UP FIRST

New Chromebook Plus category supercharges laptops' specs

Makers of ChromeOS laptops will have to meet certain hardware requirements to use the label

Ten years after launching its first budget laptop, Google has unveiled a new category for the computer with double the performance of its recent Chromebooks.

Called Chromebook Plus, the new category launches with eight new laptops from Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo.

Chromebook Plus ensures a laptop with the following minimum specs, and features a starting price of just $399:

CPU: Intel Core i3 12th-gen or better/AMD Ryzen 3 7000 or better

RAM: 8GB or more

Storage: 128GB or more

Webcam: 1080p or higher with temporal noise reduction

Display: 1080p IPS or better

It’s no surprise that Chromebook Plus devices also come with a slew of AI features. The webcams, for example, have AI-powered noise cancellation, lighting improvements, background blur, and live captions. And AI-powered tools from Google Photos, like Magic Eraser, will be part of the package too ...

SMARTWATCHES

Apple's finally done with its $17,000 smartwatch

The tech company has reportedly ended all forms of support for the first-gen Apple Watches

Apple recently classified its first-generation of Apple Watches as obsolete, according to an internal memo seen by MacRumors.

The so-called “Series 0” launched in 2015 and comprised the Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, on which moneyed shoppers could spend as much as $17,000.

Listing the aging smartwatches as obsolete means that Apple Stores and Apple’s authorized service providers will no longer offer parts, replacements, or any other kind of service for the device. In short, it’s done with the oldest Apple Watch.

The move comes five years after Apple ended software support for the same devices.

Apple never revealed how many Apple Watch Editions it sold, but the fact that it discontinued the luxury device only a year after it first appeared tells us all we need to know ...

GAMING

Trump's lawyer brought a gaming laptop to $250M fraud trial

Seeing the Asus laptop's light-up logo in a courtroom was a surprise for those who spotted it

Some people following the first day of Donald Trump’s civil trial for alleged fraud were surprised to see what appeared to be a gaming laptop being used by Alina Habba, one of the former president’s attorneys.

Observers noted how the Asus ROG laptop lid's RGB lighting changed color throughout the hearing in New York on Monday.

The presence of the laptop was first reported by Ryan Rigney, a marketing director at a game development company, though there seems to be some confusion over the precise model as many of the Asus ROG laptops look very similar from the back.

One thing’s for sure – this isn’t a workstation kind of laptop. It is, however, a very powerful machine and apparently ticks all the boxes for Habba. And no, we don’t think she was playing any games on it at the time ...

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