Kandou AI, a Swiss semiconductor company that builds chip-to-chip interconnect technology, has raised $225 million in what it calls a Series A round, led by Maverick Silicon with strategic participation from SoftBank, Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Alchip Technologies. The round values the company at $400 million. The label is worth pausing on: Kandou was founded in 2011 and previously raised more than $163 million across Series B and C rounds under the name Kandou Bus. The “Series A” designation reflects a rebrand and leadership change, not a fresh start.
The company’s new chief executive, Srujan Linga, a former Goldman Sachs managing director, took over in 2025 from founder Amin Shokrollahi, an EPFL professor of mathematics and computer science who invented the core technology. Shokrollahi’s contribution, a signalling method called Chord that sends correlated signals across multiple wires to increase bandwidth by a factor of two to four while halving power consumption, remains the technical foundation. The rebrand to Kandou AI and the repositioning toward artificial intelligence infrastructure is Linga’s doing, and it appears to have worked: the $225 million raise is the largest in the company’s history and brings SoftBank, one of the most aggressive AI infrastructure investors, onto the cap table.
The bet against light
What makes Kandou AI’s position unusual is not the problem it is trying to solve but the material it proposes to solve it with. The AI industry’s interconnect bottleneck is real and well documented. As models scale to hundreds of billions of parameters and training clusters expand to tens of thousands of GPUs, the speed at which data moves between processors and memory has become the binding constraint on performance. At signalling speeds of 224 gigabits per second, traditional copper interconnects consume roughly 30 per cent of total cluster power, with signal degradation so severe that reach is limited to less than a metre without amplification.
The prevailing industry response has been to move to optics. Ayar Labs raised $500 million in March 2026 at a $3.8 billion valuation for its co-packaged optical interconnects. Marvell completed a $3.25 billion acquisition of Celestial AI in February, buying photonic fabric technology that claims 25 times the bandwidth of copper alternatives at a tenth of the latency. The optical interconnect market for AI data centres is projected to grow from $3.75 billion in 2025 to $18.36 billion by 2033.
Advertisement
Kandou AI is betting that copper is not finished. Its Chord signalling technology, the company claims, can achieve path-to-Shannon-capacity efficiency, reducing power consumption and system costs by a factor of ten while extending copper links to 448 gigabits per second and beyond. If that claim holds, it would mean that the billions being spent on optical interconnect transitions are at least partially premature, and that existing copper infrastructure can be made to work for several more hardware generations at a fraction of the cost.
The composition of the investor syndicate matters more than the headline figure. Synopsys and Cadence are the two dominant providers of electronic design automation tools. Their participation is not purely financial; it signals potential integration of Kandou AI’s serialiser/deserialiser intellectual property into the design flows that chip architects use to build processors and memory controllers. Alchip, a Taiwanese ASIC design services company, provides a path to manufacturing. SoftBank, which has invested more than $100 billion in AI-adjacent companies through its Vision Fund and direct investments, adds the scale capital and the strategic network.
The practical implication is that Kandou AI’s technology could appear inside chips designed by other companies rather than requiring customers to adopt Kandou’s own silicon. This is a licensing and IP model, similar in structure to Arm’s approach in mobile processors, and it is a more capital-efficient path to market dominance than manufacturing and selling chips directly. Whether Kandou can execute on that model with a $400 million valuation and $225 million in fresh capital, against optical competitors valued at ten times as much, is the central question.
The valuation gap
At $400 million, Kandou AI is valued at roughly a tenth of Ayar Labs and an eighth of what Marvell paid for Celestial AI. That gap could reflect market scepticism about copper’s longevity in AI infrastructure, or it could reflect the fact that Kandou’s technology, if it works as claimed, does not require the industry to rip out its existing wiring. Copper is already in every data centre. If Kandou’s signalling technology can make it fast enough for another generation of AI workloads, the adoption curve would be faster and cheaper than an optical transition.
The risk is that “another generation” may not be long enough. AI model sizes and training cluster scales are growing at a pace that consistently outstrips infrastructure predictions. What is adequate at 448 gigabits per second today may be inadequate at the terabit-per-second speeds that next-generation models will demand within two to three years. Optical interconnects, for all their cost and complexity, offer a higher theoretical ceiling.
Advertisement
Kandou AI’s $225 million buys it time to prove that the ceiling can wait. The company’s 15-year history and the technical credibility of Chord signalling, which has been deployed commercially in consumer electronics since the mid-2010s, lend substance to the bet. But the AI infrastructure market has a pattern of rewarding ambition over incrementalism, and a company arguing that the existing material is good enough faces a harder narrative sell than one promising to replace it entirely. The investors on this round appear to be betting on engineering pragmatism. Whether the market agrees will depend on how quickly the optical transition matures, and whether Kandou’s copper can keep pace with an industry that has shown little interest in waiting for anything.
Generally, the frame and other structural parts of an FDM printer use steel or similar, but could you use wood instead for that truly artisan look? As [Mitsu Makes] demonstrates after half a year of work, you absolutely can, and it looks about as amazing as you might imagine.
Naturally, you cannot make everything out of wood – such as the linear rails and lead screws – and there is a fair bit of FDM-printed black PLA in there too, but the wood is both structural and decorative. The stained look does really add something. For the FDM-specific parts, the Voron 0 was taken as the base, including the bed. The motion system isn’t CoreXY but Cartesian for ease of construction and driving the axes, while also providing more torque due to the additional motors.
Since it’s more or less a Voron FDM printer and even has automatic bed leveling, it works basically perfectly after assembly and input shaping. Even if it’s not the most practical way to make your own FDM printer from parts, it definitely makes it look unique and would be the focal point of any printing farm.
I’m torn on the price of the Movestyle, though. I love how affordable it is at $580, putting it within a more mainstream budget than I would have assumed. On the other hand, this is a very unique product, and I think higher-end specs might have been a better choice. This is a VA panel rather than IPS, and that means the color accuracy and saturation are OK, but not the best. Although it’s only rated for up to 250 nits of brightness, it topped out at 310 nits when measured against my colorimeter. But it’s not terribly bright, which could be a problem in a brightly-lit room. The display quality isn’t horrible, and this monitor isn’t made for professional video work.
And yet, in terms of the viewing experience, it doesn’t feel all that high-quality, either. For a similar price, you can get a more capable OLED monitor that’s brighter, faster, more colorful, and capable of HDR. But that doesn’t come with the adjustable, rolling stand. An even higher-end monitor would increase the price by at least a few hundred dollars. The lack of a touchscreen feels like a missed opportunity, too, especially since this could easily be used next to a desk or in a kitchen. There are just some cases where using your fingers is easier than using a remote.
Photograph: Luke Larsen
Interestingly, Samsung does sell a more premium Movingstyle monitor that’s even touchscreen-enabled and has a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz for gaming. But it’s a smaller 27-inch panel, comes with a lower-resolution 1440p display, and costs significantly more at $1,200. Whew. Another handy feature of the pricier model is a built-in battery. That means when the cord is unplugged, it doesn’t just immediately die. Speaking of the length of the cord, that does end up being one of the limitations of this design as a whole.
In a lot of ways, that more expensive model feels like what a Movingstyle monitor should be. For my purposes, the larger 32-inch 4K panel matches my needs better.
Advertisement
LG has its own version of this that moves in that direction, the LG Smart Monitor Swing. It comes with a 4K panel, measures 32 inches, and has a screen that can handle touch inputs. At $1,000, it’s priced in between the two Movingstyle monitors. For Samsung, perhaps the solution would be to sell the adjustable stand separately, which would give you the ability to pair it with whatever monitor you want.
You don’t realize just how much you depend on your appliances until one of them goes down. It can happen when you least expect it, forcing you to decide whether or not to find a local repair service, or just buy a new appliance altogether. Before you take your home appliance in for repair, you should know the 50% rule, which says you don’t want to spend over half of what it would take to replace it.
Things can get tough when a repair estimate approaches that 50% line. For example, if you initially paid $1,500 for your refrigerator and the repair cost is $650, that might feel close enough to justify replacing it. But you also have to factor in the time it takes to research the right model, compare prices, and deal with added costs like delivery and installation. Plus, you could be waiting days or even weeks for a replacement to arrive. If the repair gets the original unit back to top form, it might make sense to just get it done.
Age should also play a role. Most appliances, including washing machines, have a limited lifespan. If a unit is nearing the end of its expected shelf life, it may begin breaking down more often. This means repairs will likely just be prolonging the inevitable. Older appliances tend to perform less efficiently as well, which could cost you more money in the long run.
Advertisement
What to know before getting an appliance repair estimate
Anatoliy Cherkas/Shutterstock
If you need to get a repair estimate for an appliance, it’s important to know that the cost can vary based on a number of factors. The brand and model of the appliance, its age, and the urgency of the repair itself, can all play a part. The complexity of the repair is a factor as well, and the same is true of your location.
But before you call a local repair service, check the warranty on your appliance. If you don’t have that information or can’t remember if you have an extended warranty, you should contact the place of purchase. Home Depot and Lowe’s both offer warranties beyond manufacturer warranties. Just be sure to have your information ready to go and they should be able to help. If the warranty has expired, you can ask about replacement parts.
Advertisement
If you decide to get an estimate, you should try to find a reputable repair company. Some appliance manufacturers also have a network of trusted repair mechanics at their disposal. If not, this can be tough, so reaching out to friends and family for their recommendations can be a good idea. If you’re searching online, you can use Google to find repair services, read reviews, and get contact information. You can also visit the Better Business Bureau’s website, where you can use their Appliance Repair tool to find BBB accredited repair services.
COMPUTEX 2026 Intel’s upcoming Diamond Rapids Xeon will boost core counts to 192, a 50 percent increase over last generation, the x86 giant revealed at Computex in Taipei this week.
But while core counts continue to rise, in doing so Intel has managed to cut thread counts by a quarter.
Advertisement
Yep, Hyperthreading – Intel’s marketing for simultaneous multithreading – is officially dead.
Intel first added support for SMT all the way back in 2002. The technology boosted utilization by enabling two threads to harness idle execution units during a single cycle. While SMT doesn’t double throughput, for certain applications it can deliver double-digit percentage gains.
After slowly abandoning the tech across its consumer product lineup, Intel’s Xeons are latest to get the cut.
Except, wait! It seems Intel may have seen the error of its ways, and is already reversing course on the decision. Intel’s next next Xeon, codenamed Coral Rapids, will bring SMT back.
Advertisement
The jump from 128 to 192 is a big jump for Intel, but still smaller than the AMD is making with its 256-core Venice Epycs. If that weren’t enough, it looks like AMD could beat Intel to market by as much as a year.
Diamond Rapids is now slated for release sometime in 2027.
Echos of Epyc, notes of Monaka
In addition to core count, we also got our first look at how Intel will stitch the chip together. It turns out AMD might have been onto something when it started gluing silicon together back in 2017, because Intel’s next round Xeons look more like an Epyc under the hood than ever.
Here’s a quick rundown of the new details we’ve learned about Diamond Rapids at ComputexCourtesy Intel
We know the chip will be fabbed using Intel’s 18A-P process tech, a refined version of its 2nm-class process tech. Beyond this details get a little fuzzy.
Advertisement
From the renders shared in Intel’s press deck, we can see what appear to be two I/O dies serving four vertically stacked compute assemblies assembled using its Foveros packaging tech.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this from Intel. Intel’s Clearwater Forest, which is finally launching after years of teasing, also used a similar arrangement, with four 24-core compute tiles sitting atop a base die containing the memory controller and L3 cache.
Moving the L3 cache to the base die frees up a lot of die area on the compute chiplet. In this case, we’re looking at four 48-core compute chiplets.
In this respect, Diamond Rapids looks a lot like another CPU we’ve looked at recently: Fujitsu’s Monaka. That chip uses an almost identical chip layout, albeit with one I/O die rather than two.
Advertisement
While we’re fairly certain Diamond Rapid’s L3 cache will live on the base die, the memory controller could be housed on the four base dies or it could be on the I/O dies, similar to what AMD has done since Rome launched in 2019.
If we had to guess, our bet would be on the I/O die, since it would reduce the number of NUMA nodes to one or two as opposed to four.
Not a mainstream part
Unlike Intel’s last P-core Xeon, codenamed Granite Rapids, don’t expect to see Diamond Rapids deployed widely in enterprise virtualization or storage servers.
According to Intel, Diamond Rapids is “optimized for high-demand IaaS, high-perf/thread,” putting it in the same class as its high-performance-computing (HPC)-centric 6900P-series parts.
Advertisement
The lack of SMT complicates hypervisor licensing models. Where you once got two threads for the price of one, Diamond Rapids customers will now be getting half as many for their dollar. There are of course ways of getting around this. Oracle rented out its Ampere-based instances, which also lack SMT, in core-pairs rather than on a core-per-core basis, but something like this would presumably require buy-in from the likes of VMware or RedHat.
As with past HP- optimized processors, Diamond Rapids will be packing a much beefier memory bus than most folks are going to be looking for. HPC workloads like their memory bandwidth and the next-gen Xeon will have no shortage of it with 16-channels of DDR5.
Intel hasn’t disclosed what memory speeds the chip will support out of the box. With that said, Clearwater is already at 8000 MT/s on standard RDIMMS, and Granite could hit 8800 MT/s on MRDIMMS — in fact, 9600 MT/s DIMMS wouldn’t be an unreasonable assumption. That works out to 1.2 TB/s of bandwidth per socket, which happens to be the same as Nvidia’s LPDDR5X-packed Vera CPUs.
That’s not the only thing we’re still in the dark about. Power consumption and instruction per clock gains from the chip’s new architecture are details we expect Intel to trickle out.
Advertisement
The good news: we won’t have to wait long for the next round of specifications, as Intel will be presenting on Diamond Rapids at Hot Chips in August.
The Windows Defender security team is alerting users with dedicated GPUs about scammers manipulating search engine results to distribute remote monitoring and cryptomining payloads. The hackers are manipulating not only search engine results but also AI chatbot responses. Read Entire Article Source link
Apple’s long-delayed AI overhaul may finally be starting to take shape, and the company appears ready to push Siri far deeper into its ecosystem than before. According to a new report from Mark Gurman, Apple is developing a major Siri upgrade that will synchronize AI conversations across devices through iCloud, turning the assistant into a more persistent and connected AI system inside Apple’s tightly controlled ecosystem.
The upcoming Siri redesign is reportedly being prepared as part of Apple’s broader iOS 27 and iOS 28 strategy, with the company positioning the assistant more directly against AI products like Google Gemini and ChatGPT. Instead of functioning as a simple voice tool, Siri is expected to evolve into a conversational AI assistant capable of maintaining synced chat histories across iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other Apple hardware.
Apple wants Siri to become the centre of its AI ecosystem
According to Bloomberg’s report, Apple is internally testing a completely redesigned Siri interface that resembles modern AI chatbot apps. The new experience reportedly includes a dedicated chat-style interface, persistent conversation history, and cloud synchronization powered through iCloud.
This would allow users to begin an AI conversation on one Apple device and continue it seamlessly on another. Apple is reportedly positioning this as a key differentiator for its AI strategy, leveraging the company’s ecosystem advantage rather than competing purely on raw AI model performance.
Advertisement
SiriUnsplash
The report also suggests Apple is integrating Siri more deeply across its software platforms as part of future versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Internally, Apple is said to already be preparing iOS 28 features while work continues on iOS 27.
The AI-focused Siri upgrade has reportedly faced multiple delays over the past two years, partly because Apple has struggled to modernize Siri’s underlying architecture quickly enough. Gurman notes that several Apple AI projects, including AI-powered AirPods and smart home products, were also slowed by delays tied to Siri’s redevelopment.
At the same time, Apple is preparing for a broader hardware push built around AI experiences. Bloomberg reports the company is developing smart glasses aimed at competing with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, with Siri expected to play a major role in those products as well.
Why this matters
Apple has been noticeably slower than rivals like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft in rolling out consumer-facing AI products. While competitors aggressively integrated generative AI into search, productivity apps, and smartphones, Siri has increasingly felt outdated compared to modern AI assistants.
SiriUnsplash
Apple’s strategy appears different, however. Instead of creating a standalone chatbot platform, the company seems focused on embedding AI deeply into its hardware ecosystem and user workflows. That could make Siri more useful for existing Apple users, especially if conversation syncing works smoothly across devices. But it also further strengthens Apple’s famously closed ecosystem approach, where the best experiences are often limited to users fully invested in Apple hardware.
What happens next
Apple is expected to reveal more about its AI plans during upcoming WWDC announcements, though Bloomberg suggests the most ambitious Siri upgrades may not fully arrive until iOS 28. The company is also reportedly developing future AI-powered hardware, including smart glasses, updated HomePods, and refreshed Apple TV products that could rely heavily on the new Siri platform.
Advertisement
For now, Apple’s challenge is becoming increasingly clear. The company no longer just needs to improve Siri. It needs to convince users that its version of AI is worth waiting for after years of falling behind competitors already moving at full speed.
Acer stepped forward at Computex with a handheld that takes a clear stand. The Nitro Blaze Link exists to pull games from a nearby computer and show them on its screen with built-in controls. It leaves the heavy graphics work on a stronger machine and keeps its own parts minimal on purpose. Designers gave the body ergonomic grips along each side for steady handling during extended play. Standard controls fill the surface in familiar spots, including dual analog sticks, a directional pad, face buttons, shoulder bumpers, and triggers. A seven-inch touchscreen sits front and center with 1920 by 1200 resolution and support for five touch points at once.
The device weighs 464 grams (nearly a pound), is approximately 287 millimeters wide, and has a maximum thickness of 33.5 millimeters. This is all fairly compact, making it easy to grasp in your hand or throw into a bag without any effort. The power comes from an 18-watt-hour battery, which isn’t bad. There is a single USB-C port that can take up to 15 watts of charging, but no data transmission is available through that port, so you won’t be shifting files or bringing in more peripherals. A set of two-watt stereo speakers or a traditional 3.5 millimeter headphone connector provide audio output.
【All-in-One Handheld】 The ultimate portable console in your hands. Enjoy retro games, remote play, cloud gaming, and Android titles on a…
【Cloud Gaming + Remote Play】 Cloud Gaming – Instantly play AAA titles over Wi-Fi with subscriptions to Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta), GeForce NOW…
【Emulator Retro Games + Android Games】 Emulation – Enjoy retro classics with enhanced compatibility and smoother performance on PS2, GameCube…
It runs on Debian Linux, and Moonlight is configured to receive video streams. To broadcast video and receive controller signals, the host computer must have Sunshine installed. However, games run at full speed on the main system, with the handheld simply decoding video and sending back button presses. That split contributes significantly to the internal hardware’s reduced weight. You’re looking at 1GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 8GB of integrated flash storage, which aren’t very large numbers, especially when compared to what you’d get on a typical gaming device. Interestingly, they appear to handle video decoding perfectly fine. WiFi 6 includes 80 megahertz channel support and a few improvements designed to keep shared home networks working smoothly.
Acer designed this to work seamlessly with its own Predator Helios and Nitro laptops. Owners may play their whole game libraries from another room or a distance because the setup is straightforward and local. Make no mistake: the hardware has limitations. It cannot run games locally and cannot store much additional stuff. Storage and RAM are simply too limited for that; if you try to squeeze in a bunch of extra apps or save files, things become a little crowded in there. Performance is also dependent on having a reliable wireless connection, and the main system must be able to encode the stream correctly. Any issues are mainly caused by the network rather than the device. No cloud services have been confirmed to be supported, and the Linux foundation and focus on Acer-compatible systems limit what you can accomplish with this device when compared to more open handhelds.
This device won’t be available in the United States until the fourth quarter of 2026, and Acer hasn’t revealed any pricing details yet. When compared to more serious handhelds with comparable specifications, the Nitro Blaze Link appears to be a more affordable option. [Source]
Gaming desktops have been getting smarter every year with better cooling, faster chips, and more RGB lights than anyone asked for. MSI has decided that none of that is interesting enough and has introduced something genuinely unexpected at Computex 2026.
The Taiwanese company has unveiled a gaming desktop, and its most interesting aspect is the built-in cylindrical display that exists purely to give your AI companion a physical avatar.
What is the AI Holostage and why does it exist?
The MEG Vision X2 AI+ is MSI’s new flagship gaming desktop, which sits at the top of its MEG product line. The main main highlight is the AI Holostage, a cylindrical display integrated directly into the chassis rather than sitting as a separate accessory.
The Holostage gives digital companions, desktop pets, and custom third-party AI avatars a visible, physical presence on your desk. Out of the box, the system ships pre-configured with MSI’s own AI companion, which is called LuckyClaw.
Advertisement
LuckyClaw is MSI’s agentic AI companion, which responds to natural voice commands and gives users hands-free control over performance profiles, MSI monitor settings, and RGB lighting.
The chassis also features a tool-free upgradeable design. While this might be something of a novelty or a visually appealing factor, it might not serve a practical utility purpose as such.
Pricing and availability have not been confirmed in the official press release. Whether the Holostage becomes the defining feature for gaming PCs or ends up as the most elaborate desktop widget ever built remains to be seen. But as a statement of intent, it is hard to ignore.
Advertisement
Some popular gaming desktop brands, including Asus, Razer, and Lenovo, have tested virtual assistants in their software ecosystems. However, MSI is the first to give the companion a dedicated physical display embedded in the chassis itself.
For now, lithium-ion batteries continue to dominate for a simple reason – scale. The global lithium supply chain is already well-developed and highly efficient, making it difficult for alternatives to compete on cost. Read Entire Article Source link
At Computex 2026, Dell came out all guns blazing. Ever since its inception, the XPS series has served as the pinnacle of Dell’s design and engineering innovation for laptops. Of course, they cost a pretty penny, too. After a brief sunsetting, the XPS line is back, and this time around, Dell is taking an extremely ambitious path. The latest from the computing giant is the XPS 13, and more than anything, it’s the $699 asking price of this sleek machine that is going to turn heads.
What makes the XPS 13 special?
Dell says it has a different definition for “premium” laptops at an accessible price, and on that front, it has succeeded. Compared to the MacBook Neo, the XPS 13 offers a few crucial upgrades. To start, it offers a dramatically superior 2.5K touch-sensitive display with a 120Hz refresh rate, faster USB-C (3.2 Gen 2) ports, speedier Wi-Fi 7 support, and a quad speaker setup.
Dell
More importantly, the XPS 13 offers a backlit keyboard, which also happens to be one of the biggest omissions on the MacBook Neo. Furthermore, you also get an IR sensor for biometric face unlock on the Windows machine. The base variant draws power from an Intel Series 3 Core 5 Processor, while the higher-end trims will get the more powerful Intel Core Ultra Series 3 silicon, starting at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage.
Take a look at the innards of this machine:
Model Number
DX13260
Processor Options
Series 3 Intel Core 5 Processor 320 (6-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 4.6GHz) Series 3 Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 355 (8-Core, 12MB Cache, up to 4.7 GHz) Intel Core Ultra processors post-launch
Neural Processor
16 TOPS on Intel Core 49 TOPS on 355
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-bit Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
Memory Options*
8GB LPDDR5x at 7467 MT/s 16GB LPDDR5x at 7467 MT/s 32GB LPDDR5x at 7467 MT/s Intel Core options: 8-16GB, single channel Intel Core Ultra options: 16-32GB options, dual channel
Storage Options*
256GB PCIe 4 SSD (Gen 4) – post launch 512GB PCIe 4 SSD (Gen 4) 1TB PCIe 4 SSD (Gen 4) Intel Core Ultra up to 1TB
65W USB-C GAN Slim AC adapter (2-pin, Wall-mount) 65W USB-C GAN Slim AC adapter
Construction
CNC aluminum
Dimensions and Weights
Height: 0.50 in. (12.7mm) Depth: 7.90 in. (200.66 mm) Width: 11.69 in. (296.90 mm) Starting weight: 2.2 lbs (1 kg)
Battery
52Whr battery, 800ED cells ExpressCharge 1.0
Ports and Slots
2x USB Type-C with DisplayPort 2.1 and Power Delivery (with Intel Core processors) 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) with DisplayPort 2.1 and Power Delivery (with Intel Core Ultra processors) Kensington lock supported via USB Type-C ports
Inputs
2 Dual Array Microphones Touch Display Full size, backlit, chiclet keyboard; 0.8mm travel Windowed glass touchpad, multi-touch gesture-enabled with anti-smudge coating Ambient Light Sensor for display & keyboard backlight control
Camera
2MP/1080p HD +IR webcam Windows Hello compliant
Security
Firmware TPM TCG Certified Windows Hello compliant camera Dell Support Assist for Home PCs Kensington lock supported via USB Type-C ports
Audio and Speakers
Quad-speaker design with 2W Main x 2 Channel + 2W Tweeter x 2 Channel; 8W total peak output Dual microphone array Dolby Atmos
How does it stand out?
Dell
Dell is not mincing words here. The XPS 13 is targeted squarely at the MacBook Neo, and it actually does a far better job at a few crucial aspects. Going a step further, Dell is offering the XPS 13 at $599 to students during the back-to-school season. The machine comes in Sky and Storm colors, and it looks pretty stylish.
Dell
“The XPS 13 is the lightest and most accessible expression of everything XPS has always stood for. Not a lesser version, but a smaller, lighter one,” says the company. It’s the thinnest and lightest XPS series laptop that Dell has ever made. Despite being lighter and smaller than the MacBook Neo, it actually packs in a bigger display that is also more pixel-dense.
The overarching goal is pretty clear. Dell simply built on the XPS pedigree, while making practical upgrades that make the XPS 13 a far more appealing machine than the MacBook Neo. It’s one of the best laptops to build on the vision that is Intel’s Project Firefly, dropping alongside the Acer Swift Air 14 that was also introduced a few days ago.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login