Today on Tech Check, three new AMD-powered laptops plus three new big colorful displays.
Summer’s lease hath all too short a date, William Shakespeare once lamented. But even the Bard himself would have been consoled by all the cool tech we saw this August. Here’s some hardware that’s as lovely as any summer’s day.
Lenovo Adds More AMD
At the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference in Vancouver earlier this month, Lenovo announced new AMD-powered variants of the ThinkPad P15v and ThinkPad P14s mobile workstations.
The 15.6-inch ThinkPad 15v will offer AMD Ryzen PRO 6000 H-series processors. The lighter-weight AMD Ryzen PRO 6000 U-series will be offered in the 14-inch ThinkPad 14s (the Intel version of this model won our Battle of the Budget Mobile Workstations 2022). Both laptops will include integrated AMD Radeon graphics, but only the ThinkPad P15v has the option of a discrete graphics card, up to the NVIDIA RTX A2000.
The two new laptop models join three other AMD-powered Lenovo workstations, the mobile ThinkPad P16s and the ThinkStation P620 and ThinkStation P358 desktops. The new ThinkPad P15v will start shipping on September 1, and the new ThinkPad P14s will ship two weeks later on September 15. Lenovo has yet to announce pricing for the two new AMD ThinkPads, though the starting price should be in the ballpark of the current Intel models: $1,362 for the ThinkPad P14s Gen 3 and $1,490 for the ThinkPad P15v Gen 3.
Bon Voyage
Speaking of AMD-powered laptops, hardware maker CORSAIR has launched a new high-performance laptop with a mouthful of a name: the CORSAIR VOYAGER a1600 AMD Advantage Edition. The laptop features either the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS or AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor alongside an AMD Radeon RX 6800M discrete graphics card.
CORSAIR’s new laptop targets gamers, the company’s main demographic. But as we pointed out in last month’s Tech Check, gaming PCs can pack a similar punch to their pricier pro-pitched counterparts. The VOYAGER a1600 starts at $2,700 for 16GB of DDR5 memory, a 1TB PCIe 4 SSD, a 99Wh battery, and a 16-inch, 2560×1600 display with a 240Hz refresh rate. The laptop offers two Thunderbolt ports, one non-Thunderbolt USB-C, one USB-A, a headphone jack and an SD card reader. It also has an RGB-lit mechanical keyboard, if that’s your thing.
The CORSAIR VOYAGER a1600 AMD Advantage Edition laptop is currently available through the CORSAIR website.
Three More Big, Colorful Displays
ASUS was also in Vancouver earlier this month, where the company showed off its ProArt ecosystem of computing hardware. ASUS announced a new ProArt display and released availability details for two other forthcoming displays. Brace yourself for some more clunky nomenclature.
The new ProArt Display PA248CNV is a 24.1-inch, 1920×1200 pixel (16:10 aspect ratio) IPS display with 100 percent sRGB color coverage and accuracy of ΔE < 2 (considered essentially perfect for human vision). The display has built-in I/O ports including an HDMI, two DisplayPorts, one USB-C and four USB-A ports, a headphone jack and even an RJ-45. The monitor will ship in September for $329.
The ProArt Display PA348CGV is bigger and much wider than the PA248CNV, measuring 34 inches and featuring a 21:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 3440×1440 pixels. It also covers 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut but extends coverage further to 98 percent DCI-P3, with a color accuracy of ΔE < 2. It has the same port selection as the PA248CNV, and it will also begin shipping in September. It has a starting price of $729.
Lastly, the ProArt Display PA32DC OLED is an ultra high-grade display designed for film sets and color-critical workflows that, at $3,499, is overkill for most engineers. The other two displays, however, could be a good fit for engineering work—check out our recent review of the ProArt Display PA329CV for a closer look at what they’re likely to offer.
