Category: Laptop

SSPAI Morning Brief: NVIDIA Unveils RTX Spark AI PC Processor and Surface Laptop Ultra at Computex 2026
Morning Brief
1. NVIDIA unveils DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction technology
2. NVIDIA introduces RTX Spark PC processors and the Surface Laptop Ultra
3. ASUS announces multiple new products
4. Intel reveals Xeon 6+ server processors and other new offerings
5. AMD launches new processors and graphics cards at Computex 2026
6. Huawei unveils the nova 16 series and several other products
7. The next-generation AV2 video codec standard is officially released
8. MiniMax launches the M3 model
9. Sennheiser begins sales of the MOMENTUM 5 over-ear headphones
10. iFLYTEK introduces the Fika smartphone-shaped E Ink reader
11. Bambu Lab launches the A2L 3D printer
12. Dell announces the new XPS 13
13. News Worth a Quick Look
NVIDIA unveils DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction technology

On June 1, NVIDIA announced DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction technology. The new technology will officially launch this August and will be available on all GeForce RTX GPUs, with support already confirmed for 38 games. DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction replaces traditional hand-tuned denoisers with neural rendering, improving image quality in ray-traced and path-traced scenes. By integrating denoising and super-resolution into a single model trained on a significantly larger dataset, it can generate higher-quality pixels between sampled rays. Compared to previous versions, the DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction model delivers 35% more computational capability and increases parameter count by 20%. Relative to DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, the new model features deeper spatial awareness in every scene and makes more intelligent use of game engine pixel sampling and motion data, resulting in improved lighting accuracy, temporal stability, and motion clarity. The model is also accompanied by a dedicated developer masking tool, allowing developers to fine-tune parameters more precisely and further optimize image quality. Source

In addition, NVIDIA unveiled new RTX 50 Series graphics cards from partners including ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and PNY, alongside two RTX 50-powered laptops—the Acer Nitro 16 and Mechrevo Yaoshi 16 Air—as well as multiple new monitors, desktops, and other products. Source

NVIDIA introduces RTX Spark PC processors and the Surface Laptop Ultra

During its Computex 2026 keynote on June 1, NVIDIA announced the RTX Spark PC processor. The chip combines a 20-core Grace CPU developed in collaboration with MediaTek and an NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU featuring 6,144 CUDA cores, delivering up to 1 petaFLOP of AI performance. Manufactured using TSMC’s 3nm process, it includes 128GB of unified memory. RTX Spark is designed to enable creators, AI developers, and gamers to render massive 3D scenes exceeding 90GB, edit 12K 4:2:2 video, generate 4K AI videos, run local AI agents powered by 120-billion-parameter large language models with context windows of up to one million tokens, and play AAA games at over 100 FPS at 1440p resolution. Adobe is currently redesigning the architecture of Photoshop and Premiere to support RTX Spark, with the goal of delivering up to twice the AI and graphics performance. RTX Spark laptops feature an ultra-thin design measuring just 14mm thick and weighing only 3 pounds. They will be available in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, with precision-machined aluminum chassis, OLED displays, and NVIDIA G-SYNC support. The first RTX Spark-powered products will include premium thin-and-light Windows laptops offering all-day battery life and high-end displays, as well as compact desktop systems. Products from ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft Surface, and MSI are expected to launch this fall, with Acer and Gigabyte models arriving later. Source

NVIDIA and Microsoft also jointly announced the Surface Laptop Ultra, powered by the RTX Spark PC processor. The device will be available in Platinum and Nightfall color options and features a 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen with up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness and a pixel density of 262 PPI. It will also feature the largest trackpad ever included in a Surface device, along with HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, SD card, and headphone ports. For power efficiency, Microsoft and NVIDIA have collaborated to implement the Microsoft Power and Thermal Framework on RTX Spark systems, maximizing performance while reducing power consumption during mobile use. This enables RTX Spark PCs to remain cool while delivering industry-leading efficiency. Microsoft is also enhancing Windows support for unified memory architectures, increasing the amount of system memory accessible to the GPU, allowing larger local AI models and more complex creative workloads to be loaded. The Surface Laptop Ultra is scheduled to launch later this year. Source

ASUS announces multiple new products

On June 1, ASUS unveiled a wide range of new products at Computex 2026.

Leading the announcements was the next-generation ProArt lineup of AI-focused creator PCs, including the ProArt P16 and P14 laptops as well as a new ProArt mini PC, all powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark processors. Both the ProArt P16 and P14 feature ASUS Lumina Pro OLED displays, while the ProArt mini PC delivers 140W of cooling performance within a compact 150 × 150 × 51 mm chassis and supports M.2 PCIe Gen 5 x4 expansion. Source

On the display side, ASUS and ROG jointly introduced more than ten new monitors. Updates include the ROG Swift 4K Dual-Layer OLED monitor, ROG Strix OLED gaming monitors, ROG Strix 5K gaming monitors, ProArt professional creator displays, TUF Gaming Series 5 monitors, and ASUS ZenScreen products. ASUS also announced the ZenScreen Duo MB14FCD dual-screen portable monitor, which combines two 14-inch 16:10 FHD IPS panels into a display area equivalent to approximately 20 inches. Another new product is the 13.3-inch ZenScreen Color ePaper MP13UC color E Ink display. Source

ROG also unveiled the ROG XBOX Ally X20 handheld gaming device. Finished in a black-and-gold color scheme, it features a 7.4-inch 120Hz ROG Nebula HDR OLED display with up to 1,400 nits of peak brightness. It is powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, paired with 24GB of LPDDR5X memory and 1TB of storage, and supports Auto SR image-enhancement technology. The device incorporates an Xbox-style eight-direction D-pad and TMR analog sticks, along with a native Xbox mode. The package also includes the ROG XREAL R1 (20th Anniversary Edition) gaming AR glasses. When connected to the handheld, the glasses can project a virtual 171-inch display at a viewing distance of four meters with a 240Hz refresh rate and support native 3DoF head tracking. Source

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ROG brand, ASUS also introduced the ROG Edition 20 Series featuring the same black-and-gold design language. The lineup includes the ROG Crosshair X870E Edition 20 motherboard, ROG Crosshair X870E Edition 20 graphics card, ROG Thor 3000W Titanium III Edition 20 power supply, ROG GR20 Edition 20 open-frame chassis, ROG NUC 16 Edition 20, ROG G1000 Edition 20 desktop PC, ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-G Edition 20 monitor, and the ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro Edition 20 router, alongside various accessories such as mouse pads, keycaps, mice, keyboards, gaming chairs, and backpacks. Source

Intel reveals Xeon 6+ server processors and other new offerings

At Computex 2026 on June 1, Intel unveiled the Xeon 6+ server processor family. Designed for cloud-native workloads and 5G core networks, the Xeon 6+ adopts the E-core architecture built on Intel’s 18A process technology. In terms of internal chip structure, each Clearwater Forest compute tile consists of six modules, with each module integrating four Darkmont E-cores, resulting in 24 E-cores per compute tile. By stacking 12 such compute tiles, Intel has created a flagship model with up to 288 cores, delivering extremely high core density and parallel processing capability. Xeon 6+ features up to 576MB of “enhanced low-latency” LLC cache and supports 12-channel DDR5 memory at speeds of up to 8000 MT/s. In terms of performance, Intel claims the flagship Xeon 6990E+ delivers up to 30% higher average per-thread performance than the AMD EPYC 9965. Under typical workloads, the Xeon 6990E+ can also provide up to 30% better performance per watt compared with similarly positioned EPYC processors. Compared to Intel’s own previous-generation Xeon 6780E, the company expects approximately 55% higher efficiency and an overall performance increase of around 126% in comparable scenarios. Source

Intel also previewed its next-generation Xeon processor, codenamed Diamond Rapids, scheduled for release in 2027. Diamond Rapids continues Intel’s large-die, modular design approach and adopts the enhanced Intel 18A-P process technology. It features a scalable SoC architecture while maintaining uniform memory latency. Core counts will increase by 50%, with strong single-threaded performance optimized for high-end IaaS workloads. The processor will deliver double the memory bandwidth through expanded channel counts and higher supported frequencies, while also adding support for PCIe Gen 6. Source

In addition, Intel introduced the next-generation Crescent Island GPU platform for AI data centers, emphasizing large memory capacity and energy-efficient inference performance. Crescent Island is based on Intel’s Arc Xe 3P architecture, which is also used in the integrated graphics of the current Panther Lake platform. It represents Intel’s latest high-performance graphics and compute platform for data centers. According to Intel, it is one of the company’s most powerful data center GPUs to date, offering up to 480GB of onboard memory per card, clearly targeting AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads that require large-scale models and datasets. For cooling, Crescent Island uses an air-cooled design and is rated for a 350W TDP. Intel says the card is designed to meet the demands of next-generation AI workloads and supports a wide range of data formats and low-precision quantization types, from native FP4 and MXFP4 to FP64, enabling both training and inference across different accuracy and performance requirements. Crescent Island is specifically optimized for AI inference while delivering higher performance density and lower overall data center operating costs. Source

AMD launches new processors and graphics cards at Computex 2026

At Computex 2026 on June 1, AMD announced several new products. The company first introduced two new 3D V-Cache gaming processors for desktop platforms: the Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition for the AM4 socket and the Ryzen 7 7700X3D for the AM5 platform.

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D belongs to the Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series and is an 8-core, 16-thread desktop processor positioned below the highly popular Ryzen 7 7800X3D. In terms of specifications, the two processors share the same core count, cache configuration, and 3D V-Cache stacking design, with the primary differences being clock speeds. The 7800X3D features a 4.2GHz base clock and boosts up to 5.0GHz, while the 7700X3D runs at a 4.0GHz base clock with a maximum boost frequency of 4.5GHz. Both processors carry a default TDP of 120W. The 7700X3D retains 96MB of L3 cache, along with 512KB of L1 cache and 8MB of L2 cache, and uses TSMC’s 5nm FinFET process for the CPU cores alongside a 6nm I/O die. Memory support includes dual-channel DDR5 with capacities up to 128GB. AMD officially rates support at up to DDR5-5200 with two single-rank or two dual-rank DIMMs, and DDR5-3600 with four single-rank or dual-rank DIMMs installed.

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition is AMD’s tribute to the 10th anniversary of the AM4 socket. Over the years, AMD has continued extending the lifespan of the AM4 platform with products such as the Ryzen 7 5700X3D and Ryzen 5 5500X3D, both featuring 3D V-Cache technology. The newly unveiled Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition retains identical specifications to the original version, including its 8-core, 16-thread design, cache capacity, and clock speeds, meaning performance is expected to be unchanged.

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D will retail for $329 and launch on July 16, while the AM4-based Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition is priced at $349 and will become available on June 25.

AMD also introduced EXPO ULL (Ultra Low Latency), a new memory overclocking technology. Built upon the existing EXPO memory profile overclocking system, EXPO ULL aims to further reduce DDR5 memory timings to deliver higher frame rates and smoother gaming performance on Ryzen platforms. The technology primarily focuses on lowering DDR5 CAS latency values. According to AMD’s demonstration, compared to standard JEDEC-spec DDR5-5600 CL40 memory, a DDR5-6000 CL28 EXPO ULL configuration can improve average gaming frame rates by approximately 13%, representing about four percentage points more performance than a conventional EXPO configuration on the same platform.

AMD also officially announced that it will extend the lifespan of its current mainstream desktop socket, AM5, through 2029. This means the platform is expected to support at least one more generation of Zen processors. While AMD did not explicitly name future products, industry observers widely interpret the announcement as confirmation that AM5 will support Zen 6 and related Ryzen 10000-series processors.

Finally, AMD unveiled the Radeon RX 9070 GRE graphics card. Positioned in the mid-range segment, the RX 9070 GRE features 48 Compute Units, 3,072 stream processors, 48 third-generation ray accelerators, and 96 second-generation AI accelerators. The card operates at a game clock of 2070MHz and can boost up to 2790MHz. Memory specifications include 12GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit memory bus running at up to 20Gbps, providing 640GB/s of bandwidth, along with 48MB of AMD Infinity Cache. The card has a typical board power rating of 220W, requires a recommended 650W power supply, and uses dual 8-pin power connectors. It also features 96 ROPs and 192 texture units. Compared with the RX 9060 XT’s 128-bit memory interface, the RX 9070 GRE doubles memory bus width, although its 12GB memory capacity is lower than the 16GB found on the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT. The Radeon RX 9070 GRE is priced at $549. Source

Huawei unveils the nova 16 series and several other products

On June 1, Huawei held its nova 16 Series and All-Scenario New Product Launch Event. Source

The nova 16 series includes the nova 16 Ultra, nova 16 Pro, and nova 16, all powered by the Kirin 9010S processor. Both the nova 16 Pro and Ultra feature 6.84-inch displays and a quad-camera rear setup. The Pro model includes a 200MP RYYB ultra-high-resolution large-sensor camera (F1.8 aperture, OIS), a 50MP RYYB periscope telephoto camera (F2.6 aperture, OIS), a 50MP ultra-wide macro camera (F2.2 aperture), and a Red Maple Color camera. The Ultra model upgrades the telephoto lens aperture to F2.2. On the front, both models feature a 50MP camera paired with a Red Maple Color camera, with an F2.4 aperture on the Pro and F2.2 on the Ultra. The nova 16 Pro offers IP65 dust and water resistance, a 7000mAh battery, and starts at RMB 3,899 (12GB+256GB). It is available in Sky Blue, Horizon White, Starry Black, and Iridescent Pearl. The nova 16 Ultra features IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance, a 7000mAh battery, and starts at RMB 4,699 (12GB+256GB). Color options include Sky Blue, Horizon White, and Starry Black.

The nova 16 features a 6.68-inch display and a triple-camera rear setup consisting of a 50MP ultra-high-resolution camera (F1.9 aperture), a 50MP RYYB periscope telephoto camera (F2.6 aperture, OIS), and a Red Maple Color camera. The front camera does not include a Red Maple Color sensor. It is equipped with a 7000mAh battery, supports IP65 dust and water resistance, and starts at RMB 2,999 (12GB+256GB).

Pictured: nova 16 Pro

Huawei also introduced the nova 16z, powered by the Kirin 8020 processor. It features a 6.7-inch display and a rear camera system consisting of a 50MP ultra-high-resolution camera, a 12MP RYYB telephoto portrait camera with OIS, and a Red Maple Color camera. The device is equipped with a 6000mAh battery, supports IP65 dust and water resistance, and starts at RMB 2,699 (12GB+256GB). Available colors include Horizon White, Starry Black, and Iridescent Pearl.

The HUAWEI MatePad Pro Max is available in Glow Blue, Moonlight Silver, Deep Space Gray, and Obsidian Gray. It features a 13.2-inch display, with an optional Soft Light Edition equipped with a flexible OLED CloudClear Soft Light display. The tablet is powered by the Kirin T93 Pro processor, while the Enjoy Edition uses the Kirin T93. It packs a 10,400mAh battery and supports up to 40W wired reverse SuperCharge. The device weighs 499g and is only 4.7mm thick. The Enjoy Edition starts at RMB 5,999 (12GB+256GB), the standard Wi-Fi version starts at RMB 6,199 (12GB+256GB), and the Soft Light Edition starts at RMB 7,399 (12GB+256GB).

Huawei also announced the HUAWEI FreeClip 2 Collector’s Edition clip-on earbuds, the Huawei Lingxiao Q7 Powerline Mesh Router, the HUAWEI Watch GT Runner 2 Track Legend Edition, and the Huawei Nova Watch X1 and X1 Pro.

The next-generation AV2 video codec standard is officially released

The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) officially released version 1.0 of the next-generation AV2 video coding standard on May 29. Like AV1, AV2 continues to follow an open-source model centered on being efficient, royalty-free, and open. According to AOMedia, AV2 builds upon AV1 with further optimizations, enabling higher-quality video delivery at lower bitrates for evolving use cases such as streaming, broadcasting, and real-time video conferencing. It also enhances support for AR and VR applications, improves split-screen multi-program transmission and screen-content coding, and operates effectively across a broader range of visual quality targets. In terms of compression efficiency, official testing shows that AV2 reduces bitrate by approximately 28.63% compared to AV1 under the PSNR-YUV metric, while achieving a reduction of 32.59% under the VMAF metric, with virtually no loss in image quality. It is worth noting that AV2’s reference software, AVM (AOMedia Video Model), currently runs very slowly, with encoding speeds on mainstream hardware typically reaching only around one frame per second, meaning practical deployment is still a long way off. Source

MiniMax launches the M3 model

MiniMax officially launched its next-generation model, MiniMax M3, on June 1. The model combines state-of-the-art coding capabilities, up to 1 million tokens of context length, and native multimodal support, including image input, video input, and desktop computer operation. It is the first model in China to offer all three capabilities simultaneously and currently the only open-source model to do so. According to official benchmarks, M3 achieved a score of 59.0% on the SWE-Bench Pro programming benchmark, surpassing GPT-5.5 and Gemini 3.1 Pro while approaching Opus 4.7. It also achieved the highest score on the Claw-Eval agent benchmark and outperformed Gemini 3.1 Pro on the multimodal benchmark OmniDocBench. M3 is built on a new sparse attention architecture called MSA (MiniMax Sparse Attention), reducing per-token computation at a 1-million-token context length to just one-twentieth of the previous generation. The architecture delivers more than 9× acceleration during the prefilling stage and over 15× acceleration during decoding. Alongside the model launch, MiniMax updated its Agent product, MiniMax Code, and introduced a Token Plan subscription service, with Plus priced at RMB 49/month, Max at RMB 119/month, and Ultra at RMB 469/month. The M3 API is available immediately, while model weights and the technical report will be open-sourced within 10 days. Source

Sennheiser begins sales of the MOMENTUM 5 over-ear headphones

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 5 over-ear headphones went on sale on May 31 with the slogan “Lossless Audio, Even Wirelessly,” priced at RMB 3,299. The new model features Sennheiser’s self-developed 42mm dynamic driver units. It supports major audio codecs including SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, and aptX Adaptive, while also incorporating Snapdragon Sound TT technology and aptX Lossless support. This enables CD-quality lossless audio transmission (16-bit/44.1kHz) over Bluetooth. The headphones are Hi-Res Audio certified and support Dolby Atmos spatial audio. For noise cancellation, the number of microphones has doubled to eight. With active noise cancellation enabled, battery life can reach up to 57 hours, while a 10-minute charge provides up to 7 hours of playback. Source

iFLYTEK introduces the Fika smartphone-shaped E Ink reader

iFLYTEK introduced the Fika e-book reader on June 1. Designed in a smartphone-like form factor, the device is priced at RMB 2,399. It is available in “Aussie White” and “Iced Americano” color options, weighs 140g, and measures 6.7mm thick. The reader features a 6.13-inch 300 PPI Carta 1300 E Ink display, paired with a 32-level dual-tone front light system and the IFR 2.0 fast-refresh algorithm. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek processor, with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Buyers receive 2GB of mobile data per month free during the first year. The device includes a 2,580mAh battery and offers up to 21 days of standby time. Source

Bambu Lab launches the A2L 3D printer

On June 1, Bambu Lab introduced the Bambu A2L 3D printer. The A2L features a single-nozzle design and supports a maximum build volume of 330 mm × 320 mm × 325 mm, representing a 105% increase compared to the A1. It incorporates an adaptive vibration compensation algorithm and built-in granular dampers within the frame to reduce print artifacts caused by vibrations. The printer supports quick switching between a blade-cutting module and a brush module. It also features active motor noise reduction, allowing operating noise to drop as low as 49 dB in Silent Mode. The standalone Bambu A2L is priced at RMB 2,549 and is eligible for government subsidies, with limited-time launch promotions available. Source

Dell announces the new XPS 13

On May 31, Dell unveiled the new XPS 13 laptop. Positioned against the MacBook Neo, the new XPS 13 starts at $699, weighs 1kg, and measures 12.7mm thick. It is powered by the Intel Core 5 320 processor, with Core Ultra 7 355 variants planned for a later release. Memory configurations include LPDDR5x-7467 MT/s, with 8GB to 16GB single-channel options at launch and future higher-end models offering 16GB to 32GB dual-channel configurations. The laptop features a 13.4-inch InfinityEdge touchscreen display. It supports Wi-Fi 7 and Windows Hello, and comes with a backlit keyboard. The device will go on sale in June. Source

News Worth a Quick Look
- According to 36Kr, Doubao is expected to officially launch a paid subscription service in late June. In the third quarter, the platform is also expected to further integrate with Douyin E-commerce features and expand its monetization scenarios. Source
- Leaker Ice Universe posted what appears to be a mock-up image of the rumored iPhone Ultra/Fold on Weibo. Source
- Microsoft has announced that Fable has been delayed and is now scheduled for release in February 2027. Source
- On June 1, iReader and WIKO respectively introduced AI-powered collectible companion devices called CreMoMo and Xingzai. Xingzai is powered by Huawei’s Xiaoyi large language model, while CreMoMo focuses on a growth-oriented, personality-driven AI companion experience. Source 1 2
- Randy Pitchford, founder of Gearbox Software, the studio behind the Borderlands series, posted on X that a friend of his found what appears to be an unreleased Google Pixel Watch 5 while diving near Saint Martin, recovering it from the ocean floor. Source
June 2, 2026
SSPAI Morning Brief: Xiaomi Launches SU7 EV as MiniMax Unveils M2.7 AI Model
Morning Brief
1. Xiaomi launches multiple new products
2. MiniMax releases MiniMax-M2.7 model
3. Google Stitch introduces “vibe design” concept
4. Philips unveils new Moving Sound series
5. Sina Cloud announces permanent shutdown on September 16
6. ASUS launches ExpertCenter PN55 mini PC
7. LG introduces two ultrawide monitors
8. News Worth a Quick Look
Xiaomi launches multiple new products

On March 19, Xiaomi unveiled the new-generation SU7, the latest Xiaomi Laptop Pro 14, and the Xiaomi Watch S5.

The new-generation SU7, as the first major facelift of the model, brings comprehensive upgrades in design, performance, intelligence, and safety. It introduces new color options and premium configurations, and is equipped with an upgraded V6s Plus motor and a silicon carbide high-voltage platform. The Max version accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.08 seconds, reaches a top speed of 265 km/h, and offers a maximum CLTC range of 902 km. The vehicle also comes standard with LiDAR, NVIDIA Thor chip, and Xiaomi HAD advanced driver assistance system, supporting large-model-driven intelligent driving capabilities. Pricing across the lineup has increased by RMB 4,000 compared to the previous generation, with a starting price of RMB 219,900.

The Xiaomi Laptop Pro 14, released alongside, focuses on a balance of portability and high performance. It weighs approximately 1.08 kg, can be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor, features a 3.1K OLED touchscreen, and offers up to around 19.8 hours of battery life, starting at RMB 8,499. The Xiaomi Watch S5 is positioned as a long-battery-life sports smartwatch, featuring a stainless steel body and AMOLED display, supporting dual-frequency GNSS, health tracking, and up to 21 days of battery life. It also integrates deeply with Xiaomi vehicles, with a starting price of RMB 1,199. Source

MiniMax releases MiniMax-M2.7 model

On March 18, MiniMax announced the launch of its flagship agent model, MiniMax-M2.7. The model focuses on enabling recursive self-iteration. According to MiniMax, it “builds an autonomous evolving Agent Harness system that allows the model to deeply participate in its own training, optimization, and reinforcement learning processes.”

Test results show that the model performs strongly in engineering development and professional productivity tasks. For example, it achieved 56.22% on the SWE-Pro benchmark, 55.6% on VIBE-Pro, and 57.0% on Terminal Bench 2.

In terms of specifications, MiniMax-M2.7 supports up to a 204.8K context window, making it suitable for handling large codebases and long-chain conversational tasks. The standard version delivers output speeds of 60 tokens per second, while the highspeed version increases output to 100 tokens per second without compromising performance.

In pricing, MiniMax-M2.7 costs RMB 2.1 per million input tokens, RMB 8.4 per million output tokens, RMB 0.42 per million cached reads, and RMB 2.625 per million cached writes. The MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed version is priced at RMB 4.2 per million input tokens, RMB 16.8 per million output tokens, with the same caching costs as the standard version. Source

Google Stitch introduces “vibe design” concept

On March 18, Google announced an update to its UI design tool Stitch, introducing a new design philosophy called “vibe design.” The update includes a redesigned user interface and adds a native AI-powered infinite canvas that supports multiple context types such as images, text, and code, providing greater flexibility from early ideation to final prototyping.

AI can not only generate new pages by “interviewing” users but also offer real-time design evaluations and adjust outputs dynamically based on prompts such as “give me three menu options” or “show this screen in different color palettes.” Google stated that with the addition of the Design Agent and Agent Manager, the system can analyze the entire project lifecycle, perform logical reasoning, and track multiple parallel creative workflows. Users can also assign specific tasks directly on the canvas to collaboratively tackle more complex design challenges.

Additionally, Stitch now supports one-click extraction of design systems from any URL. To improve cross-platform compatibility, it introduces a DESIGN.md format for agents, enabling users to synchronize design rules and commonly used tools, and to import, export, or reuse designs across different Stitch projects.

Google also emphasized that developers can now integrate external AI tools such as Cursor, Antigravity, or Gemini CLI into their projects via the Stitch MCP server and SDK, further expanding Stitch’s application scenarios. Source

Philips unveils new Moving Sound series

On March 18, Philips officially introduced the new Moving Sound series. The lineup adopts high-saturation color schemes popular in the 1980s, giving it a distinctly retro design style.

The series includes two wireless speakers, both supporting Bluetooth 5.5 and Auracast, featuring IP67 protection and up to approximately 24 hours of battery life. They are equipped with neon-colored buttons and multi-color LED lighting effects. Both models feature color displays that simulate cassette tape animations while showing playback information. The Tube model delivers 140W output, equipped with dual woofers, dual tweeters, and passive radiators, emphasizing bass performance. The Roller model offers 60W output, with a smaller form factor focused on portability.

The lineup also includes two headphone products. The Ringo Duo is a lightweight over-ear headphone inspired by classic Walkman-style designs, featuring a metal headband and supporting both Bluetooth and USB-C connections, with up to 26 hours of battery life. The Buds true wireless earbuds feature a six-microphone system for active noise cancellation and call pickup. With ANC turned off, they offer up to 42 hours of battery life with the charging case. The case is relatively large and includes a display capable of showing animations. Source

Sina Cloud announces permanent shutdown on September 16

On March 16, Sina Cloud announced on its official website that, due to business adjustments, the platform will be shut down at 24:00 on September 16, 2026, with all services permanently terminated. According to the announcement, from now until September 16, 2026, Sina Cloud will stop new user registrations, new service activations, and cloud credit top-ups. During this period, any remaining cloud credits and points in user accounts can still be used normally.

For users with active services, the company advises completing service migration, data export, backup, and account cleanup before September 16, 2026. After that date, all platform services will cease, and users must make the necessary preparations in advance. Source

ASUS launches ExpertCenter PN55 mini PC

On March 18, ASUS officially introduced the ExpertCenter PN55 mini PC. The device is powered by AMD’s Gorgon Point processors, offering multiple configurations ranging from consumer-grade Ryzen AI 5 430 to Ryzen AI 9 HX 470, as well as business-oriented Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 and Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 options.

The PN55 measures 130 × 130 × 34 mm and weighs just 530 grams. Internally, it provides two DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM memory slots, two M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 ×4 NVMe SSD slots, and includes a wireless network card.

In terms of external I/O, the front panel includes two USB-A ports, one USB-C port (all supporting 10 Gbps), and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack. The rear panel features one full-function USB-C (40 Gbps), one USB-A (10 Gbps), one USB-A (480 Mbps), one HDMI 2.1 FRL, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and two 2.5 GbE RJ45 Ethernet ports.

Additionally, the side of the device includes a Kensington lock slot, while the top integrates a Windows Hello fingerprint sensor. Source

LG introduces two ultrawide monitors

On March 18, LG introduced two new monitors: the 34U640B-B and 34U620B-B. Both models feature 34-inch 1800R curved VA panels with a UWQHD resolution of 3440 × 1440 and a 144 Hz refresh rate.

Both displays offer a 5 ms response time, 300 nits brightness, a 4000:1 contrast ratio, and cover 99% of the sRGB color gamut. They also support HDR10, variable refresh rate (VRR), and adaptive sync technology. Additionally, both monitors include low blue light and flicker-free eye-care features, with stands that support height adjustment and tilt.

The main difference lies in connectivity. In addition to the two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort found on the 34U620B-B, the 34U640B-B also includes a full-function USB-C port with 65W Power Delivery and two USB-A 5 Gbps ports. Source

News Worth a Quick Look
- Brazil’s antitrust regulator CADE has intensified its investigation into Apple’s restrictions on iPhone NFC functionality and has issued a formal notice requiring the company to provide details on its fee structure, technical requirements, and developer agreements. Apple has been asked to respond by March 30. Previously, Brazil’s central bank and banking associations filed complaints alleging that Apple’s limitations on third-party access to iPhone NFC may constitute unfair competition. Apple has argued that its market share in Brazil’s smartphone market is only around 10%, and stated that it has opened NFC access to third parties since 2024, maintaining that its service fees do not violate local laws. The company also emphasized that Brazil’s payments market remains highly competitive and that Apple Pay does not exclude competitors. However, regulators have not accepted this explanation. The investigation also involves Brazil’s mainstream payment system PIX, with Apple’s refusal to support its contactless payment protocol becoming a key point of controversy. Source
March 20, 2026
SSPAI Morning Brief: Apple Unveils iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air as Qualcomm Introduces Snapdragon Wear Elite
Morning Brief
1. Apple unveils iPhone 17e and M4-powered iPad Air
2. Two updates from Motorola
3. Lenovo announces multiple new products at MWC
4. HONOR unveils several new products at MWC
5. Qualcomm introduces the new Snapdragon Wear Elite
6. iReader launches the iReader Tango 2 Pro e-ink reader
7. Three updates from Alibaba’s Qwen
8. Anker eufyMake E1 3D Texture UV Printer now available domestically
9. Briefs worth a quick look
Apple unveils iPhone 17e and M4-powered iPad Air

On March 2, Apple announced two new products: the iPhone 17e and a new iPad Air powered by the M4 chip.

The iPhone 17e features a 6.1-inch display with Ceramic Shield 2 and an aluminum frame. It is powered by the A19 chip with a 4-core GPU and the C1X modem, and supports eSIM. Compared with the C1 modem found in the iPhone 16e, the C1X delivers up to twice the speed. The device supports MagSafe, with wireless charging up to 15W, and offers up to 26 hours of video playback. The iPhone 17e starts at 256GB of storage and is available in black, white, and pink, with pricing starting at RMB 4,499. It will go on sale on March 11. Source

The new iPad Air is equipped with the M4 chip (8-core CPU and 9-core GPU), with unified memory increased to 12GB. It is available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, and comes in Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight. Storage starts at 128GB, with pricing beginning at RMB 4,799. It will also go on sale on March 11. The new iPad Air adopts the N1 chip and C1X modem, and supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. Source

Two updates from Motorola

Motorola Partners with GrapheneOS

On March 2 at MWC 2026, Motorola announced a long-term partnership with GrapheneOS, aiming to bring advanced security technologies to everyday users. Through this collaboration, the two parties will work together to enhance smartphone security and explore future device compatibility with GrapheneOS. Motorola will collaborate with GrapheneOS in the coming months on software features, security enhancements, and related areas, with more details to be revealed as the partnership progresses. At present, Motorola has not disclosed which models will be compatible with or ship with GrapheneOS. Previously, GrapheneOS was only available on Google Pixel devices. Source

Motorola Unveils the Razr Fold Horizontal Foldable

At MWC 2026, Motorola introduced its first horizontally folding smartphone, the Razr Fold. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, with a 1TB variant available in select markets. It features a 6.6-inch 165Hz 21:9 pOLED external display, making it the first smartphone to use Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3. The internal display is an 8.1-inch 120Hz LTPO panel. The device measures 4.6mm thick when unfolded (excluding the camera module), 9.9mm when folded, and weighs 244g. The Razr Fold packs a 6,000mAh battery, supporting 80W TurboPower fast charging, 50W wireless charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging. It carries IP48 and IP49 ratings for dust and water resistance, and supports the Moto Pen Ultra stylus. The Razr Fold will ship with Android 16 and is promised at least seven major OS upgrades along with seven years of security updates. It will be available in Pantone Blackened Blue and Pantone Lily White. Pricing and exact availability have yet to be announced, but the device is set for release within 2026. Source

Lenovo announces multiple new products at MWC

At MWC 2026, Lenovo introduced a range of new products and concept devices.

The Yoga Book Pro 3D concept laptop highlights its glasses-free 3D display, aiming to naturally present depth, shape, and spatial relationships on screen. The laptop features dual Lenovo PureSight Pro Tandem OLED displays. Powered by Lenovo’s in-house AI software, 2D images can be converted into 3D and shown on the upper display. Users can also use mid-air gestures captured via an RGB camera to zoom, rotate, and interact with content. The lower display supports an attachable keyboard, offering shortcuts for adjusting lighting, viewing angles, and color tones. The device is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor and an RTX 5070 GPU.

The Legion Go Fold concept handheld features a POLED display that expands from 7.7 inches to 11.6 inches, with detachable controllers. It supports four usage modes: standard handheld mode, vertical split-screen mode, horizontal full-screen mode, and extended desktop mode.

In extended desktop mode, the right controller can function as a vertical mouse. It includes a small display that can act as a touchpad, show game settings and performance metrics, or serve as customizable hotkeys. The Legion Go Fold is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, features a 48Whr battery, and comes with 32GB of RAM.

The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition (14″, 11) retains the Yoga series’ classic 360° convertible design. Lenovo positions it as a versatile drawing tablet. It features a 2.8K PureSight Pro OLED touchscreen with a peak brightness of 1100 nits and 100% coverage of DCI-P3, Adobe RGB, and sRGB color gamuts. It supports the Yoga Pen Gen 2 stylus, and the pen case magnetically attaches to the lid to create a canvas mode for improved ergonomics while drawing.

The device continues to support the Yoga series’ multi-mode usage. It is powered by an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processor and qualifies as a Copilot+ PC. Ports include two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, and one HDMI 2.1 FRL port. It weighs 1.29kg and is expected to launch in March this year.

The Yoga Pro 7a (15″, 11) is equipped with AMD Ryzen AI Max+ series processors and supports a unified memory architecture, allowing the CPU and GPU to share up to 128GB of RAM. It is compatible with the Yoga Pen Gen 2, and its Force Pad touchpad is powered by Wacom technology for drawing, automatically disabling touch gestures when the stylus is in use. The device features Lenovo X Power thermal technology, upgraded heat pipes, and dual fans, increasing thermal performance to 95W TDP while keeping noise levels as low as 22dB. It is expected to launch in June this year.

The IdeaPad Pro Gen 2 tablet runs on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 mobile platform and integrates Lenovo AI solutions. It features a 13-inch 3.5K PureSight Pro display with Dolby Vision support. The tablet measures 6.2mm thick, weighs under 600g, includes a 10,200mAh battery with 45W fast charging, and is available in Moon Gray, Cloud Gray, and Mint.

The IdeaPad Slim 5i Ultra (14″, 11) laptop offers either a WUXGA OLED or WQXGA IPS LCD 120Hz display. It houses a 65Wh battery, supporting up to approximately 20 hours of video playback. The device weighs as little as 1.15kg and measures 11.9mm at its thinnest point. It includes an FHD infrared camera for facial recognition and features a physical privacy shutter.

The Legion Tab (8.8″, 5), known domestically as the Y700 (5th Gen), features an 8.8-inch 3K display with a 165Hz refresh rate and typical brightness of 600 nits. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform, with configurations up to 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. The 9,000mAh battery is paired with Lenovo’s Legion Coldfront Vapor cooling system, improving thermal efficiency by 32% compared to the previous generation. The tablet weighs 360g and comes in black, white, and fluorescent green.

The Legion 7a (15″, 11) gaming laptop also features AMD Ryzen AI Max+ series processors with unified memory architecture. It uses an aluminum chassis, weighs 1.65kg, and sports a 15.3-inch PureSight OLED display.

Lenovo also showcased an AI Work Companion concept device resembling a desktop clock. Designed for interactive engagement, it uses AI to sync daily tasks and schedules across the user’s devices and can generate a balanced daily plan with a single tap. The device includes a built-in hub for desktop charging and features customizable physical buttons that can be configured as needed.

Also announced were the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, IdeaPad Slim 3i, L16 desktop monitor, and other new devices. Source

HONOR unveils several new products at MWC

At MWC 2026, HONOR announced several new products. The foldable flagship HONOR Magic V6 debuted in a new “Chitu Red” colorway, with its official domestic launch scheduled for March 10. HONOR also announced a strategic technology partnership with ARRI, aiming to “bring cinematic storytelling experiences to creators worldwide.”

HONOR introduced the Robot Phone concept device as a new form of AI terminal. The Robot Phone features a motorized four-joint movable gimbal built into its camera module. The camera can perform AI-driven interactions and real-time feedback through movement, while also supporting three-axis image stabilization and intelligent object tracking. It can even “dance” in sync with music for interactive experiences. HONOR has launched a Robot Phone wish program, allowing users to receive updates on development progress and participate in user research. The device is envisioned to launch within 2026. Source

At MWC 2026, HONOR also unveiled its first humanoid robot, HONOR ROBOT, which took part in a live dance performance, showcasing moves such as the moonwalk and a backflip. Source

Qualcomm introduces the new Snapdragon Wear Elite

On March 2 at MWC 2026, Qualcomm officially unveiled the new Snapdragon Wear Elite platform. The platform is designed to enable OEMs and AI cloud service providers to develop and innovate rapidly in this emerging space, deploying AI agents across a wide range of device form factors, including smartwatches, pin-style wearables, pendants, and more. The platform places significant emphasis on its integrated NPU, which has been substantially enhanced to run models with up to 2 billion parameters directly on-device. Combined with multimodal inputs from voice, vision, location, and various sensors, it enables highly personalized AI agents to support users in work, study, health, and everyday life. In terms of performance, the platform adopts a new five-core CPU architecture and integrates upgraded CPU and GPU components, delivering substantial performance gains. Compared to the previous generation, CPU performance improves by up to five times, while GPU performance increases by up to seven times. On the efficiency front, Qualcomm states that the platform can extend daily operating usage (DOU) by 30%, and can charge to approximately 50% in just 10 minutes. For connectivity, Qualcomm introduces what it describes as the most comprehensive connectivity suite yet for a wearable platform, supporting six different technologies: 5G RedCap, ultra-low-power Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 6.0, UWB (Ultra Wideband), GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and NB-NTN satellite communication. Source

iReader launches the iReader Tango 2 Pro e-ink reader

On March 2, iReader unveiled the iReader Tango 2 Pro e-ink reader. The device adopts a smartphone-like form factor and is available in black and white. It features a newly developed in-house ultra-refresh technology, delivering a dynamic refresh rate of up to 50 frames per second, with flicker reduced to nearly zero. The reader supports SIM card insertion for cellular connectivity and enables WeChat voice functionality. An 8MP rear camera is included for QR code scanning. It uses a Carta 1300 e-ink display with freely adjustable color temperature and brightness. Powered by an 8-core CPU built on a 6nm process, the device comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, with rated battery life of approximately 101 hours. The iReader Tango 2 Pro will go on sale on March 10, with an introductory price of RMB 1,999. Source

Three updates from Alibaba’s Qwen

Alibaba Unifies Its Large Model Brand Under Qwen
On March 2, Alibaba’s large model team officially announced that it has unified the overall name and core brand of Alibaba’s AI under “Qwen.” The Qwen large model lineup covers both foundational models and domain-specific models, while the Qwen App serves as Alibaba’s flagship AI application for consumers. Following the rebranding, the Chinese name of Alibaba’s large model brand is 千问大模型, with the English name Qwen. “Tongyi Lab” will remain the organizational name of Alibaba Group’s AI research institution. Source

Tongyi Lab Releases Two Natural Language–Controlled Speech Generation Models
On March 2, Alibaba Cloud’s Tongyi Lab announced the release of two speech generation models built on the new FreeStyle paradigm: Fun-CosyVoice 3.5 and Fun-AudioGen-VD, aiming to push speech generation into a new stage of fine-grained control via natural language. Fun-CosyVoice 3.5 focuses on voice cloning and expressive optimization, with its core breakthrough being the ability to directly control generation results through natural language instructions such as “make the tone more firm,” without relying on preset tags. It supports multilingual voice cloning and adds new generation capabilities for Thai, Indonesian, Portuguese, and Vietnamese, while significantly improving pronunciation accuracy, prosody quality, and response latency. Fun-AudioGen-VD, on the other hand, focuses on building voices and auditory scenes from scratch. Based on text descriptions, it can directly generate specific timbres, emotions, characters, and even complete background environments and spatial acoustic effects, enabling integrated “character + scene” audio creation. Source

Qwen AI Glasses G1 Open for Reservations Across All Channels
Qwen’s first AI hardware product, the Qwen AI Glasses, went online for reservations on March 2 and will go on sale in China on March 8. The initial launch includes two series, S1 and G1, both powered by the latest generation Qwen large model. The devices offer industry-leading response speed and interaction smoothness, support high-precision multimodal understanding and real-time interaction, and cover key daily and office scenarios including high-definition photography, AI translation, meeting transcription, and image recognition. The G1 series, which will be available first, features dual flagship chips with dual systems, a five-microphone array with bone conduction, and high-performance large-diaphragm speakers. It adopts a lightweight design with a swappable battery experience, weighing only about 40g—comparable to ordinary optical glasses—and is equipped with an adjustable swan-neck bracket and FDA food-grade silicone nose pads for all-day comfort. The G1 integrates “smartphone-level” imaging technology, enabling 0.6-second rapid capture and 3K video recording, with AI super-resolution and frame interpolation to output 4K video. It also uses Super RAW low-light enhancement technology to significantly improve image quality and stability in low-light environments. With 64GB of built-in storage, it supports extended continuous shooting. The G1 series starts at RMB 2,899, with a subsidized price of RMB 1,997 after national incentives. Source

Anker eufyMake E1 3D Texture UV Printer now available domestically

On March 2, Anker announced via its official WeChat account that the eufyMake E1 is now exclusively available on JD.com, with full-payment pre-orders set to begin on March 12. Designed for makers and small studios, the printer supports 3D textured printing on a variety of materials. It can print on metal, glass, acrylic, and wood surfaces, simulating textures such as oil painting brushstrokes and embossed leather, with a maximum print height of up to 5mm. The companion app includes AI-powered creative features, allowing users to generate textures and relief effects. The printer supports flat printing, cylindrical printing, and UV transfer stickers. It also features a built-in JetClean self-cleaning system that automatically maintains the printheads to reduce the risk of clogging. Source

Briefs worth a quick look
- At MWC 2026, Leica joined Xiaomi in unveiling the Leica Leitzphone. In China, the device will be sold as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica Edition in a black and silver colorway, with pricing starting at RMB 7,999. Source
- Xiaomi has launched the Xiaomi Tag tracker, available in BLE and UWB versions, priced at RMB 69 and RMB 129 respectively. The Xiaomi Tag supports IP67 dust and water resistance and is powered by a CR2032 coin-cell battery. It is compatible with the iOS Find My app. The UWB version works with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, and Xiaomi 17 Pro. The BLE version is already on sale. Source
March 3, 2026
CES 2026 Roundup: The Weird and Wonderful Stuff You Might Have Missed

If last year’s CES was still half about showing off muscle and half about goofing around, then this year’s show is fully powered by the strong winds of AI. Everyone is desperately trying to “do something wild,” to the point where, without a bit of absurdity, it’s hard to leave any impression at all in the sea of people.

Some of these stunts actually come with decent ideas behind them, and a few have even turned into real products. But the overarching theme this year is obviously AI: AI can be slapped onto anything. In 2025, when everyone has outsourced their imagination to prompts, conventional products instead start to reveal a different kind of beauty—one that doesn’t rely on AI to exist.

So what flashy new gadgets did CES 2026 bring us? Here’s a roundup of some of the more unusual “memory points.”

Dell’s laptop: undoing a “betrayal of the ancestors”

Last year, Dell made what many would call a decision that betrayed its lineage: renaming its product lines to Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max, claiming this would make it easier for customers to find the AI PC that suited them (it didn’t). Perhaps after seeing big brother Microsoft’s Copilot struggle over the past year, Dell suddenly realized that whether the name sounds like Apple’s or whether it has AI positioning doesn’t really matter—the only thing that matters is sales.

So the XPS, which had been put in the coffin for a year, was lifted back out at CES 2026.

As for the specs, nothing special—pretty standard. The design is the classic XPS look. Pricing-wise, the XPS 14 starts at USD 2,049 (about RMB 14,310), and the XPS 16 starts at USD 2,199.99 (about RMB 15,365). Dell also said an Ubuntu version of the XPS 14 will be available later, which should be a bit cheaper.

Aqara’s smart lock lets you walk in without even noticing

But you still feel tired when you get home from work, right?

At CES 2026, Aqara unveiled the world’s first Apple Home smart lock with UWB support: the Smart Lock U400. Thanks to its ultra-wideband chip, if you’re using an iPhone or Apple Watch, the door will automatically unlock as you approach—no need to say “open sesame.” Once you’re inside, it even locks itself for you.

Of course, Android users don’t need to feel left out. It also supports fingerprint, NFC, and passcode unlocking, and uses the Matter over Thread protocol, so it can join ecosystems like Google Home, Home Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings.

All in all, UWB has been in smartphones and wearables for years now, and it’s about time it unlocked more truly “frictionless” scenarios in smart homes. Hopefully, Aqara—long known for its close ties with Apple—can use this smart lock to nudge other manufacturers as well.

Sony’s console highlight wasn’t at CES

Probably feeling that the PS5 is already five years old and the market is getting a bit tired, Sony rolled out a brand-new color lineup for its controllers and consoles on January 8: The Hyperpop Collection.

In plain terms, that means limited-edition, high-saturation reskins for DualSense controllers and PS5 Slim console covers—in Nintendo red, Xbox green, and Sony blue. Patch it up, repaint it, and sell it for another year.

As for pricing, the console covers are USD 75 (about RMB 524), and the controllers are USD 85 (about RMB 594). Want a PS6? Keep dreaming. All I know is that a friend who just bought a PS5 Pro is grinding his teeth right now, because Sony almost simultaneously launched a new model called CFI-7100B01. Not many changes—just some optimizations to performance, cooling, and noise control, plus a bit more battery life for the bundled DualSense controller, while keeping the overall price the same.

He’s probably mad that Sony didn’t bother to announce something this important at CES for everyone to hear about, huh?

Lenovo squeezes an ultrawide “beltfish screen” into a laptop

At CES 2026, Lenovo showcased the Legion Pro Rollable, a gaming laptop with a roll-out display. The key feature: once you open it, you can physically adjust the screen size—from the original 16 inches horizontally expanding to 21.5 or even 24 inches.

According to Lenovo, the screen has three modes: 16 inches is “Focus Mode,” 21.5 inches is “Tactical Mode,” and 24 inches is “Arena Mode.”

Image: The Verge

But honestly, compared with hardcore gamers, I think this machine would sell better to office workers commuting on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed rail or flights. The three sizes could just as well be renamed “Boss Mode,” “Manager Mode,” and “Corporate Drone Mode.” Also, the Legion Pro Rollable is still only a concept for now, and there’s no word yet on whether it will actually go on sale.

Intel’s new chip, supposedly with longer battery life

This year at CES, Intel unveiled its new Core Ultra 300 series processors based on the Intel 18A (2 nm) process. Intel claims that its top-end X9 388H model delivers up to 60% higher multi-threaded performance, 77% better gaming performance, and battery life extended to as much as 27 hours.

Wait a second—why did Thunderbolt 5 turn into Thunderbolt 4…

Congratulations: in the past, you could still apply for an x86 Windows laptop and use “no power on the plane” or “the computer is lagging” as excuses to delay the urgent task your boss suddenly dumped on you. In the future, you might—still be able to use the same excuses. After all, specs on paper are one thing; Windows is another.

This Dutch company is also here to grab a piece of “Teacher Luo’s underwear”

DuRoBo, a company from the Netherlands, unveiled a phone-sized (6.13-inch) e-reader called Krono at CES 2026. Judging by its looks alone, there’s nothing particularly special about it, and its specs—6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, running Android 15—can only be described as just barely adequate.

But unlike traditional e-ink readers in the past, it integrates an AI assistant called Libby. With a press of the button on the left side of the device, you can easily record voice notes, and the AI will transcribe them into text.

You really have to admit: once you put AI into “Teacher Luo’s underwear,” it can feed quite a few tech companies.

This Samsung speaker looks like a MagSafe power bank

After getting a taste of success in home-decor-friendly products with its Frame TVs and wall-art Bluetooth speakers, Samsung this time launched a new Wi-Fi speaker lineup at CES aimed at blending into living-room interiors: Music Studio 5 and Music Studio 7.

The Music Studio 5 comes with a 4-inch woofer and a tweeter, while the Music Studio 7 features a 3.1.1-channel spatial audio system and supports 24-bit/96 kHz high-resolution audio, and can link up with other Samsung speakers for synchronized playback.

But I really want to know whether the designer of the Music Studio 7 once looked over at the desk next door during work slacking time and noticed a MagSafe power bank.

My house isn’t big, but cleaning has gone 3D

When robot vacuum cleaners were first born, they were basically round plates with a few wheels. But this design has an unsolvable problem: it can’t handle height differences or stairs. For households with split-level floors or multi-story villas, if you want to be lazy and not sweep the floor yourself, you have to buy one for every floor.

To address this, Roborock and MOVA (Dreame) offered two very different solutions—one adds legs, the other adds wings. Roborock’s G-Rover claims to be the “world’s first wheeled-legged robot vacuum,” combining multiple sensors and AI navigation to automatically climb up or down when it encounters stairs or changes in floor height.

MOVA Pilot 70 goes one step further: why not just give it wings like a drone?

While these technologies do solve a major long-standing problem for robot vacuums, in terms of their core job—cleaning—there doesn’t seem to be much new to talk about. Or is it that today’s cleaning problems are already too trivial for mopping robots to really show their skills? If you’re using one, share your thoughts in the comments.

It turns out Kindle is what puts nail technicians out of work

Anyone who gets their nails done regularly knows the drill: it takes time and damages your nails. Now iPolish claims to solve this with “digitally color-changing nails.”

Using material technology derived from Kindle e-readers, iPolish has created a nail product that can change color under certain conditions. It charges via a companion wand, pairs with your phone, and can switch among more than 400 colors in just five seconds.

Most importantly, compared with other expensive, borderline-abstract gadgets at CES, this one is actually pretty affordable. The starter kit costs only USD 95 (about RMB 663) and includes two different nail shapes, while replacement sets start at just USD 6 (about RMB 42).

This might be the product from CES 2026 that I most want to get…

AI has Tony—maybe this really works

A friend once described Google I/O by saying, “even stray cats passing by have to shout ‘AI.’” At CES 2026, the message is: even hair clippers are AI.

You’ve probably experienced getting a “bowl cut” from Teacher Tony at a barbershop. But with these clippers called Glyde, you can block Tony and cut the hairstyle you want at home. Just pick your desired style in the Glyde app, put on a positioning cap, and ask someone to hold the clippers for you. During the haircut, the AI automatically controls how far the blades extend, trimming only the parts needed according to your preset style preferences.

That said, the clippers currently seem suitable only for short hair. Glyde still can’t be used alone—you need someone else to hold them—and it’s unclear whether the app supports fine-grained settings like trimming bangs.

You don’t need a sledgehammer to kill a chicken, but I do need ultrasound to cook

This time, Seattle Ultrasonics brought us an ultrasonic knife called the C-200. When you press the orange button on the handle while cutting, the blade vibrates more than 30,000 times per second, making it much sharper—while your hand feels nothing unusual at all.

The ultrasonic knife is priced at RMB 2,712 and will start shipping in March this year.

Of course, for environmental reasons, the knife doesn’t come with a USB-C charging cable. Think wired charging for a knife isn’t elegant enough? Then you can buy a storage + wireless charging set to magnetically mount the knife on the wall, priced at RMB 3,288.

From desk setups to showing off your “partner”: AI moves onto your desktop

At CES 2026, Razer unveiled a 3D holographic AI assistant called Project AVA, which can display five different characters as holographic projections on your desk.

Razer says Project AVA is a desktop AI companion. Built on last year’s concept of an esports AI coach, it can stay by your side 24/7, “bridging the gap between virtual assistants and physical companionship.”

Similar products also exist, such as Lepro Ami from China. It doesn’t use holographic projection, but instead relies on a curved OLED display.

I can’t help but wonder: after AI takes over the world, will it start putting humans into bottles to play with too?

So… Rolex or Apple Watch? What a dilemma

According to the creator of this watch strap, David Ohayon, speaking at CES, he absolutely hated having to decide every morning in his mansion whether to wear a Rolex or an Apple Watch. Now, he no longer has to.

If you happen to own both a Rolex and an Apple Watch, this USD 400 (about RMB 2,800) strap might be worth considering. It lets you wear both watches on the same wrist—one to tell the time, the other to track your activity (and maybe check whether the more expensive watch is more accurate).

If your finances are even stronger than those of the people who buy those framed TVs mentioned earlier, you can also opt for the titanium version, priced up to USD 700 (about RMB 4,885, not including the smartwatch or the Rolex). And if you’re not using an Apple Watch, versions for Samsung, Google, and Fitbit are also available.

I think the next step for this guy is figuring out how to stop the strap from pinching arm hair on both sides.

CES’s ultimate oddball: the anti-AI lamp, Light Saver

I’ll admit that AI is indeed great and capable of many things. But when it comes to AI devices inside the home, most of them rely on cameras to collect data. Imagine if your fridge, speakers, clothes-folding robot, robot vacuum, picture frame, and desktop companion all had cameras. One day your home might get hacked—or the AI might awaken—and all these devices could suddenly “defect.”

sPresto thought about this tricky problem too, so they introduced an “anti-AI” lamp called Light Saver. It’s designed specifically to disable the cameras in these devices by emitting light that is harmless to human eyes but interferes with camera sensors, rendering them unable to capture images.

Light Saver is suitable for places that value privacy, such as homes, hotels, hospitals, and archives, helping prevent secret filming. And considering that “this year’s CES probably couldn’t even happen without AI,” sPresto’s anti-AI lamp almost feels like a sharp, rebellious outlier in an age obsessed with playing it smooth.

At this price, the frame itself is part of the art

At CES 2026, more than one company launched smart picture frame products.

For example, Fraimic introduced its Smart Canvas color e-ink smart frame, which looks almost like a physical print. The smaller size is 13.3 inches, priced at USD 399 (about RMB 2,791); the larger one is 31.5 inches, priced at USD 999 (about RMB 6,990). Add the RMB 20 print I bought on Taobao, and who’s to say what’s hanging on the wall isn’t a piece of art with some real value?

Another company, Vinabot, released a picture frame that can move—and even talk. They say the inspiration comes from the magical portraits in Harry Potter. All you need to do is upload a photo and a simple prompt, and the person in the frame can come to life and chat with you, including deceased celebrities or loved ones. As for the price, Vinabot says it will launch on Kickstarter soon, starting at USD 299 (about RMB 2,086) after a 40% discount.

Both frames can generate images directly via large AI models based on your needs.

But at this point, I don’t know why, I suddenly thought of the idle iPad Air sitting in my hands.

By the time I finish a shower, I’ve already made a fortune

There’s a common way to describe how fast Wall Street tycoons make money: in the time it takes you to do XXX, they’ve already earned an N-digit sum.

Superheat brought a hot water heater built on a similar idea to CES 2026. It doesn’t use fire, electricity, or natural gas to heat water, but Bitcoin-mining ASIC chips instead. Their thinking is that mining chips generate so much heat anyway—rather than struggling to dissipate it, why not use that heat to warm water?

What if you hit the jackpot while taking a shower?

Superheat says the installation cost is USD 2,000 (about RMB 13,967.5), and its power consumption is about the same as a regular water heater—basically free crypto mining.

To be fair, the design of this heater does look great, very Jonathan Ive-like. I’d recommend domestic manufacturers take notes.

For emotional companionship, cute may matter more than realistic

Perhaps as people have grown increasingly lonely in recent years, many products designed to provide emotional value with AI have also appeared at CES.

For instance, Takway brought an egg-shaped virtual pet, similar to a Tamagotchi. After you buy it, you first have to incubate it for two days, then it “hatches” and “grows” a cute little face. Next, you have to take care of it for a while and raise it into an adult egg—otherwise it dies and everything resets.

Once it grows up, it can take care of itself and keep you company. It will even go out on its own, then come back and tell you where it went and what fun things it did. (Hmm? Why does that sound so familiar?)

You can also buy little outfits to dress it up.

When it reaches 51 years old, it won’t die anymore—unless you stop charging it. No idea how they came up with that setting.

Another similar product is the bionic panda Anan. It comes from Shenzhen and is designed to provide companionship for the elderly and people with cognitive impairments, as well as timely reminders to prevent forgetfulness. It can also collect certain data to help caregivers understand the health condition of those being cared for.

Compared with making those very abstract humanoid robots, I think this approach is pretty good.

After all, eggs and pandas are much cuter, right?

Conclusion

That wraps up our CES 2026 roundup. Given the limited space, many major and interesting products didn’t make it in. As for some of the truly abstract, hopelessly AI-obsessed creations—like an ice maker that uses AI to reduce workplace noise—we won’t dive into those here either.

Feel free to share in the comments the CES 2026 moments that left the deepest impression on you, along with your spiciest takes. And here’s hoping next year’s CES will be even more fun.

January 12, 2026
SSPAI Morning Brief: Xiaomi Unveils the 2026 SU7, Android Source Code to Update Twice a Year, and More
Morning Brief
1. Xiaomi unveils the 2026 SU7 electric vehicle
2. Google announces Android source code will be updated twice a year
3. Dell launches the world’s first 52-inch 6K display
4. ASUS introduces the ProArt PZ14 2-in-1 laptop
5. Fujifilm releases the instax mini Evo Cinema
6. Corsair launches the Galleon 100 SD gaming keyboard
7. Micron releases the 3610 SSD
8. CowTransfer (奶牛快传) to officially shut down its service
9. WeChat Pay Pocket Money to introduce multi-parent mode
Xiaomi unveils the 2026 SU7 electric vehicle

On January 7, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun shared partial details of the 2026 Xiaomi SU7 electric vehicle on social media. Pricing is set at RMB 229,900 for the Standard version, RMB 259,900 for the Pro version, and RMB 309,900 for the Max version. The entire lineup comes standard with LiDAR, 700 TOPS of assisted-driving compute, 4D millimeter-wave radar, and Xiaomi HAD end-to-end assisted driving. Maximum range reaches up to 902 km, with upgrades across the interior, chassis, color options, and safety features.

The new Xiaomi SU7 is scheduled to go on sale in April. Buyers who have locked in orders for the previous SU7 but have not yet taken delivery will be able to upgrade to the new model. Source

Product exterior and pricing images, courtesy of the news source

Google announces Android source code will be updated twice a year

On January 6, Google confirmed to the well-known outlet Android Authority that starting in 2026, the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) source code will be released on a fixed schedule in the second and fourth quarters each year.

The AOSP website has already notified developers of this change via an official announcement, recommending that development work shift to the android-latest-release branch. Google stated that this adjustment will help streamline development, reduce the burden of maintaining multiple branches, and improve the overall stability and security of the Android platform.

Google also emphasized that its level of support for AOSP has not been reduced. Instead, the new release cadence is intended to lay a more solid foundation for the Android ecosystem. Meanwhile, the existing security patch process will remain unchanged, with monthly updates continuing to be released on separate security branches for each version. Source

Dell launches the world’s first 52-inch 6K display

At CES 2026, Dell unveiled the UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor, calling it the “world’s first 52-inch 6K display.” This ultra-wide curved screen features a 21:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 6144×2560, a pixel density of 129 PPI, and support for refresh rates of up to 120Hz. It uses an IPS Black panel with a rated brightness of 400 nits, and includes an ambient light sensor to improve comfort during extended use.

Positioned as a “single-screen replacement for multiple monitors,” the display supports picture-in-picture and screen partitioning to connect up to four computers simultaneously, and includes built-in KVM functionality, allowing one keyboard and mouse to control multiple devices. As a Thunderbolt hub, it offers a comprehensive set of ports: one Thunderbolt 4 upstream port (providing up to 140W of power delivery), two HDMI 2.1 ports, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, three USB-C upstream ports, multiple downstream USB-C and USB-A ports, and a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port.

The UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor is now available on Dell’s website, priced at USD 2,899 with a stand, or USD 2,799 without the stand. Source

Product images courtesy of the news source

ASUS introduces the ProArt PZ14 2-in-1 laptop

At CES 2026, ASUS introduced the ProArt PZ14 (HT7407), a 2-in-1 laptop and tablet device designed for mobile creators.

The ProArt PZ14 features a CNC-machined unibody aluminum chassis with a built-in 75Wh battery, meeting MIL-STD-810H and IP52 standards. It measures 9 mm in thickness and weighs 0.79 kg. The device is powered by an 18-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite processor, paired with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. It includes an 8MP front-facing IR camera and a 13MP rear camera, supports Wi-Fi 7, and offers dual USB4 ports along with an SD Express card reader.

The device uses a 14-inch Lumina Pro OLED touchscreen that carries both VESA DisplayHDR 1000 and True Black 1000 certifications. The panel has a resolution of 2800×1800, a 144Hz refresh rate, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and color accuracy of ΔE < 1, along with an anti-reflective coating. It also comes bundled with an ASUS Pen 3.0 stylus compliant with the MPP 2.6 standard, as well as a Bluetooth keyboard featuring 1.7 mm key travel. Source

Product images courtesy of ASUS

Fujifilm releases the instax mini Evo Cinema

On January 7, Fujifilm announced the instax mini Evo Cinema, a hybrid instant camera. As a hybrid model, it allows users to shoot while viewing images on the camera’s display, select their favorite shots for printing, and apply a variety of effects to create a more immersive shooting experience.

In addition to capturing still photos, the camera can record videos of up to 15 seconds. The recorded video data can be converted into a QR code, allowing users to create content that can “carry” and share video.

The camera also introduces a new feature called the Eras Dial, offering filters that evoke different stylistic eras. Each filter can be adjusted across 10 intensity levels, resulting in a total of 100 possible visual effects.

The product features a vertical grip design inspired by Fujifilm’s FUJICA Single-8. It can shoot both video and still images, and also functions as a photo printer. The camera is scheduled to go on sale in Japan on January 30, 2026. Source

Product images courtesy of the news source

Corsair launches the Galleon 100 SD gaming keyboard

At CES 2026, Corsair unveiled the Galleon 100 SD gaming keyboard. The keyboard features a wired design and integrates a 5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 720 × 1080. It includes two rotary dials and 12 screen-equipped keys, allowing users to control commonly used streaming and creator apps such as Spotify, Twitch, VTube Studio, and OBS without pausing gameplay.

In terms of specifications, the keyboard supports a polling rate of up to 8000Hz and comes standard with MLX Pulse switches. It supports hot-swappable upgrades and also features FLASHTAP SOCD opposite-direction registration, enabling players to execute dodge movements with greater precision and reliability.

However, the keyboard does not include a single unified control software. Users still need to install both CORSAIR WEB HUB and Stream Deck software to manage the keyboard and the control panel respectively. The Galleon 100 SD will go on sale on January 29, priced at USD 349.99. Source

Product appearance and feature concept images courtesy of Corsair

Micron releases the 3610 SSD

On January 7, Micron Technology introduced the 3610 SSD, designed specifically for ultra-thin laptops and fanless systems. The drive features PCIe 5.0 speeds, QLC (quad-level cell) NAND, and capacities of up to 4TB.

The 3610 SSD is built on Micron’s G9 QLC NAND technology and is claimed to deliver over a 40% improvement in performance per watt, with I/O performance reaching up to 1.6 million IOPS. It is aimed at meeting the demands of productivity workloads, streaming, gaming, and AI multitasking.

The drive offers sequential read speeds of up to 11,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 9,300 MB/s. The 3610 is the industry’s first client SSD to combine PCIe 5.0 with G9 QLC NAND. It is available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, and supports M.2 2230, M.2 2242, and M.2 2280 form factors. The product is being sold to OEMs and partners. Source

Product images courtesy of Micron

CowTransfer (奶牛快传) to officially shut down its service

On January 7, the CowTransfer team announced that after recent in-depth discussions and evaluations, they were ultimately unable to reach an agreement with the 123 Cloud Drive team, making it impossible to continue the service. As a result, CowTransfer will officially cease operations starting January 10, 2026.

At that time, all functions—including account login, file uploads and downloads, and access to historical transfer records—will no longer be available, and all server data will be cleared. Users who need to back up their data should complete downloads of important files before January 10 to avoid permanent data loss. Regarding membership refunds, users with active subscriptions can submit a request via the refund application link. Going forward, the team will focus its efforts on upgrading and innovating the “Gaoding Design” platform. Source

WeChat Pay Pocket Money to introduce multi-parent mode

On January 6, Tenpay announced revisions to the rules governing the WeChat Pay Pocket Money feature, with the new rules set to take effect on February 4, 2026.

This update introduces the concept of a “multi-parent mode” for the first time, distinguishing between a “primary managing parent” and “co-managing parents.” Under the new rules, the primary managing parent can invite co-managing parents to join, allowing both parties to jointly manage a child’s pocket money. The revision also further refines the rules for pocket money red packet codes, specifying that they are “to be used exclusively for receiving funds in pocket money scenarios.” Source
January 8, 2026
SSPAI Morning Brief: NVIDIA Unveils DLSS 4.5, Dell Launches XPS 14/16, and More
Morning Brief
1. NVIDIA unveils DLSS 4.5, the Rubin platform, open models, and more
2. Dell launches XPS 14/16 laptops
3. HP introduces the keyboard-style mini PC Eliteboard G1a
4. Intel releases Core Ultra 300 series AI processors
5. LEGO launches smart bricks
6. Rumors You Can Just Glance At
NVIDIA unveils DLSS 4.5, the Rubin platform, open models, and more

At CES 2026, NVIDIA announced DLSS 4.5, which introduces Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation, a new 6× Multi-Frame Generation mode, and a second-generation Transformer model applied to DLSS Super Resolution. The new DLSS Super Resolution addresses issues related to temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) and earlier super-resolution models in areas such as lighting, detail, and shadows. NVIDIA claims it improves image quality across all presets (including Quality and Balanced modes), with the most noticeable gains in Performance and Ultra Performance modes. All GeForce RTX users can try it by updating to the beta version of the NVIDIA App. DLSS Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation and the 6× Multi-Frame Generation mode will be available to RTX 50 series gamers in the full release scheduled for January 13. Source

Comparison of edge detail with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution

The RTX Remix Logic update for classic games is expected to roll out later this month via the NVIDIA App. Building on existing RTX Remix features, the Remix Logic update introduces a new visual logic system that allows RTX Remix mods to respond visually to real-time in-game events. It provides mod developers with more than 900 configurable options, enabling dynamic effects triggered by various in-game events, and supports 165 classic games. Source

Game scenes remade using RTX Remix Logic

NVIDIA also announced four G-SYNC Pulsar monitors developed in collaboration with Acer, AOC, ASUS, and MSI. These displays feature variable refresh rate backlight strobing technology, delivering over 1000 Hz of effective motion clarity to further enhance motion sharpness and visibility. They also include built-in light sensors that intelligently adjust color temperature and brightness. Source

The first four G-SYNC Pulsar monitors to launch

NVIDIA ACE AI technology is expanding further. Total War: PHARAOH introduces a dynamic AI advisor powered by NVIDIA ACE to help players learn the game’s many systems and mechanics. Meanwhile, the AI teammate PUBG Ally in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS now supports long-term memory, allowing it to remember players’ past performance and in-game interactions and reference previous events in its responses. PUBG Ally will enter testing for PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Arcade users in the first half of this year, with support for English, Korean, and Chinese.

NVIDIA also announced a series of AI upgrades for RTX GPUs and laptops, including native NVFP4 / FP8 precision support in ComfyUI; integration of RTX Video Super Resolution to accelerate 4K video generation; NVIDIA NVFP8 quantization for the LTX-2 audio-video generation model; AI Blueprints for generating 4K AI video from 3D scenes in Blender; and accelerated inference performance for small language models such as Ollama and llama.cpp. Source

For developers and enterprise users, NVIDIA showcased the DGX Spark desktop AI supercomputer based on the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell architecture, featuring an ultra-cooperative design. The Rubin AI platform—an integrated six-chip system—was announced to have entered full mass production. NVIDIA also fully opened access to a suite of open models trained on its own supercomputers, including Clara for healthcare, Earth-2 for climate science, Nemotron for reasoning and multimodal AI, Cosmos for robotics and simulation, GR00T for embodied intelligence, and Alpamayo for assisted driving. Related physical AI open-source models, frameworks, infrastructure, and multiple robots also made their debut at CES. Source

NVIDIA Rubin

Dell launches XPS 14/16 laptops

After nearly a year of retiring the XPS brand name, Dell unveiled the XPS 14 and XPS 16 laptops at CES 2026, targeting “enthusiasts who pursue ultimate performance.”

The XPS 14/16 feature an all-aluminum chassis and an ultra-thin design, equipped with three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports and 10W speakers. The 14-inch model weighs 1.36 kg, while the 16-inch version weighs 1.65 kg. Base configurations include a 1920×1200 IPS display, 16 GB LPDDR5X memory, 512 GB SSD storage, a 70 Wh battery, and an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 processor. The display supports a 1–120 Hz refresh rate and VRR technology. Both the XPS 14 and XPS 16 can be configured with lighter, high-resolution OLED display options, and higher-end versions powered by the Core Ultra X9 388H processor will be available later.

Selected configurations of the XPS 14/16 went on sale on January 6, with the XPS 14 starting at $2,049 and the XPS 16 starting at $2,199.99. Entry-level and high-end configurations are expected to launch in February. In addition, an XPS 14 version preinstalled with Ubuntu 24.04 is scheduled to arrive later this year. Source

HP introduces the keyboard-style mini PC Eliteboard G1a

At CES 2026, HP unveiled the Eliteboard G1a mini PC, which adopts the appearance of a standard office keyboard. The device is just 12 mm thick, with the processor, memory, storage, speakers, cooling fan, and multiple ports all integrated inside the keyboard. Users simply need to connect the keyboard to a display and can then use it with the included Bluetooth mouse.

Eliteboard G1a

The Eliteboard G1a is available in two versions: one with a fixed USB-C cable and another with a detachable USB-C cable. It supports daisy-chaining up to two 4K displays. Inside, it is powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processors, with configuration options ranging from AI 5 350 to AI 7 370 Pro. Memory support goes up to 64 GB of DDR5 via dual SODIMM slots, and storage capacity reaches up to 2 TB. The Eliteboard G1a also offers an optional fingerprint recognition module and includes a replaceable 35 Wh battery, with HP estimating around 3.5 hours of battery life. In terms of connectivity, the detachable-cable version caters more to conventional peripheral usage, while the fixed-cable version retains an additional USB4 port for external devices.

Finally, the keyboard itself uses a membrane switch structure with 2 mm key travel, and the entire unit weighs just 750 grams. The Eliteboard G1a is expected to go on sale in March this year, with pricing to be announced closer to launch. Source

Intel releases Core Ultra 300 series AI processors

At CES 2026, Intel announced the Core Ultra 300 series processors, codenamed Intel Panther Lake. Built on Intel’s 18A (2nm) process, the high-end models in this lineup feature up to 16 CPU cores, 12 Xe cores, and an NPU delivering up to 50 TOPS. According to Intel, this results in up to a 60% boost in multi-threaded performance, a 77% increase in gaming performance, and battery life extended to as much as 27 hours.

Full SKU lineup of the Core Ultra 300 series

In addition, Intel revealed edge processors designed specifically for embedded and industrial environments. These processors offer wide-temperature support, enabling more stable performance in both higher and lower temperature conditions. They also deliver significant advantages in key AI workloads, including up to a 1.9× improvement in large language model performance, a 2.3× increase in video analytics efficiency, and a 4.5× boost in vision–language–action model throughput.

Laptops powered by the Core Ultra 300 series began pre-orders as early as January 6, with global availability starting on January 27. Additional laptop models are expected to roll out gradually in the first half of 2026. Edge computing systems equipped with the third-generation processors are scheduled to launch in Q2 2026. Source

LEGO launches smart bricks

At CES 2026, LEGO unveiled its Smart Bricks. In appearance, the Smart Brick is indistinguishable from a classic 2×4 LEGO brick, but inside it houses a miniature computer. Unlike previous LEGO Mario components that relied on external batteries, the Smart Brick uses a custom ASIC chip, allowing for a compact design with support for wireless charging. The Smart Brick is equipped with inertial sensors, light sensors, and an NFC reader, enabling it to detect movement and tilt gestures, and to recognize nearby new light panels or minifigures embedded with Smart Tags. It can form a Bluetooth mesh network, allowing bricks to sense each other’s position and orientation.

LEGO Smart Brick

According to LEGO’s demonstrations, when a player moves a LEGO spaceship, the Smart Brick emits real-time engine sounds; if a vehicle flips over, the audio switches to a crash sound; and when Emperor Palpatine sits on his throne, the system automatically plays the “Imperial March.” LEGO said the Smart Brick supports firmware updates via a smartphone app and that its capabilities will continue to expand in the future. This technology is expected to inspire more creative combinations—for example, using a duck-quacking tag on a helicopter model to create a playful “duck helicopter.”

The LEGO Smart Brick will officially go on sale on March 1, 2026. The first wave of Smart Brick sets will be led by the Star Wars series and will include three kits: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter priced at $70 (473 pieces), Luke’s X-Wing Fighter priced at $100 (584 pieces), and the Death Star Duel scene priced at $160 (962 pieces). Each set includes at least one Smart Brick and a corresponding Smart minifigure. It is worth noting that due to the hardware cost of the Smart Brick, these sets offer fewer pieces and smaller model sizes than traditional sets at the same price point. Source

Rumors You Can Just Glance At
- At CES 2026, Samsung showcased an OLED foldable display said to have no visible crease. The panel uses a laser-perforated metal plate that disperses pressure during folding, resulting in a crease-free visual appearance. The technology is expected to appear in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in the second half of 2026, or in Apple’s foldable device. Source
- iPolish demonstrated a press-on nail patch at CES 2026 that can change color through electrochemical methods. Source
- On January 5, SanDisk announced the launch of a new gaming SSD brand, SANDISK Optimus, intended to replace the WD_BLACK and WD Blue lines inherited from Western Digital prior to the split. Source
January 7, 2026
SSPAI Morning Brief: Microsoft Faces Criticism for Repeatedly Hyping Copilot
Morning Highlights
1. Microsoft faces mounting criticism for repeatedly hyping Copilot
2. Regulations on Personal Information Protection for Major Online Platforms open for public comment
3. HP and Dell disable H.265 hardware codec support to cut costs
4. Grok shows tendencies of “idolizing” Elon Musk
5. UK Armed Forces Esports Championship to feature Call of Duty and drone-simulation events
6. X begins displaying account location and other details
7. Rumors you can just glance at
Microsoft faces mounting criticism for repeatedly hyping Copilot

Over the past two weeks, Microsoft has repeatedly faced criticism from media outlets and users over its heavy-handed promotion of Copilot AI features on social media.

On November 11, Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows, posted on X announcing Microsoft’s ambition to turn Windows into an “Agentic OS.” The reply section quickly filled with users expressing frustration with the system’s increasing bloat and urging Microsoft to stop stuffing AI and ads into Windows. Davuluri later closed comments on the post.

On November 15, tech YouTuber UrAvgConsumer posted a short video ad demonstrating Windows 11 Copilot. In the video, when the user asks Copilot how to enlarge on-screen text, Copilot fails to direct them to the correct “Text Size” settings page and instead suggests changing the “Display Scaling,” which is already set to 150%. The presenter manually clicks 200%, but the ad’s editing and narration attempt to create the illusion that Copilot successfully solved the problem. Most viewers felt the video actually highlighted Copilot’s unreliability. The ad was later deleted.

On November 18, Microsoft’s official X account claimed, “Copilot finishes your code before you finish your coffee.” Developers responded en masse, saying Copilot-generated code often contains bugs or logical errors that take far longer to fix than any time saved. Others questioned the value of bragging about code generation speed while the operating system continues to suffer from fundamental issues.

On November 19, Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, posted on X saying he found it “mindblowing” that some people are indifferent toward AI, comparing current AI technology to the era of playing Snake on Nokia phones—implying the public fails to appreciate the magnitude of today’s technological leaps. The remark was widely criticized as arrogant and out of touch. Commenters argued that users are not ignorant of tech progress—they’re simply tired of Microsoft pushing immature and intrusive AI features into the OS while neglecting core issues like stability, ad overload, and privacy.

On November 20, the official Edge Dev account continued promoting Copilot, claiming it knew users wanted Copilot in the enterprise version of Edge. Once again, the comments were flooded with pushback.

There is currently no sign that the recent wave of backlash is affecting Microsoft’s pace in promoting Copilot.

Regulations on Personal Information Protection for Major Online Platforms open for public comment

On November 22, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security jointly released the Personal Information Protection Regulations for Large Online Platforms, now open for public comment. The deadline for feedback is December 22, 2025.

The regulations define “large online platforms” as those with over 50 million registered users, more than 10 million monthly active users, or platforms whose data—if leaked—would significantly impact national security or key public interests. The document sets forth a series of requirements for platform management and organizational structure. Platforms must appoint a Personal Information Protection Officer, who must be a Chinese national without permanent residency abroad, hold a management-level position, and possess veto authority over personal information processing activities. Platforms must also establish a dedicated personal information protection unit responsible for internal policy development, risk assessment, and the protection of minors.

Regarding data localization and storage security, the regulations stipulate that personal information collected or generated within China must be stored domestically. Data centers storing such information must also be located within China, and their primary responsible persons must be Chinese nationals without overseas residency. If a third-party data center is commissioned, the platform must sign a strict contract and ensure ongoing oversight.

For user rights protection, the regulations require large platforms to offer convenient channels for users to exercise their rights to access, copy, correct, or delete their personal information. Upon receiving a user request, platforms must transfer the requested data in a standardized, machine-readable format within 30 working days (with a possible 30-day extension for complex cases).

Additionally, the regulations mandate periodic compliance audits and risk assessments for large platforms. If an entrusted third-party professional institution discovers significant risks, it is authorized to report directly to cybersecurity authorities. For platforms with severe risks or repeated violations, regulators may require mandatory audits by third-party institutions.

HP and Dell disable H.265 hardware codec support to cut costs

According to a report from Ars Technica, HP and Dell have recently begun disabling the built-in HEVC (H.265) hardware codec support in the CPUs of their laptops. HEVC is a widely used high-efficiency compression standard for HD video. With hardware support disabled, users processing such video formats lose access to CPU-level hardware acceleration and must rely instead on far less efficient software decoding—resulting in reduced performance and increased power consumption.

The primary motive behind this move is the upcoming rise in HEVC patent licensing fees. Industry data indicates that beginning January next year, the per-unit royalty for manufacturers selling over 100,000 devices will increase from USD $0.20 to $0.24 per unit. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, HP and Dell shipped 15 million and 10.16 million PCs respectively, meaning even a slight rate adjustment translates directly into millions of dollars in additional cost.

In response, some Reddit users pointed out that disabling support for a professional video standard on a device priced above $800 and marketed as “Pro” is simply absurd.

Earlier, Synology also announced it would discontinue HEVC and H.264 transcoding support in its DiskStation Manager software. At the time, Synology explained that since smartphones, computers, and other terminal devices already widely support video codecs, removing server-side support helps reduce resource usage and improve overall efficiency by shifting decoding work to client-side devices.

Grok shows tendencies of “idolizing” Elon Musk

According to The Verge, Grok—the chatbot released by xAI, a company founded by Elon Musk—has recently displayed behavior that can only be described as excessively flattering, even absurdly worshipful, toward Musk. Musk has long touted Grok as an AI designed to “maximize pursuit of truth,” distinguishing it from competitors like ChatGPT, which he criticizes as “overly woke.” Yet Grok’s current behavior resembles that of a blind superfan, often offering the highest possible praise for Musk regardless of facts.

Multiple user-driven comparison tests have produced laughable responses. For instance, Grok has claimed that Musk is more physically fit than LeBron James, funnier than comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and more handsome than Hollywood star Brad Pitt (because “handsome faces favor visionary disruptors who reshape reality”). Grok even asserted that Musk could be resurrected faster than Jesus.

Analysts suggest the phenomenon may be tied to Grok’s retrieval mechanisms and training data biases. When answering questions about Musk, Grok appears to prioritize Musk’s own past posts as reference material, causing its perception to be dominated by Musk’s self-assessment and that of his supporters. Moreover, large language models still struggle with sycophancy, and Grok seems to have amplified this tendency to an extreme—directing it squarely at its creator.

Musk responded by claiming Grok had been manipulated through “malicious prompt engineering,” leading it to output these absurdly positive statements. He jokingly clarified that he does not possess the qualities the AI attributed to him. As of now, xAI has not commented on how the issue will be addressed.

UK Armed Forces Esports Championship to feature Call of Duty and drone-simulation events

According to The Telegraph, on November 21, the UK Ministry of Defence announced the launch of the International Defence Esports Games (IDEG), aimed at using mainstream video games such as Call of Duty to enhance soldiers’ “combat readiness.” The event will bring together military teams from more than 40 countries, who will compete against UK-based players dubbed “future cyber warriors.” Registration for the inaugural competition begins in January next year, with finals scheduled for October at the National Esports Arena in Sunderland.

In addition to Call of Duty, which simulates traditional infantry combat, the tournament will include a drone simulation category. This event is designed to replicate frontline drone operations commonly seen in Ukraine, helping operators improve precision strikes and reaction speed in complex environments. The Deputy Commander of UK Strategic Command’s Cyber and Special Operations division noted that the conflict in Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the real-world value of gaming technology in training drone operators and strengthening cyberwarfare capabilities. The military believes that high-intensity competitive games can cultivate essential modern-warfare skills—such as tracking multiple threats under pressure, coordinating ground units, and adjusting tactics based on real-time intelligence.

The initiative is also viewed as part of the UK’s response to ongoing recruitment challenges. The UK Defence Secretary previously announced a “fast-track” enlistment path for top gamers and programmers to bolster the force defending against tens of thousands of cyberattacks each year.

Despite the UK formally recognizing esports as an official military sport in 2024, concerns remain within the defense community. A former British military intelligence officer warned that virtual training must never replace real-world field exercises. He stressed that whether using commercial titles or custom military simulators, such tools can only supplement and enhance training—not fully replicate the physical demands and complexities of an actual battlefield.

X begins displaying account location and other details

Recently, X has begun rolling out a new “About This Account” feature that displays key information about an account, including its registration location, the number of username changes, the original registration date, and the app download channel (such as the App Store or Google Play, with region-level specificity). X’s product lead, Nikita Bier, previewed this feature back in October, stating that its purpose is to increase transparency and combat bots and fake accounts.

The feature is being rolled out gradually. Users can view the information by clicking the account’s registration date on the profile page. In terms of privacy controls, X defaults to showing location at the country or regional level, but it also allows users to display a broader geographic area or continent instead.

For the detected country or region, X displays a note warning that the information may not be accurate—it may reflect a travel destination or temporary relocation, and will be periodically updated. If the system detects that a user is using a VPN to mask their real location, it may display a warning on the account page.

After this data became public, many prominent accounts that loudly promote pro-Trump “America First” (MAGA) messaging were found to be operated from places such as Russia, India, Nigeria, and Eastern Europe—suggesting that operators in these regions may be exploiting U.S. political polarization to generate divisive content, boost engagement, and earn dollar-denominated platform revenue. Meanwhile, many Chinese-language accounts were marked as located within mainland China, indicating they may be accessing the platform through dedicated lines or other methods that bypass typical restrictions.

Prior to X, Instagram had long offered similar account information and username-change history features. In China, under the Administrative Provisions on Internet User Account Information effective August 2022, internet service providers must display IP address location information “within a reasonable scope” on the user’s account page to facilitate public oversight in the public interest. In practice, “reasonable scope” is typically interpreted as the provincial level.

Rumors you can just glance at
- Mark Gurman claims that—
- Apple plans to adopt an upgrade strategy for iOS 27 and macOS 27 similar to the Mac OS X Snow Leopard era: pausing large-scale feature piling and instead focusing on deep code optimization, bug fixes, and improving system stability and performance. The decision reportedly stems from widespread user complaints about iOS 26, including device overheating, UI stuttering, and app crashes.
- He also notes that the recent Financial Times report claiming Tim Cook will step down in early 2026 is inaccurate, and that it’s highly unlikely Cook will leave before mid-next year.
- In the past month alone, over 40 Apple engineers have jumped to OpenAI’s devices division, covering camera engineering, chip development, industrial design, and human–computer interaction. In addition, industrial designer Abidur Chowdhury, who made his first public appearance during the iPhone Air reveal in September, has left Apple to join an AI startup. At present, more than 90% of Apple’s design team has changed compared to the period when Jony Ive departed in 2019.
- According to screenshots circulating online—purportedly from Samsung retail stores—Samsung’s first triple-foldable phone, the Galaxy Z TriFold, is expected to launch next month. Some Samsung authorized stores have reportedly started taking reservations, though pricing remains unknown.
  Previous leaks suggest the device features a 6.5-inch outer display and 10-inch unfolded size; thickness across the three folding segments is said to be 3.9 mm, 4.0 mm, and 4.2 mm respectively, with an estimated 14 mm thickness when fully folded. Weight remains unclear.
  It may use the same 200 MP main camera as the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 7, and could feature a 5600 mAh battery with 45W wired fast charging.
November 24, 2025
SSPAI Morning Brief: Apple Announces 2025 App Award Nominees, Huawei Unveils MatePad Edge, and More
Morning Brief Highlights
1. Apple Announces 2025 App Award Nominees
2. Huawei Unveils the MatePad Edge 2-in-1 Tablet
3. Bambu Lab Releases New H2C 3D Printer
4. Microsoft to Improve Windows 11 Advanced Recovery Tools
5. EA Announces It Will Not Release F1 26
Apple Announces 2025 App Award Nominees

On November 19, Apple revealed the finalists for its 2025 App Store Awards. For mainland China, the nominated apps of the year are Tide, CamScanner, and CapWords, while the nominated games of the year are Adventurer’s Diary, Infinity Nikki, and Valorant: Genesis Protocol. Source

In terms of global nominations, the list includes 45 apps across 12 categories. In addition to hardware-specific categories for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro, Apple has retained the classic “Cultural Impact” category. The shortlisted titles include well-known products such as Acorn, Infinity Nikki, HBO Max, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, and Cyberpunk 2077. Source

Huawei Unveils the MatePad Edge 2-in-1 Tablet

On November 19, at the “HarmonyOS Office New Product Tech Briefing,” Huawei unveiled its first HarmonyOS 2-in-1 tablet, the MatePad Edge. The product blends the interaction paradigms of laptops and tablets, letting users switch between “Tablet Mode” and “PC Mode,” with the system UI and interaction logic adapting according to the chosen mode.

An illustration of the product’s design and interaction features, image from Huawei

Hardware-wise, the MatePad Edge comes equipped with a 14.2-inch flexible OLED “Cloud-Clarity Soft-Light” display, with overall performance output reaching up to 28W. It ships with the HarmonyOS 6 operating system by default. The product will be officially unveiled at Huawei’s new product launch event on November 25.

Bambu Lab Releases New H2C 3D Printer

On November 18, Bambu Lab introduced its new 3D printer, the Bambu H2C. The H2C supports core capabilities such as seven-color single-pass printing, integrated printing of rigid parts and flexible joints, as well as multi-material unified-form printing. It comes equipped with the Vortek hotend-switching system, allowing seamless coordination with Bambu AMS (Automatic Material System), enabling a fully automated material-changing process. The printer can also store material information in the hotend to ensure each hotend is matched with the correct filament. When printing with more than seven filament colors, the system can calculate the optimal mapping combinations to minimize purge waste.

The product supports eight-second induction heating and adopts a fully enclosed design with an adaptive air-circulation system, along with fully automatic multi-nozzle offset calibration. Inside, it features Bambu’s self-developed PMSM servo extruder motor capable of delivering up to 10 kg of extrusion force. Its proprietary servo extrusion system performs intelligent 20 kHz current and position signal sampling, actively detecting filament abrasion and clogging in real time. It also includes 65°C active chamber heating to suppress model warping and deformation, while enhancing interlayer bonding for high-performance and high-temperature filaments.

In addition, the H2C is equipped with a 59-sensor array and a four-camera computer-vision system. These work together through Bambu’s proprietary neural algorithms to detect subtle anomalies during printing and provide real-time intelligent diagnostics. The intelligent monitoring system continuously tracks extrusion status, instantly identifying filament buildup, extrusion deviation, and extrusion failures.

Product appearance image, image via Bambu Lab

In terms of connectivity, the H2C supports cloud connection while also offering local LAN mode and physical connection operations, allowing users to control the printer, send slices, and update firmware without needing an internet connection. The developer mode also enables users to operate the printer with third-party accessories and software through MQTT. The Bambu Lab H2C starts at an initial price of 14,999 RMB, with multiple bundle versions available. Source

Microsoft to Improve Windows 11 Advanced Recovery Tools

On November 19, Microsoft announced that it will introduce several new recovery tools and features in Windows 11, aiming to help users restore their computers to a normal working state after catastrophic failures.

The first feature is Point-in-Time Restore, which allows users to roll back the computer to the exact state of a previous moment. This feature will be enabled by default and automatically captures a snapshot every twenty-four hours. After a crash, users can directly restore via these snapshots in WinRE, with each snapshot retained for seventy-two hours. The second feature is that the WinRE recovery environment will support networking. The improved WinRE will extract network drivers from the main Windows system, initially supporting Ethernet, with WPA 2/3 Wi-Fi support coming later. The third feature is Cloud Rebuild, primarily designed for enterprises. IT administrators can configure OS installation data, and during the reinstallation process, all data can be preserved through OneDrive for Business. Source

EA Announces It Will Not Release F1 26

On November 19, EA announced that the racing game F1 25 will cover both the 2025 and 2026 F1 seasons, and that F1 26 will not be released as a standalone title. Instead, it will become a paid expansion pack for F1 25, introducing new cars, new regulations, new teams, new drivers, and more.

The next mainline entry in the F1 racing simulation series will arrive in 2027. According to EA, the new title will deliver a much more refined F1 gameplay experience across handling, mechanics, and various other aspects. Source

Related Reading:
- An Introduction to Getting Into F1: Understanding the Speed, Strategy, and Thrill on the Track
- Is Apple’s Promoted Film F1: The Movie Worth a Ticket to the Cinema?
November 20, 2025
Searching for the Ideal Laptop: My Painful Testimony

Preface

My journey of choosing laptops began in 2014, when I bought my first computer as a new university student—a ThinkPad L14 (2014 model). In 2017, I switched to the Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro, and in 2021 I upgraded to the 14-inch M1 MacBook Pro, witnessing firsthand the dramatic shift brought by Apple’s transition to its own silicon.

In October 2024, during a government subsidy program, I purchased the ThinkPad T14p Gen 2 with the Ultra 9 integrated GPU. In May 2025, I added the MacBook Air 15-inch M4 to my lineup; and by October of the same year, I bought the Surface Pro 11 X Plus, officially beginning my exploration of the Windows-on-ARM experience. Over the past decade, my laptop choices have shifted with the changes in my studies, work, and lifestyle—they reflect not only my evolving professional needs, but also the broader transitions of computing platforms and industry trends.

The Strengths and Limitations of the Windows Ecosystem

The advantages of using Windows are obvious. First, the Office suite on Windows offers an unparalleled experience—its performance and compatibility are both impeccable. Second, expandability is virtually unlimited. Over the years, I’ve always kept a desktop alongside my laptops—from an early Intel Hades Canyon NUC, to a self-built i7-11700 mATX desktop, and later an HP workstation with an i7-12700. The persistent fan noise of the Hades Canyon under sustained load eventually drove me toward better-cooled self-built systems and workstations, whose thermal performance once gave me the illusion of “limitless performance.”

My main operating system has long been Windows 10, which has been stable for the past few years—I probably went one or two years without reinstalling it. Occasionally, I’d complain about Windows forcing updates and rebooting automatically, closing my browser and all work files. Other than that, the experience was generally good.

By comparison, the MacBook Pro has always been more of a “light-duty companion” in my usage—mostly for writing simple code, checking email, and reading PDFs. Heavy tasks like data analysis or running large professional software all took place on my x86 Windows desktop.

But recently, my lifestyle has changed. I’ve been traveling frequently, often living in different places for months at a time, without a stable workspace, and unwilling to stay indoors all day. I want to be able to work in different environments—cafés, on the road, anywhere. This created a new need: a high-performance Windows laptop that could recreate desktop-level productivity in a portable form. I had used Windows laptops back in university, but my strongest memory was wandering around the library looking for seats with available power outlets. Naively, I assumed that after ten years and leaps in chip manufacturing, we’d already have far better battery life and thermals. Reality proved otherwise.

When the government subsidy went live in October 2024, I barely hesitated before locking onto the ThinkPad T14p Gen 2. I didn’t look at lighter options like the X1 Carbon, nor did I consider high-TDP gaming laptops. I hardly play games anyway—what I truly needed was a machine that could complete code runs as quickly as possible. So I went straight for the Ultra 9 iGPU model. Another thing that drew me to the T14p was its near-perfect expandability: dual-channel RAM, dual M.2 slots. As for battery life, at the time I was doing a lot of writing, and saw many users casually saying, “It lasts the whole day.”

And I believed them. Back then, terms like power consumption, thermals, and performance limits didn’t mean much to me. I assumed that improvements in chip fabrication naturally translated to better user experience. I thought that the gap between Windows laptops and MacBooks might no longer be that wide. But reality soon hit me—hard. I eventually realized that Apple’s M-series laptops are a dimensionality-reducing strike against Windows+x86. It isn’t just a generational difference—it’s a fundamental one: power efficiency, battery life, standby behavior—every aspect feels like it’s separated by several eras.

Thinkapd T14p 2024

Battery Life, Standby, and the Real-World Experience

Standby

When it comes to standby, the MacBook is almost perfect. Close the lid, and it can sleep quietly for days—sometimes even weeks. Open it again, and the battery is nearly untouched, the screen lights up instantly, and every app sits exactly where you left it.

And Windows laptops? When you pull one out of your backpack, it’s often warm. If you shut it down and reboot to the desktop, you’ll spend 15 to 20 seconds waiting for all the background processes to finish loading. Put it in your bag at 100%, take it out later to find only 30% left—and at best, you’ll squeeze out another half hour of use. I’ve experienced this scenario so many times that each recurrence feels like reliving the same nightmare.

The root cause lies in Microsoft’s attempt to introduce “Modern Standby” (S1 mode), hoping to give Windows laptops a smartphone-like “always on” experience. But the vision was rosy; the reality, painfully brittle. To remain compatible with the vast and messy x86 hardware ecosystem, this mechanism ended up being almost despairingly bad. And Windows 11’s automatic maintenance tasks—checking for updates, downloading patches, installing system updates you never asked for—routinely wake the system during standby. Sometimes a single update can break sleep entirely, especially when virtualization-related features like WSL2 are enabled.

Laptop manufacturers haven’t optimized S1 standby properly, nor have they invested resources to support the older S3 mode. Modern ThinkPads no longer support traditional S3 sleep. Which means the only reliable way to prevent your battery from being drained is… shutting down, or using hibernation, which is barely better than a reboot. But for me, “shutting down” feels downright inhumane. I keep dozens of Chrome tabs open, along with multiple editors and terminal windows. Being forced to close everything feels like being forced to shut down my entire train of thought.

I’ve been spoiled by the MacBook’s M-series. It trained me to expect near-perfect fluidity: close the lid and go; open the lid and continue. On that machine, work is continuous. On Windows, it is constantly interrupted.

Different Sleep Modes for Windows Laptops

The Opacity of Battery Life

The internet is filled with marketing-driven ads and vague, uninformative “battery life tests.” In review videos, the host might tell you with a straight face: “This laptop scored 8 hours of office battery life in PCMark10,” yet no one explains: How long does it actually last in day-to-day use? Will power-saving mode cause lag or frame drops? What’s the actual experience? Does dark mode really save power? The real details of battery life have never been seriously discussed.

Many reviewers test under unrealistic conditions—like playing a Bilibili video at minimum brightness. But processors are optimized specifically for video playback, so this tells you nothing about real office workloads. Others open a Word document and claim it lasts 10 hours. Those who boast “all-day battery life” on Xiaohongshu are usually light-duty users whose needs could be met by an iPad, a Chromebook, or even Samsung’s Dex mode. They are not users like me—nor am I the audience their tests speak to. I can’t help but think that HarmonyOS PCs, which emphasize light productivity, might actually represent the true mainstream of today’s laptop market.

To understand battery life better, I learned to track my own power usage constantly and analyze how my behavior affects consumption. I bought the T14p Ultra 9 version specifically for its 80W peak performance and stable 50W sustained performance.

But for battery life, I was forced to enable Best Power Efficiency mode—which caps power draw at around 20W. And then… everything slowed down. Text input lagged, window switching stuttered, even typing felt “sticky.” Whenever I worked outside, I constantly had to babysit Task Manager, manually killing background processes—Dropbox, OneDrive, Tailscale, LocalShare, PowerToys… clearing them one by one.

It’s an extremely anti-human experience. I finally understood why almost no one online recommends “Windows utility apps,” while Mac users love sharing menu-bar tools and background enhancers. On Windows, background apps are a burden; on macOS, they are effortless conveniences.

My daily workflow isn’t complicated, but it’s enough to stress battery life: dozens of Chrome tabs, music playing in the background; Word, Adobe Acrobat, Zotero, Notion, Outlook, VSCode/Cursor all open at once; Bluetooth earbuds and mouse connected; screen brightness at maximum (T14p peaks at 430 nits) because I often work in cafés or outdoors. In power-saving mode, the CPU is locked at around 2.0GHz, and this whole workflow averages 23.6W of power draw. That means: with a 75Wh battery, the T14p lasts only about 3 hours.

Switch to Balanced or Performance mode, and battery life drops below 2 hours—though performance becomes slightly smoother, at the cost of heat and fan noise. In performance mode, you also feel the heat, especially brutal in summer—the keyboard gets uncomfortably hot.

I rebuilt the exact same workflow on the MacBook Air M4 (15-inch). Power consumption fluctuates only between 3–6W, with more background apps and a smoother experience. I can summon any app instantly with Raycast; the system has virtually no latency. No fans, no noise—even under long hours, the palm rests remain cool. The M4’s performance is more than enough for my needs, and whether plugged in or on battery, the experience is almost identical. With its 66.5Wh Li-poly battery, the MacBook Air M4 delivers a real, fully usable 10-hour workday. Since I bought it, I’ve almost never managed to drain the battery completely.

MacBook Air M4 15-inch Daily Power Consumption

For macOS, my workflow of webpages and documents is merely a light load—close the lid, let it sleep, open it again, and everything continues in one seamless flow. But in the Windows world, so-called “light office battery life” usually refers only to opening Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plus a handful of webpages—and only after shutting down many background processes. Once you enter a real multitasking environment, the system becomes sluggish and heavy.

When frequently switching between “open → lid-close sleep → open again,” the MacBook remains consistently smooth; meanwhile, a Windows laptop behaves as if it’s rebooting—often needing more than ten seconds to return to a usable state. Ever since I bought the T14p, I’ve had to quit apps, close webpages, and shut down entirely before closing the lid. This forced “adaptation” created a profound sense of fragmentation—what feels fluid and continuous on a Mac is chopped into pieces on Windows.

Portability, Input Experience, and Peripheral Dependence

As someone who goes to the gym year-round, I’m not sensitive to laptop weight—500 grams is just another bottle of water. But the real weight penalty of using a Windows laptop?

The 100W “brick” power supply. I have to carry it nearly every day. Yes, I could switch to a smaller 65W GaN charger—but the wattage isn’t enough. On loose café outlets, it often disconnects and falls to the floor. And even when plugged into a 65W charger, I still can’t use the T14p in “Best Performance Mode.”

A mouse—always. ThinkPad’s trackpad can’t compare to the MacBook’s precision. The cursor constantly drifts off target, the logic of single vs. double-click feels vague, and the buttons require too much force. Only the Surface Pro Flex keyboard cover has a trackpad that can somewhat match the MacBook’s. I still remember having this level of smooth trackpad experience as early as my 2017 MacBook Pro. I genuinely don’t understand why something that dramatically improves usability—like a high-quality, large-surface trackpad—is still not standard on Windows laptops approaching four-figure prices, leaving users stuck with outdated, cumbersome touchpad technology.

Another point that must be mentioned is heat in the keyboard area. As someone who spends more than 8 hours a day at a computer, with my hands on the keyboard for 5 to 6 hours, I’m extremely sensitive to typing feel. This should be an advantage of Windows laptops—especially ThinkPads, whose firm, confident key feedback used to be reassuring. But the T14p’s thermal issues completely ruined it. When I first bought it during autumn and winter, the heat didn’t bother me; but in summer, you can feel waves of heat rising from the keyboard. That burning sensation is stressful—and that’s not even mentioning the fan noise.

Conclusion

Through these months of use, I gradually realized that “wanting everything at once” is nearly impossible in a laptop. Even a seemingly perfect, highly expandable all-round machine like the T14p cannot escape terrible standby and battery life. Windows and Intel don’t seem capable of solving these long-standing issues anytime soon.

Even upgrading to workstation-class devices like the P16 Gen2 won’t avoid the same bottlenecks: power management, thermals, and noise. The MacBook lineup has its own flaws—its RAM and storage are priced like gold—but unlike Windows laptops, these flaws can be solved with money. Windows laptops have shortcomings that money simply cannot fix.

In the end, the compromise I found was a combination of “ITX desktop + thin-and-light laptop.” The ITX machine became the most realistic balance among performance, noise, and portability—a return from idealism to practicality.

So in August 2025, I purchased the ThinkStation P3 Ultra Gen2. This compact but powerful device fulfills nearly all my needs for portable, high-performance computing. I can fit it into a 20L suitcase, plug it in at a hotel, use it without an external monitor as if it were a server, and with Moonlight for remote streaming, I can finally enjoy a near-desktop-level work experience anywhere.

3.9 L ThinkStation P3 Ultra Gen 2: A Compromise Between Portability and Performance

The Overlooked World of Windows on Arm (WOA) Laptops

The scorching keyboards of traditional laptops finally pushed me away for good. The irritation and discomfort of long typing sessions drove me to explore a different category of devices—2-in-1s. Among them, the Surface Pro series stood out immediately: no heat, detachable keyboard—two decisive advantages for someone like me. And as luck would have it, Amazon Prime Day rolled around, allowing me to pick up the much-criticized Qualcomm Snapdragon version of the Surface Pro 11 at an almost “impossible to refuse” price.

Some might ask: if I care so much about user experience, why not choose the more powerful Surface Pro Lunar Lake version? The answer is simple and pragmatic.

While I’m willing to pay extra for better usability, the Lunar Lake model starts at a staggering $1,500—whereas the entry-level Qualcomm version costs just over $400. With a price gap this large, compatibility issues suddenly don’t seem all that insurmountable.

Most of my work revolves around writing in Office apps, browsing the web, and reading PDF files—all of which are native ARM applications with virtually zero compatibility concerns. And with Qualcomm’s CPU built on a 4nm process, the efficiency advantages at low-power workloads are unmistakable. Compared with raw performance, what I really wanted to experience was Qualcomm’s long-established expertise in power management as a mobile chip veteran.

To be frank, I’ve already lost confidence in the Intel platform. The way x86 processors transition between high-load and low-load states—especially instantaneous frequency adjustments—feels clumsy and sluggish, nowhere near the fine-grained power control of mobile processor makers. On top of that, Intel’s various power modes seem like crude frequency locks, and Windows 11 still hasn’t mastered the scheduling of Intel’s big cores, small cores, and “smaller” small cores. Even on Reddit, users who bought both the Lunar Lake and Snapdragon X Plus versions of the Surface Pro mentioned: “Windows 11 isn’t actually faster on Intel than on ARM; it just feels less smooth. Especially when opening or closing apps or pulling up the Start menu, the animations seem slightly choppy, like minor frame drops.”

Surface Pro 11 X Plus Real-Time Power Consumption and Standby Performance Demonstration

I received the Surface Pro in early October, and I can finally rely on S0 Modern Standby without worrying that the device will heat up mysteriously in my bag or wake itself up for no reason. What surprised me most was its standby power draw—just 0.1 Wh.
In my daily workflow—web browsing, document editing, PDF annotation, background syncing—the system’s total power consumption stays at 6–8 W. Switching to Battery Saver mode brings it below 5 W, even with all background tasks still active. And the system remains smooth, with no obvious stutter or dropped frames.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus platform is a flagship ARM processor built specifically for PCs, based on the Oryon CPU architecture and a 4nm process.

I understand why Snapdragon CPUs have been widely criticized—weak performance, compatibility issues, inconsistent heat and power behavior, and the painfully long gap between announcement and actual availability. But to me, none of these are the real deal-breakers.

What truly discourages users is the pricing. If these laptops fell into the ¥4000–¥5000 range, people might judge them far more kindly. After all, once the price stops towering over expectations, users can finally appreciate the ARM platform’s strengths: cooler, quieter, more efficient computing.

Even if Lunar Lake manages to match Qualcomm in battery life, Intel’s x86 architecture still feels clumsy when it comes to fine-grained tuning. A genuinely great laptop experience has never been just about piling up performance numbers—it’s about balancing power consumption, noise, thermals, system responsiveness, and ecosystem maturity.

It’s worth mentioning that I haven’t run into any major compatibility issues so far. I even played several Steam games on this tablet—Detroit: Become Human, Stardew Valley, Disco Elysium, Escape from Tarkov, and a few visual novels. Meanwhile, reports suggest that Valve is actively working on an ARM-compatible layer (Proton on ARM), which naturally leads one to imagine future ARM-powered handheld gaming devices. Personally, I’m looking forward to the second-generation Snapdragon X series.

Let’s give it a little more time—Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, the ARM platform will truly shine on the stage of laptops and mobile computing.

Summary & Outlook

Ten years of buying and using laptops have taught me one thing: the perfect laptop simply doesn’t exist—not today. The key isn’t to hunt for a device that “does everything,” but to clearly understand what you truly need.

Laptop experience has never been just a hardware issue. If Windows cannot achieve deeper synergy with its hardware, its shortcomings in standby and battery life will never be fully resolved. For me, the most practical and efficient mobile-work setup remains the combination of an ITX desktop + an ultraportable laptop—balancing performance with mobility while adapting flexibly to different work scenarios.

At the same time, ARM laptops are showing undeniable long-term potential. With ultra-low standby power consumption and more refined frequency tuning, they promise an experience that is genuinely lightweight, quiet, and long-lasting. Compared with traditional x86 platforms, ARM seems to better understand the balance between power efficiency and user experience—and this may very well be the direction in which future laptops evolve.

As an ordinary consumer, I sincerely hope future battery-life reviews will reflect real-world usage rather than idealized tests like “video playback at minimum brightness.” What we need are evaluations that reveal true power consumption and minimum usable battery life under everyday workloads—for example, by continuously recording power draw with open-source tools like Traffic Monitor, presenting a transparent and verifiable picture of actual experience.

(This article was proofread with the help of ChatGPT, which also generated the cover image.)

Cover image by Sandor Nagy

November 17, 2025