How To: Choose a Mechanical Keyboard

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Majority gaming keyboards now coming with mechanical switches and all that hoo-haa but did you know that mechanical keyboards were not initially made for gaming? That’s right, mechanical keyboards existed way before games existed, starting with
IBM’s legendary Model M
. Back then, there were not such thing as membrane (rubber-dome/dome-switch) keyboards or scissor-switch keyboards. The keyboard that came standard would be a buckling-spring keyboard and buying one standalone cost almost as much as a modern high-end graphic card. Computers in this day and age do still come with their own USB keyboards but they use a much cheaper to manufacture rubber-dome keyboard and gone were the days of mechanical keyboards, until much recently.

I myself have been using mechanical keyboards for a few years now and I have to admit, I am never going back to rubber dome keyboards ever again. The satisfying click of a mechanical keyboard is like music to my ears and the tactile feedback of my keys bottoming out is more than enough to keep me typing. There are a lot of questions though: “Why should I buy one?”, “Where do I get one?” and if I do want to buy one; “Which one should I get?”.

The answer to the first question is: Because they last longer, they feel much better and you will prevent the risk of
carpal tunnel syndrome
 from bottoming out those hard to press rubber-dome keyboards. You can pretty much get them at almost any electronics store that sells computer peripherals; especially those that sell PC hardware. Choosing a mechanical keyboard, however will take lots of considerations. Since you’re going to be paying at least RM300 or more for one, you’re going to want to choose the right one on the first buy.

Durability

Mechanical keyboards were made to last a long time and if you take care of them well, they could live well past their expected lifetime. There are some questionable things that may happen to the switches though, if you’re using Cherry MX switches, you’re pretty much good to go, but there are clones out there which you need to be careful of. Keyboards I have personally tested and owned are the Scorpius M10 (out of production), a
Steelseries 7G
 (Cherry MX Black), a
Filco Majestouch 2
 (Cherry MX Brown) and a
Cooler Master QuickFire Ultimate
 (Cherry MX Blue). So far, I have found that the heavier a mechanical keyboard, the better. The Filco Majestouch 2 came with a metal frame and a dual PCB cutting that made the keyboard feel sturdy and the Steelseries 7G was heavy enough to use as a bludgeoning tool. The Scorpius M10 however was lighter than the others and I could twist and flex the keyboard with minimal strength — it died after a year of usage. Bear in mind that this should be the first thing to consider before buying a keyboard. Also, PBT is better than ABS for key cap material.

Switches

If you’re buying Cherry MX, most likely you’ll have to choose between Blue, Black, Brown or Red key switches. Just a brief run through, the colors of the switches are just to identify what type of tactile response and how they feel, they do nothing to decorate your board once they’re covered with caps. If you’re unsure what type of switch you want, it’s better for you to go out to a PC hardware store and see if they have any of those test caps on display so you can go and fiddle around with them. Note however, that most implementations of the switches might feel a bit different that the switches they put on demo, because customers walk in and smash on the demo buttons all the time till they feel a little mushy.

Note that in all the diagrams below, the actuation point is when the two metal hooks on the left “meet”.

Blue

4mm travel, 2mm actuation, 60g force, tactile, clicky

The blue switch has a very typewriter feel. The Cherry MX Blue switches have very nice tactile click when you bottom out the keys as well as a very pleasing and satisfying clicking sound. They’re not exactly great for gaming because of the travel and feel of the keys. I had blues before, and this was my first ever mechanical keyboard, they were not hard to press but a little annoying because the tactile bump lasts so long that it is very hard to triple-tap keys with rapid succession as you have to wait for that moment when the key resets itself before you can bottom out the key again. A lot of gamers really love these MX Blues however because the sound you get when you bottom out the keys is something you won’t be able to find in other switches.

In my opinion, get this if you really love that strong and loud “
clack!-clack!-clack!
” which sounds amazing when you’re typing above speeds of 120WPM. The sound is enough to irritate your entire family but the one with his/her hands on the keyboard will love it.

Black

4mm travel, 2mm actuation, 60g force, linear

Cherry MX Blacks are always related to gaming because they do not have a tactile click when you bottom out the key, rather you can push it straight down and it’ll pop straight back up in a very clean and linear fashion. You still feel the key bottoming out when it hits the actuation point and this linear feeling is critical for gaming because you are able to double-tap or triple-tap keys without actually messing around with the tactile bump.

On a personal note, I don’t like these switches for typing though because you actually have to
bottom out the entire key
instead of just pressing it till it actuates for it to register a key stroke. For gaming however, they feel really nice and you almost feel like you pressing a soft cloud in to register your movements or cast your spells, they feel absolutely wonderful. What’s stopping me from getting this keyboard for regular use is because I used to be a programmer and did a butt load of typing. The blacks however can feel a bit heavy but they pay off by having a completely linear travel.

Brown

4mm travel, 2mm actuation, 55g force, tactile

The bread and butter of brown keys is that they were made as a mix for gaming and typing. They are incredibly soft but have a
slight tactile bump
 and very nice audible click when you register a key press. The actuation time of the tactile bump is not a harsh as the Blue keys and they also provide an actuation point for those gamers who actually prefer a gaming keyboard with a tactile click in it. The actuation point is right in the middle of the switch’s travel and the tactile bump is really only there for feels.

I’m using MX Brown switches and I swear by them. Until they can come up with lighter keys with a tactile bump, I’m always going to purchase my keys with brown switches. The reason being, they’re very light to reach actuation point and you don’t feel that “sticking” feeling during the tactile click of a MX Blue, it sort of clicks and then bounces straight back up. It’s very hard to explain the feeling, but they’re light and tactile and I love them for gaming and for typing. They give me confidence that my whenever I make a mistake it’s not the keyboard but my own stupid fingers. The difference they make from Blacks, are they do not need to be bottomed out to register a key-press. Once you get used to them, typing and gaming will be a breeze.

Red

4mm travel, 2mm actuation, 45g force, soft, linear

Cherry MX Red switches are the most lightest of the bunch. I would say they are an improvement over the Cherry MX Blacks and have an
extremely linear
 switch. They need to be bottomed out to actuate the switch but they require so much less force and feel lighter than Black switches. They’re designed specifically for gamers who need to deliver fast repetitive key-strokes and the feeling of bottoming out the keys has to be second to none especially when you’re gaming. They do not have a tactile bump and the only clicky sound you will hear from the
Reds
 are when you bottom out the key. The actuation point is much higher than the Blacks though, so they do actuate some time before you even bottom out the switch, but this is no help to typists because you still don’t have that tactile click to let you know a keystroke has been registered.

There are definitely other key-switches you can look at like
Topre
 switches which are incredibly expensive compared to Cherry MX switches and much less common — or even
Alps
 switches. A full list can be found
here
 if you’re interested.

Full sized, TKL or 60-keys?

Okay, so TKL basically just means “Ten key less”, or Tenkey-less. You basically don’t have your NUMPAD there and 60-keys do not even include the arrow key segment. So which one should you choose? Some manufacturers don’t even give you an option.

Manufacturers like Filco will give you a full-size option…

… As well as a TKL option.

Keyboard manufacturers like
Happy Hacking
 only sell their keyboards at 60-keys and they are incredibly expensive.

Layout

Another thing to be aware about, especially if you’re going to purchase a keyboard online would be the layout of the keyboard, will be you be using the ISO (UK) layout or the standard ANSI (US) layout?

First of, the UK or ISO layout has an extra key between ‘z’ and the left-shift key which forms the backslash or ‘|’ (pipe) symbol.

For the US or ANSI layout, there are only 104 keys, which is one less than the 105 keys that the ISO form factor has.

As a personal preference, I am used to the ANSI layout because I rarely use the symbols which are commonly used in UK keyboards. Also, I’m used to having my ‘|’ or ‘\’ key being right under my backspace key. This is totally preferential but if you’re used to the ISO layout it works just as well, even if you don’t use the UK standard key sets.

Bells, Whistles and other considerations

Some keyboards come with back lights and some don’t. Some keyboards like the new
Majestouch Convertible 2
 are one of the first few mechanical keyboards to provide Bluetooth connectivity. If you love multi-colored lets, you can take a look at the
Razer Blackwidow Chroma
 — which uses their own Razer Mechanical Switches — and the
Corsair Vengeance K70 RGB
, although the K70 only comes in Cherry MX Red keys; Both keyboards let you fully customize the color of every individual keys and even the brightness of every key. If you like to buy gear and “make-it-mine”, you could always order in custom key cap sets or translucent sets — like in the picture above — and totally pimp out your keyboard and make it yours. Another thing to consider would be keyboards with a detachable USB cable, which keyboards like the
Ducky Shine 4
. If you wanna go totally old school, why not get a
Unicomp
?

Remember to check your order carefully if you are ever ordering online, I accidentally ordered a UK-layout keyboard once before from a reseller but he was nice enough to replace my order with the ANSI layout I wanted.


How to get the best out of your Internet speed?

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With all the Internet speed upgrades happening in Malaysia recently, you might be wondering, why is it that I can’t reach my optimal speed despite my service provider telling me that it has already been upgraded? In most cases, we call and complain the operators for not doing a good job, but in fact there are many things that you should know before venting your frustration and anger on it, and it all starts with the hardware you are using.

The very first thing that you will need to check is your fibre optic cable that is connected to your Internet gateway aka modem, a fibre optic cable should be straight and not bent as it will affect the transmission quality. Next, you will need to check your router if you realize that your Internet speed still isn’t up to par.

For instance, if you are subscribed to a 500Mbps package and your speed test merely shows 10% of your subscribed speed, that could probably be that your router doesn’t have the wireless radio or wired connectivity to deliver that kind of speed, and while you are reading this, its time that you look up for your router’s box or check the specs on the manufacturer’s website.

If you are using a RJ45 aka LAN cable, make sure you get CAT 5e for 1Gbps transfer speed.

Most routers currently sold in the market are already equipped with 802.11ac wireless speeds and some comes with Gigabit LAN connectivity. If you are connected through a LAN cable, you will have to ensure that it supports Cat 5e standards to get 1Gbps of transfer speed, also the LAN port of your computer needs to support Gigabit connections as well.

To check whether your computer has a Gigabit LAN port on Windows, right click on the Start button and click on Device Manager, expand the Network Adapter tree and you will see your network adapter, which it will tell that you either have a Gigabit or Fast Ethernet hardware, if the description shows the latter, then your wired connection will be limited to 100Mbps.

For wireless connections, there’s basically two types of frequencies – 2.4GHz and 5GHz, which you will easily find it on the router’s packaging, the former offers wider coverage at a limited speed, while the latter is able to deliver faster transfer speed and support more devices without affecting the connection quality with a shorter coverage range. In a nutshell, its basically like a car traveling on a trunk road versus on a highway.

However, both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies has its maximum achievable speeds as well, and this is where you need to look at your router and gadget.

Let’s again assume that you have a 500Mbps Internet connection, and your router’s 5GHz network is only able to reach up to a maximum 433Mbps, you won’t be able to reach up to your Internet connection’s full potential even if your gadgets can connect to that frequency. Also, even if your gadgets sport 802.11ac wireless connectivity, they may not perform to the router’s maximum performance too as they could be limited by their internal WiFi chips and other hardware design factors

WiFi connections are generally like walkie-talkies, they operate on a frequency range but also has channels to switch to, so for instance if you are on a channel where your nearby WiFi networks are broadcasting, you may occasionally face signal interference and it affects your connection quality.

Most routers in the market can automatically scan for the best WiFi channel to broadcast, however if you know how to mingle around your router’s settings, you can download free WiFi analyzer apps on your smartphone to check out the non-conflicting WiFi channel.

Shouldn’t I just get the lower speed package if that’s the case?

Nobody loves a slow Internet connection, and there’s no reason not to go for a 1Gbps connection with TIME Internet when it is already so affordable at RM199/month, not only you get things done a lot faster, you can also finish that huge file download and stream that super high-resolution video in a jiffy.

Furthermore, TIME Internet also offers the
D-Link DIR-882
 router with the 1Gbps plan when you sign up or renew your contract, it is a great router that we have
reviewed
 back then that can theoretically support up to 800Mbps on its 2.4GHz wireless connection and up to 1733Mbps on its 5GHz wireless connection, there’s also four Gigabit LAN ports if you prefer a more stable connection for your device.

TIME Internet is the only service provider that owns a 100% Fibre network infrastructure and is available on many high rise residential, it doesn’t share with other networks so that you will not face disruptions and extremely low ping response for applications such as online gameplay, live streaming and video streaming.

Find out more about the upgraded and more affordable TIME Internet packages at
www.time.com.my

This article is sponsored by TIME Internet

1gbps
fiber optic
smartphone
time internet


How to import GPX files into the Galaxy Watch5 Pro?

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The Galaxy Watch5 Pro is the first wearable from Samsung that’s made for outdoor adventures with a more robust titanium body and sapphire crystal glass, not to mention its great 3-day battery life, but the most exciting feature is its ability to support turn-by-turn route navigation, which helps you navigate your way in the wilderness with custom waypoints, here’s how to import a GPX file into your Galaxy Watch5 Pro.

Launch the Samsung Health app on your phone, scroll to the Exercise section and select Hiking or Cycling

For cycling, tap on the drop down menu on the dialog and choose Route target. For hiking, tap on the three dots on the top right and choose Routes.

On the next screen, tap on Import, then select the GPX file that you downloaded on to your phone. Name your Route and tap Save.

On your Galaxy Watch5 Pro, scroll to the Routes tile or simply launch the cycling or hiking workout. Tap Start to begin the navigation

There are a handful of websites that you can find hiking and cycling trails in Malaysia, while some of them will require a subscription to gain access as well, we recommend checking out
Alltrails
,
Bikemap
,
Wikiloc
 and
GaiaGPS
.

The Galaxy Watch5 Pro can be purchased here for RM1,899, read our review
here
.

galaxy watch5 pro
galaxy watch5 pro review
gpx file
import gpx files


How to make the perfect coffee

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There are two types of cake in the world: the rich, sophisticated gateaux best eaten in delicate slivers after dinner; and the homely, comforting kind that, if push came to shove, most of us really prefer. The latter are the sort of cakes your granny might have made (if she lived in Ambridge), the ones sold on paper plates wrapped messily in clingfilm at the village fete; in short, the cakes you imagine the sainted Mary Berry probably eats for breakfast.

As you may have guessed, I’m a big fan of this humbler, homelier kind of cake. The feather-light Victoria sponge, the nutty carrot and the sticky fruit cake all have a special place in my heart, but after much soul searching I’ve come down in favour of the coffee and walnut.

It has got everything: the fluffy butteriness of the Victoria, the crunchy nuts of the carrot and the bittersweetness of a rich, dark fruit cake – all that, and buttercream too. No wonder the infallible Nigel Slater has chosen it as his last meal on earth.


How to pay and worry less your new smartphone with Digi Phone Freedom 365?

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It’s that time of the year to decide your next new smartphone, and while there are a lot of choices in the market, you obviously want to choose the latest and greatest to go with. However, good smartphones aren’t affordable these days, and we aren’t talking merely about its retail price, but also the maintenance of it, so what’s the fun of rocking a new smartphone when you have to worry about all of this?

With Digi’s Phone Freedom 365, you can now own the latest smartphone of your choice at a lower retail price, stay worry free during the ownership and get yearly free phone upgrades. No credit cards required. Here’s all you need to know about it.

No Upfront Payment Required

It sucks when most smartphone plans still require you to pay for an upfront payment when you are already so attracted to the phone’s subsidized price, though the payment is rebated to you in the subsequent months, it simply makes you feel that you are paying more for the device than usual.

Digi Phone Freedom 365 requires no upfront payment, and all you need to do is to be an active Digi Postpaid customer for 6 months with good payment record, stay on or upgrade to an eligible postpaid plan, and you are good to go.

Own Your Smartphone and Upgrade for Free

Leasing a smartphone sounds ridiculous when you are already paying monthly fees that is close to the original retail price during the subscription.

With Digi Phone Freedom 365, you get to keep the smartphone that you have signed up at no additional cost even after the 24-month contract ends, and depending on the smartphone you choose, you will be eligible for a free device upgrade as soon as you reach the 18th month of your tenure, then continuing paying for the new smartphone’s installment plan.

Affordable and Flexible Phone Protection Plan

Accidents happen and no matter how careful you are, you will definitely have that unfortunate day of having your phone damaged or stolen, which is why Digi Phone Freedom 365 gives you the option to sign up to Digi Shield for as low as RM9/month for full coverage or a one-time fee from RM29 for screen crack replacement, there is also no repair fee charged if your phone is damaged.

The Best Selection of Postpaid Plans

With Digi Phone Freedom 365, you have the freedom to choose from the most value for money Digi Postpaid 80 plan at RM80/month, which gives you 20GB of data, 30GB of YouTube data and unlimited calls to all networks. Otherwise, go all the way up to the DiGi Postpaid 190 that gives you 100GB of home data, Digi Roam Like Home in over 10 countries with 5GB data and 60 minutes calls for RM190/month.

The Best Phone Ownership Programme for the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the latest bad boy in town with three upgraded LEICA camera lenses, and it is available with Digi Phone Freedom for as low as RM111/month, multiply that by 24 months, you are paying a total of RM2664 for the entire period and saving over RM935 off its original price.

Furthermore, you can upgrade your Mate 20 Pro to a new smartphone at absolutely no additional cost when you reach the 20th month of the subscription, which makes the phone’s total ownership even more affordable at RM2220, and you don’t even need to worry about its resell value, just return the phone to Digi and you will be upgraded to a new smartphone.

The comparison chart above shows Digi’s advantage over other phone ownership programmes, where it stands out to have the lowest total cost of ownership over 24 months, while offering the most attractive data plan and having two flexible device protection options.

Digi’s Phone Freedom 365 will be offered soon to new and port-in customers, head over to Digi’s website to check out other phones offered with the programme.

This worry-free phone ownership tip is brought to you by Digi

digi
huawei
Mate 20
Mate 20 Pro
Phone freedom 365


How to pick a new 4K TV for your living room?

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How do you pick a new 4K TV for your living room? There’s really no perfect answer as it really depends on your budget and the features you are looking at, however there’s more than just to look at the TV’s visual quality and price tag, and here are a few things you should look out when shopping for a new 4K TV.

Input Ports and Connectivity

It is important to take note of the amount and type of ports your new 4K TV has, especially when you have multiple devices such as game consoles, TV boxes, Blu-ray disc players in your living room, having sufficient amount of HDMI ports ensures that you don’t need to frequently unplug devices when switching between devices, do also take note that your 4K TV should come with HDMI 2.0 ports so that you can display 4K resolution at 60Hz refresh rate, which means smoother motion when using devices like laptops.

Since 4K TVs give you access to apps and content online, you might want to take note if the TV supports 5GHz WiFi networks as it will significantly improves download speeds especially when streaming high resolution 4K content, most manufacturers will usually have it specify on the TV’s product specifications, otherwise toggle around the TV’s settings to see if it can discover nearby 5GHz WiFi networks.

Screen Technology

(Image Credit: Display Ninja)

This is probably one of the hardest things to decide when picking up a new 4K TV, as there are so many display technologies available and most of them have their respective advantages and disadvantages in terms of image quality and reliability.

(Image Credit: Reddit, an OLED TV with burn in issues)

The most common screen technologies are IPS, VA and OLED, which the latter is usually available on more premium TV models as they are superior in terms of image quality, however they can potentially be subjected to ‘burn-in’ issues in the long term, which literally looks like a burned mark on your panel.

Hence, this is the reason why you should definitely consider the Hisense U800QF ULED TV, its ULED display offers the ultimate viewing experience with stunningly beautiful quantum dot colors, local dimming arrays that adjusts contrast intelligently, noise reduction technology that shows the ultimate detail and super smooth 120Hz motion that’s properly optimized by a smart Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation (MEMC) technology.

Software

Finally, the part where most people tend to neglect when picking up a 4K TV is software, which is also one thing that many TV manufacturers do not optimize properly for a lag-free experience. Don’t let the TV’s content and visual quality immerse you just yet, have the retail assistant let you play around with the TV’s software to see whether you can easily get access to certain features you use the most, and check out the built-in app store to find out what more you can do with it.

If you still can’t make up your mind, then check out Hisense’s VIDAA U on the U800QF 4K ULED TV, it offers a elegant and simple user experience that requires very minimal learning curve, content suggestion so that you don’t need to fumble on what to watch again, a huge library of free entertainment apps and games, it’s a really fun TV experience that you rarely get to have on other TVs.

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To find out where to purchase the Hisense U800QF ULED TV, check out the list of dealers here.

hisense
u800qf
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uled tv


How to pick the right MSI Content Creation laptop?

996

Whether you are a content creator or mobile worker, investing a good laptop is crucial to achieve the best results in your work, where performance and mobility is utmost importance, it is the reason why content creation laptops matter to help achieve that goal.

MSI has a complete series of content creation laptops paired with powerful processors and up to GeForce RTX graphics, be it creating your next great video content or PowerPoint presentation to impress your audiences, there is a content creation laptop for every aspiring individuals, and here’s how to pick the right one.

MSI Creator Series – Extreme performance for creative applications

Don’t like flashy RGB lighting and high-profile design but want the firepower of a gaming laptop? The MSI Creator series offer that without compromising mobility with a sleek design and lightweight aesthetic, where the 15-inch and 17-inch models weigh as light as 1.8kg and 2.2kg respectively.

The Creator 17 in particular, is the world’s first content creation laptop in the world to use Mini LED technology on its 17-inch panel to achieve an extremely accurate color reproduction with Delta-E < 2 accuracy, while covering 100% DCI-P3 color space and supporting 4K HDR, which no other premium laptops could offer,
this is an upcoming model that will arrive soon in Malaysia
.

All MSI Creator series laptops are equipped with 10th Gen Intel Core-H series processors and up to GeForce RTX graphics, expect to run the most complex creative applications while on the go such as creating a 4K video, 3D object and high-resolution vectors.

Who should get the Creator series: 3D Animators, CAD Designers, Video Editors, Graphic Designers, Digital Artists

MSI Prestige Series – Ultimate Portability with a Premium Touch

Nothing beats the
MSI Prestige
 series when it comes to a portable laptop that emphasizes on performance. Available in 14-inch and 15-inch models, they weigh 1.3kg and 1.6kg respectively and comes equipped with up to a 6-core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10710U processor and up to GeForce GTX1650 with Max-Q design graphics.

What makes the MSI Prestige series stand out from the competition is MSI’s attention to detail on its build quality and function, which includes a full aluminum body with chamfered edges, a solid display hinge that tilts the laptop’s keyboard, slim display bezels that makes it more compact, a backlit keyboard with huge keycaps and a wide trackpad.

In addition, two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports with Intel Thunderbolt 3 and PD charging, WiFi 802.11ax support, 100% sRGB display, MicroSD card reader, fingerprint reader and face recognition IR camera come standard on the MSI Prestige series.

This is the perfect laptop series for mobile workers and content creators who prefers a premium portable machine that doesn’t compromise on performance and features, without paying for a premium price tag.

Who should get the Prestige Series: Video Editors, Graphic Designers, Business Professionals

MSI Modern Series – Incredibly Lightweight Workhorse

Mobile workers looking for a lightweight and stylish laptop will want to look into the MSI Modern series. The latest Modern 14 weighs 1.3kg and is powered by either a 10th Gen Intel Core U series or AMD Ryzen 4000 series processor, whichever you choose, performance is definitely not compromised.

Despite being the entry-level series of MSI’s content creation laptops, the MSI Modern 14 is still packed with an attractive set of hardware features including a slim 90% screen-to-body ratio display, a 180-degree hinge with a flip and share feature that lets you present your screen conveniently on a 1-to-1 meeting, a keyboard with 1.5mm key travel and military grade standard durability.

Who should get the Modern series: Graphic Designers, Business Professionals

Find out more about MSI’s Content Creation laptops
here
.

content creation
creator series
modern series
msi
prestige series


How to spend your Valentine’s Day: Single Edition

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Are you spending this Valentine’s Day alone? Does it annoy (and maybe sadden) you to scroll through every social media platform and watch endless posts about couples appearing? It’s easy to get emotionally affected today, but you don’t have to feel that way because with the current technology, you have plenty of alternatives.

There’s nothing wrong with being alone on Valentine’s Day, or on any other day as a matter of fact. With countless entertainment around us, there are definitely things you can do to get your mind off Valentine’s Day and all its sweet, cringey vibe. Gaming is definitely one of the best ways to lose track of time and get your mind off things, so why not immerse yourself into a game and let the day pass quickly? Interactive games with a storyline always seem to get the job done, so find one and if you can’t, I’d suggest Choices.

Image credit: Choices

Created by Pixelberry, this game allows you to narrate your character’s life and make decisions that lead to different paths. Personally, I like feeling like I can control someone’s life, which is probably why I used to love playing The Sims. Choices lets you choose your story, so you can choose between genres and play your story. You get to choose how your character look, and though there are options that require in-app purchases, you can always opt for the free choices. It’s a pretty straightforward game, just make choices and watch as the story plays out for you.

Image credit: Florence

Another interactive game that you can try out is Florence, developed by Annapurna Interactive. Florence is a story that takes you through the life of a girl named Florence Yeoh, going through different chapters of her life. The game works like an interactive storybook and has won the Mobile Game of the Year at The Games Awards 2018. That being said, you’ll have to be willing to spend RM12.90 on App Store and RM11.99 on Play Store to get this game.

Image credit: Kawaii Assistant

However, you can also install an app on App Store called Kawaii Assistant if you really just want a companion today. Featuring a Japanese lady named Suki, the app allows you to play rock-paper-scissors with her to win coins and get her gifts. She comes with a mood meter that will deplete when annoyed, and Suki leaves the room once the meter is empty. You can get her gifts to increase her mood but also blow her skirt and poke her to annoy her. In addition, you can ask for advice in which her answer is rather generic, but it’s a way to spend your time if you’re really bored this Valentine’s Day.

Image credit: SimSimi

If gaming is not your thing, then you can opt for chatting apps. When I say chatting apps, I don’t mean dating apps like Tinder and Coffee Meets Bagel. One cute app called SimSimi is an app whereby you can speak to an AI chatting robot. You can chat with the AI robot anytime, anywhere and you can also teach it words. That aside, you can also report SimSimi when it speaks curse words so that you can have a clean conversation.

Image credit: TalkLife

What better way to spend your Valentine’s Day than to show support to others? We all go through downs in our lives, and while you might not be affected, others may be when it comes to being lonely on this day. TalkLife is an app that lets you interact with other individuals who are feeling like they’re not enough or just troubled by issues. Of course, there are also individuals who registered to help others, and you can be one of them. Sometimes all we need it just words of motivation and encouragement from one individual for us to pick ourselves up and live on, so be that individual to motivate others and one day you’ll look back and realise that you might have changed someone’s life, even if it’s a minor change.

It’s all comes back to you and the decisions you make. You can choose to spend your Valentine’s Day alone moping around, or you can spend it enjoying yourself and supporting others.

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6 useful ways Google Lens can help you identify real-world objects

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For the uninitiated,
 Google Lens
 is an AI-powered image recognition app that helps you identify real-world objects using your phone’s camera. For
Android
 users (high-five!) the app should already be installed on your device; for
iPhone
users (boo!), you’ll have to download the Google app from the
App Store
, which comes with the Lens feature.

To get started, simply boot up Google Lens and you’ll be greeted with a viewfinder – point your phone at the object you want to scan, then tap on the blue dot or highlighted object, which will present with info, shopping links, and images of the item – think plants, books, and even animals!

If you want to finetune the search, try the app’s categories that identify more specific items:

1. Translate

Use this to immediately get a translation of any word or sentence – super useful when you need to make sense of the menu from your
neighbourhood

dai

cao
(Chinese restaurant)

joint. How it works is the app highlights the words it sees in the viewfinder, and presents you with a pretty decent on-the-fly translation.

There’s automatic language detection, but you can always change the language by tapping the dropdown list at the top of your display.

2. Text Selection

Text Selection mode is great at identifying words and sentences, just like Translate, but this time the app converts them into text that you can copy and paste into your conversations, or notes – a great feature if you’re feeling particularly texting-fatigued.

3. Shopping

Channel your inner
aunty
and scan that product to see if there are cheaper options online – for the most accurate results, it’s best to scan an item’s barcode; but taking a picture of the object itself works too, if it’s recognizable enough.

If the app doesn’t know the exact product, it’ll furnish you with a list of similar-looking alternatives – which are sometimes better and cheaper!

4. Homework

If only I had this when I was a kid, maybe I wouldn’t have flunked math…maybe.  I say maybe because the app doesn’t always give you the answers to your questions, but rather it understands the problem and shows relevant resources to help you along your way.

Simply scan your homework, and the app will give you a list of websites that may contain the answer. If the problem is simple enough, you’ll get the
an
swer
 straight away.

5. Places

See a cute little café on your way home, but it’s closed – bummer! But don’t worry, snap a pic of the eatery with the ‘Places’ feature; it’ll bring up info about the café such as website, social media, and operating hours.

You could also use the feature to learn about historic buildings, or get your bearings when you’re in an unfamiliar place!

6. Dining

Now that you’re chowing down on some rice bowls at that café you used Google Lens to identify – you probably want to know how to make them; use ‘Dining’ which’ll figure what you’re eating and show you the recipes to make it!

If that fails, use Dining to snap a picture of the menu which should help the AI narrow down
the dish you’re looking for.

So these are the six ways you can use Google Lens, and its vast database to help you get around town, learn to cook, or even to just understand the world a little better. All it really takes to start learning is to point and click!

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HP 700 Series printers now in Malaysia: Made out of 25% recycled plastic!

876

The new HP 700 series printers have been launched in Malaysia that including the Smart Tank 720 and the Smart Tank 750. These printers include HP’s latest features that are perfect for homes and small offices, which are also HP’s first printers to be made out of 25% recycled plastic.

One of the key features of the HP 700 series is the smart printer that provides an intuitive interface so users can see and manage tasks easier. This feature includes dual-band Wi-Fi3 and HP Wolf essential security, making it quick and secure.

The biggest highlight of the HP 700 series printers is the smart tank experience that you get with this device. HP claims that users can get up to 2 years of ink usage, which will let you print up to 6,000 black or 8,000 colored pages.

Every feature on these printers can be set up from your phone via the HP Smart app where you get a one-year free trial that provides HP Smart Advance features such as advanced scanning, mobile fax, and productivity features.

Currently, the HP Smart Tank 700 Series printers retail at RM1,069 for the Smart Tank 720 and RM1,299 for the Smart Tank 750 and can be purchased via
HP’s Online Store
 and their official
Shopee

and
Lazada
 stores.

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HP announces the Spectre x360 to take on the MacBook Air

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HP have been keeping its efforts hard in the PC market and it just announced a laptop that is probably close enough to take on Apple’s MacBook Air in terms of hardware power and pricing. The Spectre x360 is a superbly thin and powerful Ultrabook measuring at 15.9mm of thickness and 3.3 pounds. In terms of design the Spectre x360 is also a 2-in-1 device, which gives it a slight advantage against the MacBook Air’s traditional laptop form factor.

The Spectre x360 will come with Intel’s Broadwell Core i5 and Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, a 13.3-inch 1080p or Quad HD touch display and comes with up to 12.5 hours of battery life. Unlike the MacBook Air, HP isn’t stingy on input ports with the Spectre x360, which you will find three USB 3.0 ports, an
SD card reader
, an HDMI port, and a mini DisplayPort.

If all of these great stuffs don’t sound staggering enough, HP plans to sell the Spectre x360 with a starting price of $899 and up to $1399, which is indirectly giving competitors like
Dell
 the run of its money for the
Inspiron
 13 7000 series and its XPS laptop line ups. The laptop will go on sale today in the US however local availability should be expected here in the coming months, stay tuned and be very excited about it.


HP Chromebook x360 11 G3 launched; affordable laptop for remote learning and teaching

1.6K

HP has just launched the Chromebook x360 11 G3 laptop – a device geared towards remote productivity and learning.

The convertible laptop comes with a 360-hinge that allows users to prop it up in tent-mode or even use it like a tablet. The device comes with a 11.6-inch touchscreen panel that pushes a 1366x768p resolution. It supports the HP Wacom EMR pen/stylus too.

For video conferencing, the laptop comes with a 720P HD integrated webcam too. Under the hood is an Intel Celeron N4020 CPU along with UHD Graphics 600. For memory, it packs 4GB of RAM, and up to 32GB of storage.

In terms of battery life, you get a 47Wh pack, and there’s also support for 45W of fast-charging via USB-C.

The HP Chromebook x360 11 G3 is priced at RM1,299 can be purchased from HP’s
online store

or its
Shopee

and
Lazada

pages.

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HP debuts three new laptops

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HP’s has had a busy morning today as the company announced the arrival of the all new Spectre 13 Notebook, ENVY 15 laptop and the HP Elitebook Folio G1 Notebooks at Aloft today.

The main highlight for the launch even was, of course, the Spectre 13. Measuing at just 10.4mm thick and weighing at 1.11kg, HP has touted that the Spectre 13 is the thinnest notebook in the world. Aside from its small form factor, the Spectre 13 itself is a rather powerful workstation as well. Depending on the specifications, the Spectre 13 can either sport an Intel Core i7-6500U processor or an Intel Core i5-6200U processor. Besides that, the laptop comes with 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD, three USB Type-C ports with two of them being Thunderbolt ports, and a 4-cell 38WHr Li-ion polymer battery. Other notable features of the Spectre 13 is the Bang & Olufsen quad speakers. The i5 variant of the Spectre 13 will retail for RM 5,999, while the i7 variant will retail for RM 6,900.

Next up on HP’s list of notebooks is the ENVY 15. Stated to be a versatile all-rounder that redefines technological imitations that understands mobile and performance needs, the ENVY 15 features a sleek, metal design with an edge-to-edge flush glass display for beautiful viewing experiences. Powering the ENVY 15 is an Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, 1TB SATA hard drive for storage, one USB Type-C port and 3 USB Type-A ports. The ENVY 15 will have a starting price of RM 3,699.

Lastly, HP has revealed the business-centric Elitebook Folio G1. Sporting an Intel Core M processor, 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, up to 256GB of SSD storage and two USB Type-C Thunderbolt ports, the Elitebook Folio G1 is constructed out of hand-selected materials that makes it tougher than your average laptop. HP’s own suite of software is also available in the laptop itself to help beef up the security of the Elitebook Folio G1, allowing you to utilise the laptop to conduct business without needing to worrying about the device’s security. Pricing for the Intel Core m7 variant of the Elitebook Folio G1 begins at RM 6,199.

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HP debuts world’s smallest All-in-One Deskjet 3700 printer

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Its great to have things getting smaller these days and HP has done it with its new Deskjet 3700 All-in-One inkjet printer, it is the world’s smallest all-in-one printer and you might even mistaken it as a common inkjet printer. The Deskjet 3700 supports print, copy and scan via USB and Wi-Fi, users can print and scan directly from their smartphones with HP’s All-in-One Remote app, which is available as a free download for Android and iOS devices. in terms of specs, the Deskjet 3700 prints black color in 1200×1200 dpi and 19 ppm, colour in 4800×1200 dpi and 15ppm, which makes it a reasonably fast printer.

There’s a reason on how this All-in-One printer is made so compact, as HP has cleverly replaced the flatbed scanner with a scan beam, which is conveniently located on on top of the printer as a feeder that lets clips on to your paper once you insert it, which thereafter you can choose to make a copy of your document or photo and scan it to your PC or smartphone, this is a user-friendly printer targeted at families, college students and individuals. In addition, users can also conveniently print photos from a Facebook Messenger conversation using HP Printbot, a feature in the app that allows you to add printers, print from the printer’s history and order replacement supplies.

The HP Deskjet All-in-One 3700 inkjet printer is now available in stores, it can be had for RM379 inclusive of GST with colour options of Sea Grass Green, Electric Blue and Cardinal Red. For more information, head on over to www.hp.com/go/deskjet3700

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The new HP Elite Dragonfly is an ultralight convertible that weighs from less than 1kg

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The HP Elite Dragonfly finally arrived in Malaysia and it’s an ultralight business notebook that starts at the weight of 0.99kg.

The Elite Dragonfly can be easily carried around with it’s 13.3-inch IPS display that can support up to 4K resolution. In addition to a Corning Gorilla Glass 5, users can also make use of the HP Sure View Integrated Privacy Screen to prevent strangers from peeking at the contents on the display.

Powered by 8th Generation Intel Core processors, users are given a few options including the i7-8665U, i5-8365U and i3-8145U. The notebook also has 16GB RAM that can be paired with up to 2TB NVMe storage and uses an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620. The Elite Dragonfly is also the first in HP’s line to support Wi-Fi 6. Users get to pick between a 2-cell battery or a 4-cell battery to go with its HP Smart 65W USB Type-C adapter; if you pick the latter, then the notebook will offer up to 24.5 hours of battery life.

In terms of connectivity, the Elite Dragonfly features two Thunderbolt ports, a HDMI port and a USB 3.1 Gen.1 port. It is also integrated with a spill-resistant, backlit keyboard that is paired with either a 720p HD webcam or a HD Privacy IR webcam.

It is worth mentioning that the Elite Dragonfly is the first business notebook that is made with ocean bound plastic with its keycaps being made of 50% recycled plastic. Available in a gorgeous iridescent blue finish. It is priced from RM6,500 and can be purchased at HP Online Store or selected online store partners like Lazada and Shopee.

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HP ends the year with a slew of new products

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With 2015 coming to a close, HP has decided to sent 2015 off with a bang by introducing a handful of premium PCs that feature exlusive form factors, sleek industrial designs, high-resolution displays and audio by Bang & Olufsen, each of which comes with powerful processors and Windows 10.

First on the list of PCs shown off by HP is the HP Spectre X2. This machine is made for customers who prefer a tablet-first design without compromising on productivity. To that end, the Spectre X2 combines a thin and light tablet design with the productivity of a notebook with a superior metal keyboard for the best of both worlds. The tablet has a 10 hour battery life, and when it is not attached to the keyboard, weighs around 850g and has a thickness of just eight millimeters. With the keyboard attached to the tablet, the Spectre X2 weighs in at 1.2 kg and measures 13.15 millimeters in thickness, making it the thinnest 2-in-1 PC HP has ever made.

For productivity, the HP Spectre x2 comes with a full-sized, 1.5 millimeter travel keyboard that easily detaches and attaches with a magnetic connector, allowing it to transform from to a notebook or a tablet on the fly. A 120 x 55 millimeter touchpad with Precision TouchPad (PTP) technology is also available for the Spectre x2, giving users a smooth experience when using Microsoft’s Edge browser. Furthermore, the touchscreen display is optimised for the use of a stylus.

The tablet experience comes full circle as the Spectre x2 offers three cameras. There is a HP Truevision FHD 5MP front facing camera for web chats, a HP Truevision HD 8MP rear facing camera to take pictures and shoot videos, and finally, an Intel RealSense Camera R200 to capture and enable 3D experiences. Other accessories for the Spectre x2, such as the HP Acitve Pen, will be made available soon. The Spectre x2 is now available with a retail price of RM 3,999.

Riding on the Star Wars hype, HP has also revealed the Star Wars Special Edition notebook. Featuring a “battle-worn” distressed design with “Galactic Empire” written in the unique Star Wars Aurebesh font on the finge and the iconic Stormtroppers on the keyboard dect, this laptop comes with a Full HD 15.6 inch display, 7 hours of battery life, and a choice of sixth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. Prices for the Star Wars Special Edition notebook begins at RM 3,999.

HP’s Spectre x360 also makes an appearance at the event . The Spectre x360 has been updated as it now sports the 6th generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors on top of a lightning fast SSD with a storage space of up to 256GB. A limited edition 13.3 inch Ash Silver with Copper accented Spectre x360 is also on display, celebrating Bang & Olufsen’s 90th anniversary. The Spectre x360 has a starting price of RM 4,999 and is available now.

Traditional notebooks were not neglected as the HP ENVY was shown off at the event too. The latest HP ENVY 13 comes with a 13.3 inch screen that offers Quad HD+ resolution, dual speakers which are tuned by Bang & Olufsen, as well as dual fans and a lift hinge that promotes better air circulation under the device, keeping it cool and quiet. The HP TrueVision Webcam on the ENVY features dual array microphones with noise cancellation technology and the fingerprint reader takes advantage of Windows Hello, allowing users to log on to their PC with a swipe of a finger. The HP ENVY 13 has a starting price of RM 3,699.

Lastly, HP unveils the latest entry of the Pavillion Gaming notebook. With a 15.6 inch display, the Pavillion Gaming notebook comes with boosted hardware to offer the processing power and great graphics gamers demand in an afforadble and portable gaming PC. Memory intensive applications would not be a factor for the notebook as it is capable of supporting up to 16GB of system memory. Prices for the HP Pavillion Gaming notebook begins at RM 3.499.

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HP Envy 13 and Envy X360: Laptops that are sleek and sturdy, both on the outside and inside.

551

The HP Envy 13 and Envy X360 are great all-rounder notebooks – they’ve got the looks, the hardware, and the safety features to make it worthy of being your daily driver.

While they’re both similar in many ways, there are also certain key differences – the HP Envy X360 comes with a flexible 13.3-inch display that allows you to prop the device up in tent-mode, useful for presentations; or bend it 360-degrees and use it like a tablet. The Envy 13
(which has now been updated with the latest 10th-Gen Intel Core CPUs
) is your more conventional laptop but is incredibly lightweight, weighing at 1.2kgs.

Both sport a sturdy aluminium chassis that offers the protection the laptop needs when you take it everywhere you go; the Envy X360 comes in Dark Ash Silver (which, despite its name, is technically grey), as well as Natural Silver. The Envy 13 too is available in Natural Silver, while Pale Gold is your other option. Sure, these are business-centric laptops, but the designs will be sure to turn heads.

Its aesthetics are for all to see – but for your eyes only, both laptops sport a Full HD WLED display which offer crisp output of content along with a wide gamut of colours. Plus, with the micro-edge design, the panel has thin bezels on the sides for a fuller display.

On that aluminium body, you’ll also find a set of upward-firing speakers just above your keyboard – they’re tuned by Bang & Olufsen so your music will be that much richer. In case you need to work in the dark, you’ll be glad to know that the keyboard on both laptops are back-lit in white – no unnecessary RGB here.

Speaking of the keyboard, just below it you’ll find the fingerprint scanner that blends with the rest of the body. Providing next level privacy at a touch of a button, it’s there to help you unclutter your mind of passwords and prevent anyone from stealing your data, unless of course you lose your fingers. Plus, the fingerprint reader is a tiny unobscured square where your palm rests, so your laptop looks as tapered as possible.

For security The HP Envy 13 and Envy X360 laptops have other tricks up their sleeves too. One of which is the Webcam Kill Switch. The name says it all – at the side of your Envy notebook is a physical toggle that lets you disable your webcam with a simple flick.

You’ll find this switch tucked away at the side of the already very thin frame. It’s located next to a few other I/O ports to keep things neat. Plus, it’s easy to reach and has a tactile bump, so you can react in an instant.

The HP Envy 13 and Envy X360 HP Wide Vision HD cameras that have integrated dual array microphones, great for you when
you’re
using it, not so great if an attacker gets hold of it. Considering these notebooks are made to be brought everywhere, you’ll need to keep hackers out of your company meetings or your Netflix and chill sessions. So being able to instantly disable your webcam as soon as you notice something amiss will help keep your privacy safe.

Because the HP Envy is made to be used in both business and lifestyle environments, you’re going to have a lot of important data stored in there. The HP Bios Recovery tool helps make sure you don’t lose any of it – use it to roll back to an earlier state, preserving your system and files at the time of your back up – the only catch, of course is that you need to back up often.

So the HP Envy 13 and Envy X360 notebooks are proper daily drivers thanks to its mix of style and practicality – they’ve got the power to match their looks, and a few top notch security features to boot.

If you’d like to own the HP Envy 13 or
Envy X360
 visit the official HP
online store
 or drop by any authorized HP retailer.

This article is sponsored by HP

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HP Envy 13, Envy 15 and Envy x360 refreshed with new Intel 10th Gen and AMD Ryzen CPUs

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HP has introduced three refreshed entries to their Envy line-up which includes the HP Envy 13, HP Envy 15, and the HP Envy x360 which now come packed with the newest Intel Core 10
th
-Gen CPUs.

Starting with the HP Envy 13 – it measures at 13.3-inches and can pack up to a 4K UHD display with a micro-edge design that offers more screen real-estate;
plus,
 it pushes a 95% sRGB
colour
 output, which makes it great of creators. On top of that, the laptop’s all-metal chassis adds to the premium touch.

Under the hood, the Envy 13 can be configured with up to an Intel Core i7-1065G7 chip along with an NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU for added rendering power. For memory and storage, you get up to 8GB DDR4-3200Mhz of RAM, or 16GB of DDR4-2666Mhz memory; and up to 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD for storage.

Moving on to the Envy 15 now – it packs a larger 15.6-inch display that can be configured with up to an FHD IPS WLED panel with an 100% sRGB
colour
 output. This too comes with HP’s signature micro-edge bezel design.

When it comes to the hardware, the Envy 15 can be equipped with up to a 10
th
-Gen

Intel Core 17 chip and a whopping NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti GPU that’s not only good for gaming, but GPU rendering too. It comes with a vapor cooling chamber to
maximise
 heat dissipation, ensuring your laptop runs smoothly every time.

The laptop comes with an 83Wh battery and HP claims it offers 16.5 hours battery life, while the 150W adapter provides a 50% charge in 45mins – which comes in handy for folks who’re always on the go.

Lastly, we come to the HP Envy x360 13, which is a flexible device that lets you set your monitor up like a tablet or even in tent mode for presentations.

Under the hood is an AMD Ryzen chip with integrated Radeon Graphics. For storage, you get up to a 1TB PCIe SSD. On top of that, HP claims that the laptop charges up to 50% in just 30 minutes.

The HP Envy 13 is available from RM4,399; the Envy 15 will set you back RM5,799, while the Envy x360 13 will start from RM3,799.
 Visit HP’s website
here
 to learn more about the laptops.

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HP Envy 13 and Envy 15: Powerful hardware that doesn’t hold back creativity

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A lot of today’s creative work – be it a piece of art, or a big-money advertisement – is done digitally on a computer; often times you’re looking at a beefy machine used for its heavy-duty hardware. But in 2020, the kind of powerful hardware creatives love have shrunk so small in size that they can fit in a laptop!

HP Envy 13

The HP Envy 13 and Envy 15 devices are prime examples of how something compact can sport the most beastly of hardware capable of taking on the most intensive art projects. Take the latter for example – you’re looking at the option of up to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX1660ti graphics card that easily shaves off wait times thanks to GPU rendering. Creatives like video editors, graphic designers, and digital illustrators can produce more detailed content at a fraction of the time needed for rendering because of this.

The smaller HP Envy 13 is no slouch either as it comes with up to an Intel 10th-Gen processor that is as capable as it is power efficient. On top of that, you’re also getting an NVIDIA GeForce MX350 integrated graphics chip for that extra boost of power.

HP Envy 15

To compliment the powerful set of hardware on both laptops are equally capable memory and storage configurations – the Envy 13 can be equipped with up to 16GB of DDR4 2666Mhz RAM and up to a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD for storage; while the Envy 15 packs up to 32GB of DDR4 2933Mhz RAM and two 1TB PCIe NVMe drives for 2TB of total storage.  With these SSD drives, you’re getting speedy boot times and transfer speeds too!

With all that blistering power, a laptop needs to stay cool to perform at its best – thankfully, the Envy 15 comes equipped with a vapor cooling chamber that benefits from the 12-volt fans that help cool down the laptop under heavy loads – which will be often for any creative or creator.

HP Envy 13

Enabling all of this recourse-taxing work are the laptops impressive battery capacities – the Envy 13, despite its size, is capable of up to 19.5 hours of battery life and charges up to 50% in just 30 minutes, while the more powerful Envy 15 offers up to 16.5 hours, but supports HP Fast Charge technology that gets it back up to 50% battery in just 45 minutes of charge. So not only can busy creators rely on the laptop’s long battery life, they can count on them to charge in no time as well – useful for those who’re always on the go.

Speaking of working long hours, we know the modern-day creative or creator toils away day and night, staring at the same screen; so, it’s imperative that the laptop’s display is of the best quality to make the job more bearable. HP understands the struggle, so they’ve packed the Envy 13 with a gorgeous micro-edge display that is 100% RGB rated for the most accurate colour output. Plus, it’s options galore on the type of panel you want as you can choose up to FHD micro-edge display with edge to edge glass and HP Sure View integrated privacy screen for the best image output and privacy while you’re designing.

HP Envy 15

For the Envy 15, the display options go up to a FHD, anti-glare, IPS screen with WLED backlight – an even better option for creators. Not only do you get outstanding display quality and colour accuracy, you’ll also get to enjoy the larger screen size, and with the micro-edge bezels, you’re getting much more screen real-estate too. You can also opt for a multi-touch display which could come in handy – pun intended – for creators who want more control over their work.

For those who prefer to work in public spaces, the Envy series laptops are also incredibly thin and light – the HP Envy 13 and Envy 15 are super thin and lightweight laptops. The former measures at 16.9mm in thickness and weighs from 1.3kg; while the latter is 18.45mm thin and weighs 2.15kg.

HP Envy 15

But being so light and easy to carry around, both Envy laptops come equipped with thoughtful security features to keep your creations safe. Both the Envy 13 and 15 come with a fingerprint reader which also lets you unlock your device quickly; a physical webcam shutter so you don’t have to use tape to cover your lens, and a dedicated mic mute button in case you need to say something without the whole chat room hearing – useful considering how many people are working remotely now.

All of these features are easily accessible on the keyboard, so you no longer have to fumble with your settings and applications when you’re on that work conference call.

Speaking of working remotely, lugging your laptop around and using it in crowded places make a great recipe for a broken laptop – think spilled coffee, or just people knocking your laptop over at a busy café. Well, rest easy knowing that both these HP devices are covered with 2 years of Accidental Damage Protection, so you don’t have to fork out extra to fix your laptop.

HP Envy 15

Not only that, both HP Envy laptops will come with the Microsoft Home & Office 2019 package worth RM529, for free! You can start creating on your Envy right away as the software will be pre-installed on the laptops.

There you have it, two devices that not only offer the kind of power a creator demands, but also the portability to suit the fast-paced work environment. The HP Envy 13 is priced from RM4,399, while the HP Envy 15 starts at RM5,799.

The HP Envy 13 and HP Envy 15 are available now in Malaysia via the
HP Online Store
 or HP authorised dealers on
Lazada
 and
Shopee
.

This article is sponsored by HP Malaysia

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HP Envy 13 Review: An Ultrabook With a Dedicated Graphics Chip

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Ultrabooks are probably the prettiest laptops to own with their slim and sleek profile, who would not want to one one of these beauties and the word Ultra is not just for fun as most of them come with very decent processors and enough amount of ram to do all the multitasking and work that you need to do. However, there is always one problem where ultrabooks come up short and that’s in the graphics department. HP has decided to bump up the ultrabook game by including a GeForce MX150 into their Envy 13 laptop in hopes to make ultrabooks more worth the money, let’s check it out if that is enough to start eyeing ultrabooks.

Just looking at it will easily tell you that this is one premium looking laptop and it’s pretty obvious from the cover of the laptop to the sleek curves and finishes that comes with the overall profile. This is definitely a design profile that will work whether you are in the business line trying to make a deal of a lifetime or just a university student grinding for your exams and rushing to finish your assignments. Just like all ultrabooks, it is light and easy to carry around weighing only 1.32kg you will definitely not have any issues transporting this device around.

I am not too sure if HP intended to have one USB port and Type-C Gen 1 ports on either side or if that’s a coincidence in design, but I love that the made the accessibility for left and right handers easier as I can see it in some of my friends that struggle with laptops that tend to use one side of the laptop more than the other.

The only problem with this is that there is a microSD card slot rather than a regular SD card which is somewhat of a questionable choice, as most cameras use a standard SD cards and if it were the case of microSD card in a  phone, you could simply just connect your phone to the computer to access the SD card it in. Looking at the design, they have more than enough space to make it a full-size SD card reader

Flipping it open you will realize that the laptop somewhat props up and this is thanks to the hinge design that slightly elevates the laptop but don’t worry about scratching the glossy surface as there are rubber bumps that do the work of lifting it up, so the glossy hinge is kept nice and shiny this also helps with the airflow as it easier for air to rush from the bottom of the laptop into it effectively giving more air to cool the device.

Once fully open you are greeted with a gorgeous full HD IPS screen that is simply lovely to look at. Colours are nice and that is further enhanced with the great viewing angles that come with an IPS display. Going down from that is the keyboard which is really nice to type on as the keycaps have a nice size and the spacing is just perfect so you will have a nice typing experience when using this keyboard.

There is also backlighting for the keyboard but I did wish that they gave the option to control the intensity of the light as they only provided the option to turn it off and on, not a big issue but a nice feature to be included for those that work in dark environments or just want a subtle lighting effect. Sadly when it comes to the touchpad that’s where I believe HP could improve on, the tracking is really nice and it is very easy to navigate the laptop but when pressing on it, you would need to press a little bit harder as it gives you the impression that you have pressed the left click but in reality, that is just the touchpad plate resting on the left click button to which you need to go all the way down to actually send the input to the computer.

They have also included a Bang and Olufsen speakers in this compact laptop and the speakers are no joke. They sound great and if you want to tweak it to your liking, they have included the HP Audio Manager where you can adjust the bass, treble and dialogue clarity of the speaker to fit your liking.

This version of the Envy 13 comes with really great specs, like an 8th Gen i7-8550U processor 512GB SSD storage alongside the NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics card but they still choose to go with 8GB LPDDR3 RAM which is questionable decision to use DDR3 RAMs in 2017. RAM aside, It definitely shows its performance when it comes to everyday task like browsing the internet and even using Photoshop which is thanks to the dedicated graphics card included. It can even perform decently when it comes to gaming, sure you will not play games like the likes of Witcher 3 or Call of Duty: World War 2, but games like Dota works fine on it and if you are willing to drop the resolution below FHD for destiny 2, it can actually run decently well.

Battery life of this beauty is also decent, HP has mentioned that it can go up to 14 hours of battery life, but during my use I find that I can easily get 8 to 9 hours of battery life which is just perfect for a day’s worth of use if you are just browsing the web, drafting up a document or just watching your favorite videos on Youtube. You will definitely not need to worry about the laptop dying on you halfway throughout your day.

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HP has introduced a gaming headphone that can cool your ears

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If some of you are like me, you know the horrors of wearing a headphone while gaming. Your ears heat up and eventually, you will start feeling sharp pains where the earcups press into your ears. HP has come up with a solution to that by introducing headphones that cool down your ears when gaming.

The headphones are called the Omen Mineframe Headset and it uses thermoelectric magnets to cool your ears. It works by sending an electrical charge to create a Pelter Effect, an effect that absorbs or releases heat when passed through a junction between two materials. It gives you a cool feeling when you press the earcups to your head but they are powered via USB. Other than that, they also improved the design of the headphone by adding noise cancellation and breathable fabric cups.

The headphones will be available in October and come with a price tag of $199. They did not mention if these headphones will be available all around the world, but we expect it should.

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HP introduces an upgraded version of the HP ENVY 13 laptop

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HP Malaysia has introduced the new and premium ENVY 13 laptop that offers the performance, design and innovation that is needed for the current generation. It is HP’s statement that proves, light can also be powerful with improvements in performance and design.

Improvements in the laptop can be found in the durable metal chassis offered in natural silver and silk gold. Complimenting that is a sleek angular lift hinge which allows the fan to easily circulate air, offering a more comfortable typing experience. The screen is an FHD screen with quad speakers and discrete amplifiers for you to consume all your media in the best quality possible. The HD camera with wide viewing angles for those of you that are always speaking with your love ones. As always, security is always a worry especially in this day and age, with Windows Hello your device is always protected and patched to keep treats away. Finally, the i7 processors with an optional dedicated graphics from NVIDIA will allow for better resolution and colours for those of you that edits photos, videos or just want some casual gaming.

The HP ENVY 13 is available in September with a price tag of RM3,999. If you are interested in this or any other HP products, visit their official website
here
.

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HP introduces ZBook Firefly G9 with 12th Gen Intel processors

3.3K

Most content creation laptops are heavy and bulky, yet thin and light laptops lack power that content creators require on the go, and HP is making that frustration go away wit the ZBook Firefly G9 workstation laptop, which comes in a 14-inch or 16-inch 16:10 DreamColor display and weighs as light as 1.47kg.

The ZBook Firefly G9 comes equipped with 12th Gen Intel Core processors and can be equipped with a NVIDIA T550 or RTX A500 Laptop GPU, they can be configured up to 64GB of DDR5 memory for heavy creative workflows, and comes with WiFi 6E and optional 5G so that mobile creative users will always be on the fast lane whenever they go.

HP claims up to 13-hours of battery life on a single charge, which is very impressive considering the power demanding components it needs to handle, the ZBook Firefly G9 also comes with a 5MP AI enhanced auto framing camera that tracks your movement for a great video call experience.

HP Malaysia says that the ZBook Firefly G9 will be made available later in June this year, interested customers can contact the HP For Business hotline directly at +603 7627 6550 for enquiries or visit this link
here
to reserve your interest.

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HP updates the design go its Envy laptop series with real, natural wood

375

How do you make a laptop outstanding? Well, it seems like HP’s answer to that is by incorporating wood into its laptops’ design. Its Envy laptops will now have an extra option when it comes to their designs — wood.

The HP Envy laptops will soon be available in three different types of colour combination depending the type of woods use. As the woods used are from real but dead trees, you can expect each laptop to come with a different pattern. The wood/colour options for the laptops are Nightfall Black with Natural Walnut, Ceramic White with White Birch and Natural Silver with Pale Birch.

Image credit: HP

Not only do the laptops get a new material design, they also get upgrades in terms of processors. It is said that the Envy laptops will be offered with the latest Intel processors or AMD’s second-generation Ryzen Mobile processors. The Envy laptops that are getting these updates include the HP Envy 13, the Envy x360 13 and 15, and the Envy 17.

These laptops will be officially on sale this fall but like many of the products announced at Computex, their pricing are still a mystery.

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HP launches #fromthedeskof campaign

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Famous Malaysian personalities and HP Malaysia have come together to unveil the #fromthedeskof campaign.

Starting on the 18th of April until the 18th of May, those interested can take part in the #fromthedeskof campaign and stand to win prizes from HP themselves. All you have to do is to submit an original flat lay photo of your desk. Then, you’ll need to post it on your Facebook profile with the #fromthedeskof hashtag alongside #HPMY and HPX360 or HPX2. Once done, make sure that your post is set to public.

Your photos will then be judged by a team of renowned personalities. This team includes Asia’s leading fashion influencer Wak Doyok, populat songstress Min Chen, and talented food artist Samantha Lee. Those whose photos were chosen as the winners will win a HP premium laptop. HP is planning to give away a total of RM 13,000 worth of laptops during this campaign, which means that will be at least three winners in this campaign.

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HP launches the new and improved OMEN by HP gaming laptops and desktop

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Today, HP has launched the OMEN by HP line of products in Malaysia which is re-designed and re-engineered from the ground up. The new line up will give gamers and esports athletes the edge and confidence needed to perform at the highest global level.

First, is the OMEN by HP Desktop, designed for the true performance gamer that has features to enhance functionality and usability. With that, HP has made sure the components in the casing is easily accessible for adding on parts or maintenance. The desktop features high-performance graphics with up to dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or dual Radeon RX580, allowing you to run games at the highest settings with resolutions above 1080p.

Other than that, it is equipped with an Intel Core i5 or i7, thermal engineering with all-around edge vents and optional liquid cooling, optional PCIe SSD or SSD and HDD storage options, OMEN Command Center with Overclocking to improve CPU performance on the fly and Network Booster to reduce latency.

Next is the OMEN by HP Laptops which were completely reinvented and redesigned in 2017 to offer more expansion capabilities, additional ports and more VR compatibility. The laptops will come in two variants, the 15-inch version and 17-inch, with slight changes in the specs offered.

The laptops will also feature high-performance desktop grade Radeon RX550 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 thanks to the Max-Q design, and the OMEN 17 will feature NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX 580, 7th-Gen Intel Core-i Quad Core processors, high-performance cooling  with multi-fan, heat pipe, and exhaust to keep the system cool even when gaming, integrated HP Dual Speakers with audio by Bang & Olufsen, Dragon-red backlit keyboard with 26-key rollover anti-ghosting, 4K display option or 120Hz 1080p display with NVIDIA G-Sync or 60Hz 1080p with FreeSync on the Radeon configuration, and easy access panel to HDD, SSD and RAM.

Both the OMEN Desktop and Laptop is currently available for purchase at all authorised HP shops. The OMEN Desktop will retail starting from RM5,999, the OMEN 15 Laptop retails from RM4,499 and the OMEN 17 Laptop will retail starting from RM8,899. For more information on these new OMEN products, visit the official website here.

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HP launches the business-centric Elite x3 in Malaysia

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Many smartphones that were recently launched are targeted towards the everyday user. However, the HP Elite x3 isn’t such a device, as it is a smartphone that is built for business.

A business-centric smartphone requires high-end specifications, and the HP Elite x3 doesn’t disappoint in that department. For starters, the device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB of of expandable storage, a 4,150mAh battery, a 16MP rear camera and a 8MP front camera. Another interesting thing to note is that the Elite X3 comes with Pogo pins, giving the smartphone modular capabilities should HP wishes to roll them out to the general market.

For software, HP has opted to install Windows 10 Mobile onto the Elite x3. This gives the device access to some of Windows 10’s best features like Windows Hello logon and Continuum. Most importantly, Windows 10 Mobile brings with it an additional layer of software security, allowing you to work on your projects in peace.

The presence of Continuum means that the Elite x3 can be operated as a desktop version of Windows 10 as well. This can be done via a whole set of peripherals that will complement the Elite x3. For starters, there’s the Desk Dock, a charging dock with ports that allow you to operate the device like a typical desktop. There’s also the Lap Dock, a Surface-like peripheral which allows you to leverage Continuum by connecting the Elite x3 either through a wire or wirelessly. Other peripherals also exist, such as phone cases and a wireless charging station.

Disclaimer: Prices shown above are in Ringgit Malaysia

As mentioned earlier, the HP Elite x3 is first and foremost a business-centric device, and as such, it carries a rather huge pricetag. The HP Elite x3 will come with a starting price of RM3,599, which includes the Desk Dock bundled in. As the image above shows, various other bundles for the Elite x3 exists as well, but all of them aren’t what we would consider affordable.

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HP launches world’s first leather convertible laptop

349

HP has officially announced the release of their new range of Premium PC in Malaysia that combines a perfect combination of premium design, security, and performance on their latest invention which is the HP Spectre Folio, HP Spectre 13 x 360, and HP Spectre 15 x 360. The new Premium PC’s are dedicated for individuals who are always on the go and wants a PC that could cater to both work and leisure.

HP Spectre Folio

A stunning leather convertible PC, the HP Spectre Folio blends timeless craftsmanship with the latest technology, which results a product unlike any other. It comes in 100 percent chromed tan, full grain leather that provides a natural hinge and flexible chassis to enable a breakthrough form factor that help converts between three position such as a traditional laptop, tent and tablet.

To achieve a thin and light design, the HP Spectre Folio comes with one of the smallest motherboards in the industry, by collaborating with Intel, the HP Spectre Folio uses an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 and i7 (Y series) processor. Besides that, the HP Spectre Folio supports dual eSIM with an optional nano-SIM slot and an optional embedded digital eSIM that makes it the world first PC that supports 4G LTE and an amazing battery life that could last up to 18 hours.

HP Spectre 13 x 360 and HP Spectre 15 x 360

The new HP Spectre 13 x 360 and HP Spectre 15 x 360 comes in a sophisticated design which is practical with the gem cut design highlighting every angle of the device that could only be achieved by aluminium CNC machining. The dual chamfer also makes the lid easier to lift from three sides, and the angled USB-C port is placed in the faceted edge for better cable management.

Both PC’s are equipped with the latest 8th Gen Intel Core processors, improved thermal designs, diagonal 4K micro edge display, enhanced inking experiences, and boosted security features such as HP Sure View privacy screen, BIOS recovery software and a privacy camera kill switch.

The HP Spectre 15 x 360 comes with the latest 8th Gen Intel six core processor with NVIDIA GeForce GTX  1050Ti with Max Q design or the latest 8th Gen Intel quad-core processors with NVIDIA GeForce MX 150 whereas the HP Spectre 13 x 360 boasts a whopping 22.5 hours of battery life for users to power through their longest days and nights. The HP Spectre 13 x 360 and HP Spectre 15 x 360 comes in both Poseidon Blue with pale brass accents and Dark Ash Silver with cooper luxe accents.

The HP Spectre 13 x 360 and HP Spectre 15 x 360 will be available for purchase this December whereas the availability of the HP Spectre Folio will be announced soon.

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HP launches ZBook Firefly G8 in Malaysia with NVIDIA Quadro T500 GPU

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HP has just launched the new ZBook Firefly G8 which is targeted towards professional creators and designers.

The laptop comes in two sizes – 14-inch and 15.6-inch; the panels are equipped with the DreamColor technology which allows a billion on-screen colors to be displayed at any time. On top of that, the display is also PANTONE-validated.

Under the hood, you can pack up to an NVIDIA Quadro T500 GPU along with an Intel Core 11
th
-Gen CPU. For memory and storage, you can plop up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage via an NVMe SSD.

In terms of design, the laptops sport a sleek, and think frame; and at its heaviest, it only weighs 1.7KGs. They’re also equipped with HP’s Premium Collaboration Keyboard which is spill-resistant, backlit, and layered with HP’s DuraKey design which is more wear-resistant compared to regular keys.

The HP ZBook Firefly G8 is priced from RM5,959; visit HP’s website
here
to make your purchase.

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HP Malaysia launches all-new ENVY 16 and Spectre x360 laptops

8.4K

HP Malaysia has unveiled the ENVY 16 and Spectre x360 laptop in Malaysia, these are creator focused laptops powered by 12th Gen Intel processors while the ENVY 16 is probably the first laptop in Malaysia to come with Intel’s Arc graphics, these are certainly the most exciting laptops that HP have brought to the market this year.

HP ENVY 16

The ENVY 16 is a 16-inch laptop that comes with a 16:10 aspect ratio display that sports a resolution of 2560×1600 and refreshes at 120Hz, the display features 400 nits of brightness and covers 100% sRGB color gamut with a Delta value of E<2, which makes this one of the most color accurate displays in its class.

Performance wise, the ENVY 16 is powered by either a Core i5-12500H or Core i7-12700H, while depending on the configuration, the laptop’s graphics power is either juiced by a RTX 3060 Laptop GPU with 6GB VRAM or an Intel Arc A370M graphics with 4GB of VRAM, it can be configured with up to 32GB of DDR5-4800MHz RAM with two SODIMM memory slots, and two PCIe NVME SSD with RAID 0 configuration.

In other features, the HP ENVY 16 features a HP TrueVision 5MP IR camera with a privacy shutter, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, HDMI 2.1, MicroSD card reader, and quad speakers by Bang and Olufsen.

The HP ENVY 16 will start at RM6,999 and can be purchase at HP.com or authorized resellers nationwide.

HP Spectre x360

As for the Spectre x360, this is a beautiful 2-in-1 laptop that weighs from 1.37kg and comes with up to a 13.5-inch 3K2K touch OLED display, HP also offers the laptop with an IPS panel that comes with a lower 1920×1280 resolution and HP Sure View Reflect technology, a feature that can limit viewing angles to prevent someone from looking at your screen from the side.

Performance wise, the Spectre x360 is an Intel Evo certified laptop and is powered by a power efficient Core i7-1255U or Core i5-1235U processor, it can be configured with up to 32GB of LPDDR4x-4266MHz memory and 2TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD, ports selection include two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port and a MicroSD card reader, it also has the same 5MP webcam that’s present on the ENVY 16.

The HP Spectre x360 will retail from RM7,199 and can be purchased at HP.com or authorized resellers nationwide.

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HP Malaysia is offering attractive prizes through their HP Meriahkan Rayaku campaign

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In conjunction with the holy month of Ramadhan, HP Malaysia is bringing some attractive promotions to consumers in the form of HP Meriahkan Rayaku campaign running from 16 June 2017 to 31 July 2017 where you will be able to redeem a Microsoft Office 365 pack with every purchase of selected HP PCs and there will also be 10 gold bars with up to RM45,000 to be given out.

Kym Lim, Managing Director of HP mention that the campaign will inject the HP touch into this Raya celebration as a form of joy this season. To take part in this promotion, all you need to do is follow this simple steps:

Step 1
: Make a purchase of HP Pavilion, HP Spectre, HP Envy, HP OMEN or HP All-in-One series worth RM1,499 and above, pre-installed with Windows 10

Step 2
: Go to http://www.hp.com.my/hpmeriahkanrayaku, and fill up the information by following the instructions. Produce your proof of purchase and provide your responses to the quiz and slogan

Step 3
: Click the “Submit” button to send your entry. Redeem a pack of Microsoft Office 365 within FOURTEEN (14) days of purchase date on your receipt

Those of you that want to take part should also note that you can submit more than one entry to increase the chances of winning but only one unit of Microsoft Officer 365 can be redeemed in a single receipt and products purchased between RM1,400 to RM2,000 in a single receipt will be entitled to one entry, purchases between RM2,000 to RM4,000 will be entitled to two entries and purchases above RM4,001 will be entitled to four entries.

for more information on this campaign or any other HP products visit HP Malaysia official Facebook page
here
or their official website
here
.

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HP Malaysia unveils the value for money Pavilion x2 convertible laptop

243

HP Malaysia today announced the Pavilion x2 convertible laptop that is made for budget conscious productivity users who wants a great working device on the go. The HP Pavilion x2 is 10-inch
Windows tablet
 powered by a familiar Intel Atom Z3745D processor that comes with great productivity performance and power save features thanks to its 22nm process, it also comes with 2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC storage and has I/O ports such as a USB 3.0 port, one Micro USB 2.0, HDMI 1.4a and 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack.

The HP Pavilion x2’s detachable soft cover comes with a 97% size island-style keyboard and touch pad, it attaches to the
tablet
with its electrical pins and magnet and acts as a kickstand for the device making it look like a laptop. The great news here is, the soft cover will come by default in its retail packaging so you won’t need to buy one separately, though HP says that they will be introducing more designs of the soft cover in the near future. The combined weight of the cover and tablet is 928g, the Pavilion x2 comes with a 2-Cell 35Whr battery that promises up to 11:45 hours of battery life.

If you are interested, do head on over to your nearest PC reseller as the HP Pavilion x2 is now available at RM1,199 and it comes with genuine
Windows 8.1
 and Office 365 Personal preloaded.


HP officially launches the sleek looking Spectre x360

375

HP has officially introduced the new HP Spectre x360, the second generation x360 convertible that features a near zero border display and design that is 13 percent thinner and 11 percent lighter and is capable of delivering powerful performance. The battery life is also improved by 25 percent which will give you up to 15 hours of battery life, this is thanks to the optimisation HP has done to the laptop and fitting a larger 57.8W battery.

The new hinge design is 13.8mm thin, making it 2mm thinner than the previous generation and its lighter, coming in at 1.295kg compared to 1.45kg. The PC now features 4 speakers to deliver a crisper audio and thanks to tuning done by Bang & Olufsen plus HP Audio Boost the speakers provide superb overall sound.

The Spectre x360 is designed for Windows Ink, which provides a precise pen experience that was curated by the artist community. In addition to that, on the outside, you will find two USB-Type C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support and a USB-Type A 3.0 port. The display is a 13.3-inch diagonal FHD IPS panel that has good viewing angles and the Natural Sliver colour with polished accents on the hinges creates a sleek profile.

On the internals we see a new dual-fan design that optimizes thermals, 7th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, options with up to 256GB SSD, HP TrueVision FHD Webcam with 12% wider field of view, FHD IR camera that supports Windows Hello Facial Login and HP Fast Charge giving you 90 percent of battery life in just 90 minutes of charge

The HP Spectre x360 is currently available at all HP authorised outlets and will retail from RM5,299. For more information on this or other HP products, visit their official site
here
.

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HP OMEN 15 launched in Malaysia: Comes with a 300Hz display

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HP has just launched their new OMEN 15 gaming laptop that offers a well-rounded setup, including a FHD 300Hz monitor.

Under the hood is up to an Intel Core 10
th
 Gen i7 H-series CPU and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q. For storage, you can also pack the laptop with up to a 1TB PCIe SSD. There’s a minimum of 8GB RAM too.

The laptop is all black and comes with a per-key RGB backlit keyboard, a larger touchpad for better experience, and a narrower bezel.

When it comes to I/O ports, there are 3 Type A ports, 1 USB 3.2 Type C port, one HDMI and Mini DisplayPort, one combo headphone jack, and one ethernet port.

For audio, you get a dual setup engineered by Bang & Olufsen, as well as support for DTS X: Ultra for better surround sound.

Moving on, a gaming laptop’s only as good as its cooling system, and this laptop packs the OMEN Tempest Cooling tech along with three enlarged vents. The latest iteration features 25% larger fans, and a 62& increase in maximum airflow.

The HP OMEN 15 is priced from RM4,439 and is available to purchase now via HP’s
Lazada
 and
Shopee
 stores.

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HP OMEN 15 laptop and OMEN 25L PC now available with AMD Ryzen CPUs

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HP has officially announced the debut of AMD Ryzen processors in its gaming PCs — the HP OMEN 15 laptop and the HP OMEN 25L desktop.

HP OMEN 15

The HP OMEN 15 comes with either an AMD Ryzen 7 48000H CPU or an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H CPU. It has an integrated AMD Radeon graphics paired with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM and you can also get up to 1TB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage.

The laptop also comes with a 15.6-inch FHD display that supports a 144Hz refresh rate. In terms of I/O ports, the OMEN 15 has a USB-C port, three USB-A ports, an RJ-45 port, a Mini DisplayPort and an HDMI 2.0a port. You also get fast charging with this laptop, allowing to charge 50% in 45 minutes.

HP OMEN 25L

The OMEN 25L is powered by up to AMD Ryzen 7 3900 CPU and can support the latest NIVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060T GPU. However, the motherboard uses a B450 chipset so your options for upgrades down the line are limited. Apart from that, it supports up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and you can choose to have it with RGB lighting or without. You’ll also get an impressive storage of up to 2TB PCIe SSD storage and 2TB 7200rpm HDD storage.

The OMEN 25L has 4x USB SuperSpeed Type-A (5GB/s) — two on the top and two on the rear; 1x USB SuperSpeed Type-A (10Gb/s); 1x USB SuperSpeed Type-C (10Gb/s); 2x USB 2.0 Type-A and one Ethernet port.

Price and availability

The HP OMEN 15 and HP OMEN 25L are priced from RM3,899 and RM6,899 and can be found on the
official site
 and its official stores on
Shopee
 and
Lazada
.

HP OMEN 15
HP OMEN 25L


Buy a HP device and win an iPhone 11 Pro or get free gifts!

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If you’re a fan of HP, you’ll be glad to know that they’ll be offering a slew of promos and prizes in conjunction with being a Putra Brand Awards winner.

Happening from now until 30 November, you can stand to win an Apple iPhone 11 Pro when you purchase a HP product!

But if you don’t win it, fret not – there are other goodies that you can get. If you purchase a HP 14 Notebook, you’ll get RM100 worth of GrabPay credits; if you get any HP Envy series device, you’ll Microsoft Office 365 Personal suite for free!

If you’re more of a desktop person, get a HP Pavilion AiO – this will land you a HP DeskJet 1112 printer worth RM128. But if gaming is your thing, the HP OMEN or Pavilion gaming laptops will score you the Intel Gaming Bundle – this bundle includes titles like Total War: Three Kingdoms, Hitman 2, PUBG and more.

Visit HP’s
online store
 for the full list of participating products as well as to redeem your gifts.

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HP has refreshed the Spectre 13 with an 8th Gen Intel processor and a touch screen

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HP Malaysia has unveiled an updated version of the HP Spectre 13 to match the demands of today’s users. With longer battery life and a brilliant display, the Spectre 13 is here once again to amaze the Malaysian market.

The new Spectre 13 comes with an FHD touch display with the latest 8th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, making it a strong contender in the ultrabook market. Other than that, there is up to 512GB of PCIe SSD storage, up to 8GB of LPDDR3 memory and Intel UHD Graphics 620 for editing work. The speakers have also received an upgrade with more clear and crisp sound positioned just above the comfortable to use keyboard. Powering the device is an 11.5 hours battery with HP Fast Charge technology, giving you 50 percent of charge in just 30 minutes.

HP has priced the Spectre 13 at RM5,899 and it is currently available for purchase now at all authorised HP resellers. For more information on the laptop click
here
.

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HP refreshes the OMEN 15 and OMEN 17 gaming laptops with better gaming and multi-tasking performance

342

HP has unveiled the updated OMEN by HP gaming laptops that is now more portable as well as improved hardware and features that gamers demand. These OMEN laptops are the updated OMEN 15 and OMEN 17 and HP has claimed that it has met all the requirements that gamers have asked for.

The laptops are VR ready with a Max-Q Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 and an 8
th
 Generation Intel Core i7 processor with up to 8GB of DDR4, specs that are able to run the latest games and offer you a smooth multi-tasking experience aside from gaming. It also comes with a range of storage options like SSD, HDD, SSD + HDD or HDD + Intel Optane memory for faster storage performance.

HP has specially designed the fan to expel heat as fast as possible by including larger fans, 3-phase motor and fluid dynamic bearing that keeps the laptop quiet and offer a more consistent fan control. The vents are located at the bottom where air enters and the rear pushes the air out.

The laptops come with either a 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch display with options like 1080p 144hz, 1080p 60hz, a Nvidia G-Sync on selected configurations. The speakers are powered by Bang & Olufsen alongside a discreet audio amplifier. Those of you that prefer using headphones will be happy to know that the laptops support DTS Headphone: X

Following the trend of gaming laptops, the OMEN can be easily upgraded via the Philips-head screws on the base, with a single panel to access storage and memory. The OMEN 15 retails from RM4,485, while the OMEN 17 retails from RM8,699. The OMEN 15 is now available on HP Online Store and authorized HP resellers while the OMEN 17 will be available starting mid-September 2018.

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HP released the Omen X a powerful gaming laptop that can be overclocked

300

Just like the smartphone race, companies are also racing to release the best value gaming laptop and previously we covered the launch of the Omen by HP and what they offered was very appealing. They did not stop there because they have released another Omen laptop called the Omen X and it is a very powerful device.

The laptop comes with a 17-inch 4K display for the top end and a 120Hz 1080p display for the other variant. Both the screens will support Nvidia G-Sync and they will offer graphic cards up to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 with the ability to connect two displays. Just like the previous Omen models, it is very easy to upgrade the laptop with just a single panel covering the HDD, SSD and RAM.

HP has also included mechanical switches for the RGB keyboard and each key can be customized with programmable lighting animation. Ports-wise there is three standard USB ports, two USB Type-C Thunderbolt ports, HDMI port which supports HDR, mini DisplayPort, Ethernet port and a card reader slot.

The laptop will not come cheap as the base model which comes with an i7-7700HQ, GTX 1070, 1080p display, 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD with 1TB HDD will cost $1,999. The 4K display, i7-7700HQ, GTX 1080 and 32GB RAM will cost $2,349 and the highest end will cost $3,699 and comes with a GTX 1080, 4K display, an overclockable i7-7820HK processor, 32GB RAM and two 1TB SSD with 1TB HDD. No information has been shared about the Malaysian pricing but we will be attending the event when it does happen.

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HP reveals the Windows-powered, enterprise-centric Elite x3

374

Windows phones aren’t quite dead yet as HP has just revealed its new high-end flagship phone that runs on Windows 10 mobile – the HP Elite x3.

Marketed towards the corporate and enterprse sector, the Elite x3 is powered by a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The phone comes with a 5.96″ 2560×1440 AMOLED screen and features 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and LTE Advance connectivity.

Security on the the device is impressive as well, as the Elite x3 sports both iris recognition and a fingerprint reader. As for encryption standards, the Elite x3 features FIPS 140-2 cryptography, 256-bit key full disk encryption, TPM 2.0, protection against firmware rollback, and so on.

Possibly the most interesting thing about the HP Elite x3 however has to do with the Pogo pins located at the back of the phone. According to HP, the company hopes that third parties will be able to build an array of sleeves that fit over the phone to give it the extra capabilities it needs to meet all these industrial needs.

As the x3 uses Windows 10 Mobile, HP has designed a few peripherals that is meant to take advantage of the Continuum feature. The first is the Desk Dock, which is similar to Microsoft’s own dock for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. This allows you to dock the Elite x3 through its Type-C connector and comes with a DisplayPort, two USB Type-A, a USB Type-C, and RJ-45 Ethernet ports. The other accessory is the Mobile Extender. Described as a laptop without any working parts of its own, it contains a battery, a 1920×1080 12.5″ screen and a keyboard. To use this peripheral, one must connect the x3 to the device itself via USB Type-C.

HP has yet to announce the x3’s pricing and availablity, but they have promised that the x3 will be “competitive”. Considering that the Elite x3 is a flagship class phone, expect the pricing of the device to exceed the RM2,000 mark.

Source :
Ars Technica
,
Gizmodo (Image)

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