ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – It’s Great, But Why?

Unboxing the ASUS ROG Phone 6D
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Box

Inside the box, you can find the following items:
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Box content

USB-C to USB-C cable
65W charger
ROG Armor case
SIM ejector tool
ROG phone user guide
A matte plastic card
The ROG Phone 6D smartphone

Specifications

CPU
MediaTek Dimensity 9000+
1 x 3.35GHz Cortex-X2. 3 x 3.20GHz Cortex-A710 and 4 x 1.80GHz Cortex-A510
4nm

GPU
Mali-G710 MC10

Memory
12GB LPDDR5

Storage
256GB UFS3.1

Display
6.78” 20.4:9 2448×1080 (395ppi) 165 Hz
1ms AMOLED HDR10+ certified
720 Hz touch sampling rate, 23 ms touch latency
Brightness: 5 nits to 800nits @ APL100 + HBM or 1200nits @ APL1
111.23% DCI-P3, sRGB : 150.89%, Delta E average < 1
Contrast ratio: 1,000,000:1
Front 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
SGS Eye Care 6.5% & SGS Seamless Pro (120 Hz)
AS coating for reducing friction when hand sweating

Camera
50MP f/1.9 wide angle Sony IMX766 main sensor, PDAF
13MP f/2.2 ultra-wide
5MP macro camera

Selfie camera
12MP Sony IMX663 sensor

Connectivity
IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax(6E)
2×2 MIMO
3 Antenna Wi-Fi-Direct support
UL 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.2
Bluetooth Profile: HFP + A2DP + AVRCP + HID + PAN + OPP
Additional Bluetooth audio codec: LDAC + aptX + aptX HD + aptX Adaptive + AAC

Battery
6000mAh
Dual 3,000mAh batteries MMT design
65W (21V 3A) PD3.0 / QC5.0 / Direct Charge adapter

Dimensions
173 x 77 x 10.4 mm

Weight
239g

Colour
Space Gray

Ingress Protection
IPX4

Performance
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Antutu v9
Kicking off the benchmark suite with Antutu v9, the ROG Phone 6D has a stellar start as it easily achieved the top spot here. This means that the Dimensity 9000+ is packing quite a lot of firepower, CPU-wise at least, so not using a Snapdragon chip doesn’t mean you get weak performance.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Geekbench 5
A similar pattern can be seen in Geekbench 5, though it does perform significantly better in X-Mode. Highly likely, it doesn’t need to run in high power most of the time to be more battery-efficient, but it can really go the mile if you ever need the performance. The only devices that beat it are the iPhones, which shouldn’t be a surprise.

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ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited
Moving on to 3DMark, we decided to only focus on Wild Life as most flagship and gaming devices nowadays are too strong for the other tests. It performs reasonably well in Wild Life Unlimited, with a stability rating of 81.6% and 99.6% for standard and X-Mode respectively. This means that generally, you can expect consistent performance over a long use period.
This is likely due to the improved GameCool 6 thermal system, featuring Boron Nitride thermal compound, larger vapor chamber and graphite sheets for better heat dissipation. I genuinely believe you don’t need the AeroActive Cooler 6 to keep it running cool for most mobile games out there. Compared to the ROG Phone 6 Pro, the 6D loses out here likely due to the Pro having a stronger GPU, but the difference won’t amount to much when you’re actually gaming.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – PCMark Work 3.0
Lastly on PCMark’s Work 3.0, the ROG Phone 6D already had good numbers in standard mode, but it nearly crushes the entire competition in X-Mode. The only thing that managed to beat it is the ROG Phone 6 Pro in X-Mode with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. If this isn’t clear enough for you, then let me spell it out; the Dimensity 9000+ chip is a great chip as far as general performance is concerned, and is more than enough for everyday use.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Battery endurance test
For the battery life, we couldn’t include the ROG Phone 6 Pro here as I realized that it had adaptive brightness enabled during the PCMark Work 3.0 endurance test, which explains the unnaturally high numbers. Regardless, the ROG Phone 6D still managed to give out impressive numbers, and you’re better off using the Auto refresh rate instead of intentionally using the lowest one to save battery. You can easily expect all-day battery life unless you’re doing a mobile gaming marathon.
It’s great that ASUS decided to include a 65W charger in the box, as I believe it’s more than adequate for most users. Some devices aren’t including chargers and while other competitors are including chargers as high as 120W, that is more of a luxury at this point. I can say that for sure as I get good charging speed out of this, and here are the results:

15 minutes = 49%
30 minutes = 83%
36 minutes = 100%

Camera
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Camera modules
Gaming phones aren’t usually great in taking photos but just like its Snapdragon counterpart as well as its predecessor, that isn’t the case with the ROG Phone 6D. It’s worth noting that despite having 50MP, it saves the images in 12.5MP pictures as it’s using a Quad-Bayer sensor, but there is a mode that allows you to capture 50MP photos.

Generally, pictures come out relatively pleasing with good contrast and more natural colours as opposed to being oversaturated or bland. There is some heavy sharpening, especially with smaller details, but no artifacts here. There is no telephoto camera but it can capture decent 2x digitally zoomed shots.
The telephoto camera is comparable but certain things may look a bit odd depending on what you capture, likely due to the chip’s ISP. The macro camera isn’t particularly bad but the lack of autofocus is a bit of a shame since the fixed focus is a bit too far to take decent macro shots. The front camera is pretty decent, and it easily differentiates the subject from the background for bokeh shots, but pictures can come out a bit grainy and the skin softening effect can be rather extreme at times.
The Good
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Rear
The ASUS ROG Phone 6D was a bit of an oddity for me when you consider the other variants that exist. After laying my eyes on it, this is arguably the best looking one with its Space Gray colour scheme. Phantom Black looks too bland and Storm White is too flashy, so this hits the perfect spot. However, looks are subjective so it might not necessarily be your cup of tea.
Just like the other variants, the use of AirTriggers is great as you have more options in how you would to interact with mobile games. Sure, not every game will support its use and at times, the results can be weird but more and more games have added support for it so it shouldn’t be a problem. Personally for me, I would prefer physical buttons but I’d rather have this than to have none at all.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Display
Unsurprisingly, the display on the ROG Phone 6D is one of the best around. It has a whopping 6.78-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution, 165Hz refresh rate, 720Hz touch sampling rate, and peaks out as 1,200 nits brightness. In simpler terms, you get a large display that is smoother than most other devices in the market, has fast response, and is capable of producing vibrant colours. Together with its excellent stereo speakers that produces loud, clear audio with a hint of bass, this is a multimedia beast that is great for games and videos.
In terms of size, I personally feel that this hits a nice spot as it’s big but it’s longer than it is wide, making it easy to use it with one hand. This length also makes it more comfortable to hold and control as the AirTriggers are more spaced out and you get to see more with your fingers not blocking the screen as much compared to shorter, wider displays.
Lastly, I personally believe the ROG Phone 6D hits a good price point as it retails for RM3,499, and I already some online stores selling it for RM100 cheaper. You get a good, flagship-level smartphone with great performance and good cameras, ideal for a daily driver. The only issue you’d face would be picking between this or the Snapdragon version, and the choice is yours to make as you can’t go wrong with either.
The Bad
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Easy to hold with or without case, but it is heavy
While I did mention that I like the size of the ROG Phone 6D, I personally feel that it could be a bit lighter. At 239g, it is a heavy device, and it’s definitely gonna be an issue if you put in your pockets as your pants might slide down. If you’re the kind of a person who puts their smartphones in a carrying pouch, bag or something similar, then this wouldn’t be a problem for you. I don’t really feel that it’s too heavy to hold as the weight is distributed fairly evenly across a long device, so it’s not tiring to hold for long hours.
Like other ROG Phones, this one lacks wireless charging. For most people who are considering a gaming phone, they would emphasize more on fast charging rather than this but giving people the option would have been nice. The lack of it is certainly not a dealbreaker, but it’s at least worth pointing out.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review
Another issue I have with the ROG Phone 6D is that it’s not much different from the standard ROG Phone 6. Especially when you consider the same retail price, I don’t see the point of offering both in the same market. It’s understandable if they offer both in different markets / countries as it might be more cost-effective to use one chip in one region over the other but to offer both in the same market is an odd choice.
If I had to pick, I would choose this one as it has better thermal efficiency on its own, but that comes at the cost of a weaker GPU. If you want as high of a performance as possible, going for the standard ROG Phone 6 is fine since the heat issue can be countered with the use of the AeroActive Cooler 6. This is why I say you’ll be fine either way, it’s just a matter of use case.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review – Side port
One thing worth pointing out is that for water and dust resistance, it only has an IPX4 rating. This means that it wasn’t tested for dust resistance but for water resistance, it is resistant to water splashes in any direction. It would be fine against some rainwater and sweat but ideally, you wouldn’t want it inside a body of water regardless of depth. I personally feel that it could be better since plenty of other devices today have reach IP67 or IP68 but I believe it can’t go any higher for now due to its thermal system.
Lastly, and this isn’t a problem with this device specifically but rather with the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate. At RM4,999, I don’t quite see why you would want to spend that much, an extra RM1,500 to be precise, just to get the AeroActive Cooler 6, AeroActive Portal, and an extra 4GBs of RAM. That money could be better put towards accessories for the standard model, other items, or for a rainy day. 12GB RAM is plenty enough already, 16GB is just overkill.
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Verdict
ASUS ROG Phone 6D Review
The ASUS ROG Phone 6D is an excellent choice not just for gaming but also for everyday use. We’re already past the point of gaming phones severely lacking in the camera department and it has become a viable all-rounded with great performance to boot. Your only dilemma would be choosing between this or the standard ROG Phone 6 but either way, both devices will be more than able to serve you well.
I do believe we have come to the limits, or close to it, for high end smartphones that the benefits of having a stronger chip is minimal for the most part. For next year, the focus should either be on efficiency, having more apps take full advantage of strong hardware, or an evolution to justify pushing the limits of performance even further other than just Genshin Impact. After all, what’s the point of pushing to 240Hz if most apps and games ends up throttling or can only do 60FPS and run at 60Hz at best?
At the end of our ASUS ROG Phone 6D review, I award this gaming phone with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to ASUS Malaysia for sending us this gaming phone for the purpose of this review.
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Not sure what games to look forward to this February 2018? Well, look no further as we give out our top picks of games to look out for this month.
Pokde Picks: 5  Awesome Games to Look Out For in February 2018
We gamers have had an amazing January to kick off a brand new year. There are still plenty of things to look forward to in 2018 and for this prosperous February, it’s another exciting month.  Without further ado, here’s Pokde Picks: 5  Awesome Games to Look Out For in February 2018.
 Shadow of the Colossus

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One of the most iconic games to hit the PlayStation 2 is coming back stronger than ever. Shadow of the Colossus is an action-adventure game set in a fantasy land roamed by the gigantic Colossi known as the Forbidden Land. Players follow the story of a young man named Wander, who seeks to find the means of resurrecting Mono, a maiden who was sacrificed due to a belief that she was tied to a cursed destiny.
While the possibility of resurrection is uncertain, there exists folklore which explains how the Colossi hold the key to a mysterious power of revival. With his trusty horse, Agro, by his side, he has no choice but to wander the lands and subdue the Colossi in order to obtain the power. What he doesn’t know is that there is more to the Colossi than just a simple power.
Fun fact, this iteration of Shadow of the Colossus is a proper remake of the game instead of just a HD remaster. All of the game’s assets have been remade from scratch in ultra-high definition, which allowed the game to be played in either Full HD running at buttery-smooth 60 frames per second, or in 4K running at the standard 30 frames per second.
Shadow of the Colossus will be coming exclusively to the PlayStation 4 on February 6th 2018.
Secret of Mana

Considered by many as one of the best role-playing games of all time, Secret of Mana takes place in a fantasy world which contains an ethereal energy source known as ‘Mana’. As civilization became more and more dependent on Mana, humanity began exploiting the energy source by establishing the “Mana Fortress” which angered the Gods.
This led to powerful beasts spawning to war with humanity, which nearly drained the world’s Mana source dry. With the power of the Mana Sword, a hero showed up to destroy the fortress and save the world. The game then opens to an empire who’s seeking to replenish the world’s Mana source in order to restore the Mana Fortress. The fate of the world now lies in the hands of protagonist Randi, Primm, and Popoi as they journey to find the legendary Mana Sword.
Fun fact, Secret of Mana was first released in 1993 under the name Seiken Densetsu 2. It was made by Square Enix’s predecessor, Squaresoft, and it is one of the most highly-acclaimed role-playing games of all time. This version of Secret of Mana is a complete 3D remake of the game with a modern twist to the game’s mechanics to fit in better with today’s gamers while still remaining faithful to core subject.
Secret of Mana will be coming to the PlayStation 4 and Windows PC on February 16th 2018.
 Dynasty Warriors 9

The latest entry in the popular hack and slash game series by Koei Tecmo, Dynasty Warriors 9 departs from its usual formula in order to incorporate something completely new. The game will now utilize an open world environment for the map of China, where players can freely roam on foot, horseback, or even on boat. The game will focus more on livable environments such as cities as these will be where plenty of battles will be taking place.
While the game will still follow the usual Romance of the Three Kingdoms storyline as well as its characters, players are expected to get a fresh take on the series as the characters move set will be completely revised. There will be a total of 94 characters consisting of familiar faces as well as new ones across multiple kingdoms for players to enjoy.
Fun fact, Dynasty Warriors 9 had a major change in the game’s usual formula due to its most recent entries receiving criticisms that there’s not much difference with previous entries. The developer’s brand manager, Kenichi Ogasawara, even acknowledged it in an interview with Japan’s Famitsu magazine, mentioning that “the evolution from Dynasty Warriors 7 to 8 was insufficient”.
Dynasty Warriors 9 will be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC on February 13th 2018.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

Microsoft’s popular history-based real-time strategy game is making a comeback in the form of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. Developed by Ensemble Studios, this game is based on the very first mainline entry in the Age of Empires series, now with upgraded visuals to suit this modern age.
Players will act as the leader of ancient civilizations going through 4 different Ages; the Stone Age, Tool Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.  Every single expansion pack and bonuses from the original game will be included in this iteration. The game was initially set to be released on October 2017 but was delayed indefinitely by Microsoft as they realized that it still needed a lot of work done in order to provide a better experience across the board.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be coming exclusive to Windows PC on February 20th 2018.
 Metal Gear Survive

The newest entry in the Metal Gear series and the first one since Hideo Kojima’s departure from the company, Metal Gear Survive is a survival action-adventure game taking place between the events of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain.  Following the evacuation of Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller from Mother Base, a wormhole opens in the sky and absorbs the offshore plant as well as the remaining Militaires Sans Frontières soldiers.
The soldiers are transported to an alternate reality along with the remains of Mother Base, to find the world full of hostile, crystalline zombie-like entities known as “Creatures”. Their goal is to find materials and do anything they can in order to go back to their own world. It features an open world environment and can be played solo or with another player in co-op mode. It is considered a spin-off title in the Metal Gear series.
Fun fact, Konami has always wanted to incorporate zombies in their Metal Gear series for quite some time now. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was pitched to have protagonist Gray Fox battling against nanomachine-powered zombies at one point but they eventually went on a different direction. As you can see, that idea is now materializing in the form of Metal Gear Survive.
Metal Gear Survive will be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC on February 20th 2018.

Pokdepinion: That is all for February’s list of upcoming games to look out for. The New Year started very strong for gaming and February will keep the excitement going for plenty of gamers. Be sure to join us again next month for Pokde Picks: March’s upcoming games to look out for. Until then, have a prosperous month ahead.
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BIOSTAR announces BIOS updates to support AMD Smart Access Memory on Intel 400 series motherboards

BIOSTAR has just announced that they will releasing BIOS updates for their Intel 400 series boards to support AMD Smart Access Memory by January 2021. As previously revealed, AMD Smart Access Memory is just AMD’s branding on the PCIe feature resizable base address register (resizable BAR), and Intel actually supported the feature since the Haswell generation.

The feature is going to be available on the following boards:

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RACING Z490GTA EVO
RACING Z490GTA
RACING Z490GTN
Z490A-SILVER
Z490T-SILVER
RACING B460GTA
RACING B460GTQ
H410MH
H410MHG

To enjoy up to 11% better gaming performance via AMD Smart Access Memory, all the users of the above motherboards need to do is as follows:

Enter your BIOS
Go to Advanced
Go to PCI Subsystem Settings
Enable “Above 4G Decoding”
Set “Re-size BAR Support” to Auto
Save and reboot

Resizable BAR is currently supported on AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards and Ryzen 5000 series CPUs, although NVIDIA has confirmed that they are working on adding support for the feature to their Ampere graphics cards. AMD is reportedly not going to support the feature on the Ryzen 3000 series and older CPUs, due to the lack of support for the instruction necessary.
Pokdepinion: Nice to see that BIOSTAR is keeping their existing motherboard lineup updated!
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Corsair launched the Corsair Force Series MP500 SSD — Corsair’s fastest M.2 SSD with NVMe

Corsair today announced the immediate availability of the CORSAIR Force MP500 range of M.2 solid state drives, the fastest SSDs yet produced by CORSAIR. Available in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities, the MP500 range delivers blistering performance up to five times faster than traditional SATA 6Gbps SSDs, offering users the next step in high-performance storage in an ultra-compact form factor.

Equipped with a Phison PS5007-E7 NVMe controller and high-bandwidth PCIe Gen. 3 x4 M.2 2280 interface, the MP500 range of drives put your data in the fast lane. Delivering phenomenal data performance including read speeds of up to 3,000 MB/s and write speeds of up 2,400 MB/s.

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The Force Series MP500 range isn’t just small and fast – it’s committed to data integrity and reliability. Proprietary SmartECC™, SmartRefresh™ and SmartFlush™ technologies safeguard data against corruption in case of unexpected power loss or unsafe shutdown, while static and dynamic wear-leveling enhance drive reliability. The entire MP500 range is also fully compatible with CORSAIR SSD Tool box, allowing users to monitor many aspects of their drives health or to securely wipe and clear the drive with ease.

The Corsair Force Series MP500 pricing start from 109.99 USD (approximately RM525) for 120GB, 169.99 USD (approximately RM 810) for 240GB and 324.99 USD (approximately RM 1550) for 480GB. The Corsair Force Series MP500 SSD is backed with three-year warranty.
Product landing page: Corsair Force Series MP500

Pokdepinion: It has always been about Samsung’s 950 Pro SSD when we were talking about NVMe PCIe SSDs, and now we have Corsair’s MP500 SSD as well as Samsung’s 960 Evo and Pro to spice up the topic.
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HONOR Magic3 Series Confirmed To Feature The New Snapdragon 888 Plus Chipset

Things seem to be looking up more and more for HONOR in recent times. Just a few weeks ago, the company confirmed that Google Mobile Services will be coming back to their smartphones with the announcement of the HONOR 50 series coming to Malaysia all but confirmed it. Now, HONOR’s President of Product Line, Fang Fei, has confirmed that the newly released Snapdragon 888 Plus chipset.
Snapdragon 888 Plus coming HONOR Magic3 series

In the statement, Ms Fang Fei stated that the platform’s industry-leading performance and gains in AI will allow Honor to create “a mobile experience that will fulfil the needs of even the most demanding users”.

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The new Snapdragon 888 Plus chipset features an overclocked Kryo 680 CPU Prime core and a faster 6th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine. The AI performance has also been given an upgrade compared to the base Snapdragon 888 chip with improved performances of 23%. Gaming would be around the same though as the Snapdragon 888 Plus features the same Adreno 660 GPU. The new chip is manufactured on a 5nm process node and will feature Snapdragon X60 5G modem and FastConnect 6900 for fast wireless connectivity.
We don’t know when the Snapdragon 888 Plus-bearing HONOR Magic3 series will release. Be sure to stay tuned to us here at Pokde.net for more information.
Source
Pokdepinion: Not gonna lie but I’m pretty excited for the HONOR Magic3 series. The first phone that I ever bought with my own money was the HONRO 3C Lite and I loved that phone to bits so I really have a huge soft spot for the HONOR brand.
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ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D Review — tough luck finding a better gaming laptop at this price!

Introduction

The gaming laptop market is saturated with Intel processors and NVIDIA graphics. We can’t deny that AMD’s graphics are not nearly as attractive as NVIDIA’s offerings, but what about the processors? AMD has been making some great progress with their Ryzen processors in the desktop segment. What about in laptops though? Today we will be looking at the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D, in which ASUS mated an AMD Ryzen 7 processor to a NVIDIA GPU. Let’s see how this unique combination of competing brands fare.
Unboxing

ASUS’ packaging is as basic as it gets for the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D. It’s a regular cardboard box with the ASUS TUF Gaming branding on the outside.

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The contents are quite spartan too, with nothing more than the sheer basics. ASUS did throw in some extra screws for some reason, and we aren’t actually sure if you will get them with the retail units.
Appearance
Let’s begin with a small disclaimer. ASUS provided us with the Gold Steel design to test, but the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D will be offered in the Stealth Black design. Instead of the aluminium lid we have here, it will be plastic. Also the logo won’t light up. ASUS did reassure us that the rest of the features on our review unit will be exactly the same as the retail variant, so just disregard the lid design.

With that said, the general outlook of the lid will be pretty similar. ASUS has somehow decided that speed lines will be part of their design language for their current ASUS TUF Gaming laptop lineup, so there you have it.

The primary concern of any gaming laptop is the cooling, and ASUS has equipped the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D with two rear-facing vents. There’s another one which takes up most of the right side.

When you open up the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D, you will be greeted by the 15.6″ NanoEdge display. It has narrow 6.5mm bezels on the sides with a marginally thicker top bezel. For those who actually use the built-in webcam on your laptops, you will be glad to know that ASUS put it right in the center of the top bezel. Where it should be. No one wants to show off their chins, ASUS.

Despite going with smaller bezels around the screen, ASUS managed to squeeze in a full-sized keyboard into the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D. The arrangement of the keys are also largely similar to larger laptops. The trackpad does not feature separate keys, which is far from my favorite design, but it may suffice. More on that later. ASUS adopted a layout that’s pretty similar to the ROG Strix SCAR II’s, but drops the 4-zone RGB for single-zone RGB lighting.

Flipping the laptop over, we see plenty of dots on the lower half of the bottom lid and a huge grille on the top half. I have no idea why did ASUS go with those tiny bumps on the lower half… perhaps to improve the grip when you are carrying the laptop?
Specifications

CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 3750H @ 2.3 GHz (up to 4.0 GHz Boost), 4C/8T, 12nm FinFET

RAM
8GB (1 x 8GB SODIMM) 2666 MHz DDR4, 1 slot vacant

GPU
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6

Storage
512GB Intel 660p PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD
1 x SATA slot vacant

Software
Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Armoury Crate
GameVisual
DTS Headphone:X v1
NVIDIA GeForce Hotfix Driver 430.53 DCH

Connectivity
Realtek RTL8822BE (WiFi 802.11ac 2×2 Wave 2)
Bluetooth 5.0
1 x RJ45 LAN
2 x USB 3.0
1 x USB 2.0

Display
15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) 120 Hz, Sharp LM156LF-GL IPS panel
1 x HDMI 2.0 ([email protected])

Audio
2 x 2W speakers
1 x 3.5mm combo jack

Power
180W power adapter
48 WHr 3-cell Li-Ion battery

Dimensions
360 x 262 x 25.8 mm

Weight
2.2 kg

Specifications wise, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D is quite near faultless for an mid-range gaming laptop. I love that ASUS includes 8GB RAM and and 512GB of PCIe NVMe storage, the latter applicable across the entire ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D range. Also the RAM here is rated for 2666 MHz, but it runs at 2400 MHz due to the limitations of the AMD Ryzen 7 3750H processor. Our laptop also come with a faster 120 Hz display, which will only be offered with the GeForce RTX 2060 model. The regular ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DU will come with a 60 Hz IPS panel.
Performance

The SSD’s performance is well in-line with what we would expect from the Intel 660p. It’s not nearly as fast as other PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs, but then again it is offered with much more affordable laptops than we usually see.

This is the first time we have encountered the AMD Ryzen 7 3750H, so we don’t really know what to expect. What we can see is that its a fair bit slower than the Intel Core i7 8750H, but the laptops powered by the Intel processors are way more expensive than the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D we have here.

The GPU in the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D is quite nippy, running at around 1635 MHz on average even when stressed for 30 minutes.

As Time Spy gauges the entire system’s performance, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D coming out a bit lower than the ROG Strix SCAR II GL504GS with a GeForce GTX 1070 is somewhat expected. As we have seen earlier the CPU performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 3750H is quite a bit slower than the Intel Core i7 8750H. It’s also quite a bit cooler too. The highest temperature we saw on the CPU was 90.5°C, after a session with Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.

Most games we tested doesn’t even have the CPU breaking 90°C, while Intel’s laptop processors would be hitting in excess of 95°C. On the GPU’s side, the highest temperature observed on the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was just 77°C, well below the point at which it throttles. ASUS’ HyperCool cooling system is clearly sufficient to tame the beasts under the hood of the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D.
What it lacks in performance it makes up for it in efficiency though. 30 minutes of Netflix at 50% brightness only whittled 9% off the battery, which is an impressive showing. We are pretty confident that you will be able to enjoy quite a few movies before the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D runs out of juice.
User Experience
It’s compact dimensions and considerably portable weight of 2.2kg may lead you to decide to carry it around with you all the time. The ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D has passed MIL-STD 810G tests and is well prepared for shock and vibration, extreme temperatures, high altitude and high humidity. TL;DR: it will survive your travels pretty well. In my use, never once did I begrudge its plastic build, with all the panels feeling well secured, without any creaks or flex throughout the laptop.

The ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D we have here sports a 120 Hz display, which is shared with the higher end ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DV with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060. It’s not the most vibrant display panel, but it will suffice for its duties as a gaming laptop. It’s quite fluid thanks to its 120 Hz refresh rate, and FPS gamers would be quite happy with it. It’s worth noting that the retail version of the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DU with a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti will sport a regular 60 Hz IPS panel though.

If you intend to plug in a secondary display, there is only a single HDMI 2.0 port for you. I find the ports offered by the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D to be somewhat limited, as you only get 3 USB ports, one of which is a USB 2.0 port. You also can see the speaker grille here on the side, with it firing about 45° downwards, probably in the hopes to improve the timbre of the sound.

The right side is fully dedicated to an exhaust vent, which does seem a bit longer than the ones we see on the ROG Strix SCAR II laptops. There’s also a Kensington lock slot if you wish to secure your laptop physically. We do wish for more ports, as there looks like there is still plenty of space here on the right. Three USB ports is the sheer minimum, and that’s all you get with the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D.
The speakers on the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D are muffled. They are unable to deliver any representation of the bass frequencies at all, with the speakers only capable of pumping out the higher frequencies. Listening to BLACKPINK’s Ddu-Du Ddu-Du Du was a truly unsatisfying experience that even DTS Headphone:X can’t salvage. If you watch movies with a lot of talking, it might work fine though, as the mid-range and highs are all present. Putting on some headphones vastly improved the experience, so we would recommend taking advantage of the 3.5mm jack.

Thankfully, we had a better experience with the keyboard. It doesn’t have a lot to offer in terms of tactility, but what it does have is a good 1.8mm of travel for comfort when typing, or gaming. The touchpad is also one of the best I have used in a gaming laptop when it comes to tracking precision, but it had some freeplay to it when we were tapping on it.

ASUS equipped the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D with the latest Armoury Crate suite which was introduced on the ROG Zephyrus S and ROG Strix GL704. It integrates stuff like the keyboard’s RGB controls and also offers some monitoring. Pretty cool stuff to have.
Conclusion
The ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D is priced at RM4399, with a full spread of different configurations to suit your specific needs. The one we reviewed was sufficiently interesting, with just enough performance for it to be interesting. I really like that ASUS went with 512GB of PCIe NVMe storage, instead of sacrificing the user experience with cheaper 1TB HDD drives.
ASUS cut a few corners here and there, some of them quite curious. While we can understand the plastic build, I don’t really get why did ASUS deprive the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D of a SD card slot. But when it comes to the what matters, like performance and cooling, ASUS didn’t skimp at all here. Overall, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D do represent a pretty interesting addition to ASUS’ lineup. The CPU might bottleneck the graphics card in some games, especially if you get the GeForce RTX 2060 version, but you won’t find a comparable gaming laptop near this price point with an Intel processor.

We would like to thank ASUS Malaysia for providing us with the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505D for our evaluation purposes.
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OPPO Teams Up With Teach For Malaysia To Aid Better Education

The OPPO Reno6 Pro was launched just recently and now it seems in conjunction with that, OPPO Malaysia has partnered up with Teach For Malaysia in providing education aid.
OPPO partners Teach For Malaysia

When purchasing a new OPPO Reno6 Pro, you will have the option to donate RM10 to Teach For Malaysia, an NGO that works towards ensuring high-quality education in government schools across the country, especially in rural and underprivileged communities.

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Should you do so, OPPO Malaysia will follow up by donating an additional RM30 for each donation. Those who choose to make that donation will receive a Limited-Edition Tote Bag and one Letter of Thanks directly from Teach For Malaysia.
This campaign will run from now till the 30th September 2021 on OPPO’s Lazada Flagship Store, 30th of August till 30th September on OPPO’s Shopee store and 24th August till 30th September on OPPO Official Online Store.
To find out more on what the OPPO Reno6 Pro offers, do check out our previous coverage. For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
Pokdepinion: Good gesture from OPPO. These are tough times for everyone, especially for children in getting education.
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ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE Review — an addictively powerful machine

ASUS’ groundbreaking ScreenPad Plus technology is a nice bit of innovation that ASUS brought to the laptop scene with the launch of the ASUS ZenBook Duo series, allowing content creators alike to enjoy more viewing area to work with in the laptop form factor. The Republic of Gamers team then took the technology and implemented it in the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15, which was introduced last year to bring the additional screen space to gamers too.

Today, we will be taking a look at the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, which doesn’t seen much changes coming from its predecessor on the exterior, but it sports the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 under the hood for a serious upgrade in performance on both CPU and GPU fronts. Without further ado, let’s check it out.

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Unboxing

As the flagship of ROG’s 2021 lineup, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE comes in an absolutely huge box, with an excessive amount of included accessories and items.

As customary for ASUS recently, the charger and laptop come in separate boxes. But the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE gets extra treatment with a bundled ROG Delta headphone and the ROG Ranger BP2701 backpack to let you carry it around in style, when you can finally go out of your home. We won’t be testing the headphone, as we have already discussed the ROG Delta here.

The charger’s packaging houses two chargers, one offering up to 100W over USB-PD for easier portability, and the other delivering the full 280W necessary for the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE to fully stretch its legs. There’s also a ROG Chakram Core along with its accessories. The ROG Chakram Core appears to replace the ROG Gladius II that ROG used to bundle with their higher-end gaming laptops. So yeah, when you get the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, you will get both a gaming mouse and a great pair of gaming headphones, so you don’t need to go out and buy them separately anymore.

Aside from protecting the contents within, the charger box also serves as a laptop stand to raise the laptop up for a more ergonomic user experience. Pretty interesting design decision from ASUS here. Probably because there’s no ErgoLift here, so ASUS decided that this was the best way to provide a comfortable tilt for the laptop?

ASUS is still bundling Dying Light 2, so it is featured on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE’s box. Dying Light 2 is supposed to support the ScreenPad Plus for an optimized dual-screen gaming experience, but its launch has been delayed for a long time now. The packaging itself sports a nice contrasting diagonal slash that you will have to lift up to reveal the laptop. ROG made sure to put a little plastic tab so you know where to pull when you are done appreciating the design of the packaging.

The box opens up and reveals the laptop, before lifting it up at an angle to showcase it. The laptop itself is protected in a plastic wrapper, which is quite disappointing as a reusable fabric sleeve would have been nice to protect the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE when you want to carry it around.

And here are the contents of the package. There’s your usual documentation in a nice paper envelope that sports a heavy dose of ROG Cybertext, as well as the laptop itself and its accompanying palm rest. There’s a redeemable code for Dying Light 2, so you can claim it, when the game finally launches.
Appearance

If you have seen the sleek design of the first ROG Zephyrus Duo 15, you might find that this machine looks a little different. Instead of the dark gray finish, we now have a black finish with a dotted design that ROG dubs Dot Insight on the magnesium-aluminide lid. The shift to a darker finish while adding the dots for some contrast definitely amps up the appeal of the machine, although I am pretty sure some would still prefer the more understated design of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE’s predecessor.

The underside of the machine is kept largely the same. There are vents that allow the fans to draw fresh air easily. The rubber feet are really tall on this machine, presumably to provide more clearance for air intake. The bottom cover is made of plastic, and also sports a popup screw on the lower right corner that pops open the bottom cover to eliminate the need for pry tools. Curiously enough, it is a Phillips screw, while the rest of the screws have Torx heads.

Once open, you can see that the keyboard is moved down to the lower edge to accommodate the ScreenPad Plus. The secondary screen tilts up, similar to its predecessor. There’s still a substantial gap between the main display and the secondary display, unlike the ASUS ZenBook Duo 14 which pretty much eliminated the gap. Also, ASUS made sure to have the AMD Ryzen and NVIDIA GeForce RTX stickers right under the display so you will not miss them. Speaking of which, here are the specifications of the machine.
ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE Specifications

CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, 8C/16T @ 3.3GHz (up to 4.5GHz boost), 45W+ TDP, 7nm

RAM
32GB DDR4 3200MHz (1 x 16GB SO-DIMM + 16GB on-board), dual-channel

GPU
AMD Radeon Graphics, 8 CU @ 2100MHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 16GB GDDR6, ROG Boost up to 1645MHz (115W TGP / 130W with Dynamic Boost 2.0)

Storage
2TB Samsung PM981a PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD, RAID 0

Software
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
GeForce Game Ready Driver v461.40
Armoury Crate
MyASUS
Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019
McAfee Personal Security
Dolby Access

Connectivity
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (WiFi 6, up to 2.4Gbps)
Bluetooth 5.1
Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit LAN
1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) Type-C
3 x USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps)
1 x microSD card reader

Display
Primary
15.6″ 4K (3840 x 2160) AUO B156ZAN05.1, 120Hz refresh rate, 100% Adobe RGB, Pantone Validated, FreeSync
ScreenPad Plus
14.1″ 4K (*3840 x 1100) BOE BOE085F IPS display, 60Hz refresh rate, touch-sensitive
1 x HDMI 2.0b

Audio
2 x 2W speakers (upward facing)
2 x 4W speakers (underside)
1 x 3.5mm combo jack

Power
280W power adapter
100W USB-PD adapter
90WHr 4-cell Li-ion battery

Dimensions
360 × 268 x 20.9 mm

Weight
2.48kg

Performance

The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is packed with the highest end hardware ASUS can get their hands on, with the unlocked AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, 32GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, two 1TB Samsung PM981a SSDs in RAID 0 and a huge 90WHr battery, all crammed into this machine. All that heavyweight hardware in it actually makes the 2.48kg weight of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE seem almost feather-light. Well, almost.
We will be using the Turbo fan profile to test the machine. Let’s start with the performance data.
Storage

The Samsung PM981a SSDs are already quite fast for PCIe 3.0 drives in their own right, and having them in a RAID 0 configuration just means that you will be looking at really ridiculous speeds. There’s 2TB of that speedy storage here, so I don’t think anyone will be needing a storage upgrade on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE anytime soon.
Synthetic

ASUS claims that the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX runs at up to 4.5GHz, but you could regularly see it boost up to 4.591GHz. In Cinebench R20, the multi-core tests see it start at around 4.4GHz before gradually dropping to 4.32GHz at the end of the multi-core segment. Meanwhile the single-core section of the benchmark sees it hovering at around 4.54~4.56GHz. It definitely blows the last-gen ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 out of the water.
It is interesting why ASUS decided to underclock the Ryzen 9 5900HX though, given that the Active Aerodynamic System Plus (AAS Plus) cooling in the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE should probably the best cooling solution they have to offer, but more on that later.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU here is also really powerful, capable of drawing up to 130W thanks to Dynamic Boost. Depending on the application, the GPU in the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE can draw anywhere between 115W to 130W. As you can see, that’s sufficient to handily beat any gaming laptop, and even desktops we have reviewed previously in Superposition. The only laptop to come ahead of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is the ProArt StudioBook One, and that’s a laptop with a 200W Quadro RTX 6000 GPU and costs more than a Perodua Myvi.

3DMark Time Spy also reveals a similar scenario, which probably comes as no surprise as the combination of the Ryzen 9 5900HX and the GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU was fast enough to best the likes of a desktop GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER system.

The architectural advantage of the Ampere GPU makes for an even wider gap between the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE and its predecessor, as the GPU doles out great performance in the raytracing benchmark, 3DMark Port Royal. Once again, the only machine that can best the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is the ASUS ProArt StudioBook One that costs more than 2X the price of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.

It performs very well in PCMark as well, with chart topping scores across all categories except for the Essentials category. I guess the CPU here doesn’t like to do menial tasks? But jokes aside, this is one beastly machine that can tackle anything you can throw at it. But benchmark numbers can only say so much. Let’s take a look at gaming.
Gaming
As this is the first time we have tested the GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, we will be testing three resolutions. 1080p, 1440p and also 4K. Of course, the display on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is a 4K panel, but you won’t exactly notice a drop in visual fidelity even if you run the games at 1080p due to the size of the panel. But hey, let’s see how it will do at 1440p too, as NVIDIA does market the GeForce RTX 3080 laptops claiming that they are capable of 100+ FPS Ultra 1440p.

Starting off at 1080p, we see pretty much every game running at above 60FPS, with the exceptions being Watch Dogs Legions and Cyberpunk 2077 with DXR enabled. Enabling DLSS provides a nice boost to performance and even visual fidelity, which means that there’s no reason to disable it at all if the game you are playing supports DLSS 2.0.

At 1440p we see things look a bit more dire. However due to the adaptive refresh rate of the display in the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE here, I actually found Cyberpunk 2077 to be pretty playable even at 26FPS average.

The native resolution of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is slightly beyond what the GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU is capable of handling. Here we see most games dipping down below the 60FPS threshold. Still, as mentioned earlier, the adaptive refresh rate makes for pretty playable frame rates even at the lower frame rates, as long as it is above 24FPS, due to the presence of the low framerate compensation (LFC) feature in AMD FreeSync.
Overall, this is a laptop that doles out enough performance to match or even best last-gen desktops, as evident in the synthetic benchmarks portion. 4K gaming on laptops is maybe still a generation out, but if you just play esports titles, you can get up to 119FPS in Rainbow Six Siege at 4K, which will take full advantage of the 120Hz panel here.
Cooling

We will only be testing the Turbo fan profile, which allow the fans to spool up quite audibly when gaming. The fans in the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE can spin at up to 6400RPM when set to run at their maximum RPM manually, which will be an audible 57dBA about 50cm away from the laptop. The Turbo fan profile sees the fan running at up to 4800RPM, which is a lot more silent at 51dBA. The performance difference between the two fan profiles is largely negligible, at least in Cinebench R20, so we won’t be testing the performance in both fan profiles.
To evaluate the cooling system, we will be using the stress test in Realbench to provide somewhat a worst case scenario to the system as it will stress both the CPU and GPU.

With a workload maxing out both the CPU and GPU, we see the Ryzen 9 5900HX draw on average of 52W to run at an average of 3.83GHz throughout the 15-minute Realbench stress test. Despite the high power draw that goes up to 74W during the initial boost, the CPU only hitting 94.6°C at its peak, a testament to ASUS’ innovation in cooling as well as the liquid metal TIM used to improve the CPU cooling.
Meanwhile the GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU runs at an average of 1557MHz, pulling 113W on average. Temperatures are very well managed with the GPU peaking at 79°C, and averaging 77°C. Overall, the cooling performance is very good despite the relatively thin profile of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.

We have also previously tested a best-case scenario for the GPU in Superposition, where the CPU is very lightly loaded. Here we can see that the GPU can pull up to 130W, while also running cool at below 77°C.
Battery life

Battery life is really great for all the performance we see here, and it can even deliver a whole 101 minutes longer battery life than its predecessor, while touting the same 90WHr battery. It can’t outlast the ROG Zephyrus G14 though, but the ROG Zephyrus G14 does have a significantly weaker GPU and also a more efficient 35W TDP processor.
User Experience
Display and Audio

With two displays, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE easily outclasses most of its peers in the gaming laptop scene. The fact that both displays offer 4K visuals is also extremely impressive, and just as if that isn’t enough, the main display now runs at up to 120Hz, a huge step up from the 60Hz limit that was one of the few imperfections marring the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE’s predecessor. It doesn’t lose anything in terms of gamut coverage or accuracy either, so the display here really is the perfect display for this beast.
In fact I think that this is a far better display than the esports-focused FHD 300Hz display that you can also configure the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE with, considering how the ROG Zephyrus series was always meant to straddle the line between content creator and gaming machines. If your main focus is esports gaming, I do believe that the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE isn’t the laptop for you.
          sRGB: 99.8% coverage, 159.3% volume            Adobe RGB: 99.5% coverage, 109.7% volume            DCI-P3: 90.6% coverage, 112.8% volume
Capable of displaying 109.7% of the Adobe RGB gamut volume, the display here is really super impressive, as many laptops struggle to even deliver 100% sRGB. This 4K120 display is nothing short of amazing, and I really do think that this is a display worthy of the ROG Zephyrus series. Finally, we do not have to sacrifice refresh rate for a higher resolution! Color accuracy is also on point, with the maximum Delta E being just 1.6. For context, displays with an average Delta E of less than 2 is considered to be color accurate enough for color sensitive work. The maximum here is just 1.6. The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE’s display average Delta E is just 0.37.
There’s also support for FreeSync, which works regardless if you are on the integrated graphics or the GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, a nice upgrade over the last-gen laptop which forced you to switch to the dedicated GPU, with a reboot, no less, to make use of the display’s G-SYNC adaptive refresh rate feature. Needless to say, this display is great regardless if you are a content creator or a gamer, giving you everything you could ever ask for from a laptop display.
Meanwhile the ScreenPad Plus is only capable of 101.2% sRGB and 69.8% Adobe RGB and 60Hz, which does make for quite a jarring difference in terms of the vividness of the visuals and fluidity when you move windows down to the secondary display. However given its status as a secondary display, this is good enough, as it is already better than what some laptops can muster with their main display. The ScreenPad Plus sports excellent color accuracy from the factory too, with an average Delta E of 0.53.

Moving on, let’s talk about the audio. While the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 already came with a good pair of speakers on its underside, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE adds two tweeters just above the ScreenPad Plus to make for an even better audio experience. The tweeters add a touch of airiness to the sound that is absent in a lot of laptops, while still delivering a decent response in the lower frequencies with the larger speakers on the underside doing the heavy lifting. Of course, you can always plug in the included ROG Delta if you want an even better audio experience.
          Dolby Atmos            Dolby EQ
There’s also Dolby Access pre-installed for you to tweak your audio settings and even enable Dolby Atmos surround sound effect. The app costs $15 on the Microsoft Store, so it’s nice to see it bundled with the laptop.
Keyboard and Trackpad

One slight disadvantage of having the ScreenPad Plus is the fact that the keyboard now has to be pushed nearer to you. This position has the advantage of having the keyboard further from the hot components in the laptop, which bodes for a more comfy experience. In my use, the keyboard does warm up during longer gaming sessions, but not alarmingly so.
I personally don’t really enjoy this layout, but ASUS makes things more acceptable with the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE by throwing in a wrist pad to replace the missing palm rest area on conventional laptop designs. The keyboard itself offers sufficient travel with 1.4mm of key travel and a nice level tactility, for a good typing/gaming experience.
With that said, the issues regarding the Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys that afflicted the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is still here on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. There are no dedicated keys for it, and they require toggling them via the keys above the trackpad and Fn key to work. I have no idea why the AURA functions take priority, considering few would change their AURA settings on-the-fly once they have it set up the way they want it. I don’t personally use those keys much, but if you are like SuperDaddy, you might want to consider other options.

ASUS is continuing their use of the NumberPad feature first introduced to the ROG lineup with the first-ever ROG Zephyrus. However it is still just as dumb as the initial implementation, with the trackpad ignoring all swipes, instead becoming solely a numpad if turned on. It baffles me why the ASUS ZenBook lineup is able to use the NumberPad along with the default trackpad functionality, but the ROG team is unable to offer a similar experience.
Luckily, the overall accuracy and precision of the trackpad was good enough for me to perform my benchmarking without frustrating me and forcing me to reach for a mouse. I do appreciate the separate clickers under the trackpad, although the position beside the arrow keys did cause me to press the right click button when I wanted to use the Right arrow key, due to how the Right arrow key is usually at the end of the keyboard. Once you get used to it, it should be fine though.
Another thing I noticed was the fact that the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE doesn’t have support for biometrics security. There’s no fingerprint scanner on the machine, and since there’s no built-in webcam either, you will have to resort to keying in your PIN or password. Perhaps ASUS should consider adding a fingerprint scanner to the power button in the successor to the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. Something like the ROG Zephyrus G14’s power button-cum-fingerprint scanner would be perfect for quicker secure logins.
ScreenPad Plus

The input methods on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE don’t stop at just the keyboard and trackpad, as the ScreenPad Plus is also touch-sensitive. It even supports stylus input for drawing and writing, although one isn’t bundled included in the box, unlike with the ASUS ZenBook Duo series. It also supports the new ASUS Control Center in the Adobe suite, allowing you to do more without having to remember complicated hotkey combinations like you would on a regular system.

This is currently limited to certain content creation apps like Photoshop and Premiere Pro, but I do foresee ASUS working with more developers to bring even more value to the ScreenPad Plus. As of now, gamers can also easily take advantage of the secondary display by dragging stuff like OBS and Discord to the second display to avoid having to alt-tab to them, while waiting for Dying Light 2 to show us what a proper implementation in games can bring to the table.
I/O Ports

The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE serves up a nice complement of ports, although it does notably lose out on the Thunderbolt port that its predecessor touted. In its place, there’s a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port that provides up to 10Gbps of bandwidth. Speaking of which, all the USB-A ports on this laptop support the USB 3.2 Gen2 speeds so you can take full advantage of stuff like the WD My Passport SSD.

Over on the other side there’s a microSD card reader, the coaxial power connector and a 3.5mm combo jack. The last-gen ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 notably lacked a memory card reader, so the microSD card reader here is an olive branch extended towards content creators. The dedicated microphone jack on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is missing though, but I don’t expect that many people to make use of that anyway as streamers and content creators who need higher quality microphones will probably be using a microphone connected via USB anyway.

There’s also Gigabit LAN powered by the ubiquitous Realtek RTL8111H controller on the back of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE if you want to plug in an Ethernet cable. There’s WiFi 6 on this machine though, so I doubt you would want to do that unless your workplace requires you to do so. You will also find the HDMI 2.0b port and another USB-A port here, so you can easily connect your display and other peripherals without them getting in your way on the sides of the machine.
I do like rear-mounted ports, especially for the power connector, but apparently ASUS said that putting the power connector on the rear-end wasn’t a good idea as the power plane would then be too near the CPU and GPU. Oh well.
Pre-installed Software

Armoury Crate is the name of ROG’s management suite. While the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX is an unlocked processor, ASUS seems to only allow you to tweak the power limits in the manual option, rather than meddle with the clocks directly. Aside from that, you get to play around with your AURA settings as well as decide whether your dedicated GPU should be switched off to save power with the iGPU Mode setting.

An interesting new addition to Armoury Crate is the color calibration feature as part of the GameVisual suite, which was not present in previous ROG laptops. I guess ASUS really wants to entice content creators to pick up the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, but unfortunately we can’t test it because it only supports the X-rite i1Display Pro. Hopefully in future updates support for the Datacolor Spyder5 will be added, as the ASUS ProArt Calibration software that works with ASUS’ ProArt monitor lineup does tout support for the significantly more affordable calibrator.

The familiar MyASUS is also available on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. However the features that it handles is understandably less, with Armoury Crate doing the heavy lifting on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. But stuff like Link to MyASUS are also present on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, letting you make full use of the additional screen space that the ScreenPad Plus offers to mirror your smartphone’s display.
Conclusion
The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE builds upon its predecessor in a pretty big way. The display has been upgraded to a 4K 120Hz panel, which provides the sharpness I expect of a flagship-class content creator laptop in 2021, without sacrificing on the fluidity that I want on a gaming laptop. The display is without a doubt the perfect balance between the two worlds. To support the more demanding display, the CPU and GPU under the hood is also significantly beefier, and yet the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE still deliver better battery life than its predecessor. But these are not the only impressive things about the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is priced at the exact same price as its predecessor, at RM19 999. When you consider all the hardware on offer on top what the ScreenPad Plus can bring to the table as a secondary display, it becomes quite reasonable. If you don’t need a secondary display, you might want to look at other machines, but trust me, once you experience the convenience of working with two screens in a laptop, you can’t go back. I wrote this article on the ASUS ZenBook Duo 14, so yeah.
The main drawback of going with the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE might be its weight of 2.48kg which is heavier than what I would like to carry around with me on my work trips. With that said, if you want the level of performance that this baby here can deliver, you will be hard-pressed to find a lighter machine. Also, it will most probably not come with a secondary display.
Not to mention that you will be getting desktop-class performance with this laptop, which makes the 2.48kg weight seem relatively lightweight. If you think the GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU might be overkill for your usage, there’s also a variant of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE with the GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, a 1080p 300Hz panel and half the storage for just RM12 999. You can check out the Malaysian SKUs and pricing for the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE here.

Our thanks to ASUS Malaysia for sending us the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE for review.
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Lord of the Rings Mobile in Development at EA

EA Developing New Lord of the Rings Mobile

It appears that a new Lord of the Ring mobile game is currently in development over at EA, and it will be a free-to-play one for everyone to enjoy. The official name of the game is “The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth” and it’s described as a collectible RPG.
This is most likely referring to some form of gacha system in the game, which is most likely how the publisher will be monetizing the game. After all, the game was listed with a label that reads “includes in-game purchases (including random items)”.

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From what we know thus far, this Lord of the Rings mobile game will have “immersive storytelling, turn-based combat, deep collection systems, and a wide roster of characters.” Nothing much else is known about the game but it does sound something similar to Summoners War and Raid: Shadow Legends.
The game is expected to have a limited regional beta phase sometime this Summer 2022, so basically between late June to late September 2022. Unfortunately, no official release date nor available countries were mentioned so we will report more on this as soon as information becomes available.
Source
Pokdepinion: Not too surprised to see more and more mobile games based on popular IPs coming. It’s not the first time and I only expect to see it increase over the years, especially with newer, popular pop culture franchises even if it doesn’t make much sense for it to be a game.
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Blizzard Celebrating StarCraft 20th Anniversary – Free Skins for Everyone

It’s been about 20 years since the game launched and now, Blizzard is doing something special to celebrate the StarCraft 20th Anniversary.
Blizzard Celebrating StarCraft 20th Anniversary

It has been nearly 2 decades since the popular real-time strategy game StarCraft released for PC. This was the beginning of an insane Korean marriage ritual where the men had to defeat the fiance’s father in order to marry her.
Jokes and memes aside, to celebrate this milestone, players can garner in-game rewards across all of Blizzard Entertainment’s current games throughout the month, ending the festivities with an anniversary stream.

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Starting on March 6th 2018, logging into StarCraft: Remastered, StarCraft II, Diablo III, and Overwatch will receive these rewards:

StarCraft: Remastered – Commemorative 20th Anniversary UI Skin
StarCraft II – Special UI Skin for each race, a portrait, and decal
Diablo III – Battlecruiser-themed pet Dominion’s Revenge
Overwatch – Sarah Kerrigan Ghost skin for Widowmaker

Between March 21st and March 25th, you can play a StarCraft-themed Tavern Brawl in Hearthstone where you can acquire three Kobolds & Catacombs packs for free. From March 27th to April 7th, logging into Heroes of the Storm will grant you 20th Anniversary portraits for Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. Lastly, from March 31st to April 6th in World of Warcraft, those who salute a Zergling, Grunty, Mini Thor, Baneling, or Zeradar pet will garner the “Salute to StarCraft” Feat of Strength.
Ending the celebration will be a video feature called StarCraft is Life: A Celebration, which will be viewable on YouTube on March 31st, and the aforementioned anniversary stream, which will take place on March 30th and March 31st on Twitch.
Lastly, a short video showing how far the franchise has come since the first game launched in 1998 was released that will have you reminiscing about the long-running sci-fi series. Check out the StarCraft 20th Anniversary special video at the top of this post.
Source: Official Website
Pokdepinion: This game is almost as old as I am, how interesting. I do have fond memories watching my brother play StarCraft while I was growing up though. It’s a game that certainly stood the test of time.
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Intel Core i5-10400 matches Core i7-9700F in leaked benchmarks

While the NDA has yet to lift on the 10th Gen Intel Core processors, that apparently didn’t stop TecLab极评室 from publishing a comparison of the latest Intel Core i5-10400 versus the 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9400F and i7-9700F.

The above results are really interesting, as it showcases how much WinRAR benefits from having four extra threads, despite having fewer physical cores. Aside from the above, the performance of the Core i5-10400 matches the Core i7-9700F in most scenarios, which is what you would expect from a 6C/12T part vs an 8C/8T part, especially when it comes to gaming. It even surpasses it in certain titles, although we would generally consider them to be trading punches in this case.

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          GTA V Benchmark            AC Odyssey Benchmark            Far Cry 5 Benchmark
But what makes the comparison even more exciting is that the Core i5-10400 is significantly more affordable than the Core i7-9700F, at least when comparing prices at launch. $182 (~RM786) for the Core i5 part versus the $310 (~RM1338) for the Core i7-9700F is a rather significant difference, a difference which can be put towards a better GPU or a roomier SSD.
Intel does serve up some awesome value-for-money with their 10th Gen Intel Core processors, although the need for an all-new platform that’s not expected to last beyond two generations may be worth pondering upon.
Pokdepinion: If you are upgrading from an older system that’s a few years old, the 10th Gen Intel Core processors and their accompanying LGA 1200 motherboards does make sense…
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Cooler Master 16AWG Sleeved PSU Extension Cable Kits Now Available In Malaysia

Cooler Master has recently release their new Sleeved PSU Extension Cable Kits, thanks to demand for first party sleeved cables has grown every so much in PC modding and aesthetic PC building.
PSU Sleeved Extension Cable usage
At the moment, sleeved cables in the market are mostly sold by smaller third party companies with limited distribution and usually at high prices. Cooler Master has then stepped in to help fill in a way that is simple, affordable, and universal.
Cooler Master PSU Sleeved Extension Cable colors
The new Sleeved PSU Extension Cable Kit is a set of universal power supply cable extensions, which means it will work with any consumer level power supply unit currently on the market. It includes the following cable extensions:

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1x MB 24 pin cable
1x CPU 8(4+4) pin cable
2x PCIe 6 pin cable
2x PCIe 8 pin cable
Each Sleeved Extension Cable comes with 4x Cable Combs

Cooler Master Sleeved Extension Cable material
With the connector types that’s included, it will allow you to extend all the main cable in their system by 30cm, offering you enough length to adequately hide normal PUS cables and present a clean and stylish build at almost no loss in efficiency. The extension kit comes in five colors; All Black, Red & Black, Blue & Black, White & Black, and Green & Black.
They’re produced with high quality materials that offer both durability and stable performance. The cables are sleeved with the heatshrinkless sleeving method in a three-layered protective design. The outer layer uses ultra-density weaving, providing protection and style with forsaking flexibility.  The middle insulating layer provides resistance to acid, alkalis, fuel, moisture, and mildew.  The inner most layer uses certified 16AWG wire for better heat resistance and efficiency than the industry standard 18AWG cables that comes with most consumer PSUs.
All of the color options of the Sleeved Extension Cable Kit is now available in Malaysia, which is priced at RM159.
Pokdepinion: It’s not only an extension cable, but also a high quality one at that. With the price, it’s a pretty good deal of the set that you’ll be getting.
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Capcom May Be Working on a Dino Crisis Remake

anytime soon.
There also won’t be any Resident Evil remakes out in the next few years after RE3. There is a couple other Capcom games being rebooted in the same vein as RE2 & RE3 though in the RE Engine, which should be seen pretty soon.
There is another Resident Evil game
— AestheticGamer (@AestheticGamer1) January 21, 2020

Rumours have started to swirl on a potential revival of Dino Crisis after Capcom renewed the trademark for it last month. While there has been no official announcement yet, there is new information which suggests that Capcom may be working on a Dino Crisis remake.
According to reputable leaker AestheticGamer, the development of Resident Evil 8 has restarted and that a new game in the series is expected to launch in 2021. At the same time, Capcom is looking to reboot some of their other games in the same style as Resident Evil 2 and 3 by using the new RE Engine. This unknown reboot is expected to be seen “pretty soon.”

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With that information, only two franchises come to mind; Onimusha and Dino Crisis. We’re putting our money on a Dino Crisis remake because of the trademark renewal, the similarity between that and Resident Evil, and it makes more sense for the game to utilize the RE Engine compared to Onimusha.
Recently, Capcom had members of the Resident Evil Ambassador Program test a new game. When a similar thing happened before, Resident Evil 3 remake was announced mere months later. This coincides with the information that AestheticGamer has divulged, which has been accurate for the recent Resident Evil remakes.
For now, a Dino Crisis remake has still not been confirmed so take the information with a grain of salt. If you’d like to play the original game, it’s available for the PlayStation 1, Sega Dreamcast, and PC.
Source: GameRant
Pokdepinion: I’ve had some good memories of Dino Crisis growing up. I also remember being scared because, well, I was a kid. PTSD, here I come.
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MSI Titan Series Has Returned with The Titan GT77

MSI has recently revealed the return of one of the most coveted Titan GT series laptops. MSI is also pleased to announce that Titan GT has won the 2022 COMPUTEX Best Choice Golden Award for its outstanding performance.

Additionally, the Titan GT77 design has been awarded the Red Dot Design Award 2022. The device’s award-winning design is inspired by sports automobiles, and it has an upper honeycomb air filter to improve cooling efficiency and a unique projective Mystic Light bar.

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The Titan GT77 delivers desktop-level performance thanks to the latest 12th gen i9 HX CPU, which boasts 16 cores in total. The laptop when combined with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU and MSI’s patented OverBoost technology, unleashes the full potential of both the GPU and the CPU without any compromise. The laptop can deliver power from both the CPU and the GPU at full load to a total of 250 watts.

The Titan GT77 features a fresh cooling technology with 4 fans and 7 heat pipes to control such an extreme design. The laptop also has brand new Cherry MX switches, as well as a SteelSeries mechanical keyboard. Furthermore, all of these features are contained within a 23mm chassis.
Linus Tech Tips MSI’s Titan GT77 First Impressions

Linus Sebastian, the host of Linus Tech Tips, is equally impressed by the amazing extreme expandability. He exclaimed that the laptop is combined with DDR5 RAM and four M.2 slots, one of which is PCIe Gen5. Additionally, this laptop ranges from casual gamers to power users who want to play performance-demanding games and finish complex projects comfortably with the best performance that a laptop form-factor has to offer.
For more information, feel free to visit MSI’s official website or catch them on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even Youtube for the latest updates.
Pokedepinion: High performance, large storage, and optimized setup? Can’t wait to see how this laptop runs on overdrive mode!
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PS Plus Asia August 2018 FREE GAMES Lineup – Great Selection of Games

The official PS Plus Asia free games lineup for August 2018 has finally been announced. There’s a great selection of games that will entice many gamers.
PS Plus Asia August 2018 FREE GAMES Lineup

Our US and EU counterparts recently found out about their lineup of free games. Truth be told, the lineup was a big improvement in quality over the previous month’s lineup. So what about us in the Asia region? Well, we got good news as ours is pretty darn good as well. Without further ado, let’s take a look, shall we?
Do take note that this is the lineup for the Asia region. For those of you in the US and EU regions, click here for your lineup.

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Headlining this month’s lineup is Mafia III. The story is set in New Bordeaux 1968. Lincoln Clay, his black mob family, is wiped out by the Italian Mafia. , Lincoln builds a new family and blazes a path of military-grade revenge through the Mafioso responsible. You can build a new criminal empire your way by deciding which lieutenants you reward, and which to betray. Avenge your enemy by brute force, blazing guns or stealthy tactics, to tear down the Italian Mafia.
Next up, we have another game for the PS4, Syberia 3. Enter the enchanting world of Benoit Sokal’s latest masterpiece. Kate Walker is found dying on the banks of a river by the Youkol tribe, a nomadic people accompanying their migrating snow ostriches. Stuck together and imprisoned in the town of Valsembor, you must find a way to continue the journey in a race against their enemies and unexpected obstacles.
Their last highlight and a special treat for PS Vita users, we have Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Trilogy Pack. It is time for you to expand your Assassin’s Creed experience and discover the forgotten stories of three remarkable Assassins in brand-new settings. Each chronicle comes with a different assassin equipped with a distinct range of weapons and gadgets. Each chapter comes with a unique hero and a new setting all interconnected through a common plot that will only be revealed at the very end.
For the full lineup of free games coming to PS Plus Asia this August 2018, feel free to refer to them right below here:

Full Lineup for PS Plus Asia August 2018

Mafia III, PS4
Syberia 3, PS4
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Trilogy Pack, PS Vita
Draw Slasher, PS Vita
Bound by Flame, PS3

There is also two extra things happening that gamers should take note of. There is a free PS Multiplayer Weekend where everyone on the PlayStation Network can play games with other people online for free under trial. Normally, you will need an active PS Plus membership in order to enjoy online multiplayer.
The other thing is that they will be having a 33% discount on the 3-month PS Plus subscription, but this is only applicable to those without active subscriptions.
This lineup will be available from 9th August 2018 to 5th September 2018 so be sure to grab ’em quick when it’s out in about a week’s time.
Pokdepinion: I really like the quality increase in games offering for this month. Hoping it maintains when September’s lineup is out.
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These Lian Li BORA LITE fans will satisfy metal fans — not the music genre, we mean the material

Fans come in all colors, and we do not discriminate. We love all our fans. But I definitely have a soft spot for those that can glow in all 16.8 million colors. And especially so when they sport a metal frame. The BORA LITE 120 (BR LITE 120) is Lian Li’s second RGB fan, and it is compatible with all major RGB control software: ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, ASRock PolyChrome Sync and MSI Mystic Light Sync.

The BR LITE 120 differentiates itself from its brethren the BORA RGB fans with a stand-out aluminium frame for a more reflective appearance to amp up the aesthetic appeal of these fans. The compatibility with most major motherboard brands’ RGB control applications let you coordinate the smooth illumination courtesy of the 12 RGB LEDs in the BORA LITE 120.

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The BORA LITE 120 separates the power and lighting cables for easier coordination of the RGB lighting. You can easily daisy-chain BORA fans with the male-to-female RGB headers. Performance wise, the BORA LITE 120 is a notch below the BORA RGB, utilizing hydraulic bearings and spins up to a maximum RPM of 1500 RPM. Anti-vibrations pad included with every BORA fan helps keep them dead silent even when running at full tilt.
Lian Li BORA LITE 120 Specifications

Dimensions
120 x 120 x 27 mm

Bearing type
Hydraulic bearing

Fan speed
900 ~ 1500 RPM

Fan control
PWM

Max. Airflow
48.31 CFM

Static air pressure
1.23 mm-H2O

Weight
185 g

Pokdepinion: You can have over-engineered fans for performance, or fans that are designed mainly for looks like this.
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Motorola One Exclusively Available On Shopee At RM799

Though the smartphone has been revealed for quite some time, you can now finally get the Motorola One from Shopee now where it is priced at RM799.

Coming as the latest smartphone from Motorola, the Motorola One is an Android One device (pretty sure you can guess from the name), where it comes with Google’s latest software built-in and AI features.

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The phone packs a Snapdragon 625 chipset and sports a 5.9-inch HD+ with 19:9 Max Vision display. At the back, it offers a dual 13MP camera setup and sports a 8MP shooter for your selfies. Under the hood is a 3000mAh battery. Other than that, it comes with 4GB RAM that’s paired with 64GB of internal storage (expandable up to 256GB through microSD).
You can get the Motorola One exclusively at Shopee. To learn more, you can check out their official store here.
Pokdepinion: Well this is something new. It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard news on Motorola. Not too sure about the price though as the device is quite outdated at this point. Despite that, it is one of the most affordable Android One devices in the market right now.
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ShopeePay Deals Near Me Lets You Find The Best Deals In Your Location

E-commerce and e-wallet solutions have come a long way from just being an online-only thing. Now, Shopee is taking their ShopeePay e-wallet to the next level with their new Deals Near Me feature.
ShopeePay Deals Near Me

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Together with the launch of the Raya Bersama Shopee campaign, the e-commerce giant is launching the new ShopeePay Deals Near Me feature. It’s an online-to-offline feature which uses location-based services to help people discover vouchers that can be used at nearby restaurants, cafes, and services.
You can easily buy vouchers via the Shopee app and redeem them immediately at participating outlets to earn cashback, discounts, and more. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged more people to shop online, offline merchants needed to find ways to reach customers, and this is one method of doing so as it improves their online visibility while still getting customers directly.
For now, there are specially curated vouchers for Ramadan that can be found at three different times of the day; Sahur Specials at 5AM, Jom Berbuka dengan ShopeePay at 12PM, and Moreh Specials at 10PM. The vouchers can be purchased for as low as 5 sen and it can yield up to RM8 cashback from merchants like Nando’s, TGI Friday’s, Nasi Kandar Pelita, and more.

Apart from that, there is a free shipping offer with no minimum spend and RM1 deals as part of the Raya Bersama Shopee campaign. If you want something more, you can look forward to Jualan Hebat Raya on 23rd April and Pesta Jualan Raya on 5th May for a slew of deals and discounts up to 80% on a wide variety of products such as home appliances, furniture, Hari Raya outfits, and more.
If you’re feeling lucky, the e-commerce giant is giving away two units of the new Perodua Ativa SUV, Yamaha motorbikes, up to 25 million Shopee Coins, and more in One or Not promotion as well as Share and Win prizes.
Source
Pokdepinion: When online shopping became a thing, I always though that buying things at a physical store will soon begin to cease, and the two could never co-exist in the long run. The ShopeePay Deals Near Me has certainly proven me wrong. Sure, mostly it’s food-related offerings, but I can see how virtually every shop could benefit from this.
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ROG Gladius Is Now At A Limited Time Offer At Just RM169!

ASUS Republic of Gamers Malaysia has revealed at their official Facebook page that their ROG Gladius Optical Gaming Mouse is now on a special promo price at RM168. You can get the mouse on their official store on LazMall.
The ROG Gladius comes with 6400 DPI sensitivity and is ideally suited for FPS games, thanks to its ergonomical design. It comes with a socket design that lets you to easily switch switches (it includes 2 Japanese-made Omron switches).
You can also program button on the mouse with the ROG Armoury as well as customize the performance settings, lighting effects, and surface calibrations. Though we’ve never reviewed the ROG Gladius, we’ve actually played with its successor, the ROG Gladius II. You can check out the full hands-on review right here to find a glimpse of what the ROG Gladius has to offer.

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Originally priced at RM369, you can head to Lazmall where it’s at 54% off at RM168 by clicking on the link here.
Pokdepinion: The ROG Gladius gaming mouse series has got to be one of the best mouses around. I’m personally using the ROG Gladius 2 and have no complaints about it at all. Be sure to check the offer out and be quick. Who knows, they might not have any stocks left soon..
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Lazada Launches New Livestream Shopping Feature Ahead of 12.12 Sale

At a launch event in Kuala Lumpur today, the folks over at Lazada has introduced an all-new livestream shopping feature that available on their mobile app. It will allow shoppers and sellers to experience real-time interactions, live discussions, product demonstrations, and make purchases at the same time.
This new livestream shopping feature will allow brands and new sellers to engage with their customers and potential customers for better product awareness as well as customer support.

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Starting from 8th December 2018, Malaysians will get to hang out with the likes of Nana Mahazan, Yasmin Hani, Dynas Mokhtar, and more while shopping for products onscreen for the 12.12 Super Livestreams.

You can enjoy all the social aspects of the livestream as well as redeem some exclusive vouchers while livestream shopping during this 12.12 season. To make things interesting, there will be some exclusive deals that will only be available on livestream shopping.
During the 12.12 season, there will also be up to RM2.5 millions worth of rebates up for grabs, with 12% rebates for first time Lazada Wallet top ups as well as 5% rebates for top ups by existing users. Shopping for Lazada Wallet exclusive deals will yield you with additional RM10 rebates.
Be sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled out as there will be plenty of activities on Lazada this 12.12 season. This includes slashing vouchers to redeem a Perodua Axia for free, limited exclusive discount vouchers, and flash sales. There are even exclusive vouchers that can be redeemed only by scanning the Lazada QR codes at selected MRT stations.
Pokdepinion: I still haven’t recovered from the 11.11 sale. Oh boy, another month of roti canai, here I come.
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GrabBike Beta Has Officially Opened for Registration

As many of you may know by now, the Malaysian government has allowed businesses to offer motorcycle e-hailing services. A Proof of Concept will begin in Kuala Lumpur for 6 months starting January 2020. With that, Grab is gearing up to launch the GrabBike program.
GrabBike is officially open for registration for all riders in the Klang Valley area. It will be open from now until 2nd December 2019 on their official website. It is said that Grab will provide special training to all the riders that have registered for it, which will begin in December 2019.
GrabBike riders will also be able to take GrabFood delivery orders. Not only will this be beneficial for the company as they will have a good number of riders available, it will also give the riders more ways to boost their income.

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Soon, you will have more transportation options at your disposal. Arguably, it may not be as comfortable compared to riding in a car, especially since you’ll be in close contact with strangers. However, it does give you a way to circumvent heavy traffic with relative ease.
If you’re interested to register for it, click right here.
Pokdepinion: Soon enough, you’ll have more options for transportation. Hopefully it will be an affordable solution.
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List Of Xiaomi Smartphones That’s Confirmed For Android Q Update

Everyone wants to get the latest Android updates and for Xiaomi smartphones, it’s their very own custom MIUI. With the upcoming MIUI 11 on the works since the start of the year, Xiaomi has revealed on what devices that will be getting upcoming Android Q update.
Redmi K20 Pro
With the new update, the company will be introducing several new features such as fully integrated dark theme, new icons and animations, as well as performance and battery improvements. Revealed in China through MIUI Forum, they’ve revealed the schedule and smartphone models that’ll be receiving the new update. Here they are:
Scheduled for Q4 2019

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
Xiaomi Mi 8
Xiaomi Mi 8 Screen Fingerprint Edition
Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition
Xiaomi Mi 9
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Redmi K20 (Xiaomi Mi 9T)
Redmi K20 Pro (Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro)

Scheduled for Q1 2020

Redmi Note 7
Redmi Note 7 Pro

It’s worth noting that the Mi Mix 3 and Mi 9 was already made available to the beta version of Android Q. Additionally, this schedule applies to Chinese variants of the listed devices but we should see somewhat of closer timing here in Malaysia, possibly a few weeks of difference. Xiaomi has said that this is a rough estimate for the update and it could change, if an unforeseeable problem arises.

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Pokdepinion: See your device on the list? I primarily want the new update for the dark mode primarily. What about you?
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Unifi #KhabarBaik 2.0 — En Route To 5G Wireless Technology In Malaysia

unifi showcase the country’s first TDD (Time Division Duplex) pre-5G wireless technology, where it is a part of the company’s journey towards powering 5G to the country. They’ve entered its commercial phase at SetiaWalk Puchong, which consists of residential blocks, mall, and offices.

At the showcase event, the telco’s very own Acting Executive Vice President, Moharmustaqeem Mohammed, has said “The technology and dense residential areas with low fixed broadband penetration, allowing for wireless internet access sharing at home and on-the-go within LTE coverage areas”.

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This project will also address many ongoing infrastructure challenges in areas without fibre coverage, offering speed upgrades of up to 30Mbps via wireless broadband, and peak throughout may go up to 80Mbps. Moharmustaqeem Mohammed, Acting Executive Vice President of unifi
At the event, the company demonstrated the capabilities of the new TDD pre-5G technology through capturing moments of local alternative rock band, Estranged, on their daily digital activities using unifi’s wireless home broadband service.
Aside from home customers, unifi TDD pre-5G technology will also improve the unifi Mobile experience where users can enjoy their favorite content on unifi Play TV and beyond, whether they’re on the go or simply at home.
To top it all off, unifi has said that they hope to push forward their TDD pre-5G technology and bring faster and more affordable internet access to the country. We should probably learn more on the progress of the technology so do stay tuned for more updates.
Pokdepinion: Hopefully unifi will bring in more good news to the public. I’m curious on how the new technology will progress in the country and hopefully it’ll be affordable too.
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ASUS ZenFone 5z is now priced from RM1299

The ASUS ZenFone 5z was one of the more affordable Snapdragon 845 smartphones in the market, and it is getting even cheaper now. Just ahead of the ASUS ZenFone 6’s launch, the ASUS ZenFone 5z is now priced from just RM1299 for the lower end 6GB + 128GB version, while the 8GB + 256GB variant is priced at RM1599.
ASUS equipped the ASUS ZenFone 5z with a 12MP f/1.8 Sony IMX363 camera and a secondary 8MP ultra-wide angle camera, giving it camera chops on par with most of 2018’s flagships. It also has one of the best displays among 2018 flagships, with a large 6.2″ IPS display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.

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Here are the specifications of the ASUS ZenFone 5z:
ASUS ZenFone 5z Specs

Snapdragon 845, octa-core up to 2.8 GHz, 10nm FinFET
Up to 8GB LPDDR4x RAM
Up to 256GB UFS 2.1 storage (expandable via microSD up to 2TB)
6.2″ FHD+ IPS LCD display, 90% screen to body ratio, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut
12MP f/1.8 Sony IMX 363 + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera
8MP f/2.0 selfie camera
3300 mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0, USB-PD support, AI Charging
6GB + 128GB: RM1299
8GB + 256GB: RM1599

Stocks are flying fast with the 8GB + 256GB variant already sold out, but the 6GB + 128GB version is still available at the time of writing.
Pokdepinion: Probably would get one if I needed a new phone…
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Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family Plan Unveiled

Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family Plan

After rumours of Microsoft working on a subscription plan so you can share with others, the Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan has officially been unveiled.
The Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family plan will initially be available only in Colombia and Ireland as they are testing out the new plan. They are planning to expand it to other countries in “the next months” so it shouldn’t take too long for it to arrive elsewhere provided there are no major issues.

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As for pricing, it’s €21.99, which roughly translates to USD $11.20 / RM98.58 per month in Ireland whereas in Colombia, it’s basically about USD $11.20 / RM50.11. This means localized pricing will be implemented wherever it arrives.

For those of you who aren’t aware, the Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family Plan is a subscription plan that will allow you to share your game libraries with up to 4 players. They don’t have to be your family members so you can freely join in together with friends, with each person having their own Xbox profile. The only limitation is that each there can only be up to 8 players per plan and each person must be from the same country.
The Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family Plan will come with all the benefits of the Ultimate plan, inclusive of Day 1 releases and EA Play membership, and each person can access the game library whenever they please without limitations.
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Pokdepinion: It’s a smart way to gain more subscribers, and I personally feel like they’re doing this better than Spotify and Netflix. Good job, Microsoft.
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